Richardderus 2013 thread 20

What I would *love* to find on my shelves.

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 43-45...thread 19.

Books are reviewed in post:

46. Kalimpura...#122.

47. The Goodreads Killer: A Revenge Fantasy...#195.

Mine!

Boo!

Want?



Of course want.

>3 Crazymamie: Mamie wins first place!

>4 luvamystery65: Boo back!

>5 laytonwoman3rd: *covetcovetcovet* Want want want!!

Hi RD! Congrats on #20! Yahoo! And I hope you had a glorious weekend. I am really enjoying Son of a Gun. Strong no nonsense memoir. It is also a also true-crime mystery and it features Wyatt Earp. Nice combo!

>8 msf59: What's that you say, Mark? Your current read...funny I can't make out the title...is a terrible, fechacte mess, and I should avoid it like it's bound in bedbug eggs? Okay, thanks, will do.

Yay for #20! Read anything good lately?

>10 jnwelch: That is SO COOL! Thanks, Joe. I covet that sculpture.

>5 laytonwoman3rd: Ooh, I know just what to do with that guy.



Yum...

>10 jnwelch: Oh, one-upping me, is it? *sigh* Gotta admit, that is even cooler than the bronze one, which, btw Darryl, I don't think would grill up that nicely. But I'll take sommadat in No. 12, please and thank you.

Hi Richard. Just got home from the garage (41 miles away). They gave me a loaner while they work on my car. Lovely...except the AC doesn't work. 41 miles in 92 degree weather with no AC.

*waddles away on a slick of sweat*

Mamie needs our help STAT!!!

Happy New Thread, sir. I'll simply note that China Miéville has written a book called Kraken. It's not his best, but I'm just saying it's there.....

I don't care for poetry either Richard, but your review of Below Zero was fabulous. Thumbs from me.

As for the dinner party:
1. Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings. If he looked like Viggo Mortensen that would be ok.
2. Chief Inspector Gamache
3. Mercy Thompson from Patricia Briggs series
4. Isabel Dalhousie from Alexander McCall Smith's series
5. Miles Vorkosigan
6. Lizzy Bennet from Pride and Prejudice
7. Harry Dresden
8. Mma Ramotswe

Isabel Dalhousie would be good for the fictional dinner table. Which brings me up to 4, or 5 if you include moi.

Ladies: Isabel, Lizzie Bennet, moi
Gentlemen: Septimus Harding (Trollope's Barset novels); Simon Serailler (the cerebral detective from Susan Hill's mysteries).

I might have to throw in Dr. Siri from Colin Cotterill's Laotian mysteries. He could debate philosophy with Isabel, and indulge in witty repartee with Lizzie B.

Working on catching up, hope all is good with you. I finished the ER book about the eccentric woman with all the unlived in mansions. Interesting, but not a "best seller" I don't think.

*Picks a spot in a corner, drops a big fluffy cushion sits down with back against the wall*

Dropping in...

I'd offer you a cup of tea from my teapot, but you are solely a coffee drinker. Too bad.

Now that is remarkable! Very remarkable. Is it functional?

Happy new thread, Richard!

My dinner guests are as follows:

Dr Maura Isles - Tess Gerritsen
Isabel Dalhousie - Alexander McCall Smith
Claire Fraser - Diana Gabaldon
Jim Qwilleran - Lilian Jackson Braun
Rupert Campbell-Black - Jilly Cooper
Maisie Dobbs - Jacqueline Winspear
Father Brown - G.K.Chesterton

A rather good mix around the table, conversation would be interesting. Wonder who Mr Campbell-Black would hit on first, ha ha.

Good morning :)
Ok, I get the guy (hmm, meaning I wish i would like to find him sitting next to my books with a nice cup of coffee in the morning) but where did the octopus comes in ... missed that reference.

oh, well... had black coffee this morning, that is why. My brain cells are in hibernation.
Here is some book porn for you till I get witty-er:


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oh my! That 26 is so cozy! I love it!

Good morning, Me Boyo. What's up in Rdear land?

Here's something odd: all day yesterday my thread links on my home page were to last year's threads. As you may imagine, that multiplied search time geometrically. Most annoying. However, all seems well today.

Smooch

10: There is no frigate like a book. . . . .

Has Richard finally been snared by the Kraken?

>17 Cobscook: Cobscook, I'd join your dinner party in a blink.

>29 magicians_nephew: But you got to watch out, Jim, for those books that creep up on you from the deep . . .

>12 kidzdoc: *sharpens flensing knife* I'm in!

>13 laytonwoman3rd: I love yummy tentacly goodness, Linda3rd, but even more I love fascinating art-objects.

>14 MerryMary: OH NO!! POOR M'LOU!!! *82* miles in that heat with no AC. Darlin' I am so sorry. Here's a julep to refresh you:

>15 luvamystery65: You were NOT kidding, Roberta!

>16 LizzieD: It's an okay entry into his ouevre, and I wasn't sorry to have read it, but I really loved Railsea. One day I have to write that review.

>17 Cobscook: Thanks most awfully, darlingheart, for the props. As a fellow poetry apostate, we must stick together.

1. Can't comment.
2. Mais naturellement! I'm amazed no one has picked him before now.
3. Who, from where?
4. A completely charming dinner companion, to be sure.
5. Dear Miles! We're going to keep him busy.
6. I suppose we'll just set up a cot for her here on LT.
7. Okay, so the hangdog contingent is catered to....
8. Mma? Not you? Or are you going to be nine at table?

>18 Chatterbox: You're a given, O Hostess...so only two more choices and your table is complete. Now wouldn't Dr. Siri have A Time with Miss Bennet! These must be videotaped.

>19 maggie1944: Thanks, Karen44! It's a perfect early-fall day, warm without that hideous background of brutal vicious battering heat to come.

>20 mckait: *puts scones and clotted cream on Kath's table*

>21 ronincats:, 22 Those are WONDERFUL, Roni! The Kraken offering, or snatching, or both at once, the cup! Just amazing what artists will create left to themselves.

>23 maggie1944: I sincerely doubt it, because of the tentacle wrapped in the cup-handle.

>24 wilkiec: Hi Diana! Sending hugs Holland-ward!

Hi John! This meme is a lot tougher than it seems at first, isn't it?

1. The disquisitions will be fascinating. But for dinner-table purposes...?
2. Indeed. A sine qua non.
3. Interesting! Before A fiery Cross or after?
4. As long as he leaves that cat at home.
5. Ha! Rupert, or Andrew Parker Bowles?
6. Hmmm. I haven't read these books, so I don't know about her.
7. KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE!!

>26 tigerlyly: No worries, Lyly, I don't think you visited my threads for a while so you missed the amazing and cool octopus lamp I posted once. That's where it all goes back to.

Love that book porn!

>27 mckait: It is, isn't it?

>28 Matke: Good morning, Danny dear. I'm waiting by the phone for the bureaucrats to call me about the latest round of obstructionism. And it's spectacularly lovely! Sunshine without misery. Perfect!

I've never heard of that problem before. It would give me a creepy, "they're Gaslighting me" feeling. *smooch* for a successful return!

>29 magicians_nephew: Indeed not...and no mode of transport so versatile, either.

>30 jnwelch: Good morning, Joe!

I reviewed a collection of essays for The Small Press Book Review, called MEATY. It's by a blogger called Samantha Irby, a Person of Size whose blog is called Bitches Gotta Eat.

I wasn't sure about these essays until I hit the one on diets and dieting, when I started laughing so hard I scared the dog. Read the review, see why. I quoted the (to me) funniest one of them.

Been studying your top picture for several minutes dear fellow and I still cannot figure which book it is you're referring to. :)

Congratulations on #20. You have got those gammy legs moving at a fair old lick at the moment.

Hi Paul! Changed your will yet? *red-hot pin poised*

Yes, it's a book that I refer to. A book. *poor silly straight man*

Nice new thread Richard.

I was having trouble thinking of seven fictional characters to invite to a dinner party, so decided to go for a sort of theme.

Arithon S'ffalenn (from Janny Wurts' Wars of Light and Shadow series)
Cathbad (from Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series)
Dumbledore (from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series)
Geordie Riddell (from Charles de Lint's Newford series)
Granny Weatherwax (from Terry Pratchett's Discworld)
Ilna (from David Drake's Lord of the Isles series)
Vianne Rocher (from Joanne Harris' Chocolat)

>41 calm: Hi calm! Glad to see you here. I hope you're returning to full mojo.

Since I've only read Harry Potter and Chocolat (heartily second Vianne, BTW) I shall simply smile and nod and make "ooh aaah" noises.

I still lurk around LT nearly everyday. Mojo is still sub-par; reading is going very slowly and I just haven't got much to say:)

I knew you wouldn't have read most of those books Richard and I'm not too sure if I would suggest that you read them either.

thumbbed it... don't wanna read it

and OOOOH Dumbledore. good one.

>43 calm: Oh dear, I'm sorry mojo is proving elusive. May that cease quickly! I will heed your advice and not make plans to add these series to my Terrifying Tottering Towers of TBRage.

>44 mckait: Thanks, sweetness. Don't ever accept it if offered it as a gift, you would *hate* it.

#41 Oooh - Granny Weatherwax would be fun! But maybe Nanny Ogg if you were going for a proper knees-up table :)

And smoochies in passing, Richard dear.

>46 BekkaJo: Since I've no clue who those characters are, I'll content myself with a *smooch* and a wave!

#33 Sorry Richard dear, for being unclear. Mercy Thompson is the main character in my favorite urban fantasy series. GoodReads has this to say:

Mercedes is a Volkswagen mechanic living in the Tri-Cities area of Washington. Her Native American heritage has gifted her with the ability to take the form of a coyote at will. She's surrounded by far more powerful supernatural beings, including werewolves, vampires and an assortment of fae.

Also, I got so excited about picking interesting literary characters I forgot to leave space for myself at the table! Perhaps I can just set up a video camera and watch their conversation at my leisure!

Great review of Meaty btw!

>48 Cobscook: OIC

Never heard of this series. Sounds interesting. *smooch*

Book porn!

Hope you are having a wonderful day Richard. Hugs to you and Stella...

Hi Monica! It's a pleasant day indeed. Stella sends slurps!

#50....slurp, slurp...eye goggling wonderful. WANT.

Hello, dearest chap. I've missed an entire thread and then some during my lengthy absence, so I'm just starting afresh and will do my best to keep up from here out. ;)

((((RD)))))

>53 tututhefirst: Precisely my feelings, Tina!

>54 TinaV95: Mrs. Lisa! You're alive!! So happy to see you. *smooch* Come have a comfy seat, Perkins will bring you some coffee.

Oh dear....

hullo, liebling.

thumbed your review of Below Zero though i must say that without what you wrote, i suspect the work itself would be opaque to me. or maybe i just liked what you wrote better than what he wrote. or possibly both together?

this place gives good Kraken. Ellie like! however, the very thought of trying to keep Roni's Kraken art dust free makes me sneeze.

little octopus tentacles feel a bit like soft smooches when they move on one's hand, now i come to think. remarkable creatures.

sending you an adoring tentacle of smoochlets.

Thanks for the thumb, Ellie! I don't imagine del Valle's poetry would do much for you. It lacks a certain emotional zest that poems you like all have.

Cuttlefish are the coolest cephalopods. They're like dogs, friendly and trainable and real personality kids. I'm a general fan of the tentacled folk, however.

*smoochiesmoochsmooch* right back at'cha!

Cobscook... I must find that series. Must.

*stumbles in and notices that Richard's new thread is already into it's second 50.....*

Hi Richard!

>58 mckait: Here ya go, book one.

>59 EBT1002: Hi Comic Book Lady! *smooch*

It was a pleasant day...a little too hot, but heckuva lot nicer than the days that were hot and had a brutal edge to 'em. What MAKES today is 1) the Blue Moon out, and 2) I saw two skeins of geese on their way to Hempstead Lake State Park to get to warmer weather.

FALL IS HERE. SAY HALLELUJAH!!

>57 richardderus: cuttlefish? really? wow. i had no idea.

and you were so very gentlemanly in describing the poetry i like which, while wide-ranging and generally free verse, would probably fall into your pit-sniffing category. thank you for your, ahem, delicacy.

>61 mirrordrum: One does one's poor best to cause smiles in place of snarls in this vale of tears.

Cuttlefish. My favorite sea creatures.

i just thought you ought to know, dear. can't imagine why i thought of you. *Miss Mapp-like smile*

Is that right? I swaNEE, the things a boy learns around here!

*note to self: Tell Perkins that Ellie and JB are now scrub-only listers*

I'm glad autumn is headed your way, Richard. I had a similar, albeit somewhat less enthusiastic, realization today. It just has that feel in the air. I think we only hit 90F once this summer and that may be it for 2013!

Meanwhile, I'm watching out our east-facing window to see when the blue moon comes up!

>64 richardderus: ohhh, my dear! i laughed so hard i nearly rolled the chair across the room. and yes, do tell Perkins. at our ages and in our current respective conditions, we barely manage scrub. titum, never mind hitum, is now only a distant memory for me. *frown* does this mean no admittance to your giardino segretto? i should hate to miss that.

OK, I've picked my final two, not without a lot of struggle. I kept fixing on someone and then realizing he or she was a real person in a historical novel (eg Cromwell from Wolf Hall).

So, my table:

Dr. Siri from Colin Cotterill's novels
Mikael Blomkvist, from the Stieg Larsson trilogy (gotta have a journalist in the mix)
Simon Serailler, from those mysteries
Septimus Harding, from the Barset novels (he could smooth over any dinner table arguments, and talk music with Simon & I)

Me
Elizabeth Bennet
Isabel Dalhousie
Charlotte/Charlie, from Every Woman for Herself by Trisha Ashley.

The latter is a fabulous and hilarious chick lit novel, which begins when Charlie's next door neighbor and close friend of her soon to be ex-husband decides she must be in want of a man and decides to grope her, while she is standing on a stepladder clutching a cast iron pan. Bad, bad mistake. I know, it doesn't sound funny, but as written, I can't stop laughing. I re-read this book constantly, and relish the intrepid Charlie's retreat to Yorkshire where her sister Emily hangs out the moors too much (she's a witch and falls in love with the vicar) and Anne, a war correspondent drops in and out. Yes, you've seen the parallel... Ashley doesn't belabor it, and what I like about this is that it's the story of a woman in her late 30s who refuses to mope or whine and instead just picks herself up and gets on with life in a creative way. She'd be good fun around the dinner table, and very down to earth. She and Siri would get on like a house on fire.

The seating? Put me between Mikael and Simon. On Simon's other side, Isabel Dalhousie, who will be serious and thoughtful and thus a good dining companion for the cerebral Simon, and on her other side, Septimus Harding; Isabel won't frighten him. Next to Septimus, the lovely Ms. Bennet. Then comes Dr. Siri, as I think he and Lizzie will hit it off splendidly, and then Charlie, then Blomkvist, who will talk media with Charlie and I (Charlie launches a self-published magazine called Skint Old Northern Woman or something like that, which takes off like a house on fire).

Morning RD! Hope the week is going well. I am starting Greetings From Jamaica, based on you & Kath's glowing endorsement. It's a library book, so I want to knock it out before tackling the mountain of ARCs and Booktopia Homework I have waiting impatiently.

hey RD... good morning :)

now I know... but even if I didn't get the octopus thing, look what I found on my aimless surfing:


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it's a bird. it's a plane... it's a CAKE!!!! ;))

Parental advisory: Do not eat all at once. Sharing is strongly advised.

>65 EBT1002: Once is twice too often to hit 90° Ellen. The horror! The horror!

The Blue Moon here was just beautiful. Cloudless. A creamy golden-yellow coming up in a very Maxfield Parrish-blue sky, with the soft edges that make its sphericality obvious. Stella, who cared more about the squirrel tracks and possum traces, and I stared and stared. Magical.

>66 mirrordrum: Your invitation is permanent, my old. (But only to scrub events. One must keep the aspidistra flying.) *smooch*

>67 Chatterbox: It's hard, isn't it? Thank the goddesses below the host doesn't play the games!
1. Oh my yes. We clearly need to employ a Lao-to-English simultaneous translator at the Tome Home.
2. Interesting. One of the few characters who did not make me want to upchuck.
3. *adds French translator to list*
4. Ha! The best pleaser in fiction!
5. Who?
6. Double the acerbity quotient in one name.
7. And a lovely Scottish burr with our single-malts. Oooh aaah.
8. Innocent of these books, so will content myself with making agreeable noises.

>68 msf59: Hi Mark! It's a quick read, and I hope you laugh as much as the two of us did.

>69 tigerlyly: *gets out boathook* Mine! Mine! Back! Mine!

YOu'd better move fast, Richard. Two of the colors of these Octopus tentacle wall sculptures by David Cramer are already sold out on today's deals at http://fab.com/sale/25319?utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_te...

>71 ronincats: How amazingly cool!

I've posted a new review in my Crime, Thriller, and Mystery thread! I give CLOSE MY EYES by Sophie McKenzie from St. Martin's Press a going over & like what I see 4 stars worth! An excellent rating for a debut suspense novel.

Also posted at my blog, Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.

Book porn! Daunt Books in London.

Curse you, Book-Buying Enabler!

*smoochiesmoochsmooch* So happy to oblige, Danny dearest.

>74 richardderus: Daunt Books is on the travel agenda for the next visit after seeing this photo. Great!

>74 richardderus: - I am going there a week from Friday! I'm meeting two other LTers at the Daunt Bookshop on Marylebone High Street Friday evening, 30 August :)

Not to rub it in or anything....

>78 katiekrug: ...oddest thing...a blank message...from someone I used to know, too...huh

I still haven't been to Daunt Books. Let us (well, some of us) know about your meet up next week, Katie!

It's probably showing up as blank because, given the paucity of your visits to my thread (sigh), I am completely off your radar.

Woe is me...

Darryl, I sure will!

Did someone say cake?

>80 kidzdoc: ANOTHER blank message! How odd.

>81 katiekrug: Some fuzzy text...can barely make out something about visits, like ONE TO LONDON THAT I CAN'T MAKE, but it's all so dim....

>82 mckait: Cake!

yummy!

Hummingbird cake...so so so yummy...want one NOW!

A couple of musings:

On "Never Judge a Book by Its Movie", you're proving the point with all of your fun reviews of the Bond movies.If more proof is needed, consider Elmer Gantry. Here we have a book more boring, repetitious, and didactic than any religious tract made into an entertaining film with an unforgettable performance by Burt Lancaster in the leading role. Or The Godfather, a fairly average gangster book made into a riveting movie. I do think the rule works more often the other way, sad to say.

On"All Passion Spent", I loved it, but am not sure it's the book for you. It's kind of a coming-of-age story, but it's about an old woman. Written well with lots of acerbic wit. I'd say borrow from the library and give it a try.

Sorry I ran on so long.

>86 Matke: Near as I can tell, all the Bond films (as whiffy as many of them are) win out over any of the Bond books. I found an omnibus in the basement...these books are really appalling 60 years later.

I didn't hate Elmer Gantry near as much as most did. But the film is STREETS ahead of the book, no question. And The Godfather is a dreary little book, but the movie!!

I liked the film of Cloud Atlas better than the unreadable book, too. And the movie of What Maisie Knew, while very very different from the book, was good.

I think I'll pass on All Passion Spent. And what run on too long? *smooch* Talk all you want.

There was a very good Masterpiece Theatre production of All Passion Spent, with Dame Wendy Hiller.

>88 laytonwoman3rd: I'll look for that, thanks Linda3rd!

Well, yeah.

That would be a "well, yeah" from me too.

*smooch* That's why we're friends, Danny darling.

Oh, I knew that right from the get-go. Book sent off yesterday, btw. A bit draggy in the middle, but beginning and ending are super.

Yum! Can't wait!

I have to agree with you about the Bond books. It's surprising they're not better. I guess when they came out they were breaking new ground, and it has been done a lot better since.

Thank goodness for Daniel Craig. I'd just about given up on the movies.

Well, after Simon Templar...I mean Roger Moore!...screwed the pooch from 1973-1983, there was Timothy *yawn* Dalton for two movies and then the interminable run of Boring Brosnan. Craig's an ugly mo-fo, but he's also sexy and he's got a hard, brutal edge that Bond needs. Lazenby and Connery had that. I would totally believe those two guys could slap a woman around, beat a guy up, blow up a bridge, and smile roguishly at the next pretty face while beating the house at baccarat. All in an impeccable tux. Craig's back to THAT Bond, thank goodness.

Ummmm..... Daniel Craig.....ummmmm....

I have never been a Bond fan until Mr. Craig took over the role. He is yummy!

>96 richardderus: Oh what a litany of dreariness post-Connery/Lazenby and pre-Craig. And they made a ton of money on the coattails of Connery in particular.

P.S. Lazenby apparently bailed out by choice, not liking his treatment by the director or that type of part.

>97 Cobscook: Heh. I agree with that somewhat inarticulate, but deeply heartfelt, assessment of Le Craig.

>98 jnwelch: IMO one of the biggest and dumbest errors Cubby Broccoli made was not to fire the director and keep the actor. Lazenby was too green to know how to finesse the politics. Too bad, ain't it?

Craig's not gettin' any younger, so these new folks, his daughter Barbara and stepson Michael Wilson, should whip it up and make Bond 24 already. Three years between films is too long.

::excited::

I got my preordered copy of The Daughters of Mars!! So thrilled. Except the effin' touchstone won't work. I'm not used to LT not working. I don't enjoy it.

I'm going to have to go to Daunt books, it looks great.

RD...anxious to hear your thoughts about Daughters of Mars: A Novel - you're right still no touchstone!. It's one being considered for the long long list for Maine Reader's Choice next year. It's sitting on the #2 pile - looks interesting, but I need a push.

#1 is a definite - gonna read it, or read and liked it
#3 is not grabbing me, no time to waste further effort...

The Daughters of Mars

See my thread for an easy work around until the touchstone problem is fixed.

So only 59272664 posts since I was here last, not bad
xoxo for you dear!

I picked up The Daughters of Mars via a kindle deal and I'm looking forward to it Richard:)

>101 johnsimpson: Hi John! I'd tell you how much I detest and envy you for being able to get to London and its bookshops with such ease, but you're English so wouldn't appreciate the overfamiliarity.

>102 tututhefirst: Since I posted that, Tina, I've read 48pp and am *thrilled* with it.

I'm thinkin' a marathon read.

>103 kidzdoc: I'll come be entutled soon, thanks Darryl!

>104 ChelleBearss: Ha! I feel the same way some days. *smooch* for dear Chelle

>105 brenzi: It's a doozy so far, Bonnie. Treatsville for my tired, worn, spiritless reading here lately.

OK, I can not read all the posts so I'm just skimming for sarcasm and book porn. Seems good enough for now. Eye doc visit today = its all doing good. In about three + weeks I can check and see if I need prescriptions. Meanwhile, I do read a little bit each day, not as much as I wish, but some. Wheeeeee

>107 maggie1944: So it's all heading in the proper direction, Karen44! Much rejoicing and smooching. Happy to hear it!

That is it. You said anything bad about the love of my life, Brosnan???
You dare???? Oh, the horrors that will befall you.... My wrath will know no limits *evil laugh*

You do not deserve the book porn for today, I am just putting it for the rest of us "hih, head high, nose in the air, hair flipping while turning my back*


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Btw, that pic with the over run house in the middle of the garde... inspired me. have been having the story of it almost made up in my mind. That was a great find :)

^Looks like the stack by my chair! My homework.

Morning RD! It was back into the mid-50s overnight. Can you say bliss? I knew you could. Have a great day, my friend.

Let's all say it: Autumn!! I am so glad.

>109 tigerlyly: Brosnan the Boring, you mean? Pierce the Dull? Charisminus?

I liked the book porn, so thanks for that.

>110 msf59: 74° here...cloudy...yay!!

A stack like that exists in my bed, next to my bed, and on the blanket chest there are eight stacks like that.

>111 maggie1944: AUTUMN!!! YYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY!! That means *winter*oooooo*aaaaaah* isn't far behind.

EEEK! White furniture makes me cringe ...lol. We are hard on furniture in my house.. furkids, meals in the living room etc.

It is so humid here today. Warm and humid morning. It was a whopper of a morning, too.. everything I touched fell apart and made more work. GAK!

*cleans glasses, checks calendar: August 23rd*

*checks forecast for Atlanta: high of 88 degrees, heat index of 101*

*laughs maniacally at all suggestions that autumn has arrived*

>113 mckait: Humid! Yuck. Always makes me feel like I've just crawled out of a pond when it's humid. I saw your post about email going *flooey* on Facebook. I hope you'll do as Cory suggests and keep a spreadsheet so he can go all tech-guru on their sorry butts.

>114 kidzdoc: Heat index 101° *is* autumn for Hotlanta. Y'all's winter resembles civilization's early autumn. It's just how it is there in the South. *does cartwheels of joy at no longer living there*

Autumn down heah is just shifted forward by 1-1/2 to 2 months, and thankfully winter is much shorter and less snowy.

The Deep South is a civilized place! We have college football (the region's main religion; Go Georgia Bulldogs!), NASCAR, and endless celebrations of the antebellum South and the Civil War (as Paula Deen would say, when life was good).

*calls Hempstead EMS to have Richard taken to local ED after one too many cartwheels*

Two fights later, the truth of this is evident to me.

#117 Like :)

You'd hate it here today - hot hot and the air con at work broke... too many computers/printers/people in a small room getting increasingly pissy with each other in suits. Ick :/

*smoochies* though - I/UK have a long weekend so it's all gravy from hereon in!

>116 kidzdoc: Uga the bullgod. I mean bulldog. Yech.

Winter starts ~last week of October. No matter what your part of the world says, Halloween is NOT a summer holiday!

HelLO boys!



What's that? Dr. Morris sent you? Why the old sweetie, my birthday's not until next month!

Hello? Richard??? Hmm, he was here a minute ago...

#117 LOVE. Am stealing.

Review: 46 of seventy-five
Title: KALIMPURA
Author: JAY LAKE

Rating: 4.5* of five

In the end, I love the fact that this novel, likely Jay Lake's last published in his lifetime, expresses better than any I've read in a long, long time the simple truth that, "In the end, so is the beginning. In the beginning, so is the end."

Hail and farewell to Jay Lake. My ninth and final Jay Lake Pre-Mortem Read-a-thon review is posted at Shelf Inflicted.

>118 BekkaJo: *smooch* Happy for your long weekend, Bekka, the US one comes next weekend. They call it "Labor Day" for some weird reason.

>120 kidzdoc: That was indeed the Pause That Refreshes!

>121 laytonwoman3rd: Use freely, Linda3rd!

Octopus in Ice. Beautiful!

That is just SO cool!

Who IS that guy in the first picture? He looks like a lovely chap, one I'd like to have one just like it! He looks a lot like that guy off Miranda (the comedy show starring comic genius Miranda Hart, who I have a girl crush on).

Other than the octopi....I have nothing to comment on as am just doing my first round of catch ups. Its nice to see you again!

Have a lovely weekend, Richard dear!

Book porn!

Yes, clean the stupid stuff off the shelves to make room for books. But, don't kill me, I like the 1970s-ish painting wall. Always did like that look.

An entire wall of floor to ceiling bookshelves would be ever so lovely! Morning, dear! Stopping in to wish for you a weekend full of fabulous!

>125 Crazymamie: On so many levels, don't you think? I love it!

>126 LovingLit: I don't know who he is, or I'd be camped on his doorstep with flowers, candy, booze, and Rohypnol. In order of deployment.

I watched Miranda a couple times, and thought it was funny. But then I forgot about it. Like The Katy Brand Show and Little England, just sort of lose them over time.

I'm so happy you're able to focus long enough to visit! But seriously, don't stint on the pain meds. When docs muck about with one's bones, the pain needs dulling or the body stresses out and healing is delayed.

>127 wilkiec: Thanks, Diana, I plan on it. It's a beautiful morning here, and will continue to be lovely, clear, cool, and breezy until Tuesday. Plus I get to review How the Light Gets In for its Tuesday release! Yay!

And may I just say a hearty HOSANNA for the touchstones being back in working order.

>129 Crazymamie: Thanks, sweetiedarling, I think it will be. *extra smooch*

So, start already!

good idea

I thought so too. And it's the *perfect* readin' day, all this sunshine!

We've the wonderful "rainy, drizzly" type day which is also perfect for curling up in the good reading chair, and reading. Unfortunately, I'm having problems reading the book I should read and I may have to retreat to the Nook and books with large print thereon. But I will be reading. No doubt.

The eye issues will sort out. At least the cataracts are a thing of the past.

In almost 54 years around this place, I've met only a very few people who hate to read.

Because those kind of people look at me like I'm the weirdest weirdo in Weirdtown. Thank goodness!

So if you're reading all day, what are you doing here on LT?
Envious of you reading How the Light gets in - I have read it and so want to curl up again with it - it's so so so good. {{{{smooches}}

Ooo! Excitement abounds. I got two books from Amazon today!

The Battle for Bond which is the story of Thunderball/Never Say Never Again, the most litigious Bond project ever. I'm fascinated anew by Bond and the movies. I can't stick the books.

Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt because he is, after TR, my favorite American president.

>137 tututhefirst: I'm drawing out the pleasure of dipping in and out of How the Light Gets In as I prepare my review! It is luxurious, isn't it?

oh, Richard, I am jealous. I think the "traitor to his own class" book sounds very interesting.... Other than the way in which he treated Eleanor, I love FDR too.

Well, now, she was no day at the beach either. Quite the sniffish, propah miss. And of course there was his gorgon of a mother.

Singularity & Co., a Brooklyn, New York, SF store, has a book happy hour! What a great idea.

Book happy hour? brilliant!

I agree!

>119 richardderus: oh, and I forgot to comment!
If I HAD to choose one, to like best (had to), I would pick the guy on the top, to the left. I never really went for the muscle-man look. Which is ironic I suppose seeing as my lovely other spends a bit of time in our garage-gym doing weights. haha, he's not so buff that I need to kick him out of bed though. But he knows I have my limits. Poor (de facto)husbands, they just cant win!!

>131 richardderus: lol! Love that one! And it is so obvious too....now that I think about it.

Thanks for the advice on pain meds, RD. I have lowered my dose just to see if it still hurts as much. Last time it did so I took more, but today I am thinking it is manageable so will save the hard stuff for tonight.

I didn't really know anything at all about the Roosevelts until I read No Ordinary Time. Traitor to His Class is going on the list ....

Happy hour for books; I'd be drunk in no time.
Have a lovely remainder of weekend dear fellow.

>145 LovingLit: ...so I get all the muscle-boys that Maudie here was supposed to have in this lifetime! W00t!!

*smooch* been down that road a time or two.

>146 avidmom: I can't wait to get to it! It'll be a while, but this has all the earmarks of a book that will slither ahead of the pack.

>147 PaulCranswick: *snort* When would you be sober, Paul?! Thanks, I hope to.

Pecan. Pie. CAKE.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Good Sunday morning, RD! Thanks for The Last Policeman. A seriously good read, as was the second book, Countdown City.

Wonky touchstone up there, if you meant it to go to the Louise Penny. Pecan pie cake looks yum!

Jealous that you have the Louise Penny already! But I am number 1 on my library's wait list. Love the library with the ladder above. Libraries with ladders are the best!

>149 richardderus: *mouth watering*

That cake looks painfully good!

Notice how the happy hour book deal only goes above 20% if you buy more than $15.00? I read it carefully because, well, it looked so complicated, but really it isn't!!!

>150 karenmarie: Good Sunday, Horrible! Glad you liked the books.

>151 mckait: Doesn't it look yum? I don't know where "up there" is because you refuse to put post numbers in your replies. I refer to the book by name several times.

>152 Cobscook: Oh hi Heidi! I suppose it would be kinder of me not to tell you that I've had the ARC since July and that Louise Penny inscribed it to me before she signed it.

But look at that! I already have. *tsk*

>153 maggie1944: I have to wipe my chin every time I see that post, too.

>154 sibylline: No, it's not complicated, but it's a good marketing ploy!

Pecan pie cake!! I WANT!

>155 richardderus: Looks divine, don't it?

Yes, sir!

Buenos días Richard! I am drinking a cup of coffee in bed with The Devilles (my three pooches) all around and sound asleep. Laptop and book in hand. Life doesn't get much better.

Omg at the book porn & cake!! I love the idea of book happy hour!! Even the thought of that makes me smile.

I had to giggle at the "blank" messages up there from Katie... Have you forgiven her yet?

>158 Crazymamie: I'm very seriously thinking about making that as my birthday cake. I won't rest until I've had some. Maybe my birthday's *actually* in August....

>159 luvamystery65: That pretty much describes a good morning to me, too, Roberta. *smooch*

>160 TinaV95: Hiya Mrs. Lisa! I hope this means you're feeling better. But enlighten me...who is it I'm supposed to have forgiven again?

Hi RD- I love Book Happy Hour! Sounds like the perfect topic heading, eh? Hope you are enjoying your Sunday and getting some R & R in. It's beginning to warm up here again and be HOT all week. Boo, I say!

My birthday is on Tuesday Richard. Have my cake and eat it too!

>162 msf59: Boo, I say, too! Yuck, it needs to be over, over over, this damned summer. DO NOT FOLLOW THE LINK BELOW FOR ANY REASON.

>163 luvamystery65: I will gorge myself on your slice, too, Roberta, and sing your praises the while. *smooch*

I've written my review of Camptown Ladies in my Orphans thread...post #203. It has to get into the mail to poor old Mark, the unluck sap, before he realizes what I'm doing to him.

No one let him know!

Okay, I'm just sneaking in before I get 100 posts behind (and I'd better write and post this one quickly, or I'll be too late!).

You know, P and I are planning this walking-and-drinking trip to Scotland next summer with no plans to go down into England, but now I really, really want to go to Daunt Books in London. I wonder if that apparently cute boy would be there on the day we visited? Or maybe he has a cute sister....

Hi Richard!

*Screeches to halt... scrolls back up to post #149 .... and drools*

Pecan. Pie. CAKE.
I want, and I don't care what my dentist might have to say about it.

You do realize that since I cannot have any of that absolutely luscious and delightfully sinful cake, I will have to make due with the coconut creme pie - with extra coconut - that is in the fridge?

>165 EBT1002: Hi Ellen! *smooch* Walking and drinking in Scotland sounds excellent. I recall that being bruited about. A side trip to London (can't be too far away, it's dinky li'l England, what is it maybe 400 miles from stem to stern?) would seem to be in order.

Come back soon, before another 100 posts intervene.

>166 lkernagh: Hi Lori! I suppose dentists are to be obeyed, so I'll just eat your piece too.

Although the coconut creme pie doesn't sound a bad substitute to me.

Come to Seattle where Tom Douglas makes the best Coconut Cream Pie on Earth!!

Thumbed, of course rd. I hope real life isn't distracting her too much for her to be finishing #3. I hope it actually happens, what with the rest of the things going on in her life.

And just like that, it's Monday again.

#170 gospel. Preach it!

>168 EBT1002: I doubt me very much it's better than that pie at House of Guys...I mean House of Pies!...on Montrose in Houston. Best crusts I've ever eaten, the fillings were scrumptious...wow, a good thing about Houston! Didn't know I knew any good things about Houston. Well, except the de Mesnil collection.

>169 mckait: Thank you, sweetness! I hope it happens, too, along with a TV series.

>171 luvamystery65: Amen, aMEN I say unto you again, AMEN!!

Well, RD, your voodoo may have worked, as my meet-up on Friday at Daunt Books is falling apart. I will still try to make it there but it will be less special just on my own....

And Ellen should definitely do a side trip to London when she heads to Scotland next autumn. I'm taking a side trip to Scotland on this trip.

As a peace offering:



From House of Pies in Houston...

>173 katiekrug: *torn between evil satisfaction, pride of achievement, and a desire to be bribed by House of Pies pies*

drat

Okay, I'll lift the curse. *sigh* A side trip from Scotland to London...wait...I didn't know about the Scotland part before!! Back that curse goes, doubled! (Read: Daunt will be closed the day you're there, and the only books you'll be able to find anywhere will be Mills & Boon ones. Damn, I'm evil!)

Sooooo jealous that you have the new Louise Penny. I keep forgetting to put myself on the list at the library.. and I was just there this morning too! Grrr....

No pies for you!

Daunt may be closed but there's still Foyle's and Waterstone's and all the lovely secondhand shops on Charing Cross Road, and the book stalls under Waterloo Bridge, and the charity shops, and then whatever I find in Aberdeen (beyond the single malt Highland Scotch I am under orders to bring back for the hubs...)

Can't keep a good woman (or reader!) down :)

Coffee.. worth getting up for, even if getting up is a 0 dark :30

If there is pie, then all the better...

>175 cameling: I know, it's frustrating to know someone who has such a cool book BEFORE IT COMES OUT and PERSONALIZED TO HIM BY THE AUTHOR, isn't it?

>176 katiekrug: Oh, good! *targets horrible stomach bug, torrential rains, and serious glass-breaking add-ons* Beware giving personal details to evil wizards.

>177 mckait: So agreed. So.

Good meme....

*melting wax to make a little doll of RD .... oh, what are the pins for? oh nuthin......they're just to hold the wax together at various points to make sure nothing falls off ... except where intentional... *

Morning, dear! It's Monday again, so I'm going to need some of that coffee and that pie.

Hello My Dear

As always, your thread is a popular one. Hoping your day is as good as all lovely sincere comments sent your way.

Richard you are just MEAN!

#172 wow, a good thing about Houston! Didn't know I knew any good things about Houston. Well, except the de Mesnil collection. Don't forget this sweetie pie is from around Houston! I don't think I can compete with House of Pies though. Or some of those pretty boys from the Montrose area. Still, I have some nice qualities. ;)

xoxo to you and Stella

>180 cameling: ONOZ Caro has discovered 1-800-4VOODOO's self-help section! Doomed, I'm doomed!

>181 Crazymamie: It's Monday allrighty all right.



Peanut butter-cup pie and strong coffee. You're welcome.

>182 Whisper1: Hi Linda! Glad to see you. I hope today exceeds my worst fears and meets my best hopes.

>183 Cobscook: Why yes...yes I am. Happy that you noticed. *mwaaaahaaaahaaaa*

>184 luvamystery65: *smoochiesmoochsmooch* You're sweet & wonderful, Roberta, but no one is sweet & wonderful enough to make me want to go to Houston! Not even House of Guys!

#179 - I like it! I especially like "best antagonist"..... it's got me thinking.... (doesn't happen that often).

I thought that was the porn store.

My new bedside lamp.

Been putting out fires all morning, the usual first day home from a trip: What? My auto insurance is cancelled? (I've been away probably every other week this summer and the spousal unit does weird things with the mail..... and gets huffy if I ask, but I find bills tucked into improbable places months later) Anyhow, just had first blissful sip of CAWFEEEEEE. Man, did I need it.

*eeeeek* on car insurance, *whew* on coffee!!



A backup pot of Tanzania peaberry/Colombian arabica blend, a bit lighter and suitable for afternoon savoring.

>190 richardderus: Man, we need some of that in that other LT coffee place. Sounds and looks really good.

Your new bedside lamp is truly creepy. Love it!

I have a new bedside radio, much more clear than the old one!

Coffee looks very appetizing. Thank you.

What am I missing? Where did all these creepy creatures originate? Do you like them more than cats?

>191 jnwelch: It's a delicious blend, the thinner and more bitter peaberry making the rich Colombian-grown arabica less filling...just a good, balanced blend, about 60% arabica.

>192 maggie1944: Isn't that one a hoot?

>193 Whisper1: Darling, I like necrotizing fasciitis more than I like cats. I like waking from anesthesia better than I like cats. I don't like cats. Just not my thing, cats.

OTOH, I'm quite fond of our tentacled brethren. Speaking of which, my copy of Octopus!: The Most Mysterious Creature in the Sea arrived from Doubleday today. I'm chuffed.

I also got Godforsaken Idaho, which was recommended by someone here on LT but I cannot for the life of me remember who. I always think, "oh I won't forget ol' X for recommending it" and 95% of the time I do. Argh. This time is in the 95%. ARGH.

Review:47 of seventy-five

Title: THE GOODREADS KILLER: A Revenge Fantasy

Author: DAVE FRANKLIN

Rating: ...what, was I stoned, only FOUR?! Silly old faggot, make it five! Five, or what the hell, make it an even six!!

Just please, please, please let me live. I don't want to be tied to chair in an abbatoir with pig testicles slapping me and a pig's penis slithering down my my my oh gawd I can't even

So yes yes, all you lovely lovely writers out there, yes I shall only write praise and happy-clappy sixteen-star yodels of rapture I swear double swear and cross my parts and hope to die!

The dark and deeply disturbed minds of the Dave Franklins out there should never be discommoded, lest the revenge cease being a fantasy. This ebook is free, and fun, and funny...but not without its sharp little point.

Don't miss it. It's short. The price is right. And whaddaya know, it's got a message we all do, joking aside, need to heed.

Book(store) porn! It's in Brussels.

Ahhhh octopuses, book porn, oiled buff firemen, coffee, cake, food, bookshops, libraries: all is as per usual in Ricardoville.

um, 7 fictional dinner guests....hmmm....

The Master from The Master and Margarita (the devil always livens up a party, no?)
Lucia from the Mapp & Lucia series
Flavia de Luce from Alan Bradley's series
Jeeves from the Wodehouse series, because he can always sort things out if it gets a bit dicey with the devil and Lucia
Hermione Granger, because I think she and Flavia would hit it off
Mr. Jarndyce from Bleak House
et moi

I could substitute the Inspector in the Louise Penny series if you think the devil is de trop.

>197 tiffin: Hmmm yes consistency is the hobgoblin of MY little mind...those being my obsessions and all.

Happy week, Tui!

mmmm coffee. When I met Jo today, I drank about 5 cups of coffee. I was cold in the a/c, forgot a jacket. And I just craved it so much! I have been peeing my brains out since! I had one of Applebee's
( supposedly) under 500 calorie meals for lunch. Then peanut butter and simply fruit on toast for dinner .. with an apple and managed to get a 10 lb turkey thawed to cook tomorrow for Cory. More precisely, I have it prepared, and he will put it in the oven around lunch time -ish and make mashed potatoes. So, when I get home I will make the gravy and tada!

It was a busy day.

How did things go for you?

oh..

Thumbbbed the review btw

My day went. I suppose it could have been a lot worse. It's stagnant-aired right now. I'm huddled in front of the AC which is on Arctic Pack Ice speed. Poochie is downstairs looking longingly at my plate of pork roast, but I just can't face food when I feel this hot.

Inspired to make use of Cory that way! You know it will get done and you'll save an oodle of time. Gravy-making is a snap.

I got a book from a Goodreads friend, Akee Tree: A Descendant's Quest for His Slave Ancestors on the Eskridge Plantations. She's an Eskridge, and was fascinated by the tale. I can't wait to dive in!

I've got my review of How the Light Gets In cued up for Thursday on Shelf Inflicted. It occurred to me that, what with me being out of Jay Lake Pre-Mortem Readathon novels, I didn't have anything sexy and reader-grabbing to put in the spot.

PS *smooch* for the upgethumbing! I found that book on Goodreads today when Melki posted a review.

Hi Rd- Glad you survived the day! I am in the cool Man-Cave myself, although after 2 beers I am beginning to fade.
I like the Brussels book shop but that is a curious way to stack books. I prefer spines up, for maximum speed.

The Strand does something similar, Mark, for the bins of review-copy paperbacks. I don't like it much myownself, but the research shows that people spend more time flipping through them in hopes of making a "find."

*shrug*

That is a good point. Maybe seeing the full cover, is a better way to spot something but scanning through hundreds of titles, could be very time-consuming that way.

I vote for spines up, too.

Don't forget those Powerball tickets for tomorrow's $116MM jacques-potte. About $5MM a year. Imagine the readings at the Tome Home that would pay for!

will get some..

Peanut Butter Cup Pie?!? *swoon*

What are these sulphurous mutterings I find on my thread?

>208 ronincats: I didn't look at that recipe, but the peanut butter cup pie I had was slurpsome in the extreme, and that one looks just like it.

I shall refrain from muttering sulphrously about your steady stream of good and happiness-making reading as you are a guest...but don't be surprised by the twinges and ouchings of September, October...and then there's 2014....

Envy is a strong task-mistress.

Book porn!

Boulinier (Paris) pre-opening.

RD...you (or your adoring public) are slipping....no posts for 6 hours! Are you OK?

Typing...but that doesn't explain the adoring masses! Not so adoring after all, eh what? *waaaah*

*smooch*

I adore you, dear.

Hmmmf. Indeed. Ignore me for hours and hours as I slave away over a hot keyboard writing amusing comedic mysteries..."adore" indeed. *waaaah*

Boulinier looks very much like a bookstore in downtown Salem, MA

>215 Crazymamie: DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNG!!
*dives into pecan pancakes with bacon in a very unseemly manner*

>216 cameling: *adds another bookstore to life-list*

Yummy

>215 Crazymamie: *faints*

I was trying to catch up with your thread but then I saw the picture of peanut butter cup pie @185 and my brain stopped working .....
Must. Have. That. Pie.

#179 #book you threw across the room the hardest - Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. Literally, at work.

#215 - Crazymamie - how did you know that was my plan for breakfast today? I am taking a day off work (yay!), and will be making homemade buttermilk pancakes with real butter and maple syrup and thick-cut bacon. Although the syrup cannot be touching the bacon.....

Oh. Er. Hi RD! Happy Thursday m'dear. Wishing you all good things for the day. *smooches* from Horrible

quai hai, RDarling! i suppose you scarfed all of Mamie's goodies. that bacon would have been perfect when i was a bacon eater. has that sort of almost salt pork look to it. used to love me some salt pork when i was very young. oh gawd. country ham, red eye gravy, biscuits and grits. i can't be thinking about this before bed or i'll have yummy mares and wake up ravening.

I came back for pancakes. Any left? Wishing you a good day with possible day long plans for your housemates rd :)

Ellie's "yummy mares". I love them. I think I have them regularly. And I do wake up raving, oh, she said ravening. OK, well both.

Had a hard night's sleep last night. Bed at about 9, awake at 11:30 and then on and off awake and napping from then till maybe 3:30 am, so then I fall to sleep until 5:15 am. Whew. I think I'll be finding some napping time today.

>218 maggie1944:, 219 Ain't they somethin? Now step away from the pancakes, poopsies, them is all for Big Daddy.

>220 avidmom: I know, right?! How can one function when slurpyyumyumyum is the only coherent thought in one's head?

>221 karenmarie: I did that too, Horrible. That wasn't the book that made me angriest, though, the honor there goes to Gone Girl, which I detested with a vibrating Day-Glo orange loathing. Happy Thursday!

>222 mirrordrum: Ellie my smoochling! So charmante of you to stop in. Oh goodness yes, salt pork...I typed "salt porn" first, paging Dr. Freud!...in the greens, in the beans, in the gravy...oh my yes yes indeed yes.

We had pasta carbonara last night, and it was from which to die. So extremely delicious. I adored it. And so woke up after yummymares (love this term, we must now popularize it) craving boeuf bourgignon like nobody's business.

>223 mckait: Pancakes what pancakes I don't see any pancakes you're mistaken there are no pancakes.

They've gone to the city to do errands. Back this afternoon, most likely. Yay.

>224 maggie1944: Fair warning: Napping will only lead to more yummymares...maybe this time about CRONUTS!

Who knew that the pancakes and bacon would be such a huge hit? Now I am wanting that! Luckily our Big Breakfast is just a few days away. So whatcha up to today, BigDaddy?

Hi Mamie, polishing up my review of Louise Penny's How the Light Gets In while waiting for bureaucrats to call me back. They have, by law, one more day to do so, so I expect they'll call tomorrow. Still and all, I ain't takin' no chances and am parked near the paperwork I will need to refer to when the call comes in.

The book I tossed immediately upon finishing was The Sound and the Fury. Arggh.

Now I'll think pleasant thoughts about pancakes.

*makes note to steer clear of The Sound and the Fury*

Hoping they call today so you can get it over with.

>228 jnwelch: Or think pleasant thoughts about coddled eggs in fresh blueberry conserve, topped with a fluffy, sugar-dusted biscuit:



Breakfast cobbler!

>229 Crazymamie: Me TOO!!!! *smooch*

>228 jnwelch: Oh, dear, Joe. No love for my man Bill? I actively dislike Quentin Compson, but the book, I admire. Not my favorite Faulkner, but still, I hate to see it thrown.

Now now, Linda3rd, it isn't seemly to notice the deformities of others. As unfortunate as Inadequate Faulkner Appreciation disorder may be, it's simply...unkind to pay it any mind. We can't help the deformities we're born with.

It's character flaws like Dickensishness and PoMo MoFo YoHo that we must work to eradicate! Stand atop your unassailable mound of Faulknerian Excellence and wield the scalpel against these scourges!

In the end, the sufferers will thank us for slicing and dicing their misshapen, misbegotten tumors.

Cobbler! Excellent. Exactly what I need to help me take my mid-day nap!

Still reading the Mormon book and right now the defense attorneys and the prosecution are having a very interesting debate as to whether these religious fanatics who kill people are insane or not. If yes, then perhaps all religious people are insane. (I know you and I would not have a problem with this thought, but the court can not quite bring itself to that conclusion) I am interested to see what happens in the end. And thank goodness, I am near the end of this book.

*toddles off to have yet one more cup of coffee*

>232 richardderus: I try to be gentle with them, Richard, because, well, they ain't RIGHT, you know, and much like Benjy Compson, they can't help it, and might begin to howl if riled up.

>233 maggie1944: *GASP*

OMFG!!!!!

We *almost* got a juridical validation that religious belief is a form of mental illness?!?!?

Wow. Now I want some right-wingnut prosecutor to use that in prosecuting some Muslim "terrorist" and we can get shot of the whole lot of 'em!

*blissful fantasy*

But however idiotic these yahoos are, they aren't *quite* stupid enough to fall into that trap. Which is why I plan to use my last time on earth shootin' up the nutwads.

>234 laytonwoman3rd: A good policy, if silence isn't an option.

I just do NOT know how it happens, but the mail carrier brought me a box today. It contained...I know the suspense is killing you...books! I swaNEE, the universe clearly thinks I have an addiction or something.

The Affair of the Porcelain Dog--1889 London, with gay men. HelLO it is me we're talking about.
The Lava in my Bones--desire and identity self-created, and a kickass title.
The Survival Methods and Mating Rituals of Men and Marine Mammals--failed writer takes ship for Antarctica as a tech report writer, despite having scientific knowledge "that would comfortably fit in a tweet," finds love.
The Curse of the Dragon God--volume 2 in a gay-James-Bondish series.
The Letter Q: Queer Writers' Notes to Their Younger Selves--if I could leave a note to my younger self, it would be simple: RRRRRRRUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Clearance books from InsightOut Book Club. Shipping & handling cost as much as the books.

Getting new books is always one of the best kinds of treats. Have fun. Even if they mysteriously showed up.....

Goodness, and yesterday! Yesterday sweetiedumplin' Linda sent me birthday gifts! I got Their Eyes Were Watching God, a book I love, and Cotton: The Biography of a Revolutionary Fiber, which I've been eyeing and putting in my Ammy cart, then taking out, then putting back, for it seems like ever. And Linda gave it to me! I love her local liberry's sale.

>237 karenmarie: *shifty eyes* I have no notion of how these specific items came to be in front of my vestibule door. None. Not a single one. *glances heavenward for lightning bolts*

>>229 Crazymamie:-232, 234 IFad (Inadequate Faulkner Appreciation Disorder) sounds like some media criticism of an Apple product, doesn't it?

As you can tell, Mamie, many otherwise sane people love the Faulkner. But from what I've seen, even they would tell you, don't start with The Sound and the Fury. If you're going to dip your toe, dip it into one of his other awful or awesome ones. If that brings you eventually to TSATF, you'll have company. But I'll be way far away, over in the corner trying to figure out what PoMo MoFo YoHo is, and why I enjoy it so darn much.

PostModern MouthFoaming Yodels&Hoots.

Oh yeah. Love those!!

What a drool-worthy book delivery, Richard.

Well, I'm trying Light in August, which I am actually quite liking. The writing is exquisite. I'm just a bit past half way. As I Lay Dying was a bust for me - really hated it, but that was several years ago.

I had the same reaction to AILD, although I didn't toss it. Just left it somewheres.

I donated my copy to the local library.

Ha! Much more civilized. I may have donated mine to a park bench.

>242 jnwelch: :-)

>243 cameling: Yeahhh...*dreamyface*

>244 Crazymamie:-247 Doubtless that was all BLT, though. Joining LT automatically and osmotically raises one's IFAd scores.

It must be me ...I'm not a big fan of Faulkner..... will you still let me come and play in your sandbox?

Richard, my dear!! Your thread always makes me drool!

So much good looking food -- and book porn, of course! (((Hugs)))

>249 cameling: Oh dear, another IFAd sufferer. Who knew this, this deformity was so rampant in our population? *there there, pat pat* I'm sure a cure is in the offing, along with that vaccine against Dickensism.

>250 TinaV95: Drool is good, yes? Drooling = happiness, I hope.

I've just passed a tiny little kidney stone and let me tell you, that itsy little thing caused a lot of pain and suffering. I'm plumb wore out, too. A day of increasing ow, culminating in a really, really bad 2min.

ow-frackin'-CH

jeezo pete!

too tired to read a distracting book? well, maybe a lie down and a yummymare about (insert yummy object of your choice) would help.

*smooch*

>252 mirrordrum: Pretty unpleasant. Not too uncommon in gout patients. I watched Project Runway because 1) Tim Gunn and b) I got no dog in that fight...I'll never be a style or fashion icon, most of the clothes look silly to me anyway so it's a giggle, and the competition is FIERCE.

>253 richardderus: PR *loud gagging noise occasioned by sticking finger down throat.* otoh, if it distracted you from distress, i'll moderate and retch internally. too late? oh. well.

speaking of distractions, have you read The swimming pool library?

>254 mirrordrum: Not a fan, dear? No? Hmmm I wonder why? Objectification of the broads and promotion of eating disorders permaybehaps?

I have...I didn't like it much...and liked The Line of Beauty less. His books are very claustrophobic to me, I don't know why.

>255 richardderus: yeah, for starters.

i waffle about SPL. i get tired of body parts but am curious about the relationship between the two protagonists, the young and the old. it's not a book i yearn to get back to but is one i'll probably see if i can stick with.

the last sentence of this paragraph in the intro to an interview with Hollinghurst in the Guardian reminds me of you. Hollinghurst himself is quite droll.

"The carpets are beige – I feel an urge to remove my shoes; the walls white; each picture, each object, has its place; a cleaner is doing her weekly rounds – young, dark-haired, Spanish perhaps, the most beautiful cleaner you have ever seen. There is absolute silence, broken only by a loud burst of the overture to Swan Lake on Hollinghurst's mobile phone when his mother calls. As well as Tchaikovsky's lush ballet scores, he has an enduring love of Henry James – there is a bookcase of Jamesiana in his top-floor study. James became his art; forswore life to write perfect fictions. My immediate suspicion is that the pupil is taking the same course as the master, though I accept it is a large thesis to hang on beige furnishings."

maybe it's all that beige that gives you the claustrophobes. the idea of baths always does that to me but i accept it as atmosphere.

I'm another clod who initiated the Faulkner experience with The Sound and the Fury - put me off him for a good while; might give him another chance in, erm, say 5 years or so.

Hmmm - I may be odd. I loved The Sound and the Fury, which was my first Faulkner. But then I also love Dickens and Project Runway so odd might be underselling it some...

You know, this one of the many reasons why I love LibraryThing: to learn that someone else threw Cold Mountain across the room just made my day.

>256 mirrordrum: I *do* hate beige with an unruly passion. Taupe, pongee, and ecru as well. Be a color or go home!

>257 PaulCranswick: IFAd strikes again, so sad.

>258 BekkaJo: "May be" *muffled titters* "may be odd" *ill-disguised hilarity* Why no, dear, you aren't *bwaaaaahaaaahaaahaaaaa* can't even finish *gasp*

Is there a UK edition of Project Runway? Or do you watch the Colonials at the stitch'n'bitch?

>259 tiffin: TWO someones, Tui, I hurled the damned thing too. Just not as hard or with as loud of a shriek of loathing and rage as I did Gone Girl.

W00t! Another contest win arriveth: In the Shadow of Blackbirds, a very interesting-sounding ghost novel.

An old B. Kliban cartoon:

Kliban. oh yes! Kliban cats OH yes. but no, we won't go there.

>262 richardderus:, this intrigued me and i found this info but haven't verified it. no track back.

"This somewhat unique feature of the colossal squid, also known as the “Giant Cranch Squid” and technically as “Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni”, has a side effect that the squid has to tear up its food into very small pieces in order not to injure their tiny brains as they swallow.

This isn’t much of a problem as despite the colossal squid’s large size of about 39-46 ft. long (11.8-14 meters) and weighing 1000-1500 pounds (453-690 kg), they don’t actually eat very much at all, which is a very recent discovery. Due to the extreme cold temperatures the squids live in (as far down as 7200 ft deep or 2.2 km, with their habitat from the Southern tip of Africa down throughout the Antarctic), they have very slow metabolisms. So slow, in fact, that they can live comfortably on just 30 grams (.07 pounds) of food per day. As such, it is now thought that rather than being aggressive hunters, the colossal squid probably takes more of a “sit and wait” approach for acquiring food."

>eta i have no idea what "as such" is doing in the last sentence.

"As such is the case" is implied, I suppose, but it's inelegant and ever so slightly misleading. How weird that they're just now thinking of it. Look at the gigantism of the Ice Age mammals. Large size, lots of fat storage, better able to weather famine after the large size is attained.

#260 *bleueghgerh* (fyi my attempt to type blowing a raspberry at someone).

And no - the UK version is dreadful. Tim and Heidi all the way please.

Just stopping by to say happy weekend and I hope you have plenty of coffee for the duration.
*smooches* for you and the dear Stella

Strapping toothbrushes on fish. Sometimes that's what I feel I'm doing. I shall put the pic on my desktop at work. :)

Coffee, yum. Just changed my order with Gevalia - back to whole bean. Yay.

Happy weekend, RD. *smooches* from your own Horrible

Hmmm pretty quiet here last evening.. you okay out up there rd?

#251 major major sympathies on the "small" kidney stone. Any kidney stone entails heart-stopping and gut-wrenching agony as I can attest from my kidney stone episode in June of last year, the first and hopefully the last.

I hope you're fully recovered and the quiet is because you're consumed with a fantastic book or a fantastic male or both. :) Horrible

Kliban's cartoons cost me a job a long time ago. Remind me sometime to tell you the story but it is too long for so early on Saturday morning. I still love his cartoons, regardless.

I hope you are well and fully recovered from kidney stone incident!

Richard - I can't imagine what it must be like to pass a kidney stone, regardless of size. I think I remember an old boss of mine who had quite a severe case of stones, and he was put on a diet of drinking olive oil for 3 days and said that helped break them up? this is years ago, so I'm not sure if I'm remembering this right.

Richard back in the '70's I was diagnosed with rather bad kidney stones and they were doing a lot of things to get them out. They had a sonic gadget very Doctor Who that was supposed to break up the stones and make them easier to pass. The sonic thingie however felt like getting a kick in the stomach by an irate mule.

Hi all, when a stone passes it is...a wee tidge uncomfortable. Yeah. Something Torquemada would've enjoyed inflicting on heretics.

The last few days I've been very very sore, backache making me unable to do a whole lot of focusing and leaving me in a rotten mood. Stella spends her days snuggled up, which makes me even hotter than I would be otherwise, so I have the AC cranked down to Granny on the Icefloe level.

Oh well, it's slowly getting better. It might have been better had I not sat upright to watch Project Runway the very night it happened, but a boy has his standards.

>266 BekkaJo: ...is that what it was...uh huh...

I can't imagine anyone but Tim Gunn as the guru of the designers. Usually I agree with Tim's and Zac's assessments. Meana Garzilla usually dislikes what I like, and Heidi has a hawkeye for what will make her (stunningly good after 4 kids and in her 40s) body look its best.

>267 EBT1002: Ohhhh myyyyy yes coffee coffee coffee more I need more!! Oh, and Hi Ellen! If I can budge her from her position on my hip, I'll let Stella have an ear-scratch from you.

>268 karenmarie: Kliban got that sense of futile make-work exactly right, didn't he? *smooch* for my dear OLD Horrible!

He'll start you off with a gin and tonic, then just let him know whatever else you need. Hoping you feel better soon, dear.

>269 mckait: It's a holiday weekend, me lurve, so I expect it'll be quiet everywhere around LT. I need to post some reviews, but it gets taxing quickly. Surprisingly it's not just cut-and-paste, with formatting changes and so on even between the book page and the threads here on LT, plus the review page on Goodreads, and the blog's requirements, plus two going to *other* blogs that need to be fussily formatted.

My energy levels aren't up to it yet. Just typing that out made me tired.

>270 karenmarie: I'm housefulled at the mo, Horrible, so any contact with my preferred sex objects is right out. I've watched a lot of Netflix. Orange is the New Black is a decent show!

>271 maggie1944: ...now THAT is a major, mean ol' tease!! I wanna know!! You get right back in here and tell that story.

>272 cameling: You're not misremembering, Caro, there is a therapy of drinking 1/4C of olive oil after a kidney stone passes to put more fats into the system to attach to the calcium that's the culprit. Problem for me is, I have no gall bladder and that much concentrated fat causes...problems.

I don't have good solutions to any of my problems. Grin and bear it is my usual solution, no matter the problem I have.

>273 magicians_nephew: I've never had the ultrasound treatment...I hope like hell they have improved it in 40 years!! They must have done. That sounds like cure-as-bad-as-disease time!

>276 Crazymamie: Ohhhhhhhhhhhh that sounds DIVINE!!! I want a G&T quite a lot. I've found that I need to unbooze after a stone, at least four or five days, or the problems recrudesce.

*smooch* for my vicarious fix!

Oh, I don't want to be mean..

I was able to land a very much desired teaching job in a small school system, in an insular community. I was hired (out of 100+ candidates) to teach grade 6. And when I walked into the classroom there were no supplies. No textbooks, no curriculum guides, no nothing, de nada! And I was to teach one group of kids all day, every day except for two half hour breaks during the week. Oh, I did get 1/2 hour for lunch each day, I think, and maybe a 10 minute break now and then. I remember walking through some bushes to stand in a neighbor's drive way to smoke a cigarette with a friend or two.

Well, I went home to raid my bookcases to find things the kids could look at when they finished some work and the rest of the class needed to continue working. Along with some young adult and kids books, I grabbed the Kliban cartoon anthologies (having forgotten how irreverent, and profane, he could be).

Long story short, one kid with fundamental Christian parents took the book home and showed them the Christ turning pee into water cartoon, and that is all she wrote. I hung on for the year and with intervention from my Labor Union (thank the universe) I was allowed to resign without irreversible damage to my professional career. I will never ever forget the Kliban cartoon. But I still like his work, and think he is very funny.

OK, now that I've made you smile, I'll confess that I read The Goodreads Killer and have to say I did not like it much. I do think Dave Franklin is an excellent writer and his mimic of his critic's bad writing was hysterical; but I don't really like graphic descriptions of stuff I don't want to see. (Trying to not give too much away). Sorry I do not agree with your very enthusiastic appreciation of the book.

Carry on and read another book. I'm going to read Boneshaker next I think.

Unbooze? Oh, dear. Okay, then what you are going to need is a very good barista.

>279 maggie1944: Fundies. Yechhhh. Running afoul of their prunefaced purseylipped propriety is an unpleasant experience. They are unpleasant people, by and large.

The Goodreads Killer isn't for everyone. That brand of humor is a misfire for any number of folks. I'm just one of the hits, is all. *smooch* for trying it out!

>280 Crazymamie: OOOOOOOOOOOOO the smell of good coffee makes up for the smell of good scotch.

Almost.

Morning RD- We had a nice cool night and opened up the house. I have the door open in the Man-Cave and it's lovely this A.M. I am sure we will close it back up later but for now it's sweet.
Hope you have a good day planned.

Good morning rd. I hope that by now you are feeling better? I also hope that home life has been bearable this week ? xo

I'm sorry to hear that you've had such a tough week, Richard. I hope that today is a better one for you.

Your body has an unhappy tendency to turn parts of itself into crystals or rocks. I wish it would cut it out so that your brain could go back to turning out gems.

#285 Wonderfully put :)

>282 msf59: Hi Mark! I have no plans, blessedly, not even the dog-walking schedule! This is a happy occasion.

>283 mckait: Mornin' sweetness...the ache is subsiding. This takes a while, experience has taught me, and can't be hurried. *sigh* Home life is what it is. "Bearable" isn't the word I'd use.

>284 kidzdoc: Kidney stones suck. Most people, in this day and time, go to the hospital and get good painkillers. The fucking greedy-bastard vampire conservatives make that impossible for the greatest number they can manage. I hope they choke on their money.

>285 tiffin: HA! That's the best way I've heard to describe the problem, plus a witty compliment. Sunday got better.

>286 BekkaJo: Completely agree, Bekka.

Make it even better - go check out the BBC News/Entertainment article on the new Birmingham library. Awesomely fabulously awesome. I HAVE to go!

> 285 That was a wonderful play on words there.. and a perfect description of the problem!

eta

and a great way to complement our rdear..

Pretty picture of what a reader's head really is.

>288 BekkaJo: WOW!! That is a beauty. Amazing.

>289 mckait: It's a lovely compliment. Quite blushsome.

GAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaH!

...yeeesss? Did you find the lost cards? Lose the cat?

We have been hot and muggy out here--our Florida visitor brought his climate with him. But he's gone home now and we are supposed to lose the mugginess at least, and now I can get back to reading! Sorry to hear you've been poorly--sending you good energy vibrations to help with recovery.

It's those tropical cyclones, Roni, they'll make Florida out of the Sahara if they can get in.

Thanks for the good wishes, I'm on the mend thank goodness. The ache attendant on the passing has been long-lasting. This happened on Thursday...shouldn't it be over by now?

Book porn! Via Martha Stweart...am I the only one who's surprised she's not actually dead?

hmmm

>296 richardderus: oh boy! Love that one.

This thread is fast becoming the foodie place. I need to be veeeeeeery careful that I dont eat like I'm able to walk. I could get to butterball proportions in no time at all.

So sorry about the kidney stone, Rdear. I know they're excruciating.
Some good reading...how did you like the Penny? Do you think we can stage a demonstration to force her to tell us Ruth's backstory?

Hope you and Stella are having a good holiday weekend, Richard. Including feeling better after the godawful kidney stone passing. There should be better help for you for that in 2013, seems to me.

I don't know if you like running commentary with your tv viewing, but my daughter and wife supply it when they watch Project Runway. I miss 3 out of 4 episodes, but they catch me all up when I watch one with them.

ETA: so far my favorite one is the ex-dancer who proposed to his beau on the show. He just seems like a good guy, plus talented.

Oh my, was that a fun read. I've reviewed Tilt-A-Whirl, the first mystery in the John Ceepak series that's set in a tacky Jersey Shore town, in my Crime, Thriller, and Mystery thread...post #103.

Four amused and pleased stars.

>297 mckait: Enigmatic.

>298 LovingLit: I gain six pounds just imagining the food each time I come here...

>299 Matke: I've ordered a set of thumbscrews from Torquemada.com. She'll talk. *smooch*

>300 jnwelch: There is better help. I don't have the money to buy it, or the insurance to get it. 2013 is this way because, in no small part, asshole dupes and fools voted Repulsivecan in 1980, 1984, and 1988.

Yeah, sweet guy!

I have applied my thumb to your witty review of Tilt-A-Whirl - luckily I already have that one in the stacks thanks to you telling me to buy it! I might try to squeeze it in this month.

How goes the unboozing - feeling any better? I started a new thread, and you weren't there to interrupt the flow of my opening posts. I missed you, BigDaddy!

i have dropped by to say that, despite my efforts, i reached the point that i was either going to drown my iPod with The swimming pool library on it in the bath or call audible.com and ask them for a refund. the latter seemed far more sensal and reasonal, so i did that. now, what to replace it with?

and there you are, fretting over a few gnarly rocks in your body (peeshaw, i say), whilst i am faced with this desperate decision: which of my wish list items to choose? the stress is too intolerable.

Tilt-a-whirl has a narrator who irks me a bit. can't do it right now but shall wish list it. liked your review. will thumb it presently.

*smooch* to you, the ghost cattle send greetings. they're so pastoral!

>303 Crazymamie: My body's healing up, and I'm giving him all the space he needs. Unboozing is about to send me into an early grave, which when you think about it is kinda makin' the whole point moot...ooo...I sense a rationalization! *smooch*

>304 mirrordrum: A plan I wholeheartedly endorse, me lurve. Wholeheartedly. Flush it down the proverbial. And replace it with...with...oh yeah, that's *always* a rough one.

Tilt-A-Whirl will be there when you decide to come back for it. I got some welcome distraction from it.

I believe I shall go apply the Mamie Rationalization to my reality and have a Dewar's on the rocks. Ciao!

Ciao, Ciao Ciao as my Italian co-workers say. (Chow cha-Chow, accents on the first and last syllables).

Dewar's indeed. :)

>296 richardderus:: oh I do like that, complete with ladder up to loft hidey hole...although I'm not as spry as I once was. I doubt if Martha's up there as well.

>306 karenmarie: I've always loved that three-fold stutter-ciao...want a surprise sometime, say "Ciao bello, un abbraccio!" to one of the stuffier men.

>307 tiffin: It's got a quality I like, Tui, but I'm not too sure what it is.

New Thread Time! It's 21, so okay to serve drinks!

I thumbbbed last night. To lazy to do more.