OtterMommy

The good or bad thing, depending on your point of view, about Dear Committee Members is that it is incredibly put-downable. I'm reading it in bed before I turn out the lights for the night, so I appreciate that I never feel like I have to read one more chapter (even though the chapters are very short). But, on the other hand, it is really easy to put down when there are other things to read!

I honestly don't know what the occurance of Native American ancestry is among the African American population and it has never been said on the show. Honestly, I would like them to give us specifics like that (if they have that information). As far as what has been said on the show, one of the guests (not an entertainment celebrity, I believe she was in government and I can't remember her name) was an African American woman who did have substantial Native American ancestry. Gates made a big deal about it, saying the "all" African Americans say they have native blood, but it is "fairly rare" that they actually do. So, make of that what you will. I think all we can really say is that, of the guests who have appeared on the show and consented to a DNA test and who are African American, one has had proven Native American ancestry.

After two pretty blah reading experiences to start of 2023 (The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver and Ghost 19 by Simone St. James), I finally had a hit with my 3rd book. I read Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee for one of my book clubs. This is a heartbreaking story exploring the toll of mental illness (schizophrenia, or something like it) on a family, as well as the immigrant experience. It is beautifully written and really hit me. My nephew suffers from schizophrenia. While he had his family (parents and two sisters) are doing well now, there was a time when that was not a case. Not only was he suffering, but his family was going through some very serious conflict about how to best help him. Reading this book helped me to put that experience in some sort of context. One of my book club members did make an observation which I missed, but I feel is worth mentioning. Lee makes a point in this book about how mental illness are treated differently from other diseases, like cancer. With mental illness, there is a stigma that isn't there with physical disabilities. Then, at the same time, she makes sort of "jokes" about other mental illnesses. The example this person brought up was a passage about how, in the mental hospital, obviously one of the OCD'ers set the tables because everything was perfect. (There were other examples, but that was the one that shocked her the most. She has personal experience with OCD. As she said, OCD at best is manageable. At worst, it is devastating). Yes, that happens in this book. However, her comment and this book made me realize that I can also be thoughtlessly flippant. I've been known to say, "I'm being very OCD" when I want something a certain way--which is not OCD. It's just me wanting something a certain way. So, there was an uncomfortable truth I found with myself and an opportunity for me to do better in the future. Anyway, I recently started 2 other books: Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher, which is a collection of delightfully passive aggressive letters of recommendation, and There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura. I was worried about the latter--I sometimes have trouble with Asian literature and this has had a mixed reception from other readers I follow. However, so far, I'm enjoying it. It's about a Japanese woman who just wants a brainless, easy job and keeps finding herself in stranger and stranger circumstances. I'm listening to The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama, which I quite like. However, I really feel that you need to have read Becoming first as she refers back to a lot of events that were detailed in that book. And, as my "year-long, slow and steady" read, I'm finally tackling Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

Hello all! The mod team has been reading everyone's thoughts here and we've opted to change the title of this thread to something that we hope will not cause offense. It was never our intention to make light of anyone's death, only to come up with a thread title that could be easily remembered and would fit in the other light-hearted thread titles in this forum. We sincerely apologize for offense we caused. This thread will continue to encompass not just the deaths of those in the entertainment industry, but also other life milestones (including births, relationship changes, etc). Our intent is to create threads with a narrow enough scope so that people can easily tell what the topics of conversation are, but not so narrow that the purpose of the thread is moot. We do recognize that the former In Memoriam thread was robust, but having a thread for just other life events did not make sense on its own. Hence, we decided to make one thread for all life milestones. With the threads that we currently have, we feel that this makes the most sense. I would also like to remind everyone of the Primetimer policy to not discuss mod actions in the threads. I have removed previous discussions regarding the title and scope of this thread and left only the "on topic" posts. If you have any further questions about this, please send a PM to all of the forum mods: @AgentRXS @aquarian1 @OtterMommy Thank you.

I have a friend whose mother is 100% Navajo. Once the mother was explaining to me how tribal registration works--she is registered, her daughter (my friend) is registered because she's 50% Navajo, their children are registered because they are 25% Navajo. Then, there might have been one more registration before she said, "After that, they're Cherokee." I misheard her and thought she said "Turkey," so I asked her to explain and she laughed and said Cherokees are white people who want to be Indians. Obviously, I realize that the Cherokees are a real and legitimate tribe, but everytime someone (including my husband) says they have Cherokee blood, I silently call them a Turkey. (Also, my husband is not Cherokee or descended from any other Indigenous tribe. I had his father and his maternal uncle do a DNA test and they are all 100% European).

Also, it was said early in the episode that Ed Norton had already researched his family (another reason I don't know why he was so surprised to be related to Pocohontas), so he probably already knew his family had held slaves. Of course, as Julia Roberts said, if you're white and from the South, you should just expect that your family held slaves.

In an effort to clarify and streamline some discussions, we are closing this thread and opening three new threads: Milestone Moments: All the Celebrity Vitals To discuss celebrity births, marriages, pairings, uncouplings, deaths and other life events I'm So Disappointed In You: Celebrity Misdeeds To discuss celebrities behaving badly in ways that do not fall under the Predator and Prey umbrella Warm Fuzzies and Wackadoodles: All the Good or Strange News to Share To discuss those positive stories...and those just plain weird ones. If you have any questions about what discussions should go where, please contact the forum mods: @AgentRXS @aquarian1 @OtterMommy

In an effort to clarify and streamline some threads, we are closing this thread and moving the topic over into Milestone Moments: All the Celebrity Vitals. Please continue any discussion over there. Thanks!

Have some entertainment-related great news to share? Or maybe just something....odd? Here is where it goes! Please remember that discussions topics need to be about the entertainment industry or those who work in it. News about celebrity relatives (if the relatives themselves are not celebrities) is not allowed. Please do not discuss athletes or Royals, as they have their own threads in different forums. As with other threads in threads in this forum, all Primetimer guidelines apply here. You may familiarize yourself with those guidelines here. Any questions can be directed to the forum moderators: @AgentRXS @aquarian1 @OtterMommy

Here is where you can discuss when your favorite celebrity achieves more fame for all the wrong reasons. Traffic tickets? Public drunkenness? A resurgence of foot-in-mouth disease? Here's the place. Discussion should be limited to those in the entertainment business. Bad behavior by celebrity relatives (if the relatives themselves are not celebrities) is not allowed. Please refrain from discussing cases of harrassment here. Those discussions should remain in and be limited to the Predator and Prey thread. Please do not discuss athletes or Royals, as they have their own threads in different forums. As with other threads in threads in this forum, all Primetimer guidelines apply here. You may familiarize yourself with those guidelines here. Any questions can be directed to the forum moderators: @AgentRXS @aquarian1 @OtterMommy

Here you can discuss all the vitals and life events of those in the entertainment industry, specifically: Celebrities having babies Celebrities pairing up or breaking up Celebrities who have died Please do not discuss athletes or Royals, as they have their own threads in different forums. As with other threads in threads in this forum, all Primetimer guidelines apply here. You may familiarize yourself with those guidelines here. Any questions can be directed to the forum moderators: @AgentRXS @aquarian1 @OtterMommy

I find it hard to believe that someone's faked death could have been done without the person who "fake died" being involved. Just sayin'.

I finally had the chance to watch this last night. My main takeaways are: 1 - I like Julia Roberts the person more than Julia Roberts the actress 2 - Ed Norton seemed to be exactly who I thought he would be: one of those people who always has to be the smartest person of the room. Ugh. I do find it strange(ly hilarious) that he was so surprised that he truly was descended from Pocohontas. Of all those mythical famous people of the past, Pocohontas is one of the easiest for whom you can track descendants. Maybe he was just hoping he wasn't Wayne Newton's cousin.

My guess is that the production company who did the Still Life movie may have some claim to that material in their contract. If that is the case, we probably won't see the bones of that story re-worked, depending on the terms of the contract. It's kind of a shame, because I quite liked that book. However, it may also be that the boat has now passed for including it in Three Pines. For those who haven't seen the Still Life movie it is available on either Acorn or Britbox (I have both and forget what shows are on which platform). It's okay. In many ways, it is very faithful to the book. The plot is pretty much identical, but also the casting is a bit closer to the way the characters are described in the books. Jean-Guy and Isabelle match their literary descriptions, as do Gabri and Olivier (who were switched in Three PInes, for reasons I don't understand....). The actor playing Armand is too young and the actresses playing Myrna and Clara are too put-together (Myrna dresses like a business woman and, if I remember correctly, doesn't say more than 5 words in the whole movie. Clara is sort of fashionable, which is the opposite of her literary counterpart). Ruth is, well, Ruth is not a made for TV movie kind of character. They did what they could with her, but she's a shadow of who she should be. However, I felt that the movie just didn't hit the right notes. I couldn't put my finger on what was wrong until my husband walked in the room and asked why I was watching a Hallmark Movie.

If this thread generates enough traffic, it will be converted to a forum. In that case there will definitely be a book talk thread and, as with other forums dedicated to shows adapted from books, book talk won't happen in the episode thread.

Amazon, don't you dare cancel this show and leave it like this! I mean, I know Armand will survive. There are still 13 (and counting!) books to go! I also see how this was a stand-in for the stake out incident in the book (which, given this and Jean-Guy's now apparent issues, is no longer necessary for the bigger plot). My random thoughts: 1 - I guess Amazon Nichol is to Literary Nichol as Amazon Bea is to Literary Bea... They took a character and kept the most basic infomation about them and then created a new character. I'm all right with that. Amazon Nichol is not going to serve the same purpose as Literary Nichol, but she's much more pleasant to watch. And she's one of the good guys! 2 - I'm glad that, like literary Armand and Reine-Marie, the Amazon renditions are also the ultimate couple goal. 3 - We actually got a mention of Armand's kids! But here's a question for people who are familiar with Quebecois French (or whose French is not as rusty as mine). Would a Quebecois speaker pronounce "Daniel" as "Danielle"? That's what Armand said and I don't know if that is how it should be pronounced or if Amazon Armand has two daughters and not a son and a daughter. It's not a huge deal. Daniel is only a key player in one book (and, it's a book I can see the series--if it continues--not adapting) 4 - Speaking of future books, there is a story line concerning one of the Three Pines residents that I'm sure they will not adapt: 5 - Lacoste has always been one of my favorite characters in the books and I am over the moon that she is actually a major player in this show. Anyway, I loved not just these episodes but also the entire season. I know it is not exactly like the books--and I'm okay with that. If I want what is in the books, I can...re-read the books.

Thank you for posting this. Chemawa is actually in my hometown. It is one of those places that we all knew was there, but knew very little about it. Residential school in the US were a bit different from the schools in Canada. I won't say one was worse than the other, they were just different and atrocities happened at both. The big difference is that the schools in the US were run by the government (which did "outsource" the day to day operations, however the schools remained under the umbrella of the BIA) and in Canada it seems that the schools were handed over to the Catholic Church to run. Also, in the US attendance wasn't officially mandatory, although families may have been very strongly pressured to enroll their children whereas, in Canada, it was mandatory for most tribes. Both nations are responsible for decades of trauma and should face a reckoning for it. I in no way mean to excuse Canada and its history with the schools when I say this, but they do seem to take more responsibility for it now than the US is currently doing. This is why I think the storyline in Three Pines is so vital. It's bringing this awful history to the eyes of people on both sides of the border who may not be familiar with it. I do fear, though, that those south of the border won't realize that our history isn't clean on this point.

This story (from the books) always stood out to me because it was so separate from the town of Three Pines. I felt at the time that it was an attempt of character rehabilitation for Peter, which wasn't successful. However, the story was over the top in a way I find kind of fun, so I forgave that. Reine-Marie was handled a little differently in the book as well. Instead of going home when the investigation starts, Armand sends her to Three Pines (there is a reason for this, but I can't remember what it was). So, periodically, we would get glimpses of the townspeople from her eyes as she tells Armand what she's up to. Most of the calls are along the lines, "What is happening here and who on Earth are these people????" As I said, Nicol is just perplexing to me at this point. Her character is not in the books at this point, so now she's a creation of the show. The literary Nicol had 2 purposes, one of which was to be a foil for Armand and that isn't even attempted here. The other purpose--I don't know, I guess it could still happen, but I just can't see how the show could pull that off and have it make sense at this point. However, the fact that Nicol always seems to show up is...suspicious. My guess, and I may have misunderstood something that was shown, was that either he and/or Lacoste had bugged phones. I did find it crazy that he was even going to try to legally cross the border in a bus. We were told in earlier episodes that, supposedly, an APB had been put out for him, both in Canada and New York State. So, even if he hadn't been ambushed at the station, he still would have been picked up at the border. From what I understand, the northern (US) border is fairly porous--as you said, Kevin could have easily crossed the border illegally.

I checked the e-books of the first 2 books out from the library, but I pre-ordered this one on Kobo. Unfortunately, I've been doing a bit too much impulse pre-ordering over there lately! It's so easy since they don't charge you until the book is released, so it doesn't feel like you are spending any money. Oops!

I thought they handled this adaptation of A Rule Against Murder. The hotel and the Morrow family is exactly how I pictured them from the book. I was wondering if they were going to atttempt "the mystery of Bean," but I'm both unsurprised and relieved that they didn't because that is one of those things that probably would not translate well to the screen. (In the book, Bean's mother raises Bean without gender--not because Bean in non-binary, but because Bean's mom wants to piss off her mother/the matriarch. So, there is the running question among the family of whether Bean is a boy or a girl. Louise Penny is very clear in the book that this is something that mother created and does not come from Bean, but I can see how a screen adaptation wouldn't be able to convey that and the entire storyline would come off as transphobic). At least they included Bean. I almost expected that Bean would have been written out of the adaptation. Whoever the actor is who played Kevin is quite good. When he had Isabelle on her knees, I was worried. I mean, I knew she would be fine...but, man, it really seemed like he was going to blow her head off. I think the writers of this show were very smart of switch up this storyline from what it was in the book because this Indigenous plot is much more engaging. At this point, I'm honestly perplexed by Nichol. I'm not sure where she is going in this show, but I probably won't be surprised with whatever path the writers put her on. I have more thoughts, but they are mostly in comparison to the book, so I'm putting them under spoiler tags here. Oh, one more thing. I had the exact same thought after I finished watching this that I had when I finished reading the book. Now we know why Peter is such a douche (okay, I used a stronger word), but it doesn't change the fact that--at the end of the day--he's still a douche.

I'm starting The Bullet that Missed as soon as I finish eating lunch! Last night, I finished reading a Golden Age mystery called Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan. It was enjoyable, but also clearly not up to some other writers in that period. ETA: Apparently it was published in 1950, so not really Golden Age, but very much in that style.

As someone who has read all the books, I personally have no problem with the changes the shows have made. I think they have stayed with the spirit of the stories and of the characters, and that's what is important to me. Now, as I said before, I barely remember the book of The Cruelest Month. I remember it had to do with the house, and that was about that, so I can't really complain about changes in the most recent two episodes. However, they did set up the changes by having CC Poitier's house be a former residential school instead of what it was in the book. That particular change should also be reflected in future episodes down the road. But, to me that's not a big deal. I know that not all avid readers of the book agree with me, but that's okay. I've seen adaptations where the actions of the story are intact but it just doesn't *feel* like the source material. I would much rather have a case like this where the stories may change, but the spirit is the same.

Louise Penny posted that Three Pines is currently the #1 show on Amazon: https://www.facebook.com/louisepennyauthor/posts/pfbid02moq1SQ1uftqSEBHRHAtNJG6xXx3etvY4x6gf8CsdZTXZTwGTSF3w6YnkCneXbeBxl So, hopefully this leads to at least a seaon 2, although no word on that front yet.

We don't get the backstory in the show but Ruth had the duck since it was an egg and it imprinted on her (or she imprinted on it? Whatever). @raven it's interesting that you, who isn't as familiar with the books, and my husband, who has not read the books, both are a bit irritated by Ruth. I only see her through the lens of the book, but I can see why someone who hasn't read the books would find her annoying. She might just be a character that works better on the page. I watched that movie version of the first book where Ruth was a complete zero. It makes sense--that was a made for (broadcast) TV movie and Ruth is not a made for TV character, but compared to that version of Ruth, this one is far closer to the literary version.