Pickles Aplenty

Charles Bukowski is my all-time favorite. I know he's technically a poet first and then an author, but I think his work is amazing. Other favorites: J.K. Rowling, George R.R. Martin, J.D. Salinger, William Faulkner, Tom Perrotta, Nick Hornby, Charles Dickens, Stephen King, Edith Wharton. My taste runs all over the place.

I cut Mary some slack for not being as carefree as Laura. She was the oldest, and was probably told by Ma a million times that she had to behave and set a good example for the younger kids. That's often what happens with the oldest. I do think she became more interesting after she came home from the school for the blind; the chapter where Laura describes a much more animated Mary who laughs and moves with confidence is one of the best of the series, IMO. Like a lot of other people, I completely skipped Farmer Boy and only read it recently. I thought it was okay. I agree that the financial difference between the Ingalls and Wilders is very sharp, and I often wonder if Laura ever felt inadequate compared to Almanzo's relatives. Her background was dirt poor, while he ate the best food and lived in a nice house. That must have come up at some point in their marriage. Speaking of Almanzo, he was one of my biggest crushes growing up. Good to see he was just as hot in real life as I had always pictured him, but I have stumbled upon that picture before. Laura chose well. My favorite book of the series is These Happy Golden Years, since I am a sucker for romance and find Laura and Almanzo's courtship to be one of the most romantic things I have ever heard/read. You know a guy has it bad when he travels miles in the snow to bring his sweetheart home for the weekend. *swoon* This might be an unpopular opinion, but I always liked Eliza Jane. I know she was naive and idealistic and should have controlled her class from the start, but I always had a soft spot for her. Farmer Boy made me like her even more, since she covered for Almanzo when he marked up the wall while their parents were out of town. Plus, Eliza Jane was a suffragette. That in and of itself is awesome. My ranking of the books, from favorite to least favorite: These Happy Golden Years>Little Town On the Prairie>The Long Winter>On the Banks of Plum Creek>By the Shores of Silver Lake>Little House On the Prairie>Little House In the Big Woods>The First Four Years>Farmer Boy

Same here. I thought the author was trying way too hard, and made every character completely unlikable as a result. Not that I need likable characters to enjoy a book, but when they are supposed to be likable and relatable and instead make you want to claw your face in frustration, that's a problem. Eff that book. Some UO's of mine... 1. Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl was boring and overrated. 2. Amy and Laurie made more sense than Jo and Laurie, and totally belonged together. 3. Holden Caulfield is a great character and shouldn't be dismissed as a whiny teenager. 4. Pride & Prejudice is boring. Great novel, don't get me wrong, but that doesn't mean it isn't boring. I would much rather read the Bronte sisters than Jane Austen. 5. Most of the books you're assigned to read in high school are great.

My ranking: 3>2>4>1>5>6. I love season two and three, but season one is kind of slow-moving, just because they were setting everything in motion. Season four is great, and I like season five because a ton of things happened that became important later. Season six is mostly a downer for me.

I can't stand it when HH's complain about not having a great view, like that's the be-all and end-all of purchasing a house. It's nice to have a great view, but would you really pass on an amazing house because the view is nothing special? How much time do you spend just staring out the window? Another thing that bugs me is "curb appeal". I haven't heard this one as much as "granite countertops" or "man-cave", but every time I hear it it just makes my skin crawl. I understand not wanting the outside to be butt-ugly, but if the inside is livable, who cares if the outside is not exactly to your taste? You can always change it. It's not a deal-breaker. One final pet peeve: The husband is always the positive one who can see possibilities, and the wife is always the nag. I've seen maybe two or three episodes where it was reversed, but that really pisses me off. Let's hear it for re-enforcing stereotypes.

He looks like shit, and I don't believe he is sorry for what he did. I'm not sure if Tori could do better, but she should at least try.

I believe it. Some things might be made up for the show (I had a hard time believing the text Dean sent Tori, for example), but Tori isn't that great of an actress, and she seemed genuinely distraught. She also has the look of a woman who is at the end of her rope and starving herself. And yes, she does have help, it just wasn't featured on the show. I believe she has a nanny, even without Dean.

I'm right with you. Seriously, why do I watch this? It's just an endless bitchfest, and it has little to do with tattooing. I've heard Best Ink is better.

While I still have a tiny bit of sympathy for Tori (don't judge me!), that bit made me want to slap her, hard. What did you do to deserve this? What didn't you do? You fucked a married man the very first night you met him and wrote a sleazy tell-all about your "fairy tale" romance knowing on some level it was a big "fuck you" to his ex-wife. You even included a chapter where you talked about taking a knife with you to meet Ex-Wife on account of how she was a crazy woman who wanted to kill you. You sneaked around on your husband and lied and had your therapist tell him the marriage was over. You didn't give a shit that your Prince Charming was in the process of adoption while doing all this, and had no problem whatsoever with him dropping paternity over that kid like a hot potato. Then you bred four children in rapid succession with Prince Charming while courting the tabloids and putting up this bullshit, "perfect family" front. I am not the type of person who thinks people should be punished forever for making mistakes, but sweet lord, show some self-awareness. Own up to the fact that you chose a shitbag for a husband and that maybe, just maybe, you were a bit of a shitbag, yourself. You know who really didn't deserve this? Your children. Stop whining about your stupid fairy tale falling apart and think about them. *end rant*

I don't think she would leave him even if a perfectly respectable guy came along. Tori's self-esteem is so low, it could walk under a pregnant ant.

I think Martin will kill most everybody by the end of it. Only Walder Frey will survive, 110 years old with a 16 year old bride.

At this point, I don't know what to make of Dany. Part of me enjoys her journey/arc, the other part of me just wants her to get her ass to Westeros, already. I don't think Martin intends to have her on the Iron Throne when all is said and done; in fact, I have a strong suspicion that she might die during a final, epic battle or something. I'm still with her, though. Even though she frustrates me, the character keeps pulling me back in. Maybe it's the hair.

It's not a particular favorite of mine either, but I think Angela's game of Pam Pong saves it. That was the first time I really wanted to slap her, hard, but Angela Kinsey played it so well. I also like "Phyllis's Wedding". It's one of the most cringe-worthy Michael episodes, but I think it's funny.

I really hope they don't take the easy way out and have Tyrion not kill Shae. It's awful to read in the book, but I feel like it really hammers home the fact that Tyrion became the monster his family always told him he was, and if they wuss out and choose not to include it it doesn't make the character as interesting. Don't get me wrong, Tyrion is plenty interesting already, but the murder of Shae makes him even more sad and complex. I think it should happen on the show as well.

Me too, but I'm not puzzled by it. I've always liked scruffy guys, and scruffy Jaime? Yummy.

Micky Rooney could be something of a ham in real life, but damned if he wasn't fun to watch on screen. I think he had a natural talent that really shone through, and I still love watching his movies. His musicals with Judy Garland are my favorites.

Man, I love the Hound. My two favorite quotes of the night, if not the whole series.

I can honestly say I never thought of it this way. Very good points.

Oh, man, don't remind me. The whitest girl in the world being held over a sea of brown people and being hailed as their "mother" made me puke in my mouth a little. However, despite all that, I have a soft spot for the character of Daenerys. It's hard not to root for her, after all she's been through. I don't know if I want to see her on the Iron Throne, but I am fascinated by her journey.

I love watching Cersei slowly dig her own grave. She's one of the most twisted characters ever, and Lena Headey does a fantastic job with her.

I think Tyrion is hot. There, I said it.

This. Arya gets all the love, but I think Sansa is a lot more complex and a hell of a lot stronger than people give her credit for. Rock on, Little Bird.

I think another one of their mistakes was scattering the characters. Van Alden and the Chicago gang are in, well, Chicago, Rothstein, Luciano, etc. are in New York and now so is Margaret, Richard was in Wisconsin for a while, Nucky and Chalky are in Atlantic City, the newer characters no one cares about are in Tampa...it got to be too much, and certain sets of characters could no longer interact with each other, or only interacted every great once in a while. IMO, it sucked some of the life from the show. I wonder what will become of Gillian. Something tells me she might off herself in prison, but that's just my speculation. She's a horrid human being, but I can't help but feel sorry for all the shit she's been through. You get the feeling that if she had been loved and nurtured as a child, she would have grown up to be a decent person. She's one of the saddest television characters ever, when you think about it.

I just got my husband to watch this show with me. He likes the show well enough, but he dislikes the character of Al. I've never met anyone who didn't love Al, so this is all very weird to me.

I think it's time for it to go. Someone on TWoP said that they killed off all their emotionally engaging characters, and I agree. Once Harrow bit the dust, I knew I was only going to tune into season 5 out of obligation. Sad.