richardderus's thireenth 2021 thread

On 8 September 1961, sixty years ago!, the very first installment of a science-fictional legend was put on sale for the first time:

One of Germany's main cultural exports for exactly sixty years, the Perry Rhodan weekly space opera saga has sold well over two billion novellas and launched (or been) the careers of many German writers.

In English, we've largely ignored it...in the UK and the US, the stories just never took off. (Possibly the US Space Force landing on the Moon in 1971 did them in here?) It's really too bad for us. The stories are space operas in the key of OMG!!!

The 3,000th (THREE THOUSANDTH!!) issue was sold in 2019. This English-language article in Topos magazine (the home of that **epic** illustration!) does the best job I've seen of making the Rhodanverse available to English-spaeking neophytes. And now, speaking of NEO, there's a rebooted Perry Rhodan-verse called Perry Rhodan NEO" available in manga-esque format to us monoglots now.

Branch out and experience something new...SF in translation!

I'm delighted to introduce, laddies and gentlewomen, my new spirit animal:
The Fucktopus.

**********************
In 2021, I stated a goal of posting 15 book reviews a month on my blog. This year's total of 180 (there are a lot of individual stories that don't have entries in the LT database so I didn't post them here; I need to do more to sync the data this year) reads shows it's doable, and I've done better than that in the past.

I've long Pearl Ruled books I'm not enjoying, but making notes on Goodreads & LibraryThing about why I'm abandoning the read has been less successful. I give up. I just don't care about this goal, so out it goes.




My Last Thread of 2009 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2010 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2011 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2012 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2013 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2014 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2015 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2016 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2017 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2018 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2019 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.
My Last Thread of 2020 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.

First five reviews? 1st 2021 thread..

Reviews 6 all the way through 25 can be viewed in the thread to which I have posted a link at left.

The 26th through 36th reviews occupy thread three.

37th through 44th reviews belong where they are.

Reviews 45 through 58 are listed here.

Reviews 59 through 65 present themselves in that spot.

Reviews 66 through 75 reside in this thread.

Reviews 76 through 98? Seek them before this.

Reviews 99 through 110 remain becalmèd thitherward.

Reviews 111 up to 123 actualize their potential in the linkèd thread.

Reviews 124 through 136 locatable in this locale.

Reviews 137 to 147 (inclusive)? Back up.

THIS THREAD'S REVIEW LINKS

148 The Long Call pleased, post 37.

149 The Heron's Cry errrmmm, post 55.

150 Inseparable: A Never-Before-Published Novel failed, post 135.

151 Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery didn't, 156.

152 On to the Asteroid swashed, post 199.

153 Saving Proxima buckled, post 200.

154 Awake pleased, post230.

155 This Long Vigil pleased, post 260.

Go to.

I stole this from PC's thread. I like these prompts!
***
1. Name any book you read at any time that was published in the year you turned 18:
Faggots by Larry Kramer
2. Name a book you have on in your TBR pile that is over 500 pages long:
The Story of China: The Epic History of a World Power from the Middle Kingdom to Mao and the China Dream by Michael Wood
3. What is the last book you read with a mostly blue cover?
Wasps' Nest by Agatha Christie
4. What is the last book you didn’t finish (and why didn’t you finish it?)
The Perfect Fascist by Victoria de Grazia; paper book of 512pp, can't hold it...hands too feeble now
5. What is the last book that scared the bejeebers out of you?
Too Much and Never Enough by Mary Trump
6. Name the book that read either this year or last year that takes place geographically closest to where you live? How close would you estimate it was?
The Trump book; set in Queens and the Hamptons, so just down the road a piece
7.What were the topics of the last two nonfiction books you read?
The last successful rebellion on US soil and caffeine
8. Name a recent book you read which could be considered a popular book?
The Only Good Indians, a horror novel that's really, really good
9. What was the last book you gave a rating of 5-stars to? And when did you read it?
Restored, a Regency-era romantic historical novel about men in their 40s seizing their second chance at luuuv
10. Name a book you read that led you to specifically to read another book (and what was the other book, and what was the connection)
Potiki, which Kerry Aluf gave me; led me to read The Uncle's Story by Witi Ihimaera
11. Name the author you have most recently become infatuated with.
P. Djeli Clark
12. What is the setting of the first novel you read this year?
Hawaii and PNW
13. What is the last book you read, fiction or nonfiction, that featured a war in some way (and what war was it)?
The Fighting Bunch; WWII
14. What was the last book you acquired or borrowed based on an LTer’s review or casual recommendation? And who was the LTer, if you care to say.
There isn't enough space for all the book-bullets y'all careless, inconsiderate-of-my-poverty fiends pepper me with
15. What the last book you read that involved the future in some way?
Mammoths of the Great Plains by Eleanor Arnason
16. Name the last book you read that featured a body of water, river, marsh, or significant rainfall?
Ancient Oceans of Central Kentucky by David Connerley Nahm
17. What is last book you read by an author from the Southern Hemisphere?
Red Heir by Lisa Henry
18. What is the last book you read that you thought had a terrible cover?
please don't ask me this
19. Who was the most recent dead author you read? And what year did they die?
Agatha Christie, 1976
20. What was the last children’s book (not YA) you read?
good goddesses, I don't remember...Goodnight Moon to my daughter?
21. What was the name of the detective or crime-solver in the most recent crime novel you read?
Poirot by Dame Ags
22. What was the shortest book of any kind you’ve read so far this year?
The World Well Lost, ~28pp
23. Name the last book that you struggled with (and what do you think was behind the struggle?)
Lon Chaney Speaks, because I really, really don't like comic books
24. What is the most recent book you added to your library here on LT?
see #23
25. Name a book you read this year that had a visual component (i.e. illustrations, photos, art, comics)
see #23
I liked Sandy's Bonus Question for the meme above, so I adopted it:

26. What is the title and year of the oldest book you have reviewed on LT in 2020? (modification in itals)
The Sittaford Mystery by Dame Aggie, 1931.

I really hadn't considered doing this until recently...tracking my Pulitzer Prize in Fiction winners read, and Booker Prize winners read might actually prove useful to me in planning my reading.

1918 HIS FAMILY - Ernest Poole **
1919 THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS - Booth Tarkington *
1921 THE AGE OF INNOCENCE - Edith Wharton *
1922 ALICE ADAMS - Booth Tarkington **
1923 ONE OF OURS - Willa Cather **
1924 THE ABLE MCLAUGHLINS - Margaret Wilson
1925 SO BIG - Edna Ferber *
1926 ARROWSMITH - Sinclair Lewis (Declined) *
1927 EARLY AUTUMN - Louis Bromfield
1928 THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY - Thornton Wilder *
1929 SCARLET SISTER MARY - Julia Peterkin
1930 LAUGHING BOY - Oliver Lafarge
1931 YEARS OF GRACE - Margaret Ayer Barnes
1932 THE GOOD EARTH - Pearl Buck *
1933 THE STORE - Thomas Sigismund Stribling
1934 LAMB IN HIS BOSOM - Caroline Miller
1935 NOW IN NOVEMBER - Josephine Winslow Johnson
1936 HONEY IN THE HORN - Harold L Davis
1937 GONE WITH THE WIND - Margaret Mitchell *
1938 THE LATE GEORGE APLEY - John Phillips Marquand
1939 THE YEARLING - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings *
1940 THE GRAPES OF WRATH - John Steinbeck *
1942 IN THIS OUR LIFE - Ellen Glasgow *
1943 DRAGON'S TEETH - Upton Sinclair
1944 JOURNEY IN THE DARK - Martin Flavin
1945 A BELL FOR ADANO - John Hersey *
1947 ALL THE KING'S MEN - Robert Penn Warren *
1948 TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC - James Michener
1949 GUARD OF HONOR - James Gould Cozzens
1950 THE WAY WEST - A.B. Guthrie
1951 THE TOWN - Conrad Richter
1952 THE CAINE MUTINY - Herman Wouk
1953 THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA - Ernest Hemingway *
1955 A FABLE - William Faulkner *
1956 ANDERSONVILLE - McKinlay Kantor *
1958 A DEATH IN THE FAMILY - James Agee *
1959 THE TRAVELS OF JAIMIE McPHEETERS - Robert Lewis Taylor
1960 ADVISE AND CONSENT - Allen Drury *
1961 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD - Harper Lee *
1962 THE EDGE OF SADNESS - Edwin O'Connor
1963 THE REIVERS - William Faulkner *
1965 THE KEEPERS OF THE HOUSE - Shirley Ann Grau
1966 THE COLLECTED STORIES OF KATHERINE ANNE PORTER - Katherine Anne Porter
1967 THE FIXER - Bernard Malamud
1968 THE CONFESSIONS OF NAT TURNER - William Styron *
1969 HOUSE MADE OF DAWN - N Scott Momaday
1970 THE COLLECTED STORIES OF JEAN STAFFORD - Jean Stafford
1972 ANGLE OF REPOSE - Wallace Stegner *
1973 THE OPTIMIST'S DAUGHTER - Eudora Welty *
1975 THE KILLER ANGELS - Jeff Shaara *
1976 HUMBOLDT'S GIFT - Saul Bellow *
1978 ELBOW ROOM - James Alan McPherson
1979 THE STORIES OF JOHN CHEEVER - John Cheever *
1980 THE EXECUTIONER'S SONG - Norman Mailer *
1981 A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES - John Kennedy Toole *
1982 RABBIT IS RICH - John Updike *
1983 THE COLOR PURPLE - Alice Walker *
1984 IRONWEED - William Kennedy *
1985 FOREIGN AFFAIRS - Alison Lurie
1986 LONESOME DOVE - Larry McMurtry *
1987 A SUMMONS TO MEMPHIS - Peter Taylor
1988 BELOVED - Toni Morrison *
1989 BREATHING LESSONS - Anne Tyler
1990 THE MAMBO KINGS PLAY SONGS OF LOVE - Oscar Hijuelos *
1991 RABBIT AT REST - John Updike *
1992 A THOUSAND ACRES - Jane Smiley *
1993 A GOOD SCENT FROM A STRANGE MOUNTAIN - Robert Olen Butler *
1994 THE SHIPPING NEWS - E Annie Proulx *
1995 THE STONE DIARIES - Carol Shields
1996 INDEPENDENCE DAY - Richard Ford
1997 MARTIN DRESSLER - Steven Millhauser
1998 AMERICAN PASTORAL - Philip Roth
1999 THE HOURS - Michael Cunningham
2000 INTERPRETER OF MALADIES - Jumpha Lahiri
2001 THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY - Michael Chabon
2002 EMPIRE FALLS - Richard Russo
2003 MIDDLESEX - Jeffrey Eugenides *
2004 THE KNOWN WORLD - Edward P. Jones
2005 GILEAD - Marilynne Robinson
2006 MARCH - Geraldine Brooks
2007 THE ROAD - Cormac McCarthy
2008 THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO - Junot Diaz *
2009 OLIVE KITTERIDGE - Elizabeth Strout
2010 TINKERS - Paul Harding**
2011 A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD - Jennifer Egan
2013 ORPHAN MASTER'S SON - Adam Johnson
2014 THE GOLDFINCH - Donna Tartt
2015 ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE - Anthony Doerr **
2016 THE SYMPATHIZER - Viet Thanh Nguyen **
2017 THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD - Colson Whitehead **
2018 LESS - Andrew Sean Greer
2019 THE OVERSTORY - Richard Powers
2020 THE NICKEL BOYS - Colson Whitehead

Links are to my reviews
* Read, but not reviewed
** Owned, but not read

Every winner of the Booker Prize since its inception in 1969

1969: P. H. Newby, Something to Answer For
1970: Bernice Rubens, The Elected Member
1970: J. G. Farrell, Troubles ** (awarded in 2010 as the Lost Man Booker Prize) -
1971: V. S. Naipaul, In a Free State
1972: John Berger, G.
1973: J. G. Farrell, The Siege of Krishnapur
1974: Nadine Gordimer, The Conservationist ... and Stanley Middleton, Holiday
1975: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Heat and Dust
1976: David Storey, Saville
1977: Paul Scott, Staying On
1978: Iris Murdoch, The Sea, The Sea *
1979: Penelope Fitzgerald, Offshore
1980: William Golding, Rites of Passage
1981: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children *
1982: Thomas Keneally, Schindler's Ark
1983: J. M. Coetzee, Life & Times of Michael K
1984: Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac *
1985: Keri Hulme, The Bone People **
1986: Kingsley Amis, The Old Devils
1987: Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger *
1988: Peter Carey, Oscar and Lucinda *
1989: Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day *
1990: A. S. Byatt, Possession: A Romance *
1991: Ben Okri, The Famished Road
1992: Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient * ... and Barry Unsworth, Sacred Hunger
1993: Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
1994: James Kelman, How late it was, how late
1995: Pat Barker, The Ghost Road *
1996: Graham Swift, Last Orders
1997: Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things
1998: Ian McEwan, Amsterdam
1999: J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace
2000: Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin *
2001: Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang *
2002: Yann Martel, Life of Pi
2003: DBC Pierre, Vernon God Little **
2004: Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty *
2005: John Banville, The Sea
2006: Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss
2007: Anne Enright, The Gathering
2008: Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger
2009: Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall
2010: Howard Jacobson, The Finkler Question *
2011: Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending **
2012: Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies
2013: Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries
2014: Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North
2015: Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings *
2016: Paul Beatty, The Sellout
2017: George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo
2018: Anna Burns, Milkman
2019: Margaret Atwood, The Testaments, and Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other
2020: Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain

Links are to my reviews
* Read, but not reviewed
** Owned, but not read

Author 'Nathan Burgoine posted this simple, direct method of not getting paralyzed by the prospect of having to write reviews. The Three-Sentence Review is, as he notes, very helpful and also simple to achieve. I get completely unmanned at the idea of saying something trenchant about each book I read, when there often just isn't that much to say...now I can use this structure to say what I think's important and not try to dig for more.

Think about using it yourselves!

You may now resume your usual level of discourse.

Am I first???

I am! See, I crawl out the woodwork and you start a new thread, but you can't get rid of me that easily.

Happy New Thread, Richard! I see you haven't found your theme yet, but I'll check back.

>9 BekkaJo:, >10 BekkaJo: You are indeed this thread's first visitrix! Nothing less than the crown of thw Virgin Queen of Heaven for you!

Good to see you, Bekka, and what better way to welcome you back?

Happy new one!

>13 katiekrug: Hiya, Katie! Happy to see you out and about.

>11 ronincats: Hi there, Roni! You caught me in the middle of posting it. It's up now.

Hiya, RDear. Happy new thread, lucky number 13.

>1 richardderus: That illustration reminds me of the illustrations on my Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom series.

*smooch*

Happy new one, Richard!

Hi RD. That's one spectacular crown you awarded >12 richardderus: BekkaJo!

Happy new thread Richard!

>18 humouress: Thank you, Nina!

>17 SandyAMcPherson: Heh...the Virgin Queen of Heaven needs a little sometin' *extra* in the crown department, I suppose...they certainly seem to think so.

>16 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley!

>15 karenmarie: Hey there, Horrible, happy Labor Day. I've put in my labor so I'm a-gonna rest now.

>12 richardderus: >17 SandyAMcPherson: I'm just not sure it might not be a tad too much with my vest top and flamingo print house shorts (it's very hot in my home office, I may actually turn into jelly). Ah what the hell, if I put some ice cubes in the centre of the crown I think I can rock it.

>20 BekkaJo: What you *need* is this:

I do... I've just been out back and stood under the hose pipe. Benefits of home working. Though my laptop camera is now definitely 'malfunctioning' for any afternoon meetings I may have!

>22 BekkaJo: ...as is right and proper...

Oh, the fucktopus is on this thread, too. Fantastic. Happy brand, spanking, new thread.

As for the three-sentence review, which I should really adopt, I am not really a fan of comparing a book to another book. I think it draws attention away from the book I'm reviewing. But that's just my opinion.

Happy new thread. The crown is rather, umm, blingy!

>22 BekkaJo: my wfh camera rarely works if I have anything to do about it... >;-)

Happy New Thread, Richard!

I had this psychic moment when you bonked me over the head on my thread, and I realized you must have a new one.

Perry Rhodan! A name I haven’t heard in eons. I joined the English-speaking hordes in not reading his stories. Are they really any good? Where to start?

I’m reading a Mark- recommended sci-fi-er (words you don’t often hear) called Any Other World Will Do (great title), and it’s pretty darn good. I keep hearing whispers of Kurt Vonnegut. Which reminds me, I want to re-read Sirens of Titan soon. I hope it holds up.

I also hope you’re having a good weekend and a relaxing Labor Day.

Yay Perry Rhodan! "Space operas in the key of OMG!!!" is accurate.

Also: happy new thread!

And to Katie, Anita M, Jim, and Starless: my supplies and brush are complete!

Y'all rock!

>27 swynn: Ha! Yeah, I thought that'd get your seal of approval, Steve. Sixty years...whew!

Thanks!

>26 jnwelch: I...I...can't quite process...this...fact...two sci-fi reads in less than a year! Holy goddesses, I'm going to wake up reading Chuckles the Dick's collected poems if this, this infection of whatever keeps spreading...

*terrified quivering*

>25 Helenliz: Yes, it's pretty much the essence of bling, isn't it.

I avoid all cameras as a matter of religion.

>24 The_Hibernator: I think it's less about books than categorizing them. I like sci fi, but that's way too broad a category to tell me if I'll like *this* book. "It's like Ursula K. LeGuin's Ekumen novels" tells me more..."it's like The Left Hand of Darkness" is most helpful.

Does that make a difference, or is it simply a distinction? Anyway, I'm glad to see you out and about, Rachel.

I'm in! Dude, German science fiction? Is it really better than American or British science fiction?

Can I have one of those beer hat thingies? The guy who does my lawn was here this morning and, frankly, lawn care always exhausts me. I'd really like to go out on the deck and read a cheesy mystery, but leetle ole lady who lives down the hill for me is a teetotaler with a pretty strong online local presence. I'm trying not to piss my neighbors off. I've been marginally successful so far. That said, my yard is really freaking awesome. And thank you Mr Johnson for coming over every 8 days and making it look as good as you do! You rule! I'm going to go take a nap.

Hi Richard! I'm typing this with my laptop sitting on the arm of my chair as my lap is occupied by a chubby ginger cat. It makes for slow typing....

Anyway, happy new thread. And just *smooch*

>31 EBT1002: I'm so glad you're possessed of some more options now, Ellen. If you can even eke it out until sixty-three you're in better shape financially. But what a relief not to be battling chaos on top of *flails* everything.

>30 SomeGuyInVirginia: Oh, poor lambkin, all exhausted from drooling over Mr. Johnson! Why, the dehydration must be *terrible*...here you go:

German sci-fi's *different* if not *better* mostly in its concerns. It's not particularly interested, for example, in the plausibility problems that obsess Americans and the fairness issues that obsess the Brits.

Happy new thread, Richard dear!
The title of this thread is... em... a bit unusual??
Jim can change it, if you want.

>28 richardderus: Glad to know it arrived.

>33 FAMeulstee: *chuckle* I wondered if anyone would ever mention it. No, it can stay...I sorta like it.

Thank you so much!

Happy Labor Day, Richard! Happy Thirteenth! Another gorgeous day in Chicagoland. The only problem is, I have not cracked Cerulean Sea yet, today. I hope you are having a good one, my friend.

Happy new one, RD.

148 The Long Call by Ann Cleeves

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: In North Devon, where two rivers converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his estranged father's funeral takes place. On the day Matthew left the strict evangelical community he grew up in, he lost his family too.

Now, as he turns and walks away again, he receives a call from one of his team. A body has been found on the beach nearby: a man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death.

The case calls Matthew back to the people and places of his past, as deadly secrets hidden at their hearts are revealed, and his new life is forced into a collision course with the world he thought he'd left behind.

I CHECKED THIS BOOK OUT FROM MY LIBRARY. BE SURE TO USE YOUR LIBRARIES, FOLKS! THEY NEED US.

My Review: Don't you hate being Right? It's the police's job, though, isn't it; they have to be Right or the consequences are so dire for so many people...innocent people who don't know their trust has been abused.

And that's why we read mysteries! They're ma'at in action, aren't they? Small demonstrations that when our Negative Confessions come before Osiris, Hapi won't need to open those toothy crocodilian jaws and end our existence. And I'm using ancient Egyptian examples for a very specific reason.

Matthew Venn is a new series character for mystery veteran Cleeves, she of Vera and Jimmy Perez (Shetland) fame. She's chosen England's most beautiful county (and her own native ground), North Devon, for her setting. She's decided the twenty-first century's not going to take her down without a fight, so Matthew's gay, and a lapsed member of one of the seemingly innumerable weirdo strict-constructionist christian sects. His involvement in matters churchly having perforce lapsed when he came out, he doesn't have contact with his former friends despite being back among them in his posting as a Detective Inspector. He does have a lot of community ties, though, as he's married to the man responsible for the local arts-and-social-services venue.

And now that sense of place is established....

Murder and maleficent doings are afoot.

People who are possessed of money mistake its power for their own. They imagine that, because they can push money into open palms, they're the ones with Power. But the only ones without money, but who want it, are the only ones whose hands are open enough to close their minds, their eyes, their hearts. Those who don't care, whose worlds don't revolve around the money-god, are a sight more open to concerns that aren't important to the obsessed.

He was a man who’d turned his personal likes and dislikes into a moral code; because he didn’t enjoy spending money in the Woodyard cafe, there was something morally suspect about the people who did. The Brethren had been much the same. Matthew thought they’d created a God in their own image, hard, cold and inflexible.

It's this dichotomy that Author Cleeves mines for the plot of this tale. It is about power, and its abuse, and the only person who won't stay quiet about it is the one whose hands aren't outstretched for more, but in finger-pointing accusation. The moneyed, the influential, can't have that and they rally around the problem of their own positions, their absolutely justified and necessary access to More.

Looking at the assembled group, the families and the ardent young converts, Matthew had had a sudden understanding, as the early evening sunshine shone through the dusty glass, a vision close to a religious experience: this was all a sham. The earnest elderly women in their mushroom-shaped hats, the bluff good-natured men – they were all deluding themselves. They were here for their own reasons, for the power trip or because they’d grown up with the group and couldn’t let go.

It's such a shame that some Others must die to maintain it.

As always, Author Cleeves will lead you a merry chase and make your head spin with information you think could be important but...and then there's...what about...it's her stock in trade. All those Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez novels aren't accidental! But here's my beef with this book...like all Author Cleeves' work, there is a startling amount of sexlessness here. Matthew and Jonathan aren't even allowed a cuddle (British sense) on the page...there's no suggestion of sex in any of her books. Of the healthy sort.

All night, he’d been aware of Jonathan sleeping beside him, motionless, the gentle breaths not moving his body. Jonathan had a gift for sleep that Matthew envied more than anything. More than his husband’s easy confidence, his courage, his ability to laugh off hurt and insults. Now Matthew was alone in bed and that rarely happened. Usually he was the first up.

And that continues here. I quite strongly wish she'd move past this, what? reticence? distaste? whatever it is because this is new territory for her. These are the first gay people in her books! Use this freshness as a chance to stop pathologizing sex. Matthew needs Jonathan's comforting bodily presence as any husband who's just been through a physical and emotional ordeal would. But he isn't granted it. And it's true none of her other sleuths are, either, which is why I'm bringing it up now.

When Matthew's police work results in a resolution for this case that I must say I dismissed as improbable when it occurred to me, I was surprised. Author Cleeves brought in motives I didn't expect. She made me think, hard, about how she'd placed her tells and her Maguffins. If that isn't a sheer, unadulterated pleasure for an old, experienced bird-dogger, I don't know what is.

Book two of the series comes out tomorrow! You *will* want to get one. It's a new-series Cleeves mystery...how could you possibly resist?

>36 PaulCranswick: Thank you, PC!

>35 msf59: It was spectacular here, too, Mark. I confess I was busy with the books...I got one review up and the other needs some spit'n'polish before it goes up on the book's birthday. They're good mysteries, though I'm a little worried about how ITV will be filming them....

Happy new one!

Happy new one! I’m definitely a fan of Cleeve’s new series.

>37 richardderus: "...how could you possibly resist?"

Not even going to try to resist...

>41 SandyAMcPherson: Wise, o woman. Wise.

>40 drneutron: I'm delighted to hear it! Thanks.

>39 figsfromthistle: Thank you, Anita.

>37 richardderus: Britain's most beautiful county - Devon?! Really RD? I would say that there are quite a number of contenders for that title.

I would of course advocate for my own county - Yorkshire but I googled it and got this interesting list which put Cornwall at 1, Yorkshire 2nd, Cumbria 3rd and Devon 4th.

https://www.sykescottages.co.uk/blog/englands-top-10-most-picturesque-counties-r...

I think that the Scots and the Welsh would also have their own contenders and the above list is England only.

Happy new thread!

>37 richardderus: Would you believe we rated that one the same? I do want more of this detective and setting. Tomorrow you say - oh that's today EST.

Happy (newish) Thread, Richard!

>4 richardderus: There isn't enough space for all the book-bullets y'all careless, inconsiderate-of-my-poverty fiends pepper me with
LOL- selfish good-book-reading, good-book-recommending fiends! I feel your pain.

Re the last one about oldest books...do you look at the new (ish) graphs and charts page on LT? (Top right hand corner of your home page)? I have started categorising my books by year now (as opposed to tagging them with the year I read them in) so that I can bring up a chart of the genre, author gender, Dewey category etc using these charts. It is so cool! (And it tells me that my 'oldest' books this year are Rime of the Ancient Mariner (duh) and Down all the Days (1970).)

'Morning, RDear, and happy Tuesday.

I'm off to the chiropractor.

The new Cleeves looks good. My Library does have it, but it's checked out. I just reserved it and am first on the list.

*smooch*

>47 karenmarie: Which one did you reserve? Have you read THE LONG CALL yet? It strikes me as implausible that you'd knowingly read a series out of order, just want to be sure you're crystal-clear that this one's first in the series.

>46 LovingLit: I've yet to delve seriously into the new charts and graphs. I expect that they'll fascinate me for a few weeks.

So, well, I've kinda been scared to fall into its gravity well....

>45 connie53: Thank you, Connie!

>44 quondame: I think you'll appreciate the second one...my review will be up later today...because she's gone all in on setting for these books. It worked so very well in the Jimmy Perez books! And, pace PC's moaning above, it *is* the most beautiful place in England.

>43 PaulCranswick: One word: Dartmoor.

Complainant's case dismissed.

>43 PaulCranswick: There's something "romantic" about the Cornwall coast as depicted in fiction. I think I need an all-expense-paid vacation to the UK so I can investigate which county is most beautiful. Might as well throw in Ireland's counties while we are at it.

Dartmoor in the rain and wind is one of the most uncomfortable and depressing places it has ever been my misfortune to spend a day. And we do a good line in grim weather. Not necessarily impressively bad, just sort of grim and dank and dark and depressing.

Today, however, in my little corner of the country it is doing its best to prove me wrong and is really nice out. Washing on the line, study window open, hot enough to have the cardigan removed... a heady 28 C. (Ok, don't laugh, for us that's hot!)

>50 Helenliz: I was in England with my stepmother in 1973...it was about 80-82 (your 28C)...people were fainting. She, true Ugly American, said "I have *hot*flashes* worse than this!"

Dartmoor is wild and spectacular and moody and so unlike the rest of England it feels like you've been transported to the Bronze Age. The Devon coast is so picturesque that American tourists are cautioned to dose themselves with insulin and avoid eating grapefruit.

>49 thornton37814: ...and I shall be your luggage bearer!

>37 richardderus: Awesome review (as usual)! Anne Cleeves has something up her sleeves!! : )

>52 Berly: Thank you, Berly-boo! I agree completely: Cleeves' sleeves are replete!

Hey, RD. I got some birding in today, got my Jackson fix and read a nice chunk of the Klune. Life is good.

149 The Heron's Cry by Ann Cleeves

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: North Devon is enjoying a rare hot summer with tourists flocking to its coastline. Detective Matthew Venn is called out to a rural crime scene at the home of a group of artists. What he finds is an elaborately staged murder—Dr Nigel Yeo has been fatally stabbed with a shard of one of his glassblower daughter's broken vases.

Dr Yeo seems an unlikely murder victim. He's a good man, a public servant, beloved by his daughter. Matthew is unnerved, though, to find that she is a close friend of Jonathan, his husband.

Then another body is found—killed in a similar way. Matthew soon finds himself treading carefully through the lies that fester at the heart of his community and a case that is dangerously close to home.

DI Matthew Venn returns in The Heron's Cry, in Ann Cleeves powerful next novel, proving once again that she is a master of her craft.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: While I'm a fan of Author Cleeves's writing, I'm also a fan of her mystery chops...the way a story comes together from the bits and bobs she makes it out of. In this entry into the Two Rivers series, DI Venn has murders and suicides and some extremely upsetting issues to deal with.

Oh, and his husband invited the Gorgon who gave birth to him, then rejected him for being queer, round to theirs for her birthday. Sunday roast, yorkie puds, cream-embellished birthday cake...champagne even!

How he didn't pass out from the stress I do not know.

But family drama is always good for a mystery. Put three families under stress and, well...it multiplies. In this book, in most approved Cleevesian fashion, we see Lucy and Maurice from the book before; we visit several beauty spots marred by tragedy; Jonathan goes whole-hearted and unthinking into best-friend mode when he should stop and think a minute; Matthew, well, he thinks himself into many corners and gets out when Jen and Ross need him to fix things for them.

And, in the end, when the deaths are finally apportioned to their causal agents, he's there to be thanked by those who have lived and cursed by those whose guilt was narrowly revealed. Jen, god bless her cotton socks, is a good friend. And Ross, a seriously bratty entitled goofball, might be salvageable yet. A bit like Sandy in the Shetland mysteries, it's not like he's a bad person just bad at self-control and self-reflection.

But possibly the most grim and revolting parts of this death-fest are not to be spoiled. I want y'all to experience the, to me at least, appalling and nauseating manner in which some people choose to conduct themselves without any prior warning. When you come across the information I'm referring to, you will know immediately. To my disgust, this is not something Author Cleeves dreamt up. It is a very real thing. It just...words can not do justice to the *fury* it inspires in me. I had to research the reality of it, and then re-write my review several times before I realized I can't say anything at all about it.

I hope it goes without saying that you are never, ever alone if you need help with suicidal ideation or emotional crisis. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline number is 1-800-273-8255. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline fields calls 24/7 for anyone with suicidal thoughts or who are in crisis. You could also get US help by texting "HEAL" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.

Web searches for other countries return the same kind of information in seconds. Take that action before taking any other actions. Please. It can not be said often enough: That investment of mere seconds can do you no harm.

I'm sure there are many out there who, like me, very much appreciate the severity of the mental health crisis in the world today. This story is one that will cause a goodly number of its readers to think about issues that they might not wish to think deeply about...but really very much should. I hope the way the story is told will help you, if you're simply unaware of it, to process the delicacy of the hold many people maintain on their relationship to life. Please, even if you think you know, check on the reality of those in your orbit who strike you as troubled.

(And Ross gets off too easily in the end!)

>51 richardderus: Post made me laugh out loud. Devon is eye-catching I'll grant but a continuation south brings even more delight.

>56 PaulCranswick: Cornwall has such a giant stick up its collective ass about Being CORNISH that it's a huge, depressing turn-off to someone who got over being a Texan a long time ago.

>54 msf59: It sounds like a perfect day, Mark! I'm really glad for y'all that you're getting so much grandson time!

I loved the Cornwall coast so much that I walked a good portion of it...right up to the point where I got sick from drinking water (or, more accurately, run off from a cow paddock) and had to hole up in a campground for a few days feeling very sorry for myself!

Additional Cornwall coast fun facts:
(1) There is a town there called Mousehole (cool!)
(2) when I camped un the dunes north of Perranporth to see the solar eclipse in 1999 (or thereabouts) I met a self-proclaimed wizard who put a spell on me to make me awesome (or something) and invited me to work at his (not yet established) company, which was going to be called 'Tri-score 2000'. He was attending the solar eclipse to intensify his powers of wizardry, to do this he collected the wee shadows that the eclipsing sun makes on the forest floor by 'picking them up' and placing one on each finger like a ring.
Yep- he was an odd ball, but an interesting one!

>48 richardderus: The Long Call. The first in the series.

54thirty.design is really cool.
***
>59 karenmarie: *whew* I do think you'll enjoy that one.

>58 LovingLit: Oh my...those English! (pity he can't see that...he'd go MAD at being called English!)

>57 richardderus: That is an interesting observation, RD. I had never thought of Cornwall to England as Texas is to the USA. Mmmm as a Yorkshireman it is a giggle seeing another county get dissed!

>55 richardderus: Good review, Richard dear, I wish it will get translated.
Although there is little chance, only three of her Shetland books (1,2 and 4) reached the Dutch readers, and 4 of the Vera Stanhope books. Though the TV-series are aired, so at least we get a glimpse.

Happy Wednesday, RDear!

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>63 karenmarie: Hey Horrible! *smooch*

>62 FAMeulstee: That doesn't seem fair to me, Anita. These stories seem to me, at least, very likely to appeal to the Dutch. ...?... Strong sense of place, very clear community building, terrible cold rainy weather...everything close to the Dutch national spirit!

>61 PaulCranswick: Oh my heck yes, PC, just think of the Cornish-vs-Devonshire Great Scone War! Jam first, then cream; or cream first, then jam? Relationships end over this momentous cultural divide. Much as the (correct) Texan use of chili for its meat-only spicy stew...as opposed to the (egregiously incorrect, nay morally wrong) New Mexican chile for its peculiarly meaty potage of beans. Chile is country in Pacific South America, quite lovely I'm told, with bounteous vineyards and a corking waterless desert ideally suited to modern telescopy. Or an insulting use of Southern dialect spelling. It is neither a food nor a foodstuff.

This being quite evident, to the point of axiomatic, when pointed out, one need not belabor it further.

>62 FAMeulstee: they made available numbers 1, 2 and 4?! That would drive me round the bend...

>63 karenmarie: And I can still never remember which is the Cornish and which the Devonian! I spent a year at uni in Austen, and the chili was almost the best bit about it (close contest with the skin on chunky fries at the street food market that sort of adopted us, the heat and learning to swim)

>65 Helenliz: *chuckle* The heat was what finally severed my relationship with The Fatherland. Average-44C summers. Just...NO. N. O.

Jam first, then cream. 150,000% on Mary Teresa's side.

>65 Helenliz: Yes, Helen, they did.
But that series isn't even the worst example, of Louise Penny's Armand Gamache series book 1, 2, 8 and 9 were translated... :'(
Dutch publishers can be very cruel to their series readers.

>67 FAMeulstee: That...what...ANITA! The Hague is *literally*right*there* and you haven't brought this, this egregious violation of your human rights to the Court's attention?! Really now! Lawyer up, lady!
***

"What smell?"

Just popping in to say Hi.

>69 BBGirl55: Good heavens, Bryony! I'm happy to see you here. Hoping all's well!

>70 richardderus: I am good 2021 has been a very busy year for and moving in to a new flat has been a big part of that. Hope I stay around here for the rest of the year without any large gaps. I see you have been enjoying some Mrs Cleeves books. She is one for my Mums favourites.

>71 BBGirl55: Mum's excellent taste is well-displayed, then. There are so many of her books to appreciate! The series have a lot in common...interesting locational backgrounds, emphasis on families and communities as ambiguous territory...but really appeal to different audiences.

That's a real gift for a writer to possess.

>72 richardderus: I agree to sign of a very good writer

>73 BBGirl55: :-)
***
Well! In my latest "ain't that just cool?" entry...the Twitter account of the new Matthew Venn ITV series just followed me and retweeted my reviews of the books!

That was most agreeable.

Right. Here I am, then, just the um...teenyest bit late. *blinks* Happy newest one. I am skipping you Ann Cleeves reviews for now - I have the first one in that new series in the stacks and am wanting to get to it very soon. I love her books, especially the Shetland ones. I am still hoarding the final installment of Jimmy Perez. And I love the tv series they have made of Vera and Shetland. So good.

>68 richardderus: This made me laugh. The cartoon, that is, Anita's predicament makes me want to sob. Reminds me of the Nesbo books that we had to wait forever to read the first two books because they started the translations with book three. But at least then they went in order, not just cherry picking entries - YIKES to that.

Your topper intrigues me, and I have snagged the first book in that series. *smooch and a bear hug*

>75 Crazymamie: Hello darling heart, as predicted you're in the top 75...glad you're here.

Get thee to flippin' in the Venn books! There's a new show, too!

Absolutely agree with hoarding the last Jimmy Perez...so am I...and I keep thinking that, if I sacrifice enough {redacted}s, she'll change her mind and give us some more.

I just made it! And yes, please more Jimmy. I mean, it happened with Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie (which I am also hoarding), so...

Forgot to mention that I am LOVING My Heart is a Chainsaw. So great - I am about half way through.

>77 Crazymamie: Oh YAY! I'm sooo pleased. Author Stephen's a great guy as well as a terrific writer.

Sometimes it's just a matter of the right story coming through the Æther at the right moment.

New GBBO season starts 24 September!

>68 richardderus: Thank you, Richard, under present Dutch law I have no case (nor the money for a lawyer ;-) )
But does the poor Moby Dick need to suffer for it?

>80 FAMeulstee: *chuckle*

>79 katiekrug: I was coming to tell you the same thing!! Ha...you beat me.

Good review of The Heron's Cry, RD. I have not read Cleeves. Bad Mark?

>68 richardderus: LIKE!

>82 msf59: ...
...
...
...
...there are not words...
...
...
...
...how...what...where...HUH?

Go. Go and read. Raven Black. Go. Now.

Happy Wednesday, Richard!

Glad to see you're enjoying a read through Ann Cleeves' books. I've bought some of her backlist titles for my library's mystery readers (I tried to get all of the series), and I've been meaning to check her out one of these days.

Happy Thursday, Richard dear!

'Morning, Rdear, and happy Thursday to you.

May your coffee be dark roasted and strong, your books thrilling, and your reviews almost writing themselves.

*smooch*

>86 karenmarie: What she said.

But I also brought cake:

>87 Crazymamie: - *drool*

Morning, RD!

>86 karenmarie: Thrilling! Wow. I haven't been *thrilled* in quite a while. I'll gladly pass your wishes up the chain to see if we can get some action on that.

*smooch*

>85 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita!

>84 bell7: I have the eighth Jimmy Perez in reserve for that moment when nothing else will do. This one's the second in the latest series, Matthew Venn; her first gay characters. She's not...fluent...in Gay, so she wisely chose an outsider character to be her PoV. He's not fluent in Gay either, being a recovering religious nut.

Like all Cleeves's work, there is zero sex, so even your ewww-ick homophobes will be okay.

>88 katiekrug: ...what...? Oh hi, Katie, sorry I was barely-sublethally drooling over Mamie's lemon loaf-cake. Wow. Ain't that somethin'!

>87 Crazymamie: Oh, das Yum! Gimme!

Hey, *TWO* votes for "thrilling"! Maybe my request won't get File-13'd.

>87 Crazymamie: I want a piece! Lemon is my favorite.

'Morning, RDear! Happy Friday to you.

>87 Crazymamie: Yum! I keep forgetting to buy lemons and lemon extract - Jenna mentioned lemon loaf recently and I want to have the perfect recipe ready for when she comes home.

*smooch*

>92 karenmarie: Happy Friday, Horrible!

>92 karenmarie:, >91 thornton37814: Yum on lemons and lemon loaf cakes.

Morning, BigDaddy! It's Friday!!

>91 thornton37814: I also have BIG love for lemon.

>92 karenmarie: We love the Barefoot Contessa's recipe for Lemon Yogurt Cake, which comes out in a loaf like that one in that picture. It's full of fabulous!

>94 Crazymamie: It is, it is...now let's settle in for a long weekend's reading, what say?

Yes, sir!

How ya doin', Old Fellah. You're not old, you're practically a kid. Have a great weekend, as the weather hereabouts looks to be marvelous. I'm in a momentary quandary re: what to dig into next. Sooo many good choices. It's not really a bad quandary.

The coffee's delish.

It's Friday!! Finally! : )

>98 Berly: Yay!! *smooch*

>97 weird_O: Hiya whippersnapper...enjoy that java, the world still has a few pleasures to offer us.

Oh, and reading...even if (perish forbid!) writers stopped writing today, we'd die with excellent books unread. That's the emperor of my pleasures.

Beautiful day out, up here, so I might go outside and read there for a time.

>94 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie! That recipe looks wonderful, and I love the extra lemon juice/sugar syrup step. Bonus, no need to get lemon extract. My only problem is that I don't keep yogurt in the house and even when I want some can't find 8-ounce cups of just plain whole milk yogurt. Sour cream? Less buttermilk? A quandary.

>87 Crazymamie: >90 richardderus: Now that I have no kitchen I have a burning desire to make cakes! Maybe next weekend.

I have chocolate cornflake cakes to make tomorrow morning for the library stall at the charter fair tomorrow afternoon. Remembered to buy golden syrup and good chocolate so we're good to go. No lemon cake here, stick to what I'm good at.

>102 Helenliz: It doesn't sound awful, though, so it counts.

>101 SandDune: If you have a crockpot, you can bake a cake. Just sayin'

>100 karenmarie: ...make two...?

>83 richardderus: I had Raven Black on my radar, years ago, thanks to my LT pals but never got to it. Not reading many mystery series books these days but I may finally give that one a try.

Happy Friday, Richard. Another gorgeous day in Chicagoland.

>104 msf59: Go! Go now! Read it!

It's spectacular here, too, much like 9/11 itself was. Simply perfect fall day.

Gorgeous day. I, OTOH, feel gross and achy from some poor sleep. I don't know why I slept poorly, it's quite unusual for me; not anxious about anything, no emotional tsurres, Old Stuff's going to be out getting schnockered as usual so I'll have the place to myself for blessèd minute...and here's me with a headache, grimy eyes, tender joints...it's not fair!

Anyway. I don't know how much time I'll be spending around my usual haunts. I don't see the positive result from growling at you innocent bystanders when it's the goddesses who deserve my opprobrium.

So, until I get that much-needed shut-eye deficit correction, I'll be seein' yinz.

I hope you feel better soon. Maybe after a nap this afternoon?

I also slept poorly, so solidarity smooch for you!

Hiya, RDear. I'm sorry that you're doing poorly and hope that the headache, grimy eyes, and tender joints are remedied soonest.

*smooch*

>103 richardderus: Oh I remember you saying that before. But all my cooking ingredients are scattered around the house and it would take ages to find everything I need. And also we are NOT having the peaceful weekend I had hoped for at all!

>109 SandDune: Oh, this weekend reeks, Rhian. I think we should get a do-over. I'm sad for you that it's true for y'all too.

>108 karenmarie: Hi Horrible. Ugh. I'm really hatin' today. Tomorrow ain't lookin' hot neither.

>107 katiekrug: I haven't quite woken up or fallen asleep since Friday, 7am.

The last time I felt this way there was a ten-month-old in my living space. It is really, really hard to do at sixty-two.

>37 richardderus: I have read most of the Shetland series and a couple in the Vera series, but haven't yet dug into this one. Glad to hear it's worth visiting.

Hi Richard! It's a gorgeous Saturday and I'm sitting inside watching the U.S. Open Women's Final and catching up on LT. I have my priorities. I'm sorry you are sleep-deprived and achy. Ugh. I hope all is better soon.

My current read is Once There Were Wolves and it may be heading for a five-star rating.

I hope you get renewal through rest. And more good weather to enjoy.

>94 Crazymamie: I'm certain I have that in one of her cookbooks. I'll just have to remember which one!

I think the Shetland series is my favorite among the Cleeves books. Vera is growing on me, but I don't think I'll ever quite connect with that series like I did to the "place" in Shetland.

>113 thornton37814: I completely understand and concur, Lori. I hope you'll try the Venn series as well, It's got a similarly immersive place vibe.

>112 quondame: It was gorgeous, and might be tomorrow...I had two hours of nappage with Rob, which improved my mood but not my aches and pains (yet). So at least it isn't getting worse.

>111 EBT1002: I've only heard things of the most glowing nature about that book, Ellen, so I'm really delighted that you're enjoying it, too.

*sigh*

*trudges off to Overdrive*

>106 richardderus: Wishing you a restful weekend, Richard!

*smooch*

Happy Sunday, Richard. I hope you are waking up feeling rested and much better than yesterday. Fingers crossed.

ETA- Hey, are you reading The Man Who Lived Underground? I was just going to snag an audio daily deal of that one.

Sorry to read that you're ailing. I'm having a swell weekend, but I won't dwell on it. Hope to read son that you've gotten some sound sleep and have enjoyed a couple or three good books.

'Morning, RD. I'm sorry you're still ailing and hope that today's aches and pains are less than the last two days.

*smooch*

>118 weird_O: Thanks for the kind wishes, Bill, and I'm glad to report that I'm a damn sight less poorly rested today. More than simply basically functional, at least. And it's another perfect early-fall day here. There is reason to smile in that alone.

Then there's your good-weekend-having mellowness, for which Yay!, and the world's perkin' on up.

>117 msf59: I read it, enjoyed it, and need to write a review of it for #Booksgiving. It's *not* amazing that he wrote it, *not* amazing that he couldn't get it published, amazing that it's being published at all...it's a supremely rage-fueled story. I don't know anything about ear-readers, but it would need to be an extraordinarily sensitive performance to do justice to the source material.

Happy Sunday!

>116 ronincats: *smooch*

>115 figsfromthistle: Blessedly, Anita, that process has begun.

>119 karenmarie: Oh! Well, I apparently composed right over you, Horrible, so you get a whole post to yourself.

The wretchedness that was Saturday is a dimming memory. That nap with Rob apparently snapped the evil spell and I slept quite well last night. I feel human again!

I *do* have to write reviews I'm not happy about...the books disappointed me. That's such a gross thing to have to write about. Still, they were DRCs so I really do need to do it.

I do that all the time. Compose a message and post it, not realizing that someone else has posted. Yay for a whole post to myself!

Evil-snapping naps are the best kind, and I'm glad you slept well last night, too.

Your commitment to writing full reviews is admirable. Sorry the books were disappointing.

BARGAIN BOOK ALERT! During The Lost Year, 2015, I read my dote Colum McCann's excellent Thirteen Ways of Looking. A delight, delicious, and highly valuable to me...and now on sale for $1.99 on your Kindles: https://smile.amazon.com/Thirteen-Ways-Looking-Colum-McCann-ebook/dp/B00TNDOYGQ/

>122 karenmarie: ...and it happened again! Ha! Well, there's a message in that isn't there.

I've long had the position "don't say anything if you can't say something nice" forced on me by shrieking flocks of Fans when I dis one of their protected entities. Then there are Those People whose personal, unhinged animus against vile, evil me gives them, in their own twisted brains, full license to say rotten-souled nasty things about me whenever I give them the slightest fig-leaf of cover by expressing a negative opinion. (Mental illness ≠ stupidity; it's easier to "justify" cruel, hurtful nastiness than simply spew it forth, while avoiding the direst consequences.)

The truth is it's bad for business to be dishonest through silence. Blogger, not the best platform for interactions, has a setting whereby if you want to leave a comment on a review, you must be a member of the blog. That stops most scumbaggery.

It's all a process, isn't it.

Ha! I woke up at 3:30 and never got back to sleep. Been a couple of weeks since that happened. However, I came here to say that I had some big deliveries this morning and so there are HOUSE PHOTOS on my thread now.

>125 ronincats: I will be there directly, Roni!

>125 ronincats: and >126 richardderus: *following Richard over to Roni's thread*

>127 EBT1002: *waves*
***
I know it's silly...I still get all googly when A Famous Author likes a review of mine...Ann Cleeves liked my reviews of the Venn books! It was such a nice mood-booster.

>128 richardderus: Sweet!

>129 drneutron: It really was, Jim, it seems sorta kinda childish but I really want the people whose work I enjoy to know that I appreciate them. And that's what I got out of her low-effort click of "Like" on that review: she'd seen that someone not paid by anyone read her book and took the time to say nice things about it. It's a contact-free way to say "thank you" isn't it? :-)
***
I periodically participate in the Internet-wide read-and-review year-based "Clubs" that some book bloggers do. This one coming up is The 1976 Club.

I decided to read Marge Piercy's feminist SF time-travel classic, Woman on the Edge of Time. It's been on my TBRadar since ~1977, has come so close to being read that I have purchased it at least twice, but somehow hasn't made it to the top of the pile...until now. If not for Neglected Books, Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings, and Simon from Stuck in a Book (linked above), who knows when/if it'd ever have happened. So, anyone else want to try something from 1976? Look at your library here, you can sort by copyright dates! Wikipedia has a handy-dandy listicle of "notable" things published that year; the various awards given all have their honorees listed by date, eg the World Fantasy Award lists annual winners at http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/winners/ and it includes multiple categories! There's no reason to limit yourselves...read a/some/all the novel(s)/story(s)/poem(s) on the Pulitzers list, or any other list of Awards/Prizes/Medals given in 1976 at the Awards Archive.

This is a chance to read something unexpected, read something new to you, read something exactly like/opposite to your usual preferred length, category, genre. Or embrace your guilt, choose something you already own that was published that year. Do it, in other words, however the heck you want...and still have a special time period to do it in (or by, if you read slowly)...with as many or as few others you'd like to tell about this fun Internet Event.

Sounds pretty much can't-lose-ish to me.

>128 richardderus: Once again, so cool! I'm glad your feeling more up to the weather.

>131 quondame: I'm feeling more like the weather: mellow, smooth, cool. It's amazing what someone offering simple and uncomplicated kindness will do! He came all the way out here to hang for a while even though there were rip currents...just because I needed a hug.

Lovely.

'Morning, Rdear!

>130 richardderus: Hmmm. I'll need to think about this one. Nothing on my shelves that I haven't yet read is appealing right now.

*smooch*

>133 karenmarie: Hiya Horrible! I'm sure you'd find something in your TBRHouse worthy of your eyeblinks, but what the heck! Why not live a little dangerously and dip a toe into waters less well-paddled-through?

Monday orisons, sweetiedarling.

150 Inseparable: A Never-Before-Published Novel by Simone de Beauvoir (tr. Sandra Smith) & introduced by Margaret Atwood

Rating: 3 trepidatious stars of five

The Publisher Says: A never-before-published novel by the iconic Simone de Beauvoir of an intense and vivid girlhood friendship

From the moment Sylvie and Andrée meet in their Parisian day school, they see in each other an accomplice with whom to confront the mysteries of girlhood. For the next ten years, the two are the closest of friends and confidantes as they explore life in a post-World War One France, and as Andrée becomes increasingly reckless and rebellious, edging closer to peril.

Sylvie, insightful and observant, sees a France of clashing ideals and religious hypocrisy—and at an early age is determined to form her own opinions. Andrée, a tempestuous dreamer, is inclined to melodrama and romance. Despite their different natures they rely on each other to safeguard their secrets while entering adulthood in a world that did not pay much attention to the wills and desires of young women.

Deemed too intimate to publish during Simone de Beauvoir’s life, Inseparable offers fresh insight into the groundbreaking feminist’s own coming-of-age; her transformative, tragic friendship with her childhood friend Zaza Lacoin; and how her youthful relationships shaped her philosophy. Sandra Smith’s vibrant translation of the novel will be long cherished by de Beauvoir devotees and first-time readers alike.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: First, read this:

Madame Gallard had indulgently told Mama the story of Andrée’s martyrdom: the cracked skin, enormous blisters, paraffin-coated dressings, Andrée’s delirium, her courage, how one of her little friends had kicked her while they were playing a game and had reopened her wounds. She’d made such an effort not to scream that she’d fainted. When she came to my house to see my notebooks, I looked at her with respect; she took notes in beautiful handwriting, and I thought about her swollen thigh under her pleated skirt. Never had anything as interesting happened to me. I suddenly had the impression that nothing had ever happened to me at all.

All the children I knew bored me, but Andrée made me laugh when we walked together on the playground between classes. She was marvelous at imitating the brusque gestures of Mademoiselle Dubois, the unctuous voice of Mademoiselle Vendroux, the principal. She knew loads of secrets about the place from her older sister: these young women were affiliated with the Jesuits; they wore their hair parted on the side when they were still novices, in the middle once they’d taken their vows.

Here is a world limned in a few lines...we're given the vast scope of the world surrounding the small, claustrophobically so it will turn out, world of our story, and it is utterly impossible to look away from it.

Simone de Beauvoir was a master of the craft of storytelling.

Author de Beauvoir did not write solely for women, of course, though she deliberately treated subjects of importance to women. But, by her choice of this wildly romantic subject matter, it does not hurt to be deeply identified with women to obtain the fullest impact of the story. I acknowledge that it's simplistic to say that, to be fully satisfied with a deep dive into an adolescent passion, one would most likely need to be a woman. I am not alone in holding this reductive opinion, though, if one simply goes by the marketing materials of similarly-themed work. I am aware that this generalization will cause irritation and displeasure among significant parts of a book by Simone de Beauvoir's audience. But the subject matter limits the appeal, even if that's not the case with her writing. No criticism of her writing is really possible for me, as I have read translations of her work only; the most I can say is that, based on the pervasive beauty of the phrase-making in the work of de Beauvoir's I've read, the likelihood of her own creation being other than beautiful is very low.

That said, at some risk to my Comments section's peacefulness, I don't think the book should be down-rated for that quite piffling (if explanatory of the comparative dearth of male reviewers looking at it) quibble. The consensus of critical opinion comes down on the side of this work's value and beauty being high:

Deborah Levy in The Guardian brings up the story's main thrust: "The enigma of female friendship that is as intense as a love affair, but that is not sexually expressed is always an interesting subject."

Tatiana Nuñez in Los Angeles Review of Books says pithily, "Interestingly, the novel’s title is invoked not to show how close the girls are but rather how little they understand each other and, by extension, how difficult it is to be known, even by someone you love and with whom you want to share yourself."

Merve Emre in The New Yorker reveals, "Sylvie’s feeling for Andrée as they grow up is not just love; it is a transcendent love, the love by which all other loves must be defined and judged."

Publishers Weekly's unsigned review states baldly, "The trailblazing feminist writes bracingly of the complexity of female friendships. Beauvoir’s mastery of fiction further demonstrates her bravura."

Normally phlegmatic-to-dour Kirkus Reviews' anonymous reviewer quite piercingly laments, "It is heartbreaking to think of the author, with her brilliant, incisive mind, absorbing Sartre's casual misogyny the way the tragic heroine of this book absorbs the narrow-minded values that destroy her," then gives the book its deeply coveted star.

So who the hell am I, a little nobody book-blogger with a few hundred faithful readers (hi y'all! thanks for coming!) AND that most unpopular of things, a (supremely cisgender) man, to say, "she was right to keep it in a drawer"?

Author de Beauvoir's fame stems in part from her long, convoluted, complicated Grand Passion for/with Jean-Paul Sartre. Much of what she said and why the Establishment of her day paid her to say it stemmed from his fame. Hers was a reflected fame during her lifetime; it is the modern world's absence of desire to continue to privilege men before women that has led to de Beauvoir's words increasingly being considered on their own quite considerable merits. Her critical reception is ever less bound to her relationship with Sartre. The brightening light of Fame she shines now is increasingly her own, independent of any other's existence or accomplishments. This is, to my mind, exactly and precisely as it should be; this is a development deeply to be desired and one that deserves celebration.

Margaret Atwood's Introduction to this edition of the book, excerpted at Literary Hub, reads in part:

Without Zaza {the Andrée character in the book}, without the passionate devotion between the two of them, without Zaza’s encouragement of Beauvoir’s intellectual ambitions and her desire to break free of the conventions of her time, without Beauvoir’s view of the crushing expectations placed on Zaza as a woman by her family and her society—expectations that, in Beauvoir’s view, literally squeezed the life out of her, despite her mind, her strength, her wit, her will—would there have been a Second Sex? And without that pivotal book, what else would not have followed?

Furthermore, how many versions of Zazas are living on the earth right now—bright, talented, capable women, some oppressed by the laws of their nations, others through poverty or discrimination within supposedly more gender-equal countries? Inseparable is particular to its own time and place—all novels are—but it transcends its own time and place as well.

Read it and weep, Dear Reader. The author herself weeps at the outset: this is how the story begins, with tears. It seems that, despite her forbidding exterior, Beauvoir never stopped weeping for the lost Zaza. Perhaps she herself worked so hard to become who she was as a sort of memorial: Beauvoir must express herself to the utmost, because Zaza could not.

So, I find myself in august company on the one hand...agreeing with Author Atwood entirely on all the above yet dissenting from the essential context of this Introduction to Inseparable. I don't think Author de Beauvoir is well-served by the publication of this slight and unenlightening tale.

I could go through some reasons I felt this way. I'm not a scholar, though, so no one who disagrees with me would fail to point out that fact with their (possibly) unspoken subtext being, "...and I should care what you think about this work by a monadnock of Feminism and Existentialism because...?" I will confine myself to this observation: "How is Sylvie's utter, consuming passion for Andrée, that so obsesses her and fascinates her that we-the-reader have little to no sense of Sylvie's essential being, any different from Simone's for Jean-Paul?"

I did not enjoy this fictionalization of the essentially destructive and rigidly confining nature of romantic obsession nearly as much as I would have had I seen some glimmer of recognition of that destruction and confinement's consequences for the subject...and, by not-very-great extension, the author.

>135 richardderus: Congratulations on review 2 x 75, Richard dear!
Not sure I can understand it all.

>135 richardderus: - That's a very thoughtful and seemingly fair review, RD. Please advise if anyone gives you a hard time, so I can go beat them up. *smooch*

ETA: I say "seemingly" since I haven't read the book and know next to nothing about de Beauvoir...

>137 katiekrug: That's the way I wanted it to come across...and you're the perfect audience to judge it because you don't know anything about her. I hope no one takes up the cudgels but I'll call on you if they decide to.

>136 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita! I'm sure a different book would've given me more pleasure, but the making the milestone makes me happy.

'Afternoon, RDear.

>135 richardderus: Congrats on 2 x 75!! An intriguing and enticing review of an author whose works I have never read. Reading about Ms. de Beauvoir does not endear her to me particularly, either, so I'll probably pass with the explanation/excuse "Too many books, too little time."

>135 richardderus: I've read one book by Simone de Beauvoir, and I can't say it left me with any great desire to rush out and read more. Your very even handed review is not encouraging me to run in the opposite direction.

>140 Helenliz: Ha! Thank you, Helen. Maybe running's a bit much...a sprightly coddiwomple, say.

>139 karenmarie: Thanks, Horrible...I'm completely confident you're making the proper decision re: SdB. If you were forty-five years younger, I'd hesitate a little, but really even then this isn't the one I'll ever recommend to people.

Congrats! You've already made it to 150! I've read 129 and 130 will happen today or tomorrow. I won't make it to 200 this year, but I should make it past 150.

>135 richardderus: I haven't read anything by Simone de Beauvoir, but that certain seems fair and well-thought out to me. Congrats on 75 x 2!

>135 richardderus: Perhaps a violent passion is more interesting to us if we admire and understand the one harboring the passion rather than being focused on the emotional target. Or maybe passion welded to wipe out self awareness and accountability to self is just indulgence, a dead bore. Well, no shortage of ways to warp and be warped out there.

Congratulations on 150!

>144 quondame: Thanks, Susan! I might've been more tolerant of Obsession in the past. Now, not so much...and de Beauvoir was, as I said, pretty much a doormat for Sartre.

>143 bell7: Thank you, Mary! (on both counts)

>142 thornton37814: Still a darn fine achievement, Lori, and there's still hope for 200. You're not planned out to the 31st.

>145 richardderus: I just have too much other stuff on my agenda.

Hiya, RD! Happy Tuesday.

Warm cornbag on my back, hot coffee to drink, interesting book to read. It's a good morning here in central NC.

*smooch*

Morning, BigDaddy!

>143 bell7: Exactly what Mary said.

>148 Crazymamie:, >143 bell7: Interestingly enough, today's Twitter haul began with a comment from a woman called (pleasingly) Joy Slaughter saying my assertion that her fame was "merely reflected" (which is not what I said, I said it "stemmed in large part" from Sartre's) was a gross error.

Not the least bit surprising...and comparatively mild.

>147 karenmarie: Still with the back pain, Horrible! I'm sorry that it's proving so intractable. The coffee and books will help.

>146 thornton37814: There's no argument more forceful than "I'd rather do X" to explain one's allocation of time.

Morning, RD!

>150 katiekrug: Cheers, dear. Have a beautiful!

Congrats on 150, Richard and thanks for the heads up about the second Mathew Venn book being out now. I enjoyed the first one.

>152 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg, and I'm delighted you're enjoying the series. I find it lots of fun...Matthew's outsiderness is very endearing to me.

"By the time she finished and ultimately wrote off Inseparable, de Beauvoir had already published her two best-known novels as well as The Second Sex. In other words, Inseparable is not juvenilia, and de Beauvoir was not a young or unseasoned writer when she decided to nix it."
Thus spake MADDIE Crum, a certified woman, of Inseparable, in The Baffler. My personal favorite bit:

The book, in other words, is heavy-handed, schematic, and thin. It’s about the length and scope of de Beauvoir’s novellas but has been packaged as a complete novel, padded with a laudatory introduction, a defensive afterword asserting the project’s significance, and selected letters between de Beauvoir and Zaza. Still, it has obvious merits: most of all the prose and the psychological insights, which are wry and movingly direct in turn. “I admired her nonchalance without being able to imitate it,” Sylvie thinks of Andrée at one point, articulating the unscalable rift between desire and its fulfillment.

That is spot-on and well said.

150 books read! My oh my! Congrats :)

151 Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: A spirited young Englishwoman, Abitha, arrives at a Puritan colony betrothed to a stranger – only to become quickly widowed when her husband dies under mysterious circumstances. All alone in this pious and patriarchal society, Abitha fights for what little freedom she can grasp onto, while trying to stay true to herself and her past.

Enter Slewfoot, a powerful spirit of antiquity newly woken… and trying to find his own role in the world. Healer or destroyer? Protector or predator? But as the shadows walk and villagers start dying, a new rumor is whispered: Witch.

Both Abitha and Slewfoot must swiftly decide who they are, and what they must do to survive in a world intent on hanging any who meddle in the dark arts.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Maybe it was the teen angst. Maybe it was my allergy to Villains Without Nuance. Maybe I'm just getting old.

I don't like this book much. I should...spooky dos in Puritan times? folk horror? Revenge?! yes please...and I think I might have if I hadn't taken against Abitha so very strongly. Adolescents whose sense of themselves as Right and Hard Done By aren't enjoyable companions for an entire book. I felt Abitha's difficulties with Authority were period appropriate...totally bought that she was justifiably angry with the entire male world...but she comes across as a modern woman. Then when Slewfoot-the-character wins her over with no effort? He's an innocent, albeit one with tremendous Powers, and with...um...horns? Literal goatly horns. But Abitha just...accepts. It strained me to buy into that.

I'm not insensitive to the appeal of the Other to those trapped in rigid, conformity-enforcing social milieus. But Abitha's ready acceptance of this, um, extremely Other that resembles the goat we meet her losing...and she even calls him "Samson" after the goat...it didn't scan for me with a seventeenth-century woman. Not even one whose upbringing was as peculiar, her mother a root woman and her father a drunken sot, as hers was.

My most favoritest thing is the animate Forest that Slewfoot (he has other names throughout the story, all of which carry their own shades of meaning and of humor) cohabits with, that has re-summoned Slewfoot from a liminal state to deal with Forest's concerns about its future. (I loved Jesus Thunderbird's name for Slewfoot...Hobomok...as it carried so many levels, from a beautiful butterfly to a scary demon via an early American novel about the Noble Savage slur. A quick trip to the internet will give you literal *hours* of perusing pleasure.) Perhaps the most unsettling of Brom's illustrations is the one he made for Creek:

It's perfect, it's unsettlingly Other, and completely relatably familiar all at the same time. What's missing here is the essence of Creek's Wrongness, Otherness...scale...Creek is tiny and looks like that. Sweet dreams!

These being hallmarks of Brom's works, and the source of my relatively high rating for a book I wasn't all the way in sympathy with, so I was rolling along fine until...the torture porn began. Abitha and her mother, women accused of witchcraft, were in for a bad time. I accepted that. But I was revolted by the deeply prurient recounting of the torments meted out to the women, guilty as charged by the lights of the community they lived in though ambiguously so in modern eyes. They transgressed...they paid dearly for it...
"I want to burn them to the ground, All of them. All of it. Their church, their commandments, their covenants, their riles, edicts, and laws, their fields, their homes, and most of all their fucking bonnets and aprons. I want to hollow them out, make them know what it is to lose everything, everything, to lose their very soul!"

Nothing in this life comes for free...the bigger the ask, the bigger the price. There is more truth than you can fully know in the ancient adage, "Be careful what you wish for lest the answer be Yes."

Bargain book! Sharks in the Time of Saviors is on sale for $2.99 on Kindle! https://smile.amazon.com/Sharks-Saviors-Kawai-Strong-Washburn-ebook/dp/B07RXDRV1...

Hi Richard my dear friend, a happy belated new thread.

>158 johnsimpson: Thanks, John! I appreciate the good wishes.

^Congrats, Richard. That is a stellar number. I am hoping to reach it by the end of the year.

>160 msf59:, >155 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Anita and Mark! It feels like a milestone indeed.

Congrats on 150 and beyond! I probably won't make that this year, but I look forward to doing it again in retirement.

>162 bell7: I wonder how anyone not retired even approaches it!

Thank you, dear Mary, and feel better.

>163 richardderus: Well, for those whose jobs involve lots of reading, like say Jo Walton retirement isn't the great enabler, but yeah, I wouldn't get near the mark without my hours.

>156 richardderus: To get 4 of 5 you must have liked the illustrations - the ones in The Child Thief weren't enough to boost it for me.

>164 quondame: It's not like she's wanting to retire from the job of reading for a living, is it. Considering how little I like the world outside my room, I'm not looking for ways to get back out among the working folk...I'll entertain a few of 'em instead.

ETA I'm just not that into torture porn. I liked it because it made me stop and think several times about animacy and agency.

>163 richardderus: For my part, I read fast, don't watch a lot of TV, and find ways to read for short spurts like when I'm eating or waiting for the doctor :) I also don't have kids, which does help, I think. And thank you, mostly I just have a sore throat/cough/sniffles and general tiredness, so at least I can focus on a book while I wait for the (hopefully negative) test results.

>166 bell7: In a certain weird way, Librarians seem to be part of the Readerverse instead of simple bureaucratic minions. I assume anyone who's a librarian from circ desk to reference troll is a natural-born reader, not a worker exactly. Not that what y'all do isn't work! I'm not at all sure how any of you do the work at all!

Just...it's still reading-adjacent, isn't it.

>167 richardderus: It is reading-adjacent, public librarianship anyway, which is all I can really comment on. I think a lot of people who don't frequent libraries often (I'm not saying this is you, just reflecting) think we read on the job, but 99% of my reading is off the clock unless I'm absolutely scrambling to finish a book club book in time, and even then I can only do it when I'm not on the desk. Instead, a lot more of the front-facing part of the job is customer service and tech help. Since I buy fiction, I read a lot of reviews and try to keep up with new books (and backlist titles being made into movies and, now, featured on BookTok), which just leads to an ever-growing list of all the books I want to read.

It leads to a weird sort of tension in the profession and in day-to-day work at times:
-Some librarians get really annoyed if non-librarians assume they love to read and that's why they're librarians. I know it's not true for everyone, but it definitely is for me and as much as I enjoy several aspects of my job, a day I can talk to a fellow reader about books and make some suggestions is a good day.
-I will recommend books to patrons that I have absolutely no intention of reading myself. (This is actually kind of fun.)
-And patrons think I read everything, so whenever I'm recommending a book, the first question is, "Have you read it?" I haven't come up with a good answer to this, but I sometimes say I wish I had enough time to read every book in the fiction section, but since we're getting 55ish new titles a month, I really can't keep up with them all.
-Weeding/deleting books is also a part of good collection development, which I actually enjoy (but am not always so good at doing at home).

Anyway, that's a really roundabout way of mostly agreeing with you, so I hope you'll forgive me!

No, I think it's valuable to hear direct from the practitioners what their jobs really are vs what others imagine them to be. It's collection development that intrigues me the most, as it's a lot like literary agenting. "What will people want to read?" is the central question in both. It's always fascinating.

"What will people want to read?" is the central question in both. It's always fascinating.

Completely agree! I have a blast with this, and as long as I've been buying books for the library, my readers still surprise me every now and again... most recently because I can barely keep our copy of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue on the shelf (as you know, my town isn't a big fantasy readership), and some of the new romances have been the most circulated lately when I take them off the new shelf.

Also, Reese Witherspoon picks are auto-buys now, and BookTok has been having an influence on backlist books I'm buying (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo has a holds list).

>165 richardderus: Oh, new word that, animacy. Ships float on a grey zone.

Yetch to torture porn. There was a fantasy sf series a couple decades back that I started on the recommendation of a friend I was quite fond of. It made me question my taste in friends.

>168 bell7: > >170 bell7: Fascinating discussion about librarian work.
When I travel in farflung regions of Canada, many of the places I stay for awhile have public libraries which allow temporary guest cards.

I'm always flabbergasted by the books in these widely disparate locations that have the biggest check out numbers versus what I thought might be the most popular, compared to how much those titles differ from region to region.

A sociologist (anthropologist?) could have a lot of fun with a research project correlating these data with the library patron population-characteristics, yeah?
I think it is perhaps significantly different across rural versus metropolitan libraries which reflects funding levels as well.

Hi Richard! Dropping by to wave. Congratulations on your double 75!

>166 bell7: >167 richardderus: I once had a conversation with Mr SandDune’s sister in which the words «I haven’t read a book since I finished school» were spoken (not by me, I hasten to add)! This was a woman who had been a librarian since leaving school and was at that time in charge of deciding which books to send to school libraries. She didn’t like me before that, and I don’t think my all too obvious reaction at her comment helped matters at all.

Happy Thursday, Richard dear!

Almost forgot my weekly visit, because of workman in the house. So glad the job is done, and they are gone now :-)

Hiya, RDear. Happy Thursday to you.

>156 richardderus: *shudder*

*smooch*

Morning, BigDaddy! Up and over 150!!! Congrats.

I don't have any idea why I should think of you when this popped up on my Facebook feed this morning, Richard dear!

>178 ronincats: So exactly right. Except, some behinds are, ummm, not suited to fitted trousers, no?

Hiya, Richard. What a great thread this is! Love the reviews and the discussions.

I read one Ann Cleeves, I think it was Raven Black, and stopped there. Which seems silly, since I liked it and have enjoyed the Shetland and Vera tv series. (Why have gotten only two from the new Vera season?)

I hope you’re nearly through the thicket of lousy reads you mentioned on my thread.

>178 ronincats:


...oh...hi Roni how's it goin'...

>180 jnwelch: Hiya Joe, happy Thor's Day to you. Are you sourcing your Vera via BritBox on Ammy or direct streaming? As far as I know, the direct streaming is done...they dropped by 5 September.

I'm not sure that the books will appeal now, the Shetlands ones that is, because the show isn't like the books At. All. Do give yourself the Venn ones, though, the series isn't coming out in the US to the best of my knowledge. The stories are quite interesting!

>179 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy! Those bottoms are not the ones in need of camouflage, I suspect you'll agree...hubba hubba, Bubble-Bubba!

>177 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie! Happy Thursday. I've only got one more disappointing read to review...and I might just Burgoine it.

>176 karenmarie: Heh, no no no, do not go *near* Slewfoot. I can think of few things less to your taste.

*smooch*

>175 FAMeulstee: Workmen! Good gracious! I'll have to coddiwomple threadward to see what they did.

>174 SandDune: GOOD GAD!! How did you not simply escort her from your home?! I hope she's at the very least never been asked back. *shudder*

>173 humouress: Thank you, La Overkill! I'm thirty-nine reviews away from my 2021 target, and several are already done and scheduled on my blog...I *think* I'll make it. Barring dreadful surprises I will...so, like, no errrmmm "character-building curveballs" from Singapore, eh what?

>172 SandyAMcPherson: I think any aspiring sociologist in need of a master's thesis topic should heed your wise words. The topic is evergreen because generational cohorts are so disparate in their reading and library use patterns.

>171 quondame: It really fails to appeal to me. I am firmly convinced there's a line between body horror à la zombies and torture porn à la Saw films. I'm not keen on either, but torture porn makes me angry where zombies merely bore me.

Great word...lots of nuance...fits in with the sociology theme developing.

>170 bell7: There's always the genre-busting read that people who *hate* {topic} suddenly must read now. That Guernsey Potato thing was a good example. A romance published out of category and abso-bloody-lutely everyone had to read it now! Even the most sniffy and dismissive about romances! ::eyeroll::

Even *I* have to read poetry, YA, philosophy once in a while, so I'm a fine one to talk. I think the difference, or fig-leaf if I'm honest, is that I deliberately set out to challenge my prejudices so I won't be one of those sad souls who die above the neck first.

No. I will NOT read any more Dickens. NO. My mind is closed, the doors are locked, the unwelcome mat is out, the intruder alarm is armed.

No. I will NOT read any more Dickens. NO. My mind is closed, the doors are locked, the unwelcome mat is out, the intruder alarm is armed.

I feel the same way about several authors. Louise Penny tops the list.

>186 karenmarie: Heh. I wonder why.

(I lost interest when some silly events that a mildly competent editor would've flagged appeared in book, ummm, eight? Whichever. Anyway, no.)

>184 richardderus: Actually I think she was in her home at the time, so I couldn’t really escort her out! Shall we just say we don’t get on? To be honest Mr SandDune and his sister have very little in common and they see each other very rarely these days.

>188 SandDune: I am entirely sure that's a relief to all concerned. (Especially you!)
***
I have the pleasure to announce that Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, a book I read in 2013 and enjoyed 4* worth, is on sale! Really a lovely little story about what love, and loving, and being loved all mean. And how they are separate and distinct from each other. And why you should always remain aware of each of them in relation to yourself, your partner(s), and your wider world.

Spread the happiness. Share the contentment. Read this charming book for the health of your soul.

KINDLE EDITION $1.99 NOW! https://smile.amazon.com/Salmon-Fishing-Yemen-Paul-Torday-ebook/dp/B003K16P50/

(There's also a Lasse Hallström film that I give an extra half-star to because Ewan McGregor's in it. Very faithful and effective adaptation, too, if that matters to you. Showtime streams it.)

>185 richardderus: Yes indeedy, Dickens is so not my jam.
>186 karenmarie: Louise Penny tops the list for me as well.

>190 SandyAMcPherson: Soul sibling! I knew you were top-quality people. *smooch*

Many of y'all don't like La Penny's writing...I'm not booing and hissing her over that. There was a thing that (didn't) happen in one of the books and it just...ruined everything for me. But the choppy sentences and suchlike don't strike my nerve with ball-peen hammers like they do so many's. I'm not averse to style, you see.

Sweet Thursday, Richard. As you know, I had a perfect day: Birding, Jackson, Books! Ya can't beat it. I am really enjoying The Magician. I went ahead and picked up Death in Venice too. Are you a fan? I want to watch the film version from '71 too.

>192 msf59: I think Mann's fame resting on that fragile reed is a disservice, so not so much....

>178 ronincats: Thanks for the scenery.

I read 1 Louise Penny and wasn't motivated to add more to the stack.

>194 quondame: Pretty, aren't they? As for La Penny, it's a common response. Not everyone falls for Three Pines as hard as I did. Ruth Zardo was stellar!

>195 richardderus: The one I read was set at a monastery, so I've never done Three Pines.

'Morning, RDear!

>195 richardderus: I loved and still love Ruth. I love Rosa, too, but Penny needs to give the duck's profanity a rest.

>196 quondame: My absolute least favorite Three Pines before i abandoned the series. Too bad you read that one first and last.

I've been up for 2 hours watching QI, darn you. So far, Series S isn't very impressive, IMO.

*smooch*

>197 karenmarie: How do, Horrible, happy to see you...and yes to "S" being, um, not all that. Pandemic woes? Less effective elves?

I am amazed at Ruth being still alive, frankly, since she's God's big sister.

>196 quondame: what >197 karenmarie: said

Not the best in the series. It was written while her husband was in the downslide into dementia. Still no excuse for its overwrought, underplanned plot.

152 On to the Asteroid by Travis S. Taylor, Les Johnson

Rating: 3* of five

The Publisher Says: Realistic thriller crackling with action and danger as an asteroid threatens the Earth, and dedicated astronauts and scientists try to save the planet.

LOOMING DESTRUCTION FROM SPACE!

It's the beginning of a new golden age of space exploration. Finally, humanity is taking the commercialization of space to the next level—mining asteroids. The new gold rush of the commercial space era has begun.

Another commercial venture, an attempt to put a hotel on the Moon, is seeking the space tourism gold of the ultra wealthy. And it seems as if the dream of finally sending people to Mars is finally going to happen using a ship propelled by a powerful nuclear rocket.

But space travel isn’t cut and dry, and there is nothing routine about it. In order to mine an asteroid the goal is to bring it closer to Earth, but orbital mechanics are tricky and close to Earth proves to be far too close for comfort—with looming destruction from space about to become a grim reality. Now astronauts, scientists, engineers, and people in all the burgeoning space businesses must team together to stop the asteroid before it is too late for humanity and the planet it calls home.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: The authors wrote this book five years ago and here I am reviewing it at last...it was the SpaceX launch of Inspirati④n that brought it back to mind. I can honestly say that the Gold Rush into space has begun with Inspirati④n and its all-civilian crew. And that's the basic premise of this book: A crew of space capitalists are screwing with an asteroid in order to get the riches it contains close enough to Earth to profit from when it all goes sideways. Scientists and engineers and some seriously brave astronauts are going to fix what greed broke (if they can) and, in case you thought that wasn't a big deal, the situation if they fail will be Chicxulub-y. Well, maybe not *that* bad but nasty enough for it to matter a lot that it not happen.

I think my favorite thing about the read was the fact that there's never, and I mean this literally, ever a moment without action. The story is full-throttle adventure and would make a terrific film to supplant Armageddon at last. The authors are, in their day jobs, rocket scientists. They do not bring their B-game science to the table. But, unlike Saving Proxima above, there's not extensive explication in this book. Some science talk, I'd've been disappointed if there wasn't any, but not as much as above. To be expected...the problems to be solved aren't those of serious long-distance relativistic travel.

I'm not politically aligned with the authors, and that is noticeable. I think the Chinese rogue agent is a single mustachio-twirl away from being Dr. Fu Manchu. Since I grew up reading Golden Age sci fi, I'm pretty adept at filtering that into background noise. Luckily for me, it did not form a *huge* part of the narrative. Of course not at all would've been better....

Feminists...women in general, persons of Chinese descent, and my more vocally progressive friends are strongly cautioned. This isn't like Thanksgiving with your MAGA uncle. It's like ice-water tea with his wife. Quieter but still Very Very Sure They're RIGHT. One area where I think we can all agree is that the authors strongly disapprove of cutting corners out of greed. I'm not all the way convinced that Business can solve problems...but the action's great, the story's one I suspect they'll be hailed as prescient for writing, and sometimes one (this one, anyway) needs a solidly crafted action narrative. And here it is.

153 Saving Proxima by Travis S. Taylor, Les Johnson

Rating: 3* of five

The Publisher Says: A message from space leads to a desperate race against time and across space to our nearest stellar neighbor in a new hard science fiction thriller from Travis S. Taylor and Les Johnson.

THE ANSWER LIES OUT THERE

The year is 2072. At the lunar farside radio observatory, an old-school radio broadcast is detected, similar to those broadcast on Earth in the 1940s, but in an unknown language, coming from an impossible source, and originating at an equally impossible location—Proxima Centauri. While the nations of Earth debate making first contact, they learn that the Proximans are facing an extinction-level disaster, forcing a decision: will Earth send a ship on a multiyear trip to provide aid?

Interstellar travel is not easy, and by traveling at the speeds required to arrive before disaster strikes at Proxima, humans will learn firsthand the effects of Einstein’s Special Relativity and be forced to ponder the ultimate questions: Are we alone in the universe? What does it mean to be human?

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: What you need to know right up front is that the authors are actual rocket scientists. So, even when there's disbelief to be suspended (the planetary science of Proxima b isn't likely to stand up to a planetary scientist's scrutiny), it's made as easy as possible to suspend.

What made me want to read the book in the first place is Author Taylor's Aughties appearances on The Universe and the like. He's got a likable way about him, and clearly understands his subject well. That and a co-author with whom he has a lot of collaborative writing experience led me to expect I'd get a second helping of the character types I'd enjoyed from an earlier collaborative book of theirs (see below). He adds his very definite personality to the stories I've read by this team. I can hear his voice as I'm reading.

As to the story, I found some parts easier to accept than others. I wasn't convinced by the means they explained away our long-term SETI searches missing the Proximans. And now, suddenly, exactly when Earth tech is stretched-but-capable of making the trip, the Proximans make themselves known? Hm. I am allergic to such high doses of handwavium....

Anyway, the story's a good old-fashioned saddle-up-and-ride tale of interstellar derring-do. I liked the science that the middle third of the book handed to us in abundance, so I don't think of it as an imposition or an infodump. For me, it was involving and intriguing. What was permaybehaps not quite so effective was the ending. I don't think it's a huge spoiler to say that the mission to Proxima b is a success...would the title be SAVING Proxima if it failed?...and that there is a reason the Proximans are so very readily able to understand us, to relate in so many ways to Earth people. The notion of panspermia is ripe for exploration in what I confidently predict will happen, ie a sequel. There's no promo for it in this book, but it honestly would be a rotten trick to play on the readers not to give us one and a poor use of the well-loved set-up if the Baen folk don't!

In my never-remotely humble opinion, this read's success depends on you. If you're in the mold of traditional sci-fi readers, those who enjoy the adventure of space travel and the science that underpins it, then this is your book. I am numbered among you, so it was mine, and I enjoyed the heck out of the read.

Happy weekend RD. It's a last sunny hurrah here. Hoping the weekend treats you well.

Early morning hello, RDear! Happy Saturday to you.

Still dark out, Bill's still sleeping, coffee is blissful.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>202 karenmarie: It's a beautiful Saturday here! It's just shading into 80°dom, and that is pleasantly seasonal still.

Coffee's keeping me from homicidally assaulting numerous people, comme d'habitude, and Awake (which I got from New Directions yesterday!) is keeping me quite gruntled.

>201 Helenliz: Thank you, Helen, and may this last lovely hurrah treat you as tenderly as you wish.

>199 richardderus:
>200 richardderus:

Thanks for these, Richard -- they definitely sound Up My Alley.

Happy Saturday, Richard. Thanks for turning me on to Birding at the Bridge: In Search of Every Bird on the Brooklyn Waterfront. I have added it to the list.

Gorgeous day in Chicagoland, although most of it will be spent indoors with the books. All the doors and windows are open, though.

>205 msf59: Yay! I'm so pleased you've found Heather. I like the way her fascinations get mined so deeply in such interesting unexpected ways.

Enjoy the gorgeous. It's a joy while it lasts.

>204 swynn: Oh yes indeed, Steve, I can see you really enjoying On to the Asteroid quite a bit. Be aware that it's notionally the second of two books, first is Back to the Moon about how we decide to get our haunches off Earth. I didn't know until after I'd read it and felt no sense of having lost anything in my read.

Saving Proxima was, in many ways, a Perry Rhodan story, so I'm confident you'll be purring from the off.

>128 richardderus: "Ann Cleeves liked my reviews of the Venn books! It was such a nice mood-booster."

Of course it was!!!!!

>207 EBT1002: It was, it was! The TV show's official account retweeted them once or twice, which was also very validating.

>191 richardderus: That was lovely sentiment to say. Thank you so muchly, brought a smiley to my face.

>189 richardderus: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a book that's never crossed my horizon. It sounds really intriguing. The overviews on both the LT book page and our local library were marvellous. I requested it forthwith.

'Morning, RD! I'm going to make biscuits this morning, darn you. I'm debating whether to substitute frozen butter for the Crisco. We'll eat them with homemade chipped beef.

*smooch*

>210 karenmarie: Hiya Horrible! No, stick with Crisco. It really does work best.

I do love chipped beast, and I hope it's a slurpsome meal indeed. *smooch*

>209 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy! You're entirely welcome. And wow...Salmon Fishing couldn't have a better fate than to be discovered. I'm a booster, as you can tell.

Spend a splendid Sunday!

I did stick with the Crisco. Chipped beast on freshly baked biscuits is heavenly. Bill was happy. I am happy. *smooch*

>212 karenmarie: Perfect!

>210 karenmarie: >211 richardderus: I really think shortening makes them hold together a little better than the butter does.

>214 thornton37814: The fat is a different shape, I think longer in shortening if I remember my cooking chemistry, which binds with the glutens in the flour more efficiently? permaybehaps?

No matter. It makes the absolute best biscuits in the universe.

>184 richardderus: Curveballs are more character building when they come out of the blue.

Just sayin’.

>215 richardderus: The fat is longer in shortening? It seems anti-intuitive.

I’ve never worked out why it’s called ‘shortening’. Or even ‘shortbread’.

'Morning, Rdear! I hope you have a wonderful day.

We've got roofers here, and it's quite noisy. By this time next week we'll have a new roof and all new gutters.

Reading, Library to drop off a book I won't read, Second Place by Rachel Cusk, chiropractor, post office, grocery store (maybe), home.

>214 thornton37814: and >215 richardderus: Yes to shortening! I do brush mine with melted butter after they come out of the oven, though, and now I'm hooked on Kerrygold for anything but baking.

>216 humouress: From Wikipedia: The idea of shortening dates back to at least the 18th century, well before the invention of modern, shelf-stable vegetable shortening. In the earlier centuries, lard was the primary ingredient used to shorten dough. The reason it is called shortening is that it makes the resulting food crumbly, or to behave as if it had short fibers. Solid fat prevents cross-linkage between gluten molecules. This cross-linking would give dough elasticity, so it could be stretched into longer pieces. In pastries such as cake, which should not be elastic, shortening is used to produce the desired texture.

Shortbread is so named because of its crumbly texture (from an old meaning of the word "short", as opposed to "long", or stretchy). The cause of this texture is its high fat content, provided by the butter. The short or crumbly texture is a result of the fat inhibiting the formation of long protein (gluten) strands. The related word "shortening" refers to any fat that may be added to produce a "short" (crumbly) texture.

Live and learn, eh?

Morning, Karen! I do not envy you the roofing noise. We had to get our roof replaced after the hurricane came through here a few years ago, and for some reason they did the job on New Year's Eve - they did the entire roof in one very long day. It gives me a headache just thinking about it.

I had Second Place out from the library, read the first few pages, determined it was not for me, and promptly returned it.

I also need to go to the post office and the grocery store. But first more coffee.

The facts about shortening are fascinating - look at me learning something before my second cup of coffee on a Monday.

*Okay, so maybe it is a typical Monday because when I came here I knew I was on Richard's thread, and then I somehow managed to think it was Karen's thread by the time I got to the bottom?! YIKES!

Morning, BigDaddy! *smooch*

Hi Mamie! Thanks for the great reply, even if it was on RD's thread.

*smooch* RDear!

Just leaving this here because Monday.

>219 karenmarie: I'm a complete nutter.

>216 humouress: --->---> >220 Crazymamie: Y'all did all the work for me!

I am *SO*ANNOYED* with myself. I went shopping on Friday...I got through at the self-pay and was so knackered I walked away without picking up my VISA gift card (no bank, no debit card, no way will I have to get my Ammy order).

I searched all over here on Saturday, when I realized it was gone, then called the store...they said, "oh, the manager can unlock the safe on Monday."

Went there in person today with my receipt. No card. "Oh, we just throw away gift cards."

*grrrr* but it was completely my fault, after all, so I'm mildly annoyed with their policy but really angry at myself.

I'm so sorry, RDear. Extra special smooches for the VISA card loss.

Oh dear. That's not how you want to start the week.

>223 Helenliz:, >222 karenmarie: Thanks, y'all. If it wasn't 25% of my monthly spendable income it would hurt less.

Okay, this Monday got Mondayer. I forgot all about updating my blog. So my current review shows up as...template only, review blank! Holy fuckme, Batguanoman. At least I've got the rest of the evening to fix it before it goes to the almost 1,000 email subscribers.

...and the rotten moldy cherry on this shit sundae: I FORGOT TO SAVE THE REVIEW I WROTE BEFORE I RESTARTED THE COMPUTER TO UPDATE CHROME.

>226 richardderus: How can the computer not send you a message? Mine doesn't restart without sending me a message to close open whatevers and then the prompt shows up about saving changes...

I feel so particularly sorry about all this (on your behalf) because I'm having computer and printers woes too, but of a different sort, and I feel totally rotten with stress. And it's only Monday... Let's go for it and have our favourite comfort food.

Wow, sounds like the Mondayest of Mondays! Clearly you need to buy some books to right the balance!

Dang, Richard, sorry to hear it's been such a rough day, from no Visa gift card to the review rewrite. So frustrating! Hoping your week starts to look up soon *smooch*

154 Awake by Harald Voetmann (tr. Johanne Sorgenfri Ottosen)

Rating: 4.5* of five

I RECEIVED MY DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

The short version is:
Pliny the Elder, a titanic figure in Western culture for his unbelievably vast (and hubristic, if you ask me) effort to contain a description of all of Creation in one encyclopedic work, is here in his subligaculum. It's a wry, ironic character who addresses us. It's not, however, a recital (perish forbid! he did poorly at those) but a polyphony of perspectives on the topic "privilege."
***
I've said more here:
https://expendablemudge.blogspot.com/2021/09/awake-pliny-elders-final-days-writ-...

I assume anyone interested will figure out how to go read it.

>229 bell7:, >228 drneutron: It stank on ice. Really. Just through and through.

>227 SandyAMcPherson: Because I am on a Chromebook, and was writing in a Google document, autosaves happen every so often...usually within six seconds of you stopping typing...*unless* you restart the computer.

It's a forced-restart error. It's not normally an issue, but *of*bloody*course* today it was.

(((((((Richard)))))))

>231 richardderus: Oh- boo - crummy-bum.
I hope all the bad-rotten stuff is done for the rest of the year for you!

>217 karenmarie: Well, there you go then. Thank you :0) Now it makes sense.

We've got people on the roof today too, installing flashing. Although, right now, it's bucketing down.

>221 richardderus: That's awful; I'm sorry.

>225 richardderus: >226 richardderus: Things can only get better. How about I save the curveballs for now? There, see? Better already.

>225 richardderus: >226 richardderus: Oh no! Horrible!

Sorry about your bad Monday, Richard dear, I hope Tuesday treats you way better.
(((hugs)))

>221 richardderus: Oh no! How annoying. Hope the rest of the week goes a lot smoother. Sending good luck whammies your way.

Morning, Richard. Sounds like you had a very tough Monday. I sure hope this one is better. I hope you are finding some comfort in the books.

Hiya, RDear.

I hope today is good to you, unlike the normally cheerful Monday, which was just pure evil for you yesterday.

*smooch*

Well, that was a terrible way to start the week, RD. I'm so sorry. I hope things are better from here on out.

*smooch*

OOF! That was a rough Monday. I'm so sorry. Hoping Tuesday is kind to you, dear one. *smooch*

Hoping Tuesday improves on Monday by a magnitude.

Thank you all so much for the commiserations and well-wishes, Helen, Mamie, Katie, Mark, Kare, FiggyAnita, Anita the Dutch, Rhian, Nina, Sandy, and Roni! I'm determined to Smile Through It All.

>240 msf59: And that helped! I can tell you starting the morning off with a good, scornful laugh does wonders.

I have watched most all of Series G of QI and feel quite, quite restored to my ordinary good humo(u)r.

Stand back....

>206 richardderus: Back to the moon not on Kindle???? Boo! Hiss!

>245 magicians_nephew: Of course it is: https://smile.amazon.com/Back-Moon-Travis-S-Taylor-ebook/dp/B00AP9CTF0/

Why ever would you even dream that it isn't?!

>244 richardderus: What streaming service or YouTube channel are you watching Series G on?

>247 karenmarie: You would need a VPN to access it. And a thoroughgoing contempt for capitalism.

Sigh. I'm envious.

>249 karenmarie: ...the roadmap is clear...

Good morning, RDear.

My obsession with QI knows no bounds - I've found some series N episodes too.

*smooch*

Morning, BigDaddy!

>252 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! What's shakin' there?

>251 karenmarie: Oh my. There's a giant time-suck for you. And you know they publish QI books, right?

>253 richardderus: Not much. I'm making chicken and rice soup in the slow cooker, have prepped a bunch of veggies for snacking on, done a load of laundry and emptied the dishwasher. Now it's time for the lazy while the soup cooks itself. Birdy and I are going to finish up our read of Hickory, Dickory, Dock this afternoon.

>254 Crazymamie: That sounds just right. Perfect Wednesdaying. Though if you enjoy the Christie, DO NOT WATCH the TV version. *shudder* One of the absolute worst adaptations.

Happy Wednesday, Richard. Glad to hear good spirits are restored. Much cooler here. Lucky, if it is stays in the 60s. No birding today but I did get a nice Jackson fix.

>256 msf59: Hi Mark! Thanks...I'm to blame, so no sense brooding about it. I'm glad you're getting Fall-appropriate weather. We're cloudy and pleasantly cool.
***

Just love this!

Well, Monday is gone now and I am just arriving. Hope the *issues* are gone too. I just got off the phone with the third, in as many tries, tech support help from my cell phone company. I have now finally been able to get the damn photos off my phone and onto my computer. I totally understand when things aren't intuitive and don't work as you expect them to. You, though, have more tech chops than I do so if this issue of yours got to you, I surely would have just found the nearest bridge....

>258 jessibud2: Ha! My tech issue was bad luck. Normally the saving that happens automatically with all one's Google products is successful...this time it wasn't...I didn't notice (it does tell you)...and there we are. Forcing a restart on your computer to update the operating system automatically saves everything Google-y, so when it failed, I just wasn't watching out for the notice.

It was the most Monday Monday I've had in a long time, but it's over.

155 This Long Vigil by Rhett C. Bruno

Rating: 4* of five

I am an aficionado of the Generation Ship subgenre of SF. This short work is in that bailiwick; I was given it by its author some five years ago.

I've now read this concise fiction twice, at different inflection points in my life...first when trying to figure out how to rebuild my sense of self in the wake of the worst mental-health crisis of my life, now looking at the plainly visible (if still comfortingly distant) "The End" sign.

Both times it has spoken to me with a palliative affect in its voice, an "I understand" tone that genuinely eases my unsettledness. Quite an achievement, young Author Bruno. I salute you.

Hi RD, dropping by to see if Wednesday treated you well.
I started Salmon Fishing in Yemen at your suggestion. And because the overview on the book page sounded like the book would be amusing.

So far, I have laughed (government paper pushers were captured to a tee), groaned (fisheries biology and research were characterized poorly) and been fascinated with the whole silly premise. A big creative-writing plus was Mary ~ omg 😳, Alfred's wife is *such* a bitch! The author was stellar in building that character through memos and e-mails.

Okay, onward with some chores and then I'm going to vege out reading more SFiY.

>261 SandyAMcPherson: I hope it continues to amuse, Sandy. I know less than nothing about fisheries science so any mischaracterizations would...did...whizz through me without leaving a trace, sorta like neutrinos do.

Happy Humpday to thee!

Glad to see you're feeling better, Richard. Normal programming is resumed? *preparing curveballs*

Happy Thursday, Richard dear.

Yesterday the weather was lovely: sunny and not very warm, a perfect day to go out.
Today fall really started: windy and cool, only the rain is missing ;-)

>264 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita, the same wishes heartily returned!

It's not quite Fall paradise yet; it is very, very much nicer than the old days of summer I am delighted to say. It makes afternoons so much more pleasant. My windows face west, so I can close the blinds later in the day now.

>263 humouress:

You may fire when ready.

'Morning, RD! Happy Thursday to you.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>266 karenmarie: Hiya Horrible, happy Thursday! Hoping it all goes well for you roofing- and guttering-wise.

Dropping off virtual smooches which are the only germ-free variety I've got right now. Hoping Thursday is being kind to you.

>268 MickyFine: Thank you, Micky, for the germless smooches! I'm particularly eager not to be engermèd, since my old friend Valerie is visiting me this Sunday!
***
If we lived in a world in which we were being properly taken care of, would self-care have the same appeal? – Please Don’t Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes by Phoebe Robinson

'Morning, RDear! Happy Friday to you.

The noise is directly over me, and old shingles are raining down. They'll have the roof, shed, and well house done today and gutters get done next week. Apparently we're getting a deal as the roofer is a friend of Bill's boss. I like deals.

*smooch*

>270 karenmarie: Hey there Horrible. One good thing about having to sit for hours today was my tablet made it possible to enjoy the first episode of The Great British Bake Off's eleventh season. Mini-rolls weren't exactly *new* to me but they hold very little appeal even after seeing these bakers try to jazz 'em up with gluten-free and peculiarly flavored versions.

Have a quiet, dry-roofed weekend!

Sorry about the sitting around for hours, but hooray for The Great British Bake Off' newness.

I just finished reading My Heart is a Chainsaw, and it was full of fabulous. I'm giving it the full five stars. And the Acknowledgments - oof! It was a perfect read for me, and I probably would not have found it on my own, so thank you for your awesomesauce review of it.

>272 Crazymamie: I am not surprised you felt that way about My Heart is a Chainsaw, Mamie, it's the kind of multi-layered character-driven weird'n'wondrous action-stuft thing I've come to associate with you.

The GBBO recaps on AV Club's site are always worth reading.

Happy weekend,Richard!

I must admit that I have not watched The Great British Bake Off yet . I always get soo hungry watching these types of shows. I shall have to give it a try after I have eaten

Happy Saturday, Richard. I got some quality Jackson time in yesterday, along with some solid exercise. BTW- I am really enjoying The Man Who Lived Underground. He was such a terrific writer.

Hiya, RD! Happy first day of the weekend that we retired folks don't have to cherish quite so much.

I don't watch competition shows, but as always, I'm in a minority. They're too stressful. I also find ice skating and ice dancing stressful to watch. Bill and I find enough other fun stuff to watch.

Roofers are gone after doing an amazing job and they even took away some ratty old outside furniture, the gass grill we haven't used in 10 years, and the huge TV box that's been sitting in the garage for 4 years.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>276 karenmarie: Hi Horrible! I don't experience GBBO as stressful despite the win/lose nature of competition because the bakers are all *genuinely*delighted* when one of them excels. And yes, someone goes home but the others all talk about the gone one with real affection.

But it *is* a competition, so maybe not your cuppa. I'm not really that arsed about the winner/loser aspect, though my schadenfreude-meter frequently pegs out when someone I dislike gets booted.

*smooch*

>275 msf59: I am SO DELIGHTED that you're getting into The Man Who Lived Underground! I genuinely could not imagine trying to get this published in 1940s US publishing. Hoover would've had kittens with barb-wire tails! Strom Thurmond would've stroked out!

...hey...waitaminnit...

>274 figsfromthistle: Eat heartily of the most most filling foodstuffs you possess, and have wickedly indulgent snackage on hand or it will make you *wretched* to watch these geniuses create their magical, beautiful, stunningly creatively flavored goodies.

>273 richardderus: Really?! Aw, shucks. I especially loved the extra credit papers to her history teacher. Also, I loved how the book rips your heart out and then hands it back to you so it can rip it out again. Brilliant. I think I'm gonna need my own copy.

>278 Crazymamie: I'm pondering buying one, too. I have a DRC so it's...ephemeral, somehow.

*smooch*

Weekend *smooches* and hope you're having a good day.

Has anyone told you there's a "t" missing in your thread title? Oh, yes...I see up there it did come up. Never mind.

>281 laytonwoman3rd: The fact that you're only the second is what I find surprising!

>280 bell7: Thank you, Mary. You hope in vain, sad to say.

>282 richardderus: Often we see what we expect to see. I've visited this thread many many times without seeing what was right there in plain view.

>283 laytonwoman3rd: I don't see it anymore, either...nor (clearly) did I when I flubbed it.

I am no fan of "Elena Ferrante"'s Neapolitan books (My Brilliant Friend & I parted company on p42) but most of y'all seem to like them.

All four are on Kindlesale in a bundle for $3.99: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B079MDD33J/

Quick sticks!

>282 richardderus: aw, I'm sorry to hear that. *Hugs* and may tomorrow be a better one.

>286 bell7: From your keyboard to Anselm of Canterbury's inbox. Thanks! *smooch*

>284 richardderus: I saw it, but didn’t pay much attention. Thanks to my new powers as group admin, I can fix it if you like.

>288 drneutron: Naaahhh. I kinda like that no one says boo, but they Notice It. Heh. Thanks anyway!

Morning, BigDaddy! Hoping today is a better one for you. I'll just leave these to get things started:


Maple bacon doughnuts - the combination of sweet and salty is da Bomb.


And something to wash it down with.

‘Morning, RDear. Happy Sunday to you.

>284 richardderus: I didn’t even get to page 42.

>290 Crazymamie: You’re cruel, Mamie. Now I want a maple bacon doughnut. I've never ever had one but I think it would go great with a good cup of coffee.

>291 karenmarie: Hey there, Horrible. Happy Sunday! A maple-bacon donut sounds better than anything today, but isn't on the cards. My local donuttery is Dunkin and they don't have those at this branch...lots and lots of Jews here, who would *pass*out* if suchlike showed up!

>290 Crazymamie: I expect it will be perfectly okay. My old friend Valerie is coming to visit me for a few days, so that will be fun. I'll be happy to see her and we'll do things I wouldn't otherwise make the effort to do...the Teddy Roosevelt House, Sagamore Hill, loomed large for me, but there are no tours! *sniff*

Sigh. The closest Dunkin is 19.9 miles, 26 minutes away. I don't even go the 10 miles to Taco Bell when I get the cravies, never mind 19.9 miles. And the closest Krispy Kreme is 26.1 miles, and I don't like their donuts anyway. There are advantages to living in the boonies, but not having quick access do donuts is not one of them. Too bad that bacon isn't kosher...

May I introduce you to https://www.montclairbread.com/#welcome.

We have a Dunkies seemingly on every corner. I prefer their coffee to Starbucks, but the donuts are... meh. Luckily, we don't suffer from lack of bakeries so excellent pastries abound :)

Happy sunshine-y Sunday, RD!

>294 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie! I'm hoping that, while Valerie's here, I'll get to go to some exciting bakery and have an indulgent box of donuts!

>293 karenmarie: Dunkin is okay. I'm certainly not going to run down the Home of the Pumpkin Spice Donut. But I'm not their most ardent supporter...I have a couple crullers a year. It's enough, most of the time, just to know that I can access some fried dough if the craving hits hard.

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT

My high-school buddy, Valerie, has arrived and I will be spending most of the next few days with her. I'll be around here mostly in the evenings and will happily respond to anything then.
*smooch*

>296 richardderus: Have a bundle of fun!

>296 richardderus: Have a great time!

I love living in LA. Maple bacon donuts within 1 mile. Of course I'd have to get dressed...

>296 richardderus: Have a fantastic time with your friend xo

So glad you are going to have quality time with such a great friend!!

>262 richardderus: The book did continue to generally amuse, but ... well, you saw my review.
I was glad to have read it.

PS. Hope the high-school visitor provides a good leavening to your week.

Hi everyone...no new thread until I have some energy!

It was *awful* we had nothing to say to each other there's no point of contact oh the misery and she sat there in front of me eating food without even offering me a bite *sob*

We had lobster rolls for lunch, the most luscious filet of sole oreganata for dinner, and spent hours talking about yesterday, today, and tomorrow's problems and solutions. We naturally spent plenty of time being sad about Mommerie's death; talked over the ends of our different childhood pets; laughed about me teaching her to drive because Mommerie just...couldn't! I got lotsa weird looks from the DMV guys when I, three years older than her, signed her early-license paperwork. It was such a delight, explaining how this came to be. She got the damn license, though.

So I won't be around much tomorrow, we're going to the salt marsh, a bit of outlet shopping, some beach-sitting. It really doesn't get a whole lot better than this.

>302 richardderus: Glad you’re having a blast.

Sounds great, Richard. I have also recently reconnected with a few childhood friends and also colleagues from mumbledy-mumble years ago. It's amazing how we can just pick up where we left off. Enjoy your time together today.

So glad you are having a good time!

Morning, BigDaddy! Let the Good Times roll!

Have a wonderful day, all...we're about to get ourselves in gear to go.

Sounds like. great time! I'm glad you're getting a chance to reconnect.

Hiya, RD!

I'm happy that you're having fun with Valerie. Keep up the good work!

So glad to hear you're having an excellent time with your pal. Hope the non-stop fun continues apace. *smooch*

>296 richardderus: >298 quondame: I didn't have to get dressed they appeared on the kitchen table as a side effect of Mike's having to go to the hardware store which took him past Primo's. The problem is that Mike can't buy just 3 donuts (one for each) and seems to think the things only come in dozens.

Hi Richard, thank you for messaging me about the death of Paul's Mum, it was very nice of you to do this, thank you dear friend.

It sounds like your having a great time with Valerie. I hope you had a good time at the salt marsh today, Richard. Looking forward to hearing about your day.

Glad to hear you're having lots of fun catching up with Valerie! Some old friendships are really special, aren't they? I have a friend I've known since we were wee ones, and though we live apart and don't always see each other every year, when we do get together it's always a great time. Hope your visit is the same.

Thank you all for coming by with lovely wishes! I've just rolled in from another lovely day of boppin' around. The salt marsh nature reserve wasn't open on Monday! We did go out to Point Lookout, farthest eastern point of my little-bitty barrier island off Long Island's South Shore, to wander over some dunes...then I couldn't because my poor foot developed a cut. Sand plus cut equals Nope. But we did get some cool photeaux of the water!

Sorry for not visiting or responding individually but I'm on the way to dreamland right quick. *smooches* all around.

Happy Tuesday, RDear! Is this another Valerie day?

*smooch*

Morning, BigDaddy! Sorry about the cut on your foot, but it sounds like you had fun other than that. Missing you but oh so happy that you are having good times. *smooch*

Hi all! Valerie and I are spending today being slow. I'm dipping in to say we're having a lovely day, I'm fully charged on my meds at last, and I can honestly say it's a joy to look at Long Beach from 6 storeys up for a chang. I'll take some photos today and try to post them tomorrow after Valerie leaves *sniff*

>318 richardderus: That takes care of the day that shall not be named, plus one. Enjoy.

Valerie & me on the boardwalk behind my house last night.

Great photo there, RD. So glad you had a fun and rewarding visit.

 

Fabulous photo! Background, foreground, the whole enchilada! Yay, you (two)!

Nice!

Thanks for sharing the photo! It's great to see you looking so happy.

>320 richardderus: Great image. Who was behind the camera (asks the nosy-parker)?

>123 richardderus: Thirteen Ways of Looking is on my shelf, and dangit if I have not even tried to begin to start to want to read it yet. Clearly I am a fool.

>320 richardderus: aww! That is a lovely photo :)

Now I must away and revel in my day off...my walk is done, my coffee is next.

>320 richardderus: Glad you are having a good time with Valerie, Richard dear.
Lovely picture of the two of you!

Lovely to see a very happy picture of you and your friend, Richard. *smooch*

>320 richardderus: awww, very nice. Glad the visit is bringing you joy :)

>320 richardderus: Love the photo! Hooray for Valerie for putting that big smile on your face.

It is always nice to have old friends visit. I got to spend a few hours with a high school chum who has relocated to AZ from RI. We spent about 3 happy hours at our county fair a month ago. It put a smile on my face, so I hope you really enjoy your visit.

I'm sorry that Sagamore Hill is not doing tours. That is one place that is on my bucket list.

The beginning of the semester rush is winding down, so I hope to have more time to make the rounds of the threads than I have done in the last month.

I'm pretty much knackered, so I'll just say that Valerie leaves tomorrow afternoon and I will miss being able to sit and chat for hours, wandering around so many conversational culs-de-sac that I get dizzy trying to track them.

I'm expecting regular service to return after a good sleep!

Hi RDear, and happy Wednesday to you.

>320 richardderus: Excellent photo of you two. I'm so glad you're having such a wonderful, if tiring time with Valerie.

*smooch*

>320 richardderus: What a great photo! Glad to hear it's been such a good visit, too.

I need some commiseration, buddy. I'm reading Riccardino, the last Montalbano mystery. Alas. It's chock full of humor and good stuff. Apparently he wrote it in 2003 and told the publisher to hold onto it. I speculate that he wanted to end the series in high style. It's going to be hard to part ways with Salvo, Fazio, Mimi, Cat and the others, and his veranda overlooking the sea, and all the good food and . . . Sigh.

Love the photo! And the good time with an old friend. I am looking forward to a week with my high school besties come Friday, the sort of getting away for a girls week that I've never been able to experience before. I just hope it is as good as your reunion has been.

Morning, BigDaddy! I'm so happy that you have been having so much fun - that's a good kind of tired. *smooch*

>320 richardderus: Such a great Photo! Valerie is tall!!

>332 richardderus: I love "conversational culs-de-sac"!

Hey ever'body, Mrs Valerie has made her way to JFK starting now...we spent our last day window-shopping the pretty villages near here for the unusual and amusing architecture, the lovely old homes, and a chance to spend time together in a safe, podded space (Jeep Compasses are *super* comfortable for tall people, JFYI, though they have expensive repairs should one wrinkle a fender or chip a taillamp lens).

We just had our last meal together and I indulged in cinnabon pancakes. So. Very. Good. However, a sugar coma impends and I will be out for at least a couple hours. I've read y'all's messages, and I am so touched and pleased that my thread's so warm. I'll come visit all y'all soonest and start catching up...but not just yet.

*smooch*

Lovely photo of you and your friend, Richard. How nice the visit is going so well.

Have a generic midweek day!

>339 quondame: Ha! That's really good, Susan, thanks for the chortle.

>338 Familyhistorian: It was so lovely, Meg. I was very, very close to Valerie, and her mom who I called Mommerie, from the time we met. She left a few hours ago, and I'm very hopeful it won't be so long before she comes back.
***
I have made up for an almost-year-long pig-meats-eating deficit in three days. Breakfast buffet at the hotel every day: 1/2lb crispy bacon, six sausage links, and scrumdiddlyumptious country-fried potatoes with peppers and garlic and onion. Lunch of lobster rolls at the hotel...my absolute favorites on Long Island. Dinner at several of my long-time favorite local places.

>340 richardderus: I am so happy that you had such a great time, rd. Good friends matter so much. Love the picture and the recap of your days

xo

>341 mckait: Thank you, sweetiedarling! It was lovely. Valerie's steadily emailing me more photos, so I'll put a few up as I go through them.

Good night, all! Off to chase the sheep.

That's a great photo of you and Valerie, Richard. Thanks for sharing! The breakfast buffet and lunch sound absolutely delicious.

Have a good night's sleep after all the excitement!

Glad to hear you had a lovely time. >:-D

Wel jel (as da kids say) I'm about to head to work, in the dark. oh joy.

Sounds like a wonderful catch up :) Lovely pic - and some great sounding food too.

Happy Thursday, Richard dear!

Glad you had such a good time with Valerie.

>320 richardderus: Very romantic.

>334 jnwelch: Aww.

>337 richardderus: I'm not really interested in tall. But thank you anyway.

>340 richardderus: You poor, deprived thing.

>347 humouress: Pitiable. Pitiable, I say. Simply the most deprived soul outside a famine zone.

Not everyone's short, you know...vehicles that can handle dinky little things like Valerie, only 5'8" poor dear, and me with equal comfort, deserve plaudits.

>346 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita! I'm so pleased we got a chance to spend a solid bit of time together and, to my unsurprised amazement, felt like we'd spent no years apart. (We are in touch, but being face-to-face is different somehow....)

>345 BekkaJo: We ate so very well, and in tremendous ease because she is equally concerned about COVID. We both mask constantly, wash and sanitize our hands a lot, use lots of bleach-wipes, etc etc. In her case both her husband and daughter are health-challenged and in mine I've watched too many ppl from the facility die for us not to be extra cautious.

>344 Helenliz: U.G.H. Commuting in the dark rots! I'm sorry, Helen. I'm glad to see you here, and thanks!

>343 bell7: It was a good sleep, thanks Mary. I'm not in any way caught up yet but at least I don't have to stir my stumps at all, if I don't want to, until Saturday.
***
One other lovely giftie I received is a car-trip to the grocery store...stock up!! Now, of course, I have to find places to store them, but I can do that at my own pace.

'Morning, RDear.

I'm glad your visit with Valerie was pig-infused, sugar-infused, and more important, friend infused.

*smooch*

>349 karenmarie: What she said! Sounds like excellent Fall adventures all around. So glad you were able to reconnect and that you got to spend so much time together. Very happy making.

>349 karenmarie:, >350 Crazymamie: Yup, me too!

Thanks, y'all! We're such old friends, and we've managed to stay in touch through years and years where we were on such different life trajectories, that being f2f again after some years was so much fun! And she, lovely soul that she is, is so.much.happier. now that she's seen with her own eyes the lovely town I live in, the beach I get to use, the fact that as we walked around people knew me...all reassuring to someone who is by nature a worrier and needed to know I wasn't just faking a happy front so she wouldn't worry about me. (I have done that before, not an irrational concern.)

...now if I could just get her to bring her autistic daughter and self up here, away from the Texas social-service-lessness and that collapsing electric grid...

Well, crap. Last night I blog-posted my final review of the quarter...The Antidote for Everything, 5 stars...and somehow the template is the only thing up! I checked, it looked fine, I was getting ready to do my 3Q21 post, post it here, and make a new thread...and there's NOTHING BUT THE TEMPLATE!!!

Since it was all done, I'd deleted the review, and now need to go cyber-dumpster-diving to find it. I can, thank goodness, I know what to do, but this is the second irritating tech failure this month. The first one, well, forcing a restart to update the OS should've been fine but just accidentally wasn't. This is totally different. I somehow screwed up. This is beginning to bother me!

>353 richardderus: Ouch! Best wishes for a successful cyber-dumpster-diving expedition.

>353 richardderus: Well, that's irritating. I hope you're able to find it via cyber-dumpster-diving without too much trouble this time around.

>355 bell7: It was indeed, Mary...I'm going to go look for the dratted thing but got sidetracked. Which, of course, really means I don't want to go looking for fear I'll open the file and find something else is wrong.

>354 SandyAMcPherson: Thanks, Sandy!
***

Here I am...my building is photo-right, my bedroom windows are the first set illuminated by the ground lights.

Damn! You are just so photogenic. Strike a pose.

Morning, BigDaddy! Sorry about the review - hoping you can locate it and that everything is fine.

>356 richardderus: Mighty handsome!

>356 richardderus: Nice photo, RD. You are looking like a strapping, seafaring fellow.

Happy Friday, my friend.

>359 msf59: Thank you, Mark. The floppy hat-brim going up was a little yuk on the part of the Weather Goddess...she sent a gust at *exactly*the*right*moment* to do the flip. Hence my somewhat bemused expression.

>358 Crazymamie: I can locate it. I just have to get past my irritability with having to. I'll get there, but it's a signal of just how used up and worn out I feel (four days of delightful company is a LOT of effort for me) that I let the email subscribers (all 900 of 'em, bless their cotton socks) get the screwed-up version.

Thank goodness it's therapy day today.

>357 weird_O: YOUR EYES ARE DO FOR A CHECK-UP, BILL! DO IT SOON!

The national treasure that is WIRED Magazine's Steven Levy had this to say in my newsletter this morning:

Astro, apparently named after the big, sloppy, non-robotic dog in The Jetsons, is the bastard offspring of a video-conferencing device and a Roomba vacuum cleaner, although it doesn’t run Zoom and it won’t clean your floors.

This is Astro. The description is *flawless* and funny at the same time!

>361 richardderus: What the ever-lovin' heck *is* that thing?

Ah. Amazon's gone into the follow-you-around-and-spy-on-you business.

>362 drneutron: Yeup. It's not like they're trying to hide it, either. I guess they figure people who ignore their brazen grab for your most intimate secrets deserve it...?

I can imagine what an Orwellian nightmare it would be to have an abusive spouse in possession of one of these.

>363 richardderus: *shudder* hadn't thought of that. Urgh.

‘Morning, RDear!

>353 richardderus: Boo, hiss. I hope you get it back up very soon.

>356 richardderus: Nice, RD, nice, bemused expression and all. Thanks for sharing.

>357 weird_O: Looking good! You might consider carrying around a paint palette and brush. I bet you'd get asked for your autograph.

Valerie's mom was Mommerie - I love nicknames like that.

>366 jnwelch: Mommerie loved it, too. The Southern tradition would've been to address her as "Aunt Jo" or "Miss Jo" and she *loathed* that. So, one afternoon, I walked in, pecked her on the cheek, said "hi Valerie! Hi Mommerie! what's for snacks?"

And it was done.

>365 karenmarie: Oh, I will, I will. I don't want to at the moment, is all...it's purely an emotional aversion, since I'm so annoyed with myself for making such a simple error. It's one thing when events conspire to make something screw up. It's entirely another when *I* do it to myself!

Grrr.

>364 BekkaJo: First thing I thought of. I really, really hate the surveillance capitalism world we're living in.

SEPTEMBER IN REVIEW

I read and reviewed fourteen titles this month, including the effed-up blog post of The Antidote for Everything. (Grrr! I hate screwing up simple, obvious things...but I am, in my own defense, really, really tired from my delightful visit with Valerie.) Only ten made it onto my blog. This means I have 55 posts to make to reach my 2021 goal of 190 reviews blog-posted, or a slightly daunting 18 per month! I'll do it...but it will be a strain.

Nothing got five stars this month. I think the book I read that most delighted me was Awake by Harald Voetmann, a species of novella translated from the Norwegian starring the revered Roman naturalist, Pliny the Elder. (Whose nephew Pliny the Younger comes across as a major pill in this text!)

>356 richardderus: What a great photo (and yes, I saw that you started a new thread...)

>369 SandyAMcPherson: Thanks, Sandy, I'm bad at having my picture taken but since Valerie flew in from Texas I felt it was incumbent on me to be cooperative and, incidentally have a record of my actual appearance.

I still hate it.

The Gorton's Fisherman look was completely accidental!