richardderus's sixth 2024 thread

Feeling like Godzilla at the fête....

Reviews 001 through 008 are linked here.
Reviews 009 on thru 017 are linked here.
Reviews 018 to 026 are linked there.
Reviews 027 to 033 are linked there.
Reviews 034 through 040 are linked here.

THIS THREAD'S REVIEWS

041 Say Hello to My Little Friend in post #60.
042 Once Upon a Villa: Adventures on the French Riviera in post #120.
043 The New True Crime: How the Rise of Serialized Storytelling Is Transforming Innocence in post #188.
044 And What Can We Offer You Tonight in post #197.
045 The Siege of Burning Grass in post #198.

All my threads in the 75ers linked somewhere here
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.
My Last Thread of 2021 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2022 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2023 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.

All previous Burgoine reviews linked here.

THIS THREAD'S BURGOINE REVIEWS:

#011 The Science of Agatha Christie: The Truth Behind Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and More Iconic Characters from the Queen of Crime in post #196.
#012 Dark Aeon: Transhumanism and the War Against Humanity in post #201.
#013 The Serpent (Time of Heroes #3) in post #233.
#014 Erskine Caldwell, Margaret Bourke-White, and the Popular Front: Photojournalism in Russia in post #261.
#015 Snow Birds (Grand Mafia Series) #2 in post #265.

All previous Pearl Rule reviews linked here.

THIS THREAD'S PEARL RULE REVIEWS:

#005 @ 34% Reservoir Year: A Walker’s Book of Days (New York State Series) in post #239.
#006 @ 27% Whaling Captains of Color: America's First Meritocracy in post #240.

Seriously...not a great venue for normies here.
My 2023 goals are here, for reference.

See >5 richardderus: for 2023 achievements.
My January 2024 summary is here.
My February 2024 summary is here.

Very well, the floor is yours at last.

Happy new thread Richard!

Happy new thread Richard!

Why do y'all keep voting these Creeps into power, directly or indirectly by not turning out to vote?

Who is the pic? its blocked for me

>8 humouress: Morning, Nina, have a crown:

All flowery and everything!

>9 Owltherian: Thank you, Lily!

>11 Owltherian: It is political.

>14 richardderus: Oh, welp i may be lucky i cant see it due to my school blocking it, and your welcome!

>12 richardderus: Oh wow, thank you. It suits my alter ego really well. I didn't think I'd ever be first on your thread.

>15 Owltherian: Indeed the case.

>16 humouress: Not quite this time, either, as Nina/humouress was first in.

>17 richardderus: Yep, and i am now in pain due to the possibility of a once a month thing that happens to women

Happy new one, Richard!

>18 richardderus: And now I'm confused.

Or confusing.

I am continuing a discussion from your previous thread. I loath and despise lawns. I simply don't understand why grass has to be mowed and kept green. Nonesense.

On-the-other-hand, I love flowers and veggies. I grow them in great variety in pots of all kinds. Flowers and veggies together makes me happy.

Happy new thread, Richard dear!

>21 humouress: Confusing indeed, Nina, but you got a beautiful crown.

New thread! I look forward to it, Richard.

Happy new thread, Richard

Happy new one, RD.

Happy new thread, Richard!

>19 Owltherian: Very much a no-fun kinda day.

>20 figsfromthistle: Thank you, Anita!

>21 humouress: Take the crown and scarper!

>22 benitastrnad: Flowers do nothing for me, only pollinator-friendlies even get my attention. Veggies are the things we need all those idiotic lawns to be replaced with soonest.

>28 richardderus: Yep, but the second day is always the worst.

>23 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita! *smooch*

>24 LizzieD: Thank you, me lurve.

>25 ArlieS: Hiya Arlie, welcome.

>26 katiekrug: Happy to see you, Katie!

>27 swynn: Thanks, Steve!

>32 Owltherian: You will bear up, I feel sure.

Happy new on Richard!!

Happy New Thread , Richard! I love the topper. Wednesday *smooch*

>39 RebaRelishesReading: Thank you, Reba, and welcome!

>40 vancouverdeb: Is that not something weirdly wonderful! That Tumblr makes these Godzilla-in-the-Middle-Ages artworks almost daily. My little bit of surreality, so needed. *smooch*

Happy New Thread, Richard. I like that topper. I hope you had a fine day.

>38 richardderus: Woops, i ended up passing out on the couch after taking some pamprin, so sorry about the SUPER late reply, may just go to sleep for the night.

>5 richardderus: I have been mistaken for a normie from time to time, but only because I refuse to feel I must reveal my backstory. My suburban-mum disguise is good...

I love the Godzilla in >1 richardderus:, so ...realistic? Haha. I see how that might sound silly.

Happy new thread, Richard.
I'm a rubbish gardener, but I do grow fruit and veggies with more care than flowers. Having said that, the massed ranks of hellebores in the front garden are delightful. They survive on little intervention, so we get along just fine >;-)

I'm loving how utterly unconcerned the majority of the people in >1 richardderus: look at the arrival of a 30ft dinosaur in their midst!

‘Hiya, RDear. Happy Thursday. Happy new thread.

From your last thread: My Wednesday was reasonable. I live here for other reasons than political, spent a total of 35 years in CA so earned lots of liberal cred. It’s getting leached out, I guess, but the purpleness of my county is slowing the rate. I remember my dad and a male neighbor of ours telling me at the age of 12 that I would become conservative the more money I earned, and I’m happy to have proved him wrong. That’s when I stopped discussing politics with him.

>1 richardderus: I like it – Godzilla at the fête.

*smooch*

>43 msf59: Hilarious isn't it. It was a day...no one died...I can not complain.

>44 Owltherian: Never worry about details like that, Lily...this is the place where no one's keeping score.

>45 LovingLit: Flying under the radar is a survival technique, Megan. It does matter what is inside more than out!

I love that artist's vision of making realistic, period-appropriate art with Godzilla retconned in. They have also made pastoral scenes from the eighteenth century with Godzilla, Hopper-like nighttime urban scenes with Godzilla...such whimsical fun.

>46 Helenliz: As well you should! And those hellebores will be in heavy demand after the UK implodes and no longer has the basics of twenty-first century life...they contain anti-depressants.

>49 richardderus: I ended up going to sleep at like 1am

>47 karenmarie: Morning, Horrible! Thursday orisons. If you find yourself becoming conservative, move away or the rot will take hold and eat your soul.

Godzilla is a welcome guest, it seems, which somehow makes this silliness very, very funny to me. *smooch*

>52 Owltherian: Better than 2am, and the trend is earlier.

>54 richardderus: Guess so, my dad had to snap to wake me up

Godzilla on an Italian cathedral floor.

>51 richardderus: I'm storing that nugget of information for another day...
And wondering how much of my chemistry degree I can practically remember at this remove to do the necessary extraction.

>57 Helenliz: You will do just fine. If the Greeks could make enough to poison Alexander with the stuff after Hephaistion died, should present no problem to a twentieth-century tech-haver to get the goodies out.

>56 richardderus: Good morning, Richard. I'm watching my ankles. *smooch*

041 Say Hello to My Little Friend by Jennine Capó Crucet

Rating: 4.25* of five

The Publisher Says: Scarface meets Moby-Dick in this groundbreaking, darkly comic novel about a young man’s attempt to capitalize on his mother’s murky legacy—a story steeped in Miami’s marvelous and sinister magic.

Failed Pitbull impersonator Ismael Reyes—you can call him Izzy—might not be the Scarface type, but why should that keep him from trying? Growing up in Miami has shaped him into someone who dreams of being the King of the 305, with the money, power, and respect he assumes comes with it. After finding himself at the mercy of a cease-and-desist letter from Pitbull’s legal team and living in his aunt’s garage-turned-efficiency, Izzy embarks on an absurd quest to turn himself into a modern-day Tony Montana.

When Izzy’s efforts lead him to the tank that houses Lolita, a captive orca at the Miami Seaquarium, she proves just how powerful she and the water surrounding her really are—permeating everything from Miami’s sinking streets to Izzy’s memories to the very heart of the novel itself. What begins as Izzy’s story turns into a super-saturated fever dream as sprawling and surreal as the Magic City, one as sharp as an iguana’s claws, and as menacing as a killer whale’s teeth. As the truth surrounding Izzy’s boyhood escape from Cuba surfaces, the novel reckons with the forces of nature, with the limits and absence of love, and with the dangers of pursuing a tragic inheritance. Wildly narrated and expertly rendered, Say Hello to My Little Friend is Jennine Capó Crucet’s most daring, heart-breaking, and fearless book yet.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Izzy is as average a guy as you will ever find. He has a crazy-ass inner life which suggests to him that making a living as a Pitbull impersonator:

...so we have a visual lock on Izzy from the off. Though, speaking of "off," the novel opens with Izzy getting his life rearranged by a lawyerly letter telling him to cease-and-desist with the Pitbull-y stuff. Now he has to figure out a way to make a living, and a life. Where is his family, you ask. Nowhere. He’s got none.

That central reality, that lack of mooring chains, allows Izzy to follow his inner voice’s promptings to do the absolute most batshit-crazy nonsense...remember he *was* a Pitbull impersonator until forced not to be...like, oh, lets say, model the entire rest of his life on the character in the film Scarface.

Follow the links, notice the patterns...this is not random pop-cultural detritus the author has randomly picked up.

Them comes the plot twist Lolita the Orca. How in the name of all that is holy did an ORCA show up in a novel about a Cuban-American man’s identity crisis?!

You really need to follow those links. Do some surface-scratching into the culture not already familiar to you. The word "reggaeton" will enter your vocabulary painlessly this way, and you will need it and the ideas it fronts for to wedge into your brain. The world is changing, and unless you intend to try to stop it by joining the banners and deniers on the radical right, you had best expend some brainergy getting conversant with Izzy and his world.

Do it painlessly by reading this novel. Moby-Dick was nowhere near this much fun to read, and Izzy beats Ishmael all hollow as a cicerone through all things whale-y. The resonances with the culture of the past make the culture of this century accessible for us midcentury moderns. The read is fun, it’s fast, it’s trenchant...it’s saying a lot more than the words mean.

Isn’t that more or less a novel’s brief? This one does make you work. It requires some effort to get the pop-cultural zeitgeist. It does not pretend to be all about you and center your experience. That novel exists in droves, elsewhere. THIS novel takes you inside the head of a man so traumatized by his past that he can not afford to go deep into anything. This novel parses the cost of cheap thrills and entertainment. The plot, the spine, is the voyage of discovery that we take with Izzy. Like any voyage of discovery, it is not a straight line from start to finish, so douse that expectation right away. Go on the trip as Author Crucet planned it and it will reward you with knowledge and information about the world of a trauma survivor. That can only be a net gain to your own world, because you are statistically likely to know a trauma survivor.

You might not know it yet, but you could easily pick up on signs you would not have seen before if you get your hooks into this story and its meanings.

>59 LizzieD: Morning, Peggy! Watch them ankles well. *smooch*

Salutations on your new thread, dear fellow.

>62 PaulCranswick: Muchas gracias, PC.

Happy new 🧵!

>64 Storeetllr: *smooch*

Thank you, Mary!

Just dropping by to say "Happy New Thread!" while there is some peace and quiet here.

((Hugs)) and **smooches**

Wishing you a "happy new thread" before it's too late. Somehow I've read through a few times but neglected to post, so figured I'd rectify that now. *smooch*

>66 alcottacre: Hi! *smooch*

>67 bell7: Happy that you did, Mary!

Happy new thread, Richard!

Happy Friday, RDear.

>56 richardderus: I love that mosaic.

>60 richardderus: Excellent and thoughtful review. Stunning paragraph: Isn’t that more or less a novel’s brief? This one does make you work. It requires some effort to get the pop-cultural zeitgeist. It does not pretend to be all about you and center your experience. That novel exists in droves, elsewhere. THIS novel takes you inside the head of a man so traumatized by his past that he can not afford to go deep into anything. This novel parses the cost of cheap thrills and entertainment. The plot, the spine, is the voyage of discovery that we take with Izzy. Like any voyage of discovery, it is not a straight line from start to finish, so douse that expectation right away. Go on the trip as Author Crucet planned it and it will reward you with knowledge and information about the world of a trauma survivor. That can only be a net gain to your own world, because you are statistically likely to know a trauma survivor.

*smooch*

Happy Friday, Richard. It is Bree's birthday. The years sure fly by, don't they. We will all get together for some bar-hopping tomorrow.

Funny, I just watched both Scarface films. The original is excellent. I also like the remake, despite the profanity, violence and excessiveness. Say Hello to My Little Friend looks like a fun ride.

>70 Familyhistorian: Thank you, Meg!

>71 karenmarie: Thank you, Horrible. I am glad that you enjoyed the review. I really enjoyed the book!

Friday orisons, my dear lady.

>72 msf59: Happy Bree-day, Daddy! I think you would enjoy >60 richardderus: a lot. Give it a whirl!

>45 LovingLit: ;) The best I manage is to be routinely mistaken for a married cis-lesbian. Fortunately, in Silly Valley that pretty much qualifies me as a normie. ;-)

>76 ArlieS: That right there? That is the only reason I would ever even set foot in Cali again. Not since 1992...honestly not likely to ever happen. But that removes my shuddering horror, replacing it with distaste.

>77 richardderus: It probably wouldn't work in all parts of Cali, but I'm not living in Hollywood, or farm country.

Happy new one, Richard!

((Hugs)) and **smooches** for today and wishes for a wonderful weekend!

>78 ArlieS: The whole state does not do it for me.

>79 drneutron: Thank you, Doc!

>80 alcottacre: Weekend orisons, Stasia! *smooch*

Happy new thread, Richard!

>22 benitastrnad: I heartily agree! Why are we required to keep mowed lawns, wasting water on grass? Something really has to change with HOA rules.

I am curious to know what you thought about the Biden speech last night - but more curious about what your opinion is regarding the rebuttal of the winey sorority girl afterwards?

>84 atozgrl: Replace the lawn with flowering bushes with deep roots?

>84 atozgrl: Thanks, Irene! Get yourself elected to the HOA and start talking up change.

Easier said than done, of course, but the fact is there needs to be a spark to start a fire. Smoldering is less successful.

*smooch*

>85 benitastrnad: Biden did a good job. I think that bland blah child sounded more like a Saturday Night Live sketch than a serious political thinker taking on the agenda outlined in his speech. Which has, sadly, little to no chance of being enacted unless we give him the trifecta. I do not see that happening when the Repulsivecans have been so busy making voter suppression legal.

>86 humouress: ...and get sued...the HOAs of Amurruhkuh are bastions of fascism and have arrogated power to themselves to enforce their will.

'Morning, RDear. Happy Saturday to you.

*smooch*

>90 karenmarie: Morning, Horrible. Happy Saturday back.

*smooch*

>88 richardderus: Exactly. I spent my LT time this morning reading Heather Cox Richardson's latest Letter in which she talked about International Woman's Day with a glimpse at the ideal PlugUglican woman, the breathy little Britt.

*smooch* for your day!

>92 LizzieD: Gawdawful demonstration of the devaluation of womanhood. She was wraithlike, so transparent was her cluelessness.

>88 richardderus:
I noticed this morning that many of the news commentators were not kind to "Karen" Britt. One said she was "overacting" and "breathy." Another thought her choice of speechifying in the kitchen of her McMansion was a strange choice.

I agree with those assessments and have to admit I noticed the McMansion. Nobody I know has a pot filler water spout beside their stove and am willing to bet that little cooking is done in that kitchen.

Personally, I thought she was the perfect sorority twit. I can't remember which sorority she was in, but in order to be elected as Student Government Association president she had to be a member of a sorority or the good ole' boys in the machine would never have allowed her be elected. She sounded just like the hundreds of other girls admitted to that good Old South tradition of sororities subordinate to the wiser men about campus. She is just a product of her raising.

>94 benitastrnad: Her appearance was, from giddy-up to whoa, a performance without a shred of agency from her, without a thought or feeling from her, without honesty, wit, or intelligence from her. It was cynical manipulation and the entire appalling debacle was seen as such even by the intended audience.

On top of which she flat out lied. (*Gasp! No! Really?* *Yes, really.*) Her disingenuous and inflammatory story about the trafficked sex worker, blaming Biden and placing the crime on American soil, was wreathed in lies. Yes, the woman was raped and forced into sex slavery, but it happened 20 years ago IN Mexico. And Kitchen Karen learned about it at a press conference/panel she attended along with Marsha Blackburn and another Senator, though she could have learned of it when the woman testified before Congress. FFS.

Saturday was SO yesterday for me, and I can report from the future that it was awesome.

>95 richardderus: when you say cynical manipulation...you refer to most high-up politicians of a certain bent, no?

>97 LovingLit: Oooooo. Spot on.

>96 Storeetllr: Her lie was so instantly fact-checkable that I can not help but think her use of the story was some sort of plant, to distract us from something. No idea what, though.

>97 LovingLit: You could accurately end that sentence after politicians, my dear lady.

Enjoy Flooblesglonk, or whatever your local calendar calls whichever day it is there. *smooch*

>98 weird_O: Indeed.

It is the weekend and thus must be time for smooches. Wishing you excellent reads and a warm spring breeze.

>86 humouress: I wish it were that easy. I like bushes, especially azaleas and hydrangeas, but I don't think it would look great to cover the entire lawn with them. We'd have to figure out what other low-growing plants to fill in between.

>87 richardderus: I'm not a politician, so I don't see myself running for HOA.

>88 richardderus: I missed Biden's State of the Union. Turned on the TV to watch the local evening news and saw that the Republican response was in progress, so I muted it to wait until she was done and the local news came on. Seeing a little bit of that with the sound off, I had no idea what she was saying, but she looked like a Stepford wife. When I heard a few clips later, she sounded even creepier.

>102 MickyFine: *smooch* back atcha, Micky!

>103 atozgrl: The State of the Union is never all that interesting a piece of political theater, TBH. Biden's performance was absolutely superior to Little Missie's creepy animatronic one, apparently the script she was given did not excite her enough to get her best acting chops.

Hiya, RDear! Happy Sunday to you.

>94 benitastrnad: and >96 Storeetllr: At the risk of irritating you, could we NOT use my name, Karen, as a pejorative? I realize it’s easy to do and is a shortcut for an awful type of woman, but honestly, it’s extremely offensive and upsetting to me.

And thanks, RD and others, for not using it.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>106 karenmarie: *smooch*

Murderbot news!
https://www.tumblr.com/young-astro/744510008485609472/highlights-from-the-martha...

Cool news on Murderbot, RD. Happy Sunday, my friend. Lots of sunshine here but with a bite in the air.

>99 richardderus: I agreed so much with what you said that I immediately when to where the Like button would be on another social media site. 🙄

>106 karenmarie: You got it, Karen. Sorry for that. It is a shortcut, but I imagine it’s unpleasant (to say the least) to see when it’s your name. No offense was meant, and I’ll refrain in future.

>108 richardderus: wOOt!

>106 karenmarie: Amen, fellow Karen! I commented in the same manner back on Mark’s previous thread. It’s like a gut-punch to hear our name used like that! And it is such an easy, sloppy, pejorative thing to do.

Karen O

Hope your weather and reads give you a great week ahead, Richard!

>105 richardderus: She obviously isn't capable of acting, so good thing she didn't pursue that as a career. As I expected, SNL had a pretty good sendup last night.

>109 msf59: Monday orisons, Birddude. It is sunshiney and so windy that I think Dorothy Gale and some little mutt will whoosh past at any time now. I am huddled under a blanket I am so chilled...weird for me.

>110 Storeetllr: That like-button lack trips me up on the regular, Mary.

I am glad that we are so close to getting Murderbot on our screens!

>111 klobrien2: My consciousness was raised when this first came out.

>112 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg! Reading has been very slow. Hands are unhappy just now. May that stop soon!

>113 atozgrl: Considering her scary, awful vibe in that skit, howinahell did she get elected in the first place, I wonder. It was a gift to comedy, though, was it not?

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Monday to you.

>110 Storeetllr: Thank you, Mary. >111 klobrien2: Karen sisterhood! >117 richardderus: Cheers to raised consciousness.

>113 atozgrl: She obviously isn't capable of acting, so good thing she didn't pursue that as a career. As I expected, SNL had a pretty good sendup last night. My friend Karen in Montana told me about it last night when we were chatting. I need to check it out.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

042 Once Upon a Villa: Adventures on the French Riviera by Andrew Kaplan

Rating: 3.75* of five

The Publisher Says: In this wise, warm-hearted, witty, and LOL hilariously funny true account, New York Times bestselling author Andrew Kaplan tells what it’s like when he, his wife, and two-year-old son decided to chuck it all and live the fantasy in a villa by the sea in that extraordinary corner of the world—part international café society, part billionaires’ playground, part provincial France—that is the French Riviera.

Whether it’s matching wits with French bureaucracy, searching for the perfect bouillabaisse, encounters with con men, eccentric ex-pats, and Monaco’s royal family, partying with the international set on Onassis’ yacht, playing chess with a philosophical police chief, or adventures and friendships with the rich and famous and the presumably standoffish French, Once Upon a Villa will transport you to a fascinating and shrewdly-observed world that you will savor like your first-morning bite of pain au chocolate.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: No idea if it’s just me or what, but I still crave comfort reads.

The world’s gotten way meaner here lately. It takes more and more effort not to simply check out and leave the awfulness to its own devices, perpetuating itself being its best-ever trick. Thus I approached this read with all the fervor I would’ve lavished on the Best-Costume Oscar had I known about the bit John Cena committed to this ceremony. The man’s fifty-five, y’all, give it up for growing old gracefully...and hotly.

Ahem. Focus, Mudge, focus!

So, back to Author Kaplan, and the idea of relocating to the Riviera. Short of money, the author clearly is not...and there’s my sticking point, the reason for my missing stars. The part of the read that was charming, the French and their cultural schizophrenia of warm, generous, welcoming people and cold, maddening bureaucracy, was outweighed in my pleasure-reading by a very arriviste kind of name-dropping and hobnobbing with the Society Set that has long made the South of France its own. So much of the book is about who the author and his shopaholic wife went around and about with that I lost my warm happy glow.

That was not fatal...the story is a lot of fun to read...it just hits me, the leftist redistributionist, in the wrong way. I do not care about Princess Caroline of Monaco. I do care about the neighbors who were kind.

I am not everyone, and I am quite sure many of y’all will not feel my collywobbles about the snobbery on view. I urge y’all to go to it, go get it, and enjoy its very real writerly pleasures. I felt uneasy about my own trip, but that is no reason you should. This tour of the land of naked privilege should entertain and distract (most) anyone.

Hey, I am only 40 posts behind this time! Progress.

>120 richardderus: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation, RD.

((Hugs)) and **smooches**

>121 alcottacre: Hiya Stasia! I am happy that you chose to come by my dull, neglected, ignored little thread. *smooches*

Enjoy >120 richardderus:!

>120 richardderus: "No idea if it’s just me or what, but I still crave comfort reads."

"The world’s gotten way meaner here lately. It takes more and more effort not to simply check out and leave the awfulness to its own devices, perpetuating itself being its best-ever trick. Thus I approached this read with all the fervor ..."

This!

>119 karenmarie: Hiya Horrible. Monday joy to you, all doctored up as you finally are! *smooch*

Hiya Richard- i uh just got done having my dailyish panic attack.

>123 ArlieS: :-D

>125 Owltherian: Done is the good word in there!

Yeah, it only happens in my computer graphic design class as well.

I was more than a bit stunned about the backlash to the use of the term "Karen" upthread, so I took some time this morning and did a bit of research. It is true that the term "Karen" as a meme is a pejorative. The word pejorative means to express disapproval or contempt. According to Wikipedia the meme of "Karen" traces all the way back to the 1850's through a long string of terms and names. In the 1850's the term used was "Miss Anne." In the early 2000s the term used was "Soccer Mom". Earlier the name "Becky" was used. All of them are slang used to describe a middle-class white American woman who is perceived as entitled or excessively demanding beyond the scope of what is considered to be normal behavior and decorum.

There is even a male equivalent of a "Karen." It is "Chad." Chad also traces back through "Richard" back to the Jim Crow era where the term used was "Mister Charlie."

I apologize for any discomfort that was caused to people with the name Karen. However, I don't apologize for my assessment of one of the pair of Yammering Yahoo's who happen to be the current holders of the title Senator from Alabama and her grotesque performance on Thursday night. The other Yammering Yahoo doesn't even bear mentioning. One does have to wonder how either of them got elected?

>129 benitastrnad: Not in Alabackward, one needn't. That they pretend to hold an election for an actual anointing...YUCK

Yeah, the name use is...unfortunate. But it can be avoided, so....

>128 Owltherian: Creativity on demand is very hard to take calmly, indeed.

>131 richardderus: yeah, and i struggle to understand what we are doing.

>132 Owltherian: I would, too, so I empathize.

Like its all just random and my keyboard just decided to stop working so that's another reason

>134 Owltherian: A really putrid day, Lily.

>135 richardderus: Yes, yesh it really was a horrible day.

>136 Owltherian: But over now, time to let it fade to black.

>129 benitastrnad: I was aware of most of the female terms but didn't even know there was a comparable one for men. Interesting.

>137 richardderus: yep, and i just got reminded of a really sad video i had to watchhhh

>139 Owltherian: You can do it...its just a video, not RL.

>140 richardderus: But it was about the holocaust and that's something that happened irl

>141 Owltherian: And sadness is the ordinary response to it...but in perspective. That happened eighty-five years ago.

>142 richardderus: and it could happen again too

>143 Owltherian: So could a comet strike. Worrying about things you can not control does not stop them, it stops *you* from living your life.

Morning, RD.

Speaking of comfort reads up thread - I am doing a lot of them this month, I am finding. Not sure what triggered the need for them but obviously something in me feels the need.

Have a terrific Tuesday! ((Hugs)) and **smooches**

Hiya, RDear. Happy Tuesday.

SSDD.

*smooch*

>145 alcottacre: *smoochiesmoochsmooch* for you, too, dear stasia!

>144 richardderus: I guess so but having to learn about it over and over is depressing

>146 karenmarie: Tuesday orisons, Horrible!

>148 Owltherian: Of course it is, it has to be or else it would not be doing its job of making sure you do not sit silently while it happens like the Germans did in the 1930s.

>150 richardderus: Turkey im pretty sure is saying it didnt happen, which is why the rest of NATO doesnt really like them as much.

>151 Owltherian: Turkey and Armenia have a VERY long history, Lily. Much has happened in the last ~1500 years. The 1915 genocide is real, but did not come out of nothingness.

>152 richardderus: Thats very true, and we had to do projects about some genocides and some are still happening to this day.

>153 Owltherian: Learning about the bad crap that happens in the world is necessary. Keep your perspective clear...you are learning so you can not be lied to, or tricked, or made to feel like you do not know what Is happening.

>154 richardderus: Yep, i did a project on the Burma Genocide.

>155 Owltherian: Not cheerful, but necessary.

>156 richardderus: Yeah, and good lord- im trying to explain something to someone and they are not listening and telling me 'they are the god of all gods' or something like that.

Just dropping by to wish you a lovely Tuesday. It’s apparently a warm day, so I’m planning to stick my head outside for a change (my body following, hopefully). Maybe even drive for the first time since the surgery. Wish me luck!

>158 Storeetllr: All the luck, Mary! *smooch*

Hello Richard, how art thou today?

>158 Storeetllr: Driving after a time of not-driving is great! Very freeing! Wishing you all kinds of luck! (I was going to say, “lots of luck!” But that didn’t sound right. Ha!)

Karen O

>1 richardderus: Happy new thread!

>160 Owltherian: I art...that, to be sure, is more than good enough for me.

>161 klobrien2: ^^^what she said

>162 ocgreg34: Thanks, Greg! Welcome.

>163 richardderus: Heh, when i say that it basically means "How are you" in Shakespearian english

>118 richardderus: Absolutely, it was! >119 karenmarie: It's worth checking out.

>166 Owltherian: Betimes, fair Lily, thy urge to elucidate art misprised.

>167 atozgrl: *smooch*

Happy Wednesday, Richard. I hope the week is going along smoothly for you. Is Lily keeping you busy? 😁

Jackson came over for a couple of hours yesterday. Nice, playing out in front of the house with him. Romping in the warmth and sunshine.

>168 richardderus: Heh, it very much did.

happy hump day, Richard.

May your coffee be hot, amended to your liking, and plentiful. If you drink tea, I am sorry for your brain-damaged self, but one assumes you have found some way to make the boiled camellia-hedge trash palatable *shudder*

>170 msf59: The best visits are the surprise ones, are they not. I know how much you look forward to Jackson time!

Boring books lately. *sigh*

>171 Owltherian: :-)

>172 Helenliz: Thanks, Helen! Same back atcha.

‘Morning, RDear. Happy Wednesday.

>173 richardderus: Yes! I’m on my first cup and it’s sooooo good. For me, freshly ground medium roast beans with our wonderful well water, black, no sugar.

*smooch*

>173 richardderus: ;-)

>173 richardderus: I feel you would approve of our recent starter at work. He has his own little cafetière and ground coffee. Smell delicious. And I still can't drink coffee - all that caffeine. >:*(

I got stuff to do today, RD. Don't know right now what I'll select from the To-Do list, which is longer than 45's list of crimes. But something rewarding. Could be scrambling the clutter, shifting stuff to new and inconvenient locations. I have a gift for that.

>177 karenmarie: Substitute “Brita pitchered” for well water, and that's me too. *smooch*

>178 ArlieS: Happy Wednesday, Arlie.

>179 Helenliz: Tea has caffeine, too...

>180 weird_O: Scrambling the clutter is always fun. Except when something gets accidentally buried. *sigh* Enjoy your activity, Weird One.

Happy mid week drive by.....zoom!

>183 richardderus: I know, which is why my hot drinks are mint tea, fruit tea, rooibos tea etc. Anything that's not tea or coffee.
I have 1 cup of decaf coffee a day. I can't quite give it up, can't tolerate any more.

Good morning, Richard. My first cup of bean juice is on the horizon. Karen makes me wish that I had access to the well at my grandmama's homeplace.... the best living water ever! (Every morning she'd drink a first glass of city water as soon as she got into the kitchen. Every morning the first swallow ended in *yachhh*.) I'm dependent on Brita too.

>129 benitastrnad: I'm very far behind here, I know. My impression is that Miss Ann and Mr. Charlie are long-time terms in the black community for the privileged whites. My black students certainly recognized them when they read Purlie Victorious in the mid-70s.

Off and away! *smooch* for your day, Richard! Hope its as glorious as our weather although it's getting too warm too soon.

043 The New True Crime: How the Rise of Serialized Storytelling Is Transforming Innocence by Diana Rickard

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: How serialized crime shows became an American obsession

TV shows and podcasts like Making a Murderer, Serial, and Atlanta Monster have taken the cultural zeitgeist by storm, and contributed to the release of wrongly imprisoned people―such as Adnan Syed. The popularity of these long-form true crime docuseries has sparked greater attention to issues of inequality, power, social class, and structural racism. More and more, the American public is asking, Who is and is not deserving of punishment, and who is and is not protected by the law? In The New True Crime, Diana Rickard argues that these new true crime series deserve our attention for what they reveal about our societal understanding of crime and punishment, and for the new light they shine on the inequalities of the criminal justice system. Questioning the finality of verdicts, framing facts as in the eye of the beholder―these new series unmoor our faith in what is knowable, even as, Rickard critically notes, they often blur the lines between “fact” and “fiction.”

With a focus on some of the most popular true crime podcasts and streaming series of the last decade, Rickard provides an in-depth analysis of the ways in which this new media―which allows for binge-listening or watching―makes crime into a public spectacle and conveys ideological messages about punishment to its audience. Entertainment values have always been entwined with crime news reporting. Newsworthy stories, Rickard reminds us, need to involve sex, violence, or a famous person, and contain events that can be framed in terms of individualism and conservative ideologies about crime. Even as these old tropes of innocent victims and deviant bad guys still dominate these docuseries, Rickard also unpacks how the new true crime has been influenced by the innocence movement, a diverse group of organizers and activists, be they journalists, lawyers, formerly incarcerated people, or family members, who now have a place in mainstream consciousness as DNA evidence exonerates the wrongly convicted.

The New True Crime questions the knowability of truth and probes our anxieties about the “real” nature of true crime media. For fans of true crime shows and anyone concerned about justice in America, this book will prove to be essential reading.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I chose to read this in spite of my serious problems with making victimhood the center of yet another cultural conversation. The howls of outrage when another Black man is convicted, on the flimsiest of evidence, of raping a white woman, center her whiteness and the racism of the laughingly labeled criminal-justice system.

Many parts of the conversations we should be having are entirely missing, eg, Black women raped by white men get no podcasts, murders of Black men and male adolescents get fewer than the statistically appropriate number of hours devoted to them, and let us not even bring up trans folk and/or sex workers of any skin color or gender...why go on, it is all part of the entertainment industry and its long, deep relationship with Othering.

This is not, however, the story...or even more than a glancing part of the story...that Author Rickard tells in this book. It was not intended to be, so this is not a failing of execution but of design.

There is no point yelling at someone for not doing what *you* want done.

The book, as written, makes a strong case for the net positives of a field of entertainment that focuses cultural attention on the failings of a system designed to operate out of the majority’s sight. The techniques of the entertainment industry...heightened language, elisions of tediously bulky chains of evidence into more narrative-friendly sound bites...mirror the long-standing prosecutorial tricks of evidentiary manipulation that these podcasts and shows highlight, only from the other side.

Since the system we have is an adversarial one, with rules that...while on the surface even-handed...frequently get bent or ignored when convenient for those representing institutional authority, we will always need independent actors with the access and the desire to turn over the rocks plopped on top of the holes in evidence in service of the narrative needed to get a conviction. Everyone is guilty if the right/wrong storyteller gets hold of the narrative. (Side note: NEVER TALK TO COPS WITHOUT A LAWYER. NO ONE IS INNOCENT IF THEY SAY YOU ARE NOT.)

So this new use of the entertainment media does indeed do Society a solid service by shining harsh and unflattering light on the actors for the State. It highlights the miscarriages of fairness and honest dealing that are so very common in US society. These are net positives for all concerned. Right?

Crimes have victims or they are not crimes. Victims, living or dead, have no say in who, or how, or why, their trauma is presented, whether during or after the crime, its investigation, or its rehashing. Very few people are Alice Sebold or E. Jean Carroll, those eloquent enough, well-favored enough, or just willing enough to see processes like those needed to re-investigate their horrific personal and, all too often, intimate violations bandied about in public again and again. I dont know if you are aware of this,but there are truly shitty people out there on the internet who absolutely **love** making their ugliest opinons public. These already-traumatized people are all too often targeted by those rotten-souled jerks.

This book is not intended to solve these issues. That it does not is not a reason not to read it. This new use of entertainment to correct flawed narratives instead of spread copaganda is, in my own view, a net positive for society. It comes with problems and abuse vectors that are, sadly, not new. The possibility is that the new true crime could shine a bright enough light on those cyberissues that they will get onto the radar of the ones who can solve them, too.

Ain’t holdin’ my breath, mind you, but the possibility exists, and that is a good thing. Author Rickard makes the outlines of the emerging true-crime media landscape clear and comprehensible to non-expert readers. Her prose is up to the reportorial task at hand; her eye for the narrative strand is at the least as good as the podcasters and showrunners she reports on.

A read I recommend to any media junkies, all leftists, and the passively consuming podaholics who might read this review.

>188 richardderus: I have been reading true crime books since I was in my teens so that is a definite must read for me, RD. Thanks for the recommendation and review.

((Hugs)) and **smooches** for today. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

>188 richardderus: Yeah, that sums up some of the things that make "true crime" Not My Thing. Hooray for a trend in "use of entertainment to correct flawed narratives instead of spread copaganda," though I think this one too is probably not for me.

>161 klobrien2: Thank, Karen! I’ll take luck no matter how it’s wished!

>189 alcottacre: The read should do you right, Stasia! *smooch*

>190 swynn: The read will give you agita, then, Steve. Best treated like it gots the cooties.

>191 Storeetllr: *smooch*

😘

BURGOINE #011

The Science of Agatha Christie: The Truth Behind Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and More Iconic Characters from the Queen of Crime by Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence

Rating: 3.25* of five

The Publisher Says: Uncover the theories behind Dame Agatha Christie's most thrilling mysteries: Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, The A.B.C. Murders, and so much more!

Gothic media moguls Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence, authors of The Science of Stephen King and co-hosts of the Horror Rewind podcast called “the best horror film podcast out there” by Film Daddy, present a guide to the Agatha Christie stories and supersleuths we all know and love. Through interviews, literary and film analysis, and bone-chilling discoveries, The Science of Agatha Christie uncovers the science behind the sixty-six detective novels and fourteen short story collections that have become an integral part of the modern murder mystery, answering such questions as:

What is the science behind the poisons used to commit murders in Agatha Christie’s stories?

When did crime investigation become more common as seen in Murder on the Orient Express?

Has science made it possible to uncover the truth behind the investigative powers of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple?

How did Agatha Christie use isolated settings to best explore the psychology of her characters?

Join Kelly and Meg as they discover why sometimes the impossible must be possible!

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Chatty, entertaining mishmash of gossip and opinion from oodles of carefully documented sources. Vanishingly light on hard science, at least as I interpret that promise; it has anecdotes about the generalities from interviewees. Does not make it less amusing to read, sort of like going to a Christie book-club discussion with the most well-prepared session runner of all time.

Agathites will likely find it an entertaining read. Go into it as a browsing book, not a devour-in-a-day binge. That will keep the tone fresh and involving.

044 And What Can We Offer You Tonight by Premee Mohamed

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Winner of the 2022 Nebula Award and World Fantasy Award for Best Novella.

In a far future city, where you can fall to a government cull for a single mistake, And What Can We Offer You Tonight tells the story of Jewel, established courtesan in a luxurious House. Jewel’s world is shaken when her friend is murdered by a client, but somehow comes back to life. To get revenge, they will both have to confront the limits of loyalty, guilt, and justice.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Self-esteem, self-love, class solidarity, friendship, Love...big, big themes to tackle in under a hundred pages. Yet as one expects from Premee Mohamed, tackled they are, and indeed pinned to the mat of argument.

There are those who say they have no patience for future-set stories, yet who will gobble the stories that center amateur sleuths who are not arrested and abused by police and courts who do not approve of this behavior...inconsistent much? Each is unbelievable in its own way, and this story’s amateur sleuths have some *very* powerful motives for their far higher stakes poking around. I know others whose taste in storytelling excludes tales that begin in medias res. That being a taste that can not be argued with, I warn those folk that this is not one for them.

The authorial voice here, Jewel’s stream of consciouness and self-aware of its floridity, would wear on my nerve if it lasted more than the eightyish pages that it does. In this size of a dose, it counterpoints the horrifying, bleak dystopia that these young people are...existing is a better fit than living...within. The brothel where they work is a reputable one, yet a client murders one of them and no one in power cares, or pursues justice.

Sound familiar, y’all?

Unlike boring old twenty-first century reality, though, the murdered party returns for revenge, not as a zombie or vampire but simply undead. Go with it. As the co-sex-worker Winfield sets about getting the revenge that I myownself feel is richly deserved, the story meditates on the larger, darker themes of living in a hypercapitalist hellscape. The ending is, as expected, satisfying. The truths Author Mohamed tells us in the course of this bleak vision of a future where money = justice, where might = rights, where even the meagerest of existences is contingent on selling one’s own body for the gratification of others, are readily applicable to the world around us.

That horrifying truth is how this very short, sharp shock to the reader’s system won the very high-powered awards that it did. Very highly recommended.

045 The Siege of Burning Grass by Premee Mohamed

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: A stunning meditation on war, nationalism, violence and courage by a rising star of the genre.

The Empires of Varkal and Med’ariz have always been at war.

Alefret, the founder of Varkal’s pacifist resistance, was bombed and maimed by his own government, locked up in a secret prison and tortured by a ‘visionary’ scientist. But now they’re offering him a chance of freedom.

Ordered to infiltrate one of Med’ariz’s flying cities, obeying the bloodthirsty zealot Qhudur, he must find fellow anti-war activists in the enemy’s population and provoke them into an uprising against their rulers.

He should refuse to serve the warmongers, but what if he could end this pointless war once and for all? Is that worth compromising his own morals and the principles of his fellow resistance members?

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: As you would expect from Premee Mohamed, this is a carefully constructed secondary world, with a deeply tendentious story playing out inside its rules. Moral greyness and relativistic morality are always welcome sights in the secondary-world fantasy genre. Meditating on what makes a villain villainous, what makes it possible to fight and kill in service of peace (as George Carlin famously observed, "Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity"), all the while still feeling Very Certain of one's own cause's Rightness. No one in one of Author Mohamed's worlds is Right. That being the reality of life on the Earth I like seeing it shown this way in very appealing fiction.

Bioengineering plays a very significant role in this fantasy world. (Including a use of wasps that absolutely *never* would've occurred to me!) I think it is best to leave the whats and hows of that fact alone, as there are surprises in store that hang on those hooks. If I am transparent about it, I would have been five-star warbling my fool head off had some of those fascinating facets found even greater, and sooner, uses in the story.

While I comprehend the metaphorical use of a flying city, I am deeply skeptical of any use of them because they use unrealistic tech to solve...nothing. There is no actual, practical benefit to a flying city that is not outweighed by real, unaddressed increases in the complexity of urban living. I guess the metaphorical "coolth" and visual appeal is just too much to resist, and the people with the flying city in this story definitely seem like the sort of culture that would develop one. Still...just no. Resist the pointed contrast of tech "coolth" to natural development and augmentation!

The absolute joy of the read is the very carefully natural debate between the competing moral certainties of pacifism and Security Über Alles from the alleged same side of the war. This is, to me, the best use of fiction: Don't give one side the monopoly on the good stuff or the bad stuff. Humankind doesn't, hasn't, and won't ever work like that. As you are telling this story, albeit set on a different world, to Humankind, follow our rules when it most counts. This being one of Author Mohamed's storytelling's strong points, I always enjoy her stories.

So, while not a masterpiece, this story of pacifism and its moral greyness, warmongering and its honest, if misguided, aims, and what men will do to WIN, is one fine read, indeed.

Sweet Thursday, Richard. Storms have been moving through all night. We could use the rain. I have Jackson duties today for a few hours, but I don't think we will be able to go outdoors.

"The New True Crime" sounds like a compelling read.

BURGOINE #012

Dark Aeon: Transhumanism and the War Against Humanity by Joe Allen (Foreword by Steve Bannon)...yes, THAT Steve Bannon

Rating: 2.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Humanity is consumed by relentless transformation

Like a thief in the night, artificial intelligence has inserted itself into our lives. It makes important decisions for us every day. Often, we barely notice. As Joe Allen writes in this groundbreaking book, “Transhumanism is the great merger of humankind with the Machine. At this stage in history, it consists of billions using smartphones. Going forward, we’ll be hardwiring our brains to artificial intelligence systems.”

The world-famous robot, Sophia, symbolizes a rising techno-religion. She takes her name from the goddess—or Æon— whose fall from grace is described in the Gnostic Gospels.

With an academic background in both science and theology, Allen confronts the paradox of what he calls “good people constructing a digital abomination.” Dark Æon is nothing less than a cri de coeur for humanity itself. He takes us on a roller coaster ride through history and the emergence of Scientism, and from government-mandated mRNA vaccines to the weird visions of cyborg billionaires like Elon Musk.

From Silicon Valley to China, these globalists’ visions of humanity’s future, exposed and described in Dark Æon, are dire and terrifying. But Joe Allen argues that humanity’s salvation is within our grasp. Only if we refuse to avert our eyes from the impending twilight before us.

It is relevant here to quote the unknown author’s bio from Skyhorse’s website here: Joe Allen has written for Chronicles, The Federalist, Human Events, The National Pulse, Parabola, Salvo, and Protocol: The Journal of the Entertainment Technology Industry. He holds a master’s degree from Boston University, where he studied cognitive science and human evolution as they pertain to religion. As an arena rigger, he’s toured the world for rock n’ roll, country, rap, classical, and cage-fighting productions. He now serves as the transhumanism editor for Bannon’s WarRoom.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Regular readers will expect rude comments about religious nuts and radical right-wing conspiracists here. The author is, indeed, a religious nut and a radical-right Koolaid imbiber. Follow any link in his bio that I have left for you.

That does not make him all wrong. There is much to deplore in Musk’s vision of transhuman consciousness. Start with, howinahell can a mere computer contain a human consciousness, let alone millions or billions of them, when the computer is still stuck by the laws of physics in the role of extremely fast calculator? We think a LOT faster than computers, a lot deeper, too. Will the day come when we can upload a human consciousness into an electronic matrix? Maybe. But while it is a good thing to think through the implications of that, and of actual AI not merely the impressively glib LLMs we see today, doing so from this viewpoint is...well...stupid.

For people who claim to base their visions for Humanity on their god’s rule, they have very little faith in her ablity to do stuff for herself...they need to protect this omniscient and omnipotent being from us mere humans’ actions, because they will somehow harm her.

What this book gets wrong is its religion, not mostly wrong like its science. If your omnipotent god does not want transhumanism to occur, it won’t. Simple as that. As she set up rules of physics that present HUGE hurdles to the creation of genuine AI and/or transhuman being, I’d say she has it covered and y’all need to CTFD.

Skyhorse wants $17.99 for an ebook. I say get it out of the library.

>197 richardderus: 5 stars? *gobsmacked*

>198 richardderus: See, coolth is a word.

>199 msf59: Morning, Mark. Enjoy your bonus Jackson time! It is a bright, warm day here which I would happily ship to you in exchange for an actual winter....

It was a compelling read, indeed, and one I urge on you.

>202 humouress: I know, right?! It was that good of a read, though.

Of COURSE coolth is a word...warmth is, so obvs coolth must be, too. sheesh a supervillainess oughta keep up better

‘Morning, RDear. Happy Thursday.

>188 richardderus: I listened to the podcast about Adnan Syed when it came out and was so incensed. I’ve followed the story over the years. Somebody powerful absolutely does not want the truth to come out.

>196 richardderus: Damn. BB. It’s in my Amazon cart. I’ll click eventually.

>200 richardderus: I’m sparked.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>205 karenmarie: Morning, Horrible, and have a lovely, fully-sparked day.

I think you will actually enjoy >196 richardderus:, despite its SFnal roots. *smooches*

>196 richardderus: I don't have enough saturation in the Christie oeuvre to put me in the audience for that one, but it sounds a lot of fun for those who do.

>197 richardderus: Lovedlovedlovedloved that one. I should read more Premee Mohammed

>198 richardderus: Like that one maybe

>201 richardderus: o god no. I'm not a fan of transhumanist flakery, but I'll take rusty musky brain implants over the evangelicals' political ambitions every single day.

>204 richardderus: That's what I said when I came up with it ;0)

>207 swynn: Don't forget this one on your Mohamed journey:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/358725#8440487

I think >201 richardderus: would not tell you much you do not already know, Steve. The rise in your blood pressure would render any smidgin of news won at far, far too high a price...the nakedly fascistic agenda on display is chilling and appalling.

>208 humouress: IJBOL

>187 LizzieD: SMOOCHLING!! I FORGOT YOU!! I am covered in rue for this unintentional neglect!! Say you forgive me, pleasepleaseplease....

Britaless water-drinking has not happened since the Aughties. Manhattans water spoiled me forever. Best city water ever! Austins OTOH is **foul** and never passed my lips before Brita until it had been boiled.

>186 Helenliz: Owo...caffeine-free living...utterly outside my skill set or tolerance level.

>185 figsfromthistle: drive-by *smooch*

>197 richardderus: You got me with And What Can We Offer You Tonight. Thanks!

Karen O

>214 klobrien2: So happy that you were hit by that particular one, Karen O. It's a read I expect you will really *get*.

Have a super Thursday. *smooch*

Hiya Richard!

>216 Owltherian: Greetings, Lily.

>217 richardderus: I didnt panic during this period! I'm quite happy.

>218 Owltherian: You win! Every time you do not give in to that issue, you win big. Very glad for you.

>219 richardderus: Yeah and i basically get a whole bell of free time, in which I'm trying to see a kitten picture that my grandma sent me.

>211 richardderus: Whew! I was trying to think what I had done to offend. Missing a post is always, always forgiven.

>198 richardderus: I think yuh got me..... pacifism and its moral greyness, warmongering and its honest, if misguided, aims; I'm always ready to reconsider my non-position not that I ever monger war. *smooch*

Not a bb. More a sb.

           

>222 weird_O:. Ha! Great t-shirt. Words to live by.

Hey, maestro. My Agathite daughter will likely love The Science of Agatha Christie and the fact that it’s chatty and doesn’t really deliver on the science will be a plus from her POV.

You got me with your 5 star And What Can We Offer you Tonight.

>197 richardderus: I’m going to have to check out this author!

>188 richardderus: Looks interesting. Like Karen, I was hooked by the Serial investigation of Adnan Syed, but that’s the only true crime podcast I’ve listened to.

>220 Owltherian: Was the kitten cute?

>221 LizzieD: Oh my yes! I think you will enjoy >198 richardderus: a lot. *smooch*

>225 richardderus: mhm, the kittens were very cute, little tuxedos, all four of 'em

>222 weird_O: How cool, o weird one! I love your new shirt!

>223 jnwelch: Excellent, Joe! You too will most likely really enjoy >197 richardderus:. Becca is The Reader for >196 richardderus:.

Maybe all the 75ers should join The Weird One in his shirt acquisition....

>224 Storeetllr: Mohamed is a very talented, tendentious lefty. I really like her work. Also, given the reach of these media outlets, it is really necessary to read about them and how they function. I think you will get a lot out of >188 richardderus:

I'm surprised you haven't hit yet another thread since I'm so behind on reading them!

It was you who revealed the shirt's availability, Richard, hence the T-shirt Bullet. I forgive you for your aim (it's good).

BURGOINE #013

The Serpent (Time of Heroes #3) by David Drake

Rating: 3 generous stars of five

The Publisher Says: Jon of Dun Add has created a civilization where before there had only been isolated pockets of humanity in a shattered cosmos.

Young knight Pal is one of the most respected members of Lord Jon’s Hall of Champions. But Pal’s greatest talent lies not on the field of battle, though he’s no slouch there. He is also a Maker, one who can repair the tools the Ancients had left—sometimes. Moreover, he has learned to use his warrior dog’s ability to predict motion better than any human could, an ability that has saved his skin and won the day more than once.

Now, Pal will need all his talent—as a fighter, as a Maker, and as a Champion—to deal with the monsters the Waste throws at him—and to deal with his fellow humans. For there are those who would destroy Dun Add and Lord Jon’s vision of a humanity united in peace from within . . .

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I screwed up. I got book three in a series I had never heard of before because I recognized the author’s name...what SFF reader wouldn’t...and, once I clocked my eff-up, I thought I’d just go back and get the others. That has never happened in three years, in spite of his December 2023 demise, because I just did not like this Arthurian retelling all that much. The writing is ordinary David Drakery. The typos were plentiful, and they irked me a lot.

It really just, as a story, goes nowhere much, which is actually quite a feat when retelling a millennium-old story; it has action that is not tied to anything like a plot; and, in under two hundred pages, there is more flashback to the first two books than there is present action. So it is not something I recommend to you.
Still, not everyone thinks like me, so a Kindle edition is only $6.99...but seriously, buy something from an unknown instead.

>231 thornton37814: *ssshhh* don't give the thread goddess any ideas! I'm having a hard enough time keeping up...and it's *my* thread!

>232 weird_O: I'm so pleased it worked out! The Bluesky person who found it deserves the credit, though, I merely spread the glad tidings. I hope it is of good quality and survives many launderings.

>227 Owltherian: Yay, then...but as a certified cat-hater, the idea makes me itch irritatedly.

Hi, RD! Happy Friday to you.

>222 weird_O: Yay, Bill! Looking good.

>233 richardderus: The typos were plentiful, and they irked me a lot. I see that a lot in the MM romances I’m reading and sometimes it causes me to pull the plug, other times I just roll my eyes and keep reading. I’ve considered keeping a tally of wrong words and typos just to alert an author, but haven’t had the discipline to do it yet. My most recent favorite is bugle for bulge…

*smooch*

>233 richardderus: Wouldn't think, from your review, that that's 3 stars.

>234 richardderus: See? I've complained to the thread owner but he's ... probably too overwhelmed to listen to my POV.

>237 karenmarie: I had that issue with an LT/ER book I just read. As it was an e-book, I think I highlighted most of them, if the author wants a list.

PEARL RULE #005 @ 34%

Reservoir Year: A Walker’s Book of Days by Nina Shengold

Rating: 3 generous stars of five

The Publisher Says: On the eve of her sixtieth birthday, Nina Shengold embarks on a challenge: to walk the path surrounding the Catskills' glorious Ashokan Reservoir every day for a year, at all times of day and in all kinds of weather, trying to find something new every time.

Armed with lively curiosity, infectious enthusiasm, and renewed stubbornness, she hits the path every day with all five senses wide open, searching for details that glint. As Shengold explores the secrets of this spectacular place, she rediscovers the glories of solitude and an expanded community, both human and animal. Step by step, her reservoir walks rekindle connections with family, strangers, and friends, with a landscape she grows to revere, and with a new sense of self. Like the writings of John Burroughs, Annie Dillard, and Barry Lopez, Shengold's reflections on her personal journey will resonate with outdoor enthusiasts and armchair hikers alike.

Quietly transformative, Reservoir Year encourages readers to find their own ways to unplug and slow down, reconnecting with nature, reviving old passions and sparking some new ones along the path.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I am the author’s age, I am always interested in nature-centered books, and I LOVE the Catskills.

I should’ve loved this book. I did not. It took me a year to get to the 34% mark in my DRC, and then I forgot I even had the book. The writing is perfectly fine, nothing awful, nothing glorious. I love the idea of this kind of book. The quiet, gentle quality of this iteration ended up feeling soporific to me.

If Annie Dillard is too tendentious, and Barry Lopez is too strident, for your present mood, this book is a godsend for you. Treading the same paths they do in Hush Puppies instead of sneakers or boots, the stories will offer you solid value.

The ebook is steep at $24.95, but the library ought to have it.

PEARL RULE #006 @ 27%

Whaling Captains of Color: America's First Meritocracy by Skip Finley

Rating: 3 generous stars of five

The Publisher Says: The history of whaling as an industry on this continent has been well-told in books, including some that have been bestsellers, but what hasn't been told is the story of whaling's leaders of color in an era when the only other option was slavery. Whaling was one of the first American industries to exhibit diversity. A man became a captain not because he was white or well connected, but because he knew how to kill a whale. Along the way, he could learn navigation and reading and writing. Whaling presented a tantalizing alternative to mainland life.

Working with archival records at whaling museums, in libraries, from private archives and interviews with people whose ancestors were whaling masters, Finley culls stories from the lives of over 50 black whaling captains to create a portrait of what life was like for these leaders of color on the high seas.

Each time a ship spotted a whale, a group often including the captain would jump into a small boat, row to the whale, and attack it, at times with the captain delivering the killing blow. The first, second, or third mate and boat steerer could eventually have opportunities to move into increasingly responsible roles. Finley explains how this skills-based system propelled captains of color to the helm.

The book concludes as facts and factions conspire to kill the industry, including wars, weather, bad management, poor judgment, disease, obsolescence, and a non-renewable natural resource. Ironically, the end of the Civil War allowed the African Americans who were captains to exit the difficult and dangerous occupation—and make room for the Cape Verdean who picked up the mantle, literally to the end of the industry.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: A subject at once fascinating, important, and repellent. The whaling industry left us without whales that we now understand are vital members of an ocean ecology that works to stabilize the climate...while affording many men of color the opportunity to improve their lot in US life, support their families, and make a future of prosperity possible for their community as a whole. It is not their fault that this was not understood in their time. It still made reading about the industrial-scale killing of cetaceans for profit unpleasant to me.

The author has done a lot of research, has presented it in synthesis, and did so without a shred of verve, excitement, or pleasure. I had to stop reading because I was beginning to resent the didactic tone. If I am going to read a monograph, I want a grade. So, while the book succeeds on its own merits at doing the job it set out to do, it did not cross into general-interest readership territory as I had very much hoped it would.

A trade paper edition is $21.95, quite reasonable for an academic press book.

>237 karenmarie: I think proofreading and copyediting are skill sets that are disappearing in todays world. Seems to me to be part of a stupidification drive.

Friday *smooch*

>238 humouress: Which is why I qualified it with "generous"...lest anyone think I am melting above the neck.

I just sigh when it comes to making books ready for the readers. It was never perfect, but it was better!

>242 richardderus: Well, there's a job if you want it. And if people are willing to pay (which looks like it might be the hiccough).

In the meantime, I'm struggling with 'autocorrect' which keeps replacing the correct words with the wrong ones.

>243 humouress: I myownself would rather be dead and buried in a ditch than do that job.

Your oh-so-relatable autocorrect woes are shared...with the added rapture of the times it *wont* autocorrect errors, like that damned apostrophe!

Hiya Richard, we finished The Boy In The Striped Pajamas today, almost cried but didnt.

>241 richardderus: and following...It is a neglected skill-set, I think, largely because of the World Wide Web. The web entrepreneur wants people to produce content without being paid. Whatever is written is posted. No moderation, no editing, no double-checking. 'Cause that costs money.

(Even the U. S. Constitution should have been copyedited!)

>245 Owltherian: Hi Lily...you did better than me, I bawled my eyes out! Have a good weekend.

>247 richardderus: The first time i watched it i bawled my eyes out, and same to you.

>246 weird_O: The web is a latecomer to the blame party, Weird One. When word processors became prevalent and typewriters entered obsolescence back in the 80s, the problems of orthography and grammar became pressing. Whew! The HUGE investment of typing your MS was a major downward selection pressure on who sent me, as an agent, their work.

>248 Owltherian: I read it, then said there was no way on this wide, green Earth that I would watch it.

>250 richardderus: I was forced to watch it twice.

>251 Owltherian: *gag*

>252 richardderus: yeahhh, it was in 8th grade & now.

>250 richardderus: I was reading it in a bar. It was a very close thing. But my closest to almost ugly crying in a bar was My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Backman. It was a very close thing.

And yes, I used to read in bars a lot. :) When I used to travel for work. I'd be by myself in a hotel room, I'd go to dinner and sit at the bar with my book. Usually I didn't have to worry about crying in public. LOL>

>254 mahsdad: That is a really embarrassing side-effect of reading in public. It has happened to...and in front of...me before. Does feel a bit too, ummm, vulnerable or revealing or something, does it not.

>233 richardderus: IIRC the first two of this series are much better. This one, on the other hand, was a waste of everyone's time. I read it in January of last year; you'll find my critical write up in my first 2023 thread. (It was my book #5, discussed my post #75 of the linked thread.)

>256 ArlieS: It was my mistake not to realize that, no matter what, book three is not the one to begin the journey with. Oh hell, it was short.

>201 richardderus: Hard pass on that one.
Hope your weekend is filled with better reads.

As to the discussion of reading in bars.......I used to do that when I was in university. I would go to the quieter side of the pub and order my food and a pint and read. I did avoid sad books but read a lot of existentialist literature which brought about some surprise conversations with some interesting people.

>258 figsfromthistle: I am very glad I saved you from the horrors of >201 richardderus:, Anita...a genuinely terrible read, but one that has the virtue of considering a very real threat to Humanity...from the wrong angle, but still doing the work.

I read in bars seldom in my bar-going years. Too many men to pick up to focus on a book.

Happy Saturday, Richard. I seldom read in bars. Too many distractions, but very few opportunities to do that these days. Have a good weekend, my friend.

BURGOINE #014

Erskine Caldwell, Margaret Bourke-White, and the Popular Front: Photojournalism in Russia by Jay Caldwell

Rating: 3.25* of five

The Publisher Says: Erskine Caldwell’s novels Tobacco Road (1932) and God’s Little Acre (1933) made the author a popular and critically acclaimed chronicler of the South but also a controversial one, due to his work’s political themes and depictions of sexuality. Margaret Bourke-White, fresh from her role as staff photographer for Fortune, became the first female photojournalist for LIFE in 1936, and her iconic images graced its covers and helped solidify the magazine as a preeminent visual periodical.

When Caldwell and Bourke-White married in 1939, they were both celebrities, popular and provocative in equal measures because of their leftist politics and their questioning of American cultural norms. They collaborated on the photodocumentary books You Have Seen Their Faces (1937), North of the Danube (1939), and Say, Is This the U.S.A. (1941). In the summer of 1941, the couple entered Russia on assignment and were there when the Germans invaded on June 22. As a result, Caldwell and Bourke-White were the first Americans to report on the Russian war front by broadcast radio and continued to transmit almost daily newspaper articles about the Russian reaction to the war. Their international celebrity and their clout within the Soviet literary establishment provided them remarkable access to people and places during their five-month stay. Their final collaboration, Russia at War (1942), is a culmination of their work during that time.

Erskine Caldwell, Margaret Bourke-White, and the Popular Front traces and analyzes the couple’s collaborations, the adventures that led to them, the evolving political stances that informed them, and the aftereffects and influences of their work on their careers and those of others. Both biographically revealing and analytically astute, author Jay Caldwell offers a profound, new perspective on two of America’s most renowned midcentury artists at the peaks of their careers.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: In the 1990s I knew a man called Fred Bonnie, a writer and an academic who had a vision for the revival of his friend Erskine Caldwell’s many unjustly-neglected mid-century works. Sadly, Fred died in a one-car crash before any of these plans could be brought to fruition.

I approached this read, then, in sympathy with the politics and the art of both leads. I had hoped for an insight into the couple’s life together and their shared goals, with lots of photos. I got instead a thorough travelogue, a relatively few...forty-two to be exact...photos, and a pretty academically dry assessment of the enterprise of reporting from the front lines of WWII’s scariest front, that in Russia.

It is, of course, not the book’s fault I wanted something I did not get. I felt, not unreasonably I believe, that the marketing of the book...see synopsis above...led me to expect that book. I got a very worthwhile academic consideration of a stressful and productive time in the careers of two titans of early twentieth-century leftist culture.

The University Of Georgia Press offers a giftable hardcover for $41.95. I suggest requesting your library get one unless you are a giant fan of these lights of the era.

>260 msf59: Saturday orisons, Birddude. Bar life is not available to me these days...drinking booze is right out given my meds. That sort of removes the point of going in the first place....

Enjoy the weekend!

Good morning with a good wish for contented reading time!

*smooch*

‘Morning, RDear. Happy Saturday to you.

>239 richardderus: Eep. I wouldn’t even buy an ebook I loved and had read multiple times for $24.95.

>240 richardderus: There are many authors who write nonfiction with verve and excitement that I can read with pleasure. Sorry this author didn’t do it for you.

>241 richardderus: Stupidification. Yes, definitely. Sometimes it’s worth continuing, more times it’s what makes me pull the plug.

>249 richardderus: I never tried to write a book, but I did write poetry that I typed up and typed and turned in papers in high school and college. I also earned money typing graduate-student papers. My least favorite part, of course, was footnotes.

>261 richardderus: I won’t get this book, but I now lust after the photodocumentary collaborations of Caldwell and Bourke-White, darn it. I’ve added You Have Seen Their Faces to my wish list, with your name attached.

*smooch*

BURGOINE #015

Snow Birds (Grand Mafia Series) #2 by Sandy W. Robson

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Get ready to immerse yourself in the gripping, golden-years finale of the Grand-Mafia Series! If the quirky escapades in Bone Park left you hungry for more, buckle up for a wild ride with this compelling conclusion.

Bernie, Ruby, Freda, and Opal are four indomitable spirits, each uniquely shaped by the tempestuous world of Cicada Hollow. They've accidentally started a burgeoning criminal empire, their story unfolding like a modern-day "Thelma and Louise" saga.

But as their empire expands, so do the risks. These ladies might have expected bingo nights and quiet book clubs in their later chapters, but fate had other, far more thrilling plans.

This book isn't just a story—it's a captivating journey through the ups and downs of friendship in the face of remarkably unconventional challenges.

Join us for a story that combines heart, suspense, and just a touch of criminal activity. It's a reminder that adventure doesn't retire – and neither do the fabulous ladies of Cicada Hollow. Grab your copy and prepare for a series finale proving retired life doesn't have to be boring (but make sure you have a good alibi)!

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Still decently entertaining, with the expected pleasures of a cozy mystery that subverts our cultural expectations of old women existing solely as powerless, sweet Little Old Ladies. I will, I confess, miss the Grand-Mafia now that their adventures have come to an end.
The right combination of fun and silly with a light salting of pointed social commentary in the background. Great for the first sunny afternoon on the front porch.

A Kindle edition is $5.99 and it is available via Kindle Unlimited as well.

>263 LizzieD: Saturday *smooch* my dear lady!

>264 karenmarie: What! You resist rushing right out to your local indie and spending a meager $30 with tax to support a middling writer you have never heard of, who writes about a place you have never been, and all because it is just too much spondulix! I am shocked, shocked.

I hope the book you *will* deign to purchase is a doozy.

Footnotes on the typewriter! Gadzooks. That was miserable indeed.

*smooch*

>230 richardderus: I found an audio copy of And What Can We Offer You Tonight? at the library and reserved it. It’ll be a few weeks before it becomes available, but that just means others are reading it, which is a good thing.

Guess who's playing with kittens their grandparents fostered at this momenttttt

Your review of “The Science of Agatha Christie” got me, Richard. I hope your hands have recovered. Your reading surer has seemed to.

>268 Storeetllr: That really is a good thing. I think the awards it won keeps it in front of genre readers minds, thank goodness.

>269 Owltherian: How unspeakably awful! Child protective ervices ought to be there soon.

>270 Familyhistorian: The hand situation is okay, the weather is cooperating for a change and staying steady. *whew*

Enjoy >196 richardderus:!

I'm so delighted to see you enjoying Premee Mohamed's writing. I've had the pleasure of working with her in the past and she's currently the writer in residence at my work library. She's really lovely in person.

Also, happy weekend! *smooches*

>272 richardderus: Heh, funny joke, they are adorable and sleeping in a clump rn.

He’s only a little bit kidding. If that. Felines are poison to our dear RD. it’s his only flaw. 😂

Oh, is he allergic to them? There's meds for that if he is.

No, some people just do not like cats/kittens. Some people don't like dogs. Or rabbits. Or birds. Differences are what make the world go round.

Hmmmm shall have to add Premee Mohamed to the TBR list.

Happy Saturday *smooches*

>278 katiekrug: Hm, i havent really met someone who didn't like cats, but i guess that changed!

>273 richardderus: Good to see you are back in fine reading form, Richard. Strangely, my library doesn't have The Science of Agatha Christie on hand for me to borrow but they do have The Science of Murder: The Forensics of Agatha Christie which came out in 2022. Seems like a popular topic currently.

Leaving footnotes.

>262 richardderus: (That being to read a book in a bar?)

>264 karenmarie: (Ooh; now she has your name.)

>276 mahsdad: (Just the one flaw?...)

'Morning, RDear. Happy Sunday to you.

I'm caffeinating, LTing, and will soon be reading.

*smooch*

>278 katiekrug: and up
>280 Owltherian: I am indeed a cat-hater. Came from a long line of dog-only people. It is what it is.

>279 bell7: Start with >197 richardderus:, Mary. *smooch*

>281 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg...I am a little surprised they don't have that one, but totally unsurprised they have something like it. Since Brannagh has been doing his adaptations, she has resurged in public awareness. This kind of attention to someone dead almost fifty years is unusual!

>282 humouress: Your notes have feet to kick, I see....

>283 karenmarie: Morning, Horrible! I put up a review for tomorrow of a kids book about Jews from Cochin. Today is Benedict Arnold...when I get done writing it. A really, really interesting story in todays political climate....

*smooch*

Ricardo--Hopelessly behind, but Hi! Glad the hand is cooperating and I have to see about The Science of Agatha Christie. Eagerly awaiting your Benedict thoughts and sending a *smooch*!

>289 Berly: Hiya Berly-boo! *smooch*

Nothing in mind. Nothing to say. *smooch*, Richard. I'm on my way.

>285 richardderus: Well, since you twisted my arm and it's currently available on Libby...

Guess I'd better get reading my current ebooks to queue that one up.

>291 LizzieD: *smoochiesmoochsmooch*

>292 bell7: Oh yay! I think you will get a bang out of the read...she layers her characters well. *smooch*

>284 richardderus: Im both a cat & dog lover.

The new thread is available now. No sense waiting for an even three hundred, is there.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/359333