Bookstooge's Criteria

 

Yes, yes, I know, I know. You are probably asking yourself CRITERIA for WHAT?!? See, that's a tricky blogger thing where I hook you with a vague title to stir your interest, then you take the bait and before you know it, you've read the whole post and are just one more minion of mine, mwhahahaaha! The only trickier thing I could have done is start a land war in Asia! So choose your goblet, have a sip and see if you're a trickier blogger than Bookstooge while you peruse the rest of this fine post.

Guaranteed iocaine free

I am going to assume anyone reading this already knows what "criteria" means. I won't insult your intelligence nor think you are a stupid dumb dumb head. But just in case, I have consulted the Sacred Oracle and this is what they have replied:

1:  a standard on which a judgment or decision may be based
~ https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/criteria

This post is about My Criteria for who I choose to follow. I don't know how much thought you have ever given to that, but to be honest, as a blogger, it plays a huge part of our blogging experience. Bloggers are not islands unto themselves but a chain of connected and interconnected archipelagoes. The list below is what I consult when I consider whether to follow a new-to-me blogger or not. I also use it as a lodestone to measure the bloggers I am already following.

That is my list. That is a picture and I know that for people on phones, pictures don't always show up the best, therefore I will be typing these out and blabbing about them.

Posts At Least Once Every 30 Days

This is an absolutely non-negotiable item for me. I used to say "posts once a month" until someone posted on the 1st of one month and then again on the 30th of the second month. Technically, they were posting once a month. That's garbage and we all know it. Now, if a blogger needs to take a break, and writes a post informing their readers that they will be gone for several months, and they give an end date (even if "end of summer/spring/blah"), I am more than willing to forego this. I take my blogging seriously (even though I know it is a hobby) and I want to follow people who are committed as well.

Responds To Comments In A Timely Manner

I realize that not every blogger checks in every day, or even every week. But if a blogger doesn't respond to comments from 3 posts ago, then I am forced to conclude that commenting is extremely low on the priority list. Because it is so high on mine, I will avoid the aggravation and just not follow that person. Not everyone feels like I do about comments, but the people I follow need to.

Writes Posts That Allow For Interaction With Readers

If your blog is your doctoral thesis on the Koolaide Man and his impact on the culture of the world and you are writing for your professors and not the Everyman that most bloggers are, that really limits how others can interact with you. I don't just want to read posts by random strangers, I want to get to know them, through interacting in the comments section.

Majority Of Posts Are Of Interest To Me

Nobody writes interesting things ALL the time. Sometimes a blogger writes something that is of interest only to them. I get that, I respect that, I do that myself. But if the majority of your posts are on the rectal and anal functions of wart hogs and their kin, I'm not following you. I don't care about that subject and in fact, actively avoid trying to read stuff about it.

Shows At Least One Spark Of Individuality

I feel like I covered this with my latest PSA post, Blogging and Personality. But in short, I need the people I follow to be themselves and to show a willingness to be independent in what they read and how they review. I refuse to follow people who read nothing but the latest arc offerings from netgalley and who write nothing but the same regurgitated pap that every other empty headed fluff brain is writing.

Doesn't Read Modern Romance Or Smut

This is also a non-negotiable item for me. Smut is an immediate unfollow. Modern romance can't be more than 1 or 2 a year. If I see romance books on a monthly or weekly basis in a bloggers posts, I will not follow them.

Writes A Variety of Post Types

This one is a bit more nuanced and I feel like it's not as big an issue. Some people can write only book reviews, but what they include in the reviews keeps things fresh. But if someone only posts those damnable Wordpress Prompt posts, then you've shown your lack of individuality, thus violating the above item on Individuality. Now, if someone includes the WP Prompts, I have no problem with that. Basically, I need to follow bloggers who are putting some thought and effort into their blog and aren't half-assing it and mailing in a lazy excuse for a post every time.

I hope this has helped you understand my criteria for who I follow and who I don't. I think I will be updating my About page with that checklist. That might help people who follow me understand why I don't automatically follow them in return, or ever.

ps,

please comment away. Agree, disagree, vehemently hate on the list, love it to death? Let me know. 

More Tales of the Black Widowers (The Black Widowers #2) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: More Tales of the Black Widowers
Series: The Black Widowers #2
Authors: Isaac Asimov
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 197
Words: 77K
Publish: 1976

This was exactly more of the same from Tales of the Black Widowers. I am ok with that. I love short story collections and Asimov was master of that craft. Having him switch from Science Fiction to Mystery hasn’t changed anything in his story telling ability. Thankfully.

I probably would have bumped this up half a star since I enjoyed the stories just as much as before, but once again, the interpersonal interactions between the members of the Black Widowers Club just grated on my nerves. They are jerks to each other, they are jerks to the invited guest and I can only imagine what they must be like out in the world at large. I find it very unpleasant. Reading these Tales is like having some of that sweet and sour sauce and I’m not a fan of the sour.

This cover is very well done, in that it contrasts with the first cover (which was solid white, with one black widow spider). I like little flourishes like that. It doesn’t actually make the stories themselves any better or worse, but it adds to the overall “insert pretentious french phrase about making things better in small ways”. There, now that you haven’t learned anything at Bookstoogiversity, class is dismissed!

ps,
Thanks to Scuffed Granny, I am experimenting with the "Excerpt" part of blogging. You shouldn't notice anything different unless you read my posts in the WP Reader OR get the email for each post. To you email people, let me know what you think. 

★★★☆☆

From Wikipedia.org

This book is the second of six that describe mysteries solved by the Black Widowers, based on a literary dining club Asimov belonged to known as the Trap Door Spiders. It collects twelve stories by Asimov, nine reprinted from mystery or science fiction magazines and three previously unpublished, together with a general introduction, and an afterword following each story by the author. Each story involves the club members' knowledge of trivia.

Contents

• "Introduction"

• "When No Man Pursueth"

• "Quicker Than the Eye"

• "The Iron Gem"

• "The Three Numbers"

• "Nothing Like Murder"

• "No Smoking"

• "Season's Greetings!"

• "The One and Only East"

• "Earthset and Evening Star"

• "Friday the Thirteenth"

• "The Unabridged"

• "The Ultimate Crime"

• All of My Asimov Review

My Week XXIV or Bearly Surviving!

 

That is just a little statue of a bear, not a real one. But from this distance, it LOOKS real enough. See, I can have fun on the job too.

There was a decent amount of rain this week. Not enough to ever be called out, but we did have some short days. Thankfully, that was all balanced out with some wonderfully sunny days where working outside was what every right thinking person wanted.

I'd ordered a new tv stand, one of those "tool'less" ones that is simple enough for even me to put together without getting all frustrated. So of course, the feet that screw in to the bottom that keeps the whole thing together didn't ship with it. I sent off a request for replacement parts but still haven't heard anything back from the company I bought it through (via Amazon). Aye yi yi! If I haven't heard back from them by the time this goes live, I'll just pick something up locally and pull my trusty hammer and screwdriver, sigh. My goodness, the things I put up with!

Coke has come out with a Zero Sugar Orange Cream version. It is basically the old Vanilla Orange Coke Zero. I loved that stuff, a lot. Bought a 12 pack yesterday and yep, it's the same thing, just "re-branded". Whatever gets it on the shelves, that's all I care about. I suspect it will have a similar life span, so I'm going to enjoy this part of life while I can. Carpe diem!!!

For whatever reason, this week has gone on forever AND sped by super fast. Ever had one of those kind of weeks? It's very disconcerting. Every day felt like Tuesday and Thursday, no matter what day it actually was. That's just a weeeeeeeeird feeling.

I have been reading the first Dr Fu-Manchu book this week. Oh, that will be some review, let me tell you. It was published in 1913 and Dr Fu-Manchu is an eeeeeeeeeeevil genius. Definitely not one for you woke folk. But come on, is that cover AWESOME or what? Yeah, it's awesome. Guess you'll find out if the book was awesome or not on the 27th ;-)

Finally, the change in scheduling time. It's been working out ok and I think I'll be sticking to it. What made me change from 5am posting to 5pm posting was that I'd been letting my devotions go. I wasn't reading my Bible or spending time in prayer that I knew I needed to. Mornings were the time I had always used before. I tried the evenings, but with work being what it is, I'm so tired that I can't concentrate. So instead of continuing to let things slide, I realized I needed to change my blogging. Real life should ALWAYS come before blogging. So that's the reason for the change.

Well, Sabbath will be here in just a couple of hours, so adieu for now and get some rest. You need it!

Venom and Song (The Berinfell Prophecies #2) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Venom and Song
Series: The Berinfell Prophecies #2
Author: Wayne Batson & Christopher Hopper
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Pages: 437
Words: 141K

While I enjoyed this, it was simply too long. This second book in the Berinfell Prophecies was over 100 pages and 40,000 words longer than the first book. That is a significant increase for a middle grade book. I think part of the issue is that having seven main characters with multiple other side characters AND a villain just bloats things up no matter what. Trying to give each of the kids enough page time to make them stay relevant to the story while using adult elves to fill in historical and training gaps made it almost impossible to see any scene that could have been cut.

I enjoyed the various training scenes as the kids learned how to use their powers but also how to use them as part of the group. No one of them was obviously “better” and it was made clear that they were stronger as a whole than as disparate parts. While I “agree” with that, I have always preferred the lone wolf kind of hero and story.

During the climactic battle at the end where it appears that the Spider King dies, I was wondering what they (the authors) were going to do to for the third book. I had a momentary thought of “Well, maybe the Spider King isn’t really dead. Nahhhh, they wouldn’t do something so obvious.” Sure enough, the authors went that route. That is the problem with reading books meant for a less experienced set of readers.

I am glad I read this and I’m ok with having a new pair of authors run across my radar. I know both of them have written other things, so depending on what I think of the final book in the Berinfell Prophecies will determine if I seek out any more stuff by them or not. I’m totally on the line at the moment.

★★★☆☆

From the Publisher

Now in the strange realm of Allyra, the Seven young lordsconfront a traitor in their midst, a creature-infested forest, teenage fearsand doubts, inexplicable mysteries . . . and the Spider King himself. In a rigorous training program that makes boot camp looklike Disneyland, the Seven must quickly learnto harness their own powers, work as one, and elude the Spider King's spies.But as the ancient Berinfell Prophecies are revealed, the Seven soon discovertheir training might not be enough. To stop the Spider King they must also unravelthe secrets of the Rainsong, travel to a creepy, trap-infested fortressto find the legendary keystone, and lead the Berinfell Elves in an attack on the Spider King's own turf.

Give the Boys a Great Big Hand (87th Precinct #11) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Give the Boys a Great Big Hand
Series: 87^th Precinct #11
Author: Ed McBain
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 143
Words: 50K
Publish: 1960


Body parts start showing up in the Big City and it’s up to the 87^th Precinct Boys to figure out what is going on before the murderer strikes again.

Oh, this was a twisted one, really twisted. This is exactly why I can’t read many of these in a row. Right now, my goal is three before I rotate into something different for a couple of months and then come back. Honestly, I’m thinking of going down to two 87^th Precinct books and then rotating. It is brutal and unsavory while not necessarily being salacious or in bad taste. If I was my own parents, I wouldn’t have let me read these as a teen. What my teen self would have thought of that I’m not sure, but I doubt I’d have had too much trouble with going along with that.

Books like this are why I’ve never gotten into the hardboiled detective stories, where the stories go even darker. It’s like eating black licorice. I love black licorice but can only eat so much before I have to stop or bad things happen. I don’t want bad things to happen in my literary endeavors either.

★★★☆☆

From the Publisher & Bookstooge

The mystery man wore black, and he was a real cut-up king. Why else was he leaving blood-red severed hands all over the city? Was he an everyday maniac with a meat cleaver, or did he have a special grudge against the 87th Precinct? Steve Carella and Cotton Hawes went along with the grudge theory, because the black-cloaked killer didn't leave any clues to go on - the grisly hands even had the fingertips sliced off. And how do you nail a murderer when you can't identity or unearth most of his victims? That's what the boys of the 87th Precinct have to find a killer before he carves up any more corpseless hands!

Turns out a producer of “exotic” dancers was in love with one of his dancers, a thorough slut who used men for the fun of it. When the producer realized he was being used, he killed the dancer and her lover and cut off his hands and finger tips. And went completely off the rails mentally and stayed with the decomposing corpse, acting like it was still alive.

• All My “87^th Precinct” Reviews

The Final Deduction (Nero Wolfe #35) 4Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Final Deduction
Series: Nero Wolfe #35
Author: Rex Stout
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 140
Words: 55K
Publish: 1961

If I had read this when it was published, I suspect I would have thought that maybe Rex Stout was closing the door on Nero Wolfe. With a title like The Final Deduction, it has a very Holmesian feel ala The Final Problem. Reading it now, almost 65 years later, I knew it wasn’t the final book about Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. And I’m very embarrassed to admit this, but it wasn’t until Wolfe revealed what was going on that I realized the whole thing was about taxes. I should have seen that coming a mile away! Especially with just having paid my federal tax bill. Kidnapping and murder seems a bit extreme to avoid paying taxes though, especially when you CAN afford it and just don’t want to. Now that I’ve said that, if I could get away with murdering two people to avoid paying taxes, I’d have to ask WHO I could murder ;-)

What struck me was just how the people who hired Nero Wolfe totally underestimated him. Did they think they were smarter than him? (apparently yes) Did they think he charged such big fees just because? (apparently yes again) WHY in the world did Mrs Vail hire Nero Wolfe to find her kidnapped husband when she and he had cooked the whole thing up? Hire Garrett PI for goodness sake!

A thoroughly enjoyable mystery of trying to figure out what was going on or, if you’re like me, a thoroughly enjoyable mystery to just sit back and let the author provide all the answers. Hurray for that!

I am approaching the end of this series (down to the single digits now) and while it will last me through the end of the year, and quite possibly into 2026, I have decided that when I am done, I will take a year off and then begin re-reading the series. That is how much I enjoy these books.

★★★★☆

From Wikipedia

Former actress Althea Vail hires Nero Wolfe to ensure her kidnapped husband Jimmy is returned home alive and well, saying that she received a ransom note and phone call from a "Mr. Knapp" demanding a $500,000 ransom, which she intends to pay. Over the client's objections of secrecy, Wolfe demands to see Mrs. Vail's secretary Dinah Utley, who read the note and heard the phone call, and places an advertisement in the newspapers threatening to uncover Mr. Knapp's identity if Jimmy Vail is not returned safely. From the interview with Utley and comparing her typing style with the ransom note, Wolfe and Archie conclude that she wrote the note and is therefore implicated in the kidnapping.

Two days later, Althea reports that Jimmy has returned home safely and tells Wolfe and Archie to keep quiet about the kidnapping for 48 hours, as Jimmy promised his abductors he would. Jimmy comes to the brownstone to speak with Wolfe, but during the visit, Althea phones for her husband, having been told by a policeman that Dinah Utley has been found murdered. After traveling to White Plains to identify the body, Archie drives to the client's home, where he informs the household - Althea; Jimmy; Noel and Margot Tedder, Althea's children from a previous marriage; Ralph Purcell, Althea's brother; and Andrew Frost, Althea's attorney - that the report has been confirmed: Utley was knocked out on Iron Mine Road and run over by her own car. In shock, Althea claims that the kidnappers must have killed her, as she was instructed to deliver the money through a series of phone calls and notes that led her to Iron Mine Road for the ransom drop. Archie also discovers that Utley's typewriter has disappeared.

Archie concludes that Jimmy Vail was also in on the kidnapping, but learns the next morning that Jimmy has died, his chest crushed by a statue of Benjamin Franklin in his home library. Archie calls Lon Cohen and gives him all the information about the kidnapping to be published after the 48-hour deadline has passed, then reports his conclusions to Wolfe. Knowing that the police could come at any minute, Wolfe and Archie hide out in Dr. Edwin Vollmer's house until the deadline imposed by Jimmy has passed.

From the Gazette's article and a conversation with Inspector Cramer, Wolfe and Archie learn that the case is open, the police undecided as to whether Jimmy was murdered or, in a slumber, accidentally pulled the statue onto himself. Their job for Althea Vail complete, Wolfe and Archie are pulled back into the case by Noel Tedder, who wants to hire them to find the ransom money, as Althea told him that he could have it if he found it. Wolfe accepts, Noel promising a fifth of the money as a fee, minutes ahead of a call from Margot Tedder asking to hire Wolfe for the same job but for far less a fee. Wolfe tells Noel - and in a later meeting, Ralph Purcell - that Jimmy was murdered, as he was not drunk enough to make such a fatal error as pulling a statue on him, and even a sleepy man should be able to avoid a falling statue; therefore, Jimmy Vail was drugged, and someone else pushed the statue onto his chest.

Returning to the Vail-Tedder home, Archie speaks with Althea, who dismisses Wolfe's theory of murder and says that she is taking back what she said about Noel keeping the ransom money. Archie dines with Noel and, using a fabricated story about his own dominating mother, encourages him to stand up to her. After Noel delivers a paper to his mother standing by the initial agreement, Andrew Frost visits Wolfe, disputing the agreement and the claim of murder. Once Frost has left, Wolfe summons Noel along with Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin, and Orrie Cather, and sends them to the Vail-Tedder country house, where he has concluded the money is hidden. Archie finds the money in a trunk of bird's eggs, again only minutes ahead of Margot. After Noel has claimed the money and paid each of the detectives, Ben Dykes and Cramer arrive with a warrant for Archie and a legal summons for Wolfe, filed by Althea on an accusation of grand larceny. Wolfe convinces the police to postpone issuing the warrants until the next day, then calls Althea to the brownstone.

With Althea Vail in the red leather chair, Wolfe details his conclusions: having observed the other members of the household, he has dismissed any of them as being party in the kidnapping, therefore Althea Vail herself was the final party in the kidnapping and the murderer of Dinah Utley and Jimmy Vail. The Vails contrived the kidnapping so the ransom money could be written off as a casualty, allowing them to keep the $500,000 without paying tax on it. They convinced Utley to participate - she wrote the ransom notes and transcribed the phone call that was never made - but after her meeting with Wolfe, Utley became frightened of exposure, disposing of the typewriter on her way to Iron Mine Road. Her fear convinced Althea that she would expose the plan, so Althea killed her. When Jimmy Vail learned, he realized his wife had killed Utley, so he had to die too. Wolfe claims that Jimmy had demanded the entire share of the ransom for his silence, but Althea blurts out that Jimmy had actually said he would leave her because she killed Dinah Utley.

After Althea leaves, Wolfe has Archie deliver a recording of their conversation to Cramer, speculating that Althea may commit suicide rather than face a trial. In an epilogue, Archie reveals that Althea is still alive, her first trial having ended in a hung jury, and that he will only publish the report of the case if the second jury convicts her.

• All My “Nero Wolfe” Reviews

Gray Ogre - MTG 4E

 

Thank goodness that club is strategically placed. Some things I simply do not want to see.

An ERA Update

 

Back in March, I began my journey with the Pocketbook ERA (A New ERA Begins). There were the typical problems of learning a new piece of tech and figuring out how to work with or around its idiosyncrasies.

My main two issues were with managing collections (series/authors/etc) on the ERA itself and with the buttons, which were a much harder press, almost a snap, than the gentle press I was used to on my old Oasis.

The button issue is still an issue. I suspect it will stay an issue for as long as I own the ERA. What I have done to mitigate the stress created on my thumb from being forced to press so hard is to switch hands more often. It is not an ideal solution, but it is one that works and one that I can deal with. Plus, given the Era's shape and weight, switching hands more often has the added benefit of giving that particular wrist a break too. For someone with as small hands as mine, the ERA is just a tad too big.

The second issue, managing collections on the ERA via Calibre has been solved. When I got the ERA I knew there was a plugin for Calibre to do just this. However, trying to deal with the ERA and the new plugin all at the same time was simply too much for me. Once I was used to the ERA, I began working on the plugin (PB Collections Plugin). The first thing I had to do was just install it. I didn't try to configure it or mess around with it or anything. I just installed it and let it sit for about a week. Then I began meticulously reading through the plugin thread and following the steps exactly. Once the plugin was setup correctly and I had the correct column created in Calibre, I began creating new collections in Calibre. I put my ERA on the arm of the couch and began typing in collections in Calibre that were on the ERA. Then I began assigning books in Calibre to the various collections. At this point, I still hadn't plugged the ERA back in to Calibre to get everything transferred. I wanted to get used to doing all the scutwork ahead of time and to become familiar with the process. Once I had all the collections on my ERA created in Calibre and all the books assigned to the various collections (this was about a week later, again), I plugged in my ERA and let Calibre and the ERA do their thing. Once everything was transferred, I had several instances of double collections of my ERA from my manually created collections (when I first used the ERA) being slightly different from the Calibre created collections (usually upper/lower case letter differences). I just went through and deleted the manual collections and all that was left were the Calibre managed collections, with all the books in them that were supposed to be.

That is a snapshot of my Calibre library. The PB Collection column is the one that applies to the ERA. Whenever I want a book in Calibre to be in a collection on the ERA, I simply assign it to a collection or create a new collection and when I send the book to the ERA all the info goes along with it. Much, much, much simpler than doing it book by book on the ERA itself.

Now that I have the plugin working, my time with my ERA is going much smoother. Just like a computer, data management is half the battle when it comes to an ereader and I've got that half of the battled licked. The other half of the battle is actually reading the books I put on it. But have no fear, I feel like I've got that part of the battle licked too. GI Joe's got nothing on me!

I suspect this will be the last post I do specifically on the ERA. Obviously, feel free to ask questions about it or Calibre and I'll do my best to answer. Or I'll just do the ol' razzle dazzle jazz hands thing and pretend I answered your question ;-)

Shadowed Millions (The Shadow #21) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPresss & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Shadowed Millions
Series: The Shadow #21
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 142
Words: 44K
Publish: 1932

The amount of money involved in this story was 10million dollars. I used one of those online inflation calculators and in terms of today’s money, it is about 235million, almost a quarter billion dollars. Can you imagine a group of people handing over a quarter billion in cash and bonds to one man, on the strength of his word and some papers “certifying” that he’s the guy to work with. No oversight, no triple checks, no one accompanying him. I don’t know if the world has changed that much (I suspect it has) but the thought of trusting someone I don’t know with a quarter billion is more than I can imagine.

It is all complicated by the fact that the Carrier has something shady going on and we as the readers do not know if he’s actually trustworthy or not. Right up until the very end in fact. I rather enjoyed that ambivalence.

Of course there is a shadow’y mastermind in the background, but par for the course, The Shadow is one step ahead, if not two or three. I was never in doubt about the outcome, but how it would play out was another matter completely. That’s part of why I enjoy these pulp stories so much.

The Shadow wins. The End.

★★★✬☆

From Bookstooge

A group of Capitalists stake 10million on a small South American Country for exclusive mineral rights. The carrier of said 10million appears to have his own agenda. At the same time, the carrier appears to be involved with powerful men who don’t want the country to succeed. It’s up to The Shadow to make sure the 10million gets to where it is going. Along the way there will be fisticuffs, gunfights and general mayhem.

• All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

[Journal] Verdi, Carteggio

 

Carteggio is translated as "Correspondence" in English. The front cover has a page from Verdi's letters, hence the name.

I am particularly keen on these yellow/gold covers from Paperblanks. So far I have this one, Maya Angelou's, Verne's and Cervante's. There are one or two more I'd like to get and I'm sure Paperblanks will be bringing more out in the future. I can wait :-D