richardderus's fourth thread of 2019

1949 Nash Ambassador sedan...look at the instrument binnacle! So cool, no?

The "bathtub" Nash...it was new, all right, but so not popular. GM's cars made everyone else's look dowdy and this wallowing thing was outclassed from the get-go.

Damn, it's almost the end of the Teens. The days may drag, but the years WHOOSH by! I'll shoot to write 200 reviews for my blog, meaning real reviews not impressions or squibs. My ancillary goal will be to create some sort of post about the Pearl-Ruled books explaining why I am abandoning ship; I'll set an arbitrary count of 100 of those since goodness knows I abandon a lot of books.







My 2018 Reviews Are Here:
Reviews 1-25 are linked there.

Reviews 26-31 are linked here.

Reviews 32-39 are linked there.

Reviews 40-54 are linked over here.

Reviews 55-70 are linked over here.

Reviews 71-101 (I misnumbered) are linked over here.

Reviews 102-110 are linked over here.

Reviews 111 - 123 are reviewed over here.

Reviews 124-127 are there.

2019's Reviews Are Here:

Reviews 1-4 are here.

My first Pearl-Ruled notice and two reviews are found here.

Reviews 7-15 plus some Pearl Rules are in this thread.

This thread's output is:

16 The Unknown Ajax shimmers and glistens with Heyer's gorgeous wit in post 71.

17 The Lost Plot is fourth of the Invisible Library series and the best so far, see post 106.

PR5 is too awful to name, a book so bad the perpetratrix's keyboard should be ceremonially smashed, post 123.

18 The Mortal Word is book five of the Invisible Library series reviewed in post 191.

Via Bookish, here's a list of challenges to #KillYourTBR (note that I've modified a few entries to make them possible for me to meet):

1. A book you bought for the cover


2. A book by an author you’ve met
The Front Runner

3. A book you’re embarrassed you haven’t read yet


4. A book that is under 220 pages
The King's Evil

5. A book that came out the year you were born


6. A book whose title uses alliteration
When Saigon Surrendered

7. A book in your best friend’s favorite genre


8. A book from an independent publisher


9. A book you borrowed from the library
The Reluctant Widow

10. A book featuring a fictional language


11. A novel that includes a recipe (Bonus points for making the recipe)


12. A book won in a raffle/giveaway


13. A book about going on a quest
The Burning Page

14. A book set in a city you’ve visited


15. A book with a dust jacket


16. A book by two or more authors


17. A book that is over 1000 pages


18. A book that’s been out for less than a month


19. A book with a name in the title
The Other Boleyn Girl

20. A book from a genre you want to read more of


21. A book written by a Native American author


22. A book with an asexual character


23. A book you were given as a gift


24. A book translated from Spanish


25. An award-winning graphic novel
Tom's Midnight Garden Graphic Novel

26. A book featuring a false confession


27. A book you meant to read in 2018


28. A book featuring a memorable companion animal


29. A book set in South America


30. A book with a cover you kind of hate (but a story you love)


31. A book by an author you’ve never heard of before
Coming Through: Three Novellas

32. A book of short stories


33. A book featuring a nonbinary protagonist


34. A book you’ve been waiting for forever


35. A book about intersectional feminism


36. A book with a place in the title
Our Man in Havana

37. A book bought at/from a physical bookstore
Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World

38. A book by an author you’re thankful for


39. A book with gorgeous descriptions


40. A book signed by the author


41. A book set in Africa
The Making of the African Queen

42. A book about mental health
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

43. A book written by an immigrant


44. A retelling


45. A book about incarceration


46. A book recommended by an author


47. A book with a person of color on the cover


48. A book by an author who uses a pen name


49. A book whose title includes a verb
Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd

50. A book recommended by a librarian


51. A book being adapted in 2019


52. A book you found in a Little Free Library

All is well now, posting is allowed.

Happy new one, Richard dearest! *smooches*

>5 MickyFine: You're first, Micky!

Happy newest, RD!

Back to binary from your last thread. Harrumph. Hex at least. And you know you asked for it, dearest!

Text: I love you too, RD

Hex:
49206c6f766520796f7520746f6f2c20524421

Hex Spaced:
49 20 6c 6f 76 65 20 79 6f 75 20 74 6f 6f 2c 20 52 44 21

Hex Dashed:
49-20-6c-6f-76-65-20-79-6f-75-20-74-6f-6f-2c-20-52-44-21

Hex Encoded for URL:
%49%20%6c%6f%76%65%20%79%6f%75%20%74%6f%6f%2c%20%52%44%21

The basic black doesn't do it for me, but I'll bet that Royal Blue Nash in the ad was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

And a Happy New Thread to you, Richard!

I'm not much of an old car person, but I do like that Nash.

Happy new thread!

>6 richardderus: *happy dance* And now I'll be lucky if I keep up with this thread. :)

>1 richardderus: Now that's a sleek beauty.

I've been told that my wife's grandfather owned a Nash sedan. Front seat backs would recline flat and align with the back seat, forming a bed. I was but a lad when that Nash appeared and my neighbor friends agreed with me that it was a dumb-looking car.

Happy new thread, Richard!

>7 karenmarie: I second that, binary, hexadecimal, encoded or not ;-)

>7 karenmarie: *smooch*

>8 ronincats: Thanks, Roni, I prefer the blue as well...but the story of that particular 1949 Nash made me mist up. A California transplant war worker-turned-roofing contractor bought it with his war-worker priority on a roofer's union salary and his son still owns it today. I was too moved not to use the pics. And that Uniscope pod! The bee's knees!

>9 katiekrug: Hi Katie, it's just too cool not to love isn't it. Huge things, those Nashs.

>10 MickyFine: Heh. The ol' bugaboo, "keeping up." We all need to calm our nerves about that, don't we.

>11 quondame: Indeed, Susan, and so extremely ahead of its time. Most cars look like that these days.

>12 weird_O: I think, back in the day, that "aerodynamic" shape wasn't the trend. Chrysler and GM were the leaders and they were moving towards boxier cars with more sculpturing. So yeah...dumb-looking in its time = poor sales = death.

>13 FAMeulstee: Heh, thank you Anita, heartily returned.

>15 richardderus: I notice it has 3 windows rather than the 2 in the add. Do you know if it has the fold up jump seats? I remember some of the big old cars did.

>17 quondame: The ad is a two-door club coupe, and the photos are of a four-door sedan; I'm pretty sure that all Ambassadors came with the fold-down seats standard. What *I* remember best about them was the starter: Put the key in the switch, turn it on, then pull the automatic-transmission lever towards you to start it up!

It's new thread day! Happy Happy.

Thanks, Jeff!

>18 richardderus: As I was only in the back of one and that at least 60 years ago and probably 65, I remember nothing of the front seat. But I was sure impressed by the back - actually I think I have a wee scar on the inside of one knee from the joint pinching me.

>21 quondame: Impolite Nash to have munched on your young self! *tsk*

My sister's college boyfriend had one of these, a two-door, and as a car-mad kid I loved nothing better than riding around in it. He liked telling me, a rapt and enthused audience, all about his toy. Seephus was his nickname, short for Josephus.

Happy new one, Richard!

>1 richardderus: beautiful toppers!

What are you watching now? I started watching 'Haven' from the start, nut not sure it will hold my interest for long.

>23 brodiew2: Hi Brodie, thanks! I'm really fond of Nash cars.

I'm still recovering from Travelers! *strangled sob* I very much wish they'd received a season 4. I don't think Haven is my kind of show. I might pick back up on Salvation, but I'm not sure yet.

>22 richardderus: Nothing like young car love. Mine was reserved for the Jaguar sedan with leather interior our middle school principal drove.

A FB friend just posted this in celebration of getting her doctorate!

Happy new thread, Richard. I do love those old cars, but the Nash, well, pardon my saying so, but it does look like it could stand in for a hearse....That's quite an elongated silhouette! Still, pretty snazzy.

>24 richardderus: I'm right there with you. I truly loved the show and think it shines as an ensemble cast. They sure threw us some curves regarding 001, as you alluded to a while back. It is hard to pinpoint my favorite character as I liked them so much as a group, but Philip was something else. Trevor, too. And, despite her caustic manner, Grace grew on me. I rather enjoyed the level of vulnerability they gave her at the end, romance or not. :-P

Haven may not be my kind of show either, as I would prefer to watch Supernatural. However, I promised my wife I would give it up. But that 300th episode is one I will have to watch. John Winchester!

Happy new thread!

>25 quondame: EXCELLENT taste! I wholeheartedly approve.

>26 jessibud2: Heh...it's a big black vehicle, so the hearse identification makes perfect sense. It's a snazzy silhouette in my eyes.

>27 brodiew2: Three hundred episodes of Supernatural doesn't surprise me, Padalecki and Ackles are perfect for their parts. Right from the get-go they WERE the Winchesters. That does great things for ratings.

I thought the Travelers ensemble was well-matched as well. I could've done without Grace *blech* but the actress did a wonderful job of it.

>28 thornton37814: Thanks, Lori, and welcome.

I started watching Expanse Season 3, I want to dress like Chrisjen

I was just at your last thread a few hours ago and you are already 30 posts in on a new thread?! Oy!

>1 richardderus: Oooh! Me likey the topper!!

>3 richardderus: And the Bookish Challenge.

Happy new one, Ricardo! Smooches.

Happy New Thread, Richard. Sweet Thursday, indeed. Love the Nash!!

>30 AuntieClio: My goddesses, who *doesn't* want to dress like Chrisjen?! I love the jewels, too, all those gorgeous big statements!

>31 ChelleBearss: I know, it just...happens...somehow. Puzzling, no?

>32 Berly: Hey there, Kimmers, *smoochiesmoochsmooch*

>33 msf59: It's a vehicle of great presence, isn't it? So imposing!

Happy New Thread, my friend!!

>35 SuziQoregon: Thanks, Juli! It's going to be a quick spring, it looks like, at this rate. Hope you're well and comfy after Snowmageddon West. (Even though it was on the east side.)

Happy new thread!!

Driving one of thos Nash’s must have been like driving a tank!

>34 richardderus: Chrisjen is so regal! I wanna learn how to do the very understated stink eye she does which clearly tells the person it's directed at that it's just a matter of short time before they're dead.

This would do for a start:

'Morning, RichardDear!

Happy Heyer and black coffee.

Happy new thread Richard!

>37 figsfromthistle: Thank you, Anita!

>38 benitastrnad: Surprisingly, not so much. The steering was heavy for parking, of course, but got very light at speed. The major weirdness of driving one is that one has NO IDEA where the corners of the car are. Fins were useful for something.

>39 AuntieClio: That outfit's gorgeous! This one's my all-time fave:


>40 karenmarie: Hey Horrible, I've had to switch back to milk in my coffee (sigh) because acidity is the enemy. Heyer ho!

>41 The_Hibernator: Hi Rachel, thank you!

>42 richardderus: Love that!

Happy New Thread, maestro. I tried to give you those wishes last night, but my pc went into freak-out mode. This morning it had amnesia and worked just fine.

I feel like maybe you should've have brought your good Burning Page review over to this thread. I hope harried 75ers trying to catch up don't skip it.

Happy new thread, Richard. I've no particular liking for the '49 Nash styling, though I think there's some appeal in the later Ambassadors.

Happy new thread! I think it was yesterday, maybe the day before, that the Nash showed up as an answer in the NY Times crossword puzzle - first to introduce seat belts.

I love the Nash up top!! I want one. Of course, I want one of all the cars you have posted thus far :)

Happy new thread, RD!

>42 richardderus: Milk sadness.

>43 jnwelch: Do you think so? I'll consider it, though it seems redundant now...your point is well-taken about how busy things get, though.

>44 harrygbutler: By the time they became Rambler Ambassadors, they got some classy stylish stuff goin' on.

>45 drneutron: Thank you, Jim!

I didn't know Nash introduced seat belts. Wow!

>46 alcottacre: Hey Stasia, thanks...I would love to have a 1949 Nash as well!

>47 karenmarie: *sigh* Si.

>43 jnwelch: suggested I repost my review...so I decided that it would be interesting to see if more people see and comment on it:
15 The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman

Real Rating: 4.75* of five

The Publisher Says: Librarian spy Irene and her apprentice Kai return for another “tremendously fun, rip-roaring adventure,” (A Fantastical Librarian) third in the bibliophilic fantasy series from the author of The Masked City.

Never judge a book by its cover...

Due to her involvement in an unfortunate set of mishaps between the dragons and the Fae, Librarian spy Irene is stuck on probation, doing what should be simple fetch-and-retrieve projects for the mysterious Library. But trouble has a tendency of finding both Irene and her apprentice, Kai—a dragon prince—and, before they know it, they are entangled in more danger than they can handle...

Irene’s longtime nemesis, Alberich, has once again been making waves across multiple worlds, and, this time, his goals are much larger than obtaining a single book or wreaking vengeance upon a single Librarian. He aims to destroy the entire Library—and make sure Irene goes down with it.

With so much at stake, Irene will need every tool at her disposal to stay alive. But even as she draws her allies close around her, the greatest danger might be lurking from somewhere close—someone she never expected to betray her...

My Review: Irene Winters is, comme d'habitude, in the stinky stuff up to her modest pseudo-Victorian neckline. We join Kai, the elegant and toothsome dragon prince and Irene's apprentice Librarian, as they receive desperate new instructions from the Powers That Be. The Library is not aligned in the power struggle between the orderly dragons and the chaotic Fae, officially anyway, but it seems that the battle is joined...many worlds not safe for Librarians (a combination of spy and thief and bibliophile...I want to be a Librarian so bad I can taste it) to traverse. Something is clearly up. Irene and Kai are damned near killed by the Something, in fact, as a door into the Library from their current assignment literally bursts into flames as they try to use it.

Well, I ask you, is there any more exciting a way to bring a reader into the book's world?! And to set the stakes as high as they can be (personal survival)? I was prepared for a rollicking good time. I got one.

Vale, Irene and Kai's good friend in the alternate London where they are stationed as Librarians in Residence, is a relatively high-chaos world...magic works, there are werewolves all over, that kind of thing...whose life is analogous to Sherlock Holmes's in Conan Doyle's novels. The poor man, in the last book, was exposed to an EXTREMELY high-chaos world while rescuing Irene and Kai. (He nurses Feelings for...well...I suspect for both of them.) As a result his morphine addiction is in high gear. Since he's using the drug to self-medicate his inner demons, it makes sense that a chaotic world would cause his turmoil to reach a boil. It does...and in the universe of these novels that means he's literally, physiologically infected with chaos, to his severe detriment. Irene and Kai are desperately worried about him, but forced to focus on their Librarian issues.

It seems that the Big Baddie of the series, Alberich, has his sights on Irene again. He wants her to join him in his war to replace the Library with his own Chaotic sphere. Failing that, he wants her dead, because she's just too adroit and clever to allow to continue opposing him. He even takes on the bodies of others, killing them in the process, to reach her.

He swept her round another turn, his hand warm on the small of her back, gloved in a dead man's skin.

*shiver*shudder*twitch*flinch*

Their battle runs across multiple dimensions, includes innocent and not-so-innocent bystanders, and causes Irene to do something...a desperate survival tactic in the face of imminent death...that will cause her endless nights of grief and remorse. She has to set all the books in Alberich's Library alight! She destroys all the unique and irreplaceable volumes he's stolen from across the multiverse!! It comes close to ruining her, which I *totally* get.

Kai, in this story, turns himself into his draconic form for the first time. He's as magnificent as one would expect. Author Cogman describes his dragon form in lavish, luxurious terms though not at any great length. The real focus is that he has the power to fly across the multiverse! This is new, or it was to me. He takes acrophobic Irene into the space between the worlds where she can see alternate realities as if she was in a jetliner. It's horrible for her, but amazing for the reader. It becomes urgent for Kai to do this multiple times and in some very high-stress situations.

Vale, meanwhile, is sinking fast. His save-the-day actions in The Masked City are reaping the whirlwind of his addiction. He spirals deeper and deeper into depression. Vale's best friend Inspector Singh of Scotland Yard (how you can tell it's an alternate London, South Asian inspectors?! Yeah, not so much in reality) is frantic with worry. He and Kai and Irene are locked in conflict about how to save their friend, with no good options appearing and the bad ones piling up. Ultimately, the problem of how to help someone in self-destruct mode is resolved...but having known self-destructive people well, I don't entirely buy it. The ultimate resolution is one I truly wish we had a way to implement in reality.

It's an exciting ride to get to the ending, and the fact is that it's a middle book so that's not as easy as one might think. I felt that this book was a step UP from its predecessor in action and excitement. That's a good, good thing. Series reads are deeply satisfying, as I've said elsewhere. I'm a happy boy when I'm among familiar faces doing fun things while thinking interesting thoughts, and that's how series reads are at their best. I was pleased enough with the last book to read this one, but it suffered from a, well, a bagginess at the knees that wasn't a good omen. This book didn't have that issue. The action was well-grounded in the reality of the series and the characters weren't Playing Parts...which might have been the point of the last book but wasn't to my taste.

Irene and Kai and Vale emerge from this entry in the series as a stronger team and a better bunch of individuals. Their interdependence is coming clearer and making them all stronger. I'm thoroughly hooked on these reads and can't wait to get to The Lost Plot.

>42 richardderus: Perfect for trudging around on campus and terrifying students. Maybe even maestri while I'm at it.

>51 AuntieClio: Heh. Especially if you can master that expression!

>34 richardderus: >39 AuntieClio: >42 richardderus: I never considered watching The Expanse for the costumes! Silly me. I did enjoy the written scenes with her, but had no idea what I was missing.

>53 quondame: Oh my heck! Her costumes are practically characters themselves:

*wowzer*

Happy new thread, RD! No to the Nash by I do like the look of the Rambler. ;-)

>54 richardderus: - Impressive dress!

>54 richardderus: Oh yum! I do like purty clothes. I've had gowns made from saris - my wedding gown for one, but in Regency re-create circles it's practically ubiquitous. Theses are so much better. I don't remember Chrisjen from the earliest books - is she there from the start in the series?

>50 richardderus: I have really got to get back to that series!

>55 lkernagh: I know, right?! Welcome, Lori.

>56 quondame: Chrisjen appears in Caliban's War for the first time. The show cuts out her daughter and changes her son's backstory.

>57 alcottacre: It's so much fun, Stasia, and so deeply enjoyable for biblioholics like us.

Happy new thread Richard!

Sadly I cannot see the cool car thread toppers and many of the other pictures. Fortunately I can see the gorgeous outfits.

>56 quondame: Ooh - can we see pictures of your wedding gown?

Happy Saturday, RD!

>50 richardderus: ATD. I started the first and abandoned it. I forgot what pissed me off, but it was one of those "Okay, I'm done" moments.

*smooches* from your own Horrible

>59 humouress: Hi Nina! It seems to me that this issue with pictures is spreading. I wonder what it is? At any rate, seeing Chrisjen Avasarala's costumes is far more interesting to most than my glorious, waddling elephants the bathrub Nashs.

>60 karenmarie: *smooch* I totally understand, even though I don't get it, because when that happens to me, it's irrevocable.

Morning, BigDaddy! I am late to your newest thread, but I am wishing you happy anyway. Love the conversation here, and you are reminding me that I need to get back to The Expanse - that show is full of eye candy. I have only read the first book, so I need to get back to those, too.

Here's hoping that your weekend is full of fabulous!

>62 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! The Expanse is gorgeous, and now that Ammy's got it, I'm hoping it will bloom even prettier. Mr. B can afford it, and I think he actually likes it, so the show could really shine now.

I wasn't a fan of the books. Caliban's War, where we meet Chrisjen, is a reasonably okay read. The series does all the good stuff from the books and jettisons a good deal of unnecessary stuff.

>50 richardderus: Wow, great review of The Burning Page, he commented. I hope anyone who hasn't read it before, does, he hopefulized.

P.S. >54 richardderus: Oh my. Love that.

>64 jnwelch: Heh...thanks, Joe.

I know, right? Howzabout this:

Looks like Chrisjen of the books is Indian (had to google that) though it looks like the costume designers have plundered across Asia for her outfits. I see Thai designs too.

Like my dress?


(ETA: huh; some of the car images have popped up now. Weird.)

>66 humouress: I suspect the designers saw Shoreh Aghdashloo and thought "hot damn! She can wear *anything*!" and then went to Town on her.

I've always wondered why no one thought of that before.

Happy new thread Richard and great thread topper photos once again dear friend.

>67 richardderus: She can wear anything! And that smoky sultry voice ... especially when she's pissed.

>59 humouress: I'm putting it up on my own thread - my attendant's sari sourced outfit was much more to my taste, but since my sister splurged on the cream sari for me I went with it. You should be able to see it here

16 The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer

Real Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: A past dispute...
When the irascible Lord Darracott's eldest son dies unexpectedly, the noble family must accept their estranged Yorkshire cousin as heir apparent. They are convinced he will prove to be a sadly vulgar person, but nothing could have prepared the beleaguered family for the arrival of Major Hugo Darracott.

A present deception...
His clever and beautiful cousin Anthea is sure there's more to the gentle giant than Hugo's innocent blue eyes and broad Yorkshire brogue would lead one to believe. But even she doesn't guess what he's capable of, until a family crisis arises and only Hugo can preserve the family's honor, leading everybody on a merry chase in the process.

My Review: Here is a charming late (1959) work by Regency writer Miss Georgette Heyer (1902-1974), whom I shall not dismiss by calling her a "romance writer." There is very little of romance literature in this work; it is, rather, an historical novel with two characters whose marital future is in no real doubt from the get-go.

Spirited, determined Miss Anthea Darracott is to marry her newly introduced cousin Hugh Darracott, called Hugo. His, well, nigh-on-as-nasty-as-bastardy common birth to a Yorkshire mill lass appalls and disgusts their mutual grandfather. Sadly, Hugo's stint on the Peninsula in the Napoleonic Wars did not result in his convenient death. As he is alive and has sold out his commission, Lord Darracott must needs attend at last to the distasteful yet needful task of acknowledging the man as his heir. The law says Hugo's the heir by virtue of being born to a son, long dead, whose birth preceded the living son Matthew's birth. Not one soul among the Darracotts is happy about this, least of all Hugo.

Until he meets Anthea.

A spoiled Corinthian, a gaumless follower of the Beau, a stripling with dreams dashed and hopes thwarted; an Earl's daughter, a ninnyhammer, and a faded gentlewoman; a damned nasty old baron, a staff of hicks, and a starchy Calvinistic revenuer round out the dramatis personae. Miss Heyer's reliable clockwork plot moves the pieces into proper alignment for our surprisingly dark doings to eventuate as inevitably as sunrise and sunset, given the people she's placed in our path. In the end, all is sorted, and there is no one more pleased than a reader whose purpose in taking this trip was to restfully go down a well-loved and intimately known river of lovely words:

1. thatchgallows


2. sackless hodgobbin


3. whopstraw


4. knaggy


5. stiff-rumped

A quick resort to From Old Books will acquaint you with these and many more delicious underknown and woefully unused English-language words. Except "sackless hodgobbin," which appears here for the only time I can find in the entire online world. An academic published a paper on Heyer's impeccable research in Schwa, a linguistics journal, beginning on page 57. She confesses herself overmatched by this beautifully obvious, dolefully obscure phrase. Now, you whopstraws, go forth and discover the original citation for it!

Heyer presents us with a few beautiful drawing-room farces among her scenes, but possibly the funniest moments (to my mind) were between Vincent the Corinthian and Claud the gaumless's respective valets. Crimpleshaw and Polyphant (respectively) are engaged in a vicious, take-no-prisoners battle for dominance in the servants' hall. Hugo's arrival, valetless, ignites a major set-to in their long-running war. Crimpleshaw wins the first skirmish by using his secret formula for blacking to give Hugo's (excellent quality) boots a whole new level of gloss. Polyphant's riposte, an attempt to provide perfect neck-cloth tying, is rebuffed by Hugo; then, horror of horrors, the first true test of the line, provision of a valet to Hugo, goes to Crimpleshaw by dint of having a nephew in need of a position!

Intolerable. The insult must be answered!

And so it goes, a side-show that was beautifully woven in to the main narrative of Lord Darracott's humbling at the hands of his maligned, unloved, and insulted grandson Hugo, yet in a way that provokes no smallest scintilla of opprobrium in the sensitive reader's breast. It is a come-uppance and a liberation; it is not, for all that, a set-down or slight. It is the ideal ending to the story Miss Heyer chose to adorn her plot with.

Make no mistake: It is the same plot. The dresses are different and the hero is called something new, but it's a Heyer Regency. Read it or don't; those of us susceptible to her gorgeously bedizened orreries aren't going to be affected. Read it, say I, for the simple and genuine pleasure of following a master craftsperson as she sets the pieces of her construction before you prior to throwing a cloth over them and voilà off with the cloth to reveal a perfect Georgian manor house.

Come in, you great clunches, the door's letting in the cold of reality! Stop awhile by the fire. It will warm you in places you'd forgot were cold.

(Oh, and the war is won by...the best valet.)

>68 johnsimpson: Hello John! Happy weekend to you and yours.

>69 AuntieClio: Yes indeed. Aghdashloo is a fine actress.

>70 quondame: Oh boy, can't wait to see this.

>71 richardderus: Whew, sorry, I'm a bit breathless because I immediately had to run over to the book page and thumb this marvelous review! It doesn't hurt that this is one of my two favoritest Heyer books, and I'm loving sharing the love with you.

>71 richardderus: I should really try more Georgette Heyer. I've only read two of hers, and really loved both of them. But I'm at a loss as to which to read next.

>73 ronincats: Aww, thanks Roni. *smooch*

>74 The_Hibernator: This one! Read this one!

>69 AuntieClio: Very nice.

>70 quondame: knaggy?

>75 richardderus: Maybe. I’ve often found Heyer’s heroes a bit ... I don’t know ... smug. Is Major D different?

Happy Sunday RD. Big hugs.

>76 humouress: Smug? yes, every Heyer hero I've encountered could readily be described as smug. I think it's the confidence she endows them with, and the competence. Hugo is no exception. He has a sense of humor, which I find disarming.

"Knaggy" is a bit like craggy and lumpen stirred together.

>77 BekkaJo: Thanks, Bekka! Same to you.

Well, RichardDear, it's very nice to come over here and find a great review, and a Heyer review at that. I can't imagine too many people will be able to resist your blandishments to read it. As you know, it's in my top 8 Heyers, all 5 star reads.

Have you used Schwa before or did you happen upon it for this review? I've never heard of it - but am impressed with the skim I just did of Heather Johnson's article. Since I like paper I've printed it and will read its 10 pages today. And, I have bookmarked the website.

Duckduckgo always provides many links when one searches - After going to the link I searched for 'schwa language and linguistics' for s&g (shits and giggles) and found this: The term schwa (from the Hebrew; pronounced SHWA with alternate spelling shwa) was first used in linguistics by the 19th-century German philologist Jacob Grimm. The schwa is the most common vowel sound in English, represented as ə in the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Fun stuff, even if I've only had half a cup of coffee.

>79 karenmarie: Heh, thanks for the kind words about my review. I was urged to read The Unknown Ajax by your warbles as well as the massed chorus of Heyerites here. I'm so pleased I succumbed.

I've run across Schwa before. I googled the term once and the journal popped up...this must've been five years ago at least...and was enthralled by the articles I read. They're all much like Johnson's work, the requisite professional bluster followed by a more interesting and better presented text exploring the subject at hand. Since language fascinates me, I've been a regular since. I hadn't read the specific article before googling it for my review. I'm so glad I did.

I just read the article while eating brekkie and was happily surprised at it. There were a lots of unknowns and her disclaimer statement of more research needed, but she had a very interesting breakdown of which Yorkshire-isms Heyer did and did not include, all within the context of phonology, a new term to me. And how cool is monophthongization?

It was one of the concepts that took me a minute to process. I mean, MONOphthong? We're accustomed to DIphthongs. But once I'd wrapped both my neurons around it, the concept has pleased me to play with.

BANG! BANG! *falls over*

You got me with two book bullets! I’ll be adding the Heyer and The Invisible Library series.

Darn you! *shakes fist in air*

Morning, Richard!

>83 Morphidae: *preens* #Sorrynotsorry

>84 katiekrug: Hey there, Kruglady, have a happy Sunday of sunshine.

PR4 The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

PEARL RULED @ p.148

What, I hear you thinking, is wrong with this old man? DNF a five-star read? Five-star a DNF? ::side-eye::

The fact is that I lived this story. I lost the love of my life to AIDS, and attended far too many funerals and memorial services before I was 30. So I really just can't finish the book. I am not up for those wounding memories to be poked with a stick.

The prose is exemplary in its economy and precision, both qualities I admire greatly. Yale came fully into his manhood for me when, on the last page I read, he reflected:

...even if the world wasn't always a good place, he reminded himself that he could trust his perceptions now. Things were so often exactly what they seemed to be.

Precisely, Yale, they so often are and one is always wise to remember that fact. Occam proposed his razor for a reason. It's an incisive (haw) insight.

So while I fully support the praisemongers in their efforts to convince others to read this book, I am not possessed of the emotional horsepower to do it myself. I encourage y'all to take up the challenge and read it, tout de suite, and predict most will come away with a moving and fulfilling experience.

I'm surprised that you even attempted it, RD. *smooch*

>65 richardderus: So cool! Thanks for posting that.

Your Burning Page review has been having some impact! I'm glad you brought it over to this thread.

Sorry about the Makkai, but at least you got another one off the tbr. That's what I tell my better half when she Pearl Rules one.

>86 richardderus: Aptly pearl-ruled and promoted. I am sorry you lost so many friends and your guy to that horrible disease.

>71 richardderus: I love that you are such a Heyer fan. I haven't had the pleasure of reading that one, so it is immediately on my to-be-found list. My personal favorite insult is stiff-rumped. LOL

>86 richardderus: just much much love.

>87 karenmarie: Heh. I really mean it when I say I feel it's urgent to keep challenging my reluctances and dismissals. I don't want, with a verve bordering on maniacal, to ossify from the neck up. It is a facet of aging that fills me with revulsion and dread.

>88 jnwelch: It was easy to read, so it wasn't like that got in my way. I'm really grateful for that. But not grateful enough to read on.

>89 Berly: Berly-boo! *smooch* Thou shalt ne'er be accused of the stiff rump, o shillyer of shallys.

>90 BekkaJo: Thank you, dear sweet Bekka. I appreciate it.

No fear of you ossifying any time soon. Hmph.

>89 Berly: >91 richardderus: The stiff rump currently belongs to me (thank you so much Richard).

>92 humouress: Dammit anyway! The dreaded blankbox bacterium ate your photo.

>93 richardderus: Truly? I can still see it - for once. Well, just imagine a penguin giving you the stink-eye.

>94 humouress: Nope...nothin' but blankness inside the dreaded box.

Great review of The Unknown Ajax, Richard. I read it again a few years ago but don't remember the valets - her secondary characters really add something to the story. Maybe I should take it off the shelf again. The missing pictures on LT are getting quite annoying. I can see the penguin but not the Rambler Ambassador.

>95 richardderus: I give up. I'll just keep posting images, hope they come through and wait for the LT gods and goddesses to sort all that techy stuff out.

Sorry. It's a really good stink-eye.

Good morning Rdear. Sending sunny greetings from Davos.

>86 richardderus: That one is in the BlackHole, RD, so I will be getting to it some time - if my local library ever gets a copy. I completely understand not wanting to continue a book that is too painful a reminder of things that happened in real life ((Hugs))

Good morning, RD! I hope your Monday is a good'un.

>96 Familyhistorian: Thank you, Meg! I was struck by the valets having their entirely separate war as the Darracotts were all absorbed in their rivalries. How many writers would *kill* for the gift of seeing the belowstairs battles as just perfect accompaniment to the "real" story.

>97 humouress: It occurred to me to try an experiment: I used a different browser to look at the thread and lo and behold! Stink eye received. Chrome doesn't like that site and refuses to navigate to it.

>98 Ameise1: Hi Barbara!

>99 alcottacre: Mornin' Stasia, it's just not how I want to use my remaining eyeblinks. {{{Stasia}}}

>100 karenmarie: Hi Horrible! I thank you for your Monday benisons.

I thought the missing pictures was just me. It makes me feel better that it’s not.

I thought a Stiff Rump was a cocktail? Of course, I think everything is a cocktail.

Hmm. The usual hijinks over here. Keep up the good work.

>102 Morphidae: No indeed, Morphy, they're the subject of much dissatisfied grumbling across the threads.

>103 SomeGuyInVirginia: Not to the best of my knowledge, Larry, but it easily could be.

>104 weird_O: Hi Bill! Hijinks have, comme d'habitude, ensued.

>105 richardderus: Has someone reported this? Because I’m not seeing a bug report.

17 The Lost Plot by Genevieve Cogman

Rating: 4.75* of five

The Publisher Says: After being commissioned to find a rare book, Librarian Irene and her assistant, Kai, head to Prohibition-era New York and are thrust into the middle of a political fight with dragons, mobsters, and Fae.

In a 1920s-esque New York, Prohibition is in force; fedoras, flapper dresses, and tommy guns are in fashion: and intrigue is afoot. Intrepid Librarians Irene and Kai find themselves caught in the middle of a dragon political contest. It seems a young Librarian has become tangled in this conflict, and if they can't extricate him, there could be serious repercussions for the mysterious Library. And, as the balance of power across mighty factions hangs in the balance, this could even trigger war.

Irene and Kai are locked in a race against time (and dragons) to procure a rare book. They'll face gangsters, blackmail, and the Library's own Internal Affairs department. And if it doesn't end well, it could have dire consequences on Irene's job. And, incidentally, on her life...

My Review: Quite extraordinary. This is a high-stakes story within the Invisible Library series. Many, many things have changed since book one and in this story the changes truly come home to roost in the attic. Action, excitement, and several passages of astonishing violence are the key drivers of events down surprising channels.

It isn't often that I finish a series read, immediately procure the next, and devour that one in a day. I did that for this series because I am besotted with the idea of the Library and its multiverse-trotting spy/burglar/diplomats the Librarians. I am even, if you can believe this!, completely okay with the presence of magic in the series.

I know, right?!

I who lift my brow, crinkle my nose, draw my lips into a sneer, at the merest whiff of majgickq, actually *approve* of the system invented and presented in this series. It's actually inexplicable to me that I am not having literary hives every time the Language is used and at each Fae sighting. What has happened to me? I'm putting it down to the revolting fact, recently revealed to me, that I share an ancestor with *gag* Tom Cruise *retch*, which blow to my self-esteem causes me spiritual pain.

The story in this book is, from the opening scene, one of peril and menace to Irene. She is most often alone to face her adversaries. Kai is, as a developing theme in the series, going to have to learn to take action on his own behalf. Irene's worries that she isn't teaching him the skills she possesses so much as grooming him as her sidekick have been woven through the stories. It's a sign of the character's deeply seated identity, created by a talented and careful author. I buy into the characters's reality in this really quite daft alternative view of reality because Author Cogman spent the time to think through these small moments of self-reflection.

The main action takes place in a Prohibition-like New York after Irene and Kai land in the ruins of a library in Boston. Readers of the previous book will appreciate the emotional impact of this venue, and readers in general will share the appalled horrified revulsion that Kai and Irene express at the idea of a soul so bereft of respect as to perpetrate vandalism on a library. (As an aside, I note that Susan Orlean just published The Library Book which non-fictional take on the subject I ended up abandoning as it was too painful to continue reading.)

The local mob boss, Giorgio Rossi aka George Ross, has a lady sidekick-cum-enforcer, Lily. Lily knows who, more accurately what, Kai is on sight. That's because Lily is Fae, and despite her chosen position as murderous muscle for the mob, is really the brains of the crime boss's operations. Irene's somewhat bizarre (and wholly unintentional) cover identity as an English crime boss visiting New York to drum up new business piques Lily's interest.

Crime boss Irene is hunting a vanished Librarian straight into the clutches of two dragons operating without sanction in this bizarre, lawless New York. They're aiming to win an internal political battle by supplying their dragon queen with a special alternative edition of an ancient Chinese novel. (She's interested in a re-read of this novel, a fondly remembered diverting entertainment from her past. That procuring this book for her amusement causes numerous deaths and a vicious war between her subordinates is...uninteresting.) Irene's hunted Librarian, Evariste, is doing his dead-level best to accommodate one of the dragons by procuring the book because his daughter is being held hostage by the dragon's clever henchman. Kai and Evariste, separated from Irene, go off and procure the desired book...but who receives it and how aren't in the least sure until the moment the event occurs.

The climax of the hunt for the book, for Evariste, and for justice (and Justice) takes place in the Court of the Dragon Queen. As always when the extremely Order-centered dragons are involved, there is a price to pay for the lies one tells, and a price to pay for telling the clear, unmuddied truth. Justice and fairness each have their innings, though neither one takes the field in unsullied glory at the end of the proceedings. The guilty...everyone is guilty, that's the nature of the world, the multiverse in fact, but here we mean "those whose actions and inactions caused irreparable harm" by it...suffer, and the wronged are made as whole as Justice can make them. Irene is required to suffer her personal agonies in the search for and service of Justice served to violators of Order.

But there is, as there always is, a reason in Author Cogman's relentless and grinding tale of Truth's victims. And it makes the ending of this book so very, very special. I seldom laugh with exuberant happiness as I read endings. That is exactly what happened here.

Author Cogman:

>106 Morphidae: As I understand it, Winter ALA was the scene of a pile-on complaint to Tim and Loranne directly. It cannot hurt a thing to make a bug report, so please by all means do.

Take me with you!

'Morning, RD!

I'm currently reading a book where a 15-year old boy has met a unicorn who is taking him through time to the same location over and over again to help save the world. (A Swiftly Tilting Planet).

Other dimensions, other times, not at all bad with the political climate right now.

*smooch*

Oh, I thought I'd see a Lost Plot review here, RD. So I re-read the Unknown Ajax one and enjoyed it all over again. Such a good one of hers! I loved Hugo's reaction to the snubbery by going more Yorkshire on them.

Make no mistake: It is the same plot. The dresses are different and the hero is called something new, but it's a Heyer Regency. Read it or don't; those of us susceptible to her gorgeously bedizened orreries aren't going to be affected. Read it, say I, for the simple and genuine pleasure of following a master craftsperson as she sets the pieces of her construction before you prior to throwing a cloth over them and voilà off with the cloth to reveal a perfect Georgian manor house.

This is what about her reminds me of P.G. Wodehouse, coupled with her wit, of course. You pretty much know the plot of every Jeeves and Bertie story, but his craftsmanship and humor make it a lark every time.

Good to hear her underpinning research is so respected (that's quite a difference from PGW!) I read one of her historical novels, An Infamous Army, and was maybe over-impressed with her research there - she seemed a bit too interested in conveying all she had learned, at the expense of the story.

P.S. Oh, there it is. It must've been my scrambling this morning that caused me to miss The Lost Plot. I who lift my brow, crinkle my nose, draw my lips into a sneer, at the merest whiff of majgickq, actually *approve* of the system invented and presented in this series. It's actually inexplicable to me that I am not having literary hives every time the Language is used and at each Fae sighting. I know, I'm amazed how well she pulls all that off.

Great ending, as you say. Are you rushing off to read the next one? :-)

I hadn't heard of the Invisible Library series. That's interesting. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

>107 richardderus: Sold! I bought the first book.

Hey, Richard. While I was gallivanting in the Great White North, I fell hopelessly behind on LT. Trying to make the rounds.

You were a big fan of Matterhorn, right? I just snagged an advance copy of his new novel, Deep River. Let's hope it is another knockout.

>101 richardderus: Very happy. Wouldn't want to waste it ;0)

>110 karenmarie: Hey Horrible! Escape is the rational person's response to disasters that we can merely watch unfold.

>111 jnwelch: Hi Joe, I'm glad my title change came through. I'd listed it as Burning Page and had to go change it real quick.

The Nonesuch awaits me at the library.

>112 The_Hibernator: Hi Rachel, well let me be the first to shoo you off to get the first one and start these marvies. Go! Go on! Quick sticks!

>113 SomeGuyInVirginia: That's very satisfying. I hope you'll be as hooked as I was, Larry.

>114 msf59: Yes, I can see that the blue light from a screen would've made the owls suspicious....

>115 humouress: *smooch*

Snow. Lots of snow. I am, luckily, not required to do anything today so I don't have to slog through it...but tomorrow it's predicted to be 51°! No ice, plenty of slush, is my forecast.

Meanwhile, I'm warm and pleasantly fed. Snow on, Nature.

Slow on the uptake today, I am. After a little clicking about the site, I think I understand this "Invisible Library" series. Just might be hooked. Or at least ensnared sufficiently to look for a sample book.

>119 weird_O: Oh good! The Invisible Library is the first book, and while it's not the best, it's a necessary step because so many of the concepts and characters are introduced. I hope you're captivated.

Happy Wednesday, Rdear.

>118 richardderus: I'm so tired of rain! I'd welcome that snow. Sadly, it's supposed to rain several more days. Flood advisories.

PR5 THEY: A Biblical Tale of Secret Genders by Janet Mason

Pearl Ruled @ p62

"It seems like everyone was ashamed of their nakedness. Are we supposed to believe that this is still Eve's fault?"
"Don't forget the serpent," answered Tabitha.
"I remember that we had lots of questions when we were little." Tamar walked over to a basket and pulled out the bas relief of Ishtar.
"And Great Grandmother didn't have the answers," said Tabitha as she reached up and took the bas relief.
"Maybe she should have made up a different ending," replied Tamar.

I wanted to be fair to this book because Stephanie sent it to me at my request. Sadly, this bilge is simply too turgid, too exceedingly poorly written, too just plain gawdessawful to treat as a serious publication. The soi-disant author must've subsidized this publication and the publishers must have looked the other way as they cashed the check. No one edited the book. There is not one single sentence in the quote above that wouldn't have an artery's-worth of red ink spilled over it. If one were fortunate, the red spill would utterly block out the horrible, stilted, affected, pseudo-what-the-hell-ever it's trying to be.

It as been many a long year since I've seen something this horrifyingly unreadable in actual print. Most things this ghastly are Kindle originals. That a tree died to perpetrate this terrible affront to readerly sensibilities appalls me more than any other thing about it.

As to the subject matter, I really hope someone with discernible literary talent will take it up. It's a fascinating topic and well worth some storyteller's time to explore.

>121 Ameise1: Hi Barbara, thank you most kindly.

>122 thornton37814: Flood advisories! Ew. I'm pretty pleased with snow that'll melt tomorrow, then.

>123 richardderus: Aw, tell us how you REALLY feel, Richard! To take the bad taste out of your mouth, I've posted the brand new Nebula nominees on my thread...

>125 ronincats: ...me no likee...to the point I *threw*the*book*away* in the trash.

I saw the Nebulas post! My friend Henry's up for a Norton Award!! Yay!!

Well, drat! I immediately went to check it out but the library only has Peasprout Chen in audio version.

I've been grooving on the two-tone Bel Aire the guys are tooling around in in the movie "Green Book"

>127 ronincats: Oh, boo hiss. I wish you could read his charming tale of a girl who won't be one thing only.

>128 magicians_nephew: Bel Air? That's a Sedan de Ville!

>126 richardderus: which is where I would have thrown it (the recycle bin actually) because I wrote ALL over it in thick black ink. Marking the typos and adding commentary as I went. Like you, I really wanted to like it. There were some good thoughts but I couldn't suspend my disbelief enough. I was much kinder in the review.

>130 AuntieClio: You were a model of self-restraint in the review. Not so much as one "is she fucking kidding with this?!" or "good goddesses someone make her stop before she commits verbiage again!"

>131 richardderus: yeah, that was during the entire "what is my responsibility as a critical reviewer?" conversation. I'm working on being more kindly honest. Although I did say the story about Tamar and Jesus was highly improbable ... or words to that effect.

It's one thing to write stuff like that but if you're messing with canon, at least make it believable. I knew too much of the biblical stories to believe in the retelling. I was in a public place while I read most of it so had to settle for muttering and writing things in the book itself.

I didn't want to unnerve the little Vietnamese lady who had my foot firmly in her hand.

I try to be polite in my criticism, with the knowledge that sometimes the author sees the review. I post my reviews on my blog as well as here, and my blog sends out a Tweet every time I post. So one time, I posted a critical review of Dark Eden. The author (or someone who claimed to be) commented on my blog that he's sorry I didn't like the book. I told him it got plenty of good reviews, so lots of people loved it, my opinion didn't matter amidst all of that. He answered "still, I am sorry you didn't like it." I felt pretty bad. It wasn't a rude review, but it was eye-opening that an author might stumble upon my blog.

>132 AuntieClio:, >133 The_Hibernator: It's one thing to find polite ways to say, "not something I enjoyed;" entirely another to pat an offender against logic and syntax on the head and say, "oh, nice try, points for participating!"

The former I agree with; the latter I don't.

I have been going through the award winner lists this week to see what I need to order. In the Edgar award short list is The Dime by Kathleen Kent. The Kirkus review makes me think this is one that is right up your alley. Have you read it yet?

>135 benitastrnad: That looks interesting, thanks Benita. I hadn't heard of it before.

'Afternoon, RD! Just got back from lunch with Bill at a locals hangout. Bill and the manager Kane bonded over the Carolina-Duke game. We then went and picked up 50 lbs of sunflower seeds for the feeders and 2 salt blocks for the water conditioning system. Oh what exciting lives we lead!

>137 karenmarie: ...stop...stop...my head is all awhirl with the socializing! *smooch*

I'm doing nothing. It's 45° or so and *blindingly* sunny, so of course my arthritic ouchies chose today to stage a rebellion. I wanted a trip to the library but nothing doing. Old Stuff is squatting in the room more than usual...he didn't like the lunch they served and thought he'd cadge a meal out of me, hard luck since I'm not makin' so much as a can of soup!...which means I've got a sullen oldster who smells like an overfull ashtray perched on dirty underwear glowering around.

Whee.

Sorry, RD! My whirlwind social life is just amazing, isn't it?

Yeesh. You sure know how to paint a vivid picture... one that I wish I could erase.

*smooch* back from your own Madame TVT Horrible

>139 karenmarie: Permaybehaps I should soften the edges...hm...no, on balance I think not. He's better than the roommate who attacked me, but he's not the YGC, so no points.

Oh jeez - now I have to watch The Expanse

and get The Invisible Library

>140 richardderus:. Whoa. What’s this? I missed the story of the battering bedfellow.

>141 SuziQoregon: I'm not one to say anyone has to watch or read anything but .... I strongly encourage you to do both!

>138 richardderus: I went out for groceries two days ago and haven't left the apartment since! I mean .....

Partly I'm avoiding all the grandchildren from next door yelling and bully.... frolicking with each other. And I think I'm trying to avoid the fact my reality will change next week.

Or maybe I'm procrastinating on getting the laundry done.

Does any of it matter? I still haven't gone outside for two days and like it that way.

I gave in to the book bullets about Invisible Library and ordered used copies of the recorded versions for the first two books in the series.

I'm watching Detective Dee and the Four Heavenly Kings, which bears no resemblance whatsoever to Judge Dee's stories by Robert van Gulik. More like "Superhero Dee" not merely Detective or even Judge. I'll wander by later to respond.

Hope you are feeling better today, Richard. I came to commiserate with you on your new found family connection which you let slip on Karen's thread.

Just sauntering through to drop a *smooch*

>141 SuziQoregon:, >143 AuntieClio: I'm with Stephanie, only more forcefully.

>142 Morphidae: No no no! ROOMMATE as in "guy who sleeps in the other bed in this 2-person room." I tolerated one guy slapping me around because I was too young and stupid to stop him until I said "nope, no more." I was 18 at the time.

Charlie was my roommate for a few months here, until one day his anger issues got the better of him and he lashed out. I called the management and said, "he leaves or I call the State." He left that night.

>144 AuntieClio: I'd say it prolly don't matter none so long's there's nothin' forcin' you outdoors. Laudry strikes me as pretty dire in the needs department, but someone does mine for me so I got nothin'.

>145 benitastrnad: I hope they're raving successes!

>147 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg, I'm slowly regaining the will to live after...you know. Allergies are less awful, what with the calm winds.

>148 ronincats: Hey Roni, *smooch* back

As to the end of Season 3 of The Expanse, "What the ever lovin' ... W. T. F." Season 4 starts WHEN?

'Morning, RD!

You ever have one of those mornings where you wake up early, go back to sleep and then end up sleeping hard? I'm dazed and the first few sips of coffee haven't kicked in yet.

foggy *smooch* from your own Madame TVT Horrible

>151 AuntieClio: "Later in 2019" is all the corporate torturers at Ammy will say.

>152 Ameise1: What a cute pooch! Thanks, Barbara, happy weekend to you, too.

>153 karenmarie: ...why, this very morning, in fact...awake at 3.30, asleep by 4.30, then woke up groggnfoggy at 8.30, still vague.

This isn't funny anymore. I came through here over an hour ago to post my responses and now they're gone.

>151 AuntieClio: "Sometime in 2019" is all the corporate torturers at Ammy will reveal.

>152 Ameise1: Such a sweet pup! Thank you, Barbara, and the same wishes returned.

>153 karenmarie: ...why, this very morning! I woke up at 3.30, was back asleep by 4.30, and groggily emerged from sleep at 8.30. I'm still a bit hazy.

Happy Friday, RD! I understand completely about waking up groggnfoggy. . .

There was definitely a hiccup on LT this a.m.

>138 richardderus: " smells like an overfull ashtray etc." Mmm...thanks. Is he allowed to smoke somewhere on the premises? 'Cause I oversaw my elderly uncle's life in 3 different assisted living and nursing home facilities over a 6 year period, and nobody was allowed to smoke anywhere inside or out at any of them. Also...everyone got bathed pretty often, whether they liked it or not.

Hello Richard! Just de-lurking to wish you a wonderful weekend :)

So, okay, fine. I took a browse through this and the last thread:

1. Kosher dills dipped in mustard??? What are you thinking?
That said, do you have any idea of a recipe for the cole slaw one used find at kosher delis? No mayo, somewhat coarse cabbage, a heavenly vinegar-based dressing. I’ve been search for it for years.

2. Pogonotical??? Whiskey tango foxtrot, over?

3. I love Christie and didn’t realize that you are a fan. I also love Malkovich, and so will give the apparently “based on” series a go.

4. Flavia!! While I see faults in the books, I was won over from the very first volume. I’ll be sorry to see it end, but better to end it than to wander off into unwelcome territories the way the Three Pines series has. I swear, if I read one more burst. Of short staccato. Nonsentence constructions. I will scream.

5. Holy Morher! You pull out tophi with forceps? Arrrggghhh.

6. Oh my, The Unkown Ajax; that was my very first Heyer, approximately 100 years ago. Still love almost all her books.

And wishing you a healthy, safe, fun weekend, my Dear Boy.

>156 alcottacre: Yeah, but mine isn't a nightly occurrence like yours with CFS. A fact I'm grateful for (for me) and sad about (for you).

>157 karenmarie: There clearly was since my post now appears twice!

>158 laytonwoman3rd: I'm in a level III congregate care facility so they don't have the power to shove people into showers...we're the mobile, functional end of the congregate care world, only needing practical support like cleaning, laundry, medication administration, etc.

>159 figsfromthistle: Hi Anita! Right back at you.

>160 Matke: Hi Gail!
1. It's delicious, so try it before snarking, mmmkay? *harrumph*
My favorite recipe for tangy coleslaw. *Essential* to include the celery seeds. I prefer 1T sugar and 1T vodka; I'll use different vinegars. Closest to my Bubbe's in taste is apple-cider vinegar; prolly my fave is tarragon/white wine vinegar.

2. "Beard-related" or "facial" depending on context.

3. It's a more textured Poirot than most attempts to out-Suchet Suchet, but I don't see this version dethroning The One True Poirot.

4. He's very old, so I say let it go while there's still a retirement to enjoy.
I'm less bothered by her stylistic issues than the sheer implausibility and Clara-less-ness of the series now.

5. They don't fall out by themselves and they hurt if I leave them in, so....

6. I think Heyer's world is so vastly superior to Reality that the books grow *more* appealing as the decades trundle by.
Thanks, sweetiedarling, you too!

>162 richardderus: Vodka in your coleslaw? I've never heard of such a thing. But I guess then you could get really creative one day and start using flavored vodkas.

I have a friend who used to drink Vanilla Cake flavored vodka as his drink of choice. I got used to it, hanging around him, and then one day I ate a piece of vanilla cake and wondered why it tasted like vodka! It took me a moment to make the connection.

Not sure how I got from coleslaw to the vodka cake....

>149 richardderus: You know, I was going for the alliteration thing and stuff got lost in translation. I got too excited finding “bedfellow” in the thesaurus under “roommate” to think about the exact meaning. After all, it matched with the synonym of “attacking” - “battering!”

>163 The_Hibernator: Pepper vodka is good in coleslaw. And, when one considers that vinegar is merely fechacte wine, it becomes more logical.

I'm certainly not trying vanilla cake vodka in my slaw.

>164 Morphidae: Heh. I'm just appalled that people suggest in my ambit that I'm so desperate as to consider the losers and feebs that I live with as sex partner candidates! That day may dawn. I will select celibacy before I accept it.

>109 richardderus: ha!

>155 richardderus: the gremlins are back. It is so frustrating losing a piece of writing as, for sure, whatever it was was *the best ever* and cannot be recreated.

>166 LovingLit: I'm looking at it as a reminder, a relatively painless one, to *always* copy your text before posting. It is a habit too beautifully satisfying to forget...the times I've done so and a glitch eats my post, and there sit I smiling seraphically, clicking the post button on a pasted identical copy of The Perfect Post...oh, my.

>167 richardderus: control C. It's the bomb ;)

>155 richardderus: >154 richardderus: Well the original message showed up, Richard, somewhat later than expected.
These delay issues happened before, it took a while before I remembered. Then I just waited until everything appeared and the site went down. All seems to be back to normal after that.

'Morning, RDear!

It's been raining off and on here in central NC, mostly on, since Wednesday. Indoor coffee and book weather although we'll run regular errands today - recycle center, lunch, grocery shopping. Major excitement!

I hope you have a coffee- and book-filled day.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>168 LovingLit: Yeup. Best thing ever, possibly excepting control-z.

>169 FAMeulstee: All systems have glitches, as we know. I'm just happy that the problem appears to be gone for now. Happy weekend Anita!

>170 karenmarie: ...gracious...how ever do you manage the whirl that is your life?! I assume your social secretary communicates often with the traffic authorities to prevent your local progress from impeding traffic flow.

Now, if you'll excuse me, my costume collection manager and I have an appointment to review my choices for dining cravats to wear this evening. *air kisses*

>167 richardderus: Great advice. I should do this, more often.

Morning, Richard. Happy Saturday. Dreary and damp here, but it should creep into the low 40s, so no snow. I am so done with winter.

Enjoy your day.

>172 msf59: Happy Saturday! Dreary without snow > dreary with snow, but I'm on your side about winter needing a very close end-date. Tomorrow forward would work fine for me. Say, 60° sunny and breezy for two weeks, then 70° and mixed sun and showers for six weeks? Followed by a summer of 75° and breezy, a fall of 50° and showery....

>165 richardderus: Ew? And might I say again, ew?

Even IF some “delightful” gentleman ended up rooming with you, it would be foolhardy to take up with him. #1 You have enough medical issues on your own. #2 What if you broke up? Now you’re stuck with him!

Ten-foot-pole-department-r-us

ETA: Totally ignoring the fact you already ate in a relationship.

>174 Morphidae: I agree! And while I enjoy my time with Rob, I'm not fool enough to imagine he'll be here forever. Eventually he'll move on and I'll need to decide what to do. Right now, I'm happy to be in the present and worry about tomorrow not 2020.

Hope you had a good reading day. My plans for the day were changed when the library closed due to flooding while I was there. I'd planned to do a little personal genealogical research too. At least I got the client research completed before they closed. I came straight home, found something in the fridge for lunch, and petted kitties and read this afternoon!

Lovely use of an unlovely day, Lori. I was enrapt in The Mortal Word, my previous reading plans having been tossed out the window by its arrival at the library. Now I'm busily absorbing a sense of confused bewilderment or bewildered confusion or something akin to those states. Either I've lost the thread or there's something I wasn't told....

>177 richardderus: Oh, I did watch some M*A*S*H re-runs while I was doing the other stuff. I completely omitted that! Now I'm distracted waiting on some video of the tornado that hit Columbus, Mississippi a half hour ago.

>178 thornton37814: That's not a happy thing to be awaiting.

>175 richardderus: Contentment is all. If you are happy in someone's company, repeat the things that cause the happiness. I prefer my own company so much I would hate, for example, to have a life partner who arose at the same time as I do as I treasure those early hours by myself. Totally selfish but it makes the rest of the hours more enjoyable too.

Have a great weekend, dear fellow.

>179 richardderus: Finally saw some short videos, and some still photos. The TV station in Columbus was without power so their people couldn't upload the video. I'm sure they'll have some excellent footage on their evening news. They were broadcasting live on Facebook using phones. When one's phone almost ran out of juice, they switched to another. They couldn't get the generator working apparently. I heard them talking about the generator in the background, but they were mainly just showing the radar on a phone and occasionally a submitted picture. I admired their efforts. The Tupelo station had better coverage because they could get the user-submitted videos and pictures and upload those. They were also getting better information because they had power. I haven't seen footage yet, but one of the schools lost its roof and the front wall. The community center across the street from it lost its roof which apparently blew onto part of the school. I'm guessing the Columbus station will broadcast its footage of that when they get a chance because one of their reporters who had been out came in and described the damage live.

Good morning, RichardDear!

We're finally going to get some sunshine today, apparently. I'm happily reading Waiting for Wednesday, These Truths, and A Suitable Boy after happily abandoning L'Engle.

*smooch* fyoH

Well it's taken me awhile but I'm finally caught up here Richard. I can't say I blame you for abandoning The Great Believers. Your reasons are very closely aligned with my own but I was able to read it and appreciate it for what it was. Gut wrenching certainly but also compassionate and enlightening. It will not leave my consciousness nearly as quickly as other five star reads do. Too personally connected I guess.

And I've found my first Heyer read. The Unknown Ajax is readily available as an eBook from the library as are so many of her works. It's pretty auspicious that so many readers have so many different titles among their favorites. Usually only one or two titles will be standouts for any particular writer. The other question is more obvious: why haven't I ever read Heyer????

>180 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! I can't fault your logic. I am a privacy-loving person, willing to be sociable but ONLY if I have a lot of time to myself. I can't enjoy a life spent entirely in others' company. It's wearing and debilitating. So much better for all concerned if I can choose my moments. (That's also the hardest thing about parenting, the inability to choose one's moments.)

>181 thornton37814: Oh my! That's a horrible situation indeed.

>182 karenmarie: Oh boy, sunshine! Oh dear, humidity! You're all kitten-squishered up, there, ain't ya? Have good reads. *smooch*

>183 brenzi: I'm glad you found so much to enjoy in Makkai's book, Bonnie, and were able to get stuck into it.

Well, why *would* you have read Heyer? Did you have a taste for Regency novels or historicals when you were younger? I'd bet now is the perfect time for you to try Heyer's work. You have a good solid rockpile of life experience to support your opinions of her characters and have long since learned how to rub the steam that style condenses on the mirror of storytelling into the necessary clear-viewing patches.

Ooh, you made my day with the phrase the steam that style condenses on the mirror of storytelling into the necessary clear-viewing patches, that phrase and the sunshine beaming through my window, that is. Can it be that Spring will soon be making a come back?

Wishing you a Happy Sunday, RD!

>186 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg, that's kind of you to say. I'm all for full-throttle Spring NOW.

>187 lkernagh: Thank you, Lori!

Happy Sunday, Richard. I was helping my daughter move into her new house. We are getting hammered with wind gusts, up to 50 mph and it is in the 20s out there. I am home now, with a beer and a book and getting ready to chill, the best way I know how.

I hope you are having a good weekend.

18 The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman

Rating: 4.75* of five

Unexpected. That's the best word I can use for this book. The resolution wasn't entirely unexpected but the path we're led down to get to it was. The murder was unexpected, the murderer was unexpected, the terrible trials of the heroes were largely unexpected.

Just how I like my series fiction.

At the end of book four, some serious developments take place that are central to the plot and climax of this book. If you haven't read The Lost Plot, stop reading and come back when you have.

So after Kai leaves Irene's tutelage and establishes a less romantically squicky relationship with her, we're treated to another of Author Cogman's exciting escapade-scenes to bring us to this story's reality: She starts off by wishing she still had Kai's backup for those tight corners she routinely ends up in. Then back to B-659 London to assist Peregrine Vale (whose rigid spurning in The Lost Plot of her determined sexual advances surprised me in no small degree) and Kai on a minor but intriguing case that's quickly and completely forgotten when Bradamant, of all people, shows up to demand Irene's presence among the Senior Librarians immediately.

And that's the starting bell for ten rounds of boxing, shadow boxing, and mixed martial arts cage-match to-the-death political, magical, and ethical battling. Irene manipulates events in her inimitable "why is it always me?" style. She gets Vale and Kai to the scene of a horrible crime despite the Librarians' unenthusiastic responses. She uses her position as a leader to lead everyone involved, whether her senior or another race's ruler, into a multiverse-changing brand new idea of diplomacy. She acts, in short, like Woodrow Wilson at Versailles in 1919.

The question is, has she birthed a United Nations or a League of Nations?

My idea of perfection.

^ Bliss!

>190 richardderus: ... you forgot the ... that thing which was obvious but then wasn't ... and yeah ... it was great

and now sadly we wait

>191 richardderus: Add dogs. Does anyone face the couch toward the window? It's likely a better view that way, but I've not seen it.

>190 richardderus:. Nice review of Mortal Word. What a ride! (The book and the review). But what are we to do while anxiously waiting for the next one?

>192 lkernagh: I agree.

>193 AuntieClio: The whole thing's on the blog https://tinyurl.com/yxvk94v2

>194 quondame: I have in the past, just with a sitting room not a living room. If my library had a view out a window, I'd do it then as well.

>195 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe! Did you mean the whole review on the book page? The teaser's a bit skimpy.

>196 richardderus: Right, there it is! All of it. :-)

Eccolo!

>191 richardderus: That looks lovely!
Hope you had a great weekend!

Good review of The Mortal Word. Looks interesting.

>199 ChelleBearss: Thanks, Chelle, I read The Mortal Word in one deep gulp so it was just fine by me.

>200 The_Hibernator: Thank you, Rachel, I appreciate that. I hope you'll start the series.

Morning, BigDaddy! I'm here, and dropping off a hearty hello - back as soon as I finish catching up with your thread.

>202 Crazymamie: ...Mamie?!...

>203 richardderus: OH, DEAR! You...um...missed the fainting couch. Sorry about that.

I am completely current now, and will endeavor to keep up with you. I skipped your reviews of the Invisible Library series, as I have the first three of those in the stacks - Abby loves those books.

Loving all the Heyer love, and I agree with what Bonnie said about how it is so interesting that everyone has different favorites of hers.

>194 quondame: I think we should all face our sofas toward the windows - less conversation, more quiet. Yes, please. *grin*

SO, I need to get back to Heyer, catch up with The Expanse, get going with The Invisible Library, turn my seating arrangements towards the windows, and visit more. I can do that. *smooch*

>204 Crazymamie: *smooch* You're missing a treat...Genevieve Cogman liked my reviews enough to tweet me a big thank you...

That is so full of fabulous! I will be back to read them after I read the books - I have made myself a note. I just don't want any spoilers.

Hi RD!

Happy Monday to you! I'm probably the only person who abandoned The Invisible Library series, but more power to you for writing wonderful reviews (as you always do) and to Genevieve Cogman for recognizing them and tweeting you a big thank you.

>205 richardderus:. How cool is that? (Genevieve Cogman thanking you for your review). Jeez, she didn’t even send me a post card after all the poorly worded nice things I said about the series.

Invisible Library fan here!! Not sure I wrote any reviews, so no tweets or postcards received or expected. : )

>203 richardderus: Here...for your face after that fall...

>206 Crazymamie: My favorite thing she said was:

Replying to @expendablemudge
To love books and stories is to support the Invisible Library. :)

>207 karenmarie: It's axiomatic that not everything appeals to everyone, so it's not like that's a shock. I think this isn't the end of the whimsical scale you're inclined to enjoy.

*smooch*

>208 jnwelch: She's a really cool lady. So is Joanna Chambers, whose historical novels I devour.

>209 Berly: owowow Ooohhhh that's much better, thank you smoochling.

This is heart-hurtingly beautiful. Justin Main is the creator.

new desktop background, thank you very much

>212 AuntieClio: See if your google-fu is superior to mine and find the creator, and I won't turn you in to the Internetpol.

Hey! Thank you for the slaw recipe. Despite far too many years a long time living in the south, I cannot abide a sweet cole slaw. Are you aware of the pearl-clutching horror, nay, the abomination, of adding pineapple to slaw??? Blech.

Anyway, I must look at the whole Invisible Library phenomenon. I’ve heard good reports in other places and am off too look over your blog reports.

>214 Matke: Ever so welcome, of course, and to my revulsion I am aware of dessert slaw as Mama called it. With a wrinkled nose. It's like frog eye salad.

Pasta salad with Kool Whip, canned mandarins, marshmallows, and maraschinos. *shudder*

>213 richardderus: can't find anything with an attribution

>215 richardderus: that's disgusting

*drive through wave* catching up.

>204 Crazymamie: >205 richardderus: I, too, am avoiding your Invisible Library reviews since I've only read the first so far but the next is on my shelves. I did start reading one of the first ones I came across but there was a spoiler for one of the books I haven't got to yet - so I decided to stop. Kudos for the message from the author.

>216 AuntieClio: A friend on FB knew his work so I got the name!

I totally agree.

>217 humouress: Hi Nina! Well, of course you'd want to avoid reading my reviews. Naturally. They'd be too likely to be, I guess, just too unworthy of La Overkill's notice. *teardrop*

(ETA: drama queen)

>219 humouress: Moi>?

>211 richardderus: That's beautiful!

>221 The_Hibernator: I so agree!

>215 richardderus: Seeeeee.....that stuff is really very good. But then, I've been known to eat slaw with pineapple in it as well. And "Hawaiian" pizza. So maybe you should put me in a corner and not watch me eat.

>223 laytonwoman3rd: You eat your numnum, I'll eat mine...we're not required to find the same things delicious!

note to self always seat Linda3rd at kids' table

>215 richardderus: I'm not a big fan of cold pasta in anything. I also think Cool Whip tastes gross. I don't mind genuine whipping cream, but Cool Whip tastes nasty!

>225 thornton37814: I'll eat cold pasta, hot pasta, lukewarm room-temp you pick it, any and all pastas sweet sour or slathered in mayo.

I'll be dead in a ditch before I ever, ever eat another nibble of that whip stuff. Never, ever again.

>226 richardderus: I'm with you on the whip stuff. Bletch. One of the best things I've ever had was salmon and dill pasta(Farfalline) salad with shallots and walnut oil. Even clumsy re-creations were delicious.

>227 quondame: Salmon-dill mayo on cold porcini-stuffed tortellini is pretty stellar.

>228 richardderus: Sounds a treat. I have few uses for mayo, but where required, it excels.

Hi RD!

>215 richardderus: Blech. Yuck. Icky-Patooie. Pasta? Looks like Tapioca and still Blech. Yuck. Icky-Patooie.

Frog Eye Fruit Salad is Church Food. You know, those church cookbooks with all the ‘short cut’ recipes? Anything that uses Cool Whip is church food. So is anything made with Campbell’s cream-of-anything soup, Lipton onion soup mix or chicken noodle soup mix, and any jello recipe that has either mayonnaise or vegetables in it.

We have a cousin who makes an absolutely killer homemade banana cream pie, homemade crust and all, and then absolutely ruins it with Cool Whip.

>230 karenmarie: Noooooo. Many cream soup things are the comfort of the heart. Lipton onions soup mix makes that onion dip without which we could not have survived the 20th century.

>229 quondame: It's a delicious summer lunch...I use cipollini instead of shallots, but they're not widely available in non-Italian neighborhoods.

>230 karenmarie: It does look like *retch* tapioca *urp* doesn't it. But it's acini di pepe:

It literally means "frog eyes" in Italian, like vermicelli literally means "little worms." Bleurgh.

>231 quondame: Me with Horrible here. I like Lipton's better than she does, but those Campbell's cream-of-whatnot cans are the devil's own.

>231 quondame: I should have been clearer... I'm not saying I don't eat church food... in fact my sister gave me a skillet pilaf recipe when my daughter was little that uses Lipton chicken noodle mix and we've always called it Church Rice. I have been known to make onion dip, too although I don't call it church dip. I eat casseroles with cream-of-anything politely if someone else makes it, hell, I even eat Cousin Rebecca's banana cream pie with Cool Whip simply to get at the yummy goodness by scraping the CW to the side.

>232 richardderus: Ah. Frog eyes pasta. *smooch*

Apropos of nothing much other than your mention of acini di pepe, if you are looking for a good soup easily made in the IP, Skinnytaste.com has a great recipe for acini di pepe and beef soup. We really like it.

My mother used to make tuna casserole with cream of mushroom soup, and I think it's what turned me off of mushrooms...

>233 karenmarie: I'm not a main-dish casserole person, but like them for holiday side-dishes, celery being my favorite. And searing chicken breasts and letting them braise in cream of chicken with or without mushrooms, well, home cooking, from the kitchen of someone who made her own puff pastry and hand dipped chocolates. She knew that shortcuts that lead to the right place were the route to take.

>234 katiekrug: Oh, they're the ones whose corned beef & cabbage recipe for the IP that I use! Cool.

>235 quondame: I love casseroles as main, side, or leftovers. There don't tend to be many of the latter since Rob showed up. I'm happy he likes what I make enough to scarf it down in quantity.

*smooch*

>237 ronincats: +1 to the bajillionth

I like some casseroles and not others. That goes for main dish ones or side dish ones.

I have it on pretty good authority (a little old Italian lady of long acquaintance) that acini de pepe actually means "pepper seeds". I'll give you vermicelli, and raise you orecchiette, which are "little ears", but delicious just the same.

Stupid duplicate posting.

>234 katiekrug: I adore mushrooms but always hated tinned mushroom soup. Yuk.

Beed stroganoff is THE way to use mushrooms IMO.

zzzzzzzz .... I survived!

>230 karenmarie: - LOL! I once had a book that was a hoot to read (though not if you're the queasy type) of all those *church* type recipes. I wish I could find where I wrote the name of it. I will, and edit it back in but it may take some doing. I think it may have been a spoof book but it was hilarious, complete with pictures (think the 50s/60s era). Oh my. ;-p

"My stomach was giving off noises like the jungle at sunset and could no longer be ignored."
**
Haw!!
— The Grave's a Fine and Private Place (Flavia de Luce, #9), p201

>239 thornton37814: I'll eat 'em all, so pass your rejects to me!

>240 laytonwoman3rd:, >241 laytonwoman3rd: Hmmm....

>242 PaulCranswick: I adore shrooms too! Not that "soup" however. And the beef stroganoff looks scrummy.

>243 AuntieClio: Excellent! Yay!

>244 jessibud2: Does the internet still encompass the one good thing that James Lileks, that right wingnut, ever posted? The Gallery of Regrettable Food, it was called.

Hi, Richard. Yes, I am dealing with some cruddy, cold weather but at least I have a couple of enjoyable reads going, which helps me limp along.

I just watched The Wife. Good film. No surprise, that Close was excellent, as well as Pryce. Impressive chamber piece.

>244 jessibud2:, >246 richardderus: Found it! Retro Food Fiascos by KathyCasey . Here is my very brief review:

Subtitled *A Collection of Curious Concoctions*. It sounds very America-centric but I bet there are more than a few of these in our past, too!

The photos, pictures, fonts and page design style are worth the look alone! This book truly does elicit chuckles and memories. Not sure I'd want to actually try to make (or eat) any of the *recipes* included but this was a fun read.

>247 msf59: It was a superb performance in a decent, unmemorable film. Colman won for a reason!

Hoping tomorrow is less ghastly than today was.

>248 jessibud2: Ew!! That's both horrid and hilarious.

The Gallery of Regrettable Food is still up...much like my dinner after viewing it.

.

Morning, darling! Just dropping off a few items for you. *smooch*

>250 Crazymamie: Thanks, sweetiedarling! I needed that. Aren't those eggs lovely? I had a blue-shelled hard boiled egg at a B&B in the Adirondacks once. It was aesthetically interesting but otherwise a government-issue chicken egg.

I have never seen a blue-shelled egg like that, but they are gorgeous. Too bad they taste just the same. Slightly disappointing. *smooch back*

>252 Crazymamie: I know, right? Should've been somehow...I dunno...a peak-experience egg. Although what that might look like or smell like or taste like, I have no earthly idea.
***
Old Stuff, my unbeloved roommate, is tunelessly singing and hawking a smoker's lung in the shower.
I am torn.
1) He's in the shower!
2) He sounds like the escaping corpse-gas from Swiss Army Man.
3) Lung cookies in my shower.

4) He took his week-worn underwear in with him to put back on.

I have no words for the intensity of my desire never to have a roommate ever again.

Morning, RD!

Eewww on Old Stuff's underwear. My sympathies.

'Morning, RD!

I'm so sorry you have to have a roommate, much less such an unbeloved one.

>235 quondame: I'm sure her shortcuts were yummy, and I'd eat them if I was served them. I'm not trying to offend anybody. I love it when people cook for me, and if they use ingredients I wouldn't use, I would never say anything to them. It's just that I don't use cream-of-anything soups when I cook.

>242 PaulCranswick: I might disagree, though beef stroganoff is a good 'un. I made a chicken marsala with loads of mushroom day before yesterday that was fine indeed!

>254 katiekrug: ...you have no idea...

>255 karenmarie: Hey sweetiedarling. Oh well, it's like being married, sharing your space with someone you can just *barely* tolerate.

>256 drneutron: Oh now, you rotten-souled creature, that's uncalled for! To set off the drool reflex in innocent bystanders with that photo of *whimper* chicken marsala coi funghi...*sob*

*I*, OTOH, had cheese grits and salsa eggs. Whee.

>253 richardderus: 🤢 ew. So much Ew.

Oh man, I'm hoping that someone sends your roommate on an errand to the ends of the earth. It's unreasonable to expect you to wear a blindfold and clothes pin on your nose all the time.

Pasta is the best, and I'll eat it any which-way. Except no olives please. *keeps a wary eye out for olive lovers*

>258 ChelleBearss: Indeed! Tell me about it.

>259 jnwelch: *sigh* The cigarette reek from his (unwashed) clothes is worse because I can smell it from far away, unlike the other issue. That one's more just...ew!...than actual problem for me because I don't have to get close enough to smell that particular odor.

I get MILES of abuse for saying how much I hate corn on the cob, so I totally get you on the (weird, inexplicable) dislike of olives.

>259 jnwelch: Ambush with kalamatas. I actually get up early to go to the farmers' market with the stall that sells my favorite brine cured kalamatas. Some nonsense about Celtic sea salt, as if salt had a language group, but they are just about as good (for olive lovers) as the ones from Greece.

What I don't get are scallops, which don't taste at all interesting to me and have regrettable textural attributes.

>253 richardderus: TMI *shudder*

>259 jnwelch: On the other hand, I don’t like brine. On the one occasion I had olives that hadn’t been brined, they were actually quite nice. Sadly, I’ve never found them since.

>261 quondame: Most seafood doesn’t seem to have much taste of its own (sharks fins, lobster swimming in garlic butter) - but then again I’m not qualified to judge since I stopped eating seafood over 20 years ago in an attempt to head towards vegetarianism. (Then I got married and had to teach my husband that potatos and eggs don’t qualify as vegetables just because they are ‘not meat’.)

>242 PaulCranswick: - My other half is addicted to Beef Stroganoff. Such great comfort food! This is the recipe I "sort of" follow: https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/classic-beef-stroganoff/c17a904f-a8f6-48ae-... - I tend to improvise when I cook. ;-)

>253 richardderus: - Wow. Poor you to have to suffer through that!

>256 drneutron: - That looks really good!

... obviously, I should make sure to visit your thread on a full stomach, Richard. now I am hungry.

Morning, BigDaddy! Sorry about the roommate woes. *shudder* In keeping with yesterday's theme, I have brought you some spice cake with eggnog buttercream.

Good morning, RD! *smooch* from your own Horrible

>264 Crazymamie: *whimper* Wouldn't that be just lovely with morning coffee.

>261 quondame: Oooohhhhhh kalamatas *drool*

>261 quondame:, >262 humouress: Before seafood in general was shown to exacerbate my gout, I was a devout scallop slurper...clam consumer...shrimp shredder...lobster lapper-upper. I've taken a flyer once in a way on them since, but I must be so careful about what I eat before and after that my taste for the fruits of the sea is pale now.

>262 humouress: Brine is so extreme a flavor that I can see why it wouldn't appeal to you if you're not an early ancestor of the salt vampire from Star Trek, as I am.

>263 lkernagh: Hi Lori! Happy to see you here, you stroganoff pusher you. Now I have to make the stuff I've seen it so much.

Ain't it awful. Such a grim fate. *more drooling*

>264 Crazymamie: ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Perfection.

>265 karenmarie: It was, Horrible, it was. *smothered belch*

Happy whatever calendrical unit this is. *smooch*

>259 jnwelch: Sorry...olive lover here. My MIL doesn't like them, which she makes a point of mentioning every. single. time. they appear on the table. (I don't put them IN things, so she has no problem avoiding them.) What puzzles me is she always says it like this: "I don't like olives and I never did." ?? Do people often like something and then change their mind about it later in life?

>256 drneutron: Mmmm....chicken marsala. Must get that back into rotation. It's a favorite around here.

Just tossing this notice around in a few likely locations: The March thread is up for the AAC.

>268 laytonwoman3rd: Speaking for myself, I've come to dislike things I was once a fan of less often than I've come to like things I once wasn't a fan of. I didn't like cherries until I was 45, f/ex.

I never did finish Under the Lilacs for LMA's challenge month. Shame on me.

>269 richardderus: And that makes sense. I'd say our tastes tend to mature, along with the rest of us. But learning to dislike something tasty seems like going backward.

Oh, well...I found it a bit hard to drum up a lot of enthusiasm for LMA myself.

Sweet Thursday, Richard. Not as harsh today, but it still stayed in the upper 20s. I stopped at one of my favorite watering holes, for a couple of quick cold ones.

I started Black Leopard, Red Wolf. Not far into it but this dude can write. Is this on your radar, at all?

>266 richardderus: early ancestor of the salt vampire from Star Trek, yep, that's me - I could probably avoid blood pressure meds if I eliminated chips, olives, and pickles, but that's not going to happen.

>268 laytonwoman3rd: It's not exactly that I don't like foods I used to like, so much as my taste disorder makes several complex foods and lots of sweets taste very bitter to me. Dark roast coffees and dark chocolate and most red wines are beyond my enjoyment these days, and sometimes I have to stop after the second bite of some sweet dish.

>268 laytonwoman3rd: Well, that's a bummer. I have an aunt who has no sense of smell (that's how she described it long ago, so I don't know if it's complete, or just a deficiency), and so she doesn't appreciate food very well. I've always thought that was so sad. Of course it also means nothing offends her palate either...

>260 richardderus: No corn on the cob? Does that count for corn off the cobb?

>250 Crazymamie: One of the former secretaries for another department housed in the library used to bring fresh eggs to share. It's a shame she didn't last. I really enjoyed her eggs.

Just catching up here and all of a sudden I am inexplicably hungry. Two of my favourite food groups made the posts, seafood and desert 😄

>270 laytonwoman3rd: It was drippy and soppy and dismal, though I remembered it as cheery if slight. I think her writing is decent, in that she created some very lovely images, but the concept of dialogue as communication clearly had not reached her ears.

>271 msf59: I'm waiting for a sale on the Kindle edition, Mark. I won't pay $15 for (instantly revocable) access rights to a file, and the book's just not on my list of "let me hold this kitten squisher for hours and hours"-worthy reads.

>272 quondame:, >273 laytonwoman3rd: Those words, "taste disorder," cause my heart to gallop and my corpus to break into copious sweat as I prepare to flee. I am so deeply taste-oriented that the notion of it is unendurable.

Plus...no espresso?!? *wails*

>274 The_Hibernator: If I can avoid it, I will; if I can't, it's not as awful and wretched an experience as *shudder* those horrible styrofoam-packed tick bodies squooshing their pus-looking innards into my

excuse me

>275 thornton37814: Ooo! Fresh eggs are a completely different experience than the industrial products one buys in the grocery store.

>276 Familyhistorian: Know whatcha mean, Meg, I waited to come back until I'd had some bites to sup.

>278 richardderus: I can to lattes. But yes, it is wretched, not that there isn't plenty I can still enjoy, in fact most of what I ever savored, but if I extemporize when I cook others are less likely to enjoy what I do and I can't judge if anyone else's new dishes are good.

We are sometimes food barbarians. We eat dishes made with cream of mushroom soup, dip made with Lipton onion soup mix, Hamburger Helper (just the Beef Pasta), Chef Boyardee, hmm, let's see, American cheese*, Prego/Ragu sauce, ramen, and breakfast pockets. I've even been know to eat the occasional Lunchable.

We also make things like fresh chicken soup with the "trifecta" (onions, celery, carrots,) chicken penne (chicken breasts, fresh spinach and mushrooms, olive oil), and shrimp "stir fry" (in a wok, very little oil, fresh mushrooms, frozen "stir fry" vegetables.)

So, we're probably an average household. :D

My grandmother used to make a Jello "salad" - it was made with green jello, pineapple, celery, and some other ingredients I don't remember. Walnuts? Maraschino cherries? I think the cherries were on the top and the rest was mixed through out. She'd start the chilling in a bowl until it would hold the ingredients, put the cherries on the bottom of the mold, then put the rest in to finish setting.

ETA: *Oh, sorry. American cheese FOOD PRODUCT.

Pimento cheese. Made with American cheese food product, aka Velveeta. Takes me back.

So it's Friday. It's ***SNOWING*** and it feels like Tuesday.

The goddesses clearly loathe me. The week got turned inside out.

>280 quondame: That makes me feel so sad. To have this always would be unfortunate, but to have it thrust on you later in life sounds like torture. I'm sorry for that reorientation of life's pleasures being wished on you.

>281 Morphidae: Heh, I sense a small rebuke of food snobbery in your post, Morphy dear. Let me make it worse: I wasn't allowed to have sodas or French's mustard (except in deviled eggs) or fed white bread ("Wheatberry" bread from Orowheat only!), either. I've never developed a taste for them. Cream of whatnot soupcans were shuddered at in our house because they were so *salty* and that meant the food all tasted salty instead of foody. I liked the cream of whatnot chicken dishes better than the others because I'm not a big chicken fan.

Jello, OTOH, I abominate because I was very, very sick often in childhood...no vaccines for my child, just misery and hospitalization!...and one is fed inordinate amounts of Jello when one is ill.

>282 SomeGuyInVirginia: I like pimento cheese. To my late Mama's horror. I also like chicken-fried steak and biscuits with sausage gravy. To my late Mama's horror.

>283 richardderus: "So it's Friday. It's ***SNOWING*** and it feels like Tuesday." But, would it be better or worse if it were Tuesday? I ask because what day of the week it is has become a nebulous concept around here...it really only matters if we forget it's trash pick-up day.

Re: Food snobbery--I won't say I don't have a few prejudices that way. Jello is among them. But almost everything that comes in can is useful for something or other.

>285 laytonwoman3rd: If it were a snowy Tuesday I'd shrug and say, "yeah well, whadda ya expect from Tuesday? It's only one step above Monday and tomorrow's *shudder* Wednesday" and move along. I'm pretty hazy about days of the week unless something makes me aware, which happened this week because of Cohen's testimony to Congress.

It's raining (again) here! I'm so sick of rain!

>287 thornton37814: Oh dear, that's plain awful! Are you counting the days? I understand there's some significance to "forty" in this context....

19 The Grave's A Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley

Real Rating: 3.75* of five

Not the best entry in the series. The subplot about the poet was underused; the subplot about the kid, Hob, was rushed through and gave nothing useful to the resolution; Carl Pendracka is mentioned but not meaningfully (being American, I suppose he was destined not to be anything except comic relief); I liked Dieter's cameo...but really, is there any point to mangling the book? It's the NINTH in a series by an 80-year-old accidental author!

The major news, at least for me, comes from the author's announcement month before last of the CBC TV series based on the books. I can't imagine how they'll make this into anything like the fun thing the reads are; somehow it seems unlikely they'll find a Flavia, but it's not my job to do any of it so good luck to 'em all.

If you're not already a series fan, don't start here. If you stalled out around book seven, As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust, as I did, it's worth keeping on. If your stall came earlier in the series, maybe it's not for you. This book won't, in my never-humble opinion, change anyone's mind one way or another.

>284 richardderus: Chicken-fried steak and biscuits with sausage gravy, can be two of the best American dishes ever. They depend upon the basic flavors and proper handling thereof and result in a most delightful feeling of satisfaction. While I am mostly happy with the food I was brought up with, these were not among them and the best exemplars aren't found in So. Cal. Bloomington/Normal IL. has a restaurant where they are brought to perfection, as are many another American classic.

>290 quondame: We had Threadgill's in Austin, their CFS was The Best Ever. And the burger joint Dan's has biscuits and sausage gravy that was To Die For. It was into adulthood when I found out about them, but nonetheless addictive.

>291 richardderus: As my sister has just moved to TX, it's good to know it has something going for it!

That depends...where in Texas is she living?

>293 richardderus: Well, Fort Worth. At 77 she's Executive Director for Health Research at UT Arlington. They think they're getting a figurehead. Not likely.

>294 quondame: I hope she's ready for the right-wingnuts she's dropped herself among!

>295 richardderus: She's scrappy. She was one of the first women medical residents in a Boston hospital and is known to be a bit hands-on. My 6' brother is in awe of her strength.

She's 77 and working more than full time...I think "scrappy" sounds mild.

>282 SomeGuyInVirginia: MmMmm, Velveeta. We used to make a hot dip with a can of Hormel’s Chili and eat it with Tostitos chips.

>284 richardderus: I didn’t say I *liked* my grandmother’s jello salad, just that I remembered it! Nowadays, for some reason, I can’t eat things with a “slimy” consistency. No Jello, no pudding, no yogurt, no fried or poached eggs, etc.

MrMorphy makes me smoothies (with yogurt!) and it’s enough for two days. But it must be drunk within those two days or it thinkens up to the point of “Jello” consistency and makes me gag.

>290 quondame: Those are Southern foods and I grew up on them. Along with grits which most people hate. (Served with butter and salt not sugar, people! Ugh!) It was a shock to order breakfast up here in Minnesota the first time. “Where are my grits?” “Your what!?”

>298 Morphidae: Strangely enough I grew up with grits, or at least hominy as it was mostly served whole and buttered as a starch and only occasionally ground up. Also polenta we had fried for breakfast and savory, not sweet, cornbread. But not biscuits and gravy. Great fried chicken, though.

>268 laytonwoman3rd: 'Do people often like something and then change their mind about it later in life?'
My kids do. Meal to meal, sometimes.

>300 humouress: Well...yes, of course there is that tendency.