richardderus's eighteenth 2025 thread

I relate, Doggo.

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.
Reviews 025 up to 033 are here.
Reviews 034 through 044 are back there..
Reviews 045 to 059 are here.
Reviews 060 to 072 are linked there.
73 to 90 back there.
91 to 100 back here..
101 to 114 back there.
115 to 137 back there.
138 to 160 back here.
161 to 196 back there.
197 to 223 back there.
224 to 252 back there.
253 to 278 back there.
279 to 309 back here.

THIS THREAD'S REVIEWS
310 I Deliver Parcels in Beijing : One Man's Quest to Speak the Truth About the Global Gig Economy in post #42.
311 IT TAKES A LIFETIME TO LEARN TO LIVE: An Italian American Story of Coming Home in post #45.
312 GEMINI : stepping stone to the moon, the untold story in post #57.
313 A Highly Courageous Adventure: A Regency Cozy (Flora Hyde-Clare Mysteries Book 2) in post #59.
314 The bridesmaid: A Novel in post #68.
315 Radical Antiquity: Free Love Zoroastrians, Farming Pirates, and Ancient Uprisings in post #75.
316 The black agenda : bold solutions for a broken system in post #77.
*322 Who knows you by heart : a novel in post #87.
317 You make it feel like Christmas : a novel in post #88.
318 A guide to being just friends : a novel I post #89.
319 Hybred: A Graphic Novel in post #114.
320 The Ferryman and his wife : a novel in post #115.
321 People's choice literature in post #142.
322 Rebels & outliers : real stories of the American West in post #171.
323 Igifu in post #176.
324 THE PRICE FOR THEIR POUND OF FLESH: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation in post #197.
325 Wild instinct : a novel in post #212.
326 Thyme for Dessert: Sweets and Treats Inspired by the Flavours of the Pacific Northwest Coast in post #213.
327 Seasoned in Appalachia : delicious recipes that capture the soul of the mountains & hollers in post #216.
328 The Route 66 cookbook : the best recipes from every stop along the way in post #218.
329 REVENGE, SERVED ROYAL (Lady Petra Inquires #3) in post #231.
330 Dark London : a journey through the city's mysterious and macabre underworld in post #232.
331 The Bible of British Taste: Stories of Home, People and Place in post #234.
332 Beyond the veil : the Victorian obsession with death and mourning in post #235.
333 THE PORCELAIN MENAGERIE in post #240.
334 American Whiskey Master Class: The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Bourbon, Rye, and Other American Whiskeys in post #243.
335 Celebration cocktails : outstanding batch cocktails and individual drinks for holidays, parties, birthdays, weddings, and other festive occasions in post #244.
336 What would Mrs. Astor do? : the essential guide to the manners and mores of the Gilded Age in post #250.
337 Framed in death in post #264.
337 Stolen in death in post #265.
338 Film noir compendium : key selections from the Film noir reader series in post #268.
339 ROMEO vs. JULIET: A Kill Shakespeare Adventure in pst #269.
340 The wayfinder : a novel in post #276.
341 Jayne Mansfield : the girl couldn't help it in post #277.
342 Stardust by the Bushel: Hollywood on the Chesapeake Bay's Eastern Shore in post #278.
343 Presidents (OH NO THEY DIDN'T) in post #287.
344 Trailblazers: Fascinating Facts You Never Knew About Amazing Trailblazers! (Oh No They Didn't) in post #292.
345 Science: Fascinating Facts You Never Knew About All Things Science! (OH NO THEY AREN'T) in post #293.

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:
#029 The Sculthorpe Murder (Detective Lavender Mysteries #3) {31%} in post #185.
#030 A Line Too Far (Australia Under Attack) {19%} in post #186.
#031 To Capture What We Cannot Keep: A Novel {16%} in post #187.
#032 The Angriest Angel {21%} in post #189.

All previous Burgoine reviews linked here.

THIS THREAD:
#080 I Met Death & Sex Through My Friend, Tom Meuley in post #9.
#081 Brotherless Night in post #179.
#082 Hungry Ghosts in post #180.
#083 Sing Her Down in post #182.
#084 The B-Side of Daniel Garneau in post #184.
#085 Judas in post #191.
#086 The Yelp: A Heartbreak in Reviews in post #192.

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.
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1Q25 was a suckass time to be alive. The Felonious Yam and Muskolini came out swingin' and enshittified a lot of lives. It was a time of terrible stress and serious immiseration, and I myownself could not possibly hate it more.

I wrote eighty-three reviews of all types. Two reads stood out in excellence: Rio Muerto and The Case of Cem. Several were bad, but only one made me angry because it was so effing lazy: Conclave, whose movie actually won an Oscar!!! The apotheosis of blah, bland thinking and writing in both media, and directing of a film.
2Q25 was a rollicking success. The first five months of the year saw 139,334 blog views; this month, not over yet, almost matches that total! I was fully satisfied, pleased even, with those first-half totals so this month is mind-blowing to me. For the first half of 2025, my thirteen-year odyssey writing over 3700 reviews and achieving over 1,000,000 blog-views has been satisfying, exciting, and deeply enriching.

The second quarter's most satisfying read was The Surge, Adam Kovac's war story told in laconic warrior-appropriate prose. It exemplifies an experience I do not think soldiers will ever have again as AI and automation turn war into a weirdly impersonal industrial slaughterhouse.
3Q25 was *astoundingly* productive...one thing positive, the ONLY thing positive, I'll say for the felonious yam and the kakistocracy he trails like wet farts is I get a turbocharge of energy to burn off writing because I hate them all so very, very much,that I wrote ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY-TWO REVIEWS. In 90 (ninety) days.
Holy carp.
That's more than I wrote for my blog in eight (8) of the past thirteen years I've been blogging. If that's not a win, I don't know what is. I'm really lemonadeing them lemons!
The best book of the quarter was, unquestionably, The Remembered Soldier...it's very likely to be the 6*-of-five read for 2025 though this quarter had several very, very good reads that might unseat it if they keep growing in my memory, eg We Were the Universe, Soft Burial, maybe The Gods of New York: Egotists, Idealists, Opportunists, and the Birth of the Modern City, 1986-1990...but none are more likely to unseat my dote than The Rain Heron. Arnott's talent impressed as always. I'm still prepared to be wowed and overwhelmed in Q4, but it'll be tough....
4Q25

GBBO and other special hashtaggie projects will be linked here.

2025 #ShortStoryMonth #1 through #5 linked here.
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2025 #PrideMonth 1 through 5 are linked here.
PRIDE MONTH #6 is linked here.
PRIDE MONTH 7 through 19 are linked here.
PRIDE MONTH 20 through 31 linked back there.
PRIDE MONTH 32 through 36 linked here.
#PrideMonth wrap-up is here.
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#WITMonth explainer is here.
#WITMonth wrap-up is here.
***
#1 over here.
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#2 through #23 over there.
#24 to #32 is #over there.

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GBBO THOUGHTS
Season 15's comments linked here.
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Season 1 thoughts are here.
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GBBO Season 16!
Episode 1: cake week through Episode 4: Back To School here.
Episode 5 through Episode 7: here.
Episode 8: through the final: here.

See >5 richardderus: for 2024 achievements & 2025 goals, and quarterly wrap-ups. Special hashtag events in >6 richardderus:.
Monthly wrap-up posts are linked below.
JANUARY 2025 here.
FEBRUARY 2025 here.
MARCH 2025 here.
APRIL 2025 here.
MAY 2025 here.
JUNE 2025 here.
JULY 2025 here.
AUGUST 2025 here.
SEPTEMBER 2025 here.
OCTOBER 2025 here.

Okay, Your turn now.

BURGOINE #080

I Met Death & Sex Through My Friend, Tom Meuley by Thom Vernon

Rating: 2.5* of five

The Publisher Says: In this dark comedy taking place over twenty-four hours, a blizzard pummels Toronto as a beloved high school teacher coerces his teenage student to assist in his violent suicide forcing the student, his best friend, the friend’s bulimic mom, and a down-low cop to outrun each other, the storm, and the ghosts haunting them.

I Met Death & Sex Through My Friend, Tom Meuley is a breathtaking and hilarious novel about the lengths people will take to erase themselves in order to matter.

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

My Review: This book is a dopamine desert. I powered through to the end for some stupid, stubborn reason, and I wish to heaven above I'd Pearl-Ruled it.

Lots of aimless talk, all narrative no drive style. If there was any humor, or any actual—not reported—queerness in here I do not recall it.

Guernica Editions sells trade paper editions for $24.95.

Hey, happy new one!! I am first? Again??

I'm second :)!!

>9 richardderus: I'm amazed, Shelley, I don't recall anyone being first two threads in a row before.


So enjoy the crown from Kazan!

>10 jessibud2: You are indeed, Reba. A suitable second-place crown:

Happy New Thread!

I saw your comment on the other thread, I sympathize (I'm trying not to say I'm sorry so much), with your plight with physical books. But selfishly, I'm just glad that I can share and intrigue someone such as yourself whose read just about everything. LOL.

>14 mahsdad: I keep trying to make a bigger dent in the huuuuuuuuuuuge mountain of writing that sounds interesting to me, but writers keep writin' and then there are more gettin' born, then there are people rediscovering good books....

It's hopeless. *happy sigh*

>12 richardderus:- ooh la la! Loverly, thanks!

Happy new thread, RD! Since we're freezing tonight, I assume it's cold where you are too.

Happy new thread!

*waves* 'Night, 'night...beware frostbite!

Happy New Thread, 🧵, Richard!

>16 jessibud2: It's the most luxurious one yet, isn't it?

>17 atozgrl: Thanks, Irene! It's not unseasonably cold here, in fact warmer than where you are, so it's really weird.

>18 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Anita!

>19 laytonwoman3rd: I'm not as cold as the southern folk, Linda3rd.

Really nice to be seasonable for a change....

>20 vancouverdeb: Thank you, Deborah!

Happy Wednesday, Richard. Happy New Thread. The Warbler is nearly a 100% and I get to hang with Jack for a bit today. All good here.

>26 msf59: Hooray for being almost All the way back! I hope your progress continues after your boost of Jackson time.

‘Morning, Rdear! Happy Tuesday and happy new thread.

>1 richardderus: It won’t surprise you that I related to the coffee part of that photo... but I value my life enough to not post a photo of coffee and one of them.

>9 richardderus: Thank you for taking one for the team. By the description alone, I might have acquired it.

>24 richardderus: It was probably 25F here with wind chill when you wrote at 5:44 this morning, but it’s now a balmy 37F with wind chill.

>28 karenmarie: I'm enjoying sunshine and mid-30s this morning, going up to low 40s, or Thanksgiving perfection a couple weeks early. It's delicious!

I was bitterly disappointed by >9 richardderus:, and I hope it shows. I really expected a screenwriter-by-trade to be better at creating narrative momentum. Nope.

I'm eager to get my back operated on next week so I can finally relax fully, not shift and turn and scratch and turn and shift all fucking night. *sigh*

I was depressed that Kiran desai didn't get the Booker in favor of that uninteresting Szalay book. I'll just say that January has some real treats in store, which somewhat eased my irritation. *smoochiesmoochsmooch*

>13 richardderus: Awww Gee -- I certainly didn't expect that :)

>30 RebaRelishesReading: Holly hippodays, in Sandra Boynton's deathless greeting card's words, then.

Happy New Thread! 🧵

>32 SilverWolf28: Thanks, Silver!

Happy new thread, Richard!

>34 Familyhistorian: Thank you, Meg!

>1 richardderus: I got a triple shot coffee this morning and the barista seemed surprised. I was like- you have no idea of my tolerance for caffeine mister! I regularly handle four shots! So yeah, me and doggo relate.

>29 richardderus: I need to read the Kiran Desai book. Though, I was pleased that my reading of the shortlist was limited to the one that won!

How did I miss this thread earlier?????? I apparently have a talent. Anyway, I trust that it will be a good one.

>29 richardderus: I didn't know about an operation next week..... I have to backtrack. I certainly identify with the toss, shift, turn back, ache when the only time something isn't aching is when I'm moving. MANY good wishes for better nights ahead! *smooch*
And while I'm at it, I need and want to read the Kiran Desai book too. I'm about to finish The Remembered Soldier. It took practically forever for me to read it, but it will stay with me a lot longer than that.

I thought that The Loneliness of Sunny and Sonia ought to have won the Booker, or maybe The Land in Winter. I didn't know about your upcoming back surgery next week either. Good wishes for that, a full recovery from back pain.

>36 LovingLit: I'm surprised he was surprised, frankly. Seems to me he'd've seen that before. If Doggo has....

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is really long...over 600pp...so prepare your expectations for a tour not a trip. I found it immersive, but many complained of the pace being slow.

>37 LizzieD: It's always wise to check for new threads when one stops surfacing, but I'm bad at it too so no criticism from me.

I'm glad it will stay with you, though I know what you mean about moving slowly through The Remembered Soldier. It felt to me like that was the point. He's building his life, he's continually connecting the bits of identity to each other to make up from the horrible existential voids left in his psyche.

I hope the Desai is a good read for you when it gets to the top of the list. *baa*

>38 vancouverdeb: It's a travesty. But of course, I'm not a judge tasked with making the decision, and even if I was I'd still be an outlier.

It's dermatological back surgery for some awkwardly placed cysts to be extracted and scraped out, so more than you see on Dr. Pimple Popper but not general-anesthetic surgery. I'll be so glad to have 'em gone...!

310 I Deliver Parcels in Beijing : One Man's Quest to Speak the Truth About the Global Gig Economy by Hu Anyan (tr. Jack Hargreaves)

Astra House brought out this deeply saddening, all too common story of labor abuses and their personal costs.

>9 richardderus: Yeah, it sounds as though I can safely skip that one. Thanks for the heads up, RD!

>15 richardderus: It's hopeless. *happy sigh* Yeah, isn't it a great problem to have. Now if only I could get a clone to help with the reading!

>29 richardderus: I hope that the back operation goes smoothly and takes care the problem for you, Richard.

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

>43 alcottacre: Thanks, Stasia...it seems to be an annual tradition, as this will be the third time it's been done. Well, it's covered by insurance so it's worth doing to avoid possible future infections. That's happened before, and required much more extensive treatment. *shudder*

311 IT TAKES A LIFETIME TO LEARN TO LIVE: An Italian American Story of Coming Home by LIBBY CATALDI

An Italian-American woman goes in search of ancestral gynergy, and eats really well on the trip.

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Wednesday.

>29 richardderus: I must have missed the bit about you getting your back operated on. >41 richardderus: Thanks for the explanation.

>42 richardderus: Onto the wish list it goes. I’d never heard of the term ‘gig economy’. In an entirely white-entitlement sort of way, Jenna’s probably going to have to have 2 part-time jobs. She hasn’t found a 40-hour job with benefits since she started looking mid-August. Fortunately, she’s on Hwan’s seriously over-the-top benefits package, but she’ll go crazy if she doesn’t work outside the home.

>44 richardderus: Ugh. I didn’t realize this was a recurring issue. At least it’s covered and you know how it’s going to go.

>45 richardderus: Interesting to me in theory, but I’ll pass.

*smooch*

>46 karenmarie: My skin has always resented doing its job. My back's always a troublesome patch of skin because I'm sweaty and always have been...so, well, the issues are not new and not particularly controllable, so it just never really ends. At least I'm experienced enough to know what to do and when to avoid real trouble.

Jenna needing something to do is totally relatable. Excellent that she doesn't *need* to do it for survival, because then it's easy to leave when that particular job stops being fun. Enviable position to be in. I hope it stays that way. *smooch*

>46 karenmarie: PS >45 richardderus: is on Kindle Unlimited....

>45 richardderus: That's something that I would read, so I'll put it on the list. >42 richardderus: This is one I'd probably read, so it will go on the list too. *sigh* Keep 'em coming!

O.K. I appreciate the info about the back. It sounds uncomfortable and tedious, but I was fearing something internal and worse. Take care! *smooch*

>44 richardderus: Well, yes, if you're in pain/uncomfortable AND it's covered by insurance AND it will prevent future infections AND it's a recurring problem ...you really have no choice!! I hope all goes well and that it heals well and, maybe, that it never is needed again :)

>49 LizzieD: Thank you, me lurve...I'm going to spend two weeks not lifting anything over 5lbs, and sponge-bathing, and cheap at twice the price TBH. I had a horrifying hospital-visit problem and, as a result, I'll take care of it early each time.

I'm thrilled I haven't had an extremely painful back issue (yet, he added to spike that vengeful gawd's cruelty gun).

>50 RebaRelishesReading: So true, Reba. I'm always stunned at the number of people who ignore routine maintenance of anything.

>1 richardderus: Me too...

Happy new thread!

>53 drneutron: Doggo's kinda our spirit animal round these parts. Thanks!

" I'm always stunned at the number of people who ignore routine maintenance of anything." Amen, brother.

Sweet Thursday, Richard. Marky is feeling more like himself and it feels damn good. I hope the week is going well.

Thanks to you, I have A guardian and a thief waiting for me at the library. It was a long wait. I will start it soon.

312 GEMINI : stepping stone to the moon, the untold story by JEFFREY KLUGER

St. Martin's Press published this book celebrating the Moon landing's precursor story in detail.

>56 msf59: Oh yay! I hope the read gives you as much to think about as it did me.

Feeling better is such a gift, no? A siege of nastiness is a good reminder not to take health for granted.

313 A Highly Courageous Adventure: A Regency Cozy (Flora Hyde-Clare Mysteries Book 2) by Lynn Messina

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Thursday to you.

>47 richardderus: I’m sorry your skin resents doing its job. I’m just glad you know what to do when there are problems.

Jenna and Hwan are both fine with her not working outside the home. They can survive long term on Hwan’s salary, but Jenna wants/needs to earn her own money.

>57 richardderus: The small company my father worked for in the 1950s and 1960s, Precision Sheet Metal (later purchased by Fansteel), made some of the metal components for Gemini. They also provided components for Apollo.

*smooch*

>57 richardderus: This one sounds fascinating. As a child I had posters of the Gemini programme in my bedroom. I expect I could draw one from memory!

>57 richardderus:
This is just up my scientific alley. That's a BB.

>57 richardderus: Sounds like a very worthwhile book...not really in my field of interest but somewhat tempting nevertheless.

Hope you're having a good one today...

>60 karenmarie: Those sorts of small-enterprise contracts are ever-fewer in number, and harder to get, nowadays. A deeply, deeply stupid way to run an economy.

Jenna also needs some challenges, I'd think, since she needs to use her brain...but how great that Hwan has that ability!

I'm stunned at how many people just do not know what to do, or whom to ask when they don't know what to do. I'm deeply grateful for being of a practical bent every time I get into a pickle.

Thor's Day *smooch*

>61 sirfurboy: Oh my heck! You're the other platonic-ideal of a reader for that book, then. I really enjoyed the read.

>62 benitastrnad: I bet you'd enjoy it, Benita, but bring your most alert mood...it's got information by the metric fuckton to impart.

>63 RebaRelishesReading: Might permaybehaps be a bit more on the science side, with its information density, than you'd care to invest into it, Reba...I was at sea sometimes, and ended up looking up lots of stuff. The season doesn't really reward any but the most attentive readers of that science-explication style when there's so much else going on.

314 The bridesmaid: A Novel by Cate Quinn

Sourcebooks Landmark published Author Quinn's The White Lotus storyline.

Dear RD, salutations on a new thread. Sorry I am bit slower to the party than usual but I have had a couple of days of terrible migraine that has kept me off line.

>57 richardderus: Ow, you got me again! Onto Mt. TBR it goes. When will I ever have time for it all?

>41 richardderus: I'm sorry that you are having back problems, but glad to hear that it's treatable and that you will have the work done soon. And I'm even happier to hear that it's not something spinal. I hope you will be feeling much better soon.

>69 PaulCranswick: Thanks, PC, and a hearty "boo hiss begone" to the migraine. I'm not a sufferer, once in a while I get an eyegraine, but nothing compared to y'all who really suffer.

>70 atozgrl: Pretty sure that answer is "never" Irene.

Ain't that grand?

I'm glad I have access to decent care, and having had no access in the past I do not take it for granted. Cheers!

>67 richardderus: Thank you. I think I'll skip and not feel bad about it.

>73 RebaRelishesReading: It will still be around if the mood or the gifting need strikes.

315 Radical Antiquity: Free Love Zoroastrians, Farming Pirates, and Ancient Uprisings by Christopher B. Zeichmann

Fascinating!

‘Morning, RD! Happy Friday to you.

>68 richardderus: Onto the wish list it goes. Anything that can gain a surprise point from you has to be worth reading.

>75 richardderus: A BB, arriving on Monday. I bought it before I even looked at your review. The table of contents is fascinating. Also, I was willing to pay for the paperback, but used Amazon credit card free money so that it cost me $0. Directly. Indirectly, of course, is another matter.

*smooch*

316 The black agenda : bold solutions for a broken system by Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman

>76 karenmarie: Morning, Horrible, happy Friday. I hope >68 richardderus: pleases, and >75 richardderus: surprises...they're part of a trend in my reading. I'm more available to being surprised.

*smooch*

>75 richardderus: A solid hit! The rest my or may not return to my consciousness, but that one is a siren song for me.

I wish you a good day. We're back to lovely weather, and I wish you some of that too! *smooch*

Just waving as I pass...hope the cyst-removal goes smoothly and recovery is short. Not being able to get truly comfortable in any position is sometimes worse than a localized more intense pain, I think.

>79 LizzieD: Thanks, Peggy! I'm pleased that one's connecting with people; I was concerned it was going to be too far out-there to strike a chord. Chilly and overcast here, so exactly what the run-up to Turkey Day ought to be. Most pleased with this.

*baa*

>80 laytonwoman3rd: It's always mildly unpleasant, Linda3rd, but so far never more than mildly. May that trend continue. It's on my back, so healing's usually a bit more protracted. It's never been *awful* so I see no reason it ought to be this time, either.

A Highly Courageous Adventure: A Regency Cozy (Flora Hyde-Clare Mysteries Book 2) by Lynn Messina sounds like a good read, Richard. I'll see if my library has it , though I have a lot of books out already .

'Morning, RDear! Happy Saturday to you.

>77 richardderus: Since I'm a white folk I should read it, but will pass. Excellent review, as always.

*smooch*

>83 vancouverdeb: I hope you'll enjoy the read, Deborah...Author Messina posted a lovely thank-you on Twitter or Bluesky, I forget which, appreciating the fact I like Flora as much as Beatrice. (More, really; I didn't say that.)

>84 karenmarie: Thanks, Horrible...I hope you'll succumb to my blandishments sooner or later. I'm beginning to feel hopeless and useless and unnecessary in the face of your powerful biblioimmune system....

322...renumbered to correct my numbering error Who knows you by heart : a novel by Christopher John Farley

William Morrow, a HarperCollins imprint, brought out this tale full of layered storytelling, with an interesting story told...in the Satanic second person, darn the luck.

317 You make it feel like Christmas : a novel by Sophie Sullivan

St. Martin's Press publishes, via their Griffin Paperbacks imprint, Sophie Sullivan's romance novels. YOU MAKE IT FEEL LIKE CHRISTMAS is her latest rom-com contemporary & a very good read.

318 A guide to being just friends : a novel by Sophie Sullivan

St. Martin's Press publishes, via their Griffin Paperbacks imprint, Sophie Sullivan's romance novels. A GUIDE TO BEING JUST FRIENDS, Jansen Brothers series book 3 is both the finale and a very good read.

>88 richardderus: Well, I'm always on the lookout for solid holiday romances and if you liked it, that's an excellent sign. Onto The List with it for either this year or next year's holiday reading (depending on holds queues).

And, of course, a big dose of weekend smooches!

Your last two reviews are intriguing to me, RD. I don't usually expect to get M/F romance recs from you :)

Have a happy weekend!

>90 MickyFine: *smoochiesmoochsmooch*

I was deeply surprised to like it myownself, though I've read two non-holiday romances by her that were okay. Add in Yuletide set-dressing, I'm a sucker.

>91 katiekrug: I am nothing if not eclectic.

Seriously, I *enjoyed* the Yuletide one, as in would read more of them from her.

...Katie? Katie? Speak to me or I'll have to call 911!

Have a happy day, my eclectic WBL, from romance-resisting me - even at Christmas - except for all the fun fluff I read that has a romance built in.
*smooch*

*shocked face*

>94 LizzieD: It's really amazing to me how I didn't notice the romance industry got me to read their stuff by aiming it at me. From there it's been mission creep....

>95 katiekrug: ...just wait...I've got a het romance-in-verse....

With cats?!?!?

Set in a chocolate shop?!?!

>99 katiekrug: Don't be facetious. Chocolate! Faugh!

>98 katiekrug: *choo*

Snort. For a second I was worried you'd been body snatched but you're still you, I see.

Adding a ton to the BlackHole, Richard, thanks to your reviews. Thanks (I think!)

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

Happy new thread Richard!

Still no GBBO 2025 joys for me. Skin issues? I hear you. Had a look for Lynn Messina books in my Overdrive libraries but there's only one - Little Vampire Women - which doesn't tickle my fancy, so no BB.

>102 MickyFine: The evidence could easily support your conclusion, so I'm happy to provide proof of life, Micky.

>103 alcottacre: *chuckle* of course you're happy, Stasia, more books = more fun.

*smooch*

>104 humouress: No? Did Singapore do something to offend Channel 4's management to merit such unkind treatment, or is this one of y'all's puritanical enthusiasms?

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Sunday.

>86 richardderus: Ha ha. You got me on Peggy’s thread yesterday. I just bought the Kindle version of Soft Burial by Fang Fang. Darn you.

>87 richardderus: I read and loved Farley’s Kingston by Moonlight. I’ve added this one to my wish list.

>88 richardderus: If Maisie was Mark, or Mitchell, or … well. You get the idea.

>89 richardderus: No hockey, no MM, so no. *smile*

>96 richardderus: LOL. Mission creep…

*smooch*

>108 karenmarie: Hi Horrible! I'm noticing more and more there's a lot of mission creep in my reading. It does feel sometimes like I'm in "Their" crosshairs. I'm still glad you're going to read Fang Fang's book, no matter where the book-bullet grazed you.

*smooch*

>106 richardderus: Yep and half of the fun is tracking them down. . .

((Hugs)) and **smooches** and hopes that you have a marvelous Monday!

>110 alcottacre: Merry Monday, Stasia. I've had a bad night of GI disturbances, so no doc visit. The problem wont be as bad as the likely result of trying to keep the appointment.

I'll settle for a Monday without explosions. xo

'Morning, RDear. I'm sorry to read about your GI disturbances. I hope you are doing better today.

*smooch*

>112 karenmarie: I hope I am, too. It's misery so far, but not *active* misery. Yeeeccchhh.

319 Hybred: A Graphic Novel by Jamie Mustard (illus. Francesca Filomena)

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Set in a future-adjacent, alternative Los Angeles, this is a story of staggering poverty, drugs, and violence and of an artistic child who finds beauty in the ugly and sublime hope in our conflicts.

HYBRED shows us how in our most marginalized communities lies an astonishing amount of genius which goes unnoticed and is so often tragically wasted.

Nine-year-old Johnny James lives in The Casque, the poorest neighborhood in Greater Angeles, where he shares a one-room apartment with his mother, stepfather, two brothers, and an army of cockroaches. He spends his days in the sweltering heat of the neighborhood, at the movie theaters, playing tackleball, or drawing—but there’s no money for him to go to school.

As death, addiction, and violence swirl through the neighborhood, Johnny grows up with friends, adventures, and magic around him. And he discovers how to use art, beauty, and personal strength to transcend the forces destined to hold him back.

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

My Review: This graphic story is a heightened, fictionalized alternate-history version of Author Mustard's real-life memoir Child X, recently published by BenBella Books. Added fantastical moments...levitating while in a flow state from making art, conjuring rain to ease "the Long Drought" afflicting his alternate LA...Author Mustard works within the world-view of a kid with no memories of brighter days, who can't conjure a brighter future.



we set our scene; Johnny exhibits powers
It comes to pass that, even in the direst, most terrible poverty, living with his four-person family in one room and unable (due to lack of money) to attend school, Johnny is capable of seeing true beauty, of creating from the drabness around him glimpses of a world imbued with the hope inherent in beauty.


Johnny's home is his world

I don't think you'll be surprised to learn that Johnny is magical, like so many trapped in his terrible circumstances...without hope, without prospects, paths to escape.




There is inside him the wellspring of beauty and art, and this story paired with the gorgeous artwork, does its best to show that anyone, no matter how deeply oppressed and neglected, can escape.


I don't know that Author Mustard really turned the trick of proving this point; in the end, I was more uplifted by the gestalt of the artwork and the story's points of view on the world Author Mustard created to hold his only mildly distorting mirror to our complacent, privileged faces.


Hold the image of the beautiful inside and out Johnny in your mind's eye; he will shine beauty back at you, nourish you with his goodness.

A treasure indeed.

320 The Ferryman and his wife : a novel by Frode Grytten ( tr. Alison McCullough)

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: In the spirit of Amor Towles and George Saunders, the renowned, bestselling Norwegian author Frode Grytten takes readers on a quietly epic journey: ferry driver Nils Vik's last route along the fjord, on what he knows will be his last day alive.

Nils Vik wakes up on November the 18th and knows it will be the day he dies. He follows his morning routine as voices from his past echo in his mind, and looks around the empty house one last time, before stepping onto his beloved boat.

His dog, dead these many years, leaps aboard with him, and then the other dead begin to emerge—from the woods along the fjord, from each of the ferry stops along the route, from his logbook full of memories and quotations and jotted-down notes about the weather conditions. The people from the past accompany him now, prodding him, showing him what he might have missed before, as he waits for his Marta, his late, remarkable wife, to finally join him on the boat again.

Winner of the prestigious Brage Prize, and considered to be Grytten's long-awaited masterpiece, The Ferryman and His Wife is the story of a quiet, yet utterly profound, life told in reverse. Timeless and absorbing, this is a novel about what we take with us—those moments that might seem insignificant as they happen but prove to be the most meaningful, in the end.

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

My Review: Wisdom comes late in life, if it bothers to stop by your place at all.

To be born was to live long enough to discover what air and sea and earth and hate and love are, then to say thank you and goodbye.

Nils Vik, the ferryman of the title, has a good store of wisdom built up, and uses his last day of life to put it in order.

This life is like an item of clothing, the beauty exists on the outside but the warmth is found within.

Aperçu after aphorism following quotable line, this is a lovely sentimental ruminative summing-up of a small life lived well.

"He loved his wife. I always said they lived like two clapping hands, she was the left hand, he the right."

If the need for a warm toddy on a cold day is upon you, read this book. It is lovey; it is short; it answers that need we all share for feeling seen and valued for ourselves, for our gifts and how we've given them.

"And don’t think I’m about to ask you. About what? Whether or not you were happy – because I know exactly what you’ll say. You’re one of those people who thinks you’re happy where you are, somebody who wants no more than what you already have."

I found the one discordant note, some people traveling in Nils' ferry to exterminate feral dogs, sufficiently off-putting to skip over any possible details I might be offended by and ding a star off the rating.

Its impact was warming overall, and the prose went down well; will I remember it in a week? Not likely; it was an afternoon's pleasant entertainment.

>115 richardderus:
Well - that's a BB.

>116 benitastrnad: Enjoy the read, Benita!

I feel like the bad penny who keeps showing up now and then. Wonder what the metaphor will be in 50 years....

I wish that you may already be feeling better. *smooch* for the day with more coming for your trying week.

>118 LizzieD: "the J6 jagoff who keeps blowing up people"? No matter, we'll both be dead.

Thank All those useless gods. I'm not sick anymore, but I'm really tired and napping a lot.

>114 richardderus: “Hybred” looks great! I put it on my TBR.

Hope you’re feeling better, soon!

Karen O

>120 klobrien2: I hope you'll get the library to get one, I'd really like people to discover it.

I'm wiped-out tired, not making much sense, but the worst is over. xo

>114 richardderus: >115 richardderus: Adding both of those to the BlackHole.

>121 richardderus: Glad to hear that the worst is over. I hope the napping helps you feel much better, RD!

>122 alcottacre: I hope it's over, at least I'm not as wretched. I need the sleep.

Hey, Richard. Of course you got me with Hybred: A Graphic Novel. I know you are not a big fan of GNs so I found it impressive that you enjoyed this one that much. The Ferryman and his wife also sounds very good. Damn, your job is done here.

>124 msf59: Morning, Mark. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did. Ferryman was a cute read, suited to a library borrow but I wouldn't say buy one without hesitation. Happy Tuesdaying, wherever it might take you.
***
I'm weak today, feeling wrung out and energyless after nine hours' uninterrupted sleep. I was blindsided by that miserable forty-eight hours. Must've been something funny I ate, but what remains a mystery. I'm still hydrating to get back the water weight I've lost.

Continue to take good care of yourself, my WBL. You know how if you're allowed to......... *smooch*

Hope you're healing well and feeling better.

>126 LizzieD: Luckily I stood my ground, the doc told me it was most likely cellulitis making my foot swell and hurt but we can slam it with abx and I should check back in with him on Thursday. No further gastric horrors...rumblygrumbles only...but I'm still completely wiped out from Sunday and Monday...no ideas for me there except "you ate something weird?" to which my only answer was "I ate the cookies they offer as snacks."

Won't be doing that again soon! Off to nap.

>127 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks, Reba!

Hiya, RDear.

>114 richardderus: Drat. A GN. *sob*

I’m so sorry you’ve had such a rough time of it, and although you’re still wiped out at least your gastric horrors have gone away.

*smooch*

>130 karenmarie: Oh, so >114 richardderus: is on its way to you? Excellent! You'll like it, I'm confident.

Yeah, after pneumonia I'd hoped y'all's evil gawd had finished poking the cosmic voodoo dolly of punishment and immiseration for a while. Nope. She's jabbed/ing harder. *worty dirds redacted*

Stay healthy and enjoy that shower!

>128 richardderus: rumblygrumbles...not pleasant but not too bad I guess, considering. Still, it's a fantastic word.

>132 LovingLit: Is that a new one? I remember it from kidhood. Happy to pass it on, no matter.

>132 LovingLit: I'm not sure that I have seen that one before either but it is certainly a word that conveys its meaning!

Hope you are on the mend, RD.

You are having a rough time of it, Richard. Hope you feel better soon!

Oh man, cellulitis. I had that on my elbow 6 or so years ago and I had to the hospital each day for 4 days for IV antibiotics. And then the gastric troubles- ugh. I have a mild IBS, but man , diarrhea can sure get to you. I changed my diet to low fodmap, very little gluten and lactose free milk and that has helped a lot . But I still have to time my mornings in case I have trouble after eating. I hope you are feeling better very soon, Richard.

Morning, Richard. I hope you are feeling better today and had a decent night's rest. All good here in Downers Grove. I am finishing up my 2nd Robbie Arnott, Limberlost. It is simple and sweet tale. I appreciate you turning me onto him.

>134 PaulCranswick: Morning, PC! I'm gobsmacked this onomatopoeia is new to so many. I'm happy to spread the word. (See what I did there?)

>135 Familyhistorian: It's All annoying, Meg, nothing that'll kill me or do more than inconvenience me. I'm ticked off it's All crowding together (and that "AI" keeps recapitalizing "All" despite my corrections).

>136 vancouverdeb: All so UGH it's disgusting. My mornings don't include eating because ugh; I'll gladly eat gluten free but it's not under my control here, and I do not have the money to buy my caloric needs for every meal.

I'm fairly certain my awful distress was down to unusually consuming their cookies which, I think based on my experience, have artificial fat and sugar used in their baking.

I'm getting the abx today, I hope, and will hope for no repeat of your experience with IV, Deborah!

>137 msf59: Morning, Mark! I'm really glad you're enjoying your Robbie Arnott discovery. I liked Limberlost a lot.

Enjoy the Wednesday ahead.

321 People's choice literature by Tom Comitta

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Wednesday. I hope you’re continuing to regain your strength.

>131 richardderus: Ah. I didn’t write everything I was thinking. Because of the blurb and before I scrolled further down, I thought that I’d love to read Hybred because Los Angeles, dystopia, etc. The publisher’s blurb does not mention GN. Your review’s first sentence did. Major sadness, because GNs absolutely do nothing for me. The only exception, so far, is Maus.

Staying healthy so far. The shower is still in progress. He asked about something he could do one way or another, and I told him to do whatever he would do for his own home. He smiled. Not in a spend money way, but in a happy way to be able to do the best job.

>142 richardderus: Alas, no BBs for you. The story lines do not appeal to me.

*smooch*

>143 karenmarie: I really think not appealing to you is the point...but it's always a hard sell to get someone to read a book that is publicly announced to be, at best, mid. I don't expect many people are that interested in the topic of "how bad could it get" when they're at most sadly resigned to finding out as late as they possibly can.

I'm so glad you've got a Trevor! And the common sense to let the expert decide the best way forward in matters you know nothing about. We'd All be better off following your example there.

I still think you'd like >114 richardderus:. Not pushing. Just offering an informed opinion. *smooch*

Happy mid week!

Hope your are feeling better

>145 figsfromthistle: I'm happy to say the only thing wrong with me is being medicated, so we're going with better....

Edit...of course dimwit here forgot to copy the caption! "And then one day, quite expectedly, Peter found Jesus. "

>147 richardderus: I don't get it :(

>142 richardderus: People's Choice Literature looks interesting (very strange, but interesting). I'll put it in my TBR!

Karen O

I haven't posted one in a long time, so here's your attention tax payment: I haven't ever seen this Rothko in person but it's one on my bucket list.

A 1949 work, it seems in his childrens' collection, yclept with great originality "Untitled." I know lots of y'all don't enjoy his stuff...it speaks to me, so here it is.

>148 RebaRelishesReading: No reason you should...I forgot to copy the caption!

>149 klobrien2: Oh excellent! I'm very pleased to get someone interested.

So Columbia University Press is damn near desperate for eyeballs on >142 richardderus: because they've reposted my review link. I'm very very pleased, and more than a little saddened that more people aren't interested in the book.

>147 richardderus: I thought it was funny even without the caption!

Karen O

>147 richardderus: - That looks like the cat in the *Simon's Cat* cartoons (though Simon's Cat is created by Tofield, not Graham).

>151 richardderus: Ok now I'm literally laughing out loud!!

>154 klobrien2: IK,R??

>155 jessibud2: Grickle the Ghost is his main character...funny guy.

>156 RebaRelishesReading: Me too!!

>147 richardderus: Hilarity!!

>150 richardderus: Loveliness!

Also, thanks for letting me use rumblygrumbles; could one also say grumblyrumbles if one wanted to?

Reminds me of Grumpelstiltskin, of which I have made good use in the past. Mainly to/about my kids when they are in less than a good mood :)

>160 LovingLit: You have boys and you never used "unswallow" for puke on them?! ...?!?...

Grumblyrumbles works for me, too!

I like >147 richardderus: a lot. I'm still chortling....

>161 richardderus: never used unswallow, have used puke, chunder, yak, heave, and 'shouting for Ralph down the big white telephone' though.

No time except to speak........... except to say that I am so VICTORIAN. I'm too refined (!) to say puke. Throw up is about as graphic as I get. Dull. Dull. Dull.

*smooch* anyway

(>150 richardderus: It must be my mood tonight. That is the one I like least of any that I've ever looked at. Maybe tomorrow)

>150 richardderus: Oooh ooh, this reminds me that I saw a Rothko in person the other day and it made me think of you! It was a little more unsettling/energetic than the ones you've posted that I've preferred, but still made me feel like I knew what I was doing in an art museum haha.

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Thursday to you.

>144 richardderus: I just finished listening to a book about how bad it could get after a major earthquake hits Portland OR – Tilt. It’s stunning. I got the recommendation from Mark.

Trevor is the best.

>146 richardderus: Medicated is not a half bad thing…

>161 richardderus: I haven’t heard of unswallow. Technicolor spit, worshipping the porcelain god, and barf are ones I’ve used. Yak is probably my favorite.

*smooch*

>162 LovingLit: aaahhh, the classics!

>163 LizzieD: It could be that it's an early one...1949...that did not yet have the final aesthetic impact worked out.

Victorian is...a choice...it's never been nor is ever likely to be one I'll make. I roll my eyes and do my best to Rise Above suchlike. *smooch*

>164 bell7: Oh cool! I know I've said it and said it over the years but Rothko in person is not the same as seeing an image. Did you find that to be so for you? xo

>165 karenmarie: Morning, sweetiedarling. There are multiple ugly awakenings heading our way of that magnitude. If the Brooklyn fault bangs like it did in 1882 or 83, I'm totally doomed...so, well, why worry? When it happens I'll hope for the best.

Medicated is terrific! Two doses don't make any visible difference but it's not throbbing the way it was last night. I hope that's a portent.

More classics! *smooch*

>142 richardderus: Adding that one to the BlackHole, RD, despite the fact that I read very few thrillers these days. I read them quite a bit when I was younger.

>169 richardderus: I hope that the medication continues to help you improve, Richard!

((Hugs)) and **smooches** and hopes for a continued upswing

322 Rebels & outliers : real stories of the American West by John M. Glionna

University of Nevada Press brought out these collected essays with more ideas than words.

>170 alcottacre: Me too, smoochling. I've had a nasty couple weeks. You will not be thrilled by anything in >142 richardderus:. It's a terrible warning about what's coming....

Well you'll see or you won't, no sense talking it to death. Stay well, dear lady, see you in your thread soon!

>165 karenmarie: Ah yes...what happens if the Columbia Subduction moves? Having been just a couple of miles from the "Sylmar earthquake" I certainly hope not to be here if Columbia goes.

>173 RebaRelishesReading: That's the only scenario in which climate change stops being *THE* EXISTENTIAL THREAT. May it never, ever be so.

>174 richardderus: Amen to that!!!

323 Igifu by Scholastique Mukasonga (tr. Jordan Stump)

IGIFU by the Rwandan refugee Literary star SCHOLASTIQUE MUKASONGA & translated by Jordan Stump via Archipelago Books gets all five stars from me, no notes.

>147 richardderus: Love it! Now we know where he is hiding and I don't blame him.

You got me with Rebels & outliers : real stories of the American West. That one lands perfectly in my wheelhouse.

Happy Friday, Richard.

>177 msf59: Morning, Mark! I'm glad >322 appeals so much...you'll enjoy it! (I hope.)

I'm refocusing some attention on the Short Stories group I admin, it's been used by a few faithful folk over the years and I've ignored it and them. Since I'm so brimful of the energy hatred, contempt, and fury have gifted me that I'll post a jaw-dropping 500+ reviews in 2025, it feels...mean not to spread it further. Plus I have a lot of collections/anthologies on my unwritten-review slate, so some focus on the topic and the poor little group can't really hurt now can it?

Anyone who wonders what's up there can go look:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/375567

BURGOINE #081

Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan

Rating: 3.75* of five

The Publisher Says: In this searing novel, a courageous young woman tries to protect her dream of becoming a doctor as civil war devastates Sri Lanka.

Jaffna, 1981. Sixteen-year-old Sashi wants to become a doctor. But over the next decade, a vicious civil war tears through her home, and her dream spins off course as she sees her four beloved brothers and their friend K swept up in the mounting violence. Desperate to act, Sashi accepts K's invitation to work as a medic at the field hospital for the militant Tamil Tigers, who, following years of state discrimination and violence, are fighting for a separate homeland for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority. But after the Tigers murder one of her teachers and Indian peacekeepers arrive only to commit further atrocities, Sashi begins to question where she stands. When one of her medical school professors, a Tamil feminist and dissident, invites her to join a secret project documenting human rights violations, she embarks on a dangerous path that will change her forever.

Set during the early years of Sri Lanka's three-decade civil war, Brotherless Night is a heartrending portrait of one woman's moral journey and a testament to both the enduring impact of war and the bonds of home.

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

My Review: This is why I rated it how I did:

Other empires had reached for Sri Lanka: the Dutch, the Portuguese, and the British had ceased and relinquished it in succession, leaving in their wake people divided by colonial powers and central angles and bullheaded pride. Long before I was gone, Sri Lanka, then Ceylon stumbled once more into a lazy self indulgent independence: the majority, smarting at sights, perceived and actual, discovered ways for the country to promote their Buddha, their language and their histories—comeuppance for us for Tamils, who were a minority and who had flourished in English. Learn Sinhalese or leave your job Tamil civil servants were told—my father among them. I still haven’t forgotten the look on his face when he told us.

Very nice non-fiction prose. But this is a novel. I never found the fiction rhythm but I enjoyed the story, so....
Random House only asks $1.99 for an ebook right now, so do not hesitate to indulge yourself.

BURGOINE #082

Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein

Rating: 3.75* of five

The Publisher Says: From an unforgettable new voice in Caribbean literature, a sweeping story of two families colliding in 1940s Trinidad--and a chilling mystery that shows how interconnected their lives truly are

Trinidad in the 1940s, nearing the end of American occupation and British colonialism. On a hill overlooking Bell Village sits the Changoor farm, where Dalton and Marlee Changoor live in luxury unrecognizable to those who reside in the farm's shadow. Down below is the Barrack, a ramshackle building of wood and tin, divided into rooms occupied by whole families. Among these families are the Saroops--Hans, Shweta, and their son, Krishna, all three born of the barracks. Theirs are hard lives of backbreaking work, grinding poverty, devotion to faith, and a battle against nature and a social structure designed to keep them where they are.

But when Dalton goes missing and Marlee's safety is compromised, farmhand Hans is lured by the promise of a handsome stipend to move to the farm as a watchman. As the mystery of Dalton's disappearance unfolds, the lives of the wealthy couple and those who live in the barracks below become insidiously entwined, their community changed forever and in shocking ways.

A searing and singular novel of religion, class, family, and historical violence, and rooted in Trinidad's wild pastoral landscape and inspired by oral storytelling traditions, Hungry Ghosts is deeply resonant of its time and place while evoking the roots and ripple effects of generational trauma and linked histories; the lingering resentments, sacrifices, and longings that alter destinies; and the consequences of powerlessness. Lyrically told and rendered with harrowing beauty, Hungry Ghosts is a stunning piece of storytelling and an affecting mystery, from a blazingly talented writer.

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

My Review: "Even without a mouth, the woman can scream, she said. Even without a stomach, one can go hungry. And even in death, one can lust for life."

Gothic, ghostly, set in a specific place and time evoked with charm and grace. I found I could not stomach the cruelty of each and every character, whether it was expressed in passive or active ways. It says a lot about honor, fairness, and their opposites.

Ecco asks for 14.99 United States dollars. I'd get it from the library.

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Friday to you.

Excellent reviews, but I’ve dodged ‘em all. Oh well.

*smooch*

BURGOINE #083

Sing Her Down by Ivy Pochoda

Rating: 3.25* of five

The Publisher Says: No Country for Old Men meets Killing Eve in this gritty, feminist Western thriller from the award-winning author of These Women.

Florence "Florida" Baum is not the hapless innocent she claims to be when she arrives at the Arizona women's prison―or so her ex-cellmate, Diosmary Sandoval, keeps insinuating.

Dios knows the truth about Florida's crimes, understands the truth that Florence hides even from herself: that she wasn't a victim of circumstance, an unlucky bystander misled by a bad man. Dios knows that darkness lives in women too, despite the world's refusal to see it. And she is determined to open Florida's eyes and unleash her true self.

When an unexpected reprieve gives both women their freedom, Dios's fixation on Florida turns into a dangerous obsession, and a deadly cat-and-mouse chase ensues from Arizona to the desolate streets of Los Angeles.

With blistering, incisive prose, the award-winning author Ivy Pochoda delivers a razor-sharp Western. Gripping and immersive, Sing Her Down is a spellbinding thriller setting two indelible women on a path to certain destruction and an epic, stunning showdown.

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

My Review: I should've liked this more than I did. I understand the effect Author Pochoda was reaching for with her visceral, visual similes and her keenly observed scene-setting visuals, something like Dorothy B. Hughes or Craig Rice would go looking for.

It wore on me because I don't feel she found terribly good ones. And there are a lot of them.

MCD x FSG asks you for $11.99 for an ebook. Read a sample, if you vibe with the prose the story will reward you.

>181 karenmarie: Well, there's always next week...

*smooch*

BURGOINE #084

The B-Side of Daniel Garneau by David Kingston Yeh

Rating: 3.25* of five

The Publisher Says: "Equal parts raunchy and sweet ... A fun, funny look at gay life in Toronto." - Kirkus Reviews

"A timeless, well-crafted story about love, family and friendship." -IndieReader

"Laugh out loud ... Reminiscent of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City." -Reedsy

The B-Side of Daniel Garneau concludes a rollicking three-book series set in Toronto featuring the misadventures of boyfriends Daniel and David, their eccentric family and friends. As Daniel prepares to graduate from med school and propose marriage, David sets out to donate his sperm so his brother can have a baby. But as his celebrity ex Marcus launches his boldest exhibit yet, an unexpected crisis forces Daniel to re-evaluate his priorities in life.

The B-Side of Daniel Garneau is the inspirational follow-up to A Boy at the Edge of the World (2018) and Tales from the Bottom of My Sole(2020). At turns both comic and tragic, it is a celebration of queer identities and non-traditional families, as Daniel struggles to discover himself and his path in the world. At its heart, it is a philosophical reflection on family bonds, and living with courage and love.

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

My Review: As much as I liked the second book in the series, review linked above, I was deflated reading this one. It got repetitive, not of the series but within itself, as the focus never really got going on the group dynamic like it did in Tales from the Bottom of My Sole. I think most cishet people won't enjoy the read.

I did; but not as much as before.

Guernica Editions charges $21.95 for a paperback. If you've read the others, maybe yes.

PEARL RULE #029

The Sculthorpe Murder (Detective Lavender Mysteries #3) {31%} by Karen Charlton

Rating: 2.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Northamptonshire, 1810: As a new canal network snakes across the landscape, a vicious mob stakes its claim to the county. Every local constable is out on the hunt for the ruthless Panther Gang. When an elderly man is robbed and murdered in sleepy Middleton, the beleaguered magistrates send for help from London’s Bow Street Police Office.

Detective Stephen Lavender and Constable Ned Woods soon discover there’s more to William Sculthorpe’s demise than meets the eye. Mystery surrounds the old man and his family, and the stench of revenge hangs heavy in the air. Are the Panther Gang really responsible or is something more sinister afoot? As Lavender delves further into long-hidden secrets, Woods has demons of his own to contend with: ghosts from his past that stalk him through the investigation.

Uncovering decades of simmering hatred and deceit, Lavender and Woods must use all their wit and cunning to solve this evil crime.

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

My Review: I tapped out at "'But did he drink brandy every night?' Woods remembered the poisonous concoction of brandy and ink cap mushrooms Sculthorpe had taken on the night he died." in chapter 13, because it was the last clumsy, awkward straw on my readerly back.

It's not awful, not incompetent, not any terrible thing; it's just not any very good thing either.

Thomas & Mercer needs $15.95 to give you a paperback. YMMV as to style/mood/tolerance level.

PEARL RULE #030

A Line Too Far (Australia Under Attack) {19%} by Barry Colman

Rating: 2* of five

The Publisher Says: Chinese commandos in a lightning raid have seized the vast, under-populated, resource-rich lands of Northern Australia. Thousands of Australian soldiers are held hostage. International realpolitik has left Australia abandoned by its supposed allies and its brittle social fabric is rapidly unwinding as the people panic.

A Chinese ultimatum demands the annexation of the country’s top half in ten days, or face a full scale invasion.

As other politicians clamour to sue for peace, Prime Minister, Gary Stone, in a desperate race against time and impossible military and political odds must commit to a risky and controversial plan to try and free the country.

A Note From the Publisher

At the heart of this novel is a serious security issue for Australia. In 1911, Australian Prime Minister Alfred Deakin said, "Either we must accomplish the peopling of the Northern Territory or submit to its transfer to some other nation." In 1942, as the threat of Japanese invasion of Australia loomed, Edward Ward, the Minister for Labour and National Services accused the previous government of a secret plan — the "Brisbane Line" — that would have seen Northern Australia abandoned in the event of a Japanese invasion. In A Line Too Far, author B.C. Colman draws an all-too-real scenario for the present day, showing that the basis of these fears is just as relevant today as it was generations ago.

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

My Review: Look at the publisher's note above, and at the name of the publishing company. In 2016, when I downloaded this, I ignored the blaring klaxons and strobing red lights, requested it, and then 45 was elected shortly after that; my stomach for Brad Thor-like writing and jingoistic stories fell into a pit and still hasn't re-emerged.

YMMV.

Liberty Publishing Company still offers it.

PEARL RULE #031

To Capture What We Cannot Keep: A Novel {16%} by Beatrice Colin

Rating: 3* of five

The Publisher Says: Set against the construction of the Eiffel Tower, this novel charts the relationship between a young Scottish widow and a French engineer who, despite constraints of class and wealth, fall in love.

In February 1887, Caitriona Wallace and Émile Nouguier meet in a hot air balloon, floating high above Paris, France—a moment of pure possibility. But back on firm ground, their vastly different social strata become clear. Cait is a widow who because of her precarious financial situation is forced to chaperone two wealthy Scottish charges. Émile is expected to take on the bourgeois stability of his family's business and choose a suitable wife. As the Eiffel Tower rises, a marvel of steel and air and light, the subject of extreme controversy and a symbol of the future, Cait and Émile must decide what their love is worth.

Seamlessly weaving historical detail and vivid invention, Beatrice Colin evokes the revolutionary time in which Cait and Émile live—one of corsets and secret trysts, duels and Bohemian independence, strict tradition and Impressionist experimentation. To Capture What We Cannot Keep, stylish, provocative, and shimmering, raises probing questions about a woman's place in that world, the overarching reach of class distinctions, and the sacrifices love requires of us all.

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

My Review: Downloaded in 2016, the note I made for myself after abandoning the read that December (consider what December 2016 was like) was: "Émile...Concours Hippiques...guinguettes...zut alors!"

That made no sense, so I went back and re-read from the top. I got to chapter 6, ran into those words and thought, "I'm about sick of this," and quit again. It's better than competent writing, but I just do not care at all if straight people get together, cross class boundaries, find glory in the sack or end up holding it, in 2025. Straight ladies with historical tastes, Francophilia, and plucky-widow tolerances higher than mine are advised to seek it out.

Flatiron Books says "$11.99 please" at checkout. Read the sample, if it sounds good in your mental ear, go for it.

wow -- quite a lot of Pearl Rule there. Too bad.

PEARL RULE #032

The Angriest Angel {21%} by Christopher Halt

Rating: 2.5* of five

The Publisher Says: They’ve lived among us for decades without incident. Until now.

The Caelans are a nonviolent and technically advanced people who long ago conquered anger and interstellar travel. Virtually indistinguishable from us, they hide in plain sight. They live in our neighborhoods and work in our offices.

But something unexpected happens at their base of operations in the Midwestern United States. Anger begins to infect some of them—like a disease. When the mysterious outbreak takes their leader, Regulus Lafaye, he becomes hostile and violent. He even abuses his mind power, psy, in order to control others.

The Caelans’ peaceful nature makes it impossible for them to stand up to Lafaye’s aggression, until Avery—one of the uninfected—stumbles upon an unlikely hope: Chase Madison, a plucky criminal recently incarcerated for selling his ADHD meds. Avery discovers that Chase’s ADHD makes him immune to the Caelans’ psy, and therefore key to the cure.

It also makes him a target.

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

My Review: Sound the tocsin. I am dead to this...work:

"We have since psyed this indigena, but it's impossible to convince him to not see something that was right before his eyes, especially something out of the ordinary. Our only choice was to taint his credibility, which has succeeded thus far. My plan is to let him say whatever he wants to whoever will listen while tarnishing his personal backstory so he won't be believable. Do you understand?"

I think it's awful, content *and* execution; the content because it's done all the time and makes me very angry, the execution because I do not have a robust enough infodumpbrella to keep it off my hair.

Createspace Independent Publishing Platform (!) asks for $15.95 per paperback you purchase.

>188 RebaRelishesReading: It's all clean-up posts from years ago. I haven't quit a book this month, so it's not as grim as it seems, Reba.

BURGOINE #085

Judas by Amos Oz (tr. Nicholas de Lange)

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: At once an exquisite love story and a coming-of-age novel, an allegory for the state of Israel and for the biblical tale from which it draws its title, Judas is one of Amos Oz’s most powerful novels.

Jerusalem, 1959. Shmuel Ash, a biblical scholar, is adrift in his young life when he finds work as a caregiver for a brilliant but cantankerous old man named Gershom Wald. There is, however, a third, mysterious presence in his new home. Atalia Abravanel, the daughter of a deceased Zionist leader, a beautiful woman in her forties, entrances young Shmuel even as she keeps him at a distance. Piece by piece, the old Jerusalem stone house, haunted by tragic history and now home to the three misfits and their intricate relationship, reveals its secrets.

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

My Review: Historically terrible winter weather hit Jerusalem in 1959 into 1960; Shmuel is lucky to find a live-in caretaking position for Gershon, allowing him warmth and protection from the awful outside. He's entranced by mysterious (as in why's she there, what's she do there? mysterious) older Atalia. Lots of talking; not much doing; plenty of meditation on Jewish ideas about Jesus, and about Judas...was he the first and only christian?...and so on.

No real interest in the topic from me but I sure felt the beauty of the words."Here is a story from the winter days of the end of 1959 and the beginning of 1960.It is a story of error and desire, of unrequited love, and of a religious question that remains unresolved." If that, with the certainty the whole book is like that, appeals, it's one for you.

Mariner Books only needs $6.99 for you to secure legal access to an ebook.

BURGOINE #086

The Yelp: A Heartbreak in Reviews by Chase Compton

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Entertaining and touching—a vibrant memoir for anyone who’s had a broken heart.

When Chase Compton met the love of his life at a dirty dive bar on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, he had no idea how far from comfort the relationship would take him. Their story played out at every chic restaurant, café, and bar in downtown New York City. Ravenous hunger, it seemed, was their mutual attraction to one another—until suddenly the appetite was spoiled, and Chase was left to pick up the pieces of a romance gone wrong.

Left high, dry, and starving for affection (and cheeseburgers), Chase turned to an unlikely audience in a moment of desperation: Yelp.com. Detailed in the Yelp reviews is the story of how to survive a broken heart. Every meal and cocktail shared is a reminder of times spent with the ever elusive “Him.” In recounting the bites devoured and the drunken fits of passion that propelled the relationship, the author chronicles his whirlwind relationship with the man of his dreams, revisiting the key places where the couple ate, drank, and fell in and out of love in the West Village and beyond.

The Yelp is a memoir of personal transformation and self-realization, or more simply—a memoir of food and love, played out on a map of modern Manhattan’s culinary scene. The book includes the original twenty-eight Yelp reviews, with interwoven narrative chapters that provide context, insight, and delight to Chase’s story.

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

My Review: A novel way for a man to get attention for his (largely) self-inflicted heartbreak. The form is indeed clever...using your Yelp reviews to mourn the platonic ideal dining companion you've, hmm, well...a case can be made for finishing this sentence with lost, mislaid, driven away...anyway, who ain't with you no more.

Honestly, I say too bad in sympathetic tones because he sounds like a guy Chase (if better equipped) could've made a good run at the future with. So sorry, bud.

Skyhorse asks $12.99 for an ebook. Gay heartbreak sufferers on your Yule giving list ought to get one.

>190 richardderus: Ah, good. I was afraid you were on a really grim streak.

>193 RebaRelishesReading: Nope! Sunny as Scotland in Spring, I am!

Looks like quite a few Pearl ruled books lately. I hope that changes soon, RD!

((Hugs)) and **smooches** and hopes that you have a wonderful weekend.

>195 alcottacre: Morning, Stasia! They're all from years ago. I haven't quit a book in November. (Yet.)

*smooch*

324 THE PRICE FOR THEIR POUND OF FLESH: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation by DAINA RAMEY BERRY

Beacon Press brought this out in 2017, and the current kakistocracy's actions make it more relevant than ever...capitalism has a lot to answer for.

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Saturday.

>183 richardderus: You’re assuming that I won’t go for any of the reviews posted before then. You would happen to be right so far, except for the next one’s first book in the series.

>184 richardderus: A Boy at the Edge of the World is now on my wish list even though you only gave this one 3.25 stars.

*smooch*

>198 karenmarie: Morning, Horrible you vile orange-roughy muncher you. I never read that Yeh novel. I read the middle and the end; liked the middle a lot more than the end, sadly, but really enjoyed his writing so expect you'll enjoy the read.

It's dank and between cold and cool out there so I am not leaving my room except to pick up my Saturday food delivery. The Sunday post is all ready to go; Monday's about there, with some minor tarting up. I'm ever so pleased with this year's productivity. I had a lot more unwrittens before felonious yam got back into the White House. That's one good thing out of this bloody nightmare.

*smooch*

>194 richardderus: Ummm, is Scotland sunny in spring? I had no idea.

>200 RebaRelishesReading: If the sun comes out in Scotland before or after the 15th of June, people stop work and go outside to gape at it in awe and wonder.

Not doing anything even faintly resembling "catching up." Just swinging by to say *smooch*

>201 richardderus: LOL -- and true!!

Coming back to the northern hemisphere after our NZ adventure has been a bit of a shock in terms of weather and daylight. I have been sleeping so much.....

>197 richardderus: That looks compelling. We started watching Ken Burns' series about The American Revolution and I have appreciated some of the speakers' reference to the monetary value of different regions of enslavement -- that is, that the Caribbean islands were incredibly lucrative for the British, and Virginia was pretty high in monetary value as well. Some of the other colonies were less valuable in terms of the riches they provided for the empire and that affected decisions the British made along the way as the colonies became restless. I'm not articulating it very well here but it has been an interesting element of the much-more-complicated-landscape of colonial uprising and imperial response than I was ever taught in school.

Cheers to you, my friend. I hope you are doing well.

Thanks for the heads up on Brotherless Night. This was on my TBR last year and then got lost in the shuffle. I now have an e-book copy. You came through again. Happy Saturday, RD.

>202 EBT1002: Hi Ellen! I'm just slightly miffed gets voodoo-dolly kit out that you did not begin your every day of vacation heats rusty nail reading my blog the way I know you do jabs Ellen's needed-for-running knees when you're at home.

I think >197 richardderus: is up there, for sure. Maybe >77 richardderus: would complement the read? Burns has been out on the history pods giving the show the big ups. He is someone I can't remember a "before" time despite the fact he's our age. Not many people have that profound a cultural impact.

Keep resting, the stresses are real even when they're fun, and we ain't as resilient as before. Or I ain't and I'm projecting onto you....

>203 msf59: Oh yay! I think you'll get a lot out of the read.

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Sunday to you.

>199 richardderus: I haven’t had Roughy for a while, even longer for Red Snapper. I hope your food delivery was uneventful and your posts/reviews align with the stars.

*smooch*

>206 karenmarie: Thanks, Horrible...I'm in the thick of finalizing publishing order and vetting my categories for flow. No one cares except me, of course, but that's really who I'm working to please.

Food delivery was fine, and I'm polishing off the leftovers for lunch...garlic eggplant with chicken, yum. I think the abx is working against the cellulitis in my foot. It's not hurting as much, and isn't a festive shade of purply-red, so maybe...? I've certainly got abx stomach! *smooch*

I've read both Brotherless Night and Hungry Ghosts, but I read them a while ago and I am quite sure I liked them more than you did. I am glad you are feeling better. And happy you liked your food!

>197 richardderus: I need to read that one. I will have to see if I can find a copy. I have had it in the BlackHole for far too long.

((Hugs)) and **smooches** and hopes that you have a marvelous Monday, RD!

>208 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deborah! I'll venture a guess that anyone else would've liked those stories more than I did, mostly because I read so much more than a normal person.

They're solidly entertaining, interestingly created work, but not world-beaters.
***
Today I'm starting my #booksgiving blast. I've been working for months to choose, schedule, and edit these (mostly) illustrated books...but y'all're in for a lot of posts until Xmas Eve. If it bothers you please feel free to skim or skip.

>209 scdoster: Morning, Stasia! I think >197 richardderus: will teach you a lot. I.L.L. is the way I'd go myownself.

Monday orisons, sweetness.

325 Wild instinct : a novel by T. Jefferson Parker

A darn good story that (I hope!) starts a series, from Minotaur Books.

326 Thyme for Dessert: Sweets and Treats Inspired by the Flavours of the Pacific Northwest Coast by DL Acken, Aurelia Louvet

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Thyme for Dessert is a stunningly photographed and practically minded celebration of West Coast flavours for the sweet-toothed that is sure to delight locals and visitors alike.

This decadent book of dessert recipes embraces the varied flavours of the West Coast, drawing from its abundant wild and cultivated plants and from its rich medley of cultures to create mouthwatering local recipes. Covering cookies, bars, breads, cakes, pies, pastries, and frozen desserts, you’ll find treats for sugar-lovers and savoury dessert fans alike in this small but mighty cookbook perfectly sized for everyday kitchen use. With ample suggestions for substitutions and a section on preserving, the home chef will find these recipes practical enough to incorporate into daily life and unique enough to impress on special occasions.

Thyme for Dessert includes every type of West Coast from local plants like spruce tips and haskaps, and abundant introduced vegetation like blackberries and zucchinis, as well as iconic staples from vibrant local immigrant communities such as garam masala and truffles. DL Acken's latest cookbook is a gorgeous tribute to the rich flavours of her home region that showcases delicious sweets that will entice locals and visitors alike.

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

My Review: Fascinating take on eating local. The recipes are different, like herbed marshmallows (huh?):


...seems a weird idea to me, but one really never knows until tasting it if it can be counted a success. At least the idea of eating these marshmallows doesn't sound appalling like eating a plain one does.

There are, of course, chocolate recipes as well, with a very intersting herbal twist:



...which sound like fun to eat. I want to try the swirled-chocolate lemon balm ones. I like the idea of dark-chocolate/spruce tips truffles, but where to find spruce tips in New York...? It's very much a book aimed at the Pacific Coasters. But the truth is, like any recipes written at all well, the principles can be adapted to the nice-smelling stuff in your garden.

Of course, no dessert book could possibly exist without some kind of pastry:


...like these pretty little cannoli...miso cannoli, to be exact, filled with lemony chèvre crème. Do what now? Goat's-milk cheese in cannoli? I sat and thought about that, and after re-reading the recipe, thought it *could* be tasty though I think I'd add a smidge of vanilla to the chèvre myownself, or use maple sugar...possibly even syrup.

So enjoying cookbooks as I do, enjoying the beauty of the photos as I do, I recommend this as a unique gift for a dessert-baking friend, a nostalgic PNW transplant, or that quirky bud who thinks it weird desserts would be fun to spring on the in-laws.

The introduction, the contents page, and a couple fruit still lifes with the recipes made from them might convince you to get this little luxury item for that special gift for a very special someone.


information


peaches



apples


plums

I know I would've jumped up and down if I'd ever got one of these. Any baker, cook, or dreamer will as well.

I've gained 10 pounds just looking at these photos! Thanks!

>214 jessibud2: I'm very glad I'm not the only approaching-spherical viewer of those lovelies!

327 Seasoned in Appalachia : delicious recipes that capture the soul of the mountains & hollers by Jimmy Proffitt

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Journey to the heart of Appalachia through soul-satisfying recipes, charming personal stories, and stunning images of its natural beauty.

Inspired by home-cooked family meals, Seasoned in Appalachia delivers authentic, flavorful dishes paired with charming anecdotes about family traditions and the magic of the Appalachian region. Author and IACP member Jimmy Proffitt, who grew up and learned to cook at an early age in the Shenandoah Valley, presents an authoritative collection of Appalachian cooking featuring heartwarming recipes for 75 delicious dishes, including:

Apple Cinnamon Biscuits

Green Tomato Pie

Country Ham

Sloppy Joes

Brown Butter Cornbread

Cranberry Orange Pound Cake

Belsnickel Cookies

Snow Cream

and more!

Featuring beautiful photographs of the recipes and mountain scenes, this easy-to-use cookbook is your guide to the distinctive cuisine of the Appalachian region.

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

My Review: I'm a fan of home cooking and baking books that're for HOME COOKS, not aspiring pâtissières just as much as I am of the lah-dee-dah piss-elegant ones. Like pretty boys who're great in the sack, the elegant ones start lookin' messy, trashed up, wrinkled, old if they're good enough to use, and if they're not they're not interesting after a month at most.

Solid, useful, nice-lookin', these're the qualities that wear well.

In food as well, as we're all old enough to know. The recipes on these pages are very direct, you'll have 90% of the ingredients on the counter or in the front of the pantry already, and if you need something to make a recipe, Walmart will have it.

the most reassuringly familiar lineup of yumminess on this Contents page

We start out with an Introduction followed by a kind of statement of purpose, a why-we're-here essay:

It's another warm, personal touch like many to come. Finding out the why of the book really does explain why-bother.

From here, there are some special sections:

canning and preserving...very lightly touched on

...before we're into the main subjects and recipes:



comfort foods; biscuits; fancy apple ones the English call "scones"

Your need for some Southern hygge now satisfied, here comes the meat:




meat chapter open; country ham; fancy chicken wings with cilantro; fish and hushpuppies

And then it's time for dessert!

if you don't like carrot cake, why are you even taking up space and using oxygen?

I've had a version of every one of these dishes. I think you most likely have to, even if you're not from the US. What I hope is you'll remember a good version, a good time, a good day that ended well with this kind of food...and join me on the memory train to the stove to do it again using Proffitt's pretty book.

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Monday to you.

>207 richardderus: Pleasing yourself over your books and/or reviews is the most important, of course. I’m the same way with my 2025 stats and monthly lightning round. I’ll leave you to the eggplant – in fact, if we’re stuck on a desert island YOU can have all the eggplant. I will, of course, take all the chocolate. Yay for the abx working, sorry about the abx stomach.

>212 richardderus: So many tropes! Animals blamed for human crimes. A Native American detective, too. People tend to not think of SoCal as rugged mountains and deserts, so that’s a good detail, especially east of Laguna Beach, which is the epitome of Orange County rich and powerful. Pass, but only because I’ve sooo many tbr mysteries on my shelves already.

>213 richardderus: Gorgeous photos, of course. I’ll pass because I do not live in the Pacific Northwest, and even though Jenna and Hwan live there, I’m always leery of gifting them anything they’d actually have to keep in their apartment, except for money, gift cards, and clothes. Besides, I’m a philistine and miso and chevre and and herb-scented marshmallows don’t appeal.

>216 richardderus: Tempting. Passing, although I’ve now learned what Belsnickel Cookies are. The photo of kitchen gadgets/pans and etc. looks similar to what I have in my kitchen.

The Carrot Cake makes me whimper.

*smooch*

328 The Route 66 cookbook : the best recipes from every stop along the way by Linda Ly (photos by Will Taylor)

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Embark on a colorful culinary journey traversing America’s Mother Road with stops to recreate the best eats along the way.

In The Route 66 Cookbook, acclaimed author and lifestyle blogger Linda Ly combines armchair travel with a traditional cookbook to celebrate 100 years of the United States’ most recognizable roadway. This unique compilation of recipes honors American transportation history with a location-specific focus, encouraging you to explore new flavors, places, and perhaps even future vacation destinations.

Discover fascinating historical facts and figures from the route’s early days to modern attractions as you try recipes organized by state, starting from the eastern start of the route in Chicago, Illinois, and continuing all the way through to its western endpoint in Los Angeles, California, making pit stops in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. From cheap, quick eats to steakhouses and fine dining, this cookbook caters to varied budgets and palates. Recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner all make an appearance, and drinks and desserts get their time to shine too.

Throughout its recipes and destinations, The Route 66 Cookbook pays homage to America’s diverse cultural history. Of course, there are recipes for a variety of standard American fare, such as diner food, burgers, and multiple styles of barbecue, but German, Mexican, Asian, Indigenous, and fusion foods are also included:

Apple Strudel – The Berghoff, Chicago, IL

Blackberry Wine Cake – St. James Winery, St. James, MO

Egg Cream – Monarch Pharmacy and Soda Fountain, Baxter Springs, KS

Späetzle – Rock Cafe, Stroud, OK

The Elvis Ugly Crust Pie – Midpoint Cafe, Adrian, TX

New Mexican Posole – Silver Moon Cafe, Santa Rosa, NM

Halibut Ceviche – The Turquoise Room at La Posada Hotel, Winslow, AZ

Strawberry Margarita Pie – Chiquita Rosita's, Barstow, CA

Spicy Seafood Soup – The Albright, Santa Monica, CA

With 66 recipes from the Midwest to the West Coast, The Route 66 Cookbook has it all, honoring an American road trip tradition and ensuring you can enjoy it even if you’re not on the road.

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

My Review: The decommissioned "Route 66" highway from Chicago to Santa Monica, CA, has a legacy of visual and social clarity brand managers have dreams about. Like the "Wild West" icon fixed in the world's consciousness, it only covers about twenty years of real time...from the end of WWII until the youth rebellions of the middle 1960s, ramping up to fever pitch during the "Beat Generation's" louche and unfettered prestige ascendancy. Their experiences drove tourism as much as afforded cultural cachet.

the midpoint sign and some trivia

Even to this day, people around the world know what "Route 66" means. In a world-wide sense it's still a pretty powerful signifier of coolness. This collection of recipes is designed to bring out your wallet by appealing to that enduring image. The journey aspect, following the road and eating/cooking at stops is nicely calculated to make home cooks curious:

planning your journey

No place on Route 66 is more famous or iconic than California. To get there on the route, one has to go through Arizona's huge swath of the Sonora Desert:


Arizona



California

None of these recipes are terribly challenging. They're finely calculated to be a small stretch beyond the habit zone of home cooks, so they're fun to make and, not surprisingly, fun to eat.


some samples

As pretty to look at as it is practical to use, this is a gift item you'll get major points for thinking of and getting for the giftee.

>217 karenmarie: ...wait'll you see >218 richardderus: ...

I'm totally with you on gifting...but maybe show it to them? Can't know if you'll want it if you don't know it exists. I'm just spiking the gun, you know the one..."I can't keep up!" You don't have to, it's All still here whenever you're ready to browse, but it's nowt to do wi' me what you decide to do. Not my job.

Anyway, it's said, so their permission to do it their way is granted.

>179 richardderus: I read this one last year and gave it 5 stars -- perhaps it speaks more to women?

>220 RebaRelishesReading: I'm guessing it would. It's not existentially connecting with me that way I can see it would to a woman. I'm glad it was a hit for you!

>212 richardderus: Wow! I remember really loving a couple of T. Jefferson Parker's earlier crime novels. This is when I was really into this genre, from the late 80s through the 90s. Glad to hear that he still delivers.

>213 richardderus: I think this is a perfect gift for my friend that just started a baking business. I think for my mom as well ( then I can borrow it from her later!) Great gift bullet, thanks!

>222 msf59: Nobody can stay at it as long as he has unless he's got chops. I think this could go on, if the PC people don't notice his sleuth's Native American.

>223 figsfromthistle: An excellent idea indeed, Anita! I hope both recipients fall in love with it.

Wow! Good thing I just ate dinner and dessert or I'd be running off to the kitchen after seeing all those delicious recipes and photos!! Smooches Ricardo. Glad to be back. : )

>226 Berly: I've spent days picking out the books...I've gained at least a half ton in my mental body from them. Next batch of cookbooks will be the diet/restriction/joyless body fuel ones on Friday, when we all feel our porkiest.

No, no. I feel porkiest AFTER the weekend! ; )

>228 Berly: Can you ever nibble on crusts by Friday? I'm usually so wretchedly greedy I can't even drink juice, just plain water. *smooch*

'Morning, RD. Happy Tuesday to you.

As chief planner/prepper/cook for Thanksgiving (this year on Friday), by the time we sit down I can usually get by with a small helping of everything and teensy wedges of Coconut Cream Pie and Pumpkin Pie.

329 REVENGE, SERVED ROYAL (Lady Petra Inquires #3) by CELESTE CONNALLY

330 Dark London : a journey through the city's mysterious and macabre underworld by Dr. Drew D. Gray

Rating: 4.75* of five

The Publisher Says: Dark London brings together the history of the city’s seamier side, picking out the most scandalous, curious and bizarre aspects of London’s shadowy and fascinating underbelly.

From dark crimes of passion to shocking tales of grave robbing, gruesome murders, dens of iniquity, Victorian séances, and haunted houses—not far beneath London’s everyday bustle and glitter there has long been a fascinatingly rich underworld of criminality, superstition, scandal, and macabre debauchery.

In Dark London, social historian Dr Drew Gray, a specialist in the history of crime and punishment, delves into the city’s grim yet compelling past, uncovering the people and places that shaped its darker identity.

Across more than 100 real-life cases and curiosities, he explores how London became both the heart of a growing empire and a stage for vice, greed, and human fallibility.

Highlights include:

The London Burkers, a notorious gang of resurrectionists whose leader confessed to stealing and selling nearly 1,000 bodies to London’s medical schools in the 1830s.

The Whitechapel Murders of 1888, still the world’s longest running serial murder mystery.

The prisons of Newgate and Pentonville, where shifting attitudes towards justice revealed the tension between punishment, reform, and moral control.

The legend of Spring-heeled Jack, the terrifying, leaping figure who caused panic across London’s streets.

The Great Stink of 1858, when London’s polluted Thames brought the city to a standstill and forced a revolution in sanitation and public health.

Dark London brings together the history of the city’s seamier side, picking out the most scandalous, curious and bizarre aspects of London’s shadowy and fascinating underbelly.

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

My Review: London's been a world city, most of the time, since the Romans lost Colchester in 60CE and moved their colonial government there. Lots of scope for serious weirdness of the supernatural stuff sort, and viciousness (or just misguided trying to help) of the human sort. Both leave separate kinds of stains on the memory of society, locally as well as internationally.

Author Drew Gray's biography as provided by Frances Lincoln Ltd:

Dr. Drew Gray is a social historian of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries who specialises in the history of crime and punishment. Drew is Head of Subject for Culture (Humanities, Media, & Performance) at the University of Northampton and teaches modules on both the History and Criminology programmes. His previous works include Murder Maps: Crime Scenes Revisited; Phrenology to Fingerprint 1811-1911 and London's Shadows: The Dark Side of the Victorian City.

That's one helluva CV. The gent knows how to present the facts and images in tandem, all illustrated books from him to date, so why would this one fail? Spoiler: It doesn't.

The history of crime, the historical context of punishment, the social context of these dark patches of London's history aren't exhaustively explored in this handsome gift book. I felt the illustrations were well-chosen and -presented; but sometimes pulled well above their weight in explication of societal details. I can't give full five stars because I was niggled by this, despite this being the book's literal purpose for being an illustrated overview.

We all have a well-loved ghoul somewhere on our gifting list. Someone who really enjoys the frisson of crime and punishment, who wants that extra thrill of knowing what humans are capable of...and this is the book for them. It's also very much a book for your Londonphile/Anglophile giftee. I think you, faithful reader, might like it for your own coffee table.

Here, look at some of the more than a hundred images:

contents

murder

punishment

spooky stuff

humanitarian harms done

A very nice gifting idea for Yule...especially suitable for the Goth nibling/grandchild.

>230 karenmarie: Oh my, yes, there's really no way for the cook to get stuffed until the next day...waaayyy too soon when sitting at the table. It's still baking in your mind at that point, plus you're dog tired and want to enjoy other peoples' pleasure without extra fuss. It's really the secret sauce innit.

Tuesday orisons, sweetiedarling.

331 The Bible of British Taste: Stories of Home, People and Place by Ruth Guilding

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Based on the highly popular blog and IG account, Bible of British Taste, this book will give readers a glimpse into the idiosyncratic houses that exemplify the best of British taste and style.

With a predilection for lived-in, even cluttered interiors, filled with antiques, artworks and paintings, this style rejects perfection and gives you a sense of what it would really be like to live in some of the houses you see in magazines.

In 2012 Ruth Guilding, long-time contributor to World of Interiors, set up her blog and website, Bible of British Taste. Since 2016 has run an Instagram account of the same name, which now has almost 70k followers and an engagement rate of over 6%. In December 2022 she created the first issue of a magazine based on these accounts, which quickly sold out.

Now working alongside an influential younger generation of British tastemakers such as Edward Luke Hall (228k IG), Ben Pentreath (172k) and Duncan Campbell (70k), she has become the unofficial arbiter of the quirks and eccentricities of what makes British style.

This book charts the development of this style from the work of William Morris and the Bloomsbury circle up to the present. With unrivalled access to the locations, all the photographs are taken by the author.

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

My Review: A potted history of Style as practiced among the British strivers and arrivistes since Victoria's reign, it's a gift item for the aspiring Anglophile. The author's quite the maven on the topic. Her Instagram account is filled with lush images of English cozy, homey, gemütlich comforts and some grand-looking stuff to break up the sameness.

where we're going, aka the Table of Contents

I'm always fascinated by these super design-oriented books. They're evergreens in publishing terms, books that can't fail (as a class, not individually) because people need gifts that make a statement: "I know you, I know you like {topic/thing/activity} so I'm going to show you just how fond I am of you with this book about it." One enormous category for this kind of object is the coffee-table book. It sits and looks lovely, it can be leafed through by awkward guests and/or during an embarrassing moment offering a social lifeline, and (in this specific book's case) be enjoyed simply for its intrinsic handsomeness.




all photos by the author

I turned pages and admired, felt oddly comforted in a world of confusion and turmoil by this steady thrum of solidity, and came through the experience with admiration for the author. This is a very cohesive presentation of British (English, really) style. It's clearly pervasive...she doesn't repeat any locations...and deep-rooted, the history bits demonstrate.

For my part, it's not my taste, it's cluttered and I'm morally certain every one of these spaces is dusty and musty. I'd feel the need for a full-time vacuumer/duster supported by a weekly wash-up specialist indoors, and at least two gardeners.

So, not so much on the aspirational scale for me. But it's fascinating, and for the right recipient, a gift that will elicit delighted coos and warbles of envious ecstasy.

332 Beyond the veil : the Victorian obsession with death and mourning by Paul Gambino

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Beyond the Veil is a visual exploration of Victorian mourning, charting the often peculiar and at times macabre ways of how the living memorialize the dead.

Beyond the Veil is a visual tour through the curious history of how we deal with death—the grief and mourning, the funerals, symbols, and ceremonies.

From Victorian England across to the US, learn about the often peculiar and at times macabre ways of how the living memorialize the dead.

Humans have always had ways of marking death, but in Victorian England death became a morbid obsession that went global—death was as much ‘celebrated’ as it was a source of fear and sadness. Queen Victoria herself became a figurehead of grief after the death of her beloved Prince Albert in 1861. Her ensuing fascination with death took many visual forms—from her ritualized embrace of black clothing to the building of ostentatious monuments—and massively influenced cultural norms in both the UK and further afield.

The Victorians built complex cemeteries, collected precious memento mori, commissioned bizarre death portraits, and obsessed over the correct mourning attire and funerary protocol, while turn-of-the century America saw reflections of many of these cultural phenomena. The bestsellers of the period were often about life and death (think Frankenstein and Dracula), while the art, architecture, and style—with its often dark and heavy gothic overtones—revelled in the glamorization of death. Beyond the Veil brings this extraordinarily elaborate and stylised visual culture together while expertly explaining and elaborating on its most peculiar and fascinating aspects.

For example, it explores:

The influence of Queen Victoria’s personal mourning on fashion and social custom.

The rise of Victorian cemeteries and funerary architecture.

The art of memento mori and post-mortem photography.

The emergence of spiritualism, seances and afterlife communication.

The fascination with gothic literature, symbolism and the romanticization of death.

Beautifully illustrated throughout with archival photography, artworks and design,Beyond the Veil is a must-have for lovers of history, art, and the macabre. It invites readers to step into the shadows of the past and discover how Victorian mourning shaped our modern relationship with grief and remembrance.

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

My Review: Lovely, design-heavy gift book, perfect for your history-minded or Victorian-obsessed giftee's coffee table. It's nicely written, easy to read, but...crucially for a book on this subject that depends on the quality of its sources...has no notes or bibliography worth spending time on. I certainly don't expect academic-standard citations, but more than the absolute minimum should've been attainable.

My longstanding dislike of Queen Victoria...won't someone, anyone, write an alternate history where Princess Charlotte lives through bearing Leopold's son?...hit glowing hot hatred as I read about how her abused-child narcissism totally screwed the entire world while she pouted and shouted about her playtoy...sorry, husband...being taken from her before she was tired of him.


contents page spread

English society, and the broader colonial sphere in Scotland and Ireland, out into the wider Anglophone world, began to follow some truly weird death and mourning customs:



sample of essay; interior spread about hair art

...because in the time before effective antibiotics, sanitation, and city planning, there was wide scope for mourning the loss of literally anyone close to you from some unexpected cause.

This chapter spread says it all:

Shadow of the Scythe indeed!

As an illustrated overview of a subject that can easily consume academic careers, this is a successful book. As a beautiful gift object, it also succeeds. As a jumping-off point for looking into the truly obsessive, dysfunctional Victorian worldview, it does a fine job.


spiritualism rose to prominence in this atmosphere

sensationalism about murder did, too

some trivia fragments

Altogether a book I'd think your serious-minded luxury-item-worthy giftee will like.

>1 richardderus: Love it.

>150 richardderus: Nice.

>213 richardderus: Love cannoli too.

>236 Caroline_McElwee: Doggo, chèvre cannoli, and finding Jesus...hardly even seems like one of *my* threads, eh what?

>211 richardderus: While I appreciate ILL for what it is, it just takes too long, lol.

>212 richardderus: Adding that one to the BlackHole.

>231 richardderus: I will have to check out that series as it sounds like one I would enjoy. It looks like my luck is in - my local library has copies of the first two in the series.

>232 richardderus: Sounds right up my alley!

ETA: Did I miss the In Death reviews somehow?

>238 alcottacre: Nope..."in Death" comes on Thursday. Or they're on Goodreads now because I got a note from the publicist.

>231 richardderus: will very likely satisfy! They're fun cocktail-peanut books that give more fun than they ask in concentration. *smooch*

333 THE PORCELAIN MENAGERIE by JILLIAN FORSBERG
A work of fiction about the world's most important object of industrial espionage. Yep, your dinner plates exist because a French Jesuit stole the principle secret behind making porcelain, and saved Europe's balance of payments in the process.

>240 richardderus: The book interests me but I will take your word about skipping chapter 30. I likely would not be able to stomach it.

Have a wonderful Wednesday, Richard! ((Hugs)) and **smooches**

>241 alcottacre: Oh, you very very much would not, Stasia. It's astonishing to me it's even real. (Attested in multiple sources, so it likely is. More's the pity.)

Wednesday well, dear lady.

334 American Whiskey Master Class: The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Bourbon, Rye, and Other American Whiskeys by Lew Bryson

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: In American Whiskey Master Class, expert and industry insider Lew Bryson expands his deep dive into the history, process, and must-know producers of American whiskey in all its forms in this handsome, deluxe edition.

Go beyond the glass and discover the secrets behind your favorite styles of American whiskey in this updated, expanded, deluxe edition featuring a faux-leather cover.

Over the past three decades, Lew Bryson has been one of the most influential voices in whiskey—a longtime editor of Whisky Advocate and author of the critically acclaimed guides Tasting Whiskey and Whiskey Master Class. In this expanded edition of American Whiskey Master Class, Lew focuses solely on American whiskeys, sharing everything he’s learned on his journey through the world of American bourbon, rye, and other whiskeys. This approachable book is like a “200-level” class taught by a favorite teacher, with compelling tales (like how barrel aging came to be), insider tips (such as an old taster’s trick for sampling whiskey), and explanations you never thought you needed (like why you can never get a beverage that’s 100% alcohol—and why you should stick to whiskey!).

In this handsome edition, you’ll find it all:

An overview of the different types of whiskeys, including the rules and identities of each. He also includes information on craft whiskeys, which tend to be more creative and freewheeling than the styles made by traditional producers.

Exploration of the key whiskey ingredients, with a close look at the flavor contributions of malt, peat, corn, rye, wheat—even water.

Distillation for non-distillers and the beauty of barrels: Whiskey is both an art and a science, and what’s in the glass is affected by things like pot stills vs. column stills, barrel char, and of course, time.

Numerous interviews with master distillers, still makers, and other artisans at the top of their field.

Tasting notes throughout, including more than two dozen new ones, so you can identify the whiskeys you might want to try next.

New and expanded material, including how to decode and decipher rare bottles, new developments in the American whiskey market (notably single malts), new profiles and interviews of “must-know” producers, new photos, and more.

A new introduction from Fred Minnick, author of Bourbon Curious

Every chapter contains a variety of unique, often behind-the-scenes photography, coupled with Bryson’s master storytelling. And with whiskey as the subject, this is a class where you’ll want to do the homework.

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

My Review: Whiskey's my favorite tipple, though I'm medicine-induced teetotal at this point. I do love the smell as much as I love coffee's smell, for the same esthetic reason: The way it tastes is the way it smells, only adding a refined layer of bitterness, smokiness, complexity, that really fires up my palate. For me, then, this was a lovely walk down memory lane. For those not taking life-saving medications that preclude drinking alcohol, this is an *amazing* guide to developing and educating one's palate.

the roadmap to Whiskey Heaven, aka Table of Contents

Illustrations are well-integrated into the design, not looking like blobs of color stuck down on the pages. That shows especially in the infographics:

never thought much about HOW it gets done before

Naturally there are sections on the who/what axis of blindness we as aficionados can turn onto our belovèd objects of obsession:


who, then what

I can go on and on about how gift books of non-fiction are the most delightful reviews to write. I get to learn about stuff I really know so little about it's embarrassing, like the distinction between, nay existence of, the dichotomy between Traditional and New whiskeys:


beautiful presentations of the deliciousness

...and then, of course, we need to learn about the best of the best in the world-class expert writing this book's highly educated opinion:


interesting names, no?

I loved the lushness and polish of the presentation of the book, and was very interested by learning how much growth and activity there is in this beverage sector. I know y'all have whiskey fanciers in the family, and a luxury item like this that blends information he might not have with enjoyment you might not share is a lovely way to show interest in this subject.

Plus it looks *smashing* on your coffee table.

335 Celebration cocktails : outstanding batch cocktails and individual drinks for holidays, parties, birthdays, weddings, and other festive occasions by Rhiannon Lee

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Make any size gathering truly festive and magical with a delectable themed cocktail that pairs perfectly with the occasion.

Let's face it: If the occasion is special, the drink should be special too. Why trot out your weeknight gin and tonic or scotch and soda when something extraordinary is called for? Whether you're serving a get-together with three people to celebrate a job promotion or a grand holiday party for three hundred people, cocktail expert Rhiannon Lee, author of three masterful books on mixology, serves up the recipe ideas you need in this colorful, photo-rich, and inventive book. She provides recipes both for pitcher and punchbowl batch cocktails perfect for a big crowd and for single-glass drinks a host can make to suit guests' individual tastes.

With short ingredient lists—so you can spend less time shopping and more time celebrating!—the recipes include:

Lots of themed drinks for Fall festivities, Christmas, New Year's Eve, and Easter

For sharing with your sweetheart on Valentine's Day, a romantic vodka martini with a splash of cranberry and a touch of rose water

A delicate and exotic Lunar Martini, a blend of lychee juice, vodka, and a hint of lime, for celebrating the Chinese New Year

The Blushing Bride, a pink-hued bubbly pomegranate-flavored drink ideal for bridal showers and wedding parties

Cocktails for holidays all around the globe, including the Hindu holidays Diwali and Holi and Hanami, the Japanese cherry blossom holiday

Touchdown Tea, a strong and refreshing iced tea cocktail with bourbon and lemon for tailgating and any other sporting occasion

From the Spring Equinox to the Winter Solstice to all the weddings, birthdays, retirements, and holidays that lie in your future, you will find a lifetime's worth of perfect drink ideas in this fun and delicious book.

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

My Review: Party season is coming! Do you need to stock up your bar? Of course you do!


contents, aka shopping list

The thing about a book like this is it can hide your ineptitude with or ignorance of alcohol as a party-starter by being a beautiful thing to look at. One friend of mine would put a book like this open on the bar, and say, "come pick a drink!" Since he knew he could look up how to make it, gracefully, and already had everything needed for it in the bar (having read the book and made the list), it was training and fun combined. I liked those parties.



the why and the how

So as a (self-)gift, as a thing to have around, or just something to thumb through and wonder "who thought of that?":

seriously?

...there's a reason for this one to join your celebration and libation of the season.


winter

spring

summer

fall

Rejoin cocktail culture! Time to swig your way to happiness! (In moderation, of course, these're some very fattening tipples.)

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Wednesday to you.

>232 richardderus: BB ricochet. This book got me thinking about London’s lost rivers, so just bought London’s Lost Rivers.

>233 richardderus: You absolutely nailed it. My pleasure on T-Day is watching other people enjoy the meal. My pleasure the day after is LEFTOVERS!

I have successfully dodged all other BBs.

*smooch*

>244 richardderus: Perfect, Richard. Exactly what is needed to get through the holiday season

>245 karenmarie: I totally get it, sweetiedarling. London's Lost Rivers is cool! Didn't *quite* book-bullet me but close.

*sigh* It's a busy time, innit. I needed to make a list of the specific sequence of tasks to get them All accomplished...why'd it take me so long? *sigh again*

>246 figsfromthistle: Morning, Anita! Just promise me you will never, ever, ever make a "pumpkintini" *shudder*gag*shudder* and I promise to find another one like this for your visual delectation.

The Walnut Tree in Benevento (The Witches Sabbath), 1822-6 by Giuseppe Pietro Bagetti (Italian, 1764–1831)

I like this as a model for Yule tree decor.

336 What would Mrs. Astor do? : the essential guide to the manners and mores of the Gilded Age by Cecelia Tichi

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: This illustrated Gilded Age etiquette guide offers "proof that sliding around the naughty edges of society can be as informative as it is entertaining." (Alida Becker, The New York Times Books Review)

Mark Twain called it the Gilded Age. Between 1870 and 1900, the United States' population doubled, accompanied by an unparalleled industrial expansion and an explosion of wealth. America was the foremost nation of the world, and New York City was its beating heart. There, the richest and most influential—Thomas Edison, J. P. Morgan, Edith Wharton, the Vanderbilts, Andrew Carnegie, and more—became icons, whose comings and goings were breathlessly reported in the papers of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. It was a time of abundance, but also bitter rivalries. The Old Money titans found themselves besieged by a vanguard of New Money interlopers eager to gain entrée into their world. Into this morass of money and desire stepped Caroline Astor.

An Old Money heiress of the first order, Mrs. Astor was convinced that she was uniquely qualified to uphold the manners and mores of 19th century America. "What would Mrs. Astor do?" became the question every social climber sought to answer. This work serves as a guide to manners as well as an insight to Mrs. Astor's personal diary and address book. Ceceilia Tichi invites us on a beautifully illustrated tour of the Gilded Age, transporting readers to New York at its most fashionable.

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

My Review: So much beauty and opulence shoved up to the surface by so much greed and theft.

Let's not go there this close to the leanest Yule in many a long year. We're not remotely out of the woods economically, but this book is about a time where the economic situation was far, far worse. It's discussed in here, though not exhaustively. It's a social history, it's about how etiquette came to matter so much, which of course requires we know a bit about how the men, all men, stole...made, sorry...so very much money to support the women's social construct.

the lady herself, in her finery painted for posterity

The very idea of entertaining at home was made aspirational by the "Four Hundred" (the number who could fit in Mrs. Astor's ballroom); as late as the 1960s, the idea was prevalent, and while the means changed, the manners barely did.

my generation certainly heard Emily Post's name, same woman and mostly the same advice

Lina Astor was an insufferable snob. Her ballroom was for "the best people," whose money was so old no one living could remember the hustler who got it. Nouveau riche industrialists' wives need not apply. It was a world she ruled, but it was a reign of terror that had to be agreed to; there was nothing forcing anyone into this restrictive social contract except made-up ideas like prestige.


two robber-baron "homes," Manhattan and Newport

Oh, and money of course. Lots and lots and lots of money.Author Tichi does not bear down heavy on the whole "robber baron" thing. There's no way around the money ocean they swam in. It's rather the point of a beautiful, illustrated book about luxury.


smart excessories...I mean accessories!...for Madame and Sir

It's astonishing what boredom does to a person. This time period, up to then the richest in world history, led to wealth disparities but also to the cementing of the idea that one could live a life not mere have an existence. Vacations to exotic places, to different places than you frequented as usual anyway, and recreational shopping (a Georgian idea embraced effusively by the Astor set) became ordinary for these wealthy folk:


shopping and sitting, two "fun" things

What I enjoyed most about this read was the way Author Tichi left it to me to judge, presenting facts and showing (as you see) examples and artifacts for me to decide what I thought about. We are in a new Gilded Age of wealth disparity, and at an economic crossroads, just like these folk were. We need to think carefully about what we individually do, because that becomes by default collective action.

The gifting season should be replete with beautiful tokens of love and affection; that doesn't mean they can't be thought-provoking, interesting, and relevant, too.

then, a residence; now a museum

Just popping in to wish you Happy Thanksgiving, Richard. I'll catch up (or not) after the holiday. For now, I've got a couple of side dishes to prepare for tomorrow's "feast." But not the traditional turkey. My daughter said it's too much trouble to prepare (though we're having all the usual side dishes), "and I don't even like turkey." We're having steak instead. Not sure how well that will go with the yam casserole and roasted squash and green bean casserole and pumpkin pie, but whatever.

>251 Storeetllr: I'm with your daughter...and all those sides are delicious (well, I myownself hate yams) so they'll be good no matter what they're beside. Enjoy!

>251 Storeetllr: We're having roast beef, mashed potatoes and salad. But my turkey-loving husband actually suggested this menu, as there will only be the two of us for dinner. I was NOT about to argue.
I did make a pumpkin pie today, because I love it. He'll have a couple pieces of candy for dessert and be happy.

CONGRATULATIONS to New Vessel Press for my 2025 6*-of-five read, THE REMEMBERED SOLDIER, being a New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2025 selection!

The (no-paywall) List: https://www.yearendlists.com/2025/new-york-times-100-notable-books-of-2025

>253 laytonwoman3rd: Sounds like a really good dinner! I myownself would add roasted brussels sprouts and green apples, but not everyone likes those....

>255 richardderus: There will be pickled brussels sprouts in my salad.

>256 laytonwoman3rd: Num! I'm a fan of those too.

You have been reading and reviewing a lot of interesting books, Richard. The hot dog with fruit loops @218 looks interesting, if not appealing. I'm not a fan of fruit loops. An interesting idea. The biscuits make me drool. Dark London : a journey through the city's mysterious and macabre underworld sounds very interesting.

'Morning, RDear!



I'm leaving in about 15 minutes to get my daughters. I can't wait to see them and hug them.

*smooch*

>242 richardderus: I know it is real because sometimes mankind can be real idiots. However, I do not want to read it. I read for pleasure, I read for education, I do not read for horror real or otherwise.

>254 richardderus: Thanks for posting that list, Richard. I am hoping to get to The Remembered Soldier in December.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving day! ((Hugs)) and **smooches**

>258 vancouverdeb: It's always interesting when this time of year rolls around, Deborah, so many terrific books I've read during the year finally get some time to shine. Dark London : a journey through the city's mysterious and macabre underworld is really very specific in its appeal, but I'm in the audience, so...

>218 richardderus:'s hot dog...thing...was too visually arresting not to use, but damned if I'd try it! The biscuits OTOH I'll fight you for. *drool*

>259 karenmarie: Morning, sweetiedarling! Have a wonderful time with the whole fam under one roof!

>260 alcottacre: Morning, Stasia, happy Turkey Day to All y'all. Maybe The Remembered Soldier will get lucky and become a favorite of yours, too.

*smooch*

337 Framed in death by J. D. Robb

#61 in the seemingly eternal Eve Dallas series of near-future mysteries, featuring way too much straight people disporting themselves unbecomingly sex.

337 Stolen in death by J. D. Robb

#62 in Eve Dallas' adventures. This time Roarke, the improbably horny homekeeper husband, has a lot to do with the resolution to the crime. It's by far the most interesting one I've read so far, so preorder it for delivery in February is my advice!

Happy Thanksgiving, Richard. American Whiskey Master Class sounds like the perfect gift for any bourbon lover. I may have to gift one to myself. 😜

>266 msf59: Best way to enjoy your gifts is to give them to yourself. I'm a big fan of self-gifting. And it's really beautiful to look at, as well as learn from.

338 Film noir compendium : key selections from the Film noir reader series by Alain Silver & James Ursini

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: In this essential study of film noir, editors Alain Silver and James Ursini select the most significant and influential articles on the movement from their highly respected Film Noir Reader series and assemble them into a single, convenient, heavily illustrated volume. Still included, of course, are many rare early articles and such seminal essays as:

Borde and Chaumeton's "Towards a Definition of Film Noir" from Panorama du Film Noir Americain

Paul Schrader's "Notes on Film Noir"

"Paint It Black: the Family Tree of the Film Noir" by Raymond Durgnat

...with newer studies such as:

"Lounge Time" by Vivian Sobchack

"Manufacturing Heroines in Classic Noir Films" by Sheri Chinen Biesen

"Voices from the Deep: Film Noir as Psychodrama" J. P. Telotte

This collection of over 30 articles probes this most influential American film movement from varying angles: formalist, feminist, structuralist, sociological, and stylistic; narrative-thematic historical, and even from the point of view of a pure aficionado. There is something in this volume for every student or devotee of film noir. Plus like the readers that have proven an invaluable tool for academics planning a syllabus, it can serve as the most complete core text for any of the myriad of film noir courses taught throughout the world.

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

My Review: Let me show you a few pictures from the book:




...among many others pepper the text, bringing the much-needed visual element to these learnèd essays about visual storytelling. This is a book of educated devotees delving deep into their passion, not a coffee-table book.

But it's Turkey Day. No better time to be reminded that crime is always, in the end, punished. Put the carving knife down, Mom; empty the poisoned wine now, Dad; beating your older sibling to death with the candlestick is best left to the Clue board, kids. (Of all ages.) Togetherness is, I know, overrated, so get those urges met by reading about them. Family togetherness...work parties...club meetings can all get a little too too much when packed into a short span. Blow off some emotional steam in the pursuit of understanding why killing does not solve the problem just creates more.

Oh, and SOMEone out there has/is a film buff, a noirista, a lover of moodily lit, elegantly appointed period pieces like these, on their gifting list.

339 ROMEO vs. JULIET: A Kill Shakespeare Adventure by ANTHONY DEL COL (art by Stefan Tosheff)

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: The world's most famous lovers are now sworn enemies dueling to the death!

In this Shakespearean Western, warrior-for-hire (and pregnant) Juliet Capulet is hired to protect a border town nunnery from the evil forces led by her ex Romeo. As they prepare, she reluctantly reunites with her old allies, including Hamlet, Othello, Puck (a “Magnificent Shakespeare Seven”) but they soon discover something rotten in the state of the nunnery and a magical force that dreams are made on… all while Juliet must determine if the father of her child is Hamlet… or the man she must kill, Romeo.

Pulitzer Prize-winner writer Anthony Del Col (Luke Cage: Everyman, I Escaped a Chinese Internment Camp) and artist Stefan Tosheff bring reboot Kill Shakespeare with this fantasy Western that's tailor-made for fans of Neil Gaiman, Fables and Lore Olympus.

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

My Review: Rebooting a comics series, that was itself a riff on the works of Shakespeare? These guys got big brass ones! I'm not the most dedicated fan of comic-book art (stop laughing) so I wasn't expecting much when, on a whim, I downloaded this murderous, vengeful Juliet out to kill Romeo (whose child she's bearing), in sequential art form.






That's some kinetic, powerful art. I will admit freely that I don't feel I *get* what y'all do when looking at this art, but it was clear enough for me to follow the storyline, and I really enjoyed the read.

Since Turkey Day requires us to really dig deep into our memories of Love and Kindness to survive the onslaught of togetherness, the narcissism of small differences in Freud's pithy formulation, do a bit of relief-valving by reading what could on this day of total excess feel like wish fulfillment.

I can't get past something to offer a perfect score: Juliet looks very blunt, very not-noble to my eyes. YMMV of course. I really enjoy retellings, more often than not, and Shakespeare's ripe for the retelling and reimagining. His plays were a chore to read for me...don't like plays as reading material too much...but what stories he told! Reusing the ideas of the greatest storytellers seems an excellent idea to me. Enjoy the ride!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, dear Richard! I wish the best that the day offers for you! *smooch*

Since NYT will not let me access the full deal now (although the subscription passed on to me by niece hasn't run out and I don't care enough to inquire), I couldn't get to their list of best of 2025. My thanks for the link!

The coffee table books are gorgeous to look at here and nowhere else really. Thanks again.

In Death?? I will start #16 in a few days, making 3 that I will have read this year. I will never get to #s 61 and 62. I can live with that too.

>270 LizzieD: Thank you, my dear Peggy! I had two nice surprises in a row: The facility's lunch was eggplant parmigiana, which I genuinely enjoy; and a local business that sends dozens of orders here every week sent us a big bunch of really good Tgiving meals as a thank you! I kept the lovely moist turkey for sandwiches later, but I got real mashed potatoes and gravy; roasted mixed veg...so delish!; cornbread stuffing with homemade cranberry sauce--the star of the show.

*oink*

I'm never going to read All my ebooks and, since we live in greedland, can't leave them to anyone. My tree books the facility can have and welcome to them. But unless I'm wrong, there's no Afterlife so I won't be snuggled up reading All the good stuff I never got around to, and I'll just keep a-flippin' them pages until The End gets clonked on me.

Happy Thanksgiving!! I am glad you got some yummy food today and I gather "oink" means you may have overdone it a bit. : )

So, of your book reviews above, my Hubby would love the one on Whiskey and I would enjoy the one after that on creative drinks. Sounds fun to me!! ; )

Guests arrive in a half hour, so I am chilling until the chaos happens.

>272 Berly: Have a lovely dinner, Berly-boo! I'm sure it will be.

Oink does indeed indicate a small amount of, um, consumption of comestibles beyond caloric replenishment optimization. At least I got a lot of cornbread stiffing and cranberry sauce, things I don't get otherwise. Plus I have turkey for sammies over the weekend.

Walt deserves a whiskey course, don't you think? And you should present yourself with the thoughtful-spouse drink guide as a reward! *steadies bibliorifle barrel for best shot*

A very late Happy Thanksgiving, RD! It sounds like you had a good one, with good food from both your facility and the surprise meal from the local business. Apologies for being late, but I hadn't gotten over here in more than a week, and it took awhile to catch up.

>268 richardderus: is tempting.

>274 atozgrl: Thanks, Irene! I'm pleased it was seasonably cold, and the dinners were made up of the things they were...it's been otherwise in other years. I hope yours was a good one as well.

>268 richardderus: is a fine, and handsomely illustrated, overview of film noir's scholarship. I hope you enjoy when it joins your TBR.

340 The wayfinder : a novel by Adam Johnson

It's a LONG one that's also one of The Washington Post's 10 Best Books of 2025!

341 Jayne Mansfield : the girl couldn't help it by Eve Golden

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Jayne Mansfield (1933–1967) was driven not just to be an actress but to be a star. One of the most influential sex symbols of her time, she was known for her platinum blonde hair, hourglass figure, outrageously low necklines, and flamboyant lifestyle.

Hardworking and ambitious, Mansfield proved early in her career that she was adept in both comic and dramatic roles, but her tenacious search for the spotlight and her risqué promotional stunts caused her to be increasingly snubbed in Hollywood.

In the first definitive biography of Mansfield, Eve Golden offers a joyful account of the star Andy Warhol called "the poet of publicity," revealing the smart, determined woman behind the persona. While she always had her sights set on the silver screen, Mansfield got her start as Rita Marlowe in the Broadway show Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?. She made her film debut in the low-budget drama Female Jungle (1955) before landing the starring role in The Girl Can't Help It (1956). Mansfield followed this success with a dramatic role in The Wayward Bus (1957), winning a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year, and starred alongside Cary Grant in Kiss Them for Me (1957). Despite her popularity, her appearance as the first celebrity in Playboy and her nude scene in Promises! Promises! (1963) cemented her reputation as an outsider.

By the 1960s, Mansfield's film career had declined, but she remained very popular with the public. She capitalized on that popularity through in-person and TV appearances, nightclub appearances, and stage productions. Her larger-than-life life ended sadly when she passed away at age thirty-four in a car accident.

Golden looks beyond Mansfield's flashy public image and tragic death to fully explore her life and legacy. She discusses Mansfield's childhood, her many loves—including her famous on-again, off-again relationship with Miklós "Mickey" Hargitay—her struggles with alcohol, and her sometimes tumultuous family relationships. She also considers Mansfield's enduring contributions to American popular culture and celebrity culture. This funny, engaging biography offers a nuanced portrait of a fascinating woman who loved every minute of life and lived each one to the fullest.

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

My Review: I was a young boy when Jayne Mansfield died. It was stunning how insensitive the chatter around the tragedy was...my mother vocally disapproved of the demeaning way she was talked about as a "sex kitten" and bringing up her nude photos and scenes. I've been interested in her ever since, as my judgmental mother was *defending* her, so something had to be interesting about her.

the most famous photo...Sophia Loren disapproves

More interested in being a star than an actress, the lady was quite a handful as a person—ramping up the public persona that would've made her zillions in the Aughties, fighting, undressing, taking risqué to its apotheosis in the days when Marilyn Monroe, Diana Dors, and she were working the blonde bombshell vein in the publicity mine.

how she made her millions

Like those ladies, Jayne Mansfield was an intelligent, troubled person with a hot ambitious streak in her that her face and body were able to fuel. She never hesitated to use her sex appeal...and sex...to get her name in front of the public. It worked; she was famous.


Mickey and Jayne in mid-act

She was not respected, as no woman in that era was really respected; but certainly no frankly, openly sexual anyone, still less a woman, was going to be highly regarded in the film or television industry. Thus when fashions changed and gamines became The Next Thing, she had no baseline of support in the industry she'd made so much money for.

Las Vegas was ready for her

Turbulent, addiction-haunted personal lives were, are, always have been back into pop-culture history all too common among the famous. Jayne Mansfield was no different than so many others with messy personal lives. She did seem to get married a lot and ended up with five children born between 1950 and 1965.

the family side

The terrible tragedy of a life cut so very short is that her potential, her development, her impact on the world is frozen at a moment; not a moment I suspect, reading about her in this book, she would have stayed in forever. Author Golden has come in for criticism in her supposed inaccurate information about what, when I poked into it a little bit, looked to me like pretty insignificant dates and details about trifles. Looking at the notes...all fiftyish pages of 'em!...Author Golden *lived* in newspaper archives for a good while. Where the issue seems to arise is in the slightly too-prominent tone of disapproval some have seen in the text. It did not feel moralizing to me. I was more interested in the trajectory of a proto-Kardashian sibling.


either of these could have Kim Kardashian in them and be the same publicity campaign

When Yule gifting is the point, the life and times of bygone stars make very instructive reading. We're in fame hyperdrive thanks to a level of mass communication unknown in Jayne Mansfield's life, but the exploitive outlines are still there. Your budding feminist film scholar might enjoy seeing how we got where we are; your brodawg cousin might just like seventy-plus pictures of Jayne Mansfield. The Fifties and Sixties exert fascination that will peak in the late 20s and early 30s as the TCM crowd starts watching the silly innocent farcically "naughty" work of the era. A book like this will please those audiences.


She might not have received the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, but this family is very much a testament to the fact she did something right.

342 Stardust by the Bushel: Hollywood on the Chesapeake Bay's Eastern Shore by Brent Lewis

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Hollywood on the Chesapeake Bay's Eastern Shore. One-hundred years of moviemaking on Delmarva, from Easton to Ocean City and Wilmington to Chincoteague. This is the first comprehensive history of the stars of stage and screen who called the Eastern Shore home during (or after) their lives...as well as major motion pictures produced on location here. Written with meticulous care and infectious joy by Brent Lewis, a tenth-generation Eastern Shoreman known for his mastery of regional history and lore.

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

My Review: I'll admit it up front: I'm a sucker for tightly-focused histories of films, their stars, and the stories of their production. This book, then, is aimed at me.

This area, one of the longest colonized places on the continent, often plays host to individual productions or television series that benefit from the less-familiar-than-California landscape...and from tax benefits. Some actors from the area push for productions to go there.


the face of film noir, Robert Mitchum

Robert Mitchum spent a big part of his youth in Delaware, because his grandparents took on raising him when his mother had had enough. Apparently he was not acting too much in his mean-bastard roles.
Affection for the area persisted in him. It seems to cast quite a spell, does Delmarva!

A native to the area is Linda Harrison, Sixties and Seventies beauty of some renown who played Nova in the science-fiction film classic Planet of the Apes most famously.


her talents were on display

After being cast in one of the defining blockbuster films of the Sixties, Harrison has spent years coming to terms with that specific type of fame; she's returned to her Maryland hometown, moved back to open a business. Now she is active on the convention scene that celebrates the Planet of the Apes franchise. She only appeared in the first and second films, yet the fans still love and embrace her in the con scene. Not a bad career!

Films that've made the area part of their background include Harriet, starring the luminous Cynthia Erivo in an Oscar-nominated star turn:


the film was less famous than it should've been

Tubman was born on a Eastern Shore plantation so the area figures prominently in the film. Production included locations all over the area. There are two National Historical Parks in the area dedicated to Tubman and her legacy.

An enjoyable book, one I never had to talk myself into returning to; and one that a film fancying giftee with a taste for anecdotes will batten on.

'Morning, RDear! Happy Friday to you.

I'll be back, possibly not before tomorrow, to catch up since my last post.

*smooch*

>279 karenmarie: Happy Turkey Day, Horrible! *smooch*

>263 richardderus: Maybe The Remembered Soldier will get lucky and become a favorite of yours, too. It would not surprise me at all if it does, Richard. Both you and Peggy enjoyed it so the book is sure to be a good one for me as well.

>264 richardderus: I am so glad to see you finally enjoyed something about my beloved In Death series, lol.

>265 richardderus: As soon as one comes out, I preorder the next one so no worries there for me.

>268 richardderus: My guy Humphrey has a photo in the book?! Must get it!

>276 richardderus: Woot! My local library actually has a copy of that one.

>277 richardderus: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the review and recommendation, Richard!

>278 richardderus: I'll admit it up front: I'm a sucker for tightly-focused histories of films, their stars, and the stories of their production. This book, then, is aimed at me. You and me both, RD.

((Hugs)) and **smooches** for the day after Turkey Day

>281 alcottacre: Wow, here I was thinking I'd been a lazy ol' slug today, then a long you come to respond to stuff and I realize I was reasonably busy after All!

I think >278 richardderus: is one that few except thee and me will get excited by. The others, well, >276 richardderus: will delight you unless I miss my guess; >268 richardderus: will too. Enjoy the weekend-ahead's reads, smoochling.

Turkeys ain't the turkeys you think they are.

>275 richardderus: I'm glad you had seasonably cold temperatures for your Thanksgiving. We're about to be hit with the coldest weather so far this fall, getting into the low 20's tonight. Our Thanksgiving was a quiet one at home, but it was good.

>278 richardderus: >281 alcottacre: I'll admit it up front: I'm a sucker for tightly-focused histories of films, their stars, and the stories of their production. This book, then, is aimed at me. You can count me in that group as well. I have a large collection of movie books that are mostly not yet cataloged on LT. I acquired most of them while I was a teenager and in my early adult years. >277 richardderus: and >278 richardderus: are books that I am more likely to want to get from the library than purchase for myself, and odds are good that my local library won't carry either one. But they do sound interesting.

>282 richardderus: Thanks, RD. I am glad that I was able to prove to you that you are not, nor ever have been, a lazy ol' slug :)

>284 atozgrl: Welcome to the group, Irene! Lol

Have a wonderful weekend, Richard!

'Morning, RD! Still not able to catch up beyond wishing you a happy Saturday.

Daughters on the way back to WA, coffee and a piece of coconut pie consumed, and I'm headed back upstairs to either read, doomscroll, or nap.

*smooch*

343 Presidents (OH NO THEY DIDN'T) by Eric Huang (Illus. Sam Caldwell)

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Do you know the Presidents of the United States? Well, OH NO YOU DON'T!

In this myth-busting guide to the Presidents of the United States, their Vice-Presidents, First Ladies, and presidential pets, everything you think you know will be proven wrong!

Do you know everything there is to know about the Presidents of the United States? OH NO YOU DON'T!

The people who have served as President of the United States of America are some of the most famous people on the planet. But how much do we really know about the presidents? We all know that...

President Abraham Lincoln freed enslaved people by signing the Emancipation Proclamation,

Thomas Jefferson introduced ice cream to the US,

Andrew Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives and kicked out of office,

AND that Theodore Roosevelt had teddy bears named after him because he once refused to shoot an injured bear...

Do we...? Because... OH NO THEY DIDN'T!

These commonly held misconceptions about our Presidents are everywhere, but none of them are true! In Oh No They Didn't: Presidents, commonly held misconceptions about the Presidents, Vice-Presidents, First Ladies, and presidential pets are all dispelled. This myth-busting guide to the White House and everyone in it is an irreverent, fun, and enriching way to learn about US political figures and history.

Stylishly designed and humorously illustrated by Sam Caldwell, Oh No They Didn't: Presidents is a hugely entertaining and trendy take on US history for young readers. This myth-busting series makes history accessible to everyone, taking an alternative and gripping approach to teaching the true facts about the past. Dive in to learn what else you were taught in school that is completely WRONG!

In the Oh No They Didn't... series, popular misconceptions in history and culture are dispelled, busting myths about famous people and events of the past!

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

My Review: The very existence of an office as powerful as the US presidency guarantees its occupants serious global fame while in office. Along with that comes the misinformation, mistakes, major misunderstandings, that come with fame.


The presidents...and first ladies...of the US over the past two hundred fifty years are not all included. The choices Author Huang and Artist Caldwell have made bust the most deep-rooted or best-known misinformed facts about these famous people.



sample spreads

It's an enjoyable way to learn about the honorable past of the US presidency.

>284 atozgrl: There are plenty of us, Irene, just not all that many here on LT. UPK, the publisher of >277 richardderus:, has done a good number of books like them. I'm not sure how ILL works where you are, but at least >278 richardderus: ought to be available in NC, it's about the general area of the South. The books will survive based on our seeking them out.

Anyway, quiet Turkey Day = good one to me. I'm clearly a curmudgeon though.

>285 alcottacre: Morning, Stasia, I'm pleased we've found a soul sibling like you are!

>286 karenmarie: Saturday orisons, Horrible! I know it was bittersweet to have a short visit but I'm glad it worked out for them to come. Coffee's done here, too, so the day can commence.

Wow! A BB Saturday! Film noir compendium sounds like a perfect book for a film lovers. Love those vintage photos. ROMEO vs. JULIET: A Kill Shakespeare Adventure looks like fun and you know I love my GNs. Glad to see you enjoyed The Wayfinder. Fortunately, I have an e-galley of that one and we will be doing a shared read in early '26.

Like many teenage boys, I fell hard for Linda Harrison. I can't recall seeing her in anything else. 😜

Good morning, Richard!

344 Trailblazers: Fascinating Facts You Never Knew About Amazing Trailblazers! (Oh No They Didn't) by Eric Huang (Illus. Sam Caldwell)

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Learn about innovative figures past and present in this myth-busting guide to trailblazers—everything you think you know will be proven wrong!

Trailblazers have made extraordinary contributions throughout history.From inventing everyday household items we take for granted to breaking barriers in sports and medicine, their impact on the world is undeniable. But how much do you really know about the innovators who’ve shaped our world?

Everyone knows that…

Martin Luther King Jr. used every method possible to fight for civil rights

Ruth Handler founded Mattel and created Barbie dolls

William Shakespeare came up with the story of Romeo and Juliet

AND Florence Nightingale’s family supported her dream of becoming a nurse

Or did they…? Because… OH NO THEY DIDN’T!

Misconceptions about famous figures from the past and present are everywhere, but they’re not always true! In Oh No They Didn’t: Trailblazers, myths are busted about over 50 trailblazers—politicians, legends, athletes, activists, scientists, entrepreneurs, creatives, and more.

In this fresh and funny guide written by Eric Huang, learn about inspiring innovators from all over the world and their influence on history and pop culture. Stylishly designed and humorously illustrated by Sam Caldwell, Oh No They Didn’t: Trailblazers makes learning fun with surprising facts and a playful, upbeat approach to nonfiction.

Oh No They Didn’t: Trailblazers is the perfect, inspiring guide for ALL young readers to learn about influential innovators, including parts of their stories that may have been left out of traditional history books or media. In this easy-to-read book, you’re sure to discover lesser-known pioneers who deserve to be celebrated, too!

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

My Review: A lot of adulthood is about unlearning what "everybody knows" about stuff. Almost always the myths about leaders are not true, or are skewed, to present them in one kind of light. It can be pernicious; more often than not it's just inaccurate, sloppy, careless uninterest in pursuing facts.

who we're talking about

Kids casting around for models of action, for examples of change-makers, often run into misinformation because The Culture℠ is hell-bent on perpetuating one narrative that might or might not include the truth about someone they do, or could, admire and emulate.

what we're saying

By choosing leaders and forerunners in different social movements, Author Huang offers the kid-reader a chance to see what areas of effort they might be interested in exploring more, and if nothing appeals, still demonstrating that there are always people who take up the torch to light the way for others to follow.

It's a life-changing message to receive. There's a wildly plastic moment in a kid's life where you can form life-changing and course-setting fascinations and commitments, and this book is aimed at that moment.

ecology

civil rights

But equally valuably, showing a kid that the world can be changed by example is, in and of itself, a wonderful investment in their, thus in our, future.

We need more leaders in fields we've never even heard of; we need kids to grow up thinking for the whole world, and all in and on it. A book like this can help them get in tune with that huge idea.

345 Science: Fascinating Facts You Never Knew About All Things Science! (OH NO THEY AREN'T) by Eric Huang (Illus. Sam Caldwell)

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Everything you think you know will be proven wrong in this myth-busting guide to science, from chemistry to geology, engineering, astronomy and even technology.

Science is all about figuring out how things work. It means asking questions and conducting experiments to discover and test possible answers. Science affects every aspect of life, from what you’re wearing and what you had for breakfast, to the weather outside.

Through science, you can examine the smallest atoms to the largest galaxies – and get to know the universe just a little bit better. But how much do you really know about science?
For example, we all know that . . .

Moons are smaller than their planet

Summer is caused by Earth being closer to the Sun

Water is an element

Tectonic plates don't move that much anymore

AND that engineers are people who fix things

Do we . . . ? Because . . . OH NO THEY AREN'T!

Misconceptions about our world are everywhere, but none of them are true! In Oh No They Aren't: Science myths are busted about science from chemistry to geology, engineering, astronomy and even technology.

In this fresh and funny guide learn about how our world works from atoms and molecules to volcanoes and solar systems, or even artificially intelligent robots. Stylishly designed and humorously illustrated by Sam Caldwell, Oh No They Aren't: Science brings important STEM topics to life for kids, uncovering how our world works and making science FUN accessible for everyone.

In the Oh No They Aren't . . . series popular misconceptions in science and nature are dispelled. Check out the Oh No They Didn't . . . companion series for hilarious history and popular culture myth-busting.

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

My Review: Busting myths is an eternal pleasure to kids. They like knowing stuff you don't, or you pretend you don't if you're smart, and here's a kid's motherload of trivia to ask you "did you know...?" about.

experimental conditions


methodology explained

As expected in this series, Author Huang and Artist Caldwell explain in fun, easy-to-digest pieces, the whys, whos, and hows of science as a method of understanding the world.



who thinks about rocks?

What makes these books so valuable to parents and other invested adults is the easy in of humor and vibrant art melding with kid-friendly questions-answered formatting. I've never known a kid who was not popping with questions about everything. No one can hope to keep up with the little natural-born scientists, wanting to know why and how and when about stuff we've forgotten decades before they were born.

Except, of course, dinosaurs:

cool!

Beats there a heart so dead to wonder as to be indifferent to these long-dead monsters of the Earth? (I already know the answer is "no" so no need to try to tell me otherwise.)

A wonderful way for you to see if your kid-giftee is interested enough in science to pursue it through schooling years.

I love books like this. Maybe because I was a teacher. Or maybe because I am still a kid (inside). Or maybe because I love that someone did the work to uncover and present the truth in a way that is appealing and entertaining. And I am easily amused. And always curious. Thanks, Richard! Maybe my library has these!

>291 msf59: Morning, Mark! I'm glad you'll be grouping over The Wayfinder because there's a LOT to discuss. It's a very intense story. But what else do you expect from Adam Johnson...If you get it, I think ROMEO vs. JULIET: A Kill Shakespeare Adventure will really pay you back in fun for eyeblinks spent.

Linda Harrison was on lotsa walls in our youth. I myownself thought Patrick Duffy, The Man from Atlantis, was teh hawtness.

Happy weekend-ahead's reads.

>294 jessibud2: Hi Shelley, oh I hope the library does have them...my data searches for them didn't turn them up in any collections but I didn't try Canada. Quarto, the publisher, is UK-based so there's a better-than-average shot at them being in Canada's libraries.

I love that they exist for those reasons, too.

The new thread's up...too many all-illustrated reviews...the thread would take bloody ages to load. Also, whoever's first, your crown will take a while to come but it will!
https://www.librarything.com/topic/375703

>168 richardderus: A very belated answer, but yes, I think art in person versus a picture on a screen is always different, more dimensional and evocative somehow. The particular one I saw has a lot more energy to it, and wasn't as relaxing as several of the ones you've chosen, being more brown and red than blue/green, as I recall.

>298 bell7: That was deffo his usual choice of pallette. Much of his work was pretty red-spectrum and orangey...not relaxing choices!

The Oh No They Didn't books look intriguing but I doubt my kids would fall for them now.

>300 humouress: They're waaay past that age, and lexile level. Too bad, innit.