Richardderus thread 15 of 2014

“What does he mean," I asked, "the humanistic values implicit in the physical sciences?"
"You ask him," my father said. "Maybe he knows. Maybe down deep in the atom there's a little man sitting in a rocking chair reading the evening paper.”
― John Updike, “The Centaur” (1963)

I have a category called Orphans, which will still catch all the other reading I do.

My 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 SHORT STORY collections ticker:




I'm keeping a mystery-genre thread over in Crime, Thriller, and Mystery forum. Way way way too many of my reviews have been, in all forums, 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 2014, which will be non-fiction and non-genre-fiction books published in 2013 and 2014, plus recommendations from other 75ers.

My last thread of 2012.
My last reviews of 2013 in this thread.

My 2014 NEW books ticker:




Books 1 & 2...thread 5.
Books 3 & 4...thread 10.
Books 5-7...thread 12.
Books 8 & 9...thread 13.
Books 10 & 11...thread 14.

Books are reviewed in post:

12. Blood on the Tracks...#133.

13. Just One Damned Thing After Another...#165.

14. A Symphony of Echoes...#209.

15. When A Child is Born...#218.

16. A Second Chance...#234.

Ooooooh! I like that nook even more than the last one!

And you're in first, Fliss! Isn't that something? No matter what modifications might be mooted, it's still a beautiful little scene. *smooch*

That topper makes me think of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir...

Happy New Thread, Richard!

>5 scaifea: Ha! I haven't seen that movie in ages. I wonder if it's on Netflix.

I like everything about that picture, except for the discriminatory right-handed desk chair ;)

There's no need for left-handed anything. Sinister people can be...re-educated.

o.O

>8 richardderus:
This sinister person refuses. :-P

Happy new thread, Richard. And *smooooooooch*!

>9 AuntieClio: Re-education is...compulsory.

>10 katiekrug: Hi Katie! Return *smooch*

>11 richardderus: One of my favorite things is watching my right-handed friends try to use my computer and my mouse. Oh lookie, button's switched. BTW, all 3 of us, me, mahsmom and mah are all left-handed. So there.

Family plan re-education, so efficient.

>11 richardderus:
Sorry, you can't buy your way out of this one.

>12 mahsdad:
That's one of my very favorite evil things. And to complicate things, I use a track ball mouse. It drove people I used to work with nuts.

>14 AuntieClio:, >15 AuntieClio: See? The wickedness must be forced out of y'all sinisters!

That chair looks a little hard for any sustained lounging/reading, so I'd trade it in for an equal opportunity overstuffed gizmo with ottoman!

Hard to argue with the view, though, right Roni?

>16 richardderus:
Oh, you just think so. They tried that in elementary school and it only screwed me up worse.

*sings cheerfully and quite out of tune*

I am the very model of a modern Major-General,
I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical,
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;
I'm very well acquainted too with matters mathematical,
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,
About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news---
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.

What Roni said -- a stuffed/overstuffed chair and just take away the attached table so there's no grounds for squabbling (just grow up children...) but the view can't be beat!!!

Oh I'm not squabbling. (As we say in our family), I'm just poking the bear. :) All in good fun.

Hello Richard dearheart - oh I had to run and put The Imperfectionists onto the WL licketty split. Great review. Lovely quote from Updike up there at the top as well. Thanks for your kind thoughts on my thread. I have decided to be really spontaneous and booked a 10-day holiday in Bali over (what is in this country) the Easter break. Sacrificing a puny 4 days of annual leave will net me a run of 10 full days off. Here is a link to our first port of call (try not to sigh too loudly with envy...)

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p908868?flspusage=sp

Good morning Richard, great thread topper my friend.

>6 richardderus: Yep, it sure is - instant streaming and everything.

Of course I'm not caught up here... but I want to save my spot here. I love your thread topper. It needs a pillow or two, and a bright colored rug, but it looks so peaceful...

Happy new thread Richard. Love the view up top:)

Oooh new thread. I am behind again (such a shock I know). But smoochies anyway.

#20 And thanks Morphy... ear-wormed. GAh!

Didn't you just start a new thread yesterday?! Hmph! If not, it certainly feels like it. Will I always be playing catch up?

Hopelessly not caught up (as usual), but popping in to say hello to your new thread, Sir!

>1 richardderus: Oh, my, what a lovely little sitting place! I might want a cushion on that chair, but still...

Good morning, kind sir! Happy new thread - now I'm off to catch up on the old one. *smooch*

>19 AuntieClio: ...so that's it...

>20 Morphidae: HA! Tom Lehrer, love him.

>21 Chatterbox: That view is worth the price of the house by itself.

>22 mahsdad: I believe it's called "badinage."

>23 PrueGallagher: *hatehatehatehate*

Oh...ahem...Prue darling! So lovely to see your Bali-bound behind around these humble, not-Bali parts!

*smooch* Have a lovely time.

>24 johnsimpson: Thank you, John! It's such a serene view. Even when it's rough, the sea soothes me. Hurricanes and waterspouts don't, though.

>25 scaifea: Yay! I'll watch it again soon. Such fun, so fantastical.

>26 mckait: Peaceful was my aim. I think the decorations are less important than the view of water. Have a lovely Thursday!

>27 calm: Thanks, calm, it is one of those bucket-list items to live where I have a view like that.

>28 BekkaJo: "Behind" in this group just means "awake." Happy Thursday!

>29 cameling: Considering how much you travel, it's amazing you even *can* catch up!

>30 DorsVenabili: Good morning, Kerri, happy to see you. That is the perfect description of that space, "a lovely little sitting place." Exactly...no other function, just a sitting place.

>31 Crazymamie: Mamie darling, how lovely to see you here! *smooch* back

Hi Richard! Your thread topper is simply lovely. It is 50 degrees here today! I can hardly stand to stay in the office for wanting to go out and bask in the sunshine. Hope its equally as nice in your neck of the woods.

>36 Cobscook: It's 62°!! I am lovin' this. I want to be in this weather in that room, please.

"The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried." - Stephen McCranie

I've never heard of McCranie, but that might need to change.

And I shall be traveling yet again come the weekend. *sigh*

>32 richardderus: "HA! Tom Lehrer, love him." Me too, but Morphy's version is the original Gilbert & Sullivan one, no? Lehrer did it with the periodic table.

>38 cameling: Australia this time, isn't it? At least you'll be with colleagues whose company you enjoy!

*ignores stabs of envious loathing*

>39 laytonwoman3rd: I don't ever hear the G&S words when I hear the tune, though. Always the Lehrer version. I know, I'm a weirdo, can't be helped.

Anyone doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month?

Charlie Jane Anders...she of the Tor.com original story that got picked up for a goddamned television series...is passing out *excellent* advice on io9. I know *I* hate to torment the ones I love...


10 Can't Miss, Surefire Secrets Of Torturing Fictional People

I can do the Vatican Rag by Lehrer by heart.

bow your heads in deep respect and
genuflect genuflect genuflect

Oh the times I've howled along with it!

>32 richardderus: ... that's part of it ... ;-)

*smooch*

Have y'all heard about Jayson Bend, 009? He's Bond's gay counterpart. It's a trailer for a new short film, and it's a hoot.

Lovely!!!

You'll never, ever guess what this is.

Ummmm .............. sure is perty though. And hypnotic .....

49 posts already! My word! Happy new thread R-Dear.

>48 avidmom: ...yes...hypnotic...yes....

>50 Thebookdiva: Thank you, smoochling! Happy Weekend! Well, it's almost Friday and the weekend starts on Friday.

haha, I went through this whole day thinking it was Friday. I had to keep reminding myself it wasn't. I don't know what I will do with myself tomorrow. So as it is Friday, happy weekend!

I was sure it was Friday all day, too! Wonder what felt so Friday about it? Sometimes I think my brain skips days just to mess with me.

That put a huge grin on my face. Thanks for that.

Have a fabulous weekend, Richard!

Good Morning, BigDaddy! It's Friday!

47> Looks like an MRI of a flower as it moves from the base to the flower.

>52 Thebookdiva: Abby, I was wrong about the day ALL WEEK! Very confusing. I would figure out in the morning what day it was, then my mind went to a completely different day. Imissed Irish night at Kelly's because I was wrong about the day! :P

>47 richardderus:, so what is it already!!! And where did you find it? Was it at the same place as the lovely
lookie you posted on my thread?

>47 richardderus: I think it is Life: beginning, living, dying!

Thread topper=magnificently perfect.

>47 richardderus: I've always loved kaleidoscopic images. Now I see that even in black and white they're mesmerizing.
So what is it already?

blecccchhhh ick urgh



My cup of dezombification juice needs to kick in.

>54 Thebookdiva:, >55 Thebookdiva: *smooch*

>56 Crazymamie: It is indeed! Have a lovely weekend.

>57 NielsenGW: Close...it is an MRI. Fascinating isn't it?

>58 mckait: My daughter posted it on Facebook. I was mesmerized. It only gets better when you know what it is.

>59 maggie1944: Well, in a cosmic sense, I think it is.

>60 Matke: Isn't it, though? That room is so simple and spare and still so welcoming!

>47 richardderus: Like Gerard surmised, it's an MRI, but not of a flower.

It's a BANANA.

The primary source of food security around the globe. That's what the structure of a banana looks like.

Very seriously cool. Even though it has migraine-inducing potential!

>47 richardderus: Sand worm!

>65 Chatterbox: It is so cool! I can see that the eye-straining repetitive trippiness of it would be migrainey...don't look too long!

>66 drneutron: Heh! You're right, I'll bet this is the last view a careless Fremen would see.

>47 richardderus: That is FREAKIN' AWESOME! Thanks for sharing.

RD, have yourself a merry little weekend. If you have chance you might look in on your Malaysian FB groupie who is suffering (and not noiselessly) from the flu at present.

>68 avidmom: I agree, and you're welcome!

>69 PaulCranswick: I left Hani a message on FB. How ghastly! The flu is unbearably miserably rotten when it's hot outside. Bad enough when it's cold. Happy weekend!

>47 richardderus: Oh, cool!
>65 Chatterbox: Heh. As soon as I saw it, I thought he’d better not show it to you.

>66 drneutron: >67 richardderus:
This made me chuckle, especially since I'm reading God Emperor of Dune and Leto II has become a ginormous sandworm.

>71 qebo: I know, right Katherine? I would not ever dream of posting something like this on Suz's thread! Ye gawds, that would be a horrible thing to do.

>72 AuntieClio: Yick. Not a fan of any of the series beyond book one.

>73 richardderus:
People keep telling me that about Dune. I'm going to keep trying to get through the six books. But I'm only keeping the first one.

>47 richardderus:,,,Mesmerizing in a beautiful way.

Happy Friday Evening to you Dear Richard.

>74 AuntieClio: Bloody-minded of you...I'd bail, myownself, but I'm exceedingly protective of my remaining eyeblinks. *smooch*

>75 Whisper1: Thank you, Linda me lurve, and a happy weekend to you!

>47 richardderus: Mermerizing but agree with Chatterbox about its migraine-inducing potential.

Happy Friday and have a wonderful weekend!

*finally* caught up, Mr. RD :) I hope you are having a lovely start to the weekend. Seems like everyone is getting sick, yes? Mr. and I have been passing back and forth a sore throat for almost two weeks. *wails* I'm about to gas bomb the whole house with lysol.

>76 richardderus: Sometimes I do it just to be able to say I did it. That's why I fought my way through Satanic Verses.

I hope you'll have a good weekend, Richard! *smooches*

Rdear, I wish you Happy Weekend.

So many great reviews popping up from you :)

Off to work soon... I may actually drive, due to rain. Dunno. Probably not if it isn't actually pouring when I leave. Slippery slope that...making an excuse to not walk.

I too am wishing you a pleasant weekend rdear.... xo

Good morning, Deario. Hope your weekend flows as smoothly as possible.

If I wanted to start a re-acquaintance with S.F., what two or three books would be good places to start? Don't want to plunge in blindly.

Morning RD.

84 behind. Sigh. I'll probably never catch up.

Happy Saturday. Hope the weather is endurable or even spring-like.....

*smooches* from Horrible

Don't front, you know it's your dream.

Sunshine and windy, but warm compared to the past few thousand years. I'm out of the productive zone as the Gruesome Twosome will be here shortly and I'll be seeking solace in my books.

Good reading to you, then! And may it make the weekend be perfect!

Ha! I'm double- and triple-stacking them, my dear. I'm seriously considering taking over some of the 60-linear feet of shelf space in daughter's rec room as she's finally gotten her feet successfully wet at UNCW and will be spending her first summer living away from home EVER.

They're piled on the yellow table in the sunroom too. Plus the uncataloged 20 boxes in the garage from my MiL's and FiL's house when he passed away and she gave me all her books.....

Not to mention the 17 books I bought at the Friends of the Library Sale Thursday and had to make room for..... without culling a single book. Moved things around once again. Fun times in central NC.

Not a bad solace indeed.... Stella and books. I have (a-hem) you-know-whats and books.

Morning, Richard! Glad to hear spring may finally be finding its way to you. Not much to add - a quiet weekend is planned for which I am thankful.

*smooches*

Oh... sorry...

*takes a deep breath*

There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,
And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium
And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium,
And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium,
Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium
And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium
And gold, protactinium and indium and gallium (inhale)
And iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium.

>77 Storeetllr: Thanks Mary, but that will not be happening. Sunday houseguest whom I dislike. Oh well.

>78 leperdbunny: Tamara! How lovely. Glad to see you here. Two weeks of sore throat sounds like hell on toast to me. Feel better, dear.

>79 AuntieClio: You're young yet. Me? Nahsomuch...so I'm over-and-out on the read it to say I've read it thang.

>80 wilkiec: Thank you, Diana! So glad to see you here.

>81 Ameise1: Ohhh, Barbara, you've gone and found another one. That's just gorgeous, thanks.

>82 mckait: I know what you mean about slippery slopes, dearest, but really now...once in a while one needs to be sensible. xoxo

>83 Matke: Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Have you read The Sparrow? I'd pick that as an easer-back-inner book.

>84 Thebookdiva: Hiya Abby! *smooch*

>85 karenmarie:, >88 karenmarie: It's beautiful here today, Horrible. Beautiful! Sunshine! Wind! Almost 60°! *bliss*

SIXTY LINEAR FEET of shelving and you haven't already colonized it?! You are a stronger soul than I, m'dear.

>87 maggie1944: Thanks, Karen44, it's going to be fine. It is.

I am sure of it.

>89 katiekrug: Y'all need it, after the Great Stomach Siege. Poor angels. Rest and recreate quietly and happily, me lurve.

>90 Morphidae: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

earworm earworm

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAa

>92 richardderus: Rdear, you're welcome. xx

Happy new thread, RD!

Awe, I missed all of the "right versus left" conversation! Like >19 AuntieClio:, my elemetary school teachers tried to make me learn to write with my right hand. Silly, misguided individuals.... we are harder to convert than you think. That, and my Mom came down on them like a ton of bricks when she found out what they were up to. That was pretty much the end of the "forced right-handed compliance" I encountered via the education system. ;-)

>86 richardderus:, Hi Richard, my house is not yet too small for my books but it is getting there, already planning some new shelving for the loft.

Too bad about the guest. Today is Final Four games and beading for me, with coffee and tea accompaniment.

>86 richardderus: Richard, my butler's pantry is over run with stacks and stacks and boxes of books. They leave a path for me between bed and kitchen and bathroom and I encourage them to continue growing.

>91 richardderus: Maybe I'm young yet. ;-) And I'm pretty particular about what I read just so I can say I did. But I am stubborn that way. Besides which, there are people of a certain reading ilk I love to tweak. When discussing Satanic Verses with someone, I kept saying, "No really, I don't recommend it." Her reply? "Oh, but I love reading thick books."

>95 lkernagh: Lori, yay for your mom. I spent many afternoons after school being "re-educated." All it did was confuse me.

Hola, que tal, mi amigo? Glad you're getting some decent weather. Hope you're enjoying the weekend.

>91 richardderus: Boo hiss on the undesirable Sunday houseguests. Maybe something will come up and they won't make it. I love when that happens.

>200 richardderus: - "re-education" would have confused me as well. Sorry to see you had to go through that, and during your afternoons after school no less.

>94 Ameise1: :-)

>95 lkernagh: Clearly those namby-pamby Canadian teachers weren't properly...motivating...you to move to the Right and the Good side. Why, I'll bet not one single flogging occurred. *tsk*

>96 johnsimpson: Well of COURSE more shelving in the loft is in the works. How could it be otherwise? But we'll know you've achieved the proper book-to-house level when you can't find the door to the loft for the piles of books.

>97 ronincats: Hi Roni, sounds like a good day for you. I hope you enjoyed it!

>98 AuntieClio:, >99 AuntieClio:, >100 AuntieClio:, >103 lkernagh: THAT's the spirit!

"I love reading thick books." ummm

Well. Look at the time! Where did it go? Must dash, ta now!

Again, doubtless there was inadequate...inducement...applied.

>101 jnwelch: Muy bien, gracias. I'm not particularly, but then I seldom do. Readjusting to life after a visit to NYC?

>102 Storeetllr: No, Mary, she'll be here. There isn't much chance of a change in that unstoppable plan unless there's some horrific weather event across the Hudson.

>1 richardderus: I love that picture!

Hope you can enjoy your Sunday in spite of unwanted house guests....

>106 Copperskye: Thanks, Joanne. I'll just pen myself up in my bedroom. It works well enough.

>105 richardderus: One can hope! :) Stay strong, Richard. It's only a day, right?

>105 richardderus: Richard, three very smart people at the table not recommending it, me the only one who actually read it all the way through and Miss Thick Books thinks we are insulting her intelligence. And then she says that proving she doesn't have any to insult.

The shelving in the loft is for the books that are crowded around the loft access, before long I will open the loft and books will fall on me.

Have a wonderful Sunday Richard and think of me whilst I am decorating.

Good morning Richard dear :)
First things first .... that juice you talk about is what keeps me going so please have some
(here is rainy, dark and without it life would be unimaginable)




then let me tell you how much I love that attic reading nook (I do not know if it is attic, in my imagination is ;)

Hope your pain leaves you alone today and you get to enjoy the day, even with those house guests :)
(I like visits but sometimes people in the house just bugs me so I make excuses why they cannot come or me go to them)

Morning, dear. Happy Sunday to you and Miss Stella!

Sunday ! yay!

or not

xo

Hope today goes better than you think it will!

>108 Storeetllr: Yes, it's only a day and they'll spend a good deal of it out and about. It's sunny and seasonable, so yay all the way around, Mary!

>109 AuntieClio: Oh dear. That's a common occurrence in a reader's life, isn't it, the non-reading friend with the notion to read a book...grim.

>110 johnsimpson: A book collapse is a serious thing indeed, John. I had a seven-foot tall, six-foot wide bookcase fall on me when I lived in Texas. It was a wee bit painful despite the fact that the bed caught the brunt.

>111 tigerlyly: Hi Lyly, thanks for the beautiful coffee! It's so sunny here it feels sunstruck. I'm very much enjoying that.

That nook (I've always assumed it was an attic as well) features in my dreams of a new home.

>112 Crazymamie: Hiya Mamie, sending smooches and huggings!

>113 mckait: It's what I expected, with some absences for lunch out and girl-shopping. Works for me. xo

>1 richardderus: Funny, my first thought was that that nook was in a cabin at the front of another sailing ship.

>115 laytonwoman3rd: Interesting! I harbor (!) no nautical dreams, so it would simply never occur to me.

Lookee...book porn AND tentacles

>117 laytonwoman3rd: Wow, that is a real find!

I think I come here for my daily fix of coffee funnies as much as I need my daily fix of real coffee!

>117 laytonwoman3rd: Ooo
aaah

That's just gorgeous!

>118 sibylline: Heh. Always happy to see you, cuz.

>117 laytonwoman3rd: That looks like MY kinda room! Comfortable, just enough light, and that looks like a door way into another room.... the library! Yes! My kinda place.

The violin is wasted on me, though.

>117 laytonwoman3rd: I'm liking that room, too!

We've settled back in, RD. Groceries bought, debris stowed, laundry laundered. If Monday doesn't come around, we'll be all set.

>120 maggie1944: I'd have to agree about the violin, Karen44. I can't use it, and am unbothered if it walks away with some starving musician.

>121 jnwelch: Oh dear, I sense a *major* disappointment on the way, Joe. *there there, pat pat*

Wizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzing thru ...just drooling from#1, even tho the view is so fabulous I'd definitely replace the seating arrangment to something more comfy.

Smoochies.

Tiny mind just turned to sludge way up there with the person who likes to read thick books after being warned off of Satanic Verses. I wish I had been there. Love situations like that.

Are those actually mounted tentacles on that wall? Say it isn't so! Octopii are sentient beings.

Meeting up with Caro this week in RL - tres excited! Then bound for you know where....I love the octopi tentacles! Happy Monday! ***smoochies***

>124 tiffin: I so wanted to get a copy for her and tell her to "have at it!"

Drive by smooches! I think I may have to break down and go to the redimed clinic to get an antibiotic. This ickiness is turning into a sinus infection. Boooo Hiss!

Morning Richard! *smooch*

Good morning Richard from a wet Walton.

>123 tututhefirst: Hi Tina! (I hope she heard me, she was moving so fast.)

>124 tiffin: Sentient...and delicious. I hope that silly woman tried to read the tedious thing and fell into a deep deep sleep.

>125 PrueGallagher: You're in for a treat, Prue, our Caro is a wonderful and sparkling companion! Happy...lessee...I think it's just turned Tuesday for you...anyway, *smoochings*

>126 AuntieClio: What a silly thing she said...and now deserves her readerly fate!

>127 leperdbunny: Oh yuck ick ptui boo AND hiss!! Don't wait. Sinus infections are serious business. Get that bad boy knocked down now!

>128 wilkiec: It's Diana the Red! So happy to see you, m'dear! *smooch*

>129 johnsimpson: Rain in Walton...fancy that! {/irony} We're having a cloudy day, with an afternoon rain/possible thunderstorm. Spring is indeed here at last!

I've been dreaming envious dreams about your shelving-in-the-loft project. *sigh*

Morning, Richard! Rainy day here, but I've a cuppa and my books, so I'm okay with that.

Maybe a few more books and extra coffee in place of the tea? And I can't help but think a canine companion would be a good addition to the list...

Review: 12 of seventy-five

Title: BLOOD ON THE TRACKS

Author: CECELIA HOLLAND

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 wrenched American history onto a new course. Focusing on events in Baltimore and Pittsburgh, this essay brings this dramatic and bloody confrontation to life, as ordinary people, driven to the wall by oppression, rose against their masters. This was the opening act in long years of savage struggle for the rights of labor that continue to this day.

My Review: Holland's historical fiction was my eureka moment of reading about history. The Firedrake, her 1965 novel of the Norman Conquest from the PoV of an Irish mercenary, woke me up as a 12-year-old voracious reader. I knew, from long-ago picture-book reading about the Bayeux Tapestry, that history was a story. That revelation made me an eager reader of all things historical (I checked out the Larousse Encyclopedia of World History so often and for so long that the librarians finally refused it to me!), but it took a novel to raise awareness that history was people's stories, average people, no one "significant" or "important"--just folks. (Specifically, the scene on one of William's ships crossing the Channel where the PoV character pees over the side when he wakes up, how human and familiar is that?)

So I saw this essay as I was browsing the Kindle store, and knowing that Holland had an entire series about the influence of the railroads on 19th-century California, I knew this would be an interesting piece of her research that didn't fit into the books.

Well. I swaNEE, boys and girls, there is interesting and there is interesting and this is the latter. The railroad riots of 1877 had barely been a blip on my mental radar as a part of labor history. (Regular readers of my reviews will recall that my views are to the left of the soulless vampire bastards that create and support the current economic system.) I had no idea of the depths of outrage that sparked this multi-city explosion. This wasn't an orchestrated, ideology-driven rebellion. This was the ultimate expression of individual people's fury and rage at the heartless, soulless exploitation of their labor for the luxury and happiness of a very, very few.

I imagine I could stop there, and most of y'all would understand why I gave the piece four stars.

But the thing that novelists do, even when they venture into non-fiction, is structure reality into a narrative. It's the way humans like to get their information, as witness the existence and survival of narratives from thousands of years ago. "Generals" Brinton and Pearson, leaders of militias called upon to suppress the rioting in Pittsburgh, were polar opposites in their approaches to the situation. Pearson's local Pittsburgh militia had a strong base of local knowledge and Pearson himself was one of the few actors in the drama with a shred of common sense. Naturally, he was sidelined and ultimately sent home. Brinton, a Philadelphia import to the scene, was by-the-book and inflexible...until shit got real and people started fighting in earnest. His men were the only ones to shoot to kill.

That did not end well.

Pittsburgh blew up, fires were set, bystanders...a four-year-old girl among them...died. This was in defense of bosses who had cut working men's wages ten percent, and announced that labor cuts were imminent. Pronunicamentoes proclaimed from the luxury of their fabulously well-appointed private rail cars. Baltimore had similar events, though for a shorter time. Martinsburg, West Virginia, where the crisis began, fared slightly better. But all were railroad towns and each had a large population sacrificed to the larger profits paid to a very few.

Greed is disgusting.

And this all takes place against the backdrop of an economy in free-fall from the Panic of 1873, unaided by the scandal- and corruption-plagued Federal Government, and record-breaking profits for the wealthiest. Does this have a revoltingly familiar sound? People made homeless, left to starve, unable to find any work ringing bells too?

Holland's point is simple: Every time capital is left without strong and painful chains, people suffer. We forget or ignore this lesson to our societal cost, and we're paying that cost yet again.

Read this historical essay. Then think about the events in Greece. In Ukraine. The Occupy movement. Just for a moment, one small shining moment, THINK ABOUT SOMEONE ELSE.


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

>131 scaifea: Hiya Amber! *smooch*

>132 katiekrug: Yep. All of the above, plus more books. Oh, and more coffee. Stella's presence is, of course, the sine qua non.

>124 tiffin: Only sculptures...I'm sure of it.

Hi Richardmydear! Just catching up after our visit to London. It's impossible to read everything and I'm not even trying with your threads. That will take the whole evening!

I hope you are okay!

>135 laytonwoman3rd: :-)

>136 connie53: Hi Connie, thanks for coming by! I'm doing well, blessedly.

>130 richardderus:, Hi Richard, I don't think my shelving project is going to be that exciting but I am working on it. Late afternoon in Walton was nice and sunny and the forecast for the next few days is quite good.

Hi Rdear, I hope you have a more relaxed day. My one was too busy. *waves*

>138 johnsimpson: I'm more envious of the space than anything else...I'd love to have room for more shelves. We're looking at spring at last, aren't we? Yay!

>139 Ameise1: Hi Barbara, it's going to be just about perfect I suppose! *smooch*

*smooches* to you, too.

Spring is on its way at last, by making some shelving units it will clear some space to get to my books which are in boxes and then I can use some space to get my cricket books on display.

Richard, one of my most vivid memories of studying U.S.History at the University of Washington was the night I stayed up all night reading a first person account of the International Workers of the World (IWW) in the Everett/Seattle/Tacoma part of Washington State. The IWW was very strong among loggers, and other hard core laborers in the far west. There was the "Everett Massacre" and other bloody battles. All because working men wanted to make enough money to live, and have a family, and do a little bit of thriving.

Such a gripping story. U of W has a wonderful rare book room with all these original sources for labor history in our part of the country.

I totally understand being enthralled by labor history, the real stuff. It breaks my heart that the current crop of working stiffs do not understand the value of solidarity, and organizing. Somehow each person will negotiate the best deal possible all by him/herself. I think not.

Labor Unions have certainly, in part, paved the road to their own decline; however, each brick in that road is put there by the individual who choses to not be involved. There is strength in numbers.

>141 Ameise1: :-)

>142 johnsimpson: Cricket...books...*snoooooooooooooooore*

;-P

>143 maggie1944: It's been a long, slow decline, pushed along by the assholish "me for me and screw a buncha thee" mentality sold as the Murrikin Dream. Fuckin' NIGHTMARE and it seems the sheeple can't make sense of it.

Oh well. I'll be dead before too terribly much longer! Just gotta soldier through these next twenty years.

>133 richardderus: Oh wise and great Long Island Satanic Book Warbler,
history was people's stories, average people, no one "significant" or "important"--just folks.

Now you know why I have a BA in history, and why I tell people if they hate history they were taught wrong. My former manager at that awful place was an ABD Ph. D. Classics professor and we spent much time talking about the way history is taught and why we think it's so fascinating (history, not pedagogy).

Standing across the street from City Lights Bookstore knowing that Ferlinghetti might be prowling the aisles and thinking about all those young (mostly) men who changed American literature with their writing thrills me. Not so much that Jack Kerouac might have stood where I'm standing, but knowing he was there and so was Ginsberg and they started something I love. That's history to me.

Going to Taliesin, Florida Atlantic University, Fallingwater and not fitting under the ceilings because FLLW was a shrimp.

Going to Sagamore Hill and walking around TR's library. He wrote his own books there! These were his reference volumes!!

Visiting Rome and seeing the Colosseo in its amazing ruined glory...Spartacus was THERE. Not a set. THERE.

*fantods*

Hello there Long Island Satanic Book Warbler!

xoxo to you and Stella

Dune series read six of them. You are right the first one is really the only one worth reading but if you must torture yourself please stop at book three. It's so Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now after that.

>146 richardderus:
enough *fantods* to cause the *vapors* :-)

>147 luvamystery65:
I found Dune #4 (God Emperor of Dune) to be pretty good. Not up to the potential of the 1st but pretty good. I'm glad I didn't stop after #3. And I am open to the possibility of tossing #5 across the room, leaving #6 unread.

>149 AuntieClio: Toss it dear. You can't get those hours back. :P

>132 katiekrug:, love that!

Love the thread topper picture you chose! That just makes me want to sit and read for hours (in a different chair, as you've all mentioned). :)

The BANANA MRI kind of blows the mind its beauty! I never would have guessed that in a million years!

Damn it Richard! ;-)

'Morning, RD! Happy Tuesday to you - coffee, good books, fair weather.

*smooches* from Horrible

Hello all can't stop for long *smooch* to each of you

Am 25% into A Symphony of Echoes and am contemplating whether to send Tui flowers or a Molotov cocktail for hooking me on this crack.

>146 richardderus: Florida Atlantic University - I went to college there.

I "purchased", for zero, that damned Just One Damned Thing After Another that you've been touting all over the place. I'm applying that book title to your book warbling right now, RD.

Much prefer the flowers. They suit pure escapism much better.

I love the MRI! It's really pretty.

>133 richardderus: Sing it, brother! Growing up outside of Detroit, we took a grade school field trip to the River Rouge Ford Plant, complete with a view of the spot Henry's henchmen gunned down the union men. As intended, this made a VERY deep and strong impression on us all. Don't let The Man keep you down!

>133 richardderus: Read that review with great interest since I come from railroad folk & was raised in a railroad town (such a tiny blip in the world, I don't think you could even find it on a map). I'm putting it on my "must have" list.

How would you like this for your bathroom sink?

I'm loving your warbled book Just One Damned Thing After Another!

Gee, I'm only six weeks behind. Let's see - is that 5 threads?

Review: 13 of seventy-five

Title: JUST ONE DAMNED THING AFTER ANOTHER (The Chronicles of St Mary's #1)

Author: JODI TAYLOR

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: A story of history, time travel, love, friendship and tea. Meet the disaster-magnets at the St Mary's Institute of Historical Research as they ricochet around history, observing, documenting, drinking tea and, if possible, not dying. Follow the catastrophe-curve from eleventh-century London to World War I, and from the Cretaceous Period to the destruction of the Great Library at Alexandria. Discover History – The New Sex.

My Review: With a healthy dollop of the Old Sex tossed (!) in for good measure.

Addictive.

Crack-level addictive. This book was free (still is, last I looked) on Amazon for the Kindle. I've gently recommended (stop laughing) that others would do well to avail themselves of the free goodness. I slurped it up in one long day. Because, well, how does one not fall under the spell of a short, buxom, foul-mouthed redhead whose purpose in life is to cock a snook at Authority and go about the business of making the Cretaceous safe for Dinosaurkind despite the fact that we all know how it ends for them?

While, not incidentally, nourishing a serious and well-requited pash for a dark-haired omnicompetent quiet dynamo of a man, fighting most satisfactorily against the evil-hearted plotting of a seriously tall and elegant femme fatale (in the best and most literal senses of that term) and battling to save THE LIBRARY AT ALEXANDRIA!!!!!!

And so much more!

Does anyone remember the Paratime series by H. Beam Piper? Darn good fun, similar in nature to this series in that the Paratime Police dash about trying to maintain the intended course of History. The difference is that this series assumes there is One History, as opposed to Paratime's many many historys in a multiverse. Both have their strong points, from a narrative structural angle, and their weaknesses.

Knowing how pantiwadulous so very many people become at the merest whiff of a spoiler ::eyeroll::, I will say that Taylor's History has a very...personal...stake in the Universe. Go find out fer yer darnself!

Now. Nothing is flawless. No book is absent goofs, errors, infelicities. This one is no exception. The only one I feel it necessary to mention in this context is that age-old problem of time travel stories, getting it all to hang together. Several characters are set up with a specific backstory that, to the reader, would lead them to know of their own personal knowledge certain other characters. Yet they don't. But they do know other things that fit within the backstory. That's an oops moment.

The others, merest minor gaffe-lets. Punctuation spacing errors, the odd repeated word, blah blah blah. Nothing that merits more than a grunt of annoyance. And each of those is measured against several laughs, a few giggles, a large number of grins, and the odd sniffleback at moments of sentiment. The less disciplined will shed a tear or two, or stand accused of heartlessness.

In short: Excellent fun for the reader in need of fun, thrills, and a larger sense of significance that can easily be ignored if the mood is light. Free. Now, what on earth are you waiting for? Free! Go! GO!


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

I snapped that one up when I saw you warbling to others about it :)

Me, too, RD. Darn you.

>147 luvamystery65: *I* ain't so much as crackin' a spine on these durned things ever again! It's Stephanie subjecting herself to the torture. Once was enough.

>148 AuntieClio:, >149 AuntieClio: No smallest question about THAT. xo

>150 luvamystery65: Heed the lady's words of wisdom, Stephanie. Heed them. Heed them!

>151 leperdbunny: Hi Tamara! Ain't that grand? *sigh*

>152 TinaV95: Thanks, Mrs. Lisa! Isn't it dreamy?

I know what you mean about the banana. Just not a single clue in the extermal appearance that that's lurking within.

>153 AuntieClio: *preens*

>154 karenmarie: Hiya Horrible! *smooch*

>155 richardderus: Why lookee there! A Satanic Book Warble! Well, did you ever!

And what do we do when we see Satanic Book Warbles? We rush right off and procure the book! Don't we?

>156 Morphidae: Really?! In Lakeland, Florida?! Ick! I mean, well, no I mean ick. Such a grim place, Florida. Pretty campus, if you're short.

>157 jnwelch: *preens* You'll thank me later.

>158 tiffin: YOU don't get a vote.

>159 connie53: Isn't it? And so utterly unexpected, that structure inside the skin of a common banana!

*smooch* Thanks for visiting, Connie!

xoxo to you and Stella

>160 michigantrumpet: Oh indeed, Marianne, growing up in Labortown would make this Scripture to you...plus it has Holland's dry wit all through it. I think you'll really enjoy the read.

>161 avidmom: I don't think you'll regret that for a moment...it's so very clear which side is Right and which is Wrong, and that got to be a tougher and tougher call as time went by.

>162 ronincats: That.
Is.
MAGNIFICENT.

And I want it!!

Richard m'dear, I believe it is Florida Southern in Lakeland, FL that has a connection to Wright. Florida Atlantic is in Boca Raton. The hubs went there which is the only reason I know this :)

>163 TinaV95: Heh. I am SO not surprised. *preens some more*

>164 ffortsa: Five, six, who's counting? Jump in. The past's the past, let 'er rip now!

>165 richardderus: Why look! Another Satanic Book Warble! And what, boys and girls, do we do when we see a Satanic Book Warble? That's right, we run to procure the FREE book!

>166 katiekrug: Wise. Very wise. Now, there are two more novels and a short story for you to dash off and procure. Quick sticks, possum!

>167 jnwelch: *preens yet more*

>171 luvamystery65: *smoochitysmooch* So good of you to drop in! Miss Stella sends slurps.

>170 richardderus: Right back at you! *smooch*

>173 katiekrug: Right you are! I can't tell the damned things apart. Atlantic, Southern, it's all effin' Florida to me. Lakeland *shudder* is a rat hole of the first water, and Boca Raton is aptly named: Mouse Mouth. UGH!

Thanks for straightening that out for me. I am just happy when I remember how to turn this thing on these days.

>176 connie53: :-)

>177 richardderus: - it's all effin' Florida to me.

Truth!

Just so you know, I blame you for my impending breakdown. I. Don't. Have. Time. To. Read. All. These. Books! And yet you persist in finding great stuff. And for free even. So yeah, Just One Damned Thing After Another is now on the iPad. I'm a sucker for anything with time travel in it... :)

>178 katiekrug: Yea verily, it is the Word and the Word was Yuck.

>179 drneutron: I shall manfully shoulder the blame, and remind you that the next two Kindle books plus the short story are a mere $8.97 altogether. Less than a sammich in a restaurant.

Dear Mrs. Drneutron,

My sincerest condolences to you and your son on the recent loss of the Doc. I understand he is in a Better Place at last.

Do you happen to know the visiting hours at Shady Pines?

Yours sincerely

*snerk*

>181 drneutron: See if you can procure an LT discount for us during your confinement. I want to go to Shady Pines and read too!

waves from good old Europe.

And do read the lawyer's name quickly....

>179 drneutron:
Oh me too!

>185 michigantrumpet:
Marianne, Can I get in on an amicus brief?

>184 michigantrumpet: I need to be added to this lawsuit, Marianne. Immediately. Actually, it will be Mrs. Tina suing, but she doesn't know how bad I'm hooked to this book yet. I've yet to confess. I'll forward your information to her posthaste.

>185 michigantrumpet: Had to read it twice and then I GUFFAWED!!!!

>165 richardderus:: I had trouble with "an historian". The h is aspirated, so it's a historian, Ms. Taylor, even if the an feels smoother. Loved your review, Richard. Lots of fun moments in these books. Hope she does a fourth.

Ok, well one damn book after another... :) You got me with Just One Damned Thing After Another and Blood on the Tracks. Thank you dear!

Goodmorning Richard, have a wonderful day. *smooches*

Morning Richard!

Good morning, Richard. So much Drama! Book Warbling has never been so exciting! I hope your Thursday is good for your health, in all ways desirable.

rd, I am totally not caught up. . . but I know that you will forgive me. I work today. Not sure if it will be until 5 or 7, due to ... stuff.

I hope that you are well and content..

>186 AuntieClio: and >187 TinaV95: Stephanie and Tina -- with enough interest, we may get a class action going!

Well, I am *destroyed* and worn out. The ending of book three makes it clear there will be a book four. I do not wish to wait. I am off to mug every short, buxom redheaded woman I can find demanding she take me to the Future RIGHT BLOODY NOW so I can download book 4 onto my Kindle.

I shall, of course, share it with my dearest non-lawsuit-filing, non-class-forming pals.

It has been a long, long time since a book series has grabbed me this way. It was a welcome sensation, immersing myself so deeply into the world Taylor built for me, poking and questioning and wondering why. I will not spoiler anything for you pearl-clutching spoilerphobes, but if you're asking yourself why some things don't quite add up, and why there are an odd set of logical lacunae, have faith. Mother Jodi will make it right.

Oh Richard, I felt EXACTLY the same way! Apparently she took a break to write a romance. A romance, for the love of money and howling monkeys!

>196 tiffin: An artiste must follow her Muse, dear Tui.

...Nah, I can't even sell that one to myself. That's a ghastly piece of news! A blinkin' ROMANCE after she writes this, this complete and utter and so horribly apt ending for book 3?! She's going to dangle us over the pit of crocodiles until she gets a ROMANCE out of her system like the bubonic plague of bloody literature that it is?!?

Sigh, you are a bully. But since it's free, One Damned Thing After Another is now on my Kindle.

You'll just have to read something else equally engaging to purge this from your memory bank, clearly.

"for the love of money and howling monkeys"????????

>181 drneutron: :-)

>182 luvamystery65: I suspect there's more than one...secure spa...for us.

>183 Ameise1: Hi Barbara! Sending hugs

>184 michigantrumpet:, >185 michigantrumpet: HA!! Inspired.

>186 AuntieClio: Et tu, Brutina?

>187 TinaV95:, >194 michigantrumpet: Good heavens, no good deed goes unpunished does it? Another pile-on of Interested Parties such that I won't be able to mess with the time stream and get #4 back here now!

5...4...3...2...

>188 tiffin: Thanks! She will, she will...if I have to smuggle my flensing knives, I mean implements of persuasion, through the Customs Nazis, I will.

>189 Copperskye: Joanne, you will not regret this. Under $10 and the pleasures you can have...!

>190 wilkiec: Diana me lurve! So good to see you, since I hope that means you're feeling at least a bit better.

>191 Thebookdiva: How do, Abby dear, sending a round of hugs Paradiso-ward.

>192 maggie1944: Thanks, Karen44, I hope so too! I expect rather less than all of that, but any one of them will do me just fine.

>193 mckait: Well enough, and content enough, since my poochie is snoring by my side as I surface from this deeply involving read.

>198 Chatterbox: Bully? Moi? I merely spread the gladsome tidings of a desirable new series of time-wiling amusing reads! Is this not the function, nay the very purpose, of this website? I am but a cog in the greater machine as it grinds our wallets into finer and finer-grained powder to pack the bullets of the economy!

>202 richardderus: a cog in the great machine?
Well really, Deario, that's a bit over the top. You are the machine's very engine.

Even though it was Peggy who first alerted me to Just One Damned Thing After Another and its free status, I do appreciate your posting it on my thread. So I need to let you know that the continuation feature evidently failed for my new thread and you can find it here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/172583

Sorry I can't provide you with the cephalod sink--octopus beads, yes, but not a sink.

>200 richardderus: merely self-defense my friend! Too many flying bullets!

>203 Matke: *dimple* La, madame, you raise the blush on my withered cheek with these kind words!

>204 ronincats: I've found you, Roni, and when it comes to books and traffic, I'd rather know twice than not at all.

>205 michigantrumpet: *hmpf*

>200 richardderus:
Richard, come gently back to the present and think about why. *smooch*
Patiently yours,
Brutina

>199 richardderus: Rdear, waves and smooches to you.

Review: 14 of seventy-five

Title: A SYMPHONY OF ECHOES

Author: JODI TAYLOR

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Book Two in the madcap time-travel series based at the St Mary's Institute of Historical Research that seems to be everyone's cup of tea.

In the second book in the Chronicles of St Mary's series, Max and the team visit Victorian London in search of Jack the Ripper, withess the murder of Archbishop Thomas a Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, and discover that dodos make a grockling noise when eating cucumber sandwiches.

But they must also confront an enemy intent on destroying St Mary's - an enemy willing, if necessary, to destroy History itself to do it.

My Review: You know how, as you're watching Star Trek in any of its incarnations, you end up wondering pretty darn quick what the heck they keep talking about this Prime Directive for since they seem not to have any intention of following it? Yeah, that. The whole book is that. The St Mary's tea-soppers are set the one really big intervention that will make History match itself. It is a matter of the survival of St Mary's, so we're told, so it's okay to monkey with History. Kleio will approve.

Getting to the magic moment is, however, quite entertaining, and the key discovery made at the end of the first book is called into play very frequently. Pay attention to the details in this book, and I assume you'll want to read it after the delirious romp of #1, because some things are larded in to the chat and background that will cause a veritable street light to go on over your head when you read #3. Which I also assume you'll want to read after the sobering and still very fun events of this book.

So you've read #1, have you? Then click here: The team goes to Mary Queen of Scots' court to fix the gargantuan error in the timeline of Elizabeth Tudor dying at the chopping block instead of Her Scottish Majesty which they discovered upon sneak-peeking the Shakespeare play that the Director coerced from the Bard's pen. It is imperative, for their time to exist at all, that the error be corrected and Mary forced...or so we imagine...to marry Bothwell, which seals her doom. Needless to say, the task is accomplished, but it brought up two issues for me. One I dealt with in the opener. The other is the nagging problem of all time-travel books, to wit the competing and mutually exclusive notions of A History, one divinely ordained way for Kleio to design and her sisters the Fates to weave; the other is the Eastern philosophical and string theory-supported proposition that we live in a many-dimensioned multiverse where all things that can happen have happened are happening will happen. (English is a titanically flexible tool, and ever willing to bow to Queen Norma Loquendi, but time travel is gonna bugger the prescriptive grammarians HARD. Come to think of it, Douglas Adams mined that vein for some laughs in Hitchhiker's Guide, didn't he.)

It would seem Ma Taylor plumped for the "One True History" solution, based on the events in this book. The Timeline must be restored!

Go with it. Even if you don't think that's the case, go with it. I promise you it will pay off.

And why the hell should dodos say "grockle"? Well, why the hell not.


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

>207 AuntieClio: Don't be ridiculous! There IS no reason!! *smooch*

>208 Ameise1: How adorable, Barbara! Thanks, and smooches right back to you.

>210 richardderus: :-)

>165 richardderus: sounds like a good 'un.

I read a book a few years back called America:1908 and learned a lot more than I wanted to about the Springfield Race Riots of that august year.

Your writing about the railroad unions and the fat-cats called it to mind.

It makes me famished just reading your review of A Symphony of Echoes. For some reason, a craving for comfort food and drink arises. I'm further inspired to try the first one in the series.

>211 Ameise1: :-)

>212 magicians_nephew: It really is good fun, Jim, and worth every penny of free. Try it.

You *got* me with America, 1908...the year Mamaw saw the Cubs win their last (ever?) pennant. It wingeth its way unto me even as we speak.

>213 jnwelch: Waste no time! Crack the Kindle open and commence to decodin'! Seriously, Joe, no risk whatever in reading the first one, unless you like it. A lot. And can't wait to spend $8.97 for the rest of 'em.

Heh.

>214 richardderus: good you have a treat in store as they talk about that game a good deal.

Apparently people in other cities would come to local ball parks (in the days before games were routinely broadcast) and sit in the stands watching a big metal diagram of the bases while people moved metal pictures of base-runners around based on information received by telegraph. Amazing!

You know the famous story of Merkel's boner, I'm sure. But he tells the story well for the latecomers.

Hello, Richard dear. I fast-forwarded through most of what I missed, but that gorgeous pic up top caught my eye. Beautiful. And you are warbling again, I see. Hmph. Plus ça change around here.

>215 magicians_nephew: I've heard that story, and given it only minor attention...now I'm curious about the practice. Can't wait! Thanks!

>216 rosalita: Julia me lurve! So good to see you here. I am indeed warbling at top volume...and for a FREE Kindle download...you know me. Always lookin' out for my peeps.

Review: 15 of seventy-five

Title: WHEN A CHILD IS BORN - A Christmas Short Story in the Chronicles of St Mary's

Author: JODI TAYLOR

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: It's Christmas Day 1066 and a team from St Mary's is going to witness the coronation of William the Conqueror. Or so they think…

However, History seems to have different plans for them and when Max finds herself delivering a child in a peasant's hut, she can't help wondering what History is up to.

My Review: Sexism is a bitter dreg of monotheistic Western society. And remember the Prime Directive issue I brought up in the review for A Symphony of Echoes? Yeah, that too.

It's not *urgent* that you read this 99¢ Kindle Single to understand anything. You can infer the events easily enough. But 21pp and 99¢ is very little investment for an enriching and trenchant coffee-break read.

G'wan. What's a buck to most of us?


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

Heh.

Heh! Cute.

Am flying through Who Sings to the Dead?, a Kindle sale thriller (99¢!) that's set in Peru, specifically Cuzco! I loved the times I visited Cuzco. It's pretty intense, with death-squad victims and snatched children all leading...somewhere. Big fun!

>221 richardderus: Oh no no no no no you don't. I can't hear you. I can't see you. What are you going on about?

One of the sweet housekeepers brought me some pan dulce for merienda today! My marranito was delish! I'm saving my empanadas for breakfast. Mmmm

xoxo

"Jump to first unread (222 unread)."
Uh huh.

I think I'll be buying a Kindle on June 1 or so.... it seems that I'll miss lots of great deals in the intervening 1+ month....

*smooch*

'Morning, RD! Still enjoying the Peter Diamond series by Peter Lovesey.

Have a supercalafragalisticexpialidocious day.

(the spelling may not be exactly right but you get the idea)

I've written my resume, sent it to a couple of people for critiquing, and am lining up references. There might not be anything out there that's right, but I want to at least try. I work for a train-wreck of a company. This activity is making me feel good.

*smooches from Horrible*

>224 karenmarie: I work for a train-wreck of a company. There are few places these days that cannot be described that way imo :(

>223 EBT1002: Why wait?

Good morning rd. I feel like I've been dragged behind a train for a few miles.. but whatever. How are you? Sorry about the whole end of the week thing, but glad to have a day off! Errands in the rain.. but soooo much better than snow!

>222 luvamystery65: Hi there Roberta! What, are you complaining about my finding you a series of thrillers with a female Quechua Indian/"Spanish" Tourist Police lead, with a cocaine-baron uncle who funded her Uni studies in the USA only to have her return to Peru and fight for justice for her murdered brother the Senderista, the poor and oppressed children and women of Cuzco, and still wander around the Andes remembering her myth-infused childhood?

The first one, Sendero by Max Tomlinson is free on your Kindle BTW.

>223 EBT1002: Why wait, as Kath asks, when you can install the app on your computer for free and then, when the Kindle shows up, move the books onto it with trivial ease?

You'll thank me later. *smooch*

>224 karenmarie: Not a single second too soon. Even the attempt will soothe your frustrated soul.

*smooch* for a profitable escape from the Italians.

>225 mckait: I'm sorry you're still flattened, my dear...so wish this stress would make itself scarce.

Grimsby McGlowerson will be here solo this weekend. My rapture is unbounded.

>223 EBT1002: You don't have to wait, if you have a smartphone. I don't have a Kindle (want one, I think), but I have the Kindle app on my iPhone, it works pretty good. Plus, if you know you are going to get one, you can still "buy" (especially the freebies) on Amazon, and they'll just sit in your account till you hook up the device.

waves and smooches

>227 mahsdad: See Ellen?! See?! The solution is coming at you from every direction! Resistance is futile.

>228 Ameise1: *smooch* Thanks Barbara, and have a wonderful weekend.

>229 richardderus: :-)

Book porn!

Oh, yum, yes, I'll take one please!

Bet you can't guess what book I stayed up late finishing last night.

>231 richardderus:: that's a nice spot, Richard, with all the necessities close at hand.

Review: 16 of seventy-five

Title: A SECOND CHANCE

Author: JODI TAYLOR

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: St Mary’s is back and nothing is going right for Max. Once again, it’s just one damned thing after another.

The action jumps from an encounter with a mirror-stealing Isaac Newton to the bloody battlefield at Agincourt. Discover how a simple fact-finding assignment to witness the ancient and murderous cheese-rolling fertility ceremony in Gloucester can result in CBC – concussion by cheese. The long awaited jump to Bronze Age Troy ends in personal catastrophe for Max and just when it seems things couldn’t get any worse – it’s back to the Cretaceous Period again to confront an old enemy who has nothing to lose.

So, make the tea, grab the chocolate biscuits, settle back and discover exactly why the entire history department has painted itself blue …

My Review: History slaps Max and St Mary's around a good bit. Kleio seems to favor the rough love school of affection. She really rides Max and the entire Institute hard this time out.

This is not the final installment of the series, at least it's not if La Taylor has any idea of what's good for her career, and yet this book is about aging, about slowing down, and not least...not at all least...about closure and releasing all that has come before as a means of surviving and also living fully, finally living fully, after carrying and shouldering and dragging the past everywhere one goes.

Max, our PoV character, isn't as young as her paper age suggests. All those months-long missions in the past have racked up the miles and the relative years. This mission, the main one of the book, is the dream of her lifetime: Return to Troy, scope it out, and watch it fall. Now, as we're accustomed to in the previous entries in the series, Max and team are not going to go by the book. We know they're on a major and incalculably valuable mission, but we also know that this is St Mary's and there will be surprises.

Yes indeed there are. Throughout the previous books, we've seen the team break the supposedly inviolable rule about interfering in the course of history, and not get squashed flat by History's revenge. Permaybehaps, then, Kleio is aiming them at certain moments to make alterations? It's a thought...but Max, who discovered a HUGE loophole in the theory of history's inviolability in book one, isn't a trusting soul and prefers her trips not to end in death where avoidable. She will not countenance terrifyingly major infractions of the rules. She pays her worst possible price for this uncharacteristic obedience.

But there is always a compensation for caution, aging people's most frequent urging on the young. Her compensation takes the series in a very surprising and new direction.

Now as book four isn't out yet (sob), let me pause here to bitch about a few things. Kalinda Black is first on my list. She's built up as Max's best friend and we see so little of her as to make her invisible. The least she could do is have a few lines here and there! She's only referred to in books two and three. I think that's very mingy.

The redoubtable Mrs Partridge, deployed strategically throughout the series, has a sister in the first book, Mrs De Winter. She vanishes. Given the sisters' ummm ancestry, there isn't *anything* the author could imagine for her to do in other contexts?

The theme I'm developing is one I suspect has led many an author down the path to Book Bloat. These novels are concise. They are lean. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, is overworded in here. Permaybehaps a wee tidge too much conciseness...there is room, while staying on story-line, to give more time to the second-billed cast. The world Taylor is creating is deliciously dotty, so let's see more of it. The serious points Taylor is making aren't going to suffer. I'm not suggesting she Robert-Jordanize the books! Just give us more side views. After all, Max is head of a department, and can reasonably be expected to need to read reports and interview returning staff...can't we eavesdrop?

The technology issues...recording devices that seem way too bulky and cumbersome not least of them...are actually, I think, handwaved away by the ending of this book. But I'll state a bit of it here: In a time-travel-verse that suggests machines simply won't travel if there is an anomaly present in the device, how do high-tech recorders make it back and forth? There have never been lost recorders? They're hand-held! Since all of this travel is to pre-computer eras, why not have something like Google Glass (only without the frames) emitting microwave signals to the pod's hard drive? No worries about competing signals...a wearable hard drive in case they're unable to make contact (though why that would be is unclear to me)...but hand-held recorders in the kind of violent worlds they're visiting seem to me to be very clunky.

These are all cavils. In the main, by the end of this book, I was so sad to see St Mary's in my rear-view mirror (which reminds me, MORE EDDIE!!) that I shed a few more tears than were actually required. The ending will wring tears from you. As hopeful as beginnings always are, they require endings, and those aren't always easy.

And as a side note, does anyone know someone in the development department of the BBC? Or ITV? This is a *perfect* TV show. Like Sliders only smart.


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

Hmmm - it appears that I need to check out this series . . .

>232 ronincats: I bet I can! Ulysses, right?

>233 tiffin: There's the Great White Northern Satanic Book Warbler who started me on this temporarily suspended trip! *smooch*

>235 SuziQoregon: I'd recommend it as a good way to spend your time, Juli. As much as I didn't want the fun to end, I'm happy I had the fun at all.

Ok, ok, ok! I have downloaded Just One Damned Thing After Another, you satanic book warbler you!

I have been deeply immersed in The Rosie Project today. If you love The Big Bang Theory I think you will find the main character amusing.

I was actually able to sit outside in a tshirt in the sun today. Delicious!

>234 richardderus:
Oh swoonalicious!

Since you aren't going to come visit me until I start a new thread, big chicken. Here's the Huffpo article I was talking about on FB. The 20 books from the 90's that are still great today. Wanted to share

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-graham-jones-/20-best-books-of-the-90s_b_5...

>237 Cobscook: *smirk*

I don't like The Big Bang Theory, so I suppose I'll keep myself un-Rosied, but thanks!

T shirt! Sunshine! Are you sure you haven't somehow traveled interdimensionally to Ibiza?

>238 AuntieClio: Agreed. Very Agreed.

>239 mahsdad: Hagfish, Jeff. HAGFISH. Nuh-uh.

I don't think Infinite Jest is at all great, nor All the Pretty Horses. I was repelled by American Psycho but admit it was fascinating...and Bastard Out Of Carolina was a-maze-ing!! I'm with him on A Simple Plan, too.

All in all, a very interesting list, thanks for sharing somewhere I can actually GO.

>240 richardderus: Always wondered bout Infinite Jest, I'll trust you and keep it off the list. I have All the Pretty Horses on audio, but haven't tried it yet. I got burned by some of his earlier works. American Psycho, can't say as I liked it, or enjoyed it, but it was an interesting experience

>239 mahsdad:
I have Infinite Jest but I'm kinda skeered of it.

I've read Cryptonomicron, and enjoyed it, but wasn't blown away by it.

The only others on that list I might be interested in are Phillip Pullman and Neil Gaiman (of course Neil Gaiman!).

>239 mahsdad: Found out recently that my dad knows the author of The Things They Carried quite well. Might have to get myself an autographed copy.

I thought Cryptonomicon was very good.

Evil satanic man! I downloaded the second book tonight! Lisa's looking over my shoulder as I type this, so I'm now busted. Thanks for nuttin! :P

You and this series are seriously addicting! No more coffee for you! No more visiting this thread for me!!!

Seems like you loved your series by Jodi Taylor, Richard! *smooch*

Hi Richard,
Lovely book porn at > 231 , makes me wishful considering my books have floor room only :P
Have a coffee and lovely day without any pain or unpleasant interruptions.

#231 - all that picture needs is a footstool for the relatively-uncomfortable-looking chair. The thing I like best about that pic is the books stacked in front of the vertically stacked books. Looks like my shelves - books everywhere.

Happy Saturday, RD!

Okay, so, just to be clear: I think I'm getting the feeling that you maybe kind of like these St. Mary books. Am I getting that right? You know, you may want to think about being more clearly for or against things, Richard, just so others can really understand your thoughts...

I downloaded the first of the St. Mary books, but will read it before I move on to #2. To say that my reading is being sorely tried by circumstances would be fair at least, if not an understatement.

Hopefully I can read a bit of it today. The best laid plans and all that.

>241 mahsdad:, >242 AuntieClio:, >243 Oberon: Cryptonomicon is the hands-down winner in the recommendations derby, Jeff. Since it's a bit fatter than the Bible I'd recommend a Kindle edition. I'd never suggest ear-reading Stephenson.

>244 TinaV95: *smooch* Mrs. Tina will forgive you once the chuckles and snickers and general mood-lifting commence.

>245 wilkiec: Yeah, you know, it's okay. Not like I liked it or anything. Heh.

Good morning Rdear. I wish you a weekend full of reading.

>246 tigerlyly: Ohhh coffee yes coffee am needful of coffee please thank you please

>247 karenmarie: Hiya Horrible! Happy weekend.

>248 scaifea: Mmm...you know, maybe I don't need to take a position on these...I dunno....

>249 mckait: Kindle-ing at work then? Good! Heaven knows you do enough there as it is. *smooch* for a just-busy-enough Saturday.

Book porn!

John DeNardo of SFSignal posted this meme, and I liked it so I'm repeating it here:

The first science fiction, fantasy or horror book I ever read was:

The first one? Ever? Gah! Too many years and too many books have passed since then. No clue.

The last science fiction, fantasy or horror book I read that I'd put in my "Top 20″ list is:

The Martian, Andy Weir...just a rockin' good time all the way around, from the idea to the execution to the worldview it took to write it.

The last science fiction, fantasy or horror book I couldn't finish was:

The Player of Games, Iain M. Banks...not into it, not into the Culture I'm afraid, and I feel completely de-geeked by this admission.

A science fiction, fantasy or horror author whose work I cannot get enough of is:

Lois McMaster Bujold

A science fiction, fantasy or horror author I'm embarrassed to admit I haven't read yet is:

Tanya Huff...have some of her stuff coming!

A science fiction, fantasy or horror book I would recommend to someone who hasn't read sf/f/h is:

Rocket Science, Jay Lake...his first published novel, funny and fun and also quite exciting

A science fiction, fantasy or horror book that's terribly underrated is:

Windeye, Brian Evenson...*shiver*

A science fiction, fantasy or horror book that's terribly overrated is:

Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card...even before he showed his behind, I didn't like this book.

No way I could remember my first SF either: yonks ago and thousands of books ago. I love Bujold too and Tanya Huff isn't bad. Totally agree with you about Orson Scott Card.

>250 richardderus: While Cryptonomicon is a phone book, it seems to be the trend with him of "volume = substance". Every book since is even bigger. (Caveat, I don't own a physical copy of Reamde, but the audio was long. I've read both Crypto and Snow Crash both eye read and ear read. But I don't think I would have enjoyed them nearly as much if I had ear read them first.

Jeez, you and I are on the same wavelength when it comes to that sci-fi, fantasy and horror meme, Richard. I had a rollickin' good time with The Martian and agree with your comments, I can't get enough of Lois McMaster Bujold, and Iain Banks' sci-fi left me cold, although I did finish Use of Weapons. I need to read Tanya Huff and C.J. Cherryh and Rocket Science. Ender's Game is a good choice for over-rated, with all the hype, although I did enjoy reading it. Too bad the author turns out to be a doofus. I'll have to think about one that's terribly under-rated. I know I liked Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward a lot, and those who might agree seem far too few.

Just dropping by to wish you a beautiful weekend! Hope your weather is spring-like! We're supposed to have slushy snow tonight and tomorrow. Lovely. After a couple of days of actual hot weather. Sheesh. Colorado.

>254 richardderus: I enjoyed your answers to the meme. I'll never forget my first scifi novel, reading it while lying on the grass on a hot summer day. I think I was about 11 years old, and I was enthralled. Not a great book by any stretch of the imagination, City at World's End, and I don't want to reread it now, but I remember it fondly as the first of many over the years.

Loving the Book porn my friend.

>170 richardderus: Er, no. The main campus in Boca Raton, FL. Ah, I see someone else mentioned that.

So, do you not like Boca because you've actually BEEN there or because it's Florida and it's too bloody hot? *gives the hairy eyeball*

See, I grew up in Boca and the surrounding areas (Deerfield Beach, Pompano, Coral Springs) and it was no "rat hole."

I wouldn't want to live there now though. It's too bloody hot. :D

>251 Ameise1: Hi Barbara! It's been a weekend of binge-reading. I started a thriller set in Peru, finished it, started the sequel, fell into an exhausted coma, and am now moving back into the mainstream of life.

>255 tiffin: I suppose it would be easier to remember one's first anything if one weren't as seasoned a citizen as we are, TUI (oops!). Had the question read, "What's the first SF/F/H book you remember reading?" it would be a bit easier.

Tanya Huff's milSF novels are so widely help up as a counterbalance to the calumny that girls can't write battles that I feel a stronger obligation to try her out than other writers.

>256 mahsdad: No indeed, Jeff, the Stephenson ouevre is so rich and dense and idiosyncratic that it really needs an eye read before an ear read. Have you done the meme? I'll be over to see shortly.

>257 jnwelch: Dragon's Egg is one I don't recall ever even hearing about before. And yet it won the Locus Award for Best First Novel in 1981. I'll have to try it out!

>258 Storeetllr: Hi Mary! Slushy snow after 80° sounds...schizophrenic, I suppose. It does NOT sound like anything I'd enjoy!

Oh dear, Edmond Hamilton wasn't the best of writers, was he? For 1950 he wasn't at all bad.

>259 johnsimpson: Hi John! Thanks, I really like that room.

>260 Morphidae: I have indeed been to Boca Raton, Morphy, more than once. Betsy, a dear departed friend of mine, was from Orlando and we traveled around Florida a lot in the 1990s.

I hate being that hot. And the 666% humidity 24/7/360 (plus five days before hurricanes that are *gorgeous*) makes it truly hellish.

>254 richardderus: GAH! You and The Martian! stop! I beg you !

No kindling at work.. too busy. Few patrons, but I was cleaning.

>263 mckait: Hi smoochling! Sorry about the no-Kindle-ing. That cleaning coulda waited....

As for me and The Martian, no.

I've reviewed the ancient H. Beam Piper short story, the first in his Paratime series, He Walked Around the Horses in my Short Stories thread...post #32.

As for me and The Martian, no. lol

>254 richardderus:
I'm not answering this meme because I'm incapable of answering the questions in a meaningful way.

I will say: John Scalzi, Kim Harrison, Stacia Kane, Hugh Howey, Kevin Hearnes and now, Jodi Taylor.

I am not a huge SF reader, but I remember the first one I ever read was Rendezvous With Rama way back when I was just a pup. I absolutely loved it but never found another SF book I liked much and still haven't, I don't think (not sure if fantasy counts here, or even much of the difference between SF and fantasy is except, you know, dragons). I've heard enough about Ursula LeGuin to consider giving her a try someday.

Hi. It's me, Mamie. I have missed you and have come to make amends for my absence. *sits down bottle* I thought that you would like to know that you hit me with your book bullets before I even got to your thread! How DO you do that?!

Tiffin is going to be upset with you for using my name in vain in response to her, Richard. The only two SF books in my small town library were A. Lightner's The Space Olympics and Robert Heinlein's Between Planets. Fortunately when I was in fifth grade, a patron's estate donated an entire hardback collection of Edgar Rice Burroughs' works, and I was able to visit Mars with John Carter as well as Venus and Pellucidor. Then I went to high school and they had Bradbury, Clarke, Heinlein, and lots of Andre Norton.

Come to my thread and see what Jo Walton says about Chuckles the Dick!

>261 richardderus: Rdear, that sounds like an enthralling reading. I guess you will read more of that series (BTW: What's the name?) waves

>269 ronincats: roni, our library suffers from a dearth of sci-fi. Our whole system does. You know whats funny? We have a used book store in the county and the biggest section they have is....Sci Fi!!! No one pays attention. sigh.

Morning has broken rd. It is supposed to be 80, they say.. but, it is also supposed to rain in the morning. And snow in a few days. srsly.

Hope the weekend is being kind to you.

Darling!

>265 mckait: :-) When you've read it, you'll understand.

>266 AuntieClio: OIC

>267 rosalita: Some genres just aren't for some people. I suspect, what with your fondness for Atticus and Oberon, that you'd like Terry Pratchett just fine.

A tired Sunday morning smooch for you. Kids are freaking exhausting. I don't get why people actually choose to have them... ;-)

>268 Crazymamie: Mamie...Mamie...I vaguely remember someone by that name...but I defo remember Corryvreckan! Come sit and have a snifter.

>269 ronincats: I corrected my mistake. Serves me right for trying to do too many things at one time. Pellucidar! I'd forgotten those stories entirely. What a lovely patron to have donated so generously.

>270 Ameise1: I'll review them this week coming up, Barbara, and link all to them. *smooch*

>271 mckait: 80°! So much for spring. It's better than usual, for sure and certain.

>274 katiekrug: Because no one knows until they have them how very very much work the little dumplings are. Sleep becomes the sexiest, most seductive thing a parent can be offered.

Nook porn!

Good Morning, BigDaddy! Dropping off a Sunday smooch for you. *smooch*

>277 richardderus:
That is a Sunday all day-coffee-reading-movie watching-do-not-get-out-of-bed porn.
Sign me for it, and it has a vacation kind of feeling too... it just made the list of rooms in my dream home :P

>254 richardderus: the first science fiction book I read - aside from H.G. Wells and Jules Verne - was I, Robot -- not the Asimov but the Eando (Earl and Otto) Binder version of the robot named Adam Link.

Bought it off a drugstore rack for 55 cents. I was hooked.

Predated the Asimov by several years. Dr A. always credited the story for shaping his robot stories.

>257 jnwelch: loved Dragon's Egg and still look for Robert Forward books. He is the best of the "hard science" guys I think.

>275 richardderus: I'm looking forward to it.

>277 richardderus: Would you mind sharing this place? It looks soooooooo comfy. :-)

>277 richardderus: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine. Perfect in every way. White and light and green and a star and windows and pillows and a fan and MINE MINE MINE.

*ahem*

Meanwhile, my first science fiction book was Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke. I read it in sixth grade and it got me hooked on SF/F. I did a re-read a few years ago and it didn't quite live up to my memory, unfortunately.

>277 richardderus: That one Morphy can have....I'll never be clean enough to stay very long in that room, lovely though it is.

Have a splendid Sunday, RD.

The Cat is away in Egypt and the mouse has played a little in adding 22 books this weekend.

#253 - ah, the correct amount of book clutter! Looks good. And even MORE like my shelves.

*smooch*

Please make sure that another of >277 richardderus: is available, as otherwise I'll have to slip a little something to Morphy so's I can stake my claim--by permanently inserting my entire physical self. A dream room--who would ever want to leave?

Wait. Haven't Morphy and I been through this before? Uh-oh.

Although I didn't realize it at the time, the first fantasy book I read was Little Women.
Wait. Umm...
Don't remember.

>278 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! *smooch*

>279 tigerlyly:, >282 Morphidae: It looks relaxing, doesn't it? I will say that, if it were mine, I'd have someone in to paint everything a color and reupholster all soft surfaces. My mother's choice for the Los Gatos house was white, and I carry no happy memories of the amount of yelling and complaining about the dirt, mud, etc. that living inevitably deposit on white.

I don't even like white ceilings.

>280 magicians_nephew: A fan of Forward's, eh Jim? Interesting.

Eando Binder! A name I've not heard in a million years. I remember thinking it was a weird name, until I learned it was E and O, when it made sense.

>281 Ameise1: :-)

>283 PaulCranswick: I've seen the FB photos of the Egypt trip...Belle on a date! How adorable is that!

22 books, heavens man you're slacking! I have money riding on your breakthrough to 2000 volumes.

>284 karenmarie: *smooch* for dear Horrible

>285 Matke: Ha! Little Women indeed. I can see that the Tome Home will need more than one of these rooms. I'll be in >277 richardderus: when y'all want me.

What I have to say is this: dodos, Canterbury & fancy dress ... Oh my!

Grockle!

Ah. fuh ... Troy? that was fun, if somewhat abrupt. Thank you Richard, so much fun!

Morning, darling! Hope your Monday is off to a good start.

>286 richardderus: I grew up in Florida and lots of stuff was white. It felt cool and reflected light. Mom wasn't anal about it either. So I have great memories and it feels very relaxing to me. Strongest memory is drowsing in my bed after a day of laying at the beach, damp from the shower, the ceiling fan clicking above me, while listening to (and smelling) my mother cook dinner. My room was mostly all white with a touch of color here and there.

I like that memory, Morphy!

It was a common occurrence and favorite one.

*grin*

Darn, you beat me to the *grockle* comment. I've been planning to lie in wait and let rip with a grockle or two at the appropriate time.

New thread time!

>290 AuntieClio: I know, right? Fun fun fun. And more to come, apparently.

>291 Crazymamie: It's Monday! Wheee!! It's also the day the Blood Moon will appear, at ~3am here in the East. I will miss it, since I'll be snoring to beat the band.

>292 Morphidae: - >295 Crazymamie: It's easy to see that it would be a favorite in that case.

>296 tiffin: Heh. Gotta be quick round these parts, Tui.