Bookmarque’s Padded Cell 2026 - The Lunatics are in the Hall (One)

Here we are again in the Undisciplined Reading Room. 2026 - OMG this year will mark my 20th on LibraryThing. Twenty. Years. And a lot of them spent in this pub with you lot. Fab.U.lous. Better company could hardly be found. So much about my reading has changed over the years, but it is still a part of my life because I love stories. Lately a lot of what I consume is audio, and a lot of those are dramas like movies without the film part. I listen when I’m at the bench making jewelry, doing chores or pottering around the house. To see a breakdown of my reading you can hit up my Charts & Graphs page -

https://www.librarything.com/stats/Bookmarque/overview

You can find my previous threads here if you want to catch up on past insanity.
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015

I participate in the Annual books read lists so here they are (a list of lists!) -
Books read 2025
Books read 2024
Books read 2023
Books read 2022
Books read 2021
Books read 2020
Books read 2019
Books read 2018
Books read 2017
Books read 2016
Books read 2015
Books read 2014

My thread can be photo heavy since I am a photographer and am usually out in all seasons although lately some gremlin has run off with my mojo, so I’ve been uninspired and relatively inactive. Instead I’ve been working at building my skills with regard to silversmithing and jewelry making. It’s a lot of fun and definitely keeps my creativity flowing as well as learning new stuff.

Charts and graphs will be coming when I get those done. A whopper of a year in terms of content consumed.

So here's to 2026 in the pub!

Happy New Year!

Happy new year!

Happy New Year and Happy New Thread!

And thank you for the past book bullets and the book bullets yet to come!

Happy New Year! I can’t wait to see what you make at the bench and hopefully the gremlin returns your photo mojo. Happy reading (and listening)!

>1 Bookmarque: Nice graphic. Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Happy New Thread! Let there be lots of great books 🥰

Happy new year and happy new thread! I love the graphic of the Green Dragon! Looking forward to tracking your reading and enjoying your amazing photos.

Happy 2026! I hope your photography mojo comes back soon. You take gorgeous snaps!

Happy new year and happy new thread! Love the graphic and can’t wait for the photos (could we send the roombas out after that gremlin?).

Happy new year and happy new thread!

I thought the lunatics are in my head?

>11 Karlstar: More likely that's just the voices ...

>12 haydninvienna: Of course.

Thanks everyone! The New Year started off well with our neighborhood get together, this time at our house (we rotate). So. Much. Food. But it had an upside, the pork pie I made (yes me!!) wasn't necessary and now it's all mine. All mine! Mine! Muhahahahahaha!

Ok I'll share with hubby. Fine.

Pork pie is what our family always called it, but it isn't straight pork in the recipe my mom and sister used, it's 1/2 ground beef and 1/2 pork with some mashed potato and onion and allspice. It's sometimes called Tourtiere, and is a traditional French Canadian dish around the holidays. Both my mom and her sister as well as my dad's mom, made different versions of it, but being away from NH at the holidays meant I missed out. Then last year my friend Vicky volunteered to do the pie crusts and we were off. It is the perfect food because you can eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Or all three in one day. I'm not shy.

>14 Bookmarque: that looks terrific! I love tourtiere for breakfast. We usually make it at Thanksgiving because it's so good with turkey gravy on it.

>14 Bookmarque: I'm drooling from the other end of earth already! Melton Mowbray-style pork pies are a favourite cold food (necessary between now and March, with day temperatures in the 30s C), and yours looks even better. For this family I'd suggest leaving the onion out, and for me in particular a whiff (or more!) of piri-piri on the side.

>14 Bookmarque: Oh wow! I need to check out some recipes. Is yours secret? :)

Happy New Year and new thread! That pie looks tasty :)

>17 Alexandra_book_life: Nope and it's darn basic - 1lb ground pork, 1lb ground beef, 1 medium sized onion, allspice to taste. You break up the meat in a large sautée pan with the onion and cover with water, mix frequently and season with salt and pepper and allspice to taste. Simmer until the water is gone, then add a couple of mashed smallish sized potatoes. You may need to add more allspice at this point, so sampling is important! LOL. Fill pie crusts and bake at 400 for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Alternatives include adding clove (my aunt did this), or cinnamon (my friend Rachel adds this plus garlic, but leaves out the onion and potato), or using all pork (my Mémère used all pork).

>16 hfglen: Wow! I had no idea this type of thing was so widespread. It is delish isn't it? Interesting that it's a warm weather dish for you and a cold weather one up this way.

>15 Darth-Heather: Oh my...turkey gravy! That sounds amazing. Occasionally my dad and his brothers would slip a slice of cheese under the top crust and then reheat the slice. My aunt's husband and son garnished with ketchup.

Happy new thread! And what a wonderful pie! Tourtiere. I am off to go learn more!

>19 Bookmarque: Lovely! Thanks a lot 😋

Happy new year and new thread! Your graphics are so fantastic, I'm looking forward to seeing your reading adventures and photos this year :D

>14 Bookmarque: That looks fantastic and I bet it tasted better!

This is what we traditionally have the day before Thanksgiving and some time during the year when Trish gets a craving for it.

Isn't it the best? Meat pies are such a staple all over. When we were in Argentina it was daily empanadas. So great. And this pie turned out well, too, although I think I needed to mash the potatoes a bit more.

Hubby and I went snowshoeing today for a couple hours. Even though it was a little tricky with all the bent trees, it was glorious and as long as we stuck to the forest roads rather than the trails which were too difficult to get down as they are a lot more narrow.

>27 Bookmarque: Gorgeous.

>19 Bookmarque: You had me at pork pie - I'm a fan already of a hearty meat pie, and this recipe sounds intriguing! Thank you for sharing it.

Your pie looks beautiful!

>27 Bookmarque: Beautiful.

>26 Bookmarque: It is! One of those recipes we always ask ourselves why we don't make it more often.

On the other end of the meat pie scale, my daughter requested a bit of nostalgia for dinner, the 'impossible cheeseburger pie' from the Bisquick box. I think we both remembered it as being tastier.

Happy reading and posting in 2026.

>26 Bookmarque: your crust came out beautiful! that's the hardest part, for me. I don't have a good way with pastry.

My grandparents on both sides came from Quebec, and had a lifelong feud about the spices in tourtiere. One memere insists it should have clove and pepper, and the other preferred thyme (which is my preference too).

We also make the meat filling to use as turkey stuffing. the only difference is that in stuffing, the potatoes are left in small cubes, but when using a pie filling it's helpful to do as you say and mash the potatoes a bit so they act as a binding agent. Otherwise the pie slices kind of fall apart when serving.

Aww, thanks peeps. I cannot take credit for the crust - that was all Vicky and the secret is lard. Leaf lard specifically which is the fat nearest the kidneys on a hog. We get some with our whole pig orders and render it in a crock pot. It's snowy white and flavorless which means that the flavors come from whatever you're making and for pie dough it can't be beat. Light, flaky, but with some structural integrity as well.

@Darth-Heather - dueling Mémères! Hilarious. But I agree that thyme has no business being in a pork pie. Really! Agree about finer mashed potatoes being key to a good pie slice. Mine were a tad chunky, but still delish.

Make way for charts and graphs!!

So...I got through an amazing amount of material last year. But don't feel like you need to cheer or anything, I read a bunch of comic books early on and got through many shorter audio presentations, so it wasn't like I read War and Peace or anything.



Here's how the formats broke down - really audio heavy as usual.



Most of those ebooks are comics when I had a Comixology subscription for a while -



The little orange sliver is Podcast, another "borrowing" platform so to speak.

>34 Bookmarque:. This thread has offered an unexpected glimpse into meat pies as a cultural "thing".

Let me also say that the photograph in >27 Bookmarque: is lovely.

>36 jillmwo: It's wonderful the places an LT thread will meander isn't it?

And more snowshoeing -

>27 Bookmarque: So beautiful!

>27 Bookmarque:, >37 Bookmarque: Gorgeous!

Thanks everyone. It was a good couple of hours outside. Right now I think it's sleeting, or maybe coming down freezing rain. Bleah. I'd rather it snow.

Finished my first novel of the year, Carol Shields's The Box Garden -

>27 Bookmarque: What a beautiful scene! My little South Georgia town would shut down with even a dusting of snow.

Happy Belated New Year and New Book Thread

I love the snow photos! I know it can be inconvenient and dangerous, but I do love snow and wish I lived somewhere that gets a decent amount. But then I'd probably moan about having to shovel it, so maybe it's for the best that I don't!

Thanks guys - it's going to rain for a few days before getting colder again and I can only hope we get more snow after that.

Here are more 2025 stats -



I read about the same percentage of non-fiction as is normal. And I think new v old authors is about the same, too -



A lot of front list as is normal now -

TGD is by far the group I post in the most, but I recently started a thread in a short story group so here's the link if you're so inclined - https://www.librarything.com/topic/377542#n9071016

There are a few anthologies and omnibuses around the house that I haven't picked up at all or finished, so I'm doing something about that. Right now my focus is on a book from many different writers doing stories set in Stephen King's world of The Stand - The End of the World as We Know It. Last year I had a little Stephen King project going and heard about this book coming with his blessing and despite being excited at first, I stalled in it. No more and it's cranking along well.

Still plugging away at the End of the World anthology. Am a little over 1/2 way through. Had to give up on Yellowface though. Lucky for me I know when a library borrow will be the way to go and I'm so glad I do -

I've moved on to God's Junk Drawer by Peter Clines and it's MUCH more enjoyable. Should have known. But what can you do...I try to branch out and try new things, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

I am having a serious book hangover and can't bear to start something else after this -



It was just so much fun and a crazy "what will he think up next" kind of story with good characters, weirdness times 10 and a high body count so you don't get comfortable. I think he could pull off a sequel if he wanted to. Puh-leeez!!

For a physical book to read, this one is easy and it came on release day (yesterday) -



It's the l latest in the Pendergast series (duh), but is the earliest in timeline as it's an origin story tale and the ending puts our favorite Agent on the scene in New York with D'Agosta. The burning house isn't the family manse, but another house so I guess we'll have to wait for Pendergast's memoirs for that story. We do get another origin story though and I can't wait for them to meet - the inscrutable Proctor is also in this one, but hasn't yet come to the employ (under the spell?) of Pendergast.

It's a lot of fun so far (about 70 pages in), and I'll have to finish up some stuff at the bench and around the house quick so I can dive back in. Then next month comes a new Catriona Ward which will have me doing the same thing. And of course April is John Sandford month and a new Prey novel hits as well as a new T.C. Boyle which I will also pre-order with anticipation.

More charts. Lights up the world don't they? LOL. Mostly they're for me, but what the heck -



This chart is a more recent invention of mine and it shows that my love of audio drama pretty well. Last year I had a Comixology subscription for a while -

Out messing around in the snow yesterday. It was a balmy 25°F with a little breeze and oh so nice to be out.

>50 Bookmarque: Beautiful! I especially love the texture of the snow in the first photo.

>50 Bookmarque: What a great contrast. Thanks for the pictures.

Thanks peeps. Here's some more wintery goodness -



It's some type of fungi (jelly?) fruiting on the underside of a fallen tree. Could be Angel's wings, but I really have no idea. The colors were great and the backlighting made it call to me while snowshoeing.

On another note, I have read one or two of his Cork somebody-or-other series, and so tried this stand alone and ugh. I had to bail -

And where did January go so fast? Here's how my consumption went -



13 titles, although The End Times Issue 3 is very short as it's a 1 page folded newspaper. It was late coming, but it arrived finally. Not a whole lot of story development with this one, but I'm hoping for more in the next issue.

Lots of goodness up there - Chocky was a little dated, but still good and one of the only major John Wyndham works I hadn't read. The Box Garden was delicate and haunting as many of Carol Shields's books are. Great insights into relationship situations - romantic and family. Had the most fun with God's Junk Drawer which is in many ways typical of a Clines novel, and makes me wonder just how off the rails his imagination really goes. The R.D. Wingfield collection was terrific and I'm looking forward to the next one which will drop in May at Audible. The radio dramas were released in the 70s and 80s I think, and are all stand-alone thrillers, many involving bank heists and frauds. They were lost for a very long time until a team of volunteer radio enthusiasts managed to find recordings, restored them and returned them to the BBC. Mostly Wingfield is known for his police procedural Jack Frost series, but this collection didn't have any of those stories. Another collection does and I'll probably pick that one up, too. How to be Eaten was a somewhat perplexing retelling of many traditional fairy tales, but with the framework that each main character (Little Red Riding Hood for example) is participating in a group therapy project. Each story is a bit altered to suit the modern day setting, but there is an over arching question about who is running the sessions and why. After a bit more story, a particular name keeps coming up and it isn't tough to figure out who our mysterious therapist really is. A strange book, but I liked it.

>53 Bookmarque: That is a really cool capture. I see why it drew your eye.

>53 Bookmarque: I love fungi photos (and finding it in real life even more!). That's wonderful.

>53 Bookmarque: I love the other photos too, but this one seems to perfectly encapsulate this particular Winter.

Thanks peeps. I'm planning to go out again today and mess around in a frozen bog or pond. It was -10°F this am, but should warm up to the mid 20s. It's been so cold for so long that basically any water body is frozen pretty solid and if I can't kayak, it's at least on the water in some way. LOL.

Oh and PSA, especially for folks who don't live in the UK -



If you have Amazon Prime, it's included (for now) and so funny my cat can barely sit with me because of my constant laughter. I picked this for a weekly watch and chat I do with my 2 oldest friends who live in Maine and New Hampshire. We text and laugh our butts off. The Sirs are magnificent and brilliant as always and the supporting cast plays into their vibe perfectly. They play a couple of 49 years whose love language is bitchy insults and rejoinders, but when the chips are down they show that they really do love and support each other. Hilarious and so much fun.

Just started Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl and it's up to par on the weirdness level. It's been a while since reading anything of hers, but so far the overload of similes and metaphors is getting on my nerves. Too many and they are showy and show-offy. Am trying to let go of my annoyance and get into the story, which is interesting, but ugh, it's so irritating when authors do this. You can't choke a narrative with too many perfect little zingers, phrases and bon mots or else the reader can't really appreciate them anymore. Totally the opposite of say, Wodehouse or, in modern circles, Tana French. Another person who unfortunately fell under the spell of his own brilliance was Hugh Laurie. I know it's hard to believe, but his novel The Gun Seller is just choked with things I know he just thought so perfect and amazing, but there are too many, too often and the story is just drowning in them. Bleah.

Somehow Treasure Island escaped my reading when I was a kid which is when I think a lot of people read it. I never have so when I saw this in the Audible Plus catalog I decided to give it a go.



It was a lot of fun with good acting by all the cast, although the jungle sounds in the background on the island felt like they were on a continuous loop. One thing I wasn't aware of is how this book gave us so much of the pirate lore that we have today and that there would probably not be a Captain Jack Sparrow without this book. At least that's how it reads to me, right down to the Black Spot and Davy Jones's locker. These pirates are more cruel and ruthless than in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and that surprised me a bit since I think of this as a kids book, which I suppose it wasn't intended to be when it was written. I really liked the ambiguity of John Silver and how he played both sides against the middle when it suited him. When Jim catches him sneaking out with some of the loot, it was a sad moment and it was like losing another father. I was also surprised at the pointed commentary about kings and squires being just more pirates with sanctions to steal instead of being outlaws. Much more political than I expected and it added a level of seriousness that kept it from being just another adventure story, although probably the godfather of all adventure stories.

>60 Bookmarque: Cool! I loved Treasure Island when I read it 😊 I was probably ten at the time.

I don't know how faithful it was, but I enjoyed it.

Am reading The Talisman and its sequel in preparation for the third in the series coming in October. I don't love the connection to the Dark Tower books, but I'll endure. Somehow TDT just didn't click with me. It's Fantasy with a capital F and it does my head in. The Talisman is also fantasy, but with a small f and so doesn't irritate me quite as much. Fantasy lovers may dig both though. You can follow my thread here - https://www.librarything.com/topic/378641 if you have a mind to. Join in if you haven't read it at all or in a long while.

>60 Bookmarque: One of my favorites! I read it as a child and then again as an adult. If you haven't seen it, you need to watch Muppet Treasure Island now.

>59 Bookmarque: Oh, that's sad about The Gun Seller. I was having high hopes for that one ... when I finally get to it.

Yeah I was mighty disappointed in The Gun Seller when I got through it.

Muppet Treasure Island? Another that got away from me. Will track it down.

Sometimes the freebies on Audible are worth the time -

I kind of got my photo mojo simmering a bit and went bog walking a couple of times. It's been so cold for so long that almost every body of water is frozen solid. It's wondrous what you can find out there.





Not sure what the first plant is, the second is Blue Flag which is a native, wild iris, with a bit of Bog Cotton caught in it.

>66 Bookmarque: Lovely photos ❄️🥰

The plants look so delicate against the snow.

Thanks guys. I'm hoping it goes colder and we get more snow, but it looks the opposite so for now I'm not doing much photography. I am still a moderator on a photo site and I'm going to bitch about this here because I know you will understand.

We have, well had, categories like Landscape, Avian and Flora to name a few. Recently the site owner has shuffled these around and changed Flora to Plant Life and Avian to Birds. Ugh. Really? We have to lower ourselves to the stupidest person in the room? What is wrong with using something elegant and succinct and maybe *gasp* learning a new word and expanding people's vocabulary? But no, Plant Life (which will include fungi which are not plants, but let's not go there or I'll turn purple) is what we're stuck with. It makes me crazy how absolutely stupid people are these days that Flora and Avian are confusing or misunderstood. Grr. Really grinds my gears. I've lodged protest and tried to get him to change his mind, but down to the lowest of the barrel we go. Oh and beside each name/tag/category there was a little icon with a picture of a bird and a picture of a leaf. THAT wasn't clear enough? People are that dumb??!! Judging by the commercials during the Olympics, yes they are.

Ok. Rant over. Thanks. 🤦🏻‍♀️

>89 Karlstar: That's an entirely reasonable rant. Like you, I get irritated when it is assumed there is an urgent need to simplify vocabulary. Give people an opportunity to learn new terminology.

>69 Bookmarque: I am sorry. Your rant is a very sensible one.

>69 Bookmarque: I agree with you entirely.

>69 Bookmarque: Ugh. I'm a moderator as well at a photo forum and at least the image categories have remained the same over the years. I feel your pain!

In another universe, this would backfire as current members became irate over needless changes (people don't like changes!) because not only are they used to the categories by now, they can understand the titles. But this isn't THAT universe, so it will likely be met with cheers and happiness all around, as everyone settles into reading and comprehending at grade school level.

Good rant!

Thanks peeps - I KNEW you would understand. So infantile and demeaning, at least to me. Why does everything have to go to the lowest it can...can't we raise anything? Bleah.

Oooh, look what's coming in the fall -

>75 Bookmarque: Goooooood, gooooood 😁

>75 Bookmarque: I'm excited for this! As if there wasn't enough to love about Scalzi already, he has it in his contract that only real human artists can do his covers. No AI, he wants to give artists work. And he certainly gets good results from that policy.

>77 Sakerfalcon:
That a very principled stance. Another reason to read his books.

That is a fabulous demand to make! As an artist in one medium that is being devoured by AI, it's nice to see. Not sure if the monster up there is the equivalent of the Loch Ness Monster except for Lake Erie, but it is Cthulhu-esque, although the naked nasal cavity is a bit off-putting.

It's gently snowing now and I'm glad since I'd like to get out in all the lovely snow again. Here is a couple of split-open Blue Flag seed pods from when I went bog-walking -



And a Birch Polypore -



Winter makes it so easy to isolate subjects that normally get lost in their surroundings. Here's a trail shot that I really liked for the geometry of all the lines and the intense contrast due to the low angle sun -



I love how the light bounces around in all the hollows.

>80 Bookmarque: Great shots! I really loved the one with the trail 🥰

Oh my gosh! That tree picture! It's amazing!

I agree with the dumbing down of things. People really do need all that these days. We sent home an email this week about something happening on THIS friday. Yes, we capitalized it like that. We had a few parents email back and ask "that's this friday, right?" Um.....

>80 Bookmarque:
That third picture is mind blowing.

Terrific photo of the trail - the full sun was your friend here! Wonderful shot.

>75 Bookmarque: I don't want to wait until Fall!!!

I do love the photos, but I am so sick of looking at snow in RL.

>80 Bookmarque:. That third one of the trail is truly striking. You have a wonderful eye.

Aww, thanks folks. Am planning to go out tomorrow and do more bog walking.

Didn't make it. Had to return to Audible. I didn't like The Woman in Black so I didn't know why I thought I'd like this. DNF.

>87 Bookmarque:
I was disappointed by The Woman in Black. I found it a very linear ghost story with no interesting or amusing elements. I prefer the M. R. James ghost stories and Robert Aickman’s weird tales.

Bottom line, I do not attempt to read any other Susan Hill works. If her most acclaimed story is a disappointment I do not expect any better from her other fiction.

>75 Bookmarque: Funny, can't wait for that one!

>80 Bookmarque: Fantastic!

>88 pgmcc: Yeah, I should have known, but I was feeling optimistic. Never again.

>88 pgmcc: Same here re Woman in Black. I was underwhelmed by it, and also thought the theatre production I saw of it was pretty rubbish as it relied on cheap frieghts and loud noises.

I have tried Hill's Mrs de Winter but DNF'd it as her portrayal of the characters were very different from my reading of Du Maurier's Rebecca.

I still have her book Strange Meeting on my tbr and will give it a chance someday. But that will be my last book by the author.

>91 BrokenTune:
I loved Rebecca. Continuations by other authors tend to put me off. The one major exception is Nick Harkaway’s Karla’s Choice which is about his father’s character Smiley. You would not know the book was not written by John Le Carré himself.

>87 Bookmarque:, >88 pgmcc: I was put off Susan Hill at school, when we had to read I'm the king of the castle. It's a dreary novel about the toxic relationship between two boys, with heaps of bullying. Just horrible.

Thanks guys. I'm surprised it was a miss with so many of you as she's pretty lauded for her work. Maybe The Woman in Black works for people who are less well read, like The daVinci Code does.

So life will have to pause for a while when my pre-order arrives -



Usually it's a can't-put-it-down situation with her books. All but one, which is a DNF, and I hope this doesn't fall into that bucket.

Another winter bog walk Monday and this is my favorite shot -

>87 Bookmarque: I thought The Woman in Black was okay, but I don't plan to read anything else by her. Every time someone online recommends another one of her books I look at the ratings in here and they aren't all that impressive. (I want to see 4 or above. Not 3.6!)

>95 Bookmarque: Lovely!

>95 Bookmarque: Lovely.

Thanks peeps.

Nowhere Burning has arrived, early I think, and I'm 1/2 way though and despite really enjoying the story and how many hooks she has in me right now, I'm thoroughly annoyed at the Britishisms sprinkled in. The book is set in Colorado. That's the United States the last time I checked, and people don't say the lightbulb was hanging by a piece of flex, we say wire or electrical cord. We don't say we live on a close (as I do), we say we live on a dead end road/street. We don't change a tyre, it's tire. We don't cut mould off cheese, it's mold. We don't smoulder, we smolder. Here a wardrobe is a set of clothing or costumes and it goes in a CLOSET. Ugh. SO irritating. She is a much-traveled writer, but born in the US and lives in England I believe, but dammit, an editor should have caught this if she didn't herself. I catch these gaffes every time and it pulls me out of the story with a hard yank (see what I did there?).

Finished it yesterday and while it isn't as good as Rawblood, it's darn close.

It's March already?? Here's how February's reading went -



13 titles, four physical, basically because two are from auto-buy writers, one is a current subscription and one is a recent purchase from backlist. Now that it's lighter out for more of the day, I found myself picking up a book after working at the bench or walking in the woods. Nice. My favorite times of year are around the spring and fall solstices because of the evenness of the light to day ratio. It's so pleasing to me as we tilt away.

Anyway...two of the physical books Nowhere Burning And Neverworld Wake (hm...interesting similarity in titles), were convoluted brain-busters of the kind I love so much. Plots and situations that weave closer and closer, tighter and tighter as the story progresses. Ward is better at it though, no doubt about that.

The End Times serialized novella is progressing well and I always look forward to getting my little newspaper in the mail. I kind of wish they had a crossword puzzle.

A few Audible freebies and paid titles this month, a mix of audio drama and straight narrative as always. I was pleasantly surprised about the Treasure Island adaptation - it was really good, both the acting and the story itself which somehow escaped my reading as a kid. Overall though, it really isn't a kid's story and was more political and menacing than I thought it would be. Definitely wouldn't be a Captain Jack Sparrow without that novel.

>99 Bookmarque: I'm looking forward to this one based on the non-spoiler bit of your review!

>101 Sakerfalcon: It's a good one and remarkably condensed in this day and age of door stoppers.

Calling all British adaptation or PBS lovers - is the Count of Monte Cristo series worth watching? My perusal of the episode summaries leads me to believe they left out a lot, like Valentine's situation, and added something that wasn't there in any substantial way (Mercedes didn't really suspect his true identity until far into their acquaintance). So I'm afraid it will break my heart even if it is beautiful to look at. I've read it several times and am familiar with its subtleties and intricacies of Edmund's delicious plotting. I'm torn. Has anyone who loves the book watched it and what did you think??

>103 Bookmarque:
Thanks to the translation wisdom of Umberto Eco I have been cured of the frustrations of comparing screen adaptations with the original books. They are different media with different strengths and weaknesses. A book, especially one as big as The Count de Montecristo, is inevitably going to have more in it than a screen adaptation. Comparing the screen version to the book is only asking for disappointment. It took me several months to ween myself away from this practice and now I am a much happier person. I judge each version in terms of itself rather than against a version in a different medium.

That does not mean I will ever forgive Coppola for what he did with Dracula. Totally unforgivable.

OK! So I am not 100% cured.

>104 pgmcc: I'm not either, so that's why I put it out there. I "know" and understand the novel pretty well and while I'm fine with many, many adaptations, I feel really hesitant about this one.

And Oldman's fantastically over-the-top drooling didn't win you over?? Not even the wig??

>103 Bookmarque: I only learned that this existed earlier today through a newsletter or something. I know we have access to the PBS Masterpiece streaming channel but I haven't yet checked to see if there was just a trailer or if there was more available. I am under the impression it isn't going to be available here until late in March. However, given that Jeremy Irons is part of the cast as the Abbe, I am certainly going to watch at least a good portion of it.

I can't remember the kind soul who talked about this series in her thread, but it prompted me to sign up for a PBS subscription so I can watch it and I love it even after only 10 minutes.



If anyone wants to claim the BB variant, please let me know!!

>103 Bookmarque: I managed to watch a grand total of about 25 minutes of the new Count of Monte Cristo adaptation. I was not hooked. I love the book, but thought the new adapatation was suffered from insipid story-telling and over-hyped acting. I honestly could not answer your question whether it is close to the book, ... I didn't stay around long enough to make an effort to notice. I just wasn't grabbed for some reason.

>108 BrokenTune: Thanks for testing the waters. Looks like my instinct is right about this one and will give it a miss.

>103 Bookmarque: I quite enjoyed it. Obviously it's not going to include everything in the book but thought they did quite well with the adaptation. Like @pgmcc I try to treat different media types as seperate entites so as not to get too disappointed in what changes they have to make to keep the flow of the story in a visual medium running along nicely.

If you do watch it and enjoy it then see if you can find something called Nero the Assassin as that has a similar feel to it (think it was on Netflix).

>110 AHS-Wolfy: Aah...conflicting views!! 🫣 Now I'm on the fence again.

"changes they have to make to keep the flow of the story in a visual medium running along nicely."

Agreed - I enjoy The Shining the book, and The Shining the movie (Kubrick), for different reasons. Bah, can't double touchstone.

Alas, no Netflix subscription- just Apple, Amazon and PBS.

>111 Bookmarque: Well, I don't know if this will further stir the pot or not. We watched the first episode of the PBS Monte Cristo last night. The adaptation was faithful in delivering the set-up for the novel. Edmund gets framed as a Bonapartist and sent off to the Castle d'If the night before he is supposed to marry Mercedes. The pace of the 50 minutes was perhaps a little slow but the location shots were lovely (filmed in Italy). I may not think of this as a favorite adaptation of a book I liked, but thus far, I am still sufficiently interested in watching it.

As for Book-Ish, I thoroughly enjoyed the three stories of the first series. Wonderful setting (time and place) and wonderful actors. And I'm thrilled that the second series is already confirmed and (I believe) in production.

Excellent new for Bookish. As long as they stay good, I'll watch whatever they put out.

And as far as TCOMC goes, I'll probably avoid just to preserve my relationship with the book.

Ugh. Another DNF.

>114 Bookmarque: That's quite the strong review! I definitely will never read this one, thank you.

>114 Bookmarque:
What >115 Karlstar: said. I experience the same thing with some tourists in Ireland.

Tourist:“The hotel has no AC!”

Local:“We did not need AC until recently.”

Yeah, it was one of a few titles in a short period featuring big city assholes. Don't get me wrong, I'm from a very large town in close proximity to a couple of large cities (Boston being one of them). The town I last lived in has about as many people as the county I do now as an example of the difference. When I moved to my small town (600 ish registered voters), I didn't assume everyone was a hayseed. Our nearest city is only about 3000-ish people, but it doubles in the summer. Still, marveling at the smallness of our grocery store and that you might not find a Starbucks (I think there's one in the next county up) really grinds my gears.

And yeah, I was taken aback when I was in England for my first (and thus far only) time at the lack of AC, but I didn't go on about it and understood the reasons. Asshats galore.

>117 Bookmarque:
Dublin has about 30% of Ireland’s population and it has a lot of commercial activity. At one point Starbucks outlets were opening everywhere. The running joke was that a Starbucks outlet had opened up in the toilets of the local Starbucks. It certainly felt like that for a while. Retail stores had a Starbucks and there were instances of Starbucks coffee shops facing each other across a road. Nowadays they have rationalised and some have closed.

Yeah, Starbucks proliferation was crazy there for a while. I think they are reaping the consequences though as many stores are struggling and closing. I like to have them near my hotel when traveling, but that's about the only time I visit one these days. Mostly because hotel coffee is pretty undrinkable.

>119 Bookmarque: They just opened one here in the parking lot right next to the grocery store - where there's a Starbucks. Now there's a competitor going up across the street!

I couldn't have said whether Starbucks operates in Oz or not — I haven't noticed one here since we returned. I know they used to, having had a deep and meaningful discussion about something or other with my then girlfriend (before I met Mrs H) in a Starbucks in 2002 or 2003.

I do remember though that in 2005 i got to take four kids (Mrs H's daughter Alexandra and three of mine) to Honolulu for a holiday, and I had to go to Starbucks there because it was the only place I could get espresso: all I could get elsewhere was big cups of a thin dark brown liquid.

It's weird about Starbucks proliferation - like mushrooms after a rain. I don't think there is one in this county - with only 28,000 people or so, it doesn't make sense. There is one, maybe two up north (next county) to mostly serve the summer people who expect such things and one down south (in that county) where the city and surrounds have about 100,000 people so can support all kinds of chain restaurants & big box stores. Not a Costco though. For that you need to go 140 miles.

I hate it when people move into my area and then complain or want to change it to be like where they came from. Why move here if it doesn't have what you want or need?

Starbucks is not my first choice of coffee shops, but in my town of about 100,000 people I can think of 11 Starbucks I could choose from, some of those are in grocery stores.

>123 catzteach: Ha. According to Starbucks' website, there are 20 locations within 20 miles of me. In other words, all of their locations in Queensland are in Brisbane except for one on the Gold Coast. Queensland has four other cities with populations of over 100,000.

>114 Bookmarque: Ha! I actually hate the reverse snobbery of small-town romances and cozy mysteries. Cities are cool, you jerks. I appreciate your scathing review! I DNFed the only Emily Henry book I tried, the vacation friends one.

Stereotyping anything just leads to anger and resentment, ditto to overly romanticizing or insulting. Just take things as you find them and be open. But I guess that would be boring.

So many of you know I'm a silver smith and have been making jewelry for a long time. One of the books that makes me drool and marvel at technique and luscious gemstones is -



And now I've added -



Flipping through and just marveling at what people come up with. Not everything is to my taste, but all of it is meticulously crafted and, in some cases, wonderfully ingenious. I've got some ideas to incorporate in my work already, although it won't be anywhere near as stellar. Truly an aspirational collection. It also rivals this -



for sheer weight! The Reptile book weighs 9 pounds and the new one about the same. Hefty tomes!

I would love to spend time with that book on Cartier! (Not so much with the title about reptiles... 9 pounds is one hefty reference book.)

The Cartier book is so gorgeous - the Art Deco period produced some of the most amazing pieces. Just exquisite. But I also am a reptile and amphibian lover, so that books is wonderful for me. It's huge, but so comprehensive for the species that live in Wisconsin. The biologists involved spent thousands of hours in the field and at the computers compiling all the data. It's amazing, but yeah, not exactly a field guide!

Testing the new photo tool -

And I don't love it as much as doing the html myself. The embedded photo and the enlarged one are both smaller than the size I selected. Bah.

And how the hell do you get text to come up after your photo? Doesn't seem to be a way. Double bah.

You mean the image button at the bottom of posts? I should probably read the latest SOTT lol

>130 Narilka: Yeah that - it's in New Features and useful for mobile and what most people need.

>131 Bookmarque: I just wandered over to the new features forum and saw they have a couple other things just released, around importing and activity status. I'll have to remember to check that out monthly going forward.

Ran across this beauty today in my copy of Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

>133 Bookmarque: Oh boy! That happens all the time, and then I make the mistake of starting something else too quickly and it usually isn't good enough.

Yeah, the good ones stick with us, don't they?

Unfortunately this wasn't one of them -

>135 Bookmarque: Ouch. Good thing you were able to return it.

>135 Bookmarque: Ah, I am sorry this wasn't your kind of book. Onwards!

We can't win them all. Plus the narrator's voice for the main character bordered on cartoonish, like he inhaled some helium.

>138 Bookmarque:. I'm sorry it was a bad book but the idea of an audio-book narrator sounding like he had inhaled some helium made me snort my coffee this am!

Glad to be of comedy service!

So I have another peeve (yeah, I know, I'm surprised too 🙄). Outside of dialogue, where it's perfectly normal and vernacular, can authors stop having people grab stuff, please? Grabbing coffee, phones, lunch, luggage, and everything else!! Can't people lift, carry, pick up, grip, snag or anything else please?? Ugh. It's driving me crazy. Get a thesaurus people!!

Enjoying a new light-hearted series that is actually free on Audible with subscription.

>141 Bookmarque: I'm laughing... Thank you for this.

Also, thanks for the heads up. I just added the first three books to my Audible library.

Thanks. I'm fed up with the Strike series because they're so irritating and the books make you suffer for so long with each one. Ugh. Not even Robert Glenister can lure me back.

I hope you like them. They're not serious, but fun and I like the respectful partnership and Roy's sensibility (women are not property and/or immediately inferior).

>143 Bookmarque: I believe you made it farther than I did into that Rowling series. I much prefer Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie books.

I've never read those. The TV adaptation was great though. Maybe one day. I tried another Atkinson book and it didn't really do it for me.

>145 Bookmarque: Which one did you try?

Behind the Scenes at the Museum - can't remember how far I got, but it just bored me to tears.

>147 Bookmarque: Ah, yes. That was her first book. I enjoyed it, but it was all over the place and very uneven.

I think I have an ebook version of Life After Life, but it's been over a decade since getting it (free for doing a good service) and I haven't been tempted.

>141 Bookmarque: This was great, thank you! I've never been tempted to read Cormoran Strike series, for various reasons, but I've seen so many reviews that it feels as if I have read them :D

>150 Alexandra_book_life: Thanks, glad you liked it. I put the first Strike book on my Audible wishlist before it was known that Rowling was Galbraith, but by the time I actually listened to it, the secret was out. The first few are the best, but over time they got more and more ax-grindy and it became clear that Strike is basically an asshole all the time, so I'm done.

Plans to do some waterfall work didn't come to pass yesterday -



Even though this is the road to the dam parking lot, it seems either there is another way in, no one has to be there in winter or they parachute in for maintenance. Bah. The waterfall I wanted to shoot is just below the dam and there are rudimentary trails, but I guess I was too early.

These ladies were out all over though -



This is barely cropped and at the 100mm end of my long lens. Curious and a little nervous, but she didn't move. Neither did many of her friends. Snow melts faster at roadsides and food is easier to get for them, so it pays to go slowly even if the road isn't a muddy slog.

>134 clamairy: Ah yes, the book hangover.

>135 Bookmarque: Yeah, Charles is a romance novelist. Which is fine! But I don't usually like romance novels, even ones that play with other genres. I DNFed this one after a few pages, lol. A few weeks ago, I discovered that "romystery" is a recently-coined portmanteau, and I immediately felt both very old and very crabby.

>152 libraryperilous: Romystery? Ugh. Bleah. My eyeballs need bleaching. It's like Romantasy. Twee.

---

---

So I got a book in a recent Audible sale from a writer I've read before and didn't hate, but I didn't realize it was #3 in a series. Luckily the 2nd book came off hold at the library and I got enough backstory that I don't feel I need (or want) to read the first book. Mostly because I know how it turned out now, but also because it would feel like a retread.

And in the new installment, she's batting .500 -

>151 Bookmarque: Lovely. We have too many of them, but I still love seeing them.

>151 Bookmarque: I had never really considered it, but it makes sense that snow melt would occur more rapidly near a paved road. Lovely photograph of the deer.

>156 jillmwo: Ha! If only it was paved. LOL But yeah, it melts in the open sun much faster than in any woods.

Is it April already?! Crazy. Here's how March went -



14 titles consumed. Two were multi-book audio bundles and so very long, but a couple were pretty short so it balances out. Finally got through the short story anthology set in the world of Stephen King's The Stand. It was pretty uneven and I can't recommend it. A decent series popped up by Ben Rehder (scroll up for open letter to J.K. Rowling as a review for one of them. I'll be getting to the rest as they are part of the freebies with an Audible subscription. The Father Brown collection is an audio drama adaptation from the BBC and those were fun. Cannot recommend the Lisa Lutz book or the K.J. Charles either. Just not my cuppa. Peter Swanson writes some darn compelling books, even though his hobby horses show through pretty plainly, there are surprising elements and they are pretty decent. Just finished listening to another one this morning which will end up on my April list. Phew.

Very productive listening/reading month!

Yeah it was a good month for my audio habit. Feeding it again from the sale going on for all titles. Got these three for about $13 -

>160 Bookmarque: I'll be interested to see what you think of A Case of Mice and Murder, I recently bought it for my daughter.

>161 Karlstar: Agent to the Stars is hilarious. I do hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It is probably not quite in the same league as Starter Villain but it's close.

I hope so, too. So far everything I've read from him has been good, but I'm choosy and avoiding stuff I know I won't like.

Am about 200 pages into The Black House which is the follow up to The Talisman and it's doing my head in a bit. I forgot how connected to The Dark Tower this is and I only made it 3 1/2 books into that series. But the third Talisman book is out in the fall and I wanted to catch up before reading it. No matter what he writes though, there are certain things that King just can't get away from - he loves carnivals and one shows up here, the friendship between Jack and Henry reminds me a lot of Edgar and Wireman, there is an intensely disturbing description of the package with the shoe (complete with foot) Jack receives from the Fisherman. So King. But Straub is recognizable too, if you've read enough of him. The description of the titular black house is very much a Straub passage and it reminded me of Lost Boy/Lost Girl and the house in that. I can imagine the talks they had about "slippage" and how to describe it. Basically it's the thinness between the two worlds that is making life in this Wisconsin border town really unstable and violent. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall for those talks. The concept is an integral part of a lot of both their novels and stories. Oh and Henry reminds me of Max Carrados who is a character in some golden age mystery novels, a blind detective with nearly preternatural abilities.

Btw, I'm doing this, PM for shop address if you don't know it -

Well this is fun, the Pleasant Green Universe expands with two podcast drama series continuing! There was a Kickstarter campaign to fund the entire production of both and that resulted in the Mythos series coming to podcatchers everywhere. Before it was really hard to track down. And also The Lovecraft Investigations got a 5th case involving Alistair Crowley. It's hard to tell you where to jump in, but I got to the whole world of it through The Lovecraft Investigations. It's really hard to describe the different series, but you can go here for some idea of the craziness - https://pleasant-green.fandom.com/wiki/Episode_Guide#Mythos

Highly recommended!

So I went back to this audio drama series yesterday and finished The Age of Innocence which I'd listened to as a straight reading a few months before.



And I have to say I got a different reaction to Newland and the families this time around. In the book I didn't really 'see' the steering and manipulation they all do with him and May. It was infuriating. Could May not see this was happening? First they drive him to Ellen and then pretend not to understand how the relationship changed, then they 'give in' and let the wedding come off earlier so he's cemented into it as he says. Is May really that dumb or is she just trying to preserve her dignity? Why would you want a man who didn't really love you? Even in this age of women having basically no freedom, couldn't she snag some other man? Would she be 'stained' for having not married Newland as he went off with Ellen? It's so bizarre and opaque that I have a hard time putting myself into the story with any understanding.

Anyway...am now into the adaptation of The Custom of the Country and it is a lot more transparent - basically all the parties know what the others are doing and it's all pretty much out in the open. Undine is such a product of the times and can't do anything to 'advance' herself except by marrying again and again. I did feel so bad for her when she got pregnant ahead of when she wanted it (or even if she did). Such an unescapable trap and so final and it seems we want to return to it here in the US. Later she makes it worse by trying to get her son away from her ex when she didn't have anything to do with him up to that point. Forcing women to be motherly against their own inclinations and then castigating them for not having those inclinations in the first place is such a sick thing that society does to us women. As someone who is joyfully childfree, I've had a lot of crap thrown in my face about this when I was younger and am eternally grateful that I was born when and where I was so I didn't get saddled with a bunch of kids that I had no desire for. Men can weasel out and always have when it was inconvenient for them, and they never really get called out for it. No it's always the 'single mother' epithet that gets applied to the parent who stayed. Ok. I'll stop now before I cross the line.

I know I keep banging on about this, but here's more news about The Lovecraft Investigations podcast drama series. The last bits, Crowley & Mythos: The Village were on Kickstarter, but this next investigation will be funded on Backerkit, just to confuse everyone. I missed the initial campaign, but contributed to a catch up effort and so get all kinds of notifications, etc. There will be merch and CDs and other cool stuff once the thing actually launches and the pledge tiers defined. I'm over the geeky moon with this and hope they reach their goals, so here's the link and some lovely teaser artwork if you want to be a part of it.

https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/f9f745bf-18c6-43f3-95f8-5410ad61e193/la...

Oooh, just found this amazingly scary bit of show artwork -

>168 Bookmarque: Wow, that's terrific and scary. Thanks for the update in >167 Bookmarque: too.

>168 Bookmarque: That is some very cool artwork!

>168 Bookmarque: That is some awesome art.

>168 Bookmarque: That is a great piece of art!

I figured you guys would dig it. It's probably done with AI, but it works. Can't wait for the newest investigation. Listened to the previous four last week and it was such a hoot. Everything connects! Conspiracy all the way down!

ETA, the Cthulhu guy up there reminds me of Bill Nighy's character Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean. Did Cthulhu have legs and arms like us mere humans?

Yes!

OMG I love it!!! Baby Cthulhu! Evil in the making.

>175 Bookmarque: Every few years it is my Tree Topper during the holidays. (Gandalf goes up there some years, as does a dragon my daughter made for me, and, of course, Gojira.)

Baby Cthulu looks so sweet and squeezable, but then the Dark Lord grows up to look like the artwork in >168 Bookmarque:.

Finished Agent to the Stars and agree it's not Scalzi's strongest, but it was fun and you can see how his style and approach have changed since then.

Started a drama series that is a collection from years past on the BBC. Most appear to be 21st century tales because of cell phones and the internet being present. Have listened to the first two and they are good.

>173 Bookmarque: I was going to say, how would anyone know, but then >174 clamairy: happened.

Yeah legs it is! There's more info on some merch going to the pledge levels on the Backerkit site. Almost 3000 backers today. Woo hoo!

Anyway, sometimes the book universe smiles on us. Because I haven't found a better way, I often check my favorite writers here on LT to see if any new books have been cataloged and I found this -



It is a non-fiction account of the lives of Pears's neighbors. It sounded fascinating, so I put it on my Amazon wish list and watched the price bounce all over, eventually settling at about $6 for a brand new hardcover and so I'll be getting to it soon. As Pears's is an art historian by education/profession, I'm sure it's got all kinds of great information as well as his usual excellent writing.

And there's a teaser promo audio clip-

https://feeds.captivate.fm/li5promo/

Hope this works for you all. For the Lovecraft Investigations, of course.

>180 Bookmarque:
I am a Pears fan too. I must investigate this one.

I haven't started it yet, Peter, but I think it will be great considering the subject and that he could talk with the two main people involved.

On another note, not only could I not finish The Talisman, but I think I'm going to bail on Black House as well. It's just too tediously involved with the Dark Tower which I've never been able to get into either. Not sure if that means I'll pass on the third book or not. Bah.

>183 Bookmarque: I read The Talisman when it was first published, and I believe I bought the sequel for my husband, but I was not compelled to pick it up myself.

I read it in my twenties I think and it was fine, but I gave the sequel 2 stars so I don't know why I expected it to be better now. Oh well.

So check it out - I've geeked out over the first two parts of this series and looks like the third is coming after a 2 year break -



And it is so funny how audio productions are getting A-list talent. Sir Ben Kingsley is in this one as Moriarty's dad. How fun. I remember the times when if a movie star did TV it meant a big come down in the world - reduced to has-been status. And then it became cool after Kiefer Sutherland did 24 (at least that seems to be the tipping point). Now it seems that doing these kinds of non-visual pieces is just dandy when your agent calls you about them, or (gasp) you tell your agent to find you work in them. I even see the titles come up on imdb sometimes. The last installment of this series had Helen Mirren.

And as an aside to that, I also remember when old school audiobook narrators got all mad because actors were starting to take work away from them. Same happened when traditional models didn't get a Vogue cover because an actress did. Oh how things change.

I don't follow awards much, but I noticed that one of my favorite writers won the 2026 Edgar award for Best Novel -



I've been reading the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike books since the early 90s and I picked The Big Empty as one of my Best of 2025 list. It seemed back to form in some ways, but still edgy and unpredictable. Crais does't publish as often as other writers, but he's an auto-buy author for sure.

I rented a macro lens that's quite different from the one I've had for a while now and I took it for a little spin in the yard yesterday. It's cold (mid 40s during the day) so not many insects about, but I did find this small click beetle and it was still enough to let me get a 15-shot stack. IRL it's about 12-15 mm long.



And one from last week using my older macro lens. I think it's a false blister beetle (Asclera ruficollis) and it's on a Pointed-lobed hepatica flower.



That beetle is about 5 mm long and I couldn't really tell what it was with the naked eye. Love the red pronotum!

>187 Bookmarque: Lovely shots! I never heard of that second beetle before. I didn't even know there was a real blister beetle...

Thanks! Yes there are real blister beetles like this one I photographed in the backyard a few years ago. It's MUCH bigger - almost an inch long and blue iridescent. I don't believe they can fly at all, but some hitch rides on bees if you can believe that.



They are called blister beetles because they secrete a capsaicin-like substance (mainly from their leg joints I think) when they're scared and it can really blister the skin.

Here's one head on and the blue really comes through -

>189 Bookmarque: Wow, great photos! :)

>189 Bookmarque: >187 Bookmarque: Amazing shots, and new insect facts, thank you!

These photos! My goodness! So amazing and they make the bugs look so interesting.

>189 Bookmarque: Yowzer! Thank you for these.

>189 Bookmarque: As Karlstar notes, you provide both great pictures as well as new information about your photographic subjects. Very interesting. I had no idea a bug might hitch a ride on the back of a bumble bee...

>187 Bookmarque: Great pics. Particularly like the false blister beetle on the flower.

Thanks everyone. After going to a rock and gem show with a friend yesterday, I spent a little time with the rental lens and I think I'm going to keep it. The detail from the optics is incredible and the handling is really nice because it has a focus clutch on the lens to switch from auto to manual focus really easily. Anyway, here's another beetle -



It's a Black Firefly and it was very docile and cooperative in its chosen perch. I got 15 shots to stack and it came out really well. I never realized that many beetles are actually kind of hairy. The lichens are some of my favorites - Poplar sunburst lichen and Star rosette lichen. Both are foliose varieties that grow on trees. Lichens are made up of two (possibly three, still under investigation) organisms - a fungus and an algae. Both work together to provide nutrients and stability for reproduction and do not exist on their own. Hummingbirds make their nests out of lichen and spider silk. I have one and it's so adorable.

Anyway, here's another beetle -



It's a Black Firefly and it was very docile and cooperative in its chosen perch. Can't remember how many images went into this, but dozens. Same one as in the post above.

I love the beetle, and I am astounded by how much that lichen looks like barnacles!

Another gorgeous little creature - a Golden Net-winged beetle (aka Dictyoptera aurora) and I regret not taking some gear that would have let me get better photos, but I was lazy. My first time seeing this species. They really are that red. Not sure why the Golden moniker. It's about 1 cm long and way less compliant than Fireflies which they resemble a little in the pronotum.

What a glorious color!

Hey thanks - isn't it a treat?? I've never seen one before and I was so thrilled. So far it's been a beetle-y spring.

>199 Bookmarque: Oh, wow, this is a gorgeous beetle. Great shot :)

>199 Bookmarque:
Brilliant pictures.

Thanks peeps. Need more beetles you say? How about these two?





So far as I can tell from my giant Beetles of North America book, they are a type of Metallic wood-boring beetle, possibly Agrilus cyanescens although they don't look very green here, they can be found in an all dark morph as well. They're only about 5mm long and are on a Wood Anemone flower eating nectar and trying to make more beetles.

You're certainly getting amazing results with the new lens! It's lovely to see the details of insects which we too often overlook. They are fascinating and beautiful in their own way.

Thanks much. Yeah, the new lens is impressive - optics are outstanding & the handling is quick and efficient. If it ever stops being monsoon season, I'll get out with it more. Kidding about the monsoons, but every time I get a new macro or even just point one at something, the wind kicks up like crazy. The universe laughs.

So...it's a bit late, but here's how April went for my listening and reading. On the whole it was a great month with only 3 titles getting 2 1/2 or 2 stars, the lowest for the month.



I went down The Lovecraft Investigations and Mythos drama series ratholes big time and reasons for that are pretty clear above. I'm having so much fun with this interconnected universe and can't wait to hear Call of Cthulhu when it drops, maybe toward the end of the year.

A freebie from Prime Reading was unusually good for these -

>199 Bookmarque: Wow, very cool!

Thanks Jim. It was a lucky shot for sure.

So today I accidentally re-purchased a title from Audible that I'd returned as a DNF in 2023 and forgot about. Pretty quick I saw that it's now basically impossible to return anything by using the website. All the titles in my library are marked ineligible and it's basically because hordes of assholes have been abusing the privilege and have ruined it for the rest of us. I hate humanity. There's some "fine print" alluding to members in good standing still having the ability to return titles without calling customer service, but if there is a better poster child for that person besides me I don't know who it would be. I've been a subscriber since 2007, hardly ever return things, just a few a year, and I spend money with them all the time with sales and stuff. It's crazy and makes me so mad. I got the return done, but having to call someone to do it is just plain stoopid. Yeah, with two Os. Grrr. That will teach me to look here first from now on. Bah.

>208 Bookmarque: Sorry it was such a hassle, but I'm glad you were able to return it. The folks who 'borrow' stuff from stores and return it are really irritating.

Too many times I wish I had consulted my own library here on LT before picking up a book at a used bookstore.

>208 Bookmarque: Oh that just sucks, but thank you for the warning.

My biggest issue with Audible is that I will stock up when they have a two-for-one sale, and then not attempt to listen to some of the books for years. If I decide I don't like them (it's almost always an issue with the narrator) it's way too late to return them.

>210 clamairy: Yeah, the time limit is irritating, too. Ditto with not being able to return something that isn't directly tied to a credit, say one of those 2-for-1 deals or something bought with cash. Found that out the hard way, too, so now I limit anything risky for a credit only approach and I'm MUCH more reserved with my 2-for-1 and cash buys. I guess they don't care if they are losing out in the long run.

For the next week or so we're going to have 10-20mph winds (new macro lens, of course) so I won't be able to play much. I did make some attempts the other day and this one came out ok. I missed a couple areas of focus, but the rest of the stack of 18 images went together reasonably well. Not sure what kind of fern it is. I really need to do better with those.

Just had an interesting thing happen. I started book one of a series free with my Audible subscription and when it ended, book two started. Interesting. I've never had this happen before and I have another freebie series going, too. Not sure if it's new or what.

Less than a week until The Call of Cthulhu Backerkit project opens for funding and the stretch goals have been announced and some treasures revealed. Funny that I didn't see anything about the non-stretch goal pledges, but I'm getting all giddy for the nerdliness to start.



https://www.pleasantgreen.co.uk/arrival/

>213 Bookmarque: Were you on Wi-Fi when the second book started playing?

Yeah, the phone is always connected in the house. Just never had this happen before with other series I listen to as part of Audible Plus. Sometimes I get snippets of other things they think I'll like, but not a whole book starting. I imagine it can be good or bad depending on your POV.

>213 Bookmarque: I noticed a while ago that audible had started playing a preview of another book recommended for me as soon as I finish my current book. This has been driving me nuts because I don’t want that. I found this info on how to turn on/off. There’s also a toggle button for up next for continuous play. Suspect these toggles got turned on in an update.

>217 ludmillalotaria: Thanks much. It doesn't bug me that much, but it's good to know I can turn it off if it starts to. I did turn off recommended/related title auto play. That did bug me.

I found this in the settings. I do not remember seeing this before but I don't poke around in there much.

>219 clamairy: I don't either, just let it play as normal, not changing much or paying attention to what I can change. Audible is part of my daily life, so maybe I should.

>220 Bookmarque: Well because of what you said I found a whole bunch of new settings I didn't know were there! LOL I also use it pretty much every day, unless I'm listening to something I borrowed.

>219 clamairy: Huh. I learned something new. And made sure it was turned off in my app. Thanks!

Lovely photos, Bookmarque, and thank you for posting them. I'm glad you like the new lens!

Re returns: A few years ago, a Chicago small bookshop owner posted on social media that a well-dressed lady had purchased a ton of coffee table art books during the holiday shopping period. The owner assumed they would be given as gifts. It was a large purchase, enough to help with the shop's overhead for a few months. And then, after the holiday season was over, the woman returned all of them: "I don't need them anymore, I used them as decor for a party I hosted."

I just ... wtf? How do you even get there as a person?

>223 libraryperilous: I don't know. That's pretty sick. Like people who litter - that cancels out any redeeming qualities.

We're so close now!! The initial pledge tiers have been mapped out, at least mostly.

https://www.pleasantgreen.co.uk/pledge-tiers-and-housekeeping/



I think those are script books or maybe research/journals from the investigators. Either way they look delicious.

That does appear to be a stellar set of books.

It's only a mock up, but pretty close according to the team. Tomorrow morning I shall back the project. It opens at noon London time. I might be up as I'm an early riser, but maybe not quite. Yesterday I downloaded a phone background that matches the Cthulhu image up in #167. Squee! Yeah, the show isn't even made yet and I'm jazzed. Silly.

Bakerkit opens in 2 minutes!!

https://youtu.be/_vZrfmN_lCQ?si=DCT0wsS1UrTe0Q1G

A fun new trailer with a movie voice guy from the fan base who made it.

I am backer #144!! Woo hoo. They're going to smash the stretch goals pretty quick I think, judging by how fast that ticker is going up. Nerdly nirvana.

Fully funded in less than an hour! The show is getting made. First stretch goal tier of £100,000 will probably hit within hour #2. Woo hoo! I'm so happy this is going to be a thing.

Yay!!! £100,000 has been hit. Very excited for extra goodies and production.

>230 Bookmarque:. That's impressive for a book project to get that kind of pick-up that quickly.

Aww, thanks for indulging me. It's mainly an audio drama production and it just hit the 2nd stretch goal of £125,000 which means my CD package gets a luxe upgrade. So geeky about this I can't stand it.

If you want to listen to the first 4 investigations, you can get them on Apple Podcasts under The Lovecraft Investigations. They used to be on the BBC app only, but are now there, too. Mythos is its own show and is there, too. If you like uncanny supernatural stuff along with shadowy groups with lots of power and true crime podcasts, you'll love it. It's so well done.

3rd stretch goal of £150,000 has been reached so there will be a live show in London at some point. Higher pledge tiers get 1 or 2 tickets as part of their packages. There is talk of a live stream of it or at least a video made available afterward. Woo hoo! Come on £250K - I want those Eleanor Peck lectures!

And closing in on the last stretch goal. £190,000 raised in 12 hours. Amazing.

We've reached £205,000 and hopefully the long tail will push to the Peck Lectures goal. But for now I'll stop torturing you with updates. Just so happy that it's getting made and a lot of extras and merch will be heading my way. Julian is writing today and that's the most important bit. Now to go put the dock in the water shortly.

So I'm listening to a fairly eye-rolling audiobook where the heroine gets to the papers her dead father left in a bank box. What's in there is mind-numbingly incomplete and cryptic. This is now on my list of most hated tropes. If a person has the wherewithal to actually put items into a safe place, why the fuck not just spell out whatever dark secret they have to impart? Why all this chicanery? It makes zero sense and only serves to up the drama or the desperation of the person who now has to alternately call the leaver every name in the book, and follow up on the so-called clue which will undoubtedly make them go down many blind alleys. I've seen a device similar to this used well, and it's when clues are made of things innocuously left behind, or when the missing or dead person hasn't had time to get his or her shit together into a locked box, etc. But seriously, if you have the time why the hell be so fucking annoyingly mysterious about it when your enemies won't find it. Grrr. It never occurred to me before how absolutely stupid and annoying this is.

>223 libraryperilous: Holy whatever!!! That's despicable. I hope they only gave her a fractional refund - or store credit.

>237 Bookmarque: I think that's a sub-plot in the Tracker TV show.

Ok, I had a whole post here and something went wrong and it's gone. So I'll try again.

Have not heard of the Tracker show, but now I've recognized it for the weak trope it is, I don't think I'll have a lot of tolerance for it in future. LAME.

Yesterday I found a cute little boy Bronze Jumping spider on a lamp in the living room, so I gently transported him outside where he let me take his picture -



IRL his whole length is less than 1cm and he looks almost black with white markings. Up close you can see why they're the Bronze Jumping Spider. They definitely notice and look at you if you get within range and it's so endearing as they track you. Jumpers are some of my favorite spiders. This one's Latin name is Eris militaris and at one point when he was still on the lamp, he raised on front leg in a salute while watching me. Very cute.

>240 Bookmarque: What a great photo! Jumping spiders are definitely my favorites. Especially since I recently discovered that they're one of the few spiders I can transport outside and know they will still have a happy life. They are so cute!

Thanks clam - yesterday was a big spider day out on the deck - saw several species including a smaller one just like him. No pics, just enjoying my 8-legged friends.

But...I have to do this -



The project has hit its highest stretch goal and we will be getting the Eleanor Peck lectures, even though it's all bollocks.