All things Books and Reading thread - 2017

[Margret]

Hekitty gave me the ENTIRE "Cats and Curios" series for Christmas!

What a discerning housemate Hekitty is!

Enjoy!

I've just been "managing" my recordings, making sure that there will be room for the big Doctor Who Christmas special coming up in a few minutes. Copied some movies off to the external hard drive so I could delete them from the DVR, and then deleted several old Doctor Who episodes that I recorded accidentally and didn't much like the first time around. The computer is now free for a few minutes, so I thought I should check in at TCS before doing BookBub, having some strawberry/raspberry fruit salad for dessert (it will have to wait for some of the turkey to move along and make room for it ), and I may yet get some reading in tonight as well. Unless, of course, the tryptophan in the turkey sends me to bed early....

Margret

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Unless, of course, the tryptophan in the turkey sends me to bed early....

This is why I only do turkey once a year. For Christmas I do a lasagna. A BIG lasagna. I live alone. But lasagna freezes very well.

 

[Margret]

This is why I only do turkey once a year. For Christmas I do a lasagna. A BIG lasagna. I live alone. But lasagna freezes very well.

Good plan, for you. Unfortunately, the pasta in lasagna is high in carbs, and the cheese is high in casein, so I can't do lasagna. I could handle the carbs with my diabetes meds, but the casein is unavoidable without going to some of the vegan "cheeses" that are available, and they're pretty much taste-free. Yecch!

Margret

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Oh, you mean the gooey cardboard? SIGH...I'd be so unhappy without cheese. And about 80 pounds lighter, come to think of it...

Last night I read "Water for Elephants." I sat down to start it when I got through here at TCS, and eight hours later, I closed the book, having finished it. I did not eat, I did not go get a drink. I did, I think, go to the bathroom twice. I will never read it again, but I am so very glad that I read it once.

This morning I started "How to Wash a Cat," book one in the "Cats and Curios" mystery series. Hekitty got me the entire series of six books for Christmas. That cat really knows how to shop!

 

[Margret]

Not only are the vegan so-called cheeses taste-free, they're also high-carb! I can't imagine making one of them a dietary staple. I asked a friend who's allergic to milk what vegan cheeses he ate and he recommended one that I'd tried. It was supposed to taste like American cheese (which isn't even a real cheese, but does have some flavor) and when I told him it had no flavor he said "But isn't that what American cheese is supposed to taste like?" Nope. He has no way to know, of course.

That cat really knows how to shop!

Just don't get her her very own credit card and PayPal account...

I just started Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterly. I got through one chapter, and now I have to get busy and feed myself before a 2:00 phone appointment with an insurance broker.

Margret

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I really do admire Vegans for their principals. I do. But I don't understand why so many think that even fake fur is bad, but fake cheese is fine. I don't get that disconnect. LOL, in keeping with the theme of the thread, I wonder if there is a book about it...

 

[rubysmama]

I'm not vegan, but I am vegetarian, and I avoid fake fur. For one, it looks too real. And secondly, I've read that some of the clothes imported from China with fake fur, is actually real. And could be from cats.
Is That Faux Fur Really Fake? | HuffPost

And to keep with the reading subject of this thread, I've just started "Here's to Us" by Elin Hilderbrand.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Good enough, rubysmama ! I sign LOTS of petitions regarding the use of fur for clothing. Don't know how much good they do, but you do what you can, how you can!

I've finished "How to Wash a Cat," which I enjoyed thoroughly, and am on to "Nine Lives Last Forever!"

 

[Margret]

"The alphabet ends at Y."

Rest in peace, Sue Grafton. She died of cancer last night, at the age of 77. Sue Grafton

Margret

 

[Mamanyt1953]

 

[rubysmama]

"The alphabet ends at Y."

Rest in peace, Sue Grafton. She died of cancer last night, at the age of 77. Sue Grafton

Margret

I wasn't familiar with Sue Grafton, but just followed your link and got a little weepy when I read the last line.

It's nice her family won't try to milk her name for money.

 

[Margret]

I read the early Kinsey Millhone mysteries, but I got tired of them after a while. I admired Sue Grafton's self-assurance and determination, though. You have to be very sure of your creativity to commit to a 26 volume series, all with the same protagonist.

Kinsey Millhone was the first female hard-boiled detective I ever ran across (probably why I got tired of them -- I like cozy mysteries). This was an innovation in the mystery genre.

I heard an interview with Sue Grafton on NPR earlier this year, when Y is for Yesterday was released. She said she was getting rather tired and was looking forward to writing Z is for Zero so she could finally take a vacation. She made no mention of cancer, which is understandable. There are some things you would rather not tell the entire world about, and that's one of them. It must have been very difficult for Terry Pratchett to make his diagnosis of Alzheimer's public.
And here's a link to NPR's story on her death, which quotes the entire FaceBook post from her daughter: Sue Grafton, Best-Selling Author Of Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mysteries, Dies At 77

I wish she'd made it to retirement; she deserved it.

Margret

 

[catspaw66]

First, I also love peanut butter and dill pickle sandwiches.

I just bought the BookBub special 4-book set "Her Instruments" It looks like a cross between Sir Terry's Discworld and Red Dwarf. The first page has a felinoid, wearing socks on feet and tail, apologizing to the Captain for making him bang his head under the electronic console.

It is $2 for 4 books. How can you go wrong?

 

[Margret]

I just bought the BookBub special 4-book set "Her Instruments" It looks like a cross between Sir Terry's Discworld and Red Dwarf. The first page has a felinoid, wearing socks on feet and tail, apologizing to the Captain for making him bang his head under the electronic console.

It is $2 for 4 books. How can you go wrong?

Thanks for the clue! I was wondering how I could have missed that last night when I was doing BookBub, but I guess it's in today's email. Anyway, just on the off-chance that I'd miss it today I just went to BookBub and found it and bought it on Kobo. (I like Kobo. Their books are easy to sideload to my Nook Color; Calibre deals with them quite nicely; and I can actually save them to a hard drive, unlike Nook books which require Windows 8 or higher. And unlike B&N's website Kobo doesn't make me log in every 15 minutes or so.)

Margret

 

[catspaw66]

You are most welcome. I have read about 40 pages so far. I am not disappointed.

The first book reads like C.J. Cherryh.

 

[Margret]

The first book reads like C.J. Cherryh.

I love her books about Chanur.


She doesn't seem to have published very much lately, though (she says, with a pout).

Margret

 

[Margret]

Has anyone else read Uhura's Song, by Janet Kagan? Yes, obviously it's a Star Trek book, but a really excellent one. It features a felinoid species called "Eeouoans" (I think I spelled that right). Great species. Human sized cats with eidetic memories, who walk upright (usually) and have hands and prehensile tails.

Margret

 

[catspaw66]

Yes, I think I read it a long time ago. Or maybe just saw it in the library?
I finished the first chapter of the first book. Wow! Action, some romance, elves (yes, elves), hard science and humor.

I buy all new e-books from Amazon. I put a 128GB SD card in my Fire, so I have plenty of space and the Fire 8 is my go-to device.

 

[AbbysMom]

New thread -

All Things Books And Reading Thread - 2018