A quiet week with great weather. I wonder how many used bookstores like Charles Shaw in Grosse Pointe Park are still around. This huge collection of unusual books is normally only open on Saturday afternoons. We caught it on an April Friday and were so lucky to get inside. It doesn't have many mysteries or even that much fiction but instead has amazing collections of books about sea-faring, music, poetry, diaries, Michigan, Detroit, African-American books and on and on. I restrained myself but my friends who has extremely wide interests found a few books to take home. Saturday night another two friends and I went to hear folk music at the Unitarian Church.
The greatest episode of SUCCESSION played last week. How can they top it? Trying to get into BEEF, but it's awfully unpleasant. Will stick it out for a while. Looking forward to BARRY tonight although another unpleasant show. I think I can take unlikable characters more in books than on TV.
Reading LONE WOMEN (Victor Lavalle), WALK THE BLUE FIELDS (Claire Keegan). Lots of podcasts. I like THE MARIS REVIEW, which interviews writers.
What about you?
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Enjoyed the great weather but it's back to normal now. Hope it is good next weekend as I have an outdoor wedding to go to.
Finished A Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson. Now I'm enjoying Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton. A SF novel which will be the next film from the director of Parasite. Next up the new Don Winslow novel. Watching John Oliver, Barry , Perry Mason. Watched first episode of second season of Yellowjackets but find myself confused by what's going on. Guess I need to rewatch the first season. Saw a good SF film called Vesper. Very bleak.
I have read books by Victor LaValle and liked them. His new one sounds good.
Glad to see Megan is doing a local signing. Too few authors seem to come to Michigan. I will be there.
Weather has been a bit of a buzzkill this week. Lots of rain and wind and thunder. Maybe it's me; I usually like and appreciate all types of weather, finding something majestic in nature. All the gun violence and political stupidity has really got me done; it's beginning to feel like half the country is easily gulled, stupid, or just plain evil. Sometimes I wonder if we'll ever find our way out of this mess.
A few good things happened this week. Jack's soccer team won their game 9-2 and Jack scored twice. The losing team was pretty bad but that didn't stop their side from cheering them on and going wild the two times they scored. At the end of the game, their coach congratulated them enthusiastically, "You guys were great! You got two goals! Can you believe it! I am so proud of all of you!" Everyone, on both sides, were proud of them. We have to learn to embrace the simple wins in life and appreciate honest effort no matter what the final score is. I kept thinking, none of these kids will grow up to become school shooters...Mark is starting tomorrow working in the reptile section of the zoo. (He really likes reptiles.) Last week he was with the kangaroos and a young joey hopped into his lap, looking for a pouch -- something about that made me smile...Because there were no foster parents available for them one night, Amy had to take two new-born kittens home from the animal shelter and feed them with an eyedropper. The young -- human or animal -- and how we treat them is what gives me hope.
For most of the week I retreated into books and read a lot of them. Alphabetically by author: Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty, ONE MEAN MOTHER and SKELETON IN THE CLOSET, the first two volumes of their MS. TREE graphic novels; Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg, THE CHASE, the second Fox & O'Hare caper; two Monk novels by Lee Goldberg, MR. MONK GOES TO THE FIREHOUSE and MR. MONK IN OUTER SPACE; the second volume in THE DEAD MAN series by Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin -- Dave McAfee's THE DEAD WOMAN, James Reasoner's THE BLOOD MESA, and Harry Shannon's KILL THM ALL; Christopher Golden's horror novel ARARAT; three old sleeze paperbacks by "Dean Hudson" (who may or may not be Evan Hunter/Ed McBain), HASBEEN, PASSION MAN and SKIN QUEEN; one old sleeze novel by "Sheldon Lord" (Lawrence Block), 21 GAY STREET; my FFB, THE WOMEN IN THE CASE by Manfred Lee, writing solely as "Ellery Queen;" Matt Ruff's sequel to LOVECRAFT COUNTRY, THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS; Richard F. Searight's THE BRAIN IN THE JAR AND OTHER STORIES; and Donald E. Westlake's MONEY FOR NOTHING. Reading about fictional violence is good; watching it unfold in real life on television is not. Coming up, the next three DEAD MAN novels and Joe R. Lansdale's THE DONUT LEGION.
I'll be in a better mood next week, especially knowing the You. Are. Going. To. Have. A. Fantastic. Week. Take care, Patti. Smell the roses, and stay safe.
So glad you have an indie bookshop nearby. We do, too. It's also got limited times, but it's a fabulous place.
Steve-I had the same problem and I don't know now whether I will bother to watch it, which is a shame because I just paid for a year of Paramount/Showtime. And there is nothing at the movies either. I am two blocks from a theater and there is not one movie that I want to see.
I am sorry my kids and now grandkid don't get to participate much in the animal world. And me too for that matter.
I don't know why the store is open so rarely. Because it is so excellent although a bit pricey.
Western NY hit a new record temperature yesterday: 86 degrees. If we're in the 80s in April, what will July and August be like?
Diane and I are enjoying “Schmigadoon!," Season 2. Great fun if you like Broadway shows and music.
Patrick leaves for Germany and Ireland later this week. Diane and I are recovering from our Easter trip to Ohio.
After 11 days of no rain, we're looking at a rainy week. Like you, it's hard to find anything at our local AMC Theater worth watching.
Stay safe!
These up and down temperatures are hard on the body. It feels wrong to start the day with heat, go to air midday and then back to heat. But I only have one window that opens and it is too heavy to push. We went to Ireland several times and always enjoyed it. In Germany, we just spent time in Berlin, which was interesting and lively.
Yes, agree on BEEF. We've watched the first two episodes so far, and though it is well done and well acted, it is awfully unpleasant. We're enjoying THE LAST OF US quite a bit, though obviously some episodes more than others. Only two to go. Two more Perry Masons (including tonight's episode) too. Also, two more in series two of UNDERCOVER, which still doesn't come close to the first series for me.
The French MISMATCH is tough for me to like because the older daughter, the Judge, is so unpleasant and childish. For those who haven't seen it, a retired judge dies. Only then does his daughter (who has followed in his footsteps as an examining judge) discover that he not only had an affair but had another daughter he was close to, even though he never told her about her half sister. The sister is a cop, a detective who - coincidentally - works under the judge's husband. The judge cannot handle her father's betrayal (which I can understand) in not telling her, but her behavior afterwards is unforgivable. Under French law, because he acknowledged her as his daughter, she is entitled to half of everything, including the house the judge (and her family) lives in. The judge will do anything to get rid of her, including trying to have her transferred, and having her arrested. The worst though, is cremating her father and having a funeral without telling the sister. When you discover that the judge's husband has a mistress, all you can think is, "Good, what she deserves." Unless she starts to change, we'll stop watching this.
Still not enjoying the second series of YELLOWJACKETS as much as the first.
First trip to the city on Saturday. We saw (off-Broadway) Judy Gold's (third) one woman show, YES, I CAN SAY THAT! Very good. We have another show next week. The weather has finally improved, though it was a bit excessive to have two record-breaking 90 degree days last week.
We're enjoying the final season of MRS. MAISEL so far. Tony Shalhoub's Abe is my favorite character. He never fails to make me laugh.
The Yankees face their usual injury problems, but they're off to a good start with four wins and one tie in their first five series. It's different seeing all these National League teams (the Giants and Phillies so far), especially in April, especially when they don't see the Red Sox until June. But I like the faster pace of the games.
YELLOWJACKETS has too many characters for me. I think I would have to rewatch Season One to follow Two and not sure I am up to it.
Yellowjackets confusion seems to be pretty prevalent here and I, for one, am giving up on it, having never recovered what little I understood from season one during the layoff between seasons.
But there is good news from Showtime--a documentary on the late, lamented New York Dolls called PERSONALITY CRISIS, partially directed by Martin Scorsese, appears tomorrow night.
Glad I ordered in time. Yes, I am ditching it too. I was never wild about it in Season One so see no reason to struggle. Thanks, Michael.
The weather is overcast and very cool today, which we did not expect. Not unpleasant, just surprising. After spending yesterday weeding, without much evidence of results, today we are cleaning up a bit inside in time for a friend's visit tomorrow. That and other commitments will keep me from getting a short story post up tomorrow, although there have been a lot of short stories I am eager to read.
We have a very good independent bookstore in Santa Barbara which has been here since before we moved here (1980), in different locations over time. I am glad it has survived all these years, especially because it has always had a great mystery section.
I haven't finished a book in the last week, but I started reading THE BLIND MAN OF SEVILLE by Robert Wilson. That was a spur of the moment decision, because I had decided earlier to stop reading his books because so many of them had had too much graphic violence and sex for me. I am glad I decided to read it, because I am liking the setting, the characters are interesting, and it has a dual timeline which I did not expect (journals from the main character's father, set in the 1930s and 40s so far). And very interesting themes.
Our episode watching is about the same. Recently watched an episode of Columbo with Leslie Nielsen and Susan Clark, Lady in Waiting.
We just booked a place in LaJolla for the last week in February and the first two weeks of March next year. Hope the weather is better than this year. We have some decent bookstores but this was all older books. Lots of fun.
Michael-Personality Crisis is about David Johansen rather than just the New York Dolls. David is a very good storyteller. A lot like Tom Waits. I enjoyed the film.
I must admit the sudden death of Denny (or, in other contexts, Dennis) Lien on Saturday morning colored an already glum time, which had been on an uptick when I took a Saturday morning and early afternoon to listen to music, for the first time in any attentive way for too long, and put together a music post. Then got the bad news about 3p. He had just emailed me Friday morning, and included the wry half-joke, "I have five things trying to kill me right now, my two distinct cancers, my heart, and the two remaining cats." He was hoping the the claimant on the most reclusive cat (two others had already been picked up by their new keepers) would be able to lure her out of her attic hiding spaces. I hope so, too. I passed along the bad news to two of Denny's discussion lists we had in common, Project Wombat/PW, formerly known as Stumpers, and Fiction_L, both librarian-heavy. Much sadness in the FictionMags list and other online gatherings, as well.
I've been a little sad about how much our new adopted she-cat Whiskers (previous keepers' name for her; approx. 3yo) is in hiding mode, after apparently warming up to us, but exhibiting extreme abandonment issues. Then she saw our rather kind-hearted older cat, and freaked and hid some more, for several days running. Still eating and using her litterbox regularly, happily. Sadly, Ninja the elder cat (coming up on 11yo) didn't take to the newcomer squawking and cartoonishly scampering, and she now refuses to come to the upper floors (this century-old money-pit has a basement, two full floors and a largish attic refashioned into a bedroom).
Jerry, I don't think it's stupidity on the whole, so much as the degrees of corruption and relative lack of action on the part of most politicians...the GOP chasing yahoo votes almost exclusively, and certainly Meatball Ron being first among equals in that race to the scatpiles, and the Democratic Party still firmly in the hands of the neoliberals, who don't really care about turnout if they can keep the corporate contributions, and others but mostly corporate ones, flowing (and losing doesn't tend to lessen those sufficiently). A whole hell of a lot of voters just don't see enough to vote for, till a Trump or a DeSantis gets into office and shows them who they might need to vote against. Meanwhile, GOP and "pundits" pretend that "populism" means the near-fascism such clowns as Ronald and Donald spew, and the Democrats too often do, as well, since populism in its truer sense is the last thing neoliberals want to see raising its head, as they do their damnedest to squelch the progressives in their party.
Sadly, I was in no mood to enjoy neither BARRY nor the season premiere of BLINDSPOTTING (where the biggest Name in the cast is Helen Hunt), the latter seeming excessively cutesy (probably due to my dudgeon) compared to last season. THE COMPANY YOU KEEP and LAST WEEK TONIGHT were easier to take in. Still haven't found SUCCESSION (same joke pounded into the ground yet again!) worth watching, much less YELLOWJACKETS (teen girls can be cannibal LORD OF THE FLIES monsters, too, and we can be remarkably coy, even soap-opera-esque, about going on about it!)...while Paramount keeps killing their good projects on Showtime, at least.
Much better times to you all.
So sorry about your friend, your cats, and all the rest too. It is such a hard time and has been for nearly a decade. For me Succession is the best written show on TV now and perhaps ever. It perfectly reflects the kind of people who have seized power through wealth and gives them no grace notes. I have trouble with John Oliver's voice which is nails on a blackboard for me so have never watched him much.
Thanks! Some of the initial shock, even given it was coming, has worn off, and cats will be as driven by their fears as any other animal, including us...
I grant that I haven't given SUCCESSION much of a chance, though part of that is that it tells me nothing new about those characters, and keeps (in what I have seen) running through the same tropes about them...the lust for utter dominance in every situation, the toadying for favor, the vicious infighting, No Kidding. A bit like the utter lack of revelation in the HBO THE NEWSROOM, albeit that also wished to mythologize, to pretend the shallow creatures it went on about were In Fact as deep as they wished to see themselves as being. Sorkinism.
John Oliver's affectations can be off-putting at times (and he, too, can run a single joke into the ground and keep deepening the trench). But, generally, it's a decent show, and one which keeps picking up awards, I think, in part because it is a weekly series vs. a weeknightly one which also exists to feature ad-driving/network-program-supporting plugging-based interviews. I sympathize, as one of them, with those who can't stand bad voices (from the individual's POV, or point of audition). Robert Kennedy, Jr. comes to mind, through no fault of his own, as an obvious example, though what he's chosen to speak about too often in the last decade or so tends to fit too well with that ravaged voice.
A used bookstore here in Winnipeg that at one period of time sold many children's books across North America closed at the end of March. The owner reduced the price to $1.00 and then was giving away books the last couple of days. I stayed away. Our largest used store that has been around for decades is only open for a few hours on Saturday. I have been watching episodes of Friday Night LIghts that I had never seen on HBO Crave, The final episode was last night. Also been watching the series Line of Duty that I read somewhere was rated as the top UK crime series. It ran for several years and I'm on season two. The snow is finally gone from my front yard, but the forecast is for flurries the next couple of days.
Granted John Oliver can be a bit sill at times bhut I often find his show very informative.
Loved Friday Night Lights. Most of the great cast has gone on to other shows. Line of Duty is terrific too. I saved the last season for the future.
I have nothing against his show. Just his voice and the constant shouting.
Yes, the shouting jokes, particularly those about his fantasies of being ravished by one leading man or another, get tired fast, inasmuch as it's Not That Funny on several levels.
Had a nice and busy weekend. My mother and in-laws visited for Boy #2's high school play. Boy #2 did well and his mother and I are quite pleased.
I was also trying to complete a parent organization's Treasurer Report (someone had to volunteer, and it was me), grading scholarship applications for a Rotary Club committee, and complete our tax return.
I've still been watching THE WALKING DEAD and am on Season 5.
I started listening to an abbreviated version of Plutarch's ROMAN LIVES. My difficult grandfather used to constantly recommend the books. I was thinking of the older books I have never gotten to and decided to try this one. LIVES is interesting in a history-always-repeats way, but the stories are almost all war and death as the wealthy and ambitious Romans scheme for power. I should not be surprised. But, I did some more insight and analysis. I'm asking for a modern look from a guy who died 2,000 years ago.
When a eAudiobook holdl came in I put off LIVES and started listening to a SPOOK'S APPRENTICE novel. I've greatly enjoyed that young adult series and the author wrote a nice detour in plot and setting from the previous novels.
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