Richardderus's Ninth

Here we are. All newly plastered, freshly painted, and ready for occupancy! (Oh, the fireplace in the west gallery smokes a bit. And Nurse Grunx, from the fantasy-novel universe, doesn't want humans in her faerie kittchenne. You've been warned.)

Books Off the Shelf group thread is there, where 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
Reviews 38-42: seventh thread
Reviews 43-46: eighth 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:

48. Instruments of Darkness...#200

47. The Ark...#102

Love the new place, Richard!

Thanks! I chose the colors myself.

And a wonderful job you have done, I must say.

Hi Richard:)

So many lovely shades to choose from, and the PTB chose pongee/Band-Aid Brown. Wonder why?

Get to writin'!

I actually tried that once, it was a hilarious failure. I think I'll stick to just reading, thanks! :)

Found you again!

>7 mckait: Cute one.

>8 Ape: OF COURSE it was a failure! It was a first attempt, so if it hadn't been, writers everywhere would've descended upon you and ripped you to shreds. Now try again. And again. And again. Certainly I'm not saying you should show it around yet, but don't stop trying because you've hit the hard bits.

>9 BookAngel_a: Hi Angela!

10: But but but...that would require effort, and ambition!

>11 Ape: Effort, yes. Ambition? You mean the ambition not to be bored? I hope you have that....

12: Oh, certainly, but I usually aspire to simply complete my current read, to write one myself. You overestimate me, don'tcha know I'm generally content with mediocrity and settling with "Good Enough!" :)

>13 Ape: Uh-huh. That's why you'd choose a place like LT to hang out in, instead of selling your body to get World of Warcraft money. *buzz* Busted! You're no more interested in settling than you are in NBA stardom.

One day...one day....

so there!

Maybe I tried to sell my body but no one would buy it!

wow, *ninth*? You're like a thread whore! (whore is a compliment, of course)

Hmmmm, I think a thread whore would be someone who posts on every thread imaginable, like a whore of the literal sense... Richard, however, just posts a lot on his own thread. I think that is more like compulsive masturbation...of his thread? ...

ETA: Of course, you could argue that Richard is a whore and we are all the buyers. Crap, does that mean I owe him money? :(

chiming in: *chime*

Just stopping by to get my daily fix of Richard and Ape...LMAO.

#18: Stephen, you best be watching what your definition of a thread whore is!

But Stasia, you ONLY post on all of the threads in the 75 Book Challenge group, right? Not indiscriminately at all! And with such grace ( a courtesan's grace--no, we won't go there!).

Stasia: OH! Right...well, ummmm...didn't we already come to the conclusion that "whore" was meant in a positive way?

Heh heh...

...

*Hopes Stasia doesn't shoot me with more than just book bullets next time*

I have no idea where this conversation is headed, so I am steering it in a new direction: How 'bout them Mets?

#22: Yeah, I pretty much stay at home in the 75ers group. What can I say? I am a stick-in-the-mud.

#23: You, sir, are dead meat and you know it.

#24: Unfortunately, Dickey gave up home runs tonight to the Braves, but still, I think all in all, the Mets are happy with what Dickey has done this season.

I have no idea where this conversation is headed.

I think it's safe to say any conversation involving myself is slowly headed towards me being severely injured by an otherwise kind and gentle nice lady. !!

Too muggy this morning by far... ugh! I am longing for snow.

#26: I am a bailbondsman. I am not a kind and gentle nice lady. Nerves of steel are required for my job :)

Oh crap. *closes mouth, sits up straight, and behaves like a perfect gentleman*

#29: Take it as a given that it is a good thing there is a half a country between Texas and Ohio :)

OOO snow! Two inches, please, and temps of exactly 30F. Breeze would be nice.

I am working on it...

Faster! *whipcrack* Faster!!

sorry rd... no matter how hard I try, I don't get what I want...

31 > ACK!! Nasty, nasty cold winter! Away with you, demon!

Popping in to say that Richard gets my vote for thread pimp, since he's always pushing us to new threads.

I back away for an evening and there is a new thread with 36 posts. No wonder I am always so lost!

I suspect if I had time and nothing better to do, that if I went back to one of Richard's earlier threads, we'd find a discussion cursing, swearing and calling down the gods upon what(who)ever was dumping mountains of snow upon us just a few short months ago. Is it old age that destroys our memories, or just a heaping case of 'grass is always greener'?

Come north people, it is a hazy, humid, but still bearable 72F here on the coast at 3:00P. Plenty of time to start thinking snow long about October.................

>36 ty1997: Tom! Stop saying that! Weather should be constitutionally limited to temps between 65-75F from 4/15-8/1, 75-78 8/1-8/15, back to 65-75 until Day of the Dead, then 30-45 until Valentine's Day with 1-2in of snow cover from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day, then 50-65 until 4/15. NEVER reaching 80 EVER. PLanet wide.

>37 London_StJ: Thread pimp...I need a big velvet hat with a feather.

>38 tututhefirst: I stick to my guns, Tina. Winter>summer.

>40 mckait: Ah! Le chapeu juste!

If the hat fits ... wear it!

Kath, I'd say this one is about perfect for Dear Richard to place upon his head as he checks for messages on LibraryThing. Love notes to you Mister Derus!

Looks like a September birthday hat...hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.........where could I find such a thing by September.

Now, if we're talking birthday gifts, I'd far rather have y'all come to a party than give me a silly hat.

Must it be either/or?

We just need to add a green tunic, brown tights and soft leather brown boots to go with it and that your party outfit, Ricardo. So where's my invite?!

I like that image.
Richard, looking for fashion consultants? Look no further! Caroline and I can do an incredible job!

46: Brilliant! Although, what if the zebra stripes clash with the brown leather boots? Hmmm, maybe another outfit to go with it could be a leather jacket, a white T-shirt, tight leather pants and a pair of sparkly purple shoes! Like some tough-guy gangster-pimp in dancing shoes. Yea!

I would like to add a pair of Elton John glasses to the mix.

I will be wearing orange cargo shorts, a purple T-shirt, a green gimme-cap, and sandals. There will be no compromise in this.

Invites?! I haven't even ordered The Divine Miss to plan this bash yet! I have no idea when it will take place, even.

#50: I fully expect to be receiving an invite, Richard, if for no other reason than to see you in that get up!

Well if it's a party, then Ricardo has to change outfits at least 3 times that night, so yeah... I like the tough-guy gangsta-pimp rockstar outfit that Stephen's decking you out in with Linda's cool accessory.

So what's the last Slipping-into-something-more-comfortable outfit to be as you sip your nightcap? I see Moroccan slippers, midnight blue silk pantaloons, a glittering sequined silver tunic and a Winnie-the-Pooh nightcap.

52: Haha, there we go! We should plan Richard's wardrobe more often! :)

Padre!

You're done for - I just can't shake it now.

I miss pre-auntie Richard, when he had more time to read and post more reviews. :(

(I'm assuming that's the reason, and not because he's off having a wild fling with some young thang half his age or some such.)

I think I read somewhere that Turkish Delight is paying our dear richard a visit.. which may be another reason for his absence

Certainly an enjoyable one if that's the case!

56: Ah! Well, wherever that was posted I missed it. Damn you, Mr. Turkish Delight, share the Richard with the rest of us! :)

No Turkish Delight. He's off doing his MCATs, and I've got auntie up the wazoo plus The Divine Miss making my life a living hell, plus the sister I *like* having kid issues that I know more about than it's helpful that I reveal plus my own kid having life issues I can't help with because I don't have limitless money.

I won't go into the grandchildren, or one of the sisters I have an issue with being hateful, or the fact that my son died 29 years ago or my %^(!))%&!^)%_ mother would've been 90 and her incestuous abuse was the root cause of much of my angst or the stepmother I loved finally finished dying of emphysema last month or the foster mother I love dearly won't take care of her hip replacement or the fact that I can't get ONE SINGLE SOLITARY THING finished in my writing life because I am a goddamned traffic cop for Auntie's care and The Divine Miss's frickin' house or that I've lost every single material object I've ever owned because I decided to come and help these bloody ungrateful women who would rather buy fucking PLANTS for the fucking GARDEN than books for me.

There's more, but fuck it. Why bitch. I've got it *knocked* compared to 99% of the world. I eat every day, I live in a nice house, and I am not dying.

I've got it *knocked* compared to 99% of the world. I eat every day, I live in a nice house, and I am not dying.

But personal happiness counts for something, too. It's good that you recognize that your basic needs are met, but that's just the foundation of what people need to thrive.

I may not be able to do anything but lend a sympathetic ear eye, but I am happy to do so. Bitch, because you're human.

#60: I am with Luxx. Get your venting out here with us, Richard. We love you.

I hate seeing you so unhappy Richard, and you surely do have a heap of unpleasantness to deal with. :-(

I third Luxx ....vent all you want and try to take care of you too.

I'm sorry to hear you're so down, and it sounds like you have a lot to feel sad/stressed about.

There's nothing wrong with bitching. Just because you're getting by better than some doesn't mean you're happy and, if you're not happy and a bitch session will help then, by all means, go ahead.

No one deserves to be unhappy, but if anyone deserves it the least, it's you Richard. I'm so sorry you're having such a bad time, and I only wish I could do something. You have been remarkably generous to me, and from what I can gather, to many people who are lucky enough to know you as well. Your kindness at times appears to be boundless, and I've wondered at least once how a man can go around all happy and cheerful all the time without life ever getting him down.

So let me say that I am glad that you are HUMAN, Richard, and that contrary to popular belief you can actually get pissed off from time to time. It's good to vent, and I hope your venting makes you feel at least a little bit better, even if it doesn't solve all your problems. Despite how implausible it may seems, I hope that as many of your problems that can be resolved will be so as soon as possible.

You're a great guy Richard, and it has been a pleasure to converse with you right here on LT. You really light up the place, and I know all of us hate to see you in such a state. Feel better soon, my friend!

I stopped by for a brief visit, Richard, but was turned away by the frequent and blinding snow storms. I'm now taking off my parka and chic although somewhat dated Ugg boots to get back to the loverly heat mugginess that is Cleveland.

Sorry to hear things are so rough for you, Richard. Adding my voice to the 'vent all you like, and know that we care' chorus.

I hear ya, Richard.... and it hurts. :(

but don't despair about the "can't get ONE SINGLE SOLITARY THING finished in my writing life " part.

I'm currently reading the most ginormous non-fiction book in the world. It's called LibraryThing and you are one of the best writers in this collection. ;-)

Keep on keepin' on. You are important to so many of us -

Vent away, Richard Dear.

From what I've heard from those in the know it really does help to get oneself "unstuck" from the uncomfortable, heavy, real life problems 'cause it can make some room in the thinking/and creative area(s) of the brain to then plan to do the things that you have control over to make your life better, more relaxing and more fun.

I am preaching to the choir here I know. And, I'm giving myself this same advice, 'cause I forget almost every day to do something that makes me laugh, makes me happy, keeps me in touch with myself and the people who love me well, etc.

So many of us would come to visit you (if only we could) and spoil you rotten, which you completely deserve. Including taking you to the bookstore of your choice and buying what you desire to give you pleasure. (Give me a Wishlist or a link to yours on LT.)

Your self-ness and your good reviews bring goodness to me every time I read them and every time I think of you.

It seems that we really give each other love and energy each time we post to each others threads. It can definitely be the highlight of my day to hear from you and others here on LibraryThing.

You are the MAN, dearly loved and cherished by me and your multitude of friends.

Sorry you feel so bad and that real life is hard, hard, hard. I understand.

With love, "W"

Richard - Vent away! it doesn't matter about having your physical needs met ... without emotional support life sucks. You're a very compassionate caring man and it is a privilege to be able to connect with you here.

Richard, like everyone else here, I wish I could do something to help you, but as I can't, I just send good wishes. I hope things ease up soon.

He is rather a dear.. curmudgeonly of course, but a dear.

I googled curmudgeonly, looking for a new image..
found this..

click

pretty interesting!

#72: I am not sure how that qualifies for curmudgeonly!

I don't know either, but I thought it was fascinating...

now this is more like it:

#74: Yeah, we definitely need to find a cap like that for Richard!

seems perfect

I want one too.. wonder if they come in pink...or denim?

#77: I don't do pink, but I would consider a denim one!

at my advanced I, I do pink.. softens the blow of seeing the crinkly wrinkly face.. or so I imagine..

#79: I earned all my crinkles and wrinkles (and white hair), so people just have to deal with them!

you have white hair too?
I was looking in the mirror this morning, and wondering who the fat old broad was... then I remembered .

eta
actually my hair is a mix of grey/white/ something else

I have been getting white hair since I was 12!

35 for me...my great grandmother .. I have a pic of her @22 and she was totally white.

My mother tells me I am going grey (although mine are white) just like she did.

ahh so you are not white, just headed that way? you can see in my pic, that my color is gone.

poor rd~ we seem to have absconded with is thread, sorry dearie !

Headed that way, yes. I have so much hair that it is hard to tell sometimes that I have any white, but they are there believe me.

Go Away Gray Capsules

according to a news report ( I know, some news!) they work and are not harmful, just a supplement.

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/24182793/detail.html

Hair color? Who has time to think about hair color?!

Seriously, thanks to all of y'all for being so lovely and supportive and willing to listen to me. Some days are better than others, and it's nice to know I'm not alone in the badder times. :-* (That's a smooch, right?)

Navigating the shoals of Medicare and Medicaid today was exhausting. The social worker was lovely, and did all she could to explain how to get the help we need. It means a lot of work, and a lot of money. So what else is new? Nothin's free!

London broil tonight, and sauteed broccoli di rape, and roasted carrots. Simple, basic, unadorned dinner. I might forego it and drink a pitcher of martinis....

Late to the party again but please know Richard that I wish you the best. So many people in your RL need and count on you to say nothing of your fans here on LT. You are loved.

ETA a pitcher of martinis sounds heavenly:)

Vent away Richard, it is healthy to do and we all listen/read ;-)
hugs

> 80-87:
I found my first white hairs when I was 27, pulled them out, but they came back with some offspring LOL
20 years later my hairs are about half white, half brown, so I guess they will be all white in another 20 years.

I also vote for the pitcher of martinis.

I'm sorry to hear about your family troubles, and the pain of navigating the Medicaid and Medicare nightmare.

Richard, sorry I lost your new thread!!!!
May I remind you that misery/unhappiness is NOT a relative thing -- just because someone else is worse off than you are does not mean you are not entitled to a whinge. The only people not entitled to whinge and whimper are those with limitless means, healthy and loving families, joy and contentment in their work, etc. etc. All three of them in the world...

On the white hair debate: I found my first at 16!!! After about 8 weeks since my last "de-greying", I start looking like a skunk or a badger, with a big white stripe. If I let it grow out now, I'd be about 80% grey/white. But the process takes two years!! And it would look odd, as the rest of my face looks younger than I am chronologically. At some point I'll let it go, because I can't be bothered, but not in the midst of promoting a book...

Maybe WE should organize Richard's party???

Martoonies is yum! Nighty noodles

Oh, sweetie, I've not had time or energy to check in as much as I would have liked this week. I'm stopping by tonight and learn of all the craziness happening in your world.

You know I love you and send BIG hugs your way. Wish I had a magic wand to wave and make it all go way.

*sniff*
I hate it when Richard's sad. It makes me all sad too. Maybe we should all go up for his birthday and spring him and have the party elsewhere?
Hang in there, Gorgeous--it'll get better! (and then worse, and then better again, and then...)

#87: Nope, I figure I earned all those white hairs, so they are here to stay. They do not bother me and if they bother anyone else, that is their problem! lol

{{{{{{more hugs}}}}}}

I wonder where we could find a place large enough to accommodate all of us who love Richard.

Stopping by to say hello...sending you another, "virtual" pitcher of martinis....and a hug

but..thank your stars that you live where you do. The Medicare/Medicaid tango is truly horrific where I live..given the economic situation....at least you have easy access to fairly decent care..here, it's a crap shoot..crap being the defining word...

;-}

How lovely to start my morning with all these loving sentiments! And The Divine Miss has selected the date for my party: Sept. 11. It's a Saturday. Details as yet unavailable, but it will be here at home.

Hmmm...I guess we could stack sleepers up like cordwood....

Who is going to be sleeping? Certainly not me :)

Review: 47 of seventy-five

Title: THE ARK

Author: BOYD MORRISON

Rating: 3.8* of five

Thrillers are, by definition, thrilling, or there's flat no point to 'em. This thriller is certainly thrilling! It's not overly believeable, but neither are most of the others I've read and enjoyed. Somehow thrilling things only seem to happen to people with oodles of money and contacts at VERY high levels and access to private jets and peculiarly uninterested customs and immigration protocols.

Ahhh, so what...the ride's the thing. This ride was a ball. The Ark, as in "Noah's", is the vector for a hideous, all-devouring plague, and the resident Seattle multibillionaire evil SOB has used his money to engineer a superdedooper-a-la-Peter-T-Hooper version of the bug he used the main character's gal-pal's archeologist daddy to find. And the main charactrer, Tyler, finds out about it barely in time to get in on the fun chasing around the globe that stopping the worldwide release of the nasty that Superbaddie Seattle SOB has in mind!

So off we go, around the world on planes that apparently never need to refuel, with pilots who never speak or in one case Tyler piloting the plane...onto the world's largest cruise ship, slated for death and contagion via Arkon-C (the virus's catchy nickname); out to Phoenix to assemble the wreckage of John Travolta's a weird-culty Hollywood star's plane, destroyed after Arkon-C ate everyone on it; over to White Sands, New Mexico, to see a demo of the world's most powerful non-nuclear bomb, which test is overseen by Tyler's conveniently powerful Air Force General daddy; out to the oldest Christian monastery in the world, located in Armenia; thence to Mount Ararat, Turkey, where the Ark is; and then to the Ark itself. Of course, Tyker and his gal-pal save the world, and all returns to normal. The end of the world as we know it ain't thriller-ending material.

Wow! If the Ark is ANYthing like Morrison describes, I wanna go NOW and see it!! Like everything else about the book, the Ark is hugely improbable, but Morrison has lavished so much creative energy on the idea of the Ark that it came vividly alive for me, and represented the best reason I can give you to make you buy and read this book: Morrison's imagination is world-class and deserves our support. I think the fact that he got blurbs from James Rollins, Steve Berry, Douglas Preston, and Gayle Lynds is readily explainable: They know they need to be nice to the next big man on campus so he'll be nice to them later.

A word about how this book came to be: It was a self-published Kindle title, one that was picked up by Simon & Schuster's Touchstone imprint, because it sold quite well in the Kindle-only universe of thrillers that exists. I am seriously contemplating getting a $)(!&*%*^ Kindle so I can read all those trashy boy-meats-boy bromances and otherwise-unavailable thrillers that are out there in abundance.

*sigh* O tempora! O mores! (My favorite misquote from the Latin.) (They didn't use exclams, y'know.)

#102: I am seriously contemplating getting a $)(!&*%*^ Kindle so I can read all those trashy boy-meats-boy bromances and otherwise-unavailable thrillers that are out there in abundance.

You could always just download the Kindle-for-PC app and read them on your PC, Richard.

Nuh-uh. I don't like sitting...I'd rather stand or lie down, easier on the knees. Sitting for more than 30min hurts a lot.

#104: OK. I did not realize that sitting was a problem. I will sit for you and you can stand for me, OK?

Dear life: Please stop screwing with Richard. He deserves nothing but cake, rainbows, unicorns, cute young things, and general happiness. Note that if he does not get all of these things, you will have to answer to me.

>106 ty1997: LOLOL

Well said, and the sentiment is appreciated! Can I has ice cream steada cake, though?

107> Absolutely!

How about a Carvel Ice Cream cake? mmmm, crunchies.

Great review as usual Richard.

Sheesh, you'd think the guy would be distracted and write poorly, but noooo. :)

I just want to note that Richard does NOT deserve the curse of unicorns. Sure they look pretty on little girl fantasy book and big girl romance books, but in reality they are just a hassle, what with the feces all over the place and the risk of disease (Unicornucopia - it's where you grow a horn out...well, let's not worry about that right now...)

Surely we can think of better things Richard deserves than those beastly things. I'm thinking, in terms of fantastic creatures, birds of paradise with monocles and colorful tophats, who dance and sing, and have disc drives so they can read audiobooks.

...errr... *ahem* I thumbed your review Richard! :)

>108 ty1997: What's a Carvel cake?

>109 Ape: LOLOL @ "unicornucopia"...I wish I'd said that first, but I *will* be sayin' it later!

I myself have 2 birds of paradise ( no monocles)

>111 mckait: I suspect yours are botanical, not avian, in origin, and I further suspect that Stephen meant the avian ones since they got eyes.

But I could be wrong.

you are

ink

"INK"? This means...?

tatts

OIC!

One of my Facebook friends is a young guy I once worked with in Texas. He's now a tattoo artiste in Hollywood!

really??!

do you have any?

Two.

CRS

Maybe even Half-heimer's.

I hate you dearest

*smooch*

I can see Richard with a couple tattoos. I'm thinking a giant, intimidating white tiger plastered across his entire chest, and a big red heart on his ass. =P

>123 mckait: Love that GIF.

>124 Ape: No, indeed! I got my tatts 30+ years ago, when it was an Act of Rebellion, not cool. Very discreet ones, covered unless deliberately shown to someone *ahem* tres intime...but no ass tattoing, no no no!

Amy says hello :)

>126 mckait: Hi back!

I got the white tiger 'n' heart part right though, didn't I!?

What's a Carvel cake?

*picks self up off of floor*

Richard, sweet man, Carvel makes the most amazing ice cream cakes known to man. A layer of white ice cream, and a layer of chocolate ice cream separated by delicious chocolate crunchies.

I realize from my 15 years in Texas that Carvel cakes was sparse there until recently (and even then, they were only available via some supermarkets, no Carvel shops that I'm aware of), but you are now in the heart of Carvel country. There's a Carvel right in your town (318 Jerusalem Avenue). Get thee there, buy a cake, and know bliss!

(note to all: Ice cream cake should never *ever* *ever* include any actual CAKE. Abomination, that.)

129: Isn't that what they sell at Dairy Queen?

>129 ty1997: Carvel makes the most amazing ice cream cakes known to man. A layer of white ice cream, and a layer of chocolate ice cream separated by delicious chocolate crunchies.

Ah yes heavenly!!

Cheap, pale, imitations at DQ. Go to DQ for Blizzard's, go to Carvel for ice cream cakes.

(I am disturbingly opinionated on this topic!)



YUM.

Blizzards are ok, but I go to DQ for the waffle bowls. *drools* I haven't had one in awhile...can't, too many calories! :(

Enjoy the calories while you're young, Stephen. There's plenty of time to worry when you get old. Fortunately, once you get old, you just don't care about them.
Yep, life's good.

130 yep, same thing at DQ

maybe you want one for your last meal?

134: Hehe, but that's the problem, I enjoyed them a little too much a few years ago. Now I'm working all the enjoyment off. Almost there...just another 20-30 pounds to go...

Oh. Uh. Errrmmm. Ya see, the problem here is that I...*deep breath*...don't like chocolate. Not ice cream, not cookies, not *blech* brownies, not cake, not icing. So I am unlikely to like the Carvel cake, I fear. Now, if it had peanut butter between its layers, I would rush forth and scour Jerusalem Ave and procure one or two of these marvies. Chocolate and peanut butter's fine. Chocolate and vanilla, oh no no no.

*gasp* Not like chocolate? Impossible!

yea.. that is why I didn't mention that the crumblies were chocolate..

I fear I am morally defective...I don't like chocolate or *ickshudder* corn on the cob. Blech!

hey guess what author just messaged me on FB?

Richard darling, since you don't care for chocolate (neither do I go out of my way to get any) perhaps we should get you a peanut butter whoopie pie from the great state of Maine, or pumpkin, or blueberry, or carmel....whatever blows air up your skirt!

The Carvel cake was huge in Rochester NY in my teens. I never heard of them until we moved up there. It was the big thing, and I'm not going to admit how long ago that was.

The Carvel cake was huge in Rochester NY in my teens. I never heard of them until we moved up there. It was the big thing, and I'm not going to admit how long ago that was.

whoops. just had to say that twice I guess.

Just can't do it. Cannot make myself eat that stuff. My neighbor, who's also my nighttime Auntie-aid, had a piece of Carvel cake for me from her 3-yr-old's birthday party when she came over! It had colorful little pieces of styrofoam all over it, and a lot of brightly colored spoodge piped around on it. It was queasy-making. And then the crispy bits...! *shudder* Quite unpleasantly reminiscent of Oreo cookies *heave* which are simply...well, if one needs proof that American power is rapidly drawing to a close, the Oreo cookie is not a bad canary in the coming coalmine.

I feel awful that I hate it. Really, I do.

#137: You are not alone in your chocolate dislike, Richard. I do not like it either. I do not like it in any form.

>145 richardderus: Quite unpleasantly reminiscent of Oreo cookies *heave

OK this is where I draw the line. I believe it's un-American to dislike Oreos.

I am not enamored of chocolate, either. I can tolerate it, but my migrainey head cannot.

9/11? Ominous date. Nonetheless, can take the choo-choo out from Brooklyn & back again, right? Can accommodate a traveling LTer on a sofa bed.

#147: I do not like them either, Bonnie. Have I been completely ostracized in your mind now?

But oreos are the crack of cookies!
I admit that I prefer the white ones with chocolate filling.

>148 Chatterbox: Atlantic Terminal to Jamaica to Rockville Centre. Bob's your uncle.

>150 mckait: white ones with chocolate filling *Wicked Witch of the West voice* I'm heaving, I'm heaving!

JUST TO MAKE SURE...

If you come here and read my thread, and are willing to travel to New York, you are invited to a fiftieth birthday party (I've decided to be 50 from here on out) chez moi on Saturday, September 11. Go to my profile and leave me a note confirmong your attendance! I will then email you directions about two weeks from now.

I really, really look forward to meeting as many of y'all as can come! (The closest airport is JFK.) We'll find a way to make everyone's trip at least a little bit fun (hint: The Strand is in New York City, a $40 trip away, and that's just ONE of the excellent bookstores here).

#152: Richard, you do realize if we hit the bookstores before the party we may not make the party, right?

>153 alcottacre: I was thinking a leisurely Sunday outing, myownself.

I've been zooming around trying to let everyone I can THINK of know to come here to post #152. I haven't made a sweep, and I don't know that I'll be able to, so if any of y'all happen to think of it, let the cat out of the bag with impunity. Tell people who know me, if it seems they don't know, because NO ONE was *deliberately* not invited.

And watch...three people from LT will *actually* show up....

Richard - Thanks for the invite I'd love to meet you and many other LTers ... but it is a very long shot ... if I win the lottery; get a passport and can battle my agoraphobia; fear of flying and find someone to take care of the spawn of satan (I won't mention the C** word on your thread) ... we'll see;)

But you know you're wanted and you're welcome.

Without Satanic Encumbrance, of course.

I'll be there...count me in! I already printed map quest directions and learned from my doorstep to yours is a short two hour 15 min. drive...

I am super, super excited!

I know I'm only a lurker but I'll de-lurk to say thank you - and I really really want to make New York at some point in my life... but it'd need a lottery win for me too...

Alas and alack, it's just too far from San Diego to your doorstep--I won't be able to make it this year, although I'd love to. Maybe another year? Hate to miss this party, big time!

But you know you're wanted and you're welcome. And that in itself is a wonderful compliment!

Linda (Whisper) and I will be there together with bell's on!

No promises, but I'll see what's on the calendar. Unfortunately, NASA's been busting my plans for time off with their deadlines for proposals for Discovery missions.

You darling. September 11 is also our wedding anniversary -- 28 (gulp) years this coming one. We stopped celebrating it on the 11th for awhile just because it was too effing weird. But we have resumed making that a special day for us. Anyway, I know already I can't come, but it is a happy day in my micro-world and I hope it will be a macro-happy day for you!

Hey, bro! Thanks for the invitation, but we just had our East Coast trip for the next little while. Have a blast!

Thanks for the invitation, Brother Richard! Unfortunately, I won't be able to make this party. I finish a work stretch on 9/10, and I'm off from work from 9/11-9/21, but I'll probably go to Canada with my parents the following week (if they have received their passports by then).

Please do keep me mind if you have other parties in the future. I'd love to meet you in person, and I can easily get to NYC Penn Station (and LI, via the LIRR) from my parents' house via NJ Transit if I'm visiting them.

I won't be making it either. Like many, I can't swing it financially, even though I don't live all that far from New York. :(

Maybe in a couple more 50th birthdays I'll be better off and better able to attend!

Like Stephen (#166) I don't think I can make it..

..not financially.....logistically..I don't drive..have no easy way to get to an airport......more important..I have to find someone to stay at/in my house..for however long.. I am not a "trusting"person..

can you put my name with a Big-Ass "check mark" by the side???

#152 Hi, Richard. I'm a frequent lurker on your thread and would love to be at your party but have just made my NY trip for this year (and you were right, the temperatures in Upstate NY were much cooler than the NYC area). Sorry to miss the chance to meet you (and Linda and Stasia).

Wow, am I late to this party... I wish, I WISH I could make it to the old U.S of A for a LT birthday party! Though the whole agoraphobia/bookshop/no passport thing could be an issue. Maybe I'll just THINK about it and see if the opportunity presents itself... *keeps fingers tightly crossed*

Lovely to hear so many people will be (possibly) passing through my big city. I may be out of town (alas), but if I am present, I'd love to meet as many of you as show up. And I'm only 4 blocks from the Strand! If any of you haunt that place, by all means let me know when you'll be around.

Richard, it's perfectly ok to be 50 for the rest of your life. The numbers got wierd way before that for me - hold on to one you like!

Judy, I hope you are in town too. I would love to meet as many people as I can while I am up that direction. It may be a once-in-a-lifetime trip for me.

I'm sad that not all my threadies can make it, but some of you will, and others at other times. More on plans later. Now I just *gotta* brag!

I went out today, because the aide is here for 4hrs and I needed a break (tree, garage roof, thunderstorm...no fun). I wandered over to the Freeport liberry, remembering they have an ongoing book sale, and usually some good stuff.

The Pillars of the Earth--hardcover, first edition, first printing, near-perfect jacket. Fifty cents.

The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor--looks like no one ever even looked at it.

Peter the Great by Robert K. Massie--*pristine* first paperback printing, been looking for it for a while.

The Year's Best Fantasy anthology, first annual, first printing, very good condition. Twenty-five cents.

The Children of Pride by Robert Manson Myers...the whole boxed set of Popular Library paperbacks, box very good, books excellent. Free, 'cause I flirted with the cute boy who rang up my purchases.

Pepita by Vita Sackville-West...the 1937 Doubleday, Doran, edition with a very good dustjacket! Fifty cents.

Oh, some other stuff, too, not anything like as exciting as those:

The Royal Way by Andre Malraux
Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung
The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer
The Crime and Punishment of IG Farben
A Haunted House and Other Short Stories by Virginia Woolf
Bend Sinister by Vladimir Nabokov
A Coffin for King Charles by C.V. Wedgwood
Til We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
Old Whaling Days by Capt. W. Barron
River of the Sun by James Ramsey Ullman
Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings by Amy Kelly
The First President Johnson: The Three Lives of the Seventeenth President of the United States of America by Lately Thomas

Final bill? Five United States dollars. I love the liberry.

That's one seriously impressive haul, Richard!

>173 Eat_Read_Knit: AND so CHEAP! I am a big fan of the library sale concept, especially when I find a $25 collectible edition for a mere fifty cents. *gruntled sigh*

Nice haul! After reading two books by Flannery O'Connor (Wise Blood and A Good Man Is Hard to Find) and Carson McCullers's debut novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, I am at a loss for why these two talented Georgians are not more widely read and recognized.

Congratulations on the haul, Richard! Wow. I hope you can show them to me in person in September.

#174 I missed the total bill there at the bottom of your post the first time I read it. $5? *Checks exchange rate* £3.27? 18 books, including collectibles, for the price of a large coffee?

Cheap is definitely the word.

That's awesome Richard!

My library is having another sale soon. Grrr, I really can't afford it...but what can it hurt, if I limit myself to a couple old battered paperbacks, right?

(That's what I say, just before I walk out with several boxes full!)

Richard, thank you so much for the invitation to your birthday party. I really wish I could be there but I am traveling in the opposite direction that week heading to SC for a baby shower for my new granddaughter (she's due around Halloween.) I hope that everyone who gets there has a great time and buys you a new book. 50 isn't bad at all!

Oh why, oh why, don't we have Friends at the libraries here? We went to a sale at the biggest local library but it's all stuff that hasn't been taken out enough to pull its weight, not donated goodies like you have. The library I used to go to in Matlock just had a handful of books on a trolley or windowsill for sale at any one time, and I can't find any sale books at all in Bakewell - though I have seen a handful of DVDs on sale... Maybe I'll ask next time I go - though since I have about 800 TBR books and the library's thermostat is always ratcheted up to 'sickeningly scorching', I tend to just make hurried visits when I feel like popping in...

> Nice going, Richard! Library sales are wonderful. Also, I hope that you have a wonderful birthday in September with as many LTers there as can make it. You know that we will all be thinking of you and wishing you the best in spirit at least.
Velma

The Pillars of the Earth- horrible book

Saw the author on GMA and didn't like him.

Leaving before I get your thread all negativy

eta

there were so many new posts, I thought you were giving away chocolate bars or something.....or even chocolate filled white cookie oreos.. or.. Carvell Cake ..or

sex toys.

Sex toys?! STEPHEN, RICHARD, LOOK, SHE SAID 'SEX TOYS'! AND 'BOOK'! AND 'CHOCOLATE'! IN THE SAME POST! That's the conversation sorted for a bit then... ;-)

Well, I'll be at the party. Even though you don't like cats... Which rules out ONE idea for the gift. For that matter, chocolate is also ruled out. Which leaves books and sex toys, I suppose!

#59 I keep losing track of your thread Richard and I'm sorry I wasn't here earlier when you were having such a rough time and to weigh in with a) what Stephen said in #65 & Suzanne in #92 - and, in fact all the other posts in between!; b) please vent away when you're having a rough time - everyone needs to sometimes; c) hope you're feeling more cheerful now and d) mmmm ice-cream cake....

#88 Out of interest, what is London broil? Is there yummy succulent meat involved? Soulds like there should be... ...and maybe pearl barley?

#124 snort!

#137 You see, I can forgive the dislike of chocolate - even if I can't help but feel that (at the risk of pissing off an entire nation*), it's probably because American chocolate is mostly icky (ugh Hersheys, ugh Oreos), but peanut butter in preference?! Really?!?! SHUDDER! I'm with you on the icing-y sploodge though...

Oh wow, what an amazing haul - happy birthday in advance!

Richard, you have no idea how tempted I am to join you all for your celebrations, despite the distance. I love New York (although not, apparently, as much as a mate of mine who had a fabulous time there after the wedding we went to in Chicago last month and randomly spent a fortune on flights out for just this last weekend - I suspect a female was involved). I discovered the other day that I have enough airmiles to fly over there for free, so it's only a matter of time. Sadly, I have absolutely no un-booked holiday left until January (sob! How am I going to cope over October and November?!).

* Note to placate, chocolate coated pretzels however? Genius.

#185 -- Can you borrow against next year's holiday? Or just call in sick...??

>172 richardderus: As Eloise would say: I love, Love, LOVE library book sales! I once got a $125 edition (4 books) of Tales of a Grandfather by Sir Walter Scott for $4! I enjoy the book so much more if I got it for a bargain. :) Thank you for sharing your list of goodies.

#186 Don't tempt me! ;o)

...actually, I have quite a generous holiday allowance, so I think it would be taking the piss a bit to take more, or I'd be sorely tempted! I don't know, all these bl**dy weddings in furran places...

182/183: Ohhh! The only thing better than sex toys, books, and chocolate is book-shaped chocolate sex toys.
(Oh dear...let's not try to figure out how that would work...)

yea... book shape probably wouldn't be ideal....imo

Depends on what gender is using the toy. ;)

Either way, it takes book obsession to a whole new level.....

Ooh....party! I'll have to try and schedule my travel around your birthday so I can try to be there instead of on a different continent.

Well of course you picked Spet. 11, the sole weekend in September when I'm obligated to be at a back to school family picnic. Well I hope you do get some folks there because I know you will have a wonderful time. Guaranteed.

Richard thank you so much for the invite. Put me as a ? for now. I have to see if thats the week hubby is traveling which means I am housebound w/ my children. But if not and no kid sporting/school events, I just might be there!!

And I am but a short 15 mos. away from that 50 number, but I am stopped at 39 and have been for quite some time! :-)

I will be in touch as we get a closer to 9/11!!

Wow, Richard! You need to take me book shopping, you apparently have superpowers!

I would love to join everybody in NY (the best place on earth, IMNSHO) but that's hugely iffy with my work schedule. Things are so up in the air right now, I don't know what country I'll be in two weeks from now, let alone in September. eek! (But the date is plastered in the back of my mind should my schedule allow!)

Richard, thanks so much for the party invitation! I can't make it but am looking forward to seeing some photos of everyone doing a NYC-bookshop-and-maybe-pub-crawl.

Great haul of books. Who'd call their kid Lately though?!

I don't think I'll be able to make it, but I have two words of advice:

TAKE PICTURES!

This will be a 'historic' meetup for the 75ers...those of us who can't make it want to see photos....please??

Oh, and congrats on the great book bargains!

Wow. Thanks for the invite. I want to be there. Let me put my brain to work and I'll keep you posted.

It would be awesome to be with you and also to see so many others of your LT friends/fan base. You are the bomb.

Love you. Put me on the list for directions. Then I can have one the the addresses of an author in New England. tee hee.

Woot. Woot.

Hope I can come celebrate your natal day.

Oh, how fantastic would that be to meet people at your birthday party! I honestly want to come, but I'll be in Seattle the weekend before so the vacation fund will be eaten up. But thank you very much for the open invitation. I'm a lurker on the thread who only posts occasionally, but I'd love to meet you (and so many others in this group!) someday!

I hope someone takes lots and lots and LOTS of pictures!

Review: 48 of seventy-five

Title: INSTRUMENTS OF DARKNESS

Author: IMOGEN ROBERTSON

Rating: 3.9* of five

Tension builds from the moment Mrs Westerman, genteel proprietress of Caveley Park, forces her acquaintance on reclusive anatomist Gabriel Crowther, wealthy man of secrets and possessor of many strange and distasteful objects, in search of his help in dealing with the death of a stranger in her copse.

It doesn't let up. It ratchets up every time Mrs Westerman or Mr Crowther are on stage. There are flashbacks to Mrs Westerman's neighbor, Lord Hugh Thornleigh, in combat during the American conflict...these aren't immediately obviously relevant to the story, and I think I'd've recommended the author introduce them differently than her editor did, but have patience...and introduce us to Claver Wicksteed, then an Army procurement officer and now steward of Thornleigh, the seat of the Earls of Sussex. Then we meet the Countess of Sussex, and our central cast is complete.

The body count rises, as it must in a mystery, and the characters begin to see that they're engaged in a grisly gavotte around one central puzzle: How low can a human being sink, regardless of high birth, and how can justice seem so far from just?

Like all good mystery writers, Robertson takes us round the houses by changing the angle of view several times. She's very good at this. What seems awful becomes right and good; what seems reliably good stinks like old fish before she's done with us. Fear not: The wise and the just are rewarded! Just that they're also made to get dirty in the process.

There are first-novel issues with the book, of course, like the Parthenon being described as a round building in Rome (PANTHEON!) and the persistent misunderstanding of how one addresses Earls, Countesses, and their offspring (Earls are "Lord {Name of earldom}", their wives "Lady {Name of earldom} unless that countess is the daughter of a fellow earl or higher, in which case she's ALWAYS "Lady {Firstname}" no matter who she's married to, sons and heirs of earls are Viscounts and addressed as "Lord {Name of viscounty" even when very young, younger sons are "Lord {Family name}" and daughters of earls are "Lady {Firstname}" all their lives, etc etc). Most of this is the editor's fault. The author should be able to rely on him or her to catch these sorts of factual oopsies.

Still and all...the pleasures of reading this book are many, and *evil chortle* you'll all have to wait until at least 2011 to find out 'cause the book ain't available here yet! I borrowed mine from our own Suzanne/Chatterbox, so there nyah!

But it's recommended. Really and truly. Too good to miss. (Hear that, Horrible?!?)

OK, if she thinks the Parthenon is in Rome I might need to take this one OFF my wishlist...

Historical fiction... mystery... that one ought to appeal to me, but for some reason it doesn't. Oh, well.

Great review, though, Richard.

I have just appointed myself the person in charge of the Library Sale books at my little library. (Truly no one else wanted/wants the job). Now howzzat for being a clever one? I'll be sorting the books and you know what that means....

I'm with Caty ==(201) if she's got a book out with those kinds of errors you point out, I can only say - who is the publisher and where the H**L is the editor? Don't publishers pay for proof reading, fact checking anymore?

hmmm....this could be a good source of extra income for us classically educated nit-pickin' grannies who are too lazy to go look for a "real" job!!

There really are pleasures to be had in Robertson's book, I promise, but there are flaws. I'd say to give her a try, let her have a few chapters, and then make up y'all's minds.

>204 tututhefirst: Tina...the word for you is NOT "lazy"!!! But someone needs to tell publishers that we, the people, really ARE paying attention to their errors and omissions. I used to email them, but I suspect my email addy is now on every spam filter in the industry.

In a word -- editors don't do this kind of nit-picky stuff, especially on fiction. (I'm just now reading a book whose central character is female, and who claims to have attended Jesus College at Cambridge at the time the novel is set -- 1961. For the record, Jesus, like most men-only colleges, didn't admit women until the 1970s. The author teaches there and should know better.)

I did have an e-mail exchange with the author -- who is delightful -- about this issue, and she's very chastened and fixing them. I suspect the problem is a lack of secondary readers. A friend of mine who writes historical fiction made a real blooper in his new novel, which I caught just in time to fix, thanks to getting an ARC. It was arcane, but those that know about the period would have found it a real killer.

Anyway, I've now read & reviewed the second book, which is even better. (Though the title problem persists.)

Richard- Thank you very much for the invite! Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it! I couldn't get enough time off to attend and I'm also saving up for the "Book Retreat" in Manchester Vermont, next April. I'm sure you guys will have a fantastic time. Take plenty of pictures!

A birthday party with lots of LTers! How exciting Richard. Unfortunately, I cannot attend. If it were not the day we drive back from the beach, of my boyfriends birthday, and of his sister's bachelorette party; I would be there! It is very easy to get to NY from DC. Next time.

Richard,

Dang. It's not often that I'm sorry (however briefly) to not still live in NJ. Sorry to have to send my regrets, but as they say, I feel honored just to be invited. Thank you.

Good people, good food; it'll be a blast - have fun! And pictures, another plea for lots and lots of pictures!!!

Joanne

I will bring my digital camera and I'll be sure to get photos of the birthday boy with his cake.

I would snivel and cry about regrets, but since everyone has to travel, I can't...but I sure hope that we'll all be able to meet up in one place one day soon!

And minds can be changed with impunity...no one need fear not being welcome.

Just do not plan on any pictures of me. I am not at all photogenic!

#211 - It's your party, you can cry if you want to..... :)

>212 alcottacre: I **hate** having pictures taken. I look like an undercooked potato dumpling with extra-bushy mold growing on top. Plus glasses. If *I* gotta do it, so do you.

Fine with me. I look like a chubby, short chick. I'll ask Stasia to take a photo of us together...and when she isn't looking, I'll take a photo of the two of you together...

Then we will threaten her with chocolate and coffee if she doesn't agree to a photo of the entire group together.

Oh, this is gonna be fun.............................

Oh, my, your party sounds like fun! When you left your little invite on my thread to "go here" I thought you missed my curmudgeonly posts on your thread -- I never expected an invite to a real party! Wooo!

Unfortunately, I doubt I'll be able to get away (work, family) to attend.

But I wish you a very happy birthday, and hope you have a huge crowd of LT-ers to celebrate with you!

ETA to add I just backed up to earlier posts that I missed. My, it sounds like you need a party, with all the crap that you've been dealing with lately. Hang in there!

Thanks for the invite Richard - a bit too far away for me to consider attending, but if I win the lottery between now and then...

212/214: Nonsense, you two! I'm not at all photogenic either. I'm awkward and whenever someone points a camera at me I have no idea what to do with myself, and I usually have the goofiest grin on my face you can imagine, unless someone catches me off guard. Still, it's LIBRARYTHING, and we want pictures! Lots and lots of them, of Richard and Stasia and everyone else! :(

#218: Exactly: it is LibraryThing, not pictures of my-unphotogenic-self thing, so no pictures :)

Silly Stasia

Everyone loves you and wants photos....
Think about it...................................

Air fares are cheaper than I expected, but sadly not cheap enough for a trip across the Atlantic to be feasible for me at the moment.

:(

Maybe next time...

And I shall want to see the photos.

(I really should get my passport renewed, though. It expired four years ago.)

*waaah!*

I think the reason Stasia doesn't want pictures of her taken is because she doesn't want all of us to know she actually has two heads - one for posting on LT and the other for reading, at the same time. :(

Yeah, well, she got no choice, she comes here, there's a picture bein' taken. NOBODY hates having his picture taken worse than I do (wrecks my fantasy that, all evidence to the contrary, I look *exactly* like Tom Selleck), so man up!

Looks like this could be a two-review thread....

I like this meme. I decided to post it just for giggles.

Describe yourself: Stranger in a Strange Land

How do you feel: Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Describe where you currently live: Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Evening in Byzantium or Mars 1999

Your favorite form of transportation: American Classic Cars

Your best friend is: On the Other Hand, Death

You and your friends are: A Scattering of Jades (this was Stephen's answer, but I liked it so much, I had to steal it)

What’s the weather like: Misery

You fear: Christian Mythology

What is the best advice you have to give: Don't Murder Your Mystery

Thought for the day: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

How I would like to die: A Gentle Madness

My soul’s present condition: The Stray Lamb

That was fun!

How fun! I'll have to try it too. :)

It is definitely a fun little quiz. It's all Fissp's fault, she started it this year. :)

#225 It was on someone's thread last year, too, I remember doing it. We were supposed to use only books we'd read that year. Richard, did you just use this year's books this time, or whatever you thought of? (I'm too lazy to check your list to see.) It's much harder to do with a finite list of books. I tried it with this year's books so far, and some of the answers were pretty weak.

#228: I am not sure which is harder - having too many to choose from or too few!

Quiz looks fun

Brain too broken to play..maybe tomorrow....

What Kath said.

Really bad day at Black Rock.

>228 tymfos: I just thought 'em up. Not up for some more strenuous elaborate unnecessary thing when it's hot enough to melt lead on my windowsills.

Oh goodness! I long for snow and wind and ice and dark, bellyheavy clouds!

Guess what. I'm going to come to your party. You'd better speak now if you were just kidding because you were sure I wouldn't be able to make it...

>233 tloeffler: COOLIO!!!

Now any of the other turn-downs, looky there at that! Plenty of time to change y'all's minds, now!

Hurrah! That's at least four of us -- me, Stasia, Linda and Terri!

Caroline and Kath too, plus Kath's son as a possible. Others will change their minds, I feel sure. Oh hey...Tom was a maybe, not a no, so that's another!

kath is still a hope so~ not a yes.. have to wait until the new school year gets underway before I figure it out for sure..

>232 richardderus:

My boyfriend and I were commiserating over the phone the other evening...about the heat...his work schedule..his son's work schedule..the Heat...and we started to, actually, wish for some of last winter's snow..in large buckets....enough to fill the back of his truck! Jeesh, who knew?? we bitched enough about that snow when it was blocking roads/streets/driveways..People are funny sorts, no?

Still not sure about the par-tay....

;-}

Thanks for the invite, Richard, sounds like fun--especially meeting the 2-headed Stasia; but I'm gonna need at least a year to arrange my itinerary, since I plan on a car trip, zig-zagging cross-country to visit all my LT friends. ;-) Oh, and gotta buy the car too. Sounds like you're going to have a great "50th" though.

#239: I would like to go on record as stating I do not have 2 heads - I have 3 :)

What is the third one for? Oh yeah, you gotta eat! ;-)

I have been working on a snowfall whammy ( and failing) for some weeks now. I sure wish you hadn't gone and reminded rd.
*sulk*

Oh Kath! Silly billie. *When* you're here for my birthday, you'll bring the snow with you as my gift! I knew that.

Of course, we all know what will happen if you *don't* come...I shall sit in the darkest corner, silently weeping, as revelers pass me by...perhaps the ever-kind Suzanne, in from Darkest Brooklyn, might sit with me for a moment...I shall limply wave my tear-sodden hanky at the other dancing party-goers, should they happen to hear one of my poorly strangled sobs and glance impatiently in my direction....

#243: I will come and sit in the corner with you, Richard. . .with a book, of course.

>244 alcottacre: You are indeed kind, dear one, but the corner I'll be in will be too dark for...wait!! I have it at last!!!

The reason Stasia can read 56 books per day is that she *has familiars* for her book sorcery! BATS can echolocate the raised print! Chameleons with their aimable eyes can see even books on distant tables!

*whew* That's been exercising my worry circuits for years. I can resume normal life now.

...but I don't know what normal life is...*whimper*

#245: Does anyone know what 'normal' life is?

>246 alcottacre: I doubt it. At least, none of the people *we* know.

#247: True. And if we do not know them, they are not worth knowing :)

re: 243 I am not sure if I should just post the eyeroll



the LOL



or this to help you look for me..



so maybe i will just post this to remind you what to look for?

ROFL

But the tear-dampened hanky-waving shall be videotaped and posted on YouTube under the title, "Miserable rejected mourning abandoned fair-weather friend awaits Katleen Wagner of {street address here} at his ruined party."

All's fair....

THREAD, Richard!

(Boy, that felt good!)

blah blah blah

Oh, good. I was busy setting it up:tenth thread is up and running!

#227 Yay! Something that's my fault!

#228 It was indeed - in fact it did the rounds pretty comprehensively - I thought it was time to revitalise it ;o)

ETA: Oops - how did I not notice the new thread?