2018: LizzieD Ignores All Challenges Three Times

There is a river in this picture, and here it is in the next one after some rain! And here it is, pretty much from the same spot, before the crest after Florence. The bank is pretty steep, but you see it lapping at the pavement.

One more river picture - a week after Michael and still flooded, but nothing like after Florence - a good 6 feet or so lower than picture #3.


I've been taking pretty pictures of the river for two years, avoiding shots of the downed trees and other debris. Here are a couple of honest ones. The second shows half the root ball of an old oak. The bank obscures the other half, but the whole thing is at least 12 feet high.

READ IN AUGUST

37. *Day of the Dead
38. Sense and Sensibility (reread)
39. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (reread)
40. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
41. *The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson

Into the house in August

69. Johnny One-Eye - AMP
70. The Overstory - AMP
71. News of the World - PBS
72. The Isaac Quartet - AMP
73. Shine Shine Shine - PBS
74. Hidden Lives: A Family Memoir - PBS
75. Julian Fellowes's Belgravia - Kindle Daily Deal
76. Living with the Laird - AMP
77. Low Town - Kindle Deal through BookBub

READ IN SEPTEMBER

42. The Disorderly Knights (many times reread)
43. Europe in Autumn
44. The Hired Man
45. Agent of Change (reread)
46.* Shell Game
47. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs
48. Intruder

Into the House in September

78. Shell Game ✔ - ER
79. Fear: Trump in the White House ✔
80. Rebellion: The History of England from James I to the Glorious Revolution - Kindle Daily Deal
81. Revolution: The History of England from the Battle of the Boyne to the Battle of Waterloo - Kindle Daily Deal
82. Master of Verona - Kindle Freebie
83. Lying Awake - PBS

READ IN OCTOBER
49. Crosstalk
50. Mr. Mercedes
51. *Queen of Bebop
52. Heads in Beds

Into the House in October
83. John the Pupil - Kindle deal through Bookbub
84. Queen of Bebop ✔
85. The Ballad of Tom Black - Tor Freebie for Kindle
86. Looking for a Ship ✔ - AMP
87. Neither Here Nor There - Library Sale
88. How to Win a Roman Chariot Race - Library Sale
89. The Garden of Lamentations ✔
90. Coming into the Country - AMP
91. Jade Dragon Mountain - AMP
92. Fallout - PBS
93. Lisey's Story - PBS
94. Heads in Beds ✔ - Kindle Daily Deal
95. Words of Radiance - Kindle Deal
96. Oathbringer - Kindle Deal
97. The Janus Stone - Kindle Daily Deal

READ IN NOVEMBER
53. The Garden of Lamentations
54. The Discovery of Middle Earth
55. Finders Keepers
56. Fifteen Dogs
57. Fear: Trump in the White House
58. Looking for a Ship

Into the House in November
98. Peacemaker - PBS
99. Jade City - Kindle Deal
100 The Private Lives of the Tudors - Kindle Deal through Bookbub
101 Noumenon - Kindle Deal
102 Finders Keepers ✔ - AMP
103 Joseph Anton -AMP
104 Manhattan Beach - AMP
105 Lethal White ✔
106 End of Watch ✔ - AMP
107 The Soldier's Curse Kindle (Thanks to Suzanne)
108 Artemis - Kindle Daily Deal
109 Vox - Kindle Daily Deal
110 The Gospel in Dorothy L. Sayers - gift from FRIEND!
111 The Twentieth Wife - AMP (Suzanne's recc again)
112 The Feast of Roses - AMP (more Suzanne)

READ IN DECEMBER
59. Lethal White
60. I'm Not Complaining
61. The Way of Kings
62. Beyond the Point

Into the House in December
113 Pilgrimage 2 - AMP
114 Starplex - Kindle Deal through BookBub
115 Pagans: The End of Traditional Religion and the Rise of Christianity - Kindle Deal through BookBub
115 Houses of Roman Italy - AMP
116 The Warmth of Other Suns - ✔
117 Luna New Moon - Tor Kindle Freebie
118 Children of Time - Kindle SciFi Deal
119 The Poppy War - Ditto - also BookBub
120 Beyond the Point ✔ - ER
121 The Nightingale - Kindle for Mama (oh - and for me too)
122 Pinocchio's Nose - Christmas Gift! Thank you!!!!!
123 Sorry - PBS

Out of the House
Mine ~ 6 Wards' ~ 19 L's ~ 3

Bookmarked for Reading in December

DAY OF THE DEAD by Nicci French

I have waited and waited and waited for this final installment of Frieda Klein's story. With great thanks to ER, I have now read it! My review is on the book page. It's a must-read for those who have gotten wrapped up in the series.

Happy new thread!

Thank you, Jim!

Happy new thread, Peggy!
>4 LizzieD: With the final book available now, I can start reading the Frida Klein books soon :-)

>1 LizzieD: I spy the river!

>4 LizzieD: I have Wednesday-Friday out from the library. I am reading as hard as I can, I just can't keep up. I had ALL the holds come in at once. Only 17 books. *shrug*

Yay! Anita and Jenn, you are both good to visit!!!!! Do start Frieda Klein when you aren't doing anything else much..... They're that good; you'll want to spend your time with her.
Oh, Jenn... 17 books is a dreadful burden if you have to get them back in a limited time.
I read Sense and Sensibility today and a bit of The Mad Patagonian, so I'm feeling fine!

>3 LizzieD: I can't just read one Dorothy Dunnett book - I pick up one and it's a week or so later that I come up for air. Except The King Herafter - that one I have to put down after the great storm. Or the fire. But then I pick it up and finish it. Usually.

I know whereof you speak, Susan. That's why I haven't picked up the one I say I'm rereading. If I start, I won't read anything else, and I really need to press on with *MP* and the S. Weil. I haven't read all the Nicollo books although I've started the series and read 4 or 5 many times. At that point I'm missing Frances so much that I start to reread them. Maybe going through Lymond first will allow me to pursue Nicollo to the end. I haven't reread the Johnson Johnson mysteries although I enjoyed them, and I've never read her stand-alones like King Hereafter. I have to read a long, long time. Really!

>11 LizzieD: As much as I love the Lymond books I don't quite like Lymond himself, whereas I love Nicollo - I've met him a couple of times and he is charming and scary.

Now that's interesting, Susan. I'm in love with Lymond - I don't know how much I actually like him, perfection that he is. I'll give Nicollo another chance, but I have to get back to Mr. Crawford first.

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY by Jane Austen
As always, sense wins - not least by JA's wit and trenchant observations. She had sensibility too though, or we wouldn't love her love stories. Now I confess that I'll hook up the VCR and see whether it will still play my *S&S* tape - when I find it.

Happy New Thread, Peggy.

I loved The Hired Man!

>13 LizzieD: do you have cable, Peggy? We come across S&S on cable networks pretty often. I'm just trying to spare you the hunt for your tape and subsequent VCR hookup challenges. We just connected a new receiver to our TV this weekend so the traumatic memories are pretty fresh LOL.

Happy new thread, Peggy. You have some good-looking reads planned for August. I loved my first Forna, Happiness, and have The Hired Man on my shelf. Maybe I should join you...

Hi Peggy, me again! Another LT friend recently shared this article about Anthony Powell with me. I thought you'd enjoy it as well:
https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/anthony-powell-temporary-king/

My husband promptly ordered the first of Powell's Journals. Have you read them by any chance?

Ellen, I think you are the reason that I pulled The Hired Man now. I loved Memory of Love, so I was definitely up for it. Beth, you maybe should join me, and then I might spend more time with it. My problem is that I want to spend the same time with 14 or 15 things. I'm looking at The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson as a serious add-on, and it's spot on as well as I can tell.
Laura, my mom does have cable, and I'm over there during the day, but for whatever reason, I don't see *S&S* on offer very often. Thanks for the hint though!
And thank you for the A. Powell article, which I'll have to read later - but now I can, thanks to you. I haven't read his journals - didn't realize they were available. I did read To Keep the Ball Rolling, which is the first (I think )of his memoirs. At the time, in my first flush or AP love, I didn't know that he had written more. Of course he had! I also have the Spurling bio, but I haven't read it either.
No wonder I want to read 14 or 15 at the same time!

I understand completely, Peggy, I always have a few books queued up to *definitely* read next, and at the same time am tempted by LTer recommendations.

Hi Peggy!

Congrats on finishing The Day of the Dead and your re-read of Sense and Sensibility. With Jenna home I'm not getting much reading done, but school starts back up for the fall semester soon and she'll be returning to Wilmington. She got an A in her first true Business Administration class - Principles of Management - and will be taking 4 classes this fall.

I do not see the river in the picture, but with all the rain we've had here, too, I can't see our creek. The grass has not stunted yet and Bill's grumbling about the mowing.

I hope you have a wonderful day.

Ah, Laura. I know that LT is the one place in the world that people are sure to understand me!
Karen, you can't see the river in that pic because it's so low. Finally, it is at least back to normal, and I'll get a pic and post it in the next day or so - maybe today. We didn't get as much rain as a lot of the surrounding communities, but we're in much better shape than we were before. (The farmers' take is,"A dry summer will scare you to death, but a wet summer will truly kill you.")
GOOD for Jenna! I'll bet she's energized to get on with it!!!!! I know you're proud...........me too.
(My other J. Charyn novel, Johnny One-Eye came today. It's a sort of John Barth-ish (I think) look at the American Revolution. I'll be hard-pressed to decide between it and Emily. AND I have a collection of his 1st 3 mysteries on the way. Love AMP!

As I write to you the rain is pouring down and we are happy! I hope it will rain for several hours! Probably it won't.

OK PEOPLE. Listen up! One Word: PUPPY!!. We have a puppy waiting for us in northern New Jersey. Pick up is next Monday.

I am seriously considering naming him Thady Boy Ballagh. Oh yes. That was in many ways my favorite of the Lymond books.

Will post pix when I have some I like enough to post them. Most are too formal!

>22 sibylline: Hooray for PUPPY! And my vote for Thady Boy! My second choice name would be Kuzum from Pawn in Frankincense, my favorite of the Lymond novels maybe.

***First Sentence/Last Sentence***
Where shall I begin my unremarkable life?
The Divil himself would have to kill me before I'd ever leave Clara again.
~ Johnny One-Eye

***Quote of the Day*** ---- or *Week* --- or *Month*
The greatest pleasure I know is to do a good action by stealth, and to have it found out by accident.
~ Charles Lamb (*Epigrams*)

Happy new thread Peggy!

>13 LizzieD: Hurrah for S&S. I'm reading Frances Burney's The Wanderer which was contemporaneous with Austen and features a character called Elinor who is much more sensibility (as opposed to sense) than the Elinor in S&S. That thought keeps amusing me (and I wonder if Burney had read S&S).

Well, hi, Heather! Interesting question - did Burney read Austen? I've passed up the chance to read Burney with help, doggone it. Oh well.....so little time.
More of *HP6* and *MP*. I'd quote some of *MP* except that I think I'm going to write a review of the first half, and I'll save my quotations for that. Stay tuned! ( I know you're all waiting with bated breath.)

***First Sentence/Last Sentence***
Captain Kidd laid out the Boston Morning Journal on the lectern and began to read from the article on the Fifteenth Amendment.
He said he had a message to deliver, contents unknown.
~ News of the World

***Quote of the Day***
Don't be humble. You're not that great.
~ Golda Meir (*1,911*)

I am so far behind on LT. Happy new thread!!! You really do have to post another pic of the river, because it's not obvious in either of the two you posted. ; )

Love the last Quote of the Day: "Don't be humble. You're not that great." LOL!

>25 LizzieD: great quote. As it happens, I'm currently reading the biography Lioness: Golda Meir and the Nation of Israel for a RL book group. It's super-chunkster, but our discussion is not until October 1 so I'm taking it slowly. I just reached the point where Golda leaves the US to live in Palestine. Even in her youth she showed signs of someone who would utter that quote.

Hi Peggy! Wishing you a wonderful Saturday.

We've had enough rain up here. We got another 1.75" Thursday evening and had power flickers.

Hi, Kim! Look through the horizontal fronds of goldenrod in the foreground in the second pic --- that's river through to the opposite bank (see the reflection of trees?). That's about as good as I can get right now because of all the growth...... We used to use the overlook, but it was submerged after Matthew, is now unsafe, and covered with head-high plants anyway.
Laura, I'm devoted to huge biographies and haven't managed to read even one this year. Glad for the serendipity of a Meir quote for you.
We got more rain this afternoon too, Karen, but we're on the natural river levee and it runs off quickly - we don't even have toadstools/mushrooms in the yard yet. We have also had power flickers, and I'm afraid they are a sign of worse to come.

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE by J.K. Rowling
I had read this one over a period of several months, so this quicker reading was almost like the first time. I'm moving right on to #7 for the first time, so that says all I need for a person who wasn't so enchanted the first time through.

***First Sentence/Last Sentence***
Deep in the darkness, there was a tiny light.
And she looks just like you.
~ Shine Shine Shine

***Quote of the Day***
We boil at different degrees.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (*Epigrams*)

I saw a thing on PBS about Pride & Prejudice as a Great Read (duh). In any case, the "review" made me want to read that one again.

Interesting to consider what authors influenced Austen. I've only read bio of her, but I can't remember that being discussed. I suppose it would have to be speculative in any case.

Hi, Ellen and Lucy. All Janeites welcome!
Well, we know who influenced her negatively - those gothic novelists - but I certainly don't know. A quick google shows Richardson, Frances Burney and Maria Edgeworth. O.K.

***First Sentence/Last Sentence***
I hadn't known the name of my maternal great-grandmother, but once I did I thought that might be all I ever would manage to find out.
To forget or deny that is an insult to the women who have gone before, women like my grandmother and mother.
~ Hidden Lives: A Family Memoir

***Quote of the Day***
Massenet
Never wrote a Mass in A.
It'd have been just too bad
If he had.
~ Anthony Butts (*1,911*)

Hey, Peggy, I'm back home and just starting to catch up with everyone. ((((Peggy))))

Hi Peggy!

I'm a Janeite, too. I have lecture on audio by a man named Elliot Engel called The Brilliance of Jane Austen. I also have another one by him called How William Became Shakespeare. Both are fun and informative. Engel personally is a Dickensian. He paints people as one or the other, but you're both and although I'm not officially a Dickensian, I've at least got a few of his novels under my belt now and like him much, much better than I thought I would, having only read David Copperfield previously to the three recent challenges here on LT.

I hope you're getting some of the milder weather we're supposed to get for the next several days - highs in the low 70s to early 80s and nights in the 50s or 60s.

(((((Roni)))))
Hi, Karen! E. Engel taught a few classes on Dickens in the county back in the 80s, and my mom and I attended them. He is a lot of fun, and we recognized each other as true Dickens Disciples.
We did love today's weather. It was still warm - warmer than you were - but so delightfully dry! Didn't bother the mosquitoes though.
I had a basal cell removed from the bridge of my nose, and since I can't swim this week, I remain lethargic. Not doing a lot of reading, I'm afraid. Oh well.

How lucky you are to have seen Engel.

I'm sorry about the basal cell removal and consequent ban on swimming. I hope your lethargy and lack of reading are temporary.

Yay for lack of humidity for sure. I washed my Ford Escape yesterday. It took a total of 3 hours with breaks, 4 stages (vacuum, interior, wash/dry exterior, windex exterior windows and windshield), and 3 ibuprophen. I'm getting too old for this.....

>20 karenmarie: Karen, there's one more shot of the river above. It's pretty small, and I see that I neglected to mention that it's a black water river. Now that you know, maybe you can spot it in the first two pix.
I would never ever spend 3 hours on my car - even if I thought I felt like it --- even with breaks and ibuprophen! You are the woman!

Yup, I see the water now. I'm fascinated by black water rivers, BTW. Rivers in NC seem to be mostly any color except blue - green, brown, black.

I'm the cheap woman - I didn't want to spend $20 but wanted a clean car.

Happy weekend, (((((Peggy)))))
We have rain, real rain, not thunderstorm rain, and the temps are down, finally! This summer has been too long and way too hot. :)

Just for you, Peggy!

Hi, Karen, Nathalie, and Roni! Glad to see you!!! Oh - those synonym rolls! If you ate several, maybe it wouldn't count because they all mean the same thing? Oh well. I tried.
I'm the messy woman. I just don't care. I like clean, but it's not a huge priority. We try to keep the health inspectors away, but otherwise, otherwise, cleaning is a bad use of time.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS by J.K. Rowling
I'm happy to have read the whole thing now. I really have nothing else to say about it
On to the next!

>41 LizzieD: I am about to start Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Peggy. Re-reading them all after 8 years.

>40 ronincats: I love it!

>41 LizzieD: I'm with you re: the cleaning, Peggy. So many better things to do...

Enjoy, Anita! I still like the early ones best.
Ah, Beth! I'd like to say "great minds," but that's not the case with me. I just flat don't have a clean gene in my body. (My aunt {Clean Jean} got my share - the one who damp-mopped her rugs after their daily vacuum and covered the shoe boxes in her closet with leftover wallpaper from her bedroom.) My DH can straighten and make a room look great. I can clean and fix, and it still looks not quite right. Oh well.

>40 ronincats: Love that T-shirt!

And now I see the waters in the topper. Thanks for the tip. ; )

I am happy to report we just got our first (little bit of) rain in weeks. Our temperature is nice and cool and our air is back to breathable. Finally!

Enjoy Harry...!

Hi, Kim! Quite a treat to have both twins on my thread! I rejoice with you on your breathable air. We're back to high summer this week - high temps and humidity. Oh well.

THE SECRET LIFE OF EMILY DICKINSON by Jerome Charyn

Often a true reader emerges from a beloved book and writes her review in the rhythms and diction of the author. If she has a good ear, her review may echo her beloved accurately. Jerome Charyn has read Emily Dickinson, loved her, and now echoes her with uncanny accuracy, for his ear is impeccable.
The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson is a book-long echo.
Charyn’s Emily is a carnal woman trapped in the body of the spinster or old maid that she names herself. Charyn does not engage with the poetry but instead shapes his book around three characters of his own invention who allow Emily to reveal her true self.
This Emily meets Tom, the handy-man, at Mt. Holyoke. He is the only male on campus, so Emily is always aware of him. At the same time she has a relationship with Zilpah Marsh, a scholarship girl, beloved of the vice-principal, who is also attracted to Tom. (“Scholarship” and “vice-principal” are my words, not Emily’s of Charyn’s.) Emily scribbles and longs for a man who will allow her to escape the domination of her father, whom she also loves devotedly. This is actually not quite right. Charyn’s Emily is not a person who can be caught in a few words, but these are my best. She does emerge as a flesh-and-blood person, totally believable and, I suspect, totally true to the writer of her verses.

Hi Peggy! I hope this finds you well. I've (finally) started the second Frieda Klein and so hope to get through the series and my ER 8th book before they send the ER police after me.

I hope you're staying cool in this oppressive nastiness.

>47 LizzieD: Thank you, Peggy. I always wish we knew her better, and maybe this is how to do it!

Thanks for the visit, Karen and Rex!
K, I think the 2nd book will firmly hook you.
R, I hope you'll be as intrigued with Charyn's Emily as I am. She's not who I imagined, but I haven't read the poems extensively - really only the 20 or so that are always anthologized. Another thing to keep me attached to this good earth!

***First Sentence/Last Sentence***
I knew when I married the man that I married the mansion.
There is another home, another place in his imagination where he can always go.
~ Living with the Laird

***Quote of the Day***
I don't deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don't deserve that either.
~ Jack Benny (*1,911*)

Oh, Jack Benny.

So happy to see the Laird quote above.

Hi Peggy. I hope the heat is letting up a bit.

Lovely comments on the Charyn book. Onto the list it goes.

Hi Peggy--Twin posted (>52 BLBera:), so I have to as well!! LOL. Intriguing review of The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson. I have read a fair amount of her poetry because she was from Amherst, MA, where I went to college, and she was very popular there. I might have to give this a try. Hope the heat and humidity behave today. : )

I'm happy to see you twins and hope that you enjoy the Charyn when you get to it.
Hmmmm. An old boyfriend went to Amherst when he got back from Vietnam. Quite a place!
Thanks for the recce of the *Laird*, Lucy. I'll get to it.
I'm reading The Disorderly Knights almost to the exclusion of everything else. Susan is right: once you get started on Dunnett, it's hard to stop.
I guess I should fess up to sneak-reading Europe in Autumn. I can't recall who recommended it, but I'm enjoying it too. I was at a bad place in The Hired Man, so being a coward, I stopped it for a bit.

I've been meaning to pass this on to you since my DH told me these two funnies recently. Crusoe Island is one of the most isolated communities in SE NC. He kept bees there for several years, 20 or so years ago. The natives are said to be French Huguenots or French escapees from early 19th century Haiti, or even Portuguese(!). It's a place that keeps itself to itself. (I had one friend from the environs, Ms. Formy-Duval, just so you'll know.)
Anyway, DH was a friend of one BoBo Clewis, who told him that his third wife said she'd marry him if he'd get her a pink massage for the wedding.
BoBo's father, in divorce court with his third wife or so, listened while the judge awarded custody of her children from a previous marriage to his wife. He was given their children. Mr. Clewis is said to have stood up in court and said, "I object! She's getting the best ones!'
Hope that made your day, or at least your minute.

>55 LizzieD: 😂

>55 LizzieD: parents, like teachers, do have favourites then?? Surely not ;) ;) ;)

Hi, Susan and Megan. I can only assume (judging from my feelings for my cats) that parents love equally but differently. The less said about M. Clewis, the better, I guess.

>58 LizzieD: I certainly love one of my dogs more than the others. And it's not because she's better behaved. They are all bad.

>55 LizzieD: I laughed at the story about Crusoe Island. It brightened my day. And you are right, parents and grandparents do love equally but differently.

>55 LizzieD: Hah!

Oh dear, Susan. I guess that I speak only for myself and maybe Jan or that I'm just fooling myself. They are all bad. *grin*
Hi, Beth! Glad that you enjoyed the Crusoe Island story - Jan too.
I wish I could say that I'm a reading machine, but it goes very slowly. At least I'm back with Lymond if not with *MP*. I'll get there eventually.

Hi Peggy!

I don't think I love Kitty William more than Inara Starbuck, but I do admit that when I had 5, I had a least favorite cat (Coco Chanel) and a favorite (Magic).

Have you read the ER Frieda Klein yet? If I had the 3rd one at the house I'd have immediately started it, but I'll have to acquire it somehow.

Oh yes, Karen! My review, such as it is, is on the book page. I loved it a little less than some of the others, but that may be because I knew it was the last, or at least the last with the Dean Reeve business. (That last is mere speculation. I suspect that the team is tiring of Frieda a bit, and I certainly haven't heard anything that would indicate that they will write more with her.)
I think some of my dog love is helped by the fact that we seem to get the same dog every time. She looks different and has some different personality quirks, but basically, she's the same sweet dog. As to the cats, I might like some less than others, but the thought of losing any one fills me with the same dread.
ETA: I got used copies of the Friedas and then passed them on, or I'd send you #3.

Happy Sunday Peggy! :)

Totally agree on the cleaning philosophy!

Our dogs were all totally different, but they were also different races: dachshunds, beagle, cocker spaniel and jack russell. Even the dachshunds were different, one was an arrogant and proud hunter, the other one a laid-back lazy hippie. *nostalgic sigh*

Hi Peggy!

Thanks for thinking of me, even if you don't have book 3. I'm hoping against hope that it turns up at the Friends of the Library sale. I help set up the mystery section with friend Rhoda, so will see any Frieda Kleins and snag them as my volunteer book(s).

I cried for every cat we've lost, even pee-down-the-heating-vents Coco.

Fingers crossed for you all that this hurricane heads out to sea and away from you. If it doesn't, we will come dig you out.

Love the pet talk. I had two dogs, at different times, growing up. Our first was a feisty Beagle named Zipper. She was allowed in the house if she sat in her chair. She had her own chair near the sliding glass door. She used to escape by jiggling the gate until the latch lifted and then she would run across the street out into the fields and all we could see was the tip of her tail chasing rabbits. I was 12 when she died and I cried for days. Our other dog was a Basset named Flash. She was a dog we got from a family who split up and couldn't take the dog for some reason. She was a funny old thing. She would trip over her ears and if we laughed she would turn her back to us and refuse to look at us for a while.

Hi, Karen and Jenn!
Oh no for Coco! Poor Pinky just peed on the furniture........... And I hope your FoL perks pay off for you with several Friedas, Karen.
Thanks for the hurricane wishes, Jenn. It looks as though it's going to head right for us. Fran and Floyd certainly did. Wonder what it is about F storms and NC? We've stocked up on water and batteries and checked our meds and animal food. I guess maybe I'll be thankful that the walnut tree is gone if we do get a hard hit. Poor RobCo can't really deal with another one.
Love your dog stories too, Jenn.

Peggy, as soon as I heard about Hurricane Florence, I thought of you. I think I remember you saying you are on higher ground and I hope that helps. I hope it lessens or turns!

Oh, Jan. I do so hope it turns out to sea so that nobody has to deal with it.
Unless a tree falls on us or something is blown into us, we should be O.K. We are on high ground, and the worst/most likely danger is flooding again even though they're saying that we're in for only 7" this time rather than the 15 we got with Matthew. Another good thing is that we've been very dry, so the ground isn't already saturated. That said, the county has no resources to deal with another catastrophe. It's a sad, troubling thing for sure! Thank you for good thoughts!

Hopefully all those factors will work in your community's favor, Peggy!

Fingers crossed that Florence isn't as bad as they expect, Peggy. Stay safe. It sounds like you know the drill.

Thanks for good wishes, Roni and Beth.
Store shelves are bare, so at least some of the population is prepared as far as possible. Shelters open tomorrow. School is out indefinitely. We hope we can start to rebuild Monday. We'll just have to see!

THE DISORDERLY KNIGHTS by Dorothy Dunnett

There's nobody like D. Dunnett, and there's certainly nobody like Francis Crawford of Lymond! Once I got back into this one, I couldn't put it down - again. Francis and friends and enemies go from Malta to Scotland as Francis hones a small private army. He is joined by the perfect Graham Malett, Grand Knight of Malta, who seeks to convert Francis and join him in his quest. Add Gabriel's (GM's nickname) gorgeous sister Joleta of the apricot hair and aquamarine eyes and the more prosaic Philippa Somerville, and you have Dunnett's formula for solid history, action, adventure, and whatever else you want in 100% entertainment.
Since Pawn in Frankincense, my favorite of the Lymond novels, is next, I'm off to read it too.

Good luck over the next few days, Peggy!

Thank you, Friend.
We expect to lose electricity, so this is likely my last visit to this friendly place for a few days. I just devoutly hope that we can keep our water.

Keeping you in our thoughts and hearts, Peggy!

Thinking of you, Peggy. Hope things go okay for you and yours.

Adding my voice, Peggy.

My thanks for all good wishes, Roni, Laura, and Lucy! They're saying 20-26" of rain here between now and Monday, and that the river will flood worse than it did in Matthew. I can't tell you how devastating this is for my poor town. We still have work crews repairing houses from Matt. So far, we just have rain and wind, but it's only just started. I'm here while we have power.....my priority!

EUROPE IN AUTUMN by Dave Hutchinson
I don't remember who recommended this one, but thank you. I really enjoyed the book. For ¾ of the book I didn't know what the scifi designation meant. It began as a sort of spy novel set in a near-future eastern Europe, which has divided into hundreds of tiny principalities. Coureurs get packages, human and otherwise, across borders. Our hero, Rudi, is a chef, who does one easy coureur run and then is drawn into the service.
I'll be reading the sequel pretty soon; it's already on my Kindle.

You're in my thoughts and prayers, Peggy! I hope you, your DH, and your mother stay safe through Florence. They're talking about your river flooding and 20+ inches of rain on the news.

Oh dear. Things are going to be tough for you and yours for awhile, Peggy. I’ll be praying that you and yours (and all others in the path of Florence) stay safe and strong.

I'll be thinking of you, and I hope you and yours stay safe, dry, and well.

Adding my thoughts and prayers toward you and others in your area.

Thinking of you, Peggy!

Take care Peggy.

I'm not much on LT lately, but this evening your town popped out on the TV weather map, so I'm checking in. Hoping all is as well as it can be.

Stopping by to add my thoughts for you and the town.

Stay safe Peggy.

Just chiming in with more good wishes, Peggy This is not a drill, as they say. So many people and places affected. I hope you are doing OK.

Thinking of you Peggy, stay safe

Thinking about you, Peggy.

We are thinking about you all. Praying that you are all safe and well.

Thinking of you.

Oh my. I'll come back and thank each one of you. I am so grateful for your kind thoughts!
We're fine............got our power back last night and cable w/ Internet this morning. We have water right this minute, but losing it is a good possibility since the river hasn't crested yet. It was tedious for us 3 (DH, Mama, & me) but devastation upon devastation for the flood-prone in our town.
I'm just now seeing pictures on the Weather Channel. Horrors. I'll post pics of the river 2 blocks away. (We are at about the top of the natural river levee, so we won't flood unless it comes up 100 feet or so; the crest should be 24 feet plus - about the same as Matthew.)
Off to shower just in case!

So good to hear from you this morning! We have been watching your river and worrying. The next few days will be rough as the rivers crest. So much water!

I'm glad to see that you're safe and sound and have power, cable and internet. Plus water, of course. I'm so glad that you're not flooded - I was worried when I saw how close your street is to the river. Yay!

Thank goodness you're all safe, Peggy. I really appreciate you taking the time to check in here. The Virago Group is also following your situation with interest, so I linked to your thread over there.

Great to hear that you are safe, Peggy. Thanks for the update. Good luck!

Peggy, I'm so relieved to hear you are safe. Thanks for letting all of us know.

Thank goodness you’re safe Peggy. I kept hearing Lumberton come up on the news and was quite worried.

Great thanks for your concern! I feel guilty getting your attention. We were inconvenienced by 4 days without electricity, but everything is back to normal for us except that no grocery store has been able to get perishable items in yet. We have a LOT of cans! On the other hand, you can't have too much sympathy for my poor town. South and West Lumberton, two of the poorest places in this poverty-stricken area, were hit again. The pics you see on the national news are from one or the other. I don't know what people do when they have no resources to begin with and then lose the little that they have.
Anyway, thank you for caring, Bonnie, Jan, Beth, Laura, Karen, Jenn, Roni, Nathalie, Linda, Heather, Katherine (!!! It's lovely to see your name on my thread!!!), Janet, Larry (you welcome guest from Karen's thread), and Donna. I hope I haven't left anybody out. I'm a very rich woman to have caring friends.

>102 LizzieD: I don't know what people do when they have no resources to begin with and then lose the little that they have.

Yes, that is very sad. Especially when you realize the same people were hit hard by Hurricane Matthew not so long ago.

Yes, Laura. The President came to NC and SC today, and I fervently pray that something caught his attention and touched him so that he will be compelled to offer help. Some of his own $###,###s would be good too.

On another note, here is a bit from our dear lit_chick/Nancy, who doesn't have a thread this year for the first time in several years (she said I could let you all know):

Have had some misadventure too: was burned out of my home first week of July by an electrical fire that started in the neighbouring unit. I and Cairo are fine, but it is a stressful time. Hoping to be back home by spring. In the meantime, I am thankful for insurance and a condo on the lake (decent place to be homeless).

Incidentally, I'm about to finish my ER ARC and will try valiantly to say something about it and my other two unremarked-upon books tomorrow.

Glad to hear you and your family are ok Peggy. So sad to hear your local area has been devastated again though. And thank you for letting us know about Nancy and Cairo!

>104 LizzieD: I saw something about he who shall not be named making light of the situation, telling someone "at least they got a good boat out of it". Was that in your area? What a despicable person.

Thank you for sharing Nancy's update. I miss her thread! I'm glad she's okay but that must be a very difficult situation for her and Cairo.

Glad you’re ok, Peggy. And your mom?

Thumbs up to >106 lauralkeet:

Thanks for letting us know about Nancy. I also miss her thread.

Laura, I couldn't believe it..... (I mean, I could, of course, but I had to check it out.) Sure enough, he said it to "lighten the situation" according to the account I read. So tone deaf to any human music! I've started *Fear*, and it is certainly terrifying me.
Thanks, Rex. Mama is right across the street from us and is fine. I stayed with her the nights that we were without power; I'm with her during the day anyway.
Oh Beth and Laura, I miss Nancy too.
Now..... I don't think I've ever done this, but I need to make a statement or two about my reading so far.

THE HIRED MAN by Aminatta Forna

I really loved Memory of Love, Forna's first novel, and I think that this is a much better book: tighter, more skillfully atmospheric. I didn't like it quite as much though.
The arrival of an English woman and her teen-aged children in a Croatian village is the impetus for revealing the conflict just below the surface. The man she hires to work on the house she bought knew the family who built it intimately. All is idyllic on the surface as far as Laura is concerned, but Duro remembers everything. The reader learns more and more as Duro goes about his business. Anything more would spoil. but I do recommend this one, especially for readers who are interested in how a writer goes about insinuating menace.

AGENT OF CHANGE by Sharon Lee (reread)

I thought my mother might enjoy this one and started reading it to her one night when we were without electricity. She rejected it, but I was due for a comfort read, and this one answered admirably. Shan and Priscilla are my favorite Liaden Universe characters, and it was pure fun to begin their story again.

SHELL GAME by Sara Paretsky

Since this is an ER ARC, I reviewed it on the book page. I've missed a couple in the series, but it wasn't hard to pick this one up out of order. I enjoyed it a lot. Vic is a woman I'd love to spend time with, and I'd want her in my corner if I were in trouble.

There you are, Peggy! I saw a little news of you on your Facebook page and am relieved to see more news of you here. I'm so glad if you, your husband and mother are staying safe. I've seen pictures of Lumberton on the news, and it looks like far more of an adventure than anyone could possibly want. How tragic that so many have had their lives completely disrupted and lost so much! Joan

>109 LizzieD: I totally agree with your compare/contrast of the two Forna novels, Peggy. I enjoyed them both, the second is better written, but somehow I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the first.

I loved Forna's new one, Happiness, and want to read more by her, Peggy. Both the ones you mentioned are on my list.

I am also a Paretsky fan. It's been a while since I read one. I think Blacklist is the next one for me.

>104 LizzieD: Thank you for sharing about Nancy. I wondered where she had been this year. I am so glad she is OK.

My heart is broken for all the people in your town. So many just got back into their homes and have now lost everything again. It is just awful. Be sure there are a lot of people west of you waiting for permission to come and help with clean up.

Happy to hear from you, Words3! It's a sad time here for sure. Thank you for dropping by!
Laura, I love it when you agree with me about less love than lots of other folks have for a book. I'm thinking that maybe they haven't yet read *MoL*.
Beth, I will surely get to *Happiness*, and I sort of hope that it combines the best of *MoL* and *THM*. I have vague memories of Blacklist; the two I haven't read yet are Brush Back and *Fallout*
Hi, Jenn! Nancy and Cairo seem to have landed on their feet, but it has to be a trying time. Thank you for kind thoughts about our neighbors. The Mennonites and Baptists are back serving hot meals, and the teams from the Brethren (oh golly - I don't know their official name) were already in place doing rebuilding from Matthew. I showered and washed my hair tonight whether I should have or not, but I haven't had a shower in several days trying to conserve water. I'll tell you, we take a lot for granted.
I'm reading *Fear* in fear and trembling. I dipped into dinosaurs and Intruder a bit today and even tried refreshing my place in The Mad Patagonian. That's all.

>109 LizzieD: Shan and Priscilla are my favorites too, but they come in at Conflict of Honors! I do hope to see more of them soon! I'm glad you're recovering. A good shower does help some.

Hi Peggy!

We absolutely take showers and running water, electricity, and natural gas/propane for granted. It's always such a shock when one or more of them isn't available.

"South of US 64" is still in danger with all water still flowing south. Continue to stay safe.

Read your earlier posts during the week but couldn't post. Thinking of you, yours and the people in your town. Thank you for the updates!

So glad to hear all is well with you and yours. Hoping the rest of your town recovers quickly. So much rain!!

My thanks for visits, Susan, Karen, Nathalie, and Kim!
Our river isn't going to get any worse, I don't think although the same is not true for others in the general area. As I've said, we're up the hill, two blocks away and can smell it - not at all pleasant. And mosquitoes come in clouds as soon as you crack a door. Again, these are only small unpleasantnesses when compared with people who have that smell in their houses. I don't know what FEMA will do this time. Matthew was supposed to be a 500-year event, so they paid for people like my SIL, who had a foot or so of water in her basement, to rebuild/repair in place. Now, two years later, Florence is a 500-1,000 year event. How many times will they bail people out? And what will people do if FEMA doesn't help?

My heart goes out to all those who have hurricane damage. You raise some important questions about FEMA and what can be done to help. Our church (Methodist) has been raising money and can hopefully make a difference in small ways. We do take our comforts for granted.

Thank you for letting us know about Nancy (and Cairo). I do worry about our LT friends when they go AWOL!

I am a big fan of The Memory of Love and want to read more by Forna. Interesting that The Hired Man is better technically but didn’t have the impact of MoL. My ratings reflect my impressions of a book rather than stylistic excellence. After all, we read to feed our emotions...or at least I do.

Take care, Peggy, and please keep us informed about your area and it’s recovery.

Thank you, dear Donna. Methodists are always a foce for good to be reckoned with. Thank you!!!!! Presbyterians are always behind, trying to catch up in actual, practical help, at least here.

((((((Peggy))))))

((((((RONI))))))!

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE DINOSAURS by Steve Brusatte

I knew nothing about current thinking about dinosaurs before I read this book, and now I do. Yay! Brusatte has put together a chatty, quick-moving piece of popular science that educates clearly and easily while allowing his reader to meet some of the equally fascinating people who dig for fossils. I guess if I have a quibble it's that there's too much about the hunters rather than the animals themselves.
I had no idea that there were so many species of dinosaurs. I really didn't know that the asteroid strike that ended the Cretaceous and the dinosaurs was now proven beyond serious doubt. I learned how dinosaurs were able to grow so big so quickly and why they didn't survive the cataclysm.

>123 LizzieD: I didn't know it was proven either.

Have a great weekend, Peggy.

>123 LizzieD: Interjecting to add: Except birds.

(I’ve debated reading this book, declining because I am more interested in the science than the hunters, and this has been a criticism I’ve heard from others. Unless it shines a light on the scientific process, which greatly interests me. But not merely as a means of making a book more readable and relatable.) (Is anyone else troubled by the more frequent use of the word “relatable”?)

Hi, Paul and Rex! Lovely to see you both.
Indeed, Rex, except for birds! I'm guessing that I was the perfect Brusatte's perfect reader - interested but ignorant. I suspect that you have been keeping up with the tsunami of dinosaur research and discovery over the last 15 or so years and don't need the book. It's a great overview though because his writing is so clear. And those fossil hunters and the ground they work in really never palled either - I just wanted more dinosaurs. AND you will be interested to know that I have just finished *Foreigner 13*. (How slow can a Cherryh lover go?)

INTRUDER by C.J. Cherryh

I loved this one. I can't imagine anybody reading the series to book 13 who wouldn't love it. There's none of the heart-in-mouth action of the other books in the series, but I was thrilled to have the main cast of characters back in the Bujavid enjoying their own apartments and working politics. I was also charmed by a new character, Cajeiri's new pet Boji of the black fur, gold eyes, and clever hands. I was also interested to have Cajeiri's mother step out of the background a little, and I look forward to knowing her better.
I'm not going immediately to the next, but it's not many months off for me.

I love dinos, but the Brusatte is the clearest overview I've encountered. I fell over a wonderful book about early mammals, Synapsida a while back that also blew me away, utterly unknown, of course! (have to go find the exact title!) I think the title was a mistake.

The few science writers out there who are entirely readable are a gift to the laypeople: Just to name one: Rachel Carson. Of course, Brusatte is not also lyrical, as she was, but he is at once so completely inside the material and able to explain and clarify, it is very unusual.

Hi Peggy, I'm just stopping by to say hello. I was interested to see you are reading Fear. I've been debating whether to plunge in.

>127 sibylline: What a good recce, Lucy! I do agree about Brusatte's clarity, and I enjoyed the book. I'll keep the McLoughlin in mind. I don't mind paying close attention, but I hate to suffer while I read science.
Hi, Jan! I've put the Woodward down for the time being - just too much going on. And I hear on "Fresh Air" that Michael Lewis has a new little book out, The Fifth Risk that analyzes the effects of Trump's ignorance on the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, and Justice. I just can't stand it.
So ---- I'm reading Crosstalk. It's Connie Willis lite'n'long. She's so good that she deserves an editor who dares to edit. I know that she's Connie Willis, but really! Somebody should do her and us a kindness take her in hand. This is a page-flipper, easy read, so repetitive that I should drop it, but it's Connie Willis, so I'll keep reading.

Thinking of you and our other NC residents when I see this...

>130 ronincats: That is SO TRUE, Roni! And it's not funny. Mosquitoes are back after a merciful semi-break derived from spraying on Tuesday. It will probably be Tuesday before they spray here again. Meanwhile, tomorrow will be in the low 90s again, BUT we can expect a bit of a cool-down on Saturday. I do hope the forecasters are correct. It's not supposed to be quite this hot in October. Bah!
I'm reading some in Discovery of Middle Earth, which Lucy read last year? - sometime anyway. It's pretty fascinating even though I don't understand a lot of it. I don't visualize well except imaginatively. For example, I don't really understand his explanation of surveying by sound...... Two men walk through a forest that is to be cut, shouting. A third man walks between them also shouting so that they stay equidistant from him. A fourth follows the voices and marks trees to be cut, and the result is a straight line through the forest. But what's to keep the two outside men from drifting to the left or right at the same time? That would produce a curve. Anybody? Lucy??

Hi Peggy! Mosquitoes, ugh. And this heat is ridiculous.

When Jenna was 15 months old, in 1994, I bought her an adorable Halloween outfit - black fleece dress with pumpkins on the hem and neckline, headband with a pumpkin on it, and white tights with black cats and pumpkins. On Halloween it was 92F and I didn't want the poor child to expire from heat stroke, so couldn't send her to daycare in it. I was so sad, and it was so blasted hot. October can still be treacherous here in NC.

Horrors, Karen. 92 is WAY too hot for Halloween. It's way too hot for the 5th too, but that's about where we were today.
They've promised aerial mosquito spraying starting today, but I didn't hear a plane. I wish I thought that they were doing it at dawn or dusk for the sake of honey bees, but that's too much to hope for.

CROSSTALK by Connie Willis

I said it before and I'll say it again, Crosstalk is Connie Willis Lite'n'Long. It's a bit of a satire on our overly connected world. In fact, Briddey Flannigan works for a rival of Apple and has a family and co-workers who text, tweet, email, IM, everything unceasingly through the whole book. She also has an almost-fiance who is pushing her to have a procedure, an EED, which will allow them to directly access each other's feelings. Briddey gets the surgery and wakes up telepathic, initially with another co-worker C.B. The pace is frenetic as CW's books often are. That's a good thing since the thing is 500 pp. long. They're easy pages because there's not much here. CW lays out her rules of telepathy with the same minute attention that she has given to time travel in the past.
Bless her. She is Connie Willis, so it's not exactly a bad book. It's just unnecessarily long and repetitious. She needs an editor who will not be impressed that she is Connie Willis.

>133 LizzieD: I think Bellwether was the better book with a similar theme, but this is the first book where she's actually updated the technology in her stories. Still fun, as you say.

Where have you been? I hope you and hubby and Mom are all okay. I'm used to your nightly updates! Are you prepared for more rain? ((((Peggy))))

Hi, ((((Roni))))! I've been here as a lurker - just worn out by the end of the day. We're fine and hoping that Michael won't bring us much more trouble. 5" of rain seems trouble enough to me, but we'll see.
I'm not reading much, alas, so I don't have much to say.
Since I'm here, I'll actually post a ---

***Quote of the Day***
Sentimentality - that's what we call the sentiment we don't share.
~ Graham Greene (*Epigrams*)

Oh! As someone drawn to what is often called sentimentality, I feel validated! Thank you!

A real smile for Heather!

Hi Peggy! I do hope that today's weather is just a bit of rain with mild winds. You guys certainly don't need one more bit of bad news in your county, weather-wise.

Hi Peggy!

>123 LizzieD: I went to add The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs to my wishlist and found it was already there - although now I can't remember who the original recommender was. I really want to get back into reading non-fiction but my brain just does not appear to be working at the moment.

>129 LizzieD:, >133 LizzieD: Yeah, I was disappointed with Crosstalk too.

Thinking of you all re Hurricane Michael - news here is that it's about to hit the Carolinas.

It's raining really hard here. We can take it, we didn't get all that much last time. We are under tornado watch until 9 or so tonight. How is it going at yours? I hope it mostly misses you this time.

>129 LizzieD: >133 LizzieD: >139 souloftherose: I enjoyed Crosstalk except for one rather significant aspect - the main character was the standard red haired Irish which have by far overpopulated psi-oriented f&sf since forever. I'd vote for Philippine or Haitian maybe.

>141 quondame: BIG GRIN for Susan!
Karen and Jenn, I'm off to your threads. We were blustery and rainy all day, but all in all Michael gave us a miss and is now gone. We recorded only 2½" here and some gusts of 55 mph, and except for bunches of fender benders, we can handle that. We certainly needed the break! I'm glad that you have also apparently avoided the worst.
Thanks for thinking of us, Heather. I devoutly hope that Michael was the last named storm this year. I'm also devoutly hoping that this is not the new normal.
Since I'm here again and have time, here's another ---

***Quote of the Day***
One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives.
~ Mark Twain (*Epigrams*)

Hi Peggy! I'm so glad Michael tracked further north and west and mostly missed your town. We're still without power but have the generator. It's a nice crisp 53F here, blue skies. You'd never know that we were in Tropical Storm Mode yesterday.

I know there are still cleanup efforts from Florence, so glad Michael didn't add to them.

Thank you, Karen. We are relieved. I'm glad to know that you have a generator and hope you won't have to fool with it much longer.
Today was gorgeous! I wish we might have a whole month of it with no reversion to summer nor jumping early into winter, but I'm trying to enjoy what we have when we have it.
I'm reading so little - some Mr. Mercedes and back to *Middle Earth*. (Antikythera Mechanism)

***First Sentence/Last Sentence***
For many centuries, the Celts were a mystery to their neighbours.
In view of the unusual preponderance of nodal points in the environs of the vanished lake, this now looks more plausible than ever.
(Martin Mere in England)
~ The Discovery of Middle Earth

***Quote of the Day***
Weather forecast for tonight: dark.
~ George Carlin (*1,911*)

Wishing you a fabulous day.

Thank you, Barbara, you good and faithful woman!

Chiming in, too, to wish you a Happy Birthday, Peggy!

Happy birthday Peggy!

Happy Birthday (((((Peggy)))))!

Happy Birthday, Peggy.

>144 LizzieD: Martin Mere? That's literally 10 minutes from me. Tours are available...

And hope you have had a lovely day!

Happy Birthday, Peggy! Hope you are having a wonderful one; you deserve it!

>14 EBT1002: The Hired Man is now on hold at the local library.

Happy, Happy Birthday Dear One. I hope your day was as special as you are.

What a joy to come here and find good wishes! Thank you, Linda, Roni, Charlotte (How I wish I could take you up on that guided tour!), Beth, Nathalie, Laura, and Karen! It was a good day. I ate too much cake and read in too many books to make progress in any of them......my kind of day.

Too much cake and too many books. Sounds good to me!

Happy birthday, Peggy! I have one coming up very soon that ends in a zero, which gets your attention!

So are you reading about the Antikythera mechanism? What a fascinating device! I read the article you linked to with interest. I saw the device in the National Archeology Museum in Athens a few years ago. Coincidentally, I am just finishing up a video for release next Friday which includes the work of Posidonius, another Greek polymath mentioned in the article. It’s on the early efforts to calculate the size of the earth. He too made what may have been a simliar device, and it isn’t clear which came first or who influenced whom. Thanks for the article!

It was fine, Karen.
Hi, and thanks, Rex. I'll wish you happiness on your auspicious day upcoming.
Graham Robb, author of The Discovery of Middle Earth devotes three pages to the Antikythera Mechanism. He's making the case that the Celts were accurate astronomers pre-Roman invasion, and that in fact, the Romans laid their straight, paved roads on Celtic foundations. I have no way of knowing whether this is good scholarship, but the details are fascinating. (I wonder --- Robb's other books have been bios of Balzac, Hugo, and Rimbaud....) Anyway, I'd be happy if you'd read it and let me know what you think. I just checked the index, and Robb doesn't mention Posidonius.
I'm woefully behind in watching your videos. By the time I get home to the Internet, I'm too tired to think much.

>142 LizzieD: Glad Michael mostly missed you.
>133 LizzieD: Crosstalk Connie Willis at her worst is still enjoyable, but this one was disappointing.

Yay, Katherine!
The river is still flooded but nothing to compare with where it was after Florence. We are agreed about Crosstalk. I think I'd be more patient with it if I were younger and thought that I had unlimited reading time left.

Sheesh, it has ben a tough time for you lately, I'm sorry I haven't been following the storm much, but I had the impression it was meant to be worse than Florence.

Hi, Megan! Michael was one of the 4 most powerful hurricanes to come ashore in the U.S.. Florida & Georgia look like war zones. I'm thankful to say that it had weakened by the time it got to NC, and the worst went west of us. To update the aftermath of Florence here, our children are finally going back to school today. It's been over a month.

Hi Peggy!

I'm glad that the schools are open again, glad that Michael basically missed your county.

Hi, Karen! Thank you for your good thoughts. I thought about being back in school after more than a month and wished them well. I think you spurred me to read Mr. Mercedes, and I did and I thank you.

MR. MERCEDES by Stephen King
This is a jolly good thriller with not a supernatural word in it. The murderer, whom we follow, is pretty horrible but in a sadly messed up, human way. Before the book opens, he has plowed a stolen Mercedes through a crowd at a job fair, killing 8. The head detective on the case has retired, and Mr. M. gets in touch with him by mail. The retired detective decides to pursue the case a bit further before he turns the letter over to his still-on-active-duty ex-partner. Bill Hodges makes a couple of giant intuitive leaps in deduction, but I was willing to give him a pass because the story is a real page flipper. I liked him and I like the new friends he makes in the course of his investigation. I will read the next one!

I'm so glad you liked Mr. Mercedes. I found the trilogy to be eminently satisfying.

I told Jenna that although she was stressed about catching up for the semester that CFCC and the professors were responsible for getting things back on track. All she has to do is try to get back into a normal schedule. I'm sure admin/profs have been going nuts behind the scenes, but that's their job, not hers.

It's a gorgeous early autumn day here - chilly, blue skies with a few wispy clouds.

>165 karenmarie: Hallelujah for autumn at last!!!!! I'm still wearing my seersucker capris around the house, but tomorrow I'll be back in sweats. It's time!
And you are so right about catching up schoolwork. I would be going nuts if I were still teaching. I assume that the powers that be will divide the missed time between this semester and spring semester or spread it out through the 4 quarters. Anyway, that's what I'd do.
I have Bill Hodges 2 ordered and look forward to it.
ALSO my two John McPhees have arrived, and I've started Looking for a Ship. I also think that I have a copy of The Crofter and the Laird, but I don't see it in my catalogue. That's a hunt for another day.
Enjoy this one, Karen.

'Morning, Peggy! Have a wonderful Monday.

Hi, Peggy! I can read with the tv on if it's sports or news or commentary, but stories definitely distract me! What I can do is plug in the earphones for my iPod and let the music cancel out the tv noise. Which brings to mind, I listened to my 3 favorite PP&M albums on the computer (downloaded from my cds), Album 1700, Late Again, and Lifelines while working on jewelry this afternoon. Such bliss.

Peggy, just stopping by to say hi!

Hi right back, Jan.
Hi, Roni. As a matter of fact, I can tune out sports too. Unfortunately, Mama has reverted to the time when only a CBS channel was available. That means soaps, Talk, Ellen, andDr. Phil. Many days I do manage to leave for the DP hour or have a nap. I can listen to music when I'm working but not reading. I could manage surf sounds or bubbling brooks, I guess.. *sigh*

QUEEN OF BEBOP by Elaine M. Hayes
I went ahead and wrote a review of this one on the book page since there was only one other review.
I am a dedicated listener to Sarah Vaughan. I think that she had the voice of the century, and this book explains some of the reasons that she was under-rated. Even so, I found it hard going from time to time because it was repeticious. On the other hand, it is a well researched look at her career, and I'm very happy to have read it!

Hello my dear, just stopping by here to see what's new -- love those epigrams especially.

Glad to hear kids have gone back to school.

Hi, Lucy. You are much welcome as you know. When you come back, be sure to check out the "true" river pictures topping the thread. You'll be sad to see the mess from two hurricanes in what was a natural, pretty place to walk.

***Quote of the Day*** (For Lucy and other friends!)
Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half the people are right more than half of the time.
~ E. B. White (*Epigrams*)

HEADS IN BEDS by Jacob Tomsky

I'm a sucker for hotels (and cruise ships or even apartment buildings - any place that brings people together temporarily, sends them away, and brings in new ones), and this book was plain fun. Tomsky is a philosophy major who made his way from valet parking service to a brief stint at management in a New Orleans luxury hotel and then a permanent place at the front desk in one in NYC. He provides an insider's look at the hotel trade which opened my eyes and entertained me. He has a profane tongue, be warned, but I heard a lot worse on my hall in the dormitory (another interesting place!) of my semi-snotty women's college.
FYI: "heads in beds" is the aim of every hotel with the "perfect sell" (!00% occupancy, when overbooking exactly matches cancellations) being the ultimate goal. I won't be using any of his advice, but this is the book to read if you want to know how to get upgrades and consume mini-bar products and movies without paying.

***Quote of the Day***
Happiness is a branch on which you can land but not make your nest.
~ Comtesse Diane (*Epigrams*)

THE GARDEN OF LAMENTATIONS by Deborah Crombie

I love Deborah Crombie's mysteries. Think Elizabeth George with a more realistic set of continuing characters and less volume. This is another worthy entry in the series, depending heavily on knowledge from her last two books. This is not the one to read first.
Married couple and police officers, Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James pursue their own investigations, which this time have only one small point of intersection. We get two well-plotted mysteries in one. I miss the greater involvement of their children, but everything else is a very, very good mid-level mystery: not hard-boiled, not cozy.

Hi Peggy - I'm another Crombie fan, but I'm all caught up, so I must either start reading again, or wait for the next one.

Hi, Beth..... *Garden* is the last of the series so far, isn't it? I'd hate to think I didn't have a new one on my radar.
And now for something completely different ---

THE DISCOVERY OF MIDDLE EARTH by Graham Robb

This is really a pretty interesting book, and I'm glad that I read it. Up to the point of writing this one, Robb had written biographies of French authors, Balzac and Hugo, I think. Suddenly, here he is writing about Celtic Europe before the Romans. He bicycled across western Europe following meridians and solstice lines and finding Celtic iron forts and settlements lying on these very straight lines. We know from Caesar that the Celts used Greek letters, and Robb hypothesizes that they had Pythagorean math and science too. He thinks that lots of Roman roads were built on the earlier roads of the Celts. Fascinating bits surface here and there even though I was too uneducated, dumb, and lazy to follow his geometry and astronomy.
I recommend it on the basis of the two chapters on the Druids and, as I say, for the incidental, fascinating facts.

>164 LizzieD: I am another fan of Mr Mercedes and of your daily quotes, too! My Hubby is a news hound and I just can't watch that much, so I often tune it out by doing my LT time. If a story piques my interest I can choose to look up for a bit. I have also been known to read a book. My kids say they often have to call my name 2 or 3 times before I look up when I am really in the zone.

>164 LizzieD: I am another fan of Mr Mercedes and of your daily quotes, too! My Hubby is a news hound and I just can't watch that much, so I often tune it out by doing my LT time. If a story piques my interest I can choose to look up for a bit. I have also been known to read a book. My kids say they often have to call my name 2 or 3 times before I look up when I am really in the zone.

Wow! A visit from the other Twin! Hi, Kim!
I've been too lazy to put it up, but I'm now reading Finders Keepers and thinking "clever, clever S K." His writing has matured by quantum leaps. This one is a lot easier to concentrate on than *Middle Earth* when the TV is blaring.

Hi Peggy!

Happy wet Monday to you. I knew it was raining again because our Inara Starbuck came in soaking wet this morning. She loves getting wet.

My husband has to have the TV on when he's home - sigh - but I go into the Sunroom and read instead of trying to focus with the TV on.

It only mizzled here, Karen. I think we're expecting more rain tomorrow.
It feels a bit churlish for me to leave Mama for a whole afternoon. I just as well be home if I'm not going to spend the time with her. She's normally reading too or doing the word puzzles in the paper, and we do chat as things occur to us. I DO leave her during Dr. Phil most days to thank for the Humane Society, or sometimes I just nap.
Yes, my husband also has both the TV and the scanner on as soon as he walks into a room. I echo your sigh.
Meanwhile, today I read enough of The Way of Kings to fall in love, so up it goes on the "Currently Reading" list.

Hi Peggy!

The Hunt for Blue November is on today, of course.

edited to add: (courtesy of Shelley on the Alt Lit = ORANGE is the New Gasbag Hack! thread)

Yep - nervy all day, hoping that we can be a bit less nervy for the next two years.

***Quotes of the Day***
A politician is a statesman who approaches every question with an open mouth.
~ Adlai Stevenson (*Epigrams*)

Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.
~ J. K. Galbraith in a letter to JFK (*Epigrams*)

Happy Wednesday, Peggy!
I'm another one to turn the TV on immediately, but currently it's set to the classic channel, so it's basically classic radio (that's my excuse).

I don't really get the "houses thing" and why they're split. Hoping for the best, anyway.

Mixed blessings, right? Super majority gone, 2 power-grabbing amendments defeated. House of Reps back in Dem hands, unfortunately the Senate is even worse than before. And I just hate that Lyin' Ted got re-elected.

I was reading the Adlai Stevenson quote and auto-filled "hand" for "mouth".

Hi, Nathalie! Hi, Karen!
I guess I've said before. When I listen to music, I listen to music and don't do anything else that involves attention. I might do housework listening, but that's it. (I'm sure I've also said that when I ask my DH what he thinks about when he is, for instance, sweeping the floor, he answers, "I think about sweeping the floor." I certainly need to move in that direction as I age and multi-tasking grows more difficult.)
"Hand" would work too, Karen!! Yep. I had hoped for a gigantic blue wave, but I guess we can be thankful that we got as much as we did. I am sort of devastated that Harris beat McCready. I was hoping against hope that that contest would go the other way.

***Quote of the Day***
The march of the human mind is slow.
~ Edmund Burke (*Epigrams*)

Hi, Peggy. You are right, I don’t get around to visiting many as I work long hours, get home, read a little and fall asleep. Thanks for stopping back. I will retire toward the end of 2019 and (work less hours, when and if I return to work) and have a bit more time to ‘visit’.

Hi, Kristel! I'm happy that you made it over here. I am a firm believer in retirement. It's so wonderful that I can't imagine going back to work for even a few hours a week. I do so remember the day of long hours, reading a little, and falling asleep. I'll tell you right now,"Naps are the best!" I also know that once you let yourself look at retirement as a viable possibility, it's impossible to back away from it.

FINDERS KEEPERS by Stephen King

King is so smart to look at another family affected by the attack in Mr. Mercedes. I really, really enjoyed most of this one and look forward to the last of the trilogy, End of Watch. This one was another straight detective mystery/thriller, and I found it very satisfying. I didn't even mind that our recurring characters, former policeman Bill Hodges, Harvard student Jerome Robinson, and newly liberated assistant to Bill, Holly Gibney, were kept in the background for most of the book. I was also intrigued by the focus on a deceased writer and his unpublished work.

Retirement is 20 years away, unless they change the law again and I'll have to work longer.. so it will be forbidden lunch break LTing and furious weekend reading for a while longer. :)

Trying to ignore the words "Stephen King" and "trilogy", lalalalala...

Happy Thursday (((((Peggy)))))

Natalie

Week two of retirement for me. Looking back, I would change the amount of hours I gave away for free. I worked too hard, much of it self imposed. But, the culture of the university is such that it is expected to work like a machine. I'm glad to be out of it all.

Good luck on waiting another 20 years to retire. Do you like what you do? That helps a lot.

Hi Peggy!

Our creek is flooded again with all this rain, although not nearly as far out of the banks as with Florence and Michael. I'd much rather have this weather than the dreaded hot and humid summer, but admit to looking forward to some clearing starting tomorrow.

I'm glad you liked the 2nd Bill Hodges. Just think - you've got the third in the series, and then there's a connection in The Outsider that is eminently satisfying.

>192 Whisper1: Thank you, Linda - you're so right with Looking back, I would change the amount of hours I gave away for free. I worked too hard, much of it self imposed. I grew up with the belief I had to be a hard worker at least as much as a good worker. So far, I haven't grown out of that yet.
Sadly, I like only parts of what I do. That's one reason why I'm looking around right now, hoping for new ideas and lots of contacts in different areas that are more intellectually and socially fulfilling.

I've been AWOL, so it's especially nice to see you here, Nathalie and Linda. HUGS to you both!
I guess I resent some of the extra hours I graded papers, etc. I really resent the game duties and bus duty and lunchroom duty, etc. that ate my time. On the other hand, I couldn't have been even the teacher that I was without putting in that extra time, and I don't resent doing my best. (Of course, "best" means different things on different days.) On the third hand, I was always well and in good physical shape, and I resent all the hours of pain you gave to your job, Linda. Nathalie, I agree with her. Take care of yourself: the job is a job, but your life is your life!!
Hi, Karen! Even damp and shivery, these days are such a relief from humid heat. I do look forward to the sun though.
Today is my mama's 97th birthday! We're celebrating by staying home out of the mess - although I think that the heavy rain has passed.
Oh dear. I have to read Outsider too??? I love Holly, so we'll see. Meanwhile, my Fairy Book Sister has lent me a copy of Lethal White, and I'm itching to get to it. Yay!!! I'm going to try to finish those *15 Dogs* first.

Good Day Peggy. Happy Birthday to your mother. She is here this long, in large part because of all your attention to her needs. Pat yourself on the back and eat an extra slice of cake.

Lilly sits by me as I type. That is a nice retirement event that I didn't think about. Actually, today is a wonderful day to be retired. Schools closed at 11:00. I was fortunate to be in town having my acupressure treatment. That ended at 10:45 and I was able to drive a few blocks and kick up Kayla. Spending more time with Lilly our dog, Kayla our grand daughter, our neighborhood children, and not having to drive in the snow, all in all it is a wonderful day.

And, the acupressure helped the nagging pain I had throughout the night. It truly is the best thing that works. I've always been an advocate of non- traditional medicine. While Medicare doesn't cover this, it is worth every penny out of pocket that I pay.

How old is your mother today?

Happy Birthday to your Mama! Staying inside out of the mess is a good idea, for sure.

Yes. You need to read The Outsider. Holly is as endearing as ever. Yay for Lethal White and Fairy God Sisters too.

Hi Peggy, happy birthday to your mama! I just started reading Lethal White the other day. It sure is a chunkster. My hubby took one look at the cover and said, "this doesn't look like your kind of book." I had to explain who the author *really* is.

Happy birthday to your mother, Peggy!

Looking forward to your thoughts on Fifteen dogs.

Welcome back, Linda and Karen, and new welcomes to Laura and Anita!!!!
Mama had a good 97th, I think. We didn't do anything very special, but it was a good day to stay inside and eat and read. She got some attention from family and friends, so we were both happy.
Linda, you'll find many lovely days in retirement, and I'm happy and thankful that acupuncture is working for you. That's a real gift!
I finished the dogs instead of starting Cormoran and Robin 4. I'm eager to get to them though!
Anita, I'm off to your thread to find out what you made of the book..... Here are my puny little thoughts.

FIFTEEN DOGS by Andre Alexis

I understand why this little book won the prestigious Giller, but it was hard going for me. Alexis's dogs are so red in tooth and claw that I was too distraught to follow much of his commentary on the human predicament. When Apollo and Hermes give 15 dogs human intelligence with a bet about their happiness when they die, I didn't catch on at first that I would be reading a book about the deaths of 15 dogs. It is. I don't recommend it for dog lovers, and I wonder how much research Alexis did in the life of dogs in packs. I'm not sure that I'm interested enough to follow up, but I might research a few questions.
I did like the poems scattered through the book - one for each dog. When read aloud, the dog would hear his name hidden in the words - a lot the way I suspect dogs hear our verbalizing anyway. I'm not sorry that I read it, but I didn't do it justice, and I doubt that I'll try again.

Belated Happy Birthday to your mama! :)

I guess I will better not read 15 Dogs..

Hi Peggy!

I'm not particularly fond of dogs, although two Dobermans I had in the early 1980s managed to find a place in my heart. But I won't read Fifteen Dogs anyway, because it sounds like a total bummer, frankly. However, when you said what you thought dogs heard, I remembered this comic, which most people call Blah Blah Ginger, by Gary Larson, Far Side.

>200 LizzieD: I agree, Peggy, the poems were the best part of Fifteen dogs.
The dog behavoir was out of character for dogs imho.

Hello, Nathalie, Karen, and Anita.
Karen, I remembered that Larson too. Anita, I appreciate your affirmation. Nathalie, I don't recommend it although I sort of wish I could.
Anita, I still think of a poem by Billy Collins (which I haven't been able to find in my one collection although I'm sure that I read it there). A deceased dog talks to his master and says that he never liked him. Among other reasons, the master never petted him in the right spot. I do so hope we're being better to our May than that. She looks happy enough anyway.

'Morning, Peggy!

One of my unrealized wishes in this life is to have 5 minutes with each animal in my life where I spoke cat/dog/rat/hamster or they spoke human, so that we could express our love, needs, and the one thing they don't like that I do and the one thing I don't like that they do. It's a fun fantasy.

The poem you reference, after a quick look online, is The Revenant. Rather depressing.

HI Peggy - Happy belated birthday to your mother. It sounds like she had a good day.

I liked, but did not love, Fifteen Dogs and agree the poems were fun.

Have a great weekend.

Happy Sunday Peggy and belated happy birthday to your Mama!

And I think I am happy to pass on Fifteen Dogs - hope your next read is better!

Hi, Beth and Heather! Mama and I thank you for your birthday wishes.
I'm trying really hard to push myself on through Fear, but it's so scary that I find it hard going. At one point, he says what I've always thought and don't think I've ever heard anybody else verbalize. Trump is like a 14 year-old boy, and rational discourse doesn't work.
How did we do this to ourselves? Well, I didn't do it, but I guess I didn't do enough to prevent it here in my little Trumpian corner of the universe.
Oh, Karen! "The Revenant" is the one. Thank you. I trust that our 5 minutes of complete communication with our pets have a better outcome.

***Quote of the Day***
There are days when it takes all you've got just to keep up with the losers.
~ Robert Orben (*1,911*)

I'm glad your mother had a nice birthday; I must say that I chose to celebrate my own the same way today.

Thank you, Roni! That's pretty much how we operate around here.

FEAR: TRUMP IN THE WHITE HOUSE by Bob Woodward

Horrors! I'm not sure what Woodward was suggesting about the title, but I am well and truly afraid. Trump believes that fear is power, so I guess that gives him power over me. He is also pitiably (well, it would be pitiable in anybody else) afraid a good deal of the time, and that also is not good.
Woodward writes a chronological report of the goings-on in the White House, and every detail confirms and strengthens everything I (and everybody else, whatever the political stance) have thought about the man. I confess to a continuing bewilderment that the people surrounding him can't do anything but give him the deference that his office demands. They do delay, take papers from his desk, divert, but Trump eventually remembers what he meant to do all along and does it in spite of clear, compelling advice against.
That's all I can say. I'm sick and frightened, and this was a hard book to read.

>211 LizzieD: I'm not sure I could read that book, even though it sounds like an important one. Good for you, for sticking with it.

Happy Thanksgiving, Peggy!

Thank you, Laura! Happy Thanksgiving to you and all our countrypeople! When I give thanks today, my LT friends will be high on my list.

Happy Thanksgiving, Peggy! I hope you have a lovely day.

>211 LizzieD: Yikes. A double-edged sword - put fear into people while being a fearful person yourself. A combination made for the disaster that the last two years have been and the two years coming.

Love the Orben quote. Will give Fifteen Dogs a pass -- it actually qualifies under my fictional cruelty to dogs embargo. (Using dogs in lieu of humans to further some literary idea.... yuck).

We use that Kliban funny all the time -- actually with each other too -- you know that moment when your spouse realizes that you spaced out five minutes ago while they were talking about something esoteric and dear to them but more or less incomprehensible to you.

>211 LizzieD: Thank you for summarizing the book -- it confirms all my worst fears and I am not sure I am up to reading the longer version. Maybe when he is out of office and I can look back on it from a better place.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and congrats to your mom--97!! : )

>215 sibylline: We use that Kliban funny all the time -- actually with each other too
We have actually done this, too. HA!

Hi, Kim and Laura. Love the visits!

***Quote of the Day***
We love not in accordance with our mode of thinking, but we think in accordance with our mode of loving.
~ V.V. Rozanov (*Epigrams*)

LOOKING FOR A SHIP by John McPhee

I was entertained by this little book. McPhee's friend Andy signs on for 42 days on the Stella Lykes, down and back up the west coast of South America from Charleston. McPhee goes along for the ride. We get a good look at life on a Merchant Marine ship 20 years ago, some history, details of the lives of the crew onshore, and lists of what they carried. I had no idea that the sea still regularly takes ships without a trace, even with modern navigation aids.
All in all, this is pretty fascinating and an easy look at a way of life that may be dying - at least with registry in the USA.

I'm still Robining and Striking. Lethal White is a rather long book.
I'll also confess that last week sometime, I stuck out my hand, and what leapt into it was The Impressionist that I had ordered from PBS at somebody's warbling. I read a bit and then hit a sentence that has pretty much committed me to it..... Gita, the servant girl is looking at a monkey in the courtyard and wishing that it would grow big enough to take her off to marry a prince or at least turn into a handsome street boy. "For it's part the monkey has no intention of changing shape." That's all it takes to keep me reading.

***First Sentence/Last Sentence***
One afternoon, three years after the beginning of the new century, red dust that was once rich mountain soil quivers in the air.
Tomorrow he will travel on.
~ The Impressionist by Hari Kunzru

***Quote of the Day***
It is only the poor who are forbidden to beg.
~ Anatole France (*Epigrams*)

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith

I remain a great fan of the Cormoran/Robin series, but this was my least favorite so far. I thought it seemed more hastily written than the first three, and I am a bit embarrassed for C&R as they moon over each other and misinterpret what the other thinks. Suffice it to say that by the end of the book, they're not a couple yet.
I was also put off - as I always am when an author decides to be cutesy - by Cormoran's proclamation that he has figured the whole thing out and that Robin (and therefore, the reader) must think. Finally, I was a bit dubious about one key plot element. Why are third world countries importing foreign made gallows? Don't they have carpenters in Africa and the Middle East? Otherwise, I enjoyed the twisty plot and and continuing story of our main characters.

***½ for me

>220 LizzieD: Clever fellow, Anatole France

Wishing you a lovely Sunday, dear Peggy.

>221 LizzieD: *sigh* Read and loved the first two, enough to even buy a copy for my dad. But I don't want to follow them into that direction, that's why I've abandoned the series.

Thinking about female/male detective duos, I love "Elementary" mainly because (at least so far, I really hope they won't change their minds in the last season as fan service) it focusses on the platonic love and deep trust and friendship between Holmes and Lucy Liu's female Watson. That makes her also a strong stand-alone person. They should just give her more lovers and not always kill them off.

Wishing you a very happy Sunday, (((((Peggy))))), and a lovely first advent. I'd almost forgotten about it, parents just called with their advent wishes. Must go and light a candle.

>221 LizzieD: echoing Nathalie's *sigh* about the Cormoran Strike series. I abandoned Lethal White about 200 pages in, due to both the "mooning over" and some issues with the writing.

Meanwhile, I will be picking up the new Inspector Gamache from the library any day now. Squeee!

You've been in absentia for a while, Peggy. Hope all is okay there!

Wow! It has been a long time since I was here. Thank you for dropping by, Roni, Laura, Nathalie, and Paul! Makes me feel good to find messages when I do show up.......
I've never watched Elementary, I'm sorry to say, and I will likely give Cormoran and Robin one more chance. Laura, I was unhappy with writing issues in this one too. I thought that the first 3 were more carefully done than HP, but this one seemed to need one more draft. On the other hand, I haven't read past the 3rd Gamache, mostly because of writing issues, so I can't squeeee with you although I wish you joy in yours!
I am really liking I'm Not Complaining, which will be my only VMC of the year. What a dreadful plight! This just hasn't been a good year for settling down with a book although I haven't had any problem buying them.
As to how I am ---- GOOD NEWS! I had several hours with 3 of my dear high school friends, including the dearest, this afternoon. Bev brought her harpsichord to the Episcopal church for a short noon program and Bobbie rode with her. Barbara lives here and is one of my bridge buddies.
BAD NEWS! First, May had to have an anti-nausea shot Friday. (But GOOD NEWS! It cleared up the problem.) Yesterday, we took Elle in because her mouth was too sore to eat.... she's had all her teeth pulled. She has an unhealed wound with some abnormal surrounding tissue, but the vet is optimistic. Anyway, she has antibiotics and pain meds and is currently going wild in paper bags. Today, Hilfy has what is probably a bladder infection - they couldn't get a urine sample from her fatness. She is also full of antibiotics and apparently happy. All this means way more $ than we should be spending on little animals given the state of our poor county. Sorry. So it's Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to both of us.
That's probably TMI, but you know better than to read it unless you're very, very indulgent.

When it comes to our fur people, I'm always very, very indulgent, Peggy! Glad you had the time with your friends.

Oh no, they're all sick at the same time? That's a lot of worries, and yes, high cost. I hope all those meds keep working efficiently! My neighbors told me changing the cat food helped against the eternal bladder infections of their/ our cat Büsi. Don't know if that's an option?

And how lovely meeting old friends! :)

Nice to hear from you, Peggy! The get together with your dear friends sounds delightful. I'm sorry to hear about all your kitty medical woes. We have just one cat, but also two dogs, so I can relate to the near-constant cash outflow, even on just preventives like flea & tick meds. I hope they're all right as rain soon.

Hi Peggy!

So glad Bev and Bobbie could visit with you yesterday.

I'm sorry about your fur kids' health issues, which then, of course turn into $$ at the vet. I remember one summer when kitty Coco Chanel ate a skink and we paid over $600 in vet bills, which scandalized us. Glad we did it, but sheesh.

Ah, thanks ot Nathalie, Laura, and Karen for sympathy for Elle and Hilfy and also for our pocketbook. I won't tell you how much we've spent, but both cats seem to be doing well with the antibiotics. We should hear from Elle's biopsy early next week. Tomorrow is her last pain med, so I hope she'll still be able to eat Saturday. Hilfy's brother Tully already eats a bladder-friendly cat food, but Hilfy doesn't like it and won't eat it. (She could do with several weeks of not eating since she is a very fat cat.)
I got to read a whole 45 minutes tonight and made a bit of progress in The Mad Patagonian. It is truly a masterpiece.
Otherwise, I'm still engrossed in both I'm Not Complaining and The Way of Kings. The latter has a bit more fantasy military action than I like, but it's very well done.

***Quote of the Day***
Cats are like Baptists. They raise hell but you can't catch them at it.
~ Unknown (*1,911*)

800 pages in The Mad Patagonian!!!!! Only 400 more to read. That's some commitment, and the book is worth it. I have no idea how I'll ever write a review.

I'M NOT COMPLAINING by Ruth Adams

Since I'm going to read only one VMC this year, I'm glad that it was this excellent one. Our narrator, Madge, is a 30 + a few teacher in small city in Nothamptonshire in the 1930s. She has plenty to complain of, but she simply tells her story of a couple of years of teaching in a depressed urban setting. I was surprised and pleased as I gradually realized that she was not going to become involved with either of the two unattached young men (a social activist curate and a hunky but vulgar policeman) with whom she comes in contact, and that her story, therefore, does not revolve around a romantic relationship. Madge is forthright and righteous. She doesn't mince words or lie about her motivation, so the reader sees both her generosity and her limitations. She has taught young children for ten years and learned her craft well, and this is the foundation of her life.
I really enjoyed the book and recommend it.

>233 LizzieD: I liked that one too, Peggy. But holy one VMC this year? I know, I know: so many books, so little time ...

Hi, Laura. I saw your review, in fact.
This has not been a good year for reading. I hope next year will be better.

Hi, Peggy. I read the reviews of the Mad Patagonian. It sounds like a book I would enjoy. I think a book this long should quality for 2 or 3 books! I'll flag this one for a winter's read. I was sorry to hear about your cat's health issues. I only have one dog and it seems like I'm always having to take him in for one thing or another!

Hilfy and Tully! How wonderful that you have honored these beloved characters, Peggy!

I am sorry you had to endure that too close encounter at the hands of Woodward. I read another friend’s account, and was grateful it was sufficiently evocative that I could forgo having to read the thing. I wish I could think in terms of “later, when he’s out of office”, but that feels like a luxury I can’t afford...

Hi, Rex! Aren't those perfect cat names? Of course, Tully does double duty for me as a nod to MT Cicero too.
I'm happy to report that Miss Hilfy is clear of everything but a UTI, and the antibiotics are clearing that up. We haven't heard from Elle's biopsy yet.
I guess I'm glad that I read the book, but it wasn't fun. My guess is that you don't need to read it.
Hi, Jan! Happy to see you!!! Actually, I guess *MP* is really a trilogy with 3 novelettes in each volume. Whatever. I'm now finding that I ought to go back and reread one of the longer ones as backstory for a character I'm reading about now. I'm sorry that it's not going to happen.
I started The Warmth of Other Suns and Ida Mae Gladney reminded me immediately of another hometown story that I'll have to tell here in order to stop thinking about it.
Ida Mae (I don't know her last name) was the local bootlegger when I was a teenager. In order to be admitted to her establishment, you had to know the password. The password was, "It's me, Ida Mae."

Hi Peggy!

Just dropping in to say Hi and hope you, your mother, and your DH are doing well.

>233 LizzieD: I have this one, and just barely remember it. I have a chance now -- I'm hoping that I read it during the time I was keeping book journals as I've been tidying and streamlining in my workspace/studio and I came across the four notebooks (big ones) for the eighties and into the early-mid 90's -- I don't know why I stopped., so there is a gap between then and 2010 when I joined LT. I read VMC's like mad during that time period and I am so glad to find these notebooks and refresh my memory.

Hi, Karen and Lucy. I'm grateful for the visits!
Karen, we are doing well, but we confirmed today that our oldest cat, Elle the mother of Tully and Hilfy, does have a virulent, fast-moving mouth cancer. It's already moving toward her eye. We'll keep her on pain meds (at the moment she's high as a kite) as long as she can eat, play, and purr. We pretty much knew this was coming.
Lucy, how wonderful to have kept notebooks! I wish that I had done that rather than make lists. Oh. I remember. I was teaching. Oh well.
Otherwise, I'm not reading much. I like The Way of Kings O.K., but it goes on and on and on and on and on.....and so do I with some reluctance.

Ah, we lost our Abner to one of those at much too young an age, Peggy. My sincere sympathy. We took Dinah to the vet today. A high fever had made her totally lethargic. Blood results tomorrow but the antibiotic shot seems to have made her more active this evening.

Thank you, Roni. I'm sorry for your loss of Abner. Best wishes for Dinah. The antibiotic seems to have taken care of Hilfy's UTI.

>241 LizzieD: I'm sorry to hear about Elle's cancer, Peggy. Even though you knew it was coming, it's not easy to deal with the declining health of our beloved pets.

>242 ronincats: awww, more kitty woes. I hope Dinah is okay.

I'm so sorry to hear about Elle.

>241 LizzieD: Sorry to read about Elle's poor health, Peggy.
(((hugs)))

>241 LizzieD: I'm so sorry, (((((Peggy)))). Poor Elle, hoping the meds will keep the pain away as long as possible.

Thank you for visits and sympathy for our Elle, Nathalie, Anita, Karen, and Laura. She's feeling so much better at the moment than she has in ages that I could just cry. I know this won't last, but it's mighty sweet while it does.
Hilfy is better again. I do hope that this last antibiotic has truly killed the nasty bug. The rest of us are thriving.
Am I the only 75er who wasn't wild for The Way of Kings? I read and read and read and get nowhere. I'm afraid that the same may be true of my ER ARC, which I've started: Beyond the Point. It follows 3 women cadets at West Point and beyond. At the time I asked for it, I wanted something light weight and fun. I hope it will be.

>226 LizzieD:, >241 LizzieD: Sorry to hear about all the vet $$ and diagnosis for Elle. Hugs.

>233 LizzieD: Sounds like a good one. I have also been bad at reading my VMCs this year - as ever I am hopeful about doing better next year. I

>248 LizzieD: I liked but didn't love The Way of Kings - it felt like a lot of setup for the rest of the series. I have book #2 but haven't picked it up yet and now feel like I've left it so long I would need to reread book #1 which is rather daunting....

Happy to see you, Heather!
Oh dear. Please don't reread all of *Way/Kings*! I understand that the last chapters are WONDERFUL (can that be so?) but most of the book is (1) Kaladin grieves his losses and makes his bridgemen better (2) Shallan learns a lot about life and fabrials and history (3) the High Prince ____ and son Andolin (?) (I'm really bad with names and can't be bothered to check them right now) try to maintain their power and wonder whether the visions are the real thing.
I'm liking but not loving The Warmth of Other Suns. Maybe I haven't read enough yet. Occasionally, I'm gripped by part of the story; mostly, I'm just reading.
So far Beyond the Point is chick lit, pretty good chick lit, but chick lit all the same.
Oh Mad Patagonian, where art thou?
Elle is having a very good night. She ate a lot and has been playing BAG for a long time. She loves to play more than any of our other cats.

She probably wouldn‘t like it, but (((((Elle))))). And of course (((((Peggy)))))

Wishing you, your family and all the pets happy healthy joyful holidays filled with love and good books. And food and drink of course.

Merry Christmas!

Happy holidays, dear Peggy

Happy Holidays

Kristel, Paul, Jenn, Barbara, and Nathalie, you are so good to remember me with a visit! I do appreciate the thought and wish I could manage to get here more often and spend more time with you dear people.
We had a quietly Merry Christmas, and I hope that all of you enjoyed your day!

Delurking to add my holiday wishes to the mix, Peggy. I don't get around much anymore. I will strive to do better in 2019.

See you in the New Year!

Wooo Woooo! Donna and Lucy!!! Snoopy and Corgis!!!!
Thank you for the visit. I wish I could pledge more LT time in 2019, but I doubt that it will happen.

Realising I forgot to add my Christmas wishes to you and the family Peggy!

>258 sibylline: Love the corgis!

>259 LizzieD: I want to try to make more regular time for LT in 2019 but I also don't know if it will happen!

Thank you, Heather! Christmastide wishes right back to you!

What a relief to find the normal thread format back!
I was a busy enough person this afternoon and finished my two current easy books. This has been my worst reading year since I retired and joined LT. Can't be helped, but I look at the ratio of slightness to substance and am vaguely embarrassed. I do the best I can.

BEYOND THE POINT by Claire Gibson
This was an ER ARC, and I reviewed it in fewer than 100 words on the book page. I knew when I requested it that it would be chick lit, but that was what I was in the mood for then. It is, and it's not bad. I do hope that somebody edits it before it comes out in April so that characters won't say, "Here! Here!" in response to a toast - happens twice. I also am cynical enough to doubt that the Citadel would hire a black woman with arthritis as an assistant basketball coach, but those things don't really matter. I do think that Ms. Gibson was trying for something a bit more serious than typical chick lit. She failed for me, but she did write a decent entertainment. The West Point section was interesting.
Faint praise and all that.

THE WAY OF KINGS by Brandon Sanderson
I used to adore to get lost in epic fantasy. Maybe I might still but not this one.
It's long and it's tedious. The world building is fine, maybe better than fine, but the characters are one dimensional, and the writing is repetitious and tedious. Then too, I'm not a great fan of fantasy battle, and this book is full of it - pretty much the same battle over and over and over. On the other hand, the final few chapters drop at least one surprising plot development per chapter, and then it stops. I'll confess that if book 2 ever falls into my lap, I might read it on the strength of these revelations. I won't look for it though, and I'm happy to be finished.

Wishing you a new year filled with joy, happiness, laughter, and all the wonderful books you could wish for.

Happy New Year's Eve!!

Thank you, Kim, Karen, and Lori! You're good to visit a non-visitor!
Happy New Year to you three and to anybody else who ventures to this little thread.
I'll be setting up sometime tomorrow in the 2019 group. Come see me at 2019

See you on the other side, Peggy.