Friday night we listened via a link to Robert Jones, who wrote the amazing book THE PROPHETS. His talk at Marygrove Conservancy was about his experiences getting an MFA at Brooklyn College twenty years ago. He was repeatedly told if he want to be published he would have to expand his stories beyond the Black community. I remember Toni Morrison saying this too on the documentary about her on Netflix.
The rage Black people must feel toward white people worldwide can never be addressed, no matter how large the reparations.
Reading HELLO, BEAUTIFUL by Ann Napolitano. Also short stories courtesy of Jeff Meyerson.
Watching TED LASSO, SUCCESSION, BARRY, THE DOG HOUSE (Max), COUPLES THERAPY (Paramount) For a person who has never owned a dog, I love stories about them. Don't know why.
How about you?
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The cello is one of my favorite instruments; I'm always amazed at how versatile its sounds can be. (This from a man with no musical talent whatever -- I even have a difficult time playng the radio.)
After nearly a week of wet weather and tremendous storms (our particular area lucked out with no flooding or tornadoes), the sun came out in time for a beautiful day at the beach yesterday. The puppy, Jolly, is now four-and-a-half months old and has discovered BIRDS, spending most of her time chasing them -- not to catch them, I think, but to play with them. Between Jolly and Jack, we met a lot of other dogs and some very nice owners. A quiet, relaxing day.
My brother has been diagnosed with mild to moderate dementia, a precursor to Alzheiner's. He's sad about it but is facing the future realistically. His first grandchild (a girl) is due next week, and I truly hope the progress of his disease is slow. He'd make a magnificent grandfather and deserves as much time in that role as possible.
Jack's team won its soccer game again (4-0 for the season) and he scored twice. Amy is due for a well-deserved promotion. Erin finishes her semester next week and has only one class needed this summer to graduate. Mark turned 23 and is living the good life working the zoo and enjoying his job. The first-grade kids in Christina's class have decided that she's a unit of measurement to be used against anything tall...
Another week loaded with reading, mainly from the usual suspects. Two Monk books from Lee Goldberg (one, MR. MONK IN TROUBLE, has such characters as Billy Crider and "Ed" Randisi and "Bob" Gorman, among others). I also finished the Fox and O'Hare series by Goldberg and Janet Evanovich with THE P{URSUIT, and Volumne 4 of Goldberg and William Rabkins DEAD MAN series, with novels by Joel Goldman, Lisa Klink, and Phoef Sutton. Lawrence Block's A DROP OF THE HARD STUFF was a Scudder novel. Christopher Golden's THE PANDORA ROOM and RED HANDS were Ben Walker novels -- he's a government agent sent in when "weird shit happens." The first dealt with the discovery of the real Pandora's box in Iraq; the second dealt with a sentient, malevolent disease to kills with a single touch. DEADLINE was fourth of Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty's MS. TREE graphic novels. FABLES DELUXE, VOLUME 4 by Bill Willingham introduces Bigby Wolf's father and Bigby's six (actually seven, but he doesn't know that) cubs. Willingham's DOWN THE MYSTERLY RIVER (my FFB) is a charming, inventive adventure about a boy detective, a badger, a bear, and something that looks like a barn cat. S. M. Stirling's CONAN: BLOOD OF THE SERPENT is a prequel to Robert E. Howard's novella "Red Nails." And C. J. Box's STORM WATCH is the latest Joe Puckett novel. I'm currently reading James Ziskin's BOMBAY MONSOON, set in India's political turmoil in the mid-1970s.
I hope you have a fantastic week, Patti. Stay safe.
There's just something about dogs, Patti, isn't there? And that cello concert sounds fantastic; I'm very glad you got the chance to go.
Rain, rain, rain...won't go away. It rained just about every day last week and the forecasts for this week are just as wet.
Diane and I went to see SIX yesterday. Very exciting musical!
The WALL STREET JOURNAL had an article on Life Expectancies in regions of the the United States. Red States, with their restrictions on women's health and their bizarre trend of closing hospitals especially in rural areas, send Health Care to the bottom.
Patrick is headed to Stockholm and Katie is flying back to Boston from D.C. today. Diane is busy packing for our next trip to Ohio.
Stay safe!
I am going to see SIX in June. May is ALADDIN. Patrick really travels with his job.
Wish I read half as much as Jerry. I am a very distracted reader now. Always picking up my cell phone and checking on something.
Very lucky indeed, Margot. Considering I don't drive and have to rely on others.
Crazy weasther here since we got back from Florida. April had two exceptionally hot days - 90 and 91 on the 13th and 14th - but lately has been mostly cold. Other than last weekend, when we had some welcome rain, it was exceptionally dry. Very low humidity (like Arizona levels), pollen was everywhere. But this weekend...it rained incessantly and with wind, thunder and lightning, you name it. We've had more than five inches of rain (more than a month's worth) since Saturday. It is not supposed to warm up to normal levels (and then above) until next weekend, and more showers are predicted.
Went to the theater to see PICTURES FROM HOME, based on photographer Larry Sultan's book of the same name, which consisted of pictures of his parents over a ten year period, 1982-92, as they aged. The play stars Nathan Lane and Zoe Wanamaker (in a mostly thankless role) as the parents and Danny Burstein as the son. Of course, Lane had the juiciest role, but he would have stolen the show anyway. The father died in 2009 and, sadly, the son died later that same year. I'd say good but not great, but worth seeing for the performers.
Man, I wish I could read as much as Jerry these days, but between online newspapers, word games (Worldle and Wordle and the rest), plus television at night and other running aorund, I'm lucky to get anything read. My short story totals are way, way down, but that may be as much for the choices I've made as lack of time. I am reading a Bill Pronzini collection of mostly SF stories now, which I'm enjoying.
I read Colin Cotterill's final Dr. Siri book (#15), THE DELIGHTFUL LIFE OF A SUICIDE PILOT, which was very good and a nice finish to the series. I have to pick up Peter Robinson's final Banks book at the library. Meanwhile, I read Judy Gold's YES, I CAN SAY THAT: When They Come for the Comedians, We Are All in Trouble. This was the basis for the show we saw a couple of weeks ago, and a good, quick read. Also reading (George's recommendation), AWKWORD MOMENTS: A Lively Guide to the 100 Terms Smart People Should Know, by Ross & Kathryn Petras.
We finished PERRY MASON (series two) and THE BAY (series four), and are closing in on the end of UNDERCOVER (series two; definitely not as good as the first series). Still enjoying MRS. MAISEL and THE DIPLOMAT and some of the French shows we're watching (though this final series of CHERIF is pretty bad). Still not sure about FROM. There are others, always. BEYOND PARADISE we added to our Saturday night lineup now that we finished DEATH IN PARADISE (series 12), after POIROT and FOYLE'S WAR (which I am really enjoying this second time around).
Whiskers the newly-adopted cat continues to hide (if also eat and use her litter, a new drug in my cocktail (Sam-E) may soon be dropped as it seems to leave me dopey/sleepy and have other unfortunate effects, and all kinds of non-paying work beckons.
Pianos are default accompanists to most single-voice instruments (even a human voice), certainly in duo works. One can find cello-centered works otherwise, but not so commonly.
Very glad to read of mostly-good times.
All my best to Jerry's brother and his diagnosis. I host Memory Cafes 4 times a year at work. They are get togethers for early dementia patients and relatives or caregivers. We don't talk or teach about dementia. Rather, we pick a theme and hold a program on the theme and try to involve all the senses. Themes almost always include some sort of program. I did one on Champagne, the wine and region, in December. That was a fun one for me because I learned a lot.
My wife and I drove to Eau Claire over the weekend for Boy #1's half marathon. He had a strong run and we barely saw him at all - just cheering during race and a brief hello afterwards. We saw the former Lt Governor walking around our hotel that morning. I told my wife I would not say anything to the former Lt Gov. about how upset I was that he did not win his Senate campaign.
I bailed out a novel, A CONSPIRACY OF BELGRAVIA by Sherry Thomas. One of the series where Sherlock Holmes is a creation of a woman detective who has to crate a fake male to take on cases. The drawing room and social etiquette parts bored me. I also kept expecting Sherlock or Watson to pop-in. I started listening to a Walter Mosely novel to only recognize I had listened to it a couple years ago.
I have been reading the eBook of WARLORD OF WILLOW RIDGE by Gary Phillips. I'm enjoying the story quite a bit. Set in a Southern California desert subdivision that is going downhill during the subprime housing crisis.
One of the cats in house had to be put down last week. She had been kinda scarce over the past couple weeks, but she was a cat. The cat was having a lot of trouble breathing so my wife rushed the cat to the vet. Vet x-rayed the cat and with a deflated lung and enlarged heart said the only option was a specialist hospital. But, Vet also said the cat may not survive a 45 minute drive anyway. Now, my wife and son say the remaining cat is depressed and are thinking of going to the Humane Society.
We have had non-stop rain for most of April. Hard to get out of here at all but I am about to try a walk. Yes also watching MRS. MAISEL. Have not liked much the story arc about Suzie's nogoodnik relatives. Have to try THE DIPLOMAT.
Have never had a cat because I am very allergic to them but they seem like strange animals and not much like dogs.
Glen has jury duty this week, and had to go in this morning at 8:15, which meant getting up and out early. My son drove him because there is no adequate parking for jurors, and I went along. We may be getting some rain later in the week. The dark clouds this morning seemed to building up to that.
I finished reading BODY LINE, a Bill Slider mystery by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. Liked it a lot, now I have to get a copy of the next in the series. I started reading PAPER CHASE by Bob Cook. A spy fiction book, and pretty short, definitely on the humorous side. And I have been reading some the 800 page book of letters of the Mitford sisters off and on.
Watching: We finished Season 3 of STAR TREK: PICARD and are now in the 7th season of DEEP SPACE NINE. We have added Peacock and Apple TV+ but so far have only watched some episodes of the new NIGHT COURT, which I am enjoying. Recently we watched a BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES episode, and we have watched a good bit of the old CSI episodes. I am glad we finally started watching DEATH IN PARADISE, we are now nearly done with season 5.
Reading the new and last novel by Peter Robinson. For some reason by reading has slowed down a lot lately.
Saw no theatrical releases this week. Watching Lucky Hank, Berry, From, John Oliver, Bill Maher. Will soon start the Diplomat.
Most of us are slowing down readimg-wise. Not sure why. On PEACOCK, I really enjoyed POKER FACE. On Apple TV- FOR ALL MANKIND and TED LASSO. Oh and you will like the Mick Herron series and I enjoyed PACHINKO although I know no one else who watched it.
I won that Robinson book in the Rap Sheet giveaway.
Not much at the movies but I will probably see Are You There God, It's me Margaret since the reviews are so good. I want to watch PICARD season 3 if I can skip 1 and 2
We're watching LUCKY HANK too. I keep thinking how much Bill Crider would have enjoyed it. It is quite similar in several ways to THE CHAIR, the Sandra Oh/Jay Duplass series that ran a couple of years ago. I believe that one had half hour episodes and I was not surprised (or disappointed) when it was not renewed.
Also watching season three of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY on DVDs from the library. We have season 4 to go next. It has improved quite a bit from season one. We'll get to PICARD 3 soon. Hope it is better than 1 (particularly) and 2.
We have the latest BROKENWOOD episodes to watch, also series 3 of GRACE which just astarted.
I don't have AMC so I will have to wait until it's on Netflix or somewhere else.
All the reviews say PICARD 3 is better that the first seasons so I hope I can just skip to it.
I though PICARD Season 3 was better than the first two seasons, and it was exactly what I wanted it to me. I liked seasons 1 and 2 but not nearly as much as 3.
We hope to watch the first episode of Slow Horses tonight.
My reading is slowing a lots too.
Just started reading, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Yet another book that has me asking, Why didn’t I get to it sooner?
If you enjoy (or get a lot out of) that book I think you would like THE PROPHETS by Robert Jones, Jr. An amazing first novel.
Maybe we all have spring fever. I am going to jump right into Season 3.
Cats aren't too strange, generally, but they are not very much like dogs, no...poor Whiskers came from an unfortunate household, however, and that has left its marks on her. Both dogs and cats will respond similarly to humans to hostile environments...cats aren't as readily pack animals, but barn-cat mother cats will often set up community creches for their kittens' mutual benefit, with one or several mothers watching over other mothers' liters while the absent mothers hunt or rest, etc. Whiskers has a somewhat dog-like terror of abandonment that quickly has turned to treating the house apes as traitors who can't be trusted. With luck, she'll get over that...and get over her similar terror of Ninja, who is also a shy, but friendly, cat. (Ninja's tendency to hide and watch carefully on first being brought home by my parents is what earned her that name.)
Or litters (of kittens), rather than liters...potable cats!
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