The Danamaniacs discussion

Your place to talk about general topics.

You can friend/fan Dana Stabenow here which will take you to her "page" and links to her blog, etc: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

I think we need cookies over here too! And I do miss the "like" button--much to my surprise!

A la our ongoing FB discussions of fave books and travel to literary sites, here's an article written by my friend Shan that you might like:
http://www.premiertravelerusa.com/The...

Hope the link works well!

What we really need over on this thread is conversation! :-) Although I have to admit that right now Goodreads feels less spontaneous than Facebook. Working on that!

We DO need conversation, from lots of us. Links, books, comments, criticism--whatever sparks conversation and is civil should be in bounds, IMHO.

Sidney, why don't you start a convo about Stabenow villains. You had wanted to talk about them over on FB so get one going. I am sure folks will have plenty to say about them, lol.

We're going on vacation, and I'm taking BB with me. Sigh. Maybe now's the time to read it....

Yay! more conversation! Hmm, we can do links here? *Looks at above threads* Well, I'll be! :-)

Do we have any 'Maniacs over in Olkahoma?? The images I've seen are devastating!

Jackie wrote: "Do we have any 'Maniacs over in Olkahoma?? The images I've seen are devastating!"

Jackie, I watched it on TV yesterday afternoon. Had to shut it off after a while, it was just so sad and depressing :( Hope our OK maniacs will check in when they can.

I can hardly look at the coverage. I'm an emotional wreck and I kept crying. Very angry at the reporting, "and 20 are CHILDREN" "and 70 are CHILDREN!" If I had children in the house can you imagine how much more traumatized they would be hearing that??? All life is precious and I realize how devastating losing children seems to adults but the reporters are making it overly dramatic. . . .

Last night before I went to bed, it was 51 dead. This morning.... 24. BIG difference. Bad, bad reporting!!

Well, they can only report what they are told. I was watching CNN last night when they were talking to a lady from the medical examiner's office and she was the one who said 51. I think that situations like this are just so chaotic and it is really hard to sort things out. I can't imagine trying to bring order out of that chaos.

Me either! It is heart wrenching to see the devastation!

Came across this article re the Pebble Mine: http://www.motherjones.com/environmen...

Jodi, watch Mother Jones for many good articles. A 'world view' that is close to our Alaskan hearts. Write your congressperson, Senator, the EPA, Dept of Interior. This project must be stopped.!!!!! Nancy

Cynthia wrote: "I think we need cookies over here too! And I do miss the "like" button--much to my surprise!"

What really is a 'cookie'?? I'm afraid of them, just as I am of 'pop-ups'. Please advise. Thanx, nancy

Cathyo wrote: "Sidney, why don't you start a convo about Stabenow villains. You had wanted to talk about them over on FB so get one going. I am sure folks will have plenty to say about them, lol."

This is a great idea !!! I'm in. Nancy

Nancy wrote: "Cynthia wrote: "I think we need cookies over here too! And I do miss the "like" button--much to my surprise!"

What really is a 'cookie'?? I'm afraid of them, just as I am of 'pop-ups'. Please a..."

In this comment it means chocolate chip, gingersnaps, 7 layer cookies etc. In the computer world cookies are both useful and potential reporting little spies. . . .

Cynthia wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Cynthia wrote: "I think we need cookies over here too! And I do miss the "like" button--much to my surprise!"

What really is a 'cookie'?? I'm afraid of them, just as I am of 'pop-u..."


I like your kind of cookies too, but the computer kind do you mean "spies" good or bad? n

The Reacher movie with Tom Cruise---I refused to see it in the theater because anyone who's read the books knows that TC is so NOT Jack Reacher. But a male maniac said that it was a good movie if you could just ignore the fact that it was supposed to be Reacher. So every time they said Reacher I said "Joe Blow". I sure hope Lee Child got oodles of money for letting TC so bastardize the Reacher character and name, but it was an entertaining movie if you can get over the fact that the Reacher name is attached to the TC character. Just my opinion. Child writes great books with interesting plots and the movie probably appealed to lots of folks who have never read nor will ever read one of the books.

Nancy wrote: "Cynthia wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Cynthia wrote: "I think we need cookies over here too! And I do miss the "like" button--much to my surprise!"

What really is a 'cookie'?? I'm afraid of them, just a..."

Check this Wikipedia link for a better definition of cookies:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie

Sally, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Tom Cruise should never have done Jack Reacher. But I'm sure, Tom Cruise being an ego driven ass, doesn't agree. It's the same problem I had, plus one, with the movie they made out of Janet Evanovich's book Two For The Money. Talk about lousy casting, and add the super lousy screen play. YUCK If they are going to make movies about seriously popular fictional characters the least they could do is try to stick with the characters and stories. I've seen lots better.

I just saw a book by Anne Hillerman. Is this Tony's wife? Looks like she will continue the series.

Mary wrote: "I just saw a book by Anne Hillerman. Is this Tony's wife? Looks like she will continue the series."

No, Anne is Tony's daughter. I'm hoping she'll continue the excellence of the Jim Chee, Joe Leaphorn stories. We were just there last week, and I said "Ya Ta He" to a Navajo, and with a big grin, said it right back! Thanks, Tony!!

I need cookies!! We saw a stand (in AZ) selling Indian Fry Bread, and I wanted to stop. My husband didn't...so we didn't. He was driving and being crabby. We went by the stand the next day, but they weren't selling any. Wah. :(

That is the nice thing about being single. No crabby husband to tell me I can't have what I want. And I do like having what I want. I fact no crabby anybody to tell me I can't have want I want. I am the freest person I know.

Thanks, Diane. The book blurb mentioned Bernadette, Jim, and Joe Leaphorn.

Mary wrote: "I just saw a book by Anne Hillerman. Is this Tony's wife? Looks like she will continue the series."

his daughter.

I might not have been paying attention. I assume Tony is dead? Didn't know that, if he is.

Yes, Tony died at least a couple of years ago. I'm glad to hear about Anne. I suggest anyone who is interested to read Tony's memoir, "Seldom Disappointed." He led an amazing life, and I'm so glad I stumbled upon the book while looking for others in the series I might have not read.

Can anyone throw some comments my way about Carl Hiaasen's "Bad Monkey". I value the Danamaniacs view points and book interests we have in common. Have never read him but enjoy what they're calling "wickedly funny". Am a big fan of early Stephanie Plums. And of course one of the funniest books every written "Break Up"! Thanks.

I find Hiassen to be hit or miss, but that's just me. He can be outrageously funny, and he also is very environmentally conscious . His kids' books are great for middle schoolers. He always has larger than life South Floridian characters; he's part of the group of Miami writers that includes Edna Buchanan. Try him!

has anyone read the Longmire series by Craig Johnson?
They create a sense of place through the characters much the same way the shugak and Campbell series do

Holly wrote: "Can anyone throw some comments my way about Carl Hiaasen's "Bad Monkey". I value the Danamaniacs view points and book interests we have in common. Have never read him but enjoy what they're calli..."

Holly, I agree with Mary, mostly. I haven't read Hiaasen recently, but have loved his earlier books. I found them very funny, and remarkably believable, regardless of how preposterous. (If that makes sense.) I lived in S Florida for many years there are some very strange people and events that occur with disturbing frequency. Edna Buchanan is another very good writer from the area. I heartily recommend both authors. n

I HAVE A HARD TIME WITH HIAASEN.

Hiassen has a very "bent" sense of humor. I guess I do too, because I enjoy his books. But he definitely is not for everyone.

Just wanted to say that I so totally agree with your comment about Break Up being one of the funniest books ever. I haven't laughed out loud so spontaneously in a long, looooong time. Great writing, great story and most excellent book! Holly wrote: "Can anyone throw some comments my way about Carl Hiaasen's "Bad Monkey". I value the Danamaniacs view points and book interests we have in common. Have never read him but enjoy what they're calli..."

Terry, Breakup is a yearly read during the spring. I never get tired of laughing even if I can practically recite the whole book!

Love the Longmire books! You are so right, Mary, about Johnson's sense of place. The books make the TV series easier to watch because so much is missing from the series.

ok just got the newest one and if you watch the series even once you will love the author photo.

I just finished The Silent Girl by Tess Gerritsen. All I can say is WOW. This is my first Gerritsen, and now I absolutely HAVE to read them all. She is a wonderful writer. It seems, however, to be somewhat the same with comparison of these to the TV series as it is when comparing Longmire books with that TV series. Quite different in a lot of ways. both are good and I never miss either one. But the books, OMG, the books are SO much better than the TV shows, as good as the TV shows are.

Joanne, I, too, love Tess Gerritsen! Both the books and the TV show are great. Different, yes, but I like both. I've read all of the series but haven't gotten the last one yet. It's on my 'to buy' list.

Believe it or not, I got this book at a sale for 20 cents.

At the Lucky Wishbone. I remember that Kate likes the chicken, but I'm an even bigger fan of the Oreo shake!

Have you ever been reading a book you love, find yourself getting nearer and nearer the end and not wanting that to happen? And you somehow start to try to not read so fast? Delaying the inevitable? I am reading another Walt Longmire book and I hate getting to the end of them. There aren't all that many.

Joanne - I agree.

This has been mentioned before and am I sure will be mentioned again. My best friend and I both play games with ourselves where we make ourselves take reading breaks to make a book last longer, get up and do something else for a few minutes but wind up drifting back because we can't stay away. I'm on #8 of the Longmire series so only have one more to go, but have gotten many other recommendations from the 'maniacs so hopefully will survive until the next. I definitely played that game with Bad Blood, partly because I felt an impending sense of doom because of non-specific posts by others and partly because I always play that game with Dana's books because she's one of my favorite authors.

You begin a really good book. You can barely stand the immense time it seems to take to learn the outcome. And yet, when you get there, and the book is read, you mourn it's loss. That has happened to me so often. I have found a kind of solace in just flipping the book over and reading it again. I do that every once in a while with a particularly good book. I often do that with a particularly good movie too. See it again as soon as possible.