richardderus's seventeenth 2020 thread

Christmas 1960!

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

Reviews 134 to 144? Better look back here.

Reviews 145 to 150 can be seen by following the links.

THIS THREAD'S REVIEW LINKS

151 They Do It With Mirrors was lame, post 33.

152 The Plymouth Express was okay, post 55.

153 Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains was...it...I...OOOOOOOOOOOO, post 82.

154 The World Doesn't Work That Way, But It Could gets all 5 stars, post 85.

155 The Light Years was damned surprising, see post 94.

156 Refinery Town was tendentious, post 103.

157 Coming of Age at the End of Nature damned near broke my heart, post 105.

158 The Secret Life of Groceries was unsettling, post 108.

159 THE BOX: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger was *fascinating*, post 111.

160 Xena: Warrior Princess, Volume 1: All Roads was really quite good, post 114.

161 Xena: Warrior Princess: Road Warrior wasn't *quite* as good, post 114.

162 American Jesus Volume 1: Chosen was pretty amazing, post 116.

163 Unpresidented was damn good 'n' hilarious, post 116.

164 Transcendent Kingdom slightly disappointed, post 154.

165 The Glass Hotel was unpleasant, post 154.

166 Vesper Flights just ain't for me, post 154.

167 The Secret Chapter was a full-fiver, post 176.

168 What's Left of the Night was lovely, post 194.

169 The Falls of the Wyona didn't quite stick the landing, post 211.

170 How to Change A Law: Improve Your Community, Influence Your Country, Impact the World was helpful and heartening, post 213.

171 The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games was excellent, post 213.

172 Climate Change and the Health of Nations absorbed and educated me, post 213.

173 Escaping Exodus: A Novel exceeded my hopes, post 238.

174 The End of Ordinary: A Novel was satisfying, post 238.

175 When Gravity Fails still amazes and delights, post 238.

176 Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora delighted and beguiled, post 259.

177 The Psychology of Time Travel got lost in the COVID-brain shuffle, 260.

178 The Ordeal of the Haunted Room wasn't the very best, but it was good, post 297.

179 The Dark Archive set the stakes for the rest of this serie MUCH higher than before, post 323.

180 Tram 83 wasn't perfect but was intense, post 332.

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 December, 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:

4Q20. I have to give this Christ-awful year credit for one thing. While a lot of authors saw their book launches rescheduled, publishers canceled their tours, and everyone was hugely distracted by the nightmare of COVID-19 (I had it, you do not want it), no one can fault the astoundingly wonderful literature we got this year. My own annual six-stars-of-five read was Zaina Arafat's extraordinary debut novel YOU EXIST TOO MUCH (review lives here), a thirtysomething Palestinian woman telling me my life, my family, my very experience of relationships of all sorts. I cannot stress enough to you, this is the book you need to read in 2021. A sixtysomething man is here, in your email/feed, saying: This is the power. This is the glory. The writing I look for, the read I long to find, and all of it delivered in a young woman's debut novel. This is as good an omen for the Great Conjunction's power being bent to the positive outcomes as any I've seen.

I read fifty-seven books this quarter. That's nowhere near a personal best, but it's a lot more than I would've read if I hadn't had the bump that Burgoineing has given me! Liberation from the demands of making a deep dive into a book, instead being allowed by my own inner demons to enjoy then describe why I did that this vastly simpler and handily codified technique showed me. The reads were in the main first reads or review-induced second reads. The re-reads, mostly of old Agatha Christie stories or novels that I could blow through quickly because they're already familiar. At my age, I don't really want to devote a lot of time to rereading because, in the ~170-ish months I can expect to live, writers won't stop writing and publishers won't stop publishing. I see wonderful things,to paraphrase Howard Carter as he took in Tutankhamen's tomb goods.

I failed miserably at my goal of publishing an average of ten reviews a month in 2020. Months without reviews came largely because I was pretty miserable after I got this rotten COVID-19, and there are some long-term effects I'm not happy about but don't cause day-to-day killing fatigue and wretched headaches. I'm going to set the 2021 bar at fifteen reviews average per month...an ambitious one hundred eighty, more than I've managed since the earliest days of reposting reviews in the "Pages" to save them from being deleted (back in 2013, I had only Goodreads and LibraryThing as my review venues, and each had its issues). I'm a little bit anxious about that lofty goal, which is how it should be. Challenges, a little fear, and a whole new chance to make the 2020s rock instead of having them stone us.

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
2020: Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain *

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

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.

Storing this here for inclusion in my next thread.


My responses to posts from the last thread:
#316 Thanks for the congratulations, Chelle, I'm on track with my yet-unposted reviews to finish my 160 for 2020!!

#314 Reading's so deeply personal a thing, Jim. I don't think we're wise to measure our own opinions against those of others for more than just a temperature test...I loved Piranesi and Elysium and both of them got severely quirked eyebrows in the circles I run in. My take-away isn't to question the quirkers or myself, but to note that divergence.

#313 So deeply agree, Horrible. Until the Inauguration's over, I am not going to trust 45 and his orcs not to try to crash the entire country because they wuz robbed.

*smooch*

#312, #311, #309, #308 Y'all'll enjoy it when your turns come. It's the kind of book I think readers with your acceptance for whimsy underpinned by commentary will batten on.

#310 I know that it's a polarizing book...see #314...but I'd've been shocked if you hadn't loved it, Mary. It's the kind of mind-expanding perspective check that I've seen you love before.

#307 I'm not sure how I'll find a way back to tree-book checkings-out after this is done, I'm so unnerved by the thought of dragging in The Plague on every page! *smooch*

I'm done. You got somethin' to say about it?

Yes, I do. Merry Christmas, no matter what the year.

Happy new one, RDear! I love your toppers. *smooch under the mistletoe*

Happy new one, RD.

>1 richardderus: The King was back from Germany for Xmas 1960 and GI Blues in the charts.

Whew! Now that's the way to start a thread!

Read and comment in good health, Richard!

>9 weird_O: Sir William the Weird! You are first.

Thank you for the kind Holiday wishes.

>12 LizzieD: Thanks, Peggy! Yeah, Elvis circa 1960 was a heat-raiser.

>11 PaulCranswick: And that's what led me to think of that famous photo, PC, because it was every-blinkin-where in the Elvis-worshipping 60s.

>10 MickyFine: Thanks, Micky, that's a lovely compliment indeed.

*smooch*

Happy new thread!
Glad you are on track to meet your goal. I am sooo close to meeting mine (7 books left with 23 days to go)

>15 ChelleBearss: Thanks, Chelle, and YAY for being close enough to make it!

Magnificent review, Richard.

And a happy new thread to you, Sir

Happy new one, Richard. Love the toppers. Who is in the left pic? I recognize Elvis, and I feel I should recognize the bottom one but I don't.

>18 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley! I have no idea who the people (other than Elvis, obvs) in the photos are. I snagged them off Pinterest. I think they're all perfect 1960 images, though they aren't connected to me in any way.

>17 Matke: Hi Gail! Thanks...it was such a glorious read, I gave myself permission to go through it twice.

New thread benisons gratefully received.

Happy new thread, Richard dear!

Congratulations on reaching 2 x 75 reviews and even more books :-)

Happy new thread!

>315 richardderus: Very interesting. Onto my list it goes. I'd so love to fly away from realities, however artificial. May next year see us to more attractive skies!

And congratulations on #150!

>21 quondame: It is indeed interesting, Susan, and one I suspect you'll give an extra half-star to for its ambition.

Thanks for the well-wishes!

>20 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita! It's always satisfying to get to that annual goal. I've got eight reviews scheduled before the 31st, so now just need two more to get to the Magic Number.

Hi Richard, Happy New Thread dear friend.

>23 johnsimpson: Thank you most kindly, John!
***
Attention please. Refer to my review of the novel Ring Shout.

Now brace y'all's selves.

A TV SERIES IS ON THE WAY!! Starring the ineffably beautiful KiKiLayne

...and produced by SkyDanceTV, the people behind the Foundation adaptation on the half-bit fruit peoples' streamer, Grace and Frankie (seriously, does anyone not love that show?), and Altered Carbon (the first season was great, shut up)!

ETA photo size!

Smooch!

>25 katiekrug: Hiya Katie! *smooch*

Popping in to say hey and drop a ⭐. Cool pics up top; the first is highly reminiscent of my childhood home. In fact, it could have been taken in the front room of the house where I lived in 1960 when I was 12 (damn I'm old) except our tree was always right in front of the picture window, and we didn't have crown moulding. My mom even had a fur stole, tho I never saw her in a bouffant skirt.

Happy new thread! Congratulations on reaching 150!

Happy new one!

>29 figsfromthistle: Thank you, Anita!

>28 SilverWolf28: Thanks Silver, and welcome.

>27 Storeetllr: Don't you know that the twenty-five years between fifty and sixty are the best of a lady's life?

Mama had one fur that she wore...a black Persian lamb coat. It made her feel a little queasy, she said, but it was a lifesaver in the cold. Fur always struck her as silly and useless for a woman who lived in California or Texas.

I come by my contrarian streak honestly. *smooch*

Happy new thread! That review of Piranesi was a thing of beauty...

Happy latest thread thing!! Smooches.

151 They Do It with Mirrors by Agatha Christie

Rating: a low, low three stars of five

Oh good lord.

Nonsense, foolishness, absurdity...the nonsense of Carrie Louise Gulbrandsen Restarick Serrocold's naiveté, oh really the woman's impossible! The foolishness of the Cause she's martyring her family on; criminals being re-mainstreamed in 1950s England?! Pshaw! And absurdity...the over-the-top Revelations of Paternity and the come-again? hoo-hah of the ending...well, really, if you wish to comport yourselves in such a fashion....

Why three stars, then. Because:

“In spite of all my aches and pains, and I've got plenty. Inside I go on feeling just a chit like Gina. Perhaps everyone does. The glass shows them how old they are and they just don't believe it. It seems only a few months ago that we were at Florence. Do you remember Fräulein Schweich and her boots?”

The two elderly women laughed together at events that had happened nearly half a century ago.

Yuh-huh.

Agatha Christie's Marple: S04E03 They Do It with Mirrors

Dear goddesses!

Sisters who look like mother and daughter; a husband of, how shall I put it, startling unattractiveness and even less utility whose excuse for being there among the criminals wouldn't fool a government inspector of poultry farming still less one from the Home Office; a character whomped up out of whole cloth for no obvious reason except to cause me acute gastric distress...as though his crimes were remotely necessary to the central crime of both the book and show! In fact ramming his useless self into the proceedings *complicates* the dramaturgical resolution of the action!

And the ending. Oh my word.

Pity the men playing the roles of the dithering blithering idiot police. A group of young criminals had already done the rescue they're impugned as being unable to effect at the beginning of the tale. So, on balance, not an especially delightful outing in Christieland.

And the three stars here? All down to Elliot Cowan, playing the American husband of a generation-shifted Gina, who also played Lorenzo de'Medici in DaVinci's Demons. He's pretty.

These are the straws I clutch at instead of succumbing to the desire to lambaste all and sundry in this farrago.

>32 Berly: Thank you, Berly-boo! *smooch*

>31 drneutron: Why, thank you most kindly, Jim. A very nice compliment indeed.

Happy new thread Richard!

>8 richardderus: You got somethin' to say about it?

Yup.
Great toppers. Massive book lists... I's all wore out.
Happy New Year, y'all, and don't forget to sign up for The Jab, when the opportunity turns up.

>33 richardderus:
Yes, not my favorite Marple outing. But that line “The glass shows them how old they are and they don’t believe it.”

Who among us hasn’t had that precise thought? I try to pass by mirrors quickly and put anything about my actual age right straight out of my brain.

Hiya, RDear! Happy new thread. The photo on the left could have been my husband’s mother – she had (and I have here at the house) a platinum mink stole and had red hair to boot. That photo of Elvis is just plain creepy – what’s with that weird Christmas tree? and that stuffed poodle would have given me nightmares.

Ahem. But I remember Christmas 1960 with fondness, being 7 at the time and probably still believing in Santa Claus.

Belated congrats on 75 x 2 reviews, best wishes and positive reading/writing whammies on getting 8 more in before year end.

>33 richardderus: Some of Dame Agatha’s works I read a long time ago and have never re-read. I wonder how this one would hold up for me? Perhaps next year I’ll take a stab at re-reading some of her mysteries, always excluding Tuppence and Tommy, after I finish my spur-of-the-moment personal challenge of re-reading all 47 Nero Wolfe mysteries. I’m only on #27 of 47, so will definitely carry this into the new year.

*smooch* from your own Madame TVT Horrible

>37 Matke: I'm sure that line, written when Dame Aggie was ~61, was so heartfelt she got chest pains. It's tough to think on one's mortality, so it's best not to, in my never-remotely humble opinion.

*smooch*

>36 SandyAMcPherson: Ha! Thanks, Sandy, and welcome to the last thread of 2020. The Absolute LAST. And then new threads in the 2021 group!! At last!!!!

>35 humouress: Hey there Nina, thanks and welcome. Let's all unleash some supervillainy on 45 and his brood of horrors, shall we?

>38 karenmarie: Happy Humpday, Horrible, and your MiL could easily be the model for all I can tell...that stole was clearly the lady's most-coveted gift.

The Elvis tree was puzzling to me, too, and I don't much enjoy stuffed animals after I got a taxidermied koala in Australia and found out it was an actual dead animal. *shudder*

Thanks for the double-75 wishes! And the Christie re-read? I wouldn't be surprised if you actually did it, masochist that you are...*smooch*

Back to >1 richardderus:. I am SO GLAD that the woman on the left is not your mother. I'd say that the woman on the right could be Leslie Caron except that it's a 7-Up ad, and I think she was too good for that at the time.
Just trying to help.

>41 LizzieD: Oh no indeed, Peggy, Mama was five foot tall and had *B*L*A*C*K* hair and eyes.

Leslie Caron! There's a name I haven't even thought of this century. She does have a bit of the Caron to her, though I believe that woman is African American.

Anyway, welcome!

>30 richardderus: Hah!

My mom also had a Persian lamb - not a coat, a stole. I still have it. I must get it out and air it, check for moths, etc. But, I agree with your mom about furs, even though I was born & raised in Chicago and now live in New York, where they could be useful, tbh. Funny story, I also "inherited" a fur coat from her - big, bulky, long-haired thing. I'm a sentimentalist, so I brought it with me when I moved to Cali from Chicago. First year I lived there, I went to the Rose Bowl game. It was freezing that day. I wore that coat, I admit it. Sitting in the stands, everyone shivering around me, I was all toasty warm. Ah, memories. That was, I think, January 1, 1974.

>33 richardderus: A clever line and a pretty face can make up for a whole heck of a lot, huh, RD? I know I read that book, long ago before I started keeping track because I had a, you know, good memory in those days, because I read the entire Christie canon back then, but I don't remember a thing about it. Must not have made much of an impression.

>44 Storeetllr: ...good...memory...faint little bell, but...hm...nope, I got nothin'.

>43 Storeetllr: Toasty warmness is the reason that Inuit people wear furs, and they oughta know from staying warm. I find that wool and layers of cotton underneath work fine for my largely indoors lifestyle, so I don't feel right about wearing a fur.

Happy new thread! Sorry the Agatha Christie wasn't better.

>46 thornton37814: Thank you, Lori...and me, too!

Happy new thread, Richard! I will definitely have to move Ring Shout up the TBR list, and may in fact buy it for the library when the TV series comes out (my population is funny about SFF and I don't buy a lot of it as a result... we didn't even have every book in the Game of Thrones series until the TV series brought sudden interest, and now I can't keep them on the shelves).

>48 bell7: They're pretty much bog-standard Murrikinz, Mary, don't hold with flashy whiz-bang tomfoolery until it's on the TV then it's okay.

Just.

*sigh*

Well, thanks for the good wishes and still cheering for your new home!! Just don't use the Pantone Colors of the Year...prison-sweats grey and canned lemon pie filling.

>49 richardderus: Yeah that about sums it up. Though I am getting more fantasy readers now that my generation has grown up and started having kids - now I just buy a few of the books I'm interested in reading, and that does surprisingly well (if only because once I read them I can recommend them...).

Ahem, no, there's no yellow at all and while I sort of like the *look* of grey when I see it in photos it just looks too... industrial or plain for me, not somewhere I'd want to live. The photos of my paint swatches on my thread didn't take entirely true to color, but you can see what I'm going for. I think only the darkest blue for the kitchen cabinets would be considered "in" right now.

Revising this because I just saw the article with the Pantone colors and.... ew. That is all.

>50 bell7: "Ew" is exactly right.

This was the 2020 blue, and I must say it's the first one they picked in a good long time that I wholeheartedly liked.

>51 richardderus: I've noticed that recently renovations shows talk about what colour is 'in' right now. I'd rather paint it whatever colour I happen to fancy, thank you, especially considering that I'm unlikely to (be allowed to) repaint in the next five or ten years bearing unforeseen disasters (which don't include paint colours).

>52 humouress: In colors are to be avoided, especially colors that are in for the kitchen unless the house is going on the market next week. Somehow fashionable kitchens seem to attract color choices that puts the next generation off its feed.

>53 quondame: Mmm; I've noticed a lot of greys especially. Not my colour; but then, I had it as one of my school uniform colours. I noticed that for a long time, I couldn't wear clothes that were the same colour as any of my school uniforms (I changed schools a bit.) (No, Richard, because we moved because of my parents' work.)

152 The Plymouth Express by Agatha Christie

Rating: three, three'n'a half...call it 3.25* of five

Not the worst. An entire evening's entertainment for a buck; the 30-ish pages weren't painful to read but were predictable. The solution wasn't winkled from a corner of Poirot's little grey cells, the hints were fair-played; but as The Big Reveal goes, it was pretty tame.

The Americans, father and daughter, were only mildly stupid, which makes a nice change. One character was rather amusingly named "Red Narky." Check Poirot's Early Cases: 18 Hercule Poirot Mysteries out of the library if at all possible, spending a buck on this story alone won't quite pay you back.

Agatha Christie's Poirot: S03E04 The Plymouth Express

Better by about a half-star than the story because, while the Big Reveal played out a hair differently, the father and daughter were Australian, Hastings gets flummoxed by carelessly dissing a French dude to Poirot (I've complained about an actual Poirot giving such a rosbif of Little Englander as Hastings the time of day), played well by Hugh Fraser, and "Red Narky" gets a much needed upgrade in yclepture.

>52 humouress:, >53 quondame:, >54 humouress: Never was much of a one for trendiness in color choices. I like what I like, and not even gawd herself telling me I need to paint my space pinque with puce highlights and mauve baseboards will cause me to do so.

"moved for your parents' work"
mm hmm
no really, I believe you
honest

>55 richardderus: At least you rated that one a little higher than the one before!

Good morning, RDear and a very happy Thursday to you.

>40 richardderus: Yikes, a taxidermied koala. In addition to the platinum mink stole I have Bill’s grandmother’s sable mink stole and matching toque and a fox stole with fox head. I honestly don’t know what to do with them.

>58 karenmarie: It was a weird gift to give a five-year-old, he said with 20/20 hindsight.

Multiple returns of good wishes enacted. *smooch*

>57 thornton37814: It wasn't awful, Lori; just...pale. Not full-strength Christie. So it deserved more than a bare-bones don't-run-away three stars...but really, seeking it out is far more than its deserts.

Y'all noticed I've been on a Christie bender here lately? Welp! Come on along, do! The following Christie works are out of copyright and are, today the 10th of December anyway, a princely 49¢ for your Kindle!

The 1,171 pages of Christieness contain:

The Mysterious Affair at Styles
The Secret Adversary
The Murder on the Links
The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan
The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim
The Adventure of the "Western Star"
The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor
The Million Dollar Bond Robbery
The Adventure of the Cheap Flat
The Mystery of the Hunter's Lodge
The Kidnapped Prime Minister
The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb
The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman
The Case of the Missing Will
The Chocolate Box
The Veiled Lady
The Lost Mine
The Affair at the Victory Ball
The Adventure of the Clapham Cook
The Cornish Mystery
The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly
The Double Clue
The King of Clubs
The Lemesurier Inheritance
The Plymouth Express
The Submarine Plans
The Market Basing Mystery
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding

Sunny smooches xx

>61 katiekrug: Astonishing how much difference the sunshine makes, no? And the fact that we've gained 20° in windchill! Or is it lost...well, anyway, it feels 20° warmer today and I'm delighted by that.

*smooch*

>56 richardderus: Never was much of a one for trendiness in color choices I always think of an acquaintance who did not buy a gorgeous forest green car because the color was trendy and then named her daughter Ashley. (14 years later I had at least 2 Ashleys in every class I taught.)

Hi, Richard!

>63 LizzieD: That sounds like my mother - not one for fashion, but until I left for college there were always at least 3 variations of Susan in my class, and only because 1) I didn't know the names of everybody in my humanities classes & 2) there were hardly 3 women in my science and math classes, did it change then. I'm probably the only one who was named after the local bakery truck though, my mom being tired of assigning in-law names to her offspring.

>63 LizzieD:, >64 quondame: *Only* because the color was trendy? That's silly, if so. I'd've bought it because it was forest green, trendy be damned!

My daughter's name is Kristin. Had I had control, it would've been Winter...which she prefers, though she took control and renamed herself Linden many years ago.

Hey Peggy! Hi Susan!

>60 richardderus: Lol! Welcome to my 2020 :)

>66 BekkaJo: Thee'n'me, eh Bekka? And really thee more than me. I simply waddle along behind you.
***
Martin Seligman posited these five factors as key to maintaining, probably also finding, mental equilibrium.

1. Positive emotion—Can only be assessed subjectively by the individual


2. Engagement—Like positive emotion, can only be measured through subjective means. It is usually the presence of a flow state


3. Relationships—The presence of friends, family, intimacy, or social connection


4. Meaning—Belonging to and serving something bigger than one's self


5. Achievement—Accomplishment that is pursued even when it brings no positive emotion, no meaning, and nothing in the way of positive relationships.

I'm posting this here because we're all entering an extra-stressful passage, with isolation required at a time when socializing is the expected and desired state for so many; and because we are in an exceptionally difficult transition time among world orders and leaders. All of those and more are reasons to forget to care for our own, and for others', mental and emotional well-being.

PERMA up my dears.

>51 richardderus: I do like the blue.

>52 humouress: Handy little acronym, Richard, and one I'll be trying to keep in mind over the coming months. Maybe I can find flow in unpacking? hmmmm....

>60 richardderus: Hey RD. 49 cents for 28 books.... I'd by that for a dollar. Oh wait, less than half a dollar. :)

If the GIF's too annoying, I'll take it out. :)

>69 mahsdad:, >70 mahsdad: It won't show up for very long the rate this thread's moving.

Too true. Barreling towards the end.

Christmas movie: Beyond Tomorrow. It's a 1940 weepie with a super-sentimental streak on Amazon Prime, funny little thing with a ghostly touch. Someone called, incredibly, Mildred Cram came up with it...she was a busy lady in the film industry of the 1930s and 1940s. Most of her ideas were hanky-drenchers like this, but this one? Like two movies got moooshed into one. Heck since it's Christmas and no one needs more gloom this year, coddiwomple over to give it 84 minutes of your life.

I am late to the newest thread, dear one. Apologies. I have been lost in all things Christmas, and I have not even wrapped one present yet.

I have added Beyond Tomorrow to my watchlist - I have not seen that one before, so thank you kindly.

Good Morning, RD, and happy Friday to you.

>60 richardderus: Although I’m pretty sure I have all the short stories listed somewhere in my AG collection in addition to the three (?) novels, I just snagged it. Thank you! Every 50 cents counts.

>67 richardderus: Excellent!

>75 karenmarie: Hiya Horrible, a happy Friday to you as well.

Hey, for 50¢ you're *sure* you've got 'em all, so that's something.

Isn't it? It's a great, simple mnemonic for an important screening technique: "does {whatever} reinforce PERMA?"

*smooch*

>74 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! I hope all things Yule rule in your household. I'm glad I could introduce you to a lovely little weepie necessary for your Holiday completeness. *smooch*

>72 mahsdad: At a great rate of speed....

>73 richardderus:- I will check out that film. Never heard of it...

I hope the sun is shining over your way and that you spend a happy Friday. xx

Happy New Thread, Richard! (Even if we are 77+ posts into it).

I'm with you on the Altered Carbon tv series; the first season was great. I'm glad they're bringing more sci-fi to the small screen.

Your three-sentence review guidance up there was helpful. I reviewed Missionaries and ended up, I think, with four sentences, but it was a good way to approach shorty reviews. I'll use it more.

Hello, Darling.

How’s the holiday madness? I love to read holiday stories, especially mysteries set at Christmas (you know, country house, big party where everyone hates everyone else and some wicked old bahstid or not-so-grand dame rules all and inevitably gets bumped off, to the relief of the guests). So I’ve been doing some of that plus a couple of other Christmasy stories.

Do I miss Christmas of days past? Not really. At least, not any Christmas after I turned 18 or so. But isn’t it nice to reminisce about those marvelous days that never were?

A pleasant cool but sunny Friday to you.

>79 Matke: Thanks, Gail, for the well-wishes. I'm staying inside. The sunshine's lovely, but Long Beach's asshole Trumpers have been out spreading COVID. I won't be taking a chance no way no how.

I tend to read Christmas stories featuring hot men discovering luuuv and/or lovin' so I don't think my picks would make your eyes light up and your belly say howdy.

I'd like to be able to decorate my space but Old Stuff is such a misery that I don't want to hear his mouth. Reall, I don't *ever* want to hear his mouth, but I can only imagine how whiny and negative he'd be if he didn't like some item of décor.

>78 jnwelch: I think the three-sentence thing is great, too, so I'm glad it's inspiring you.

Happy Friday!

>77 katiekrug: Hey Katie, hope you like weird little Beyond Tomorrow when you watch it. Richard Carlson, of whom I don't recall ever hearing a whole lot, sang right purty even if he faked the WORST Texas accent anywhere ever.

It's sunny! It's lovely, in fact, but I ain't goin' out when the eejits here refuse to mask up and the City makes all kinds of trouble about spreading infections and the local hospital sends out emails about COVID test waiting times.

>41 LizzieD: Maybe Peggy was thinking of Leslie Uggams?

Can't believe you are at 80 messages already! Happy new thread!

153 Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains by Kerri Arsenault

Rating: The Full Five

**This review kicks off my attempt to use the three-sentence format that I snagged from Author 'Nathan Burgoine.**

MILL TOWN gets a spot on this terrific Best-of-2020 list from BuzzFeed! Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my DRC.

The 2020 book I couldn't review because I always end up screaming at my computer and kicking my laundry bag...it is that good, that real, that intense and necessary a read. Using her own hometown, and her entire youth there, as a lens to expose and excoriate corporate chicanery, Author Arsenault is taking no prisoners. Like her predecessors in exposé-dom Katherine Boo (Behind the Beautiful Forevers) and Rachel Carson (Silent Spring), she dug deep, interviewed widely, and concluded with a shout of outrage you really owe it to yourself to experience.

>81 ronincats: It's gone really, really fast, hasn't it? Well, anyway, not so fast that I'm not delighted that you're here.

>82 richardderus: Nailed it. And made it your own.

154 The World Doesn't Work That Way, But It Could by Yxta Maya Murray

Rating: The Full Five!

THE WORLD DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY, BUT IT COULD gets a spot on this terrific Best-of-2020 list from BuzzFeed! Many thanks to NetGalley and the University of Nevada Press for my DRC.

What a delightful experience. I read Author Murray's 2006 novel The Conquest Back In The Day and was utterly seduced by its lushness. Now, in these tales of outsiders who got in, women who want out, and people you simply did not know to ask for their fascinating lives to be narrated to you, Author Murray gives you the best treat an author can give: Everything.

Not one smidge is held back. Not one place she could go is un-gone. Go there with her...and thank me later, after you've picked yourself back up off the floor.

>84 quondame: Aww, thank you, Susan, that's a lovely compliment!

>85 richardderus: I've given the local libraries a nudge. We shall see.

>87 quondame: Let them know about the BuzzFeed list thing, that usually helps.

Mill Town goes on the list!

>89 katiekrug: I think Author Arsenault will appreciate that:

Kerri Arsenault
KerriArsenault

4h Replying to @expendablemudge
Who are you I love you

Hey RD, I'm not taking time to do more than delurk occasionally, *but* I am around the threads, peeking at the book bullets. Just in case you wondered why it was quiet over in my corner...

Catalogued books yesterday, including 3 dictionaries. Ha ha ha...
Not that I counted them as 2020 reads, just to have all the books on at least 2 of my shelves in a records list somewhere. And besides, I was avoiding errands and household chores.

Hope you are staying well.

'Morning, RDear.

Too bad you have to avoid the out of doors because of the covidiots and not decorating because of OS. I hope that coffee and some wonderful reading are in your horoscope for today.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>92 karenmarie: It's honestly the stupidest thing I've ever heard, making your health subordinate to your politics. But I just looked out at the (drizzly, grey) boardwalk and there they all are. SMDH

*smooch*

>91 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy! I'm glad you disengaged the cloaking device and let me know you're around and about. Dictionaries are often hard to classify. Yes yes, "Reference." But...the dictionary you had on your desk in high school? The dictionary your mom got for graduation? Still word-books, but no longer reference. Sort of. Although I had some old dictionaries that were there for research, ones printed in 1922 and 1889, for the definitions of their era and the words they defined that no longer appeared (eg, octoroon).

Stay well and enjoy your weekend.

155 The Light Years by R.W.W. Greene

Rating: 4* of five

I RECEIVED A DRC OF THE BOOK FROM THE AUTHOR. THANKS, ROB!



My Review: I wasn't eager to read this book...I don't like being mean to people, and a first novel about relativistic space travel wasn't likely to excite me in a good way...but Rob asked me to read it in an unrefusable way: "I'll take my chances."



Major respect for that, dude.



So here I am reviewing it and recommending it for #Booksgiving. That's unusual for a first novel. A first novel with a casually bisexual male lead, a culture of selling unborn brides to traders on sub-light freighters that function like planets with clashing cultures. And I'm recommending it?



Yes. It's trenchant. I sat still for a minute after reading the teenaged ruminations of the bride bought for male lead, Adem, on learning the boy she was about to mess around with was her unmet fiancé's fanboy. That needs a bit of unpacking...which I do on my blog, Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.

Morning, Richard. Happy Sunday. I hope all is well with you. The Bird Dude is back. It will take me awhile to catch up on LT, but I have the time, right? We had a great, relaxing trip. I am going to lay low today. Do some laundry and spend the rest of it with the books and football.

It looks like the pied and American Oystercatchers are the same bird. They are strikingly beautiful.

'Morning, RD and happy Sunday. I had to look up SMDH, not being up on internet slang. *smooch*

>96 karenmarie: Hey there Horrible! Yeah, I gave in and learned to be 21st century so I wouldn't get crotchety and irrirtable. I like 'em young, and that isn't a way of pulling 'em in.

*smooch*

>95 msf59: Are they! Well, they *are* gorgeous and that weird peepeepeepoooooooo they make is cheering.

Welcome home to your first-ever take-your-time re-entry into RL.

>96 karenmarie: And?....

>97 richardderus: Ooh you wicked man, you.

>98 humouress: *snerk*

At my age, 35 is younger, so it's not quite as wicked as it sounds.

Although Jensen Ackles at 42 is a slurpsome sight, isn't he.

I'm not feelin' it today.

Have a Catherine Hyde painting, Inside the Box of Delights.

>99 richardderus: Pfft; can't get the technowizardry stuff to work. It was supposed to be a gif.

>101 humouress: I think you copied the wrong image...that is a jpeg, not a gif (so source code says) but since it was meant to deliver a w-bomb let's just call it good luck, shall we?

156 REFINERY TOWN: Big Oil, Big Money, and the Remaking of an American City by STEVE EARLY

Rating: 4* of five, though not for its prose style

Many thanks to Edelweiss+ and Beacon Press for my DRC.

There is nothing worse than a corporate lobbyist seeking the blinding of oversight for their industry: Congressional intervention alone saved the Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board in 2017, whose paltry $11 million budget stands in stark contrast to the $530 billion industry they're charged with regulating. Author Early, in his extremely tendentious résumé of the many battles fought by the Richmond (CA) Progressive Alliance, some won and others lost but all in service of the humans of the city, kept me gasping in outraged sympathy. I definitely encourage Bernie supporters, environmentalists, and progressives to make the considerable effort to read this case study of a movement.

I am sorry that you are not feeling it today. This calls for comfort food:

157 COMING OF AGE AT THE END OF NATURE: A Generation Faces Living on a Changed Planet by JULIE DUNLAP & SUSAN A. COHEN

Real Rating: 4.5* of five

Many thanks to Edelweiss and Trinity University Press for my DRC.

A wildly variable collection of young peoples' responses to the horrific crisis my generation refused to mitigate or ameliorate in any way, shape, or form. I enjoyed a few essays that explored personal connections...a young parent pondering the ethics of childbirth at this historical point, a National Park docent contrasting the biome she guides people through with last century's paean essays to its lost glory...empathized with all, and ended up wanting t pen an apologia not a review. If the gutting of oversight and enforcement of regulations and standards on industry, and the all-but-abolishment of Federal land stewardship, causes you pain, read these essays to become galvanized and energized with purpose to fight our planet's hastened end.

>104 Crazymamie: Oh gawd thank you thank you thankyou thankyou!!

*smooch*

I feel better now.

>93 richardderus: I remember that term (octoroon). I didn't know it was out of use, but I guess it is subject to PC politics. Perhaps that is appropriate.

I had no probs cataloguing my dictionaries. It was fun to revisit the appendices in fact.

158 THE SECRET LIFE OF GROCERIES: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket by BENJAMIN LORR

Rating: 4* of five

Many thanks to Edelweiss+ and Avery for my DRC of this book

In a five-year odyssey through the world created to feed American consumers, Author Lorr sees the behind-the-scenes costs of the cornucopia you visited weekly if not daily....and now likely use the internet to have delivered to you. The appalling conditions of Asian slave laborers, the crushing debts of US truckers, and the battle to prevent consumers from knowing the true cost of cheap food come flying at you as fast as you can turn the pages. Those of us holed up in isolation need to read about those who have no choice but to risk plague to keep us from the risks of stepping outside. Given how many discovered the sheer creative joy of manipulating our food to taste even better might've slightly reduced our own carbon footprints...but others took up our slack. My dote Mary Roach (Stiff, Bonk, Packing for Mars) said it best in her blurb:

The modern shopper wants groceries that are ethical, sustainable, humane, affordable, fresh, and convenient. But as Lorr discovers, the costs of our demands are recouped from the bottom of the food chain: debt-ruined truckers, foreign slave labor, and Whole Foods workers in our own communities — the people whose lives Lorr shared (and sometimes lived) for weeks or months. Does it sound grim? It’s not! The Secret Life of Groceries is a terrific read. The stories flow, and the hard truths are seasoned with wit and hope.

>107 SandyAMcPherson: Oh, I didn't know that "octoroon" was used that far north, ever. Interesting! I myownself am not enormously interested in making the genetic ancestry of anyone a part of their public persona without their consent.

Yay for smooth cataloguing!

>108 richardderus: I find myself shopping the outer aisles for produce, meat, eggs, and dairy more than the processed foods on the inner aisles. The other day, I had to go down one aisle. I don't remember what I got from that aisle, and I probably tossed the list. I can't remember what that item was.

159 THE BOX: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger by MARC LEVINSON

Rating: 4* of five

Many thanks to the publisher for my ARC of the second edition

Technological disruptors play an immense role in human history. None more so than the humble shipping container, the subject of this four-hundred-page study by Economist and Author Levin. What began, I gather, as an interest in the life of Malcom McLean (no, I didn't misspell "Malcolm"), whose 1956 shipment of twenty-eight containers of his own design onto ships also modified to his design, to Houston, Texas, began the era of rapid globalization, turned into an economist's dream: a chance to study the economic and social and political impact of a disruptive technology before its fiftieth year of existence arrived. (We are now in the sixty-fifth year of the container revolution, and even the pandemic can't stop the trains, ships, and trucks from rolling.)

There's quite a lot more to say about the book, and I said it here.

>110 thornton37814: It's best that way, Lori, nothing can be gained from reminding one's self of the assault that is "shopping" in a modern casino-like grocery store.

>111 richardderus: Did they mention how popular the box is with cats? ;-)

160 Xena: Warrior Princess, Volume 1: All Roads by Genevieve Valentine (author), Ariel Medel, Jenny Frison artists

Rating: 5* of five (what? I can admit when I'm wrong!)

I'm not a native comic-book reader. It wasn't A Thing, I just wasn't offered them by anyone I knew until (apparently) too late in my development of story-acquiring techniques. In my ongoing quest to remain mentally flexible, though, I determinedly seek out graphic novels to challenge my preconceived notion that they're somehow lesser-than and unequal to text story presentations.

Xena, OTOH, has never once since she showed up in The Adventures of Iolaus and that other jackanapes I don't like, failed to amuse, entertain, delight, or just generally please me. So what could be better than a freebie look at a Xena story? No risk, decent possibility of reward.

Rewarded. I can't reproduce the artwork from this lovely story, sorry, but good gawd is it lush and smooth and expertly emotion-tweaking. It's clearly meant for adults, and by adults I mean mental ones if not necessarily chronological ones.

Everything about the artwork as relates to the story made all my hairs stand up. I kept going back a few pages to see where *this* little detail turned into that pretty focus. I love that paintings of Hieronymus Bosch for this same effect on my attention, though I'm no way no how comparing the capable artists here to The Great Master Bosch. Don't, fellow comic-book snobs, make the mistake of thinking you're in for a lesser storytelling experience. Different, yes; lesser, no.

161 Xena: Warrior Princess: Road Warrior by Vita Ayala (writer), Olympia Sweetman, Vasco Georgiev, Jordi Perez, Erica D'Urso (artists)

Rating: 4* of five

There is a risk in doing something unfamiliar and not entirely to one's taste twice in a row. That is what happened here. It's not just the artists weren't quite as aesthetically to my personal taste...it was that the illustrations were uneven in quality.

I'm still very, very impressed that the storytelling is so well mated to the ideas and images. I'm just not quite as blown away. Still, I remain open to the pleasures this visual storytelling medium has to offer a very textual person. That's quite a thing for an artform to be able to do.

>113 thornton37814: No, but even *I* can believe that's the case!

162 American Jesus Volume 1: Chosen by Mark Millar (writer), Peter Gross (artist), Jodie Muir (artist)

Rating: 5* of five

I read this while under the influence of COVID back in March. Every facet of this graphic novel exceeded my expectations. But the problem is I don't know if that disease-brain was the reason why....

163 Unpresidented by Kieron Dwyer

Rating: 5* of five, because I laughed really hard

I read this while under the influence of COVID back in April. Every facet of this collection of anti-Trump humor exceeded my expectations. But the problem is, again, I don't know if that disease-brain was the reason why....

I'm doing my bookkeeping to make sure I'm properly crediting myself with Edelweiss and NetGalley reviews. I've added quite some several, as y'all see. I'm sure a dozen or so more will surface as I dig into my googledocs notes.

>117 richardderus: The reviews are indeed coming thick and fast RD. You have been a busy bunny and without even spending a dollar have added a smidgeon of the Dame's oeuvre.

>109 richardderus: Well, books and people migrate and words are always in the baggage. It wasn't an unusual term to tag a light skinned African American back in those good-ole-50s which is when I encountered it.

All the reviews, all the stars! Even if you wouldn't necessarily give them all out in your right mind they still glisten. I like graphic story telling but in a different part of my mind. It doesn't involve me quite as much. I know it's the opposite with my addicted to comic before he could read husband.

Wow you seem to be inhaling books Richard. When I mentioned to some friends that I read over 100 books last year they looked at me like I had two heads and frankly didn't believe me lol. They REALLY would be stunned at your reading. They're not our people but they're good friends in other ways.

>120 brenzi:, >119 quondame:, >118 PaulCranswick: I would love to take credit for suddenly becoming extra-read-y, but the truth is these are the ones I didn't bother to review because I liked 'em but didn't want to do a real review at that point. With a new year approaching, though, the review venues are about to recalculate the reviewers' engagement and I want my freebies!

>118 PaulCranswick: Heh, she's not gettin' any more of my singles after that 49¢ addition.

>119 quondame: It just wouldn't seem to be a necessity in Canada as their minorities aren't distributed in the same way as the US's...we don't need their extremely useful Métis, for example.

>120 brenzi: It's great to have found our people, isn't it? I'm equally appalled when I hear how many hours they spend in front of TVs. "When do you read?" I can't help asking them. And that same gape greets me....

BB for The Secret Life of Groceries, Richard!!

>122 ronincats: Oh goody good good! I want people to read it, but a whole long review won't do it any favors IMO. Way more detail than is wise to give away; before learning to Burgoine (see >7 richardderus:) I really couldn't reliably do a short review that wasn't some version of "I likededed it a reeel big lot."

It appears to be very popular! The library has 59 holds on 17 copies. Well, now 60 holds!

Photos of my newly reorganized house on my thread. Just saying.

>124 ronincats: Well, that's amazing to me, since I expected the subject matter to put people off. Still, I'm glad.

I'll be over directly to see!

>98 humouress: “shaking my damn head”

I resort to duckduckgo more often for things Richard says on his and other threads than for anybody else on LT, hands down.

>126 karenmarie: I am rivalling Lucretius for Satanical textual obscurantism, am I? Hey, it keeps y'all on the collective toe-shoe-ends.

>105 richardderus: and >108 richardderus:
Two BB’s here. What excellent reviews!

I’m not a reader of any sort of romance. Um. I don’t read books with a (or even several) romance(s) as the main focus. As a light side note, and with a deft authorial pen, okay. Maybe. I don’t recall ever liking them since I was quite a young woman. OTOH, I read The Odd Women by Gissing and realized that I am at heart a silly romantic. Go figure. I felt quite stupid.

Completely intrigued by the Three Sentence Review concept, which you mastered immediately.

>102 richardderus: Meh.

>126 karenmarie: Ahh.

Because Monday.

>130 Crazymamie: Ooh...

>131 kidzdoc: Right?!

>129 humouress: :-)

>128 Matke: Thank you, Gail! Lovely of you to say so. This new format will make me much more free to talk about books I just didn't want to commit a big chunk of time to.

Being a silly romantic is not the same as being a romance reader! The two creatures are almost antithetical.

>132 Crazymamie:, >131 kidzdoc:, >130 Crazymamie: OOOOOO, as Darryl so eloquently says! Because Monday is a great reason to indulge in that glorious spread. Thanks!!

>130 Crazymamie: - I'd like some fried chicken to go with my waffles, please and thank you!

They had breakfast food for the dinner at Daniel's wedding, and fried chicken and waffles was one of the things they served.

Bless you, Mamie.

>135 katiekrug:, >136 Crazymamie:, >137 katiekrug: YUMMMMMM

Hey, RD! See? It looks like we have both seen the same type American Oystercatcher. This time around I got many good looks at these beauties. I like the way they look when they fly too.

i will never understand people who like fried chicken with waffles.

>140 magicians_nephew: Maple syrup makes the chicken extra scrummy.

>139 msf59: Lovely lovely birds!

>82 richardderus: Ouch
>84 quondame: Ouch ouch
>94 richardderus: Ouch. Well, at least I have it on Kindle (must have been a sale)
and cetera

You've been on a roll, Richard!

>114 richardderus: As a kid, I used to watch the show that was based of of the books. Can't remember it too much though except that I enjoyed the storyline. Have a fabulous week!

>141 richardderus: "Maple syrup makes the chicken extra scrummy." I'll give you honey....but maple syrup no go on chicken. And chicken no go on waffles. But you enjoy what you like, and ne'mine me. I'll just be over here eating Mamie's chili/cheese fries.

>144 laytonwoman3rd: Chili cheese fries with jalapeños are one small proof that there is a goddess and she wants us to be happy.

But have you *tried* the chicken drumsticks on maple-soaked waffles?

>143 figsfromthistle: Xena was a fun show. I always had the hots for Ares.

Spend a splendid week!

>142 swynn: You can thank (or cuss at) Author Nathan Burgoine, whose Twitter feed gave me the meme in >7 richardderus:

I needed a way to say something useful but concise and never figured one out. This is the way, it's simple and direct and infinitely applicable. (As well as fungible.)

Heh, I thought maple syrup made...well.....everything better.

>146 brenzi: It does, Bonnie. It does. Also bacon.

Morning, BigDaddy!

>145 richardderus: I'm with you. Yum! Once, long ago, when I was able to go to my office, we had a food truck come by that sold fried chicken sandwich on Belgian waffles with maple syrup as condiment. Man, oh man, could I go for one of those now...

>147 Crazymamie:, >146 brenzi: +1 to that statement of fact. Maple syrup even...and this is a shocker...makes dark chocolate better. And dark chocolate with hot pepper better still.

>148 drneutron: Ohhhhhh yeeeeessssssss

That's a food truck welcome on my block, too!
***
Coldsday Greetings from sunshiney Long Island. Yesterday's 40°-with-rain is today's 32°-and-sun. I'll take it!

Off to visit a bit then back to the book.

'Morning, RDear. Happy day after the Electoral College didn't get sabotaged and voted for Biden/Harris.

I remember a chicken and waffles place in LA in the 1970s and couldn't even fathom the concept. Still haven't tried them together...

>150 karenmarie: It's a beautiful thing when the System works.

Now we need to change the System.

You eat, or have eaten, chicken sandwiches; you have most likely eaten honey mustard; it's just an extension of the same concept. And it's yummy!

Chicken and waffles sceptical eyebrow duly raised. Soooo weird!

I do love my electric waffle iron (okay so it's my husbands but users keepers!). My favourites are with syrup and fresh raspberries.

Damn, may have just drooled a bit on your thread. Sorry.

>145 richardderus:

I will stick to chili/cheese fries. They will kill me fast enough, thanks.

If you haven't, go read LitHub's list of the best-of lists for 2020. Amazing the amount of good reading on it! And it inspired me to Burgoine-ize several titles I read but wasn't bouncingly eager to talk up. See below.
***
164 Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Rating: 3.5* of five

A tale of woe told in the language of triumph. As Gyasi continues to explore the US from its less-than-welcoming face turned to immigrants from Ghana, she tackles depression, addiction, and what we called "malaise" in the 1970s. I don't feel quite as thrilled as I was by Homegoing or Behold the Dreamers, but the amateurs of those books will feel delighted and welcomed in this high-quality tale.

165 The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

Rating: 3* of five

After Station Eleven, I was hoping to be blown into orbit by what proved to be a bitter, unpleasant sojourn among people I despised. In trademark lapidary prose, Author St. John Mandel gave me a detailed tour of dying, decaying, downwardly mobile lives, lifestyles, and livings. If you're looking for a book to make you glad you're not in it, this is the one for you; if not, I'd caution you that this feeling will most likely be the one that prevails when you're through.

166 Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald

Rating: 3.5* of five

Alone among the literate world, I was made uncomfortable by the relationship between naturalist Macdonald and Mabel the formerly wild hawk told in H is for Hawk. These essays on many topics are written in Author Macdonald's justly celebrated elegant prose, and include so many aperçus that my commonplace book blew up. If you don't share my unease with people venerating wildness while taming it out of a fellow being, you'll enjoy this collection without my unshakeable unease.

>148 drneutron: A story for the grandkids: Once upon a time, a very long time ago ...

I have tried fried chicken & waffles but it had too many hard edges, what with the waffle squares and the crispy chicken. At least it didn't have a bone in since it wasn't a drumstick. But the taste was nice.

>155 humouress: See? See?! >152 BekkaJo:, >153 laytonwoman3rd: Y'all're behind even a Supervillainess in the taste derby! Chicken'n'waffles FTW

>153 laytonwoman3rd: You know what Mother said about making faces....

Happy M day, Richard!

>157 ronincats: Ha!! That's a wonderful memory, that song is; and the meme is hilarious, so thank you twice, Roni!

>157 ronincats:, >158 richardderus: - What Richard said! Love it (except I'd substitute tea as I don't drink coffee)

>159 richardderus: - HA! (except he isn't capable of human emotion - except anger - so I doubt he'd actually shed a tear)

>160 jessibud2: Oh, not so Shelley! He's an Adept at self-pity and that's what >159 richardderus: is all about.

Poor poor liddle' me
they wouldn't lie and cheat and steal for me to win
oh I'm so abused so hard-done-by so so hurt

He can sing that shit from sunup to sundown and never break a sweat.

>161 richardderus: - Well, you got that right. Still, HA!

Do you think he will try to leave the country and run away, to escape arrest? At the very least, I hope he skips the inauguration. I think his presence would just be a shit show and it would be a pity to mar what will/ought to be, a very historic and lovely day. Of course, that may be enough to incentivize him to be there. ;-p

>159 richardderus: Oh crap, if %$&* is Elvis that means that even after he meets his devoutly-to-be-wished reward we'll still hear for decades about sightings in Canada and at southwest roadstops and about his alien babies. To be expected, I guess, considering the conspiracy crowd who saw him as their prophet.

>159 richardderus: How does one unsee that?

>164 laytonwoman3rd: Here you are, dear:


>163 swynn: We already see his five alien lovechildren. A more revolting sight I can not conceive.

>162 jessibud2: I think Secretary of State Pompeo went to Saudi last month to arrange the financing. And if the shiteater has a grain of sense, running away to Saudi would make the most sense. Even Little Vladdy Pu-Pu can't kill him there.

I'm wildly entertained as usual to be here. Just came to wish that you may stay warm and sane while you sit out the big storm.

>163 swynn: 😂😂😂

-Green Heron. Waiting for you to wake up.

>154 richardderus: Good reading. I have Transcendent Kingdom waiting in the wings. We had similar feelings about The Glass Hotel and I liked Vesper Flights a bit more than you.

‘Morning, RD! Nice weather you’re going to have today and overnight – not. Brrr.

>151 richardderus: I have eaten chicken sandwiches. I have never, ever, eaten honey mustard. I love honey, I love mustard on exactly three things – corned beef sandwiches, pastrami sandwiches, and with a corned beef dinner. I also put about 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon into my deviled eggs, depending on how many eggs get made. But combining the two as honey mustard does not appeal. No yellow salad dressings for moi.

>154 richardderus: Funny, lists of 'the best books of the year' don't really appeal to me. Mostly they make me feel guilty that I don't want to read the jump-on-the-bandwagon genres. I tend to rely on recommendations from LT and my friend Rhoda.

>165 richardderus: There’s no hope for the first four to act like real people, and I’m not at all sure Barron will escape his genes even if he wanted to. Every time I’ve seen pics or even video of him he looks spoiled and petulant, just like his daddy.

>169 karenmarie: "Spoiled and petulant" pretty much describes the Clan Trump, as Dr. Mary outlines in her book.

"Best Books of xxxx" are handy indicators of one thing: What people are thinking about at that moment. Not much else, though a few are good books. It would be statistically odd if at least a few weren't!

ATD, ma chère amie. And the weather, frightful as it will be, is at least seasonable. I'd be much more upset if it was going to be 75° and flawlessly cloudlessly gorgeous. In December, that's a travesty.

*smooch*

>168 msf59: Well, to be fair, you liked H is for Hawk more than I did as well, so this outcome was pretty much inevitable.

I hope Transcendent Kingdom delights and entertains you!

If that heron, life size, was here in my room when I woke up, I'd have an aneurysm. Terrifying! In the photo, perfect. Spend a happy Humpday! After all, who the hell cares what day it is...just do what you darned well please.

>167 drneutron: Agreed!

>166 LizzieD: Thanks, Peggy, it is a funny place to be isn't it. And the storm might knock out power, but the building has a generator so we'll still have power. I'm a little more concerned that the wifi might die. THAT would reek.

I think there is not a hope in hell that the youngest trumpster will turn into a decent human. Reason #1 is his father and reason #2 is his mother. I wonder if she will leave trumpty dumpty. He has probably threatened her to within an inch of her life. But I have a hard time feeling much empathy for her, truth be told. She knows what she sold herself to and I have no respect for anyone who could live with him and *support* him. ICK. I do feel a bit sorry for Barron

>172 jessibud2: I'm sorry to say that I think you nailed it.

Just speaking, young Richard. Long may the Wi Fi!

>172 jessibud2:, >173 LizzieD: Awomen, y'all. Kid had no shot at being a real human being from conception to now. But his life isn't over, so we can't discount the role of chance. Let's hope he breaks the family mold.

Y'all probably know how much I admire Larry Watson's excellent books. I've carried on somethin' fierce about the perfection of Montana 1948. I've mentioned a time or two that Let Him Go is a fine novel, and I believe the topic of its film has ariz' oncet or twicet. Diane Lane and Kevin Costner do the story proud in their performances, but the screenwriting?

Author Watson speaks on his opinion of the film: "I thought it was terrific—intelligent, moving, and suspenseful. It’s as propulsive as any thriller, but it’s also as tender as any love story. Every performance is excellent, and every scene has something original and interesting." Read the whole interview with him on LitHub.

167 The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman

Rating: yep, the Full Five

I CHECKED THIS BOOK OUT FROM MY LOCAL LIBRARY. SUPPORT YOUR LIBRARY!



My Review: Glory be. This is an *epic* tale, taking us mere humanses out to the Deep End, tilting the deck, and saying, "whoopsie-daisy, hope y'all can swim!"



More thoughts after I can remove the oxygen mask and IV fluids the paramedics put on me. (That was written at the end of March after COVID withered my body and rattled my brain.)



Imagine meeting your intended's parents after rescuing her, being rescued by her, heisting multiple valuable items together, negotiating Multiversal Peace with her, and having them be like "~meh~ that's just life as a Librarian. Oh BTW there are some facts we've never told you, daughter dear, and there's this job...." Was it that surprising that a daughter of spies had developed trust issues? {Irene} thought wryly, as Author Cogman puts it. In conversation with her mother later: “Life was much easier before I had to worry about everyone else worrying,” Irene muttered. “It’s called growing up, dear. It comes with staying alive.” And that the extent of Mothering the lady can do! But "everyone else" includes a certain deeply treasured Dragon....

More will appear like magic tomorrow, 17 December 2020, at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.

'Morning, RDear! Yay for the pretty snow.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>177 karenmarie: Hi Horrible! It was a pleasure to see the modesty of the snow cover. I feel worried for the staff having to come here in heavier snows. This isn't particularly bad, thank goodness.

>176 richardderus: Agh! Must pick these up again. I've read the first then stopped. I have the second on a pile I can see from my bed and the cover glints in the sun and taunts me...

Happy Friday, Richard dear!

Breezing through this fine morning to say hello, happy weekend, and that I’m glad the storm wasn’t too awful for you.

Hiya, RD!

Coffee and Pecan Puffs for brekkie...

I hope you have a wonderful day.

smooch*

>180 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita, to you and Frank as well.

>179 BekkaJo: Pick 'em up!! They're delicious. The story evolves into a much, much bigger tale as the volumes go on.

>182 karenmarie: Ooo, pecan puffs. Yum! Have a delicious one all day. *smooch*

>181 Matke: Hey there Gail, I honestly barely noticed the "storm" because there was so little wind here. Snow falling is by definition silent, and silences other stuff, so I need wind to make it a storm I care about.

Happy weekend ahead!

>165 richardderus: Brain bleach! I love it.

Meanwhile, in little ole down under, I have had my morning coffee.....so that is good, but we are staring down the barrel of a 30 deg C day, and I have 11 people coming over for a BBQ! More coffee methinks:)

>185 LovingLit: A lot more coffee! Whew, summer's heat bites and is bitin' down on y'all fer sher.

Have a lovely holiday barbecue!

30 Deg C = 86F...hm, that might not seem too hot for you, but it is hot for here :)
MORE COFFEE, STAT!

>187 LovingLit: Any temperature above 20C/68° should be unConstitutional and its perpetrators punished by deat in refrigeration trucks. I think summer is an affront to right-thinking persons and its spread must be forcefully opposed.

>188 richardderus: Amen.

Afternoon, BigDaddy! It has been a busy week here, so I am doing the lazy today.

>189 Crazymamie: I am indescribably pleased to be included among the activities performed during The Lazy!

I'm wrestling with a review of a book I suspect most of y'all will hate but I want to beguile you into attempting without resorting to out-and-out chicanery.

>188 richardderus: I'm with you on that. But I don't like going below 40°F either, so I'm a total wimp.

>188 richardderus: Agreed, Richard dear!
I am afraid the change in climate will only make temps worse. Over here more heatwaves in summer than before :-(

Happy weekend, Richard, and hope you're keeping warm and toasty with lots of good reading.
(We're getting down to the single digits tonight and I'm thinking I might put my car back in the garage for good measure)

168 What's Left of the Night by Ersi Sotiropoulos, translated by Karen Emmerich

Rating: 4* of five

Poet C.P. Cavafy's a world-famous, acknowledged great master. Go read "Ithaka" if you wonder why. His fellow gay poets, Auden and Forster, bigged him up after his death; but honestly, it was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis whose death did the most to bring him Fame. ("Ithaka" was read at her 1994 memorial service.) How appropriate, I think; a woman whose life was begun, lived, and ended in a world Cavafy would've recognized...the haute bourgeoisie...and who, but for the lightning of Fate would've been his equal in obscurity, used (albeit unwittingly) her own fame to make his.

Okay. I've given you the stakes...poet of huge talent labors in obscurity his whole life like everyone else who commits poetry...now what's all this got to do with What's Left of the Night? Ersi Sotiropoulos wrote a paean, a song of praise, to the man at a critical juncture in his life, a birthing pain of a poet emerging from a boring failed bourgeois. Cavafy, the poet, doesn't appear like Aphrodite from the foam; he left behind a truncated-by-war but still considerable paper trail. His juvenilia were, in a word, mediocre. He lashes himself with this knowledge, but Author Sotiropoulos puts its cruel certainty into the hand of Greco-French poet Jean Moréas where Cavafy, not known to have met the great man on this flying tag-end trip, can see it en passant as it were. As with all artists, Cavafy responds to a hurtful characterization of his poems as having "weak artistry" by going off the deep end, by standing on his agonized, violated sense of himself and leaping head-first into an insomnia-generated sensory fugue state.

A lot more is at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud Saturday, 19 December, at 6:30 EST. The whole linky-linky review just doesn't suit this space, I've been told.

>194 richardderus: Hi and smooches. Do you have a show now?

>195 Berly: Hi Berly-boo! Nope. I just post entries on my blog at the same time whenever I can, so you won't see the whole review until that time.

*smooch*

>193 bell7: Hi Mary! I expect I'll be fine absent a change in the wind speed and direction.

>192 FAMeulstee: It's not like we weren't warned, Anita. It's just that the Ruling Class decided not to worry about us peons, they'll be comfortable no matter what.

Ick.

>191 quondame: Too warm for winter in my never-remotely humble opinion. Let's compromise...I'll give up the zero-degree days if you'll come down to the 20° mark. Then we have a united front before the Weather Goddess.

>196 richardderus: Sounds like a deal. With the benefit of snow on Winter Weekend.

'Morning, RDear. I hope your Saturday is a good one.

>194 richardderus: Live and learn! I hadn't heard of C.P. Cavafy but just read Ithaka. I'm also one of the 6...

It's 24F out there - thank goodness for warm clothes and a warm house. Coffee and probably more Pecan Puffs for brekkie.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>198 karenmarie: You are a special fan indeed!


Couldn't resist that clipart.

Warm and Pecan Puff'd is good, caffeinated is better. *smooch*

>197 quondame: Now, how do we get into the halls of the Weather Goddess?


I'm not so swift on the swimmies, how 'bout you?

Morning, RD!

>201 katiekrug: Ciao bella, come stai? Cold enough fer yinz?

I'm snuggled in for now. A slight chance exists that my YGC will be able to whiz through at some point this afternoon. I'll know more later.

Spend Saturday splendidly!

Fingers crossed that your YGC can visit!

>203 karenmarie: Torpedoed last minute, sadly. He's been called in to work three hours early. If he was an hourly worker his overtime would exceed the place's income!
***
New Vessel Press, publisher of What Remains of the Night, liked my review enough to pull quotes from it and link to it! That always feels so good.

>198 karenmarie: Her an other of those six ;-)

I am in the same era, reading Proust's The Guermantes Way, in the midst of the Dreyfus affair.
And part one (of two) of Cavafy's collected work is on the shelves.

>205 FAMeulstee: Oh, I hope there's a Dutch translation! You might really enjoy this read.

>205 FAMeulstee: No Dutch translation yet, I have good hope for it.
ETA: It is available in Spanish and French, but my capabilities in those languages are worse than my English ;-)

>207 FAMeulstee: Mine too...but both are better than my Dutch (all of which I've picked up from reading your thread!)

Hi Richard! I am taking the afternoon to feebly attempt to get caught up wiht some threads after a 2-month hiatus from LT, so pretty much jumping past everything that has happened since my last visit, although I believe I spied some 5 and 4.5 star reviews posted... Oh, and I actually stopped to read the Piranesi review because you intrigued me with your 4.9 star rating (had to find out why not 5 stars). ;-)

>154 richardderus: - Oh dear on the 3 star rating for The Glass Hotel. I have loved her earlier books and was happy to see that this made Obama's best reads of 2020 list, but geez... 3 stars??? Hummm.... mind you, I will probably enjoy it (when I get around to reading it) for the local setting.

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season RD and best wishes for the New Year!

>209 lkernagh: Hi Lori, and thanks for the Holiday wishes! Yule begins on the Solstice, which is this Monday.

I was all over Station Eleven and was so so looking forward to The Glass Hotel...and then, well, just about as flat a fall as you can imagine.

Piranesi was lovely! I did love that read. Yet now it's beginning to fade, apart from its sweet smoke of memory.

169 The Falls of the Wyona by David Brendan Hopes

Rating: 3.5* of five

I RECEIVED A DRC OF THIS BOOK FROM RED HEN PRESS VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

The thing about historical novels, ones set in a past deep enough to have lost its currency, is that they might as well be fantasy novels. On the other hand, historical novels that take place when one's parents were getting married and having their first children are in a peculiar place between contemporary and stuffy-old-fashioned nostalgia fests.

I went on this journey, to be sure, knowing where I was headed. The historical part wasn't that historical to my frame of reference; the queer part contained my frame of reference; so what was I doing here, exactly? Touristing a bygone age's homophobia, knowing it would end badly? Or listening to the gift of a story told by a person whose life was more firmly rooted in that time and place than mine? In the end, it's a matter of semantics, distinction without difference. I went to the Wyona River and I saw the Falls, felt the way it broke the people of its town into parts. Boys and girls led very separate lives when I was growing up, too, but the river being so exclusively (in the narrator, Alden's, mind) male rang me like a bell. The funny thing for me was seeing how open Vince, the coach's only child, was about his love for Glen...but only by the maleness of the Wyona.

Keep reading at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud after 6:30 EST Sunday, 20 December 2020. Or, you know, don't...I'm not your boss.

Hiya. I'm in awe of these detailed reviews. Not exactly my thing these days. I do wander over the see what "Expendable" has to say - always pick up a few pithy sayings ("bigged him up after his death") and find out whether there's a hidden BB. My aim for reading widely is so pitiful.

I'm having some trouble finding a groove in the fiction reading.
I finished a McKinty book though (The Cold Cold Ground). I almost even gave it 4 stars. The Irish Troubles setting had an honest feel but sometimes dominated the story. It's a few days later and here I am still editing my thread chatter about the book.

That's all for now. I hope the residue of the snowstorm over your way has buggered off.

170 How to Change A Law: Improve Your Community, Influence Your Country, Impact the World by John Thibault

Rating: 5* of five

Many thanks to NetGalley and iLobby for my DRC.

I began this book wondering what the heck I could do to impact the legislative process; I ended it eager to apply the seven steps to self-empowerment in the political process. The most mind-blowingly direct, unfussy, and above all practical guide to speaking the language of successful influencers I can imagine. If the 2021 administration change has heartened you to imagine your voice can and should be heard, spend the extremely modest investment in this book and prepare wield your citizen's power effectively.

171 The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas

Rating: 4* of five

Many thanks to Edelweiss+ and NYU Press for my DRC of this book

This past November 1st, Author Ebony Elizabeth Thomas won the 2020 World Fantasy Special Award for Professionals in recognition of this title's outsized importance in its field. Any in-depth review of the book will simply be retyping it; the author is adept at stating home truths in trenchant, relatable ways: "Maybe it’s not that kids and teens of color and other marginalized and minoritized young people don’t like to read. Maybe the real issue is that many adults haven’t thought very much about the radicalized mirrors, windows, and doors that are in the books we offer them to read, in the television and movies we invite them to view, and in the fan communities we entice them to play in." It is a wonder to find someone as adept as Octavia Butler was at making the nature of the wrongs embedded in our lush, vibrant SF literary world clear and present and, as a result, actionable. If you're white, love to read fantasy, science fiction, or horror fiction, this is a must read.

172 Climate Change and the Health of Nations: Famines, Fevers, and the Fate of Populations by Anthony McMichael

Rating: 4* of five

Many thanks to NetGalley and Oxford University Press for my DRC of this book

I wanted to see what the world has done to challenge us as hard as unchecked climate change is doing at this very moment. With a startlingly immense grasp, the scope of Humankind's long fight to survive despite the ways Earth changes is calmly but urgently expressed by Author McMichael. Anyone who loves to learn the ins and outs of a complex topic with a master teacher will lap this book up. The regime change due in the US on 20 January 2021 is the perfect time to learn why we should force our lawmakers to focus on climate's many effects on health, wealth, and food security.

>213 richardderus: re: 171 Well, that's telling me. I guess I must.

>212 SandyAMcPherson: Hi Sandy! Thanks for the kind words. I don't honestly feel like those are my best stuff, but I'm glad that they give you value for the time you've spent reading them.

It's almost never possible for me to write a review before I've noted a few thoughts down then gone away for a day or so. My ideas seldom *change* but they do gain nuances and at times shift enough to make me less whatever-I-was-before.

The snowstorm's leavings are still around, but I ain't too terrible worried about it. It is the wintertime, after all.

>214 quondame: I suspect you will derive a good solid infobase out of the read, Starless, and maybe even be compelled to slide it over the three-star-plus bar. It's trenchant and well argued, IMO.

>215 richardderus: If I don't write something down within a day I will have forgotten I read the book.

>216 richardderus: I don't think Susan deserves that moniker any more, Richard.

Happy Sunday, Richard. You are doing some fine and timely reading. I had a good time on the Christmas Bird Count yesterday. Lots of walking but plenty of good birds along the way. Hanging at home today.

Good morning, RD, and happy Sunday to you.

>199 richardderus: – Ooooh, thank you! Gorgeous. I especially like the fish and the waves.

>204 richardderus: Sorry about the non-visit.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>218 humouress: Really? I have noticed an uptick in four-starring, but it could still be a blip so judgment is reserved.

>217 quondame: That's my note-making strategy. If chapters are long enough, I make some notes at the end of each one; if they aren't, I pause to note any powerful responses positive or negative.

If I can't note any of those, then I'm back to Burgoineing the book.

>220 karenmarie: Isn't the Weather Goddess gorgeous there? It impressed me mightily.

I wonder some days if he's a figment of my imagination. Said that to him once, no response, and when he saw me again grabbed me & gave me a very authoritative kiss. Now I'm tempted to use the ploy all the time.

*smooch*

>219 msf59: The twenty-nine you saw made quite an impression on me, Mark. Midwinter birding and you get that many?! Good gravy!

I'm getting a battery of gang-posts ready to be blogged at the end of the year. Hoping they'll have more of an impact that way.

Happy home-hanging!

Happy Yule, Richard dear!

It's #Yule today through 1 January! It's also the Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, the first in 800 years that's so close in the sky & visible, astrologically speaking a time of greatest possible change. What do y'all say let's do like they did in Pisa: Take the mistakes of the past & make them shine beautifully.

>224 richardderus: That is stunningly beautiful.

>225 kidzdoc: I so agree...talk about making lemonade out of lemons! They took a 12th-century mistake and made it into a 21st-century glory.

>223 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita, and the same to you and Frank.

>224 richardderus: Or clean them up. Some can be redeemed, others, not so much.

The ones that can be, should be; the others, well, let's just bury 'em in the yard.

Coming by to wish you a very good Solstice and express my amazement that the very apropos graphic you posted on my thread included one of THEM! You must love me after all!!

Happy Yule, Richard dear!!

>229 ronincats: Of course I love you, Roni, but what "them" might you mean? That image included a wombat clawing at 2020. I can see that you might get a wombat confused for one of...them...but I promise you that it wasn't.

Nope. Not at all. Not a chance.

>230 richardderus: Right, wombats. OK, now I know I'm allergic to wombats.

>231 quondame: ...you are?!? What a bizarre coincidence! So am I!

>230 richardderus: I had no idea wombats had such sharp claws!!

>233 ronincats: Oh, they do, they do:


ETA width

That 2020 tide's going out, so I'm glad to get back here another time - especially since I was confused about the wombat. Thanks for clearing that up!
Wishing for brighter days all around while I remain awed by your reading and reviewing! Long may you flourish!

Happy Tuesday, Richard. We ventured out for a bit of owling yesterday afternoon. We didn't do very well but were instead buffeted by some strong north winds. We did drum up a pair of elegant Bald Eagles and since this was also a bison refuge we did see a small herd of these shaggy beasts, accompanied by a flock of starlings.

'Morning, RD, and happy Tuesday to you.


... and here's to a better 2021!

173 Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden

22 December 2020 Update This delight is $1.99 on Kindle today!

Rating: 4.5* of five

Many thanks to the author and HarperVoyager for my ARC.

I know the author of this book for like fifteen years now. She's got a dry wit, a generous heart, and a deeply subversive soul. This is by way of explaining how I know that, in this twisty and turny story of siblings very much at odds with each other and very deeply enmeshed in each others' psyches, she's explained us to ourselves.

What happens when your intimate enemy, the charismatic and popular one to your quieter, more thorough self, challenges your position? As with all stories of intimate enemies, this is the beginning of the end, and the series of books that will follow depends on hooking you with this cataclysm. Like every blockbuster series in fantasy, Author Drayden sets the stakes high, limns the characters indelibly and economically, and gets you ready for an action-packed ride through a world you'd swear was real.

As book two, Symbiosis, expands the story of how love screws things up for everyone, becomes available on 23 February 2021, it's time to take advantage of this book's sale price to decide if you need to preorder the next. I'm pretty confident a lot of you will need to know how this plays out.

174 The End of Ordinary: A Novel by Edward Ashton

Rating: 3.5* of five



Human beings hate people who don't look like themselves, don't pray like themselves, and don't eat like themselves. Imagine, then, what an *actual* difference, like a gene-manipulated extra strength or ability, would cause. You don't need to, Author Ashton has done the work for you. In this fast-paced book, I was eager to get to the next set-piece; but then realized that was what I was doing, waiting for the next Scene while being irked at the clueless-Dad-unworldly-Engineer interacting with people more generally capable than he is. Since it's a very good book to read at a moment in history when we need to take stock of how we cope with Otherness, I'd say any SF fan would do a lot worse than picking this up for #Booksgiving reading.

175 When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger

Rating: 4* of five

I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked awful, but I always look awful in the mirror. I keep myself going with the firm belief that my real face is much better looking.

That is a very trenchant sentence. That is exactly what you're signing up for when you get this book. A rarity now, in the 1980s this book was a unicorn for dealing with Muslim culture in any way, and using near-future SF to highlight the way whites are colonizing the world was still cutting-edge stuff. Digging deeper into themes of identity with transgender characters, refugees from dying Europe, and pharmacological solutions that become terrible problems, the book prefigures the 21st century's obsessions. Readers of transgressive fiction need to rediscover what amazed us in the 1980s because it will amaze and delight you, too.

>237 karenmarie: Thanks, Horrible! And to all of y'all too. *smooch*

>236 msf59: Thank you, Mark, same to you. I can't speak for Birderkind, but for me a pair of bald eagles will make up for a dearth of owls any old time. Boo hiss on the cold north winds, though.

>235 LizzieD: Hi Peggy! Thank you for wishing me flourishment, and I'll hold the Universal Source to that. I'm hopeful that your 2021 and the world's future will be on a positive trend.

If you wonder why Tentacled Americans are my spirit animals, read this:
Octopuses Observed Punching Fish, Perhaps Out of Spite, Scientists Say

>240 johnsimpson: Thank you most kindly, John, and the same wish heartily returned to you and all your family!

>243 figsfromthistle: HA!! I doubt that poochie will be remembering much...hilarious, Anita, and the same wishes heartily returned.

I lift my lamp beside the golden door

Happy everything, Richard. Here's to good health, above all, and of course, good books.

>246 jessibud2: Isn't that just perfect! Thank you, Shelley.

>245 magicians_nephew: Oh my heck, now I want one!! Drat you, Jim.

4Q20. I have to give this Christ-awful year credit for one thing. While a lot of authors saw their book launches rescheduled, publishers canceled their tours, and everyone was hugely distracted by the nightmare of COVID-19 (I had it, you do not want it), no one can fault the astoundingly wonderful literature we got this year. My own annual six-stars-of-five read was Zaina Arafat's extraordinary debut novel YOU EXIST TOO MUCH (review lives here), a thirtysomething Palestinian woman telling me my life, my family, my very experience of relationships of all sorts. I cannot stress enough to you, this is the book you need to read in 2021. A sixtysomething man is here, in your email/feed, saying: This is the power. This is the glory. The writing I look for, the read I long to find, and all of it delivered in a young woman's debut novel. This is as good an omen for the Great Conjunction's power being bent to the positive outcomes as any I've seen.

I read fifty-seven books this quarter. That's nowhere near a personal best, but it's a lot more than I would've read if I hadn't had the bump that Burgoineing has given me! Liberation from the demands of making a deep dive into a book, instead being allowed by my own inner demons to enjoy then describe why I did that this vastly simpler and handily codified technique showed me. The reads were in the main first reads or review-induced second reads. The re-reads, mostly of old Agatha Christie stories or novels that I could blow through quickly because they're already familiar. At my age, I don't really want to devote a lot of time to rereading because, in the ~170-ish months I can expect to live, writers won't stop writing and publishers won't stop publishing. I see wonderful things,to paraphrase Howard Carter as he took in Tutankhamen's tomb goods.

I failed miserably at my goal of publishing an average of ten reviews a month in 2020. Months without reviews came largely because I was pretty miserable after I got this rotten COVID-19, and there are some long-term effects I'm not happy about but don't cause day-to-day killing fatigue and wretched headaches. I'm going to set the 2021 bar at fifteen reviews average per month...an ambitious one hundred eighty, more than I've managed since the earliest days of reposting reviews in the "Pages" to save them from being deleted (back in 2013, I had only Goodreads and LibraryThing as my review venues, and each had its issues). I'm a little bit anxious about that lofty goal, which is how it should be. Challenges, a little fear, and a whole new chance to make the 2020s rock instead of having them stone us.

>241 richardderus: This explains much.

>241 richardderus: Excellent!!

>248 richardderus: *smoochies*

The very best Yule wishes to you, my Dear Boy, and exceptional staying power and good luck on your review goal for 2021.

xxoo

>248 richardderus: I am actually surprised that my library has a copy of that. It's on hold now based on your review!

'Morning, RD!

>248 richardderus: You Exist Too Much rave duly noted. I'm glad Burgoineing helped you find a different and less stressful approach to your reading and therefore reviews.

Ambitious and challenging goal, Good luck on the 15-per-month goal.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>253 karenmarie: Hey Horrible! Yes, it's liberating not to think as each page turns, "what can I find to quote? what bigger point can I make?" I don't think every book needs that, and a structure helps overcome that inner pushpushpush.

I hope I can get there this year.

>252 ChelleBearss: Wonderful, Chelle! I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

>251 Matke: *smooch* Thanks so much, Gail, I'll be pressed to do it but I need to keep my little grey cells perambulating.

>250 BekkaJo: Heh, isn't that excellent Bekka! Makes me so happy! Octopuses are mean bastards, just like me. *smooch*

>249 humouress: I know, right?!

Wait. What? You had the 'rona? How did I miss that? I may not have done a lot of commenting on your threads, but I swear I read almost every post. Glad you've recovered, sorry to hear you had to suffer and that you've got some lingering issues.

>245 magicians_nephew: I want one of those too.

>255 Storeetllr: Back in March and April. Positive tests 3x and a solid month in quarantine...but the blood pressure issue is a little gift the goddamned thing keeps giving me!!

I'm paranoid about it because both my parents died after having massive strokes. My Rx is for Norvasc, and it is doing okay at keeping me close to normal bp.

But no breathing trouble! I was early in adopting percussive breathing, four deep breaths held briefly then a fifth coughed out, which might have made the difference. I did have chest pains, the kind that feel like you ran too fast, but they never got worse.

Oh, wow. What was I doing back in March and April that I completely missed that? Oh, right. Recovering from open heart surgery. Okay, well, I am so glad you recovered from Covid with *only* the high blood pressure issue, tho I'm with you wrt the paranoia - my mom died of a stroke too, and I am inordinately watchful lest I follow her lead. Hmm, percussive breathing. Think maybe I'll start practicing that. My ex gave me a Pulmonica harmonica that is good to use to increase lung strength which I used when recovering from surgery but have let fall by the wayside lately. Perhaps I'll get that out too. Just in case.

>257 Storeetllr: Yeah, that's a real attention-grabber alrighty all right! Open-heart surgery focuses the mind most wonderfully.

I really can't think of a reason for you not to practice the percussive breathing technique, but would say starting to do it after talking to the cardiologist would be erring on the side of cautious sense.

176 Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Zelda Knight

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Dominion is the first anthology of speculative fiction and poetry by Africans and the African Diaspora. An old god rises up each fall to test his subjects. Once an old woman’s pet, a robot sent to mine an asteroid faces an existential crisis. A magician and his son time-travel to Ngoni country and try to change the course of history. A dead child returns to haunt his grieving mother with terrifying consequences. Candace, an ambitious middle manager, is handed a project that will force her to confront the ethical ramifications of her company’s latest project—the monetization of human memory. Osupa, a newborn village in pre-colonial Yorubaland populated by refugees of war, is recovering after a great storm when a young man and woman are struck by lightning, causing three priests to divine the coming intrusion of a titanic object from beyond the sky.

A magician teams up with a disgruntled civil servant to find his missing wand. A taboo error in a black market trade brings a man face-to-face with his deceased father—literally. The death of a King sets off a chain of events that ensnare a trickster, an insane killing machine, and a princess, threatening to upend their post-apocalyptic world. Africa is caught in the tug-of-war between two warring Chinas, and for Ibrahim torn between the lashings of his soul and the pain of the world around him, what will emerge? When the Goddess of Vengeance locates the souls of her stolen believers, she comes to a midwestern town with a terrible past, seeking the darkest reparations. In a post-apocalyptic world devastated by nuclear war, survivors gather in Ife-Iyoku, the spiritual capital of the ancient Oyo Empire, where they are altered in fantastic ways by its magic and power.

I RECEIVED A DRC OF THIS BOOK FROM THE EDITORS. THANK YOU!

My Review: Whenever you see this review: GO GET THIS ANTHOLOGY. It's the 24th...your ereader or tablet is just sitting there, you can't play your gifted games just yet, and Krampus only knows how long it will be until you get snacky. Read these intense, startling, urgent stories...no excuses! You read The Lord of the Rings and had no problem following those fake, complicated character and place names so don't front that these are any harder. And believe me: The stories are (almost) all so vivid and alive and enfolding that you are gonna be up late.

Go see the thirteen Bryce Method story-by-story reviews on my blog tomorrow morning at 6:30 EST.

177 The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: In 1967, four female scientists worked together to build the world’s first time machine. But just as they are about to debut their creation, one of them suffers a breakdown, putting the whole project—and future of time travel—in jeopardy. To protect their invention, one member is exiled from the team—erasing her contributions from history.

Fifty years later, time travel is a big business. Twenty-something Ruby Rebello knows her beloved grandmother, Granny Bee, was one of the pioneers, though no one will tell her more. But when Bee receives a mysterious newspaper clipping from the future reporting the murder of an unidentified woman, Ruby becomes obsessed: could it be Bee? Who would want her dead? And most importantly of all: can her murder be stopped?

Traversing the decades and told from alternating perspectives, The Psychology of Time Travel introduces a fabulous new voice in fiction and a new must-read for fans of speculative fiction and women’s fiction alike.

THE PUBLISHER APPROVED A DRC OF THIS TITLE VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Okay. This is hard. I can't explain why I didn't give this fascinating, layered, reality-twisting novel of ideas less than five full stars without spoilering the hell out of the ending.

Let me approach this from the side. I remember a few details from the past, when there was one digit in my age. I don't claim, at this late date, that they are factual and accurate; way too much time has passed, way too many things look completely different to my grandfatherly self than they *could* have to my kid self. So is that The Past, my version of the past, a fantastical creation of my imagination, some combination of these (and other) angles of view? Is something new created, something old altered, is there any way imaginable that this paradox could be resolved with technological time travel? Or would that just make things a lot worse?

Reader, this novel does not answer those questions. It does not approach your experience of its story universe from the position of *giving* you answers; it demands of you that you spend significant mental energy creating answers for yourself, using the story's elements (note I did not call them facts) to sort out who actually intended to be good and create happiness for the greatest number of souls.

The answer is not the one you expect it to be. Or it wasn't the one I expected it to be. So I think you're likely to be led down the strange and winding thread of the screw bolting the monster's head to their body, directly into a concrete slab, and left there to wonder just what exactly happened while you thought you were reading a fun little entertainment about women empowering themselves in the world of 1967.

And you'll like it.

PLEASE NOTE: For some inexplicable reason, I didn't post this review in my thread on the 30th of April, when I posted it to my blog, to Goodreads, and to the book page here on LT. That nagging one-read gap between all my other databases and LT is now explained. Say hallelujah, brethren and cistern!

>260 richardderus: I see your reading tally was not adding up between different lists/databases. Don't you just hate when that happens?

I had an inexplicable miscount in my 2020 tally and it was driving me nuts. I finally found the blip way back from last summer when I was looking at my titles versus "books reviewed". The Wandering Fire review slot was empty, yet in my book page notation, I had written read and culled, August 2020.

I think I tend to put off reviews and thus noting it in my list of book titles read by the month. Not surprisingly this usually coincides with how enthusiastic I was about the story.
I added it to my December count even though I finished the novel months ago. I had to craft a review for my own peace of mind (on the main book page) and I'll have to remember to post it on my thread right smartly.

I'm trying to read too many books concurrently this week. Silly me. Of all the weeks to try to finish the stories I've got going. Might possibly have something to do with eyeballing the wrapped gifts which deliciously arrived in the house this past week. They're delightfully rectangular and not too thick, *grin*.

>261 richardderus: - Snerk....;-)

>262 SandyAMcPherson: I usually have more to say, and more easily said, for a book I don't like. I try not to say it all though, really I do.

>259 richardderus: But where does one obtain book?

>261 richardderus: I might borrow that for the bad jokes thread :0)

>262 SandyAMcPherson: Could they be ... books? Can you feel the edges? You know, just to guess :0)

>264 quondame: Yes, I'm having that issue with the last book I read. It was the fifth book in a series; it and the fourth book changed tone that shifted the end of the series out of the younger reader bracket without warning, which rather annoyed me and so I had something to say about that. And ... um ... said it. (Or am in the process of saying it, actually - these days I tend to put down my first thoughts and then (intend to) come back later to polish them.)

Good luck with your 2021 goal, Richard, and a Happy Christmas!

Happy Holidays, Richard. Praying for a much better 2021.

" no one can fault the astoundingly wonderful literature we got this year." Amen, to that. It truly has been a stellar year and I still have more than a few to get to.

>266 Familyhistorian: Thank you, Meg, and the same wishes heartily returned.

>265 humouress: One follows the link at my blog, is how.

Feel free! It's too good a piece of wordplay to waste.

Ah, the afterpolish...somehow I never quite finish the polish, let alone the afterpolish.

>264 quondame: I sit on my more intemperate reactions much more these days. I got tired of the flying monkeys telling me how wrong I was and unfollowing me, o dread punishment.

>263 jessibud2: :-P

>262 SandyAMcPherson: I feel positively unchained by having a formal structure to follow about those unwritten reviews! I have, what, a dozen? now done and so my 2021 goal makes more sense. It's a giant relief, I can tell you.

The database mismatch is always like a burr under my saddle. Built in is a one-book mismatch between Goodreads and everywhere else, but that being structural and consistent, I allow for it and don't cringe when I see it. (It says here.)

Ahhh, the pleasures of knowing you'll like the gift before you even know what it is.

>267 msf59: Pretty bird! Let's hope he's a harbinger of the gloire that will be 2021.

Happy reading!

Good morning, RDear! I hope your day is a coffee-and-book-action day.

>260 richardderus: Got me with a BB on this one. I just One-Clicked it for $1.99! Thanks.

>261 richardderus: Clever.

>262 SandyAMcPherson: … eyeballing the wrapped gifts which deliciously arrived in the house this past week. They're delightfully rectangular and not too thick,… I’ve got 3 of those just waiting for tomorrow.

>268 richardderus: I got tired of the flying monkeys telling me how wrong I was. Vicious things, aren’t they?

>270 karenmarie: Hey there Horrible! *smooch*

A buck ninety-nine is plenty enough pleasure, but the read's worth full price!

They are vicious. I do not want to hear from them ever again.

So happy you enjoyed The Psychology of Time Travel, it was such a wonderful tale.

Wishing you a Christmas Eve full of all your favourite small pleasures.

Hi Richard. Wishing you peace, joy and happiness this holiday season and best wishes for a wonderful New Year!

To one of my favorite LTers! With lots of smooches from Berly. : )

Have a wonderful Pagan Holiday, Richard. Is there one that fits?

Thanks for the excellent mini-reviews. You particularly got me with The Secret Life of Groceries and the Xena GN, which I've added to the WL already.

>273 MickyFine:, >274 lkernagh:, >275 Berly:, >276 jnwelch:

Thanks, y'all!
(and aren't you grateful it doesn't have sound?)

>277 richardderus: There's an idiot a couple blocks over from us who has a light display like this atrocity you've presented. There's also a music system. We can hear it playing until at least 10 p.m. Every night.

I just can't imagine living next to something like that. I'd be inclined to threaten to shoot out those strobe lights with a sling shot, and get this guy to borrow the music system until February...


Edited to update more recent news: apparently the strobes and music have been modified after a little visit from Saskatoon's finest.

>277 richardderus: - If there was sound, I bet it would be Mannheim Steamroller!

Pre-Christmas smooches, my friend xx

>279 katiekrug: One of the unexpected blessings of the pandemic was that we didn't have to endure 2 months worth of TV ads for the annual live Christmas performance by the Tran Siberian Orchestra at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

>278 SandyAMcPherson: Grinch!

>279 katiekrug: I bet so...*smooch*

>280 laytonwoman3rd: see: >278 SandyAMcPherson:

Hey! You stole that from my thread topper!! LOL

Thread topper stealing? Gasp, never... is it gone entirely?

So RD, here we are at the ass end of the year.
I didn't read as many stellar books as some folks, but I sure had a blast with the CS Harris series and discovered a few authors new to me. Many wonderful reviews enjoyed here chez Richard's.

Lots of images going the rounds, so I'll just say Happy Christmas to all, and to all a Goodnight. (quoting Clement Clarke Moore, 1949 edition).

And take care, you hear?!

Hope you have a Merry Christmas!

>268 richardderus: Near invisibility to flying monkeys is my superpower. Of course it involves near invisibility to practically everybody except people who track me due to my brother's imperial (well Washington DC) entanglements.

Happy Holidays Richard!

Wishing you and yours the very best of the season.

Happy holidays, Richard!

I hope you get some of those at least, R.D., as we all look forward to a better 2021.

>291 PaulCranswick:, >290 harrygbutler:, >289 humouress:, >288 quondame:, >287 quondame:, >286 Copperskye:, >285 ChelleBearss:, >284 SandyAMcPherson:, >283 Berly: (did NOT! from Twitter *nyah*)


ETA size! wow those cartoons are big when the NYer posts 'em

Hiya RD!

*smooch* from your own Horrible

Merry Christmas lovely boy! I got my wish, it's snowing. Since I appear to be omnipotent, I also wish you a 2021 filled with joy and happiness and health. And hot men.

>294 SomeGuyInVirginia:, >293 karenmarie: Happy merry ho-ho!

>295 richardderus: Proclaiming your inner snowflake!

178 The Ordeal of the Haunted Room by Jodi Taylor

Rating: 4.5* of five

You won't understand a word of what I'm saying if I explain why I loved reading this jolly little murder mystery. Here's what the cognoscenti should know: While you're wondering what the heck this was all about...why was this a jump? who wanted this data? what's going on at St Mary's?...Jodi's weaving her web under your dribbling chin. Max's use of, um, an unexpected name and identity alone could keep me giggling for hours.

And in the end a secret is revealed that amplifies the impact of a very, very important scene from St Mary's timeline's past. One that makes me mist up every time I think about it. You'll know when you get there.

>295 richardderus: Looking good with the mask, Richard dear, and I like the snowy pants :-)

Merry Christmas, Richard dear. I ended up with a headache that interfered with me getting out on the threads this afternoon, but it is diminishing now. Love the photo in >295 richardderus:!

>295 richardderus: OKhey, have you been working out?

>300 SomeGuyInVirginia:, >299 ronincats:, >298 FAMeulstee:, >296 laytonwoman3rd: My inner snowflake, always so outer, salutes you all!

Happy Saturday, Richard. I hope you had a nice Christmas Day. We had a lazy one- books, a movie and some TV shows.
I know you were not at all a fan of Beautiful Ruins but you might really like The Cold Millions. I am still in the second half but this is easily shaping up to be one of the best surprises of the year.

>295 richardderus: Love it!

'Morning, RD, and happy DACD - day after Christmas Day.

>295 richardderus: Thank you for the pic! I especially love the snowflake lounging pants/pj bottoms.

Looks like today's another great day to stay inside. Have a good'un.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

Wanna help me kick 202 to the curb? 2021 group is here

My 2021 thread is up but go at your own pace...no rush...mustn't sprain things...and there will be two more book reviews here before the end of the year, too.

I appreciate that, RDear. I hang on around here until the bitter end.

>305 richardderus: You youngsters, always rushing.

Good morning, RDear, and happy Sunday to you.

>305 richardderus: I've joined the group and have watched the number of threads grow exponentially, but I'm stubborn and won't set mine up 'til January 1 and will visit folks there then too. Harrumph.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

Hope you are having a good weekend!

>307 humouress: Youngster that I am, I'm ready for the New to sweep away the Old like never before.

>306 MickyFine: No reason not to, now is there?

>308 karenmarie: Hey Horrible! I already knew you for a last-minute lady. Your annual tradition is to come to the Good Jedi at the stroke of noon on the first, so it's no news to moi. *smooch*

>309 ChelleBearss: Thanks, Chelle! It's colder than it's been yet this winter, so snugging in with a good book is a real pleasure.

>282 richardderus: That may be my favorite of the Christmas greeting images so far! 2020 has indeed been a nasty wasty skunk!!!

I didn't get around to drop of holiday greetings so I'm doing a quick set of Happy New Year drive bys.

Oh, and I love >295 richardderus: too. :-)

>311 EBT1002: Thanks, Ellen! Happy new year wishes gratefully accepted.

Goddesses know we all need 'em.

I love my new hoodie! The perfect shade of grey for me.

>277 richardderus: I have always wondered what neighbours think about a display like that. Black out curtains certainly needed.

>305 richardderus: Oh wow! I will have to get there soon.

'Morning, RDearest!

I.Want.Snow. Looks like there's no chance of it any time soon, more's the pity.

In other news, there's coffee and reading and setting up my 2021 books read spreadsheet. I looked at the one you sent to me and think it's nifty, but prefer mine even though it's less sophisticated.

>314 karenmarie: It's always good to want things...heh...

The spreadsheet's sophistication is probably its downfall for many. I myownself am uninterested in tracking some of the stuff they find necessary...why does one need a "fiction/nonfiction" toggle if there are genres listed later?...but the beauty is that it's customizable. I've removed some columns so I don't have to deal with them. The summary formulas will need massaging later, but honestly that's just not a priority.

Coffee! Yes, coffee. Imbibe thy elixir in health, Horrible dear.

Wombats are so cuuuuuute....wait, >234 richardderus:, what???

>295 richardderus: Merry Tidings to you and your snowy pants!

You will be pleased to hear that I just finished my lowest rated (ever? certainly for this year) book- that Graham Swift one we were talking about over on my thread. One star. BUT I am pleased to hear that I was not the only one with an intense reaction to it!

^ put me in the 'expletive' category, although, sometimes I use an expletive as a thinking word...so, yeah.

>317 LovingLit: I know, right?! What the heck is a cute, cuddly wombat doing with THOSE?

It was...extra, wasn't it. I'm surprised you gave it a *whole* star.

I think most of us are in one of the two top categories, myownself.

Hi how are you?

I'm in the 23% AND the 15% at the same time because I'd say it's "effing awful."

Love the snowflake jammy bottoms, Richard!

>319 BBGirl55: Hi Bryony! I've visited you in the 2021 group because I have no idea where your 2020 thread is.

>320 Storeetllr: Thanks! (I think most of us are 38%ers....)

Richard, this is Japanese kirie cut from a single sheet of paper. The article is HERE, and I hope that this makes up for long-time absence at your friendly place.

Meanwhile, I've taken a couple of BBs and find myself among the 38%.

179 The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman

Rating: 5* of five

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM ACE BOOKS VIA NETGALLEY, AT THE BEHEST OF MY GOODREADS FRIEND STEVEN. THANK YOU!

I mean! Let me sit and catch my breath for a bit. Gracious me, this one was exciting times eleven. So are they all, yes, but there are stakes then there are stakes and the superlative of stakes is what we experience in The Dark Archive.

Comme d'habitude, Kai and Vale and Irene are in pursuit of a Book on Vale's home, and Irene and Kai's adopted favorite base-world, B-395. New character Catherine (where's Heathcliff, Author Cogman?) is a Fae (and the niece of powerful adversary Fae Lord Silver) who is to be trained as a Librarian. Hence her presence here.

But, I hear fellow fans complain, Fae can't go into the Library! They're Chaos on legs, they would be extinguished or combust or something! And you're correct, they can't. Catherine's tried with no success and a good deal of pain. Now she's on a Librarian spycrafty expedition, nursing a distinctly adolescent sense of being Hard Done By and making poor Kai pay for her inner crappy mood. Irene and Vale? Elsewhere. Being, in fact, booby-trapped into a submarine explosion and a major, major discovery. A Certain Someone is not as dead as Irene left him, and his Lady Wife seems to be ready to take on the Library to get revenge for Irene's dastardly nerve in killing him in the first place.

These are but the opening notes of the symphony. And I can assure you that the pace doesn't slacken, the chases are truly cinematic (one B-395 London library is *begging* to be filmed with its multi-story Guggenheim-esque open atrium architecture, only 18th century and marble not 1959 concrete), the characters constantly going to extremes in service of their families, their peoples (Fae, Dragons, Librarians...the odd human tempest-tost in the deep end of a cosmic pool they never suspected existed), and the Treaty that our intrepid gang damn near died to bring into effect. After all, a multiverse of opposing sides defined by antithetical modes of being needs rules or there's going to be lots of casualties.

I don't for a moment expect anyone who hasn't read the first six books to know what much of that really means. I hope you'll take this, the release day of The Dark Archive, to look over my reviews of The Invisible Library, The Masked City (alt-Venice!), The Burning Page, The Lost Plot, The Mortal Word, and The Secret Chapter to see if anything in those reviews grabs you. You know my taste by now...I don't tolerate boredom well, I don't want to read about eye-rolley majgickq that makes not one whit of sense, or kiddie-kinses as they Find Their Snowflake Selves...so you already know there's none of that here. There's also no sex, and apparently no one in the multiverse is queer, but nothing made by humankind can be perfect.

What I look for that Author Cogman delivers book after book is a group of people whose honor is stronger than their fear, whose shared values hold them up when they're so battered by enemies they just want to lie down and rest, and whose relationships adjust to Earth-shattering new information.

That last one? That's the Big Reveal. You'll think, "oh THIS is what he was on about!" And it will most definitely NOT be. And you won't know it until a book falls on your metaphorical head and rings your bells.

It's worth it.

>323 richardderus: If it hadn't already been on hold at a couple of my libraries this would have been a BB. Very encouraging.

>323 richardderus: *sticks fingers in ears* lalalalalalalalallaallaalllalalalalalalal (for some reason, I neglected to acquire book 2 and have seemed unable to redress the balance since.)

Oh, and >316 richardderus: 5%

ETA: as in 2020 wasn't too bad, all things considered. (I didn't see that tiny grey other 5% thing.)

>295 richardderus: There you are, in full holiday spirit!! Love it. : )

>323 richardderus: Ooooh! I am behind on that series. Must work it in 2021. Thanks for the reminder!

And this is the ornament I got all my kids for Christmas. Pretty close to yours! ; )

'Morning, RD! Happy Tuesday to you.

>316 richardderus: I'm in the 5% "Anxious, stressful, depressing" group.

But books, coffee, and etc. are all small joys to offset the shit storm that's been 2020.

*smooch* from your own Madame TVT Horrible

I'm at 15%, but that could just be because I cuss a lot.

I love the snowflake pants - you are looking mighty handsome, BigDaddy. *smooch*

>328 Crazymamie: Cuss on, Mamie dearest. It releases stress. And thank you for the kind compliment!

>327 karenmarie: I am quite sure you are, especially given the awful knock Billhoney took! I am still seething about that callous and inconsiderate treatment.

The smaller things have not sucked this year, so let's say hallelujah and bring the jubilee. *smooch*

>326 Berly: There are things that happen in this book, Berly-boo, that up the stakes for the whole series so much it's hard for me not to spank your paddies and order you to get busy now today this instant reading up!

Those snowflake jammies are sooooo comfy that I almost live in them and their plaid co-comfys. Warm, soft so they don't irritate my knees, just all-around delightful. Which reminds me I need to order some more.

I do love the ornament!

>325 humouress: I can only say, La Overkill, that as a means of dissipating depression, anxiety, and truly stinko times around us making you cray-cray, this series can go a long way. And book 2 is not the strongest of them, so keep that in mind...still very good, but this latest is a real 5* delight.

Go. Procure.

>324 quondame: There are Developments. It would totally ruin the experience for me to say more...and this is one of the few times I think spoilerphobia is appropriate.

Afternoon, RD!

>316 richardderus: - I'm with Mamie in the 15% mostly because of my potty mouth.

I'd like to know who the f*ck is in that orange 5% at the bottom.....

>330 katiekrug: I'm not sure I want to know. I'd be, um, *unkind* to anyone who publicly stated they were there.

180 Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila

Real Rating: 3.75* of five

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

Many people have spoken to the poetic nature of this book's text. I agree, in both the good sense...the author's (and crucially the translator's) ear for the heightened meanings of words used in poetry is always adding a bass line to this melody...and the bad, that being the obfuscatory and often obscurantist requirement for the reader to unpack subtexts and discover new senses for familiar words while mid-read.

The City-State is one of those territories that have already broken through the barrier of internal suffering. You share the same destiny as everyone else, the same history, the same hardship, the same trains, the same Tram beer, the same dog kebabs, the same narrative as soon as you come into the world. You start out baby-chick or slim-jim or child soldier. You graduate to endlessly striking student or desperado. If you've got family on the trains, then you work on the trains; otherwise, like a ship, you wash up on the edge of hope - a suicidal, a carjacker, a digger with dirty teeth, a mechanic, a street sleeper, a commission agent, an errand boy employed by for-profit tourists, a hawker of secondhand coffins. Your fate is already sealed, the route marked out in advance. Fate sealed like that of the locomotives carrying spoiler merchandise and the dying.

It's not an impossible task. It's often uncomfortable, and it's always a way of slowing the reader down. That isn't always a bad thing. It can feel sort of like the author is being pedantic, the repetition of variants on "You have the time?" is my favorite example. The time to disport yourself with a prostitute. The time to listen to a song. The time as spending, a transaction, an exchange of money for value or attention for money; the issue at hand isn't that it's hard to do this work but that it's required. Read cold, flat, without investment other than decoding, there is no through-line of story to receive. It is a list of lists, a repetition of phrases and names and all strung on a thin cord of criticism for capitalist society's multi-level destruction of the characters. That isn't a terribly satisfying read; and the fact that it is in itself a sharp critique of the mental laziness of many readers is a bit off-putting.

The Northern Station was going to the dogs. It was essentially an unfinished metal structure, gutted by artillery, train tracks, and locomotives that called to mind the railroad built by Stanley, cassava fields, cut-rate hotels, greasy spoons, bordellos, Pentecostal churches, bakeries, and noise engineered by men of all generations and nationalities combined. It was the only place on earth you could hang yourself, defecate, blaspheme, fall into infatuation, and thieve without regard to prying eyes.

So much is inside the world of Tram 83 that it can feel as overwhelming as a physical trip to Africa does to many Westerners. For the whitest among us, the experience of being a vanishingly small minority is so unsettling as to be agony. For that reason I want many many US whites to read it; I recognize the futility of that wish but am stubbornly advocating it. It's the end of 2020. The world has changed because of COVID-19. It is long past time people with our First-World privilege, regular garbage pick-up and grocery stores and paved roads, heard about the reality of the rest of the world in their own words.

Eyes shrivelled by cigarettes and alcohol. Potbellies full to bursting with roundworms, amoebas, earthworms, and assorted mollusks. Heads shaved with knives. Arms and legs stiff with digging graves from morning till morning. They were close to ten, maybe twelve years old. They toted the same justifications: “We’re doing this to pay for our studies. Dad’s already gone with the locomotives. He doesn’t write no more. Mom’s sick. The uncles and aunts and grandmothers say we’re sorcerers and it’s because of that dad got married a third time and that our sorcery comes from our mom and that we should go to see the preachers who will cut the links by getting us to swallow palm oil to make us vomit up our sorcery and prevent us flying round at night.” They lived off a multitude of rackets, like all the kids in town.

They worked as porters at the Northern Station, and on the Congo River and at the Central Market, as slim-jims in the mines, errand boys at Tram 83, undertakers, and gravediggers. The more sensitive ones stood guard at the greasy spoons abutting the station, whose metal structure recalled the 1885s, in exchange for a bowl of badly boiled beans.

What I want from white people like me reading this thunderflash of words, this uncappable well of natural story-gas, is that we stop and do the work of being in fellowship with the world that isn't like us. Because that surface difference, as this intense and unmissable read says and shows, means nothing against the deepest human need of all: To connect and commune with Humanity. As cheesy as that sounds, this really is the take-away I hope you'll have when you spend a day immersed in Tram 83.

Hey, RD. A light snow is falling it looks like we will get some accumulation. The first time this season. Cold and windy too. I may not get out birding for a couple of days. I am just about finished with the gritty, A Feast of Snakes. This is the original hillbilly noir. Some tough, nasty stuff. Have you read Crews? I know he was recommended to me, in my early LT years.

>333 msf59: It's colder than a brass monkey's balls, Mark, and to hell with that scary bad place "outside" until the damned wind stops howling. Pa-fui.

I read Scar Lover and, unlike everyone else on Planet Earth, saw it as an overbearing nightmare of a woman violating a man's boundaries because "she knows best." So not quite what would lead one to venture further into a writer's ouevre.

Stay inside and warm!

>328 Crazymamie:, >329 richardderus: Have you seen Nicolas Cage’s new Netflix show? A History of Swear Words. Coming in January!

>335 drneutron: Off to watchlist it now!

181 The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt och Dag

Rating: 4* of five

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY.

Don't so much as twitch toward this book if you're not able to breeze through Henning Mankell's more violent books about Wallander. In every line and on every page you're going to be challenged, and hard; rape, torture, murder, and a twisted vision of the upper-class privilege corrupting Sweden in its early Enlightenment days. As brutal as any Scandinoir, as evocatively written as Mantel's Sir Thomas More novels, and worth every flinch, gasp, and slamming shut in horror.

>332 richardderus: Am I in lost reply land or is my comment that after F*ckface this seems a more difficult access riff on how deeply screwed the human condition can get lurking in some other thread. Anyway ouch, but I'll think about it.

>337 richardderus: Well a gruesome grueling historical, hmm, I do do that sort of thing.

'Morning, RDear. Happy Wednesday.

I think it was the dark chocolate Moose Munch yesterday evening - caffeine at night sometimes does me in. Anyway, I've already started infusing liquid caffeine and will soon be reading.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

Belated Xmas wishes from this end of the world. Loved The Psychology of Time Travel when I read it last summer. And can't wait to read the Taylor (and the Cogman when I catch up!).

>335 drneutron: How fun! Making a note of that one. Thanks, Jim!

Morning, BigDaddy!

>332 richardderus: This is a great review - love how you write. Every. Time.

>181 Matke: I have this in the stacks.

>337 richardderus: I have sometimes trouble reading about all of those, Richard dear, but somehow it is easier in an historical setting. I really liked this book, and have the next one on my library wishlist.

>338 quondame: F*ckface? Désolée madame mais je ne comprends pas...?

Do the Natt och Dag! I think its bitter and unsparing view of life in 1793 Stockholm will agree with you.

>339 karenmarie: Morning, Horrible, recaffeination is indicated. Belt that coffee down. Reading, while low in energy costs compared to, say, breaking rocks with a bigger rock, isn't entirely energy-neutral.

*smooch*

>340 BekkaJo: Thanks, Bekka, and I hope your reading path is positively *strewn* with more top-quality reads like those mentioned.

>341 Crazymamie: *baaawww* Thank you, Mamie dear, that's so lovely to hear. Spend a lovely Humpday...last one of 2020! *smooch*

>342 FAMeulstee: I don't think the next one's in English yet, so I'll possess my soul in patience until someone gets done with the task.

Happy Wednesday!

Happy New Year Richard.

>343 richardderus: Does not Tram 83 concern itself with impoverished lives in an impoverished setting? Which is my take from F*ckface.

>346 quondame: OIC

Yes indeed, then, those are very similar qualities. I don't know why that connection eluded me.

>345 johnsimpson: Thank you, John! To you as well.

Happy Wednesday evening! I'm trying to squeeze one more book in before tomorrow at midnight. I wish I read faster.

I'm awaiting the availability of the vaccine with a furious patience, even though the miracle cure for an illness is the setup for half of the zombie movies I've seen. And I've seen a lot of zombie movies. Man I do love me some zombie movies.

Zombola-viewin' Larry! Well, this *is* a good day!

It's good, then, that it's a preventive vaccine and not a cure that us elders will be the first to BRAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNSSS

*snort!*

I'm going to get the vaccine the minute I qualify. The.minute.

Don't let The HU scare you away.

Or King of the Zombies.

>351 richardderus: Yes! The HU!

I posted a mess of book reviews (as you saw) and am still laughing my head off at your one comment.

BTW, you'll be glad to know that I'm cataloguing every last book that sits on my personal (as opposed to family unit) shelves.

So the happy news is that I asked Caxton how to catalogue my family bible because there's absolutely no bibliographic or printing information preceeding or following the text.
Strangely, he had nothing to say. Maybe I should ask Mr. de Worde ...

Time to take out the trash!

'Morning, RDear! Happy last day of 2020 to you.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>356 karenmarie: Hi Horrible! Happy Take-out-the-trash day! *smooch*

>355 weird_O: Awomen, Bill! Good riddance to bad rubbish.

>354 SandyAMcPherson: Heh...but Bibles are often very difficult to catalog for that very reason, barring a connection to the Beyond. Keep seeking your Guideposts!

>353 drneutron: They are *something* to hear, Jim. Throat singing is so otherworldly to me. I'm glad you mentioned them, or I'd've never known of them.

Happy New Years Eve, Richard dear!

Only a couple of hours left in 2020 :-)

>358 FAMeulstee: Welcome to the End of a Bad Bad Bad Year! Be happy we have a fresh number to write on our many forms...the smallest things can build up surprising amounts of energy, so let's make an effort to be positive about this one.

Great review of Tram 83, Richard. If you posted it on the book page, I'll thumb it. (I'm way behind on that, so no worries if not). I'll add it to the WL. Your ample supply of excerpts gave me a feel for it, too.

I hope it's a good last day of 2020 for you, and have a Happy, Positive New Year!

>360 jnwelch: Thank you for the kind wishes, Joe, and they are most heartily returned for you and all yours.

I'm glad you reminded me of the Tram 83 review posting, I'm pretty bad about doing that and it's really a foolish oversight...how else will LTFL be able to access the reviews?! Another 2021 vow: Remember to add and post titles I review.

When a book is so, I guess urgent?, I feel the need to do the full review even if I didn't exactly *like* the book. I wasn't over-the-moon delighted by the humdrum little story, but the fireworks were much more interesting to me, so a three-sentence review was too meager.

On the theory that one must read a series in order i had added The Invisible Library to my TBR and hope to catch up to the most recent of the series sometime between now and death.

Hope the New Year finds you safe and well and reading Richard.

Ha! Thanks, Jim. I have so many books in series piled up on that "before I die" pile that I must 1) live forever or b) die next to the pile.

I don't like my odds for 1)

>363 richardderus: Hi RD.
I started a new thread ~ for 2020 *giggle*.
You were post #300 on the 8th thread that was going to be my final one, then I thought why not? It announces my intentions for 2021.

Happy New Year, Richard!

RD

As the year turns, friendship continues