Thanks Lux, I appreciate you stopping by … & glad you like the preview & photo. Very kind of you. Hope you have a happy May.

Hi Ti, I totally sympathize with you about Otter Pup … it is a very difficult decision and time. I’m so sorry! She has had a wonderful long life with your family. We are in a similar spot with our Labrador Stella … who will turn 14 in July. We don’t know if she’ll make it till then. But so far she’s hanging in there. I know you have given Otter Pup everything and all the love. That’s all we can do.
Thanks for the link to the Huntington Beach library … I recently saw some article that they were being sued about restricting books. Did you see that? I enjoyed my brief visit to the LA Central library — it’s pretty amazing. Hang in there.

I’ve been super busy with work stuff but the big thing of late is my poor little Otter Pup. She has been in decline for some time but today I made the decision to call for an in-home visit to make her comfortable and the vet is on vacation for a week. I kept thinking it was time but then she would rally but these past two days.. nope. I am so heartbroken. I need to look into some other options. She is not in pain. So at least there is that. 16 years old! 17 in July.

Hi Tracy, thx for checking in here. Yes the Strout one will be good to watch for — it’s getting good buzz so far. I’m on a long library wait list for it. hmm.
And I love hearing what you’ve finished lately. These all sound quite good. You’re on a reading roll. I will stop by your site soon to know more. I have not read Mary Stewart before but I have read one novel by Martin Cruz Smith and Freya Sampson. Keep your reading streak going. & Happy May!

Thanks Jane. I try to keep up to date on what’s on the horizon coming out – not always successful.
And yes this picture of the LA Central Public Library is the same as the one Susan Orlean wrote about in her Library Book. It’s a beacon in downtown L.A. and was damaged in the 1986 fire she writes about. The digital content they offer is amazing (!) and makes it worthwhile to get to … via the jungle of freeways.
I was lukewarm about Remarkably Bright Creatures — the book has faults — but I’m probably in need of a sentimental fix — so I plan to see the movie on Netflix.
I’m very glad for your report about the Prada 2 movie — good to hear! We plan to see it. It looks a bit fun … and that’s what we need. Cheers & Happy May.

Hi Jinjer, it’s good you can take the subway if you need to go downtown. The big library is very cool … you were lucky when you could walk there. It’s excellent your card renewed automatically (the amount of content the LA library has is wonderful). While there, I looked at some photos on the wall of the library’s 100 years … but I did not see or pick up any anniversary stuff. I should have explored more! I was in & out of there pretty quickly.
I hope you enjoy the Strout. I’m on the wait list. Cheers!

In the last week I finished three novels that I enjoyed a lot, all different. The only newer one is Nosy Neighbors by Freya Sampson, a sort of cozy mystery about a 77-year-old woman and a very young woman overcome their dislike of each other and their own traumas in the past to fight evictions from an old Victorian building divided into 8 flats. I had my concerns going in but I got past the slow start and enjoyed it. The other two were Tatiana by Martin Cruz Smith, the 8th book in the Arkady Renko series (sort of a police procedural set in Russia), and Mary Stewart’s The Ivy Tree, which I just loved. It was an impersonation novel and Stewart did a good job or making the situation seem possible and believable and very suspenseful.

The sunset photo and library photo are both great–I remember really enjoying visiting downtown LA 15+ years ago.Is that the library featured in the book by Susan Orlean, The Library Book?

I never did Remarkably Bright Creatures–started it, but wasn’t in the mood at the time.

We went to Devil Wear Prada 2 last Saturday, and it didn’t disappoint. Yes, not as good as the original, but I never expected it to be. I thought they did a good job of creating a plausible plot for how the world of magazine publishing has changed in the past 20 years. And, it was fun to see how the characters had changed and not changed over the years. The ending was particularly gratifying. My daughter saw it coming, but I totally did not!

I thought for a hot minute they were going to make me renew my card in person but luckily mine renewed online automatically. I do need to get over there and get all the cool 100th anniversary stuff though! Did you pick up any of that while you were there?

Adding the Strout book to my list!!!