5 Comments on “Overrated?”

  1. ML: From last night. First of all, my sincerest apologies if my use of the word striking struck a wrong cord; it was not my intent to suggest in any way that you were unfulfilled by a lack of knowledge or interest about professional/competitive sports in the U.S. Indeed, both your original posting and the follow-up actually contained a lot of information that was completely correct as well as some information that was not, and what I found striking was the combination of the two. In any event, there are many things that some find of interest but others do not, such as for example, as you noted, the possible importance/use of calculus, where I could completely agree with you. Indeed, that observation is reminiscent of one of the great lines in Peggy Sue Got Married (a great movie), in which Kathleen Turner as Peggy Sue, having traveled back in time to high school, was able to declare with great authority to her math teacher that she knew (and could speak from experience) that she would never need to use algebra in her life. Where I would draw the line, however, is your disregard for the importance of diagramming sentences, as it would dishonor the memory of my ninth grade teacher, Ms. Cloughly, who taught me and the rest of my class in excruciating detail the intricacies and importance of proper diagramming of a sentence. Indeed, there is a recently published mystery by Stella Sands called Wordhunter, in which the protagonist’s defining characteristic (and sleuthing ability) is tied to her ability to diagram sentences.

    Moving on to something much more important, Peter’s early works published under his given name of Peter Abrahams are a unique blend of mystery, thriller and psychological elements, and it is hard to categorize his collective body of work any more definitively. Whether you would find some or all appealing or not is difficult to say. They are certainly far different than Chet & Bernie and probably Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge (although The Right Side may be closer to a historic Peter Abrahams book). However, in addition to his adult books, he has written a number of young adult books, including the Echo Falls series, the first of which, Down the Rabbit Hole, did win the 2005 Agatha Award for best children/young adult book (and in my humble opinion was cheated out of the comparable Edgar Award that year, nominated but losing to a clearly inferior competitor). From what I know of your reading interests, I think you would adore the series (a total of three books altogether: Down the Rabbit Hole, Into the Dark and Behind the Curtain) and would strongly recommend them to you. And if you decide to pass on Wordhunter, that would be forgiven.

    P.S. Just so you know, there are actually now three professional (NHL) hockey teams based in California, in Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Jose.

  2. And yet, they are all wearing pants.

    Men wear sarongs in Tahiti, saaris (Dhoti) in India and kimonos in Japan. Kilts should not be restricted to just the Scots. Greeks and Romans wore togas.

    I shall look into the Echo Falls series. I enjoy everything from wordless picture books on up.

    Today is NATIONAL CHOCOLATE DAY!

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