I just got my kindle copy of "Taken for Granted; A Novel" from Amazon. I plan to read it over the weekend and give it a review. Both here and on Amazon. But I am kind of worried.
I mean look at the Title. If the wife comes up with that title you have to stop for a moment. I mean it's not as bad as "My Husband is an Asshole" or "I Wish I had Married Kevin O"Malley" or "Do You Know a Good Divorce Lawyer." Still the title has to make you think.
Now the blurb is also pretty interesting."As she struggles to answer these questions and discovers the person Kate has become, Caroline is forced to examine her own life and make some painful choices." Painful choices? Dude that don't sound good.
Now it is set in Madison Wisconsin so maybe can see some characters we could recognize. A guy in dirty coveralls with a borrowed dog with a bleached out blond refugee from the set of "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane." A rotund goober in a stained Packers jersey munching on roasted roadkill while refurbishing a BMW. A guy so middle of the road that he can't walk down the street without straddling a fence and ripping his pants on the white pickets. Now that would be fun!
Anyhoo I can't wait to start reading.
13 comments:
This is perhaps not the best place to discuss this, but some new people moved into the neighborhood. They are from Wisconsin.
Anyone who has read my comments over the years knows that I love dogs. Truly. They are more faithful, loyal and frequently more intelligent than the bipeds I encounter.
Well these cheese-eatin' commie sons of motherless fucks move into a place with no fence and two Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs which they let run loose. Holy fuckin' shit, are you kiddin' me? Those things are used to hunt lions!
I get that the dumb shits are from the great white north and all, but can they really be that fucking stupid? Turns out, they can be.
I walked out to discuss the situation and the two dogs charged me. I stood still, they circled me, barking, while their stick armed metrosexual owner sashayed over saying "They are friendly".
I don't give a crap, packer boy, and I know you're not from around here, but you can't have dangerous animals runnin' loose.
Anyway, I will file a complaint with animal control rather than using any other method to see that the other animals around here are safe, but I gotta tell ya, it is only because I love dogs, even big potentially dangerous ones.
Thanks for allowing me to vent.
And for the record, I used to date a woman from Kenosha, so I don't dislike every Sconie. Just the carpetbagging ones.
This is the South. You could welcome them with a couple of biscuits soaked in anti-freeze. Then sell the dogs on e-Bay.
Painful choices? Sounds like a winner of a series to me.
Mrs. Haz just finished reading Mrs. Spinelli's novel. Spent all day today reading it, in fact. She thinks that author did a very good job of capturing the sense of being a liberal and living in Madison that the main characters needed in order to have a sense of credibility.
And she wishes that there would have been some sex with the female lead tied to the bedposts with neckties.
(I made up some of the above.)
Sixty - You dated a woman from Kenosha? Our apologies.
Thanks, Mr. Haz, but she was tall and very good looking. Talked funny, sure, but she was a nice woman. Very sweet - she is a southerner now, at least until you hear her accent.
There are no bad dogs, just bad owners.
Trooper, Thanks for the ballbust and free publicity. I hope you enjoy it.
Haz, My bride is more liberal than me. However, having been a hardworking person working for the Federal govt., where hard work is mostly frowned upon, she is pretty conservative fiscally. The being tied to bedposts w/ neckties just isn't something my bride has any reference to since I only own one necktie!
Downloaded it to my kindle too. Looking forward to reading it this afternoon after I get done helping my hubby pull a pump and set a new pump. It just requires an extra set of hands for about 10 minutes. No point in paying his helper $100 to go out and do that. I expect to be paid at least 20 bucks and have him bring me a drink this afternoon. I refuse to help him with the sewage sump pump at the PGE Campground, which is the next job today. He will have to hire his helper for that one! Ah...self employment. No time off.
@ Sixty. Well, at least you warned them. When the dogs mysteriously disappear, they will still be as clueless.
DBQ, Thanks, and please offer your uncensored analysis.
Best of luck on that job, DBQ, your husband is indeed a fortunate person. And yeah, when it comes to dealing with sewage I would rather scratch a check than pitch in.
The dog situation will be resolved without undue stress on any of the involved parties. I have heard from other neighbors that the message that a fence is required has been received. All will be well once the fence is in place. Good fences etc.
I was able to walk the dogs this morning, my lab was able to take a dip in the river for the first time this year and all in all we enjoyed being out. Life is good when one is not worried about loose dogs.
I read up on ridgebacks last night. They sound like interesting dogs, with a fence definitely in order. I liked the last part of the description, as well as the warning, "often not the best choice for inexperienced dog owners".
Rhodesian Ridgebacks are loyal, intelligent, and somewhat aloof to strangers. This is not to be confused with aggression; a Ridgeback of proper temperament will be more inclined to ignore, rather than challenge, a stranger. This breed requires positive, reward-based training, good socialization and consistency; it is often not the best choice for inexperienced dog owners. Ridgebacks are strong-willed, intelligent, and many seem to have a penchant for mischief, though loving. They are protective of their owners and families. If trained well, they can be excellent guard dogs, although this particular trait should not be encouraged. Like any dog, they can become aggressive when they are not socialised properly.
Despite their athletic, sometimes imposing, exterior, the Ridgeback has a sensitive side. The Ridgeback accepts correction as long as it is fair and justified, and as long as it comes from someone he knows and trusts. Francis R. Barnes, who wrote the first standard in 1922, acknowledged that "rough treatment ... should never be administered to these dogs, especially when they are young. They go to pieces with handling of that kind."
We've been at the lake where the neighbor, a nice but meticulous retired guy who daily blows his asphalt cottage driveway off with the leaf blower and gets on the garage roof to sweep it off before company shows up, had his children and grandchildren over Saturday for what what he terms a "family rebellion". They brought along with them FOUR 12 week old lab puppies from the same litter, recently purchased by three of the families. There were two chocolates and two blacks, full of the berries and bouncing all over. They were life itself, and couldn't have been any cuter or more playful. All the more so for being inserted into that much control and obsession as the perfect foil. The poor guy didn't know (in the words of MrM) whether "to shit or go blind".
One of the chocolates, Colonel Sherman, looked so much like our old chocolate boy, Jackson, that MrM and I were taken aback and won over by him, especially after he kept trying to follow us home. We wondered if the life-spirit-energy that had left our good dog upon death, might have found a new body to inhabit and a new family to join. It was fun to see and almost enough to open us to the possibility of another dog. Not an African Lion Hound though, and not a Greyhound either. The neighbor on the other side is into greyhound rescue, and her two remind me of trained deer. She rarely lets them off leash, because they aren't easily stopped once they start running.
My old dog is half chocolate lab, and one of the best dogs evah! I really appreciate his loyalty.
He is not well socialized, however, and if two Lion Dogs or Snoop Lions or whatever the fuck bounded up to him he would bark. That would lead to trouble as he is not very big. My goal in getting in the face of that Y*nkee was to prevent that from ever occurring. We shall see if that dipwad is bright enough to respond appropriately.
But back to the point at hand - labs are great dogs. The first dog I had as a grown up arrived at my place 13 years ago. She was a lab mix and was an awesome dog. Very good looking dog, too. Smart, easy to train, even at an advanced age. I used to get her, my chocolate lab and one of my cats to sit using hand commands, then reward them with treats. Of that trio, only Yogi the chocolate lab is still here and if I can keep those 1%ers across the street in line then he will live out his normal lifespan.
Among the dogs I dog sit at market are a pair of greyhounds - I have really grown to appreciate their qualities. A couple of weeks ago there was a Whippet - I asked the owner if his name was Devo. Yeah, I'm that guy.
A Basset hound came by - I thought "Angela", but some things are better not said.
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