Book Excerpt for the Day

    “Let’s go back to the very beginning then,” he said, opening a Spanish textbook that was clearly aimed at children.  “Counting to ten…”

    Further up the garden, Sheelagh was probably conjugating the imperfect subjunctive by now; she picked up foreign languages as easily as most people picked up colds.  Still, as long as one of us knew how to say, “Sir, could you kindly call an ambulance as my friend has just been electrocuted in the shower?”, I was happy enough.

    (from Backpacked by Catherine Ryan Howard)

 

    8*/10.  The full review is here.

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The answer is...

Quote for the Day

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “People planning trips generally want up-to-date information.  How would you like to fly all the way to Gabon and find your hotel went out of business a year ago?”

    “You’d never get me there in the first place,” he said.  “You gotta be crazy to go someplace like that.  You’re layin’ on the beach there, drinkin’ somethin’ with fruit in it, and the next thing you know they’re havin’ themselves a cootie tah.”

    “A what?”

    “You know, where they overthrow the government.  Before you know it you’re the main course at a cannibal banquet.”

    (from The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart by Lawrence Block)

 

    7*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Lottery Warning

    Good idea.

Boring Books

    Your weekly dose of Calvin & Hobbes.

A Tribute to The Doors

Book Excerpt for the Day

    The Boss sighed.  Everything was getting messier and messier.  First Bolt disappeared, and in retrospect, the Boss had to admit that he should not have taken out his frustration on Bucket and Caracas.  And then Bucket disappeared and the Boss in retrospect had to admit that he should not have taken out his frustration on Caracas.  And then Caracas disappeared — to buy a watermelon.  And the Boss now in retrospect had to admit that he … should never have whacked him over the head with the melon.

    (from The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson)

 

    8*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Amon Duul 2

    Amon Duul 2!!  Somewhere I still have one of their LP's.

How are you?

    I'm gonna hafta start using this.

Pencil Holder

   Well, I'm definitely putting this on my Christmas list.  And, yes, I know "Cesar" is a typo.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    The plan was for me to reach my overly long pinky fingernail, grown especially for easy cocaine snorting, into my pocket, fill it with six hundred mics of pure, powdered LSD, and with a large entertainer’s gesture, drop the acid into Tricky Dick’s teacup.  If I missed, Abbie would be my backup.  We knew we wouldn’t have the pleasure of seeing Nixon tripping (LSD takes a while to kick in), but the idea that he might be stumbling through the White House a little later, talking to paintings, watching walls melt, and thinking he was turning into a bulldog, was irresistible.

    (from Somebody to Love? by Grace Slick)

 

    8½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Winter Solstice

   And the winter solstice is still more than a month away.

Multilingual

    Yep.  Several of them, in fact.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “I found this sword after a very long search, after mastering a dead science.  The men call it Mightblade.  Not mighty.”  He spoke slowly.  “It might; it might not.  Might not meaning potency, but potentiality.  It is a bastardization of its true name.  There was a time there were many weapons like this,” he said.  “Now, it is, I think, the only one left.

    “It is a Possible Sword.”

    (from The Scar by China Miéville)

 

    9½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Saturday Inspirational Quote

Masks

Etymology of Man

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “It’s the best thing I’ve ever read!” Milo declares vociferously.  “It’s even better than that book with the chocolate factory!”

    “What’s it about?” I ask.

    “There are all these men and ladies and they wear strange costumes and they have magical powers which they use to help people.  It’s not like normal books, though, it’s got pictures as well as words!”

    Megan nods her agreement.  His enthusiasm makes me proud.  I’m glad I gave him such an intriguing gift.

    “It’s a bit childish if you ask me,” Mother remarks.

    “They are children,” I remind her.

    (from The Fall by David L. Dawson)

 

    6*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Ultimate Spinach

    Jimi Hendrix is the big name here, and rightfully so.  But Ultimate Spinach is the act I'd most like to see.

Middle-Aged