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Sunday Morning Book Thread 08-24-2014: More Books, Less Politics [OregonMuse]
I'd Buy That For A Dollar -- But 2 Million, Maybe Not
Good morning morons and moronettes and welcome to AoSHQ's stately, prestigious, and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread. The only AoSHQ thread that is so hoity-toity, pants are required.
Faster Than A Speeding Bullet Someone apparently found, or had been sitting on, a pristine copy of Action Comics #1 from 1938, which is the one wherein Superman first appeared. It'a not too late for all of you morons to get on in on the bidding here. The auction will end today (Sunday) at about 6PM PDT. How good a condition is this particular copy in?
[T]he copy soon to be auctioned on eBay was rated by the Certified Guaranty Company, a well-known comic book quality rating company, as having a condition of 9.0 out of 10, the highest quality rating a copy of Action Comics #1 has ever received. The colors are said to be vibrant, and it even has white pages where most existing copies have long since yellowed.I don't know what you have to do to preserve a copy that pristine for nearly 80 years, keep it covered in protective cloth inside a vacuum-sealed foil wrapper, perhaps. As I'm typing this on Saurday afternooon, the high bid is currently $2,193,919.38. No, that's not a typo.
Only about 50 unrestored copies are believed to exist, according to Cnet. Of those, this one is considered the best.
Books Of Note
Science fiction writer Jerry Pournelle has a new one out, and it's not what you think. It's the California Sixth Grade Reader, and no, that's not some ironic joke of a title, it's the actual California Sixth Grade Reader from 1914:The 1914 California Sixth Grade Reader with classical stories and poems that every high school student studied in that era. The same stories were read in most states, and the American culture of that era was profoundly affected by these stories. They remain relevant to those who care about civilization and are part of our cultural heritage. They're also good stories. The poems were once as popular as any TV series, and learning to read and enjoy great poetry, while hardly taught in schools now, was once another great part of our cultural heritage. The small amount of work invested in learning to enjoy poetry will last the rest of your life.Bill Whittle's take on this is how much our education has been dumbed down, and while that's certainly true, I think there's a larger point not to be missed, and that is that this literature was an integral part of transmitting traditional moral, ethical, and cultural values from one generation to the next. By this process is how normal life is maintained and how it continues. Of course, the lib-progs hate normal life and want it abolished, so their strategy has been to make sure those stories and poems are never taught, ever again. Instead, they're replaced them with rewritten fairy tales where boys get rescued by girls, or evil corporations destroying the environment, and stories wherein Christians and patriarchal males are always evil oppressors of ethnic minorities.
Neologisms Neckbeard, mansplain, and bro hug are words that have just been added to the Online Oxford Dictionary:
"We don't mean to humblebrag," OxfordDictionaries.com announced Wednesday on its website, but their list of new words and expressions is "bare good and nailed on to interest and impress you."Sheesh. I can barely understand that last sentence. Has English usage really changed that much? I was watching the Revolutionary War spy drama Turn the other day, and at one point in the episode, Washington's security consultant/expert asked if the letters sent in by the spies were "encrypted". I thought, hmmm, that sounds a bit modern to me, so I went for the OED. Years ago, I had bought a copy of the OED for Mrs. Muse as a Christmas present, the one volume edition where every single page of the multi-volume set had been reduced down to tiny, tiny print and you need a magnifying glass (which came with the volume) to read it. What's great about the OED is that, as part of the definition of a word, it includes its earliest known use. So I whipped out the OED and the magnifying glass, and the word "encrypt" wasn't even there. "Crypt" was there, as was "cryptic", "cryptography" and "cryptograph", but not any form of "encrypt". I could hardly believe the word is that recent, but I guess it must be. Anyway, I was surprised the TV scriptwriters went for the anachronism, when they could have used "encipher", which carries the same meaning, and would have been more period authentic. Since then, I've heard (and seen) a number of other anachronisms in 'Turn', but I still think it's a pretty good show, anyway.
What I'm Reading One thing about YA novels is that they tend to be short, so I can read them relatively quickly. Since the movie version just came out and was discussed here a couple of weeks ago, I decided to give The Giver a go and found out it was actually the first of a quartet. It's actually pretty good. The dystopian future society depicted therein reminds me of the one in Brave New World, only without the casual sex. Actually, there isn't any sex in 'The Giver' because everyone has to take pills to kill their sex drive. Perhaps Pleasantville might be a closer analogy to the colorless, attenuated social order where all the rough corners and sharp edges are covered with nerf, where nobody gets hurt, but nobody really lives. I finished 'The Giver' a couple of days ago and I'm now well into the second book, Gathering Blue. It's a totally different book with a totally different cast of characters set in a totally different society and even though I'm about 2/3rds of the way through, I don't see any connection, however tenuous, to the first book. Maybe it will be clear by the end. And even if not, it's a good enough book to stand on its own.
Books That Could Be Interesting Earlier this week I read an article written by a "political thrillers" junkie who argues that the thriller genre he can't get enough of is different now than it used to be:
During the Cold War, the conflicts that powered the thriller were rooted in ideology: Le Carre's Berlin and Greene's Havana were mainly backdrops against which the clash of the superpowers was played out. The new thrillers were not focused on ideology but on place; it was the peeling away of layers of culture and history that gave these novels their impetus.This appeals to me very much; I've always enjoyed books that give the reader a sense of being somewhere really different. The article has some examples of this "new" type of thriller, notably Bangkok 8, where Royal Thai Police Force Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep's investigation of a murder leads him down, down, down into the seedy bars, brothels, and cut-rate plastic surgery parlors of the Bangkok underworld sex trade. And if Thailand isn't an exotic enough setting for you, how about North Korea? North frickin' Korea, for pete's sake! Who knows what goes on in North Korea? Perhaps James Church does, who wrote A Corpse in the Koryo, which is the first of his "Inspector O" novels. Like Detective Leo Stepanovich Demidov in the novel Child 44, Inspector O must solve a murder while navigating though the conflicting (and potentially deadly) forces placed in his path by a brutal, repressive regime.
Modern Cover Art You can look at these and tell me what you think:
Recently, Penguin Essentials released a new swath of redesigned modern classics, with great cover designs from a wide range of artists. Richard Bravery, senior designer at Penguin said, "Our approach is different to the Classics series approach; we're trying to bring the books to a new audience so we've used contemporary artists from around the world and almost treated the titles as new books." The results are pretty great.More examples at the Penguin Essentials site. I thought some of this new art looked interesting, even for the books I had never heard of.
Hugo Awards The winners of the 2014 Hugo Awards were announced last Sunday, after the book thread had been posted, so here they are, a week late. I don't have anything witty or insightful to say about the results, so I'll just point you to Larry 'Monster Hunter' Correia, AKA The International Lord of Hate, for the post-game analysis.
Pussy Galore Wrote A Book On Self-Defense For Women?!? Don't laugh. Yes, she did. Here it is. Honor Blackman learned judo for her roles in the Avengers TV series and of course, for Goldfinger. She apparently took the training seriously and became highly proficient at it. And speaking of actresses writing books,
Books By Morons A (lurking) moron who's nom de blog is "Spike" decloaked in my e-mail box a few days ago to tell me that he has published a short story, The Last Bridge. It's about "an old knight making his last stand" after his village abandons him.
___________ So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, rumors, threats, and insults may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at the book thread e-mail address: aoshqbookthread, followed by the 'at' sign, and then 'G' mail, and then dot cee oh emm. What have you all been reading this week? Hopefully something good, because, as I keep saying, life is too short to be reading lousy books.
Comments
(Jump to bottom of comments)1
First?
Posted by: PabloD at August 24, 2014 09:43 AM (CcNNr)
2
Bookworm did a post asking for suggestions on HS reading lists to learn more about the government and economics and there are some good suggestions:
http://tinyurl.com/m5o3qvr
http://tinyurl.com/m5o3qvr
Posted by: Lizzy at August 24, 2014 09:44 AM (D/504)
3
Okay, that was my first and last attempt at claiming primacy, so I'm retiring with a perfect record. As for books, I finished The Martian a few days ago. It was a nice, easy to read distraction, and would recommend it as such.
Posted by: PabloD at August 24, 2014 09:46 AM (CcNNr)
4
The kid and I have been buying comics on kindle for years.
Posted by: NCKate at August 24, 2014 09:48 AM (rnA6m)
5
This thread is not here
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 24, 2014 09:48 AM (02a7Q)
Posted by: Ricardo Kill at August 24, 2014 09:49 AM (VsPux)
7
I hope to be in pristone condition @76yo...
One of the first things I ever opined on online is the deterioration of education.....
On the othet han par-tay
One of the first things I ever opined on online is the deterioration of education.....
On the othet han par-tay
Posted by: sven10077 at August 24, 2014 09:49 AM (/4AZU)
8
Shit, book thread. Where am I?
Posted by: Ricardo Kill at August 24, 2014 09:50 AM (VsPux)
Posted by: Ricardo Kill at August 24, 2014 09:51 AM (VsPux)
10
My wife was given a kindergarten primer for our five year old. It claims to be compatible with Common Core. I know that Glenn Beck has been railing against CC for a while; I plan on reviewing the book to see whether it's a child's version of Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals.
Posted by: PabloD at August 24, 2014 09:52 AM (CcNNr)
Posted by: Joey 'Choo-Choo' Biden at August 24, 2014 09:53 AM (qADE8)
12
I could buy a gorgeous Ferrari for 2 million and have enough left over to insure and maintain it. For a while at least.
Posted by: real joe at August 24, 2014 09:53 AM (xXhgd)
13
ugh, the cover for Phillip K. Dick's, "The Man in the High Castle" is horrid. Has zero context for what the book is about...
Posted by: MikeH at August 24, 2014 09:53 AM (bRL1M)
14
A question for the horde. I'm not as voracious a reader as I used to be and I buy them now almost exclusively for my tablet so hypocrite, are we robbing the future morons of history by not buying actual books to pass on/leave behind? It' my understanding that the sellers can delete or edit your books on your device after you've bought them and if the burning times come no electricity to charge your device. Just axing.
Posted by: weirdflunkyonatablet at August 24, 2014 09:54 AM (kECKp)
15
10 PabloD,
Beck's an emo drama queen....
And it will not be Das Kapital nor need it be, plenty of subtle nudging though I bet.
Beck's an emo drama queen....
And it will not be Das Kapital nor need it be, plenty of subtle nudging though I bet.
Posted by: sven10077 at August 24, 2014 09:54 AM (/4AZU)
16
BRB, gotta go oppress some ethnic minorities...
Posted by: Insomniac at August 24, 2014 09:54 AM (mx5oN)
17
14 weirdflunkyontablet,
Well if SHTF phantom edits...not gonna happen....
Buy a solar usb charger....
Read in peace
Well if SHTF phantom edits...not gonna happen....
Buy a solar usb charger....
Read in peace
Posted by: sven10077 at August 24, 2014 09:57 AM (/4AZU)
18
"Everybody Poops" by Taro Gomi."p
Dude. Old news. I read that like last month. Poop on the pot almost everytime now. Almost.
Dude. Old news. I read that like last month. Poop on the pot almost everytime now. Almost.
Posted by: Ricardo Kill at August 24, 2014 09:57 AM (VsPux)
Posted by: sven10077 at August 24, 2014 09:58 AM (/4AZU)
Posted by: Ricardo Kill at August 24, 2014 09:59 AM (VsPux)
21
>>Dude. Old news. I read that like last month. Poop on the pot almost everytime now. Almost.
Pssst! Where can a person get a copy of that book?
Asking for a friend....
Pssst! Where can a person get a copy of that book?
Asking for a friend....
Posted by: Denver EPA Worker at August 24, 2014 10:00 AM (D/504)
22
Posted by: weirdflunkyonatablet at August 24, 2014 09:54 AM (kECKp)
Well sort of the one thing that you mention and need to consider is losing power for a period of time. You are killing time, want to read, but the batteries have died.
In that case, nice to have some real books.
And probably board games also.
Well sort of the one thing that you mention and need to consider is losing power for a period of time. You are killing time, want to read, but the batteries have died.
In that case, nice to have some real books.
And probably board games also.
Posted by: HH at August 24, 2014 10:00 AM (XXwdv)
23
eBay is marketing the Hades out of that comic. At $2 million now? Ouch. No one will ever see it, it will be locked up in a bank vault. Some paintings stand a better chance of being seen than that comic will.
And I am reminded of a scene in Dominion Tank Police in Phase III. Sothebys is being raided by the Buaku gang. Leona and her tank have just crashed in. And on a computer screen is this nice long polemic about collectibles and how insane some people can get. But as soon as something damages or mars the item that item becomes worthless.
And I am reminded of a scene in Dominion Tank Police in Phase III. Sothebys is being raided by the Buaku gang. Leona and her tank have just crashed in. And on a computer screen is this nice long polemic about collectibles and how insane some people can get. But as soon as something damages or mars the item that item becomes worthless.
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 10:00 AM (g9g17)
Posted by: Ricardo Kill at August 24, 2014 10:01 AM (VsPux)
25
Everybody poops sooometiiiimes
Posted by: R.E.M. at August 24, 2014 10:01 AM (mx5oN)
26
And I am reminded of a scene in Dominion Tank Police in Phase III.
When are you NOT reminded of Dominion Tank Police?
When are you NOT reminded of Dominion Tank Police?
Posted by: Insomniac at August 24, 2014 10:02 AM (mx5oN)
27
ugh, the cover for Phillip K. Dick's, "The Man in the High Castle" is horrid. Has zero context for what the book is about...
Posted by: MikeH at August 24, 2014 09:53 AM
IIRC, the original paperback cover, like so many others, was fairly irrelevant, too. If I saw it in a bookstore, the new one certainly wouldn't inspire me to open the book. But then, none of those arty new jackets would. I don't get much feeling that the "srtists" wasted too much precious time reading the book for inspiration.
Posted by: MikeH at August 24, 2014 09:53 AM
IIRC, the original paperback cover, like so many others, was fairly irrelevant, too. If I saw it in a bookstore, the new one certainly wouldn't inspire me to open the book. But then, none of those arty new jackets would. I don't get much feeling that the "srtists" wasted too much precious time reading the book for inspiration.
Posted by: MrScribbler at August 24, 2014 10:03 AM (dDzOj)
28
but their list of new words and expressions is "bare good and nailed on to interest and impress you.
It's gibberish. There are articles of speech missing ala Ebonics.
From a Dictionary.
From a fucking Dictionary.
*slow, rubbing facepalm*
It's gibberish. There are articles of speech missing ala Ebonics.
From a Dictionary.
From a fucking Dictionary.
*slow, rubbing facepalm*
Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Suntanning in Bizzaro World at August 24, 2014 10:04 AM (oNXlJ)
29
So I found this very strange book by a very strange guy: "Republican Party Animal" by David Cole. Or maybe Stein.
Cole/Stein is a self-confessed coward, liar, cheat, and (now) drunk. To watch his recent rambling youtubes one gets the impression of someone who has lost everything and doesn't care anymore. So in *this* book, I get the feeling he's *not* lying. At any rate you won't feel cheated, because the writing is extremely entertaining. As in, I couldn't put the thing down.
His claim to infamy is that at the age of 21 or so he got into "independent Holocaust research" which means, revisionism... and he's Jewish. For that, the JDL has beat the sh!t out of him more than once. Eventually the JDL put a $25 grand price on his head, so Cole publicly recanted his revisionism - which was fine with Cole, since Cole was never actually a denier and was getting tired of the scene anyway by then.
Cole soon faked his death (but because of an abusive girlfriend, not the JDL) and rose again as a series of fake names. At this point he needed cash, and his only real proven skill was making Holocaust docs - so what to do? Well, he went and made a bunch MORE of those, for both sides. (What the JDL didn't know couldn't hurt them, or more to the point Cole.)
Eventually our antihero settled on the name David Stein, hooked up with some loser from Oregon and founded Republican Party Animals. This got him access to Gary Sinise and other closeted Rightists in Hollywood - and he ended up a party organiser. Several madcap escapades ensue.
But then "Stein" ended up dating a six foot ginger supermodel. If you're a Jewish nerd of 5'4, that's exactly what you are NOT supposed to do. Sure enough, he gets blackmailed, he refuses to be blackmailed and he's outed as Holocaust Denier David Cole. After that, nobody would speak to him again, with some very few exceptions. Thus endeth Republican Party Animals. Biggest losers: Hollywood conservatives.
If he's telling the truth then his book offers lot of character-studies on high-ups in the Right. David Horowitz, for instance, comes off as rude - but not necessarily an asshole, and certainly not dishonest. Pamela Geller comes off as overly eager to find Islamist OUTRAEG where it shouldn't exist (here, on Perry's school curriculum). Breitbart was flawed (Cole calls him out for doubling down on the Sherrod Brown mess), and his followers more so - and, Cole claims, Ben Shapiro is a plagiarist who has ripped off Cole's work.
Cole also shopped a few anti-terrorism articles under an Arab-ish pseudonym. These were widely picked up and passed around the 'net at the time, to the point of sparking a few "muslims against terror" events here and there. So there's an angle on the wishful thinking of opinion-consuming Americans here more generally.
Cole's views on the Holocaust have to be mentioned, so that's an appendix in the book. Cole remains moderately-revisionist; he is NOT a denier (Cole himself concedes the "denier" term is applicable to some on that fringe). He is also a Zionist with no time for Islamic terrorism.
Cole/Stein is a self-confessed coward, liar, cheat, and (now) drunk. To watch his recent rambling youtubes one gets the impression of someone who has lost everything and doesn't care anymore. So in *this* book, I get the feeling he's *not* lying. At any rate you won't feel cheated, because the writing is extremely entertaining. As in, I couldn't put the thing down.
His claim to infamy is that at the age of 21 or so he got into "independent Holocaust research" which means, revisionism... and he's Jewish. For that, the JDL has beat the sh!t out of him more than once. Eventually the JDL put a $25 grand price on his head, so Cole publicly recanted his revisionism - which was fine with Cole, since Cole was never actually a denier and was getting tired of the scene anyway by then.
Cole soon faked his death (but because of an abusive girlfriend, not the JDL) and rose again as a series of fake names. At this point he needed cash, and his only real proven skill was making Holocaust docs - so what to do? Well, he went and made a bunch MORE of those, for both sides. (What the JDL didn't know couldn't hurt them, or more to the point Cole.)
Eventually our antihero settled on the name David Stein, hooked up with some loser from Oregon and founded Republican Party Animals. This got him access to Gary Sinise and other closeted Rightists in Hollywood - and he ended up a party organiser. Several madcap escapades ensue.
But then "Stein" ended up dating a six foot ginger supermodel. If you're a Jewish nerd of 5'4, that's exactly what you are NOT supposed to do. Sure enough, he gets blackmailed, he refuses to be blackmailed and he's outed as Holocaust Denier David Cole. After that, nobody would speak to him again, with some very few exceptions. Thus endeth Republican Party Animals. Biggest losers: Hollywood conservatives.
If he's telling the truth then his book offers lot of character-studies on high-ups in the Right. David Horowitz, for instance, comes off as rude - but not necessarily an asshole, and certainly not dishonest. Pamela Geller comes off as overly eager to find Islamist OUTRAEG where it shouldn't exist (here, on Perry's school curriculum). Breitbart was flawed (Cole calls him out for doubling down on the Sherrod Brown mess), and his followers more so - and, Cole claims, Ben Shapiro is a plagiarist who has ripped off Cole's work.
Cole also shopped a few anti-terrorism articles under an Arab-ish pseudonym. These were widely picked up and passed around the 'net at the time, to the point of sparking a few "muslims against terror" events here and there. So there's an angle on the wishful thinking of opinion-consuming Americans here more generally.
Cole's views on the Holocaust have to be mentioned, so that's an appendix in the book. Cole remains moderately-revisionist; he is NOT a denier (Cole himself concedes the "denier" term is applicable to some on that fringe). He is also a Zionist with no time for Islamic terrorism.
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 10:04 AM (mQO+c)
30
Insomniac, nyah!
Oh there are a few times I am not. But that anime is a scary predictor of how things are turning out. Though so far no bacteria cloud. Unless Michael Moore and Meggie Mac just farted.
Oh there are a few times I am not. But that anime is a scary predictor of how things are turning out. Though so far no bacteria cloud. Unless Michael Moore and Meggie Mac just farted.
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 10:04 AM (g9g17)
31
I wish I had enough money to bid on that comic book. I don't really want the comic book, I just wish I had so much money I could piss away $2.2 million on a comic book.
Posted by: Insomniac at August 24, 2014 10:05 AM (mx5oN)
32
God damn. There are poop tanks now. Sheeit.
Posted by: Ricardo Kill at August 24, 2014 10:05 AM (VsPux)
33
Poop?
Posted by: Big Al Roker at August 24, 2014 10:07 AM (02a7Q)
34
Beck's an emo drama queen....
Fuck him and everything about him. A complete charlatan. I can't believe I actually used to watch him.
Fuck him and everything about him. A complete charlatan. I can't believe I actually used to watch him.
Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Suntanning in Bizzaro World at August 24, 2014 10:08 AM (oNXlJ)
35
Posted by: weirdflunkyonatablet at August 24, 2014 09:54 AM (kECKp)
---
Weird flunky, I like tablets for popcorn reading and instant grat downloads, and some technical reading, and there's nothing wrong with that, but there is something to the idea of purchasing dead trees versions of really essential works for the purpose of handing it down to the next generation.
There's a great picture in that Classic Pics webpage of gentlemen perusing a library in London after the roof was blown off during the Blitz. Try that on a pad after the power's been out a while! Analog will get you through times of no digital better than digital will get you through times of no dope -- uh, I mean analog.
---
Weird flunky, I like tablets for popcorn reading and instant grat downloads, and some technical reading, and there's nothing wrong with that, but there is something to the idea of purchasing dead trees versions of really essential works for the purpose of handing it down to the next generation.
There's a great picture in that Classic Pics webpage of gentlemen perusing a library in London after the roof was blown off during the Blitz. Try that on a pad after the power's been out a while! Analog will get you through times of no digital better than digital will get you through times of no dope -- uh, I mean analog.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 24, 2014 10:09 AM (QBm1P)
Posted by: Ricardo Kill at August 24, 2014 10:09 AM (VsPux)
37
are we robbing the future morons of history by not buying actual books to pass on/leave behind?
---------------
Yes, I think.
And more immediately, we are robbing those close to us by not writing letters.
---------------
Yes, I think.
And more immediately, we are robbing those close to us by not writing letters.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 24, 2014 10:11 AM (2Aj5D)
38
Still debating ordering this book - A Blue Sea of Blood by Donald Kehn. The story of the US Asiatic Fleet destroyer USS Edsall from commissioning to her final combat against IJN cruisers. Save for five decapitated bodies none of her crew has ever been recovered.
http://tinyurl.com/pyo8u3f
http://tinyurl.com/pyo8u3f
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 10:11 AM (g9g17)
39
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 10:04 AM
Are you saying you actually read this book? Woooooo, that's takin' one for the team!
I admit I've wasted time on some pretty godawful tomes, but this one sounds like a mega-waste. Sorta like reading Joe McGinniss's epic Sarah Palin book which, after you get past the sloppy writing, poor organization, nonexistent editing and paucity of verifiable facts, is pretty awful.
Are you saying you actually read this book? Woooooo, that's takin' one for the team!
I admit I've wasted time on some pretty godawful tomes, but this one sounds like a mega-waste. Sorta like reading Joe McGinniss's epic Sarah Palin book which, after you get past the sloppy writing, poor organization, nonexistent editing and paucity of verifiable facts, is pretty awful.
Posted by: MrScribbler at August 24, 2014 10:11 AM (dDzOj)
40
30 Insomniac, nyah!
Oh there are a few times I am not. But that anime is a scary predictor of how things are turning out. Though so far no bacteria cloud. Unless Michael Moore and Meggie Mac just farted.
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 10:04 AM (g9g17)
Um, ew. And don't get me wrong, I love me some Puma sisters.
Oh there are a few times I am not. But that anime is a scary predictor of how things are turning out. Though so far no bacteria cloud. Unless Michael Moore and Meggie Mac just farted.
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 10:04 AM (g9g17)
Um, ew. And don't get me wrong, I love me some Puma sisters.
Posted by: Insomniac at August 24, 2014 10:13 AM (mx5oN)
41
My favorite book/poem is Paradise Lost. Chaucer.
Posted by: Ricardo Kill at August 24, 2014 10:14 AM (VsPux)
Posted by: Big Al Roker at August 24, 2014 10:14 AM (02a7Q)
43
Forget where I first read about this, but I'm enjoying "Faceoff," a short story collection from an organization called "The International Thriller Writers." Published by Simon & Schuster. Found it in the library.
More info: http://usat.ly/1womduk and http://thrillerfest.com/faceoff/
More info: http://usat.ly/1womduk and http://thrillerfest.com/faceoff/
Posted by: doug at August 24, 2014 10:14 AM (8Fj8U)
44
As for those book covers, only The Big Sleep gives off the correct vibe for the story. The rest, save the see-saw one, look like refugees from a 6th grade art class.
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 10:17 AM (g9g17)
Posted by: --- at August 24, 2014 10:18 AM (MMC8r)
46
Another book: Lev Grossman, "The Magician's Land".
In this one he is more or less pillorying "The Last Battle". The apocalypse in Fillory (read, Narnia) is here a backdrop; Grossman correctly observes that the result of the battle doesn't matter when the world is ending and, therefore, that neither does its cause or progression.
What we care about are the main characters, Quentin Coldwater and Alice the "niffin" - which is, best I can tell, a sort of ghost-bodak. Can Quentin rescue Alice from damnation? Can something be salvaged from Fillory?
You should probably read all three books in one sitting. Reading them as they came out, as I did, means you'll forget which one is Janet and which one Julia.
Also Grossman never give life to Fillory as a land and culture. He never showed us why we should care. Maybe that's part of the parody; maybe CS Lewis hadn't quite sketched out life in Narnia as well as - say - Donaldson sketched out the Land. But even a parody fantasy land should give us reason to care: DUDE, DO YOU EVEN PRATCHETT?
In this one he is more or less pillorying "The Last Battle". The apocalypse in Fillory (read, Narnia) is here a backdrop; Grossman correctly observes that the result of the battle doesn't matter when the world is ending and, therefore, that neither does its cause or progression.
What we care about are the main characters, Quentin Coldwater and Alice the "niffin" - which is, best I can tell, a sort of ghost-bodak. Can Quentin rescue Alice from damnation? Can something be salvaged from Fillory?
You should probably read all three books in one sitting. Reading them as they came out, as I did, means you'll forget which one is Janet and which one Julia.
Also Grossman never give life to Fillory as a land and culture. He never showed us why we should care. Maybe that's part of the parody; maybe CS Lewis hadn't quite sketched out life in Narnia as well as - say - Donaldson sketched out the Land. But even a parody fantasy land should give us reason to care: DUDE, DO YOU EVEN PRATCHETT?
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 10:18 AM (mQO+c)
47
I have been reading a book called "A Moral Vendetta", by John McCrudden. He is an Irish Catholic, born and raised in the 60's and 70's when the Catholics and Protestants were terrorizing each other. When the British army got involved, things got real bad for quite a while and he was in the thick of it, providing information to the British. The grammar is not the best, nor the formatting, but it is a self-published book and I have found it quite intriguing. I should say that I found this book because I work with the guy and he is quite the character.
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/206653
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/206653
Posted by: John C at August 24, 2014 10:18 AM (UeU18)
48
Insomniac, to paraphrase Leona Ozaki from the manga. "You just have the hots for some bio-mechanical love doll."
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 10:18 AM (g9g17)
49
45
Duh. Book thread.
Pinkies out, assholes.
Posted by: --- at August 24, 2014 10:18 AM (MMC8r)
We are fucking cultured and refined around here.
Duh. Book thread.
Pinkies out, assholes.
Posted by: --- at August 24, 2014 10:18 AM (MMC8r)
We are fucking cultured and refined around here.
Posted by: Insomniac at August 24, 2014 10:20 AM (mx5oN)
50
Over/under on Gillian's book having a lesbian in it?
Posted by: RoyalOil at August 24, 2014 10:20 AM (VjL9S)
51
Grandbabies due any second-two daughters pregnant, both 5 days overdue-so hanging at the house, looking at the stacks of books on the floors, tables, and desk. Need another couple of bookcases, but I've run out of wall space. I know, kindle users don't have that problem. Got a kindle, use it for crap I don't care if I read again. Plus I like paper; it keeps loggers in business.
Just finished The Opportunity Gap by Eric Schwarz. Meh. After two hundred pages of anecdotally showing off his Citizen Schools program, he takes seven pages to proscribe the usualfederal programs needed to 'fix' education. None of it innovative, all of it expensive. Never takes on the primary problem he identifies, the industrial-age school system. Homeschoolers are already ahead on this curve.
Started The Cold Dish, the first book in the Longmire seriesby Craig Johnson. Pretty good so far. Has a definite flavor to his writing that I enjoy and humor that doesn't rely on stupidity to enjoy.
Stuck on Bloodlands. I'll get through it eventually. Halfway through Shift by Hugh Howey. Man can write.
Grandbabies due any second-two daughters pregnant, both 5 days overdue-so hanging at the house, looking at the stacks of books on the floors, tables, and desk. Need another couple of bookcases, but I've run out of wall space. I know, kindle users don't have that problem. Got a kindle, use it for crap I don't care if I read again. Plus I like paper; it keeps loggers in business.
Just finished The Opportunity Gap by Eric Schwarz. Meh. After two hundred pages of anecdotally showing off his Citizen Schools program, he takes seven pages to proscribe the usualfederal programs needed to 'fix' education. None of it innovative, all of it expensive. Never takes on the primary problem he identifies, the industrial-age school system. Homeschoolers are already ahead on this curve.
Started The Cold Dish, the first book in the Longmire seriesby Craig Johnson. Pretty good so far. Has a definite flavor to his writing that I enjoy and humor that doesn't rely on stupidity to enjoy.
Stuck on Bloodlands. I'll get through it eventually. Halfway through Shift by Hugh Howey. Man can write.
Posted by: Long Running Fool at August 24, 2014 10:20 AM (77WNv)
52
38 Still debating ordering this book - A Blue Sea of Blood by Donald Kehn. The story of the US Asiatic Fleet destroyer USS Edsall from commissioning to her final combat against IJN cruisers. Save for five decapitated bodies none of her crew has ever been recovered.
http://tinyurl.com/pyo8u3f
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 10:11 AM (g9g17)
Sounds like an interesting read.
http://tinyurl.com/pyo8u3f
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 10:11 AM (g9g17)
Sounds like an interesting read.
Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Suntanning in Bizzaro World at August 24, 2014 10:21 AM (oNXlJ)
53
48 Insomniac, to paraphrase Leona Ozaki from the manga. "You just have the hots for some bio-mechanical love doll."
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 10:18 AM (g9g17)
Hey, nothing wrong with that!
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 10:18 AM (g9g17)
Hey, nothing wrong with that!
Posted by: Insomniac at August 24, 2014 10:22 AM (mx5oN)
54
I've been reading comics for 30+ years now, first dead tree versions, now electronic. I would love to get my hands on that copy of Action. Just to hold it, see it, and smell it, the history of it. Beautiful.
Posted by: kalel666 at August 24, 2014 10:22 AM (Ejhlz)
Posted by: Ricardo Kill at August 24, 2014 10:22 AM (VsPux)
56
I didn't read the book "Pleasantville" but I saw the movie and it exemplifies the way many on the left see the 1950's. The characters go back to live in a 1950's sit com where the world is colorless and everyone is a cheerful, empty conformist. When color is introduced to the world, well, it must be the dawn of the glorious 1960's, when The World Discovered Sex.
I saw it as another attempt on the part of Hollywood to push the Conservative=1950's= dull, sexless and bland; Leftist=1960's= exciting, sexy, individualistic.
Those hippies in their communes were every bit as conformist as the Men in the Gray Flannel Suits.
I saw it as another attempt on the part of Hollywood to push the Conservative=1950's= dull, sexless and bland; Leftist=1960's= exciting, sexy, individualistic.
Those hippies in their communes were every bit as conformist as the Men in the Gray Flannel Suits.
Posted by: Donna and V. at August 24, 2014 10:23 AM (+XMAD)
57
It' my understanding that the sellers can delete or edit your books on your device after you've bought them and if the burning times come no electricity to charge your device. Just axing.
I don't know about 'delete', but one time I received an 'update' for an e-book that altered the content to something different than what it was when I first bought it.
So it does happen, but it's not a frequent occurrence.
I don't know about 'delete', but one time I received an 'update' for an e-book that altered the content to something different than what it was when I first bought it.
So it does happen, but it's not a frequent occurrence.
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 10:24 AM (yRdR4)
58
Okay, Is0mniac is paying attention.
Posted by: Ricardo Kill at August 24, 2014 10:24 AM (VsPux)
59
56 I didn't read the book "Pleasantville" but I saw the movie and it exemplifies the way many on the left see the 1950's. The characters go back to live in a 1950's sit com where the world is colorless and everyone is a cheerful, empty conformist. When color is introduced to the world, well, it must be the dawn of the glorious 1960's, when The World Discovered Sex.
I saw it as another attempt on the part of Hollywood to push the Conservative=1950's= dull, sexless and bland; Leftist=1960's= exciting, sexy, individualistic.
Those hippies in their communes were every bit as conformist as the Men in the Gray Flannel Suits.
Posted by: Donna and V. at August 24, 2014 10:23 AM (+XMAD)
I saw it the exact same way. It was particularly obnoxious that everything became colorful and alive once immoral behavior was introduced.
I saw it as another attempt on the part of Hollywood to push the Conservative=1950's= dull, sexless and bland; Leftist=1960's= exciting, sexy, individualistic.
Those hippies in their communes were every bit as conformist as the Men in the Gray Flannel Suits.
Posted by: Donna and V. at August 24, 2014 10:23 AM (+XMAD)
I saw it the exact same way. It was particularly obnoxious that everything became colorful and alive once immoral behavior was introduced.
Posted by: Insomniac at August 24, 2014 10:24 AM (mx5oN)
60
Wait, may have fucked that up.
Posted by: Ricardo Kill at August 24, 2014 10:25 AM (VsPux)
61
Are you saying you actually read this book? Woooooo, that's takin' one for the team!
I'm interested in people who don't fit in. Goes with my Salman Rushdie fetish :^P
Another interesting book by a total weirdo is "My Jihad". The James Robbins review seems to be off National Review now but the freepers saved it -
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/707067/posts
I'm interested in people who don't fit in. Goes with my Salman Rushdie fetish :^P
Another interesting book by a total weirdo is "My Jihad". The James Robbins review seems to be off National Review now but the freepers saved it -
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/707067/posts
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 10:26 AM (mQO+c)
62
55 Ricardo Kill,
As opposed to Kos' assholes out, pinkos...
Well y'all pick up The Darth Bane trilogy by Drew K....
As opposed to Kos' assholes out, pinkos...
Well y'all pick up The Darth Bane trilogy by Drew K....
Posted by: sven10077 at August 24, 2014 10:26 AM (/4AZU)
63
Is it true They can alter/delete content after purchase? I find that a little creepy. Do you own it or not?
Stalin would have loved to have been able to electronically delete Trotsky from photos with the push of a button.
Yeah, I went full Godwinsky. But still....
Stalin would have loved to have been able to electronically delete Trotsky from photos with the push of a button.
Yeah, I went full Godwinsky. But still....
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 24, 2014 10:27 AM (QBm1P)
64
This week, I finally finished reading Chronicles of Wasted Time: An Autobiography by Malcolm Muggeridge. I had figured that the book would be a lot about his conversion and writing about Mother Theresa, but it mainly covered his childhood to a little after WWII.
I had no idea that during the war he was a spy for MI6, and because of how miserable he was while he was a spy, he actually almost killed himself. I had only previously known about his legacy, as opposed to the everyday details of his life.
I had no idea that during the war he was a spy for MI6, and because of how miserable he was while he was a spy, he actually almost killed himself. I had only previously known about his legacy, as opposed to the everyday details of his life.
Posted by: Mary at August 24, 2014 10:27 AM (nzmxZ)
Posted by: Ricardo Kill at August 24, 2014 10:28 AM (VsPux)
66
" David Horowitz, for instance, comes off as rude - but not necessarily an asshole, and certainly not dishonest."
Remember, Horowitz was raised by card-carrying Commies. That probably accounts for the rudeness. It's to his credit that he was able to finally see through the delusions he had been brought up to believe.
Remember, Horowitz was raised by card-carrying Commies. That probably accounts for the rudeness. It's to his credit that he was able to finally see through the delusions he had been brought up to believe.
Posted by: Donna and V. at August 24, 2014 10:28 AM (+XMAD)
67
Anyone read David Horowitz's Take No Prisoners: The Battle Plan for Defeating the Left?
Looks pretty interesting, judging by two reviews: bit.ly/1vbrTWU (pjmedia) and http://bit.ly/VJCOrL (the blaze).
From J. Christian Adams' pjmedia review, "Horowitz concludes that politics has become religion to progressives, and when you oppose their politics, you stand in the way of their religious crusade. Until the Republicans understand that merely talking about pie charts and policy proposals cannot defeat messianic attacks, they will continue to lose Presidential elections."
Currently 4/5 with only 8 reviews on Amazon.
Looks pretty interesting, judging by two reviews: bit.ly/1vbrTWU (pjmedia) and http://bit.ly/VJCOrL (the blaze).
From J. Christian Adams' pjmedia review, "Horowitz concludes that politics has become religion to progressives, and when you oppose their politics, you stand in the way of their religious crusade. Until the Republicans understand that merely talking about pie charts and policy proposals cannot defeat messianic attacks, they will continue to lose Presidential elections."
Currently 4/5 with only 8 reviews on Amazon.
Posted by: doug at August 24, 2014 10:28 AM (8Fj8U)
68
Remember, Horowitz was raised by card-carrying Commies. That probably accounts for the rudeness. It's to his credit that he was able to finally see through the delusions he had been brought up to believe.
Yep. He was a bona fide red diaper baby.
Yep. He was a bona fide red diaper baby.
Posted by: Insomniac at August 24, 2014 10:29 AM (mx5oN)
69
Hope you Bay Area morons are safe. I understand there's some shake, rattle, and roll going on out there.
Posted by: Country Singer at August 24, 2014 10:29 AM (X6/0u)
Posted by: Retread at August 24, 2014 10:30 AM (l7hog)
71
Bookstores hate their customers -- Part XII:
Pointing to the need for pricing flexibility at a time when bookstores face a growing number of economic challenges, some booksellers question whether its time for publishers to stop printing suggested retail prices on book covers and dust jackets. They argue that publishers should instead offer net pricing, like many bargain book wholesalers do, and let bookstores determine the margin they need and the price their community will pay. While it might not alleviate showrooming, removing printed prices could help bricks-and-mortar stores profitability.
I have felt for some time that taking the price off books would put bookselling in the same place as almost all other retail, said American Booksellers Association president Steve Bercu. Allowing flexibility in pricing gives the retailer the possibility of sharing changes in wages, theft, and occupancy costs with the consumer. Bercu also cited an additional advantage of net pricing: it would make discounting difficult and would allow market conditions to dictate the price locally.
http://tinyurl.com/p7ye5ac
"Sharing changes". And everybody likes sharing, right?
Bookstores hate their customers -- Part XII:
Pointing to the need for pricing flexibility at a time when bookstores face a growing number of economic challenges, some booksellers question whether its time for publishers to stop printing suggested retail prices on book covers and dust jackets. They argue that publishers should instead offer net pricing, like many bargain book wholesalers do, and let bookstores determine the margin they need and the price their community will pay. While it might not alleviate showrooming, removing printed prices could help bricks-and-mortar stores profitability.
I have felt for some time that taking the price off books would put bookselling in the same place as almost all other retail, said American Booksellers Association president Steve Bercu. Allowing flexibility in pricing gives the retailer the possibility of sharing changes in wages, theft, and occupancy costs with the consumer. Bercu also cited an additional advantage of net pricing: it would make discounting difficult and would allow market conditions to dictate the price locally.
http://tinyurl.com/p7ye5ac
"Sharing changes". And everybody likes sharing, right?
Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at August 24, 2014 10:31 AM (kdS6q)
72
68 Insomniac,
He could compare notes with the Dunham's bouncing baby boy...
If Barry weten't still swaddled in Scarlet Pampers....
Horowitz gets who we face...his books are awesomesauce
He could compare notes with the Dunham's bouncing baby boy...
If Barry weten't still swaddled in Scarlet Pampers....
Horowitz gets who we face...his books are awesomesauce
Posted by: sven10077 at August 24, 2014 10:31 AM (/4AZU)
73
If you're really concerned about sellers deleting or changing your ebooks, download a copy of Calibre (free-open source software). To your PC. It can change formats (I like epub, since I started with a Nook), and also lets you save a copy without the Digital Rights Management in it. So I keep copies of all my books in the cloud.
Posted by: RightWingProf at August 24, 2014 10:31 AM (LOnHK)
74
In effect bookstores ALREADY set their own prices for books. They do it by discounts for stuff they got in bulk (like Hillary's book) and by supercharged, bargain-bin, we'll-pay-you-to-shovel-this-shit-off-our-floor garbage they can't sell (like Hillary's book next month).
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 10:34 AM (mQO+c)
75
Since then, I've heard (and seen) a number of other anachronisms in 'Turn',
Like Toronto's founder, John Graves Simcoe, using a spork to kill a guy?
Like Toronto's founder, John Graves Simcoe, using a spork to kill a guy?
Posted by: andycanuck at August 24, 2014 10:34 AM (Usy9S)
76
>>>13 ugh, the cover for Phillip K. Dick's, "The Man in the High Castle" is horrid. Has zero context for what the book is about...
Posted by: MikeH at August 24, 2014 09:53 AM (bRL1M)
Have to agree. I have the 1962 hardback edition. While the dust jacket design isn't terribly great, at least the motif is closer to the actual story.
http://tinyurl.com/olbry2k
Posted by: MikeH at August 24, 2014 09:53 AM (bRL1M)
Have to agree. I have the 1962 hardback edition. While the dust jacket design isn't terribly great, at least the motif is closer to the actual story.
http://tinyurl.com/olbry2k
Posted by: Dr. Varno at August 24, 2014 10:35 AM (fIv/H)
77
So add Insomniac to the list of Morons who are down with the Rise of the Gynoids...
As for A Blue Sea of Blood, the Amazon reviews are all over the place.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/076033353X/creativepubco-20
As for A Blue Sea of Blood, the Amazon reviews are all over the place.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/076033353X/creativepubco-20
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 10:37 AM (g9g17)
78
So I got this Heads Up tip last Sun. that a Very Famous Author (VFA) will be coming to my neck of the woods soon. It hasn't been announced yet but if I wanted I could score some good tickets to see this person.
If only this had occurred about 10yrs ago then I would have been delighted to see and hear the VFA. But now, he comes across as old and bitter and seems to go out of his way to bash republicans and christians. I'm just afraid that if I saw him talk and there was a Q and A that I would get pissed off and probably get thrown out after calling him an ass.
So I'm not going to go see him. Which is sort of sad, but I'm thinking it's for the best. At least as far as I'm concerned.
If only this had occurred about 10yrs ago then I would have been delighted to see and hear the VFA. But now, he comes across as old and bitter and seems to go out of his way to bash republicans and christians. I'm just afraid that if I saw him talk and there was a Q and A that I would get pissed off and probably get thrown out after calling him an ass.
So I'm not going to go see him. Which is sort of sad, but I'm thinking it's for the best. At least as far as I'm concerned.
Posted by: HH at August 24, 2014 10:38 AM (XXwdv)
79
The bookstore/publisher/distributor relationship is a weird one. Everything is based on discounts, return rates, etc. Half the time you don't really know what you could/should be charging. "Every hardcover bestseller, 40% off, every day!, Paperbacks 30% off!" with a list that comes out every Thursday, but prices don't change until Sunday was always fun.
Posted by: Lincolntf at August 24, 2014 10:38 AM (2cS/G)
80
I finished Screams From My Father and enjoyed it. It reminded me of the old Alfred Hitchcock anthologies I used to read as a kid.
Posted by: The Great White Snark at August 24, 2014 10:38 AM (8MlTP)
81
WTF is with those Penguin Essentials covers? The one for "The Man in the High Castle" is like the most horrific Greek urn ever made.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 24, 2014 10:39 AM (QBm1P)
82
Brattleboro's super hero is President Obama and his arch villain is that idiot Bush !!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Dorcus Blimline from Brattleboro,VT and PROUD OF IT !!!!!!!!! at August 24, 2014 10:39 AM (hP/Mt)
83
"has been dumbed down"
In short, "duh".
You want everyone to graduate? You must lower your standards.
You want everyone to "go to college"? You must lower your standards.
You want everyone to "be educated"? You must lower your standards.
"everyone" can't do everything. Sucks, huh?
In short, "duh".
You want everyone to graduate? You must lower your standards.
You want everyone to "go to college"? You must lower your standards.
You want everyone to "be educated"? You must lower your standards.
"everyone" can't do everything. Sucks, huh?
Posted by: anon a mouse at August 24, 2014 10:41 AM (gXRIG)
84
" But now, he comes across as old and bitter and seems to go out of his way to bash republicans and christians"
Stephen King?
Stephen King?
Posted by: Donna and V. at August 24, 2014 10:41 AM (+XMAD)
85
Yeah, I went full Godwinsky. But still....
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 24, 2014 10:27 AM (QBm1P)
Does Goodwin's pertain to Stalin, too?
I'll have to notate that.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 24, 2014 10:27 AM (QBm1P)
Does Goodwin's pertain to Stalin, too?
I'll have to notate that.
Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Suntanning in Bizzaro World at August 24, 2014 10:42 AM (oNXlJ)
86
To quote Flash from The Incredibles, "if everyone is special, then no one is."
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 10:43 AM (g9g17)
87
Ricardo r u pulling our leg?
Paradise lost Milton
Chaucer Canterbury tales
I would love to see the colors in that action comic
Every we'nesday after CCD class I would go to the comic book store
I try to get my kids into it, take them to free comic day every year, but they prefer digital
Paradise lost Milton
Chaucer Canterbury tales
I would love to see the colors in that action comic
Every we'nesday after CCD class I would go to the comic book store
I try to get my kids into it, take them to free comic day every year, but they prefer digital
Posted by: ginaswo at August 24, 2014 10:43 AM (+X1qa)
88
I listened to Conrad's book 'Heart of Darkness', read by Kenneth Branagh as if it were Shakespeare. Starts slow as Marlowe goes into great detail about how he was hired to seek Kurtz in the jungle, how there was mechanical trouble with the boat and then navigating it safely upriver. As he gets close to his target there is some action, and the confrontation with Kurtz, who has become the monstrous leader of the natives, ends all too quickly. Overall pretty good psychological study and Branagh does a very good job bringing it to life.
Posted by: waelse1 at August 24, 2014 10:43 AM (nzQYK)
89
Oh, and another fun bookstore task. Destroying thousands of books by cutting their covers off and throwing them in the dumpster, because it was more cost-effective than shipping them back. I've slaughtered more Romance/Fantasy/Sci-Fi paperbacks than I've ever sold.
Posted by: Lincolntf at August 24, 2014 10:44 AM (2cS/G)
90
I thought NCJ was getting that comic for his birthday?
Posted by: garrett at August 24, 2014 10:45 AM (sssTt)
91
Like Toronto's founder, John Graves Simcoe, using a spork to kill a guy?
Heh. Also, Talmage illustrating moves on a military map using chess pieces of a style that wasn't invented until 1849.
Heh. Also, Talmage illustrating moves on a military map using chess pieces of a style that wasn't invented until 1849.
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 10:45 AM (yRdR4)
92
So, rbrewer likes the new Dr. Who. One complaint I heard was that there was too much lesbian bestiality.
If you like Peter Capaldi, and I do, check out In the Thick of It. You will only be able to under about 2/3 of what they say. Since most of it is highly innovative curses, you can get the gist. Capaldi is a very good artist. He started out in art school, dropped out to join a band, and the rest is history.
If you like Peter Capaldi, and I do, check out In the Thick of It. You will only be able to under about 2/3 of what they say. Since most of it is highly innovative curses, you can get the gist. Capaldi is a very good artist. He started out in art school, dropped out to join a band, and the rest is history.
Posted by: Pug the Boneless at August 24, 2014 10:47 AM (6V/x7)
93
86 To quote Flash from The Incredibles, "if everyone is special, then no one is."
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 10:43 AM (g9g17)
*cough*
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 10:43 AM (g9g17)
*cough*
Posted by: Syndrome at August 24, 2014 10:48 AM (mx5oN)
94
Finished "Twilight of Affluence: Why Life in the 21st Century will be Nasty, Brutish, and Short"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G1SM4YU/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o03_?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Then I started to re-read it. His key point is that climate is driven by the output of solar energy and that REAL scientists who have studied the Sun are now able to predict with high confidence that our climate will cool through at least 2040 enough to slice into our global food production. Growing wheat in Canada, for example, will become even more difficult and productive, reducing exports. I'll have to confirm this point independently to be sure but he sounds confident and informed.
The consequence will be that poor countries that can't NOW produce enough food to feed themselves will face mass starvation. Everyone else will see their disposable income reduced.
The Universe will change our human games.
Highly Recommended.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G1SM4YU/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o03_?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Then I started to re-read it. His key point is that climate is driven by the output of solar energy and that REAL scientists who have studied the Sun are now able to predict with high confidence that our climate will cool through at least 2040 enough to slice into our global food production. Growing wheat in Canada, for example, will become even more difficult and productive, reducing exports. I'll have to confirm this point independently to be sure but he sounds confident and informed.
The consequence will be that poor countries that can't NOW produce enough food to feed themselves will face mass starvation. Everyone else will see their disposable income reduced.
The Universe will change our human games.
Highly Recommended.
Posted by: Whitehall at August 24, 2014 10:48 AM (k876Y)
95
90 I thought NCJ was getting that comic for his birthday?
Posted by: garrett at August 24, 2014 10:45 AM (sssTt)
Spam variety pack.
Posted by: garrett at August 24, 2014 10:45 AM (sssTt)
Spam variety pack.
Posted by: Insomniac at August 24, 2014 10:49 AM (mx5oN)
96
And for people whose library are for decoration rather than reading, bespoke libraries, joining book love with interior design:
If you judge your books' covers to be just a bit blah, then Thatcher Wine can change everything. He is to a library what a tailor is to a suit. From his workshop in Boulder, Colo., he custom-tailors libraries all over the country.
"I probably look at books pretty differently from other people," said Wine. "I look at the whole object, really -- the cover design, the book jacket design, the proportions of the book. I also think in terms of sets and collections and libraries."
If a book looks good off the shelf, he'll use it as-is. He'll collect books to fit his clients' interests, like a curator, and place each book just so. But so many books don't fit as-is. They need alterations to make it into one of his "bespoke libraries." So he'll design his own cover, and with a fold here and a crease there, and with the proper arrangement, your library can become a Thatcher Wine Original.
But if you want your books bespoke, you'd better be rich. A custom library can cost as much as $750 a foot.
http://tinyurl.com/otqbgfh
http://juniperbooks.com/
And for people whose library are for decoration rather than reading, bespoke libraries, joining book love with interior design:
If you judge your books' covers to be just a bit blah, then Thatcher Wine can change everything. He is to a library what a tailor is to a suit. From his workshop in Boulder, Colo., he custom-tailors libraries all over the country.
"I probably look at books pretty differently from other people," said Wine. "I look at the whole object, really -- the cover design, the book jacket design, the proportions of the book. I also think in terms of sets and collections and libraries."
If a book looks good off the shelf, he'll use it as-is. He'll collect books to fit his clients' interests, like a curator, and place each book just so. But so many books don't fit as-is. They need alterations to make it into one of his "bespoke libraries." So he'll design his own cover, and with a fold here and a crease there, and with the proper arrangement, your library can become a Thatcher Wine Original.
But if you want your books bespoke, you'd better be rich. A custom library can cost as much as $750 a foot.
http://tinyurl.com/otqbgfh
http://juniperbooks.com/
Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at August 24, 2014 10:50 AM (kdS6q)
97
As for the list to the Hugo winners, Hugo Gernsback is probably wishing he could come back as a zombie and rip all these people apart. Double ditto for John Campbell.
BEST RELATED WORK
"We Have Always Fought: Challenging the Women, Cattle and Slaves Narrative" by Kameron Hurley (A Dribble of Ink)
What in all of Hades underground does this have to do with science fiction or fantasy? Zero. Zilch. Nada. Its all about the politics. Frak them sideways with a pineapple made of rusty razor wire right up their fourth point where the farking sun never shines.
BEST RELATED WORK
"We Have Always Fought: Challenging the Women, Cattle and Slaves Narrative" by Kameron Hurley (A Dribble of Ink)
What in all of Hades underground does this have to do with science fiction or fantasy? Zero. Zilch. Nada. Its all about the politics. Frak them sideways with a pineapple made of rusty razor wire right up their fourth point where the farking sun never shines.
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 10:50 AM (g9g17)
Posted by: andycanuck at August 24, 2014 10:50 AM (Usy9S)
99
82 Brattleboro's super hero is President Obama and his arch villain is that idiot Bush !!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Dorcus Blimline from Brattleboro,VT and PROUD OF IT !!!!!!!!! at August 24, 2014 10:39 AM (hP/Mt)
So, his superpower is telling the Secret Service to fix divots and rake sandtraps?
Posted by: Dorcus Blimline from Brattleboro,VT and PROUD OF IT !!!!!!!!! at August 24, 2014 10:39 AM (hP/Mt)
So, his superpower is telling the Secret Service to fix divots and rake sandtraps?
Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Suntanning in Bizzaro World at August 24, 2014 10:51 AM (oNXlJ)
100
My favorite book/poem is Paradise Lost. Chaucer.
-
Yeah, that wacky Gilligan always ducking everything up.
-
Yeah, that wacky Gilligan always ducking everything up.
Posted by: The Great White Snark at August 24, 2014 10:51 AM (8MlTP)
101
When I was in DC last week I went through a lot of stores. I'll leave out the Barnes and Books-A-Million stuff as these are the same as I get in Colorado.
In no particular sequence:
Kramer, and Books For America: both rated as "yawn". Carpe Librum had a slightly larger selection but still nothing that great.
US Government Bookstore: They screen your baggage to get in, and there's nothing useful there. Everything here is about policy. If you want astronomy, you'll get whitepapers in how to run the space programme.
National Academy Press: Similar to USG store except with MOAR POLICY PAPERZ. rg43g4zzzzzzzzzzzz sorry, nodded off there.
World Bank Infostore: Was worried it'd be more of the same. I was pleasantly surprised. Very good for current events, economics, Near East history. I bought a book on the Crusades here, "The Race for Paradise". I guess since it doesn't have to reserve space for romance, SF, or religion that it just gets to the point of what people here want.
Washington Report bookseller: remember the Liberty! free Palestine! - by which they mean, drive the Joos to the sea (the Palestine maps are always of the whole Mandate, never just Gaza / WB). Again, morbid curiosity brought me there. Some of the books were at least pro-Near-East Christian, so there's that; and there was one actually pretty measured look into how the Jews of Iraq left in 1950. But mostly it was an antisemitic hellhole. I was afraid I'd get highfived by a Nazi on my way out.
Idle Time: for commies. They pasted a lot of Left shit from newspapers on the bookshelves. Again, refused to buy anything on principle.
Second Story Books: They charge too much for the older books - MA Shaban's history of the abbasids is here, and would be worth maybe $20 to me, but they wanted $40. Uh, no. Not for something dated and only half-useful.
In no particular sequence:
Kramer, and Books For America: both rated as "yawn". Carpe Librum had a slightly larger selection but still nothing that great.
US Government Bookstore: They screen your baggage to get in, and there's nothing useful there. Everything here is about policy. If you want astronomy, you'll get whitepapers in how to run the space programme.
National Academy Press: Similar to USG store except with MOAR POLICY PAPERZ. rg43g4zzzzzzzzzzzz sorry, nodded off there.
World Bank Infostore: Was worried it'd be more of the same. I was pleasantly surprised. Very good for current events, economics, Near East history. I bought a book on the Crusades here, "The Race for Paradise". I guess since it doesn't have to reserve space for romance, SF, or religion that it just gets to the point of what people here want.
Washington Report bookseller: remember the Liberty! free Palestine! - by which they mean, drive the Joos to the sea (the Palestine maps are always of the whole Mandate, never just Gaza / WB). Again, morbid curiosity brought me there. Some of the books were at least pro-Near-East Christian, so there's that; and there was one actually pretty measured look into how the Jews of Iraq left in 1950. But mostly it was an antisemitic hellhole. I was afraid I'd get highfived by a Nazi on my way out.
Idle Time: for commies. They pasted a lot of Left shit from newspapers on the bookshelves. Again, refused to buy anything on principle.
Second Story Books: They charge too much for the older books - MA Shaban's history of the abbasids is here, and would be worth maybe $20 to me, but they wanted $40. Uh, no. Not for something dated and only half-useful.
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 10:52 AM (mQO+c)
102
Is it true They can alter/delete content after purchase? I find that a little creepy. Do you own it or not?
It would be creepy if it happened a lot, but it only happened once on my tablet.
As far as I know.
Of course, this only applies to e-books you buy from the major distributors, Amazon, BN, Apple, Google Play. I have a Nexus tablet, and I have a crap ton of e-books I side-loaded and who would know they're even there?
It would be creepy if it happened a lot, but it only happened once on my tablet.
As far as I know.
Of course, this only applies to e-books you buy from the major distributors, Amazon, BN, Apple, Google Play. I have a Nexus tablet, and I have a crap ton of e-books I side-loaded and who would know they're even there?
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 10:52 AM (yRdR4)
103
"I listened to Conrad's book 'Heart of Darkness', read by Kenneth Branagh as if it were Shakespeare."
Posted by: waelse1 at August 24, 2014 10:43 AM
I had to read that book twice: once in high school and once in college. Hated it both times. Perhaps if I had listened to it read by Kenneth Branagh, I might have liked it much better.
I had a similar problem with Beowulf. Read the Burton Raffel translation in high school and hated it, but instead of hating it in college, I found that I really loved it because we read the Seamus Heaney translation instead. It was remarkable how time and translations made a huge difference. (My new goal is to buy and read the Tolkien translation)
Posted by: waelse1 at August 24, 2014 10:43 AM
I had to read that book twice: once in high school and once in college. Hated it both times. Perhaps if I had listened to it read by Kenneth Branagh, I might have liked it much better.
I had a similar problem with Beowulf. Read the Burton Raffel translation in high school and hated it, but instead of hating it in college, I found that I really loved it because we read the Seamus Heaney translation instead. It was remarkable how time and translations made a huge difference. (My new goal is to buy and read the Tolkien translation)
Posted by: Mary at August 24, 2014 10:53 AM (nzmxZ)
104
Hugos Its all about the politics.
Posted by: Anna Puma
And tranny-fem block voting got Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie the rocket for best novel.
Quelle suprise.
Hugos Its all about the politics.
Posted by: Anna Puma
And tranny-fem block voting got Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie the rocket for best novel.
Quelle suprise.
Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at August 24, 2014 10:56 AM (kdS6q)
105
Semi-related: I watched The Book Thief last night and I thought it was very moving.
Posted by: The Great White Snark at August 24, 2014 10:56 AM (8MlTP)
106
Ok, so Kurt Schlichter's "Conservative Insurgency."
I read it, I'd suggest you read it as well. Although, I find a lot of wishful thinking and way too heavy on the "libertarian as saviors" theme.
I've some six pages of notes from it; I'm debating whether to post 'em.
A lot of criticism, a lot of praise.
He's a libertarian in California, so, that clouds a lot of his analysis.
But, there are some solid plans for action there that--due to the GOPe, the "conservative" chattering class and other structural problems--will never, ever happen.
LIB is not a choice . . . .
I read it, I'd suggest you read it as well. Although, I find a lot of wishful thinking and way too heavy on the "libertarian as saviors" theme.
I've some six pages of notes from it; I'm debating whether to post 'em.
A lot of criticism, a lot of praise.
He's a libertarian in California, so, that clouds a lot of his analysis.
But, there are some solid plans for action there that--due to the GOPe, the "conservative" chattering class and other structural problems--will never, ever happen.
LIB is not a choice . . . .
Posted by: RoyalOil at August 24, 2014 10:58 AM (VjL9S)
107
It looked like ALL the books and stories nominated for the Hugo this year ranged from mediocre to awful. Maybe they should do what the Fields Medal does and have the awards every four years, with the option to choose up to four winners.
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 10:59 AM (mQO+c)
108
I don't know about 'delete', but one time I received
an 'update' for an e-book that altered the content to something
different than what it was when I first bought it.
So it does happen, but it's not a frequent occurrence.
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 10:24 AM (yRdR4)
There is an Automatic Book Update setting in your Amazon Kindle account whether you want to allow books to update. I turned it on recently and about a dozen books I bought long ago started downloading, guess some corrections were made.
an 'update' for an e-book that altered the content to something
different than what it was when I first bought it.
So it does happen, but it's not a frequent occurrence.
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 10:24 AM (yRdR4)
There is an Automatic Book Update setting in your Amazon Kindle account whether you want to allow books to update. I turned it on recently and about a dozen books I bought long ago started downloading, guess some corrections were made.
Posted by: waelse1 at August 24, 2014 11:01 AM (nzQYK)
109
Semi-related: I watched The Book Thief last night and I thought it was very moving.
Posted by: The Great White Snark
A good book movie was The Ninth Gate (1999) with Johnny Depp -- before the Pirates movies revived his career.
"A rare book dealer, while seeking out the last two copies of a demon text, gets drawn into a conspiracy with supernatural overtones."
Semi-related: I watched The Book Thief last night and I thought it was very moving.
Posted by: The Great White Snark
A good book movie was The Ninth Gate (1999) with Johnny Depp -- before the Pirates movies revived his career.
"A rare book dealer, while seeking out the last two copies of a demon text, gets drawn into a conspiracy with supernatural overtones."
Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at August 24, 2014 11:01 AM (kdS6q)
110
Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at August 24, 2014 10:50 AM (kdS6q)
-----
If I win the lottery, I'l force Thatcher Wine to enrobe a collection of Shakespeare's collected works into a "Dogs Plying Poker" mural.
-----
If I win the lottery, I'l force Thatcher Wine to enrobe a collection of Shakespeare's collected works into a "Dogs Plying Poker" mural.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 24, 2014 11:02 AM (QBm1P)
111
On the matter of translations, I am reminded of a small dissertation written by Butcher and Lang. As found in The Universal Anthology Vol. Two 1899 called "No Final Translation of Homer Possible."
... Without Chapman's conceits, Homer's poems would hardly have been what the Elizabethans took for poetry; without Pope's smoothness, and Pope's points, the Iliad and the Odyssey would have seemed tame, rude, and harsh in the age of Anne. These great translations must always live as English poems. As transcripts of Homer they are like pictures drawn from a lost point of view.
... Without Chapman's conceits, Homer's poems would hardly have been what the Elizabethans took for poetry; without Pope's smoothness, and Pope's points, the Iliad and the Odyssey would have seemed tame, rude, and harsh in the age of Anne. These great translations must always live as English poems. As transcripts of Homer they are like pictures drawn from a lost point of view.
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 11:02 AM (g9g17)
112
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 10:52 AM (mQO+c)
****
I, too, traveled and shopped last week. The difference is that I shopped at Saks, Nieman, and Coach and nothing I purchased will expand my mind.
*I hang my head in shame*
****
I, too, traveled and shopped last week. The difference is that I shopped at Saks, Nieman, and Coach and nothing I purchased will expand my mind.
*I hang my head in shame*
Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at August 24, 2014 11:03 AM (DmNpO)
113
67
Anyone read David Horowitz's Take No Prisoners: The Battle Plan for Defeating the Left?
=========
David understands the leftists are not a political force to be defeated by words--he understands they are an enemy to free men and free thought.
Too many, way too damned many, on the right think we've some magical talking points that are going to convince them of the error of their ways.
Go read his "How Republicans can Win" on Powerline.
Anyone read David Horowitz's Take No Prisoners: The Battle Plan for Defeating the Left?
=========
David understands the leftists are not a political force to be defeated by words--he understands they are an enemy to free men and free thought.
Too many, way too damned many, on the right think we've some magical talking points that are going to convince them of the error of their ways.
Go read his "How Republicans can Win" on Powerline.
Posted by: RoyalOil at August 24, 2014 11:03 AM (VjL9S)
114
Ninth Gate was a Polanski movie so I stayed away.
Wiki tells me it's based on Arturo Pérez-Reverte, "The Club Dumas" (1993). Read that instead?
Wiki tells me it's based on Arturo Pérez-Reverte, "The Club Dumas" (1993). Read that instead?
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 11:03 AM (mQO+c)
115
@106 RoyalOil, I'd love to see your notes. I've been undecided about buying that book.
Posted by: doug at August 24, 2014 11:03 AM (8Fj8U)
116
RE: Hugos. Scalzi has turned in to a grade-a prick the last few years. He won the Hugo outright last year but the book is really subpar. I guess that's what you get for toeing the line.
Posted by: Buck Farack, Gentleman Adventurer at August 24, 2014 11:03 AM (Nk6GS)
117
I picked up Web Griffin's new one when it came out on Kindle this week. I have read a lot of Griffin since elementary school, and I can tell his son is carrying a lot more of the writing load. Good guy but not the man his father was. Still, in all fairness Web is pushing ninety so he could use a hand.
While it was a lot better than his last one (the perhaps-end of the often lousy Presidential Agent series), this one had its flaws. Yes, did a good job of turning the WWII Argentina story arc into the Birth of the CIA story arc. He also accomplished this with some ham-handed retconning and one tragic death that did nothing to actually advance the plot. Good read, but not one of his masterpieces.
Also did some rereading of assorted Tom Kratman and John Ringo material.
While it was a lot better than his last one (the perhaps-end of the often lousy Presidential Agent series), this one had its flaws. Yes, did a good job of turning the WWII Argentina story arc into the Birth of the CIA story arc. He also accomplished this with some ham-handed retconning and one tragic death that did nothing to actually advance the plot. Good read, but not one of his masterpieces.
Also did some rereading of assorted Tom Kratman and John Ringo material.
Posted by: SGT Dan's Cat at August 24, 2014 11:04 AM (ITZha)
118
NDH: I suppose the analogy would be wandering between "Che's House of Baclavas" and "Keffiyehs N' Burqas". Trust me, you were better off where you were
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 11:05 AM (mQO+c)
119
One more bookstore fun fact. At least in MA, jails and prisons only allow people to send books if they come directly from the bookstore, sealed and wrapped. Obviously to prevent people smuggling stuff/messages in. One day a local d-bag gadfly protestor came in and bought a few books, left them at the store so that if he got arrested at the next day's protest we could ship them to him. He was very proud of himself. Didn't get arrested, though.
Posted by: Lincolntf at August 24, 2014 11:05 AM (2cS/G)
120
excuse me - Che's house of USED balaclavas.
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 11:05 AM (mQO+c)
121
Oh yes the movie The Book Thief really tugged at heartstrings. It was very good. Interesting choice for narrator.
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 11:05 AM (g9g17)
122
@113 - Thanks, RoyalOil.
Horowitz is a good writer. I have to confess that I thought the same when I read "Ramparts" "back in the day."
Horowitz is a good writer. I have to confess that I thought the same when I read "Ramparts" "back in the day."
Posted by: doug at August 24, 2014 11:06 AM (8Fj8U)
123
Apparently Scalzi is now trying to make nice with the cons, at least with the "nice" cons (who won't argue with him). The fact that his Redshirts series got picked up by Faux I mean, Fox might have summat to do with that.
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 11:07 AM (mQO+c)
124
Maybe they should do what the Fields Medal does and
have the awards every four years, with the option to choose up to four
winners.
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 10:59 AM
Or maybe they should simply make awards when they think a particular book merits one. That would result in far fewer crap books getting a gong they don't deserve.
Went to a Barnes Noble last week after a couple of years of getting only used books from local library sales and the free "Book Barn" at the dump. Was not a happy experience. Garbage books by garbage authors, no "classic" sci-fi (yes, I'm an Asimov/Dick/Van Voght et. al. fan) and damn near nothing in the way of Great Literature. Unless you consider Clive Cussler a Great Author, which I sure as hell don't.
Guess I'll be sticking to my usual sources: used, cheap.
have the awards every four years, with the option to choose up to four
winners.
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 10:59 AM
Or maybe they should simply make awards when they think a particular book merits one. That would result in far fewer crap books getting a gong they don't deserve.
Went to a Barnes Noble last week after a couple of years of getting only used books from local library sales and the free "Book Barn" at the dump. Was not a happy experience. Garbage books by garbage authors, no "classic" sci-fi (yes, I'm an Asimov/Dick/Van Voght et. al. fan) and damn near nothing in the way of Great Literature. Unless you consider Clive Cussler a Great Author, which I sure as hell don't.
Guess I'll be sticking to my usual sources: used, cheap.
Posted by: MrScribbler at August 24, 2014 11:10 AM (dDzOj)
125
from the OP: "bare good and nailed on to interest and impress you."
Life imitates "Clockwork Orange" . . .
Life imitates "Clockwork Orange" . . .
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 11:10 AM (mQO+c)
126
Re #106 on "Conservative Insurgency" - agree with your summary.
I found its take-away point that the GOP should embrace more, but not all, of the libertarian platform for both electoral advantage and governance.
The wishful thinking comes with expecting voters to rush to conservatism. Most Americans have the cultural genes to support it but the Left has been very busy for a couple of generations both poisoning the minds of our young AND importing peoples without the cultural urge to freedom. I find too many of my acquaintances hostile to the GOP but open to reduced government.
For example, one conservative, Justice Scalia, made a huge mistake in voting down California's medical marijuana law. Getting the federal government out of state police powers would have gone a long way in building support for a limited and reduced federal government.
I put it in the same class as Andrew McCarthy's works on impeaching people in the Obama Administration. Makes me feel better but doesn't give us a solid, actionable roadmap.
I found its take-away point that the GOP should embrace more, but not all, of the libertarian platform for both electoral advantage and governance.
The wishful thinking comes with expecting voters to rush to conservatism. Most Americans have the cultural genes to support it but the Left has been very busy for a couple of generations both poisoning the minds of our young AND importing peoples without the cultural urge to freedom. I find too many of my acquaintances hostile to the GOP but open to reduced government.
For example, one conservative, Justice Scalia, made a huge mistake in voting down California's medical marijuana law. Getting the federal government out of state police powers would have gone a long way in building support for a limited and reduced federal government.
I put it in the same class as Andrew McCarthy's works on impeaching people in the Obama Administration. Makes me feel better but doesn't give us a solid, actionable roadmap.
Posted by: Whitehall at August 24, 2014 11:11 AM (k876Y)
127
Welp, I can now join the glorious new class of victims.
That's right, I was oppressed.
My very short, though undeniably, brilliant short story-
"The End of White People"
did not win the HUGO!
The only reason I can think of is the virulent racism and male privilege of the judges.
Hmpf.
So...here it is. I'm sure you'll agree that I was swindled:
http://naturalfake.wordpress.com/2014/04/28/the-
end-of-white-people-or-an-ironical-progressive-short-
short-science-fiction-story-wherein-horrible-white-
people-get-their-comeuppance-and-stuff-in-an-ironic-
way-that-is-historically-significant/
That's right, I was oppressed.
My very short, though undeniably, brilliant short story-
"The End of White People"
did not win the HUGO!
The only reason I can think of is the virulent racism and male privilege of the judges.
Hmpf.
So...here it is. I'm sure you'll agree that I was swindled:
http://naturalfake.wordpress.com/2014/04/28/the-
end-of-white-people-or-an-ironical-progressive-short-
short-science-fiction-story-wherein-horrible-white-
people-get-their-comeuppance-and-stuff-in-an-ironic-
way-that-is-historically-significant/
Posted by: naturalfake at August 24, 2014 11:13 AM (KBvAm)
128
Oh yes the movie The Book Thief really tugged at heartstrings. It was very good. Interesting choice for narrator.
-
Yes, it would seem more appropriate for a Planned Parenthood documentary.
-
Yes, it would seem more appropriate for a Planned Parenthood documentary.
Posted by: The Great White Snark at August 24, 2014 11:13 AM (8MlTP)
129
One more bookstore fun fact. At least in MA, jails and prisons only allow people to send books if they come directly from the bookstore, sealed and wrapped.
Yeah, that's standard practice in prisons everywhere. The main problem is that books and magazines can get used to send coded messages (putting a dot under a word or a letter to spell it out) in and out of prison; one drug lord was running his criminal empire that way.
Yeah, that's standard practice in prisons everywhere. The main problem is that books and magazines can get used to send coded messages (putting a dot under a word or a letter to spell it out) in and out of prison; one drug lord was running his criminal empire that way.
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 11:14 AM (yRdR4)
130
114
Absolutely. Read the book. The movie version was crappy. And don't stop there. Pick up "The Flanders Panel" and "The Seville Communion" too.
Absolutely. Read the book. The movie version was crappy. And don't stop there. Pick up "The Flanders Panel" and "The Seville Communion" too.
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 11:14 AM (hpWy+)
131
Scalzi could be menaced by a Damnthing and I would root for the Damnthing. The hubris of that man Scalzi, to rewrite in totality and get published one of the landmark works of another author, H. Beam Piper, who has been safely dead for over forty years. That would be akin to Stephen King rewriting the collected works of Shakespeare.
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 11:16 AM (g9g17)
132
I read Scalzi's comments . What an unpleasant man.
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 11:17 AM (hpWy+)
133
After the thread the other day about the hopelessness of the present day rule by decree from TFG, Recommended for the horde, They Thought They Were Free, Milton Mayer. A study of ten ordinary Germans in Nazi Germany. The contents will reassure you that these emotions you have are appropriate to the present situation. Many of the tactics used by TFG were quite familiar to the history of despots.
Posted by: VnRedleg at August 24, 2014 11:17 AM (LiVYj)
134
I, too, traveled and shopped last week. The difference is that I shopped at Saks, Nieman, and Coach and nothing I purchased will expand my mind.
*I hang my head in shame*
Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at August 24, 2014 11:03 AM (DmNpO)
what did you get?!!!!!!!!!
I, too, traveled and shopped last week. The difference is that I shopped at Saks, Nieman, and Coach and nothing I purchased will expand my mind.
*I hang my head in shame*
Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at August 24, 2014 11:03 AM (DmNpO)
what did you get?!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: phoenixgirl at August 24, 2014 11:17 AM (u8GsB)
135
123 Apparently Scalzi is now trying to make nice with the cons, at least with the "nice" cons (who won't argue with him). The fact that his Redshirts series got picked up by Faux I mean, Fox might have summat to do with that.
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 11:07 AM (mQO+c)
He's part of the problem, now. He used to seem alright - he wrote a blog post a few years ago that sounds more like Correia today than Scalzi:
http://tinyurl.com/n2h6oyy
I guess being the president of the SFWA and getting a Hugo for a silly bit of fanwankery means a lot more to him than principle. He's like Cypher in the Matrix or something. Just put him back in because he's rather be fooled than good.
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 11:07 AM (mQO+c)
He's part of the problem, now. He used to seem alright - he wrote a blog post a few years ago that sounds more like Correia today than Scalzi:
http://tinyurl.com/n2h6oyy
I guess being the president of the SFWA and getting a Hugo for a silly bit of fanwankery means a lot more to him than principle. He's like Cypher in the Matrix or something. Just put him back in because he's rather be fooled than good.
Posted by: Buck Farack, Gentleman Adventurer at August 24, 2014 11:17 AM (Nk6GS)
136
I've never thought much of Scalia's legal thought. He comes up with the Right opinion first and gins up some rhetoric later. He gets a pass because, well, the Right is right and (usually) Constitutional.
Thomas's legal thought is superior. I'm told that so was Bork's. Reagan should have nominated them to the SCOTUS and hired Scalia as Attorney General.
I know, I know; OT...
Thomas's legal thought is superior. I'm told that so was Bork's. Reagan should have nominated them to the SCOTUS and hired Scalia as Attorney General.
I know, I know; OT...
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 11:18 AM (mQO+c)
137
Good morning from Way Down Here...
For a few years one of the doctors at work has been lending me books and I've shared a few books with him as well
Now we have decided to start a little book swap thing with some of our patients who are also readers and who want to share their good books with others
My office has turned into a little library these days and I must say it's been rather nice to talk to patients about books as well as blood pressures, blood sugarsand weight control
My recommendations for this week....
"Cicero - Politics and Persuasion in Ancient Rome" by Kathryn Tempest
Now here was a great orator - how an thinking person could think the bloke you have as President is a great orator is beyond me
I also admit if I had lived in those times I would have been in love with Cicero - a very good looking bloke!
Secondly, I'm making a big effort to get some background the folly of Big Government so I'm about to start reading "The Road to Serfdom" by F.A Hayek
On my beloved Kindle, which is ideal for reading in bed without disturbing the Old Aussie Bloke, I've discovered a Scottish author who writes a pretty good cop investigating a murder story
Ed James is his name and Scott Cullen is the cop
"Bottleneck" "Dyed in the Wool" "Shot Through the Heart" "Devil in the Detail" "Fire in the Blood" are the Ed James books I've read so far
OT
And good on Daniel Ricciardo, Aussie FI driver who has just won his 3rd GP in six races!
Led from the start too...
It was lovely to hear the Aussie national anthem!
Thanks again, OregonMuse for this wonderful thread, and have a wonderful yesterday everyone!
Good morning from Way Down Here...
For a few years one of the doctors at work has been lending me books and I've shared a few books with him as well
Now we have decided to start a little book swap thing with some of our patients who are also readers and who want to share their good books with others
My office has turned into a little library these days and I must say it's been rather nice to talk to patients about books as well as blood pressures, blood sugarsand weight control
My recommendations for this week....
"Cicero - Politics and Persuasion in Ancient Rome" by Kathryn Tempest
Now here was a great orator - how an thinking person could think the bloke you have as President is a great orator is beyond me
I also admit if I had lived in those times I would have been in love with Cicero - a very good looking bloke!
Secondly, I'm making a big effort to get some background the folly of Big Government so I'm about to start reading "The Road to Serfdom" by F.A Hayek
On my beloved Kindle, which is ideal for reading in bed without disturbing the Old Aussie Bloke, I've discovered a Scottish author who writes a pretty good cop investigating a murder story
Ed James is his name and Scott Cullen is the cop
"Bottleneck" "Dyed in the Wool" "Shot Through the Heart" "Devil in the Detail" "Fire in the Blood" are the Ed James books I've read so far
OT
And good on Daniel Ricciardo, Aussie FI driver who has just won his 3rd GP in six races!
Led from the start too...
It was lovely to hear the Aussie national anthem!
Thanks again, OregonMuse for this wonderful thread, and have a wonderful yesterday everyone!
Posted by: aussie at August 24, 2014 11:18 AM (EGwwB)
138
Life imitates "Clockwork Orange" . . .
"But enough of words. Actions speak louder than. Action now. Observe all."
"But enough of words. Actions speak louder than. Action now. Observe all."
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 11:19 AM (yRdR4)
139
Slate: Any professor who makes students buy his own book is probably an egomaniacal twit.
http://tinyurl.com/ldkegh5
Signed.
Had two profs do this. One was apologetic, but said his book was probably the best text on the subject. Might have been right, and I recall he made the book optional reading.
The other mendicant sold us photocopies of his book by chapter -- as he wrote them. Constantly running down to Kinkos each Friday to get new pages.
Slate: Any professor who makes students buy his own book is probably an egomaniacal twit.
http://tinyurl.com/ldkegh5
Signed.
Had two profs do this. One was apologetic, but said his book was probably the best text on the subject. Might have been right, and I recall he made the book optional reading.
The other mendicant sold us photocopies of his book by chapter -- as he wrote them. Constantly running down to Kinkos each Friday to get new pages.
Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at August 24, 2014 11:19 AM (kdS6q)
140
Hi aussie!
Secondly, I'm making a big effort to get some background the folly of Big Government so I'm about to start reading "The Road to Serfdom" by F.A Hayek
That is a must-read.
Secondly, I'm making a big effort to get some background the folly of Big Government so I'm about to start reading "The Road to Serfdom" by F.A Hayek
That is a must-read.
Posted by: Insomniac at August 24, 2014 11:20 AM (mx5oN)
141
Those Penguin Essentials covers are by turns garish, infantile, amateurish, and ugly, and you'll have no idea of the contents of the book by looking at the cover. they seem to be aiming at the very type of people who wouldn't want to read them in the first place. Look at "The Great Gatsby." It looks like a cheap comic in a hipster rag. What was wrong with that classic cover with the eyes hovering above the lights? wasn't that colorful enough?
Posted by: Joey Bagels at August 24, 2014 11:20 AM (Abk36)
142
thank you Tuna. when Tattered Cover opens in 35 minutes I'll head over there
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 11:21 AM (mQO+c)
143
[/Thomas's legal thought is superior. I'm told that so was Bork's. Reagan should have nominated them to the SCOTUS and hired Scalia as Attorney General.
Uh, Reagan actually did nominate Bork. But the nomination got, uh, "borked" (this is where that phrase was coined) by the Democrats.
Uh, Reagan actually did nominate Bork. But the nomination got, uh, "borked" (this is where that phrase was coined) by the Democrats.
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 11:21 AM (yRdR4)
144
134
I hope you bought something lovely at Coach.
I hope you bought something lovely at Coach.
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 11:21 AM (hpWy+)
145
Uh, Reagan actually did nominate Bork. But the nomination, got, uh, "borked" (this is where that phrase was coined).
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 11:21 AM (yRdR4)
yep
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 11:21 AM (yRdR4)
yep
Posted by: phoenixgirl at August 24, 2014 11:21 AM (u8GsB)
146
My wife has been working on a particular article for about a year, set to appear in some journal or other. Anyway, she needed photographs of some images from Getty. Took six months and two thousand dollars to get them, they had to be photographed in some secret squirrel way to get the clarity she wanted, but still, two grand for pictures of pictures!?!
Posted by: Lincolntf at August 24, 2014 11:22 AM (2cS/G)
147
Ted Kennedy was the Master of Bork-ing in more ways than one.
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 11:23 AM (g9g17)
148
Ted Kennedy was the Master of Bork-ing in more ways than one.
No, you're probably thinking of "porking", which apparently he did quite a bit of.
No, you're probably thinking of "porking", which apparently he did quite a bit of.
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 11:24 AM (yRdR4)
149
147 Ted Kennedy was the Master of Bork-ing in more ways than one.
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 11:23 AM (g9g17)
While wearing a Barney the Dinosaur suit, too...
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 11:23 AM (g9g17)
While wearing a Barney the Dinosaur suit, too...
Posted by: MikeH at August 24, 2014 11:25 AM (bRL1M)
150
No, you're probably thinking of "porking", which apparently he did quite a bit of.
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 11:24 AM
From what I've heard, the man could make a helluva sammitch, too.
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 11:24 AM
From what I've heard, the man could make a helluva sammitch, too.
Posted by: MrScribbler at August 24, 2014 11:26 AM (dDzOj)
151
Thomas's legal thought is superior. I'm told that so was Bork's. Reagan should have nominated them to the SCOTUS and hired Scalia as Attorney General.
Dude, Reagan did nominate Bork to SCOTUS.
Dude, Reagan did nominate Bork to SCOTUS.
Posted by: Insomniac at August 24, 2014 11:26 AM (mx5oN)
152
124, was it a BarnesNoble super store? I have three of them within 5 miles and all have a great sci-fi section with all the authors you mentioned--and a great assortment of literary classics. What you describe sounds like a Waldenbooks or B.Dalton in a mall in the 80's....
Posted by: Joey Bagels at August 24, 2014 11:26 AM (Abk36)
153
OregonMuse, I was referring to his attempts to lets say throw the election so Reagan would not win. You know when he tried to conspire with the Soviets. Much like his Daddy was in bed with anti-Semites and being a Nazi sympathizer.
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 11:26 AM (g9g17)
154
Where the hell did this Coach thing come from? I wound spending a fortune there with ... well someone.
Posted by: bestie21 at August 24, 2014 11:26 AM (qifmL)
155
I read the entire owner's manual for my new Mazda 5. It was very informative, but I wouldn't exactly call it a cliffhanger.
Posted by: rickl at August 24, 2014 11:26 AM (sdi6R)
156
139 Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at August 24, 2014 11:19 AM
-
I had a grad school professor for a World Poetry course include his own poetry in the syllabus to be studied. How do you honestly analyze poetry when the writer is grading you on your insights? It seriously put all of us into a difficult situation.
-
I had a grad school professor for a World Poetry course include his own poetry in the syllabus to be studied. How do you honestly analyze poetry when the writer is grading you on your insights? It seriously put all of us into a difficult situation.
Posted by: Mary at August 24, 2014 11:26 AM (nzmxZ)
157
I should have said, that Ronaldus Maximus Magnus nominate Bork instead of Scalia - as in, earlier, when the GOP had the Senate.
Sorry for the miscue...
Sorry for the miscue...
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 11:28 AM (mQO+c)
158
156, fuck it--at that point you just tell him what he wants to hear and get an A.
Posted by: Joey Bagels at August 24, 2014 11:28 AM (Abk36)
159
One thriller I read several years ago that was sort of in the middle ground between the older Cold War thrillers and the newer more traveloguey thrillers was-
"Kolymsky Heights" by Lionel Davidson
Just a great great thriller with a great hero from the first page.
It's on Kindle but even better, you can buy the hardback used for $.01
"Kolymsky Heights" by Lionel Davidson
Just a great great thriller with a great hero from the first page.
It's on Kindle but even better, you can buy the hardback used for $.01
Posted by: naturalfake at August 24, 2014 11:29 AM (KBvAm)
160
154
Girls and their purses. It deserves a thread of its own.
Girls and their purses. It deserves a thread of its own.
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 11:30 AM (hpWy+)
161
What you describe sounds like a Waldenbooks or B.Dalton in a mall in the 80's.... Posted by: Joey Bagels at August 24, 2014 11:26 AM
Not sure it's a "superstore" (why would anyone put a superstore in Danvers, MA?) but it was damn big.
My only frame of reference is the B 'n' N, Borders and B. Dalton stores I used to go to when I lived in CA. They had every-damn-thing in the way of books, and if they didn't, you could get it at one of the huge-O paperback sellers in L.A.
Yeah, those are mainly gone now, too.
Not sure it's a "superstore" (why would anyone put a superstore in Danvers, MA?) but it was damn big.
My only frame of reference is the B 'n' N, Borders and B. Dalton stores I used to go to when I lived in CA. They had every-damn-thing in the way of books, and if they didn't, you could get it at one of the huge-O paperback sellers in L.A.
Yeah, those are mainly gone now, too.
Posted by: MrScribbler at August 24, 2014 11:30 AM (dDzOj)
162
I saw Tattered Cover open for Tuna in '77 at the Gardens!
Posted by: andycanuck at August 24, 2014 11:31 AM (Usy9S)
163
I read the entire owner's manual for my new Mazda 5. It was very informative, but I wouldn't exactly call it a cliffhanger.
Posted by: rickl at August 24, 2014 11:26 AM
If any genre of "writing" is ripe for a revival of Reader's Digest Condensed Books, it's an automotive owner's manual.
Posted by: rickl at August 24, 2014 11:26 AM
If any genre of "writing" is ripe for a revival of Reader's Digest Condensed Books, it's an automotive owner's manual.
Posted by: MrScribbler at August 24, 2014 11:32 AM (dDzOj)
164
I hope you bought something lovely at Coach.
***
too much.
Shoes, laptop bag, and a rolling carry-on bag.
***
too much.
Shoes, laptop bag, and a rolling carry-on bag.
Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at August 24, 2014 11:33 AM (DmNpO)
165
NDH obviously bought the essentials then.
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 11:34 AM (g9g17)
166
Early Cussler is better than late Cussler. Unfortunately Clive keeps getting into pissing contests with movie companies over the butchery of the two novels that were filmed, and he keeps losing lawsuits. Therefore he writes all those other series to pay the lawyers.
At least he pretends to write some of his own stuff. At the end, Tom Clancy hadn't tried to make it look good in years.
At least he pretends to write some of his own stuff. At the end, Tom Clancy hadn't tried to make it look good in years.
Posted by: SGT Dan's Cat at August 24, 2014 11:34 AM (ITUSm)
167
Where the hell did this Coach thing come from? I wound spending a fortune there with ... well someone.
****
I will be tweeting my bounty once the shipments arrive.
****
I will be tweeting my bounty once the shipments arrive.
Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at August 24, 2014 11:34 AM (DmNpO)
168
140 Insomniac
Hi, and I was going to bed but hey, I had to keep reading this thread because it really is a favourite bit of this site...so many books, so little time...
I'm going to make a real effort to read "The Road to Serfdom"this week -I need this so I can argue my case more effectively when I'm talking to the Big Government types...
140 Insomniac
Hi, and I was going to bed but hey, I had to keep reading this thread because it really is a favourite bit of this site...so many books, so little time...
I'm going to make a real effort to read "The Road to Serfdom"this week -I need this so I can argue my case more effectively when I'm talking to the Big Government types...
Posted by: aussie at August 24, 2014 11:35 AM (EGwwB)
169
Almost forgot, wife is in the newspaper today. I haven't read the article yet, something about how to curate an exhibit.
Posted by: Lincolntf at August 24, 2014 11:37 AM (2cS/G)
170
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 10:52 AM (mQO+c)
Too bad you didn't make to Capitol Hill Books, right across from Eastern Market. The original owner, who tragically died in his sleep one right (heart failure) was a friend of mine. I used to hold down the fort for him on Saturday mornings when he went to estate sales and such to buy books.
It's a good used bookstore. I miss those Saturday mornings (and Bill).
Too bad you didn't make to Capitol Hill Books, right across from Eastern Market. The original owner, who tragically died in his sleep one right (heart failure) was a friend of mine. I used to hold down the fort for him on Saturday mornings when he went to estate sales and such to buy books.
It's a good used bookstore. I miss those Saturday mornings (and Bill).
Posted by: Donna and V. at August 24, 2014 11:37 AM (+XMAD)
171
Had two profs do this. One was apologetic, but said his book was probably the best text on the subject. Might have been right, and I recall he made the book optional reading.
See, as long as it's optional reading I'd let it slide.
Only had one prof who foisted his own stuff on us. It concerned Justinian I - I can't even remember what it was about beyond that. This was in context of "explication" : the art of reading and understanding scholarly articles.
In effect we were grading our own prof. Maybe he was looking for pointers so he could do better work later. I do remember that I'd effectively given his article a "B" and I think I ended up with an "A-minus" in the class. Well... at least he didn't hold grudges.
See, as long as it's optional reading I'd let it slide.
Only had one prof who foisted his own stuff on us. It concerned Justinian I - I can't even remember what it was about beyond that. This was in context of "explication" : the art of reading and understanding scholarly articles.
In effect we were grading our own prof. Maybe he was looking for pointers so he could do better work later. I do remember that I'd effectively given his article a "B" and I think I ended up with an "A-minus" in the class. Well... at least he didn't hold grudges.
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 11:37 AM (mQO+c)
172
Coach bags are so damned expensive, but they last forever. I've only owned one but I used it for years.
Posted by: Donna and V. at August 24, 2014 11:40 AM (+XMAD)
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 11:40 AM (mQO+c)
174
Cussler was my favorite Author during my late teen years.
Now, I won't pick up one of his new books.
Clancy?
One a deployment, someone handed me the ragged single copy of Red Storm Rising that we had on the ship.
Read it without sleep till I was finished with it.
His new stuff?
Same thing. Won't touch it.
Just Finished Daniel Silva's Fallen Angel.
Picking up "The Heist" to start later today.
Now, I won't pick up one of his new books.
Clancy?
One a deployment, someone handed me the ragged single copy of Red Storm Rising that we had on the ship.
Read it without sleep till I was finished with it.
His new stuff?
Same thing. Won't touch it.
Just Finished Daniel Silva's Fallen Angel.
Picking up "The Heist" to start later today.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 24, 2014 11:40 AM (02a7Q)
175
Concerning "Twilight of Abundance" let me add that one downside of the book is his pushing thorium-fueled reactors. As a nuclear engineer, the only advantage I can see is that there is 4X as much thorium as uranium in the Earth's crust. But there's PLENTY of uranium, it's more common than LEAD for gosh sakes. His insistence on thorium is not supported in the book with rational argument.
It's enough to make me skeptical of his whole exposition.
It's enough to make me skeptical of his whole exposition.
Posted by: Whitehall at August 24, 2014 11:41 AM (k876Y)
176
Here I sit, A Rebel Without A Cause Or Pants, but mostly a rebel without pants.
Thanks for the very fine book thread, OM.
Thanks for the very fine book thread, OM.
Posted by: GnuBreed at August 24, 2014 11:42 AM (cHZB7)
177
161-- It was the opposite in NJ .The Waldenbooks and B.Daltons were all in malls and they all sucked.
Posted by: Joey Bagels at August 24, 2014 11:42 AM (Abk36)
178
Nood, travel
Posted by: Y-not at August 24, 2014 11:42 AM (zDsvJ)
179
How do you honestly analyze poetry when the writer is grading you on your insights? It seriously put all of us into a difficult situation.
Posted by: Mary at August 24, 2014 11:26 AM (nzmxZ)
That's really unethical.
Posted by: Mary at August 24, 2014 11:26 AM (nzmxZ)
That's really unethical.
Posted by: Donna and V. at August 24, 2014 11:42 AM (+XMAD)
180
At least he pretends to write some of his own stuff. At the end, Tom Clancy hadn't tried to make it look good in years. Posted by: SGT Dan's Cat at August 24, 2014 11:34 AM
IMO, Clancy started getting lazy as writer in a big fat hurry. Certain bits of dialog and the Poppin' Fresh-style endings of his war books -- hey, nobody "wins" and everyone gets a prize when it's all over! -- set my teeth on edge. I used to have all his novels (none of the cheapie spinoff stuff he supposedly wrote with others), but now have none.
For me, Cussler was so bad that I couldn't even stomach his books as "airplane" reads (you know, what you pick up in airport bookstores to take your mind off the 11 hours L.A.-Frankfurt). Tried that once, and damn near ended up trying to open the door mid-ocean so I could get away from that awful book.
IMO, Clancy started getting lazy as writer in a big fat hurry. Certain bits of dialog and the Poppin' Fresh-style endings of his war books -- hey, nobody "wins" and everyone gets a prize when it's all over! -- set my teeth on edge. I used to have all his novels (none of the cheapie spinoff stuff he supposedly wrote with others), but now have none.
For me, Cussler was so bad that I couldn't even stomach his books as "airplane" reads (you know, what you pick up in airport bookstores to take your mind off the 11 hours L.A.-Frankfurt). Tried that once, and damn near ended up trying to open the door mid-ocean so I could get away from that awful book.
Posted by: MrScribbler at August 24, 2014 11:43 AM (dDzOj)
181
174--sometimes author's only have one good book in them. But they--and the publisher-- can make money off of the fumes of that one great book for several books afterward.....
Posted by: Joey Bagels at August 24, 2014 11:44 AM (Abk36)
182
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 10:52 AM (mQO+c)
-----
BTH, M Street in Georgetown (and environs) used to have all sorts of fun little indie book shops. They were usually of the Stick It To The Man, "We specialize in Lesbian and Chicana Studies"* types, but there were great places to get used books and the latest sciffy stuff I loved.
And of course there's this gem:
Politics and Prose - A DC staple, this Connecticut Avenue store and coffee shop is known for its events, bringing in big name speakers such as Michelle Obama and Rachel Maddow for signings, as well as more local events like poetry slams.
*NTTAWWT. Tatted lesbian Chicanas? Pics, please! ((Looks over shoulder for thumbs up from BCoch))
-----
BTH, M Street in Georgetown (and environs) used to have all sorts of fun little indie book shops. They were usually of the Stick It To The Man, "We specialize in Lesbian and Chicana Studies"* types, but there were great places to get used books and the latest sciffy stuff I loved.
And of course there's this gem:
Politics and Prose - A DC staple, this Connecticut Avenue store and coffee shop is known for its events, bringing in big name speakers such as Michelle Obama and Rachel Maddow for signings, as well as more local events like poetry slams.
*NTTAWWT. Tatted lesbian Chicanas? Pics, please! ((Looks over shoulder for thumbs up from BCoch))
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 24, 2014 11:44 AM (QBm1P)
183
Coach bags are so damned expensive, but they last forever. I've only owned one but I used it for years.
***
Which is why I buy them.
***
Which is why I buy them.
Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at August 24, 2014 11:45 AM (DmNpO)
184
"For me, Cussler was so bad that I couldn't even stomach his books as
"airplane" reads (you know, what you pick up in airport bookstores to
take your mind off the 11 hours L.A.-Frankfurt)."
To a single Sailor, there is no such thing a s an ugly girl at closing time.
To the weary DC-Korea passenger, there is no bad airport book.
YMMV
"airplane" reads (you know, what you pick up in airport bookstores to
take your mind off the 11 hours L.A.-Frankfurt)."
To a single Sailor, there is no such thing a s an ugly girl at closing time.
To the weary DC-Korea passenger, there is no bad airport book.
YMMV
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 24, 2014 11:47 AM (02a7Q)
185
Coach bags are so damned expensive, but they last forever. I've only owned one but I used it for years.
Hey now, ladies! This ain't the handbags and accessories thread.
Hey now, ladies! This ain't the handbags and accessories thread.
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 11:49 AM (yRdR4)
186
Eris: I was in the Georgetown area; think I wandered past Lantern, at least, but whatever it was, it was closed then. As in, closed all week - apparently they do no business in August, so they're only open Fri / Sat / Sun.
If you're reading the same article I read, I rolled my eyes at the time too. oooh, Michelle and Maddow! Do they sign body parts?
If you're reading the same article I read, I rolled my eyes at the time too. oooh, Michelle and Maddow! Do they sign body parts?
Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at August 24, 2014 11:50 AM (mQO+c)
187
Thank you for your kind words, GnuBreed.
And a "g'day" to aussie down there in Australia-land, if he's still around.
And a "g'day" to aussie down there in Australia-land, if he's still around.
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 11:51 AM (yRdR4)
188
164
Ahh. The smell of pricey leather goods. Intoxicating.
Ahh. The smell of pricey leather goods. Intoxicating.
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 11:52 AM (hpWy+)
189
14
A question for the horde. I'm not as voracious a reader as I used to be
and I buy them now almost exclusively for my tablet so hypocrite, are we
robbing the future morons of history by not buying actual books to pass
on/leave behind? It' my understanding that the sellers can delete or
edit your books on your device after you've bought them and if the
burning times come no electricity to charge your device. Just axing.
Posted by: weirdflunkyonatablet at August 24, 2014 09:54 AM (kECKp)
I lost internet during an ice storm down here for over a month.My kindle on computer stopped working.Apparently, if you don't connect to the internet for awhile,
you lose access to your books.
A question for the horde. I'm not as voracious a reader as I used to be
and I buy them now almost exclusively for my tablet so hypocrite, are we
robbing the future morons of history by not buying actual books to pass
on/leave behind? It' my understanding that the sellers can delete or
edit your books on your device after you've bought them and if the
burning times come no electricity to charge your device. Just axing.
Posted by: weirdflunkyonatablet at August 24, 2014 09:54 AM (kECKp)
I lost internet during an ice storm down here for over a month.My kindle on computer stopped working.Apparently, if you don't connect to the internet for awhile,
you lose access to your books.
Posted by: redclay at August 24, 2014 11:52 AM (GM8B7)
190
Those Penguin Essentials covers are by turns garish, infantile, amateurish, and ugly
So you enjoyed them, then?
So you enjoyed them, then?
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 11:53 AM (yRdR4)
191
(ack. tab confusion. unworthy reeeepost)
____________
Ah, Thread of Book
Peacefully great
With mood subdued
With pace sedate
Participate
Or lurkly look
Leisure learning
Thread of Book
_________
:/
____________
Ah, Thread of Book
Peacefully great
With mood subdued
With pace sedate
Participate
Or lurkly look
Leisure learning
Thread of Book
_________
:/
Posted by: mindful webworker - first edition at August 24, 2014 11:54 AM (fJtZ0)
192
I love Coach bags! If you get on their email list they will send you coupons for 20% off a few times a year.
I'm reading the third book in the Giver series, The Messenger. The very end of the second book will hint at how it ties in with the first.
I'm reading the third book in the Giver series, The Messenger. The very end of the second book will hint at how it ties in with the first.
Posted by: lindafell at August 24, 2014 11:54 AM (nKVlf)
193
sometimes author's only have one good book in them. But they--and the publisher-- can make money off of the fumes of that one great book for several books afterward.....
How many Hitchhiker's Guide iterations are there still, 10+ years after Douglas Adams croaked? It's making money for someone.
How many Hitchhiker's Guide iterations are there still, 10+ years after Douglas Adams croaked? It's making money for someone.
Posted by: --- at August 24, 2014 11:55 AM (MMC8r)
194
185
Sorry. Girls can get carried away when discussing handbags.
Sorry. Girls can get carried away when discussing handbags.
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 11:55 AM (hpWy+)
195
I lost internet during an ice storm down here for over a month.My kindle on computer stopped working.Apparently, if you don't connect to the internet for awhile,you lose access to your books.
That's kind of weird, being as how they're stored locally on your device.
That's kind of weird, being as how they're stored locally on your device.
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 11:56 AM (yRdR4)
196
@189 That's why I use a Kindle device, instead of the Cloud Reader app. Alternative: keep a local copy with the Calibre app and convert to another ebook format, if you choose.
Posted by: doug at August 24, 2014 11:57 AM (8Fj8U)
197
192
Hot damn! I didn't know that. Thanks for the heads up.
Hot damn! I didn't know that. Thanks for the heads up.
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 11:57 AM (hpWy+)
198
#191. Thank you for that poem, mww
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 11:58 AM (yRdR4)
199
So why ISN'T there a leathergoods thread?
Goth Rosary Scents has a perfume called Wicked that smells like "supple black leather and fresh tobacco". I should wear it in a used book store and it will hit all my favorite notes.
Goth Rosary Scents has a perfume called Wicked that smells like "supple black leather and fresh tobacco". I should wear it in a used book store and it will hit all my favorite notes.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 24, 2014 11:59 AM (QBm1P)
200
200!
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 12:00 PM (yRdR4)
201
189
That's not good. I wonder how long you have to be out of contact? I've never had a problem with my Kindle or Nook apps on my IPad when not connected to the net, but then I've never been away from it for more than a day or so.
That's not good. I wonder how long you have to be out of contact? I've never had a problem with my Kindle or Nook apps on my IPad when not connected to the net, but then I've never been away from it for more than a day or so.
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 12:01 PM (hpWy+)
202
Coach bags are so damned expensive, but they last forever. I've only owned one but I used it for years.
Posted by: Donna and V.
Look for them in consignment shops. Deals can be had if you are patient.
Posted by: Donna and V.
Look for them in consignment shops. Deals can be had if you are patient.
Posted by: Retread at August 24, 2014 12:01 PM (l7hog)
203
Oh, and just to keep this on topic: the Brits burned the Library of Congress OTD in 1814.
Posted by: Retread at August 24, 2014 12:03 PM (l7hog)
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"(you know, what you pick up in airport bookstores to take your mind off the 11 hours L.A.-Frankfurt)"
Oh lord, I've been on that flight. When minutes turn into hours...
Mr. Scribbler, if you are ever in Lexington, KY, they have whole mess of used book stores. I was amazed at how much oldy sci-fi books I saw.
Hell, even including some of the old Ace Doubles.
Oh lord, I've been on that flight. When minutes turn into hours...
Mr. Scribbler, if you are ever in Lexington, KY, they have whole mess of used book stores. I was amazed at how much oldy sci-fi books I saw.
Hell, even including some of the old Ace Doubles.
Posted by: HH at August 24, 2014 12:04 PM (XXwdv)
205
Tuna,
I've been carrying a Coach bag for 20+ years but I only buy one about every 2 years. I don't think I've ever paid full retail price for one, I'm cheap that way. My current one carries my iPad so I can read anywhere.
I've been carrying a Coach bag for 20+ years but I only buy one about every 2 years. I don't think I've ever paid full retail price for one, I'm cheap that way.
My current one carries my iPad so I can read anywhere.Posted by: lindafell at August 24, 2014 12:05 PM (nKVlf)
206
For the investigating murder under difficult political circumstances it's hard to beat Polar Star by Martin Cruz Smith. It's the return of Arkady Renko eight years after the end of Gorky Park. At beginning if the book he is on the slime line of a Russian factory ship in the Beiring Sea.
Posted by: tmitsss at August 24, 2014 12:09 PM (Tt6V6)
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 12:09 PM (yRdR4)
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187
And a "g'day" to aussie down there in Australia-land, if he's still around.
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 11:51 AM (yRdR4)
Psst: aussie's an 'ette.
And a "g'day" to aussie down there in Australia-land, if he's still around.
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 11:51 AM (yRdR4)
Psst: aussie's an 'ette.
Posted by: rickl at August 24, 2014 12:09 PM (sdi6R)
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207
So, so sorry. But at least we acknowledge we buy big enough so we can carry a book or tablet.
So, so sorry. But at least we acknowledge we buy big enough so we can carry a book or tablet.
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 12:11 PM (hpWy+)
210
I have the first 4 Longmire books and like all of them (even though I don't normally read mysteries). Like the tv show too but it's a bit different from the books.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at August 24, 2014 12:11 PM (Lqy/e)
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 12:12 PM (yRdR4)
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Psst: aussie's an 'ette.
Oh. Thank you, I did not know that (obviously).
You have to check down under.
Oh. Thank you, I did not know that (obviously).
You have to check down under.
Posted by: --- at August 24, 2014 12:16 PM (MMC8r)
213
What happened to the Kindle download rates? It used to take a few seconds from pushing the "buy" button until the whole book is on my Kindle.
Now it can take HOURS.
Anyone else notice a change? I'm usually using the Amazon store credit card now.
Now it can take HOURS.
Anyone else notice a change? I'm usually using the Amazon store credit card now.
Posted by: Whitehall at August 24, 2014 12:17 PM (k876Y)
214
If it helps, Coach does sell agendas and notebooks.
Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at August 24, 2014 12:17 PM (DmNpO)
215
If it helps, Coach does sell agendas and notebooks.
No! It doesn't help at all! You women have ruined my book thread with all your handbag chatter!
No! It doesn't help at all! You women have ruined my book thread with all your handbag chatter!
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 12:20 PM (yRdR4)
216
*ponders*
Emma sighs and settles herself into her favourite chair at the book shoppe. Something about the light filtering in from the high set windows catching the little flakes that old books seem to shed in abundance. She takes a deep breath and can imagine the works of Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Spencer coming into her; suffusing her with their magic words.
She smiles as she also catches the scents of many well seasoned books on the shelves that surround her, the leather of the chair tickles her nose, even her own perfume all intermingle with her imaginings to excite her. She carefully removes from her over-sized Coach bag her latest purchase, a book in green brocade with gold gilt lettering. It is Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter.
Emma sighs and settles herself into her favourite chair at the book shoppe. Something about the light filtering in from the high set windows catching the little flakes that old books seem to shed in abundance. She takes a deep breath and can imagine the works of Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Spencer coming into her; suffusing her with their magic words.
She smiles as she also catches the scents of many well seasoned books on the shelves that surround her, the leather of the chair tickles her nose, even her own perfume all intermingle with her imaginings to excite her. She carefully removes from her over-sized Coach bag her latest purchase, a book in green brocade with gold gilt lettering. It is Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter.
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 12:20 PM (g9g17)
217
213 What happened to the Kindle download rates? It used to take a few seconds from pushing the "buy" button until the whole book is on my Kindle.
Now it can take HOURS.
Seriously? I hadn't noticed anything like that lately, and I've purchased a number of Kindle books. Perhaps your internet connection is wonky? or maybe you're catching the Amazon servers at a busy time? I have no idea what could be causing the slowdown.
Now it can take HOURS.
Seriously? I hadn't noticed anything like that lately, and I've purchased a number of Kindle books. Perhaps your internet connection is wonky? or maybe you're catching the Amazon servers at a busy time? I have no idea what could be causing the slowdown.
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 12:23 PM (yRdR4)
218
That's damn fine writing, Anna.
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 12:24 PM (yRdR4)
219
92
So, rbrewer likes the new Dr. Who. One complaint I heard was that there was too much lesbian bestiality.
The things that bothered me were A) the story was essentially a remake of an earlier Tennant episode (are they so out of ideas that they have to start remaking old episodes?) and B) it's only the first episode of the new Doctor, but he's already gone all Silence of the Lambs on us; what horrors do the future hold?
As for reading, I finished that History of Prussia book by John S. C. Abbott. Most of the book covers the war of 1870 (which was going on when the author wrote it) and that coverage is almost exclusively about France. The primary point of the book seems to have been to scold the American public for supporting Germany during the war. A better title would have been "A Haranguing of the American Public for Supporting Germany in the War of 1870 (with a Brief Overview of Prussian History)".
So, rbrewer likes the new Dr. Who. One complaint I heard was that there was too much lesbian bestiality.
The things that bothered me were A) the story was essentially a remake of an earlier Tennant episode (are they so out of ideas that they have to start remaking old episodes?) and B) it's only the first episode of the new Doctor, but he's already gone all Silence of the Lambs on us; what horrors do the future hold?
As for reading, I finished that History of Prussia book by John S. C. Abbott. Most of the book covers the war of 1870 (which was going on when the author wrote it) and that coverage is almost exclusively about France. The primary point of the book seems to have been to scold the American public for supporting Germany during the war. A better title would have been "A Haranguing of the American Public for Supporting Germany in the War of 1870 (with a Brief Overview of Prussian History)".
Posted by: Anachronda at August 24, 2014 12:26 PM (o78gS)
220
See, handbags are relevant to books.
Posted by: lindafell at August 24, 2014 12:27 PM (nKVlf)
221
The reference to literature that used to be included in public school curricula reminds me of a grade school reading enrichment program I had to use as a reading tutor for second and third graders. Nearly all the books we used were terrible. One I remember in particular was so devoid of linguistic beauty that I started avoiding it. The author had absolutely no feel for the rhythm or melody of the English language, and no concept of color. The prose was boring and awkward.
I'm no writer; in my whole life, I have only produced two or three things worth reading. But I recognize good writing when I see it, and these books were flat and lifeless.
I'm no writer; in my whole life, I have only produced two or three things worth reading. But I recognize good writing when I see it, and these books were flat and lifeless.
Posted by: Mindy at August 24, 2014 12:27 PM (q9Ivx)
222
Thanks for covering us Anna!
Posted by: lindafell at August 24, 2014 12:28 PM (nKVlf)
223
Morons in central Massachusetts probably already know about the Book Bear Bookshop in West Brookfield. Excellent store for used books. I try to arrange a stop there every time I have to drive across the state.
Posted by: Trimegistus at August 24, 2014 12:29 PM (YQQm8)
224
I am juggling two books at present - both as research for the next book: a biography of Charles Goodnight by J. Evetts Haley, and a compendium called "Tales of Bad Men, Bad Women, and Bad Places - 4 Centuries of Texas Outlawry" by C.F. Eckhardt. The second is much more amusing, though. I got that it for the chapter on Judge Roy Bean, who had considerable of a life before being Judge Roy Bean. He spent a good few years in California and in the New Mexico Territory, apparently. He was the first escapee from the first-ever jail in San Diego, apparently, tangled with the bandit Vasquez, left various towns under considerable of a cloud and with other people's wives and property. (And the movie - Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean DOES NOT EVEN COME CLOSE! Both of these historical characters will feature in the next book but one, of course.)
Posted by: Sgt. Mom at August 24, 2014 12:29 PM (Asjr7)
225
Trying to post my notes. Stupid 500 error.
Posted by: RoyalOil at August 24, 2014 12:30 PM (VjL9S)
226
Books for this week are Independence Days and Food Security for the Faint of Heart. I've had both on my Wish List for awhile and decided it was time to order them.
Independence Days was influenced by Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living. Carla's book was the Bible of the back to the land movement in the 70s. She published it herself and the early editions were memographed on whatever colored paper she could by cheaply. She went around to local fairs and sold the book herself. Some folks dislike the chattiness, but it truly does cover just about everything you could need to know about growing food and raising livestock.
Independence Days was influenced by Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living. Carla's book was the Bible of the back to the land movement in the 70s. She published it herself and the early editions were memographed on whatever colored paper she could by cheaply. She went around to local fairs and sold the book herself. Some folks dislike the chattiness, but it truly does cover just about everything you could need to know about growing food and raising livestock.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at August 24, 2014 12:32 PM (Lqy/e)
227
Thanks OregonMuse, not too shabby for a few minutes work. Though just after I hit post, I realised I should have written about 'the scent of the leather chair.' But hey.
You are welcome lindafell. There is simply magic in old books. And bookstores filled with old books, so many adventures and so many worlds to visit.
You are welcome lindafell. There is simply magic in old books. And bookstores filled with old books, so many adventures and so many worlds to visit.
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 12:32 PM (g9g17)
228
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 12:20 PM (g9g17)
------------
Talk about literary erotica! Nice! You even included some Dunsany.
I'll be in my bunk.
------------
Talk about literary erotica! Nice! You even included some Dunsany.
I'll be in my bunk.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 24, 2014 12:34 PM (QBm1P)
229
I want to check out "Conservative Insurgency", it sounds like an interesting concept of an oral history from the perspective of someone in 2041.
I personally think the conservative movement does need to change gears and become more of a "less government" movement and drop a lot of the SoCon stuff like abortion and gays. I think at one time the Culture Wars really benefited the Right, but now it could take down the conservative movement.
I'm not hostile to the concept of social conservatism, I consider myself to be very much of a traditionalist, but A) social conservatism is largely meaningless in the context of what govenment can really achieve and B) it's turning off voters and locking out other parts of conservatism that can be appealing.
I don't think our sense of morals and right and wrong is derived from politicians. And I don't think Obama's vision of statism appeals to a broad swath of voters, I think it's largely the Democrat's "amoral" philosophy on hot button social issues that keeps delivering the votes and money.
I personally think the conservative movement does need to change gears and become more of a "less government" movement and drop a lot of the SoCon stuff like abortion and gays. I think at one time the Culture Wars really benefited the Right, but now it could take down the conservative movement.
I'm not hostile to the concept of social conservatism, I consider myself to be very much of a traditionalist, but A) social conservatism is largely meaningless in the context of what govenment can really achieve and B) it's turning off voters and locking out other parts of conservatism that can be appealing.
I don't think our sense of morals and right and wrong is derived from politicians. And I don't think Obama's vision of statism appeals to a broad swath of voters, I think it's largely the Democrat's "amoral" philosophy on hot button social issues that keeps delivering the votes and money.
Posted by: Uniden at August 24, 2014 12:36 PM (13G+x)
230
Most recent book I finished is a collection of Brian Lumley's "Titus Crow" stories, about an occult investigator. He name-checks a lot of Lovecraft's pseudo-lore, but the stories are really more like Dennis Wheatley's Black Magic series, or the John Thunstone stories by Manly Wade Wellman.
Posted by: Trimegistus at August 24, 2014 12:39 PM (YQQm8)
231
Just finished with Darkship Renegades by Sarah A. Hoyt, the sequel to her award winning Darkship Thieves. It's even better than the first book.
I felt she has become more more adept, in particular, at incorporating big ideas and messages into the story without disrupting it. I anticipate a similar "level up" with A Few Good Men and I am very much looking forward to reading it
I felt she has become more more adept, in particular, at incorporating big ideas and messages into the story without disrupting it. I anticipate a similar "level up" with A Few Good Men and I am very much looking forward to reading it
Posted by: BornLib at August 24, 2014 12:40 PM (zpNwC)
232
Well, I give up. Not even posting my notes from Conservative Insurgency from Notepad can save me from the 500 error.
Posted by: RoyalOil at August 24, 2014 12:42 PM (VjL9S)
233
And now that I have warmed up my literary muscles, back to the writing. Won't have a best seller if I never finish it.
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 24, 2014 12:43 PM (g9g17)
234
220
Let's see if I can find another connection. I think the new head of Coach used to be with Mulberry in Britain and the British have a fine literary tradition so therefore it's ok to talk about Coach handbags on the book thread. Ta da! Girl logic.
Let's see if I can find another connection. I think the new head of Coach used to be with Mulberry in Britain and the British have a fine literary tradition so therefore it's ok to talk about Coach handbags on the book thread. Ta da! Girl logic.
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 12:44 PM (hpWy+)
235
I'd also like to recommend Weir's _The Martian_ again. If that doesn't win next year's Hugo then the award should simply be shut down.
Posted by: Trimegistus at August 24, 2014 12:44 PM (YQQm8)
236
Not necessarily a good book, but I'm studying for the CFA and it's pretty engaging.
Posted by: DcWulf at August 24, 2014 12:46 PM (j3Ob+)
237
For light reading I like detective, cop procedurals and thrillers once in a while. It seems to me a lot of them are getting infected with the same virus that hit SF. Lots of heroic female protagonists, OK in itself but don't need to be a majority, lots of nice gay dudes inserted in the story "just because", the male main characters are all ex-Navy Seals, pages of descriptions of clothing even throwaway characters wear along with the brand names, minute descriptions of every morsel they eat, just a lot of padding in general, product placement disguised as part of the story.
Posted by: JHW at August 24, 2014 12:48 PM (5G4F7)
238
Posted by: Trimegistus at August 24, 2014 12:44 PM (YQQm
Not to mention one of the greatest opening sentences I've ever come across, outside of "The Haunting of Hill House".
But maybe that's just me.
Not to mention one of the greatest opening sentences I've ever come across, outside of "The Haunting of Hill House".
But maybe that's just me.
Posted by: HH at August 24, 2014 12:49 PM (XXwdv)
239
As I posted in another thread, "The Martian" is in pre-production and is set to star....Ma-a-a-at Da-a-a-amon!
As long as he keeps his trap shut and doesn't spoil it for me with his political blather while promoting the movie, I'll be okay. He's not a bad actor. Not who I was visualizing, but whatever.
As long as he keeps his trap shut and doesn't spoil it for me with his political blather while promoting the movie, I'll be okay. He's not a bad actor. Not who I was visualizing, but whatever.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 24, 2014 12:50 PM (QBm1P)
240
235
Loved that one. Read it before it was picked up by a publisher. Happy to see a self published author achieve such success.
Loved that one. Read it before it was picked up by a publisher. Happy to see a self published author achieve such success.
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 12:50 PM (hpWy+)
241
Well, I give up. Not even posting my notes from Conservative Insurgency from Notepad can save me from the 500 error.
Can you break your notes up into smaller chunks and post them in several comments?
Can you break your notes up into smaller chunks and post them in several comments?
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 12:51 PM (yRdR4)
242
239
Nooooo! Matt Damon. Oh , damn.
Nooooo! Matt Damon. Oh , damn.
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 12:51 PM (hpWy+)
243
Late to the party this week, sorry... trying to stave off a headache so I can go to a friend's funeral. 
Not been a great week for reading, but I started on A Visit to Vanity Fair by Alan Jacobs. Well written, but I'm not sure I'll finish reading the whole thing. Also read a few chapters out of In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet's Portable Workshop by Steve Kowit, but the class for which I was using that as a textbook has been cancelled, so it's going on the back burner for a while.
Also received Tolkien's Beowulf. Think maybe that and The Fall of Arthur, which I got for Christmas, should be bumped up the reading list....
Rec request: Does anyone know of good books about the Shawnee, especially the Absentee Shawnee who lived in Texas until Lamar paid them to leave?
Not been a great week for reading, but I started on A Visit to Vanity Fair by Alan Jacobs. Well written, but I'm not sure I'll finish reading the whole thing. Also read a few chapters out of In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet's Portable Workshop by Steve Kowit, but the class for which I was using that as a textbook has been cancelled, so it's going on the back burner for a while.
Also received Tolkien's Beowulf. Think maybe that and The Fall of Arthur, which I got for Christmas, should be bumped up the reading list....
Rec request: Does anyone know of good books about the Shawnee, especially the Absentee Shawnee who lived in Texas until Lamar paid them to leave?
Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 24, 2014 12:55 PM (dpszv)
244
I personally think the conservative movement does need to change gears and become more of a "less government" movement and drop a lot of the SoCon stuff like abortion and gays.
Please understand that a lot of the socon stuff is because of the progressive social engineers and their war on normal life they've been actively engaged in for decades.
In other words, they started it.
Be back later, off to church.
Please understand that a lot of the socon stuff is because of the progressive social engineers and their war on normal life they've been actively engaged in for decades.
In other words, they started it.
Be back later, off to church.
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 12:55 PM (yRdR4)
245
239
I was visualizing someone a bit younger with a sense of humor about him. Someone like the guy in "Guardians of the Galaxy" .
I was visualizing someone a bit younger with a sense of humor about him. Someone like the guy in "Guardians of the Galaxy" .
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 12:57 PM (hpWy+)
246
241 Well, I give up. Not even posting my notes from Conservative Insurgency from Notepad can save me from the 500 error.
Can you break your notes up into smaller chunks and post them in several comments?
===
I'll try that.
If it works, multiple posts incoming-- it's six pages.
Can you break your notes up into smaller chunks and post them in several comments?
===
I'll try that.
If it works, multiple posts incoming-- it's six pages.
Posted by: RoyalOil at August 24, 2014 01:02 PM (VjL9S)
247
@231 RoyalOil -- FWIW, I found that the accidental inclusion of a unicode character makes pixy barf. Unfortunately, pixy does not produce a useful message as to which character it doesn't like.
Instructions on how to strip out the offending characters depend on which OS you use. I googled for help and found a command line incantation that worked for me and my OS. Some editors will also help with removing unicode.
If pixy were coded to be a bit more helpful...
Instructions on how to strip out the offending characters depend on which OS you use. I googled for help and found a command line incantation that worked for me and my OS. Some editors will also help with removing unicode.
If pixy were coded to be a bit more helpful...
Posted by: doug at August 24, 2014 01:04 PM (8Fj8U)
248
Nope. Won't work.
Posted by: RoyalOil at August 24, 2014 01:05 PM (VjL9S)
249
And Anna Puma's pleasant diversion upthread made me dig out my old copy of Lord Dunsany's "Tales of Three Hemispheres", with an intro by the man himself, H.P. Lovecraft, and illustrated by Tim Kirk.
H.P. brings it: "We now know what a futile, aimless and disconnected welter of mirages and hypocrisies life is; and from the first shock of that knowledge has sprung the bizarre, tasteless, defiant and chaotic literature of that terrible newer generation which so shocks our grandmothers -- the aesthetic generation of T.S. Eliot, D.H. Lawrence, James Joyce, Ben Hecht, Aldous Huxley, James Branch Cabell, and all the rest. These writers, knowing that life has no real pattern, either rave, or mock, or join in the cosmic chaos by exploiting a frank and conscious unintelligibility and confusion of values..."
Those damn punks! Get off my lawn! H.P. must have been a gas at cocktail parties.
Anyway, Dunsany has some old-fashioned, luxuriant prose. It's like taking a lazy boat ride up the Nile -- to your inevitable painful death, of course.
"From steaming lowlands down by the equator, where monstrous orchids blow, where beetles big as mice sit on the tent-ropes, and fireflies glide about by night like little moving stars, the travelers went three days through forests of cactus till they came to the open plains where the oryx are."
((from The Last Dream of Bwona Khubla))
H.P. brings it: "We now know what a futile, aimless and disconnected welter of mirages and hypocrisies life is; and from the first shock of that knowledge has sprung the bizarre, tasteless, defiant and chaotic literature of that terrible newer generation which so shocks our grandmothers -- the aesthetic generation of T.S. Eliot, D.H. Lawrence, James Joyce, Ben Hecht, Aldous Huxley, James Branch Cabell, and all the rest. These writers, knowing that life has no real pattern, either rave, or mock, or join in the cosmic chaos by exploiting a frank and conscious unintelligibility and confusion of values..."
Those damn punks! Get off my lawn! H.P. must have been a gas at cocktail parties.
Anyway, Dunsany has some old-fashioned, luxuriant prose. It's like taking a lazy boat ride up the Nile -- to your inevitable painful death, of course.
"From steaming lowlands down by the equator, where monstrous orchids blow, where beetles big as mice sit on the tent-ropes, and fireflies glide about by night like little moving stars, the travelers went three days through forests of cactus till they came to the open plains where the oryx are."
((from The Last Dream of Bwona Khubla))
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 24, 2014 01:06 PM (QBm1P)
250
Picked up the 2nd in the Monster Hunter series. Now I remember why I had to take a break after the first book. Those guys get beat up a lot. My own muscles start to ache after a couple of chapters. The books are great fun though. 2/3s through in one sitting. Hard to put down.
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 01:07 PM (hpWy+)
251
@247 Sorry, should have said 231, not 231
I broke up my post into tiny sections without improvement. I still don't know WHICH character pixy hated, but filtering out all unicode did the trick.
I broke up my post into tiny sections without improvement. I still don't know WHICH character pixy hated, but filtering out all unicode did the trick.
Posted by: doug at August 24, 2014 01:08 PM (8Fj8U)
252
245 239
I was visualizing someone a bit younger with a sense of humor about him. Someone like the guy in "Guardians of the Galaxy" .
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 12:57 PM (hpWy+)
----
Exactly. Hey, maybe they can get Chris Pratt if Matt should suffer from an ... unfortunate freak accident.
I was visualizing someone a bit younger with a sense of humor about him. Someone like the guy in "Guardians of the Galaxy" .
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 12:57 PM (hpWy+)
----
Exactly. Hey, maybe they can get Chris Pratt if Matt should suffer from an ... unfortunate freak accident.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 24, 2014 01:09 PM (QBm1P)
253
Ok, so Kurt Schlichter's "Conservative Insurgency."
So, here's my, mostly unfiltered, thoughts as I read the book, page number first to indicate where I'm at; "A" means it a thought he's expressing I agree with:
8. So, the communists seize complete control after the second Hillary Presidency--and less than 20 years later are totally swept aside?
14 The libertarians are going to save the republic? With the same half-assed rhetoric and compromises they've been proposing for the last 30 years? That, before, had always seen them either voting for the Dem or swinging the election in a pique to the Dems? E.g, let's just give up on social issues.
15. Describing the dismantling of welfare and Obaamacare: So far, nothing he describes shows how they rebutted the evergreen leftist good intentions trumping failure after failure, rewarded over and over with more power.
17. Libertarians, again, saving the day from gays to abortion to drugs to sexism and racism. Sure.
18. He misses that it is not the issues per se that drive the divisiveness and the leftists employment of them but, rather it is a means to power. Power will adapt, abandon, reacquire and discard the same issue according to its usefulness not due to principle.
But, he's right about the coalitions' inflexibility as a pressure point to cleave.
The reason these weak points are un-used and under-exploited is that too many of their core demands are fundamentally illiberal, and to placate or entice them on any of such will fatally undermine the notions of liberty, freedom and self-determination.
29. A. The problem is the media the air force and artillery of the left.
30. A. Culture is the problem, a culture hostile to liberty, freedom and self-reliance/determination.
So, here's my, mostly unfiltered, thoughts as I read the book, page number first to indicate where I'm at; "A" means it a thought he's expressing I agree with:
8. So, the communists seize complete control after the second Hillary Presidency--and less than 20 years later are totally swept aside?
14 The libertarians are going to save the republic? With the same half-assed rhetoric and compromises they've been proposing for the last 30 years? That, before, had always seen them either voting for the Dem or swinging the election in a pique to the Dems? E.g, let's just give up on social issues.
15. Describing the dismantling of welfare and Obaamacare: So far, nothing he describes shows how they rebutted the evergreen leftist good intentions trumping failure after failure, rewarded over and over with more power.
17. Libertarians, again, saving the day from gays to abortion to drugs to sexism and racism. Sure.
18. He misses that it is not the issues per se that drive the divisiveness and the leftists employment of them but, rather it is a means to power. Power will adapt, abandon, reacquire and discard the same issue according to its usefulness not due to principle.
But, he's right about the coalitions' inflexibility as a pressure point to cleave.
The reason these weak points are un-used and under-exploited is that too many of their core demands are fundamentally illiberal, and to placate or entice them on any of such will fatally undermine the notions of liberty, freedom and self-determination.
29. A. The problem is the media the air force and artillery of the left.
30. A. Culture is the problem, a culture hostile to liberty, freedom and self-reliance/determination.
Posted by: RoyalOil at August 24, 2014 01:12 PM (VjL9S)
254
32 Have to coordinate an infiltration (of leftist institutions) without concentrating and drawing fire? (Talking about how insurgents can counter the over-whelming firepower of the ruling.)
33-34. A. Need to free the conservative voices in the new media support them but don't direct them or try to order them.
Let the free market of ideas sort out what will win and catch fire.
Let a thousand matches burn down the leftist media.
38. A. Need to start explaining what we are seeing from the Dems: If you are not very rich or very poor, there is nothing the leftists have to offer you.
39. The tipping-point, so fare, for all these soft-liberals turned conservatives leading the movement is "I'm working and everyone else is sitting." Not sure if that's enough.
41-42. I the charge of hypocrisy really potent enough to convert? But, agree, where it does work, it would bring in the most committed converts.
47-48 A. "Why do you believe that is true?" Principles attract voters, not policies.
50. But, we've been promised for how long that LIV anger at Obaaamacare will be THE event that turns them against the Dems?
55. A. Defeating the GOPe attempts at reform or improvement of ANY government program is the key to killing the notion of government competence that is essential to leftist politics.
We must force them to fail.
57. A. If you want to enter politics, what/who do you turn to for training? We have nothing right now.
58. A. Use small wedge issues you can win to define your opponant.
Choice should include the right to choose how to defend yourself.
Choice should include the right to choose how to spend your money.
How come there has never been an ad showing someone finding out how much of their paycheck goes to taxes and how much their total tax bill is?
60. A. When we start seeing candidates who talk about NEVER compromising with leftists under any circumstances, then we'll have our insurgents.
"What issue do you think you can reach a compromise on?" asked to ALL GOP.
67. A. You have to EARN the support of voters, not expect them to be driven to you by the failures of the Dems.
71. Really, really needs to spend more time thinking through the negative secondary effects of gay marriage. It is not just another issue; win/lose, then move on.
72. Legalizing pot will win the youth vote to conservatives show your work.
73-74. I don't see any evidence that "liberty-loving" libertarians are anything but a tiny minority in the Libertarian Party.
I think he glosses over that it was the black vote that passed Prop 8 in CA; the same black vote he imagines breaking with the Dems to support the new "pro-gay marriage, pro-pot, and sentencing reform" movement. One you'd win them on, two you'd lose them on.
79. A. Hates Rubio but doesn't name him by name.
80-82. Doesn't see a way out of the double-hinge trap of amnesty.
Thinks either way, it will lock Hispanics into the leftists politics.
Doesn't realize that amnesty is only an issue to a small minority of Hispanics many are opposed.
The same forces that would pull traditional Dem voters to conservatives will also pull Hispanics entrepreneur support and pro-family policies.
85. A. The "face" of the speaker is as important as the message some ethnic groups will only listen to your message if you "look" like them.
89. A. When people don't need big government, they don't need leftists/liberals.
The movement must be built on restoring the belief that all power resides with the people.
--
There is a dark movement of leftists right now who are working to cast ANY political theory and thought prior to 2008 as racist.
93. A. There must be a way for everyone to get involved and make a difference.
96-97. A. Just admit it, Larry Craig you're a homo. Heh.
96-97. A. People need to have a way to personally rebut leftist memes; a way to say, "I'm a conservative and what you're saying is bullshit."
99. Really, really hates Todd Akin, Christine O'Donnell and Sharron Angle.
102. A. Leftists WILL, sooner or later, force all religions to bow before them.
104. Entirely too optimistic about human nature. It is human nature that leads to leftism, not leftist dominance of any various and sundry institutions.
We are fighting human nature, and human nature only changes in response to pain, rarely due to reason.
105. A. Why didn't those groups harassed by the IRS follow the ACORN model and change their names?
104-10. A. Work from three main directions, all united by ideology: 1) Decentralized, 2) Individual effort, 3) Allies.
106. Liberals, many way too many really still believe.
109. If "TEA Party" is forever stained as a curse, by the same degree if not more is "Republican."
I don't think taking over the GOP is the way.
The same people envisioned as taking over the GOP are the same to man a new party. A political "party" is nothing but people.
109. A. Now, the stain of "Republican" is more anti-minority than due to "conservative." Which is a cruel joke considering the foundations of the party. If the GOP is to be rehabilitated, it can only be by a massive turnover from the current white "face."
129. A. 1000% agree. It is time to file civil rights discrimination lawsuits against liberals/leftists.
144. Big business rent-seeking big business is the enemy, yes. Walmart is, or could be, an ally. Don't fall for the leftists lies poor wages and a lot of their other claims are lies.
But: I agree "hanging a general every now and then is good for moral." And conservatives would make huge gains by "hanging" a rent-seeking, big business.
162. Funny joke: "conservatives in California fighting." They roll over for everything.
163. He under-estimates just how deeply the GOPe extends downward into his envisioned fertile fields (the local level) for growing the farm team of new conservatives.
But, agree: Measures at the local level supporting churches, traditional families, etc. would be HUGE. And are entirely legal.
169. A. Dare to say that "Work or starve." You'd have my vote forever.
174-75. A. The big money has to stop flowing to the big failures.
Stop paying the same big names to say the same thing all to get the same results.
Need real people to communicate real conservative thought to "real people who vote," not just communicate to DC insiders and political junkies on the same damned TV shows and same damned editorial pages.
176. A. Agree a million times over. The "conservative" perspective/position isn't political it is common sense!
Why not "Eight Common Sense Solutions to Poverty" etc. in a woman's magazine or similar "non-political" type publication?
183. A. "Chet, the Fairness Guy." LOL
186. I don't see any evidence or suggestion that conservatives will ever go in large numbers into journalism or entertainment.
193. A. Too many conservative opinion bloggers/writers, not enough conservative reporters. Stop talking about the news and start making the news.
201. A. EVERY criminal law MUST require a criminal intent. Too damned many laws are "criminal per se."
201-02. A. Need grand jury, plea bargain and prosecution reform.
211. A. Not everyone should go to college. It is no longer "higher" education, it is just "longer" education.
211. A. Agree, agree, agree. You don't need more schooling, you need to get your ass to work.
212. A. Education in America today: They (teachers) pretend to teach, the students pretend to learn.
214. A. Student loan rate tied to the "usefulness" of the degree. Sounds good, although I can see too many ways they'd still game that system.
216. A. Eliminate tenure in education. Your job security should be your talents and skills, not your tenacity and stubbornness. Bring back accountability.
228. If a leftist President would have gone as fare as his Hillary had, there is no way she would honor the 22nd or any other Amendment, e.g. the 2nd.
I don't think he has fully grasped that what the leftists are doing today, in 2014, and have done and are talking about doing, is because they mean to NEVER, ever be out of power again. And that includes massive use of violence.
237. A. The system we have now works because everyone agrees that it is legitimate and chooses to cooperate.
244. I see little evidence there are any principled "liberals" left, all that remains in the Democrat Party is a hunger for raw, unrestricted power.
255. A. Art should teach people how to be human, adult, citizen, etc. positive virtues. (Art includes entertainment.)
Random thoughts while reading: Could you convince someone who is on welfare, and still "needs" it, to quit, to try and make it on their own? That's the massive mindset were facing. How about convincing someone who is on Social Security to do without? Farm subsidies? Etc., etc.
A big chunk of those who call themselves conservatives or Republican voters are perfectly comfortable with big government. Smoking bans, blue laws, prohibition, etc.
33-34. A. Need to free the conservative voices in the new media support them but don't direct them or try to order them.
Let the free market of ideas sort out what will win and catch fire.
Let a thousand matches burn down the leftist media.
38. A. Need to start explaining what we are seeing from the Dems: If you are not very rich or very poor, there is nothing the leftists have to offer you.
39. The tipping-point, so fare, for all these soft-liberals turned conservatives leading the movement is "I'm working and everyone else is sitting." Not sure if that's enough.
41-42. I the charge of hypocrisy really potent enough to convert? But, agree, where it does work, it would bring in the most committed converts.
47-48 A. "Why do you believe that is true?" Principles attract voters, not policies.
50. But, we've been promised for how long that LIV anger at Obaaamacare will be THE event that turns them against the Dems?
55. A. Defeating the GOPe attempts at reform or improvement of ANY government program is the key to killing the notion of government competence that is essential to leftist politics.
We must force them to fail.
57. A. If you want to enter politics, what/who do you turn to for training? We have nothing right now.
58. A. Use small wedge issues you can win to define your opponant.
Choice should include the right to choose how to defend yourself.
Choice should include the right to choose how to spend your money.
How come there has never been an ad showing someone finding out how much of their paycheck goes to taxes and how much their total tax bill is?
60. A. When we start seeing candidates who talk about NEVER compromising with leftists under any circumstances, then we'll have our insurgents.
"What issue do you think you can reach a compromise on?" asked to ALL GOP.
67. A. You have to EARN the support of voters, not expect them to be driven to you by the failures of the Dems.
71. Really, really needs to spend more time thinking through the negative secondary effects of gay marriage. It is not just another issue; win/lose, then move on.
72. Legalizing pot will win the youth vote to conservatives show your work.
73-74. I don't see any evidence that "liberty-loving" libertarians are anything but a tiny minority in the Libertarian Party.
I think he glosses over that it was the black vote that passed Prop 8 in CA; the same black vote he imagines breaking with the Dems to support the new "pro-gay marriage, pro-pot, and sentencing reform" movement. One you'd win them on, two you'd lose them on.
79. A. Hates Rubio but doesn't name him by name.
80-82. Doesn't see a way out of the double-hinge trap of amnesty.
Thinks either way, it will lock Hispanics into the leftists politics.
Doesn't realize that amnesty is only an issue to a small minority of Hispanics many are opposed.
The same forces that would pull traditional Dem voters to conservatives will also pull Hispanics entrepreneur support and pro-family policies.
85. A. The "face" of the speaker is as important as the message some ethnic groups will only listen to your message if you "look" like them.
89. A. When people don't need big government, they don't need leftists/liberals.
The movement must be built on restoring the belief that all power resides with the people.
--
There is a dark movement of leftists right now who are working to cast ANY political theory and thought prior to 2008 as racist.
93. A. There must be a way for everyone to get involved and make a difference.
96-97. A. Just admit it, Larry Craig you're a homo. Heh.
96-97. A. People need to have a way to personally rebut leftist memes; a way to say, "I'm a conservative and what you're saying is bullshit."
99. Really, really hates Todd Akin, Christine O'Donnell and Sharron Angle.
102. A. Leftists WILL, sooner or later, force all religions to bow before them.
104. Entirely too optimistic about human nature. It is human nature that leads to leftism, not leftist dominance of any various and sundry institutions.
We are fighting human nature, and human nature only changes in response to pain, rarely due to reason.
105. A. Why didn't those groups harassed by the IRS follow the ACORN model and change their names?
104-10. A. Work from three main directions, all united by ideology: 1) Decentralized, 2) Individual effort, 3) Allies.
106. Liberals, many way too many really still believe.
109. If "TEA Party" is forever stained as a curse, by the same degree if not more is "Republican."
I don't think taking over the GOP is the way.
The same people envisioned as taking over the GOP are the same to man a new party. A political "party" is nothing but people.
109. A. Now, the stain of "Republican" is more anti-minority than due to "conservative." Which is a cruel joke considering the foundations of the party. If the GOP is to be rehabilitated, it can only be by a massive turnover from the current white "face."
129. A. 1000% agree. It is time to file civil rights discrimination lawsuits against liberals/leftists.
144. Big business rent-seeking big business is the enemy, yes. Walmart is, or could be, an ally. Don't fall for the leftists lies poor wages and a lot of their other claims are lies.
But: I agree "hanging a general every now and then is good for moral." And conservatives would make huge gains by "hanging" a rent-seeking, big business.
162. Funny joke: "conservatives in California fighting." They roll over for everything.
163. He under-estimates just how deeply the GOPe extends downward into his envisioned fertile fields (the local level) for growing the farm team of new conservatives.
But, agree: Measures at the local level supporting churches, traditional families, etc. would be HUGE. And are entirely legal.
169. A. Dare to say that "Work or starve." You'd have my vote forever.
174-75. A. The big money has to stop flowing to the big failures.
Stop paying the same big names to say the same thing all to get the same results.
Need real people to communicate real conservative thought to "real people who vote," not just communicate to DC insiders and political junkies on the same damned TV shows and same damned editorial pages.
176. A. Agree a million times over. The "conservative" perspective/position isn't political it is common sense!
Why not "Eight Common Sense Solutions to Poverty" etc. in a woman's magazine or similar "non-political" type publication?
183. A. "Chet, the Fairness Guy." LOL
186. I don't see any evidence or suggestion that conservatives will ever go in large numbers into journalism or entertainment.
193. A. Too many conservative opinion bloggers/writers, not enough conservative reporters. Stop talking about the news and start making the news.
201. A. EVERY criminal law MUST require a criminal intent. Too damned many laws are "criminal per se."
201-02. A. Need grand jury, plea bargain and prosecution reform.
211. A. Not everyone should go to college. It is no longer "higher" education, it is just "longer" education.
211. A. Agree, agree, agree. You don't need more schooling, you need to get your ass to work.
212. A. Education in America today: They (teachers) pretend to teach, the students pretend to learn.
214. A. Student loan rate tied to the "usefulness" of the degree. Sounds good, although I can see too many ways they'd still game that system.
216. A. Eliminate tenure in education. Your job security should be your talents and skills, not your tenacity and stubbornness. Bring back accountability.
228. If a leftist President would have gone as fare as his Hillary had, there is no way she would honor the 22nd or any other Amendment, e.g. the 2nd.
I don't think he has fully grasped that what the leftists are doing today, in 2014, and have done and are talking about doing, is because they mean to NEVER, ever be out of power again. And that includes massive use of violence.
237. A. The system we have now works because everyone agrees that it is legitimate and chooses to cooperate.
244. I see little evidence there are any principled "liberals" left, all that remains in the Democrat Party is a hunger for raw, unrestricted power.
255. A. Art should teach people how to be human, adult, citizen, etc. positive virtues. (Art includes entertainment.)
Random thoughts while reading: Could you convince someone who is on welfare, and still "needs" it, to quit, to try and make it on their own? That's the massive mindset were facing. How about convincing someone who is on Social Security to do without? Farm subsidies? Etc., etc.
A big chunk of those who call themselves conservatives or Republican voters are perfectly comfortable with big government. Smoking bans, blue laws, prohibition, etc.
Posted by: RoyalOil at August 24, 2014 01:12 PM (VjL9S)
255
252
I just visualized some with a bit of the "McGiver" in him and that's not Matt Damon. Maybe Nathan Fillionish
I just visualized some with a bit of the "McGiver" in him and that's not Matt Damon. Maybe Nathan Fillionish
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 01:13 PM (hpWy+)
256
(Ha, had to "save as" ASCII first, the paste from wordpad; stripped out whatever Pixy hated.)
Posted by: RoyalOil at August 24, 2014 01:14 PM (VjL9S)
257
I guess I was visualizing a younger Travis Taylor type (I had just watched Rocket City Rednecks prior to reading it).
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 24, 2014 01:15 PM (QBm1P)
258
252
I'm a bit bummed out now. Oh well. It's rare that a movie adapted from a book I've read is cast the way I imagined it would be. Guess I'll learn to live with my disappointment.
I'm a bit bummed out now. Oh well. It's rare that a movie adapted from a book I've read is cast the way I imagined it would be. Guess I'll learn to live with my disappointment.
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 01:17 PM (hpWy+)
259
So picked up President's Vampire at a garage sale for 25 cents and truly was not impressed. Figured out bad guy about 1/4th of the way in and really never started caring about the characters. Book club chose Sycamore Row by John Grisham and while it was OK, it certainly isn't as good as some of the earlier stuff I have read. Hopefully better luck with the next book- Cold Dish by Craig Johnson, first of the series of Walt Longmire books.
Posted by: Charlotte at August 24, 2014 01:18 PM (o5F30)
260
180, I started with Cussler in third grade with Raise the Titanic. I acknowledge a lot of the later stuff is crap, but I've been reading the guy on and off for thirty years. It is what it is. And Clancy's last good one was The Bear and the Dragon. Actually Red Rabbit wasn't too bad. But yeah, success ruined the guy.
Stephen Hunter is very good- I can really only think of one weak one of his in the last twenty years.
Stephen Hunter is very good- I can really only think of one weak one of his in the last twenty years.
Posted by: SGT Dan's Cat at August 24, 2014 01:23 PM (ITUSm)
261
If you're looking for jarring anachronisms in so-called period pieces look no further than MANHATTAN set in a mere 1943...
In the first episode characters say
CRUNCHING NUMBERS - 60s
STATE OF THE ART - 70s
INTERPOL - 1946
Sloppy writing.
In the first episode characters say
CRUNCHING NUMBERS - 60s
STATE OF THE ART - 70s
INTERPOL - 1946
Sloppy writing.
Posted by: moviebus at August 24, 2014 01:35 PM (bCLsJ)
262
Posted by: Long Running Fool at August 24, 2014 10:20 AM (77WNv)
That's why I have a Kindle, too, and also for travel.
And congratulations! Please let us know when they arrive!
That's why I have a Kindle, too, and also for travel.
And congratulations! Please let us know when they arrive!
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 01:37 PM (euAza)
263
I subjected myself to some of the most godforsaken dreck I have ever read whilst enjoying my 30 day Kindle Unlimited offer.
Crap books aside, I have decided to keep it. Odd, because I didn't think I would, but I just somehow enjoy the idea of having it. It's more than I'd spend on gas to get to the library every week anyway, so what the heck.
Crap books aside, I have decided to keep it. Odd, because I didn't think I would, but I just somehow enjoy the idea of having it. It's more than I'd spend on gas to get to the library every week anyway, so what the heck.
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 01:43 PM (euAza)
264
Don't like the new covers.
The last bridge looks good, but way to short for $2.99. Make it $0.99, I might consider it - I love the genre.
I've got a 6th grader in my house that loves to read. I'll report back when she's done with the California Sixth Grade Reader. Likely this afternoon at the speed she reads. :-)
More good YA suggestions, please. Far too much garbage out there. Middle schoolers get too much angst and pettiness and goo at school already.
The Evolutionary Psychology Behind Politics: How Conservatism and Liberalism Evolved Within Humans by Anonymous Conservative looks fascinating. Bill Whittle's discussion of it is pretty good.
The last bridge looks good, but way to short for $2.99. Make it $0.99, I might consider it - I love the genre.
I've got a 6th grader in my house that loves to read. I'll report back when she's done with the California Sixth Grade Reader. Likely this afternoon at the speed she reads. :-)
More good YA suggestions, please. Far too much garbage out there. Middle schoolers get too much angst and pettiness and goo at school already.
The Evolutionary Psychology Behind Politics: How Conservatism and Liberalism Evolved Within Humans by Anonymous Conservative looks fascinating. Bill Whittle's discussion of it is pretty good.
Posted by: Rolf at August 24, 2014 02:01 PM (be0G3)
265
@253+ Thanks, RoyalOil!
Posted by: doug at August 24, 2014 02:07 PM (8Fj8U)
266
INTERPOL was founded in 1923; I'd give the writers a pass for using the more familiar name.
Posted by: Trimegistus at August 24, 2014 02:13 PM (YQQm8)
267
210
I have the first 4 Longmire books and like all of them (even though I
don't normally read mysteries). Like the tv show too but it's a bit
different from the books.
I like the TV show and thought I would give the books a try. Figured there would be differences, but glad to hear someone likes both.
I have the first 4 Longmire books and like all of them (even though I
don't normally read mysteries). Like the tv show too but it's a bit
different from the books.
I like the TV show and thought I would give the books a try. Figured there would be differences, but glad to hear someone likes both.
Posted by: Charlotte at August 24, 2014 02:38 PM (o5F30)
268
For sci-fi, I've really been enjoying The Expanse series by "James S. A. Corey" (a pseudonym); it's not too soft, not too hard.
For milhist, I just ordered Rising Sun, Falling Skies about the Java naval campaign/disaster, along with Andrew Gordon's The Rules Of The Game and The Norman Conquest by Marc Morris. We'll see how they pan out!
For milhist, I just ordered Rising Sun, Falling Skies about the Java naval campaign/disaster, along with Andrew Gordon's The Rules Of The Game and The Norman Conquest by Marc Morris. We'll see how they pan out!
Posted by: Mahan at August 24, 2014 02:43 PM (8BD8r)
269
191
Ah, Thread of Book
Peacefully great
With mood subdued
With pace sedate
Participate
Or lurkly look
Leisure learning
Thread of Book
Posted by: mindful webworker - first edition at August 24, 2014 11:54 AM (fJtZ0)
***********
I really like this.
Ah, Thread of Book
Peacefully great
With mood subdued
With pace sedate
Participate
Or lurkly look
Leisure learning
Thread of Book
Posted by: mindful webworker - first edition at August 24, 2014 11:54 AM (fJtZ0)
***********
I really like this.
Posted by: Elinor, who usually looks lurkly at August 24, 2014 02:47 PM (95xxa)
270
"INTERPOL was founded in 1923; I'd give the writers a pass for using the more familiar name."
No, it wasn't. INTERPOL was formed in 1946. Actual fact.
It's "predecessor" was taken over by the Nazis, and the context of the it's usage in the show made it even more egregious.
The writers of MANHATTAN have made zero attempt to even approximate to how people spoke, behaved and reacted in 1943.
It's all very disappointing.
No, it wasn't. INTERPOL was formed in 1946. Actual fact.
It's "predecessor" was taken over by the Nazis, and the context of the it's usage in the show made it even more egregious.
The writers of MANHATTAN have made zero attempt to even approximate to how people spoke, behaved and reacted in 1943.
It's all very disappointing.
Posted by: moviebus at August 24, 2014 02:48 PM (bCLsJ)
271
Posted by: Rolf at August 24, 2014 02:01 PM (be0G3)
My then 15 year old daughter liked Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly. It is about a contemporary high school student with a dysfunctional family and a parallel story of a similar girl in revolutionary France.
My then 15 year old daughter liked Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly. It is about a contemporary high school student with a dysfunctional family and a parallel story of a similar girl in revolutionary France.
Posted by: The Great White Snark at August 24, 2014 02:55 PM (8MlTP)
272
For a fucking great deal on some books, cocksuckers, check out Pixel of Ink (link in my nic) and sign up for daily free books and deals from Amazon.
It's a great fucking cocksucking deal!
It's a great fucking cocksucking deal!
Posted by: Al Swearengen at August 24, 2014 03:05 PM (8jwKI)
273
The "Manhattan" series is REALLY stupid.
There was significant tensions between the military and SOME civilians and there were REAL spies at Los Alamos.
Check out this website for a more measured look, if from a liberal slant, at the tension between secrecy and science during the Manhattan Project and afterwards:
http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/
There was significant tensions between the military and SOME civilians and there were REAL spies at Los Alamos.
Check out this website for a more measured look, if from a liberal slant, at the tension between secrecy and science during the Manhattan Project and afterwards:
http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/
Posted by: Whitehall at August 24, 2014 03:23 PM (k876Y)
274
More good YA suggestions, please. Far too much garbage out there. Middle schoolers get too much angst and pettiness and goo at school already.
Posted by: Rolf at August 24, 2014 02:01 PM (be0G3)
Rolf, what has said middle schooler already read and enjoyed?
Posted by: Rolf at August 24, 2014 02:01 PM (be0G3)
Rolf, what has said middle schooler already read and enjoyed?
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 03:40 PM (euAza)
275
Said middle-schoolers dislikes the typical dysfunctional-family looking-for-one-true-love things pushed by librarians at girls. My Side of the Mountain. Greek classics. Classic Myths to Read Aloud. Norse Mythology. A wrinkle in time. Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, Harry Potter, The Hobbit TLotR, How to train your dragon, Dragonsinger / Dragonsong, several of the "bathroom readers," Aesop's Fables, Grimm's Fairy Tales. All these have been read multiple times.
Her favorite verbal tale for me to tell is the battle of Marathon.
Her favorite verbal tale for me to tell is the battle of Marathon.
Posted by: Rolf at August 24, 2014 04:46 PM (be0G3)
276
Begone, foul spam!
Posted by: OregonMuse at August 24, 2014 05:23 PM (yRdR4)
277
I've been reading Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks this week. It's given me a renewed appreciation for how remarkably complex humans are.
And I've been on a book-buying binge at the book warehouse and the FOL store, so my TBR pile keeps growing. I think I'm up to 440 books now. When will I read them all?
And I've been on a book-buying binge at the book warehouse and the FOL store, so my TBR pile keeps growing. I think I'm up to 440 books now. When will I read them all?
Posted by: biancaneve at August 24, 2014 05:46 PM (6Turu)
278
Rolf, an absolute Must Read for her is our own Sabrina Chase's Last Mage Guardian! She'll love it.
Because of her love of mythology, she might get a kick out of the Iron Druid series. I don't remember anything racy in them at all, maybe the odd cuss word.
Not sure how old she is, but she'd also probably like the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. Definitely a few cusswords and some sex. The sex is not graphic and when I was youngish I'd have just rolled my eyes and skimmed over it, but you may want to read one yourself before you let her. ( I was reading James Bond and Mike Hammer books by 11, and was not bothered by the "gross" parts, but again, you may want to test drive one yourself) Ilona Andres also has a series called The Edge, which I liked, same proviso as far as sex and language. They're both urban fantasy/paranormal stories (ie, lots of vampires, shape shifters, etc but great adventures)
I'm going to go make a list and post here later.
Because of her love of mythology, she might get a kick out of the Iron Druid series. I don't remember anything racy in them at all, maybe the odd cuss word.
Not sure how old she is, but she'd also probably like the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. Definitely a few cusswords and some sex. The sex is not graphic and when I was youngish I'd have just rolled my eyes and skimmed over it, but you may want to read one yourself before you let her. ( I was reading James Bond and Mike Hammer books by 11, and was not bothered by the "gross" parts, but again, you may want to test drive one yourself) Ilona Andres also has a series called The Edge, which I liked, same proviso as far as sex and language. They're both urban fantasy/paranormal stories (ie, lots of vampires, shape shifters, etc but great adventures)
I'm going to go make a list and post here later.
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 06:24 PM (euAza)
279
xxxx
@236 Not necessarily a good book, but I'm studying for the CFA and it's pretty engaging.
Been giving CFA prep classes since 2006. What level you studying for?
@236 Not necessarily a good book, but I'm studying for the CFA and it's pretty engaging.
Been giving CFA prep classes since 2006. What level you studying for?
Posted by: RightWingProf at August 24, 2014 06:29 PM (LOnHK)
280
Oh, meant to add Robert Heinlein's juveniles are great fun.
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 06:34 PM (euAza)
281
Posted by: Rolf at August 24, 2014 04:46 PM (be0G3)
Two great series are (1)the Tiffany Aching books, set in Terry Pratchett's Discworld - the protagonist is 9 years old in the first, and 17 in the 4th. Great character - one of the best role models around
and
(2) Andrew Peterson's Wingfeather saga. The protagonists are 3 siblings. The writing sparkles, it funny as hell, and full of themes that any parent would want their child exposed to - one the main themes that runs through the books is "nobility", but there are many others.
Two great series are (1)the Tiffany Aching books, set in Terry Pratchett's Discworld - the protagonist is 9 years old in the first, and 17 in the 4th. Great character - one of the best role models around
and
(2) Andrew Peterson's Wingfeather saga. The protagonists are 3 siblings. The writing sparkles, it funny as hell, and full of themes that any parent would want their child exposed to - one the main themes that runs through the books is "nobility", but there are many others.
Posted by: RightWingProf at August 24, 2014 06:37 PM (LOnHK)
282
I assume she has been to Narnia?
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 06:51 PM (euAza)
283
I wonder if she'd like Adam of the Road. Oldie, but I loved it when I was a kid.
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 07:00 PM (euAza)
284
She might like the Riordan Percy Jackson series; mythology meets Harry Potter. Might be too young? I didn't like the series as well as everyone else did, but it's not bad.
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 07:14 PM (euAza)
285
Yes, she's been to Narnia, and the cat-filled Warrior series. Tried some of the Heinlein YA, doesn't like sci-fi as much as fantasy, but her tastes change from time to time. Read Adam of the Road. Likes Horatio Hornblower. A bit of classic-style romance I'm OK with, sex is out; she's a pleasantly non-hormonal 6th grader. Violence, if modestly realistic rather than glorified, is OK - she's seen me butcher deer, played with fish heads, and I've explained classic warfare (ancient Greek through Napoleonic) in some detail.
Yeah, not exactly a conventional reading list for a young lady, but I'm OK with that :-)
Yeah, not exactly a conventional reading list for a young lady, but I'm OK with that :-)
Posted by: Rolf at August 24, 2014 07:14 PM (be0G3)
286
6th grade, good to know.
I'm sorry to say I am not real up on fantasy, kind of preferred historical fiction then and now, but I have emails out to various people to help with this.
I think she'd really like the one I mentioned just above... the Percy Jackson series. Total Harry Potter ripoff, but it's centered around Greek Mythology.
Seems as though there are some major dragon stories I am forgetting, but she'd probably already know them anyway.
I'm sorry to say I am not real up on fantasy, kind of preferred historical fiction then and now, but I have emails out to various people to help with this.
I think she'd really like the one I mentioned just above... the Percy Jackson series. Total Harry Potter ripoff, but it's centered around Greek Mythology.
Seems as though there are some major dragon stories I am forgetting, but she'd probably already know them anyway.
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 07:22 PM (euAza)
287
How can I possibly have forgotten Swiss Family Robinson? And Robinson Crusoe?
Has she done all those classics?
I LOVE that she loves Horatio Hornblower. I don't think I ever got around to finishing those.
Has she done all those classics?
I LOVE that she loves Horatio Hornblower. I don't think I ever got around to finishing those.
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 07:29 PM (euAza)
288
Ripped through the Percy Jackson series already, at least all of them in the library. Hasn't gotten to Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper yet, but it's on the shelf. I'll have to see if the library has the Tiffany Arching and Wingfeather series'. Last Mage Guardian looks interesting, always good to support "locals."
Posted by: Rolf at August 24, 2014 07:30 PM (be0G3)
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 07:34 PM (euAza)
290
Rolf, I assume she's read the Little House series? If she likes historical, she might like Sgt. Mom's books--haven't had a chance to read them myself, but they sound good--and while mine aren't really YA, they're "clean reads" and safe for someone that age. (Don't have her info, alas, but it'll be on other book threads; mine's in my sock.) As for fantasy, our Narnia-loving head librarian highly recommends James A. Owen's series The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica.
And of course, there's always Tolkien.
And of course, there's always Tolkien.
Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 24, 2014 07:38 PM (dpszv)
291
Lloyd Alexander has a series whose name of course escapes me. I have Iron King on my hand here, but that's not a part of it.
Lord my memory. But it's fantasy, and Welsh mythology, IIRC.
Lord my memory. But it's fantasy, and Welsh mythology, IIRC.
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 07:41 PM (euAza)
292
Oh, yeah, all the classics that are free, like Jules Vern, Swiss Cruso, Treasure Island, etc... There ought to be a "definitive" list of free stuff for a kid's formative years. Oh, and Piper's "Little Fuzzy" series, too. She also likes things like "how they croaked."
One of her favorite movies is Gregory Peck's "Captain Horatio Hornblower." I have a hard time thinking of a better male role model for a young lady as to what a gentleman should be than that.
One of her favorite movies is Gregory Peck's "Captain Horatio Hornblower." I have a hard time thinking of a better male role model for a young lady as to what a gentleman should be than that.
Posted by: Rolf at August 24, 2014 07:42 PM (be0G3)
293
Er, "beware the ending" on the dark is rising? Maybe I'm forgetting something - please remind?
Posted by: Rolf at August 24, 2014 07:44 PM (be0G3)
294
I like what appears below the bid amount:
Enter US $2,400,300.00 or more
Anyone got a spare $2.5 million laying around?
Enter US $2,400,300.00 or more
Anyone got a spare $2.5 million laying around?
Posted by: Blacque Jacques Shellacque at August 24, 2014 07:49 PM (DO37j)
295
Sad, Rolf. So so sad. That kind of thing scarred me worse than sex in books.
Graphic, gratuitous sex and violence from Mickey Spillane etc.... didn't bat an eye, but
The Yearling and Old Yeller gave me nightmares for months.
Years, even.
Ms Wolfe, have you mentioned that you're an author before?
Gregory Peck...they don't make 'em like that any more.
Graphic, gratuitous sex and violence from Mickey Spillane etc.... didn't bat an eye, but
The Yearling and Old Yeller gave me nightmares for months.
Years, even.
Ms Wolfe, have you mentioned that you're an author before?
Gregory Peck...they don't make 'em like that any more.
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 08:14 PM (euAza)
296
OMG, Flavia de Luce!
Murder mysteries, the heroine is a 10 year old genius; set in England in the 50s. (Or maybe 40s; the war is just over)
I don't think the author meant them as kids books, but they are perfectly suitable.
My favorite books in a long time. (The last one was stupid, but the rest are fantastic)
Murder mysteries, the heroine is a 10 year old genius; set in England in the 50s. (Or maybe 40s; the war is just over)
I don't think the author meant them as kids books, but they are perfectly suitable.
My favorite books in a long time. (The last one was stupid, but the rest are fantastic)
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 08:18 PM (euAza)
297
James A. Owen's series The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica.
And there you go. I knew I was forgetting a dragonish one!
And there you go. I knew I was forgetting a dragonish one!
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 08:21 PM (euAza)
298
Ah. I'll bear that in mind. Thanks.
Wolfe isn't the only author here. Look up "the stars came back." Sci-fi.
Peck - no, they don't. Set the bar high, have real discussions with the kids about real things, do things with them, trust them enough to scare you a little, guide rather than hover, and hope for the best.
Wolfe isn't the only author here. Look up "the stars came back." Sci-fi.
Peck - no, they don't. Set the bar high, have real discussions with the kids about real things, do things with them, trust them enough to scare you a little, guide rather than hover, and hope for the best.
Posted by: Rolf at August 24, 2014 08:21 PM (be0G3)
299
Well good lord, I have that!
I didn't make the connection; I need a separate Kindle for my Moron authors, so I don't forget.
And well done, Sir! I don't even like science fiction much, but you tell a great story!
I didn't make the connection; I need a separate Kindle for my Moron authors, so I don't forget.
And well done, Sir! I don't even like science fiction much, but you tell a great story!
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 08:28 PM (euAza)
300
298
"The Stars Came Back" by Rolf Nelson . Is that you? If so, are you doing a sequel and when will it be out?
"The Stars Came Back" by Rolf Nelson . Is that you? If so, are you doing a sequel and when will it be out?
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 08:30 PM (hpWy+)
301
Miss Tammy, I've sent OregonMuse announcements when my first three novellas came out--Loyal Valley: Assassination, Loyal Valley: Bystanders, and Look Behind You. The Loyal Valley books are about a military intelligence team in 1870 going undercover as cowboys to stop a conspiracy to keep Texas from rejoining the Union. Look Behind You is in a different series, much more fantasy-oriented--the series premise is that the Texas Rangers are the heirs of the Round Table. This first book is set during World War II, but I'm planning to write others set earlier; the next one will probably be late 1830s, for example, and focus on the adventures of the Shawnees who served as Rangers.
Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 24, 2014 08:31 PM (dpszv)
302
Thanks for the compliment, and you're welcome. Currently working on the sequel, and a prequel (written more with a YA target audience), while looking for a children's book illustrator (battle of marathon early reader, aiming at 1st/2nd grade level writing) and a full time job. Hopefully the "normal prose" version will be out soon - I'm done, just awaiting the editor.
Posted by: Rolf at August 24, 2014 08:32 PM (be0G3)
303
I refuse to believe that the daughter of the author of The Stars Came Back doesn't like Heinlein juvies.
Have you tried her on The Rolling Stones??
Of course, I'm a redhead and have twin brothers, so I was probably gonna like it regardless.
Have you tried her on The Rolling Stones??
Of course, I'm a redhead and have twin brothers, so I was probably gonna like it regardless.
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 08:36 PM (euAza)
304
Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 24, 2014 08:31 PM (dpszv)
My goodness, I must have missed it!
*scurries off to Amazon*
My goodness, I must have missed it!
*scurries off to Amazon*
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 08:37 PM (euAza)
305
302
Wonderful news. Keep us posted. I bought and read your book per a recommendation on the Sunday book thread. Enjoyed it very much.
Wonderful news. Keep us posted. I bought and read your book per a recommendation on the Sunday book thread. Enjoyed it very much.
Posted by: Tuna at August 24, 2014 08:38 PM (hpWy+)
306
She hasn't tried them all.:-) I forget which ones - they are all on my shelf. Didn't want to push it and turn her off to the genre entirely, just because DAD. When the muse hits, I'm sure they'll all get read in a week. As it is, a foot-high stack of books from the library is only a week of reading, so no hurry. When she's bored she'll read food labels if that's all that immediately handy, so I'm sure it'll happen eventually.
Posted by: Rolf at August 24, 2014 08:40 PM (be0G3)
307
OMG, I have this one, too! Clint Donovan. Oh yes ma'am.
This is my biggest complaint about Kindle. Apparently I need to see the book in a bookcase before I remember I have it.
This is my biggest complaint about Kindle. Apparently I need to see the book in a bookcase before I remember I have it.
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 08:42 PM (euAza)
308
Posted by: Rolf at August 24, 2014 08:40 PM (be0G3)
You are a wise man!
I am so bummed I don't know more about fantasy books for her age group.
She'd definitely like Celia and Ms Wofle's books. We have to get her going on some good historical fiction so I can make suggestions!
You are a wise man!
I am so bummed I don't know more about fantasy books for her age group.
She'd definitely like Celia and Ms Wofle's books. We have to get her going on some good historical fiction so I can make suggestions!
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 08:45 PM (euAza)
309
Probably not appropriate for a 6th grade girl, but does anyone remember the series about the Indian lady who "disappears" people. Her name is Jane something. The author wrote a more famous series.
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 24, 2014 08:52 PM (euAza)
Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 24, 2014 09:23 PM (dpszv)
311
How DO you keep a copy in pristine condition all those years? Very valuable comics typically are stored with paper that counteracts the process that turns paper yellow. If these pages are still white, would they have to have known that from the beginning? Seems very strange to me.
Posted by: Cornfed at August 24, 2014 10:18 PM (C+0Sd)
312
#291
You're thinking of The Chronicles Of Prydain, which I also read when I was very young. It's an excellent series; Alexander also did another called the Westmark Trilogy, which is set in a Napoleonic-era fictional kingdom. It's slightly darker than Prydain, but still a really fun read.
You're thinking of The Chronicles Of Prydain, which I also read when I was very young. It's an excellent series; Alexander also did another called the Westmark Trilogy, which is set in a Napoleonic-era fictional kingdom. It's slightly darker than Prydain, but still a really fun read.
Posted by: Mahan at August 25, 2014 11:29 AM (8BD8r)
313
Thank you, Mahan!
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 25, 2014 03:31 PM (euAza)
314
This thread alone will probably put me on the Sunday Night Wall of Shame, but here are two ore recommendations ( one of which maybe a tad young, but she should enjoy it, and one which is about a 17 year old just on the edge of womanhood, but it is dearest, cutest book!)
Dealing With Dragons, Patricia Wrede (It's a series, I think 3 books, but it's been awhile and I can't find mine)
I Capture the Castle ( can't remember the author, but she wrote 101 Dalmatians)
Dealing With Dragons, Patricia Wrede (It's a series, I think 3 books, but it's been awhile and I can't find mine)
I Capture the Castle ( can't remember the author, but she wrote 101 Dalmatians)
Posted by: Tammy al-Thor is Ginger no more at August 25, 2014 04:41 PM (euAza)
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