Yokosmom

I've found both of her Cormoran books rather slow going, but I enjoyed them anyway. In both instances, I didn't see the identity of the murderer ahead of time, especially in The Silkworm. In the latter case though, I think that I would have gotten a little more out of the book if I had known who she was basing some of the characters on. I'm pretty sure that the British publishing industry had a field day guessing the inspirations for some of the characters. I think that some of the slowness is due to the fact that the clues that are collected throughout the longish middle section don't really start coming together until the very end of the book. I would also like Cormoran to eventually make enough money that he can get a flat or business that doesn't have stairs. I haven't read The Casual Vacancy, but from descriptions, it sounds like a very different sort of book from the Cormoran series.

That's funny, I'm doing the same thing as I have tickets for the end of September to see the play. I'm about halfway through. I'm actually a fairly fast reader, but other (really long) books keep interfering with my reading time. One of those long books being This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein. Unfortunately, she's preaching to the choir here, and I can't read too much about the imminent destruction of the planet's ecosystem (and the human race along with it) without getting profoundly angry and depressed. So, not a fast read, as I can't take more than a chapter at a time.

Obviously, if you are going to commit a murder, Colorado is the place to be. Only 16 years for the eye gouger (and WTF--she put his eyeballs in his MOUTH?!!!) and 4 months for the jealous bitch girlfriend, though I suppose that was a military judge and not a civil one. Forgot to add, that the poor victim was probably one of the only people in history to choke to death on his own eyeball.

I'm confused about the Raven King's motives, but maybe we are supposed to be confused. I'm assuming that the whole setup was to destroy the fairy--or was it to restore magic to England, or was it both? Why couldn't the Raven King kill the fairy himself, if he was so powerful? Or did magic need to return to England for that to happen? And am I right to assume that Stephen is the King of New Hope, but not the Raven King's successor? How could the Raven King be sure that the Faerie would be so pleased with Stephen that he would offer to make him King? Both the show and the book seemed to leave it open, though I was rushing through the final chapters of the book, so perhaps I missed something? It was nice that Childermass was as awesome in the show as he was in the book. Just binge watched the last 5 episodes, as I wanted to finish the book first.

Lito and Nomi? They at least live in adjacent countries. It would depend on whether his uncle answered to someone else. If he wiped out his uncle along with the rest of his organization, he might not feel the need. And he still needs to watch over Felix, at least until he recovers. He talked about going to India, but after the whole "I'm a monster scene" it's unlikely that he'll go there now. Really hope that Sun gets out of prison soon. I'm looking forward to finding out a bit more about Jonas's agenda.

I can recommend that book too. It had a real effect on me. Her fellow survivor, who didn't want to relive the event, and cut herself off from the author, suffered too-her book, if she had written one, would have been totally different. She was about to start medical school, I think, but the attack left her legally blind. Just goes to show how one terrible crime can alter lives so radically and permanently. I was also impressed by the older couple that helped the author due to their own, horrible loss. Actually, judging by this book, you wonder why even more people don't try to commit murders, judging by the police inaction shown here.

All of Laura's crap was boxed up and sent to a storage facility. John told Laura that he would pay for two months on the storage facility and then it was up to her to make the payments. Oh, and also, the relationship was over, and he wanted her out of the house in a month. Black screen of doom said that the month's deadline had passed and she had made no effort to find another place to live. John wasn't sure what to do to get her out of the house, but he was holding firm about the the two month deadline for storage. Whole family is using aftercare funds for therapy.

I can certainly see why they spent an entire episode on this one Hoarder rather than splitting it between the usual two. It was fairly obvious after her first vicious blow-up at her partner that she was never going to admit to any responsibility for the house. Some hoarders use the self-pitying blow-up move just to deflect attention away from their role in the hoard. Laura, however, truly believes that whole "you're just trying to control me" line. It's sad that the daughter has seemingly bought into the whole "my mom's a victim, poor her" syndrome. John has two options--have Laura removed from the house while her daughter is at school (then change the locks), or sell the house and move somewhere else. Come to think of it, even if the local sheriff's remove Laura, her daughter will probably just let her back in and there he'd be again. I can just imagine Laura having a raging fit on the lawn. Maybe a restraining order.... Agree that he should have left her years ago, and probably would have, if not for the daughter. He's probably been afraid that she'd choose to live with her mother. She's old enough that a court would probably let her make that choice. Also, if he isn't married to her mother his name might not even be on the birth certificate as the father--some states won't allow it for illegitimate births, or so I've heard.

I hear ya, funky-rat. My mother was the opposite of a hoarder, but she got on my case a number of times for having too much stuff. I had to gently remind her that when she was my age (50s) and lived in a house, instead of her current small one bedroom apartment, she had a lot more stuff too. Stage of life and circumstances make a difference. Of course, I now have even more stuff and it does indeed need to be cleared out a bit... Congrats on getting rid of so much. It's interesting that size of a living space makes no difference to a Hoarder--tiny apt? fill it up. Large mansion, fill it up. Regular house, fill it up. And then, buy another house and fill that one up too. Part of that is human nature, though. People naturally use whatever space they are given.

Nothing to do with the editor. Watchman was written before Mockingbird.

It's out of print now, but if you like reading about cults, The 4 O'Clock Murders, by Scott Anderson, will blow your mind. Mormon cultist in Mexico, using his vast family to commit crimes, including murder, and to settle scores. Ervil LeBaron makes Warren Jeffs and his group look like amateur night in Dixie. Re Ann Rule--I knew that she must be going downhill physically--she sold her beautiful lake house a few years ago, and I greatly suspect that her last (not particularly interesting) book was co-written by her daughter. However, I was very surprised to read that her two sons were charged with stealing and embezzling from her. I guess that not even true crime writers are exempt from having lowlifes in their families. I really liked her early to mid books. Small Sacrifices, Everything She Ever Wanted, and The Stranger Beside Me stick out most in my mind.

I actually have a scrubbie and they are indeed useful little things. Just throw them in the dishwasher when they get dirty. I can't remember where I got mine, but am hoping that it wasn't made by T'resa. The local artsy store in my area sells them for two bucks, so I can't believe she's making a fortune on them. But if she's disabled by emphysema, it is something to do to make a little pin money. That blanket with the dozens of cigarette burns on it was a shocker. I loved Cynthia calling her mother on her crap. Intellectually, it's easy to say, "it's a mental illness--take that into account", but really, if I had a class 5 Hoarder in my family, I'd lose my cool too.

Have to agree with this. Although they had some good visual jokes, I expected more. I loved the Queen, though, and wished that she had been in it more. Not sorry that I saw it, but wished that I had waited until it hit the second-run theater in my area.

He was also protecting Mycroft, to a certain extent. He'd just handed Magnussen a tool (the laptop) that could have led to blackmail or the possible sacking of Mycroft. I wasn't fond of the twist either. I agree that John probably wouldn't have taken Mary back if she wasn't preggers. I am glad that they at least put in a scene where he told her how pissed off he was at her. And I agree, the whole "she knew he would survive because it wasn't a head/heart shot" was ridiculous. If she wanted to disable him, she could have shot him in the foot or leg (careful to miss that artery). I'll be interested in whether the murder will be forgiven and forgotten next season, even if he does solve the whole "Moriarity's back!" puzzle. It does seem like a point of no return for the character. Did the public at large know that he murdered Magnussen, or was that just knowledge kept in government circles? Does Lestrade know?

OMG. Those rats! Though I did like the sight of the mouse leaping from one piece of furniture to another. I dunno about the dishes. If the rats peed on them once (or Matt took a dump once), maybe they could be cleaned and salvaged. But if it had been used that way repeatedly for years? Probably not and I wouldn't want them anywhere near my dishwasher. She's apparently ahead of some other hoarders who have destroyed their houses in that at least her lot was worth something. I believe that the U.S. has bubonic plague deaths every year or every few years or so, primarily in the areas around the Navajo Indian reservation. Had no idea that it spread there from San Francisco though, so thanks for the history MyBrainHurts. Agree that doll lady's family was a just a big massive heap of dysfunction. Quite frankly, if I had to face all of those doll faces everywhere in the house, (no escape!), I'd hit the bottle too. I work on a college campus so the hair didn't phase me. I just thought that it was odd that both mother and daughter basically had the same hair colors, though. She should be selling the dolls, 2-3 boxes at a time, every few months or so. She'd have a nice boost in her income. Sadly, we all know that is not going to happen.

I enjoyed the film, but missed the group numbers from the first one. Their last hurrah performances were lacking, I thought. I didn't mind that it meandered a bit. Road movies are supposed to do that. It was an enjoyable night out. And, yes, I'd probably shell out good money to see a third one. It may not be doing as well as the first because some of the novelty has worn off. The budget was low enough that I'm sure that it is still quite profitable.

bubbls--what was the title of the other Columbine book? I've read the Cullen book. What misrepresentations did he make? One of the main things that I pulled from the book was how much the media had gotten the story wrong. Also how some of the victims had false memories of what happened (judging by the security cameras in the school). This was an event that would be devastating to read about no matter how the book was written. Just so awful, all the way around.

Wow, WhiteStumbler, I never thought of that one. However, the Faerie has no problem in manipulating people who are alive, such as Stephen, so killing off Childermass might be unnecessary. Is that a part of the episode that I missed? (Must watch whole episode On Demand soon). Has the show said that the Faerie is the actual Raven King?

Creepy Wormtongued Puck! I love it. Reading the book, but am perennially behind the show by a few chapters, so the shooting of Childermass was quite a surprise. If not for the experience with Lady Poole, I would think that Norrell would be the one to resurrect Childermass--he really hates to be inconvenienced by much of anything and Childermass took care of so many day to day things. However, I don't think that he would try such a spell again after the Lady Poole disaster. I'm not sure that Strange would have any reason to resurrect Childermass either (and he seemed somewhat shaken by his experience with the dead soldiers), so I assume that if Childermass does indeed die, he will stay that way. Question--I missed part of the episode and wasn't following everything--was it Creepy Wormtongued Puck who tipped Childermass off about the approach of Lady Poole? The scene can be read several ways: Childermass, using his own magical abilities and no one else's, picked up on the approach of Lady Poole and saved Norrell's life Childermass, is given a hint by the Faerie, so that Norrell, whom he wishes to use, will be saved Childermass is given a hint by the Faerie, with the full intention of getting Childermass killed and out of the way.

Oh! I've been following this case for years. Thanks so much for mentioning this. I hope that the book covers the trial. Agree about the hip waders--for a seemingly decent, laid back guy, Joseph McStay was surrounded by grifters and family members who seemed to go out of their way to act suspiciously. There were a LOT of suspects in the disappearance/murders.

Finished Devil's Knot. The fact that the prosecutor, police and judge still see nothing wrong in their investigation and the trial was particularly galling. Books like this reaffirm my opposition to the death penalty--not because some people don't deserve it, but because it is much easier than people think to convict an innocent person. OK. Off soapbox now. I first read Helter Skelter when I was 12 (scared the hell out of me---that, and the tv movie). I recently re-read it and it still holds up. The book that came out last year, Manson, was also quite good and can be considered a companion piece to HS. It covers Manson's childhood and his family situation (and no, his mother wasn't a prostitute that traded him away for a beer like he claimed). It also covers in great depth the formation of the Manson Family and his repeated attempts to break into the music business. In reality, he had more connections and demo help than most people back in that era. It's my impression that the Helter Skelter theory of the case is now viewed as just one of many factors that led to the murders. On a more cheerful note, reading Ron Chernow's Hamilton, in preparation for seeing the musical this fall. Hamilton's energy exhausts me--he went from being a penniless orphan in the Caribbean to George Washington's right hand man during the Revolution over the course of just a few years. And that was just for starters. Not near finished yet. And on the theme of survival stories, has anyone read Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad? He survived a plane crash on a snowy mountain as an 11 year old. Most of the book is about his father, who pushed him to take risks and excel at surfing and skiing. His father unwittingly gave him the survival skills to survive the crash and make his way down the mountain.

I'm convinced that McCandless had some sort of mental breakdown. Not that he was insane, but that his thinking was disordered. His naivete certainly bordered on mental illness. But he was also trying to test himself, I think. Currently reading Devil's Knot about the West Memphis 3 case. Very well written, but I can only read a chapter or so at a time, as the whole situation makes me so angry.

Well we mustn't get too greedy. Compared to G.R.R. Martin, he's a speed writer. Imagine if we had to wait 3-5 years for each book!

I wish that someone would do a miniseries on Hamilton--he had an extremely dramatic life, filled with highs and lows. Of course, there's always the new musical. Rufus Sewell did a good job in John Adams, but he didn't look anything like the historical figure. I enjoyed the scene where Hamilton had to explain the basics of economics to a supercilious Jefferson. I agree about Dillane. Best Jefferson that I've seen. I quite enjoyed Giamati's performance as well.

Just started reading the book, but decided to watch the show anyway, even though it will spoil the plot. Unfortunately, I had a lot of trouble with hearing/understanding the dialog, particularly with Vinculus. I could only understand one word in ten of his speeches. I got the part about there being two magicians left in England, but then he spoke something about failing or failure. Also, despite the fact that there are supposedly only the two magicians, Vinculus apparently has some sort of magical ability himself that enables him to identify them by sight. Loved the fact that the Magician's Guild got around their lack of magic by pretending that it was really more of a trade and nothing that a real gentleman would be involved with. I agree--that wig, and his pinched little face. Didn't the Elf or whatever he was, lift up the wig? I'm having a hard time picturing Norrell and Strange having anything to do with each other--their personalities are so different.