Richardderus 2013 thread 11

So I'm spending most of my time moving hundreds of reviews off of Goodreads and onto my blog. They're all here on LT but they're not accessible to people here. Anyway...that's what I'm doing with my days and so I'll be reporting on progress.

The blog is called Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud. It's a Blogspot site, so if you have a Google profile (from Gmail or whatnot) you can use the "g+1" symbol to put me in your Google+ circle; or you can always look on the far right of the page to use the "follow by email" link.

If you're a Google Reader user, you already know it's going away (sob) in July. My feed replacement is Feedly, very easy to use and does what I want a blog-following tool to do.

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.
Book 4...thread three.
Book 5...thread five.
Books 6 & 7...thread seven.
Books 8-11...thread eight.
Books 12-19...thread nine.
Books 20 & 21...thread 10.

Books are reviewed in post:

22. Superzelda...#71.

23. Crapalachia: A Biography of a Place...#181.

24. The Dog Stars...#200.

25. Circle of Ambition...#258.

I'm here for the merriment......*looks around*

'Morning, Richard. Still icky outside. My car is encased in ice and my front door is frozen shut. Don't think I'm going anywhere any time soon.

*smooch*

Happy day to you.

>3 mckait: Now it may begin, since you're here!

>4 MerryMary: No indeed M'Lou! It's 60 here on the way up to thunderstormy 75.

Nanny nanny boo-boo!

>5 karenmarie: *smooch* back!

So, Richard, would you please repost the link to your blog here, and remind me how do I become someone who always knows when you put something new on your blog?

Hope you are balancing all this hard work with some good eating, good talking, and most of all good reading!

>7 maggie1944: All done! It's at the top.

*Smooch* Richard - great blog, nice to see some of those reviews. The tweeting seems to be going strong as well:)

erm..... lovely new thread topper you have there, Richard!
Congrats on an even ten.

Oh sheesh, you know what I mean.

What a threadtopper - woo, you're something to see when you're clean-shaven, Richard. Glad to hear the skepticism persists. We'd miss it if you ever lost it.

>9 calm: Hi calm! It's good to have a chance to get some of them up to speed in terms of typos and formatting errors.

>10 EBT1002: Heh, of course I do. *smooch*

>11 jnwelch: I was born skeptical. When I was four, my mother said Santa was coming. I said I wanted to go to the store with her so Santa would get me exactly what I wanted. "Santa lives at the North Pole," said Mama. "You do not!" said I.

Happy new thread RD! Love the pic up top! :)

Hi. Just elbowing into the crowd to see what everybody's gawking at. Carry on.

oooooo....Richard has a blog....8)

When I am not at work I will visit and try to the blog feeder thingy doohickey.

Keep up the great work!

Pity the hardworking pixel-stained (we need this word in place of ink-stained) wretch! He, and by that I mean me, hath moved five more revised reviews:

MASQUERADE in Kindle Originals

A WALK IN THE DARK (Guido Guerrieri #2) in Mystery Series

A GENTLE MADNESS: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books in Books About Books & Biblioholism

VOLT: Stories in Literary Fiction & Short Story Collections

NEW AMSTERDAM in Bizarro, Fantasy & SF

My blog is Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud and all are invited to glance and sample and enjoy my wares.

It's sad but true. Someone will always say some negative thing.

stealing

Welcome to it!

Congrats on the new thread. Glad you are enjoying that balmy weather, you mean man you.

>21 msf59: Mean? Little ole moi?

Heh

"One who smells at objects like a dog."
~John Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, 1808

I love Grandiloquent Word of the Day!

I have three little snokers!

Am I too late for the merriment? LOVE the thread topper!!

That's better... still sleeping? You have been working hard on that blog.. break today?

>23 richardderus:: How handy: a perfect insult for any nosy person, because he/she won't know what it means. Love it.

So, got your blog added. I don't think I've the energy to do a blog myself.
Wait, let me rephrase that: I have neither the energy nor the self-discipline it takes to do a blog. I can barely do LT, which I love. And I'm not so hot in the creativity department, either.

I may will move all of those oldies over here, though, just so I have my own ready reference. I'm about ready to release myself from GR as I rarely go there and have to force myself to read my daily review updates. Once I landed here, GR completely lost any charms it may have had for me. Much of that is because of the 75'ers, of course. Your sweet self included.

'Morning, RD! Hope you're having a fun and productive day. *smooches*

>24 luvamystery65: Hi Roberta! Snokers make life better, when they have four legs anyway.

>25 Crazymamie: You're here, dearie, the merriment is assured.

>26 mckait: I slept until noon. Of course, I went to sleep at 3.

>27 Matke: Thanks for adding my blog! *smooch* Thanks for calling me sweet! *smooch*

Boo hiss on self-disparagement! *boo* Gail my sweet pal. You do NOT have extra energy to devote to side projects right now. Things must be dealt with that eat entirely any of your very considerable energies and charms, and that is inevitable. It does NOT mean you don't HAVE those energies and charms. It means they are being used in their fullest measure already.

This *will* change. But until it does, you do your very considerable best to live the life you're required to live.

>28 karenmarie: Hiya Horrible! *smooch*

I was just a little behind. Now I am caught up on your thread for a moment or two ;) Smooches to you and Stella

*smooch* for Miss Monica!

Coco Chanel's library. Ooo la la

I don't know that I'd actually want to sit in Coco's library, but its outfit and accessories are well coordinated.

I prefer four-legged snokers, too.

Yeah... kinda fancy for my plebeian tastes

Ooo la la, indeed. The sofa looks comfy for all sorts of activities, mostly in a reclining position.

Another day of busybusy getting reviews moved! Now showing at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud:

HOW TO BE ALONE in Poetry, Classics & Other Boring Stuff

ISLANDS OF INSTABILITY in Thrillers & True Crime

11/22//63 in Bizarro, Fantasy & SF

THE YELLOW BIRDS in Literary Fiction & Short Story Collections

THE GILDED DINOSAUR in Science, Dinosaurs & Environmental Issues

HELLO SUNSHINE *shudder* and two other poetry collections in Poetry, Classics & Other Boring Stuff

So my fingers are sore and my brain is on overload. A good day's work!

>33 jnwelch: It's not what you might call "cozy" but there's a nice warm glow from the books.

>34 mckait: Kinda?! That's as fancy as most palaces! Whoooo-eee! Chanel never saw a top she didn't go over.

>35 Matke: Agreed. *bubble machine*

I still LOVE your review of 11/22/63!

Good Evening Mr. Wonderful Blogger....

>38 ChelleBearss: Thanks, Chelle!

>39 Whisper1: Oh aren't you sweet? Thanks, Linda.

Impelled by ****intense**** jealousy and book-envy of Horrible, I have gone book shopping.

Daedalus, you are The Devil's Own. Mysteries $4, less 15% when one buys 3 or more.

Let's leave it at "more" will be coming to me.

And a comic book. No one tel Joe or Mark. The gloating would be...unseemly.

The Book Tank from Argentina

#32 - I think it is very beautiful however it does not look very comfy as others have said.

#42 - Very cool but what if it rains I hope they have tarps.. Wouldn't want all those lovely books getting wet.

#43 - Boy do I ever need that sign some days. LOL

>44 MonicaLynn: Morning Monca! *smooch*

Comic book? Did I hear some major stud blogger picked up a comic book? *gloats* *gloats some more* *still gloating over here*

Good morning, RD! Any activity that causes friends to acquire more books I take as a compliment, even if it's intense jealousy and book-envy. (24 books purchased at our Friends of the Library Sale). karenmarie's haul

You're welcome.

*smooch*

>46 jnwelch: *sigh* Damn. Knew somebody'd rat me out.

>47 karenmarie: *sigh* If I could go back in time, I'd visit your mama in 1715 or whenever and tell her to name you Horrible for real.

It is so true.

Book porn:
I'll see your Coco Chanel, and raise you a J. P. Morgan

#48 They were going to name me Pamela, but since my maiden name is Pomeroy and they knew the cruelty of kids, they switched it something that was NOT PP (pee pee).

1715? Ha.

Horrible

>50 laytonwoman3rd: Ooooooo the J. Pierpont Morgan Liberry! So so gorgeous as a liberry, but really hard to imagine as a home.

>51 karenmarie: Dodged that bullet...what a childhood that would have been!

Morning dear! My mom wanted to name me Candy - can you imagine? Trust me, that is not the right name for me! Luckily my Dad said absolutely not.

Candy! Blech!

My mother wanted to name my second sister "Debi." *shudder* Debi Derus? eeek

So my father skedaddled to the hospital registrar and named her Winter. Mama didn't like her name, so she wasn't planning to pass it on. She got her own back, though, by nicknaming Winter "Dubby" for "W".

Oh dear!

Very entertaining! Winter is an interesting choice, sort of off the beaten track.

>55 Crazymamie: I know, right? Of her three kids, not one is named Winter.

>56 sibylline: It's a family name. Mama was nicknamed "Snowball" by her mean-girl classmates. My sister was called "Dubby" all during school and HATED it. I think it's a pretty name myownself.

I like Winter, too. But I would hate "Dubby". Poor dear.

And didn't she just! Oooh how she hates to be called that even now, sixty years later!

I like the name Winter... very nice, different. Dubby, not so much. Debi Dare Us sounds like someone with a questionable career.

Heh...it does, doesn't it? *shudder* again

Book Tank in Argentina?! What would Evita say?

>43 richardderus: Oooohhhhh!!! So that's what happened!

Don't cry for me SPanish Penguin....

Dropping by to get & give some special RD smooches!

Hey RD! Just checking in. Sorry you have to deal with some crappy weather. Welcome to our little damp world. Loved Old filth. The Dinner, not so much. What insufferable characters. Have a great weekend, my friend.

KILLED AT THE WHIM OF A HAT in Mystery Series

WHISPERS IN DUST AND BONE in Literary Fiction & Short Story Collections

HEALING AT THE SPEED OF SOUND in Science, Dinosaurs & Environmental Issues

THE OTHER WES MOORE: One Name, Two Fates in Politics & Social Issues

FIRST DAY ON EARTH in Young Adult Books

All the fun is at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud!

And now, to sleep. I'm still working on my gay gaslight-era mystery. I'm plain old tired!

>64 TinaV95: Hiya Tina! Prenuptial *smooches*

>65 msf59: I will try, Mark, I will really try. The Dinner made me want to scream as much as Gone Girl did, and that's A LOT!!

>23 richardderus: LOL
Lenny is a snoker! He is always picking up stuff and giving it a good sniff. I think he is figuring out who it belongs to, as he correctly identified an item his Nana left here once- by smell.

Love your blog, RD. It is appealing to the eye, and has good and useful categories.

>68 LovingLit: Thanks, Marvellene! I'm particularly proud of "Poetry, Classics & Other Boring Stuff."

A few naps and I'm recovering from my frustrating attempts to make the tablet play nice with the ePub app that is supposed to allow me to read non-Google-supplied files.

I hate the seemingly deliberate way things don't *quite* work for anything other than the profiteering a-holes who sold you the device. Kindle's the same way.

>68 LovingLit: LOL Megan... that is pretty cute :)

rd.. imagine my frustration level. Weeks of losing my internet 5-6-30 times a day. AND it isn't just me. Margie is having the same issue. If it were warmer out, I would be able to poll the other neighbors, but I hate to go and knock on their doors, would rather just catch them out and about.

Planning a pretty quiet weekend here. Whatcha got going on?

Good morning sweetness! I mean afternoon, I suppose. Well whatever...I got a surprise package this morning from Ammy. I'd ordered dog bones and apparently clicked on the "overnight delivery" option, and wag.com's box was on my doorstep this morning! So was. I am surprised to report, Superzelda. I wasn't expecting it until Tuesday!

So here pretty quick I'll put up a review of it.

Review: 22 of seventy-five

Title: SUPERZELDA: The Graphic Life of Zelda Fitzgerald

Author: TIZIANA LOPORTO
Illustrator: DANIELE MAROTTA

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Dancer, painter, writer, muse, passionate lover, and freethinker, Zelda Fitzgerald is one of the most iconic figures of the Jazz Age. Born in Alabama in 1900, she was only 18 when she met F. Scott Fitzgerald, an ambitious young writer who would turn into one the greatest American authors of all time. Beautiful, talented, irreverent, extravagant, and alcohol-driven, the newly married couple took New York's high society and the whole literary world by storm. They traveled to France, Italy, and Africa; hung out with Ernest Hemingway, Dorothy Parker, and Gertrude Stein; managed to both charm and enrage most of the people they were acquainted with; and ended up destroying their love and themselves-Zelda was diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent more than a decade in psychiatric clinics, tragically dying at 48 in a fire. Superzelda is a thoroughly researched work based on period photographs and documents, as well as on Zelda and Scott's writing. It is a biography, a love story, and a travelogue all wrapped into one. The beautiful two-color illustrations bring to life one of the most fascinating women, as well as eras, of the early 20th century.

My Review: Twitter made me do it.

No, for real. I saw a tweet of a reviewlet for Superzelda and, well, I was too curious not to look into the book itself. Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of The Great Gatsby, the publication of Z, and now this! An embarrassment of riches in Fitzgeraldry. What can a comic book add to the merriment, I wondered, that something more meaty and textual couldn't do better?

Well now, given my overall lack of appreciation for comic books, the answer you're expecting now is either a grumbling "not a lot" or a shrieking "NOTHING!" Nanny nanny boo-boo! I liked this comic book condensed history of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald a good deal.

The illos are, well, they're what I'd expect. I think they're okay. The fact that they're printed on comic-book paper, uncoated and not very thick and pretty rough, added to the charm of the thing. It even smells the way I expect a comic book to smell! I like the two-color printing, black and various screens of a lovely slate-meets-turquoise blue. I like the choices of subjects to illustrate and the sense I get that Marotta, the illustrator, had about six zillion photos tacked up and piled on tables and propped against books in his studio and he alchemically schlurgled them around in his visual cortex and blew them out his hands in a fury of creation.

LoPorto's writing I can't comment on, because of necessity it's been translated and that means I have no idea how this compares to her original since I haven't read it. The story is already familiar to me, so I'm not reading to be informed, only entertained. I was, at least enough to finish the book.

Which leads me to the heart of the matter for me: What is the point of these things? They're not violent or prurient, previously the two reasons that comic books existed; they're not in-depth, they're not glitteringly witty or lushly lovely; they're sort of limbic creations, in a twilight zone of fact meeting imagination that just makes no sense to me. This is a book that resembles Zelda, Nancy Milford's excellent biography of Zelda Fitzgerald, the way Wikipedia resembles the Encyclopedia Britannica. Did I enjoy it? Yeah, in a browsing-the-porn-sites way; nothing much not to like, but nothing to get my teeth (!) into.

Plus it's too hard to read.

Is it a part of "dumbing down" of which we hear? Are we becoming a collective of readers who have no stamina, who can not hold heavy books, and insist on information being provided us in small, pablum like servings?

I think the story of Scott and Zelda deserves a good deal of thought, and lots of information, as they were an iconic couple in a very fascinating era.

>72 richardderus:. That pretty muh puts into words my feelings on graphics. I just don't "get" them.

Hopelessly behind. Still. Miss you.
LOVE your review in post #72 above.
And I like some graphics, but mostly of the memoir sort.

Smooches Galore!

>73 maggie1944: I wondered the same thing, Karen44, but in the end, I don't think they're dumber versions of The Good Stuff. They're just different presentations of the essential points of a piece of knowledge. Most people, if you gave them a test over something they've just read, would fail to retain most of it. I think the comic-book presentation makes it easier to remember the main points.

But I'm not a main-points kind of a reader.

>74 mckait: I think it's down to why one reads them...but for me, nahsomahch

>75 EBT1002: *smooch* I've been really, really occupied, I'm sorry I haven't visited. *smooch* again to prove I mean it!

>76 Berly: Hi Berly! *smoochiesmoochsmooch*

i liked Galore :)

Thanks for your suggestion re: sorting out my blog color issue. I think i have it mostly sorted now...

Oh boy. Smooches galore!

I am at a sweet B&B in lower Michigan (is there an upper Michigan? I don't know) as I prepare for this 2.5-day meeting which I am co-chairing. Lovely. Still. The B&B is very nice and I'm propped up in bed with my laptop and LT. Now, what was my point? Oh, I know: I went downstairs to get some ice for my Gentleman Jack and there at the door was a cat face! Very cute but not interested in human contact. You might have actually liked this cat, Richard. I opened the door and she ran away. Food and water on the porch so I assume she is a regular.

Why am I telling you this?

I have no idea.

But I hope for merciful reaction.

>78 mckait: What was galore? Good on the blog.

>79 EBT1002: I shall be merciful because I don't have to look at a cat. No lookee, no eye surgery. Sounds like a nice evening in! And the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the bit that hangs off the northern part of Wisconsin. Why it *isn't* Wisconsin I do not know.

Sunday's theme is "Hillbilly Noir," a term for rural-set unflinching social-issues fiction that I like a lot. The South, the Midwest, the Appalachians, Maine...wherever there's poverty, there's a fertile ground for noir-themed writing to explain the world. It seems to me that it's the only explanation, most times.

Everything is in Literary Fiction & Story Collections.

KNOCKEMSTIFF

THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME

AMERICAN SALVAGE

ONCE UPON A RIVER

CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER

SWAMPLANDIA!

I liked Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter. Swamplandia! left me damp and cold.

I didn't like either of them. Swamplandia! had another of those Gone Girl endings that I hate so much...took you round the houses, then *splat* and here you are. Yuck.

>72 richardderus: Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of The Great Gatsby
Luhrman did the latest Great Gatsby? I had no idea. I *embarrassingly* loved Moulin Rouge. Considering I dont do musicals, even I was surprised at this. But the fact remains, it is in my top 10 films of all time.

Even more reason to see TGG when it comes out.

>83 richardderus: round the house huh. Intriguing. *I have no idea what you are talking about*
:)

The ending of that damned book made a mockery of all that came before it, and so did Swamplandia!'s ending. I went all that gorram way! And whoopsie let's make it all useless by taking all the owwie-ow-ows and hurling them into this new thing called "happier ending than was presaged."

Blech!

*waving*

Galore

xo

I agree, Richard. I'm sure we've all heard the notion that ending a novel (or short story, perhaps) is the most difficult part of writing one. Still, I want them to get it right.

Kath, you hit me with a book bullet and this isn't even your thread! But I had to go look at what you were posting on Richard's thread......

*grumbles as she adds Galore to wishlist*

It's okay, Ellen.. you won't regret it :)

Morning RD- Good review of "Superzelda". I'm going to check and see if that one is available. You know I love my GNs.

Kath and Ellen...yeah, that one looks good, and I generally like books set in Newfoundland. *sigh* off to the well....

>91 msf59: It will be interesting to see if you have a similar reaction to it as I did. You're much more into GNs than I am.

>92 richardderus: The only thing bad about the IV drip is you don't get the taste if it is going directly into your veins. :( I want to drink it. Smooches to you and Stella.

Hi Monica! Stella sends slurps. *smooch*

I know, but there are some days I need the hit more than I need the savor. I'd never consider a caffeine pill, though, and I wonder why...very illogical.

>72 richardderus: I always enjoy your reviews of comic books, Richard (e.g. Howl), and look forward to many more.

This "main points" approach doesn't appeal a whole lot to me either, so I'll take a pass on The Graphic Life of Zelda Fitzgerald.

>97 jnwelch: I'm not sure how many more I'm up for reading!

I suspect you'd like the comic Joe, because it's just so period-aesthetic cool. But I won't make a case for spending $17 just for that.

Love, love, love the Eudora Welty quote! *smooches*

Yep, me too. Love, love, love the ED quote.
And I send *smooches* too --- to you and to Stella the wonder dog.

Richard, have you tried any of the Graphic Memoirs (as opposed to GNs)? Fun Home or Stitches?

>99 ronincats:, 100 It's so very familiar, isn't it? Like she knew us, described us to ourselves, from Jackson, Mississippi! (Of all places.)

>101 EBT1002: Hmmm. I don't enjoy the process of reading them enough to seek them out, since my liberry is now off-limits to me (can't drive there) and since I can think of at least 150,000 text-only books I'd rather have than any comic book.

Stella sends slurps.

It's Monday, so I figured I'd do my least favorite of the genres: YOUNG ADULT ewww ickickick.

So moving and fixing and tarting up eight of my YA reviews, I was surprised to find more positive ratings than negative ones. Good writing is good writing, no matter where it's shelved.

Here are today's smorgasbord nibbles:

SHINE blech

THE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS the original, not the bastard Disney nonsense

THE ASTONISHING LIFE OF OCTAVIAN NOTHING, TRAITOR TO THE NATION both volumes, The Pox Party and The Kingdom of the Waves, are superior to much of the adult writing in historical fiction

TELL THE WOLVES I'M HOME ~meh~

COMET IN MOOMINLAND timeless delight

THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND there *is* hope for the future!

THE GIRL WHO CIRCUMNAVIGATED FAIRYLAND IN A SHIP OF HER OWN MAKING simply: excellent, luminous, and transcendant

Can be seen right here and on the book pages.

Good morning Richard :)

just been to visit your book pages and as always your reviews are just fab :)

You obviously enjoyed The Girl who circumnavigated Fairyland in a ship of her own making are you planning to read the sequels as well ?

Wish you and Stella a gread day :)

Good morning Bianca! I will read both sequels indeed...but I'm holding out so I can savor them.

Good morning, Richard. This moving your reviews is so much work. When do you get to play again? I miss your more playful and longer posts. Sigh

I am doing too much work, too, because the stupid woman who is the instructor of my "little community college class" assigns way too much reading. Keeps me away from my preferred reading. Ah, well, off we go to Monday. Hopefully this week will go by quickly. I have too many obligations and will be much more relaxed next week.

Back to your wonky sleep schedule today...oh dear!

So...maybe today will bring some welcome news? I am tapping my foot in annoyance that it hasn't come already.

Morning dear! I'll take two of the item featured in post 92. Um... better make that ten, just to be safe. And I LOVE the Eudora Welty quote! I have only read one thing by her and that was years ago - One Writer's Beginnings. Was it you who said that her short stories were good?

I'm off to your blog to take a dip in your review pool. Have a good one!

The jump in digital sales and the lower start-up costs have inspired other presses to bypass the traditional print route. One such house is Stockholm Text Publishing. Founded in 2011 and based in the Swedish capital, the company aims to publish in English the best of current Scandinavian fiction and nonfiction. Noting mystery’s constant popularity, publisher Claes Ericson sees even greater interest among ebook readers. Of the 15 titles his company released in 2012, the majority were crime fiction. “Mystery is one of few genres where there is a great appetite for foreign literature, not least {of which are} Swedish titles.”

I read this in Library Journal today. This is their website. Where are all the Scandicrimers meeting up these days? I'm now editing two books of mine and moving the reviews and tweeting my patootie off trying to get people to notice my blog. And wondering how I can be this busy and earn no money.

It's fun to see some of these old reviews again, and edit and reformat them...sometimes I've just missed the mark of what I want to say, and now I can get in there and say it!

Oh, and Kath? No.

Love this quote from Dennis Lehane:

If I just want a plot, I can watch a movie. If i just want language, I’ll read poems. A great novel embraces both those things and so much more.

He's not just writing books now, he's also publishing them.

>83 richardderus:/84/85 round the house....I get it now, thanks.

tweeting my patootie off trying to get people to notice my blog
I will announce (with all due pomp and ceremony) your blog to my RL book club tomorrow evening RD, and see if we cant get some NZ action for you ;)
Im not saying it will do much, but still. I am but one (awesome) person.

You're very sweet, Muriel, thank you! I appreciate that a lot.

Curiously, I get more visitors from the UK than Canada, and more from NZ than Europe proper combined. Who knew?

It is all about the sense of humor, my man. Your sense of humor appeals to only certain people. And it might be genetic.

(*&^%$^&*(&^%$^&*()_(*&()*&^%$%$#%^ bastiches.

>114 maggie1944: Ha, I bet you're right! Well, mostly USA visitors, sp permaybehaps not....

>115 mckait: So agreed.

Well, maybe today.

One can hope!

It's an all-science Tuesday. Five memorable science/environmental issues titles:

THE VIEW FROM LAZY POINT well, let's say it gets better from here

WICKED PLANTS I may never stop scratching!

THE BIG NECESSITY time we stopped squirming and started talking about sewerage issues

THE LOST CITY OF Z adventure, discovery, death!!

HOW TO BUOLD AN ANDROID the chronicle of the loss of PKD's head. Even odder than it sounds

Stop by and see what takes your fancy!

love your blog and your YA reviews....

Thanks, Linda! *smooch* I appreciate you saying so.

^ That. Yes. NOW would be good.

>122 richardderus:: perfect!

I'm trying.

Let's revise #125 to say one good away from a good mood. A horrible book can make some of us a little upset.

hugs to you and Stella!

>113 richardderus:: there are way more people in the UK than Canada. We've also been freezing to death this winter.
>122 richardderus:: I'm simple like that too.

^ You should be in a good mood by now! Hey, RD! Just checking in. Hope you are feeling well and enjoying those books. Have a good day, sir.

> 125 skeptical in my case...

Morning Richard Dear :) Smooches...

I'm in a good mood when I'm reading that book, but I just get grumpy again when I stop. Maybe I should just keep reading?

*Wednesday morning smooch* I am loving your blog - did I mention that? Fabulous!

“She closed the book and put her cheek against it. There was still an odor of a library on it, of dust, leather, binding glue, and old paper, one book carrying the smell of hundreds.”

— Shannon Hale The Goose Girl

Perfect, no?

I'm still recovering from passing a kidney stone on Monday night, y'all, so so worn out from it...that HURTS!!!

I'm always thrilled to hear someone likes the blog! I love playing with the old reviews, correcting spelling and making them look like the current reviews I write. It's very orderly, but in a good way.

So Happy Hump Day to Roberta, Tui, Mark, Kath, Joe, Monica, and Mamie! *smooches* to each and all.

Kidney stone! YIKES!!!! Hope you're all better now :)

>134 avidmom: I am, thanks. What's surprising to me is how long the lingering ache and soreness and lethargy are lasting. *shrug*

What a perfect spring day it is here! Perfect! Gorgeous!

Oh no. A kidney stone added to your other miseries. This is bad.

Glad that trial is over.

Richard, I've heard that drinking ... yes, drinking... olive oil for a day and not eating any solids can help pass the kidney stones. Just thought you might like to know that just in case you have a repeat development... but of course I hope you don't have to put this to the test.

>137 ffortsa: It's actually not the first time, and is in large part *because* of the other issues that I develop them. Oh the joy! Still, tired and achy beats that pain any day.

>138 cameling: You're kidding! Drinking olive oil?! I will file and retain that. Sounds like a pretty pleasant way to end an unpleasant situation.

Today's reviews reposted to get them away from Amazon's eternal control:

LAZARUS IS DEAD in Literary Fiction & Story Collections

HOUSEKEEPING vs THE DIRT in Books About Books, Authors & Biblioholism

PALACE OF JUSTICE in Mystery Series

Quality stuff one and all! Come and look.

>122 richardderus: I had a great book/coffee/happy experience this morning. At the library with little Lenny, he was holed up in the high chair eating his crackers. My coffee was utterly delicious, I was flicking through an artistic children's book called If Rocks Could Sing, I had a cinnamon pinwheel awaiting my salivating mouth. I could have been in heaven.

>133 richardderus: arent kidney stones supposed to be horrendously painful? You must be getting good at dealing with crap, as Id have a LOT more to say about that if I were you. *smooch*

eta: touchstone, *fixed*

Hope today is a good day....?

{{{{Richard}}}} Oh, the pain of kidney stones, on top of everything else! Poor dear. But I require an aethetic judgment from you over on my thread, please. Pretty please?

>140 LovingLit: "Painful" mmm yes, the way having a blowtorch aimed at your genitals while a cat in a sack claws your arm and your kid plays rap music at 14 in your earphones is.

>141 mckait: It was okay...just low energy, but such a pretty day!!

>142 ronincats: Okay, be there in a minute.

>143 richardderus: thought so

I am a follower! I figured out how to follow your blog, and now have my image (and goodness knows what else) available for public consumption. Now I can only wait and see what being a follower will bring me.....oh, and I have had your blog added to out book club minutes (yes, we have minutes) so you may or may not have some (more) NZ visitors.

>144 LovingLit: awwwwwwww how sweet you are, my dear Mindy! *smoochiesmoochsmooch* I hope to be BIG in Aotearoa one day soon.

Tomorrow it's two biiig reviews.

Looking forward to tomorrows BIG GUNS :)
I suspect your....tone...will be too much for some of my more....conservative bookclubbers ;) I look forward to their reviews of your reviews, a lot.

>146 LovingLit: Heh well, I comfort the outre and louche for sure.

Kidney stone? Ouch! Glad you've got that behind you.

I liked Goose Girl, and I've read other things by her I've liked, including the two Austenland books.

What a busy life you are having. I'm sorry about the pain! Icky icky icky pain. I so hate pain. I do not even want my enemies to have pain. I just want them to be confused and get lost in Costco and spend way more money than what they can afford. And then, on their way home

Oh...sorry. I spent a good part of this evening in a HOA board meeting. I've not picked up a pleasure reading book for maybe two days. I'm suffering from withdrawl.

Must go to sleep now. I hope your tomorrow is a good deal better than the kidney stone passing day was! **hugs**

Oh no, so sorry Padre. :( Yeowch.

Thanks for the West update yesterday. Dan had the hockey game on and I was dazedly staring at fb.... not hearing or seeing anything...

xo

#140 You weren't even trying, and you hit me with a BB. I just went to Amazon and ordered a copy of If Rocks Could Sing. I love rocks, and I wish I'd thought of this incredible idea. I may pass the book on to my niece's impending daughter, or I may just hang on to it. We'll see.

Kidney stones are awful awful awful. I had one last summer and can sympathize.

*smooches* from Horrible

>148 jnwelch: Me too. It's only today that I feel remotely normal again.

> 149 Busy! Hm never really could abide being idle. I'd always prefer to be busy than bored.

>150 London_StJ: Thanks, Crypto, it's a lot better today THANK GOODNESS. I forget between incidents how long it takes to feel really fully better.

>151 mckait: I read her blog this morning. Heartbreaking! Still, she's well and lost no family.

>152 laytonwoman3rd: Heh, this thread is dangerous!

>153 karenmarie: Thanks, Horrible! I'm on the mend, happily.

Drive by smoochies - all drive by all the time... I know ...

Sorry to hear about your kidney stone, but I'm glad that it passed on its own.

>155 BekkaJo: Hi Bekka! Glad to see you, no matter when.

>156 kidzdoc: Thanks, Darryl. Luckily it was teeeeensy but it hurt a lot anyway!

Two reviews dropped onto my blogs today: River of Gods and Desolation Road, both 5-star raves.

I suspect that passing a teeeeensy kidney stone is like giving birth to a teeeeensy baby.

>158 kidzdoc: Not having given birth, I can't speak from experience. Having seen women give birth #reasonsI'mgay, I can say that's how it looks to me.

I've moved the review I wrote for Better Living Through Plastic Explosives off Goodreads today, over to le blog. I really don't think that was a Giller-Prize-level collection, but what the heck.

>159 richardderus: At least a dozen female friends and mothers of patients I've taken care of with kidney stones who have also had them described the pain of passing a stone as being very similar to labor pains in their severity.

>160 kidzdoc: Entry #103847351554758 in the "Reasons to be glad I'm not a woman" ledger. Above "not having to wear eyeliner."

I've had four kidney stones over the years. It never ever gets easier. Ow.

Today's entry in the great migration away from Goodreads:
RIVER OF GODS in Bizarro, Fantasy & SF it's a big gulp, but the swallow is superb

DESOLATION ROAD in Bizarro, Fantasy & SF after 25 years, it's still about the best Mars-colonization story there is

BETTER LIVING THROUGH PLASTIC EXPLOSIVES in Literary Fiction & Story Collections is a very mixed bag, some stories are excellent...but winning the Giller Prize?

THE LAST REFUGE in Mystery Series introduces very noirish hero Sam Acquillo, reluctant amateur detective in the Hamptons...hey, he drives a '67 Grand Prix and I'm supposed to not read these? Fuhgeddabouddit

All over here.

I've moved five more reviews, fixing them up a bit in the process:

DESTINY OF THE REPUBLIC in Politics & Social Issues

A TREASURY OF REGRETS in Mystery Series

THE SISTERS BROTHERS in Literary Fiction & Story Collections

THE MONTY HALL PROBLEM in Science, Dinosaurs & Environmental Issues

LONDON'S OVERTHROW in Kindle Originals

Come visit!

Some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered. W H Auden

Not even Dickens.

Just popping in with a quick hello.
I was hoping to watch some normal tv.. but there is coverage of nothing much happening all over Boston, all over TV. Too bad. I think it's wrong to do this. Too much attention on the bad buys. So far, no one has asked my opinion though.

Back to my book ( and listening to trash can from all over Baden slither around the streets. )

*smooch* Thanks for popping by!

Hi Richard, thought i ought to pop by and show my face.

>167 johnsimpson: I can't see your face ? :(

>168 mckait:, see Paul Cranswick's thread post 274 but don't be critical,lol.

Oh! is that your head? Well it's lovely! You are two fine looking men!
Thanks for popping back in :)

Howdy do, John! Always pleased to see a new face around here.

Kath, do you know yet what the fuss and ruction was about?

Nope. 4 police cars, one ambulance, and a big truck with lights ( BVFD member?) No Idea. I tried the scanner, but by the time I managed to get on, they called in clear.

OIC

Well, clear is good, no?

I reviewed The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Kath. I think you'll approve.

And right you are.. Stamp of Approval and Thumb

*smooch*

Richard is here! Richard is here! Whew! People are scarce around here these last few days. All is right with the world when Richard is posting. Have an amazing weekend Mister Amazing blogger.

Kisses for Stella

ETA: Corrected scarce from scare. See how traumatized I've been.

>176 luvamystery65: Awwww thanks Roberta! I'll do my goldurndest. Stella sends slurps.

>161 richardderus: haha, I got all the drama and pain of 8 hours of labour, and none of the glory of the final push. But a caesarian did deliver me a healthy Wilbur, so that was the main thing.

>172 mckait: hm, Kath, were you in Woodend, North Canterbury NZ yesterday too!? I saw practically the same thing ;)

How are your blogging numbers RD? Getting up into the tens of thousands yet? Surely...;)

Megan... how weird is that? I still have no idea what happened.. so I am assuming it was just over reaction on the part of the authorities. For several months, it was very common to see several police cars at the bottom of the hill.. Domestic troubles .. ongoing for a while. THEN, they moved. Maybe they moved to Woodend, North Canterbury NZ? Nothing was listed in the paper this morning, but Baden likes to stay under the radar :-/

So... I hope you have a good day today rdear.. you get a break from walking Stella, right? I hope you felel well and have some good down time :) and excellent food :)

>178 LovingLit: Labor *eewww* and then a nice, tidy caesarian? Lucky you?

Blog hasn't hit 100 views since end of the first week. *shrug* It's been really quiet everywhere, what with all the idiot goins-on in my major area of influence.

>179 mckait: Thanks cuddlesome. I don't have to walk Stella indeed! *smooch*

Review: 23 of seventy-five

Title: CRAPALACHIA: A Biography of a Place

Author: SCOTT MCCLANAHAN

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: When Scott McClanahan was fourteen he went to live with his Grandma Ruby and his Uncle Nathan, who suffered from cerebral palsy. Crapalachia is a portrait of these formative years, coming-of-age in rural West Virginia.

Peopled by colorful characters and their quirky stories, Crapalachia interweaves oral folklore and area history, providing an ambitious and powerful snapshot of overlooked Americana.

My Review: Memoir...I remember...that's what makes this book so damn good, Scott remembers and he tells us that he remembers, wants us to remember with him. I've never lived in West Virginia, I've only driven through it in my expensive car and thought, "ye gods and little fishes, is this for real?!" and pressed a little harder on the gas to get the fuck out of there. I've never even spent a night there. I drove an extra hour out of my comfort zone (6 hours behind the wheel is enough for me) so I wouldn't have to.

But I remember with Scott McClanahan. I'm 20 years older than he is. I've lived the entirety of my life in upper-middle-class assurance of comfort and joy. When I haven't had any money, I've had friends and loved ones and even random strangers who shared with me. And it never, ever looked like the pictures Scott paints in my head.

It's beautiful, this picture, these pictures, but it's not pretty. It's warty and cold and shaped funny. But oh how much there is to celebrate in the life of a kid who knows where home is and what his family is made of and scoops up the mud he's standing on to make something new of something old.

She hobbled along some more and I walked behind her.
She said: "This is the grave I wanted to see. This is the grave."
I asked: "Whose grave is it?"
I walked in front of the stone and I saw it was her grave. It was the grave of Ruby Irene McClanahan, born 1917 died...
Then there was a blank space--the space where they would put the date of her death.
She touched the shiny stone and explained...her really good deal on the tombstone. She told me I should start saving. It was a good investment.

The tales of this Crapalachian boy are muddled and mixed, of course, as all memories are, and as honest as they are, they aren't always factual. In the appendix to the book, Scott tells us the places he knows he mashed things up and rearranged them, since after all he was writing a story and stories have their own needs. But he never violates, not once in this book, the one Commandment of Memoir: Condescend not, lest ye be caught and pilloried. (See: James Frey.)

I wouldn't write about how people stared at {Uncle Nathan} when I pushed him down the road. They stared and shook their heads....
I knew I would never write about Nathan's light-blue eyes--eyes as blue as Christmas tree lights.
I knew I would never write about his soft heart. The softest heart I have ever known.

I knew he believed in something that none of us ever do anymore. He believed in the nastiest word in the world. He believed in KINDNESS. Please tell me you remember kindness. Please tell me you remember kindness and joy, you cool motherfuckers.

Why read some thirtysomething kid's memoirs? What kind of philosophical point can someone that young make? I wonder, is it even necessary to make a point? Can it be enough to read a book like this, about a young life seen from middle age (can't be much under 35, this kid, and that's spang in the middle of life), and eat the textures and smell the regrets of someone new to the idea that The End applies to him, too? He has children, he tells us so. He tells us that he went from place to place in the world leaving dirt from West Virginia there, giving the dirt to strangers and leaving it in the soil of New York City and Seattle and suchlike. So his children, no matter their wanderings, would have something of their, his, his grandmother's home waiting.

I don't know that I believe him.

"Oh lordie, I'm feeling horrible," she said. Then she clutched her chest. "I'm having chest pains." I kissed her cheek and I said, "I'll see you next week." She told me my grandfather Elgie used to have nightmares begging for the whistle to stop.
She wasn't dying.
She was lonely.

So I left and I heard Ruby shouting again, "Oh lordie, I'm dying." I didn't turn back. I wasn't sure we were even born yet. We were all inside of a giant mother right then and we were waiting to be born. Just like tomorrow, at dawn, we will be held in the arms of a giant mother. We will find warmth and maybe even war there.

I want us all to be ready.

Ready? We're none of us ready, ever. As his kids grow up he'll find that out.

And then there's the story of the little girl and the locket. It's near the end of the book, it's a memory from adulthood. It made me cry for a half-hour, angry and hurting and so so sad, helpless in the face of a world we've made with action, inaction, consent, and indifference (driving faster to escape someone else's reality ring a bell?).

But hey, Scott? I remember. I'm with you.

OMG that book looks fantastic. Beautiful. Wonderful. My Great grandparents moved here from West Virginia, and I bet that doesn't surprise you for a second ..lol

I will have to hunt that one down........Thanks .. off to thumb..

RD- Great review of Crapalachia! This does sound like just my cuppa. It also reminds me of Rick Bragg. Do you see any similarities?

>182 mckait: No, I can't say that it does...I suspect the book will move you, but there are some observations about animals that will bother you. No one is cruel.

>183 msf59: I do, and I don't. Bragg's storytelling voice is less visceral than McClanahan's is. His subject matter is more likely to ring a bell.

Stopping by for a Smooch.

Hmmm animals? May have to reconsider.

oh, dear Richard: I have to tell you I suffer from a bad affliction, I skim so much of what I read these days (not books, but rather here in the interweaves) that I sometimes laugh at myself and realize I'm not "getting" much. But you invariably slow me down, you make me read every sentence and every word, and sometimes you make little bits of water appear in my eyes. What a lovely review. I shall run and thumb it in a minute, but first I want to ask you if you've read Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, a book about which I feel as you seem to feel about Crapalachia!. If you've not read it, and can find a copy, dip your toe in, you might like it. On the other hand, you may hate it. But check it out if you have time.

Hope your Sunday is a swell day!

>185 MonicaLynn: Hi Monica! *smooch*

>186 mckait: It's not cruelty to animals. It's animals in the country. But you should know in advance that it's there. I was on the fence about warning off the sensitive, but since it's not human-agency cruel, I decided it wasn't necessary.

>187 maggie1944: Let Us Now Praise Famous Men and 12 Million Black Voices were two of my early radicalizing reads. So awful what happens in this immensely rich country even now.

I don't think Crapalachia: A Biography of a Place is on that magisterial a level. And isn't it telling? Today it's about ONE life, a little person's little life, that gets published (and by a dinky-if-trenchant little press). What publisher is out there looking for a new Agee, a new Wright, to call to arms the Millennial generation?

None. Presses in the 1940s were owned, run, and managed by families or owners. Now they're owned by corporations, conglomerates, and managed by apparatchiks. Little bitty houses can't do, or don't know how to find, those sorts of books.

It's sad.

Richard, I love that review of Crapalachia - thumb for you! Adding it to the WL. You have a gift for talking about books - when I read your reviews, I feel as if you were talking directly to me. And oh what a voice you have! Happy Sunday to you, dear.

gotcha... and thank you. I just ordered this book.....

Population: 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time
Perry, Michael

I think it sounds lovely.. I actually ordered a second one of his... I have lost my mind, obviously.

Thumb from me, too, Mr. D. Not my kind of book, I don't think, but good review of it.

>189 Crazymamie: Why Mamie! Thank you for saying such nice things! I appreciate being appreciated.

>190 mckait: ...it would seem that you have indeed...o.O

>191 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe...but it's such a GOOD book...better than a comic book...

Very much liked that review of Crapalachia - I'm sure you've read Mary Karr's memoir - i think that's the one - an unforgettable picture of West Virginia in that one.

Thanks, cuz! But Mary Karr wrote about the Cajun southeast of Texas, not Wet Vriginny. They were excellent books. Although I liked Cherry a little less...something about adolescence is off-putting to me.

Hi RD- Speaking of Karr, I NEED to get to Lit. I have had that one on my TBR list for ages. Hope your Sunday is a fine one, sir! I've been painting again and now I am going to take a reading break.

RD - kidney stones and Crapalachia; your thread is as entertaining as always and it feels like I've never been away.

btw Bookmarked your expendable blog in as non-expendable manner possible.

>195 msf59: Hi Mark, it's such a lovely lovely day here that I'm all gruntled and kempt. Have a good relaxing read!

>196 PaulCranswick: ...wait...you were gone...? ;-P

Thanks for the blog-follow!

Hi RD! I read part of your review of Crapalachia. Stopped when the old lady showed the author her tombstone. It made me smile, because my grandmother had her tombstone ready, next to her husband's, my grandfather's, from 1957 when he died, until 2003 when we laid her to her rest. She was proud of having all the arrangements made, everything paid for. Extremely practical IMO.

>198 karenmarie: It's practical indeed, Horrible...but a wee tidge grisly.

Review: 24 of seventy-five

Title: THE DOG STARS

Author: PETER HELLER

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: A riveting, powerful novel about a pilot living in a world filled with loss—and what he is willing to risk to rediscover, against all odds, connection, love, and grace.

Hig survived the flu that killed everyone he knows. His wife is gone, his friends are dead, he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, his only neighbor a gun-toting misanthrope. In his 1956 Cessna, Hig flies the perimeter of the airfield or sneaks off to the mountains to fish and to pretend that things are the way they used to be. But when a random transmission somehow beams through his radio, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life—something like his old life—exists beyond the airport. Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return—not enough fuel to get him home—following the trail of the static-broken voice on the radio. But what he encounters and what he must face—in the people he meets, and in himself—is both better and worse than anything he could have hoped for.

Narrated by a man who is part warrior and part dreamer, a hunter with a great shot and a heart that refuses to harden, The Dog Stars is both savagely funny and achingly sad, a breathtaking story about what it means to be human.

My Review: I've tried and I've tried to think of a nice way to say that I don't like Iowa Writer's Workshop stuff because it's always Very Writerly. I was, as you see, unsuccessful. It's always full of good lines, it's always got charming or beautiful or moving imagery and characters with flaws and sometimes even dialogue with some zest.

But it's always Very Writerly. Thick and heavy and nutritious like spelt or brown rice. Sulphur molasses in gluten-free muffins. Serious and Good For You.

I hate that. Sorry, Mr. Heller, but that's you all over.

I like dystopias and post-apocalyptic stories, since I am the least chirpily optimistic person walking on Planet Earth. I want them to make sense, however, and not be rehashes of zombie munch-fests. This one makes sense. The pandemic that collapses the population? Totally buy that. The evil/vile behavior of the humans afterwards? Totally buy that. (Actually, from what I see, we haven't waited for an apocalypse to behave like scum to each other. But I digress.) The source of the dog Jasper's jerky treats? Brilliant, and also very frugal.

I like the story, too, up to the point where Hig, our pilot main character, flies off and Finds Himself. I know, I know, all characters must go through stuff and change as a result of it to make a novel really interesting. But the fact that Hig goes off'n gits him a woman is a little over the top. It's artificial feeling, like something inside Heller (or an editor outside Heller) said "there's no hope! give the poor bastard hope!"

It was, in my humble opinion, a wrong turn. The story up to then was an interesting, stream-of-consciousness exploration of an average joe who, inexplicably, survived the Apocalypse and kept on moving, breathing, numb from loss and scared, but real. And then, suddenly, he gets A Message and has to move move move to find the source! And he finds him a gal! Who knows, maybe that little impotence problem will clear up, they'll have a family....

That's not the same book I started reading, and I don't much like that book.

But in good conscience, I can't tell you it's a bad book. It's a pretty good book that could've been a really, really good book. It takes the subverbal vocalizations of its main character and puts them front-and-center, makes the style the point, makes the point the pleasure of reading. I just have this one little problem with the whole enterprise: It feels to me like it's been overthought, overwrought, and overworked. All down to that workshoppy aesthetic, and that happyendingitis that comes from thinking about the audience and not the story.

Well, so. Three and a half stars for the good, good phrases Mr. Heller has made and the promise of that first half. It will do.

Good to know.

I'm reading A Name to Die For by a friend I've known for 30 years. He knows Seattle well, and has had some experiences to give him knowledge of crimes, and detectives, and spies, and sex traffic. So far the book is good, grabbed my attention, and has not yet made me sorry I picked it up. A good one for a "Do Nothing But Read Day"!

I've already got Dog Stars downloaded onto my Kindle, so it remains to be seen if I'll like it more than you did, Rdear.

Sorry to hear that Ms Stella is on a low sodium diet. Poor sweetums .. aren't there any low sodium doggie treats on the market?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

>201 maggie1944: Sounds like an interesting book, Karen44. Let me know when you review it, k?

>202 cameling: It's certainly not a BAD book, Caro. Just...writerly. Yeesh.

yes, I'll let you know, my friend. It may be a week or so as I'm back to the academics this week. And the weather is warming up, and less rain, so I must get out into the yard and hack back the weeds who think they own the place.

Writerly huh?

How's little Stella feeling today? I hope you get everything you need to have for the week ahead and that things move along apace for you. Mojo.

>205 maggie1944: I'm so not a weed-hater...but you just knock your little self out, and ignore the silliness of academics.

>206 mckait: Yep, Writerly. Blech.

I've now got Rx for gout meds and someone should be picking them up for me soon. SAY HALLELUJAH. It's costing me ~$300, or the month's disposable income. And it's worth it.

Great news about the new gout meds (except the cost), Richard!

*Smoochies* Hope the meds help. Your blog book bulleted me by the way... just sayin' you'll be getting a bill cos my library don't have it and I want it! ;)

>208 kidzdoc: Thanks, Darryl! The meds will be about $150, the minivan (can't get in or out of the Toyota anymore) was $100, and the office visit to the doc-in-a-box was $75. Anything to stop this pain!

>209 BekkaJo: They will, they will indeed Bekka, and the sooner the better. *smooch*

Oh, and the blog? Contact the LLC's attorneys in Kuala Lumpur during their business hours via cellphone only.

*chuckles evilly at the idea of that cellphone bill*

I'll have my offshore attorneys contact your offshore attorneys ;) I live in a tax haven remember!

You DO?! Drat.

;-P

Colchicine cost over $250. Ow. All told, Rx expenditure was $331. OWOWOWOW.

Just cruising by RD. Dropping a few hundred dollar notes for you on my way. (if onlyl!?)
*smooch*

Still terribly behind... Love the coffee IV and Welty quote though!!

((hugs))

*Cursing* ridiculous, but thank god. Finally. How many refills?

>214 LovingLit: Thanks for the thought, Maudie dear...I'll revel in the virtual hundreds.

>215 TinaV95: Hi Tina! You're getting married in a few days, you're exempt from all follow/catch-up obligations until 2 May. *smooch*

>216 mckait: None. Refills? It is to laugh. I had to plead for the 10 painkillers at all! It's still better than it was, since the colchicine will knock down the worst of the flares in the next few days.

Hi RD- I HOPE you can find some relief, my friend. I know those prices are ridiculous but if they can bring you a little comfort...

>218 msf59: Thanks, Mark! The drugs will help in a big way. Colchicine is a remedy for gout known since Roman times. Comes from the stamens of a species of Spanish crocus. But it works!! It really, really works!

And that is what we want!!!

Hello, Richard Dear! I fear I may not get through another thread tonight (over a month away from here, and I've only managed to catch up on two threads - yours and Joe's), but I had to drop a note to say that I'm thinking of you, hoping you are feeling well, envious of your giant ebay book haul, and a big big big fan of your blog. Will be friending/whatevering you there in just a mo', and will be telling my book-lovin' friends about it too!

(((HUG))) and a *smooch* for you, dear sir!

>220 maggie1944: Thank you, Karen44! It's surely my own heart's desire.

>221 LauraBrook: Hi Laura! Glad you're back, and pleased you're here. I posted nothing to my blog today except a pleased little announcement I wasn't posting anything due to tiredness. You can follow the blog if you've got a Gmail account, or subscribe via email for posts.

*smooch* and welcome back again!

Only on thread 11, Richard?! You have been slacking off in my absence, I see :)

((Hugs)) and xx smooches xx - I am sure you have been feeling deprived. . .

Although I am shuddering at the cost, I am so happy you have your meds and hope they will quickly bring the gout and pain under control.

>223 alcottacre: Stasia!! How lovely! A break from school? Been wowin' 'em more and more? *smooch* Hoo boy, thread 11. Such a shame, isn't it, that no one comes a-callin' any more. Poor pitiful neglected me. *snort*

>224 ronincats: Thanks, Roni, from your keyboard to the goddess' inbox.

Morning Richard Dear!! My sentiments on the $$$ OWOW!! I am lucky not to have that much of an expenditure with my monthly meds as of yet. Notice I say "Yet" with diabetes if I can keep it under control I should be able to keep it minimal hopefully. I sure hope your pain is under control more at least. It is terrible that you have to bed. In my line of business (911) it is sad that people like yourself who truly need help and or the medications for pain have to beg because of some of the other people that I deal with on a daily basis who find dirty ways to get it for "FUN" use not out of need. It makes me sick. I will pray that someday "SOON" they figure out who are the seekers and who really needs these things and stop giving the people who need it a hard time and vice versa. Much Love N Hugs to you and Stella

Pleased you got your meds ... but I am shocked at how expensive things are. But I really hope that you get relief from the pain and have good days from now on.

May those meds be worth every freakin' penny, Richard.

What Linda said.

>226 MonicaLynn: Thanks, Monica, I know how drug-seeking behavior gets identified and how easy it is, once labeled, never to escape that again. I wish the Puritans would just get over it and get out of the business of perfecting others. Addicts are addicts. Quit trying to fix them. Just give 'em their poison and let 'em fail.

My question is, what about the experience of painkiller-taking is "fun"? For me, it makes the pain *piff* disappear for a while, and that's good. It also makes me drowsy and a little dim. Why is that fun? I don't think of that as fun.

Sigh. People, right? Poochums twirled once and slurped!

>227 calm: Thank you, calm, and shocked is a very good word for it. Like a blow to the chest. The scary part is, what if I didn't have the support system that I do? I'd never be able to do this once a month without it. No wonder so many in this obscenely rich country are in chronically poor health. Can't afford fresh food, can't afford condition-management meds...fat and sick, here we come!

>228 laytonwoman3rd: It already is, Linda3rd. I'm already mostly free of the constant burn, and down to the unpleasant stabbing pain and creaky aches. HUGE improvement! HUGE!!

>229 tiffin: Sweet of you, Tui, my thanks.

So, it's March here today...50 (~10C) and cloudy. Yech! I want my spring, please...the old-fashioned one with sunshine and breezes and just warm enough that a cardigan over a polo shirt is perfectly comfy. I need a fleece-lined jacket for outdoors when it's like this. Boo! Hiss!

And yet...if this means no summer to speak of...what a happy, happy man I shall be!

Some improvement is good. My achy left wrist goes through a every morning swollen and painful, and by now, 11:55 am, it is improved. Later it will not hurt. Faster than your stuff, but I hope the progression is the same, from pain to none!

Hi RD- Cool and damp here too! Boo! Is that medicine kicking in yet?

>231 maggie1944: It's all a process. My problem is severe, so I notice even the smallest improvements with happyhappy joyjoy. That kind of "wearing in" from use is part of this kind of condition, it seems.

>232 msf59: Hi Mark! At least I don't have to be out in it for hours and hours a day like you do. I'm disgruntled enough with the dog-walking time I need to spend out in the yeccchhh.

Oh, I'm so glad you got some meds finally! Aside from the painkillers, will you be able to stay on the other stuff over time? Horrible to be imprisoned within your own personal torture chamber.

Dear Richard I hope the $$$$ OW!!! is paying off in pain relief and making like a little more manageable ..... sending you a virtual lotto ticket in the hope its a winning one

Glad you're feeling some improvement, Richard. Positive thoughts for a significant reduction in pain.

>234 ffortsa: Thanks, Judy! Painkillers are a minor point. There are only 10 of those. The meds are for a month, no refills. Better than nothing.

>235 roundballnz: It will, Alex, it will, and now it's about being patient.

>236 jnwelch: Thank you, Joe, from your keyboard to the goddess' inbox.

Only a month? And then what happens? *very concerned*

>238 tiffin: Back to status quo? I'm not sure. Maybe I'll drop 50% of another month's income? Guess it all depends on the Medicaid people's response time.

Too far behind to truly catch up, but hoping the pain meds are taking the edge off (as you report that they usually do).
Back when I last visited your thread (darn-gum ages ago!), I mentioned Fun Home as a Graphic Memoir I think you might like. I hear ya about not seeking them out when you have plenty to read (oh, ain't it the truth), but I may do some scheming here.....

Oh, and pleeeeeeze have mercy and take of the whammy, Richard! All positive effects of a week on Kaua'i have been toasted right out of me. :-|

Smooches to Stella

((Hugs)) and xx smooches xx for today, RD! I do hope that you are feeling much improved.

>240 EBT1002: Hmmm. I smell a plot to try roping me in to reading a comic book. Tell you what: Promise and pinky-swear I won't be subjected to a comic book's miasmic pall and I'll unwhammy you.

Stella is too busy scrounging for her old dog-bones in lieu of her new lower-sodium food to notice just now, but I'll let her know.

>241 alcottacre: *smooch* for suddenly freed and available Stasia! Are you still enjoying school-lessness? The day will dawn that you'll miss it...you're such a driven person.

*pondering what an un-whammy looks like*

Hey, was that really Stasia just now? COOL!

Hi RD!

Hello there Maudie! It was Stasia Herself...amazing, isn't it, after she's been so schoolwork-addled for so long.

"Schoolwork-addled"?? I will have to remember that phrase because it fit so well how I feel at times when I am in school!

See there? I'm not a TOTALLY useless slacker, like you say so often! I'm useful once in a while.

"schoolwork-addled" = perfect description of the funk I was in last week and which is threatening to afflict me again this week. So far I've held it off, but tomorrow (my day "off") will be spent doing SCHOOLWORK!

omg

Really? I thought this was a good idea? Well, we will see how I feel after tomorrow. Maybe I can get the whole week's worth of nonsensical tasks accomplished in one day. That would be a treat!

Hi, Rdear. So glad to hear of the gout medicine having at least moderate success in fighting off the evils of your problem.
Great description of writerly work. I just had the same experience when reading The Dive from Clausen's Pier. Really great start spoiled by a weak ending. Sad what that entire school/technique has done to some promising books.

Thank you Richard!!! That's the exact day my honeymoon ends so maybe I can get clemency until May 3??? ;)

>247 maggie1944: It's a concept you'll get accustomed to, Karen44. No pain, no gain!

>248 Matke: Oh no Gail, it's already paid major dividends! The absence of burning pain is a joy. When sometimes it comes back, I realize how horrible it was to have it 24/7/365.

I hate bad-ending-itis a lot. More annoying even than that is book-morphing-into-different-book-now syndrome.

>249 TinaV95: 3 May, 1pm EDT. Not one second more. *smooch*

I've posted my review of Sacrifice Fly, a first novel and first in a mystery series, over on my Crime, Thriller, and Mystery thread...post #79.

Shameful that you couldn't even get 3 months worth of refills on the gout meds. Shameful .. TOTALLY ticks me off. It would have carried you through ... *&^%$#%^&*() Surely, surely you can find a ride next month? Isn't there someone around there who can drive you so you can at least save $ on car rental?

Yep, I'm with Kath.

>250 richardderus:: Well, thank goodness it's provided a lot of relief. I'm not sure: is this a medicine one remains on more-or-less permanently, or is this for flare-ups? In your case, it's a constant flare-up, I know, so one would think the dr. would take that into consideration. Unless he was concerned about side effects? (I know, I know; I'm living in a fantasy world here.)

I'm loving your blog, by the way.

>252 mckait:, 253 Well, think of it from the doc-in-a-box's PoV. If she gives me refills on a nasty med like colchicine, with its immunosuppressive qualities and its nasty gastric side effects, it implies she is following me, managing my healthcare, because if she's not, it's pretty irresponsible. The system is set up such that she's now liable if something bad happens to me because of a refill she gave me.

I don't doubt a neighbor might be willing to drive me, but they have cars not SUVs, so I can't get out once I'm in. Calling a cab doesn't guarantee getting a minivan or SUV, just the first vehicle they have. So not too much of a shot at getting anything but a car. Which is too low, and I can't get out of.

>254 Matke: No kidding, Gail! It's a permanent maintenance medicine, but a doc follows my bloodwork to ensure that nothing too awful occurs. *snort* Too awful!

Thanks, glad you're enjoying it!

Saw this on Facebook today, and immediately thought of you!

>256 ronincats: Yep. Thass me alright. Cute!

Review: 25 of seventy-five

Title: CIRCLE OF AMBITION

Author: ALAN PHILLIPS

Rating: 2.5* of five

The Publisher/Author Says: Tommy Belmont leaves prison feeling bitter and planning revenge on his boss, Tony Parson. To this end he becomes his lover. Parson is a main player in the underworld of East London, he is also a homosexual.

A year later Tommy had detailed information of Tony's drug supplier, his protection racket, porn outlets and his prostitution business. With his brother, Bobby, they set up Belmont Bros Inc. and begin the destruction of Parson's empire. While Tony is on holiday with his latest boy, Tommy discovers that the lease to The Circle Club is about to expire, an opportunity he cannot fail to exploit. He transfers all the licences, gambling and liquor, into his name and agrees the transfer of the lease too.

Feeling confident he hires an experienced hostess from a Mayfair club to help him turn The Circle Club into a more up market venue.He sells the protection racket to a rival club owner and expands the pornography business with the agreement of an American supplier. The drug business is left to sort itself out due to violent gangs from south of the river getting involved in their territory. Bobby has an exclusive clientele at the club who buy their drugs from him at his price.When Tony returns with his boyfriend the struggle for power begins. The result is Tommy is seriously wounded, a dead rent boy and Bobby threatening Tony with his life.

My Review: ***I RECEIVED A COPY OF THIS BOOK FROM THE AUTHOR WITH HIS REQUEST TO REVIEW IT***

All the stars are for the story. A nicely twisty revenge tale, Tommy Belmont's sexually flexible and manipulative means of exacting his due from the despicable Tony Parson is good, soapy fun.

What is totally and miserably unfun is the complete hash of punctuation, spelling, and style errors that riddle the text. "No look after things here." Is this pidgin? No, the character's an Englishman. Oh! I know! The goddam comma's missing. "Barcardi and coke's." What's BaRcardi? Does this mean BACARDI? And please to inform humble self what the hell the coke (improper capitalization, too, please note) possesses? Add a lime and call it a Cuba Libre, for gods' sake. Fewer characters and a lot easier to get right.

We shift PoV among the various characters multiple times in a chapter, with Tommy then Helen then Bobby taking the stage in one chapter with no clear reason and no basic forwarding of the characters' development achieved thereby.

Indie authors of the world please note: Spelling, punctuation, and structure are rules. When you have shown you understand and can use them, feel free to ignore them for the sake of Style. Readers can tell the difference.

Hire an editor. Not a friend looking it over for you. Pay a professional editor who has references you can check. If you can't afford this, don't put the book out until you can.

Hire a proofreader. Not a friend looking it over for you. The editor IS NOT a copyeditor or proofreader as well as an editor. If you can't afford this, don't put the book out until you can.

You are not the best judge of your own writing. No one is. Get professionals to help you. If Mr Phillips had, I would be purring praises right now (or so I believe). If you DID hire these people, Mr Phillips, you were badly served and should kick up a very big fuss.

Because a very good, quite interesting story was in here, and I wanted very much to enjoy it.

Thumbed

#247: Really? I thought this was a good idea?

I know exactly what you mean, Karen!

#258: I think I will skip that one!

((Hugs)) and xx smooches xx for today, RD.

Ill not be dealing with a hash pash mosh posh of punctuation spelling and style errors. No thanks.
:)

>259 mckait: Thanked

>260 alcottacre: Oh Stasia, it is *so* nice to see you here. Makes me feel like things are better and better each day you post something. *happy sigh*

Yeah, do NOT buy one of those. So sad! I wanted to like it!

>261 LovingLit: No? I thought permaybehaps it wouldn't bother you, being a Kiwi and all.

*smooch*

I was in the li-berry today and found a copy of Sacrifice Fly, which I recognized as one of the books you recently reviewed, so I picked it up. Now that I've actually read your review, I'm not sure it will be worth the carrying. I'll let you know.

I know you'll give it a fair go, Judy. It's not like it's a bad book at all...just some rough edges. And permaybehaps they'll bother you less than they did me?

Although frankly that would surprise me.

Has Angela sent the next-meeting email? I might be well enough to come this time!

Hey Richard, Glad to read you're feeling a bit better. Wishes for a very speedy recovery.

Hi Peg! Thank you most kindly for the health wishes!

Glad you are feeling better, RD! Let's hope we can keep this going!

>267 msf59: My most earnest wish indeed, Mark...thanks!

I'll need to go back and read starting at message 200, but a quick drive-by hug and smooches from your too-busy Horrible.

I hope you have a loverly day.

A good day for you, Rdear. I could not possibly agree more re: editing and copyediting. Those silly slips, while completely natural, are also completely avoidable in printed work if care is taken.

>269 karenmarie: Hey Horrible! I hope work calms down soon. You're burning the candle at three ends, and that can't be good. *smooch*

>270 Matke: How do, Gail! And it's care-taking that we need more of, in general in the world. Look at West, Texas. The concept of "stewardship" is MIA, sadly.

>258 richardderus: Good for you, RD. Hope he takes it to heart.

>272 jnwelch: Me too. In fact, I'd like to sky-write it over major cities once a week!

New Review! I talk up an early Texas novel, BLOOD KIN, at our group blog: http://tinyurl.com/br2y6yv
It's got excellent writing, an exciting plot, and vivid characters. Visit us! http://www.ShelfInflicted.com/

a lovely Perseus by Beardsley to, i hope, cheer you. er, unless you dislike Beardsley.

i keep gnawing on your medical situation. people don't understand the multi-pronged instrument on which people with these kinds of medical conditions get hung without megabucks to back them up. you need a *good* medical social worker to help you through the system but they're few and far between and don't get no respect.

it is good to have a good day, though, even if your "good" is different from other folks' definition of good. a smooch each for you and Stella.

The Beardsley Perseus is gorgeous! I love his divinely decadent images. Same sort of response as to Mucha and Toulouse-Lautrec.

The system will, eventually, belch forth a champion for me. I remain as patient as I know how to be in the meantime.

Today's review on my own blog is A CARRION DEATH. The first Detective Kubu mystery by Michael Stanley, it's set in Botswana. He makes it sound like a beautiful place to be murdered, and Kubu will catch the killer! http://tinyurl.com/csdx9n2

Just stopping by... hoping to see a perky, cheerful you?

Far perkier than a week ago! *smooch*

:-*

Where's this Spring I've heard so much about? Come visit Mars with me! DESOLATION ROAD is on Shelf Inflicted and it gets a hearty 4 stars.

Is Mars too far? How about India in 35 years? RIVER OF GODS is over there too, and IT earned 5 stars!

*heading over to Shelf Inflicted*

((Hugs)) and xx smooches xx for today, RD.

Heading over to Shelf Inflicted with Ellen. . .

#283 My card arrived from the library saying that this was in yesterday... now I just need to get there to pick it up :/

I am about to weep... so much to do!

Hope you are feeling much better... your posts feel better...

>284 EBT1002:, 285 Yay! Hope you enjoy our group blog.

>286 BekkaJo: Whichever one it is, you're in for a treat. Hope you like them as much as I did.

>287 mckait: Too much to do? Sit yourself down and read a book instead!

Doing better each day, thankfully. The meds are marvelous. Expensive, but marvelous. I dropped a colchicine pill this morning. It bounced under the bathroom radiator. A tylenol, a vitamin, oh well and fish out another one. At four bucks each, I got the broom, the dry mop, a coathanger, and finally fished that puppy out!

>288 richardderus:: Been there myself. I hope your language wasn't quite as colorful as mine is on those occasions.

Looking forward to a good week-end for you.

>289 Matke: Who, me? Why I sang hosannas and trilled hymns!

Mmmhmmm. Of course you did. I would imagine the air varied wildly between bright azure and midnight blue.

I have the uneasy sensation that I am not believed....

Hugs for making me laugh.

I have The Dog Star around...... oh dear..... spousal unit had much the same comments, interestingly.

You should hear what is going on in my head right now.

>293 Matke: I'm just glad that I can.

>294 sibylline: Widely separated people who don't know each other saying similar things...they have veracity in them. Or so I've always found, cuz. *smooch* for coming by!

>295 mckait: I ***hope*** it's the police scanner as a stern warning about the futility of trying to get away with murder....

RD I think Kath needs an intervention.
A flash-mob, at her place, with baking, dinner, and many many varieties of alcoholic beverages, fizzy pop and a coffee cart. And now that I have typed that, i really wish it could happen!

Isn't there a direct flight from there to PGH called "Hobbit Express" or something?

Im sure there is, it is probably an underground train that takes negative 2 hours to get there- that'd be cool!

Damn...You can write!!!!!

I wish upon a star that the students I help could write a smiggen of how you put thoughts to words!

I hope your meds help Richard. You are way too special to continually deal with so much pain.

Hugs to you

Richard, on another topic...a friend named Paul prompted me to see if you fessed up to the load of books you ordered recently.

We are curious...just asking...and smiling. What did you get? What did you get?

RD - As I recall you had no idea what you were ordering (sounds like par for the course) and I certainly remember being twinned with the delightful Linda in the unlikely role (for poor Linda anyways) of Evil Twin. Come on tell us what rubbish they sent you.

"The first Detective Kubu mystery by Michael Stanley, it's set in Botswana. He makes it sound like a beautiful place to be murdered"

Classic RD wonderful.

Have a great weekend dear fellow.

>299 LovingLit: OOO not only are the months and days called different things Down There but the physics even works different! Cool!!

>300 Whisper1: Thanks Linda...what led to this sudden monsoon of praise?

>301 Whisper1:, 302 It's a collection called eBay Haul...feel free to poke around.

>302 PaulCranswick: Kubu's a good series sleuth: Fat, Mozart-singin' gourmand in Botswana. Blends in, you know, just one of the blokes down the pub.