pontalba

Husband has fixed a most potent White Russian.

True, or at the most reading glasses. I'm hoping they don't worsen before 3 years, that is when I am due for medicare. /fingers crossed/ They've taken a very long time to get to this phase, so I hold out hope.

Agreed, but I think it's something to do with how they are placed at the time. The improvement won't last, I know. But I'll enjoy it for the moment.

Muggle, I'm still working on Robicheaux. lol I wanted to read them in order, so have still only gotten to the Electric Mist one. Love them. I have a few of the Parker on the shelves, unread at the moment. With your rec I'll def get to them. Patterson I have found too violent for my taste. At least the one with violets in the name.

Oh, don't talk about putting the brakes and catching up! Not gonna happen in this house. I've just started my 20th book....Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter. Of course that total doesn't count the 5 or 6 books I've started and put temporarily aside. Like the book on William T. Sherman. Every time I pick it up, I have to listen to the reasons why he was so put upon. Hah. Then I think about Sherman's March to the Sea. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Good idea about the notebook to put suggestions in. I do try to keep at least a list of authors to look for at the Library Sale. Only trouble is that in searching the Library Sale I rarely find those authors, but manage to find many others!

Pretty glasses! I've worn glasses since I was about 12 y.o., but lately my eyes seem to have improved. Of course changes occur with age, one way or the other. I'm told I have the beginnings of cataracts and so far they've done nothing but improve my long vision.

I finished The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin last night, and so enjoyed it. In the meantime, I've started Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter.

Cronin's talent in developing characters and telling the story of The Summer Guest from many narrators point of view allows the reader to fully know and appreciate the depth of the story. A generational novel, it encompasses battles of WWII to Vietnam to the present day. This is not a war story, by a long shot though, those battles and wars are only the backdrop to the personal dramas and traumas of a family. War hero to deserter, father to son, the Maine woods to Manhattan....we live with each of their stories. Love of husband, wife, and child. The loss of same, learning to let go is all here. I almost hated finishing, I wanted more of these people. Recommended

Y'all have made me a bit curious about the older translation. I actually have it around here somewhere. When I run across it, I'll compare. But whatever, this later one is fantastic and flows. Even with all Valmont did that was awful, you could see him falling for her. His better nature which was so buried in all the falseness of the time and place struggled to come out I felt. I guess that is at least partially why I hated to have him sacrifice himself like that. It wasn't necessary. Life it too precious to just throw it away.

I haven't had much time to read the last few days, but hope to settle down tonight to The Summer Guest. It is really quite gripping, and the characters are well drawn.

I knew something was going on, felt the vibes! They look to be a lot of fun to watch! Thank you! I've lived in the area for my life so far, but I'm discovering more about it lately. Funny you should mention San Francisco, I've heard that it is the city most like New Orleans. We have open tickets to SF, should go sometime this summer.

I posted something in my thread. I was kind. Sorta.

Congratulations on your new bookcase set up! It's so much fun setting them up. /sigh/ I had one come in the mail, if that counts! The Highland Clans by Alistair Moffat

Good going muggle! Tim, sounds like a great time. Well, we just returned from a jaunt across the lake this afternoon. We went down to the French Quarter and ate at a place called Stanley's. All the waiters/waitresses wear tee shirts with the Stanley logo...you know, from Stelllllllaaaaaaaaa! /giggle/ Fantastic egg dishes. Then moseyed down to the Hotel Monteleone and sat in the Carousel Bar and had a White Russian. Sat for quite a while, then walked the 8 blocks or so to the Jeep parked by the Mississippi River. It was a beautiful day for a drive over the lake. Clear blue skies, and on the way back we caught the tail end of the sunset. Charles never fails to surprise me.

I'll blush for the both of us! But, pish and piffle. Thankee. LOLOL Yeah. It's irritating in a way, maybe I should switch over to the metric....being 5 foot 5 and one half inches is a bloody nuisance when doing the BMI chart....5.5.5 Criminy.

Nothing at the moment, and I'm hungry! Must go into kitchen and find some of that French Bread.......

Thanks Chrissy. We don't dress up often, but it was a special birthday dinner for husband.

Yays and congrats on that! Heh. Love it. Congratulations! Sorry you've been poorly. Stress will do that. Even though you don't want the path, they can put it through your private property??

Still reading and halfway through The Summer Guest. Cronin really can write! And not just vampire epics! lol He creates solid and very real emotional characters.

Thank you, everyone! So much.

Here is a picture of husband and myself last evening, on the way out to dinner. Webcam pic.

French bread and butter, with melted cheese. Yum.

Thanks. I'd seen it elsewhere, and considered it, but upon looking at it again, I just couldn't resist.

Although I'd not seen the film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, I none the less went into the book with certain high expectations. Some of said expectations were gained by osmosis through dribs and drabs I'd heard over the years, but some were only because of the fabulous Miss Maggie Smith's reputation and personal charisma. /sigh/ What a disappointment. The book, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was a portrait of a self-centered, and sad woman attempting to mold young women, and only certain young women, to what she considered.......what? Her ideal? In her image? In what she wished she'd become? She seemed to choose girls that were not pretty, or were insecure, so therefore, susceptible to influence. I have not had children, so I cannot speak from experience. However. If a child of mine had a teacher that flouted what I held dear, a teacher that bragged, yes bragged, of her love life to her, I'd be mighty upset. I'd be upset enough to raise Hades with everyone in sight. A teacher that encouraged an extra-marital affair of one of her students is someone that should certainly not be in charge of young and pliable minds. It came upon me slowly, I could hardly believe my eyes when I first read some of the things she spoke of to the girls. Had the woman no sense of privacy? No sense of the affect such telling would have upon the girls? I understand she was terribly disappointed in life and fate that had been dealt her by Her Hugh having been killed in the War, but thousands of women face that very thing, so special or alone in that she was not. I actually somehow doubted the truthfulness of those "Hugh" tales. On top of all of that, I simply didn't like the style in which the prose was written. It seemed rather dry and unimaginative. So glad it was only a 130-odd pages. Sheesh. I'm still trying to figure out why I gave it as high a rating (2.5/5) as I did. The only reason I can come up with is that it really made me angry, so it must have had someting!