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([personal profile] egret Jul. 16th, 2025 04:00 pm)
Mysteries by Charles Finch:  A Beautiful Blue Death, The September Society, The Fleet Street Murders - These are very pleasant cozy mysteries set in Victorian London where Lord Lennox reads a lot of books and solves mysteries as a hobby. In the last one I read he has married and been elected to Parliament which are both interfering with his mystery solving, much to his consternation. There is a certain amount of flustering over the servant problem as the servants keep insisting on behaving like real people, which Liberal Lord Lennox admits they are but you know society has a structure for a reason. Very charming and entertaining. Originally these were a recommendation from my sister and believe me, if my sister and I both like something, it’s very broadly attractive. I think the other thing we agree is good is Keanu Reeves LOL

Obery M. Hendricks, Jr, Christians Against Christianity - A justified screed on why conservative/evangelical Christians are wrong to support Trump and Christian nationalism.

Tom Bower, Revenge. Scandalous royal family gossip about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. As an American, I enjoy British Royal Family gossip as a soap opera distraction. It’s entertaining to read about PROTOCOL and TRADITION and TASTE and TACKY when it has nothing to do with me. So I read this gossip book from the library during a terrible brain melting heatwave and it distracted me from how hot it was. 

Lynette Eason, Too Close to Home and Don’t Look Back. These are from the Women of Justice series of Christian mysteries by Eason. In each one a woman law enforcement officer solves crimes and falls in love with another LEO, often having to lead him first to church and/or Christ. Eason is good at creating genuinely scary situations that keep you in there, and her characters are likable and relatable. The villains are a little wildly over the top and I guessed who the second one was about a quarter of the way through, but I didn’t get bored listening. So I endorse these if you like Christian mysteries. If not, the proselytizing might put you off. Currently listening to the 3rd one which is A Killer Among Us. Oh, did I mention that all the main character women are sisters? So you hear about what’s happening with the other sisters as you move through the series. Another thing these books lean into is the danger of stalkers and women’s safety of movement. I would like to dismiss this as paranoia but it’s really not. I follow a discussion group about walking and people are always sharing their playlists and books for listening to while walking to prevent boredom. I’m always a bit amazed because I never listen to headphones when I’m walking because I need to listen to what’s going on around me to stay safe. I can’t even say this is just a woman’s issue: No one should be so lost in the clouds while they’re walking around in public. Perhaps this comes from living in a city my whole life. But I think even in the country I would listen for bears or something. OK, this is a tangent. 

Loves of His Life - Lesley Ann Jones - this is an older rehash/update of her Freddie Mercury biography focusing on his relationships. I pre-ordered her dubious book about his alleged secret daughter, which is releasing on his birthday, but in the process of doing so I found this unread and lurking on my Kindle. Main new contribution is a theory that Freddie was more traumatized by the Zanzibar revolution and the income extremes around Mumbai than he liked to discuss and that trauma explains his avoidance of Africa and India for the rest of his life. (I don’t totally dismiss this theory and add that the one time he did return to Africa — to shamefully perform at Sun City during the boycott — he lost his voice, which sounds psychosomatic as heck.)

Currently: Alaska Twilight by Colleen Coble.  Another Christian one that’s not even the beginning of the series. It’s about a wildlife photographer traveling in Alaska to film a guy who gets too close to bears. She has brought a dachshund into the Alaskan wilderness and if that little dog is eaten by a bear I will stop listening. Listening to it because it reminds me of Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man documentary and because other things I have on hold have not arrived yet. Still have not finished Herland and have de-emphasized it in favor of writing my fall syllabi. 
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 The Week 3 Vote / Poll is now open, for LJ Idol / Wheel of Chaos.

I am not currently in the vote, since I lost the Week 1 Vote, but one of the random Twists that Gary has this season, is to bring everyone back who has been eliminated / lost the votes...

I am playing the home game (i.e. linking my entries in the WheelHouse (greenroom) posts, rather than the actual Prompt post, where Gary pulls the entries for the Polls from...

This vote is not open to just people participating in LJ Idol. You do not need a Dreamwidth account, as you can use an OpenID to log in and vote and comment.

I am going to be posting a link to this post around.



Also, Defy the MAGAt / Fakes 'news' blabberers, who are Russian mouthpieces.


Go see the Superman (2025) movie.
The #rethuglican blabbers want it to bomb (I don't think it will)
I am going to try to see it tomorrow or sometime next week...
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([personal profile] scripsi Jul. 9th, 2025 06:08 pm)
 

Journaling prompt: What are your favorite summer-associated foods?

Creative prompt: Draw art of or make graphics of summer foods, or post your favorite summer recipes. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

 

My favourite sumer food probably sounds very boring, but if one takes care to use the best quality possible, it’s delicious. Boiled white fish with new potatoes, clarified butter and chopped hard-boiled eggs. When I was a child the fish we used was northern pike, which my father or grandfather had just caught, but nowadays we usually buy fresh cod. The new potatoes come from the garden. The clarified butter must be real butter, and organic eggs taste the best. One can mix the butter and the eggs, but we prefer to keep them separate, so each can take after taste.

 

Also, for me this tastes best eaten outside the summer house, on dishes called “Grön berså” (green bower) by the Swedish designer Stig Lindberg in 1960.





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([personal profile] beradan Jul. 7th, 2025 05:50 pm)
We hit five (5) separate instances of this during one (1) workday and thus, in the spirit of Five Things Make a Post, it gets a post:

--circulation canceled a patron's scan request in a uniquely incorrect way that did not in fact cancel it, only sent it to another library under a different transaction ID number (this makes it harder to find and cancel properly)

--shipping service failed to notify substitute driver that our mail comes to the back door, several floors and a one-way street away from the front door, where he came instead

--someone transferred a parent calling about their student's tuition bill to me, an ILL staff

--patron requested not one not two but THREE wildly incorrect citations in a way that makes me suspect genAI

--German thing that is "Collected Works volume 26, part 2 [in 2 volumes]" of what was [presumably] originally "Section 4, volume 3, second part, first half." All of this is abbreviated, in blackletter, on the title pages. Probably the right volume. Who knows

(not included: standard Monday ambient levels of Lightly Cursed)
Someone posted on our Buy Nothing group that they were getting rid of some candles.

(how is this a Stupid Injury, I hear you ask? I'm getting there, but not in the way you expect)

minor, non-graphic injury )
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([personal profile] vik_thor Jul. 6th, 2025 06:46 pm)
 Here is the link to the WheelHouse post of LJ Idol where I post my homegame entry for Wk3.

I am only homegaming currently, since I lost the vote 1st week, currently we are WK3...

Those who are actually competing currently are linking their posts in the PROPMPT post, 

I will try to link the Poll and Results posts, either here, or in separate entries, so I can find them easily in the future...

I tried to figure out how long I lasted in previous seasons when starting this one, and really couldn't any more... Since I no longer go to the Original Livejournal.com website, since it is now RUSSIAN!!!

being knocked out in the FIRST vote was new to me, but I am sticking around a lot longer than I have in previous years, doing home gaming, commenting, voting, etc.
I don't remember exactly where I came across this article by Guardians of Democracy,
https://guardiansofdemocracynet.blogspot.com/2025/06/crockett-exposes-hypocrisy-behind.html
both should lead to the same place
I read it, and what really struck me was the quote below: 
Conservatives wasted no time lashing out. The New York Post accused Crockett of regularly using “incendiary rhetoric,” while random X users called her “jealous” of Melania. Fox News aired a breathless segment with a MAGA congressman who proclaimed he would never dare question Melania and urged Americans to ignore Crockett’s comments.   
 
And yet MAGAts / Rethuglicans dare question every single thing, about every one who doesn't agree with them. 
I urge everyone (worldwide, not just USA) to ignore whichever Rethuglican said this. (unfortunatley the BlogSpot post I link to didn't mention his name. I will probably try to find out who, from somewhere other than FakesNews.) I do have a GroundNews subscription I don't use enough...
https://ground.news/article/crockett-is-jealous-maga-followers-slam-jasmine-crockett-as-evil-after-texas-rep-mocks-melania-trumps-modeling-credentials?utm_source=headline-link&utm_medium=share https://atlantablackstar.com/2025/06/27/jasmine-crockett-questions-melania-trumps-prestigious-einstein-visa/
 
I would like to say to ignore all MAGAts / Rethuglicans,  but unfortunately, that is what got us into this situation. They started out as the RayGun / Reagan era Trickle-Down economics CULT. 

Like a small mole that appears on the side of your neck one day... It's grown over the years. It's been checked out a few times: 
1) Faith Healers pray over you, and say your CURED!!! Now GIVE THEM ALL your money for the privilege of them deigning to look at you. (Prosperity type ministries)
2) some gentleman puts a bit of concealer on it, says it is nothing, and mentions to you in offhand fashion: Never trust any women. I can get you some specially made concealer that contains the Blood of JESUS CHRIST! It will cure ANYTHING!
3) You finally get to see a real Medical Doctor, who asks what in the world you have been putting on it? The Mole now covers about half the back of your neck, the texture of it is a bit different from the rest of your skin, but you don't shave in that area, so no real issues. The doctor takes a small biopsy of it, and tells you to come back in the morning for results.
4) The next morning when you arrive, the reception desk is empty, with an arrow pointing to your doctor's office. You hear your doctor talking to someone (whose voice sounds odd) you tap on the doorway, your doctor sees you, smiles, and says, Mr RoFKenJr. barged in this morning. I'm sorry, he seems to have scared away everyone else in the office. I've given him a referral, and he was just leaving. Your Dr. glares at the other person in the room, (presumably this RoFKenJr.) who snatches a piece of paper from the Dr, and barges past you, rudely bumping into your shoulder, and slamming the door on his way out.
5) Doctor: Sorry about him, he is a bit delusional. Your case is much more serious. The skin on your neck is cancerous, but does not seem to have actually metastasized through your body yet. (Surprisingly for how large it is...)He directs you to the examination table, asking you to lay down on your front so that he can see the portion of your neck affected, and you can face away from the wall, towards the room door, while he dons some magnifying goggles. We may have to do some surgery within the next few days, It is large enough, that we may have to do skin grafts, but the tech has improved, and I think we will be able to leave minimal scarring on both your neck, and the donation site (probably outer part of your upper legs.)
6) The doctor shows you some items. 
The first is what looks like a small wood dowel, with a small needle at the end. he opened an alcohol towelette, and pinched the needle through. I'm going to gently poke your neck in a few places, let me know what you feel. You felt several pressure areas, but no painful pricks, and said so. you had seen him wiping the needle through the alcohol after each pressure poke. OK. I'm going to poke some of your normal skin, let me know if you feel any difference there.
7) you: Ow. not painful there actually but could definitely feel it more than the previous.
Dr.: OK. Let me try a couple more just to verify you have feeling all the way around.
You: OK. Ow, same. Ow same.

Dr.:OK, I'm going to have to think about this a bit. You can go ahead and sit up.
8) As you are sitting up, Mr. RoFKenJr. bursts in the door, yelling: Cancer isn't REAL! Doctors are FAKE!!! I will save everyone with our BLOOD!!!
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([personal profile] scripsi Jul. 6th, 2025 03:04 pm)

This is a spoiler-free post.

The Hollow was first published in 1946, during Agatha Christie’s Golden Age. It’s not one of her more well-known mysteries, which I always thought was a bit strange, because it’s my favourite Christie. On the surface the plot is typical for her: A murder in a stately home where several guests have gathered for the weekend. Hercule Poirot investigates. Personally I think this book is rather invisible because it belies a very common statement about Christie, that she only writes cardboard stock characters with no depths and complexity. In The Hollow we have plenty of complex characters and I would say the main theme in the book is obsession. Obsessive love, obsession for science, the artist's obsession towards their work, and so on. If you wanted a stock Christie, you may be disappointed. There is also the fact that even if this is a Poirot novel, he doesn’t enter until halfway, and he is actually not the first to figure out who the murderer is. In fact I’ve always felt this book may have been better liked if there had been no Poirot in it at all. Checking the publishing order, this was the first Poirot since 1942, and Christie had written five books in between. I wonder if the publisher put pressure on her to include Poirot in this one… You also get the POV from more characters than usual. I have never read any of Christie's Mary Westmacott novels, but I’ve read that The Hollow is more like them in writing style.

Read more... )
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([personal profile] scripsi Jul. 6th, 2025 02:45 pm)

What I finished reading in June was the first four books in the YA Lockwood & Co series by Jonathan Stroud, The Screaming Staircase, The Whispering Skull, The Creeping Shadow and The Hollow Boy. Husband wanted to rewatch the Netflix show, and as I hadn’t seen it, I joined in. I liked it, and as it ended after one season, which covered book 1 and 2, I promptly started to read the books.

 

The concept is that the UK is suffering from a spreading ghost infection, and as being touched by a ghost is fatal unless you get medical aid, it’s not a good thing. It doesn't help that only children and teenagers are able to actually see the ghosts. So gifted children work for ghost hunting agencies, which is a pretty nifty device for putting teenagers in the forefront of the action, while still not always being very sensible, because teenagers. The narrator is a girl, Lucy, who starts working for the very small agency Lockwood & Co, and gradually they are getting closer and closer to why this ghost infection has started.

 

I find the books very enjoyable. Lucy is a pretty engaging narrator, if not always a stellar character. But my favourite character is Skull, a ghost trapped in a jar that only Lucy can talk to.

 

I also actually counted the books I’m in various stages of reading… Yikes! I think I should focus on finishing some of them this month. Here they are, in no particular order.

The Empty Grave by Jonathan Stroud

Det ockulta sekelskiftet (The Occult Turn of the Century) by Per Faxneld. How occultism influenced a number of Swedish artists in the late 19/early 20th century.

Never Flinch and Fairy Tale by Stephen King

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. (A re-read.)

A Better Man by Louise Penney

Furstinnan (The Princess) by Eva Mattson. A biography over the 16th century Swedish queen Catherine Jagiellon.

Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle

The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman

Towards Zero by Agatha Christie

I Never Promised You A Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg

The Treasure by Selma Lagerlöf

This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer

Midnight Rooms by Donyae Coles


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