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| Jul 02, 2024
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Harmony thought about cats as she rolled out of bed and staggered to the bathroom. Her favorite cat was the one that used to get stuck on top of a Harmony thought about cats as she rolled out of bed and staggered to the bathroom. Her favorite cat was the one that used to get stuck on top of a telephone pole in front of the house where she grew up. At least once a month in the warm weather, she’d hear the neighbor kids yelling, “Cat’s on a pole!” as they gathered around to taunt the poor thing.-------------------------------------- When he was forty-three, he met Judy. By then, construction work had taken second seat to massage therapy, where he discovered he had a gift.Harmony and Joshua have special abilities. You might even call them superpowers. As with most such talented people, that has not necessarily led to them being happy. Joshua makes a living running healing classes at his own studio. He has always had what seems a pheromonic gift for attracting women. Woof! But commitment has never been a strong suit. Until he married Judy and they had a baby, Emily. Still, it is tough to resist all those longing gaze from his students and assistants. [image] Betsy with pooch - image from her site Harmony is forty-something, works at a gardening magazine, is of uncertain ethnicity, having been adopted and having no real memory of her birth parents, and is different from the rest of us. She sees colors around people, auras, and has a sense of smell that allows her to tell about a person’s health, among other things. It is understandable that being in a relationship can be tough if you can pretty much read the other person’s thoughts and feelings. Insightful? Yes, very literally. She thinks of it as being about energy, hers, others, an experiential milieu no stranger to her than seeing the usual colors or hearing the sounds of the world are for most of us. But can you live through every day seeing, sensing the world like that? Harmony is in mourning for her best friend, her late pooch and beloved companion of 18 years, Delilah. Each believes they are unique, and are destined to remain that way. It is pretty clear that these two crazy kids are destined to get together in one way or another. In this magical rom-com, they meet cute on a Manhattan bus, and we are off to the races. The story centers on their relationship, which, surprisingly, never gets truly physical. Maybe metaphysical? With or without physical touching it is intensely sexual. They are both, because of their abilities, outsiders. Joshua manages by running a school, trying to help people find the abilities they have, but do not recognize. He is able to direct his energy to healing as well. ”We all have this capacity,” says Robinson in her video promo for the book. She has been involved for a long time with spiritual psychology and healing arts, so brings an interesting perspective to Joshua and Harmony’s capacities. [In therapy] I was talking about how I reacted to various people in the office. There was one guy there who wanted an office wifey. I couldn’t stand this guy. Every time he would approach me it was like I was getting slimed with ectoplasm. Etheric gunk would come over me. I wanted to take a shower.Harmony gets more ink of the two, with a large piece of that her interactions with her therapist, Doctor Thompson. These are fabulous. Spectral beings are also a considerable presence. Ghosts? Angels? Something else? Like Julie Jordan in the musical Carousel, Harmony’s favorite musical, both Joshua and Harmony see or sense presences, which sometimes become active to the point of issuing directions. Keep an eye out for mirrors, an image that pops up multiple times. Can you actually see yourself? Or does truly getting to know yourself require another person? There are a few cockroach POV scenes that are hilarious, even to a native of NYC who had to contend with them for a lifetime, sometimes in large numbers. Lord knows, those of us who have spent much of our lives in city apartments can well attest to their persistence, and share Josh’s frustration at their ability to mockingly skitter away from our attempts to extinguish them. Robinson is a funny writer, so there are plenty of LOLs throughout the novel, not all related to bugs. Cats on a Pole is a moving story about people searching for…something, love, companionship, understanding, truth, connection, release. There will be tears as well as laughs. The novel also offers a deeper perspective on spirituality and the meaning of death. It all builds up to a surprising climax, so buckle in. These cats may be stuck atop a pole, (or multiple poles?) getting some temporary safety, but they also gain a broader view of the world, and so will you. What was extraordinary were her colors—raw red and orange energy around her torso, a deep indigo, bluer than the bottom of the ocean with radiant purple wafting through it vibrating so fast above her head it made him feel faint just to watch it. But watch it he did. How could he not? Her desire was direct and raw. Review posted - 07/05/24 Publication date – 07/02/24 I received an eBook version of Cats on a Pole from the author in return for a fair review. Thanks Betsy. [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] This review is cross-posted on my site, Coot’s Reviews. Stop by and say Hi! =============================EXTRA STUFF Links to Robinson’s personal, Twitter and FB pages (Partial) Profile – from her site Betsy Robinson was raised an atheist and went on to make her living as a writer and editor of spiritual subject matter: as managing editor of Spirituality & Health magazine for six and a half years and as an editor of spiritual psychology and books about shamans and traditional healers.She is or has been an actor, a playwright, an essayist, an editor, a freelance writer, messenger, paralegal, legal secretary, chambermaid, IHOP hostess, fortune cookie writer, novelist, and more. Cats on a Pole is her third novel. Plan Z was published in 2001 and The Last Will & Testament of Zelda McFigg came out in 2014. Interviews ----- Ectoplasmic Inspo + Publisher at 73: Betsy Robinson - mostly on becoming a publisher ----- Why Publish "Cats on a Pole" and "The Spectators" Now? self-interview - video – 4:25 My review of an earlier book by the author -----The Last Will & Testament of Zelda McFigg Songs/Music from Carousel – Harmony buys a CD of the 1987 revival It does make one wonder if Harmony’s last name was an homage to the composer. -----What’s the use of Wond’rin -----The Carousel Waltz -----You’ll Never Walk Alone -----If I loved You Items of Interest from the author ----- Her promo video -----Book trailer -----Betsy reads from the book ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 20, 2024
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Jul 2024
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Jul 04, 2024
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Paperback
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1250288347
| 9781250288349
| 3.66
| 423
| Feb 2024
| Feb 20, 2024
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really liked it
| Nerd Nite is an event usually held at a bar or other public venue where usually two or three presenters share about a topic of personal interest or ex Nerd Nite is an event usually held at a bar or other public venue where usually two or three presenters share about a topic of personal interest or expertise in a fun-yet-intellectual format while the audience shares a drink. It was started in 2003 by then-graduate student (now East Carolina University professor) Chris Balakrishan at the Midway Cafe in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston. In 2006 Nerd Nite spread to New York City, where Matt Wasowski was tasked with expanding the idea globally. - from Wikipedia-------------------------------------- Be There and Be Square - Nerd Nite logoThere was a nerd magazine in 2012, a Youtube presence, and occasional podcasts. This is the first Nerd Nite book. Misophonia can attach itself to any repetitive sound, but the most common ones are things, like chewing, breathing, sniffing, and throat clearing. It can be hard for sufferers to talk about because of how difficult it can be to tell someone politely that the sound of them keeping themselves alive is repulsive to you.There are 71 entries, taken from live presentations done by the authors of each piece. (TED talks for those with short attention spans and a need for alcohol?) Nerd Nites have been held in over 100 cities across the globe. The material here covers eleven scientific areas. (see below) All the entries are brief, so if one does not appeal to your mental tastebuds hang on a couple of minutes for the next one, or just skip past. [image] Chris Balakrishnan and Matt Wasowski - editors - image (from some time ago) from Facebook You can digest this book a few morsels at a time, and not have to worry about the fate of a fictional hero or put-upon victim. Nope. The heroes here are the scientists, the presenters. One of the great failings of popular science books, IMHO, is the absence of humor, or poor attempts at it. Not here. There are many moments in this one, and humor in almost all of them. That made me very happy. Of the 71 pieces, almost all are very pop-sciency, understandable by most readers, even me. There were only one or two that made my head hurt. It makes an excellent bed-side read. It was an upstairs book for me, to be read before nodding off, hopefully. Sometimes that takes a while. This is not an all-inclusive list of the articles, but lets you know what might be in store in its eleven sections 1 - Creature Features - on weird animals 2 - Mmmm...Brains - strangeness with how we learn and adapt 3 - Bodily Fluids - on things like coping with poo in space. (In space, no one can hear you fart?) 4 - Doing It - like it suggests, on sex, human and non-human, (no, not with each other. Don't be weird.) 5 - Health and (un)Wellness - human smells (See Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers) - on therapeutic maggots, adolescent medicine, et al 6 - Pathogens and parasites - on birds, bacteria in birds, zombies, the scotch tape test (don’t ask), viruses 7 - Death and Taxes - mass extinction, cancer, algae 8 - Space, the Big and the Beautiful - ignorance, asteroid avoidance and use, life on Europa?, artificial gravity, studying a pristine meteorite, Webb telescope 9 - Tech (High and Low) - GMOs, dating app, human powered flight, cyborging humans, domesticating bacteria, nuclear fusion 10 - Math is fun - a seminal experiment, the math of gossip, the golden ratio, infinity, cryptography 11 - Careers – things removed from dogs, useless inventions, myths about death, animals CSI, amputations, fermentation, flames. there are approximately 100 trillion microorganisms (mainly bacteria), representing as many as 30,000 different species, living in every crevice, nook, and mucosal cranny of your body that you can imagine.I would include a list of my favorite articles, but it would wind up as long as the parts list above. But ok, because I have the sense of humor of a twelve-year-old, the one that made me laugh the most was To Boldy Go: Dealing with Poop and Pee in Space. Apollo 10 astronauts were gifted with the visual, and no doubt olfactory, treat of a turd meandering about in their capsule. This begins a talk about how one handles bodily waste in zero G. Another on bladder control, or the absence thereof, was sidesplitting. Others, on camel spiders and hangovers, generated a fair number of LOLs. Some were fascinating, like one having to do with making a brain on a chip. (Can it be served with Salsa?) The pieces on bacteria and their importance to human life, heck, to all life on Earth, were fascinating. There is plenty of weirdness, about diverse forms of milk, the proper use of maggots in healing, zombie parasites, asteroids, artificial gravity, and here we go with another bloody list. Sorry. Take my word, there is a wealth of material here that will broaden your knowledge base, and serve up plenty of conversational hors d'oeuvres for cocktail party chatter. It worked quite well for me. There is a downside, though. Because all the articles here are very short, one is often left hungry for more. On the other hand, that limitation might provoke you to sate that desire with a bit of extra research, which is always a good idea. So, never mind. If science piques your curiosity, if learning new and diverse things makes your heart race, or if you like to laugh, then this book is for you. How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi is a very filling read, one nibble at a time. Review posted - 06/14/25 Publication date – 02/01/24 I received a hardcover of How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi from St. Martin’s Press in return for a fair review. Thanks, folks. [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] This review will soon be, cross-posted on my site, Coot’s Reviews. Stop by and say Hi! =============================EXTRA STUFF Author/Editor links Chris Balakrishnan - Program Director at the National Science Foundation - His personal and FB pages A list of his articles Matt Wasowski - Director of New Business and Product Development, Events at SAE International – His FB, LinkedIn and Twitter pages Items of Interest from the authors (really editors) -----Soundcloud - excerpt - 5:01 -----Birdsong: How the Twittering Set Learns to Speak -----"Nerd Nite Published a Book!" by Matt Wasowski - Nerd Nite Austin 155, January 2024 ...more |
Notes are private!
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not set
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Jun 08, 2024
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Jun 11, 2024
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Hardcover
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1250843332
| 9781250843333
| 1250843332
| 3.73
| 3,549
| Jul 25, 2023
| Jul 25, 2023
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liked it
| Maybe sex made more sense than marriage—or even dating—in old age. Wasn’t courtship for the young?-------------------------------------- Meet me Maybe sex made more sense than marriage—or even dating—in old age. Wasn’t courtship for the young?-------------------------------------- Meet me at Café des Artistes, eighteen hundred.”Loretta Plansky, widowed, retired, pretty fair tennis player, (particularly considering her new hip, only nine-months in) 71, Florida resident, financially comfortable, wakes one morning to discover that she has been pretty much cleaned out. Bank account, retirement fund, investments, the whole kit and caboodle, well, mostly. It seems that the ten grand she had given to her grandson, Will, overnight went instead to cybercriminals. The real Will had not asked her for anything. (Of course, I am totally in favor of folks sending cash to people named Will, but that’s just me. Any amount gratefully accepted.). The FBI special agent in charge holds out virtually no hope of her ever seeing her lost funds restored, but her number two, about to leave the bureau for a private gig, gives Mrs P one intriguing bit of intel. Unwilling to let this crime stand, she heads out to darkest Romania hoping to do…what? who knows? something. [image] Spencer Quinn (pen name for Peter Abrahams) - image from Macmillan – photo by Diana Gray Mrs P is an intrepid investigator, with an unusual skill set. She manages to talk to a relevant person at the US embassy in Bucharest, and persists in following up the few clues that float down her way. The story is told in parallel lanes. Mrs P is the primary of course, but we are also let in on the doings on the other side. Dinu is a teenager with a gift for and enthusiastic interest in American English. He collects colloquialisms and contemporary American slang the way a video-game player collects tokens to gain power. Of course, the power Dinu is amassing causes real harm. His scary uncle has paid to train him, and is now employing Dinu in making calls to American grandparents, pretending to be their stressed-out grandson, in need of emergency cash in order to get out of jail, or whatever. He has a computer whiz bff, Romeo, another teen, who is also employed by the scary uncle. Generally, they do not seem all that morally concerned about what they are doing, and the pay is good. So, Mrs P makes her way to the relevant town, and stumbles her way through to the sort of cozy resolution one might expect. Along the way there are mysterious passageways, dark deeds, life-threatening adventures, a car chase, a valuable jewel, and some very unpleasant characters. So, I guess this is less of a cozy mystery and more of a cozy adventure tale. It is a very good-natured story, and Mrs P is a fun lead, a very engaging sort, a good egg, who has been done dirt, but who would prefer to take matters into her own hands rather than leave her fate to the dubious efforts of others. She displays considerable courage, the creativity of an experienced field agent, and a wily serenity in stressful circumstances. One lovely element was her continued connection to her late husband, Norm. No magical realism here, just a pining for the person to whom she had been the closest for most of her life, as she shares thoughts and concerns with his memory, wondering at his theoretical advice. She is also a very kind person, amenable to applying the resources she has…well, had…to helping out her kids, despite that not necessarily being the wisest choice. You will get a taste of Romania, a very small taste. Most entertaining among these is a hotel festooned with portraits of Bela Lugosi. There is enough humor in here to generate several actual LOLs, which is always welcome BUT, as things were winding up to the big finish, there were multiple eye-roller events that took me out of the book. Like running a marathon then tripping over a stick in the road, then another, then another. I did finish the book, and it was a fun read, for the most part. But I found myself saying “Really?” more than once or twice. And that damaged my overall feeling. Bottom line is that you have to be willing to overlook some egregious reliance on coincidence and deus-ex-machina trickery to make the story work out. I expect I am a bit towards the higher end in my sensitivity to such things. But if you are more forgiving, better at leaping past roadway impediments, then do it, jump in. You will be rewarded with a fun, light read, featuring a very engaging lead. Mrs P will be glad of the company, and so will you. Review posted - 09/29/23 Publication dates ----------Hardcover– 7/25/23 ----------Trade paperback - 7/9/24 I received an ARE of Mrs. Plansky's Revenge from Tor Publishing in return for a fair review and the password to my bank account. Hey, now wait a goldarned minute! Thanks, folks, and thanks to NetGalley for facilitating. [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] This is cross-posted on my site, Coot’s Reviews. Stop by and say Hi! =============================EXTRA STUFF Links to the author’s personal, FB, Instagram, and Twitter pages Profile Spencer Quinn is the pen name for Peter Abrahams, the Edgar-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Chet and Bernie mystery series, as well as the #1 New York Times bestselling Bowser and Birdie series for middle-grade readers. He lives on Cape Cod with his wife Diana and dog Pearl.Interviews -----The Big Thrill - Up Close: Spencer Quinn by Karen Hugg – all on dog books -----Famous Writing Routines - Interview with Peter Abrahams: “I love what I do. Love seems to clear a lot of paths.” - nothing particular to this book. More on his methodology. Songs/Music -----The Byrds - Eight Miles High - appears in Chapter 13 -----The Chimes - I’m in the Mood for Love - Chapter 20 Items of Interest -----Excerpt - Chapter One -----Federal Trade Commission – Consumer Advice - Phone Scams -----Tor/Forge Blog - Inspiration and Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge by Spencer Quinn! by Ariana Carpenter Five or six years ago, my dad got a phone call. At the time he was in his early nineties. He died two weeks short of his 97th birthday and was in excellent mental shape and very good physical shape until the end. I want to emphasize that mental part. He was a very smart guy: quick, sharp, clear-headed. Back to the call....more |
Notes are private!
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not set
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Sep 24, 2023
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Sep 26, 2023
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Hardcover
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1982191333
| 9781982191337
| 1982191333
| 3.88
| 6,967
| May 02, 2023
| May 02, 2023
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it was amazing
| Pinky arrived punctually and silently in a highly modified Tesla equipped with bulletproof glass, a sound system that could liquefy granite and a f Pinky arrived punctually and silently in a highly modified Tesla equipped with bulletproof glass, a sound system that could liquefy granite and a front seat customized to accommodate Pinky’s body, which weighed a tad over 430 pounds and measured nearly the same horizontally as vertically. Pinky, whose real name was Bob Kearful, had once been a standout nose tackle at the University of Florida and probably would have gone to the NFL had it not been for a crucial play in the Florida-Georgia game during which he bit off the little finger of a Georgia offensive guard and refused to spit it out. This conduct was deemed so unsportsmanlike that Pinky was permanently banned from the game, though it also earned him his nickname and the undying affection of Gator fans.Florida Man re-appears after years away as a novelist, having written an incredibly funny book! Police bring him in for questioning. Ok, let’s play Sunshine State Bingo Rednecks with weapons, minimal brain cells, and dreams of gold – of course Foreign-born gangsters with access to tech, and no access to decency – I am shocked, shocked A crooked lawyer with expensive tastes and a serious gambling habit – no, never A sleazy politician with White House ambitions and zero scruples – In Florida? Surely you jest. An uber-vain stud-muffin with an uncontrtollable desire to doff his shirt for the camera, and zero desire to care for or protect his wife and child – a vanishing breed, I expect. Probably the last of his kind. A group of internet-star wannabees who, while in various states of intoxication from alcohol and diverse other substances, concoct a plot to fake a monster sighting to boost business – oh, that never happens A former news anchor reduced to covering things like the annual Florida Python challenge – not a happy camper. There were fewer opportunities in the time before blogs became de rigeur for the unwillingly unemployed media crowd A nice guy who wants to be with the girl – Stop right there. Who let the normie in? Well, the male normie. Snakes – Yep, and snakes were intended to have been even more of a presence Originally this book was going to be much snakier. Then I had breakfast with Carl [Hiaasen], and he had just finished writing “Squeeze Me.”Gators – wouldn’t be a Florida novel without ‘em A wild boar comfort pet – Wait, what? Fictitious swamp monsters - you betcha Buried Treasure – as noted above. Bet you didn’t have that one. [image] Dave Barry - image from Literary Hub We meet Slater as he is struggling to videotape the mother of his child, and the child, as they are attacked by a giant python. But hold on, will ya, while we replace the camera batteries. It’ll only be a sec. The man lives for footage, preferably footage that includes his impressive torso but footage of his gf and baby being devoured by a giant reptile would also be pretty cool, don’t ya think? He wore a filthy pair of cut-off University of Florida sweatpants, nothing else. Yet he still looked better than 99.999 percent of all human males who had ever walked the Earth. He was strikingly handsome in a classic Tom Cruise—in–his–prime way—thick, jet-black hair; brilliant green eyes; high cheekbones; square jaw. He was tall, a foot taller than Cruise, and his body, despite the fact that he never seemed to do anything for it, was spectacular—lean, muscular and sculpted, the body of an elite athlete in peak condition.Jesse knows she is in a dead-end relationship, but had not thought that would mean literally dead. As fortune would have it, though, during one of her walks with Willa, her nursing baby girl, fathered unfortunately by a narcissist who wants to be known as Glades Man, she stumbles across a buried treasure. Thank you, Jesus, a ticket out of the swamp version of bum-fu#$-nowhere. But how to go about getting the bars somewhere safe, and figuring out how to cash them in? Who inspired Slater?The Bortle brothers, owners of Bortle Brothers Bait & Beer, make their primary living selling weed, beer being in short supply, somehow, and the bait being maybe 50% dead. The loo could use a cleaning this millennium, too. They decide to make a video of a fake monster to draw the curious and idiotic, both groups known to spend money on things like Monster Man T-shirts. These guys sure know how to dream big. If you film it, they will come. And, of course, it happens. Their video goes viral, and the earth tilts on its axis, dumping the most loosely connected to the planet to the Everglades. Most of your books have been nonfiction, and your most recent novel for adults, “Insane City,” was published 10 years ago. What moved you to write another novel?Now, about that gold. Everyone who is aware of it wants it, and that consists of mostly terrible people. Dave Barry weaves all these upstanding individuals together, or maybe just tosses them into a blender. You know they will all come together for a rousing climax. Barry does not disappoint. Will the Interior Secretary manage a successful launch of the Florida Python Challenge? Hmmm, I wonder. Where will the gold end up? Will Jesse escape with Willa to some sort of sane life? Will Slater become famous for his bod? Will the Bait & Beer make a killing selling tourist crap? Will sundry extreme criminals come to bad ends? If you are looking for anything serious here, you are in the wrong swamp. If, however, you enjoy laughing until it hurts, this might just be the place for you. I lost count of the “LOL” notes in my Word file. Slip on your bathing suit, slather on bug repellant, a LOT of bug repellant, take a few steps forward. The swamp water is cool and inviting. But if you see eyes looking back at you from the surface, you might want to step back up onto the the land, waaaay back, and make sure to look up, in case something large and hungry might be about to drop down on you from a Cypress tree. Whether you take the opportunity to read Swamp Story near a beach, a pool, a comfy chair at home or in your favorite swamp, Dave Barry is one Florida Man you will want to spend some time with this summer. Ken Bortle was standing in the parking lot behind the Gallo Grande, waiting next to an overflowing dumpster baking in the late-afternoon Miami sun, emitting near-visible stench rays.Review posted - 7/14/23 Publication dates ----------Hardcover – 05/02/23 ----------Trade paperback - 05/07/24 I received an ARE of Swamp Story from Simon & Schuster in return for a fair review, and a lead on some prime Florida real estate. Thanks, folks, and thanks to NetGalley for facilitating. [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] This review will be cross-posted on my site, Coot’s Reviews, once I make bail. Stop by and say Hi! =============================EXTRA STUFF I have been to the Everglades, but not quite the neck of those woods Barry describes. The wild creatures I spotted included gators, but along with that, many less alarming critters. These include a totally adorable Big Cypress Fox Squirrel, anhingas, blue, green, and tricolored herons, (somehow missed the polka-dot variation) pelicans, et al. Did not see any snakes. Of course, this was in 2012, so there may have been a much lesser presence then, Trump was still living on 5th Avenue and DeSantis had yet to be elected. I posted some shots from that trip on Flickr, if anyone is interested. Profile - from Simon & Shchuster Dave Barry is the author of more bestsellers than you can count on two hands, [unless you have very unusual hands] including Lessons from Lucy, Dave Barry’s Complete Guide to Guys, Dave Barry Turns Forty, and Dave Barry Is Not Making This Up. A wildly popular syndicated columnist best known for his booger jokes, Barry won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. He lives in Miami. Links to Barry’s personal, FB, Instagram, and Twitter pages, and his blog His FB page is clearly only lightly maintained Interviews -----The Poisoned Pen- An Interview with Dave Barry by Michael Barson - thin -----Tampa Bay Times - Dave Barry talks about his new novel, ‘Swamp Story’ by Colette Bancroft -----Saturday Evening Post - 3 Questions for Dave Barry by Jeanne Wolf Items of Interest from the author -----ScubaBoard.com - Dave Barry on Diving -----Wanderings - Dave Barry Learned All This in 50 Years Items of Interest -----The Florida Python Challenge -----University of South Florida - A python invasion has exploded out of the Everglades -----Bored Panda - 60 Times Florida Man Did Something So Crazy We Had To Read The Headings Twice - Better strap yourself in if you do not want to be rolling on the floor Songs ----- The Beachboys - Be True to your School - Chapter 20 -----The Beachboys - Don’t Worry Baby - great song, but a bit painful to watch – Chapter 20 -----Grease - Summer Nights - Chapter 46 -----Grease Live - Look at Me I’m Sandra Dee - Chapter 46 ...more |
Notes are private!
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Jun 27, 2023
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Jul 09, 2023
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Jul 10, 2023
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Hardcover
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1324001933
| 9781324001935
| 1324001933
| 3.84
| 25,051
| Sep 14, 2021
| Sep 14, 2021
|
really liked it
| …I…follow along behind a small group of conservation officers heading to the lawn outside. Their leather hiking boots squeak as they walk. “So she …I…follow along behind a small group of conservation officers heading to the lawn outside. Their leather hiking boots squeak as they walk. “So she looks in her rearview mirror,” one is saying, and there’s a bear in the back seat earing popcolrn.” When wildlife officers gather at a conference, the shop talk is outstanding. Last night I stepped onto the elevator as a man was saying, “Ever tase an elk?”Mary Roach is up to her old tricks. A science writer now publishing her seventh book, Roach has written for many publications, including National Geographic, Wired, NY Times Magazine, and many more. She begins with a notion, then goes exploring. Roach tells Goodreads, in a book-recommendation piece, that she came across a potential story about cattle breeders staging deaths to commit insurance fraud. She even had a grand theft avocado story lined up, but the local Smokeys would not let her come along, which was a requisite. She shifted to wildlife. I paid a visit to a woman at the National Wildlife Service forensics lab who had authored a paper on how to detect counterfeit “medicinal” tiger penises. - from the GR pieceWait! What? (there is link to the study in EXTRA STUFF, of course) But again it was nogo accompanying the officers into the field. Really? Her presence would blow a National Wildlife Service raid on a market selling junk johnsons? It is pretty easy to come up with a descriptive for such unwarranted reticence. (Rhymes with sickish.) In any case, in her investigative travels, Mary came across a weird 1906 book about the prosecution and execution of animals and realized she had her hook. What if animals were the perpetrators of crimes instead of people? She breaks the book down into “criminal” categories, homicide, B&E, man-slaughter, larceny, even jaywalking, and off we go. [image] Mary Roach - image from Lapham’s Quarterly First, and foremost, I need to let you know straight away that you will be laughing out loud at least every few pages. This is not an experience I have with any other writer, and yet have had it consistently with Mary Roach, across the several books of hers that I have read. Ditto here. Well, fine, your sense of humor may not be like mine, but Mary has the key to my funny-bone. Her intro offers a stunning representation of just how stupid people have been when attempting to enforce laws on animals over the course of history. Python-worthy material, totally side-splitting, and jaw-dropping. Really, they actually did that? Yes, gentle reader, they totally did. On June 26, 1659, a representative from five towns in a province in northern Italy initiated legal proceedings against caterpillars. The local specimens, went the complaint, were trespassing and pilfering from people’s gardens and orchards. A summons was issued and five copies made and nailed to trees in forests adjacent to each town. The caterpillars were ordered to appear in court…Of course no caterpillars appeared at the appointed time, but the case went forward anyway.It goes on. Would have been tough making a charge stick anyway. They would have just blamed each other. It was that caterpillar, not me. I was nowhere near that orchard. And even if they were jailed they would have just flown out anyway. The law may be a ass, far too often, but sometimes it truly boggles the mind. As usual, Mary interviews experts in all the areas she investigates. She begins her contemporary explorations with a gathering of Canadian Conservation officers (in the USA) getting Wildlife Human Attack Response Training or WHART. They don’t, but you go right on ahead and call it what it is, CSI-Wildlife – DUUUUUM-DA-DUM! Mary brings plenty of funny to her reporting, but a lot of it is simply laying out the facts and letting them make you laugh themselves. For example, the test manikins are named for brands of beer. Good one, eh? And there is that quote at the top of the review. You will also learn some real-world intel like the significance of a round versus a more oval drop of blood at a crime scene. As usual with Mary, you will find yourself learning a whole bunch of information you never knew you wanted to know, like how to tell the difference between a bear and a cougar kill. (No, not that sort of cougar, the one with fur and claws, a mountain lion, Geez! and no, no, no, not that sort of bear, creatures of the Ursus genus, not those other large hairy beasts. Stop that right now!) She considers issues with elephants, leopards, cougars, bears, macaques, gulls, vultures and other birds, rats and mice, trees, and beans. Come again? The lines here get a bit vague. It is not just animals that are the focus but some non-critter-based elements of nature as well. Sticking with critters for the moment, there are considerable challenges in managing the interface between people and animals. For instance, the vig that farm mice seem to extract from farmers regardless of what is done to get rid of them can turn peaceable crop-growers homicidal. Mary looks at the control methods that have been tried, and explores a promising, more laid-back approach. Rats in the Vatican (which is an outstanding name for a band, just sayin’) present the challenge of managing the property while taking seriously the lead of Saint Francis of Assisi, an animal rights figure of long-standing, and a major inspiration for Pope, ya know, Francis. Mary talks to the guy in charge of this problem (I could not help but imagine Father Guido Sarducci, sorry), the Vatican Director of Gardens and Garbage, Rafael Torning. The considerable Vatican rat population has a taste for wires, and damages a lot of machinery. VG&G does what they can, trying to avoid using nasty chemicals. But even so, aren’t there ethical concerns? So, she talks with the house bioethicist, Father Carlo. Let’s just say that if you could count the number of angels on the head of a pin, Father Carlo could very nicely twist all of them into pretzels with his words. [image] A possible solution to half of the Vatican’s Gull-and-rats problem? - image from the Irish Sun The Vatican has a considerable problem with herring gulls as well, thousands of ‘em. None of this Mary Poppins Feed the Birds nonsense. The feathered rabble that descend on Saint Peter’s seem more like the gathered horde in that Hitchcock movie. You will not come away from this book fond of gulls. I found her lapsed-Catholic’s tour of the Vatican to be worth many, many indulgences, rich as it was with fun details and ambience. Chapters on elephants and leopards are particularly alarming. …when a leopard stalks and kills more than three or four people, villagers consider it a demon. - [it, clearly, considers them takeout]There was one historical case in which a single leopard killed over a hundred people. Mary travels with government and non-government people as they try to educate local populations in best practices for avoiding potential conflict. Not all leopard attacks are the same. You will learn the sorts. And not all attacking leopards are handled the same way. She looks at changes that have been at least partially implemented to try to reduce the carnage. (Indoor toilets, for example), and the challenges going forward in handling the problem, getting leopards to leave people alone. [image] Leopard - image from Wild Cats India When it comes to elephants, Mary Roach knows her shit, literally. She reports on a Smithsonian project that measured daily defecation by an Indian elephant. A poop scooper will not do. Maybe a poop plow? 400 pounds, give or take, per diem. Elephants loom large as a danger, laying waste to crops, trampling fields and bulldozing buildings. People are sometimes accidentally trampled. Sometimes it is no accident, as when one elephant did a headstand on someone. A bull elephant in an elevated period of breeding excitement, called musth, is particularly aggressive and a mortal peril. She can also tell you about the effectiveness of small arms against big pachyderms. Keep your powder dry. Most bullets do little or no damage. Even a bit of armor-piercing ordnance intended for tanks needs a follow up to get the job done. [image] Indian elephant in musth - image from Wikipedia Monkeys in India come in for a look. Macaques in particular, have made pests of themselves in urban areas, becoming aggressive thieves, to the point of violence, and even of extortion, as some will steal your phone, handing it back only when you pay the fee in food. Government officials struggle to come up with solutions, tough in a place where the monkey is a sacred animal. It is impossible to deliver directed doses of birth control without endangering other native wildlife, for example. Roach delivers a bleak portrait of official finger-pointing and inaction. [image] Street Monkeys in India – image from Outlook While reporting on the damage done to area farms and people, and the impact of wildlife in places populated with humans, Roach does point out that a lot (all) of these conflicts result from people expanding into the native territory of dangerous or potentially pestiferous, animals. I was surprised that there were parts of the book dedicated to non-creature natural perils. The material is interesting, but thematically it felt a bit off the central topic. There is much surprise information (well, for me anyway) about “danger trees,” those fully grown trees that have come to the end of their lives, at least in terms of growing. They still serve as useful woodland citizens by providing places in which creatures can nest, wood in which bugs can live, biomaterials that will be absorbed back into the woods. This is all good, but there is still one problem. The rotting tops of these gentle souls can come crashing down on passers-by, unaware of the peril. The approach that is taken, by woodland managers makes one wonder whether it is better to yell “Timber” or “Fire in the Hole!” [image] Decay throughout this tree makes it too hazardous to fell with a saw. It was felled with one bundle of fireline explosives taped to the side of the tree - image and text from the US Forest Service There is an element in this book that you should be aware of. The disposal of animals considered pests. This is of particular relevance in places where invasive species have arrived and laid waste to significant segments of the local fauna, and/or flora. Not all of these are the usual suspects, stowaway rats wiping out bird populations with their fondness for eggs, brown snakes, ditto and far too many others, often foolishly introduced by people attempting to counteract an earlier invasives problem. Some of the invaders are adorable and not on your likely list of things that MUST BE EXTERMINATED NOW. Mary looks at the techniques attempted (usually failed) and on the thought that goes into trying to make a creature’s passing as quick as possible. You might want to skip that chapter (14). Many of my daily companions are on that list and, although I did read it all, it was disquieting at times. Just lettin’ ya know. I hope this does not turn you off the book if you are otherwise interested. She does focus on ways in which people can live in coexistence with nature. This includes a greater understanding of the deer-in-the-headlights syndrome, and a workable approach for reducing roadway carnage. [image] Deer in the headlights - image from Bryans Blog I have issues with the titling of the book. The raised-patch addition to the hardcover jacket goes very nicely with the patches my wife and I picked up at many US National Parks. Mary might have called it Nature Gone Wild, but that was already taken. Naming it Fuzz, though, (maintaining the tradition of single-syllable Mary Roach book titles) does make it seem like it is about the police-type officials who are charged with coping when forces of nature interfere with people. Although there were indeed some badged officials in her stable of interviewees and guides through these fascinating worlds, she spoke as often with people who were researchers or administrators, and the stories were about the problems, not so much the law enforcers. Many may be related to parks here and there. Some were employed by wildlife services, but it just did not sit well with me. Her reporting is as much about a wider view of the issues as it is about the direct, Book-em, Danno “crimes” supposedly perpetrated on people by the furry or feathered set. So, I will not shy away from this. When it comes to actually describing what the book is about the title is decidedly fuzzy. There. I did it, and I am not sorry. Well, ok, maybe a little. Not that I can come up with anything better, just whining. That done, it is clear that wherever Mary Roach shines her light there will be surprises, there will be new knowledge, and there will be smiles, lots and lots of smiles, covered with copious quantities of laughter. Follow along behind Mary as she opens some closed doors, peeks into some hidden corners, and pesters defenseless officials to find fascinating, wondrous real-world material. Even despite that one grim chapter, I found myself reacting as I always do to a Mary Roach book, laughing out loud, often, very, very often. There is a definite joy in trailing after Mary as she shines her very bright light into unseen corners and calls back “Hey guys, come see what I found!” If you have enjoyed her books before, this one should do quite nicely. There is nothing fuzzy about that at all. Feeding animals, as we know, is the quickest path to conflict. The promise of food motivates normally human-shy animals to take a risk. The risk-taking is rewarded, and the behavior escalates. Shyness becomes fearlessness, and fearlessness becomes aggression. If you don’t hand over the food you are carrying, the monkey will grab it. If you try to hold onto it, or push the animal away…it may slap you. Or bite you. The Times of India put the number of monkey bites reported by Delhi hospitals in 2018 at 950. [When your teenager makes off with your car, just remember that it all began when they were small, and you made the mistake of offering them food] Review first posted – October 29, 2021 Publication dates ----------Hardcover - September 21, 2021 ----------Trade Paperback - August 30, 2022 I received this book from Barnes & Noble in return for cold, hard cash [image] [image] [image] ==========In the summer of 2019 GR reduced the allowable review size by 25%, from 20,000 to 15,000 characters. In order to accommodate the text beyond that I moved it to the Comments section directly below. But in Summer 2021, GR disallowed the use of external links in the Comments section, so I have posted the entire review, including EXTRA STUFF, on my site, Coot’s Reviews. Stop by and say Hi! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 02, 2021
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Oct 23, 2021
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Oct 27, 2021
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Hardcover
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1838590439
| 9781838590437
| 1838590439
| 4.30
| 546
| Oct 28, 2019
| Oct 28, 2019
|
it was amazing
| It wasn’t complicated. Not more than an early morning call from a City grandee, a nurse who came across her neighbor dead or dying before dawn on C It wasn’t complicated. Not more than an early morning call from a City grandee, a nurse who came across her neighbor dead or dying before dawn on Christmas Day, and the dead neighbor’s latchkeys in my hand. That and the voice that always whispers in my ear, soft as telling a rosary, that for every reason I might think I have for mixing in a murder, there are ten better reasons to walk away. I crossed the angle of the court, fitted one of the keys in its lock and gave it a quarter turn. As for the voice that whispers, I hear it every time I step uninvited into an unlit room. The trick is not to let it start a conversation.”April is not the cruelest month, not by a long shot. That would be October, when I drown my annual sorrows with the hope that next year, for sure, my beloved Metropolitans will not only make the playoffs, but go all the way. It is salved by the orgasmic visual and tactile experience that is Autumn in Northeastern USA, particularly after yet another too hot, overlong summer. But then, it is spoiled in turn as retailers insist on pushing their Christmas season earlier and earlier into the year. It used to be that they held off until Santa climbed off his Macy’s float and began renting lap space for cash. But no, they have pushed it back, past Halloween, past Columbus Day, to the beginning of October, and they may even have snuck past that to late September when I was otherwise engaged. A blot on humanity, this. How long can it be before the Christmas advertising begins right after Independence Day? Bad words are used in abundance, if not at particularly high volume, more muttering really. Greed, filthy lucre and all that. Not that I have anything against filthy lucre, per se, other than its insistent avoidance of my wallet and financial accounts. But I may have to rethink all this. It appears that Santa found his way to my chimney in OCTOBER! Not that I spotted him scrambling down. That would not have ended well for him, as, while we do have a chimney, there is no actual outlet inside the house. He might have missed subsequent deliveries, and the aroma might have become noticeable, but it was clear that he had me in mind this year, and early. It has been a while since I read a terrific Christmas book. And this one wasn’t even wrapped in a bow, with reflective or joyously seasonal paper. [image] Janet Roger - image from Dorset Book Detective It was a friend request. Not the first one I had received from an author. In fact, they are a bit of a problem in the dark business of book-reviewing, so much so that I had put a line in my profile intended to ward off author review requests. This one had the smarts to not bug me for an opinion. We exchanged a few friendly messages. You might like to check this website. Oh yeah, well You might want to check out This short story, and on it went, until a page from her book got around my virtual chain-link guard dogs, finding its way to my bloodshot eyes. It was the sort of book you catch a glimpse of, and your knees start to wobble. The edges of your mouth start to head toward your eyes. I knew there was no antidote to a virus like this. I had been successfully dosed. “Consider me seduced,” I wrote. “Can I get a review copy?” She didn’t play coy, but accommodated straight away. I like that in an author. Her people would be sending one my way faster than a copy editor strikes out a repetitive “the.” Wondering how easy this might turn out to be, I pushed my luck. Not everyone goes for extra stuff like this, but she seemed game, so I went ahead and asked. “How about an e-book, too?” And scored! No sooner did I download the book than I had to, just had to start reading. Even though my usual preference is for ink on dead trees, there was nothing for it. The heart wants what the heart wants, and boy, did my heart want. [image] The streetlamp hung off a half-timber gatehouse in the middle of a row of storefronts with offices over, there to light the gatehouse arch and a path running through it to a churchyard beyond. – image from A London Inheritance Some books you rush through, even some good books. But this one, for me, was a slow read. Not in the sense of too dense to take in all at once. More in the way of wanting the pleasure to last. Wanting to squeeze the most out of the reading experience, and enjoying the sensations. I am sure most of us have had those experiences when there is sensate joy to be had and the best way is slow and steady, not wham-bam and I’m outta here. There is enough juice, enough fun in this one to let you linger a good long while, sustaining a peak of interest, a long plateau, with frissons of thrill along the way. Taking one’s time encourages close attention, which is significant in keeping up with all that is going on. Roger does not waste a lot of time on irrelevant side-trips. It helps, also, if you like noir, if Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and writers of the sort satisfy that particular need. It helps if you like to smile. We all got needs. [image] The church had a square over a doorway framed in checkerboard stonework. An iron-studded door stood half-open on the porch (entrance), a police officer hunched in its shadow. – image from A London Inheritance Newman (no, Seinfeld fans. Picture that guy and lose the mood entirely.) is our mononymous PI, halfway, I guess, between the fully named Philip Marlowe and Hammett’s nameless Continental Op, a Yank, late of an insurance investigation gig, long-time resident and practitioner in The City of London. The specificity is intentional. Greater London, these days, is over 700 square miles. In 1947 it was half that, give or take. The City of London, the Wall-Street-ian financial capital, is one square mile, inside the original Roman walls. Chandler had LA, Hammett had San Francisco. Newman has the CoL. Definitely easier to jog in a day. Although under the circumstances it would be tougher than one might assume. 1947 London is enduring one of the coldest winters ever, and all that snow, a special and long-lasting delivery from a Siberian weather system, and right at the beginning of the Cold War. (Maybe a pre-emptive attack?) An intentional counterpoint to the heat of the City of Angels. It is a time of shortages, food, fuel, soap, and most things needed to live, power outages, rationing, the fruits of victory no doubt, without the consolation of heroism. Somehow the well-to-do manage to find supplies denied the little people. He gets a call at an odd hour, on Christmas morning. Seems a Councilor, for whom he has never before worked, needs him to check out a crime scene, deliver some keys to a detective there, then report back. When the detective is not to be found, Newman starts pulling on the thread that we will spend the next few hundred pages unravelling. (Like carefully opening a tightly wrapped Christmas gift?) Deader in the lobby (called a porch here) of an old church. (On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a dead fellow in a lobby) Candle still burning in the usual place inside. A nurse from nearby St Bart’s hospital had called it in. [image] The post-War CoL with a fluffy blanket - image from Roger’s site Newman, tasked with delivering keys (not seasonally wrapped) to a detective at the site, but said detective having departed the scene, opts instead to use said keys, to the vic’s apartment. What he finds there gets the gears moving, and the game is afoot. No sooner have you dialed M for murder than the bodies start piling up like plowed snow, and Newman has to wonder if his own client has culpability. The questions pile up even faster. How long, for example, was the nurse inside the church before the pre-dawn shot to the head outside, and why didn’t she hear it? [image] Snowy London - image from the author’s site Vice is front and center, as people with tastes that were considered a major no-no at the time are being blackmailed. But there is so much more going on. Of course, it may seem like very little to the locals, who have just endured the devastation of much of their city by our friends in Germany. Early Cold War London was rich with grift, corruption, ambition, and rubble. The City of London was considerably flattened. And, as has been made all too clear in the states, real estate development attracts the worst of the worst in human nature. Speaking of which, there is plenty of human nature on display here, indulging in all sorts of unpleasantness from garden-variety assault, to domestic violence, marital infidelity, a touch of human trafficking, police corruption, prostitution, blackmail, a dose of substance abuse, and enough backstabbing to justify proposing it as an Olympic sport. [image] Raymond Chandler - image from LA Taco So what about our leading man? We can expect our PI to keep a supply of spirits close to hand, and Newman does not disappoint. We can expect that there will be times when he dives a bit too far into that bottle. Newman does not disappoint. We can expect that our PI is a tough guy, able to deliver as well as take a punch, or absorb blows from whatever sorts of objects may come into contact with his carcass. Newman does indeed uphold a knight errant code by approaching a deserving sort with an appropriate measure of violence, foolishly hoping to preclude further criminality. But he seems mostly on the receiving end, which is par for the course. We expect our knight-errant PI to have his heart in the right place, to do his best to look out for those who are least able to look out for themselves. Newman does not disappoint. We expect our PI to be dogged, continuing his quest even after it has become clear that such pursuit puts him in mortal peril. We expect that he can neither be bought off nor frightened away. Newman does not disappoint. We can expect that he is not really in it for the money, but that should some filthy lucre find its way to him, he will find a holy purpose for it. Newman does not disappoint. We expect our PI to be able to temper his moral urges with recognition of unfortunate realities. Newman does not disappoint. [image] Rubble around St Paul’s - image from Independent News Rogers has a gift for crafting her supporting cast, the nurse who reported finding the body, the dodgy Councilor, his lush-ous daughter, his maybe dodgier lawyer, crooked cops, and on and on. Newman’s contacts are not exactly Burke’s Peerage (social-register to us Yanks) sorts, but are a delight, a barber, a sometime street-walker, a femme fatale of a doctor, whose side-job is pure fun, the mysterious mustachioed man who keeps turning up and then disappearing, abusive families, a cleric of questionable morality. This is joy, pure Christmas joy, but, like the best Christmas presents, this one can be enjoyed at any time of year. I do suggest, however, that you keep a digital or paper pad handy for tracking character names, particularly if you are reading the print version. There are more than a couple, and it would not do to be wondering who this is or trying to remember where you came across that one before. It is definitely worth the effort. Much easier, of course, in the e-book, where one can search at will. And there is no mistaking that the women in this tale are crucial to the events that transpire, with multiple facets, and sharp edges to match their softer curves. [image] A Central Line underground train entering Epping Station, during heavy snowfall at the height of 1947’s freeze - image from The Daily Mail ==========In the summer of 2019 GR reduced the allowable review size by 25%, from 20,000 to 15,000 characters. In order to accommodate the text beyond that I have moved it to the comments section directly below, with thanks to Mike Coyne for accommodating my request to supersede his comment. [image] ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 07, 2019
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Nov 2019
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Sep 30, 2019
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Paperback
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1449474195
| 9781449474195
| 1449474195
| 4.12
| 126,283
| Mar 08, 2016
| Mar 08, 2016
|
it was amazing
|
[image] If you think you are exceptional, a magical person, someone whose heart is pure, and thus can do no wrong; if you have lived a life filled with [image] If you think you are exceptional, a magical person, someone whose heart is pure, and thus can do no wrong; if you have lived a life filled with success, self-confidence, good skin, clean rooms, an excellent wardrobe, top-notch grooming, and a positive outlook; if you are a person with straight teeth (all of them), thick hair, (and none sprouting in unwanted places), excellent carriage, and toned muscles, I have two things to say to you. First, please die, now. You are clearly an invading species and should be removed from the planet as soon as possible. Second, if you refuse to do the right thing and expire, please leave your name in the comments section, so I can block you forever on GR. This book is too much fun and you do not need any more than you have already had. [image] Sarah Andersen - image from Esquire Adulthood is a Myth is a cartoon book on the trials and tribulations of being a young female in 21st century America. Not something I would normally have picked up. But it was included in a bling bag I received at a GR event recently, so gave it a look. This does not seem to be in my particular wheelhouse, not being, you know, young or female. But hey, I loved the Harry Potter books, so age should not be a major factor here. [image] And while I expect to continue being not-female for my remaining days, there is plenty of crossover in the miseries depicted here. Social anxiety, yep. Body Image? Hell, yeah. Issues with motivation? I’ll have to think about that and get back to you. Yeah, we guys feel the same feelings, experience the same insecurities, indulge in the same self-doubting, make the same dumb mistakes. Ok, there were a few items here that I will never have to cope with personally, but I can recognize most of those in my wife, sisters, daughters, female friends, and associates. The best books are universal and there is a lot of that here.[image] Andersen began cartooning (or at least uploading them to Tumblr) in 2013. She was still in school at the time. This book was published in 2016 and was an instant success. It helps to have millions of on-line followers. She has had two more published since, and continues to produce material on-line for her gazillion followers. Content tends toward the personal, with the exception of her love life. [image] So, for those of us not blessed with excessive quantities of self-confidence, there is much to relate to here, young or old, male or female. Published – March 8, 2016 Review Posted – November 2, 2018 =============================EXTRA STUFF Links to the author’s Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr and FB pages A brief bio Sarah material on GoComics, including animateds ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 31, 2018
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Oct 31, 2018
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Oct 31, 2018
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Paperback
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0316204277
| 9780316204279
| 0316204277
| 3.88
| 577,072
| Aug 14, 2012
| Aug 14, 2012
|
really liked it
|
What happens when the creative urge is stifled, by others, one’s own mishugas, or both? Phil Stutz, my guy. And when I say my guy, I mean, the guy whoWhat happens when the creative urge is stifled, by others, one’s own mishugas, or both? Phil Stutz, my guy. And when I say my guy, I mean, the guy who gave me the idea for WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE. He's the one who told me, after whining on the phone to him for an hour about how much I hated my new city of Seattle, "Maria, you're a writer. Writers must write. If you don't write you'll be a menace to society." - from Semple’s FB pagesBernadette is anti-social, somewhat agoraphobic. Instead of going out to shop, she has an Indian on-line concierge, Manjula, whom she asks to take care of all sorts of things, adding in to her orders diatribes about diverse things, most particularly the unspeakableness of The Emerald City and of the locals. She refers to them as gnats, seeing them as annoying but not worth the effort of swatting. She has had her name and her husband’s taken off the e-mail list for the private school their daughter attends. The other parents are not amused. Her anti-Seattle rants, however, are hilarious. [image] Maria Semple - image from her Twitter page The house in which the family lives, which Bernadette selected, is the former Strait Gate School for Girls, a reform school. About nine thousand square feet of decrepitude, which once-world-famous-architect, Bernadette Fox, has allowed to fester. The roof has a lot in common with Notre Dame after the fire. Confessionals are excellent places in which, say, a dog might get trapped. Sadly, no revelations occur there. (“Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I discarded a totally excellent metaphorical opportunity.”) Blackberry vines, which abound on the considerable hilltop property, are doing an excellent job of intruding into the structure, giving some of the floors a nifty wave-like form. Used dishes are left in drawers for the help to find and clean. No Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval here. And if you think the house makes a lovely metaphor for the state of Bernadette’s life, you get an extra bowl of blackberries. When her unspeakable downhill neighbor, Audrey, demands that she remove the blackberry vines, as they are undermining her retaining wall, Bernadette waves her away with a “fine, whatever,” and agrees to pay for the work, using tech and personnel recommended by said neighbor. It ends badly. [image] Cate Blanchett is Bernadette - image from Yahoo News Marriage is not much solace for Bernadette. Hubs, Elgin (aka Elgie) is a top-tier product developer at Microsoft, with a desktop cluttered with patents. He makes a sweet income, loves his work, and loves his wife, but works mad hours and is hardly around. Her primary human connection is Bee, not only her beloved adolescent daughter, but her bff. The plot gets started when Bee wants to cash in a promise made when she was put into her middle school. If she got straight A’s, or whatever it is they give at that school, she could have anything she wants. Kid got ‘er done, and the ask? Ta-da, a family trip to Antarctica. Just the thing for an agoraphobic mother, but a promise is a promise. Bee won’t accept in substitution the pony she had hoped for several years back. Bernadette supplements her terrors by doing a bit of research and learns that to get to Antarctica one must endure the joys of the aqueous hell known as the Drake Passage (although Dark Passage might be a pretty good fit as well), an oceanic stretch apparently designed on a dare. [image] Emma Nelson as Bee - image from Film Threat Speaking of perils to life and limb, Elgin’s new assistant, Soo-Lin, not only has goo-goo eyes for him, but is in league with the chief gnat, Audrey, she of the blackberry removal demand. As the title of the book suggests, Bernadette, after another insult to her dignity, does a runner. It is not much of a mystery where she went, but there is some concern about whether she has actually survived her absconding. [image] Kristin Wiig as Audrey This is an epistolary novel. Everything is told in communications between sundry characters. The wrap-around frame is Bee as narrator putting it all together in sequence, and offering her commentary. The form works quite well, getting us the intel we need to follow the plot progress, and offering back-story looks through believable devices. I laughed out loud quite a bit for a good chunk of the novel. Bernadette is a very flawed and damaged, but appealing character. Given what we learn, it is understandable that she is through dealing with people, and thus with any opportunity to do what it is she absolutely must do, create. She does keep knitting, though. I know, I know. One could say that she or Elgie should have figuratively shaken her out of this extreme, probably clinical malaise a long time ago, with therapy, an intervention, or whatever methods are thought to work these days to help lost souls get themselves back on track. And I don’t disagree. Very few of us would be able to retreat back into ourselves for such a prolonged stretch without resorting to some form of criminal activity or institutionalization to keep the meals coming. Nevertheless, this is the Bernadette we are presented with, complete with a host of quirks, a scary collection of prescription meds, and epic sleep disorders. It is also the Bernadette who is world-class smart, talented, and professional-level funny when ranting. Whatever is wrong with her, and there is plenty, Bernadette is very engaging. [image] Billy Crudup as Elgin - image from UPROXX Bernadette’s ongoing diatribe was the product of Semple’s 2008 move (like Bernadette’s) from LA to Seattle, with her partner, George Meyer, and daughter, Poppy Valentina. I imagine dinnertime repartee to be side-splitting. But it could just be variations on pass the potatoes, and how was your day? Fine. I always get inspiration from my own life and just from the emotions and the microtransactions of my life. The books of my life are very much snapshots of my person I was at the time. I remember when I was writing Where’d You Go, Bernadette, I really hated Seattle and I was just like trashing Seattle, and I was letting out all this fire about I’m gonna put the hurt on these people who don’t like me. I’ll show them. And it was all just really toxic and horrible. But at the same time I knew it was funny and I was making a comedy. But in the course of writing the book, I started to like Seattle, and I was like, wait, wait. I need to hate you for the purposes of the book. I can hate you later. And so now I love Seattle. – from the BEA interviewIt may be that it manifested in the book. I found that the LOL rate declined as one went along. [image] For The Strait Gate, the family residence, film-makers used a building in Pittsburgh. In fact, much of the film was shot there. You may want to bring along some extra strong cables for suspending your disbelief on some elements. The FBI puts in an appearance, then disposes of a problem, which seemed rather dubious (not the core of the problem, only its late manifestation) in the first place, off-screen. Seemed very kludgy to me. During Bernadette’s disappearance (which is pared down to almost nothing in the film, but which is of significant duration in the book) an unfortunate event takes place that kills off some of the humor. It seemed unnecessary. (The film dispenses with this pretty much) I suppose one might see it as bringing the early bad behavior back to a reality base. Maybe give the story a bit more serious edge. The family pooch puts in an emergency-generating appearance early on and is then pretty much discarded. [image] Zoe Chao as Soo-Lin - image from Metro USA Bottom line is that I enjoyed reading Bernadette, looked forward to my daily encounters, and made (for me) relatively quick work of it. Anything that can make me laugh out loud gets extra points. Which is why I put this at four instead of three stars. The charm of Bernadette and her relationship with her daughter, combined with her uproarious hatred of Seattle (I have my own, different gripes) weighed more than the plot holes and deus ex machina of having enough money to smooth over most material miseries. (Yes, I know it can be argued that Semple is showing that money cannot buy you happiness, and that a less well-off Bernadette might have been forced to face her demons sooner in the absence of such. But as used here, money seemed an easy way to patch over a series of challenges.) So, once your critical faculties are properly adjusted, be prepared to laugh and enjoy. Anything I write I ask myself: Is it true, is it entertaining? My way of looking at the world is that if it is true, it is funny and it is dark. No matter how dark it is, I just think it is funny. I can’t help it. I’ll see something awful on the street and I’ll come home and say to my boyfriend, “I just saw the funniest thing on the street.” It’s a stance. It’s the way I was born, or the way I was damaged. You pick one. (Laughs.) – from USA interview Book published – August 14, 2012 Review firstposted – August 23, 2019 Film released – August 16, 2019 =============================EXTRA STUFF Links to the author’s personal, Twitter, Instagram and FB pages Interviews -----USA Today - Maria Semple is back with more laughs, and more Seattle - Jocelyn McClurg, USA TODAY Published 8:01 a.m. ET Sept. 4, 2016 ----Video from the Book Expo of America (BEA) in Chicago Items of Interest -----The building used for Strait Gate is actually inPittsburgh, where much of the film was shot - Historic Harden Place in Munhall a stand-in for 'Where'd You Go, Bernadette' film - by Maria Scullo -----Film Threat - Emma Nelson On Her Debut Role In Where’d You Go, Bernadette? - by Lorry Kikta ----- Drake Passage Sea Sickness ...more |
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Aug 12, 2019
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Aug 19, 2019
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Jun 13, 2016
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Hardcover
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