Mahsdad's (Jeff) 2020 Thread - Q3

Welcome Q3 of 2020 - The Year We'd Like to Forget, Already!

How the heck did it get to be Q3 already. Geesh. Time flies when you're stuck at home.

If you're new, my name is Jeff. I live in Southern California. I'm an avid reader. My wife might say I'm bordering on the obsessive. But then, I think that could apply to a lot of us in this group. I also enjoy photography, movies, hiking and playing games and hanging out with my family. Book-wise, I have a pretty eclectic taste in what I read and I hope to give you not so much reviews but my impressions about what I read.

What you will find here is mostly my rambling, way too many (according to some :) ) Wishlist and TBR pile temptations and a smattering of my photography. I don't really make a plan for what I'm going to read thru out the year. Its mostly what strikes my fancy from the TBR piles.

2013 Reading Thread
2014 Reading Thread
2015 Reading Thread
2016 Reading Thread
2017 Reading Thread
2018 Reading Thread
2019 Reading Thread

Come on in and sit a spell...

(BTW, if images aren't working try to switch to the non-secure address. HTTP, instead of HTTPS)

Welcome!

This quarter I give you a multi-topper. There's a local used bookseller around me that takes old books that are destined for the landfill and turns them into journals. They take the covers and puts blank journal pages on a spiral binding. I've shared several of these over the years, I use them for my day-to-day work notes. What's need is that they put interesting exemples of the old book in the end pages. Some have been the library checkout sleeve, my last one was a gift and it had the inscription. This one shows some example math problems from the 40's.

2020 Statistics - Q3

A - Audio
ER - Early Review
GN - Graphic Novel
K - Kindle
LL - Life's Library


September
67. Work Done for Hire - Joe Haldeman (A)
66. Homesick for Another World - Ottessa Moshfegh
65. The Executioner's Song - Norman Mailer (A)
64. Twelve Years a Slave - Solomon Northup (K)
63. Beartown - Fredrik Backman
62. Faces in the Crowd - Valeria Luiselli (LL)

August
61. A Prayer for the Dying - Stewart O'Nan
60. A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor - Hank Green
59. The Institute - Stephen King (A)
58. Space Struck - Paige Lewis (poetry) (LL)
57. The Subprimes - Karl Taro Greenfeld
56. Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens (A)
Favorite : A Prayer for the Dying


July
55. Early Riser - Jasper Fforde
54. Doctor Sleep - Stephen King (A)
53. The Mind's Eye - Oliver Sacks (A)
52. The Shining - Stephen King (A)
51. Tiny Love - Larry Brown (ER)
50. Andromeda Evolution - Michael Crichton (Daniel Wilson) (A)
Favorite : Tiny Love

2020 Statistics - Q2

A - Audio
ER - Early Review
GN - Graphic Novel
K - Kindle
LL - Life's Library


June
49. Animal Farm - George Orwell (A)
48. The Water Dancer - Ta-Nehisi Coates (A)
47. Blonde Roots - Bernardine Evaristo (LL)
46. James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl (A)
45. There's No Place Like Home - Edan Lepucki (K)
44. Homewreckers - Aaron Glantz (A)
43. Being Mortal - Atul Gawande
42. The Future of Another Timeline - Annalee Newitz (A)
Favorite : Being Mortal


May
41. The Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne (K)
40. Celebrated Summer - Chuck Forsman (GN)
39. Town and Country - Jess Walter (K)
38. Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood
37. The End of the Fucking World - Charles Forsman (A)
36. Agency - William Gibson (A)
35. The Wolves of the Calla - Stephen King (A)
34. Guard of Honor - James Gould Cozzens
33. The Lottery - Shirley Jackson (K)
Favorite : Oryx and Crake


April
32. The Robots of Dawn - Isaac Asimov (A)
31. Controller (Warmer) - Jesse Kellerman (K)
30. Full Throttle - Joe Hill (A)
29. At the Bottom of New Lake (Warmer Collection) - Sonya Larson (K)
28. Unbury Carol - Josh Malerman (A)
Favorite : Full Throttle

2020 Statistics - Q1

A - Audio
ER - Early Review
GN - Graphic Novel
K - Kindle
LL - Life's Library


March
27. Exit Strategy - Martha Wells (K)
26. The Naked Sun - Isaac Asimov (A)
25. Rogue Protocol - Martha Wells (K)
24. Artificial Condition - Martha Wells (K)
23. Caves of Steel - Isaac Asimov (A)
22. All Systems Red - Martha Wells (LL)
21. Wizard and Glass - Stephen King (A)
20. Irontown Blues - John Varley
19. Sorry Please Thank You - Charles Yu
18. I Am Not Okay With This - Chuck Forsman (GN)
Favorite : All Systems Red


February
17. The Underground Railroad - Colson Whitehead
16. Cry, The Beloved Country - Alan Paton (A)
15. Manuscript Tradition - Harry Turtledove (K)
14. The Hillside (Warmer) - Jane Smiley (K)
13. Things My Son Needs to Know About the World - Fredrik Backman (K)
12. Frankenstein in Baghdad - Ahmed Saadawi (A)
11. Parable of the Sower - Octavia Butler (LL)
10. Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie (A)
9. You Have Arrived At Your Destination (Forward) - Amor Towles (K)
Favorite : Parable of the Sower


January
8. In Pieces - Sally Field (A)
7. The Bridge of San Luis Rey - Thorton Wilder
6. Last Conversation (Forward) - Paul Tremblay (K)
5. Northern Lights - Tim O'Brien
4. The Waste Lands - Stephen King (A)
3. Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders
2. A People's Future of the United States edited by Victor Lavalle (A)
1. They Called Us Enemy - George Takei (GN)
Favorite : Lincoln in the Bardo

Audiobook Narrators

Too many to name - A People's Future of the United States
Frank Muller - The Waste Lands, Wizard and Glass
Sally Field - In Pieces
Dan Stevens - Murder on the Orient Express
Edoardo Ballerini - Frankenstein in Baghdad
Michael York - Cry, The Beloved Country
William Dufris - Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, The Robots of Dawn
Dan John Miller - Unbury Carol
Zachary Quinto
Wil Wheaton
Kate Mulgrew
Neil Gaiman
Ashleigh Cummings
Laysla De Oliveira
Nate Corddry
Connor Jessup
Stephen Lang - Full Throttle
George Guidall - Full Throttle, The Wolves of the Calla
Lorelei King - Agency
Laura Nichol - The Future of Another Timeline
Paul Bellantoni - Homewreckers
Taika Waititi (and friends) - James and the Giant Peach
Joe Morton - The Water Dancer
Ralph Cosham - Animal Farm
Campbell Scott - The Shining
Oliver Sacks (introductions)
Richard Davidson - The Mind's Eye
Will Patton - Doctor Sleep
Cassandra Campbell - Where the Crawdads Sing
Santonio Fontana - The Institute
Maxwell Hamilton - The Executioner's Song
Chris Sorensen - Work Done for Hire

Life's Library Book Club

Life’s Library was created by John Green and Rosianna Halse Rojas to celebrate two of their favourite things: good books and good communities. Every 6 weeks or so, they send out a new book. Hopefully, from authors that I've never heard of.

Season 2
1. The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler :
2. All Systems Red by Martha Wells :
2a. Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne :
3. Blonde Roots by Bernardine Evaristo :
4. Space Struck by Paige Lewis :
5. Faces in the Crowd - Valeria Luiselli :
6. On Immunity - Eula Biss

Early Review Books



Rating
- 4
- 18
- 1
- 4
- 1
- 2 (DNF)

Total Won - 38
TBR - 3
Total Read - 28
Didn't Receive - 3
DNF - 3
Not received yet - 0

2013
Top Down - Jim Lehrer -

2014
Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere - Julie T. Lamana -
Acts of God- Ellen Gilchrist -
Invisible Beasts - Sharona Muir -
Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie (DNF) -
Dr. Mutter's Marvels - Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz -
The Future for Curious People - Gregory Sherl -
Furious Cool - David Henry -

2015
Get in Trouble - Kelly Link -
He Wanted the Moon - Mimi Baird -
All The Days and Nights - Niven Govinden (Never Received)
Among the Ten Thousand Things - Julia Pierpont -
Tenacity - J.S. Law -
Slade House - David Mitchell -

2016
God of Beer - Garret Keizer -
Dodgers - Bill Beverly -
The Invoice - Jonas Karlsson -
I Am No One - Patrick Flanery -
Souvenirs and Other Stories - Matt Tompkins -
The Sunlight Pilgrims - Jenni Fagan -
The Vegetarian - Han Kang -
Hag-Seed - Margaret Atwood -
Human Acts - Han Kang -
Things We Lost in the Fire - Mariana Enriquez -

2017
New Boy - Tracy Chevalier -
Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker - Gregory Maguire (Never Received)
Strange Weather - Joe Hill -
The Feed - Nick Clark Windo (DNF) -
The Parking Lot Attendant - Nafkote Tamirat -

2018
The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (And Their Muses) - Terri-Lynne DeFino -
Apollo 8: The Mission That Changed Everything - Martin W. Sandler -
Agent of Utopia - Andy Duncan -
Amsterdam Noir - Rene Appel - TBR

2019
Berlin Noir - Thomas Wortche - TBR
Country - Michael Hughes - (Never Received)
Tiny Love - Larry Brown -
Sudden Traveler - Sarah Hall (DNF) -
The Day I Died - Lori Rader-Day - TBR (Didn't actually win this, it was a freebie)

Pulitzer's Read

Ongoing bucket list to read all the Pulitzer winning novels. Santa was very good to me this year on this front, so I got plenty to work with

Bold : On the Shelf
Strikeout : Completed

Total Read - 32
2020 - The Nickel Boys
2019 - The Overstory
2018 - Less
2017 - Underground Railroad
2016 - The Sympathizer
2015 - All the Light We Cannot See
2014 - The Goldfinch
2013 - The Orphan Master's Son
2012 - NO AWARD
- Swamplandia - Nominee
2011 - A Visit from the Goon Squad
2010 - Tinkers
2009 - Olive Kitterridge
2008 - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
2007 - The Road
2006 - March
2005 - Gilead
2004 - The Known World
2003 - Middlesex
2002 - Empire Falls
2001 - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
2000 - The Interpreter of Maladies
1999 - The Hours
1998 - American Pastoral
1997 - Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer
1996 - Independence Day
1995 - The Stone Diaries
1994 - The Shipping News
1993 - A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
1992 - A Thousand Acres
- My Father Bleeds History (Maus) (Special Awards & Citations - Letters)
1991 - Rabbit at Rest
1990 - The Mambo Kings
1989 - Breathing Lessons
1988 - Beloved DNF
1987 - A Summons to Memphis
1986 - Lonesome Dove
1985 - Foreign Affairs
1984 - Ironweed
1983 - The Color Purple
1982 - Rabbit is Rich
1981 - A Confederacy of Dunces
1980 - The Executioner's Song
1979 - The Stories of John Cheever
1978 - Elbow Room
1977 - NO AWARD
1976 - Humboldt's Gift
1975 - The Killer Angels
1974 - NO AWARD
1973 - The Optimist's Daughter
1972 - Angle of Repose
1971 - NO AWARD
1970 - The collected Stories of Jean Stafford
1969 - House Made of Dawn : DNF
1968 - The Confessions of Nat Turner
1967 - The Fixer
1966 - The Collected Stories of katherine Anne Porter
1965 - The Keepers of the House
1964 - NO AWARD
1963 - The Reivers
1962 - The Edge of Sadness
1961 - To Kill a Mockingbird
1960 - Advise and Consent
1959 - The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
1958 - A Death in the Family
1957 - NO AWARD
1956 - Andersonville
1955 - A Fable
1954 - NO AWARD
1953 - The Old Man and the Sea
1952 - The Caine Mutiny
1951 - The Town
1950 - The Way West
1949 - Guard of Honor
1948 - Tales of the South Pacific
1947 - All the King's Men
1946 - NO AWARD
1945 - A Bell
1944 - Journey in the Dark
1943 - Dragon's Teeth
1942 - In This Our Life
1941 - NO AWARD
1940 - The Grapes of Wrath
1928 - The Bridge of San Luis Rey

Hugos Read

Ongoing bucket list to read all the Hugo winning novels.

Bold : On the Shelf
Strikeout : Completed

Total Read - 36

2019 - The Calculating Stars
2018 - The Stone Sky
2018 - All Systems Red - Novella
2017 - The Obelisk Gate
2016 - The Fifth Season
2015 - The Three-Body Problem
2014 - Ancillary Justice (DNF)
2013 - Redshirts
2012 - Among Others
2011 - Blackout/All Clear
2010 - The Windup Girl
The City & the City
2009 - The Graveyard Book
2008 - The Yiddish Policemen's Union
2007 - Rainbows End
2006 - Spin
2005 - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
2004 - Paladin of Souls
2003 - Hominids
2003 - Coraline (novella)
2002 - American Gods
2001 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
2000 - A Deepness in the Sky
1999 - To Say Nothing of the Dog
1998 - Forever Peace
1997 - Blue Mars
1996 - The Diamond Age
1995 - Mirror Dance
1994 - Green Mars
1993 - A Fire Upon the Deep
Doomsday Book
1992 - Barrayar
1991 - The Vor Game
1990 - Hyperion
1989 - Cyteen
1988 - The Uplift War
1988 - Watchmen - category : Other forms
1987 - Speaker for the Dead
1986 - Ender's Game
1985 - Neuromancer
1985 - The Crystal Spheres - David Brin - Short Story
1984 - Startide Rising
1983 - Foundation's Edge
1982 - Downbelow Station
1981 - The Snow Queen
1980 - The Fountains of Paradise
1979 - Dreamsnake
1978 - Gateway
1977 - Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
1976 - The Forever War
1975 - The Dispossessed
1974 - Rendezvous with Rama
1973 - The Gods Themselves
1972 - To Your Scattered Bodies Go
1971 - Ringworld
1970 - Left Hand of Darkness
1969 - Stand on Zanzibar
1968 - Lord of Light
1967 - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
1966 - Dune
This Immortal
1965 - The Wanderer
1964 - Way Station
1963 - The Man in the High Castle
1962 - Stranger in a Strange Land
1961 - A Canticle for Leibowitz
1960 - Starship Troopers
1959 - A Case of Conscience
1958 - The Big Time
1956 - Double Star
1955 - The Forever Machine
1953 - The Demolished Man

Retro Hugos - this are given for years when no award was given (more than 50 years ago). Of those...

1939 - The Sword in the Stone
1951 - Farmer in the Sky
1954 - Fahrenheit 451

National Book Award Winners

2015 - Fortune Smiles
2014 - Redeployment
2001 - The Corrections
1988 - Paris Trout
1985 - White Noise - Don Delillo
1983 - The Color Purple - hardback award
1981 - The Stories of John Cheever - paperback award
1980 - The World According to Garp - paperback award
1953 - Invisible Man

Man Booker Books
2002 - Life of Pi
2009 - Wolf Hall - sadly I never finished this, never hooked me.
2015 - A Brief History of Seven Killings
2016 - The Sellout
2017 - Lincoln in the Bardo

The 75'r Chunkster List

1. The Overstory by Richard Powers
2. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
3. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco READ
4. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
5. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell READ
6. The Witch Elm by Tana French
7. The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
8. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr READ
9. Little, Big by John Crowley
10. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides READ
11. The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt
12. Possession by A.S. Byatt
13. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel DNF
14. The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee
15. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
16. The Parisian : A Novel
17. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
18. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
19. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami READ
20. Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
21. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie OWNED
22. American Gods by Neil Gaiman READ
23. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon READ
24. The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
25. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen READ
26. Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
27. A Naked Singularity by Sergio de la Pava
28. An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
29. A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James READ
30. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson READ
31. The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
32. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
33. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin READ
34. JR by William Gaddis
35. Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko
36. Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon
37. Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
38. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett READ
39. The Stand by Stephen King READ
40. Underworld by Don DeLillo
41. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
42. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
43. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry READ
44. 2666 by Roberto Bolano
45. Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra
46. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
47. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
48. Parallel Stories by Peter Nadas
49. Women and Men by Joseph McElroy
50. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

Paul's Alternative 20

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Far Pavilions by MM Kaye
Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman
Saville by David Storey
To Serve Them All My Days by RF Delderfield
Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Sophie's Choice by William Styron
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving READ
The Singapore Grip by JG Farrell
Magician by Raymond E Feist
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
A Chain of Voices by Andre Brink

Bill's Alternative Weird Dozen

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis READ
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
Rabbit at Rest by John Updike
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger READ
Cider House Rules by John Irving
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo
The Book and the Brotherhood by Iris Murdoch
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak READ
August 1914 by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey
Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams READ
11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King READ
His Dark Materials Omnibus (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass) by Philip Pullman
The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer
Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling READ

2020 So Far...

Books Read : 49
Authors : 40
Male/Female : 29/11

Hey there! I never catch a thread this early.

Hey Linda, glad I can help you check something off your bucket list. Ha!

Thanks for joining in.

Happy New Thread, Jeff. Hooray for Q3!!

Happy new one!

Happy New Thread, Jeff!

I am a multiple lister of what I read as well. I keep a hand written journal as well as LT. I also keep an account in Goodreads. I started that one because I have a friend who likes to track what I read, but she DOESN'T DO Librarything. So to indulge her I started updating my Goodreads account a couple of years ago. Basically, Goodreads, for me, is just a list of what I have read. LT has Everything in it - and I mean EVERYTHING!

>15 msf59: >16 figsfromthistle: >17 vancouverdeb: Thanks for stopping by!

>18 benitastrnad: Benita, I'm exactly the same way, mostly. Initially hedging my bets, I started out on some random book tracking site called Reader2 created by some Russian hacker. Then I had a Shelfari account and GR (just in case one of the other sites folded (like Shelfari did eventually)), and when I was actually doing reviews, GR's Facebook interface was better. I like their Yearly Challenge tracking so GR only has what I've read for the last 5 years or so.

LT has everything I have or want too. Including my music collection and my late SIL's book, CD and DVD collections.

All Hail LT!

Happy new thread, Jeff and thanks for the stats-fest!

Happy new thread, Jeff!

Thanks Paul. When I first started tracking things, I didn't think I ever wanted to track all sorts of different statistics, but then I found the Book Riot spreadsheet that did a lot of that automatically. Now I love it and I'm adding more, like the Day of the Week thing. Its fun and addictive. :)

Thanks Shelley!

Happy new thread, Jeff, I always look forward to Fridays :-)

Happy new thread!

Hi, Jeff. Checkin' in. Like those colorful graphs.

On my way to the dentist yesterday, I picked up the mail, including a puffy envelope from Amazon. Hmm. One of my kids sent me a book for Dad's Day. Hmmm. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. It was on my Amazon Wish List 'cause your review early this year delivered a BB. I started reading it on the porch at the dentist's (waiting my turn outside; got escorted directly from porch to dentist's chair), but it rained and a bit of a breeze blew mist over my brand new book. Wha' the?

Yes, drilling was involved. Full root canal in a couple of weeks.

Coincidence; I ran across an early photo of Ms. Butler.

Seated with her mother in 1951.

>23 FAMeulstee: >24 drneutron: >25 weird_O: Thanks All for visiting.

Bill - glad I could provide you with a BB. Its very rare around here that I'm reading something that all of you haven't already read. :) I'm sorry the book got a little misty, I hate when that happens. I still have to get Parable of the Talents. This pandemic has definitely put a dent in my book buying habits, tho my bank account is happy. :) When I look at my credit card statements the vast majority are just take out orders and grocery charges. Not doing much else. :)

I hear you on the credit card usage. Almost NO gasoline charges; I tank up once, maybe twice a month.

I tanked up both cars on 3/18 right when the prices started coming down and not again for almost 3 months. Ain't hardly driving at all

3/18 Morning - 3.399
3/18 Afternoon - 3.359
5/30 - 3.059
6/3 - 3.059

A month later and I'm still at a half tank in both.

So. Here we are again. New thread, new Friday...seems to me there's some sort of mystical connection between those things...isn't there?

Fantastická fotografia piatok

Well its another Friday. And for us US folks it just might be a holiday. I'm technically off, but I've got a few things I have to do so hopefully I'll be off the work side of the computer by this afternoon. Since there pretty much won't be any "official" fireworks (tho don't talk to me about the proverbial sticks of dynamite that people are lighting off in my neighborhood), I thought I'd share one of the few times I actually got a decent shot of fireworks. Enjoy. Have a great weekend!



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobook Narrators

Reading : Tiny Love by Larry Brown
Listening : Andromeda Evolution by Michael Crichton (but really Daniel Wilson) So far its a pretty good sci-fi thriller. TBH it doesn't have the same campy 60's vibe as the original but that's okay, its still a fun read with lots of near future science tech. This time, instead of being in an underground science lab, the team (new people, its set 50 years after the original) is in the jungle dealing with an outbreak.
Kindle : Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

A couple upcoming virtual book events to mention...

Next Tuesday A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green is coming out and he's doing a series of events and I'm "going" to the one on Tuesday with him and his brother John. Signed copy should be coming shortly from my pre-order

7/16 - David Mitchell and Michael Chabon in conversation, mostly to support Mitchell's Utopia Avenue. Signed copy of that should be forthcoming as well.

Yippee

>30 mahsdad: Pretty!

Happy Tiny Loveing this weekend.

In this difficult year with an unprecedented pandemic and where the ills of the past intrude sadly upon the present there must still be room for positivity. Be rightly proud of your country. To all my American friends, enjoy your 4th of July weekend.

>32 richardderus: Thanks RD. I didn't quite finish it, but I put a big dent in Tiny Love and boy are some really good stories in there. I did a lot more audiobooking this weekend. I had finished one book, started another The Mind's Eye by Oliver Sacks and then put a hold on The Shining cause I've been meaning to read it again. About an hour after I put the hold in, it came thru, so this is the first time I've got 2 audiobooks working at the same time. :)

>33 PaulCranswick: Thanks for your kind words. As much as the very vocal (albiet minority, I believe) group in this country thinks that if you don't blinding love the leader, you must hate your country, I am proud of my country and hope for its rising from this dumpster fire we got going on right now. :)

" if you don't blinding love the leader, you must hate your country" Does it occur to any of these people that they made no secret of their contempt for our last President? You remember, the intelligent, decent one?

Most definitely. Yeah, I guess then it was the exact opposite. "We LOVE our country, so we must HATE the President".

Very flexible logic, it seems to me!

Fantastik Fotoğraf Cuma

Here we are, yet another Friday and I'm still 6 feet (okay a couple inches short of 6 feet) above ground. In this wacky world, that's about all we can expect. Hope all are well. Anyone have anything exciting planned for the weekend? We might, dare I say, venture out and goto Target. We are so adventurous. :) Today's image comes from my front yard. My wife has cultivated a wildlife refuge for lots of native plants, we don't kill the spiders, the lizards love the place and there's lots of milkweed for the Monarchs. Of which, this is a fine example. Enjoy...



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobook Narrators

Reading : Tiny Love by Larry Brown. Under 100 pages to go. Should be able to finish it this weekend
Listening : The Shining by Stephen King
Listening : The Mind's Eye by Oliver Sacks
eBook : Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

>38 mahsdad: Great Foto of the monarch.

Happy Friday, Jeff. I won an advanced copy of Utopia Avenue from Good Reads, nearly two months ago. Not sure, I will ever receive it. Sad face.

Just started The Virgin Suicides. Never read it, but off to a good start.

>38 mahsdad: That's a majestic Monarch indeed!

Happy normal-stuff weekend.

Gorgeous pic, Jeff. Nice closeup!

I listened to The Mind's Eye several years ago. I'm a big of of Sacks.

>39 msf59:
I really liked Virgin Suicides. I think you will like it too.

>39 msf59: You must have won the copy I was going for. :p Not ever getting the book - that's happened to me a couple times in the past. Sad face indeed.

Never read The Virgin Suicides. But I have read The Marriage Plot and Middlesex, and if my star ratings mean anything, I thought Middlesex was okay, and liked Marriage Plot, but I have no real memory of either.

>40 richardderus: >41 jessibud2: Thanks RD, Shelley

Hey Benita, thanks for stopping by

I hope you try to revisit Middlesex at some point, Jeff. I thought it was outstanding. Just sayin'...

>45 msf59: Well if someone actually builds the philosopher's stone and I can live forever, I might be able to read and then reread all the books I want to read. :) I'll take my 3 stars I gave it with a grain of salt, it was back in 2011, before I joined this lovely group and expanded my horizons. My literary palette has become more refined over the years.

I noticed that since I joined LT that the number of books I have read has gone up. Significantly. Like double digits up. I rarely go anywhere without some form of book close at hand, so I also am increasing the time I spend reading. I also think that I was a much tougher rater of my books back in the day. In LT I am inclined to give a higher rating than I was previously. Or at least it appears that way.

>47 benitastrnad: Oh absolutely! Before I joined, I never in a million years thought I would every read 50 books in a year let alone 75 or greater. I too am also more lenient with my ratings. Its a very poor book that's going to get anything less than 3 stars from me. Though I am not shy about Pearl ruling a book without guilt now.

Just finished book 51, looks like no problem hitting 75 this year.

Finished Tiny Love, going to have to give it an official review, since its an ER book, but I loved it.

In the random, unplanned way I choose what to read next, I started Early Riser the latest by Jasper Fforde. Its about a world where everyone (except the helpers) hibernates thru the winter. Love the way Fforde opens a book.

Mrs. Tiffen could play the bouzouki. Not well, and only one tune: 'Help Yourself' by Tom Jones. She plucked the strings expertly but without emotion while staring blankly out of the train window at the ice and snow. She and I had not exchanged an intelligent word since we first met five hours before, and the reason was readily explained: Mrs. Tiffen was dead, and had been for several years.

Ok. You hooked me with that opener...

>50 drneutron: Glad to oblige. :)

Just finished The Shining. Its amazing, the power of your visual memory. I don't think I've ever seen the Kubrick moving completely, but I've see loads of clips. Even though King talks about the descriptions of Jack and Wendy (blonde hair, young with a FIVE year old), I still couldn't see anyone but Nicholson and Shelley Duvall in my mind's eye. It was still good (and different than the movie), but my inner movie was decided for me. Oh well.

>47 benitastrnad:, >48 mahsdad: Interesting...I think I'm harder on books, rating-wise, than I was 40 years ago. I attribute it to having read so many by now that it's much harder to impress me than it used to be. I also think in my 20's I assumed if a book was published it deserved to be read, and if I didn't like it, it was my fault. Don't subscribe to THAT philosophy any more.

So I'm "going" to an Author talk with David Mitchell and Michael Chabon. I'm getting a signed copy of Utopia Avenue and, most interesting, I'm going to participate in a virtual "signing" line that will permit me to meet the man. Not sure how its going to work, nor what I'm going to ask him, but I'm game. :)

Happy New Thread, Jeff.

Utopia Avenue came in today. I'll read it after I finish the new Harry Dresden, Peace Talks.

Hey Joe, You know, I've never read any Jim Butcher. I should remedy that sometime. #toomanybooks :)

Just got book 4 for this year's Life's Library book club. This one is really taking me out of my comfort zone, its poetry. A little scared, but looking forward to it.

Space Struck by Paige Lewis

Michael Chabon - on the subject of keeping up to date with the news and contrasting that with his writing. (Paraphrased)

I am very engaged during the day, but I work/write at night. When I wake up in the morning, I always go look at the headlines and hope that somehow "he" (and we know who he is) had a painless or disabling stroke over the night.

:)

Some Zoom screen caps of Chabon and Mitchell...

Great conversation with them. They could have gone for hours and I could have listened for hours. It was fun because they were both genuine fans of each other.

One thing they mentioned at the end was the Future Library. Has anyone heard of this before. Its an art project in Norway, that started in 2014. They are growing a grove of spruce trees, then every year from 2014 to 2114 an other will produce a work and give it to the project, where it will be held in escrow (never to be published elsewhere. In 2014 the trees will be pulped and the 100 unpublished works will be printed for the first time on the paper they produce.

https://www.futurelibrary.no/

so far the authors are

2014 - Margaret Atwood
2015 - David Mitchell
2016 - Sjon
2017 - Elif Shafak
2018 - Han Kang
2019 - Karl Ove Knausgard

Sound really interesting, except for the authors at the end of the century will still be around. They should do it where they collect a century of works, but wait another century to publish.

د تصور عکس جمعه

Sorry today's greeting is a little small, that's the way Google translate gave it to me :) Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Not sure what's on the agenda for the weekend, but I'm sure there'll be some good reading involved. Today's image comes from a run last weekend. Its an invasive snail that tends to climb up and collect on fence posts and the like. They're all over a local park.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books

Reading - Early Riser by Jasper Fforde
Listening - Doctor Sleep by Stephen King. Finished both The Shining and Sack's The Mind's Eye this week.
eBook - Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

>61 mahsdad: "image can't be found" on Smugmug?

Shoot. Let me try again. Can you see the screen caps I did of Chabon and Mitchell last night? >59 mahsdad:

Thanks for being my guinea pig.

Nevermind, I see the problem. I looked at it in an Incognito window and both today's and yesterdays images are broken. I'll fix 'em

K. I think I straightened out my security issues. The images in >59 mahsdad: and >61 mahsdad: should be visible to you all now. Sorry about that. :)

Oh, now I see 'em, and I wonder if those snails could be appetizers....

Maybe, if you're into that sort of thing, but you'd probably be getting some parasites along for the ride as well.

Time to catch up. Haven't commented on the books I've read since May. So here we go with a couple lightning round posts...

41. The Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. Ebook/Covid lockdown read for Life's Library Book Club. They weren't shipping in May, so they picked a public domain book to read. It was pretty good, but one that I'm probably jaded about, from seeing too many versions of Verne interpreted on the big and little screen. 3.5/5

42. The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz. A group of punk rock feminists are using time travel to go up and down the time line rewriting certain aspects of life to save the future from the changes that another group that's doing the same thing. Scifi that wasn't necessarily aimed at me, but that's a good thing. I enjoyed it. (Audio) 4/5

43. Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. A very thoughtful but difficult to read book on end of life, dignity and the conversations we don't want to have. Its not often that a non-fiction book makes me cry, but then I'm an old softy anymore. 5/5

44. Homewreckers by Aaron Glantz. The subtitle is "How a Gang of Wall Street Kingpins, Hedge Fund Magnates, Crooked Banks, and Vulture Capitalists Suckered Millions Out of Their Homes and Demolished the American Dream". That about says it all, except that the postscript should be that the selfsame men are currently "running" the country; Mnunchin, Ross, and Trump, to name a few. (Audio) 4/5

45. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. During the beginning stages of the 2020 Covid Lockdown, Taika Waititi did a reading of the book on Youtube with a bunch of friends. It was a fundraiser for Partners in Health. Very funny, worth looking for. (Video) 4.5/5

46. There's No Place Like Home by Edan Lepucki. eBook from Amazon's Warmer collection. A series of short stories based around climate change. 4/5

47. Blonde Roots by Bernardine Evaristo. After shipping could recommence, this was the next one in 2020' Life's Library Book Club. It was a very timely selection given all of the Black Lives Matter protests occuring around the country and the world. In this book, Evaristo turns the slave trade on its head. In an alternative world, the countries of Africa are the ones that enslaved the population of Europe. A very interesting story, but it didn't really bring anything new to the horror that is slavery. The African Slave masters in this story were just as bad as the slave masters in our world. The white slaves equally oppressed as the black. It did, however gave me lots of food for thought. 3.5/5

48. The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Another take on the slavery story that came across my view at the same time I was reading Blonde Roots. This story gives a superhero twist, where there are certain people who are capable of teleporting, giving new power to the Underground Railroad. 3/5

Still not done. More to come... :)

Foto fantastica venneri

Hey there folks, here we are again, its Friday! And this is the 24th week of me picking random foreign (to me) languages to great you. I'll keep going until Google Translate runs out of options. :) Nothing really planned for the weekend, tho we might get ambitious and try to take the kayak out for a little excursion. We have a two person ocean kayak that its been too long since we used. Be well everyone! Today's image is of one of the local fauna that likes to hang out in our yard. Its a Western Fence Lizard



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books

Reading - Early Riser by Jasper Fforde. In a world where everyone hibernates thru the winter, Fforde gives us a weird quirky mystery on par with his other weird quirky mysteries.
Listening - Doctor Sleep by Stephen King. Sequel to The Shining
eBook - Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

Happy Friday, Jeff. I hope all is well. Love the Lightning around. I am also behind on a few. No surprise there. I have never read James and the Giant Peach, but I loved the film version. I will have to finally get to it.

I remember Doctor Sleep being excellent on audio, like most of King's work.

James - here's EP 1 of the reading that Taika Waitita did. Its pretty funny. https://youtu.be/29LDBdpNMRc

Its Will Patton reading Doctor Sleep. Its a close tie between him and Frank Muller for favorite King narrator. Muller, sadly died in 2008 after being in a really bad motorcycle crash in 2002. I guess he never got out of the hospital.

I have some gecko's that live in my elephant ear patch. They were fun to watch in the morning, but lately it has been too hot for them to come out from under the leaves so I don't see them much. It has been so hot lately that I am no longer eating breakfast outside, so that's another reason why I don't see much of them.

I like geckos.

Have a great weekend, Jeff.

>70 mahsdad: Freaky-deaky feet! Cool capture, too, that slab is angular enough to make the frame/color of everything else. Really nice shot.

>73 benitastrnad: >74 PaulCranswick: >75 richardderus: Thanks for swinging by. RD, yeah lizard feet are quite freaky and cool. Many thanks for the photo composition "praise". I'd like to think I have a unique view when it comes to photo composition. I like to break the rules. :)

More catchup...

49. Animal Farm by George Orwell (AUDIO) - somehow never managed to read this. Excellent little book, much food for thought given today's political climate, social media and "fake" news. 4/5

50. Andromeda Evolution by Michael Crichton (but really by Daniel Wilson of Robopocalypse fame). Told as an "historical" record of what happen to a new wildfire team that is brought in to take care of an outbreak of Andromeda, 50 years after the first outbreak. It doesn't have the same nostalgic quirky feel that the first one did, but then it is 50 years later. I ultimately enjoyed the book. More physical thrills this time dealing with a jungle setting, rather than a sterile lab facility of the first book. 4/5

51. Tiny Love by Larry Brown - I got this from the Early Review program. Boy this is an excellent set of short stories. Very gritty and real stories about "real" people. Some were near sci-fi, some playing around with type and methodology (including a story about a boy and his dog told in verse but its not quite a poem. A lot of stories that involving some hard drinking of a time gone by, does anyone remember driving around with a cooler of beer in the car, drinking "road sodas"? It was an ARC that was an uncorrected proof, so it was fun trying to figure out the intent of a mis-used word, and the fact that the Table of Contents didn't have any page numbers. 4.5/5

52. The Shining by Stephen King (AUDIO) - Classic story reread. Not quite and scary as I remembered. 4/5

53. The Mind's Eye by Oliver Sacks (AUDIO) - A true horror story for me. Its a collection of stories about people and patients of Dr. Sacks (as well has his own troubles) where people lost the ability to read, write, see and speak due to various medical conditions. The thought of losing my sight or the ability to read/or comprehend language is something that I think truly scares me about getting older. 4.5

54. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King (AUDIO) - I reread the Shining so I could read the sequel. Interesting take/extrapolation about the world we saw in the former. Catches us up on what happened to Danny Torrance and what happens when another like him reaches out for help. 4/5

Fantastičan foto petak

Hey there everybody! Summer is finally starting to show up around here, and since we aren't going to travel anywhere (thanks Covid), we decided to invest in some new patio furniture. We got some bar-height table and chairs to take us up above the railing so we can enjoy our view. So this is where you'll find us in the "cool" of the evening from now on. (Oh and we also had to buy a new microwave and oven as they both decided to give up the ghost this year. I guess 30+ years of service was good enough). Have a great weekend!



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books

Reading - Space Struck by Paige Lewis. A collection of poetry (GASP, Jeff's reading poetry), that is this months Life's Library selection. I'm not sure I'm equipped to fully comprehend poetry, but so far some pretty interesting words. I'll share one here later this evening
Reading - The Subprimes by Karl Taro Greenfeld. I needed another book besides the poetry. Got this one used. About a future financial crisis, where you are judged based upon the credit scores. Just read a part where Nevada wasn't letting you in from California unless you had at least a 680 credit score. (Substitute a negative Covid test and seems all too real)
Listening - Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. One of my work friends had this on audible and shared it with me. What the heck, I'm game. I'm probably not the target audience for it, but its a good read.
eBook - Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

Nice view! Hope your house lets your wallet alone for a while.

Thanks RD. Its all good. The beauty of my house is that I bought it at pretty much the bottom of the market in 1996. Even in this economy, I'm sitting on 200%+ increase in value. When I eventually move, it will be filling my wallet back up.

Though, sometimes I do wish for the days when these types of problems are someone elses. :)

Okay, Okay, I'll read Foundation.

Its like Gravity's Rainbow with me. I've tried several times, but never was able to connect, but this trailer from HBO convinces me that I should try again. I'll probably never see the movie, but I should read the book.

https://youtu.be/FZd3xUDudy8

>81 mahsdad: I don't think it'll go down too well with that hefty draft of Shoulda Soda...make it a forensic experiment, like "and why exactly is this a great book?"

>82 richardderus: I agree. Its been at least 30 years since I last attempted it, maybe something in the intervening years has shifted. Sort of in the opposite way to how I feel about Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. LOVED it as a youngster, meh as an adult.

In any case, it probably won't be anytime soon. TOO many other things to read first.

>83 mahsdad: The new Foundation series is, by itself, a good reason to revisit the source.

So, it's ten past nine. On Friday. Yep. So it is.

Llun Ffantastig Dydd Gwener

Okay, okay, here you go. Seems like only yesterday that it was last Friday. The days are flying by, but the hours are crawling. I'm watching the clock for 5pm. Today's image comes from a run last week. I was just taking a picture down the road, and wanted to get closer to the ground and bent down holding my phone. Didn't realize how my shadow looked until I looked at it later. I think its an odd but interesting image. Be well everyone!



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books

Reading - The Subprimes by Karl Taro Greenfeld
Reading - Space Struck by Paige Lewis
Listening - Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
eBook - Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

A couple stanzas from different poems in Space Struck, that I quite enjoyed.

I'm the Vice-President of panic, and the President is missing

Lately I'm feeling betrayed by names: the king cobra isn't a cobra, the electric eel isn't an eel, and it turns out my anger was fear all along.

tell me you can't have lovers for fear of harming your elegant hands, clamber about the bed being the man who always almost touches me. Then become the man who does.

>81 mahsdad: I read the Foundation Trilogy just this year. It was a pretty good read, but the premise, to me, is preposterous. I didn't recognize the story proposed by the trailer.

We got our electricity returned to us, after three days. We missed it. 'Twas that TS Isaisis that snatched our comfort. Ha. But we survived, and had reason for a party when the fan started spinning again.

>87 weird_O: Ugh, Bill. The thought of 3 days (even 1) without electricity gives me the heebee geebees. Are you gorging all the food that was potentially going bad in the warming fridge? Glad you got it back.

>85 mahsdad: It looks like you're bending over to pet Tom Servo from MST3K!

Ha! Too funny, that's a good possibility.

What, he's retired to San Pedro? Amazing.

>85 mahsdad: Don’t often see any Welsh on LT!

Hi Rhian, Glad to oblige. Its fun going to Google Translate to see what a particular language will translate my greeting to. It has, however, gotten to the point where I created a spreadsheet to keep track of what I've already done. :)

素晴らしい写真金曜日

Its Friday again! The heat is finally showing up around here, but I'm very thankful that it waited until the middle of August. Its time to hunker down, keep the fans running the the proper direction (depending on whether you are blowing heat out, or pulling cool air, once it gets dark, back in), and wait until October for it to cool off. You'd think I should probably invest in A/C, but I'm cheap that way. :) Today's image comes from a visit to the Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge last weekend. It was nice to get out of the house.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books

Reading - As much as I immediately want to start a new book (finished The Subprimes the other day), I'm going to finish my eBook first
eBook - Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
Listening - The Institute by Stephen King

>94 mahsdad: Buy the durned a/c! No sense suffering avoidably.

What a beautiful moment. Sky and flower and pollinator all exactly the right level of saturated glorious life!

A/C - yeah I know. 25 years ago, there was only a small portion of the time where it got really hot, hey, I live at the beach, there's always a breeze (until there's not). but as the years have progressed those times and the top temperatures have increased. Yeah, sure, climate change isn't a thing.

Plus, don't forget that we have much much ecofriendlier options than we once did.

>97 richardderus: Yeah, its not so much that. Quite frankly, I'm scared that if I bring someone in to work on the 60 year old ducts in the house, they're going to find asbestos

As a complete aside, I sure do wish the touchstones would search for an exact match first. I was just posting on Mark's thread about the book Northern Lights by Tim O'Brien. Before fixing it, the book points to...

Northern Lights = The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (at least for me).

Then when I go to fix it, sure there are tons of books called Northern Lights, but where did it pick up the Pullman?

Ah, the idiosyncrasies of database lookups. :)

Anyone doing the Lobster scavenger hunt on the Home page? It was relatively easy and quick. Might get a chance for some stickers. Oooo boy. :)

Hi, Jeff. I am glad you are interested in The Raw Shark Texts. If you have not read Tom Drury I was also going to include The Driftless Area, which might be a good fit for you. I will try to get them out later this week.

Thanks! My TBR stacks aren't quite falling over and burying me quite yet. No rush, send 'em when you can.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday, buddy.

Keep the pictures rolling!

So many August babies in LT! Have a great one!

Thanks RD.

Will do Paul. Thanks!

Thanks Shelley. Even in my family there's a bunch of Augusts. My sister is tomorrow and my SIL was last week.

>105 mahsdad: - In our family, it's November/December that are the birthday/anniversary-heavy months. :-)

Actually the other half of my family is in Dec/January. My Mom, Wife, MIL, SIL and kid.

I had no idea that they'd made Foundation into a movie (or is it a series?), Jeff. Exciting! I loved those books as a young guy.

I agree with RD in >82 richardderus: - I don't think reading that first one with Shoulda Soda is the way to go, and his way sounds appealing. If you get drawn in, it's a great ride.

I thought it was a movie, but its going to be a series on Apple TV (yet another series that I don't subscribe too). It was in preproduction at the beginning of the year, but with Covid, who knows when they'll start up again. It won't be out till next year sometime.

>108 jnwelch:, >109 mahsdad: It's a series that I'm really looking forward to, since Rob thinks he wants the service and will get it when the show premieres.

Its getting to the point where there's too many services to subscribe to. I'm sticking with Netflix and Prime and cable. Though we're almost to the point that we could drop cable. The catch-22 is that most channels have apps that run on Roku and such but you still need to have a provider account to be able to use them. Ah first world problem.

I had CBS All Access for a couple months so we could watch Picard
I want Disney+ so I can watch the Mandalorian
I'm sure there's some series on Hulu I'd like to watch.

Ultimately for all of them, it would be great if there was an ala carte version, where you could buy or rent. You know, like Amazon does. :)

Ifoto nziza cyane vendredi

Hey there everybody. Not much new to report, other than to contemplate another cycle round the sun (Yes it was my birthday this week, and no I'm not fishing for best wishes ;) ). Hope all have a great weekend!

Today's image is another in my continuing series of trying to blur water in a cool way. This is an "okay" example. Hand-held pictures taken on the phone isn't really the best technique.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books

Reading - A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green
eBook - Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
Listening - The Institute by Stephen King

>112 mahsdad: I like the image and its subject. Has a real elegance!

Thank you kind sir!

Finished up King’s The Institute, did my usual stroll thru my WL and saw The Executioner’s Song. Downloaded it, and wow is it a chunkster - 42 hours!

Borrow time is 21 days, 2 hours a day, every day. 😜. Thank goodness for 1.5x speed

Bought a box which provides a whole slew of channels (not sure it is strictly kosher but this is Asia!) and also subscribe to Netflix. Don't get much chance to decide what goes on our new TV though as I am not even Assistant TV Manager in the house!

>115 PaulCranswick: Ha, generally neither am I (TV Manager), I'm the audio/visual technician, but I definitely take my direction from the boss. :) At least its just the two of us. My kid spends most of his time in his room, and doesn't really watch traditional TV. He's a Youtube addict.

Фантастична фотографија петок

Hey everybody! Yippee its Friday. Even if everything is the same, every day since we're still stuck at home (whether mandated or self imposed these days), I'm looking forward to Friday's more and more. One good thing to report around here, is after 25 years of being in the house we had to replace our microwave and oven. The microwave gave up the ghost a year ago and we stumble along with a cheapy Home Depot table top, and then our oven died a couple months ago (it was probably at least 30 years, if not, older). Happy to report that the installation (final trim) was installed yesterday. Looking good. #humblebrag



And, of course, I didn't want to just give you a picture of my kitchen, so here is a picture of a flower and a bee for your enjoyment. :)



Book Update

>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books

Reading : A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green. Fun mostly sci-fi sequel to his first book An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. I'll finish it tonight.
eBook : Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
Listening : The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer. 42 Hours! Yikes, by far the longest ebook I've ever listened too. I doubt I'll be able to finish it in 21 days, I'll probably have to renew it, which is generally a rare occurance.

>117 mahsdad: Bees we see alla time; new oivens, not so much. Yay! (Bee looks good, too.)

Have a good weekend, Jeff. (Good job on the kid, I haven't watched linear-broadcast TV in years either!)

I visited a community garden on my walk yesterday and took a bunch of similar bee-on-sunflower pics too! Not sure how they came out as I haven't downloaded them yet. Yours is spectacular! Nice kitchen too :-) (I see you in the reflection ;-)

>118 richardderus: Thanks. Yeah I guess I have to switch it up every once in a while (picture topics). Thanks for the kid comment. He's a pain sometimes, a slacker, but he is good people. :)

>119 jessibud2: Thanks Shelley. Reflection - before I posted it, I made sure to double check that I was wearing pants. :)

I loved the picture of your ovens. I want a double wall oven so bad, but it will have to wait for retirement. I know yours is a microwave and oven, and I want two ovens, but I love looking at your setup just the same.

>121 benitastrnad: Actually the trend seems to be double ovens. The one we got here does come in a double. In fact the display screens does have options for controlling the top and bottom.

Its cool though, it is a convection oven so it will cook faster than normal. It also has a proofing option, which I gather is for making bread, where you can have it only slightly warm to let the dough rise.

Happy Friday, Jeff. Congrats on the new ovens! Love the Foto too.

Just shared this on FB, but I wanted to subject all my friends to this. Here's your next earworm, from the genius' at Schmoyoho, and their series; Songify the News.

I give you the best of the RNC convention.

https://youtu.be/8TwSKyVCMik

>122 mahsdad: "It also has a proofing option" Be still my heart. You can keep the microwave; I'll take the double oven with the proofing option. Convection....meh. I'd have to learn to cook all over again. (I feel like my grandmother, who swore she couldn't bake a decent loaf of bread in a gas oven...only the old woodburning range would do for her.)

>124 mahsdad: - Downright terrifying. It's like they've been dropped from another galaxy....

>125 laytonwoman3rd: And now that yeast is back in the stores after the hording of 5 years (oops I mean 5 months) ago, maybe we should try to make some baked goods. Convection is a new learning experience. In this oven, it will actually recalculate the time/temps based upon your recipe. It knows how to adjust for normal recipes. :)

>126 jessibud2: You got that right. But I am always in awe of the talent of the Songify the News crew and their ability to make these things.

"It knows how to adjust for normal recipes" Well.....maybe... I love watching the Great British Baking show, where they always give you times "with fan" and "no fan". My daughter has a convection oven, and I guess she gets along OK with it.

>127 mahsdad:, >128 laytonwoman3rd: The Internet of Things isn't all bad, is it.

And convection ovens save significant amounts of power, which is good for the ol' bill.

>117 mahsdad: Nice snazzy oven. I have been hoping for a new kitchen which has been much delayed, and I was thinking that maybe I would get it this autumn (with a nice new oven of course), but we have now decided that we are going to move house, in a year to eighteen months time, so I will have to wait until the new house ...

>129 richardderus: Luckily it isn't a true Internet of Things thingy. No wifi for the oven. I'm hesitant to go all in on these things.

>130 SandDune: Thanks! Yeah we keep debating on upgrading things or thinking about selling. The thought of moving, however, give me nightmares. :)

Lightning Round :

55. Early Riser by Jasper Fforde. In a world that is still dealing with the Ice Age, the human population deals with the extreme winter cold by hibernating the months away. Charlie is a new recruit to be one of the Winter Consul, who watch over the sleepers. Thru a satirical comedy of errors that Fforde is famous for, Charlie has to battle snow zombies, an evil corporation and deal with a viral dream that's taking over. 4.5/5

...the snow heaped precariously on even the most steeply pitched of roofs. Every now and then I heard a muffled thud as a half-ton of snow slid off and onto the streets below. Drowning isn't the only way water can kill you.

56. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. A story of the life of a reclusive orphan girl living in the swamps, love, biology and a murder trial. Not too bad, not generally my usual fare, but I was recommended it by a friend. 3.5/5

57. The Subprimes by Karl Taro Greenfield. A slightly dystopian future, the divide between the haves and the have-nots is even greater. Everything is driven by your credit score, if you have a bad score, you are called a Subprime. It ultimately becomes a David vs Goliath store of a group squatters vs a multinational corporation. 4/5

58. Space Struck by Paige Lewis. This month's selection from the Life's Library Bookclub. It was a collection of poetry. I don't read a lot of poetry, but this was a very interesting set of poems. 4/5

59. The Institute by Stephen King. A nefarious semi-government organization is keeping kids in a facility known as the Institute. These kids all have telepathy and/or telekinesis powers. What are they being used for? It made me think of Firestarter where there was another organization taking advantage of "powered" people. Not too bad. 4/5

60. A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green. The sequel his first book, continues telling the story of what happened after the Carl's appeared to the world, another David and Goliath story of some millenials against an evil corporation, this time leaning heavily on social media and virtual worlds. 4.5/5

...but having a parent who is always a little bit disappointed in you isn't ever going to be healthy. The question is whether it is an unhealthy weight that I have to struggle with, or an unhealthy fuel that can actually propel me.

Power is just a lack of constraint.

61. A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O'Nan. In a post-Civil War small town. The Sheriff/Undertaker has to deal with a pandemic/plague that is taking over his town. It was an excellent short read (195 pages). Form-wise, O'Nan wrote it in 2nd person, which gave it an very interesting feel.

>132 mahsdad: #61 I just read an essay entirely in the 2nd person, a style choice I usually find dreadfully chest-pokey, and got a loud laugh out of it.

Still, as Voltaire said: "Once a philosopher; twice...."

You see it so infrequently, that it takes you out of your comfort zone. In this case, I thought it worked pretty well, tho.

>135 richardderus: heh

Totally unintentional. But I’ll take it. 😜

Fantastische foto vrijdag

How the heck did it get to be Labor Day already, where did the summer go? Well normally I would be gearing up for my annual tradition of running across a giant suspension bridge on Monday, but the foul mistress that is the Covid has put the kibosh, on that, so I'll just have to content myself to posting this picture from last year and go run 5 miles by myself. :( Hope you all have a great weekend and get a lot of good reading in.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books

Reading - Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli. Current book in the Life's Library Book Club. Interesting writing device. Story is just paragraphs and snippets of the thoughts and lives of two (at least, I'm not exactly sure) women in two different time periods that don't seem (so far) to inter-relate. Its a challenging read, but in a good way so far.
Listening - The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer. About a third of the way thru. Good, but boy he probably could have used an editor, I know its narrative non-fiction, but do we really need to know SO much about the lives and motivations of EVERY person related to Gary Gilmore? (It goes to my theory that some others get too big to be controlled by an editor, I'm thinking of Stephen King or Neal Stephenson, sometimes they can be a little verbose :) Its a good listen.
Kindle :Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. Still plodding along here. Nothing wrong with the book, I just really tend to gravitate to the paper versions I have on hand, the kindle (iPad app), tends to be out of sight, out of mind. I should, however, try to finish this up when I am done with Faces in the Crowd

Happy Friday, Jeff. Love the Foto! Hooray for The Institute. King keeps on delivering. I have still not read Hank Green. It has been many years but I thought The Executioner's Song was excellent. Of course, I also read it in print, at that time.

Enjoy the holiday weekend.

Thanks Mark.

Yeah, I think King's getting better, or at least more sophisticated with age. My wife always says she never wants to read King because she doesn't like horror. I always like to say that he really hasn't written true horror for many years. His stuff is more thrilling than horrorific. That being said, when he does write horror, he's VERY good at it. IT is probably the scariest of the lot. (to me anyway)

As far as Executioner's Song, its is very good and I'm enjoying it. I guess I was daunted when I first started the audio and it said 42 hours. I thought that was a mistake. :)

Hiya Jeff. Nice bridge shot! Happy weekend reads.

Thanks RD. You too. Its supposed to be hot out here this weekend, so that means sitting in front of a fan reading. :)

Its almost too hot to read. Tho on the good side, I started Beartown which is in cold Swedish town is is about hockey.

For what its worth, here's the new trailer for the reboot/remake of Dune, coming out who knows when.

https://youtu.be/n9xhJrPXop4

Man, Fredrik Backman is a good writer. I'm reading Beartown right now. Thru about 1/3 of the book its an excellent small town story of youth and hockey. It made me cry (damn you Backman, at least this time I was at home and not in a bar when I ugly cried at My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry) and its what The Mighty Ducks movie wanted to be, a great feel good sports-ball (okay puck) story. But then about 40% in, Hoo Boy, did he make a left turn and it is becoming a whole different book all together. Can't wait to see where it goes.

Fantastisk foto fredag

Hey everybody, not too much to say, other than yippee we made it another week. Hopefully this weekend won't be surface of the sun hot, like it was last week. Yikes, it wasn't fun. Anyway, be well, be safe, happy reading. Here's a squirrel.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books

Reading - Beartown by Fredrik Backman
Listening - The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer. Was luckily able to renew for another 21 days. No way to finish it in one period. Its the downside of borrowing electronic media, they can yank it right back. If you have physical possession, you can just keep it, and rack up late fees, if you're not done.
Kindle - Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. Hopefully it won't take me 12 years to finish this.

>145 mahsdad: It took me three clock minutes to find the squirrel. Well spotted!

Cool, damp, foggy weekend wishes.

You're too funny.

Supposed to get up to the high 70's, low 80s. That is a reasonable amount of heat in September, in my eyes. Not the 105 we got last Sunday.

>145 mahsdad: I like the squirrely Foto! I got one of those today too!

Happy Friday, Jeff. I hope you are doing well and enjoying those books. All four of my current ones are clicking, which of course I LOVE.

>150 msf59: Hey Mark, thanks for swinging by. All's well over here. Definitely enjoying what I'm reading these days. Just wish I could read a little faster. So many books, so little time. :)

I started working with the freshman English classes this week and all I have done is explain over and over again and again what peer reviewed scholarly journal articles are and why they have to use them and can't get away with just doing a Google search. My answer - you are in college now. The ante has been upped. that gets their attention.

Since we are operating under lockdown for another week, the students have the option to meet with me face-to-face or Zoom. So far every one of them wants the face-to-face. I think it is because we are social animals and everybody feels the need to get out and see somebody different. The classes have to offered face-to-face, so went to the classes (2 of them) the first day, introduced myself and told them how to get into the libraries catalog. Now they have to meet with me because they have two weeks to figure out what their research topic is.

This is part of the job I like. I like to see them grasp the fact that no matter how smart they were in high school, they don't know it all, and they are going to have to study. They are nice kids, but they only want to party - not study.

The first kid I met with hadn't really settled on a topic, but we found one. He didn't get what a peer reviewed article was. He couldn't believe how different the titles were from what the abstract said the article was about. He said that just figuring out what the titles meant was going to be a job. I told him he was going to have to allot two hours of reading time for every 15 pages of an article. He was shocked that his articles might be 15 pages of reading.

One kid, who wants to be an engineer wants to write about green energy and nuclear power as part of that. He had already found his journal articles. I was surprised that all 5 of them were peer reviewed. He told me that he had read two of them, and they were "hard to read." I looked at him and said with a straight face "yes. You are in college now. The ante has been upped."

>152 benitastrnad: Fascinating. Thanks for sharing Benita. I don't think they really prepare kids in HS for college very well anymore. Its all about tests. My kid NEVER wrote a term paper, or an overly long essay in his entire 4 years. Probably a contributing factor to why he isn't going to college right now (even tho he did get into school - long sorted tale)

>153 mahsdad:
I also think that colleges are at fault. They don't tell students that there is a big jump in expectations from high school to college. I think that is what catches so many high school students by surprise. Nobody tells them that they are going to have to do more work - not less.

କଳ୍ପନା ଫଟୋ ଶୁକ୍ରବାର

Well we made it another week. Not too much on tap for the weekend. I think we have a time slot scheduled at our local botanic gardens tomorrow, so that will at least get us out of the house. Strange that we have to schedule time to go be outside, but the place is trying to limit the number of people in the facilitate at any given time, so I applaud their good stewardship.

Be well, stay safe, stay sane (if you can), and here's a succulent for ya...



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books

Reading - Homesick For Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh. An excellent (so far) collection of really odd short stories that Mark tossed onto my TBR pile.
Listening - The Executioners Song by Norman Mailer. Under 10 hours left, hopefully I'll finish it this week. Interesting a lot of it isn't so much about Gary Gilmore, but those around him trying to profit off his situation.

Great Foto! And hooray for Homesick! I loved the introduction to Tiny Love. Great insight into how Brown evolved into a writer. Just one story in.

>155 mahsdad: How weird! It looks like a plant that's wearing those candy-wax lips we got as kids.

Have a great time with your regularly-scheduled outdoor appointment.

>156 msf59: Thanks Mark, I'm sure you'll enjoy Tiny Love. Is your copy an ARC? Does your Table of Contents have page #s? Mine doesn't, it was a little weird. :)

>157 richardderus: Too funny it does look like that (the plant). Its so Californian to schedule outdoor-time. :)

Isithombe esimnandi ngoLwesihlanu

Happy Fall (technically), tho out here we still have the potential for some hot days (and half the state's still on fire, so we got that going for us). Looking forward to an uneventful weekend. Only thing on tap is to go look at bathroom fixtures. We are going to have our bathroom redone (long overdue) and we have to do the hard part about figuring out what we want in it. Joy! :) Happy Reading. Here's a flower...



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books (hey its almost the end of the third quarter, damn.
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books

Reading : Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell. I haven't actually started it. I finished Homesick for Another World late last night and didn't start anything new. I think I'll start this, tho.
Listening : Work Done for Hire by Joe Haldeman. Found this just searching thru available books in Libby. A vet, who is a writer, is hired to write a movie tie-in book and then finds that someone is trying to hire him to do his old army job again (sniper). I keep forgetting how much I like his writing. I've really only read Forever War. I need to read more of his stuff.

Pretty white whatnot-flower! Did it smell nice?

You know, I didn't stop to smell it. I should do that more often.

Getting a little behind, sounds about time for some Lightning...

62. Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli. This was a selection in the Life's Library Book Club that I subscribe to. It is an interesting story of three interwoven narratives. One by a young mother in modern Mexico City, recounting her days as a translator in New York, another a young translator in Harlem (that I was never quite sure if it was the same person) seeking out traces of a poet named Gilberto Owen, and Owen's tale in 1950's Philadelphia. There were no real chapters, the narrative lines kept passing back and forth. It was a challenging read, but ultimately pretty good. 7/10

However differently we spoke the language, as Spanish speakers, our close ties with Latin and Greek gave us a sense of superiority: we were the heirs to a noble linguistic past. English, in contrast, was the barbaric bastard son of Latin, constantly gloating over its discoveries..."

Do you know the difference between analytical and synthetic utterances? He asked in turn... No sir, I replied. What is it?... Analytical: utterances that are true by virtue of their meaning. Ex: "Every bachelor is an unmarried man." Synthetic: utterances that require something form the world to make them true. Ex: "Every married man believes enduring happiness is dancing his whole life with the ugliest woman."

Perhaps the last thing a man loses is his vigor. Later, when that too has gone, a man becomes a depository for bones and resentment.

ETA - forgot that I already posted about #61. Took it out. :/

63. Beartown by Fredrik Backman. A small town in Sweden (I guess), where hockey is life and everyone knows everyone else's business. It started out like a feel good sports movie of the 80's but then it took an intense turn that I wasn't expecting that made it a different and better novel. And, as with the other Backmans I've read, I'm not ashamed to admit I cried a couple times. 9/10

...the president is sitting at his desk eating a sandwich the way a German shepherd would try to eat a balloon filled with mayonnaise.

We become what we are told we are. Ana has always been told that she's wrong.

Hate can be a deeply stimulating emotion. The world becomes much easier to understand and much less terrifying if you divide everything and everyone into friends and enemies, we and they, good and evil. The easiest way to unite a group isn't through love, because love is hard. It makes demands. Hate is simple.

64. Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northrup. Written in 1853, years before the Civil War and shortly after Harriett Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. It is the amazing story of what happened when Northup (a free black man) was kidnapped and taken to New Orleans and sold to a plantation owner. It is a very elegantly written narrative. I started it at the beginning of the lockdown when the BLM protests started in full force, but as is usually the case with me when I read ebooks, it took me a while to finish. 8/10

65. The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer. A serious chunkster of a book. I listened to it on audio and it was 42 hours long. Its the a very detailed narrative non-fiction story of Gary Gilmore and all the characters surrounding his crimes and his effort to have the state of Utah carry out the death sentence he was give. Mailer gives us lots of backstory and history for all the players and the bulk of the book is not so much about Gilmore, but the people around him, some trying to exploit him and his story to make a buck. Despite being so long, it was a very good read. 8/10

66. Homesick for Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh. An excellent collection of short stories. Some very creepy, some that just take an odd turn. Right up my alley, enjoyed them a lot. Thanks Mark for sharing this book with me. 8/10

67. Work Done for Hire by Joe Haldeman. Main character is author, and a veteran sniper from yet another war in the Middle East. It starts out where he is tasked with writing a novelization of a horror script that's about to be made into a movie. Haldeman uses the device of alternating between the actual story and the story that the author is writing. Interesting idea, that maybe he took when he had a couple ideas that he couldn't expand into individual complete novels. After a while he discovers that a shadowy organization is trying to hire him to go back to his former job (sniper), one that he doesn't want to do, and it puts him and his girlfriend on the run from the mysterious people. This was an audio read for me. It was quick but very enjoyable. 8/10

Really enjoying Utopia Avenue (about 75 pages in). Favorite part is the onomonapia of the Click, scrit-scrit, of a character taking pictures with her (obviously) manual camera. (Click for the shutter, scrit-scrit as the film is wound and the shutter reset.

>163 mahsdad: Love the lightning round! A great reading list. I also loved Beartown but have not read the sequel.

BTW- I LOVED Tiny Love. A 5 star read, for sure. You would think all this depressing drinking stuff would get old after awhile but it never did. My copy was an ARC too, without any added features, although it did have a great foreword.

I have Utopia Avenue waiting in the wings too. Hopefully, I can start it later next month.

>163 mahsdad: You've been burnin' up the pages, my dude. And even better, enjoying the doing!

>165 msf59: Yeah, besides Us and Them, there's at least 3 others of his I want/need to read. Contrats on 5-star on Tiny Love. Yeah, I thought the drink heavy dark stuff would depress me, but they worked really well. Though, his idea of a road-soda, a full cooler, was a little intense, even for my alcoholic tendancies. :)

>166 richardderus: I'm about 40% this year in audio books, and with Libby, I'm so used to reading at 1.4 or 1.5x, it seems normal and I breeze right thru them. Tho the Mailer needed to be renewed to finish, even at 1.5x there was no way to read 42 hours in 21 days.

Right now I'm averaging about 30 pages a day reading and 1.20 hours listening for the year. I think I'm a couple weeks ahead of last years pace. As long as I'm reading good stuff, I don't care how long it takes, TBH.

>167 mahsdad: Some admirable stats, my man, and a good way to get maximal good value for your entertainment time.

I'm so trying to be better about taking my face away from the phone and the iPad. Stop perpetually scrolling thru Instagram, playing silly games, and distract myself from our shit show, by diving into stories about other people's shit shows. ;)

Ultimately more rewarding by leaps and bounds.

>170 richardderus: Absolutely.

------------------------------------------

For those of you Prime users, just watched a interesting documentary about Harlen Ellison, called Harlan Ellison - Dreams with Sharp Teeth.

You should check it out, if you can. Boy, what a curmudgeon.

Even more than the Ellison doc, you should go, go now and watch The Booksellers, a wonderful documentary about book collecting and rare book dealers.

>172 mahsdad: You're the second person to mention that documentary in my world today. I'm taking that as a sign.

>172 mahsdad:, >173 laytonwoman3rd: - I saw it last month and it was a delight!

Ellison was a much bigger deal to me before I interacted with him once back in the 90s.

What a prick.

>173 laytonwoman3rd: >174 jessibud2: Glad to spread the love, it made me want to go buy old books.

>175 richardderus: I certainly got that impression, it was an interesting movie to watch.

In case you didn't notice, I've moved on to a new thread... Come visit