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I've just become Tracy M. Hall's friend in Amazon. I accepted the invitation. I'm not quite sure what this entails. She seems to find 3 people "intersting." And 2 of us have accepted her invitation to be her Amazon friend. Perhaps she's just lonely. I studied the other 2 people she found interesting. Their profiles weren't large--as profiles in Amazon go--- but they were indeed unusual. One of them seems to be into carpentry. Al least his Listmania includes lathes and drills . . . I heard 2 interesting songs today which I may buy on eTunes. A Christina Aguilera song called "Ain't No Other Man." She has a powerful throat. Certainly a better singer than that Britney Spears who's voice seems breathy and wheezy and mostly sound effects. And there's this rap song which resonated with me. Probably just the beat because the lyrics included something about "shaking your moneymakers." Who would have thunk?
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I had great hopes for this book. The title was intriguing; the premise--- original. But I think the writer lost his way . . . about 3 quarters into the book. The prose itself is wonderfully wrought and the images described are unforgettably vivid. Some standouts is the description of the child ghost: Jessica who haunted her mother and freely interacted with a living child. The fact that she was drowned figures greatly in how she is seen. And the writing is so crystal-clear that I could practically smell her . . . I imagined sea urchins, snails and rotting Sargasso seaweed. The scene where she manifested her deterioration in the sea after death was particularly dreadful! In a Classic Horror --- sort of way. (This is a compliment.) Kenneth Harvey is gifted. For me, there is no doubt. His character development , most evident in characters who had the Sight: Tom Quilty, an artist savant, Miss Laracy and Robin--- was outstanding. And his attention to detail in the physical world in this book . . . is beyond the painful ability of most writers. His writing is just too beautiful for words. But I think he couldn't figure out how to write the resolution of his tale? I am still puzzled as to the source of the villagers' illness. And how the illness affected their environment. I read how they appeared to be cured but it seemed incomplete somehow. It was unsatisfying. It felt as if the author was just trying to close the book. The big event at the end of the book just seemed contrived. A device to finish the story. A unruly knot to close the thread I will read the writer's next book. In hope that his next tale's denouement will improve. Because the other elements of his writing skills are top-notch!! 3 and a Half Stars for allowing me the pleasure of reading this book at least 3 quarters of the way.
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Mom asked me to water the rose bushes and the hydrangeas. She said she felt tired. I told her she never had to water anything; she knew I watered the plants almost everyday when I come home from work. Sometimes, the idea that Mom might not get well, strikes me, as it did today. She is receiving chenotherapy through an outpatient IV. She has this large bandage on her arm which partially covers a bag of the drug that is treating her liver cancer. THey went to the oncologist yesterday. Dad didn't think there was much improvement. I didn't speak to my mom but her conversation with my sister was much more optimistic. She declared she didn't understand what the doctor said! But that he wanted her to get a C-Scan in 2 weeks. I like to think that he was not as alarmed as I am feeling if he schedules a scan in 2 WEEKS! At any rate, we are faxing the findings to a physician friend of my mom in Florida . . . to explain the strange terms. Mom is strong. I remember when her treatment was changed from pill form to IV . . . . she was so tired that she never even got out of bed. They lowered the dosage and she's much better. But I worry if the tumor is growing. They don't want to cut it from her liver because surgery tends to "wake up" the cancer and it spreads. (This liver cancer appears to be related to the breast cancer she had over 10 years ago. Metastasized? ) She presently has half a breast. Sometimes she jokes that she should have had everything removed because it still hurts when she gets a mammogram. Bloody things are painful as hell. Crikey! We all get mammograms together. Mom and myself and my twin! A family affair. We don't have much between the 3 of us. It is what it is!
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I've decided to insert my Amazon book reviews into LibraryThing.com. I only have one spotlight review for Heat. Which is sort of pinned to the top of all the book reviews. But the rest of my reviews are never read because there's so many other reviews. Have you counted how many reviews there are for Harry Potter? I can't tell you how incredible it felt to have one of my reviews chosen as a Spotlight Review. I must have printed 20 copies (in case it disappeared . . . because sometimes Amazon will remove your review in favor of some other review that they think will sell more books). I mailed one to my parents, my godmother, my brother in Tampa, Florida and kept 15 copies for myself . . . to hoard them under my bed and read them when I'm 90. (Call it --- my legacy! Gawd, sometimes I'm so pathetic. But its sort of one teensy spot that is mine --- on the vast universe of the Internet.
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I just added 24 more books to LibraryThing.com. I am debating whether I should add my 20 unread books which are sitting on my drawing table. Separate from the books sitting in the living room which I know I shall read. Sometime this year because there may be 30 books out there (including my sister's.) I ought to because I'll never catch up to the thousands of books that some of the members have catalogued. I have catalogued 375 books or so. I seriously doubt if these people have read 4,000 books.
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Well, this is terrible. My masterpiece of a post has disappeared into the ether. Where do these autosaved drafts go? Its 103 degrees outside (perhaps now its 98 degrees and I've been typing for nearly an hour) and my dog, Squit, is lying between my feet, worrying my flip flops with his needle teeth. I am working at my computer (Sean Connery as Richard the Lionheart is my screen saver-- don't ask.) on a fold down desk -- vintage 1989 Pottery Barn. There is a fax machine next to my monitor which hasn't worked since I got my DSL line. To the left of my keyboard is an LED flashlight (used to spot H.L. Baudelaire Squit's turds. Yes, Squit, our purebred Maltese has been inadvertently trained to relieve himself on the $1300 Turkish rug . . . hence the flashlight and the row of poster boards surrounding the dining room table . . . to bar Squit from his toilet. To the left of my keyboard is several Pilot Precise pens in violet, green and blue. Packets of flower food and Sweet 'n Low. A dyed chunk of coral. A yellow highlighter. A pin commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the VA. An Israeli stamp for my Japanese friend at work. Masao -- a math savant but a file clerk at the VA. And there's my grubby mouse atop an unwashed mousepad depicting Ogame Itto, masterless ronin or more famously Lone Wolf and Cub. There's a post-it of my passwords to Animation Factory and a fading inkjet picture of my boss from 5 years ago. (The bastard is now divorced due to his last infidelity with a madwoman. But that's another story.) On my fax machine are junk mail, a $25 Amazon gift certificate and mailing labels --- courtesy of the SPCA. (Its rather an effective advertising ruse to get you to donate to their cause. And it works.)
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Good grief! How do I create paragraph breaks??
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I have 2 books in hand: The Best of Feynman which is stories taken from several tomes on Richard Feynman like: "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman." Dad wants to read the book so I'm in a bit of a hurry because I think he's running out of books. October 26, his birthday, is a month and a half way. I have 2 Barnes & Noble cards (Total: $200) and 3 books: Harvard Rules, The Devil's Teeth (about great white sharks) and a book by Bill Bryson called "I'm A Stranger Here Myself".
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I've discovered this website called LibraryThing.com where I can catalog all my books online, So far, I have catalogued 193 books which appear to be nothing compared to the thousands of books, some readers have posted. Its incredible. I know I have read thousands of books but do I want to put all of them online? |
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I'm here. Testing 1 , 2, 3 . . .
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Gone Current mood: sad Category: Pets and Animals We let him go. Goliath died yesterday, 6:42pm on the vet's table. It's been nearly a year since he was diagnosed with lymphoma. There was a large lump in his groin neck then . . . he recommended chemo after he removed the tumor. (The tumor looked like 2 black quails' eggs.) We couldn't afford the treatment. Instead we sent away for antioxidant herbal drugs from Australia. He lived for a year. And until 4 weeks ago, he was his same chipper self. He developed a urinary tract infection which antibiotics couldn't cure. (Even though he had stopped dribbling urine, he now seemed incontinent and he started walking stiff-legged.) The 2 days ago, we found him laying on hs side, his tongue almost blue. The vet gave him oxygen; it revived him but he wasn't able to stand up. He couldn't be lifted by holding his chest. There was a large tumor in his chest cavity. The X-Rays showed his lungs obscured by something white . . . But wait, there's more. We couldn't see his kidneys either. More of the same. So we decided it was time for him to go on to dog heaven. (Although he was a bit of a nipper; but spoiled males usually are.) He already had a catheter so the vet just inserted the vial on his IV drip. He managed a lick on my knuckles and then his eyes closed. It was hard to tell if he was really dead. But the vet listened to his chest. He was gone. I will miss him. He was with us for only 4 years. I'll miss his dear little face always begging for food as I watched TV with my dinner plate on my knees. I'll miss giving him his chicken breast jerky treats as I drink my daily glass of soy milk. His face appearing every morning on the side of my bed, his paws on the comforter. (Time for his peepee session before I go to work.) The overturned garbage cans in the house as he retrieves napkins, tissues, candy wrappers and cotton balls and hides them under Mom's bed. I'll miss the snoring furball sprawled on my feet. And the baths in the backyard. Well . . . almost baths since we are usually running after him with a hose, hoping some water gets on him. Goodbye, Goliath. We will miss you. We've had a great run, you little mutt! Only 4 years though. So short a stay. Why is that?? I don't know. I haven't thrown away your bed or your toys. They're in a basket in the garage. But some of your pictures have joined Killer's on the fridge. So I can pretend for a little while that you're still here. Just for a little while. |
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MySpace is so persnickety. I keep getting the 404 error pages everytime I try to post. Couldn't sleep last night. Went to bed at midnight and stayed awake until 3:00 when I got the bright idea of damping my head with tap water. That worked but by then I had finished Adam Fawer's Improbable. I highly recommend this book. Its about this man who can see all possible futures. Its just unlike any thriller I've ever read. Some fascinating lectures too on when its worth it -- to buy a lottery ticket! Its a paperback already but you can get it used on Amazon for less than 8 dollars. I'm on the 12th page of Ilium . . . and its a bit of a slog. It weighs a pound and a half and its a paperback. I think its set on a planet where a few scholars have been cloned and are watching the outcome of the siege of Troy. The requisite gods and goddesses are around and about too, tampering with Homer. Its an ambitious read. I don't read a lot of science fiction but since I was fond of the Iliad and the Odyssey, I thought I might give this a shot. Besides it too hot to do anything else. So I lie prone on the sofa with my ever-ready scissors . . . in case the dog comes by. (I did find the turtle today in the backyard. So I hosed him with water and gave him a quarter of a banana and some hamburger.) And there's rice in the rice cooker and Spam on the frying pan! I might try to move the sofa closer to the ceiling fan. I tried watching a DVD but I keep falling asleep. |
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amused
creative
melancholy
cynical
thoughtful
intimidated
exanimate