Richardderus 2013 thread 17

Lucha Olivares, Old Man Reading

“People think dreams aren't real just because they aren't made of matter, of particles. Dreams are real. But they are made of viewpoints, of images, of memories and puns and lost hopes.”
― Neil Gaiman

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.
Book 32...thread 15.
Books 33 & 34...thread 16.

Books are reviewed in post:

35. Mainspring...#116.

36. Escapement...#233.

37. Pinion...#70.

38. Trial of Flowers...#249.

mine!

Ohhhh am I first?? That never happens! :)

>4 ChelleBearss:

Inaugural guest ribbon!

Nice to see your thread chugging away as usual.

Richard in your last thread you mentioned " a cold flannel". I've heard the expression in old novels both in England and America - but what the heck is it?

>6 ffortsa: Hi Judy! I do manage to stay busy.

>7 magicians_nephew: A flannel is the Britishism for a washcloth. Hi Jim, BTW.

hmmm. Nice pic of you up top. The robe is quite becoming :-)

Yes, thanks for noticing. I'm sure it's more flattering than accurate...the hands particularly.

Seen on Facebook via NPR Books:

"More than 200 novels, the Star Wars' book series spans 25,000 years, from the beginning of the Jedi Order to 40 years beyond where the original trilogy left off." http://tinyurl.com/l7ujaru

SRSLY?! OVER 200 NOVELS?!?

Richard, I scanned through the LT list for Among Others that Nina put together and it doesn't have The Five People You Meet In Heaven on it. So maybe it was meant to be a book with a similar title and don't forget any GRer can add books to the list. I really enjoyed reading Among Others though it does feel like reading one of our threads at times.

I've noticed on GR that any lists I've been asked to vote on feature self published books as the most popular reads, even for ones such as 'Best NZ Books'. I feel sorry for anyone thinking they could use those lists to discover the best literature.

I knew there were a lot of Star Wars books but that does seem to be really a lot.

>11 richardderus:, OMG 200 novels in the Star Wars series, glad that is not on my series list.

>12 avatiakh: I'd trust the LT list more than the GR one for certain.

>12 avatiakh:, 13 A lot?! That's a metric fuckton of novels! That's a smallish publishing company by itself! I wonder if the FictFact people even *try* to keep up with it.

Hello, dear. I love the Gaiman quote up top, but there is no image for me. Is it just me? I'll just be over here on the davenport.

It takes a minute to load for me, Mamie, but it does come. Look again, maybe you'll see it too.

Here's something delightful for all writerly and readerly types.



Credit must be given to Grant Snider and The NY Times, thusly.

Nice bearded guy.
And I love Grant Snider's "map."

I LOVE IT!!! Thanks, Linda3rd!

Hi RD- At first glance, I thought that was you in the painting, minus the pup. LOL. Congrats on #17! Have you read the Last Policeman? I started it today and like it so far. It's definitely a cool premise.
OMG, was it nasty HOT today! The sweat ran in torrents...Sorry, that's not a pretty image.

>16 laytonwoman3rd: hehe, great one!

Hi RD, I'm with Mark. I really though, oooh, it's RD in a painting :)
You are so distinguished, RD, I'd never call you an "old man"!

200 Star Wars novels!? And only 3 good films out of all of that?

Thanks, Linda - you were so right! And I LOVE the map!

*smooch for you, BigDaddy, and a scratch behind the ears for the lovely Stella*

>19 msf59: I chose it thinking it looked a bit like me, only I don't wear robes too terribly often (like not since there were two digits in my age). It was horrible here, too, but I have AC and the dog only wanted a short afternoon walk, she gets hot too.

>20 LovingLit: Thank you, Malvina Mae. You may stay at the grown-ups' table despite your youff.

Three good films? Which ones were those? The first one from 1977 was okay, but then...

>21 Crazymamie: *smooch* and a sluuurp from Stella

^For some reason, I though you were a big robe guy.



^Or this, if you are in a Trekkie mood.

There is *nothing* to like about that picture! Bleurgh ugly robe homely dude with skinny legs *shudder*

That was UGLY, so I replaced it! LOL.

...what...? 'djoo say something I'm errrmmm a little *distracted* just now

I'll be in my bunk

Sound advice.

Impossible. Too many books, so little time :(

Oh myyyy.

Morning, dear. I have brought you some gingerbread waffles with a yummy lemon sauce.

>28 mckait: Surprised? No, not me. xo

>30 Crazymamie: *slllllllllluuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp* Oh so yummers. And I have that very aluminum tray! How funny.

Hi Richard ... I'm not doing very well at posting this year but just thought I would say that I am still lurking. Hope that the weather cools down soon ... it sounds horrendous to me.

Hi calm! Lurk away. ANYthing to stay out of this 35C-plus heat. Unlike places farther west, there isn't rain here until Sunday. WAAAAAH

Hi Richard!

>30 Crazymamie: I have never heard of gingerbread waffles with lemon sauce before but now I can't stop thinking about it!

Hi Nora! Happy to see you...and the waffles are *supercalafragilisticexpialadocious* though I've never had the lemon sauce before. Still, how bad can it be? Sounds yummers anyway.

#29 is so me! And not only do I pronounce it incorrectly, I do it with a bad Maine accent!

Here ya go, Heidi, the perfect guide to pronunciation!

Top 20 books people pretend to have read. BookRiot must have made the results anonymous! Who's brave enough to admit to not ACTUALLY having read "Ulysses"?

Hm. 15 and a half. I quit when harry was being tortured in the fifth book.

#29 Leviathan = equal having the piss taken out of me by my Father for years :/

and #38 Nope, not read it yet - but soon, soon!

Edited to add - just checked that list. Who on EARTH would lie about having read 50 shades? Surely that's the sort of admission that should shame you not the opposite?

>39 ffortsa: Hi Judy! That was disturbing. Very.

>40 BekkaJo: *pats foot awaiting dilatory Bekka's completion of Ulysses*

And yes, I know, that 50 Shades claptrap seems like something one would boast of NOT having read!

11: Have you even seen how many books (glorified fan-fic basically) there are in the "Star Trek" catalog?

Makes the Star Wars authors look like pikers.

(I had to explain to someone what a "piker" was last week in book group - groan.)

19: Just to note I started in on The Last Policeman, liked the premise main well, but sort of felt the thing ran out of gas. I have the second and third books of the trilogy on my Kindle - but they has slipped to the bottom of the (electronic) pile

#38 I am brave enough to tell you that I will probably never read it

Hope you are having a chilly day and haven't melted too bad!

RD - Great new digs. Looking at the representation up top, I think we should get Patrick Stewart to play you, complete with black robe, in the movie version of your thread (it's ok for you I'd probably get stuck with Danny Devito).
Linda's rollercoaster is on point. It is steeply downhill straight after the climax.
Mamie's gingerbread waffles look scrumptious - boo and hoo to the dear lady for not sharing more liberally.
List of books - there are 5 I haven't read and two of them (Potty Harry and Shades) are unlikely ever to make my list).

RD- Thanks for posting the Book Riot list but I have a question: Why in the world would someone say they read a book, but actually haven't? Are you seriously that shallow? I guarantee that no one that took that survey is an LTer.
I can completely understand not bragging about a bad book or a guilty pleasure, but outright lying?

Right! And what if there's a quiz?

Stopping by for a Hello. Thanks for the Birthday wishes today. Hope you are having a wonderful day. Big Hugs to you and Stella

*vent* this skilled nursing place my mom is in is getting on my nerves! They were so awesome the last two times we were here. How they have fallen from grace! *vent*

xoxo to you & Stella.

PS: I am orchestrating a break out!

I. Have. Never. Read. Ulysses.

Thirty! HA! I had thirty pages of unread content in a week. I think I'm up to a gazillion pages now.

Perhaps it is a good thing that I do not (yet) own a Kindle.

Book porn!

>42 magicians_nephew: I can see that hazard, Jim. I've never read the Star Trek novels, either. I'll bet there are more, the fandom's had 10 extra years to develop.

>43 ChelleBearss: Chilly here in the bedroom, yes. Outside = wretched. 37C for the high!!

>44 PaulCranswick: Danny deVito? I was thinking Peter Dinklage. But the plot won't do much for ticket sales. Buncha people hangin around talking. *yawn* for a moviegoer!

>45 msf59: *shrug* People are no damn good, as we used to sing to the whistle-song in The Bridge on the River Kwai.

>46 Crazymamie: I can't pass a quiz on books I *have* read at this point.

>47 MonicaLynn: Hi Monica! *smooch*

>48 luvamystery65: Oh dear! That's TERRIBLE news, Roberta! Sorry to hear it.

>49 EBT1002: *shocked silence* ...no...

>51 EBT1002: It might not be so hard for you to resist the Call of the Mystery Series, Ellen. I am powerless in the face of a free volume 1.

Peter Dinklage?..........Not fair mate...........to Peter Dinklage.

#52 - LIKE.

I too can say I. Have. Never. Read. Ulysses.

52= !!!!

Never read a single Star Trek book either. Doubt I will... but I admit to hoping that Harris has a change of heart and goes back to Sookie .

Good morning to you !

>56 PaulCranswick: *heeheehee* He has the acting chops to pretend to be a mean old curmudgeon while actually being a marshmallow.

>57 EBT1002: Ain't that somethin'?

>58 mckait: *smooch* how's by you, sweetness?

Good thanks. Still doing battle with poison something...ow ow etc. You?

Slept the day away yesterday, when not dog-walking. Up at 6a! Refreshed!! How annoying. Is Benadryl not helping the itchies?

Well, I'm out. I thought there was more in the box, but nope. :P

eta

glad you feel refreshed!! lol

Amazon some. *smooch*

I have no problems admitting I haven't read Ulysses. My best friend from college took a James Joyce class and she used to read me parts of Ulysses.....totally incomprehensible!

I've never started at the beginning and read through to the end of Ulysses. I simply can't. I've read around in it. But a sustained, day-after-day front-to-back read would cause my neuronal pathways to ignite.

TOO HOT FOR RD
:(
Here, have a rain and brisk breeze *whammy*

It's not much, but hey, I can try.

Amazon some.. LOL

I just Amazoned a new toaster, for the one I cleaned to death..and a can opener ... and some make up... and some storage containers... using the gift card Cory gave me for Christmas.

Richard, thanks for coming by and warbling at me when I was so sick with a feverish cold--today's my first day back on my feet...wait a minute. was it not you who ...DARRYL! He did it again!

Richard, I'm also stuck in this heat wave in the east part of the US. Ugh. I'm glad to be going back to Seattle tomorrow where P is complaining about 80F. Ha.

My ghoulish valentine to Jay before he goes has a new installment:

PINION http://tinyurl.com/lx3vjt9

Last week was ESCAPEMENT http://tinyurl.com/m32m7wo

Before that MAINSPRING http://tinyurl.com/nus8o6p

And first, fittingly, his first novel ROCKET SCIENCE http://tinyurl.com/q2cgajr

The Jay Wake itself is Saturday, 27 July http://www.jlake.com/jaywake/

Every time I've asked you to run a Tidbit about this, you've been good enough to do it, and it's resulted in around a hundred extra eyes on Jay's work. Would you consider doing this one, since the Wake's next week, as a blog entry with all the links? If not, I understand, and I have no kick. I want people to pay attention, though! It's not like I'm any great force in the world, but I know sometimes people don't see what's not shoved in front of 'em, so here's me doing what shoving I can.

Can you even fathom what depths of depraved humor it takes to plan your own wake-cum-roast, and then invite the entire world to it? Jay's cancer has given him the two-minute warning to end all warnings. Many would sit in a corner and cry. Most would stare blankly at walls. He keeps fighting, knowing the end is in sight and working to stave it off, and he plans a gift for the thousands and thousands whose lives he's enriched: A party. A chance to say goodbye before the ears you want to hear the words go deaf.

I want to have that spirit to face my LIFE, still less my death! So I say my thanks as publicly as I can. My reviews have to do, since I can't travel to Portland and shove my stranger's face into his.

>66 LovingLit: I appreciate all efforts, me deario. *smooch*

>67 mckait: Shoulda added the Benadryl....

>68 ronincats: Oh dear, Roni, I'm so sorry that happened to you! We'll have to coordinate a severe voodoo-dollying of Darryl soon.

>69 EBT1002: COMPLAINING ABOUT 80 DEGREES?!? Is the woman MAD?!? That's like begging the Weather Goddess to enfold Seattle in a warm, warm blankie of misery!!

Hi RD, what a cool thing Jake is doing...do you know him through your writer networks?
This is not a time to say how Jay touched your life. This is a time to say how Jay touched you inappropriately.
LOL
He sounds like a crack-up.

>72 LovingLit: I met him on Facebook, after I'd read a few of his books. He's a wonderful storyteller!

stopping by and waving hello...I write from very hot New England. While I'm away an email from Lehigh University states there may be power outages because of the drain of electricity due to high temperatures.

I hope you are cool!

Hi Linda! Stella and I are huddled in front of my bedroom AC, so we're good. It got to 100F (39C) today!! Horrors! I'm just now contemplating taking Herself out for her last walk. We had to skip one due to heat.

I was so looking forward to this trip to Providence in July to escape the heat in Dallas, only to be stuck in a NE heat wave while Dallas enjoys unseasonably "cool" weather in the low 90s.... FML ;-)

So, my seventh Thingaversary is in 3 weeks. I've decided to start shopping early!

WALKING YOUR OCTOPUS: A Guidebook to the Domesticated Cephalopod
I AWAIT THE DEVIL'S COMING
NORTH AMERICAN LAKE MONSTERS: Stories
TRIAL OF FLOWERS
MADNESS OF FLOWERS

That's five. Three more!!

>76 katiekrug: Oh jeez Katie, that rots! What a lousy joke that gawd bastard played on you.

I have read Ulysses during my addled college days and remembering the sonorous beauty of the words when declaimed but understanding little of it when I sat and tried to read it quietly.
Finnegan's Wake you are supposed to read from end to beginning not beginning to end but that is another story.

You're not the first person I've heard say that Ulysses made more sense read aloud than it did read silently. I'm getting curious to make the experiment!

Finnegans Wake is, I don't care what the Wakey-Wakeys or whatever it is they call themselves say, incomprehensible and meretricious.

...coffee...need coffee...

0700 and it is 82F with, thanks Paul, 88% humidity. The "feels like" temp is 89! *retch*

Dogula and I are heading out the door before it gets too hot to handle. Puppymommy will be walking her in the afternoon, when it's supposed to get to 97F. My AC hasn't so much as clicked in two days, just running flat-out.

I hate summer.

Oh, no Richard....no AC? Yikes!

No no, it's running...and running...and running. It hasn't stopped in two days! Normally it's at 72F and it occasionally pauses in its labors. Not the past few days!

Hi RD- Happy Pre-Thingaversary! Nice book haul! I know it's been 7 years but do you remember how you stumbled onto this hallowed ground?

I was reading Poets & Writers magazine on the bus home from work in Austin. A squib about "Something that's always been needed on the web launched today" caught my eye. It described LT and the INSTANT I got home, I signed up. I met Caro, who tried to sell me on Murakami, then Kath because The Lace Reader was Mr. Man's and my obsession the summer of 2007 and it was hers too...then the dominos kept falling!

That's a great story. And the love affair continues. I can't believe you met Caro that early on. I have still not read the Lace Reader, although I've had it on shelf for eons.

I was charmed by it. I think you'll enjoy its pace and its adept storytelling. I don't think the earth will move for you, but heaven knows I've been wrong before!

Uh oh.

#70 What a wonderful way for him to enjoy his life in spite of cancer! That's a very cool idea!

Hope you get some relief from the weather soon. It's 19c and raining here today which I love because it broke the heat but Nate is silently crying while looking out the window because he wanted to ride his new motorcycle today. Poor little baby eh heehee

Have a great weekend!

Typing, percolating, enjoying supremely honed airconditioning (even at 9:30 pm being absolutely necessary).

Hope you can stay cool this weekend and have an enjoyable one somehow.

I composed a riposte for a client this week in a dispute regarding the interpretation of a very badly drafted amendment to a standard specification; the ambiguity leading to a dispute between Contractor and Employer of approximately $5 million. I was asked by the client to come up with a less confrontational set of words in lieu of "mere gibberish" (my referral to a particular offending sentence) and perhaps I should have suggested "Joycean"?

>90 ChelleBearss: 19C! I. Hate. You.

Jay's doing this in a great way, very stylish.

>91 PaulCranswick: "Joycean" is good..."mere gibberish" is pithier. Permaybehaps "The clause in dispute has, due to some unfortunate infelicities of language in its drafting, an absence of clarity and therefore enforceability."

>89 richardderus: That sounds like just the right amount of coffee to me.....

>93 norabelle414: And this is why I love you.

I cannot even start to comprehend how much coffee I drank yesterday! Business trip = vats of coffee for Bekka, starting with a large Americano at 5.30 am and finishing with a black filter coffee at 11.30pm. Oh and speaking of hot. London tubes in a suit. I nigh on melted and oozed across the floor.

Hope it's cooling down for you... but unfortunately I doubt it. How about iced coffee? where do we land on it (for me personally it's the devil, purely cos you can't make it with balck coffee and I get jealous).

Iced coffee has no appeal for me. I like coffee-coffee (aka Americano) and espresso and that's about it. The fancier a drink is, the less likely I am to drink it.

*smooch* for partially melted Bekka

Ditto... darn now I want coffee... though actually I have a glass of chilled dry white so maybe I'll stick to that ;)

Less melted now I'm back home, but it's still hell toasty hot. How bout you?

At this present moment, 1040, it is 93F/34C, on the way to a predicted high of 99F/38C.

Have I ever told you that I hate summer?

I do like an iced coffee or mocha when it is very hot out, but I draw the line at anything fancier than ice+espresso+chocolate+milk

It especially bothers me when people order a *fancy* drink at the coffee shop and they don't even know what they're ordering! They just parrot back words that someone else told them.

Love you too dearest! My spare room is available if you wanted to come here!

Fifty Shades of Grey on the list of the top 20 people pretend to have read? Why in the world would they pretend to have read it?

Except for that one and the second half of War and Peace, I have that list nailed.

Hope the heat isn't driving you crazy, and it lets up on you. Rainy, windy, and on the cool side here, with no alewives. You'd love it.

>100 ChelleBearss: *packs valises and stuffs portmanteaus* Tell Nate he can bring home his hawt soldier buddies any ol' time! Be there in a few hours.

>101 jnwelch: IKR! Although I admit to hatin' on you pretty damn hard for the cloudy...cool...*broken sobbing*

91. "mere gibberish", confrontational? I don't suppose "codswallop" would serve, then?

92. "The clause in dispute has, due to some unfortunate infelicities of language in its drafting, an absence of clarity and therefore enforceability." Now, that is quite elegant. Says what you mean diplomatically. I like it.

95. Why can't you make iced coffee with black coffee? I've often wondered.

More readerly/writerly stuff for ya'll: Why I Write by Holly Wendt. (Click on the photo if the whole article doesn't come up.) I love this girl like my own daughter. When she hits it big, don't anyone dare say I didn't predict it.

I think we should make arrangements for you to spend your summers in Seattle from now on... I imagine there is a guest suite in the retirement place I'm heading for; or I could win the lottery and buy two suites. That would be fun.

Sorry you are sweltering, and sorry puppy is too hot, too.

>103 laytonwoman3rd: I don't know why people don't make iced coffee with plain black Americano. Inscrutable mystery of the ages.

>104 laytonwoman3rd: *Holly Wendt blows up per Linda3rd* Noted!

>105 maggie1944: Hi Karen44! Likin' the lottery plan. *smooch* for coming by!

Laphroaig with cold, still water, served with triple-creme brie and rye crackers. Cucumber, avocado, green and yellow beans, shallots, dijon-balsamic-extra virgin olive oil dressing, adorned with fresh mini-mozzarella balls. Lemon sorbet with raspberry and pear coulis. A bottle of prosecco.

Do I know how to throw a seduction or what?

Must not have worked, or you wouldn't be wasting time here...

He's showering. I expect this to be a LOT of fun.

Neck-nibbling paused to report this one could very well be a keeper: Brought a Thingaversary gift of Getting Off, an OP Don Carpenter novel I put on my Ammy wishlist.

Oh yeah.

>107 richardderus: what!? YUM
Happy Thingamaversary :) Glad you are indulging in a proper amount of reward books. You need them. Love hearing how you stumbled across LT. I was led here by my sister who read about it on a book blog.

I skipped the book buying for my thingaversary. I expect I will make it up over the next months...

Sounds delish, your life!

>111 LovingLit: Howdy Maudie! It's not until 13 August, but hey...

Your sister probably thinks she didn't do you a favor now, given how much time you spend on here! Little do the uninitiated know.

>112 mckait: Morning Kath, you buy books most sporadically but I don't imagine you've stopped entirely. Still, what better excuse does one get in this life than a Thingaversary?

>113 maggie1944: Heh. Once in a while, Karen44. Once in a while I do things that used to be ordinary, and now are treats. I think I enjoy them more!

This is a public mural. Someone apparently *just*noticed* how extremely gay this image is! Really? It's been up on the walls of the State Library of Victoria since 1928, and you're just now noticing?!

Now all we need's a tree, then all the stages of making a book will be represented.

>115 laytonwoman3rd: Oh my goodness yes, Linda3rd!

#115 That was posted this morning on FB by a friend of mine who said she had used her last coffee filter on the first pot, and it did that collapsing-into-the-basket thing, so the pot was full of grounds. She dumped it. Then she tried making a second pot using a paper towel as a filter. You can imagine the results, if you have the stomach for it. That one was dumped too. She sent one of her kids to the store for filters. I think she's OK by now.

>119 laytonwoman3rd: That is a tale of woe. I would be SOL if that happened because no kid left at home to send out!!

*races downstairs to check filter supply*

I know! I'd have to get in a car and drive to a Starbucks! Well, I might just do that, right now!

I am mulling over a big purchase for myself book wise. So, I am sort of saving up at the minute.
There is no excuse for me to regarding using the library, so I just go there for my books, and we'll see what happens with the purchase I'm considering. It would no doubt be pricey but, I may just do it, in a month or three..

>121 maggie1944: Heh...enjoy that, Karen44!

>122 mckait: ...what on earth...? What's that expensive? Are you buying an OED or something? And if you are, leave it to me in your will k?

I can't tell you. But I blame you.

eta

I am also mulling over a new hardback copy of Mists of Avalon

>124 mckait: It's not the first time. I don't get to know what heinousness of which I am accused?

Well, you are innocent when it comes to Mists of Avalon For that, I blame @bohemima :)
I was waxing eloquent ( sorta) over that one last night and realized my copies are sort of old.....

I suppose they're due for replacement having been loved to death by their obsessive compulsive rereadaholic owneress.

That is exactly what I thought :) and the new edition is lovely and has deckle edges.

Well, I swaNEE! Go fight that kind of blandishment. I ask you, have these crack merchants no shame? Do anything to make a (re-re-re-)sale.

still.....

Deckle edges will get me every time.

Hey, no shame in that game. I like keeping some books close. I dare anyone to come for my copy of The Night Circus, f/ex.

I agree re: The NIght Circus. But one will do me..

Hey, Rdear, I'm so sorry about the heat. It continues to be horrible here, but we've had some blessed clouds to help us. The sun is now out and amazingly enough, so are the neighborhood tots.

Did I tell you that the other day Mr. Bo and I spied a fairly squashed alligator on the road? I'd been reading about how this is the northern end of their habitat.
Great. Now I live in the worst of all possible worlds: no salt water, no good eateries, little seafood, but gators, heat, humidity, rattlesnakes and cottonmouths. How ever did I end up here?

I accept full responsibility for Kath wanting a new copy of M. Of A.

Darling Danvers! So good to see you. I'd say you do indeed live in an outpost of Hell. And there is no power in the 'verse to keep Kath from her Mists mania. It's more this turkey thing that, well, concerns me.

:) Maybe you and I can do a group read, Breezy? I would invite rdear, but he might go on and on about sprouting a uterus or something

oh and WHAT! a gator?!?!? holy hellishness ( poor gator )

And the mailman delivereth! Today I got my deeply deliciously delightful bestest buddy-ol'-pal in the WORLD Suzanne's gift ARC of HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN!! Unexpected bonus: It's signed! And personalized! *wheeeeeeeeee*

So many thanks, Suz. *smooch*

cool.... we can read it together? Personalized is fab u licious.

Darned computer just erased a longish message about how we educate the starbucks folks that an iced coffee is not that sweetened mess they call iced coffee, but good, strong regular coffee poured over ice. There actually was an occasion on a hot morning where we walked in and ordered iced coffee and they told us they didn't have any. "Well, do you have coffee?" "Of course!" "And do you have ice?" "Yes." "Then you can make us some iced coffee!" "Oh."

yikes

meeeeeeelllllllllllttttttttttiiiiiiiiinnnngggg.

>139 mckait: Best get your boots on then, I'm in the trek already!

>140 ronincats:, 141 NO! "We don't have any iced coffee," said the COFFEE STORE EMPLOYEE?!?

I despair. That, well, there isn't a cake that one doesn't take.

>142 ffortsa: I'm in the AC and I'm not movin' out of it! No! NO!!

I'm havin' one of THOSE days.

138 Ohhhhhhhh I wanna read it!! Hope you enjoy!

#140 I can't help picturing Jack Nicholson at the diner in Five Easy Pieces, asking for a side order of toast with his omelet.

>115 laytonwoman3rd: Which is why God made the programmable coffee pot. Works for me anyway.

#143 Snarf! Very weird image of richard stuffed into a freestanding AC unit... I have no idea if your AC is even freestanding, just the image that jumped into my head!

I'm glad to see that the excessive heat has finally departed from the Northeast. Hopefully it won't return anytime soon!

Sad...the library of an abandoned house in Belgium.

>145 ChelleBearss: Am, so far, enjoying it.

>146 laytonwoman3rd: HA! Exactly!

>147 avidmom: They are beauteous things. I set it up while sober and alert, and enjoy its bounty while bleary and befuddled.

>148 BekkaJo: It's a wall unit, Bekka, and to stuff me inside it I'd need to be deboned. That would present issues.

>149 kidzdoc: Here's to hoping that was the blast. No more! No more!

Morning RD! Hope you guys are cooling off out there on the East coast. It didn't cool down as much as I would have liked but you can't have everything.
Hope you have a nice Sunday!

At 0855, it's 80F and 80% humidity. CoolER, yes; cool, oh hell no.

I hate summer.

Have a lovely Sunday, too!

Indeed.

RD- You should give NOS4A2 a shot. I know you admire Mr. King and his very talented son really delivers on this one.

One day. I'm not attracted to the story enough to want to push aside other things for it.

Book meme! Seventeen questions for the SF fan.

My favorite alien invasion book or series is…?
ThDay of the Triffids still and always
My favorite alternate history book or series is…?
Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen but that changes with my moods
My favorite cyberpunk book or series is…?
Yet to be written.
My favorite Dystopian book or series is…?
Brave New World because DAMN
My favorite Golden-Age sf book or series is…?
City by Clifford Simak, still love it
My favorite hard sf book or series is…?
Desolation Road hands down
My favorite military sf book or series is…?
Safehold by David Weber
My favorite near-future book or series is…?
Can't choose. Too many.
My favorite post-apocalyptic book or series is…?
Earth Abides which is still, for me, the gold standard.
My favorite robot/android book or series is…?
Meh. Not interested.
My favorite space opera book or series is…?
The Vorkosigan Saga from the inimitable Lois McMaster Bujold
My favorite steampunk book or series is…?
The Clockwork Earth series by Jay Lake
My favorite superhero book or series is…?
Meh. Not interested.
My favorite time travel book or series is…?
Time after Time okay, it's a sentimental pick.
My favorite young adult sf book or series is…?
The Solar Queen because Andre Norton was my intro to series
My favorite zombie book or series is…?
World War Z which is damn good, movie be hornswoggled.
The 3 books at the top of my sf/f/h to-be-read pile are…?
Green by Jay Lake
Madness of Flowers by Jay Lake
Trial of Flowers by Jay Lake
It's the Jay Lake Pre-Mortem Read-a-thon, you know.

Ugh... memes make me feel unsmart..

Time After Time = wonderful

Brave New World = scariness

Wishing a cool breeze to come your way :)

You and me both on the cool breeze! Like one that takes the air temp down to, say, 40F. And keeps it there until, oh I dunno, the year 2120 or so.

I hate summer.

Amazing. An entire universe of additional stories to read! Happy Sunday, sir.

>160 maggie1944: Ummm...what? I am not understand, o sibylline one.

60F maybe? I don't want to freeze.. 60F and low humidity>

I'm with you on the Vorkosigan series big time, and Brave New World and City. I thought you were referring to Time and Again. Which Time After Time do you like? Some of your others I need to get to, esp. Triffids and Earth Abides.

For two weeks in summer it can be 60F. Always low humidity, even when it rains. This IS a fantasy world we're talking about.

The answers you provided in posting #157 are, for me, a new universe of books to read. No profound thoughts, just musing. Still.... have a happy Sunday, sir.

OIC!

"Happy" will return with the fall. The best I hope for now is "not wretched."

Great photos and I can't wait to try the meme -
That Belgian photo is amazing and poignant. Makes me realize that to me books are 'living things'. An abandoned musical instrument affects me the same way.

I am in total agreement about Earth Abides - a classic!

And Miles, of course!!!!

I literally had that 'need coffee to make first coffee' experience the other day here at the Festival.....

I am getting faint whiffs on this thread of you.....hating....summer. Is that anywhere close to hitting the mark? I am quite intuitive really, when I try :)

*cool breeze and random polar blast* whammy!

I cannot partake in the SF meme as my answers might all be the same book :|
Yes, I have read that few.

Sad indeed that the lovely library resides in an abandoned house. All those wonderful books with no one to read them.

Oh, yes, an end to summer, even this rainy and moderately low-heat one, would be welcome. I'm actually considering a future move, fantastic as it may seem.

The new Penny? How goes it? Saw something that worried me...hope that this one has a satisfactory ending.

>167 sibylline: Well, Cuz, at a music festival where one wears as many hats as you do at this harp do, needing coffee to make coffee is completely understandable!

I want to see your meme, too, so I'll head over to your thread soon.

>168 LovingLit: Who, moi? *Miss-Piggy-level eyebatting* Nay nay, j'aime l'été beaucoup!

*basks in polar blast*

SF isn't to everyone's taste. I'm a fan, but it's not the only thing I want to read.

>169 Whisper1: It makes me wistful. It's such a waste!

>170 Matke: Farther north, right Danvers? I mean really, moving south is just suicidal from both a cultural and an estival point of view.
*smooch* happy to see you here!

I'm interspersing it with other reads so I don't simply vacuum it in and have no Penny goodness to read for ANOTHER YEAR. Will report upon completion.

Very much enjoying your FB posts, Richard!

Thanks, Prue! I'm glad of it.

#150. First thought: how sad. Second thought: I wish I could give those books a good home.

'Morning, RD! Happy Monday to you.

I just read a book you might like if you haven't already read it - Gone Tomorrow by P.F. Kluge.

*smooches* from Horrible

:( no coffee for me til after bloodwork ... I am leaving shortly...

I anticipate a long Eeyore kind of day/week. Hope yours is cooler and more relaxed!

>174 karenmarie: Yes, Horrible, it is sad indeed. What would induce someone to abandon a home? Leave the furniture it took someone a lifetime to accumulate behind to rot? Leave the books that could enrich someone else's life in a place they'll never be read again? Sad.

I admit to being very leery of Kluge. I loathed his A Call from Jersey, and somewhere in the back of my mind lives Eddie and the Cruisers though I have no way at this moment in history to disentangle the threads of movie-vs-book. That's all for me Kluge-wise. I'll see if this is available cheaply enough to make me forget that Jersey farrago.

>175 mckait: Boo hiss on coffeelessness, sweetness! It will all be over soon. Pop your statutory maximum of Valium as soon as you park The Beast back home.

Well...I suppose so...

So very guilty.

>14 richardderus: That's a smallish publishing company by itself! I wonder if the FictFact people even *try* to keep up with it.

We try our hardest to keep those series updated!

>179 bkirsten: But HOW? Do you have a Star Wars Internship or something? 200 novels! In series order! My mind reels before the size of such a task.

177... That's awesome!!!

Drop in *smooch* with apologies for being absent for so long. Love & hugs, RD.

>181 TinaV95: *smooch* Howdy, Mrs. Lisa! I'm happy to see you here now. Hugs back to you and Mrs. Tina.

So, cooler?

I poured rain here and it is now cooler and less humid, thank the goddess!

Cooler! Humid, raining in bits and snatches, cooler. AC is still rumbling away to keep the humidity under control.

Do I need to alibi you yet? Or does Eeyore yet bray?

rd.. it was awful. :P * whinge*

Well of course it was! She's a misery-guts. Never fun to be around those people.

Glad to see you are getting some cooler temps. We got heat blasted for a couple days if that makes you feel any better ;)

So you inspired me to try and make some pumpkin blossoms this week. Apparently I need to make sure my male blossom gets it on with my female blossom first and then I can cook up the male. Who knew pumpkin blossoms could be so complicated!

It's better to be waiting to hear baby news than war, death or etc, so I don't mind. I love babies :)

>187 ChelleBearss: IKR?! That wacky plant kingdom. First the male must Do the Deed, then the punkin will grow and the poor bloke can be cut up and fried.

Oh wait...marriage...

>188 mckait: All hail Prince Aethelred Wulfstan Bardolph!

exactly

All caught up here, dear. Your coffee posts had me smiling. Last week I got my hair cut, and I always treat myself to a gigantic latte afterwards because the coffee shop is in the same little strip of shops as the hair place. So I go up to the counter and order, only to be informed that the espresso machine has exploded. What?! But...it's my day for coffee out! He points behind him to the sad little machine (well, really not so little, but it looks smaller in its brokenness), which truly has exploded. The new machine will be there that afternoon; until then no espresso. "Tragedy," I say. "For both of us," he replies.

>190 mckait: 191 That's truly a horror story!! *there there, pat pat*

Richard, Prince Aethelred? He will be grown up before I can pronounce that properly.

Well, Diana, we won't live to see him king, so what the heck!

Fair enough, Richard :)

*aaahhh*

ahhh indeed, what a view!

Morning, dear! Post 195 made me laugh.

#186 The Today show reported this morning that The Guardian is offering its on-line readers the option to see a home page totally devoid of mention of the Royal sprout. That seems to be bogus, as I've visited the site this morning, and don't see the "Not a Royalist?" link they showed us. I think someone's having fun with them.

>198 mckait: Ain't it? It's somewhere in Italy, though I don't know where.

>199 Crazymamie: Good morning, Mamie dear!

Royal Births are less important than the MAN Booker. Seems to me they deserve the Royal Treatment.

>200 laytonwoman3rd: Or, and this is a darker alternative, Pressure Was Applied for them to take such treasonous nonsense down Immejiately.

It would have to have been damned quick, Richard. I went immedjiately to my computer to check it out for myself whilst they were still talking about it on the boob tube.

>202 laytonwoman3rd: I was up late last night and saw stuff about the Royalist/Republican button at 2am EDT, so 7am their time. Plenty of time for Pressure To Be Applied!

>197 richardderus: Oh man, sign me up! As a friend would say, *swoon*

#203 Ahh...

#197 = perfection; even looking at it made me relax. Forced Relaxation!

And now for the complete opposite: real estate team will be here in minutes, dining room table is clear, and three chairs are poised. Sigh. Must tell them I have a new resolution to not be hurried. No hurry. None.

Every time I see the Mrs. Tina / Mrs. Lisa I get a big, huge smile on my face!!

The post of 186 made me laugh out loud! :)

A hundred thousand smooches for recommending Mainspring by Jay Lake. It arrived today and I have devoured 100 pages already.
ETA: >197 richardderus:: a latté in Santorini? *swoon*

Hi RD- Love that pic in #197! And speaking of gorgeous, I read the first 50 pages of TransAtlantic. Is McCann god-like or what? That rich, delicate prose. I think, I am beginning to choke up...

>207 TinaV95: Good! And good! *smooch* for Mrs. Lisa

>208 tiffin: *swoon* on both counts, Tui! I'm so pleased you're enjoying Mainspring as much as I did.

>209 msf59: Ain't it grand, Mark? I liked the book a lot, as you remember, and I'm always thrilled when others discover the pleasures I found in a book. Keep enjoying!

My last three Thingaversary purchases arrived today!
Desert Gothic
These Old Shades
and last, with many many sulphrous mutterings, much casting of blame and heaping of contumely, vats and vats of odium and opprobrium dumped upon Kath Mark Paul and their fellow chirpers of cheer and warblers of praise, last comes:
Among Others

Get rid of the stupid flowers, put a drinks tray there, and get the idiotic little doodads off the shelves, and this is a pretty special little man-cave.

> 211 - Oooohhhh, I so want that room!

and get the idiotic little doodads off the shelves, and this is a pretty special little man-cave.

But. but. but. You will share, right, Richard? Please?

#197- I want to be there. Now.

Book porn!

>212 lkernagh: Welll...since you ask so nicely, okay, Lori.

>213 EBT1002: Amen! *smooch*

211> I'll take it. As is will be fine.... mostly. I agree, the flowers have to go. The kitties would munch them.

214 not bad... not bad at all.

LONG WEEK for me. gak. But it will be 54F here tonight.

good day to ya, my friend..

>216 mckait: *broken, jealous sobbing* It's supposed to be 84F today. They said that yesterday, it was 90F.

I hate summer.



cooooooooffffffffffeeeeeeee

Nerd humor.

*snerk* Just get that stuff awaaaaaaaay from my coffee.

I'll take a turn in that sweet place, please. #211. Right after I return from #197. And sugar in my coffee is fine. Thank you, you are such a charming host.

I'm enjoying The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I'm sorry, I've forgotten, have you read it? It is lovely.

Hate to rub it in, old friend but it will only be 73 here today! Is that sweetness or what!

^ I love the man-cave up there! Looking forward to your thoughts on Among Others.

>219 laytonwoman3rd: In total agreement. Ew. After dinner, espresso doppio. At *ugh* awakening, 30% hot milk, 70% coffee.

>220 maggie1944: Hmmm. It seems I need another chair:



There. Sit thee down, Karen44. Perkins will bring the sugar bowl *delicate shiver* for you. Gaiman books must be left outside with the Dickens and the Hemenhaw, I'm afraid.

>221 msf59: *utter stony silence*

You can always crack me up! No relief for you, in sight?

>223 msf59:

Will you look at that. Another post that I, mysteriously, cannot read. It must be from SOMEONE WHO IS COOL AND COMFY AND LEADS THE POWERLESS-TO-RESIST INTO BOOKBUYING BADNESS.

Richard, while there is breath, there is hope: it has cooled down here after weeks of hellish temps. Mayhap it's heading south? I do like that woodsy room in 211 but, as a gardener, I also like the flowers. Especially in the dead of winter.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, they are considering opening hunting of Barred Owls, presumably to help protect the badly endangered Spotted Owl. Sigh. Maybe it will work and maybe it's necessary but it just seems so gd sad.

>225 tiffin: I shall cause the flowers to be sent to you, then, Tui. I hate flowers. Water-sucking resource-eating plant porn stars.

Coolth! I crave coolth! Please please please Weather Goddesses please deliver me from summer! You did it for Tui and He Who Shall Not Be Named!

>226 EBT1002: I don't know what's worse, hunting one to give the other space to live or letting the natural world as we've effed with it find its new balance.

Ick. All bad choices, eh what?

>227 richardderus: We're getting a "cold" front here in DC this week (high of 80F tomorrow!); I hope it makes it up your way soon!

>228 norabelle414: Allegedly, Nora, the "cold" front will come through here in the midnight hour, and tomorrow will be a positively frosty 75F.

Ha. Ha ha.

(that was a hollow laugh)

The last time this was promised me, it failed rather spectacularly to materialize.

It's here, Richard. I'll try to stretch it in your direction.

Who would ever guess Mr. Crabby Pants is so damn funny? I LOVE that owl! It does not have to say a word.

>230 laytonwoman3rd: PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!!!

>231 msf59:



I dance the Batusi on your grave.

Man, there's a lot going on here! I'll take the chair in >222 richardderus:, please, and no thanks on the Batusi. Mark can have that.

>234 jnwelch: I love that chair, too. So...inviting.



Nook porn!

#214 The stairs to nowhere in this library tickle me! I would like that in my house now please.

A bit cooler in Maine over the past two days but still with the sticky nasty humidity....ugh.

>236 Cobscook: Hi Heidi! Oh ugh on sticky. I hesitate to bring it up...but I think the front arrived early...there're clouds and breezes are tossing the trees about, and the AC clicked into fan mode for the first time since 1988.

Classic.

Ooooo I want that Accio Coffee mug......

Fabulous coffee lore and book porn.

I am spread a little thin, amn't I, mon cousin?

Up here the weather is turning sharply cooler and I mean sharply - the nighttime forecast is for 49F. I believe it when it happens, but it's been getting steadily cooler and drier since I got up this morning, so maybe it will happen.

I haven't done that meme yet, but I'm about to.

#218 + #233 + #238 - Love all of these :) Smoochies my dear and hoping for happy thoughts and good books.

>239 sibylline: How do, belle cousine! I'd strongly suggest stretching yourself a bit more...right out on the sofa, with a book and a drink. *smooch*

>240 BekkaJo: Thanks, Bekka! I'm not going to tell anyone about my current read. Too much crowing and "I-told-you-so"ing.

White House: Proposal to defund secret mass spying not the product of an ‘open’ process

Bless you, Charles Dickens, bless every crappy word you ever wrote!

233: I do too! Although mine just needs to take the shelf out of the box and put it together ... but I doubt it will get completed any time soon. I shouldn't complain too loudly as he did just build me a linen closet. (Which I have to paint though :)

Love that accio coffee mug! I have this one that a friend picked me up at disney land

Oh my but I love #214! That's my kind of space!

>244 ChelleBearss: Painting is a small price after someone builds you a closet, eh wgat, Chelle? Now painting bookshelves....

>245 PrueGallagher: It's a doozy, isn't it Prue?



Looks like a good dream to me!

I am noted as being someone who will take summer over winter any day. In January, I will be bemoaning the horrors of New York weather on this thread to the plum happy Mr Derus.

But, WTF is with this July. I haven't turned my A/C units (plural. in a tiny apartment) off in July except for one day. Con Ed is going to enslave me. I sweat often. And I am *never* hot. I moved out of Texas five years ago. This has got to stop (by which I mean, it should be 75 every day. Never less. Never more.)

>247 ty1997: You'll have no reason to bemoan horrors here. You lived in Chicago! The winters there are as heinous as the summers in Texas.

This week, Saturday the 27th, Jay Lake will hold the Jay Wake. It's the best idea I've ever heard, hosting your own funeral! Think of all the things you've said at the funeral of a friend, things you wish you'd had the chance, and the permission, to say while they were yet breathing. Well, here it is. Opportunity meeting motivation. I've gotten motivated to say my piece about the reading pleasure I've found in Lake's books.

I've reviewed TRIAL OF FLOWERS at Shelf Inflicted, the group blog. It's a fantasy novel.

I read a fantasy novel.

There, I said it.

I not only read it, I enjoyed it. BUT DON'T FOR GAWD'S SAKE TELL ANYONE. I will swear an oath that you're lying and that you must be the one who hacked my account and wrote a glowing heap of praise for a book with dwarves, an ancient city declining under an empty throne, a reluctant hero...well, you see my predicament. I can't admit out loud that I liked this kind of guff. "The city is," runs the motto Lake gives the City Imperishable. Yeeesh, really?

Really. And really worth your time.

So you read a fantasy novel? About time. That one just doesn't call my name. For urban fantasy, I run to Charles deLint, and hope that one day you will too! 55F here ... just sayin'

>211 richardderus:, I want it.

>250 mckait: *brushbrushbrush* ...how'd I get all this deLint all over me...

>251 johnsimpson: Don't we all!!

:P ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>253 mckait: *smooch*



I love the smell of rationalization in the morning.

...gimme a novella, gotta come down slow...

xoxo to you and Stella

Thanks, Roberta! We're at last in a cool phase, so both of us are happier.

#257 The coolish... I huffed and puffed and blew it overdown.

>258 laytonwoman3rd: *smoochiesmoochsmooch*

>245 PrueGallagher: OMG!

>260 ronincats: Agreed!

I've just watched the 1948 film version of The Woman in White...whee dawggie does it take liberties with the book. Still, all in all it's a pleasant film and it does the job of sustaining suspense.

But yikes.

*smooch* yerself. and a little unthingaversary sumpin' sumpin' while your temps are cooler.

Leer es sexy



if one were so inclined, it *could* almost make one want to dally with Ulysses.

wallowed in all the delights here as best i could. and an exceptionally fine wallow it was, too.

OOOOoooooooOOOoooOOOOOOoo! Lurves me some ginger! Thanks, Ellie, for the eyecandy, and dropping by for a good old wallow.

>227 richardderus:: All bad choices, eh what? Sadly, I agree completely. The series that needs to become extinct is homo sapiens but I don't really want that to happen tomorrow or anything.

*smooches* to you and Stella with happy weekend wishes attached

Hey, Richard. Either I got lost for a couple of threads, or you did. However, I have wended my way into the coils of coffee, Ulysses, heat, book (and nook) porn, and the usual bonhomie and nonsense that I have missed.

Hoping each day is better than the one before.

>249 richardderus: I've reviewed TRIAL OF FLOWERS at Shelf Inflicted, the group blog. It's a fantasy novel.
I read a fantasy novel.
There, I said it.
I not only read it, I enjoyed it.
Hang on a minute....isn't Night Circus a fantasy novel? Or am I genre-confused here. End result is that you loved a book! Good work :)

Friday. Coffee. Must.

>264 EBT1002: Thanks, Ellen! Weekend...wow...where do the weeks go? You and P enjoy yours.

>265 MerryMary: M'Lou! Howdy, so glad to see you...the shenanigans continue unabated. *smooch*

Come back soon!

>266 LovingLit: It's fantastical, but not the sort of thing I associate with Fantasy, the forgotten kingdoms, the dwarves, blah blah blah. I readily admit this could be pure denial on my part.

*smooch* for dear Muadie

As witness, look how I spelled "Maudie" above.

Vive la différence!

>267 richardderus: Coffee and Gaudy Night. No better way to start the day.

>270 richardderus: That's mind-boggling, isn't it?

Doing a quick fly through. What is happening to my day off :-/

Went to get eggs, and talked to Elaine .. egg lady :) who has the most beautiful home ever..
Visited nephlets to give kim some stuff..
Trying to read, too noisy :P

Hope it is more peaceful by you?

>271 jnwelch: Agreed! On both propositions.

>272 mckait: No, not peaceful, home invasion in about 45min. No peace until Monday.

#267 Was just about to post something along the lines of HUmmmanananaanna I want coffee and croissants. Then I remembered that I am off to France week on sat - first holiday other than the in-laws in 6 years.

Bring on the coffee and croissants!

On that note, wishing you a day filled with good coffee and excellent pastries!

>274 BekkaJo: All coffee'd up, but sadly deficient in the pastries. Wah poor me.



Nook porn!

Oh my...yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Except ugly lamps have to go.

Happy Friday, dear. I completely agree with Linda - the lamps have to go!

>276 laytonwoman3rd: I don't hate the lamps, but other ones would suit me better.

>277 Crazymamie: Thanks, sweetiedarling! See above re: lampage. Is The Beast From Beyond The Pale still among you?

She is not here yet - I regret to say that she is coming next week. I am totally stressed out about it. She will be here next Wednesday and Thursday - YIKES! On the bright side, your clever nickname for her has made me laugh out loud - that's how I am referring to her from now on!

Is The Beast From Beyond The Pale still among you?

Best nickname EVER!!!

that's how I am referring to her from now on!

Of course! Who needs to remember her real name ever again.

If anyone I know disagrees with this, unfriend me immediately!

>279 Crazymamie: ...oh dear...next week, eh. Yech! I thought that WAS her name. Silly old faggot.

>280 luvamystery65: *smooch* for sweet Roberta

LOL! Now I love you even more!

>282 Crazymamie: *smooch*

Love that nook porn. Hoping you're enjoying cooler weather down there, too? I'm sitting here wearing a t-shirt & jeans -- and a wool cardigan! Love it. Perfect antidote to recent nonsense. That said, the sun could come up and the temp could creep up into the low/mid 70s and I wouldn't whine a bit. Cats are happy too. Cassie is now permitted to sleep under the quilt down by my ankles -- her fave spot for some bizarre reason.

>284 Chatterbox: Cassie is very weird, even for a cat. It's pleasant here, though a good deal warmer than your upper 60s at bang-on 80. The breeze is lovely and the sunshine is dazzling. A perfect, perfect summer day, in short! When you're down here tomorrow, you'll have the same weather as today. Ain't that grand? (And here's a *bigcheckwhammy* for you.)

275 reminds me of my great grandmothers house. The view was not quite as long, but it was lovely.
The window seat even had a red velvet cover. There was a bird cage... and a bird. I used to sit there and read and listen to the grown ups talk and talk and talk. ... No bookshelves, but I always managed to find a book somewhere or have one somehow... I was never opposed to rereads..

I freakin' love this thread!!!

210 made me lol about you succumbing to Among Others!

211's comments... You're killing me RD. :)

Nook porn? Awesome.

Nickname for Mamie's monster-in-law? Hee-hee-sterical!!

>287 TinaV95: *grumble* Laughing at my pain, suuure g'head g'head no I don't mind being the floorshow in the theatre of cruelty no no no

*waving* as she slides into the weekend.

Living room painting. Putting stuff in storage. Looking at my photograph with a matte, and a frame, to consider whether I dare to hang a little insignificant show in a local grocery store's cafe. Otherwise, reading and hanging out with doggies, clean from their Friday night bath!

Howdy do Karen44, sounds like a full, but not hysterical, weekend ahead.

Put the show in the grocery store cafe. Why not?

Cassie is my scaredy cat. She is terrified of other people because of her very brief history with the abusive deli owners, but loves me and has adopted me as an honorary cat, her protector, a comfort blanket etc. She literally does happy dances when I come home (as long as I'm alone; if I'm with other humans she hides).

I like that nook a lot and don't mind the lights because there are two of them, so you can flop from side to side while you're reading and still stay lit AND comfortable. A reader must live there.

The photographs might not be hung if they do not meet my high standards.....pffffft.

BTW, I think the lamps are OK. They definitely will be good to read under which is the point, is it not.

>291 Chatterbox: In all seriousness, even disliking cats as much as I do, I still think people who abuse animals should be drawn and quartered.

>292 tiffin: I think so too, Tui. A reader with some very good luck! And taste.

>293 maggie1944: They'll do the job, yes indeed...but I don't think they're especially attractive. Ultimately, though, I'm a function-first kinda guy.

Yes, old books are cool! I hope your weekend is good, Richard.

Good morning Richard,

what a wonderful review on a Trial of Flowers. Yes, and you liked a .......... what we are not going to mention.

I wish you a brilliant weekend :)

Must work. (stabby. Grr)

Make the second one "scotch" and it's me! Well, except for the dress. Plunging necklines are bad on those of us with hairy chests.

>295 wilkiec: Hi Diana! Good to see you! Sending smooches Hollandward.

>296 drachenbraut23: Wise, wise indeed not to spell it out, Bianca...happy to see you!

>297 mckait: Oh dear...so sorry...may it feel shorter than you fear it will.

Time for a new thread!