pontalba

LOL Well, I finished it last night. It's really lots of tongue-in-cheek(yness) really. But there is a kernel of truth in what she writes. I love the LitHub article you posted on your thread! Thanks, it may not be the same series, but it's bound to have more or less the same style of writing. Very clear and direct.

I flew right through Ann Cleeves, The Glass Room. 4/5 at least. It's part of her DI Vera Stanhope series, and we've watched several seasons of Vera through Acorn. A murder takes place at a writers workshop in a fairly deserted area of North England. How are all these people connected? Then another murder takes place, and the scene is obviously staged. Vera is her usual superficially ditsy self, but underneath her detectives brain is working overtime. A well done whodunit that is somewhat complicated, but not impossible to figure out near the end. I think Cleeves hits the right note allowing the reader some room to figure out who the killer is, if they've paid attention to all the clues dropped. Very enjoyable fast read. The personal relationships make this series special, much is alluded to and I'm sure breadcrumbs are dropped throughout the series. Recommended.

Yeah, she's funny, I think the vulgarities are her attempt to be "hip", to draw in a younger audience. It's funny, years ago an actor couldn't even say "damn", on air, now it's "fashionable" to use the worst language only to show how modern one is. Yuck. Thanks, Gaia. . Luckily, as sometimes revisiting an old friend like that can backfire!

Wonderful pics, Gaia! I see an Ann Cleeves book in there.....I'm just reading one of hers. But it's another series, her Vera Stanhope one. We've been watching Vera, the tv series through Acorn. Quite good. Cleeves is an excellent writer. Hope you enjoy it! How terrific to have gotten into a series that has soooooo many entries!

Also reread The Time Traders by Andre Norton. I love this book! Written in 1958, it still holds up, for the most part. This was a time of the "Cold War" and this novel takes full use of it. Suddenly, the "other side" has advances that ordinarily would take decades to develop.....how is it happening? "Our side" uses what is evidently a common method of time travel to track down the source of the advances. But the average citizen is too civilized, too laid back, to be successful at infiltration. So the powers that be sign up men that are proven adventurers, a certain type of criminal, that are up to the job. I read it on kindle, in an anthology called The Science Fiction Novel Super Pack No 1. It contains 10 full novels, by authors that have, between them, won 13 Hugo awards and 4 Nebula awards, 6 of them have been named Grand Masters by the Science Fiction Writers of America. It includes: Empire by Clifford D. Simak Falcons of Narabedla by Marion Zimmer Bradley The Green Odyssey by Philip Jose Farmer The Stars, My Brothers by Edmond Hamilton The Time Traders by Andre Norton Deathworld by Harry Harrison Star Surgeon by Alan E. Nourse A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay Preferred Risk by Frederik Pohl & Lester del Rey Space Tug by Murray Leinster But I also own the 1958 Ace paperback of The Time Traders.

I've again picked up The Joy of Leaving Your Sh*t All Over the Place (the art of being messy) by Jennifer McCartney. It's a teeny book, but really funny if you can ignore the language. Hah. It has sections on cats, dogs, purses, shoes and books! Gotta give an excerpt on books! As I mentioned, she uses strong language, and in the quote below there are, er a few examples properly asterisked out. pages 85-87:

It's funny, sometimes we are polar opposites, and sometimes the same. I hope you do like it, especially since you have it! Goodness knows people are not always imbued with much common sense and do things that utterly amaze and dismay me. But this went overboard, bigtime. Oy. Thanks Kylie, appreciated. All is going fine here, I just don't get to the computer as much as I used to. God help us, we have Netflix!

Horrible, . I saw that on NOLA.com. But the vid I saw didn't actually show the shooting, the camera shifted off to the right when the shots were fired. I didn't see a link in your article, Virginia. I hope the store cameras caught it. Baton Rouge is only 90 miles to our West.

Thanks, guys. It was disappointing, but the good news is that another book, The Sudden Appearance of Hope has picked up. . I'd bogged down in that one, but it's doing better.

We watched Marcella, a BBC production through Netflix. Detective returns to her old Murder Squad 12 years after leaving. Her marriage is falling apart and there is a serial killer on the loose with definite similarities to a guy she put away years ago. Only 8 episodes long, and I'm hoping they continue next year, as it's only been broadcast in the UK last April. Great characterizations!

Love the cat vids! Oy, how do you find these things?!

ROTFALOLTIC! Not odd, human nature. Yeah, it has that effect.......

Night Film by Marisha Pessl 3/5 2.5/5 An investigative reporter obsessed with a certain film director whose reputation is beyond strange. A daughter that commits suicide. The reporters obsession leads him down a dubious path that could certainly lead to his own destruction, not to mention the impressionable young people that latch onto him during his quest. Does the director dabble in Black Magic? What is causing the reporters obsession with him? Who can the reporter trust? Pessl seems not to be able to make up her mind which tack she wishes to take with the story. Black magic? Obsessive behavior? Or, can all the strange occurrences be explained by ordinary means? The ending left me dissatisfied, to say the least. I 'm rating it the three out of five stars because the story did pull me along, in spite of stalling out about a third of the way through. There were way too many utterly, unbelievably stupid actions taken by the reporter, taking chances with both his life and the lives of those that worked with him. Chances that a man with his supposed life experience would never take. Make that a 2.5/5 rating after all. Meh.

Excellent reviews, Noll. I've got A Little Life on the stack already.

Goes right on my Wish List, to be purchased next week. Thanks!

I've tried reading it a couple of times, and finally decided it was idiotic mush, not fit for the cows. I've tried a couple others of his, with much the same reaction. I suspect that Pynchon is laughing all the way to the bank at all the silly nits that think his books are so bloody marvelous and deep. Oy. Bathroom humor, and not interesting bathroom humor, at that.

I'll be interested in your reaction to it.

Seems that is going around....... I have Ready Player One in the stacks somewhere.....I was anxious to read it, but somehow it slipped away from me. I must locate it.

A girl after my own heart! Well done!

Yes, I echo Gaia, great reviews, BB. I've only read one of Lebbon's, The Silence and enjoyed it. Boy, his listings on Amazon is pretty amazing!

Have finished three: The Defence by Steve Cavanaugh 4/5 High octane thriller. All the action within a 24 hour period concentrating on a lawyer being blackmailed by a gangster. In order to save his young daughter's life, he must free a Russian Mafia leader. New Pompeii by Daniel Godfrey 3/5 This should have been amazing, it has the bones for amazing but falls down in delivery. It has time travel, a murder mystery and all the paraphernalia of a great story, including a new (to me) idea of possibility. Just didn't deliver. The Life I Left Behind by Colette McBeth 3/5 Well done murder mystery with a twist. One of the three narrators is the murder victim. I just felt the outcome was a little predictable. I would have preferred another twist there.

Same as above. I have to say though.............the McCartney book, while funny, is extremely vulgar. Every third sentence contains the F-Bomb. I'm a third of the way through (and its a short book) and can only take it in small increments. But I do love the premise.......Messy lives!

Watching several more or less at the same time. Alternating. Back to Vera, just starting the 4th season. Really love the convoluted storylines. We watched Veep, the first two seasons. And....while it is funny as all get out, the F-Bomb seems to be their favorite word. It really gets irritating, and goodness knows I'm no shrinking violet when it comes to cussing. The first two seasons were free with Amazon Prime, and I can't justify paying to see the rest. Also watching the last, I think 4th, season of Torchwood. It's good, but a bit hard to take, at least in bingeing form. Watched several episodes of Suspect. Interesting, and almost documentary style crime series. I like it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspects_(TV_series) In looking it up just now, I find it is unscripted.....impressive!

Some great reviews, BB. . Glad to hear the Rowling is good, sorry about Pettigrew! I have both in the stack, so will get to them....sometime. /sigh/

Very interesting subject and review, Gaia. I'll look for it!