Joe's Book Cafe 29

Painting by John Singer Sargent

Welcome back to the cafe!

Book bar courtesy of Richard.

The 100 Most Beautiful Words in English

(from alphalibrary)

Ailurophile A cat-lover.
Assemblage A gathering.
Becoming Attractive.
Beleaguer To exhaust with attacks.
Brood To think alone.
Bucolic In a lovely rural setting.
Bungalow A small, cozy cottage.
Chatoyant Like a cat's eye.
Comely Attractive.
Conflate To blend together.
Cynosure A focal point of admiration.
Dalliance A brief love affair.
Demesne Dominion, territory.
Demure Shy and reserved.
Denouement The resolution of a mystery.
Desuetude Disuse.
Desultory Slow, sluggish.
Diaphanous Filmy.
Dissemble Deceive.
Dulcet Sweet, sugary.
Ebullience Bubbling enthusiasm.
Effervescent Bubbly.
Efflorescence Flowering, blooming.
Elision Dropping a sound or syllable in a word.
Elixir A good potion.
Eloquence Beauty and persuasion in speech.
Embrocation Rubbing on a lotion.
Emollient A softener.
Ephemeral Short-lived.
Epiphany A sudden revelation.
Erstwhile At one time, for a time.
Ethereal Gaseous, invisible but detectable.
Evanescent Vanishing quickly, lasting a very short time.
Evocative Suggestive.
Fetching Pretty.
Felicity Pleasantness.
Forbearance Withholding response to provocation.
Fugacious Fleeting.
Furtive Shifty, sneaky.
Gambol To skip or leap about joyfully.
Glamour Beauty.
Gossamer The finest piece of thread, a spider's silk
Halcyon Happy, sunny, care-free.
Harbinger Messenger with news of the future.
Imbrication Overlapping and forming a regular pattern.
Imbroglio An altercation or complicated situation.
Imbue To infuse, instill.
Incipient Beginning, in an early stage.
Ineffable Unutterable, inexpressible.
Ingénue A naïve young woman.
Inglenook A cozy nook by the hearth.
Insouciance Blithe nonchalance.
Inure To become jaded.
Labyrinthine Twisting and turning.
Lagniappe A special kind of gift.
Lagoon A small gulf or inlet.
Languor Listlessness, inactivity.
Lassitude Weariness, listlessness.
Leisure Free time.
Lilt To move musically or lively.
Lissome Slender and graceful.
Lithe Slender and flexible.
Love Deep affection.
Mellifluous Sweet sounding.
Moiety One of two equal parts.
Mondegreen A slip of the ear.
Murmurous Murmuring.
Nemesis An unconquerable archenemy.
Offing The sea between the horizon and the offshore.
Onomatopoeia A word that sounds like its meaning.
Opulent Lush, luxuriant.
Palimpsest A manuscript written over earlier ones.
Panacea A solution for all problems
Panoply A complete set.
Pastiche An art work combining materials from various sources.
Penumbra A half-shadow.
Petrichor The smell of earth after rain.
Plethora A large quantity.
Propinquity An inclination.
Pyrrhic Successful with heavy losses.
Quintessential Most essential.
Ratatouille A spicy French stew.
Ravel To knit or unknit.
Redolent Fragrant.
Riparian By the bank of a stream.
Ripple A very small wave.
Scintilla A spark or very small thing.
Sempiternal Eternal.
Seraglio Rich, luxurious oriental palace or harem.
Serendipity Finding something nice while looking for something else.
Summery Light, delicate or warm and sunny.
Sumptuous Lush, luxurious.
Surreptitious Secretive, sneaky.
Susquehanna A river in Pennsylvania.
Susurrous Whispering, hissing.
Talisman A good luck charm.
Tintinnabulation Tinkling.
Umbrella Protection from sun or rain.
Untoward Unseemly, inappropriate.
Vestigial In trace amounts.
Wafture Waving.
Wherewithal The means.
Woebegone Sorrowful, downcast.

Favorite Books So Far in 2012:

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand
Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
The Siege by Helen Dunmore
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron
Wild: From Lost to Found by Cheryl Strayed
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
In A Sun-burned Country by Bill Bryson
Turkana Boy by Jean-Francois Beauchemin and Jessica Moore
Shadow Divers by Ron Kurson
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
The Western Lit Survival Kit by Sandra Newman
Pyongyang by Guy Delisle
The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

My fave 2012 young adult books are:

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Wonder by R. J. Palacio
Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore
Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Favorite Nonfiction from the Last 10 Years

1. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
2. War by Sebastian Junger
3. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
4. Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
5. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
6. The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat by Eric Lax
7. Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
8. Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand
9. The Judgement of Paris by Ross King
10. Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff

Runners-up: The Swerve and Will in the World by Stephen Greenblatt, Michaelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King, Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder, The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr.

Favorite Fiction from the Last 10 Years

1. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
2. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
3. The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
4. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
5. Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
6. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
7. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
8. Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
9. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
10. Old Filth by Jane Gardam

Runners-up: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, The Blind Contessa's New Machine by Carey Wallace, After the Quake by Haruki Murakami, The Kite Runner and Life of Pi.

Books to date:

January

1. Ghost Ship by Sharon Lee
2. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
3. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
4. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
5. Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
6. Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman
7. The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen
8. Fall Higher by Dean Young
9. Habibi by Craig Thompson
10. The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt
11. Malice Aforethought by Frances Iles
12. Logicomix by Apostolos Doxiadis
13. Tales from Ovid by Ted Hughes

February

14. Mister Blue by Jacques Poulin
15. The Chronicles of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg
16. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
17. A Distant Neighborhood by Jiro Taniguchi
18. The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill
19. All I Did Was Shoot My Man by Walter Mosley
20. The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy by Bill Simmons
21. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
22. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
23. Strangers in Paradise Pocket 6 by Terry Moore
24. The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
25. Thirty-three Teeth by Colin Cotterill
26. Iron and Silk by Mark Salzman

March

27. Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale
28. Echo The Complete Edition by Terry Moore
29. Don't Look Back by Karin Fossum
30. The Siege by Helen Dunmore
31. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
32. Fault in Our Stars by John Green
33. A Zoo in Winter by Jiro Taniguchi
34. Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
35. Disco for the Departed by Colin Cotterill
36. Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

April

37. Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron
38. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
39. Force of Nature by C.J. Box
40. Trail of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz
41. Anarchy and Old Dogs by Colin Cotterill
42. Finder Library Volume 1 by Carla Speed McNeil
43. Wonder by R. J. Palacio

May

44. The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith
45. Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
46. The Luck of the Bodkins by P.G. Wodehouse
47. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore
48. Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
49. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
50. The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst
51. The Great Cake Mystery by Alexander McCall Smith
52. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
53. A Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes
54. Among Others by Jo Walton
55. The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck

June

56. Desolation Road by Ian McDonald
57. The Cricket and the Hearth by Charles Dickens
58. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
59. The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
60. The Incal Classic Collection by Alexandro Jodorowsky and Moebius
61. Starters by Lissa Price
62. Naked in Death by J.D. Robb
63. Glory in Death by J.D. Robb
64. Immortal in Death by J.D. Robb
65. Mort by Terry Pratchett
66. Photo Finish by Ngaio Marsh
67. Zoo Station by David Downing

July

68. Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
69. A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont
70. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
71. Rapture in Death by J.D. Robb
72. Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick by Philip K. Dick
73. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
74. Ceremony in Death by J.D. Robb
75. In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
76. Istanbul Passage by Joseph Kanon
77. The Paris Detective by Gerald Jay
78. Turkana Boy by Jean-Francois Beauchemin
79. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
80. A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
81. Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
82. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
83. Second Son by Lee Child
84. The Age of Doubt by Andrea Camilleri

August

85. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
86. Parker: The Score by Darwyn Cooke and Richard Stark
87. Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill
88. Dream Team by Jack McCallum
89. The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
90. James Bond: Dr. No by Ian Fleming and others
91. horoscopes for the dead by Billy Collins
92. Any Human Heart by William Boyd
93. Moby Dick, or the Whale by Herman Melville
94. 420 Characters by Lou Beach
95. Love and Freindship by Jane Austen
96. Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson

September

97. Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George
98. Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
99. The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny
100. Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
101. A Wanted Man by Lee Child
102. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
103. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
104. The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams
105. Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey
106. Starstruck by Elaine Lee

October

107. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
108. Pyongyang by Guy Delisle
109. The Western Lit Survival Kit by Sandra Newman
110. Adamantine by Hannah Berry
111. Underwater Welder by Jeff Lemire
112. Vulture Peak by John Burdett
113. Vengeance in Death by J.D. Robb
114. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle and Hope Larson
115. Toby Alone by Timothee de Fombelle
116. Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck
117. Odd Apocalypse by Dean Koontz
118. The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
119. Becoming Holmes by Shane Peacock

November

120. How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less by Sarah Glidden
121. Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
122. Batwoman: Hydrology by Hayden Blackman
123. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold
124. The Merry Misogynist by Colin Cotterill
125. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
126. The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
127. Batman Hush by Jeph Loeb
128. Say Goodnight Grace Notes by Jack McCarthy
129. Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi
130. Cold Days by Jim Butcher

December

131. Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
132. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

*comes in the door carrying her chocolate chip pumpkin muffins and latte*

So this is the new cafe, huh? Nice. I like it! Lovely new thread, Joe!

Thanks, Mamie. As the first arriver, it's on us!

Ah ha! Another chance to jump in and pretend I am caught up.
Picture #1 - Looks like the poor lady has a cold and is trying to clear her sinuses - but she should get a little closer for max benefit!

If it isn't too much trouble, I am craving a piece of pie this morning. I thought I could get through Thanksgiving w/o it, but no. Still hankering for some. I don't even care what kind it is! I already have a fork :)

Hi Joe, awesome picture to start off your new thread. I like Cee's interpretation.

How on earth do you read so many books and keep your cafe open 24/7? I think my first book for 2013 should be about time management!

Love love love the book bar!!

Hi Joe :)

Very busy and late day at the office Joe - would enjoy a toast to your latest thread mate with a Bowmore Islay Single Malt, chasing down a pint of Marston's Pedigree and a traditional Steak and Kidney Pudding.

>7 -Cee-: Hah! Good to see you, Cee. You are indeed totally caught up.

The name of the painting is Fumee D'ambre Gris, Smoke of Ambergris. We all know from an excess of whale information in Moby Dick that ambergris is that whale substance (better not to know how it's created, although Melville tells us in some detail) that has a sweet, earthy smell and was used in perfumes. Maybe she's doing it for a cold, hard to say. Maybe a cafe historian will know the reason. I've always loved this painting of his.

Continued pie cravings post-holiday are more than understandable. I know we had pie for breakfast three days running, and we were all sorry to have it end. Here you go (I'd say the pecan pie is in honor of Mamie, but the truth is all of us working here have a weakness for it) (we can take back the extra fork):



>8 Donna828: Thanks, Donna! It's a beaut, isn't it?

You know, in terms of time management, the one that may have to go for me is RL work. You wouldn't believe how it gets in the way. Just trying at the moment to figure out how to vaporize the bills without them reappearing.

>9 ChelleBearss: Me, too, Chelle! A great find by our Mr. Richard. It's traveled to several new cafes now since first appearing, and it's likely to do some more of that. And Hi back! Hope it's a good one for you today. Hang out in the cafe if time permits?

>10 PaulCranswick: Hiya, Paul! Nice to see you on the premises. I know you must be maximally busy.

We don't even have to time jigger this, although we're sure in a different part of the day over here in Chi-town. Here you go:





I do like your style. You make me want to cross the pond pronto. If Debbi and I had won that big Powerball lottery pot last night we were fixin' to get us a London flat.

Thanks Joe - you're a life saver. The Marstons and the steak and kidney pud remind me so much of pub lunches back home.

I love that painting up top, too. She reminds me of the Sibyl breathing the fumes in preparation to prophecy...

Joe, I've posted my paean of pleasure to The Stockholm Octavo, set in 18th-century Stockholm and using Tarot as its story structure, in my thread...post #291.

You wanted to be informed. I'll have a Mamie in celebration, please.

Joe, I never miss a chance to recommend David McCullough's The Greater Journey and your photo of the Sargent painting reminded me. His nomadic family arrived in Paris where he began formal training and was an outstanding talent even as a boy. He caused a great scandal by painting the portrait of a society lady (Madame X) with one of the straps of her gown slipped off her shoulder. We're lucky enough to have quite a lot of his less shocking work - in the style of the lady above - in the Boston Public Library and of course I had to revisit after reading the book.

A review of Nick Hornby's collection of reviews, Housekeeping vs. the Dirt, is up in my thread...post #296.

He's a hoot, this guy. Too bad I'm mad at him. And you, too, Joe, for making me aware of him.

>13 PaulCranswick: I'll bet, Paul. Sure sounds good to me.

>14 scaifea: Oo, you might be onto something there, Amber. Something like that would make some sense for a painting, wouldn't it? Glad you love it, too. He was a talented painter.

>15 richardderus: Eccellente, maestro. I'll check it out. I assume that's a butterscotch Mamie being requested, per previous visits. Here you go, enjoy the celebration:



>16 NarratorLady: Ah, I'm glad you reminded me about The Greater Journey, Anne! I keep meaning to read that darn book. Maybe we need a group read like we did with Team of Rivals? It's a chunkster, I'm pretty sure, so the extra motivation wouldn't hurt.

I remember the Madame X story. She was a "loose woman", I believe, and that off shoulder strap was scandalous indeed. I had forgotten the Boston Public Library had his work; I should revisit it, too, when we're out there next.

>17 richardderus: You are prolific, Mr. D! Not boring, mind you, but awfully hard to keep up with. I'm actually not the guy to blame for making you aware of Nick Hornby, as I'm hopelessly uncool and unread when it comes to him. Probably some other handsome but dull-witted LTer.

MMmmmmm perfect butterscotch (thanks, I forgot to specify) Mamie...yummers!

Not you, re: Hornby? Really...must've been Mark then, all you Chicagoids look alike to me. Must go tell him I'm mad at him, then.

>19 richardderus: Hah! I know, and once we start getting bundled up in the cold weather, we start really looking alike. I'll be sure to forget to tell him anything about this untoward incident.

Glad the butterscotcher hit the spot.

oh gawgeous painting, though incomprehensible to moi. i just like the colors and all the folds and stuff. truth be told, i can't really see it too well. the eyes are having an off day.

Sherlock is drop dead handsome in his new threads. dashing fellow he is. thanks to Becca for the photo. i'd love to see one of you and Sherlock at work on the 'pooter.

i am reading too many books at once. it happens. i'm a glutton. or possibly glooton. therefore, i need to keep my zest up. i should love a plate of pfeffernüsse (nüssen?) and a suitable beverage. i wonder how a sturdy afternoon tea would do, with plenty of cream, of course. i know you're supposed to dip 'em in a sweet wine but i don't like sweet wine. i'll just crunch 'em with my tea.

>21 mirrordrum: Good to see you, Ellie! It is gawgeous, ain't it? The comprehensible is in for me, too, and I likes what you likes, including the stuff. It'll be around for better eye days, we'll make sure.

You're right about thanking Becca for the photo. She had it up on Facebook, among other things. I'll see if we can get one of him being my lap-based LT counselor.

Hmm, glootonimous today, eh? We've got some zest-filled pfeffernusse (loved her in The Fabulous Baker Boys) and sturdy afternoon tea for ya:

Süße, Schatizi, Liebling, Schnucki! so very, very happy you have made me. schmeckt (schmecken?) unheimlich gut!*



*i apologize to anyone here who actually speaks German but i have nowhere else to play about with such words and it's fun.

"Sweet, darling, darling, Snucki, so very, very happy you have made me. It tastes incredibly good!"

How's that? The chef is blushing.



Michelle Pfeffernusse and Jeff Blintzes

Hi Joe- Love the new thread! Love the Sargent painting! It's gorgeous and I'll have to explore more of his work.
BTW- I will take a Booyah, by MKE! If you haven't tried this yet, please do so.

I also love the Michelle Pfeffernusse and Jeff Blintzes!

>25 msf59: Hah! There's our favorite Chicago Peep! Glad you're liking the thread, the Sargent (yes, well worth exploring him - lots of good ones) and Michelle and Jeff. :-)

Let's celebrate the beginning of your three days off - this is new to me, so I'll look for it. I think I told you I finally tracked down Stone Levitation and loved it. Here you go:



OK, trainward ho! for me.

Hi Joe! Just stopping by the cafe. I just finished The Snow Child and I'm getting ready to read another chapter of Team of Rivals but I'm in one of those moods: I don't know what I want to read next and I don't know what I want for dinner.
Probably means it's a night for eating out.....

Hi Joe -- thanks for sharing your "favorites" lists! And those beautiful words. I've always loved 'dulcet.'

all is known. must fly. cinnamon raisin bagel to go STAT, pls.

yrs in haste ~~~~~~~

>27 EBT1002: Ah, I know that feeling, Ellen. I usually reach for something easy to read when I'm in that mood, and yes, good idea to order in. We can take your order here if you've got a craving for virtual. How was The Snow Child? It seems to be getting positive reactions all over LT Land.

>28 AMQS: My pleasure, Anne. I'm glad you're enjoying them. I've always liked "dulcet", too, especially when someone speaks in that dulcet tone.

Hey Joe, badly in need of caffeine to survive. Badly. A vat of coffee and, hmmm, and lemme think here, cheese grits that's it cheese grits!

Happy commuting in the warmth!

>29 mirrordrum: Whoa, didn't see you run in the door, Ellie! I can't believe someone scoped it all out. Let us know when you're safely relocated and we'll send support. Cinnamon raisin bagel instanter (if you don't want the cream cheese, we'll make a quick substitution):

Morning Joe- Peets please! Doesn't that Booyah look tasty? Hope your Friday flies by, so you can start that weekend.

>31 richardderus: Holy Guacamole, our denizens are flying in the door! Thanks for the warmth wishes; it is indeed getting more and more pleasant here. Are we the beneficiaries of global warming? The weather was more moderate last year, too.

Vat of coffee and cheese grits winging their way to you:

>33 msf59: Hiya, Mark. Ah, day one of a bit of a break for you - what are you up to? Peet's and some time in the cafe sounds like a great way to start it off.

That Booyah does look mighty good. I've never seen it before - can you find it among the usual suspects?

Today should be better. Lot of craziness earlier in the week. We've got a Bulls game tomorrow night, the play Metamorphoses on Sunday, and an anniversary party Sunday night. The last is going to make Monday a.m. a little tough, but they're a great couple.

Let's get you that Peet's (we're trying out our new elevated table):

Yes, you can find MKE at Binnys. Try the variety pack, which includes Booyah.

Did you see this Onion article? It's a hoot!

http://www.theonion.com/articles/kim-jongun-named-the-onions-sexiest-man-alive-f...

Thanks, Mark! I was just over at your place and read it there. It is a hoot! The Onion is crack reporting institution, and I love it when they hand out awards like this. Did you see the list of previous winners? What an elite group.

BTW, The Onion moved its headquarters from NYC to Chicago this year, making us the sexiest city alive.

ROTFL! Ted Kaczynski & Bernie Madoff!

Duh, I didn't know they moved to Chicago!

Hah! I know, those two stuck out for me, too. You'd think that might have tipped off the People's Daily, but they probably have no clue who those two are.

Yeah, they originally started out in Wisconsin (Madison?), didn't they? Anyway, back they came.

Just popping in for a quick hello Joe before we head out of town for the weekend....again! Hopefully this will be it for the rest of the year. :)
Happy Friday to you!

Happy Friday, Valerie! Hope it's a fun weekend out of town. Thanks for stopping by!

Joe, the cafe is really hoppin' this morning, isn't it. I am home with a "sick" first grader. He decided one half hour after going back to bed that he "felt better". So now he is sitting next to me at the dining room table doing a workbook we bought at Costco weeks ago. Smart people, we are! And he is a little bit sick, because he did not eat his breakie. Me, I'm a needin' some extra coffee! And maybe a sweet cheese danish to cheer me up. Can't take my camera to the repair shop today! Darn.

Kevin Powers's novel The Yellow Birds, which I yodeled about earlier this year, has just received the Guardian First Book Award over the equally powerful Behind the Beautiful Forevers.Kevin Powers's novel The Yellow Birds, which I yodeled about earlier this year, has just received the Guardian First Book Award over the equally powerful Behind the Beautiful Forevers.

>42 maggie1944: Yup, the joint's a-hoppin', Karen. Pre-weekend relaxation, maybe? My sympathy re your little guy. At least he'll have the next two school-free days to heal up.

I am sorry that you can't take your camera in - we all benefit when you're able to use it and post your photos!

Extra coffee and a cheese danish sounds like a fine idea for cheering you up. Here you go:



>43 richardderus: Oh, that's great news, RD. So great it's worth saying twice!

As you know, I loved both of those. Both did a beautiful job of taking on very tough subjects.

Harder to ignore when I repeat it, right? *sigh*

LOL! No worries.

I really want folks to read this book! I'm trundling all over LT mentioning the prize. I can't afford to buy people copies, or I would!

He got ten thousand pounds prize money, too, which he richly deserves.

I'm with you on that. Surpassingly good book. I'm happy he got that much - I'm sure his poetry income wasn't filling the cookie jar.

Off to the train - pies are on the counter.

Whew! All caught up here, Joe - this joint has been jumping! Now I'm exhausted from all that catching up - I'm going to need a glass of Chardonnay and a bowl of chocolate covered pecans, please. Thank goodness it's Friday!

Cool, rainy, dark night - going shopping with the Niece! She just walked in... we are off.

*snaffles a pecan pie*

I'll be in the corner. I gotta read this hundred year old man thing someone told me was good.

*pockets Reddi Whip can*

I'll come back for the coffee.

Oh! I guess I'd better go stake my claim to the other corner. You know the one: in the back, in the corner, in the comfortable chair with the excellent reading lamp. The weather continues to be rainy, windy, chilly and it is still dark, dark, dark at this early hour. I'm going to do a quick romp through a few threads and then to reading! (I promised I'd make big progress on TOR today, but I've also undertaken to re-read The Hobbit with some buddies over at The Green Dragon)

I'll need some coffee and a bit of Irish Oatmeal (stone cut) with raisins, brown sugar, and full bodied cream, please.

If anything, I definitely need another coffee this morning... o_O

Hi Joe, love your opening picture :)

just stopping to wish you a lovely weekend and share some German specialities with you *smile*

Excactly right for the winter season some Glühwein with Bratapfel :)

*chef nudges nodded-off proprietor at the counter to wake him up*

Eesh. We thinks maybe I got a bit of food poisoning yesterday. Felt crummy when I wanted to be crumb-y instead. Good to be back here.

>50 Crazymamie: Hiya, Mamie! It's a lively cafe all right. Let's time-jigger you the "other" Mamie special!



>>51 maggie1944:, 53 Hope you had a good time with your niece, Karen! Good to see you back at your favorite table. It was a bit lonely back there during your Hawaiian days. Jeez, I haven't read The Hobbit in a couple of lifetimes. I remember reading it when I didn't know there was a Lord of the Rings and being quite taken away by it.

Let's get that brequefast for you:



>52 richardderus: Glad you found the pecan pie for snaffling, Richard. (Exactly how does one snaffle?) Hold the spondulix; given the tardy proprietor, it's on us. And here's some coffee:



>54 dk_phoenix: Gotcha, Faith! Good to see you back at the cafe. Hope all s going well. Here you go with some more coffee:



>55 drachenbraut23: Mulled wine with baked apple! Thanks, Bianca! Very thoughtful. And that does sound (and look) mighty good for this time of year.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, too. We've got a basketball game (da Bulls), a play (Metamorphoses), and an anniversary party (friend's 40th) coming up after a lazy day today, so it should be a good one.

Morning Joe- It sounds like you have a fun weekend planned. Enjoy. Let us know how the play goes. I'm getting ready to go out and string some Christmas lights. Oh joy!
Did you talk to Debi about the 9th?

Cold Days, the 14th(!) in Jim Butcher's series about Chicago Wizard Harry Dresden, is a particularly enjoyable entry for fans. It ties a lot of previously loose ends together, and has Harry in fine form as an enhanced employee of Mab (due to events in the last book). We get to learn a whole lot more about his island Demonreach and its secrets, and about the complex world of Faerie and its relationship with the White Council.

With new powers in play and old powers revealing more than ever before, will Harry finally come up short? Will the action slow up enough for him to finally hook up with ex-cop Karrin Murphy? Or will he fall for the Winter court's mysterious Sarissa? Or let down his guard with his yearning apprentice Molly? If you've been hooked by this series, you'll have a blast finding out.

I have not read any of those books, Joe, but they are on my radar for next year as Craig and two of our kids love them (Dan and Rae). Craig is reading that one right now and was not so patiently waiting for it to come out, so I am happy that it is finally here!! Dan is reading Butcher's Codex Alera books - have you read those?

>57 msf59: Will do, Mark. I'm off to the library soon. Mr. Penumbra's and another one came in. We're always slow with holiday lights, but you're smart to do it in the mild weather.

Thanks for the reminder about the 9th. I just emailed Debbi about it, who's in the basement den, because that's so much easier than getting up. Am I lazy, or what? I'll let you know asap.

Hi Joe! What have we forgotten to do with our review of the latest Dresden? Hmmm?

>59 Crazymamie: I got started on them when I was rehabbing from my first bionic hip installation, Mamie, and they were lifesavers - just the kind of diversion I needed. Good to hear Craig, Dan and Rae like them. They'll definitely enjoy this new one.

I read the first of the Codex Aleras and it just wasn't my cuppa. Quite different from the sarcastic urban fantasy Dresden series.

>61 richardderus: Hah! I didn't expect that level of interest, my friend, but I corrected my thoughtless error. :-)

There! All nice and upgethumbed.

Thanks! For your trouble with the undiligent proprietor:

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO yes please, and also a bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich, hold the lettuce.

Oooooh, Chimay! Nice. I never saw those squat bottles before, just the "bombers". I had Mr. Penumbra's on my Swap WL. I hope I get it! I hope I get it!

Christmas lights done! Yah! It's cloudy out there but very mild.

>66 richardderus: Back from the library, thanks for waiting, Richard. Here you with the sandwich accompaniment (jeesh, our new helper kept wanting to stick lettuce or cheese in there):



>67 msf59: Doesn't that look good, Mark? I now have Mr. Penumbra's in my hot, grubby paws! (well, I cleaned the grub off so I don't mess up the book). Of course, if I love it, I'll wish I got it via a swap. Based on the LT luminaries who've raved about it, there's a good chance I'll love it. I'll keep you posted. I think it will be one of my "at home" books, with Sweet Thursday for the train. We'll see.

Good for you for getting the Christmas lights done. I gave a few minutes thought to such a thing, does that count? Probably not. But it was a nice walk to the library and back in this mild weather.

>68 jnwelch: PERFECTION! That is so slurpsome I would marry it if it had legs.

Joe, I posted an idea over in the Group Reads 2013 thread, and since you liked Pump Six I figured I'd take your temperature on it, too. Post from thread follows.

It's hard to imagine 2013 is coming so fast. Would anyone else like to do a year-long challenge of one first-time author's collection of short stories a month? Authors of one's own choosing, but I'd start a thread each month with five or six suggestions.

I need to keep up the short-story world's presence here on LT!

Oh, and if there's an author one wants to read (eg, Edith Pearlman) whose first book came out a while back, heave it in.

Anyone up for that?

I figured I'd offer some ideas of first-time authors' collections each month, but I'd see it more as a place to meet and trade opinions and reviews, with no planned group reads. Some would come about naturally, of course, and no one would be discouraged from group-reading, but it wouldn't be the focus of the thread.

I plan to host the thread in the Short Stories group that exists (!) already, to help keep traffic down. I'll post a link a month in the Group Reads threadbook.

>69 richardderus: Ah, excellent, RD. The no lettuce was a challenge.

Sure, I'd be willing to try the one new author's book of short stories a month club. As you've probably seen, I'm more a "love the author, so I'll try his/her short stories" type than a regular short story reader, but there's nothing wrong with trying something different. LT has expanded my scope in a number of ways, and I'd be willing to try this one. I know the quality would be high with you as host.

Nice review up there - tempting me to get round to trying Butcher - been on my background list to read for awhile bit like Hamilton ( sic-fi) .....

Joe, I've put up three January group/community read suggestions in the Short Story thread...mosey over and see if any one appeals, or leave a suggestion if none does.

>71 roundballnz: Thanks, Alex. Yes, worth your trying him - if you like it, you've got a lot of fun reading ahead of you. I've probably mentioned it, but to me one of the great feelings in the world is trying the first in a series, liking it, and knowing there are a whole bunch already published. I had that with Jack Reacher and Joe Pickett, and most recently, Eve Dallas.

>72 richardderus: Thanks, Richard. I've read 420 Characters: Stories and liked it (you'll even find my review in there somewhere). I ate up every Vonnegut I could get my hands on as a kid, and now have a son who does the same, so that collection, We Are What We Pretend to Be is the one for me. Can we have Jan. 2013 coming up that soon, really?!

Joe, I was just passing and was drawn to your thread by the smell of that delicious looking bacon and tomato sandwich! Grr..... I really want one now.

>74 EBT1002: Hah! Why does that team ring a bell for me, Ellen? Jeez, it's going to be in the 60s for them tomorrow. Beautiful football weather.



>75 cameling: Good to see you, Caro! You've been busy, I know.

I'm hoping lettuce is okay with that - if not, we'll redo it:

49ers because it's SF and Broncos because of Peyton. i like him b/c he supports Pat Summitt and asked her whether he should complete college or go pro early. she said finish your degree, so he did! two class acts, imo.

>78 jnwelch: Good morning, Ellie! I hadn't heard that story, and it's a good one. Two class acts is right. I'm happy for Peyton. I have to admit I was skeptical he could come back and play football after neck surgery. But he's doing very well.

We had a nice Bulls win over a tough 76er team last night. Despite struggling without Derrick, they're in first place in the Central Division.

Today it's already mild and supposed to end up in the low 60s! In December? We'll take it!

I'm enjoying Mr. Penumbra's, by the way.

Hi Joe...I haven't eaten yet, I was reviewing a book. Pumpkin waffle with cinnamon syrup, maybe a half stick of butter? Had coffee already...lessee...some of the cafe's famous HoCho, then, dark please and milky.

I adore Catherynne Valente. Just sayin'

I love BLTs, Joe ... especially ones heavy on the bacon. The lettuce eases my conscience and makes me feel I'm eating a balanced meal. :-)

Happy Sunday! I'm going to indulge in a little Montalbano later with another DVD.

>79 richardderus: she does rock, RD. are you reading her 2nd one?

oh look, RD, over there. isn't that Ms. Valente coming into Joe's right now (grabbing RD's dark milky hocho and taking a gulp). oh, sorry, RD. just somebody that looks like her. *discrete burp*

i believe i'll have some Mexican hocho with a dollop of whipped cream and, mmmmm, sprouted grain cinnamon toast . . .or whatever the chef can find that's similar.

under an hour to go on Ready Player One. so tickled about H. such a badass. :)

*smacks Ellie's grabby paw* MY HoCho! MINE!

I'm finishing up The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. I love September.

Whipped up a quick cheese dip with tomatoes, jalapenos and onions to go with some salt & lime tortilla chips ... all the ready for watching our dear friend Montalbano. I'm now up to epi 17 and still enjoying it.

Need something to finish of a very long and boring Sunday. Been stuck in a very large open plan office all on my lonesome for a 12 hour day shift with very little to do. Some kind of burger will do the trick I think. How about a Hawaiian. Just the cheese, pineapple and a bit of ketchup on there if you can manage that. Don't want to ruin it with greenery. And some chips/fries or whatever you want to call them to go along with. Ta muchly!

sorry 'bout them Bears, JNW. 'dja see this shot?

awesome!

niners went down, too. we'll see abt the Broncs.

i think you'll thoroughly enjoy Mr. Penumbra's, Joe. hope you've had a lovely day. ours has been very Octoberish: 70, windy, clear, gorgeous and completely out of season.

Hi there Joe, I'll be waiting to see what you think of Mr. Penumbra. I keep going back and forth with it.

Did I see BLT on the menu? YUM.

BLT's sounding mighty good to me, too, Ellen.

i've made several and am keeping them fresh and crispy w/ Joe's asorted jiggeries. help yourselfs.

Thanks for sharing, Ellie!

Hm. I love a good BLT, but only if you hold the T and the L and slather on lots of mayo. I'd call it a BM, but, well, you know...

Hope you had a great weekend!

Joe, all this BLT talk has me craving one. It will be a breakfast sandwich so you can pile on the bacon! Mmmmm, I can smell the sizzling bacon already. I love the speedy service here!

Mr, Penumbra is in my future. Looks like I might get it early next month. We have slow readers here in The Ozarks. ;-)

Morning Joe, gosh who can swim against these tides? A bacon and tomato sammy on rye toast with mayo and some raw onion, please sir.

Sunshine and sixty today! Lovely. Perfect weather to stay inside and read. Hey...that's all weather!

*proprietor stumbles into the cafe, tosses rumpled hat and misses the rack; re-toss is A-OK*

Woo, well, great play yesterday which I'll talk about down below, and we made the anniversants happy with our attendance, but a Sunday night party ain't for the likes of me. You'll find me in one of RD's vats of Peet's Holiday Blend for the next good while.

>79 richardderus:, 92 just in case you're still hankering for waffles, Richard, we'll start with those and move to the Sammy I am, hold the green eggs and ham.

Good to hear you're a Catherynne Valente fan; I keep thinking I need to check out The Girl Who Circumnavigated.





>80 cameling: Sounds good, Caro. Glad to have you back regularly on LT after your travels! I'm way behind on our friend Montalbano. Snowy days are a cummin' at some point, though, and those usually up my viewage.

>81 mirrordrum: Hah! Nice sleight of hand, Ellie. RD loves to share (!), so no worries. Glad you're liking RPO!

Mexican HoCho and that cinnamon-y toast, okay:



>82 richardderus: That's the Valente I'm curious about (for starters), Richard. Looking forward to your reaction to it when you're done.

>83 cameling: Oo, that does sound good, Caro. I think I mentioned that, thanks to that local cable tv station, I jumped way ahead on the Montalbanos and they were still mighty good. I think it's just plain a solid series that's generally faithful to the books. I see they now have a "Young Montalbano" series, that must be made up wholecloth. I don't know what Camilleri's involvement is, but it seems like a sure sign of the success of the book adaptations in Italy.

>84 AHS-Wolfy: Hi, Dave! That's no way to spend a Sunday, seems to me. !2 hours is cruel and unusual punishment. Let's get you that time-jiggered Aloha burger:



>85 mirrordrum: Thanks, Ellie. I did see that one; awesome play by Bennett to get into the TD zone. Ah, que sera, sera, I guess. I was enmeshed in mythical tales of yore as them poor Bears went down. Peyton with the Broncos is just an amazing story; didn't expect them Niners to go down in that game. They're still one of the tops this year.

Yes, I'm thoroughly enjoying Mr. Penumbra's. The tale is heading for New York City right now.

>86 brenzi: I'll let you know about Mr. P., Bonnie. So far so fun.

>87 EBT1002: You did, Ellen. It's like a BLT fest in here. Not sure what music goes with that, but here's the chef's latest:



>>88 mirrordrum:, 89 Nice. You do know your way around the cafe, Ellie, and thank goodness for that! You can always share with Richard, Ellen, if two are too much.

>90 scaifea: It was a great weekend, Amber, but I musts admit I'm plum tuckered out. It's going to be a mellow guy at work today - some might say that's all for the better! Here you go (we can bring more mayo if you want):



>91 Donna828: Hiya, Donna. Mr. Penumbra is another one of those surprise books for me. Hadn't heard anything about it, but it's a fun read so far.

Bacon breakfast sandwich? You got it"



>92 richardderus: It's a beauty, here, too, in terms of temps, RD, although we're getting some drizzle with it. That's all right with me. I've always been a walk the misty moors kind of guy - or at least, walk the misty streets of Chicago.

So, Good Monday morning! I'm taking it kind of easy today, too, having spent yesterday in bed with a stomach upset. I'll go to the dentist as scheduled but otherwise no plans. I'm eating gently today. Any suggestions?

Morning Joe! Sorry about your Bears lost this weekend - but kudos to Ellen and Karen's Seahawks. Colts and the Broncos both won - Hooray! I could use a giant latte and a bowl of motivation today - it's only Monday, and my get up and go got up and left, so I am struggling to get things done. Please help!

My mention of a Primanti Brothers sandwich has given me a hankering for one. Can I have one with corned beef (double meat), Swiss cheese (extra on the cheese), cole slaw, French fries and a fried egg (in the sandwich, not on the side). Oh, and a Diet Coke, please; I'm watching my calories.

Are we caught up? Really? If I missed you, please let us know.

Metamorphoses, directed by Mary Zimmerman, who got a Tony for it, was exceptional. I'm so glad it came back around. A rectangular pool with a narrow walkway around it is the key to the retelling of Ovid's retelling of the Greek and Roman myths. The Lookingglass ensemble cast did a great job with it. We were in the first row of the smallish theater, and arrived to find a fluffy towel on each of our seats. They proved quite useful.









It was all beautifully done and remarkable. One of our best theater experiences ever. 90 minutes, no intermission. One part worth special mention was Ovid's version of the Orpheus/Eurydice story followed by Rainier Maria Rilke's, with starkly different perspectives. The Eros/Psyche love story was mesmerizing, with two actors softly trading questions and answers from the poolside walkway while Eros and Psyche act out the story in the pool. Subversive humor helped balance some of the darker tales. Great stuff.

Ooof...gained 10lb eatin' up the goodies! Waffules! Punkin waffules!!

Diet Coke...ew.

>96 maggie1944: Hiya, Karen! Stomach upset - my much better half always encourages me to go the traditional route. Crackers aren't too exciting though. How about toast and applesauce?



>97 Crazymamie: Hah! Thanks, Mamie. Yeah, I know, we have to remind ourselves that football happiness abounds elsewhere. Keeps life interesting. Although I wouldn't mind the Bears running off a bunch of wins in a row from here.

Giant latte coming up. I'm simpatico re a lethargic Monday:



>98 kidzdoc: Woo, that must be some appetite you've got, Darryl. Here you go (if we missed something, we can bring it):

>99 jnwelch: Metamorphoses sounds fabulous. I was going to say that the chance of it coming to Atlanta was essentially zero, but it played at Oglethorpe University's arts center in 2007. I'll have to look for it elsewhere.

>100 richardderus: I'd rather have a dark lager with the Primanti's sandwich than a Diet Coke. That would be too many calories, though.

>101 jnwelch: ETA: That's it! Thanks, Joe.

*pssshhhhfffft*

Dark lager for the gentleman, proprietor, and clonk him upside the noggin if he utters the "c" word in here again.

>103 richardderus: Yeah. An Abita Turdodog or a Black Chocolate Stout from Brooklyn Brewery will do just fine. If I can see through it it's not dark enough.

Love this word!!

>>100 richardderus:, 102-104 All right, the fuzzy picture has become crystal sharp. Dark lager (Abito Turbodog) it is. Glad we got the sandwich right!

Metamorphoses was fabulous indeed, Darryl. It's being put on all over the country now, is my understanding, so there should be another opportunity within reach sooner or later. This was the original ensemble, so that added to the coolosity.

Here you go:



>107 ffortsa: "Pandiculate" is a beaut, all right, Richard. I'm seeing a lot of pandiculating in my immediate future on this yawnworthy Monday.

Joe, I'm so glad you got to see 'Metamorphosis'. JIm and I saw it at Second Stage here in NY some years ago, and it was indeed marvelous. We weren't close enough to require towels, but the theater is small and steep so we had a great view of the stage.

Speaking of Orpheus, did you happen to see 'Eurydice'? It was also at Second Stage, and involved water. It was one of the most imaginative plays I can recall.

Hi, Judy. I hoped you and Jim saw Metamorphoses! I'm glad you saw it in a small theater, even if you didn't get (or need) fluffy towels. Debbi and I can't imagine what they did with it in a big theater on Broadway; that intimacy seems so important. I had a chance to see it on Broadway on a biz trip, but couldn't get over the sticker shock.

I didn't see "Eurydice". Wish I had. What did they do with it? Did it track Ovid or Rilke, or go somewhere else with it?

You can always share with Richard, Ellen, if two are too much

Nope. Keeping both BLTs all for myself.

Oh wait, I have to share the first one with Ellie, since she shared with me!

Okay, Richard, you can have a bite....

*finishes Ellen's second sammy*

...what? I was supposed to save some...?

Joe, I forgot to mention that you've got one of my favorite Sargant paintings topping your thread. I bought a print of that for myself some years back, had it framed with a mustard matting, and it's been hanging in my office since.

I had an amazingly good steak tips, mushroom, cheese and mayo sub today for lunch.

Waves at Joe. i was so behind and finally caught up. I've had a cough for four weeks. Went back to the doctor. He gave me some tussionex. It has me fuzzy brained. I finished the Harry Potter series. I'm gonna miss them. Good thing they are never too far away. I'm still plugging away at TOR and just started aToTC.

Some spicy ginger tea please!

@94, thank you good sir, it certainly hit the spot. Don't worry too much about me though. By taking 22.5 hours of annual leave it gives me a whole 8 days off. I'm not back in now until Tuesday evening so hopefully I can get some good reading done.

>>109 EBT1002:-110 *proprietor wanders to the back to check for any early review books*

>111 cameling: Hi, Caro. How great is that? That Sargent painting has always been one of my faves, too. I'm sure it's inspiring up on your wall.

Sounds like quite a high level sub you had for lunch, not available at the usual suspects.

>112 luvamystery65: Hi, Roberta! *waves back* Yikes, that's a long time to have a cough. Tussinex is new to me, but I'll look for it if I feel like getting fuzzy brained. We loved the Harry Potter series, too. You probably heard me say that my much better half read the whole darn series (even with the escalating page length) to our kids and me. We'll never forget it.

Glad you're still plugging away at Team of Rivals, and I'm guessing you just started A Tale of Two Cities?

Spicy ginger tea? Yes, says the barista:



>114 jnwelch: You're most welcome, my esteemed friend. Ah, well, if the universe is balanced with your getting a bunch of days off, then all worries are assuaged. Nothing better than a nice chunk of time to get some good reading done.

>99 jnwelch: what an incredible sounding production!

>114 jnwelch: cant believe you had the whole Harry Potter series read aloud to you! WOW, that's a commitment.

>115 LovingLit: It was fantabuloso, no question about it, Megan. We loved it.

On top of that, with the Harry Potter books, Madame Debbi is a professional storyteller, so we had her wonderful voice to go with it. We got hooked right away, and were ordering it on Amazon from the UK before it finally caught on here and started coming out at the same time. Harry was our daughter's age, at the time, in the first one, so that added to its resonance.

gorgeous pictures of Metamorphoses, Joe. thanks for posting. i have much envy. did you get to keep the towels? ;)

>109 EBT1002: Ellen, you are divine.
>110 richardderus: RD, you're a sammo-snitching reprobate and i hope someone pokes you in the belly right in the midst of a pandiculation! *snarf*

i'd like a BLT salad, pliz, w/ a rootbeer float and a cattle prod to keep cozening food snatchers out of my grub.

finished RP1. what a gas, gas, gas. thanks to all who recommended it. am starting yellow birds. now that's gonna be a flip-flop.

>117 mirrordrum: Woo, Ellie, that's a major change in direction from Ready Player One to Yellow Birds! Glad you had a good time with that Jumpin' Jack Flash RPO. Yellow Birds is beautifully written and a top one in '12 for me.

I did have a guy tell me I could keep the towel after the play, but as he was just another attendee, I didn't put any stock in it. Those poor artists tend to scrape by as it is, so I figgered I wouldn't add to the overhead.

BLT salad and the rest coming your way (we had to rummage around in the back to find a cattle prod):

*note to self: avoid pandiculation around here until Ellie cools down*

Wow the cafe is one hopping joint! The food all looks incredible. I'm a fan of Turbo Dog too!
Glad you enjoyed the play. It sounds wonderful! Have a good evening, my friend.

>119 richardderus: Good thinking. I'd lay low for a while.

>120 msf59: Thanks, Mark. I'll keep an eye out for Turbodog. It was a great play. Hope all is going well in your neck of the woods.

Joe, the little diner I went to for my steak tip sub is one of my favorites. It's actually the only thing I eat there whenever we go. They make a mean roast beef sandwich too... I had that once, but then had to go back to my steak tip sub the next time. I think it's their house blended marinade.

I'm on the prowl for books set in cafes. Know of any good ones?

Sounds like a great spot, Caro. Wonderful to have a go-to place like that.

Interesting question - books set in cafes. I'll bet there's a mystery series set there. How about Cafe on the Nile by Bartle Bull?

>119 richardderus: i have chill-ed. pandiculate away. :)

>122 cameling: Caro, how about Fried Green tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe? the book is so much better than the movie, although i enjoyed the movie a lot.

>eta just finished The girl who circumnavigated fairyland. exquisite. when i came to the end (audio), an "oh my!" escaped me, quite unexpected.

Still have that cough, so would like some hot chocolate to soothe it tonight, Joe. Hope you are enjoying your San Diego weather there!

Ooooh, that Metamorphoses does sound amazing - lucky you for seeing it!

Oh, oh! I saw that a number of years ago while in university! It was fabulous, really really exceptionally well done.

>124 mirrordrum: Phew! Pandiculators all over the cafe are relieved, Ellie.

Good cafe book! And that's encouraging re The Girl Who Circumnavigated. Are you going to read The Girl Who Fell at some point?

>125 ronincats: Drat that cough, Roni! We'll get you that HoCho.

Yes, thank you very much for sharing your most excellent weather with us. At this time of year, we normally are strategizing about how many layers to wear, not lollygagging about with goofy smiles on our faces.



>126 scaifea: It was great, Amber. Highly recommended if it lands near you somewhere. We are lucky - this is a good theater town.

>127 dk_phoenix: Oh, that's great, Faith. It is so well-constructed, and I'm glad you saw such an excellent performance of it.

#122 It's only one story, but Hemingway's A Clean, Well-Lighted Place leaps immediately to mind.

>129 laytonwoman3rd: Good one, Linda! That's quite a story. One of his best.

What about On What Grounds? They're coffeehouse mysteries, and not awful by any means.

Jack McCarthy, the poet collected in Say Goodnight, Grace Notes: New and Corrected Poems, gave the best poetry performance I've ever seen, one night in Cambridge at the Cantab Lounge. I've seen a lot of poets over the years, like Robert Pinsky, Jorie Graham, Billy Collins, Kay Ryan, Anne Sexton, Robert Bly. But McCarthy, a shambly guy with a well-used, lined and droopy face, was the best. He looks like an old Irishman who could be sitting at the end of any bar, drink in hand, spouting wisdom for those ready to hear it, except he's dedicated to AA and wants to live life, not lose it.

That night in Cambridge he told stories. Stories in poetry, musings on us, our world, religion, our purpose. The audience was transfixed, and we didn't want it to end. Younger poets had preceded him, including our son, but McCarthy came from on high, from a different place, filled with years.

He's about to stop altogether. Our son just saw him at what was probably his last performance, at the ReBar in Seattle. Standing ovation, unheard of for poets. Then back to the hospice.

This collection includes some of those we heard that night in Cambridge. In fact, it's dedicated to the audiences at the Cantab Lounge and "to everyone who has ever said, 'I love Jack McCarthy'. You know who you are."

In "Neponset Circle" about an AA driver named Charlie, who'd take everyone to the meeting but always took the route by that landmark, even if it was longer, McCarthy says,

"Most of us see the world as spiderweb,
all sorts of intricate connections, alternate routes. A good sense of direction
and a roadmap and we'll always find our way.
Charlie saw the world as a bicycle tire,
spokes crossing each other here and there,
but all of them running straight to and from one heart."

Some passengers would get frustrated with Charlie's refusal to change, and try other means of getting there, but it never worked out well for them. At the end the poet realizes there's someone in his life who's a Neponset Circle, and who she is.

In "Song of the Open Mike", he recognizes his views may not go over well in a daily bread setting.

"There are chambers in my brain
that went unopened until poetry.
I can survive from nine to five
without using anything between my ears-
hey, some of my ideas endanger me.
A while back my co-workers were going

out to celebrate meeting in October
our target profit for the year and I
wanted to shake them and say, 'Listen,
this is a celebration of the combination
of how much we do and how little they pay.

'Why don't we work for half as much?
Then we could celebrate in May.'"

In "Kenmore Square" he writes about the brave poet who would offer his poems with a smile to passersby, most of whom would take them, and how later that poet would "reclaim his poems/ from the sidewalks and the gutters/ where they'd been discarded,/ and he would stuff the pieces/ back in the pouch."

"We watch others go through life
leaving bodies strewn behind
and wonder vaguely
what our own trail looks like.
Bless those brave enough
actually to walk
that backward track.
They walk it for us all."

Four stars! Wowee toledo! I've thumbs-upped it, but will give it widest possible berth as it's poetry and that is never a good thing for me to read.

>133 richardderus: Hah! Very gracious of you, Richard. You might even enjoy these short story-like poems. (How's that for trying to draw you in?)

I thought about it - his performances would be 5 stars.

>135 richardderus: Nice, but unsuccessful, try.

Darn! *rummages through kit bag for alternative*

That sounds like my kind of poetry, Joe. And how remarkable, at least in my experience, to have a poet who can properly present his own work. I've been to some dreadful readings in my day, by poets whose work I admired on the page.

Yup, I'm with you, Linda. Dreadful and disappointing. McCarthy's a performer, and an excellent one. In some ways it's like a standup comic - very risky being out there like that.

Hi Joe- I'm still a mere novice on poetry but that one sounds good! Are you heading to the Bulls game? Regardless, Go Bulls!

>132 jnwelch: excellent review, Joe. thumbled. there's something about his writing, esp. "Song of the Open Mike," that reminds me of Millay, esp. her volume A few figs from thistles. and god, if the title ain't fit to make one weep and make one humble. went and ordered it for myself as it isn't in the library. thanks.

#140 Oh, and how I love Millay. In fact, now that you've brought her up, I think I will take her Everyman collection to bed with me and read a selection or two.

>132 jnwelch:: That is just amazing! Jack and his wife were neighbors of mine until he became too sick and needed to move into town for better care. He is a lovely man, as his wife is a lovely woman.

Who would have guessed that your son would find him! This must be proof positive that we belong to the same kraval (is that the right spelling?).

ETA: I've put the book on my wishlist

I loved your review, Joe - thumb from me!

>139 msf59: Hi, Mark. This (Say Goodnight, Grace Notes) is a good one for folks new to poetry, seems to me. Accessible, like Billy Collins.

We weren't at the Bulls game last night, which was tarnished by a terrible ref screw-up at the end. Too bad. They're fighting and staying in the hunt until Derrick gets back.

>140 mirrordrum: Thanks, Ellie. Now you've got me wanting to read more Millay. I never would've made that connection, mainly because I'm under-Edna'd. I'll look forward to hearing what you think of Jack McCarthy's book. There's some fit to make you weep in there, too.

>141 laytonwoman3rd: You and Ellie are convincing me, Linda. I will search out Ms. Millay, whose work I haven't read since high school.

>142 maggie1944: What a small world it is, Karen! I am pleased but not surprised to hear he and his wife are lovely people. I never met her, but met him a couple of times and he was lovely then. What a full and thoughtful life he's led. I'd like to meet his wife some day. She is a lovely presence in his poems, too.

I'm not sure about kraval (there's a South African word, kraal, that kind of means village), but we sure must belong to the same something. Jack gave us a very nice inscription to the book complimenting the talents of young Jesse. Jack has positively influenced a whole lot of younger performance poets, including Kevin Coval and Robbie Q. Telfer.

>143 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie! And thanks for the thumb. I'd sure like it if this guy got read more.

Here's a youtube of him doing "Careful What You Ask For": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sCTrsAAQq0&playnext=1&list=PLD9B4CEAB36D... It's funny, but, as Ellie would say, it's also fit to make one weep.

Oh dear, poultry.

*skedaddles*

*wafts scent of chili cheese fries in direction of fleeing RD*

mmmmmmmmmmmmm

What is that scrumptious odour? So alluring so irresistible mmmmmmmmmmmm

EEEEK poultry!

*skedaddles*

*puts the complimentary chili cheese fries with a lovely glass of Chimay at a front window table where RD can't miss them*

OOOO
AAAAH

Just the place to read this new book by Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi....

POULTRY ALERT, POULTRY ALERT (RD, you are sooooo cossetted)

Joe, Millay's work is now in the public domain and almost everything is available on line. try Recuerdo, The singing woman from the wood's edge, and this is also one of my favorites Portrait by a neighbor.

she won a Pulitzer for the volume The harp-weaver and other poems and here's The harp-weaver poem itself. a difficult poem to read in winter . . . if it actually were winter.

i took a walk at 2 am this morning in the same clothes i was wearing in the house. i only walked a bit up the block, but still, that's just sick. it was 60 degrees. goodness grief!

>145 jnwelch: yep. wept indeed and i don't often and i don't know quite how he did it. it's a mystery. thank you, thank you!

oh, the copy of Say goodnight, grace notes (i love that title) i've ordered is signed and personalized to someone who then sold it or gave it away. cheaper than new. a signed copy. priceless.

>150 richardderus: Excellent - the Chimay obviously helped. That (Fra Keeler) looks to be way out there in the stratosphere, Richard. Looking forward to hearing your reaction when you return to earth.

>>151 mirrordrum:-152 I know, Ellie, for a liberal guy he can be mighty illiberal in his reading views.

Oh, my, that Harp-weaver poem is a heartbreaker, isn't it? I'll look for more of hers, particularly given the public domain-ness.

I know, none of us in Chi-town can believe our good fortune in the warm weather we've had, but now balance is returning and it's a chill one out there. Glad you got out for a walk in the warm stuff.

McCarthy's so good, isn't he? I'm glad you tried the youtube video. His performance we saw that I mention in the review, he could have continued on through the night, and we all would have been right there with him, hanging on every word.

If I had him for a neighbor, like Karen did, I'd probably be over there all the time, just to listen to him talk.

The copy you found of Say Goodnight, Grace Notes (I know, I love that title, too) sounds perfect.

I? Illiberal reader? I?

Surely the proprietor jests at the expense of his faithful cafe denizen. Simply because I do not voluntarily partake of an art-form dead since the eighteenth century (being charitable here, actually I think Andrew Marvell and Alexander Pope did for poultry a century-plus before) that, zombie-like, refuses to lie down already does not make me illiberal!

It merely means that corpse-rot and grave-wax can't be ignored by those of, ahem, finer sensibility.

Richard, I call fraud on you and your anti-poetry stance. I KNOW that you appreciate Edna's "Dirge Without Music". Here it is for everyone else:

Dirge without Music
Edna St. Vincent Millay

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains, --- but the best is lost.

The answers quick & keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,
They are gone. They have gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

>116 jnwelch: Harry was our daughter's age, at the time, in the first one, so that added to its resonance.
I get that.
I was the same age as those 90210 kids when they were on TV here, and as our lives were so similar (ahem- not), I followed them religiously too :)

‎*************SPOOF*************************SPOOF************
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EMAILS ARE GOING OUT..
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Do not click to update your Amazon account. Check the upper right hand corner of that Email... you will see immediately that it is not Amazon.
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So please share this message

Hi Joe... so sorry.. I am way behind.. but I wanted to post this spoof thing in the most
popular thread. I know you won't mind... I will catch up soon.. miss all y'all

>155 laytonwoman3rd: *sniff* I must have a cinder in my eye *sniffle*

>>154 richardderus: - 155, 159 *proprietor searches shelves for more Millay as Linda somehow magicks RD*

>156 LovingLit: Exactly, Megan. I was trying to think of a good 90210 analogy. :-)

>>157 mckait:-158 Thanks, Kath. Nothing's showed up on my end like that yet. I always worry about my dad, who's in his late 80s and emails a fair amount, but every time I quiz him, he's suspicious of things like this and handling them the right way (don't click on that link!)

ETA: Time to run for that train! Pies are on the counter.

Richard, if you can't abide poetry, at least try Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford. True, her poetry is embedded in the text, but it might go down easier when presented against the backdrop of her life.

She was quite the girl.

When I was a sprog, I read Millay's sonnets. Mama liked them. Savage Fire or something? Can't recall. We talked about the old girl quite a bit.

I think I'm Millayed out.

amen, Anne. i'm trying to remember the poem, a very early one written either when, or about the time when, she was still at Vassar. a friend, possibly lover, left one day and was killed in an accident. Millay talks about the last words she wrote and the violets? was it violets? some spring flower, the young woman had given her. it must be in the same volume as Renascence. breaks my heart but stuns me with what she knew so damn young. sweet peas. they were sweet peas. it's Interim. yes, it was published in Renascence but i have it in Edna St. Vincent Millay: Collected Lyrics

and thanks for the Savage beauty reminder, Anne. couldn't think of the book's name last night. i keep praying that NLS will make it a db (downloadable book) but it's not even in process. it's 5 cassettes long which means nearly 50 hours. *gulp*

Wow, seems like falling behind your thread is becoming a common trend for me, Joe. :(
I did some fast skimming and guess what I saw a lot of? Bacon! Yum. I'm a BLT lover myself, but I like ALL the components. Without one, it just wouldn't be the same for me...haha!
I just finished Ready Player One and LOVED it as well! Totally made me want to play some video games, but the little one kind of gets in the way of that. :)

Hi Joe- Beer please! Surprise me, I know you've been keeping it well-stocked. I'm enjoying a YA, called Tell the Wolves I'm Home, which you and Becca might really like.

>161 NarratorLady: That looks like a good one about Edna St. Vincent Millay, Anne, thanks. Somehow I managed in high school to get an impression of her as stuffy. Quite the opposite! One of many reasons I love LT

>162 richardderus: We were pretty much a poetry-free home when I was growing up, until I got interested. It started with midwestern poets like Bly and James Wright, and expanded from there. Now my wife and son have me fascinated by the slam poets. I'll be seeing a number of them tonight in a fundraiser for Young Chicago Authors.

>163 mirrordrum: Oh, that "Interim" is something, isn't it, Ellie? Leaving a book open, a chair rocking after she leaves, her last written words - and actually, I can't think of better last written words than that, can you? Beautiful.

Now I'm intrigued by ESVM, and I'd like to read more about (and by) her, too.

>164 jolerie: Hi, Valerie! I could barely keep the day's events straight when our kids were young, so believe me, I understand. I'm glad you loved Ready Player One - great diversion for an overworked rugrat chaser. Your little guy will probably want to play videogames with you soon enough. One of my fonder memories is playing "Myst" with Jesse when he was young, and figuring out all the puzzles together.

>165 msf59: Tell the Wolves I'm Home does look intriguing, Mark. I'm reading a YA, but it has relatively few socially redeeming qualities. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor is the follow-up to Daughter of Smoke and Bone, about the ongoing battle between the angels and the chimeras, and the Romeo and Juliet/West Side Story romance between Angel Akiva and Chimera/Human Karou. Florid but well done.

A beer you say? Hmm, okay, here's one I really liked out in Boston (with spares to share):

Hi Joe!
Just dropping in to warm up :-)
Got any pecan sticky buns? and maybe a cappuchino?
No calories please.
I'll just slip in that quiet booth over there and read a bit. Nice. Thanks!

>167 -Cee-: Hi, Cee! Enjoy the read, and we'll bring over that cappucino and sticky bun. (No calories is our specialty). What book did you bring?

Oh! That was quick! Thanks!

I've got The Garden of Evening Mists *grin*
Life is good!

Hah! It sure is, Cee! What a great book that is. Enjoy!

Happy to say it's cold at last, after this weird misplaced fall-like stretch. Not so happy to say I'm aching like a 90 year old. But hell, it's better than being hungry.

Speaking of which, howzabout a full Mamie?

Hello Joe! How are you today? I'll have the lunch special and some Mexican hot chocolate to follow. Be blessed good sir.

>171 richardderus: I forgots you were one who likes the cold weather, Richard. You'll be a happy guy for months to come, although I'm sorry you be aching. Nothing better than a butterscotch Mamie to improve the day:



>172 luvamystery65: Greetings of the day, Roberta! So far so good. I've managed to stay out of trouble for almost the whole morning. Hope all is going well for you. What are you reading these days?

Lunch special (taco salad) and Mex HoCho coming up:

Oh I tried playing Myst back in the day, but I realize now my brain just wasn't built for those kind of games. I get frustrated after the first 5 minutes of not being able to figure things out. My husband on the other hand had a whole notebook going of all the puzzles and such. I obviously lack that kind of patience..haha!

Have you read the books? I actually read the books before I even knew they were based on the game. :)

I haven't read the books, Valerie. Myst's puzzles were tough, no doubt about it, but it was such a visually beautiful world and the solutions would open up access to even more of it. I kept an ongoing notebook, like your husband, to try to keep track of it all. My son loved it, and after a night's sleep, would come bounding in to tell me a new idea he had for the solving the latest problem. It took us months to get through it all. I was always (and still am) impressed by his level of concentration for it.

I knew this would be a good place to put my cafe book question. Thanks all for the suggestions. I'd forgotten about Fried Green Tomatoes which I loved ..and I agree, the book was better than the movie.

Belgian waffles was what I was craving this morning ..... toast and scrambled eggs is what I ended up eating. *grump*

>176 cameling: Ah, good, Caro. I thought those were some good cafe book ideas, too.

Sorry you didn't get your craving, although toast and scrambled eggs sounds pretty good. It was a bowl of cereal for me. I should've come here to eat! We can at least get you some Belgian waffles cafe-style:

mmm... those look good. But err.. Joe, do you have round ones?

>178 cameling: That's one we haven't gotten before, Caro! Childhood memories, angle-avoidance, not hip to be square? The chef says, regardless, you're a VIP here, so here you go:

Mmmmmm...... poifeck! A side of bacon and I'd truly kick up my heels in glee.

then again, I know when I'm feeling peckish ... it's lunch time! whoohoooo

>180 cameling: To start your lunch off, here you go, our peckish friend:

Mmmm....... you can never go wrong with bacon. Bacon added to anything makes it all taste good

My first exposure to Belgian waffles was at the World's Fair in NYC - back when I was in HS... um mid 60's?
They were round! They were exotic! They were sooo delicious!

Joe, this goes a few posts back but It came to me in the middle of the night: Karass - A group of people linked in a cosmically significant manner, even when superficial linkages are not evident. Created by Kurt Vonnegut.

definition thanks to Urban Dictionary.

I was thinking your sons finding McCarthy and my having been a neighbor and friend and you and I knowing each other here all links us to some karass.

>182 cameling: Except beets, Caro, from my POV. :-)

>183 -Cee-: We've got a friend who orders them every chance he gets, Cee. Maybe he had a similar experience - I'll have to ask him. Our son goes for them, too, now that I think about it. I'm more of an eggs and omelet kind of guy.

Hmmmm.....beets and bacon...I wonder. *google, google*

Yup...lots of recipes feature them together. Is it just that you don't care for beets at all, Esteemed Prop? Or is there something about that particular combination that puts you off?

Ah, I love it when people esteem the Prop, Linda! It's the beets - I don't care for them at all. My wife threatens me with their potential appearance at meals all the time. Bacon, whipped cream, 5 hour energy drinks, a topping of pecan pie - nothing will change the beetness of beets for me.

My brother feels exactly the same way. I don't think there is any other food item he wouldn't at least eat to be polite. But he says he cannot get a beet past his lips for love or money. I'm quite fond of 'em myself.

I can tell your brother and I would get along well. Please tell him there's a beet-less place in Chicago that will welcome him if he ever gets out this way.

here, Caro, let me just take a look at that bacon. hmmm, Joe's best beast free, sulfate free and yet, remarkably, exactly-like-beasty-bacon bacon. i'd better look at it a bit more closely. yes. seems to be done perfectly. nice crunch and savour. closer examination is required. i think i've now pretty well scrutinized it and aver that it would be safe to eat . . . if i hadn't so thoroughly, er, reviewed it.

ah, it has been a bit of a day until coming in here. much better already. looking so closely at Caro's bacon makes me yearn for spaghetti (not noodle but spaghetti) carbonera. and garlic bread. Joe's tastes-exactly-like-malodorous-breath garlic bread and yet, remarkably, no garlic breath.

have a good time at the slam, Joe. :)

glad you liked "Interim." who could write that at that age? disgusting creature.

>190 mirrordrum: Hah! I'm sure the close review is appreciated, Ellie, even if the resulting absence of any bacon isn't so much.

You're right, that is rather amazing that she was able to write 'Interim' at a young age, isn't it? Reminds me somehow of that 11 year old girl with the beautiful voice you can see on PBS - she's a prodigy, and her voice is amazing, but IMHO she just doesn't have, at that age, the emotional context to bring to the songs she sings. ESVM of course was older and had the emotional context and then some, even though pretty young (28?) for such an accomplished poem.

This slamalicious fundraiser should be fun. Wish you could join us - I think you'd get a kick out of it.

Thanks for pointing out another advantage of the food here. It's not just calorie-free, it's garlic-breath-free. What's not to like? Here you go, with lots of garlic but no effect on minty fresh breath:

Sigh. I'd love some of that in RL, but it's off limits at the moment. Here, however, it looks great. I'm bringing up a memory of garlic as I type.

>192 ffortsa: Remembrance of Garlic Past? In Search of Lost Garlic? I seem to remember a madeleine infused with garlic; what a strange concoction that was. (Sorry, I wigged out into the Proustosphere for a minute there).

It's vicarious pleasure in the cafe, Judy, but it's darn good vicarious pleasure. I know, now I'm jonesing in RL for some of what Ellie ordered, too.

Joe, did you see posting #184? or is it hiding? Or do you just hate Kurt Vonnegut?

I just love the idea of a karass and so I don't want my friends to miss out knowing it.

OK, I'm off to go reading, and new dog shopping.

>194 maggie1944: Oh, we cross-posted, Karen (I can tell by the times) - very sorry about that!

I love Vonnegut, and now I remember about the karass! It's from one of my faves of his, Cat's Cradle. We're like fingers supporting a cat's cradle. You're right, we must be in a karass together with that unexpected Jack was your neighbor connection. I have to remember to email son Jesse that when I step out of the cafe for a minute.

>173 jnwelch: Mex HoCho coming up:
That would be hot choc with chilli right? YUM
Better make that another one for me.

>193 jnwelch: now I'm jonesing in RL for some of what Ellie ordered
Jonesing?
*out of depth in Americanisms*

>.173, 196 Yes, there's some chili powder in the Mex HoCho, among other things, Megan. Big favorite here in Chi-town in the winter months. Anudda fo ya:



>>193 jnwelch:, 196 Hah! Yeah, I thought that might be too American slangy for some. Jonesing means to have a strong desire or craving for something, e.g. I'm jonesing for some sushi. Some relate it to drug slang, some to "keeping up with the Joneses", you know, having that desirable thing your neighbor has.

I'm jonesing for a pressie? Does that start working better for your part of the world?

*proprietor runs to catch the train*

*settles down in the corner, in the back, at the table with the good reading light*

I can only stay a few as I'm off soon to go look at a rescue poodle. I am pretty sure The Universe has conspired to make this not my dog; but I'll go take a look, and give the pup a treat or two, and a pat, before I say "no thanks".

re: jones as a verb--i first remember it as a noun in the phrase 'love jones' from Black American English. i picked up it's meaning from context as craving or needing something. along with that came 'jonesing' or 'to jones.' i use it fairly often, probably because of my age (69 in January) and social background, and have often wondered where it originated but never thought to look. i now find the following from Phrase finder:

JONES - "One of the most common surnames in American English, Jones, has in its spare time developed two drug-related slang meanings. In 1962, David Maurer picked up 'jones' meaning a drug habit.Three years later, Claude Brown in 'Manchild in the Promised Land' used 'jones' in a slightly different sense, as a collective noun describing the horrible symptoms associated with withdrawal from heroin addiction.Jones first appeared in black English.Jones as personified here is clearly not a friend; pure speculation and conjecture suggest that Mr. Jones somewhere became the moral equivalent of 'The Man,' and that drug addiction was seen as an oppression roughly equivalent to blatant racial oppression."

"Jones" acquired a new meaning first recorded in 1970 by Jonathan Lighter and found in the November 1973 'Ms.' magazine article about singer Janis Joplin. David Gertz and Susan Lydon "wrote that Joplin had 'a Jones for love and reinforcement as strong as her physical craving for smack.'"

Popular culture historian John Pontell "uncovered 16 songs with the titles 'Love Jones' in the 1970s and 1980s." From the "Slang of Sin, The" by Tom Dalzell (Merriam-Webster Inc., Springfield, Mass., 1998).

All caught up here, Joe, and all that reading has made me mighty thirsty. Perhaps some Chardonnay? Is December always like this - I can't keep up?!

Hiya Joe! All the food looks fantastic! Swipes off the drool. Thanks for the Shipyard. Is this a fruity beer? I'm not sure if I tried Shipyard before or not. Is it available here?
Speaking of beer, I'm looking forward to Sunday!

*wafts through on a vapour trail of toasted pecans*

Since its Friday Night - fish & chips available by chance ???

HAPPY HANUKKAH!

Just a quick hello! I am off and running this morning!
I miss Joe's!

>173 jnwelch: Joe I'm still reading A Tale of Two Cities. The group/tutored read sure has made it easier. I started the audiobook of The Lovely Bones. I listen in the car so it will be a few weeks with this book. Poor TOR has taken a back seat. I'm hoping to give it some time this weekend. Have a great day.

confound you, Joe, and your 'satiable lust for Murakami! i decided to read Wild sheep chase and like it very much. not sure i understand it all. i often feel that he's aiming about two feet over my head. it's a difficult audio read for me but an enjoyable one. fine narrator!

i need some Powdermilk Biscuits because "heavens, they're tasty and expeditious." i am headed for an injection in the shoulder. don't mind the injection so much but have no inclination to go oot and aboot atall atall.

taking the biscuits on the fly and some unleaded Peet's to go with 'em. toodlews.

>198 maggie1944: Looking forward to hearing how your rescue dog visit goes, Karen. Hard to resist those furry critters, I know.

>199 mirrordrum: Good stuff, Ellie, thanks. I remember "Love Jones", and the drug angle. You caused me to look in Merriam-Webster, and I see they give two definitions: "addiction to heroin" and "craving for something". I actually wasn't sure whether they'd have it at all, but it's been mainstream here for a long time now.

>200 Crazymamie: I know, Mamie, December is always a jumbled, hectic month for me, too. Lots of events, lots to get done. Chardonnay sounds good - here you go (with some enthusiastic pouring):



>201 msf59: Hiya, Mark! I haven't been able to find the Shipyard Ale here yet, but it has a bit of an apple-y taste to it that even Walklover (a non-beer drinker, as you know) likes. I'm still hoping to tracking it down somewhere.

We made it (almost) to the weekend! Looking forward to Sunday, too!

>202 richardderus: *agog watching erudite wafter sail through cafe on vapour trail of toasted pecans*

>203 roundballnz: We've got the time jiggerer (for short) warmed up, Alex, so here you go:

Whew. Just ducked in before it got to 100 unread messages. It was as close as it can get, though....
Really a quick stop in at this here cafe ---- I'm so ready for the weekend as this week has been too busy.

Glad Caro liked Fried Green Tomatoes as it's one of my all-time favorite humorous reads, SO much better than the movie (although I do love Jessica Tandy and Kathy Bates did a nice job with her performance).

Thrilled that Cee is reading The Garden of Evening Mists --- what a great read.

Looking forward to hearing whether Karen came home with a new poodle......

Hoping everyone else is enjoying their waffles and bacon and coffee. Yum. May I have a small helping of each, Joe?

>204 mirrordrum: Thanks, Ellie! We start celebrating tomorrow night, although since Walklover and I are going to be at the Bulls game, we're going to have our family (minus our Seattle one) get-together Sunday evening. Our kids are among the lucky ones who get to celebrate both Hannukah and Christmas, so we only do presents for Hannukah on the first and last day, although the kids get little stuff on other days.

One great tradition we have is exchanging letters to each other, about each other. Luckily we all get along well. :-)

>205 mckait: We miss you,, Kath! Did you hear the shout of "Hi, Kath" that went up from everyone here? Glad you could stop by in your busy time. Hope the ankle's treating you all right, and the library, too.

>206 luvamystery65: Hi, Roberta! Hope you have a great day today, too. I liked A Tale of Two Cities, and it's a remarkably brief one for RD's favorite author. I'll be interested to hear what you think of it. I like group/tutored reads - is that on LT? I'd take a look if so.

I believe our daughter liked Lovely Bones, and I'm sure a lot of other LTers have.

>207 mirrordrum: Hey, how great that you're enjoying A Wild Sheep Chase, Ellie! That one lights up the bizarre-o-meter, doesn't it? You get some carryover in Dance, Dance, Dance if you feel the same way when you're done.

I hope the shoulder injection improves things. I know the feeling of not wanting to oot and aboot atall, so feel free to come hang out here afterwards and we'll make sure you get some comfortable R & R.

Ah, our Saturday night accompaniment, the show sponsored by Powdermilk Biscuits. When Debbi and I go out, that's what we put on the car radio. No surprise, Guy Noir is my favorite.

Let's get you those biscuits and java:

>209 EBT1002: Hi, Ellen! I know, it flies along here sometimes, doesn't it? I haven't read Fried Green Tomatoes, and should do that. I did eat at a restaurant of that name in Michigan which was pretty darn good. I'm happy about Cee and The Garden of Evening Mists, too, and looking forward to Karen's rescue dog report.

Here's them vittles:



BTW, the YCA fundraiser last night was amazing. Lamar Jorden, who's a wonderful young guy, performed this one about Stepping, with two professional steppers, and it was so good: http://vimeo.com/23044974 .

The program was very Chicago-centric, of course, and another young woman did a poem about Chicago's mixed history, beginning with the Native Americans, accompanied by a celloist (she was great) and a breakdancer (!) (as a friend said, that was one balletic break dancer - what a combo with a cello). A poet named Malcolm did one about the terrible gang murders going on in part of the city this year, accompanied by a tap dancer who managed to help convey the heartbreak - as Malcolm said, the victims are people's daughters, fathers, mothers, sons, aunts, uncles, cousins. This is a big part of what YCA does - the stories can be heartbreaking, but these kids are getting a chance to tell them, and there's something very beautiful, very important, in it. You can't experience one of these and remain unchanged.

(Is the solution arrest everyone in sight, or change the conditions? The latter, don't you think? But not easy to do).

It had the usual diverse, mostly young, crowd, and before the show started the dj had the music pumped up, and, as has become traditional, some pretty entertaining dancing broke out in the crowd. One neighbor wondered if it was part of the show! Anyway, it was a great night, wrapped up with a charismatic local band named the O'Mys.

I love Fried Green Tomatoes and I love fried green tomatoes. It isn't the season up here, but I know you have Sources....think you could offer me a nice crisp batch with some cornbread on the side?

Joe, you make Chicago sound like the place to be, even for this confirmed New Yorker. Maybe Jim and I will pay a visit and you can show us around.

Ooo fried green tomatoes! Yes please, with scrambled eggs.

Note to self: If Jonathan Franzen blurbs a book, you will hate it and shouldn't pick it up.

>212 laytonwoman3rd: The chef does have Sources, no question about it. Let's see what we can put together, Linda.



>213 ffortsa: Sounds good, Judy! We'd love to see you and Jim. We are crazy about this town, that's for sure. Both of us lived several other places before coming here, and we got hooked.

>214 richardderus: I'm with you on the Franzen note, Richard. I'm alerting the chef that we may get a run on fried green tomatoes. Here you go:

Apologies to all who are holding their breath about potential dog rescue efforts in north Seattle. No go.

I received multiple non-specific messages from the universe that this is not the time, and probably not the dog. He was a sweetie, though, and I hope someone is able to choose him. A good 20 lbs, maybe more. Self-confident, perhaps assertive, will most likely need a firm hand and experienced trainer, or he will rule the roost.

I needed to spend the day concerned with my daughter's minor surgery, maybe spend the night with her. Did not have the required fees + all the other expenses due to 1. the season, 2. a broken camera !, and 3. a broken espresso machine. Did I say non-specific messages from the Universe! Up side my head! Smack.

Thirdly, taking great 7 yo nephew to Build-A-Bear on Saturday + lunch with good friends, gift exchange. You can see a new rescued adopted dog would have been getting a short end of a stick for too many days in a row. Oh, yes, Monday is book club. And Tuesday... oh, you don't really want to know.

I'll stay in touch with these fine folks though. I think they are doing good work, and one day perhaps the perfect dog will show up. Or I'll get a schnauzer puppy after the holidays.

It will happen in the due time.

Joe here are the links to the Group/Tutored read of A Tale of Two Cities.
Part One: Recalled to Life http://www.librarything.com/topic/144933
Part Two: The Golden Thread http://www.librarything.com/topic/145191
Part Three: The Track of a Storm http://www.librarything.com/topic/145650

Richard dearest please avert your eyes!!!

*blindly gropes through thread, following scent of delectable fried green tomatoes*

>216 maggie1944: Good for you, Karen. It all makes sense. You're smart to wait for the right dog to show up at the right time. Thanks for keeping us posted.

Sounds like busy times, too!

>217 luvamystery65: Thanks, Roberta. I'm starring those and will catch up with great interest.

>218 richardderus: That blind groping came at just the right time, RD. We won't mention why.

hoping i catch the chef before weekend scarpering occurs. i'd love a bowl of Lebanese lentil soup and any amount of bread pudding with some kind of drizzly topping--don't care what kind, really. and some Voss non-aerated.

my only objection to Murakami is that when listening to his work i feel even less intelligent than usual. scary, that.

Posted my sour-as-a-pickle review of Where'd You Go, Bernadette?, a dreadful book, in my thread...post #184.

>220 mirrordrum: It may just be the unaccustomed milieu with the Murakami book, Ellie. I don't think of him as a brainbuster. "Going with the flow" and absorbing the story like a dream makes sense to me. What does it mean? What did your last dream mean? It means/meant many different things.

OK, enough brain food, let's get you the (virtually) real thing (see what you think of bourbon sauce):



>221 richardderus: That may be the first negative LT reaction to that book I've seen, Richard. I'll read your review with interest.

Oh no, Richard. Sorry you didn't like Where'd You Go Bernadette? which I so enjoyed.

Different strokes....

>211 jnwelch: dahling Joe, the link you gave us is to the pouring coffee image not to the vid. i watched a 2011 performance by this guy. the man is fine! i'd love to see the one you mention with the steppers but can't find it. please post it.

>223 NarratorLady: I fear so, Anne, books about women who fake running away to avoid or cause unpleasantness cause me to frown mightily.

Joe - the cafe continues very much apace. Here's wishing its overworked proprietor a great weekend and furnishing a wish to receive Shephards Pie and a nice glass of Somerset scrumpy (that's rustic cider to the uninitiated).

Hi Joe, I managed to finish A Tale of Two Cities yesterday, far ahead of the GR which just posted the thread for Book 3. That's always been my problem with GRs: I can't slow myself down once I get into a book. Once I recovered from the effects of the most unexpectedly brilliant yet powerfully emotional ending, I started another book. Have a great weekend.

Happy Hannukah

Some latkes, please to go with my sufganiyot. Tonight I'll wash it all down with a pinot noir.
I'm just starting out on Gone Girl, had a long wait to get it but my turn finally rolled around at the library.

Good Saturday morning here. Daughter taken to hospital, surgery done, brought home from the hospital and yelled at so she would stay in bed! Whew, her gentleman caller arrived to take over and Greta and I were allowed to come home! Full day in front of me: Build-A-Bear again, this time with the birthday boy. At aged 7 I'm thinking this may be his last stuffed animal joy. Then, he and I will buy a gift certificate for the daughter to give to her son and then we are off to a big nursery where they sell a gazillion poinsettia. Lunch with good friend, and her friend (who is mid process in adopting a poodle!). Should have some interesting conversation + I'm to be given my birthday present and a Christmas present, and something from the friend in France. Oh, my, goodness! Can my life be more complicated? Tomorrow, nothing but get the tree out, I think. And clean up the house, as it has fallen into massive disorganization and clutter. Whew. I'd better have a double big cup of coffee and whatever strength sustaining food the cafe has to offer.

Sometimes I love December.

>184 maggie1944: I read that post too quickly; I thought it was the definition of Kansas, not Karass.

Ha ha ha. It might work in Kansas, but I am not sure. Dorothy seems to have had to go outside of Kansas to understand her place in a karass.

>223 NarratorLady: I know, Anne, it always surprises me when that happens.

LT has taught me that people can have such different reactions, even to books that to me seem "universal". I wish I had known what I know now back when I was running a bookstore. When people needed help, I would have spent more time finding out what they liked first, and been less perplexed when they didn't warm up to what seemed like an obvious match for what they were looking for. People often have very idiosyncratic reactions to books, based on their own hot buttons or whatever. LT has been eye-opening on that.

I still have to get over and read that RD review!

>224 mirrordrum: Oops, so sorry, Ellie. Thanks for letting me know. Sometimes I move too fast on this. Here's the link to the video of Lamar Jorden doing the wonderful "We Step": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_9LmXWdUKU

This is a great version, but I wish I also could find the one with the dancers. If I do, I'll post it.

>225 richardderus: Ah, yes, there's the hot button. I'll head over after this, RD, to peruse the review(s).

>226 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. I'm glad it's the weekend, I'll tell you that much! Woo, RL was kicking my tail this week.

In the small world department, we had Shepherd's Pie just last night. A veggie version, put together by Walklover. Yum-tuous. Here's the more traditional version, along with some Somerset scrumpy (love that name!):

Scrumpy, noun. A very short sex partner.

>227 brenzi: I know what you mean, Bonnie, it's hard to slow down once you get going on a good one. And that's one of his shorter ones. Maybe the group will catch up soon. It is a powerful ending, isn't it? I'm trying to get seasonsoflove (who just finished Dan Simmons' Drood) to try this one.

>228 avatiakh: Happy Hannukah, Kerry! You remind me, I've got some present-wrapping to do. Mmm, some latkes to go with your sufganiyot. I'm a donut kind of guy, although I have to keep my distance most of the time or I'd be shaped like one.

If you're like me, you're launching into quite a page-racing roller coaster ride with Gone Girl!

Here you go, with some pinot noir (did you see the movie "Sideways"? They swore by pinot noir, and were quite mean to poor merlot):



>229 maggie1944: Woo, that's a busy time, Karen! All good stuff, seems like, including getting your daughter through surgery and home and taken care of.

I gotta tell you, I've got two kids in their 20s who still have stuffed toys from their wee days. Your 7 year old may carry that joy on longer than you think. I bet he's excited about your Build-a-Bear adventure together. Lunch with friends, multiple presents, a Christmas tree - life sounds good over there in your part of the world.

Lots of strong coffee and a danish with some strawberries, how's that sound?



>230 kidzdoc: Hah! We're not in Kansas any more, Darryl. Watch out for that falling house! Kansans may all be linked in a comically significant manner, though, so you may be onto something.

>231 maggie1944: Great minds think alike, Karen. Dorothy certainly was in an unusual karass, wasn't she?

Yay! Ellie, I found the Lamar Jorden with the dancers. I love this one! http://vimeo.com/23044974

BTW, his t-shirt refers to Lebron James deciding to go to Miami rather than Chicago when he was a free agent. We oldsters might scratch our heads wondering why that president (LBJ) now.

Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan is a relaxed ramble through the overlap between "Old Knowledge" (aka books) and rapidly evolving new technology. Our hero is Clay Jannon, who was once "the voice of @NewBagel on Twitter, and attracted a few hundred followers with a mix of breakfast trivia and digital coupons.” In a down economy, he somehow ends up working as a clerk in Mr. Penumbra's extremely vertical bookstore, where adeptness at climbing ladders is essential.

He loves books in part because, as a boy, he and his closest friend were enraptured by "The Dragonsong Chronicles" trilogy. Although there are no dragons in this book, that series will turn out to have more significance than he ever would have guessed. Clay begins to suspect something unusual is going on when a certain subscribing clientele are the only ones allowed to read the dusty, hard to get to volumes in the back, which have odd names and seemingly indecipherable contents.

There are engaging side characters, like his roommate Mat, who by day works on special effects for Industrial Light and Magic, making props and movie sets, and at night labors on his "Matropolis", on multiple card tables in the apartment, "a scaled-down dreamscape, a bright glittering hyper-city made with scraps of the familiar." I enjoyed imagining it from Sloan's description, and Mat's skill set will prove critical as events unfold. The same is true with Clay's romantic interest Kat, who works at Google and loves to wear a vibrant "BAM!" t-shirt. The spoofing of Google is a standout in the enjoyment of this book, including the company's attempts to build "renewable energy that runs on hubris."

Inevitably the Old Knowledge book world clashes with, or maybe is subsumed by, the ever optimistic tech world, and Google's well-known book project becomes involved. There's a riddle to be solved, and lessons to be learned. At one point Clay tries to imagine life in 3012. "I can't come up with an even half-way decent scene. Will people live in buildings? Will they wear clothes? My imagination is almost physically straining. Fingers of thought are raking the space behind the cushions, looking for loose ideas, finding nothing." One hope of mine, both at the end of the book and for 3012, is that somewhere there will be a Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore.

>233 richardderus: Ah, you snuck in there, Mr. D. Great word, and good to know it has uses beyond strong cider. :-)

>236 jnwelch: Marvulous review! I'm pleased you liked the book. Duly thumbs-upped.

>238 richardderus: Thanks, Richard! It was a good 'un.

Off to the train. Pies on the counter.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm latkes! love them...

I also loved Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Hope all is well with my favorite proprietor pal!

hey Joe, thanks for the 2nd link. i found and watched the first one last night along with another viewing of 'poet, breathe now.'

a recommendation for PBS watchers in the US:

Paris: The Luminous Years
The role that Paris played in shaping the arts of the early 20th century, as seen through the achievements of Marc Chagall, Jean Cocteau, Aaron Copland, Ernest Hemingway, Henri Matisse, Vaslav Nijinsky, Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein and Igor Stravinsky.

it's a two-hour show. i've watched the first hour and decided to tape it for more leisurely viewing with frequent pauses for reflection and, possibly, the occasional siesta.

225: Richard, I know what you mean. Books about men who fake running away to avoid or cause unpleasantness make me cringe. Hmmm.....interesting.

I just wrote a five-star review. Of a YA novel. A fantasy, no less.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making...my thread, post #217.

>240 mckait: It's a latkes time of year, Kath. Yum!

All is well with your cafe pal. We're off to a ball game tonight, our Bulls against the suddenly mighty NY Knicks. I suspect our wonderful guys may get pounded, especially since they won a tough, exhausting one last night. But a date with Walklover will be a good time, regardless.

That Mr. Penumbra's is a fun one, isn't it? I remember you liked it - that helped give me the push to read it.

>241 mirrordrum: Oh, good, Ellie. That's Adam Gottlieb doing "Breathe Now.". He was on son Jesse's slam team. Did you see the Louder Than A Bomb documentary? He and Lamar are two of the featured poets.

Did you like that one? Did you like Lamar's?

That Luminous Paris PBS show sounds right up my alley. I'll look for it.

>242 NarratorLady: Hah! There is balance in the universe, methinks, Anne.

>243 richardderus: Will wonders never cease, Richard? I'm trying to figure out how this happened - you thought it was non-YA nautical yarn? But that "Fairyland" in the title should have tipped you off. This is all very puzzling.

I'll look forward to reading the review.

Hi Joe- I hope you enjoyed your day. I skimmed your review of Mr. Penumbra's but it looks like you were taken in. Did you give it 4 stars? I'm hoping to snag it at Christmas and I hope I can squeeze it in next month.
Are you going to the Bulls game tonight?

ETA- I am LOVING Sweet Thursday. I haven't read Cannery row in a number of years but this one may even be better.

>245 msf59: Hiya, Mark. Worked this morn, but it was good and I'm busy loafing now. Yup, we're off to the Bulls game tonight.

Mr. Penumbra's was a good 'un. You'll like it when you get your hands on it.

I'm loving Sweet Thursday, too. The author seems pretty darn good, doesn't he?

i did watch the documentary, which is where i first saw Adam. he's scary good. i like Lamar better w/out the dancers. i really like his work and the dancers distract (for me) from his performance. i can't multi-task well and kept getting involved with the dancing and missing the poetry. i'd like to see more of him and of Adam. i'm wondering what Adam's doing now besides attending college.

I can see what you mean about the dancers being distracting, Ellie, although I love the whole feel of that, with everyone just enjoying stepping while cool Lamar performs.

I'm glad you saw the LTAB documentary!

We saw Adam and his parents (who are sweet people, btw) at a restaurant a couple of weeks ago, but I'm drawing a blank on what he's up to. Debbi will know, and I'll report back. I do know he's been performing in town. Lot of talent there.

Lamar's working for YCA and is an artist in residence somewhere and is recording and performing. He's quite a young man.

I was dancing those steps back in the '70s when I lived in Chicago, oh, so briefly. Loved the music scene and remember listening to the experimental jazz groups. Oh, my. But I did work two jobs at the end so I could earn my way back to Seattle (which I knew was God's first love for a country to be in, at least for me).

>249 maggie1944: how cool is that, Karen. i'd love to be able to go steppin'! :)

wow, Joe, i hope the game was as exciting as the score made it seem. give you joy in Chi-town!

Murakami has me in stitches. first with the horror occult movie (why the hell would the devil even want this town) and now with the sheep professor's son.

may i have a time-jiggered potato knish please. so many years it's been. latkes i could make, but a knish, never! fortunately, Berkeley had resources well known to the 'nice Jewish boy' i was with at the time. for to die!

Scrumpy, noun. A very short sex partner.

Is that as in making out with a dwarf or the act itself being almost canine in longevity?

>251 PaulCranswick: Yep.

Great review of Mr. Penumbra's--I have it on hold at the library, and am 40th in line.

Joe

Finished The drowned cities today ... its even better than Ship breaker so a definite must read

Okay, with Mark and Joe loving Sweet Thursday, I must get to it. It's on the bedside table waiting for me......

I've posted my review of the harrowing, atmospheric, and very exciting Devil's Peak, a thriller set in South Africa, in my thread...post #284.

>249 maggie1944: Hah! Excellent, Karen. What fun that must have been. Well, the not working two jobs part. I did that for a while and it was tough. We love Seattle, but here's where the spirit rises for us.

>250 mirrordrum: It was a great, hard fought game, Ellie, thanks. It was the Bulls 4th in 5 nights, so it was all heart. Great fun to be there.

I'm so glad you're having a good time with Murakami's bizarro-world in A Wild Sheep Chase. Ain't it grand?

OK, we've got the time jiggerer (for short) warmed up, and let's get you that potato knish. I know, marrying a nice Jewish girl has opened up whole new worlds to me:



>>251 PaulCranswick:-252 *the proprietor checks in the back for the Sunday comics*

>253 ronincats: Thanks, Roni! Oh, I think Mr. Penumbra's is one you'll enjoy. Should be right up your alley. 40th in line! This one is getting good buzz.

>254 roundballnz: Ah, excellent news, Alex. Thanks for letting us know. Drowned Cities is going to have to come up soon. I don't know about you, but with gifts and such this time of year always overflows with good books for me.

>255 EBT1002: Sweet Thursday is just plain a treat, Ellen. If you liked Cannery Row, you'll be smiling.

>256 richardderus: You're a review maniac, Richard, and we're glad you are. I'll check it out once we return from our Sunday morning walk.

OK, please gather your whatevers and troop on over to the new place. See you there!