Sarah, Thank you for the comment. I think "The Corner" should be required reading everywhere, period. Even more so than "Homicide" or watching "The Wire." I felt so many things reading "The Corner." An understanding of how hard drug addicts actually do work (hustling up cash for a fix every day is work, let's face it) to feed their habit, and also how such beautiful roots of community are present in the urge many people have to sit on their stoops or stand at the corners and watch their neighborhoods, and how that has all been twisted by drugs and violence and money and guns. So sad. So human and so sad.

Such a cruel world. What other people don't do to us our bodies do to us. Brutal. Wow, a series about Alzheimer's Disease. That would be a tough one to watch too.

Ruthiella! It's actually a little wrong how much I love TV and how much it feeds my soul. I console myself for being such a TV addict by trying to read a lot too. :) In another part of this book one of the actors (I think it was the guy who played Bubble, who is a great actor) talks about how, between the two creators of Ed Burns and David Simon, he was actually a little afraid of Ed Burns, because evidently Burns just totally believes that the current system needs to be blown up. The end. (Burns worked as both a cop and a teacher in Baltimore, which is part of why The Wire is so great, and also part of why I trust and agree with Burns. I always respect the people who have done the real work.) Even Simon, with his insistence that systems can't be reformed, although maybe individuals can, was not as disturbing to the actor. Your opinion on The New Jim Crow title, please?

Hi Care! What did the other reviewer say about this one? I actually thought I'd have seen more press of this one, considering the author's mother is Barbara Ehrenreich and it's on a very timely topic.

No worries! If it bothers you I can fix it up next time I log in to Typepad. :) Just too lazy to do it tonight.

Mr. CR thinks it's nuts. Weirdly it helps me not worry about my own little world here, which I tend to do too much. I've read LOTS of British escapism, including having my homepage set to YahooUK! (meaning I haven't actually seen an American news headline for a long time, it's AWESOME). So I totally support that reading. Might have to look into "The Diana Chronicles." Always nice to chat with you too, thanks for commenting!

Circle back round anytime, with wine, without wine, with snowy champagne, without... I firmly believe every high school in the world should have a one-semester class called "My Lai." There will be units on inappropriate use of the military, colonialism, how not to treat women, how not to treat humans of any kind, how not to obey authority, why you don't put a bunch of teenage guys together and expect good things to happen, and also units on the importance of not shooting people who weren't personally bothering you, the importance of talking about what you've seen, and how to try and heal trauma and PTSD and oh yes, actual wounds. Actually it might need to be a year-long course. Like vampires are even scary compared to My Lai. Garlic is widely available.

Ugh is right on the prostitution, particularly child prostitution, following "peacekeeping" troops. For God's sake, people. On the heels of that understanding, yup, more comfort reading is def in order. I might have to go big and just hammer the jeeves and wooster (or just give up and watch the TV version starring Fry and Laurie). Thanks for the Amelia Peabody reminder...might have to try that...although I have memories of trying the McCall Smith series and it just wasn't my cuppa. Then again I used to think that about Agatha Raisin. Might have to revisit Mma Ramotswe. Thanks!

Yeah, I just don't like him. Didn't know he is in fact a big pot smoker. Huh. You learn something every day. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/11/elon-musks-totally-awful-batshit-crazy-most-excellent-year?utm_source=pocket-newtab Also, he's a real shithead to whistleblowers:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-03-13/when-elon-musk-tried-to-destroy-tesla-whistleblower-martin-tripp

But would he smoke a joint with you? He doesn't really seem like the laidback type. I don't know, I just don't like him. I don't like the way we reward these tech "geniuses" with all our money and adulation. I don't even understand the basic appeal of the Tesla brand. For one thing, I think it's un-democratic that they can only ever go to Tesla-approved repair shops (with stories like this one, https://www.sfgate.com/cars/article/tesla-repair-wait-time-complaints-electric-car-13796037.php). Ugh. Born rich, came up with a stupid car to sell other rich people, will die rich. What an absolute zero.

DREW!! So glad you picked up "Fist Stick Knife Gun." Was that a mindblower or what? Talk about a book that should be required high school reading--equal parts honest, realistic, scary, yet hopeful, and all in a not-too-many pages package. Well, I have two modes of book recommendation. "I loved this," which doesn't happen real often, and "I didn't get any dumber reading it," which, with nonfiction, luckily happens quite a bit. That's actually one of the highest compliments I can give--I hate small talk encounters and (sadly, because I'm an introvert) meeting new people, but if I come away feeling like I picked up an interesting tidbit/s to think about, then I feel better about how I spent the time. If that makes any sense. I had to use it here because I get the feeling I wouldn't actually care much for this guy in person but WOW...what a story.

Jenny, I'm not gonna lie. This book is deeply, deeply unsettling. It also makes you think about unsavory topics: torture, corrections officers who are COs because they don't have any other good choices and are therefore unpleasant people, the truly appalling number of criminal pedophiles around, and what the "drug war" has wrought on jail and society. Whether or not you want to think about that stuff might be a different story.

LAURA! Always glad to meet a fellow CD fan. I just re-watched the movie and it's so gorgeous, New York looks dirty (but not scary dirty, just kinda of old infrastructure dirty) and cityish and in the 90s people still sold book first editions on the sidewalk (and other people bought them) and I wish I could BE THERE. I adore rom coms and often I don't even care if they're terrible, I still enjoy them. It doesn't get any worse than "Leap Year" and yet still I enjoyed it, mainly because who couldn't listen to Matthew Goode speak all year long (not to mention he's extremely easy on the eyes). Now---list me some more of your favorites? Let's see where else we converge. I would add these to the list: When Harry Met Sally (for Carrie Fisher alone); the John Cusack triumvirate of very strange teen rom coms, Better Off Dead, Hot Pursuit, and The Sure Thing; Return to Me; Ten Things I Hate About You.

VIVIAN! I like your post-it idea...very uplifting...especially seeing as how any post-its I currently have stuck up say things like "buy can opener" and "call re: Mom's pills" or "el reloj" (we're trying to learn Spanish because Korean is beyond us). And thank you for recognizing the understated romance of the golden raisin. I'd like to be the kind of renegade who could put kiwi in our oatmeal, but we're from the Midwest.

Oh, thank you, Drew, you are always so supportive, which this (actually not very resilient, but I'm trying) person thanks you! I'll say this for health issues, they make you recalibrate your definition of a great day. Am I, or anyone I love, in the hospital today? No? GREAT DAY!

Janet, John Prine does kind of get under your skin like that. I hope you and yours are healthy and stay that way.

Kacey, Very nice to meet you and thanks for stopping by! Actually, I can never quite decide on Glennon Doyle. I think she's very, VERY good at catchy phrases and excellent, even sometimes very funny prose. On the other hand, I believe very strongly that nobody should be warriors (even "love warriors"--very clever co-opting, that, but still not a deeper sentiment with which I agree)--that we should aim higher. I haven't tried "Untamed" yet but will probably try it--I've been through "Carry On, Warrior," a couple of times because honestly, I'd like to learn how to replicate her (inarguably very successful) style. Let us know what fiction you're reading too! I just finished Edward Snowden's memoir "Permanent Record" and enjoyed the hell out of it--mainly because he is one weird dude in a completely enjoyable (to me, anyway) way, and it was a pleasure to feel like I was spending time with him. I don't often do "deep dives"--reading on one subject obsessively--but I seem to be on a whistleblower kick and am reading all sorts of strange stuff connected with that. No fiction holds my interest whatsoever right now. Don't know if it's something wrong with me or something wrong with the fiction I'm trying. The test would be to see if I have any patience for Agatha Christie, which is usually my go-to comfort reading.

Drew, Nice to be sharing anything with friends these days, even if it is pleasure/pain and an ever-so-slightly pissy attitude! Hope you are doing well and taking care of yourself!

Vivian--totally agree on changing POV, by the way. I enjoyed the whole production.

Well, you never know about hobbit-seed, this book is so tiny and so cute, if you plant it, you might actually grow little Hobbitses. Mean little hobbitses, if they take after dear Maud. I totally enjoyed the stories in the book, and I really prefer fiction that I can blow through in a couple of hours and be done with. Fiction is my flighty mistress that I mainly need to look good and make me feel good. Nonfiction is my workhorse life partner for whom I save most of my energy and deep love. Is she mean? Well, usually, if she is, there's a reason. I can respect that. She is emphatically not Miss Marple, who believed in justice but still always had a twinkle. There is no twinkle to Maud. Don't get in Maud's way. Period. Maybe that's my hope for all us women as we age. Something between Miss Marple and Maud, only with fewer outright criminal acts.

BookerTalk--There have been a ton of pretty successful farm and "back to the land" books. I should get my act together and make a list. I'm interested in the subject but I struggle to find books I like--can't remember enjoying any since Michael Perry's "Coop" or Jeanne Marie Laskas's "Fifty Acres and a Poodle."

You're not doing any plundering, Brandon? Get on that. It's the warrior way. How are you doing, buddy?

Shannon, dear heart--we're not actually managing to manage anything over here. Could be a problem eventually. But for now? Let the reading and Lego playing commence! Always glad to find someone else who appreciates a dusty house. :)

Exhilarating is the perfect word for it! Tapestry is a good one too. I love it when I hear something on the radio or hear/see it elsewhere and I finally have context thanks to something I read. There's not enough time in the day to read all the books I need to, to get the context I want for life! Glad others feel the same way.

Fixed it! Yeah, I know (re: Lego fights). It'll take about two hours of summer vacay next year and I'll be yelling "For the love of all that's holy you have a MILLION Lego pieces! You do not both need THAT PARTICULAR ONE RIGHT NOW. You're ridiculous!" Actually, wait, me yelling that only took them being at home for five minutes this afternoon after school. Yeah, I know, that Stacy Horn book. People who have read it either love it or hate it, seemingly because of the structure. I still think it is such a lovely work of scholarship, highlighting not only the victims but also the investigators who really wanted to solve the crimes just because crimes should be solved. Stacy's tenacity in getting that book just right, I think, is why it ties in with the rest. Or something.