Richardderus 2013 thread 18

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 35-38...thread 17.

Books are reviewed in post:

39. Murder at the Resort...#58.

40. League of Somebodies...#61.

41. The Ocean at the End of the Lane...#192.

42. Walking Your Octopus...#208.

Good Morning and Happy Day To You!!

ETA: if I'd not been so wordy, I might have been first!

I have a book hangover this morning. How appropriate. I finished The Ocean at the End of the Lane last night. I liked it. I'm sorry you don't like Gaiman, as I'd be interested in your take on it. Oh, well

Busy weekend? visitors for you, I think... Today I will have a lovely quiet day with only the job of visiting the niece's dog, and letting her spend some time in the yard, as the family has gone to boy scout camping.

Tomorrow.... my friend the painter will come to finish the living room, and my friend the photographer will come to discuss those pictures of mine

It will be nice and we'll have some pizza I think

New thread? I hadn't caught up to the old one yet.

Ditto with Darryl. Couldn't resist visiting the new digs though and wishing you the very best of weekends.

Happy New Thread, Richard and smooches back at you! x

Happy new thread, dear! *smooch*

>4 maggie1944:: I preordered that one...hoping it arrives soon.

>3 Whisper1: Hi Linda!!



You're in first place! Have a terrific weekend.

>4 maggie1944: How do, Karen44, I like the sound of your weekend. I've got my same ol' same ol', with the added amusement of my AC blowing out when the chandelier in the kitchen threw the collywobbles. I write to you from the comfort of the guest bedroom, which is very light and cheery.

>5 kidzdoc: What is this "caught up" of which you speak, Darryl? I am not understand, thank you please.

>6 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! Your most recent raid on Kinokuniya sounds like it was profitable. For them.

>7 wilkiec: Thank you Diana!

>8 Crazymamie: Hiya Mamie! I was hoping this would be the weekend AFTER The Beast From Beyond The Pale's visit so you could relax and enjoy your life. Boo hiss that It is still to come. At least now you know her real name.

>9 tiffin: Oh heavy sigh...I ordered it from the SFBC using my good-boy points and the 30% discount they're offering for the many, many glitches their software presented members with.

Well I have to work tomorrow, but my mom is home now and so happy weekend to us!

Enjoy your weekend. xoxo to you and Stella

Good for mom being home, Roberta, until she can derive real benefit from being in skilled nursing. *smooch* Glad to see you! Stella sends slurps.

I would have to agree with the first post, it happens to me on a regular basis.

And that makes you very very lucky, John.

Hello rdear... just claiming a spot with a pillow... no worries, I brought my own...

Your nook awaits.

The idea of Paul not being caught up on Richard's thread is... well, the words "pot", "kettle" and "black" spring to mind.

ETA: I have one of those book towers that is featured on the right!

Don't they just. I refrained from making the comment...thanks for doing it for me.

And yes, this Penny is one for her Kool-Aided fandom. *happy sigh*

Some posts make me cry and cry

>21 mckait: *blink* Well yes, there are too many tchotchkes ad that lamp's a bit ugly, but cry? Really?

not that one.

Then which one?

The problem with those cubes is that they really are not an efficient way to fit in the maximum amount of books without stacking them any which way (the books) which is just plain messy. But, oh, I like me that couch and ottoman!

A new thread and I'm not first. Oh well.

Happy Sunday, Richard dear!

Happy Sunday Richard.

Hope you get your AC fixed as soon as possible. Has it cooled down any over there?

>25 ronincats: Hi Roni! Cubes = designers, I've noticed. Designers do not equal book-readers, I've noticed.

>26 EBT1002: Thanks, Ellen, I hope it will be!

>27 calm: Hi calm...AC's all fixed, the problem was a breaker that needed replaced. It's far less heinously hot, thank goodness, though not comfortable. High today ~26C/83F. It's summer, after all, and these are the temps we usually have here on Long Island.

Good morning to you... I finally got some reading done yesterday... finished one read another...
my reading life is my own again I think?

I truly loved the Penny this time. Fantastic story, edge of seat reading. I loved it, I love Three Pines.

>29 mckait: I saw the Jamie Ford review, and yes it looks like your mojo is back! Yay...but when are you going to tell me what on earth sibylline post #21 means?!? I was awake until 5a wondering!

Rude bastards.

Happy Sunday, RichardDear! I hope you're having a good day - good food, drink, books, and smooches from Stella.

And, of course *smooches* from Horrible.

Thanks, Horrible! *smooch* right back at'cha

Nook porn!

I'm liking the recent book porn and it is making me day dream about my studio to be furnished.... I think I love the sofa and ottoman in#18. Might have to start shopping around. The idea of chairs all around a big foot resting place is pretty cool, too.

Hi Rd- Just a Sunday check in! Congrats on the new thread. Love the Bookworm poster in #30, (although I could never do a marathon like that). I just finished the wonderful TransAtlantic and reread your outstanding review of it. Huge Thumb!

>35 maggie1944: I like that idea, too...so communal. It's nice that one can see the drinks tables the room has, too, there beside the chair and the sofa in this shot.

I hope your studio is going to be this level of cozy! *smooch*

>36 msf59: Hi Mark! I'm so glad you liked TransAtlantic. It was a wonderful read! I thought the relationship between Douglass and his Irish handler was well-drawn.

Yes, I liked the Douglas relationship too! I wish there would have been more on the two pilots, which turned out to be one of my favorite sections.

#18 & 34: Like.

>>31 richardderus: and 34:

>38 msf59: Every book has something for everyone...I cared nothing for the pilots, and felt their entire line could have been excised with no loss!

>39 kidzdoc:, 40 Good! Glad y'all approve.

First things first...



#31 - I KNOW, RIGHT?! They're so inconsiderate. >:(

Aha! You liked my idea for your machine's name! Good. *smooch*

Sarah Jane was a magical lady. Of course I like it! I think my precious machine likes it, too, and she is very thankful for your input. She wishes to be treated like a dignified machine and the name Sarah Jane fits that. Not like the sexy piece of meat I've been oogling. :D

LOLOL

You're an original, kid. Don't ever lose that!

Why, thank you!

Eris, hahaha for the royal wave. Sarah-Jane must be my favourite companion and her passing so early from cancer was a great shame. Her predecessor Jo Grant I also like very much but she did things with Daleks that I don't think the Doctor would quite approve of.

My book group swears they're going to come to my house and clean out the "stuff" room and turn it into a library.

But they never come, and I'm just too lazy to do it myself. Sigh.

*smooch*

Sitting in bed with my laptop, piles of pillows, and a cat from time to time (she wanders in and out).

Busy weekend shepherding my mother around a yearly get-together of Ham Radio operators. Everybody loves her and it takes forever to walk around, since everybody wants to "hug Mary Alice."

She's on her way home now, and I'm relaxing. Not that she's a problem to have around, but I'm always a little on edge, wanting to take good care of her (she's 87), and make sure she has a good time.

Time to get ready for the week to come.

I am sitting in my bed, too, with lots of pillows, also. No cats. One dog in her bed beside the bed, and the other has crawled under the covers near my knee. Warmish, he is. I am finished with another weekend and I have not got too much to be proud of but I did get a good deal of reading done! thank goodness, it has been too long that I spent a lot of a weekend reading!

So, as soon as I find this place and kill the current occupant, I'll be moving:



Remember this one? It's the interior of the above:


And the sleeping house:

>46 ErisofDiscord: Heh.

>47 PaulCranswick: Paul! Such lasciviousness! The Internet police will be arriving shortly, I'm sure.

>48 tloeffler: TLo!! Hi sweetie!! Yeah, all hat and no cattle, those kibitzers. *smooch* back

>49 MerryMary: Hi M'Lou! Wow, it's my day for visitors. *smooch* for you and Ham-Mom, the latter to be delivered next time you see her.

>50 maggie1944: "Much to be proud of" includes a weekend of reading. It's in the Universal Statute of Readerly Rights. You could look it up! *smoochiesmoochsmooch* and a round of ear-tousles

> 51 LIKE

Whoa - that is an incredible workspace. Of course, I'd just sit there with my mouth open staring at the scenery....... I do that enough already even with 'normal' windows!

>53 mckait: Yeah, no joke! I'd love to be there now.

>54 sibylline: Hiya cuz! I know, the view...and think of that in the FALL!! But like anything else, I suppose it would pale with familiarity. I'd **love** to find out.

#51 awesome! Is it big enough for your LT peeps to move in with you?

I won't know until I *find* it!

Review: 39 of seventy-five

Title: MURDER AT THE RESORT

Author: NATHAN GRANT

Rating: Two IRRITATED stars of five

The (Self-)Publisher Says: Jake Grayson and Chris Barrington were together for over two decades when suddenly Chris found himself alone as Jake had fallen for a younger man, ending their long term relationship. Two years later the financial and emotional dust had finally settled when Loretta Bryce, Chris's young aunt and best friend proposes a business venture; a run-down resort just north of Sedona Arizona.

Loretta and Chris viewed many properties together, with Chris returning from the Bay Area when the perfect deal was finalized. While briefly at the resort he met Loretta's other business partner and dear friend dark and brooding Cal Hudson; the unstoppable attraction was instant and soon the sexual sparks began to fly between Chris and the muscular sexy man. Just before Chris left to say goodbye to his life in Northern California, Cal stole a tender kiss and the stage was set for Cal to steal his heart.

Months later when Chris returned to start the new chapter in his life north of Sedona, he learned his former partner Jake was due to arrive soon along with his young lover Kim Shore.

Over the past several months Jake had badgered Chris with emails and references to their past relationship much to Chris's dismay, and now hinted at the possibility of an unwanted reconciliation, at least on Chris's part.

Not wishing to have a scene but not willing to reconcile with Jake, Chris has a confrontation with Kim and storms out of the resort's bar going for a walk to cool off. Still too upset to join the others he visits his newly renovated home to view the changes and instead finds a vicious murder; soon realizing he may be next.

My Review: This is a decent first draft of a charming romantic mystery. An editor and a copyeditor badly, nay desperately, need to work it over. But the reason I give it two stars, a mingy total, is simple: PUNCTUATION. CAPITALIZATION. They have rules. Learn and follow them. Slavishly.

And what a pity it is to write that. There is a really, really sweet and yet still exciting story in here. The writing can definitely use assistance, but the basics are there, and the storytelling eye simply needs a bit of direction.

I fear the day when the art and craft of editing have died.

Don't worry Richard I called Wine-1-1 over at Mamie's. Disaster averted! xoxo to you and Stella

Such a pity about Murder at the Resort. Maybe you could contact Nathan and strike up a relationship. You know, offer to be his editor.

Review: 40 of seventy-five

Title: LEAGUE OF SOMEBODIES

Author: SAMUEL SATTIN

Rating: 3.25* of five

The Publisher Says: Lenard Sikophsky’s father has been feeding him plutonium since the age of six in the hopes of making him the world’s first bona fide superhero. First, he must pass the unusual tests of manhood locked in the centuries old tomb, The Manaton, a secret relic passed down for generations. Falling in love with the beautiful, compulsively suicidal Laura Moskowitz doesn’t make his life any easier. But with the guidance of the Sikophsky men, the antiquated rulebook, and of course a healthy amount of plutonium, Lenard accepts his fate as an exactor of justice. . . .

Twenty years later, Lenard’s son Nemo is introduced to the same destiny as his father, only this time the violent entity called THEY are in dangerous pursuit. Lenard’s life and the legacy of his family are put to the test when he is forced to defend everything he loves.

My Review: Well! THAT was fun. I liked reading Sattin's just-slightly-OTT prose, I liked the comic-booky story, and I liked the relative absence of typos and mangled parallelisms.

I thought I would scream occasionally...the women in the book are, well, how to put this diplomatically...girls. No other way to say it, they're girls, in the old-fashioned pejorative white-man-on-top sense.

And Nemo is less introduced to his destiny than inducted into it. Like Geek Love, a disturbing book on similar themes of parental manipulation and dysfunction, each generation of Sikophsky boys has A Destiny and Will Follow It. Or Else. This being an evergreen theme, I was really looking forward to Sattin's trippy take on it.

In this, I wasn't in the least disappointed. I offer this odd little passage from the book as evidence of Sattin's skill with trippy:

In 2003, Lantana, The Savage, Zatkin, watched the sky over Kansas for signs of impending doom.
In that forlorn sea of cattle, wheat, corn, and sorghum grain, he'd come to Finney, following the anonymous, electronic chortle of a villain calling himself The Brother who apparently had a nuclear bomb aimed and ready in the direction of the Sunflower State.
Lantana watched the sky, his toga still in the humid Midwestern slough as the sun made hell of his retinas. He wasn't sure he even believed that The Brother existed, that this anonymous, self-proclaimed villain, in all probability, was some sex-deprived soul out of Ohio with a mouse pad and a pink, pimpled penis.

Trippy, like I said. The image of a superhero named after a flowering vine standing in a cornfield with his glad-rags limp in the heat? Yes, priceless. Contrasting that with the old stand-by nerd stereotype, effective.

But therein also the problem with the book. This is a good idea, told well enough to go over, and not an out-of-the-park homer for one big reason: A lot happens, and very little changes. As I've made this same observation about Neil Gaiman's works (and been trounced and screamed at for it), this problem isn't unique to Sattin. I do wish the ending hadn't been quite so...not rushed, exactly, but tacked-on feeling. The natural end of the book was earlier, in a wide and featureless sky. Then came a bad case of the knit-knit-knits as some future history was rammed down my throat, fitting about as well as a long woolen scarf would.

But hear this: I enjoyed this weird and wonderful journey. I'm glad I took it, for all that I had reservations about it. Sattin deserves a shot at your eyeballs. He's got more to say.


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

>59 luvamystery65: *smoochiesmoochsmooch* You angel you! Inspired choice, too.

>60 ronincats: Oh Roni! You card! Imagine some unknown author paying me to edit his stuff. I suspect the reason it's not edited is 1) His Words Are Sacred and b) too cheap to pay for it. Them's the usuals.

NOBODY, no matter how egotistical, should object to someone making sure their spelling, capitalization or punctuation is correct. If they do, they have no business even pretending to the name of "writer". It's like an electrician claiming HIS work doesn't have to be up to code. The pride should be based as much in the craft as in the art. So says She whose daughter earns a pittance these days as an editor for people who DO still care enough to pay for it.

Oh, and *note to self* DO NOT open this thread at work anymore. Sheesh. *wipes brow*

>63 laytonwoman3rd: The nook porn gettin' to ya, Linda3rd? Heh.

I agree that no writer SHOULD get all pantiwadulous about suchlike. Fact remains that they DO. It's amazingly easy to get an indie riled up.

Nook porn, yeah, that's it. Yeah, mmmhmmm...

>51 richardderus:: I'm so Canadian. I'm looking at that and thinking "man, the cold radiating in from those heat loss windows...needs thermal window coverings or something". But it is beautiful, practicalities notwithstanding. Also hoped the terlet would be down below in the concrete support part.

>63 laytonwoman3rd:: hear, hear!

>65 laytonwoman3rd: But what else could it be? *blink*

>66 tiffin: Heh! And here I am thinking, how practical to have the windows up high so the heat won't get intolerable...now how do they open to let the inside hot air out...?

I admire editors and copy readers.

They do donkey-work for little money and less appreciation.

>51 richardderus: *swoon*
I am in love with that house, its surroundings, and anyone Living there who'll let me join them!

>58 richardderus: Punctuation and capitalisation issues!? *quickly checks post so far for mistakes in those areas that could eliminate me from chances of living in post #51 house*

All good!

>64 richardderus: It's amazingly easy to get an indie riled up.
All the more fun for you when you send him a proposal for YOU taking the role of Highly Paid Chief Editor ;)

jUst a caTch up viSit to see what ya'll are doin'

:)

Good morning Richard! I enjoyed your latest turn of phase in the above review....as in author's 'deserving a shot at our eyeballs'. Good one!

Happy Tuesday all!

>70 LovingLit: Excellent. You may spend one of your winters lounging on the lakeside dock. Perkins will bring bottles of wine down hourly. Dinner is at 8 sharp.

>71 mckait: BANNED!! BANNED FOR LIFE!!! BURN HER BURN HER FOR THE WITCH SHE IS!!

>72 Cobscook: Hi Heidi! Glad you liked it. *smooch*

I've posted this before, but it's still funny so here it is again.

> 51 and 73 --- These are perfectly lovely places. Find the owners, help them pack, and I'll help you move in. I'll move in with you!

Happy Tuesday, Richard.

tee hee

#73 well that looks like a lovely place to sit and have a coffee while reading a good book!

>75 EBT1002: Happy Tuesday, Ellen! I sense the Nose of the Camel...Ellen moves in, then P arrives to stay, then....

>76 mckait: tee hee

>77 ChelleBearss: Doesn't it though? I like it.

The caffeine curve cracks me up! Happy Tuesday, dear.

Colum McCann. And Louise Penny. And....

>79 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! *smooch* glad you came by.

>80 richardderus: Oh dear, that would so be me!

I know, right, Roni? I never thought to do that, but I kind of like the idea of a featured authors' shelf.

*wishes for like button*

Take that up with Tim! Maybe Zoe won't notice this time. I want one, too.

I think it belongs in the never gonna happen column...
Maybe someday she will stay home from a meet-up on the east coast and then I can go ... lol.
She appears to have unlimited funding and unlimited free time, so I don't hold out much hope..

*there there, pat pat*

Let's move to Washington. Olympia's not expensive.

You have something against witches?

Only ones that offend against The Divine Order...ie, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, orthography...y'know, the IMPORTANT stuff.

#86 AND, in Olympia you can see Don Freas's Tine Ball Sculpture at Percival Landing. But PLEASE don't try to climb inside it.

Ooo cool! I've never seen that before. Pretty color, too!

So love that view in the glass house. But it's missing the super-comfy couch and ottoman of nook porn #1 in this thread, and requires a spiral staircase leading into a room full of books below. There may be a view to die for (or kill for) but not enough space for BOOKS.

It's a modular design with bits dotted all over a foresty piece of property. I'd expect that there's an actual bookhouse on the property. Or there WILL be. *determined chin*

>73 richardderus: aaaah. i know that light.

can't possibly catch up just now but wanted to let you know i have blown your cover, Alan. i know you wrote this nomedeplumely in an op-ed piece in the NYT in 2010. you may as well confess. it simply REEKS of you:

“As I was perucifying myself on a drizzly Sunday morning by obsessicaciously ingestifying every morsel of ishkababble of the Weekend Competition: brillig piffle, I thought to myself, ‘How cerebrointoxicalicious an experience.’” Alan J. Barnes

also, i owe you a gazillion smooches and this is my fave of the week. you may have him (he ain't bad) and i'll take the vicuña. it's a crop of a pic i got somewhere entitled "smooch from a vicuna (sic)."



#eta: >92 richardderus: "*determined chin*" snort + giggle = paroxysmal and damnnear suffocating insufflation and exsufflation. praise Hestia i wasn't drinking anything or my keyboard would be dead and monitor all spewed.

So, good morning to you, rd.. hope you aren't suffering from matutolypea

>93 mirrordrum: Oh dear, Ellie, I can't see the image! Boo hoo!!

I watched Captain Blood not long ago, and I've been mentally doing the Errol Flynn *noble profile* and *determined chin* moues ever since. He was unearthly beautiful, but a bit of a hambone.

>94 mckait: No, matuto-thingummy isn't one of my problems. I'm pretty cheery when I wake up.



Most days this is my first coherent thought.

Anil's a man with a plan!

Happy new (to me) thread!!! :)

I love all the book porn, nook porn, caffeine curve, pictures and quotes! If forced to choose a favorite, I would probably pick #95!

>95 richardderus: i reupped the link and it's showing again. i hope.

ah, our latter day Errol Flynn. my favorite as a girl was always Jean Peters in Anne of the Indies. until she put on a dress and got all soppy. Jean Peters buckling swash? oh lordy. it would never be that good again until Xena.

>96 richardderus: and he knows what to do with his own money and what others should do with theirs. Trekkers Point outdoor store is in New Delhi. i thought it looked as it might be somewhere in India.

>97 TinaV95: Hiya Mrs. Lisa! *smooch* happy you're here.

>98 mirrordrum: I still can't see it! :_{

I suspect "Anil" is the other giveaway that it's in India...but wherever it is, I like his spirit and I approve of his choice. Sending hugs to you and the HSO. Plus blender mojo.

Your threadtopper is exactly how I feel this morning, having stayed up to finish reading Clockwork Angels last night. I'm bleary eyed at work today and had a carb-heavy lunch meeting an hour and a half ago. I'm now fighting sleep and trying to pep myself up with a can of Coke so I can make it through my next meeting in a half hour. My coworkers still have not let me forget that I fell asleep during a meeting about 6 years ago.

Wow, four stars! That's a testament. Carb-heavy meals do NOT mix well with meetings, or at least not any meeting I've ever attended. I've always thought that meetings were the major source of job dissatisfaction in the corporate world. BBBBOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRINNNNNNGGGG.

I love Anil's book corner, would like to pay him a visit.

I know, right John? Quite a field trip to go to India. Permaybehaps Hay-on-Wye first.

Definitely Hay-on Wye first, although I won't go until I have a reasonable amount of money to spend to make the trip worthwhile. The next big event for me is the PBFA book fair at York racecourse, this is the largest Antiquarian book fair in the UK with around 250 dealers over three floors, books for all ages on show with some rather valuable ones to tempt.

>86 richardderus: Let's move to Washington.

Yes!!!!!

Richard, I love your thread-topper. I've had more than a few book hangovers in my reading days . . . from reading nights.

>95 richardderus: Now my MBH has added "secret library" to the list if we ever win the lottery.

>104 johnsimpson: Define "a reasonable amount of money" for me...one years' income? two?

>105 EBT1002: Thinking Olympia.

Above my normal pocket money allowance and whatever else I can put by that my beloved doesn't know about, lol.

>108 richardderus: Okay. Olympia is fine. I have nothing against Olympia. It's about 75 minutes south of here.

>109 johnsimpson: OIC

Well, we'll have to help you hide the sofa-cushion money.

>110 EBT1002: It's got some charm...not a big city but close to SeaTac. Reasonable cost of living. Cascadian summers *lustful sigh* and Amtrak.

Actually, P and I have sometimes thought we might retire to Olympia. But I think Portland is more likely.

Remember Olympia is the state's capital and is full of politicians and state government bureaucrats. Otherwise, it is a nice little town.

It's Thursday...so that means it's time for another JAY LAKE PRE-MORTEM READ-A-THON REVIEW! You lucky people you. Anyone who has paid attention to me these past 40 or so years knows that I'm no fantasy fan...Tolkien and Lord Dunsany break me out in hives...but the current book, MADNESS OF FLOWERS, is fantasy done right. Four-plus star review over at Shelf Inflicted, a group blog.

Have a wonderful time in New Zealand, Jay Lake! *vibrates with envy*

>112 EBT1002: I know several people in Portland, and they all love it wildly. That, in my experience as an Austinite, bodes ill. Hipsters make annoying neighbors for old farts. I am among the latter.

>113 maggie1944: And therefore the place that a disabled person who needs to interact with the bloody bedamned bureaucrats is well-advised to set up shop, I'm thinkin'. Plus it's not a big place, and not a burg...these are good things...and Evergreen State keeps things interesting.

Morning. Yesterdays morning graphic applies to me this morning. Grr. And Argh. and Hiss.

I'll send some of these to you:



They'll make everything all better.

What is that rd? It looks delicious.

They're lemon cheesecake bars with raspberries. I've been captured by Pinterest again.

Speaking of which:


Yeah. It is.

OK, that is the poster for me! I'm famous for pushing books off on everyone. The friend who drove me to the surgery yesterday received my hard back copy of The Ocean at the End of the Lane for his efforts with a admonition that both he and his wife should read it. The nephew who came to stay with me last night famously asks me, all the time, "why do you read all the time". Even while recovering from eye surgery I'm busy reading as much as I can. Clearly, I am a sicko reader woman.

By the way, I totally support your thinking about Olympia. Portland like Seattle has become very difficult for folks on limited and fixed incomes. And from Olympia, it is easy to drive to either Seattle or Portland, and in a pinch Vancouver B.C. and San Francisco can be reached.

I hope you are doing well, and enjoying your reading life!

>118 richardderus: Yeah, but the books do a lot less damage. :-)

#120 Agreed. And I wouldn't steal to support my habit. I don't think.

>119 maggie1944: That's why Amtrak being there makes such a difference to me. I'd feel safe driving around a smaller town with my joint issues, but not on long trips (over 30min one-way). The money ain't there to move, but that's something I can work on.

>120 EBT1002: You are addressing someone who has placed 76 Amazon orders in the past 6 months, and won over 30 freebie books in different Internet contests, and bid on and won lots of books on eBay....

>121 laytonwoman3rd: Kill? Well, no. Well, probably not. Well, not necessarily. Well....

Love the poster!!!!! Working in a library or book store would be dangerous for me.

I hope it is a pain free day for you my friend!

>123 Whisper1: Thanks, love, same right back to you. Happy moving-the-kids days!

The late, great Iain (M.) Banks's passing inspired a number of group reads of his books in different Internetty places. I joined one for THE WASP FACTORY here in the 75ers group. A lot of people had ewww-ick responses; my response is here.

This is one great, as in Lolita-type great, book.

I won As Flies to Whatless Boys in the ER!!

"In 1845 London, an engineer, philosopher, philanthropist, and bold-faced charlatan, John Adolphus Etzler, has invented machines that he thinks will transform the division of labor and free all men. He forms a collective called the Tropical Emigration Society (TES), and recruits a variety of London citizens to take his machines and his misguided ideas to form a proto-socialist, utopian community in the British colony of Trinidad.

Among his recruits is a young boy (and the book's narrator) named Willy, who falls head-over-heels for the enthralling and wise Marguerite Whitechurch. Coming from the gentry, Marguerite is a world away from Willy's laboring class. As the voyage continues, and their love for one another strengthens, Willy and Marguerite prove themselves to be true socialists, their actions and adventures standing in stark contrast to Etzler's disconnected theories.

Robert Antoni's tragic historical novel, accented with West Indian cadence and captivating humor, provides an unforgettable glimpse into nineteenth-century Trinidad & Tobago."

Cannot WAIT to read it!

#125 Agreed, agreed, agreed.

Smooches, Padre

>127 BekkaJo: Oh goody good good! *smooch*

>128 London_StJ: And a special big happy *smooch* for the re-employed-this-fall Crypto!!

Well, I succumbed. I belong to the Science Fiction Book Club. Dratted blasted peer-pressuring KAREN44 made it impossible for me not to take advantage of multiple offers and discounts, so I got The Ocean at the End of the Lane for almost free.

Oh, and I also got, because of dratted blasted peer-pressuring JOE, The Golem and the Jinni.

See? See? I am *completely* guiltless. I was coerced, nay strongarmed, into these purchases!

True story

Ain't it.

>125 richardderus: I've been reading with interest the wildly varying reactions to this book. Your review, as usual, is superbly written. Not a book for me, I'll stick to his science fiction, but you make it sound worthwhile.

Ohhh The Golem and the Jinni and Ocean at the End of the Lane are both great! Happy reading to you Sir!

>133 ronincats: Thanks, Roni. I can certainly understand not wanting to read a book...I feel that way about all of Dickens, most of Hemingway, etc etc...but to dismiss something because it's icky? SMH

>134 ChelleBearss: *grumble* Thanks Chelle, I think...the peer-pressurers might use your endorsement to wiggle out from under their justly heaped opprobrium, so careful!

uh oh.... book club! Scary stuff....

>125 richardderus: Richard, your review of The Wasp Factory is brilliant! I agree with you wholeheartedly (which perhaps reduces the credibility of my unbridled admiration of your review...).

What's SMH?

Shaking My Head

>130 richardderus: I love laughing. Just thought to add that to the already made point :)

>118 richardderus:/123 when my lovely other worked in the same building as one of the larger libraries in town, I loved it. I would text him the name of a book and then that evening it'd be home in my hot little hands! It was a painfully short time, unfortunately. He is now miles away from the nearest one, so I have to do my own book-chasing.

It's in Australia. I'm emigratin'

>136 mckait: It's scarier than you know. I get all kinds of temptation just by logging on!

>137 EBT1002: Thank you, Ellen! I will pretend, for my fragile male ego's sake, that my review was the sole and lone persuader involved in your love of the book.

>138 MerryMary: Thanks, M'Lou. *smooch*

>139 LovingLit: I recall with envy and loathing the days that you got free delivery from the liberry. I do a little happy dance every morning that you're reduced to mere mortalhood again. "Maude's *still* not able to snap her magic smartphone and get her FREE books brought to her instantly AND FREE by a man with whom she earnestly desires sexual congress," I remind myself on especially bleak days. I'm a box of birds after that!

It's going to be a nook porn kind of a day.

I like it.. cozy. Again with the chandelier. ick. But I like it otherwise. Such tidy shelves, though... I think I would use that one small shelf for beverages and suchlike. ( as in food ), cause that is almost as important as books.

The wall to the left of the photo is all shelves too. I think that might be where the main part of the collection is. And the big empty shelf? That's where the wall-mounted reading lamp goes, then the space gets filled with books. The tchotchkes all go in the dumpster.

Well, I was wrong about the left-hand wall.



Wonder what this is for?

Maybe it's just for pretty, and it would serve as a coffee shelf instead.. I like the idea of the lamp.

Have to build a shelf out, ledge-fashion, to make the coffee mug thing work...but yeah, that's the right place for it. And there's another shelf with some stupid glass thing on it where another wall-mounted lamp could go!

Concealed bookcase-door...great idea! But the walls leading up to the door need shelves, too.

I want a spiral staircase just like this one.

Richard, what a great Australian bookshop! *drools*

I know, Diana, I am in complete envious covetous jealous lust!

I'm not your mystery recommender for The Golem and the Jinni, Richard (I look forward to your take on it, as it's new to me). I am on board for The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

>140 richardderus: *sigh* A little bit of heaven.

*looks up from jabbing Joe-shaped voodoo dolly in the knee* ...hmmm? What? Oh, okay. *smoothes down divot in dolly's knee*

I know...and it's in Australia! They got books there, who knew?

Excellent review of The Wasp Factory, Richard. (of course!) It sounds absolutely horrifying and although I could read what you write about it for hours, I am not tempted to actually read the book!

>153 Cobscook: Why, thank you, Heidi! How lovely of you to say so. I think the book is worth the very real discomfort of reading it, but won't push because each of us knows her own limits.

This is how I know it's a very fine book: The deep and firm opinions it brings out in people would simply not happen were it not a powerful, enduring book.

>148 richardderus:: But we'd never get all the way down (or up) the stairs. Perkins would be mightily busy. If you'll share, I'll bring Maude. I'ts time for Perkins to have an imterest otjer than waiting on your sweet self and your LT buddies. In a pinch, I could bring Herbert, if that's the way thngs are. He has the added value of being an excellent nurse, specialty gerontology, plus an ability and willingness to do housework.

Wasp Factory on WL. Sounds intriguing.

126::

Ever read The Mosquito Coast by Theroux?

Was made into a not great movie but the original book was a corker.

#148 - SPIRAL STAIRCASE, LE GASP! And books, too. I'd like to have both please. Also a tower. And a secret passageway!

Seriously, if I ever get rich, I'm going to be like one of those people who puts all my money into building a house. It'll be so deliciously Eris I'll bankrupt myself.

>155 Matke: ...do you know, I've never even wondered about Perkins' proclivities. Maternal training: "Never, ever sleep with the help."

I'd have to start life anew on the top floor, ne'er to see the ground again, if I climbed those stairs. Perkins'd sure have some awesome calves from the stair-climbing!

The Wasp Factory is, I suspect, best left for a sunnier passage in your life...just sayin'

>156 magicians_nephew: I thought I had, Jim, but it has to be thirty years ago, and I felt little but irritation with the inventor dude even then. I can't be sure that's not a memory graft, however.

>157 ErisofDiscord: Play Powerball before tomorrow. $290MM jackpot! xo

Nook porn! (Yes yes, it needs books, so put them there in your imagination.)

#159 A "BYOB" sort of place, perhaps...

I loved your review of The Wasp Factory. You have finally convinced me it is worth a read. It's not a book I want to read this year. I've had my own share of misery and I already read Lolita.

>160 laytonwoman3rd: GGGGGGGRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN

>161 luvamystery65: Waiting won't hurt the book any, and it will help you, so amen sister lady.

Seen on Twitter:

Tiny French village aims to become ‘oasis’ for aging British gays and lesbians http://bit.ly/15l9SZY

Add books, I'm so there.

I think this is supposed to be a bad thing, but I don't see anything bad here....

My childhood bookshelf! My dad was a BIG Seussite.

Weekend plans: Made.

>147 richardderus:, 148 and 159 whoa, whoa and wOw. 159 looks as though Vita, Virginia and Lady Ottoline ought not to be far off.

have a lovely bibliophilic weekend, RD.

>144 richardderus: The ladder to nowhere for nothing.

>167 mirrordrum: Thanks, Ellie, you too! Lady Ottoline sends messages.

>168 EBT1002: I think it's empty shelving, on sober (well, sort of) reflection. So much empty space! So many idiotic little thises and thatses! I need that room, they don't.

My weekend plan, books and making salsa :)

+1

I have to delay my grandchildren fix for another week, and then start counting pennies....

Found out yesterday I need a new transmission. *sigh* *very expensive sigh*

RD- GREAT review of The Wasp Factory. It's good to see praise, after so many Lters scorned it. I really enjoyed it too, despite the unpleasant tone and subject matter. I WILL read more Banks.
As usual, I like the book porn but I have a question: Who has empty space on their bookshelves? No, LTer I know!

>140 richardderus: hmph, rub it in why don't you? I must make a contact within library walls to get my supply regular again....

>155 Matke: what? Maude? me? No, surely not :)

>166 richardderus: yummy!

*Smooches* Richard!

I showed Mrs. Tina the Australian book shop and she just groaned and said "oh geeze." I think she's under the impression I'm going to make her take me there!! Insert evil laughter here

#159 That looks so comfy! Swap the purple chair for the exact chair in any colour that is not purple and I'm there!

#175 Ha! Of course you are going to make Lisa take you there!

#175 +#177 Yeah - agreed, methinks she knows you all too well :)

Enjoy the weekend Richard X

>172 MerryMary: Oh no M'Lou! How horrible to have to spend a lot of money on an appliance! (Cars are appliances. I resent appliances that don't just *work* when I want them to.) Boo hiss. *smooch* for frustrated mamaw/nonna/gran/insert-name-here.

>173 msf59: Thanks, Mark! Yeah, lots of negativity heaped on the book. It's pretty usual to have people dislike a book that's about such ghastly, grim subjects, but I felt it was OTT a lot of the time. I know, right? "Empty shelves" *bwaaahaaahaaaa*

>174 LovingLit: Heh, yes, I admit I'm a bit over-gleeful about the sudden and complete lack of library delivery in your life, the utter absence of free and easy same-day access to the wealth of free books available there. Shame on me.

I thought she meant you...

It *is* yummy, isn't it? So restful-looking and sunshiney and conducive to enjoying one's book. Ah.

>175 TinaV95: Morning, Mrs. Lisa! *smooch* I fail to be surprised that Mrs. Tina got a little antsy at the thought of a book-cation. She's picturing the resultant "request" for more shelves!

>176 ChelleBearss: Maybe red? Something with some *oomph* though, not a dark or "neutral" color. The nook needs some go-juice!

>177 luvamystery65: How I Know I Won't Be Marrying Again, #187463544: If the idea of a honeymoon in Hay-on-Wye, followed by a Booktopia trip, and then settling into the Tome Home, fails to appeal to him, the wedding is off.

And where will I find such a paragon? See, I know why I'm single!

>178 BekkaJo: Don'cha think, Bekka?

*smooch* for a happy Jersey weekend

All of them. Each one.

Oh that's a good one!

Isn't it, cuz? I love the index-card shape, too!

Some Saturday book porn!

>159 richardderus: The purple is perfect. and a hassock for my short legs. I'll be right there.

I like that color a lot! Hassock is handy, no? *smooch* Happy Saturday!

I know you love weekends rd! Hope this one is blissful :) And filled with good meals and errands that you don't have to do!

#181 - That's me. Although it's usually not limited to just books - I have this same ailment with my television shows, movies, and video games. Anything fictional. I live and breathe fantasy.

I've been trying to find the time to read more of your excellent reviews. You've forced (FORCED, I say) me to order The Wisdom of Ashes within seconds of finishing your review of that one. I note it does not show up on LT at all, never mind have a working touchstone.

>188 mckait: Chicken. Ugh. *smooch*

>189 ErisofDiscord: I think many, many of us do, Eris. It's a deeply human thing, to crave stories. Deep-seated need in us, I suspect it's hard-wired in, though I can't imagine why.

>190 laytonwoman3rd: I'm the only person who has cataloged The Wisdom of Ashes as of yet, so it's untouchstonable. I really don't understand how that works.

But I'm ever so pleased to have struck you with the book-bullet. It's a very worthwhile read.

Review: 41 of seventy-five

Title: THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE

Author: NEIL GAIMAN

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.

A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.

My Review: A charming way to wile away a Saturday afternoon. It's a lovely story. Been told before, as what has not, but to call tis little entertainment a groundbreaking work by a master is absurd.

Did I enjoy it? Oh yes. I liked it fine. As always in a Gaiman book, no one changes. Nameless narrator as child confronts horrible reality that all is not as it seems, he is not Safe, and the world can be whisked away in a flood of knowledge. He goes on being a child. Nameless adult narrator comes to terms with loss, only he doesn't really because he can't remember what it is he's coming to terms with.

The Norns, Urðr, Skuld, and Verðandi, are brilliant constructs, even if there is doubt about their separate and uninfluenced creation in Norse mythology and not grafts of the Greek Fates. The Norns, and their amazing well, describe all too clearly the experience of being alive in the elegant universe that quantum physics tells us lies under the pretty picture we lie ourselves to sleep with. Gaiman clearly Gets It. He expresses his clear-eyed and seemingly unflinching comprehension and acceptance of the unreality of the illusion we inhabit in this book. That's refreshing and it's pleasant.

But brilliant? Groundbreaking? Really now. James Joyce was brilliant. Proust was brilliant. Beckett's plays are brilliant. I will perform the osculum infame on Fox News if someone can make a respectable case for Gaiman being brilliant by those lights.

A worthy and amusing entertainment. There is nothing whatever wrong with that.

Heh, I just came from thumbing your interesting review of The Wasp Factory, which I disagree with completely Richard, but the review is sublime. Now I see I have to thumb The Ocean at the End of the Lane. You are a veritable review machine sir and as long as you keep reviewing, I will keep thumbing:)

>193 brenzi: Thank you, Bonnie, I appreciate that! Happy Saturday hugs!

Thumb up'ed it! As always I enjoy your reviews and your honesty. I really enjoy Gaiman (and especially when listening to him narrate) but I agree with you that brilliant and groundbreaking might be reaching a tad. Completely and utterly enjoyable though :)

>195 ChelleBearss: Thank you, Chelle! *smooch* It so bothers me to be oversold. With a reasonable set of expectations, this is an enjoyable read.

I can't believe it: My July ER, As Flies to Whatless Boys has arrived! Gotta love Akashic Books.

I liked Ocean more than you did.. I like fantasy more than you do, and I was pulled into the story. Nothing to do with selling, really. I don't read Gaiman.. but there it was on the shelf, and it was so short.....

I'm glad I read it :)

Re: The Warped Factory. Great review; "Banal Canal", love it. You are right we are all entitled to our opinions. With every bone in my safe stunted Yorkshire body I thought it a work of great imagination but flawed and whilst, not having your feelings of adulation for it coursing through my veins I cerainly wasn't repulsed by it a la, say, Darryl.

The Aussie book store looks satisfyingly disorganised; are you sure that the photo is not upside down?

What Kathleen said. Ocean was only my second Gaiman, but I loved it. I also loved your review, which is why I applied my thumb to it. So what IS brilliant? Every review you write. *smooch to you, dear*

#148 -- You would not have that staircase had you ever had to deal with my batty former landlord. It was the presence of 4 (four) books on my staircase that led to the years-long meltdown on his part. Really.

I've spent part of today looking at Ikea's website; clearly, I need more bookshelves to deal with the book stalagmites here. As the weather cools, I'll have to tackle & sort out the spare room.

Never read any Gaiman. Maybe I'll try when I've read my way through Pratchett's Discworld tomes. But those are keeping me happy for now.

Actually Maude is Perkins' third cousin twice removed.

Herbert is a real person.

Why am I not reading much?

Happy Sunday, darling man.

>185 richardderus: Nope. Too sterile.

Brilliant review of the current Gaiman book.

*smooch* for you
*double smooch* for Stella

Are you coffeed yet? Are you even awake?

Hey 75ers... rdear is unable to access LT!!! He is using a Chromebook.. and for 12 hours or more now.. he times out, but only when he tries to get o LT. IF anyone has any help available, look him up on FB if you are on FB or post here and I will pass the word.

I have let ConceptDawg know.. so here's hoping that some help comes along..

RD come back through the black hole of Chromebook/LT disaster!

>140 richardderus:, going to join you.

>>>>>> 204mckait

PLEASE READ POST

AND post any suggestions for getting rd back in :)

Review: 42 of seventy-five

Title: WALKING YOUR OCTOPUS: A Guidebook to the Domesticated Cephalopod

Author: BRIAN KESINGER

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: A beautifully produced and richly illustrated book that showcases the day-to-day adventures of independent girl-about-town Victoria Psismall and her pet land octopus Otto. Thirty panoramic, full-page illustrations humorously chronicle the duo's home and social activities that include (among other things) bathing, biking, dating, cooking, playing croquet, and pumpkin carving. Accompanying text explains the "do"s and "don't"s of living with a large land octopus. The book's art is extremely detailed, and each illustration tells its own visual story. The Victorian era characters and period-influenced design elements combine to create a wonderful, collectible art-object for those who still value the classic elegance of ink-on-paper. The hardcover binding is plussed with two-layer embossing and spot varnish, and the interior is printed on extra heavy paper. An exquisite volume for lovers of books, art and pets.

My Review: I can't remember snickering, chortling, giggling, or smirking this much in a very long time. The absurdity of the premise is matched only by the beauty of the object.

"The adventurous spirit of the octopus is infectious. After spending time with them, you will find yourself attempting many activities that might have heretofore been out of range of one's more mundane lifestyle." This fronts a page showing Victoria, our intrepid octopus-adopter, attempting (with limited success) to ice-skate, supported by the smiling, multi-skated Otto the rescued octopus.

Inspired, divine steampunky-bizarro silliness. If the pictures don't make you smile, I'd tell you to unpucker and drink a G&T and then look again. If they still don't make you smile, apply for a sense of humor graft.

For no discernible reason and with no communication from Verizon, Google, or anyone else, I'm baaaaack!

So. On to the responses!

>197 mckait: It's not a bad story! It's a good story, like usual for Gaiman. Also like usual, nothing changes. But it's not at all a bad story.

>198 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! Thanks, I liked The Wasp Factory more than most did I suspect.

Ask Charles the Aussie (whenever he shows up) about the upside-downness...I just love the chance to make discoveries that bookstores like that afford me.

>199 Crazymamie: *smoochiesmoochsmooch* for my bestest pal ever! Thanks for the thumb.

>200 Chatterbox: I wonder what that person's damage was. He sounds like someone should have put him in custodial care a long time ago!

IKEA bookshelves = very very good idea. Cool weather is on the way! Another week or so, things get cooler.

Thumbed!
And of course on to the WL--in the sooner rather than later section.

My sympathies on your computer bobble.

Smooches and hugs to you, and a vat of g and t to actually help make you feel better.

>201 Matke: OIC *smooch* for darling Danvers...whose unreading due to stress is *completely* understandable.

>202 EBT1002: Thanks, Ellen! Stella sends multislurps.

It's only sterile until *I* get hold of it....

>203 mckait:, 204, 207 I wish I knew what had happened! But *piff*poof* here I am back again. Whatevs, it's all good now. But if it happens again I'm goin' straight back to Twitter and hollerin' up a storm. That's what seemed to do it this time.

>205 luvamystery65: I'm here at last. What an annoying passage that was!

>206 johnsimpson: I know, John, it looks so...inviting, like an exploring party would be lost in good order....

>210 Matke: I'm on my way downstairs to get the G&Ts now!

866-553-6674

Whoohoooo.. I'm glad you managed to get your Chromebook to grant you access to LT. Do you know what was wrong?

>208 richardderus: Just the idea of a land octopus makes me smile.

And now I want one.

>213 cameling: No, never heard from anyone except Google a few minutes ago. I did verify that it wasn't the Chromebook earlier. The old desktop, CM's laptop, and the tablet all wouldn't access just the one site, either. The FiOS people tweeted me after I left a rant on their feed, in fact two of their feeds, and about 2hrs later I'm back.

Hm.

Well, whatevs, it's back and that's good and NOW I have a Google Chrome number to call instead of going through email crap again.

>214 avidmom: It made me smile to the tune of $30. I'm not sorry, either!

Sunday's book porn!

All that's missing from that delightful book porn is a plate of BLT sandwiches, a cold bottle of beer and a bag of potato chips.

yeah.. the old #ComcastIsTheDevil thing on twitter gets me help every time.

Yay twitter... !

>217 cameling: And a few really good lamps. Love the BLT idea!

>218 mckait: Yay Twitter indeed! I think public embarrassment is the way to go.

Hi RD- Welcome back from NetherWorld! How was it? I know we were experiencing a Sad Vacancy here. the octopus book sounds like a blast.
I still can't get over you loving the new Gaiman. I could not stop grinning. What's next? Falling ass over elbow, over Oliver Twist?

It was grim. Grim and dark and cold. I hated it.

If I start yodeling praise, or even making approving reference to, Dickens, you will know it's not me at the keyboard. Alert the police, because a crime will need investigating.

Thanks for the warning. LOL.

Hey Richard, let's all give a hearty welcome to the new Doctor!

_

So excited about the new Doctor!

Richard, dear, I'm back and trying to catch up again. Sometimes it feels endless, ya know? Made you a pie if you'd like a slice or four.....

#224 - GIVE THAT TO ME. MINE.

Ooohhh Peter Capaldi as new Doctor, huh? I knew him many years ago in another life - he even came round to my apartment for lunch...very nice bloke and a very talented actor.

Oooh, I LIKE >216 richardderus:! Add a land octopus and it would be simply perfect.

226> Prue...very cool... I have no idea who is, and hope he's a good doctor..

mmm pie

Computer woes. I have a reputation at work as someone who loses her temper (and uses choice words loudly when computers don't function. Grrrr.

So, it's better now?

>222 msf59: It's more in the nature of insurance for me!

>223 ErisofDiscord: No. This is not a happy choice. And please may I be wrong. But I don't think I am.

>224 LauraBrook: Hi Laura! Oooo, what a nummers-looking pie...don't even care what kind of fruit is in it!

>225 ErisofDiscord: *arms Tazer to defend HIS pie*

>226 PrueGallagher: very cool! He's doubtless also kind to puppies and kitties. I don't think he's a good choice for the Doctor. May I be wrong.

>227 ronincats: Ha, me too Roni!

>228 mckait: I wonder what octofruit tastes like?

>229 EBT1002: For no evident reason, it's fine now. Since I've never heard from anyone I don't know what the chances are of a recurrence, either. Berry berry unnerbingg.

Happy Monday. No, really.

Ellen, I was at the teeny credit union a month or so ago, The printer wouldn't work... and I jokingly said ( what I say at work when electronics go awry .. ) I'll curse silently for you. She said, oh no! I always pray. um. ok.

rd... monday monday... I'm off to Walmart in about 20 min. Hoping for some fog to go away. I have a return and a thing or two I need, so I will get them there ...

hope your day is a good one!

Heh.

Thanks, dearest, I'm expecting it to be very good and quiet. Yay. *smooch*

Don't envy you the Walmart run. *shudder*

And now, from Lubbock, Texas, it's the Book Golem!

Hard to imagine.

Hey 75ers... rdear is unable to access LT!!!

AGAIN!

He is using a Chromebook.. and for 12 hours or more now.. he times out, but only when he tries to get o LT. IF anyone has any help available, look him up on FB if you are on FB or post here and I will pass the word.

I have let ConceptDawg know.. so here's hoping that some help comes along..

Loving that octo-pie from Laura in >224 LauraBrook:.

Hope your week is off to a good start, compadre.

Richard is going to blow up, and who could blame him?

We're waitin' for ya, Baby, whenever you get back.

Here I am. I have been tweeting with the Verizon person. I've still never heard a single peep from anyone at LT, which makes me shake my head in disgust.

I also don't have any idea WHY this happens so I have no confidence it won't happen again for no reason I can understand and at any moment.

If I'm missing for more than about 12hrs, find me on Facebook. Jeez. And not ONE WORD from LT nothing not even "fuck you very kindly it's not our problem."

That isn't good customer relations. I am very very very disappointed.

>236 richardderus: I'd never quite thought of it like that!

Indeed, very odd.

Break out the bubbly - I've caught up on my own thread.

177 (Roberta) 178 (Bekka) 180 (Richard) -- why I LOVE LT so stinkin' much. You guys just GET it! ;0)

Sorry you've had such a rough go of it lately getting in/on to LT, Richard.

I just started the Gaiman last night, so here's hoping I enjoy it more than you did. ;)

>243 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie, no small feat that. After a few days? Quite a large feat, in fact! *smooch*

>244 TinaV95: Hey there Mrs. Lisa! The explanatation that Seth, the sys admin, gave me, was that the ISP wasn't talking to my ISP for some technical reason, and that it should be over and done with. Nary a reason or an apology for a 24-hr silence.

Oh well. I'm here now.

It's been fun to watch, via Amazon Prime, the old James Bond movies I've missed over the years. During August, they have about 20 of them streaming for free, which is very nice. Today I watched Never Say Never Again from 1983. It was, well, Bond-like and so fun.

Hi RD- Just checking in. Sounds like you are still a bit sore. Sorry to hear that. How about a tumbler of fine single-malt and an ass-kicking novel? Hey, it works for me.

I'm even MORE ticked now. At 2147, I got a reply to my fourth or fifth tweet to LibraryThing from noon today saying what Seth finally told me via email.

NOTHING via Facebook is better than a tweet ten hours later. None of it makes me think my issue matters to the PTB. So what, it's Sunday (when the issue began), let's see what happens on Monday, maybe he'll shut up and go away.

I hope today is problem free not just internet wise, but in all ways... fingers crossed!

So far, no issues with Internet access to LT. Grateful for that.

interesting!

Bloody GENIUS.

OOOOOOOoooooooooo the coffee cubes look fabulous. Also all the daily book porn. And, well, all of it, very entertaining as always.

One thing I like to do is a coffee steam on my face after I pour into my drip coffee apparatus - I use the one where it sits for four minutes and then you just lift it onto your cup or container or whatever, place it there and then let it drip - kind of a perfect cross between the french press and the drip method. Best of both - plus steam opportunity. That certifies me a coffeehead, right?

And I am going to make some coffee cubes. Ola!

I'm having a wee bout of book hangover having finished The City & the City. Boo hoo.

Mornin' cuz...oh me oh my do I know what you mean about The City & the City! I loved that book. I wonder why I never reviewed it...? Must do that.

The coffee-cubes idea is stellar. I'm so embarrassed I never thought of it before!

Another fan here of The City & The City. Glad to hear you both liked it.

It's an amazing book, Joe. So original and imaginitive!

I have a Guest Post at SFSignal, a science fiction/fantasy/horror blog,about my Shelf Inflicted project the Jay Lake Pre-Mortem Read-a-thon. Please go give it a look. Lake's work is a pleasure, and I think we should say so before he says his final goodbyes.

There are many posts since I last visited. Naturally, I enjoy the book porn images.

Regarding Dr. Seuss books, The Sneeches on the Beaches is my favorite one of his.



Good Morning to you.

Hi Linda! Enjoying your time in Ohio? *smooch* thanks for coming by!

The Truth.

I saw this this morning.

I like that one, too!

The Book God is in an odd mood. I got two completely random books in the mail today, one from my Amazon wishlist with no card or wrapping or anything; and one small press book I'd never heard of, asked for, or particularly desired. __?__

Byzantium Endures, a Michael Moorcock novel from my wishlist, is the beginning of the Colonel Pyat Quartet. At least whoever decided to make me the gift started with the first one!

Q by Bill Lavender was unsolicited, from a press I've never heard of called "Trembling Pillow" ::eyeroll::, and bills itself as by a "Voltaire for our consumer society."

Really now.

Voltaire, good Mr. Lavender, lived in a consumer society to end all consumer societies. He lived in the aristocratic 18th century. They were the 1%. And you compare yourself to Voltaire based on belonging to a consumer society? Hmmm. I suspect this will end badly.

Subtract the cat and this looks like heaven.

Cool meme!



Mine was from Green by Jay Lake: "One is black for their sins and sorrows."

Well, don't that just sound like a toe-tapper.

Book porn!

The closest book to me is my kid's library copy of The Far Side Gallery 3.

My musical: "Headhunter hall closets"

Maybe not a sentence, but I'd buy tickets to that.

As long as they were cheap.

Ooh, that's some great book porn. *drool* Give me a fainting couch and a blanket and I'd never leave!

My apparent musical would be "a stick of the most amazing and fabulous and sensational gum in the world!" (from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

Yours sounds like a pip!

Loving the book porn (as usual!)

Not too sure that the musical thing works too well though. Mine is "purple as the inside of a mussel shell"

>266 avidmom: I like that one! I'd buy off-Broadway tickets to it.

>267 LauraBrook: That, and a drinks table.

...hmmm...take off "a stick of" and there's something to work with. Mine sounds like the grimmest and least fun kind of musical imaginable!

>268 calm: Hi calm! Actually, as an avante-garde kind of a show, that might work. All the characters' names are shades of purple, eg Lilac the maid, Periwinkle the butler, Lavender the ingenue, Mme Royal the villainess...

Brilliant Richard. Obviously I do not know enough about musicals and have no imagination:)

#263 I'll take it...cat and all.

>270 calm: Or I have too much time on my hands....

>271 laytonwoman3rd: You can have the cat. I'll take everything else. kthxbye

You DO remember that I have to give up coffee in 3 weeks or so, right?? What a brilliant idea that I DIDN'T need to see (coffee ice cubes with cream / milk / whatnot). Full report expected in drool-worthy detail please.

>264 richardderus: Mine is from South Riding by Winifred Holtby (don't ask why that was the nearest book):

"disdainful indignation"

I think they could come up with a show tune or two for that one.

And I'll take the cat!

sheesh

Farewell, Dorothy Parker by Ellen Meister

"Decades in Musty Rooms"

An upbeat cheery tour-de-force, featuring the Award winning romantic ballad, "Black Mold."

>273 TinaV95: It. Is. DIVINE. I zapped the milk, making it warmish, and then poured that over the espresso cubes, and shook it up. Latte slushy. DIVINE.

>274 EBT1002:, 275 "Disdainful Indignation: The Wedding Songs of Ellen & P"

You may have all the cats I am ever entitled to.

Well. A-heh. So. You see, it's like this. I, um, I got some books. The book I reported upthread, the Moorcock from my wishlist? It was joined by Life After Life. I got a phone call this evening and was informed by my ex that he'd sent them to me! Sweet.

I also got a gift/prize book from a Twitter contest I won: On the Noodle Road: From Beijing to Rome with Love and Pasta.

I also got a few other books. Just, you know, a few. Like maybe nine.

Ahhh! "Black Mold" that toe-tapper of a humalong. Love it, M'Lou!

Good morning Richard ... and something to get you over the morning crankiness :P

almost perfect book porn ;)


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>279 tigerlyly: CRANKY?!? WHO YOU CALLIN' CRANKY? I am simply inadequately caffeinated.



aaaaaaauuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I feel serenity flowing through me...no wait it's caffeine....

#264 From the collection manila noir, short story "The Devil Has Already Bought You" (which wouldn't be half bad as a musical title itself)...Cesar's deft hands. YIKES!

Morning RD- Just a mid-week check in! Love the lakeside photo. That will be me next week, up in the Northwoods. We are back to hot & humid here but it cools off tomorrow. Enjoy the day.

Good morning and good day to you... off to work in a bit....
OMMMMM

>281 laytonwoman3rd: Ohhhh myyyyyyyyyy, to quote Takei..."Cesar's Deft Hands: Being A Musical Entertainment on the Themes of Manila's Fleshpots" yyyyeeesss I see it...

>282 msf59: Hi Mark! We're expecting rain here, and it's cool. I am the Camper Happy! Have a good one, as it's the downhill slide to VACATION!!!

>283 mckait: It's a lovely moment of zen, isn't it. aaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuummmmmmmm

Richard, your bookporn is the best! x

Thank you, Diana! Glad to see you.

I agree with these, and add "babies laughing" and "dog-nails on wood floors."

> 287 Also, "MIL leaving".

And the coffee ice cubes are genius - why didn't I think of that. (Please don't state the obvious, dear.) I'm all caught up here, Richard, and I know you will love my musical title: ...he fell to his knees. That's from Kate Atkinson's One Good Turn.

208: Walking your Octopus sounds like a good 'un. But steam-punky???? Explain yourself.

224: LOVE the octupus pie!!!!!

279: I do like a fireplace. and wall to wall windows. And big leather armchairs with ottomans. (ottomans?)

Nine new shiny books? Hoorah and congratulations to you!

>288 Crazymamie: Ooo! Good one! And OOO! GOOD one! And same reason *I* didn't think of it by meself, so I got no reason to point fingers. *smooch*

>289 magicians_nephew: It's in the art. I'll show you in September. Such a bizarre little book.

>290 Whisper1: Hi Linda! Thanks, I errrmmm well I went a little overboard with happiness when the bank admitted their error. In my defense, they're all bargain books.

Bargain books are like the animals in our lives. They are to be loved unconditionally.

>292 Whisper1: Amen, sister lady! AMEN!



Why I left Austin in one simple graphic.

Richard, what happened while I was missing all the hubbub. You are on the 18th thread and Paul is on the 23rd... He is winning the title this year, but you still have time to make up lost time ;)

Quick, a nice , controversial topic... I was so looking forward to sink my "reading teeth" in your threads.

I am cranky in the morning, but hey I do believe you are all sunshine and smiles ;P

Any day I am not in a place where it's over 40C is a day to be wreathed in sunshine and smiles, Lyly. *smooch*

Some great book porn Mr D.

Thanks, John!

sunshine and smiles, eh?

interesting.

I've come in very late but I love that thread-topper, Richard. I've certainly had more than my fair share of book hangovers!

p.s. Do you know the name of the Australian bookshop you posted a pic of?