mstrust's Fourth. Just fancy that.

1. Crop Rotation in the 14th Century (Non-Fiction)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12W34XWIQwU

1. The Mother Tongue- 3 stars
2. Otherwise Engaged: The Life of Alan Bates 4 stars
3. Tea With Jane Austen 4 stars
4. American Beauty: Paintings from the Detroit Institute of Arts 4.5 stars
5. Home Away From Home: Motels in America 4 stars
6. Brandwashed 4.5 stars
7. The Century in Food 4 stars
8. Quiet 5 stars
9. Queens of Noise 4.5 stars
10. Candy: A Century of Panic and Pleasure 4 stars
11. The Hudson River: From Tear in the Clouds to Manhattan 4 stars

FINISHED

2. BoomShanka (Asian Authors or Asian Subjects)

1. In The Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson- 3 star
2. My Year of Meats 3.5 stars
3. Geisha: the Life, the Voices, the Art- 5 stars
4. A Comrade Lost and Found 4.5 stars
5.The Practical Encyclopedia of Feng Shui 5 stars
6. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion 4 stars

4. Can You Actually Kill Yourself With Laxative Pills? (First Hand Accounts)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shk8HawnCTs

1. Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North- 4 stars
2. My Love Affair with England- 4.5 stars
3. Malled: My Unintentional Career in Retail- 4 stars
4. The Sweet Life in Paris 4.5 stars
5. Waiter Rant 4 stars
6. Travel as a Political Act 3.5 stars
7. Come On Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All 4 stars
8. The Congo & the Cameroons 4 stars
9. The Fry Chronicles 4.5 stars
10. Running With Scissors 4 stars

FINISHED

5. A Special Blend of Psychology and Extreme Violence (Mystery & Crime)

1. N or M? 4 stars
2. Knots and Crosses 4 stars
3. The Blackheath Poisonings 3 stars
4. Murder in Retrospect 3.5 stars
5. The Professionals 13: The Untouchables 4 stars
6. Death Comes As the End 4 stars
7. The Professionals 14: Operation Susie 3.5 stars
8. The Professionals 15: You'll Be All Right 4 stars
9. Gently Through the Mill 3 stars
10. Tooth and Nail 4 stars

FINISHED

6. I'm A Bit Nutty! (Georgia Authors, Plots or About the State)

1. A Swell-Looking Girl 3 stars
2. 100 Years of Painting in Georgia 4 stars
3. Celebration 2.5 stars

8. Give Me Some More Money, You Bastard (Books About Money or Gambling)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANquX0YHFhw

1. I'll Take It 3 stars
2. Dead Cert 3 stars

9. I've Told You A Million Times, Do Not Exaggerate (Humor)

1. Downtrodden Abbey 3 stars
2. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? 3 stars
3. Paddle Your Own Canoe 2.5 stars
4. Barry Trotter and the Unauthorized Parody 2.5 stars
5. Naked Pictures of Famous People 3 stars
6. The Greedy Bastard Diary 3.5 stars
7. I Suck At Girls 3.5 stars
8. More Sand in My Bra 4 stars
9. Go The F**k to Sleep 4 stars
10. A Walk in the Woods 4.5 stars

FINISHED

11. I Didn't Get Them At Tesco's, Okay? (Published In The Last 14 Years)

1. 2009- Catching Fire 4 stars
2. 2010- The Night Bookmobile 4 stars
3. 2006- Winter's Bone 4 stars
4. 2013- The Last Animal 3 stars
5. 2000-Kill Your Darlings 5 stars
6. 2014- The Fever 3 stars

12. It's Our Song, Baby, Let's Dance (Authors I Like)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz2S2JYUoxY

1. Fortunately, The Milk 4.5 stars
2. Jamie Oliver's Food Escapes 4.5 stars
3. The Song Is You 4.5 stars
4. The Ocean at the End of the Lane 4.5 stars
5. Die A Little 4 stars
6. The Getaway 4 stars
7. Meet Mr. Mulliner 4 stars

13. Cock-A-Doodle Do, Neil. What Are You Talking About? (Not Famous Authors)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOAz4nPNvLI

1. Polar- 4 stars
2. Dear American Airlines 4 stars
3. My Brother Sam is Dead 3.5 stars
4. Gus Openshaw's Whale Killing Journal 4 stars
5. The Obituary Writer 3 stars

14. Sausages and Plants and Goldfish (Everything Else)

1. Titus Groan- 3.5 stars
2. The Girl on the Fridge- 4 stars
3. The Walking Dead: Volume 4- 3 stars
4. The Walking Dead: Volume 8 2.5 stars
5. Lying 4 stars
6. The Metamorphosis 4 stars
7. Passion Play 4 stars
8. The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book 4 stars
9. Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam 2 stars
10. The National Trust: Historic Interiors 4.5 stars
11. Hidden Britain 4 stars
12. Vintage Handbags 4 stars
13. The Essential African Cookbook 4.5 stars

FINISHED

Welcome to my fourth thread! Come on in!

62. The Practical Encyclopedia of Feng Shui by Gill Hale. Asian Subjects. A thick study of Chinese arts, with directions on how re-arrange your home room by room, along with your office and the garden.

So let me say that I don't go in for mysticism or stuff like that. I had an idea of what feng shui was but wasn't interested at all, until I read an article about it in a magazine about two months ago. I was bored with the way the house was looking and had been wanting to just see it differently, not re-painting or tearing up the rug, but still a change. So I followed some of the things in this article about re-arranging your things into wealth and relationship and knowledge areas, and I was satisfied that I'd changed things up. The very next day, money began trickling in. I think the first was a check for about $40, then our tax returns, and then we were saving massive amounts when friends offered to help at my husband's business for free.
This book is very in-depth, with instructions about what goes where to bring about the situation you want. It described laying down coins to create wealth. As I've collected coins from around the world and had handfuls just sitting in a drawer, a put some in my wealth and travel areas yesterday. Today I received $100 in the mail. Sure, my birthday is in a few days, but I wasn't expecting money in the mail. Call me crazy; I won't disagree. 5 stars

Happy new thread! :D

Hello to your new thread!

Happy new thread!

>17 rabbitprincess: >18 LittleTaiko: and >19 lkernagh: Thanks guys! Glad you made it!

Nice new thread with lots of room for nice new books! That Feng Shui book sounds very interesting.

Don't you love starting a new thread? You don't know where it will go.

The guest on today's "Well Read" was Michael Moss talking about his book Sugar Salt Fat. Really interesting discussion about why the processed food giants so rarely make healthier version of their snack foods and cereals.
I found this recent clip of Moss and Michael Pollan shopping together in a grocery store. I like Moss's reaction to the snake cakes.

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

>23 mstrust: great video. LOL. "We must buy these" I have to admit if those cakes were Tasty Cakes and not Entenmans I'd be all over them. I have books by both of these authors waiting to be read. They don't fit into my categories for this year though. Next year...

Happy new thread, I'll enjoy following along and finding out where it's going to go!

>24 VioletBramble: I've been trying to finish The Omnivore's Dilemma for about two years now and I don't know why I can't finish it, because it's interesting. I can only guess that it's anxiety over what he'll tell me next about the animals.

I know Tasty Cakes are huge on the East Coast, while in the West, we were raised on Hostess. When I was in New York I got hooked on black and white cookies- I got two or three at a time from the farmer's markets, and was surprised that the Entermann's were really good. Because, like you, I don't expect much from Entermann's.

>25 DeltaQueen50: Thanks! I look forward to seeing you here!

63. The Century in Food by Beverly Bundy. Non-Fiction. Covers everything new that happened in the world of food between the years 1900 to 2000. And there was a lot, so the book divides it by decades, giving the reader all the advances in food technology, discoveries, creations and who made it happen. Lots of photos and recipes too. Chicken pudding, anyone? 4 stars

Happy new thread!! And a bookbullet for The Century in Food - seems like it'll be worth a look!

>28 -Eva-: Hi, Eva. It is a good read, especially if you like shows like "America Eats" or "Unwrapped".

Birthday! I've gotten a couple of early presents, and we'll have cake and champagne tonight. I've managed to string my birthday over a couple of days, so tomorrow my husband will skip work and we'll go the museum for the Japanese Noh exhibit, then to a little Japanese restaurant I've been wanting to try for years. Next week we'll go see Mom in Vegas, which means a visit to Frankie's Tiki.



64. Kill Your Darlings by Terence Blacker. Published in 2000. Gregory Keays was once the promising author of a well-received first novel. Back in his twenties he was listed as one of Granta's 1983 Best of Young British Novelists, an honour he reminds his readers of incessantly, along with the fact that he has written many more novels than just that first one, though that is the only one he has actually finished and published. The following twenty years has seen Gregory slip down the literary scale to teaching writing classes at a local institute and doing author interviews for a magazine, with both the publication, its readers and his subjects being beneath him. Along with his dimmed career, Gregory's place at home was usurped years ago by his high-earning wife, and his teenage son has adopted a thug personality that his father dissaproves of.
When young Peter Gibson enrolls in the writing class, his seeming arrogance puts Gregory off, but it turns out that Peter is an exceptional writer, though so introverted that he hardly speaks. Gregory practically forces Peter to attend readings and launches with him, thinking that eventually Peter will be famous and he'll be remembered as the one who discovered the new talent. Through a series of events, Peter is removed from the picture and Gregory is in possession of Peter's brilliant manuscript, which no one else knows exists. With little hope of regaining his reputation through his own skills, Gregory doesn't hesitate.

Gregory is the epitome of the unreliable narrator. He finds an excuse for nearly everything he does- his incessant cheating, ignoring his son, his failed career, which he blames on his fellow Granta writer, Martin Amis. There's a hilarious scene of Gregory attending a reading by Amis, in which he sits in the audience quietly heckling the author.
In another scene, he visits Peter's parents and believes he's being charming when he's clearly creeping them out.
This is one of my reading highpoints of the year so far. 5 stars

I've added Kill Your Darlings to my wish list.

And there's no review for it on the book's page. Will you add yours?

Happy birthday(s)! Strongly approve of spreading the celebrations over multiple days :)

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday, mstrust!

Happy Birthday! What better way to celebrate then with Japanese food. Have fun in Vegas!

Happy belated birthday wishes for you!

>31 rabbitprincess: >32 DeltaQueen50: >33 VioletBramble: >34 christina_reads: >35 LittleTaiko: >36 lkernagh: Thanks everyone! I've had a couple of fun days. Yesterday we went to the museum, which was great even though the Noh exhibit was so small that it was displayed in a corridor. A corridor. They have been acquiring a much bigger modern art collection in recent years, which I like.
Our plans for Japanese food disappeared when we couldn't get a parking spot at the restaurant, so we went to a tiki restaurant and had coconut shrimp rolls, pork tacos and panko-crusted fish. Plus some cocktails, of course. We came home and I had a little nap.

>33 VioletBramble: pretty pic-thank you!

>30 RidgewayGirl: I'll add it soon. I can't do it on the home laptop I have now.

Just wanting to know if anyone else has been watching the series "Fargo". I've watched every episode and I'm in the middle of the season finale. Really hoping it's coming back in the fall. Bonus: hearing Martin Freeman's Minnesota accent.

I've been watching Fargo. What did you think of the ending? Last episode when Lester sent Linda into the office to get the passports I was screaming at my TV. He really did turn into an evil little shit. Martin Freeman's Minnesota accent started out rough but became the best on the show by the last four episodes. I'm hoping for a second season. Although they had better find some great actors for season 2 because without Freeman and BBT I'm not sure I'd watch.

>39 VioletBramble:
***SPOILER***

What a phenomenal episode! When Lester sent his wife in for the passports and then sat there waiting in anticipation for what he knew would happen, ugh, I was muttering, "ohnoohno". It was satisfying to see him dodging til the end but still not getting away.
Malvo's death was well deserved! Even though I half liked him. And Gus shot him, what, three or four times and he still looked up baring his teeth?
I was sorry that Agents Key & Peele died as I'd really liked their bickering characters.
As to a second season, here's an interview with the producer. He doesn't say no, but that this version of the story is definitely over.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/18/the-shocking-fargo-finale-creat...

On another note, here's what I have coming in the mail:

Books-
Londoners' Larder
Halloween: The Best of Martha Stewart Living
The Book of William: How Shakespeare's First Folio Conquered the World
The Witch's Curse
The Hudson River: From Tear of Clouds to Manhattan
The Perfect Pumpkin: Growing/Cooking/Carving
Scary Godmother

DVD-The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

CDS-
HIM- Screamworks
Ramones (the first album)

I seem to have Autumn on my mind.

65. More Sand in My Bra edited by Julia Weiler and Jennifer L. Leo. Humor. A collection of tales about traveling, all by funny women. There's Laurie Notaro shopping for boots in San Francisco, Suz Redfearn at a nudist commune in Oregon, and Susan Reinhardt being pestered to flash the riding guide in Mexico. A good summer read and all the stories are short so there are lots of writers and locations. 4 stars



66. The Essential African Cookbook by Rosamund Grant. Everything Else. Several years ago, when we were in NYC, we were walking around and noticed the chain of Hale and Hearty soup kitchens. Wanting just a quick bite, I got the chicken and peanut stew, just because I'd never come across that combo before, and it was delicious. Really delicious. So that's why I got this book, because there's a version called Groundnut (peanut) Soup. This is an excellent cookbook with big color pictures of nearly every step for many of the recipes, but there is at least a picture of the finished dish for all of them. There are many recipes I want to try, as so much of the cooking includes sweet potatoes, yams, coconut, mangoes and pumpkins. Here's a simple recipe that I have to try out:

Coconut Relish

2 oz. fresh or desiccated coconut
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp water
1/4 tsp finely chopped red chili

Grate the coconut into a mixing bowl. If using desiccated, add just enough water to moisten. Add all the other ingredients and stir thoroughly. Serve as a relish to meats.
Yep, it doesn't say what kind of meat, just "meats", but I'd probably put it with fish or shrimp. 4.5 stars

I'm back from a couple of days in Vegas, and yes, I managed to bring back a big stack of books. And on return, my mailbox was completely filled with packages of books and cds too, so I have a lot to put away.

On the food front, we took Mom to McCormick & Schmidt and had a fantastic meal with lobster bisque, lobster tail, steaks and a wild mushroom saute. My new cocktail is hibiscus mint margarita, which is so delicious. Oh, and cinnamon ice cream.

>42 mstrust: - That Coconut Relish recipe looks great. I bet that would be perfect with fish like a tilapia..... must investigate.

>43 mstrust: - Its a good thing I have already eaten dinner. That meal sounds heavenly.

>44 lkernagh: I'll be making that relish tonight to go with some mahi mahi. I made the Groundnut (peanut) soup last night and it was delicious. My husband, who thought the description sounded iffy, even asked to have the leftovers with the fish tonight.
And I have to admit that with everything being so good that I didn't want to leave any, I was nearly clutching the table in pain by the time the cappuccinos arrived.

67. The Hudson River: From Tear in the Clouds to Manhattan by Jake Rajs. Non-Fiction. I once took the train from Grand Central north to Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow. It was Fall and the train followed right along the Hudson with the trees turning. Sigh. Ever since, I've loved looking at pictures of the river, especially in the Fall. This thick book of photography is broken into four sections: Beauty, History, Literature and Commerce as they relate to the river. The photos cover all seasons, some of the cities and beautiful historic homes, and photos of the water throughout the year. 4 stars

And here's one that is so short that I won't count.



Go The F**k to Sleepby Adam Mansbach. Humor. An illustrated poem of a parent's plea. So funny.

>45 mstrust: - the Hudson River book sounds interesting. I'll have to see if the NYPL has a copy.
I have given a copy of the Mansbach book as a gift at a baby shower. Before the party I was worried that some of my friends family members might be offended by the book. I needn't have worried - Everyone loved the book and it got passed around the party so people could read it. There is an audiobook version read by Samuel L Jackson. It's excellent.

>67 mstrust: Looking good, the cover is beautiful, it's going on the BB list.

>47 VioletBramble: I've heard about the Jackson narration and I'll bet it's perfect. I'll see if it's been put on Youtube.
The book would make a great baby shower gift!

>48 electrice: I seem to be buidling a little collection of New England photography books. I have a couple more of this type lined up for the next month or two, one of Vermont and the other of New Hampshire.

Found it!

Jackson's Narration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sOA_U3-HOs

Oh, I was just on your last thread and read the news about Rik Mayall. :( Way too young.

Yes, too young. I've checked reports and the last I've seen was his wife saying that it was a cardiac arrest even though the coroner's report was still inconclusive.

I saw on Mamzel's thread you mentioned that you will be watching True Detective in a week or two. Is Season Two starting soon?

Last I'd heard was that they hadn't even finalised the actors for season 2 yet never mind even started filming.

>54 AHS-Wolfy: Thanks for that info, Dave. I didn't know if there was a Season 2 planned. I'm crossing my fingers for a second season of "Fargo".

>53 DeltaQueen50: I haven't watched any yet. Have you?

Kill Your Darlings has been on my wishlist for years, ever since Nancy Pearl sold me on it. I've never come across a copy, but it sounds like I need to more actively hunt one down! Great review.

68. Travel as a Political Act by Rick Steves. First Hand Accounts. So very different from his usual travel guides, this book is about Steves' view of many parts of the world he has traveled to, especially as they compare to America or Western thinking. He discusses the feelings towards America in Europe and Tehran, the differing attitudes about drugs, economics, nudity, war, religion and quality of life. It's a very personal view of the world, and sometimes he gets on his soapbox, but his point is a humane one. 3.5 stars

To me, Rick Steves looks like the quintessential Lutheran youth pastor and yet he holds some very progressive views. It must be all that travel.

Back in the late nineties, I picked up a copy of Europe Through the Back Door. We still visit some of his destinations.

I carried Europe Through the Back Door on my three month travels so many years ago. It was filled with lots of useful info.
I agree completely with your description of him, you hit the nail on the head. He looks and sounds so gentle that I was not surprised at all to see his hippie days photo. And in his "pot isn't a crime" section, he made it a point to word it in a 'so I've been told' way that made me think, riiiiiight...

riiiiiight...

The title Travel as a Political Act is great.

>60 cammykitty: the title refers to his belief that Americans should travel to the places that we are afraid to go to, like his visit to Tehran. He says that the places that are presented to us as dangerous by our media or politicians are often politically motivated bad press.

I went to see Megan Abbott speak and sign copies of The Fever last night. She and Jeff Abbott appeared together at Poisoned Pen Bookshop in Scottsdale to discuss their new books, and they sort of interviewed each other and then took questions from the audience. I have to admit that I'd never heard of J.A. before, but he was so fun that I'll pick one of his up.
I did get to speak to Megan while she signed my book. She's very friendly and sweet, and teeny tiny.
I'll post my one picture in a day or two when I get to the work computer.

JEALOUS. SO MUCH.

>63 RidgewayGirl: I really can't blame you.

> 62 Color me green as well. It is great to find that she was nice to meet, so often you hear the opposite about writers that you admire.

Hurray for meeting authors! Glad to hear you had a good time.

>65 DeltaQueen50: She was really nice and so was he, and it was obvious that they were having fun too. They were fans of each others' work so knew what questions or subjects to bring up. Fanfest all the way around!

>66 rabbitprincess: I've met a couple of authors but this was by far the most intimate book signing. I expected this little shop to be packed out the door, but there were maybe twenty in the audience, and from the number of chairs put out, it looked like that was all that was expected. For two well-known authors, that may have been underwhelming, but Poisoned Pen is an independant that specializes in mystery and thrillers, so it's great that the Abbotts support it. Megan even told me that she got research info about Phoenix from one of the store employees for her book Bury Me Deep.

69. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier. Not Famous Authors. Living in Connecticut when the Revolutionary War breaks out, young Tim Meekers sees first hand what war can do, from tearing his family apart, then his little town, where neighbors betray each other and Tim is unsure which side is worse.
Though this book is forty years old, I'd never heard of it before LT (that should become a distinction here: BLT and ALT). Better than I expected. 3.5 stars

@61 Of course he's right. One of the "dangers" of the internet is news from other countries in their perspectives. There never is just one side to a story. ;) And that goes for what governments/media says too.

Sure, no country has a completely honest media, whether that's because they are towing the government line or because they are being lied to as well (I love investigative reporters like Stossel).
Having said that, I still wouldn't be brave enough to go to Tehran. Steves was nervous about it too, and writes that he was asked by friends why he was going to such a dangerous place, but he was surprised by the locals being happy to meet an American.

There are a lot of places that I would feel uncomfortable going to because I'm American. There are even more places I would feel uncomfortable going to because I'm a woman. Tehran falls into the second category for me, but I might be surprised.

It's true that Steves' experience traveling there as a man, and one with a camera crew, would be different than for the rest of us. But it was brave and adventurous of him and he was glad to have gone. It certainly gives him bragging rights.

Is it weird that I've pretty much finished creating my Autumn/Halloween reading list? It's actually a very, very long list of possible reads, with a few definite reads. When I post the list I want you all to let me know if you've read and recommend a particular one, or if you have the same and want to join me in a tandem read.

>72 mstrust: Not weird! I already know all the books I'll be reading in December. And I have several possibilities on deck for autumn/Halloween as well!

You're way ahead- I don't have specific December reads picked out yet, but I know I'm saving my Shakespeare category for that time.
Be sure to check back here when I've put up my list and see if we are reading any of the same books. In the meantime, let's practice our sweet dance moves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPOVnYKK3SU

>71 cammykitty:
I have American friends who say they're Canadian whenever they're traveling abroad and anyone asks where they're from. :)

LOL Eva, that's smart of them. I have a friend who travels with an "American Apology" t-shirt - or at least he did during the Bush administration. It says "Don't blame me. I didn't vote for him," in six different languages. & you know, when I was in Canada, everyone thought I was a local. If they can't tell, how is the rest of the world going to figure it out?

I grew up in Canada and the Canadian flag on the backpack is annoying. Canadians don't tend to stand around chanting, "Ca-na-da! Num-ber-One!" and those who might are going to stay home to watch hockey.

I've spent more years living outside of the US* than in it and my experience is that if you are polite, smile, tip appropriately and do your best to learn a few words of the language then being American is no hinderance. And maybe we can help break down the stereotypes. Low-key and more formal clothes would be a better choice. Nice jeans and a plain neutral-colored shirt make you blend much more than shorts and a college bowl t-shirt.

*Including being in Europe during both Gulf Wars, when American foreign policy was not popular.

Edited to add that I am ridiculously opinionated about how to behave in other people's countries. More so than is probably appropriate.

I grew up in Canada and the Canadian flag on the backpack is annoying. Canadians don't tend to stand around chanting, "Ca-na-da! Num-ber-One!" and those who might are going to stay home to watch hockey.

This Canadian agrees.

>74 mstrust: Haha great video! I will have to perfect those sweet dance moves before Halloween.

>75 -Eva-: & >76 cammykitty: When I traveled throughout the U.K. and Europe, years ago, it was pretty common for Americans to have Canadian flags on their backpacks and claim they were Canadian when asked. I found out why in London, where grown men in pubs would approach us, girls of 19-20, ask our nationality and then angrily berate us over American foreign policy. But London was the only place I ever had trouble. And in Germany, I guess because we spoke English, we were mistaken for English.

>77 RidgewayGirl: I agree that a traveler should learn at least a few words like 'please' and 'thank you' and find out some basic cultural things like what is polite and what is offensive.
One thing that Americans could do to blend in better is to lower their voices. I'm born and raised here, but I don't get why we are such loud talkers.

>78 Nickelini: Joyce I have to say that I envy you for being in Vancouver when the leaves start to turn. I drove from Montreal to Vermont once in late September and it was gorgeous.

>79 christina_reads: Yeah, all I need is a skeleton in a top hat for a partner. My Autumn list has become so, so long.

Today's the anniversary of Shelley's death. Here's Mick Jagger reading one of his poems for Brian Jones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDHzVkfASb4

Here's another notable death anniversary for today: Meyer Levin. If you haven't read Compulsion, his novel of the Leopold and Loeb murder case of the 1920's, put it on your WL. It's brilliant.

Here's my one pic of the book signing of The Fever last week. That's Megan Abbott and Jeff Abbott at Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale.

:

And here are the delayed pictures from the Phoenix Art Museum on my birthday a few weeks ago.


Noh Masks

The courtyard in front:

70. The Fever by Megan Abbott. Published in the Last 14 years.Deenie and Lise have been friends for most of their lives, then in middle school they become friends with cool Gabby. Now that they're in high school, Gabby is trying to include weird girls in their group, as if she wants new friends.
During class one day, Lise falls to the floor in a kind of convulsion, then the next day it's Gabby, the next it's Kim. Then more girls at their school begin behaving strangely, so that it seems to be an epidemic.

This is Abbott's newest and it's YA rather than the noir she usually writes, and I hope she will return to. This story is loosely based on the true account of the girls of Salem who copied each other with bouts of screaming and hallucinations. I hate to say that I was underwhelmed by this book. For me, it took over a hundred pages for a personailty from Deenie to emerge; for a long time she just seemed to observe rather than take part in the story. I think the book would have benefited from being 60-70 pages shorter, which would have made it more tense, having the characters face to face more and with much, much fewer car rides. The characters are constantly in the car, rushing to or from somewhere.
Now, I don't want to put any off Abbott. She's a terrific writer, this just isn't her best. 3 stars

77&80 Totally agree, and as for lowering our voices LOL! I used to have a boss that was unbearable whenever I had a sinus infection! Painfully loud, and that was when she wasn't angry or upset. I'd like it if Americans would lower there voices when at home too!

Great photos!

having the characters face to face more and with much, much fewer car rides. LOL, car rides is one of the problems with YA set in modern times! That and cell phones. Problems are so much easier to avoid/solve with cell phones.

>85 mstrust:
I love that!!!

>87 cammykitty: My grandmother was like that. She was never angry, always sweet tempered, but she had a voice that could call the cows home.

Ok, I'm glad that it wasn't just the one YA I picked. Yes, this one had some pivotal moments that hinged on texts and Youtube videos, which I didn't mind so much, but the fact that the characters always needed to get somewhere got a bit grating.

>88 -Eva-: Eva Isn't it cool? The museum went through a major renovation three or four years ago and bought a lot of new pieces. The rex was one, and they also have a huge chandelier/star type piece in the lobby that is really beautiful.

I know this is ridiculously early, but here's my Autumn/Halloween list. Of the "maybe" list let me know if you recommend something, or especially if it's not really an Autumn read (I've had books that sound appropriate but really aren't. The Haunted Bookshop comes to mind.)
Definitely let me know if you want to do a tandem or group read of a certain book. I'll be starting this category in September.

Definite Reads

We're All Infected- ER
The Perfect Pumpkin: Growing/Cooking/Carving
Scary Godmother
A Halloween How-To
Martha Stewart Halloween
Vermont: A Seasonal Celebration
New Hampshire: A Living Landscape
Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft
Neverwhere
Henry VIII: Wolfman
The Woman in Black

Possible Reads

Island of Aunts
King Rat
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Wyrd Sisters
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter- yep, still haven't read it.
Sad Monsters
If You're Reading This, It's Too Late
A Monster's Notes
Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter
Full Dark, No Stars
Perfection
Graveminder
The Horror in the Museum-Lovecraft
Great Tales of Horror- Lovecraft
Mad Kings and Queens-non-fiction
Permanent Parisians-n.f.
Marilyn Manson: the long hard road out of hell
Boy in Darkness and other stories
The Gates
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Jane Slayre
and a whole stack of John Bellairs: The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost, The Bell, the Book and the Spellbinder, The Trolley to Yesterday, The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull, The Figure in the Shadows.

Once again I am stunned by how many books I've accumulated for this category.

Somewhat surprisingly, I have an entirely different list of autumn/Halloween reads! But I have read Neverwhere and think it would be a great pick -- very dark and atmospheric!

I found your review (thumbs up) and see that you really liked that one. I have to move it to my 'Definite' list now, because about 350 other people agree with you. Thanks!

Yes to Neverwhere! And I would be interested to see what you think of Henry VIII: Wolfman. I read Queen Victoria Demon Hunter a few years ago and found it more amusing than I'd expected, so if you like the Henry VIII I might add it to the "pick it up at the library if it happens to be there when I think of it" list.

>93 rabbitprincess: I read Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter a couple of years ago and also thought it was funnier than I had expected.
So a vote for Henry VIII: Wolfman? Done!
I'll periodically re-post my list so we can see what's going on with it.

71. Gus Openshaw's Whale Killing Journal by Keith Thomson. Not-Famous Authors. Gus spends nearly every dime he has in his quest to hunt down the sperm whale who ate his wife, son and his right arm. Gathering a crew consisting of a compulsive scrimshawer, a drug addict, a homicidal cook, a devoutly religious harpooner, an ex-pirate (also one-armed), and a crewman so stupid he's called "Stupid George", Gus travels throughout the tiny islands of the South Pacific, blogging and looking for the whale.

A lot of folks have written me asking me if I've got a name for the whale. I've been calling him "Dickhead". Everybody always laughs and says that's a witty reference. Hell if I know why.

Gus and his crew fight an illegal arms dealer, escape from an island prison and its torturers, evade the Navy, gain and lose millions and romance a princess who hates her parents. Gus bestows the title of Employee of the Week to whichever of his crew accidently saves his life at that moment, an occurance that always surprises them.

When you go into a fish-stinking seaman's bar on a small island and offer cash for a whaling job of uncertain duration on a boat you won't name, the best and the brightest sailors don't usually line up with their resumes.
I've got to log off now because one of my new hires just came into the captain's quarters and wants to kill me.

This is a very funny adventure that sat on my shelf for over a year. I'm glad I finally got to it and I'll look for more from Thomson. 4 stars

The last original member of the Ramones has died. Tommy Ramone's greatest accomplishment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYh1lRR1m6Y

Took a major book bullet for Gus Openshaw's Whale Killing Journal and when I checked, it's available for Kindle at $3.18 so I've gone ahead a downloaded it!

I hope you like it too! What a fun read!

>90 mstrust: A big yes to The Woman in Black.

>96 mstrust: I read about Tommy Ramone's death. Three of the Ramone's dead of cancer. Wonder if it was related to a venue they played.

>99 craso: O.k., that one goes up to the 'definite' list. I'd really been wanting to read that one so I'm glad.

Johnny and Joey died of cancer, but Dee Dee died of a drug overdose. Heroin, I believe. All three were gone in the span of three years, which I've always thought was akin to an old married couple-one goes and the other often soon follows.

Just discovered Jane Slayre on the shelf so that's added to the Autumn list of possibilities.

And if you haven't seen this, it turns out that Weird Al has a really big dictionary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc

>101 mstrust: Haha I love it! :D

>102 rabbitprincess: I admit that I'm guilty of some of his word crimes.

72. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima. Asian Authors. Young Mizoguchi tells the reader right away that he is ugly and a stutterer, which makes him, in his eyes, a cripple also. His self-loathing leads to his isolation from other children but develops into a desire to be despised as he grows into a teenager. Over a course of perhaps five years, from the last years of WWII to the years immediately after, the reader follows Mizoguchi through the loss of his father, to his acceptance into Zen training, and his thoughts which become more twisted as he at first is obsessed with the beauty of the Golden Temple, then believes the temple is actively working against him, like a human enemy.

This was published in 1959, but I don't know when the first English translation was published. It's a fictionalized account of a true story, about a young man who burned down the 500 year-old temple of Kinkakuji in Kyoto in 1950 because he envied the temple for its beauty.
The Mizoguchi the reader first meets is young and unhappy and we see him lashing out in ways that he won't be caught. There's an immaturity in his anger. As he gets older, the reader sees his anger grow, though he takes time to work out in his head why he's doing the wrong thing. His behavior, which is usually aimed at making another person hate him, including the Superior of his temple, is made worse when he befriends the manipulative boy Kashiwagi. 4 stars

The second story about coming undone connected with this book has to do with the author. Mishima was a popular and highly regarded writer, playwright, director, actor and model. That's him on the book cover. He received three nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature over his career. But in the late 60's he began body-building and living by the ancient code of the samurai. He was publicly critical of Emperor Hirohito's actions after Japan's defeat in WWII. He began forming and training his own private militia. On November 25th, 1970, Mishima and a few of his soldiers made their way into the offices at the Tokyo grounds of the real military. They tied up the officials, then Mishima addressed the troops from the Commandant's balcony, trying to persuade them to join his troop and overthrow the government. When his speech didn't work, he went back into the office, performed seppuku (ritual disemboweling) on himself, and his second decapitated him. Which also didn't go as planned, but eventually got done.

Yikes! What a grisly story about the author! Sounds like there's some serious "instability" portrayed in the work and that the author may have had an easy time understanding it. I'm still WLing it. I think it may help me understand some of the kids I work with. A few act like they want everyone to hate them!

I'd say that something snapped in his head.
What is unusual in this story, at least to Western readers, is that it's still a story about a Japanese boy in Japan. When he has a crush on a girl, he imagines that she smells of pollen. His cruel friend Kashiwagi practices flower arranging, and Mizoguchi visits temples in his time off. So this story of instability is taking place in a serene setting.

The serene setting probably makes the instability seem even worse!

It does, because the majority of the other characters are gentle and Mizoguchi is trying to figure out how to make them unhappy with him.

I'm currently reading my first Dick Francis mystery, Dead Cert. I've seen the movie from the early 70's, which starred Julian Glover and a chubby little Judi Dench.

Ooooh, I was in my local Hallmark store today and they were putting up the Halloween stuff. I know it's ridiculously early, but it makes me so happy.

OMG Halloween in July. That's over the top.

>110 mstrust: - When I walked past the Hallmark store in the mall last Friday I noticed that their display aisle - where they usually showcase the Christmas ornaments - was empty. I must go back and see if they have done up a Halloween display, although I agree, July is ridiculously early for Halloween stuff. ;-)

>111 Nickelini: & >112 lkernagh: I know that part of it is being able to see some relief for the future when we're in 110 degrees or above. But, yeah, stores always want to have a holiday up to sell around and they don't care if it's two or three months away. Seems desperate, doesn't it, but I love looking at Halloween stuff. And I've worked out something extra for my Autumn/Halloween challenge here.

Btw, I know I mentioned before that I was going to watch the first season of "True Detective". Well I've just finished the first three episodes, and what a fascinating show. Anyone else seen it?

>112 lkernagh: No Christmas in July? Wow! Hallmark is slipping up.

>114 thornton37814: They probably have to wait until August 1st to put Christmas up ; )

I can't let Stephen Vincent Benet's birthday pass without comment, as he's one of my favorite writers. I've been having a little discussion on another thread about great writers that have somehow been forgotten, and Benet is absolutely one of them. Very popular in his time, he's rarely mentioned now.
If you haven't read The Devil and Daniel Webster, get to it! It's one of the greatest short stories.

A little synopsis: a young farmer is at the verge of ruin, with everything he tries ending in failure. He says that he'd sell his soul to the devil for some success, and guess who appears to make an offer. But years later, with happiness and success, the man is desperate to find a way to keep Scratch from taking his soul. He turns to statesman Daniel Webster, known for his ability to persuade the opposition. Webster and Scratch argue the case in front of a jury of Scratch's choosing, which is a jury of villians from America's past, all brought up from hell.

Here's a bit of the famous movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXfU2AaJDEQ

Many of our stores are gearing up for the return to school. I guess Hallmark hasn't been able to sell "Happy Back-to-School" cards. I will not be at all surprised when they try. *dripping sarcasm*

They probably tried, but imagine the death glares kids would direct at the person who gives them a back-to-school card.

>113 mstrust:

Btw, I know I mentioned before that I was going to watch the first season of "True Detective". Well I've just finished the first three episodes, and what a fascinating show. Anyone else seen it?

Glad you're enjoying it. I thought it was one of the most gripping shows I've ever seen. Still awaiting confirmed details for a second series and hope they can maintain such high standards they've set themselves with the first one.

>118 mstrust:
Haha!! True!

>119 AHS-Wolfy: I really am enjoying it. And even though I don't have high hopes for what happens to Hart and Coehl, I do hope there is a second season. It's too good to end.

>120 -Eva-: Right? I can picture my niece's response and it ain't good.

73. Dead Cert by Dick Francis. Money or Gambling. Alan York has come from his privileged home in Rhodesia to run steeplechases in England. When his friend Bill takes a fall during a race while riding an experienced horse, and soon dies from his injuries, Alan becomes suspicious. Adding to his suspicions are the threats to another jockey who is known to cheat, and the girl he has just fallen in love with is also dating another jockey, even though her snobby aunt disapproves of the whole situation.

There's enough of a difference between the book and the movie to still keep the reader guessing. The first Dick Francis I've read. 3 stars

>121 mstrust:
The second season will feature different characters and a different locale as well. Not too much definitive information out there at the moment but there are these following quotes from the show-runner, Nic Pizzolatto:

“Right now, we’re working with three leads… The characters are all new, but I’m deeply in love with each of them. We’ve got the entire series broken out with a couple of scripts, and we’ll probably start casting in earnest in the coming months.”

and this one:

“…It takes place in California — not Los Angeles, but some of the much lesser known venues of California — and we’re going to try to capture a certain psychosphere ambiance of the place, much like we did in season one.”

All sorts of names being linked with the show from early contenders like Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and I see the latest being Colin Farrell. Guess we'll just have to wait on see what the future holds.

I already have True Detectives on my mental TV-series-to-watch list, but now that you've mentioned that Nic Pizzolatto is the show runner, it has moved to the top! I'll watch as soon as the kids are back in school. Galveston was a very good, noiry novel.

>123 AHS-Wolfy: That's good news, and I think Brad Pitt would be great in it. Now I suppose we just have to wait about two years for it.

>124 RidgewayGirl: I think Pizzolatto is also the writer for the show. I haven't read Galveston so thanks for the rec.

So all these great shows have come on my radar, but in "how could they be so stupid?" news, Community was cancelled a few months ago. The universe had to balance itself .

At 100 pages in, I've abandoned Money by Martin Amis. I found that I was having to force myself to pick it up, and since it sat next to my bed for over a month, I'll admit that it didn't work for me. I guess I don't have as much tolerance for reading about hipster douchebags as I thought.

Heads up! There's a new Poirot on "Masterpiece Mystery" tonight- The Big Four.

Caught the very end of it (was on the phone with my parents beforehand). Yay, Hastings and Japp and Miss Lemon! I missed them.

I read The Big Four a couple of years ago and remembered little of it other than it was one of Christie's more unrealistic stories and I didn't love it. But then Mark Gatiss' name came on as a co-screenwriter and I knew it would be good. Lots of liberty taken with the story (Japp replaces Hastings as Poirot's sidekick) and very theatrical. And Patricia Hodge was very good.

I watched the trailer for next week's Poirot but didn't catch the name.

74. Celebration by Harry Crews. Georgia Authors. When eighteen year-old Too Much came begging in the Forever and Forever retiree trailer park, she met the park's owner, Stump, who immediately moved the girl into his own trailer. The more Stump becomes wrapped around this weird girl's finger, the more demanding and sinister she becomes. But the elderly residents love Too Much, as she's determined that they should be happy rather than waiting to die.

This is labeled as a black comedy, though I found Too Much to be so annoying that I wanted something to happen to her. There's something to offend everyone here, whether it's the vast age difference between Stump and Too Much, racial slurs, knocks about women, gross sexual kinks... It's a weird book. 2.5 stars

And I couldn't post a book set in a trailer park without thinking of "Trailer Park Boys". Here's a short clip of Canada's pride and joy. Hope you have a high tolerance for the f-word. A high tolerance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF7vt-c2N1g

Sunday's episode of Poirot will be Dead Man's Folly. I haven't read that one yet.

75. Come On Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All by Christina Thompson. First Hand Accounts. Subtitled A New Zealand Story, this is the history of European contact with the native Maori people of New Zealand. Between the discussions of Captain Cook's or Darwin's impressions of the Maori hundreds of years ago is the story of Thompson, an academic from Boston, meeting and marrying her Maori husband and fitting into his family. She discusses the differences between Maori and New Zealanders of European descent in terms of quality of life, and one chapter is about the gruesome trade of Maori heads that began as sacred items among the tribes, but once Europeans got involved, became souvenirs that led to random deaths. 4 stars

Wow, P.D. James is 94 today!

76. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. Humor. When Bryson decides to walk the Appalachian Trail, he sends out e-mails to all his friends and family to join him. His only respense is from Katz, a friend from decades ago who seems to be at loose ends. Beginning in Georgia, they walk the trail north, being rained on, figuring out their new camping equipment and meeting fellow hikers along the way. Especially funny is Mary Ellen, a bigmouth who latches onto them for several days until they can't take anymore, and the night that Katz makes a date with a flirty woman in a laundromat, only to be chased all night by her angry husband.
The book isn't all humor. Bryson explains the creation of the trail, both geologically and as a protected area, and goes into the failures of the government agency that has allowed multitudes of animals and plants to die under its care. He discusses the safety of the hike and the small number of murders that have occurred along the trail. Bryson is contemplative in the quiet wilderness, but anytime he's is in the company of people, something funny happens. 4.5 stars

And that's my Humor category completed!

Congrats on finished category!

Congratulations!

>135 -Eva-: >136 MissWatson: Thank you! I'm trying to be organized and knock out my categories this year, as I usually seem to end up with twenty in one category and a total of two in another.

I just wanted to mention that the Poirot series for Masterpiece is over for the year. Just two episodes, that was it. hhhrmph
There will be three Miss Marples in September.

A Walk in the Woods was my first Bill Bryson and still remains a favorite.

This was my fourth Bryson. My first was In a Sunburned Country, which got me hooked. I'll say that A Walk in the Woods sat on my shelf for two or three years because I didn't see how anyone could make hiking the Appalachian Trail funny. Now I know.

I tried a few of Bryson's books about England, but didn't like them. But A Walk in the Woods is just a very funny, well written book. I love his fear of gangs of bears and it did make me want to hike the Appalachian Trail, which is clearly nuts as I dislike camping, overly long nature walks and carrying things in a backpack.

I'm with you there. I used to do a 20 minute hike everyday, but that was because we lived at the foot of a nature preserve. Out the door, walk past two houses and there was the trail. So he had me wanting to hike the AT too. For a day.
I don't like camping, but the worst thing Bryson described in this book, to me, was the swarms of no-see-ums and mosquitoes.

77. The Congo & the Cameroons by Mary Kingsley. First Hand Accounts. Kingsley was an English explorer and science writer during the Victorian era who specialized in traveling the African West Coast. This slim book is an excerpt from her Travels in West Africa, first published in 1897.
To say that Kingsley was fearless is an understatement. She traveled to Africa three times, gathering men from various tribes to be her guides and setting out for days in the jungle where she observed and noted everything, from animals, insects, trees and flowering plants and the actual land. She observed families of elephants and gorillas. She frequently shows more courage than the men by leaving them behind when they were afraid of the climb or cold weather, and she discovered a new direction to climb Mount Cameroon, which she did in long skirts. And while she seems to have been no-nonsense when dealing with her group, she maintains a dry sense of humor. Here's her description of ridding her canoe of a crocodile:

...he chose to get his front paws over the stern of my canoe, and endeavored to improve our acquaintance. I had to retire to the bows, to keep the balance right, and fetch him a clip on the snout with a paddle, when he withdrew, and I paddled into the very middle of the lagoon, hoping the water there was too deep for him or any of his friends to repeat the performance.

Her complete lack of vanity is rare. She attempts to clean up before meeting the local German Commander, but otherwise, her work is more important than her comfort or appearance.

My face and particularly my lips are a misery to me, having been blistered all over by yesterday's sun, and last night I inadvertently whipped the skin all off on one cheek with the blanket, and it keeps on bleeding, and, horror of horrors, there is no tea until that water comes.

It's unfortunate that Kinglsey had such a short life. She died at thirty-seven, in Cape Town, where she was working as a volunteer nurse during the Second Boer War, after contracting typhoid. 4 stars

78. Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. First Hand Accounts. When Burroughs was twelve his parents divorced and his father pretty much disappeared. This left the boy with his mother, an unstable and unsuccessful poet who developed a scary dependence on her weird psychiatrist. This quickly leads to his mother leaving Burroughs at the doctor's home for long stretches, being sucked into the drama of the Finch home with its extended cast of crazies, until the day when his mom just signs her son over to the doctor. Burroughs assimilates quickly, learning to rage, having an affair with a much older man and ignore that the older daughter kills the family cat.

You've probably read it, but it sat on my shelf for a couple of years. Presented as a memoir, it's shocking in some parts and funny in others, mostly in a disgusting kind of way, but a really engrossing story. I suspect that some of this was made up. The heart-of-gold Winnie was a flatly written truck-stop waitress, so one-dimensional that she can't be real. Good written anyway. 4 stars

And that's my First Hand Accounts category finished!

Congratulations on another category finished!

Thanks! Only ten more to go.
I've decided that I'll have just ten categories next year so I can have this feeling of accomplishment a little more often.

79. The Professionals 14: Operation Susie by Ken Blake. Mystery & Crime. After three college students try their hand at high volume drug pushing, the ensuing shoot-out brings the police. But the product the kids were trying to sell turns out to be a crack-like substance and the fight for it isn't over, which puts Bodie, Doyle and Cowley running all over London looking for dying students and the drug lord who is killing them. 3.5 stars

By request, here's the site for Frankie's Tiki Room in Vegas. This is the place we've been going to for a couple of years, as I love tiki bars, they have great cocktails, it's not a tourist spot and it's not too far from my parent's. Bonus: sometimes there's a great food truck in the parking lot serving Asian-style tacos.
Frankie's has The Ramoneteurs on their jukebox, and they're a great tiki band that does Ramones covers.
http://www.frankiestikiroom.com/index.html

>148 mstrust: Okay, I'm here now. Thanks for the link. And I will drop a star while I'm at it.

I'm always happy to talk about Frankie's!

>150 mstrust: I am such a lightweight, one of their drinks may put me under the table. But oh I wanna try.

You say "under the table" like it's a bad thing. While the majority of their drinks have several liquors in them, there are some, like the Kanaka Kiss, that have less. My mom considers a Mimosa with brunch to be drinking, but I told the bartender to make her something lightweight and she made a lightweight Kahiki Kai. If you can handle a Pina Colada, you'd like that one.

I'm re-posting my plans for my Autumn/Halloween because I'll be starting on September 1st, which is only two weeks away. Sneaks up on you, huh? Let me know what you think.

Definite Reads
We're All Infected- ER
The Perfect Pumpkin: Growing/Cooking/Carving
Scary Godmother
A Halloween How-To
Martha Stewart Halloween
Vermont: A Seasonal Celebration
New Hampshire: A Living Landscape
Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft
Neverwhere
Henry VIII: Wolfman
The Woman in Black
Wyrd Sisters

Possible Reads
Island of Aunts
King Rat
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter- yep, still haven't read it.
Sad Monsters
If You're Reading This, It's Too Late
A Monster's Notes
Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter
Full Dark, No Stars
Perfection
Graveminder
The Horror in the Museum-Lovecraft
Great Tales of Horror- Lovecraft
Mad Kings and Queens-non-fiction
Permanent Parisians-n.f.
Marilyn Manson: the long hard road out of hell
Boy in Darkness and other stories
The Gates
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Jane Slayre
and a whole stack of John Bellairs: The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost, The Bell, the Book and the Spellbinder,The Trolley to Yesterday,The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull, The Figure in the Shadows.

>153 mstrust: FWIW, I love Locke & Keye, even though I've only read two or three of them. Wyrd Sisters is so much fun! However, I did not like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, it was silly and not the good kind.

I didn't even realize Locke & Key was a series, but now I also see that it's written or edited by Joe Hill. I read his Heart-Shaped Box for Halloween last year and it was terrifying.
I do need to give Terry Pratchett another try. I wasn't impressed by Good Omens but I'm willing to try him again.

Maybe something only by Terry Pratchett will catch your fancy. Good Omens was the book which introduced me to both Pratchett and Gaiman, both of whom I adore in very different ways.

I love Gaiman too, which is why I bought Good Omens. I think it didn't work for me because it seemed sort of frantic. But I've seen the movie for Hogfather and liked it, so I'll try Pratchett on his own.

Updated my list.

It's the King's death day. I adore him, and I found this unusual clip of him performing "Burning Love" for the first time onstage. His musicians were so good that they could wrap it up whenever he waved his arm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx7I4DfUGM4

80. The Obituary Writer by Porter Shreve. Not-Famous Authors. Young Gordie Hatch is at the beginning of what he hopes will be a notable newspaper career. He's working the obit page for a St. Louis paper for now, but his father started at the bottom and quickly worked his way up to a career in investigative reporting before dying when Gordie was five years old. Knowing how fast his father rose, and his mother raising her husband into a god-like status, weighs on Gordie even more than his loneliness. When widow Alicia Whiting calls his desk to ask for special treatment for her recently deceased husband and implies that he was an important man, Gordie makes time for the young widow, who seems more chatty than heartbroken. Gordie can't tell if she keeps contacting him for the story or if she's actually interested in him, just weeks after her husband's death.

I can see aspects of noir in this story, as Alicia seems a femme fatale, there's a dead husband who isn't missed too much, and Gordie is an ambitious guy who begins investigating in hopes of getting a promotion, but ends up falling for the widow. But there are a few things I didn't like, such as Gordie being independent and ambitious, yet getting cornered constantly by Alicia or her bossy sister-in-law or his mother. Also, this is a modern story but cell phones are for the most part ignored. But still a decent read. 3 stars

Another announcement- PBS will air retrospectives of both "Downton Abbey" and "Poirot" tonight. I need to check and see when DA will begin a new season.

Here's a great tribute to Rik Mayall:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-28785183

81. The Professionals 15: You'll Be All Right by Ken Blake. Jack Stone is known to have been the lead in an infamous bank job, but he disappeared while his friends went to jail. Now four years later, Jack is not only back in London but calling Ray Doyle for help, as his family is being threatened.
The second case is the story to "Discovered in a Graveyard", in which Doyle is shot and Bodie and Cowley search for the perpetrator among the Asian underground. 4 stars

And that's the last of this 15 volume series.

How was the Poirot retrospective?

Really interesting. It was filmed as Suchet was ending his time as Poirot. When an actor plays the same role for many years, in this case 25, I wonder if they love it or hate it. Suchet loves Poirot and calls him his best friend.
He was shown traveling to Agatha Christie's home and meeting with her grandson, who described her as the kindest, gentlest person. Suchet went to the local museum where they have a Poirot room of his t.v. flat, and he presented the museum with the silver walking stick Poirot carries.
Then he traveled to Brussels to talk to locals about Poirot. He was given a police escort to meet the city's mayor and chief of police, so that tells you how they feel about him. And through clips over the years the viewer can see the evolution of the mustache.

Here's the very brief bit of new writing from J.K. Rowling concerning Molly Weasley's favorite singer:
http://www.today.com/books/j-k-rowling-writes-new-harry-potter-story-about-singi...

Ah book bullets! Come on Shore and Travels in West Africa are going on the WL. Love the quotes from Travels. So very no-nonsense Victorian.

Glad I could hit you with a few. And Kingsley was as no-nonsense as they come. It's unintentionally funny how often she describes leaving the tired or frightened men of her group behind and keeps going herself.

82. Gently Through the Mill by Alan Hunter. Mystery. The mill is located in the small East Anglian town of Lynton, and it's where the grain is ground before being taken next door to the bakehouse. The mill is managed by a man who seems to dislike everyone, including his new foreman, who is unethical and despised by the men under him. The baker is a religious fanatic and his wife is much too pretty for him. When an unidentified dead man is found stuck in a batch of flour at the mill, Chief Inspector George Gently is sent to figure out who he is and what the angry employees of the mill might know.

This is just my second of the series, which are cozys written mostly in the fifties. Not a lot of blood, and not much action. Think along the lines of Poirot, with Gently often having a meal in order to work things out. 3 stars

I just read a really sexist modern YA book where the girl kept having to be rescued. I think Kingsley is just the antidote.

Absolutely. Kingsley seems to have let nothing get in her way. Which may have made her difficult to be around in person, but great to read about.

Well, difficult to be around if you were a Victorian guy trying to protect her Victorian modesty.

Between marching through the jungle, climbing mountains, crawling on her belly through mud and ordering everyone around, I don't think she had an interest in either modesty or getting a guy. Just reading between the lines ; ) But determination and wit are things she had in spades.
And while re-shelving that book, I found that I have two more from the same explorers series. It's gotten to where I'm surprised by what I own.

LOL! I know what you mean! I can go "shopping" on my own shelves too. I think everything except some e-books have been entered on LT. I think. You'll have to let me know if the other two are just as good.

Shopping on your own shelves is an excellent way of seeing it. I actually forgot that I started off this year with a No Book Buying resolution (aside from the three big book sales I attend every year). It came about from getting that "when...?" confusion of uncovering a book I didn't know I had on my shelf so many times last year. And I have failed that resolution spectacularly!

I think I will finish my challenge in October and that's how I will close out the year, "shopping on my own shelves". No planning, I will just browse and pick what grabs my interest.

Good job! You'll have that feeling of accomplishment.
I've saved my entire Shakespeare category for the end of the year. I just thought that would be a good way to end things.
I also have two or three other categories that I've done little with, so I'll be filling slots up until the last. That's why I'll have fewer categories next year, probably just ten or eleven.

It's part of why I did the "minimalist" challenge this year. I've done the no new books resolution but it never does work. One year, I even said no library books. That one really backfired! This year, I have a loose off the shelves/wishlist/whatever category that is the bulk of the challenge. I'm doing much better at reading from what I own now.

I am too. I haven't been to the library in a few months because I have so much at home that I'm stacking sideways.

I've been working on my categories for next year, and besides an "Everything Else" category, I'll be having a catch-all category for my favorite subjects. That will make things easier.

It's Stephen Fry's birthday! Everybody eat cake.

Happy Birthday to Stephen Fry. I love watching QI!

He does raise the quality of anything he's on, even a game show. And he's still the best Jeeves ever.

83. Tooth and Nail by Ian Rankin. Mystery & Crime. Inspector Rebus is requested to help on the London case of The Wolfman, a serial killer who kills women near the river and leaves bite marks. His methods are unique enough to attract the notice of a psychologist, who helps Rebus and his collegue Flight understand what kind of person they should look for.

This is the second Rebus in the series and the third I've read. Rebus seems more prone to impulsiveness in this one, but it's a good mystery and I put my money on the wrong horse through most of it. 4 stars

And that's my Mystery & Crime category done!

Oh, and today is Tim Burton's birthday. Wear black and tease your hair until it looks like a tumbleweed.

I had cake at lunch today so I will post-dedicate it to Mr. Fry. Maybe I need to find a Tim Burton movie to watch this week. But I just saw his wife as Bellatrix LeStrange in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Pt. 1 on Friday, maybe that counts.

I would guess that Mr. Fry would be hapy that someone was out there enjoying cake. He just seems like a nice guy.

Bonham-Carter was so good as Bellatrix with her rotten teeth and dried-up hair. I came across Pt. 2 on tv a few weeks ago and had to watch the scene between Bellatrix and Molly Weasley.
Much as I love Burton's movies, I have yet to sit down and watch "Edward Scissorhands" all the way through. I've seen big chunks, but not beginning to end. Don't tell anyone.

84. Meet Mr. Mulliner by P.G. Wodehouse. Authors I Like. Mr. Mulliner is a regular at The Anglers' Rest pub, where he will tell anyone about his numerous nephews and cousins, most of them suffering from unrequited love. There is George, who can't propose because of his stammer, and Clarence, the photographer who allows only beautiful people to sit for him but is haunted by his love for an ugly girl. And there is Lancelot, who tracks the girl he loves to a nightclub just as the band begins:

A sound like the sudden descent of an iron girder on a sheet of tin, followed by the jangling of bells, a wailing of tortured cats, and the noise of a few steam-riveters at work, announced to their trained ears that the music had begun. Sweeping her to him with a violence which, attmpted in any other place, would have earned him a sentence of thirty days coupled with some strong remarks from the Bench, Lancelot began to push her yeilding form through the sea of humanity til they reached the centre of the whirlpool. There, unable to move in any direction, they surrendered themselves to the ecstasy of the dance, wiping their feet on the polished flooring and occasionally pushing an elbow into some stranger's encroaching rib.
"This," murmured the girl with closed eyes, "is divine."
"What?" bellowed Lancelot, for the orchestra, in addition to ringing bells, had now begun to howl like wolves at dinner-time.

4 stars

>186 mstrust: Aww, sounds charming! So far I've only experienced Jeeves & Wooster, but I really should read some different Wodehouse.

For years I stuck to Jeeves & Wooster. They have so many stories and they're so funny. I've only begun to scratch the surface of the Blandings stories. But if you come across it, I can recommend Cocktail Time, which is just as funny as any Jeeves story.

Oh.... Blandings! Did you know that BBC1 has done a TV adaptation of Blandings? It is a rather recent broadcasting - first episode was aired back in Jan of 2013 in the UK - and such a hoot. Not quite as amazing as the TV adaptations of the Jeeves and Wooster stories but it grew on us rather quickly! ;-)

*making mental note to check out Meet Mr. Mulliner*

I really enjoyed Blandings! The Empress was my favourite; she was so cute!

>189 lkernagh: I didn't know about the tv series, so I'll be looking fo it on Youtube or Netflix. Wodehouse's stories work so well for tv, probably because of all the fast action. Thanks for letting me know!

>190 rabbitprincess: The Empress was pivotal in Service with a Smile, which I read last year. The whole Blandings series needs more exploration from me.

In other news, I've gained another bookcase. Just a three shelf one that now holds my cookbooks. Which led to me clearing off two shelves of my barrister bookcase, which led to a shelf in my auto/bio section upstairs being re-done and all my P.D. James' and Ian Rankins and Conan Doyles being moved downstairs. Every action has a reaction.

>191 mstrust: Congrats on the new bookcase! One of my favorite activities is shifting my books around on their various shelves. It's amazing the books that I find that I had forgotten all about.

Thanks! I'll admit that I do love re-arranging my shelves, especially if it frees up some room for more and I find something "new" . It's like having the fun of getting it all over again.

Oh, I love a good rearranging of the shelves! I'm glad you had fun.

>194 RidgewayGirl: Thanks! It's a pleasant way of spending a few hours.

And hey! "Downton Abbey" returns on January 4th! Something tells me there will be a spike in tea sales around New Year's.

Time for #5. Come join me for my Autumn thread!