I withdraw what I said earlier about James lee Burke's Swan Peak being disappointing. I finished listening to it yesterday as I spent 10 hours driving from Tennessee to Baltimore (an hour or so in dense fog at both ends.) SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!The character introduced as a depraved bully and for whom I could see no redemption, became the man on whom I pinned hopes at the end. At some point I realized he was our hero David Robicheaux with a slightly different childhood. His violence was not different from Robicheaux's, but his primary victims were. The novel made me question my previous acceptance of Robicheaux's violence as nasty but necessary. The novel does strike me as the final David Robicheaux installment. Carolyn, I know you read it. What did you think? SPOILER OVER I also finished Wodehouse's The Code of the Woosters which had me laughing aloud.

Oh, I am so very sad to hear of Colleen McCullough's passing. Several decades ago I read The Thorn Birds and enjoyed it. Little did I know what awaited her readers - several years ago I discovered her 7-volume Masters of Rome series and loved those books! She simply overwhelms with her knowledge of the Roman Republic and her research ability and her talent for inventive plots that make her characters live. One could travel in Italy for a year with only her books as guides! She had a btilliant mind. What a loss. Now I've put aside the reading that I think I should be reading (Joan Didion, Rebecca West, some serious non-fiction) and am enjoying Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series. Taking a break from John Sandford's Lucas Davenport series, which do sometimes venture into the creepy, but he has some delicious plots. Before that I liked J.A. Jance, both Beau Beaumont in Seattle and Sheriff Brady in Arizona. Although Jance isn't the greatest writer, Beaumont is my favorite detective. Mary52 - Both my DS1 and my exH recommeded The Golem and the Jinni; it's waiting in my TBR pile. When I told DS1 that I was reading the amazon reviews of the book, he yelled over the phone "Don't say another word! Don't tell me anything!" LOL; that's when I decided to buy it.

I realized others had an L middle name, so I skipped straight to the end so as not to copy anyone... Middle name............L Animal.....................Lemur Girl's name...............Laurie Boy's name..............Leonard (everyone in my life is a nerd. Go Big Bang!) Color.........................Lilac Name of movie...........Ladyhawke Something you wear...lederhosen Drink....................latte Food..................... lobster Place..................... Loire Reason to be late...lateness (never late!) ____________ and now that I can check google--L for something you wear. How about lace, leather. I never would've thought of levis, leggings, lingerie, and lipstick. Good ones.

About a thousand years ago, I was a runner. I had a nice little runner's body. But then I got sick and couldn't run anymore and I sure packed on the pounds. It made me feel so bad about myself. A friend was asking me to go out to some clubs with her and I told her that I looked hideous and couldn't stand to go out in public looking so out of shape.... She just looked at me with her mouth hanging open. She had struggled her whole life with her weight and has always weighed a lot more than I do. I was only thinking of myself when I said I looked hideous and I honestly didn't even "see" her size, she was just my friend in my eyes. But I insulted her nonetheless. I still cringe when I think about it. We often say things only thinking of how we see the world. Posting photos of young, thin, attractive white people and lamenting how awful their hair looks can make a portion of the world who can never look like that feel badly about themselves. There is a whole lot of pressure out there for young women - particularly for young women of color - to have their hair look a certain way. If someone had posted a picture of their actual granddaughter looking this exact same way, people would be gushing about how beautiful she was. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm happy for you. Really - that's not sarcasm. I know this wasn't posted with the intent to make people feel bad. I'm just throwing out another perspective to consider....