rosalita jumps a little higher in 2014: Verse 3

I’m Julia, back for my fourth year with the 75 Book Challenge. I have no idea what 2014 will hold, but for the first time I’m going to attempt a little *gulp* planning. When it comes to reading, I am a pantser not a plotter, so I am not at all sure I will be able to follow a plan when shiny new books start popping up at the library and in other people’s threads. You might want to grab a ringside seat for what’s almost certain to be a hot mess of a reading year. :-)

2014 Category Challenge:
To help me with my planning, I am also attempting for the first time this year a Category Challenge. That link will take you to my thread over in that group, but for the record here are my categories (based on the titles of Bruce Springsteen songs):
1. Brilliant Disguise — books by pseudonymous authors (read to date: 0)
2. Growin’ Up — young adult fiction (read to date: 0)
3. Be True — nonfiction (read to date: 0)
4. Book of Dreams — fantasy fiction (read to date: 0)
5. Highway Patrolman — police procedurals (read to date: 0)
6. Dead Man Walkin’ — books about the death penalty (read to date: 0)
7. It’s Hard To Be a Saint in the City — books set in New York City (read to date: 1)
8. Reason to Believe — books with a religious theme (read to date: 0)
9. Spirit in the Night — ghost stories (read to date: 0)
10. She’s the One — female authors new to me (read to date: 0)
11. A Good Man Is Hard to Find — male authors new to me (read to date: 1)
12. The Ghost of Tom Joad — books by John Steinbeck (read to date: 0)
13. Local Hero — authors with a connection to the Iowa Writers Workshop (read to date: 0)
14. Worlds Apart — books set outside the U.S. (read to date: 1)

Let’s see, what else?

My rating scale:
★★★★★ - completely enthralling. It enlightened or educated me in some way. I can definitely see myself reading it again. In short, a "keeper" worth buying.
★★★★½ - not quite perfect, but I will actively recommend this book to friends.
★★★★ - really great book with minor flaws, still highly recommended.
★★★½ - better than average but some flaws. Recommended.
★★★ - entertaining but probably forgettable, not worth re-reading. Recommended only for fans of the genre or author.
★★½ - readable but something about the story, characters or writing was not up to standards. Not recommended.
★★ - finished but did not like, and would not recommend.
★½ - some redeeming qualities made me finish it, but nothing to recommend.
★ - finished but disliked enough to actively attempt to dissuade others from reading.
½ - could not finish, possibly destroyed by fire (unless it's a library book)

Books Read ticker:

January
1. The Burglar on the Prowl, Lawrence Block. ★★★½
2. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, John Godey. ★★★
3. A Tan and Sandy Silence, John D. MacDonald. ★★★½
4. A Week in Winter, Maeve Binchy. ★★★½
5. Cut To the Bone, Jefferson Bass. ★★★½
6. The Panther, Nelson DeMille. ★★★½
7. The Scarlet Ruse, John D. MacDonald. ★★★★
8. The Racketeer, John Grisham. ★★★
9. Christmas Mourning, Margaret Maron. ★★★★
10. The Turquoise Lament, John D. MacDonald. ★★★★
11. W Is for Wasted, Sue Grafton. ★★★½
12. The Dreadful Lemon Sky, John D. MacDonald. ★★★★
13. Death Comes For the Archbishop, Willa Cather. ★★★★½

9. Christmas Mourning, Margaret Maron.

The 16th entry in the Judge Deborah Knott series takes place exactly one year after the events in Rituals of the Season, when Deborah finally married her longtime best friend, Sheriff’s Deputy Dwight Bryant. As their wedding anniversary and Christmas approach, Dwight is investigating an apparent single-car accident that claimed the life of a local teenager, as well as the shooting deaths of two local ne’er-do-wells. The two events seem to be completely unrelated, but are they?

If you know and like this series, this mystery is like slipping on a warm pair of woolen socks. All of Deborah’s extensive, colorful family is here, as is the familiar North Carolina setting that gives the series such a strong sense of place. I was glad to see that Maron resisted her tendency to make Deborah the prime target of a murderer trying to cover his (or her) tracks. The working relationship between Deborah and Dwight seemed much more believable here, making an already enjoyable mystery even more so.

This is one of those rare series that hasn’t grown stale even after 16 books. Highly recommended for mystery fans.

Hi Julia - Happy New Thread. I love the Maron series. You describe it beautifully. She must be due to have a new one out soon. Fingers crossed.

Happy new thread, Julia! And a lovely review you have there! What are you doing writing about books that I haven't heard of before? You know what this means? Right! I have to add that one to the WL. And it a SERIES!! Good thing I love you!

Julia - Nice to see you finished another book! Congratulations on a new thread.

Lalala...series...lalala...not listening...

Happy New Thread, Julia!

#4> Isn't it a great series? I just love spending time in Colleton County with Deborah and her kinfolk. I am a few books behind, as you can see, but I hope I can get caught up this year in time for a new one.

#5> Oh dear. Yes, it's a series; sorry about that (not really). I'm glad you love me enough to overlook my series-promoting tendencies, which I agree is a real character flaw. :-) They really are good and I think you would really like them, so if you can brace yourself to start another looooong series, give it a try.

#6> Thank you, Paul! I'm finishing all sorts of library books that are demanding my attention, but not finishing the book I'm enjoying the most right now, which is Death Comes For the Archbishop. Soon, I hope!

#7> Amber, you will succumb to the series spell I am weaving over you even as I type. must ... read ... Deborah ... Knott ... series ... so good ... Are you feeling sleepy yet? :-)

Ha! I'm seriously considering starting a second wishlist, just for new series that sound interesting...

I love The Bootlegger's Daughter series but haven't had a chance to read many of them. I'm way further behind than you!

I'm in the Cat Challenge too. It's my 4th??? year? I can't remember anymore. It's my second in the 75ers. I worried about doing both challenges, but it worked out as long as I accepted the fact that I would always be behind on threads. Speaking of, have I met you on the Cat Challenge already? I remember someone reviewing Christmas Mourning there a week or two ago.

Remember to use your power only for good, Julia.

Happy New Thread Julia!!!!!!!!!!!

Roberta is so excited because she did not prose to behave on this thread!!

#10> That's actually a pretty good idea, Amber!

#11> Katie, it's an easy series to lose track of, but also to catch up with, if that makes any sense. This is my first Cat Challenge and it's been a ... well ... challenge so far. As I think I mentioned on my other thread, I seem to be doomed to keep reading books I put on hold at the library last year that don't fit into any of my challenge categories! That includes this one, I'm afraid. But it's just for fun so I'm not worried (yet) that I will fall short. I will look for your Cat Challenge thread; I don't think I've seen it yet.

#12> Never for evil, Mamie. You have my solemn vow. ;-)

#13> Thanks, Roberta! Pay no attention to what Mamie posted just below your message.

#14> Mamie! I really don't think we need to remind Roberta that her promise is null and void over here. Honestly, and you call me a Maker of Mischief!

Oh, I don't think we needed to remind her - I think she was lying in wait.

You wrote a review!? What, are you trying to make me feel bad?? :D

#16> Good point, Mamie.

#17> Liz, I told you I hold my new thread hostage for a review. If I hadn't been over 300 posts on my old thread, that review would have remained unwritten, I assure you. Besides, you'll notice it's just a tad bit shorter than your usual review. ;-)

Wow- so many books so far! Great. I love to see them piling up 3 weeks into the new year.

Happy new thread too, btw

#14 yep

#15 um…right

#16 you know me only too well

#18 Bwahaha!!!!

#19> Thanks, Megan! They are piling up nicely so far.

#20> I'm a little suspicious that you've posted twice now in my new thread, Roberta, without a single book warble to be heard. I think you are waiting to catch me off guard in a weak moment!

Julia I'm just enjoying your review and your own self book warbling.

Nice! I don't warble, though; I just present the facts and let the readers decide.

*whistles innocently*

Innocent my *coughs*



:P

You are a very worthy sparring partner, Roberta. I can see I'm going to have my hands full with you. :-D

Just peeking in at the new digs, Julia. :)

Hi Julia, happy new thread!

Hi, Micky and Anne! Come on in and have a seat.

Hi! New thread. Yay! (I don't know what is wrong with me today.)

>23 rosalita: ...so "innocent" *actually* means "maliciously evilheartedly determined to wreak havoc on the wishlists, shopping carts, and financial resources of blameless bystanders," does it? Be darned if I ever knew.

>24 luvamystery65: Yuh huh.

Wow, a third thread already! Look at you go! :)

Mine never gets that big (sniffle). :P

Stoppit, I don't want to read Hearne right now! Though they would count as BOMBs, all but the first...

>15 rosalita:: I have my moments... *shines nails on shirt*

>30 richardderus:: Okay, so those will be the first entry in my new, series wishlist. And so it begins.

Morning Julia- Congrats on jumping even higher! These 75 threads have been racing like a runaway train! I NEED to find the 2nd Hounded book on audio. I got the first one for a couple of bucks.

#29> I'm sure nothing more is wrong with you than any of the rest of us, Stephanie! I'm glad you made it safely over to the new thread.

#30> Richard, in the classic words of my youth: "I know you are, but what am I?" Glass houses and stones, my dear; pots and kettles. You know the drill.

#31> Joanne, I need to do less LT-ing and more reading if I have a hope of finishing my challenges this year, but it's easier said than done, apparently. :-)

#32> Oh dear Jenn, now that you've expressed a weakness for the Iron Druid series, you are going to have a cloud of book-peddling locusts descend on you. Trust me, I know. :-)

#33> Hey Amber, don't forget to add the books I recommended to your new wishlist, too!

#34> Just go ahead and succumb, Mark. Resistance is futile, apparently. :-)

What's the first title in that Maron series?

The first one is Bootlegger's Daughter and unlike some series I think this one was good right from the start.

Thanks - Series Wishlisted!

Sweeet!

#25 You are a very worthy sparring partner, Roberta. I can see I'm going to have my hands full with you. I take that as high praise indeed Julia. You are witty and all around brilliant so thank you for the compliment and the fun.

#30 blameless bystanders I almost spit out my coffee.

What actually tickles me is that Richard is book peddling Urban Fantasy!

Julia - You got me with the Deborah Knott series. You take this round. ;-)

Excellent! Another book bullet hits the target.

*blows on end of bookgun barrel*
*slips bookgun back into holster*

You forgot to twirl it on your finger first. THEN you put it back into the holster.

D'oh! I knew I was forgetting something! Thank you, Mamie!

*blows on end of bookgun barrel*
*twirls bookgun on finger*
*slips bookgun back into holster*

Anytime. I'm here for you, Julia!

Oh so we're going to get cocky now. It's on!

“I'd have to ask Oberon to leave him a present on his front doorstep. He'd do it camouflaged too, so that even if Mr. Semerdjian was watching - and he probably would be - it would appear to be undeniable, physical evidence that, sometimes, s**t just happens.”

Uh-oh ... I'm in trouble now.

Mamie I'm here for ya too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNwbjcuQUv8

Ummm....Miss Roberta, you sure are looking mighty fine today.

Kinda like Al Pacino right? LOL!

Hooah!

Right!

Uhhhhhhh, all I can say is uhhhhhhh. Happy New Thread!

Thanks, Connie! You can see you've stumbled into the madhouse portion of the thread. Pay no attention to those two crazy ladies up there, or the crazy host. :-)

*SNORK!!*

There is a pizza-by-the-slice place in Columbus, OH (or at least there used to be), right on High St just off of campus, that operated much like the Soup Nazi - very regimented: place your order here, move down, pick up your drink here, move down... It was always super busy, and if you didn't know exactly what you wanted to order when it was your turn, the 3 guys who ran the place would become very vocally disapproving. But the pizza was excellent. One day I was there with a my then-boyfriend and someone in front of us was getting the angry treatment for being too slow with his order; I turned to my boyfriend and said, in what I honestly thought was a very low whisper, "Man, it's like the Soup Nazi in here." The 3 guys heard me (!) and I thought I was done-for. There was a moment's silence, then they all three burst out laughing! Whew! My friends and I started calling it The Pizza Nazi place, which somehow spread and by the time I graduated, it was everywhere. I suspect, though, that the moniker didn't originate with me - surely the comparison had been made before and likely in several instances.

> 52, I will do just that, Rosalita!

>53 scaifea: yikes, the food better have been worth all that anger-ball treatment from those who work there.

#53> Living in Iowa has made me notice (and not appreciate) that sort of customer service in ways that I never would have if I'd stayed out East, I think. Not that I think all Midwesterners are nice; far from it! But we're usually much better at hiding how much we don't like you. :-)

#55> Megan, I like the expression "anger-ball treatment" — stealing that one.

You know I have been innocently standing on the sidelines while this voracious book-pushing has been going on, but I think I am going to have to submit to the lure of both these series. Julia, I am adding the Margaret Maron series (even though it is over 16 books long!!!) and Roberta, I think I will sample the Iron Druid series as well. I know, what can I say, I have an addictive personality and I am addicted to SERIES!!!

(((Hugs))) to you Judy! Let me know when you read The Bootlegger's Daughter and I'll get it from the library and share the read with you. No hurry.

Hi, Julia! Just stopping by to admire your shiny new third thread!

About the Manon mysteries, are they "cozies?" I'll have to check them out for the future, but next month is Fantasy February (okay, also Faulkner February; I'm going to try to do both) so am more interested in the Iron Druid series just now. I've heard so much good talk about it!

#57> Woo-hoo! That is awesome news, Judy. It is hard to resist a good series, isn't it? I mean I try hard, but ...

#58> Such fun! I will follow along if you guys do a shared read!

#59> Mary, I would say the Maron series is more cozy than hard-boiled. They can get kind of dark at times, but she really doesn't go overboard with graphic or gory descriptions. I think of them as more character-based mysteries, if that makes sense. I am interested in the characters and the place she has created and would read books about them even if there was no mystery to be solved. I hope you keep them in mind for later. And Roberta will be thrilled that she has ensnared another in the Iron Druid web.

I'm sure she will be. *stares darkly at Roberta*

Mysteries don't have to be gory, gritty noir, but I'm not a fan of the cutesy ones that use food puns in the title or take place in tea shops or that have cats as main characters. (Don't get me wrong, I loved Miss Marple when I read her ages ago, and I like food and tea and cats, only not as cute devices in murder mysteries. Although I adore the Chet and Bernie mysteries, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about and you should just ignore what I just wrote.) I also don't like the ones where the protagonist (detective, coroner, judge, prosecutor) is always being stalked/targeted/taunted by a serial killer. Once in a series is enough for me!

Mary, I know exactly what you mean and there are no talking cats or tea shops in these mysteries. (I adore Chet & Bernie also, although I've found I enjoy them more if I space them out a little bit.) There were a few books where the protagonist, Judge Deborah Knott, was being stalked by the killer because she was getting too close to solving the mystery, but it's never a serial killer and it doesn't happen every time, thankfully. What I like is that the murders that happen in these books tend to be for "real" reasons and not because the killer is a psychopath or whatever. They have motives that are rooted in real life — jealousy, infidelity, business grudge, etc. I find that type of mystery much more satisfying than the crazy serial killer type.

Hi Julia, great new thread my dear.

Maybe I will pencil The Bootlegger's Daughter and Hounded into September, they can be part of the September Series and Sequels!

#63> Thank you so much, John! I hope you'll come back often and contribute whatever zaniness you may have to offer to this zany group of readers. :-)

#64> That's a great idea, Judy! I love September Series and Sequels month!

Oh I will Julia, I like zaniness.

Oh, good! You'll get more than you need around here. :-)

Looking forward to it, just the tonic I need.

What did you say earlier about things slowing down over here?!

Mary you may stare darkly at me now but you will probably be thanking me later. ;-)

Oberon the Irish Wolfhound in Iron Druid is hilarious!

#69> What's that, Paul? I can't hear you. ;-)

#70> There she goes again ...

*whistles innocently*

I just borrowed the audiobook of Hounded from the library and will be hard pressed to wait until Feb. 1 to start listening to it. I also managed to snag audiobooks of *ta-da* Throne of the Crescent Moon and Magic Bites for Fantasy February, and Light in August for Faulkner February. Plus, I've reserved Paladin of Souls and Days of Blood and Starlight.

The Maron books will have to wait until March Mystery and Mayhem.

I'm getting off LT now before you all can do any more damage with your BBs.

Oh, do stop gloating, Roberta. :)

Mary #72 was for Julia not you.

If so, Roberta, then I am collateral damage. :)

Reading along here, I think it is becoming clear that I need to read some mysteries. I steer clear usually, afraid of what I don't know :) But one of my categories in the Category Challenge group is Out-of-Genre-Comfort-Zone....this would fit!

And Then There Were None is the third most tagged as "mystery".....do we think Agatha Christie is a good starting point?

#72> To quote an earlier post on this thread, "Innocent my *coughs*" :-)

#73> Oh Mary, you have fallen under the spell. I won't bother to tell you to let me know how you like Hounded because apparently once you read that book you can't shut up about it. Or at least that's been my experience. *glares at Roberta, Mamie, and Richard*

#74> & #75> Sorry you got caught in the line of fire, Mary!

#76> Megan, I think Christie is a good starting point if you like puzzles and aren't put off by somewhat old-fashioned settings. And Then There Were None is a classic puzzle mystery about a group of people trapped on an island, and they start dying one by one. I remember really liking it when I read it many years ago.

You forgot Tina! *evil laughter erupts*

What is that funny frown on your face? Is it….a…*glare*? OIC as Richard would say.



Hexed is even more awesome than Hounded. Of course, it's better to read Hounded first to appreciate it's awesomeness factor!

HUGE Oberon fan!

Roberta- How is his presence in Hexed? Fingers crossed.

Julia, I'm having trouble keeping up with you! I don't think I've read that Christmas book by Maron. I have read several by her that aren't listed in LT.

#78> Oh yeah, Tina's one of the worst offenders. Not as bad as you, of course.

#79> You and Roberta can talk about this on her thread, Mark. I'm trying to run a clean house, here.

#80> Lori, do you mean ones that aren't on the Deborah Knott series page? I know she has written some standalones as well as another series featuring Sigrid Harald that I didn't like quite as much.

>79 msf59:, 81 *snork*

35> No, no, you don't understand. I read Hounded...two years ago? A while ago, anyway. Actually, I got it in 2011 at the Worldcon, so probably only a year ago. Then middle of 20132 I happened across a stash of Hearne and got three more - all of them up to...Tricked, I think. I'm already hooked, I just don't want to read them _now_. But soon. Especially since all of them are new to me except Hounded, so they'll count as Books Off My Bookshelf - BOMBs.

(goes and checks my data, corrects some) I read Hounded at or immediately after the Worldcon, so it's been 2 1/2 years since I read it. And I got the others late 2012. Far too long ago...but I'm still not reading them _now_, I'm reading Nina Kiriki Hoffman. Then I'll need something light for a change....

Julia, you spread the love for mysteries. It hits me :-)

#83> Ah, so you've already drunk the Kool-Aid, Jenn! Maybe you can squeeze one in during Fantasy February, and another during September Series and Sequels? Just trying to help ... :-)

#84> Diana, I'm glad you were tempted by the mystery. I hope you like it when you read it!

Ah, Friday. Or as I call it around here, The Day of Meetings. I have back-to-back-to-back meetings at 9, 10, and 11 this morning. The good news is that these are usually very productive meetings, which makes them easier to cope with.

This afternoon I really need to get back to my weekly GTD review, since I let it slide a bit over winter break when I had less going on. But now I'm starting to feel the panic of trying to juggle to many things to do in my head, so it's time to get it all out of there and get back to working the system.

Good luck with your busy-sounding Friday, Julia!

Thanks, Amber! The good news is that it's FRIDAY!

Julia, I've read some outside the Judge Deborah series which I also didn't really like that much. I think I've read one of her stand-alones too. I'm not the hugest fan of Maron, but I do like her books. I just have to be in a certain mood for them to work for me. I just read a lot of her books in the period between when I quit recording what I was reading and the period in which I began actively using and reviewing things on LibraryThing.

Catching up. And I will *not* allow myself to be tempted to start the Iron Druid series. Well, today, anyway.

OMG, I love this thread!! I was wondering how I got so darn behind in a day???? And then I get here and see the war of the books!

I will NOT be a part of it. I had nothing to do with it! LOLOLOLOL

#89> Yes, the Deborah Knott books are the best of Maron's work, I think. I don't believe I've ever read one of her stand-alones.

#90> Good luck with that resolution, Steve. These people are relentless. Stay strong!

#91> Horsehockey you had nothing to do with it, Tina! You were darn quick to chime in with an "oh I love that book", as I recall. ;-)

Call 'em like you see 'em, Julia!

Ha! I knew I could count on you to get that reference, Mamie!

*SNORK!*

Really, Amber, I cannot allow Tina to get away with her "innocent little me" act. There's been far too many false claims of innocence in this thread already!

10. The Turquoise Lament, John D. MacDonald.

Another Travis McGee adventure, as the library holds list seem to be getting shorter and shorter. This one has all the classic elements you would expect from a book about a Florida beach bum who calls himself a salvage consultant. There is sunken treasure, tragic accidents, financial corruption, acts of deliberate violence, McGee's best friend Meyer Meyer, and two McGee mainstays: lush descriptions of big beautiful boats and sea voyages, and star-crossed lovers. At the end of it, McGee nurses the inevitable broken heart in his favorite place on earth: Aboard the Busted Flush with Meyer, chasing schools of deepwater fish.

Good Morning, Julia! Stopping in to wish you a weekend full of fabulous! Any big plans? Any small ones?!

Morning Julia- The Travis McGee love continues...I loved this series. I read about 10 of them, back in the late 70s and 80s. I especially liked the later ones, which seemed to get a bit more depth. I wonder how these sound on audio?

#98> Thank you, Mamie! Today is going to be a very fun day. There is an Iowa Hawkeyes wrestling meet this afternoon vs one of our big rivals, Minnesota. I have season tickets for wrestling, but every year I choose a meet and invite everyone in the study abroad office to join me on a sort of staff fun day. I pay for the tickets of people who have never been to a wrestling meet before. This year, we have a crowd of 15 coming, half of whom have never been to a meet before and the other half who look forward to it every year.

Tomorrow will be less fun, as it is supposed to snow and once again drop into the double digits below zero. Boo, winter!

#99> Happy Saturday, Mark! I am finding the later McGee books have fewer soliloquies about the perils of women's lib, which is a relief. The rants against over-development and environmental catastrophe are still there, but since I agree with those views I don't mind them as much. :-)

I don't know if these are available as audiobooks. Apparently the whole series was reissued last year as mass-market paperbacks and ebooks, so perhaps they put out audiobook versions, too?

Happy Weekend Julia!

Enjoy your wrestling and stay warm tomorrow.

Stopping by to get caught up after a few weeks pretty much off the LT grid. Congratulations on the new thread, Julia, even if it is being littered with Iron Druid references! What a persistent series that one is. ;-)

The wrestling meet sounds like a fun outing! Wrestling isn't as popular in this part of the U.S. as in other parts of the country, so I've never been to a meet. The University of Tennessee-Knoxville hasn't had a wrestling team since 1986.

Wrestling is much more popular on the other side of the state of Tennessee than it is on this side. I grew up in the "Memphis market" where everyone watched Jerry "The King" Lawler religiously. Sadly I don't remember the other names from that era. I never really got into wrestling. However, I know a lot of people who did enjoy it.

Julia - Wrestling huh? SWMBO suggested a wrestling match this morning but I think she had my submission in mind. xx

Have a lovely weekend.

Well, we had a great time at the wrestling meet, even though Iowa ended up losing by 4 points. There were some upsets that went both ways, though, and my favorite wrestler won so it wasn't a total disappointment. There were more than 10,000 people in attendance, and it got really loud at times. I may sound a little raspy tonight myself. :-)

#101> Thank you, Roberta! It was a lot of fun and all of the newbies seem to have a great time. They are already talking about next year, which is great.

#102> Thanks for stopping by, Lori. It's good to see you back. Yes, the Iron Druid mojo is very strong in this thread, thanks to certain people who will remain unnamed. ;-)

#103> Carrie, there isn't much college wrestling in the south in general, although Tennessee-Chattanooga has a decent team.

#104> Lori, if I remember right Jerry Lawler is a professional wrestler, which isn't anything at all like college wrestling. I can't stand pro wrestling myself although it is certainly popular. College wrestling is much more of a real sport, and a lot of fun to watch.

#105> Paul, I can't help thinking Hani probably had something slightly different in mind, although I bet some of the moves would be similar. ;-)

Julia, Carson-Newman has a wrestling team. It's in East Tennessee, not that far from Knoxville.

>105 PaulCranswick: *snort*

Sounds like a lot of fun, Julia! Craig wrestled in high school, and he is convinced that the sport led to his very rarely ever suffering headaches. His theory is that wrestlers have very developed neck and shoulder muscles, and since many headaches can be attributed to neck fatigue (the head isn't properly supported), then those with more muscular necks and shoulders are less susceptible. I have no idea if that is total bunk or not, but as he has only had a handful headaches since I meant him over 27 years ago, he might be on to something. Anyway, he is a huge fan of the sport - the actual sport, not the professional stuff.

One does so dislike tooting one's own horn, but I've posted a new review for your delectation and amusement.

#107> Lori, I wasn't familiar with Carson-Newman at all. Thanks for teaching me something; I'll have to keep an eye on them. I really wish more colleges and universities in the south would pick up wrestling, but football is such an all-consuming passion that it leaves little room for other sports, it seems. College wrestling is very much a sport of the Midwest and the Northeast right now, though there are some gains being made out west.

#108> Craig was a wrestler? I knew I liked that guy! His theory regarding headaches makes a lot of sense. I'm trying to think if I know any wrestlers who have headache problems, and the only ones I can think of are the ones who sustained concussions. Maybe you can convince Craig to vacation in beautiful Iowa and take in a Hawkeye meet. It's pretty much the mecca of college wrestling, and every fan should experience it at least once. Just a thought ... :-)

#109> Hmph. I saw that, Mr. Derus. I'm sure it is a lovely review indeed as all of yours are, but I didn't read it because I don't need any more Iron Druid warbling happening in my life right now! I did 'favorite' it so I can come back and read it later, once I've fatally succumbed to all of you. Which (sigh) I'm sure I will.

Hi Julia! Happy weekend to you!

And the very same to you, Anne!

Hi Julia! Just caught up on your thread. . will need to check out the Travis McGee series . .

You should! They are very good in an unconventional way.

And now it's Sunday morning. Where did the weekend go? We got more snow last night, but only about an inch or so. It will once again be the temperature that gives everyone fits, though. While it is currently in the 30s, it will plummet later today and will not get above zero again until Tuesday. And it is very windy, making for desperate wind chill numbers that I'm not even going to look at. I hope everyone out there is safe and warm and happy today.

Morning Julia- I woke up to more snow too! More shoveling! Ugh!

And yes, I agree that this bunch can be very pushy at times. Relentless like head lice or chiggers. How do we stand it? Huh?

Mark, all I can figure is they must have some other redeeming qualities to make the book bullying a forgivable offense. And by the way, you are not immune from being a bit of a book bully yourself, my friend. And I wouldn't have it any other way!

Ugh. We got about 4 more inches last night. Enough already.

>92 rosalita:/93 I love MASH! I even got some DVD from the library a few years back, and watched old Hawkeye getting up to his usual antics.....I liked Colonel Potter more than the ones with the old Colonel in them. What was his name again....Harry?

>108 Crazymamie: interesting theory re: headaches and thick necks :)

Wrestling is not something I have ever seen. You don't mean WWF style wrestling do you? That theater stuff? Is it the grappling in a circle type wrestling you mean? (I could be showing off my stupidity in saying all that, but hey- I am no expert, it is obvious)

I hope you and your colleagues had a great time.

#118> Seriously, right?

#119> Megan, I liked Colonel Potter better, too. Yes, this wrestling is a variation on what's called freestyle wrestling in the Olympics. Grappling in a circle is as good a description as any! We had a great time even though the team lost. Many of the matches were very exciting and came down to the last minute, and two went into overtime with the underdog Hawkeyes winning, so that was nice.

"you are not immune from being a bit of a book bully yourself." I was waiting for that one. Grins, sheepishly...

Fun thread!

Another Travis McGee behind... *sigh*

Have a good week!

Where DOES the weekend go? Yesterday I was a away all day for my school district's Tech Share Fair, and while it was worthwhile, I was very, very tired today, and suddenly *POOF* it's over! *whine*

Hope you have a good, easy week that delivers you quickly to next weekend!

#121> I figured you had to see that one coming. :-)

#122> Jump right in, Becky! The more, the merrier.

#123> You'll catch up, Joanne, no worries. I've only got a few left (*sniff*).

#124> Anne, the weekends go way too fast around here. I'm hoping for an easy week, but it will be the first 5-day week I've worked since before Christmas and I'm not sure I'll be able to handle it. :-)

11. W Is for Wasted, Sue Grafton.

Sue Grafton gets one step closer to the end of the alphabet, and Kinsey Millhone puts one more piece in the puzzle of her family origins in this latest series entry. This time it's her father's side of the family, and it involves a convoluted family tree that I'm still not sure I understand. Nonetheless, a homeless man who's found dead turns out to be her cousin, and in the course of trying to learn more about him and his family she stumbles into a deadly mystery involving another dead man, a less-than-upstanding fellow private investigator.

Grafton tells the two stories in parallel through most of the book until they converge at the big finish. I found myself impatient with the detours into the final months of Pete Wolinsky (the dead P.I.), who was a seedy, sorry excuse of a human being. Still, the two plot lines do come together in a mostly believable way and the end is fairly satisfying.

The most alarming development in the whole book is the appearance of a cat in the home of Kinsey's landlord, beloved octogenarian Henry Pitts. There are actual passages describing Kinsey cuddling it on her lap and skritching it behind the ears, which is not the Kinsey I remember from the beginning of this series, who had tart words for her dealings with any domesticated animal she encountered. What is the world coming to?

Oh no...no you don't....I'm not getting dragged into another series....no way Julia.

Sorry, Bonnie! I've mostly enjoyed the Kinsey Millhone series over the past 20-plus years, but I don't know that I'd go overboard urging it on others. I'd much rather you read the Judge Knott series, or the Travis McGee series. :-)

I think I stopped reading the Kinsey Millhone series at about L or M .... I guess she is really going to write 26 of them!

I totally agree with dedicating one's time to Travis McGee if one is choosing, though. Can't comment on Judge Knott.

I hope you have a great week, Julia!

Just checking in to make sure your not a Juliacicle this morning... Stay warm!

#129> Ellen, I took a lengthy break from the series for a while, and now I'm just focused on finishing the damn thing. You can't get to T or U and then stop, you know? If I'd stopped back at L it would be different, definitely.

#130> Amber, it's -4F which isn't too bad, but very windy so the windchill is -31F. Brrrrrrrrr! Thankfully, our roads appear to be pretty clear. It looks like things are pretty dicey up around you — I hope you and Charlie can stay inside today!

Yeah, they closed the roads last night - more snow and lots of blustery drifting. We're staying put today.

Morning, Julia! I always check the Indiana weather just for fun, and it says the high today will be 3. YIKES! This is some winter that the Midwest is having. There is an "arctic blast" our forecasters are warning about that's coming through this week, meaning that Georgia could get some snow. Strange, strange weather. Please stay safe and warm. I'm hoping that Monday is kind to you.

Ack! I just realized I've not visited your new thread, Julia! People seem to be incredibly talkative this year or maybe it's just that I follow more LT friends these days.

I'm brrrring with you. Again, no school in these parts. Incredibly windy, snow last night leaving frigid temps in its wake. The high for tomorrow's forecast is a high of 5F. I anticipate another day off for my son. I picked up some movies from the library yesterday, books to read we're set to hunker down for a day or two. Keep warm and stay in if you're able.

Morning Julia- I read and enjoyed some of the Kinsey Millhone books but I think I stalled around H or so. Glad you are still enjoying them. Good luck at work today!

Hi Julia!

I love GTD! Although, I have to get back to following it more precisely. I've been half-a$$ing it for a while. :-( And my big problem is concentration and it doesn't help much with that, quite frankly, but still, for organization, it's great.

Now I'm curious about these Hounded books again...

#132> Yuck and double yuck. Glad you can stay put, Amber.

#133> Mamie, we are not projected to get above freezing today, and the wind gusts could get up to 60mph, making for some very frigid wind chills. Definitely not a day to get caught outside! I'm so grateful that I ride in a van pool that means I don't have to drive and that drops me off right outside my office door. Now that I'm in the office, I plan to hunker down for the day. I can't imagine you getting snow in Georgia! :-)

#134> Lynda, the threads are moving way too fast this year for sure! I think it's too cold for people to do anything except stay inside and read the threads. :-)

#135> Good morning, Mark! Hope your vacation is still treating you right. What a good week you picked to be off!

#136> Kerri, nice to find another GTDer around here. I really got off track over the winter break but if I don't get back to it soon I will be in big trouble. There are so many little deadlines and tasks to remember for my job that I am a bit lost without it.

Hiya Julia, this weather! Oy oy oy. I had to pour hot water on the door to the back yard this morning to let the dogs out because it was frozen shut. Ugh.

Congratulations on reading so many books thus far this year!

#138> It's not fit for man nor beast out there today, Tam! Stay warm.

#139> Thank you, Linda. It's funny because many of them are books I wasn't intending to read, but library hold lists are mysterious and demanding things. :-)

Good morning Julia - I think I bailed on the Kinsey Millhone series after Q. Maybe someday I'll finish the series.

I'm one who has read the Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Series with a great deal of enjoyment (I read them within a month or so of them first coming out). Kinsey was born in 1950; I was born in 1952. Perhaps that's one reason I enjoy this series. I also enjoy "what if" scenarios, and I think perhaps Sue Grafton does as well. "What if" I had never married, or lived most of my life on my own, working for myself, etc.

I don't expect much from these books, and I'm maybe that's why I'm almost always entertained. I think there were several, maybe in a row, where I felt that the books lacked the entertainment and spark of the previous ones. However, I kept reading because I really like Kinsey and the people she surrounds herself with, especially her octogenarian landlord Henry and the hilarious Rosie the tavern owner. You just really can't take this stuff too seriously. I'm looking forward to X, Y, and Z, and I know I'll feel sad when the series ends.

#141> It would be worth finishing someday, Suzi, unless you really disliked them.

#142> Becky, I loved the beginning of the series right up to L, I think, pretty much without exception. I've found them to be a bit uneven after that, some very good and some so-so, but as you say the characters are worth coming back to visit. I know I will finish the series, as long as Grafton does.

Julia I haven't been by to bother you since Saturday. Howdy! One of my besties loves Kinsey Milhone. I think I read letter A back in the day when I was in nursing school. Then Brother Cadfael stole my attention away with his herb growing 12 century crime solving self. There were 20 in that series so I just let the alphabet girl go.

#144> There you are! I was wondering why you've been ignoring me. *sniff*

I suspect I'll regret tell you this to my dying day, but I've never read any of the Brother Cadfael books.

I won't push the Cadfael books on you Julia but I will tell you that they are wonderfully written. Cadfael is very clever. Perhaps when you retire or have a long stretch of time off because they should be enjoyed. I used to read them on my breaks from nursing school.

I haven't been ignoring you at all. I have left you messages on my thread and on Richard's too. Probably other places but I forget. I get stalker's dementia sometimes.

Oh, sure, other people's threads. Those don't count. I want you right here where I can keep an eye on you. :-)

I'm sure I will at least try the Cadfael series at some point. I wish retirement was something I could look forward to imminently, but alas.

Never read Cadfael?!? *gasps and clutches pearls* How have you managed to make it this far in life without reading those lovely medieval mysteries?

Seriously, they were written by Edith Pargeter who wrote the amazing and wonderful historical novels The Heaven Tree and A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury. This woman really knew her medieval history!

Mary - Julia does not have time for Cadfael right now! She needs to meet a 2100 year old Druid and his awesome Irish Wolfhound.

ETA: Post a pic of your pearls!

>142 labwriter: nice take on the alphabet series. I have read none, but have seen a few of the earlier ones around and remember thinking, surely not, not the whole alphabet? But it seems yes, the whole alphabet!

Hi Julia! My reading is slow going at present.....not like yours. But I have a gazillion lined up to get right to, asap. When I hit the jackpot in the time lottery.

>149 luvamystery65: LOL Was that a dare?

She could read both, not of course simultaneously but at the same time, if that makes sense. I often have more than one book going at a time. But February IS all about Fantasy (well, and Faulkner), so I guess Iron Druid it is. Maybe Cadfael for March Mystery and Mayhem?

#151 Mary I like your style!

I want you right here where I can keep an eye on you. Be careful what you wish for Julia. ;-)

#148> Oh my, I never meant to be the source of pearl-clutching! How have I managed? It's a mystery to me (ha!). It just sort of happened, I guess. :-)

#149> 2100 years old, eh? Sounds a bit creaky around the knees to me. :-)

#150> It's a marvel that she's made it this far, Megan! It's funny because even though it's been about a hundred years since Grafton started writing the books, only about 4 or 5 years have elapsed in Kinsey's world. I noticed in this one that Grafton was careful to set the time period early on — it's 1988, which means no cell phones and no Internet. It's a wonder Kinsey ever detects anything. :-)

Megan, Mary, and Roberta: I am reading several books right now: The Dreadful Lemon Sky (yes, another Travis McGee; shut up, the library keeps sending them to me); Death Comes For the Archbishop (I really like it but lordy it's slow going for me for some reason); and the audiobook of Master and Commander, which I am reserving judgment on for now as I'm not even halfway through. So as you can see, I have no time for ancient druids or monks. Sorry, ladies!

*not sorry*

Morning, Julia!

Oh, right, those Cadfael books...now that I have a wishlist just for series, on they go!

The Dreadful Lemon Sky was actually my first Travis McGee. I was visiting my sister and I think I was reading some lame Harlequin romance or something and she handed me a paperback copy of that one (this was perhaps 1976 or so? 1975?). It changed my life. I went back and read every one previously published, discovered Ed McBain along the way, Dick Francis, etc.....

Happy Tuesday, Julia!

#154> I can already see that your separate series wishlist is going to be dangerous for you, Amber. :-)

#155> Good morning, Ellen! Yes, I can see Trav McGee being a gateway drug to all sorts of great mystery writers. Along with the two others you mentioned, I'm a big fan of Lawrence Block who has several really great series: Matthew Scudder, Bernie Rhodenbarr, Keller the hit man. Have you read any of those?

*sighs* I have not heard of the Cadfael books and I might have to read The Dreadful Lemon Sky because how can I NOT read a book with that title?

Morning, Julia! My coffee is not yet finished, and already your thread has shot me with book bullets.

I really like all the Travis McGee titles — they all have a color in them somewhere, and it always ties into something in the book. I'm not far enough into Dreadful Lemon Sky to know how it ties in, but I'm sure it will.

Um, I guess I should apologize for those pre-breakfast book bullets, eh? I'm sure once you've had your (hopefully not loser) coffee it won't seem so bad. :-)

I have gone over to the Dark Side- the Keurig. Tired of the Loser coffee - if I didn't love Craig so much, I would seriously dump the decaf coffee out of the bag ad refill it with real coffee. However, I keep reminding myself that I DO love Craig. I do. Really I do.

Love the man, not his coffee — words to live by!

Ha!

Had a busy weekend and now woefully behind. Loved the Col. Potter photo. I really miss MASH.

Mamie get thee to the library posthaste and request A Morbid Taste for Bones.

I don't have any pearls to clutch. :(

Yes, ma'am.

*sigh* Poor Julia, stuck in the 1970s, instead of learning about the joys of Druids in their modern-day haunts. So sad!

Love Cadfael. It gets a _little_ pedestrian towards the middle of the series - oh, another mystery shows up for Cadfael to solve - which means those books are only good, not great. The first couple, Morbid Taste for Bones and One Corpse Too Many, are excellent; so's the prequel, A Rare Benedictine. And I absolutely love the last one, Brother Cadfael's Penance - don't read it out of order, though, it's set up within the series. Brother Cadfael is great, and if you have any interest in medieval times it's (often) a fantastic illustration of normal life, not the knights and nobles most quick glimpses focus on. And it introduced me to a period of English history I had exactly no clue about - wasn't aware of the Stephen-and-Maud war, or how Henry II came to the throne. Since then the period has shown up all over the place, but before Cadfael if it showed up I...don't know, thought it was alternate history? Or just made up entirely? Or just didn't pay attention to the history-background of the story I was reading, most likely.

They were made into a miniseries, which I have, but have not seen so I can't say how closely they hewed to the books. It was Derek Jacobi as Brother Cadfael, which is hopeful - love him as an audiobook reader.

#162> Me too, Reba!

#163> & #164> Ha!

#165> I like the 1970s, Richard. The present day is overrated. :-)

#166> Thanks for your perspective on Cadfael, Jenn. I suppose I should read one someday just to see what all the fuss is about. I remember seeing promos for the TV series but I never watched it. I think it was on PBS, right?

167> Yes, I think so - though what I have is the videos (got from my parents when they upgraded to DVDs). Hmmm, that does indicate something about the quality of the shows, as they're both avid readers and introduced me to the books.

The 1970s.

Blechhhhh

Hello there Julia! I've been off the grid so to speak for over a week. I'm just now trying to dig my way through everyone's threads. Things sure are hopping here!

Did you see that Bruce's youngest son is a newly minted firefighter?

Article Here

#168> Yes, the shows must have been good if your folks liked them even after reading the books!

#169> Flared pants! Shiny nylon shirts in frightening graphic prints! Polyster leisure suits in pastel colors with contrast stitching! What's not to love, RD?

#170> Welcome back, Marianne! I don't envy you trying to catch up on threads after being gone. That's an impossible task! I did see that Sam is now a firefighter. Interesting since the last I heard he was at Bard College. Do you think if I moved to Monmouth County and set my house on fire that he would bring his dad to help put it out? ;-)

#169 Richard
oh for gawd's sake those are horrible ... I'd forgotten about Mrs. Olsen and her Folger's coffee.

12. The Dreadful Lemon Sky, John D. MacDonald.

The 16th entry in the Travis McGee series. When a former flame asks our favorite Florida beach bum to keep some big money safe for her until she comes back for it, he agrees. When she turns up dead in a traffic accident, he feels compelled to investigate and finds himself in the midst of drug smuggling, political shenanigans, and more murder.

I'll end with two quotes from the book. Throughout the series, McGee and other characters spend a fair amount of time ridiculing the young people of the day (the books are set in the 1960s and early 1970s) for having turned on, tuned in, and dropped out. Here's a direct quote from late in The Dreadful Lemon Sky, after Travis and a cop have a verbal confrontation with a sassy teenager:

Scorf smiled sadly and shook his head. "Thank you kindly, sonny. I am sure we will meet professionally one day."
"You can count on it," the boy said.
As we drove out Scorf said, "What makes so many of them so damned angry at everything lately?"
"It's a new preservative they put in the fried meat sold at drive-ins."
"As good an answer as any."

I wonder if any of you notice the thing that's missing from this exchange in a book published in 1974? There is absolutely no mention of the Vietnam War as a possible catalyst for the anger and disillusion of the young people of the day. And this exchange is typical of any number of the McGee books I've read, where Travis is fairly derisive about the dirty hippy dropouts who just want to smoke grass, have sex, and hang out. I've had the vague feeling of something being missing in earlier books, but this time it really struck me hard that there is no mention of Vietnam in any of the books I've read so far, at least that I can remember. If it has ever been mentioned, it must have been a casual comment in passing because it made no impact on me. Now why do you suppose MacDonald chose to ignore such a huge contemporary event? He certainly has plenty to say on other contemporary hot-button issues such as the over-development of Florida, widespread environmental damage and pollution, and feminism. What was his blind spot with the war?

Second, just for Mamie, who commented on the provocative title of this one, is the quote that the title comes from (fair warning, this paragraph contains graphic violence):

Scorf got his left hand up to ward off the big slow slug. He was reaching for the belly gun with his right hand. The big slug went through the palm of his left hand and hit the shelf of brow over the left eye. The resistance of the thick ridge of bone snapped his head back and broke his neck. The white hat went sailing over the hood of the car. The relentless chunk of lead plowed through the brain tissues and took off a hunk of the back of the skull as big as an apple. It was all very immediate and messy. It splattered blood and tissue over the front half of the Cougar. I saw it all in slow motion. It was in the hard and vivid light of the hour before noon. It was a day of almost stagnant air. The wind had been moving steadily from north to south, bringing to Florida's east coast all the stained and corrosive crud of Birmingham and the rest of the industrial South. The horizons were whiskey-stained, and the sky above was a pallid saffron instead of blue. The bleared sun made harsh studio lighting on the parking lot scene. And Harry Hascomb saw Captain Scorf's horrid death under the dreadful lemon sky.

A very nice review, Julia, and that is an interesting question that you pose. It is telling, I think, that he addresses and even questions the anger and unrest of that generation but chooses to omit a such a hugely contributing factor such as the Vietnam War. Perhaps because he served in the military and was in the OSS in WWII, or perhaps because Vietnam was such a raw topic he intentionally left it out of his books. Choosing not to make a political statement perhaps?

I thank you for including that second quote for me - it sold me. Do I need to read these books in order?

Mamie, I did wonder if his own military experience might have something to do with it. Perhaps he was in favor of the war, and thus would not want to seem to give credence to the idea that it might be something worth protesting? I have no idea, really, but it's interesting to speculate.

You're welcome on the quote! It's a good one, isn't it? I really don't think you have to read them in order necessarily. There are occasions when people from earlier books show up again but he's pretty careful to avoid spoilers so it wouldn't ruin your experience to read them in any order. And he sketches out the basic premise of his setup in pretty much every book — beach bum who lives on a houseboat and takes his retirement a few months at a time, making money by helping people retrieve valuable objects that have been stolen and taking half. That's really all you need to know to get started.

Very interesting to speculate - I also thought that maybe his publisher advised him not to address Vietnam, thinking it might hurt sales.

Good to know about the books - I will start with this one then, since the title and the quote speak to me. thanks, Julia!

Hi Julia. The book battle wages. LOL I am totally ignoring it... TOTALLY.

Morning, Julia! It's gonna break 20F today - Charlie and I are getting out of the house!! Hope you enjoy the tropical temps today, too.

Good morning. My friend says Sam wasted a perfectly good Bard education. I say, What the heck. He had the college experience and now is following his dream. If only all of us had the resources to do that without concern for money...

Have a great day. Still smarting over the Iowa basketball loss.

#176> I can't wait to hear what you think about it, Mamie! Now I have that nervous feeling I always get, hoping I haven't steered you wrong with my recommendation. :-)

#177> Stay strong, Jenn!

#178> I bet you and Charlie will both be glad to get outside today, Amber! It's only 3 degrees right now, but I think the high here today is supposed to be 27! I don't think I can stand the excitement. :-)

#179> Oh, that basketball game was a killer, Marianne! Free throws are going to be the death of us this year, I'm afraid. I agree with you re: Sam. Certainly if he wanted an easy life living off his dad's millions, I don't think firefighting would be the path he'd choose, so I assume this is a true calling for him.

Today is the day for our spring study abroad fair. It's a smaller event than the fair we have every September, but we should get several hundred students browsing among 24 tables promoting mostly our summer session programs. It's going to be a super busy day away from my desk. Of course today's the day I woke up feeling kind of crummy, but I hope that wears off soon.

"No time for ancient druids." I think that would make a fine book title or a ditty.

Morning, Julia- Just checking in from Vacationland. I hope this crummy feeling is fleeting. Fingers crossed.

Best of luck on your busy day - hopefully it's the kind of crum that you can forget about once you get busy and not the kind that makes a busy day worse!

Stopping by marking a place trying to catch up.. and Saying Hello to Julia :)

Study abroad fair sounds interesting.

Julia, I have not yet read Lawrence Block but I will put him on the wish list.

Sounds like you're having a good time reading Travis McGee novels, Julia. I read one this last fall (Pale Gray for Guilt - it was in the house we were staying at), and enjoyed it. You're making me think I should try some others.

>169 richardderus: jeez! What a series of ads!
The moaning guy- aw, it's your coffee.....how about he makes his own crappy coffee??! I would have been a bad wife to a 60s husband.

So, I'm getting caught up on some other threads and a stratling bit of news floats by... you're an MSU grad? And you couldn't mention this before? Good thing I like you already!! (That and we've got this Springsteen thing going on...) :P

Good grief, how can sitting and smiling and saying "Have you registered yet? You could win a $500 scholarship!" 200 times be so exhausting?! I'm glad that's over and I won't have to think about study abroad fairs until ... September, when the monster fair happens. Ah well, maybe I'll be dead by then. We can only hope. ;-)

~~~~~~~

#182> Glad you arrived in the PNW safely, Mark! Have fun at the meetup.

#183> The crum mostly went away, Amber, which was good. However, smiling and being nice to everyone for such a long period of time gave me a headache. :-)

#184> Howdy, Monica! Good to see you.

#185> Lori, it is interesting for students who are just starting to imagine they might want to study abroad. I think it's friendlier than having to walk into our office and ask for an appointment. The spring fair focuses on our short-term and faculty-led programs (mostly summer), so it is much smaller. We ended up with about 200 students stopping in, which is OK. Our fall fair usually snags between 800 and 900.

#186>Ellen, I think you like Block when you read him.

#187> Joe, I had read a few many years ago but it's been fun to read them all in order and in a relatively short time period. I think you'd enjoy them if you sample a few more. As I told Mamie up there^, they really don't need to be read in order.

#188> Megan, I would have, too. Although I would probably be a bad wife to a 21st-century husband, too. :-)

#189> Marianne, I attended MSU for a year but didn't graduate from there. I was a stupid kid and when I got a job over the summer as a sportswriter for my little hometown newspaper, I figured I didn't need college because I was already doing the job I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Yeah, turns out when you're 19 you have no idea what you're going to do for the rest of your life. When I finally figured out in 2002 that journalism was not going to be my lifelong career, I went back to university and graduated from Iowa in 2007 as an old lady. But I still have a bit of a soft spot for the Spartans except when they play the Hawkeyes (grrr! still ticked about last night). But we will always have Springsteen!

>187 jnwelch:: Joe, I think you would like the Travis McGee series. As usual, I recommend starting at the beginning although I also believe the series improves as it develops (with a bit of a drop off with the last two or so, imho).

Julia, I'm certainly willing to give Block a try! I've long heard of his work.

There you go, Joe! Now you have to try them. Ellen says so, and so do I. ;-)

Woo, that's hard to resist all right, Julia and Ellen. OK, sign me up. What is the first one, anyway?

Joe, the first one is The Deep Blue Good-by. New trade paperback and ebook editions were just released last year, so I bet your library would have them on the shelf.

Ellen, the LT series page indicates that The Girl In the Plain Brown Wrapper is actually 10th in the series?

And I'm doing my research on Lawrence Block. He did more than one series.
Do I start with The Sins of the Fathers (Matthew Scudder)?
or Burglars Can't be Choosers (Bernie Rhodenbarr)?
Or....?

DARN IT! I just went by memory and I'm absolutely wrong. The Deep Blue Good-by is first.

All right, The Goodbye in the Deep Blue Wrapper. I'm on it.

#197> It depends on what tone you're looking for, Ellen. If you want gritty noir private eye stuff, go with Scudder. If you want lighthearted burglary capers with lots of witty banter, go with Rhodenbarr. If you want to read a series that makes you actually like a hit man as the protagonist, go with the Keller series. I think he has another series about a thief that can't fall asleep, but I haven't tackled that one yet so won't attest to its quality. Everything else I've read by the guy is great, though, so I suspect they are pretty good.

#199> That's the one, Joe! LOL

Sounds like something Tom Wolfe might've come up in the 70s, doesn't it? Or maybe the 60s. It looks like that's when The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby came out.

>200 rosalita:: Hmmm, sounds like I might have to try the first in all three series!

>199 jnwelch:: LOL

Hi Julia, sounds like you've been having a busy day. I bet after a day of all that smiling and niceness it'll be good to go home, shut the door and frown and/or curse a little! ;)

#203> I definitely think you should try all three series, Ellen, but I may be just a tiny bit biased!

#204> Judy, I just got home and it feels so good to take my shoes off and talk back to the radio news. Plenty on there to frown and mutter about, that's for sure!

Julia - I'm glad that the study abroad fair went well . . . or at least that it is done! I find those types of affairs exhausting too.

>194 EBT1002: I thought for a minute that Ellen was making a joke because Travis would never want his girl in a plain brown wrapper, would he...?

Hi Julia!

Travis McGee made me mad in the 1970s and I haven't picked one up since. Heaven knows you would have NO idea what resisting a series was like, now would you?

#206> Thanks, Amy! The best feeling in the world when it's finally over.

#207> Hi, Joanne! I think Travis would take his girl in whatever kind of wrapper she came in, key word being "girl" which I think is the only word he ever uses to describe grown women. :-)

#208> Gosh, Richard, I've never resisted a series. *bats eyes* What did ol' Travis do to tick you off? I haven't come across any poetry or discussions of Dickens in any of the books I've read so far ...

I know nothing of this Travis McGee character, but wanted to stop by and say hello!, Julia! Carry on.

I'm still trying to pin down my crime novel mystery preferences, as I'm newer to the genres than most others around here.

I haven't come across any poetry or discussions of Dickens in any of the books I've read so far ...

Naughty Julia

...waiting for RD's response.

Waves to Julia.!

#210> Howdy, Kerri! I'll make a deal with you: I'll try to help you find good crime/mystery novels to read if you can do the same for me re: science fiction. There ought to be some way of making our respective "expertise" work to our mutual advantage.

#211> & #212> Roberta & Mark, I suspect I will pay for my impertinence toward our dear RD!

Morning, Julia!

Good morning, Mamie!
*waves madly*
*wrenches something in her shoulder*
*settles down muttering sheepishly*

Morning Julia! Trying to catch up -- hope you're feeling better now that the study abroad fair is over.

Catching up. . drive by waves. . waiting for RD to flip about the Dickens references. . .

Oh Julia did I hear you say you love dogs!

Delurking to wave hello! Great thread!

No no no, I said McGee made me mad, not howlingly jihad-level incandescently rage-filled. Gawd...horrible thought...poultry by Chuckles the Dick *gag*

His sexism hit me exactly wrong. I don't like dismissiveness based on plumbing. It's disrespectful and lazy. I don't like some women, not because they're women, but because they're people I don't like. Seeing a woman as worth what she'll give you sexually is repugnant to me in all of my parts.

#216> Thanks, Reba. I'm feeling just fine today, happily.

#217> I'm a little nervous about that myself, Tamara!

#218> You are relentless, Roberta! I am afraid to ask what "sausage fest" means in the context of this series ...

#219> Come back soon!

#220> Richard, gotcha. The sexism in the McGee books is weird, because certainly the language is pretty patronizing as is his relentless referrals to women as "girls" no matter their age. However, if you actually parse what he is saying, I appreciated his assertion that sex for him is better when he has a genuine attachment to the girl rather than mindless physical activity. Then again, perhaps I'm a bit of a sexist prude myself, so take the opinion with a shaker of salt. I also think his language is pretty dismissive of both men and women, especially those who live conventional lives, working conventional jobs and living in conventional houses, all of which is anathema to old Trav.

Julia the sausage fest was what Kevin Hearne called his book signing/meet and greet for Tricked in Tempe Arizona. His meet and greet for Trapped was called the Beer Bonanza etc...

Well, isn't he a clever boots. :-)

Right up your alley Julia.

:)

especially those who live conventional lives, working conventional jobs and living in conventional houses, all of which is anathema to old Trav.

So if I understand you correctly, he doesn't like people who live conventional lifestyles, OR those who "drop out" of conventional lifestyles?

A broadminded individual, I perceive! :)

(As Julia knows, I am in a slightly anti-JMcD mindset at the moment, for reasons Richard would evidently appreciate...)

I was going to ask you to clarify which Iowa basketball team loss you were talking about, Big 10 or Big 12, but you did so a couple of messages later. Since my KU Jayhawks beat Iowa State for the second time in 16 days that night, you know. But you clearly aren't a Big 12 devotee. ;-)

I loved the Derek Jacobi Brother Cadfael mysteries on PBS, but I've still not read the books. Great shows!

#226> Liz, I hope I'm not doing injustice to Trav McGee with this explanation, but here's how I read him. More than anything, McGee loves the natural world — the sea, of course, but also the unspoiled Florida landscape that is rapidly being consumed (at the time of these book's writing, which was the 1960s and early 1970s) by an insatiable hunger for more — more condos, more industrial complexes polluting the air and water, more people crowding out the natural flora and fauna, more strip malls and big-box stores killing small-town downtowns. To accommodate the breakneck speed of development little attention is paid to aesthetics, so that all the condos and factories and malls and stores have a dull sameness to them that is anathema to McGee.

McGee dislikes the mindless drones who have allowed advertising to convince them that the only thing that will make their lives worth living is accumulating more stuff than their neighbors, thus necessitating conventional lives working conventional jobs in order to afford the conventional houses and conventional cars. Conversely, I think he disdains the young not so much for dropping out of what even he agrees is an intolerable adulthood but because they are not fighting to overturn the mess their parents' generation is making. In his view, they've rejected the conventional lifestyle without having given much thought to forming an alternative ethos to replace it. Whereas Travis sees his own refusing to conform to society's rules as a symptom of higher-ordering thinking. Which is crap, of course; those hippies had plenty to be angry about, including the Vietnam War that JDMcD never mentions.

More than once McGee mockingly refers to himself as a white knight on a steed, riding to rescue the fair maiden. But the fair maiden in one book might be a woman trying to escape an abusive husband; in another book the fair maiden is a man whose small business is being destroyed by developers hungry for his prime real estate. And McGee is not invincible; he often suffers great physical damage in his quests for each grail-du-livre. He is vulnerable, he makes mistakes, he seldom if ever gets the girl, the gold watch, and everything.

The thing with Travis is that even when I agree with his broad ideas of how life and people should be, the casual contempt that he displays for pretty much anyone who isn't him or his buddy Meyer is hard to stomach. Where I disagree a bit with Richard is that I don't think it's sexism, or not entirely sexism, that he is manifesting. He doesn't like anyone much, man or woman, though he appreciates intelligence above beauty in men and women. One of the things I like about his attitude toward women is that he finds women of all shapes and sizes attractive, from tiny petite gamines to mid-sized broads built for speed to tall amazonian women whose size and strength rival a man's. He loves (and sleeps with) all types. And he's even been known to turn down overtures from a beautiful woman if he doesn't think there's more than just sex in it for him.

tl;dr — I can't help liking the guy for reasons I freely admit don't make a whole lot of rational sense, I guess. :-)

#227> Roni, please feel free to deliver a beatdown to ISU any time you and the Jayhawks want! I don't follow the Big 12 very closely but of course KU is legendary among college basketball programs. I'm happy to root for them any time they are not actually playing the Hawkeyes (which would only happen in the NCAA tourney, anyway). Of course, as Mamie knows, you should probably ask me not to root for them, because I am a known sports jinx.

I've done it! I've finally finished Death Comes For the Archbishop. I'll have a review in a day or two, once I let it settle and figure out if there's anything I can say that hasn't already been said and better by others in the AAC challenge.

Also, a housekeeping note: I've done some extensive revision on my post just above this one, about the morals and motivations of Travis McGee. I don't know that it's any more defensible but I think it's a little more coherent. I didn't want the extensive edits I made to pass without notice in case anyone passed by here and read the earlier version.

Thanks for #228, Julia. In many ways, Travis McGee seems right up my alley but I've read so many reviews that take him to task for his sexism that I'm a little cautious. I appreciate your nuanced take, and I think I'll give him a try.

>228 rosalita: Hm. Well, chacun à son goût. I understand your arguments and see, from the distant memories I have of the books, that you're spotting things I gave a darker look at. Still, I have to think that I'm not likely to have a very different view now than I did then.

BUT if you read Hounded I'll read the blue indigo what's-it...

Morning, Julia!
Nodding through the McGee discussion - I've not read his stuff, but likely won't, I suspect. I'm too busy with my own 'this guy's kind of a jerk' author talk over on my thread. Ha!

Well that's a fine how do you do. Book bullets and author bullets flying all over the place. Must duck and cover on my way out. :0) Have a great weekend!!

#230> Thanks, Steve. Please let me know what you think of him when you read him.

#231> Richard, there are too many great books waiting to be read to waste time with ones that are "iffy" for you, as far as I'm concerned. I absolve you of the obligation to revisit McGee. :-)

#232> Yeah, but everyone agrees your guy's a jerk, Amber. No one's defending Franzen over there.

#233> Sorry for flinging the literary ammunition at you, Lynda!

Aw gee. I was a whole thread behind, and you started it in late January, and it's now only later January.
I haven't read Travis McGee in years; I think I said it before. I read them when the later ones were coming out and was able to let Trav be who he is - a man of his generation with respect to women.
As for Margaret Maron, I met her at a reading / book signing and later had an e-mail correspondence with her about her visiting an online community for a chat. She's real. I have a great affection for Deborah Knott, but my more favorite character is Sigrid Harald, a NYC policewoman with ties to Colleton County. Within the last year or so Maron wrote a Harald/Knott mystery set in NYC, but it didn't really work for me. On the other hand, the Harald novels are earlier than the Knott ones, and she has learned her craft on the way.
I wish there were some nifty, easy way to characterize Maron and others of her ilk - somewhere between hardboiled and cozy.
(And now I'm going to sidle out so as to miss being caught in the cross-fire.)

Richard, there are too many great books waiting to be read to waste time with ones that are "iffy"

Why yes Julia there is...

For example we have...

#235> Aw Peggy, don't run away yet! Thanks for dropping by and joining in the conversation about Travis and Deborah. I agree that there needs to be a new mystery genre for the Marons of the world that encompasses their in-between nature.

#236> Sigh. And a happy Friday to you too, Miss Roberta.

Really, Julia, wouldn't it be easier just to read the darn book? We ain't gonna stop.

Darn these LT people can be pushy! TGIF!

#238> Easier, Richard? Undoubtedly. More fun? No way!

#239> They push because they love, Marianne. :-D

At a Bar Association meeting and talking with one of my favorite judges -- his being a major Springsteen fan being a major reason why. :-) I showed him the start of your thread, where you name your reading categories with Springsteen titles. He loved it! He told me he grew up on the Jersey shore and spent a LOT of time at Asbury Park. IF your ears were burning last night, that's why!

If I had felt my ears burning last night I would have assumed it was frostbite, Marianne! I like knowing that my Boss categories were appreciated by another Springsteen fan. If I ever find myself in legal trouble in Boston, I'll have to ask you for his name. :-)

If you ever have legal trouble in Boston, you'll definitely need to call me! Unless I'm in the cell next to you! :D

Now I'm picturing some sort of bookstore riot or something that we would both be caught up in! Will they let me keep my e-reader in the cell?

Please come visit me on my new thread, where there's a fresh book review just waiting for you to read it!