richardderus's fourth 2025 thread

Two of life's greatest pleasures: Men and books.

Welcome to Year of the Wood Snake.

Reviews 1, 2, 3 are here.
Reviews 4 through 17 are here.
Reviews 18 to 24 are here.

THIS THREAD'S REVIEWS
025 Honey Hunger in post #77.
026 A Hundred Years and a Day: 34 Stories in post #133.
027 Listen to Your Sister: A Novel in post #160.
028 The lost house: a novel in post #174.
029 A Short History of Black Craft in Ten Objects in post #187.
030 Remarkable Women: Fascinating Facts You Never Knew About Amazing Women! (Oh No They Didn't) in post #203.
031 Our Jackie : public claims on a private life in post #228.
032 Amelia Bloomer: Journalist, Suffragist, Anti-Fashion Icon in post #257.
033 Sucker Punch: Essays on post #270.

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 Pearl Rule reviews linked here.

THIS THREAD'S PEARL RULE REVIEWS:
#004 Helpmeet in post #85.
#005 The Sower of Black Field: Inspired by the True Story of an American in Nazi Germany in post #87.

All previous Burgoine reviews linked here.

THIS THREAD:
BURGOINE #008 GRIM in post #88.
#009 Three Days in June in post #95.
#010 The Best Strangers in the World: Stories from a Life Spent Listening in post #108.
#011 A Brazen Curiosity in post #287.
#012 A Scandalous Deception in post #288.
#013 A Pernicious Fabrication in post #290.

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.
JANUARY 2025 here.
FEBRUARY 2025 here.

GBBO and other special foodie projects will be linked here.
Season 15's comments linked here.

Best advice I've found on coping with this passage of terribleness.

Okay. Y'all can go to town.

Happy new Thread, old chum.

Happy new one, Richard!

Happy (and healthier) new one, Richard!

>8 richardderus: - is this from Snyder's On Tyranny?

>10 magicians_nephew: Thanks, Jim! Have the absolute most amazing headgear I've found yet as your thread treat:

>10 magicians_nephew: Thanks, Doc! I'm so pleased to feel UP to a new thread I can't begin to tell you.

Happy new one, BigDaddy!

>12 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley! I'm not sure who assembled it first, but it's not from Dr Snyder's book.

>15 Crazymamie: Thanks, smoochling!

((Hugs)) and **smooches** for today and hopes that you have a marvelous Monday, RD.

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Richard! *Smooch*

Here you are with a new one and with many wishes for happy reading and reviewing because you feel well, including mine! *smooch*

Happy new thread Richard!

>18 alcottacre: Thanks, Stasia! *smooch*

>19 bell7: Thank you most kindly, Mary!

>20 LizzieD: I'm flagging a bit, Peggy, so I'm gettin' ready to get a nap in...*smooch*

>21 humouress: Thanks for the wishes, Nina!

Happy new thread, Richard

>26 ArlieS: Grazie mille, Arlie.

Happy new thread, and I hope you have a good nap.

Happy new thread! Hope you continue to feel better! We haven’t gotten too much wind here yet, but I expect some strong gusts. It sure is cold here though.

>8 richardderus: Well said. I need to remember that. Also, stealing to share with my sisters, who are as traumatized as I am, and maybe on a social media site or two.

😘

Happy, happy new thread! I’m sending you soft wishes for healing nappy-nap time…

Karen O

>28 katiekrug: 'Twas a lovely lap indeed, thanks Katie!

>29 Storeetllr: Thanks, Mamie...hey! You like documentaries, and I think you like Natalie Haynes's myth-retellings. I think you'll enjoy her Medusa doc:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egNJXvg811g
It's a solid hour of explication that really shows her talent for the technique. *smooch*

>30 klobrien2: My sleep was refreshing, and proof my body's clearing itself because I'm that much better after it. Lovely Monday, Karen O!

Salutations on your fourth thread, RD.
Glad to see that the healing power of sleep is working for you dear fellow.

>34 PaulCranswick: Thank you most kindly, PC, I'm pleased as can be that a bit of lazing not only feels, but does, good. Only ten Kleenex into the new box and I'm already feeling less need for them!

Happy brand new thread, Richard!

Happy New Thread, Richard. I like the manly topper. I hope you are feeling better today. Damn cold here and for the next few days. Ugh.

>36 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Anita!

>37 msf59: Thanks, Birddude; it's really hard to find good art with men and books in it. It's finally not-windy so I feel positively toasty! Probably means I should adjust the heater to calm down....

Happy New Thread!

Happy new thread, RD! I hope you continue to feel better and better.

Happy new thread, Richard. Good to see you're feeling a bit more chipper.

Happy New Thread, Richard! Great head gear, and I like the snake too. I like a nap myself.

>40 SilverWolf28: Morning, dear Silver, happy to see you here!

>41 atozgrl: Thanks, Irene, I am delighted to report I feel 90% myself now. *whew*

>42 Familyhistorian: Hello, Meg, and welcome. I'm sooooooooo much improved.

>43 vancouverdeb: Morning, Deborah, isn't that the most gorgeous helm? I think the object is just spectacular and it's no wonder it's survived the millennia. Objects like that have their own gravitas.

>45 richardderus: I don't think I've done even as much exercise as I normally do for about the past 6 months and I'm not delighted to report that I'm feeling 110% of myself :0/

>48 humouress: Oh dear, that is the dark side of feeling oneself indeed. I'm sorry...is this down to energy supply or circumstances beyond reasonable control?

Hi Richard, dear friend, Happy New Thread.

>50 johnsimpson: Greetings, John, and thank you!

Let's not wait until June to emulate him, though.

>46 richardderus: Good to see you're on the mend, Richard.

>53 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg! I'm at 95% now thanks to all the sleep I've given myself.

>46 richardderus: Very glad to hear this. It's been a rough winter for sickness for so many people.

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Wednesday and happy new thread.

>1 richardderus: Yummy picture, given my still-raging obsession with MM romances.

>5 richardderus: Once again, bravo for using the site the way you want to, not how others think you should.

>7 richardderus: Still cracks me up. I absolutely cannot see bananas and grapes here.

>54 richardderus: 95% is wonderful.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>55 laytonwoman3rd: I've still got sore rib twinging, but the slight stuffiness is seasonal-allergy level, which is nothin' to what it was. *whew*

The surprise nastiness of the season is troubling everyone. Lotsa extra work for the hospitals. Happy you're healthy, Linda3rd.

>56 karenmarie: 95% is superb, Horrible! I'm stuffy...I'm a little achy...I'm thrilled I'm not hacking up a lung a day anymore.

...thought you'd 'preciate >1 richardderus:...lovely image, no? Those dolphins and bubbles make me smile when I see them, too. *smooch*

Glad to hear that you're better and wishes that the improvement continues!!!

Also I'm glad that we can stay in. I need to stop playing here and get a book! *smooch*

>59 LizzieD: What Peggy said. I am so happy that you are continuing to feel better. *smooch and a bear hug*

>59 LizzieD: Thanks, Peggy me lurve. I'm not lookin' for reasons to move my movables when it's bloody bonechilling out there. I'm not quite as nap-prone as I was yesterday but it wouldn't take much for me to click my meditation carrier-wave playlist on and wink out for a time. *smooch* and pick a good'un!

>60 Crazymamie: I'm pleased I was never seriously ill. I'm not well, but nothing new about that, yet it could've been U.G.L.Y. *smoochiesmoochsmooch*

Sweet Thursday, Richard. Getting a bit tired of these frigid temps but we finally get a warm-up starting on Sunday. It is Jackson Day, so that will warm me up.

>63 richardderus: Nailed it!

>64 msf59: *hubba hubba* I've never held a book that way, looks impractical, but he makes it look good!

I thought >63 richardderus: was one of the best, cleverest takedowns in a long time. Shitler and Muskolini will be undermined best and most lastingly by mockery. Their actions condemn them; our laughter punishes them; the rest is down to the anger people will begin to share as the money and the way of life gets ripped from them. Does anyone have the nous to ride that wave to squish the little roaches?

Hiya, RDear! Happy Thursday.

>63 richardderus: I love it, hate it for having to be true. I posted it on my thread, giving you credit, of course.

*smooch*

Just noticed this double post. Yes, it is rare.

>67 karenmarie: Rare to see a double post anymore!

>66 karenmarie: I know, Horrible, isn't it appalling. One of my LONG-term newsletter writers I subscribe to said today:

I no longer subscribe to the notion that MAGA voters and politicians have been "fooled" somehow, conned...at this point, we just need to accept the fact that they are willing participants--all of them. They can't say they didn't know because he told them, for years, what he wanted to do and they cheered, so yeah--I have no empathy for any of them. I don't believe there's such a thing as "MAGA regret" because I will personally guarantee that if the election were done over and held again tomorrow, every last one of them would vote for him again despite what they now know.

There can be no forgiveness without atonement and true repentance--that should be the lesson of the Civil War.

And that says it better than I could hope to. *smooch*

A bit late to the party 🫣. Happy new one, Rdear. I love the topper 😘💖

>63 richardderus: Oh YEAH!!!!

>69 richardderus: Amen to all of that.

As my doc said Monday, they don't see all the people who are going to die as real people in the same way they are real. I've heard lip-service to some "well, that's too bad," but then, "he's doing what has to be done to get us on-track again."

I am glad that every day is a little better. Maybe you will improve with the warm-up as it comes! *smooch*

>70 Ameise1: Thanks, Barbara! Glad you're here, and enjoying the views.

>71 LizzieD: I'm glad it spoke to you, Peggy, because it's getting more obvious that the main-character syndrome that's gripped the US since the end of WWII is getting more and more severe. It's still here today so it doesn't feel as bone chilling but it ain't toasty just yet. My heating pad keeps my hands from getting too cold, which is wonderful.

Better days for all soon.

>1 richardderus: a little to the left of that...there would be a Penis....no?

>63 richardderus: That's so good.

Granted I'm seeing it from afar, from what I've seen so far it looks like the thought was that any drastic action taken would happen to the other guy.

>75 Familyhistorian: Cold comfort is still comfort, I suppose. I'm glad you got a chuckle.

025 Honey Hunger by Zahran Alqasmi (tr. Marilyn Booth

Rating: 4.75* of five

The Publisher Says: A breathtaking novel of longing, uncertainty, and ultimately of hope, written by an International Prize for Arabic Fiction-winning author and an International Booker-prize winning translator

Azzan is a beekeeper in a rural community in Oman. Devoted to tending his bees and searching for wild hives, he encounters Thamna, a lone shepherd woman, on a mountain slope and is captivated by her and her honey-colored eyes. Across the breathtaking vistas of Oman’s remote mountains and plains, Azzan’s troubled past and present unfold. A disappointment to his family, he turns to drink, and ultimately discovers the healing power of his beekeeping, before an accident in which he loses all.

Zahran Alqasmi’s masterful novel thrums forward with a subtle momentum. His lucid, poetic writing conveys a visceral sense of time and place, of the fragile ecologies inhabited by both bees and humans alike, in this intense and compelling novel of loss and hope.

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

My Review: Does the old nostrum, "still waters run deep," ring a bell in your cultural education? Azzan is the personification of it. He's quiet on these pages. He's still physically and psychically until summoned into action in service to some need. Author Alqasmi uses his stillness to carefully, incrementally, accustom you to the reality of Oman, of a place he seems to assume you will want to know feel and smell and hear, without intrusive human-ness. Gradually, Azzan's eyes...our cameras onto this sparely furnished landscape...show us more, bring us to the places—in the company that hearken to the quiet sounds that we call "silence" in technology's noisy embrace. Azzan's not a beekeeper by happenstance, either as a character or a PoV.

These are the choices that lead you the audience into the creation of an author whose poetry output outweighs his prose, ten to four; but whose prose garnered him the 2023 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) for The Water Diviner; I believe this is the immediate predecessor to this novel in Arabic. It is obvious to me that the quality of the vision here is not a chance sport, an artifact of a talented translator's vision alone. That disappointment has befallen me before when a multiple translation career has yielded...inconsistent...results. Being the first of his works translated into English, I could still be disappointed; it just *feels* like a good bet to make, after reading this story.

I'm sure the idea of beekeeping in a landscape as arid as Arabia is overall seems odd. It is an ancient reality though. Deserts bloom, even if sparingly. Beekeepers are not hugely wealthy anywhere bit seldom lack for work for very long. It is a surprisingly mobile task in this story, one that enables Azzan to be see, hear, participate in, a lot of lives in making his life with bees. The honey they make is the life he leads; but it's also large in the life of the people. The product that makes life just enough less harsh to be fun at times for the people Azzan's belovèd bees serve. His knowledge of the lies, cheats, and kindnesses others never even think they don't know about all revolve around his deep and unwavering interest in and commitment to his charges the bees.

It gives the author a free rein to point up character traits in the narrator's orbit and beyond, for good and for ill; is Thamna, the herdswoman he encounters so fleetingly, an object of obsessive lust, actual love, or simply a fixation because of her novelty in his mostly male world? Does his thinking about bees, those matriarchal marvels without a permanent male presence, and their coveted honey drive or lead his itinerancy? If he's led by it, it makes his questing for wild honey that much more about the world he observes so intently; if driven instead, that condition of needing the honey makes his sharply observant eye that of the exploiter, the taker of all the work of others he is not entitled to have. All of these are within this novel's possible meanings.

Azzan's obsession with bees and their care is, while unusual to the US-fiction reader, an outgrowth of his blighted past. He is a recovering alcoholic in a society that frowns on alcohol use. He has never been a success, felt as though he was enough for or even wanted by those who raised him. It is this strange selfness, this sense of himself as needing and wanting but never receiving unless he takes (as from the bees, his compatriots), that is reinforced by the lyrical language of description that never devolves into possession; rather it settles on taking the product without "owning" the producer, on caring for and feeling committed to the bees, the goats, the donkeys and living among them in place of being their "owner."

Is that the place held by the exploiter, the user, the rentier? Azzan does not give off that vibe; I can still see it in the flow of his honeyed words of praise and appreciation and admiration for the bees. It comes down to the sense the author gives all these people who live among the animals they use; they take on the risks and protect their charges from harms they will all suffer from. In return they exert a right to practical rewards of sustenance.

A man who longs for love he is sure he does not deserve and whose object is safely always independent of his custodial care and capable of being just fine without him sounds to me like a man in need of a perspective check; he's fine how he is, too, just busily denying himself the peace of contentment to punish his perceived failings as received from the eyes and ideas of others.

So with all this praise why not five whole stars? Because these ideas and words of beauty and layers of meaning come with a labor tax of non-Western-standard punctuation and dialogue tags. I don't think that's a bad thing myownself. It does mean I can't five-star flag it for all y'all to pick up and devour ASAP. So many won't work this hard. Heck, even *I* had to read some things over twice to choose meanings that would change depending on to whom I attributed the words.

For me that's fun, for most it's work, so four and three-quarter stars seems fair.

>64 msf59: >65 richardderus: I don't read in that position either but I guess if I looked like him, I would try. 😜

Great review of Honey Hunger. I like bees and that particular setting. Another one for the obese TBR.

>78 msf59: ...if I looked like >64 msf59: there isn't much I *wouldn't* try...

I think you'd really like >77 richardderus: Mark, it's a beautifully written book about the natural world in a place I know I, and I suspect most in the US, don't really think about. Makes it all the better to discover via books. Happy weekend-ahead's reads!

The scum at the top scoops itself off...too little too late.

‘Morning, Rdear. Happy Friday to you.

>69 richardderus: Yes. They are willing participants. Good quote.

>77 richardderus: Alas, too much work right now. Excellent review. I’m reminded of the beekeeper chapter in The Source, one of my favorite chapters in one of my favorite books.

>80 richardderus: I think I’m going to be saying “Sad to say but true” for the next almost-4 years.

*smooch*

>81 karenmarie: I love your optimism, that this will in fact have its end with this term in office. I have no such confidence. I'm glad you liked >77 richardderus:. It's beautifully written. I don't think I ever read The Source. I doubt seriously I will unless you have something to sway me...beyond its presence on your life-list of loved reads, what do you think it offers other readers?

I felt the need for a visual smudging of the thread. In stressful times, goddesses know these are them, I reach for Rothko:

...in this case No.9/ No.5/ No.19, made in 1952. Keeps me emotionally centered as all Rothko helps me to do.

>80 richardderus: Well, ain't that the truth? >82 richardderus: Oh yeah. I'm with you. I'll add that The Source was one of my favorite Michener, along with Centennial, books back when, but I'm reluctant to spoil my memory by trying it again.

>77 richardderus: I will definitely add that to my wish list, Richard, for more reasons than one. Thank you for that splendid review! I dislike native English speakers for forcing me to reread because their command of mechanics is faulty. I can work for a translated book if it's worth my while. What I do dislike is translators whose English is stilted either because they're not very good or because they are translating literally without taking into account nuances of tone or style or emotion or the ineffable something that makes the words live in the original language.

*smooch*

ETA: No.19 popped up as I posted. I'm glad that that centers you. I flee back to your first post of your last thread. (Do you feel the center lightening the depth when you look at the top?)

PEARL RULE #004

Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: It's 1900, and Louise Wilk is taking her dying husband from Manhattan to the upstate orchard estate where he grew up. Dr. Edward Wilk is wasting away from a mysterious affliction acquired in a strange encounter: but Louise soon realizes that her husband's worsening condition may not be a disease at all, but a transformative phase of existence that will draw her in as much more than a witness.

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

My Review: Beautiful sentences, emotionally evocative imagery, a genuinely affecting story, give this body horror novella all its stars. The quiet emotional truth of loving a person who has wronged you, who will never know their own interior well enough even to know they have wronged you, would have earned it more stars. What I disliked was the truly horrifying body horror. My friend E, who's a horror writer, was even taken by surprise by how affecting these images were. Let him tell you about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV_NskzBfAw

A bridge too far for me, and very sad to say it. This is a creative talent indeed; I'll seek his non-horror work out, see if I can stick that.

Undertow Publications asks a minimal investment of $4.99 for the ebook.

>84 LizzieD: For me, Peggy, the center is lemonade-on-the-5pm-patio in Palm Springs. I'm refreshed more by the knowledge of the pitcher than I am the immediate dose of it, is what I mean. I need to remember there is always, no matter how small a dreg it holds now, a pitcher. That painting is my kind of Rothko. The color's depths and shifts in relation to each other are all, I think, calculated knowingly by an artist who's in command of *why* the color-fields he works with are having the effect they do on viewers, if not necessarily what that effect is on an individual viewer. Thread three's one was a true doozy, wasn't it.

Marilyn Booth does her work well, I assure you; you might still not care for the read though I find that unlikely.

*smooch*

PEARL RULE #005

The Sower of Black Field: Inspired by the True Story of an American in Nazi Germany by Katherine Koch

Rating: 3* of five

The Publisher Says: Throughout the Third Reich, millions of Germans pledged allegiance to Adolf Hitler. In the Bavarian village of Schwarzenfeld, they followed an American citizen.

As he struggles to rekindle the faith of a guilt-ridden Wehrmacht veteran, a morose widow, and her grieving teenage son, Fr. Viktor Koch, C.P. is haunted by self-doubt. What is driving him to stay in the Third Reich? Is he following a higher plan, or the mystic compulsion of his German heritage? Exposed to American ideals, his parishioners grow restless under Nazi rule. Relying upon his ingenuity to keep them out of prison, Fr. Viktor solicits aid from an unlikely intercessor-the Nazi charity worker who confiscated his monastery for state purposes.

In April 1945, American liberators make a gruesome the SS have left a mass grave of concentration camp victims on Schwarzenfeld's borders. Enraged by the sight, the infantry commander orders the townspeople to disinter 140 corpses, construct coffins despite material shortages, dig a grave trench, and hold a funeral ceremony-all in 24 hours. If they fail to fulfill this ultimatum, he vows to execute all German men in town.

Fr. Viktor has to pull off a he must convince his countrymen that his followers are not the enemy. Their humanity is intact. And most of all, they are innocent.

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

My Review: It was my mistake to accept this DRC. It is okay in writing but poor in thinking, in my opinion; valorizing a Catholic priest set me off, but making this little microcosm of unNazi Germans leans into the "Good German" myth I find so...off-putting.

Germans and the Catholic Church have terrible sins of omission and commission to atone for, just like those in the US will when the horrors of the camps come once again to our shores. This book is not that; this book is exculpatory of the few for the crime of indifference committed unopposed, uhectored, unchastized by these good people hiding from the evil that surrounds them. Not good enough for me.

Free to read on Kindle Unlimited should you be so inclined.

BURGOINE #008

GRIM by David Cinnella

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Gabriel Matthews has always been able to see the Grim Reaper when death is near. Silent and imposing, the Reaper has lingered as a terrifying yet fascinating figure in the teen’s life.

Until now.

When unexpected tragic news arrives, the Reaper offers Gabriel a terrible choice, one that demands everything he has to give, and that will thrust him into a nightmare far worse than he ever imagined.

The cost? His humanity.

As Gabriel spirals deeper into the Reaper’s dark game, the lines between right and wrong blur, and every decision he makes brings him closer to the point of no return. Death, it seems, isn’t just the end. It’s where the true horror begins.

Grim is a chilling tale of sacrifice, morality, and the devastating cost of love. Perfect for fans of Scythe and Death Note, this gripping horror fantasy will haunt you long after the final page.

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

My Review: A very interesting, well-told thought experiment for anyone who ever wanted with every atom of their being to have someone back. It goes down better as a teen, but I suspect each of us could easily conjure someone we'd take Death's deal to keep.

The horror elements here are of the unscary-to-me supernatural kind. The ethical and moral questions posed are far more interesting than any frisson a horror fan might be missing. The author's prose is more than up to the job he needs it to do. I'm not eager for more because it's a change rung on the theme; but a decent one.

The Kindle edition's out Tuesday the 26th; it's $5.99.

>52 richardderus: Those cybertrucks! So weird looking and why do people buy them ? I see them quite often in my area. Weird.

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Saturday to you.

>82 richardderus: Hmmm. The Source. In some ways it is very dated because the politics of Jews/Arabs/Christians in Israel has changed so much since 1965. Wait a minute, actually, not – I’m still dumbfounded as to how three groups of people who profess faith in God and the tenets of their religions keep fighting and killing one another. I love the archaeological plot device. Artifacts from different layers of a fictional tell are found, described, and their story told in chapters that alternate with those of the current day – 1964. There’s a Catholic, a Jewish Sabra, and a Muslim in charge of various aspects of the dig. There’s potential romance and a parallel to the tensions of each story of the artifacts found. My favorite artifact story is Psalm of the Hoopoe Bird. This book has always spoken to me, but I’m not sure how to translate that into “Read it, RD!”

>85 richardderus: Body horror. Nope.

>87 richardderus: when the horrors of the camps come once again to our shores Sooner than later for more than undocumented workers, I think.

>88 richardderus: Not my cuppa, although you paint a tempting portrait.

*smooch*

Happy Saturday, Richard. Good riddance to O' Connell. He has been such a POS over the years, especially with Obama. Sadly, another douche will take his place. Enjoy the day, the best you can.

>89 vancouverdeb: You DO?! The swasticar isn't popular here, was never popular, because they are so *massive* and our charging infrastructure isn't up to much. Even regular Teslas aren't all that common, at least out here in suburban NYC.

Happy weekend-ahead's reads, Deborah!

>90 karenmarie: Morning, Horrible. Your task is bootless, will not run, but your closest approach is the Psalm of the Hoopoe because it's the one bird I really wanted to see in Europe and never did. As it is, I would rather have COVID again than read about religious nuts religioning all over the damn place leaving hatred, misery, and division in their wake.

Your decisions all make sense to me. We're all mortal and need to expend the remaining eyeblinks sensibly. *smooch*

>91 msf59: Better riddance when he assumes room temperature. Well, we can at least support a non-vile candidate with our money if nothing else...it's not a slam-dunk but a shot's better than nothing. Spend Saturday splendidly!

BURGOINE #009

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: A new Anne Tyler novel destined to be an instant classic: a socially awkward mother of the bride navigates the days before and after her daughter's wedding.

Gail Baines is having a bad day. To start, she loses her job—or quits, depending on whom you ask. Tomorrow her daughter, Debbie, is getting married, and she hasn’t even been invited to the spa day organized by the mother of the groom. Then, Gail’s ex-husband, Max, arrives unannounced on her doorstep, carrying a cat, without a place to stay, and without even a suit.

But the true crisis lands when Debbie shares with her parents a secret she has just learned about her husband to be. It will not only throw the wedding into question but also stir up Gail and Max’s past.

Told with deep sensitivity and a tart sense of humor, full of the joys and heartbreaks of love and marriage and family life, Three Days in June is a triumph, and gives us the perennially bestselling, Pulitzer Prize–winning writer at the height of her powers.

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

My Review: Gail's me: Needs a much more effective social filter, has a complicated past full of times said filter could've prevented...unpleasant...conflicts with long-lasting consequences, and isn't going to get one. Her complicated life gets moreso when her ex shows up the day before their daughter's wedding, sunnily expecting her to fix his issues (again), just as she's reeling from personal disappointment and their daughter's untimely news about the groom in the scheduled wedding.

I'm being coy about the problem her daughter drops on her because it is The Point, and spoiling it will genuinely make the read utterly pointless, sort of like The Crying Game. (Not a hint!) In Tyler's hands it's a short but fun ride, a solid character study, and really quite poignantly amusing. All missing stars are for the goddamned c-a-t.

Knopf says "$14.99 please" at checkout.

>95 richardderus: Well, gosh...I usually enjoy Anne Tyler, I love c-a-t-s, and you gave it a positive review. Good enough to put this one on my TBR list. Thanks, RD.

Morning, Darling! I love the visual smudging of the thread.

>85 richardderus: "...truly horrifying body horror..." Nope.

I enjoyed reading your latest round of reviews and was not tempted until I got to the last one - Anne Tyler is good with character studies, and so onto The List that one goes, but not for $14.99. I can wait for a sale price. LOVED "...sort of like The Crying Game. (Not a hint!)" Made me laugh.

*Saturday smooch*

Ah, it's still morning! Good Morning, Richard! I think I can skip all your Burgoines and Pearl this round. I like A. Tyler OK, but I've stopped going out of my way to pick her up, even at bargain prices. I have a good many hanging around unread.

>86 richardderus: That's a very personal response, Richard. Thank you for it. I wanted to mention the texture of THE GREENs on your last thread and didn't because I'm pretty much a non-starter with visual art. The more I look, the more I see.

*smooch* for the day!

>92 richardderus: - Interesting that Teslas aren't popular in your neck of the woods. My woods on the other side of the river are crawling with them, though I've only seen a couple of the Cybertrucks. Any time I see a Tesla now, I yell "Swastikar!" The Wayne laughed initially but now I think he's tired of it :-P

>96 laytonwoman3rd: I'm glad (sort of) that it's got your positive attention, albeit less so that...them...are part of what appeals. *shudder*

>97 Crazymamie: I'm pleased the appeal of the review wasn't, well, the creatures I do not name on the same principal one doesn't say "come on in, Dracula." That image is not specially appealing to some but speaks to moi. You're aware that my lack of hinting is in itself another kind of hint. Definitely waiting for a sale is what I'd do, Mamie dearest. *smooch*

>98 LizzieD: Hiya Peggy! I'm glad you're here. Tyler will still be there if you're in the exact right mood. I'm not going out of my way for most things, TBH, waiting for 'em to hove across my bows on the tide.

The more one looks at most things, the more one sees, innit. The thing about it is that the looking is the point, right? *smooch* for a splendid Saturday!

>99 katiekrug: They're probably more common off this little island, Katie, because there's zero public charging here that I know of. It's those horrifying trucks that cause me the most...um...well, I guess "upset" is the most politic way to put it.

I feel for the Type 3 buyers who got one when they seemed like a good idea on green grounds and they're now stuck with an OwnGoalMobile.

But not enough to stop shouting "SWASTICAR!" at 'em.

>69 richardderus: I can tell you for sure, with relatives that are MAGA voters, that they would not change their votes. I have quite literally had to leave the room when talking about Trump with my mother because I just get so darned angry.

>77 richardderus: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the review and recommendation, Richard!

((Hugs)) and **smooches** for today and hopes that you have a wonderful weekend and continue on the upswing!

>99 katiekrug: I see a Tesla now, I yell "Swastikar!" We had one parked outside our house the other day and I was so tempted to draw a swastika on it. But I was good and I didn't!

>87 richardderus: Mr SandDune is part of a discussion club who takes turns to present on a topic of their choice. It's his topic this month and he's doing is 'Why didn't ordinary Germans oppose Hitler (and what lessons can we learn from that).'

>87 richardderus: Mr SandDune is part of a discussion club who takes turns to present on a topic of their choice. It's his topic this month and he's doing is 'Why didn't ordinary Germans oppose Hitler (and what lessons can we learn from that).'

BURGOINE #010

The Best Strangers in the World: Stories from a Life Spent Listening by Ari Shapiro

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“The Best Strangers in the World is a witty, poignant book that captures Ari Shapiro’s love for the unusual, his pursuit of the unexpected, and his delight at connection against the odds.”—Ronan Farrow, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and New York Times-bestselling author of Catch and Kill and War on Peace

From the beloved host of NPR's All Things Considered, a stirring memoir-in-essays that is also a lover letter to journalism.

In his first book, broadcaster Ari Shapiro takes us around the globe to reveal the stories behind narratives that are sometimes heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking, but always poignant. He details his time traveling on Air Force One with President Obama, or following the path of Syrian refugees fleeing war, or learning from those fighting for social justice both at home and abroad.

As the self-reinforcing bubbles we live in become more impenetrable, Ari Shapiro keeps seeking ways to help people listen to one another; to find connection and commonality with those who may seem different; to remind us that, before religion, or nationality, or politics, we are all human. The Best Strangers in the World is a testament to one journalist’s passion for Considering All Things—and sharing what he finds with the rest of us.

I BOUGHT THIS BOOK ON KINDLESALE.

My Review: The Felonious Yam and Muskolini are coming for NPR. Racism and sexism figleafed Muskolini's war on the bureaucrats investigating the wrongdoings of his businesses. The Felonious Yam was heading to jail on multiple counts. They made common cause, so neither would suffer the humiliating legal consequences of their long-running cons against the taxpayers.

Queer journalists like Ari Shapiro were bringing the goodness of US citizens to the public. That doesn't stoke the outrage machine that makes stupid people feel smart, and good about their viciousness; so the institution they serve, NPR, will take them down as the scum that's risen to the top shutters an impartial, evidence-based information source to better aid in hiding their crimes.

HarperOne would like $11.99 for this memoir. I'm here to say that is a fitting farewell to the smiling face of freedom.

>104 alcottacre: I probably have those relatives, too, Stasia so I feel your pain.

Thank you, smoochling, better days for you too.

>105 SandDune: Pity you didn't, Rhian. I'm all for property crime against those...people.

>106 SandDune: What a timely topic! I hope his listeners get it, and take its subtext to heart.

Happy Newish Thread, RD. Good review of the Anne Tyler and Ari Shapiro books. I’m not drawn to AT like I am some other authors, but your positive review has me intrigued. Like Mamie, if I got that right, I’ll probably wait for a sale.

The Ari Shapiro book sounds mighty good, and I appreciate his tilting at windmills in hoping to heal our divisions. I’ll keep a sharp eye out for that one.

The best thing I’ve read recently is Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale. She really drew me in to experiencing occupied France and the resistance during WWII.

>112 jnwelch: Hi there, Joe! Always a pleasure, old son.

Hannah's made quite a name for herself in Serious Readingland. I've yet to shop her stall. The Shapiro is well worth your time and treasure, even at $11.99...maybe Father's Day? Even if you wait it out for a sale, it will still be a worthy read.

The Tyler that you and Mamie are awaiting a sale on is, well, fine. I liked it, I'm not mad I read it, and today after writing up my review I recall little of the action. Most everything is that way I suppose. If something wants long-term storage in my head it's got to offer a whole helluva lot, and this one...wellllll....

Bask in the glory of our ending, old chum.

I find your review of the newest Anne Tyler intriguing, as she is an author I wouldn't have expected to appeal to you. The one on my list, though, is Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant because my brother recommended it to me (several years ago).

Happy weekend *smooches*

>108 richardderus: You got me with a BB for The Best Strangers in the World. I can live with your 3.5, until I determine my point of agreement/or not. Thanks for the great review.

Happy weekend!

Karen O

>114 bell7: I'm no fanboy but she's got a solid rep built on decades of performing at a good, high craft level, and that merits respect. I thought this was very trenchant. When you read it you'll see what I mean. weekend *smoochings*

>115 klobrien2: Howdy Karen O.! It's a kind of book I'm just not enamored of, the Studs-Terkel-Joseph-Mitchell end of narrative journalism; a little goes a long way for me. You'll likely love it because it's got a great narrative focus. Put it down to me needing to fill a spot for it to be included here.

Happy Sunday ahead's reads!

Dropping off weekend smooches. Looks like you're feeling more the thing than last weekend.

>116 richardderus: I agree. She doesn't always hits the heights but her body of work is solid.

You are flying along dear fellow and passed 1,000 posts on your threads this year earlier today.

>52 richardderus: Lol. there is one of those in my area and every time I see it. I can't help but stare. looks like its from another planet. I don't really like the look and it screams for attention in the wrong way.

Anyhow happy weekend reading!

>118 MickyFine: Compared to last weekend, Micky, I'm a different person. I feel like a hundred bucks, compared to an overdraft of a billion! Happy-Sunday *smooch*

>119 PaulCranswick: Wow! 1000 already, looks like 2025 could be a good year. Thanks, PC!

>120 figsfromthistle: They're just so try-hard, aren't they? Ugly, daft things. You can shout "swastikkkar" at it to feel better about it. Glad to see you, Anita!

Facetious, and funny.

>63 richardderus: Yup.

>124 richardderus: Pfft.

Hope you are having a good weekend RD.

>125 Caroline_McElwee: Hi Caro! I'm just dandy, thanks, it's been no fun to get here but here I am. Say hallelujah and bring the jubilee!
***
Fellow fans of Rothko's greener pallette, here's an Untitled from 1968:

‘Morning, RDear. Happy Sunday to you.

>93 richardderus: Oh well, I tried. When you put it like that, I guess I understand why my words leave you unmoved.

>95 richardderus: I’d rather eat fresh dill than read this book. (see my thread re fresh dill) 1.5 star drop for the you-know-what… I’m surprised you actually read it to completion. I did read and still have The Accidental Tourist on my shelves, but that’s it for Tyler for me.

>104 alcottacre: Chaos demon voters are irrational and you cannot use logic with them.

>108 richardderus: I don’t listen to NPR as much as I have other years although I’m a WUNC sustainer. Ari Shapiro is quite wonderful. I didn’t know he was queer. I just bought the Kindle version on KINDLESALE too.

>109 richardderus: I definitely have Those Relatives, including my sister, I’m sad to say. We absolutely and categorically do not discuss politics. Or religion for that matter.

>121 richardderus: What a difference 7 days makes. Glad you’re feeling like a Franklin…

>124 richardderus: LOL

>127 karenmarie: Saint Tom of Gauld is magnificent when he's most irritated, isn't he. That one had me howling.

I'm really delighted not to be like a few pennies in the sock drawer at last, myownself...thanks and *smoochings*

Ari just *sounds* gay to me, so I'm always shocked when people say "he IS?!" to me. It's one of the ways I love the NPR most. They really privilege talent. You GO with the acquisition! I hope you enjoy it when you read it.

Splendid Sundaying, sweetiedarling. Enjoy your daughter-time.

A model for the Felonious Yam/Muskolini years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04qialEYBdI

>104 alcottacre: I lack even acquaintances who are Trump voters, let alone Trump enthusiasts. The one likely example dropped out of touch towards the end of the covid lockdowns.

This bothers me, because I'd really like to understand what they are thinking, and why.

>130 ArlieS: Even the acquaintance with the folk who vote can't explain it.
***
B Dylan does a new Livestream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwO9x8jHGlk

I purchased Ari Shapiro's book just before I packed up and left Alabama. I had it shipped to Kansas, so it is here among my new books.

026 A Hundred Years and a Day: 34 Stories by Tomoka Shibasaki (tr. Polly Barton)

I'm trying out the "Attach Review" function that Katie alerted me to. It was so startlingly easy that I'm morally sure it's not going to work for me.
ETA ...and it obviously did! This is so cool! ETA 2 If you edit your review, you *must* reattach your review.

'Morning, RDear, and happy Monday to you.

We had a great day with my daughters and Bill's friend. The food came out well, the teensy bundt cakes were consumed, they all left before dark.

>133 richardderus: Congrats on the successful insertion of your LT review.

*smooch*

>133 richardderus: Thanks, Horrible. I'm so glad all y'all enjoyed your time together! It's a great pleasure to have something special for dessert. No telescope time for Hwan?

*smooch*

>132 benitastrnad: Good morning, Benita! I hope you'll enjoy the read when you get to it.

Happy Monday, Richard. Of course I love the Gauld comic. I am a fool for short fiction, so you got me with A Hundred Years and a Day: 34 Stories. I agree that is a lot of stories for a 200 page book.

Morning, BigDaddy! Good work attaching your review - I added my thumb to it. Love that I can do that right in your post. I'm adding this one to The List, so thank you kindly. *smooch*

>137 msf59: Monday orisons, Birddude. Gauld's really got this group's sense of humor, doesn't he. It makes my Guardian perusal a joy every week. Well, more of a joy, since I also like their cultural criticism and the leftist focus of their news slant.

Enjoy >133 richardderus: when it gets to the top of the pile!

>138 Crazymamie: Morning, smoochling. Isn't this an excellent innovation? I love the simplicity of the attachment button, and now I know its little foible of needing to be re-attached if one edits the post, I'm purringly contented.

I hope you enjoy >133 richardderus: when its time comes. Double-Sunday *smooch*

>133 richardderus: Good morning to you, Richard! I have stubbornly refused to read SSs for years because my preference is to settle in with characters and settings for the multi-layered novel experience. I choose what I want to read as though I had way more time than I actually have. Oh well.
Anyway, a thumb for the review. That's a nifty new development!

Wishing you some good time outside as the weather warms! *smooch*

>141 LizzieD: Hi Peggy, thanks for your kind words. I'm not likely to go outdoors absent force majeure given the bleeding I had to stanch after walking upstairs to get lunch. I'm not sure why it just will not heal but this foot-wound is a constant tribulation.

Isn't this a great innovation? So simple to use, too. The only issue is one must remember to reattach the review if one later edits the post. A simple enough thing, and worth the minor amount of memory thus committed.

>133 richardderus:
That would be a BB for me, but I had already spotted it in a PW weekly starred book review. Thanks for the excellent report on this one. It is one I may have to order for myself.

>143 benitastrnad: Oh, did PW review it, too? I'm pretty unsurprised it's their kind of indie book. The Kindlebook's only $9.95 so used paperbacks will have that as their benchmark.

>69 richardderus: Whom are you quoting, Richard? I think I’d like to subscribe to their newsletter (if I don’t already).

>83 richardderus: I’m going to have to look into Rothko more deeply. I know (think) I’ve seen his work in various art museums, but It’s only in recent years that I’ve developed a taste for abstract art. This one is definitely centering. Love the medieval colors.

>146 Storeetllr: His name is Greg Herren, he's a gay mystery writer I've followed for ages.

>147 Storeetllr: He's really interesting, heavily dependent on the substrate to make his effects, so I think it'll find you in the techniques area.

Morning, Richard. Looks to be another mild AM, so I am meeting my birding buddies for a stroll in the woods. Life is good.

>145 richardderus: Wow! I love that one.

‘Morning, RD! Happy Tuesday to you.

>135 richardderus: No, they didn’t stay that late.

>140 richardderus: Ah. A feature of having to reattach or a bug? *smile*

>141 LizzieD: I’m with you, Peggy, although I have 80 books of short stories, 28 of them read.

>142 richardderus: I'm sorry that your foot will not heal.

>145 richardderus: I agree.

Book sort, Virlie’s, home. Puttering, reading, etc. My kind of day.

*smooch*

>149 msf59: ...it bears repeating at this moment...and it's never not been a double-edged sword, since genetics gave us eugenics and on and on and on. Humans will always turn every tool into a weapon.

Enjoy the birdwalk!

>150 karenmarie: Morning, Horrible! Feature or bug, it's a fact to take into account.

I think people "hear" the world in certain ways. I don't hear poems, many do. I think it's a stable personality trait, that mode of "hearing" because of the tastes that stay with us. Novel people like TV shows; novella people like miniseries and films; story people like movies; nonfiction readers like documentaries; it's like everything else, a broad spectrum with more overlap than clear categories represent, but long observation says it's broadly truer than not.

Nothing in nature is ever, I know, as simple as that. Nature's fundamental particles aren't even pinnable-downable; why should anything else be tidy?

I'm sorry I've got gout, too. It's a royal pain in many senses of those words. *smooch*

Tomas Harker (British, b. 1990) Violas 2021

So satisfying. Very vernal, very colorful in this dreary passage to deep spring.

I watched a documentary on PBS yesterday about the Scottish landscape painter James Morrison. He did some beautiful landscape painting. Several of those shown in the program I wanted to get lost in. They reminded me of the open prairies and the big horizons around here.

Afternoon, BigDaddy! I got nothing, but I wanted to share it with you. *smooch and a bear hug*

>154 benitastrnad: I am honestly flummoxed that he isn't a household name, Benita, his work is that lovely. People's incuriosity is never, ever going to make sense to me.

>155 Crazymamie: *smoochiesmoochsmooch* I got some nothin' to add to the stock.

I'm more than sorry about the foot, Richard. I wish "sorry" carried some healing power. Otherwise, I've got plenty of nothing! *smooch*

>130 ArlieS: I have talked to them and I still do not understand what they are thinking and why, Arlie.

>133 richardderus: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the review and recommendation!

((Hugs)) and **smooches** and hopes that you have a wonderful Wednesday!

027 Listen to Your Sister: A Novel by Neena Viel

LISTEN TO YOUR SISTER is an exhortation at least two Black men shoulda taken to heart in this debut novel.

>158 LizzieD: Thanks, Peggy, if sympathy cured chronic conditions I'd be well! As it is chronic, All these years have instilled patience in me.

*smooch* and another pile of nothin' to load into the pool.

>159 alcottacre: Morning, Stasia! I think you might enjoy >133 richardderus: but don't break anything rushing to get it until there's a sale. Be well, and as happy as you can be, this Wednesday.

>160 richardderus: I generally veer away from horror, but glad it was such a good read for you. Happy Wednesday *smooches*

>163 bell7: It's missing most horror tropes, but honestly I think you could skip this one to stay current with your patrons' wants. Unless I'm forgetting something, not a huge Black population near you. It was a hoot! I think I should've gone harder on the number of laughs I had, but never found a way to put it in.

>133 richardderus: Yay for making this easier! Glad this feature worked out for you.

>153 richardderus: So calming. Those colours are lovely.

Happy mid week!

‘Morning, RD! Midweek orisons to you.

>152 richardderus: I love how you correlate reading preferences with watching preferences. *smooch*

>152 richardderus: Mamie –I got nothing, but I wanted to share it with you. is what I should be posting on all the threads I’m behind on.

>160 richardderus: Oh, you tempt me. It’s just been added to my wish list. I particularly like your That goes as well as it usually does when men ignore sound advice from women. and first novels are almost always a bit baggy at the knees

*smooch*

>165 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Anita! I'm really pleased by the simplicity of use.

Isn't >153 richardderus: gorgeous?

Morning, BigDaddy! Happy Wednesdayness.

>160 richardderus: Okay, Ima try it. Thanks for the warning. Loved your review, and I have added my thumb to it. (smooch*

>166 karenmarie: It's all stories, Horrible...I see no reason apart from snobbery, a thing I make a serious effort to minimize in my discourse, to build some kind of fake wall between the media used to deliver 'em.

Mamie's formulation's genius, innit. I've adopted it, too.

I'm glad you like my turns of phrase, sweetiedarling. I put some effort into thinking 'em up. It's nice to know when they hit, so to speak.

>168 Crazymamie: Morning, Mamie my dear. I'm glad I winged you with >160 richardderus:. I think you'll like it, though it's not without its squeam-inducing moments. Wednesday orisons!

>170 richardderus: Well, that one got me too. You’re damn good at these reviews - and it ain’t helping my shelf space problem. 😀

>160 richardderus: On the list; no doubt about it! Thank you, as usual, Richard!

Good sleep to you! I'm off>>>>>>........

Oh, I hope that foot wound will heal, Richard. I love the painting . Pansies are so gorgeous. We have crocuses and snowdrops in bloom and soon should have daffodils.

028 The lost house: a novel by Melissa Larsen

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: In Melissa Larsen's The Lost House comes the mesmerizing story of a young woman with a haunting past who returns to her ancestral home in Iceland to investigate a gruesome murder in her family.

Forty years ago, a young woman and her infant daughter were found buried in the cold Icelandic snow, lying together as peacefully as though sleeping. Except the mother’s throat had been slashed and the infant drowned. The case was never solved. There were no arrests, no conviction. Just a suspicion turned into a the husband did it. When he took his son and fled halfway across the world to California, it was proof enough of his guilt.

Now, nearly half a century later and a year after his death, his granddaughter, Agnes, is ready to clear her grandfather’s name once and for all. Still recovering from his death and a devastating injury, Agnes wants nothing more than an excuse to escape the shambles of her once-stable life—which is why she so readily accepts true crime expert Nora Carver’s invitation to be interviewed for her popular podcast. Agnes packs a bag and hops on a last-minute flight to the remote town of Bifröst, Iceland, where Nora is staying, where Agnes’s father grew up, and where, supposedly, her grandfather slaughtered his wife and infant daughter.

Is it merely coincidence that a local girl goes missing the very same weekend Agnes arrives? Suddenly, Agnes and Nora’s investigation is turned upside down, and everyone in the small Icelandic town is once again a suspect. Seeking to unearth old and new truths alike, Agnes finds herself drawn into a web of secrets that threaten the redemption she is hell-bent on delivering, and even her life—discovering how far a person will go to protect their family, their safety, and their secrets.

Set against an unforgiving Icelandic winter landscape, The Lost House is a chilling and razor-sharp thriller packed with jaw-dropping twists that will leave you breathless.

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

My Review: I'll always say yes to cold-weather thrillers. After all, I read, then watched, The Terror with the gruntled hygge of a true Northerner. Now you're waving Bifröst in my face?! Sign me right on up!

The sleuths are, to put it politely, secondary to my enjoyment of the setting. Nora, in particular, grated my nerves like a box-grater does soft cheese. If I met her in meatspace I would either do her grievous bodily harm or turn away in the first moments of listening to her whiny, manipulative BS on her podcast. I was no fonder of Agnes, again finding her crutching of the terrible physical trauma and subsequent drug dependence grounds for whining unpleasant me-me-me behavior. I suffer from grinding chronic pain, am dependent on drugs to continue living, and make a concerted effort not to do what Agnes is helping herself to: Making everything about herself, her pain, her life.

Unpleasant trait in my book. Raised my hackles.

Another hackle-raiser was the author's weird opinion of Icelandic people as credulous...treating Agnes as a sort of avatar or reincarnation of her grandmother, the murder victim, and therefore a carrier of the miasma of bad luck. It seems also a bit on the nose to call the town Bifröst, the name of the rainbow bridge between Earth and the afterlife in Norse myth. I doubt there'd be such a name chosen in Christian Iceland of the nineteenth century or earlier, and the town isn't presented to us as, say, a WWII new-build or something.

Well, anyway, those are the issues that shaved more than a star off my rating...but it's a read I'd tell you to get out of the library soon. I liked the way the author built her atmosphere of distrust at every opportunity. I found it a solid replacement for the identity of the murderer not being in the least surprising.

Bifröst is, pace its nose-thump of a name, a well-realized setting with a readily pictured landscape. It's just enough to get me over the three-star hump. I don't think these characters would, even if they could, draw me into reading a series, but I am not mad I read this book to pleasantly wile away a few hours.

>171 drneutron: Glad I could turbocharge the bigger-house pressure, Jim! heh

>172 LizzieD: It was fine sleep until the Merry Widow had an anxiety attack at 5am. Much phonecalling, trying to get her off the metaphorical ledge...well, I'm awake now...

*smooch*

>173 vancouverdeb: As long as I've got gout it's not able to heal fully, Deborah. It's just the way things are, so I build its woundcare into my day's structure.

I'm glad you like the painting! I thought it was a good timeline cleanse. The burgeoning od spring's happy-making, innit.

The long national nightmare that's been right-wing dominance started with this jagoff. Time to root out his legacy of hatred and greed and intolerance.

Sweet Thursday, Richard. I have not heard the term "jagoff" in a number of years but it certainly fits here.

Having a lazy AM here, resting the foot and I might hook up with Jackson later. Enjoying these warmer temps.

>179 msf59: Morning, Mark. Sounds like the day's got a good, flexible structure. I hope they all materialize well.

‘Morning, RD! Happy Thursday.

>169 richardderus: Your turns of phrase make me happy. I rarely get smacked with a BB or even one for my wish list, but I always love reading what you write.

>174 richardderus: Yes, no, yes, no. My ignorance of a word on this review is meatspace. Shocking, right?If I could easily/inexpensively get a Kindle copy I would, but at $14.99 will pass. My Library does have one paper copy, due 3/7, but I already have one library book here at the house, and it’s glaring at me. Book club book, sigh.

>176 richardderus: Oh gads. I’m sorry TMW had an anxiety attack, more sorry that your sleep was interrupted by it.

>178 richardderus: Yup. I’ve been complaining about Ronnie Raygun since he was governor of my home state CA.

*smooch*

>181 karenmarie: What Raygun did to education in Cali should've been all the warning the US needed to reject literally every-goddam-thing he stood for. Scumbag. FAR worse for the US than Nixon the Crook.

Her anxiety in this case is fully justified, but it was tiring to listen to a very upset woman for a half-hour at that hour. Still, Old Stuff's utterly incapable of effective intervention, so guess who gets to do it.

Don't break anything getting >174 richardderus:, sweetiedarling. It was okay, it entertained, it's already gone from my mind. A TV-substitute book as Claudia used to say.

"Meatspace" isn't one of my more-used words or concepts. It fit this review on the conceptual level given the podcasting angle and the nature of the murder. There's something...unpleasant...inherent in it that I needed for that particular case. Wellness wishes!

>178 richardderus:
I just call him The Great Satan. But the writer of this meme is absolutely correct. This man destroyed my family's economic structure back in the 1980's and his descendants (the Repulsicans of today) are still doing it. One of my cousins told me back at Thanksgiving that we have to forgive the younger generation because "they don't know what it's like to have president destroy your life. They didn't live through the 80's."

>183 benitastrnad: An excellent name for him, Benita. The Bloody 80s, when the wor;d's richest economies went to war on their people. I'm still angry about that.

Afternoon, BigDaddy!

>174 richardderus: Ima say no to this one even though I do love me almost anything set in Iceland. I did very much enjoy reading your review - always worthy of my time and I am always falling in love with how you phrase things. Thanks for that. *smooch*

>178 richardderus: Oh man, did that ever strike a chord among the faithful here, including me. WHY can't people see it?

>174 richardderus: I'm more interested in Iceland now that I know about the 2% of my genetic heritage, but I'll skip this one too unless it goes to Kindle deal and I remember the title. I also appreciate the review, and that's a usual too.

My idea was that TMW would give you some time for yourself NOT occupy an hour and a half of it at that ungodly hour of the morning. Sorry. You're good.

*smooch*

029 A Short History of Black Craft in Ten Objects by Robell Awake (illus. Johnalynn Holland)

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Ten beautifully illustrated essays tell the stories of handcrafted objects and their makers, providing inspiration and insight into Black history and craftsmanship.

Black artisans have long been central to American art and design, creating innovative and highly desired work against immense odds. Atlanta-based chairmaker and scholar Robell Awake explores the stories behind ten cornerstones of Black craft, including:

The celebrated wooden chairs of Richard Poynor, an enslaved craftsman who began a dynasty of Tennessee chairmakers.

The elegant wrought-iron gates of Philip Simmons, seen to this day throughout Charleston, South Carolina, whose work features motifs from the Low Country.

The inventive assemblage art and yard shows of Joe Minter, James Hampton, Bessie Harvey, and others, who draw on African spiritual traditions to create large-scale improvisational art installations.

From the enslaved potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina, to Ann Lowe, the couture dressmaker who made Jacqueline Kennedy's wedding dress, to Gullah Geechee sweetgrass basket makers, to the celebrated quilters of Gee's Bend, A Short History of Black Craft in Ten Objects illuminates the work of generations of Black craftspeople, foregrounding their enduring contributions to American craft.

BLACK CRAFT AND AMERICANA: Delving into the history of Black skilled artisans, estimated to have outnumbered white artisans five to one in the southern United States in the late 1800s, this unique art history book celebrates handcrafted objects that reflect the dynamic nature of Black culture.

DYNAMIC ILLUSTRATED ESSAYS: Luminous color illustrations by artist Johnalynn Holland highlight beloved craft objects and their makers, creating a fascinating volume to study and treasure.

ART HISTORY EXPERTISE: Author Robell Awake is a notable furniture maker, artisan, and educator whose work has been featured in the New York Times and in group shows at Verso Gallery in New York City and the Center for Craft in Asheville, NC. Dr. Tiffany Momon, who contributes an afterword, is the founder and co-director of the Black Craftspeople Digital Archive and a leading scholar of Black history and African American placemaking throughout the southeast.

BEAUTIFUL GIFT BOOK: The gorgeous design is ideal for art collectors and craft enthusiasts, as a keepsake reminder of Black heritage, for Black History Month and beyond.

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

My Review: There's a lot to love about Black History Month. One big thing is its use as a goad to look out for Black creators, and creativity centering Black life and experiences, in my otherwise very, very white life. I am an old white man and really appreciate the push to look out for ideas and art I don't see on the regular.

I think you're going to like it. Look:

Laying out the course we'll follow.

So beautiful, the evocation of the spirit of the quilt.

They're stunning as art; they're vital as cultural documents.

This kind of pottery makes my hairs stand up. Such a shot of Truth! It's a personality, it's a real Presence, an avatar of interiority.

Speaking real, home truth there, Dave.


It's a bureau that, as I look at it, is exactly like one Mama had; I wonder if that one was made by a Black craftsman, and I have no way to know....

A beautiful object about beautiful objects. An adornment for the coffee table. The essays aren't exactly stunning prose, or hugely academic; they're tonally appropriate enhancements of one's existing, or good seedstock for one's entirely absent, knowledge base of the long, long tradition of Black art in the craft sphere. Can't quite give it that full fifth star because it's doing its job but not stretching me as a reader; it will others, though.

>185 Crazymamie: Morning, Mamie! Hoping you're still well away from >174 richardderus:...though I'm really pleased you liked the review.

*smooch*

>186 LizzieD: Because they're not intelligent, not interested in education, and seriously aggrieved they're just not at the table...and it's their own goddamned fault because they bought into the bullshit those scum slung at 'em.

Isn't >174 richardderus:'s title terrible? It's so bland as to be invisible...and the author's name is pretty common too. *sigh*

TMW's complaint is valid, and worrying, so I was happy to help. Just maybe not at that hour.

‘Morning, RDear. Happy Friday to you.

>182 richardderus: Raygun also started implementing the fiendishly smart move by the Gang of Psychos to co-opt evangelical Christians and make them into a strong voting block. It’s come to fruition, unfortunately. Ronnie has a lot to atone for in his particular part of hell.

>187 richardderus: I confirmed that when I read The Invention of Wings, one of the slaves made quilts a la Harriet Powers and I commented on it in my review:

Charlotte’s quilt is an homage to the real life Harriet Powers, a slave, who made appliqued quilts. Here is one of the two surviving quilts by Harriet Powers, allowing us to see how Charlotte’s story quilt might have looked.

*smooch*

>190 karenmarie: Aren't these connections satisfying, sweetiedarling? It's a joy that reading never stops giving. Those quilts are gorgeous. The way they came about a little less so....
***

A thing to remember in the darker days to come.

>178 richardderus: Past time, Richard. He did start it all, the bastid. His legacy is worse than Nixon’s.

Happy Friday!

>192 Storeetllr: Nixon was a prima facie criminal, knew he was breaking the law and flat didn't care who else knew it. Reagan was the kind of scum who hid it better, and also had no conscience or moral compass worth talking about, so he wasn't obviously criminal.

I know which kind I prefer.

I find it very troubling that Raygun was able to persuade the Christian Conservatives that he was with them. Back in the 1980's I made a statement at church one time that Raygun was so pro family that he had two of them, and was immediately told that I was out-of-line. I still say that about Raygun, but now we have a leader who has had 4 marriages and untold number of affairs, and is a convicted rapist and felon. What do Christians see in that? (don't bother to answer, because I don't think there is an answer. Except for abortion.)

Abortion is the one issue for which conservative Christians were willing to prostitute themselves.

>194 benitastrnad: ...for reasons I am utterly unable to fathom. The HATE the kind of women who have abortions, so why the hell not make fewer of them?!

"Life is sacred" falls apart at the slightest whisper of questioning. Nothing about religion is logical, by definition; but as a force for moral good they ALL fail utterly. None harder than the evangelical hate-screamers who think Felonious Yam is god's elect.

>187 richardderus: - Wow! I am going straight to my library's website to see if they have it or can get it! Thank you for this, Richard!

>196 jessibud2: Glad to wing you with such a perfect match for you!

FEBRUARY IN REVIEW

Twenty books reviewed this month. Considering I spent a week down with what I'm sure was my fifth COVID infection, I think that's pretty darn good. Rio Muerto (it's not the Spanish edition) and Honey Hunger were my favorite reads.

There were stinkers...none truly *awful* really, just not stories I'm interested enough in to make an effort to read more of: Blood on the Brain led that pack.

March is Women's History Month so I'll be focusing on non-fiction by and about women. I've got a LOT of it.
***

In twelve years of blogging my reviews, I've posted about 1800 reviews. Today, as I was copying my daily total blog views (2104, if you're curious), I piped the fact that at this precise moment I've had 888,111 total views! Something about that combination of numerals makes me feel happy.

>199 richardderus: Amazing numbers! Congratulations on your long and vital run!

Have a great weekend, and avoid any germs if at all possible.

Karen O

>199 richardderus: You are The MAN, Richard! Long may you read and review!!!!! *smooch*

Love these numbers, congrats. 🙌😘💖

030 Remarkable Women: Fascinating Facts You Never Knew About Amazing Women! (Oh No They Didn't) by Eric Huang (illus. Sam Caldwell)

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: In this myth-busting guide to remarkable women past and present, everything you think you know will be proven wrong!

Remarkable women have been at the forefront of history. They’ve changed the world and are leading the way to our future. But how much do you really know about the remarkable women who’ve shaped our world?
We all know that. . .

Frida Kahlo made her name as a painter

Jane Austen wrote simple romance novels

Men pioneered scientific breakthroughs in the past

AND that ancient people only worshipped strong male gods. . .

Or did they. . . ? Because. . . OH NO THEY DIDN'T!

Misconceptions about women from the past and present are everywhere, but none of them are true! In Oh No They Didn't: Remarkable Women myths are busted about over 50 remarkable women from politicians to legends, performers, activists, scientists, mathematicians, creatives, and more.

In this fresh and funny guide learn about inspiring women from all over the world as well as their influence on history and popular culture. Stylishly designed and humorously illustrated by Sam Caldwell, Oh No They Didn't: Remarkable Women makes learning fun with unexpected facts and a playful, upbeat approach to non-fiction.

Oh No They Didn't: Remarkable Women is the perfect inspiring guide for ALL young people to learn about the influential women who may have been left out of traditional history books and deserve to be celebrated.

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

My Review: My mother was my introduction to the waste of potential, and the weight of prejudice, that has plagued women since patriarchy took over the globe. Her (probably sexually, certainly emotionally) abusive father convinced her she was unable to understand math, science, or any other "male" stuff. He forbade her to accept a scholarship to study journalism, another to study acting, because she should get a husband and have babies.

Sadly for her she obeyed, hated her life, and "raised" children whom she neglected and abused...and she wasn't alone. May books like this one teach girls especially, and the boys they'll make lives with too (on current trends compulsory heterosexuality is on the way back, which this book quietly resists), that biology ≠ destiny.

Where we're going; with whom we're going; and even here, note that Motherhood Comes First.



The statement of purpose is quite lively, colorful, and well-judged, IMO.


Okay, they're the universal mother archetypes; but really...?


More to my taste, these are the women engaged in the USE of power...a message we can not afford to skimp on giving to the young.

Lest those darker impulses feel shamed, here are the role models for being angry, and still getting shit done.

That's what the good people of the Quarto Group allow me to share with you in the way of illustrations. I think this subject, empowering girls and normalizing them having and using power, is one we are woefully poor at passing on...it's telling that, when adding this book to my database of books read, not one library of the dozen or so I searched had this book in its collection.

It's up to us, grands and aunts and mothers. We're (surprise, surprise, surprise! in your best Gomer Pyle mental voice) gettin' no help or support for this message from The PTB. This book is part of the Oh No They Didn't! series, and the author penned the mythbusting entry in this series on US Presidents, as well as Pride: A Seek-and-Find Celebration: Adventure Through the History of the Queer Community, aimed at the same age group. You'll clutch your pearls, I'm sure, when I tell you these aren't in my searched library databases, either.

Resist being shoved back into being subservient to a straight white man, and model it for all the youth.

>200 klobrien2: Thanks, Karen O. I'm pretty pleased with the results. Twelve years...with sixteen months off for a complete nervous collapse...is a long time to do something. My mask is on whenever I step outside the room. No more COVID, please.

>201 LizzieD: Thanks, Peggy! I'm not sure how long, but certainly as long as I can, I will. *smooch*

>202 Ameise1: Thank you, Barbara! It's quite a feat if I say so myself.

>203 richardderus: I may have to buy that for my older niece's birthday this year. Thanks for the recommendation!

And those blog numbers are most satisfying. Congrats!

Throwing my big congrats onto the heap! Way to go!

Happy March, Richard! Let the warmth begin. Cold here today but we rebound quickly. My son might drop by this afternoon to hang with the old man for a bit. I haven't seen my enigmatic son in several weeks.

^Wise frog up there!

>207 bell7: Oh excellent, Mary! I hope it will give her a turbocharge in the self-image department. We need this messaging to go wide.

Thanks re: blogging. I'm quite pleased with those results.

>208 jessibud2: Thank you, Shelley! Not bad for a little no-name blogger.

>209 msf59: Froggie made it onto my thread twice I liked him so much...actually, the second time I pasted the wrong URL in, but I ended up liking it enough to leave it.

Enjoy your day with Matt! May it be a warm one. We're under a gale warning. It WILL get colder when that happens...sigh.

‘Morning, RDear. Happy Saturday to you.

>191 richardderus: Ah yes, comrades, totem animals, etc. Here’s mine, taken several years ago in the Sunroom. I hasten to add that the frog was on the outside, I was on the inside. *smile*



>194 benitastrnad: The right of women to control their own bodies is really what the pro-choice/pro-life debate is about, IMO.

>198 richardderus: Yikes! Fifth bout of Covid? I didn’t realize.

>199 richardderus: Number patterns always make me happy, especially those that include my lucky number 8.

>203 richardderus: Starting off strong in March. I will have to come back to this review since I’ve got a 60-minute massage at 11:15 and need to do a few things before then.

*smooch*

>211 richardderus: - Can you really call yourself a no-name any more? I think not!

>213 karenmarie: I'm afraid the photo doesn't show up, Horrible. Something about that pattern was very satisfying, though I'm not usually that impressed with serendipity.

Yeah, five. Three were invisible to me, the first one and this one were unpleasant. Both times I noticed it were pretty short, a couple days. I've been so so lucky in this plague, when over forty people in this place have died from it. I'm more glad than ever that I never smoked!

The right to decide how you yourownself use your very own body is also called "adulthood" and the infantilization of women is appallingly pervasive in our culture.

March should be a good month for my reviewing praxis. Fifteen in the can already. Let's see if I can get some more down....

Goodness, 15 reviews and it's only the first?!

Smooches for you and whatever fae creature you've ensnared to do all that typing, lol.

>214 jessibud2: What a kind thing to say, Shelley, but it takes a LOT more than a few thousand views a day to get Known. I'm okay with that...I've got enough to make publishers say "yes" pretty often when I ask for a DRC.

>216 MickyFine: *smooch*

Remember I'm not always reviewing the books I'm currently reading, Micky, so there's no real relationship between what I'm writing and the month the review appears in, or the time it was read.

I'm so delighted to have pain-control meds!! It still gets bad sometimes but usually stays within my admittedly high tolerance.

>160 richardderus: Not into horror at all or I would add that one to the BlackHole.

>162 richardderus: Thanks for the input, RD.

>187 richardderus: >203 richardderus: Adding those to the BlackHole. Thanks for the reviews and recommendations!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, Richard. ((Hugs)) and **smooches**

>219 alcottacre: Hi Stasia! I'm very glad you came to visit before your Sacred Day Off. *smooch*

‘Morning, RDear. Happy Sunday. Hope you're okay.

>215 richardderus: I hope the photo shows up today – it’s been uploaded to LT so has should work. However, I’ve noticed that photos and covers don’t seem really stable right now. I got Covid last February, which delayed my knee replacement surgery ‘til May, but things frequently work out the way they’re supposed to. Not politically, here in the US, of course. Infantilization and control of women, usually but not always related to organized religion. Yay for your March reviewing praxis.

*smooch*

>221 karenmarie: Morning, sweetiedarling. I'm not doing too terribly badly, even if it's suddenly back to January temps. There was a GIANT windstorm yesterday that blew all the warm, moist air away, and today it's 26° and sunstruck. *brrr*

I can indeed see Froggums. I am no frog-fancier but our batrachian cousins are worrisomely scarce these here days.

Religion is the greatest force for evil humankind has yet invented. 52% of the population would be HUGELY better off without its rotten, corpse like hand around their...necks. Politics is always dirty and messy like everything else we do, but it doesn't have to be calculatedly cruel. I object to Aynholes because of this dislike for cruelty.

>63 richardderus: LOL!!! Thank you! I needed something to laugh about.

I know I've been somewhat overwhelmed and not keeping up really well but....222 posts behind?!!?!

>223 RebaRelishesReading: ...wow Reba, you *read* 'em...I'd've drawn a line and tried to do better. I'm very impressed with that!

Don't ever feel you MUST, though, this isn't that kind of place. Be here when here is where you feel like being and start wherever you are. I'm just happy when I see you here!

Good night, Good Richard. I have frittered away my evening and must away. *smooch*

>199 richardderus: Those are remarkable stats, RD. Well done dear fellow.

>1 richardderus: I love this image. It is not the usual 'cut' of the male form, and makes a lot of the book :)

>199 richardderus: I too love a happy congregation of numerals :) Congrats on your reviews and views!!!!

031 Our Jackie : public claims on a private life by Karen M. Dunak

OUR JACKIE: Public Claims on a Private Life via NYU Press is a stealth take-down of modern celebrity culture by looking deeply into its past using the lens of the late first lady.

>225 LizzieD: What's an evening for if not to fritter? *smooch*

>226 PaulCranswick: Thank you, PC!

>227 LovingLit: Thanks, Megan! I like that framing for all those reasons, too.

There's something weirdly satisfying about clusters of numerals. I don't get it, but I feel it.

Happy Monday, Richard. 2 work weeks before the big trip, so "kids" this morning and then PB. Trying to shake this cold so I may not last long. Looking forward to spending more time with The Illustrated Man.

>232 msf59: Two more weeks! How thrilling! I hope you'll be sensible about your energy levels. Don't want to spend the vacation with an energy deficit....

Hiya, RDear! Happy Monday to you.

>228 richardderus: Jackie is endlessly fascinating, isn’t she? Your review is fascinating, too. You did it again.

Focaccia made yesterday, dill challenge just might be taken soon.

*smooch*

>234 karenmarie: She's reliably interesting indeed, Horrible. Thanks, I'm pleased you enjoyed the review as I always am. It was an easy book to like, if not love, because it was my life. I'm mildly envious of your focaccia-munching. It's a delicious bread.

*smooch*

Afternoon, BigDaddy! I recently watched a documentary on JKO and her sister that went into how invasive the media was during her lifetime. Loved your review.

>199 richardderus: Mighty impressive! You are full of fabulous, but then we already knew that. *Smooch*

>224 richardderus: I always feel like it Richard and don't want to miss out so of course I read 'em...eventually.

Happy Monday, Richard! Hope your week is full of 😎.

>236 Crazymamie: Cheers, Angel Flower! I'm really happy with the overall course of my li'l bloggywog. I hope it continues because I'm not very interested in sitting down and shutting up. *smooch*

>237 RebaRelishesReading: Ah, the FOMO Fairy lurketh...so long as you don't imagine I'm trying to "require" people to Read Up, you do you Boo.

>238 Storeetllr: Monday orisons, Mary! I'm hoping to get the last bits of my physical oomph back ASAP.

>228 richardderus:
That was a BB. I really don't understand the media culture, and that makes me curious about it and how it drives culture, social life, and politics.

>242 benitastrnad: I'm very glad, Benita! It's pricey, though I have to warn you...$30!

>228 richardderus: I appreciate the review, Richard - trenchant as always. I will, however, let her rest in peace.

I'm always eager to come back and find more! Good night!!!!!

>190 karenmarie: Impressive quilt! Thanks for posting the picture, Richard.

‘Morning, RDear. Happy Tuesday to you. I hope you wake up with all bits of your 'physical oomph' back.

Book sort and Virlie’s this morning, cleaning ladies this afternoon. Reading and puttering, too.

*smooch*

>244 LizzieD: *smooch* Thanks, Peggy!

>245 Familyhistorian: I love those quilts, Meg, there's one town in Alabama where the folks make 'em in that special style. They're the art I enjoy most as "outsider" art. Cheers!

>246 karenmarie: A very nice day indeed, Horrible. Oomph is still leaking out, so I'm not quite back up to speed. Enjoy your Tuesday, sweetiedarling.

Morning, Richard. I had to cancel my bird walk for this AM. I am bummed. It looks like rain all day. Honestly, it wouldn't hurt to rest my foot for the day. I hope you get your oomph back. 🤞🤞

>250 msf59: That rots about the birdwalk, but getting really wet and cold...um, no. Hoping your cold is going down the tubes leaving your good health behind.

Tuesday happiness, my darling! *smooch* I am very sorry to learn that oomph is still leaking out. Sending you healing mojo and all my love.

>252 Crazymamie: Thank you, sweetness. I'm pretty much willing to rest, but wow am I bored with this energylessness. *smooch*

>253 richardderus: Empathy! Empathy! Empathy! *smooch*

>254 LizzieD: The restriction is what galls me, Peggy, not the resting. When I have no say in the rest it isn't rest it's imprisonment. I'm not good at being sick gracefully. *grumble*

>240 richardderus: No, of course I don't think you're "requiring" anything. I want to read them because you say interesting things -- just can't always keep up.

032 Amelia Bloomer: Journalist, Suffragist, Anti-Fashion Icon by Sara Catterall

Rating: all 5!

The story I'd never heard a whisper of before, about a woman of moral certainty and impeccable rectitude who rebelled hard:

>256 RebaRelishesReading: Good news, that, Reba. I'm glad you find the reading interesting! I do, too, all y'all have very interesting thoughts to share.

Morning, BigDaddy! Hoping that your oomph is leaking less.

>257 richardderus: You got me again. Onto The List it goes. Your review is perfection - I have added my thumb.

*Wednesday smooch*

>259 Crazymamie: Perfection! High praise indeed, and permaybehaps hyperbolic...but welcome and much appreciated. Bloomer's life is very much an example for all women, in particular, to follow, and Dexter's a sterling gleam for men to use as a guide. He supported Amelia throughout their life together, a thing rare now but startling then.

Wednesday *smooch* back!

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Wednesday to you.

>258 richardderus: Excellent review of a woman I’d never heard of. I particularly like your use of the word monadnock.

We've got weather today. Hunkering down. I might make chocolate chip cookies.

*smooch*

>261 karenmarie: Morning, Horrible! How does anyone get by without using "monadnock?" I learned its metaphorical meaning in junior-high English from Miss Rummel...the only teacher ever to send me to the office in my school career...and I've never stopped thanking her for it, as well as the other metaphors she taught me.

Happy mid week, Richard!

>263 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Anita, same wishes heartily returned!

Another thumb from me, Richard. Now I wish that Lock had made room in his American Follies for AB. I guess that would have been too much.

I LOVE being at home until I have no choice. You're right. *smooch* anyway

>265 LizzieD: Oh myyyyy as Takei would say...Norman Lock does the life of Amelia Bloomer! What a read that would've been.

It's all about that choice being removed. I'm lying here with a bandage on the bloody, broken skin of my foot thinking how nasty god for wishing this on me.

>257 richardderus: Added to the list. Knew she was much more than just a pair of bloomers but didn't know as much as i should and want to

>267 magicians_nephew: It's really shameful her trajectory isn't taught to seventh-graders on up. We need fewer obedient girls and more starchy principled women like her.

>228 richardderus: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the review and recommendation, RD.

>255 richardderus: I'm not good at being sick gracefully. Is anyone? I, for sure, am not!

>257 richardderus: Already in the BlackHole or I would be adding it again!

((Hugs)) and **smooches**, Richard. . .

033 Sucker Punch: Essays by Scaachi Koul

Three stars because it's trenchant and timely.

Your poor foot, Richard! I have some fissures on one my heels, and I put barrier cream on it each day, so it does not hurt when I am walking. And I complain about that.* Smooch* for Thursday.

>270 richardderus: Thanks, Deborah, today started with another bleeding episode. *sigh*

Sweet Thursday, Richard. Back to winter like weather for a few days. We soar into the 60s next week. Yah, baby. I am running out to scoop up Jackson in a couple of hours. We will have him until tomorrow. On the book front- I am wrapping up The Balkan Trilogy. I am so glad I decided to take it on. Still undecided about taking on her next trilogy.

>273 richardderus: Love it. Gauld Rocks!

>274 msf59: I'm glad the Balkan Trilogy's been such a hit for you, and all the others who've been lappin' it up this year. Olivia Manning's an author I myownself find best savored in caviar doses.

Have a lovely time with Jackson! It's the unstable time of year, for sure. It got warmer here, fog this morning, and well...who knows about next week?

Gauld = gawd!

>273 richardderus: Ah, the savage Librarian-god Schussh.

>276 humouress: Demands so many terrible sacrifices, doesn't Schussh, blood and bone be unto Schussch!
***
I do not feel even a teensy twinge of guilt posting this link to Princeton University Press's 2.99 (local currency) ebook/audiobook sale for the month of March:
https://press.princeton.edu/sales/digital-deals/

‘Morning, RDear. Happy Thursday to you.

>266 richardderus: Your poor, poor foot.

>270 richardderus: Onto the wish list it goes.

>272 richardderus: Not a good way to start the day, for sure.

>273 richardderus: Always clever, always amusing.

*smooch*

>269 alcottacre: Stasia! I missed you somehow! Sorry about that. Some people get less cranky and snappish when ill though I can't manage the trick. My best plan is always to stay shtumm when not feeling healthy. *smooch*

Morning, Dear One! I am so sorry about your foot.

>262 richardderus: "...the only teacher ever to send me to the office in my school career..." I spent a lot of time in the office.

>270 richardderus: Nope, but I loved your review and added my thumb.

>273 richardderus: Made me laugh!

>275 richardderus: "Gauld = gawd!" Love this.

*smooch and a bear hug*

>278 karenmarie: Foot's gotten more painful, so a rock must be on the way out. I can but sigh.

Gauld is a goddess-send, I need smart humor quite a bit. I detest Matlock, In The Heat of The Night, and westerns, and I'm bathed in their stupid vapidity...plus ads! oh yay...All the time Old Stuff's eyes are open.

I hate living this way.

>280 Crazymamie: Ain't >273 richardderus: funny? He seldom disappoints, Gauld.

I was snarky and sarcastic, which most of my teachers ignored to keep the peace. Miss Rummel was not one of them.

*smooch*

>257 richardderus: Looks interesting. I’ll put it on the TBR-when-I’m-up-for-nonfiction list.

>283 Storeetllr: She's a corker, Mary, and her story's really inspiring. Don't feel hesitant, in other words.

Happy Thursday!

‘Morning, RDear. I was going to say happy Friday, but >281 richardderus: about more pain suggests that I should say good pain management day.

TV when wanted as more than background noise is good, but you’re a captive audience even with noise-cancelling headphones. Seems to me that OS should be the one wearing earbuds/headphones to listen.

*smooch*

>285 karenmarie: That's one of my effective shouts: "why is it MY job to wear headphones? YOU buy some and listen to your idiotic babble through them!"

The volume goes down. For a while.

My foot, my hands, etc were challenged by the recent weather changes. And today I *must* go out or I'll have no coffee tomorrow. *shudder*

Spend a good weekend-launching day, sweetiedarling.

BURGOINE #011

A Brazen Curiosity: A Regency Cozy by Lynn Messina (Beatrice Hyde-Clare Mysteries Book 1)

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Nothing ruins a lovely house party like bloody murder.

At the decrepit old age of six-and-twenty, Miss Beatrice Hyde-Clare has virtually no hope of landing a husband. An orphan living off her relatives' charity, her job is to sit with her needlework and to keep her thoughts to herself.

When Bea receives an invitation to an elegant country party, she intends to do just that. Not even the presence of the aggravatingly handsome Duke of Kesgrave could lead this young lady to scandal. True, she might wish to pour her bowl of turtle soup on his aristocratic head—however, she would never actually do it. But a lady can fantasize.
But, when she stumbles upon the dead body of another houseguest, all Bea's good intentions fly out the well-appointed window. Although the magistrate declares it a suicide, she knows better.

Time for some very unladylike behavior.

I CHECKED THIS BOOK OUT FROM THE PRIME LENDING SERVICE. USE THEM OFTEN, THEY PAY AUTHORS FOR OUR USE.

My Review: OLD?! TWENTY-SIX WAS OLD?! I reject this notion whole and entire! I don't reject the series, however, as Beatrice is another anachronistic Regency heroine who does not "know her place" which will always get my attention, as someone who has never known his place either.

I don't rate it more highly because it has other anachronistic touches I found less amusing, eg "The difference between who she perceived herself to be and who she actually was was vast, and if she had any fight left in her, she would resent how easily she’d succumbed to everyone’s low expectations, including her own," very much a twenty-first century kind of a thought. Still well worth your time and treasure if you need a pleasant diversion.

BURGOINE #012

A Scandalous Deception: A Regency Cozy by Lynn Messina (Beatrice Hyde-Clare Mysteries Book 2)

Rating: 3.25* of five

The Publisher Says: As much as Beatrice Hyde-Clare relished the challenge of figuring out who murdered a fellow guest during a house party in the Lake District, she certainly does not consider herself an amateur investigator.

So when a London dandy falls dead at her feet in the entryway of a London Daily Gazette, she feels no compulsion to investigate. It was a newspaper office, after all, and reporters are already on the case as are the authorities. She has her own problems to deal with anyway—such as extricating herself from a seemingly harmless little fib that has somehow grown into a ridiculously large fiction.

Truly, she has no interest at all.

Except the dagger that killed the poor earl seemed disconcertingly familiar… And so Bea is off to the British Museum because she cannot rest until she confirms her suspicion, while trying to allay her family’s concerns and comprehend the Duke of Kesgrave’s compulsion.

For the handsome lord has no reason to waste his time solving a mystery alongside a shy spinster. And yet he turns up everywhere she goes.

I CHECKED THIS BOOK OUT FROM THE PRIME LENDING SERVICE. USE THEM OFTEN, THEY PAY AUTHORS FOR OUR USE.

My Review: I'm increasingly uncomfortable with Beatrice's facile, foolish, ill-considered lying as a source of plot momentum. It's as squicky a trait as it was to me in I Love Lucy when I was a kid. The lies are so silly, too.

That said I got solid laughs between brow-furrowings. Value delivered, even if in mitigated form.

>277 richardderus: Thank you for the link, Richard! I immediately bought a copy of Xin Wen's *The King's Road* for download, and I don't feel guilty at all! (So why, when I try to fix a Touchstone of the title, is the default choice S. King's *Dark Tower*? Good Grief!)

Oh, Richard. I'm sorry that you have a worsening foot and a need to go out on it for a life's necessity. At the very least, I wish one of us were there to go for you.

*smooch*

BURGOINE #013

A Pernicious Fabrication: A Regency Cozy by Lynn Messina (Beatrice Hyde-Clare Mysteries Book 13)

Rating: 3* of five

The Publisher Says: Beatrice, Duchess of Kesgrave, will not do the bidding of Hell and Fury Hawes. It does not matter how difficult it is to find new murder mysteries to investigate, especially ones where the victim was stabbed with a chisel. She absolutely refuses to lift a finger to help him figure out who killed one of his associates.

Nothing will persuade her, not even discovering the identity of the victim.

It is the duke’s cousin, son of the wretched Lord Myles, who also met an ugly death—bludgeoned with a candlestick—after going into business with the infamous crime lord, who rules over the worst rookery in London. Mortimer Matlock, a thwarted artist who stopped sculpting after his work was rejected repeatedly by the Royal Academy, was forging artifacts for Hawes’s illegal antiquities scheme.

Joining forces with the King of Saffron Hill, it seems, is frequently fatal.

That is an unfortunate development, then, for Bea, whose husband is determined to find out who slayed his relative. The duke shares her distrust of Hawes, whose avowals of just wanting justice for the fallen man ring hollow to him too. He believes there is more to the situation than meets the eye.

Well, obviously, yes, thinks Bea, who is unable to smother her misgivings.

Surely, they’re walking into a trap.

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

My Review: Entertaining. The art-forgery and antiquities-smuggling aspects are what drew me in initially, and while these plot points drive the story they aren't the focus (if you see what I mean) as much as the web woven by and for the Duchess. It's book thirteen in a series, so good lawsy me have I missed a lot.

I'm not sure I'll go get three through twelve. Don't start here, but if like me you're a fan of Regency-set stuff, pick up book one. I enjoyed it more than this one; most likely because I missed so much in the middle.

This was a lot of fun to watch!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8H0i4uCqbY

Hope your foot is better today. How awful to have to share close space with someone so inconsiderate!! You have my sympathy...even though that is no help, of course :(

>289 LizzieD: Thanks, Peggy. I'm not that PO'd about it except it means gettin' really cold!

...and I did, went to CVS and back so I could just get it done. Got my supplies, no need to go out tomorrow if I don't want to! Hooray!!

*smoochiesmoochsmooch*

>292 RebaRelishesReading: Sympathy helps a lot, Reba, because feeling Heard is really really important to people like me who were emotionally abused by being dismissed in a big variety of ways. So, thank you a lot for giving me that!

>291 richardderus: I really like Brendan Miller and the way he makes things so clear and makes such trenchant videos. Thanks for posting the link!

Karen O

Happy Friday, BigDaddy! Did you get the coffee? Hoping you did because coffee but sorry you had to go out on your poor foot. *smooch*

>292 RebaRelishesReading: What Reba said.

*whoops - didn't refresh before I posted, and you had already answered my question. SO happy you don't have to go out tomorrow.

>295 klobrien2: I'm so glad you think so as well, Karen O. I find him really reassuringly certain of his facts.

>296 Crazymamie: Coffee coffee coffee coffee...I sprang for Starbucks french roast, $20 for 18oz, but tomorrow's Old Stuff's MeTVarama and I needed something Extra to make it through that. *smooch*

Dropping off weekend smooches and healing vibes for your foot.

>299 MickyFine: Thanks, Micky! *smooch*

There's a new thread, y'all:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/369094/