HazelEyes4325

I read that a few months ago and enjoyed it. Apparently, it is quite a phenomenon and bookstores can't keep it on the shelves. I also got mine from the library but there was a long wait for it, which I found frustrating since it took like 30 minutes to read. I'm still can't believe the same person wrote The Last Samurai.

I just finished listening to Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper and was impressed. Cooper's pre-Central Park Birdwatching Incident life is more than full enough to warrant a memoir and his voice is incredibly entertaining. Also, as a Black, Gay, Pagan, Birdwatching Nerd, he has a great point of view on things. I highly recommend this one (obviously).

Hmm, I was going to say Philip Margolin, but it doesn't sound like he would be your cup of tea. If you are okay with gritty, but not procedural books, I would highly recommend Rene Denfeld. She does have a fantasy (I think) book out, but the two I would recommend are The Child Finder and The Butterfly Girl. These are actually in a series/duology, so I would start with The Child Finder. Warning, though...there are some tough topics in it (big trigger warnings for child sexual abuse, child exploitation, kidnapping, etc). There is a cozy author named Emmeline Duncan. I haven't read any of her books, but her series is the Ground Rules series and the first book is Fresh Brewed Murder (yes, they are coffee house themed). A historical fiction that I have sitting on my TBR is The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss. This is set in Eastern Oregon, so it is very much NOT Portland! Finally, this one may not be your cup of tea, but it is my absolute favorite book so I'm throwing it out anyway: Mink River by Brian Doyle. This is about a community on the Oregon Coast. The date is never given, but it is pretty clear from the context that it is set in the late 70s/early 80s when the lumber industry was declining, but before the tourism industry has seeped out from the few "bigger" towns on the coast. The writing is lyrical and poetic, it has a colorful cast of characters, and a good dose of magical realism. Again, it isn't for everyone, but I absolutely love it!

For Oregon non-fiction: I admit I haven't read this book, but it is staring at my from my TBR bookshelf and it has good reviews. It's called Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival by Peter Stark. (Not surprisingly, it's about the coastal town of Astoria BEFORE it became famous for the Goonies!) If you let me know what kind of fiction you like to read, I can give you some Oregon recs for that.

Oliver put the mom in a very bad spot. While he had a great experience playing football, he's a doctor and he knows the risks...and he knows Robin's a doctor and is aware of the risks. He also probably knows that football was a no-go with her. And while I applaud him for finding something with which to connect with Theo, he did it at Robin's expense. That was exactly my thought...Money Pit! I mean, that's all fine and good for someone who has money to sink into such a project, Evan and Luly don't have that money. Even if Luly becomes a successful writer (and, I'm sorry, I was not blown away with her writing skill), that's still years down the road. The Perry's don't have money and she's not going to be making a lot of money waitressing at the Crab Shack. On the one hand, buying a dump like that is totally something an idealistic 20 something who thinks he's so good he doesn't need education is pretty believable, it will not come to a good end. From what I understand, no. Michelle wasn't even completely sure that Anthony was Luly's father. It seemed like she may have suspected it (because the opportunity had been there), but didn't put the pieces together until the last episode. I will say that Luly's adoption story sounds uniquely messy enough that I want to see where it goes. I also like how they've been revealing that Scott wasn't the saint that we saw in the first episode. It is revealed to the audience as it is revealed to the characters and it is not bogged down with overly manufactured mystery. I do hope that this show gets a second season because I feel like circumstances beyond anyone's control are stacked against it this season.

Also, didn't someone (was it the influencer?) comment on the earrings? I have a feeling the the earrings will figure into the story further down the line.

Yeah, probably. I think I gleaned Danny off another post here and he hasn't been on the show long enough for me to remember his name, especially when I still can't remember the individual names of the 4 L's!

I'm not sure that the girls know that Trashy Grandma is still seeing Leland. On the one hand, Sheryl should be smart enough to not let her granddaughters know if she doesn't want Kristen to know. On the other, she's laying the groundwork of teaching the girls "not to snitch" on her. And, you know, shes banging him in her daughter's office, so she's not that careful.... Another point--Sheryl has already planted doubt in Kristen and Danny's mind about anything that Lexie says from here on out. I think, if Kristen and Danny were to believe anything, it would have to come from one of the other the L's. Lexie's credibility is essentially shot at this point, which was probably Sheryl's intent.

I actually don't have a problem with how Kristen and Danny handled the situation with Lexi. I mean, if this were the real world, I think they should have said something like, "Violence is never okay and you shouldn't have done that, but you also need to tell us about what's going on with this bullying." But, this show has about 44 minutes to tell a story and I don't think the bullying is anything more than a device to show that Trashy Grandma has turned to the dark side and possibly a route to lead Lexi to the dark side as well. However, my gut feeling is that we won't hear another mention of Lexi's bully on this show.

I agree about Kristen and Danny believing Trashy Grandma over Lexi. As the audience, we have more information that Kristen and Danny and we know what happened. All Kristen and Danny know is that their daughter did something that didn't think she would ever do. And, now that she was in trouble, trying to blame her grandmother--something they also previously never thought she would--seems more believable. And let's not forget that Kristen did confront her mother about it and Sheryl's denial was pretty darn believable. I've been thinking about what exactly is happening between Leland and Sheryl. I don't know if he has possessed her or if he's just given her a shove in a dark direction she was already heading. What I do think is that he targeted her because of her connection to Kristen. Now, if she had said, "Fuck off, loser" when he first approached her, I do think that would have been that and he would have tried to look for another inroad to Kristen. So, bad on Grandma there. But, beyond that, I'm not sure. I think the question is purposefully vague and the writers want us to be grappling with it.

Not included in the quote was the verdant New York December...that sort of thing bugs me as well. It is especially irksome in cases like this where there is no real reason to even have exterior shots. Lexi and Trashy Grandma didn't have to have their conversation on the swings. They could have had it in the kitchen, or somewhere inside. And since this was a Christmas episode, the audience expect NYC in December. It doesn't have to be snowy, but the trees shouldn't be pre-autumnal either. At least the scenes with Mike were at night so it wasn't quite as noticeable. As for Leland, he annoys me as well, but I think he's supposed to. I mean, I don't think we're supposed to like the guy. In fact, I think we're supposed to hate him to the point that we see him as evil incarnate. I do kind of like the fact that he's this not-at-all-hot guy and completely unassuming. It seems that villains, especially supernatural, seem to always have to score high on the sexy scale so it is a nice change to see someone who is very much not like that.

While I totally get why this show is on at 10 pm and agree that is an appropriate time for it, it sucks that I can't seem to stay up late enough to watch it live. Starting about the halfway mark of Young Sheldon, the hubs begins his litany of "Can we watch Evil now?" Sadly, we have to watch it the next day because we are apparently old. Anyhow, I thought this was a fun episode. A couple of quick questions/comments: 1 - What happened to the cat? 2 - Why doesn't Katja/Kristen where dark green more often? It really is her color. 3 - Between this episode and last season of The Good Fight, it seems like the Kings are really into animation with kitschy music. I don't know if trashy Grandma is possessed or not, but I think that's part of the appeal with this show. We never really quite now. Is Leland a very persuasive narcissist or is he Satan? Who can tell? I think, depending where you are in view of religion and such, this show is completely different from viewer to viewer. Oh, one more thing, this was the first episode where the David/Kristen possible romantic dynamic wasn't pushed and I think the show was better for it. And Kristen seems happy with her husband and he's a good counterpart for her. Can the show just let that be? Let David has his Angelica Schuyler obsession if he wants, but let him and Kristen just be friends and colleagues.

I can't quite buy Anna as a party girl either and I agree with what you are saying here, that she actually just wants to spend tine with Wade. However, I can see the show teasing out the fact that Wade and Anna are just in different places right now and, no matter how much they like each other, it just isn't the right time. I think that's a very realistic take, and this show has stuck close to realism. I'm interested in seeing how they play this out.

I am in the ""less Sheldon" camp for this show as I think this works far better as a family comedy than an origin story comedy. That being said, this episode showed how they can make it Sheldon-centric without it falling into the trap of being annoying. They focused on one aspect of his personality, but treated it lightly and didn't try to explain it, and let him just be a kid. Still, though, more Missy would have been nice. I have very conflicted feelings about Meemaw and her almost fight with Coach. On the one hand, she was right--he was being mean to John and, on a general level, that was a turn off. However, Connie tends to be like that with everyone so I can't really fault Coach for thinking that jokes like that would have been okay with her. I mean, Connie isn't exactly a nice person. On the other hand, I did like that she stood up for John, but it just didn't feel very true to character with her. I can see her shutting down the conversation with Coach, but going out of her way to defend John, even if it was an accurate display of her feelings on the matter, didn't seem in character. So I didn't like it, but also liked it, whatever. I still laughed when she told Coach she was going to have to, what was it?, reprimand him?

This is why I think they are laying the groundwork of adding her into the friends group, which I would be more than okay with. I can also see them being some sort of on-again, off-again thing throughout the series which, well, on paper sounds terrible. However, this show sounds terrible on paper and it has become my favorite new show of the season, so I'm withholding any opinion on that. Also, I can't help but love someone who names their dog Joyce. Just sayin'.