richardderus's first 2025 thread

My hopes for 2025 in one image.

THIS THREAD'S REVIEWS

001 The safekeep : a novel in post #63.
002 Toward Eternity in post #255.
003 The Lady of the Mine in post #286.

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.
My Last Thread of 2024 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.

All previous Burgoine reviews linked here.

THIS THREAD'S BURGOINE REVIEWS:

All previous Pearl Rule reviews linked here.

THIS THREAD'S PEARL RULE REVIEWS:

Seriously...not a great venue for normies here.
My 2024 goals are here, for reference.

2025 GOALS
I wrote an unprecedented 413 reviews in 2024, though certainly not all those books were read in 2024! I'm not counting books read, but reviews written. Decades of pilf from the review aggregators never got a real review written, just some notes on my computer. This year I went back to all my old computers and vacuumed notes onto a data stick. It's my purpose now to write at least a Burgoine review from those notes, post it here and on the DRC aggregator's site, and that will be my annual count.

For those who think I should follow the "books read in 2025" model, that's very interesting, and thank you for sharing your judgment with me. I will, however, be using the site the way I want to not how you think I should.

Numerical goals aren't really the point for me. I've shown I can meet or exceed them often enough now to think they're just unnecessary, and a little show-offy, for me. I will focus my efforts on getting my unwritten-review count down, and on focusing my efforts on reviewing #ReadingIsResistance titles.
☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂
1Q25
2Q25
3Q25
4Q25

See >5 richardderus: for 2024 achievements & 2025 goals.
Monthly (and special hashtag events) wrap-up posts are linked below.

GBBO and other special foodie projects will be linked here.

I have a dream...when I figure out how to do it, the results will be linked here.

Okay...2025 has begun.

>1 richardderus: I like the cake! (It is a cake, isn't it?) Happy New Year!

Happy (almost) new year, RD!

Happy Last Day of the Year!''

And New Thread.

>1 richardderus: So funny. It is hard to believe those were still in use in France in my life time. I think they were retired in the 1960s.

On a lighter note...



I look forward to failing to keep up with your threads, and coming away with too many BBs RD.

>10 SandDune: Yay, Rhian! You're the first Thread Queen of 2025!


It's a gingerbread sculpture, so not really a cake. But it encapsulated my hopes for 2025: Creative destruction of the Nerd Reich, celebrated with old-fashioned joys like scrummy baked goods.

>11 katiekrug: 2025 orisons, dear lady!

>12 mahsdad: Thanks, Jeff!

>13 Caroline_McElwee: 1977 was the last use in France, Caro. Happy 2025! *cleans book-howitzer*

I need aiming practice, I see.

:) I think you got your post links off by one.

Katie was >11 katiekrug:, I was >12 mahsdad: and Carol is >13 Caroline_McElwee:.

Took me a second, France? When was I talking about France? LOL. Just shows that I selfishly look at my own posts first.

No hope of keeping up with your mushrooming threads in 2025, any more than in any previous year...but I WILL be around from time to time!

>18 mahsdad: It's a weird verity that when we start a thread, the counts are sometimes but not always one off the real final numbers...I'll go fix 'em, thanks.

I think the guillotine should be revived and used as the Jacobins intended. *sigh* Unlikely.

>19 laytonwoman3rd: *smooch* Whenever you're here you're very welcome.

Welcome back! I *love* the topper. Can we put it to good use?

>22 drneutron: Let's get a list together...the PTB are so busy they could use the help, no?

That topper if full of fabulous!

>5 richardderus: Oh, good, I qualify. And I love what you posted - I'll say it again, you have a way with words, my friend.

I've missed you, Big Daddy. *smooch and a bear hug*

>24 Crazymamie: Mamie darling! So glad to see you here! 2025 might not stink after all.

Isn't that just the best image for 2025? Sweet, classically inspired, politically charged...well, what could be better?

*smooch*

Happy New Thread, Richard. Happy New Year. I love the topper. Funny, Sue and Jackson recently made a gingerbread house but skipped the guillotine.

>26 msf59: Gotta correct that soon, Birddude, we need to indoctrinate him before They get a chance!

>7 richardderus: OMG! that is hilariously cute.

As always, I have you starred and look forward to your excellent reviews.

I solemnly swear that I am a bad influence! Happy New Year!

Happy 2025, dear fellow.

It would not be the same without you, RD. Especially at this time of the year when the threads are buzzing more than usual.

Happy new year smooches, RDear!

>7 richardderus: whaaat? That is so cute :) The gingerbread death machine up top? Well, I'd eat it anyway.

Happy 2025 RD, a quarter of the way through the 21st C already huh? Time flies! Just like those monkeys in the Wiz of Oz....

>28 figsfromthistle: Hi Anita! Thanks for returning.

>29 ronincats: Evidence acquired over decades suggests you are indeed, at the minimum, a questionable influence. P´sale.

*smooch*

>31 PaulCranswick:, >30 PaulCranswick: Thanks, PC, it's true we're all very involved here, and thank goodness for it.

>32 MickyFine: Thanks, Micky!

>33 LovingLit: Hi Megan! I'm pretty sure the gingerbread made for those sculptures is, at best, indifferently esculent. They must be structurally sound. And that decorative icing is some nasty, crunchy crud. I'm promoting the iconography, not the comestible itself.

Happy 2025, dear lady.

What I'm thinking as I wish you a good 2025.

>39 richardderus: Haha. Seems about right!

Happy New Year to you. Just dropping my 🌟 star.

>40 sirfurboy: Doesn't it just, Stephen. Welcome!

Happy new year, and looking forward to following your reviews again in 2025! *smooch*

>42 bell7: Yay! Mary's here...get the party started!

I sincerely wish you a happy, healthy and fulfilling new year. May all your wishes come true. Happy reading 2025.

>7 richardderus: Love that!!

Happy New Year, Richard!!

>44 Ameise1: Thank you most kindly, Barbara! Of course I return your kind wishes.

>45 RebaRelishesReading: Cute little thing, innit. Saw it and hadda have it for the thread. *smooch*

Happy new one, Richard! I love the image in >1 richardderus:. Surely inspired by the CakeWrecks site?

And >7 richardderus:, is that a creation of the always hilarious and creative team of Joost Elffers and Saxton Freymann, of How Are You Peeling fame? I used to buy their wall calendars to hang in my kitchen, but I think they stopped making them in recent years.

Happy New Year, Richard!

Love the gingerbread guillotine. Hope you have a great New Year.

>48 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley! I'm not privy to the creator of the guillotine get bread's inspiration, but that theory sounds plausible to me. As to >7 richardderus:, I think but cannot prove you're correct.

>49 The_Hibernator: Thanks, Rachel!

>50 Oberon: You do the same, Erik!

Welcome to 2025 Richard! I'm looking forward to your bookish thoughts, whatever the year they were read in.

Happy New Year! & Happy New Thread!

Hope you have a great year of reading!

>1 richardderus: I know what you mean, Richard! Happy New Year! *smooch*

>54 swynn: Thank you, kind sir. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing a lot of political hollering. Something to know.

>55 SilverWolf28: Thank you most kindly, Silver! *hugs*

>56 thornton37814: Thanks, Lori, I hope I do too. May we all balance more on the positive side.

>57 vancouverdeb: Deborah! *smooch*

001 The safekeep : a novel by Yael van der Wouden

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: An exhilarating, twisted tale of desire, suspicion, and obsession between two women staying in the same house in the Dutch countryside during the summer of 1961—a powerful exploration of the legacy of WWII and the darker parts of our collective past.

A house is a precious thing...

It is 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is truly over. Living alone in her late mother’s country home, Isabel knows her life is as it should be—led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis brings his graceless new girlfriend Eva, leaving her at Isabel’s doorstep as a guest, to stay for the season.

Eva is Isabel’s antithesis: she sleeps late, walks loudly through the house, and touches things she shouldn’t. In response, Isabel develops a fury-fueled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house—a spoon, a knife, a bowl—Isabel’s suspicions begin to spiral. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel’s paranoia gives way to infatuation—leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva—nor the house in which they live—are what they seem.

Mysterious, sophisticated, sensual, and infused with intrigue, atmosphere, and sex, The Safekeep is a brilliantly plotted and provocative debut novel you won’t soon forget.

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

My Review: Opposites attract. Hard to argue with that for most grown folks; but it's also hard to see what these women see in each other. Their oppositeness is deep-rooted, identity-forming stuff. That level and degree of oppositeness is hard to overcome; one partner's ordinary life is an existential rejection of the other.

Isabel takes the idea of the houseproud Dutch woman very much to an extreme. Eva presages women's liberation's rejection of housewife as an identity; she's free-spirited and unmaterialistic. That comes across to Isabel as outrageous disrespect to herself and her poor, abused house.

What caused these radically ill-suited women to fall for each other? Forced proximity? I don't rightly know. They manage to have sex. I won't call it making love; and honestly how did pissy, controlling Isabel ever let herself get involved in something as inherently dirty, messy, and collaborative as sex in the first place?

I have questions about this. None are answered.

I read most of the book thinking I'd be stretching to three stars. The events at the end of the book...the way their romance does what Love really does to the Lover and the Beloved...got me a fractional hair over the four-star line. It's a first novel and there are some ways events are presented that do not help the reader invest in the plot. It's a strain to do some of the emotional heavy lifting because Isabel and Eva are so weirdly assorted as partners for more than a one-night fling that I kept needing to remind myself to tamp my eyebrows back down out of my hairline.

But Isabel says a line that shoved me there, one I can't repeat because the Spoiler Stasi has its truncheons and tasers ever at the ready...grow the fuck up, y'all...but its delicate evocation of the awareness od the inportance of the persona in intimacy that explained a lot of the book to me.

It's a big risk to leave something so important so late. I'm glad I didn't bail before I got there. I hope Author van der Wouden does something new soon.

Sweet Thursday, Richard. I kicked off the New Year with a bird walk. There were over 30 of us, despite it being a very cold morning. Birders are a tough bunch. I have Jackson duties today. I can't believe my Christmas break is quickly winding down.

Interesting article on your brain and your books:
https://theconversation.com/people-who-are-good-at-reading-have-different-brains...

>64 msf59: Hiya Birddude. Enjoyed the walk, eh? Cold doesn't deter that group of determined data-collectors. I know Jackson duties are soooo painful to you, since you don't like kids. No break ever lasts long enough, does it? *sigh*

Enjoy the return to routine...? Best I got to offer.

65 - Hey, Richard, you should also post that here, the *Interesting Articles* thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/366785#n8706454

>62 richardderus: Made me laugh.

>63 richardderus: Hmmm.....wondering if I would like this one. I very much liked your review of it, but then I always like your reviews.

Afternoon, Big Daddy! *Thursday smooch*

>67 jessibud2: Feel free to repost it, Shelley.

>68 Crazymamie: I'm glad Gauld hasn't lost his appeal...I'm volunteering as tribute, too, for the control group.

I think >63 richardderus: might be okay with you but not much better. It's a very...competent...book, but only takes flight very late. Maybe a library borrow?

*smooch*

>70 richardderus: Gotcha. Thanks!

>63 richardderus: What a great start to the reading year!

Behind 72 posts on day 2? I have a talent, I guess.

I'm glad to see you in good form and so many friends back! *smooch*

‘Morning, RichardDear! Happy new thread! Happy New Year!

I came to visit yesterday and events conspired to keep me from posting.

>1 richardderus: I love the gingerbread guillotine. It’s very clever and yes, a good metaphor for this year.

>7 richardderus: That’s clever and makes me smile.

>39 richardderus: Alas. It’s dire.

>62 richardderus: Gauld is always perfect.

>63 richardderus: Excellent review. I’m currently reading gay romance in which folks have the other body parts, and so will pass. something as inherently dirty, messy, and collaborative as sex *smile*

>65 richardderus: Size does matter, after all. Thanks for the link.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>72 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Anita!

>71 Crazymamie: *smooch*

>73 LizzieD: I guess! How'd it get this far on day 2?

>74 karenmarie: Morning, sweetiedarling! Friday is upon us, somehow or other, and time hurtles forward despite please for less haste, more speed.

I think >63 richardderus: would irritate you beyond endurance. Avoid like it's carrying the plague.

>39 richardderus: indeed says everything >1 richardderus: implies. *smooch*

Morning, Big Daddy! >78 richardderus: is good and sound advice. *Friday smooch*

Good morning, Richard. Yep. Yep. Yep. Time and Choices! *smooch*

>79 Crazymamie: Ain't it just? Happy Friday!

>80 LizzieD: We have nothing but time, and treat it as though it's infinite until something makes us bitterly aware it ain't. I'd have that awareness implanted in me at birth if I could. Weekend-ahead's orisons, smoochling.

Find joy where you can.

>63 richardderus: Already in the BlackHole or I would be adding it again!

No idea how I have missed your thread until now, Richard. ((Hugs) and **smooches** and hopes that you have a wonderful weekend!

>83 richardderus: Okay, I really love that one.

>5 richardderus: Happy New Year, and happy reading in 2025!

>84 alcottacre: It *is* rather sizable...maybe your eyes just said "nope not doin' it"? Anyway you're here now so it's all good. *smooch*

>85 Crazymamie: Ain't he grand, Mamie? I'll be posting more as they show up on Tumblr.

>86 ocgreg34: Hi Greg! Welcome!

Hello Richard and Happy New Year!

>1 richardderus: OMG, that is priceless. And I know just whose head I want inserted in there. Well, at least a couple of heads. Maybe ten.

I'll never keep up but my newly articulated goal is to be a regular visitor to your thread as well as some others. I think I need to set more realistic goals for myself LOL so that is how I'm approaching LT. I miss being here and I know the (self-imposed) pressure to "keep up" just makes me avoidant. Enough of that shite.

>83 richardderus: *snork*

>39 richardderus: indeed. Clever.

>63 richardderus: well, the premise was sound in itself, but not well executed maybe?

^every year I intend (and state my intentions) to visit more threads! I am sadly unable to achieve this though without quitting at least one of my jobs. So, well-thought intentions they remain.

Great review of The Safekeep Richard. I gave it 3.5 stars , mainly because I am a no sex please, prudish sort. But I would read another book by her.

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Saturday.

>83 richardderus: Yes, just a few zombies out there. Unfortunately, many of them are in the Gang of Psychos.

*smooch*

>90 EBT1002: Hi Ellen! Becoming avoidant is so often a sign to take it easier, slow down, and think through the goals you're not consciously setting, innit. I'm doing many things differently in 2025, and my list of doveres (Italian "to have to, to be required to") is now explicit, therefore manageable.

On that list is maintaining the list of heads to be collected. And the zombie hordes to be fought.

>91 LovingLit: Morning, Megan! It was a debut novel so it doesn't mean she can't write it means she has to decide what kind of writing to do...maybe this is it, maybe she likes this mode. I don't very much, but we shall see what her choices are soon.

You be where you want to be when that's what's possible. Pressure from within is probably the hardest to manage, but keep sluggin'.

Happy Saturday, Richard. Looks like a kick back day for me. Since it is currently 11F out there, I am happy with that and I'm also facing the task of starting the massive Monte Cristo. Wish me luck.

>83 richardderus: Perfect!

>92 vancouverdeb: That would indeed make this an unpleasant book to read, Deborah! The information about the sex isn't detailed but it's pervasive. That wouldn't register as sex to me, and honestly didn't until you mentioned it.

Her sentence-level writing is solid, her structural choices made this too little to get a full-throated roar from me. Maybe next time...

>93 karenmarie: ...possibly most...happy Saturn's Day. *smooch*

Happy 2025, Richard! As usual I'll never be able to keep up on this thread, but I do hope that 2025 is kind to you!

>99 ChelleBearss: Thanks, Chelle! I'm glad it's possible for you to be here when you can be.

Just dropping off a Saturday affectionery. *smooch*

>78 richardderus: Amen!!

Happy weekend, RD. I seem to be spending time here, on LT, but also here at your thread.

>101 Crazymamie: *smooch* back, dear heart.

>102 RebaRelishesReading: Ain't that a great distillation, Reba?

>103 weird_O: Happy to see you, Bill!

Saturday *smooch* and hope life's treating you well.

>107 bell7: Thank you, dear lady.

Swinging by with weekend smooches.

Happy New Year, Richard! The pace of your threads usually intimidates me, but I'm being brave this year :-)

>62 richardderus: Love it!!

I'm in the middle of a blizzard here, so not going anywhere.

I live 80 miles north of Ronincats and the weather is winter normal here so far. It is going to get cold tonight, but I went into town today and purchased bulbs for my reading/knitting lamp. That means that it will be a knitting night in front of the TV. Then reading. I am currently reading Catfish and Mandala and so far am enjoying it, but then I like to read about travel experiences.

Hopelessly behind here already!! LOL. Love your topper, but whose head goes first? Happy New Year Ricardo and happy reading! Smooch.

>109 MickyFine: *smooch* back, Micky!

>110 norabelle414: Morning, Nora, glad to see you here!

>111 ronincats: Isn't that excellent, Roni?

Nowhere is the place to go, blizzards remind us. It's bloody damned cold here, no sign of snow.

>112 benitastrnad: You're lucky, Benita! It's been so bloody frigid elsewhere!

Knitting and an interesting travel narrative, honestly you sound like you've got it knocked.

>113 Berly: I'm not specially bothered about firsts so long as we keep goin'.

Merry 2025, Kimmers.

Morning, Big Daddy! Your message to Kim in >113 Berly: made me think of West Wing, only instead of What's next, Mrs. Landingham? He would say, Who's next?

'Morning, RDear. Happy Sunday to you.

I finished two MM romance books early this morning, Crossroads by Riley Hart and The Sinner's Sanctuary by August Jones. I will read non smut today, needing to continue with James for next Sunday's book club discussion.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>119 Crazymamie: ...I got this list...

...and its causally related to >1 richardderus:.

>120 karenmarie: I hope James ends up appealing to you, Horrible. I myownself will take either the Hart or the Jones.

*smooch*

...my sides hurt...

This is what 46 years of tophaceous gout does to a hand.

>124 richardderus: OUCH! I just cannot imagine. SO sorry that you are suffering.

>124 richardderus: Wow, that does look painful!!! I wish there was some way to help :(

>125 Crazymamie:, >126 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks, y'all. It's been a bad one.

>124 richardderus: Oh you poor thing, that does not look like it would feel good!
Is there anything that helps?

>128 ChelleBearss: Really no. It's made as livable as possible by Fentanyl.

Just stopping by to say hello and Happy New Year. I will continue to make extremely random appearances as usual.

>123 richardderus: made me snort!
And just Yowza at >124 richardderus:

>124 richardderus: Ouch! So sorry that you have to go through this!

>124 richardderus: Oh, I’m so sorry, Richard! I had no idea this is what you’re going through. Healing wishes wafting your way…

Karen O

>124 richardderus: Oh my, Richard! that looks painful.

>123 richardderus: I saw someone going shopping at a discount grocery store with this car. I thought it was the ugliest thing I have ever seen. Ah well different folks, different tastes.

>146 richardderus: Ouch ouch ouch, so sorry.

Cybertrucks are truly weird, and I say this as someone who doesn't really notice or care about the aesthetics of cars and car-like vehicles. My seven-year-old nephew points them out every time he seems them, but I can't tell if he's positive or negative or simply likes to shout out "Cybertruck!"

>124 richardderus:

Dang! That has gotten a lot worse. Do you still type with that? How do you post here? Do you use audio? Sympathies, man. And a smooch.

Sorry about the gout, Richard. Your hand looks really painful. As for those weird Tesla Cybertrucks, well, they are weird! I see them quite frequently around here when I am out walking or driving.

>130 SuziQoregon:, >131 SandDune:, >132 klobrien2:, >133 figsfromthistle:, >134 figsfromthistle:, >135 bell7:, >136 Berly:, >137 vancouverdeb: Thanks for your sympathy, y'all. It does hurt a lot more right now, but it's never unpainful.

>130 SuziQoregon: Hiya Juli! I'll always be happy to see you here, so come visit when you can.

>134 figsfromthistle:, >135 bell7: The Deploreans are hideous AND impractical.

>135 bell7: I'm guessing it could be the fin of naming in this instance: "I know what that is!"

Morning, Richard. It looks like we may have cross-posted the other day. Well, back to the grind for the Warbler. Sue starts her new job today. Like old times around here. At least I will be coming home in a couple of hours and getting cozy with Juno and the books.

>121 richardderus: Wow! Says it all.

>124 richardderus: You poor guy. Our hearts go out to you.

>136 Berly: I haven't got the patience for dictating, Kimmers. I just type, the way I just walk. People are often impressed in a sort of sad way, but I'm more impressed when people give up and let others do everything for them. I would hate that enough to will myself to death.

>140 msf59: You definitely have it all over Sue, having to train for a new job! I'm glad to know retirement-job is just for a few hours a day. It would be too horrific to have to go back to full time.

Thanks for your sympathy...I'm not always aware of how little others really know about my existence from day-to-day.

I am truly amazed that you can even type. 😢

>124 richardderus: - {{Richard}}

>124 richardderus: Oh, wow. I am so sorry that the gout is making over your body in such terrible ways, Richard.

((Hugs)) and **smooches** for today, RD. Make it a marvelous Monday as much as you can!

>143 msf59: It's probably slower than y'all do, but it's that or nothin'!

>144 jessibud2: *smooch*

>145 alcottacre: I'll just take not-awful. I'm not really that bothered by most things...I have stuff that really needs thinkin' about, like The Future. Immediate surroundings don't do much changing here. When necessary I shout at the drunken, whiny Old Stuff to keep his noise as low as possible.

Ouch, ouch, ouch! *smooch, smooch, smooch*

>149 ronincats: *smooch* back...it's not worse today so all the YAY there is.

‘Morning, RDear. Happy Monday to you.

>124 richardderus: Ah, I am so sorry you’ve suffered for 46 years and are going through a bad exacerbation now.

>150 richardderus: Better would be better, but not worse is itty bitty yay.

*smooch*

>124 richardderus: I'm so sorry for the pain you are suffering, and so impressed at how you "keep on keeping on." Nowadays as we face the destruction of a second Trump rule, at my age I often feel like just letting go and let the younger ones deal with it (especially since so many Americans seem to think it's all going to be ok). Your political readings and posts shore me up.

Morning, Big Daddy! What Karen said. *Monday morning smooch*

>124 richardderus: >136 Berly: >141 richardderus: Berly said just what I was planning to, and I'll take your answer to her as your answer to me. So many of our friends here deal with the intolerable matter-of-factly. I'm grateful to you all and full of respect besides. You're showing me what to do when it's my turn, and I know that my turn's coming.

*SMOOCH* for the day!

Ouch, that looks very painful. A gentle hug. Smooch

>151 karenmarie: Not worse is a HUGE yay when it comes to your body betraying you, sweetiedarling. It's all perspective.

Monday orisons...and a little funny for your feeder-watchin' self:

>153 Crazymamie: Mamie my dear! *smooch* back

>154 LizzieD: If someone could demonstrate how weeping and wailing and whining and complaining would alleviate one scintilla of this pain...
...
...I probably still wouldn't, I loathe being around those people. May your turn and the Reaper arrive in reverse order. *smooch*

>155 Ameise1: Thank you, dear lady. I'm hoping this exacerbation will wane still more, and soon. *smooch*

Interesting take on 2025 in your topper, Richard. Cute too! Hope your gout eases up soon.

>141 richardderus: I ignore all my health stuff to the very best of my ability and keep on going. So I admire your stubbornness immensely. And I know you'll never give up. Ever. I get you and I love you. Smooch.

‘Morning, RD! Happy Tuesday to you.

>156 richardderus: Love it! Absolutely love it. Thank you.

You’re right about your body betraying you. Mine has been doing that in unsettling ways since I had the medication-caused syncope last September. Grrrr.

I have been seriously irritated when the conversation, with any group of people I’m with, devolves into discussion of Medical Issues. Started with Bill's dad/stepmom & folks in that age group. Sympathy for something, brief and to the point, is appreciated, but I’ve been known to say “Medical discussions are over. Let’s find something else to talk about.”

Discussion of your exacerbation doesn’t count, of course, since it’s your thread, and you’re getting the sympathy you deserve. If sympathy could make things better, you’d be hopping around and reading paper books and typing many reviews.

*smooch*

>160 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg. I'm hoping the populist wave signals a real desire for change and that a powerful, positive message-maker arises to combat the ugly hateful goons. Soon. Now would be great. But we can all agree, it seems, that the privileged scum needs to be scraped off the top.

>161 Berly: *baaawww* coming from someone with your absolutely inspiring tenacity, being called "stubborn" is (for once) the very best compliment ever!

Like all compliments, its overuse reduces efficacy, though....

It's just not worth it to sit down and give up. Not yet, anyway. Three strokes later, I'm still getting back some things but others are just...gone. Adjusting to a temporary thing like a gout exacerbation is a LOT harder now because I don't have a back-up hand/arm/side anymore. It's so much fun!

*smooch*

>162 karenmarie: Thanks, Horrible. I'm not actually worried about the exacerbation so much as the impression others get when someone suddenly...disappears. The strokes taught me the immense value of having a news outlet. Kath is a treasure and a deeply good friend for letting all y'all know what was happening.

Ending complaining sessions is mental-health care.

Isn't >156 richardderus: happy-making? I though it was too cute not to bring to you. *smooch* for a merrier Tuesday than Monday.

>156 richardderus: Love it!

I'm all for a Merry Tuesday! We will walk as protected as we can be from the fierce wind and the high 30s/low 40s temperature when we do it momentarily. My plan is not to drive anywhere until Thursday when my study club meets. Stay warm! *smooch*

Afternoon, dear one! So true about Kath being a treasure and a deeply good friend. *Tuesday smooch*

>166 LizzieD: Isn't >156 richardderus: totes adorbs? Let's all merry up our Tuesdays, huh?

>167 Crazymamie: That she is,me deario. I've been grateful to know her for closin' in on twenty years. Tuesday *smooch*

Not wanting to labour a point, but woah- your hand and wrist look mightily irritated and irritating up there in >124 richardderus:.

Sometimes a good old complaining session is what one needs, although, I prefer to call them 'acknowledgement that things are crappy' sessions, and, calling a halt to that when you're done is also iuseful.

As for body betrayal....I chose to believe (even as it is slowly happening to me) that it will not happen to me. Delusional? Perhaps. On a very loosely related point, I recently learned that ostriches don't even bury their heads in the sand. What is that all about??

Well. I have covered my 17 points now, so will depart.
*adieu*

Happy Wednesday, Richard. I hope the week is humming along for you with minimal discomfort. We are dealing with some cold weather but at least we are dodging any significant snow. May that continue...🤞🙏🤞

>156 richardderus: Cute!

‘Morning, RD! It’s quite cold here, 19F, even at 8:40 a.m.

>165 richardderus: My news outlet is Peggy. She’s a treasure, too. I have assiduously avoid the news except for cell phone notification headlines from WRAL TV (mostly local news). I did see some whack-job craziness mentioned about the chaos demon, but no blaring headlines.

>170 LovingLit: I agree that there absolutely is value in complaining sessions, Megan, but in my case the same people complain about the same things every time we get together. It really bothers me.

I watched the Seafoam Salad short from Dylan again last night. I also watched a video by the wife of one of Jenna's friends who wants to become an influencer... her videos are mostly train wrecks with occasional hints that are good. Yesterday's was homemade marshmallows, which seem like way more effort than they're worth. I cackled a few times, rolled my eyes a few times, said "NO!" a few times, and pitied her husband.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>170 LovingLit: Your seventeen points were remarkably condensed, Megan...all those reports you've written for government/academic use have taught you a lot. Ostriches have a crap rap in pop culture.

I'm slowly, steadily making it out of the exacerbation. That's the good news. The bad news is it's ongoing. *sigh*

Lovely to see you here!

>171 msf59: How do, Birddude. We had a dusting...it whipped away in the wind. COLD, however, it very much is. I'm soldiering on. I don't have to go outside, thank the goddesses.

>172 karenmarie: The problem I see with Jenna's friend's wife is that she wants to be an influencer. Not that she has something to say about something. It's the common trouble among the impressionable...say things and gain influence isn't the way it works, say things about something you care about and maybe people will notice. Look at Dylan! he took being a skinny queer baking nerd from Bermuda to heights being a skinny queer anything never saw.

Because he loves baking.

Complaining depresses me.

Peggy's a gem, and she's helped reassure us many a time already. I'm pretty cold here, but 19° there is...apocalyptic. Stay warm, sweetiedarling.

I'm sorry the exacerbation is continuing, though easing.

It was pretty freaking cold last night when we went to and left from trivia, but I managed to avoid becoming a Katie-cicle :)

Aw, Richard, you and Karen are my dears, and I don't know how I got along without you two all those years.

I am steeling myself to phone conversations with Ammy about an unused gift certificate and Spectrum about dropping Mama's cable account, which I haven't used although I thought I might. I abominate phone conversations with customer reps for more than 17 reasons. May whatever you're doing today be more pleasant and successful than what I'll do. *sigh*

*smooch*

>175 richardderus: (That setting false goals is endemic and has always been, I'd guess. I can't count the scores of young educators I've known who set out to be "cool teachers." Frustrating!)

>62 richardderus: Love that Gault.

>63 richardderus: We are in the same spot on The Safekeep RD, there are signs of development going forward though, I'd give the next a go.

>121 richardderus: Frustrated *Sigh*.

>124 richardderus: That looks very uncomfortable, and I groan when one of my fingers gets stuck in grip mode, and I have to pry it open.

>177 LizzieD: "Cool" isn't uniformly good. It's good that sticks in one's mind, not cool. And the process of goal-setting is an invitation to misapplication. One goal looks a lot like another, and it's REALLY hard to unpick those intertwinings (this guarantees therapists lifetime employment).

Customer "service" is not the goal. Assuring and ensuring profits for the scum at the top is the goal. Learn your place, cash cow, get back in the herd and pay up.

*smoochiesmoochsmooch*

>176 katiekrug: I missed you! sorry. Ongoing's the way of the world, but not-worse is a little gift TBH. Stay warm presumably inside today...it's brutal in the wind.

>178 Caroline_McElwee: It's a worthy first novel, is >63 richardderus:, but not what it could've been. The first ones never are.

Fingers are incredibly important, as we learn when ours malfunction....

Words of wisdom here as I catch up with you. So true what you say about Karen's Jenna's friend's wife (could NOT resist typing that). *Wednesday smooch*

>182 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! Wednesday *smooch*

Happy (?) New Year, Richard! I wish you well!

>1 richardderus: Lol. Perfect.

Thursday * smooch* RD!

>184 Copperskye: Thanks, Joanne! I'm not having a HAPPY year, but I'm not all the way down yet....

>185 vancouverdeb: Thursday *smooch*, Deborah!

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Thursday.

>175 richardderus: I agree with you. She’s got it ass-backwards. I love Dylan, although I do not particularly like his interviews or talk show appearances. His shorts (videos and clothing with his skinny little legs making an appearance), baking, and personal videos are completely endearing and can be watched over and over. Yay for skinny queers!

*smooch* from your very own Madame TVT and Horrible

Stopping in to wish you Thursday happiness. *smooch*

>188 karenmarie: I'm glad the world keeps its balance...we concur on the Major Burning Issues like the foolishness of the influencer economy.

Dylan's persona is very much a creation, and aimed at a format. His self-image comes out in the interviews...quiet, contemplative, very self-contained. It makes "EGG GEES" and "nillah" and "simmanim" all the more evidently calculated, which I enjoy.

I watched his deep-dive on peanut butter bread again last night. He's really not the persona, and really is totes adorbs for doing it for us.

Happy Thursday, sweetiedarling.

>189 Crazymamie: Thursday happiness wishes happily returned, dear lady.

You know what I wish for you every day, Richard. I know that you'll take advantage of the things that lie in your power to make good. Patience with the rest! *smooch*

>192 LizzieD: Patience with the rest is harder than usual today. Stress is doin' a number on my brain today. I'm glad I don't have more responsibilities than I already do. *smooch*

((Hugs)) and **smooches** for today, RD

>194 alcottacre: Thanks, Stasia, same back at'cha.

Hello, Richard, I *finally* made it over to your thread. I guess it's not *too* late to wish you a happy new year, since >184 Copperskye: wished you the same just yesterday.

>78 richardderus: I need to take that advice this year!

>124 richardderus: Oh, Richard, I'm so sorry that you are having to deal with that. I hope it's gotten better/less painful since you took the picture. Sometimes our bodies betray us, sadly.

Happy new year Richard!
I‘m trying to make a slow return to LT (no thread yet) and check in from time to time, if that‘s fine for you? Wishing you many happy reads this year

>14 richardderus: What an amazing gingerbread sculpture.

I have to say, though, that I am always a little disappointed at the consumption of gingerbread. Hansel and Gretel must have never discovered Biscoff.

>196 atozgrl: Irene! Happy to see you here, and deffo plan to use >78 richardderus: in your 2025 survival kit.

The exacerbation is calming down, so I'm giving it lots of rest. Driving me nuts, but it's better than two hours of sleep at a time per night from jolting awake at a sudden stab of pain.

>197 Deern: Nathalie! Delightful you're visiting your old haunts. Ease on in, we're still a chatty bunch. I'm sure you're remembering all the regulars. Happy that you came to visit. Come any time.

>198 sirfurboy: The terrible thing is, I really want one set up in front of the Capitol. Preferably functional, preferably used with TV cameras aimed at it, and well grimed with the ichor of the "elites." Your Biscoff not gonna hold up to that....

I've gone Jacobin.

>201 richardderus: Well, yes. I can understand that!

Happy Friday, Richard. I have been birding, playing PB and enjoying those books, so all good here. Plus, we will get to visit with Jack today for awhile. We both have missed him.

>202 sirfurboy: ...for that matter, gingerbread's gonna struggle...

>203 msf59: Morning, Birddude! I'm glad you've got a Jack-day coming. I'm spending most of my time offline to give this awful exacerbation a better start in calming down. Enjoy the day!

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Friday to you.

>190 richardderus: His self-image comes out in both, IMO. The interviews I’ve watched seem either forced or a bit boot-licking. Oh well. I just lerve him.

2 errands and a trip to the grocery store, normally something I like, but the panic today will be manifested there. Then we’ll hunker down to get through snow and ice.

*smooch*

P.S. I love gingerbread, both cookies and my grandmother's recipe that gets made in a 9" x 13" pan, is 2" high, and that I frost with cream cheese frosting.

Morning, Big Daddy! Friday Happiness to you! *smooch*

>206 karenmarie: I'm not fussy about gingersweets, gimmegimmegimme pretty much sums it up. Construction gingerbread, though, is pretty much the lowest on my list. Parkin's great, floofy gingerbread's delightful, basically I was personally betrayed and abandoned when Newman's Own discontinued the ginger/cream cheese sandwich cookies. *sob* soooo gooood *moan*

My day off did wonders, gout's better!

Saturday orisons, sweetiedarling.

>207 Crazymamie: Mamie! Lovely to see you. It was a bit...well...dull because I wasn't around here but I think the less-painful wrist and hand make it worth a lackluster day. *smooch*

Dropping off your weekly dose of smooches.

Hope you continue to improve this weekend and pain levels are low.

I'm happy to hear that you're even minimally better in the hand and wrist department, Richard. Good for you for taking off the time you need! *smooch*

Gingerbread! I do not recognize by taste or texture any brand you've mentioned. We either made our own or ate the offerings from the Navy's bakery here. What a deprived childhood I lived without a clue!

Dropping in to wish you a wonderful weekend!

‘Morning, RD! Happy gout-better Saturday to you.

>208 richardderus: I love ginger things. Ginger snaps, women/men, w/cream cheese… I was strong and didn’t get any of these at Christmas:



So glad your day off helped your gout.

*smooth* from your own Horrible

>210 MickyFine: Morning, Micky! Thanks for my S.O.D. post! (Smooch.On.Delivery)

>211 LizzieD: It really gets so boring, Peggy, and makes me even more anxious now that the spineless slugs in "Congress" have failed signally to protect Net Neutrality. The issues with it will begin soon, I predict.

Parkin is a type of English sticky gingerbread-y cake:

Newman's Own made the ginger-sandwich cookies for a while in the teens, but my greed was insufficient for them to continue making them. *sob*

Spend a splendid day, dear lady, as I nurse my improving digits.

>212 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Anita, and the same back at'cha.

>213 karenmarie: I've never tried those, Horrible...if given a choice, I'll avoid soft cookies of all sorts. My day off, and the snow that snew overnight, have helped my pain levels a lot. I'm actually able to work the Kindle again, albeit only for a half-hour or so...then hours off. But it's better than not at all.

*smooch*

I hope this weekend will continue your improve your digits. We had a recoating of snow overnight. Very quiet, which I like. I'm reading Evicted, a book I've dodged in the past. Sorta wish I'd dodged reading it this time.

Benita brought me gingerbread when she visited on Tuesday. Of course, it's all gone now but it was rich and sweet.

How much snow did you get? We got another 2 inches Thursday night to add to our 13 inches from Sunday. Might get above freezing today. Glad the cold is helping some with the pain.

*smooches*

Morning, BigDaddy! I also love all things ginger. Carr's used to make some of my favorite cookies - ginger and lemon creme, but I have not seen them for years:



They were scrummy.

I love all things ginger.

>220 Crazymamie: - I remember those! I think you turned me on to them, Mamie. Like you, I haven't seen them recently, though I haven't really looked...

Happy weekend, RD!

>221 katiekrug: I cannot find them, so I am guessing they have been discontinued. *Sob* SO good.

>218 weird_O: Thanks, Bill! I'm with you on the not-enjoyment-of-Evicted but can say from experience it's a very valuable piece of mental furniture.

Our icing-sugar snow was nice to see, it's fleeting but fun.

>219 ronincats: Nummers! Homemade baked goods can't be beat. It wasn't at all A Snow...probably a half-inch. I'm just grateful we didn't get hammered with a blizzard back when the conditions allowed.

I'm really glad you're not in Cali anymore. *smooch*

>220 Crazymamie: I haven't seen those in eons, either, though I do occasionally order the Dare version of them from Canada. $15 for two boxes is WAY too much for anything but the rarest of indulgences.



OTOH this is The Necessity.

>221 katiekrug: Happy weekend indeed, Katie! Enjoying the snowlette? It looks pretty here. It'll be slush in a minute but it is lovely to have some.

>222 Crazymamie: Pretty sure you're correct about that...their website lists only the cracker end of the biscuit world. *moan*

Good afternoon, RD. I am very glad to hear that you are doing better. May the gout continue to improve!

Happy reading!

>228 atozgrl: Thanks, Irene, it's still got a ways to go but the trend is the right one.

Hi there Richard! Stopping by to say howdy and to wish you a relaxing and pain-free (or at least, lessened) weekend!

All of this talk about wonderful gingery food has me about to head to the kitchen for lunch.

Karen O

Happy weekend *smooches*

>222 Crazymamie: I think you can still buy them

https://www.carrsqc.com/shop/product-details.960370684.html?srsltid=AfmBOor6cYHh...

'Morning, RichardDear! Happy Sunday and here's to a pain-reduced day for you.

Parkin looks similar to my grandmother's gingerbread, but the gingerbread recipe does not call for oats, among other ingredients. I bought cream cheese for frosting just in case I want to make it this week.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>230 klobrien2: Sunday orisons, Karen O.! I hope you had something lovely and gingery for lunch...when I grew my own tomatoes I make madras tomatoes with cheap beer, potato starch, ginger and curry...great with arborio and chicken thighs.

>231 bell7: *smooch* happy Sunday, Mary!

>232 figsfromthistle: Eternally out of stock, Annita, and shipping into the US suspended.

>233 karenmarie: Morning, smoochling...I'm happy to report the swelling's gone down, the pain's under control, and I'm watching The Magicians before it leaves Netflix on Monday. Ten years on it looks...dated. Fun story, though I didn't think the books were All That so this is the best way to get that story into me.

Parkin probably *is* your grandmother's recipe's ancestor. I really like the oats in it. I'd frost ANYthing in cream-cheese frosting!

Enjoy the Sundayness of it all.

Happy Sunday, Richard. I hope the weekend is humming along for you. I never did see Jack on Friday. Schedules keep getting changed. At least Sue got to spend some time with him. I have Jack duties on Thursday. My immediate family is getting together to play PB this afternoon. They are really enjoying it and you know me- twist my arm. 😀

>238 msf59: Happy Sunday, Mark! Enjoy the PB outing. I'm resting my hands still but I'm really much improved.

Yay for fresh Jack visiting! Slog through the week as best you can until then.

Happy Sunday, BigDaddy! I am so happy that you are much improved. *smooch*

>121 richardderus: It is going to be a long four years and I won't be surprised if we don't recognize our country when it's over. Sigh.

>240 Crazymamie: Thank you, Mamie me lurve! *smooch*

>241 EBT1002: On my good days I see that inevitability as permanent employment.

>237 richardderus:
I read the first two books in the Magicians series but never felt compelled to read the third one. I also wasn't tempted by his new series. I would have liked to watch the TV series of the Magicians, but alas, you say it will be too late for me to do so.

Oh well! Maybe there is a library out there somewhere that has them on DVD and there is this little thing called Inter-Library Loan, that might make it watchable at some point in the future.

Which reminds me. I finally got disgusted with the slow and then slower and even slower speeds on my hotspot, so on Friday I ordered Internet coverage for the house from the local telephone company. They will be out early next week to do the install. The router is already in the house and if it needs updating they will provide the update. That made it a done deal for me. And I can say good-bye to the hotspot.

Just by for a speak, Richard. I'm glad that you're hurting less. Even less would be a gift! I'm looking forward to this week's book reviews. I can't really settle to anything, and so I'm already despairing of 75 again this year. I have a yen for long books.

*smooch*

Dave is a fan of strong tasting ginger cookies, though I forget which brand. I have to get them from a nearby store, The British Store. I'm glad you are feeling better.

>244 benitastrnad: Hi Benita! I'm glad you're joining the the Aughties at last. One just can'r do without internet these days. Or bookish people can't at least.

The DVDs from the Central Library of Tashkent, or Amazon Prime will rent you the series for some exorbitant amount...there are 65 episodes, they do them singly I think. I gave up after watching the second season. It's okay for TV but the books never appealed to me.

>245 LizzieD: Morning, Peggy me lurve. I hope all's well there. I'm happy to say this is my first day in weeks without angry red swelling on my wrist, and greatly reduced pain.

Just read, sweet and dear friend. Numbers aren't the point, they're usable as motivation when Things Are Too Much and staring at idiots being fools beckons. We're all here in this bubble because we like it and each other, not to make some hashmark on a chart.

Immerse in the great bays and sounds of the long books without pressuring yourself. *smooch*

>246 vancouverdeb: Dave is a man of discerning taste, I see. I love the contrast of gingeryness with crispness of cookie, and adding sweetness makes it even scrummier. *smooch*

'Morning, RDear, and happy Monday to you.

>248 richardderus: I'm so glad that you're continuing to improve.

*smooch*

>250 karenmarie: Thanks, smoochling...I'm finishing up my first actual review for later on today! I liked Toward Eternity from Korean-to-English translator Anton Hur, his first published fiction, with a few reservations. You're likely to skip it but permaybehaps shouldn't....

Glad to hear you are in less pain.

Happy new week!

"I'm happy to say this is my first day in weeks without angry red swelling on my wrist, and greatly reduced pain." Hooray for that! Very happy making and may it continue.

And a review coming! *happy dance*

Happy Monday, BigDaddy! *smooch and a bear hug*

Just a quick "hi" as I race through the threads trying to catch up a bit before heading to the kitchen to make pound cake for my book club visitors at noon.

002 Toward Eternity by Anton Hur

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: What does it mean to be human in a world where technology is quickly catching up to biology?

In a near-future world, a new technological therapy is quickly eradicating cancer: The body’s cells are entirely replaced with nanites—robot or android cells that not only cure those afflicted but leave them virtually immortal. At the same time, literary researcher Yonghun teaches an AI how to understand poetry and creates a living, thinking machine he names Panit, meaning "Beloved," in honor of his husband. When Dr. Beeko, who holds the patent to the nano-therapy technology, learns of Panit, he transfers its consciousness into an android body, giving it freedom and life.

As Yonghun, Panit, and other nano humans thrive—and begin to replicate—their development will lead them to a crossroads and a choice with existential consequences.

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

My Review: This book renewed my faith in my judgment of poetry as a stalking horse for the worst kind of exclusionary snobbery. It requires a linguistic adept, a genuinely intellectually superior mind, to fathom its Sacred Complexities well enough to use it to create AGI, which (of course) then becomes a worthy love-object.

"Whether a life ends happily or sadly, what does it matter but the weight of the emotions one felt, the weight of the clarity of all the meaningful moments one possessed while living on this Earth, whether they have been good or bad? Is it not the weight, in the end, that really makes us human after all?" muses Panit the AGI. This beautiful phrase does convince me to give the writing four stars. This is prose I wish to high heaven other SFF writers would at least aspire to. Author Hur has been to the linguistic wellspring and used a solid-silver vessel to drink from it.

The idea of sentience being the connecting thread as we travel through a deep future of change and revision, of editing and shaping the narrative of consciousness, is where the other half-star comes from. The narrative device of one notebook passing among many hands, taking on many meanings, offers the reader a handle to grapple with balancing the solid-silver vessel Hur used while not losing control of the easily-spilled contents.

It's not going to be easy for many to move past the genders of the consciousnesses that take this notebook through time. That's a shame. I'll say that poetry, in this case, can draw in those questing minds. I'm pretty sure that has a downside. If what you want is to "{feel} these words against my skin as if they were physical objects, or as if they were light passing through the prism of my body and shattering into the spectrum. Had I ever truly understood any word before, ever? How could I have claimed to have made a study of poetry or that this study had made me human when I had never understood what it meant to feel words?", then you're in the proper aisle. If those sentiments, expressed in same-sex contexts, are going to make you uneasy, you're late for the exit.

Asserting that poetry is the proper lens for emotional writing is, honestly, disproved by this novel. It is a story with a plot, with development of multiple characters, and has an ending that flows from the events described herein. That is a novel in my eyes, and it does something poetry does not: It connects the reader...me...to Author Hur's worldview as chosen and molded into this story.

Change. Time. Immaterial movement. All are central to making a work a novel, not a poem. But because (I'm confident in this assertion) Author Hur's pharmacopoeia is the shape and weight of words before the end that is the sentence, what occurs is a valorization of the idea of poetry, which functions on that small, precise unit for its impact.

I liken this to a poem being a mosaic, a story being a fresco, and a novel an oil painting. Mosaics fall apart easily, the pieces are still pretty but don't do much to make an impression unless painstakingly restored by experts; frescos, done in sharply defined spaces and usually quickly can last for centuries and, even if volcanoes engulf them are still recognizably art; oil paintings are gigantic efforts to use malleable medium to create a simulacrum of reality, whose materials are slippery and prone to blending as well as subject to vagaries of fashion for their perceived beauty. Makes sense, too, as these are roughly the same order of appearance (assuming one counts folktales and fables and myths as stories not novels or poems).

Author Hur's debut novel is a beautiful work. It's a deep questioning of Humanity, humaneness. It's a story that moves the reader through the ideas, we don't often take time to articulate, of love and connection. Poetry isn't my choice of a defining trait of being human.

Words are...beautiful, sharp, shiny, eternally morphic words. Take this as your encouragement to go get Author Hur's first novel.

>252 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie! I'm really glad it's released its grip. *sigh* New-week orisons.

>253 Crazymamie: Monday *smoochings* my dear lady. I'm happy to be able to get my work done!

>254 RebaRelishesReading: Oooo, pound cake, that sounds delicious, Reba...are you icing or frosting it? I'll come by later to see what the group thought of the book.

>255 richardderus: Excellent review! Adding this one to The List.

>247 richardderus:
This morning at 8:30 the local technician for the local telephone company called me to say he would be at the house in a half hour! I now have internet installed in the house and am happily running my laptop on it. It seems to be fast enough, but we will see after I get the TV moved over to it.

(I even ordered bluetoothed speakers so I can hear the radio in the kitchen and bedroom.)

>260 benitastrnad: How wonderful! Great service, and new technology! Have fun!

Karen O

>259 Crazymamie: Thank you, sweetness. I am unsure if this is a fantastic book I downrate for making me think about poetry, or a very usual book that got gussied up for a party and I fell for it....

>260 benitastrnad: Good gravy! From 1999 to 2019 in one swell foop!

>261 klobrien2: Ain't it cool, Karen O.? We're gettin' a new cyberneighbor!

>258 richardderus: I made three -- chocolate and almond were not frosted, lemon was glazed. Everyone liked the book but we kept getting sidetracked from the subject so actual book discussion was not very substantial.

Happy Monday, Richard!

I am glad that you are in less pain than last week.

Always think of the guy in "Catch-22" (is it the Chaplan?) - who says to Yossarian "Let me know if the pain becomes unendurable"

Yeah? and then what?

>265 RebaRelishesReading: I'm not surprised, with those pound cakes a-waitin'! Still, it would frustrate me not to have a chance to get a good convo going about such a rich book.

>266 figsfromthistle: Monday orisons, Anita! Thanks, and have a great week-ahead's reads.

>267 magicians_nephew: "...and then what?" is almost always my first question, Jim. Solving problems isn't a great specialty among humans.

Ah well, Richard. I'm sure that the Hur is not for me right now and may not be for any other now. I'm happy that it struck you where you live though. I'm also happy that the wrist is so much better! *smooch*

Good to see you're getting better, Richard. Hope it continues to get better and the reads get easier!

‘Morning, BB menace. Happy Tuesday to you.

>251 richardderus: You're likely to skip it but permaybehaps shouldn't..... Sigh.

>255 richardderus: Okay, okay. I spent $1.99 to get it on Kindle.

>265 RebaRelishesReading: Three pound cakes, Reba. My goodness. Yum to all three. Now that I was able to get eggs, I might make one. Of course, I said that about my grandmother’s gingerbread recently, too.

*smooch*

Morning, BigDaddy! Happy Tuesday! Hoping today is kind to you, dear one. *smooch*

>265 RebaRelishesReading: YUM!

>273 karenmarie: Whoop! It was $12.99 on Kindle yesterday when I added it to The List! Just snagged it for the $1.99 price - thanks so much for mentioning it!!

>271 LizzieD: Morning, Peggy, I concur with you about Hur. I'm thrilled! I had a stretch last night where I didn't hurt!

Hur will get better, and as a first novel it's *streets* ahead of most...but he's been in the most amazing writing class of all time as his work as a translator.

>272 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg, I'm hopeful the corner's been turned.

>273 karenmarie: For a buck ninety-nine, it's a *bargain*! Ginger pound cake, maybe? with a load of cream-cheese frosting?

*smooch*

>274 Crazymamie: What a great deal, eh what Mamie? I'm glad Horrible mentioned it so you could get it.

Tuesday *smooch*

>277 richardderus: Me too. For that review and the bargain, I buck-ninety-nine'd it into the basket. Thanks Richard!

>279 swynn: All the YAY! I hope it speaks to you, Steve.

>275 richardderus: At $1.99 I can afford to have Hur waiting in the cloud or on my Kindle, so thanks to you and Karen. Done.

Hooray for pain-free stretching! Long may you continue!!!

So what's next in the review department, thou Temptor Supreme? *smooch*

>268 richardderus: We eat first and talk about the book afterwards so the pound cakes were pretty much demolished before the book conversation started.

The cakes were made from Tastefully Simple mixes that were part of a Christmas gift from my daughter-in-law. Not hard and really very good!!!

>281 LizzieD: Those $1.99 deals are great for bibliodragons to get their hoard on, ain't they.
Moi, madame? A near occasion of booksin? You have mistaken me for Horrible, *I* do not add to the groaning shelves of the desperate in booklust! The next one: The Lady of the Mine by Sergei Lebedev. A cheery little bagatelle of literally memory-holing all the evils of Humanity in its inhumane vileness.

You should buy two...one to share!

>282 RebaRelishesReading: ...the pound cakes were pretty much demolished... I fail entirely to be surprised, Reba! Wise to eat first. They were mixes? Even better! Low-effort/high-reward desserts for crowds are the absolute best.

>284 richardderus: Yep!!

003 The Lady of the Mine by Sergei Lebedev (tr. Antonina W. Bouis)

Rating: 4.25* of five

The Publisher Says: The mystical laundress at the center of this novel is obsessed with purity. Her task is formidable as she stands guard over a sealed shaft at a Ukrainian coal mine that hides terrible truths.

The bodies of dead Jews lying in its depths seem to attract still more present-day crimes. Acclaimed Russian author Sergei Lebedev portrays a ghostly realm riven by lust and fear just as the Kremlin invades the same part of Ukraine occupied by the Wehrmacht in World War Two.

Then corpses rain from the sky when a jet liner is shot down overhead, scattering luxury goods along with the mortal remains. Eerie coincidences and gruesome discoveries fill this riveting exploration of an uncanny place where the geography exudes violence, and where the sins of the past are never all that in the past.

Lebedev, who has won international praise for his soul-searching prose and unflinching examination of history’s evils, shines light on the fault line where Nazism met Soviet communism, evolving into the new fascism of today’s Russia.

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

My Review: When someone sets out to write about how truly vilely humans treat, and think about, each other, they get...pushback. Unsurprisingly a man from Moscow known to support anti-Russian causes gets review-bombed for this bitterly anti-imperialist examination and take-down of the memory hole people put their dark collusions into on Goodreads. 82% of all the reviews are one-star Cyrillic alphabet ones. I don't speak or read Russian so I can't comment on what those reviewers say. The few among the one-starrers who wrote in English don't seem to me like real people based on their profiles, which fits.

I wish nothing but the best for Ukraine. This book is set there because it's the place most in the news; because it's clear the Russian Army is there to forcibly reintegrate Ukraine into whatever Little Vladdy Pu-Pu plans to call the new Soviet Union. The entire thrust in the guts of this book is aimed at imperialism and conquest, using the silently collusive's various ways of justifying their collusion against them, in service of the downtrodden. Simply not doing something active in support of evil is not enough to remain a decent human being. The mine in this story has no bottom, has no end, it never closes or runs out of its resource: Victims who were not saved by those who could have.

If you, cishet white person reading this, are feeling a wee bit uncomfortable about now, you should pay attention to that feeling. It's as fresh as the headlines: we're reading everywhere about disasters, and doing the "easy" to do; about how our nature as humans is to go along to get along, to survive, to be small targets. That will only gain force in the coming years as duck-and-cover feels safe, feels good.

There is no safe.
Stand up whatever way you can. Not doing so will not keep you safe. Ask those people in this novel's crashed airplane...they weren't safe.

I assume I don't need to explain the metaphors used by Levedev, they're not very subtle. I hope I don't need to say "not getting this book and reading it isn't anything but denial of your humane duty." Listen to the people who know what they're talking about, like exiled writers; plan your resistance with their examples. Help them keep the message going, keep the help spreading.

Or sit and wait for it to happen to you. It will.

Not quite five stars for me, because as mentioned above the metaphors aren't terribly subtle. The story deserves your time and treasure.

>285 RebaRelishesReading: :-)

>286 richardderus: - That sounds excellent, and I want to buy it just on principle.

>288 katiekrug: I'm glad on both counts, Katie. I think you'd enjoy it, though, so it won't be a total sacrifice.

Post-coffee, I'm contemplating how to do my day. I *NEED* to go out to do an errand but it's really, really hard to make myself when I have to change the bandages on my foot twice a day as it is....

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Wednesday to you.

So glad I could snag Toward Eternity for $1.99 and have at least 3 more folks snag it, too, based on your review.

>286 richardderus: Great review and great call to arms. However, I will pass because I’m trying hard to avoid current events/serious subjects as much as possible and corpses raining down just doesn’t appeal.

*smooch*

Morning, BigDaddy! Hoping your errand goes quickly and smoothly. Sorry about the bandage changing - sending healing mojo. *smooch*

>288 katiekrug: What Katie said.

>291 karenmarie: Yes dear, I know that's what you're doing. It won't work, you know.

>292 Crazymamie: I'm not a bit sure I'll be doing it today, either, Mamie. See below.
***
Yes, I need to brave the wind and cold, yes I need to suck it up and accept another bandage change won't kill me...but THIS is me:

>293 richardderus: I am doing this right now! A most solid plan. I heartily approve.

>293 richardderus: - This is interesting, as I was thinking this morning (while lounging in bed) about how The Wayne and I are very different in this respect. Once he wakes up, he gets right up and starts his morning routine, even on the weekends. I, on the other hand, love nothing more than to be awake but still warm and cozy in bed and spend time contemplating the day ahead, checking my email, scrolling social media, etc.

>295 katiekrug: Craig and I are exactly the same way, Katie! He's off and running before the coffee has even finished brewing.

>296 Crazymamie: - I should add that I am sort of glad he's like that because it usually means the coffee is ready by the time I rouse myself :) It's always a blow when he sleeps in and I have to fend for myself...

I hear you!

>293 richardderus: I think I need to work that into conversation sometime (I do have a large % of Scottish DNA after all). Perhaps you should hurkle-durkle today and do your errand when your foot is better (which I hope will be soon)

Hi Richard,

I was amazed to discover this morning that I either hadn't starred your 2025 thread, or the star had fallen off it. But I'm here now.

>39 richardderus: Oh dear! That's far too true.

>175 richardderus: Indeed. There are too many who think they *should* be listened to and heeded by properly humble others, and make a living from it besides. Preferably a really good living.

I recognize them by unwillingness to respond to or facilitate feedback - they pontificate, but never listen. Or if they do respond, it seems to be a transparent attempt at building "engagement" and "community" by following some formula-for-success.

>220 Crazymamie: I remember those cookies fondly. Or maybe I remember the Canadian version.

>296 Crazymamie:, >295 katiekrug: I'm pretty sure we all end up with our opposites in so many regards.

>299 RebaRelishesReading: It's like "elozable" and "orison": once one learns the word it *must* be used.

>300 ArlieS: Maybe you remember the Dare cookies, Arlie? They're the ones I order once in a great while to get my lemon-ginger crunchy fix.

Glad to see you, and on the new thread, too!