Richardderus 2013 thread 3

“I mean, we're all trying to find out who the hell we are, aren't we?”

― Robert Ludlum

mine

I have a category called Orphans, which will still catch all the other reading I do in 2013. Thinking 60 reviews as my target.

My 2013 ORPHANED books ticker:




I want to treat the Short Story collection challenge as a ticker-to-itself thread, thinking 48 reviews as my goal. I'll keep the thread over in the Short Stories forum.

My 2013 SHORT STORY collections ticker:




I'm going to keep a mystery-genre thread over in Crime, Thriller, and Mystery forum, with a goal of 50 reviews. Way way way too many of my reviews this year, in all forums, were mysteries and thrillers, and while I love them, I don't want to get too rut-ified and read only those books while keeping up my self-made review writing census.

My MYSTERY & THRILLER books ticker:




THIS THREAD is the 75 challenge for 2013, which will be non-fiction and non-genre-fiction books published in 2012 and 2013, plus recommendations from other 75ers.

My last thread of 2012.

My 2013 NEW books ticker:




Book 1...thread one.
Books 2 & 3...thread two.

Books are reviewed in post:

4. Howards End is on the Landing...#263.

Can I comment? Derp.

Third Thread? Only second week of January? Hmm, let's see... That would mean you're careening toward 70 plus threads by the end of the year. Wowza.

>3 richardderus: Shazbaht.

>4 ErisofDiscord: Bet not! Things will level off this week. It will echo like the Hall Of Mirrors in here by 1 Feb.

Stella has destuffinged Duck, and I have snarfed the last Christmas Crack with a soft moan of anguish. Have you finished The Warden?

Erm, not finished yet. But it's a re-read for me, and the further I get into it, the more I recall, so not a crisis.

Poor Duck...

>7 Chatterbox: I read it in 1988 last, and got about 150pp in before saying "never mind" and moving on. I liked it then, and was mildly engaged in the re-read, but I am too durned old to keep going in something mildly pleasant instead of looking for something really good and exciting.

My condolences about the Duck.

And I just really wanted to use this one, even though there is nothing to be shocked about:

Firs...errr...Tenth!

>9 ErisofDiscord: Duck can take care of herself. I'm hoovering up the fluff in the oddest places.

Love the GIF!

>10 ty1997: Hi Tom! Third, really, even though you're in slot ten. *smooch*

good morning :)
since you worked so hard yesterday to keep up with the posts i guess you need fuel for today, not for nothing but obviously you are very popular person :P

I thing the "Not a word" thing was not that inspired ;)

I like a good coffee with my book... or a good book with my coffee. So all of you have a nice morning...

Good morning Richard, new thread, new thread..... grabs chair.....coffee.......buttermilk pancakes with honey............book.........pats Stella......*sigh*, that's so lovely Richard. Thank you! *smile*

Good morning Richard, happy new thread!

Oooh, love the painting at the top - once had a student use it in his senior thesis on trompe l'oeil and ancient Greek ekphrasis, which was one of the more excellent papers I ever had to read.

Can't...keep...up...

Help, Jane!!!

Love the pic on top rd... Darryl... I feel like that, too!

Happy new thread! :)

Here's hoping I can keep up!

Great first post. At the very least, I'll probably keep up with your first posts! LOL How pitiful is that!?! xox

LOVE the thread topper! Lovely new thread here, Richard. You will be happy to hear that I have requested both Volt and the Vonnegut book that you recommended on the short story thread - the Georgia library system has both of them. And I am loving that now my bidding is being done by unseen hands - ah, the magic of internet. Now I just have to wait for them to arrive at my local branch.

My eyes want to close and take my brain to cloud-cuckoo-land today. I visit a thread or two, make a post out, and wake up 10min later snoring with my fingers on the same keys. Big Red, my 80oz (finally measured, it holds 8 mugs) coffee mug, has been emptied and partially refilled. And I can *still* sleep like a poleaxed steer.

Volt omigosh Volt yikes. Maybe I'll let my rating speak for itself?

Oh, ho hum. Richard is on his third thread. ; )

Clever, creative, useful...my trifecta!

That's the perfect book cover ... I should make some like that :)

'cept I might make it for coffee... a sugar stirrer for the page marker?

How about a spoon handle?

#23 - A tea book. Of course. Someone had to think of it.

Me want.

#23 Love it! Want it!

If Stella is anything like my pups I bet that duck stayed stuffed a total of 10 minutes before getting ripped to little ducky shreds! I'm still finding stuffing from Christmas day when they got new toys!

I've finally reviewed Volt: Stories, and let me just say that it's a wonderful, wonderful collection of harsh, visceral, and amazingly well-made stories. I rank it up there with Knockemstiff.

Please go read all about it in my thread. I'm reeling.

Had to look up Christmas Crack. It's similar to what I call cracker fudge.

Saltine crackers to line a 9" x 13" pan
1 stick butter
12 oz chocolate chips
12 oz peanut butter chips

Line pan with crackers. Melt butter and pour over crackers. Bake 10 minutes at 350F.

While crackers are absorbing all that buttery goodness, gently melt chips together in a saucepan. Stir to mix.

When crackers are nicely browned, take out of oven. Spread melted chip mixture over evenly, then refrigerate for 30 minutes or so. Break or use serated knife to cut into bite-size pieces. Store in sealed container.

I haven't eaten sweets for 2 days. I will not make cracker fudge.....

Hi! Christmas Crack sounds aw aw aw ful !!! (*she's trying to convince herself)

Still reading Anna Karènina, Howl graphic version, and The Last Unicorn!

Today was different: gave both dogs a bath after letting the 5 yo girl looygag in the tub for a while. She and I took turns shooting the dogs with hair dryer. And so forth. Took her home about 2 pm and then when I got back the dogs had used every chair in the house to get up on all the flat surfaces!

I have flat surface-itis: you know it, it is where no area can be left with no stuff sitting on top of it. Papers, books, dishes, stuff, hairbrushes, photographs, candles, keys, lamps, etc. etc. No area is without stuff.

The dogs want some treats. They shove all sorts of things off tables, dressers, and book cases.

Greta has taught Benny how to bark (he was quiet, is not now). And now she's taught him how to help her get anything I leave on a table. So I will be cured of my flat surface-itis. I will clear my flat surfaces. Leave maybe one book. No treats are outside of cupboards, no food will be left on any counter tops. No left overs after lunch will be left any where. Damn.

Now you know why I don't hang out here as much as I used to do.

Hi RD! Congrats on the new thread! Love the top picture and the quote. Perfect! I know you will sneer and perhaps snicker, but I am getting ready to start Beautiful ruins. I know it's one of your favs.

hi, Richard! Lovely new thread and all. I can almost keep up with you now!

If you keep up this pace on your thread all year I am going to have to add your thread to my book count as 2 books read.. LOL ;) Stopping by to say Hello Smooches..

Just so you know I'm still around and haven't forgotten you...

mmmmmmmm xmas crack looks yummers..

hey.. where are you rd.. you ok?

>35 mckait: Out wanderin' the threads. That xmas crack isn't quite like the stuff Suz brings, which is matzo coated in white and dark chocolate and heavily encrusted with peppermint candy shards. It is *divine* and Stella, a mint addict, love it as much as I do.

*smooch*

>34 tloeffler: Hi TLo! Happy you're here.

>33 MonicaLynn: How do, Monica! Two books, wow, that's giving me a lot of credit.

>32 ronincats: Hiya Roni! Good, I'm happy to be kept up with.

>29 karenmarie: I love the way that sounds! The stuff that Suz brings at xmas is white and dark chocolate-dipped matzoh, which then is heavily encased in crushed peppermint candies. I crave it all year. Only made at xmas, so I call it xmas crack, though I think I'll try this!

>30 maggie1944: I am so pleased that Stella isn't a snack thief. She hasn't worked up the nerve to steal stuff from tabletops, though if one holds a tasty morsel at a certain angle she assumes it's for her and deftly plucks it from the (often unwitting) profferer's hands.

It's quite a surprise when that happens.

>31 msf59: Hi Mark! Let's just say I devoutly hope that the read is way better for you than it was for me.

That Christmas crack sounds yummy! mmmm mm

>38 mckait: Which one? Horrible's cracker fudge, xmas crack, or the slurpsomeness Suz brings?

All of the above.

>40 tloeffler: I am *preventing* myself from going downstairs to make that cracker fudge. *Preventing.*

both

Drive by visit to say hello, Richard and to mark where I left off reading your threads! ;-0

>42 mckait: OIC

>43 lkernagh: Hi Lori! Glad to see you.

Excellent review of Down the Rabbit Hole on your prior thread, shouting included.

I'm glad Stella isn't a snack thief, too. Abby is quite good about not getting on the counters or tables (I know, like, is she really a cat?) but she has recently been cruising around acting like she wants up on the counter where the dry food is kept. Another weirdness of my princess: she prefers dry food to wet (I guess she's kind of like me and prefers carbs to protein). Anyway, luckily, she is getting a bit old and seems to believe she is past that height in the high jump.

This thread is making me hungry....

I know, I know. Why have I been blessed with a dog who believes walking on the dining room table is totally acceptable behavior. She started this as a puppy.

Over the weekend, I was upstairs doing something important (picking my fingernails, as an example) and she was down stairs barking, barking, barking. I assumed it was kids outside making noises and she felt required to do a commentary.

When I came downstairs: oh, no! She'd gotten on the table and did not know how to get down. Ha! She was barking "help". Silly dog.

Yes, today I will be finishing my Clearing All the Flat Surfaces project. Having two dogs who have not understood the basics of "down there, yours; up here, mine!" causes me to become an excellent housekeeper. Now that I neve could have predicted.

ETA: I have finally finished reading all the posts in threads 1 and 2 and now, 3. Whew.

Another day another day....hope it's a good one.

Mornin' Richard! No cracker fudge here today;Charlie and I will be making cookie pizzas instead.

>45 EBT1002: Thanks, Ellen! I'm always amused at the different limits our furry friends accept from us. We all accommodate them, and others frequently think (silently, unless they've got Internet Tourette's) "you put up with that?"

>46 TinaV95: I'm always peckish. I could snack all day, little bit here, little bit there, and have a nice dinner; problem is having snacks that aren't wildly fattening.

>47 maggie1944: HA! Poor Greta, but just HA!

*smooch*

>48 mckait: Fine enough, thanks, though I'm still sleepy and once Stella's had her mid-morning walk I'm down for a nap. *smooch* Happy working!

>49 scaifea: Hi Amber! Cookie pizzas sound good.

Hi Richard, hope you are feeling better and less tired today. At least it looks like it as you have got this wonderful - you see I start *drooling* again... but don't worry today I brought a tissue - food discussions.

Thanks for the recommendation of We Sinners I have started the book yesterday - whilst waiting at the doctors - and carried on reading it in patches during the night. A very interesting and partially delightful book.

I wish you a better day today *smooch*

Morning Richard! I very much liked your review of Volt and so I thumbed it. Odd. The touchstone pulled up Lamb for that - which is the Christopher Moore book that Kath is reading next - how can that possibly happen? The universe a bit tilted today?

Good morning, Richard. I hope your Wednesday is pain-free and good-read filled! xo
Mine is a rainy one. I'm not looking forward to my 12-minute walk to the bus stop this morning.

LOL at Karen's story of silly dog "trapped" on table.

>51 drachenbraut23: Oh goody good Bianca, I hope We Sinners will keep pleasing you. It's not less sleepy, but I am a bit less achey so I'm callin' it good.

>52 Crazymamie: Hey there sweetiedarlin'! Thanks for the thumb. I know, I was completely flummoxed by the Lamb thing, so I get around it by using the full title: Volt: Stories.

>53 EBT1002: Howdy do, Miz Ellen, and a sympathetic *shudder* for cold, rainy walks to the bus. Blech!

Somewhat less pain, a good read in progress. So your whammy is on the plus side!

Hi Richard - not much to say ... just keeping up:) *smooch*

>55 calm: *smooch* right back, me dearieo.

Tonight's Book Circle night, and I've written my review of the 155th book we've read together since 1994: The Warden. It's in my thread, post #16.

Oh! Book Circle! Have fun :)

Fly by *smooch*

Have fun at book club!

Here to try and keep up again, Sir Richard! Hope you are feeling well and staying awake these days!!! *smooch*

19 years, 155 books with your Book Circle. Very cool beans.

((Hugs)) and xx smooches xx - although I really should not since you are spreading wicked rumors about my Hobbit feet

>3 richardderus: Shazbaht! LOL. I know where that's from. When I told my kids about that show they crossed their eyes and told me I was nuts. ;)

>28 richardderus: Wonderful review. That last sentence, though, is brilliant, scary and true.

>58 mckait: Thanks, but I won't be there, just my review.

Tha magic of the internet!

>59 LovingLit: *smooch* Glad to see you flying by.

>60 LauraBrook: Hi Laura! I think the illusion of "keeping up" can go, seriously, it's really not possible.

>61 EBT1002: It's been a long time, true, mostly because starting in 1996 up to today, our friend Gideon has hosted the party at his place almost every time...and he has a ***great*** apartment!!

>62 alcottacre: I really should not since you are spreading wicked rumors about my Hobbit feet

BUSTED! Admission of Hobbitfootedness! So, in honor of that, I won't talk about it anymore. *smooch* I am a fair man. I shall simply direct all doubters to that message.

>63 avidmom: Your Avidity! How lovely to see you here. Heh, that was a show of its time for sure. I wonder why they haven't tried to revive it. Ye gawds, Pam Dawber was all hair and teeth.

Thanks for the kind words re: my review of Volt: Stories. I appreciate that you read it and commented.

Well! A "little nap to get some energy" turned into 5 hours' sleep! Juuust in time for the day to wind down in these parts. Heh. Uninterrupted reading time, I guess, though the dog didn't ask to go out, and it's time for her last walk now...she sure as heck won't be going out at 8am tomorrow, though, unless somehow I get to sleep at 2am. Doubtful.

At least I'm enjoying my current book.

RD - I think Stasia can be let off the hook as my hairy toes also would have had Tolkein dashing for his nib. Not too much sign of any slowing down in these parts dear fellow. You are more than 50% up on last year's posts at the same stage and you started later.

Heh...it's quite noisy up in here, isn't it? We're the chattiest book folk in this place.

Poor Hobbits...renowned for eating and feeting.

and for stealing rings that don't belong to them.....wait....the Duchess of Windsor was a Hobbit?

A skinny, short orc, actually.

Just dropping off some drive by smooches in passing *muah*.

You are creating some weird sleep habits there, sir.

Snarfling woman is off today. She has added to her symptoms..she has floaters in her eyes.

Yesterday, I was counting a thick stack of copies one woman had made.... so she could pay for them. SW interrupted me several times. GRRRRR. Another time someone came up to me with a stack of movies.. and she grabbed them and said "I can help you !" and took his movies... She said "well, you are leaving soon..."
( fifteen minutes, & I ended up leaving late, because she kept interrupting me when I was counting.. so)

gah!

What is it with all these spammers? Is it that time of year?

Richard, I hope you are able to corral your sleep and put it back in its rightful place. Have a great Thursday!

Christmas Crack sounds very Yummolicious Richard. Love the comment about unwitting people holding food at just the right angle for Stella, My Angel will do the same, so I def can envision the responses of the unwitting people.. LOL.. It is priceless, isn't it funny how you can tell people to watch how they hold things and they still end up not paying attention and do it anyway.

What is all this about Hobbits.. And Stasia... Hmmm.. Though I have never actually physically met her I do not believe she has hobbit feet.. ;) LOL

>71 BekkaJo: *smooch* Glad to see you however briefly, Bekka!

>72 bizsuper: Eeeeccccch go away

>73 mckait: Car bomb. Untraceable, effective, permanent.

I can't imagine what's wrong! I hate this! I woke up at my usual 7a and have only now felt clear-headed enough to do anything at all.The upside is I don't feel sleepy still...?

>74 maggie1944: Thanks, Karen44, from your keyboard to the goddess' inbox.

>75 MonicaLynn: I take the "well, you were warned..." attitude when they bitch. Specifically told not to do something for a stated reason, do it anyway, and act all shocked? Not flyin' in my air, lady.

Mmmf. Probably didn't know she has nineteen eyes, seventeen of 'em cybernetic, with which to read. It's how she's powerin' through to a four-year degree in six more months. The woman's amazing.

Good Morning, Richard. Now go back to sleep if you need to.

>77 jadebird: Hi Ren! NOOOOOOO I need to get back to some semblance of a normal sleep pattern! This constant weariness is yucky!

*smooch* for being kind

It's a fuzzy-headed kind of day, Richard. There are whacko fronts swirling around all over the eastern portions of Canuckistan and the YouEssEh. I woke up feeling that if I looked in the mirror, I would see a National Geo depiction of a neanderthal woman, low bulging forehead and all. T'aint you alone yourownself.

I hope your sleep pattern will go back to normal Richard. *hug*

>79 tiffin: We are still creatures in nature, aren't we Urghla? The weather, now a minor nuisance unless she throws a tantrum like Sandy, still governs so much about our health, our psychology, our daily existence. And we blithely ignore its influence.

Og feel stupider now.

>80 wilkiec: Why thank you, Diana! Most kind of you to say so.

At least I'm enjoying my current book
That's the best, as we all know.

I guess you just get to stay up all night reading!

Funny sleep patterns are a life-affecter. Get back to "normal" now please RD.

>82 EBT1002: It's a tradeoff, I guess, all day or all night...either way has its good and bad points. *smooch* for triumphant presentation-presenting Ellen!

>83 LovingLit: They are, aren't they Marvella? I mean Megan, haha. Eventually I'll have at least one knee replaced and then I'll be struggling on crutches. I dread it. My hands are bad enough to make the prospect horrible, but this knee's killin' me and it's not likely to get better.

Have you changed the dosage on any medication you're taking, Richard? You certainly seem to be adopting the sleep habits of a hedgehog. What does Ms Stella make of all this?

>84 richardderus: You could request/get given those standing walker things that you rest your whole forearm on? I guess its all insurance dependent.
When I had my hard core hip replacement/reconstruction/leg lengthening operation, the nurse thoughtfully told me that knees are more painful. Right. So I hope not, for your sake, cos mine was no walk in the park. BUT now it is a huge walk in the park. No pain = happy Madge

I do know some folks who had new knees done.. and they got through it just fine...
My wish for you rd ( and Megan) would be cures for what ails ya !

hugs

Hi RD- This spammer is like a pesty fly! Be gone with you! Hope you are well. Temps are very mild in the Midwest. How about you?

>85 cameling: Still not on any meds yet, Caro, as I don't qualify for Medicaid just yet. Stella is, as one might expect, a wee bit on the confused side. Poor animal!

>86 LovingLit: Oh YIKES! How ghastly sounding, Minnie! But in the end, the pain-free operation of one's own body is key.

>87 mckait: I really hope to be among them soon. It's painful to do anything to bones, but frankly at this point I don't care a fig. xoxo

>88 msf59: Positively summery! Was 52 today. I admit I'm grateful for it this year, what with the bits and pieces behaving the way they are.

It's 52 here right now *shiver, shiver?* Oh, wait, your house has insulation, right?

>90 ronincats: Heh, yes indeed Roni or it would be uninhabitable in winter! I'd guess it's 66 inside right now. Not toasty but pleasant enough compared to 35 outside.

Hopefully the cold won't affect the aches and pains too much longer Richard.
I'm glad it's not cold here right now, but I would prefer the temps that Megan has. Below 30 would be heaven for a change.

RD - I read my first short story collection of the year - A Good Man is Hard to Find (I'm sure you would agree) and have posted my review to the book page for a change. For the technologically inept please help me recover the link to your short story thread so I can save it properly this time. Hope you are asleep whilst this is being posted.

Edit: Well that's annoying, the image which displayed perfectly last night is now 'access denied' from the source. Disappointing.

>89 richardderus: Minnie- *snort*

#76: It's how she's powerin' through to a four-year degree in six more months.

I could only wish!

((Hugs) and xx more smooches xx just for that, RD :)

This theic wishes you a lovely weekend, Richard!

My dad is one of those who have had both knees replaced and had absolutely no trouble at all with either. The key, for him at least, is that he did all the exercises afterwards just as the doctor told him to do them, even though at first it was a bit painful, apparently.

Well.. January is moving on quickly.. so it is only days until there is a possibility of care and getting on the road to recovery. This is a good thing!

I am still baffled to think Christmas has come and gone. it didn't feel christmassy to me this year..but for your sake, I am glad that the new year is finally here.

Just stopping to say hi.

Stopping for a quick catch up & to say howdy Richard!

Morning Richard! It's Friday and I am ever so happy about that. Hope it's a good one for you!

>92 fairywings: Under 30 sounded nice to me when I lived in Texas. I left after the second consecutive summer where it fell below 40--all the way to 38!--a dozen or so times.

I Hate Heat.

>93 PaulCranswick: What a way to start!! I will pop by later and leave the link.

>94 ty1997: I can't see it, dear.

Hi, Rdear. A happy Friday to you.

I find The Warden still somewhat charming, but my favorite has to be Barchester Towers, where the odious Mr. Slope gets his comeuppance. So well-deserved, too.

Wrists, fingers, hips stiff and sore today. However, not complaining, given the relative nastiness of our disorders.

Hoping the week-end goes well.

>95 LovingLit: What's that, Myrt?

>96 alcottacre: I would never bet against you, CyberLady Alpha IX-53398C. Never. You do things with your whole, entire being when you decide to do them.

It's impressive as all get out.

>97 wilkiec: Thank you, Diana! I wish you a speedy recovery from your tea-drunkard condition. *smooch*

>98 scaifea: The key is the exercises...do them properly, do them on the schedule, and DO them! I had my kneecaps done a while back, a much lesser thing, and the way not to suffer is to do what they tell you to do.

>99 mckait: Or so I hope, anyway...I take nothing as a given. xoxo from New Year's 1998, as I am still sure it is.

>100 tjblue: Hi Tammy! Glad to see you!

>101 TinaV95: Yodeleeewhooooohoooooooooo! *blows a smooch at Tina's running form*

Not gonna happen, once a theic, always a theic, but thank you :) *smooch back*

>102 Crazymamie: Thank you, Mamie! I hope it is too, though rain won't make either Stella or me too happy come walk time. We will survive, though we might be wearing disgruntled looks as we do it.

>104 Matke: Howdy do, Danvers, and so agreed re: Slope. But still...my favorite scene is Mrs. Proudie's death. Why that's not as well-known as Chuckles the Dick's scene of Miss Favisham at the bridal table I do not know.

Pills! Pain pills! Apply liberally, wash down with a glug of whisky, and relax. You deserve it. xoxo

>107 wilkiec: *saddened sigh* Another sad victim of the worldwide tea hoax.

105> "The key is the exercises...do them properly, do them on the schedule, and DO them! I had my kneecaps done a while back, a much lesser thing, and the way not to suffer is to do what they tell you to do."

Very much so, ignore this at your peril

My sleep pattern is waaay off too, and has been for at least a month. Sigh.

Yes, the Christmas Crack is now gone from Betty's Bakery for another year. No extended seasons for them! More annoyingly for me, no more mince tarts until Thanksgiving... I swear that the chocolate/peppermint matzo is the reason I get invited for Xmas...

>109 roundballnz: I was a good boy and did them. Had not problem one as a result.

>110 Chatterbox: ...who told...I mean *shifty eyes* don't be silly!

Just driving by to wish you and Stella a great weekend. *smile*

Finished We Sinners and sort of come to a similiar conclusion as you. However, I didn't know what to make of that last story about the founder of these fundamentalistic Lutherans. I didn't think that it added that much to a greater understanding of the story, aside from the fact with the drinking. Any thoughts on that one?

Hi Bianca, Stella sends her woofs.

Here's my thought: Shoulda left that one off. Just not worth the eyeblinks. But since it's her first book, I forgive the solecism.

Guess what the liberry had for me today? Volt! Already picked it up and can't wait to dive in. I'm not waiting for Spring - it's plenty bright and warm here, so I'll take my chances.

oh cripes. overwhelmed by your prolificism already. wanted to say thanks for your recommendation of Edith Pearlman and now Patricia Wentworth. must finish one of my current reads to get to Wentworth STAT. i could use her, and her narrator, right along in through here.

sorry about the ouchyness today. :(

oh yes, Miss Silver... I keep adding her books to the Kindle whenever they go on sale. Solid, reliable... I may have to squeeze some in this month!

>115 mirrordrum: i'm a Miss Silver virgin, CB, so will be starting with her first as soon as i clear a slot on the iPod. very excited about it for some reason. how are you liking Half of a yellow sun? a large print copy is looming dauntingly at me from my shelves and i have two hugeous reads (700+ and 900+ pp) ahead of it. egad!

I like it, so I can't explain why I appear to be stalled about 1/3 of the way into it... It's not the size in and of itself; the writing is excellent, but...

sigh. I will finish this month. Yes, I will.

>118 Chatterbox: i know. that happened to me with Purple hibiscus (audio version). i left it for a while now and then and always returned reinvigorated.

Book porn!

>114 Crazymamie: How excellent, Mamie! I hope this is the beginning of a supercharged wonderful read.

>115 mirrordrum: Heh. My prolificism? Ain't me doin' the posting, Ellie, it's all y'all chatting up a storm.

>116 Chatterbox:-119 Maybe The Chinese Shawl would be a good one to start with?

I have nothing (nice) to say about Adichie, so I shall belt up.

OMG you found my new home. Wonderful pic Richard :)

It needs a cat and a bit of color.

>122 fairywings: And it's already got a maid, up on the stool, reshelving your read TBRs so you'll always know what's next. One assumes you've provided the maid with an industrial-strength floor polisher.

>123 EBT1002: Nothing "needs" a cat...and the chairs can all be tossed as soon as you get the keys. Better chairs, a rug or two, there's your color.

I thought it needed some color, too, Ellen! I am loving all those shelves though - WOW!

Maybe some knickknacks on the bookshelves - wouldn't that be great? *ducks whatever Richard throws*

>125 Crazymamie: I know, right? Those slurpsome shelves...and even a few blank walls for expansion! What's that, art collection? You want some space? ah hahahahaha silly paintings.

>126 jnwelch: *heads off to molotov the cafe with (cheap) tequila*

>120 richardderus:: I was just thinking how nice faintly muddy poodle paw prints would look meandering across that too pristine floor.

>128 tiffin: It is clearly the home of a person without pets, children, or husbands.

>129 richardderus:: or snackers, or visitors, or people who eat Cheerios in front of the computer.

>130 tiffin: Oh, it's a monastery! Then what's she...hmmm permaybehaps I don't want to know.

> 120 - Now that is a home build with the owner's library in mind!

Stopping by to wish you a good weekend, Richard!

Yes, it's far too white and modernist for me... It needs a big saggy couch, some colorful rugs & pillows, a cat or two, a lovely battered wood coffee table with a cup of tea on it and a cat curled up on one end of the couch.

Good morning, RD! Hope you have a good Saturday.

*smooches* from Horrible

Morning RD! Just checking in with the beloved Mr. Crabby Pants! I hope you are doing well. I also wanted to mention how much I loved your review of Volt. This not only sounds like my cuppa but a Must Read as well. Great job!

> 120... stop doing that, you always make me drool over these rooms :D

I don't even have a bookshelf in the house and I am already drooling over "I Love Books" on FB who puts "book porn" every day ... it's just not faaaiiirrrr :(((
(she says with crocodile tears on her cheek and vengeance in her eyes :P)

I love that book porn... but I can't imagine keeping it clean....impossible!
It's very nice to look at though....

>132 lkernagh: Hi Lori! Thanks for the weekend wishes, heartily returned.

>133 Chatterbox: Nothing on the surface of the earth, or below it, or above it, is made better by cats.

>134 karenmarie: Thanks, me deario, and back at'cha!

Morning, Richard! Stopping by to wish you and Stella a lovely weekend. And to ogle the book porn!

>135 msf59: Thanks, Mark! I'm crabbying along, not too shabbily. Not so eager to move around, since it's foggy and dank...but it's warm! 50, yes forty-nine plus one, in January!

>136 tigerlyly: Hi Liliana! Glad to see you. I watched a Romanian movie last night, about an undercover cop in Bucharest (or so they told me, and I couldn't prove otherwise) following a drug dealer's kid around, going home to his bored-with-him wife, and dealing with idiot bureaucrats.

Very bleak. Interesting, too. Wish I could think of the title.

Does Romania have a big science fiction-reading public?

>137 mckait: If one can afford that place, love, one can afford the slaves to clean it. *shudder* Imagine what it would look like with Angus shedding, Dunkers running, and Dan galumphing snow and mud.

>139 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie! Ain't that some kinda book porn, though? *drool*

>140 richardderus: oh, my... if you want to see good Romanian movies try the ones directed by or with Sergiu Nicolaescu before 1989, he has some very good ones and the actors were amazing.
The ones from now I can not recommend , the acting and directing is way too bad and sold out for me.

Well, if we are talking about my generation, then you probably will find a lot of sci-fi fans. It was our own way of escaping a bleak world when we were growing up.
If you talk about now, then you'll have much less readers of sci-fi (or of anything else) but a large fan base for sci-fi movies/games.
You know, video killed the radio star... Internet killed everything else :D



> 138 I used to think the same exact thing about cats ... There is no way a cat is better than a dog, and cats are just plain evil.
And then I met Susan and her cats (I am meeting them still ;)) ... and I changed my mind.

As a big cat myself, who despised cats before, I had my own epiphany about them when I met Buckaroo and started to see movies together (just action, thrillers and sci-fi ... that cat could not stand romances, he would get his head up from his place next to me on the couch and very regal and dignified in his distaste leave the room :))... or when out of her 3 cats at the time, one of them would not touch his food until he would come and thank me for it by kissing my hands :D

My cat-loathing is reinforced by the fact that my eyes swell shut when I'm around cats, and my breathing stops if there are more than one or two.

Just no!

Having one.

Ha! Don't I know it!

LOVE that!! That is how I feel about every Monday. Truly.

>144 avidmom: You too, Your Avidity? It seems to be a plague!

>145 Crazymamie: I don't really have too much to choose from re: days of the week, but some just are this way.



*sigh* Don't I know it.

HAH! That one also rings true for me!

If only we could be *that* level of cool, eh what?

MASSIVE book envy.

#149 Envy????Really????? Looks pretty musty, rusty, dusty, and distinctly boring to me.

#149 - Be careful what you wish for, Richard. I bet the Complete Works of Dickens is lurking in there somewhere...

149. That is a wet dream.

>150 tututhefirst: I love to shop around in old books like this, who knows what kind of crazy stuff is hiding in there?

>151 katiekrug: It can, once identified, be burned. Not a problem.

>152 PawsforThought: Agreed!

>149 richardderus:: Wow. No knowing what might show up in there...all of Trollope? The Anatomy of Melancholy? Surely something obscure, arcane, and fascinating.

Hope tomorrow will be peaceful, calm, and less painful, Rdear.

Oh yes, the death of Mrs. Proudie. What a delightful horror she is!

OOh and yes, I am envious indeed, Richard ... so much so I've turned a putrid green shade.

I am with Suz about the white room - far too white and modern for my taste.

((Hugs)) and xx smooches xx for the weekend. I hope it is a great one for you, RD!

>143 richardderus: !!! LOL

>146 richardderus: woah, is that really how big a moose is? Or is Teddy just little?

>149 richardderus: I am totally into those books, and the warm colours and feel of the whole thing. I take one please.

Katie lol and ditto RD riposte.
Have a lovely weekend and thanks for the rather mouldy book porn.

149> Now that is more like it. As Paws said. :-|

Although the needs-a-cat-and-color book porn provided much hilarity around here, I see!

*smooches*

I've just read and reviewed, Angela Thirkell's last book Three Score and Ten. I gave it at least one and a half stars more than its literary merits would earn, because it is what it is: the last of its kind, the end of a series, the only autobiography we'll ever have of its creator. It's in my thread...post #27.

>154 Matke: Thanks, me lurve, I hope so too!

>155 cameling: Heh, somehow I'm just not surprised by that.

>156 alcottacre: *smooch* Well dearest, I'll just have to take it from you then, and mess it all up with DOG prints and a biiig long wide and deep sofa.

>157 LovingLit: Teddy wasn't tall, arounf 5'8" or so, but moose are HUGE. Just IMMENSE.

>158 PaulCranswick: Mouldy porn. Ew. Something about that phrase is squicky.

>159 EBT1002: Now Ellen...we've already established that NOTHING "needs" a cat. But it has indeed given the assembled company some snickers!

>160 ronincats: *smooch* back!

Three Score And Ten, thumbed and under consideration :)

Hi, Richard. I am still not in the swing of things with this new year. Reading is going slowly for me, sleeping is having its upper hand. It is cold here - 30s and 40s but nice clear days with this odd looking yellow orb in the sky. Yesterday morning it was particularly pretty with soft blue skies, and white fuzz all over everything. Strange. Non-normal.

I don't believe that picture of Teddy. I attended Theodore Roosevelt High School in the early 1960s and we learned all things Teddy. If that had been a real photograph I think I would have seen it before now. It is true however that he was not a big man, and moose are huge. And mean! Nobody in their right mind would get on one in water. But Teddy may not have had a right mind when it came to adventures.

Moving on.... hope your Sunday is sweet.

The moose pic has made my day.

maggie - you can see where Teddy was holding reins - it is entirely photo shopped, but FABULOUS! He woulda have ridden a moose if he had coulda.

oh, ya, you are right: if he coulda, he woulda

All that white room needs is a oversized red couch and then it would be better!

Hello RD! Dropping off some liberry porn for you :) Happy Sunday!

>164 mckait: Oh, thanks! I liked the book, but it wouldn't be my suggestion for a first read in the series. No way. The Brandons or Wild Strawberries first.

>165 maggie1944:, 166, 167 No no, totally photoshopped or Teddy would've been dead a long time before he was! No one I've ever heard of has ridden a moose and survived. Well, a living moose. But if such had ever been possible, I promise you Teddy would've traveled from wherever he was to wherever it could be made to happen by whatever means available to make it so!

>168 ChelleBearss: Agreed re: red sofa, and WWWWWWOWW! on the porn! Love the way it's shaped at the top.

Yuh huh.

#168==If I ever absolutely lose my mind and decide to spend the $$ this is exactly what I'd do with my attic.

It's gorgeous, I agree, and a good model to be followed.

I love that quote but I wasn't expecting to see that it was from Sting. Of all people. I read his book, though :) It was a good one.

I hadn't run across the quote before, and loved it immediately. I don't know diddly-do about Sting, so I have no picture of him for it to enhance or distort.

Lots of lovely book porn. I quite like the red room and the wall of books quote...

I'm apparently in the minority in not liking the red attic library. I'm not a big fan of sloping ceilings. And that shade of red is too light for me - I want more depth and warmth.
I'm glad you all enjoy it though (then you won't be stealing MY library).

Hi Richard flying by on my little orange broomstick - but I won't yoddle, otherwise you may well faint :) *smooch* to you and Stella for a nice Sunday evening.

Reviewed We Sinners just in case you are interested *smile* Review

Mmmmmm, Sting. Yummy.

I agree about the red attic, not my cup of tea either...
Give me a darker room, with windows making only pools of light in two three places, low coffee colored leather couches... or whiskey colored, some green plants close to windows...
that's book porn to me :P

179. Oh, tigerlyly, I'm completely with you. Darker room, deep set windows, comfy leather sofas, a proper rug (preferably Persian), a fireplace...

That attic works for me! Light in the day time, but not too much of it. Can be made very cosy indeed in the evenings with the right kind of lamps. And I like the sensation that it's a retreat in the attic -- a reading nook of sorts -- and the suspicion that down that staircase is another library room with still more books...

>175 mckait: Hello sweetness, glad you liked them!

>176 PawsforThought:, 179, 180 It's all completely subjective, and I'm always amazed when any kind of consensus emerges at all. So many different people are bound to have many different tastes.

I myownself am gonna like a room with lots of books in it. Decor? Completely secondary.

>178 scaifea: Hellooooo Amber!!

>181 Chatterbox: That was pretty much my thought-picture, too, Suz. I love lamp-light.

Richard

Your opening photo reminds me of some pretty scary episodes of Rod Serling's The Night Gallery.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065327/

Hello Richard! Mom asked me for her cell phone today. She is really perking up! I hope you are finally sleeping well and feeling better.

I've reviewed the quirky, wonderful stories in 420 Characters: Stories over in my thread...post #15.

First appearing on Facebook, they're all marvels of concise, lovely language telling fractions and fractals of stories we might never know, or never forget.

>183 Whisper1: Oh my! I'd forgotten that show, Linda. They were creepfests, all right.

>184 luvamystery65: That's great news, Roberta, I am SO pleased to hear she's getting back into her fighting fettle. It's been a long and scary road for you.

>168 ChelleBearss: We have a bunch of bookshelves in our attic, and a skylight, but it doesn't look as spectacular as that, darn it. Nice pick, Chelle.

>170 richardderus: well, I think I like Sting a whole lot more now than I ever did. What a cool thought.

Afternoon to you in RD-ville. All is well I take it? Lamps and attics sound like a great thing to add books to and enjoy. I like the idea of that a lot. *thinking of how to install an attic*

Good morning! How is today looking for you?

>187 LovingLit: I've never had an opinion one way or the other about Sting, really, except he did a crap acting job in the crap de Laurentiis movie of Dune. *smooch* Glad you came by!

>188 mckait: Cloudy, warmish, and uncomfortable. You?



And that is gawd's own truth.

Nor tea...

Hi Richard!

>190 wilkiec: Well, one supposes that is true, but surely it is of no great moment if tea never ever ever again in all the history of space and time never ever ever gets made?

I strongly disagree. :)

I used to love coffee, but I'm not allowed to use caffeine anymore. And decaf is not the same, so tea it is.

>192 wilkiec: *gasp* No...no...caffeine?!? Sure but surely this is a violation of your civil rights! You must immediately...oh wait...oh yeah, MS...I am so so sorry.

Tea *shudder* is something I dislike so strongly it actually causes my stomach to knot when I am confronted with it. Oddly less so with green tea, though I don't like it at all. It just doesn't make me feel ill.

193. I hate green tea with a passion. I think I'd rather drink dish water.

>194 PawsforThought: Precisely how I feel about black tea! And white tea. And herbal tisanes. YUCK!

Your thoughts on cats and tea are simply incomprehensible, and need altering, pronto. So there. :-)

Going off to make myself some jasmine tea -- yum.

Quickly skipping through Richard's thread on a quick lunch break...
:)

It's hell trying to keep up with the popular kids!!

oh, well... Richard I totally agree with you on the tea subject.
No hot colored water for the rest of my life is fine with me. If it would not be for colds I would probably say "good riddance" to it.

The only time I enjoyed tea was on a diet that involved 5 spoons of black Russian tea put in 500ml milk at night and drunk it the morning. It was the same as I would have had a coffee, even more concentrated than my regular coffee.

>192 wilkiec: but tea has caffeine, sometimes more than a regular coffee.
So decaf tea is probably worse than decaff coffee.

>196 Chatterbox: Au contraire, ma chere amie, it is I who think clearly and thee whose muddled "thought processes" must be sorted into the proper "cats and tea are barfalicious" boxes.

>197 TinaV95: Oh I know, I know! I can never keep up with your thread, no matter how hard I try.

>198 tigerlyly: Oh yeah! Liliana, you remind me of a tea preparation that I really liked: Russian tea in a glass made with sour cherry preserves. It was so deliciously tart and welcome-ly warming. That was actually good!

It's Monday again, Richard, but I'm dealing with it. Hope your week is off to a lovely start. I read the first two stories in Volt and I like the way that Heathcock writes - thanks for pointing me in its direction!

Celestial Seasons puts out a tea every Christmas called Candy Cane Lane which, for some reason, hits all the right spots with me (green tea base, some peppermint and other nice flavours). But something like chamomile (what I think boiled grass would taste like): gack. But Richard, you don't like Earl Grey?

What a disappointment that Dune movie was.

Stopping by to say hi Richard and wish you well on this Monday. I Myownself dislike hot drinks in general....how's that for weirdness?

>200 Crazymamie: Oh me oh my, Monday blues is it? Well, come in and have a donut or six with your drink. *smooch* for liking Volt! I am so pleased.

>201 tiffin: Tea, Tui, is my idea of an emetic. Lapsang Souchong is faster than ipecac for me.

Curiously, I like the smell of chamomile tisane because it smells like lawns! Something soothing about that. But drink it? Ick, no.

>202 jnwelch: You are so polite about it. What a travesty it was. Pretty enough, I suppose, but...wha...? It made little sense.

>203 Cobscook: Hi Heidi! Not liking all hot drinks makes more sense to me than liking tea but not liking coffee.

Really Richard no tea???? I myself don't like all teas. But I do drink some and pretty much every day and even cold.. Sigh.. Well, I guess we don't all have to like tea's and I still love you anyway..

147 unread posts. Forgive me, Richard, for I have sinned. I shall say ten Hail Marys on your behalf as penance. ;)

Those coffee quotes are so true! Only in my case I can't survive without a strong cup of English breakfast tea in the morning. I would love a sink full of coffee, though... some days tea isn't enough.

And I am so stealing that Teddy Roosevelt picture for internet uses. It is true - I will never be as cool as him. It is a sad fact of life.

Hm, all the lovely talk about hot drinks - I am a coffee drinker, not too strong, with lots of milk and some cane sugar - tea? only when I am sick - meh.

Otherwise, just wanted to wish you a lovely Monday :)

I am a fan of some tea.. not black. Sometimes orange pekoe.. white is fine. Mostly, I prefer herbal blends, which I sometimes make from this and that I find in the yard :)

Coffee in the morning is a must.

>206 MonicaLynn: Awww...you so sweeeeet! *smooch*

>207 ErisofDiscord: 147?! You are a BRAVE soul, Eris, if some thread has over 100 unread messages, I just red-x it and figure I'll catch whoever on the flipside.

>208 drachenbraut23: We're all unique in our preferences, I see. *smooch* for a happy evening, Bianca!

>209 mckait: But then again, you like cats, so....

nope.. LOVE cats.

Ew. *tries to put this hideous character defect out of his mind*

53 posts ago> we've already established that NOTHING "needs" a cat.
Speak for thy own self, my feline fearing friend.

ETA: or should that be "thine own self"?

Maybe just "yeah yeah, tell it to the judge."

Cat Porn

xo

"You said you wanted me to get into your pants."

More cat porn.

xo

I promise to stop now.

edited to be a bit smaller

Okay, this is referring to a post wayyyy back, but I'm going to look for The Chinese Shawl. Thanks, Richard.

Huh. Wants to talk about books.

Stopping by to say one of your threads of Librarything past led me to a book I've owned and not read for ages. Finally, after 20 years of that little novel gathering dust on my shelves I actually read The Neverending Story! Read it and mentioned you in the review I tacked on to my thread. Please don't sue me. ;)

> 214 that is not cat porn... that is cruel and terrifying :P

this is cat porn:

Volt goes straight to my wishlist.

Hope everything's OK for you Richard.
Here, the situation is crazy to say the least, but at fortunately I'm reading great things. Hanif Kureishi. Enrique Vila-Matas

You guys are going to make RD mad! You'll be sorry!!

RD- I loved your review of 420 Characters: Stories. You've been knocking out some very fine story collections. I'm getting the itch. My next book after the massive A.K. is The Miniature Wife and Other Stories. It's an ER selection. Have you heard of him?

Yeah, 420 Characters: Stories went right onto my must-acquire list.

219> LOL!! You're right, my stuff was definitely in the soft cat porn realm. Yours ought to be illegal.

I gave up coffee when I quit smoking because the two were totally linked in my head and in my subconscious so that when I drank coffee I always craved a ciggy. So now I drink tea which isn't nearly as good but it's something... Chamomile is my favorite and I just discovered honey vanilla chamomile which is rather nice.

But I still don't like cats very much!

uh oh, no sighting of RD for a bit ... must be hiding from all the cats!

or secretly enjoying a nice hot cuppa tea ......

Gevalia Stockholm Roast, whole bean, ground just before brewing, with my wonderful-tasting well water is one of my ideas of heaven.

Black with no sugar, of course.

Hallo and *smooches* to you RD, from an annoyingly-sleep challenged Horrible

Ooorgh, cats ew. Stop! Desist! Catlessness is de rigueur here!

I went into a serious read and had to finish something. Not for review, but it had to be done. It's done.

Hi Ren, Nick, Your Avidity, Horrible, Ellen, Alex, Chelle, Liliana, and Mark! Smooches and hugs all around. I'm now going to watch BBC documentaries, I think the ones on light, to bore myself to sleep. xoxo

Aw, don't be so hard on the Dune movie - I love it for the cheese factor (but then again, I love all cheesy-bad movies).

*whispers, "SPICE!"*

All kitties are beautiful, including >214 EBT1002:. She is just angry that all cats are being judged unfairly...
Activist Kitty is really very sweet when not all riled up.

Good morning rdear...

Morning Richard! It's Tuesday, which is always so much better than Monday - for me anyway. I'm sure it's completely mental!

Ugh. mornings. must find fizzy diet life juice.

>228 scaifea: It was The Voice that made me guffaw and cringe at the same time. Whooee that was bad.

>229 mckait: No kitties are welcome here. Good morning! Have fun at work today!

>230 Crazymamie: Hey Mamie, yeah pretty much since the calendar is not natural but man-made, but it's what we use so run with it! Whatever makes the day brighter.

>231 ty1997: If by "life" we mean obesity and death by cancer, then yes.

We may disagree about cats, Richard, but I see that we have similar feelings about diet soda. :-)

>233 EBT1002: Proving that thou art merely misguided and not a lackwit, good milady. That stuff is lethal!

*returning some drive by waves and smoochies*

Oh and agreeing on regular actual tea *shudder* and cats *double shudder*. Though the tea that is actually the devils favourite is peppermint, dreadful stuff.

For all you cat lovers.

OMG, what IS that???

It is a Brazilian Leaf Hopper! Those ball-shaped things are hollow chitin spheres, and no one knows what they, or the spiny things, are for.

Cool, ain't it?

Looks a lot like a Brazilian treehopper.

ETA: Got beat by one minute!

I'm so glad I don't have any Brazilian leaves around my house.

TREE hopper! Yes, indeed, Gerard, thanks.

I don't know if they're endangered or what, but if that bad boy turns up in my kitchen, it's goin' flat faster than a nail-stuck tire.

Well, I don't have any Brazilian trees around my house either. And yep, should that rascal show up, he will be getting very quickly and very intimately acquainted with the heel of my hardest handy shoe.

I think you should have privately warned your friends who respect the you-know-what ban on your threads that you were going to show that god-awful critter.

Eep. Gives me the willies.

Book porn!

Does that make up for the critter? I think it's really cool-looking! In a photo, mind, I'd scream like Honey Boo Boo on a diet if I saw one in RL.

244> Perfect. I adore this book porn. Tidy, but not too tidy. Warm but no lace. Nice.

It did my heart good, too.

Good morning, Richard. Note that I have avoided posting any cats here. I agree the tree hopper is a unique-looking creature.

>247 ronincats: Proof that nature is a weird and wonderful fantasist, isn't it, Roni? I can imagine that critter being the inheritor of the earth once humanity has choked on its latrines, as da Vinci (I think) said we would.

Now that would be a cool story.

#236 I think if that landed on me I would have an instant heart attack! UGH!

Just the weirdness of it would cause me to fall over in a dead faint, Chelle. It's not poisonous or harmful, but it's still FREAKYDEAKY and I want no part of it *on* me.

But it's really cool-lookin' ain't it?

scary kitty
cute kitty
fluffy kitty
FREAKY BUG

I like the idea of spamming with fluffy kittens, be the freaky bug wins :)

No brick throwing, I promise.
*throws fluffy kitten and RUNS*

AcK Bugs.. Ewe Gross, yucky, bleck splat that darn thing.. Gave me instant creeps. Please don't torture RD anymore so we don't have to see creepy crawly bugs anymore..

Remember, all ye who posteth kitty pics: The Internet has OODLES of bug pictures and you have threads.

Hi Maude Martha! How do, Monica! xoxo

I did not get it... what do brazilian tree/leaf hoppers have to do with cat lovers?
(to be clear, I am sticking up for the cat lovers and not cats :P)

richard, if you tell me you are looking at Honey Boo Boo I am changing my good opinion of you .... blasphemy!!!!

ooooooh... I jumped a little when the freaky bug picture loaded!!! Yuck!

I love cats (especially mine), but since we've all been threatened by bug pictures, I shall refrain from posting any here :)

254 -- Ditto on the Honey Boo Boo comment ***big ol' grin***

OMG, I am at the end of this thread. I think I'd better go fix myself some dinner, and a cup of tea....er, I mean coffee, and depart LT for a book, or Angry Birds Star Wars. (The kids' fault!)

OH, BTW, don't let Ellen take a day off from work and this will not be happening again.

>254 tigerlyly: I am a complete cat-hater, and people post "cute" kitty pictures to make me writhe and seethe with loathing and unhappiness. So, since they're doing that, I'll find pictures of horrible-looking bugs, or grisly surgical procedures, and post them on *their* threads! See? Mutually Assured Destruction!

>255 TinaV95: Hey Tina! Imagine running across one unexpectedly...ye gods!

Honey Boo Boo requires no effort on my part to show up on Facebook or even in my inbox. To be honest, I find even knowing what a "Honey Boo Boo" is to be an infringement of my right to pursue happiness.

>256 maggie1944: The only computer game I've ever played is solitaire. A book sounds pretty good.

Hey RD- I was hoping not to see any "grisly surgical procedures"! Whew! I tried to warn those kitty people!

Just checking in...

RD >257 richardderus:; nah just stick to the book porn and ignore the cats. I am lumbered with three at home and they hate me with a passion. Whilst I would grudgingly admit to a fondness for the eldest amongst them and merely because she has the acumen to scratch or bite visitors and family without fear or favour but not the master of the house. Bambi the unsuccessful flying cat and his sister the immensely irritating chair-scratching Jinxy (a jinx indeed) run and/or slide for cover when they see me emerge from the lift of an evening.

Okay, you win.
But it was fun for a while.
I still like that Megan identified my activity as Spamming With Kittens. It sounds like the name of a rock group.

To be honest, I find even knowing what a "Honey Boo Boo" is to be an infringement of my right to pursue happiness.

Unconstitutional. Cruel and unusual punishment.
I know next to nothing about Honey Boo Boo, except that she can be found on the Tiaras, Lunatics and Cupcakes channel.

Review: 4 of seventy-five

Title: HOWARDS END IS ON THE LANDING: A Year of Reading from Home

Author: SUSAN HILL

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Book Description: Early one autumn afternoon in pursuit of an elusive book on her shelves, Susan Hill encountered dozens of others that she had never read, or forgotten she owned, or wanted to read for a second time. The discovery inspired her to embark on a year-long voyage through her books, forsaking new purchases in order to get to know her own collection again.

A book which is left on a shelf for a decade is a dead thing, but it is also a chrysalis, packed with the potential to burst into new life. Wandering through her house that day, Hill's eyes were opened to how much of that life was stored in her home, neglected for years. Howard's End is on the Landing charts the journey of one of the nation's most accomplished authors as she revisits the conversations, libraries and bookshelves of the past that have informed a lifetime of reading and writing.

My Review: Haven't all of us who possess a lot of books done this? “I will not buy a new book until I have read x from my shelves!” Uh huh. “No seriously THIS year I mean it, I'm not buying a book! Not one! No!” Mmm hmmm “Really!! I WILL NOT!” Yes dear.

I have no idea how Ms. Hill fared in her commitment not to buy any new books for a year (I suspect poorly, but I'm a suspicious old bugger, I am). I read this lovely memoir of her her reading life with pleasure, because she told me enough about the books that sparked the memories she shares for me to capture my own memories of the books, or to latch on to her sense of them, their place in her life, and the overall effect is to offer her own context as well as the book's.

I like that idea. I like to read what other readers think about when they're reading or after they've finished or even before they've decided what to read next. (Makes sense, doesn't it, here on this site?) And when that reader has written some very, very popular books, published some very good books, and talked about books on radio, television, and stage, I mean! Go fight those odds. I had to read this book. And then re-read it. I loved the experience of both, and would never ask for those eyeblinks back.

There are two passages I've come to and come back to multiple times. One is from author David Cecil's book Library Looking Glass: A Personal Anthology, a tome and a writer absolutely unknown to my poorly educated little ol' Texan self; while Ms. Hill does a wee bit of Internet bashing at the beginning of this book, I found Mother Internet most helpful in digging up a potted biography on Wikipedia of this fourth child of a marquess and father of an actor, an historian, and a literary agent. He was a very old-school gent, and deeply deeply steeped in a bygone literary tradition, author of books on Tennyson and Max Beerbohm and Dorothy Osborne...ye gods how grisly it all sounds to my ear. But then Hill quotes this from his 1975 “Personal Anthology:”

It is often said that mankind needs a faith if the world is to be improved. In fact, unless the faith is vigilantly and regularly checked by a sense of man's fallibility, it is likely to make the world worse. From Torquemada to Robespierre and Hitler the men who have made mankind suffer the most have been inspired to do so have been inspired to do so by a strong faith; so strong that it led them to think their crimes were acts of virtue necessary to help them achieve their aim, which was to build some sort of an ideal kingdom on earth.

(pp156-157, English softcover edition)

Oh yes indeed, Lord David. Oh yes indeed, and so well said. Hardly a surprise, I suppose, this gift he shows there with the gab, given the amount and the quality of the poetry he spent his life reading, analyzing, delving into, parsing, disassembling and reassembling and explicating to generations of young scholars. But how surprising, how very satisfying to find, in a book about someone else's readerly DNA, a hitherto uncatalogued strand of my own.

Hill meditates on the subject of what forms a person, on readerly DNA, later in the book. The passage is one I found calling out to me while I was reading other books, and I marked it for easy access. It has helped me understand the reasons that I read, and the reasons that I decide not to read, certain books or genres or authors.

Books help to form us. If you cut me open, will you find volume after volume, page after page, the contents of every one I have ever read, somehow transmuted and transformed into me? … But if the books I have read have helped to form me, then probably nobody else who ever lived has read exactly the same books, all the same books and only the same books, as me. So just as my genes and the soul within me make me uniquely me, so I am the unique sum of the books I have read. I am my literary DNA.

(pp201-202, English softcover edition)

It is the reason I am so interested in what others who, like me, crave the written story and the printed book, have to say about their reading, and their lives. We're all made of a unique set of genes, and a unique formula of books. It makes us deeply flawed, and deeply interesting.

Even as I turned the pages of the book again and sometimes two or three times, to re-read and re-savor some lovely or lively moment of memory or of sensory pleasure, even as I contemplated my own version of this book, I was aware of a sense of want, a lack of something I was expecting and not getting. It feels churlish to bring it up, but it's the reason I've given the book a half-star less than I would have otherwise. Please forgive the nosy American, Ms. Hill, but...so? And you are...? I'm asking for a wee little bit more of your CV, your activities in some...not a great deal, just some...more detail than you give. The small bits of personal information that are here are those that a very congenial acquaintance would provide, and I have the sense that is exactly and precisely what was intended to be offered.

But we're all readers here, ma'am. We're all in the club. A tell-all dishfest on le monde litteraire? No, not this book (though one of those would be lovely)...but a few more lines of whys and hows and whos would not have come amiss, nor would a sense of your place in life as the discoveries you limn for us have weighed down the narrative unduly.

A minor cavil. A delight of a book. My warmest personal thanks from England's 1644 colonial foundation on Long Island to the Long Barn.

Brilliant review Mr. Derus - Susan Hill is such a versatile writer.

I enjoyed Howard's End on the Landing too, Richard, but I felt she veered off course midway through the book into other areas--I would have liked to see her stay with the original thesis all the way through.

>264 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! I really liked the book. I hope that shows.

And catching up:

>258 msf59: You lucked out, Mark, because the one I had all cued up if the kittyposting didn't stop was an eye surgery.

>259 mckait: Hi sweetness! *smooch*

>260 PaulCranswick: Eccccccccchhhhhhhhh three?! You have my sympathy.

>261 EBT1002: No harm no foul, Ellen, I can go with a joke so long as it stops when I say it should. It did. All is bright and fair in the kingdom.

Keep in mind, if the urge hits again, that I now have bookmarked a photo of an emergency eye surgery, though.

>262 avidmom: Tiaras, Lunatics...OH! Heh! I get it, TLC! That's priceless. *shudder* I don't watch anything on the network so I'm in no danger of running across her show.

>263 richardderus: Great review. I loved the literary DNA quote. It made me think of The Night Bookmobile, which I adore.
I was glad to be reminded of this book, even though THIS is the year I'm not buying new books. Really. I mean it.
(I actually just violated my don't-bring-any-more-books-into-the-house-this-year resolution for the 19th time in 15 days by Bookmooching my first Susan Hill, The Various Haunts of Men. Looks promising.)

>267 madhatter22: THIS is the year I'm not buying new books. Really. I mean it.
(I actually just violated my don't-bring-any-more-books-into-the-house-this-year resolution for the 19th time in 15 days by Bookmooching my first Susan Hill, The Various Haunts of Men. Looks promising.)

Well, I'd say there's no need for me to comment on that. Nope. None at all.

I'm very glad you stopped in to tell me you liked the review! Thanks.

I reviewed Susan Hill's book a few years ago - I did find it a bit disappointing because she didn't actually say that much about many of the books. Since then I've noticed some things that are rather inconsistent with what she says in this book - she deplores social media but actually spends quite a lot of time hanging out on Twitter. But she has interesting things to say although I think she's got rather right wing in her old age (well, her 60s) - she's quite a vocal conservative.

>263 richardderus: Great review. I love that literary DNA part.

Ok Richard, I give in. Howard's End is on the Landing goes on the WL. It is futile to resist it any longer. Fantastic review!

=)))
loved the "Honey Boo Boo" 's infringement act.. . I ended my cable subscription two years ago for that exact reason, on Romanian tv the level on which stupidity is promoted reached such high numbers that my delicate senses could not take it anymore.
But alas, even the internet is not safe....

we can not have the most popular kid in school terrified of cats, so I am providing your book porn for today :P
(it only took me 20min to choose a pic, talking about addiction..:))))

>272 tigerlyly:: I look at that picture and think, "But there's a lot more wall space that could be shelves..." And I love the carpet!

Mornin' Richard!

I really need to read Howard's End on the Landing... I have it waiting patiently on my tbr....
nice review.. off to thumb it.

273. I thought the exact same thing! And yes, the rug is lovely.

Liliana - that is class book porn with the slinkiest of negligees.

i love to think that those are just sliding panels, and that goes all around the room and behind them is a whole world of books :P

Library ladder!

hi Richard

needed a little book porn and found lots of it, THANKS!
hugs

Gave you my thumb for that lovely review! Sounds like one for the WL. Good Morning, Richard, dear!

>269 elkiedee: Hi Luci...well, she's not any great shakes as a horror/ghost story writer. I didn't like The Man in the Picture although the idea is wonderful and I sure could have. A vocal conservative in her 60s. Ugh. How frequently that happens. I am in my earlier 50s, and I don't foresee it happening to me.

>270 avidmom: Thanks! I agree, and do you know I think it's the biggest draw of the book to me.

>271 Cobscook: Resistance is futile, Heidi, the Borg got nothin' on Mount TBR's yetis.

>272 tigerlyly: Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Now THAT is a great start on a seriously good library! The red couches, the lovely carpet, the nice parquet floor, the window. Thanks!!

>273 scaifea: Hi Amber! Agreed, one lovely room there.

>274 mckait: Hey sweetness, thanks for the thumb...how are your ankles today?

>275 PawsforThought: It's a pretty, inviting-looking room, and I am a big fan of red, so it works for me.

>276 PaulCranswick: It's some good work the Romanian Outpost is turnin' out, isn't it?

>277 tigerlyly: *sparkles off into Fantasyland described by Liliana*

>278 PawsforThought: That room inspires awe in me, it's so light and so perfectly bookish.

>279 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita! I'm so glad to see you! Yes, you know where to come for book porn...some things don't change.

Hugs to you, and rub Chimay's belly, and throw something for Ari to fetch, from me!

>280 Crazymamie: Mornin' Mamie, hugs and smooches!

Back to 262: Tiaras, Lunatics and Cupcakes channel
OMG - LOL!!! :)

Thanks RD for the return of the luscious book porn!

Awesome review of the Susan Hill. Off to go give it a thumb right now...

Note: this is very off topic!

I've just looked Susan Hill up and in fact she turns 71 next month.

Conservatism hasn't happened to my mum and her now husband in their late 60s, nor my aunt or my friend Yvonne, both in their 70s. My dad being really left wing didn't last long but he is a woolly liberal who has been known to show up on the odd demonstration if he's really outraged by something, and his parents in retirement were the local Labour Party and CND in rural Hampshire, a naval/military area where that stands out rather more than being really leftie in north east London. One of my heroines is the antiwar activist Hetty Bower:

http://www.channel4.com/news/hetty-bower-still-fighting-war-at-106

(she's presumably 107 now, as she was born in 1905).

283. It's too light for me, I prefer murkier colour schemes, but the bookshelves are fantastic and the ladder makes me giddy.

A fine review, indeed, Richard. Upgethumbed, and onto my wishlist Howards End is on the Landing goes.

Thanks for the review, Richard. I'm glad that Howards End is on the Landing is already in my Mountain TBR.

What a wonderful review of Howards End is on the Landing. I'm off immediately to give it an up-thumb. And adding it to the wishlist. Sigh.

I like that review so much I'm going to restrain myself from spamming with kittens.

>284 TinaV95: *bows* I aim to please, Tina. And thanks for the thumb!

>285 elkiedee: I suspect that what happens during aging is the generational/societal pressures become less normative and therefore a person's innate sense of self takes over. She's a conservative at heart. Or I should say, as we are talking about conservatism, at "heart."

>286 PawsforThought: Bookshelves and a ladder like that in a darker room present my imagination with waaay too many disaster scenarios.

>287 jnwelch: Thank you, Joe, I appreciate that. I expect you'll really groove on the book's main themes.

>288 wilkiec: *smooch* for dear Diana, and thanks!

>289 EBT1002: I'm glad you liked it enough to spare yourself the GIF of emergency eye surgery after an industrial accident, Ellen! *smooch*

Splendiferous review of Howards End Is on the Landing, Richard! I shall not be reading it, as Ms Hill has earned a lifetime ban by me after she served as one of the jurors on the disastrous 2011 Booker Prize judging committee, and made disparaging comments about those who dared criticize the shoddy list of longlisted books that lot dredged from the bottom of the Thames.

>292 kidzdoc: Heh, I am in sympathy good doctor, as I would call Ms. Hill's fiction writing "striving for middlebrow" I won't be hagiographizing her any time soon. This book, I must say, is way far and away better than I had ever hoped it would be.

290. You can still have lamps and windows in a room painted with darker colours. I'm just not a big fan of the "all white walls, all light wood and oh! let's have panorama windows too" type of interior design.

*smooch*

eye surgery I could take but nothing to do with the ears *gag* wax *gag*

but I don't have to worry because I did not kitty spam you ;)

Do you know how hard it is to resist spamming with kittens?
Especially when I'm home sick but starting to feel better and therefore getting restless and bored?

*goes back to reading Anna Karenina*

>278 PawsforThought: that is some shelving there! Wouldn't want a fear of heights now wouldja!?

Wow, what a review RD, Id like to try the book too, but will have to wait for it to arrive out of universe to me (from the library) as Im not sure the urge is enough to buy it.

Marvelous, wonderful, outstanding, competely-in-agreement review of the Hill book, Rdear. You always say it so well.

And my, yes, aren't we all our literary DNA? And our musical DNA as well.

a kiss for you, Dearie.

>294 PawsforThought: It's one taste among many, of course.

>295 curlysue: Oh you mean like the time a friend of mine got a spider bite inside his ear and it got infected and, one hot summer afternoon, the blister popped while he was driving us all somewhere or another and all the gloop inside went into his ear canal and down onto his shoulder? Ear stuff like that?

I have pictures...in case you're contemplating kitty-spamming now...

>296 EBT1002: Eee, that piece before you're better but you're not still sick as a dog is unsettling isn't it?

>297 LovingLit: Thank you, me deario, but listen to the inner voice. It's not worth the $45 it would cost there in Kiwiland.

>298 Matke: Thanks, Gail! I'm happy to see you out and about. Hugs and smooches