Before I forget and miss this month's book. Ha.
Was thinking of Confessions of a Curious Bookseller, but the library has it on pre-order, so I'll get The Marriage Code instead.
Started a new puzzle over the weekend. This one is brand new (not secondhand), made by a company called Cobble Hill. So far I'm liking it overall. Pieces are smaller than what I've been doing lately, because it's a 1000-piece puzzle instead of 500. It's a random-cut, similar to Springbok, but I'm not sure if all of Cobble Hill's puzzles are random, or if they do some that are ribbon-cut. Their version of random is a bit less diabolical than Springbok's, though - no pieces that divide in the middle of the inlet, at least, and no pieces that look like edge but aren't. I also approve of a decent-quality image on the box, and of the small (box-sized) poster of the image included inside. Otherwise, the Cobble Hill logo would have totally hidden the Junco in the corner.
It's similar to a collage puzzle, since it's fairly quick to start doing
each bird individually, especially if you start with the obvious ones
like the cardinal and goldfinch. Now I'm down to things like leaves and bird-feet, so progress is slowing down.
I've been doing a lot of puzzles this year. Finished this one last night - The Castle of Eileen Donan from Springbok.
This one was a challenge as far as the edge, because so many pieces looked like edge but eventually weren't. After a while, I gave up on finishing the edge and went for the castle and the boat.
Another challenge was that while I like the tight fit of most Springbok's, this one was tighter than usual. It also looked like the cutting die wasn't quite sharp enough, because a lot of the pieces had scraps and extra overage around the edges.
Finished it December 3rd, and it's complete. This is one from the B&G auction lot, and so far all of those have been complete.
Almost forgot this month.
No: Thriller (sounds like a knock off of Then There Were None), Suspense (library owns it anyway), Domestic suspense (library also owns), Book club (library owns), Bio fiction (long, doesn't grab me). Jew(ish) might or might not be interesting - the reviews on Amazon either love it or absolutely hate it (with very short reviews).
So, it's Under a Gilded Moon, with a cover illustration that I know I've seen before on other books: a woman, 3/4 view from the back, but cut off at the mid-head. In sepia tones, with a gold scrolly border.
After 4 days of stress and anxiety, the election is more-or-less over. Unless something very unusual happens with the recounts (Georgia is close enough that their state laws require one, and there may be others), Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have won. The announcement came on Saturday. And the whole world slept better for a few nights. The Mango is, as expected, disputing it everywhere, threats and the usual.
Georgia will also have to have a run-off for two Senate openings, since neither candidate got 50% of the vote in the election. With any luck, the Democrats will win, and then Moscow Mitch won't be the Senate Majority Leader anymore. Mango spent the weekend at the golf course, while Biden went to church Sunday morning.
Missouri is screwed, as usual. Parson won a full term, the useless schmuck, and Amendment 3, which counteracts the Clean Missouri amendment, passed thanks to very confusing ballot language.
As of today, the US has 10 million people who have tested positive for Covid-19. We've had over 100,000 new cases daily for the past few days - each day more than the day before. Boone Hospital just announced that their 20-bed Covid unit is full. But our idiot governor still won't issue a statewide mask requirement.
October is another two-book month with First Reads.
I went to Goodwill today, for the first time since March. Had to remind myself that with masks and distancing, there's not much (if any) difference between Target and Hy-vee, where I've gone multiple times, and Goodwill. And, the kid wants to be Britney Spears for Halloween, so I had to go hunting for a cardigan and skirt and tights. No tights, but found two options for the cardigan and skirt, and both were half-price. Other than that, just bought a group of LEGO base plates for $6, with about 5 LEGO plates and one knockoff. There were gallon ziploc bags of LEGO in the locked case, but at $25 each, I resisted.
(This new Blogger layout has odd colours in the post-writing page - very hard to see the text entry area. )
Amazon's First Read options for September:
Not interested in Thrillers or Suspense, although the H.G. Wells looks closer to SF/Fantasy, and the library has a copy of United States of Anxiety, Roommaid, and The Haunting of H.G. Wells, so those are out of contention. Millicent Glenn's Last Wish looks kind of interesting, but I think A Single Swallow is the winner this month.
Also - the extension for Chrome and Firefox called "Library Extension" is very handy. If you're on an Amazon or Goodreads listing page for a book, it'll check your local library catalog to see if it's available there.
The Samsung pandemic TV came with an added perk - Samsung has streaming channels for their TVs. I knew there was a Bob Ross channel, and the Jack Hanna channel, but until I hit the wrong button on the remote, I didn't know there was a channel that was nothing but Baywatch, 24 hours a day. And they happened to be showing my favorite season - the first, non-syndication, NBC season with Parker Stevenson. So I watched for a w hile. Then I found out that Amazon Prime currently includes Baywatch (but not Baywatch Nights or Baywatch Hawaii), so I've spent the last few days watching the whole first season again - including the first TV movie, where a few people have different names.
Now I'm watching the beginning of season 2. No mention at all of Parker Stevenson's character or his sudden disappearance, after being a co-star for the whole first season. Erika Eleniak still has very Brooke-Shields eyebrows. Richard Jaeckel is back as a different character, after dying in the Panic at Malibu Pier movie. And Andrea Thompson is doing a 2-episode appearance which I'd forgotten about.
I was reading an article last week about Baywatch, when I was trying to find out if the first season was available on DVD or not (answer: sort of, if you get an international release, or buy all the syndication seasons that included 2 episodes each of the original). The writer's notion is that women watched it for the strong female characters and their storylines. I'm not sure I agree; I think most people, male and female, watch for the scenery, both the natural kind and the human kind.
