Three narrow-looking white kids sat behind a glass display case that served as the sales counter. A bearded guy, a clean-shaven guy who was sporting a monocle, and a girl who looked like she had just stopped wearing light-up shoes a week ago.
Razorblade Tears, p. 51
Razorblade Tears Quote of the Day
August 31, 2021 at 8:40 pm (Books, Lists, Recommended)
Tags: COVID Reading, humor, mysteries, noir, novel, reading lists, summer
Outrageous! Hilarious! Outrageous AND Hilarious
August 31, 2021 at 6:43 am (Conversations)
Tags: COVID Reading, myteries, novel
Okay, okay, I’ll share a litte of the plot. Just a teensy morsel. If you don’t want to know the smallest detail, DO NOT READ THIS POST.
Ike, a black man who runs a landscaping service, and Buddy Lee, a white alcoholic (So nice to write WHITE alcoholic instead of black alcoholic or Native American alcoholic, the usual literary tropes), are thrown together when their sons who were living openly together, are murdered.
You can appreciate what a strain this puts on both men, who are just about as macho as can be.
The opening scene is at the funeral, so this isn’t much of a spoiler. Buddy Lee is able to persuade Ike to help him hunt for their son’s killers.
First stop: The Rainbow Review
“The Rainbox Review is on the third floor,” Ike said.
“Yeah, that sounds pretty gay,” Buddy Lee said. Ike cut his eyes sideways at him.
Razorblade Tears, p.45
Photographing Public Art Challenge (#8): Halloween Swag
August 31, 2021 at 1:22 am (Holidays, Links, plans, postaday)
Tags: Cee Neuner, Halloween, Mondays, photo challenge
Self still playing catch-up!
Halloween’s just around the corner. There was a time when self’s house was mobbed by roving bands of children, but now the neighborhood’s aged (so has she) and she mourns those times.
Still, the neighbors do have a very good Halloween game!
Thanks to hosts of the PPAC Challenge, Cee Neuner and Marsha Ingrao.
Noir Sentence of the Day
August 30, 2021 at 7:09 pm (Books, Recommended)
Tags: COVID Reading, Mondays, mysteries, noir, novel, praise, reading lists, summer
His blonde hair was slicked back with so much product a fly would break its neck trying to land on it.
Razorblade Tears, p. 35
Now THAT’S noir.
One Word Sunday Challenge: OPPOSING
August 30, 2021 at 6:13 pm (Artists and Writers, destinations, Links, postaday, Recommended, Surprises)
Tags: art, exhibits, Judy Chicago, Mondays, museums, opportunities, photo challenge, San Francisco, summer
Self is late again! It’s Monday and she’s posting for Travel with Intent’s One Word Sunday Challenge.
The word is OPPOSING.
Think this’ll suit: at the Judy Chicago Retrospective at the De Young, there’s a display of female figures (the show itself is amazing; if you’re anywhere within driving distance, do yourself a favor and see it). Self kept trying to take pictures, but the reflection on the glass was interfering. She finally decided to snap whatever, and after she came home and looked at what she’d taken, she discovered there was a woman on the other side of the glass from self, looking rather quizzically at her. So, here we are, on two opposing sides of the display.
Razorblade Tears: Noir with a Capital ‘N’
August 30, 2021 at 1:58 pm (Books, Recommended)
Tags: Black writers, COVID Reading, Mondays, mysteries, noir, novel, reading lists
Back to reading noir!
And Razorblade Tears is a most excellent example of the genre.
Self will not summarize, as it will be ever so much more fun if dear blog readers begin this book without having a clue.
Buddy Lee had it all wrong. Ike wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. He wasn’t afraid to spill blood. He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to stop.
Razorblade Tears, by S. A. Cosby, p. 29
Life in Colour Challenge, August 2021: RED
August 29, 2021 at 7:36 pm (Artists and Writers, destinations, Food and Drink, Links, Lists, postaday, Sundays)
Tags: art, concerts, Life in Colour, music, photo challenge, summer
Self reacts emotionally to colors. Red is a definite trigger.
The host of the Life in Colour Challenge is Travel Words.
- Found in the de Young Museum Gift Shop, yesterday: Candles by Marfa Tymchenko and Circus by Alexander Calder.
- At the free Wednesday night concerts near self’s house.
- Self made this yummy salad:
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
Sentence of the Day, Last Saturday of August 2021
August 29, 2021 at 3:07 am (Books, Explorers, Recommended, Surprises)
Tags: COVID Reading, Iceland, reading lists, Saturdays, science, summer
Nine of the twelve people who have ever walked on the moon came to Iceland first.
How Iceland Changed the World, p. 185
Six-Word Saturday Challenge: Golden Gate Park, Viewed from Above
August 28, 2021 at 3:58 pm (Artists and Writers, destinations, Links, Places, postaday, Recommended, Weather)
Tags: Golden Gate Park, photo challenge, Renzo Piano, San Francisco, Saturdays, summer
This was from yesterday. Self went with a friend to see the Judy Chicago Retrospective at the de Young Museum.
It was a beautiful day, so we went up to the Observation Tower.
The Challenge Host is Travel with Intent.
Directly across the way is the California Academy of Sciences. Renzo Piano did the design. The living roof is her favorite thing. Six inches of soil were transported up there. The result: meadow. The Academy offers a naturalist-led tour that self highly recommends.
Here’s a view that shows more of the foreground:
How Iceland Changed the World, pp. 139 – 140
August 28, 2021 at 7:00 am (Books, Recommended, Surprises)
Tags: COVID Reading, history, humor, praise, reading lists, Saturdays, summer, World War II
Self is going deliciously slowly with this book. She does not know how the author does it. He’s managed to inject surprise, page after page. Nothing is inevitable, as those quirky Icelanders keep demonstrating. Bravo for nimble literary work, Author Egill Bjarnason!
World War II:
The Allies — Britain and France — had been ousted from Europe, and the Nazis occupied the entire coastline from Spain to Norwway. The only thing standing in the way of a Nazi invasion of the UK were twenty-one nautical miles, the width of the English Channel at its narrowest point. Knowing the German Kriegsmarine could not get past the Royal Navy, Hitler decided to use his sea forces strategically. Instead of attacking Britain directly, the plan was to strangle its cargo routes, depriving the island nation of everything from food and clothing to oil and iron.
Control of Iceland would help. Hitler — a villain who spent his political career yelling so much that he needed polyps removed from his vocal cords, twice — ordered his generals to put together a plan to snatch the foreign port.
