HazelEyes4325
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Posts posted by HazelEyes4325
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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).
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5 hours ago, BooksRule said:
Thanks! I'll look for the Astoria book. As for fiction, I like mysteries (cozy mysteries or those with some humor ('Cat who...' mysteries, Janet Evanovich). or those where the main characters has an interesting job (and gets mixed up in murder and mystery) such as the Anna Pigeon mysteries by Nevada Barr. And 'medical fiction' (Robin Cook, Patricia Cornwell, Michael Palmer, etc.). Adult situations are fine, but I'm not a huge fan of most detective, police fiction or courtroom books (with the exception of Tess Gerritsen). I also like historical fiction if it's the 'epic' type such as 'Lonesome Dove'. I like the ones that span generations.
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!
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On 1/14/2024 at 7:10 AM, BooksRule said:
I made a New Year's resolution to read at least two books that each have a setting in each U.S. state plus Washington, D.C. (so 102 books minimum). I want to read one fiction and one non-fiction book for each. I know I can find some recommendations online at various sites, but I wanted to check with all of you fellow readers for your recommendations.
I know it will narrow the choices a little, but I'm partial to mysteries for fiction and true crime or biographies/autobiographies for the non-fiction.
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.-
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On 5/7/2020 at 8:54 PM, Brookside said:
The mom should have stuck to her guns and medical knowledge and not let her kid play football.
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.
On 5/8/2020 at 9:16 AM, Dowel Jones said:Evan is going to get a rude introduction to the world of real estate when he attempts to remodel that broken down house in a poorer neighborhood. That place is a money pit. On the other hand, I cannot fathom the idea of two people in a 200 sq. ft. apartment. You'd have to go outside to change your mind.
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.
On 5/9/2020 at 10:50 AM, 65mickey said:One thing that I am unsure of. Did Michelle tell Scott that Luly was Anthony's child? Did Anthony know that Luly was his daughter?
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.
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On 12/20/2019 at 9:47 AM, Annber03 said:
Exactly. Plus, it was a spontaneous gift idea, 'cause they felt bad they hadn't given her anything. Earrings just seemed a quick, easy choice more than anything :p. I presume as they get to know her better they'll have an easier time next year with gift ideas for her :D.
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.
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1 hour ago, SomeTameGazelle said:
Kristen's husband is called Andy, isn't he?
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!
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22 minutes ago, kwnyc said:
But Leland now "in the house," with Grandma taking his suggestions, and Lexie acting on them. I HOPE she decides to come clean to her Mom or Dad in the next part of the season. (Which would also lead to the discovery that Granny is still banging the Devil, or his surrogate.)
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.
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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.
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2 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:
Do they really, though? I think we know that Kristen knows her mother can be flaky and irresponsible, and Andy apparently doesn't get along with her, but it also seemed clear that while Kristen hasn't been paying as much attention as she should, Leland has been giving Sheryl bad advice and pushing her beyond the pale. Didn't Sheryl, similar to the "influencer", specifically say something like "I did what you said and told her [blah blah]"?
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.
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8 minutes ago, Linderhill said:
this ⬆️all of it. Especially the Leland storyline. I didn't watch Lost or the other show the actor was on so I have no emotional attachment to him and he just annoys me no end.
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.
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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.
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12 minutes ago, biakbiak said:
I don’t know that Anna does want to go out every night they talked about how both people in a relationship don’t reveal their true selves when they first start to date. Anna actually brought up the girls and that she understood he might not be able to go out at least once or twice. I mean she is a doctor it’s not like she is out partying all the time, I think she was just really into him and wanted to spend time with him and because he hadn’t told the girls about her hanging out with him meant going out.
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.
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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?
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30 minutes ago, Harvey said:
Anna seems really sweet and wonderful so it will be hard to make her the bad guy in the relationship.
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'.
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One thing that I was worried about with this season is that it would be all about Wade's friends trying to run his life. And...it's not! I'm actually quite shocked that the show has successfully moved away from that and has given the friends their own stories. I thought the whole thing with Delia being worried that Michelle would be threatened to be a bit over the top, but it was over the top in the way that Delia is over the top, so it worked. However, Michelle and Anna bonding over the prospect of brunch made it all worth it.
I really like Anna. But, that being said, I don't see how the Wade and Anna thing can last in the long run, at least successfully for this show. I think as soon as they permanently pair Wade up with someone, that fundamentally changes things. So, I've accepted that, at some point, Wade and Anna are going to go their separate ways. I do wonder, though, if they are laying the ground work to keep Anna around as a platonic friend for Wade, a member of the found family.
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1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:
I am glad that the widows group is still around, and I like Caroline a lot. I could enjoy her and Wade getting together for real, but I also like Anne so far. Good times had by all, especially with all that booze flowing!
I'm glad the widows group is around as well, and I like Caroline (and I adore the actress playing her). Until this episode, I wouldn't have minded Wade and Caroline getting together, but not now--not because I don't think they are good together. In fact, I think they are great together--as "widow friends." I think pairing them romantically would kill that. I would much rather see more of Caroline and her relating to and cheering on Wade in a way that his other friends really can't.
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Raegan Revord is featured on the most recent episode of the podcast Circle Round, playing Nilsa in "Nilsa and the Troll."
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1 hour ago, Driad said:
Has anyone explained the numbers in the episode titles?
No, but now that you mention it...
A quick scan of them all isn't clear on anything. It might be that we need to wait for the season to finish to make sense of it. But, thank you, now I'm going to be obsessed with it!
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2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:
Every time that the cat screeched, my cat (who was sitting next to me/taking up half of my lap) would look around in confusion about the apparent intruder! So why is no one taking this cat to the shelter or something? I dont think the cat is a demon (even with its creepy death glares) but I do think it senses evil...
The only reason why I think the cat is possessed/a demon is that it just sort of appeared in their house. Also, why aren't they concerned that a cat COULD just appear in their house? If a strange cat appeared in our house, we be scouring the place, trying to figure out how it got in. I suppose that it could have come in through the mystery hole in the basement that no one really cares about?
Down that same rabbit hole, did they find the cat in a closet or on the top stair down to the basement? I can't remember. If it were a closet, I'd be extra suspicious about how the cat got there. If it was the top stair, why would anyone leave a laundry basket right there unless they were trying to break someone's neck (or, I guess, hide their crush's hoodie from their spouse...)
Like @msrachelj, I'm a bit over the "cat being evil" trope. I guess we should count our lucky stars that the cat isn't black because that would have been full on cliche?
I'm going to take a wild guess that the writers aren't cat people.
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2 hours ago, 12catcrazy said:
No such thing as an "orange tabby". According to the Cat Fancy (different breeders organizations) that color you and others refer to as "orange" is RED. Peach colors in cats are referred to as "dilute reds". Our demon (or not) kitty is actually, in official cat lingo, a Red Tabby.
And while I get that they are trying to stick with the whole "red" motif, I've never known a ginger cat to be that aggressive. Calicos, yes...but not gingers/red tabbies/whatever. I also noticed when we first saw the cat, it gave "kitty eye kisses" to, I think, Andrew. I honestly don't know if the writers thought about that, but there you go.
I also wondered what the hold up was with calling animal control? It seemed like the cat was in Kristen's office, where she spends a fair amount of time, for at least a day (again, it was hard to tell exactly how much time had passed in this episode). I mean, if I had a strange cat in my house, no matter how aggressive or docile it was, I'd be calling someone as soon as possible in case it was someone's pet.
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11 hours ago, hoodooznoodooz said:
Michelle prides herself on her four-cheese mac & cheese. Therefore, she most likely didn’t already have dozens of boxes of Kraft mac & cheese in her kitchen. So she went to the grocery store and bought it? They did that instead of just ordering a bunch of pizza?
Michelle also has 4 kids. So, while she might make great homemade mac and cheese, sometimes she may need to feed her kids something quick...hence the boxed mac and cheese. If I'm making mac and cheese for a sit down dinner, I make it from scratch. If my kids are eating mac and cheese for a quick dinner before we run out to one of their activities, it is the boxed crap.
That being said, I also wondered why they didn't just order pizza!
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7 hours ago, rmontro said:
I also don't think we can get enough Dr. Sturgis. Looks like Connie still has some interest in him, I wonder how the coach is going to take that. Loved that George took the time out to be nice to him, what a swell guy George turned out to be.
4 hours ago, ChitChat said:I'll second that! I really don't want this show to be all about Connie & Dr. Sturgis. A little of that story goes a long way with me.
I think I'm on both sides of the Dr. Sturgis fence. I think he's a great character for this show, but I also think that there may be too much Connie/Dr. Sturgis going on. Let Connie have fun with Coach and let Strugis be a mentor to Sheldon and an odd-couple friend to George.
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30 minutes ago, rhys said:
How did Leland find out so fast about Sebastian?
It was an article on the internet. Such a news article could have gone up soon after his body was found and next of kin were notified. Also, we don't actually know how much time passed in this episode. It could have been a couple of days or longer. I don't think depositions happen overly quickly.
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16 hours ago, biakbiak said:
Ben is either a complete moron who has never paid for a meal in his life or Mama is running quite the scam because I have ordered that much food for 2-3 people!
I could actually buy that. Other than deep frying a turkey once, I don't think Ben has ever had any responsibility for feeding anyone. It's possible he didn't even understand the "language" of food. For example, he could have ordered individual ribs instead of racks of ribs or he had no way of understand how many people a pint of mac and cheese could feed.
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What Are We Currently Reading?
in Books
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.