... well, yeah.

Something of the sort, I guess.

So anyway, I'd decided to set out on my own in business at the beginning of this year and things were moving along nicely and as planned (lots to do, but nothing truly unforeseen), when precisely in the matter that is allowing me to finally do my own thing in the first place, and which has already been eating up the major part of my work time even at ordinary times for the past few years, the tribunal hearing the matter in question decided to do a short-notice-180-degree switch flip on the ground rules for the evidentiary hearing (aka trial) in early June that we'd been preparing for, and then in short order, evidently not satisfied with already having us do double overtime to adapt to the new and completely reversed ground rules, decided to do a backwards 180-degree switch flip at even shorter notice, making everybody and everything run full circle and now making us all do triple overtime.  So, at some point in late January (when the first switch flip occurred) I found myself reduced to curtailing all non-work-related activities ... even reading, believe it or not.  The only thing that kept me sane during the almost six months from then 'till now was a regular diet of audio recordings of some of my favorite comfort reads, chiefly ingested on the way to and from meetings, with Tolkien and Golden Age mysteries making up the stock of said literary diet; as well as the decision to reward myself with a London and Stratford-upon-Avon shopping trip as soon as the June hearing was over. (Separate post on that trip to come.)  Oh, and a certain amount of frustration purchases from my book wishlist ... not that I've touched even one of these shiny newly-ordered books so far, but somehow even receiving, unpacking and adding them to my physical TBR pile made my life feel better, if only for a few brief moments.

In addition to all of which, I let myself get talked into adopting one of our local animal shelter's "experienced owners only" special needs cats -- goes to show what happens if, in dire need of cuddly creatures and kitty love, you innocently inquire about a pair of kittens that have, alas, been decided to go to other new parents in the interim.  He's extremely bright, but has evidently grown up as a stray, is totally unused to (and distrustful of) humans -- hair trigger default communication mode: monster hiss and razor-sharp claws ... so much for the "cuddly creatures and kitty love" thing -- and has been diagnosed as FIV positive to boot (though the virus is expected to remain dormant for years to come, and lke most HIV positive humans, he will probably die of a secondary illness eventually). It was quite a while until he was finally ready to come home with me, and for the moment he's taken up residence under my bed, so right now I only have photos of him taken while he was still at the shelter, but anyway, here's my beautiful and special new four-pawed boy:

They named him Horst at the shelter, which is empahtically not a name I would have chosen myself ... for him or any other cat, period.  I'm taking my time coming up with a new name, though -- for the time being, he's simply my Miezekater (literally: "pussy tomcat" or "male pussycat" ... I swear, it sounds decidedly less ridiculous in German than it does in English), a pet name that he has started to respond to and seems to like.

Incidentally, during my self-enforced absence I finally bit the bullet and created a rudimentary Twitter presence ... haven't tweeted a single time myself, yet, but in default of enough time to indulge in newspapers, the major news organizations' headline feed at least made sure I didn't completely fall off the planet as far as awareness of major goings-on was concerned.  And I figured that while I was there, I might as well follow those of you whose Twitter IDs the software recognized and actually suggested me to follow ... if I've missed anyone, or if you would like to follow back, my Twitter ID is (you'd never have guessed this) @ThemisAthena (https://twitter.com/ThemisAthena).

Well, in any event, I'm very happy that this site and this community is still around and here to come back to!  Not necessarily a given, after last year's woes ...

Glad to be back, and I hope you're all doing well!!!

Merken

Merken

Merken

This was terrible. I am so mad that I even wasted my time finishing this book. I really should have DNF it at 25 percent, but I am a perverse reader sometimes and finished the book.

Nothing makes sense.

Petra (VI's cousin from Hardball) is back in this one and still the most annoying character ever. She and Mr. Contreras are awful. I think at one point VI says that he (Mr. Contreras) is in his 90s and I hope we have a book soon with him dying. I am just over him. He's worthless.

And at this point, VI is 50 or almost 50 and her picking a fight with the police or anyone in authority is getting old. In fact, it is old at this point.

The main plot is convoluted and there's a whole lot of coincidences to even have things make sense. I think the worst part for me was the ending though. I just rolled my times about a million times. It was crap and I have to say it was really stupid how VI brings all the parties together a la Poirot to get someone to spontaneously confess. The next book does this mess too and it just seems a lazy way to end a book.

There is a lot of people telling VI things and her telling people things and I think a couple hundred pages could have been cut and it would not have affected this book one way or the other.

I have been reading this series with huge breaks in between. That means, every time I start a new book from it. I am surprised anew by Dexter’s razor sharp wit and the efforts he puts into seeming “normal”. It is a good way to read this series, if you ask me. You can see both qualities in his character being used to their fullest this way. Look at the following two examples. These are from a part of the book where Dexter is called to the scene of murder of a cop. I love how hard he struggles to appear like the rest of the people and how much he has to work on things that most of us take for granted:

The reason that I didn’t rate this book higher is the fact that Dexter’s monologues never seem to end. This technique works in some places and completely bombs in others.

This was as much fun as I hoped it’d be. Of course, I imagined Tom Hiddleston’s voice to be Loki’s as I read the book. Loki is charming, detestable, and pathetic in turns as he narrates his own story. He also kinda has a point lol For instance, here’s what he had to say about the other deities:

 The humor is threaded into the story well, so it keeps you from actually feeling the horror when horrifying things happen. Life and death don’t really matter when you are immortal-ish. The quote below describes the death of a hunter who dared to defy the Asgardians (who are described as pensioners in it):

I also learned a new word:

Loki’s Image

Boy, this was a painful read! Not because it wasn’t good; quite the opposite. You will find my detailed review here if you’re interested.

This book started off well but became too repetitive after a while. Here are some of the quotes that I liked:

There are some beautiful descriptions, as well. Here is one such passage where the author describes the effect of moonlight on the jungle:

We need daylight and to that extent it is utilitarian, but moonlight we do not need. When it comes, it serves no necessity. It transforms. It falls upon the banks and the grass, separating one long blade from another; turning a drift of brown, frosted leaves from a single heap to innumerable flashing fragments; or glimmering lengthways along wet twigs as though light itself were ductile.

I think Bigwig was one character who showed a lot of growth as the story progressed. He went from being just the brawn around the leader to a rabbit who started thinking for himself. One of the many funny exchanges between Bigwig and Hazel is featured below:

Here’s a picture that reminded me of Bigwig:

This one was about Dexter having an affair with a movie star while being married to Rita. I liked two things about this instalment in the series:

One, we get to really “see” how much of a sociopath Dexter is. He doesn’t feel sorry for going against his marriage vows. Also, the only reason he goes to save his daughter is that somebody tried to take something away from him.

Two, we are shown more about Astor being exactly like Dexter. She doesn’t feel, loves the power she has over a pedophile, and expresses minimal sorrow over Rita’s death.

I have also started to worry about Dexter’s youngest now. With Rita gone, what kind of a persin will she grow up into? Did she ever have a chance to be a human being with feelings? Interesting thoughts!

It would be a rare Roald Dahl book written for kids that I wouldn’t enjoy. The Witches wasn’t one of them. I loved how the grandmother dealt with every twist with aplomb. Kinda reminded me of my own grandmother who isn’t with us anymore.

I found the part where the little boy is reassured that he won’t outlive his grandmother and says this:

One of the best things about RD’s books is how “real” they seem. The example above seems so natural; grandkids are insanely in love with their grandparents. Another example is something that many of us have felt on one occasion or the other. It is from a scene where the boy watches a doorman whistle:

Oh, and I found an instance of “greased lightning” in the book! Lol

The series came to an end with this book. I must say that this instalment annoyed me a lot. Dexter bumbled around like an idiot through most of it. I kept thinking that the author was going to give us a reason behind Dexter’s stupidity: mass hallucination, flouridation of the public water supply, anything! Didn’t happen. Even so, I am glad I stuck with the series until the end.

Two things that I liked:

One, mention of a certain cartoon that Astor and Cody were watching, featuring a platypus. I am going to assume it is this one:

and because there would be no Perry without them, these guys:

Two, Dexter’s thoughts when he gets into his lawyer’s Bentley:

This is why I will always be a fan of Dexter’s razor sharp wit!

So far so good for the month of May. Here’s what is happening in June:

This book will mark the end of my Work Bingo. I hope it is as good as the first one was!

I enjoyed this book although it took a while to get into the story. I received this book for free and voluntarily chose to review it. My problem was keeping all the characters sorted. There were so many characters. This story did have a lot of action and interesting things going on. And although there were a lot of characters, they seemed to weave altogether. So this was part fun, part action and interaction and a real interesting ending.

No word. Horrible book. Wasted trees. 

For more details. Read Moonlight Reader's post. 

http://moonlightreader.booklikes.com/post/1562234/who-spends-their-days-white-knighting-ivanka-trump