Sunday Morning Book Thread 09-07-2014: Deja Vu All Over Again [OregonMuse]

"Decatur Boarding the Tripolitan Gunboat"

(Oil painting by Dennis Malone Carter, depicting Lieutenant Stephen Decatur (lower right center) in mortal combat with the Tripolitan Captain)

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.

"Millions For Defense, Not One Cent For Tribute!"

Last week I brought up the subject of a naval engagement that doesn't get talked about a lot in school history books, the sinking of merchant ships off the East Coast during WWII by German U-boats. Even though it isn't taught much in school, there's a wealth of material on the subject, as I found out in my e-mail this week.

But I heard from a lurker this week who called my attention to another historic naval engagement that gets equally weak coverage:

Americans need to learn fast the lessons of the hottest American geopolitical issue of the late 18th century: the brutal, bloody, deadly and cynical North African Barbary hostage and extortion crisis that threatened to cripple US maritime trade, undermine American liberty and threatened the personal security of Americans and American interests abroad.

Few people know today that this was a huge national issue back in the day. This is detailed in Captives and Countrymen: Barbary Slavery and the American Public, 1785-1816 by Lawrence Peskin:

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the Barbary States captured and held for ransom nearly five hundred American sailors. The attacks on Americans abroad - and the government’s apparent inability to control the situation - deeply scarred the public.

Imagine how bad that would be, seeing Americans killed in the Mideast and the federal government doing nothing about it. I'm glad crap like that no longer happens. Oh, wait...

One thing that came out of this was the creation of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The old Continental Navy had been disbanded, so a new, modern navy had to be developed quickly, and one that could project American power a long distance overseas. To the Shores of Tripoli The Birth of the U.S. Navy and Marines by A.B.C. Whipple tells how

Jefferson sent a squadron of warships to the Mediterranean while Congress was in recess, prompting the first major debate on the war-making powers of a U.S. president. The war included a blockade of Tripoli, sustained bombardment by the Navy's new frigates, and finally a ground war fought by a U.S. Army captain, eight Marines, and a rabble of Christians and Arabs sent to free the hostages.

So, early on in our country's history, it was discovered that merely playing defense doesn't work. Sometimes, you have to take the war directly to the enemy and stick it in his face.

A couple of other book suggestions on this topic given to me by my lurking correspondent:

The Crescent Obscured: The United States and the Muslim World, 1776-1815 by Robert Allison

White Slaves, African Masters: An Anthology of American Barbary Captivity Narratives by Paul Baepler

And The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805 by Richard Zacks is on my Nexus tablet, I stopped reading it awhile ago, but maybe I should pick it up again.

Any number of epic, action-packed, thrill-a-minute movies could be made about these events in American history. It's a pity few, if any, have.

A Special Note To Lurking Lurkers Who Lurk

Hi. I know you're out there. I know because I hear from you in e-mail. You tell me how much you enjoy the book thread and all the books you've read based on tips in the comments. All well and good. Connecting readers with books is what the book thread is all about. But those of you who have gained so much, I'd like you to consider giving something back, so that others may benefit the way you have,

First, and this is for everybody, not just lurkers, consider hitting ace's tip jar, that's always an appropriate response. Valu-Rite and flea powder don't buy themselves, you know.

But here's something else you can do that directly relates to the book thread: read a book, fiction, non-fiction, doesn't matter, and post a one or two paragraph review to the comments section. It doesn't have to be big and involved, just a brief synopsis of what you've read and why you're recommending (or not recommending) it. That's all you have to do. You don't have to be a regular, or post every week, you can go back to lurking, but what might happen is that someone else, another lurker perhaps, might read your review and want to go out and read it for themselves. Thus you will have enriched others as you yourself have been enriched.

And everybody wins.

Is That What They're Calling It Now?

Here's an article from (amateur webzine) Slate, and I've gotten burned before on their crap, so take this with a grain of salt, 29 Historic Slang Terms For Sex. Notable: "ride below the crupper" (that just sounds dirty), "join giblets" (ew) and "dance the kipples" (this one reminds me of that old literary joke, "do you like Kipling?" "I don't know, I've never kippled.")

A Wilder Autobiography

According to the Guardian, Laura Ingalls Wilder's memoirs, which were rejected by publishers way back in the 1930s, will soon be released:

The South Dakota Historical Society Press will release a researched version of the book for the first time this autumn, including more than 100 images, maps, and hundreds of annotations drawn by editor Pamela Smith Hill, author of a biography of Wilder, from additional manuscripts, diaries and letters.

And the reason for this is...?

"Wilder's fiction, her autobiography, and her real childhood as she lived it are three distinct things, but they are all closely intertwined, and readers will enjoy seeing how they reflect one another. Even more interesting, though, are the places where one story differs from another, and Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Edition explores these differences too," said Nancy Koupal, the publisher's director.

From casual browsing here and there, I have discovered that there a large amount of scholarship devoted to Wilder and her "Little House" series, and a lot of it appears to be negative, i.e. showing that what she said happened, couldn't have happened. On the one hand, there's nothing wrong with this. There are at least a couple of tales in LH that have always smelled a bit fishy to me, and I'm a sympathetic reader. But on the other hand, Wilder writes simply and eloquently of normal people living normal life, and since academics, like other progressives, are at war with normal life, they have a vested interest in the deconstruction of these children's books and their author. Yeah, I know this is a bit tinfoil-hattish, but I simply can't deny the possibility. Also, the fact that LIW's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, was an outspoken conservative libertarian probably doesn't help. Rose is the author of The Discovery of Freedom: Man's Struggle Against Authority, first published in 1943.

According to Amazon, Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography will be released this November.

Food Lit.

Here's a silly food in literature quiz. As is usual with these sorts of quizzes, providential guessing kept my low score from descending even lower.

~~Don't~~ Read These Books

I discovered the refreshingly traditionalist Intercollegiate Review site a few weeks back. It appears to be a quarterly publication, so the site doesn't change much from day to day, but I did find, and was amused, by one of their articles, The Five Worst Books I've Ever Read - And Why You Should Read Them Too.

Interesting take on authors such as Voltaire, James Joyce, and Dorothy Day.

Books Of Note

The Old Farmer's Almanac 2015 Edition has been released. Now in its 223rd year(!) of publication, the Almanac is packed full with good stuff:

* traditionally 80 percent-accurate weather forecasts
* creatures from hell
* readers' wacky coincidences
* making sausages at home
* wildfires' effect on weather
* love potions
* beauty secrets
* odds of almost everything
* unmasked mysteries of plant seed dispersal

Plus, Moon phases and other celestial sightings, tides, gardening tables, best days, and more. I've never in my life actually read this book. The Kindle edition is less than $5, I might have to finally buy a copy.

___________

Louis L'Amour wrote short stories as well as novels. The Kindle edition of The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour, Volume 1: Frontier Stories is on sale until Sept. 13th for $1.99. There are other collections, such as Vol. 2, but they cost a bit more. And the entire collection of L'Amour's stories costs a whole lot more.

Via Bookbub.

___________

Many of us here at the HQ enjoy the videos of author and social commentator Andrew Klavan at PJMedia and lately, at TruthRevolt.org. But before the videos, he was a prolific, award-winning fiction writer (True Crime is probably his most well-known novel). Shortly after he converted to Christianity, he wrote Empire of Lies, which I thought was kind of meh, which is unfortunate. I like Andrew. He's one of the good guys, and I want him to succeed. So I hope his new novel, MindWar, will do well. Klavan says:

The story centers on Rick Dial, a one time star high school quarterback who retreats into obsessive gaming after his legs are shattered in a car crash. Turns out, his gaming skills combined with his quarterback reflexes and mentality, make him the perfect candidate to fight the MindWar and he's injected into a video game-like atmosphere where the stakes are very real and very high.

It's the first installment in a trilogy of YA science fiction adventure novels.

___________

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.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:07 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Just downloaded Terry Goodkind's new (August 2014) Severed Souls (Sword of Truth Book 14).

Headed to sun/deck to dig in.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at September 07, 2014 10:05 AM (IXrOn)

2 I haven't read any of the new Sword of Truth books. Are they any good?

Posted by: no good deed at September 07, 2014 10:09 AM (w3a0Z)

3 Leathernecks for a reason.

Posted by: Euro at September 07, 2014 10:10 AM (R8sPT)

4 Does reading the contents of the thread count for lurkers providing input?

Posted by: Sheridan at September 07, 2014 10:11 AM (Zy7Sb)

5
(Oil painting by Dennis Malone Carter, depicting Lieutenant Stephen Decatur (lower right center) in mortal combat with the Tripolitan Captain)

America. FUCK YEAH!

Posted by: EC at September 07, 2014 10:12 AM (doBIb)

6 OK, Oregon, fine. One paragraph, in gratitude:

I read Trent's Last Case (1913) this week, I believe on a recommendation on this thread from sometime this year (speed of light, for me). E.C. Bentley dedicated the book to G.K. Chesterton in return for the dedication of The Man Who Was Thursday -- an immediate good sign for me. It was an engrossing mystery, though I was wondering how gimmicky some people might find the ending. (I know some people can get really snobby about the "twist I saw coming a mile away" in Thursday, for that matter. Don't think this twist can be seen quite that far away, though!) It had a little extra hot air toward the end, but it was an eminently readable and eminently fair mystery.

Posted by: Jobey at September 07, 2014 10:12 AM (dGWLp)

7 Looks like he shanked him good.

Posted by: EC at September 07, 2014 10:12 AM (doBIb)

8 So, the President was right. Just look at what the Musulman contributed to America's foundation. The standing Navy and the Marine Corps. :/

Posted by: no good deed at September 07, 2014 10:13 AM (w3a0Z)

9 "Six Frigates" is another good book about the creation of the US Navy and the expedition to Tripoli.

Posted by: Sheridan at September 07, 2014 10:13 AM (Zy7Sb)

10 So if you are requested to pay up or be molested
You will find it better policy to say
We never pay anyone Danegeld
No matter how trifling the cost
For the end of that game is oppression and shame
And the nation that pays it is lost!

Posted by: Insomniac at September 07, 2014 10:14 AM (mx5oN)

11 the little house series were the first "big" books i read. i was upset at first because they didn't have pictures on EVERY PAGE & the type was SOOOOO SMALL... but i planted myself in front of the fire place & read them because my mom told me to....& eventually....i could see the pictures in my mind & the type didn't bother me as much & i became a "reader"

Posted by: phoenixgirl, lucky seven at September 07, 2014 10:15 AM (u8GsB)

12
Just finished Henry Rono's Olympic Dream. Disturbing how poorly he was treated both by his university coach here and the Kenyan athletic officials. Makes me wonder how much has changed.
Started Go Wild by John Ratey in the audio format. Probably going to have to get the hardcopy to share. Good sign, liberals/progressive seem to really dislike it, science be damned.
Reading Running with the Kenyans by Adharanand Finn. Workman-like in style but he won't set anybody's heart a-pitter-patter.
Decided that I don't like ebooks for reading but I need to figure out where to store all the books. The missus is worried about a stack falling and injuring one of the grandkids.

Posted by: Long Running Fool at September 07, 2014 10:15 AM (77WNv)

13 I think it was right here on the Sunday Book thread that I found out about Louis L'Amour's autobiography "Education of a Wandering Man".

An excellent read.

Posted by: fluffy at September 07, 2014 10:17 AM (Ua6T/)

14 Yeah, the first part of Power, Faith, and Fantasy by Michael Oren is about dealing with the Barbary pirates. 5 internetz to the person who can name the Libyan city the Marines took (it wasn't Tripoli).

Posted by: Adam at September 07, 2014 10:17 AM (HstNY)

15 Benghazi

Posted by: the guy that moves pianos for a living... at September 07, 2014 10:18 AM (dJCJQ)

16 It's always a good time to remember the Barbary Affair(s), but to say that most people don't know it was a national issue? Why, to ignore that, you'd have to be deliberately obtuse, or execrably educated...oops, for a second there, almost forgot what Age we're living in. All right, proceed. Blow your matches, boys.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at September 07, 2014 10:19 AM (xq1UY)

17 Not Benghazi.

Posted by: Adam at September 07, 2014 10:20 AM (HstNY)

18 Slogging though The Bonapartes
by David Stacton. The part I like is how a country rises and crashes hard under Napoleon, and then tries to regain the glory under Napoleon III.

Lots of observations on the folly of men, women and families. The Bonapartes were a whacked out soap opera played over decades.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 07, 2014 10:21 AM (u82oZ)

19 As requested:

The Blade Itself, Joe Abercombie, dark fantasy, its not all rainbows and skittles. Introduces one of the more interesting protagonist for a novel, Glokta.

*cloaking*

Posted by: drunkineastmesa at September 07, 2014 10:22 AM (Hcaf1)

20 @11 phoenixgirl, that is hawt.
You, I like. Don't bother with pics. I have a reader's mental image of you now.
And that fireplace, yowza.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at September 07, 2014 10:23 AM (xq1UY)

21 6 OK, Oregon, fine. One paragraph, in gratitude:

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about. Thank you!

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 07, 2014 10:23 AM (yRdR4)

22 Shit. Used up every iota of clever I had last thread. Now I got nothin'.

Posted by: jwpaine at September 07, 2014 10:23 AM (68O4K)

23 Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy by Ian W. Toll is the best book I know of on the Barbary Coast and the early Navy.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 07, 2014 10:23 AM (u82oZ)

24 Derna?

Posted by: lowandslow at September 07, 2014 10:23 AM (BXkFh)

25 9 Next time I'll read the comments.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 07, 2014 10:24 AM (u82oZ)

26 I was thinking the march was from Benghazi to Derna but it seems they started from Alexandria.

Posted by: the guy that moves pianos for a living... at September 07, 2014 10:24 AM (dJCJQ)

27 19 As requested:

The Blade Itself, Joe Abercombie, dark fantasy, its not all rainbows and skittles. Introduces one of the more interesting protagonist for a novel, Glokta.

*cloaking*

There. Now, was that so hard?

Thank you.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 07, 2014 10:25 AM (yRdR4)

28 24 We have a winner.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 07, 2014 10:26 AM (u82oZ)

29 Yep, it was Derna.

Posted by: Adam at September 07, 2014 10:27 AM (HstNY)

30 Hey folks.

I know to a moral certainty that ALL the morons have already bought my book, "The Law of Self Defense, 2nd Edition."

But my moral certainty has occasionally been shaky in the past I thought (I'm a moron, too, after all), so I thought I'd mention that Amazon.com is running a "Kindle Discount Deal" on the book. It is priced at $4.99 until 6PM tonight. That's half the usual Kindle price. After 6PM the price ratchets up over the next couple of days until hits the normal price again. http://is.gd/J0QM1e

For those of you who still adhere to print books, the Ace of Spades discount coupon--aoshq--is still good for $5 (25%) off the print version. But only at my blog, www.lawofselfdefense.com, not at Amazon. As a plus, at my blog you can request a custom autograph, too, if you like.

Oh, and if you've had (or will have) read the book and haven't done a review on Amazon, I'd appreciate it if you can take a moment to do so if you're so inclined.

It seems that a couple of days ago some haters took to posting several 1-star reviews (at least one of which was taken down by Amazon because it was so clearly nonsense). I'm humbled to observe that in response over a dozen kind folks countered by posting their own flurry of 5-star reviews.

We're now back at 93% 4- and 5-star reviews for the book, which is awesome. Of course, the more honest reviews we have, the less vulnerable we are to a handful of nut jobs destroying the book's ratings in a fit of petulant rage.

Reviews can be posted at the same link: http://is.gd/J0QM1e

OK, that's all, folks!

--Andrew, @LawSelfDefense

Posted by: Law of Self Defense at September 07, 2014 10:27 AM (ajYyi)

31 The alleged kidnappings and attacks were all caused by an off-Broadway play.

True story.

Posted by: Professor Barack Hussein Obama at September 07, 2014 10:30 AM (FcR7P)

32 Just finished Terry Hayes' "I Am Pilgrim." If you miss Vince Flynn, and like Brad Thor, you might try this.

Longish, but a lot of backstory about a US spy chasing a lone wolf Islamist who wants to attack the US.

Posted by: Rosley at September 07, 2014 10:30 AM (kbk1a)

33 *waves at the lurkers* Come on in the water's fine and the Horde mostly doesn't bite. Mostly.

i could see the pictures in my mind & the type didn't bother me as much & i became a "reader"
Posted by: phoenixgirl, lucky seven at September 07, 2014 10:15 AM (u8GsB)

This seems appropriate here: http://bit.ly/WtQ5ES

The missus is worried about a stack falling and injuring one of the grandkids.
Posted by: Long Running Fool at September 07, 2014 10:15 AM (77WNv)

Ahhhh, yes. Floor. The largest shelf.

I haven't read much this week as I've been busy playing through the Uncharted games again. Cue discussion about how the Uncharted cut scenes are a better Indiana Jones movie than that one that does not exist no no no it's doesn't lalalalala I can't hear you. There's increased chatter about the Uncharted movie finally being made and given the success of Guardians of the Galaxy the new hot choice to play Nathan Drake is Chris Pratt and yes, please.

If We Survive by Andrew Klavan is quite good as is the Homelander's series. I like his YA works because they feature strong male protagonists which is, sadly, rare in YA literature right now.

Oh and I reread Rainbow Six for the umpteenth time and, yup, still happiest ending evah.

Posted by: alexthechick - Oh save us mighty SMOD at September 07, 2014 10:34 AM (IrByp)

34 Pigs Blood and Muslims..
Just Bing that today....

Posted by: 7 Days in May at September 07, 2014 10:34 AM (O7pN6)

35 Buying the kid neuromancer by Gibson on kindle. Buck ninety nine today at amazon.

Posted by: NCKate at September 07, 2014 10:35 AM (cawWv)

36 Concerning the "Little House" books, hasn't been pretty much established that Rose Wilder Lane was the true writer of those books?

At least that's my understanding.

Posted by: HH at September 07, 2014 10:36 AM (XXwdv)

37 Andy Weir answered some questions about The Martian on Goodreads:

http://tinyurl.com/qdsofwx

He's working on a new unrelated book, and has no plans for a sequel.

Posted by: waelse1 at September 07, 2014 10:36 AM (fT74b)

38 OregonMuse,

Here is an excellent book about the origins of the navy, the politics of building it, and the reasons, including pirates, why we needed one.

Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy
By Ian W. Toll

http://astore.amazon.com/aoshq-20/detail/039333032X

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 07, 2014 10:37 AM (Zu3d9)

39 AtC

EXACTLY!!!

Posted by: phoenixgirl, lucky seven at September 07, 2014 10:37 AM (u8GsB)

40 That bucked tooth actress that played Laura Ingalls could eat a ear of corn through a picket fence, fer sure

Posted by: Lurking bastid at September 07, 2014 10:39 AM (VgX/z)

41 Just finished reading, "In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larson, taken from memoirs of William Dodd, American Ambassador to Germany shortly before WWII. Apparently, Libtardism is an old and respected condition. Everyone was convinced that Nazism was rare and extreme and the civilized German government would soon get them under control or that Hitler could be reasoned with. The similarity of attitudes then and today are mind blowing. And that people continually think they can alter human nature.

Posted by: katya the designated driver at September 07, 2014 10:42 AM (JkkBT)

42 For more about the Barbary Coast slave trade, I'd recommend Giles Milton's "White Gold" - the truly incredible story of how raiders based in Morocco kidnapped slaves not only in the Mediterranean - but went as far as England, Ireland and Iceland. There had been a lot going on even before the United States got involved.

I'd like to thank Aldous and Holly and the other volunteers from the book thread who volunteered to be alpha readers for Lone Star Sons and critique it! Your feedback was much appreciated - and for the other 'rons and 'ronettes, I'll be taking advance orders next week, at my book-blog (www.celiahayes.com) as soon as my brother finishes the cover design. Since Lone Star Sons is a kind of re-take on the Lone Ranger, he's doing a kind of pulp-Western thing for it.

Advance copies will be autographed and mailed out during the first week in October, since the official release is at mid-month.

We now return to your regular Book Thread programming.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at September 07, 2014 10:42 AM (Asjr7)

43 "Savage Wars of Peace" by Max Boot is a good read. It's chapters on the Barbary Wars are well researched and well written, as is the rest of the book. Overall it's a fascinating look at America's forgotten wars from the Founding to Vietnam.

Posted by: Anonymous Scandi Hobo who doesn't want to be turned into jerky at September 07, 2014 10:44 AM (URO0u)

44 AtC

EXACTLY!!!
Posted by: phoenixgirl, lucky seven at September 07, 2014 10:37 AM (u8GsB)

Isn't that perfect?

Posted by: alexthechick - Oh save us mighty SMOD at September 07, 2014 10:44 AM (IrByp)

45 I'm surprised that "making sausages at home" isn't one of the slang terms for sex.

Posted by: rickl at September 07, 2014 10:46 AM (sdi6R)

46 Andrew Klavan has been hired to write the Gosnell movie also.

Posted by: AmishDude at September 07, 2014 10:46 AM (b4b5c)

47
13 Fluffy, that might have been me recommending it. I just sent a copy of it recently to a nephew that graduated from UVA with the advice to avoid a regular job for a while. He'd learn in a yearmore kicking around the shale fields in SD than he will in five years of the average corporate cog.
Phenomenal read. I don't meet his standard of 100 non-fiction books a year for a self-educating man, but I try.

Posted by: Long Running Fool at September 07, 2014 10:46 AM (77WNv)

48 On those five terrible books - HG Wells' "The Outline of History" can stand in for the Progressive Movement's output generally. Others on the Devil's bookshelf would include: Bellamy, "Looking Backward"; Croly, "The Promise of American Life"; Weyl, "The New Democracy"; Lippmann, "Drift and Mastery".

I found out about these from one of Jonah Goldberg's more obscure works, "Liberal Fascism".

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at September 07, 2014 10:47 AM (3kZUM)

49 Also working my way through, "The Blessed Man and The Witch", by David Dubrow (a fellow moron), which I got on Amazon. Very good. Good characters, good plot, well written.

Posted by: katya the designated driver at September 07, 2014 10:47 AM (JkkBT)

50 I read a couple books on the Barbary pirates and Christian-European slaves. Fascinating reads and much ignored history. The Pirate Coast details the First Marines and Jefferson's efforts to free U.S. sailors who had been captured and held as slaves in Tripoli. Another good book is White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and Islam's One Million White Slaves. Thomas Pellow was a cabin boy aboard a merchant marine that was captured by the pirates. He was about 11 years old and spent 23 years in captivity. Another great book on the North African slave trade is Skeletons of the Zahara, which tells the frightening story of Captain James Riley and his harrowing escape from slavery. All of these books illustrate how slavery was a world wide problem that has left no people or cultures untouched. Many Christian slaves were even kidnapped from their homes when Barbary Corsairs sacked coastal villages of Europe and even as far north as Iceland. No, slavery was not invented by the "white man."

Posted by: MistressOverdone at September 07, 2014 10:48 AM (2/oBD)

51 Another five internetz for anyone who can name the founding father who wrote a controversial piece for a newspaper in 1790 where he pretended to be a Muslim prince and extolled the virtues of keeping his white American prisoners as slaves.

Posted by: Adam at September 07, 2014 10:52 AM (HstNY)

52 I'm also reading, "Micro" by Michael Crichton. It was his last novel, unfinished upon his death. It was finished by Richard Preston. I'm generally suspicious of novels co-written by more than one author but I'm a Crichton fan (plus it was cheap). So far, so good.

Posted by: katya the designated driver at September 07, 2014 10:52 AM (JkkBT)

53 I'm surprised that "making sausages at home" isn't one of the slang terms for sex.
Posted by: rickl at September 07, 2014 10:46 AM (sdi6R)

Same here for "defrosting the freezer."

Posted by: jwpaine at September 07, 2014 10:54 AM (68O4K)

54 For all you Little House on the Prairie fans in the DC area: There is an exhibit of Laura Ingalls Wilder letters and stuff at the National Archives through early January (1/5/15, I think).

Bonus: Melissa Gilbert will be at the National Archives this Saturday at 2pm to promote and sign her new cookbook: My Prairie Cookbook: Memories and Frontier Food from My Little House to Yours

Posted by: biancaneve at September 07, 2014 10:55 AM (6Turu)

55 Do you have a strategy yet, Daddy?

Posted by: Malia at September 07, 2014 10:59 AM (wLbd3)

56 Thomas Jefferson needed an Ohio-class submarine.

Posted by: eman at September 07, 2014 10:59 AM (MQEz6)

57 It's only 11:00, Malia! Let me go back to sleep...

Posted by: 'Daddy' at September 07, 2014 11:00 AM (FcR7P)

58 I am re-reading the Patrick O'Brian series of Aubrey and Maturin. Good early navy depictions and the dialogue is subtle and at times very funny. I was a medical officer on a ship out of Guam and my shipmates regarded me much as described in the books.

Posted by: Roasting in the Keys at September 07, 2014 11:00 AM (vVjwV)

59 Some other great books:

Of Human Bondage, The Razozr's Edge, and The Moon and Sixpence, all by William Summerset Maugham. Maugham wasn't the best writer, technically speaking, but he dealt with some interesting moral conflicts, and his narratives were infused with a sort of realistic pragmatism that is at once refreshing if a bit depressing.

Posted by: MistressOverdone at September 07, 2014 11:00 AM (2/oBD)

60 Based on the glowing recommendation by Bill Whittle, I picked up "Life and Fate" by Vasily Grossman. It was pretty good, but overall, I can't say it lived up to Whittle's review. It's basically War and Peace set in Stalingrad, but bloodier, and being a Russian novel, tends to the wordy. I often like that sort of writing, but YMMV. It does deal with the big issues, but for my money, the big philosophical payoff isn't there, possibly because most philosophy is just intellectual games. However, it does have some nice insights into Stalinist life, and a very chilling description of the last moments of people in the gas chambers, which I suspect is what caused Whittle's reaction to the book. Overall, I'd give it an 7.5 out of 10.

I'm currently reading Martin Gilbert's biography of Churchill, which was recently on sale on Amazon. It's quite good, and does give you an interesting view into his strengths and weaknesses. The book was mentioned in the sidebar recently, in comparing what Churchill accomplished as a young man compared to what Barky will ever accomplish. The contrast really is striking.

Posted by: pep at September 07, 2014 11:04 AM (4nR9/)

61 See, here's how it works, guys. I take a sip of coffee and puff on my morning stogie whle reading a new comment here.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but the comments were coming faster and furiouser on that "the site may be about ready to go tits up" thread earlier.

Posted by: jwpaine at September 07, 2014 11:05 AM (68O4K)

62 Oh, and any self-respecting "worst of" list that doesn't include "Catcher in the Rye" is smoking something.

Posted by: pep at September 07, 2014 11:05 AM (4nR9/)

63 62 Oh, and any self-respecting "worst of" list that doesn't include "Catcher in the Rye" is smoking something.
Amen!
Read it in high school and thought Holden Caufield was a whiny little shit.

Posted by: theTruth, the whole Truth, and nothing etc. at September 07, 2014 11:09 AM (6jKOp)

64 Just finished reading, "In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larson, taken from memoirs of William Dodd, American Ambassador to Germany shortly before WWII. Apparently, Libtardism is an old and respected condition. Everyone was convinced that Nazism was rare and extreme and the civilized German government would soon get them under control or that Hitler could be reasoned with. The similarity of attitudes then and today are mind blowing. And that people continually think they can alter human nature.

-
That is a good book. Dodd's daughter was a bit of a bipartisan slut. She was banging both the head of the Gestapo and the KGB's head man in Berlin at the same time.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at September 07, 2014 11:09 AM (8MlTP)

65 I found a first edition leather bound copy of The Outline of History by H.G. Wells at a yard sale during my brief stint in Boston in 1977, with a princely asking price of $2. As I was paying I found out that it belonged to a very sweet elderly lady sitting at the table whose family was selling most of her possessions in order for her to go to a nursing home. I told them that the book was certainly more valuable and that I would pay more (the elderly lady seemed so kind). She told me that if I could appreciate the value to her that it was the right price, and pointed out that it was a gift to her from a young man who was courting her, pointing out an inscription in the cover-leaf to her. I gave her the $2 and a hug, and still own the book today (I did place a short note under the inscription memorializing the circumstances under which it came into my possession). On reading it, I am struck to this day at the certainty that Wells exhibited that it was THE factual tome of mankind's history. At twenty-three I did not fully appreciate how much that attitude would metastasize into absolute certainty on present and more recent events by progressives that are readily shown false.

Posted by: Radar at September 07, 2014 11:09 AM (KzmOC)

66 I read Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield this week. Setterfield's a fabulous writer who is able to evoke a sense of mystery in her writing, but I kept wondering where she was going with the story. She set up a great story - a young boy kills a rook, which then haunts him and drives his actions during the rest of his life - but then it seemed she didn't know how to resolve the story. Great writing, but ultimately you finish story and say "Hunh - what was that about?" My book club had the same opinion.

I'm now reading Elizabeth Bowen's The Death of the Heart, which was written in 1938. Bowen is one of those Virginia Woolf-era writers that someone tried to resurrect a few years ago. I like the book so far, but am not far enough into it to decide where it's going.

438 books to go.

Posted by: biancaneve at September 07, 2014 11:11 AM (6Turu)

67 Last weekend I went through that list of signatories against Zionism and found two on the list from whom I've bought books: Wael Hallaq, and Fred Donner. (Hamid Dabashi was on it too, but in his case he was writing a new foreword to an old book by Goldziher.)

The petition punishes academics for stuff entirely outside their field. Inasmuch as Suliman Bashear was an Israeli during the "apartheid-state" era (he was Druze writing in the 1980s-90s) those signers would have to boycott him as well.

Anything by any given one of the signers is corrupt. His books will not give us all the information we need, just because some sources may be Israeli.

Lastly these authors should tell us why they signed this abomination and not, for instance, one against the Saudi regime. Are they dealing with plain ol' Judenhass, or are they on board with the Islamic project of regional conquest?

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at September 07, 2014 11:11 AM (3kZUM)

68 63 62 Oh, and any self-respecting "worst of" list that doesn't include "Catcher in the Rye" is smoking something.
Amen!
Read it in high school and thought Holden Caufield was a whiny little shit.

Posted by: theTruth, the whole Truth, and nothing etc. at September 07, 2014 11:09 AM (6jKOp)

Yeah, I read it in college and was not terribly impressed.

Posted by: rickl at September 07, 2014 11:12 AM (sdi6R)

69 Still, still, still reading "History of the Jews" by Paul Johnson. Of course that' because I reward myself for every chapter finished by reading something light. It may be a bit of a slog just because it's done with such a broad brush. But I have to finish this before I can read his "History of Christianity."

My light reading is usually murder mysteries. This weekend was one called something long I can't remember about a homicide detective in Long Beach CA. Characters were OK but no real suspense since we knew whodunit. It was really more of a whydunnit but even so, not the most gripping book I've ever read.

Posted by: Tonestaple at September 07, 2014 11:12 AM (B7YN4)

70 Probably already a huge hit with the moron horde, but I plowed through all 16 or 17 or however many there are of the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child in the past three months. LOVED them! Great fiction.

If you want a fun read, Wake of the Perdido Star by Gene Hackman and Daniel Lenihan. (Yes, *that* Gene Hackman) It's a great pirate ship adventure and I got more that a few chuckles out of it. It's extremely re-readable.

On the flip side, is anyone else finding that David Balducci's latest stuff just downright sucks? I mean, it's awful. I know he's sold millions of paperbacks, but damn, it's pure crap nowadays.

Posted by: Blueberry at September 07, 2014 11:15 AM (GkRj9)

71 So, early on in our country's history, it was discovered that merely playing defense doesn't work. Sometimes, you have to take the war directly to the enemy and stick it in his face.

Word!
Get in their faces. That's what I've been telling y'all.
And you guys pshew me for being a connumity orzaniger. Thank Me I'm above you all....

Posted by: Barack Hussein Obama at September 07, 2014 11:16 AM (jfUIE)

72 Okay, since we're discussing (however obliquely) bad books, the Barbary Affair, and plays: Slaves in Algiers by Susanna Hastwell Rowson. Best when given the MST3K treatment. YMMV as to whether it's in the "so bad it's good" camp, but we got a lot of laughs out of it in my Colonial American Lit class. Even so, it's interesting to read in the context of what was going on in North Africa at the time.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at September 07, 2014 11:16 AM (dpszv)

73 On reading it, I am struck to this day at the certainty that Wells exhibited that it was THE factual tome of mankind's history.

Yes, because Science!

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 07, 2014 11:17 AM (yRdR4)

74 Another five internetz for anyone who can name the founding father who
wrote a controversial piece for a newspaper in 1790 where he pretended
to be a Muslim prince and extolled the virtues of keeping his white
American prisoners as slaves.
=======
Dunno, but it reads like something Gouverneur Morris would do.

Posted by: mrp at September 07, 2014 11:18 AM (JBggj)

75 Don't know what to make of theories embodied in Go Wild or paleo diets. Since evolution is borne of external pressures (mutational theories aside ), changes in diet could be regarded as part of the process. It is hard to see how one could rigorously test any of these speculative theories. On the other hand, if following the guidelines of Go Wild makes one feel better, seems harmless enough.

Posted by: disgruntled libertarian at September 07, 2014 11:19 AM (cmBvC)

76 Reading the "Count to a Trillion" series by John C. Wright. Very good. Also just finished his "Awake in the Nightland" which was also really good. Right now I'm waiting on Sara King to put our her next "Zero" book, and Ryk Brown to put out his next (#12) in the Frontiers Saga. Thanks for the tip on Neuromancer being on sale! Now back to watching the 1.75 TB database get restored. 1 hour down, 5 to go!

Posted by: McDirty at September 07, 2014 11:20 AM (9uMB5)

77 I have been reading this very wacky new style of spy novel, where a Soviet sleeper agent becomes President of the United States and slowly but surely does everything possible to reduce America to a 3rd World power, while simultaneously opening our borders to a tsunami of illegals and destroying the economy and health care system. It's in the form of recurring news reports. Fascinating but unsettling, like one of those dreams where you are screaming a warning but no one can hear you.

Posted by: Motionview at September 07, 2014 11:22 AM (1t1VD)

78 74
Another five internetz for anyone who can name the founding father who wrote a controversial piece for a newspaper in 1790 where he pretended to be a Muslim prince and extolled the virtues of keeping his white American prisoners as slaves
I'd guess Ben Franklin, who used to sock-puppet his stuff a lot.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 07, 2014 11:23 AM (yRdR4)

79 It wasn't Morris, it was the original Moron.

Posted by: Adam at September 07, 2014 11:23 AM (HstNY)

80 "So, early on in our country's history, it was discovered that merely playing defense doesn't work."

It's not really playing defense when they've attacked you already though, like they did in this case.

Posted by: HUH? at September 07, 2014 11:23 AM (jdlJs)

81 While listening to the commentary on one of the Warehouse 13 DVDs someone asked "What do the Marines do? They're like army guys, right?" The question came up because one of the characters was wearing a USMC t-shirt and the person didn't know what it represented.

And not one of the other three answered the question. To be generous I'll assume the one person asking the question really didn't know what the marines were or what they did and the others were too embarrassed to answer. Or it could be that none of the four knew the answer. It's Hollywood after all.

Posted by: Horatio Bologna at September 07, 2014 11:23 AM (xh5yF)

82 Just finished I Am Malala. What an amazing young woman. Unfortunately, she and her family are in the minority of those who follow Islam. Fairly easy read once you get names and places straight. Highly recommend for adults and kids.

Posted by: 10s at September 07, 2014 11:24 AM (OepwY)

83 Anything written by Thomas Pynchon goes on the worst book list.

Posted by: Mr. Dave at September 07, 2014 11:24 AM (jZ9G1)

84 You are correct OM.

Posted by: Adam at September 07, 2014 11:25 AM (HstNY)

85 Posted by: Motionview at September 07, 2014 11:22 AM (1t1VD)

I think I read that one!

Every day.

Posted by: jwpaine at September 07, 2014 11:27 AM (68O4K)

86 Another book to add to the read list about the US versus the Barbary pirates is: The USS Essex and the Birth of the US Navy by Frances Diane Robotti and James Vescovi.

The book follows the career of the 32 gun frigate built in Salem MA from launch to Barbary pirates to War of 1812 and its final battle at Valpariso. Along the way the birth of the American navy is described and the men who manned these vessels like David Glasgow Farragut..

http://tinyurl.com/mzyl92y

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at September 07, 2014 11:27 AM (9crI4)

87 84 You are correct OM.

Yay! I win teh internetz!

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 07, 2014 11:28 AM (yRdR4)

88 Picked up the book Silent Coup to read again after having first read it over 20 years ago. It's a somewhat defense of Nixon and Watergate with Dean being the evil backstabbing asshole. The book posits that Haig was Deep Throat which of course has since been assigned to another. I've always believed it was a composite.

Posted by: Bob Belcher at September 07, 2014 11:29 AM (suNSo)

89 Just finished The Guns at Last Light, by Rick Atkinson. It's the third of his liberation triology; the story of the US Army in Europe in WWII.

Excellent.

Makes one think of what WF Buckley Jr., one of that generation, said about his fellows:

"...last week I turned sixty. During the interval I have lived a free man in a free and sovereign country. I pray that my son, when he is sixty, and your son, when he is sixty, and the sons and daughters of our guests tonight will live in a world from which the great ugliness that has scarred our century has passed. Enjoying their freedoms, they will be grateful that, at the threatened nightfall, the blood of their fathers ran strong..."

One weeps for their sacrifices that we have squandered.

Posted by: William Dawes at September 07, 2014 11:31 AM (4HYng)

90 I basically liked Outline of History even though Wells was a Stalin-loving commie. This is my Amazon review.
It's not all H.G. Wells' fault. If his view of his contemporary society is exceedingly cynical with an eye toward tearing it down and simply starting anew, that may be because this book was first published in 1920, immediately after the catastrophe of World War I. Asking Wells to fairly judge society at such a time is like asking one currently involved in a scorched earth divorce to fairly judge marriage. Further Wells did not have the experience of scores of millions of deaths caused by the socialist genocide during the existence of the USSR, China's Cultural Revolution, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge and, well, virtually everywhere else it has ever been tried to help him see the blood trail that leads to socialism's door. Still he is remarkably vicious to whosoever he sees as hindering the coming utopia, even if that vicious hand is concealed in a velvet glove.

Wells has written this book in support of his theory that human history has been evolving for the last five billion years or so into a nonprofit, or perhaps more precisely an anti-profit socialist utopia in which a society, having rid itself of any nobility, aristocracy or priesthood, becomes a society of the willing by adopting a new universal religion based upon the philosophy that virtue and salvation is to be found in losing one's individual self in something greater than oneselves and by using the education system to further the creation of such society and of such religion. Among the more interesting of Wells' arguments in support of his theory is his interpretation that all religions are essentially the same. That is, Christianity (and given that Christianity is merely a form of Judaism, Judaism as well), Islam, and Buddhism are all consistent in their belief that salvation is to be found in the philosophy that we should to lose ourselves in something greater than ourselves. All of the seeming contradiction, for example Paul's insistence that Jesus' death was a necessary sacrifice to wash away our sins, was merely the unnecessary sales puffing of lesser disciples who were attempting to gain converts by overselling their religion using supernatural nonsense. Since there is no contradiction between these religions, then Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and all of the rest should be replaced with a new universal "common world religion, very much simplified and universalized and better understood. This will not be Christianity nor Islam nor Buddhism nor any such specialized form of religion, but religion itself pure and undefiled; the Eightfold Way, the Kingdom of Heaven, brotherhood, creative service, and self-forgetfulness. Throughout the world, men's thoughts and motives will be turned by education, example, and the circle of ideas about them, from the obsession of self to the cheerful service of human knowledge, human power, and human unity." Good luck with that as we in the here and now teeter on the brink of the most destructive war in human history as Islam prepares to use the sword to create a worldwide caliphate.

Wells is obviously a good writer meaning that he can clearly communicate his meaning in an interesting manner and he is fair in the dual sense that several times warns the reader of the possibility of his own bias and includes inconvenient facts tending to disprove his thesis. However one can be a bit peeved that he excuses failure on the part of those who he sees as advancing his theory of societal evolution, as he does when he lionizes Emperor Frederick II despite his defeat and disgrace at Parma and again when he uses Robert Owen as the example of how socialism should work despite the fact that Owen's utopianism was neither democratic nor economically successful. Wells is much taken with Pericles and the Periclean democracy of Ancient Greece as a society of the willing in which poets and philosophers prospered. But again, that democracy scarcely survived Pericles and, worse yet, that society of philosophers and poets committed innumerable atrocities in the process of losing the Peloponnesian War and its very existence. Several decades later any remnant was swept away by the antithesis of a society of the willing as Alexander the Great first conquered Greece then the world in his effort to become a god. Clearly, Wells forgives those with whom he agrees despite the failure of those very ideas.

This is a very interesting book filled with intriguing ideas. Most will disagree with Wells on any number of points but nevertheless he inspires thought and raises issues as if he were a magician pulling a never-ending series of handkerchiefs from his pocket. My only caveat is let this be the beginning and not the end of one's study of history.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at September 07, 2014 11:31 AM (8MlTP)

91 "The Redneck Manifesto" by Jim Goad was a good read. It is always interesting to view a broader sampling of history.

Often times it is painful when reading revisionist history, which this is not revisionist or painful. It it typically easy to recognize agendaists for what they are. One would think that writing interpretive history (think Normandy 2014) tomes for an echo chamber would exclude said works from serious consideration.

Deconstruction is as deconstruction does, academic propaganda.

Posted by: Fewenuff at September 07, 2014 11:33 AM (zPNX5)

92 I like Silent Coup also.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at September 07, 2014 11:34 AM (8MlTP)

93 Deep thought:

Most accounts of history we read today would be considered hearsay in a court of law.

Posted by: Bob Belcher at September 07, 2014 11:35 AM (suNSo)

94 August royalty check came yesterday, yay! And Book 10 is just about ready to go. Editing in all that pseudo-Shakespearean dialogue was a bytch.

Posted by: Gregory of Yardale at September 07, 2014 11:36 AM (6U7jy)

95 I have just finished reading read "The Curious incident Of The Dog at Night Time" which was a very popular book of about 11 years ago. It is required reading for my sons 9th grade English class and I wanted to read it because it is told from the perspective of a teen who is on the high end of the Autism spectrum. The author doesn't have autism but has apparently has worked with those that do. It's very empathetic. interesting, can be abusing and had some terrifying parts and is sort of a mystery as well. It read very quickly.

I also just finished the little book concerning a prophet of the Southern Kingdom (Judah ) named Habbakuk (again) because I am doing a sermon study on it and the Babylonians sound very much like ISIL in their ferocity

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 07, 2014 11:36 AM (glk59)

96 Among her many two-bit print acquisitions from the thrift store, Milady sometimes gets a "bathroom reader." Books, but not really "reads."

Like here's Faith's Little Instruction Book II - more supercharged quotes to blast doubt out of your life!

Alas, I never read Book I.

Author... um... 1995, Harrison House, Tulsa. Welll.... um...

Very-large-type quotes on the left of each page, some Bible quote on the right.

"You will never possess what you are unwilling to pursue."
-Mike Murdock (who? Wasn't he on Hawaii Five-Oh?)

"I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ."
-Philippians 3:14 NAS

There are some better non-Bible quotes. Many from "anonymous," that famous quipper. The association of quotes is hard for me to see in most of them. All in all, I think just reading the Bible quotes is best.

There y'go. A book thread contribution.

Posted by: mindful webworker at September 07, 2014 11:38 AM (a0/EW)

97 Very thorough, interesting post, Great White Snark. Thx.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 07, 2014 11:38 AM (glk59)

98 The little book was the "minor" prophet Habbakuk, not a book about him. It's only 3 chapters long but only minor because of its length, not content.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 07, 2014 11:41 AM (glk59)

99 Posted by: The Great White Snark at September 07, 2014 11:34 AM (8MlTP)

I bet Obama would pronounce that book as Silent Coop.

Posted by: Bob Belcher at September 07, 2014 11:41 AM (suNSo)

100 For those who are awaiting the next installment of OSP's Amy Lynn series, here is something short and in a humorous vein he wrote for a contest at Liberty Island.

http://tinyurl.com/m7nynvv

I have taken the plunge and signed on with Liberty Island. This was the first story I published with them and so far the likes of AlextheChick and OSP plus a passel of other Morons have liked it.

https://www.libertyislandmag.com/creator/atelier/content.html?ln=hotwater

*waves to AlextheChick*

Yeah bad puns are good but have even started to ponder who to cast in that story. ScarJo as Egon. Selma Hayek as Ernie. Matt Damon as the EPA dyck. Must stop this and finish other projects...

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at September 07, 2014 11:42 AM (9crI4)

101 That is a good book. Dodd's daughter was a bit of a
bipartisan slut. She was banging both the head of the Gestapo and the
KGB's head man in Berlin at the same time.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at September 07, 2014 11:09 AM

Just finished that book this week. Martha Dodd struck me as a typical liberal airhead who was blind to what was going on around her. I'd say a combination of the people around her and raging hormones were to blame. In other circumstances she would have been a Red Diaper Baby.

Amb. Dodd seems to have been growing increasingly aware of the menace of Hitler's regime, even if he couldn't convince the State Department (sound familiar?) or that weasel FDR. Wonder how many ambassadors we've had to found themselves in his position?

In all, the book didn't leave the reader with many people to cheer for. Dodd came off as ineffective, our government -- especially State -- was almost as screwed-up as they are now (fortunately for them, they didn't have a moral runt like Choom Boy as boss), and the Dodd women were wasters of oxygen.

Still, a well-written book and an interesting story.

Posted by: MrScribbler at September 07, 2014 11:42 AM (fi6Zh)

102 @90
Since there is no contradiction between these religions, then Islam,
Christianity, Buddhism and all of the rest should be replaced with a new
universal "common world religion, very much simplified and
universalized and better understood.

It'll need a central, organizing deity, of course. I think I know just the person.

Posted by: Barackus Magnificatus at September 07, 2014 11:44 AM (4nR9/)

103 One of my favorite bloggers, Clarice Feldman, starts today's article citing a book that won the 1981 Pulitzer for fiction: "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole.

She quotes Toole: "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."

Feldman: "I was reminded of it this week when the confederacy of dunces both here and in Great Britain seems to have linked arms against the genius of Western civilization and the long-suffering middle class which has for so long sustained it.

"Key players in the confederacy are perpetually offended feminists who find patriarchal tyranny lurking behind every pronoun and university library stack. "

It turns out that my library has the book and I will definitely read it. Feldman's piece is at http://bit.ly/1qxLBcB

Posted by: doug at September 07, 2014 11:45 AM (GlxNC)

104 The book posits that Haig was Deep Throat which of course has since been assigned to another. I've always believed it was a composite.

I've always thought that "Deep Throat" was a fictitious source Woodward and Bernstein made up to support all the stuff they wanted to be true but had no evidence for.

Even with that guy, i forget his name, coming forward as DT a while back, I'm still not quite convinced. Of course, maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 07, 2014 11:46 AM (yRdR4)

105 I enjoyed some of the comments of the great friends, G.K. Chesterton and H.G. Well because they disagreed on some many things (religion being one area) but continued to love and respect each other:

http://tinyurl.com/p6et57k

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 07, 2014 11:46 AM (glk59)

106 I have been reading this very wacky new style of spy
novel, where a Soviet sleeper agent becomes President of the United
States and slowly but surely does everything possible to reduce America
to a 3rd World power, while simultaneously opening our borders to a
tsunami of illegals and destroying the economy and health care system.
It's in the form of recurring news reports. Fascinating but unsettling,
like one of those dreams where you are screaming a warning but no one
can hear you.

Posted by: Motionview at September 07, 2014 11:22 AM (1t1VD)

I've been wanting Brad Thor to do a book on this very thing.

Posted by: Tunafish at September 07, 2014 11:47 AM (IWbwF)

107 History is poorly understood and poorly taught.

We are told of one war after another, one conflict of whatever sort one after another, but History can also be told as a series of co-operations one after another.

Read a modern history book and you will see the World engulfed in conflict. Look around you. Most of what you see was born of co-operation not conflict.

History is taught with the goal to shape our thinking not to expand it. Greed, racism, conflict, until at last, Glorious Socialism!

Posted by: eman at September 07, 2014 11:48 AM (MQEz6)

108 FenelonSpoke

"The Curious incident Of The Dog at Night Time"

that book made me cry

Posted by: phoenixgirl, lucky seven at September 07, 2014 11:48 AM (u8GsB)

109 Meant "The Curious Incident".... by Mark Haddon can be "amusing" not "abusing".

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 07, 2014 11:49 AM (glk59)

110 the Babylonians sound very much like ISIL in their ferocity

I think pretty much every nation back then was like ISIL. When it came time to beat your pruning hooks into spears, it was total war, or nothing.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 07, 2014 11:51 AM (yRdR4)

111 Dunces is a laugh out loud funny book. The author had so much promise.

Posted by: NCKate at September 07, 2014 11:51 AM (cawWv)

112 Yes, it has parts which are very heart wrenching. It seems very honest to me in ways that parents can loving as well as be dysfunctional and how hard it can be to deal with children who have autism. We all (humans) want to be loved and love but we sometimes do it so badly.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 07, 2014 11:52 AM (glk59)

113 When it came time to beat your pruning hooks into spears, it was total war, or nothing.

I once explained my views on military power as "When we go to war, we should fight like Klingons. And we should not go to war unless fighting like Klingons is necessary."

Posted by: Gregory of Yardale at September 07, 2014 11:52 AM (6U7jy)

114 Well, that's true. I say that because of people who sometimes say "The Bible is totally irrelevant to modern times". Really?!! REALLY?!!

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 07, 2014 11:53 AM (glk59)

115
Hello from Way Down Here and it's Monday....work work work beckons

I'm reading "America Aflame- How the Civil War Created a Nation" by David Goldfield

My interest in this war is a result of my current guilt in bypassing the Antietam battlefield and going shopping in Frederick - because back then I had only a smidgen of Civil War knowledge (as in - it happened and President Lincoln gave some kind of famous speech)

Posted by: aussie at September 07, 2014 11:53 AM (EGwwB)

116 Are they dealing with plain ol' Judenhass, or are they on board with the Islamic project of regional conquest?

Are two necessarily exclusive?

Posted by: Fox 2! at September 07, 2014 11:54 AM (cHwSy)

117 ( * waves * )

Hi aussie!

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 07, 2014 11:55 AM (yRdR4)

118 Dude at the Intercollegiate Review apparently never heard of Leibniz.

Posted by: kartoffel at September 07, 2014 11:55 AM (KZuZj)

119 Well Gregory the sneering chattering gitteratti of the Left is always calling American diplomacy Cowboy Diplomacy. But look at how quite the world gets when America has a cowboy in the Oval Office. But get a Mom's Jeans kind of guy, why the world catches fire.

*thud*

Zounds must get back to Emma's little journey in Elfland. Spells and misunderstandings galore. Or go watch Ghostbusters again in the theatre for 'research' purposes.

"Okay so she sleeps above the covers. Four feet above."

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at September 07, 2014 11:56 AM (9crI4)

120 My 10 year old just finished Old Yeller. Yep, the tears flowed.

I'm reading trickster Noir, second books afterPixie Noir. Underworld magic, a love story, hunting bad things. It's a fun series by Cedar Sanderson. It's kind of YA, I would let my teen read it.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at September 07, 2014 11:56 AM (M8AJc)

121 I think it's actually disrespectful to religions to not take them for what they stand for and homogenize them. Are there elements that are related? yes but many of their views are very different and G.K. Chesterton said that to H.G. Wells.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 07, 2014 11:57 AM (glk59)

122 The best book on the Barbary wars that I've read is Jefferson's War. It includes a lot of discussion on the behind-the-scenes politics going on.

Posted by: JohnJ at September 07, 2014 11:59 AM (TF/YA)

123 ANNA

VERY FUNNY!!!!!

Posted by: phoenixgirl, lucky seven at September 07, 2014 11:59 AM (u8GsB)

124 Context, The Planet Suite, Gustavo Holst. Something so good/timeless that the author/composer ought to just stop. There is only an infinitesimal chance of an infinitesimal chance of accomplishing anything better. All your subsequent works will be measured against your grail achieved.

Authors that could stop
Varley - Steel Beach
Gibson - Neuromancer
Ringo - Legacy of the Aldenata

Authors that should stop
King - The Stand, template writing, plus he's a douche
Goodkind - Sword of Truth, template writing late in the series, plus he's a douche

Posted by: Fewenuff at September 07, 2014 11:59 AM (zPNX5)

125 You know OM, all us academics aren't devoted to the destruction of the normal life.

In fact, I'd much rather be left to it

.

Having said that, I thought it was a given that the LH series (having read much of it myself) was a bit embellished, like a fishing tale. I'm not really sure that's a bad thing.

It was written largely from memory, and memories do get a bit sketchy over time. I'm really not sure why there needs to be a ton of scholarship "deconstructing" it since it was never billed as anything more than a hybrid of fiction and autobiography.

(Unlike say: Corey Booker or Barack Obama's "autobiographies" there were billed as fact but turned out not to be.)

Posted by: tsrblke, PhD(c) And father to be in 4 months! at September 07, 2014 11:59 AM (HDwDg)

126 osp's was great too

Posted by: phoenixgirl, lucky seven at September 07, 2014 12:00 PM (u8GsB)

127 "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole.

Posted by: doug at September 07, 2014 11:45 AM (GlxNC)

That was such a cool book I read it twice over the years. Too bad the author killed himself before it was published - his mother got it done.

Posted by: Tunafish at September 07, 2014 12:00 PM (IWbwF)

128 osp

you're here!!! how are you?

Posted by: phoenixgirl, lucky seven at September 07, 2014 12:00 PM (u8GsB)

129 My 10 year old just finished Old Yeller.

Speaking of 'Old Yeller,' I heard Hillary wrote a review of Henry Kissinger's book.

Posted by: Gregory of Yardale at September 07, 2014 12:02 PM (6U7jy)

130 G'day to you Aussie, planning to attend Oz Con this year? Seems they have a pretty cracking guest list that includes William Shatner and Orlando Bloom.

http://www.ozcomiccon.com/guests/

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at September 07, 2014 12:02 PM (9crI4)

131 Goodkind - Sword of Truth, template writing late in the series, plus he's a douche

Posted by: Fewenuff at September 07, 2014 11:59 AM (zPNX5)

What do you mean (about him being a douche) ?

Posted by: Tunafish at September 07, 2014 12:03 PM (IWbwF)

132 There's a biography of Cory Booker? GROOOOOOOAN.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 07, 2014 12:03 PM (glk59)

133 Hey OSP!!!

Glad you liked the stories there PG.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at September 07, 2014 12:03 PM (9crI4)

134 My first exposure to reading about the war with the Barbary Pirates was Robert Leckie's From Sea to Shining Sea, which covered the period of American history between the Revolution and the Civil War. I was amazed at how much a naval war in the mideast in the 18th century was similar to the modern era. How little we learn. I recommend the book as a good general overview of that time, and Leckie has the old style non-PC delivery that gives modern college professors a case of the vapors.

Posted by: Hudson21 at September 07, 2014 12:03 PM (UacHv)

135
117 OregonMuse

Hello and *waving back*

Thanks again for this thread - or maybe not because we are getting to a stage where we will need a bigger house to store all these books we keep on buying - and that's with having a Kindle as well!

Thanks also to theMoron who suggested BookBub - it's great to get these book suggestions

Posted by: aussie at September 07, 2014 12:05 PM (EGwwB)

136 I think it's actually disrespectful to religions to not take them for what they stand for and homogenize them. Are there elements that are related? yes but many of their views are very different and G.K. Chesterton said that to H.G. Wells.

"Why, all religions are TALKING ABOUT THE SAME THING! They must all be the same!" The Great Homogenization was a 19th century conceit, and it became very widespread, even in the (protestant) churches.

At the very beginning of the novel Ben Hur, the three Magi have just met and are discussing what they know and where they are going, and you catch a whiff of it even there. You have to laugh when you read it, because even though they're supposed to be holy men from ancient times, they'll all talking like 19th century religion professors. That's how it struck me, anyway.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 07, 2014 12:05 PM (yRdR4)

137 Catcher in the Rye is a mediocre read as a novel, but it's ultimately a dangerous book because it's assigned year after year to millions of high school and college students as A Great Work of Literature....which it ain't.

Posted by: Joey Bagels at September 07, 2014 12:05 PM (b2PGC)

138 There's a biography of Cory Booker? GROOOOOOOAN.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 07, 2014 12:03 PM (glk59)

Maybe it wasn't a biography. I can't remember where those "T-Bone" stories came from. It's entirely possible it was just his collection of speeches.

In any case, they were largely made up.

Posted by: tsrblke, PhD(c) And father to be in 4 months! at September 07, 2014 12:06 PM (HDwDg)

139 I've been reading a lot of historical fiction set in Rome recently for some reason. The most recent was Hannibal's Children by John Maddox Roberts, an alternate history that speculates what could have happened, had Hannibal defeated Rome. Its not bad, although Roberts has a bit of a Rome fetish so they have the best and cleverest men on earth, and the examination of different cultures and peoples around at the time always interests me.

I prefer non-speculative fiction because I like to learn about cultures and peoples in the past. There are quite a few very interesting mystery series set in ancient lands (Egypt, Rome, Greece, etc) that are fun to read just for the odd bits of cultural and historical trivia.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 07, 2014 12:07 PM (zfY+H)

140 Re: Pioneer Girl - I was really excited about this, given that I was a Little House junkie back in the day, but, my GAWD - the price!
Went for the nostalgia in my reading this week - re-read "Lucifer's Hammer". Still the best end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it book, IMHO.
Also read "Cecily Neville, Mother of Kings" - too much "maybe", "probably", "could have", but did have some nuggets of info I didn't know before.
Also read the latest in the Chet & Bernie mystery series - silly to the max, but fun.

Posted by: Bookaday at September 07, 2014 12:09 PM (j3vws)

141 osp

you're here!!! how are you?
Posted by: phoenixgirl, lucky seven at September 07, 2014 12:00 PM (u8GsB)

I'm Great. Golden Angel is with the Editor so I have spent the weekend slammed by the neglected Honey Do List. I stripped stained and varnished the front door and sidelights. Also had to install a new built in microwave. Misses Sailor is happy so as the saying goes, When Momma is happy, everyone is happy.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at September 07, 2014 12:10 PM (M8AJc)

142 Reading P.G. Wodehouse The World of Jeeves-a book you can pick up at anytime-different stories along the same lines-the blurb on the cover says ' Lunacy and laughter' -I agree. When I was in my 20's my older Aunt was reading it and laughing hysterically-so I tried to read it then, but I didn't think it was all that funny-now-in my 50's- I do!

Posted by: nothing to see here-mow your lawn at September 07, 2014 12:10 PM (kprEY)

143 Slightly off the Book Thread topic, my grandfather had two interesting experiences in the Coast Guard during WWII. The first was while stationed at Montauk Light after boot camp. His unit patrolled the beaches of Long Island with fake wooden rifles, and a handful of .45s.

One evening, a shipmate of the grandfather, on his rounds, encountered three or four men in civilian clothes burying something in the dunes, and confronted them. They offered him money to go away and not report them. He took the money, and promptly reported them to his supervisor. They uncovered the buried items, which included a raft, and other items from the Uboat that had put them ashore. They were German spies sent to America to conduct sabotage operations.

The next day, truck loads of rifles, machine guns, grenades, and other items were delivered to their station.

Soon after, my grandfathers request for sea duty was granted (a whole other story), and he was assigned to a CG cutter (USCGS Pandora) assigned to convoy duties along the East Coast.

While escorting ships to a convoy forming down in the Caribbean, his ship and the other escorts pursued and sunk a German UBoat off the coast of North Carolina. I am pretty sure it was the U-352.

He was later transferred to teh Pacific fleet, and spent the rest of the war Island hopping on Attack Transports.

Posted by: elliot at September 07, 2014 12:11 PM (j+v9A)

144 Catcher in the Rye is a mediocre read as a novel, but it's ultimately a dangerous book because it's assigned year after year to millions of high school and college students as A Great Work of Literature....which it ain't.

Have we met?

Posted by: The Great Gatsby, A Seperate Peace, Things Fall Apart... at September 07, 2014 12:11 PM (8vRuS)

145 I don't believe the history of US involvement with the Barbary Pirates--and indeed our early skirmishes with Islam--is taught at all. And it will continue to be untaught as more and more Muslims immigrate here. Just like the Mexican War isn't taught because it might offend Mexican students. And how Pearl Harbor is only taught in the context of the Japanese interment camps. The celebration of Diversity is how a culture loses it's history piece by piece....

Posted by: Joey Bagels at September 07, 2014 12:11 PM (b2PGC)

146 In "The Robot" trailer, that looks like Jonah Goldberg.

Who wrote a book called Liberal Fascism.

Its about how liberals are really comfortable with fascism.

Posted by: blaster at September 07, 2014 12:11 PM (zvFJ5)

147 I love those Jeeves. One welcome relief from stress.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 07, 2014 12:12 PM (glk59)

148
130 Anna Puma

Hi and thanks for that info (I had no idea it was on)

The Old Aussie Bloke is a comic/SF fan so I might just surprise him with a ticket for that..

Posted by: aussie at September 07, 2014 12:12 PM (EGwwB)

149 Well kids, time for football. Have a great day.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at September 07, 2014 12:14 PM (M8AJc)

150 Goodkind - Interviews, anecdotes, forums, marketing, tv fiasco indicate douchage.

Early TST was pretty awesome volumes 10+ he phoned it in, comparatively. Much like how film studios usually invest heavily introducing a film series, phone in the 2nd and or 3rd, again comparatively and then kill in the concluding film. Only he shot his wad and then milked it.

He dug his own grave by STS being so good early on and then plateaued and evidence indicates got lazy. Meh I'll make some $ off this thing I'm bored with, the readers are hooked.
And thus a douche.

Posted by: Fewenuff at September 07, 2014 12:15 PM (zPNX5)

151 *looks at U-boat.net*

U-352 was a Type VIIC boat and sunk off Cape Hatteras. Credit is given to USCG Icarus. 15 dead and 33 survivors.

http://uboat.net/boats/u352.htm

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at September 07, 2014 12:15 PM (9crI4)

152 Posted by: Bookaday at September 07, 2014 12:09 PM (j3vws

I had a chance to buy a hardcover edition of Twains autobiography in Hannibal at the Twain Museum on the day it was released (long story).

In any case, they were doing special stampings on that day noting you bought it at the Museum.

But the price was something like $50 (because this was basically the coffee table edition with a bunch full color stuff in it.)

I passed.

Posted by: tsrblke, PhD(c) And father to be in 4 months! at September 07, 2014 12:15 PM (HDwDg)

153
Going OT because I can with my special "diversity affirmative action inclusiveness" foreigner status

Goodnight everyone, and have a wonderful yesterday!

Posted by: aussie at September 07, 2014 12:17 PM (EGwwB)

154 Another poorly read aspect of naval warfare is the role of the German commerce raiders in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.

Posted by: Jean at September 07, 2014 12:18 PM (TETYm)

155
Re: Crescent Obscured by Robert Allison

Excellent choice. Professor is also a great history teacher.

Posted by: Soothsayer of The Righteous And Harmonious Fists (-400 days left until climate chaos) at September 07, 2014 12:19 PM (H2UCq)

156 Last week I brought up the subject of a naval engagement that doesn't
get talked about a lot in school history books, the sinking of merchant
ships off the East Coast during WWII by German U-boats. Even though it
isn't taught much in school, there's a wealth of material on the
subject, as I found out in my e-mail this week.

__

have you read "Of Arms and Men?"

It's standard at West Point, et al.

Not the definitive work on the subject, but pretty tight.

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 12:20 PM (ejb/Q)

157 144 Catcher in the Rye is a mediocre read as a novel, but it's ultimately a dangerous book because it's assigned year after year to millions of high school and college students as A Great Work of Literature....which it ain't.

Have we met?
Posted by: The Great Gatsby, A Seperate Peace, Things Fall Apart... at September 07, 2014 12:11 PM (8vRuS)

Hey, me too

Posted by: The Chosen at September 07, 2014 12:20 PM (TETYm)

158 Jefferson sent a squadron of warships to the Mediterranean while Congress was in recess, prompting the first major debate on the war-making powers of a U.S. president.

A couple of years ago someone told me Ron Paul was a modern Thomas Jefferson. My response: "The Thomas Jefferson who created the Marine Corps and gave them the mission of engaging and defeating state-sponsored Islamic terrorism in the Middle East? That Thomas Jefferson?"

Posted by: chipotle at September 07, 2014 12:20 PM (K4RIu)

159 U-boat.net has nothing on USCGC Pandora WPC-113 save when it was commissioned and scrapped.

http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/11107.html

Here is USCGC Icarus WPC-110
http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/11102.html

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at September 07, 2014 12:20 PM (9crI4)

160 I read Rose Wilder Lane's "The Discovery of Freedom" years ago. I remember thinking it was pretty good, but not a lot has stuck with me. That is probably due to my notoriously weak and faulty memory, rather than any deficiency of the book.

One thing I do remember is that she had a chapter in which she praised Islam. I believe she was comparing its relatively non-hierarchical nature against the rigid hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church.

That sort of naivete isn't unique to her, of course. Captain Hate has posted reviews in which he complained that Edward Gibbon likewise favorably compared Islam to Christianity.

Posted by: rickl at September 07, 2014 12:20 PM (sdi6R)

161 A couple of years ago someone told me Ron Paul was a
modern Thomas Jefferson. My response: "The Thomas Jefferson who created
the Marine Corps and gave them the mission of engaging and defeating
state-sponsored Islamic terrorism in the Middle East? That Thomas Jefferson?"

Posted by: chipotle at September 07, 2014 12:20 PM (K4RIu)

HAH! Great response!

And from the (now decom'd) 7th ID (L) force recon? Ya done good.

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 12:22 PM (ejb/Q)

162 "Just finished Terry Hayes' "I Am Pilgrim.""

Which answers the question: BUT WHO WAS PILGRIM???

Posted by: Donna and V. at September 07, 2014 12:24 PM (+XMAD)

163 I got 63% on the food and literature quiz and now I'm hungry, but not for gruel.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 07, 2014 12:25 PM (glk59)

164 quick to qualify: I'm not recon and ffs would never be a Marine!

So, that was on behalf of them, not for them.

Their motto is "Penetrate Deeper, Last Longer."

Marines...

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 12:26 PM (ejb/Q)

165 So, Luke Smitherd. I don't remember if I first heard his name here, but it's quite likely. All I know is that somehow A Head Full of Knives was on the list of free Samples I had downloaded to my Kindle at one point, and I started in to read it.

I got hooked, and devoured not only that, but The Stone Man and The Black Room. Mr. Smitherd appears to do all of his business on the Internet. The first two books were $2.99 on the Kindle, and The Black Room is a 4-parter, not available as a physical book, with the first part being free, and the last three parts being $.99 each.

I really enjoyed these books. Mr Smitherd is not always polished -- one can make criticisms here and there about pacing, or too much exposition in one place instead of another. But he is also stunningly original. Each of the three books had me admiringly thinking "Wow! How the heck did he think of that?"

He is also a remarkable chameleon. After A Head Full of Knives, I wondered if all of his protagonists were sort of dreamy and disconnected. Nope. That was just for the one book.

Where to start, if you're going to check out his work? He would say, or rather does say, in an afterword, that you should start with The Stone Man, by far his most popular book so far. That's a good suggestion, if you want a book in which you can easily get right in to what is happening from the outset. I do have to admit, though, that the one that has stuck most has been The Black Room. I almost didn't get that one, because the first book is subtitled "A Paranormal Romance", and I thought "uh-oh, girly book." Nope. It's sort of a romance, yes, but it's also evocative and creepy, completely enmeshed in a surprising supernatural framework that I am not going to spoil, and not at all what you might be thinking if you think "romance."

I definitely recommend checking out Luke Smitherd's work. I doubt you will think your $2.99 was wasted.

Posted by: Splunge at September 07, 2014 12:26 PM (qyomX)

166 Jean are you talking just WWI or just WWII or German commerce raiders in both wars? HMAS Sydney in WWII was ambushed by a German commerce raider. German raider Kormorant from WWI lies off Guam.

But book wise there is the modern book The Wolf about WWI and Capt. Rogge's The German Raider Atlantis from WWII.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at September 07, 2014 12:26 PM (9crI4)

167 I think "The Chosen" is a wonderful book, much much better than "Catcher In The Rye".

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 07, 2014 12:27 PM (glk59)

168 I finished reading Yellow Eyes by John Ringo and Tom Kratman. The book is set in the Posleen War universe and concerns the defense of Panama by the Panamanian and American forces. I thought it was a pretty fun read and you get to also see events from the Posleen perspective: the Posleen aren't one-dimensional evil beings.

They also explain that the U.S. State Department has been infiltrated by human collaborators with another alien race that wants the humans defeated by the Posleen.

Having read books written separately by both authors, I have come to the conclusion that Kratman is superior.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop who no longer considers himself a Republican at September 07, 2014 12:27 PM (1htQa)

169 I first learned of the Barbary Pirates and our war with them in Elementary School back in the '60's. Even then it was barely noted and Islam was not mentioned.

We were left to think of them as ordinary pirates, you know, squawking parrots and all that.

Posted by: eman at September 07, 2014 12:28 PM (MQEz6)

170 OT, but I have to mention this as someone just brought up the NFL. I live three miles away from the Meadowlands and I'm a Giants fan, so I enjoy football as much as the next guy, but nothing--Obama, Benghazi, IRS, Amnesty--will get any kind of traction now that the NFL bread and circus has begun. This is how our elites keep as amused...or maybe, I'm just not optimistic about the Giants this year.

Posted by: Joey Bagels at September 07, 2014 12:28 PM (b2PGC)

171 But I didn't read "The Chosen" until I was in my early 20's. Just because it's about teen boys I don't know that American teens who aren't Jewish will appreciate it.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 07, 2014 12:31 PM (glk59)

172 the original Moron

From 1776 (from memory)

The Congress has appointed a committee to investigate complaints of .... Debauchery at the Army camp in (Newark?):

Member to Franklin, dozing:
Come, Dr Franklin, we're going to Newark
Franklin, grumpy
Why are we going to Newark
Member
For the drinking and the whoring, of course!
Franklin
O, why didn't you say that. (Get up from chair, and picks up cane)

Posted by: Fox 2! at September 07, 2014 12:31 PM (cHwSy)

173 52 I'm also reading, "Micro" by Michael Crichton. It was his last novel, unfinished upon his death. It was finished by Richard Preston. I'm generally suspicious of novels co-written by more than one author but I'm a Crichton fan (plus it was cheap). So far, so good.
Posted by: katya the designated driver at September 07, 2014 10:52 AM (JkkBT)

I found Crichton's old True Crime stuff at the library, all were good easy reads.

Posted by: Mean at September 07, 2014 12:31 PM (TETYm)

174 #161 And all the "let's avoid foreign entanglements" quotes from the founders that the Paultards love to quote? They were talking about entanglements in European affairs. None of them had any problem with the USA involving itself in Central and South America.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 07, 2014 12:31 PM (yRdR4)

175 Joey Bagels, a Black Sunday event would.

Super stadium full of hard core fans. Tailgate parties going on in the parking lot. Except one of them is in fact a VBIED just about to cook off and stir-fry unsuspecting and weirdly dressed Americans.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at September 07, 2014 12:31 PM (9crI4)

176 132 There's a biography of Cory Booker? GROOOOOOOAN.
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 07, 2014 12:03 PM (glk59)

Only one, pussy.

Posted by: Mean at September 07, 2014 12:32 PM (TETYm)

177 Since we're talking about U-Boats, I'd like to point out that I mentioned on the morning thread that today is the anniversary of the first submarine attack in history, when the Turtle tried unsuccessfully to attach a time bomb to the HMS Eagle in New York harbor in 1776.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_(submersible)

Posted by: rickl at September 07, 2014 12:32 PM (sdi6R)

178
The Crescent Obscured covers nearly forty years of foreign relations and self-examination and still remaining was the unresolved issue of slavery. Did Americans not want to face the reality that they too practiced the same 'barbarism' as the uncivilized Muslims? Two Godly societies governed by human nature; underneath is the substratum of culture, which is where divergences are apparent. "Americans could not look too closely at the Muslim world without seeing a disturbing reflection" (94). America was perhaps a mirror image of the Muslim world: the same but opposite. One society chose liberty, the other chose submission. One society made progress, the other withered. But at the time they each embraced slavery.

-- Me

Posted by: Soothsayer of The Righteous And Harmonious Fists (-400 days left until climate chaos) at September 07, 2014 12:33 PM (H2UCq)

179 Captain Hate has posted reviews in which he complained that Edward Gibbon likewise favorably compared Islam to Christianity.

Where is Captain Hate, anyway? He hasn't been on the book thread for several weeks. Is he still around during the week?

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 07, 2014 12:34 PM (yRdR4)

180 Mean Jean again, the spellchecker used to ignore the Name field?

Posted by: Jean at September 07, 2014 12:34 PM (TETYm)

181 Posted by: Splunge at September 07, 2014 12:26 PM (qyomX)

Yes, another Smitherd fan here. I mentioned him here earlier this year.

His books are very good. The Black Room series is a bit bumpy here and there, but don't let that stop you from reading it.

The Stone Man clarifies the fact terror is personal.

Posted by: eman at September 07, 2014 12:35 PM (MQEz6)

182 i've picked up "the chosen" so many times....& i've put it right back down. it's really a book i want to read but i can never get "into" it.....
maybe i'll put it on my nook & try again

Posted by: phoenixgirl, lucky seven at September 07, 2014 12:35 PM (u8GsB)

183 The book "The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World 1788-1800" by Jay Winik(which I bought and read due to the recommendation of a Moron) gives a great deal of information on the Barbary States slave trade.

Of course, it's easy to see why most Americans have never heard of it. That little bit of history illustrates A: that the Muslims have been an ongoing pain in the civilized world's ass and B. Slavery was not an invention of evil white men. Those facts are very inconvenient for the leftist educational establishment, so they do what they do with all inconvenient facts - ignore them.

Posted by: Donna and V. at September 07, 2014 12:36 PM (+XMAD)

184 Andrew - Law of Self Defense

Thanks for the discount and the hard work.

Posted by: Horatio Bologna at September 07, 2014 12:36 PM (xh5yF)

185 Only one, pussy.

I have no idea what that means in the context of my question.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 07, 2014 12:37 PM (glk59)

186 This is how our elites keep as amused...or maybe, I'm just not optimistic about the Giants this year.

Posted by: Joey Bagels at September 07, 2014 12:28 PM (b2PGC)

i am a dyed in the wool Steelers fan. From 1988 until 2012 I saw every game they played except 1 half of 1 playff game against the colts because my dad died and I was traveling.

Every.
Game.

Good, bad or ugly, I was there.

Last year? I saw zero games. Don't intend to watch this season. Done. And when I'm done, I'm done.

My hero list:

1) Willie Stargell
2) Jack Lambert
3) Michael Jordan

standards. we haz them.

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 12:37 PM (ejb/Q)

187 Anna, both. Moreso the latter due to their intel cooperation with the Japs

Posted by: Jean at September 07, 2014 12:38 PM (TETYm)

188 185 Only one, pussy.

I have no idea what that means in the context of my question.
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 07, 2014 12:37 PM (glk59)

I meant to include the Booker bio quote with that.

Posted by: Jean at September 07, 2014 12:39 PM (TETYm)

189 Then you will want to read Capt. Rogge's book then. Since it was Atlantis that captured the classified British war plans that were handed over to the Japanese that showed how hollow Singapore was.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at September 07, 2014 12:40 PM (9crI4)

190 My best high school English teacher was a nun. She assigned "The Chosen" in her class. I think her philosemitism rubbed off on me to a certain extent because she was such a good teacher.

Posted by: Donna and V. at September 07, 2014 12:41 PM (+XMAD)

191 "Why, all religions are TALKING ABOUT THE SAME THING! They must all be the same!" The Great Homogenization was a 19th century conceit, and it became very widespread, even in the (protestant) churches.
__________________________________

Was this a conceit among the universities? It sounds like Yale and Harvard? Am I way off with that idea? OR close?

Posted by: ferdinand at September 07, 2014 12:43 PM (2eIwi)

192 183 The book "The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World 1788-1800" by Jay Winik

Posted by: Donna and V. at September 07, 2014 12:36 PM (+XMAD)

I found a hardcover in a bargain bin in the frozen food aisle of a supermarket. Normally it contains children's books, diet books, cheesy novels, and so forth.

That one stuck out like a sore thumb. I just happened to spot it and went, "Oh, wow!" I snatched it right up, but still haven't gotten around to reading it.

Posted by: rickl at September 07, 2014 12:44 PM (sdi6R)

193 Posted by: rickl at September 07, 2014 12:44 PM (sdi6R)

It's well worth your while.

Posted by: Donna and V. at September 07, 2014 12:46 PM (+XMAD)

194 185 Only one, pussy.

I have no idea what that means in the context of my question.
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 07, 2014 12:37 PM (glk59)

What is the guaranteed downfall of every man, Alex?

Posted by: Insomniac at September 07, 2014 12:47 PM (mx5oN)

195 169--we talked about the Barbary pirates in Catholic School in the '70's (when I reflect now on how much history we actually covered, I'm amazed) but, you're right, Islam wasn't mentioned. But an illustation in the text we used kind of gave the game away that these weren't Jolly Roger pirates....

Posted by: Joey Bagels at September 07, 2014 12:47 PM (b2PGC)

196 it's 2100 local. So sleepy time.

No NFL thread.

There will be a reckoning! /shakefist

My advice for the day? Eat ice cream. Because... well. duh!

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 12:48 PM (ejb/Q)

197 What is the guaranteed downfall of every man, Alex?

Posted by: Insomniac at September 07, 2014 12:47 PM (mx5oN)

laziness.

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 12:48 PM (ejb/Q)

198 192--I started reading it a few years ago. It's very well written and rich in detail. But it's kind of long--and as I was working on other books at the time, and put it down. I'm going to pick it up again soon.

Posted by: Joey Bagels at September 07, 2014 12:50 PM (b2PGC)

199 197 What is the guaranteed downfall of every man, Alex?

Posted by: Insomniac at September 07, 2014 12:47 PM (mx5oN)

laziness.
Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 12:48 PM (ejb/Q)

The answer was "pussy." But you were sooooo close!

Posted by: Insomniac at September 07, 2014 12:50 PM (mx5oN)

200 Was this a conceit among the universities? It sounds like Yale and Harvard? Am I way off with that idea? OR close?

No, you're right, I think. According to what I've read, it was all over the place, so I would not exclude the universities.

I like to think of it as stage one liberalism.

Off to church, bbl.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 07, 2014 12:53 PM (yRdR4)

201 Just finished: 'Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War'. Wicked interesting read, founder of the OODA loop and other rather amazing things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boyd_(military_strategist)

Drink up moerons...

Posted by: Mudshark at September 07, 2014 12:53 PM (DCEVZ)

202 Ahem
Da BEARS!!!!

And I'm stuck in LAX

Posted by: Navpopojoe at September 07, 2014 12:53 PM (I9EdS)

203 199--it is pussy. Remember the first and best Rocky movie when the trainer played by Burgess Meredith admonished Rocky to stay away from Adrian (under-rated beauty Talia Shire) by saying "Women weaken legs!!"

Posted by: Joey Bagels at September 07, 2014 12:53 PM (b2PGC)

204 Mud shark, seminal book, up there with Mahan.

Posted by: Jean at September 07, 2014 12:54 PM (TETYm)

205 Oh before I go, I have to share this with you, because... ok you'll see.

We're both ( me n wifey ) out on bizness.

She calls me from the airport and relays this:

Evidently a group of 9th graders are out on a field trip with their teacher.

They approach said teacher (wife witnessed this) Just completely devastated that they cold not keep their "promise" to not use plastic water bottles! They were torn the ckfu up about it. Just beside themselves.

There was wailing about carbon footprints and pretty much every damn global warming bullshit line you'd ever heard.

14 year old kids are terrified by carbon.

I asked: "Did you kill the teacher?"

She said "well, it's an airport, and I don't have a knife on me."

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 12:54 PM (ejb/Q)

206 199. I was thinking teenaged daughters

Posted by: Navpopojoe at September 07, 2014 12:55 PM (I9EdS)

207 Member to Franklin, dozing:
Come, Dr Franklin, we're going to Newark
Franklin, grumpy
Why are we going to Newark
Member
For the drinking and the whoring, of course!
Franklin
O, why didn't you say that. (Get up from chair, and picks up cane)

Fart proudly!

Posted by: fluffy at September 07, 2014 12:55 PM (Ua6T/)

208 Let it not be forgotten here, morons, that the early works of P.J. O'Rourke are not only a disguised lightweight history of what we did right and how (Reagan era) but also great fun to read. A chapter at a time as a reward for some gruesome duty done would be my recommendation.

Posted by: raincityjazz at September 07, 2014 12:55 PM (6ib5H)

209 And I'm stuck in LAX

If it was San Francisco, you wouldn't be complaining.

Posted by: garrett at September 07, 2014 12:56 PM (8vRuS)

210 205. If that teacher is at LAX I still have my lighter

Posted by: Navpopojoe at September 07, 2014 12:56 PM (I9EdS)

211 210. Assless chaps everywhere!!!

Posted by: Navpopojoe at September 07, 2014 12:57 PM (I9EdS)

212 That teacher. NavyCopJoe with a lighter...

The stupidity, it burns!!!!

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at September 07, 2014 12:58 PM (9crI4)

213 I have a friend who was tossed right onto a ship when he enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1942. U-boats everywhere, and he describes with satisfaction when the would get one.

But yeah, a forgotten aspect of the war.

Which ties in interestingly enough with the matter of the Navy and Marine Corps founding. Did you know, when service branch flags are displayed, they are ordered by the dates of their founding? Which means there is a dispute between the Navy and Marine Corps, since settled by DoD.

The order is as follows: American flag first (of course), then Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and finally Coast Guard, which moves ahead of Air Force if/when the branch is activated back to the Defense Department.

Navy falls behind the Corps precisely because of that brief time during which it had been disbanded. Otherwise of course, their founding pre-dates the Marines.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 07, 2014 12:58 PM (Dj0WE)

214 Jesus
I'm outside smoking and all I see are Mexicans

Posted by: Navpopojoe at September 07, 2014 12:59 PM (I9EdS)

215 205. If that teacher is at LAX I still have my lighter

Posted by: Navpopojoe at September 07, 2014 12:56 PM (I9EdS)

no, I think it was DC. shoot, as much we both travel I don't even keep track anymore.

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 01:00 PM (ejb/Q)

216 I always fly with knitting needles tucked into my carry on bag in case someone needs stabbing.

Posted by: NCKate at September 07, 2014 01:00 PM (cawWv)

217
I'm outside smoking and all I see are Mexicans

Screaming, La Imigra doesn't work anymore.

Posted by: Jean at September 07, 2014 01:00 PM (TETYm)

218 Hello All,

I watched Jack Reacher last night and thought the basic premise was compelling enough so I ended up getting the first Reacher book. Just finished it.

It's not at all bad for its sort of thing, a detective thriller, I suppose but without the legal procedures. Reacher is just traveling about seeing the country and stumbles onto a conspiracy in a small town with far-reaching and personal implications. There's some mystery and some action, a little sex and more violence, and a good escalation of stakes.

The author is british as I understand, and now and again he'd use a phrase that didn't sound right in the mind of the American protagonist. But Reacher grew up abroad so maybe it actually is in character. Still a little jarring if you pay attention to that sort of thing. I'm not sure how well he knew guns when he wrote it either, most of it seemed alright but again there were phrases used in ways other than I'd expect, but maybe the lingo has changed some in 25 years, and his descriptions of the shotgun's effect seemed completely outlandish--though I confess to not knowing shotguns very well. But if they had the dispersal cone he claims, and they don't, they could possibly do the damage he claims across such a wide area. There wouldn't be enough projectile density to do that kind of damage. And even if people stored fertilzer and diesel together, and even if they were mixed, I doubt they'd explode in a fire. It's a pretty insensitive mix as I understand it.

But I read it in one (short) night, so the minor flaws obviously don't ruin the thing.

I also read The Stars Came Back which has been mentioned around here. It was enjoyable, some of the plot needs editing. It has numerous similarities and direct allusions to Firefly and has a pretty good basic philosophy. One
main plot is responding to a self-styled mahdi who has raised an army of radical muslims and how he must be faced force to force and put down so people see he's the loser.
It reads like it started as a serial or a fanfic and then improved from there. I don't know how there's any interstellar travel at all with the quantity of pirates in that universe. It's in a screenplay format which you mostly stop noticing after about 10% of the book, but it's not something I'd like to see turn into a trend. There's no subtly in the description and the author just flat out tells you what's happening and how it's affecting people (and occasionally what song to listen to while you're reading). It makes perfect sense if you're writing film directions but it doesn't make good literature, though it probably is easier to just tell people what's going on. Kind of like Jane Austen and Harriet Beecher Stowe but more overt and direct. There are a few too many coincidences in both books, but I suppose these things happen in stories.

Posted by: .87c at September 07, 2014 01:00 PM (GfnFg)

219 I'm outside smoking and all I see are Mexicans

Posted by: Navpopojoe at September 07, 2014 12:59 PM (I9EdS)

so many jokes, so little time

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 01:01 PM (ejb/Q)

220 I'm outside smoking and all I see are Mexicans

It's your reflection.

Posted by: garrett at September 07, 2014 01:01 PM (8vRuS)

221 @rickl...Don't fail to read "The Great Upheaval." It's a great read.

Another history which would make a great movie--Roger Crowley's "Empires of the Sea." Imagine the Knights of Malta vs. the navy of Suleiman. It don't get better than this.

Posted by: Libra at September 07, 2014 01:02 PM (GblmV)

222 217. I should shout there's Kim Karsashian
See how many run

Posted by: Navpopojoe at September 07, 2014 01:03 PM (I9EdS)

223 I always fly with knitting needles tucked into my carry on bag in case someone needs stabbing.

Posted by: NCKate at September 07, 2014 01:00 PM (cawWv)

i actually thought of getting my own plane and a pilot's license and I'll just ferry the both of us around.

It ain't hard, but it can get pricey.

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 01:04 PM (ejb/Q)

224 220. Nah, I'm too white
No one guesses my other half till I speak Spanish

Posted by: Navpopojoe at September 07, 2014 01:04 PM (I9EdS)

225 No one guesses my other half till I speak Spanish

No curb feelers on your cab?

Posted by: garrett at September 07, 2014 01:05 PM (8vRuS)

226 Like Hidden Fire is an OK read about the Krauts reinventing Jihad to attack the British Empire. Like to point to the rag heads that they invented nothing, not the car bomb, not the explosives, not the zero, not even Jihad.

Posted by: Jean at September 07, 2014 01:05 PM (TETYm)

227 225. Oh shit, I forgot about those
I need to find some

Posted by: Navpopojoe at September 07, 2014 01:07 PM (I9EdS)

228 220. Nah, I'm too white

No one guesses my other half till I speak Spanish

Posted by: Navpopojoe at September 07, 2014 01:04 PM (I9EdS)

funny part? we all meld into whatever culture in which we find ourselves. My speech and dialect adjust instantly:

que pasa cabrone!

intonations and inflections... I'm in Texas? I talk like a Texan. Louisiana? Cajun.

Fit in or get knifed, is what grandpa used to say... and he wasn't all wrong.

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 01:08 PM (ejb/Q)

229 Haole upon seeing NavyCopJoe's Hawaiian ride, "Now that's something you don't see everyday; a low-riding rice racer with curb feelers."

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at September 07, 2014 01:08 PM (9crI4)

230 While I'm here I should hunt down peaches
I hope fluffy isn't loaded

Posted by: Navpopojoe at September 07, 2014 01:08 PM (I9EdS)

231 Re "The Five Worst Books"

I am reminded, again, of critic Edmund Wilson's comment regarding Sandberg's Lincoln Biography --

"The worst thing to happen to Lincoln since John Wilkes Booth."

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 07, 2014 01:10 PM (/GgDU)

232 112
Agreed. I opted for the Audible version to occupy a long plane trip. The reader did a splendid job of capturing the characters' personalities.

Posted by: Tuna at September 07, 2014 01:11 PM (hpWy+)

233 231 - Oops..., wrong thread

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 07, 2014 01:11 PM (/GgDU)

234 214--are you outside a Home Depot?

Posted by: Joey Bagels at September 07, 2014 01:11 PM (b2PGC)

235 229. Plus I could pack in at least a dozen!!!
There were ten of us for boozeathon and we had a van
I asked if there was enough room
My sister says ' joe, we're Mexican'

I shot beer out my nose

Posted by: Navpopojoe at September 07, 2014 01:11 PM (I9EdS)

236 Haole upon seeing NavyCopJoe's Hawaiian ride, "Now
that's something you don't see everyday; a low-riding rice racer with
curb feelers."

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at September 07, 2014 01:08 PM (9crI4)

WEST SIDE!

/tries to make fingers into gang sign
/gets cramp in hand

oda lay! or odelay er... yeah it sounds better than it types.

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 01:12 PM (ejb/Q)

237 233 - No, no, Mike...., you are actually where you think you are.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 07, 2014 01:13 PM (/GgDU)

238 Mike, you really need to stop letting your cat type for you.

NavyCopJoe, ha!!

Serves you right TangonNine..

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at September 07, 2014 01:14 PM (9crI4)

239 224 220. Nah, I'm too white
No one guesses my other half till I speak Spanish

Posted by: Navycopjose at September 07, 2014 PM (I9EdS)

*fify*

/snark

Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX

Posted by: Jim at September 07, 2014 01:14 PM (vvk2F)

240 It ain't hard,
Posted by: TangoNine
-----------------

Easy for you to say...

Posted by: Zombie John Denver at September 07, 2014 01:15 PM (/GgDU)

241 It ain't hard,
Posted by: TangoNine
-----------------

Easy for you to say...
Posted by: Zombie John Denver
-------------------

I was thinking the same thing.

Posted by: John John at September 07, 2014 01:16 PM (/GgDU)

242 It ain't hard,
Posted by: TangoNine
-----------------

Easy for you to say...
Posted by: Zombie John Denver
-------------------

I was thinking the same thing.

Posted by: John John at September 07, 2014 01:16 PM (/GgDU)

243 My sister says ' joe, we're Mexican'

I shot beer out my nose

Posted by: Navpopojoe at September 07, 2014 01:11 PM (I9EdS)

ok now that's funny.

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 01:16 PM (ejb/Q)

244 From the history of Poland I'm reading, about early 17th century Poland:

Victory was repeatedly achieved at low cost and with little apparent effort, and this had a pernicious effect. Increasingly, when money was needed for defence, voices were raised in the Sejm to the effect that 'They're scaring us with the the Turks and Tatars just to get money out of us,' in the belief that if any real threat materialised it could be parried easily by the noble Polish knight, armed with the superiority of his political freedom and inspired by God. There was some truth in this, but times were changing.

Posted by: Anachronda at September 07, 2014 01:17 PM (o78gS)

245 "177
Since we're talking about U-Boats, I'd like to point out that I
mentioned on the morning thread that today is the anniversary of the
first submarine attack in history, when the Turtle tried unsuccessfully to attach a time bomb to the HMS Eagle in New York harbor in 1776.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_(submersible)"

They were originally going to name the "Turtle" the "Seawolf" but the price went through the roof, so they went with "Turtle" because turtles were cheaper.

Posted by: richard mcenroe at September 07, 2014 01:18 PM (XO6WW)

246 Easy for you to say...

Posted by: Zombie John Denver

-------------------

I was thinking the same thing.

Posted by: John John at September 07, 2014 01:16 PM (/GgDU)

I thought he got WTFDEAD by a tree while skiing? maybe I'm mixing up my celeb death memories.

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 01:19 PM (ejb/Q)

247 FWIW, I got the 'Seawolf' name for cheap

Posted by: Zombie Jack London at September 07, 2014 01:20 PM (/GgDU)

248 Mr. Dave,

I have only read ten pages of Gravity's Rainbow but I'll have to agree with you on Thomas Pynchon. Friking awful style, no context, no sense of place; like a drunk myopic staggering around in the twilight, he never tells you what's going on or when the events relate to each other. I'm not talking over the course of the book as if it's a mystery how things fit together, this occurs just inside of a single paragraph. And the next paragraph. I hate that sort of style, I can't describe it any better but I've seen it before. It's like coming to consciousness, you are thinking and have been but there's no beginning to your thought and no context. It's actually great when used in some transitions or to describe what's happening from the perspective of a disoriented person, but making that your narrative style...ugh. Anyway, heard high praise for the thing, checked it out, returned book the next day.

All just broken skylights and banana growing. Hated it.

Posted by: .87c at September 07, 2014 01:21 PM (GfnFg)

249 T9 - It was Michael, son of Bobby that did the Daffy Duck into-a-tree trick.

Posted by: Zombie Jack London at September 07, 2014 01:22 PM (/GgDU)

250 I've never liked Pynchon. When someone waxes all gushy about him, I just say, "Oh..., really? Hmm."

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 07, 2014 01:24 PM (/GgDU)

251 I've never liked Pynchon. When someone waxes all gushy about him, I just say, "Oh..., really? Hmm."

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 07, 2014 01:24 PM (/GgDU)

252
All just broken skylights and banana growing. Hated it.

Posted by: .87c at September 07, 2014 01:21 PM (GfnFg)

Dude... just trash it and go find another author.

I know that time invested in a bad book pisses me off, but the instant you know you're being taken for a ride, take that thing to the range and press on.

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 01:24 PM (ejb/Q)

253 T9..... Sonny Bono ate the tree while skiing. Mr. Denver crashed a Rutan designed plane, either a Vari-EZ or Long-EZ (I forget, exactly which), into the Pacific off of Southern CA.

Denver's struggles with addiction, the FAA and keeping a valid pilot's license were very well known, andthere still seems to be some controversy out there as to whether or not he was legal to fly, there at the end.

JimSunk New DawnGalveston, TX

Posted by: Jim at September 07, 2014 01:25 PM (vvk2F)

254 Here's another (perhaps ultimate) writer for green tea sipping lotus eaters to get all thoughtful about..., wait for it...., Wm. S. Burroughs.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 07, 2014 01:26 PM (/GgDU)

255 Here's another (perhaps ultimate) writer for green tea sipping lotus eaters to get all thoughtful about..., wait for it...., Wm. S. Burroughs.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 07, 2014 01:26 PM (/GgDU)

256 T9 - It was Michael, son of Bobby that did the Daffy Duck into-a-tree trick.

Posted by: Zombie Jack London at September 07, 2014 01:22 PM (/GgDU)

hah! yes... oh, you hate to feel humor at other folks' misfortune or bad decisions, but damn, that was.../snort... yeah...

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 01:27 PM (ejb/Q)

257 sudden mind flash of a guy walking into the cabin, snow outside, like two feet deep.

Frost on the windows, fire is going.

Takes off his cap, puts down his rifle and doesn't look up and you say:

"Where's Steve?"

He says: "bear."

And you're not surprised.

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 01:29 PM (ejb/Q)

258 other folks' misfortune
-------------------

Willful bad behavior/choices are not 'misfortune'.

" He was playing football while on skis with several other members of the Kennedy family when he hit a tree. Kennedy was not wearing a helmet or other safety equipment. Some have stated that the family had been previously warned by the ski patrol to cease the activity."

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 07, 2014 01:30 PM (/GgDU)

259 218
Re "The Stars Came Back". I enjoyed it. I've been in the mood for escapist literature this summer. Also, I appreciate the guts it takes to self publish so the flaws didn't bother me much. I've been happily pleased with the recommendations received from the SMBT. Keep 'em coming guys!

Posted by: Tuna at September 07, 2014 01:30 PM (hpWy+)

260 Abruptly recalls Sgt. Preston of The Yukon..., sitting in front of a fire in a snowbound cabin. There is a scratching at the door. Preston gets up, walks to the door opens it. "Ah!", he says, "Come in King..., lay down by the fire."

One has to be of a certain age to appreciate that.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 07, 2014 01:33 PM (/GgDU)

261 Kennedy Klan think rules and laws of physics don't apply to them.

Hence all the smashed cars, crashed plane, and well crashing into a tree.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at September 07, 2014 01:35 PM (9crI4)

262 I read somewhere that in the case of John Denver, there was some sort of peculiarity with the aircraft where he needed to open a valve to an auxiliary fuel tank, and it was hard to do in flight. I don't know whether that was a contributing factor to the accident or not.

Posted by: rickl at September 07, 2014 01:36 PM (sdi6R)

263 " He was playing football while on skis with several
other members of the Kennedy family when he hit a tree. Kennedy was not
wearing a helmet or other safety equipment. Some have stated that the
family had been previously warned by the ski patrol to cease the
activity."

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 07, 2014 01:30 PM (/GgDU)

Final score:

Tree: 1
Kennedy: 0

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 01:36 PM (ejb/Q)

264 Sgt. Preston. Heh, pretty cool, watch the first 60 secs. or so.

http://tinyurl.com/lgpbv2w

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 07, 2014 01:36 PM (/GgDU)

265 @TangoNine It was a library book. But I returned it the day after I got it, didn't get very far into it, just hated the stupid thing

Posted by: .87c at September 07, 2014 01:38 PM (GfnFg)

266
One has to be of a certain age to appreciate that.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 07, 2014 01:33 PM (/GgDU)

I'm old enough to sneak up on Vic, but the reference evades me.

Elaborate?

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 01:38 PM (ejb/Q)

267 157
144 Catcher in the Rye is a mediocre read as a novel, but it's
ultimately a dangerous book because it's assigned year after year to
millions of high school and college students as A Great Work of
Literature....which it ain't.

Have we met?

Posted by: The Great Gatsby, A Seperate Peace, Things Fall Apart... at September 07, 2014 12:11 PM (8vRuS)

Hey, me too

Posted by: The Chosen

Hmmmmpf. Losers.

Posted by: Toni Morrison at September 07, 2014 01:41 PM (4nR9/)

268 Denver's struggles with addiction, the FAA and
keeping a valid pilot's license were very well known, andthere still
seems to be some controversy out there as to whether or not he was legal
to fly, there at the end.

JimSunk New DawnGalveston, TX

Posted by: Jim at September 07, 2014 01:25 PM (vvk2F)

now it's all coming back. He was drunk or stoned and made the decision (based on what drunk/stoned people think: they're invincible) to fly a plane.

Physics always wins. Always.

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 01:42 PM (ejb/Q)

269 Started Amity Schlaes biography of Coolidge. Not far enough yet to know what I think.

Also started a compilation of H Beam Piper stories. Only read two so far and haven't liked them as much as I did 3(?) Day Planet that I read a couple of years ago. If his general feeling towards Christians and faith stayed the same as presented in "Time and Time Again" Then he would fit well with many modern authors who blame belief in Christ for the world's troubles.

Listening to a book on the life of monastic women in the middle ages on TTS. Through the first part that talks about some of the female saints possibly being renditions of local goddesses based on their traditional stories. Now on to some of the saints that are *known* to have existed. Been interesting if not particularly engrossing.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 07, 2014 01:43 PM (GDulk)

270 Rickl..... indeed, you're correct. Fuel tank selector switch was on aft-bulkhead, directly above the pilot's left shoulder. Would require taking controlling the stick with the left hand, and reaching up and over with the right, in order to reach the switch.

Not a horrible thing in and of itself, but at only 500 ft. altitude, in a canard layout airplane, if that canard stalls and the nose drops (as it does by design), there's just not enough time (or altitude) with which to recover.

Especially with the left hand on the stick and the pilot's eyes twisted around and to his left..... no view of the horizon ahead, and a broken interplay of the inner-ear and visual cues, and the "wrong hand" on the stick, very likely lacking the required muscle-memory to move things in the right directions.

That's a 200+ kt. airplane, and even loafing along at flight-idle, it's still likely around 125 mph, a bit faster than a Cessna 152's top speed.

Mere seconds from stall to impact, tragically.

JimSunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX

Posted by: Jim at September 07, 2014 01:45 PM (vvk2F)

271 Posted by: Blueberry at September 07, 2014 11:15 AM (GkRj9)

Looked into "Wake of the Perdido Star". Costs about $.50 *more* on Kindle than paperback. Guess I'll wait or check the library.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 07, 2014 01:45 PM (GDulk)

272 catcher in the rye.

Again.

I mean once you read it through like 4 times from every idiot teacher/professor that thinks it's relevant, do you expect to get it assigned in a 3000 level course in college.

No, but that's why it's call the "The Catcher" because you never see that fucker coming.

boo radley. racism. blah blah blah.

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 01:46 PM (ejb/Q)

273 I'm old enough to sneak up on Vic, but the reference evades me.

Elaborate?
Posted by: TangoNine

See: 264

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 07, 2014 01:47 PM (/GgDU)

274 John Denver was a) was flying a somewhat experimental plane and b) ran out of gas over Monterey Bay and c) had to turn himself around in order to access the reserve fuel tank, meaning that he had to manually turn a petcock.

A bad combination of things.

Posted by: navybrat at September 07, 2014 01:48 PM (JgC5a)

275
See: 264

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 07, 2014 01:47 PM (/GgDU)

you just violated 2 rules of the Horde.

First, you asked me to scroll up.

C: You pointed me to a post that has a link that I wont click

And firstly: GET THE FUCK OFF MY LAWN!

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 01:51 PM (ejb/Q)

276 Mike, you know I'm just givin ya shit....

cmere gimme hug

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 01:52 PM (ejb/Q)

277 Laura Wilder's writing reminds me a bit of Hamlin Garland, "MainTravelled Roads" is a collection of short stories set in the 19th Century Midwest.

I've never forgotten one of the stories in the book, "Return of a Private". 4 Wisconsin soldiers return home at the end of the Civil War, and set out for their homes on foot.

Some great writing, IMO.
"Here was the epic figure which Whitman has in mind, and which he call the 'common American soldier.' With the livery of war on his limbs, this man was facing his future."

"His farm was mortgaged, a rascally renter had run away with his machinery, his children needed clothing, the years were coming upon him, he was sick and emaciated, but his heroic soul did not quail. With the same courage with which he faced his southern march, he entered upon a still more hazardous future."

"The common soldier of the American volunteer army had returned...He...and his wife [are old] now.They are fighting a hopeless battle, and must fight till God gives them furlough."

Posted by: JHW at September 07, 2014 01:53 PM (5G4F7)

278 "The common soldier of the American volunteer army
had returned...He...and his wife [are old] now.They are fighting a
hopeless battle, and must fight till God gives them furlough."

Posted by: JHW at September 07, 2014 01:53 PM (5G4F7)

true words.

nothing has changed.

Posted by: TangoNine at September 07, 2014 01:56 PM (ejb/Q)

279 T9 - No worries...., but about that lawn thing..., I'm the one that cleared that land, so....

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 07, 2014 01:57 PM (/GgDU)

280 Sidebar article on the newly discovered biggest dinosaur evah really got my attention, especially the speculation about hundreds of these monster sized creatures nesting in the same spot.

Posted by: Tuna at September 07, 2014 02:07 PM (hpWy+)

281 I just finished "Secrets of the FBI" by Kessler which is a bitch fest and CYA by ex-agents. I almost threw it away when he whitewashed the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents---in case you didn't know it the FBI did absolutely nothing wrong in either case according to both their own assessment and Kessler's.But anyway I went back to reading it because there is actually a lot of political information to be gleaned. here are interviews with former directors and movers and shakers. The most interesting thing about it is, at one point Muller or Cummings I think says that radically changing the FBI into a counter terrorism agency in the last 10 years has been a mistake. They also talk about the possibility of abuse where the FBI could be used to attack political opponents. (He)They warn about this while they complain about bureaucratic layers and brag about breaking into houses to put "court ordered bugs" onto computers and such. There is even a part where they talk about how FBI agents blow the whistle on "coercive" interrogations at Gitmo. But then it turns out they blew the whistle on other FBI agents; the military were clean. And then you read that the "torture" included things like squatting over a copy of the Koran while interrogating or some such bullshit. At that point I was screaming, "IRS! ATF! Immigration! Executive Crimes! State Dept! It's right there in front of your face! You can't even see it! You are doing it (or pointedly not investigating it) and don't even know! You have become the Secret Police!". But of course he could not hear me.
Kessler is an idiot but there is information here. Mostly about how the Obama administration has destroyed our Republic agency by agency.

Since there is to be a TV series and because Kessler's book depressed me so much I also read Douglas Adam's "Dirk Gently" again and "The Salmon of Doubt". High comedy. Some brilliant writing. I wish I had known the man. He is missed.

Posted by: Daybrother at September 07, 2014 02:07 PM (3wA+8)

282 Posted by: Joey Bagels at September 07, 2014 12:11 PM (b2PGC)

The Barbary War wasn't being taught 20 years ago when I was in high school. Don't think the Mexican war was either and Spanish-American got only the most minimal mention. I'm sure it hasn't improved at all.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 07, 2014 02:08 PM (GDulk)

283 Perhaps Polliwogette a bit of background on H. Beam Piper. He was a PA railway man who for most of his life looked after his mother. He had a brief marriage to a Frenchwoman, sole notoriety of that union was their dog starred in a Bridget Bardot movie after its dissolution. He was a writer of the Campbell school, self-reliant man and really had no truck with government, academics, or religious. So when his agent died and most of Piper's contracts and paperwork were in doubt, Piper was reduced to shooting pigeon out of his apartment window to eat. And being a true self-reliant man he left a suicide note about not wanting to be a burden and killed himself.

Uller Uprising which is considered the start of his whole universe is about colonial administrators trapped by political correct myopia when dealing with the natives. The only good locals are basically a tribe of bandits who want to understand how things work. Hence all the Liberals look down on them while gushing sympathy for the other tribes, the tribes who turn out want to kill all humans.

Oomphel in the Sky is about a unique planet with native intelligence. The oh so enlightened Liberals have taken some natives off to be schooled so these natives come back as snotty as the Liberals. Meanwhile a stellar occurrence is about to happen and the more native witch doctors are fearing the end times, so end of day uprisings are happening. It falls to a human trader to work a deal with the witch doctors to quiet things down by explaining in the natives' religious framework how humans are not so special and need help.

Four Day Planet that you alluded to is about fishermen on a sea world. We have corporation run wild and corrupt union. And mixed in a crime case from another planet.

From Space Viking this snippet of conversation might help. It is between Lord Lucas Trask and a professional Space Viking named Captain Harkaman. This is Harkaman's answer to Trask's pointing out all the good men everyone is losing to fit out Harkaman's new ship.

"That's what happened to the Terran Federation, by the way. The good men all left to colonize, and the stuffed-shirts and yes-men and herd-followers and safety-firsters stayed on Terra and tried to govern the Galaxy."

The background for Jack Holloway of the Fuzzy books is as follows. He was one of those Terran stuffed shirts and got sick of it. So he became an gun-slinging adventurer who traveled to many planets until in his twilight years he became a sunstone prospector on Zarathustra. Where he discovered Little Fuzzy and to protect the little guy Jack managed to topple the corrupt colonial administration.

Hope this helps things. Piper is a complicated person and his stories reflect it.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at September 07, 2014 02:23 PM (9crI4)

284 Our family has the custom of reading aloud after supper. It's a pleasant way to pass the time while doing the dishes, and over the 33 years of our marriage, we've done quite a few books - fiction, history, and biography, for the most part.

At present, we are nearing the end of McCullough's "John Adams". What a delightful book: informative, wise in its judgements, lucid and gracefully written. And what a life he tells! Or I should say "lives", since Adams' story is equally that of his wife Abigail, and their children, in particular their daughter Nabby and oldest son John Quincy. Such people, such times, such accomplishments! And I defy anyone to read the book through and not be moved nearly to tears by the description of Adams' death.

Sometimes, I am close to despair, in seeing how close the Left has come to finishing its long march through the institutions and extinguishing our republic in all but name. "John Adams" is a reminder of what the republic was, and could be again.

Posted by: Brown Line at September 07, 2014 02:32 PM (a5bF3)

285 Awesome! Do keep us posted about Golden Angel OSP.

Posted by: BornLib at September 07, 2014 02:34 PM (zpNwC)

286 Am I too late for the shitty book thread?

Posted by: Siddhartha at September 07, 2014 02:45 PM (7cVus)

287 And how can I forget Cosmic Computer or Graveyard of Dreams. About a planet many years after the System States Wars. During the wars it was the HQ against the planets who's descendants would found the Sword Worlds and later send the Space Vikings back to raid. Now its a backwater barely eeking out an existence as everyone is still raiding the abandoned bases for uniforms and what-not.

The story opens with a young man returning to this planet after studying on Terra. His mission was to find Merlin, the mythical computer that is supposed to still be on the planet and helped win the System States Wars. He has done his research and even interviewed the commander. He knows there is no Merlin but instead of crushing their hopes, the book ends with him using the myth and his new knowledge to help bootstrap the planet.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at September 07, 2014 02:46 PM (9crI4)

288 *delurk* Currently reading Manifold: Space by Stephen Baxter. One in a future history trilogy, each set on one Earth in the Multiverse, and each dealing with Fermi's Paradox (the universe should be teeming with life, but where is it?). Each of the books can be read stand alone, there are characters that span each book, but that's the only connection. Baxter writes hard skiffy, I've read his Flood/Ark duology, and enjoyed them.

Just ordered A Failure of Civility by Mike Garand, (think community organizing for The Burning Times) and The Reluctant Partisan Volume One: The Guerrilla by "John Mosby" of the Mountain Guerrilla blog, also for the Times of Burning. Hard copies for both. Pricey, but priceless should the effects of QEx, ISIS, China, Russian hackers, or SMOD come to pass.

*hits tip jar as I recloak*

Posted by: bikermailman at September 07, 2014 02:47 PM (ZOycJ)

289 Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at September 07, 2014 02:46 PM (9crI4)

Dang, I KNEW I had a book by H.BP and found it. Old paperback called 'Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen'.

Interesting thing. I didn't know he had committed suicide. But the paperback that I have, printed in '65 says this:

"H. Beam Piper died unexpectedly in November, 1964, which unfortunate occurrence makes Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen his last science-fiction novel. An enigmatic man during his lifetime-at least as publishers information was concerned..." and it goes on for a bit.

I wonder what that means. Kind of weird.

Posted by: HH at September 07, 2014 03:33 PM (XXwdv)

290 At the risk of being tossed in the barrel...

"Younger Next Year" by Chris Crowley and Henry Lodge MD. A concise and very readable summary on the physiology of aging and how not to become a sorry fat ass like sadly most Americans are becoming. Takes all of 45-60 minutes a day, 5-6 days a week, and a heart rate moniter. No gimmicks and no sales pitches. Pretty motivational stuff actually. Staying alive, fit and healthy into your 80's and 90's instead of a blob always visiting the ortho guy whining about the knee replacement still hurting.

OK...where's the barrel.

Oh... and,

"A Long Way Home" by Saroo Brierley (non-fiction). A memoir about a young Indian boy who got separated from his brother and fell asleep on a train in India, ended up miles from his village in Kolkalta (Calcutta), survived on the streets for a while, to an orphanage, and ultimately adopted by a couple in Australia. Twenty five years later found his mother and family using his sketchy memory and google earth to figure out where his village was.

Posted by: PublicServiceLurker at September 07, 2014 03:52 PM (JLfpf)

291 I read a book last January that changed my life: "Father Abraham: Lincoln's Relentless Struggle to End Slavery," by Richard Striner.

(The way it changed my life is that I went from being a person who thought Civil War buffs were weirdos to being a Civil War buff myself. Striner's book so inspired me to learn more that since I finished it, I've read roughly a book a week that's Civil War-related.)

Striner's book puts to rest once and for all the common misconception that Lincoln didn't give a squat about slavery and only cared about saving the Union. As Striner shows, freedom and Union were inextricably connected, and Lincoln knew it very early on.

Another excellent, though very short, read is "Why They Fought: The Real Reason for the Civil War" by David von Drehle, which is a Kindle single at Amazon -- $2.99 and worth five times that.

Posted by: Kathy from Kansas at September 07, 2014 04:23 PM (afLO3)

292 The old timers told me that at the start of WWII, there was a tanker torpedo by the Krauts within sign of the Pensacola Navy Yard, at the north end of the Gulf of Mexico.

Posted by: Whitehall at September 07, 2014 04:49 PM (k876Y)

293
Re: Andrew Klavan:
Best-kept secret out there. He's become my favorite living novelist -- beating out Koontz and Connelly.

I initially got hooked on Klavan's "young adult" books -- first and foremost the "Homelanders" tetralogy (first volume: "The Last Thing I Remember"). I liked the YA books so much that I started seeking out his works for adults -- and boy, are they ever for adults only. Some of them are very, VERY rough, in terms of both sex and violence. Don't read "The Animal Hour" or "Killer on the Wind" if you're prone to nightmares. "True Crime" I rate as one of the best works of fiction I've ever read. I've never seen the movie of it -- but it can't possibly be as good as the book, since much of the thrill of the book is the dazzling prose itself. And I do mean DAZZLING. Klavan in this book outshines everyone from Stephen King to Mark Helprin, from John Grisham to Ayn Rand to Pat Conroy.

Andrew's now working on the screenplay for "Gosnell," about -- you guessed right -- the Philadelphia baby-butcher.
http://tinyurl.com/jwkv3ej

Can you imagine someone with the guts to take on THAT challenge? But if anyone's up to it, Andrew Klavan is -- he's both a creative genius and a straight-up guy -- probably the ONLY person I would trust to screenwrite this movie. Nevertheless, since the vengeful powers of hell and the Establishment will probably be unleashed on him, he could use our prayers!

Posted by: Kathy from Kansas at September 07, 2014 05:11 PM (afLO3)

294 Since the whole kerfuffle over the Hugos and the resultant behaviour of the leftist winners, I've been working my way through the works of the authors they were calling "fascist" and "racist".
I started with Larry Correia's stuff, but I'm bracing myself to work up to Theodore Beale (Vox Day), who is the really hated one. Other than Larry, the rest of the MadGeniusClub are going to be in between.
It helps that they're all indies on Amazon.... I haven't purchased a book from an SF publisher other than Baen for years. Read a quite a few, but only to remind myself why I wouldn't give them my money.

Posted by: taboo at September 07, 2014 05:12 PM (/CMMv)

295 83 Anything written by Thomas Pynchon goes on the worst book list.
Posted by: Mr. Dave at September 07, 2014 11:24 AM (jZ9G1)

I have tried a couple of his and could not get into them.

But I loved his "Crying of Lot 49." Short. Quick read. Fun.

Posted by: LochLomondFarms at September 07, 2014 05:28 PM (04uMc)

296
277 Laura Wilder's writing reminds me a bit of Hamlin Garland, "MainTravelled Roads" is a collection of short stories set in the 19th Century Midwest.

I've never forgotten one of the stories in the book, "Return of a Private". 4 Wisconsin soldiers return home at the end of the Civil War, and set out for their homes on foot.

Posted by: JHW at September 07, 2014 01:53 PM (5G4F7)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Thanks for the tip, JHW. Definitely going to look into that!

I've repeatedly run across Hamlin Garland in the footnotes of biographies about my hero Ulysses Grant. Garland was one of the first writers to make the rounds of still-living family members, neighbors, colleagues, etc., of Grant and interview them, producing a biography that is still a source for people studying Grant.

I've heard that Garland's novels "A Son of the Middle Border" and "A Daughter of the Middle Border" were bestsellers back in the day and have worn well. Have you read either of them?

Posted by: Kathy from Kansas at September 07, 2014 05:31 PM (afLO3)

297 Finished "Thorium: Cheaper than Coal."

Money quote: "There is considerable engineering needed to perfect the process."

What an understatement! I'm a nuclear engineer and there remains many open issues with making it a commercial scaled design. Not that it can't be done, just there will be surprises and issues that the author, a physicist and computer center manager, haven't the real-world background to anticipate.

His argument that we NEED THORIUM NOW because we're running out of uranium is grossly overstated too.

When I recently started to hear about molten salt thorium reactors (knew about them in college, about when the program was cancelled in the early 1970s), I at first thought this was a diversion al la Lyndon LaRouche.

I'm less skeptical now and agree they need a closer look. The GOP could start talking about them as part of their platform.

Posted by: Whitehall at September 07, 2014 05:33 PM (k876Y)

298 284 Our family has the custom of reading aloud after supper. It's a pleasant way to pass the time while doing the dishes, and over the 33 years of our marriage, we've done quite a few books - fiction, history, and biography, for the most part.

What a terrific custom!

Posted by: Donna and V. at September 07, 2014 05:39 PM (+XMAD)

299 Posted by: Kathy from Kansas at September 07, 2014 05:31 PM (afLO3)

Thanks for mentioning those books. They are free on Kindle so I got all three and will probably have my kids read them for school.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 07, 2014 05:56 PM (GDulk)

300 Just finished reading Ken Follet's A Place Called Freedom. meh. Looks like he took some of the same characters from that book and folded them into the latest Century trilogy he wrote

Posted by: Secret Squirrel at September 07, 2014 06:46 PM (0SmH0)

301 Shamed out of lurking.

Recently reread THE CANDLEMASS ROAD, by George MacDonald Fraser. It's wonderful, and if you like historical fiction at all, you should go for it.

Fraser's the FLASHMAN guy, the guy who wrote the screenplay for the Charlton Heston/Raquel Welch version of THREE MUSKETEERS.

He also did nonfiction: a great memoir of the Burma campaign, QUARTERED SAFE OUT HERE, is worth reading. His history of the 16th Century Border Reivers, THE STEEL BONNETS, is okay, but dry in spots.

THE CANDLEMASS ROAD is a novella about the Reivers, and it grips. He wrote it at the peak of his form. The dialog is priceless - he studied documents of the day to get the language just right, and it drives the plot and the themes.

If one thing is amiss it's that the author's hostility to religion rides in hard. His protagonist is a "free thinker," yawn. He has the character raised and educated by a famous priest, a driver of the Reformation in England, but he spouts ideas like a 20th Century punk.

Ah, well, you get the same thing in Bernard Cornwell. For every good clergyman he shows us 99 bad - and of course the good one is an iconoclast. It might have been daring when Somerset Maugham did it, but I doubt it.

Doesn't mar it much, though. If you like good writing, you won't regret reading THE CANDLEMASS ROAD.

Posted by: Walt from Taiwan at September 07, 2014 07:25 PM (szhAY)

302 Not sure if anyone's still reading these comments, but Costco (at least in Eastern Wash.) is carrying a series called "The Generals" from Regnery. I picked up the three they had: "Curtis LeMay, Strategist Tactician" (2009), "Hap Arnold, Inventing the Air Force" (2013) and "George S. Patton, Blood, Guts, and Prayer" from 2012.

Posted by: GoCougs (Go 1-11) at September 07, 2014 07:57 PM (iCO4n)

303 Not sure if anyone's still reading these comments...

You'd be surprised who's still hanging around reading comments. Thanks for the tip about the books at Costco.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 07, 2014 10:57 PM (yRdR4)

304 LeMay and Hap Arnold? Sounds pretty good. I don't like how my reading list keeps expanding every week, though.

Posted by: .87c at September 07, 2014 11:35 PM (Syc3P)

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