karenmarie's eclectic reading - chapter 5

Welcome to my fifth thread of 2019.

There is no new way for me to say how much I love being retired, so here’s last year’s message, although I’ve changed the graphic.

Being retired is bonaroo! It’s the berries! It’s aces, snazzy, hot, smooth, sweet, swell, keen, and cool. It’s also the fox’s socks, the cat’s pajamas, the bee’s knees, the eel’s hips, the monkey’s eyebrows, the sardine’s whiskers, the gnat’s whistle. I do not miss working at all. I still do a happy dance every morning I don’t have to wake up to an alarm.



I read, am a charter member of the Redbud and Beyond Book Club, now in its 22nd year, am Treasurer for our local Friends of the Library (henceforth abbreviated FoL), and manage our home, finances and etc. as my husband heads off to work Monday – Friday. I love having the house to myself to recharge my batteries and have huge blocks of time to read.

I have been married to Bill for almost 28 years and am mother to Jenna, 25, living about 3 hours away and working on a 2-year business administration program at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington. We have two kitties, 19-year old Kitty William and almost 12-year-old Inara Starbuck. We live in our own little corner of paradise on 8 acres in central North Carolina USA.

This year’s picture theme Children of the Family. Hawthorne, California, circa June 1958. Karen (5), Doug (3), Laura (18 months).




My goal is to read 100 books in 2019, down 5 from 2018. Of those 100, I’m going to try to read 45 that were on my shelves prior to January 1, 2019. I am only going to count pages, not strive for pages this year, so have set a counter for 30,000.







A few quotes from one of my favorite authors. I plan on reading all her fiction works in published order this year. I give you Dorothy Leigh Sayers, 1893-1957, one of the most intelligent and articulate writers I have ever been privileged to read.

The popular mind has grown so confused that it is no longer able to receive any statement of fact except as an expression of personal feeling.

Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.

A society in which consumption has to be artificially stimulated in order to keep production going is a society founded on trash and waste, for such a society is a house built upon sand.

Wherever you find a great man, you will find a great mother or a great wife standing behind him – or so they used to say. It would be interesting to know how many great women have had great fathers and husbands behind them.

My theme for 2019 is eclecticism – picking and choosing what to read from a wide variety of genres, styles, centuries. I always try to do this, but last year ended up being mostly American writers and mostly mysteries. Within the scope of my goal of reading what is fun and challenging yet pleasurable, I want to read more from my shelves – books I have acquired by non-US writers and that I don’t automatically go to when looking for something new.

This year hasn’t started off well eclectically – almost exclusively English and American writers, almost all mysteries. Oh well, there are 9 months left to make it more balanced!

Books read

1. The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam 1/1/19 1/3/19 ****1/2 233 pages trade paperback
2. Nerve by Dick Francis 1/3/19 1/5/19 ***1/2 313 pages mass market paperback
3. The Body in the Transept by Jeanne M. Dams 1/7/19 1/8/19 *** 1/2 206 pages mass market paperback
4. Whose Body by Dorothy L. Sayers 1/8/19 1/9/19 **** 137 pages hardcover
5. Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers 1/9/19 1/14/19 **** 296 pages hardcover
6. Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston 1/13/19 1/16/19 ****1/2 121 of 176 pages Kindle
7. Kindred by Octavia Butler 1/16/19 1/18/19 ****1/2 306 pages hardcover **Kindle**
8. Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann b. Ross 1/18/19 1/20/19 **** 273 pages hardcover
9. The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett 1/20/19 1/22/19 **** 180 pages mass market paperback
10. Relic by Preston & Child 1/22/19 1/25/19 **** 468 pages mass market paperback
11. Reliquary by Preston & Child 1/27/19 1/30/18 ***1/2 464 pages mass market paperback
12. Last Friends by Jane Gardam 2/1/19 2/5/19 **** 1/2 205 pages trade paperback
13. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry 1/30/19 2/8/19 **** 420 pages hardcover
14. Freddie Mercury: A Kind of Magic by Mark Blake 1/5/19 2/9/19 ****1/2 206 pages hardcover
15. The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie 2/9/19 2/11/19 **** 207 pages hardcover
16. The Great Believers by Rebeca Makkai 2/11/19 2/13/19 ***** 2018 421 pages hardcover
**abandoned Octavia Butler's Kindred - a graphic novel adaption by Damian Duffy and John Jennings
17. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle 2/13/19 2/15/19 **** 211 pages trade paperback
18. A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle 2/15/19 2/16/19 ****1/2 211 pages trade paperback
19. The Arrival by Shaun Tan 2/19/19 2/19/19 **** hardcover
20. A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle 2/16/19 2/21/19 **1/2 278 pages trade paperback
**abandoned Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle - I did not care about Sandy and Dennys's story and do not care about any more of L'Engle's fiction
21. Waiting for Wednesday by Nicci French 2/22/19 2/26/19 **** 372 pages hardcover
22. Thursday's Children by Nicci French 2/26/19 2/28/19 ***1/2 336 pages hardcover Kindle
23. Friday on My Mind by Nicci French 2/28/19 3/2/19 **** 301 pages trade paperback
24. The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer 3/3/19 3/7/19 **** 315 pages mass market paperback
25. Dark Saturday by Nicci French 3/3/19 3/12/19 390 pages ****1/2 Kindle
26. Sunday Silence by Nicci French 3/12/19 3/13/19 **** 403 pages trade paperback
27. The Day of the Dead by Nicci French 3/13/19 3/15/19 ****1/2 404 pages trade paperback
28. Absent in the Spring by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie) 3/17/19 3/23/19 ***1/2 182 pages hardcover
29. Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer 3/23/19 3/26/19 **1/2 185 pages trade paperback
30. Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers 3/26/19 3/29/19 **** 191 pages hardcover
31. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers 4/1/19 4/8/19 **** 188 pages hardcover
32. The Documents in the Case by Dorothy L. Sayers and Robert Eustace 4/9/19 to 4/13/19 221 **** mass market paperback
33. Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney 4/2/19 4/15/19 **** 277 pages trade paperback
34. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers 4/14/19 4/16/19 **** 192 pages mass market paperback
35. These Truths by Jill Lepore 1/5/19 to 4/22/19 ****1/2 789 pages hardcover 2018
36. Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler 4/16/19 4/24/19 *** 356 pages trade paperback 2003

Currently Reading:

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 3/1/19 856 pages hardcover, 1850
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth 1/17/19 1349 pages trade paperback 1993
Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney: Slavery, Secession and the President's War Powers by James F. Simon 10/24/18
The Gospel in Dorothy L. Sayers edited by Carole Vanderhoof 11/10/18 235 pages trade paperbook 2018
Red:A History of the Redhead by Jacky Colliss Harvey 6/28/18 218 pages hardcover
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari 5/5/18 464 pages hardcover, Kindle

Books added - goal: Less than the 422 *winces* added last year. Note: Any books acquired before 1/1/19 but added now will be noted and not counted against this year's total.

January
1. Louise - Betrayed by Lisa Scottaline
2. Louise - If I Die Tonight by Alison Gaylin
3. Louise - Accused by Lisa Scottaline
4. BookMooch - Bookmooch - The Body in the Transept by Jeanne M. Dams by Jeanne M. Dams
5. Louise - The Snow Globe by Judith Kinghorn
6. Louise - Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult
7. Jenna - Freddie Mercury: A Kind of Magic by Mark Blake
8. Amazon - These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore
9. Habitat - The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
00. Kindle - The Dry by Jane Harper - acquired 11/19/18 added to catalog 1/13/19
10. Louise - Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
11. Louise - Orchids For Dummies by Steven A. Frowine
12. BookMooch - The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan
13. Habitat - The Day of Atonement by David Liss
14. FoL Sale - Winny de Puh (Winnie the Pooh in Spanish) by A.A. Milne
15. FoL Sale - Cattus Petasatus: The Cat in the Hat in Latin by Dr. Seuss
16. FoL Sale - Gilgamesh: A New English Version by Stephen Mitchell
17. FoL Sale - Intensive Latin First Year & Review: A User's Manual by Carl A.P. Ruck
18. FoL Sale - The Last Days of the Incas by Kim MacQuarrie
19. FoL Sale - 1492: The Year the World Began by Felipe Fernández-Armesto
20. FoL Sale - Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World by Rita Golden Gelman
21. FoL Sale - Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter by Thomas Cahill
22. FoL Sale - How Language Works by David Crystall
23. FoL Sale - Latin Reader. First Part. by Friedrich Jacobs
24. Amazon - Last Friends by Jane Gardam

February
25. reconsidered from cull - The Red Breast by Jo Nesbo
26. Amazon - The Lost Man by Jane Harper
00. Bill - Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - acquired 12/25/19 added to catalog 2/21/19
27. Amazon - Thursday's Children by Nicci French Kindle
28. Louise - Every Fifteen Minuts by Lisa Scottaline
29. Louise - The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
30. Louise - The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
31. Amazon - Dark Saturday by Nicci French Kindle

March
32. Amazon - Blacklands by Belinda Bauer
33. Karen - Are You Somebody? by Nuala O'Faolain
34. Amazon - Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
35. Amazon - The Comforts of Home by Susan Hill
35. Early Reviewers - Dubious Documents by Nick Bantock
36. FoL Spring Book Sale - Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (audiobook)
37. FoL Spring Book Sale - Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews
38. FoL Spring Book Sale - Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
39. FoL Spring Book Sale - Brilliant by Jane Brox
40. FoL Spring Book Sale - The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War by Bruce Catton
41. FoL Spring Book Sale - Missing You by Harlan Coben
42. FoL Spring Book Sale - 95 Poems by e. e. cummings
43. FoL Spring Book Sale - A Gentleman of Fortune by Anna Dean
44. FoL Spring Book Sale - A Place of Confinement by Anna Dean
45. FoL Spring Book Sale - A Woman of Consequence by Anna Dean
46. FoL Spring Book Sale - Autobiography of Mark Twain by editor Harriet Elinor Smith
47. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Compact Edition of The Oxford English Dictionary: Volume III: A Supplement to The Oxford English Dictionary, Volumes I-IV by editor R.W. Burchfield
48. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Hidden Charles Dickens by editor Stefan R. Dziemianowicz
49. FoL Spring Book Sale - Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
50. FoL Spring Book Sale - Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones
51. FoL Spring Book Sale - One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
52. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Stories of Jane Gardam by Jane Gardam
53. FoL Spring Book Sale - Amphigorey Again by Edward Gorey
54. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths
55. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths
56. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Ghost Fields by Elly Griffiths
57. FoL Spring Book Sale - Dashiell Hammett: Complete Novels by Dashiell Hammett
58. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Lazarus Project by Aleksander Hemow
59. FoL Spring Book Sale - Malice by Keigo Higashino
60. FoL Spring Book Sale - Death Comes for the Fat Man by Reginald Hill
61. FoL Spring Book Sale - Advice on Dying and Living a Better Life by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
62. FoL Spring Book Sale - Hillbilly Elegy by J.A. Vance
63. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Western Star by Craig Johnson
64. FoL Spring Book Sale - A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline
65. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Pursuit of Alice Thrift by Elinor Lipman
66. FoL Spring Book Sale - Peter the Great: His Life and World by Robert K. Massie
67. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer
68. FoL Spring Book Sale - Caravans by James Michener
69. FoL Spring Book Sale - Lightening Men by Thomas Mullen
70. FoL Spring Book Sale - Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe by John Evangelist Walsh
71. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Book on the Book Shelf by Henry Petroski
72. FoL Spring Book Sale - Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick
73. FoL Spring Book Sale - Crimson Shore by Preston & Child
74. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Pharoah Key by Preston & Child
75. FoL Spring Book Sale - Going Wrong by Ruth Rendell
76. FoL Spring Book Sale - The World According to Fred Rogers by Fred Rogers
77. FoL Spring Book Sale - Miss Julia Takes Over by Ann B. Ross
78. FoL Spring Book Sale - Adventures of the Mind by Saturday Evening Post
79. FoL Spring Book Sale - 1066 and All That by W.C. Sellar & R.J. Yeatman
80. FoL Spring Book Sale - Sixteen Short Novels by Wilfrid Sheed
81. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Teaching of Buddah by The Society for the Promotion of Buddhism
82. FoL Spring Book Sale - Our Tragic Universe by Scarlett Thomas
83. FoL Spring Book Sale - Whose Boat Is This Boat? by Donald J. Trump (by accident)
84. FoL Spring Book Sale - Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss
85. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Map That Changed the World by Simon Winchester
86. FoL Spring Book Sale - Save the Date by Mary Kay Andrews
87. FoL Spring Book Sale - My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman
88. FoL Spring Book Sale - An Elizabethan Bestiary Retold by Jeffery Beam, Ippy Patterson, M.J. Sharp
89. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things by Paula Byrne
90. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler
91. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
92. FoL Spring Book Sale - Hidden Depths by Ann Cleeves
93. FoL Spring Book Sale - Telling Tales by Ann Cleeves
94. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Lost Letter of William Woolf by Helen Cullen
95. FoL Spring Book Sale - Bibliomysteries by editor Otto Penzler
96. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Penguin Book of Bird Poetry by editor Peggy Munsterberg
97. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Seventy-Seven Clocks by Christopher Fowler
98. FoL Spring Book Sale - When a Crocodile Eats the Sun by Peter Godwin
99. FoL Spring Book Sale - Tinkers by Paul Harding
100. FoL Spring Book Sale - A Guide to Jane Austen by Michael Hardwick
101. FoL Spring Book Sale - False Colours by Georgette Heyer
102. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson
103. FoL Spring Book Sale - Death Without Company by Craig Johnson
104. FoL Spring Book Sale - Kindness Goes Unpunished by Craig Johnson
105. FoL Spring Book Sale - Another Man's Moccasins by Craig Johnson
106. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Dark Horse by Craig Johnson
107. FoL Spring Book Sale - Junkyard Dogs by Craig Johnson
108. FoL Spring Book Sale - Hell is Empty by Craig Johnson
109. FoL Spring Book Sale - As the Crow Flies by Craig Johnson
110. FoL Spring Book Sale - A Serpent's Tooth by Craig Johnson
111. FoL Spring Book Sale - Any Other Name by Craig Johnson
112. FoL Spring Book Sale - Dry Bones by Craig Johnson
113. FoL Spring Book Sale - An Obvious Fact by Craig Johnson
114. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Dead of Summer by Mari Jungstedt
115. FoL Spring Book Sale - Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
116. FoL Spring Book Sale - The Complete Idiot's Guide to Kabbalah by Rav Michael Laitman Ph.D. with Collin Camright
117. FoL Spring Book Sale - Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
118. FoL Spring Book Sale - West with the Night by Beryl Markham
119. FoL Spring Book Sale - All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
120. FoL Spring Book Sale - Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
121. FoL Spring Book Sale - My Dream of You by Nuala O'Faolain
122. FoL Spring Book Sale - One Foot in Eden by Ron Rash
123. FoL Spring Book Sale - Dark Corners by Ruth Rendell
124. FoL Spring Book Sale - When the Music's Over by Peter Robinson
125. FoL Spring Book Sale - Corrupted by Lisa Scottaline
126. FoL Spring Book Sale - Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides
127. FoL Spring Book Sale - Low Country Boil by Carl T. Smith

April
128. Thrift Shop - Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers
129. Thrift Shop - Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer
130. Louise - Years of Dreams by Gloria Goldreich
131. Louise - Lovers and Friends by Camile Marchetta
132. Amazon - A Moment of Silence by Anna Dean
133. Larry - Hall of Mirrors by Christopher Fowler
134. BookMooch - When I Was Old by Georges Simenon
135. Louise - City of Endless Night by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
136. Thrift Shop - The Assassin's Accomplice by Kate Clifford Larson

Books culled goal: More than the 84 from last year.

The Harry Hole books by Jo Nesbo:
1. The Bat - hardcover
2. Cockroaches - paperback
3. Cockroaches - audiobook
4. Nemesis - hardcover
5. The Devil's Star - paperback
6. Redeemer - paperback
7. The Snowman - hardcover
8. The Leopard - paperback
9. Phantom - hardcover
10. Police - paperback
11. The Redbreast - paperback

12. White Noise by Don DeLillo - started it, didn't like it
13. The Body in the Transept by Jeanne M. Dams
14. The Shimmering Stones of Winter's Light by Constance Walker
15. A Man without Breath by Philip Kerr
16. Anvil of Stars by Greg Bear
17. Betty-Anne's Helpful Household Hints by
18. Billy Budd by Coxe and Chapman
19. Death of a Greedy Woman by M.C. Beaton
20. Death of a Bore by M.C. Beaton
21. Death of a Charming Man by M.C. Beaton
22. Death of a Dentist by M.C. Beaton
23. Death of a Dreamer by M.C. Beaton
24. Death of a Dustman by M.C. Beaton
25. Death of a Gentle Lady by M.C. Beaton
26. Death of a Hussy by M.C. Beaton
27. Death of a Perfect Wife by M.C. Beaton
28. Death of a Prankster by M.C. Beaton
29. Death of a Scriptwriter by M.C. Beaton
30. Death of a Snob by M.C. Beaton
31. Death of an Outsider by M.C. Beaton
32. Four in Hand by Stephanie Laurens
33. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
34. Hard Courts by John Feinstein
35. In the Hand of Dante by Nick Tosches
36. Jumping the Queue by Mary Wesley
37. Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon
38. Summerland by Michael Chabon
39. Summerland -audiobook by Michael Chabon
40. Teach Yourself Beginner's Dutch by Gerdi Quist and Leslie Gilbert
41. Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon
42. The Appeal by John Grisham
43. The Case of the Deadly Toy by Erle Stanley Gardner
44. The Case of the Fan-Dancer's Horse by Erle Stanley Gardner
45. The Case of the Howling Dog by Erle Stanley Gardner
46. The Case of the Substitute Face by Erle Stanley Gardner
47. The Case of the Troubled Trustee by Erle Stanley Gardner
48. The Final Solution by Michael Chabon
49. The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld
50. The New Yorker Album 1925-1950 by
51. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
52. The Royal Physician's Visit by Per Olov Enquist
53. You Can't Be Serious by John McEnroe
54. Fiddlers by Ed McBain
55. Abraham Lincoln:Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
56. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
57. Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
58. With the Old Breed by E. B. Sledge
59. The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
60. The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond
61. Crampton Hodnet by Barbara Pym
62. The Orchid Affair by Lauren Willig
63. Kate Vaiden by Reynolds Price
64. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
65. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by Daviud Wroblewski
66. The Pink Irish Rose by Hazel Rash Fleming
67. Bliss, Remembered by Frank DeFord
68. Grafton Square by Alfred J. Batty
69. Dandy Dutch Recipes by Mina Baker-Roelofs
70. The Twelve by Justin Cronin
71. The Cherry Blossom Corpse by Robert Barnard
72. The List of Seven by Mark Frost
73. Pegasus Descending by James Lee Burke
74. Death of an Old Goat by Robert Barnard
75. The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig
76. The Betrayal of the Blood Lily by Lauren Willig
77. The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig
78. The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig
79. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig
80. The Skeleton in the Grass by Robert Branard
81. A City of Strangers by Robert Bernard
82. Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle
83. An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L'Engle
84. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Yay!

85. A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle
86. A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle
87. Troubling a Star by Madeleine L'Engle
88. A Live Coal in the Sea by Madeleine L'Engle
89. Coffeemakers by Ambrogio Fumagalli
90. In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
91. Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer
92. The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo - re-culling
Joanna Brady series - won't read
93. Remains of Innocence by J.A. Jance
94. Dead Wrong by J.A. Jance
95. Damage Control by J.A. Jance
96. Judgment Call by J.A. Jance
97. Desert Heat by J.A. Jance
98. Outlaw Mountain by J.A. Jance
------------------------------------
99. Sleeping in the Ground by Peter Robinson
100. Miss Julia Delivers the Goods by Ann B. Ross
101. Miss Julia Paints the Town by Ann B. Ross
102. Miss Julia Renews her Vows by Ann B. Ross
103. Daddy's Girl by Lisa Scottoline
104. Career of Evil - culled damaged-box copy, kept one acquired in March

Statistics Through March 31

30 books read
2 books abandoned
8487 pages read
0 audiobook hours
Avg pages read per day, YTD = 94
Avg pages read per book, YTD = 283
Avg rating of all books read, YTD= 3.98
Month-end TBR (incl started) 2072
(but excluding Spring Book Sale acquisitions)

Author
Male 33%
Female 67%

Living 57%
Dead 43%

US Born 40%
Foreign Born 60%

Platform
Hardcover 37%
Trade Pback 30%
Mass Market 20%
Audiobook 0%
e-Book 13%

Source
My Library 83%
Library 17%

Misc
ARC/ER 7%
Re-read 30%
Series 70%

Fiction 93%
NonFiction 7%

Author Birth Country
Australia 3%
England 57%
US 40%

Original Decade Published
1920-1929 10%
1930-1939 7%
1940-1949 3%
1950-1959 3%
1960-1969 7%
1970-1979 10%
1990-1999 13%
2000-2009 7%
2010-2018 40%

Genre
Biography 3%
Fiction 17%
Graphic Novel 3%
Historical Fiction 7%
History 3%
Mystery 43%
Romance 3%
Science Fantasy 13%
Thriller 7%

Today is the 13th anniversary of my father’s death. He was 84, would have been 85 in June. He was born in 1921, died in 2006.

Dad was a musician, engineer, bowler, golfer. He loved cigars, cats, fishing, and camping. He was an AAU swim champ in high school in Omaha, Nebraska. He played trumpet in swing bands in the early 1940s before serving in WWII, slogging all over the eastern European theater. He ended up with shrapnel in his right leg that set off metal detectors every time he traveled. He came back from the war with PTSD, although the Greatest Generation just carried on and didn’t complain. He never talked about the war except to tell two humorous stories. After the war he went to the University of Iowa in Iowa City where he met and married my mother. Their honeymoon was driving to southern California, where he had rented a nice little house for them. He had a job lined up as an expediter with a small engineering firm, which he eventually parlayed into the position of Chief Engineer. I always miss him, but especially today.

.........

30. Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers
3/26/19 to 3/29/19





From Barnes & Noble (which I feel has the best description):

The wealthy old woman died much sooner than the doctor expected. Did she suddenly succumb to illness—or was it murder? The debonair detective Lord Peter Wimsey begins to investigate, with the help of his trusted manservant, Bunter, and Miss Alexandra Katherine Climpson, a gossipy spinster with a gift for asking the right questions. The intricate trail leads from a beautiful Hampshire village to a fashionable London flat, where a deliberate test of amour, staged by the detective, will expose the elusive truth once and for all.

Why I wanted to read it: Next in my year-long re-read of Dorothy L. Sayers novels.

Originally published in the UK in 1927, published in the US in 1928 with the title The Dawson Pedigree.

I love mysteries where the smallest incident or comment ends up being a full-blown mystery.

The doctor overhears Peter discussing murder with Charles Parker at a restaurant, tells his tale, decides to remain anonymous and not have Peter pursue the case. Of course Peter does, discovers who the doctor and the victim are, and 191 pages later we have another thumping good mystery by Ms. Sayers.

Sayers has an opinion of writers: “… it isn’t really difficult to write books. Especially if you either write a rotten story in good English or a good story in rotten English, which is as far as most people seem to get nowadays.”

We meet Miss Climpson for the first time in the chapter titled “A Use for Spinsters”:

”Miss Climpson,” said Lord Peter, “is a manifestation of the wasteful way in which this country is run. Look at electricity. Look at waterpower. Look at the tides. Look at the sun. Millions of power units being given off into space every minute. Thousands of old maids, simply bursting with useful energy, forced by our stupid social system into hydros and hotels and communities and hotels and posts as companions, where their magnificent gossip-powers and units of inquisitiveness are allowed to dissipate themselves or even become harmful to the community, while the ratepayers’ money is spent on getting done for which these woman are providentially fitted, inefficiently carried out by ill-equipped policemen like you. My god! It’s enough to make a man write to John Bull. And then bright young men write nasty little patronising books called ‘Eldrly Women,’ and ‘On the Edge of the Explosion’ – and the drunkards make songs upon ‘em, poor things.”

“Quite, quite,” said Parker. “You mean that Miss Climpson is a kind of inquiry agent for you.”

“She is my ears and tongue,” said Lord Peter, dramatically, “and especially my nose. She asks questions which a young man could not put without a blush. She is the angel that rushe sin where fools get a clump on the head. She can smell a rat in the dark. In fact, she is the cat’s pajamas.” pp 357-358 in my edition

And here are two more wonderful quotes, showcasing Sayers’s beautiful use of the language and her deft characterizations:

To the person who has anything to conceal – to the person who wants to lose his identity as one leaf among the leaves of a forest – to the person who asks no more than to pass by and be forgotten, there is one name above others which promises a haven of safety and oblivion. London. Where no one knows his neighbor. Where shops do not know their customers. Where physicians are suddenly called to unknown patients whom thy never see again. Where you may lie dead in your house for months together unmissed and unnoticed till the gas-inspector comes to look at the meter. Where strangers are friendly and friends are casual. London, whose rather untidy and grubby bosom is the repository of so many odd secrets. Discreet, incurious, and all-enfolding London. p 467 in my edition

Miss Climpson was one of those people who say: “I’m not the kind of person who reads other people’s postcards.” This is clear notice to all and sundry that they are, precisely, that kind of person. They are not untruthful; the delusion is real to them. It is merely that Providence has provided them with a warning rattle, like that of a rattle-snake. After that, if you are so foolish as to leave your correspondence in their way, it is your own affair. p 509

Language, plot, cleverness, characterization (especially that of the murderer), bravery, and all’s well that ends well make this a charming, fun, and intelligent read.

Welcome! Next message is yours.

Happy new thread, Karen! Your culling ability astounds me. I need to get better at that, myself!

Love the family photos!

Thanks, Shelley!

I have one particular shelf in mind for culling today if I can make the time... otherwise I'll probably try for tomorrow. I hope to add another 20-25 old tatty romances.

Thanks re the photo - I pulled a box out and there it was, scanned it, cropped it to get rid of some uneavenness, and uploaded it. I loved that lavender dress.

dropping by to be sure my place is saved

You're always welcome here, RichardDear!

great haul at the library sale. I've read many of them, and others are on my tbr or other future list.

Your culling is a good example. I've promised myself to cull this year in a more deliberate way. Sometimes I just give a book to a friend and don't expect it back, sometimes I start to read an old one and decide the print is too small - out it goes. But a more systematic approach is needed. I will first attack the mysteries. It's not that I don't read them again, but the library has most of them as e-books, so no waiting, even on Sunday!

I haven't even catalogued all the playscripts I have. I'm not acting anymore - at least not yet. And most of them I collected on inpulse and never read. So, I think that will be the next area of triage.

If I had the space you have, I might never get rid of a single book.

Happy new one, Karen.

Happy new one, Karen! I love the tribute to your dad.

>13 ffortsa: Hi Judy! As I inventory a shelf I decide whether to cull a book. I periodically inventory shelves because I have location tags. I would go nuts if I didn't have a way of finding a particular book without rooting through shelves or even try to remember which room a book is in.

I've mostly separated out to be read books in just the library and sunroom, so a book I might have acquired 2-3 or even more years ago that I didn't read then may just strike me as something I'll now never read and so out it goes. I'm either feeling mortal or overwhelmed with books - probably a bit of both, actually.

I also occasionally get rid of everything by a particular author - Lauren Willig and Nesbo in the last month, as an example. I've mostly gotten rid of the duplicates - if you have lots of them that might be a good place to start. Or like you said, the small print. For me it would be small print and tanned pages, I think.

I do have lots of space thanks to my husband's understanding of my love of and need for books. I am trying to NOT doublestack any of my to-be-reads downstairs, so will cull to make room for the ones just acquired. I'm thinking that my upper limit is really right around 5,000 books.

>14 Ameise1: Hi Barbara, thank you!

>15 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie, and thank you.

Happy new one, Karen. One of these years I hope to join the ranks of the happily retired.

Happy new thread! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Happy New Thread!

Great work on the book sale - very impressive numbers.

and .... what a wonderful book haul!

I love your method for doing books one shelf at a time - cleaning, tagging, sorting, purging. Suddenly I feel overwhelmed with books.

Karen...wow...a new month (well, tomorrow)...new stuff: lists 'n' all.

What a huge get from your library sale. The financials are wonderful, but I'm more taken with the number of books you acquired. I saw some titles I'd like to have. (I was book shopping too. Goodwill on Wednesday, the Bethlehem library Saturday, and tomorrow my old original hometown library. Picked up about 50 books so far in this binge.)

Family pictures are great, too. You ought to make them a little bigger.

Happy new thread!

Happy New Thread, Karen! Hooray for #5!!

Happy new thread! Congrats on the successful book sale and your great book haul :)

Hi Karen my dear, happy new thread. I have been re-miss on my visits to your thread along with a few others and so I am going to make up for that. I see that you have got a really good haul of books from the Friends of the Library sale, and a few of them are on my shelves also.

I hope you are having a good weekend my dear and that Bill and Jenna are both well, we have been busy of the last week or so and it would appear that I have overdone things and suffered over the last few days with my back. I am feeling better after some rest and all the big jobs are done now and the rest will be got on with over the next week or so, most of the work will be completed by the end of May ready for planting.

The weather last week was quite good for the time of year after cold and wet weather for most of March but now it is to change again with temperatures dropping form 17 to 18C to 8 or 9C. Because of this drop in temperature I will get on with the shelves in the small bedroom for my Wisden and Playfair Cricket book collections.

Wishing you a good week ahead my dear, we send love and hugs to you and Bill dear friend.

>18 BLBera: Thank you, Beth! I hope you do, too. I get the feeling that most of the folks here on LT are either happily retired or will settle well into retirement when it’s their turn.

>19 ChelleBearss: Thanks, Chelle! Bill and I just finished watching a series on Netflix called Happy Valley - we can’t believe it only got 2.5 stars. We were stunned.

>20 streamsong: Thanks, Janet. Lots of people put in lots of hours twice a year… what always amazes me is that it only takes an hour to completely remove all the leftover books and split them three ways among the local PTA thrift shops, break down the shelving and get the rolling racks back into the book sort room, get all the tables used in the sale and all the chairs temporarily stored in the book sort room BACK into the table/chairs storage room, take the shopping carts back to the grocery stores that kindly loan them to us, get all the signs and banners in town down, all the signs in the library down, the runners back down in the Library lobby, and for Dav and me to calculate preliminary revenue. It’s a well-run operation, for sure, and I’m proud to be part of it.

I’ll have fun adding my books to LT this week. And thanks re my method. It comes from working in a manufacturing environment and understanding how inventory control/cycle counting works. I was in IT so also know how data needs to be coded to make sense. Between the two, I am very happy with my location tags system.

I should hire myself out to LTers to help them develop location tag systems and help them get each book properly coded… wow! A second career. Books AND systems skills. *smile*

>21 weird_O: Hi Bill. Yes, 3 months in. I’ve read 30 books so am comfortably in position to reach my goal of 100 for the year. You’ve been acquiring a lot of books recently – good for you! 50 in the most recent haul – do you keep track by year?

Per your request, I’ve made the pics larger – not so large that they blur, but larger. Thank you for the suggestion.

>22 quondame: Thank you, Susan!

>23 msf59: Thanks, Mark! I’m happily surprised at already being at #5.

>24 figsfromthistle: Hi Anita. Thanks three times.

>25 johnsimpson: Hi John. Thank you.

With my back and hip problems last week and still on-going, I am, more than ever, sympathetic with your chronic back pain. I just hate having to calculate every move, every step of the stairs right now, every twinge. Glad you’re got things in place for planting. If I plant a vegetable garden this year, it will go in a month before yours! End of April, first week of May at the latest. Good luck with your shelving.

My week should be relatively quiet, although I will need to finish Friends revenue/expense reporting, make cash/check deposits, go grocery shopping, and probably take Catman to the vet – he’s been sneezing, losing weight, and isn’t very perky. I don’t know if it’s a cold/allergies (do cats get allergies?) or whether it’s his final decline. He is, after all, 19 or 20, our precious Boo. Sigh.

Sending love and hugs back to you and Karen.

I see, Karen, that in your mammoth book acquisition at the library sale (you need a whole new bookcase just for those!) you picked up some of Anna Dean's Dido Kent mysteries. Have you read these before? Lucy introduced me to them and I've read the first two so far.

And my dad was also born in 1921, but he died in 1991 of liver cancer. We do always miss them, don't we?

I could definitely use some help with location tags!

Hope your back and hip issues improve this week.

Happy new thread, Karen. That was quite the book haul you got at the friends of the library sale!

Karen--WOW, you are killing it. Over 30 books read already this year and you are culling, too. Great job. I have managed to get rid of about 60 books so far and I have another batch ready to go. Great work at the book sale and I love your tribute to your dad. Happy new thread!! : )

Morning, Karen. Sorry, the back and hip woes continue. I hope this improves. After enjoying a sweet, few days off, I am back to the grind. It is supposed to warm up this week, so that makes me happy.

What an auspicious start to a new thread!
I'll be back to enjoy your lists more carefully.
Karen and Roni, my mama was also a 1921 baby. You remind me (but I don't really need a reminder) how happy I am and how privileged to have her with me still. My daddy was a year older, and I miss him every day.

Hi Peggy! Thank you.

I made the list of what I acquired, but it hasn't really sunk in yet. I'll add them to my catalog as time permits this week - first I need to tackle the job of Friends deposit prep and book sale reporting. Gotta clear the desk off for that one!

Kitty William and I are going to the vet at 11 a.m. He's still sneezing, now has runny eyes, and is off his feed. :(

Happy new thread, Karen!

>1 karenmarie: A color picture in 1958?! In my albums they don't appear until the early 1970s.

>7 karenmarie: Lovely pictures and tribute.

Thanks so much for pumping up those photos.

I'm sitting at 30 reads so far, too. I made a list of buys last year, and I've got one for this year. Now that I looked, I have lists for 2017 and 2016 too. I ought not revisit them. Haha.

>33 FAMeulstee: I have color slides my dad shot in the 1940s. Mostly Kodachrome.

Morning, Karen! I'm sorry you have to take Kitty William to the vet - hoping you get answers to your questions.

Happy new thread!

I'm in!

>26 karenmarie: Happy Valley only 2.6 stars? What and how? I've never seen anything but raving praise for that show. It's incredibly good. So good, in fact, that I haven't been able to watch the second series (season) because the first one was so scary and believable.

>33 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita, and thank you. Yes. Color. Pictures taken by family members are all black and white during that time frame, and even school pictures were black and white until 1964. Thanks re my dad.

>34 weird_O: You’re very welcome, Bill. Yay for 30. Aww, come on. How many books did you buy in 2016, 2017, and 2018? Enquiring minds and all that…

>35 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! KW has an upper respiratory tract infection. She gave him an antibiotic shot – said it was easier than me giving him pills. She thinks that he might have hyperthyroidism. I spent beau coup bucks on bloodwork, the exam, and the shot, but with the bloodwork she’ll be able to check his thyroid, kidney, and liver functions, among others. I haven’t taken him to see them in 2 years, so it’s all good. He was inquisitive and sneezy while there and was glad to get home.

>36 drneutron: Thanks, Jim!

>37 SomeGuyInVirginia: I would certainly hope so, dear friend. *smile*

>38 PawsforThought: I don't know where we got that, Paws - perhaps an individual episode? I do remember seeing a 2.something stars, but when I looked just now it's 8.5 for the whole thing. The second series (season) is just as scary and believable.

…
I’ve added and re-added, counted and recounted, and have created the deposit slips for the checks and cash for the book sale. My hands hurt from counting all the cash – three times, actually. It’s all locked away in the safe ‘til tomorrow.

I’m whupped. Time to relax.

>39 karenmarie: - Karen, my cat has hyperthyroidism and kidney disorder. I feel your pain, re $$$. I give her pills 3 times a day and thankfully, she is pretty easy to pill. I did find one of them the other day that she probably spit out without my noticing but usually, I don't walk away until I see her swallow. When I have to go away and my friend comes in to feed the cats, I bought a small mortar and pestle for her to use to crush the pills and just mix in with the food. It's super easy and as long as they eat their food, I guess that's good. Good luck. My Mia is 18 so this is part of old age, I guess, and not unexpected.

Thanks, Shelley, for your encouraging words. I guess being retired has benefits if I have to give KW pills three times a day... we'll see. The vet will have the results of the blood work tomorrow and either call or e-mail me.

Happy New Thread, Karen. I hope you get good news from the vet.

I love the 1958 photo of you kids and the remembrance of your father.

Good review of Unnatural Death, and thanks for posting those excellent quotes. You're making me think about re-reading the Lord Peters myself. She's so good.

Happy new thread, Karen.

Fingers crossed for the kitty.

My first quarter stats are up.

Huzzah!

>42 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe! Kitty William is sleeping on a Tempur-pedic pillow in front of the propane stove, soaking the heat into his old kitty bones. He's already sneezing less after the antibiotic.

Thanks re Unnatural Death. It's one of my favorites. Re-reading Sayers is not a bad thing at all, right?

>43 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul!

>44 weird_O: Off I go!

Good for Kitty William!
I hope that the blood work is nothing but good news. If you do have to pill him, you will. Meanwhile, good cat naps to him!
I always sort of forget Unnatural Death and am always happy when I find it again. Re-reading Sayers is one of life's pleasures.

>6 karenmarie:
That is a wonderful memorial to your father. Thak you for sharing it with us.

Hi, Karen. Glad KW (I am partial to those initials, owning them myself) is feeling better. Crossing fingers on the bloodwork. Also, I just want to point out that I was here yesterday >29 Berly:. ; )

Happy New thread, Karen. Sorry to hear about Kitty William, but I'm glad to hear that she is recovering. Fingers crossed for the call from the vet. I hope it is favourable.

What a lovely family photo, Karen . Three cuties!

^You may have missed me, but I did stop by yesterday!

Morning, Karen. I hope you and KW are feeling a bit better today. Hitting 54 today! Yah!

Yikes!

I wrote some beautiful replies to Roni, Meg, Kim, and Mark, and seem to have not actually posted them. My apologies.

>27 ronincats: Hi Roni! I just ordered the first Dido Kent, A Moment of Silence. Haven’t ever read them before.

Apparently my dad always thought he was born in 1922 and didn’t know he was born in 1921 until he went into the military and had to have his birth certificate. Strange. And yes, we always do miss them, and I could kick myself for not asking some of the questions I should have about his grandparents and other relatives.

Location tags work well for me – they have to be kept up but I am pretty good about that. Since I don’t keep authors or genres or colors or … anything else… together (I put similarly-sized items together ), I needed tags within the first 100 books or so of my starting to catalog here on LT in 2007. And that was when I ‘only’ had my Library for books – now I’ve also got the Sunroom and my Retreat. I entered my 2,057 books in the first 3 months. Now I’m more than double that with 4,901 once I enter the book sale acquisitions.

>28 Familyhistorian: Belated Thank you, Meg! It would have been worse (better?) if I wasn’t in pain for most of the sale. It prevented lots of perusing/acquiring.

>29 Berly: Kim – I’m so sorry I missed this entry. It’s a good year so far, thank you. Your 60+ are nothing to sneeze at either. Thanks re my book sale work and tribute to my father. And I can’t believe I’m already on thread 5!

>30 msf59: Thanks, Mark. Feeling better today, forgot to call the chiropractor yesterday what with Kitty William’s vet visit and getting the book sale deposit prepped to take today. While your week is warming up, we might possibly get some snow this morning – just a few flakes possible, but it’s only 31F right now, going to a high of 48F.

>31 LizzieD: Thanks, Peggy. I got so many books that even I can’t remember what I got. 1921 was a good year and I’m so glad you still have your mother with you.

…
Okay, back on track!

>46 LizzieD: Thanks, Peggy, me too re the blood work. As I wrote above, instead of all the new books I got and all the books I have on my shelves to read, I’ve decided to re-read The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. I think I need the comfort of a re-read after the hurly-burly of the book sale and my back/hip problems.

>47 pgmcc: Thank you, Peter!

>48 Berly: Thanks, Kim. As you can see above, I’ve gone back and replied to the ones I somehow misplaced before posting – I always open up a word document if I have more than 2 messages, write/edit there, then copy/past into LT. Somehow I did all the writing but none of the posting.

>49 vancouverdeb: Thank you, Deborah. Awww… Doug and I were strawberry blonde (I’m more light brown now with a few strands of white) and Laura was blonde and has gone gray but still colors her hair blonde. Doug and I got Dad’s hair – he was a ‘ginger’ – and Laura got Mom’s hair – she called it ‘mouse brown’.

>50 msf59: I saw your post again just now – I did reply yesterday, just didn’t actually get it into LT! I’m sorry. Morning to you! I need to call the chiropractor – compensating for back and hip have given me upper back twinges. Nothing major and she’ll fix me up right away. Just have to get in there for the 3rd and (to be hoped) final adjustment. Yay for 54!

...
Friends of the Library deposit and a bit of food shopping on tap for today, along with a bit of light housecleaning and cataloging of my haul.

Bill and I started watching Secret City last night - an Australian series about a journalist, political prisoners, murder, etc. So far so good.

Update on Kitty William: He was perkier this morning. His appetite is still off, but Dr. Bonnie says that if their sense of smell is off (like because of an upper respiratory tract infection) then their appetite is off. I'm going to put some chicken broth in the special pate they gave me yesterday.

His thyroid function is good. I didn't mention it yesterday, but she found a mass in his intestine and thinks it's cancer. The cancer could be masking hyperthyroidism, but at this point we're just going to treat the URTI. If/when he starts deteriorating, we'll consider pain killers/whatever. But for now he's okay.

And on a bird note, look what I captured with my cell phone! Male AND female Red-Bellied Woodpeckers on the feeders at the same time. There's a Cardinal there, too.

Wow, Karen. Sorry to hear about KW's issues but you are right to treat the most pressing thing first and go from there. Cats can mask pain well, but will tend to tell you if it's *time*, and meantime, if alleviating his discomfort and giving him quality time is doable, then go for it.

And wow wow wow re those birds!!

>52 karenmarie: Wow, what a great bird view!

>53 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley. I'm going to start tempting his appetite with some poached chicken tomorrow. Nothing's too good for the Boo.

I'm very pleased with my dual woodpecker shot.

>54 quondame: Thanks, Susan! I just looked up, there they were, and I was able to quickly capture it. The female's been back several times.

Sorry to hear your kitty hasn't been well, but good to hear he was upbeat today. My cat's not been well lately either, and it's a wait-and-see situation right now. We think he's been a bit better the past week, though, so hopefully it's not just wishful thinking.

Lovely birds in your garden! The birds have just started chirping again here, and it's wonderful to hear them sing when I'm having breakfast - terrific way to start the day. We've spotted no less that three blackbirds in the backyard this week, which is great fun. We've never had blackbirds in the garden before. They've been around the woods nearby and such, but not the garden. They're not terribly common up here.

Ah, well. I have to say that our Elle has been doing famously with pain-killers for her mouth cancer. She has always been our most playful cat, and she continues to love hunting and slapping. I hope you can keep KW going well for a very long time.
Love Bellies - such clowns!!! That's a great picture!
I totally approve of your reread. That's one reason we hang on to books we love.
(See my thread again for an explanation of "roaches in his liver"!)

>52 karenmarie: I love the feeder shots! Great capture. I don't even know the difference between the male & female red-bellied. I need to get on that.

Morning, Karen. Happy Wednesday. Pushing 60 today. Yah!!

>56 PawsforThought: Thanks, Paws. I hope your kitty’s doing better. This morning KW met me in the kitchen for brekkie, a good sign, but didn’t like what I put down, so I gave him some warmed chicken broth to tide him over. I’ll poach some chicken in a bit. He also likes bacon, so I think he and I will have some in a bit.

I love listening to the birds first thing in the morning, too. We’ve had some Cowbirds and even a few Grackles in the last week. They are feeder hogs and can decimate the seed quickly. They’re fun to watch, though. Here’s a pic from last winter of some mostly male Cowbirds in a feeding frenzy.



>57 LizzieD: I’m glad Elle is doing so well, Peggy. My biggest worry about Kitty William right now is that he’s not eating enough. He’s lost 2 of 11 pounds in 2 years, most of it probably in the last 6 months or so. Some of it is lost muscle mass because he’s so very senior, but this not-eating thing is a challenge.

'Bellies' are fun to watch. The female’s been hanging off the feeder like that just gobbling seed down a lot in the last few days.

I need to start Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk for the May book club discussion but will probably zoom through The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club first.

Back to your thread… Ah. I get it. Roaches in the liver.

>58 msf59: Hi Mark! Thanks. I'm glad your weather's warming up. The only difference I know is that the male has a completely red head and the female has a gray and red head.

...

…
Today is figuring out what to serve 12 women on Sunday, reading, some house stuff, and cataloging my new acquisitions. Plus trying to tempt Kitty William’s appetite.

>59 karenmarie: Thank you. He seems to be doing better, but it's difficult to tell with cats. He's been more keen to go outside the past week (I'm guessing it's the bird chorus) and he is grooming more than he was, which is a good sign. But we won't know until we go back for another blood test at the vet in a couple of weeks. Providing he doesn't get worse again before that.
Chicken is always popular, so I'm sure Kitty William will be happy about that and the bacon. I bought minced meat for kitty but he's a bit so-so about it.

I had to google cowbirds and greckles - they're not birds we have around here, but they're very pretty. That's an incredible photo, I don't think I've ever seen so many birds feeding at the same time. The only birds that come feed in our garden are finches, tits, and the like. The odd crow might manage to steal some seeds. We only see big swarms of birds when it's migration time, and then they'll stick to the trees if they're not flying.

Grooming is a good sign. KW still takes care of himself, especially the intimate bits, but lets Bill do most of it - they have a terribly cute evening routine where Kitty stands on the end of the coffee table and meows. Bill grabs the red-lacquer handled brush. Sometimes KW jumps onto the couch, sometimes Bill has to help him over. They then spend about 10 minutes together. By the end, Kitty is usually happily wiped out.

I'm already poaching the chicken. m.belljackson recommended a particular type of canned food - I bought a case at a greatly reduced price - and KW turned his nose up at it. It's still here in my pantry, but I rarely offer a can.

...
I will be reading Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk for my RL book club discussion in May, and have created a group thread since a couple of people have expressed interest. Everybody's welcome. Here 'tis:

Group Read: Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk

Sparrows have built a nest next to my balcony and the chicks' chirping is driving Parker nuts. That's just flying dinner to him!

I hope all sick cats make a full recovery soon.

>61 karenmarie: Aw, that's sweet that they have a routine. Kitty likes it when I do "full body massages" (ear scratches that travel down the neck and arm pits to the stomach), but we don't have a regular routine.
We usually only give kitty kibble - he was used to that when we got him (shelter cat) and it's less messy (and apparently better for the teeth) than cans. But usually he wants to supplement it with whatever his humans are eating, which we used to allow but can't anymore.

>62 SomeGuyInVirginia: Poor Parker! Tempted but unable to hunt. Give him skritches from me.

>63 PawsforThought: You're a masseuse! Full kitty body massages. I love it. Both our kitties love to be rubbed, brushed, petted and snuggled. Our other kitty, Inara Starbuck, is a shelter kitty. She only eats dry food and crunchy treats - well, in addition to her outdoor feast. She's a huntress and sometimes eats what she gets and sometimes brings us tributes.

Kitty William and our other boy kitty Magic used to bring in baby bunnies if they found nests - always at night, drat it, and it was always upsetting.

Kitty was not thrilled with the chicken this morning, but did drink some of the poaching liquid - fresh chicken broth. Sigh.

Just...just...droppin' by. Everything seems good here. As per usual.

Cheers

>61 karenmarie: I read Lillian Boxfish takes a walk last year (I think) and enjoyed it very much. I've never been to New York, but if I had I would imagine that it would have only added to my enjoyment.

>64 karenmarie: Yeah, it's great. If I could make a living as a kitty masseuse I totally would.

Oh, mine gives me tributes, too, though luckily only in the summer months (difficult to hunt when the world is covered in ice and snow). He's very diligent when it comes to showing off his prowess, and also sometimes brings in still live ones. Sigh.
His specialty is voles, because that's the primary rodent in the neighbourhood and he's to clumsy/chubby to be an efficient bird catcher. I'd be very upset if he caught a rabbit, but I don't think he's good enough for that.

Sorry to hear Kitty William didn't like the food, but at least he's drinking the broth. That's fluids at least, and some energy from the fat.

>61 karenmarie:

Hi - Sure wish Tiny Cat had worked out better! I'd buy yours if you lived closer.
My cat likes it best when stirred up with a little hot water.

Not sure if you also use dry food, but the last time I went to the local pet store,
a worker suggested a locally made Chicken and Pea 6.6 lb bag as an alternative or accompaniment to the
more expensive Nutro or Royal Canin Hairball Controls.

He said his cat loved it and Victoria has enjoyed the variety.

I also added CESAR wet beef dog food to the ever-changing taste cycle. Victoria loves it for a change.

>52 karenmarie:, lovely (and enviable) viewing of your bird feeders!

(I haven't posted in your new chapter before now... I lost track of the change overs that folks instigate.)

We don't have cardinals or those Red-Bellied woodpeckers here (Saskatchewan) but the yellow warblers, Hairy and Downy peckers, plus occasional yellow-bellied sapsuckers are pretty wonderful.

>65 weird_O: Well, hi there, Bill! Things are moving along, for sure.

>66 SandDune: Hi Rhian! I’m glad to hear that you liked Lillian Boxfish. I was living in Los Angeles in 1976 and went to New York on a business trip. I visited my friend Marie and her husband Joe in Connecticut while there and was living in Connecticut by September of 1977. I made several trips to the city while there, and would have loved to have had Lillian Boxfish’s take on it. Moved back to CA in 1980, moved to NC in 1991, and haven’t been back to NYC since. I’d like to go…

>67 PawsforThought: How old is your kitty, Paws? Inara has brought in voles, moles, mice, kangaroo rats, small snakes, and skinks. Birds, too, sadly. Sometimes the birds escape – once I was upstairs reading, minding my own business, when a bird zoomed over my head and scared me half to death. I had Bill capture it and we put it back outside in a towel-lined box where kitties couldn’t get to it, and it was fine.

Scrambled eggs? Cheese? What will tempt this kitty boy?

>68 m.belljackson: Hi Marianne! I’ll try the hot water/food combo for his dinner tonight. Thanks!

We go grocery shopping on Saturday, and if I can, I’ll try to remember to get some Cesar wet beef dog food. Anything to get something into him.

>69 SandyAMcPherson: Thanks, Sandy. I’m glad you’re visiting.

I love my search engine – duckduckgo (how appropriate!) – looked up “birds of Saskatchewan”. There’s a list on Wikipedia. And, good news, Cardinals are on the list! I don't know where they are - if they migrate or are year round - but heck!

This list of birds of Saskatchewan includes all the bird species confirmed in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan as determined by Nature Saskatchewan. There were, as of September 2017, 436 species on this list. Of these species, 86 are considered stragglers and 43 are hypothetical; both terms are defined below. Ten species have been introduced to Saskatchewan or elsewhere in North America. One species is extinct, two have been extirpated, and another might be extinct. One more species has been added from another source since the Nature Saskatchewan list was published.
Only birds that are considered to have established, self-sustaining, wild populations are included on this list. This means that birds that are considered probable escapees, although they may have been sighted flying free, are not included.

>70 karenmarie: My kitty has managed to capture a couple of small lizards, and been very confounded when the tails dislodge. It's great fun to watch him completely confused and not knowing what to do. He does manage to get a bird now and then, but even though he was very good at dragging the poor things (dead, thankfully) to his bowl (!) the first couple of times, we do try to keep him outside until he's finished with them if we see that he's caught one.
We're not quite sure how old he is, but the shelter estimated that he was between 2 and 3 when we got him, which was 11 years ago. So 13 or 14 now - quite the elderly gentleman.

Sorry to hear about KW's issues. As you know, I lost my lovely Zoe last month at 16 years plus. I hope you are able to enjoy him for the maximum amount of time. ANd great bird pictures.

>59 karenmarie: Love the bird frenzy photo and thanks for the Red-Bellied comparison. That will help.

Morning, Karen. Sweet Thursday. Rain and cooler temps today but we rebound nicely tomorrow. Just making my way through my long work week.

>71 PawsforThought: we do try to keep him outside until he's finished with them if we see that he's caught one. That’s the key, for sure. Sometimes we are glancing outside just as Inara is bringing something to the house and one of us runs over and locks the kitty door until she’s done. Other times it's an 'oh shit' moment when she has brought her tribute inside. A very respectable age indeed for your kitty.

>72 ronincats: Thanks, Roni. I remember about your Zoe… it’s always sad to lose a fur kid. We almost lost KW 2 years ago but he rallied. We’ll see. He came to the kitchen when I was making coffee just now, but rejected one of his usual favorites and only took a few bites of warmed chicken broth.

>73 msf59: Thanks, re the photos. Good morning to you, too. I hope your day is uneventful and audiobook filled.

…
The plumber will be here at 8 a.m. We have a septic-system garbage disposer, and from what I can tell there’s a leak from it to the regular piping. Yesterday finely minced food sprayed the cabinet. I spent quite a bit of time cleaning it up, left everything out, and got the recommendation for a plumber since the one I had didn’t call me within 24 hours.

I also get to go to the chiropractor today – yay.

>74 karenmarie: We can often hear if kitty's caught something because he's very keep to show it off and therefore meows very loudy, but because of the prey in his mouth the meow sounds more like a mix between a meow and a growling choking sound.

That's a riot, Paws. I can just hear it now.

When I was a teenager we got a mostly-Siamese kitten, who we named Saké. Our dysfunctional family gave up on dinner-table meals along about then, so I was sitting on the floor in front of the TV with a chicken drumstick and some vegetables. Saké zoomed over, grabbed the chicken, and was dragging it away, but it was so hot that she was growling and huffing all at the same time. The drumstick was pretty big for such a baby kitty.

If you buy a can of Cesar, it's like a rock when opened.

My cat, Victoria, likes to lick the top, then I scoop out the center, add hot water, & stir.
Refrigerate and repeat.

Thank you, Marianne. I'll take your advice.

In the meantime, the one of the vet techs called to ask how KW was doing. I said that he's perkier, not as snotty/sneezy, and except for not really having an appetite much better. We decided that the next step, an appetite stimulant, would be in order, so I'll go pick up the quartered pills after I go to the chiropractor this morning. KW doesn't have enough meat on his bones to let much more time elapse before he's chowing down again.

ps. I shopped today for Cesar and it is the "Porterhouse Steak" flavor!

Your threads move quickly, Karen. That was a lovely heartfelt tribute to your father. We never forget, do we? Also, congrats on another successful book sale...and book haul. Ours will be next month. That was a lovely photo of the bird feeder. Right place, right time. I’m so glad Kitty William (love that name) continues to improve and enjoy life.

>61 karenmarie: I’m going to take a pass on the Lillian Boxfish Group Read. I do want to read it someday and will check out the comments at that time. I have come to the conclusion that I stink at group reads. I just finished David Copperfield and posted my one and only comment on the gr page. I’m just not very chatty these days.

>79 m.belljackson: Thanks, Marianne! I appreciate the info.

>80 Donna828: Hi Donna! Thank you re my dad, the book sale, and the haul. Good luck at your book sale next month.

I understand about passing on the group read - I'm serious trouble with them right now, especially the one I started, David Copperfield! Book sale and book club (Sunday - feeding 12), back and hip, and a sick kitty have put me off reading the required reads for comfort reads.

Although I must say that Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk is wonderful so far - I've resisted posting quotes 4 or 5 times today.

I went to visit Louise and saw my first male Bluebird of the year through her binoculars. He was absolutely gorgeous, hanging out in her oak tree.

KW has gotten his first quarter of a pill and rejected the soft scrambled egg in tons of butter I made for him.

Harrumph.

I'm going to catalog a few books then read some.

>26 karenmarie: I would hire you to organize my books!

>52 karenmarie: Great photo capture!

So sorry to hear about Kitty William's health issues. Hugs to him and to you.

>76 karenmarie: Great story! I love Siamese and part Siamese.

>77 m.belljackson: Neat tip on the warm water from Marianne. I would not have thought of it.

Lovely opening tribute to your dad.

And happy new thread! Not really trying to keep up but stopping by to say hello. I put up a hummingbird feeder but they are still making their way through North Carolina.

Hi Karen, I'm amazed at both your book acquisitions And your culling ability. It brings this quote to mind: "It would be a good thing to buy books if one could also buy the time to read them; but one usually confuses the purchase of books with the acquisition of their contents." Arthur Schopehnhauer.

That's always been true for me and I doubt that I'm alone lol. I want to get to Lillian Boxfish at some point.

>84 brenzi: Oh, Bonnie and Schopehnhauer! Guilty as charged!
Hi, Karen. If the appetite booster works for KW, maybe you can give me the name of it for my mama. I'm using Premier Protein as a supplement these days. Unless she really, really likes something, she stops after 4 or 5 bites. She still loves sweets and salt though. Meanwhile, my DH is thoroughly diluting Ms. Elle's canned food with warm water these days. She laps it up!
>83 witchyrichy: Hmmm. I've yet to see a hummer, and spring comes to RobCo first in NC. I'll try to be more attentive. Today was glorious!

Morning, Karen. Happy Friday! Hooray for Lillian Boxfish! I liked that book too and I would not have a problem taking a bird stroll with Lillian.

It looks like we are about to enjoy a stretch of 60s! Yippee!!

>82 streamsong: Thanks, Janet. Just think – I could have a second career as an LT Book Cataloger!

>83 witchyrichy: Thanks, Karen. I forgot about the hummingbird feeders earlier this week, so am putting 2 out this morning. Louise, my neighbor, has had hers out for a couple of days but hasn’t seen any visitors.

>84 brenzi: Hi Bonnie. I’m good at acquiring, less good at culling, but so far so good this year. I’d love to buy the time to read books. I’ve been way too busy the last 2 weeks and am looking forward to Monday. I only have a FoL Board Meeting that day. Tuesday is a preventative medical procedure for Bill - will take through the early afternoon. But, while he's being poked and prodded, I can read. Nothing scheduled for Wed-Fri yet.

>85 LizzieD: ‘Morning, Peggy! KW came to the kitchen as soon as I came downstairs and was very vocal. He didn’t like the first two things I tried, but had a few bites of Fancy Feast and a few slurps of warmed chicken broth. Bill said that last night he ate a small handful of crunchy treats.

I’m glad Elle is still happily slurping away. Our Inara, who normally eschews wet food, was seen in the kitchen a few nights ago eating some of the canned food KW had rejected.

>86 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! I’d love to spend any time with Lillian, although she doesn’t suffer fools gladly – I’d have to be pretty sharp to stay on her good side, I think!

Glad your weather’s warming up. Today we have rain. It’s 55F, going to a high of … 58F. Mock-T and down jacket weather as I go visit Aunt Ann today – lunch and a visit with a $25 gift card to a kitchen/material/cooking boutique.

...
I’ll stop at Costco on the way home today to get some of the food for Sunday’s book club meeting at our house. I still don’t know what to serve as an appetizer and don’t want to do the crackers/cheese/grapes/olives thing. But I also don’t want to spend much time on appetizers either. Perhaps something at Costco will catch my eye. If they have an antipasto platter, perhaps…

Make sure you don't stop to look at the books at Costco...;-)

>88 jessibud2: LOL. You're right - after acquiring too many books at the book sale I should not acquire any more for a while, eh?

However, I stopped at the thrift shop two days ago and got upgrade copies of
Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers
Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer

and friend Louise gave me two hardcover fictions that I may or may not read:
Years of Dreams by Gloria Goldreich
Lovers and Friends by Camile Marchetta

Hopeless, aren't I?

>89 karenmarie: after acquiring too many books at the book sale

As I spend most of my time on threads in the Green Dragon group I am unfamiliar with the concept of, "too many books". This term appears to by internally inconsistent. ;-) One might have "many books", or "few books"; even "too few books"; but "too many books" does not compute.

>90 pgmcc: That only means too many books to fit on my bookshelves or too many to fit into big rig moving van. Although I might say that there are too many books I have not read and may not get around to reading.

Give Kitty William a skritch for me. Da Floof! seems to be adjusting to the new place a little more all the time. I've opened the spare room for him to explore and comb him so much that one girl on my floor knows him as the 'well groomed kitty' (I walk him up and down the hallway every day and we sometimes bump into each other.) I've had him for 5 years in November, and still when I picked him up one day last week he gave me this look like he was just tolerating me and anyone else he'd have popped by now. It was cute, but he's his own cat for sure.

>90 pgmcc: Realistically it wasn’t too many books, Peter. I always buy as many as I want. I have enough shelf space for them, which ultimately is my only limiting factor. At this point I’m not double stacking my tbr books, I’m only double/triple stacking the books I’ve read that are upstairs in my daughter’s old playroom – my ‘woman cave’, my Retreat. I've got about 57 linear feet, two feet deep, so about 114 square feet up there for books I've read plus all my audiobooks and all my slip-case books, read and unread.

I’ll start saying 'many books' – I like that.

>91 quondame: Last year I actually felt overwhelmed by my acquisitions and am trying to acquire fewer this year. Since I won’t be spending 3 weeks in Montana with college friend Karen, who is a wonderful influence (I was going to say terrible, but that doesn’t apply to someone who gave me 84 books last summer), I’ll end up acquiring fewer books this year.

Too many I may not get around to reading is what I’m feeling right now, Susan.

>92 SomeGuyInVirginia: I will, Larry, thank you. He’s perkier and actually jumped up on the couch a couple of times and ate more than a teensy bite for dinner tonight. He’s not sneezing, either, so I guess the antiobiotic and appetite stimulant are working.

I’m glad your 5-year old is finally adjusting. You take him for walks? On a leash? If so, I’m impressed, because we tried that with Inara when we first got her, and the second the leash was attached to the collar she laid down on the ground and refused to move. Yay for Da Floof!

I don’t get those just-tolerating me looks – mine look at me with compete adoration. It is, of course, because I feed them, mostly, but sometimes I actually do think they like me even though I’m a human. When they're not being excessively demanding, it's pretty adorable.

Thank you for the clarification. I was getting worried.

A few years ago I estimated it would take me 99 years at my then reading speed to read the unread books in my possession. I then made the decision not to die until I have read them all. Buying books is my approach to longevity.

>93 karenmarie:
Karen, thank you for calming my nerves. I thought for a moment I had stumbled over some mind blowing concept that was undermining entire life philosophy. The foundations of my wellbeing were starting to crumble.

By the way, I got to the end of David Copperfield.

Morning, Karen. Happy Saturday. Drove through dense fog to get to work. It looks to be a great day, to walk the route. Partly sunny, high 60s. Hope it is also very birdy. Smiles...

>94 pgmcc: You’re entirely welcome, Peter. I love your logic. I’m a mere dilettante next to you – based on my reading speed of 100 books/year, it will take me 21 years to read the unread books in my possession. My goal is to live to my 90s and I’m 65 now, so should get them all read.

NOT. I’ll acquire more, re-read many, cull some acquired hastily, and still have about 2100 books in my possession, unread, when I shuffle off this mortal coil.

>95 pgmcc: My pleasure. Stay calm! The world is more uncertain than in decades, but books is books.

>96 msf59: ‘Morning, Mark! Fog is no fun if you’re driving. Good luck with the birds. I hope your day is otherwise uneventful and easy.

…
I’ve finalized appetizers for book club tomorrow. I’m sort of wimping out because I’m still somewhat enervated from the book sale and back/hip stuff. I bought Costco rotisserie chickens, frozen organic cauliflower rice instead of chopping up fresh cauliflower, and the appetizers are less than I usually expend effort on, but will have the following:

Appetizers: oregano-toasted pita wedges, hot corn dip and chilled albacore tuna salad dip
Dinner: Rotisserie chicken, mushroom & spinach cauliflower "rice", chilled cooked green beans with apricot vinaigrette
Dessert: Homemade angel food cake, fresh sliced strawberries, whipped cream

Wine, water, decaf coffee

Poor Kitty and poor you! Hope the appetite stimulant works

Thanks, Chelle!

He didn't act hungry this morning. The appetite stimulant is every other day so I gave him his 1/4 tab this morning and he drank some (human) tuna juice just now. He's perky, just not eating a lot. No more sneezing.

Hi Karen my dear, hope all is well with you and Bill my dear, sorry to see kitty William is not quite himself on the food front. Hope that you are having a good weekend so far and enjoy the rest of it and send love and hugs to both of you from both of us dear friend.

We are both ok although Karen started a cold on Thursday on the way back from Richmond but hopefully it is under control, my reading is going well and Karen is just a couple of books behind me but if she had as much reading time as me, she would be streets ahead and I would just be trailing in the dust.

>99 karenmarie: Hi Karen! Cats can really make us worry about them, can't they? Perky sounds good, no more sneezing as well. Hope he keeps improving.

Our allotment cat is so happy to see us, when we get there, he runs up to us, miaowing all the way. He's definitely getting older as well, we see him running up to trees, and then changing his mind, and not climbing them;-) very wise as he often had trouble getting out.

Things are whizzing along here, Karen.

You are up to your loftiest position ever in the thread posting league - 6th place and 1,303 posts.

Have a lovely Sunday.

>100 johnsimpson: Hi John! Thanks re Kitty William. I offered 3 things this morning and he’s not eating any of them. Sigh. Sorry to hear that Karen’s got a cold. I need to get caught up on your thread…

>101 EllaTim: I’m very worried about KW since he’s not eating much, Ella. I may have to try to force feed him, although that won’t be pleasant for either of us. It’s nice that your allotment kitty loves seeing you.

>102 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! They are, aren’t they. Hmm. 6th place, 1303 posts. Ah. Got it. 6 * (1 + 3 + 3) = 42. 4 * 2 = 8. There it is! My lucky number.

…
A bit of baking, some assembling, taking chicken off the bone, cleaning, finish setting tables. But for right now, for a tiny bit, coffee, threads, and a bit of reading.

Sorry to hear about Kitty William’s picky eating. That seems to be one of the signs of kitty aging and frustrating for their humans to deal with. Hope your bookclub meeting is going/went well.

Morning, Karen. I hope you had a fine Sunday. I did and was able to go on an eventful, but damp and muddy bird walk yesterday. Stop by and see my report. I am off today and it is supposed to be beautiful here. Bree is a co-owner of a horse, so we may horseback ride in the woods this afternoon. Yes, i will bring along my binocs. Grins...

Book club was a success - food, companionship, and discussion of Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. A surprisingly large number of folks liked it although I didn't. It was vivid and may stay with me longer than other books I liked, however.

>104 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg. I can't seem to get him to eat more than a bite or two of anything. He ate some chicken, hand fed by me, but stopped after 3 bites. He ate 2 kitty treat kibbles. He licked at some tuna.

>105 msf59: Hi Mark! I had a fine, exhausting, and fun Sunday. I'll visit in a bit. *smile*

31. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers
4/1/19 to 4/8/19





From Barnes & Noble (which I feel has the best description), although they WILL give away interesting things that I feel are better hidden unless you’ve already read the book:

On November 11, ninety-year-old General Fentiman is found dead in an armchair at the Bellona Club. No one knows exactly when his death occurred—information essential in determining the recipient of a substantial inheritance. But that is only one of the mysteries vexing Lord Peter Wimsey. The aristocratic sleuth needs every bit of his amazing skills to discover why the proud officer's lapel was missing the requisite red poppy on Armistice Day, how the Bellona Club's telephone was fixed without a repairman, and, most puzzling of all, why the great man's knee swung freely when the rest of him was stiff with rigor mortis.b>

Why I wanted to read it: Next in my year-long re-read of Dorothy L. Sayers novels.

One of my favorite quotes by Dorothy Sayers from all her books and short stories:

”Books, you know, Charles, are like lobster-shells. We surround ourselves with ‘em, and then we grow out of ‘em and leave ‘em behind, as evidences of our earlier stages of development.” p 371

This mystery reveals a lot about how shell-shock (today’s PTSD) affected men back home after WWI. Old General Fentiman had to grandsons, George and Robert. Here’s the difference between the two of them:

”The trouble, it seemed, had begun at breakfast. Ever since the story of the murder had come out, George had become very nervy and jumpy, and, to Sheila’s horror, had “started muttering again.” “Muttering,” Wimsey remembered, had formerly been the prelude to ne of George’s “queer fits.” These had been a form of shell-shock, and they had generally ended in his going off and wandering about in a distraught manner for several days, sometimes with partial and occasionally with complete temporary loss of memory. There was the time when he had been founding dancing naked in a field among a flock of sheep, and singing to them. It had been the more ludicrously painful in that George was altogether tone-deaf, so that his singing, though loud, was like a hoarse and rumbling wind in the chimney. Then there was a dreadful time when George had deliberately walked into a bonfire. That was when they had been staying down in the country. George had been badly burnt, and the shock of the pain had brought him round. He never remembered afterwards why he had tried to do these things, and had only the faintest recollection of having done them at all. The next vagary might be even more disconcerting. p 361

Contrast poor George with his brother Robert:

“He’s so thick-skinned; the regular unimaginative Briton. I believe Robert would cheerfully go through another five years of war and think it all a very good rag. Robert was proverbial, you know, for never turning a hair. I remember Robert, at that ghastly hold at Carency, where the whole ground was rotten with corpses –ugh! – potting those swollen great rats for a penny a time, and laughing at them. Rats. Alive and putrid with what they’d been feeding on. Oh, yes. Robert was thought a damn good soldier.” p 289

At various times both George and Robert are suspected, as is a young woman relative of the General’s sister. Parker and Wimsey clash and Bunter carries on imperturbably.

The mystery and its resolution are highly satisfactory in a way that are dated to the time and place. They are a time and place I love visiting.

Peter understands women very well and uses this knowledge to help further the resolution. ‘Doing the right thing’ is invoked in order to save a reputation, and a police officer cannot follow a suspect into a gentleman’s club without the proper attire. And ‘unpleasant’ is used here as a description of that which will ruffle the feathers of members of the Bellona Club and is used through the book to describe things that are much more than unpleasant.

As always Sayers is witty and clever and writes beautifully and vividly.

>107 karenmarie:
I have been picking up a Dorothy L. Sayers book every year or so. After first reading Nine Tailors I devided to read the Lord Peter Wimseys in publication order.

So far I have reached and finished The Five Red Herrings.

>106 karenmarie: Glad to hear book club went well. I haven't read Annihilation but I saw the Netflix film based on it and thought it was pretty good. Slightly too gory and "out there" for my taste but otherwise good.

Sorry KW still isn't eating much. Is he at least eating more since he got medicine? Maybe it takes some time before it really kicks in?
My kitty is eating well though he doesn't want the fresh minced meat I bought last week. I bought Alaska pollock today and he was all over that. He was trying to climb up on the counter when I was preparing it, and he's usually not a counter-climber.

I think there's a few of us in the 75ers who are reading (or re-reading) Dorothy L. Sayers right now. I'm still on Strong Poison but I made a bit of headway today because I had extra time before work.

Poor KW, at least he's getting the best living care available. I wonder if it's allergies?

You do realize I rerecord everything I eat with what you post as your book club dinner? I usually make what I call 'glop', which is one good I minds of like mixed with another food I kind of like of equal density and moisture content. Which reminds me, I need to buy another box of 48 packs of ramen at Costco. Ramen=yummy. Ramen+chunky peanut butter=batchelor's roast beast.

Poor KW, at least he's getting the best loving care available. I wonder if it's allergies?

You do realize I rerecord everything I eat with what you post as your book club dinner? I usually make what I call 'glop', which is one food I kind of like mixed with another food I kind of like, of equal density and moisture content. Which reminds me, I need to buy another box of 48 packs of ramen at Costco. Ramen=yummy. Ramen+chunky peanut butter and it's batchelor's roast beast.

>108 pgmcc: Hi Peter! Oh yes, Nine Tailors is marvelous. So moody and being on the fens…

>109 PawsforThought: Thanks, Paws. I mentioned the movie version of Annihilation to Bill and he’s interested. We’ll watch it sometime soon, possibly this coming weekend.

Kitty William not eating much more since he’s gotten 3 doses of appetite stimulant. I forgot Marianne’s suggestion of the Porterhouse steak dog food when we went out Saturday, might go out tomorrow afternoon after I bring Bill back from having a tooth extracted. I’m glad your kitty is showing enthusiasm for specific foods. So far nothing has gotten KW excited…

With me it’s all re-reads. Glad you made some headway today on Strong Poison. Just since 2008 these are my rereads with the number of times. As you can see, Strong Poison is the clear winner. This doesn’t count what I’ve done this year.

Busman's Honeymoon 1
Clouds of Witness 1
Five Red Herrings 1
Gaudy Night 1
Have His Carcase 1
Lord Peter Views the Body 1
Murder Must Advertise 1
Strider's Folly, The Haunted Policeman, Tallboys 1
Strong Poison 3
The Documents in the Case 1
The Nine Tailors 1
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club 2
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club 1
Unnatural Death 1
Whose Body? 1

>110 SomeGuyInVirginia: KW did eat a bit of a senior kitty puree glop tonight. Inara came in dripping wet - she loves the rain, perverse beast that she is - and is in the living room with Bill watching the Men's Final getting toweled dry.

I feel bad that I'm not force feeding him - that is the vet's next recommendation, but honestly, he's not acting ravenous, just hungry at the normal times. It's very stressful to me, not knowing what is right and what would be Too Much and Too Stressful.

I'm flattered by your attention to my book club dinners. I love ramen but simply don't allow myself to buy it any more because of the sodium content. I love natural chunky peanut butter on toast or even just on bread, no jam. Bill calls it 'fake peanut butter', I call his Jif fake peanut butter. Not to be confused with fake news, of course... we don't live in the Nation's Blah. *smile*

Hmm. Equal density and moisture content. Interesting pairing.

...
Well, off to read and sleep.

I'm glad that you have another successful book club meeting under your belt. In fact, I have the program at my study club Thursday, and I'm going to show & tell them about LT. We may drop by your thread!
I'm sorry that KW's appetite hasn't picked up. DH sieves Elle's food to a slurry that she licks with gusto, but then, her cancer is in her mouth.
I do know your anxiety about what to do. I'm sort of in the same place with my mother although she can tell me what she wants and doesn't. If she likes something, she eats it. If not, she's not hungry. She is generally not hungry for any vegetables, so we do the best we can.
I've forgotten to check on the game. I guess I hope that Va pulls it out, but I really dislike those arrogant so-and-so's. Oh well.

Happy Tuesday, Mark.

>114 Ameise1: This is Karen's thread, Barb! LOL.

Morning, Karen. I had a great day off yesterday, and now back to work. Another nice weather day today but the rest of the week will be a bit erratic. As long as we are gradually getting better, I am happy with it. Enjoy your day.

>112 karenmarie:

Karen, while reading The Nine Tailors I thought the name Canon Alberic was familiar. If you recall his grave was in the churchyard in "The Nine Tailors". It is the name of a character in M. R. James story, Canon Alberic's Scrap-book. For a moment I thought that there must have been a real person called Canon Ableric and that it was a coincidence that he was mentioned in the two stories.

Then I read about the carvings in the church and that reminded me of another M. R. James story, The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral.

I also noticed that Sayers had started several of the chapters with quotes from Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.

This was too much. I used Google to look up "The Nine Tailors" and "M. R. James" and immediately came across an article published in the Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies about "The Nine Tailors" and its being a Gothic tale.

Apparently Dorothy L. Sayers was a fan of both Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and M. R. James. She had written "The Nine Tailors" as a Gothic tale and incorporated quotes from Le Fanu and elements form M. R. James's stories as little clues to readers familiar with their work. On mentioning this to Sayers fans I have not come across one of them that realised this was a Gothic story or that it had these clues in it. On mentioning it to Gothic fans I have not met one of them who realised "The Nine Tailors" was a Gothci story.

I loved the way Dorothy L. Sayers had implanted these little nods to other M. R. James and Le Fanu fans. It added a whole new level of enjoyment and meaning to the book for me.

I also like the way M. R. James set his story in Barchester Cathedral, the Cathedral Trollope created for his story, Barcherster Towers, another excellent book. I get a buzz when I discover links between the works of two or more authors.

>113 LizzieD: Glad it’s over for this book club year, for sure, Peggy. Yay for an LT Show & Tell! If you visit, please be sure to leave a quick note. Say hi to your study club for me.

I’m probably going out today to get KW some senior slushy stuff and a can of Caesar’s dog food like Marianne recommended. He’s just not eating very much.

Your mother makes me laugh – Bill’s step grandmother Pat would eat some of what was on her plate then cover it with her napkin and ask for dessert. She had such a sweet tooth! It is worrisome when they don’t eat enough, whether they are human, feline, or canine.

I think VA won, which although it’s not Carolina is at least ACC. Snarky as it is, I'm glad Zion University (oops, I mean Duke) didn't win.

>114 Ameise1: Hi Barbara!

>115 msf59: Hi Mark! I’m glad your day off was good. Erratic weather sounds like here, too. We had a serious line of thunderstorms last night. Power flickered but didn’t go out, lots of rain, creek flooded a bit. We may get some more of the same today. I hope your work day goes well today.

>116 pgmcc: Sayers novels are wonderful, for sure, Peter. She was an extremely intelligent woman who used her classical knowledge in her writing, both fiction and nonfiction. It doesn’t surprise me that she left clues with quotes by her favorite writers. With Sayers being such a strong and vocal Christian, I found this aspect of her life contradictory (from Wikipedia but I had read most of this in a biography of her):

In 1923 she was in a relationship with Denstone College graduate, part-time automobile salesman William "Bill" White, a "rotten charmer" whom she presented to her parents. She had met him when he moved into the flat above hers in 24, Great James Street in December 1922. Only when she discovered her pregnancy in June 1923, Bill White admitted to already being married. What happened next could have been from one of Sayers’ fictional works : Bill White told his wife Beatrice about the pregnancy the following morning and asked her for help with the birth. Mrs. White agreed to meet Sayers in London. Together they went to Bill’s flat (he was then living off Theobalds Road) and found him with another woman. Sayers: “He’s like a child in a power house, starting off machinery regardless of results. No woman on earth could hold him”. In exchange for the promise to never see Bill again, Mrs White invited Sayers to a guest house in her hometown of Southborne during the last stages of pregnancy and arranged for her own brother, Dr Murray Wilson, to attend the birth at Tuckton Lodge, a nursing-home in Ilford Lane, Southbourne. On 3 January 1924, at the age of 30, Sayers secretly gave birth to an illegitimate son, John Anthony (later surnamed Fleming). John Anthony "Tony" was given into care with her aunt and cousin, Amy and Ivy Amy Shrimpton, and passed off as her nephew to family and friends. Details of these circumstances were revealed in a letter from Mrs White to her daughter Valeria, Tony's half-sister, in 1958 after Sayers' death.

Tony was raised by Amy and Ivy Amy Shrimpton and later was sent to a good boarding school. In 1935 he got legally adopted by Sayers and her then husband "Mac" Fleming. While still not revealing her identity as his mother, Sayers was constantly in contact with her son, provided him with good education and they maintained a close relationship. John Anthony probably suspected Sayers' maternity since his youth but had proof only when he obtained his birth certificate applying for a passport. It is not known if he ever spoke to Sayers about the fact. Much to Sayers's pride, Tony won a scholarship to Balliol College – the same Oxford college Sayers had chosen for Wimsey.

You have only read Strong Poison so far, the first with Harriet Vane, but Harriet Vane is a Le Fanu scholar. Silly me, I didn’t even realize that Sheridan Le Fanu was a real person until two or three years ago, but since then I read one of his books of ghost stories. I found them a tad overwrought, and eliminated the book from my catalog.

I can appreciate your getting a buzz when you see connections among authors and books. I do too.

…
We got back a while ago from Bill’s oral surgery. The anesthesia they gave him required he be driven home, so I took him and brought him back. He’s doing well.

I finally got my book haul cataloged. I decided a couple of $5/bag day books were not going into my collection, and instead of adding one Peter Robinson I eliminated the only one I did have on my shelves. Sadly there were a couple of duplicates that I didn’t check. One of them was okay, though, because I upgraded my trade paperback to hardcover.

How in the world do you have time to do all the rereads? I can barely get through my books the first time! Love the Sayers writeup -- thanks. Hope Bill feels great tomorrow.

>117 karenmarie:

Two other things I found interesting about Sayers. I was aware that she had written a translation of Dante's Inferno and that this was actually the achievement she was most proud of, above all her writing and her marketing accomplishments. Umberto Eco acknowledges her translation of Inferno in his book Mouse or Rat: translation as negotiation as one of the best translations of the work in existence.

The second interesting point, which I was surprised to her, is related to her work in an advertising agency. I started reading Murder Must Advertise. It starts with one of those disclaimers about being totally fictional and that any similarity between characters in the book and real people is purely coincidental, et... When I read that I thought, "Oh! So this story has real people in it but Sayers want to be legally clear from any follow-up by them." It was only after doing some research that I learned she had worked in an advertising agency. In learning that I discovered that she was very successful at it and some of the most famous brands owe a lot to her creativity. Apparently Guinness was one of her clients and she is responsible for such well known advertising slogans and icons as, "Guinness is Good for You!"; the Tucan in Guinness advertising; and several other such things that we take for granted.

Another interesting element in "Murder Must Advertise" is the description of Lord Peter Wimsey as Bertie Wooster but with a serious streak. I thought this was quite funny. With Ian Carmichael having played Bertie Wooster in the original UK TV adaptation of Jeeves (with Dennis Price playing Jeeves), and also playing Lord Peter Wimsey in the more recent UK TV adaptations of Sayers's stories there is ample evidence that they are the same character with slight modifications. Sayers obviously liked the Jeeves stories. Perhaps her Lord Peter Wimsey stories started as a bit of a joke about putting Bertie Wooster in the role of a detective.

Yes, Dorothy L. Sayers had many talents and her work was diverse and multi-layered.

Morning, Karen. Happy Wednesday. Back to damp and chilly today. Boo! I was getting used to that warm sun. I should finish up American Prison today. We have sure done and continue to do some very ugly things in this country. The prison system is absolutely terrible. Of course, African Americans suffer the worst.

Did you know, black people have gone to prison in the south, for smoking a joint, within 200 ft of a school? There are hundreds of thousands of examples like that. Shakes head...

>119 pgmcc: I compare the Wimsey books with Jeeves and Wooster all the time. There are so many similarities (not the least the relationship between Wimsey and Bunter vs Wooster and Jeeves. Obviously, Wimsey is much more capable, but they'd both have a hard time without their "gentleman's gentleman".

>118 Berly: Hi Kim! I don’t separate my reading into reads vs rereads except for statistical purposes. It is simply 'my reading'. Apropos DLS, the Wimsey family coat of arms with motto:



Motto is sometimes “As my whimsy takes me.”

By either motto, except for the group reads and book club reads I am involved in, I literally just have fun going with my whimsy and reading or rereading as my thoughts take me. I have 2,087 books tagged tbr, 52 tagged started, and 1,945 tagged read. (abandoned and dnr are my last two status tags). Unread books are ‘money in the bank’ as my friend Rhoda says. Last year 34 of my 105 books were rereads. So far this year 10 of 31 books have been rereads.

Bill headed off to work this morning. Last night he said that there was some pain, but nothing debilitating, just what you’d expect if you’d had a tooth taken out. Thanks re my Sayers writeup.

>119 pgmcc: Hi Peter! Most of her fiction fans don’t know about her translations and religious works. The only reason I do is because I have and have read the biography by James Brabazon. There’s another by Barbara Reynolds, and one coming out in 2020 that I’ve preordered by Colin Duriez. She was a fascinating woman, full of life and contradictions.

>120 msf59: Hi Mark! Happy Wednesday to you, too. Looks like you’re dodging a weather bullet that’s going to hit quite a bit of the Plains and Midwest.

I am part of berly’s group read of These Truths by Jill Lepore, as you are (you’ve finished it, I think?) and it’s just the most recent confirmation of many of the horrible, greedy, immoral, and selfish things done throughout the history of the colonization of America. I’m not sure I could stomach American Prison, frankly.

>121 PawsforThought: I love Bunter, Paws. He is absolutely brilliant, not the least for saving Peter’s sanity after WWI.

Good morning, Karen. Wow - that's very interesting about Dorothy Sayers. I've only read a few of the Lord Peter Wimsey books - sounds like I should be on the hunt to pick up more.

I'm glad Bill is feeling better after his tooth surgery yesterday. That can be nasty stuff!

>122 karenmarie: Bunter's the best. I've loved him from the first time I "met" him.

>123 streamsong: Hi Janet! I've been fascinated with DLS's fiction since I read my first novel - I forget which one. I know I've never read them in order, so this is the year. Of course you need to read more of them - I'm sure you'd love them.

Bill's feeling it but went to work. He should be in much better shape tomorrow.

>124 PawsforThought: Bunter is a man of many talents and skills.

I do believe, after rereading Whose Body?, that I said I'd like to read the other Wimsey mysteries. I stand by it. I'm just not sure which of the Wimsey titles are by Sayers; Wiki lists a number of titles it attributes to Sayers and someone else (Jill Paton Walsh; I looked it up). Have you read Walsh's contributions to the Wimsey canon? I' not sure I want to indulge second-teamers or pretenders or whatever you want to label them. Wiki also lists mysteries that were "group writes", with each of X number of writers contributing a chapter.

I have five novels beyond Whose Body?: The Five Red Herrings, Murder Must Advertise, ...Bellona Club, Clouds of Witness, and The Nine Tailors. What am I missing of the Wimsey's written by Sayers (alone)? Can you tell me?

>126 weird_O: Here's a list of all the Wimsey books written by Sayers (both novels, short story collections and omnibuses that contain multiple works).

>126 weird_O:
I'm not sure I want to indulge second-teamers or pretenders or whatever you want to label them.

I am at one with you on that.

Okay. Caught up. Happy Kitty William vibes headed southwestward.

>126 weird_O: Hi Bill! The link that Paws gives in >127 PawsforThought: is LT’s info, which, while pretty good does not show the books in order of publication.

In my opinion, the best list of works by DLS is on Wikipedia: Works by DLS. It’s chronological and complete with her translations and nonfiction. For a quick summary of the novels, here they are:

* = you have, N = you need
1923 * Whose Body? with Lord Peter Wimsey
1926 * Clouds of Witness with Lord Peter Wimsey
1927 N Unnatural Death with Lord Peter Wimsey
1928 * The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club with Lord Peter Wimsey
1930 N The Documents in the Case - standalone written with Robert Eustace, epistolary
1931 N Strong Poison with Lord Peter/Harriet Vane
1931 * The Five Red Herrings with Lord Peter Wimsey
1932 N Have His Carcase with Lord Peter/Harriet Vane
1933 * Murder Must Advertise with Lord Peter Wimsey
1934 * The Nine Tailors with Lord Peter Wimsey
1935 N Gaudy Night with Lord Peter/Harriet Vane
1937 N Busman's Honeymoon with Lord Peter/Harriet Vane

The books by Jill Paton Walsh are pale imitations of DLS although I’ve read all of them. There’s only one that’s even remotely good, A Presumption of Death, in which Peter’s off on a secret mission during WWII while Harriet has evacuated with their children and Lady Mary’s children to Talboys. I'd actually consider re-reading it some day.

>127 PawsforThought: As good as LT is about many series, I think the Wikipedia info is more inclusive. Just sayin’.

>128 pgmcc: See my opinion of Jill Paton Walsh, above.

>129 richardderus: Hallo poor sickly one! It’s nice to see you well enough to be out and about on threads. KW needs the vibes - he's not eating much and I'm having to hand-feed him what he will eat. Sigh.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

Wow. Thanks to all for book lists.

>127 PawsforThought: "Common Knowledge", eh? I'll take that to mean I'm uncommon. But that page will make cataloging any books I come across.

>128 pgmcc: Nice to have someone concur, Peter.

>130 karenmarie: I knew you'd come through! Thanks.

Morning, Karen. Sweet Thursday. Yes, I did read These Truths. You are right, Lepore did not shy away from the atrocities committed by our country, then and now. It is very sad, that even a president like Obama, couldn't change any of that. He did take away the privatization of federal prisons, but of course Trump reversed that.

>131 weird_O: You're very welcome, Bill. I have a spreadsheet of all her fiction for this year's personal DLS Fiction read, so played around with the novels bit to make that list above. I do love the 'concatenate' function in Excel. BTW, I'm up to The Documents in the Case - I love epistolary novels and this has always been one of my favorites.

>132 msf59: 'Morning, Mark! Happy Thursday to you Hang on to your hat today - looks like you're going to have lots of wind and maybe some thunderstorms.

...
Chiropractor visit, last one I hope, for my back/hip. Dinner with friend Jan. FoL membership stuff.

KW ate a few bites of food from me this morning, as he did last night. Bill also hand-fed him some bits of chicken.

Marianne - I got the Cesar's Porterhouse steak dog food and when mixed with a bit of water he ate some. I think his vestibular disease is coming back - he's cocking his head again. He got this years ago and I thought it was completely gone.

>133 karenmarie:

Hope the Cesar works even a little.

This morning, I ended up rotating 3 different flavors & brands within an hour: eat, add more water, store, eat, repeat...until lifted head stares at me,
waiting for yet another change. I even bought a few more of those expensive, non-environmentally sound pouches with broth.
Hope that will perk things up this afternoon.

Victoria is on hypothyroid ear gel medication and continues not to gain needed weight so I try a little of everything:
from the Vet's $2.50 cans
(she liked enough for me to buy 3 more, then totally refused to even try again)
thru all the Organics and back around to most of the Fancy Feasts, now alternated with Tiny Tiger and Cesar once a week or so.

Both Friskies and Hills got rejected long ago.

Hope your kitty's old disease is easily treated.

Hi Marianne!

Even eating some of it is encouraging. We do love our kitties, don't we? It's a constant juggling act of what will tempt them at any given time. Good luck with Victoria!

Good luck to the kitties!

I'm in the same boat re feeding. I have been trying various brands of *senior* food, most of which comes in chicken flavour, which my Mia isn't fond of (Lexi eats anything, bless her chubby self). I finally hit on one or two that she seems to like (usually the most expensive brands, of course) and so, I buy more. Once I've purchased a few more cans of the *good stuff*, she changes her mind. I have gone back to the regular supermarket cans that I know she likes because, as I see it, I think it's better that she eat something, than nothing. And, being the natural skeptic that I am, I often wonder if things marked *senior* are more for the discerning purchaser. Much like I often wonder if paying more for so-called *organic*, when so many things these days are labelled as such, are really any different or are just a marketing ploy to sucker in the eager consumer. Sigh... I am such a glass-half-empty person, damn me.

>136 Berly: Thanks, Kim.

>137 jessibud2: Your situation sounds like mine - KW likes something, then stops liking it. Switch, new stuff, likes it then doesn't like it. He just had a few licks of some kind of senior kitty glop and two small bites of my mozzarella cheese. He eat a bit of chicken last night. Good luck, Shelley.

Karen and Shelley, I'm sorry to read of your ongoing problems with getting your kitties to eat. I have a dog and she can be fussy - some days she only wants one meal, other days she is apparently " starving" , but cat's are so much more challenging , from what I've seen. My sister has a small cat, adopted from the SPCA and her age is unknown - she is maybe ??? 7 - 9 years old. She has always been a fussy eater. I know my sister purchases a rotation of different cat foods in very small cans and puts out about a tablespoon or two at a time, a few times a day. Due to my sister's cat having dreadful allergies, my sister has even had to try just cooked turkey and canned pumpkin here and there. So both of you have my greatest sympathy.

Morning, Karen. Happy Friday! How did the doctor visit go? Getting some relief?

Happy Friday, Karen!

It's wonderful to read all the posts about the Lord Peter books and Dorothy L. Sayers. I knew she'd been in an ad agency, but didn't know how well she'd done. I don't know whether I'm up for another read of The Inferno, but knowing Eco extolled her translation, and that it was the work she felt best about, makes it tempting.

Great to see your high regard for The Nine Tailors; it's my favorite after the Peter and Harriet ones. When my now-wife said she'd never tried reading a mystery, and what would I recommend, I recommended Nine Tailors. It seems to have worked - she reads mysteries all the time now.

>139 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah and thank you. I've never heard of canned pumpkin for kitties. I bet there's pumpkin baby food...

>140 msf59: Hi Mark! Thank you. The doctor visit went well, I didn't wake up once in the night with pain. Back and hip are still tender but I came downstairs just now without even thinking about them. In fact, I just realized that. *smile*

>141 jnwelch: Hi Joe! There is a lot of DLS love here on LT, for sure. I've never read any translation of The Inferno, but if I do, it will be hers.

Good for you for getting Debbi to read The Nine Tailors as her first mystery. I'm a bit ashamed that I can't remember which one I read first. I'm also amazed at myself for never keeping a reading diary until I joined LT in 2007.

...
Today I'll be visiting Louise to give her some Medicare info and a CDB ointment sample that my chiropractor gave me for her. I was just going to buy her a jar of the level 4 ointment, but it was $75 there at the chiropractor's. I can see it for $55 on the mfr's website, but that's still a lot of money if you don't know something's going to work.

>139 vancouverdeb: >142 karenmarie:

After seeing it recommended for a more natural Hairball Control, I tried canned Organic Pumpkin.

Victoria LOVED it - until I bought 12 sweetly on sale cans.
Anything with the pumpkin odor then got a SNIFF and a walkaway.

I'm still making pumpkin cookies, pancakes, and bread...

Oh my, Marianne! Victoria sounds like a pip. Thank goodness there are so many recipes for pumpkin.

Prepare to be amazed: I spoke to my shrink for an entire (50-minute) hour without so much as clearing my throat. Nary a cough! I am as pleased as a toddler taking an unaided step, as a seven-year-old learning Daddy let go of the bike...childish glee "r" me!

That CBD stuff is superpricey. I found no benefit from it, drat it all.

Morning, Karen. Happy Saturday. I decided to take the day off and go on organized bird walk. Priorities, right? Tomorrow is supposed to be cold and damp, so I am picking the better day.

Glad you are feeling better and I hope that trend continues.

>145 richardderus: You're definitely coming along, RD! I am amazed since you've been so sick.

I took a few samples of the sample my chiropractor gave me for Louise. It seemed to help my lower back, but it wasn't a controlled study because I had just had the adjustment. If Louise buys some I might ask for a little sample. I wish it had helped you because even pricey doesn't matter so much if you get pain relief.

>146 msf59: Hi Mark! Happy Saturday to you, too! I'm glad you've taken a day off. Yes indeed, priorities. Thanks - I keep feeling a little better every day.

...
I gave KW some slurry through a syringe yesterday. He was not pleased and threw up some of it, but I hand-fed him some tuna juice last night. This morning he came into the kitchen meowing when I came downstairs, a VERY good sign. He drank more tuna juice and quite possibly had a few bits of tuna too.

Jenna's coming home today through tomorrow because this is her kitty and I have no idea how much longer he'll be with us. If he lives into May and she can see him when school's out, great, otherwise she's gotten to say a proper good bye to him.

Finally, we have gotten 3 inches of rain in the last 16 hours and the creek has turned into a flowing river. Not near the house, as always, but there goes the plan on getting last summer's downed trees out in early May unless we start getting some humid-free hot days.

Stopping by to say hello and report my first hummingbird sitings this week. Maybe the same male buzzed the feeder on Thursday and then stopped for some food on Friday. Always a thrill every year.

>148 witchyrichy: Hummingbirds do not appear in Ireland. They are a species I would love to see in real life. That is a polite way of saying, "I am jealous!" :-)

I should have better explained the canned pumpkin that my sister had to feed her finicky car. Harriet the cat has suffered with bad allergies and my sister had to seek out an vet who specializes in allergies in cats and dogs. For a while, he advised my sister to give the cat a novel protein , in her case, home cooked turkey. To prevent constipation, the canned pumpkin was added. She had to keep the cat on that regimen for 4 - 6 weeks, I think it was. Harriet would scratch and bite at herself so much she ended up with deep wounds. This food regime seemed to allow the wounds to heal. I think in part, Harriet is an anxious cat and while the allergies played a role in the wounds, in part it was just Harriet's reaction to stress.

I'm not sure if my sister purchased the pumpkin from a pet store ( which you can ) or just used organic pumpkin from the grocery store.

>148 witchyrichy: >149 pgmcc: It flew into my window, but I was able to get to it before the dogs and this one was able to fly away after it regained its senses:

>151 quondame: WOW!
Karen, I'm happy to hear that your back is relenting. My left leg is aching again, and that's really from my back too.
Our Elle had one horrible day when she wouldn't eat, but yesterday and today she's doing better. She's hungry, but even with pain meds that cancer in her mouth hurts. On the other hand, she's still sitting and lying normally (not lumped), her ears and purr are good, and she's always ready to play. My DH feeds her slurry, and she's taken to Sheba cans lately (but that won't last as everybody has noted). That's really the only way she's getting water these days.
We'll keep them as long as they are happy cats.

>151 quondame: So cool!! : O

>147 karenmarie: Hope the back continues to feel better.

>151 quondame: Ooh, I love this hummingbird rescue story. Go Susan!

Morning, Karen! Happy Sunday. I had a great bird outing yesterday. You can stop by and see the details, but it was chilly. I then I had a lazy afternoon with the books and baseball. We have a family get-together this afternoon, so any reading I get in, will have to be early.

Enjoy your day.

>148 witchyrichy: Hi Karen! Congrats on the hummingbird sightings! I haven’t seen any yet but Louise saw one three days ago. I think I put my feeders late – missed the migrators and the residents haven’t gotten here yet. It is always a thrill!

>149 pgmcc: They are so tiny and energetic and aggressive, Peter – you’d love just watching them, I’m sure.

>150 vancouverdeb: I bought some Gerber baby food yesterday- ham in gravy and a separate jar of sweet potatoes. He liked the ham and turned his nose up at sweet potatoes.

>151 quondame: Oh, Susan! What a wonderful photograph! So glad you were able to perform a hummingbird rescue. We used to have them get confused in the skylights on the back porch. Bill would patiently stand under the skylight until the hummingbird fell, catch it, put it in a cloth lined box away from the cats. We must have rescued 4 or 5 over the years. We don’t have flowers in the yard near the back porch, so haven’t seen them on that side of the house in a few years.

>152 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! Slow and steady on the back – I’m sorry to hear that your left leg is aching. Because it keeps taking longer to get over any back issues that crop up I’d say that getting old sucks, but I am determined to age gracefully. I will be 66 this summer but have plans to live into my 90s, so I’m trying not talk about my health issues too frequently.

Poor Elle – that was Kitty William on Thursday. That’s when I told Jenna to come home this weekend. He ate that bit of Gerber baby food yesterday and had tuna juice at least 3 times. KW isn’t playing any more, but isn’t in pain and can get from here to there. He sat on Jenna’s lap for 2+ hours yesterday, but seems to like the tempurpedic pillow we put on the floor for him. I think it cushions his old kitty bones.

>153 Berly: Hi Kim! Back’s coming along. I might indulge in one more chiropractic appointment next week.

>154 msf59: Hi Mark! Happy Sunday to you, too. Congrats on the bird outing. Good luck getting some reading in – I know that I don’t feel like it’s a day if reading isn't in the picture somewhere.

...
Jenna will return to Wilmington today - she just came home to say goodbye to Kitty William since we don't know how much longer he will be with us. Could be any time, could be after my sister comes to visit May 2-13 and Jenna comes to visit after classes end on May 8.

An easeful, gentle passage for noble Kitty William. *smooch*

Yes, RD. Jenna left about 15 minutes ago and I know that she's crying all the way back to Wilmington. She's very stoic, but Catman is her kitty, and we've had him for 17 of her 26 years. It was good that she came home, for sure.

32. The documents in the Case by Dorothy L. Sayers and Robert Eustace
4/9/19 to 4/14/19





My Description: An expert on edible and poisonous mushrooms, George Harrison, dies horribly from muscarine, commonly found in the Amanita muscaria mushroom, at a remote shack he frequently stays at. His second wife is young and flighty, her companion a bad influence. Two young men have rented the rooms upstairs. The atmosphere in the household becomes tense and unhappy. After Harrison's death has been ruled death by misadventure, Harrison’s son Paul comes home to settle the estate and is not at all convinced that his father would have unknowingly poisoned himself. Through a series of letters and documents, we learn about the relationships of the members of the household and how Paul goes about trying to determine the truth.



Why I wanted to read it: Next in my year-long re-read of Dorothy L. Sayers novels.

This is Sayers’s only novel that does not include Peter Wimsey. She wrote 11 with Peter Wimsey, this one with Robert Eustace, and contributed a chapter in each of four novels published with members of the Detection Club.

From Wikipedia: Robert Eustace was the pen name of Eustace Robert Barton (1854–1943), an English doctor and author of mystery and crime fiction with a theme of scientific innovation. He also wrote as Eustace Robert Rawlings. Eustace often collaborated with other writers, producing a number of works with the author L. T. Meade and others. He is credited as co-author with Dorothy L. Sayers of the novel The Documents in the Case, for which he supplied the main plot idea and supporting medical and scientific details.

I love epistolary novels. They have to convey action, plot, and characters through letters and documents. This effort by Sayers succeeds for me because of the way the letters and documents are laid out by the murdered man’s son. The Harrisons, father and son, are logical and straightforward thinkers. This clarity appeals to me and comes through in the numbering of each document and the order in which they are presented. The scenes are vivid and alive and the things unsaid are as important as the things said. You feel that you know these people even though they are far removed from us in time and place.

Sayers made frequent and brilliant use of letters to move the plot forward or to give some backstory as a subtle aside in other novels. Two examples are Unnatural Death with letters from Miss Climpson to Peter andBusman's Honeymoon’s wonderful letters from the Dowager Duchess of Denver to a friend detailing the events leading up to and the marriage of Peter Wimsey and Miss Harriet Vane.

Do not skip this novel just because we do not see Lord Peter, Bunter, or Charles Parker. The strength of this book is Paul Harrison's relentless pursuit of the truth based on his knowledge of his father – that he wouldn’t have killed himself and he wouldn’t have unintentionally poisoned himself. What’s left is murder and The Documents in the Case prove who did it, how they did it, and why they did it. Motive, means, and opportunity.

>158 karenmarie: Ooh, that sounds interesting. I hadn't heard about that Sayers before - only really familiar with ther Wimsey books. Definitely putting it on the list for "some day". It's checking several boxes I like: epistolary, poisons, Sayers.

>158 karenmarie: I have never, until this good moment, heard of this Sayers novel. Not *once* and I had a Sayersian sister and mother-figure. It isn't available for Kindle, drat the luck.

>160 richardderus:, >159 PawsforThought: and >158 karenmarie:, I thought I had read all D. Sayers' novels too.

Turns out, not only have I never heard of one by Dorothy L. Sayers and Robert Eustace, I can't get The Documents in the Case from our library system.
Now I am really intrigued!

>159 PawsforThought: Hi Paws! I don’t remember how I got my copy, published in 1971, but I’ve read it several times and as I wrote above love it. It’s definitely a hat trick!

>160 richardderus: Well, RD, you learn something new every day. You’ll have to educate your Sayersian sister and mother-figure. I’m trying to resist being a tad smug about knowing about this book…

>161 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy! I hope you can find a copy soon.

…
A reminder to all – for both Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers I have found the Wikipedia Lists of their works to be indispensable.

List of Works by Dorothy L. Sayers

Agatha Christie Bibliography

Morning, Karen. 3-5 inches of snow yesterday. It won't stick around long but WTH? Heading out to work. Enjoy your day.

Hi Mark! Your weather amazes me. I hope your work day goes well.

...
Catman came to the kitchen this morning, but didn't eat anything I put down for him. What was left of last night's food was gone, but lately I've seen Inara eating what she never used to eat - canned food and tuna juice - so I don't know if he ate it or she did. But here's some TMI good news regarding KW: he's not dehydrated - he just used the kitty box.

Gotta go pick up our taxes and pay the accountant, the feds, and the state today. 60-mile round trip. Sigh. I really hate saying this, but I think our taxes are less than they would have been before the effing Republicans passed their tax cuts.

>164 karenmarie: I'm glad Eldercat isn't out of the game just yet.

And he ate some bacon - every piece I eat I save a tidbit for him. Eldercat. Love it. Especially from you, dear one, who is not fond of those of the feline breed.

Just back from paying taxes and paying our accountant. I had a slight headache before I went there, less slight now, but I've just taken some ibuprophen.

Done and done.

>166 karenmarie: I got the tax stuff done a week before. I got a refund, but it was SMALL.

A refund is always a win, Lori! My goal was always to break even - not owe them anything yet not let them hold my money.

Just saw a male Indigo Bunting in the Crepe Myrtle.

33. Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
4/9/19 to 4/15/19





From Amazon:

“In my reckless and undiscouraged youth,” Lillian Boxfish writes, “I worked in a walnut-paneled office thirteen floors above West Thirty-Fifth Street…”

She took 1930s New York by storm, working her way up writing copy for R.H. Macy’s to become the highest paid advertising woman in the country. It was a job that, she says, “in some ways saved my life, and in other ways ruined it.”

Now it’s the last night of 1984 and Lillian, 85 years old but just as sharp and savvy as ever, is on her way to a party. It’s chilly enough out for her mink coat and Manhattan is grittier now―her son keeps warning her about a subway vigilante on the prowl―but the quick-tongued poetess has never been one to scare easily. On a walk that takes her over 10 miles around the city, she meets bartenders, bodega clerks, security guards, criminals, children, parents, and parents-to-be, while reviewing a life of excitement and adversity, passion and heartbreak, illuminating all the ways New York has changed―and has not.

A love letter to city life in all its guts and grandeur, Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney paints a portrait of a remarkable woman across the canvas of a changing America: from the Jazz Age to the onset of the AIDS epidemic; the Great Depression to the birth of hip-hop.

Lillian figures she might as well take her time. For now, after all, the night is still young.

Why I wanted to read it: My choice for RL book club May discussion.

The first thing that strikes me about this book, having just finished reading the Authors Notes and Sources after the end of the book is that it is inspired by the life of Margaret Fishback. Who, you ask, is Margaret Fishback? From Wikipedia:

Margaret Fishback, later Margaret Fishback Antolini (March 10, 1900 – September 25, 1985), was a relatively well-published American poet and prose author from the late 1920s until the 1960s. Born in Washington, DC, she earned a degree from Goucher College before joining Macy's as a divisional advertising copywriter in 1926. During the 1930s she was reputed to be the world's highest-paid female advertising copywriter. She was published in The New Yorker, the New York Herald Tribune, and several well-known women's magazines. According to a large collection of her papers held by Duke's Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising, and Marketing History, "Fishback contributed to advertising campaigns for Arrow Shirts, Borden's, Chef Boy-Ar-Dee, Clairol, DuPont, Gimbels, Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P), Hanes Hosiery, Martex, Norsk, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Seagram's, Simmons Beautyrest, and Wrigley, among several others."

Fishback died in Camden, Maine, at the age of 85. Fishback was married to Alberto Gastone Antolini, the chief rug buyer for Macy's, from 1935 to 1956. They had one son.

See the similarities? I can’t believe I’ve never heard of Margaret Fishback prior to reading this book.

I was mesmerized by this first-person account of Lillian, starting at age 5 in 1904 with postcards sent to her by her Aunt Sadie. It turns out that all poems and advertising in the book were written by Margaret Fishback and published in the book with permission from her estate. Clever, intelligent jingles, interesting poems, and one letter from WWII from “Mumma” to “Puppa” filled with love for their son and missing her husband.

Here are some quotes to give you a sense of Lillian’s ‘voice’. Always acerbic, always well-written, always beautifully balanced:

I spent my first Christmas in the city alone. Alone, but not lonely; in the state of being solitary but not the condition of wishing myself otherwise. Solitude enrobed me like a long, warm coat. p 43

His expression was sheepish enough to supply a Highland village with wool and milk. p 47

Max had ordered Lobster Newberg, a sea bug drowning in butter and cream and eggs and cognac. As he ate, I could practically see a future heart attack peering over his shoulder, licking its fatty chops. But it was not my place any longer to remark upon ways he might extend his life. p 90

By now I have come to appreciate the Twin Towers, even though I thought them ugly at first, boxy and rectangular and needlessly huge. While they were being constructed, somebody, I can’t remember who, called them soulless and inhospitable to human use: a pair of glass and metal filing cabinets on a colossal scale. In spite of myself, I have always found their gigantism majestic, and now I esteem them, too. If some latter-day Moses ever displaces them – their current tenants’ arcane shifting of cash and commodities someday rendered as quaint as the radio scrappers’ labour, supplanted by robots, satellites, who knows what – then I suppose I would feel their absence much as I do that of other already absented parts of my city. Dully but not quite fully gone. A pair of phantom limbs. p 119

My older brother never came to visit me. He did write me letters, though: distant and condescending ones, because those were the shallow pools in which his small mind swam. p 195

How much fun would it be to meet her and Margaret Fishback at Delmonico’s, perhaps, or at an automat. Fascinating ladies, intelligent, relatively successful in the world of men, published authors.

The only thing that would have made this book more interesting would be a map of Lillian’s walk.

Great comments on Lillian Boxfish, Karen. Yes, a map would have been great. LTers could visit NYC and do the Lillian tour. ;)

>169 karenmarie: A book I intend to read one day soon. I love the alone/lonely speech!

>170 BLBera: Thanks, Beth! Ooh, the Lillian Tour! I like it already.

>171 richardderus: There are so many quotable bits that I had a hard time picking out just a few. But the alone/loneliness one is actually quite a bit of what makes Lillian tick - I haven't created a good way to explain why each comment in a review is important to me. Perhaps I'll figure it out for the next review.

The next review should be David Copperfield, but I'm seriously stuck. (yes, RD, C the D...) I need to continue with These Truths and A Suitable Boy, but the last 4 weeks have been busy and stressful, so I'm seriously in DLS comfort reading right now. I started Strong Poison last night. I absolutely love the Dowager Duchess of Denver. Here's her first opinion of the case before the learned judge:

"I'm waiting for Peter, Freddy. Such an interesting case and interesting people, too, don't you think, though what the jury makes of it I don't know, with faces like hams most of them, except the artist who wouldn't have any features at all if it wasn't for that dreadful tie and his beard, looking like Christ, only not really Christ but one of those Italian ones in a pink frock and blue top thing. Isn't that Peter's Miss Climpson on the jury, how does she get there, I wonder?" p 17

How can one resist?

Hi - can't remember if we had this cat conversation about dehydration, but a cat fountain (Amazon, around $20-25)
recommended by our vet dramatically increased Victoria's water drinking.

Hi Marianne! KW is still drinking water. I tempted him with some lightly cooked bacon tonight. He ate about 5 teensy pieces. Licked a bit of cream off a spoon - I know, I know - but any calories and liquids are good.

>172 karenmarie: I'm now into A Suitable Boy. It is certainly rich and dense, and will occupy me for at least a week at the current rate. I may however, take a break or two to read other library books before their due dates.

Morning, Karen. Good review of Lillian Boxfish. I enjoyed that one too. The snow is gone and it is going to be a beautiful day here, specially since I am off.
Jim is in town for a conference, so Joe, Linda and I are meeting him at a German Beer Hall. Of course, we are. Grins...

I may also put up the hummingbird feeder.

>175 quondame: It certainly is a chunkster, so good luck, Susan. I enjoy it when I'm reading it, but am 2 parts behind right now.

>176 msf59: Hi Mark! Thanks. Have fun on your day off, especially at a German Beer Hall. One of the few times in my life that I've enjoyed beer was in the beer tents at Oktoberfest in Munich in 1979. Liter steins of beer, radishes, and schweinshoxe. This isn't my picture, but I brought back this exact liter beer stein. It's well traveled - (what was then) West Germany, Connecticut, California, North Carolina.

>158 karenmarie: I'm hit! Yet another good book to hunt up and read. I do appreciate your backgrounding of books like this.

>169 karenmarie: I've taken another bullet. I've been "aware" of this Boxfish book, but just in terms of recognizing the title and knowing that it's been mentioned quite a few times on LT. I think I knew that it was well-liked. So now I've got another book to hunt up and read. Your review made me sit up and pay attention (I'm actually kinda slouched, but mentally...).

>178 weird_O: Thank you, Bill!

>179 weird_O: Wow. Two bullets in one day. I hope you survive... I'm glad my review got your attention.

>151 quondame: Yay on saving the hummingbird! What kind is it? We only have the ruby throated in Virginia. Yours looks much darker.

>169 karenmarie: And you are about the fourth person who recommended the Boxfish book so it must mean I need to read it. I'm 1/3 of the way through Bruce Springsteen's memoir but could take a break for a good read. I am heading to the library for book group and there is a copy of the shelf. I'll take it with me for my Easter visit to Pennsylvania. I'm counting this as my book bullet for bingo.

How is this possible? I go to sleep in foggy warmish seaside spring and wake up to cold, clear seaside chill. Dratted old oceanic breeze, why couldn't it wait for August?

*grumble*

>181 witchyrichy: I noticed the difference in that hummingbird from our hummingbirds, too, Karen. I hope Susan replies.

You are fated to read Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, Nice that there's a copy from the library.

>182 richardderus: Yesterday I was contemplating putting on the summer sheets, last night I was grateful for the microfleece ones and my winter jammies. It was 35F this morning, but looks like it's going to be warming up through the weekend at least. The weather seems to be screwier and screwier.

*smooch*

34. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
4/14/19 to 4/16/19





From Amazon: Can Lord Peter Wimsey prove that Harriet Vane is not guilty of murder - or find the real poisoner in time to save her from the gallows? Impossible, it seems. The Crown's case is watertight. The police are adamant that the right person is on trial. The judge's summing-up is also clear. Harriet Vane is guilty of the killing her lover. And Harriet Vane shall hang. But the jury disagrees.

Why I wanted to read it: Next up in my year-long personal challenge to read all of Dorothy L. Sayers’s fiction.

Oh, how I adore this book! I always choke up at the ending, having read it a dozen times or more over the years.

We’ve met Peter in four previous books, where his sleuthing and detecting skills are proven. We have already seen his ability to harness his wealth and influence and to call upon people from every class of 1920s and 1930s British society to get what he needs to solve a case. But this is the first book with Miss Harriet Vane – only seen in the dock, in a room in the prison, and at the end of the book in the company of two friends. And Peter is frantic to save her because he simply must have her for his wife.

Peter relies heavily upon Miss Climpson and what he calls The Cattery – a business he owns - women who help him bring criminals to justice by hiring themselves out under false pretenses to get evidence. This time Miss Murchison plays a key role in spying on a potential suspect, learning how to pick locks and relying on knowledge of previous jobs to discover some unsavory financial doings. And the manager, Miss Climpson herself, spends a week or more going against her High Church principles in order to trick some information out of a nurse. Mr. Arbuthnot, Peter’s friend, provides interesting insights about speculative stocks and who is playing the market.

Here are a few quotes. This book is chock full of them.

The next day dawned bright and fair, and Wimsey felt a certain exhilaration as he purred down to Tweedling Parva. “Mrs. Merdle” the car, so called because, like that celebrated lady, she was averse to “row,” was sparking merrily on all twelve cylinders and there was a touch of frost in the air. These things conduce to high spirits. p 47

“Let us suppose, Bunter, that you were to be the bearer of a courteous missive to one Mr. Norman Urquhart of Woburn Square. Could you, in the short space of time at your disposal, insinuate yourself, snake-like, as it were, into the bosom of the household?”

“If you desire it, my lord, I will endeavour to insinuate myself to your lordship’s satisfaction.”

“Noble fellow. In case of an action for breach, or any consequence of that description the charges will, of course, be borne by the management.” p 61

“If anybody ever marries you, it will be for the pleasure of hearing you talk piffle,” said Harriet, severely.

“A humiliating reason, but better than no reason at all.”

“I used to piffle rather well myself,” said Harriet, with tears in her eyes, “but it’s got kncked out of me. You know – I was really meant to be a cheerful person – all this gloom and suspicion isn’t the real me. But I’ve lost my nerve, somehow.”

"No wonder, poor kid. But you’ll get over it. Just keep on smiling, and leave it to Uncle Peter.” p 97

It all comes together with only a few days left before a second trial that very well may convict Harriet and send her to the gallows; this is only the teensiest spoiler - that Peter does save her. Otherwise, how could we have the other three excellent novels with her presence? They are Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night, and Busman’s Honeymoon.

And this is what I have always envisioned Lord Peter and Harriet Vane to look like, from a 1987 BBC version of Have His Carcase. Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walter (serendipitous first name) are Peter and Harriet. Not handsome or beautiful, but with strong, character-filled faces.

You're making a strong case for me to read my first Sayers, Karen!

You should go for it, Katie! The very first Peter Wimsey is Whose Body? but the first Peter and Harriet is, of course, Strong Poison. There's a continuity to reading them in order but I didn't read them in order the first time.

edited to add: Oh no! The Five Red Herrings is next. I've only read it twice and abandoned it several times compared to multiple re-reads of every other book. I need to gear up for it, so won't read it for a while. I have vowed to finish it this time I start it... but yeesh!

>181 witchyrichy: I am very poor at collecting labels for out-of-door flora, fauna, or geology. This hummingbird had a bit of green around the throat, but like most of the others buzzing about my house it was pretty drab. On lucky years, of which this is not one, there is a nest just in front of the window of my breakfast room, in some shrub or other.

>184 karenmarie: I am purposely not reading this review, because I'm still in the middle of reading the book and don't want even the slightest hint of a spoiler.

>177 karenmarie: Love the beer stein. I was also in Munich, during Octoberfest. WOW!!

Morning, Karen. I put up my hummingbird feeder yesterday. I won't be able to monitor it closely for the next few days, but I hope it attracts an early visitor. I am currently at 16 species for the year.

>187 quondame: Hi Susan! It could be one of several. My mom, who lived in Diamond Bar, always had Rufous Hummingbirds for sure. I’m not sure about any others.

>188 PawsforThought: I completely understand, Paws!

>189 msf59: Hi Mark! Were you at the 1979 Oktoberfest?

Yay for hummingbirds. Congrats on 16 species for the year so far.

Happy Humpday, Horrible. I'm back under cloud cover, so warmer, and bizarrely enough happy to be so. I know I'm getting old...warm is more and more appealing. Forty-year-old me is reeling from the shock.

Happy Humpday to you too, RD! It's always a shock to realize that our earlier selves would not believe what our current selves are and do.

Lovely review of Lillian.

Piffle!

Excellent review of Strong Poison, Karen, and excellent selection of quotes. You make me want to re-read it now. I love the Petherbridge/Walter versions. Ian Carmichael was too clownish and superficial for my tastes (although it was a legitimate choice, wasn't it?) P & W really get at what I love about the stories. (I can't even imagine Ian Carmichael doing the Peter and Harriet stories, and I don't want to!)

Red Herrings is annoying in many ways. I can see why you had trouble with it. Yeesh is right.

>194 jnwelch: I think Five Red Herrings was her attempt to put a story in a favourite holiday location. I believe that led to her being more focused on the area and possibly some local charachters rather than the story.

>194 jnwelch: Carmichael was a good deal too hearty for our man Peter. I thought Petherbridge went a little the other way, but Walter was superb. I've seen her several times now on stage in all-female casts of Shakespeare, and she's always wonderful.

hej, Karen, wish you a blessed Easter week

Morning, Karen. Sweet Thursday. I went into the army, in the fall of '79. I was in Germany, '82-'84. Many fond memories.

>193 streamsong: Thank you, Janet!

>194 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe. There are dozens of good quotes that point out different aspects of characters or Sayers’s philosophy of life. I have old Friends of the Library book marks that I now use for bookmarks. Each is 2 7/8” x 8 ½” and only has printing on one side, so I use the other to note page numbers and the first few words of things that catch my attention.

I’ve never watched the Ian Carmichael Wimseys, although I have some of them I’ve acquired at FoL sales. I saw Petherbridge first, you see.

I’m going to finish These Truths this week. I’ve got 197 pages to go. Next week I’m going to get caught up with A Suitable Boy, catch up pages being 267. And I’m going to try to get back into David Copperfield by reading a chapter or two every day.

Finally, I’m reading the first in the Peculiar Crimes Unit series by Christopher Fowler, inspired by SomeGuyInVirginia’s gift of Hall of Mirrors in the same series.

I’ll read The Five Red Herrings sometime after mid-May, when my sister goes back to CA.

>195 pgmcc: Hi Peter! I’ll try to do a bit of research after reading it again. Where I found the artists in the books eccentric and interesting so far I remember the artists in The Five Red Herrings as being very unlikable. The murder victim can be unlikable, but not pretty much everybody else in the book. We’ll see if my memory is correct after I read it.

>196 ffortsa: You’re right Judy – too hearty and handsome. Not wispy enough. We'll have to agree to disagree - I think they're both perfect in their roles. I only wish they'd done Busman's Honeymoon. I don't know why they didn't, it would have been logical to finish the Wimsey-Vane story line.

I like Harriet Walter every time I see her - the Winslett/Thompson Sense and Sensibility and two Midsomer Murders episodes and probably others I can’t remember off hand. I’d love to see her live.

>197 paulstalder: Thank you Paul! The very same to you, too.

>198 msf59: Hi Mark! Sweet Thursday to you, too. I loved Germany – West Germany then since it hadn’t reunified with East Germany – I stayed with a friend of mine who was living in Göttingen working as a biologist at the Max Planck Institute there. I stayed for about a month then we went to the Algarve in Portugal for a two week holiday. In West Germany, lots of museums and churches, the Oktoberfest. Eiswein, which was awful. Excellent beer. I was absolutely appalled at a relic in a church – bones, jewels, pink gauze all in a beautiful wood/glass case. *shudder* In Portugal we sunbathed, did a lot of walking, ate well, tried out our terrible Portuguese, and drank lots of wine. I made the mistake of getting some Bacalhau (salted, dried cod) just before we took the train back north and was sick most of the journey. My poor friend Haika!

…
I’m having lunch with my former coworkers in Sanford – another 60-mile round trip this week – then meeting with friend and neighbor Larry to discuss getting the pasture fencing repaired/upgraded. We have 2 trees down in the pasture and are having a tree service come out to get them out as well as remove some trees along my old vegetable garden fence line and cedars along the fence line with neighbor Louise. The tree stuff will be about $7K when the tree service can actually get into the pasture – too much rain recently. The fencing will probably be about $3K (I hope).

Kitty William came out again this morning and drank quite a bit of albacore juice. I now have albacore in the refrigerator to consume - possibly a tuna/cheese melt for dinner tonight.

Sweet Thursday, Horrible!

Hallo, RD! *smooch*

Hi Karen! I hope you have fun on your 60-mile-roundtrip lunch! :) I do that sometimes too. It's worth it for a good friend, isn't it?

I did have fun, Rachel. I have realized however, that most of what I had in common with my co-workers was work and only two of six still work there. Still, it was good getting caught up.

>199 karenmarie: So you're not a fan of Eiswein? It was a big thing with my friends in the 90s. Me, I like my wine on the dry side mostly.

I took one sip of Eiswein and about gagged. I do not like sweet wines. However, neither do I like whites like Chablis or Pinot Grigio. Give me a good Sauvignon Blanc any day, or a good Chardonnay.

I've come a long way from my college days of Strawberry Hill, Annie Green Springs, and, when those weren't available, Manischewitz. $1.25 a bottle, sold in the liquor store across from campus to anybody who could reach the counter. *smile*

Hi Karen my dear, I thought I should pop by as I haven't been here for a while, hope that you and Bill are well and that Jenna is doing fine. Karen seems to have finally got rid of her cold and apart from my back problems that are hindering my bit of gardening work, we are both well and looking forward to Easter Sunday lunch with all the family.

My reading has slowed a little bit but I am still well ahead of last year and I know it will pick up over the next few days, Karen has passed me again so I am playing catch up with her.

Sending love and hugs from both of us to you all, dear friend.

Morning, Karen. Happy Friday. Your Germany and Portugal trips sound wonderful. I will have to get back to Europe one of these days. I would like to bring my wife. She has never been.

Back to breezy and cool today, but it should be dry.

'Morning, Mark! Happy Friday to you, too. I had lots of fun there, haven't even mentioned the Greece portion with my then-boyfriend Antonios on the island of Andros...

We're supposed to have dangerous level 4 weather today with two separate lines, one 12-ish and one five-ish. High winds, torrential downpours, even tornados. Thank goodness Bill's off work today for Good Friday, otherwise he'd be trying to get home in the afternoon line.

Inara is getting our attention by peeing in the bathtub - dark brown urine - this happened once before and she had to be put on antibiotics for a kidney infection. Sigh. Her appointment is at 11:30, just ahead of when the first line of storms is supposed to be coming through.

Kitty William is skin and bones, but not in pain and came to the kitchen this morning. I hand-fed him some tuna juice with little bits of tuna in it. He ate quite a lot, but is getting wobbly. Double sigh.

Happy Friday, or as happy as such a task- and risk-laden day can be. I hope the noon-ish line of nasty holds off until you and Inara are home and dry.

I'll be here basking in my pleasant sunny spring day. *smooch*

'Morning, RD! Happy basking.

We're already getting rain so I'm not sanguine about a non-weather trip to the vet.

Hi Karen, hope your trip to the vet was a safe one?

Poor cat, why are their kidneys so sensitive?

Very good review of Strong Poison! And maybe you are just not in the mood for David Copperfield. No pressure, right?

>169 karenmarie: Skimmed through your review as I am still reading Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk -- so far I am loving it! Her voice, her strength, her humor. Great choice.

I do love me some Dororthy Sayer. Haven't read her in a while...

Good luck weathering the storm today!

>211 EllaTim: We made it safe and sound, Ella. The vet gave Inara some fluids, told me to temporarily increase the anti-inflammatory medicine I give her, and I'll start her on an antibiotic tomorrow. She's already feeling better, I think. At a bare minimum I know she won't get any worse.

Thanks re Strong Poison. I am embarrassed that I can't seem to get back into David Copperfield - too much going on with both kitties and etc. We'll see.

>212 Berly: I'm glad you love it, Kim! Very few authors please me as much as Dorothy Sayers. I've forgotten how much I love the books and how much detail about them I remember, even down to specific conversations!

We survived the storms - got only about an inch of rain, a bit of wind. We were under a tornado watch for 8 hours and a tornado warning for about 45 minutes, but didn't have to find our 'safe place' in the no-window bathroom. Several power flickers but we didn't lose power at all.

Kitty William scared us to death - we thought he had gotten out when Bill unintentionally left a door open for a bit. Couldn't find him, we were both distraught, thinking he'd gone outside to be alone to die. Terrible afternoon and early evening, then he just showed up after 9 hours of being missing. None the worse for wear, obviously hadn't been outside. We think he was in Bill's home office. I was devastated thinking that he was alone outside dying with a storm raging... he's still on his final decline, but he's well loved, comfortable, and safe. I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about what I was feeling.

I am absolutely exhausted.

No reading, just off to bed. But I'm counting my blessings. No damage to our property or house, both kitties are as well as can be expected, and I've had a snootful of wine and should sleep well.

*smile*

Dear Karen I am so sorry, and I am so happy for Kitty William. He'd not get better loving care anywhere.

I've taken an ambien and am just waiting for it to kick in. Switching episodes of Black Summer, Derry Girls (love!), and Special.

Ii have Good Friday as a company holiday. It always depresses me quite badly.

Thanks, Larry.

I hope the ambien gave you a good night's sleep. Here I am at 4:45 with insomnia. I'll have a mug of coffee, read a bit, then probably go back to sleep in a while like I usually do.

I'm sorry about Good Friday depressing you. Not being Christian, I've always only appreciated the day off, not the religious aspects.

Morning, Karen. Sorry, to hear about the insomnia. I noticed you were visiting threads early this A.M. Are you able to nap at all, later on?

Working on my second cup of coffee and then I will be shoving off.

Hi Mark! I went to bed around 7 again, just got up about 10 minutes ago. I'm a good napper - we'll see if one beckons this afternoon. I hope your work day goes well.

This is shameless, though well-meaning. Stop by my thread for a review of The Mueller Report. (See! It already has a touchstone.) No, it isn't my review; haven't read the whole thing yet.

Happy Easter, Karen. Shame on me for this terrible mistake way up there.

>218 weird_O: Hi Bill! Thanks! I’ll visit soon.

>219 SandyAMcPherson: ?

>220 Ameise1: Hi Barbara! Thank you, and no problem. Very cute chicken. Love the bunny ears.

Morning, Karen. Happy Easter. We are visiting with my side of the family, this afternoon. Mostly cousins, but I don't see them as often. It will be a gorgeous day in the Midwest. Enjoy your day.

Thanks, Mark! Happy Easter to you, too. Have a wonderful day with your family.

Edited to add: Goldfinch report: Four males and one female in the Crepe Myrtle, alternating turns on the sunflower feeder. So beautiful.

Happy Hassenpfeffer-on-the-hoof day. Spend it finding goldfinches and ortolans and passenger pigeons and other beautiful winged friends.

Thanks, Darling Richard! In five minutes I'm off to pick up Louise, have a scrumptious lunch, then go to a matinee performance of the last Playmakers' event of our season ticket series.

I've already eaten much Easter candy. *smile*

No rabbit, though.

>221 karenmarie: Yeah, deleted my comment ;)

I was dozy and I said something irrelevant (because the Post has a block on my accessing the report unless I subscribe). I am pig-headed about subscribing to online news sites. When I care enough, I go to our main branch library but sadly, the budget cuts discontinued the Post.

I hope you are enjoying the holiday weekend now that the weather alert is over, Karen. Your posts are reminding me how much I like Dorothy Sayers. She is one of the few authors that I reread and seems like I am due to dip into them again. Your review of Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk has me intrigued.

>226 SandyAMcPherson: Dozy. I hope you are now un-dozy! You remind me that being Treasurer of our Friends of the Library notwithstanding, I really should consider using the library more - perhaps they have a source for me to get the report on... I tried downloading from Politico but now something seems to be wrong with my Adobe Acrobat reader... it's always something.

>227 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg. It's been a combination of good and bad - good because of watching Person of Interest with Bill and almost being done with These Truths by Jill Lepore for the group read, bad because Kitty is really failing now and I need to do the right thing and take him to the vet tomorrow to ease his way into kitty heaven.

>228 karenmarie: Oh dear. I'm so sad with you, dear one. It's the right thing to do, but it's really really hard.

Morning, Karen. We had a great time with the family yesterday and we were even able to sit outside and enjoy the gorgeous weather. Nice again today. I think I will switch to shorts. And hooray for the goldfinch sightings! I have been on hummingbird watch.

>229 richardderus: Thank you, Richard.

>230 msf59: Hi Mark! So glad you had a wonderful Easter. Yay for switching to shorts.

...
I accidentally left out the wild bird seed feeder yesterday and see that it's been completely wiped out by squirrels and/or raccoons. Drat.

KW isn't interested in food at all.

{{{Karen}}} and Kitty William. First Ellen and her Abby, earlier this week, now you and KW. My time with my 2 is approaching, as well, I can tell. They are 18 and 19 and the signs are starting to rear their heads.

It's never easy.

Thank you, Shelley. I haven't been doing well with threads and didn't realize that Abby was gone, too.

It is absolutely never easy, but it's the last best thing we can do for them.

So sorry, Karen :(

Our dog, Louis, who lives with my SIL and BIL (we can't have a dog in our rental) is failing, and it breaks my heart.

Thank goodness for many happy years together.

Thank you, Katie. It does break our hearts. We have had many wonderful years with Catman - I'll probably post some pics tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'm subliminating my grief into a book review of These Truths and doing laundry.

35. These Truths by Jill Lepore
1/5/19 to 4/22/19





From Amazon: In the most ambitious one-volume American history in decades, award-winning historian and New Yorker writer Jill Lepore offers a magisterial account of the origins and rise of a divided nation, an urgently needed reckoning with the beauty and tragedy of American history.

Written in elegiac prose, Lepore’s groundbreaking investigation places truth itself―a devotion to facts, proof, and evidence―at the center of the nation’s history. The American experiment rests on three ideas―"these truths," Jefferson called them―political equality, natural rights, and the sovereignty of the people. And it rests, too, on a fearless dedication to inquiry, Lepore argues, because self-government depends on it. But has the nation, and democracy itself, delivered on that promise?

These Truths tells this uniquely American story, beginning in 1492, asking whether the course of events over more than five centuries has proven the nation’s truths, or belied them. To answer that question, Lepore traces the intertwined histories of American politics, law, journalism, and technology, from the colonial town meeting to the nineteenth-century party machine, from talk radio to twenty-first-century Internet polls, from Magna Carta to the Patriot Act, from the printing press to Facebook News.

Along the way, Lepore’s sovereign chronicle is filled with arresting sketches of both well-known and lesser-known Americans, from a parade of presidents and a rogues’ gallery of political mischief makers to the intrepid leaders of protest movements, including Frederick Douglass, the famed abolitionist orator; William Jennings Bryan, the three-time presidential candidate and ultimately tragic populist; Pauli Murray, the visionary civil rights strategist; and Phyllis Schlafly, the uncredited architect of modern conservatism.

Americans are descended from slaves and slave owners, from conquerors and the conquered, from immigrants and from people who have fought to end immigration. "A nation born in contradiction will fight forever over the meaning of its history," Lepore writes, but engaging in that struggle by studying the past is part of the work of citizenship. "The past is an inheritance, a gift and a burden," These Truths observes. "It can’t be shirked. There’s nothing for it but to get to know it."

Why I wanted to read it: Group Read. I was intrigued.

Lepore has written an amazing book, one that is as carefully non-partisan as anything can be in these days of an unfettered Internet, fake news, and polarized politics. She’s quite young to have such a fundamental grasp of large issues – 52 – and I admire her scholarship and synthesis of facts, movements, philosophies, wars, and issues into such a powerful book.

Her starting the history in 1492 startled me at first, but as I read her reasons, citations, and justifications, I came to see that the rise of nation-states dated to the collision of the Americas and Europe, the deliberate setting of this early date, of inevitability, of the United States. To ignore this date, manipulated as it was, would have ignored the fact that

“the idea of equality came out of a resolute rejection of the idea of inequality; a dedication to liberty emerged out of bitter protest against slavery; and the right to self-government was fought for, by sword, and still more fiercely, by pen. Against conquest, slaughter and slavery came the urgent and abiding question, “By what right?”’ p 10

And then she relentlessly and amazingly lays out a history driven by the reaction to slavery and power, to freedom and inequality, to responsibility and abdication of responsibility.

It is profoundly depressing, frankly. It is beautifully written, intricately built one fact at a time, and basically says that nothing has changed. The forces that divide us haven’t gone away, haven’t been ameliorated. They have gained strength then waned, been newly motivated with new generations then gone out of style.

They are racism, sexism, and religious intolerance. They are power, control, and money.

If anybody can find a better way to interpret this book I’d love to hear it.

>236 karenmarie: "Better" is a concept that doesn't obtain to this interpretation. It isn't flawed. A happier interpretation isn't supported by the facts Lepore presents. A sunnier take on History's driving forces is a fundamentally flawed take, one that is only usable as distracting garnish on the shit sandwich of life.

That's reality fer ya.

Karen, I'm so sorry to hear that KW isn't getting better and doesn't want to eat. At least he's being very well looked after and very much loved - and that's the best life a cat can have.

My kitty seems to be doing better, but it's difficult to tell without new tests. We'll probably get them done after the holidays to see if he really has improved or not. But he's eating better (and we have him on higher protein diet now), he has more energy, is cleaning himself more (and thus his fur is looking nicer), and seems to have filled out a little again. So we're hopeful, if still cautiously so.

>237 richardderus: Confirmation of my interpretation - thanks RD. It is sad reality.

>238 PawsforThought: Thanks, Paws. He is definitely well loved. We have an appointment at 4:30 today. Bill will try to meet me there, and Jenna saw KW last weekend to say her good-byes. She's got projects and end of semester coming up and can't take the time off, so we're glad she got to see him.

Inara, on the other hand, is much perkier for fluids, increased dosage of anti-inflammatory, and antibiotics.

I'm glad your kitty is doing better and hope that the tests give positive results. Higher energy and grooming are two wonderful things.

Kitty William went peacefully, with me holding one paw and stroking his head. He's buried in our yard now.

{{Karen}}

{{{Karen}}}

Great review of These Truths, Karen. It was "profoundly depressing", but I love the fact that Lepore never lets our country off the hook. She actually pulls back the curtain, to reveal centuries of wrong-doing. I am not sure we have ever been "nice".

I am so sorry to hear about KW. He is at peace now.

Wish it could have turned out differently, but so good that your KW had such a love filled and peaceful ending.

>240 karenmarie: So sad to say good bye to so much love.

Thank you Shelley, Richard, Mark, Marianne, Susan. It will take a while to sink in, but Bill and I were sending each other photos we’d taken on our cell phones of Catman over the years, so had a ‘memorial service’ of sorts.

We’re both exhausted.

>243 msf59: Thank you, Mark! You’re right – she never lets our country off the hook. I’m not sure we’ve ever been nice either – very hard for a baby boomer like me to say, raised as I was on the lies and pap.

Dear Karen, I'm sorrier than I can say that you've lost your KW, but for his sake, I'm glad it's over. It's so hard to let them go.
Our Elle is on the same path - the cancer is encroaching on her right eye, but she still laps up the liquified cat food that DH fixes for her 4 times a day and otherwise snoozes or plays bag.
Glad to hear that Inara S. has perked up.
((((((((Karen))))))))

{{{Karen}}} Kitty William always knew love and plenty and when the time came you had the courage to be merciful. You have done beautifully and I'm so sorry you're going through this.

Morning, Karen. Much cooler today but I will deal with it, plus I am off tomorrow and it is supposed to be beautiful. Can you say bird stroll? I knew you could...

>247 LizzieD: Thank you, Peggy. I’m glad it’s over, too. He wasn’t in pain, thank goodness. He’d stopped playing and eating and when he didn’t come to the kitchen yesterday morning and didn’t drink any water, well, that was it. I hadn’t mentioned it here, but when I took him in 2 weeks ago Dr. Bonnie found a growth in his abdomen. Even had he recovered from the upper respiratory tract infection, it would have taken him soon anyway.

I know that when it is time for Elle to go to kitty heaven that you and your DH will be strong for her sake.

>248 SomeGuyInVirginia: Thanks, Larry. It was too quiet this morning. No KW to check on.

>249 msf59: Morning to you, too, Mark. I can certainly say bird stroll. *smile*

Morning, Karen! I am so sorry about KW. Keeping you in our thoughts.

Thanks, Mamie!

I still have Buddy's stuff, and he died 19 years ago. Good grief, can it really be that long? When I was unpacking boxes I found a brush I used to comb him and it had some hair left. I put it in front of Parker and said that was kid grit grit granddaddy. A little weird but we had a moment.

Wow. Bill brushed Kitty yesterday, one final time, and put the combings into a baggie. Not my thing, but it made Bill feel better. Glad you and Da Floof had a moment.

I'm so sorry about Kitty William, Karen. It seems like it was at least a very peaceful and calm moment. I'm sure he felt very loved.
Good that you still have Inara, and that she's doing better.

>253 SomeGuyInVirginia: I still have some fur (and the salt stone holder) from my old bunny, who's been dead for 25 years. It's in an old matchbox somewhere at my parents' house. I don't have anything like that from my old kitty but lots and lots of photos, and a cardigan he was very fond of sleeping on that I like to wear when it's super-cold.

Thank you, Paws. It was peaceful and calm, and Dr. Bonnie was almost as upset as we were since she was the first vet we took him to when he needed some attention before he became our kitty.

Inara is rather feisty right now - as I walked by her on the couch she swatted at me, always a good sign.

Sentimental things from our pets are important, but the memories are as good - our puppy-cat Magic zooming ahead of us then letting us catch up before running on ahead as we took walks on our property, Merlin sneaking into the car and us having to turn around to bring her home, Coco Chanel being verbally abused by a squirrel, Kitty laying on the one square foot in the house that my book was occupying, and Inara Starbuck coming inside dripping wet after being outside in a rain storm or hanging outside in the snow - we've never had any other kitty who loved the water as much as Inara does.

Magic


Merlin


Coco Chanel


Kitty William


Inara Starbuck

>256 karenmarie: Lovely! Every one!

Condolences on the loss of KW. Houses are always eerily quiet after we lose a loved dog or cat.

I do agree with remarks here and elsewhere about These Truths. Not too many places I can think of that wouldn't have their own share of shameful behavior, but sometimes I just want to leave. I know Darryl plans to act on that, and I hope his plans for Portugal work out. He has much more reason to leave than someone with even my feminine amount of white privilege.

We white boomers were certainly being fed the koolade when we were young.

So sorry about KW! Hope you are doing ok! *hugs*

>256 karenmarie: Beautiful kitties, the lot of them!

Morning, Karen! Happy Wednesday. I am enjoying the day off and getting ready to head out on an organized bird stroll. It is not very often that my timing works out for these, during the work week. Yah!! My feeders are busy, so I am hoping for a good one.

>257 LizzieD: Thank you, Peggy. Here’s a pic I thought about late last night. It is the only one with the five of them together:



>258 ffortsa: Thank you, Judy. It is eerily quiet. Until the very end he always came to the kitchen to get some breakfast as soon as he heard me in the morning.

I have been thinking a lot about white privilege lately, mostly in conjunction with These Truths, but also because I live in the mid-Atlantic, in a state that fought on the side of the confederacy. It makes racism very real, because as my husband says, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 simply drove racism underground. The internet, unfortunately, allows like-minded people to congregate in an astonishingly easy way; the underground racism has been coming aboveground again for many years now. And I watch in disbelief as the orange gasbag throws gasoline on its fire every chance he gets.

Our ‘feminine amount of white privilege” is still more than people of color have. I can’t change my ancestors, some having come to ‘America’ no later than 1644. I don't feel guilty for my ancestry, but do know that I have no concept of racism at its most fundamental level, having never experienced it. And frankly I haven't experienced much discrimination based on my sex although I know I was consistently and seriously underpaid compared to male counterparts.

I was struck with a book I started after the 2016 election and finished in 2017, The Righteous Mind, by Jonathan Haidt. It has informed my thinking about politics and why we are so polarized ever since. Here’s the review I wrote in Dec 2017: review of TRM

And finally, We white boomers were certainly being fed the koolade when we were young. You’re absolutely right. I’ve read more and better information about the formation of these here ‘united’ states in the last 10 years than in the previous almost 56 years of my life, and not much of it makes me feel proud.

>259 ChelleBearss: Thanks, Chelle. I have teary moments here and there, but fortunately have something to focus on – my sister’s visit from CA May 2 -13. Stuff to do! Things to plan!

>260 PawsforThought: Thanks, Paws.

>261 msf59: Hi Mark! You snuck in while I was bloviating above... *smile* I hope you have a fun and successful outing.

>262 karenmarie: I’ve read more and better information about the formation of these here ‘united’ states in the last 10 years than in the previous almost 56 years of my life, and not much of it makes me feel proud.

Yup.

I've experienced prejudice from all shades of skin and at all levels of heat from icy silence to volcanic loathing because I'm gay, directed at me personally and very much in my face; I still have only the haziest notion of what racism does to a person. And this country's roots are in that racism. It isn't edifying.

'Morning, RD!

'very much in my face' reminds me of the many times I have been confronted by Christians, starting in my late teens at college and as recently as a family Christmas party in 2018! Memorable experiences are being literally pushed up against a wall and another time having a finger poked in my chest demanding that I accept JC as my personal savior. And at the Christmas party it was a little twinkie cousin who hasn't even read the Bible cover to cover, by her own admission.

Still less than what you've experienced.

>262 karenmarie: Great post. And thanks for the link to your stellar review from 2016. Reagan definitely made me twitch, and these days I have a hard time listening to any politician.

I did hear a few quotes from Elizabeth Warren on the news, and thought she should take a tip from Margaret Thatcher, who took vocal coaching to lower the timbre of her voice to give her more authoritative sound. I think it would help Warren a lot.

Thank you, Judy! And thanks re my review. Listening to any of them is hard work right now, especially after just finishing These Truths.

I need to listen to Elizabeth Warren - how I would love to be able to support another woman running for the Presidency.

Has Bernie rejoined the Democratic Party for expediency's sake again?

Just catching up here. Sorry to hear about Kitty William. (( Hugs))

Sorry about your cat, Karen. It is hard to lose a furry family member.

>268 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Anita! Hugs are always welcome.

>269 BLBera: It is definitely hard, Beth. Thank you.

Inara is acting a bit strange - could be a combination of her being sick and the stress with Catman. Not bad strange, but strangely demanding but being restless about it. She's been in and out of the Sunroom a dozen times today so far.

>270 karenmarie: My guess would be that she's noticing that you are grieving KW (maybe mixed with her missing him too). Cats are very perceptive about things like that and pick up on emotions.

>266 ffortsa: Reagan was anathema to me from his governorship in my state of CA, but I started being unable to stomach listening to Republican politicians from Nixon's first run for President, and I was at least two presidential elections from being able to vote then.

So sorry to read Kitty William has left this earth, Karen, hugs to you and Bill.

>266 ffortsa: Spot on, Judy, about the timbre of EW's voice. I could rant about what is happening to the tongues of younger women (high-pitched, nasal, vocal fry, rising inflection, distortion of vowels, etc.), but I've caught myself in time. I simply guess that if I were to be revived 50 years after my death, I wouldn't understand one word in four. (Our local NPR station has an intern who talks about 91.4 I-FIM - given flat I of southern pronunciation.) Gah!
Reagan has a lot to answer for.
Poor Inara. Y'all comfort each other.
White privilege - brought home to me again in the floods of the past 2 years. Our white forebears built on high ground; we will never be flooded out unless the whole town goes.

Morning, Karen. Sweet Thursday. Back to the grind today, but with the temps pushing 70F, it should be a good day on the route.

>274 LizzieD: - And let's not forget about inserting the word *like* after almost every other word in sentences. That is one thing that absolutely drives me around the bend. From anyone.

Good gracious it's Thursday. How did you manage that? Amazing. It *should* be Saturday by my count.

But then again, every day's Saturday around here since I got no job to go to! *wheeeee*

>271 PawsforThought: I agree – and she slept on the bed all last night – not typical of her.

>272 quondame: That’s where I first started actively disliking Ronnie Ray-gun too, Susan. (I was born in SoCal). He was so smarmy. It’s funny the things you remember – we had a mock election at my 3-6 elementary school, Peter F. Burnett Elementary School, when I was 11 and even then I voted for the Democrat – LBJ. I don’t remember discussing it with my parents, both staunch Republicans. We stopped talking about politics when I was 12, though, after Dad and a friend of his ganged up on me one day and basically told me my opinion of someone/thing was stupid.

>273 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita.

>274 LizzieD: I’ve never heard of vocal fry, Peggy, and thus I’ve already learned something new today! Rising inflection is the one that gets me every time.

You would weep if you read These Truths.

>275 msf59: ‘Morning to you, Mark! Glad the temps are cooperating.

>276 jessibud2: Hi Shelley! Like, umm, you know – all irritating fillers I try to not use when I open my mouth. I also like trying to use complete sentences, too. *smile*

My daughter and I have an amusing running battle about the word important. I pronounce it with a glottal stop (I think, with a glottal stop) , ‘im-por’-nt’, she has the southern or Carolinian way of pronouncing it – don’t know which – which is ‘im-por’-dent’.

>277 richardderus: Hi Richard! Yes. It's Thursday. But then again, every day's Saturday around here since I got no job to go to! *wheeeee* Yes!! Another No Alarm Clock morning, Callooh, Callay!

Tonight is dinner with high-school friend Jan - we met in SoCal but both moved here over 25 years ago and reconnected about 8 years ago. I also need to continue getting ready for my sister's visit - it's now only a week away from her visit!

>279 karenmarie: Times like these ya miss the cleaning ladies...or how they used to be, anyway.

Yup. It's just me and my elbow grease... Bill will make sure the outside looks presentable in addition to our friend and neighbor Larry working on the fencing. Here's Larry already busy this morning:

36. Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler
4/16/19 to 4/24/19





From Amazon:

Edgy, suspenseful, and darkly comic, here is the first novel in a riveting mystery series starring two cranky but brilliant old detectives whose lifelong friendship was forged solving crimes for the London Police Department's Peculiar Crimes Unit. In Full Dark House, Christopher Fowler tells the story of both their first and last case—and how along the way the unlikely pair of crime fighters changed the face of detection.

Why I wanted to read it: It’s been on my shelves for a while, and when SomeGuyInVirginia sent me the newest Bryant & May, Hall of Mirrors, I decided I should finally take the plunge.

Strengths: Eccentric characters, witty dialog, suspenseful atmosphere, and real insight into how London coped with the 1940 German bombings and WWII in general. This insight makes sense to me, with lootings, inefficiencies, chaos. This, much more than the almost god-like stoicism, efficiency, and perfection that has somehow become the generally accepted consensus of the times, doesn’t diminish the war effort at all, just makes it more remarkable.

Weaknesses: So many characters introduced so quickly that I needed a Cast of Characters but didn’t get one. Also, going back and forth between 1940 and 2003 with nary a clue in the chapter titles. By the end of the first page of a chapter I was pretty well clued in, but not always. Lots of coincidences, and really! An illegitimate child who spent his entire life secreted away in the theater?

I’m glad I read it, and will read more.

>282 karenmarie: Hmmm

Those issues aren't small. I'm wondering about this read now...maybe it can wait.

I didn't find it an easy read, Richard, but it was worthwhile. It was easy in the sense of it being my favorite genre and being set in England - but difficult in the rhythm of the book, back and forth between the two mysteries, many of the same characters, and also descendants of some of the characters from 1940.

I've picked up A Suitable Boy again - to keep current I need to read 133 pages by midnight. This won't happen, but I'm going to read a bit here before I continue taking pots/pans off the hanging rack, cleaning the rack, and only putting back one pot/pan per hook. The rest will be boxed and put upstairs for Miss Jenna to eventually look through.

>281 karenmarie:, Sigh ~ I'm drooling over all that greenery: fresh young leaves and grass.

Here it is windy, brown and so dry that there are grass fires threatening some small towns and farms in Central Saskatchewan. Woke up to blobby snow, flakes that lasted less that 20 minutes falling. After a few days of 20 oC, the ground made them melt instantly.

Perfect reading weather, since the temp has been falling all morning. I'm going to devote some time to my curently reading list today, especially Two Dianas in Somaliland. I've started the King of Attolia as well, which may attract more of my reading devotions than Two Dianas.

We've had so much rain this spring and the temps have been getting warm, too, so things have exploded. It's beautiful to look at, but I debated posting that picture simply because it looked so needful of a mow.

I'm from southern California, and can relate to the windy, brown, and dry. Part of my attraction to the east coast of the US is the lush greenery - even though obtained at the cost of pollen, lots of rain, and in a month or so, terrible humidity. It's hard to keep up with after a while.

Snow? Blobby snow, I like that. Have fun with your reading! I'm dithering - want to start something new, need to read A Suitable Boy and David Copperfield.

Fowler can be spotty, I hated The Water Room (but don't remember why) and Plastic and Nychtophobia both had some confusing bits. The conclusion to 10-Second Staircase is kind of 'whaaaa?' That said, I read almost everything by him. There's something so agreeable about his work, he really just wants the reader to have a good time. His Bryant & May mysteries only seem to get better to me.

I've love to have some rain come through and wash this pollen away. Brutal this year.

So Larry - can I skip The Water Room and go directly to Seventy-Seven Clocks?

I read Seventy-Seven Clocks but don't remember a thing about it. I can tell you what I think are the high points in the series- Victoria Vanishes, Memory of Blood, Strange Tide, Paperboy (his yute in England), Hall of Mirrors, Invisible Ink (forgotten authors), and Film Freak (his later yute watching movies and working in an ad agency). If you read any of these and don't want to read another, you probably won't like anything by him. I admit, Fowler is an idiosyncratic choice.

Oh, and Rune another of his that I liked very much.

Karen, I am sorry to hear about a Kitty William’s passing. There has been too much activity at the Rainbow Bridge lately. *sigh*

Adding my condolences, Karen, about Kitty William. It must be tough to lose a good pal like that.

I agree with the weaknesses you identify in Full Dark House. And I've kept reading Bryant and May mysteries, too, including the newest one SomeGuyinVirginia sent you.

Ya know, I think the problem with recommending fiction favs is that that they strike a cord with the reader that may not be otherwise struck. I really like some of Christopher Fowler's books, but I read them as literaryvcomfort food. A book form of ice cream or that really good Chinese from that hole in the wall next to the 7-11.

>289 SomeGuyInVirginia: Recommended ones duly noted, Larry. I’m intrigued enough to continue. >290 SomeGuyInVirginia: Also noted. *smile*

>291 Donna828: Thank you, Donna. You’re right. Much sadness.

>292 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe. I particularly miss him here in the Sunroom – he liked to sleep on the printer.

I’ll definitely keep reading Bryant & May. I don’t have the second one, but do have Seventy-Seven Clocks. I'll wait a while before cracking it.

I’m trying to decide if I want to read The Sympathizer – it whispered to me today as I was looking around for something different to read.

>293 SomeGuyInVirginia: I’m not taking these as high litrachur, Larry, just good mysteries. Actually, I tend to not usually like literary fiction compared with mysteries, thrillers, nonfiction… anything that smacks of pretention usually doesn’t get my vote.

>293 SomeGuyInVirginia: ~I love this description, especially fav fiction reads as literary comfort food being compared to the Chinese food take-away. Although I'm maybe missing something,

Why is it a problem, if the reader might otherwise not have been aware of a particular fiction fav? I hadn't heard of Megan Whalen Turner until I saw folks on the 75-book challenge threads discussing them. They're a bit flawed in certain ways, but I'm roaring through them as great escapist literature at the very least. I'm sure Fowler isn't one I'd be looking to read, though.

Just my humble commentary. I'd be interested in what I missed by that.

Morning, Karen. Happy Friday. Hooray for good neighbors. I hope you have a good day planned.

>295 SandyAMcPherson: Let's see if Larry replies...

Nice to see that you've found a new author and series - the description of it, YA, fantasy, mythology, leaves me meh. Proof that LT has something for everybody.

>296 msf59: Hi Mark! Happy Friday to you, too. Larry the neighbor's definitely a good'un - so's Larry SomeGuyInVirginia.

Today is puttering around the house. I've had a sad/busy week so far and want some downtime without commitments.

People like their different entertainments. I don't see the point of gettin' all riled up about it anymore. I'm happily savoring, and making last, Hope for the Best; I don't see all that many folks around here cooing and oohing over it, but that's just not relevant to my pleasure in it.

Friday Scryday: I predict Trumplethinskin will melt down over something stupid.

*smooch*

>298 richardderus:, my morning chuckle: I predict Trumplethinskin will melt down over something stupid..
Thank you :D

Morning Karen! I'm sorry to hear about Kitty William. You were giving him a lot of support to make his final days as comfortable as you could, you are a good pet-mommy. :) It's hard to see a good friend of that age leave.

Good luck on your downtime. You could definitely use some. :) I hope you have a wonderful day.

>298 richardderus: 'Morning, RichardDear! I got bored with The St. Mary's Chronicles, but as always, you and I are perfectly content to ATD.

I am trying to avoid the crybaby in chief today - I just listened to 1A on NPR but they were mostly talking about the Dems not the Grab-Our-P******.

>299 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy! Our Richard is a wordsmith.

>300 The_Hibernator: Hi Rachel! Thank you. And thanks re the downtime - I've been doing a bit of laundry, organizing cleaning supplies, reading, and will putter away today.

Off to create my new thread... it's gratifying to have so many visitors and so much great conversation.