Manmade
I suppose the indictment of Trump will elate approximately half the country and infuriate the rest. So far 99% of the rioting is done by leftists. Will that number change and eventually reflect America’s 50–50 divide? I’d bet there are many who want that. These are trying times.
From a nypost.com article by Carl Campanile, edited by yours truly: The population of Queens County plummeted by 50,112 residents in the 12 months ending July 1, 2022. Brooklyn lost 46,970, the Bronx 41,143, Staten Island 2351. Manhattan gained 17,472.
Also from NYP: “Ford files patent for drones to assist motorists stranded with dead batteries.” Is it going to happen often?
This morning I finished Misha Lazzara’s 2022 debut novel, Manmade Constellations. Given that the protagonist is an ardent environmentalist, I’m surprised I finished it. What kept me reading is that the characters are real and the story, set largely in a small Minnesota town, involves the human condition. The young woman, mid 20’s, is offered an old car, free, if she would track down the estranged son of an alcoholic, terminally ill woman who went to pieces when her husband was killed in an automobile accident. She’s accompanied by a local mechanic from North Carolina who fled his religious zealot parents. She herself has never known her mother, who was 19 when she gave birth, her father older than 50 at the time. What I like most about the novel is the surprises. The prose and dialogue are okay. It reads like less than its 280 pages. 17 users at Amazon have rated Manmade Constellations, forging to a consensus of 4.1 on a scale of five. I’ll go with 2.75. Born in Minnesota, Lazzara is a mom of three, currently living in North Carolina.
The rain held off, enabling a full session of the floating book shop. My thanks to those who bought, donated and swapped. Here’s what sold: The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, East of Eden by John Steinbeck; A Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis; The New York Cook Book by Molly O’Neill; Alcoholics Anonymous by Bill W.; Healthy Living by Joan Lunden; Between the Dark and the Daylight: And 27 More of the Best Crime and Mystery Stories of the Year; two hardcovers in Russian; a CD on learning French; and Tool’s Undertow CD, which features the chilling, powerful Sober:
“I am just a worthless liar
I am just an imbecile
I will only complicate you
Trust in me and fall as well
I will find a center in you
I will chew it up and leave
I will work to elevate you
Just enough to bring you down.” (Maynard James Keenan)
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