richardderus's first 2021 thread

But now I have found the image I choose to rule my 2021 attitude:

In 2021, I stated a goal of posting 15 book reviews a month on my blog. This year's total of 180 (there are a lot of individual stories that don't have entries in the LT database so I didn't post them here; I need to do more to sync the data this year) reads shows it's doable, and I've done better than that in the past.

I've Pearl Ruled books I'm not enjoying, but making notes on Goodreads & LibraryThing about why I'm abandoning the read has been less successful. I give up. I just don't care about this goal, so out it goes.




My Last Thread of 2009 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2010 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2011 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2012 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2013 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2014 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2015 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2016 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2017 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2018 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2019 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2020 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.

THIS THREAD'S REVIEW LINKS

1 Cove is the story I wish The Old Man and the Sea had been but wasn't, post 128.

2 The Stone Wētā was forcefully made part of my day, post 256.

3 Come Water, Be One of Us was part of the reason, post 256.

4 The Veiled Lady was okay, post 306.

5 Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Veiled Lady was also okay, post 306.

2020's five-star or damn-near five-star reviews totaled 46. Almost half were short stories and/or series reads. While a lot of authors saw their book launches rescheduled, publishers canceled their tours, and everyone was hugely distracted by the nightmare of COVID-19 (I had it, you do not want it), no one can fault the astoundingly wonderful literature we got this year. My own annual six-stars-of-five read was Zaina Arafat's extraordinary debut novel YOU EXIST TOO MUCH (review lives here), a thirtysomething Palestinian woman telling me my life, my family, my very experience of relationships of all sorts. I cannot stress enough to you, this is the book you need to read in 2021. A sixtysomething man is here, in your email/feed, saying: This is the power. This is the glory. The writing I look for, the read I long to find, and all of it delivered in a young woman's debut novel. This is as good an omen for the Great Conjunction's power being bent to the positive outcomes as any I've seen.

In 2020, I posted over 180 reviews here. In 2021, my goals are: –to post 150 reviews on my blog
–to post at least 99 three-sentence Burgoines
–to complete at least 190 total reviews

Most important to me is to report on DRCs I don't care enough about to review at my usual level. I don't want to keep just leaving them unacknowledged. There are publishers who want to see a solid, positive relationship between DRCs granted and reviews posted, and I do not blame them a bit.

Ask and ye shall receive! Nathan Burgoine's Twitter account hath taught me.

I stole this from PC's thread. I like these prompts!
***
1. Name any book you read at any time that was published in the year you turned 18:
Faggots by Larry Kramer
2. Name a book you have on in your TBR pile that is over 500 pages long:
The Story of China: The Epic History of a World Power from the Middle Kingdom to Mao and the China Dream
by Michael Wood
3. What is the last book you read with a mostly blue cover?
Wasps' Nest by Agatha Christie
4. What is the last book you didn’t finish (and why didn’t you finish it?)
The Perfect Fascist by Victoria de Grazia; paper book of 512pp, can't hold it
5. What is the last book that scared the bejeebers out of you?
Too Much and Never Enough by Mary Trump
6. Name the book that read either this year or last year that takes place geographically closest to where you live? How close would you estimate it was?
The Trump book; set in Queens and the Hamptons, so just down the road a piece
7.What were the topics of the last two nonfiction books you read?
The last successful rebellion on US soil and caffeine
8. Name a recent book you read which could be considered a popular book?
The Only Good Indians, a horror novel that's really, really good
9. What was the last book you gave a rating of 5-stars to? And when did you read it?
Restored, a Regency-era romantic historical novel about men in their 40s seizing their second chance at luuuv
10. Name a book you read that led you to specifically to read another book (and what was the other book, and what was the connection)
Potiki, which Kerry Aluf gave me; led me to read The Uncle's Story by Witi Ihimaera
11. Name the author you have most recently become infatuated with.
P. Djeli Clark
12. What is the setting of the first novel you read this year?
Hawaii and PNW
13. What is the last book you read, fiction or nonfiction, that featured a war in some way (and what war was it)?
The Fighting Bunch; WWII
14. What was the last book you acquired or borrowed based on an LTer’s review or casual recommendation? And who was the LTer, if you care to say.
There isn't enough space for all the book-bullets y'all careless, inconsiderate-of-my-poverty fiends pepper me with
15. What the last book you read that involved the future in some way?
Mammoths of the Great Plains by Eleanor Arnason
16. Name the last book you read that featured a body of water, river, marsh, or significant rainfall?
Ancient Oceans of Central Kentucky by David Connerly Nahm
17. What is last book you read by an author from the Southern Hemisphere?
Red Heir by Lisa Henry
18. What is the last book you read that you thought had a terrible cover?
please don't ask me this
19. Who was the most recent dead author you read? And what year did they die?
Agatha Christie, 1976
20. What was the last children’s book (not YA) you read?
good goddesses, I don't remember...Goodnight Moon to my daughter?
21. What was the name of the detective or crime-solver in the most recent crime novel you read?
Poirot by Dame Ags
22. What was the shortest book of any kind you’ve read so far this year?
The World Well Lost, ~28pp
23. Name the last book that you struggled with (and what do you think was behind the struggle?)
Lon Chaney Speaks, because I really, really don't like comic books
24. What is the most recent book you added to your library here on LT?
see #23
25. Name a book you read this year that had a visual component (i.e. illustrations, photos, art, comics)
see #23
I liked Sandy's Bonus Question for the meme above, so I adopted it:

26. What is the title and year of the oldest book you have reviewed on LT in 2020? (modification in itals)
The Sittaford Mystery by Dame Aggie, 1931.

Every winner of the Booker Prize since its inception in 1969

1969: P. H. Newby, Something to Answer For
1970: Bernice Rubens, The Elected Member
1970: J. G. Farrell, Troubles ** (awarded in 2010 as the Lost Man Booker Prize) -
1971: V. S. Naipaul, In a Free State
1972: John Berger, G.
1973: J. G. Farrell, The Siege of Krishnapur
1974: Nadine Gordimer, The Conservationist ... and Stanley Middleton, Holiday
1975: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Heat and Dust
1976: David Storey, Saville
1977: Paul Scott, Staying On
1978: Iris Murdoch, The Sea, The Sea *
1979: Penelope Fitzgerald, Offshore
1980: William Golding, Rites of Passage
1981: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children *
1982: Thomas Keneally, Schindler's Ark
1983: J. M. Coetzee, Life & Times of Michael K
1984: Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac *
1985: Keri Hulme, The Bone People **
1986: Kingsley Amis, The Old Devils
1987: Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger *
1988: Peter Carey, Oscar and Lucinda *
1989: Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day *
1990: A. S. Byatt, Possession: A Romance *
1991: Ben Okri, The Famished Road
1992: Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient * ... and Barry Unsworth, Sacred Hunger
1993: Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
1994: James Kelman, How late it was, how late
1995: Pat Barker, The Ghost Road *
1996: Graham Swift, Last Orders
1997: Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things
1998: Ian McEwan, Amsterdam
1999: J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace
2000: Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin *
2001: Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang *
2002: Yann Martel, Life of Pi
2003: DBC Pierre, Vernon God Little **
2004: Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty *
2005: John Banville, The Sea
2006: Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss
2007: Anne Enright, The Gathering
2008: Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger
2009: Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall
2010: Howard Jacobson, The Finkler Question *
2011: Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending **
2012: Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies
2013: Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries
2014: Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North
2015: Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings *
2016: Paul Beatty, The Sellout
2017: George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo *
2018: Anna Burns, Milkman
2019: Margaret Atwood, The Testaments, and Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other
2020: Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain *

Links are to my reviews
* Read, but not reviewed
** Owned, but not read

I really hadn't considered doing this until recently...tracking my Pulitzer Prize in Fiction winners read, and Booker Prize winners read might actually prove useful to me in planning my reading.

1918 HIS FAMILY - Ernest Poole **
1919 THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS - Booth Tarkington *
1921 THE AGE OF INNOCENCE - Edith Wharton *
1922 ALICE ADAMS - Booth Tarkington **
1923 ONE OF OURS - Willa Cather **
1924 THE ABLE MCLAUGHLINS - Margaret Wilson
1925 SO BIG - Edna Ferber *
1926 ARROWSMITH - Sinclair Lewis (Declined) *
1927 EARLY AUTUMN - Louis Bromfield
1928 THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY - Thornton Wilder *
1929 SCARLET SISTER MARY - Julia Peterkin
1930 LAUGHING BOY - Oliver Lafarge
1931 YEARS OF GRACE - Margaret Ayer Barnes
1932 THE GOOD EARTH - Pearl Buck *
1933 THE STORE - Thomas Sigismund Stribling
1934 LAMB IN HIS BOSOM - Caroline Miller
1935 NOW IN NOVEMBER - Josephine Winslow Johnson
1936 HONEY IN THE HORN - Harold L Davis
1937 GONE WITH THE WIND - Margaret Mitchell *
1938 THE LATE GEORGE APLEY - John Phillips Marquand
1939 THE YEARLING - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings *
1940 THE GRAPES OF WRATH - John Steinbeck *
1942 IN THIS OUR LIFE - Ellen Glasgow *
1943 DRAGON'S TEETH - Upton Sinclair
1944 JOURNEY IN THE DARK - Martin Flavin
1945 A BELL FOR ADANO - John Hersey *
1947 ALL THE KING'S MEN - Robert Penn Warren *
1948 TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC - James Michener
1949 GUARD OF HONOR - James Gould Cozzens
1950 THE WAY WEST - A.B. Guthrie
1951 THE TOWN - Conrad Richter
1952 THE CAINE MUTINY - Herman Wouk
1953 THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA - Ernest Hemingway *
1955 A FABLE - William Faulkner *
1956 ANDERSONVILLE - McKinlay Kantor *
1958 A DEATH IN THE FAMILY - James Agee *
1959 THE TRAVELS OF JAIMIE McPHEETERS - Robert Lewis Taylor
1960 ADVISE AND CONSENT - Allen Drury *
1961 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD - Harper Lee *
1962 THE EDGE OF SADNESS - Edwin O'Connor
1963 THE REIVERS - William Faulkner *
1965 THE KEEPERS OF THE HOUSE - Shirley Ann Grau
1966 THE COLLECTED STORIES OF KATHERINE ANNE PORTER - Katherine Anne Porter
1967 THE FIXER - Bernard Malamud
1968 THE CONFESSIONS OF NAT TURNER - William Styron *
1969 HOUSE MADE OF DAWN - N Scott Momaday
1970 THE COLLECTED STORIES OF JEAN STAFFORD - Jean Stafford
1972 ANGLE OF REPOSE - Wallace Stegner *
1973 THE OPTIMIST'S DAUGHTER - Eudora Welty *
1975 THE KILLER ANGELS - Jeff Shaara *
1976 HUMBOLDT'S GIFT - Saul Bellow *
1978 ELBOW ROOM - James Alan McPherson
1979 THE STORIES OF JOHN CHEEVER - John Cheever *
1980 THE EXECUTIONER'S SONG - Norman Mailer *
1981 A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES - John Kennedy Toole *
1982 RABBIT IS RICH - John Updike *
1983 THE COLOR PURPLE - Alice Walker *
1984 IRONWEED - William Kennedy *
1985 FOREIGN AFFAIRS - Alison Lurie
1986 LONESOME DOVE - Larry McMurtry *
1987 A SUMMONS TO MEMPHIS - Peter Taylor
1988 BELOVED - Toni Morrison *
1989 BREATHING LESSONS - Anne Tyler
1990 THE MAMBO KINGS PLAY SONGS OF LOVE - Oscar Hijuelos *
1991 RABBIT AT REST - John Updike *
1992 A THOUSAND ACRES - Jane Smiley *
1993 A GOOD SCENT FROM A STRANGE MOUNTAIN - Robert Olen Butler *
1994 THE SHIPPING NEWS - E Annie Proulx *
1995 THE STONE DIARIES - Carol Shields
1996 INDEPENDENCE DAY - Richard Ford
1997 MARTIN DRESSLER - Steven Millhauser
1998 AMERICAN PASTORAL - Philip Roth
1999 THE HOURS - Michael Cunningham
2000 INTERPRETER OF MALADIES - Jumpha Lahiri
2001 THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY - Michael Chabon
2002 EMPIRE FALLS - Richard Russo
2003 MIDDLESEX - Jeffrey Eugenides *
2004 THE KNOWN WORLD - Edward P. Jones
2005 GILEAD - Marilynne Robinson
2006 MARCH - Geraldine Brooks
2007 THE ROAD - Cormac McCarthy
2008 THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO - Junot Diaz *
2009 OLIVE KITTERIDGE - Elizabeth Strout
2010 TINKERS - Paul Harding
2011 A VISIT FROM THE GOOD SQUAD - Jennifer Egan
2013 ORPHAN MASTER'S SON - Adam Johnson
2014 THE GOLDFINCH - Donna Tartt
2015 ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE - Anthony Doerr **
2016 THE SYMPATHIZER - Viet Thanh Nguyen **
2017 THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD - Colson Whitehead **
2018 LESS - Andrew Sean Greer *
2019 THE OVERSTORY - Richard Powers *
2020 THE NICKEL BOYS - Colson Whitehead

Links are to my reviews
* Read, but not reviewed
** Owned, but not read

Author 'Nathan Burgoine posted this simple, direct method of not getting paralyzed by the prospect of having to write reviews. The Three-Sentence Review is, as he notes, very helpful and also simple to achieve. I get completely unmanned at the idea of saying something trenchant about each book I read, when there often just isn't that much to say...now I can use this structure to say what I think's important and not try to dig for more.

Think about using it yourselves!

After this, you may speak to your hearts' content.

Well! Happy New Year, my friend! :-)

>9 jessibud2: You're first, Shelley!

And first in the first thread! That's tiara-worthy if anything ever was.

Happy new thread you optimist, you!

>11 quondame: The difference between an optimist and a curmudgeon is a stay in the looney bin. I did my stint in 2014. Ain't gettin' the drop on me again, old Stepmonster Gawd.

Happy new reading year, RD!

>7 richardderus: - This is helpful, thank you. I often find shorter reviews more helpful, as I am more likely to read them because I am THAT lazy ;-)

>13 katiekrug: It's all about getting what you need to say said. Then stopping.

It's that last bit that doesn't come natural to me.

Gawd let's hope the whole gorram year is Reaver-free.

Happy new thread!!

>15 ChelleBearss: Thanks, Chelle!

>12 richardderus: I know a manic tsunami can feel like optimism, but well, still I'd guess you recognized the ^implied meaning.^ I'm mostly glad nobody locked me up during any of mine, but I never quite mortgaged the house to fund a manic fueled spending spree.

>17 quondame: We call that a win.

And a damned lucky one.

Hi*

Welcome back!

>19 BBGirl55: Bryony! Happy days indeed to see you here! *smooch*

>20 drneutron: Thank, Jim, and jolly well ready for the calendar to catch up with our group.

Always a relief to me to see you set up early and raring to go for another year, RD. I hope we can enjoy the ride together.

My mum was allowed out of hospital yesterday but didn't sound too good. Had a real whinge about the food and told me she wasn't prepared to "die in there". I was only partially cheered by her voice!

>22 PaulCranswick: Welcome to my still-humble internet cave, PC, and honestly I don't blame Mum a jot for being ready to leave the hospital passings to others. May hers be quiet and distant in time, but NOT in there.

Give Hani a buss from her secret admirer, do!

>23 richardderus: Not a well kept secret, RD! We were talking yesterday about the freedom to travel and hope to make it to your neck of the woods sooner rather than later.

>7 richardderus: I like that...I will still try to do some books more justice with more words, but I'm sure that formula will be helpful for the ones that just don't inspire me to fulsomeness.

Happy New Year, Richard.

Checking in here! Happy reading in 2021. I may eventually steal that meme you posted, but not until I get back home.

So many gems in such a short thread! I better get in now before your thread takes off for the stratosphere and I become too intimidated to peek back in.

>1 richardderus: Great opening meme!
>4 richardderus: Sounds like some great options in there.
>5 richardderus: and >6 richardderus: I always admire you ambitious types.
>7 richardderus: Brilliant! Will try it this year. I keep wanting to do minireviews but then don't.
>14 richardderus: I too have a hard time stopping. My brief intro on my thread turned into a whole page.

ttfn

Happy new one, Rdear. I hope that I can visit your thread more often in 2021.

Sticking my nose round the door, before there are too many posts and it all becomes too scary. Hoping 2021 does right by you.

>7 richardderus: I like the idea of a short review, but I'm really bad at the third part of that. I know what books I like, but I'm really bad at thinking what other books or authirs that were similar. I'm rubbish at recomendations for the same reason. Also, I have a rotten memory and part of my reviewing is for me to remember the thing by! My record is 60 pages in before twigging that I had, in fact, read the book before...

>7 richardderus: Hi Richard. Thanks for posting this. I'm terrible at reviews, so if I follow this guide maybe it will work better for me.

Wishing you a great 2021. It has to be better, right?

>26 Matke: Thank you, Gail! I hope your 2021 is much much better than your 2020 was.

>25 laytonwoman3rd: It's the option to be less effusive that means so much to me. It's simply not always warranted. I'm glad you'll get some fresh wind in your sails from it, too.

>24 PaulCranswick: *chuckle* Not a well-kept secret, I suppose!

>28 justchris: Hello Chris, so pleased to see you here!

I'm excited for the challenges I've got going in 2021, and that so many are seeing the value of Burgoineing especially. I suspect a lot of us really just needed a framework to use to get out of the paralysis problem.

>27 thornton37814: Hi Lori! Welcome. A happy 2021 to you.

>31 majkia: Greetings of the season, Jean, and welcome. I suspect one of the things that helps us to write reviews is a guideline. Just remember that it's a starting point, and don't be concerned if you want to say more...they're guides not rules.

>30 Helenliz: Heh! Hi Helen, the pool's not crowded and the water's just right. I've gotten around that recommendation thing by naming the genre..."If you're a fan of sweet, low-heat romances, this is your nest new book-bud"...instead of authors. After all you already know the genre, and how well or badly the book met your own expectations of that genre.

>29 Ameise1: Barbara! Schöni Wiehnachte! And good gracious me, your 2020 was the kind of a year that I hope you never, ever see again.

Come as often as you can, dear lady, you're a welcome sight whenever you are here.

Hi Richard, dear friend, looking forward to seeing your posts during 2021. Let's hope that 2021 is a far better year for all of us and hope it is a good reading year.

>4 richardderus: Congratulations, your review got me to buy a Joanna Chambers ebook. I haven't read her before, and I'm looking forward to it!

Happy New Year! Love your ambition!

>7 richardderus: I will be stealing this! I love to write reviews but feel that I am too long winded and wind up writing more than I should. Sometimes I feel the review is too short. Not sure I feel comfortable giving recommendations.

>37 crazy4reading: Hi Monica! It's really good to have a framework for something as iffy as writing reviews. Remember that "recommending" something isn't about saying "read it" as much as "you liked books in this genre or by this author? Well, maybe this one will work for you too!"

Cheers, and come back soon.

>36 reconditereader: Oh, I'm so glad. I trust her talents to woo you into the fold of fans. Hope it's a good read indeed!

>35 johnsimpson: Hello John, and an early happy new year to you and yours! I can not wait for 2020's wave of scummy sludge to wash out so we can go about working the cleaning crew.
***
Why I love Ursula Le Guin:

Beneath memory and experience, beneath imagination and invention, beneath words, there are rhythms to which memory and imagination and words all move. The writer's job is to go down deep enough to feel that rhythm, find it, move to it, be moved by it, and let it move memory and imagination to find words.

Hey RD, I found you over in the New Year. I'm going to echo the sentiments of others around here. That 3 sentence review prompt is great stuff. I'm definitely going to try to use it, for what I can loosely call my reviews. :)

>39 mahsdad: Hi Jeff! Yeah, that framework is just perfect as a starting point. I appreciate its directness.

I have arrived in 2021. Do we actually have to finish out 2020? Can't we just Pearl Rule it or something?

>41 Crazymamie: Gets my vote. Who do we send the duly certified results to?

>41 Crazymamie: It's way too late for Pearl ruling. And I'd like the election results to remain in effect.

>43 quondame: I'd still like to go back to 2016 and undo the *horrible* mistake.

>38 richardderus: I love Ursula LeGuin too. Her Steering the Craft was required reading for one of the Writing the Other classes I took this year. I have not yet done the exercises, which is true for much of the coursework too. But I haven't run out of time yet, even though the classes are over. That quote sounds much like Jung's concept of a racial memory, or perhaps even deeper than that.

I think her 1970sness makes it likely this was influenced by Jung. In my opinion, anyway, with no direct evidence.

>46 richardderus: Yep. pretty much agree with you for exactly those reasons.

>38 richardderus: >45 justchris: >46 richardderus: LeGuin certainly evokes the mythic feeling in many of us westerners - I'd like to know some African, Chinese and South East Asian takes on a variety of her writings. Within a culture there are certainly ideas that work like collective unconscious, but the boundaries might be of interest. Someday I'll have to read my copy of Journey to the West and find out if it means more to me than echoing my early addiction to Alakazam the Great

My lovely new book-pillow, a gift from my kindly old-lady sister.

>48 quondame:, >47 justchris: It's a truism so well-established in Truismia that I'm embarrassed to retype it, but: One generation's iconoclast is the next-but-one's icon.

Happy 2021 Richard!

I someday-swamped "You Exist Too Much" and am contemplating the three-sentence review advice. I have more outstanding reviews for 2020 than I have 2020 to complete them in, so may need to take this to heart.

>51 swynn: Welcome, Steve! Let's just start 2021 early, shall we?

I am here to tell you that it made such a difference in my thinking about reviews and how to accomplish what I need to versus treating every book as a Sacred Object...well, it's been huge so I recommend it to you again.

>49 richardderus: Oh! Mighty purty! I love my book pillow - makes a big difference.

>53 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie! I'm really happy with it. Just the right size and squishable and soft. Plus that red agrees with me.

Mine is also red.

>49 richardderus: If it's red it's lovely. My display shoes an intense peach - all blush - about which I'm quite ambiguous when it's not an accent against blue. Possibly a great idea to add to the wishlist and it will be far enough down by the next time anyone considers gifting me that I'll never see it.

>55 Crazymamie:, >56 quondame: Is this a clearer representation of the tomatoey red?


ETA size!

Good afternoon to you RD- great to see 2021 has hit early in the group, and we can leave that last year (whatever it was called, 20- something, I think?) far behind :)

I am excited about the year ahead for reading, although, film watching is making a comeback in my household, so (as usual) there will be competition!

>58 LovingLit: A gracious good afternoon to you as well, Madame, and may 2021's fights over your attention merely mean more marvelousness for you!

*ptooptoo* on 2020, too.

Happy new thread for the new year! I personally, can't wait to get this year over and done with.

>49 richardderus: A book pillow! That's quite neat.

>3 richardderus: You read quite a number of fantastic books. BB for you exist too much.

Happy almost new year, Richard! But dear god, >1 richardderus: is what keeps me up at night. 2020 was pretty awful for us, though I am trying to remember the many, many things I have to be grateful for. 2021 has to get better, right?

I will often write a 3-sentence review. Sometimes there's not much more to say about a book, and sometimes I don't have the time or the spirit for a longer review. I was out of spirits for many reviews this year, and realized as I was preparing my new thread that several books I read during that period were best-of-year for me. Those poor books got no sentences.

>4 richardderus: Love those prompts also.

Also 1st BB of the year (or last BB?) with You Exist Too Much. Thank you.

>49 richardderus: I see I'm not keeping up with the times. A book pillow! Whodathunk?

>57 richardderus: Better, vermilion to my eyes so I'm not quite feeling the tomato. But what a great gift.

>63 quondame: Color perception and egg-eating preferences are the only two truly irreconcilable differences between people. I think of vermilion as an almost physical presence of REDNESS, so this to me is tomatoeyness incarnate.

>62 justchris: My hands are so decrepit at this point, Chris, that I go looking for stuff like this just in case it will work as advertised. It does, glory be!

>61 AMQS: Heh. My aim is true, ain't it. I suspect you'll find a lot to admire about You Exist Too Much, Anne.

It's the framework I found so very helpful about writing reviews. Yes, I cheat a bit now and then, adding a sentence here or there, but the basic idea is very helpful to my sense of fair treatment for a book. I can *do* these reviews!

It's that vision of 2021 that most worries me, too. Some things will be better after the 20th, some won't, and that's down to the troubles we've stored up since 20 January 1981 and before. Deal with 'em as best we can when we can, I guess....

>60 figsfromthistle: Hi Anita! The reading was decidedly not lackluster in 2020, and I'm deeply grateful for that. The first quarter of 2021 already has some *a*maz*ing* reads, so long may the wave roll.

The book pillow has worked perfectly and made my shoulders and hands feel a real sense of relaxed relief. That is A WIN!!

Review #179 of the year, for The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman, is in my last 2020 thread here.

>2 richardderus: Hello dear! Dropping a breadcrumb to find my way back...

>66 London_StJ: I am extra-super-dee-dooper excited to see you, Miss London, and please come back soon!

*smooch* for you, your wife, and y'all's boys!

My book pillow is purple because if something I want is available in purple, I will buy it in purple. The Queen of All Colors. Gracious Lady of the Rainbow. Ahem. I may have strong feelings about it.

Anyhoo, I'm so pleased you are happy with yours. My resolution for the new year (and will people PLEASE stop tempting fate by saying it "has" to be an improvement, pretty please?!?!) is to devote more dedicated time to reading, in a room with no TV or computer to distract. Which basically means the guest room, on the bed, so my book pillow will be getting some extra duty...

>68 katiekrug: I did that wishful-thinking thing in 2019...you'd think that'd be the only wake-up call needed...

It's *perfect* for Kindlereading because the soft texture is just right to prevent the device from moving when I turn pages at the funny angles I need because my positions are so limited.

I didn't have the Purple Option, or I'd've probably gotten it. Still, I'm so pleased to have something that works te way I was told it would that I ain't complainin'!

>64 richardderus: Well, I'd add cilantro etc. I call things blue that others see as green and vermilion is to me the only good orange, but while the blue issue I know to be biological, the red-orange line may be a matter of training. I remember my grandfather insisted a single cucumber slice could poison an entire salad and I find them close to tasteless.

Alas, 2021 won't be any better than we make it and I don't have a lot of confidence in us. I better send more money to Georgia to calm myself.

>70 quondame: I think that sending-money idea is aces. Please do.
***
I think review #180, of Tram 83, will likely be the last one I put up here this year. The read wasn't perfect but was intense, so go look at post 332 in my last 2020 thread.

>64 richardderus: ...and taste. I tend to think that smell and taste perception have the widest range of variation in humans because they are the least selected for evolutionarily speaking, compared to sight and sound, so they have much more scope to experiment, genetic mutation-wise.

>68 katiekrug: I'm starting to drift from all things blue into lots of things purple. Must be an age thing a la Jenny Joseph.

>72 justchris: I don't know about taste, as in what happens in your mouth and nose...they're sort of relatable between tasters. Viz. cilantro.

Purple rawks but it takes time to get up the chutzpah to surround yourself with it. My house in Austin was purple, green, and gold. The main shade was called "Wafted Feather":

My big brother had his bedroom painted light purple when he was at high school. As a burly rugby player it was an odd choice. I liked him more for it.

>74 LovingLit: Not an ordinary choice for a guy that age! Brave-oh to him!

>73 richardderus: Wafted Feather seems perfectly in keeping with your personality.

>74 LovingLit: Sounds sweet and charming--both color and brother.

The first bedroom color I picked for myself once I moved into owning property was lilac. I've graduated to a nice medium periwinkle.

>71 richardderus: Did. Not sure I'm quite up for the effort. I'm getting through F*ckface which is the hell we built for ourselves, not sure I want to see how much worse we've done for others. I'm involved with my brother's discussion of whether triage for Covid care should prejudice against the voluntarily vaccinated. It's not an arena I'm comfortable having anyone stick their righteous feelings in, not even mine.

I need a book pilow

>78 BBGirl55: I think most of us who read in bed need a book pillow. The comfort of not being all scroonched into a ð and trying to manipulate a book or a Kindle...well!

>77 quondame: Good!! I'm with you on the righteous arguments...we're not making policy, or shaping the debate around policy, so why crank up the fan on the hellfire?

>76 justchris: Thank you, Chris, that's a lovely thing to say.

Lilac is a color that makes me think synesthesia would be wonderful.

>79 richardderus: I sometimes read with my feet in the air elevation is good. And while I still have the stumuch muscles I will do it.

>80 BBGirl55: Very practical!

>67 richardderus: They send smooches right back!

>79 richardderus: Ah, I see I stuck my comment on less apt thread first. Well, it will happen when people split my attention.

Another admirer of purple here. It's a colour I used to shy away from, now I embrace it. But not at the same time as a red hat.

>84 Helenliz: Hi Helen, and welcome. I think Jenny Joseph would be distressed that you're not ignoring the fact that it wouldn't "go."

>83 quondame: *chuckle* And whose attention is it? How is another person able to split what is yours alone?

>82 London_StJ: *aaahhh* A good way to begin a Wednesday, all smooched up.

Hi Richard! Welcome to 2021! It's so close. My house was painted in bland house-flipper colors when I moved in, and I still haven't had the opportunity to change that. But "wafted feather" would be a lovely color for the livingroom.

>86 The_Hibernator: Oh, I recommend it heartily, the presence it brings to the room it's used in is bother brightening and soothing.

Happy 2021!

Best wishes for a better 2021!

I wish you a Happy New Year. May it be better than the old one.

>89 Ameise1: Thank you, Barbara, and I return the sentiment heartily.

>88 DianaNL: Diana, it's lovely to see you! Thank you for the lovely well-wishes, and the same to you and all yours.

YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE

I have posted my 2021 Goals.

Thanking you.

Happy New Year

Thanks, Bryony, to you as well.

Dropping off my star and wishing you a Happy New Year --- quick, before you get to 100 posts!

Happiest of Happiest to you, Richard Dear. May 2021 bring us more wonderful reads and fewer things to worry about in the world around us.

>94 EBT1002:

Happy reading in 2021, Richard dear!

Happy New Year, Richard. Love that Three Sentence Review bit up top.

Here's to a great year of reading and . . . improvements (if that isn't too ambitious?) in all our lives.

>97 sibylline: Thanks, Lucy! I'm sure...wait, no...yes, let's have a hoping heart.

>96 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita! To you as well, my friend.

A three sentence review is just about perfect Richard. And thank you for making me realize I need one of those thingies for holding my book when I'm reading. My grandkids have them for their tablets but I never thought of them for books. Don't ask me why.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year smooches, RDear!

NY best wishes to you RD :)

I out-foxed NYE last night by stopping in and watching 3 hours straight of BBC Pride and Prejudice with my neighbour, and then, at 1130 pm, walking down the pub with her and her husband and seeing in the new year on the dance floor! It felt like I was gate-crashing the party! Srsly though, one drink and a boogie gave me all the celebration I needed, and I got to miss the 4-hour lead in to what is essentially just midnight. I felt like I won NYE!!!

And keep up with my friends here, RD. Have a great 2021.

Happy new year!

Happy New Year! It might get off to a slow start, but let's hope for onwards and upwards as the year progresses.

To one of my fave LTers...Happy New Year. Smooches!!

Happy New Year! I do like the 3 sentence review! I've been trying to come up with a compromise between full review and nothing for a while now.

>101 LovingLit: A drink and a boogie sounds like a great way to see in the new year!

Happy New Year Richard

Happy New Year, Richard!

>109 harrygbutler: Thank you, Harry! To you and Erika as well.

>108 calm: Thanks, calm, I'm glad to see you here.

>107 drneutron: Agreed. Not here, since we're still all virused up, though.

>106 The_Hibernator: Yay Rachel! Another Burgoiner in the making.

>105 Berly: *smooch* Thanks, Berly-boo.

>104 Helenliz: Oh, I'll go for slow, Helen. Anything to make the gains stable and lasting!

>103 quondame: I might need to pinch that graphic, Susan. It's just perfect.

>102 PaulCranswick: Change "More tea" to "More coffee" and I'll buy in, PC.

>101 LovingLit: Thanks, Megan, and the same heartily returned! You NYE sounds like the right way to spend it to me.

>100 MickyFine: *smooch* Happy happy, Micky!

>99 brenzi: It's a flexible and helpful tool, Bonnie, so please use it often. I'm always looking for ways to make my reviewing process broader in scope.

Hiya, RDear, and a Happy New Year to You!

>49 richardderus: Points to your kindly old-lady sister. Very nice.

>57 richardderus: It did look orange, but I wasn’t going to say anything. Red’s super.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

Got your thread starred and will be watching. I am indulging in a snow day. It is snowing and icing in Kansas City and St. Louis so I decided to wait behind the storm before I start traveling back to the home state of that idiot Tommy Tuberville. (Maybe his home state - He didn't live there until some nincompoop decided he would make a good senator.) Thank goodness retirement is now less than 2 years away.

Happy New Year, Richard. Freezing rain here. We have a friend and her daughter visiting but I was trying to also squeeze some reading in.

>115 msf59: Happy one to y'all too, Mark, and wedge that book-time in no matter what. "Well ladies, I'll be in the man-cave reading, but do carry on."

>114 benitastrnad: Ick on Tuberville, Benita! Ick-ptui as a matter of fact. Only bad things wished on the entire GYP...oops, GOP...for this entire session.

Retirement can't come soon enough in this climate, can it.

>113 karenmarie: Maybe it's one of those colors that just doesn't look right on screens. There are some like that. But yes, she gets props for thoughtful generosity.

*smooch*

Happy New Year! (And a belated Happy New Thread.)

>117 SilverWolf28: Thank you, Silver, and the same wishes heartily returned.

'Morning, RD.

*smooch*

Morning, BigDaddy! Mine was not off to a brilliant start, but there is coffee now, so it's okay.

Good morning, RD!

>121 katiekrug: Hey Katie, happy Saturday! The sunshine here is welcome after drizzle and dank yesterday. Same by you?

>120 Crazymamie: Oh dear, no-good starts make days very irritating. Though coffee should help, and I hope it has.

>119 karenmarie: Horrible! *smooch*

Yep, same here!

Dropping off my and wishing you the best of new years in 2021!

Good morning!!

>125 Berly: And a muffin even! *smooch*

>124 ronincats: Thank you, Roni dear, and a huge helping back to you.

>123 katiekrug: It's always so satisfying when the clouds go *poof* and the sun pours in!

You've been awfully quiet today--everything okay?

1 Cove by Cynan Jones

Rating: 5* of five

Don't ever, ever think you're in a dark place again, is the primary message of this novella-cum-prose poem.

He is holding his hands in the water, rubbing the blood from them, when the hairs on his arms stand up. The sway briefly, like seaweed in the current. Then lie down again.

He looks up. A strange ruffle come across the surface.

The birds had lifted suddenly and gone away. As if there were some signal. They are flecks now, a hiatus disappearing against the light off the sea.

He is far enough out for the land to have paled in view.

Our nameless point-of-view man is busy preparing to take his kayak out of the cove near his home. With his experienced preparations, catching a fish for his supper and with the material goods he needs to make the short trip comfortable, there is a heaviness. The foreboding the above passage evokes in me is matched by the fact that he's there to scatter his father's ashes. But the world doesn't have time to mourn for anyone:

There was a piping of oystercatchers, a clap of water as a fish jumped. He saw it for a moment, a silver nail. A thing deliberately, for a brief astounding moment, broken from its element.

These passages make me think I live in Author Cynan's head. I see and hear them in realtime. I am deeply unsettled...what is coming must be difficult because these quotidian sensations are so powerful. The ashes, the small moments of daily reality going on despite the huge gaping hole of his father's death...going out of the shelter of this homely cove, noticing its real-world comforts...
...
...
...I've read your books before, Author Cynan, something terrible this way comes.

A moment truly as before-and-after as it is portrayed to be: A lightning strike.

While alone at sea. In a kayak. With a few hours' trip supplies.

Waking up alive, though after how long he doesn't know and with the arm that conducted the current dead (the fern-like pattern of Lichtenberg figures disfiguring his now-useless hand and arm), he inventories his few supplies and begins preparations to survive. It is grueling to read and almost reeks of experience, which I hope is second-hand:

He takes off the buoyancy aid & pulls on the thick sweater, useless arm first. The smell of the sweater triggers something, but it is like a piano key hitting strings that are gone.

That image is both terrifying to me, and gorgeous to read. What a superbly wrought way to describe the sensation of losing a piece of yourself, your experience. Where one expects resonant musical pleasure, there is the presence of silence and not just the absence of sound.

There is a miserable fight, with the good luck of an itchy sunfish rubbing against his kayak and beneficently steering it towards land; there is a moment of aesthetic joy as night luminescent seas trace the presence of his hand; there is so much work and so much pain:

If you disappear you will grow into a myth for them. You will exist only as an absence. If you get back, you will exist as a legend.

That's effective self-talk for a man who's been through some huge change. "They" are the woman pregnant with his child, and the unborn person itself. For, as the sea's many thefts (water, skin) bite ever deeper, he needs this goal to focus on, and needs also his dead father's ghost in his own head reminding him how to do this, how to survive.

An image of fatherhood that I am so unspeakably glad to see in fiction, littered as it is with cheating lying beating abusing men.

The ordeal continues. The night and the day and then there is land...land within sight...with lights...and he MacGyvers up a sail to speed his bonny boat...
...
...into a squall.

All of his life he's had a recurring dream: the car leaves the road. It is never the impact that terrifies him, wakes him. His fear comes the moment he feels the car go.

His life does not pass before his eyes. There is even a point he feels calm. But then he sees the faces of the people he loves. He sees their faces as they see him go.

Here is a man driven to Be There, never to leave, always support and defend, finally driven to his uttermost extreme in search of survival.

And that is where we end.

I close my remarks by noting that this is the book I wish The Old Man and the Sea had been, but was not.

>127 ronincats: Hi Roni! See >128 richardderus: for my silence's cause...thing going very right, nothing wrong. Thank goodness!

So I see. Simply Lost in a Good Book!

Hello Richard! I was going to come here and say rude things to you, but after reading all the suggestions on writing reviews, I changed my mind. Instead, I want to share with you one of my shortest (if not THE shortest) reviews here on LT. It was for Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad:

"I resolved to read this. I did so. The horror, the horror."

😂

Skimmed through your thread here, having just thrown up my own thread, which surely will serve for 2021's first quarter. I think this is that party Governor Cuomo warned everyone about. Masks on! Check. Hypo's at the ready! Check.

Have a good time.

Getting my foot in the door here, Richard. I like the advice in the three line review. I hope that your new year is shaping up well.

Coming to confess I utterly failed the 3-sentence review. Failed the 3-paragraph review, even. No regrets.

Happy Sunday, Rdear.

>128 richardderus: Good review, Richard dear. It is on the list, else I had to put it there after your review.
Happy Sunday!

'Morning, RD! Happy Sunday to you.

>128 richardderus: A hit! I've been hit! A BB. I had such a great experience with my last 3 books of 2020 - all novellas - that I'm toying with the idea of making sure I read one each month.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

Morning, BigDaddy! Lovely review. So funny because I was thinking in my head that it was like The Old Man and the Sea, and then you say, "...this is the book I wish The Old Man and the Sea had been, but was not." Adding this one to The List, and thank you. *smooch*

Oh my.

I’m doing a once-a-week LT day for now (Sunday it is) but look how far behind I am already. I truly love the 75’ers, but feel totally inadequate in the group all the same.

Anyway. Love the book pillow (and the second pic is a perfect tomato-y red on my tablet). Mine is aqua, to go with my blues and greens in the main living area.

Purple, green, and gold, huh? I always knew you were a Carnival-kind of guy.

A happy week to you, Richard.

>139 Matke: Yeup, I've been down for a debauch in my time.

We've always been a chatty bunch, it's true, and it can feel like An Obligation if one is trying to Keep Up. I fired myself from Being On Top of things because, frankly, too hard. I return visits as often as I can, but branch out only at the first of the year.

It's working for now, should you decide to try it on your Sundays....

>138 Crazymamie: Mamie darling! I'm so pleased I book-bulleted you! *smooch*

I think you'll like it when its turn comes.

>137 karenmarie: And you, too?! Oh my goodness, where is Perkins to loosen my stays! I am woozy with delight.

An excellent plan, to read a novella a month. It isn't a large commitment of time, and more often than not it's a good reading experience because the author has to pare down the plot bunnies and tell only one story. It could be a good way to get your slumps done, too, since there's no intimidation factor in it.

>136 FAMeulstee: Oh good, Anita, I'm glad you already knew about it, and still got a kick out of my review. Spend a splendid Sunday!

>135 Ameise1: Thanks, Barbara, and the same wishes heartily returned.

>134 justchris: Oh well, it's still a tool you can use at need...and if it inspires greater prolixity, how's that a bad thing again?

>133 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg! Thanks for the well-wishes, and please spread the three-sentence gospel far and wide.

>132 weird_O: Sir Gwillelm, it is a pleasure to see you here. Even though it's a COVID-spreading rave, you can rest assured no one's religious festival is involved. Besides, after today's celebration of drunkenness for Saturnalia, I think it's Orthodox xmas and Epiphany, then the desert.

But hey-ho, let's party hearty! There's a free recliner somewhere around here, and scads of books. Par-tay.

>131 fuzzi: LOLOL

That is the *perfect* review of Heart of Darkness! Kudos for keeping it short and for the send-up, Fuzz!

>130 ronincats: Haw, yes ma'am I was I was. *smooch*

Congrats on your first book of the year, Richard! :) I've never been good at reading novelas or short stories. My dad used to say that short stories had to be better written than novels because the failures stood out so starkly when the story was short. It always made me feel bad for not appreciating them. I have, in the past, worked on reading a short story a week to increase my appreciation of them, but to no avail. However, maybe a novella a month could be doable. I'm trying for a graphic novel a month this year (another story type I have difficulty with), but maybe I'll mix it up a bit.

>128 richardderus: Cove sounds a wonderful book. I have The Dig by the same author but have not got around to it yet

>144 SandDune: Hello Rhian! I think Cynan Jones is a wonderful writer, as I am particularly fond of the economy-of-verbiage with highly focused storytelling. The Dig is also a very good read, though less tautly told than Cove.

Thanks for stopping by, and for reminding me that I haven't reviewed The Dig yet.

>143 The_Hibernator: Thank you, Rachel! I read graphic novels for the same reason you do...I don't much like them, but I feel there is a rare opportunity to stay mentally flexible if I keep trying. Last year, the Xena the Warrior Princess GNs I read during COVID were exactly what I needed. I loved one, but read two; the second was less successful, proving my long-held point that one can't do something not natural too many times in a row.

Maybe do a GN and a novella in alternating months?

>128 richardderus: Sounds excellent ... And only 95 pages? Requested and hope to have it soon. Thanks!

>146 swynn: Oh yay, Steve! I hope you'll really enjoy Author Cynan's lovely, lovely prose. He's written others....

>145 richardderus: ever read any of Hal Foster's Prince Valiant series? They're full of swashbuckling, sometimes serious, often humorous, and the artwork is fantastic. I used to read the comic every Sunday when I was a child, so starting from the beginning strips was a delight.

Here's my next read in the series:

Prince Valiant, Volume 10: 1955-1956

Wait. What??? I've been here before, and I could swear that I wrote a Happy New Year message with a comment about dodging a BB for Cove -somewhere around post 130. It's not there. O.K.

Wishing you a more than happy 2021 with as much reading and reviewing as you can get to. I'll appreciate it.

>149 LizzieD: Oh my heck, Peggy, you've run into the "Reply" buzzsaw! You hit "reply," write your response next to the post number, click "Post message" and think it's done.

Maybe so, maybe no.

Check for the "Your reply has been posted to the bottom of the page" message. If that ain't there, neither is yor post. It's maddening! So, next time, write your reply then hit "control-a control-s" THEN "Post message." If the banner appears, yay! If it doesn't just slip to the bottom of the page and click "control-v" in the "Add a message" box, then post it. That almost never fails.

>148 fuzzi: I was never big into story comics, Fuzz, I am a Calvin and Hobbes or The Far Side reader by choice. (Plus there is the issue of that hair!)

>128 richardderus: Well this is a great review Richard and even better I have this book sitting on my shelf. I actually think I got it as a gift from another LTer.

>150 richardderus: love Calvin, Far Side too. How about Bloom County?

>152 fuzzi: Berke Breathed introduced Steve Dallas in Academia Waltz at my old employer, The Daily Texan! I considered it a patriotic duty to follow Bloom County as well.

>151 brenzi: Perfect timing! It's not long enough to make one quail before the commitment, so it will slot in well.

'Nathan Burgoine on the Shoulder-Check Problem in gay romance. A longish read, but very trenchant and important.

Just popping in to stay current and wish you a Happy Sunday!

>154 richardderus: - Thanks for sharing that. A lot of what he said reminded me of the conversations/debates/virtual yelling matches that developed over American Dirt.

Happy Sunday, Richard. I hope it is languid and relaxing.

>157 AMQS: Thanks, Anne, it's been particularly lazy today so you're spot on.

>156 katiekrug: Indeed. Gatekeeping is an ever-popular pastime, no? *sigh*

>155 Berly: *smooch* Happy Sunday reads, Berly-boo!

>131 fuzzi: we should have a topic for six words reviews.

Here's mine for The Bible.

"God Created the World. Trouble Ensued"

>138 Crazymamie: Yes! Richard makes it sound like a fantastic story and the complete antidote to The Old Man and the Sea, which I absolutely despised and found not at all redeeming--78 pages of run on exposition without breaks of any kind, whether dialogue or chapters.

>131 fuzzi: *cackles* Best review of Heart of Darkness ever. I so did not get that book in high school. Friends have encouraged me to reread it as an adult. So far I have resisted the temptation.

>154 richardderus: Some of the things 'Nathan Burgoine lists as dislikes are close counterparts to what I despise in m/f romance and in "real" life. And what is the point of marshmallow romance of any sort? I find the promise of safety in the bond vs harshness of the world compelling.

Happy New Year, Richard!

180 is a lot of reviews! I'm impressed that it's doable for you.

Djeli Clark is a worthy subject of reading infatuation, isn't he. I suppose my latest would be Rebecca Solnit, since I'd never read her until recently. I hope to catch up more on her in the coming year.

I'm glad you reposted the 3 sentence review guide. I plan to make a lot of use of that approach this year, although I've yet to actually keep it to 3 sentences!

Happy New Year, Richard, and happy ... er ... new thread!

My book cushion is red too (per my profile pic) but a sophisticated ;0) maroony-red.

>145 richardderus: Alternating is a good idea, Richard. I'll have to start looking for appropriate novellas. I am trying to read BIPOC books as much as possible this year, so I'll looks for some of those.

>164 The_Hibernator: Ooo, Ring Shout! BIPOC and deeply subversive sexual politics in 1920s Georgia. See my review on the book page.

>163 humouress: La Overkill! So lovely to see you.

At last.

I like maroony reds, too, but they were out, so tomato won by default. I'm gathering that lots of newly minted readers figured out that a bookpillow is a Good Thing.

>162 jnwelch: Hi Joe! I love that so many of us are resonating to the three-sentence review idea. It's a guideline, though, not a LAW, so no worries about its slavish following.

Thanks re: my goals. I am counting on Burgoineing to see me through. *crossing crossable parts*

>161 quondame: These other readers do not want to be compelled they want to be fed soft, sweet, bad-for-them snacks and left on the couch where, presumably, their gym-rat fantasy prince will smell them out and sweep them away to Bali or whatever.

People! Did you ever.

>160 justchris: :-) It's a terrific review of HoD, I agree!

>159 magicians_nephew: HA!! That is a laugh riot, Jim!

>128 richardderus: Oh, you got me with that one, big time. I never read The Old Man and the Sea.

I hadn't seen the three-sentence review thing before. I realize you have probably posted it but, as you know, I missed some threads (ha - understatement) in 2020. In any case, I really like it as a guide for brief reviews.

I actually love Heart of Darkness. Just saying.

>168 Crazymamie: - Ha! I was biting my tongue, but you know my love for it, too.

>169 katiekrug: *fist bump*

>170 Crazymamie:, >169 katiekrug:, >168 Crazymamie: Weirdos.

>167 EBT1002: I don't recommend The Old Fart in High C to anyone I don't actively dislike, Ellen, so go ahead! Knock yourself out!

Heh. No, really, read Cove instead. And the three-sentence thing was in my last 2020 thread, so no wonder you missed it!

Thanks for the suggestion of Ring Shout, Richard. It looks good. It's hold will come through in 7 days at the library, so I'll just make that my January novella. 😊

>168 Crazymamie: and >169 katiekrug: That's the joy of diversity. One person's yuck is another person's yum and vice versa. And I think that's great!

Just dropping my star here. Happy new year Richard.

Morning, Richard. I hope you had a good weekend, with lots of book time. My books have been treating me fine. I think you would really like How to Pronounce Knife: Stories. I would think it would be just your cuppa.

Morning, BigDaddy! Katie and I both know that you love us for our weirdness. *smooch*

>173 justchris: So true.

Good morning, RDear! Happy Monday to you.

>154 richardderus: Excellent article. Thought-provoking and informative.

*smooch*

>177 karenmarie: Hi Horrible! I'm so glad that you found it as interesting as I did. He's good at explaining things. Which is why I appreciate his three-sentence format so much: It's clearly explained.

>176 Crazymamie:, >173 justchris: Of course I do! I value *all* my weirdo friends.

But y'all're still weirdos. So we're clear. Appreciating Conrad = of course. LIKING Conrad = peculiar.

>175 msf59: Hi Mark! It won the Giller, so has an automatic library request from me. I hope they'll buy one.

>174 sirfurboy: Stephen, how delightful! Is your 2021 thread up yet? I'll come visit as soon as.

>150 richardderus: woah, clearly there are some LT functions that I do not use, and know nothing of.

>179 LovingLit: I don't know that they'll improve your experience, Megan. But it's always worth a shot. Just keep my warning in mind and be sure your response *has* been posted.

>181 richardderus: LOL, most are not obsolete to me ;-)

>181 richardderus: *snork*

>183 justchris:, >182 FAMeulstee:

>181 richardderus: - I am older than Anita and you, and many of those are not obsolete to me. (but I have no idea what J is).....

>181 richardderus: Too funny!

>186 Crazymamie: I know, right?!

>185 jessibud2: One hesitates to say it, but obsoletion is a, mmm, universal phenomenon...if you catch my drift.

Never mind about "J" you're happier not knowing.

>181 richardderus: I refuse to believe B, and if/when its true, it will be a black day.

I think we're all better off forgetting J.

I still have an L, and as far as M goes, I still have a Thomas Guide in my car (if you've lived in CA 20 years ago, you know :) )

And I'll never go without a W, even though my current one is an Apple one, which will invite derision. (Tho for many years, I carried a pocket watch, and have a pretty decent collection of them).

:)

"B" makes me sad, obviously. But wasn't doesn't "obsolete" imply a thing was useful at one time? Perhaps "J" should be jerkin, or jacquard, or JScript. If Jar-Jar is obsolete he was born that way.

Hm, "Born Obsolete" sounds like a good name for a tribute band.

>181 richardderus: But if Z is obsolete I never saw a clue. They keep adding more #s not clearing them away!

>181 richardderus: Jar Jar (ha ha)

I still like bookstores, grammar, knobs, maps, VHSs, and watches.

>191 LovingLit: Heh. No one sees that "J" and doesn't think "confuse me? that's not even right!"

Not a knob man, me. Always manage to whack vulnerable outie-bits on them somehow.

>190 quondame: ...you mail things...? Like, yourself?

>189 swynn: Now, you know you have a sneaking fondness for Jar Jar. *chuckle*

>188 mahsdad: A half-bit fruit W, eh. The same amount I spent on my first wedding ring for a...
...
...let me not, it won't do good things for my blood pressure.

>192 richardderus: Not nearly as often as I receive packages. But yes, I mail out the occasional check.

>193 quondame: CHECK?! You write checks? Good gravy. I haven't even seen a checkbook in ten years.

We still use a cheque book - though the past year, most things have gone contactless so it’s seeing less and less action.

>189 swynn: Fully agree. Hell, Jar Jar doesn't provoke nostalgia or fond memories. Just horror. Oh, George Lucas, no! Bad dog, no biscuit! Jacks? Jello? Jump rope? Jumpsuits?

>194 richardderus: I still have a checkbook, though I have stopped carrying it around. I use checks if I am mailing a payment for something, which still happens sometimes. Seems like checks would be better than cursive in that alphabet.

Oh dear, if they are all obsolete, I fear that so am I.
Always have a map in the car, they give a much better wider view than a satnav when someone has unexpectedly closed a road...
And we'll assume that both B and G were a joke!
I haven't worn a watch in 30 years, so they can go.

Morning! I was still watching your old thread, surprised that no one had posted.

Yes, yes I am a bit dim...

Yesterday I was so pooped on the way back up to my office that I came off the stairs on the wrong floor, went through a security gate and couldn't understand why someone had stuck a working from home poster on my office door. Then realised the name tag was not mine. At no point did I twig that the doors were all red, not green as they are on my floor, or that the foyer had a massive arched window (which we don't).

Anyway, that was an anecdote to explain my absence and idiocy. *Smoochies*

>181 richardderus: Losing some of those will be depressing!! Like B for Bookstores?! No way!

Morning, BigDaddy!

>181 richardderus: That list just makes me feel old! So much I have used, or still use!

The Wayne thought I was crazy to order checks when we moved, and I told him at least it would probably be our last order ever, since we write so few. Pretty much just to the lawn guy at this point.

Yes fewer and fewer checks.

The mailbox in the lobby is only bills (and not many of those) and solicitations for money from charities who i have blocked on my e-mail.

My niece thinks "e-mail" is obsolete and only uses texts. Keeps me thumbs in shape I can tell you.

Jar-Jar. No, Simply no. Me say No

>203 magicians_nephew: Heh. Poor Jar-Jar. I actually thought it was amusing, but seldom say that aloud.

I know, texting is for the 40-and-under set what email was to us, the sine qua non of communication. Mail's useful for packages and...um...uhhh

>202 katiekrug: My sister sent me checks for the first few years I lived here. I have no bank account (too poor) and used them as bookmarks. Finally, after multiple times reminding her that I HAVE NO BANK ACCOUNT one birthday I just said, "Received your thoughtless non-gift and have thrown it away."

Ammy cards since then.

>201 ChelleBearss: Being used is not really a criterion for obsoletion...we still drive internal-combustion cars, when electrics will be the only non-hobbyist means of personal transportation; people still write poetry, and novels, when "games" are the storytelling medium that will own this century (look at how much hullaballoo there was over Cyberpunk 2077 and its longueurs! Only the American Dirt lady has written anything that's made such a stir!).

It's the March of Yeeeccccccchhhhhhhh what're they thinking?!.

>178 richardderus: Yep, my thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/328351

Thanks.

>200 Crazymamie: *smooch*

>199 Berly: But sweetiedarling, the bricks-and-mortar industry was withering long before COVID killed it. As a market force it's online sales that will, ultimately, prevail. Making paper is environmentally horrific; don't even get me started about printing ink. And the vegetable-based alternatives? HIGHER volatile organic compound emissions, plus exactly why are we growing plants that do not feed the 8-billion-and-counting mass of us again?

>198 BekkaJo: HA!! Oh, I remember those foggy, foggy days. I once drove to my previous job in that fog. Was parked and getting out before I noticed...I don't work here anymore...ooops.

Good Morning, RDear! Happy Tuesday to you.

>181 richardderus: Laugh-out-loud funny, especially J. My daughter was not taught cursive in school. I remember how excited I was to learn cursive in 3rd grade. That was definitely big-girl stuff. We have twelve of those items in the house. (A, D, E, J, K, L, O, S, T, V, W, Y). I’m probably the only person in the world who does not mind Jar-Jar. And I sometimes even use Z+4.

>188 mahsdad: I’ve probably still got my 1990 Thomas guide in a box somewhere from when I moved to NC in 1991. Couldn’t have lived without one.

We pretty much only write checks as gifts. Used to give the cleaning ladies a check, but alas! Don’t have cleaning ladies any more. Wouldn’t have them in the house during these times anyway. There is the occasional check to a plumber or electrician or for yardwork…

>197 Helenliz: If you are obsolete, Helen, it is the same manner as Elizabeth Barrett Browning is obsolete.

>196 justchris: Cursive gets the attention because children are no longer taught it in school in many places. Handwriting is, in fact, under threat by digital ubiquity and THAT scares me leaky.

>195 humouress: COVID has hastened the doom of many, many a cultural relic. Not, sadly enough, the most revolting ones like 45 or BoJo.

Happy 2021, Richard! I can't even begin to say I'm caught up, but happy Tuesday *smooches* to you.

>207 karenmarie: Many of the yard work folks are using Yardbook or just using PayPal now, so I rarely write a check to them.

>210 thornton37814: There's also Square, which processes payments right from one's phone. I can't even with the idea of a check these days!

>209 bell7: Hi Mary! No guilt allowed. You're here (thread and LT) when you're here and welcome at all hours.

I got my package of evil-souled temptations to bibliosin. Thank you, I think. And I really want to know what happened!

Skulking through, RD. I learn a lot from your conversations. I just don't always have a contribution to make. So be it.

>206 richardderus: OOps... I at least went to the right building ;) But I am still confused how I could be so ridiculously preoccupied. Sigh. Roll on Friday!

>211 richardderus: Answered you on my thread :) And oh good, that was the only outstanding package I had from my most recent post office trip, I'll go ahead and toss the receipt.

>214 bell7: I'll coddiwomple thitherward directly. :-)

>213 BekkaJo: It's very easy to be more stressed than you are aware of being. Look at us!

>212 weird_O: "Hi there" posts are fine, Bill.

>181 richardderus: I love maps in books, and wish they were more common and more accessible in Kindle format. I'd probably love a map of an apartment from which the protagonist never departed, with the old chip bags clearly labeled.

>204 richardderus: Clearly, I need to keep up with you this year to continue improving my vocabulary. Longueurs! It's rare I have to look anything up, and you've driven me to it twice in the last 7 days.

>217 justchris: *chuckle* Horrible says that, too. I love words and see no reason not to use as many as I can.

>216 quondame: I love maps, too, but NOT for car use. I want satnav there. A road atlas for planning, the satnav for road purposes.

I have all my Kindles in map-themed covers. The Paperwhite's in a star map. I'm that kinda geeky.

>159 magicians_nephew: bwahaha!

>160 justchris: thankyouverymuch!

>181 richardderus: not all obsolete to me.

>194 richardderus: I write checks, for paying bills only. Some companies charge a service fee for paying by credit card. So I write them a check, instead...

>217 justchris: Right there with you. It's just so rare that I encounter new words in writing or convo, so you're a gem, well polished and well read.

>220 justchris: *blush* Too kind, too kind. Thanks for the nice words!

>219 fuzzi: Anyone who charges a fee for paying by card is sticking it to you. But hey, you knew that!

Have a good reading week, Fuzz.

Well my town charges extra to pay property taxes by cc Richard so that is about the only time I write a check. I don't know if the Industrial Age created more change or the last fifty years.

>222 brenzi: It's the last 50 years, I think. Some school did a data analysis about it. I have to dig that up...it was pre-COVID and I can tell you we're WAY different in lasting ways after this!

>218 richardderus: I've had my troubles with GPS trying to take me over islands and such. In the early 80s I participated in skill gimmick car rallies where having a Thomas Bros was required. Alas the gas crisis whipped those off the available entertainments. At least I'd achieved my goal to flatten my rival-friends before the end. Little did I know I'd been given a secret weapon.

I think I had one of those map covers for a while. I'm pretty hard on covers, one lasted only a handful of months.

So many things have changed from my fairly recent schooling days. I told my niece that we will be eating at quarter after five and she gave me this weird look. Turns out that fractions and learning how to tell time is not being taught. Fractions, I assume because calculators are used all the time. Apparently, everyone has a digital clock and therefore all schools have been replacing their analog clocks with digital ones.

Now as for maps, I never seem to have one ( or an Atlas) with me when I am travelling. I figure that vacation time can be spent getting lost on the way. I've had plenty of adventures and discovered new things that I would never have, if I did not get lost :) It has also helped me with trusting my own sense of direction.

Anyhow, enjoy the rest of the week.

>14 richardderus: Gawd let's hope the whole gorram year is Reaver-free. Second that!

Hi, Richard! Happy New Year! I almost managed to miss your entire first thread of the year, and it's only 1/5. Yes, I know others are already on their second threads, but them I haven't visited yet.

Love the images in >1 richardderus:, esp. the octopod helmet. You'll be ready for anything!

I love maps and miss them. Somehow, paper maps are more helpful to me than online maps. It took me a long time to orient myself when I moved to Nyack because I hadn't actually looked at a map of the area and was all turned around. It felt like the Hudson was west of me (we're on the western side of the river), and driving north seemed like Iwas headed south. (Yes, I now have a paper map of New York, and it's very helpful.)

>226 Storeetllr: Thanks! I missed the helmet, jumping straight to the bottom as I've been.

>226 Storeetllr: I too depend on maps to orient me, even if I don't use them in active navigation. But I still use them there too because I don't have a smartphone or gps or car.

Morning, BigDaddy! I also love maps, especially old ones. This does not prevent me from getting lost all the time - I am very good at it even with GPS.

>208 richardderus: that's possibly one of the nicer things that's been said about me. I will take that level of obsolescence.
I think that it is not just the scale of change as the rate of change. I would be prepared to wager that the world has changed more in the last 50 years than in any previous 50 year period.

Hoping Wednesday treats you well.

While I dig paper maps for perusing, I'm definitely a GPS person, especially when driving. I even use Maps on my iPad to check out book settings, like when I read the new Ann Cleeves novel set in Devonshire. It's fun to see what these places I'm reading about are really like.

I keep an atlas in my car. When I was growing up, I was usually the navigator because I loved maps and was able to read them from an early age.

I learned map reading and contour reading in the Boy Scouts. Then I learned sailing and found joy in nautical maps (with depth markings)

The Compass Rose is the prettiest flower I know

>233 magicians_nephew: I agree re: compass rose, Jim, and I think satnav would be almost infinitely better if it included monsters and mermen and other old-fashioned map adornments.

>232 thornton37814: That kind of spatial reasoning is innate, I think. It's a gift whether inborn or acquired!

>231 drneutron: If I'm reading a history book on the Fire, I do that too. I like to see what the terrain is so I can visualize the action better.

>230 Helenliz: I'm pleased to know that you see it so!

Apart from the Black Death, I think you're correct.

>229 Crazymamie: Hiya Mamie! Getting lost and loving the cultural artifact of the map aren't in any way linked, sadly enough.

>228 justchris: I don't drive anymore, Chris, because my hands aren't able to grip the wheel safely and because my narcotic load is so high from managing the pain. But paper maps are a bear to manipulate while driving! Pedestrianing around a city, I'll take a map over an app every time.

>227 quondame: :-)

Gorgeous, isn't it?

>226 Storeetllr: I believe all enemies will fall back before such an outrageous declaration of self-confidence!

Isn't the news out of Georgia glorious?!

>225 figsfromthistle: Confused by fractions...OMG

Happy rest-of-the-week back, Anita!

>224 quondame: My covers last pretty well, thank dawg. I find shopping for them frustrating, and would like to SHAKE the asshole tech squirt who decided that each generation of Kindle should be a different size.

'Morning RD. A very happy one-down-one-to-go-in-Georgia Wednesday.

Our FoL uses Square. There's a 2.9% of the charge amount+ $.30 per transaction fee. Not insignificant but worth it. I know one woman who set up a personal Square account for a yard sale!

I hate going somewhere and seeing "We're charging a 3% convenience fee for you to pay by debit/credit card." If it's small enough to pay in cash I do so, otherwise I'll write a check. I realize they're doing it to cover the fee they pay but I still don't like it.

>236 richardderus: Yes! I cried sweet tears of joy and relief when I learned the results of the Georgia runoffs.

I love maps, but can't look at them and drive at the same time and I am hopeless at naviagting on my own so I am a BIG fan of all the apps. My kids never would have made it to their soccer games without them!

Watch the coup unfold live: https://www.reuters.com/livevideo?id=PLHK

>240 richardderus: OMG!

I heard there was trouble in Georgia too?

I've been watching on WaPo. Disgusting, scary, awful.

This is not going to end well.....

Everyone: They tried it in Georgia as well but somehow that one didn't work.

Isn't that odd.

I try to do all of my business using checks or cash. I put a stamp on my bills and mail them in. My checking account is free, while there is a surcharge on all debit card transactions and everybody know that businesses pay a surcharge on every credit card transaction. I learned my lesson with credit cards the first time one got stolen and thank god never got one of those debit cards.

Those of you who rely on credit and debit cards have clearly not had your identity stolen or you wouldn't be using those easy-fraud pieces of plastic. According to the police most identity theft starts with debit cards and credit cards. Their advice - if you have to use plastic use credit cards because fraudulent use of them is the responsibility of the issuing company, not the person to who the card is issued. Debit cards are not. Checks, on-the-other-hand, are protected by law and the bank has to pay you back for fraudulent use of them or if they have been forged. The police also advised that Visa, MasterCard, and other multi-use cards be discarded in favor of specific store or product cards. The reason - they are only good at one place and usually have low limits on spending. The police detective told me to carry specific gasoline and store cards and ditch the Visa and Mastercard. The other option was to use bank issued reloadable credit cards, especially when traveling, that way thieves can't clean out your bank accounts if they get your cards.

The surcharges on credit cards are outlandish. My hairdresser won't take them. Hair salons are considered a high risk business for credit card fraud and she would have had to pay a 25% surcharge on each credit card transaction. She preferred taking a check. She said there was less fraud with the checks so she dropped her acceptance of credit cards. Of course, she was in business for herself, so she could do that. Most businesses pay a 3 to 4% surcharge on each credit or debit card transaction. This is on top of the fees the credit card company or bank is charging you for the privilege to have one of their cards.

Credit cards and debit cards = evil bankers making a big profit at your expense.

>226 Storeetllr: I *can't* get myself oriented in a new place without spending time studying a paper map of the area.

>232 thornton37814: I'm the same. I'm usually the navigator because I prefer not to drive and would rather handle the maps on a trip. I still have a clear memory of being 10 or 11 and that moment of epiphany tracing the lines on the map and matching them to the curves on the road we were on.

>233 magicians_nephew: I love topo maps! I still have all the topo maps of various places I've been, except for the one I turned into art last year in a class. My building is putting together an in-house art exhibition called "Go Away! Dreams of Travel," and I was thinking of pulling out a combo of maps and pictures for it.

>235 richardderus: Sorry to hear about the assorted functional challenges at this stage in your life (and glad that the book pillow is opening things back up for you).

>235 richardderus: and >239 Berly: I agree--driving and map handling simultaneously is a terrible combo. That's why I opt for the latter and hand off the former.

>236 richardderus: You're describing a variation of planned obsolescence that forces you to keep buying accessories along with the upgrades.

>245 benitastrnad: I've been fortunate with credit card fraud/lost cards so far. And the plastic is necessary for online transactions, which are predominant these days. But I am still happy to use cash and sometimes checks locally where possible. I'm sorry you've had to deal with life-wrecking identity theft problems. I hope you've recovered from all of that.

>154 richardderus: Thank you for posting this article.

>246 justchris: One of the reasons when my business was doing well that I got myself a driver was to avoid the dangers of reading at traffic lights and stop signs!

>248 PaulCranswick: Heh. I've had that problem more than once. It's also the reason why I always try to avoid being the driver in any situation and prefer public transit. I grew up reading in the backseat. Haven't lost the habit or desire.

Well, glad I'm not the only one who loves maps and needs them to orient myself in new places. I actually have never had so much trouble before any of the times I've moved to new places as I have here in Nyack NY, which is why I didn't bother to immediately obtain a map of the area and spent the first few months going the wrong way.

Speaking of old maps, I found one folded up in one of my grandma's old books and plan to frame it and hang on my wall. It's a map of the Western States from 1853, and shows the states from Ohio to Iowa. Areas west of that are shown as "Indian Territory," "Nebraska," and "Minnesota." It's very fragile but very cool.



Hi, Richard! Crazy day today, but that can't take away the sweetness of the victory in Georgia.

>237 karenmarie: I thought the original idea was that the more numerous larger sales using credit cards would be worth the fees. I guess not.

>245 benitastrnad: Alas, I have had my identity stolen, and it was a bit of a pain, but not nearly so much as doing without credit or debit cards. It might be worse if it had happened now that everything is online though.

>246 justchris: I fell in love with maps after I was embarrassed that my younger brother knew the geography of a Berkeley and I hadn't a clue. We'd been there several times dropping off, visiting, or picking up my older sister and brother. When we got home I took the map and studied it and since I've always studied city maps before taking a trip - well, not the bus tour of Europe when I was 19, though it would have come in handy in Heidelberg.

Hi, Richard. I have decided to go ahead and be old, so I have nothing to add to the discussion of mostly non-obsoletes in my life. I am sorry for the neural connections lost with cursive and map-reading and fractions (?!?!?!!!!). Maybe some compensation exists? I know that even 12 years ago when I retired, I was having to print on the white board or the overhead because the kids couldn't read cursive.

I'm slightly amazed at the difference in the US banking. Over here you now have to request a cheque book, they're not issued by default. I have one, but I'd be hard pressed to find it, or remember the last time I used it. In the pandemic, there has been a move to pay by contactless, as it involves less interaction - no cash changing hands, no need for the retailer to handle the card at all, no need for the user to enter their PIN. There is a limit for these transactions, and that was increased to make it easier to user more widely. Most accounts are free to the user. Although there are account that charge a fee, they usually come with added benefits. The retailer does pay a fee to take card payments, but it's been a very long time (like decades) since I saw someone apply a surcharge to use a card. It just doesn't happen.
It'd be a bit like returning to the 1990s!

Morning Richard.

‘Hiya RD. I guess it’s a good morning, but it had to get back to there after yesterday’s insurrection. My God.

>251 quondame: The fees are worth it, Susan, because people at our FoL book sales spend more money buying books with the debit/credit card option. It had started getting to the point where people would look at us with disbelief when we said we didn’t take debit/credit cards. And many young people simply don’t carry cash or checkbooks at all. Ever.

2 The Stone Wētā by Octavia Cade

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: “We talk about the tyranny of distance a lot in this country. That distance will not save us.”

With governments denying climate science, scientists from affected countries and organizations are forced to traffic data to ensure the preservation of research that could in turn preserve the world. From Antarctica, to the Chihuahuan Desert, to the International Space Station, a fragile network forms. A web of knowledge. Secret. But not secret enough.

When the cold war of data preservation turns bloody – and then explosive – an underground network of scientists, all working in isolation, must decide how much they are willing to risk for the truth. For themselves, their colleagues, and their future.

Murder on Antarctic ice. A university lecturer’s car, found abandoned on a desert road. And the first crewed mission to colonize Mars, isolated and vulnerable in the depths of space.

How far would you go to save the world?

My Review: When the Revolution comes, it will be women leading it. Secular Saint Stacey Abrams will likely be honking the biggest horn and causing the biggest ruckus. But that's not because it's her M.O. It's because her cover's blown. There is no point in trying to sneak when every-damn-body knows your shoe size and when you cheat on your diet.

So here is a story I read last month about the Revolution led by women and made up of scientists who'll be damned to hell if they're going to make nice for no gain when the planet is dying:

Resistance was revolution, sometimes, blood and dramatic acts, but more often it was survival. More often it was preservation, and the data she carried with her was for preservation more than revolution.

This near-future Earth has gone well past tipping point. The vileness that is Capitalism is still spinning its lies and soothing its consumers to keep them buying while...to be honest I haven't the foggiest clue what they're thinking they can do that we can't, how they will survive the *actual* End of Days, but there it is. The lie-maker machinery behind the popular songs is still humming "Big Yellow Taxi" and cheerfully killing people who know it's all a lie and can't be arsed to do anything about it.

It was hard to be an astronaut and not be an environmentalist.
–and–
She’d seen the photos—Earthrise and The Blue Marble—known the watershed impact they’d had on the conservation movement.

The women in this resistance movement are identified in a clever, amusing way; I won't say, you should find out for yourself. Actually the biggest advantage to this technique is the flexibility it gives Author Cade in prefiguring the events of the chapters and sections. What she does with it is that sly, side-eye fun-making that you and at least one of your friends have, that one whose eye you cannot afford to meet when you're together but not in a safe place to fall out laughing at embarrassing moments. The story is one that today, the sixth of January, 2021, was so perfect in subject, in tenor, and resonance, that I had to re-read it. These women, these scientists, are all in flux and transition (!) and trying to protect the only home we have from the misguided and stupid who are deliberately trying to destroy it.

The challenges of doing that by concealing accurate data, the enemy of fascists and authoritarians everywhere. Do y'all remember my review of The Badass Librarians of Timbuktu? That culture of concealment for survival is mentioned here, alongside its increasingly popular young grandniece:

All those manuscripts, and Timbuktu a place of historic learning, of literacy and knowledge passing on. What it passed on now could be the lessons and skills of resistance, the ways of smuggling out and networking.
–and–
There was a tendency with so much digital to make all copies electronic, and rely on the internet for keeping multiple copies visible and tamper-proof. But any system could be hacked, any data deleted. The information she intended to facilitate had to be kept discretely, separate from any possible influence.

There is no hope for rebuilding from looming catastrophes—and there is a dilly of a disaster we see even before the collapse we're too soon to witness completing itself—without accurate, complete data hidden somewhere, cared for by someone with the skills to use it when it's finally safe to do so. Think of the world we might have had the religious nuts not burned the Library at Alexandria! So there's a precendent for Author Cade telling us this story, and a reason for you to spend the money to read it at this moment in US and UK history. Today's multiple klans of barbarians are doing their damnedest to finish burning the norms and conventions that have protected and enriched the greatest number of people. Author Cade tells us, and the evidence right now points to her prescience, that they won't stop even at murder to finish the destruction of whatever institutions, whatever systems and learning and techniques, prevent them from staying in complete control.

We've fought wars ostensibly to prevent that from happening, against an enemy whose words and iconography we saw used in the Capitol of the United States of America. One woman, identity as yet not revealed, has died from a gunshot wound received during the violence. It is eerie, then, to realize this is not so shockingly unthinkable. Author Cade thought it. She framed it, though, differently from the US news media, as what it is:

One person was such a small-scale loss, comparatively. (One person was enormous.)

___________________________________________________________________________________________
3 COME WATER, BE ONE OF US by OCTAVIA CADE

Strange Horizons magazine, free to read online

Rating: 5* of five

We made the corporations people, but then we did the same to the rivers.

A fever dream of anti-capitalist and pro-planet activism. A simply told, easily understood explication of why it was such a *colossally* stupid thing to create the legal fiction of "corporate personhood."

People are greedy, selfish fucks, so why would one expect an atl-law-only person to be any different? But...here's the thing...bad ideas come with good uses. This one comes with the personification of Water in their riverine expression. If rivers are people, they have rights and they have legal standing; it then becomes possible, nay necessary, to act in their behalf. To give them the care and assistance necessary for them to thrive and prosper, just like all persons whether biological or legal.

Take THAT, capitalism.

The Stone Wētā sounds good!

>257 katiekrug: It really was good, and re-reading it (it's all of 130pp) yesterday was a perfect way to distract-while-assuaging my outrage.

This is the Map Room at the New York Public Library. We've been there for talks and things. But you have to drag me out of the place after

Happy Thursday, Richard. Good to see you pounding through the reading!

Well. This day is less horrendous, though the 25th Amendment talk will, we now see, go nowhere. Pelosi and Schumer need to get on their collective horse and whip through Rep. Omar's impeachment bill, followed by a rubber-stamp in the Senate and 45's removal immediately thereafter.

I'm still stress eating. A dozen Ferrero Roches given to me by a friend here in the facility, three bologna and swiss sammys, and two HUGE salads with buffalo-chicken dressing.

I feel queasy typing it, but this is an incredible and incredibly stressful passage, and my anxiety level is 15/10.

I hope all y'all are better than I am.

>261 richardderus: Although there is an ocean in between, and it doesn't concern my country, my anxiety level has also risen a bit, Richard dear. I can hardly imagine how much worse it would feel for you.
Sending stress-reducing and comforting vibes.

Richard, if it makes you feel better, if I were in charge, I'd wrap him up, ship him to Florida and feed him to the crocs. Fast and effective.

{{hug}}

I endorse Shelley's brainstorm in >263 jessibud2:.

Man, I'm still feeling awfully good today, despite all the frustrations yesterday - including the pathetic police response that all but tipped the hat and encouraged the yahoos. If they were black - we all know how different it would've been.

BUT - Biden-Harris certified, the last hoop gone through, Georgia amazingly going blue, the Senate (barely!) Democrat, and sanity scheduled to return in less than two weeks. Woo-hoo!!

Sorry all. I cannot rest my head easy until there is NOT ONE CHANCE 45 can pardon the insurrectionists for the Federal crime of sedition. 18 USC 115 § 2384 needs to be invoked and prosecutions go forward, and soon. Totally without 45's ability to interfere in any way.

Am utterly shattered and unable to make sense. Back to stress eating.

>265 richardderus: Not resting easy, ✔︎
Stress eating, ✔︎ (I've sent in a dim sum order)

No totally expecting what happened yesterday, ⁉️

Considering the featherweight wrist slaps that armed fascists have walked away with, how could anything else be expected when they don't like the results of an election. After all, the only good elections are the ones their lily white brothers win, all else are anti-fa hoaxes.

I'm stress eating, stress drinking, unable to concentrate. I agree the 25th is not going to take place. And I wish someone besides Rep Omar had drafted the Impeachment papers. As someone who voted for her, I can fairly say she's not taken seriously by the majority of people. She has a lot of gumption, but also a lot of naivete. She should have stayed in the MN Senate longer to get experience.

>256 richardderus: Aaah! *grabs chest* I've been hit! Fabulous review.

>259 magicians_nephew: What a gorgeous space to house beautiful knowledge-objects!

>261 richardderus: I decided to get off LT last night because I just couldn't with the Shocked. Surprise. I know folks are nice, and well meaning, and caring, and all that, but white complacency with the status quo and failure to understand that the status quo is white supremacy along with the belief such violence doesn't happen to/by nice white people in nice white "civilized" countries just...

Stress eating sounds like a better reaction to the news, frankly. At least you get the pleasure of the moment.

>269 justchris: Oh so exactly with the shocked surprise. It was totally on the program, well announced beforehand. I know I'm more complacent than I should be, and I'm angry that I was so self satisfied for so long.

Oh and the dim sum were great.

>270 quondame: MMmmmm. Dim sum! I love me that. One of the most exciting developments for me was a dim sum restaurant opening here that serves it every day! Imagine!

Trump has been exactly on brand and absolutely transparent about it throughout--inciting violence and dreams of dictatorship and refusal to hand over power/show "weakness"; his supporters have performed exactly as expected too--no questions about how high to jump, just leaping at the chance to unleash the violence at "deserving" targets. Why do people expect the escalating right-wing violence over the last many years to deviate from its trajectory? I'll just stop there.

>271 justchris: I've had dim sum available with maybe a 30-40 min drive even before I knew I loved it in the 70s. But unless I wanted to go by myself I had to organize enough people to share because my husband won't go for just 2 people. Then a place opened up in the same corner mini-mall as the Peet's coffee 10 min away and it is good. I'm back in egg tarts.

Good morning, RD. I hope you're doing a tad better today, although recovering from such a horrific event will take time. Unfortunately, I think it will be one of those Black Swan Events like Kennedy being assassinated and 9/11.

*smooch*

Hi Richard, I hope today is treating you better. It stressed me out and I live in the uk.

There is a vote going on over on my thread.

Hoping Friday is looking up and that the weekend treats you well.

>265 richardderus: I'm with you, Richard (after all, we could have said Wednesday morning, "Only 14 more days. What could he possibly do in so little time?"), except that I'm not stress eating any more than I was already. Instead, I'm Kindle book buying - more expensive, more satisfying if I get back to the point that I can read them. "Lord have mercy on us. We have very little on ourselves." (That's a direct quote from me myself.) I also think about the incompetent stupidity of the generals on both sides of our Civil War, learned from Shelby Foote. Nothing seems to change very much.

Thank dog for therapy. Lots of angst to talk off. Hoping all y'all aren't as agitated as I'm feeling! I've promised my therapist to stop doomscrolling, start reading, and keep looking for things to feel grateful for...we'll see how that goes.

Time for some Murderbot, methinks. *smooches and hugs*

>278 richardderus: Glad to read the therapy helped, Richard dear
And to help a bit: I was grateful for seeing a message from you :-)

Everyone: Do whatever makes your stress levels the lowest.

I am. Including trying to stop doomscrolling. And reading gonzo nutbustingly funny weirdness, Afro Puffs are the Antennae of the Universe...“Four women accidentally create an AI goddess, then destroy capitalism with the help of a telepathic octopus." Why isn't this book trending everywhere, please?

>281 richardderus: You're absolutely right. We need more wild haired women, AI goddesses and certainly more telepathic octopuses.

Just checking in to see that you haven't spontaneously combusted, or anything. You never know now, what with the *unprecedented* things that just seem to keep on happening.
Stay well!

I'm feeling pretty good about the reaction to the Capitol Clown Convention, RD. I won't be surprised to see the House impeach you know who. On Monday. I'm not sure who captains the Senate between now and the 20th. Haven't the newly elected Senators been sworn in? Doesn't that make Schumer the leader? George Conway has been tweeting that there are 67 votes for conviction. If he's correct, certainly the sentiment for impeachment/conviction is high.

Josh Hawley is being hammered. S&S drops their contract with him. The biggest newspapers in his state say he should resign. His mentor, former senator John Danforth, has repudiated him.

It's all got to be quick so he doesn't try to pardon himself.

I pruned roses today instead of doom-scrolling, and it felt good. Kind of like The Fantasticks--"Plant a radish.
Get a radish.
Never any doubt.
That's why I love vegetables;
You know what you're about!"
Except roses rather than vegetables, although I watered the carrot seeds and the peas and I have two different types of lettuce ready for harvesting.

And I just bought Afro Puffs are the Antennae of the Universe for my Kindle--no pressure (RIGHT!).

*smooch*

>281 richardderus: That sounds like the perfect antidote. >:-)

>281 richardderus: - Not my cuppa but I do love the title. How can you not! ;-)

Deep breaths, my friend. That's all.

Morning, BigDaddy! The title of your current read made me laugh out loud, so thanks for that. Thinking of you and sending you some happy from all of us here at the Pecan Paradisio. *smooch and a bear hug*

A Twitterfriend sent this to me:

***
>287 jessibud2: How can one not, indeed!

>286 Helenliz: Hi Helen! It has been, and I'm so glad I read it.

>285 ronincats: I wonder how many times I saw The Fantasticks...sweet show. I hope you're as amused as I am by Afro Puffs.

>284 weird_O: It will be interesting to see what happens when he pardons himself. Because it's by definition an admission of guilt. Hmmm

Hawley, according to a constituent of his I know, should be "the first one under the guillotine after all the Trumps are done."

>283 LovingLit: Hi Megan! Combustion hasn't occurred quite yet. I'm not bettin' against it RN....

>282 quondame: Heh! You know I'm all for telepathic Tentacled Americans.

>195 humouress: Ignore me then. I don't care.

>233 magicians_nephew: >246 justchris: Same here; I'm the navigator and I prefer paper maps. If I'm driving, I used to check the map before leaving and memorise the directions (though it did occasionally necessitate stopping in a side road to confirm details nearer my destination). If I depend on GPS, I don't memorise landmarks for future trips that way and I'm focussing too much on 'which lane should I be in, where do I turn (darn, missed it)' and so on.

>252 LizzieD: *mind-blown*

>266 quondame: Dim sum! The restaurants that have it here seem to only serve it at lunch, but why haven't we ordered it yet? *goes off to investigate dim sum deliveries ...*

Just a quick stop to wish you a wonderful weekend, Rdear.

>290 humouress: Oh, you dramarincess. I've ignored everyone individually before today. It's been a horrible time and regrettably it's made me fall into a nasty pit. While it's true I flung myself there with obsessive doomscrolling, it wasn't until therapy yesterday that I could interrupt this craptastic downward spiral.

So:

>291 Ameise1: Hi Barbara, the same wishes heartily returned.

Ahem.

>290 humouress: Most of the places out to the east only do dim sum for brunch/lunch, while the places here on the west side generally have a small selection as appetizers though there has been a chain or two that was pretty much all dim sum. Unlike those which clearly expect mostly non-Asian customers, this new place has always had more Asians than non at the tables and while it has a selection of common dishes on the menu has about 20 dim sum varieties, meat skewers, and hot pots. Also reasonable prices and quick accurate delivery.

>294 quondame: Dim sum...want sum.

>293 Crazymamie: *smooch* How are you holding up, sweetiedarling?

*smooch* - no reply necessary. 😁

>253 Helenliz: >255 karenmarie: I found a pound coin while cleaning today, and thought it belonged to my son. He didn’t think it was his as he hadn’t used any cash at all since about October. He carries no cash or cards in the general way of things and pays for everything on his phone. He has never written a cheque in his life - I don’t think he’d know how to write one to be honest, and I’m pretty sure he hasn’t got a cheque book. But then I’m not sure where my cheque book is either - I suppose it’s around somewhere. But here it is almost always more expensive to pay bills by cheque, pretty much everyone sets up regular bills by direct debit as that is almost always cheaper.

Hi, hope you're feeling better.

>171 richardderus: Have no fear, my desire to actually read The Old Man and the Sea is, well, let's just say there are a lot of books in the world and time is precious.

>284 weird_O: I keep hearing that we have to get him out before he can pardon himself. Is this really a thing??? Can a sitting president pardon himself before he leaves office? If so, whoever wrote that part of the constitution (or whatever it is) was high on something.

It was a horrific week and I hope you spiral back up. I also spent way too much time doomscrolling. It is a miracle my Dry January is intact (although I did see one tweet that suggested that one's DJ could have an exception clause for an attempted coup - ha).

Hang in there, DR.

Afro Puffs does look really good (though I admit to having to look it up because M8 asked me what an Afro Puff was.)

Happy weekend, Richard, and hope you're able to find some relaxation in good reading. I haven't read much myself, today, but I did cook pizza with my Little and get Internet set up so I'm back and connected to the world.

>292 richardderus: Oh, very well then. I'm happy to be ignored along with everyone else.

However, that insult can't go without retaliation, so:

Happy Sunday, Richard. I hope you are finding some comfort and solace, with the books. It has been a difficult week. I plan a lazy one today.

Good morning, RDear, she says cautiously and 30% optimistically. She hopes you have hot and strong coffee and the escape of excellent books on tap for today.

I highly suggest a sea swim ;) Painful but ultimately mood lifting in the extreme - we had a stunning clear crisp day yesterday and Cass and I had a lovely dip... up until we put our heads in and had to get out...

Much love X

4 The Veiled Lady by Agatha Christie

Rating: 3* of five

Not bad. Silly ruse, wouldn't really be up to Poirot's standards if he wasn't so unspeakably bored.

Nothing special, nothing great, but a decent hour's read. I was distracted, and that's what I wanted.

5 Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Veiled Lady S02E02

Extremely faithful adaptation, down the line from giddy-up to whoa. So three stars here, too.

A note to Whovians: Frances Barber! You'll know her when you see her. That was a lot of fun, though hardly unusual; both series have looooong coattails.

So it's time for thread #2, and I am still just unable to focus. I'll try to get to it today, but this is a bad, bad day. Other issues are front-burnered today and I'm not feeling like much will get done. Twitter's off, I've closed YouTube, I don't have a TV, and Netflix has GBBO to calm me down.

Was hoping you were less stressed today, but...no. Sending you big hugs. And a smooch.

*smooch*

>6 richardderus: Scared of this list. Careful reading anything before--oh---2000