Happy Easter!

Despite the gnarly deep snow outside, it is Easter Sunday, one of my favorite holidays.  I like the pageant of The Church at this time of year and find it renewing, even in times when I don't attend.

I love the pastel colors which mean happiness in my color spectrum.

I love the Easter Bunny, especially if he stays out of my garden.

Crochety About Crochet

I hosted a class recently on beginning crochet and had my own supplies with me in the hopes of getting a start on some old projects.   I do not, needless to say have The Touch.   I shot this at a sleepy and frustrated 1 a.m.

Novels in Translation

We have had the "Foreign Language Authors" assignment at the library for as long as I remember.

In desperation at one point, (in the glory days when we were allowed to make booklists and recommended reading lists for the public) I made up a Foreign Authors List with the author, title and country the work was originally published in because these foreign authors could not be from Great Britain. I had to make sure:

The books needed to be readable by high school students.

We needed to own copies of the book at our branch.

Here is the list with additions of novels anyone might like regardless of age and needer, needer, ownership is ethereal.

Achebe, Chinua               Things fall apart                                       Nigeria

Allende, Isabelle              House of the spirits                                  Chile

Allende, Isabelle              Kingdom of the Golden Dragon                Chile

Allende, Isabelle              City of the beasts                                     Chile

Anyi, Wang                     Baotown                                                   China

Balzac, Honore De          Cousin Bette                                            France

Calvino, Italo                   If on a winter's night a traveller                  Italy

Camus, Albert                 The Stranger                                             France

Cervantes, Miguel           Don Quixote                                              Spain

Coelho, Paulo                  The Alchemist                                          Portugal

Dangarembga, Tsitsi       Nervous conditions                                  Zimbabwe

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor     Crime and Punishment                              Russia

Dumas, Alexandre           Count of Monte Cristo                              France

Dumas, Alexandre           Three Musketeers                                     France

Dumas, Alexandre           The Man in the Iron mask                       France

Emecheta, Buchi             The Joys of motherhood                          Nigeria

Flaubert, Gustav              Madame Bovary                                       France

Funke, Cornelia               Inkheart                                                    Germany

Garcia Marquez, Gabriel  One hundred years of solitude                Columbia

Garcia Marquez, Gabriel  Love in the time of cholera                    Columbia

Gogol, Nickolai               Dead souls                                              Russia

Grass, Gunter                 The Tin drum                                            Germany

Hesse, Herman               Siddhartha                                               Germany

Hoeg, Peter                    Smilla's sense of snow                             Denmark

Hugo, Victor                   Hunchback of Notre Dame                        France

Hugo, Victor                   Les Miserables                                         France

Japrisot, Sebastien          A Very Long Engagement                        France

Jensen, Carsten               We the drowned                                       Denmark

Kafka, Franz                   The Trial                                                   Germany

Kafka, Franz                   The Metamorphosis                                  Germany

Kincaid, Jamaica             Annie John                                               Antigua

Kundera, Milan                Unbearable lightness of being                   Czechoslovakia

Lem, Stanislaw                Solaris                                                     Poland

Leroux, Gaston               Phantom of the opera                               France

Mahfuz, Najib                  Akhenaten, dweller in truth                        Egypt

Malraux, Andre                Man's fate                                                France

Mann, Thomas                The Magic mountain                                 Germany

Mann, Thomas                Demian, the story of Emil Sinclair's youth  Germany

Markandaya, Kamala       Nectar in a sieve                                       India

Mishima, Yukio                 Temple of the Golden Pavilion                Japan

Murakami, Haruki             The Windup Bird Chronicle                     Japan

Murasaki, Shikibu            The Tale of Genji                                      Japan

Nabokov, Vladimir           Invitation to a Beheading                         Russia

Naipaul V. S.                  A Bend in the river                                    Trinidad

Nesbo, Jo                         The Redbreast                                            Norway

Pamuk, Orhan                 My name is red                                           Turkey

Puig, Manual                  Kiss of the Spider Woman                          Argentina

Orczy, Baroness             The Scarlet Pimpernel                               France

Pasternak, Boris             Doctor Zhivago                                        Russia

Perez-Reverte, Arturo      Captain Alatriste                                         Spanish

Proust, Marcel                Swann's way                                            France

Remarque, Erich Maria    All quiet on the western front                     Germany

Rolvaag, Ole                   Giants in the Earth                                    Norway

Sholokov, Mikhail           And quiet flows the Don                           Russia

Sienkiewicz, Henry K.      Quo Vadis                                               Poland

Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr  One day in the life of Ivan Denisovitch      Russia

Stendahl                         The Red and the Black                              France

Tolstoy, Leo                   War and Peace                                         Russia

Tolstoy, Leo                   Anna Karenina                                          Russia

Tolstoy, Leo                   Death of Ivan Ilych                                   Russia

Turgenev, Ivan                Fathers and sons                                        Russia

Undset, Sigrid                 The Bridal Wreath                                     Norway

Vargas Llosa, Mario        The War of the end of the world              Peru

Verne, Jules                    Around the world in eighty days               France

Verne, Jules                    20,000 leagues under the sea                    France

Verne, Jules                    Journey to the center of the earth              France

Verne, Jules                    The Mysterious island                               France

Voltaire                           Candide                                                     France

Werfel, Franz                  Song of Bernadette                                  Germany

Zafon, Carlos Ruiz         Shadow of the Wind                                 Spain

Zola, Emile                     Germinal                                                  France

There is a annual award  The Best Translated Book Award you may wish to follow for further good reading.

Discussion Questions: A Daughter of Time

Cleaning off a Flash drive.... I always carry a Flash drive on my lanyard and it is handy but often full.  I even had to lend it to a program presenter recently when her own wouldn't work.  Tsk, would there be room and would she be gooning my Flash contents and be thinking hmmmm.  Not that I have Racy Beagle in Bikini photos or anything...

Click to enlarge!

D.O.A. Doggies

As I say in this clip, they really are bad doggies.  One of them ate something purple and hacked it up on the carpet upstairs whilst I was relaxing watching Survivor.  Cannot imagine from the "remains" what it was.

Ask D.O.A.: Name That Title

So a middle grade boy comes in with his mom at the end of the night and he wants a book he read before "about a kid who plays baseball and there is lots of rain."    There's a toughie.

I managed to get out of him that the kid was a pitcher on his team.

So I Googled  "baseball books for kids pitcher rain".    Voila!  A booklist from B & N   had the book cover and description of Rainmaker by Kevin markey (Super Sluggers Series.)  AND it was on the shelf!   I personally was impressed, though the kid and his mom seemed to take it for granted.

The fourth and final book in Markey’s rollicking Super Sluggers series after Slumpbuster, Wall Ball, and Wing Ding, will certainly fail to disappoint. Penned in much the same quick-witted and giggle-worthy style as the others, the crux of this latest edition concerns the catastrophic effects of rain on the game in more ways than one. After four years of playing together, you’d think the Rounders had the chutzpah to take anything standing up and still win. But an especially wet season (not to mention the pitcher Slingshot Slocum’s inability to forget mastering a split-finger curveball and snap out of his funk) threatens to wreck the team’s chances of beating their long-time rivals, the Haymakers. What’s more, the team’s confidence is nearly ruined when their ill-fated rafting trip (remember: a lot. of. rain.) sends them careening down the river and into underwater caves at top speeds. Teamwork saves the day in both situations and readers will cheer, once again, for Markey’s quirky storytelling capabilities. Ages 8-12

Revolution: The Stand (Spoiler City)

After a three month long hiatus, Revolution returned tonight with guns blazing.  Somehow Monroe was able to power one, then two helicopters and send them to decimate rebel bases. 

The first base was taken down by a single helicopter in a matter of moments.  It has gatling type guns and rocket launchers.

The second base was the Rebel headquarters in Annapolis.  Two helicopters were sent there.  I have to assume they flew as near to each other as possible to be powered by the amulet in Monroe's possession. 

Once again I have to wonder at the unlikelihood of the fuel being viable and ready in the copters after 15 years, plus the availability of trained pilots and crew.

That aside, Neville's son Jason had a falling out with his psycho dad and refused to fight with him further.  Neville gave him the trademark Captain Neville pounding and left him for dead, even telling Monroe he is dead.

Jason was able to warn Charlie and crew about the impending arrival of Monroe's forces.  The Rebels decided to make a stand, fanning out fighters in front of their building in hopes of shooting the pilots and crew.

Meanwhile, Rachel and Miles head off to get some serious gunpower from a fellow of Rachel's nearby.  It turns out her friend is a Very Odd Duck who makes guns and weaponry as a hobby.  He is nervous and weasly because he turns out to be in mysterious Government Dude Randall's pocket.  He takes out Miles and Rachel with a sonic device then calls in Randall.

Our buddy Randall has Grace, poor put upon kidnapped Grace working on trying to get an elevator working in the deep underground power source sort of place they're in.  Turns out he needs to get down to the twelfth level.  Grace is left in the care of a giant sleezo of a guy who she seems to fear even more than she does Randall.

Let's hope Grace is rescued next episode.

Meanwhile, back at Rebel headquarters, the helicopters begin the attack.  Just in the nick Rachel and Miles fly in with their horse drawn wagon  (like you can keep Miles and Rachel tied to a chair), and Miles aims at a helicopter with a big a** gun. 

Unfortunately, the other copter shoots and knocks him down, and Danny runs bravely and gets the big gun and takes both copters out.  He is exposed however and one of the copters sprays him with bullets before it goes kablooie, and all of the efforts of our small band to find and rescue him are for naught, he is dead.

Plots inside of plots, we see Monroe all whiny and boo hooey at his headquarters after losing his copters.  Never fear, Randall has just driven up in a Cutlass and offers to help him, toady gun maker in tow.

In a last scene Rachel visit's Danny's body and tells him she loves him to the moon and back, just as she had right before his Randall arranged surgery (which theoretically helped his asthma condition).

Then she shockingly takes out a pen knife, raises his bloody shirt and makes an incision in the side of his chest.  Digging in, she pulls out a small tubular flashing light. 

In the previews for next week we see her heading to "The Tower" where she says she can turn the lights back on.  This is theoretically where Randall is holding Grace, I hope.  Grace deserves a break and I know Rachel can kill the giant toad guy guarding her.

Every episode which features lots of Elizabeth Mitchell time is a good episode, for me.  I think the acting for all cast is hugely better, the plot was tighter, it was a good return episode.

Other tidbits:

Aaron wanted to stop the revolution and go home now they were all together and they had Danny.  He also had plenty of questions for Rachel about her not being the ordinary housewife he had thought she was.

There was a wee moment of tension, dare we say romantic, between Miles and Rachel on the way to Mr. Odd Duck the Gun Lord's  place which she pushed off from.  Hmm, was Miles in love with his brother's wife lo those many years ago so he sent for her to "protect" her?  Tsk.  Separating her from her husband and kids, what a snake, no matter why he did it. 

Traveling Librarian: Erin and Paddy in Cambridge MN

I love seeing my favorite authors in person.  One of the very best is mystery author Erin Hart.

 

I traveled north last night to see her and her husband Paddy in Cambridge Minnesota.  There was this long thin packed-with-books store called Scout & Morgan. 

Chairs were set up at front near a fireplace.  Somehow they managed to fit in a projection screen and ran pictures from Paddy's book The Road from Castlebarnagh and then settings and objects from Erin's book The Book of Killowen.

That little store was just packed with people.  The store owner was just this lovely lady who handed out a glass of Guiness at the door. 

You can imagine the audience was relaxed and happy.  Afterwards there was a concert with Paddy and his button accordion and I'm sure Erin sang with that heavenly voice of hers.  I wasn't able to stay, and a look into the cafe next door where the concert would be let me know there really was no room for me and my big coat.  It was just packed like sardines in there.

I came away just smiling dreamily and thinking for the first time in my life how nice it would be to own a wondrous little bookstore and have authors and musicians in, plying the crowd with goodies and refreshments :)

If you are in this area, you should make an effort to see Erin and Paddy and snap up their new books.  I read a chapter or so of The Road from Castlebarnagh when I got home.  It is a memoir of his early days and musical roots.  It is written in a lovely conversational style as if he is sitting with you and telling you stories.

Where to see Erin and Paddy  Erin Hart Events

Feed Me

I know, I know.  I'm the only one who has these issues.  Still, when I thought about trying Feedly I pictured this:

I had to use Firefox (which I find annoying) and I had to download Feedly software before doing anything like signing up for an account...no option that I could see at all...but I got this:

It was trying to categorize my RSS Feed even though I hadn't give it one.  Doofus.  I understand the site is busy but it hasn't made a good first impression on me and for the nonce I will stick with Plan A.

Google Reader Saving My Favorites

Just as I was about to add some sites to my Google Reader list they announced this week they are getting rid of Google Reader in July.  There are apparently some alternatives but none look particularly appealing so far.

I want to save my sites, so my plan is to just open Google Reader, click on a post to go to the actual site and then save it to My Favorites in Internet Explorer.  Putzy but it is guaranteed that I will still be able to keep up with the many blogs and other sites I enjoy.

Grimm: Face Off

Last week another show that was inexplicably plucked from the air just when it was set to return from "fall hiatus" returned:  the ever entertaining Grimm.

Nick knew who was fooling with Juliette thanks to Monroe (who saw the Captain and Juliette smooching).  He had the BEST killer looks for the Captain as they investigated a crime scene Nick and Monroe had created themselves.  He looked the smallest inch from launching himself openly at the Captain.  The Captain did not miss seeing this but somehow seemed to be able to act as if he didn't notice.  Cool customer.

Rosalee has thankfully returned and with the help of Nick and Monroe she poured over tomes in her spice shop until she found something that could help Nick, Juliette and the Captain.  Something dire, of course!

The previews we saw of Juliette and the Captain going to town turned out to be a bit different in the episode.  The Captain and Juliette were drawn to each other but in a hateful violent way that neither could control and both loathed.

Meanwhile, Adalind was released from jail so the Captain could interrogate her freely.  Slinky former witch that she is, she talked Renard into doing the nasty with her to help satisfy his itch, and she insisted he do it in full hexenbeist mode. 

The Captain is only half hexenbeist so when he is transformed, only a portion of his face gets all zombie looking.  A bit disconcerting when we're used to all of those full blown transformations.

The best transformation in this episode was when  Renard used a wesen locksmith who could turn into an owl creature whose head fit in the lock of Aunt Marie's Trailer.  Once he was in there, he could see exactly which key on his gigantic keychain would fit the lock.

Nobody wants Nicks trailer to be pawed through by everyone that stops by.  Why isn't Nick moving that trailer elsewhere?

The Captain searches the trailer in wonder at the many tomes and weapons without finding the map key he needs.  Suddenly he pictures Nick furtively putting something in his desk at the precinct and voila, he goes there, openly rifles through and the key is his. 

He cleverly stamps the map onto a piece of paper and puts that in his own desk file.  He doesn't need the key, just the map.  You will recall this map leads to a weapon of incredible power, which is why everyone wants it.

I had been thinking Nick gave it to his mom, but that was the coins of power lust...

Renard, having been threatened by Adalind (despite the nookie) that she will expose him to Nick, decides to take matters in his own hands.  He meets Nick, gets thrashed by Nick, gives Nick the key.  Tidy.

At the last Nick, Renard and Juliette go to Rosalee's shop to try a potion which will end the absorption Renard and Juliette have with each other.  We see Nick lying in agony and crimson faced on the floor after a snork.

Before fadeout we see Adalind all smug in Austria with a positive pregnancy test.  Yes, apparently one dance with the captain in his hexenbeist form was enough to get a mini-hexenbeist started.  A witch would have this knowledge and you can take Adalind's powers away, but she is still the Witch of Witches.

My thought is, she want the leverage of  having Renard's child, and who knows, maybe bearing a hexenbeist produced by a hexenbeist will bring her powers back.  Maybe she eats the poor nipper or something to regain her powers.  Ewww, but not something she wouldn't do.  Bets are on that hexenbabies develop faster than the 9 months it takes for humans as a plot device.

Revolution Recap Clip

Fresh from the Revolution web site, a catchup clip in case BY CHANCE you forgot what the heck happened all those months ago.  The show returns Monday March 25. 

http://www.nbc.com/revolution/?__source=Reso_Revolution_MediaAds&hcoref=search&WT.srch=Google

Sherlock Season Three to Begin Filming

Filming for season three of the PBS series Sherlock begins filming on the 18th of March, great news for fans of the longer twistier version of Sherlock Holmes' adventures currently on television.  We probably won't see them in the US till late 2013 or early 2014, but at least we know it is coming.  Benedict Cumberbatch also revealed he and his Watson are signed for a fourth season.

Read more via the Washington Post.

Nancy Werlin's Unthinkable September 2013

Via Nancy Werlin on Facebook, here's the cover art and a description of her upcoming book Unthinkable.

Available for Pre-order :)

http://www.amazon.com/Unthinkable-Nancy-Werlin/dp/0803733739/

Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist

Looking for something good to read?  The Women's Prize for Fiction is an annual award and it "celebrates the very best full length fiction written by women throughout the world". Formerly the Orange Prize for Fiction.   I recognize a few of these, and many look intriguing!

http://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/2013-prize/longlist

Guild Wars 2: Clothing and Events

I spent a bit more time in Guild Wars 2.  I'm liking the world so far.  Got clothes, yay!  Took part in "nearby events", yo ho.

http://thelastchapterguild.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/guild-wars-2-onward/

DOA Wordle

Harkening back to 23 Things on a Stick, here is my blog in a Wordle word cloud.  All is revealed.

Click to enlarge!

Everyone Uses Them On the Line Nowadays...

We finally have the 1040 Instruction Books at the library.

They are the size of a hefty magazine so the government seems to delay printing them a bit longer every year for sketchy reasons, hoping to drive people to their web site www.irs.gov  to download and use them, thus saving printing costs.

Silly IRS.  Our customers:

Don't have Printers

Don't like getting things online

Think they have to print the whole thing even when they can just download it and read it onscreen ( they want the book in hand, don't like to read it on screen).

They can be quite caustic and disapproving of our efforts to help them get it RIGHT NOW, even though they refuse to take the simple steps that would put the book in their hands.  Sigh.  It's almost over...

Anywho, the post title comes from an older gentleman who was happy to hear we do have the books.  He said somewhat apologetically "I know everyone uses them On the Line nowadays".   You seldom hear people use the phrases "I need to get Online" or "On the Computer" (please don't smoosh it) anymore.  The charming phrase "On the Line" made me think of birds on the line, of course.

Waiting On Wednesday: Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin #2) by R. L. LaFevers

There is a website called Breaking the Spine which does a weekly feature called Waiting on Wednesday.  The blogger "Jill from Birmingham" lists a book she is waiting eagerly to see published and the description from Amazon.com.  

I thought hmmm I could do that.  The tricky part is she wants you to link to her site and join some vast hidden phalanx of other bloggers listing what they recommended.  Not quite sure how that part works.

My choice is Dark Triumph, second in the His Fair Assassin series.  I started reading R. L. Lafevers with her Nathaniel Fludd books and then picked up the Theodosia series when they came to my attention.  There is always a great deal of intelligence, arcane knowledge and heart in her stories.

Her new series is for teens and has more mature themes such as a heroine who is the daughter of the god of death and a trained assassin.  Within a nunnery in 1500's France.

Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin Trilogy)  To be released April 2, 2013

Amazon's description:

Sybella's duty as Death's assassin in 15th-century France forces her return home to the personal hell that she had finally escaped. Love and romance, history and magic, vengeance and salvation converge in this thrilling sequel to Grave Mercy.

Sybella arrives at the convent’s doorstep half mad with grief and despair. Those that serve Death are only too happy to offer her refuge—but at a price. The convent views Sybella, naturally skilled in the arts of both death and seduction, as one of their most dangerous weapons. But those assassin's skills are little comfort when the convent returns her to a life that nearly drove her mad. And while Sybella is a weapon of justice wrought by the god of Death himself, He must give her a reason to live. When she discovers an unexpected ally imprisoned in the dungeons, will a daughter of Death find something other than vengeance to live for?

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Hold the Presses! Twinkies May Return by Summer!

Let's face it.  We all want ONE MORE TASTE of that impossibly light, delicately sweet Hostess Twinkie.   That creamy inside.  Moist.  Break it open and eat the cream first?  Or just bite off a bit of heaven at a time?

According to CNN, Twinkie Frenzy may be back this summer, as two companies have purchased Hostess and are eager to get those babies back into production.  I'm going to buy one of everything!



http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/12/news/companies/twinkies-buyer/

Daniel Radcliffe's Guide to being Daniel Radcliffe

The two kids from the Harry Potter films who have their heads on straight and who are grandly talented are Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson. Via the Bookshelves of Doom, here's how Daniel does it.

A PSA for Ye Fellow Arthritis Folks

Rain going right to your knees, bunky?  You're walking along or standing and you get the old screwdriver to the back of the knee or...it feels like your knees are in a vice?  Yow!  Better yet you're walking along and a sharp electric jolt goes through the entire knee and eeek...it's Facetime with you and the ground.

Remember when you were a kid and some crone told you they could feel a storm coming on in their knees or hands and you thought oooohhhh cool.  Nope.

Forget all those surgery dealies.  First up walk walk on those nasty boys.  Just in case you are carrying an extra pound or so it will help.  Also it will help keep your knee muscles from disintegrating like some alien nailed you with a death ray.

These food will help fight the inflammation that causes you to do the screwdriver to the knee shuffle:

Broccoli
Brussel Sprouts
Cauliflower
Blueberries
Strawberries
Tumeric
Ginger
Green Tea
Sweet Potatoes
Walnuts
Dark Leafy Greens

Assume all the foods you like are going to swell you up like a balloon:

Sugar
Wheat
Meat
Dairy Products

That should get you on the road to Knee Nirvana.