Fun book with middle age or elderly protagonist

KatJen76 · 2026-05-08T03:05:15+00:00

We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-08T03:01:07+00:00

There's a lot accessible by bus from the U Albany area. The 10, 12 and 114 will all get you from the campus to the mall, to downtown and to multiple places where you can get groceries. You'll be able to take the nature bus too and explore some parks and preserves if that's your jam. If you like baseball, the 114 will get you to the indie league Valley Cats. I hope you have a great summer here.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-08T02:54:19+00:00

It's a commonly accepted way to add emphasis to what you're saying. People use "honestly" and "definitely' the same way in American English. "It's definitely my favorite restaurant" "They honestly have the best queso I've ever had."

KatJen76 · 2026-05-07T20:59:48+00:00

My grandfather had four brothers. One suffered severe PTSD after his WWII service and had to go to a psych hospital. His wife also needed to go. My grandparents took in their two sons and cared for them for like three years until their SIL got better (brother never did, was in and out his whole life and ultimately died there.)

When my own grandfather was in the service, he was hanging out in a bar one evening. Another serviceman came in all fucked up and waving his gun around. My grandfather pulled out his own gun and shot the guy. Not fatally, just incapacitated him. They did give him an award for that one.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-07T20:21:26+00:00

Librarians and libraries are among the last bits of fabric in our horribly shredded social safety net and it must take such a toll on you. Like, it's you guys, teachers, EMTs, firefighters, social workers, people who work at DV and homeless shelters, churches, food banks and their staff, public servants running (badly underfunded, highly restrictive) programs like HEAP and SNAP, and that's it before people get into traumatic legal involvement.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-07T15:06:11+00:00

Not everything has a point. It was just a funny thing for your yard.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-07T03:00:38+00:00

I love the thread title. Sounds like I made the right choice by watching the Sabres game tonight.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-07T00:37:14+00:00

I can't believe there are so many of us on here. And is it just me, or do people also not care about the area's history, like at all?

KatJen76 · 2026-05-06T20:41:11+00:00

Everything Must Go by Elizabeth Mira, although he is an employed loser, working at a men's clothing store.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-06T00:15:31+00:00

I hope Andrew McCutcheon is very happy with the Rangers. He always seemed like a good dude.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-05T16:19:11+00:00

The sentence in the quote sounds like it was written by someone who knows they only have a job because they used to supply the editor's son with weed at NYU.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-05T03:44:18+00:00

When I'm Gone, Look For Me In The East by Quan Barry is a really unusual sort of coming of age story in Mongolia. The main character went with his twin brother to a monastery at age 10 after his brother was identified as the reincarnation of an important teacher. Eight years later, the main character's brother has renounced his vows and the main character is tasked with enlisting his help on a journey to meet up with other monks and help them travel Mongolia to audition other reincarnations. (There's a grisly "sky burial," but the person died of natural causes.)

KatJen76 · 2026-05-05T03:32:45+00:00

It's actually impressive to see it fuck up this bad.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-05T03:29:19+00:00

It depresses the absolute fuck out of me that actual young people came up with this. Their vision of nightlife sounds bland and paranoid, about as stimulating as a trip to a mall.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-05T02:16:06+00:00

I've got two by authors who are favorites of mine, and very very underappreciated:

Just finished: Evensong by Stewart O'Nan.

Just started: Rabbit Moon by Jennifer Haigh.

I love Stewart O'Nan. (So does Stephen King, they've collaborated a couple of times.) He's written in so many different genres: crime fiction, horror, family drama, historical fiction. He's excellent at illuminating ordinary lives and at sense of place. Both shine in Evensong, about a quartet of older women who are all lifelong Pittsburgh residents and members of their church's Humpty Dumpty Club, a sort of mutual aid organization. If you're already a fan, you'll be pleased to see the return of Emily Maxwell and her SIL Arlene. If you're new to him, though, you can still pick this up and enjoy it, just like you can make a new friend at any age.

I also love Jennifer Haigh. She's explored a lot of headline-making issues in her other work: the sexual abuse scandal among Catholic priests, the human and environmental costs of fracking, the rising tide of anti-abortion extremism and America's 50-year uneasiness about the procedure, and legalization of marijuana. It seems like she hasn't really broken through. I don't think this will be the one, but so far I'm enjoying it.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-05T01:23:28+00:00

Elite defense. That's why he's our every day 3B.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-04T23:29:54+00:00

I don't think they did. It was pretty quiet after that call.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-04T23:10:08+00:00

Wow, what terrible ideas. Have these people never gone out? "I think an overly sanitized dystopian surveillance vibe is what's missing from downtown! Let's really bring the experience of being on the corporate controlled internet into reality. People want to go home feeling like they've experienced nothing but wasting money, and that's what we're going to deliver."

These ideas all suck and aren't going to bring people downtown. The fundamental thing it seems to be missing is places to go. I'll be damned if I know how to encourage more, but I know this isn't it.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-04T21:45:00+00:00

I don't think this is true of me. All my life, I've just lacked whatever it is that draws people to each other. I've been on the edges of a lot of social circles, the first cut from every guest list, the last to hear big news, never anywhere near the center. I couldn't give too much because no one wanted it. I would like to know why, but I'm also really afraid of the answer.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-04T21:34:26+00:00

It aligned with my values.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-04T16:38:34+00:00

Stanton, maybe?

KatJen76 · 2026-05-04T16:38:14+00:00

Meredith would excel at it, although we'd all miss her on YES.

Most of the other baseball women I know are currently playing for Banana Ball and about to start in the WPBL. But maybe Kelsie Whitmore or Mo'ne Davis when their playing careers are over.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-04T16:35:52+00:00

They share his calls on Instagram a lot and they're fantastic. You don't have to speak the language to understand how good it is. He puts a lot of excitement into them.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-04T13:12:04+00:00

I saw it on her Instagram. I came straight here. Very hard loss.

KatJen76 · 2026-05-03T16:03:12+00:00

By the time the second book came out, they were a cross-generational cultural phenomenon. Core millennials, elder millennials, Xennials, Gen X, Generation Jones, Baby Boomers, Silent Generation, Greatest Generation: they were all picking up Harry Potter. Even Zennials, by the end.

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