Books I've Read

What's The Worst That Could Happen?

Dortmunder goes to Las Vegas to get his ring back. Very funny! But no cigarette jokes this time!

QUOTE:

...Tiny was in the process of explaining to a panhandler why it had been rude to ask Tiny for money. "You didn't earn this money," Tiny was saying. "You see what I mean?" The way Tiny was holding the panhandler made it impossible for the fellow to nswer questions, but that was okay; Tiny's questions were all rhetorical, anyway. "For instance," he was saying, for instance, "the money I got in my jeans this minute, where do you suppose I got it? Huh? I'll tell you where I got it. I stole it from some people uptown. It was hard work, and there was some risk in it, and I earned it. Did you earn it? Did you risk anything? Did you work hard?" ..."Get a job," he said, "or get a gun. But don't beg. It's rude."

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7/1999

Empty

Weyn, Suzanne

An image of a gas gauge on "E" illustrates the book jacket. Ten years from now the world is running out of petroleum, and this is how it impacts the lives of high school students in a small valley in New York state.

Not great reader reviews on Amazon, and I agree with their points. I was thinking, "No one has heard of solar cell phone chargers?". And some of the tech seems sketchy, especially that wonderful perpetual motion generator.

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2/2011

Listening for lions

Whelan, Gloria

An orphaned English girl (who was born in Africa) is forced to impersonate a girl who died of influenza, so the dead girl's parents can get hold of an inheritance. Really good.

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4/2006

The Mouse That Roared

Wibberly, Leonard

Great story of a little country that declares war on the United States back in the 50s. Peter Sellers played several of the parts in the movie.

Quote:

"But continue, have you other reasons?"
"I have, but I have already been rebuked by your Grace with a reference to the breeding of horses, and do not feel at leave to proceed."
"Oh," said Gloriana. "Oh."

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1/2013

Countdown

Wiles, Deborah

Franny is an Air Force kid who lives near Andrews AFB. She is coping with growing up, an uncle with issues from WWI, and the threat of nuclear annihilation in the 60s. Profusely illustrated. It took me until page 276 to realize that Uncle "Otis" was actually spelled Uncle Otts. Ain't old eyes great?

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10/2010

Each Little Bird That Sings

Wiles, Deborah

Comfort's family lives in a large house that is also a funeral home, so she is familiar with dealing with death. Except when it's too close.

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12/2008

Love, Ruby Lavender

Wiles, Deborah

Ruby lives in a very small town in Mississippi. She love her grandmother, and she loves the chickens they rescued. But she hates Melba Jane. Dealing with a death in the family seems to be a theme of the author.

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12/2008

The Aurora County All-Stars

Wiles, Deborah

House Jackson is trying to get his arm back in shape for pitching the annual (and only) baseball game against the kids from the neighboring county, but a Pageant is scheduled for the same time. Ruby wants to be catcher (No Girls!), and even Comfort makes a cameo. And of course, someone dies.

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12/2009

Care Of Wooden Floors

Wiles, Will

An un-named fellow goes to a distant un-named city in an un-named country to house-sit for his college friend Oskar. Stuff goes wrong. Blurb on the back from the Daily Telegraph says "Fawlty Towers crossed with Freud." Well, shit gets real on page 90, but I didn't guffaw till page 221. All that blood!
Lou Reed Sunday Morning mention on page 14, always a plus.

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2/2013

Mirrorscape

Wilks, Mike

In a world where the privilege to use color must be purchased as a "Pleasure" (and there are many other "Pleasures" one must purchase, too), a young apprentice artists discovers a secret world in paintings that he can enter into. First of a series, good stuff!

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1/2011

One Crazy Summer

Williams-Garcia, Rita

Three sisters go to Oakland in the 60s to visit the mother who abandoned them when they were babies. Interesting view of Black Panthers from the children's viewpoint.

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2/2012

The Men Who United The States

Winchester, Simon

The trouble with this book was that every couple of pages I had to stop to look something up on the internet. Then, a few hours later, I'd get back to the book. Very slow going!

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5/2017

The Professor And The Madman

Winchester, Simon

Subtitled "A tale of murder, insanity, and the making of the Oxford English Dictionary". Good book.

QUOTE:

The policeman, plodding and imperturbable, replied that if he did have another gun, perhaps he would be so kind as to keep it in his pocket for the time being.

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1/2000

Detectives In Togas

Winterfeld, Henry

Students in Rome solve a mystery. First published in 1956, I'm sure I read it when I a lad. I see the author also wrote "Castaways In Lilliput", which I remember was one of my favorite books in elementary school.

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10/2012

Christopher Mouse

Wise, William

Charming tale of a white mouse who has some adventures in New York City.

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11/2006

The Virginian

Wister, Owen

I rember Mr. Lusk in college telling me this was the classic western story. It took me ten years to get around to reading it, but it was worth it! First published in 1902.

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No date

Carry On, Jeeves

Wodehouse, P. G.

Part of the Jeeves Omnibus. Great stuff!

Words I Had To Look Up:

Eftsoons (pg. 352) -- 1. Soon afterward; presently. 2. Once again.
From the O.P. to the Prompt Side (pg. 380) -- Stage directions. The Prompt Side (P.S.) is stage left, O.P. is Opposite Prompt.
Excrescence (pg. 382) -- 1. An outgrowth or enlargement, especially an abnormal one, such as a wart. 2. A usually unwanted or unnecessary accretion
Bally (many instances, pg. 396 for one) -- Informal intensifiers; "You bally idiot!"
The Carmantle (pg. 396) -- A ship. probably fictional.
Jimmy Mundy (pg. 431) -- Not the jazz musician, probably a fictional charactor.
Mens sana in corpore sano (pg. 470) -- Latin, a healthy mind in a healthy body
Ris de veau à la financière (pg. 496) -- Calf's sweetbreads in a sauce of wine, olives, truffles and mushrooms (from Blandings: Anatole.)
Consommé pâté d'Italie (pg. 497) -- Soup of italian pasta .
Paupiettes de sole à la princesse (pg. 497) -- Rolled fillets of sole garnished with asparagus tips.
Caneton Aylesbury à la broche (pg. 497) -- Aylesbury duckling on the spit.
Lady Bablockhythe (pg. 513) -- Fictional author created by Wodehouse, see the Wikipedia List Of Fictional Books.
Gaspers (pg. 520 ) -- Slang for cigarettes, OBVIOUSLY, probably a lesser brand.

Quotes:

She was rather like one of the innocent-tasting American drinks which creep imperceptibly into your system so that, before you know what you're doing, you're starting out to reform the world by force if necessary and pausing on your way to tell the large man in the corner that, if he looks at you like that, you will knock his head off. (pg. 365)

'Mens sana in corpore sano,' observed the Prof.
'I shouln't wonder,' I said cordially. (pg. 470)

My daughter Bootles has just developed mumps. (pg. 483)

Young Bingo uttered a frightful cry of agony.
'What! Is that - that buzzard trying to pinch our cook?'
'Yes, sir.'
'After eating our bread and salt, dammit?'
'I fear, sir,' sighed Jeeves, 'that when it comes to a matter of cooks, ladies have but a rudimentary sense of morality.' (pg. 500)

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3/2008

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10/2009

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3/2010

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11/2010

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5/2012

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Books Listed by Author

What's The Worst That Could Happen?

QUOTE:

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Empty

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Listening for lions

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The Mouse That Roared

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Countdown

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Each Little Bird That Sings

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Love, Ruby Lavender

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The Aurora County All-Stars

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Care Of Wooden Floors

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Mirrorscape

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One Crazy Summer

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The Men Who United The States

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The Professor And The Madman

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Detectives In Togas

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Christopher Mouse

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The Virginian

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Carry On, Jeeves

Words I Had To Look Up:

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Jeeves And The Feudal Spirit

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Lord Emsworth And Others

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My Man Jeeves

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