nonamedufus

Well, folks, I read seven (count 'em) seven books in October. One I didn't finish but even at that I hit the magic number 50 I estimated for myself by the end of the year. The six books I successfully waded through were, firstly, What Happened, Hillary Clinton's book on her bid for the Presidency. I''m a bit of a political junkie so I get off on this stuff but still it kinda struck me as one long whine over losing. Next up was the excellent Canyon of Dreams: The Magic and Music of Laurel Canyon. Laurel Canyon was the fabled area outside of Los Angeles where many musicians and artists lived. Known as a 60s enclave, the book takes a look at just who lived there over the last 80 years. A fascinating read. Next up was Lightfoot, a biography of Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot. He may have been responsible for some iconic folk songs but he was also quite the womanizer and boozer. Enough said. Then I read Dan Brown's new tome Origin, the fifth ...

The weather was unseasonably warm for October. The sun set around 6:30 but the daylight hours were quite enjoyable. So thought Richard, as he set out for his daily walk in the woods. He marvelled at the turning leaves which exhibited an explosion of colour more significant with each passing day. But Richard knew the turning leaves would soon start to fall. And the trees would soon be bare with no leaves at all. And then the snow would fly and fall from the trees as the leaves had before it. Richard couldn't help but think of the sudden change to come as a seizure of sorts. And he wasn't looking forward to it. After all, who would welcome a seizure, he thought, as he rolled uncontrollably among the leaves. This week paroxysm/seizure was the prompt at Two Word Tuesday .

The old man down the street was terrible to the children. When the kids frisbee landed on his front lawn he ran out and grabbed it, yelling at them to keep off his grass. When the boys baseball landed in his driveway he did the same. Neighbours began to wonder when he'd hold a yard sale to give back his confiscated items. The area children avoided his house at Halloween. He didn't display a carved pumpkin and he didn't pass out candy. At Christmas his house remained dark with no seasonal lights or decorations. Neighbours wondered what was wrong with this guy. They'd never seen anyone so ornery. And then one day something happened. A child new to the neighbourhood rang the old man's doorbell and asked if he'd sponsor her in the upcoming walk for charity. He said sure, sponsored her for $10 a kilometre and signed the pledge form as... Mister Tetchy. The Two Word Tuesday prompt was tetchy/ornery this week. Now get outta my face.

Ronald was a lucky lad. When he was four his parents perished in a hot air balloon incident at the Hattiesburg fair. Now wait, that's not the lucky part. Ronald survived the balloon blast because he was on the ground with his Aunt Flo and Uncle Joe Bob. Flo and Joe Bob had no children of their own and so took it upon themselves to raise Ronald as their own. Ronald may have been an only child but he certainly didn't suffer from a lack of love and affection. Flo and Joe Bob showered Ronald with love and he felt warm and protected throughout his time with them, Yes, that's right, he only spent a certain amount of time with them. Then they too were gone and Ronald was alone. It happened in the summer of 1976. Flo and Joe Bob planned a camping vacation in Canada's Algonquin Park, miles from Hattiesburg. They packed up the Subaru on a Monday morning and headed north. Ronald, in the back seat, could barely contain himself. When they arrived, the campers decided to unp...

The five books I read in September raised my yearly count to 44 books - 6 away from my anticipated 50 books by the end of the year. I'm sure I'll make it. I started the month out with a new thriller from Michael Connelly called The Late show. It's about a women cop who works the night shift. This is a new character for Connelly who is better known for his Harry Bosch series. Nevertheless this was an enthralling page-turner. I then picked up Mississippi Blood by Greg Iles. This is the third and final book in the Natchez Burning trilogy. Somewhere along the line I missed one of these but was nevertheless able to follow the overall gripping story about race relations in the south. I then moved on to the Rules of Civility by Amor Towles a coming-of-age tale about a mid-twenties woman in New York in the late 1930s. Having enjoyed his second book A Gentleman in Moscow I felt I had to go back to his first novel. I wasn't disappointed. For a change of p...

Susie had special powers. Or at least she worked at developing them. If she concentrated really hard she could see into the future. This talent was a little off-setting to her friends. But she was determined to perfect this skill. To that end she attended psychic school. It was kind of like high school but without the ladder. Susie never missed a class. Well that's because looking ahead she knew when they occurred on her schedule. Miss Clair Voyent was a good teacher. Always held students' attention. So much so you'd want to run out and buy a lottery ticket. And each class began the same with Miss Clair Voyent calling attention. Sometimes the students would jokingly respond to Miss Voyent's roll call with the response of 'prescient". Get it? Prescient in Psychic class? Yeah. Our prompt for Two Word Tuesday was prescient/psychic this week. Looking ahead to next week I wish I could determine the prompt, but I can't. This week was enough.