richardderus's seventh reviews thread

Before anyone says anything, I am putting up my new thread.

I'm in the Books Off the Shelf group, too, so I will review 25 books that've sat on my shelves since who-whipped-the-cat and also 75 new books...published no earlier than 2008...this year.

Reviews 1,2,3: first thread
Reviews 4-7: second thread
Reviews 8-12: : third thread
Reviews 13-20: ... fourth thread
Reviews 21-30: ... fifth thread
Reviews 31-37:... sixth thread

I now have a Homeless Reviews thread in Club Read 2010. I've set a completely arbitrary goal of 50 books to review that I don't own, and were published before 2008, so they don't fit anywhere else.

FOR THOSE JUST TUNING IN: I don't know the readers of my reviews personally, for the most part, so I don't have any way to gauge whether you'll agree or disagree with me. It's always perfectly fine with me either way, and I invite comments from all.










Books are reviewed in post number:

42. American Salvage...#167

41. A Murderous Procession...#121

40. Lester Higata's 20th Century...#75

39. Lonelyhearts: The Screwball World of Nathanel West and Eileen McKenney...#37

38. Date with a Sheesha...#11

starred, my dear.....

another star from me;-)

Dang!! So close to number one...Starred as per usual. ; )

Who, us? Say anything? Never!

Really, you're the one who started it by picking on everyone else. ;)

I've got you starred!

Why, good morning, Richard. Fancy you starting a new thread...

Phew...i rush all the way over here......and..well, I starred you (again)

*Shakes out a long white robe and chooses an mauve ball cap*

*hands them over*

Review: 38 of seventy-five

Title: DATE WITH A SHEESHA

Author: ANTHONY BIDULKA

Rating: 4.3* of five

I truly do not know how I will fill the next year or so of my life, waiting for book eight in the Russell Quant, Prairie PI, series. It bodes ill that I am already casting feverishly about for possible plot lines that mend the hideous damage done to my beloved Russell in this book. I'm the sort of a boy whose brain needs chew-toys, as my younger brother said once, or it turns on the furniture and tears the place up.

I really loved Aloha, Candy Hearts, and felt that the decidedly substandard Sundowner Ubuntu was partially made up for with the new installment's spiffy pace and beautiful ending. I approached the newest book with a high heart and buoyant hopes.

And then Bidulka goes and exceeds them. Bar none, this is the best book in the series. The mystery is far and away the most accomplished and polished, pulling a suspect switcheroo successfully twice and marginally once. The ending, in fact the last three chapters, are so exciting I was pacing the floor as I read them. (The dog was most confused, poor little love, pacing along with me, looking worried at my exclamations of surprise and excitement.)

The story picks up with Russell happily ensconced in a relationship, seemingly one that's riding on rails it's going so smoothly and directly. He's happy, really truly happy, and the cherry on the sundae of his life lands with a plop in the form of a challenging, extremely remunerative job: Investigate the gay-bashing death of a world-renowned ancient carpet expert in glitzy, ritzy Dubai, all at the expense of a megarich Indian engineer and his wife. It's the engineer's son who's dead. Now...what to tell Mr. Man? "Honey, I'm going away for a few weeks, my life's going to be in danger, kiss kiss!"

Clouds gather, shadows lengthen, and once in Dubai, Russell enters the hyper-closeted world of gay Arabia, and the hyper-competitive world of ancient carpet buying and selling. What happens there leads Russell from a hot Arabian sandstorm back to frigid, January-blasted Saskatoon, a chase scene featuring Mr. Man's property's frozen pond, bullets, a dead body, and a Big Reveal that is really a Big Reveal!

I love being surprised, especially when I've come to the conclusion that a series is fun but no great shakes, worth reading because it's just entertaining. And now I'm awake and alert again, eager for the next book, agog to see what the author will do to fix a certain giant chasm he's ripped in Russell's life.

2011 can't come fast enough. I need my fix!!

Hi, y'all!

>10 mckait: Mauve is NOT my color. Makes me look sallow.

Sadly, have never tasted this Series (*note to self:GET OFF DUFF)....it's on THE LIST...and when next i go shopping??????

i don't think Mauve is your color, either. I only use it on Walls. You need something a tad darker..with character (and charm)

;-}

Ooh ooh ooh oooh....*bouncing like a Mexican jumping bean on speed* .... Date with Sheesha sounds great ....can't wait to pick up my copy.

oh and I've starred you again, of course, King Richard

>13 jdthloue: Jude, I think it'll make you smile. Russell is such a goof!

>14 cameling: Naturally! The Universe would wink out of existence if gravity shifted so dramatically as all that.

You are in for SUCH a treat...such a treat...!

The advantage of being directionally challenged is that nobody thinks it odd that I might suddenly find Barnes and Nobel on my way home from work.

Are you *certain* they'll have it? After all, one wouldn't want to *waste* a trip to the bookstore.

*wild, raucous laughter*

rose?

caro..as a directionally challenged person... I like the way you think!

>18 mckait: Lavender or nothing.

Meanie richard .... how dare you strike anxiety through the very core of my being at the thought that they may not have a copy on hand! Fear not .. Borders is around the corner from B&N ... well not really, but according to the way I drive, it's around the corner

#19 Kath : that's because you haven't been in the car with me as I'm cheerfully driving in the opposite direction of whereever it is I'm supposed to go.

Richard - I have had Amuse Bouche on my WL since the first time I saw you mention it. The problem is my library doesn't have it and it is somewhat unavailable elsewhere. How important is it to start at the beginning of this series? Shall I pay extra just to do it or can I begin somewhere further down the line?

caro... I do it myself ALL the time....

rd.. lavender it is, but.. I would go with periwinkle if you are not into pinks..

Oh dear Richard...The LAVENDER MENACE?...remember that? Everyone was so pitifully terrified.. like homosexuality is/was contagious??

Uh Oh...some sad people ...still...think it is...(Nasty Virus....Yurk)

;-}

#24: You mean it's not? And here I have been taking anti-Richard pills!

Did someone say virus?

I think Richard would look good in burgundy. With gold trim, of course, or perhaps some ermine? Tastefully around the hem and sleeve hems?

#27: Decidedly not! He would think he was King Richard in that care, lol.

The one SERIOUS question/comment is #22, Nancy: Yes, sorry, I know it's damned good and inconvenient but one does need to start with Amuse Bouche. After that, it's not so important to stick to chronology.

...viruses, robes, lavender, sheesh what a load of piffle...

piffle? *tear* :*{

Piffle indeed, madam! Tear *bah* lavender baseball caps! Why, the very notion is absurd! And gilt-edged choir robes to attire *moi*'s own august personage?! Blasphemy! I should rain down smitings upon you all!

I need no such adornments.

*stalks magisterially off to the accompaniment of shaky, quaky little angel voices*

:*{ bah?

Hmmm That is what Amy said too. I am batting a thousand today :(
:P

AMY said *bah*?! To what, to whom, and to why?

to me. long story.. but I am feeling a mite beat up by the girl...
my heart hurts.. but she says she needs to do what is best for her... and
pretty much the hell with how I feel ...

I think the real Amy has been abducted by faeries and a changling left in her place.

*slow blink*

AMY said THAT?!

*begins huntong for faerie tracks*

I'm so sorry, dearest, that's really really unexpected! Like Adam driving up to visit level of strange.

*nods*

Review: 39 of seventy-five

Title: LONELYHEARTS: The Screwball World of Nathanel West and Eileen McKenney

Author: MARION MEADE

Rating: 3.8* of five

Reviewing this book, I am more grateful than ever to the innovator who thought up the decimal-star system. No way could I rate this four stars, and three-and-a-half is a little mingy.

It's a good story...hot young honey who's famous for being famous marries screwed-up weirdo writer of unsalable novels, they end up dead. Kinda like the Joe Orton story, only no one here's a real man.

Nathanael West comes out worst in this dual bio. He sounds like a self-loathing closet queer and anti-Semitic Jew, with a talent for cruelty and impeccable, phony manners. (Sure could write, though.) Eileen McKenney sounds like someone we all know today, the fifteen-minutes' wonder...Joe the Plumber, Sarah Palin...who would've spent the rest of her life trying to cash in on her fleeting moment of celebrity.

Dreadful people, actually, ones I'd pay not to know, and I am double glad that I didn't buy this book. Meade does a solid job reporting the facts, and even goes so far as to avoid calling West a closet case...but really, ma'am, you reported that the trog had gonorrhea of the ANUS, now does that not suggest something to you? Go Google the phrase "lucky Pierre" and stand back.

One of the bitterest ironies of the whole book is that Eileen's sister Ruth, the author of My Sister Eileen, became a very wealthy woman starting four days after Eileen's death...the Broadway show "My Sister Eileen" was a huge, huge hit, and spawned numerous revivals and reworkings, supporting its author all the rest of her life. I wonder if she'd've shared the gelt with Eileen. We'll never know, of course, but I suspect not. Ruth is not a likable character at all, per Meade, inclined to manic depressive episodes and a Communist True Believer (how tedious).

So why rate the book so highly? Because...these are REAL people, not airbrushed whitewashed celebrified people. They come across as, well, fascinating in their very, very, very flawed selves. Meade's made some dim corners of American celebrity life quite a lot brighter, and I suspect the likes of Kato Kaelin are busily dusting the corners of their lives.

I don't think I'll recommend this book to anyone not fascinated by Nathanael West. Really, it's just too far to go for someone just browsing around, and probably too tedious for anyone not already familiar with the time-period (1900-1940) in BOTH New York and Hollywood.

ETA BLOODY TOUCHSTONES!!!! Link is direct to the work page now. Grrr

OK, I will probably skip that one. I am familiar with the time period in Hollywood, but not NY. Thanks for the heads up, Richard.

At first I was perturbed, you sneaking off to a new thread. But then I read the review of Date With A Sheesha and realized I had a new series I needed to check out, so I got excited. Then I got annoyed because that's another book (or books!) for the endless list! Then I just got disturbed by the thought of gonorrhea of the anus.

(admit it: in your head, you finished off those first few words with "I was petrified".)

>38 alcottacre: VERY good plan, Stasia. Stick to it.

>39 ty1997: LOL It's...it's...like you're HERE...*peers over shoulder, sees dog peering back* But you're not...scaaary

that sounds like a book for my never read this! list...

Wow! A double dose of Dreadful People.....the ultimate urpy double-dip cone!! Might be up my alley...or, might be, I'll just leave it in the alley....

whatever.......I gave your review a Dainty Thumb

;-}

Hi Richard!

# 39 LOL!!

R--THanks for the great review and the decimal rating system, which I used for the first time in my review of The Lonely Polygamist (4.8). After great reflection (lasting all of 1.9 nanoseconds) I think I shall skip the nasty people in Lonelyhearts. ;)

You came up with the decimal rating system? Really? And here I thought Stas did ...... *running away before I get a smelly dog chewed tennis ball hurled in my direction*
BUT I really liked your review, Richard .... but I don't think I'm going to like the book .... *pushing it away with a 12' pole' so thanks for the heads up.

How did i miss the jump to this thread?

Guess I'm the only one with a Jones for "Dreadful People"...maybe a throwback to my parents?..or...just my own l'il freak..

Decimal system? I thought Donna came up with that. Or Darryl

I thought it was Dewey.

(groans from the audience)

Actually, it was Al Gore.

I thought Al Gore invented the internet...

He did that, too. ;-)

Hmmm...in that case, maybe the internet invented the decimal system and Al Gore just took credit for it. :)

#45: Actually, Luci has been using the decimal system all year, so I think the credit must go to her.

Well, as I said above, whoever did it, I thank them, and the innovation is one LT should think about adopting for the site. Anyone know if someone has recommended this yet?

Good Morning!

Hidy-ho there, Linda my dove!

What a weekend. Non-stop birthday party for The Divine Miss. I picked her and Gale Force Girl up at the station, brought them back to a table set up with The Divine Miss's birthday cards, birthday gifts, and a bottle of cold champagne in the kitchen. Then we went thrift-store shopping, TDM's absolute favorite thing to do. A visit with Auntie in rehab, with Auntie's gifts to TDM in some fancy bags and four individual maple walnut cakes for our delectation, and Auntie was thrilled to be included. Home for dinner, TDM's favorite dishes...baked chicken in wine, lemon, olive sauce, roasted carrots, mashed potatoes made with half-and-half, a stick of butter, and parmesan cheese. Collapse into bed, drunk and full.

Next day shopping for big Sunday party, plus chores...then Gale Force Girl and I sprang a surprise...our evening treat was getting gussied up and going to a beautiful country club for drinks and dinner. TDM *loooves* getting gussied up, so that had her all glowy and grinning from ear to ear. Collapse into bed, drunk and full.

Sunday was an all-day barbecue, chicken and sausage and **gorgeous** home-grilled vegetables courtesy of the talented Gale Force Girl, cannellini pasta salad with spinach, cole slaw, green salad, a watermelon, and a champagne toast to serve the *big* maple walnut cake. Watch the Tonys, collapse into bed, drunk and full.

If I say so myself, I do a good job of pampering those I love.

you never do things by half, sir!

sounds lovely!

Richard: If I say so myself, I do a good job of pampering those I love.

I would say so as well! Sounds like a wonderful weekend. :)

What a wonderful mate and friend you are!

Indeed! I'm going to invite you down for my next birthday.

Next time, can I come?? What a fabulous party you throw!

What a great weekend!

If Bonnie gets to go to the next party, I want to go too!

Collapse into bed, drunk and full. I'm seeing a kind of theme emerging there... Sounds like a great weekend!

I imagine that is why he hasn't been here much today~ recovering from drunk and full and hosting duties :)

If Bonnie and Stasia get to go, I want to go too! Sounds like a fantastic weekend .... even if you're breaking out the Asprin or the Tums today.

It's fun to deliver a little pampering now and then. And it *was* a good party! It lasted three days, how bad could it be?

Now how to convince all y'all socially fearful readerly hermits to come pay a birthday visit to me? Promise a barbecue, a big cake, a lot of booze, and a lovely garden to relax in?

Sounds wonderful. If I should just happen to be strolling by...

puff, puff, puff.

finally catching up with your new thread. Had wondered what had happened!!

So, when's the party??

#68: I will take the barbecue, cake and the garden. Everyone else can have the booze - someone is going to have to drive!

-->68 richardderus:: What a delightful party that all sounds. Like Stasia, I may have to pass on any more than one glass of booze, but what fun! Richard, you must be a great host---thoughtful and yet with that refreshingly scathing wit.

Scathing? Moi? I prefer to think of myself as "one who suffers fools gladly, and offers them gentle and timely help in becoming less foolish."

AND NOBODY BETTER MESS WITH MY DENIAL. GOT IT?

Richard my darling, where on earth did you ever find a fool who responded to 'gentle and timely help'? How sweet of you to try though.

Review: 40 of seventy-five

Title: LESTER HIGATA'S 20TH CENTURY

Author: BARBARA HAMBY

Rating: 3.9* of five

Not every author has the fortitude to start a collection of stories with a story about the death of the title character. Hamby is to be applauded for this, it's gutsy! It isn't extremely successful, though, beacuse the unspooling of Lester Higata's life from 1946 to 1999 is unevenly presented and unevenly edited, as quite some several of these stories appeared in other venues before being collected here.

The very best story, the chef d'ouevre, is the delightful, fresh, energetic story of Lester's last day: "Lester Higata's String Theory Paradise." Waking up to a conversation with your dead father, one in which he bashes your equally dead Gorgon of a mother, is a pretty good clue that the rest of the day isn't going to be normal. And it is, oddly, very normal in its events and yet Lester's certainty that this is his last day on Earth manages to make all its events sharp and clear and dear to him. It's an excellent story. It's no surprise to me that this story appeared in TriQuarterly and was edited by the superb, talented, and very accomplished Susan Hahn. She impressed me mightily in our one professional contact, when she bought a story from one of my then-clients in my former life as an agent.

Well, I said the collection was uneven...and the next story, "Iniki Chicken", is proof of this. In and of itself, it's not a bad little piece, but it needed a pruning before being put in the show. It appeared in Southwestern Review, which magazine has a decent reputation, but the piece has an overwordy quality that detracts from Hamby's clean and simple message: "Looking at all the people gathered around the table, I wondered how so many different faces could be made in the image of one God? Maybe the Hawaiians were right, and there were many gods: {there follows a list of four gods and their areas of expertise, taking up a long paragraph}...But if there was only one God what could he possibly be like?..." A taut meditation on the nature of spiritual belief and its relationship to human interaction becomes a comparative religion lecture, and loses force and clarity. SO frustrating!

The strong stories outnumber the weak ones, fortunately: "Mr. Manago's Mango Trees" is bleak, but wryly witty; "Lani Dances the Zombie Hula in LA" is a spare, cold-eyed flensing of the way promise gets transmogrified into failure and misery; "Sayonara, Mrs. Higata" pitilessly shows the too-late-ness of deathbed regrets, and the hollow-yet-shining face of Duty's Daughters; and "Lester Higata in Love" is heartbreakingly tender and beautifully rendered, its landscape of love's losses and joys as mountainous as O'ahu itself.

The University of Iowa press sent this ARC to me as part of the Early Reviewers program. It's a pleasure to be able to recommend the collection to any reader even slightly interested in the geography of love.

#57 Sounds like a WONDERFUL weekend!

...and a fantastic review of Date With a Sheesha - I'd never heard of that series, I shall have to investigate.

OK. So now I'm caught up on this thread, I'm going back to finish off your last one... ;o)

>74 tututhefirst: Well, Tina, I just keep looking. Like Diogenes with his lamp, I am.

>76 flissp: Fliss, I had a ball! Fortunately, and more to the point, so did The Divine Miss.

I prefer to think of myself as "one who suffers fools gladly, and offers them gentle and timely help in becoming less foolish."

I'll remember that the next time you give me grammar advice. :P

That's not advice, Stephen, that's a drubbing for not living up to your potential!! Fools have an excuse, you don't. Too smart and too talented to get away with being lazy.

Fools have an excuse, you don't.

This keeps getting worse and worse!!

>80 Ape: I have not yet begun to excoriate. And moving to a new thread won't help, either, since I will hunt you down.

*mad-scientist laugh*

*Hides face behind book, pretending to be absorbed and subtly ignoring Richard*

Wonderful review, rdear...of course.

I love you madly you know... thank you so so much for the Bidulkas.
I am smiling from ear to ear..

aloha

Oh Richard..stop ragging on Stephen..I couldn't write for shit when i was in my 20s..look how far I've come..cut him a break..or, at least, give me a chance to chastise him!!

Love the REVIEW...except i thought it was Barbara Hambly...she of Fantasy/Vampire lit...Jeekers! was I wrong? Lester Higata's 20th Century is now, in its rightful place, on THE LIST

Unlike Kath, I don't "love you madly"...but I do love your wit, your sarcasm, your occasional mis-spellings..and your willingness to tolerate 'fools such as I"

;-}

.......Dainty THUMB on the review...

Ok, then, September 14th, I'm heading to upstate New York to celebrate your birthday Richard.

me too

Richard,

Try as I might, I have been reading between the lines for the past, oh, 7, 8 months and I have still not determined who the Divine Miss or Gale Force Girl are so do tell me. Your daughters possibly? I hate feeling stupid.

Bonnie

I would never use the word stupid to describe you.

Great review, Richard!

I'm with Bonnie; I'm not sure of the identities of the Divine Miss or Gale Force Girl.

#75: Thumbs up for the review, Richard! Into the BlackHole the book goes! Thanks.

Loved the review, richard .... but then when have I not liked your reviews. What I should do is read the books, tell you about them and then let you write my reviews for me.

81 > For some reason, I picture your mad scientist laugh to sound like the laugh of a evil animated cat.

Oh! I am so sorry. I expected that context would explain the women in question. I have one daughter. She has no nickname because she has an identity that's immutable, so to speak.

I have a spousal unit yclept "The Divine Miss", in honor of that other gay icon Bette Midler, the Divine Miss M.

We have a dear friend, my former assistant and party-hearty-galpal, Gale Force Girl. She is so named because she's always traveling at 73mph, just short of a hurricane, as she tends to her two kids, her ex-husband, her boyfriend, us, and the several boys on the side she cant seem to do without.

Turkish Delight is the man of the moment, a sweetie of a guy born in Istanbul, and possessed of his own complex private life. He's a reasonably infrequent visitor to my threads, in that what we get up to isn't really up for public consumption.

Mr. Man, to whom you will see occasional allusions, was the beloved companion of my days in Austin. He's a lovely person, just pathologically terrified of what his family would think if he came out...so much so that he's gotten himself married to a woman he barely knows at the behest of his Gorgon of a sister, nicknamed Lucretia McEvil by yours truly. I still hear from him, and I wish him well. (He reads LT, so I cna say no more....)

And that's the short version! But Bonnie did ask, seconded by Darryl....

Oh! I've finely seen the light! I did not want to enquire for surely everyone else knew of this complicated hierarchy but me. Thanks for coming out, Bonnie.

Well, I'm glad that's (more or less) cleared up. Here I've been thinking that I'm just hopeless out of the know, bumbling along...nice to have company.

Turkish Delight...Richard, you are an amazing man, my dear.

This is the book you should be writing.. your life.. fictionalized like Teresita's of course...

serious, dear...

#96 Hmmmm, good point. I'd buy it.

It sounds like great sitcom material

(A smart sitcom a la Modern Family, of course)

Also sounds like it could be a fascinating reality show too. Not one of those trashy ones but something sophisticated.

Or one of those steamy HBO miniseries! I mean c'mon, Turkish dudes and Texans? There's got to be an audience out there somewhere.

reality tv is the devil

Richard's book would definitely be a page turner and one filled with huge belly laughs.

Kath : There is nothing real about reality tv ... i hate them all and blame them for the continual dumbing down of society.

And it started with those weird talk shows -- I cheated with my sister in law, who's having my baby kind of Jerry Springer gag-fests...

I agree with both of your observations. It isn't just tv that is being " dumbed down" though, IMO. Life is. It is no wonder that people can no longer think. Wear a helmet on a tricycle. You are how old? Then you should read this not that. There is more, but...

When I was on maternity leave several years ago I was shocked by the garbage networks fed stay at home people. Jerry Springer was not on just once a day but morning then again in the afternoon, when kids got home from school. I called the network and complained - whatever good that would do- but I felt I was coming to the rescue of all humanity. Now that I'm retired I watch the TODAY show and then turn off that *%##@ box.

ETA: Stick with what you know best, Richard, write your memoirs. :o)

then turn off that *%##@ box.

Oh, it's not all bad. You just need to know where to look to find the good stuff.

Reality tv should definitely be avoided at all costs. But aside from that, there are plenty of informative televison programs to be digested. Don't fall prey to the ridiculous "tv makes you stupid" misconception.

Okay I read the 50some posts on the last thread, but confess I just flat out skipped here --I'm sure I missed stuff, mais...

bisous

Here is a Jerry Springer story re. my grand daughter:

Kayla was a little one, just learning to talk. Her other grandmother watched a lot of tv, including Jerry Springer and, much to our chagrin Kayla was exposed to this.

The minister of my previous church was dramatic person... voice loud and forceful.

Kayla heard him, watched him and the next thing you know her chubby little arms were up in the air and her squeezy baby voice was loudly calling out "Jerry!" "Jerry!" "Jerry!"

It was so funny! I could tell who watched Jerry Springer by the peals of laughter in various pews.

It remains one of my favorite Kayla stories and I'm sure I'll drive her crazy by repeating it to her children, if I'm lucky enough to see that day.

>106 Ape: I agree that there is a lot of worthwhile TV if you look for it. We watch a lot of PBS programs at our house. But the newest craze, these Jersey people I hear about and the housewives of (insert name of city) that I see advertised just make me wonder: who watches this stuff??

I understand that the woman who crashed the first White House state dinner is going to be on a Housewives of Washington DC show. Who in the world would want to watch that??

Not me! But my viewing is limited to a very few shows.

Now that LOST is over I'm going to be, well.......lost without it. Although I always watch those dynamic Cleveland sports teams! My son likes cartoon network and nickelodean - from what I've seen there are quite a few good shows. I liken it to sitcoms from the 80's, clean yet attractive to today's kids.

That Jerry Springer story is hilarious! I would have paid to see the minister's face when he heard this. Her grandmother must have been horrified.

no, I wasn't horrified...I laughed right out loud. Kayla's observation was spot on.

The minister's ex wife (my friend Phyllis who died of cancer in March) was sitting next to me. Sadly, he caused her a great deal of pain when he cheated with a member of the church, so it was wonderful to see her laugh.

I love that story, Linda! Definitely one to bring up at Kayla's engagement party and wedding. ;-)

>113 Whisper1: he caused her a great deal of pain when he cheated All the more reason to do as Caro suggests in #114! "Let me tell you about the time Kayla humbled the rotten cheating bastard...". It will be a warning to the husband.

I don't think I'll write my memoirs, there are too many out there already. I have read Twisted Head recently, and while it was nice, I kept thinking, "...and...?" Okay, we all have more or less challenging times in childhood, we run into similar brick walls as we mature, and...?

I like fiction, where I can heave the kitchen sink at my characters and watch them scramble around trying to figure out what to do about this sink in the middle of the living room.

I like the Science Channel. History, if it's not being the Hitlery Channel or BibleTV. I have Starz so I can watch "Spartacus" over and over (Andy Whitfield, swoon) and "Party Down", which is completely hilarious and features Megan Mulally (aka Karen from "Will and Grace") who deserves a statue in Central Park for being reliably funny.

PBS's Mystery! series, whatever they've transmogrified it into now, is a big fave, and sometimes their Masterpiece stuff doesn't put me to sleep within 20min. "Cranford" was flat-out wonderful!

But more often than not, it's me and a book and a cold glass on the patio, the sunporch, or the bed. Usually a dog somewhere close by. Not infrequently The Divine Miss busting around gardening. It's a pretty great life.

I am looking forward to that new comedy Hot Cleveland that starts tonight. I like funny.. and hope this is... good cast...

I don't think memoirs either, rdear... but something based on your fascinating family.. all fiction though !

ok

power going off again.. will be out often during the day

again
woe

>116 mckait: After they're all dead, maybe. My sisters are vengeful flying monkeys who don't need the Wicked Witch to launch an attack.

Power going off because of the power company or the rewiring? Hope it's the latter....

#115 Definately need more PBS in my life and it certainly wouldn't hurt the little guy either.

Geez Richard, I'm sitting here laughing right out loud at your description of your sisters.

Were you born with this unique sense of humor?

>118 Carmenere: Lynda, there is a lot of junk on PBS too...just that it's a better class of junk, like "Antiques Roadshow" and "This Old House." But there are a lot of gems, too, thank GOODNESS.

>119 Whisper1: ...I was being funny...?

Review: 41 of seventy-five

Title: A MURDEROUS PROCESSION

Author: ARIANA FRANKLIN

Rating: 3.6* of five

The fourth "Mistress of the Art of Death" mystery in the ongoing series, this book was a grave (!) disappointment. To my *intense* irritation, Franklin chose to reveal the identity of the murderer for sure and certain on p19.

I ask you...page nineteen...what in Satan's name (appropriate to the case, here, as Scarry-the-Satanist is the killer) possessed her to do that?! And what addlepated editor thought it was a good idea?!

One whole star off for that.

I was still reeling from that blow when I got the next one: Road trip! Another outing for the Mistress of the Art of Death, traipsing off to do Henry's bidding, only this time it's to Sicily. Yes, that Sicily, the true home of Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar, and the home of her beloved parents! Only Henry, not being any sort of a fool, keeps Adelia's and Rowley's daughter in the care of Eleanor as a hostage for Adelia's safe return to England and his service.

Now the last time there was a road trip, remember, was Adelia sloshing to and fro in frozen fenlands, to not much purpose. Now we have her on an international trip. My spirits sank into my sandals. Another half star off.

So I trudge on through the book, depressed because I already know who killed all the dead folk that keep appearing, and irked every time I see italics because that's Scarry-the-killer being shoved at me, and only keeping on with the reading because I like the story...the factual wedding procession of Henry and Eleanor's daughter Joanna to William d'Hautville's Kingdom of Sicily.

The adventures of Adelia, Ulf, Mansur, and some new characters who will feature prominently in future books, as they encounter Cathars, Catholics, and Countesses who help, hinder, and attempt to murder them, kept me turning pages. I wasn't happy about it, but I was doing it. "Every series has its duds," I explained to my dog as she demanded that I put the book down and pet her at 2a last night. "Just have to power through this one." The dog was unimpressed. She bit the dust jacket.

Then we get to Sicily. The wedding of resolute little Joanna and feckless, pretty William was nicely rendered, and the descriptions of Palermo were a joy. Then came the last chapter, a chase scene like the one that climaxes the movie "Charade", which is an all-time favorite of mine. Events unspool, there is a shocking, shocking attempted murder, and the end of the book is just dazzlingly exciting. I put back a tenth of a star. But damn the woman! This could have been a four-and-a-half star read, if she'd just left the whole Scarry-talks-to-us thing in the bin where it belonged!

*aaargh* read the damned thing if you're already in the series, but otherwise save yourself from the agonies of the immersion into the twelfth century, so complete and so fully absorbing...read Agatha Christie instead, she never even feints at fairness to her readers.

Oh, like you, I am truly disappointed about Franklin's newest book, and I haven't even got it on the shelf yet. I have enjoyed the 1st two, and was looking forward to more. Perhaps, since I still have to do #3, I'll let this one sit for awhile, and then perhaps touch it later.

Thanks for the heads-up. You and I seem to have the same star reducing dislikes.

I think you're wise, Tina, and maybe even give #3 a wait until #5 is out, even. It was just sooo disappointing to see the excellent book in this decent-to-good one.

I thought you were being funny too, richard! I didn't have a challenging childhood. I pretty much really had a great time, loved school, and apart from an irritating older brother (whom i love dearly now and get along really well with) I can't complain about my childhood at all.

What a drag about the new Franklin book. Especially because I thought #3 was the best of the bunch. GRRR.

OK I've not read the first one yet but it's on my shelf so maybe I shouldn't go beyond the first one. Or just read the first three?

#121/123: Like Tina, I have book 3 but not book 4. I guess I will hold out for book 5 before reading the third and fourth onesm, although I am not as picky as you are when it comes to books. I have pedestrian tastes.

>124 cameling: Fie on you! Get thee hence, normal woman! Befouling this place of misery with your happy childhood!

>125 nancyewhite: Oh my goodness yes, Nancy, it's **infuriating** to be so disappointed! Still, you've read three so there's no point stopping now. Especially since the shockeroo at the end of the book is so...so...intensely surprising, and since there are so many characters you'll need to know as the series progresses.

>126 brenzi: Bonnie...well...if you haven't even started yet, I don't know that I'd suggest that you do. Given what I know of your reading tastes, I think it might on balance not appeal to you too terribly much...too much violence, I suspect, and all of it angry and hateful. That doesn't accord with what I see of your tastes.

>127 alcottacre: Stasia...faugh, pshaw, and pfui on pedestrian tastes, you would be intensely irked by the awkwardness of this narrative technique. But I don't know that you'd hate the series, and in fact I'd bet not, so I say go full-tilt boogie into Franklin-land.

My childhood was filled with magic and wonder and love.. and some misery.. but just when I was at home. Can I stay?

Adulthood has made up for it in your case, dearest. You are pardoned, especially after the fat package I got today!

Thank you .. lol
Yeah well, beware, the next one will contain the book that shall not be named....

:)

#128: I have already read the first two - really liked the first, meh on the second.

>132 alcottacre: The third, Grave goods, is really very good, so you're in for a treat.

>131 mckait: I'm a little wavery on that one...maybe not at all?

In every dark thread a little happy chirpy presence is required so y'all don't start mainlining prozac. So I'm staying, richard ... so there!

hah! you tell him caro!

>128 richardderus: Thank you for considering my sensitivites Richard but you do realize that I read and loved all three books of the Stieg Larsson Millenium Trilogy, all brutally violent.

>136 brenzi: But not against children or animals, Bonnie. Therein the difference.

>137 richardderus: Yikes. OK then.

I read Mistress of the Art of Death...for an actual Group Read, here on LT...and i liked THAT book..but never wanted to pursue the "story" as presented..and i haven't done so...might not..

Good review, anywho

;-}

#121 Gaak. There are four books about this phenomenally irritating woman? I couldn't even finish the first one. And every time I had to hear her entire name (Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar - thanks to cut and paste) I wanted to vomit.

Richard, Richard. Return to Ian Rutledge.

edited to put in the right "hear"

I read Mistress of the Art of Death with the group read, too, and liked it a lot, but somehow I've let the series slip since then. (They're still on the wishlist, but...)

I expect I'll get to them at some point.

Liked both the Ariana Franklin books AND the Ian Rutledge series...
My faves re Adelia were the first book and the most recent. I couldn't get over the visual of Rosamund Clifford dead in the second book (those who have read it will know to what I refer) and I thought the plot in #3 was a bit silly. Yes, Scarry in "direct to camera" was goofy in the latest outing, but I still didn't know which of the people in the pilgrimage he was. And I thought the early Cathar element was intriguing, given the characters themselves. Think I gave it 4 stars. (It's on my 1010 challenge.)
And Rutledge is back on form in the latest book, after one or two less successful ones recently.

Glad to have missed all books since post #121

>142 Chatterbox: Every series sags, eh what? I forgive them...except the horrible Lousy Louise Penny, who broke my heart and made me cry and dig out my voodoo dolly kit so as to torment and harass her.

>141 Eat_Read_Knit: No rush, Caty, no rush.

>140 karenmarie: Never fear, Horrible, I am still on Rutledge's trail, I promise! I've got the fourth one all cued up and waiting. But I really liked the first three, not being squeamish as Suzanne is, so I'll soldier on for another book.

>139 jdthloue: Jude, I suspect you're going to like the series. It's got your aesthetic all over it!

Penny will fix it. She has to. She was clearly mistaken, and so was he.

>143 mckait: There have been no books since then, loveycuddles. We're still talking about A Murderous Procession, which I positively forbid you to read...I don't want our visits to take place in the nice, padded sanatorium....

ETA >145 mckait: Too little, too late. She's President-for-Life of my Poop List.

*waving at the bunch*

>147 alcottacre: Ooo-hoo, Stasia!

#148: I am not sure how to take that, lol.

Bummer that the Franklin series hit a downturn. I suppose I do not have to be so anxious about waiting for the paperback. (It does not come out until 03/01/11.) Patience, Patience, Patience.... (I say as I rapidly tap my foot).

I've posted my review of Montana 1948 at long last, if anyone's interested, in my Homeless Reviews second thread...post #2.

It holds up so well to re-reading that I feel like I've come back to an old friend's hearth on a cold winter of the heart.

Dahling Richard....I don't have nearly enough time to backtrack through all the various groups of conversations you're hosting here...rather like a delightful cocktail party where one bounces from group to group hoping to find a delicious place to land, but................do tell what you problem is with Louise Penny. She is absolutely one of my favorites, and I warn you that NOTHING you can say will make me feel differently, but what on earth did she do to upset you so?

#144 no rush

I know - and it's a good thing, too, given all the other books you keep leading me astray with. You're almost as bad as Stasia.

*Thumbs review and adds Montana 1948 to the wishlist*

#153: NO - he is much worse than I could ever be!!

Richard, loved your review of Montana 1948 and also want to know why Louise Penny broke your heart.

Hi, Richard, many of us are begging you NOT to say more about Penny - I know it is going to be a big spoiler for those of us who are way behind in the series! Thank you thank you thank you.

One of us is wondering who on earth Louise Penny is (I seem to be the only one not aware of her greatness / malevolency)

Hi Richard- Sorry I've been neglecting you! I will get better! I have not read Franklin yet, although I do have a nice copy of Mistress of the Art of Death waiting in the wings. I loved your review of Montana 1948. I'm a big fan also but I need to get to his other books, as well! There is no reasonable excuse that I have not! Sad!

ty, look up the Three Pines series by Penny, and you will be partially prepared for rd's answer. .. . maybe.

mckait, thanks, now that I've googled I recall hearing raves around these parts about Still Life. I think I might have even added it to my wishlist (though there's more books on that list than there are specks of dust on my furniture so who knows if I'd ever notice it there)

Lousy Louise killed me with book 5...that's all I can say.

The Book Circle just chose Manhattan Transfer for the next book...ooof!

*pats rd * she will fix it

#161 -- re dos Passos -- all I can say is you are a braver soul than I... I wish you strength and courage.

**I** didn't select the book, I wanted them to read Montana 1948 but one of our pruniest members just said, "No, I don't want to read that" and for some reason everyone fell *tick tick tick* into line. Annoying.

The only John dos Passos I have read is Three Soldiers and *whispering* I liked it.

When I was younger I read the whole of his USA trilogy, and I liked that, but I never ventured further. By now, it seems to me that lots of his work will be very dated, but I could be wrong. I'll be interested to see what you and your group think of Manhattan Transfer, Richard.

Review: 42 of seventy-five

Title: AMERICAN SALVAGE

Author: BONNIE JO CAMPBELL

Rating: 4* of five

Solid craftsmanship, a fearless imagination, and a complete lack of corrosive, cynical piety and pity make this collection of short stories exceptionally enjoyable.

I share nothing with these characters except the right to trial by jury, and yet I was enrapt by them. I loved "The Solutions to Brian's Problem" the best, since I never expect to see a male PoV on abuse by women. This book is seething with the rage of characters whose lives turned out bad, as in the TV series "Breaking Bad," and are flat-out irredeemably broken. This same territory was trodden by Barbara Ehrenreich in Nickel and Dimed from the factual PoV...it was revolting to read that book, it hurt me in ways I can't recover from, but Bonnie Jo Campbell has brought home to me the true emotional cost of indifference.

I don't thank her for that.

But I do recommend the book highly.

Richard,

I read it back in February and was permanently seared by the passion of the stories. I especially loved "The Burn" and "King Cole's American Salvage." Riveting.

glad you liked it so well, rd ~

Another convert to Bonnie Jo Campbell. Hooray. She accomplished the feat of making those people real even though many of us don't know them and would prefer to keep it that way. I'm glad you read it and enjoyed your review.

NANCY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ahem Hi there nancy.. nice to see you :)

American Salvage is already in the BlackHole. Great review as usual, Richard.

Both you and Bonnie loved it so I need to add it to the list. Thanks for the great review.

I got so far behind in reading this thread, I was back on "reality TV." (I hate most of it -- "Survivor" and "The Apprentice" and such -- but I MUST have my Deadliest Catch fix whenever possible! Love those fishermen!!!!

I shall probably add American Salvage to the list, if it's not there already.

Richard- You been knocking out some "killer" books, my friend! I've had American Salvage on the WL, since Bonnie raved about it. I might just have to get my tail over to the library!

Hi There!

Hi There!

Yodeleywhooowhooo, Linda!

I too am impressed by the choices and sheer numbers of books this year, rd.

wow RIchard. Two really strong reviews in a row. The first one had me almost weeping from laughter and this last was very sobering. Dude, you can write.

xox

>179 mckait: Thanks! But I have to ask...what's different this year?

>180 suslyn: Hi Suse! A lovely compliment coming from a reader with your experience, gratitude gratitude.

You are reading very quickly.. more quickly than last year perhaps? Especially as you read each twice.....

Oh! Well, I'm not reading any popcorn books this year, so that accounts for that. I'm busy savoring A Gentle Madness on my second go-through, it's a book that brings me such joy. Thanks again, Stasia!

It's a perfectly gorgeous sunny 73F day and I am sitting under a beautiful tree in a gorgeous garden with a finished mug of cafe au lait, reading Built of Books and watching my beautiful dog sleep. None of my neighbors are outside yet, so there's no noisy radio/saw/mower action. The parkway noise is more like being at the beach because it's so far away.

*gruntled sigh*

* envy*

hot and humid on the way to 90 here.. so they say. ick.

It was nice this morning, and I was out. Gorgeous breeze....

I bought books! Including one for dan. A big thick one filled with fishing stories.
:)

he may read it....
I am off to read about Built of Books

You? Bought books?! Why, fancy that! What'd ya buy? Where are you listing them? I forgot all about the "What are you reading now?" thread called "Books Brought Home" until just now.

Oh dear, the fire siren. Someone's in trouble, and that always makes me sad...I say a prayer for them whenever I hear that sound.

I agree about the sirens.. and feel the same.. they also make me anxious...
from the time I watched Anne Frank movie as a child, then listened to my dad tell about lying next to the curb to be incinerated, sirens scare me.

I will just add my books and you can see them on my profile.. nothing you would like I think? A mad mix...from the bargain tables.

Bargain tables are so evil! I can't pass them by, no matter how hard I try.

Only six books show to others on your profile page, so I'll check it out several times.

I only have about 6 new ones.. and I have to go and clean the kitchen after making dans lunch. I will list them later...

ta-ta!

Ciao ciao

books duly added... and visible :)
I am pleased with my haul this day.

Good haul! Except one is compelled to ask...Douglas Preston? *delicate shudder*

I put the Koontz in first so it wouldn't show. Those two were given to me by my brother in law.. lol

Hate to interrupt the RICHARD & KATH thing.....

but I do stop by to say Hi (poetics are free)
:-}

Whew! Just caught up on the last 108 messages--get busy for a couple of days and Richard takes off! I was afraid to dive in at 60-odd when I was so busy, and it just kept getting worse.

Nickel and Dimed has has been on my to-read list for an eternally long time. I should get around to utterly depressing myself (though I also have Random Family waiting on the shelf to do that)

>192 mckait: Like you can escape my radar. Ha.

>193 jdthloue: Hi Jude, wassup?

>194 ronincats: Serves you right, Roni, for not reading faithfully every day. I have No Sympathy for your plight.

>195 ty1997: Tom, it's really worth reading. I'd strongly suggest it.

But Richard Dear, it's been the end of the school year with many reports to get done so I worked all day and came home and wrote reports all night--NO time for reading. Now the last day of school has come and gone, and I have only 1 report outstanding, and several days of packing up my rooms at my schools, so I can actually do some reading!!! And of course I came straight here...

>197 ronincats: Oh. Well, okay, you're excused.

This time. Retirement = regular appearances.

xoxo

XOXOX! Retirement hopefully does mean regular appearances--unless I go off traveling or something...

#183: Glad to hear you are still savoring. It is about time for me to re-read that one.

RICHARD! I am such a bad LT-er right now, I'm still not keeping up with everyone! As soon as my living room is blitzed, tidied and hassle free (it's accumulated a year's worth of detritus since the shop opened, and now I have furniture arriving, aaargh) I'll make an extra effort, I promise... Darn it, why is it that if I'm reading I can't keep up with LT, and if I'm up to date with LT I'm never reading?!

Can't keep up; trying hard.

Re sirens, I try reminding myself that (in this 'hood at least), sometimes the guys just hit the siren when they are bored of sitting in traffic, to get it to move. Also, that sometimes they are responding to minor calls, like fights outside my local school or the day that a car outside was leaking gasoline and they had to flood the street with water to wash it away. Many calls mean someone is in trouble; not all of them, happily...

Ellie, I know the problem of which you speak. Am now venturing downstairs to tackle the messy kitchen....

my iTouch has a police/fire app.
I live near a railroad, and although I honestly like the sound of the trains... I have always feared that someday they will spill something nasty ...I like that app!
It came in mighty handy this past winter too, when we had all the snow...

my iTouch has a police/fire app.

What on earth is a police/fire app?!

Everyone tries to keep up with their threadies, and it's a lot of effort, so I absolve any and all of excessive guilt for *sniff* neglecting me *snivel*.

But not *all* the guilt.

Hee hee.

*waves*

Not neglecting you;)

I don't think it's possible to neglect you, Richard.

BTW, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha was a big time-wasting snoozer of a book. Ptui.

>207 calm: Hi calm! No, *you* certainly don't neglect me, o frequent visitor you. *smooch*

>208 Matke: LOL...but perhaps you mean "overlook", in which case there ain't no argument at all.

And yeah...that "sad-Irish-childhood" thing is so very overdone. This book felt contrived to me. Something...off about it, can't really say what it was.

neglect you.....can't see it..

*dusts off rd's gimmeecap*

I've been reading your threads, but I've been neglecting to post. :( Read a book about smallpox or something if you want me to post more! :)

Ooops ... I did have something to say!

I put in a request for Montana 1948 at the library today. Now I just have to wait until they find it in the stacks;) Hope I like it as much as you did!

>210 mckait: Can't see neglecting me? *sniff* Then why do you do it? LOL Not really, you don't neglect me. Much.

>211 Ape: SMALLPOX?!? No! Ick! Disease books are creepy to me.

>212 calm: Oh, I so hope that you do.

I'm involved right now in Q Road, the only (so far) novel by American Salvage author Bonnie Jo Campbell, which isn't perfect but is very good so far.

I'm also close to review point on The Uncommon Reader. It's 90F outside, so I ain't a-goin' noplace nohow.

211 SMALLPOX?!? No! Ick! Disease books are creepy to me.

So, what does that say about a person who likes them? You're not saying I'm creepy are you? *walks around Richard's thread wearing a nickle in his eye like a monocle*

>214 Ape: You're not saying I'm creepy are you Let's say rather...well...morbid might be le mot juste.

hi Richard
I try to catch up, don't think I neglect you, just posting to let you know ;-)

Not a thing to say, just strolling through...

What ronincats said....

*waves*

*exits, stage left, pursued by a bear*

staggering under the 83 posts I had to catch up on after being away from your thread for only 2 days! *off to eat dinner before I faint*

Just checking in with my favorite person in the whole world today! You are certainly on my "Nice" list this week! *smooch*

215: "Morbid," you just had to choose that word didn't you? The only one I can't deny! :)

>216 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita! I am really happy to see you around my thread. It feels emptier without the Dutch Contingent...and I just brought home two Margriet de Moor translations, which I've been looking for forever. The liberry had them at last.

>217 ronincats: Yoo-hoo! *smooch*

>218 Chatterbox: *shoots bear...or did he miss...*

>219 cameling: It's too hot here to eat dinner, or lunch for that matter, and I don't remember eating breakfast either...I don't like eating when it's this wretched.

>220 tloeffler: Well, you asked for them, or one of them, and the other just went with it so naturally that I couldn't resist. No one recovering from this level of "discomfort" *snort* should be without an improving book or two within reach.

>221 Ape: Uh-huh, I knew your native honesty would show up *eventually*.

Just stopping in on my way through the threads . . .

Cheers, Mme Stasia!

Thanks, Richard! I will not have you thinking I am neglectful.

Richard...
A BIG thanks to you for recommending Montana 1948. I finished it today. It is incredible...simply incredible!

Just wanted to stop by before leaving for work. Hot and sticky already.

rain predicted.. here is hoping it helps. I have to put my flower pots where they will catch rain.. Have fun without me..

( is that sufficiently woeful or does it need work?)

Woeful? I'd call it downright doleful! As to having fun, well, of course we will! We always do!

Wait...

I mean, I mean, it's impossible to have fun without YOU, Kath dearest! We shall hang black crepe and cover our mirrors until you come back!

#228- LMAO - you ALMOST did the hoof in mouth bit didn't you? But of course, ALMOST only counts in horseshoes...

#229: ...hand grenades and atomic bombs...

I sympathize with the heat. Here in Alabackward, it is 91 and humid. However, not quite as bad as Florida.

I really don't think any of us can neglect you Richard :) Your thread is far too much fun - even for lurkers such as myself.

home now... you can remove the crepe :)

It wasn't bad, actually :)

*rips down depressing, tatty crepe*

*rolls out hinky-tonk piano*

Kath's home. All can return to normal gaiety.

*cues dancing boys and girls*

Hey Richard- Hot and humid here too! Oh joy! I have my copy of American Salvage from the library, plan on starting it in a few days. I'm thinking of also requesting The Uncommon Reader. You and Bonnie make a wicked one-two-punch!

Mark, you won't regret either one...but they're a weird pair to imagine reading back-to-back!

I am so resentful of the Weather Goddess right now, I can't tell you! That fantasy-readin' wench has drenched Long Island in humidity and roasted us in Florida-strength heat! I am NOT a turkey, I do NOT need to be slow-cooked in a moist enviroment!!

*shakes head* gives rdear a smooch, and silently agrees about weather!

#235: I would waft some cool breeze your direction, RD, but here in Texas, I do not have any!

Well, darn, that means I have to--uh, I mean, I get to do it. We are currently at our high for the day here in coastal San Diego, 69 degrees, and I am sending it via the jet stream right to Long Island via Sherman, Texas. Catch it as you can!

235: I thought it was every NYer's dream to live in Florida? This should be like heaven to you!

At least, when I grew up in NY, Florida was talked about like a promised land.

*sending waves of cool MA breeze over to you, richilito* ..and it's never too hot to eat an icy fruitbar.

never too hot to eat an icy fruitbar

I'm sure there's a joke there somewhere. I'll let Richard do the honors. ;-)

Well here in Maine, sitting by the river, as the evening sea breeze wafts enough for me to need to through a light blankie over my bare feet on the recliner, I guess I have enough to waft to any of you who want some. It's a delightful 61 degrees here at 9PM, might drop to 59, but not much more. Got to 78 this afternoon. It is the most glorious time of the year up here. Blue skies, bright sun in the daylight, lightening bugs and bats and owls of an evening, and lovely rosa rugosas so heavy with scent that you can smell them in your sleep. Come on up, and in the meantime, I gently wave cool breezes to any and all who need them.

>234 msf59: There cannot be a more unlikely pairing than American Salvage and The Uncommon Reader.

>242 tututhefirst: sounds lovely...

Here in CO, it was a sunny, breezy, blue sky kind of day. A bit of haze from the fires, though. 86 degrees at the moment but the humidity is only 14% so it will cool off as soon as the sun goes down.

#242 -- Grrr, don't torment us. The forecast is for temps in the 90s the rest of the week.

#239 -- We only want to be in Florida in the winter, when it's a pleasant contrast to shivering in our woollen socks.

I'm going have to succumb and buy two new airconditioners (one for the bedroom; one for the office) this weekend. Because of the windows (bars, like all good Brooklyn brownstones), I'm going to have to get pricier freestanding A/Cs. Grrrr.

I grew up in Texas. I do not **ever** want to be hot again, no matter the season. While I was back in Texas 1999-2008, I experienced the hottest temp yet recorded in Austin: 112F, about 43C.

I think it should be unconstitutional for temps to go over 70F or under 25F. Summer should last from 7/1-8/15. Not one minute longer. Winter from Day of the Dead to Valentine's Day. The rest, spring and fall.

Oh Richard, maybe I should accept your proposal after all, although I'd be willing to go +/- 5F on you summer/winter extremes. We do after all have the luxury of indoor plumbing and electricity these days. Your temp spreads are exactly the reason that hubbie (who grew up in Modesto CA) and I (who grew up in Baltimore) have headed up here to the banana coast of Maine. We rarely go below 20F in winter, and rarely get over 80F in summah (which does indeed go from 7/1- 9/1ish.

OTOH - I was more than ready to leave Honolulu after living there for two years where they don't even have the word 'weather' in the Hawaiian language. It was between 60 and 75 every day, and totally totally boring after the initial WOW isn't this wonderful wore off.

You are to be commended for your choice of climates, but really now do you have that ideal in your current abode?

OK, I'm moving to Maine. Decision made.

I can go as high as 75/80, but after that tend to collapse whimpering in front of an air conditioner. Which, incidentally, is an item I never owned until I moved to NYC...

Well, since it hit 100 here today, I could go for 70 instead!

Tina, I'm as close as I can get and still have four seasons...hence my aversion to Hawaii. And California.

Suzanne, I am so with you on that one...I have an AC in my bedroom, which is (naturally) smaller than the living room, so I hide in here with the temp set on 70 and the door closed, venturing out only when compelled by the dog's needs or hunger. It even saves money!

Stasia, ick. Ugh. Blech.

Maybe you guys should try Europe? A sunny 25 (77) is predicted here today. Plus we're surrounded by beaches which take the edge off.

Not that I'm not already complaining about being too hot... it's just comparatively pleasant I guess!

Message 246: richardderus I am with you brother!

Message 247: tututhefirst ?!?!? who knew! I am moving to Maine... immediately.

acording to the wall thomomiter its a sunny 80.

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha : Most of Paddy's childhood didn't seem particularly sad to me, a lot of it seems quite happy until his parents' relationship falls apart and he reacts to that in a way which has an impact on him at school etc.

Nickel and Dimed is a very good read. Several other writers have done something on similar lines here but I didn't like the two English ones I read nearly as much. Fran Abrams' Below the Breadline is an extended newspaper article and she just doesn't write as well as Ehrenreich. Polly Toynbee, the author of Hard Work is just an annoying person and she made a lot of comments which really irritated me - she wrote an introduction to the UK paperback edition of Nickel and Dimed as well. In the 7/8 years since these books were written a movement for a Living Wage for London's cleaning workers and others exploited in the way described in these books has developed with support from both trade unions and churches/places of worship.

Richard, you let your thread go over 250 posts. You have no excuses since the 250th post was your own. Sheesh!! :)

Yes, I think we should add a few more posts while he's not looking!

But what will we post about?

*Saying hello and accidentally bumping up the number of posts as a result.*

*Tries to lower the post count*

Errr, this isn't working...

he he *not helping*

#246 Oh wow - 43C - I would have melted into a little puddle in seconds! The hottest temperature I've experienced has been 40C, so not far off (Egypt & Coober Pedy in Australia), but at least only when on holiday...

It's just 23C (73.4F apparently) here today, which is just perfect for me...

#259 ;o)

A *mere* 33C predicted today...91F...UGH!

And because I had the audacity to go to sleep instead of making a new thread last night, shame shame on my lazy sluttish ways, I had to wait until this morning:... eighth thread over here.

246> Richard, I lived in Austin at the time too. I was at Austin City Limits festival, outside, that 112 weekend.

I distinctly remember a Canadian band practically melting on stage for their 3pm performance.

I would love for the high temperature to be between 70 and 80 year-round.