richardderus's tenth 2026 thread

A passel of pretty Greek diadems from Antiquity. Perfect to celebrate the New Gilded Age!

𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗞 𝗥𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗞𝗢, Untitled, 1967
oil on canvas, 80 × 69 in. (203.2 × 175.3 cm) from The Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Art Collection, New York

I've switched up the image of a Rothko here because I found another that evokes my sense of peaceful hope, optimism, and faith in humanity. I wish all of those things to every living one of us. No matter who; no matter where; no matter what.

My Tumblr re-addiction gave me an excellent description of my 6*-of-five scale in words:
1* Terrible
2* Bad
3* Decent
4* Good
5* Great
6* Phenomenal

THIS THREAD'S REVIEWS
175 How queer bookshops changed the world in post #56.
176 Killing Baby Hitler in post #64.
177 We were forbidden in post #99.
178 Country people : a novel in post #121.
179 The Loom Tree in post #125.
180 Grief Eater in post #132.
181 Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt : a novel in post #160.
182 Ada in post #176.
183 Astronaut! : a novel in post #183.

All my threads in the 75ers linked somewhere here

2026 threads
Reviews 001 to 010 back here.
Reviews 011 to 022 back here.
Reviews 023 to 055 back here.
Reviews 056 through 071 back here.
Reviews 072 through 092 back here.
Reviews 093 through 106 back there.
Reviews 107 to 126 back there.
Reviews 127 to 149 are back there.
Reviews 150 to 174 are back there.

Previous years
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.
My Last Thread of 2025 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.

All previous Burgoine reviews linked here.

THIS THREAD:

#045 I Who Have Never Known Men in post #106.

All previous Pearl Rule reviews linked here.

THIS THREAD:
#010

Seriously...not a great venue for normies here.
My 2025 in review.

2026 GOALS
I won't be focusing attention on the number of books I've read, or any of the rest of the numbers game, because it feels like bragging. I have none of the pressures on me that normal people have. I've got my datastick of notes from reads as much as thirteen years old, never written into reviews for any number of reasons. I have a huge hoard of rage at the kakistocracy fueling a desire to do something, a disability that doesn't allow that something to be kinetic, and so I write.

It's what I can do, so it's what I will keep doing until ICEstapo starts coming for domestic enemies of the kakistocracy. Emptying that data stick of the backlog of more-or-less coherent notes taken might last me the year, if I get even close to 2025's levels of success in writing away my emotional pain. My reviewing schedule for 2026 will begin on the second...there will be hashtag events during the year that I'll announce the weekend before they begin...I still won't post reviews on Tuesdays (traditional book-release day in the US) until publishing slows down the new-books firehose in December as #Booksgiving hots up. The most exciting books of 2025's reading were translations so I'm definitely continuing my focus on reading translated literature in 2026.

Since the entirety of 2026 is looking politically unstable, I'm making a point to review books that treat that instability as a chance to reflect on how we got here, so we can get out...and stay out. I'm not a bit sure anyone will enjoy it. It is urgent not to lose sight of the reality that our right to read and think and behave like, about, and what we think is best is very much under attack. 6870 times in the 2024-2025 school year alone. Guess whose identities were targeted most often. "Books by authors of color, by LGBTQ+ authors, by women. Books about racism, sexuality, gender, history. PEN America pushes back against censorship and the intolerance and exclusion that undergird it." I recommend joining PEN America to support a key player in the fight to oppose and reverse the school bans.

☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂

1Q26 in review is here.
2Q26 is here.

GBBO and other special hashtaggie projects will be linked here.

2026 #ShortStoryMonth didn't happen in 2026.
☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂
2026 #PrideMonth already has seven reviewAll the othe (links here) and further reviews will be agglomerated and enumerated here. I have no specific numerical goal for written reviews.
All the other #PrideMonth reviews are linked here.
#PrideMonth wrap-up is here.

☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂
#WITMonth explainer is here.
#WITMonth wrap-up
***
☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂☀☁☂
GBBO THOUGHTS
Season 16 back-links here.

See >6 richardderus: for 2025 achievements & 2026 goals, and quarterly wrap-ups. Special hashtag events in >7 richardderus: .
Monthly wrap-up posts to be linked below. 2025's wrap-ups are back-linked here.

January 2026 here.
February 2026 here.
March 2026 here.
April 2026 here.
May 2026 here.
June 2026 here.

All my six-stars-of-five reads since I first said I wanted to give a book six stars of five for being a perfect read in 1994. I've started the list with 2013 to coincide with the launch of my blog. All the links take you to the reviews I posted for those titles on the blog.

My Tumblr re-addiction gave me an excellent description of my 6*-of-five scale in words:
1* Terrible
2* Bad
3* Decent
4* Good
5* Great
6* Phenomenal

1994. MONTANA 1948...the original; the perfect read!

1. THE SONG OF ACHILLES


2. MATTERHORN


3. EUROPE IN AUTUMN


4. MARGARET THE FIRST


5. MISSIONARY


6. CIRCE


7. BLACK LIGHT


8. YOU EXIST TOO MUCH


9. COVE


10. KIBOGO


11. THE WORDS THAT REMAIN


12. GLORIOUS EXPLOITS


13. THE REMEMBERED SOLDIER

Your patience is now rewarded. Posting is open.

Happy new one, Ricardo!!

>11 Berly: Thank you, Berly-boo!

My pleasure!! xoxo

Happy new thread, Richard!

Happy new one, Richard

Checking in on the new thread, RD! ((Hugs)) and **smooches**

BTW - I have checked out my first book from the Prime Lending Library. Thank you so much for the heads up about that. I did not even know it existed.

>14 bell7: Thank you, Mary!

>15 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley!

Woohoo! Happy new thread!

Karen O

>16 alcottacre: I'm so glad, Stasia, it's a really excellent perk. *smooch*

>19 klobrien2: Thanks, Karen O.!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riVq2SusP7U
Italian Pride spot I just saw. So so sweet.

Salutations on your new thread, RD.

>9 richardderus: If you were to recommend just one of those 14 6 star picks would it be Montana 1948 that you would choose?

Happy New Thread, 🧵, Richard.

>23 PaulCranswick: Thank you, PC. Yes, I'll recommend Montana 1948 to any- and every-one. It's pretty much a perfect read.

>24 vancouverdeb: Thanks most awfully, Deborah!

Happy new thread, Richard!

You moved again? It's no wonder that no one can find you.

Happy new thread Richard!

Happy new thread, Richard. Thanks for the link on your last thread. I now know more about AI psychosis. The possible ways to f-ourselves up keep getting more sophisticated and multiplying. Sad that.

>27 atozgrl: Morning, Irene! Wow, your mommy lets you stay up late...mine sends me to sleep by 10.45 latest.

>28 humouress: ...so THAT's why my threads are so resoundingly, echoingly empty! I'll just stay here until December, people will find me.

>29 Familyhistorian: Thank you, Meg, you can imagine I have a pretty intense emotional investment in learning about this weird side effect of the tech scum's push to own our world. It's...disheartening...and I don't think we pay nearly enough attention to their culpability in running the social experiment without safety or accountability being front-and-centre (see? I misspelled it just for you!)

JUNE IN REVIEW

I wrote thirty-six reviews this month. I wrote twenty June 2026 Pride Month ones for DRCs published this month. I received a slightly appalling SEVENTY-FOUR June DRCs. Seriously...one less than this group's annual goal in one month?! I'm quite greedy, and a fast reader, but THAT is worrying me. It could be years before I review those books! I must work on my s(h)elf control.

Of the sixteen reviews for not-QUILTBAG books in June, one stands out like a lighthouse in the living room as a "please please pleasepleaseplease read this book": The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI by Cory Doctorow. It's important. Please read it. Get it from your library if you don't want to spend money on it. Just read it. Please.

In those sixteen non-QUILTBAG reviews there were no fictions that I found terribly exciting. The crappiest book I read in June was Puck, and I am not kidding when I tell you the one I'm talking about here does not appear among the touchstone options because the hockey-romance craze is INSANE. Puck-the-character turned me off completely.

So onward to July. I expect to see a dramatic decrease in my blog's engagement because Bluesky no longer allows me to access it through my browser...it insists on being the only thing on my screen, being vertically formatted, and thus unreadable for me. I do not expect them to reverse course so I'll be on their site at most a few times a day. I hate it when tech scum make decisions for me. They *never* get it right. ENSHITTIFICATION is real. Like the way the goddamned motherfucking AI decided I wanted to capitalize "enshittification" when I did not.

Happy New Thread, Richard. Our heat wave has arrived and it is hitting us hard. We are starting our day at 80F. I will be playing PB indoors the rest of the week. Keep cool, my friend.

‘Morning, RDear. Happy Tuesday, and Happy New Thread.

Congrats on specific-to-Pride reviews. It just occurred to me that I have read 65 specific-to-Pride smut in June and will finish at least one more. Of course, I read specific-to-Pride smut every month so it doesn't really count. *smile*

>1 richardderus: I can’t help but remember that either Crabbe or Goyle asked what a die-dum was in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

>33 richardderus: I tried to join BlueSky and got stuck in a tech black-hole. I wrote to them, they never responded, I gave up.

Speaking of AI,I just finished a non-smut book, Culpability. A suspenseful family drama about moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence.

*smooch*

Happy new thread, Richard!

>35 karenmarie: It's funny what sticks in one's mind about long-ago reads.

That's a respectable total, indeed! I'm glad you're still going strong, Horrible. Culpability has been an indie bestseller since forever, so clearly it's speaking to many people.

*smooch*

>36 drneutron: Thank you, Doc!

Happy new one, Richard!

Picked up my copy of Goodbye, Killer Bots this morning.

>30 richardderus: My natural circadian rhythm seems to be to sleep from midnight to 8:00AM. Now that I don't have to go to work, I can actually follow that pattern. It was nice that I could watch Colbert until he was so unceremoniously dismissed.

>39 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks, Reba! I hope it'll offer some perspective on the hype. I'm still calmer after reading it.

>40 atozgrl: Still angry about the pusillanimity of that act. It's so wonderful to be able to follow one's own rhythm, innit.

I myownself sleep from eleven or so until 6-6.30 most of the time. Seldom later than 7.15 no matter when I fall asleep.

'Morning, RDear! Happy Wednesday.

>40 atozgrl: Hey Irene - I just saw that the Late Show sign was purchased by the owner of WeHo Bistro in SoCal.

I'm staying in today. 95F and heat index of 101F.

*smooch*

>43 karenmarie: Morning, Horrible! We're having the same weather, and doing the same thing about it: avoid! avoid! avoid!

*smooch*

2Q26 IN REVIEW

The second quarter of 2026 saw me write reviews for 105 books in total, sixty-three in their publishing month. That's out of a total of 171 DRCs received for this quarter, or 37% reviewed in the month they were published and 60% of my total reviews written. I was most eager to read The Violence: My Family's Colombian War because Author Adriana is an old friend's daughter-in-law, who happens to be a very talented writer. It was a great success in the marketplace, and with me. The second of my two current possibilities for 2026's six-stars-of-five read is a non-fiction book for the first time ever: A Bird's IQ: Innovation, Intelligence, and Problem Solving in the Avian World is by Louis Lefebvre and translated from French by Pablo Strauss. It was a surprise to me how much of Author Lefebvre's earlier novel-writing training held over into his non-ficton prose creation without making it feel as though he was book-horning pretty sentences into places they felt brummagem or incongruous.

Overall, I liked non-fiction a lot more than usual this quarter, with some tippy-top reads as well as a true shocker coming from that genre. The shocker was Self-Help from the Middle Ages: What the Seven Deadly Sins Can Teach Us About Living by Peter Jones; self-help's a genre I view with great skepticism based on what "They" tell you it is, ie a way to fix problems. It's much more interesting to me as a barometer reading of the culture's current obsessions, and the average person's most pressing personal fears. This book managed to be a bit of both. That was a pleasant surprise, plus I liked Author Peter Jones's presentation of self.

Looking ahead to July, I'm not going to kid around: I have forty-two DRCs of July-date reads unreviewed out of forty-three received (as of 1 July, it could go up as the month wears on). I want to get half of those reviewed. I plan to prioritize political books as we head into midterms this quarter. I've got a lot of political-reads noted already from years gine by. I've always held back because so many people I know just flat refuse to put in the work of reading the books. That's no longer something I can factor in to my review-writing queue. The stakes are too high to pander to lowest-common-denominator reading habits.

Can't make y'all read the books, or the reviews, but you'll have to make a conscious choice to skip them.

>43 karenmarie: That's interesting about the sign. I didn't realize that was one of the things from the show that was for sale. They did a great job raising money for World Central Kitchen.

I would love to stay in today, but it's grocery day, so I'll be going out in a bit. I hope I can shelter inside the next few days.

>42 richardderus: I never enjoyed getting up before 7:00. But waking up around 7:00 or 7:15 would be a good thing. I just don't seem to be able to do that these days. Having the option to follow my own rhythm is indeed a wonderful thing.

>45 richardderus: Good luck with the reviewing in July, Richard!

>46 atozgrl: I'm so grateful I get to hunker in front of the a/c!
***
The Twitter-poster said this gorgeous art is by "Aetherheart."

Happy new thread, RDear. Have some bonus Canada Day smooches. They come with your choice of ketchup chips, poutine, or Nanaimo bars. 😆

>48 MickyFine: "OR"? *harrumph* "AND" is what I'm lookin' for! Poutine first if you please and thank you. I'll have my myocardial infarct with a smile and a smothered belch.

*smooch*

>49 richardderus: My apologies for using the wrong Boolean operator. For such a charmer as yourself, we can make that an AND for you. *smooch*

>50 MickyFine: Morning, Micky! Saint Boole of the Algorithm has been propitiated, thanks. *smoochiesmoochsmooch*

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Thursday to you.

>45 richardderus: Excellent summary, a very good quarter that you are deservedly proud of. I bought Self-Help from the Middle Ages and have started it. I almost always just listen to audiobooks in my SUV, and I’m still listening to World War I, the “Great War” by Professor Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius.

Mostly indoors, bird feeders/bird bath attention, reading, and, Very Important, puttering. Puttering has mostly been off the table since the end of March, but I’m re-learning my puttering skills.

*smooch*

>52 karenmarie: Morning, Horrible! I think you'll enjoy Self-Help in the Middle Ages because Jones is so commonsensical in his assessments. I expected more "point-and-laugh" attitude but got instead a solid explanation of how human it is to want someone to tell you that you can grow, be better, cope better with Life. It was so comforting, and humbling, and deeply interesting.

Your audio is most interesting not least because the author has the platonic ideal of a Lithuanian name. I'm off to look up his bio!

Thank you re: my efforts to get my reading into a robust cycle of virtuous habits. I've always been...lessee...been lax in my efforts to impose focus on my reading. For most of my life I've been pretty uniformly unhappy in greater or lesser degrees. Now, for the first time this century, I'm not unhappy. Angry, annoyed, frustrated, outraged, hugely disgusted...check.

But not unhappy. I'd forgotten there was a difference. It's blissful.

>53 richardderus: Long may you enjoy this blissful time, Richard! I said to a friend a day or so ago that I am the happiest woman in the world. For this day so far I have everything I need, and I'm going to be thankful for it and make the most of it however angry, annoyed, frustrated, outraged, and hugely disgusted I may be. If that's being a Pollyanna, I'm good with it. My initials are PA after all!

*smooch*

ETA: I just found out that I could enlarge your thread topper. Yay! I think my diadem of choice remains right column, second down.

FINALLY SOMEONE ADDRESSES MY MOST BURNING QUESTION ABOUT MERMAN PORN:
Where are the onions?!?

175 How queer bookshops changed the world by A. J. West

It might shoulda been a #PrideMonth read, but we're in the run-up to the most consequential midterm election of my lifetime. I'm going to make what's at stake, what we stand to lose if They win, abundantly clear.

Happy New Thread!

>54 LizzieD: That sounds like a piece of book history I should know more about. Requested & on itx way soon. thanks!

Also: happy new thread!

‘Morning, RDear. Happy Thursday to you.

>55 richardderus: Several years ago, I started and abandoned a book of smut, SF version, wherein the alien had two zucchinis. I did not get as far as trying to figure out about the onions. I was completely squicked out.

*smooch*

>54 LizzieD: Morning, Polly...errr...Peggy! I'm not sure I'm willing to use "Pollyanna" as a pejorative anymore. We need positivity in balance to the tidal wave of negativity that reality provides. Both are necessary, but both need to be moderated by the presence of the other. Like nuclear fission: keep the reaction under control.

Happy Federal Holiday! *smooch*

>57 SilverWolf28: Thank you most kindly, Silver.

>58 swynn: I hope Peter Jones works his mystical way with your brain, Steve. It's astounding how human beings just do not change their core selves. Not sure if it's heartening or not....

>59 karenmarie: It just ain't gonna work on an anatomical-availability level. The desire might be there but...well...how's it likely to offer some actual reward to either of them? I guess I'm just not imaginative enough.

Friday orisons, and a lovely day of closed offices to you!

176 Killing Baby Hitler by Michael Tomasky

Happy new(ish) thread! Hope you're staying cool. It's a furnace out there.

This has been a day that would threaten my Pollyanna all over the place if I let it.... My DH is trying to switch my old phone for a new one that can manage the Phonak App. when it comes online sometime this summer. Horrors!!!! He's finally, finally, finally talking to a human, I think. (She is apparently not a native English speaker, but she is human.)
I have been trying to reconcile our stubborn resolution to do no banking online with the IRS. I FINALLY found a note at the bottom of pages about the forms they sent, that as of May of this year, if we haven't responded to their request by the end of six weeks, they'll mail us a paper refund check.
I thought we'd always keep up with the world. Now we don't even want to....

Anyway, I trust you're staying cool and will find something to read that grabs you! *smooch*

>65 Storeetllr: I've tried to go outside every morning for my constitutional, and hit that wall of horrific heat...turned around to come right back in and stayed here. I do a lot more steps in my apartment to make up for the hill-climbing.

Welcome, Mary! Seeing you out and about is a pleasure.

>66 LizzieD: Morning, Peggy, I'm so sorry Modernity is chomping your cheer nexus (wherever it is) with the goalpost-moving nastiness it's so ready to deploy. I haven't had a bank account in years because poverty, so I can't even remember what to do. I'm very glad for you that you needn't give the IRS any extra data. Musk will have it before the 1s and 0s are cooled off.

I haven't read anything yet. Yesterday I Attenboroughed, last night I was oh so very awake for two hours so watched a documentary about Hitchcock. Now I'll see if my heat response lethargy remains....

*smooch*

Happy 4tth, Richard. I don't mind the holiday, for celebrating with friends but the relentless fireworks drives me nuts. Who the hell started this shit? LOL. There were plenty of fireworks last night too, freaking Juno out. Fortunately, storms blew through, stopping that. Hopefully it rains all night tonight. 🤞🤞

Otherwise-how you doing?

Hope you're having a pleasant weekend and staying cool!

>69 msf59: Howdy, Mark! I ignore most of the jollifications. Being in the middle of a city makes stuff like fireworks something one must seek out and I don't. Last night some young people had a raucous party, but honestly who can blame 'em? I'd need some kinda fun if I was staring down the barrel of what's ahead for them.

I'll join you in hoping for a soggy Fourth. We need rain more than fake fun.

>70 bell7: Morning, Mary! I'm not having heatstroke so I'm callin' it good. We're getting up to 96° or so, which is far preferable to triple digits. Apart from that I'm doing adequately well. I am too heat-stressed to read but hope like hell to be able to write again. I'm fuzzybrained in this kind of heat.

Hope you have a nice 4th Richard and find a way to get enough exercise in...I may not leave the house :(

>73 RebaRelishesReading: Hiya, Reba! I'm glad I have an open apartment to get my steps in...no obstacles to prevent me from getting a good head of steam up and work up a sweat in air-conditioned comfort when I need to sit down.

My cheeseburgers are settling into my tum most satisfactorily, and I'm nursing a coleslaw hangover, so it's all good. Next comes a chili on cornbread dinner. I feel like I've really escaped the unpleasantness of kosher eating at long, long last.

My newly-retired professor friend has time to yap now. I love this.

>67 richardderus: I hear that! I got outside yesterday morning and this morning to water the pots on the patio and felt faint by the time I got back inside. And that was before the heat got as intense as it ended up getting. All I can say is TGFAC.

Thanks. The only out and about I'm doing these days is online. Heh.

>75 richardderus: Saw that yesterday and chuckled, then sent a fervent wish into the universe that it happens soon.

" Next comes a chili on cornbread dinner." Awww...see, now I won't be happy with anything else.

Glad to hear you're keeping cool in all that, RDear. Our summer is off to a temperate start (highs around 20-25°C) but after all our rain in June the mosquitoes are something else. I promise these weekly smooches are DEET-free.

‘Afternoon, RDear. Hot, hot, hot. Indoors with AC all the way.

>64 richardderus: Onto my wish list it goes. I dearly love books about time travel.

>74 richardderus: It's 102.9F here at the house. Outside, of course. Indoors is around 76-78F.

>75 richardderus: Oh my. I love it and the visual is priceless.

*smooch*

>76 Storeetllr: FERVENTLY SECONDED!

This is why we can't handle this climate change:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sURT_P4VY8

>77 laytonwoman3rd: It was delish! *eville laughter*

>78 MickyFine: Skeeters are necessary to feed bats and birds. Maybe we can breed more birds and convince people to put up bat houses? *chilled-by-Saint-Carrier's-magic smooch*

>79 karenmarie: Ain't that a hoot? I love it, and am deeply visualizing it coming to pass soon. I'm pleased you found >64 richardderus: applealing! It's fun indeed.

*smooch*

>75 richardderus: That day can't come too soon

>74 richardderus: Glad your new home is working out so well. We're having cheeseburgers for dinner tonight with an avocado vinegarette on the side... and watermelon for dessert.

>84 RebaRelishesReading: It's waaayyy overdue by my lights.

>85 RebaRelishesReading: It's always good to have cheeseburgers. I'd honestly prefer the Impossible Burgers because they're better for my gout, but I'll take 'em how I get 'em. The chili on cornbread was lovely this evening, too.

Morning, Richard. I am enjoying my kickback weekend. Juno is good company, when she isn't being terrorized by fireworks. My big, fierce rottweiler. Like you predicted- cooler temps have returned. We only hit 78F today. That will be glorious.

'Morning, RDear. Happy Sunday to you.

All the usual things for me today - reading, spreadsheets/Lightning Round, puttering, lollygagging, and soccer. Heat avoidance, although it's only supposed to get to 98F, heat index of 103F. Yesterday's temp got to 103.1F.

*smooch*

>80 richardderus: Thanks, Richard. That was very interesting, and it just validates my decision to not join my family at the pool Friday and yesterday. Even just walking from the car to the pool area would have been too much for me in that awful heat.

Um Um Um.... I'm happy that you're eating food that goes down well! In fact, coleslaw and chili remind me that we haven't had hot dogs NC-style in ages and ages, and I want one and a half. I haven't made the slaw in ages although I keep buying little cabbages and throwing them out. There. I'm 100% 21st century American after all. My DH conquered the phone yesterday; now all I have to do is get all the unwanted junk off it and learn to use the rest. (The foreign woman hung up on him and the second man told him to find somebody who was more familiar with tech to do it for him. Our future looms.)
>75 richardderus: Too Funny! In fact, though (and I think I'm meaner than you guys), what I really want is to see Fat Boy out of power, in jail, and learning and understanding just what he has done to the world.
>64 richardderus: Oh yeah! Onto the wish list it goes.

I'll have to join you in parading around the house today. If only I could read and walk the way I used to! *smooch*

>47 richardderus: Very nice.

Maybe this was the original? :



St Michael's Mount, Cornwall. (Image from the internet, but we visited it four years ago.)

>1 richardderus: It looks lovely, even though I’d never wear something like that.

>22 richardderus: Brilliant 🥳🥳🥳

I hope you have a good week ahead.

>87 msf59: Evening, Mark, it's been so very much less awful today! So delightful. I think we got to 81° so I'm deeply grateful. May it continue.

Enjoy the rest of your week ahead.

>88 karenmarie: Sunday orisons! I'm not going to be unkind...no report of the high today from here. I'll reserve that for people not under the heat dome.

Aren't I the noblest noble nobleman ever.

*smooch*

>89 Storeetllr: It was BRUTAL. I'm so glad you chose to stay in!

>90 LizzieD: It makes me sad I won't live to see history books on 2100 shit All over these scum. It's cooler today, blessedly, so I'm not quite so wretched.

Enjoy >64 richardderus:! *smooch*

>91 humouress: Oh my heck! It's kind of that, crossed with Mont St-Michel. So very beautiful.

>92 Ameise1: Isn't that (>22 richardderus:) the best bait-and-switch you've ever seen?! I was over the moon happy to see it.

Fancy-schmancy metal hats aren't things I'll choose to wear, but they look really pretty. Also uncomfortable.

Welcome home and happy reads ahead, dear lady.

177 We were forbidden by Jaqueline Harpman (tr. Ros Schwartz)

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Monday to you. Ah, much rain and potential flooding early this week. Enjoy the rain from inside.

>90 LizzieD: You’re nicer than I am, Peggy. I want Fat Boy to go the way of all flesh sooner than later.

>94 richardderus: You are the noblest of noble, but don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back. *smile*

>99 richardderus: One of the books for my RL book club’s 2026-2027 book club year is I Who Have Never Known Men by Harpman. It’s one of the books I’m less than thrilled about, frankly.

*smooch*

>100 karenmarie: Morning, Horrible...I'm quite sure my rotator cuff injury came from attempting that precise means of getting my just deserts...but we'll gloss lightly over that, shall we?

The fat felon is best tormented by imprisonment for the rest of a long life, one in which he receives daily updates on how hard his illegal immoral immiseration of billions is being dismantled. A distant second is a slow, lingering, painful death with the same updates.

I lack any compassion for the scum.

I wonder if Harpman is really a storyteller you'll resonate with...get the Kindle sample and see before buying is my strong advice. I liked it, but it wasn't a DRC so no need to review (to Transit Books' collective annoyance, hence why I have this one's DRC).

*smooch*

>99 richardderus: I Who Have Never Known Men was such a unique and thrilling book for me. I think I must read We Were Forbidden. Thanks for the heads-up!

Karen O

More heat, Richard! I think I saw though that NYC and surroundings are going to get lots of rain. In any case, stay in and do some of your best.

>101 richardderus: Exactly what I have in mind for Fat Boy except that I want to stipulate that it's a regular prison with no fancy privileges.

I might be interested in Harpman, but I can't think about her now. I'm happily overwhelmed with what I have and what I've already wished for.

*smooch*

>102 klobrien2: Oh excellent, Karen O! I hope it scratches the same itch, plus the adjacent ones. The stories are pretty compact, but so is the novel.

>103 LizzieD: Not surprising on either front, Peggy me lurve. Harpman could swim past you one day, on sale, and be worth it; full price, not so much.

I'm expecting rain for the foreseeable. I'm happy if that's the case! The parks haven't been especially verdant. *smooch*

BURGOINE #045

I Who Have Never Known Men by by Jacqueline Harpman (tr. Ros Schwartz)

Real Rating: 4.8* of five

The Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers: Fiction For the week ending June 30, 2026

The Publisher Says: Deep underground, forty women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only a vague recollection of their lives before.

As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl—the fortieth prisoner—sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.

Jacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium, in 1929, and fled to Casablanca with her family during WWII. Informed by her background as a psychoanalyst and her youth in exile, I Who Have Never Known Men is a haunting, heartbreaking post-apocalyptic novel of female friendship and intimacy, and the lengths people will go to maintain their humanity in the face of devastation. Back in print for the first time since 1997, Harpman’s modern classic is an important addition to the growing canon of feminist speculative literature.

I CHECKED THIS BOOK OUT OF MY LOCAL LIBRARY. USE THEIR SERVICES OFTEN, THEY NEED US TO STAY ALIVE!

My Review: Library borrow, to read before the story collection reviewed here:
WE WERE FORBIDDEN, three stories from a feminist author at her tendentious best.
This is an SFnal story about how very awful it is to be a woman. Since the evidence is pretty overwhelming that it *is* dreadful to be a woman, I've got nothing clever to say about it.

Most agreeable-to-me prose style as ably rendered into English by Translator Schwartz, it feels...pithy, almost aphoristic.

Transit Books expects $15.99 from you before you open the ebook.

I was wondering where I got the idea of reading Self-Help from the Middle Ages. I liked that one especially all the asides about living in Siberia. Good to see that your weather has cooled down some, Richard.

>106 richardderus: Your Burgoine made me smile, RD. I really don't think that Hani would agree that it is so terrible being a woman. Especially one so thoroughly liberated as to have this little fat Yorkshireman dancing daily to her tune!

I liked Harpman's book too.

>107 Familyhistorian: It was a terrific read, wasn't it? I was really amazed ("amaze amaze amaze!" to quote Rocky) that I got so much out of the read, and enjoyed it so much at the same time. As Author Peter lives in Madrid now, I'm sure he misses the Siberian climate!

It's liveable now. I don't mind cloudy and rainy, though it does make me feel sleepy. Happy to see you, Meg.

>108 PaulCranswick: Hani would most likely have strong opinions about generalizing Women, PC. She is no retiring prissy missy on any topic I can recall in the past running up on twenty years!

I think we both resonate with her storytelling eye. She sees a story and tells it with considered and thoughtful prose. It's what you tell me poetry *ptooptoo* does, when what it actually does is maunder vapidly around some topic or another never making its point.

Good Morning, Richard. Warming back up a bit today but as long as the humidity stays comfortable that is the main thing. I am doing Trail Watch this AM. I have been slacking with my volunteering and this is one I really like, plus I get exercise and I get to go birding along the way. I hope your week is off to a fine start.

((Hugs)) and **smooches** and hopes that you have a terrific Tuesday, RD!

>111 msf59: Morning, Birddude! I'm glad to hear you're comfortably getting out on the trail again...been so busy, or it's been so hot, you have missed out so yay for respite from missing out on your fun. It's still rainy here, and cooler, and I am lovin' it.

Wrestling Country People's review to the ground is my main effort of the day. Fried fish, cornbread, and collards for lunch...I'm so annoyed because that's a favorite meal of mine and I can't have it without gastrointestinal consequences! I really want the crispy catfish, too. *heavy sigh*

>112 alcottacre: *smoochiesmoochsmooch* for a fun Tuesday for you, too, Stasia!

‘Morning, RD! Happy Tuesday.

>101 richardderus: Glossing… aye.

I do not want him in jail, because there will be those who will work on breaking him out, either legally or with bombs and etc., and keep working breaking him out.

I’ll read the Harpman needed for book club, if I really, really, like it, perhaps I’ll get this one. If they’re novellas, that is – as a rule, short stories don’t appeal to me. Always excepting smut, of course.

>106 richardderus: Hmmm. 4.8*. We’re reading it for our January discussion. I’ll hold acquiring it ‘til November. Sigh. I'm pretty tired of reading feminist stuff.

*smooch*

>99 richardderus: Thanks for this review. I’ve added it to my never-ending reading list 🫣.

Just a speak and a *smooch*, Richard!

My new phone has additional weather info that I wasn't getting on the very old model, e.g. not only humidity at 59% but also dew point at 75°, and of course, the temp up to 90°. Summer right here, right now.

>115 karenmarie: Afternoon, sweetiedarling. The Harpman collection isn't really very meaty, under forty pages apiece. She's a real feminist, someone who's keenly aware of women's wrongs; but she's careful to avoid yelling about it.

Point taken about the cultists, but for me it's a feature not a bug. Like the reviews I've written that make Goodreaders mad, that I leave up to poultice out the a-holes so I can block them. Even if the break the (microchipped) chucklefuck out, what're they gonna do with him? It'll be "The Ransom of Red Chief" in mere moments.

*smooch*

>116 Ameise1: Scary, how fast that list becomes immense. I hope it will appeal to you when you do get to read it.

>117 LizzieD: *ew* Summer indeed, Peggy. Stay indoors and cool!

178 Country people : a novel by Daniel Mason

Ooooo - uh - if I were DM, I guess I'd prefer the hype! Otoh, you did it, WBL - fair and frank; anybody who picks the book up after that review, does so knowing exactly what's between the covers.
(As for me, I have enough fluff floating around here to stuff so many mattresses that I'd never feel the pea.)

Oh, and btw, I think I identified "my" diadem above as: A gold diadem with carnelian and garnets from Canosa, Bari, southern Italy. 3rd-2nd century BCE. (Archaeological Museum of Taranto, Italy)

>122 LizzieD: I think, Princess Peggy, you'd put this one down one lunchtime and just forget to pick it back up.

I would *love* to visit the Taranto museum! So much magnificent Greek architecture and artifacts in that part of Italy! Agrigento's spectacular...on Sicily, about 150mi as the tuna swims from Taranto.

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Wednesday to you.

>121 richardderus: Onto the wish list it goes, regardless of your meh 4*.

*smooch*

179 The Loom Tree by Angela Mi Young Hur

>124 karenmarie: Morning, Horrible, on this sunstruck normally-warm Wednesday.

If you buy it full price I'll be miffed at being so dismissively ignored but as a library checkout or KU title, whyever not? It's competent after all...I'd greatly prefer to see you use eyeblinks on >125 richardderus: though for obvious reasons.

*smooch*

>125 richardderus: I'll go and get it, but I can't do it right now. I'm taking it that this is something of a child of Babel without the hammering insistence on anti-colonialism? Anyway, I will be drawn immediately to anything that says *school* or *library* or *bookstore*, and *magic* usually seals the deal. Very few don't draw me into the second book - Grossman's *Magicians* is the first one that comes to mind.
Oh well.

Stay cool! *smooch*

>127 LizzieD: It's deffo not strident the way Babel was, but yeah that's a great description.

*smooch*

Morning, Richard. Sweet Thursday. I was hoping for a more glowing review of Country People. Mason has quickly become a favorite of mine. You still gave it 4 stars which is far from panning it. I wish I could have snagged DRC. Are you currently reading Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt? I think I saw that on Good Reads. I am starting it today.

>129 msf59: I'm going to write my review today, as a matter of fact!

Yeah, I was disappointed not to batten on Country People. It feels as though I have a Teflon coating for hyped books, especially the more sentimental ones. I was really looking forward to this read, and ended up feeling it was just...okay. The prose was superior, though, please note. I'm not at all dissing the guy's craft choices.

I am hoping for a more favorable take on Everything Was Beautiful. 🤞🤞

180 Grief Eater by Emma Osborne

>121 richardderus: I still have not managed to get North Woods read (even though I own it) and here is another Daniel Mason book that I need to get to! Thanks for the review and recommendation, RD.

>125 richardderus: Oo, that one looks good too!

>132 richardderus: That one, I suspect, is not for me so I am giving it a pass.

((Hugs)) and **smooches** for today and hopes that you have a great one!

>131 msf59: Magic 8-Ball Says: signs are favorable

>133 alcottacre: Don't break anything getting to the Mason books, Stasia, they'll still be there when you need them. I think you'd really resonate to >125 richardderus:, though, so I'll give you a wee nudge to procure yourself one of those.

Thursday well, smoochling!

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Thursday to you.

I’ve got a ‘free day’ because my cleaning ladies are coming tomorrow instead of today.

*smooch*

>130 richardderus: It feels as though I have a Teflon coating for hyped books... Exactly! Now that I think of it, I should have copied the bit about sentimentality too although I'm a fool for it when it resonates with me. I suspect in my case it's mostly a matter of contrariness, which I will not attribute to my WBL.

I can skip >132 richardderus: for the moment because I'm full-up, but >125 richardderus: is still singing to me. (Karen, do you think Hwan and Jenna would like that one???)

It was too hot to walk today - &deg85; when my stalwart DH set out. I'm not going to try it, so I'm ahead of things and hope to spend a little more time among the threads!
Stay cool! *smooch*

>132 richardderus: I did not have "Richard gives damn near five stars to a zombie book" on my 2026 card. I'll have to check it out.

>136 karenmarie: A quiet day is a good one, eh what?

I'm under cloudy skies, not too hot, and a wee bit nappish.

>137 LizzieD: Sentimentality is the secret sauce of many effective reads. I'm selective as all get out which ones I'll allow myself to succumb to. *smooch*

>138 swynn: I've got curve balls galore upcoming...just sayin'

>135 richardderus: Luckily for me, The Loom Tree is available through Hoopla. Hopefully soon!

>142 alcottacre: Crossing my fingers for you.

Happy Friday, Richard. We will enjoy a more comfortable day before the HEAT comes roaring back on Sunday. Sighs...Sue will pick Jack up from summer camp today and then bring him back here for a sleepover. It will be fun.

I am enjoying my audio of She Rides Shotgun. I wanted to read something else by Harper after enjoying A Violent Masterpiece. He is a good solid crime writer. This one is leaner and meaner.

‘Morning, RD! Happy Friday to you.

>126 richardderus: Per Peggy’s question at >137 LizzieD:, I’ve recommended it to Hwan. It really doesn’t trip my trigger though.

*smooch*

>144 msf59: It's on the way up to near 90° today. I guess it's fair, we're midsummer now, but I still want an edict from the various gods that no temperature over 80° will now, or ever, be allowed anywhere on planet Earth. And that the measure will be conducted in Fahrenheit not Celsius.

I'll look forward to your thoughts on Harper's earlier novel. Friday well, enjoy your Jackson sleepover!

>145 karenmarie: Maybe Hwan will like it enough to convince you...
...
...it could happen....

*smooch*

Happy Friday, Richard! Well, you got me with two BBs - Country People and Grief Eater (which I'll save for October). I hope you're proud of yourself. :)

Have a lovely weekend of relatively mild (for summer) temps before the coming week brings us more blazing heat. All I can say is TGFAC.

TGFAC indeed! We have two more days of high 90s and then a break for a couple. We could also get a little rain. I live in hope ... inside!

My wish from the early 60s, WBL. "If you're not cool, get cool. If you are cool, stay cool."

*smooch*

>148 Storeetllr: Hiya Mary! I hope both reads end up making you feel good. Well... maybe not GOOD but glad you read them.

>149 LizzieD: Hey there Peggy. I'm cool... thermally speaking. The rest, not so much. The Blessed Carrier and Lennox be praised!

Dropping off some weekend smooches and some virtual cool treats.

Cool in body is the thing, Richard. I hadn't thought about it, but being "cool" was the thing in the 60s. When I was teaching in the aughties, the ambitious kids wanted to be "hotties."

I feel antsy when you're not here ahead of me, but I'm hoping all is good with you, my WBL. *smooch*

*smooch * Richard and I hope your day is going well.

>152 MickyFine: Good seeing you, Micky, even if it's a day late! It was upper 80s/30C out there yesterday, plus my foot was playing up, so I was not out in it.

Sunday orisons, dear lady!

>153 LizzieD: Hot/cool switch places as the dominant term for leading-edge fashionable culture every so often, but neither is ever totally banished. They're too useful.

It was an ouchie day, so I had nothing left in my word bin except curses. I finished a September book, *hated* it, and realized I probably only didn't care but was pissy from being in pain. I'll give it a skim just before I write it up. Fairness is all.

>154 vancouverdeb: Morning, Deborah! Today started off better, so I'm callin' it a win. Sunday well, dear lady.

‘Morning, RDear. Happy Sunday to you.

>147 richardderus: According to Jenna: “Wife is also very into dark academia and Asian American and women, so yeah that’s going on the list for the Library. Many thanks. She is excited.” I’m probably still not going to go for it. I've got several books that are 'Korean', all as yet unread. Except for MASH, which I've read several times. Love the movie, too, hated the series.

I’m sorry yesterday was an ouchie day and hope you’re doing better today.

*smooch*

Happy Sunday, Richard. We are wrapping up our Jackson weekend. Sue will need a major rest. LOL. I plan on finishing Everything is Beautiful today. Sadly, I won't be raving about this one. 😟

Heating up here again- UGH!!

181 Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt : a novel by Ben Reeves

>158 karenmarie: It's another gorgeous midsummer day, so I forced myself on a walk up the hill so as to get some resistance in addition to my steps. What a lovely sunny one it is.

I'm so pleased >125 richardderus: has hit JenWan's radar! I'm hoping for a calm-joint day to ease me into the week with its annoying tasks.

>159 msf59: Thanks, Mark! I just reviewed it, but wouldn't say I *raved* about it. I'd like to build a climate wall to keep the awful heat off my block, but "my block" equals Earth.

Order in and rest! Sue needs it!

My 13.5-year-old blog has, as of today, reached a cumulative lifetime viewership total of 3,000,000. (This minute it's 3,000,430.)

Stick with it and they will come? Persevere and people will notice? Whatever, whichever, however it worked, I'm right pleased with my results.

I should think you would be pleased!! Congratulations!!

>164 RebaRelishesReading: Thank you, Reba, it's lovely to see numbers that suggest it really *does* matter that I wake up every morning!

I'm happy to see you back today and sorry that yesterday was grim. We are a little cooler, but tomorrow and Tuesday are supposed to be a real break. I'm ready!
Do some of your best!!!

*smooch*

Sorry to hear it was a high pain day yesterday. Adding some extra "feel better soon" smooches and wishing you media that that is comforting and/or pleasantly distracting.

>159 msf59: >160 richardderus: I am happy to report that I had a fine rebound in the last 3rd of Everything is Beautiful. That middle part was quite devastating and I felt a bit manipulated but Reeves pulled it together, delivering a really beautiful ending.

As usual, a great review and I hope it snares a few potential readers. 🤞🤞

>163 richardderus: Congrats on your cumulative hits!

>166 LizzieD: May the break last! It was tough, today was less so though still uncomfy, and now I'm hoping it'll just get better. *smooch*

>167 MickyFine: Thanks, Micky, I'll add my energy to yours with gratitude. *smooch*

>168 msf59: Thanks, Mark, I do too. It's very likely your last-stretch rebound of esteem is the reason you enjoyed the resolution as much as you did!

>169 thornton37814: Thanks, Lori! It hit me how much that mattered to me when I just sorta noticed the number today. Surprise!

>163 richardderus: Congrats on your blog numbers, Richard! Good to see that today is/was a better day.

>174 Familyhistorian: Thank you, Meg! It's shaping up to be a decent midsummer day. Not batteringly hot, little breeze, sunny...*aaahhh*

182 Ada by Mark Haber

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Monday to you.

Lazy day ahead for me – reading, puttering, lollygagging, spreadsheets, Lightning Round.

*smooch*

>177 karenmarie: Morning, smoochling, the day ahead sounds lurvely! I hope all slides smoothly along. I'll be doing much the same, TBH.

>163 richardderus: Congratulations!

Happy day *smooches*. Hope you're enjoying AC and good books.

>179 humouress: Thanks, Nina!

183 Astronaut! : a novel by Oana Aristide

>180 bell7: Hi, Mary! I'm happily a/c-bathed, and getting myself prepared for August and September's reviews.

*smooch*

Heavens!!! 3,000,000+ on your blog, TWO very, very intriguing books for your reading and reviewing, AC, your place, and, I hope, less discomfort! You are celebrating my daddy's birthday without even knowing it, and I like to see it.

>176 richardderus: >182 richardderus: Meanwhile, I'm not sure I'm ready for either of them. Yikes! ----- but I want to be. *smooch*

Good Morning, Richard. It will hit 97F today. I know you are roasting on the East Coast too. It will be a good day to hang with Juno and the books. I am currently deep into mambo and Cuban music with The Mambo Kings. Keep cool, my friend.

>184 LizzieD: Morning, Peggy! "Less" is subjective enough I can deliver on that one...the books won't add much to your day, TBH, so I won't shove them at you. I was pleased with both on a craft level and intrigued by the thought experiments behind them.

I'm really pleased even a million have ever found me. I'm just one li'l voice, no one famous, who talks about books...and won't stop talking. Somehow that got me here! Fun times.

>185 msf59: NINETY-BLEEDIN'-SEVEN.

That is obscene! I'm so sorry! We *are* in the heart of summer so I guess there's a reason for this level of nasty, but not one excuse. After 90° it simply does not matter how hot it gets it's disgusting and inescapable. Saints Carrier and Lennox be praised for their world-changing gift to humanity.

I remember reading Oscar Hijuelos's books in the 90s but not what, if anything, I thought about them. I hope you're having a good time!

'Morning, RDear. Happy Tuesday to you.

My DiL's sister's husband/family are from Romania, although the fam lives in Paris and Dil's sister/husband live in England. They sound like lovely people, wish I could meet them.

Possibly Virlie's, definitely World Cup semifinal Spain v France at 3 p.m.

*smooch*

Happy Tuesday, Rdear. I hope it’s not as hot where you are as it is here.

I know that kind of heat isn't fun for you Knickerbockers, but you better start becoming accustomed to it. Just be glad that you don't live in France, or Great Britian right now. I do wonder what the daily temperatures have been in Iceland? Funny that nobody talks about the heatwave in Greenland, and that is really more of a threat to humanity than 97 in New York.

There didn't that make you feel better?

As for me, here in little ole Kansas (that's right in the middle) it is a normal summer. Hot and windy. Tonight our little county (at the northern edge of the middle, but right in the middle of the northern edge) we are having a meeting of the county Democrats. That is so exciting. I will be taking a car with 2 other people riding along. That is exciting. We are having a meet and greet for some of the down ballot candidates. One that I will be excited to meet, and greet, is running for the State School Board. Kansas is one of those states where every four years the State School Board changes party allegiances because the creationists get on a high horse and get disruptive. They make people mad because when they are in power at the state school board level, the science test scores go down. It should be a fun evening - even in the heat.

Sounds like it is still stifling hot where you are, Richard. Nice to stay inside in the air conditioning but I hope cooler weather will be there soon. We're enjoying more reasonable temperatures here.

>188 karenmarie: Hi Horrible! Do you remember Liliana, from twenty years ago, who was from Romania? It was fascinating to talk to her about how she viewed our grumbling culture. "Nonsense! No one's going to die because of what you're grumbling about!"

She left here when felonious yam took office.

I hope you went to Virlie's, sweetiedarling. I'm rooting for France. *smooch*

>189 Ameise1: Our usual summers are far worse than your horrifying one now, Barbara. We're on the same latitude as the south of Spain over here. Today it's 36C, about 2C above usual. Which is why we All have air conditioning!! If the Swiss had a/c it would be almost funny most of the time...talk about useless...but now that we've screwed up the planet, that's what y'all need to get yourselves used to retrofitting.

May it cool down there very soon.

>190 benitastrnad: ...so half the Dems in Kansas are in one car...is that safe? Best arm y'all's selves.

It's not that unusual to be over 90 this part of the summer, but it's unusual for it to happen in such quick succession to the bog-standard mid-80s it replaced overnight. Landlords are required to have working a/c in All apartments since the 1990s because it's seriously torture in these old buildings with poor airflow to be trapped in an inner room without it.

Creationists is a prettified way of saying religious nuts. Call a spade a spade, then get to shovelin' 'em out!

>191 Familyhistorian: I'm not confident about cooler weather *staying* here for another five-six weeks, when we'll hit early autumn. I'm so happy to have a good a/c unit!

Stay well, Meg.

>193 richardderus: The structural condition of our 93-year-old house is excellent, and we also replaced all the windows a few years ago. The new ones keep the heat out. I’m also a real expert at getting the heat out of the house during the night, so that we always have 22°C inside in the morning; by the evening, it then warms up to 24°C. So we don’t need air conditioning – that would just heat up the outside world even more. 🥳

>196 Ameise1: It's All too rare, that...you planned ahead! AND thought through how best to fight the problem. Most haven't. It's a good plan, too! xo

>197 richardderus: Isn't it 🥰🥳