pontalba

LOLOL!! It's Fall here, and beautifully green when I look through the windows! Gotta love a Pine forest....... Still gorgeous clear, blue skies and wonderfully cool days here. We're supposed to get two barely freezing nights later this week. Not bad.

For some reason my mind goes blank when I try to make a list....(same thing happens when I get in the grocery store...) LOL But I'll give it a go. First and foremost, Vladimir Nabokov, then... John Banville Henning Mankell Louis L'Amour Haruki Murakami Keigo Higashino Colleen McCullough Kazuo Ishiguro Lawrence Block James Lee Burke Thomas Perry Jim Thompson Virginia Woolf John LeCarre Patricia Highsmith Taylor Caldwell Diana Galbadon Charles McCarry

Love all the stories! Great idea for a thread. I've used pontalba on most forums for about the last ten years. Although when I first came online I used a family nickname. I dropped that as too personal. I wanted to use a name that was in tune with my geographical location, and one that embodied the traits I admire. The name comes from the Baroness Pontalba, a woman from the early days of New Orleans. I'd read her biography and was impressed with both her many accomplishments, and her survival skills. Not to mention her entrepreneurial skills. Her apartment buildings still stand in our French Quarter, gorgeous and occupied to this day. Here is a link http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micaela_Almonester,_Baroness_de_Pontalba

Agree with both of you. Above are my questions as well. I like the sound of him from what you've said. Sounds very hopeful! LOL. I feel the same way about change, unless of course I have instigated it!

Procrastination is my worst problem. I always think I have more time to be ready than I do. lol So, although I'm better than some relatives of mine, I still have a tendency to run a bit late. Hmmm, could it be genetic? Yeah........I'll blame "them".

We dipped just below the freezing mark last night for the first time! It's still gorgeous, blue skies, hardly any clouds in the sky. About perfect.

OK, Julie, this is long enough!! Come back! I just read something you'd really like! True crime, historical book about a kidnapping........!

We've been streaming the series Lie to Me, we are in the second season now. Excellent!!

Have just finished The Great New Orleans Kidnapping by Michael A. Ross......a great history/detective story. Review over on my thread. Not sure what is next, although I'm reading a collection of short stories by Blake Crouch...the guy that wrote the Wayward Pine series. He is interesting, sort of adventure/dystopian/Twilight Zoneish.

The Great New Orleans Kidnapping Case by Michael A. Ross 4/5 The 1932 Lindbergh Kidnapping case was far from the first "sensational" kidnapping that took place in the States. Neither was the often credited 1874 abduction of Charley Ross in Philadelphia, although many historians claim it to be so. Little Mollie Digby was kidnapped in June of 1870 from what was then the 'back of town' in New Orleans, now just the edge of the Central Business District. The crime took place in broad daylight with a street full of people milling about. It was a mixed neighborhood, blacks alongside white residents, many of whom were Irish immigrants, as was Mollie's family. Two Afro-Creole women were arrested for the crime, and this book tells, in great detail, of both the investigation and trial of these women. This took place only 5 years after the American Civil War, and a Radical Reconstruction government was in power over the defeated South. New Orleans was unique in many ways in their race relations. There were white Creoles and Afro-Creoles that had many familial ties and were closely tied together, making for convivial relations in more cases than not. It wasn't till 1877 when Reconstruction ended that so called White Supremacy became the "norm". Ross details much of these relationships and tells of one of the very first detectives in the country an Afro-Creole, John Baptiste Jourdain, considered the best. His methods were ahead of their time and effective, although sometimes contravened by circumstances. This is a fascinating look at the history of Reconstruction in this area, and puts some new light on the reality of what happened and why.

I know. It was heartbreaking to read of his situation, just heartbreaking. It is understandable, he must be in a state of shock. But that isn't the best time to make life altering, sweeping statements.....I totally understand how he feels at this moment. Fortunately, he can change his mind, or soften his stance. He just has to go by his feelings as they evolve. Absolutely. Hopefully he can someday come to grips with the loss. I well know that right now he thinks he won't, but while some people never get over a loss like that, sometimes, after some period of time (individual to each of us, there is no right or wrong timetable) he will be able to see just what he really wants and needs. The hardest part is getting from here to there.

Michel Faber, after going through a horrific time says he won't write any more. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/27/arts/michel-faber-plans-to-stop-writing-novels.html?emc=edit_th_20141027&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=28874140&_r=0

Wonderful gifts, scrumptious cakes, love the T-shirt! Your picture is just lovely, Gaia. Disconnected sounds good, great review!

Niv by Graham Lord 3.5/5 While actually an excellent rendition of David Niven's life, I felt the middle section was dragged out too much. Jetting here, jetting there, messing about with this woman, messing about with that woman.....you get my drift. The middle was more of a travelogue/list of women than a story. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but it can't be helped. I liked Niven, and still like him quite a lot. He was essentially a good man with an enormous libido, and with wife # 2, absolutely no home life at all. His basic tragedy was that.......well I don't want to give it away. Suffice it to say that he did in any measurable manner, have a tragic life. I believe he was never really artistically appreciated and never "came into his own" in an artistic sense. Which is a shame, as he was credited with the talent to have done so. His writing of his novels is covered fairly thoroughly in this biography, and it turns out he loved to tell tales, er, embroider. So what, I say, they made good stories and sold lots of books for him. More power to him! The last part of his life is beautifully and sensitively rendered by the author and will have many weeping at the end. He was a lovely man.

Finished Niv by Graham Lord. Bio of David Niven, and while it was well done, and quite thorough, it definitely dragged in the middle. The ending was quite poignant. Have started The Great New Orleans Kidnapping Case: Race, Law, and Justice in the Reconstruction Era by Michael A. Ross. It's non-fiction, a real kidnapping that took place in 1870 New Orleans, backed up by an excellent history of Reconstruction in New Orleans. New Orleans was a bit different than other parts of the South in that it was captured by Northern troops early on, and was occupied for the balance of the war. Ross has a great story telling style while imparting the facts of the time and happenings.

I love stuff like this! I've read that English is about the most difficult to learn because of all the meanings. I subscribe to A.Word.A.Day http://wordsmith.org/words/yester.html It's free, and fascinating. There is always a Thought of the Day at the bottom of the page, that proves thought provoking as well.

Nothing too specific. I'm hoping I'll break 100, I'm at 95 right now, but I haven't done a lot of reading in a couple of months, and I just abandoned a book. I read lIke a maniac until August, then slacked off dramatically. Just doing lots of other things. The main TBR stack by the sofa has seven in it. /sigh/

I hope you have a wonderful and peaceful day!

Sympathies. . Sometimes it's just like that.

I am abandoning Tim O'Brian's The Lake of the Woods, at least got now. I'm still a little more than halfway through. Totally stuck. It isn't the lack of good writing....that's not the problem at all. I think it's more the strong connection for background to the Vietnam War experience. The protagonist was in that "conflict", and is obviously suffering from undiagnosed PTSD. Combine that with his present day problems, quite severe......it's just not what I want to read. I just don't enjoy reading about something so painful that took place in my own lifetime. I saw those boys come home, so unappreciated.

We've watched a few things lately with the free Amazon Prime streaming. A BBC presentation, The Hour, two seasons. Set in 1956 - 1957 showing the new (then) concept of an hour long news program. It was quite good, showing the journalists private lives alongside their pursuit of stories. It avoided the "soap opera" effect and managed to be extremely gripping. Another BBC Presentstion was The State Within mostly set in the Washington D.C. British embassy. Terrorists, bombs, a plane crash, MI6 and the CIA running around....quite exciting. One seasons worth, 13 episodes. Last night we watched the remake of The 39 Steps. Good, but a bit cliched and old fashioned in comparison to more modern, tightly wrapped stories of that type. The could have done with less romance and more mystery.

It's all in the time of day! Nothing but a strong cup of hot, black tea will do me in the morning. I like "stand the spoon up in it" tea.

LOL Never heard of that one. Thankfully, no. Right now we are in Starbucks, I'm drinking a White Chocolate Mocha Latte, a triple. Yum.

A building in our French Quarter, built in 1830 partially collapsed, now they have to tear it down completely. Luckily no one was hurt, except the pocketbook f the owner....he will have to foot the demolition costs. Ouch! http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/10/collapsed_french_quarter_build.html#incart_m-rpt-2

I used to reread more often, but with the TBR stacks, I don't very often anymore.