Richardderus thread 28 for 2012

“I not only use all the brains that I have, but all I can borrow.”

― Woodrow Wilson

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move.”

― Robert Louis Stevenson

Normally there are quotes and pictures of men reading books in this space. BUT it's National Novel Writing Month in November and guess who's doing it again?



I'm going to write a played-for-laughs B-movie horror/silly Sixties rom-com tentatively titled Curse of the Bride of Frankenstein.

The idea is this:

A Taylor Swift/Adele mashup pop star with a New Orleans past has a horrible breakup with her boyfriend and her BFF on the same day. Because she found them in bed making wild, hot monkey sex. But she doesn't tell them right away. She has to think of a suitable revenge.

Her soon-to-be-ex husband is a mildly famous actor who just landed the role of Frankenstein in a new big-budget version supposed to be faithful to the book.

Which he's never read. In fact, he's never read any books since The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories when he was nine. What to do? Consult his wife's well-read book-ghost BFF! What could be easier, they're in the same house all the time anyway!

Oh dear.

It starts with a desperate plea, it builds with a gift of a graphic novel, and it ends in bed, both men having found--to their mutual astonishment--that their mutual love of HER leads, after some initial bumps and fights, to falling in love with each other. Resistance is futile, the stress of a celebrity marriage compounded with the constant togetherness of working on the actor's performance, added to the mayhem on the film set....

And then comes HER revenge: She curses her husband to dream and dream and dream the original story of Frankenstein until he is helpless and dangerously loopy from lack of sleep. Will he, or someone, ANYONE, figure out how to lift the curse he doesn't know he's under? Can anyone predict that, unless this man who thinks reading a whole comic book is too much reading for one day reads the original text of Frankenstein, he might actually for real die like the monster?

Guess who isn't telling.

My 2012 NEW books ticker:




Previous reviews:

Book 1...thread two.
Books 2 & 3...thread three.
Book 4...thread four.
Books 5 & 6...thread five.
Books 7-10...thread six.
Books 11-24...thread seven.
Books 25-31...thread eight.
Books 32-34...thread nine.
Books 35 & 36...thread ten.
Books 37-42...thread 11.
Books 43-53...thread 12.
Books 54 & 55...thread 13.
Books 56 & 57...thread 14.
Books 58-60...thread 15.
Books 61-64...thread 16.
Books 65-68...thread 17.
Books 69-71...thread 18.
Books 72-74...thread 19.
Books 75-77...thread 20.
Books 78 & 79...thread 21.
Books 80 & 81...thread 22.
Books 82 & 83...thread 23.
Books 84-86...thread 24.
Books 87-90...thread 25.
Books 91-98...thread 26.
Books 99-102...thread 27.

My 2012 ORPHANED books ticker:




Pearl Ruled:



14. Beautiful Ruins...thread 18.

15. The Lies of Locke Lamora
16. The Hunger Games...in my Orphans thread.
18. Keeper of Light and Dust...Orphans thread, #196.

17. Equal of the Sun...thread 21.
19. Superclass...thread 23.

20. Narcopolis...thread 24, post #297.

21. Strings Attached...#255.

22. A Place Beyond Courage...#36.

Books are reviewed in post:

103. Curse of the Pogo Stick...#45.

104. The Stockholm Octavo...#291.

105. Housekeeping vs. the Dirt...#296.

I think you are done decorating...Hi!

Hello there, first in! How nice to see you here, Miss Roni.

Hi RD- Congrats on the new thread! I love the pics at the top. Also, please find a copy of the End of Your Life Book Club. It's an incredible read! Books, love, sadness and more books.

Nice new thread here, Richard! And so organized!! When will your book be done so that I can read it - your premise has me in stitches!

Hi There Richard.

I hope you are having a relaxing weekend.

>7 msf59: Thanks Mark! I've got my name on the list, I'm #101 for 22 copies in the county.

>8 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! I'm glad you like the idea. I do too, but the week of no power made a huge hole in my schedule and I can't seem to catch back up. I hope by the end of the year.

>9 Whisper1: Hi Linda! *smooch* Pleasant indeed.

Good evening, sir. What a festive thread!

Oh hiya Crypto! *smooch* One endeavors to add to the sum of the world's smiles.

It works for me!

Hi, Richard. After a long day at the beach, I'm swimming my way through the threads. Nice to see a lovely new thread for you!

>13 London_StJ: *smooch*

>14 maggie1944: Oh hello there, Stranger in Paradise. Welcome to my humble, wintry abode. Don't freeze, I know how you tropical fleurs respond to chill.

It might make you feel a little better to know that it is pouring down rain right now! and more of the same is expected tomorrow!

Hello Richard. Your synopsis of your novel had me chuckling out loud (P looks up: "what?" I shake my head and reply "nothing, dear, just LT").

Hello Richard, lovely new thread. The book robot in your first post looks a little bit like the "Michelin man" made from books *grin*

I wish you and Stella a lovely cosy Sunday!

((Hugs)) and xx smooches xx

*smooch* - found your new thread:) Hope the writing is going well and you are having a great weekend.

Good morning to you rd... interesting idea for NaNo :)

Thumbs up for your incredible review of More Baths, Less Talking. It is now on the tbr pile.

Happy Sunday!

Hallooooooo Richard! Love your book premise. Please share as you go along? Happy Sunday! I am making quiche for the 8 hungry boys who slept over last night for my son's Bday bash. Tomatoes are only on half, because I like them and he doesn't!

Richard, you are an incredible writer. I have no doubt your book will be a great one!

Amen Brother! I've consumed two cups already..my limit for the day is now exhausted. But, because of coffee, I'm not exhausted.

>16 maggie1944: It takes a tiny smidge of the sting of your sojourn in Paradise without ME away.

>17 EBT1002: Heh. Maybe P would like one next Solstice!

>18 drachenbraut23: I think of myself as the "Book Michelin Man" often.

>19 alcottacre: *smoochiesmoochsmooch* for visitrix from another dimension! How's school going, dearie?

Well, today's supposed to be better..........

>20 calm: Still way way behind...won't make 50K by the 30th. But what the hell. I'm not likely to die as a result.

>21 mckait: Thank you, smoochums.

>22 Whisper1: I appreciate the thumb, Linda! Happy Sunday to you, too.

>23 Berly: That is a LOT of quiche, he drooled jealously.

I'll see about posting some excerpts in my NaNo thread this December.

Morning RD- I wish Mr. Crabby Pants could be joining us on my Swap. We will miss you. Maybe next year. Enjoy your day. Another beauty here.

>24 Whisper1:, 26 Coffee has clearly addled your senses...but I appreciate the kind thoughts!

>28 maggie1944: *looks up from hex manual* It IS?! *flips to curses section*

>30 msf59: I'd love to, Mark, but I don't have the funds. I'm hoping that next year with the princely grand a month from the Gummint I'll be able to.

Nope. NOT a lot of quiche. They ate it all. Sorry. I'll let you know when I make it the next time.

*sniff*

I...I see...*sniff*

Hello, Richard. I keep saying I'm going to try my hand at writing any day now, but fortunately for all of us I think better of it. Hope you are having fun. :)

>34 Ape: Stuff and nonsense. Write. There is not one single rational reason for a person who lives alone and owns a computer and has the world's slowest internet connection not to write.

Irrational reasons, incidentally, aren't acceptable as excuses. Just start.

22. Pearl Ruled: A PLACE BEYOND COURAGE by ELIZABETH CHADWICK

Rating: 2* of five (p108)

The Book Description: The early twelfth century is a time for ambitious men to prosper, and royal servant John FitzGilbert is one of them. But when the old king dies and his successor is appointed, John faces a terrible choice: he must join the rival faction-his enemies- or risk losing everything. His new wife helps him carry his burden, but his final choice will seal not only her fate, but those of his young children.

As the fight for England's crown enters a new phase, John may be forced to make a terrible sacrifice...

My Review: I know you're all familiar with the Mary Rose, Henry VIII's sunken battleship, and the mystery surrounding her loss in the Battle of the Solent in 1545. That's the kind of audience I attract, all five of y'all.

So when I say “I foundered like the Mary Rose,” I know y'all will instantly picture a mighty carrack, gunports hazed in smoke, bravely firing upon the hated French Navy's galleys, when suddenly the vast edifice heels to starboard, takes on water, and vanishes beneath the waves.

Aline laid her cheek against his breast and struggled not to weep. He had said he wanted her to be steadfast. “Thank you, my lord, thank you.”

Above her, she heard him sigh. He tilted up her chin, kissed her damp cheek, then sought a fresh tunic. She saw him note the jumbled state of the coffer contents, but he said nothing. Aline dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands, and swore to try harder.

(p108, US softcover edition)

The mighty ship of my pleasure in history, and in historical fiction, sank beneath the waves of the River Lethe, as all memory of consciousness and its cares and woes leaked from my snoring, drooling mouth.

Hi RD, Im late to the party!
Glad there is a party to come late to though. What with NaNo....bummer that you wont make your target, but as you say, you wont die from it, and I presume you are having fun/feeling good about trying!

Love that top pic, btw, Robot-Book-Man. Something to show Wilbur I think.

Like dear Megan I am a little tardy to thread 28 RD mired as I am in data over the weekend.

>37 LovingLit: NaNo's meant to be fun, and I'm always thrilled to have it as an excuse to start another book. I win, no matter what. *smooch* for paying me a visit!

>38 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! Keep beavering at the new stat. I'm really curious about this one.

I could swear that I posted in your thread this morning...
I am so confuzzled...

You did, on the OLD one.

On a happy note, I put up my review of the entertaining, light-hearted educational book Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works in my thread...post #272.

What with the sheep, and the graphic design- this could be one for me! The last font one I got from you I loved.

Oh, I remember that other font book (well, I don't actually remember it, but it's on some list around here somewhere). Fun times. I think I can safely skip A Place Beyond Courage.

Oh, and #25 ---> well, yeah. (says she of the coffee maker with the timer so coffee is ready minutes before she rolls out of bed)

Review: 103 of seventy-five

Title: CURSE OF THE POGO STICK

Author: COLIN COTTERILL

Rating: 4* of five

The Book Description: In Vientiane, a booby-trapped corpse, intended for Dr. Siri, the national coroner of Laos, has been delivered to the morgue. In his absence, only Nurse Dtui’s intervention saves the lives of the morgue attendants, visiting doctors, and Madame Daeng, Dr. Siri’s fiancée.

On his way back from a communist party meeting in the north, Dr. Siri is kidnapped by seven female Hmong villagers under the direction of the village elder so that he will—in the guise of Yeh Ming, the thousand-year-old shaman with whom he shares his body—exorcise the headman’s daughter whose soul is possessed by a demon, and lift the curse of the pogo stick.


My Review: Dr. Siri Paiboun is my role model for growing older. I want to be as cantankerous and unafraid as he is, and as forgiving and tolerant as he is, and marry someone I'm in love with like he does.

Who am I kidding? I'd like any of those things NOW, except the marriage thing, which no thank you, I remember that too well.

So this is the fifth book in the series, and the action takes place late in 1977 into 1978. Siri's seventy-three. The reason I'm reviewing a book so late in the series is simple: I want to tell everyone that, contrary to established custom, the series isn't sagging, and the sleuthing isn't drooping. Siri's believability is quite as firm as it was, meaning if you didn't buy in from the get-go, you won't be in now either. I love our secondary characters quite a lot, and am invested in the world of Dtui and Phosy and Geung as much as Siri and Daeng and Civilai. It's just too much fun to perch on the back of the lilac police Vespa, pull my scarf over my nose and mouth, and whip along the trafficless roads around Vientiane to chase malefactors!

Now that's one helluva mental picture, isn't it? But in this book, in this series, your fat old stiff-jointed American correspondent here can do exactly that. AND solve a crime. (Sort of, there really isn't a mystery-novel crime to solve in this book...so what, though?) I get to travel to the Hmong Otherworld! I am invited to an illegal Buddhist wedding! And through it all, my green-eyed hobbit-sized impish cicerone, Dr. Siri, sees how true and marvelous the world is, how little in it matters except being present and available and kind.

Rightness. Completing one's journey and, thereby, completing the journeys of others. I hope all of us are able to say, looking at our last dawn, that we did that very thing, at least once.

Great review Richard - I must get back to Dr Siri's world:)

Thumbed your enticing review.. still sticking to no new series for now..
I know I posted on the old one, then posted on this one.. I knew I was beginning
to disappear, and it's starting here :(

I see you, Kath!

Richard - Very nice review! I first discovered Dr. Siri because of you - you had a hot review of the first book in the series! Loved the review and tried the book, and fell in love with that man. I have now read the first six books and have been hoarding the next one. Anyway, Dr. Siri is one of the highlights from my very first year on LT, so thank you for that!

Hi Richard.. :) Love the story keep us up to date :)

Just catching up so pardon me for bringing up old news... loved your review of More Baths, Less Talking, and thrilled you enjoyed it. I'm shocked that the one book you're soon reading is the Dickens bio (I would've put it on my own TBR except I want to finish at least Great Expectations before I read someone's opinion of it). I myself added How to Live and Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste to the ever-growing TBR list.

>46 calm: How can you stay away?! I'm pacing myself, since I know the series ends, but I am jonesin' BAD to get back to Vientiane.

>47 mckait: Give life some time to settle, that's very wise, since a series is a commitment.

>48 Crazymamie: ...see who now...?

Mamie, how wonderful! Thank you for telling me that. I love to know I made a difference in someone's reading life. In a good way, for once!

>49 MonicaLynn: *smooch* for Monica, glad to see you come by!

>50 bell7: Mary, it was an act of will not to send a note to the liberry and say, "Just reserve one of everything, please" after reading that book. Hornby is the Devil. Ha! HORNby is the DEVIL haha!!

NICK Hornby, no less.

Heh. Wonder if he'd mind being called "Old Nick?"

Absinthe makes the fond grow harder.

Book porn!

>55 richardderus: She is so right!

What Roberta said!

Woo, I'm late to your convivial thread, Richard. Love the energetic book guy starting it all out.

I agree, the Dr. Siri series isn't sagging, and I really enjoyed The Curse of the Pogo Stick for all the reasons you give. Fun review of another good entry in the series.

Hi Richard, it's good to hear that Dr Siri continues to satisfy - I've only read the first one so far, which I too was first alerted to by your review. I've got no. 2 lined up ready though...

Thanks Mamie... I appreciate it!

xo/rd

>56 luvamystery65: Amen, Roberta.

>57 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe!

>58 gennyt: Omigosh I converted a vicar!! Go me! ;-)

>59 mckait: Thank you, cuddlepunkin.

Another day another trainer/ another dime. Painful, really.

Great review up there, Richard. Prompting me to get to Anarchy and Old Dogs, which is sitting on my bedside table. I will read it over Thanksgiving break.

>61 mckait: Ew. So sorry, dear. I know how much fun training is when it's done by skateyeight different people.

>62 EBT1002: Thanks, Ellen. I think the series will continue to make you grin. Or I hope it will!

Ha, I've had the Allan Bloom quote in my sig file on my email program for YEARS! Great quote!

Thanks Roni! I like it too.

Book porn!

66> Like!

Never disappointed when I come for my dose of book medicine.

I must be the only 75er who hasn't read a Cotterill. (runs and hides)

>66 richardderus: Mmm, too big for me. I need something cozier.

>68 sibylline: No need to hide; I haven't read and don't own anything by Cotterill either. We're more discerning readers than RD, that's all.

Omigosh I converted a vicar!! Go me! ;-)

If being converted is keeping an open mind about good new things and embracing them - or at least being willing to try them (which I believe it is), then I hope I never stop being converted! Certainly when it comes to newly recommended good books. (I just wish all of my co-religionists were as open to conversion. Thanks for your sympathy on my thread.)

#69 "We're more discerning readers than RD, that's all." Oooo...ouch. Cut me again, doctor! I find Cotterill enjoyable, myself. But I agree about that latest book porn---too cold. Industrial, almost.

>71 laytonwoman3rd: I was only kidding about Cotterill, just trying to get a rise out of the ol' curmudgeon. ;-)

Yeah, that's what I figured. I just couldn't resist a little independent grumbling.

>66 richardderus: I've lived in California too long because my first reaction to that was "Oh, no! That couch isn't the place to be if an earthquake hits." O.o

>67 EBT1002: Me too!

>68 sibylline: Good to hear, Cousin Lucy! As to being the only 75er not to read a Cotterill, let's just say the only one with taste and a sense of humor not to yet.

>69 kidzdoc: Oh hi there! How are you? Read any more artery-openers?

:-P~~~~~~

>70 gennyt: I do so hope the gerrymandering that the reactionaries did to block this piece of common sense will be overturned.

>71 laytonwoman3rd:-73 *Loftily Ignores the raillery*

>74 avidmom: Living in California at all is an error. *shudder* I haven't been back since 1992. Don't imagine myself going, though never say never!

Ground Control to Major Tom: Happy Turkey Holocaust!

>77 richardderus: LOL!

Makes me snicker, too, Darryl!

Good thing I wasn't sippin' a bit of coffee just then. :)

Whoa, that's some picture!

Have a great Thanksgiving, Richard!

>80 drneutron: Memorable, isn't it?

>81 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe, and y'all too! I'm looking forward to eating it. Sure is smellin' good around here today!

77> Oh dear. Maybe I won't eat turkey tomorrow after all......

I wish to goodness I didn't have to, Ellen, since I dislike it so much. Dry, tasteless, yuck. I made my own brining spice mix this year. Lots of salt and peppercorns. Maybe this year it'll taste like SOMEthing!!

yikes, the bird... !

Happy Thanxgiving! I'll be on the road tomorrow, so I'm getting holiday wishes in tonight. :)

I like the bird -looks delicious! Stopping in to wish you a Thanksgiving full of fabulous, Richard. Hope you have a good one!

Happy Thanksgiving To You! I am thankful for you and your wonderful presence in the 75 challenge group! It just would not be the same without you!

Stopping by to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving Richard!

Happy Thanksgiving, Richard! I've merely gotten the turkey brined and the pie baked--all else happens in the morning.

*envies Roni's schedule*

Hope your Thanksgiving dinner goes well, Richard.

Happy Thanksgiving Richard! I love the Turkey Holocaust picture. AND I had coffee in my hand when I past the picture :)

Happy Thanksgiving Richard! May your turkey be succulent and tasty!

Happy Thanksgiving Richard - hope you have a great (and pain free) day.

Happy Thanksgiving RD - I don't know whether Genny's wish involves any euphemism I don't understand (surely not from a lady of the cloth) but in any event have a good un. Thanks given in these quarters for your irreverent wit and tantalising book porn.

Happy Thanksgiving. Big Turkey flavoured smoochies to you.

Oh and just wash the Turkey down with liberal quantities of dry white wine...it generally makes anything more tasty...

Have a lovely Thanksgiving with you and your loved ones, Richard! I hope to see you soon.

Happy Thanksgiving, RD! May the pain be minimal and the food delicious.

Now I hope you can sit down to enjoy that feast today! I am deeply impressed by the menu and the work you put into it!

Hope your day is filled with people you love and make great memories.
have delicious Thanksgiving!

See that? You already wore yourself to a nub. Not good. I hope you have a happy and enjoyable day filled with friends and food and happiness..

Happy Thanksgiving Richard Dear :)

Happy Thanksgiving, Rdear. I'm thankful for the Turkey Holocaust picture...and you and all my LT friends.

Hello Richard! I am coming over to have some of your leftover! The smorgasbord of food yoiu described on my thread sounds amazing!! Thanks for your literary aptitude, curmudgeonliness bonhomie, and wonderful book porn. You are the best! (Side note--#66 I love all the books lying down -- no one ever shelves them that way.) Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy day of, Americans, and I'll hoist a flute of prosecco to you all in about an hour and a half. A few more bastings, which I don't have to do, and then birdie's outta the oiven; I chop the giblets and sneak the neck to the dog; and the resting juices plus the giblets get made into gravy. The by golly it's time to eat!

Your meal sounds delicious, Richard. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Richard!

Happy Thanksgiving Hugs & Kisses flying East!

Funny story about coffee. We came home from the hospital last week Monday, and the first thing my Mom said was, "I'm going to have to learn to get along without coffee. I've never made it before." Turns out that for the last 57 years, my Dad made the coffee, and if he was out of town, she drank hot chocolate. We had to teach her to make coffee, and she's catching on pretty well. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!

>66 richardderus: horizontal book stacking- controversial! But I like it, a lot.

Happiness to you on this day RD, and may the flute hoisting go well. (hmm, now what on earth is prosecco?)

Thank you all, my dears, I am pleased to report that I survived, sort of. Food was scrumptious if I do say so myself, I am full but not bursting, and the pain levels are the only problem. I'm lying here happy as always that the heating pad was invented!

Glad to hear you had a good Thanksgiving, Richard. A little pain as a consequence for indulging in all the good food? Hope you feel better soon!

>112 jolerie: Thanks, Valerie, it's so nice to have done it, but I'm glad I'm DONE!

nighty night rd

*smooch* Sleep thee well, my dear little hobbit-woman.

Thank goodness for that!

Well it's over now and I hope you got to enjoy it since you put your heart and soul into it Richard. In other words, I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

So glad you enjoyed your day Richard. A late Happy Thanksgiving to you. :)

>117 brenzi: Hi Bonnie, I enjoyed as much as I could then came upstairs early. The side benefit is that I'm now enjoying a piece of southern mincemeat pie and coffee in bed. THIS is heaven.

>118 luvamystery65: Hi there Roberta! Belated happy Thanksgiving to you, too. Hope it was a nice day for you.

Indeed.

Books...the gateway drug to thinking for yourself.

Great minds think alike - I had pecan pie and coffee in bed! So do you get to just sit back and relax today?

Pretty much, the others did clean-up and I am still swollen in the joints. I have to drive the Gruesome Twosome to the station to go to a party, then pick them up tomorrow. Can't complain about those duties! All that work they put in arranging, making the place beautiful, cleaning...! It was a lovely party. I wasn't there for most of it!

sneak the neck to the dog Gracious!!! At our feast, there were 4 (count 'em) turkey necks, by design, so my brother and I would not have to fight over who gets that choice bit. Our favorite since we were kids! In fact, I didn't eat any other turkey meat until about 8 o'clock last night, when I nibbled a bit on the leftovers that we were allowed to carry home with us. After kielbasa, cheese & crackers, squash-and-scallop soup and a few glasses of wine, there was little room for anything but mashed potatoes and gravy and a bit of green bean casserole (made with home-made mushroom soup and beans picked & frozen by the cook) by the time we sat down.

SQUASH AND SCALLOP SOUP!!!!!!!!

*drools self into dehydration*

Oh my oh yes more please!!

I don't like fiddling with the bones. I am not supposed to give the dog bird-boned things, which she **adores** so I just oops drop things and she's on it.

> 116 like >120 richardderus: like >121 richardderus: like more please :)!

Glad to hear that you had such a lovely Thanksgiving! And dropping "bird-things" for Stella is ok, at least sometimes. *giggle* I do the same with our big baby Ayke, who also *adores* and *drooles* over anything birdy.

oh, my, so much party! When will we get back to just normal? I'm home. Need to go buy some milk for my coffee and then I'll read until I have to drive to my dog sitters to pick up Greta Garbo. Then home, to read. Situation = normal again. Yeah!

>126 drachenbraut23: Ayke is a baby after my own heart!

>127 maggie1944: I know you can not wait to get your smoochiepoochie back in your arms!

Sounds like a Thanksgiving par excellence, Mr. D. Hope you have a good time today recovering from all that chef-ilizing and entertaining.

*makes a beached-walrus grunt*

wha

whazzat?

smbudy talkin or

*snore*

I made squash soup last week.. with caramelized onions & some vegie broth in it, oh and hot sauce. It was yum.. Today I will make chicken soup. I like to make it the day before we eat it, so I can sim the fat off the top after it is in the fridge overnight.

I feel sleepy today too.. blaming the allergy med..

Did you have folks that stayed over?

Squash soup is delish, but NOW I want squash and SCALLOP soup! *drool*

We had two overnighters. Didn't leave until noon! I was very surprised at how little there was leftover. I've got the carcass in the stockpot now with carrots and onions and bay leaf and peppercorns and oregano so I can get some good, strong stock. Then probably veggie soup from that.

Work tomorrow, right? Do liberries have a Black Friday, I wonder?

Wait, really? You really don't like turkey, Richard? I love it and I love, even more, the turkey soup and turkey pot pie made from leftovers! Your soup sounds pretty good.

No work for me today (Friday). Thanks goodness. And I'm planning a trip to my favorite local bookstore tomorrow.

Well I hope everyone has recovered from Thanksgiving & the accompanying over indulgence .......

Theoretically off till Tuesday ~

I'll come over for the veggie soup.

>133 EBT1002: Not a bird meat lover, me. I'll take pig or cow meats every time. I might make tetrazzini (veloute with turkey, celery, mushrooms, onions baked with pasta) or just freeze the bits. I like veggie soup, and am fine with the stock.

Wheeee on bookstore trip!

>134 roundballnz: All hangovers hung, so all's well thanks Alex. How's your summer shaping up?

>135 mckait: OOO! How lovely. I hope it happens that way.

>136 avatiakh: Turnip, carrot, onion and potato. Sound good?

Company is gone so I popped over to say Hi! and nibble on the leftovers. Hmmmmm. Not much left! Smooches.

Loving the idea of a fullness derived from a fun get together dinner, and the resulting leftover meals....count me in for the soup. If me Kerry and Alex share a taxi, it'll be that much cheaper....
:)

RD - wishing you a great weekend polishing off all those leftovers and particularly the whisky impregnated gravy.

Saturday..... so far so good.
You?

Enjoy those leftovers - my spousal unit managed to cram an amazing amount of same in bags to take home..... we're back in the gray northlands now.

>138 Berly: Hi Berly! *smooch* Have some stuffing, the gravy needs to be used up.

>139 LovingLit: Sharing a taxi is very sensible, the airport is 20min away, and the lounge has two beds.

>140 PaulCranswick: Whisky? Never! This was bourbon, cheap cheap whiskey. Never use a single malt in cooking!!! One would be lynched!

>141 mckait: Train station by 10:51, then home again home again for souppage. *smooch*

It's a good man who will throw a turnip into his veggie soup. Every time I buy one at the supermarket I seem to get a teenaged checker who gives me that "What manner of thing is this?" look.

Hi Richard, just stopping by to wish you and Stella a lovely weekend - with lovely food - To chime in with your lovely food discriptions :) I am going to be spoiled by my mum tomorrow. She prepared "Sauerbraten" (braised beef, marinaded in vinegar), a German speciality which is usually prepared with horse meat, but my mum ALWAYS uses beef :). With that I will get bread dumplings, red cabbage with apple and onions and all will be served with a lovely red wine sauce.

*makes not to never use single malt in cooking*

Just stopping in to wish you a lovely weekend. How did that stock turn out?

Hi Richard - hope you have recovered from cooking the feast:) Have a great weekend.

Like!

>144 laytonwoman3rd: I like turnips AND rutabagas, Linda3rd, and get those same looks from the supermarket folk as I check them out. If you really want some humor, buy the *fresh* not waxed turnips in season. Oh my. Such befuddlement.

>145 drachenbraut23: shhhhh don't say a *word* to any of the Murrikins, Bianca, but I prefer horse as my sauerbraten

LOVE the cabbage dish! Have you had all the same stuff but added caraway seeds? That's yummy too.

That's my kind of clubbin'!!

>146 Crazymamie: A wise precaution, Mamie. The downside is so awful.

The stock's still simmerin' and the head of garlic's just gone in. About 4-ish I'll put the cubed root veggies in and about 6-ish the green tops. Eat about 7 or so.
>150 Crazymamie: Heh, I know!

>147 MonicaLynn: Hi Monica! We do spoil 'em, don't we?

>148 calm: Hi calm! I'm still pretty sore, but it really was so yummy and is even better now, so...well, it's worth it.

>152 Berly: We are some party animals, eh?

Book porn, house porn, just "oh yeah give it to me now" porn.

Hmm cooked bones for dogs *shudder* I am fully indoctrinated in the "raw bones are okay, but cooked bones are too brittle" club. I do however let things fall for the furkids quite often..just never cooked bones.
I had chicken soup for lunch myself, and will have a turkey sandwich for dinner. Tomorrow or Monday is the big day, I will make the apples and Brussels Sprouts.. depends on if dan works overtime tonight. I have the fixin's I just need to fix'em.

I decided on leftover stuffing for lunch. Soup is simmering away merrily.

Hope the sprouts light your tastebuds up! *smooch*

We actually don't have much in the way of leftovers since P's dad did the turkey and we mostly left him with it. Tonight P is making Minestrone soup. I've brought a good bottle of vintage 2000 California Cab up from the basement. We'll survive without the leftovers, I guess.

Turnips??!! Ick ick ick. It's my #1 most hated vegetable.

Summer has very definitely arrived ..... so have the warm nights - perfect excuse for midnight ice-cream!

Hi, Richard, I like turnips, rutabagas, and midnight ice cream. Turkey soup. Brussels sprouts. Minestrone soup. Turkey dressing.

Food! What's not to like?

I had a steak, and broccoli for dinner. yummy.

>158 EBT1002: Oh boo hoo! Poor ickle you!

*fumes jealously*

>159 kidzdoc: No WONDER you only like depression-inducing suicidally grim reads! Severe turnip deficiency. Probably don't eat mixed greens with ham hock pot likker on cornbread, either. No wonder I like happier, less horrifyingly misery-making books.

Oh my, the greens! Mmmmmmmmmmm

>160 roundballnz: Hokey-pokey?

>161 maggie1944: Corn on the cob. *shudder* That is most definitely not to like, unless you're a hog being fattened for slaughter, in which case eat up say I, but as you and I aren't....

Dancer the Beautiful Komodo Dragon

I have never ( to my knowledge ) eaten a turnip, or a parsnip. So far, i do not feel that I have suffered the lack.

>165 richardderus: Hmmm...perhaps the tribulations of the preceding 45 years have escaped your failing memory, dearest, but I recall. And all of them could've been avoided had you simply eaten turnips. Including the Bush Presidency. See? All your fault, just as I've always said.

>155 richardderus: was just looking over your spectacular book porn when Lenny came to me, nappy in hand. Said nappy happened to be filled with an unmentionable stinky mess. LOL.
*dealt with*

Love from Flopsy the Foxy Gopher: I think it works for me :)

Actually, I think Flopsy is the PERFECT name for a beautiful Banana Slug. Which I'm.

Dancer the Intelligent Gorilla... hmmm not too sure about that one!

#155 is amazing by the way. Drool. Sigh.

Also I really have to not stop by your thread when I'm hungry :/

> 163 hmmm Tango The stubborn Wombat ....... stubborn may or may not suit

Ice cream at midnight is whatever you can find - if nothing search for Nestle scorched almonds

Flopsy the Not-So-Shabby Rabbit. Hmmm...I'm thinking that Megan got a much better name. I am also thinking that it is going to get confusing around here with all these Flopsys!

Well crap. I would have eaten a bushel of turnips to get Bush out of there.. someone might have mentioned it to me...

>162 richardderus: Probably don't eat mixed greens with ham hock pot likker on cornbread, either.

Wrong! Mama's originally from Troy, Alabama, so I grew up (and out) on good Southern cooking. However, she, her mother and her sisters left Jim Crow Alabama to move to NYC in the early 1940s when she was a little girl, as part of the Great Migration chronicled in THe Warmth of Other Suns.

>163 richardderus: My name fits: Gomer the Stubborn Banana Slug. Lord knows there ain't nothin' more stubborn than a ticked off banana slug.

BTW, didya know that those crazy mixed up kids at the University of California, Santa Cruz voted for a Plato reading banana slug as the school mascot several years ago?



>166 LovingLit: an unmentionable stinky mess

Sounds to me like Lenny had turnips for dinner.

>171 mckait: Well crap. I would have eaten a bushel of turnips to get Bush out of there...

Oof. Dubya wasn't that bad, was he?

I've heard rumors that banana slugs eat the other kinds of slugs, in which case the banana slug is always welcome in my yard!

Oh yeaaahhhh

Perfect!

175 unread messages..... whew.

Drive-by hugs and smooches, RD!

Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful. Or tolerable. Whichever fits.

>166 LovingLit: Oh my yes, that's perfect for you!

>167 MerryMary: Before this, I don't know that I've ever even been aware of banana slugs. Now however, it seems I'm to be surrounded by them!

>168 BekkaJo: Yeah, I'd have a problem with that one myownself. Some kinda book porn, eh what?

>169 roundballnz: Heh...wombats are cute, Alex! Be the source...embrace the essence...

>170 Crazymamie: What was that, Flopsy VII?

>171 mckait: It was in the instruction manual. Didn't you read it?

>172 kidzdoc: Banana Slugs! "FIAT SLUG" made me snort coffee out my nose. What can one expect, though, it IS Santa Cruz.

Turnips are good, you're simply going on old habits. Buy some frozen turnip cubes in the Publix and heat 'em in the nuke with butter and salt. Yum.

>173 maggie1944: Heck, in that case, let's start a home-based empire growing ans shipping the little devils!

>175 maggie1944: Ain't it?

>176 karenmarie: HORRIBLE! How lovely! *smoochiesmoochsmooch* It was just fine, thanks, and the dinner was (and is) delicious.

I read that Banana Slugs are native to the pacific northwest part of the country, and my new moniker is Pandora The Stingy Banana Slug, so then, I do not know what it all means. I've seen one Banana Slug in my yard and I declined to kill it. I must of recognized it as a relative? I do know that left to my own worse self, I will be as slow as a slug in doing chores.

*wanders off muttering to self*

Biology IS destiny! *marvels*

On the Cape there is a kind of turnip called an 'Eastham turnip' that is .... delicious. It just is delicious, sweet and with a nice texture. I have never figured out if it is a special kind of 'old' 'heirloom' turnip or just the result of growing in the sandy soil, but wow. Not all that easy to find - in fact - you more or less have to be in Eastham in late October. Thoreau, I believe, even MENTIONS them!

I seem to be Abercrombie the Hairy Gopher. My daughter's is quite nice: Won Ton the Intelligent Sloth.

*drool* Would love to try an Eastham turnip.

Heh. My girl is "Pandora the Not-So-Shabby Rabbit." I like the Intelligent Sloth!

>155 richardderus: I want it! My wife teases me that I'd knock out all our walls if I could, and that comes pretty darn close. Love the ceiling height, the glass wall, the bookshelves, the outdoor feeling. Ah, well, I'll enjoy it vicariously.

It's all we can do, us mere non-zillionaire mortals. But we can sure do the heck out of vicariously loving it!

Dancer the Stingy Sloth dropping by to say hi and salivate.

*hands Dancer the Stingy Sloth a drool cloth*

We keep a ready supply of 'em, dear, no worries! Glad to see you.

Dancer the Beautiful Banana Slug waves hello to the Komodo Dragon Dancer the Beautiful!

Pandora the Evil-Eyed Dingo stopping by to say I want the latest in book porn BAD!! And with my name, everyone had better just get outta my way! Turnips. Ick. Pooie.

Heh! Hiya DancerSlug!

Hi Richard you do find some interesting and quirky things:)

Yet another Banana Slug here:) - Saffron the Intelligent Banana Slug

Saffron! I think you're our first Saffron, calm. I wonder if banana slugs are intelligent in the wild...?

>172 kidzdoc: yes he was

rd.. I will give it some thought. I have wondered about them, but not enough to try them. I have never seen them at The Big Bird... but I will look about and perhaps.. perhaps.. I will just buy one.

#163 Flopsy the Angry Rhino - OMG LOL what an odd one.. I got..

>163 richardderus: Amigo the Intelligent Sloth!

Hi RD- Just checking in! Hope you have a good day! Here's one for you:

What is it with women, why do there need to be crummy dumb vases and things among the books? No man I know does this.

But the quilt is cool!

>189 Berly: Pandora! I missed you before, sorry, but no matter how Evil-Eyed a Dingo you are, there is simply no excuse for turnipophobia. None.

>193 mckait: Buy some frozen cubes, Kath. In a polybag in the freezer case. Less annoying cooking for something you might not like. Just nuke 'em and put salt and butter on 'em in cube form.

>194 MonicaLynn: LOL I love that juxtaposition! Classic.

>195 avidmom: Oooh, another winner, Amigo!

>196 msf59: LOVE the 'toon, Mark, it's perfect for what the poor bastage has to work around.

I am Neo the Hairy Wolf. (bah)
P is Cougar the Intelligent Banana Slug.

>199 EBT1002: I like both of them, though I admit yours isn't terribly apt. I had a brief moment of hilarity with it when I thought it read "NERO the Hairy Wolf" since I've always liked the Rex Stout novels.

Wait a minute. Voldemort the Hairy Hippo? Really? I'm not THAT heavy. Or hairy. Or gut-wrenching ugly. I call for a do-over.

Flopsy the intelligent wombat? Hmmm odd

Drive by Xs and Os

>201 tloeffler:, 202 Oh those are both just priceless and hilarious!

*gales of laughter safely misdiected so as not to earn a cruciatus curse*

This is probably the best nanowrimo plot I've ever heard.

RD you have 8000 posts done on your thread this year mate (8002 actually) - impressive array of book porn, wit and erudition.

Root vegetable = LOVE. I have thought so ever since I learned to enjoy beets from my grandma's garden. Turnips, parsnips (really, if you like carrots, there's no reason not to love parsnips too), beets, onions, rutabagas (boiled and dressed with vinegar, salt & pepper *swoon*). It's all in the preparation. And of course, they shouldn't be OLD...

impressive array of book porn, wit and erudition

Give credit where credit is due. Richard is hero.

true

Dim Sum The Beautiful Banana Slug! Awesome name.

>195 avidmom: Amigo the Intelligent Sloth
ok, that is my favourite.

>197 richardderus: Id have left the cool clock and of course all the books, then it'd be the perfect quilt. Maybe the only one Id actually ever like? (Im just not that into quilting)

>195 avidmom: Amigo the Beautiful Dingo. I feel like Kate Grenville's and Dave Barry's love child.

Glad to hear your Thanksgiving was delicious.

>204 Clanky: Thanks! I hope to finish it in 2012.

>205 PaulCranswick: WOW!! 8000+!! I am amazed. You are, however, too kind in your assessment of why, I think it's more like I'm the bubble tea of LT a fad that will end.

>206 laytonwoman3rd: I can't think of a root veg I don't love, Linda3rd...I even like salsify.

>207 EBT1002: awwww shuckins Miss Ellen *blush*digs toe in dirt*

>208 mckait: Uh huh, would help if you actually read my reviews and maybe, once in a while, a book I recommended...but support is always welcome. *smooch*

>209 jmaloney17: That's a classic, Jenn! I love it!

>210 LovingLit: I don't care one way or the other about quilting, it's true, but that one's just too cool for school.

>211 swynn: Thank you, Dr. Dingo! Yours too, I hope.

EEEKKK.....0ver 100 posts since last I peeked......hope your turkey was delish....and life is still well.

Smooches

Abercrombie the Banana-eating Elephant checking in - although I would like to know how you/it knew I liked bananas........ Hope you have had a great weekend Richard!

Good morning Richard,
Caboose (a train? according to google) the laughing Wombat reporting to our leader of the new world order :) Well, than the middle name "the laughing" fits well *giggle*

Hm, > 197 I don't have vases in my book shelves, but I do keep little treasures (which my son made) on their as well. I agree with you, I think this is a girlie thing. My dad doesn't keep anything on his book shelve aside from his books :)

>214 tututhefirst: Hi Tina! Yeah, things move fast around here. *smooch* Here's to winter!

>215 lkernagh: Abercrombie dear! So nice to see you. Here, have one of these cool-looking red skinned ones.

>216 drachenbraut23: Do wombats laugh? Or is that only kookaburras? :-)

I'm not kidding, I don't know one man, gay or straight, who puts *stuff* in among his books. Statistically, one must exist somewhere, but I am not acquainted with him.

"The definition MOST people will be familiar with is: Done or shown openly; plainly or readily apparent, not secret or hidden."
Grandiloquent Word of the Day on Facebook

Cool! Never knew this was the source of the word.

Yes, wombat's can laugh :)

Interesting news about the wombat....

Good morning rd

Yes, I'm struck by the happy wombat, too.

Please remind me to have my wife hide the jimcrackerie on the bookshelves when you visit.

>219 drachenbraut23: Awwww how adorable!

>220 mckait: *smooch*

>221 jnwelch: I have been known to apologize profusely for my clumsiness around shelves of crap.

I love all these names! Except mine, that is......

rd... GoodReads has LIKE!
I just realized that.... cool!
Who are all of those people.. lol
Thank for directing folks over to my review :)

>223 EBT1002: Maybe if you use your middle name?

>224 mckait: They're the GR friends who like my status updates, mostly. I sent the note to ~325 of them...up to 28 likes, so probably 100 views of the review. I hope 10% of them buy the book! Hey, even Tanja in Finland says she's going to, and she always does what she says she will.

Well, cool! Thank you :) I hope some of them do buy it, it is really wonderful :)

Do wombats laugh? Or is that only kookaburras? :-)
I just had a 3rd grade music class flashback about the kookaburra! LOL
And now that song will be stuck in my head for days ................

*evil Muttley laugh* Oh the joys of being a supervillain!

Can't believe I kept up with a whole thread of yours! I must be improving...

*mental note: move threads into top gear*

Hi TLo! Joplinning along?

Did you call? *Posting some relatively inane comment for no good reason*.

"Laugh, kookaburra, laugh, kookaburra. Gay your life must be."

>232 maggie1944: I was yoo-hooing internally because you've shamefully neglected me. Too busy being all Hawaiian. *sniff* While I sat here all alone, no one visiting me, pining for word.

Ooo, the guilt muscle is strong as ever I see! Damn, funny how it never flabs up. *smooch*

>233 MerryMary: Oh that's just mean M'Lou! That is one of the songs an instructor of mine at a webinar used to demonstrate virality.

Not trying to be mean. Just flashing back to elementary music class in the 50s.

We all had to sing that blasted song, I think! What a maddening thing it must have been to hear that song year in and year out.

EEEEEEEEEEE

*smooch*

We had to sing that song too. Parts of it were altered, quite alarmingly, to suggest that instead of merry merry king of the bush was he, to shoot him up the @r$e with a 303!
Childish humour, tsk tsk *giggle*

oh, my, our Richard is feeling frisky with his teasing. I'm feeling sad for being in the cold cold northwest. We've got frosty mornings, but sunny afternoons. I really should not complain because worse is coming.

I'm trying to pump up some enthusiasm for spending what little money I have left after Hawaii on Christmas presents. And birthdays. The kids birthdays all cluster around Christmas: December, January and February! Dang. I need to focus on December as it is approaching, isn't it.

I'd rather be reading.

Good morning to you rd :) Are you on the list for reading Roll Me Up and Smoke me?
It just occurred to me to wonder... hope your day is a good one.

Yes that was the 'token' song from down under, wasn't it? Waltzing M. too, I suppose, ok, so two token tunes, but that was IT.

Morning Richard - just checking in over here. I like the quote in post 226!

Good morning, Richard. I hadn't realized you were sitting here all alone while Karen was gone, with not a word from anyone. I'll bring cookies next time.

Indeed I am Joplining along. Trying to put up with Stasia's abuse. I tried playing the "emotionally fragile" card but she's not buying it.

She's so sweet online, but in person she's mean as the dickens!

And if she asks me one more time "Is it time to go yet?" I'm going to throw a pillow at her head.

>237 LovingLit: I wish we'd thought of that in my fifth-grade class.

>238 maggie1944: I can only imagine the transition from paradise to poopy ol' precipitation. *there there, pat pat*

>239 mckait: Already got it, snoogums. No need for me to review it. You already did.

>240 sibylline: "Tie me kangaroo down, Sport
Tie me kangaroo down!" eeeuuuurgh I did this one to myself!

>241 Crazymamie: *smooch* for Pecanland's Own

>242 jnwelch: Oh! A visitor! Oh my, loosen my stays and bring the sal volatile! One of LT's royals has noticed me! *swoons onto fainting couch*

>243 tloeffler: That's Stasia, all right...lure you in with the sweetness and light, then *bam* out comes the Louisville Slugger.

Have a wonderful time!

It's chilly and drizzly today, not quite 40F and a little *ping* to the rain. Stella is so not a fan of rain that she *refused* to go outside until almost ten am!! Once there, however, she was (as always) transfixed by the trucks of the repair fleet (more lines came down, not affecting us thanks be but c'mon man!! enough with this!!)...wanting to go and sniff the men working, and play with the dangling wires and what-all.

Anatomically she's female. Psychologically not so much. More like an 8-year-old boy.

Stella just has some good butch vibes going..... ;-)

Stella would be one of those biker lesbians, for sure. She's about as dainty as a shovel. Which is why I got her! Don't like dainty. Never did.

> 248 LOL Richard! I love the discriptions of Stella. Just sounds like a dog after my heart! *smile*

I am quite sure she and Greta Garbo would get along famously. Greta is certainly not dainty, either. She's a toughie and I consider her to be the boss in my house. Yes, Greta, let me open the door for you. Of course, Greta, you may sleep on the new sofa. What? You don't say? You need your food warmed up a titch?

Tango the Hairy Rhino. Really? Sigh.

>249 drachenbraut23: My lassie is a loveycuddles, for sure! She loves her some people. The original Party Animal!

>250 maggie1944: Oh dear, two alpha females in one place...uh oh!

>251 scaifea: Tango darling! We won't mention the hairy part, I promise.

I am Flopsy (are we up to VIII now?) the Stubborn Wombat.

Yup that's me...

bwaaaahaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Oh I needed that laugh! Priceless!

SOME people are ridiculously spoiled by frequent visitors, much as they may claim otherwise. I, for example, have had NO visitors since Sunday night. That's 40 hours, for heaven's sake. I may go into a decline. :-(

I thought of you when I saw this one:



I hope you are staying warm!

Forgive.. not caught up tonight.. but wanted to say hi..

Stopping by to wish you a warm evening with a wonderful book.

>255 ronincats: What?! Me, spoiled?! Frequent visitors, my Aunt Fanny! Why, this thread's been up since 11/17 and there are only 258 messages! In 10 days! Oh woe, the loneliness, the isolation, that's only...errrmmm...26 messages a day.

Oh well, it's quality, not quantity, right? ah heh *cough*

>256 msf59: *snerk* I saw that today, Mark, made me snicker. We're toasty as marshmallows, Stella and me. I **adore** having power. It means the furnace works!

>257 mckait: *smooch* Fun day tomorrow! Whee! Try not to make too much fuss as they drag you off.

>258 Whisper1: Thank you, my love! I plan on those things now that I've watched Vera, a Brit mystery series based on Ann Cleeves' series character Vera Stanhope. A good show.

Mornin' from the Hairy Hippo, Richard! I'll take hairy hippo-ness happily today, as I've waked to hivelessness this morning -WOOHOO!!

And good morning, you dear man, from Fantasia the laughing sloth. I used my maiden (blush) name as I think of it as my real name.

The sad thing is, that somehow seems perfectly apt.

>254 richardderus: Great, no? I was trying not to giggle at work last night and it wasn't working out so well.

*waving as she strolls by on a very early morning*

~~waves~~ Darling Richard passing through catching up.. :)

>260 scaifea: Hairy or not, Hippo or not, HIVELESS is the best news yet! YAY!!

>261 Matke: Good morning to you, dear Laughing Sloth. I hope this is a day that tickles your funny bone from giddy-up to whoa.

>262 bell7: *snerk* It's still makin' me giggle!

>263 maggie1944: Woo-hoo! *smooches flung after retreating Tea Lady*

>264 MonicaLynn: *more smooches tossed at Monica*

De-lurking just to up your message count, since you're feeling bereft. (Nobody's visited my thread in days and days. Ahem) So, anyway, "Howdy!" from Abercrombie the Tail-chasing Elephant.

Where IS your thread, Linda3rd? I'm off to the threadbook, since I've been remiss!

(I *was* only funnin' about feeling bereft...most people don't get the visitors in a week that I do in a day. I'm a happy attention hog.)

Really and truly. Deeply. Madly. Whoever you are.

#268 = A major TRUTH!

Don't you think? It would single-actedly seduce me back into matrimony.

Of course I'd regret that as I was dismembering the poor sod for leaving the toilet seat down when all normal persons know its proper position is fully up.

why do you think I'm still married to Mr. Tutu.....he grinds beans, makes coffee and has it ready when I arise ---- he even lets me sleep and doesn't turn on the pot until he hears me wake up!

And I don't care about the t-seat....he has his own bathroom. So....there....

>268 richardderus: Yes, yes, yes.

I like your perspective on the toilet seat debate in >270 richardderus:.

>271 tututhefirst: I know marriage experts say money trouble breaks up the most marriages, but I myownself say that the storms could be weathered with ease so long as no one has to share a bathroom.

>272 jnwelch: Well, it's obvious isn't it? Belongs UP. You're telling me women are so dimwitted and unobservant that they can't be trusted to see the seat needs to be lowered? Sexist.

>268 richardderus: Finally, someone who totally gets me!

It's a relief, isn't it Mamie?

Yes, sir!

If you think of this as clutter, what are you doing here?

The clutter is the stuff on top, right? Did I pass the test?

I know I must redeem my reputation after having published a pic of my bookcase with a "plant" on one of the shelves. How could I?

Rare, very rare, to have someone bring me coffee... Kim now and then...

My bookcases have books.. and one binder. It's the binder I use for Duncan's medical records
and I need it at hand. Now the top shelf of one side of the fireplace has family photos...... but...

>278 maggie1944: 87% redemption. Imagine. A PLANT. *mutters sulphrously*

>279 mckait: Heresy! Blasphemy! Anything not a book must be banished!! Binders count as books, as they hold writing.

I put family pictures in front of the books. Best of both worlds.

277> I have a corner that looks about like that.....

Oh, and I am so spoiled! If 6am rolls around (on work mornings) and I have not yet stirred from my blankets, P brings me a mug of coffee on her way to the shower. Usually I get up before that, but I have to admit that sometimes I look at the clock and just choose to stay right where I am, knowing that in 15 minutes or so the coffee will arrive unbidden.

I do make the coffee the night before and set the timer so it's ready when P gets up at 5:30.

>281 MerryMary: Hmm. Welladay...not for me...I don't like things on my bookshelves that aren't books.

>282 EBT1002: It's nice being pampered a little, isn't it? I would guess it's because we don't ask for it or make use of it on too frequent a basis.

Nick Hornby sucked me in. What fun.

In a slight variation, I would say that the sign of a good restaurant server is that he comes by fairly frequently with the coffee pot and wordlessly refills one's cup; none of this, "Can I get you some more coffee?" nonsense - don't interrupt the table's conversation, just pour the coffee, and if I don't want more, I'm more than capable of saying, "Thank you, no." before you've started to pour!

Family trumps books... :P

Good morning, Richard, dear. I hope today is relatively pain free and full to the brim with reading and writing! Are you almost finished with your novel?

>284 scaifea: That's a good waitron, indeed, and the reason I am a happy tipper when they're up to snuff.

Otherwise it just feels like a Sore Feet Tax.

>285 mckait: ...what an odd notion...

>286 maggie1944: Sadly, no.I won't get close to 50,000 words, largely thanks to Sandy and the woes following.

I like the idea so I'll go on with it. See what happens....



I don't even care if they photoshopped out the nasty knick-knacks! It looks much better than the other one.

A book quilt? Lovely...

'Tis, 'tisn't it?

Oooh, I really like that last quilt - is it weird that it feels Asian to me? Something about the patterns and colors in the fabrics...

Review: 104 of seventy-five

Title: THE STOCKHOLM OCTAVO

Author: KAREN ENGELMANN

Rating: 4* of five

The Book Description: Life is close to perfect for Emil Larsson, a self-satisfied bureaucrat in the Office of Customs and Excise in 1791 Stockholm. He is a true man of the Town—a drinker, card player, and contented bachelor—until one evening when Mrs. Sofia Sparrow, a fortune-teller and proprietor of an exclusive gaming parlor, shares with him a vision she has had: a golden path that will lead him to love and connection. She lays an Octavo for him, a spread of eight cards that augur the eight individuals who can help him realize this vision—if he can find them.

Emil begins his search, intrigued by the puzzle of his Octavo and the good fortune Mrs. Sparrow's vision portends. But when Mrs. Sparrow wins a mysterious folding fan in a card game, the Octavo's deeper powers are revealed. For Emil it is no longer just a game of the heart; collecting his eight is now crucial to pulling his country back from the crumbling precipice of rebellion and chaos. Set against the luminous backdrop of late eighteenth-century Stockholm, as the winds of revolution rage through the great capitals of Europe, The Stockholm Octavo brings together a collection of characters, both fictional and historical, whose lives tangle in political conspiracy, love, and magic in a breathtaking debut that will leave you spellbound.


My Review: In eighteenth-century Stockholm, there were yuppies. Revolting Babbitty yuppies. I suppose every generation has them, call them what one likes: The conformist, comfort-seeking anti-rebels whose focus is wholly personal. Emil Larsson, the main character of this novel, is one. I got a lovely foreboding frisson that I was about to watch Emil Larsson take a mega-dive, which always gives me a happy. (Conservatives going down in flames makes me smile no matter when, who, or where.) And sure enough! Happy received! Book rated highly, one third of the way through.

And then.

Whoa NELLY! Quel surprise, tyro historical novelist Engelmann pulls the old switcheroo on me, and uses Tarot (a strong interest of mine since 1974) to winkle out of me the sympathy a decent human being must (reluctantly) feel for one's fellow human in the throes of personal growth and maturation. Apparently Sweden in the 1790s was a place undergoing the Culture Wars so dear (!) to our hearts today. The King, Gustav III, was the leading Liberal (!!) and his little brother the leading Conservative. The modern Swedish state owes its existence to Gustav! What a head-rush!

Okay, so here's where we get Emil's growth...he's got, in the form of the Octavo laid for him by French émigré Sofia Sparrow with her trippy German Tarot cards:


The spread is one of Mrs. Sparrow's own invention, using eight places to discover the people who will make it possible for the subject of the reading to realize in the world a vision had by Mrs. Sparrow:

The Seeker goes on the quest
The Companion is the sidekick
The Prisoner is a hostage to the Seeker
The Teacher doesn't need to be explained
The Courier has access to places the Seeker's message needs to go
The Trickster also doesn't need explanation
The Magpie makes a lot of noise and helps or hinders the Seeker with it
The Prize is, well, the reward...adding someone to one's life for good or ill is a prize, after all
The Key is the person whose unique position and talent are the ONLY way for the Seeker to achieve the goal in the vision

The thing is...the vision comes all unbidden; the spread cannot be done absent a vision; and the Seeker must commit to realizing the vision or the bad luck is dire. In the case of this vision, the consequences of failure or misinterpretation are no less than actual, bleeding Civil War and revolution for the progressive Swedish monarchy. Emil, of course, sees the vision in terms of his desire to marry a rich girl so he can keep his place in the Town's hierarchy. Mrs. Sparrow, to her credit, never bats him one upside the head to force him into seeing things outside himself; Life does that for her, as one burdened with the horrible gift of the Sight well knows it will.

Set all of this in a place and at a time when the French Revolution has all the world on edge, and the King of a smallish country is acting most bizarrely in favor of the commonfolk, and the Enlightenment has lit the torches of scientific understanding of the Universe (much to the enduring disgust of the various churches), and I was hooked from the get-go.

But then Engelmann makes the shift from “mmm nice” to “oh yes indeed! Nice!” by creating the repulsive Emil Larsson and growing him into a man of some values. I can't say I'd ever hand him my wallet and come back in a year expecting the money all to be there. But I would allow him to watch over my debauched daughter. (Not you, sweetiedarling, my IMAGINARY debauched daughter.) He'd protect someone weaker than himself, against his natural leanings. He's a rotten man, made into his best self. Which is, frankly, none too good.

And Sweden...well! Who knew they had history there too! If I ever thought about Sweden before this, it went sort of like “IKEA Volvo Electrolux SAAB ABBA” and from there into reverie about the Swede I dated once (only the second time in my life I've had to turn my face up to be kissed, an agreeable sensation, I see why girls like it, there's a lamentable shortage of gay guys over 6ft6in tall). Turns out the stakes were very high there in those days...Gustav III was the prime mover behind a plan to rescue Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette that ended in the Varennes capture and their eventual executions. Plus the aforementioned Swedish revolution that needed forestalling.

All in all, my favorite kind of read: Characters doing exciting and interesting things, growing as humans, illuminating history and human nature in ways I'd never given a thought to, and using Tarot to do it! I was extra-special pleased by the beauty of the book, from lovely turquoise jacket to handsomely illustrated endsheets to the in-text illustrations of the Tarot cards and spread. So satisfying.

Now for the things that did not please me near so much: Speechifying. The characters are prone to it. It's a first-novel issue, I feel sure, because the nature of the speechifying was appropriate to the situations in which the characters made the speeches. It takes time to learn what other means there are to convey some, though never all, of this information outside the speech. It's a flaw nonetheless. A half-star disappeared about p94-96 because of the issue.

Organizationally, the Octavo was an interesting experiment. Part of the point is that it must be laid out over eight successive nights, a card a night. No reason is asserted for this, and it causes some pacing problems: Eight nights? The events of an entire novel can last less than that and be satisfying; but to front-load the import of the story and still make us drag through eight days is not entirely wise. It worked only partially for me, and I suspect largely due to my deep interest in Tarot. It could cause Backstory Fatigue Syndrome in some pace-sensitive readers.

And lastly, The Fan. I knew next to nothing about the cult and language of fans among Enlightenment-era noble ladies. I know more now, and it was really fascinating, but it ended up feeling very much like something the author wanted me to know, even though she wove it into the story in as deft a way as one could wish. The effect of The Fan on the story is quite exciting, don't mistake me, but...a little less? A lot more, like making The Fan and not the Tarot central to the book? I don't know, somehow the fan thing made itself obtrusive and I was taken out of the story when the blasted things showed up.

I hope, though, that my warblings of pleasure about the experience of reading the book will cause you to plunk down the old spondulix and support Ecco Press and Engelmann in their gamble that there is still an audience for solidly made, intriguing, fun-to-read fiction about times and places not our own.

*Animal sensitivity note: Passages in this book won't sit well with those readers. Probably best to avoid.*

Another top-rate review, Richard! I was with you all the way until the last sentence. Pity.

Sounds good to me Richard:)

>292 ronincats: Thanks! I know, Roni, that's going to knock plenty of readers off the roster. I think it's better to do so than cause that kind of collywobble. *sigh*

>293 calm: Thank you, calm! Enjoy it.

I do believe I'll be buying a book. How amazing.

Thumb and thank you for a terrific review.

Oh, and a good week-end to you, honeybun.

Review: 105 of seventy-five

Title: HOUSEKEEPING VS. THE DIRT

Author: NICK HORNBY

Rating: 3.75* of five

The Book Description: In this latest collection of essays following The Polysyllabic Spree, critic and author Nick Hornby continues the feverish survey of his swollen bookshelves, offering a funny, intelligent, and unblinkered account of the stuff he's been reading. Ranging from the middlebrow to the highbrow (with unrepent{ant} dips into the lowbrow), Hornby's dispatches from his nightstand table serve as useful guides to contemporary letters, with revelations on contemporary culture, the intellectual scene, and English football, in equal measure.


My Review: I've only just discovered Hornby and his reviews. I love them, because he's a snarkinator and because he's unafraid of reviewing the way I like to: Tell you about the book, but really why bother unless you tell about the reason you felt as you did about the book. Otherwise I can read the book description and be done with it.

So here we have the second collection of his columns, where I began with his fourth, and frankly it makes no difference because his method and his style ain't no different here. I like it, so I'm going to like it, but if one review turns your switch to off, put it down and never look back.

Oh, another thing I like about Hornby: A major, vocal, and persuasive propagator of the “if it bores you, put it down at once” school of reading. Many people, according to the wise Hornby, don't associate reading with pleasure because of some damnfool idiot snob's insistence that there are good books and bad books. Hogwash. There are well-written and poorly written books, yes, this is undeniable. But, and this is the most important point Hornby makes, it's not up to YOU o snob to say what anyone else on the planet should feel about those well-written or poorly written books. I've said it before, it bears repeating, and I think Hornby would agree: Get your nose out of the air, all you're doing is showing us your boogers.

That snarl of irasicbile disdain emitted, moving on to the reason I've rated this book lower than the first one I reviewed: This book has excerpts.

I hate excerpts.

I'm not a spoilerphobe, like some, although spoilerphobes are advised to use caution in page-turning for fear of seeing a word or phrase that might come back to you in reading the actual book. I am, instead, impatient. If the few paras chosen as an excerpt awake in me the burning passion to read the book excerpted, I want it NOW. With a Kindle, this greed and lack of self-control can be quite expensive. If I manage to make myself wait for the next trip to the liberry, it causes me sleeplessness and heartburn to pine for and yearn after the Object of My Affections Denied Me.

Boo on excerpts. Fie! Begone!

And, if I'm honest, the books excerpted here (five in total) aren't in the main particularly interesting to me. Excerpting Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis seems particularly bizarre and, in my mind, unsuccessful. Attentive readers of my reviews will recall my unimpressed-to-the-point-of-disgust response to Jess Walter's book Beautiful Ruins, and the excerpt from his earlier Citizen Vince convinces me that I simply don't like this man's writing. The agony, the torment of FORCING myself to wait until I go to the liberry tomorrow...twenty-six hours away! Ohhh owww...to get Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation is wearing on me, like waterboarding would. The excerpt did its evil, evil work here. And I'm pissed about it. So take that, Nick Bloody Hornby, I've knocked a quarter star off this book's rating! Ha! Muck about with my addictions, will you?

>295 Matke: Oh goody good good, Gail! I think you'll really like it. Such a deep pattern she draws...*happy sigh*

Tomm and I both are Hornby fans, but we've only read his novels - I'll have to look into this...

I loved the one Hornby I listened to. A feckless rock band. Wonderful. I bet I'd like his reviews. With you on the excerpts and the instant gratification need....

I forgot! New thread is up!