richardderus's seventh 2020 thread

Second Story Sunlight (painted in 1960)

Edward Hopper (1882–1967) painted this beauty in 1960. Born in Nyack, New York, to a modestly successful dry-goods merchant, and raised as a rock-ribbed Baptist, Hopper sought improvement not fame through his art. Many years of toil and study finally paid off beginning in 1923, the year he met and the one before he married, Josephine Nivison. She was also an artist. They were opposites: she was short, open, gregarious, sociable, and liberal, while he was tall, secretive, shy, quiet, introspective, and conservative. She remarked: "Sometimes talking to Eddie is just like dropping a stone in a well, except that it doesn't thump when it hits bottom." She subordinated her career to his and shared his reclusive life style. The rest of their lives revolved around their spare walk-up apartment at 3 Washington Square North in New York City, and their summers in South Truro on Cape Cod. She managed his career and his interviews, was his primary model (she appears in each painting in this post), and was his life companion.

Hopper was stoic and fatalistic—a quiet introverted man with a gentle sense of humor and a frank manner. Hopper was someone drawn to an emblematic, anti-narrative symbolism, who "painted short isolated moments of configuration, saturated with suggestion". His silent spaces and uneasy encounters "touch us where we are most vulnerable" and have "a suggestion of melancholy, that melancholy being enacted". His sense of color revealed him as a pure painter as he "turned the Puritan into the purist, in his quiet canvasses where blemishes and blessings balance". According to critic Lloyd Goodrich, he was "an eminently native painter, who more than any other was getting more of the quality of America into his canvases."

Conservative in politics and social matters (Hopper asserted for example that "artists' lives should be written by people very close to them"), he accepted things as they were and displayed a lack of idealism. Cultured and sophisticated, he was well-read, and many of his paintings show figures reading. He was generally good company and unperturbed by silences, though sometimes taciturn, grumpy, or detached. He was always serious about his art and the art of others, and when asked would return frank opinions.

Hopper's most systematic declaration of his philosophy as an artist was given in a handwritten note, entitled "Statement," submitted in 1953 to the journal, Reality:

Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world. No amount of skillful invention can replace the essential element of imagination. One of the weaknesses of much abstract painting is the attempt to substitute the inventions of the human intellect for a private imaginative conception.

The inner life of a human being is a vast and varied realm and does not concern itself alone with stimulating arrangements of color, form and design.

The term life used in art is something not to be held in contempt, for it implies all of existence and the province of art is to react to it and not to shun it.

Painting will have to deal more fully and less obliquely with life and nature's phenomena before it can again become great.

Though Hopper claimed that he didn't consciously embed psychological meaning in his paintings, he was deeply interested in Freud and the power of the subconscious mind. He wrote in 1939, "So much of every art is an expression of the subconscious that it seems to me most of all the important qualities are put there unconsciously, and little of importance by the conscious intellect."

During the Fifties and Sixties, his health faltered, and he had several prostate surgeries and other medical problems. But he also created several more major works, including First Row Orchestra (1951):

Morning Sun, in 1952:

and Intermission in 1963:

Hopper died in his Greenwich Village studio on 15 May 1967. His wife died ten months later and is buried with him.

In 2020, I will 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's doable, and I've done better than that in the past.

I will Pearl Rule books I'm not enjoying with notes on Goodreads & LibraryThing about why I'm abandoning the read.







My Last Thread of 2018 Is Here:
Reviews are back-linked there.

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

Reviews 1 through 3 are thataway.

Reviews 4 through 8 reside thitherward.

Reviews 9 through 11 are back here.

Reviews 12 through 20 existen allá.

Reviews 21 through 24? Go here!.

Review 25 in all its lonely splendor is back yonder.

THIS THREAD'S REVIEW LINKS

26 Name Your Poison was the third Top Shelf cozy, post 53.

27 This is How You Lose the Time War lost me, post 54.

28 The Whisper Man was not groundbreaking prose but a good story, post 58.

29 Sharks in the Time of Saviors was a delight, post 95.

30 The Aosawa Murders was *almost* 5*-worthy, post 103.

31 The Paris Mysteries: Deluxe Edition is a lovely object, post 113.

32 LEWSER! More Doonesbury in the Time of Trump made me laugh, post 125.

33 Bog Bodies was a brutal Irish Noir comic, post 126.

34 Vagabonds made me smile, post 135.

35 I Wish is another stunner from a Dutch poet, post 143.

36 Are You In? (POWERHOUSE Book 1 was a sweet little thing, post 191.

37 The Last Question is Asimov's Malthusian meditation on The End, post 206.

38 Old Food wasn't the most delightful read but was rewarding, post 211.

39 The Rivals and Other Stories made me smile, laugh, and gag, post 236.

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 occurence 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.
occ
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 21 February, I haven't posted a-one! There are a few mitigating factors, but I need to get this train rollin' or the deficit will become daunting quickly. Even so, I still read a story 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's doable, and I've done better than that in the past.

I will Pearl Rule books I'm not enjoying with notes on Goodreads & LibraryThing about why I'm abandoning the read.

...and that's me done. My reports will continue to be quarterly, the day after the end of the quarter.
1Q20. Twenty-six reads done (two reviews TK), three posted on my blog, or 10% of the goal I set myself. Bad performance. Really bad.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Every winner of the Booker Prize since its inception in 1969

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

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

Very well. The door, and the floor, is open.

Happy new thread! First in!

Happy new one!

Happy new thread!

>6 drneutron: JIM'S FIRST!!

I can't remember the last time that was the case...like, maybe not even ever?

Woooooowwwwww

Happy New Thread, Richard. I love the Hopper topper. I also love the bio, you supplied. I am a fan of his, but I knew very little of him.

>7 figsfromthistle: Hi Anita! Welcome.

>8 quondame: Susan, you're here, good. Something very weird's going on. Your goddessly connections are needed to find out how Jim got here first. I fear it's a sign of impending apocalypse...ask the Norns....

>10 msf59: Hi Mark! He's quite the weird mix, no?

>11 richardderus: Uh, ah, I was cutting tubes of sage flavored Jimmy Dean sausage into patties. They are #3 backup food for my daughter and I and well, we're getting pretty tired of the other two backups.

Happy new thread, Richard!

>12 quondame: ...and somehow the Norns or the Fates or whichever klatsch of world-end-y ladies took this act on your part to be the key behavior to rev up the Apocalypse...?

>133 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Lori!

Happy new one, Richard, and thanks for the good info on Hopper (a favorite of mine).

>14 richardderus: Somehow that seems an overreaction. I do have a good case for my daughter being the antichrist, but my sister threatened to stomp me if I repeated it. My daughter loves it though....

Happy New Thread, Richard!

Happy new one, Richard. I like Mark's coining of your Hopper Topper! :-)

(psst - looks like you might have an intruder in >18 Stefan_mo88:). He just joined LT today and seems to be inviting you to download something or other; my antennae are telling me that it's probably wise not to click on that link, just saying…)

>15 katiekrug: Hi Katie, glad you enjoyed his bookish presence roun' these here parts.

I do so love his work.

>16 quondame: Dunno...they're Not Like Us Mortals so I figgered you'd know what was what.

>17 ronincats: Thanks, Roni!

>19 jessibud2: How do, Shelley, yeah I'm hip to those tricks. If there are hundreds of thousands of users pirating the books in question, it's just not likely to be legit, is it.

I'm in! As the Deacon said to the chorus girl.

Hi Richard. Thank you for the Edward Hopper info. I love his work. Happy new thread my friend.

Happy new thread!

Happy new one, RD. Hopper Topper has a nice ring to it and the one you chose is somehow germane to our time.

>1 richardderus: Love his work!

Another of my all-time American faves is Thomas Hart Benton. Everytime I look at one of his paintings the song The Lord of the Dance runs through my head. A friend of mine's dad was a good friend of Benton, and has one of his paintings hanging in his living room. I've often thought of stealing it.

Okay, my sleep meds have kicked in. Smooches and gunight!

Happy New Thread, Darling Boy, and thankful you for the Hopper pics.

Hi Richard. I think it is weird that the LT threads get spammed by idiots who waste their time on a bibliophile website.

I laughed about Jim being first to post on your new thread. Maybe he programmed a 75-er algorithm to alert him to new threads or new group members?

Happy new thread Richard!

Happy new one, Richard! Love the Hopper Topper. And how fun to learn about him and that he was born right here in the town where I now live. I've passed by his house, which is now a museum, but haven't been in to visit it yet. Won't be visiting for awhile either which makes me sad now that i know about the artist.

Happy new thread, Richard. You must be feeling better if you are honouring us with a new thread.

‘Morning, RD! Happy new thread! I love the “Hopper Topper” too.

I hope you have a cold-pancake-and-cottage-cheese-less start to your day. Sending positive tastebud whammies for coffee, too.

>21 SomeGuyInVirginia: Hi Larry.

>22 brenzi: I think a lot of bookish souls like Hopper, Bonnie, because something in his celebrations of solitude speak to us.

>23 thornton37814: Thank you, Lori!

>24 PaulCranswick: It's the underpopulation of the scenes, at least by most standards, that makes them feel so Relevant. I think...

>25 SomeGuyInVirginia: I am massively impressed that you've seen a Benton in a private home and haven't seen fit to bundle it under your overcoat as you leave. Yet.

A monadnock of abstemious covetousness, you.

>26 Matke: *smooch* They give so many of us the happy, which is nice.

>27 SandyAMcPherson: At least he was spamming us about books, albeit in French.

>28 humouress: Thanks, Nina!

>29 Storeetllr: It's well worth a visit, though not to view his art so much as to experience the quotidian roots of glory.

>30 Familyhistorian: It's a back-and-forth, up-and-down process, this rotten thing. Today's better than yesterday, so I'm hoping it's a trend. Thanks for coming by, Meg!

>31 karenmarie: Hi Horrible, to my delight I could *almost* taste the coffee! To my not-delight, the glue trap caught a mouse, so Old Stuff was right there was one. I'm no longer waiting until the next meal arrives to throw away his last meal. Now, when I'm done, food trash goes into the lobby trash can. Can't be bothered to eat? Not my problem, but a mouse infestation very much is. I've told Them he doesn't eat or drink, throws his pills in the toilet and, as of yesterday, threw his soup at me (missed).

What they do or don't do about his hydration and nutrition is not my problem.

I love Edward Hopper's art - thanks for that topper, RD. Happy new thread!

((Hugs)) and *smooches* for today

What Stasia said, RD. Happy New Thread! What a treat to see the Hopper paintings up there, and to read about him. I love that stillness, space and a tinge of melancholy in his paintings.

You've probably seen this pandemic version of his Nighthawks at the Diner?

>35 alcottacre: Hey Stasia! Happily, Hopper seems to hit most bookish peoples' sweet spot. Spend a lovely day!

>36 jnwelch: Ha! Yeah, it's almost unchanged isn't it. But it's a powerful statement of his vision's clarity...solitude becoming emptiness is not a huge change.

Happy Humpday reads.

>34 richardderus: OMVG. Why aren't they doing anything about his not eating/drinking/medicating? Are they just waiting for the inevitable result of that while leaving you in that hell-hole situation?

>38 karenmarie: What Karen said.

Situation sounds rubbish! Hugs and much much patience.

Well, all of it I can realistically spare.

Which is none.

Okay, hoping for much patience??? More hoping for them to sort this out, and fast.

>38 karenmarie:, >39 Storeetllr: I assume that, during his nighttime wanderings, they give him water and pills, so he's going to survive of a sort. I got tired of the staff 'tude and wrangled his lunchtime pills down him. Still says "I DON'T WANT IT!" like a little kid whenever I bring in his meals but I've stopped accepting drinks or soups because he throws them and I don't want to get splashed again. (The oatmeal burn on my hand is almost healed.)

I've told 'em. I've emailed the director. It is what it is, and I will not accept anything to come inside that can be launched at me under any circumstances.

>40 BekkaJo: Heh. Patience...I remember that...vaguely...

Hi Richard, happy new thread dear friend and great thread topper with the Edward Hopper paintings, i do love seeing his work and you have shown a good selection.

Hope you are well despite the Covid-19 crisis dear friend, sending love and hugs.

>41 richardderus: What a nightmare. It's a problem with no good solution, you can do little and can't get away. Sartre's No Exit comes to mind.

At least you have hope of coffee scent ahead.

>42 johnsimpson: Thanks, John!

>43 quondame: *mental sniff* It's enough most of the time. I'm not happy to be involved with someone I dislike's health care, even on a self-defensive basis.

Belated happy new thread, Richard dear!

>41 richardderus: Sorry Old Stuff keeps making trouble.

>45 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita! I'm glad to see you around the threads.
***
Weird day. My start was Old Stuff being confined to quarters around 5am; then seeing someone I never ever wanted or want to see ever again right here in my building.

I don't like this day. Even tasting banana was no consolation for being reminded of a very nasty betrayal.

Sorry your day has started so badly, RD. I hope it improves, either via more taste-bud activation or a good book.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

Nice to see the Hoppers. I didn't realize that Hopper did so many lovely graceful nudes.

Like this one



Apparently his wife was an artist in her own right and wasn't crazy about having to pose foe him all the time when she wanted to work on her own stuff

>47 karenmarie: It's pretty much a loss. I got weighed and have gained 6lb!

>48 magicians_nephew: He loved painting his wife. The only man he ever painted with that kind of intensity of gaze was a French cyclist during one of the indoor races he loved so much:

>49 richardderus: We all have, Richard. I know I'm up 5 lbs.

Happy new thread Richard! And +1 on the admiration for Hopper.

>50 Storeetllr: Ick. Well, it's inevitable in a sense. There's nothing to exercise for, since one can't (here) leave the premises.

>51 swynn: Thanks, Steve (x2)!

26 Name Your Poison by Lolli Powell

Rating: 3.5* of five

Dropped a whole star for excessive w-bombing (FOUR!!). Ricki isn't learning her lessons, keeps nosing around the nastiness that comes her way in Waterton, Ohio...and even mentions how unusually murder-y her little burg is to her journalist friend who comes from New York to report on the latest murder!

It all comes about because Ricki's friend Logan, whose story about her uncle and his father's past has now become a book that's optioned for film, has his book launch scheduled for the Top Shelf.

And someone dies in front of the buffet.

Yep, we're in Waterton. Ricki's boyfriend Gabe is investigating, natch, but it's not going smoothly; the regulars are their regular selves; Adam's musclebound mousliness in the face of violence gets a surprising counterpoint. Relationships are rebuilt and reviewed and reaffirmed. All the series-mystery things we love, in short, are present, and the trip to the resolution was fraught with peril exactly as the series-mystery reader wants it to be.

Quite a pleasure to be back at the Top Shelf. I wasn't surprised by the Big Reveal. Seemed plenty obvious, but I think it's down to expectations on that score: the subject isn't a new one to me at any level. Anyway, the story was fun, the solution to the crime believable. The subplot about the scumbag movie producer was a pretty timely one and the ending will keep the curious tuned in for volume four.

27 This is How You Lose the Time War by some yahoos

Rating: 2* of five

This was a big ol' two-star "oh staaahhhp" by me.

Send them scented-oil-silk flower arrangements, the ones with the LED middles, a silvertone bucket with a bottle of pinque Cold Duck, and those Pier One flutes you can't remember how they showed up in the washdisher that one New Year, and have done with it.

Overheated, overblown, overdone.

>54 richardderus: It just wasn't all that. I wasn't quite so down on it, but maybe I shoulda been.

>54 richardderus: Oh that's too bad, I'd been hearing some good things about it but I guess I can pass without too much worry.

Happy new thread, and hoping your ability to taste your coffee keeps trending in the right direction.

28 The Whisper Man by Alex North

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: In this dark, suspenseful thriller, Alex North weaves a multi-generational tale of a father and son caught in the crosshairs of an investigation to catch a serial killer preying on a small town.

After the sudden death of his wife, Tom Kennedy believes a fresh start will help him and his young son Jake heal. A new beginning, a new house, a new town. Featherbank.

But the town has a dark past. Twenty years ago, a serial killer abducted and murdered five residents. Until Frank Carter was finally caught, he was nicknamed "The Whisper Man," for he would lure his victims out by whispering at their windows at night.

Just as Tom and Jake settle into their new home, a young boy vanishes. His disappearance bears an unnerving resemblance to Frank Carter's crimes, reigniting old rumors that he preyed with an accomplice. Now, detectives Amanda Beck and Pete Willis must find the boy before it is too late, even if that means Pete has to revisit his great foe in prison: The Whisper Man.

And then Jake begins acting strangely. He hears a whispering at his window...

THE PUBLISHER SENT ME A REVIEW COPY OF THIS TITLE. THANK YOU.

My Review: The town of Featherbank has this as its primary claim to fame:

If you leave a door half open, soon you’ll hear the whispers spoken.
If you play outside alone, soon you won’t be going home.
If your window’s left unlatched, you’ll hear him tapping at the glass.
If you’re lonely, sad, and blue, the Whisper Man will come for you.

You're the young single dad of a weirdo son. You know this town's had five young boys kidnapped, interfered with, and murdered. So what do you do, give the place a three-hundred mile berth as you decide where to run away from your grief and your complete inability to grok your sweet, sensitive son?

Not if you're Tom Kennedy! You *move*there*to*write*! TSTL, anyone? Exacerbated by the fact your spawn is prime meat for this lunatic?

But he's in jail, the perp's been caught, so there's no risk.

Horseshit, says I, my son and I will be moving to Mallorca or Auckland, NOT FEATHERBANK. However, I possess a strong streak of risk-averse-ness that Pa Kennedy doesn't.

Why'd you read it, I hear the review-readers asking. Knowing what was gonna happen, why put yourself through it, the crowd snorts inwardly.

That was the thing about going to sleep. It kind of scrubbed things. Arguments, worries, whatever. You could be scared or upset about something, and you might think sleep was impossible, but at some point it happened, and when you woke up in the morning the feeling was gone for awhile, like a storm passed during the night.
–and–
Guilt. Fear. Anger. Once loose, any one of them would charge off, dragging the others along like dogs chained in a pack. And that was no good at all.
–and–
It was a daunting prospect, because it was all such a jumble, and there was also so much I didn't know and perhaps never would. But then again, I wasn't sure that in itself was a problem. The truth of something can be in the feeling of it as much as the fact.
–and–
But he could read the whole book of his father now and he knew that none of it had ever been about him. His own book was separate, and always had been. He had only ever needed to be himself, and it had just taken time—too much time—to understand that.

This is not ground-breaking prose, jaw-dropping insight, beauteous lapidary phrase-making of a high order; it is, instead, the commonplace recognition of Life's Little Thumps said in ways that any one of us can feel, really and viscerally, instead of the more rarefied and intellectual pleasures of Writing for the Critics.

Tom and Jake, and ultimately the male reader whose relationship with his maleness is built on a partial vacuum, are males groping for a point of commonality that is uniquely theirs. The normal female intermediary is gone. Most men don't try very hard to reach around Ma to get to their sons. Tom has no choice. And, haltingly and awkwardly, he makes connections to and bridges with Jake.

That, theydies and gentlethem, is worth reading average-to-good prose and forgiving the *sheer*boggling*idiocy* of moving your son to a town of known serial-killing-boys past. This is a rare thing. This is a love story about a man who works his brain into a frenzy to find a way to let his son know what all sons most want to know:

Daddy loves you.

>55 quondame: I don't think it necessarily hits others with the force it does me...the idea of love-lost best be done well for an audience whose true love has been dead for 25-plus years.

>56 bell7: Hi Mary! *smooch* Kind wishes noted...sauerkraut returned to my stack of savorables. That's got to be good.

Rdear, I love the art pictures on your thread. I hope you are well and that you are healthy.

Happy Friday! Stay safe and healthy.

>59 Ameise1: Coffee! Perfect. I could *almost* taste it!

Be well and happy, Anita.

You're welcome :-) and I'm Barbara.

Just checking in to make sure you're not collapsed on the floor

(from people reading series 'out of order')

>53 richardderus: sorry -- "w-bombing"?????

'Morning, RD!

I've been busy today reminding the librarians that they cannot spend more Friends of the Library money than we budgeted last July for the whole fiscal year.

I'm also reading a pretty good nonfiction book, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick. It's actually holding my attention, unusual in these strange times.

*smooch*

>61 Ameise1: No you're not. You're Anita. I'm sure of it.

...aren't you...?

*smooch*

>62 SandyAMcPherson: Dazed and confused, Sandy, dazed and confused. The sun came up in the west this morning. Birds are flying in circles.

Madness!

>63 magicians_nephew: The heinously overused, cheesy, condescending, morally bankrupt act described by the verb "to w-i-n-k" *retch*

>64 karenmarie: I can certainly see the temptation to do so on their part. The funny thing is crises breed uses for money that just isn't there.

Yay for Philbrick and his astonishing story! It's a lollapalooza, ain't it.

*smooch*

I see you're getting your adjectives back online. Good show.

>67 quondame: *smooch*

Shamelessly nicked from Paul Cranswick: LIT HUB'S 50 CHUNKSTERS & {HIS} 20 ALTERNATIVES

These are the 50 Literary Hub Must Read Chunksters:

1. The Overstory by Richard Powers READ; maybe squeaked to 3*
2. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin owned
3. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco read; probably didn't *understand*, though...4.5*
4. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee READ; absolutely loved by the end, though it was a slow process...4*
5. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell READ & WATCHED; I'm just not a Mitchell fan for some reason...3*
6. The Witch Elm by Tana French
7. The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
8. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr owned
9. Little, Big by John Crowley READ; impressive book, found it immersive and luxurious...4*
10. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides READ; another one of those guys whose work blends into one amorphous, self-satisfied, clever-clever wodge...2.5*
11. The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt
12. Possession by A.S. Byatt READ; a bit humid for me...3*
13. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel READ; it's not to my taste...3*
14. The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee
15. The Secret History by Donna Tartt READ; oh dear...3*
16. The Parisian : A Novel ???
17. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie REARL RULED; she doesn't like men and I don't interact with women who don't like men this deeply
18. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters READ; gorgeous...4.5*
19. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami READ; disliked...2.5*
20. Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
21. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie READ; loved...4.5*
22. American Gods by Neil Gaiman READ; one day I'll read a Gaiman "novel" with an actual ending, and a character arc that makes sense to me as an arc, but that wasn't this read...3* because I don't wanna hear y'all's mouths
23. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon READ; I really don't like superhero BS at all...2*
24. The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
25. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen READ; ***LOATHED*** 0.125*
26. Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
27. A Naked Singularity by Sergio de la Pava
28. An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears READ; a bit dry, quite erudite, but lacking in involving storytelling...3*
29. A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James READ; failed to grok, need to read again
30. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson owned
31. The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe READ; disliked...3* because it's deeply influential and that deserves respect
32. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara REARL RULED; I just can not with this book.
33. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin READ; thoroughly enjoyed, recommend you read it, too...4*
34. JR by William Gaddis
35. Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko READ; of its time, and not really as good as it is portrayed as being...2.5*
36. Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon READ; loved! 4*
37. Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany READ; but ya know what, 40 years of accretion means I need to re-read it
38. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett READ; should be called "The Book of the Rapist" yech! 3* for its incredibly interesting architectural stuff
39. The Stand by Stephen King READ; blew my mind c. 1979 but how the hell could I ever read it again?!
40. Underworld by Don DeLillo READ; absolutely totally completely adored...4*
41. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton READ; glorious gorgeous delicious...5*
42. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke READ & WATCHED; loved both versions...5*
43. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
44. 2666 by Roberto Bolano READ; someone someday needs to explain why this is amazing, I thought it was competent and decent and waaayyyy too long...2.5*
45. Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra READ & WATCHED; thoroughly immersive, fascinating, but a very very big ask...3.5*
46. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann READ; genius. 5*
47. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace READ; contemptible man writes despicable story, loathed...0.125*
48. Parallel Stories by Peter Nadas
49. Women and Men by Joseph McElroy
50. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth READ; stunning, bleak, very challenging...4.5*

& PC's Alternative 20

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (1995) 624 pp READ; another big ask but it is so worth the sadness and woe you will experience because it is sui generis...5*
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (2001) 544 pp READ; I don't remember it, but I remember liking it
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (2005) 720 pp READ; dire...2*
The Far Pavilions by MM Kaye (1978) 960 pp READ; every woman in my life c. 1979 was carrying on about it, so I read it and, welllllll...longest romance novel ever...3*
Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess (1980) 656 pp READ; *fascinating* story, compelling writing, read soonest! 5*
White Teeth by Zadie Smith (2000) 560 pp REARL RULED; not to my taste
The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman (1982) 896 pp
Saville by David Storey (1976) 560 pp
To Serve Them All My Days by RF Delderfield (1972) 672 pp READ; Mama's favorite book ever, I think, since she read three copies to pieces; I liked it fine...3* based on forty-five year old memories
Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres (1994) 533 pp READ & WATCHED; pleasant...3*
Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth (1992) 640 pp
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks (1993) 528 pp READ; nice enough, I suppose...3*
Sophie's Choice by William Styron (1979) 656 pp READ & WATCHED; never, never, never again in life...5*
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh (2008) 544 pp READ; but damned if I remember a single thing about it!
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (1998) 626 pp READ; its colonialism, heteronormativity, and religiosity enraged me so I couldn't enjoy the story...2.5*
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (1989) 656 pp READ; I know why y'all like it, but I don't...3*
The Singapore Grip by JG Farrell (1978) 704 pp
Magician by Raymond E Feist (1982) 864 pp
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy (1986) 672 pp READ; wish I hadn't...3*
A Chain of Voices by Andre Brink (1982) 512 pp

I've read 34 of the 50 list; 14 of PC's 20. 48 out of 70 = 69, a very high D that, since I'm grading myself on a 5-point curve, gets me to a scant C-minus. MUCH room for improvement!

Yay for Earthly Powers! No one seems on LT seems to mention it. Great book.

I think you'll probably like Life After Life when you get to it. Interesting premise, and well-written.

Agree re A Fine Balance, but it's still my #1 saddest book ever.

>70 jnwelch: I know, right?! Why don't more folk warble their fool lungs out about Earthly Powers?! Kath/mckait sent me a copy years ago in one of her purging moods and I've read it twice!

...you know, come to think of it, I can't figure out a non-spoilery way to review the book...one can't explain the power dynamic that undergirds every single decision and shapes every attitude in the men's long involvement without being either coy or obscurantist. So what can one do to discuss it? I believe our puzzlement has been puzzled out.

>69 richardderus: While I have read quite a few of the ones you have, there are like two we substantially agree on. Very different tastes, and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay is not, as you well know, about superheros. Having lived deeply involved with comic book lovers for over half my life, their humanity is one of my pillars. Yes, twice through Sophie's Choice is more than enough.

>72 quondame: How is creating "The Escapist" and damsel in distress "Lunamoth" not superhero-y? But really, no matter, it's a huuuge world and there's plenty of room for me to move in directions that bring forth happiness (not infrequently involving the murder of someone who *richly* deserves it...what that says about my character I shall leave unexamined).

>73 richardderus: You know it's Kavalier and Klay I focused on, and what their creation did for and to them. The creation of obvious wish fulfillment (super)heros may not be close to the apex of literature, but it fills in the base, and anti-heros wouldn't be able to carry much weight if they were the only ones lifting - they need something to be anti!

>74 quondame: *chuckle* Well, we're not going to be fighting over the last copy of a comic book. Or about comic books. Or creators of same.

Rob came out here to see his very, very ill father...smoking kills, if you're wondering...while he's entubated and can't be hateful, but called me to meet him when he arrived and then again when he left via train so we could cuddle a minute. He didn't say much but was clinging hard. It felt so wonderful to hold him and sniff him. Standing in the station just holding each other, not saying much and just *being* was glorious. I'm a little worried about his reaction if his dad dies, he's focused himself on making me promise I won't get any sicker so of course I did. And really, I'm not very ill...even gained 5lb I'd lost! My belly got cuddlepatted with happy coos (his not mine); my Trotsky goatee got rubbed all over his neck to high-pitched squeals (his not mine).

In short, we behaved like idiots. I'm so so glad we got to do that in person!

>76 richardderus: Happy idiocy to you, it's a good mutual activity.

>76 richardderus: I'm glad that you got to see Rob. Feel so much better soon, Richard!

I adore Hopper's work. There was a special exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum a few year ago, title something like "The Natural World." The exhibit included a few Hoppers. I know all(?) visual artists attend to light and shadow but he did that better than almost anyone.

>69 richardderus: I love all your comments. You make me want to read Ducks, Newburyport, which I own, and Winter's Tale, which I do not.

>76 richardderus: I am SO glad you got that time together!!!! It matters more than anything. Even more than books.

Hello, dear sir. I am so glad you got some cuddles from Rob. That's bound to make you feel better for a bit. : ) Sorry about his Dad. : (

>69 richardderus: I have read 12 of the 50 recommended and 7 of PC's alternative tomes. Not bad.

Wishing you a happy Sunday!

'Morning, RichardDear, and happy Sunday to you.

>69 richardderus: Of Paul's 20 alternate 20, I've read 6, own 4, and abandoned White Teeth by Zadie Smith *shudder* and The Far Pavilions by MM Kaye with only about 30 or pages to go.

I, too, am glad that you got to see and cuddle with Rob.

*smooch*

>77 quondame: Thanks, Susan, you're right that the chance to be stupid together and touch each other is more meaningful after six weeks' enforced separation. Pair bonding FTW!

>78 The_Hibernator: Thank you, Rachel, I actually do feel a bit better now. The mood lift is wonderful.

>79 EBT1002: All visual art is light and shadow, so that's a fair assessment. I think Hopper's gift was to make light feel like shadow somehow, like it isn't absent the way it usually is except in its revelations...color, shadow, form...but someTHING of its own.

Heh...I do so love letting people in on the wonderful glories of litrachure. I think you're right about how much it matters to just...BE...together, it is so hugely important that even reading (which it makes more savory!) is subordinate to it.

>80 Berly: Hey Berly-boo, thanks for the kind words...it's a brighter gloomy day than it would've been otherwise because we got to hug. I'm abstractly sorry about his rotter of a dad's illness and solely in relation to how my guy will be hurt when he does die. Not smoking was one of the most long-lasting smart decisions I've ever made.

>81 karenmarie: *smooch*

Gawd was White Teeth ever dire! I absolutely disenjoyed it. (Or whatever the active opposite of "to enjoy" is.) Believe me, you missed nothing by closing The Far Pavilions! *yawn*

Spend a splendid Sunday!

>69 richardderus: 10 from the list, and from PC's list: 6.
A good reminder for me that chunksters can hold my attention, I remember loving a few of those big old books!

>81 karenmarie: Oh no- White Teeth is shudder-worthy?

Oh, and RD- a hearty hello to thee.

>84 LovingLit: Hey Megan, happy Monday to you.

Chunksters can be the most rewarding reads imaginable, just depending on their timing in your life. Sometimes a book isn't the right one for a moment in your life.

Sometimes there can never be a right moment for a book...Infinite Jest, White Teeth being two of those.

>69 richardderus: So I just spent an agonising 2 hours (plus it was also supper time) going through this Chunkster meme that originated on Paul's thread. Yes, TWO hours, I had to look at a lot of the titles because I retain storylines better than titles. I was so sure I'd read more of them; but nope.

Now my conundrum is, do I post it on my thread? Filling in my thoughts on these books means admitting I haven't read hardly any and some I DNF-ed. Besides which, I am still not sure what a Chunkster has to do with making a book category. These are eclectic titles. Oh wait, maybe that's the point.

>86 SandyAMcPherson: I'm glad your conundrum came down on the side of posting it. There's a lot of value for many of us in seeing a list of our accomplished reads. Reviewing, especially for those of us with lots of reads under our belts, helps us keep the stray details from sliding down the oubliette that memory so often becomes.

'Morning, RDear! Happy Monday to you. I am excited because I saw a Cooper's Hawk on the Crepe Myrtle this morning. I don't want him to come back because he scares the feeder birds away, but still. Way cool. Simple pleasures for simple minds, right?

Still trying to figure out whether to read Moby Dick or not. It's staring at me from the desk, having made it out of the Library yesterday. I also snagged a free Kindle copy because it is a chunkster at 507 pages and if I do get into it, Kindle-ing might be easier than paper book-ing.

>87 richardderus: Reviewing ... helps us keep the stray details from sliding down the oubliette that memory so often becomes.

This is the very reason I signed up for LT.
For some years, I used an excel spreadsheet to keep track of the titles I borrowed or bought, read, culled. After awhile, it became tedious entering these and over time, I was forgetting the gist of the stories. I've never bothered transferring the spreadsheet reads to my LT catalogue because over 95% of the fiction was donated to charity book sales.

I'm pretty sure my chunkster list is accurate. One sure does remember those 500+ pages. I read 2 of the Gabaldon Outlander books and just was so done with that series. I guess it wasn't for everyone, although I liked the theme of time travel and Scottish history.

But I digress...

>69 richardderus: I was not going to do this, and then I couldn't help myself and did ;-)

I have read:
The Overstory by Richard Powers - LOVED
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco - LOVED
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - did not like
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - did not like
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - LOVED
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon - LOVED
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray - LOVED
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - Liked
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth - LOVED
and
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving - LOVED

Gave up on:
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James, I couldn't handle the violence, might give it an other try someday

Owned, not read yet:
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
and
Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess
Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth

Might read someday:
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin owned
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
2666 by Roberto Bolano
and
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres

>88 karenmarie: Hawk Mondays are interesting Mondays, no? Where I grew up in Austin, the Balcones Canyonlands, the sheer number of hawks was breathtaking. Lots of Mexican freetailed bats and a bunch of rabbits meant it was basically a Hawk Automat. (Hell on the gardens, though, unless one planted perimeters of pittosporum.)

Kindlebook Moby FTW, in my never-remotely-humble opinion. And have Wikipedia open to the Moby page as well, it's got a lot of *stuff* in it and it helps to have external guidance as to what's authorwank and what's good story.

>89 SandyAMcPherson: The Outlander TV series is, see above for opinion disclaimer, a superior means to absorb this story. Forthy pages get handled in three long shots. It feels *right* to tell this story in episodes as well, since the glory that is streaming means you're off the hook regarding their schedules. Binge six episodes, go away for two years, watch the seventh, it won't matter a damn.

There is no digression, only conversation. *smooch*

>90 FAMeulstee: A most respectable performance regarding the read-to-unread ratio, Anita! We agree on enough of them to make the ones we're less in agreement about more interesting than they would otherwise have been.

>69 richardderus: Now this is fun!

16 and 5 from the original list; 6 and 5 from Paul’s list. Our opinions are...divergent on some titles, which simply proves the old adage:
No two people read the same book.

I did enjoy it, so thanks very much for posting the lists.

"No two people read the same book."

Yup.

>92 Matke: Hi Gail! Glad to see you here.

I agree, that list is fun, and with PC's additions, it takes on a more personal edge. That's always fun, comparing lists with other addicted readers.

>93 SandyAMcPherson: Never, ever. Not even when the two people in question have the same Social Security Number.

29 Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Stron Washburn

Rating: 4.5* of five

The voices of these characters whose family, that awful itchy nest, is wrapped in a golden mist of mythological reality, are shouting their horror and pain at the void inside them, the one that Being Different opens in all of us...and who could possibly be more different than a boy saved by a shark? Author Washburn will gladly fill you in on who: The whole damned crew, that's who, every single life suddenly changed without any notion of consent. Gods don't ask, they give-take. There's never a single uncomplicated act in a god's repertoire, that is not how the Universe works. Author Washburn knows this. He has plumbed some depths in order to bring this story to us.

I have a lot more to say on my blog.

>95 richardderus: Well, that's gone on hold. That bit about god is kind of like what's being expressed in The Plague. I'm kind of obsessed just now, but it's only likely to last a day or so.

>96 quondame: I hope you'll enjoy it when it comes to you, Susan! I really liked it a lot.

W/R/T >69 richardderus:, I've read 34 of the 50 list; 14 of PC's 20. 48 out of 70 = 69%, a very high D that, since I'm grading myself on a 5-point curve, gets me to a scant C-minus. MUCH room for improvement!

>98 richardderus: My numbers are half yours and I am feeling pretty good! B+ at least. Ha! But, yes, still to be improved upon.

>99 Berly: Heh, it's all down to the expectations of the grader, isn't it. Like all of education. My English teachers gave me Bs for work that got As for others! (I know, I did their homework too.)

>100 richardderus: LOL! Perfect. They knew what you were capable of.

And, yes, certain of my book standards are definitely lower than yours and I'm okay with that. Smooch.

>101 Berly: *smooch* back

30 The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda (tr. Alison Watts)

Rating: 4* of five

I can't believe we've been denied the voice of Author Onda for lo! these many years. She's been creating a giant ouevre since 1991. It's wonderful that we have so much good stuff to come; it's a howling shame that English-language crime-fiction readers haven't had Author Onda's words until now.

But let me tell you why that's a crime. Mystery novels, ones with a sleuth you follow around as she pokes her nose into many places that people with secrets would strongly prefer she didn't or cops whose sense of honor will not let them close an unsolved case, are thick on the ground. The true-crime genre is booming in this Time of Plague. But these are books that run on formulas. They're hugely appealing formulas, ones that reinforce the ma'at of society and thus fly in the face of most peoples' lived experience. They sell in their millions because their audience (which skews female for series-mystery fiction and true crime) hungers with a near-starved need for Justice to be served, even if the law is flouted.

Author Onda, via the very talented Translator Alison Watts, doesn't present us with such a jigsaw puzzle of a book, with correct answers that form an interlocked and coherent image. She gives us a crossword puzzle...yes, there are correct answers...several of them...and it's your job to sort out which ones make the desired connections in the overall mass of information. Just don't expect a portrait of a killer!

The rest is on my blog.

>64 karenmarie: not a huge fan of Nathaniel Philbrick - thought his book on the Mayflower was a waste of time - but the "Whaleship Essex" was a good one.

>69 richardderus: Richard very surprised you didn't care for "Kavieiler and Clay" - its such a good book about writers and the creative process and how it interacts with the money people- and the American Dream.

The women in my book group disliked it to a woman , much to my surprise

I can judge instantly if someone likes the same books I do by their reaction to David Foster Wallace. Overrated dreck

>90 FAMeulstee: would definitely do a few rounds of warbling on American Gods or nearly any one Neil Gaiman writing

>104 magicians_nephew:
Just to restore your faith: I’m a woman who absolutely loved Kavalier and Klay.

And I agree about DFW.

>104 magicians_nephew: I am here to restore your faith too, Jim. Kavalier and Klay was my introduction to Chabon and I loved it too.

Checking in on you, RD! I am back from visiting Mother. We had a great time and played a bunch of games.

>95 richardderus: Great review!
The book's title, Sharks in the Time of Saviors, is reminiscent in a sing-song way, of "Love in the Time of Cholera". I never read the book so maybe the story is a poor analogy to Washburn's.

The better story The Painted Veil (I saw the film based on Somerset Maugham's novel of the same title) is kind of resonating with the present and I always think the film would have been more appropriately named "Love in the Time of Cholera".

OK. That was all totally irrelevant... I'm probably muddling up your thread with irrelevancies. But I'm also enjoying myself, so I guess everyone can move along and ignore this huh?

>104 magicians_nephew: >105 Matke: Yeah, good stuff. Of course my husband the comic collector brought it home, so well.

>104 magicians_nephew: I'm more annoyed by the cynical creation of "the Escapist" and "the Monitor" and the others as a cash-grab by the broke guys. Plus I'm really, really offended in every cell by the existence, and angered by the unending uncritical popularity, of superhero dreck.

Right down there with DRW, in my never-gonna-be-humble opinion.

>105 Matke: Boo! Yay! *smooch*

>106 alcottacre: Hi there, Stasia, I'm pleased that your Mom-time was well spent. It's fun to realize how much one likes family (when one does).

>107 SandyAMcPherson: Thanks, Sandy! The title does have that same meter, though I don't see that many parallels between the stories. At all events, I hope you'll read and enjoy it sometime soon.

(And po-faced SHOULDsters need to stay out of this thread. Their "do things MY way or Suffer My Sniffing Disapproval" way of being will receive rude responses and an invitation not to return.)

>108 quondame: ...and you didn't divorce him...

>106 alcottacre: Like most people, I like some of my family and some not so much :) I love my mother - and my daughter, who lives with her.

Hey, RD! Just checking in. Stopping by with a yellow-bellied sapsucker that I found a week or two ago. Many were migrating through. I hope you are feeling a smidge better and finding comfort in those books.

>110 alcottacre: I don't like any of them, so...

>111 msf59: Thanks, Mark, I am feeling a whale of a lot better now. I can taste almost everything and (unfortunately) smell the rank stuff to boot. My fever's in abeyance. So, let's hope, this long nightmare might be really and truly ending for me.

That's one zorch sapsucker.

31 The Paris Mysteries by Edgar Allen Poe

Rating: 4* of five

There's absolutely no point in going over the plots of these three stories. You have a computer, or you wouldn't be reading this review. Google the plots if you're in any doubt about what these three tales have in store for you.

I'll tell you, instead of a book report, that I downloaded the Digital Review Copy of this book wondering what would make the edition "Deluxe." There's nothing like a critical essay included here; the DRC isn't really that exciting typographically speaking; the footnotes of then-commonly-understood Latin phrases are, I *think*, in the original texts. Many now-common terms like "tibia" and "acumen" are italicized (and still other words are italicized for emphasis, Poe makes the difference very obvious) after the fashion of the 1840s when they first appeared; as Poe was busily inventing the detective (a word not coined until after Poe's death)-centered mystery model, one is prepared to forgive the spelling of "clew."

It is a hardcover edition; it is, judging from the photo below


a truly lovely object to hold and behold. The only luxe touch that it lacks is the elegance of deckled edges on the book block.

The other worthy-of-mention luxury in this edition is learning from Chevalier Auguste Dupin the genesis of ratiocination as a basis for criminology. The idea of professional policing was *scarcely* a century old at this point; the Bow Street Runners in London forming the first ever paid professional police force under the Blind Beak, Sir John Fielding, under whose stern guidance the semi-thieving days of the watch were ended at last. Dupin, then, as a logical and observant man of Justice's retinue, would've been a rare bird indeed in a time when the Law caught whoever "everyone knew" had killed the deady and he was punished. Observation being the absolute key contribution of Dupin to detective fiction:

The history of human knowledge has so uninterruptedly shown that to collateral, or incidental, or accidental events we are indebted for the most numerous and most valuable discoveries, that it has at length become necessary, in any prospective view of improvement, to make not only large, but the largest allowances for inventions that shall arise by chance, and quite out of the range of ordinary expectation.

So, if you ever wondered where the inspiration for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation came from, it's here. The presence of mildew (italics in original), the hiding of a body in a place it wasn't murdered but is calculated to be discovered in a particular manner and/or at a particular time...all that in 1840s Paris, via the imagination of M. Edgar Poe! And his creation Dupin predates the formal coining of the word "detective" by almost a decade, this honor going to Chuckles the Dick in 1850. Much as I hate to give ol' Chuckles any positive credit, this is an incontrovertible, evidence-based citation. Ick. It hurts to praise someone for inventing an excellent word when that someone is responsible for some of the lowest moments of one's reading life.

Still...there it is. Facts are, dammit anyway, facts.

‘Morning, RD!

>104 magicians_nephew: Mayflower was an eye opener for me, Jim, because it was among the first books I read that reported REAL US history rather than the simplistic and high school textbook pap that I’d been exposed to. I loved Kavalier & Clay, loved The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, and have gotten rid of everything else written by Chabon. DFW essays or DFW fiction? I love the former, haven’t read the latter yet.

>112 richardderus: Congrats on the return of your sense of taste and absence of fever.

>113 richardderus: Amazingly, I’ve never read these three stories, but have them in a lovely leather-bound edition of Poe’s complete works published in 1927. I’m tempted to bring it into the Library. That edition of just the three stories in your review is absolutely gorgeous.

Glad you're feeling better, RD!

I'm another one who loved Kavalier and Clay. *slinks away*

Glad that you are feeling better! Hope the warm weather has made it out your way!

Glad to see you feeling better and posting entertaining reviews with aplomb. Happy Tuesday *smooch*

>112 richardderus:
Wonderful news that you’re feeling better!

>114 karenmarie: Hi Horrible! Yes, my taster tasted "maple" syrup this morning. I damn near wept with the pleasure of it.

That Pushkin Vertigo edition is designed to be lovely indeed. I don't have the physical book or I'd comment on the materials used...but I am pleased with the visual elements of it.

>115 katiekrug: Your enjoyment of a book I don't like isn't grounds for slinking! I don't blame you for liking it, Chabon is a good writer and structures stories in clever and involving ways. THAT book ran afoul of my prejudices. It says nothing whatever about the book, nor did I say anything about *the*book* just my response to it.

>116 ChelleBearss: Warm enough for me, Chelle, as it's approaching 60°/16C out there. That's a good spot for the weather, combined as it is with SUNSHINE!!!

>117 bell7: Thanks, Mary! *smooch*

>118 Matke: Thank you most kindly, Gail, I'm so pleased to feel reasonably normal I could cry. Rob did, when we chatted last night, as I ate an apple and moaned ecstatically about how delicious that Honeycrisp was.

*strides confidently back in*

:)

>120 katiekrug: *smooch*

>112 richardderus: Yeah to being able to really coffee! Toast is good too.

>113 richardderus: Are deckled edges considered luxury? I thought it was smooth gilded edges, the deckle an artifact of less polished production and less flush an audience.

>95 richardderus: Ooh, that one looks good.

>103 richardderus: Oooh, that one too.

>113 richardderus: Well you can hardly tempt me with Poe because my complete edition is well-used and right on the shelf over ... ooh, look at the picture. Damn.

>122 quondame: Thank you, Susan!

Deckled edges were called, when I started in the publishing biz in the 1970s, "rough front" book blocks. It was done in imitation of the old "uncut signature" technique of binding. A hardcover book was a collection of what we now call "f-and-g"s, folded and gathered signatures left pristine so they wouldn't gather dirt by being opened before being bound. Print runs were smallish, but binding runs were teensy. Hand binding techniques survived into the 20th century; mechanical binding machinery was the reason paperbacks were possible at cheap prices.

The f-and-g's of the past, bound into hard boards a few hundred at a time, weren't cut open. A paper knife was a standard desk accessory; slitting open the gathered signatures was the origin of the ragged, rough front; and thus it became associated with les jadis when a book was bound in artistic covers and had a disposable dust-jacket meant to be thrown away so all could see the gorgeous binding.

And it cost two weeks' wages for a working-class man.

Thus the origin of the deckled edge.

>123 swynn: Heh. I feel fully and completed vindicated.

32 LEWSER! More Doonesbury in the Time of Trump by Garry Trudeau



Rating: 3.75* of five

You already know if this book is for you. If you voted for 45 (why are you reading my reviews, for a start) you shouldn't even acknowledge it exists. If you didn't vote at all, pre-order it immediately for July delivery. If you didn't vote for 45, but voted, well...do you like banging your fingers in filing-cabinet drawers? Do you laugh at car wrecks? Your jam awaits.

For my part, I'm just thrilled that Garry Trudeau still has the mental and visual acuity to mirror that which is painfully obvious in terms both amusing and enlightening. Even though it's a bit much taken all together. Maybe space out the read.

33 Bog Bodies by Declan Shalvey, Gavin Fullerton, and Rebecca Nalty



Rating: 4* of five

This May release from Image Comics is deeply Irish, using lots of Irish cuss words and ones we in the US think of as swear words...ladies in the audience, "cunt" does not mean the same thing in Ireland!...which you'd do well to consult the Urban Dictionary about as you run across them.

The flat, brutal art and the dark, flat colors are a fine tonal match for the story of Killian, a small-time wise guy and a major fuck-up whose rope has finally run out. The son of a murdered gangster, he followed in his dad's footsteps without the talent for it. It has led to the moment in this story, a brutal life's summation and judgment; it's a morality tale, of course, but it's got a few little grace notes.

Mad Maureen is a sheer delight. Her weird world, the one her nephew Keano, aging in an unforgiving world as "the Bishop"'s enforcer, has made for her. It suits. It really suits. Madness is lonely; Maureen's isn't. She has plenty of company courtesy of Keano.

So at the end of the story, all the chickens come home to roost. There's closure. It's like the closure of a coffin lid, yes, but it's not less satisfying for all that. What it isn't is, well, conventional.

If you're up for a dark and cruel story of consequences and simple but brutal endings, this is your noir jam. Apart from the Irish-slang issues, it's a good solid crime read.

>124 richardderus: Uncut books were quite common in the household where I grew up, mostly printed cheaply in French or German and brought home from business trips or forays into the French book store in West Los Angeles. A common pocket knife was the tool for rendering them readable, honed regularly by dad, and that duty one of the few I never saw him angry to perform. So no ivory or olive wood "page turners" for us, though I have bootlessly pursued a handful on eBay to repurpose as weaving swords. Also common were my father's rough edged thick paged childhood books, as well as a handful of adult novels with glossy illustrations and gilded edges. So from my 1950s and early 1960s introduction to printed books, deckled edges on hard bound books indicated that I'd like the adventures within and their illustrations with the appearance of block cut prints, Howard Pyle having heavy representation among them, were my introduction to medieval costume.

>127 quondame: I had Mama's father's paper knife for many years. It was a real pleasure to use it for its intended purpose a few rare times when I found antique books with uncut signatures. Usually they were tedious professional tomes and the cut signatures stopped about a third of the way in. But it was a sensory delight to slip the knife into the top corner of the signature and *sweep* it down to the bottom in one swift move. That sound...!

>128 richardderus: I've opened very few pages myself, but it has an addictive sensory profile - I think that's why my dad didn't mind the task.

>129 quondame: I'm actually craving a chance to do it again. That's how deeply satisfying I found it.

Dear RD, I find myself in a bourbon drunk. I have 20 yards of emerald green taffita, a pair of fake boobs, and a roll of gorilla tape. Willing to travel.

Please advise. I've already reshot my Hill ID with me wearing a Hermes scarf so this is more glamour than for work because I'll be damned if Pelosi is more gangster than I.

Muchos smootches and a hug that's just for me- Lorenzo.

>131 SomeGuyInVirginia: Yes dear. Of course, dear. Naturally, why would you think anything else?

*smooch*

>126 richardderus: That looks fascinating but more fascinating is how to get four people to collaborate in the writing of one book?

>133 PaulCranswick: The Shalvey wrote; the Fullerton drew; the Naley colored it in; and the Cowles did the lettering. It's the ordinary way among comic booksters.

34 Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang

Real Rating: 4.25* of five

THE PUBLISHER APPROVED A DRC OF THE BOOK FOR ME VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: It will come as no surprise to any regular reader, or in fact anyone I've interacted with in the past decade-plus, that end-stage capitalism such as has gifted us with the badly botched, lethally disorganized COVID-19 plague response is not high on my list of Good Things in the old-fashioned Martha Stewart sense. Quite a lot of people (over fifteen) in the assisted-living facility where I live are dead thanks to this money-grubbing ethos. So yes, I began this read fully expecting to approve of the Utopian Martian colony and its collectivist politics.

Well, it's comforting (I suppose) that I consistently never learn....

Hugo-winner Hao (Best Novelette, 2016) builds two competing Utopias. Neither sees the beam in its own eye but focuses on the mote in its symbiotic sibling's; so much easier to sell the distortion and misperception necessary to see any human-made system as anything other than dystopian. Earth's hypercapitalism has continued to devour the planet; its existence is always precarious, always threatening to collapse. Mars's collectivism is dependent on inputs from the fragile, worn-out Earth; its people are not natural innovators, never striving to Do More because, well, why? You don't get more, and there is limited support for striving.

A side note to shout out my dead father, whose aperçu about economics I quote frequently: No system will thrive that either ignores or exalts greed.

Read the rest of my review here.

‘Morning, RichardDear. Happy Wednesday to you and much pleasure enjoying the taste of things.

>124 richardderus: I’ll read a book regardless of whether it’s smooth edge or deckled edges, but don’t prefer deckled edges. Given the choice of an identical edition with the edges being the only difference, I'd choose smooth any time. Don't know why, just do. Interesting exposition.

>125 richardderus: Dammit, RD, here I was just expounding on my thread about not needing any books right now, feeling surfeit with over 2000 tbrs, and you give me an immediate BB, which I just pre-ordered. It comes out on my mother’s birthday, which will be a bit of irony since she voted for the idiot by absentee ballot just a month before she passed away. It will proudly join Yuge on my shelves.

You got me with a BB with Bog Bodies (you had me at "noir"), and that's an intriguing review of Vagabonds.

>136 karenmarie: *preens*

>137 jnwelch: *preens some more*

You'd like Vagabonds, Joe, I think its focus on the ideas of interdependence are what I think of as Joevian ideas.

RD dear, did you see that Nadiyah from GBBO has a new-to-us show on Netflix? I think it's called Nadiyah at Home.

>135 richardderus: New word: aperçu, and I like that one. I do understand greed. Set an alarm this morning to bid for a thing on eBay.

>139 katiekrug: Nadiyah's Time to Eat...no, I hadn't known until you told me and I scurried over like the greedy little mouse I am and added it to my list! *smooch*

>140 quondame: Heh...I'm thinkin' GREED not merely concupiscence, Susan. The kind that loots trillions from the Treasury, not the kind that buys stuff. It's amazing how often "aperçu" comes in handy in life.

>135 richardderus: >137 jnwelch: Double-Tap. Vagabonds and Bog Bodies both on the WL.

35 I Wish by Toon Tellegen, Ingrid Godon (artwork), David Colmer (translation)

Rating: 4* of five

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

My Review: Toon Tellegen is a Dutch poet whose work I've liked (Letters to Anyone and Everyone was a hit with me, illustrated by Jessica Ahlberg instead of Ingrid Godon's artwork inspiring Tellegen as in this book), aimed at younger readers though it is. Permaybehaps that's why I liked it from the moment I discovered it, come to think on it; unlike most poetry, it isn't gawdawful pit-sniffing slef-absorbed and -referential narcissism and condescension. It conveys its message simply and directly, though that message is subject to the reader's interpretation. The two pieces below will demonstrate that the knowledge one brings to the read will shape the poem's meaning.

CARL
I have a little list of conditions I have to fulfill to be satisfied with myself. When I read that list, I think, there are two things I can do: either make a list that's even shorter or never be satisfied with myself. What should I do?


JULIA
When I'm sad I always think: and the saddest is yet to come... Then, besides being sad, I'm scared too.
Why do I do that?
When I'm happy I never think:
and the happiest is yet to come...
When I'm happy, I'm always just
happy.

An adult reader will sense different layers of meaning; your twelve-year-old niece will feel understood, most likely, and thus happily seen and heard. It's a wonderful gift to be given at that age. Feeling seen is a jolt, an emotional high, for adults who can command it in so many more ways than a tween can. This book is for that tween, to elicit the joyous sense of release that is Existing in the World.

Don't hesitate: This moment, this quarantined and isolated moment, is the perfect time to give this gift to the young person in your life.

And, if I'm fully honest, yourself as well.

>143 richardderus: Well, yes, feeling seen. The sexiest thing ever.

>142 mahsdad: Heh. My aim is true, even if your name isn't Alison.

>144 quondame: It really is! I get more successful seductions to my credit by listening than the studly muffins do by being pretty.

Having been wandering, pondering, yadah yadah, I jumped into your thread at post #116 and until I got to post #145, I'd taken about four hits. Trudeau, an Irish noir GN, dueling utopias, a Tweener. Oh my.

Guess I'll go read a book...

>146 weird_O: Heh, your dodge-and-weave game is slippin' there, Bill.

>143 richardderus: So glad you found an other Toon Tellegen to read, Richard dear.
Haven't read this one, on my list now :-)

>148 FAMeulstee: Oh my goodness! I hit a Dutch lady with a Dutch-language book bullet! This has to be a personal best for me.

Have a terrific Thursday, Anita, and many more fun visits to Almere's sensible library.

>149 richardderus: :-)

Thank you, Richard, happy days to you. So glad to read you have your taste and smell back.
I am preparing my list of books for next weeks visit to Almere. I plan to go every other week until all libraries re-open again.

>150 FAMeulstee: Considering how bad the illness is for most, I'm grateful to know the worst is over. I hope it means I have immunity.

>132 richardderus: Good Lord, there really is nothing new under the sun. I had drapes that wear the same color.

Morning, Richard! Sweet Thursday. Wet & chilly here. Sighs...Had you heard anything about Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist? It is my current audio and I am really enjoying it.

>152 SomeGuyInVirginia: That green (I assume you don't mean your drapes were blonde) is among the most satisfying colors my eyes can perceive. Classy drapes.

>153 msf59: Hi Mark! It's a Thick Thursday here. Fog, clouds, dank...rain later. I ache all over in weather like this. But I could taste my eggs this morning!

'Morning, RD!

*blinks* Haven't had enough coffee yet, still a bit groggy from sleeping in.

*smooch*

>155 karenmarie: Hey there, Horrible. Hoping it's all for the best, this sleepy day. Sometimes it's just too much effort to stay conscious for more than an hour at a time.

It's Cumberbatch time! His National Theatre performance as the monster in Frankenstein is on YouTube today only...tomorrow he's Frankenstein instead of the monster.

>157 richardderus: I saw it in the movie theater (think it was Fathom Events type of thing) a year ago with BC as the Doctor. Really good. Johnny Lee Miller was supurb as the monster. I'm going to have to watch this version

>157 richardderus: >158 mahsdad: Cool!

Wow! Lots of great reading going on here. 7 four star reads in a row ( If I counted correctly).

>143 richardderus: That one looks interesting as well.

Enjoy the beginning of your weekend

>158 mahsdad:, >159 quondame: :-)

>160 figsfromthistle: Hi Anita! Thank you for the weekend wishes. Tomorrow is my favorite moment of the weekend, THERAPY!! An hour to figure out how very much I hate and resent stupid people!!

Then, well...it gets a bit samey after that...but you do the best Weekending ever, okay?

>154 richardderus: Emerald green taffeta drapes. I had them special ordered the same time I also redid an eighteenth-century chair from Germany, had the seat and the front done in pinstripe suit material, and the back in dove grey silk. If JCPenney had a catalog devoted to Piss Elegant Queens that chair would have put me on the cover. I love being Southern. We put our crazy people right out there on the front porch and I've always figured that that was my rightful place.

Much much love, dear heart.

>162 SomeGuyInVirginia: Heh. My living room had two couches, one a cheapo with lots of big, square pillows on the back and one that cost more than my first new car (the latter was Mama's, need I mention) with down cushions. Two wing chairs of wildly different vintage. A lady's barrel chair, so low and dinky I couldn't put my knee in it. And my nest, the 1930s down-stuffed armchair with swan's-neck wooden arms. I recovered them all in foliage-patterned tapestry on the seating surfaces, Pompeiian red velvet backs, and all the cushions trimmed with old-gold silk braid.

Yeah, the Piss-Elegant Queen club meets here.

*smooch*

Emmet Asher-Perrin wrote, in their article The Character of the Doctor Is More Important to Me Than Doctor Who Will Ever Be:

I was watching the show the other day (Classic Who has been a very helpful comfort watch lately), and found myself struck all over again by something the Fourth Doctor put quite succinctly:

“The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common: They don’t change their views to fit the facts. They change the facts to fit their views. Which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs changing.”

I don’t really think I need to explain why that landed like a sneaky little stab wound. I might still be bleeding over it.
***
Yes lawd!

>164 richardderus: How apt!

May monthly theme thread is up here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/319731

I realize that this is an area for which you have no interest and never read anything in this area, but hey, stre-e-e-e-tch! ;-)

>165 ronincats: Not May-sterious Crimes? Mothers' Mayhem and Madness?

Nope. I should make you go and see, but...it's May Martians and Spaceships!

>167 ronincats: Done gone and went. *smooch*

>164 richardderus: The Fourth Doctor was a great creation, RD, and to think that Tom Baker was working as a labourer on a building site when he won the role and he saw it as a last chance.

>143 richardderus: Toon Tellegen is someone I'm not familiar with, RD, but it is reassuring that he isn't a pit-sniffer.

>169 PaulCranswick: Tellegen's poetry isn't the usual stuff, as I think you see from the quotes; he's not interested in clever-clever stuff but in communication of simple, elegant ideas. But don't mistake simplicity for condescension. Tellegen's translators have done a terrific job of making him comprehensible while maintaining a specific style.

Gotta love the Doctors! Each one has a terrific origin story. Matt Smith getting the job at twenty-whatever; Paul McGann getting the job because Fox executives insisted the Doctor be handsome for once; many good tales on top of the stories they told.

Drippy morning to you, RD. I think this weekend is supposed to be nice?!?! I'm very tired of the rain and the gloom, as I'm sure you are as well. x

Friday *smooches* to you, Richard. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

I Wish sounds and looks irresistibly good. I'm on it.

Have a great weekend!

>171 katiekrug: *squish*squish*squish*
...oh, hi Katie, I just galoshed in from the barely-breathable fog. Tiresome, innit. *smooch*

>172 bell7: Howdy do, Miss Mary, thanks for the weekend wishes! I return them most heartily.

>173 jnwelch: Hi Joe! I predict you'll really enjoy the read. Happy weekend!

>174 richardderus: - Oooh, are they allowing you to leave the building now? Even in this weather, that would beat being cooped up.

>175 katiekrug: They are allowing us to cruise up and down the block two or three at a time. I needed to meet Rob as he came in to see his (probably dying) rotter of a dad...he walked from the train station to the end of my block...to hug and kiss for a minute.

>176 richardderus: - I'm glad you're getting at least that much outside time. And Rob time. Is his father in your facility or just somewhere nearby? (If that's nosey, just ignore me :) )

>177 katiekrug: Heh, no, not nosey. He's in the nearby hospital...heavy smoker, 4 packs a day, had COPD and now is on a ventilator with COVID-19, in the induced coma. He's younger than I am! And dying! I am not sad, he was really really hateful to me and beat Rob up last year for being a faggot whose old man is an actual old man...so not a big fan of his, me.

I still don't want him to die without a chance for them to try to fix it.

Ah, ok. I figured if he was that sick, he would be in an actual hospital! I had a toxic father, so I feel for Rob. Some people are irredeemable, and I hope he doesn't spend too much mental and emotional energy on it. I'm a big believer in cutting out people who are bad for us. But I'm cold like that...

Good afternoon to you, RDear!

I'm glad you got to see Rob for a minute or two.

Toxic people are toxic people, whether they're family or not. I agree with Katie. I found the terms 'nourishing' and 'toxic' in the early 1970s and have firmly applied the concepts to my interactions with people ever since.

I've been busy today - ordering vitamins, paying my Ammie credit card, activating the local grocery store on-line shop-and-earn rewards for the month, cleaning up the kitchen, and etc. The reward is reading, of course...

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>179 katiekrug:, >180 karenmarie: I'm all about severing toxic connections, fer sher. My sisters, my mother, my utterly unforgivable father who knew what was happening and did nothing...gone before they died. The hurts had long since stopped hurting, though, so I was ready to let go.

I see Rob's awful grief for his dad's nasty, mean-spirited way of being, and I know from experience that it's not good to try to hack off the "limb" of relationship until the pain's shifted to sadness. He ain't there yet. So I encouraged him to go to the hospital...not realizing that they wouldn't let him in, but my therapist told me about the phone-to-the-ear thing and I texted him right away...but the staff held up a phone to his dad's war while he stood outside and said goodbye, I forgive you.

Now he's free. He's still there with his stepmother. They apparently expect it to happen today.

I hope it does.

*smooch* to all my lovely kind friends!

>179 katiekrug: >180 karenmarie: >181 richardderus: So true, Toxic people are toxic people, whether they're family or not.

We're "taught" that we have to be 'nice'; that we can't selectively have nothing to do with the toxic relatives. It's such a fallacy that families are some kind of nurturing unit, a perfect microcosm in which to raise children. Maybe somewhere there are no dysfunctional families, but I have yet to encounter one.

I believe it is healthy self-defence in cutting out people who are bad for us. Because I totally agree with what Katie said, Some people are irredeemable. It isn't a matter of being cold-hearted, it's self-preservation.

Kim posted about her current read, Untamed. I have snagged what she quoted ~ it is so very inspiring, from parts of the beginning chapter:

❖ I looked hard at my faith, my friendships, my work, my sexuality, my entire life and asked: How much of this was my idea?
❖ Do I truly want any of this, or is this what I was conditioned to want?
❖ Which of my beliefs are of my own creation and which were programmed into me?
❖ How much of who I've become is inherent, and how much was just inherited?
❖ Who was I before I became who the world told me to be?

That last line especially resonated with me. (I bulleted the points, because I believe these emphasised such important concepts.)

>182 SandyAMcPherson: That last line is trenchant indeed, Sandy, and it is well worth the time and effort to unbury that idea, that person. I wish more people had access to mental-health professionals! Around the world, it is a gaping void in social services for all ages and all members of the human race.

My delightful good fortune has been to have, for the past three years, access to weekly meetings with a therapist whose deepest contribution to my mental health is perspective. She is a master at perspective checks for me. The idea of her job, coming to a facility like this one (among others) and seeing the kind of lost sheep that end up here, makes me want to throw myself off a bridge but she likes it and does it well.

I dread the day she decides to leave practice!

>179 katiekrug: I think cold is inaccurate - to me it means uncaring and if a person is uncaring then they are unlikely to experience that hurt that requires disconnection, being as it were, already disconnected. But the emotional pragmatism that blocks feeling past the point when it can only harm, can be interpreted by those trying to manipulate us as coolness.
There are those who do the unforgivable. But we must forgive ourselves for wanting something from them. To forgive that accidental connection that lands a child among those who can't love at all, or can only love some image of perfection in their child.

>184 quondame: I agree that "cold" isn't the way I see Katie's actions. I am more on the "you get what you deserve" end of the parent/child spectrum. Neglectful? Expect neglect. Harmful? Expect harm; be grateful if it's only the harm of being cut off.

I wonder how many happy childhoods there are in the world. I didn't have a *horrible* childhood, but adolescence made up for it.

And so it goes....

>181 richardderus: I hope Rob is free now (((hugs)))
Those words almost freed me from my mother, it took some time to truely sink in...

>184 quondame: Well said, Susan. Thanks for bringing clarity to this point.
It is true, and I hadn't thought through to the underlying issue, as you pointed out: 'uncaring' means the hurtfulness of a situation isn't experienced in the way it is perceived by the suffering person; thus the need to disengage.

>183 richardderus: RD, I hope your cherished therapist can leave you with the skills to cope should she no longer be accessible. You may have become stronger than you realise. Often and often I see you usefully commenting about coping with life (and not cut our cloth to suit any but ourselves, no?)

>186 FAMeulstee: I just got off a fast phone call with him...his dad's not gone yet. But he did assure me he's really delighted he listened to me! That felt good.

>187 SandyAMcPherson: Heh, well thank you most kindly ma'am.

I don't ***need*** Dianne, the therapist, but it makes my life so much less stressful to know I can go over my ideas, pick her brain, talk through the Big Issues...I am better able to use the time I spend with her knowing that I can function fine in her occasional absences.

It's the best feeling ever: I have That Friend, only she's a professional!

...that sounded bad...

>166 richardderus: I like your suggestion of May-sterious Crimes better than Martians. LOL

Happy Friday, Richard. We had a fine day here and a better one in store tomorrow. I hope it is moving your way. A Thread of Grace is off to a very good start. I just wish I could have spent more time with it.

36 Are You In? by P.W. Steele

Rating: 3* of five

THIS DRC CAME FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

A solid debut effort from Author P.W. Steele. Andy and Jack are clearly the opening act...what better way to introduce the Gym Where Dreams Are Fulfilled than with two men who have "everything" except what they really want...which happens to be what the other one has. The sex scenes aren't my personal kink. That's not to say they aren't very, um, involving shall we say.

In general, this is one of those times I've read something that feels like a passion project, like a very personally important corner of a writer's idea closet. That's a very appealing thing for a writer to convey. It makes up for strange lapses in the Americanness of the story. Things like "five years with the Rams"...when they were in St. Louis, I suppose, since they only moved back to LA in 2016...but the story seems to take place in LA, though that's not specifically stated...and just in case anyone's wondering, "learnt" is never used in the USA. Except by Brits. Maybe some pommier Aussies. But Murrikinz? Nuh uh.

Still, pobody's nerfect, and I'll come round to yours for another cuppa, Author Steele.

>189 thornton37814: Heh...I kinda favor it myownself.

>190 msf59: We're about to get some pleasant weather at last, Mark, so thanks for shipping it east. A Thread of Grace will, I predict, keep you happily under its thumb. Enjoy!

>189 thornton37814:, >192 richardderus: But people! We just had crime in March! Gotta spread it around.

>188 richardderus: Sounded great. Dianne would be so pleased to know this because counsellors so often never hear how or if they been successful.

Yes, I think I know you probably meant something else when you said "that sounded bad". heh.

>193 ronincats: It's not a killer, Roni, just that murder is *always* in season!

>194 SandyAMcPherson: I express my gratitude in each session. It's a ritual and a necessity, since it's all too common for people to leave things unsaid. I have, so far in this life, never left something I really, really need to say unsaid.

I have things in life that I wish had gone differently; but I have very, very few regrets.

I have some regrets. Mostly I wish I had understood some people better, and that the understanding would lead me to some different behavior.
Also, of course, the stupid errors of youth.

Reading this discussion made me realize in a new and stunning way that I lied to my psychiatrist. After the first 18 months or so, I lied to him quite a bit.

Funny; I don’t regret that at all.

>193 ronincats: As Richard said, murder and mayhem are always in season. I'm going to read those regardless. I'm really not into Martians.

>196 Matke: Whatever leaves no regrets is not a problem, IMO, and there's nothing to be gained by rehearsing old behaviors in the present. That way madness lies, and I for one ain't gettin' up a trip to go *there*.

Hoping it's a great Saturday, Gail!

>197 thornton37814: :-)

'Morning, RD!

I'm so glad to hear that Rob is free. You've helped him get there, too, a Very Good Thing.

Forgiveness is tricky. There is (fortunately, only) one person I can never forgive in this lifetime and I'm okay with that. Here's a quote from Sayers that put into perspective for me that not forgiving someone can be a deliberate choice related to ... you guessed it... their being toxic.

Forgiveness is the re-establishment of a right relationship, in which the parties can genuinely feel and behave as freely with one another as though the unhappy incident had never taken place.

I do not want or need a right relationship with this person and he doesn't want or need a right relationship with me either. I won't miss him when he shuffles off this mortal coil.

Hope you are having a good Saturday, RD! ((Hugs)) and *smooches*

>199 karenmarie: Horrible dear! I'm uncommonly proud of myself that a twentysomething listens to me, does what I say, and acknowledges how happy he is that he did. My daughter's never done that.

Some people, dear Californian, just need killin'. As we say in the South(westish).

>200 alcottacre: *smooch* It's been interesting, I'll say that for it.

'Morning, RDear! Happy Sunday to you, ghastly and gloomy though it is 'way up nawth.

Sorry about your daughter, happy about Rob. My daughter went through a period when she thought I was pretty stupid, but now, at almost-27, she appreciates her mother and we talk almost every day. This is a precious gift that I greatly appreciate.

Morning, RD!

>202 karenmarie: Well, she's only giving back what she got...her first child was born when she was 21, so it's not like she's ever not been consumed with motherhood. I was consumed by other things than her life, too, given that we didn't meet until her mother needed something from me.

>203 katiekrug: Hey there, Katie!
***
I can't get into The Paris Hours, which pubs on Tuesday. I got a DRC of it and should finish it but I don't wanna. Just not clicking somewhere. *sigh* Back to Villalobos I go.

I have never read anything David Mitchell has written that I have enjoyed near as much ass this Guardian piece on why Earthsea is the equal of any and all the wizarding universes.

37 The Last Question by Isaac Asimov

I listened to this audiobook on YouTube.

MQ17J of Nicron saying the Galaxy would be filled in five years? VJ23X is such a putz. 20,000 years and the Galaxy is filled up, and that doesn't suggest an inevitable bad end for Humanity?! Thomas Malthus was right, per Asimov.

Happen I agree...though I doubt my sense that this is the one and only planet we'll have a chance to fuck up. Entropy is a mean ol' daddy and we don't have (and won't IMO) the nous to grow out from under his hateful rule.

THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER.

There always will be.

>205 richardderus: That is indeed a great article, Richard! Thanks for sharing.

Omigosh, Richard, I somehow missed what Rob has been going through with his parents. How tough. Good advice from you.

I hope you're having an otherwise good weekend. I just finished The Splendid and the Vile, and absolutely loved it. What a smart guy Larson is.

P.S. Thanks for the link to the Mitchell/LeGuin article in >205 richardderus:. I shall read it.

>207 ronincats: I'm so glad you enjoyed it, too! I was surprised to find myself nodding along as Mitchell praised UKL's cultural relativism. Almost all of his books seem, to me anyway, to poke at the malfunctions in cultural relativism. But I suppose no one sees the flaws like the lover, when the bloom is off the rose.

>208 jnwelch: Hi Joe! Happy to see you here. Erik Larson's way with a tale is unequalled, isn't it.

Thanks re: Rob and his tribulations. I am so glad that he's able to see what I wouldn't have at his age: I'm trying to help.

Enjoy the Mitchell article!

>201 richardderus: Our relationships with those we love are invariably complicated RD.

Those that we sought out or sought us from choice not bloodline are more apt to listen objectively to what we say and might feel than those born to us.

The first can be so life-affirming and the second a cause of heartache and indigestion. The occasional fatherly successes do tell us that we need to contain to impart what wisdom we can muster.

Take care dear fellow.

38 Old Food by Ed Atkins

Rating: 3.5* of five

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

My Review: Listen, from *ME*, three and a half stars is like a goddam rave review. I really, really dislike being condescended to; poets are, of necessity, self-referential and therefore can't avoid a certain amount of "what do you mean, what do I mean by that?" It's irritating as all get-out to me. I feel about it the way I suspect not-very-bright people feel about being forced to read The Classics. THEN there's the unrelenting Englishness of the poem! I mean, don't read a tree book of this, my fellow Murrikinz, you gonna NEED that Wikipedia/dictionary function A LOT.

Red spider mites paused
there, druft
down through the gone
skylight
with other and more real
bits of the
summer, seasoning a
generous spread
of pokey galantines, upset
duck and
I think quail. Charged with
waves of
mortadella, fagged little
Portuguese
chicken livers, garlic
mosaics. ...

Not so much, then, on the pleasure reading scale. "Druft" and "galantines" and so on and so forth, well, yes it's titled "Old Food" but good lord! Brand-name junk foods, exotic to Colonials preparations of things we don't eat that much of, and just flat gross mental pictures you can't unsee:

Oodles of
dropsical maggots and live.
The
maggots moving fast like
junior
sea penises. They got all up
in her
mouth and in her ears so
that for the
longest time she could only
declaim
in Martian, hear distant
wars and/
or futures. Wiping tough
tits, is
what.
–and–
Thank you for just opening
your legs
the goose wishbone and the
gavage to
engorge to torture. On
thick, doorstop
toast with mustard seeds
and sweated
green onions, served with a
squat
glass of a cool, pale
Sauternes and
with Hannah.

But sticking with it, keeping the pace of reading, pays off in a very strange way for the uncultured oafs like me: Bend your brain a little. Crank the handle again, spread the jalousie just a fraction more than before, and the weird, unlyrical pleasure of the writing will catch you.

Might catch you. Could catch you. Let it catch you.

And did anyone who's read a significant portion of my over seven hundred forty blogged reviews, over eighteen hundred total reviews, ever expect to hear me say that?

>210 PaulCranswick: Since we did the same things to our parents, PC, it's really only fair...and I, unlike so many in this world, have been gifted with the knowledge that my attempts to shorten the way for others *have* been well received on occasion. The one thing I've said to my girl that she's later reported was very helpful was, "Of course your kids will hate you, it's inevitable. You just get to pick what they hate you for. Make sure it's worth it."

With Rob, it's more and also less fraught: I'm basically paying it forward, his next relationship will be *much* better than it would have been otherwise because of his time with me. There is a lot of comfort in that knowledge.

Edgar Allen Poe -- there is an author whose work I have not read in eons!!! The Paris Mysteries sounds like a fun trio. It's now sitting handsomely on my wish list.

RD, I've just read through this thread since my last visit. So much going on. I so appreciate the discussion about relationships with difficult people. It's almost never uncomplicated. I have an older brother with whom I have not had contact in decades. He has schizophrenia and when I was very young and unable to choose, he did not make life easy or pleasant for me. I now have much more compassion for his pain than I did when I was, say, 13 years old, but I have never been able to move past the inertia of no-contact. He has reached out a couple of times, I hear about how he is doing from our sister.... usually that has been enough to confirm that my decision not to bridge the gap is the right one. Much or some of it may be beyond his control, but toxicity is toxicity. My deepest sadness is that I have a nephew and now a grand-nephew with whom I've never had any contact at all. I waffle now and then on what, if anything, to do about that.

Oh, and as for the therapist who provides perspective, I just say yes. I adore my therapist and am ever so grateful that she can kindly and non-judgmentally and straightforwardly say "and here is another way to think about that."

xo

>213 EBT1002: Oh boy oh boy I got Ellen with a book bullet!! Yay me!

Toxicity is, as you say, toxicity. It's not our responsibility to Rise Above unless we want to (key theraputic insight #∞), and there are some people whose absence feels so vastly superior to their presence that, well, that is that.

Siblings, parents, children, all manner of folk: This is the rule.

Glad to see you out and about, and tell P I send my most respectful greetings.

>214 richardderus: Thank you! I copied the toxicity commentary into my Important Concepts to Remember list:
Toxicity is, as you say, toxicity. It's not our responsibility to Rise Above unless we want to (key therapeutic insight #∞), and there are some people whose absence feels so vastly superior to their presence that, well, that is that...

Yes, I do (!!) keep a quotation list of supportive insights. This is a daily remembrance stack of sayings that I write out on cardstock. I'm aiming to build the collection to 365 cards. Perhaps some folks might find it crazy-making, but I find it focuses my mind on positive ways of being. It was something I started doing when an employee-assistance counsellor (at a *really* dysfunctional workplace) suggested I needed to remind myself of such strategies.

>205 richardderus: I found it interesting that Le Guin found imperfection enough in Earthsea to revisit and look at it from the view of the 'other' gender, from which, alas, it shone in a less utopian light. Also, she is the only author in my experience who was able upon revisiting a world after decades, to mend what to me was a strange dissonance in the basic structure of the world without negating something vital in it.

I don't disagree that as a created world Earthsea deserves a high place, but to dismiss Tolkien as a cliche is a bit cart-horse-ian.

I am often convinced my daughter doesn't listen to me - until I hear my words come out of her mouth. Or until she jumps down my throat for warping her forever with a careless remark.

>215 SandyAMcPherson: Whatever functions to keep positivity in front of your nose and you moving towards it is a Good Thing, as Mother Martha used to say. I myownself would go completely wildly barkingly mad if I tried to organize my commonplace book (now a list of quotes on Goodreads) in any but the broadest categories.

>216 quondame: CAVEAT: I HATE TOLKIEN. I ADORE UKL, AND EARTHSEA.

To say that the Ur-text of a genre is cliché-ridden is short-sighted at best, IMO. Tolkien's place as the author of the Ur-text is deeply rooted. That he worked in a world that had wide horizons already is not relevant to the discussion unless one is within the Groves of Academe, and thee'n'me ain't. So: Bad on Mitchell there.

To also, by a weird sort of psychic geometry, displace Tolkien's Middle Earth from centrality to the genre is laughably foolish. UKL, f/ex, did not do that. She listed him as an influence. She'd've been mad not to. BUT she was no imitatrix. She went places Tolkien couldn't have gone because he was not looking ahead, innovating, making a new path, he was retelling oft-told tales with new and fun bedizenments. (Please save the argument that all fiction is doing that for someone who could, in some not-impossible-to-imagine Universe, accept Tolkien as his jam.)

UKL's amazing and impressive feat was to turn her creation upside down and show us the warped geometry of its underpinnings in such a way as to make the experience enriching as well as disorienting. Anyone who could write The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is capable of any kind or sort of psychic rejiggering, IMNever-RemotelyHO. And she did that trick to her very own bestselling Universe! All the more impressive. She embodied "when you know better, do better."

I wish I could be as flexible in my thinking as she was. It is still a goal I set for myself every day.

I've read short stories by Poe almost every year lately in some anthology. A lot were re-reads for me.

>218 thornton37814: I keep wondering if there was an anniversary I don't recall every time I see another work by him. Last year was 210 years since his birth? But 210 isn't some kind of magical totem anniversary that I know of, nor is 170 (number of years since his 1849 death). *shrug* I like the stuff, so I'm inclined to be quiet about it.

>217 richardderus: Have you ever tried Studio Ghibli's adaptation of Tales From Earthsea? Not my favorite by the studio but certainly worth a couple of hours of diversion.

>220 Oberon: Hi Erik, nope I've never seen the Studio Ghibli version, so I'll go look for it. Thanks for the pointer. Diversions are most welcome just now.
***
In the 1990s, I worked in a small Manhattan office next door to a travel agency run by two Indian immigrants. One of them was the stereotypical short, round Sikh man with a truly impressive beard; the other was a skinny rail of a Muslim lad, gangly and extremely suave (or so he thought), in absolute love with Manhattan. I was friendly with the guys, I could hear most of their chitchat because the walls weren't all that. I got to know the Mumbai and Bangalore and Dhaka and Chennai flight schedules.

Hamid, the Muslim guy, suddenly became morose and miserable. He moped around, tried to smile unsuccessfully, and when I asked him what the heck was wrong, he burst into tears. That was different.

So once I could get him to make sense, it turns out he was going "home" (you could hear the quotes in his voice) to marry his family's chosen bride. He'd never seen her, didn't know her, didn't want to know her. We talked about duty and piety and self-sacrifice; I said, "you know, she's got to be feeling the same way about now, moving to a strange country and married to a strange man...you're *both* isolated by your predicament here, absolutely not one soul in this country will say anything nice to y'all about your marriage. So maybe you could talk about that? Make friends with each other because you're stuck with the situation? It's got to be worth a try."

I got an email from Hamid yesterday. It was their 25th wedding anniversary, and he wanted to tell me that my advice has made them friends and able to climb their mountains together (his phrase).

If I do nothing else good in my life, I've done that and it's a wonderful feeling.

Hallo, RDear! Happy day of the week to you.

*smooch* from your own Madame TVT Horrible

>221 richardderus: - Oh, what a wonderful gift that email is! Lovely way to start the week... xx

>221 richardderus: - What a great story! And good for you for being the friend he needed at a time that was crucial. Being a friend is often reward in itself and never to be underrated. Having him value, acknowledge and validate that is icing on the cake. Yay you! Curious, had he been in touch in the interim?

>222 karenmarie: Hi Horrible! *smooch* Have a lovely puffy-clouded day.

>223 katiekrug: It really, really is. I even was able to Rise Above the whining from Old Stuff buoyed up by that.

>224 jessibud2: Hi Shelley! It just seemed like a good chance to make a difference. He was never around the office as much after getting married, but I still saw him every so often and we were friendly. Since I left NYC in 1999, we hadn't been in touch at all, but that email address hasn't changed in 21 years so he took a chance. It was just lovely.

>221 richardderus: That's a great and inspiring account, Richard. Thanks for sharing it with us.

>226 kidzdoc: Hi Darryl, it was a real pleasure to start my Monday with such a very not-Monday thing happening.

>221 richardderus: What a heart-warming story. I even felt teary-eyed (*blush* but whatever...)
Thank you for sharing that. Full of resources you are, RD! ♡

>228 SandyAMcPherson: Stuffed to the gills with 'em, me! Happy pandemic Monday. This can't last forever, can it? *smooch*

>221 richardderus: Great story, RD! You deserve extra hugs and smooches today!!

>230 alcottacre: Thank you, Stasia, the day's felt much better than it otherwise would have.

>221 richardderus: That is a really cool story Richard.

>221 richardderus: What a story! All the points to you, well, save one each for Hamid and his lady. Understanding that you aren't absolutely alone is so important, even when you are.

>232 Oberon: It's one of those rare moments when a good deed is remembered and rewarded. That's a delightful event, all too rare in this life.

>233 quondame: It was a perspective check. Neither of them had thought beyond their own misery. Hamid didn't want to be married, she (name escapes me, he per custom doesn't use it) wanted to marry someone else, they didn't start out with secrets so they prospered. I so wish more people did that!

>234 richardderus: I don't know how couples who choose to marry each other can start from the same place of honesty when they may not know their own motives, or are settling or are just in it, on one or both sides, for the nooky. Not that there aren't honest couples, but the miasma of myth surrounding weddings and marriage is so inherently deceptive, that really, having your parents plop you down with someone they find suitable, at least allows for knowing where you're starting.

39 The Rivals and Other Stories by Jonah Rosenfeld and Rachel Miner

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: A major literary figure and frequent contributor to the Yiddish-language newspaper Forverts from the 1920s to the mid-1930s, Jonah Rosenfeld was recognized during and after his lifetime as an explorer of human psychology. His work foregrounds loneliness, social anxiety, and people's frustrated longing for meaningful relationships—themes just as relevant to today's Western society as they were during his era.

The Rivals and Other Stories introduces nineteen of Rosenfeld's short stories to an English-reading audience for the first time. Unlike much of Yiddish literature that offers a sentimentalized view of the tight knit communities of early twentieth-century Jewish life, Rosenfeld's stories portray an entirely different view of pre-war Jewish families. His stories are urban, domestic dramas that probe the often painful disjunctions between men and women, parents and children, rich and poor, Jews and Gentiles, self and society. They explore eroticism and family dysfunction in narratives that were often shocking to readers at the time they were published.

Following the Modernist tradition, Rosenfeld rejected many established norms, such as religion and the assumption of absolute truth. Rather, his work is rooted in psychological realism, portraying the inner lives of alienated individuals who struggle to construct a world in which they can live. These deeply moving, empathetic stories provide a counterbalance to the prevailing idealized portrait of shtetl life and enrich our understanding of Yiddish literature.

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

My Review: I'll bet good hard cash, my own United States dollars, that you've never heard of Jonah Rosenfeld. Yiddish-language literature is, to be frank, a specialist taste; a lot of it is what we used to call "schmaltzy," that is to say greased down with lots and lots of chicken fat. The implication being that Yiddish-speaking people, or Jews as we call them now, were all about Mammele and her iron grip on her boychik the melamed. (Not Rabbi, that's the Everest of stereotypical Jewish Motherhood.) Old-fashioned stuff meant to amuse the Old Country immigrant audience that New York City had in abundance while Rosenfeld was writing here (1921–1944).

Are you still here? Did you click away already? Because that's not what Jonah Rosenfeld delivers (mostly)! Lost in a haze of his largely forgotten mother tongue compounded with increasing assimilationist pressures on the now-third-generation immigrants after World War II and the Holocaust, Author Rosenfeld fell into an unjust desuetude. He was wildly popular among his direct contemporaries because he was emphatically not going to feed you pap, as Translator Miner tells us:

In his search for psychological veracity, Rosenfeld does not flinch from the darker side of human nature. Indeed, the psyche's darkest corners are central to his writing. He is, according to Harry (Hillel) Rogoff:
"{A} painter of sadness, grief, fear and horror...a portrayer of love, passion and lust in their decadent stages, when they approach degeneracy...but the keynote of realism is never missing."

His stories are every bit as tough to read as the much-younger Simenon's romans durs, or Erskine Caldwell's realism by way of rage and misery. The pace of interwar societal change informs the need in these (among so many others) writers' careers to explore the rough edges that more mainstream writers don't touch, or don't grab hold of at least, in order to elicit something in a reader that she doesn't necessarily want to offer: Empathy.

{Rosenfeld's} writings, like those of many of his contemporaries, are set in the context of rapidly changing Jewish culture. Urbanization, emigration, increasing social mobility, and pressures to assimilate provide the locus of conflict for many of his characters, whose personal isolation "becomes a metaphor for the rupture and dislocation resulting from the breakup of traditional Jewish values." (footnoted to Schwartz, "The Trials of a Yiddish Writer in America," 196.) Even religion provides little comfort in many of Rosenfeld's stories, whose characters practice rituals devoid of meaning, Jews are caught in a no-man's-land, not truly sustained by Judaism, yet not in harmony and ease with their Gentile neighbors either.

Like his age cohort of writers, the Modernists like Ford Madox Ford (his near contemporary in age) and Ernest Hemingway, the joys of sentimentalism are foregone in Rosenfeld's work. He spares no thought for the warm glow of a loving, crowded hearth; I suspect the fact that he was ejected from his family, essentially sold into slavery (well, apprenticeship anyway) at thirteen, plays some part in his career-spanning unwillingness to write cheery little vignettes of The Old Country:

It is true {writes Translator Miner} that Rosenfeld neglects or subverts much of what was positive in Jewish life, especially in his treatment of family relationships. His domestic dramas, however, serve as a corrective to the tendency of American {Yiddish-language} readers to sentimentalize a Jewish world that no longer exists.

And please note that the audience Author Rosenfeld wrote for was not a small one: Twenty (20!) volumes of short stories; two full-length novels; a dozen plays. This was a culture that was intensely literary, and spawned a lot of theatrical legends, arguably reaching apotheosis on Broadway with 1960s shows like Fiddler on the Roof and Milk and Honey. As Author Rosenfeld's plays are as yet untranslated, I can't state this as fact, but I strongly suspect that his plays show clearly he'd've shuddered at those sentimental shows. This was a man whose first forty years were spent in places that hated him for what he was born as, a Jew. He was a deeply unhappy man. He had no illusions about the comforts of home or the love of family. He was, in short, me! This is why I enjoyed reading these stories so much. I was communing with my bygone, cynical, angry self. And it felt just fine, thanks.

***THE STORY REVIEWS ARE AVAILABLE ON MY BLOG AS OF 5 MAY 2020.***

>235 quondame: I think arranged marriages make a lot of sense. Marrying for luuuuuuv or for lovin' is a crappy basis for a lifelong partnership.

What a wonderful story. Sometimes we never know what impact our actions and words have on others.

>238 figsfromthistle: In every way possible, I have been told I did something wrong; it's nice to get a "you did good" message no matter what.

>221 richardderus: Beautiful story. Good advice.

Delurking to say hi and I hope you're holding up. Haven't heard anything about your toxic roomie lately. Did I miss something? Like that he's been moved?

>240 Storeetllr: Thank you, Mary! I'm holding up. *snort* re: moving Old Stuff. Never. Well, not until he assumes room temperature. Which the goddesses should please hasten.

>221 richardderus: Awww, (((((Richard)))))

Morning, RD. I saw this beauty the other day, while out for a stroll. A Great Egret, being all majestic. I for one, had not heard of Rosenfeld. Sounds interesting. Thanks for putting The Rivals and Other Stories on my radar.

>242 ronincats: Yeah, that one's a real heart-warmer, all right.

>243 msf59: BEAUTIFUL Egret! I'm pretty sure you'll appreciate the stories, Mark, but definitely go read the story-by-story on my blog because they're...a bit samey...and maybe that'll be a problem...?
***
I do not need to tell The Murderbotters that it's Network Effect Day. I will be reading that today, pausing for biology's inconvenient demands. See y'all later.

Ha! The first nine chapters are AMAZING!

>245 ronincats: ohboyohboyohboy

*resumes intense Murderbotting*

Also caught in the Network Effect.

>247 quondame: Hadda stop

wow

Author Wells is workin my adrenal gland

Go Murderbot! I'm another one caught in Martha Wells' meshes in Network Effect.

Great story about the Muslim lad. I also enjoyed your comments on The Rivals and Other Stories.

All done. So good!

>249 jnwelch: I had to stop...if I finish the book today, it will be too miserable to go on and I'll lose the will to live.

I'm very pleased that Hamid decided to tell me what has resulted from my advice. And I'm hopeful you'll give a try to the collection....

>250 ronincats: I'm sure it is! And for once I do NOT want a spoiler!! I am spreading the joy out as much as I can make myself.

I'll probably do a reread next, or at least in the next few days, at a slower pace.

>236 richardderus: Love the review. Must get a copy of the book!

((Hugs)) and *smooches*, RD.

>252 ronincats: I can already tell I'll want to re-read this one. And soon as I'm done, most likely. There is a lot to unpack in the helpme.file stuff!

>253 alcottacre: I hope you can get to it soon, Stasia, it's a whoppin' good time. *smooch*

Ack, Murderbot! I'm not ready.

Happy to know you heard happy things from an old friend

Glad to see the Murderbot novel is a good one! And lovely story from your old friend, too.

>221 richardderus: Thumb!

'Morning, RD! I hope you enjoy the last bits of Network Effect today if you didn't already finish it last night.

*smooch*

>255 mahsdad: Oh, yes you are. Trust me. You *WANT* to be ready.

>256 mckait: Thank you, Angel Flower!

>257 bell7: Hiya Mary, Network Effect is a laugh riot and a ripping good yarn at the same time. A must-read-now. Believe me, you're going to love it.

>258 humouress: Thanks, Nina! All upgethumbings happily smiled at.

>259 karenmarie: I deliberately forced myself to put it down and go to sleep, Horrible. It was as tough to do as not eating the last slice of cheesecake. I have to say that Author Wells has made the most strenuous efforts to be funny...you can tell because there's no effort showing.

*smooch*

Glad to know you enjoyed Network Effect and that it's really good. I'm starting it today. I wanted to start as soon as it popped up in my library yesterday but was in the middle of Rogue Protocol. I meant to have the first four novellas finished by the 5th, but I got distracted over the last few days with family stuff and gardening.

>261 Storeetllr: Your impulse control is *vastly* superior to mine, Mary. I started it the second I cracked my eyes and had to force myself to put it down so I wouldn't inhale it in a gulp. There won't be another for far, far too long. (Meaning >four weeks.)

Spend a splendid Humpday!

Love the story of Hamid and his arranged bride, Richard.

and just in case anyone's wondering, "learnt" is never used in the USA. Except by Brits. Maybe some pommier Aussies. Well, I use learnt does that make me a pommy Aussie or a Brit?

Good to see that they let you outside now. That must have felt wonderful and scary at the same time but how great that it let you get together, if briefly, with Rob.

>263 Familyhistorian: Hey there Canuckistani Meg! Y'all're exempt from our rules, y'know, since y'all still Frenchify y'all's words...centre, colour...with weird spellings and unpronounced letters. Better'n them Limeys, I mean "Gloucester" is "Gloster" but Cirencester is, um, well "normal" isn't quite accurate but anyway all the letters get said.

But anyway.

I think "let" might be a bit, um, advanced; more "they failed to stop me." Like I'd've listened! There was canoodling awaiting me.

I'm so glad Hamid made the effort to find me and say such lovely things, too. Spend a lovely day!

Fine, fine, fine. I ordered Network Effect. And >221 richardderus:, who knew you were a marriage counselor? : )

>191 richardderus: >263 Familyhistorian: I've heard "learnt" in pockets of Appalachia. However, I've also read that Appalachian English sometimes mirrors Old English more than other dialects do.

>265 humouress: 403 FORBIDDEN error.

>266 Berly: Ha!! Perfect, you're going to love it.

Certainly not anyone I've ever been with. *smooch*

>267 thornton37814: I haven't been through enough of Appalachia to know suchlike goins-on were possible.

'Morning, RD! Happy Thursday to you.

I used to get upset at 'axed' for asked and various other language solecisms, but after listening to The Story of Human Language by Dr. John McWhorter I'm much more understanding of language's fluidity, dialects, pidgins, etc.

*smooch*

>269 karenmarie: It's mostly interesting to learn how language varies from region to region, and family to family. My maternal grandmother was a sharp-witted old party whose store of salty sayings survived differently between her daughters' families. Mama would say of an Escher drawing, "it's all squonchy-jaw, makes me nervous," where Auntie would say, "that swompy-jawed thing! take it out," and Mamaw was dead so I had no Authority to appeal to.

That's the sort of difference that starts language revolutions.

*smooch*

YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE

RON RASH, whose delights given to us include Burning Bright, Serena, and Above the Waterfall, has a new book coming out on 4 August 2020: In the Valley, a story collection featuring a novella-sized sequel to Serena!

oh boy oh boy oh boy

The best part is: NetGalley members can request a DRC!

>268 richardderus: You did that on purpose didn't you, just so you couldn't see me looking disapproving.

ETA: I think I've sorted it out now.

>271 richardderus: Ooh, that is great news! Maybe, I can finally get to Burning Bright, before the new collection comes out.

Sweet Thursday, Richard. Another nice spring day. Lots of glorious sunshine but we are in for another cold front moving in tomorrow. Low 40s. WTH??

Glad to hear Network Effect is another winner!

>272 humouress: Happy to see your lovely scowl.

>273 msf59: Yay! Get the ticker tape ready, Perkins, Mister Bird Dude will be needing it soon.

It's glorious here, as well, though I haven't seen anything about cold fronts. Tell ya what...you've been such a pal over the years, why don't I just let you keep that treat all to yourself this time!

No need to thank me. I'm just naturally magnanimous.

>271 richardderus: Good news....even though Rash is not my favorite among Appalachian authors.

>275 laytonwoman3rd: He's a writer whose fans are BIG fans, and everybody else is a little verschmeckeled by the fuss.

>264 richardderus: Hmm, well Richard, that's kind of back handed, but to be expected I guess. Not sure how I feel about being "better'n them Limeys" since I am one as well.

Glad you slipped your leash.

>267 thornton37814: I'm not sure that I would call the use of "learnt" Old English, Lori.

>271 richardderus: I have never read anything by Rash, but I can rectify that - my local library has several of his titles. Is there any one in particular I should start with, RD?

I am extremely bummed that my local library does not yet have the new Murderbot book. I have loved all of the others!

>277 Familyhistorian: Merry Friday, Meg.

>278 alcottacre: Hiya, Stasia, I'd tell you and any Rash newbie to start with his stories. Burning Bright is a good collection, most libraries seem to have it.

It's a long, long weekend ahead, void of my dote Murderbot. *sob*

Yes, I've finished. No, I can't quite bring myself to review it yet.

ART! Wherefore art thou, ART?! Murderbot and I need you to watch Worldhoppers with!

‘Morning, RD!

>270 richardderus: squonchy-jaw -> swompy-jaw. That’s exactly the type of thing that McWhorter does – show how one word in a language becomes another word in a different language by linguistic rules, the Great Vowel Shift, laziness, or whatever. Not this year, but I’ll probably listen to it again next year.

>271 richardderus: I loved Serena and have One Foot in Eden and The Cove on my shelves just waiting for the right time.

I understand the concept of what a DRC is, but what exactly does DRC stand for?

>280 karenmarie: *smooch* How you, sweetiedarling?

It's a Digital Reading Copy, not an Advance like it used to be. Any free ebook or mobi file is a DRC, whenever you get it and for whatever purpose. Just means you didn't pay for it.

Oh, Network Effect. How my heart now yearns for more. So good! You're right, it might be worth an immediate re-read. That was some fancy dancing at the end there and, as you say, there's a lot packed into those helpme files.

>282 jnwelch: *sniff* I have a big ART-shaped hole in my world. *snivel*

Rejoice Murderbot acolytes! Fugitive Telemetry is scheduled to be published in hardback on 4/27/21

I've already started my reread. 10% in and the shit is just ready to hit the fan!

>284 mahsdad: Since it's the 8th today and it already feels like it should be 2241, that is more a cause for wailing and gnashing.
*wail*gnash*

>285 ronincats: I'm just lying here, numb. The ending...!!

40 Network Effect by Martha Wells

Rating: 5* of five

Y'all. I...can't yet, it's too soon.

Yeah.

But soon.

Well, I've diverted to the new Bujold Penric novella! Then I'll be back.

>287 richardderus: La la la. I can't hear you. I need to finish other books first. La la la.

>283 richardderus: Tissue?

Good morning, RD!

>281 richardderus: Thanks for the info!

>287 richardderus: I’m sorry you’re still in mourning? in shock? totally numb? I hope you can recover soon.

*smooch* from your own Horrible

>288 ronincats: It makes sense, as it's the brand new shiny pretty thing, but I am a bit shocked at your callous abandonment of Murderbot and ART and Three. Aren't you still mourning 2.0? And that thing with Dr. Mensah...I thought I'd dehydrate!

But we are all as Heaven made us, I suppose. ::side-eye::

>289 Berly: I'll post my review in your thread so you don't have to worry about reading the book, Berly-boo. I know how pressed for time you are. *smooch*

>290 humouress: ...wait...who hijacked La Overkill's account?! That is a kind and thoughtful gesture! Supervillainesses don't do that. Someone let TPTB know!

>291 karenmarie: *smooch*

I'm in a book-hangover from Network Effect because it was so exactly and precisely what I wanted at this moment. It'll pass.

Glad I could inform and enlighten.

It's okay, was just a momentary diversion. I'm back with Murderbot now. And I am still mourning 2.0.

>293 ronincats: Is it just me, or are novellas just the most perfect things ever for mood-reading? I don't want to commit to a kitten-squisher, no regular-length novel has the *oomph* to get over the Hill of Inertia, I need more than a story...oh look! Shiny pretty novellas!

Goddesses please bless the Kindle for making them commercially viable.

>290 humouress: >292 richardderus: Keeps you on your toes, right?