Richardderus 2013 thread 15

“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.”
― Jorge Luis Borges

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 22-25...thread 11.
Books 26 & 27...thread 12.
Book 28...thread 13.
Books 29-31...thread 14.

Books are reviewed in post:

32. Rocket Science...#271.

Great book environment above, Richard! I could so get used to that.

And happy new thread!

Just when I think the library porn can't get any better you come out with this thread topper!

>3 ronincats:

>4 Emrayfo: Stick with me, little dude.

Well, hello. Thank goodness its a new thread, I hadnt a hope of catching up on the last one.
:)

Either I'm much to sleepy to be online or you have evil powers of mind control that are powerful enough to work across vast distances. -- You said buy it on the last thread and I did.

Hi Richard - more lovely book porn. Thanks for posting such wonderful images and I love the Grandiloquent Word of the Day. You find the most amazing things to share with us:)

*smooch*

You are prolly working on it but item in >5 richardderus: has not revealed itself yet.

The last two book porn pics were incredible - the one at the top causes palpitations and drooling.

Morning RD- Congrats on # 15! I LOVE that Book Porn topper. That would be my house, if I had any control over it.
I hope you go into Constellation with an open mind, although I know you are already having your doubts. I don't think it's showy or wordy, at all. Fingers crossed.
ETA- I liked black Irish too! Good, solid thriller.

hmm. I hope you like Constellation. We already have it ! Not one patron has taken it out, nor has anyone taken Ready Player One. If it doesn't say Debbie Macomber, James Patterson or "Amish".... it goes nowhere.

Good Morning Richard Dearest. I was so so behind again. I am working so much Overtime at work I cannot keep up with all my fun things, luckily I can take a book to work and when I am not busy I can at least keep up on reading. Anyway love the Book Porn in last thread and this one. I also love the adorable picture of Stella..Please give her hugs and smooches from me.. ;) Hugs and smooches to you too.

#1 Yes....but where does one sit?

>6 LovingLit: Hiya Maudie, glad you're well enough to toddle about a bit.

>7 nmcognito: Greetings Natalie-of-the-no-name-cake! Thank you again for that scrumdiddlyumptious recipe. If you like A Cat Was Involved, then the whole series should be a shoo-in for your readerly affections.

>8 calm: Hi calm! I know, right? That's a gorgeous gorgeous room up there. So glad you're around and about! *smooch* back

>9 sibylline: Hey cuz...no idea why you can't see the image, it's fine in both my browsers. ...?...

I know I know!! That's actually a store somewhere. But in MY mind, it's my living room.

>10 msf59: Hiya Mark! I am doing my dead-level best not to flee screaming from A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, but I admit that the MFA from IOWA (NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!) and the praise from La Patchett *retch* rocked me back. It's going to be a major major major triumph for this boy if I don't hurl it aside a minimum of once.

>11 mckait: Gadzooks that's depressing. Wow, Laura spent the whole $1.59 annual acquisitions budget already! Wow. And on a book that won't be checked out. Howinahell do we get more people in y'all's doors? People who like different stuff? Run a sweepstakes?

>12 MonicaLynn: How do, Monica! Stella is in Rainy Day Mode: SNORE*smack*snore*kick*

Thank you for making my little abode a stop on your whirlwind tour! *smooch*

>13 laytonwoman3rd: Perkins and the cleaning woman moved the wingchairs and ottomans so the photographer could capture all the books. The table was made into book display, too, but now the gin bottle and ice bucket are back where they belong. The curry toast should be arriving shortly. Have a plate?

Congratulations on your latest thread RD. Love the open-planned book porn. Gives me a few ideas for revamping our own pad.

Mmmm...curry....*wipes drool from chin and contemplates take-out from the Mediterranean Cafe*

Curry toast? Whoa.

Not much doing here. One daughter is coming in at 2:30 or so and staying till Monday. Keeping up with my coursework. And enjoying it, too, oddly enough. It's so nice to, um, to, er, interact with people--sorta like hereabouts.

>16 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, thanks old son. Good luck selling SWMBO on the proposed redecorating!

>17 laytonwoman3rd: Curry toast is extra yum! Especially when served with chutney.

>18 Matke: Try it sometime!

Amazing how liberating it is to be social online, isn't it? I know that sociologists suggest that e-communication is less than and inferior to f2f stuff, but ya know what? Folks vote with their feet, given any kind of chance. People pick modes of relationship that suit their circumstances and increase their personal pleasure. Why exactly is that less-than-inferior-to?

xoxo for darling Danvers

Seen on Twitter:

REPORT: $590M Lottery Winner To Share Fortune With Her Gay Son And His Partner: Last week Florid... http://bit.ly/13HEq3h

***WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH***

He's taken, dammit all!!

My reviews of the first Chet-and-Bernie mysteries, with bonus short story, at up now at Shelf Inflicted! Go! Fetch! Read!

We all have dreams, don't we, Richard? My wife had already planned what to do with our Powerball winnings a couple of weeks ago. Too bad we didn't get any.

I want to live in that photo at the top. Asap.

I can't see your response to me in message 5 either. I thought maybe it would have self-corrected by this morning, but it hasn't. :-(

>22 jnwelch: We do, especially where money is concerned. Can't get along without it in today's world.

>23 ronincats: Try it now. I've rejiggered the image code.

Ok, ok, ok...I will try the Chet and Bernie series. I have been trying to resist but I just keep seeing it mentioned everydamnwhere. LOL

There...its been ordered from Paperback Swap.

>25 Cobscook: Welcome to the Revival, Sister Heidi. Chet be with you.

Oh my heck, yes.

Great photo to start the new thread Richard.

Thank you, John!

Great new thread here, Richard! Like Joe, I want to live in your thread topper! Hey, I think there's room for both of us! And like Lucy and Roni, I cannot see the image posted in 5, which of course makes me imagine all sorts of things that I am missing. Still, it's a lovely thread, and you're here, so I'll just grab a seat.

Lovely new thread, love the opening image. I'm hoping that there is a comfy seating arrangement somewhere just out of view.
Can't see #5 but agree with #27.

Loved your shelf inflicted interview, I have to say that Amazon scares me. I don't mind large companies doing well but this one just wants it all.

passing through.. nothing of import to say here :) *waves*

>1 richardderus: Oh my heavens, I'll take one of those libraries, thank you please. I don't even care what the rest of it looks like, that's my dream house right there.

Where oh where do you find such wonderful book/library photos!

Hmm, now #5, instead of showing a little blue square with a question mark inside, is showing a very tall, skinny rectangle with a question mark inside. :-(

'Ello dearie. *gives groggy hug* How are you feeling today?

Good morning, dear friend. Today is the anniversary of my having found LT 6 years ago. So, yesterday I went down to a my closest B&N and spent a bunch of money to celebrate. See the 6 + 1 books I bought on my thread. Whoo hoo!!!

I hope your Friday + Saturday + Sunday are very wonderful, and full of reading, too, for you!

A lot of people around the threads seem to be celebrating Thingaversary's about now. I joined in December, which is also when my birthday is. With that, and Christmas, I'm usually so well supplied with new reads at that time, that I don't do the book-a-year thing for myself. I may just have to pick a different date to celebrate, 'cause I might be missing out here...(there are so few unread books in my house!)

Some people celebrate half-birthdays when the actual day falls in an inconvenient time.

In which case, I'm late!! I should have had a spree around the 6th of June.

rdear, you are apparently still uncoffee'd

*glurch*

*fnrbl*

*smacksmacksmack*

My very young gentleman caller returned from his annual family vacation in Canada a bit early. We spent a lovely evening eating stuffed pizza and drinking bloodys. His woes continue, as they do at 22. Boyfriend bores him. Parents don't understand. Only friend he has is old enough to be his father (that would be me).

We watched a couple of sweet gay rom-coms and rolled into bed drunk around 3. A lovely evening. Also further proof that a long-term relationship with someone closer in age to my oldest grandson than to my daughter is simply too damned exhausting to contemplate. (Not to mention the indigestion!)

So here I am, bright and late, ready to...welcome guests.

Whee.

>30 Crazymamie: Howdy doody, Mamie! Thanks for coming in. Perkins! Prepare some pineapple upside down muffins for Miss Mamie, if you please:



>31 avatiakh: Thank you, Kerry! I am deeply worried about the oligarchy's obvious and active support for monopolies, duopolies, and oligopolies in the world economy. This means NOTHING GOOD for consumers/customers/peasants like thee and me. It never has and it never will.

>32 mckait: Drive-bys work for me. *smooch*

>33 bell7: I so so agree, Mary. What one doesn't see is the wing chair/recliners and shadowless floor lamps and drinks tables. Perkins had to move them for the photographer.

>34 Whisper1: Hi Linda, formerly of the Axis of Evil! Glad to see you. That one came from Novel Nerds, I think...it's a Facebook page.

>35 ronincats: Hi Roni...how weird, I see it in your post as well as mine, and I have no idea why it's not showing up for others. *shrug* Just a congratulatory "WINNER!" jpeg, nothing exciting.

>36 ErisofDiscord: Hiya Eris, feeling a lot better than *you* seem to be. Perkins! Coffee for Miss Eris:

#43 I hope Perkins made a regimental batch of those muffins....they look like the pathway to heaven.

>37 maggie1944:-40 Hi Karen44 and Linda3rd, I concur with the decision to celebrate the half-Thingaversary. What is life without another excuse to buy books we're unlikely to live long enough to read?

...wait...that sounded better in my head...

>41 mckait: I'm coffeed up now, just a bit slow after spending too much time awake yesterday. (See post #42.) *smooch*

Okay, so a few of y'all know I'm on Facebook, fewer still know I'm on Twitter...but honestly, what a great place to connect with publishers and authors that's turned out to be! I've won a lot of giveaways for books I'd NEVER be able to afford. The latest is The Unexamined Orwell, a University of Texas Press book ($35 paper!) about Orwell's political thought as formed by his lowly places in the class structure.

Okay, I know it's not a barn-burner of a read for most, but it makes me very very excited. And my point isn't that you can win books that put most people to sleep faster than Ambien, it's that you can, by following publishers' accounts, win books! Free books. NEVER unwelcome, even if you end up hatin' 'em.

>45 laytonwoman3rd: Dear Mamie is famous for her willingness to share. And yep...they are the bee's knees, all right!

I join you in being excited about the Orwell book. Sounds very interesting! And I agree, FREE is a very good price.

For them as has been paying me any attention at all, it will come as no shock to you that I've been bingeing on books here lately. I've been influenced by the Axis of Evil (you know, MEGAN APSE and PAUL CRANSWICK and, until she bribed her way off the list, LINDA LIPKO) and their hugely acquisitve impulses as recorded here.

I got my latest installment of Keeping-Up-with-the-Axis books today:

TARTTS: Incisive Fiction from Emerging Writers
TARTTS Two: Incisive Fiction from Emerging Writers
TARTTS Three: Incisive Fiction from Emerging Writers
TARTTS Four: Incisive Fiction from Emerging Writers

We Have A Pie *
Margins of Tolerance
The Brick Murder: A Tragedy, and Other Stories *
Rancho Armadillo
Church Booty
Auto-Erotica
The Longest Pregnancy
The Prospect of Magic
The Galaxie and Other Rides *
Apologies Forthcoming
A History of Things Lost or Broken

All of these are from Livingston Press, all of them are hardcovers, and all of them were half price with free shipping. That is one HELL of a bargain. They're also all story collections, and prize winners. The three with asterisks beside them have my review on the book page. I praise them all, and I mean my praise. Too few publishers have the freedom that Livingston Press has to publish good, solid short fiction, good, solid literary fiction, and good, old-fashioned fun books by unknown or underknown authors.

Take advantage of the sale! When I get their catalog, it's like a crack dealer made a delivery. Until 21 June, you too can get books half price with free shipping in their Moving Sale!

I've got and have read Carol Manley's Church Booty - she was in a writing group out in Illinois that is run by a good friend of ours. The stories are a little uneven but most of them are excellent. Unfortunately Carol died not long after this book came out, I think, or maybe even before it did. I must have read it before joining LT because I don't see a review..... or maybe I was jes' lazy, which happens. Now I'm going to go look for it and see what else I can remember. My friend adored her, that much I remember too.

I think you should have a spot in the Axis of Evil too!!! You're catching up quite quickly! :)

I never got my books from Twice Sold... Wonder if I should even bother checking...?

Maybe you are the trigger point for their excessive buying ???? Hmmmm

>48 maggie1944: I know, right? Can't help being excited.

>50 sibylline: Oooh, how interesting! I'll wap that one atop the pile.

>51 TinaV95:, 52 Moi? *batbatbat*

Twice Sold sent the packages via Media Mail, so give it at least three weeks from now. You know how slow package delivery can be. Do let me know when you finally get them.

Hello Richard! Thread 15! Wow!

#11 If it doesn't say Debbie Macomber, James Patterson or "Amish".... it goes nowhere. :-(

All I wanted to know was what you were sending me, so I'm good now. Have no idea why it isn't showing on my browser, as I can see all your library and book porn, thank goodness. *smooch*

Coming in late, but curry toast sounds bloody good! How is it I've missed this delicacy up till now (not that I'm actually eating at the moment but I hope to be again soon).

>19 richardderus: Also Richard, I completely agree with what you say about the liberating effect of socialising online. I see it as not a choice between online vs f2f but as a broader menu of options. It's all good!

So, have your books begun leaking out the door of your room into the hallways and baths yet?

Or maybe you have used some as bed risers, and use the extra space for storage of even more books?
I think it is just possible that you are now leaving Paul in the dust :P

Hope the weekend is going well.

>54 luvamystery65: Hi Roberta! How's things?

>55 ronincats: OIC Well, good that you're good now. xo

>56 Emrayfo: Hi Charles, did I hear some sort of loose talk about you being in Ecuador or Easter Island or East Timor, someplace like that?

>57 mckait: Not a chance! And have my darlings out of my sight?! Are you MAD?! Who KNOWS what kind of riff-raff might pick one up and fondle it with greasy, chicken-fat fingers? *convulsive shudder*

Pineapple upside down muffins???

Instead, I would propose a bowl of garlic cheese grits with Gulf shrimp and a mug of Peet's coffee, which I just made.

...just let me get these shoes on and I'll be right there.

I still have plenty of Miss Betty's garlic cheddar grits mix left, from Savor the Flavor in Sumter, South Carolina. Next time we get together I'll bring you some.

YAY!

Shrimp 'n' grits.....yes. But not instead of anything...

Richard, the cartoon at #58 is delightful, or wickedly accurate rather! To answer the scurrilous gossip, I'm currently in Peru, but in a few days gf and I are off to Mexico! I just hope this sickness that has laid me low is gone by then, but 60 hours and counting it's showing no signs of abating.

Darryl's shrimp & grits?? Um, yes please!!!!

Yum to both the pineapple upside-down muffins and the shrimp and grits!

Richard, did you see the book porn on Louise Penney's post of Facebook today?

>63 laytonwoman3rd: In place of? Nay nay nay! Before! Then some scrumdiddlyumptious pineapple upside down cake.

>64 Emrayfo: Eccchhh, Charles, that sounds grim. I hope you feel better soon.

>65 TinaV95: *hands Tina a shrimp and a grit* There you go, dearie. *eats the rest*

>66 ronincats: I know, right? Oh yes, that law-library photo was lovely.

67 - Love it ........

BTW Pineapple does not belong anywhere near a dinner table except for foolish decoration ......

Hi RD- Just checking in. I LOVED the Song of Achilles. It's a one of a kind experience. When are you going to sample Constellation? Or are you still a bit nervous?

Darryls thorough disapproval of the pineapple upside down muffins (#59) is thoroughly approved by me. And his discussion of coffee has reminded me that its high time I had one. It might get me out of this grouch Im in!

*grumble mumble mutter*

>69 roundballnz: Hi Alex! Poor darling, you were clearly bounced on the pavement head first a few too many times in childhood. Pineapple is THE BOMB, and the upside-down cake is nummeroons. Still, you don't like it so there's more for me.

>70 msf59: Hi Mark, I'm still fearful. I'm dreading the moment when his MFA bitchslaps me with Patchettly prose.

>71 LovingLit: Oh dear, not good this grouch. Quick sticks, drink some coffee! It's so addled the normal (well, normal for you, anyway) functioning of your brain that you don't remember how extremely nummylicious pineapple upside down cake is! So sad. Unless your parents played football with your head, like Alex's did?

Well, I'll eat Darryl's pineapple upside down muffin! But I would love the garlic cheddar grits, too.....

Hi Richard! *smooch*

BTW, I loved The Song of Achilles! Thank you for encouraging participation in the group read.

Coffee almost all consumed.
Grouchy mood about to be subdued.
Head not injured by parents in childhood Once my dad threw me in the air and my head hit the rafter!!!

#74 Ouch!

Richard! I put The Stockholm Octavo on hold way back when you reviewed it. The library had just ordered it. It took FOREVER to get in and I just got my copy today.

Hello Stella!

RD hahaha still wincing for poor Alex and his aching skull. Wishing you a happy Father's Day dear fellow.

well my head has been 'bounced' but not on the pavement .......

Happy Father's Day!

Yeah.. srsly. Poor Darryl. I have to agree he must have met with some terrible event to cause his taste buds to become flawed. The pineapple upside down muffins look yummyliciousgoodmmmmm

Happy Father's Day, RD! I hope you have a nice day planned, filled with plenty of R & R!

Hi RD! What Mark said!

And from me, many hugs and smooches.

Horrible

Happy Poppa's Day to you, hope it's a nice one.

Thank you all for the Father's Day wishes, and to my fellow fathers, a very happy remembrance day to you! I went looking for a father's day-ish meme to post, and got distracted by the porn up there.

>73 EBT1002: I am so pleased that you loved The Song of Achilles, Ellen, as it's one of my all-time favorite books, up there with The Night Circus. It's a book that so many discussions can be built around...perfect for a book group or group read.

>74 LovingLit: Grouchy mood about to be subdued. As is inevitable when coffee is consumed. In an amusing twist of fate, you posted that message as we were having espresso and maple-buttercream frosted birthday cake.

>75 luvamystery65: Ohhh, what a treat that book was! I so hope it works for you, too, Roberta.

>76 PaulCranswick: Back at'cha, Doctor Who.

>77 roundballnz: *smirk* I shall draw an unaccustomed veil across the open sewer that is my mind and leave my comments unmade.

>78 maggie1944: Thank you, Karen44!

>79 mckait: One must be broad-minded in these things, Kath, and ignore the sheer pigheaded misguided stupidity of the anti-pineapple people. And my dear...they are All That!

>80 msf59: Thank you, Mark, and returning the wishes!

>81 karenmarie: Hiya Horrible! *smooch* Thanks for the wishes and smooches.

>82 sibylline: Thanks awfully, cuz! *smooch*

How about this for a fathers day-ish meme?

ETA: Notice the purple book on the left? "Cash Flow for Kids" HA!

>87 avidmom: Ha! Wonderful! Thanks for posting it.

I've posted my at-long-last quote-filled review of TransAtlantic, Colum McCann's latest novel, on my blog, as well as on the book's page.

It's very, very, very beautiful.

>83 richardderus: Now that's very classy.

Charles, I hope you are feeling better today.

Richard dear, it sounds like you had yummy treats today but I will wish you a Happy Dad's Day anyway!

Dropping by to hope you have a wonderful Father's Day, RD, and to give you ((hugs)) and xx kisses xx for the day

>89 Emrayfo: Isn't it?

>90 Cobscook: Thanks, Heidi!

>91 alcottacre: ...alcottacre...alcottacre...didn't I know someone, once upon a time, loooong ago when people loved me and visited me, by that name...?

*smooch* Happy week ahead, dear Stasia!

>87 avidmom:: Love that.

Happy Belated Father's Day, Richard.

And *smooches* for Stella.

>90 Cobscook: Thanks Heidi, still crook actually, but smiling! : D
Besides, I see there are plenty of others who are sick or have sick families in our little community at the moment, so I might just shut my gob and learn my lesson, which is: Don't eat the salad!

#92: Yeah, you're funny. Whatever your name is. . .

So ... is the weekend over for you yet? Hope it went well.

Working with E today. :(

Hope you had a relaxing and good Father's Day, Richard. Glad you enjoyed Transatlantic. I'll follow the link and read the latest.

P.S. Good one! Thumb from me.

Catching up once again my dear Richard. Having nice visits I see and wonderful book porn. Yummy pineapple upsidedown :) (wiping drool from chin) Hugs and smooches to you and Stella.

Great review of TransAtlantic, Richard. I'll pick up my copy next week, and read it early next month.

THANK. GOODNESS.

>100 richardderus: LOL! Love it.

>93 EBT1002: Me too...and thanks! Stella, who like me regards heat as an infringement upon her personal liberties, sends a desultory slurp.

>94 Emrayfo: You ate an uncooked vegetable. In Peru. Well, Charles, you can't claim to be surprised at your illness. Feel better.

>95 alcottacre: ...and you are...?

>96 mckait: All done, yay! It's hot and it's sticky, so I'm holed up in front of my trusty-dusty AC.

>97 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe! I'm glad you enjoyed the review. It was an excellent read.

>98 MonicaLynn: Hi Monica! We send same by return of post. (Sorry the envelope is wet, but Stella slurped it extra hard.)

>99 kidzdoc: Thanks, Darryl, it's a book that even YOU should enjoy. Death, misery, gloom...everything you adore.

>102 avidmom: Seriously, though, aren't you pleased there are no memes of your drunken antics to haunt you forever and ever?

RD - I would rephrase #101. I NEVER UNDERSTAND PEOPLE WHO HAVE ENOUGH BOOKSHELVES.

>105 PaulCranswick: They're likely to be the kind of women...I mean people! People!...who have tchotchkes where the books should go.



My literal reality most days. It's a lot like being in heaven must be.

Although the Dickens he's reading is deathly boring, I agree with the sentiment.

I like #100 and breathe a great huge sigh of relief.

>106 richardderus: It's a lot like being in heaven must be.

My bestie was telling me about some old book she was reading about someone who had purportedly gone to heaven. I was thinking "Oh, brother!" and then she said, "She said there were libraries there!" - and apparently lots of them. So then I thought, "Oh, must be true then." :) HA!

>108 maggie1944: I join you in that heartily heaved sigh.

>109 avidmom: It ain't heaven if they ain't a liberry or twenty thousand.

So the binge continues.

Bisbee '17
How to Name A Hurricane
Time Commences in Xibalba
All special twitter sale from University of Arizona Press

And I requested from the author a copy of Blue Ice, a collection of stories by Brian Dice. He's a Goodreads friend, and to my embarrassment, we'd been chatting for almost a year before I connected him with the author of a story collection with the same name! I felt badly about never having congratulated him for getting one published, so to make up for it, I asked for a copy to review.

Goddesses, I hope I don't hate it.

Hi RD- Just checking in! Love the Plimpton quote. Hope you are enjoying your day and I hope the binge remains reasonable.

>112 msf59: Too late on that one. I'm north of 150 books since the binge began. It's like I've suddenly become Paul.

((Hugs)) and xx kisses xx for today. Got to get them in while I can.

>111 richardderus: Bisbee '17 looks very interesting. I've actually been there. Look forward to your review of it.

I don't know how I got so far behind over here, dear. The muffins look delicious - I adore pineapple!

Celtic legenday sea-horses of Lir. Ooo.

>114 alcottacre: *smooch* classes start in a week! So excited for you!

>115 avidmom: It's a reprint of a 1979 book, but it's new to me. I'm looking forward to it.

>116 Crazymamie: Oh, not to worry, Mamie...I'm accustomed to being left behind, neglected, in the dustiest corner, by those who once said they were my friends...*teardrop*chinwobble*

Heh.

Just thumbed that excellent review of Transatlantic Richard. He's a writer who improves as he goes along I think. And I will happily keep following:)

Oh dear. How can I make it up to you, darling?

Perhaps pumpkin butterscotch muffins?

#106 is my FB profile picture :-)

>118 brenzi: Thanks, Bonnie! I'm happy to know you're a McCanner, too.

>119 Crazymamie:, 120 DAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRLINGGGGGG!! (I'm elozable.)

>121 katiekrug: It's pretty spot-on, isn't it?

Good morning! Are you up yet?
Coffee'd ?

Just getting sorted out to go out this morning.. first, cooking for my Duncan.

>123 mckait: Coffeed, bureaucratted, and bah-humbugged.

It's three days to Midsummer Day. It's effin' hot. It's *shudder* cloudlessly sunny.

I hate this. When does fall get here?

Beautiful book covers.

ETA I mean really, why can't books look like this anymore?

The black sheep will change the world.

>125 richardderus: is Beautiful. I love those book covers with the Art Deco, Art Nouveau, and other graphic art of a by-gone era.

# 100 OH how so very thankful for me too ;) / # 106 Exactly the way I feel # 107 Exactly

Tell Stella Thanks for the extra sloppy!! My Angel gives me sloppy kisses every day.. Sending hugs and smooches back again...

Just dropping in & now I'm drooling. Does this thread have to be so darn delicious? ;0)

It appears to be serious, too.

>127 maggie1944: So agreed!

>128 MonicaLynn: Stella says "rrmmmmooohhh" which I interpret as "Monica is welcome" and no one can say I'm wrong!

>129 TinaV95: It's that kind of a thread, isn't it, Tina?

Richard
I'm skimming your thread, so please forgive if you posted if there was a resolution re. the bags of moldy smelling books.

Any news?

No, none and none expected...PayPal no longer processes their payments, according to the email I got. grrrr!

>130 richardderus: Sad but true.

Big Trucks already in place. I took a stand yesterday when I came back from my lunch with Jo.. they had parked in my parking space ( which is actually on our property) So I pulled straight across the street and turned off the beast. They moved. So did I. But there are big ruts now where their digger thing was parked. I need to tell them to fill them in..

ha!

^Hope the week is going well, RD! Our weather has been gorgeous.

Good Morning, Richard darling! Nothing to report, but I'm checking in anyway. Hope your Wednesday is full of fabulous!

These brave demonstrators sat down and were arrested to make the point that our government is completely unresponsive to its citizens. Thank you Steve, Charlotte, Alice, Pat, Jess, Karen, Mike, Daniel, and all the rest of our allies, arrested and not, who work so hard for change! We are proud of you!

http://troyrecord.com/articles/2013/06/19/news/doc51c146a11f934135436724.txt

From my local political group, Fair Elections Now. Gerrymandering is designed to keep those in power there. Even though, here in NY, I'm more in sympathy with the PTB than I ever was in TX, elections for representative government need to be representative...even if that means asshole conservative naysayers and bigots get elected.

Serious readers hate bad books, and there are LOTS of them (glaring at you, GONE GIRL) http://bookriot.com/2013/06/19/the-25-most-hated-books/ … I hate 13 of the 25 Most Hated Book Riot lists. What's your score?

>134 mckait: WTF?! Is this Comcast, PennDOT, or some random Force of Evil?

>135 msf59: ...I'm sorry, did you say something...?

>136 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! *smooch* Always lovely to see you. Have a cronut?

Well, Mr. Crabby Pants, maybe I am just a pushover but I didn't hate any of those books, on the Book Riot list, or at least not the 21 I have read. The only one I wasn't a fan of was the alchemist. Also, I can't believe how many bona fide classics are on that list.

The Old Man and the Sea is atrocious...all work by Chuckles the Dick is unconscionable...Atlas Shrugged is the only book in the Gitmo liberry...

I've read 15 on the list. I can't say that I *hate* any of them but I generally disliked Moby Dick. Also, I couldn't get into The Corrections and abandoned it...so who knows, maybe I would have hated that one!

I only HATE 6 of the top 25. There are another half dozen or so I just really don't much care for, but can't say I can work up a really good hate for them!

And the cronut? I think I HATE that I'd LOVE one, or six!

well, no surprise to me, I've only read 10 of them, mostly when I was a great good deal younger than I am today and I don't think I "hated" any of them, nor did I "love, love, love" them. Ahem. Don't even know what that means, if anything.

*wanders off to read Ella Minnow Pea.*

#138 Well, I have two on the "Hated it" list, a couple more on the "Dislike" list, and a lot on the DNR/WNR (did not read, will not read) list. I posted my responses to the entire list on my own thread, in case anyone cares that much.

#8 and #10 give me hives. Of the others, I've read about half, and either liked them or really liked them. Some I doubt I'll ever read, like that 50 Shades stuff. But I am a sucker for classics, and many of these are favorites.

Book porn!

I love the book porn!! One of these days I will actually have shelves for all of mine.

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

Ooh, what a great treatment of under the staircase space!

Just sayin' hello.

Most hated books, huh?

>140 msf59: shocking that... lol

I have read only 9 of the most hated books, but I didn't hate them. Sorry. In fact I LIKE Dan Brown a lot so take that haters! :P~~~

I avoided Gone Girl... (instinct. )

Whatever. I like what I like and never mind what other people hate. Or like.. I do enjoy when someone here suggests a book for me :) and I like it. Or a series of books ( ahem)

>142 Cobscook: Hi Heidi...The Corrections is one of my most-resented reads, it was for book group and I made myself finish it. Very MFA. Ugh.

>143 nmcognito: Hi Natalie! No-name cake was requested again for the weekend. BIG hit, I'm happy to say. Cronuts...oh my...I am so so relieved that they must be imported from Manhattan. If there was somewhere out here that made them, I'd hitchhike to get there and then eat the entire store's stock.

>144 maggie1944: Ella Minnow Pea is one of the most fun books I can remember reading, so I hope it works its magic on you, too.

>145 laytonwoman3rd: Admirably well-documented, Linda3rd...I shall review the materials with all deliberate speed. *hugs*

>146 ffortsa: Hi Judy! Heh...hives. Some classics are classics for a reason (eg, Ulysses) and I still can't enjoy them...others are just past their sell-by date and retain some spurious cachet from bygone eras (no need to give examples)...and every reader gets to slot their reads into unique and personal categories. No one can ever say one's OPINION is wrong. Facts can be debated, discussed, disagreed about, but never opinions.

>147 richardderus: *drool*

>148 alcottacre: Hi Stasia! If all, as in 100%, of my books were on shelves, I'd be so damn nervous I couldn't sleep a wink. I'd go on the binge to end all binges at Amazon and order every damn thing on my wishlist! (823 items at last count.)

>149 ronincats: I so agree, Roni. It's very attractively arranged, too.

>150 EBT1002: *click*bubble machine goes into overdrive*

Oh hi there Ellen. My new husband and I would love to have you and P over for drinks.

*bubble machine double overdrive*

>151 mckait: I always like lists...I know what to resist! *smooch*

#152 Loving that rather a lot.

Also reminds me to get off my excessively large hind quarters and finish one of my Nanos... before November hits me again. Is it me or is it getting here quicker every year?

>157 BekkaJo: It is NOT just you. It's almost flippin' JULY of 2013 and about 10min ago it was January of 1998.

Well... maybe not quite that far back (TOO far - I was 16 it was not a great time). But I'm pretty sure two minutes ago it was 2003...

...it isn't still 2003...? Oh NO! My taxes are late!

*snarf*

Ow! That was an accidental white wine snarf. It burns! My nose!

There there, dear, have some lovely zabaglione to soothe that burn.

I've started THE WAR THAT CAME EARLY alternative history series and gave a whopping 4 stars for HITLER'S WAR even though more praise for Turtledove is superfluous. World War II has been refought and replayed a zillion times, like the American Civil War; but there's a reason that people stay fascinated by it.

So what, so the war might have started in 1938 not 1939, what's the difference? Might have been a lot....

Too excited for words! I won a copy of The Unexamined Orwell in a Twitter giveaway from the University of Texas Press last Friday, and it arrived today! Wheeeeee!

Oh I really love #152. How nice a thought.
Enjoy your free book!

Oh I am I am! It's silly to be so excited, I guess, but it's a $35 book & I'd never pop that much for it.



Kara posted this on Facebook. I love it.

love the facebook post as well! And, I want one of the under the steps book cases!

Happy June to you Richard

Une bise, beau cousin.

the under the stairs bookcase is very fine.

>167 Whisper1: Happy June, sweetiedarling!

>168 sibylline: Oh, isn't it just?

I'm already excited that tomorrow is Friday and we have no evening plans. It means I get to read. :-)

Happy Summer Solstice, dear man.

>163 richardderus: Cool review of Hitler's War. I'm not sure if I could do "alternate history" since keeping "OTL" history straight in my own head is a bit of a chore and am afraid I'd get *history and "OTL history" mixed up. Kudos to you for managing to keep both straight!

There is no better use for a pump organ than this.

>170 EBT1002: Happy Midsummer's Day, and YAY for no plans! *smooch* to y'all

>171 ronincats: Ooooo Roni! What a great use for an old ladder. So cool-looking, too.

>172 avidmom: Thanks! I like alt-hist because so much of history is a train-wreck of missed opportunities and screwed-up chances. What better way to dream of a better world than to go back in time and assassinate Reagan, kill Rove in his cradle, make Bar Bush infertile...the list goes on....

Ain't this the truth!

LOVE the ladder one!

Fermented... Lunch at Kelly's with a bunch of library folk coming right up... wanna come rdear?

Order me a double fish & chips, please. *smooch*

So glad the cake is a hit with your friends, but even from here I can see the real draw is the host!

I've only read 8 of the "most hated" but have avoided several on the list for a reason.

I never finished Wuthering Heights because I didn't love it and I felt like I was slogging through the mire. I barely made it through Great Expectations, but I did finish. I didn't loathe it, but it was my first (and last) Dickens. The others were ok and a few I even really enjoyed (Twilight and The Davinci Code -- gasp!). Don't judge me too harshly :)

Wonder why Gatsby is so hated?

>178 nmcognito: Somehow, I doubt that. But it's lovely of you to say!

>179 TinaV95: I hated Twilight inexpressibly, but The Da Vinci Code isn't...it's not...well, I read it, and I finished it in one sitting. I'll never read it again, but it was a rollicking good ride.

Three words as to why The Great Gatsby is so hated: High School English. *shudder* Ruined poetry for me forever.

Top Gear! Ha!

A basketball game in which the team I wanted to win instead lost. Hmmph. Why couldn't it have been the movie Enchanted?

Annoying to me that the Heat won. Blech.

Glad you are enjoying the Turtledove's, I have a few on my TBR pile and look forward to getting to them, hopefully in this decade. lol

>175 richardderus:: YES!
Said she, having downed a Corpse Reviver #2 and now being on to white wine.
Hooray for Friday!

I'm in the last 75 pages or so of The Sparrow and I'm susceptible to the suspense.

yes, and good morning to you, sir

I'll take one of those!

Ooooo the ladder bookshelf, that is simply a step above the rest!

>184 johnsimpson: If the plan is this decade, might should quit LT. Otherwise, no hope...too many good good good ideas for reading float around and can't be resisted.

>185 EBT1002: It's a lulu of an ending too!

>187 maggie1944: Howdy, Karen44!

>188 Emrayfo: Heh...why am I not surprised? Have fun there in Chile or Cambodia or Christmas Island or wherever...hope they have good coffee.

>189 sibylline: *smacks Cousin Lucy upside her punning head*

LOL, Lucy! YOu crack me up!

Good Afternoon, Richard dear! Just checking on you. And drooling a bit over the book porn. Hope your weekend is full of fabulous!

I've already had a crud day. Got up early to go to the doc-in-a-box. Got my RXs for gout meds. Cute boy at the reception desk gave me his number and accepted a dinner invitiation for next Wednesday.

Guest supposed to arrive noonish hasn't arrived. My RXs required four pharmacy trips to fill b/c the Walgreen's was out of BOTH meds. Have to send my card and my hopes that the pharmacy the RXs are at can give the same discounted ($330 instead of $450) rate on the County's RX plan. Riding around in the rental UHaul (moving stuff from Aunt's house, Manhattan, and Brooklyn to the garage for the upcoming sale) has given me HORRIBLE pain, caused a gout crystal to break out of the thin skin on my left knee, bleed profusely, and hurt.

And now I find out I won't be alone here on Wednesday! Call Dan, cute nursing-student boy at the reception desk, apologize profusely and ask for Thursday instead. "After class," in a chilly tone.

Have to haul myself downstairs to be near the door after the Gruesome Twosome go off to shop, do banking, post office, etc. so I'll hear him arrive and be able to let him in. Ow.

And so it goes.

#181: Oh heck, so I really shouldn't be watching 'Jono and Ben at 10'.

And ouch on the cost of those meds. Hoping that the pain subsides for you.

>193 avatiakh: HA well no Kerry, I'd say that was...ummm...contraindicated.

ETA Here is the show Kerry refers to. Think The Daily Show meets Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.

It's a Friday night lineup that includes Graham Norton Show and 7 Days - our weekly comedy hit. Here's Jono's take on Where's Wally.

Richard ....the last TV show I watched was a recording of Inspector Lewis... does that mean I'm going to be transported to Oxford? I'm packed and ready.

Thinking of you today. The pain in my toe/foot is so bad it's making me ill. So, maybe my pain threshold has lowered in recent years :( ouch. Ibuprofen and ice.

I don't don't know how you endure it :(

How did it finally go with the meds?.. and why on earth were YOU in the UHaul?

Every time I hear about the cost of meds in your dear country .... my brain goes ouch ouch ouch!!!! .... I certainly couldn't afford to live there!

Fish and Chips, good coffee and a piano full of books - yipeee!
Have a great Sunday dear fellow.

So, Richard. What kind of coffee do you generally prefer?

Sorry your day was so cruddy. Grrr.

Tonight's megamoon has transited my south-facing bedroom window. Seeing it through the Japanese maple was truly beautiful.

Book porn!

>195 avatiakh: Ha! Funny.

>196 cameling: Not a chance. It means a tall, blond chain-smoker will now follow you around showing off his grasp of theology.

>197 mckait: I've got them. I'm just pissed, still, about the 'tude. I'm so sorry about your toe! Poor lambkin. *smooch*

>198 roundballnz: It makes me furious and ill. Land of the Free (to be fleeced, maybe).

>199 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul! Happy Monday.

>200 EBT1002: I'm not terribly picky. If I can get it, I like 1/3 Tanzania Peaberry and 2/3 Mocha Java ground very fine. I'll drink anything, though.

Thank goodness you got them. I hope it was at the "better" price. Believe it or not, I forgot to look at the moon last night. I went out too early,it hadn't risen above the treeline and then forgot to go back. sigh.

I forgot too. Well, it can't be that far away tonight.

Sunflowers creep me out, but this is a cool image.

>205 mckait: It was indeed at the lower price, so I'm broke not destitute. I could not believe how big the difference in attitude was at the place that finally filled the RX. They were perfectly pleasant, accommodating, and without a shred of snark. That was good because I'd haddit by then. That UHaul thing (can't get in and out of cars, too low) was too tall to go through drive-thru windows, so I had to get in and out every time. Growf.

>206 ffortsa: It is worth going up on the roof for, Judy. It was a lovely, lovely sight, and I'm glad I woke up for it. Recommended!

Good. Actually, that might work for you for future rentals. if you just rented the van? would it?
Glad you got the meds.

>209 mckait: Yeah, it worked fine, and it's A LOT cheaper than a minivan or SUV rental! ??

And I am!

Perfect combo, Richard! I slept late, took a walk with my MBH for coffee, and now we're sitting outside looking at our back garden, which said MBH has made look bee-yoo-tuh-ful. It's Garden Walk day in our part of the city, so we'll have visitors soon. Meanwhile: reading. Ah, yes, life is good.

Hi RD! How are things in your world? Hope all is well and your current reads are dandies!

Hallo, RD! Happy wishes for a wonderful Sunday.

XO Horrible

By now you're probably hugging your air conditioner. Jim and i walked up to brunch on 55th St. this morning, but it was too hot to walk back.

Glad you got your meds from nice people this time.

>212 jnwelch: Ah yes...yes it is. I'm mulling and culling THE TELEPORTATION ACCIDENT for a review, which is proving to be a lot of fun.

>213 msf59: A series of ~meh~ books, I fear...but today am returning to one I loved (see above) for a review, which should perk me up.

>214 karenmarie: Hey Horrible! Good Sunday back. *smooch*

>215 ffortsa: Hugging is precisely the word for it, Judy! Perhaps even some surreptitious smooching. I'm never more pleased to live in modern times than I am in the summer. I'd move to Iceland if there was no such thing as AC.

The cost of your discounted meds made my stomach clench for you!!! I'm so sorry Richard. :(

Hope the pain is some better today. And if college boy is nasty to you, then it's HIS loss for being a butt.

Love & (((hugs)))

Iceland sounds nice, actually. Long, long daylight days in the summer. Of course, the language might be something of a problem.

I hope that your plan for the day was successful, Richard, and that you are feeling better tonight. Oh, and that an excellent book ends up in your hands as well!

>211 richardderus:: Wow. Very sexy.

I, too, hope the pain is easing a bit. And I love that you'll "drink anything" when it comes to coffee. Me too, of course, as long as it's black and very strong.

Happy Monday when it arrives.
*smooch*

All good wishes in the hope that you will continue to feel better. I'm holding you in my heart...long term pain is so very difficult.

A Merry Monday to all! It's effin' hot here, over 90 (36C) today, and that is just LOATHSOME. My AC is on Ross Ice Shelf setting. The dog and I are fighting for the spot directly in front of the blast.

We're all very lucky we're alive in this time before the final collapse of industrial civilization. I myownself expect that to occur sometime next week. When the Worldwide Book Famine occurs, I am well-larded, and as soon as I run out of books to read, I'll greet the sun (TrueBlood ref).

>217 TinaV95: It's appalling, I agree wholeheartedly, but it's urgently necessary. I'm not able to function without them anymore. The curve is a steady one, and today it's in the correct direction. Yay!

>218 ffortsa: I'd say so! The language scares me more than the winters, but less than the volcanoes.

>219 ronincats: Thanks, Roni! It was a success. I came downstairs for drinks and dinner with our guest, and made a cake. Lovely evening!

>220 EBT1002: Yuh-huh. Sexy! And I'm just not a terribly picky addict when it comes to coffee...don't see the point. Some cups are better than others...yeah, so? Some ANYthings are better than others!

>221 Whisper1: Hi Linda! *smooch* Thanks for the lovely wishes.

C'est moi.

Moi aussi.

Bisous.

Bisous, petite ange!

Ah, the french, the french

In English: hope all is OK with you, and rapidly getting better! Happy Reading, sport.

Hello dear! I hope I am improving. Fewer things hurt just now than hurt at this time yesterday.

Richard Matheson has died at 87. Author of I Am Legend, What Dreams May Come, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, and so many more...a large and important figure in SF and horror for more than 40 years.

>181 richardderus: the last TV show I watched is now my life story? Uh- Oh. Criminal Minds. I have one seriously effed up life! (although.....sometimes lately, I wonder if being/chasing a serial killer would be preferable to the torture of sleep deprivation, I would draw the line at choosing to be the victim of a serial killer though. Nothing's that bad)

:)

PS oui oui

#181 - gaack. Art imitating life. I saw a few minutes of The Office yesterday. Since I've been working 50-55 hour per week for about 9 months now, it's appropriate. Not as much fun, though.

Hope the AC stays cold. Have a loverly Tuesday, RD!

*smooches* from Horrible

>229 LovingLit: Ha! Well, as of today, mine is Under the Dome, so we're about even.

Scary thought, that. So many sociopaths in Maine.

>230 karenmarie: It's a sunshiney, hot summer day...90F...so *I* won't enjoy it but I suspect most will. Eccchhh from me, however.

I am reading A Constellation of Vital Phenomena.

The last TV show I watched was Long Island Medium. hmmm.

Speaking of Under the Dome, my review is posted at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud. Over 4 stars of King-love. Plus the actor who plays Barbie now follows me on Twitter.

RD - I am to Sci-Fi as you are to Chuckles but I was sorry to note that Richard Matheson joins Iain Banks, Tom Sharpe, Chinua Achebe and Yoram Kaniuk as already much missed bookists.

Hi Paul...I suspect Matheson's more character-centered works wouldn't make you as uncomfortable as most SF. He was an Ideas Man. One day something might cross your path, one never knows, and call your name.

I had a late lunch of gazpacho and a big slab of no-name cake. I walked the dog in the 90-degree sunshine, which we both hated. I trudged up the stairs, opened the Chromebook on my chest, and selected a movie to watch (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, as it happens, because Judi Dench). Dog settled into air-conditioned splendor on the other side of the bed after her lunchtime hot dog was gone.

We just woke up at 8p.

She licked my nose to wake me because I was, apparently, giggling in my sleep. I had recast the movie, in my dream, with all gay male pornstars and was hugely entertained by the results.

I had recast the movie, in my dream, with all gay male pornstars and was hugely entertained by the results
L
O
L!!!

>237 mckait: Heh...I need one of those!

>238 LovingLit: It was really, really funny to my sleeping self. Waking up giggling with a dog licking your nose makes bad moods impossible, I am here to tell you.

Hi RD! Sounds like you are having some yucky weather too. It was sticky and miserable here. I think it will be like this through Thursday. Ugh!
I wanted to let you know I started How to Read the Air. You picked Mengestu for my First-time Author Challenge and since I didn't have his first novel but I did have his second, I started the latter. I am only 50 pages in and it's not bad.
How is constellation coming? Fingers crossed.

90+. Ugh.

*smooch*

This has been an amazing evening. Wendy Davis, Democratic Texas State Senator, filibusters a restrictive abortion bill, is shut down by Robert's Rules of Order being bent (IMO), and the gallery of the Texas State Senate erupts in hoots, catcalls, and shouting so loud that the roll call of the vote on this bill can't take place.

Kirk Watson, Democratic Texas State Senator and former Mayor of Austin, brings up points of order and is shut down without his points being addressed.

Lydia van de Putte, TEA PARTY Texas State Senator, then gets up and makes the same (valid) points of order. SHE gets shut down. And cue the Texas Spring: "When does a female Senator have to raise her hand in order to be recognized before the chair's male colleagues?" Hoots, catcalls, and no way does this go unremarked. YouTubers watch (over 110,000 of 'em), the Lege's own cams are out of bandwidth (90,000-plus) and the Texas Tribune's cams are taxed by bandwidth issues too (over 105,000 viewers).

At 1a CDT, the Looey (an idiot named David Dewhurst) summons the Senators for a caucus to determine if they're still in session, and if the abortion restriction bill passed for real (they reported to AP and other corporate media that it did). Trouble is the Lege has a computer vote-tallying system...and the vote took place AFTER MIDNIGHT local time, the Constitutional end-point of the session.

This will be SO interesting.

And then! Then! Today at 10a EDT, the Supremes (who, let us not forget, just finished eviscerating the Voting Rights Act of 1964) will announce their decision on DOMA and Prop 8 cases relating to marriage equality.

Anyone who isn't thrilled to be alive in the Internet era isn't paying attention. I am so glad I fell asleep for 3 hours this afternoon!

The Texas Tribune has photos of the changed time-stamps on the Texas State Senate's PUBLICLY VIEWABLE vote-tallying system:

Texas Tribune ‏@TexasTribune 11m
Great photos of the changed date stamps on the #SB5 vote from @rossramsey: http://trib.it/137R805 #txlege

>240 msf59: Hi Mark! I'm not focusing well enough to feel I'm being fair to the book. I'll have to give it real attention later in the week.

>241 EBT1002: *smooch*

I am focused on how Wendy could stand there for all of those hours and do what she did. AMAZING.

Are you awake, RD? DOMA is DOWN *presents cheek for trademark smooch*

Woo hoo! Just got up, looked at my email, and it was bursting with news announcements, not only about DOMA, but also Prop 8 in California. Came straight here to see that you were well on top of it all. What a day!

Thanks for the report on the Texas shenanigans, too.

>245 mckait: I am SO IMPRESSED with Wendy Davis, I can't adequately form sentences. She has a national future if she wants one. I sure as heck hoe she does! Joe Hill tweeted "Hillary/Wendy 2016" last night. That impressed me, as did the favorites/retweets on it.

The Voting RIghts Act defeat looms large in my awareness today, with the opinion Justice Kennedy wrote striking down DOMA relying heavily on the unfair burden the law placed on a politically unpopular group. How is it, then, that VRA could go down...?

>246 laytonwoman3rd: YAYAYAY *smooch*

>247 ronincats: It's a good day to be awake and aware, Roni! *smooch*

If the shirt fits...

Oh boy, two more ARCs came today:

Ask Not, a consiracy thriller based on the JFK assassination, and
Following Tommy, a literary first novel by a Chicago Irish tough guy, about his childhood.

In other news, it's revolting out there. Hot and humid. Ick, Summer is the Devil's Own.

porn, wonderful porn. book porn, word porn, food porn, you-ness porn, miscellaneous porn. couldn't get it all, but what i got was lushuss.

the cost of meds, ah. it's the "donut hole" time of year, too, for those of us on medicare.

the knee thing sounds absolutely puke-making. GNAAAAAAH! wouldn't a little propophol be nice from time-to-time?

take care, oh you of the knobbled knee.

Thank you for the book rdear :)

I thought there was a medicare Rx insurance now? Did I imagine that?

So sorry about your gout, the blasting heat (here too), and the cost of meds as well. I am very grateful that Dh was in the service for years and thus retired out entitled to both Tricare, and the hateful VA, which we use only for hearing aids.

Pats and smooches to you, Wise Man.

>251 mirrordrum: Hi Ellie! *smooch* The porn, it is me. The meds, they are in me, so I hope to be getting better and better (although I have no money now). Knees, well, can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

>252 mckait: Glad you're enjoying it! Enough to buy the next two, even. *w00t*

>253 Matke: No Medicare until 2015 for me...two full years of benefits first. It's Kafkaesque. Medicaid, as soon as I can get approved, will do the job. Until then, well...at least I can get them. *smooch* for my dear Danny

Gail--there is medicare Rx insurance now, but it has a gap or "donut hole" each year between the time you reach approx $2700 in drug costs (not out-of-pocket but retail cost of *approved* meds) and the time you reach "catastrophic" (their term not mine) expenditures at around $6000. i hit the donut hole near the end of May and it takes me about 3 months to get through to the catastrophic phase. during that time, meds take up abt 1/3 of my monthly income. before and after the donut hole, we pay a lot less and medicare covers more.

I'm sorry to hear about your pain meds, insurance pains, and all. You might enjoy this story. My uncle, who has a slipped disk and is, and has been, in a lot of pain, finally got an appointment to a pain clinic. When he got there the police were there closing the place down. Not a good day for him (or them either apparently).

Goddess... I don't understand anything you said about medicare...I better just die before I get there :(

At least you have meds... that is a good thing.

Good grief, Ellie, I thought the stupid donut hole thing had been fixed; obviously not. What a ridiculous system it all is. If some reasonably bright (that would not include any DC pols) sat down and figured out a plan, I know it would work better than that.

Or that stinkin' VA...we got a call today that Dh had missed an appt...we didn't know he had one...he answered the phone (huge mistake there) and then hung up as it was recorded and he just couldn't deal. When I called back to re-schedule (Really? He already has 2 appts today. Hello, is *anyone* capable of understanding what I'm saying?), I got stuck in an endless phone loop. Argggg.

Anyway, I'm hoping that the pain is still in full retreat. Do take of yourself, Rdear; you matter to us all.

>257 mckait: Yeah, no. That is not an option. You're required to outlive Dan.

>258 Matke: Bureaucrats!! I really hate that nonsense of not being able to speak to a person, no matter how stupid the person is. Almost always one can get a person to figure out a solution to a problem; never, ever can that occur with a machine.

You're sweet to tell me such kind lies. No one would notice if I vanished in a puff of smoke...which, actually, is what happened in last night's dream! I disappeared in a smoke-cloud and was watching people who witnessed it try to figure out what happened. (I never found out, blast the luck, because it was very interesting!)

My book circle's 160th book was Hadji Murad, which I've reviewed here, as well as on the book's page.

Have you see this, Richard? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD997i_89RM

It's such a masterful fake. I wish so hard that it was real.

>260 ErisofDiscord: Made my eyes hurt. No I'd never seen it before. Why is it fake?

'Twas just a really well done fan trailer for the 50th Anniversary. It had a lot of fans going in the Who Community today, as they thought it was a real trailer from BBC.

I'm going to regenerate from all the suspense of waiting for the 50th. D:

OIC

Well, the date marches closer and closer...don't regenerate until AFTER the airing. I surely hope it manages to disappoint as little as is humanly possible.

Just checking in, dear. I got nothing. Really...nothing. I'll try to think of something and came back.

>264 Crazymamie: *smooch* any old way

Thank you, darling! I should probably just crawl back into the bed and read. I cannot string two thoughts together and it's fixin' to storm. (How do you like my Southern speak?)

Oh, I know! I am loving Blood Kin! Thanks so much for the recommendation!

Oh goody good good! I am so pleased that Henry Chappell is making some long-overdue inroads. Spread the word! His book The Callings is darker, and in some ways less fully immersive a read; but it's still a four-star book.

Good to know. I wondered what his other book was like. I will write a review of Blood Kin when I finish it, which should be before the month is out. I never would have found this one on my own, so big bear hug for you for tipping me off.

*smooch* I live to spread the word when I like something.

Review: 32 of seventy-five

Title: ROCKET SCIENCE

Author: JAY LAKE

Rating: 3.75* of five

The Publisher Says: In ROCKET SCIENCE, Jay Lake's first novel, Vernon Dunham's friend Floyd Bellamy has returned to Augusta, Kansas, after serving in World War II, but he hasn't come back empty-handed: he's stolen a super-secret aircraft right from under the Germans. Vernon doesn't think it's your ordinary run-of-the-mill aircraft. For one thing, it's been buried under the Arctic ice for hundreds of years. When it actually starts talking to him, he realizes it doesn't belong in Kansas--or anywhere on Earth. The problem is, a lot of folks know about the ship and are out to get it, including the Nazis, the U.S. Army--and that's just for starters. Vernon has to figure out how to communicate with the ship and unravel its secrets before everyone catches up with him. If he ends up dead, and the ship falls into the wrong hands, it won't take a rocket scientist to predict the fate of humanity.

My Review: Jay Lake, author of this fun and funny romp of a book, is dying of cancer. Quite publicly. He blogs about it, posts on Facebook about it, and generally has made no secret of the fact that he's "on the last plane out, just have to see if the flight's a long one or a short one." (Yes, I'm quoting.) He's even having a "Jay Wake". His blog invites us as follows:

You are invited to my pre-mortem wake and roast, a somewhat morbid, deeply irreverent, but joyous celebration of me. This is a time for celebrating my life, loves, and dark, twisted sense of humor.

It's on 27 July...and there's just enough time beforehand for me to, once a week or so, post reviews of the books I've read that have given me so many grins and thrills over the years since I discovered him in 2006. With this book, which I bought at ArmadilloCon in Austin.

As first novels go, this one's a solid effort. It's got thrills and it's got chills...several times I wondered if the narrator was going to survive...and it's got a thinking, relativistic-speed-capable machine that speaks German and learns English from the gospel radio stations it "hears." How it learns to make sense out of that nonsense....

It's got two characters I like a lot, Vernon the narrator and Floyd his sociopath buddy. It's got some right awful baddies, a daddy who's a drunk, and absolutely no sex, to Vernon's lasting dismay. It's also got pacing problems and there's no sense not talking about the doormattiness of Vernon's long-term fixation on Floyd. But it's a first novel! And, even before I got sucked in to the real-life Sturm und Drang of Jay Lake's life, I knew that the mind that created this book was inside a head that laughs at everything.

My kinda guy!

So here's me, laughing along, enjoying the view out the tumbril on the way to the guillotine. It's morbid, you protest? Yeah well, the man is dying and a hushed respectful eyes-cast-down Appreciation would go over like a fart in church with him. I've had a lot of fun reading his books. I'm going to tell the world that BEFORE he dies. I urge the SFnally inclined, even modestly so, to buy this book and smile along with the writer, and me!, in some haste. No knowing when the doorbell will ring.

And how many times do you read a book that *ends* with a round trip to Mars about to begin?

ROCKET SCIENCE sounds...difficult...so glad it's funny, too. Good for the author, for making his departure a party :)

He's done his dying in as humor-filled a way as he could manage, every step of the way. He gets my admiration for doing it this way instead of in some dark and secret funk.

The book's not difficult at all, it's what a sarcastic kid who read Astounding Stories and the like would have written in 1960. It's why I liked it!

Nice review of Rocket Science; I hope that this isn't his last book.

Thanks, Darryl. It's his frst novel, fifth book. Next up I'll review Mainspring, which I really liked as well.

Nighty night

Morning, dear! Okay, I LOVE that word - I'm going to work it into conversation today. I went to bed after 2 am, and yet here I am wide awake. Can't sleep even though I am tired. At least it's Friday, right?!

I will never, ever be able to keep up, but I'm here for your book porn and to give you a smooch. I hope you're having a lovely Friday morning.

>277 Crazymamie: Happy Friday, my dear, and try my secret for sound sleep: boring nature documentaries! Baritone blahblahblah...pretty scenery...no stupid music...*snore*

>278 London_StJ: Keeping up isn't for busy mom-profs who dominate conferences! See ya when we see ya, happy that life is good! *smooch*

242: Wendy Davis is my new BFF. Would send her a new pair of sneakers if I knew her size

250: Still feels "too soon" for Kennedy assassination fiction.

(Though I don't mind Lincoln assassination fiction).

OTOH I refuse to read Bill O'Reilly's book on Lincoln on principle, even though I'm told it's good.

272: Rocket Science sounds like fun.

>280 magicians_nephew: 1) I know, right? I put $10 in her senate race campaign fund.

2) 50 years...maybe...did they even think of Lincoln fiction in 1915? Have to poke around.

I once checked out a Glenn Beck book. I kept it for a day then had to return it unopened. Skeeved me out just having it, so I relate.

3) It is!

Rocket Science sounds like a fun one, RD.

I'm ready to pandiculate and then take a nap. But we made it to Friday!

Hello Richard! Could you send some of your warm air up here to Maine, pretty please? Us sociopaths could use some....I'm still wearing layers and running my heater!!

Here's to the weekend!

>282 jnwelch: A great idea, Joe! Take Rocket Science with you, it's a terrific dream-generator.

>283 Cobscook: You may have it ALL, Heidi. It's 81F, too hot for me but not really hot; but 70% humidity, which means it feels like Texas. EW~

Here in my part of Texas it's supposed to hit 106F. But at least it's a dry heat.... :-P~~~

Yuh huh. Dry, with all that humidity rollin' up from Austin. Mmm hmmm.

xoxo

If I say it enough, I may start to believe it....

And the clocks will strike thirteen.

Seen on Twitter:

There are so many kind of apples, that if you ate a new one everyday, it would take over 20 years to try them all.

Cooooooooooooool.

280>
OTOH I refuse to read Bill O'Reilly's book on Lincoln on principal, even though I'm told it's good.

ditto.

>287 katiekrug: "at least it's a dry heat."
"knock it off, Hudson."

or maybe you weren't channeling Aliens, Katie?

i finally tried to watch Wendy D's f-buster but it won't load and gives me an error message. i always get paranoid when that happens.

i like en zed apples best after Vermont apples eaten in a chill autumn field and apples from Julian, CA. 20 years, huh? i better start now or i'll be mumbling them with toothless gums.

thought of you s'arternoon, RD. my HSO has the true joy of cossetting the "ghost cattle" (love that) while Michelle and Scott are out of state for a 3-day weekend. she's in heaven.

speaking of you, howz yer knee, punkin?

>289 mckait: Yuh huh.

>290 mirrordrum: Hi smoochling, glad you're amused by my ghost cattle childish remark. Mama was INSISTENT that I learn the collective noun was "cattle" not "cows" unless it was a dairy herd. Used to drive her mad to hear citidiots say, "oh look at the cows!" when there was a big ol' horn-bearin' bull in the field.

Knee's still bleeding because crystals are still coming out. Ech.

xoxo

oh, sweetie. i wish i had a balm for your painful pieces parts. maybe distraction?



you know it's true love when i find myself trolling for man pics for you instead of reading the latest on women bball players. fer sure.

*smoochiesmoochsmoochsmooch* You ANGEL you! What a slurpsome piece of eye candy he is!

And the HSO must be a wee tidge confused looking in the browser history....

xoxoxoxo

Your mother would not have liked me.

She didn't like many people. Even the ones she did, she Passed Judgment on.

>293 richardderus: my sweetie pie knows many things but a) doesn't know about browser history and 2) wouldn't look at it if she did.

>295 richardderus: what a marvelous image!

Hi RD! Sorry you are dealing with the sweltering heat. What a drag. Ours is moving out. I hope yours will follow. Only high 60s, low 70s tomorrow. Sweet!

>296 mirrordrum: Heh. She could surprise you on the not-knowing front, but it's unlikely she'll surprise you on the not-doing front.

Mama was a piece of work. One is never supposed to say this, but I didn't love her. I liked her fine...I like snarky, mean bitches!...but love? No. Too cold, too self-centered, too self-righteous.

I had a car accident once. The ambulance driver wanted to take my broken-ankled self to the hospital, where they called mama. She said, "don't ask me, I'm not payin' the bill, that boy costs too much."

I was 24. I had my own insurance. They called her to see if she knew what the insurance WAS. (I was a bit distracted just then.)

To this day, at 53 years of age, I feel guilty if I have more than one pair of shoes at a time. She bought me one pair a year, always too big, always oxfords. When I asked for sneakers for gym class, she said no. "Boys don't need shoes the way girls do, and you're damn well not gonna be like some girly boy." For gym class, Mama. "Do it barefoot. I can't afford you! Always needing something expensive."

When she died, I had her buried in a pair of Manolo Blahnik pumps she'd bought the year before, for $800.

The INSTANT I moved away, I ignored mother's day forever after. Still do, always will.

>297 msf59: Thank goodness it's only going to be 80-ish over the weekend! Yay!

>298 richardderus: never heard of Manolo Blahnik and now that i have, i am, as ever, aghast at women's desire to pay prodigious sums to torture and disfigure their feet for . . . for what, exactly? you wouldn't see Wendy Davis filibustering in Manolos, now would you?

quite something, your mother. i can't imagine saying those kinds of things to a child, let alone a child in pain, even though i know those kinds of things, and worse, happen regularly.

and whyever shouldn't you say you didn't/don't love a parent? as my father used to say, "you don't owe us anything. you didn't ask to be born. we had you because we wanted you." and so, of course, i loved them both beyond reason.

the shoe fairy hereby gives you carte blanche in the manner of shoes except for oxfords, which you are enjoined not to buy.

*smooch*

Old training. Don't say things Nice People are bothered by, it upsets them and the point of having manners is never to cause unintentional offense or discomfort.

Your father's attitude is 180 degrees from my mother's "you OWE me!" mantra.

Hi Shoe Fairy! See ya around!

New thread is up.

I know you finished this thread but I just have to say I LOVE you for speaking the truth no matter what it is!!!