richardderus's fifteenth 2020 thread

GODDAMMIT
I lost my whole freshly typed header on Natalie Babbitt!!

I know better than to type it directly into LT and yet what did I do? I typed it directly into LT!

Such a fool...such a lackwit.

In 2020, I wanted to post 10 book reviews a month on my blog. I already read a book every other day, as this year's total of 155 (a lot of individual stories don't have entries in the LT database so I didn't post them here; guess I should do more to sync the data this year) reads shows; so it was doable, and I've done better than that in the past. Regrettably, there's no way I'll even approach that goal now.

I've 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 2018 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.

My Last Thread of 2019 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.

Reviews 1 through 3 are thataway.

Reviews 4 through 8 reside thitherward.

Reviews 9 through 11 are back here.

Reviews 12 through 20 existen allá.

Reviews 21 through 24? Go here!.

Review 25 in all its lonely splendor is back yonder.

Reviews 26 through 40 are doin' it for themselves.

Reviews 41-46, plus a Pearl Rule can be seen elsewhere.

Reviews 47 through 68 are back there.

Reviews 69 through 76 present themselves for inspection behind.

Reviews 77 through 94 await your pleasure.

Reviews 95 through 103 cannot be found in this thread, but in that one.

Reviews 104 to 115 (inclusive) are more fruitfully sought here than here.

Reviews 116 through 133 await your viewing beyond yon link.

THIS THREAD'S REVIEW LINKS

134 The Shortest Day is a very good Amazon Original, post 32.

135 Ancient Oceans of Central Kentucky were beautiful, post 52.

136 The Care Manifesto is a deeply cheering vision for a more interdependent world, post 55.

137 After the People Lights Have Gone Off is excellent but not perfect, post 72.

138 The Fighting Bunch made me so sad, post 73.

139 How to Make a Slave and Other Essays is a National Book Award finalist, post 97.

140 Lon Chaney Speaks was a terrible disappointment, post 105.

141 The World Well Lost is poignant and lovely, post 126.

142 The Cornish Mystery wasn't a vintage Poirot, post 158.

143 Double Sin seems a bit less than the title promises, post 160.

144 Wasps' Nest was very good indeed, post 170.

145

146

2019 was a *stellar* reading year! For the first time ever, I had two six-stars-of-five reads: Black Light: Stories, a debut story collection that gave me so much pleasure I read it twice (ever rarer occurrence that), and the wrenching, gutting agony of Heart Berries, a memoir of such honesty and such vulnerability that I was a wreck after I finished it. I went back and forth a dozen times, first Author Parsons was the sixer, then Author Mailhot; neither book could possibly "win" for long because I couldn't get either book out of my mind.

I handed out 34 5- or damn-near-5-star reviews out of 155 reviewed books; that's 22% and that is a LOT. Many, even most of these (10+) were for short stories, for end-of-beloved-series novels, or for story collections. But hold on to something heavy: TWO, yes that's t-w-o dos due deux zwei два were...POETRY COLLECTIONS. Sarah Tolmie's The Art of Dying and the late Frank Stanford's collected poems, What About This: Collected Poems of Frank Stanford. Both were peak reading experiences. Another was cultural monadnock George Takei's graphic memoir They Called Us Enemy, which could not be more important for young people today to absorb.

What a beautiful year it was, to bring so many delights to my door. I hope, greedy thing that I am, that 2020 will repeat this performance. For all of us, really...honest! I didn't just add that on the end of this summing-up to make it sound less solipsistic.

In 2020, I wanted to post 10 book reviews a month on my blog. As of 1 September, I haven't posted nearly enough to make the year-long goal! There are a few mitigating factors (a mild COVID-19 infection is one), but I don't think the deficit's recoverable. Even so, I still read a story every other day, as 2019's total of 155 (a lot of individual stories don't have entries in the LT database so I didn't post them here; guess I should do more to sync the data this year) reads shows; so it's doable, and I've done better than that in the past.

I have not done better at Pearl Ruling books I'm not enjoying with notes on Goodreads & LibraryThing about why I'm abandoning the read. I think I'm going to bag this one, as I am not interested in performing the task. I don't like a book, I close it and discard it. Enough.

...and that's me done. My reports will continue to be quarterly, the day after the end of the quarter, as follows:

3Q20. Forty reads completed and reported for the quarter; two five-star novels read (The Long Dry and The Mercy Seat), and I five-starred I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf because really? How could I not with that title and subject matter?

I re-read two five-star stories, I Stand Here Ironing and The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. They are both still exemplars of excellent observation and elucidation, domestic and societal by turns, each making its quiet way down into the core of one's ongoing reading experience. I find their echoes in so many "new" or new-to-me voices.

I have two book reviews on submission, so I won't count them as reads until they're either rejected and I put them on my blog, or accepted. I had to abandon a tree-book read, The Perfect Fascist, because in a month I was able to read 47pp of 528pp. I asked for a Kindle file and was informed no such accommodation would be made...not so long ago, before the latest round of gout-crystal formation, I asked and asked for tree books and was offered Kindle files! Crazy times.

Many very good reads, like Dr. Mary Trump's book about her nightmare family, were simply not tippy-tippy-top quality writing or storytelling. I am not about to dis anyone for needing less challenging reading, considering how much of it I hoovered up. But I was stalled in many superior reads because the world today is for stepped-in dog crap, and I was not prepared to do any heavy thinking.

EXCEPT my two five-star novels, one about capital punishment and one about the slow, sad decline of Life into cold lifelessness. I urge you to read those books, read my reviews to see why I think you should, and to support a world where art is possible by voting on 3 November 2020.

2Q20. Forty-five books read this quarter; I started and finished with five-star reads, lucky me! Sharks in the Time of Saviors was a beautifully made Hawai'ian family Bildungsroman. (Can one have a group Bildungsroman? it's not a family saga but a map of the coming-to-consciousness of a family...well, debate as you will, Imma call it that.) A great way to start the new quarter, with a new author's first book that belted the ball out of the park.

The end-of-quarter delight is You Exist Too Much, the fumbling attempts of a queer Palestinian woman to fix the damage done by a borderline-personality-disordered mother and an ineffectual, uninterested father. Like I could relate much? So much of the story felt like me wandering destructively through my 20s and 30s that the next events felt foreseen, if not predictable.

This quarter also brought my dote, Murderbot, in its first-ever full novel appearance. Oh Murderbot *swoon* you're so dreamy

Anyway, Murderbot did not disappoint (as if!) and Author Martha Wells maintains her standing as my go-to AI-story spinner of webs.

Author Kai Ashante Wilson wrote The Devil in America six years ago, but I just got around to reading it. I loved the bitter tang of the story's search for escape from a curse. It's inevitable that the search ended in defeat because curse. I find the curse-breaking triumphalist fiction so very prevalent today savorless and silly and really quite dangerous. But anyway, Author Wilson (A Taste of Honey, The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps) earns my approbation by placing Black queerness at the heart of his fiction. His is a point of view we need to see more of to break free from the curse (!) of Othering in ficiton.

And a different five stars entirely for the coda of a series set in 19th-century London and Scotland, The Bequest: David and Murdo's Epilogue. It's a short piece that ties a neat little bow on the fanny (US sense) of three historical novels featuring lawyer David and aristocrat Murdo as they negotiate the pitfalls of queer love in their world. It's not a recommended-read-now five because it will make no sense whatever if one hasn't read the previous three books. Squeamish straight people should not attempt to summit this mountain, there is significant steamy sex and y'all pretty much lose y'all's shit when gay sex is presented at anything like the frequency or graphicness of straight sex.

Plenty of four-and-a-half star reads and four-star reads.

And the heinous ones. Oh my. The Fear Hunter was severely mistitled. Elise Sax wrote a forgettable and pretty pointless rom-com with a few gestures towards mystery. AWFUL. Penny Serenade barely lifted its dreary stringy mop of dirt-colored hair off that book's place on the basement floor because a film was made of it that was at least pretty to look at. The story was not good reading. I suspect I wasn't in the mood for The Code Book so I won't excoriate it for having AN ENTIRE PAGE OF NUMERALS in a comma-separated-value list. I was recovering from my mild dose of COVID-19 so I'll assume it was me being fussy not the author being a complete putz.

And that, my olds, is a very good quarter's reading.

1Q20. Twenty-six reads done, three posted on my blog, or 10% of the goal I set myself. Bad performance. Really bad.

I re-read the four Murderbot novellas by Martha Wells, and loved them just as much as when I first read them. Because Network Effect is coming in May, YAY!!, it felt like time at last to put down some thoughts about them on my poor, neglected blog. Murderbot is a delightfully antisocial being and I am honestly more impressed by Author Wells's beautiful and deft worldbuilding than I am by the lit'ry stylings of many a crowed-over Next Big Thing.

But this quarter's surprise and joy is reserved for a Smashwords COVID-19 sale find, a freebie I completely accidentally stumbled upon: A Justified State by Iain Kelly, a Scottish television editor about whom I had not heard a peep and from whom I expected not a lot.

He overdelivered on my expectations. This could be a six-stars-of-five read; I have a long way to go, so no decisions yet, but this medium-term futuristic dystopian thriller set in a nightmarish Soylent Green-ish Glasgow is $2.99 and cheap at twice the price. Do your distracted self a favor and get sucked in to Author Kelly's hellish world...ours seems paradisical!

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 GOOD 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 *

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

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

Very well, this message is the final one you're not allowed to touch. Go on. Speak!

Woof!

>7 weird_O: Good boy! Good boy!

Now stay....

O wow! Eats! Sparkly eats. Woof woof. Oh, and arf too.

Nice 1st image for the woof person.
Hiya Richard. Are stocked up on treats to munch? This being a North American candy-extravaganza day?

Looking forward to more in-depth reviews.
🎃

>1 richardderus: I can hardly wait to see what's going to show up here!

Happy New Thread!

Happy newest, RDear, I look forward to the Natalie Babbitt info.

No joy in Mudville - Spectrum screwed up again.

>6 richardderus:,>7 weird_O:,>8 richardderus:,>9 weird_O: - You guys are a hoot!

And happy new thread, Richard! ;-)

Happy new thread!

>1 richardderus: I hope you get back to Natalie Babbitt.

Happy new thread Richard!

>9 weird_O: Time for your ear-skritches!

>10 SandyAMcPherson:, >11 SandyAMcPherson: Thanks, Sandy. The site ate my essay on Natalie Babbitt, author of Tuck Everlasting! I know it's being wonky and eating random posts, so did I do my usual write-a-doc-and-copy thing? No I did not. I am seriously vexed with myself for being a fool.

>12 mahsdad: Hi Jeff, thanks for the good wishes. Happy Saturday.

>13 karenmarie: Oh heck! That rots, Horrible, I'm so sorry. There just isn't a good service provider out there, is there. *fumes*

>14 jessibud2: Well, if ya can't laugh the terrorists win. *smooch*

>15 quondame: Oh, I will, but it really irked me to be so careless, so it may be later tonight or tomorrow so I won't scream and cry and upset the people on my floor. Thanks for the new-thread wishes.

>16 humouress: Thank you, La Overkill. I'm getting past my pique at being a technopillock.

Happy new thread! Sorry about the word-chomping monster...

Happy new thread Richard!

>20 drneutron: Thanks, Jim. And thanks Jim.

>21 swynn: Hi Steve! Thank you.

#293 on the previous thread----WHEEEE!

Happy Halloween, Richard. Happy New Thread. I hope you had a perfectly "chill" day with the books.

Nice summary of your so far productive year in reading, Richard. I've read all of one book so far this month, and there is a slim chance that I could finish a second book by midnight, but I'm working until at least 8 pm (one hour to go!), and since I worked nights Monday through Thursday I'll probably crash shortly after I get home and have dinner and my nightly "pain medication" (either Jameson's whiskey or Bulleit bourbon).

Like most nerve wracked Democrats I'm checking Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight page at least once a day, to assuage my frazzled nerves and give me hope about Election Day, both nationally and in the two Senate races in Georgia.

Happy new thread, RD!

I look forward to your (eventual) thoughts on Natalie Babbitt. Tuck is one of my favorite books :)

>23 laytonwoman3rd: I know, right?! What a rush!!

>24 msf59: Thanks, Mark, and the punkins are perfect! I read a terrific Colm Tóibín story coming out on Tuesday. Just perfect for Halloween!

>25 kidzdoc: It's been a wee bit less productive than I was hoping, Doc, but certainly nothing to complain about. Although, comme d'habitude, I have.

Your reading slowdown makes all the sense in the world. We're all stressed to an unconscionable degree by the failings and failures that surround us, and could even end our lives...you more than most are at risk, though gratefully a strong man. And right this minute there are unique extra stressors.

Go drink. Rest. I'm happy to see you here whenever you'd like to be.

Happy new thread, Richard!

It is frustrating when a post disappears :-(

>26 katiekrug: Hiya Katie, thanks for the new-thread wishes! I'm glad I got to see your photeaux on IG earlier. Pretty, pretty spot. I forget I'm on that site since I'm not a camera-using sort.

I'm slowly simmering back down towards a Babbittable seethe. I'll probably make some effort on it tomorrow.

ETA >29 richardderus: Hi Anita! Thanks for sympathizing with me about the post I lost. It is all my own foolish fault, since I know better than to enter data directly onto the site. I'll learn this lesson at some point.

Ha! Who am I trying to kid? I'll keep forgetting until I'm old(er) and grey(er).

>29 richardderus: It happens to me as well, not often but more than I like.

Happy new thread Ricardo!!

>24 msf59: LOVE that!

134 The Shortest Day by Colm Tóibín

Real Rating: 4.75* of five

The Yule Solstice, a time of great power in Neolithic societies (if the number of archaeological sites with demonstrable connections to the Sun's position on that date is any evidence), has come to his attention as an important time at Newgrange as well. He feels duty bound, as the first archaeologist to possess this information, to investigate despite his unshakeable materialism:
The job of an archaeologist was to make known only what can be proved. The rest was idle speculation.

So two things are immediately apparent from this. First is that this is a story set in the past, as the site in its present state dates from after 1982 (see link beside the photo). Second is that there are those who know more than they have told about the site in the many years of Ireland's fussing about with it. That's very interesting....

As the tale is a short one, I don't want to give too much away. The entire review is posted at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.

I've been remiss on threads, but want to wish you a happy new one before it gets old! Happy weekend *smooches* and may you read many good books.

>30 FAMeulstee: ANY time it happens is annoying to me, Anita. But honestly, I blame myself, because I know it can happen and the way to avoid losing my work is so simple that it bugs me when I forget it.

>31 Berly: Thanks, Berly-boo! *smooch*

Pretty perfect, no?

>33 bell7: Thank you, Mary! I just finished one I really enjoyed a lot, above, and there's another I'll finish sometime tonight and review tomorrow that's pretty special too.

Happy new one!

I sympathize with loosing ones work. In my University days I would constantly forget to back up my work until I lost an entire 40 page term paper that I had to recreate in 6 hours off of my scribbled notes. Not fun at all.

Happy Halloween!

>1 richardderus: lackwit! Not likely! But a fantastic phrase, of Shakespearean quality!

And...one more exclamation mark for good measure....!

Happy new thread. Good luck (on steroids) for the upcoming week.

Glad the Colm Toibin read was worthwhile.

>35 figsfromthistle: Good goddesses, Anita, losing 40pp is much much much worse than maybe 200 words! I'm sorry that ever happened to you.

Thanks for the holiday and thread wishes.

>36 LovingLit: Thank you, Megan, it was a good story indeed and heaven knows we need all the good-luck wishes you can spare.

Lackwittedly, Me

Happy new one, RD, and glad to see number 15 off to such a flyer.

>38 PaulCranswick: It's Saturday and there's a plague, so I kinda expected the initial flurry to be like this.

Thanks!

Rats. Sorry about that header content. Grrr. But Happy New Thread anyway, my friend.

From your prior thread, you got me with The Only Good Indians ... putting it on hold at the library. I'm number 137 in line for one of 25 copies.

Oh, and Colm Toíbín -- I need to read more by him.

By the way, I saw a cute meme that said that one saying we have to toss out after this year is "avoid that like the plague" ... because people don't.

Happy new thread!

>40 EBT1002: Thanks, Ellen! I'm very glad I got you with The Only Good Indians because I think you'll see some of what I see in Author Stephen's writing. He does multi-layered live-or-Memorex scenarios like.a.boss.

>41 EBT1002: Ha! *sob*

>42 SilverWolf28: Thank you, Silver, and welcome!

I am reading IQ by Joe Ide. Sort of a modern urban Travis McGee. Sort of. Clipping right along, in any case.

Adding my joy at your new thread here, Richard, and looking forward to it!

>41 EBT1002: I heard a clip on BBC WS last week about a study on bats that showed that they self-isolate when they get sick. If bats know enough to do that ...

>44 EBT1002: I'll be very interested to hear what you think about the read. So many seem to have loved it that it sounds hopeful to me.

>45 LizzieD: Thanks, Peggy, and happy Sunday.

>46 humouress: Even a damned old bat can figure this out?! "You're dumber than a bat" should be our new insult.

Sunday smooches...

>48 katiekrug: Hiya Katies, welcome to the new thread. *smooch*

>47 richardderus: First horses and now bats? ;0)

Happy Sunday, RD.

I hope you have an enjoyable day.

*smooch* from your own Madame TVT Horrible

135 Ancient Oceans of Central Kentucky by David Connerley Nahm

Rating: 4* of five

Deeply surprised that this is a first novel.

Summer comes to Kentucky as a shock, as though it was impossible for the land to ever be green and full again. Magnolias with swollen white petals sway in warm breezes, record-high humid air fills lungs like warm water and the invisible mechanism that animates everything slows as summer's heavy thumb rests on its ancient belts.

It's true that Author Nahm isn't a tyro, having been published in many prestigious venues (eg, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet) prior to this novel appearing from the midwestern fastness harboring Two Dollar Radio (to whom I offer my thanks for sending me this book), a genuinely exciting press, in 2014.

I'm not sure that the plot will make any difference to you in deciding whether or not to read it. The point of the journey through a smallish Anytown, its civic and familial rituals and failures, is all in the way Author Nahm speaks to us.

The morning was warm. Each drop of light suspended in the air. Against the bricks, the ceiling was a universe of sun-bleached geometric forms and figures waiting for young imaginations to see them.
–and–
Crow Station, Kentucky: a girl at the window watching a shift in the shadows, listening to the sound of the night, the glittering dark above her bed, her father's hands having placed the sky there, cracked plaster rivers among constellations of dead boys and girls, but by morning the vault of the heavens is nothing but white ceiling, though the corners do flutter with dusty webs her parents have not noticed and her brother's bed.
–and–
The television makes only one sound, the soft hum of light.

The focus Author Nahm brings to the light, the surfaces, the ways in and out of every space and every thought of the characters is, for me, the appeal of the book. I love to see the spaces a story takes place within. I am always happy to see evocative, even emotive, language used in conveying a sense of the look, the visual impact, of a space, a person, a point of view. This book is replete with these moments and observations that he has imbued with the emotional resonance to enrich his characters' actions and reactions.

It isn't often that the physical object "book" merits discussion in my review. This object, with its deckled-edge pages that are evocative of an older time when books were delivered without bindings and with uncut signatures direct from the printer, is perfectly in tune with my sense of its story. The novel inside the book benefits from this expensive grace note. The cover, with its french flaps and its matte, uncoated stock, reinforces the days-of-yore feeling that a paperback usually struggles to convey. The beautiful halftone reproductions of ancient fossils from an 1889 monograph on the geology of Kentucky are the lift the book needed to take it into next-level aesthetic harmony between its physical and metaphysical selves.

I saw a Goodreader's addition of the book to his TBR and, oddly enough, that came after my suggestion of this novel to my Young Gentleman Caller in our Sunday-morning Zoom. (He had forgotten about the time change so it was a bit earlier than I was expecting *grumble* so he was vamping until I could open my eyes all the way by asking me what he should read next...my eye lit on this spine in my bookcrate...and we were away.) It's another one of what he amusingly, if accurately, calls my "hardware jobs"...books I've BookDarted so thoroughly that they clank. He's going to be out here soon so I'll hand it over then, but y'all need to get you one! There's a paperback-ebook bundle for only $14 at the publisher's site! Cheap at twice the price. Honest!

^I am not sure if this is photo-shopped or not but I like this image.

Happy Sunday, Richard. I am enjoying a lazy day with the books. I hope you are doing the same.

>50 humouress: I'm just that kinda hairpin, La Overkill.

>51 karenmarie: I expect to, thanks Horrible...will catch a fleeting glimpse of Rob today! (Surfing.)

>53 msf59: Hiya Birddude! I'd say it's a dead cert that it's photoshopped, but who cares it's a great commentary anyway.

I'm enjoying my Sunday despite its overcast and blech-ness. Been a busy boy this a.m.

136 The Care Manifesto by The Care Collective

Rating: 3.75* of five

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

The contributors outline theoretical bases for extending the concept of care, starting with feminist thinker Joan Tronto's formulation of types of care. First there is caring for, the step-one state of all care, the delivering care from one person to another. Next comes caring about, the empathetic connection that leads us to extend our hand to others, often strangers to us. And caring with, the hardest stage of care that Tronto identifies...the urge to act, to make one's ideas and suggestions work in the wider world, for example the people who join Greenpeace or Doctors Without Borders.

The contributors use this ingenious and simple system of ideas about caring to offer some blissfully utopian suggestions for enabling "promiscuous care," which sounds a lot racier than it is. I hoped for something louche; I got the idea that a truly well-run planet would be promiscuously cared for, about, and with because the Collective urges on us a paradigm shift into drawing no distinctions between the needy and caring. Animals, ecosystems, all are in need of care; souls and minds and bodies, no matter whose or what's bodies and souls we're talking about, should be able to expect care. Simply for existing.

If that does not make your heart swell and your eyes leak a bit, you're dead inside. The whole review is at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.

>52 richardderus: There, I've gone and reserved a paper copy event though the e-book is available.

>56 quondame: Can't wait to hear what you think, Starless.

Happy Sunday!

>1 richardderus: Oh, I HATE when that happens!

Happy new thread anyway, RD.

>58 Storeetllr: Hi Mary, welcome! And thanks for the sympathy...it really rots.

*smooch*

Hi Richard, mate. Happy new thread dear friend.

Happy New Thread, maestro. Sorry about the lost tale of Natalie Babbitt. Maybe it's somewhere in the Invisible Library.

Richard, Sandy left something 🐙 for you on my thread.

>60 johnsimpson: Hi John! Thank you for the good wishes.

>61 jnwelch: If it is, I want my borrowing privileges reinstated now! (They can't still be holding a grudge about Kai.)

>62 quondame: Ha, I went and looked and you're right! That's a showstopper all right. Thanks.

Happy new thread, Richard. I hope this week brings you good happenings.

'Morning, RD.

Darned time change. I don't like being up this early.

*smooch*

Happy New Thread, Young Man.

This morning I was www-ing and came across this link:

https://blueharemagazine.com/the-candlestick-in-the-library-country-house-myster...

Your review of The Body in the Library is quoted!

Maybe you already knew this, but if you didn’t, I hope it’s a wee day-brightener for you.

May this week put an end to the Years of Misery 1-4.

'Morning, Richard! I posted something on my thread I thought you might enjoy: https://www.librarything.com/topic/320028#7304181

>66 Matke: That snippit brightened my day, Gail. Hope it does the same for Mr. RD, and now I may have to make a detour into Christie. It's been a long, long time.
>52 richardderus: This one has been a little out of radar range, but now it's on my wish list with thanks. Stay warm, Richard, and have a good day.

>64 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg, from your keyboard to the goddesses' inbox.

>65 karenmarie: I had no problem with it this year, Horrible, unlike days of yore. I think it comes down to the stress I feel is so off-the charts that whatever They do with the clocks is insignificant.

>66 Matke: Thanks, Gail! And welcome.

I had no idea, but I am now sure where a sudden surge in interest for my Christie reviews came from. As long as I'm given proper credit for the words I wrote, it's fine by me to have them quoted.

Interesting aside re: that is that my blog is searched by the site plagscan.org two or three times a week. Looks like some students can't resist helping themselves to my inimitable words.

The years of misery? Hm. You might be a bit previous in that hope, unless misery exactly equates with seeing that hideous orange thing's name preceded by "President"...it will be the work of years to finish unwinding the harm those deplorables have caused to our country and our collective psyche.

>67 Storeetllr: Hi Mary! I shall be over directly.

>68 LizzieD: Thanks, Peggy, I'm well chuffed by Gail's news, I assure you. I'm back in the relative warmth and happy to be so. Be well! *smooch*

137 After the People Lights Have Gone Off by Stephen Graham Jones

Rating: 4.5* of five

What you will get here, you who venture into Author Stephen's mind palaces-cum-stories, is a very thorough grounding in the liminal spaces where consensus reality (eg, the built reality of a rest stop, the hallway of a 3-2 tract house) meets the Otherlands. The spaces between the two are always rife with, ripe and round and fertile with, the kind of stories that begin one way and subvert that in the end. Endings are, to this artist, the culmination and completion of an arc. Underpinning Author Stephen's arabesques of not-always-white reality-cum-fantastically hyperreal action are carefully drawn geometries of story, carefully obscured by inevitable-seeming developments. Story logic is a strong skill of Author Stephen's, I haven't read one piece of his work that isn't absolutely, from giddy-up to whoa, internally cohesive.

This absolutely gorgeous book deserves its very own post. I received and gave it a quick review in 2015; but that was before I was consistently using the Bryce Method of going story-by-story and before I was calling so heavily on the authors' own words to make my points about the entire collection. So now I'm dusting off my handsomely designed and beautifully illustrated paperback copy to deliver myself of these ideas and opinions.

Which I deliver at my blog, Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.

138 The Fighting Bunch: The Battle of Athens and How World War II Veterans Won the Only Successful Armed Rebellion Since the Revolution by Chris DeRose

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: The incredible, untold story of the WWII veterans who destroyed a corrupt political machine―the only successful armed rebellion on US soil since the War of Independence.

They fought for freedom abroad and returned to find that they had lost it at home. A corrupt political machine was in charge, kept in power by violence and stolen elections - the worst allegations of vote fraud ever brought to the attention of the Department of Justice, according to the Attorney General.

The GIs formed a nonpartisan, all-veteran ticket. On Election Day, the GIs and their supporters found themselves assaulted, intimidated, arrested, and even shot. A small band of veterans - the Fighting Bunch - armed themselves and marched on the jail to demand an honest count. The sheriff and his men refused. These men who thought they had seen the last of war returned to the battlefield, one last time.

This episode in U.S. history has never been more relevant, but has never been fully told. At the time of the rebellion, national news outlets jammed the phone lines into town, asking questions before the shooting had stopped. Journalists beat a path to Athens from across the country. Hollywood came calling, but the people of McMinn County had moved on.

After years of research, including exclusive interviews with the remaining witnesses, archival radio broadcast and interview tapes, scrapbooks, letters, and diaries, author Chris DeRose has reconstructed one of the seminal―yet untold―events in American election history.

I RECEIVED A DRC OF THIS TITLE FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU. (I THINK.)

My Review: This book made me so sad.

There were once people who stood up to machine politics. People whose sense of honor forbade them to participate in the establishment of a single-party state.

Their grandchildren are now actively seeking to make that sense of honor, that duty to accept others' rights of access to the ballot box as a means of free speech, obsolete in the USA.

If you want to know what the Greatest Generation, in their youth and idealism, went to war for, it was NOT the enshrinement of a single point of view as the only acceptable one to express and uphold.

The three-hundred-plus pages of Author Chris DeRose's astonishingly well-researched (honestly, it feels as though this book was played out in front of him) story of one unique moment in our country's ongoing history of voter suppression did not fly by. Not because Author DeRose did not write the story well. They slogged past my tear-blurred eyes because these passionate rejecters of Conformity and Submission did not go on to spark a movement against the real perpetrators of the atrocity: The Powerful, the elite that could not care less what "party" label you mark your vote next to. After all, Boss Tweed said it best:

If your nineteenth-century history is faded to sepia tones, this will remind you of who he was and why Tammany Hall has so many lessons for the erstwhile democracy of the USA.

That rebellion lies in our future.

I hope and pray that it will come before I go for good.

>73 richardderus: - "They fought for freedom abroad and returned to find that they had lost it at home. A corrupt political machine was in charge, kept in power by violence and stolen elections - the worst allegations of vote fraud ever brought to the attention of the Department of Justice, according to the Attorney General"

Yikes. I had not heard of this episode, Richard, but as you point out, neither have many others, apparently. That quote from the publisher sounds like it was ripped from this morning's headlines.... More than sad. Tragic. I have heard of Tammany Hall but admittedly don't know a lot about that era of your history. And how sad for that generation, to see that this generation has so disrespected their efforts and sacrifices to such an degree.

If only for his treatment of covid alone, t-Rump ought to be tried for crimes against humanity. I hope people's kitchens are well-stocked so no one has to go out. It's going to be an ugly week ahead, I fear. I wish there would be that rebellion against al the wrong out there (sans the violence, but I don't think that's possible). Something really needs to change but it doesn't appear that an election is going to bring that about.

There was an interesting article in my online edition of The NYT today:

https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000007423440/elections-foreign-voter-re...

Eek.

Hey, RD! Great review of After the People Lights Have Gone Off . It sure looks like I NEED to read Mr. Jones. He seems to be a perfect fit for me.

Good review of The Fighting Bunch. This also sounds interesting.

Well, you got me with this last one!

>74 jessibud2: Oh dear, re: video.

There can not be consequences bad enough, nor delivery of it soon enough, to suit me.

>75 msf59: I hope you'll enjoy both books when you get to them, Mark.

>76 drneutron: Heh...score one for me!

>73 richardderus: - I'd never heard of this. I'll add it to my library WL.

Thanks, RD!

>78 katiekrug: I hadn't either, but man am I glad I have now.

Hope it's a good read for you.

>1 richardderus: I'll bet that your second piece on Natalie Babbitt—the recreation, so to speak—will be better than your first. I recall having to revisit a topic after something I wrote "vanished". I often believed the second draft was an improvement over the first, even though I couldn't compare them. But always the anguish over what was lost.

It occurs to me that I gotta vote tomorrow. Okaaaayy!

>80 weird_O: Yes indeed, your civic duty awaits! Imagine events like in >73 richardderus: occur...and suddenly you can't.

Shuddersome.

>74 jessibud2: Whoever started the virus in the first place could be for the high jump. Honestly, I think so long as there is a change in regime in Washington most of the rest of the world just wants him gone. There is obviously no prima facie case for a crimes against humanity charge against any politician - even those that have dealt with the crisis so badly as he has - America desperately needs to heal itself after four years of Chump and the safe, if slightly shaky, hands of Joe Biden will have to hold most of our hopes and fears for the coming time. I can only wish him well.

>80 weird_O: Barring catastrophe, RD, we'll take the 5 minute drive to the firehall to vote. I won't pass any Biden/Harris signs on the trip, but that's the nature of our community. Our two votes will be for B/H and all the other Dems on the ballot.

>74 jessibud2: >82 PaulCranswick: The NYT had a brief piece yesterday? the day before? citing White House insiders saying that Trump's been fretting that if (when) he loses the election, he'll be ensnared in investigations galore. The US Attorney for the Southern District, Cyrus Vance, Jr., is already investigating his finances and also his involvement in a case of a Turkish bank that's suspected of funneling millions to Iran, circumventing US sanctions. The New York State AG also has Trump kettles simmering on the back burners. Who knows what investigations a new US AG will sanction?

It'd be nice to witness the whole tribe being expelled to Devil's Island

>74 jessibud2:, >82 PaulCranswick:, >83 weird_O: The chances are that the crime against humanity that has been his COVID-19 response cannot be prosecuted because who nelly what a precedent that would set. But his other criminal doings as a private citizen are fair game.

Which scares him all hollow, and I will wager cash money that he rolls over on a huge number of people for a deal.

>83 weird_O: Yay for voting!

>62 quondame: And I thought she would like my gifty...

>85 SandyAMcPherson: She's showing it off? I went and had a look.

I really came by to see that you all are well, RD and posters alike.
I think I'm going to be scared to even LURK here tomorrow and going forward for the week.
Your northern neighbours are also feeling terribly anxious.
Sending thoughts of peacefulness and calm from north of 49.

>84 richardderus: Oh I am sure that there is something pecuniary that he can be nabbed for.

>85 SandyAMcPherson: I do like it. I just thought Richard would especially like it as he responds positively to tentacled images.

‘Morning, RD! Here’s hoping that Today is the beginning of the end for DJT.

>83 weird_O: I’m a straight-ticket Blue voter too, Bill.

>85 SandyAMcPherson:, >86 humouress: I think you're both right...it was a lovely thing, and it was worth showing it off to someone who likes those sorts of images.

>87 SandyAMcPherson: Thanks, Sandy, I'm coping by shoving my face in a book and pretending this thing we're all using is a glorified typewriter/little TV.

>88 PaulCranswick: Not "if" but "when" and, crucially, will we be ahead of the Russian mob enforcers.

>89 quondame: And there you go! *smooch*

>90 karenmarie: Hiya Horrible! *smooch*

From your keyboard to the goddesses' inbox.

I voted today! (Blue of course)

>93 SilverWolf28: Excellent news!

>52 richardderus: I want to read Ancient Oceans of Central Kentucky RIGHT! NOW!

>95 magicians_nephew: I predict your read will be a good one, Jim. Go follow the link on my blog. Go on! Scoot!

139 How to Make a Slave and Other Essays by Jerald Walker

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: For the black community, Jerald Walker asserts in How to Make a Slave, “anger is often a prelude to a joke, as there is broad understanding that the triumph over this destructive emotion lay in finding its punchline.” It is on the knife’s edge between fury and farce that the essays in this exquisite collection balance. Whether confronting the medical profession’s racial biases, considering the complicated legacy of Michael Jackson, paying homage to his writing mentor James Alan McPherson, or attempting to break free of personal and societal stereotypes, Walker elegantly blends personal revelation and cultural critique. The result is a bracing and often humorous examination by one of America’s most acclaimed essayists of what it is to grow, parent, write, and exist as a black American male. Walker refuses to lull his readers; instead his missives urge them to do better as they consider, through his eyes, how to be a good citizen, how to be a good father, how to live, and how to love.

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

My Review: The reason we read essays, as readers, is almost the opposite of why we read fiction of all stripes, not to broaden our experience of humanness but to particularize it. Dr. Walker's essays about being Black in academia, in the slums of his boyhood, of being a small-town dad of sons who are Othered by their skin color, of being his own unique self in a world that wasn't ready with a place for him to fit, are as particular as one can hope to find. And that is why they resonate so fully with my older, whiter, place-was-made-before-I-cared self. How often have I wondered what in the hell I should say when my half-Black Young Gentleman Caller makes a joke about hair (I have next to none, his is abundant, and the contrast tickles him to no end. Ha ha ha) or his (pale) skin color..."I am closer in hue to a banana than a plum," says Dr. Walker at one point...and am left shtumm because, well, no matter that he's chosen an old white man for his confidant and bedmate, I can still hear the hurt in his voice or see it in the frozen-for-a-second smile when someone's comment is a microaggression. To my delight, my silence or my simple smiling and laughing without comment have kept me from experiencing that swallowed hurt at my words.

So far.

The years Dr. Walker spent in seeking an MFA were spent being mentored by James Alan McPherson, a monadnock of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and one of the most admired and sought-after guides to the unforgiving world of seeking literary excellence. His story collection, Elbow Room, won him the first Pultizer Prize for Fiction awarded to a Black person. Who better to create another Black male artist? And so he did, in Dr. Walker, after some rough moments at the beginning of their association. He was capable of delivering great advice, and making it go down like a spoonful of sugar instead of the bitter and damned toxic draft of reality that it truly was:

"Stereotypes are valuable," he said. "But only if you use them to your advantage. They presnet your readers with something they'll recognize, and it pulls them into what appears to be familiar territory, a comfort zone. But once they're in, you have to move them beyond the stereotype. You have to show them what's real."

"And what's real?" I asked.

Without hesitation, he said, "You."

That one sounds so innocent...and the one-word lance through the armor and into the heart is why so many deeply talented and delightful writers don't ever quite make it, get past the early parts of a career. How cruel it is to have to commit to endless hours of honing and polishing and rending one's psychic flesh for a few grand on a good day, and free on a bad one! But success is all in practice and work, and no one in American history has known that more than out unappreciated and unsupported artists. So few make it....

But some become epoch-defining superstars. Memories of Michael Jackson, unsurprisingly, loom large in Dr. Walker's youth as it coincided with the man's inescapable pop-culture presence in the later 1970s and early 1980s. I drove around with Michael Jackson on the radio because he was what was playing, what was in demand, whose talent and sound were *exactly* what the Whitegeist wanted. He sounded, I realized from reading this essay, very different to a young Black boy in the Chicago ghetto. Dr. Walker and his brothers were caught up in a different stream of the times than I was, and this passage tells me what I need to know: We shared the planet, for better or worse, in ways that can't be fully reconciled but can be felt, deeply, in our love of someone who made something powerful and lasting:

While I do not know if this is true, I have a vague memory that the three of us, in 1983, watched the Motown 25 television special together, and maybe we rose at some point to to attempt Michael's moonwalk before collapsing back into our seats, succumbing to the dope coursing through our veins, much as dope would course through Michael's, nearly three decades later, and stop his heart.

Mine stopped, for a moment, when I heard the news. And in that pause before grief, I had a vision of the Walker Six, dancing and singing...and then it was gone.

How we all mourn our quiet fantasy lives being rendered impossible by death...and who hasn't dreamed of What Might Have Been?

Running out of room. Go over to Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud for the rest.

Maybe plum is what the orange one is aspiring to?

>98 humouress: Puce.

Puce is not a fruit ;0)

'Morning, RD!

Figuratively speaking, I'm biting my nails again.

*smooch*

Hello.
If I had a bad night's sleep, I can't begin to imagine how all of you "down in there" managed.
Sending all the best wishes possible❣️

Hi, Richard. Hope you managed to get some sleep last night. Even if (when) Biden's declared the winner, I'll be deeply disappointed in my fellow Americans that this was not a landslide victory for him/against the Orange Monster.

>97 richardderus: Good review.

>100 humouress: I think that's the point. It's unnatural.

>101 karenmarie: I'm almost catatonic with stress.

>102 SandyAMcPherson: I'm living in a nightmare.

>103 Storeetllr: Me too.

And thank you.

There's no emoji for this. I don't have words for it. Just support, whatever that means.

>105 LizzieD: It's a nightmare, Peggy, and I don't *only* mean the wait for the results.

I want to believe there was massive voter fraud and the votes for 45 were all fake. But I can't. And that makes me ill.

140 Lon Chaney Speaks by Pat Dorian

PDF showed the Epilogue at 27% on my Kindle Fire. Chaotic unconsecutive pages displayed before then. Cannot tell what the hell is going on, sentences spread over three pages? Do not order this PDF. Other PDFs have worked as intended. Not this one.

>106 richardderus: It seems I somehow was in denial of soul sickness, but yesterday the wall dissolved and it was rough, reading didn't smooth the roiling wretchedness of spirit that battered any effort at calm.

>108 quondame: Rob Spillman of Tin House Books tweeted this: "67 million of our fellow citizens have voted (so far) for fascism and racism. That is the country we live in and must confront."
I tweeted back: "it's that inescapable fact that i can not process
it keeps me pinned to the floor & unable to reach for any but the most dismal ideas about this country's future
it doesn't feel like *my* country anymore"

I think a lot of us are there.

>109 richardderus: We have in common with most of the citizens of the USA that we live with blinkers. Each of us could pretend that the USA was my country as long as we didn't discuss politics or religion at family or social events, so that we didn't have to deal with the real differences. But present realities have made clear what conventions obscured - half of us can't even tolerate, much less celebrate and support, those different from ourselves, and a noisy significant part of us wants to violently restrain or kill whatever we don't see as us. I'm feeling rather murderous myself. I hope in the coming months and perhaps years left to me that I can take comfort from those, not insignificant in numbers, who do support the minorities from within and without, and can myself support them in whatever struggles lie ahead.

>110 quondame: Hear! Hear!

>110 quondame: I say again that I live in their midst, and the non-violent ones look like my kin and neighbors and colleagues and life-long friends. I can't leave. We have to stay here. No answers from me.
I wish everybody better sleep tonight than last night, at least.

>112 LizzieD: From time to time my husband talks about moving to where housing is more affordable, but really, we have a nice house in a great area with almost (no great Greek restaurant) any food I could want available for delivery. There are even some family members nearby, which in the case of my family is a good thing, more ambiguous for my husband. We considered moving with my husband's job to northern Virginia, but I totally freaked after 3 days with seeing only one non-white person, even though I knew my husband's boss at the time was from Pakistan and his co-workers fairly diverse. There followed a few rough years, but though we exhausted much of my inheritance we kept the house and are still here.

>113 quondame: Generally I love the diversity of Kuala Lumpur. Three major ethnic group (Malay, Chinese and Indian) as well as a decent spattering of Westerners here working make it a great and quite safe place to live. The availability of cuisine from every corner of the globe also is a large plus point.

>114 PaulCranswick: I've know people who grew up in Los Angeles who, and I'm blaming their parents, could never feel comfortable outside their own neighborhood. It just blew me away. This is such a deeply rich area and to feel fear instead of joy is so sad.

Morning, BigDaddy! You got me with >32 richardderus: and >72 richardderus:. Barely in the door and already I have been shot twice. As always, your way with words is a delight. *smooch*

'Morning, RDear.

Sigh.

*smooch*

edited to add: Mamie!

Morning, RD!

-Great Horned Owl

Morning, RD. Sweet Thursday. I am still trying to get over this "cold". It has been a tough week, but I did get out for a . solo walk yesterday, to take advantage of our unbelievably mild weather. My reward, were a pair of GHOs. This photo is from earlier this year. I did get a couple of photos but they were quite skittish

At least, I am getting some quality reading time in. I am really enjoying The Hidden Girl and Other Stories. Please, keep this collection in mind.

Will this abomination never end?

Marvelous review of How to Make a Slave and Other Essays. Really quite wonderful.

Maintain hope.

>112 LizzieD:, >113 quondame:, >114 PaulCranswick:, >115 quondame: One of the many things I loved about living in Manhattan for the decades I did was the incredible array of people who lived just in my building, let alone my neighborhood!

>116 Crazymamie: ...Mamie...

...and I even book-bulleted you!! *polishes nails* Well, go me. *smooch*

>117 karenmarie: Isn't it exciting?! Something good happened!

*smooch*

>118 katiekrug: Hi, Katie, happy Thursday.

>119 msf59: Yuck, Mark, I'm so sorry. That's a nasty little gift to get in the middle of the plague.

Beautiful owl! I don't blame animals for being skittish around us, we've earned our reputation.

>120 Matke: As awful as the stress of Not Knowing is, I'd so rather have the election officials take their time and make the results truly durable than have them rush to get the results out.

A certain segment of the public will not accept any result except their preferred one no matter what, and them you cannot please, so it's about making sure legitimacy is apparent when the final results are tallied.

*smooch*

>121 richardderus:+ the others ..... Maybe I should add that I live in very poor southeastern NC in an area that will soon be the norm for the rest of the country, I think. In our case, we are a little over a third Native American, a little less than a third Caucasian, a little less than a third Black with growing Latino and Asian populations. On the surface we do pretty well, but - white influence is dwindling and the white middle class is terrified, hence the Trump support. His line may not have worked with suburban women, but it spoke profoundly to their fear. Ice it with a little Bible waving and an anti-abortion agenda, and he had them. The leadership of our Lumbee tribe has been assiduously courted by Republicans for the past four years since our yellow-dog Democrat lost his seat to the legislature's gerrymandering. Therefore, we went for DJT. By "we" I don't mean "me."
I count on Mr. Biden to win and to show us that the dire prophecies we're hearing in Republican TV spots are just not so.
(Sorry to take up your thread space, Richard. It was on my mind. In fact, good day to you!)

>123 LizzieD: No worries, Peggy, you're speaking to the world's least territorial threadmeister. Don't insult me, or my guests, don't w-bomb me, and avoid if possible any mention of c-a-t-s, we're fine.

And besides I have no idea what the hell "the Lumbee tribe" is and now must go find out. My very, very favorite thing is learning new stuff, so you get bonus points!

>122 richardderus: Keeping my fingers crossed, Richard. Not Knowing is even stressful for this European.

141 The World Well Lost by Theodore Sturgeon

Rating: 5* of five

The nine-days' idyll of the Loverbirds arriving on space-faring Terra, with their mysterious origin among people who rejected all contact with Terra long, long ago, is lyrically described by Author Sturgeon. An example:

But watch the loverbirds, just for a moment, and see what happens. It's the feeling you had when you were twelve, and summer-drenched, and you kissed a girl for the very first time and knew a breathlessness that you were sure could never happen again. And indeed it never could—unless you watched loverbirds. Then you are spellbound for four quiet seconds, and suddenly your very heart twists, and incredulous tears sting and stay; and the very first move you make afterward, you make on tiptoe, and your first word is a whisper.

That's pretty much a paean to the palpable aura of Love that these two beings emit? outgas? glow with? anyway, exude somehow. Terra is enraptured! There are trideo stories made, you can order a solidograph of the Loverbirds, the usual commercialization of the ineffable takes place in this way, far distant time when Terra is among the crowded, spacefaring galaxy.

Which is one way you know this is an old, old story. The Fermi Paradox, stated in 1950 at Los Alamos National Lab by Enrico Fermi as "Where is everybody?", wasn't yet scientific let alone secular orthodoxy in thinking about alien life Out There. (And yes, pedants, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky said a similar thing in 1933, so don't bother to remind me.) But the exuberance of that universe-view is so appealing to me that I am always willing to grandfather it in.

So the Loverbirds, having created this rapturous current in Terran civilization, have to come to a bad end or there's no story, right? The Dirbanu catch wind of the Loverbirds' existence. And recognize them. With absolutely no pleasure at all. These two are wanted criminals! And since the Dirbanu are thought to be a powerful, if aloof, race and thus a people that Terrans would very much like to cozy up to, they agree to send the criminals back to face whatever. The crew selected for the trip are one of the most well-established crews in Terra's service. No problems being together in a small ship, no bad trips or unsuccessful missions; of course Rootes and Grunty will get the job done and return the Loverbirds to Dirbanu for punishment. (The issue of guilt is unimportant, apparently, as is the nature of the punishment; Terra needs new tech!) They're a finely tuned machine, these two, trustworthy in the extreme. Grunty's huge, Rootes is small; Grunty's quiet, Rootes is voluble. Perfect!

Rootes had filled the small cabin with earthy chatter about his conquests in port, detail by hairy detail, for two solid hours preceding their departure. ... Grunty had long ago noted that these recitations, for all their detail, carried the tones of thirst rather than of satiety.

I believe we have a source for the modern use of "thirst" in this sixty-seven-year-old story written by a man born 102 years ago! And it's not the only example in this story of Sturgeon's seemingly prescient use of "thirst" in its modern sense. Makes reading this story such a bemusing, beguiling experience.

Possibly the most poignant line in the whole story, but only after one has finished it, is Grunty's thought, "And what you could buy with a shekel's worth of tenderness, my prince!" which, despite its pithy, proverb-ly ring, appears to be used for the first (and so far only) time by Sturgeon. More quotations from Grunty's extensive reading float into his mind...and are understood by the hitherto-uncommunicative loverbirds. A telepathic race? Not unknown, but uncommon, and the Dirbanu having sent one Ambassador in all of Terran history (and he was simply appallingly bad-mannered to his hosts), a factor entirely to be chalked up to Chance. No one would know from the outside looking at them, after all, that their brains operate in this way....

Maleficent chance, to Grunty. He has A Secret, and he does not want his secret revealed.

Apparently Author Sturgeon had a low opinion of Terrans, and based on the attitudes of 1953, I can't blame him. Apparently he believed there would not be any improvement in Terran society's attitude of intolerance and loathing towards gay men. Apparently even going to the stars doesn't teach men that whoever and whatever a man may be, you're both still Human in a Universe so vast that your existence is insignificant, so lighten up on the petty details. And Rootes is exactly NOT the man to get that lesson, spending a considerable time expounding to Grunty how much he agrees with the Dirbanu's calling the Loverbirds criminals, and making sure his loathing for them is clear. Because they share Grunty's Big Secret:

They're gay.

Grunty, poor lad, is left with what I think is a super-pithy aperçu: "Why must we love where the lightning strikes, and not where we choose?"

>125 FAMeulstee: I can well imagine, since what happens here is going to have ripple effects on practical and political levels!

Take good care of yourself, Anita.

'Morning, RDear.

Daring to be vaguely optimistic sigh.

*smooch*

Morning, BigDaddy! I am deeply honored by the Vertigo gif. It's Friday, so we're gonna need pancakes - let's have pumpkin ones.

Always great to visit here; Mamie sightings make it an even more pleasant experience.

>128 karenmarie: *smooch*

I can't quite call it hope yet. But it's getting there.

>129 Crazymamie: Hiya Mamie! Yes indeed on the punkin pecan pancakes, thanks. I need some luxe vittles to keep me from refreshing refreshing refreshing the AP map. *smooch*

>130 PaulCranswick: Awomen, Brother Man.

>132 richardderus: - Perfect!

Here's a really exciting article: https://www.vox.com/2020/11/6/21534594/joe-biden-wins-2020-presidential-election

>133 katiekrug: I know, right?

>134 SilverWolf28: No outcome is certain until the final votes cast are counted, you know. Let's not overstep. (But yeah, he won.)

Good morning Richard.
I've had some urgent errands to run this last few days, so I avoided LibraryThing since Wednesday.

I also avoided looking at the news since my anxiety level was thoroughly sky-rocketing. I did make pie as promised to Karen because she shared her historical Flaky Crust recipe. Isn't pie just the best comfort food? And I hear chocolate is too. I develop headaches from chocolate, though.



Sending hopeful thoughts. It does look like the Biden/Harris duo will persevere. One hopes the House and Senate will put on their big-boy panties and let the country heal.

'Morning, RD!

>132 richardderus: I wish he would, but he doesn't have the patriotism or class to do so.

>137 SandyAMcPherson: I fear that is a delusion, Sandy, with the Senate under the control of Moscow Mitch McTraitor. Unless both runoff Senate races in Georgia go the Blue way, in which case there is a 50-50 tie in the Senate and thus Vice President Harris issues the tie-breaker, or "Democrats win."

Lovely pie!

>138 karenmarie: *smooch*

Is it touchdown now? 273 blue?

>140 humouress: YES!!!! YES!!!! YES!!!!
And more to come.

Yay. 273 Blue.

4 million more votes. A mandate.

So happy for all of you!!!

>140 humouress:, >141 LizzieD:, >142 karenmarie:, >143 FAMeulstee:
I am so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so tiredhappyrelievedoverjoyedwornout

Whew.
Is it "official"?

>146 SandyAMcPherson: It is. Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania all certified votes in accordance with the laws governing election certification and cast their Electoral College votes for Biden/Harris.

Parisians rang their cathedral bells to celebrate.

This is fun.

But THIS is fuckin' priceless.

>148 richardderus: Oh, yes!

Hi Richard, mate, hope all is well with you and that you are having a good start to the weekend especially with the good news about Biden and Harris. Sending love and hugs from both of us and Felix, dear friend.

>149 quondame: Happiness. Both of 'em. Just...happiness.

>150 johnsimpson: Thank you, John! I hope to be able to return the feelings re: BoJo soon.

>151 richardderus:, yes, we just need to get rid of Doris although there have been rumours that he will resign in the spring as he cannot manage on his £150,000 a year salary, how does he think the rest of us go on.

>132 richardderus: Ha! I'm glad that he is outta there :)

Happy weekend.

>152 johnsimpson: Best of luck! I'm pullin' for y'all to be free of the Tories.

>153 figsfromthistle: Thank you, Anita, it feels *good* to be awake for once.

This is my current favorite:

https://twitter.com/schmidtsam7/status/1325148092228804614?s=20

>155 katiekrug: I love him. Immoderately.

Two-hour nap w/my YGC. He drove here from Brooklyn just to chill. Had to be at work tonight but said he needed a cuddle.

It's been such a great day.

142 The Cornish Mystery by Agatha Christie

Real Rating: 3.25* of five

Oh, really. This wasn't awful, but it sure wasn't Dame Agatha's best. Poirot is at his most insufferable in this story. He no more claps eyes on his victim than it's "curses, foiled again," some mustachio-twirling, and hey presto there's the end.

It's a story, so there's just not room to develop the usual string of incidents that lead the crime to occur, but what there was made this reader long for it to be explained. What does the small-town setting do except cause lovely, lush gossip-forests to spring up, connecting and misdirecting attention at the same moment? The Pengelley ménage was ever so perfectly Christiean in its components; the absolutely delicious beauties of Cornwall could've been bigged up; heck, even Hastings had a Moment in this one. He never got that many.

There is also the Agatha Christie's Poirot episode from 1990 to consider. Suchet is, to my mind at least, the most perfect embodiment of Poirot. Here, however, both he and Hugh Fraser as Hastings were leaden and humorless, Miss Lemon and Inspector Japp were barely used as props, and the victim was a complete washout. Honestly, there was no thing to cause one to care if she lived or died. So the entire experience of this story was Failure to Launch in both media.

Then my rating is a bit generous, you'd be forgiven for thinking; there are two reasons for it: I Ching as read by Hastings and the aforementioned Moment he has in the obligatory confrontation scene. So good work, Hastings, you added an entire stars'-worth of entertainment to an unsatisfactory outing with Dame Agatha.

>158 richardderus: Hooray for poor old Hastings; I'm glad he got a star.

Closing in on your double 75 I see.

143 Double Sin by Agatha Christie

Rating: 4* of five

The amount of misdirection in this short tale...a Kindle single for 99¢ if you need something quick to read on your phone...is large and head-spinning. The gents are in Devon to sort out an issue for a theatrical producer. Hastings, old fool that he is, inadvertently causes the second sin of the title by convincing Poirot to ride a bus to their small coastal resort destination. (He's spotted this gorgeous girl, you see.)

Sexism, silly costumes, multiple layers of duplicity, anti-American nonsense...good gracious, there's enough goins-on for one of her novels. The issues are simple...greed...the solutions direct, once the convolutions are straightened out by the simple and blindingly obvious but improbable application of Occam's Razor. A good fair-play mystery tale.

And then along comes Agatha Christie's Poirot. We get "the North" instead of Devon, the sexism stays but is slightly more subversified (men are such goofballs about a pretty face) by being made super-explicit, and the entire greed plot is telegraphed by some seriously strange directorial choices. Most of all, the shoehorning of Chief Inspector Japp into the plot by means of his being in "the North" on a lecture tour is just weird. He delivers one of the most revolting little nosegays of fluffering to the lurking-backstage Poirot. It's nauseous, and the humor that would've helped the episode land its punches isn't set up very well. Not my favorite of the hour-long older scripts.

>159 humouress: I am indeed, thanks Nina. It's still a touch too much for me to read an actual book, so I'm in the Dame-Ags-story mode. I got a 99¢ sale on Poirot's Early Cases so those, plus their Agatha Christie's Poirot episodes are perfectly proportioned to keep me involved and entertained.

-Black-Capped Chickadee (from Friday's ramble)

Happy Sunday, Richard. I am sure you are immensely relieved, as many of us are. Too bad we had to win illegally. Grins...I just wish the nation's ugliness would leave with him.

BTW- I am really enjoying The Hidden Girl and Other Stories, so keep this one in mind.

>144 richardderus: LOVE IT!

As I wrote on Mark’s thread, a very happy Biden/Harris Sunday to you, RDear!

>155 katiekrug: That’s great, Katie – I particularly like the sign that says “Let Amy Rule Her Own Vagina, NOT Mine!” And it may have been a huge mistake for Trump to have a huge fence around the White House - so many places to put anti-Trump stuff like I saw from that clip.

*smooch*

>162 msf59: I am totally with you...relieved, almost giddy, at not having to brace myself for the worst for four more years. The next few months are a total doddle compared to the last four years. I'm not kidding myself, though, this is a dangerous time. 45 could still resign & Pence could pardon him.

Ken Liu is on my Kindleshelf! I snagged a DRC. Happy "Who-cares-about-Sunday-when-Monday-ain't-work?!"

>164 karenmarie: Hiya Horrible! I'm still so delighted that the existential threat is minimized that I can relax and smile.

I think even his supporters saw the unscalable fence as a mistake.

*smooch*

Ken Liu! Gotta track that one down.

It will repay us both, I'm sure, Doc.

>155 katiekrug: - This is great. All of it. Thanks, Katie, for posting that

>168 jessibud2: Ditto.

Morning, BigDaddy!

>165 richardderus: "I am totally with you...relieved, almost giddy, at not having to brace myself for the worst for four more years." Yep. Me, too.

144 Wasps' Nest by Agatha Christie

Poirot investigates a murder. The kind with a love triangle among best friends and a beautiful girl.

Only none of them are dead. Yet.

Are any of us so perfect that we've never once thought of thievery, of seduction to prove our prowess and superiority? The fact is that murdered people know their murderers far more often than not, and that something went wrong between them quite often in their love lives. Most murderers hate their victims enough to kill then because they've been so horribly hurt, so humiliated by them. And the ones who commit murder instead of merely wishing it on the loved one are usually bad at problem solving and worse at self-reflection.

All of these facts apply in this very short, very intense tale of rage, hate, love, and revenge, and how sometimes complete accidents of Fate offer paths we can best define as miracles.

The Agatha Christie's Poirot version is pitch-perfect. What liberties are taken are negligible. And the scene that ends the episode is really very poignant. Both versions of this story are moving as well as most acutely observed...consider what happened in her own life in 1926...leaving me with the conviction that there was a lot more to Dame Agatha than she ever allowed one to see.

'Morning, RD, and joyous Monday to you.

*smooch*

>169 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! Happy to see you here. Things are looking up.

>171 karenmarie: Hi Horrible! I woke up this morning feeling like the whole weekend was a dream and 45 was still in office. It wasn't true. I am thus the happiest I've been in eons. *smooch*

>172 richardderus: Well, the weekend wasn't a dream, but the obnoxious clod IS still in office a while yet. Still, happy feet are the order of the day. Let's remember that Presidential pardons only apply to federal offenses. That pesky stuff pending in New York (and possibly other places) could get him. Then again, maybe he'll flee the country!

>173 laytonwoman3rd: Hmmm. Could I accept DLT's escaping the country unscathed and unpunished? Yeah. I do believe I could handle that if his flight were permanent. He could take his egregious family with him too.
Good morning, Richard!!!!!

>173 laytonwoman3rd:, >174 LizzieD: Hi Linda and Peggy! Yes, 45's a flight risk, and so are his family. I think SDNY needs to move to strip them all of their passports and licenses. No driving, flying, or traveling. For 45, after Biden's inauguration; for the rest, right now.

Jail. Then prison. Then the workhouse.

Wait, do we still have workhouses? Hm. Okay, Walmart greeters for life.

>175 richardderus: Convict labor is a thing, so is volunteering for medical research. One can only dream. But gone is all that's required, good and gone.

>176 quondame: A-WOMEN.

I've been watching your numbers skyrocketing ever since you opened this thread with some amazement, and am finally venturing in, dear one.

>178 ronincats: I'm glad you're here, and out wandering among the threads. *smooch*

Morning, Richard. I had a great bird outing yesterday. More details on my thread. This is not my photo of a Purple Finch but I did get some great looks and I snapped a few shots that I will share later. Off on another solo bird ramble...

>180 ronincats: Normally I like and admire octopussesses. But, Roni ....

Hi Richard. Harya?
I hope you've regained your charming and incisive demeanour now.

I've sworn off news for the next month, as a favour to my psyche. Mind you, The Man chants out the headlines while surfing on the news-sites, but it is better hearing these sound bytes than my getting drawn in.

I'm reading my very first Tana French novel, In the Woods. Her writing is amazing, with descriptive passages and creating really distinctive characters. I'm just over halfway through.

Isn't it great to see Roni on the threads again? I know there will be difficult times but I so enjoy her views and commentary.

//*wonders* Charming? Richard??//

;0)

'Morning, RDear! Happy Tuesday to you.

Coffee, reading, and puttering are on my schedule today.

Morning, BigDaddy! I am off to run errands today - market, post office, etc. Poor Birdy has a dentist appointment for the filling of cavities. I definitely got the better end of the bargain.

Hoping Tuesday is kind to you. *smooch*

>180 ronincats:, >182 humouress: Well, *I* think it's wonderful. Pfui on o' naysayin' supervillainesses.

>181 msf59: Oh my goodness, what a beautiful bird. I'll be by directly to ogle some more photos.

>184 humouress:

>144 richardderus: "Love"

>148 richardderus: LOL!

Hi, Richard. Man, I got behind on this thread. Fun to read the Agatha reviews on the written and celluloid. There's a new book out called The Eighth Detective that's great fun for classic mystery readers - he particularly takes off from Dame Agatha.

>183 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy, the news ban sounds like a good plan. Plus you have a backup in the town crier, clever old you for marrying him.

I'm glad the Dublin Murder Squad is doing it for you! I think that moment of discovery..."this is doing me a power of good"...is one of the endorphin jolts that makes this reading gag such fun.

I'm delighted for Roni's return as well, it's such a relief to realize that she's got so many friends pulling for her in so many cases.

>185 karenmarie: Coffee, reading, puttering...the best kind of day, no? *smooch*

>186 Crazymamie: Hiya Mamie! Yeah, I'll do the shopping instead of the dentisting every darn time. Be safe out there. *smooch*

>188 jnwelch: Hi Joe! Happy to see you. I'm glad you enjoy the combo reviews. Some people get panther-screechingly furious at them, for reasons I don't comprehend.

I like the sound of The Eighth Detective, you utter rotter. Book-bulleting me in my own thread!

...the cheek...

Believing that today is the last of the Spring-in-November days, I'm scheduling some reading time on the deck for late afternoon.

>191 weird_O: The *perfect* response, Bill. Back to more normals temps tomorrow, and honestly I'm not sad about.

>187 richardderus: Very dignified *wipes self dry* Charming, in fact.

*and again* Is that the Rock? He's usually more ... composed.

>193 humouress: It was early in his career when he had less to lose. He'd *never* do such a thing now outside a director telling him to.

>194 richardderus: I'll wait for him to grow up then.

>195 humouress: I think that process is largely complete as he's ~50 at this point.

>196 richardderus: And yourself?

>197 humouress: FAR north of fifty, not likely to make any "growing up" noises, and perfectly content with all of that.

>198 richardderus: Grow up? Eh? Why ever would one want to that?

I’m with Sandy in giving the news a big old bypass for a while, lest I need one myself.

Feeling sad because I was really getting into Who Killed Society and now must pause while a little physical problem takes its own sweet time to calm down: can’t hold the damned thing.

Geeeeez. I know it beats the alternative all to hell, but old age, etc.

You wouldn’t know that yet, of course.

>199 Matke: You wouldn’t know that yet, of course. *snort*

Thanks for the compliment. But I'm probably ahead of you in the old-person derby because blood pressure, digestion, joints, prostate...all malfunctioning in unhappy ways. I'm sure sorry to hear about your no-book-holding issue, though. Have you looked into one of those wonderful Levenger reading stands? I'd love to have one but have nowhere for it to live when it's not in use, so it would actually cause more problems than it solves.

Hey RD,

Allow me to hijack your thread for a moment. Just wanted to spread the word. The Christmas Swap thread is up. To anyone that's interested, come on by...

https://www.librarything.com/topic/326191#unread

>199 Matke: You need a book cushion (as demonstrated on my profile pic) or similar gadget to hold your book for you.

>200 richardderus: *fingers in ears over eyes* Lalalalalalla (I'm in denial - I refuse to hear about advancing age in case it's catching) Anyway, you can't grow old before growing up. Yeah, no - scratch that.

'Morning, RD! Happy Wednesday to you.

>202 humouress: I have a book cushion and they are great.

>201 mahsdad: Thanks, Jeff.

>202 humouress: Aging, bah. Denial, HA! That popcorn crackle coming from one's knees will give the lie to those denial urges.

>203 karenmarie: Thanks, Horrible! *smooch*

"Anyway, you can't grow old before growing up" No...don't scratch that. It means that if you refuse to grow UP, you'll never grow OLD. That's my story, and I'm clinging to it for dear life.

>205 laytonwoman3rd: Heh. I second that emotion!

But at least now we know how many racists there are in the U. S. of A. And that’s unprecedented: the data.

How many, you ask? Try Trump’s final vote count.

And that is why politics matters, your vote counts, and anyone who didn't vote or voted for 45 had best never let me hear of it.

If any of those things describe you or how you think, avoid me. I will not be nice, or silent, no matter where we meet. The stakes of my country's future are too high to be "polite" to racist, fascist dirtbags.

Well, it's a good thing I'm not in either category. 😀

>207 richardderus: Yes, Richard dear, politics do matter. I have always voted for every election in my country since I was 19 (no elections when I turned 18).
Can't wait until it is the 20th of January, and we can leave these 4 years behind us.

>208 drneutron: Not worried about you, Jim, you're a scientist. The evidence is in. Racism is stupid, and wrong, and the weight of the facts denies any other interpretation.

>209 FAMeulstee: *smooch* A responsible citizen!

A quick *smooch* before I get waaaay behind on your thread.

>211 bell7: Hi Mary! *smooch*

>210 richardderus: - Have you seen or heard of this one, Richard? Looks like fun!

Trumpty Dumpty Wanted a Crown

Yes, that John Lithgow. Only 2 reviews so far on LT but both are very good. I have it reserved at the library. Here are a couple of samples, taken from that first review:

TRUMPTY DUMPTY WANTED A CROWN

John Lithgow

With fifty short poems and limericks and delightful illustrations, John Lithgow exposes Donald J. Trump, his administration and members of Congress. Some are positive, some are negative, all hit the mark.

Here are two examples:

TRUMPTY DUMPTY WANTED A CROWN

Trumpty Dumpty wanted a crown
To make certain he never would have to step down.
He wanted a robe made of ermine and velvet.
The Constitution? He wanted to shelve it.

With impeachment a wash, his ambition had grown.
He wanted an orb, a scepter, a throne;
Six royal palaces, six royal carriages,
A church dispensation for six royal marriages;

Courtier installed on his own Supreme Court
And royal beheadings, if only for sport.
He craved the occasional royal procession.
And (gasp!) The eventual royal succession.

Trumpty Dumpty gets his way
Unless the public has something to say.
If we let him have all of his favorite things,
We’ll have to endure the divine right of kings.

Limericks No. 6

The virus-denier Rand Paul
Displayed senatorial gall
But then, to his shame,
He sadly became
The most toxic infector of all.

>213 jessibud2: That's hilarious, and thanks for sharing it Shelley!

>213 jessibud2: I like the Yertle-the-Turtle analogy, myself. You know? Ends up being King of the Mud?

‘Morning, RDear! Wishing you a good Thursday, filled with coffee and books and other pleasing things.

>213 jessibud2: I saw Lithgow read a couple of his poems from this book on … Colbert? Can’t remember, but was truly charmed.

>213 jessibud2: I love this!

Morning, Richard. Sweet Thursday! It was bitter cold yesterday, although it didn't prevent me from the trudging the trails. Much nicer today and I will probably hang around here. I am really enjoying The Sea. Like you mentioned, the writing is gorgeous.

>215 SandyAMcPherson: :-)

>216 karenmarie: Thanks, Horrible! *smooch*

>217 msf59: Isn't that a hoot? I'm so pleased for you enjoying the Banville. It's a job-lot of lovely sentences.

Spend today warm and comfy, the birds'll be there tomorrow too.

Morning, BigDaddy! Happy Thursdaying to you.

>219 Crazymamie: Hiya Mamie! Thanks, and the same wishes heartily returned. *smooch*
***
BARGAIN I recommend: Night Boat to Tangier is $1.99 on Kindle today! I gave it 4.5 enthusiastic stars in 2019.

>220 richardderus: Thank you, kindly, good sir. *smooch back*

I just snagged Night Boat to Tangier, so thanks for that.

>202 humouress: >203 karenmarie: Thanks for the tip, Nina and Karen! I’ll definitely check this out.

Happy Thursday, Richard.

>221 Crazymamie: Oh Boy!! I can't wait to hear what you think about it once it rises to the top of the pile.

>222 Matke: :-) *smooch*

Morning, Richard. What a gray, wet day we're having.
>213 jessibud2: Those offerings are so clever and funny! I can't try to be funny about him anymore. He's hurt us too badly - never mind the children whose lives he's ruined and the people who have died because of his willful delusions, and we'll have way more than four years worth of fixing and healing to do when he's gone. (I would be happy to lead a demonstration yelling, "Pack him up! Lock him up!" Just let me know.)
Meanwhile, I was dithering about *Boat/Tangier*, but you've decided me, and I'm off to load it.
Happy day to you!

Not anything to say, so I'll leave you with a wave. Read on!

>224 LizzieD: It's grey and chilly, but it is wintertime....

Thursday orisons, Peggy.

>225 weird_O: Hiya Bill, welcome!

>220 richardderus: Night Boat... Me too. I've had it on the WL since last year, probably at your recommendation. $1.99 is a bargain. Sold.

>227 mahsdad: Yay! I really don't think you'll be disappointed, Jeff.

'Morning, RD. Happy Friday the 13th to you. Your weather outlook looks dismal from what I can see on the interwebs. I hope you have a good book or two going and lots of coffee.

Morning, BigDaddy! I am just realizing it's Friday the 13th after reading Karen's post. Those are lucky for us as Rae was born on one, so hooray for the added good mojo. Sorry about your weather - ours is also yuck. It's like soup out there.

>229 karenmarie: Howdy Horrible, yeah it's dismal all right. It gives me no pleasure to look out the window so, well, I don't. It's therapy day, blessedly, so I'm not in a tis-was about the 13th. *smooch*

>230 Crazymamie: Soup. Yes, it's soupy, without the chunks of random what-not floating about. I'm really not particularly superstitious (apart from not walking under ladders, but that's because I've had a nail dropped on my noggin before I realized why that one got started), but this 13th isn't a happy day. But then the 12th wasn't either, or the 11th....

Happy weekend's reads!

>230 Crazymamie: It's a happy day for me too, Mamie. I was born on a Friday 13 and so was my daddy.

I'm wishing you some surprise internal sunshine, Richard. That's the best I can do.

>232 LizzieD: Thank you, Peggy, the wishes themselves gave me a sunny glow. *smooch*
***
I know it's silly to get all verklempt when your idols say hi...NANCY PEARL retweeted me, and said my summary of a book was accurate and beautiful yesterday, and Harry Turtledove "liked" a political-humor tweet I made this morning.

I'm in a bullet-proof good mood.

Hooray for good moods!

Cold, wet smooches for you. Don't blame me, blame the weather!

The weather decided that our little "springtime in winter" needed to be atoned for, didn't it. Yeccchhh. I need to go to the grocery store, but not in this sludgy chilly foggy ugly.

Anyway. Could be worse! Easily could be worse.

>233 richardderus: Not silly at all - very cool! "I'm in a bullet-proof good mood." This is full of fabulous. *smooch*

>236 Crazymamie: Thank you, darling Mamie. It's just so "golly gee kerzowie" when someone whose public acts you admire and enjoy notices something you've done. It makes the moments of fighting the "you're doing it wrong" crowd's depressing of mood that much easier.

Yep. It's happy making.

>238 Crazymamie: It also brings me joy that Benedict Cumberbatch is a terrible dancer!

Right?!

>233 richardderus: Oh sweet!

>240 Crazymamie: *chuckle*

>241 quondame: Yes indeed it was. Still chuffed.

>233 richardderus: I may be late to the party, but you are still the MAN!!!! Congratulations, Richard! I'm proud to know you!

>233 richardderus: Just saw this retweet message.
How exciting is that?!! 🌟🌟🎉

Saturday mornings are made for indulgent breakfasting. I brought the grub; I'm hoping that you have the coffee ready. *smooch*

>243 LizzieD:, >244 SandyAMcPherson: Thank you, Peggy and Sandy! It makes me pretty darn happy and goodness knows I need a little happy.

>245 Crazymamie: Oh yes, that's lurvely, thanks. Have some java, Mamie:

Hiya, RDear! Happy Saturday to you.

>238 Crazymamie: and >239 richardderus: I was just thinking the same – Benedict Cumberbatch looks like every dorky boy I ever danced with and Martin Freeman looks Fred Astaire-ish.

It's a sunshine-y Saturday! Hope it heralds a good weekend. xx

>247 karenmarie: Hey there, Horrible, happy Saturday to you, too.

>248 katiekrug: Your keyboard, the goddesses' inbox, dear lady. It's Diwali, after all.

>246 richardderus: Perfect. Of course, now I want that French press.

>250 Crazymamie: I want this one:

without the dopey "RL" stencil in the middle. Dunno what it stands for, don't care, I don't do advertising for free.

I got over glass cafetieres because my hands can jolt me with jabs of ow and a glass one shatters, where a metal one bounces. I still have my delightfully pear-shaped stainless steel one!

>251 richardderus: That one's mighty purty, too.

>233 richardderus: Hurray for the good mood!! And well-deserved I might add. There. I posted. See? I do love you!! Smooch. : )

>253 Berly: ...Kim...

...Kim...in...my...thread...

I am astonished!

Welcome, stranger!

>255 Berly:

>254 richardderus: Gives me vertigo just looking at this message.

>256 richardderus: Put some clothes on mate. 🤦‍♀️

Happy Sunday, Richard. Hooray for Night Boat to Tangier! It is such a good read. I just ordered City of Bohane, one of his earlier works. It sounds really good.

G'day, RD. Coffee, books, other lovely things - hope they're all there in abundance.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>258 humouress: Ha! That's a great gif, Nina! (Still not wearin' clothes in the shower, though.)

>259 msf59: Thank goodness for good books on sale! Cheap at twice the price, eh? Lovely Sunday wishes.

>260 karenmarie: Hi Horrible, my abundant free time has resulted in all of those things being here this Sunday. A bit later I'll have a visit!

Couldn't resist. Morning, BigDaddy!

>262 Crazymamie: One of my favorite films! Ha! Thanks, Mamie. *smooch*

>263 richardderus: Mine, too! *smooch back*

>263 richardderus:, >264 Crazymamie: - Me three! Can't go wrong with Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, and Paris....

>262 Crazymamie: Thank you.
Nice to see you around the threads Mamie.

>261 richardderus: See?

>265 katiekrug: ...and a script that sparkles and a director whose ubergay sensibilities were flagrantly on display...

>266 humouress: *patient sigh* Cary Grant can get away with it and not look like an unhinged psychotic-break-having serial killer because he's CARY. GRANT.

>267 richardderus: So you've tried it?

>268 humouress: No; nor have I tried any other Cary-Grant-level behaviors because I am Not. Cary. Grant!

So glad I'm a pork-pie baby not a mushy-peas one.

>269 richardderus: You should. It's quite ... um ... refreshing. Besides, I'm not going to spy on you in the shower - I've seen quite enough already.

>270 richardderus: Looks good; but could you swap the Cornish pasty for the scone? I prefer scones - sweet tooth and all that.

Well, I'm a mushy peas baby, but I don't mind 'em, so it's okay. Though I'd also like to celebrate my half-birthday with a Cornish pasty...

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
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 Connerly 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.

>271 humouress: ...I sense a story behind that response...but I have a strict "never ask questions you don't want to know the answers to" policy.

>272 katiekrug: Since I'm a pork-pie pup, I'm set. Although my half-birthday trifle wouldn't come amiss for afters.

>273 richardderus: Oh goody ~ I'm off and running to fill my version in. What an insightful exercise!

>275 SandyAMcPherson: Oh goody good good! I'll be along directly to see your answers.

>273 richardderus: That was fun to do, Richard dear!

Hi Richard. The Fighting Bunch: The Battle of Athens and How World War II Veterans Won the Only Successful Armed Rebellion Since the Revolution sounds so timely and interesting.

>145 richardderus: You put it perfectly. The news continues to be flabbergasting but at least the American people chose decency.

>270 richardderus: I also end up as a pork pie which is unfortunate since I don't partake - you can have my share RD so long as one of our pals born in December shares me a little Shepherd's Pie.

>277 FAMeulstee: So glad you thought so, too!

>278 EBT1002: I found it fascinating. It's proof, if any further were needed, that parties are problematic when they hold the reins of power unopposed for too long. If you get around to reading it, there are some, uh, of-their-time things to glide past as frictionlessly as one can manage.

>279 PaulCranswick: ...do we know many Decembrists around here...?

>276 richardderus: Woah, it took me awhile to think what to answer and then (of course), I wanted to format the responses so they were easy on the eye.

All done! ~ it will be fun to read everyone's answers...

>281 SandyAMcPherson: I was just there kibitzing.

>282 richardderus: Yeah and I clarified about the mastodon hunt.
Thanks for kibitzing. I was here...

As promised, I am here to report on the Kevin's Natural Foods we had for dinner. We really liked it! We had the Thai Coconut Chicken Curry, and it was surprisingly tasty. No icky bits of chicken (I am very particular about that) and it didn't really taste like a prepared dinner. The meat and sauce is packaged separately, and you saute the meat to get some color on it, and then dump in the sauce. Very fast and easy. We made both servings in the package, served it over brown rice, and I couldn't finish mine. I think it might be a winner for you.

/report

Good evening, Richard. It got to 80 degrees today, warmer tomorrow, and I spent the day reorganizing books so I'm happy. So much to do, but books rule!

*smooch*

>274 richardderus: Hah! I can see curiosity eating you up from over here Richard. Nothing exciting; it's just that some people leave the bath faucet/ hand-held shower switched to shower - so when I go to turn on the tap ... I'm sure you can fill in the rest. And, of course, the aftermath. Otherwise, I haven't showered with my clothes on. Intentionally at any rate.

>279 PaulCranswick: I'm sure my eldest (superboy) would oblige you with shepherd's pie, Paul and he might even take your pork pie. He isn't fond of mince meat which is unfortunate because that means no shepherd's pie, bolognese, lasagna, chili corn carne ... all the easy-to-cook-stuff :0(

‘Morning, RDear! Happy Monday to you.

>270 richardderus: How odd. I’m a sausage roll.

>273 richardderus: I’ll work on this later – I’m running the FoL Board meeting at 10. Looks like a lot of fun.

Morning, BigDaddy! I am also a sausage roll. Aaannnndddd...it's Monday. Again.

>285 ronincats: Hi Roni! While I wouldn't enjoy the 80° temps, I would enjoy fussing around with the books. I hope like heck you're getting the ones marooned in the loft down amongst their buddies. *smooch* and a happy week ahead reading and rearranging.

>284 katiekrug: Ah, that sounds lovely indeed, and I shall avail myself of one for a test as soon as I go to the grocery store next. Thank you most kindly!

>283 SandyAMcPherson: I'm sure it was just sour grapes, Sandy, since you probably bagged a bull every time you went out. Fragile male egos, sheesh.

>288 Crazymamie: It is, isn't it. Yech. I've already spent much more time than I should have futzing with my laundry...forgot it was collection day, had to open it up twice to pretreat different things I forgot to pretreat last night, add the topsheet I spilled coffee on when Monday vengefully knocked my mug off its perch...the usual. Have a delight of a week, Miss Mamie.

>287 karenmarie: Hi Horrible! Hope the meeting's going swimmingly. And have fun with the meme, it made me scramble around looking for dates and stuff. Sandy has added a bonus question that I liked, and might just put on my version, too. Permaybehaps go over to her thread and look it over? *smooch*

>286 humouress: OIC

heh

Sounds like someone has 1) a death wish, and/or b) a warped sense of humor.

Why on Earth does the lad not like minces? ::verschmeckeled::

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.

>291 richardderus: Fun. I haven't read any Aggi C. since I sold all my vintage Christie paperback mysteries (2003).

BTW, I should clarify that the 'Oldest book' means the one in your possession.
I may have misled people with how I phrased the question. RD got it, but I do acknowledge, it was a poorly phrased sentence.

>291 richardderus: I'm amazed that I can read them at all after cruising through the whole ouevre. But it turns out that they stand up to re-reads very nicely, thank you.

>238 Crazymamie:, >262 Crazymamie: Love these from Mamie. Charade is one of my favorite movies, too. I miss Cary Grant.

>273 richardderus: Fun prompts and answers. The only 900+, oops, 500+ page book I can think of on my TBR is Jane Austen's Juvenalia. I seem to recall you're not a big fan of JA, but she doesn't arouse the same extreme antipathy that Chuckles does?

I'm enjoying Once Upon a River and Missionaries by Phil Klay right now, and I've got a great graphic novel going . . . oh, never mind.

>290 richardderus: Who knows how the minds of boys work? He does like burgers though. Addicted to them, even.

>294 jnwelch: Say it isn't so Richard!

>295 humouress: So it's not mince. Burgers = mince. Sauces, maybe? Runny things? Most bizarre.

What, Jane Austen? No, I'm not opposed to Janey-waney with any strength. I didn't enjoy her stuff a lot, that is until I was about 53 and re-read Pride and Prejudice and *howled* with laughter! Now I've become more lackluster than indifferent to her, not like my revolted contempt for Chuckles the Dick.

>294 jnwelch: They are, aren't they? And even Cary Grant said he wished he was Cary Grant, so I suspect he'd miss Cary Grant too.

...that is a brainbendingly meta sentence...I need to lie down...

>250 Crazymamie: My parents went on their honeymoon back in the 40's on the old Penn Central railroad. The "Pennsy" served coffee in a little German Silver carafe that looks a lot like that RL pot.

I still have the Penn Central Carafe if i have time I'll take a photo

>271 humouress: Happy to be a scone.

>297 magicians_nephew: What a cool memento, Jim! I'd enjoy seeing a photo of it should it appear.
***
So, in my Celebrities Notice Me! series, Phoef Sutton (wrote for Cheers, Boston Legal etc etc) retweeted one of my more unkind reflections on the "character" of the American MAGAt. That was nice.

Catching up here....

>273 richardderus: Great prompts. Enjoy the rest of the week.

>296 richardderus: I was chatting with Jenna today and once again mentioned your 'fondness' for Chuckles the Dick. Great minds...

>271 humouress: Mine is trifle, and I'm not complaining.

>273 richardderus: Oooh, that's a good one, I'll have to consider some answers (and I guess I'm behind on Paul's thread again, as I didn't see it there...).

>296 richardderus: 'Burgers = mince' Tell him that.

If you're not opposed to Miss Austen I may still hassle talk to you from time to time.

>297 magicians_nephew: They bought the carafe?

>298 richardderus: Congrats. Still not jealous.
MAGAt?

>297 magicians_nephew: How fun! Thanks for sharing - I do hope you get time to take a photo.

Morning, BigDaddy! What's on tap for today?

'Morning, RD!

*smooch*

>301 bell7: Trifle Lady! *smooch* I'm hoping to see your memey stuff up soon.

>300 karenmarie: Yes, well...you know how it is...those whose taste is not in their toes will eventually find each other.

>299 figsfromthistle: Hi Anita! Thanks for stopping by, and you enjoy your week as well.

>304 karenmarie: Good Tuesday-that-should-be-Friday to you, too, Horrible dear. Hoping it's a lovely one there in the wilds of 3,700-book-having neighbors.

>303 Crazymamie: Hey there, Mamie!

Y'know, the usual, for now anyway. *smooch*

>302 humouress: Kids. Ye gawds. You could show him the package, open it in front of him, make bolognese with half and burgers with the other while he watched, and he'd still insist burger≠mince.

"Bought" might not be the verb that Penn Central would've used....

A MAGAt is someone who wears those stupid "Make America Great Again" hats. ("Again"?) Since it sounds like "maggot" and they are the human expression of rottenness-eating larvae of corpse-flies, it just evolved into a catch-all insult for them.