Josh’s Comments (group member since Jun 17, 2010)

Josh’s comments from the Q&A with Josh Lanyon group.

Karen wrote: "Things have been going well for us, especially considering what so many have been/are experiencing. We are healthy and financially fortunate. I've been (slowly) doing a version of my usual pre-holi..."

It has been a very emotional and spiritually exhausting holiday, I have to agree. I'm nervously reading through the messages to see how Loretta's son and DIL are doing...

Johanna wrote: "Alison wrote: "Sad news, book lovers: according to the American Booksellers Association, more than one independent American bookstore has gone out of business each week since the pandemic started. ..."

I fear so many of our favorite little Catalina businesses will not survive this...

Alison wrote: "Sad news, book lovers: according to the American Booksellers Association, more than one independent American bookstore has gone out of business each week since the pandemic started. !!!. One of my ..."

That's a good topic for a rant. :-)

Mymymble wrote: "Enjoying Josh's advent calendar even more than usual this year. Lovely that some things don't change."

I'm so glad! It was an especially good one, I think--thanks to so many wonderful contributions.

Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I agree Alison. One thing I have noticed when I pop into local shops is that most of the people not wearing masks are men! It annoys me to see people ignoring the advice and then the news broadcast..."

I have to assume these are people who don't watch the news. Either because they believe it's all "fake," or because they just aren't interested in anything happening beyond the reach of their own fingertips.

Alison wrote: "Josh wrote: "It's scary. Especially the persistent messaging that it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better."

I love the scary messaging. It's needed. I'm glad officials and doctors and ..."

Agreed. I watched in horror the scenes of people boarding planes for the holidays, despite our current catastrophic situation. Close to a million people on Christmas Eve and then again on Christmas Day.

I just don't understand.

"My mom is worth it," some genius said on camera when asked why they were flying during a pandemic.

Your mom is worth it?

I see. But not worth making every effort to keep her alive for next holiday? Interesting.

Jordan wrote: "I found this really interesting and fun resource just now and I thought I would share it with you all. This is called the Literature Map. You put in an author and the closer other authors are the m..."

Huh. That's a really weird map and makes me think the overall definition is romance rather than mystery.

Winter vacation! Winter holidays!

Alison wrote: "It's vaccine day in America! I'm so pleased and relived and excited that it's starting. It's a long road ahead, but we're going in the right direction."

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Granted we're going to be about 17 million short of vaccinations from where we were supposed to be by end of year. But at least we're moving in the right direction.

1 - Waking up to thunder and lightning. The first real rain of the season. It was wonderful. :-) Although the dogs were not quite so thrilled with the special effects show.

2 - Holiday goodies. Kind of a mixed blessing because I already feel that I'm eating my way through the holidays, and the abundance of treats this time of year is not helping. But there's a reason they call it "comfort food."

3 - My Barbie 16-month wall calendar. I mean, how you can resist inspirational sayings like... SPARKLE TIME? :-D :-D :-D

4 - Holiday decorations. The house is so festive with all the lanterns and globes and glittery strands of lights and beads and boughs of (fake) evergreen. It's so pretty and cozy at night.

5 - The promise of 2021

Karen wrote: "Jordan wrote: "Oh wow! That’s so fantastic that both of you grew in your creativeness this year! And what beautiful jewelry!

I make embroidery floss bracelets, mostly for fun, but I don’t yet know..."

I was just thinking how nicely laid out that online shop is.

Karen wrote: "1. The visual timeline of child development from birth to 18-months provided by shared albums (through Apple Photos) of our grand-baby and grand-niece.

2. Possibly delusional, but feeling that I'm..."

Oh, Karen! Those are wonderful.

(By the way, I'm lucky enough to have a necklace and earrings by Karen, and I can vouch for the beauty and quality of her work!)

Antonella wrote: "Waking up in the morning and going to see my cat
Playing with the cat
Looking at the cat playing on his own
The cat on top of me/touching me when he sleeps and I read or work
His enthusiastic welco..."

Antonella, I get the feeling you like that cat. :-D

NEARLY as much as I like my dogs.

Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "Why on earth would a country think of jailing librarians? Utterly pathetic. Parents can easily veto their children's book choices if they supervise their children's reading.

Some parents might be..."

This is a country where half the population not-so-secretly believes the other half of the population should not be allowed to vote. Jailing librarians would seem right in keeping with that.

Okay, I confess I'm only about a third of the way through. I love the gently humorous, almost whimsical feel to it--the problem is not the book--but I keep falling asleep. It does make for peaceful dreams, I will say.

It's such a perfect set up for a murder! Why oh WHY can there not be a murder? :-P

Mymymble wrote: "A lovely second chance romance between Michael and Len, it left me with such happy feelz.
Very atmospheric too. Almost spooky."

Oh good. Yes, I can see that apartment building so clearly...

Jordan wrote: "So I needed to know if Len had lied about the kid and everything. It was late, but by the time I got to that part, it was close to being finished, and I just finished it at 12:30 because really, I ..."

I'm so glad! Thank you, Jordan.

Karen wrote: "I reread this last night, confirming once again Josh's mastery of the short story/novella! I really appreciated how well Maurice is described, not with length, but with Michael's reminiscences and ..."

I've been watching so much true crime, it's liable to affect my ability to write mastermind villains. :-D There are so few of them in real life. Real murder is mostly just depressing.

I briefly switched over to and it was EVEN SLOWER. LOL. So I think I'll persist a bit with our holiday selection. :-D

Mymymble wrote: "I'm on my way - one chapter in. Very quaint. The house sounds like mine, though Queen Anne rather than George III.
It's hard work though. I've hardly read any books since March. I managed Busybody ..."

I'm struggling a bit too, but like you, Mymymble, I'm still having trouble reading anything right now.

Interestingly, I was watching THE RIVALS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, and I saw the particular episode was written by William Corlett. I'm pretty sure it's our guy!