The Bookworm Beat 4/24/16 — the illustrated edition and open thread

Sorry for the blog slow-down, but my sister and I are busy sorting through my Mom’s things.  It’s been a surprisingly pleasant task.  She and I don’t see each other often, so it’s nice to be together.  Also, we’re remarkably in sync about Mom’s stuff — what gets tossed, what gets sold, what gets scanned, and what gets kept.  Importantly, as to that last, she and I want to keep different things, so there’s no tug-of-war.  It’s all good.

Also, last night after finishing the sorting, we went to have dinner with a WWII veteran.  I don’t think I’ll breach his privacy if I say that he was a delightful gentleman, with a fascinating life story (before, during, and after the war), and a most gracious host.  Also, his best friend turns out to be the brother of a very famous man whom I cannot name (that privacy thing again).  What I will say, though, is that the famous man is a Republican.  This means that 30 years ago, during my misspent Democrat youth, I would have been horrified to meet the brother of this famous man.  Thirty years later, of course, I was thrilled beyond words.

And now to the posters, good ones all. Some, by the way, might be duplicates. I fell a little behind on my “file” housekeeping this week.