Richardderus 2013 thread 19

Book porn!

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 39-42...thread 18.

Books are reviewed in post:

43. The Wisdom of Ashes...#149.

44. Endurance...#176.

45. Below Zero...#269.

mine!

Errr, I mean, hello there, Richard!

Hi Richard! Nice new thread.....

Yo! This is very early for me to arrive at one of your new threads. Don't think I've ever popped in before you've got the place decorated before. Kinda spooky...

xoxo to you and Stella!

Hi Richard, my love! *hug and smooch* Hope you and Stella are doing well.

And here's a random gif, because I am a child of Tumblr.

RD- Congrats on the new thread! Love that book porn topper. Could you imagine having a room like that? And having some LT pals over? Ooooh, sweet!

Evening, Rdear. Nice new home.

Reading and enjoying it more, thanks to my inspiring friends at LT. 'Bout damned time, too.

>3 Ape: Hi Stephen! You get the First Place Medal!

I like the book porn, but it needs some comfy reading chairs with ottomans!

>4 EBT1002: Thanks, Ellen, it's fixed up now so it looks less horrifically NEW!!

>5 laytonwoman3rd: Hi Linda3rd! Yeah, it's unusual to see you around here in the top ten posts. Glad you're here, anytime!

>6 luvamystery65: Thank you, Roberta, and Stella sends happy panting slurps.

>7 ErisofDiscord: Smoochling! And you brought me a Wash GIF, even! "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal..."

>8 msf59: Hiya Mark! I can indeed imagine having a room like that. The other part of that sentence is all blurry...can't...quite....

>9 Matke: Howdy Danvers me deario...indeed, finally on the reading uptick. It's been a long haul, hasn't it?

>11 ronincats: How do, Roni. EVERY room needs comfy chairs and ottomans. (Ottomen?) Where there is one, there needs to be a brace.

Yep, this is more like it. And good book porn with which to top it off. Nicely done, Richard dear.

Ooooooh, pretty medal, I'll cherish it forever!

(Pssst, how much do you think I can scrap it for?)

=))
me thinks for at least few used books :P

Morning, dear! Nice new thread you got here, and I love the book porn. The interior decorator obviously is not a big reader. Luckily, it's easy to swap out that chair.

My musical (from last thread) is

"And still Germany is doing well." (Charmian Clift's book of essays).

A bit odd!

Love the writer stuff too from that ..... so sadly true.

>14 EBT1002: Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ellen! *smooch*

>15 Ape: Glad you like it, Stephen! Best to cherish it...it's bronze and silver. worth more as a medal than as metal.

>16 tigerlyly: Liliana! *smooch* How's Bucharest's weather? It was stinkin' hot last time we spoke.

>17 Crazymamie: Mamie me lurve! *smooch* Yeah, new chars are pretty much a given wherever I go. I have specific requirements. I don't like low or armless chairs. I don't like narrow or shallow chairs. I want a firmish cushion and backpad, an angled seating position, and an ottoman. I'd prefer that it not be beige/taupe/pongee/ecru/toast, which "color" makes the backs of my knees break out.

Other than that, let 'er rip!

>18 sibylline: "And Still Germany is Doing Well: The Holocaust Survivors' Lament, a Musical Entertainment"

Hey, "Sweeney Todd" was a huge hit....

Nice thread topper :) A bit on the dark and gloomy side, just as I like it.. agree it needs some soft spots though..

Another day.

Wish me luck

Hope your poor toe feels better...
Have pie.

Hi sweetness! Ye olde toe is healing fine, it was a lot worse before. Now I'm just annoyed as all get-out that LT disappears for an hour or so, then reappears, disappears for 10-20min...and I have no reason to expect that anyone will pay any attention to me in their offices, or apologize TO ME that my weekend issues weren't addressed in any kind of timely way, the social media posts were and to this good moment ARE unresponded to....

Any bacon buttys and coffee left?

That is the breakfast of champions!

Thanks! Is that for me?

rdear.. message @conceptDawg . He'll help!

>24 kidzdoc: Yep!

>25 mckait: No thanks. If I can't get on the site, how am I going to message him? Isn't he the one that responded to YOU when *I* was having the problems? I've heard nothing that makes me want to interact with them. No "sorry you're having trouble" no "our ISP agrees to contact or alert us when the bogon list throws up an alert" not even "is your problem solved?"

I routinely have unsatisfying-to-me interactions with officialdom here. I desire to stay under their radar. When I've offered opinions, I've been ignored or Zoe'd by the snotty element that doesn't really like the "social" part of this social medium.

If not for the 75ers, I'd blow this popstand and never look back.

*smooch* for this Thursday, rdear!

Hi Richard. What are you reading on this lovely Thursday?
*smooches* for you and Stella.

>27 LauraBrook: Hi Laura! *smooch* Happy to see you.

>28 EBT1002: I'm going back over Green by Jay Lake for today's review post on Shelf Inflicted. It's surprising to me that I don't hate it. It's a fantasy novel, and while it's not something I'm going to re-read, it's not bad at all. *smooch*

What an annoying day. 2x kicked off LT then mysteriously all is well again. Bureaucrats being extra obstructionist. Then my power cord gave out. I used the tablet for a while but that drove me insane. I macgyvered up a fix for the cord and ordered another one. Posts will be short, though, in case power outs.

power cords are the devil.

Aren't they. Still have the same powercord on the Asus netbook from 2009. When I opened this Chromebook, I could tell the cord wouldn't last. Six months, almost to the day. Yeccchhhh.

*waving* hello before I get too far behind on your thread again (I'm trying to get current after vacation). Hope your computer woes get fixed. I myself screwed up the network key somehow and had to call Comcast to walk me through how to set a new one. I haven't done much this evening, yet I'm exhausted. All I can hope is my housemates won't kill me by the time they've reset the password on all their wireless devices...

Good Morning, Your Un-crankiness!
(I know, i know...this is not a word, just made it up specially for you :P... I am in the romance novel phase, where present ugly reality disappears amid petticoats and broken/uplifted hearts of damsels in distress)

Weather is terrible in Bucharest. They say 94 degrees, but reality is more around 100-113 daily for the last week ... which makes electricity the most important miracle of modern life.

my book porn for today... and I really think with an ottoman, much more books and less fireplace space is my perfect room:


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Filling in with a little more book porn, since you're having so many difficulties with the technology lately:

>33 bell7: Hi Mary! Fortunately the computer itself is fully functional. The stupid powercord was flimsy and is clearly a sales-generator for the manufacturer and reseller.

HOW does one screw up the network key?! That is an impressive feat.

>34 tigerlyly: Hi Lyly! Love the book porn, would HATE Bucharest's weather. Sound hellishly like the American South.

The chairs being a dusty shade of heliotrope appeals to me, and I myownself like the fireplace. I'd want ottomen, and better reading lamps. And a drinks cart. And Perkins to serve and clean up.

>35 laytonwoman3rd: Linda3rd! Who knew you were such a porny gal! I love those stairs, and the bookshelves are amazing...finally a use for bookends...but what is WRONG with people?! Those pots on the ends of the BOOKshelves aren't supposed to be there.

How do you like your Chromebook, Richard? I'm in the market for a new computer.

Apart from the power cord, Nora, I am a fan. I have the Acer C7 model, bottom of the line, and find it the perfect size for me. The browser/OS is a titanic improvement over Windows, there is no such thing as a Chromium OS virus that I have heard of, and there are actual living breathing "Chrome Ninjas" (aka phone monkeys with some geekery in their souls) who can be reached toll free. If you buy one, I'll hand over the digits, they're hard to come by.

Any road, my experience has been a good one. Apart from this flimsy power cord!

Two items, a bacon story and a marvelous photo I stumbled upon, bless those busy bloggers!

The photo:


The other night at a music practice, we had a couple of types of chocolate on the table for fortifying ourselves and one of my friends reached for a chocolate bar asking, 'Is this the one with the espresso beans?' and we all said, "No." So she took a piece without looking at the wrapper and chomped on it and said, "MMMmmm, interesting, what kind is this?" Our host (whose wife had put it out on the table) said, "Bacon-flavored chocolate." Our poor friend paled and nearly choked. It was the first piece of 'meat' of any kind that had passed her lips in 30 years! She said, "Quick, I need some other chocolate," forgetting that was the espresso. The only thing our host could do was offer her some Jameson's which seemed to resolve the matter. Our little group is very friendly, but we've never dissolved into hysterical laughter before. After she had some Jameson's she said, "You know, actually, that chocolate was really delicious."

Happy Book Lovers' Day!

Well.. my next week is already destroyed because of Dan's schedule. I am so done. I make plans and either his schedule or mine destroys them. I am so done.

I need a new power cord, too.. although this one lasted months longer than is typical for the knock offs I've been buying.

So, you may be uncranky today.. but he I have taken over the job.

Hope your day is much better.....

>39 sibylline: OOO love that book porn! I found out how to copy images on the tablet and I don't want to do that again. The Chromebook, bless it, is charged up so I have about 2 hours of good internet time.

I think your friend's reaction to the bacon is simply perfect proof that bacon is the candy of meat. And Jameson's will make any problem better, but that is axiomatic anyway.

*smooch* for dear cuz, happy to see you!

>41 mckait: Well, UNcranky isn't exactly the right idea...more like annoyedly accepting the expenditure of money I didn't want to turn loose of on something that was designed inadequately to begin with. Plus it's Friday, so the usual things that crany me up are happening. Sigh.

Book Lover's Day - how perfect is that? Does that mean I get to lie around reading all day??????

Yeah... I forgot that your friday is opposite of my friday... sorry .
So with ya on the did not want to spend thing for the power cord... that's why I turned to knock offs.. if two brand cords lasted only a little longer than the knock offs, I might as well save 60$

>38 richardderus: Thanks for the info! I'm not sure the Chromebook hardware will do it for me (except the high-end model, but yikes! that's a lot of money) but I am very covetous of the OS.

Amen to Book Lovers Day....thanks for reminding us.

>43 sibylline: *badonk* Lucy herewith has Imperial Grand Pooh-Bah permission to spend Book Lovers' Day lounging about, reading, and is specifically prohibited from performing household slavery. Those duties are herewith transferred to the other people in her household.

>44 mckait: It's at least a pleasant, cloudy, breezy day. I don't even mind them coming, really, except it will rapidly degenerate into a stay-in-my-room-to-avoid-ill-will day.

>45 norabelle414: I am not a power-user of any tech device, so my requirements are modest. I don't play games, but I watch all my movies and TV shows on the computer, and it's fine for that. The OS is, within those parameters. stellar; Windows just, well, it's never been clearer to me why Windows is losing market share by the hour.

>46 tututhefirst: Happy happy, Tina! Glad to see you.

Book Lovers' Day. *gasp*
Awesome! XD

Happy Book Lovers Day indeed.

Spending some time with my darlings today.

Oh. Right. Like every other day.

Wishing you peace for your weekend.

>48 avidmom: I found it on Facebook and was entranced immediately!

>49 Matke: Not gonna happen, but the wish is most appreciated. *smooch* for darling Danvers.

Okay, lads and lassies! Here's the scoop.

My birthday is next month. My RL reading circle is going to visit me to discuss I, Claudius by Robert Graves on 21 Sept in celebration of the birthday. Anyone who would like to come and visit and discuss the book is welcome!

Gifts are not expected. At all.

Give me a PM and I'll give you directions. *smooch*

I have not read I Claudius, but watched the whole PBS series with Derek Jacobi when I was a kid, and loved it. That should be a good one to discuss.

Happy Friday!

>52 jnwelch: It will be a conversation piece, all right. It's such a wonderful story! I haven't read the book, well might as well not have since it's been 30-plus years, but the serial (almost 40 years since I saw that) sticks in my mind as terrific.

>53 norabelle414: Oh I love that mug! So very "me".

>40 richardderus: aaargh! I missed Book Lover's Day! Ah well, I am one all year around, so I get off from that one I think.

>51 richardderus: I'd love to, RD. Thanks. Unfortunately, I'll still be on crutches then, and plus, my airpoints go as far as getting me a magazine subscription only, and double plus.....when I DO visit I want you all to myself :)

So why do Fridays crany you up?

>55 LovingLit: Heh...cranKy me up, I left out a letter. I'm not ecstatic on Fridays, I suppose, because I don't go out to work.

I hope you'll be able to come to New York one day, Maudie, it would be so fun to meet you f2f at last!

>53 norabelle414: Love that mug! Me wants.

LT made some color changes again! Ack!!!

Happy Book Lovers Day!

Will you be coming to Texas this fall?

It's a classic, all right.

Happy dance re your pick. I was afraid you were going to opt for Clockwork Orange, which lotsa folks seem to want to read, but I don't! I, Claudius should be great fun. I've got a copy -- somewhere.

The introductory book porn pic is in desperate need of some squashy sofas and suchlike in order to be perfect.

I'd love to see the book porn kitted out with Ekornes chairs, Verilux lamps, and Perkins the Butler to fetch and carry the gin.

I didn't enjoy A Clockwork Orange, book or film. Too much work for too little reward. I, Claudius has the extra added bonus of being written by Robert Graves, whose poetry I can actually bear to read.

>56 richardderus: Heh...cranKy me up, I left out a letter.
lol- and I wasn't even winding you up! A thought it might have been one of those local words...I was just going along with it :)

So is your actual b'day on Sept 21? Mine is the 30th, just so you know. Still plenty of time to save up for that $1000 Amazon voucher I know you would love to give me ;)

No, my ACTUAL birthday is on the 14th. The $1K Ammy giftcard will be for the Monopoly Amazon, I fear, since that amount of money is, well, absent without leave from my bank accounts.

Happy Book Lovers day to you Sir!

Merci, chere madame. Le *smooch*

Hi RD- Yah, for Book Lover's Day! But honestly, isn't that every day for us? Hope the day went well.

Happy Saturday! Hope it goes by swiftly and smoothly!
At least there will be books :)

>66 msf59: Pretty much every day...ain't life grand?

>67 mckait: Thanks, sweetness. I'm expecting peace and quiet, as it's a beach day.

Early days at Amazon.

The famous Bezos Bike, eh?

RD... having finally gotten a computer up and running (3 of them in different states of disrepair-unworking) I was treated to this wonderment of culinary disgust from a friend. Since you are always so thoughtful about sharing gustatory extravagances with us, I thought I'd return the favor.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/disturbing-cakes-that-should-burn-in-hel...
This is just one of 26 beauties - I'll let you run the voting

The "head on a platter Cake"

Few days away and far too far behind. Congratulations on a spanking new thread (even 70 posts in) and thanks for more helpings of book porn and witticisms.

>70 mckait: Heh!

>71 tututhefirst: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!

>72 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul!

Ayuh. Me.

So, it's morning. tada!

It is indeed morning here on the American East Coast. I could *not* be more thrilled.

Book porn! From Book Lore in Canberra, Australia.

Hi Richard ... bit late checking into this latest instalment of coffee and book porn.

Hope your weekend is going as well as possible.

Thanks, calm! Sending good reading mojo your way.

coffee

It is a Good Thing.

I've finally posted my review of my April ER! I've read and enjoyed Alaska-set thriller THE RAVEN'S GIFT over here and on the book's page. One heckuva debut for Don Rearden! I was very excited reading about the Alaskan tundra as a chase venue.

Good review as always for a book that sounds chilling, but worthy...

Chilling (a-heh) it was, and worthy too. It was very welcome to read it while it was so durned hot! *smooch*

61:

A Clockwork Orange impressed the hell out of me when i read it back in the day.

Rereading now it seems like a lot of Burgess to be just smoke and mirrors.

I looked in on The Sirens of Titan my fav Vonnegut the other day and had the same reaction: Is that all there is?

Nice new thread, Richard. (Takes me awhile to catch up).

I am stuck here (cannot got to see grandbabies) until my new transmission comes in. Then I'll be without my van for a couple days.

I'm upset at having to spend so much to keep my wheels rolling, but I can't do without transportation.

Got my cleaning lady coming in tomorrow. That means I'd better do some cleaning today, in preparation.

Have a lovely day, and take heart...the weekend is nearly over.

>85 ronincats: Thanks, Roni! I suppose it's possible. Not overly likely, but possible.

>86 magicians_nephew: I am just not a fan of A Clockwork Orange. On first encounter, I found it pretty pretentious. I suspect the years won't have altered that judgment.

The Sirens of Titan, eh? It's not slated for a re-read any time soon, so I suspect it's safe in my ancient esteem.

At Shelf Inflicted, I continue my Jay Lake Pre-Mortem Readathon with the lucky number seven review: GREEN, first in a series of three told by the title character, Green.

Anyone who has paid the slightest attention to my thunderings on the subject knows how I feel about fantasy, majgickq, and teenagers. This is a book all about all three.

And I gave it a three-plus star review. See what I mean about lucky number seven?

Hey RD! Hope your Sunday is excellent so far. Mine's been good, including a good start to the J.K. Rowling mystery written under the pen name Robert Galbraith, The Cuckoo's Calling.

*smooches* from Horrible

Hey Horrible! *smooch* back

Nice review of The Raven's Gift, Richard. And a thumb from me to you.

Thank you, Darryl!

Do the words "fat and happy" sound familiar?

Book porn!

>69 richardderus: Early days at Amazon. Love it!

I read all things Vonnegut when I was a kid, and I loved Sirens of Titan, too. You and Jim have me thinking maybe I'll just leave it in that happy memory, without trying a re-read. Cat's Cradle was a big one for me, too. I wonder how it would hold up now? As a teen, our son loved Welcome to the Monkey House, and I did re-read that one with his fresh take in mind. It was pretty good.

It's always a danger to re-read the well-loved books from one's past...I don't think I want to revisit most of them at this point!

Hello Richard Dear. I have gotten so behind on threads. I was trying to catch up from 3 threads ago. I have been so so busy this summer. I love all the book porn. Sending Hugs and Smooches to you and Stella.

Hi Monica! Sending hugs and slurps back...summer is only a lazy season when we're kids, I've noticed, but it's hard to get past that memory.

Hi Richard... happy Thinganiversary (did I get it right, and what is it anyway??)

Great book porn... minus the clinical and seemingly uncomfortable couch... Would like a nice comfy, big one with some nice colored big pillows and a throw...

"Thingaversary" is the date on which one joined LibraryThing! Like a wedding anniversary without the miserable slogging toil of being married, or a birthday without the depressing reminder that one is tottering ever closer to death.

oh, my... i need to leave now so I can go and slit my wrists.

Dahrling !! (big eye lashes fluttering, afection in my throaty voice)....With age comes fun and wisdom.

I have to say, financially I am a wreck but i would not give my 40's for all the 20's in the world :P
(unless it would come with a brain transplant ;)

Monday is over-ish. Yay!

gotta go out in the sun for a wee bit..

Seven *smooches* for an early Happy Thingaversary! And one *smooch* to grow on. And Eight Lovely Books to celebrate!

Because heaven only knows what new surprises lie in store for tomorrow, where I'll be or whether a computer session will be in my futures, and heaven forbid that I should forget to acknowledge the occasion!

>102 tigerlyly: *evil Muttley laugh* Ah, the glory of being evil. *smooch*

>103 mckait: Overish is goodish, where Monday is concerned. Some porching will do you a power of good.

>104 tloeffler: Hi TLo! Thanks for the smooches. I'm quite well-fixed for books after my recent sprees. Smooches I always need!

HOW does one screw up the network key?! That is an impressive feat.

Well, since you asked... in my case, it was because I was trying to get into my computer settings and change the channel that the router and wireless extension were on (kind of like the old wireless phones?). I went about this without actually knowing what I was doing, and managed to change the network key from the 16 digit default password to an 8 digit password whilst mucking about in computery things over my head. I was able to access the network on my own laptop, and see that there was an 8 digit key, but had no way of finding out what it was. So I called Comcast and spoke with a customer service representative - who was slightly relieved, I think, that I could follow her directions - and used the router's IP address and an admin login to change the password to something we could all use. So every time we've used a different device (iPads, laptops, etc.), we've just had to take a minute to put in the new password. Crisis averted.

Oh, and the wireless extension? I did figure out how to go in and change the channel (turns out I needed the information I got from Comcast for that, anyhow). The extension worked for two days before flaking out again. I finally decided today to try unplugging it and plugging it back in. It's worked all afternoon and evening since (I just may have to do that again from time to time).

Hugs and smooches for the coming week, Darling Rdear.

>106 bell7: OIC

*fantods*

Never. Ever. Do that again. *smooch*

>107 Matke: Thanks most awfully, Danvers...should be a pip on current form.

Just in case I can't visit tomorrow here is a HAPPY THINGAVERSARY to you Sir!! XxOo

#95 - That may be my favorite book porn ever. I mean, I could truly imagine that being part of my house. If only....

Richard, given your passion for coffee, do you ever consider a short vacation to Seattle? :-)

And Happy Thingaversary!!! (I'm trusting Chelle on this one.)

happy 7th thinga, ducky. and for your librarythinga chuckle of the day, i offer you: The Two Ronnies - The Confusing Library

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGlN_EaEgPQ

*smooch*

Happy Thingaversary, Richard! x

>108 richardderus: hahaha, don't worry, I won't!

Happy Thingaversary to you! *smooch*

The twins and I wish you a Happy Thingaversary, Richard!

>111 mirrordrum: Oh, my, the two Ronnies...lovely way to start the morning!

Happy Thingaversary, Old Thing. Book yourself into your happy place, if you can.

HAPPY THINGAVERSARY!!!

Happy Thingaversary, Richard!

A Happy Thingaversary to you, RDear. And a happy one for us, as well--we get to enjoy all your booktalk, chatter, recipes, rants, humor--not a bad gift from you to your friends at LT.

>109 ChelleBearss: Thank you, Chelle, it's amazing that I've been around here for most of a decade. How did that happen?

>110 EBT1002: I know, right, Ellen? That one's doable, not simply aspirational. I am noodling the idea of relocating to Olympia, in fact. Reasonable cost of living, weather that doesn't make me whine and suffer two months a year...dunno how I'd swing it, though.

Thanks! Yeah, seven years here.

>111 mirrordrum: Thank you most kindly, Miss Ellie ma'am! That Youtube's adorable. *smoochiesmoochsmooch*

>112 wilkiec: Thank you, Diana! I can't believe it's seven years. How amazing that is. Sending hugs.

>113 bell7: Thanks, Mary, and I cannot express my relief that you're not planning to mess with the router's innards again. It's never unfixable, but it causes lots of headaches when it needs fixing.

>114 kidzdoc: HA!! What an adorable pair of cuties! Thank you, Darryl, that made me smile all over my face.

>115 laytonwoman3rd: It was a great way to start the morning, indeed. Giggling like a kid starts every day right. Thanks for the Tingaversary wishes!

>116 mckait: Thanks, sweetness! *smooch*

>117 jnwelch: Thank you, Joe, the chilaquiles were well timed...I do so love 'em.

>118 Matke: Thank you most kindly, Danvers darling. How sweetly you lie to me! *smooch*

Happy Thingaversary Richard. *smooches x 7*

So, when my bank told me I had more money than I thought I did because they screwed up, I decided to spend the freshly found funds on books.

I mean, if it was gone anyway, why not enjoy it?

Consider Phlebas
The Player of Games
Use of Weapons
The first three Culture novels. I've never read one, I don't think, or if I did I was drunk at the time and don't remember it. Which, if it happened between 1984-1997, is a real possibility.

Then for some reason I got Excession, which is #5 in the series, and it's a mass-market edition which I find very painful to hold. I wonder what I was thinking.

I Await the Devil's Coming, which is a memoir of a libertine lassie written back in the day when women weren't supposed to like sex. I'm always up for some salacious affronts to the prudery of the day.

Kalimpura
Endurance
Two more entries in the Jay Lake Pre-Mortem Read-a-thon. They finish out the chronicles of Green, which first volume Green I read and reviewed this past Sunday. But y'all knew that because you already went to Shelf inflicted and read my review, right? RIGHT?

The Long Ships because I totally succumbed to peer pressure and bought it.

City, an ancient Clifford Simak novel, because I loved it wildly in 1972 and wonder if I will now. It was 20 years old then, and it was clear that future wasn't going to happen; but the story appealed to me greatly.

I, Claudius for the 21 September book group (to which y'all're all invited! It's here at my house!) as I can't find the second copy of the book that's around here and Claudia needs to read the one we've got.

The Art of Comedy Writing because clearly I need help.

Riddle of the Sands because reading about muscular gay boys having sex with each other while spying on enemies and chasing criminals is a hoot and a holler.

The Daughters of Mars because someone recommended it, but because I'm the world's worst at noting who tells me about books, I can't remember. *sigh*

Good for you. Can't wait to see what you get when you win the lottery.

Also can't wait to hear what you think of City a second time around. I loved that one, too, and have often thought about re-reading it.

>122 calm: *giggles* calm! That tickles! Thanks for the Thingaversary wishes.

>123 richardderus: When I win the lottery, Joe, just look at this website and it will tell you what's on order.

Social SF from 60 years ago...how can that go bad...

The Art of Comedy Writing because clearly I need help.
Nuh uh.

Happy Thingaversary!

LOL! You'll need to buy an expansive book porn-ish set up to hold them all, which would be no hardship, I know. After all these years, mainly I remember Jenkins and those cool dogs in City.

>126 avidmom: Thank you for the (untrue) compliment, and the Thingaversary wishes! *smooch*

>127 jnwelch: *bubble machine* I would buy some land and build the most glorious library...

...and of course find someplace for the Tome Home.

It may have been me recommending The Daughters of Mars

I don't think Keneally has ever written a bad book. His Confederates is my favorite bar none Civil War fiction book

And he wrote a book about a theatre company in prison colony Australia The Playmaker that i read and re-read.

Don't even get me started on Schindlers Ark which is sometimes in American published as "Schindler's List".

>129 magicians_nephew: To you the credit, then! I have in the back of my mind the idea that I read The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith some long time ago, but can't call up a single detail. The movie is hazily in front of the book....

Happy Thingaversary!

Thank you, Nora!

Happy Thingaversary, dear! So, I have no idea if this is any good or not, but you have to admit that the label and the bottle are very cool.

Ooo Mamie, thanks! *smooch*

I finally got around to writing a review of THE LAST KASHMIRI ROSE on my blog, Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud, and on the book's page, but I just wasn't all that interested. Too bad, too. I wanted to be blown away!

Happy Thingaversary Mister! xoxo to you and Stella too. Does she get an extra treat today?

Great to see your disposable income has been suitably disposed dear fellow. Fine haul if I may say so and includes two favourites in I, Claudius and The Riddle of the Sands albeit that your synopsis for the latter is not exactly my recollection of it.
Please save some of that rum provided by Mamie for when I eventually make it stateside.

>136 luvamystery65: Thanks, Roberta! Stella got more schmoozles and treats than she knew what to do with. Like every day.

>137 PaulCranswick: Great heavens, Paul! This is NOT the Erskine Childers book! It's by a man called Geoffrey Knight and it's written such that, if it appeared through a wormhole in 1903 (the original's pub date), it would cause panic in the streets and miscarriages among the better class of woman.

What an interesting idea.

You came by my thread just minutes before I posted my response to The Shadow Speaker, Richard! A 2 hour nap has restored some sanity.

Morning is broken...no wait, morning has broken. Whatever. Another day another dollop.

never mind

I feel about a quarter turn off today. :P

>139 ronincats: I visited and commented, Roni.

>140 mckait: Yeah, well, at least it's cool here today, about 75F for the high. That's good news. Other than that, it's just another day.



That's my reading room, up on top of the tower. MY reading room. The floors below in the tower are the book stacks. Yep. That's how it is.

Old church made into something useful at last. But just imagine all that wasted wall space covered in BOOKSHELVES!

Rilly.

And happy belated Thinga to you!!

Waaay too tidy for me, but the wall color is great and I like the nook effect.

>142 richardderus: That may be my favorite one yet!

Nice Tome Home

E.T. Tome Home

>145 kidzdoc: It's a special one indeed, Darryl. I love the stained-glass windows!

>146 mckait: I agree.

>147 jnwelch: Your beating will be administered later, after I recover from that horrible pun.

Review: 43 of seventy-five

Title: WISDOM OF ASHES

Author: JONATHAN KLINE

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: The Wisdom of Ashes is a web of stories connecting two poets, a nun, a black and white dog, and a huge red balloon to a heroin addict, the devil, the dead, and a mousy little man in a woman’s wool overcoat, in New Orleans in the early 1980s. In 44 moments, this novel weaves light and dark, memory and forgetting, madness and war, with smell of jasmine and the sound of cicadas in a walk along the levee.

My Review: New Orleans looms large in my life. For years, I shared a carriage house as a vacation spot, one on the unfashionable side streets of the almost-Garden District. The heat, the humidity, the sheer moldiness of the place! And the exuberant criminality of it! Coming from Manhattan, where dishonesty and corruption wear Armani suits and ride in expensive cars, New Orleans was refreshing in its low-class hardscrabble "government" of thieves.

It's also a place unique in this country. It's a place unto itself. Most American cities are not unique, they're built from modules of interchangeable blandness. New York, Boston, San Francisco, New Orleans...they're different from any other place. And this book, in 100pp, sings the reader home to a hot, wet, complete ville that doesn't need you as much as you need it.

I went into the read looking forward to a taste of the New Orleans I remembered. By page 10, I wasn't tasting anything but Mississippi water as I submerged in the reality of New Orleans and its many many broken pieces that still knit together. The characters and the story are plain and simple true. I felt the rightness of the wrongheaded responses, true to the people I know in that place. I felt the hardness of the choices and the inflexibility of the lives the poor lead in the city of soft air and yielding, treacherous earth. Even the dead have houses, can't stay in the ground, and shouldn't the living get equal time?

Not the poor. Not the damaged, nor the wounded:

The old poet put the pint of gin in his coat pocket, happy to have finally made a decision. As he turned the corner past the cemetery he fingered the small cardboard box that held eight single-edge razor blades and thought, "I'd like to thank the academy without whom this suicide would not be necessary. I'd like to thank my esteemed collegiate colleagues for providing me with this opportunity to practice humility and non-attachment by stabbing me in the back." He could hear himself and started to laugh. "I am truly the ego-ass they say. 'You have a drinking problem, You're too hard on your little piss-ants. We are going to need you to wear a tie and a clean shirt' Let My Ego Go, pasty bitches. I won't be liberated from my gin-festered poems and the ghost hats of reason. If I had my way, I would smear blood on your faces whilereading your clean-cut poems, until you see they are too stale for even a mouse's meager meal."

New Orleans induces rage, or does it...is it merely so all-embracing, so willing to stick you in its muddy base layer that the enraged and the chronically displaced gravitate to it? Hot air without, hot air within? But Jonathan Kline doesn't care, doesn't draw that line for you. His characters and their divagations draw material arabesques in the particulate matter that New Orleans calls air:

He walked around the room looking at her things: books, Indonesian puppets, monogrammed bowling balls, a collage made of fireworks wrappers and the assemblage box. He could hear the shower as he peered into the box's tiny rooms. In one was a pile of string, in another rubber bands. There were seven bird skulls, a picture cut from a comic book, and a white candle in a red votive holder. The outside of the box was encrusted with tiny tin arms and legs and fifty-two bottle caps.

An inventory of quotidian objects, assembled means of connection disconnected from meaning, an art from artless manufactures. It's really The Wisdom of Ashes writ smaller than even the small size of the book.

Novels by poets are usually, in some way or another, as pointless as poetry itself is. Not this one. Pointed meditations on life are the usual stomping (and I use the word most literally) ground of the essayist. Not this time. Jonathan Kline takes New Orleans and its broken, beautifully ugly self, people, atmosphere, being, and he hands them to the reader in a beautiful package that costs fifteen dollars.

Spend the money. Spend the time.

This review first appeared on The Small Press Book Review.

Up the thumb on this one....it appears you thought highly thereof. Good nuf fer me.

Your dinner is ready, sir. One cheddar cheese cronut burger, cooked medium well, courtesy of your friends at the Guardian. The cost of the meal includes a free taxi ride to your nearest NHS cardiac cath lab.



Beyond the ramen burger: super unhealthy fast food – in pictures

>150 tututhefirst: Thanks, Tina! A very good book indeed.

>151 kidzdoc: OMG OMG ZOMG *slobberslurpdripdrool* That looks SO. VERY. GOOD.

My arteries shrieked in protest when I saw the photo as I skimmed my Facebook messages just now. They were much happier with the dinner I prepared: pork loin, corn on the cob, string beans, and Shiraz wine. Nothing fancy, but it was tasty nonetheless.

ETA: Another thumb for your review of The Wisdom of Ashes.

>153 kidzdoc: My arteries will just have to suck it up, I want THOSE! Pork loin and string beans sound fine, but as I am not a hog being fattened for slaughter, I decline to eat silage.

Thanks for the thumb!

Gak! at cronut burger :PPPPPPP

rd... look at your email.. I need an opinion!

Hey everybody!! Kath said I could have her cronut burger!!

Owl, shoulder.

K on books.

Disagree. I could eat corn on the cob until it's coming out of my ears.

probably not.. but I do like it..

and yes....you can have mine.

>157 kidzdoc: Ick. It's all glernschglurkledy. Eccchhh.

>158 mckait: It's so cute! Why not? Something bird-oriented, and that adorable expression! How can you resist?

cat

big one on celtic moon

maybe owl later? ankle

#123 - when my bank told me I had more money than I thought I did because they screwed up
Excellent! How rare to have that kind of mistake made In. Your. Favor.

And how absolutely wise (and probably predictable) that you spent the windfall on books.

#149 My copy of Wisdom of Ashes arrived in my mailbox today, and will be read most soonly. Thanks for pitching it so eloquently. I have applied a thumb where indicated.

Hello Richard - I am probably late now, but Happy Thingaversary anyway! And #95 - absolute heaven.

>160 mckait: Boo.

>161 EBT1002: It's never happened before, not since my first bank account opened in 1974. It was quite disorienting.

> 141 - Love that house! Admittedly, it is a bit of a 'fixer-upper' but it must have been pretty amazing when it was first built.

> 142 - Oh, is that the interior? Love a house that has quaint proportions when viewed from the outside and is suddenly a colossal mansion once you walk inside. ;-)

Not sure about the cronut burger, but it does look good.

Loved that review! I love the title too: The Wisdom of Ashes.

Well, then.. 46F this morning. Interesting and a bit nippy. Just as well... if I have to shovel gravel.
Not much happening here....hope this trend continues!

Are you feeling well today? The biggest ouchies settling down?

a Cronut Burger?????

No Cheddar cheese?

Cronuts in New York are still a rarity - one place makes them and they sell out quickly every morning. (There is even a curious cronut "aftermarket" and cronut "scalpers" incroyable)

Gobsmacked by that photo. Just smacked in the ol' gob.

Great review, Mr. D. Thumbled.

>165 lkernagh: It is a total fixer-upper, but it's a beauty for all that; would that the interior matched that exterior! I'll eat your cronut bacon cheeseburger and tell you how it was, k? And Hi Lori!

>166 avidmom: Thank you! I'm pretty sure you'd like the book, too.

>167 mckait: It was only 50 here this morning, which I *adored*! My toe is healing up nicely, not much pain beyond the standard being-me pains. Just dreading tomorrow. So not fun.

>168 magicians_nephew: I'm pretty sure there was cheese on there. Burger sans cheese is burger sans point, IMO.

What amazes me is that the darn things are so easy to macgyver up in your own home! A tube of crescent rolls, a rolling pin, a bottle of corn oil, and some powdered sugar. Putting pudding in the middle is trivially easy...make it with half the milk. Voila, a fake-but-yummy cronut!

Which picture causes your god to feel smacked, Jim?

>169 jnwelch: Thank you, Joe! It's a terrific little book.



Sunshiney, breezy, lovely days make me want to soodle my time away!

Today is definitely a day to soodle about a bit, probably with my pups, two at a time. They are pro's at soodling, I tell you. I wanted to drop by to tell you that I am absolutely obsessed and in love with Rum Raisin ice cream, which I would never have even tried if it were not for your many comments on how good it is. It is indeed, my favorite brand being Friendly's at the moment. I don't see many exotic brands around here so it was really only between Friendly's and Turkey Hill, but TH lost hands down to Friendly's sweet creaminess and chewy, rummy raisins. Yum Yum! I eat a bowl every day and it DOES help my happiness quotient, if I do say so myself. Thanks for putting the idea in my head, and eventually in my mouth. Yesterday, as I was eating my daily mug of Rum Raisin, my husband chuckled and said,"It's not going to run away from you, Hon." I was clutching the mug right below my mouth and spooning the yum in. I just murmured, "Umm, yeah, mmmm. I love it." As he shook his head and ate his healthy, boring yogurt. Thank you, Richard. One of my favorite discoveries of 2013.Rum Raisin Ice Cream!

In August, in the Deep South, everyone soodles. LOVED your review of The Wisdom of Ashes - thumb for you, dear.

>172 mmignano11: Hi Mary Beth! I am so so so pleased to know I've made an addict a convert to Rum Raisin Land! It really is the emperor of ice creams. And what would a yogurt-slurper know, anyway, right? Sending hugs!

>173 Crazymamie: Thank you, Mamie! I'm happy to know you liked it. I think the book would appeal to you, too, plus it's a good short read at 100pp. *smooch* for stopping in!

I thought so, too, Richard - I added it to my WL.

Review: 44 of seventy-five

Rating: 3.75* of five

New Review! I'm continuing my Jay Lake Pre-Mortem Readathon at Shelf Inflicted with the second Green Universe book, ENDURANCE--and it's even better than GREEN was! This man is clearly a sorcerer to make me, misogynstic anti-fantasy me, like these books.

There can be no other explanation. Dark arts and malign spirits must be involved.

>171 richardderus: Oh, I love this one. It's, like, my favorite thing ever. Can I have it? How much is it? I'm going to soodle around for a while now.

Oh I like the idea of soodling, I'm quite good at it. One can sort of soodle through a bookstore, no?????

>177 jnwelch:, 178 Soodle away, y'all! The dog and I just came in from soodling around the block. A perfect summer afternoon it is, too. 79F, 60% humidity, and sunshiney and breezy. Gorgeous!!

I soodled 'round the Courthouse Square at lunchtime...delightful. Many other office denizens ventured out to do the same.

Ah, soodlin' weather. It's so wonderful while it lasts!

Hi RD- Happy Belated Thingaversary! Hope all is well in your world. Another Big Thumb for The Wisdom of Ashes. That sounds terrific. I FINALLY picked up a library copy of Volt. I know that's one you and Joe, especially revered.
I also have Greetings From Jamaica to get to. You guys sure keep a person busy!

ETA- I HATE this new color scheme on the posts. WTF!

>182 msf59: Hi Mark! Thanks for the thumb, it's a good little book. OMIGOSH I cannot wait for you to read Volt! Alan Heathcock is a new deity in my story pantheon.

Heh...Mari SanGiovanni should keep you chuckling. She's got the right degree of straight(!)-faced silliness to sell the slight story she's telling.

I have to agree with Darryl way up there--I could also eat good corn on the cob until it comes out of Darryl's ears. Not the tough stuff, but the tiny crispy kernels--TDF!

>184 tloeffler: Exactly, TLo, To Die From!

I almost bought corn on the cob from the farm market today, but passed. Almost passed out. I had a woozy moment or two... still feel weird .. whatever. Nothing some ice cream can't fix. Now to find out if we have some.

Bought tomatoes, peppers and onions.. cilantro too! Guess what I'm after making :)

>186 mckait: Veal cordon bleu!

Ice cream fixes almost everything.

Watched Live and Let Die on Amazon. Wow. Forty years later, it looks really really nasty, superultramega racist, and almost terrifyingly old..."INTRODUCING JANE SEYMOUR" in the credits about did me in. Her big big break was as a tarot reader who loses her powers when she loses her virginity to James Bond.

Plus Roger Moore in a powder-blue loser suit with a white belt. *gaaak*

Hey, hey, hey. I had one of those powder blue suits. Of course, I was 12 when I got it...

:)

I had a powder-blue leather jacket in 1972. I went to senior prom in a blue-jeans suit, a dark green shirt, and a silver-and-green tie. Driving a 1977 Gremlin X.

Blessedly, there no longer exists photographic evidence of same.

Hi Richard, trying to stay caught up.

Hi Kerry! Good lawsy me, there is no such animal as "caught up" me deario. That 'toon is hilarious!

Soodlin' through to say howdy.

Well, I know that friday isn't quite the same relief for you, but I hope your day is a peacful one and I hope your weekend included meatloaf.

And mashed potatoes. With caramelized onions. And gravy.

#190 Heh that is always me in front of bookshelves! And I definitely soodle while I am perusing!

Checked out a new to me used bookstore yesterday and only came away with two (!) books....I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of choices and did not have my WL with me. Tragic.

It's Friday. Yay. Whee.

No meatloaf. Probably chicken. It's what *others* like.

Ah, great day for soodling. Happies to you and Stella.

>197 jnwelch: Unlikely, Joe, but the wishes are appreciated.

Bureaucracy! Arrrgh!!

Shhring your dislike of bureaucracy ... hope you get some good things coming your way this weekend :)

I'll settle for not being pissed off. More than I already am.

Thought-provoking meme....

I've tried to do this one before and I always get totally overwhelmed! Have you figured yours out??

I just tried, have 6 written down and 2 crossed out. Looked at my author's cloud and then became overwhelmed.....

Hallo RD! *smoochies* from your own Horrible

It changes, cuz, every time I do it! I can't settle on just one. Never could, too many people write interesting books all the time.

A few are standards because I really, really want to know them: Anthony Trollope. Lady Murasaki. Austin Tappan Wright. But then there are so many whose work I have, at that moment, become interested in. Eight people around a dinner table. Make it count. *eep*

Thought provoking meme indeed RD.
4 guys and 4 gals I suppose
The three guys Somerset Maugham, Oscar Wilde and your mate Chuckles.
The four gals Caroline Blackwood, Jhumpa Lahiri, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Daphne du Maurier.
Somerset and Oscar would probably pair off leaving the field to Charlie and I.

Have a great weekend.

> 202 - By 'fictional people' do you mean characters in books?

>207 lkernagh: Sure.

Thanks to Lori for that catch. I totally read it as authors for some reason.

1. Elizabeth Bennett (Pride & Prejudice)
2. Ralph Touchett (The Portrait of a Lady)
3. Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables)
4. Tom Sawyer (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer)
5. Scarlett O'Hara (Gone with the Wind)
6. Ruth Galloway (Elly Griffiths mystery series)
7. Jackson Brodie (Kate Atkinson's series)
8. me

Ask me tomorrow and I'll give you a different answer!

So, the Kindle editions of the Jay Lake books are too expensive, but the library has 10 of his books. Which one should I start with, in your opinion?

Pinion
Green
Endurance
Mainspring
Kalimpura
Escapement
Rocket Science
Dogs in the Moonlight
Trial of Flowers
Madness of Flowers
The Sky that Wraps

OMG now I feel a proper chump. Comes with speed reading and not paying attention and the excitement of getting rid of SWMBO going on holiday for a goodly while.
Let me try again:

Harry Hole
Bertie Wooster
Gandalf
Yours Truly
Pussy Galore
Lara Feodorovna Guishar
Eustacia Vye
Laura Fairlie

Oh, I want Bertie Wooster, too!

> 209 - Fictional is easier than authors, for me anyways! ;-)

>210 ronincats: & 211 - Bertie Wooster would make the best dinner guest!

>202 richardderus: - Based on only the books I have read in 2013 - narrowing the field considerably - I would invite the following:

1. Morpheus, the Dream King (from Neil Gaiman's The Sandman series) - Can discuss philosophy, mythology, history and pretty much everything else under the sun with this guy, which makes him interesting even though he can be a bit moody and aloof at times.
2. Lady Susan Vernon (from Jane Austin's Lady Susan) - Sometimes a snarky, vain, ambitious, husband seeking female is what you need as a dinner guest to keep things lively.
3. Augustus McCrae (from Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove) - Yes, I have placed the husband seeker right beside a womanizer with confirmed commitment issues! He is well read and has some really interesting viewpoints that will keep the conversation going. Augustus, like Morpheus, will have his own ways of keeping Lady Susan in check.
4. Lady Jane (from Charles Finch's A Death in Small Hours) - Decided I needed to add a female guest skilled in social diplomacy of manners and whatnot who can still hold her own in discussions over the course of the evening. Augustus won't be able to work his charms on her.... he will have to settle for intelligent conversation.
5. Will Laurence (from Naomi Novik's Temeraire series) - A man of military bearing and social standing is a must at any formal gathering!
6. Alexia Tarabotti/ Lady Woolsley (from Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series) - She is far from tactful but at least she has enough breadth of knowledge to join in most of the conversations.
7. Edmond Dantes (from Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo - Seriously, the man is the most fascinating character I have come across in a long time now, which is why he has been seated beside me.

>95 richardderus: yes, yes. YES. YES!! YES
I'll take it!
And yes, I am actually that far behind.

Oh, and RD- I just read your answer to my question on my thread (about your birthday) and then I come here woefully late, and read that you have provided the info already. Sorry for making you repeat yourself.
I wont lie and say that I have read all 150-something posts since I was last here. As much as I want to. But I hope you have lotsa takers for your birthday book club, so cool. You know I'd be in with a grin given half a chance. (what is RD really like?....)

>211 PaulCranswick: Pussy Galore!! lol

Fictional characters are so hard. I cant even think of one right now! (what is with that!!?)

*thinks*

OK, so if they are fictional, and dead or alive.....isn't that cancelling each prerequisite out? Are we talking authors here like the talk leads me to believe, or any fictional character?

*keeps thinking*

I'll have to get back to you :)

Eta: a lot of text disappeared due to a wayward

>209 katiekrug: I'll give a different answer every time I'm asked!
1. La Bennet will figure prominently on many a list, I'll wager.
2. Interesting choice. He is a kindly, jolly old cripple, ain't he?
3. No comment.
4. NO comment!
5. Hahahaha no one else would get a word in edgewise!
6. Huh! Fancy that.
7. See above.
8. Oh gawd, who asked *her*?

>210 ronincats: Definitely recommend starting with Mainspring, then if that pleases reading Escapement and Pinion. An alternate universe I think would be *fascinating* to explore!

If it isn't quite what you want, read Green, then Endurance, then Kalimpura. First-person narratives of a character who grows and changes in a very believable way, facing very exciting challenges.

Trial of Flowers and Madness of Flowers are more traditional fantasy narratives. They're good books, the City Imperishable is very interesting (Constantinople c.1200), and Bijaz the dwarf is a part Peter Dinklage should play in a movie.

Rocket Science is his first published novel, and it's amusing yet slight.

Dogs in the Moonlight and The Sky That Wraps are collections of short fiction, so I have no opinion. I don't know much about Lake's short fiction.

Hope that helps!

aaa, great game...
let's see

1. Lestat - Anne Rice
2. Edmond Dantes - yes, definetly a very interesting person
3. Ulisses - the king from Iliades. You have to meet a guy who is fighting hell and Earth to come home to his wife.
4. Scarlett O'Hara - the "Material Girl" I idolized all my childhood and teenage years
5. Elizabeth Bennet
6. Temperance Brennan - from "Bones" the TV show not the books. Just imagining her interact with a vampire it is a treat.
7. Winnetou - another man that shaped my childhood. I used to visit him every summer.

This was harder than I thought. Too many to choose from.
I would be on my feet, fussing over them and making sure they have a great time.

Now I am missing these books, wish I would have them all on my nightstand.

Now really Paul, it's a meme. This isn't brain surgery! Either way it makes us think about our reading from a different angle.

1. I can't get past the name.
2. Ha! EXCELLENT choice, since Jeeves won't be far away.
3. ...!...
4. Oh, him.
5. I can't get past the name.
6. Lara! She of the Theme! Awww, that's so sweet. No one thinks of her all that much.
7. EUSTACIA VYE?!? Oh, you mean Catherine Zeta-Jones. Ah.
8. I assume you mean La Seagrove, your homeslice from KL. Poor lassie.

>212 katiekrug: Revising the guest list could be a full time occupation, I suspect.

>213 lkernagh: 1. That sounds like fun!
2. Her presence could only liven things up.
3. That's the best way to get the conversational ball rolling, I think.
4. Haven't read the book, and don't know the lady, but that role is one that needs filling.
5. And a fine choice indeed! His chivalric nature will balance Morpheus' solipsism and McCrae's self-importance.
6. Haven't read, can't speak, but she sounds interesting.
7. Don't nobody say nothin' about Chateau d'If!
8. And of course, our hostess. What's for dinner?

1. China Bayles ( Susan Wittig Albert, author / China Bayles series ) lots to learn about herbs!
2. Dr Anne ( Mary Doria Russell, author / The Sparrow )
3. Revka ( Alice Hoffman author / Dovekeepers )
4. Marie Babineau ( Ami MacKay, author / Birth House )
5. Ruby ( author Mary Summer Rain / Ruby ) ( can never find T-stone
6. Jilly ( Author Charles de Lint from Newford series
7. Coyote ( author Charles de Lint Someplace To Be Flying ( Newford ))

I would want to sit between Revka and China ... and the others can seat themselves :)

>214 LovingLit: Hiya Maudie! The only hard-and-fast rule for the game is there can only be 7 guests plus you. No other parameter is set for you.

Oh dear, wayward technology. Yikes.

Can I add that I would want to have the dinner at Merlotte's ?

>217 tigerlyly: Isn't it a fun game? I'm not sure but what some book-industry genius didn't think it up to get people out buying books!

1. Lestat! So you don't mind *being* dinner, eh?
2. Bit of a one-note conversationalist, though it would be interesting to draw him out.
3. Seems to me he was more taking the long way home, but that's just my bitter, cynical way.
4. Fiddle-dee-dee!
5. She's a hard one to resist having, indeed.
6. I'm clueless, so I'll just nod and smile.
7. I had to google Winnetou. I've never heard of Karl May or Winnetou before! Drat you, Liliana! Lucky thing you live in Bucharest or you'd get such a singer-shaking!

It's very hard, I agree. How we read should be as careful as how we invite people to share our food.

>220 mckait:, 222 Oh what a great idea! Where the dinner is held is a great addition!

1. Plus China's a very savvy listener. Excellent.
2. *sniff* Yes. *waaah*
3. Clueless me.
4. See above.
5. And again.
6. Who?
7. Is Coyote a male character? Somehow I don't associate the name with a female.
8. And our hostess will have some air salad to start, with a lovely glass of tap water, then a hearty serving of dustbunny cutlets, and some *gag* angel food for dessert. Dieting!

*smooch*

I'm not dieting. Not any more. I'm eating differently. And it's a special dinner so there will be three desserts to choose rrom, one lemon, one chocolate and one apple/ cinnamon ... somethings.

Dinner will start with... dunno. But I assure you that there will be gravy, mashed potatoes and gravy. Stuffing, too. It might be turkey, pork chops or just fried chicken with stuffing on the side !

There will be Meade

Merlotte's as catered by the Maple? It sounds good'n'hearty to me, and I'll have a triple helping of stuffing with my pork chops.

I made a pork loin last night...stuffed with garlic, roasted in wine with fennel and thyme. Very tasty.

I made the pulled pork with a loin. Leaner. And the vinegar, garlic and hot sauce, sauce.And no... Merlotte's can really pull it out when necessary, you know...

Lafayette makes that burger sauce. Ooo. Now I want a burger!

I prefer to think of Lafayette as alive and cooking, too... like in the tv series. I am rather attached to him.

I mix'n'match from True Blood and the Harris Sookieverse, too. What a creation! Supports two divergent, equally entertaining, lines of development. Harris is a wizard, clearly.

Morning RD! How are you on this fine morning? I loved your thoughts on Live and Let Die! I can imagine that one not holding up very well. I remember seeing that one at the show as a kid and probably being quite taken with Miss Seymour!

I agree. I am missing those folks. Maybe I should reread all of the books? I keep thinking I would like to buy myself a set of the books, but I won't let me. I think the series nailed the characters so well!
I saved season 5 for watching when Dan is away.

>231 msf59: That's not the peak of the Bond franchise, for sure. I liked Roger Moore as The Saint and did NOT like him as Bond at all. Too smarmy, too nudge-nudge wink-wink Liberace does macho for me.

Perfect weather! Perfect! Vacations should always be like that. It's 72F and sunny with a pleasant breeze now. Just heavenly.

>232 mckait: A sensible move. Then season 6 on the wicked pirate sites, I predict. BUT I DON'T ENCOURAGE YOU TO BECAUSE IT'S WRONG!

As if I would do that....

Good Saturday morning, Richard. I'm finally set with new eyes, and some reading glasses. These are not the ones I'll get after the eyes settle down, but the will do for now. I am able to read, in small stretches, and I am back to working full tilt to fix the house up so I can put her on the market.

Today a man is coming to pressure wash the north wall which has turned green with pacific northwest coast constant dampness; and he will mow the lawn and do some weeding. I'll pick up dog poop, and work on the inside. And so that is "how I roll" right now. I am within pages of finishing my ER book about the eccentric woman who spent the last decades of her life in a hospital, all while spending her considerable fortune maintaining multiple residences which were never (NEVER!) used. Sigh. I guess it is "interesting" but really the more I read of it the more sad I feel for her, and for all the waste.

Then, I'll pick up Sarah Turnbull's book about living in Tahiti. I read her book Almost French and enjoyed it, so I expect this too will be fun.

I hope the weather is not bedeviling you these days. And that you are able to spend all the time you want reading, and writing about reading!

>234 mckait: Oh good. I'm so pleased you're a good little consumebot. Like me. *polishes halo*

>235 maggie1944: Her life sounds grim, doesn't it? Poor thing. Poor rich thing. *sigh* I'd love to have those problems.

So so so glad you're in the reading ranks again, Karen44, it's too awful to think of such a passion being denied by one's body malfunctioning. I don't think I've ever read any of Turnbull's work. I'll look forward to your review!

Beautiful day here, I love the late summer/early fall transition time.

Yup! Autumn is a wonderful time of year here, too!

Oh, I LOVE that meme! SO, I would choose seven fictional sleuths and the topic of conversation would be how to plan the perfect murder. Just in case, you know, the Beast From Beyond the Pale decides to visit and stay longer.

>237 maggie1944: I hope one day to find out.

>238 Crazymamie: HA! What an excellent use of your time...let's see, have to have Sherlock for forensics...Miss Marple would be invaluable for the little "tells"...

Oh, my God!!!... let me pick up my tongue off the floor.
How can you not hear of Winnetou!!!
Karl May is one of the classics, at least in Europe he is veneered as much as Verne, Dumas & Son, Zevaco and many other.

Winnetou is a wonderful, exotic, vibrant character. Old Shatterhand is the epitome of what we - snobby europeans - believe of the american spirit - investigative, naive and good, generous, honest and overall ready for any adventure and fighting for justice.

I miss some emoticons here ... Imagine me slapping my forehead in disbelief and horror ;)

Lestat would be in his best behaviour and he already is off human blood anyway :P

Temperance Brennan - genial and brilliant scientist, anthropologist at the Smithsonian, social inept because of an acerbate matter-of-fact view of the world, murder solving consultant for FBI on cases where cadavers are bones only. A dramatic "Sheldon Cooper" with heart and soul.

I need to think of a menu, something for each nationality, some warm calf blood for my handsome tormented vamp but definitely with a lot of Romanian dishes.
You would love them...

Jeez, what a challenging one that is about the fictional characters you'd have at a dinner table!

Some characters I like are too action oriented, and would just be impatient at a dinner table, like Jack Reacher and Eve Dallas. Some characters I like would potentially cast a pall over any dinner, like Lisbeth Salander and Neil Gaiman's Death from the Sandman books. So I tried to think of ones who like to talk and would enjoy a dinner like this. Here goes.

1. Lizzie Bennet Pride and Prejudice
2. Doc Ricketts Cannery Row
3. Maddie Code Name Verity
4. Easy Rawlins Walter Mosley series
5. Cordelia Vorkosigan Lois McMaster Bujold series
6. Dr. Siri Paiboun Colin Cotterill series
7. Precious Ramotswe Alexander McCall Smith series

If they were fictional characters, I'd invite Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Melissa McCarthy to the after dinner party. That would be lively!

man, did I forgot Cordelia... what a great choice.

>240 tigerlyly: Karl May died in 1912, and I am a good deal younger than that...his books probably weren't still on library shelves when I was book-shopping them. Interesting that he's still read!

>242 tigerlyly: Isn't that a great choice?!

>241 jnwelch: I can't imagine wanting to sit in a room with Lisbeth Salander...goodness knows what damage she'd enact. And I can see the lack-of-appeal for Reacher, too. *shiver* What would he talk about that wouldn't put everyone off their feed?

1. Conversation would *not* be dull at table with Miss Bennet there.
2. What a great dining companion for Miss Bennet, too!
3. Haven't read, can't speak, but my niece's name is Maddie!
4. Thank goodness it's not Leonid what's-it.
5. INSPIRED! Love the choice!
6. Couldn't agree more! I don't speak Lao, so someone will have to translate for me....
7. Heh. She's bound to make a good guest, she's a good listener.

My 7 fictional characters would be Jesse Stone (from the Robert B. Parker series), Dr. Richard Burke (Monica's opthamologist love from "Friends"), Frank Regan (from "Blue Bloods"), and four other people whom I will totally ignore. And yes, I know they are all really just Tom Selleck. It's my fantasy, and anyway I don't need a whole lot of conversation at dinner. He can tell me where he buys his socks or something.

You are wrong about Lisbeth Salander - she probably will just be quiet, observing everybody talking and interacting whith each other while she would just fade in the background.
if a fight/cataclysm /robbery would erupt ... well, that that would be just the perfect time for her to show how strong she is.

I refused to watch the water down/glamour faces Hollywood version of the movie and I am sorry I did not read the books, but the Swedish movie adaptations captivated me and I still believe they are some of the best I saw in the last few years.

Btw, I just saw The Croods this week. I could not stop laughing. Great movie.

>245 laytonwoman3rd: Dinner with Tom Selleck, check!

>246 tigerlyly: It's the quiet ones that decompensate suddenly and then all hell breaks loose. Yuck on the movies, barf on the books, that character and how she came to be how she is repels me.

The Croods? Okay then.

Oh dear. I made a mistake. I opened my newly arrived reading copy of I, Claudius. See y'all on Monday.

Thanks, Richard. I just put Mainspring on hold, so one of the system's 5 copies should wend itself to me in a week.

I'm back from hols drive by smoochies *Muah!*

Wonderful review up above.

I'm estimating a monthly dinner with a continuously changing guest list. The perfect character from one dinner could ruin another. Care must be taken.

>248 richardderus: ha! You fell into that trap head first.
See you ....later in the in the week when hopefully the medication will inspire some fictional character dinner plans.

Ahhh tough one Richard.

1. Ursula Todd Life After Life - Kate Atkinson
2. Paul Baumer All Quiet on the Western Front
3. Ruth Zardo - Louise Penny books
4. Emmeline Lucas Queen Lucia
5. Signora Madeline Vesey Neroni - Barchester Towers
6. Konstantin "Kostya" Dmitrievich Levin - Anna Karenina
7. Sydney Carton - A Tale of Two Cities

I definitely would want Ruth, Queen Lucia and the Signora setting near each other just to see the fireworks fly. I'm sorry, but I had to include someone from Dickens. I mean really.

>249 ronincats: Good, I hope it works out for you...I so enjoyed the book.

>250 BekkaJo: *smoochiesmoochsmooch* Where are the pictures?

>251 Matke: Thanks, Danny! Which one? I think a monthly dinner sounds like a plan. Who's in your first month?

>252 LovingLit: Didn't I just...I came up for air. I love this book.

Tomorrow the last foot surgery!! I can't wait for your six weeks of inconvenience to be over.

>253 brenzi: Cross-posted, sorry Bonnie.

1. I think her perspective could be intriguing.
2. Depressing man.
3. Ha! No way things could get boring now!
4. Ha! And again Ha!
5. Do we leave her on the couch, or use a modern chair?
6. Levin! Hmmm.
7. *note to self: bring port-a-guillotine to Bonnie's party*

Book porn!

I'm loving everyone's choices about whom to share a meal with. I think I would like to add Atticus Finch to the dinner table (and, yes, it would help if he looked like Gregory Peck but even so...).

#254 Prepping as I type :) Kiddie sunshine pics eta half an hour on my thread!

good morning :)

some book porn to get you going :)... Have to take 2 tests today for a new job so wish me luck


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>257 EBT1002: Okay, Atticus Finch...now who else? It's a hard thing to do properly, this meme.

>258 BekkaJo: OOO I'll run over now and look!

>259 tigerlyly: *luckluckluck* And that's a nice bit of book porn, indeed!

Morning RD! Hope you have a nice day planned. I don t have time to come up with a fictional character list but I love the idea of Dr Siri and I would love to sit down with Jack Taylor from the Bruen series, although I hope he would be on the wagon at the time.

Hi Mark! Happy Sunday! Yeah, Dr. Siri would have to be on my list, too. I haven't read the Bruens, so have no opinion.

'Zounds! Tough, tough choices.

1. Gabriel from Louise Penny series
2. Harriet Vane from the Wimsey mysteries
3. Claudius from I, Claudius
4. Mrs. Dalloway
5. Newland Archer from The Age of Innocence
6. Lady Slane from All Passion Spent
7. Archdeacon Grantley from The Barchester Chronicles

Must review my books for a third female guest, as the one who leaps into mind is The Wife of Bath; don't see her as quite fitting in with this party, although she'd give the Archdeacon a run for his money.

ETA: found one who would fit better, I think, but I still would like to see these gentlemen handle the W. of B.

Where is this place? I need to find it. Soon.

>263 Matke: It's a lot harder than it first seems to be, isn't it?

1. Ohh Gabri! He would be fun at a dinner.
2. She's awfully intense...she'd balance Gabri.
3. Might be a bot difficult to get him talking....
4. Perfectly social, endlessly gracious, graceful and lovely. Also miserably sad. Great choice, I would love to interrogate her.
5. Ha!
6. I'm fairly sure I haven't read this Bloomsbury book. Is it a must-read?
7. HA!

Gabri would be fun....
How about you rd... did I miss your meme for you?

No, the host never participates in the party games. Wouldn't Gabri be a hoot? In fact, a Three Pines table would be excellent!

Agreed. A Three Pines table would be fun. So would a Pecan Springs table. OR a Bon Temps table... that one would be fairly interesting.....

Review: 45 of seventy-five

Title: BELOW ZERO

Author: EDUARDO DEL VALLE

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Inside America’s Pit; rebuilding Ground Zero…
Below Zero is a collection of poems, haibun and haiku, written by architect Eduardo del Valle, beginning with his first day on the Ground Zero job site in 2007 and ending when the tower’s ground floor slab reached street level. The poems are inspired by a wide range of project experiences and events, all the complex emotions and activities going on in and about the site of reconstruction in the wake of one of America’s— and the World’s— greatest disasters. Del Valle’s architectural training and practice lend a unique vernacular and insight to the poems as they chronicle the progress of this monolithic undertaking.

My Review: I don't want to alarm anyone, but I read and liked a book of poetry.

No, really. I did.

Good gracious, a lot of people seem to have needed naps all at once. But the floor? Is that comfortable? Hello?

Not only that, it's related to the 9/11 attacks, which I've been pretty clear is a subject I find all too ripe for cloying sentimentality and self-important bloviation. This book resorts to neither.

I lived on Rector Place in 1993, when the first attempt was made to topple the Twin Towers. My living room window, which faced the South Tower, was cracked and the dishes came out of the cabinet. I said then, "These idiots are not gonna stop til they succeed." My friends said oh pooh that's piffle no one will ever do that.

Hmmm.

I left New York in 2000, a year ahead of the events of 9/11. Damn good thing I did, too, since my apartment on Maiden Lane, a block and a half from the North Tower, had two seven and a half foot tall, nine and a half foot wide plate glass windows, made of 19th-century unsafety glass, that slivered into spears that were embedded in the walls of that apartment. (The super, a friend of mine, told me this as we were talking about the deaths of his wife and kids in the PATH plaza.)

So to hear people yim-yammering about the events who weren't there, or weren't involved, has never held any appeal for me. Del Valle started work as an architect on the site in 2007, and doesn't make any pretenses to making A Larger Point in writing his poems. He makes the emotional point that he experiences and lets you experience it with him, adding such layers as you can or care to:

Orientation
At some point I find myself wanting to accept not as much
what but that this trainer has been trained to train us.
I've been sitting in this space, carved out of an
oversized toolbox, for too long. There's but one laptop-
sized window, screwed shut and shielded with a rusty
junkyard, standard-issue guard-screen. The chair is
hard; my body has knowingly become unconscious to its
fascist shape. I wonder if the rest of the heads and
bodies in here...No, I'm alone. I'm trying to look
interested, at the very least, perhaps even comfortable.
There's an unmistakably citrusy tang in the room.

No room, give none to the thought of another. I'm saying
to myself, just as the crustacean-red face in front of
the classroom repeats, 'We're all responsible for
security,' pointing to the site plan on the wall, 'at all
times, in and out of the project limit lines,' his right
hand in circular motion around the two pools.

A clandestine glance out the window and I begin to
wonder.

dragonfly lights
on a diamond
in the mesh

Why do I feel like the enemy has already won?

I've added the underline to make it clear, in this small and unpaginated context, that the title of the piece is "Orientation."

That's a personal observation, a moment in the poet's life, and it's also evocative of the nature of the 9/11 disaster as an interruption of quotidian activity, that is repaired by quotidian activity, that is mundane in its consequences, and is still proof that the bombers couldn't have been more successful in their effort. After this event, the most everyday of activities have been circumscribed by a sense of being Under Threat, of Waiting for Disaster, of Manufactured and Absurdly Baseless ANXIETY.

They won.

The city itself, the physical plant of it, has never been completely still and untouched. That's accelerated since 9/11, but only back to 1960s levels. In that time, the city was massively building itself upwards and gigantically reimagining itself as a post-industrial place. The docks were buried under the basement dirt of the Twin Towers, and the result was called "Battery Park City." (That's where Rector Place is...the area is a lovely little garden suburb sticking into the Hudson River. I loved living there.) Typical of New York City, the corrupt and venal politicians, unions, and general all-around naysayers held up construction of and use from Battery Park City for a decade or so after the first plans were created, which needless to say resemble the finished buildup very very little.

Now the World Trade Center, Ground Zero, is being rebuilt, and the wrangling, infighting, graft, and corruption endemic to our "free" society has taken...why look at that...a bit more than ten years! Conservative and religious bigots and fools have screamed blue murder about this and that, most recently the presence of a mosque near the site. STFU, right-wingers, freedom of religion means just that.

This, of course, has made an impact on the architect/poet, as he tells us in this excerpt from "Under Vesey Street":

...springtide
wishing autumn
clinging to rime

feeling for my pocket edition daily log -- each of the 92
pages properly sawn -- in legally-binding terms -- into the
spine -- and slowly (feeling my pupils dilating, again)
take a 270° sweep, and see, leaching slowly through
darkness, a maze of columns>beams>bracing steel>fuming
pipes>buzzing conduits, varicose walls perspiring; pupils
reach higher into the penumbra of the soaring walls: a
stumping reflection of the stampede on the other side,
above, on the intermediate plane, as they dash from east
to west over the wetdim blacktop-patched concrete
sidewalks, on an endless, sacramental cycle the blurry
bobbing mugs, seemingly -- cues perhaps unduly enlarged by
the echoing quietness, here, where I stand {how could
anyone not be going loco} on the lower plane (I've
switched off the flashlight, it's back in my back pocket,
tight between twilled blue cotton pleats, safe under my
regulation yellow safety vest) -- natural, the nightly
exoduses as casual, immaterial as the influx of winter
dusk in springtime...

I relate to this. I have experienced so much bureaucratic inaction-coupled-with-interference-combined-with-legalistic-nonsense that the litany of his built world and its ridiculous, overbearing rules in contrast to the simple reality of color, shape, sound gongs my inner bell.

So yeah, I liked the book. It took me a month to read, because all said and done I don't like reading poetry any more than I like reading plays. The rare piece that gets past my guard becomes more and more valuable to me as proof that I'm set in my ways like hair is set, not like concrete is set.

The publisher sent this book to me with The Wisdom of Ashes, as an unsolicited bonus gift. I hope he realizes how lucky he is that I liked this book! It goes unpanned, a very rare occurrence when I'm asked (however indirectly) to read poetry. I find the rhyming stuff intolerable, and most of the rest insufferably pit-sniffing self-absorption.

That makes happy discoveries like Eduardo del Valle's collection so much more pleasurable and important to me than to genre fans.

thumbbb

>270 mckait: Thanks, sweetness!

*checks Richard's fevered brow*

It will all be okay, RD. Why don't you just come over here and sit quietly while we get you a nice glass of water.

*checks on whether someone else figured out how to post under Richard's name*

Nice review by Stella. Eduardo probably doesn't know how honored he should feel.

Two thumbs in one day, from the same package. Nicely done!

Of course I may never recover from the shock of the second review.

Swoons onto the nearby chaise.

ETA: Did you ever see the amazingly brilliant tv series called Meeting of the Minds, created and hosted by Steve Allen? It was the same sort of idea: a kind of salon/dinner, but the guests were historical figures. His wife, Jayne Meadows, often played a female character. That series proved tv could be deeply educational and still entertaining. Naturally it was on PBS and ignored by most.

>269 richardderus: Upbethumbed.

I'm going to get the smelling salts because Gail won't be the only needing them on this thread today.

>272 jnwelch: Ha! Stella is the culprit, you've found out. I found her nose-art all over the keyboard and screen.

I sincerely doubt that he does, at that. But what can one do, apart from one's best, to raise public awareness of good stuff? Eduardo will, I sincerely hope, benefit from a sale or two more than usual because I liked his book.

>273 Matke: A rare, rare pleasure for me, Danny dearest. I'm glad it happened here.

Meeting of Minds! Good heavens, I was a teen when it came out and watched a few eps while, errrmmm, in an altered state of consciousness shall we say. I always thought Allen was married to AUDREY Meadows! Huh. I remember once "Marie Antoinette" was on that show. I suppose it was La Meadows who played her.

>274 EBT1002: Why thank you, Gail! Sweet of you to say so. *smooch*

You "read and liked a book of poetry" Richard? Well that gets an automatic thumb. "Most of the rest pit-sniffing self-absorption" Please, please, tell us how you really feel;-)

>276 brenzi: Thanks for the thumb, Bonnie...I wondered if I was being too vague about that. Should I go make it clear that I'm not a fan of the genre? Don't want to confuse people.

Stella can write!!!! Please send Stella to Lehigh...tuition $62,000 per year. I'd love to have that dog on the newspaper and yearbook staff!

Hugs to you. So sorry to be so far behind. Yours is not a thread I want to miss. And congratulations, as usual, for some stellar reviews!

>278 Whisper1: I'll give Stella your compliments, Linda. $62K a YEAR?!? Christ on a crutch! That's highway robbery.

*smooch*

>269 richardderus: *stunned silence*

*thumb*

Stella would, of course, get a full scholarship. Right?

There are big old houses just like that here in PVD, Richard, including one across the street from the place that Katiekrug and I had dinner when she was here. Although it also has massive curved rooms off to one side and another whole tower.

Don't think I can read that poetry. Sorry, can't deal with anything 9/11ish.

That said, I'm expecting to pick up some Robert Graves poetry from the library this week, along with I, Claudius!

Hmmm, my 8?

I think I would rather enjoy Elizabeth Bennet, too. Maybe Septimus Harding, from Trollope's Barset novels. And Falstaff, from Shakespeare.

But whenever I play this kind of game, I always find myself gravitating to real life people. That's a much easier list.

I'll take Julius Caesar, Suzanne Valadon (because she can tell stories about all the Impressionist painters and life in Paris in that era), Raoul Wallenberg, Mary Shelley, Aldus Manutius, the Qianlong emperor of China (18th century emperor who hinted that the west could copy China) and Virginia Woolf. I'd be intimidated, but in fascinating company. I'll sit between Aldus and Julius, please.

>280 kidzdoc: Thanks for the thumb, Darryl, even delivered in silence...which I don't recall ever happening before...

>281 Chatterbox: Hi Suz, yes I can certainly see the actual-people dinner would be a lot easier to populate. Neither is easy.

Aldus Manutius! Plan to quiz him about italic type? Do you know, I suspect Julius and Aldus would get along well. The Caesar with his rigorous, vigorous mind, and the printer with his fanatical quest for clarity and balance...yeah.

I'd love to see Mary Shelley and Virginia Woolf size each other up. And then the two of them takin' a loooong look at Suzanne Valadon! Who would have the emperor backed into a corner, no doubt, preparing to invade and occupy him.

Raoul Wallenberg and you would have the most to say to each other, I'll wager. A drink, some peanuts, and a never-ending flow of discussion about morality. He was a monadnock of morality, of course, and so the expert on the topic in that or most any other room. Quite the festive table you've planned.

Thanks for the del Valle review, Richard. And the usual coffee delights.

OK and here is my dinner list - I agonized over whether to have Cordelia or Pippi, Miles or Oblomov.

This is the seating order, btw

James Dixon (Lucky Jim)
Ariane Emory (from Cyteen)
Miles Barrayar
Me
Porius (from Porius)
Hermione
Hal Incandenza (from Infinite Jest)
Pippi Longstocking (sitting next to Jim)

Lovely review. Just lovely. That's why, after I picked my jaw up off the floor, I thumbed it. Wishing you a day that is unMondaylike.

>283 richardderus: Thanks for the thumb, Darryl, even delivered in silence...which I don't recall ever happening before...

You're welcome...wait a minute. Are you trying to say that I'm a blabber mouth? Them's fightin' words, dog.

>284 sibylline:, 285 Thanks, cuz!

Wow...that's an interesting dinner table. Porius? Huh! Never not one time would've occurred to me.
Pippi! Awww. I'd belt her across the chops, so I think I'll leave her at your table. Damned upbeat redheaded stepchild. "Pluttification" indeed.
Miles, of course. But how could one have this dinner without Miles?
OR Hermione! Dear me, the swot to end all swots who's read every book there is...I adore her.
I hate all things connected to DFW and his atrociously self-consciously pit-sniffing smugness. So can't comment on that choice.
I've never read any of the Cyteen books, though I know you're a major partisan. I like Cherryh anyway.
Lucky Jim Dixon! Another inspired choice.

>286 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie! Mondays are my day of liberation, so unlike the rest of the world, I welcome them.

>287 kidzdoc: Darryl! Perish forbid that I should say such a thing! I merely mention it because your astute commentary on the passing scene is absent, and that isn't the ordinary course of events.

>289 richardderus: Oh. That's okay, then.

*checks dictionary for hidden meaning of astute*

>290 kidzdoc: See? I'm not pulling your nose.



Rules of my house: No plastic chairs. No glass tables. But remove those things, and keep that view, and things're off to a good start here.

Um...YES!

About Mondays - your Monday sounds like my Friday. Monday to me means getting up and starting all over again the things that I already did last week. So, I usually have to coffee myself into it.

O great goddess of goddesses Caffeine, I am your devoted votary and eternal slave for the gift of mood improvement and murder prevention that you so generously bestow upon the Faithful.

Have been flirting on the sidelines with your dinner meme. Wish I could get my scattered brain tuned in to come up with a dinner party...I'm thinking maybe I'll have two tables and put all the brats at one so they can cause themselves to self-destruct. Sorta like the kiddie table at Thanksgiving?