Challenge Accepted and Completed

Powell's in Portland, August 2015

In December, the leader of our online book club posted a genre challenge. I sort of forgot about it, and she posted a reminder last week. As I perused the list, I realized that I actually had satisfied each one, except for young adult, a genre I generally hate. I browsed the Kindle Unlimited YA offerings the other day until I found a novella that didn't sound too bad. Now, I'm finished with the books and will post a brief review of each. (I read all these and more this year.)

1. Contemporary Fiction. I read (and watched) Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, which I discussed in some detail last week in this post. I gave the book 3 stars on Goodreads.

2. Historical Fiction. I finished up my lengthy Victoria Holt (aka Philippa Carr) binge with Daughters of England. Though this book was last in the series, it wasn't last chronologically, and I still enjoyed it a lot. Holt expertly weaves history with fiction to create believable plots and characters. The stories are inseparable from the history, as political events drive beliefs and behavior (same as now, even if we are unaware in the moment). I am used to Holt's abrupt endings, though I find that they are discordant with her meticulous storytelling otherwise. Four stars. 

3. Fantasy. The Gunslinger by Stephen King satisfied this genre. I found the novel to be ambitious, as it was clearly a setup for the next in series (good example of why I am not fond of series where each book does not stand alone, as Holt's do), but it only works well if you go on with the series, which I did not. I tried ~ I began The Drawing of the Three ~ but it was so gory and gross that I DNF. I gave Gunslinger 3 stars regardless for King's high quality writing. I don't have to enjoy plot and/or characters to appreciate his wordsmithery.

4. Science Fiction. Another Stephen King novel goes here: 11.22.63. I watched the miniseries first and mostly enjoyed it (discussed at the end of this post), and then at Roy's recommendation I read the book. I absolutely loved it! The descriptions were so lush with detail that I really did feel like I was back in the 1950s and early '60s. The butterfly effect was fully in play too, with several iterations of "what if," and I am always up for that sort of thought experiment. I highly recommend this epic novel (800+ pages, so set aside some time). This book received a 5-star rating from me.

5. Mystery/Thriller. I grabbed The Date by T.H. Murdock last week from the Amazon First Reads pile, and I'm glad I did. I gobbled up the whole novel in one day because it was that compelling. Murdock expertly layered in the suspense, shifting suspicion from one character to another, until the reader was completely hooked. I literally couldn't put it down until I knew whodunit. Another 4-star winner.

6. Romance. Love at the Lake by Julie Milo fit this category as well as one in another challenge. I gave it 3 stars for attempting to tackle the weighty subjects of dyslexia and adoption in an otherwise fluffy novel, but it didn't do either all that well because so much time was devoted to the fluff. I'm not one of those who hates "pure" romance novels (without any mystery or other element), but I need more of a plot than high school angst over whether or not a boy/girl likes the other boy/girl. Note: the characters were 23 years old, but still acted like teens.

7. Nonfiction. At a library sale, I found a "coffee table book" titled Love of Goldens by Todd R. Berger and had to get it for my daughter and son-in-law, who have a golden retriever (Rory). I love goldens too now! I gave this book 5 stars for the wonderful photos and adorable vignettes.

8. Biography/Memoir. I finished Peter Gethers' Norton the cat trilogy with his second book (read out of order), titled A Cat Abroad. While this middle section of Norton's life was enjoyable enough to get a 4-star rating from me, it wasn't as compelling as books one and three. The first book was our introduction to baby Norton and how he impacted the author's life, and the third and last one was exquisitely sad as we had to say goodbye to our sweet kitty friend. Abroad was exactly as titled ~ Peter takes his kitty on all sorts of trips, which were fun adventures, with vivid and descriptive writing, but I couldn't appreciate all the French language jokes, and it was not as emotionally gripping overall.

9. Literary Fiction. I read The Correspondent by Virginia Evans for my online book club, and it fits this genre. This book began in the most tedious way by flinging a boatload of characters at the reader (18 in the first 16 pages!) that were impossible to keep track of until later in the story. I kept going however and eventually became intrigued by the threads tying all these people to the main character. I also liked that the MC was cranky and unlikeable, but she was still interesting to read about. Three stars for this.

10. Young Adult. Incantation by Alice Hoffman is categorized as YA, so I chose it because I liked her writing in the past. What can I say about this book? It was about a family of Jews in Spain around the time of the Inquisition. Absolutely awful, yet fabulous writing. I'm glad it had fewer than 100 pages because idk if I could have read more about this terrible time. I gave it 5 stars, and I think it's important to be reminded about how evil humans are to one another, since we can become numb to the news. I haven't created labels for young adult or magical realism, but I think historical fiction plus fantasy will do for this novella.

11. Horror. In general, I avoid horror novels and movies, except when there is a promise of a solid story along with the gore/scariness. The Fourth Wife by Linda Hamilton delivered. I found this story to be fresh and intriguing, and I was fascinated by the relationships among the sister-wives. It was "gothic" in a way and full of creepy ghosts, despite being set in a 19th century house in Utah, not a crumbling old English mansion. Four stars.

12. Poetry or Short Stories. Odd category mix, as these are two very different genres. I read Poems for the Lost Because I'm Lost Too by Exurb1a, and I found the writing highly relatable even though the author is a young guy in Eastern Europe. His themes of existential angst, isolation, and meaninglessness resonated with how I have felt off and on over all the years of my life. He went off into the weeds a bit with his forays into the supernatural, and I skimmed those sections, but overall... yeah. Liked it! Four stars.

As a side note, I am not being hypocritical with my high ratings of most of these challenge books after complaining repeatedly that people rate books too highly ~ I read many books recently that merited 2 or 3 stars, but I focused on the better ones for these mini-reviews. For example, in the poetry category, I gave 2 stars to another book of verse, but why mention it when I can recommend Poems for the Lost?

Remarkably Bright Creatures (book and movie)

Screenshot of RBC book cover

SPOILERS GALORE! BEWARE!

I’m surprised that I didn’t love this book because in general I enjoy books about animals. It wasn’t really about animals though; it was about people. The sections narrated by Marcellus the octopus were much briefer than the rest of the chapters, which was a bummer. He had a wonderful droll, sarcastic voice, and it would have been great to spend more time in his POV. Instead, we are rapidly introduced to a whole bunch of humans, and I had a hard time keeping track ~ by page 35, we had 18 characters and that number kept growing. It was so tedious to read the backstories of all these folks. Why do I care about Tova's "Knit-Wit" friends when I barely have been introduced to Tova, the main character? And then a random 30 year old grungy musician (Cameron) is flung at us, along with his aunt, her boyfriend, bandmates, etc. Huh? I know Cameron will tie into the MC's storyline later, but there was so much unnecessary detail about the side characters early in the book. Many authors make this mistake. Well, I think it's a mistake. In The Correspondent, another overrated book (imo), the same thing happened.

Moving on. I began to get the feeling from the cryptic clues that Tova's son Erik was murdered due to some drug smuggling type of incident or whatever. I thought that Marcellus was going to help solve the crime in an interesting way. Marcellus did solve a mystery, but it had nothing to do with a crime ~ Erik died in exactly the way the police said he did. That was a letdown after the buildup. What Marcellus did was make it blindingly obvious that Cameron was Tova's grandson. Cameron's mom had bequeathed him his father's high school class ring, which had ERIK'S INITIALS on it the whole time, but Cameron chased down some other elusive friend of his mother's instead. That all was effing ridiculous, and a few times I almost abandoned the book altogether.

Then there were the totally cringe romances happening. One was Cameron's awkward courtship of a local prickly single mom; the other was the gossipy grocer's pursuit of Tova. Gah. The entire Pacific NW town was full of weird, socially inept people, which made me long for more narration from the octopus. I ended up giving the book three stars, which was generous, because I loved Marcellus and cried at the end.

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I didn't have high hopes for the RBC movie on Netflix after (finally) finishing the book, but the movie was better than the book! Usually it's the other way around for me. The movie smartly streamlined the story to focus on Nova, Cameron, and Marcellus. We didn't have to wade through intros to all the other people in their lives. The romances were much less awkward too. We still didn't get enough narration from Marcellus, but on the other hand, we got a lot less tedious gobble about the ring, Cam's search for the friend who wasn't actually his dad, the smitten grocer, blah blah blah. When Cam's mom died, she left him her gross van full of junk, which included the class ring, and as soon as Cam figured out that his father was in the PNW, he hightailed it up there. In the book, we had to go through this nonsense of his aunt lending him money and giving him a box of crap to sort through, his purchase of the cruddy old van, his relationship with the band members, etc. It was all so BORING! I wasn't at all bored during the movie. The plot actually made more sense in the film version, and we weren't given any misdirection about Erik's death. The ending was super lovely too. I'd give the movie 4 stars.

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I began a couple of June challenges. One is a reading challenge via my online book club. I know I said I wasn't going to do those anymore because I end up reading crummy books just to fulfill a category, but I am doing it anyway. My plan is to review the books here on my blog, but we'll see if that happens. My original plan for this blog was to post mostly book and movie reviews and avoid meaningless prompts, but I ended up doing some prompts too. What can I say ~ I enjoy them.

The other challenge is Leslie Sansone's get fit in 30 days video. It's not that strenuous, so I think I can do all the things without hurting myself. (I hope.) I did the first 30 minute aerobic session tonight, which seemed fine, vigorous, but not overwhelming. I did just take some ibuprofen though. Three times per week we do that, and three times per week we do some kind of stretching session. I guess we have Sundays off.

Inky is doing great on her plan and clocked in at 9.9 pounds today. Yay! If we could get down to 9.5, that would be even better. The vet should be pleased when we go for our September checkup.

A Subtle Difference

It’s hard for me not to obsess over POV when I’m reading because we were taught to obsess over it when we were crafting a scene. One of the very first things I learned was not to have our character die during the story if we were narrating in first person. There are a few exceptions, such as writing as a ghost or zombie or whatever, but generally “and then I died” is bad form. The reader immediately wonders who is telling the story. 

Lately there’s been an epidemic of first person present tense thrillers, often with alternating first person POVs. I can’t even describe how much I hate this, but I try to put my violent rage aside when evaluating the book for a book club discussion, Goodreads review, star rating, etc. I admit that there is a subtle difference in writing “and then I died” vs “everything fades to black.” In the first case, my instant reaction is well then who is telling me this now? In the second case, I could believe I am with the character as it is happening. It’s still not as smooth as third person, so I don’t know why writers persist in doing this. Why not just write in third when you know you’re going to kill your MC?

Another issue I have with first person narration is how much we know when we’re inside the character’s head. If we are supposed to be privy to their thoughts, then they can’t have secrets. You shouldn’t write: “I have been thinking about that Bad Thing I did, but I won’t tell you what it is because I need to focus on the best way to kill Michael right now.” That’s crap writing and throws the reader out of the story. Guess what POV is best for keeping secrets from the reader? Third! “Paula thought about the Bad Thing again, but she forced herself not to dwell on it because she needed to focus on the best way to kill Michael.” Maybe this is too nit-picky, but it really bothers me.

Finally (must have three things in a post about writing), note that my example is in past tense. It’s the best way to tell a story, in my opinion. Past tense lets the reader relax and follow along, as opposed to creating an aura of anxious immediacy where the reader watches the action like a bystander at a car crash. With past tense, the reader relies on the narrator (even an unreliable one) to guide her through the experience rather than standing there trying to figure it out herself. Take this famous opening line from Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 mystery novel Rebecca: 

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”

That sets the tone for the story. Something happened at Manderley, and we are going to find out what it was. It establishes first person narration, which is fine because the narrator doesn’t die! The prose continues in slow, deliberate, vivid description of the property with the MC imagining how the estate decayed but still lives on as a character in its own right. The dream segues into the past, when the MC lived at the house and before that, when she met and married the owner, and we get a disturbing glimpse to pique our interest in discovering exactly what went on. Imagine if Rebecca had been written today:

“I dream I go to Manderley again.”

Meh. It’s a totally different vibe, anxious and hurried, not the slow, haunting buildup to a tragedy.

PS: the 2020 Rebecca starring Lily James is excellent. I have not watched Hitchcock’s adaptation. Naturally, the critics have to crap on the 2020 version, but as usual I disregard them. 

Weekend Recap

Happy last day of November. I had a fun friendsgiving, which included several board games, but my opinion of Thanksgiving food, even if perfectly prepared, remains unchanged: I don’t like it. I especially dislike turkey and do not eat any of it (chicken is fine, I like chicken, but everybody else wants turkey). Stuffing can be tasty, but only the way my mommy made it. Green beans and mashed potatoes are okay, but why bother? Now, I do enjoy a baked sweet potato with butter, but I don’t want them all syruped up in a casserole. Yuck. Then we come to the pie ~ I love pie! Why can’t I just have pie? I brought an apple crumb pie from The Flaky Apple Pie Company, baked it at the host’s house, and it was utterly delicious! Everyone loved it. Next year I’m getting cherry. Every pie they make is wonderful. If it were up to me, I would have an all-pie and only-pie Thanksgiving.

I have been trying to watch season two of A Man on the Inside, but I keep falling asleep. Maybe I shouldn’t put it on at 10pm when I am already in bed. I did watch the entirety of Red Joan, a Netflix WW2 drama about “the bomb,” starring Judi Dench and Sophie Cookson, both playing a British woman Joan Stanley at different ages. The story is loosely based on the life of a KGB spy and depicts Joan as a naive Cambridge physics student who becomes sympathetic toward communism due to her boyfriend’s influence. After graduation, she works in a nuclear research facility and passes information to the Soviets via her boyfriend’s sister. Normally I do not watch anything set in this time period, but I love Judi, and the premise sounded interesting, so I did. It was fabulous! I highly recommend it. 

I watched couple of Christmas romcoms too, which weren’t bad, but they were completely forgettable, so I can’t tell you what they were without going to my watch history… and I CBA. I am planning to see Song Sung Blue at the theater with game friends on Christmas Day and The Housemaid with book club peeps later that weekend. Looking forward to those as well as seeing my family for Chanukah. I did a puzzle on Friday; it was only 500 pieces, so I completed it in a few hours. I think I prefer those as opposed to the 1000 pieces ones, which take several days or a week. I am trying not to spend so much time reading the news and social media, except for my FB book club group, so solo games are a good distraction.

I have a lot of social plans coming up, the idea of which stresses me out a bit, even when I deliberately set it all in motion. To ease my anxiety, I spent too much money on Black Friday sales as well as other stuff I “needed.” Now I’m stressed about that instead. I console myself with the thought that I could have spent even more but didn’t. The nice thing is that most of my stuff will be arriving in separate packages, so I will have several fun mail-opening events, woohoo. 

As far as books, I guess I took a little break ~ the last book I read was on November 26. That was What She Saw by Mary Burton, a solid mystery novel, to which I awarded four stars. Yesterday I began a John Grisham novel, The Brethren, which is mildly intriguing, and I will probably finish it. I have several of his in my TBR pile. I’m trying to understand why I don’t fling this book into my DNF donation bag as opposed to all the romances and thrillers that have been so flung, and I guess it’s simply because he’s a better writer. His characters in this book are not likable, but they hold my attention regardless, and the plot threads make me wanna find out what happens and how they tie together. Is it worth noting that Grisham narrates in third person past tense, which is how books should be written, instead of the first person head hopping present tense atrocities we keep seeing in new fiction? Yes, there are exceptions, and I have enjoyed some FPHHPT novels, but that’s despite the FPHHPT not because of it. 

Tomorrow is weigh-in day for Inky and me!

Love Saves the Day

Our book club leader challenged us to read and review two novellas in addition to our three August books of the month, so naturally I decided to read the novellas first because they're shorter. The first one I chose was Shamrock Kisses by Serena Pier (103 pages). This book is the third in a series of six mini-romances featuring a group of friends located in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. A bar called "High Five" serves as a motif throughout the series along with holiday themes, this one obviously being St. Patrick's Day. I found this book first (you don't have to read them in order), maybe because I love Inky's green eyes, though at times they appear golden (and in some old pics Gatsby's look greenish, go figure!), and if I liked it I would read the rest and if not, not. Welp, it's a not, sadly. This story basically has no plot whatsoever. Patrick meets Rachel, and they're both very attracted to each other. They meet up the next day at the High Five to begin flirting and dancing and smooching, et cetera. Except for the fact that Patrick lives in Chicago (but he can go remote), there is no obstacle at all put in the way of the couple's togetherness. They discover all kinds of cool things about each other, become even more attracted, and everything proceeds smoothly. Isn't that great? Yawn. Two stars.

The second book is 186 pages but is still considered a novella: Wrong Number by Daphne Leigh. This one contains very witty, very sexy banter (much of it via text), which is a welcome relief after the cringe convos throughout Shamrock. Honestly, I was a bit envious of Sarah, since James was the type of man I had hoped to meet back in my dating daze. He is confident, happy, witty, expressive, emotionally available, doesn't pretend to be too cool or busy to focus on one person, employed, etc. But then Sarah and James meet for a real date and everything goes to hell. To portray the heroine’s nervousness, the author has her tripping nonstop over her own feet and spilling drinks, not just once but over and over. So annoying and ridiculous. The relationship moves way too fast for no reason, though at least there are some emotional obstacles on her part to overcome, unlike in the Shamrock story. It would have been nice if James also had some kind of character arc or if there was some outside impediment to their togetherness. This could have been so much better. Oh well. Three stars. 

Note: both of these books are pretty high in “spice” aka explicit sex, not that any of you will likely read them to begin with!

For my in-person book club meeting next Sunday afternoon we have chosen the book Love Saves the Day by Gwen Cooper. This novel made me so angry! The reason is because this could have been a great book, a five-star book for sure, but the idiotic, mixed-up chronology is beyond irritating. Why can't contemporary writers just tell their stories straight? LSTD is all over the damn place timewise, and on top that, half the narration is from "the cat" (Prudence) in present tense. I don't mind this if it's done well and/ or if there's a small amount of it, but it isn't done well, and there is a lot of it. Granted, there are some funny/ cute moments, such as when Prudence speculates that Josh may be off-balance because he shaves his whiskers every day, but much of her narration is repetitive. The bones of an excellent novel are hidden beneath the fluff and silliness, and I became angrier at Gwen for hiding those bones than I would be at a lesser writer. She's a good writer! She could have begun this tale with Sarah's interesting life and proceeded chronologically to her daughter Laura's story, including all the gritty parts about how hard it is to live in NYC if you're not wealthy and the stuff about real estate and evil developers, etc., and perhaps incorporated some kitty input once in a while. Argh! Three stars. I'll probably read it again at some point and possibly fling on an extra star, but right now I am really tired of time jumping.

Speaking of cats, Inky is so mad at me right now because I brushed her and put a cute, blingy collar on her sweet little neck. She pretended she was over her snit when I offered her a bite of cheese (she adores cheese), but then she went right back to pouting in her cubby. 

Inky Updates

I went DNF on Mansfield Park by Jane Austen for a book club challenge because it is absolutely the most tedious thing ever. Here's an SSC (short shameful confession): I don't like Jane Austen's writing! Sacrilege, I know. I like the movie version of Sense and Sensibility, and the Pride and Prejudice miniseries is in my watchlist. But the books! Gah! P&P was horribly boring too, but nowhere near as bad as Mansfield. I couldn't help but think how Victoria Holt would have written it: she would have stayed strictly in Fanny's POV and cut out all the endless drivel about what the other family members thought of Fanny. 

For example: "I arrived at Mansfield Park at the age of ten because my parents could no longer afford all the children they kept producing. I was keenly aware that my aunt and uncle were doing me a favor by allowing me to live in their home, and I tried to be as grateful as they said I ought to be, but in fact I was miserable. I missed my loving siblings, even if we didn't have enough to eat some days. The cousins pointed out to me at every opportunity how lacking my education had been, and I grew wary of uttering a word and proving them correct. Of course, my silence was also criticized and labeled as disrespectful. It seemed I could do nothing right and my very existence was an affront to the Mansfield Park denizens, though I did hear my aunt and uncle congratulating themselves on their massive act of Christian charity by taking me in; I supposed they had earned a large number of credits on the heavenly scorecard."

After that, we leap ahead to her teen years ~ as the book does, but without 20 pages of excruciatingly dull dialog among the other family members. My Victoria Holt fan fiction would sum up five years in one paragraph and then move on to an actual plot (idk if MP has a plot because I didn't read that far in). Oh well. My pristine copy of Mansfield will be yet another donation to the Fountain Valley Library.

I watched F***, Marry, Kill (Lucy Hale is as adorable here as she was in The Hating Game). It’s kind of a thriller romcom…  funny, cute, suspenseful. I recommend it! I've also begun a new series my friend J recommended: The Watcher. It's fun and silly and would be better with someone else in Jennifer Coolidge's role as the realtor. I absolutely can't stand her ~ she was annoying in Legally Blonde, and it's been downhill since. Or is that uphill? It's certainly tiring to watch her either be an idiot or an ahole or something in between. The rest of the cast and show is pretty good however.

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OK, here's the news everyone has been waiting for: I'm really happy with the way things are going with Inky. Today is her fourth day with me in her new home.

1. She knew to use the litterbox right away, and all is good in that department.

2. She seems pleased with normal grocery store cat food and treats, so I don't have to spend an ungodly amount of money (yet) ordering special food from Chewy.

3. So far, she's staying mostly in "cat realm" ~ under the bed and on the dining room chairs. She doesn't seem interested in jumping on counters, knocking over my knickknacks, or rooting through the trash.

4. She's still shy and skittish, but she has occasionally let me pet her for a few seconds, and she licked a cat treat off my finger. I think that's great progress!

5. Saturday afternoon, I sat on the floor and spoke to her very softly and lovingly... and she began to purr! I was so happy I almost cried. Since then I've petted her several times (briefly and carefully), and she purrs each time. 

6. She loves all the kitty toys ~ soft mice, crunchy balls, laser pointer, feather on a stick, etc. ~ and she is very kittenish and cute (she is a little over a year old by the shelter's estimate). 

7. My daughter and son-in-law came up on Sunday to have lunch with me and meet Inky, but she went back under the bed and wouldn't come out even for a squeeze treat (concentrated noms in a little tube).

8. After they left, my other daughter FaceTimed me to meet Inky; by that time we were alone again in a quiet house, and Inky was all playful and adorable. 

More updates soon. My eyes are better, so I plan to read and review books again as well.

Groundhog Day

Hey hey, lovely readers, I haven't been in the mood to blog, and guess what? That's perfectly OK, since blogging is a hobby, not a job. What a concept. It took me years, plus a year-long break, to finally see the light. Guess what I have been in the mood for? Painting! Ta-da! This weekend I got back into it, painted a new picture I am very pleased with (will put it on IG soon), and fixed the grass on an older painting that was bothering me. I have ideas for new paintings too ~ I've quit doing tutorials though, as I find it tedious to listen to another person's voice, and instead I use random pictures I find on art sites as inspiration.

I have read a few books since my last post. The first was My Perfect Daughter, a thriller by Sarah A. Denzil. This was a selection for my in-person book club, and we are meeting next week for a discussion and potluck lunch (note to self: pick up cole slaw and cornbread). I did not like this book and gave it only two stars. Basically, the plot was utterly preposterous, and none of the characters were the least bit sympathetic, despite their horrific circumstances. I guessed very early on that the husband was going to be a bad guy, so that was no shock, and the other twists I didn't expect weren't interesting. Naturally, the story was told in the irritating now/then format, with the "now" being in present tense.

Next I read Olive Days by Jessica Elisheva Emerson. This novel, which I would classify as literary fiction, satisfied the requirement on my 2025 Reading Challenge that there is green on the cover (silly, eh?). The story is about an Orthodox Jewish woman in Los  Angeles who feels trapped in an unhappy marriage and begins to cheat on her husband. She annoyed me a lot, probably because in some ways she reminded me of myself way back when. We follow her saga as she falls madly in lust/love with her art teacher who falls for her as well and wants to leave his own marriage and convert to Judaism. He also annoyed me, as did pretty much all the other characters. Yet, I enjoyed the book! Isn't that strange? I found the characters complex and the writing very lush and philosophical, while at the same time I was all ugh why are you doing this dumb thing? But people do do dumb things, and Emerson explored their motivations in great depth. Four stars.

I also loved The Drowning Woman by Robin Harding, a thriller about friendship and betrayal. It was hard to put down this book ~ I fell asleep reading it Saturday night and grabbed it first thing Sunday morning to gobble up the rest. The characters were unique, and the twists took me by surprise. I don't want to give anything more away, as I highly recommend this story and hope you read it too. This book was one of the "challenge" reads for February for my online book club, and soon I will read the main book. Four stars for TDW (not five because it was written in present tense for no good reason).

Tonight I began to watch Here on Netflix, but it was boring, and I fell asleep. After I woke up on the sofa, I exercised and decided to write this post. Now, I will actually go to bed.

PS: I had avocado toast for lunch today in Los Angeles with my daughter and granddaughter, and it may have been the tastiest one yet. Or maybe I simply haven't ordered it for a while.