Richardderus. Fourteen. 2010.

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
Reviews 47 & 48: ninth thread
Reviews 49-51: tenth thread
Reviews 52-57: eleventh thread
Reviews 58-65: twelfth thread
Reviews 66-71: thirteenth thread

I now have a second 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:

77.Excursion to Tindari...#205.

76. The Fall...#178.

75. Voice of the Violin...#117.

74. Fatfingers: A Tale of Old New Orleans...#95.

73. The Snack Thief...#86.

72. The Terra-Cotta Dog...#58.

Woah. I'm the first one here? Cool. :)

Found you!

Starred! Here's hoping the LT Cheap Sicilian B&B opens up soon - Mama needs a vacation!

Evening Richard!

*blows kiss* (even though you haven't been to visit MY new thread yet!)

I think I missed most of the last thread . . . but I have you starred now!

*Pulling up a chair* 'Have I missed anything yet?'

Hi Richard, nice new thread:) I hope you have a good day.

Wow. I didn't even realize it was new thread time for you..
found you now though... and bubbled you

Good morning, all! Now accepting reservations for I tre pini albergo Siciliano.

The bubbles make a cheery change!

I am a fan of bubbles..

:)

Hello Richard!

Good Morning, "he who must not be named" . Hmpf, never visits my lowly thread. *starred and sulks away*

it takes all my strength to keep up with your thread, Richard. Just think of me jogging along on my little feet, panting with anticipation at the next flurry of point and counterpoint. Now I'm off to rest up and sleep through a 9AM meeting. some managers are just cruel.

Found you! :)

Buon Giorno! Thought I had this tagged, but my clicking must have been faulty...now you are once again in my galaxy of stars.

>12 mckait: I always knew Michael Jackson had a strong hold on you.

>13 Ape: Good morning, Stephen, are you well today?

>14 Carmenere: Lynda, I *have too* visited your thread!! And I left a comment this time, so you'd know I had.

>15 ffortsa: Judy, whenever I think I miss going out to work, I think of morning meetings, or Caro's 1am conference calls with people in Asia and/or Australia....

>16 BookAngel_a: How do, Miss Angela!

>17 tututhefirst: How many times have I clicked a star and gone gaily about my business, only to discover that what once was starred now needs to be found. I begin to think it's my Half-heimer's disease.

18: Oh, sure, I'm find. Sorry if I seemed so giddy. I think Kath's bubbles were filled with Nitrous Oxide... *giggles uncontrollably*

>20 Ape: Do please take every reasonable step to ensure your safe enjoyment of this thread. Breathe responsibly.

Making note that you have reviewed book number 71 and are prolly currently reading #75 for the second time as I keyboard this. Glad to see that your enjoyed Montalbano so much and Sicily always appeals as a destination.

You are very, very close to meeting the Challenge, but, I must admit, knowing the way that you read, I have'nt even had it flit across the surface of my brain that you wouldn't make it, Dear Richard. Premature congrats to you.

I'll return soon to see the title of the seventy-second through the seventy-fifth book and the reviews. Caio.

Thanks, Woofie! Actually, I've read a lot more than 75 books, but the reviews are spread over seventeen threads....

#18... yep Mike and me? tight!!

#20 ... I can never get away with anything... caught again.

Ruth, I don't even try to sort out rd's threads. I read his reviews and enjoy the chatter. He reads, he opines, he writes.. that's our rd.

#24: He reads, he opines, he writes.. that's our rd.

And we would not have him any other way, would we?

I really need some nitrous oxide, Stephen, so I'll just hang out here a while. I could get hooked on the stuff... :-)

Hello Richard!! Hope you are well! I promise I won't take over your thread w/ stink bug discussion!

Another new thread for our popular Richardear. We all love your reviews and the chat, as proved by the number of threads you have. Your review of the Italian book and series which cannot be named was excellent...but I'm trying really hard not to get into anything not on my shelves right now...

Oh, good grief. I started skipping your thread because someone mentioned the newest Three Pines book and I didn't want any accidental spoilers marring my enjoyment of Bury Your Dead, and what do I find? Not only was said book barely mentioned past the initial post that I'd already seen, you start a new thread.

Oh and good news, I finished Bury Your Dead tonight, so no more spoiler worries.

Wow! That was some review, Mary. I've thumbs-upped it.

Now. When next you go to work, check out The Shape of Water and see if Vigata isn't Three Pines, Sicily.

>31 richardderus: *blush* Well, thanks. :) Alright, I looked in both my library's catalogs, and they don't have it, so I've put it on hold. There are...14 books in the series? Oh no, if I end up liking at it, that means I've added fourteen books for finishing one. I don't like that ratio.

Oh, but believe me when I tell you that they fly by! The Terra-Cotta Dog, which I'm in second read of, is something I got from the liberry today. And it's over 300pp! I almost Stasia-ize my reading speed and I've only got the paltry two original equipment eyes.

The pleasures are really there.

#33: Stasia-ize?! And you are giving Stephen a hard time about inventing words?

>34 alcottacre: But Stasia...every reputable dictionary has "Stasia-ize" as a synonym for "cyborgify" and "eyegrafticate."

#35: Oh, I see the problem - I have a disreputable dictionary.

>36 alcottacre: Well, my dove, how else could it be? you live in the state that won't let evolution into its textbooks! I understand that Buns and Nubile has a small army of quill-equipped lexicographers removing things like "quark" and "Higgs boson" from y'all's dictionaries and substituting "phlogiston" and "aetheric realm."

>35 richardderus: Or a defective one, which is what my friend told me was the one I used to look up the pronunciation of "anticlimactic" and informed her (on my vacation, mind you, but apparently I can't stop being a librarian and answering people's questions) that you do indeed pronounce the "c" unless you're talking about climate...

>33 richardderus: Well, alright, I'm a fast ready when I put my mind to it...or when I barely look at talk threads which is how I finished the Louise Penny so fast...

#37: 'Phlogiston' and 'aetheric realm' sound better, lol.

A series with 14 books in it. Sigh. Why do I even bother to visit this thread? Why don't I just put every series that ever existed on my TBR list?

trudges off to do just that.

All of you wanting to plunge into the montalbano series from Sicily, they are readily available at most liberries in audio format. Lots of fun to listen to while one cans the fall harvest!

My library only has 2 of them on CD. *sad face* But, all of them in print.

#42: My local library does not have any of them in any form :(

Maybe I can record them for you, Stasia. They let me record an e-learning module at work last month. I could have a new career!

#44: Cool! and what career would that be?

just stopping in to catch up....

Oh dear, I'm 46 posts down with no hope of catching up. I hope you're enjoying a nice cool fall morning, sir.

>19 richardderus:: Caro's 1am conference calls with people in Asia

Yikes! I have teams in China and India and a very firm rule: meetings are at 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning my time! :-) Chinese can call join from home; Indians can call in before they leave work. If we ever get any West Coasters, I'm screwed.

Because students operate on their time with little concern for the schedule of others, our office coordinator has a note on her window that states:

"I'm out to lunch from 12:00-1:00..even if you see me at my desk at noon...I am having lunch....If you interrupt during this time, I assume it is because you are bringing desert."

She is one savvy lady!

49: Haha, I love it! :)

New thread duly Starred.

Was waiting for a Newbie to give you this:



;-}

Happy Day to you Richard.

Hi all, can barely talk, finishing The Terra-Cotta Dog before writing a review, goodness how I love this series, bye now.

What means Hi all, can barely talk

Cat got your tongue?
Laryngitis?
Stricken silent by satan?

Stricken silent by satan? No, no cats were involved. I merely breezed through and acknowledged the threadies here assembled wile I was between chapters and needed to stretch my legs.

oic I thought maybe you were doing this:

I just picked up a used copy of Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen from Ammy $4 and prime :) ahh life is good.

I also picked up The Colony of Unrequited Dreams: A Novel and The Custodian of Paradise: A Novel because I clearly should not visit Amazon before noon, as it is too easy to click so early in the day.. when all is dark and quiet.

Review: 72 of seventy-five

Title: THE TERRA-COTTA DOG

Author: ANDREA CAMILLERI

Rating: 4* of five

I am truly gruntled and kempt after reading a Montalbano novel. Sleek, in fact; one could go so far as to say consolate.

The mystery, that is the modern-day mystery of arms-dealing and law-breaking, gets short shrift in this delightful book. It gets passed to Montalbano's second-in-command, Augello, at Montalbano's discretion, after Augello pitches a hissy fit and acts like a neglected wife because Montalbano runs a team within a team to do his real work.

Things Go Badly. In fact, a character I loved very much pays the ultimate price for Augello's jealous fit. But Montalbano, whose head everything ultimately falls on, has already turned his attention to Livia, his quite extraordinary lover from Genoa, and a mystery from WWII.

One guess which of those two gets neglected.

The point of these books is how much a mystery gets hold of one, how deeply set the hook is when it's properly baited for the mysterian. (Other than the name of a one-hit wonder band, I've never actually used that word before, and "I do not think that word means what you think it means." {Princess Bride reference}) Sure, yeah, people are smuggling submachine guns and stuff, mmm-hmmm get back to me if something needs my attention but some a-hole killed two kids in the Act of Luuuv 50+ years ago, then put them in a cave where evidence assures us they were NOT shot, and with some very odd burial goods...a bowl of money, a jug of water, and a terra-cotta statue of a dog...and then sealed them up carefully and invisibly. WTF? as Montalbano most certainly wouldn't have thought, who does that? What kind of story makes that not only okay, but so urgent as to force someone to do it?

Exactly what I was wondering. Montalbano is my kinda guy. There are people to *do* the modern-day, not-very-challenging stuff, and even when they get stuff wrong (as they did, to his almost-fatal detriment when a shoot-out costs him the life of a friend and a month in the hospital) things will turn out, they always do...just learn to live with the consequences...but only he, Montalbano, cares to or can ferret out the seemingly unimportant but emotionally charged secrets of the past.

I was walloped upside my little punkin haid by the ending of this book. I could NOT believe an American publishing house would do this! Of course, they only did it ten years after it became a bestseller in *the rest of the world*, but let's let that slide. They did it, thank you Viking, and they made a lovely object of the book, and they have published all of the series in proper order *smoochsmooch* on their corporate ham-producing-areas to boot!

I won't encourage anyone to read these books because, if you need encouragement, you're not the Right Stuff for them. (*snicker* THAT oughtta cause a stampede!)

Another great review. After reading it I'm feeling pretty kempt and gruntled, despite my somewhat disconsolate outlook when the day began.

As you know, I'm a big fan of this series. Can't wait for further reviews.

I look forward to getting to this series.........someday.

Hi Richard! Starred ya! By the way, I love bubbles!

Great review -- as always.

Hugs to you.

You've definitely got me interested in these books Richard. Great review.

What a great review...I read this one last year, and it's amazing how much your review brought back to me w/o spoiling it for those who haven't read it. I love Salvo, but do think I still prefer the more urbane Brunetti (the Calabrian in me just can't give in entirely to Sicilianos - my Nona would have my head.)

I'm bringing over the cruise discussion from your old thread msg #262

We did the Sicilian cruise last summer - it was fabulous - went to Barcelona (can you say Shadow of the Wind?), Florence (can you say Sixteen Pleasures?), Sicily, Naples (including pompeii) and a few spots in between....we could do the other side of the cruise and go to Venice , or just get a tour group together and build our own land tour! We could stop off in UK to see Ellie and CatyM and Genny, etc etc etc. Much more fun than frozen icepiles and grizzly bears

OK, posting to keep up...now I'll go back to post 1 and start reading.

Hi, Drive by hugs. I LOVE Montalbano! See ya ...

Love the review of the Montalbano book, Richard! One of these days I will catch up to that series.

I'm showing up to give my support once again to the Montalbano books. You almost have me convinced to ditch my other reading to get on with the next one...but I do want to make them last. Richard - you simply must watch the tv series it makes reading the books even better. Luca Zingaretti / Salvo, Peppino Mazzotta / Fazio, and Cesare Bocci / Augello are all very much eye candy and having them in mind as I read each book adds an extra tot of bliss.

What's up with every body gets to see them but us??? I've found them on Amazon, but not Netflix, and no library in the state has them..

... and moving on...

Wow, thanks avatiakh! Finally the Montalbano Italian tv series is available on DVD in the USA, even if only on Amazon. This is going on my my wishlist!

>72 mckait: Oh be quiet, sourpuss, or I'll call down a rain of Those Creatures on one particular hill.

Montalbano's adventures are **broadcast** if you please in Daytona, Florida, and not ***here*** the media capital of the world (well, sorry, it's true and LA can take that) with an IMMENSE Italian population!!!!! Don't believe me? Here's WDSC-DT's schedule entry for the show coming up on 10/10. I ask you...where are the Fairness Police? The Righteous Squad? The SWAT Team of Entitlement?

So I've emailed their programming director, suggesting that they put the series "for catch-up purposes" on their on-demand streaming video section. Cross your crossables, guys.

I read these first two Montalbano books....back in 2003...whilst in the throes of a Nasty Flu...they eased the aches-and-pains and gave me much to ponder....regarding Writers (Camilleri be Good), Plots (both The Shape of Water and The Terra-Cotta Dog are excellent.....with enough Suspense to keep a sick gal from yawning) and Characters that are *gasp* almost believable.. Good reviews for both, Sweetie!

;-}

You'll never believe what was in my mail from Amazon this morning!

As someone who has purchased or rated books by Lois McMaster Bujold, you might like to know that The Paper Moon: An Inspector Montalbano Mystery (Playaway Adult Fiction) is now available. You can order yours for just $54.99 by following the link below.

The Paper Moon: An Inspector Montalbano Mystery (Playaway Adult Fiction)
Andrea Camilleri

Of course, it is temporarily out of stock, undoubtedly due to LTers!

Raining stinkbugs...lovely...

Irony of ironies...a note announcing something that seems to me unconnected to the thing that caused them to contact you (what on EARTH does Lois McMaster Bujold have to do with it?!?) and...and...! It's Out of Stock! LOL

Well, in their data, people who like Bujold also like Camilleri, evidently!

Apparently I've won Kingdom Under Glass, which I was really, really hoping to get! Coolness!! Now I have have have to review the perplexing Mood Matters.

It's fascinating. I don't know what to think about it yet...some very sweeping, very counterintuitive claims are made, and I'm still working through the supporting arguments. I love Springer-verlag! They are completely fearless as publishers.

I love Bill Maher, reasons why (illustrated):

LOL!

#81 amen

#74 kiss ma grits baby!!

81- This is why my boyfriend loves Bill Maher. . I showed him your post. . he chuckled :).

RD- I 'll try to squeeze in The Shape of Water in the near future! At least I have a copy!
BTW- Love the pig! Love Maher too, but in smaller doses!

Review: 73 of seventy-five

Title: THE SNACK THIEF

Author: ANDREA CAMILLERI

Rating: 4* of five

Ambiguity is a highly valued and well-tolerated state in Italy. (Likewise Japan.) It makes so much of the insane, illogical world the Italians have created and laughingly called a "government" and a "social fabric" function, this ability to be more than one thing at one time.

Immigrants, seldom from high ambiguity-tolerant climes, screw things up mightily. Karima certainly does, that Tunisian house cleaner-cum-sex worker. She thinks she's moved to a place away from the stark complexities she comes from in Tunisia, and instead ends up at the center of an only-in-Sicily clusterfuck that had me fearing for Montalbano's life, sanity, and love relationship.

I don't fear for his waistline or his palate. Yet again, he swims and savors his way through the book. The food descriptions! *sigh* I wish I could eat Adelina the housekeeper's roulades of bream. I long for the koftas that the Mazarase chef reinvents after a visitation from the Virgin Mary while he was in prison. The sheer sensual glory of Camilleri's Sicily makes a hungry gourmand into a ravening beast. Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin's The Physiology of Taste has not one thing on this series for sheer torture of the tastebuds.

In the end, Karima's story, which of course is so much larger than we first imagine it to be, resolves itself with losses and gains all around...death, of course, but also the slow, steady taking away that growing older in a life well lived requires us to accept and endure; the inevitable time-caused losses; but the surprises of joy and courage buoy up the other end of that cork in the wine-barrel of living emotion.

And really, in the end, isn't that what reading books is about? Experiencing living emotion, only at a safe remove; pre-feeling our feelings, or re-feeling them, in safety and without the need to explain or the desire to complain. Storytelling is, for this among many reasons, a brilliant use of language, no matter that the story told has been told before. Camilleri says as much, explicitly, on page 37: "There is no Sicilian woman alive, of any class, aristocrat or peasant, who, after her fiftieth birthday, isn't always expecting the worst. What kind of worst? Any, so long as it's the worst."

Word, as the kids of today used to say before we figured it out.

great review--this was one I liked but not as well as some of the others.....

Yeah. Word. Passe.

Hi, love. How's by you?

Richard...
love post #81!

#80: Kingdom Under Glass looks like a good one, Richard. I look forward to your review!

The Snack Thief, another one onto the wishlist.

Sleep in?

Sorta. I'm thinking about what to say in my rave review of Fatfingers: A Tale of Old New Orleans later today.

Don't say anything. The book seems not to exist?

Review: 74 of seventy-five

Title: FATFINGERS: A Tale of Old New Orleans



Author: CHARLIE WHITE

Rating: 4.2* of five

Charlie White, previously unknown to me, contacted me to ask if I'd review his new novel, after the previous effort titled The Dragon at the Edge of the World. I am on record everywhere as believing that self-published does NOT equal bad, or poorly edited (my best example of that is Islands of Instability, still a favorite book of mine). This book further bolsters that conviction.

PAY ATTENTION NOW. Your mission, should you choose to follow my strenuous and well-thought-out advice, is to put your prejudices on hold and go to the download page and put this book on your NooKindlEreader for a lousy five bucks. It will repay you several times over the purchase price in the sheer pleasure of reading this Cajun version of Candide, this New World picaresque, this amusing and informative (oops, forget I said that! There's no educational value, none!) and most of all fun trip through the reasons for Acadians becoming Cajuns.

Etienne, our Acadian Candide, starts his journey from his Nova Scotian home at the behest of the British, who were then in the process of snatching Canada from the French, who snatched it but with a much lighter, less iron fist from the Native Americans. We meet him working in a shipyard as possibly the least competent carpenter *ever* (hence his nickname and our {needs to be changed} title, "Fatfingers"), working for the nastiest, most bureaucrat-hearted British boss ever, appropriately named Cudgel. Nothing good can come of this...except for us, the readers, as we follow poor Fatfingers from pillar to post and back again, stopping in Charleston, in St. Dominique (aka Haiti), finally, finally to New Orleans, the home Etienne sought and deserves. Followed relentlessly by Cudgel, who really resembles the piece of toilet paper that *will not* release your shoe unless manually, and with wrinkled nose, picked off and tossed away.

I didn't choose that metaphor lightly.

Please, please don't think I'm puffing a friend! I don't know Charlie White from the Year Forty. But I know he knows how to tell a story, and I know he knows what details bring the past to life, and I know he knows what he's doing in front of a word processor! I strongly suspect my threadies here on LT will know a good book when they read it. Don't let its "bastard" parentage as a self-published book fool you! This is high-quality stuff!

Now for the bad news...all self-published authors seem not to have studied the books that major players produce. This one's no exception, with idiosyncratic right-page-only folios and running footers, even on blank pages *shudder*. There is the occasional infelicity of word-choice, but that's nothing against Charlie...I see that in supposedly professionally edited books. There is a bizarrely large amount of white space between lines of dialogue, and very generous margins and gutters are the exception not the rule in self-publishing because they drive page count, therefore cost, up; but the *worst* thing I can think of to say is that Charlie chose the weirdest, the least explicable of all colors for a picaresque trip through the vivid, colorful Francophone Caribbean: Beige.

Really! Beige! With black type! Oh no no no! Perish forbid! Please, sir, revisit this decision and change it to blue, or orange, or even *shudder* magenta, but beige...!

But folks, the bottom line is: Read this book. It's worth your time and your money.

Going all the way back up to #44: An audio-book reader, Stasia! Really.

As for Richard, I already have ALL of the Camilleri books on my series list (sigh), and since I don't have a NooKindlEreader, I shall have to wait for all of you to read the book until it's so popular that it has to be released as a "real" book, since it doesn't seem to exist anywhere else.

I am morally certain, TLo, that the file can be printed for you, since I read a tree book not an e-book. Follow the link! Follllooow the liiiinnnk! Follllooow the liiiinnnk!

can't read it.. can't find it! :P

Amazon says no....

Follow the link. Follow the link! Follllooow the liiiinnnk! Follllooow the liiiinnnk!

Fantastic review of Fatfingers, Richard, and a thumb from me!

A Fat Thumb for your review of Fatfingers!

I followed the link and will download it when I get sumppen to read it on, hopefully an iPad. It might be a while.

Toodles.

Good grief. Two, yes, that would be two, amazing reviews in one day (well, I read them on the same day.) Whew. Excellent work, Richard. And of course, more books for me to put on the wishlist.

Thanks. I think.

Oh crap, Richard! You hit me after I was weakened by Stasia's list today. I'm being sucked in again! Fatfingers sounds too good to pass up. I wasn't gonna read your review at all - and wound up giving you a thumb! Never can resist. ;)

he is a heartbreaker isn't he?

I followed your original link to amazon .. where no such book was listed.
so blah blah blah

This does sound good, but I need a moratorium. Dan starting to read has a downside. . . two people wanting books.. lol

I will wait and read it another time..

Tomorrow the WWII book arrives.

Great review of Fatfingers, Richard! I'll download this book after I return to Atlanta.

Hi guys! Much as I love, and I do mean LOVE, gettin' the props, I'd love even more for y'all to go get copies e or tree of this really good book. Please? Pretty please? Sugar on top? He worked HARD on this, and it deserves our support, that kind of effort.

It looks like a paperback is available to order. I will do so when I get paid Friday. I promise. I am also in favor of promoting good unknown authors, so I will do my part.

I will download it to my Nook when I am home from work. No wi fi here at the office :(

>74 richardderus:: Cajun version of Candide

Since I've never read Candide, I have absolutely no idea if that's something that should attract or repel me.

>107 tloeffler: Knew I could count on TLo! Just *knew* it! *smooch*

>108 alcottacre: OMG!! Bestseller lists, here comes Charlie, IF Stasia likes your book (which honestly I think is a shoo-in).

>109 TadAD: *reels backwards in shock* You have never read Candide.

No.

You're over forty and you've never read Candide.

C'mon.

It's a very funny book, Voltaire was satirizing the world of the 1750s, and it introduced the archetype that finds its nadir in "Forrest Gump." Candide is the innocent, the naif, the average guy blown from pillar to post by the winds of chance that he really doesn't understand; he's "assisted" in his journeys by the cynical, pragmatic, and unscrupulous Dr. Pangloss ("all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds") and his One True Love, faithless feckless Cunegonde.

Don't read it if you don't have an interest in the history of the times, though, because lots of stuff will whistle past your ears, leaving you *sure* you're not catching the joke. Few sensations less pleasant than that one.

OK... I will try my blasted best to download this next time I am in the "city". My downloading abilities are sporadic here at home. It really does look good.

>110 richardderus:: Are you, perhaps, mistaking me for someone who is well-read?

>112 TadAD: Well, you could just read and listen to the play (with fabulous music by Leonard Bernstein) - that would give you a good outline of the book, and much enjoyment as well.

I admit that I only read Candide two years ago..... but really loved it.

I checked on Amazon - there are several editions of Candide, or Optimism, one a Norton Critical Edition, one a Penguin Classic, both with notes and history. I have no idea whose translation is considered best or funniest or most accurate.

Hm - maybe we could have a group read for this? Anyone interested?

Bless me father....I have sinned....I am over 60 and have never read Candide....and I have no desire to do so...so skip the penance..... Too many other fun things on the TBR pile.

edited to correct old age typos

Review: 75 of seventy-five

Title: VOICE OF THE VIOLIN

Author: ANDREA CAMILLERI

Rating: 4* of five

The Book Report: Inspector Montalbano, adjusting to a new climate both professional and personal, is presented with a dilemma: How can he officially take note of a crime he discovers when committing a crime himself? He resolves to solve a horrible, seemingly inexplicable murder, one that truly makes your heart hurt, and yet faces mounting problems within his new professional situation. In the end, he takes his lowest, to date, policemanly ebb and turns it into the routing of forces arrayed against him with the help of a shut-in paraplegic, a reclusive retired musician, and the Mafia, abetted by his media lapdogs and loyal through-and-through team.
His personal life, meanwhile, takes its customary back seat...but with more-than-usually severe consequences, ones that make the ending of the previous book look very unlikely to come to fruition. The resolution of this story line is surprising, but in line with Camilleri's evolving character portrait of Montalbano.

My Review: As always, Camilleri makes me drool, moan, and breathe deeply with his Sicilian cuisine and atmosphere evocation. I want to go there now, and stay there, and follow Montalbano around saying "I'll have what he's having" to everyone I meet. But there are lots of emotional roadblocks in Montalbano's world, and there are a lot of points where he seems hell-bent for leather to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. That he, in the end, decides to do the things that are true to his character in the last ~40pp is a testament to how clear Camilleri's vision of him is. And I would like to offer, with grateful hugs and awestruck genuflections, praise unstinting to the translator of the series: Stephen Sartarelli, apparently a published poet in his own right. He's deft, he's witty, he's thorough, and he's got something I've seldom encountered: a submersible ego. His translation, I am reliably informed by an ex-pat family member who's been reading the gialli as they come out in Italy, is tonally spot-on to Camilleri's original language.

Wow.

Don't read the series out of order, too much subtle and delicious detail is lost that way. But really, really wise and discerning fiction readers will read the series.

For anyone interested in pursuing the TV series, here's a link to the network that controls the US rights to Inspector Montalbano.

>111 -Cee-: It's worth the trouble, Claudia, promise.

>112 TadAD: Why yes, I was. No mistake about it.

>113 ffortsa: Excellent advice, Judy! As for 115, go to it! I seem to be the Kiss of Death on group reads, so I will stay away.

>114 karenmarie: I will just bet, Horrible, that you laughed your way through it. Seems like your sense of humor to me.

>116 tututhefirst: Oh well, Tina, not everything is for everyone right? silly philistine she's got no idea what she's missing Very good day to you, dear! My GODDESSES how can a person NOT love Candide? Must be the water up there in North Nowhere Much

Oh boy oh boy oh boy I got more birthday presents! One of our fellow 75ers, tymfos, sent me Blue Like Jazz and I Am Not A Serial Killer, both from my wishlist! How cool is that, a month later?! Thanks Terri!!

When I was at the ALA conference this summer I snagged a free copy of the second of the Montalbano books. I have not read it yet. However, I had read reviews of the books and knew that the reviews were positive so knew that I wasn't taking a chance on the book. Then a few days after I got the book I was walking by a booth and one of the attendants handed me a free DVD. It was later in the hotel room that I noticed that it was a DVD with three episodes of the Montalbano TV series on it. About a month ago I watched the first episode. It is in the Italian with subtitles. I thought it was very good and that I would enjoy seeing this as a weekly series on PBS - the current Wallender series. That reminds me that I should send PBS and e-mail and tell them so.

Congratulations! Your 75th sounds like another winner. - The new format is very nice as well.

Skipping over yet another series, but I'm going to go hunt down Candide. It's always been on my "I really should read this" list, so maybe I'll get to it if I throw it on my Kindle.

"The Baron was one of the most powerful lords in Westphalia, for his castle had not only a gate, but windows."

Oh good lord, how have I not read this before?

Congrats on 75!!!!!
And... it is not just 75 books read for you ,
but 75 amusing reviews for us...
not to mention many wishlist candidates!
I won't mention that!

Well done, Richard! As bahzah said, not just 75 books, but 75 intriguing reviews.

Edited to add: I think the new review format is a good one. I wish I'd thought of it!

Hi, Richard. I love your new review format. Very clear. I must admit, I like a book report--helps me have an idea of whether I'd be interested in reading the book. Your comments, as always, are immensely entertaining.

And a big congratulations on reaching your goal of 75 books in 2010!

I am over 50 and have never read Candide. And I am not gonna do it.

Nice review.

congrats!

Congrats on reaching 75!!!

I've read Candide. I didn't like it. Then again, I was 18, so I probably didn't get it. I've been meaning to re-read Candide since reading Waugh's Decline and Fall last year; I'm pretty sure I still have my copy lying around somewhere.

ETA Congratulations on reaching 75!

I also read Candide when I was about 19 or 20. It did not leave a lasting impression on me as I remember nothing about it at all.

I read Candide in high school (en francais, bien sur) and then again later -- about fifteen years ago and was amazed by how funny and smart and all good things it was. One of those books that gets inflicted on the young when they are too young to get much out of it....... Voltaire writes beautiful lucid French so it gets chosen for that reason with students as it is 'easy' -- On LizzyD's thread Voltaire was also getting a big mention today -- interesting coincidence..... unless there are no coincidences!

Thank you all for the 75 props!

Candide might be a dish best served later than earlier in the bookish feast. I loved it from the minute I clapped eyes on it, but my Evil Christian Sister took 40 years to appreciate its snark and meanness. The Evil Pagan Sister doesn't like fiction because it's just stupid stories. She's really quite dull.

Richard, excellent review and I want to thank you for making by TBR list grow even bigger. I've added Andrea Camilleri's books to my list.... ugh so many books, so little time!

I haven't read Candide either; my undergraduate years were spent memorizing the Krebs cycle, the laws of thermodynamics, and the different disease causing bacteria. I'd be happy to explain any or all of the above to you in exchange for a summary of the book. Or not.

Congratulations on reaching 75!

75? Does that mean you give up reading until January? No, I suppose not (grin).

I see I've started something with that suggestion about Candide. I may get to read it yet. Suggestions as to best translation would be welcome.

Lost track of you for awhile Richard; not sure how that happens. Anywho, congrats on 75 and I really like the new format. I've already wishlisted the first Inspector Montalbano based on that review and of course I'm going to look for this one as well.

Congrats on the 75!

I also admit that I didn't like Candide. Which is odd, because I do like Voltaire. But I don't like picaresque novels, generally. Or philosophical ruminations and theories disguised as novels. So...

But Candide did get me interested in the great earthquake of Lisbon...

Candide/I loved the play. Wonderful and witty. I will add it to my TBR cyber pile.

Congrats on the 75th review, too.

Cool and sunny days to you.

Woofie

Congratulations on the 75th review Richard.

Like the new format - may you write many more:)

Congratulations for reading 75 books (and however many others you've read!) Richard! :)

Congratulations for reaching 75! Onward and upward!

>135 momom248: Maureen, if I have made you reach for The Shape of Water, those will turn into sincere thanks once you've read it. Montalbano is a delight.

>136 mckait: *hic* whassup wi' th' Veuve Cli...cli...clickero?

>137 kidzdoc: I'm not Stephen, so I don't want to know bubkes about disease-causing bacteria, thenkewveddymahch. But Candide is so very worth your time to read. It's short, even. It's free on the NooKindlEreaders, too, through Project Gutenberg.

>138 ffortsa: Yep, Judy, I've closed the covers of all books until 1/1/11. *snort* Actually, I expect you're still coming tomorrow, so you'll see I've read The Fall...I expect to put up a review soon.

>139 brenzi: Bonnie, I lose threads all the time. I post on someone's thread and *poof* it vanishes under the other 3498058721845 threads I've posted to and somehow it never bobs to the top again...maybe if we were a little less chatty it wouldn't happen so often!

>140 alcottacre: Back at'cha, Stasia!

>141 Chatterbox: Oh well, Suzanne, you can't be perfect in *every* way. I found the book riveting when I first read it. I re-read it about a year ago, and still loved it. Something in it speaks to me...maybe because I'm Pangloss at heart.

>142 womansheart: Woofie, I loved the play, too! I used, back in my drama fag days, to have a poster of the Broadway production up in my room. I still think it's graphically interesting. THis is from a revival of the show, but gives a little of the spirit:



ETA: Well, they don't want me to show it to you, so here's a Playbill with the real image only not in color:

>143 calm: Hi, calm! Glad you like the new format. I've had a few PMs asking why I don't make it easier to decide if a book is up someone's alley.

>144 Ape: Thanks, stinky ape boy!

>145 sibylline: Lucy! How lovely to see you TWICE on one thread!! xo

Thinking of you and hoping you are painfree and stress free!

Another endorsement here for Candide. Besides being a fun and thought-provoking read, as Richard says, it's short.

I saw the Leonard Bernstein musical a number of years ago in New York, starring Jim Dale (now of Harry Potter audiobook fame to a lot of folks). It's well worth seeing any decent production if it pops up near you.

Oops. Those italics weren't supposed to continue!

>149 Whisper1: Thak you for the kind wishes! Baci back at'cha!

>150 jnwelch: Joe, there are oodles of revivals of the play all the time. It's a staple of musical theatre...and it *flopped* in 1956. Hard to imagine.

A lot of Sondheim has flopped, too, even though he's now a living icon. But then, so did Stravinsky flop with the debut of "Rite of Spring"! I do like the musical, although not "Glitter and be Gay", so much -- for some reason, that song gets on my nerves badly.

#119 Richarddear - I think I did more giggling than laughing, but it was a very enjoyable book.

I've read 16 pages of The Shape of Water. Thank goodness I work for an Italian company - all those names!

*wheezing, panting, gasping.... feeling dizzy and about to keel over ... from catching up on your thread*

I'm so glad that you're not on the Inspector Montalbano bandwagon, Ricardo dearest. :-) I'm about halfway through the series now and still loving it.

ah, Richard, I will not be present tomorrow at your book club meeting. I wasn't even at the one I always go to tonight -some evil microbe got hold of me and flattened me completely - yep, just two-dimensional me today. I may not go in to work tomorrow although there is a ton of stuff to do, alas.

I did get a copy of The Fall, however, so I'll read it some way.

Rd, remember what I told you about work last friday morning?
Rewind and repeat, almost exactly.. minus the being alone in the room.
Still had to be the one to deal...
ye gods.

A belated check-in to your new thread - hallo!

#95 You pretty much had me at "Cajun version of Candide" (intriguing I thought...) - but I can't seem to wishlist Fatfingers for some reason (for the time when I get round to getting an e-reader)...

#109 - 1something. Just yes. Everyone should read Candide ;o)

>155 ffortsa: Oh boo, Judy! Feel better soon. Next year in Jerusalem...wait...next month on the Upper West Side.

>156 mckait: Ugh! How many more weeks until you're 65 and can retire? *flees the Wrath of Kath*

>157 flissp: Oh oh, Fliss, I hate to think it's hard to get the book onto the Wishlist! I'll ask the PTB why that should be so. I know the book's not available on Amazon, so that could be why it's not readily wishlistable.

Richard Happy 75th review! And I not only reached for his book-it just jumped into my hands at Borders yesterday and I have to say its ALL YOUR FAULT!! :-)

ok... I did it! sorta.
I downloaded Fatfingers to my computer. Couldn't quite understand how to get it on my Kindle. Is it possible to get it from my computer to the Kindle? Or do I read it on my laptop now. Oh, bother... all these new fangled, technological contraptions...
* walks away holding head...sputter, mutter, heavy sigh. *

Morning Richard!

Way off topic here - sorry - but I've only just discovered these threads and just wanted to say it's the first time I ever saw that expression 'ever since who-whipped-the-cat' and I haven't read through every thread to see if others have also commented. Apologies if they have. If not, hope you don't mind me asking: is this a common American expression? Any idea where it comes from? I love it.

>159 momom248: Thanks, Maureen!

>160 -Cee-: I suggest asking Chatterbox on her thread, she's the Kindle maven I know of...or maybe _Zoe_ can help?

>161 Whisper1: "Who whipped the cat" is an old Southern expression meaning "so long ago no one alive remembers" since, as I'm sure you're aware, trying to discipline a cat is basically 1) useless and 2) impossible since they refuse any sort of interaction with humans that doesn't a) involve food or b) result in pain and/or suffering for the said human.

not really sure how to get it onto the Kindle -- I've just downloaded stuff directly from the Amazon store. I'd suggest posting the question on one of the Kindle discussion boards on Amazon...

I will be at the book thingummy tonite, Richard. Does it start promptly, or is 6:30 the suggested arrival time??

Hi Richard - it took me 165 posts but I found you! I have the first Montalbano book here...must read it soon.

I read Candide in middle school or early high school and I didn't get it. I was aware that I wasn't getting it, too, which only made it more frustrating. The only part I remember is when he is supposed to be executed. Maybe I should re-read it someday.

Claudia - there's a fairly easy way to move a book from your computer to your Kindle. You need to plug the Kindle into your computer using the USB cord that comes with the Kindle. Let me know if you want more/detailed instructions! :)

Uh oh, Richard. It looks like Kath is taking exception to something you said!

#163 Thanks for that. I must try and use it now and then.

We had a really great discussion of The Fall last night, and it was a great pleasure to have our own Chatterbox being all Belgified and Continental and explicating Camus to the benighted masses. *snort*

Actually, as per usual, it was more like a rugby scrum than a salon...fights over access to the wine, elbows thrown to get to the cold cuts and cheese, I think I even saw some hair-pulling over access to the berry bowl. And all the time, such voluble opinion-mongering! It was, in short and as always, a lot like my birthday party, only with fewer people and more booze.

There are days it pays to be me.

Fly-by smooching, Padre. :-*

*smooch* back, crypto-daughter.

Congratulations from me on your 75, Richard!

Chiming in on Candide, or Optimism, I just read it last year, because Keith gave it to me after he had read it for school and insisted that I read it. Keith doesn't read as much as I wish he did, so when he reads something and tells me I need to read it, I generally do. He was right. We had quite a discussion about it.
I will admit that it had been on my list for several years, ever since I saw a production on PBS.

It does pay to be you. And I'm glad you are! *smooch back at you*

Nothing to add but a smooch, little brother!

*Snort* indeed.

Of course, you should have seen Richard, on his feet with the rest of the group seated in an adoring circle, listening to him pontificate... :-) (Richard, you will note the purposeful use of the final verb, I know...)

Just stopping by to say hello. . .

.... busy man these days rd... busy man...

Review: 76 of seventy-five

Title: LA CHUTE

Author: ALBERT CAMUS

Rating: 4.3* of five

The Book Report: Told as a long monologue stretched over several days, Jean-Baptiste Clamence reviews the very great highs of his life as a respected criminal attorney, and the very great lows of his life as a libertine without a discernible conscience or moral compass. He narrates his life to an unseen and unheard Other, a tourist from France in Clamence's adopted home of Amsterdam who runs into Clamence at a seedy bar. At each major turning point in Clamence's life, the narrative adds another level of self-serving horribleness, and the reader recognizes the commonality of all people with each other in Clamence's descent...fall...from the peaks of public acclaim and well-wishing into the pits of a personal hell, made up of the deeds done and undone that bend us into new internal shapes with our regrets.

My Review: I read La Peste when I was seventeen, and I ***HATED*** it. I was angry at the waste of so much as a single tree to print it, in any and all languages and countries around the world. I despised each and every syllable. I vowed never, ever, ever to read another word by Camus. From that cold winter's night in 1976 to the point I was forced by the Book Circle to pick this book up, I kept to that promise.

Well. I sit corrected. La Chute is a fascinating moral tale told by a story-teller of great power and flawless control of his material and his language. (I am reliably informed that the original French is superb; this translation is sterling.) I am so glad that I didn't make the mistake of letting my teenaged judgment stand unchallenged. I would have missed out on a life high point in reading. I am accused, with Clamence, of leading a life grounded in the illusions of one's own superiority, one's own infallible rightness. HA! Wisdom comes, when it does, at a high price...the life of an innocent, the decision to be silent, the power of life and death over a virtual stranger are all things that happen to many, even most, of us; they're not always instantly obvious, of course, so we let them slide away unmarked. But how do *you* know that your call to complain about the service you received didn't result in someone losing a last-chance job, spiraling into depression, and ending her life? You don't. Clamence does. (That didn't happen in the book, by the bye.)

This book did what only the very best books written by the very best writers can do: It reoriented my internal compass. Permanently. Read it! Soon!

>173 tloeffler: Have to love anything that makes a non-reader that excited! And I thought it was a wonderful book.

>174 ronincats: *smoochings*

>175 Chatterbox: I? Pontificate? Chere madamoiselle, vous etes completely bonquers. Was fun, though, wasn't it?

>176 tymfos: Hey Terri!

>177 mckait: Oy. The busys I got. You shouldn't know from the busys.

#170: I am sorry that I missed Richard pontificating. One of these days, Texas will be closer to New York!

#178 Powerful review, Richard! I also read La Peste when I was 17, and remember being quite gripped by it. However, I have not read any Camus since. I must clearly rectify that.

Your Book Circle sounds great fun.

Global warming may do it, Stasia.

Oui, m'sieur, ce fut tres amusant...

#182: If it is going to take global warming to move them closer together, I am against it. Texas is hot enough as it is!

rdear, you always Pontificate, even if the subject is meatloaf.
I have no trouble believing it was exactly as Suzanne said.
Glad you had fun though. A long week should always have bright spots..

I love it when an old book is rediscovered, and has a far greater impact. I'm so glad you gave the book another chance, and had such a positive experience. Lovely review!

Great review of La Chute Richard! I'll definitely have to get to this soon. Was Justin O'Brien the translator of the edition that you have?

Wonderful review, Richard. Sorry I missed the Circle and your pontification, which I'm sure was superb.

I'm glad you loved it. Nuff said!

>180 alcottacre: But geological processes are so *slow* and the next time Pangaea forms, I sincerely hope I'm looong dead!

>181 gennyt: Thanks, Genny! It's a really good group of people. And the rectification of which you speak...make haste to cause it to be so.

>182 Chatterbox: And I can't wait to see what the hoi polloi have to say about We Have Always Lived in the Castle. The group has a long history of not liking things I choose. Mostly, I think, because I chose them...so this will be a good test.

>184 mckait: *miff*

>185 London_StJ: Thank you, dearest. So nice that *some*one appreciates my finer qualities. Unlike *other* people.

>186 kidzdoc: Justin O'Brien's is indeed the translation we all read. I don't know of any others, to be honest. If someone else did a better one, I would be grateful to learn of it! It was a fun review to write, though trying to keep it from being a Wikipedia entry was a big challenge. So much to say!

>187 ffortsa: Judy, you were missed...The Divine Miss asked after you, and sends her healing wishes for your case of the creeping crud.

>188 sibylline: Thank you, Lucy! I shall take that as further evidence of your innate good manners, in that it demonstrates how little you liked the review and therefore didn't want to say anything nasty to your host.

(Oh, I am an *evil* old man....)

#191: (Oh, I am an *evil* old man....)

Yeah, and in spite of it, we still love you. What is wrong with us?

>192 alcottacre: Masochism.

#193: That must be it!

We're all lemmings on a Richard cliff. It's just so hard to resist...

It's taken me 15 years, but I think I might just be ready to give Camus another try.

If I get on with La Chute, I might even give L'Étranger another go, even if I am thereby risking flashbacks of French lit class. (Actually, the French lit class was okay. I just didn't like Camus or Gide.)

Making waves through your days and evenings, I hear ... from your posted activities. Just what I expect from you!

Well done on the review. I will eventually seek Camus out ... just need to lift myself out of this cycle of physical misery beforehand. I'm working on it.

Yes, love is the right expression of emotion expressed here for you, wicked man. You deserve every bit of the love you get from me and your other groupies.

Richard
Your book club/group sounds lovely. The people I met at your BD party were dear!

How neat that Suzanne could join you all!

190.... true and you know it.

and... told ya...

btw

someone at work had a stink bug in her hair

I blame you.

First a Camus review from Suzanne The Fall and now your excellent review. Time for me to read another one of his plus Suzanne recommended a biography. ***sigh*** (it's the same old time factor)

Richard! Look what I found...

#201: I love it!

Where is the *like* button ? lol

Richard, your reviews are so good. Now I have another book to add to my TBR list--darnit!! :-)

Review: 77 of seventy-five

Title: EXCURSION TO TINDARI

Author: ANDREA CAMILLERI

Rating: 4* of five

The Book Report: Fifth of Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano series set in fictional Vigata, Sicily, this outing sees Montalbano and his team dealing with a homicide, a double disappearance, and a bad case of lovin' you for the Inspector and his chief henchman as their respective relationships head into perilous waters. That is as nothing, though, compared to the murder of a too-wealthy twenty-year-old computer whiz who is in so far over his head that teasing out the whys and wherefores of his death leads Montalbano directly to the pinnacle of the Mafia food chain, and the resolution of the double disappearance...actually a double homicide...and the end of particularly vile, despicable, reprehensible, inexcusable business. For good? Probably not. For better, yes.

My Review: Camilleri doesn't disappoint in this outing for the hapless Mimi Augello, the surprisingly astute Catarella, and the Inspector himself. A web spins around Vigata (modeled after Porto Empedocle, Camilleri's home, which has actually added "Vigata" to its name to capitalize on the tourists following Montalbano around!) that seems at first to mean one thing, then another, then when you're SURE it means ANOTHER thing, *bam* there it is, the real source of all the trouble...and this time it was one I so totally never saw coming that I reeled backwards in shock, just like in the old cartoons. (Never mind that I was comfortably recumbent in the bed, don't be a spoilsport, the image works.)

Montalbano's highly imperfect character...too fond of his food yet never gets fat, treats Livia with what can charitably be called a highly trusting light maintenance, is so jealous of Augello's gal-pal in Pavia (like being from Massachusetts to a Texan) that he sets out with malice aforethought to get poor Mimi to forget her by introducing him to a witness in the double disappearance case, who just happens to be tall, blonde, blue-eyed, and a major foodie who has no family outside Vigata...which ploy works like a champ, may I add...grows deeper in this entry, and in some surprising ways. Upstanding yet spiteful, insubordinate yet deftly political, Montalbano makes each twist and every turn just that much more fun to take with Camilleri.

These are hugely popular books in the rest of the world, and the TV series is huge in Europe, and they are like all fueled by the same basic engine: Real drama comes from inside complex characters, their different facets all whirling chaotically to create the energy to drive the story. Well, yes.

Now will SOMEONE please translate Camilleri's non-Montalbano novel "Noah's Umbrella"?!? I *have* to know what it's about!

Old bay.. inspired! yummy

It is yummy, but the vodka is the next-level ingredient.

someday :)

Swiped from Luxx's thread:

On your nightstand now: Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest and The Ruby in Her Navel by Barry Unsworth

Favorite book when you were a child: The One Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith; rescue fantasy well-told and featuring my favorite creatures, dogs.

Your top five authors: One is always on the list: Vladimir Nabokov. The rest change fairly rapidly. Now? Andrea Camilleri. Charles Todd. Charlie White, for the amazing Fatfingers. Larry Watson, for Montana 1948.

Book you've faked reading: The hideous, ponderous, crapulous Ulysses.

Book you're an evangelist for: Montana 1948. I've given away over three dozen copies, and I buy them at garage sales every time I see them. It changed my life, maybe it can change someone else's.

Book you've bought for the cover: My Fair Captain by JL Langley. Please sir, may I have one of those cover models? Preferably both? I won't hurt them. Much.

Favorite line from a book: There is no conceivable way I could pick just one line as my favorite.

Book that changed your life: The Tale of Genji. I thought novels were 18th-century Western inventions until I encountered this book in 1974.

Book you most want to read again for the first time: The Milagro Beanfield War. Oh my goddesses what an explosion! *MY WORLD* in a novel! I loved that sense of living in a world worthy of fiction.

Another vote for someone translating "Noah's Umbrella", which I didn't even know about before this review.

"Upstanding yet spiteful, insubordinate yet deftly political" - nice description of Montalbano's self-assured high wire act.

>210 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe! It's not a novel, it seems, but a memoir of Camilleri's long life in the Italian theater world. Probably not a good candidate for a translation, since most people outside Italy will not have heard of one single soul in the book.

*disappointed sigh*

>209 richardderus: - Regarding The Milagro Beanfield War, years ago (20?) we went to a John Nichols' book signing and then out for a quick bite with him. He is a friend of a friend of my husband's. An all around nice guy and I'm glad to see one of his books mentioned again.

Hi Joanne! I like Nichols very much. I thought The Sterile Cuckoo was the least likable of his novels, since I didn't want to sleep with Pookie, but I've followed him for a while now. The Voice of the Butterfly was a recent favorite of mine.

>213 richardderus: I'll have to look for that one. Thanks Richard.

xoxoxo

Love, Berly

Well, you've convinced me not to take La Chute back to the library unread, at least not quite yet. Instead I'll let it sit on my shelf for a couple more months and maybe even pick it up eventually.

Oh the other hand, I'm actually looking forward to We Have Always Lived in the Castle....

Richard- Love the new profile picture! Priceless! Good work Stephen! You da man!

You could always learn to read Italian, Richard??

Oh, and I'm with you on 101 Dalmations. That and Carbonel by Barbara Sleigh -- though it's about a cat! :-)

Yes, nice profile pic. Very apt.

OK, Richard, I've joined the bandwagon for Montalbano, as of this afternoon. Quite a good first in a series - no awkward stops for exposition, just plunging right in. I may end up reading it again - it moved so quickly.

Well you're just whipping right through the Montalbano series Richard; another excellent review. I've added the first one to my pile and will now move it up as this sounds like an interesting series.

>216 _Zoe_: Oh, it's really worth it, Zoe! I'd move it on up the pile. And the Jackson, well, let's just say you'd best show up on 11/11 or I will be alone in my defense of it.

>217 msf59: I know, Mark! I think Stephen deserves a Get Out of Thread Jail Free card for finding that!

>218 Chatterbox: I don't read Italian well enough to want to attack a novel in it. I promessi sposi lives in my memory as a long, hard slog.

>219 Berly: YOU VISITED TWICE IN A DAY!! *staggers woozily for the fainting couch* My lawsy me, to what do I owe the honour?

>220 ffortsa: Man oh mighty man, Judy, the series is hottin' up a treat!! You won't be disappointed through book six. Seven and on, I ain't read yet.

>221 brenzi: I believe, Sig.a Bonnie, you will be as excited as I am about Vigata and its fascinating Inspector.

I have really got to locate my copy of The Shape of Water! (and then I have to buy the rest of the series since my local library has none of the books.)

>221 brenzi: I believe, Sig.a Bonnie, you will be as excited as I am about Vigata and its fascinating Inspector

I read that as Viagra...

The hideous, ponderous, crapulous Ulysses.

Tree, meet Fruit.

#225 Richarddear - amen, Brother!

for you rd

>225 richardderus: is that a real button? Something I can buy and wear at the Rally to Restore Sanity?

know how much you luv them kitties so
glitter-graphics.com

>226 mckait: LOLOL I *love* the image of a "Viagra Inspector"!! However, it just shows that, until you finally succumb and read The Shape of Water, you will be an increasingly confused old person.

*flees at top speed* (which is faster today than yesterday, thank the good goddesses!)

>227 London_StJ: What, please, keeps this grotesque on the syllabus of every single English Department? Are we not over, some seventy years later, the *shock* and *amazement* that women get horny, too? And that people behave in the most startlingly average and boring way? I pass the flame to you, crypto-daughter, to cleanse this blight from as many minds as you can reach. I shall continue to my dying day to bleat plaintively that it's NOT A GREAT BOOK!

>228 karenmarie:, 230 I loved it the instant I saw it, but no resource I've found leads me to a purchasable button. I want one BAD!

>229 mckait: Oh, thank you thank you! I love that GIF and plan to use it often. *smooch* to my dear, dear friend!! There's a stink bug in your hair.

>231 curlysue: Kara...you know, of course, that this means war.

bring it :P

i hear sirens.....

Sitting right next to you Kath!!

Thanks. Mmmmm....butter! Pass the salt, please.

I want popcorn, too!

Now, now, Kara...you can't imagine that an old campaigner like moi will launch a frontal attack! Silly silly! I shall skulk and lurk and generally strike painfully and lastingly at the moment of maximum damage probability.
*mwaaahaaahaaa*

This could be a long skirmish. I need my Milkduds, too!

glitter-graphics.com

This could get ugly...

Yankees! Yankees!

*takes a seat with the others and steals a bite of popcorn*

>242 cameling: BLASPHEMY!!! OBSCENITY!!! This, my good woman, is a NATIONAL LEAGUE thread. We expect baseball players to be *baseball players* not spoiled dilettanteish "ooo-I-can't-wisk-my-widdle-awm" divas with dicks!

Oops! Laughing so hard I spilled my popcorn...

Yes, Richard does indeed have a way of making us laugh. My partner can always tell when I'm reading something Richard has written because I laugh right out louc.

Ah, divas with dicks.

And with that, it's bedtime. Sweetest dreams!

>240 -Cee-: Wait a minute. Isn't that Stephen?

yankees? did someone say yankees...

I love the divas with dicks yankees and cute purring soft kitty cats :)

Sir Richard my pain tolerance is high :P

I would like extra butter with my popcorn please while a wait for maximum damage probability

Lest some person of piffling years attempt to hoist me with my own petard, I offer herewith the fifteenth thread, for our sins.

258: No! :( My speech isn't as good as that babies. If it were me, it'd say "Get to da choppa!!!" So clearly not me... ...I think.

Sorry about the karma thing today rdear..
* hands Kara popcorn with extra butter*