Sunday Morning Book Thread 01-12-2020

Morrison Library Reading Room, University of California

Looks like a nice place to pick out a comfy chair and read on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes, wine moms, frat bros, crétins sans pantalon (who are technically breaking the rules), banjo pickers, stamp lickers, whisker flickers, sticker gitters, and Mason Williams fans. Welcome once again to the stately, prestigious, internationally acclaimed and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread, a weekly compendium of reviews, observations, snark, witty repartee, hilarious bon mots, and a continuing conversation on books, reading, spending way too much money on books, writing books, and publishing books by escaped oafs and oafettes who follow words with their fingers and whose lips move as they read. Unlike other AoSHQ comment threads, the Sunday Morning Book Thread is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Even if it's these pants, which would be fine if you were partying all night with Andy Gibb.

It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

To PROSCRIBE is to ban something.
To PRESCRIBE it is to advise its use.
Etymologically, both mean ‘to write before’. Their different meanings derive from their use in the law: PROSCRIBE originally meant ‘to publish a guilty person’s name’; PRESCRIBE meant ‘to write down a rule’.
— Haggard Hawks 📚🦅 (@HaggardHawks) January 5, 2020

High-Quality Books

I've been meaning to talk about this for a few weeks, but Eris beat me to it:

71 The Folio Society is having a sale:

https://www.foliosociety.com/usa

I've never ordered their versions but some of them look delicious.

That "WTF Mr. Feynman" book that many morons seem to love is in the collection.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Revered She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 05, 2020 09:39 AM (Dc2NZ)

I'm sure many, if not most, of you morons are familiar with the Criterion Collection DVDs, which are state-of-the-art restorations of classic films. Criterion's goal is to provide you with the most superior viewing experience they can possibly produce. You'll pay more for the DVD, but if it's your favorite movie, or if you're a film connoisseur, it's well worth the price.

The Folio Society is kind of like that, only for books:

Founded in London in 1947, The Folio Society publishes carefully crafted editions of the world’s finest literature. We believe that great books deserve to be presented in a form worthy of their contents. For over 70 years we have celebrated the unique joy to be derived from owning, holding and reading a beautiful printed edition.

Beautifully crafted, imaginative editions of the world’s great works of fiction and non-fiction, Folio Society books offer a rich literary experience to readers of all ages. The books we select for publication are timeless – we know they will be enjoyed and appreciated now and in the future. Because each book is considered as an individual object of value in its own right, there is a variety to our aesthetic – the only uniformity is in the quality of every single book.

For example, one of the books they have for sale is Charles Portis' novel True Grit. Go over there and take a look at the photos, and you can get a pretty good idea of the high quality of the printing and the illustrations. And each edition comes with its own slipcase cover.

The Folio Society's catalog includes fiction, non-fiction, and children's books. Weird: They have Lord of the Flies in the children's book section. It is anything but a children's book.

The downside is, of course, you have to pay for this sort of quality. True Grit sells for > $50 and the price tag on others is even higher, sometimes by a lot. But if you want a book you can both read and enjoy for yourself and pass it on to your children, TFS would be a good option.

Here is everything they have, on one page.

They Don't Publish Books Like This Any More:

(h/t Pulp Librarian)

Moron Recommendations

Who likes calendars? I like calendars. I like calendars like I like maps. I find them endlessly fascinating. A lurker sent in this recommendation of an old (pub. 1937) book, The Romance of the Calendar, which is a comprehensive history of calendars and how they were developed:

Astronomers and mathematicians, archaeologist and churchmen, have contributed to our knowledge of the many calendars by which man has measured time. But this is the first book that surveys the development and significance of the calendar as a whole. The author discloses the origins of the calendar from times of remotest antiquity and among peoples of every race.

The lurker pointed out this quote:

In their characters and circumstances, Julius Caesar and Mohammed were poles apart. The one was a man of the West-- practical, orderly, opportunist. The other was a man of the East-- fanatic in his fervor and filled to overflowing with the divine madness of mysticism. Yet when these two men came to handle the calendar, they were curiously alike. They knew that something should be done about it. They believed they knew what should be done. They did it.

There had to be a decision which admitted of no compromise. Caesar looked to the future and chose the sun. Mohammed looked on the past and adhered no less definitely to the moon.

This one sounds interesting enough that I might have to buy a copy for myself. Abebooks has a number of used copies available as does Amazon.

___________

Been reading comfort books by Byron Farwell.

Mr. Kipling's Army and Queen Victoria's Little Wars...

He had a droll sense of humor. I've read most of his other books, but these are his best. Concise, fun, and incisive.

I recommend these unreservedly to our smart military blog.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 05, 2020 09:12 AM (u82oZ)

________

Farwell is fun. I'd include The Gurkhas among his best. though. But Kipling's Army has to be the most fun.

Posted by: Eeyore at January 05, 2020 09:42 AM (ZbwAu)

So, let's take a look at Mr. Kipling's Army: All the Queen's Men, which was published back in ye olden days of 1987:

The outrageous, but often glorious, story of Britain's pre-World War I Army. This is an upstairs-downstairs view of the Victorian-Edwardian army, one of the world's most peculiar fighting forces. The battles it fought are household words, but the idiosyncracies and eccentricities of its soldiers and the often appalling conditions under which they lived have gone largely unrecorded. Byron Farwell explores here the lives of officers and men, their foibles, gallantry, and diversions, their discipline and their rewards.

As Eeyore and salty mention, Farwell (who served as an officer in the North African and Italian campaigns in World War II and also in the Korean War, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1964) wrote a number of books, but only one I could find has been published as an e-book, and that one is The Great Boer War:

The Great Boer War (1899 - 1902) – more properly the Great Anglo-Boer War – was one of the last romantic wars, pitting a sturdy, stubborn pioneer people fighting to establish the independence of their tiny nation against the British Empire at its peak of power and self-confidence. It was fought in the barren vastness of the South African veldt, and it produced in almost equal measure extraordinary feats of personal heroism, unbelievable examples of folly and stupidity, and many incidents of humor and tragedy. Byron Farwell traces the war’s origins, the slow mounting of the British efforts to overthrow the Afrikaners, the bungling and bickering of the British command, the remarkable series of bloody battles that almost consistently ended in victory for the Boers over the much more numerous British forces, political developments in London and Pretoria, the sieges of Ladysmith, Mafeking and Kimberley, the concentration camps into which Boer families were herded and the exhausting guerrilla warfare of the last few years when the Boer armies were finally driven from the field.

The Kindle edition is $9.59.

While looking at those Farwell books, Amazon suggested this one, The Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Land Warfare: An Illustrated World View, which is described as

The definitive one-volume reference to the armies, arms, and actions of the century that defined modern warfare.

The Napoleonic Wars opened the century; the American Civil War punctuated its midpoint. Throughout, conflict seldom abated, whether between the European powers on their own continent or between their colonial proxies around the world. Byron Farwell, an authoritative and engaging chronicler of military history, illuminates here all aspects of this colorful, horrifying, compelling century of war.

Global in reach, the encyclopedia covers Latin American rebellions; African, Indian, and Southeast Asian conflicts; Chinese and Japanese actions; and the Indian wars of North America. It is comprehensive, with coverage of weapons development, battles and campaigns, military leaders, and more. Farwell's treatment of military medicine and wartime journalism is unmatched, and his interpretive essays relate events and people to one another and to the century's technological and scientific trends.

Including nearly 1,000 illustrations reproduced from period sources, this groundbreaking encyclopedia is destined to become a much-used and desired reference.

This sounds like a fine coffeetable book for you smart military morons. Available in hardcover for approx. $30.

___________

A lurkette e-mailed me a recommendation for the historical romance novel Pastora:

I think this book was recommended by one of my fellow ‘rons or ‘ronettes, but I would like to add my recommendation. In 1844, Lucy Curtis meets Caleb Bates while working at a boarding house in St. Luke’s Plains, Missouri. He persuades her to marry him and trek to California to set up a sheep ranch. The first part of the novel deals with the hardship of the trail, especially since this is pre-Gold Rush and the passes over the Sierras are not well scouted.

Once in California, the survivors set up a community and Lucy, now a widow with two young children, becomes a shepherdess (“pastora” in Spanish). The discovery of gold changes everything. Eventually, she moves to San Francisco, a new and rough town, to open a dry goods store and builds a new life.

Ms. Barnes does an excellent job capturing the life of the early pioneers and the difficulties women faced on the trail and after. Not everyone is suited for the adventure.

This novel appears to be long OOP, but there are plenty of used copied floating around.

Also:

NB: Ms. Barnes was an actress as well as an author. Boomers will recognize her from her role as “Vicki” in the original “Parent Trap.” I’m not sure if this novel is still in print, but I found a copy through my local library.

So I looked up Ms. Barnes' bio on imdb.com. She is an impressively accomplished woman.

___________

Lurker Tailgunnersam e-mails:

Picked up Tom Holland‘s mass marketed Roman history book Dynasty and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The way he waves in Horace, Ovid and Seneca was really nice. Plus he does a good job of keeping a very confusing family tree in order.

To paraphrase a blurb it is populated by a spectacular cast: murderers and metrosexuals, adulterers and druids, scheming grandmothers and grifting gangsters.

Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar picks up where Holland's earlier history, Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic, left off:

...opening where that book ended: with the murder of Julius Caesar. This is the period of the first and perhaps greatest Roman Emperors and it's a colorful story of rule and ruination, running from the rise of Augustus through to the death of Nero. Holland's expansive history also has distinct shades of I Claudius, with five wonderfully vivid (and in three cases, thoroughly depraved) Emperors—Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero—featured, along with numerous fascinating secondary characters. Intrigue, murder, naked ambition and treachery, greed, gluttony, lust, incest, pageantry, decadence—the tale of these five Caesars continues to cast a mesmerizing spell across the millennia.

Hmmm... Sounds just like our ruling classes. I guess things never change. I wonder if local comedians liked to surreptiously scribble "Postumus didn't kill himself!" on temple walls.

___________

Lurkette SandyCheeks also sent in a recommendation:

Yesterday, I got this one in my feed. I'm no fan of sci-fi or Dystopian fiction, but this one sounded good enough to reel even me in.

I'm betting the 'rons would like this one. It has an 83% five-star rating and an "A" rating from fakespot.

The novel she's referring to is Among These Bones by Amanda Luzzader.

Doomsday was bad enough...but then they took her son.

Alison and her son Arie survived a global pandemic, but the cure that keeps them alive also steals their memories. Living under the harsh rule of The Agency--a shadowy government organization that administers the cure--is grim enough. But Alison's world is torn apart when Arie goes missing.

How far would a mother go to discover the truth?

The introductory price is 99 cents, as this is the first of a trilogy. You'll pay a bit more for book 2, When It's No Longer Night, and book 3, Maybe We'll Remember.

Who Dis:

(For full credit, name them both)

Last week's 'who dis' was Deborah Kerr.

___________

If you like, you can follow me on Twitter, where I make the occasional snarky comment.

___________

So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, bribes, insults, threats, ugly pants pics and moron library submissions 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 you all know, life is too short to be reading lousy books.

Posted by: OregonMuse at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Still doing the re-read of the WEB Griffin Marine series. On the 9th book now. One left to go.

Posted by: Vic at January 12, 2020 09:01 AM (mpXpK)

2 Tolle Lege
Picked up at the used book store Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe's Tiger, well into it already

Posted by: Skip at January 12, 2020 09:01 AM (ZCEU2)

3 Looks like a nice place to pick out a comfy chair and read on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Too bad it is in CA.

Posted by: Vic at January 12, 2020 09:02 AM (mpXpK)

4 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. Hope everyone had a great week of reading. Mine was varied and fun.

Posted by: JTB at January 12, 2020 09:02 AM (7EjX1)

5
That library looks comfy. A perfect clubhouse for Antifa when they aren't bashing heads in the street. Nice.

Posted by: Some Guy in Wisconsin at January 12, 2020 09:03 AM (ClCgE)

6 Beautiful pics today!

Morning Horde

Posted by: CN at January 12, 2020 09:03 AM (U7k5w)

7 The Queen Mother and the future QEII

Posted by: jmel at January 12, 2020 09:03 AM (OeWgo)

8 Who dis? Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of England and Princess Anne?

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes - the Housekeeper at January 12, 2020 09:03 AM (IttZ7)

9 Her Royal Majesty Elizabeth II and. . .daughter Princess Anne?

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 12, 2020 09:04 AM (Ki5SV)

10 Slight loose shit up top, OM. It's Andy "Gibb," not "Gibbs."

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 12, 2020 09:04 AM (Ki5SV)

11 Hey people, I'm here now. Thanks for coming out. I know this is some kind of Book thing, and you know what? I have a book you should read. No Malarkey! And I wrote it myself! We'll, DrJill wrote the foreword and helped me with the hard words, but word as Biden: It's good.

The Pasty Gourmet.

Get it now, in all your favorite bookstores, and they even have it at that Internet place named for a river, whats it called? Anyway, some of the pages are sticky, but that's realism. Hey, check out the reviews:

"The Pasty Gourmet is a tour de force. One man's incandescent and timeless odyssey into maelstrom of American life."

--New York Times Review of Books

"A book for our time. I get paid for saying that don't I?"

--Presznit Barack H. Obama

"Dat white dude done wrote a book and it good."

--Corn Pop

"The Pasty Gourmet was a searing indictment of the lawless and uncouth Trump Administration. Riveting."

--Professor William Kristol

Now, you, over there, you wanna arm wrestle?

Posted by: Joe Biden at January 12, 2020 09:04 AM (IttZ7)

12
Who dis? Looks like the Queen. Did she have a daughter? All I hear about the royal family involves the two sons.... the pedo and the freak eldest nutbag. Sad.

Posted by: Some Guy in Wisconsin at January 12, 2020 09:06 AM (ClCgE)

13 8 I think you got it

Posted by: Skip at January 12, 2020 09:06 AM (ZCEU2)

14 Those pants are fine. I would turn them into shorts and wear them to barbeque in my back yard.

Posted by: Rush L at January 12, 2020 09:07 AM (Tnijr)

15 hiya

Posted by: JT at January 12, 2020 09:07 AM (arJlL)

16 Booken morgen horden

Posted by: Vmom 2020 at January 12, 2020 09:08 AM (G546f)

17 Who dis: QE 2 and princess Ann

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 09:08 AM (zr5Kq)

18 Greetings. Got my coffee and The Strange Death of Europe by Douglas Murray. A well researched and depressing look at the mohammedan invasion of Europe circa 2015 - present.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at January 12, 2020 09:08 AM (yzpvo)

19 Nice Lieberry!

More coffee.

The off to Church to battle with Satan.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at January 12, 2020 09:08 AM (Z+IKu)

20 I used to work for a newspaper. I got tired of hearing customers speak of their "newspaper prescriptions".

Posted by: Eeyore at January 12, 2020 09:08 AM (ZbwAu)

21 I thought it looked like a younger Queen Elizabeth but a lot of Morons beat me to it.

Posted by: Vic at January 12, 2020 09:08 AM (mpXpK)

22 Morrison was my favorite place to read!I I don't know about now, but they used to have a rule about no textbooks...just reading for pleasure!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at January 12, 2020 09:08 AM (wYseH)

23 MP4 wins todays grand prize

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 09:09 AM (zr5Kq)

24 So I reread over the week The Meaning of Everything, by Simon Winchester, which is a history of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary - which I also own, albeit in the microscopic-print two-volume reduction that came out in the 1970s.

There's nothing new on the horizon for me. I've been putting off writing my own stuff and rather desultorily making my way through some Sherlock Holmes. Nothing much beyond that.

Hope you all are having a better day.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 12, 2020 09:09 AM (Ki5SV)

25 Oregon Muse, how did you find yourself in the Outer Limits of my clothes closet? I wore those pants in my 'Groove is in the Heart' days.

Posted by: kallisto at January 12, 2020 09:09 AM (JMkM+)

26 OM, I had never heard of the Criterion Collection. I will have to save that link and go through it.

Posted by: Vic at January 12, 2020 09:09 AM (mpXpK)

27
Ahhhhh. The Hoard knows. It is the Queen....Mother of the current Queen. Makes sense.

Posted by: Some Guy in Wisconsin at January 12, 2020 09:09 AM (ClCgE)

28 You know what the best part of that lieberry is? No plastic straws! *shifty eyes*

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes - the Housekeeper at January 12, 2020 09:10 AM (IttZ7)

29 Another vote for 'who dis' - QEII and Princess Anne...
Not much new this week; time and energy taken up with sorting out my author website, which is fixed at last! (Good g*d almighty, fixed at last!)
Scribbled a bit more on the next Luna City installment, finally got through to Amazon about linking my print books to their Kindle versions.
Looking over my book purchases for the last couple of years, it looks like just about everything not gotten for research purposes, is from recommends on the book thread.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at January 12, 2020 09:11 AM (xnmPy)

30 Those pants are fine. I would wear them to a backyard cocaine binge.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 12, 2020 09:12 AM (gd9RK)

31 Who dis - is that Queen Liz & Princess Anne?
Sort of looks like them, but can't imagine them posing like that (informsl style)

Posted by: Vmom 2020 at January 12, 2020 09:12 AM (G546f)

32 All I hear about the royal family involves the two sons.... the pedo and the freak eldest nutbag. Sad.
Posted by: Some Guy in Wisconsin at January 12, 2020 09:06 AM (ClCgE)

You know who's been very good at keeping his head down and staying out of trouble? Elizabeth's youngest son, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 12, 2020 09:12 AM (Ki5SV)

33 I've been reading "Travels with Herodotus" and "Imperium" by Kapuscinski. Thanks again for recommending this author. I am also expecting delivery of three more of his works this week.

I wish Imperium in particular would experience a big revival as it so well written and takes on the USSR that Sanders and his putrid ilk of would be totalitarians love so well and wish to replicate. I don't see many people devouring Solzhenitsyn or Conquest, but Kapuscinski would be accessible to most.

Posted by: CN at January 12, 2020 09:13 AM (U7k5w)

34 Even if it's these pants, which would be fine if you were partying all night with Andy Gibbs.

I had a pair of pants like that. However, they had a 28" waist AND my wife made me toss them.

Life is unfair.

Posted by: GnuBreed at January 12, 2020 09:13 AM (Z4rgH)

35 Morrison Library is at UC Berkeley. Nice place. Just make sure you take some plastic wrap to sit on.

Posted by: JC. Idaho bot. at January 12, 2020 09:13 AM (377Zs)

36 MP4 wins todays grand prize
Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 09:09 AM (zr5Kq)

No, I was pipped at the post. See Number 8.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 12, 2020 09:13 AM (Ki5SV)

37 I think the romance of calendars is wrong about the origins of Mohammedian /Islamic calendar. But it was written in 1937, so I should cut them some slack.

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 09:13 AM (zr5Kq)

38 Like to say only once and then I think accidentally saw the pants link, and wasn't today.

Posted by: Skip at January 12, 2020 09:13 AM (ZCEU2)

39 31 Who dis - is that Queen Liz & Princess Anne?
Sort of looks like them, but can't imagine them posing like that (informsl style)
Posted by: Vmom 2020 at January 12, 2020 09:12 AM (G546f)

But it is them. The Royal family put out many pics like this when the kids were young.

Posted by: CN at January 12, 2020 09:14 AM (U7k5w)

40 How did you find the Boer War?
A: Ho-hum.

Posted by: The Gipper Lives at January 12, 2020 09:15 AM (Ndje9)

41 No, I was pipped at the post. See Number 8.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 12, 2020 09:13 AM (Ki5SV)

I DON'T CARE! YOU WIN. I kid. I didn't see it.

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 09:15 AM (zr5Kq)

42 That reading room seems to be lacking a toilet.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at January 12, 2020 09:16 AM (tT0V4)

43 QEII, and that picture doesn't really do her justice. She also seems to have a bit of a brain, which given her spawn, must mean that she ate paint chips in Buckingham Palace.

Posted by: pep at January 12, 2020 09:16 AM (T6t7i)

44 Last thread the topic of a Literary Map of your state came up. PA's map would include Edgar Allan Poe, who settled in Phila. for a time, and a bunch of guys who wrote the US Constitution. Leading light Karen Scottoline, and the most important one of all: Bill Haley, who wrote 'Rock Around The Clock'.

Posted by: kallisto at January 12, 2020 09:16 AM (JMkM+)

45 They have Lord of the Flies in the children's book section. It is anything but a children's book.

I respectfully disagree. If you limit the input, you limit the output.

To a degree, anyways. I'd say I was exposed to LOTF at around age 12 or so...

Okay maybe you have a point. Sorta.

Posted by: GnuBreed at January 12, 2020 09:17 AM (Z4rgH)

46 I'll be banned from Bucks County if I don't mention Pearl Buck and James Michener.

Posted by: kallisto at January 12, 2020 09:18 AM (JMkM+)

47 Of the depraved Emperors, Tiberius is the one that doesn't fit our ruling class. He was eminently competent. And we can't have that, nowadays.

Posted by: Eeyore at January 12, 2020 09:19 AM (ZbwAu)

48 Last week Kindltot mentioned "Venus Equilateral" by George O. Smith as 1940s pulp sci-fi stories. Sounded right up my alley so I ordered a copy. I've only read a couple of the short stories so far but they are great. Vacuum tubes, slide rules, competent and wise cracking engineers, ham radio terminology. They have the feel of parts of the Lensman and Skylark series and some of the Heinlein juveniles, especially the ones more scientific than social like "The Rolling Stones". (That was the first Heinlein I ever read.) Very enjoyable. I look forward to the rest of the book.

Posted by: JTB at January 12, 2020 09:19 AM (7EjX1)

49 Funny you mention the Boer war because it's the basis of the past interactions with two characters in At Swim Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill. Before I started this I was wondering if having homos being featured would bother me but it's about a lot more such as prevailing political attitudes in Ireland during WW1. It's incredibly well written with characters who are fully portrayed in all their complexities. I've complained here in the past about some of the horrible choices of the book group and how much nicer things would be if everyone submitted to my whims but this shows the upside of discovering something I'd have never read on my own. And no, I haven't gone homo.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 12, 2020 09:19 AM (y7DUB)

50 Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Anne.

Posted by: Annalucia at January 12, 2020 09:20 AM (S6ArX)

51 I read A Republic, If You Can Keep It by Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. What an interesting book. Judge Gorsuch looks at the separation of powers doctrine, particularly between the judicial and legislative branches, and why it is important to our freedoms. He also argues for originalism and textualism in interpreting the Constitution rather than a living constitution as a means of protecting our freedom. He also writes about ethics in the law and the role of a judge in our society. An interesting, informative book.

I also read The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin. This is the first work in her Broken Earth trilogy. Jemisin has created a world where humans must battle the earth itself. Two tectonic plates are grinding against each other causing frequent earthquakes and volcano eruptions. When a large event occurs, a fifth season, winter-like weather of at least six months duration, is triggered. Now a huge event which nearly rips the continent in two happens and threatens human existence. Jemisin has populated this world with interesting characters with specialized powers to try to keep the earth in check and keep the human race alive.

Posted by: Zoltan at January 12, 2020 09:20 AM (PevXk)

52 On the difference between prescribe and proscribe:

Doctor sees one of his older patients with an attractive woman half his age on his arm, walking and joking animatedly down the sidewalk.

"What are you doing?" the doctor asks incredulously.

"Simply following your advice," the man said. "Be cheerful and get a hot mama!"

'No you fool!" the doc replied. "I said 'be careful, you've got a heart murmur!"

Posted by: Muldoon at January 12, 2020 09:21 AM (m45I2)

53 I'll take Lord of the Flies in the Children's Section over Heather Has Two Mommies, or it's reboot Heather's Mommy is now xher Daddy and xhre Daddy Is Now Xher Mommy.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes - the Housekeeper at January 12, 2020 09:21 AM (IttZ7)

54 Is the thread moving slowly this morning, or is it me ?

Posted by: JT at January 12, 2020 09:22 AM (arJlL)

55 Pish, you don't need all of PA. Just in Doylestown you get Margaret Meade, Pearl S. Buck, James Michener, and if you expand you definition of writing, Oscar Hammerstein.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 12, 2020 09:22 AM (gd9RK)

56 I'll be banned from Bucks County if I don't mention Pearl Buck and James Michener.
Posted by: kallisto at January 12, 2020 09:18 AM (JMkM+)

Don't forget Oscar Hammerstein.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 12, 2020 09:22 AM (Ki5SV)

57 Joan Collins!

Posted by: goatexchange at January 12, 2020 09:22 AM (Fk44K)

58 Doylestown also spawned noted internet bon vivant Bandersnatch.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 12, 2020 09:24 AM (gd9RK)

59 Prescribe and proscribe are misused far less frequently than insure / ensure / assure. Each has a distinct meaning, although there are some who are trying to destroy Western Civ by suggesting that ensure and insure are interchangeable. They are not, and those people need to be shot.
Proscribe isn't misused as much because most people don't know it's a word.

My lawn, vacate the premises.

Posted by: pep at January 12, 2020 09:24 AM (T6t7i)

60 Morning, Readers!

Posted by: Weasel at January 12, 2020 09:24 AM (MVjcR)

61

FOLIO down by the schoolyard,pages all sticky.

$50 and up to read olde books ,naw thanks!

Posted by: saf at January 12, 2020 09:24 AM (5IHGB)

62 One of the books I'm currently reading includes a character, a school teacher, who lost her job because she refused to go along with PC language trends. It came to a head over refusing to replace "blackboard" with "chalkboard," the former being problematic and racist.

This was published in 1989.

It's easy to forget that the first woke offensive did get repelled. In general, nothing we are seeing today is entirely new. At most it's a logical progression from the left of my youth. The difference is that they are - or at least think they are - in a stronger position*. And so it's coming to a head.

*Certainly true of schools and of the government. And in many private businesses. One thing we don't talk about enough is the left's takeover of HR departments. Thinking back on it, we should have seen it coming. Harry Callahan warned us that they were already assholes.

Posted by: Eeyore at January 12, 2020 09:25 AM (ZbwAu)

63 Who dis:
The Queen, and Prince Charles?

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at January 12, 2020 09:26 AM (ufFY8)

64
Devil thumbs a ride...but but it says NO RIDERS that Dude is a BAD BOY with a barbed cock,the chix seem undecided?

Posted by: saf at January 12, 2020 09:27 AM (5IHGB)

65 Proscribe isn't misused as much because most people don't know it's a word.

I first came across it years ago in the Arthurian novel Excalibur. I use it in, "Islam should be a proscribed religion."

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 12, 2020 09:28 AM (Ki5SV)

66 Re Boer war, curious if we were some sort of anomaly...when I was in 2nd grade in South Florida, one of the songs we were taught to sing was "We Are Marching to Pretoria (Hurrah!)". Does anyone else remember being taught this song? I have a suspicion,for many other reasons as well, that my 2nd grade teacher was nuts.

Posted by: WTP at January 12, 2020 09:28 AM (WQfDg)

67 55 Pish, you don't need all of PA. Just in Doylestown you get Margaret Meade, Pearl S. Buck, James Michener, and if you expand you definition of writing, Oscar Hammerstein.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 12, 2020 09:22 AM (gd9RK)

Daughter and I took the grandsons to Bucks County last Saturday, went to the Mercer Museum, which needs a good cleaning and some renovation/restoration to be sure. They liked a few parts of the experience, but they were too young for the general layout and most of the exhibits.

I recall Michener being a big thing growing up, I didn't know anyone whose parents didn't have a copy of Hawaii or Centennial on the well crafted shelves.

Posted by: CN at January 12, 2020 09:29 AM (U7k5w)

68 I remember the Smothers Brothers singing "Marching to Praetoria", but not ever singing it in school, ourselves.

Posted by: Eeyore at January 12, 2020 09:30 AM (ZbwAu)

69 Morrison was my favorite place to read!I I don't know about now, but they used to have a rule about no textbooks...just reading for pleasure!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at January 12, 2020 09:08 AM

I spent some time there. Before the place went full Antifa.

Posted by: JC. Idaho bot. at January 12, 2020 09:31 AM (377Zs)

70 I wish Imperium in particular would experience a big revival as it so well written and takes on the USSR that Sanders and his putrid ilk of would be totalitarians love so well and wish to replicate. I don't see many people devouring Solzhenitsyn or Conquest, but Kapuscinski would be accessible to most.
Posted by: CN at January 12, 2020 09:13 AM (U7k5w)

Glad you're enjoying that. He writes in a matter of fact style like John McPhee where he makes everything sound interesting. I ran across a review of Imperium in the New York Review of Books, back before their political leanings reached peak retard and drove me away, and it piqued my interest. Ironically I'm reading a book, The Gift, where he's talking about a mountain range in Kyrgyzstan that I'd never heard about before (did I mention this earlier in the week? I'm at the age when I'm starting to repeat myself) and I want to see if Kapuscinski went there in Imperium.

Anyway I'm glad I made you aware of his writing. I found Travels with Herodotus at an annual college book sale and when I saw the author's name immediately snagged it.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 12, 2020 09:31 AM (y7DUB)

71 My Lensman paperbacks, bought in the early 60s, are falling apart. I found out that the six books were published as a two volume set in hardcover about 20 years ago. Out of print now, dammit, but used copies are available. The orders will probably go out this afternoon. I already have a compendium of the four Skylark books.

Posted by: JTB at January 12, 2020 09:31 AM (7EjX1)

72 Lamar Jackson is one mongoloid looking mofo.

Posted by: Rock Girthpounder at January 12, 2020 09:31 AM (CLteG)

73 For me it is a mnemonic:

Proscription means you get your head on a pike, and then no prescription can cure you.

Posted by: Kindltot at January 12, 2020 09:32 AM (1glZx)

74 Interesting. I doubt Mrs. Mistr, aka Mrs. Monster, was a fan of Smothers Brothers but that is an indication that it was somewhat known in the culture ate the time. This would have been around '70, '71.

Posted by: WTP at January 12, 2020 09:33 AM (WQfDg)

75 Hello, everyone!

First full week back at work cut into my reading time. I've just bid farewell to Lothlorien and the Fellowship is setting out down the Great River.

One of the remarkable things about Tolkien's style is how he creates a paradise that is really quite basic. No pillars of gold or elaborate comforts, just a peaceful woodland with mild weather and flowers that keep their blooms in winter. It's low-key and highly evocative.

I'm going to throw writing news in here because there isn't any. Still waiting on edits. As the military guys would say: NSTR.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 09:33 AM (cfSRQ)

76 Remember...In that picture of The Devil Thumbs a Ride, the windshield says No Riders...I remember as a kid, some cars and trucks had those stickers.

Posted by: Colin at January 12, 2020 09:33 AM (B+Lak)

77 You know who's been very good at keeping his head down and staying out of trouble? Elizabeth's youngest son, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 12, 2020 09:12 AM (Ki5SV)

Hew as rumored to be gay some years ago...is that the reason for the low profile? Maybe he's the smart one.

Posted by: BignJames at January 12, 2020 09:33 AM (X/Pw5)

78 Does anyone remember those Clan of the Cave Bear books? I remember my mom and sister reading them but telling me I was too young. I've been thinking I should go back and read them now since they were super popular back then. Would I be wasting my time?

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 12, 2020 09:34 AM (rWZ8Y)

79 Elizabeth Regina in 1960 and Elizabeth from 1930.
They look the same person!
Whats my prize?

Posted by: Rich at January 12, 2020 09:34 AM (EdT2I)

80 78
Does anyone remember those Clan of the Cave Bear books? I remember my
mom and sister reading them but telling me I was too young. I've been
thinking I should go back and read them now since they were super
popular back then. Would I be wasting my time?

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 12, 2020 09:34 AM (rWZ8Y)

My wife has all those in paperback.

Posted by: Vic at January 12, 2020 09:35 AM (mpXpK)

81
49
Posted by: Captain Hate at January 12, 2020 09:19 AM

Not enough of a rancid bile flourish at the end, like weekday Capt Hate. Please drink a double expresso and I will check back later on your progress.

Posted by: Heirloominati at January 12, 2020 09:35 AM (+J//Q)

82 59
Prescribe and proscribe are misused far less frequently than insure /
ensure / assure. Each has a distinct meaning, although there are some
who are trying to destroy Western Civ by suggesting that ensure and
insure are interchangeable. They are not, and those people need to be
shot.
Proscribe isn't misused as much because most people don't know it's a word.

My lawn, vacate the premises.

Posted by: pep at January 12, 2020 09:24 AM (T6t7i)

---
I'm very familiar with the word because I read lots of Roman history.

One of my guilty pleasures is misusing words on purpose to see if people notice.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 09:36 AM (cfSRQ)

83 I spent some time there. Before the place went full Antifa.

Posted by: JC. Idaho bot. at January 12, 2020 09:31 AM (377Zs)

Morrison was a bit off the beaten path, so it wasn't popular, and the bums hadn't discovered it when I was at Cal.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo...Brutal Statist at January 12, 2020 09:36 AM (wYseH)

84 He's fabulous and I don't know why I missed out before. I had vaguely heard of Travels, but I guess I was too focused on work related material to take the time. Now I'm scouring around for hard copies.

Posted by: CN at January 12, 2020 09:36 AM (U7k5w)

85 I'm awake!

I'm reading “The Ice Diaries: The True Story of One of Mankind's Greatest Adventures” by Captain William R. Anderson, about the secret Cold War mission of the USS Nautilus to travel under the arctic ice cap.

I knew there would be a “my horrible first meeting with Rickover” story in it. Rickover asked Anderson to list every book he read over the last year “up until the time you knew you’d be seeing me” and give a one-sentence summary. (That’d be tough. Wouldn’t want Ricky to review my Book Thread entries and thus my predilection for cheez!)

As many of us would, Anderson suddenly drew a complete blank. He stood there gaping and Rickover said “Good-bye!” So much for his shot at being part of the team. The next day Anderson’s wife began pulling out books from his library she knew he’d read. Anderson managed to recollect about 90% of the books he’d read over the year and, at his wife’s suggestion, wrote a summary of each and sent the letter to Rickover. He got the nod.

He shows up to his new assignment and receives absolutely no direction, so he just sits and studies nuclear propulsion. After a few weeks he braves Rickover’s wrath by asking what he should be doing. “What do YOU think you should be doing? Write up a proposal.” So Anderson drafts a training schedule for the position of submarine commander, which he hopes to be.
I would hate for everything to be a test.

Here’s a picture of Rickover descending into his underground lair in the heart of a dormant volcano:

https://tinyurl.com/rj8fdhb

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 12, 2020 09:37 AM (Dc2NZ)

86 OM,
I say it each week. I love those paintings you include in the thread. They can be funny, are usually touching and always delightful.

Thanks for mentioning the Calendar book. Mrs. JTB and I like them as we do maps (I'm sensing a pattern here). Another used book order to go out.

And always thank you for the thread. It is a highlight of the week.

Posted by: JTB at January 12, 2020 09:37 AM (7EjX1)

87 I had a stash of paperbacks up in the attic under the flooring. Just ordinary books now, but with a few "racy" parts I kept hidden. Same with me looking through the school library for any book with a hint of sex, found a few if I remember. Future pervert?

Posted by: Colin at January 12, 2020 09:37 AM (B+Lak)

88 Lamar is Samuel Jackson's bastard son?

Posted by: saf at January 12, 2020 09:38 AM (5IHGB)

89 Hew as rumored to be gay some years ago...is that the reason for the low profile? Maybe he's the smart one.
Posted by: BignJames at January 12, 2020 09:33 AM (X/Pw5)

He's married and has two kids, so unless he's really deep in the closet, probably not.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 12, 2020 09:39 AM (Ki5SV)

90 I haven't been able to finish anything lately--I keep bailing on books as they seen to be terrible or too difficult for me to focus on.

Last one was Sanity by Neovictorian. I have Antifragility but so far he hasn't said anything new beyond the eponymous concept, and I keep tuning out.

Story by Truble arrived a couple of days ago, and it seems to do a good job of cataloging types of character changes, how to design all aspects of a story including subtext, etc. but I just can't get into it.

Posted by: .87c at January 12, 2020 09:39 AM (TDP3i)

91 I, too, remember singing "Marching To Pretoria" in elementary school (early 1960s). But my favorite--and also that of many of my classmates--was "Sink the Bismarck."

I guess they don't still do that in the Austin Public Schools, huh?

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at January 12, 2020 09:41 AM (fTtFy)

92 Does anyone remember those Clan of the Cave Bear books? I remember my
mom and sister reading them but telling me I was too young. I've been
thinking I should go back and read them now since they were super
popular back then. Would I be wasting my time?

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 12, 2020 09:34 AM (rWZ8Y)

I read them all. The last of the series took forever to come out and was very disappointing. I did enjoy them.

Posted by: Infidel at January 12, 2020 09:41 AM (MTxDQ)

93 8 Who dis? Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of England and Princess Anne?
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes - the Housekeeper at January 12, 2020 09:03 AM (IttZ7)

9 Her Royal Majesty Elizabeth II and. . .daughter Princess Anne?
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 12, 2020 09:04 AM (Ki5SV)

Yes!

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at January 12, 2020 09:41 AM (FMfMq)

94 10 Slight loose shit up top, OM. It's Andy "Gibb," not "Gibbs."

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 12, 2020 09:04 AM (Ki5SV)

Thank you, corrected.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at January 12, 2020 09:42 AM (FMfMq)

95 Not enough of a rancid bile flourish at the end,
like weekday Capt Hate. Please drink a double expresso and I will check
back later on your progress.

Posted by: Heirloominati at January 12, 2020 09:35 AM (+J//Q)

---
Hmmm, methink he doth protest too much about the homo. Probably still closeted.

Speaking of which, I'm watching the excellent TV adaptation of Brideshead Revisited and one of the few areas where the show and the book diverge is in the show's more overt insinuation that Charles and Sebastian are lovers. The book is pretty clear that Charles loves Sebastian in the sense that he wants to be him, but he's too repressed and awkward to do anything physical.

To return to one of my recurring themes, I also think that there has been an effort to retro-actively redefine close male friendships as homosexual when they aren't. I think that's also in play with the TV adaptation.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 09:42 AM (cfSRQ)

96 Started getting into The Landmark Thucydides which I got for Christmas. One thing I noticed early on is that the author talks about some of the contemporary Greeks having migrated there during the Bronze Age. I don't recall Herodotus ever having talked about defined historical times like that; usually it was more like the Egyptians did something a long fucking time ago for example. Maybe my recollection is less than perfect but I think I'd have noticed something like that. So my question is whether these eras became defined between the two books or was Herodotus more of just a tale teller who didn't think people would be interested in that? I'm not trying to badmouth the earlier work by pointing that out because I enjoyed reading it a lot more than Fast Eddie Gibbon.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 12, 2020 09:43 AM (y7DUB)

97
Does anyone remember those Clan of the Cave Bear books? ...Would I be wasting my time?

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 12, 2020 09:34 AM (rWZ8Y)

I read them a long time ago, and I recall that they were interesting but nothing special, other than the novelty of the premise.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo...Brutal Statist at January 12, 2020 09:43 AM (wYseH)

98 And Derrick Henry was a revelation. The book, I mean, not the running back

Posted by: Rock Girthpounder at January 12, 2020 09:44 AM (CLteG)

99 66 Re Boer war, curious if we were some sort of anomaly...when I was in 2nd grade in South Florida, one of the songs we were taught to sing was "We Are Marching to Pretoria (Hurrah!)". Does anyone else remember being taught this song? I have a suspicion,for many other reasons as well, that my 2nd grade teacher was nuts.
Posted by: WTP at January 12, 2020 09:28 AM (WQfDg)
---
We were taught that one too! Did you learn "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, merry merry king of the bush is he..."

This does not preclude that your teacher was, in fact, nuttier than a fruitcake.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 12, 2020 09:44 AM (Dc2NZ)

100 Does anyone remember those Clan of the Cave Bear books? ...Would I be wasting my time?

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 12, 2020 09:34 AM (rWZ8Y)

I thought they were quite interesting and they also had a lot of caveman sex.

Posted by: Rock Girthpounder at January 12, 2020 09:45 AM (CLteG)

101 Also yes on the Kookaburra in the gum tree. And "Waltzing Matilda." I'd say we had the British Empire covered, but I don't remember anything Canadian.

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at January 12, 2020 09:45 AM (fTtFy)

102 Proscription is what the Democrats and Deep State traitors deserve.

Posted by: Rock Girthpounder at January 12, 2020 09:46 AM (CLteG)

103 So the British royal family is so sexually repressed/obsessed that the various Dukes are labelled Wessex, Sussex, Essex? But oddly enough none of them are No-sex.

Posted by: Muldoon at January 12, 2020 09:47 AM (m45I2)

104 Does anyone remember those Clan of the Cave Bear books? I remember my

mom and sister reading them but telling me I was too young. I've been

thinking I should go back and read them now since they were super

popular back then. Would I be wasting my time?

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 12, 2020 09:34 AM (rWZ8Y)
---
The first one was interesting insofar as it pushed the theory that Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals co-existed and even had children together.

The story was basically a novel based on what was then new thinking about human pre-history.

It subsequently became very much a soap opera in furs with lurid sex scenes that I can only assume were added to boost sales. There was very little in the first book, the second and third went all-in on sex (to the point of making one character's massive package a plot point), and I skipped the fourth.

I feel zero desire to revisit them. YMMV.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 09:47 AM (cfSRQ)

105 I have a couple of Folio Books, which I found at a used book store for Elk Cheapo.

None of them appear to have been read...gifts, perhaps.

Anywho-

One is a double set of the great novels of Graham Greene.

The other is a very hard to find translation of "The Satyricon".

The books all seem to have been engineered to enhance your reading enjoyment.

Excellent font size and type along with good page size so no squinty reading....unless your eyes suck.

Thick but not too thick, acid-free paper - feels great, no browning with aging.

Nice cloth covers.

If there art, nicely done and presented clearly.

Is it worth the money to pay full price?

Dunno.

I guess that would depend on the authors involved.

A full set of Evelyn Waugh? Or Kingsley Amis? Or Nabokov?

Gimme!!!

Maybe Muriel Spark, Henry Green.

Shakespeare? Yeah.

A few others and some individual books.

Probably would ask for as a Christmas gift or something like that.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 12, 2020 09:48 AM (q57gj)

106 95 - yes, that is a pet peeve of mine as well. Frodo and Sam, for just one example, were NOT homosexuals, and you completely misunderstand Tolkien if you think that. OMG. People can be close without being sexually involved.

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 12, 2020 09:48 AM (rWZ8Y)

107 53 I'll take Lord of the Flies in the Children's Section over Heather Has Two Mommies, or it's reboot Heather's Mommy is now xher Daddy and xhre Daddy Is Now Xher Mommy.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes - the Housekeeper at January 12, 2020 09:21 AM (IttZ7)

Heh... This is actually a good point.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at January 12, 2020 09:49 AM (FMfMq)

108 Thanks for the info on the cave bears. I may or may not bother. I mostly just remember my mom forbidding me from reading them (and yes, I obeyed, because I was that kind of kid...).

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 12, 2020 09:50 AM (rWZ8Y)

109 One thing I noticed early on is that the author
talks about some of the contemporary Greeks having migrated there during
the Bronze Age.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 12, 2020 09:43 AM (y7DUB)

---
The ancient Greeks had a conception that the original creation was the Golden Age, of peace and contentment. Then came the Silver Age, when bliss was diminished.

After that was the Bronze Age, a time of war.

Basically, a fall from grace.

Not to be confused with technology.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 09:50 AM (cfSRQ)

110 Did you learn "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, merry merry king of the bush is he..."

And the children's variant, "eating all the gumdrops he can see".

I have a great curiosity about cultural transmission. When I was a tyke we sang "whistle while you work, Hitler was a jerk, Mussolini bit my weenie now it doesn't squirt".

We did not know who Hitler and Mussolini were, we were five, but it was only twenty years after the war and that ditty had migrated through the children's grapevine.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 12, 2020 09:51 AM (gd9RK)

111 Sméagol was originally leading Frodo and Sam to his orgy pad in Cirith Ungol until the bitch Shelob horned in on the action.

Posted by: Rock Girthpounder at January 12, 2020 09:51 AM (CLteG)

112 78 Does anyone remember those Clan of the Cave Bear books? I remember my mom and sister reading them but telling me I was too young. I've been thinking I should go back and read them now since they were super popular back then. Would I be wasting my time?

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 12, 2020 09:34 AM (rWZ8Y)

Oh, yeah, Jean Auel.

The first one in the series was kind of ok, the second had way too many explicit sex scenes in it for my taste, so I said no thanks and went on to something else.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at January 12, 2020 09:51 AM (FMfMq)

113 So the British royal family is so sexually repressed/obsessed that the various Dukes are labelled Wessex, Sussex, Essex? But oddly enough none of them are No-sex.

Posted by: Muldoon at January 12, 2020 09:47 AM (m45I2)

And the Princesses?

Posted by: BignJames at January 12, 2020 09:51 AM (X/Pw5)

114 Probably would ask for as a Christmas gift or something like that.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 12, 2020 09:48 AM (q57gj)

I just looked at their website, and the choice of authors is a bit odd. Obviously they are Brits...so I am not surprised!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo...Brutal Statist at January 12, 2020 09:52 AM (wYseH)

115 101 Also yes on the Kookaburra in the gum tree. And "Waltzing Matilda." I'd say we had the British Empire covered, but I don't remember anything Canadian.
Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at January 12, 2020 09:45 AM (fTtFy)
---
"Alouette" is the only one that comes to mind. Wikipedia tells me that we missed out on "Squid-Jiggin' Ground" and "Jack Was Every Inch a Sailor":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Canadian_folk_songs

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 12, 2020 09:52 AM (Dc2NZ)

116 Interesting book week for me, thanks to my cousin. She sent me a copy of Thunder Below, by Eugene Fluckey. It turns out he is a distant relative (my grandmother's cousin, I'm told), so that made me want to read it, but he turns out to have been an inspiring figure. Obviously a warrior, but very successful at staying alive too (so a smart one). If you are interested in WW2 submarine warfare tactics and great stories of daring-do, you'll like this quick read.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at January 12, 2020 09:52 AM (NVYyb)

117 Weird.

Whoever designed the library above looks to be the same guy who designed the interior of the restaurant on last week's "24 Hours to Heal and Back".

But with more money and comfort in mind.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 12, 2020 09:52 AM (q57gj)

118 Speaking of which, I'm watching the excellent TV adaptation of Brideshead Revisited

The beeb one with Jeremy Irons? I was just trashing Emma Thompson earlier for being in that horribly abridged more recent one that missed entirely the spirit of the book. I wanted to everyone involved with that pile of shit to suffer horribly for wasting my time and small amount of money.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 12, 2020 09:52 AM (y7DUB)

119 And Faramir was certainly wondering what was up between Sam and Frod. It piqued his fascination with midget sex.

Posted by: Rock Girthpounder at January 12, 2020 09:53 AM (CLteG)

120 I thought they were quite interesting and they also had a lot of caveman sex.
Posted by: Rock Girthpounder at January 12, 2020 09:45 AM (CLteG)

I'll sock it to ya, Daddy!

Posted by: Bertha Butz (one of the Butz sisters) at January 12, 2020 09:54 AM (FMfMq)

121 I decided to look up Jean Auel. It seems she's written quite a number of books, but all set in the prehistoric era. So she's got that niche sewn up.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 12, 2020 09:55 AM (Ki5SV)

122 102
Proscription is what the Democrats and Deep State traitors deserve.

Posted by: Rock Girthpounder

You misspelled "flayed".

Posted by: pep at January 12, 2020 09:55 AM (T6t7i)

123 Steven Pressfield's "36 Righteous Men" has been mentioned in the Book Thread a couple of times in recent weeks. Be forewarned: It's a terrible book. Not only is it so wrong on a theological level (which I won't get into), but it's also wrapped in a stupid global warming scenario. If you can believe the temp in Moscow would hit 113 degrees in April in 2034, a mere 14 years away, well ...

I've read dozens of great books that have been tipped here, and this is the first bad one I've come across. On the plus side, nobody who mentioned it had actually read it, and it does have an intriguing premise. But don't be a sucker.

Posted by: Outside Adjitator at January 12, 2020 09:56 AM (NvFiZ)

124 Boar War? There's no need for name-calling, old chap!

Posted by: The Gipper Lives at January 12, 2020 09:56 AM (Ndje9)

125 After that was the Bronze Age, a time of war.

Basically, a fall from grace.

Not to be confused with technology.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 09:50 AM (cfSRQ)

Thank you for that bit of knowledge. Honestly that deserved a footnote imo (mentally assigns a demerit to Landmark).

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 12, 2020 09:56 AM (y7DUB)

126 108
Thanks for the info on the cave bears. I may or may not bother. I mostly
just remember my mom forbidding me from reading them (and yes, I
obeyed, because I was that kind of kid...).

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 12, 2020 09:50 AM (rWZ8Y)

---
My mother and stepfather devoured them because it had a ton of detail about food, hunting, primitive living, etc.

All of it was based on then-extant research, and the scenes where they show you a took a microlith and created a bone needle so you could sew leather garments together, which types of sinew you used, etc. They loved that kind of thing.

It's a weird combination of bunny-fur barbarian-style sex and prehistoric survival skills with a smattering of culture (use of ochre in sacred ceremonies, Earth Mother cult, etc.).

In retrospect, the book's notion that people didn't understand the exact relationship between sex and pro-creation is pretty stupid. The author buys heavily into the idea that people had "mates" but you could pretty much screw anyone you wanted without jealousy.

Very much a feminist sex fantasy.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 09:57 AM (cfSRQ)

127 "Alouette" is the only one that comes to mind.
Wikipedia tells me that we missed out on "Squid-Jiggin' Ground" and
"Jack Was Every Inch a Sailor":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Canadian_folk_songs

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 12, 2020 09:52 AM (Dc2NZ)

That list on Wikipedia is incomplete: It doesn't have The Log Driver's Waltz.

Posted by: Vendette at January 12, 2020 09:57 AM (pXNaM)

128 OK, 'rons and 'ronettes, time for another cup of tea, read the Sunday paper and decide what to do with this nice 60-odd degree day here in NE MA.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 12, 2020 09:57 AM (Ki5SV)

129 Does anyone remember those Clan of the Cave Bear books? I remember my mom and sister reading them but telling me I was too young. I've been thinking I should go back and read them now since they were super popular back then. Would I be wasting my time?

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 12, 2020 09:34 AM (rWZ8Y)

Mrs. Peel, we seem to keep meeting like this. I hope no rumors start.

I have several volumes of the Clan series. Jean Auel, the author, started out promising, and gave, I felt, a reasonable projection of pre-modern society a critical exam. Sex as a tool and a male right, ostracism as a near death sentence -- these felt period 'right' to me.

But as the series progressed, the heroine, an outcast, took on too many Jack London traits, including a saber-toothed tiger as a pet slave. Yeah right. Grrryl power.

For better historical fiction, I recommend Gary Jenning's Aztec series.

Posted by: GnuBreed at January 12, 2020 09:58 AM (Z4rgH)

130 If you can believe the temp in Moscow would hit 113 degrees in April in 2034, a mere 14 years away, well ...

Posted by: Outside Adjitator at January 12, 2020 09:56 AM (NvFiZ)

It reached 114 in Fargo ND in 1936....jus' sayin'.

Posted by: BignJames at January 12, 2020 09:59 AM (X/Pw5)

131 78
Does anyone remember those Clan of the Cave Bear books? I remember my
mom and sister reading them but telling me I was too young. I've been
thinking I should go back and read them now since they were super
popular back then. Would I be wasting my time?

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 12, 2020 09:34 AM (rWZ8Y)

Yes naughty caveman sex. Rock on! Prehistoric Flowers in the Attic.

Posted by: Ilhan Omar at January 12, 2020 10:00 AM (9dzlp)

132 75 ... "One of the remarkable things about Tolkien's style is how he creates a paradise that is really quite basic. No pillars of gold or elaborate comforts, just a peaceful woodland with mild weather and flowers that keep their blooms in winter. It's low-key and highly evocative."

Very true. Tolkien's paradise wasn't El Dorado or Atlantis. It was more like Eden or the gentle countryside he knew as a young child. I suspect Tolkien would prefer living in the Shire to Minas Tirith.

Posted by: JTB at January 12, 2020 10:00 AM (7EjX1)

133 Concerning the Boer wars; the Seige at Mafeking was an impetus for Baden Powell as he developed his ideas of, "Scouting for Boys", which book has single-handedly turned more young boys into men than any other tome.
Alas, no more!
Oh how I loathe the insidious, creeping goo of socialist assholery....

Posted by: Builder Berg at January 12, 2020 10:00 AM (q5XnN)

134 I was still in military school and too young to take part in the Boer War, but I was on the drill team.

Posted by: Muldoon at January 12, 2020 10:00 AM (m45I2)

135 accidental omar sock off, but sort of appropriate

Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at January 12, 2020 10:00 AM (9dzlp)

136 Ha! Caveman sex. My sister said the sex scenes read like they were written by somebody who hadn't had a lot of good sex. "I mean look at her photo!"

The first book had an interesting proposition on the different ways Neanderthal and Cro-Mag brains worked. The Neanderthals had race memory (for want of a better word) and intuitively knew skills, while their poor Cro Magnon foundling girl had to learn everything for the first time and was considered a homely and horribly slow tyke.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 12, 2020 10:00 AM (Dc2NZ)

137 The beeb one with Jeremy Irons? I was just trashing Emma Thompson earlier for being in that horribly abridged more recent one that missed entirely the spirit of the book. I wanted to everyone involved with that pile of shit to suffer horribly for wasting my time and small amount of money.
Posted by: Captain Hate at January 12, 2020 09:52 AM (y7DUB)

The Emma Thompson one was poorly done and felt chopped and rushed. The book needed the time and effort of the BBC series. I found some of the performances to be copies of those in the series, Malahide playing Gielgud, for example.

Posted by: CN at January 12, 2020 10:01 AM (U7k5w)

138 123
Steven Pressfield's "36 Righteous Men" has been mentioned in the Book
Thread a couple of times in recent weeks. Be forewarned: It's a terrible
book. Not only is it so wrong on a theological level (which I won't get
into), but it's also wrapped in a stupid global warming scenario. If
you can believe the temp in Moscow would hit 113 degrees in April in
2034, a mere 14 years away, well ...

One of the good things about mass media such as big budget movies is that they get shown again and again, and eventually reveal the makers for the fools and frauds they are. Case in point: The Day After Tomorrow. This was made at the peak of the global warming hysteria (2004) and now looks just silly. It's played frequently on TV, and I suspect has a real impact on making people question the doomsayers, since nothing in it has come true.

Posted by: pep at January 12, 2020 10:01 AM (T6t7i)

139 BRB, laundry is done

Posted by: josephistan at January 12, 2020 10:01 AM (Izzlo)

140 I just looked at their website, and the choice of authors is a bit odd. Obviously they are Brits...so I am not surprised!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo...Brutal Statist at January 12, 2020 09:52 AM (wYseH)

Yeah, they lean heavily on the Brit Literary Fiction side of things.

With some, at least to me, really obscure stuff.

But, with those prices, they're really aiming at a selfs-electing audience.

And, of course, they are Brits. So...say no more.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 12, 2020 10:02 AM (q57gj)

141 121
I decided to look up Jean Auel. It seems she's written quite a number
of books, but all set in the prehistoric era. So she's got that niche
sewn up.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 12, 2020 09:55 AM (Ki5SV)

---
Yeah, that was her thing. The map of ice-age Europe was cool.

Thinking it over, it really was a bunch of feminist wish-fulfillment. I didn't know what a Mary Sue was back then, but I see it now. Not so much in the first book, absolutely in the second and third. This chick figures out how to domesticate horses and declares the link between sex and childbirth.

She's also super-empowered, sleeping with whoever she wants. Ain't pre-history grand?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 10:02 AM (cfSRQ)

142 Are there any other pre- and pro- words that get misused?

prehibit and prohibit? nope

prevent and provent? nope

preliminary and proliminary? nope

Posted by: Muldoon at January 12, 2020 10:03 AM (m45I2)

143 62
One of the books I'm currently reading includes a character, a school
teacher, who lost her job because she refused to go along with PC
language trends. It came to a head over refusing to replace "blackboard"
with "chalkboard," the former being problematic and racist.

This was published in 1989.

It's easy to forget that the first woke offensive did get repelled.
In general, nothing we are seeing today is entirely new. At most it's a
logical progression from the left of my youth. The difference is that
they are - or at least think they are - in a stronger position*. And so
it's coming to a head.

*Certainly true of schools and of the government. And in many
private businesses. One thing we don't talk about enough is the left's
takeover of HR departments. Thinking back on it, we should have seen it
coming. Harry Callahan warned us that they were already assholes.

Posted by: Eeyore at January 12, 2020 09:25 AM (ZbwAu)
----------------------."The Chalkboard Jungle" isn't doing it for me.

Posted by: Groundhog at January 12, 2020 10:04 AM (VYwSh)

144 I prescribe to proscribe antonym homonyms.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at January 12, 2020 10:04 AM (LxTcq)

145 Huh, never made that connection. But I read them almost 40 years ago.

Posted by: Infidel at January 12, 2020 10:04 AM (MTxDQ)

146 I have just read

General John Glover and his Marblehead Mariners by George Athan Billias

They fought in the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Siege of Boston, they rescued Washington's army from the Battle of Brooklyn, Kip's Bay, Pelham Bay, ferried Washington across the Delaware to win the Battle of Trenton, Saratoga and Rhode Island.

A true American HERO.

Posted by: MachiasPrivateer at January 12, 2020 10:05 AM (EMi53)

147 Oh God, Flowers in the Attic. My friends loved those books, and I thought they were horrible. *shudder*

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 12, 2020 10:05 AM (rWZ8Y)

148 Like to say only once and then I think accidentally saw the pants link, and wasn't today.

I've learned my lesson. I clicked the pants link once and got spammed with the most awful Google ad placements on every site I visited. For weeks.

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at January 12, 2020 10:07 AM (qc+VF)

149 Currently reading International Harvester, John Darnielle's second novel after Wolf in White Van. The story lines may not be for everyone, but he's a true wordsmith.
Also dipping back into The First Rumpole Omnibus in spare moments. I've read it multiple times already, along with all the other stories, but it's always fun.
I have The Monster Baru Cormorant on hand, the sequel to The Traitor Baru Cormorant, but haven't started it yet. Also have Joe Abercrombie's latest, A Little Hatred, on hand, but reading a few dozen pages leaves me thinking it a bit too dark (who could have imagined?) for my current literary mood.

Posted by: Hierominous Botch at January 12, 2020 10:08 AM (YqED9)

150 My grandmother and her brothers used to sing some Canadian songs. They were sad and mournful songs, often involving separation and grievous bodily harm -- in other words, country music.
They were in French, so it's really kind of self-explanatory.
Sixty, seventy years ago there were still a lot of "Francophones" in New England, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio. That's all been wiped out now.

But it's the most urgent damn thing in the world for "us" to preserve a bunch of foreign cultures here that were never brought here by pioneers.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at January 12, 2020 10:08 AM (oRpiG)

151 The Emma Thompson one was poorly done and felt
chopped and rushed. The book needed the time and effort of the BBC
series. I found some of the performances to be copies of those in the
series, Malahide playing Gielgud, for example.

Posted by: CN at January 12, 2020 10:01 AM (U7k5w)

---
I refused to see it. One can't top genius.

I bought Sword of Honour's adaptation and it failed. It's not objectively awful, has some moments and good casting, but it's very rushed.

If you think about how long Brideshead is, imagine a trilogy. Maybe someone will make it for a streaming service as a three-season show. It would also benefit from doing what Brideshead did, and narrating some of the text.

I think that's a big part of what makes the Jeremy Irons adaptation work so well. He's got that wonderful voice and reads Waugh's prose so well.

I consider it the ne plus ultra of book adaptations.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 10:08 AM (cfSRQ)

152 116 very successful at staying alive
Posted by: Huck Follywood at January 12, 2020 09:52 AM (NVYyb)

Must've seen the "pants" link.

Posted by: m at January 12, 2020 10:09 AM (KXX3K)

153 147
Oh God, Flowers in the Attic. My friends loved those books, and I thought they were horrible. *shudder*

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 12, 2020 10:05 AM (rWZ8Y)

Yes, they were popular when I was in HS...I read one, and I was like WTF, that's messed up. Ahh yes the era of incest romance novels

Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at January 12, 2020 10:09 AM (9dzlp)

154 I was a member for years of the Folio Society, and have one bookshelf filled with their editions - but alas, they were and are expensive, so I eventually had to let it lapse ... but they are gorgeous books, beautifully printed and bound. They used to stick very close to the well-established classics - now it looks as if they are branching out a bit. I mean - Game of Thrones, really?
I'd love the edition of True Grit, and am seriously tempted by their edition of Colditz...

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at January 12, 2020 10:09 AM (xnmPy)

155 One of the remarkable things about Tolkien's style is how he creates a paradise that is really quite basic. No pillars of gold or elaborate comforts, just a peaceful woodland with mild weather and flowers that keep their blooms in winter. It's low-key and highly evocative."

Very true. Tolkien's paradise wasn't El Dorado or Atlantis. It was more like Eden or the gentle countryside he knew as a young child. I suspect Tolkien would prefer living in the Shire to Minas Tirith.
Posted by: JTB at January 12, 2020 10:00 AM (7EjX1)

I've always felt hobbits, not man, represented humans, simple, ordinary humans.

Posted by: Northernlurker, still lurking after all these years at January 12, 2020 10:09 AM (Uu+Jp)

156 148 Like to say only once and then I think accidentally saw the pants link, and wasn't today.

I've learned my lesson. I clicked the pants link once and got spammed with the most awful Google ad placements on every site I visited. For weeks.
Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at January 12, 2020 10:07 AM (qc+VF)

Huh. The link today leads to an ace.mu.nu/archives php. Not a spammy source.

Posted by: m at January 12, 2020 10:11 AM (KXX3K)

157 eleanor roosevelt & shirley temple?

Posted by: mjc at January 12, 2020 10:11 AM (Pg+x7)

158 Kindle Daily Deals (today only) has a three book collection of "The Jerusalem Chronicles" by Brodie and Breck Theone. They are about different times in the life of Jesus. I'm not familiar with the writers or books but they get tremendous, positive reviews, so I figure it is worth the $1.99.

Anyone know about the books? What did you think?

Posted by: JTB at January 12, 2020 10:11 AM (7EjX1)

159 Oh God, Flowers in the Attic. My friends loved those books, and I thought they were horrible. *shudder*

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 12, 2020 10:05 AM (rWZ8Y)

Yes, they were popular when I was in HS...I read one, and I was like WTF, that's messed up. Ahh yes the era of incest romance novels
Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless

Never had a desire to read it.

Posted by: Infidel at January 12, 2020 10:11 AM (MTxDQ)

160 We were taught that one too! Did you learn "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, merry merry king of the bush is he..."
------
Yes, sorry. Went down a Rickover rabbit hole. And many things to do today. But thanks to all who recalled those songs. Oh, Mrs. Mistr was indeed scary as I am recalling after just getting in touch with my BF who I lost track of after elementary school. We have been comparing notes andthis stuff has come up.

Also Bandersnatch, yes we sang the "Hitler is a jerk" song. I knew who H was back then but had to ask dear old dad about Mussolini.

Posted by: WTP at January 12, 2020 10:13 AM (WQfDg)

161 We also sang "Marching to Pretoria", "Kookaburra", and "Waltzing Matilda" in grade school. But this being Alabama in the late fifties, we also sang "I'm a Good Ole Rebel". I think today those lyrics would definitely be NSFW. Times have definitely changed.

Posted by: That Deplorable SOB Van Owen at January 12, 2020 10:14 AM (zggXQ)

162 > Elizabeth's youngest son, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.

He's actually been known to work for a living. He went by "Edward Windsor" when he was doing that. His film company cranked out some pretty good historical documentaries.

Lately he's been assuming the social duties of his father, who has retired from all that.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 12, 2020 10:14 AM (CF5ek)

163 22 degrees out! Debating whether to make it a "no pants/inside day".

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 12, 2020 10:15 AM (Dc2NZ)

164 I've always felt hobbits, not man, represented humans, simple, ordinary humans.

Posted by: Northernlurker, still lurking after all these years at January 12, 2020 10:09 AM (Uu+Jp)

---
I've linked to my trashing of Peter Jackson's movies before, and one thing I left out is how awful Sean Bean was as Boromir.

I like Sean Bean, he's great at being a brawler and a tough, but he is absolutely NOT Boromir.

Last night I read the passage where he *lectures* Celeborn on his long journey, basically saying "yeah, I got your travel advice right here, little elf man." Celeborn diplomatically says "Alrighty, then."

Boromir is a brave guy, but he's got a raging ego, and you need someone with the stage presence of Charlton Heston to pull that off. I'm not sure which Brit actor would work.

Oh, and Viggo is terrible as well. I'm going to stop now.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 10:15 AM (cfSRQ)

165 My book club meets today; we're doing '31 Bond Street," a whodunit based on a real 19th century murder trial. It's pretty good, with a lot detail about 19th century NYC.

Beyond that, it ranks with "The House of Mirth" in describing the difficulties of women in the 19th century without the support of a husband and/or extended family.

I"m also working on a couple of essays for my blog with the goal of making them into a book. It seems easier to work on two, so one is always 'resting." It's like making bread - you gotta let it rest so it can rise!

Posted by: vivi at January 12, 2020 10:15 AM (11H2y)

166 I've always felt hobbits, not man, represented humans, simple, ordinary humans.
Posted by: Northernlurker, still lurking after all these years at January 12, 2020 10:09 AM (Uu+Jp)
------
You'll notice that hobbits enjoyed the things JRRT enjoyed: the countryside, beer and a pipe of tobacco.

Posted by: Captain Obvious at January 12, 2020 10:15 AM (gz5MT)

167 > I think today those lyrics would definitely be NSFW.

Think about Kentucky. Their state anthem had to change "'Tis summer, the darkies are gay..." to "'Tis summer, the people are gay..." and it's still problematic.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 12, 2020 10:16 AM (CF5ek)

168 > I like Sean Bean, he's great at being a brawler and a tough, but he is absolutely NOT Boromir.

A young Brian Blessed would've been a great Boromir.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 12, 2020 10:17 AM (CF5ek)

169 We sang the Hitler is a jerk song too. Didn't know about the Mussolini part. I did know who Chairman Mao was.

Posted by: Infidel at January 12, 2020 10:17 AM (MTxDQ)

170 I'm loving that link to the Pulp Librarian twitter and its links to historical oddities. Why didn't the armored quadricycle take off?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 12, 2020 10:17 AM (Dc2NZ)

171 > I've always felt hobbits, not man, represented humans, simple, ordinary humans.

Gondor was ancient Rom. Rohan was the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The Hobbits were the modern, simple, English country folk.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 12, 2020 10:19 AM (CF5ek)

172 A young Brian Blessed would've been a great Boromir.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 12, 2020 10:17 AM (CF5ek)

---
Oh yeah. You can get a glimpse in Flash Gordon as he leads the Hawk Men.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 10:19 AM (cfSRQ)

173 163 22 degrees out! Debating whether to make it a "no pants/inside day".
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 12, 2020 10:15 AM (Dc2NZ)
------
Almost 70F here right now. Very pleasant. Definitely a no pants day.

Posted by: Weasel at January 12, 2020 10:19 AM (MVjcR)

174 Oh yeah. You can get a glimpse in Flash Gordon as he leads the Hawk Men.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 10:19 AM (cfSRQ)
------
GORDON'S ALIVE?????

Posted by: BRIAN BLESSED at January 12, 2020 10:20 AM (gz5MT)

175 Kindle Daily Deals (today only) has a three book
collection of "The Jerusalem Chronicles" by Brodie and Breck Theone.
They are about different times in the life of Jesus. I'm not familiar
with the writers or books but they get tremendous, positive reviews, so I
figure it is worth the $1.99.

Anyone know about the books? What did you think?

Posted by: JTB at January 12, 2020 10:11 AM (7EjX1)

Brock and Bodie Theone are a husband-wife writing team and together they are one of most prolific in the genre of Christian fiction novels.

Posted by: Vendette at January 12, 2020 10:21 AM (pXNaM)

176 They have Lord of the Flies in the children's book section. It is anything but a children's book.

I respectfully disagree. If you limit the input, you limit the output.

-
I was assigned to read it in what we then called Junior High.

In elementary school we sang Marching to Pretoria. Another of my favorites was the Tomahawk Lizzie song, Red Wing.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at January 12, 2020 10:24 AM (+y/Ru)

177 I think that's a big part of what makes the Jeremy Irons adaptation work so well. He's got that wonderful voice and reads Waugh's prose so well.

I consider it the ne plus ultra of book adaptations.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 10:08 AM (cfSRQ)

Some people define a role so well that any attempts to reprise it are doomed; but fuckheads will do what they do...

Reading The Gift, I ran across a beautifully written passage in the second section where the narrator is talking about his father (which isn't Nabokov's father, whom he admired, but more like him) going off on these far flung trips looking for butterflies, and talking about how he knew where to look in an anthill to find a blue caterpillar that coexisted with the ants because it could be stimulated to produce a liquid that intoxicated the ants. So intoxicating that the ants allowed it to eat the larvae. The caterpillar would become a chrysalis still in the anthill and when the butterfly emerged, it exuded a liquid that makes the ants slip and fall until it can fly away.

Whether or not that's true, who knows? I mean it could be but I don't care because I enjoyed it just reading about it and the truthiness about it, or not, doesn't change my life one iota.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 12, 2020 10:24 AM (y7DUB)

178 > Oh yeah. You can get a glimpse in Flash Gordon as he leads the Hawk Men.

Blessed as Edward I Longshanks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgeshLMA2j8

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 12, 2020 10:25 AM (CF5ek)

179 > 22 degrees out! Debating whether to make it a "no pants/inside day".

It may get above zero here today, for the first time in a couple of weeks.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 12, 2020 10:26 AM (CF5ek)

180 Nothing Sussex like Essex!

Posted by: The Gipper Lives at January 12, 2020 10:26 AM (Ndje9)

181 I would classify "Lord of the Flies" as a YA novel. We read it in (I think) 7th grade. Which is pretty much a Lord-of-the-Flies scenario in itself.

Interestingly, some of the parents were hesitant to let their kids be cast in the 1950's film of same since it was such a disturbing tale. I read that a couple boys had PTSD from being in it!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 12, 2020 10:29 AM (Dc2NZ)

182 we also sang "I'm a Good Ole Rebel"

-
3 hundred thousand Yankees
Lie stiff in southern dust.
We got 3 hundred thousand
Before they conquered us
They died of Southern Fever
And southern steel and shot
I wish there were 3 million
Instead of what we got.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at January 12, 2020 10:30 AM (+y/Ru)

183 Posted by: Muldoon at January 12, 2020 10:03 AM (m45I2)

Prevert and provert?

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo...Brutal Statist at January 12, 2020 10:30 AM (wYseH)

184 Wow, really going down the rabbit hole with Pulp Library.

Thanks for the edifying and enlightening Book Thread, OM. The links alone make it worth the price of admission (which is pants).

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 12, 2020 10:33 AM (Dc2NZ)

185
Prevert and provert?
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo...Brutal Statist at January 12, 2020 10:30 AM (wYseH)
------
This is about me, isn't it?

Posted by: Weasel at January 12, 2020 10:33 AM (MVjcR)

186 Prevert and provert?

Privet ?

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 10:34 AM (zr5Kq)

187 My late MiL used a word she coined, unintentionally, "flustrated".

It was perfect though, when she said she was flustrated, indeed she was a combination of frustrated and flustered.

Posted by: cfo mom at January 12, 2020 10:34 AM (RfzVr)

188 I went to a local library yesterday to pick up an office shredder I got through craigslist, and the library just happened to be having a used book sale. I picked up some good ones: "The Rise and Fall of An American Army: U.S. Ground Forces in Vietnam" by Shelby Stanton; "In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis" by Doug Stanton (related?); "The Last Stand of The Tin Can Sailors" by James D. Hornfischer; "Secret Missions of the Civil War" by Philip Van Doren Stern; "Morning of Fire" by Scott Ridley, about the first U.S. naval mission to the Pacific; and "Vulcan 607" by Rowland White, about the RAF Vulcan bomber mission in the Falklands War. All that & a shredder for $25, not too bad!

Posted by: josephistan at January 12, 2020 10:35 AM (Izzlo)

189 Students refusing to walk on images of Israeli and USA flags painted on sidewalk in Tehran. Worth a look.

https://tinyurl.com/vnqsuzz

Posted by: Jinx the Cat at January 12, 2020 10:35 AM (7Am4g)

190 I'm pretty sure that the biggest problem "folks" have with My Old Kentucky Home is that it was written by a Pennsylvanian. Camptown, where the races were, doo-dah, is way up by the New York state border. In a way that must seem cryptic to us at this remove, Kentucky Home is an anti-slavery song.

For a long time, you could start something by pointing out that the composer of "Dixie" was from Mount Vernon, Ohio -- but then it turned out he was also one of the fathers of blackfaced minstrelsy, so at least the dispute is over.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at January 12, 2020 10:35 AM (oRpiG)

191 Nice posters of reading to kids. I was just thinking last night, among much other sadness of our two grandchildren being hundreds of miles away, is not having a chance to read to them.

Posted by: grampaw mindful webworker at January 12, 2020 10:35 AM (ECLlc)

192 Interesting commentary on the Criterion edition of All About Eve; an instance where a film restoration falls flat.
t.ly/pB3gn

Posted by: jeannebodine at January 12, 2020 10:35 AM (t1tHS)

193 It reached 114 in Fargo ND in 1936....jus' sayin'.

-
Damn that Henry Ford!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at January 12, 2020 10:36 AM (+y/Ru)

194 josephistan

Which library ?

Posted by: JT at January 12, 2020 10:36 AM (arJlL)

195 Nice posters of reading to kids. I was just thinking
last night, among much other sadness of our two grandchildren being
hundreds of miles away, is not having a chance to read to them.

Posted by: grampaw mindful webworker at January 12, 2020 10:35 AM (ECLlc)

Skype?

Posted by: Vendette at January 12, 2020 10:37 AM (pXNaM)

196 >> 147 Oh God, Flowers in the Attic. My friends loved those books, and I thought they were horrible. *shudder*

As a guy in high school, I found a pretty direct correlation between girls I saw carrying those books with the "window" on the front page and avoid. At some point in college I casually asked my now wife if she liked them. Nope, she said they were creepy. Checkmark!

Posted by: banana Dream at January 12, 2020 10:38 AM (l6b3d)

197 Hmmm. "Pastora" sounds like a cross between Gwen Bristow's "Jubilee Trail" and "Calico Palace." But I'm still going to read it because I loved "Jubilee Trail".

I'm currently reading David Horowitz's "Radical Son" and feeling wistful for his parents not having been happier. This feels like a book I will definitely finish.

And on my Kindle, I am reading "Unspeakable Things" which was pretty much the only remotely tolerable thing amazon had for the free Kindle books at the beginning of one month or another, and I hate to leave free books alone. Anyway, the author refers too much to smells. Either she's desperately trying to make things more concrete, or she's got a weird obsession. Either way, it's overdone. And she revealed that the father is a really scary guy much too early. Sorry for the spoiler there, but she did it, not me. I'll finish it just to find out who dunnit but I doubt if I'll get anything else by her.

And finally, the Folio Society: The Wizard of Oz, Black Beauty, and Grimms' Fairy Tales. The total is under $200 so I'm going for it, childhood favorites all and I love beautiful editions of those. I have an annotated Black Beauty which I enjoyed. I will have to see if anyone has ever done an annotated Grimms. And after a ridiculous Facebook conversation with someone who tried to tell me that Wizard of Oz was an allegory about either the Federal Reserve or William Jennings Bryan's monetary obsessions, I don't believe I want to see an annotated Wizard.

Posted by: Tonestaple at January 12, 2020 10:38 AM (WLMkj)

198 Re #1: I have been a long time fan of WEB Griffin, and I have read The Corps series at least three times. They are not really well suited for binge reading as they are repetitive to a great extent. I have come to dislike the Pickerings, the elder the spawn. The father is a drunk and the younger is an entitled jerk.
But I like the books, overall. I have only paperback copies and they seem to need editing, Especially the OSS series. Many errors become evident when the books are read back to back but I don't know if this is true of the hard cover editions. I will more then likely read them all again.

Posted by: Semilitterate at January 12, 2020 10:38 AM (58lSV)

199 60+ degrees here today. Bizarre New England weather.

Posted by: Sharon at January 12, 2020 10:39 AM (QzF6i)

200 "it reached 114 in n.dak in 1936..."

australian wild fires covered an area the size of france and spain, 5 x this year's, in 1974-75.

Posted by: mjc at January 12, 2020 10:40 AM (Pg+x7)

201 It was probably answered long ago but my wild guess for the who 'dis photo is Queen Elizabeth and Princess Anne.

Posted by: Northernlurker, still lurking after all these years at January 12, 2020 10:41 AM (Uu+Jp)

202 While we're at it, what is up with flammable, inflammable, and non-flammable? Seems to me that is one flam too much.

Posted by: cfo mom at January 12, 2020 10:41 AM (RfzVr)

203 I'm currently reading David Horowitz's "Radical Son"
and feeling wistful for his parents not having been happier. This
feels like a book I will definitely finish.

Posted by: Tonestaple at January 12, 2020 10:38 AM (WLMkj)

---
I can't think of a book that better lays out the weird politics of American Jews than Radical Son. It's what, 20 years old now? Still very true.

We see the anti-semitic attacks and what is the ADL's response? Blame Trump. It must be Trump. Right wing mumble mumble mumble.

The way Horowitz describes his parents fervently clinging to their Soviet faith is maddening and heart-breaking, yet it's still going on. It really is a religious fervor.

I am 100 percent certain that if these people gain control and start rounding up liberal Jews, they will console themselves by saying at least it's for a good cause. Because right-wing or something.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 10:47 AM (cfSRQ)

204 I've always felt hobbits, not man, represented humans, simple, ordinary humans.
Posted by: Northernlurker, still lurking after all these years at January 12, 2020 10:09 AM (Uu+Jp)

I've heard that Tolkien's inspiration for the hobbits were the men from rural villages he fought alongside during WW1.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at January 12, 2020 10:47 AM (FMfMq)

205 I've always got three books on the go-ahead paper book, a kindle book and an Audible book.
I'm reading Silence of the Lambs, listening to Mere Christianity by C.S Lewis and reading Grant Takes Command on Kindle.

Posted by: Northernlurker, still lurking after all these years at January 12, 2020 10:47 AM (Uu+Jp)

206 Speaking of Byron Farwell and his excellent war books, I can recommend The Great War in Africa. Featuring British commanders in skirts (NOT kilts, a skirt "My wife makes 'em!"), local mercenaries on the German side who refused to go into combat without their catamites, and other insanities I could never put in my fiction because no one would believe it.
Oh, and the British commander was writing all the reports so his *koff* alternative uniform *koff* and habit of taking his bath in the public square never got back to the high command.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at January 12, 2020 10:48 AM (XK6Vj)

207 OT: I missed the movie thread because I was at the movies, specifically 1917. Great movie. I have no idea how they could've filmed it. Takes more coordination and harmonization than a symphony orchestra. Not exactly the feel good movie of the year but powerful.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at January 12, 2020 10:49 AM (+y/Ru)

208 Oh, and Viggo is terrible as well. I'm going to stop now.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 10:15 AM (cfSRQ)

I have a higher opinion of the LOTR movies than you do, but I'll agree with you wholeheartedly here. Viggo simply doesn't have the screen presence to pull off a role like that.

Rutger Hauer might have been a better choice.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at January 12, 2020 10:50 AM (FMfMq)

209 Viggo simply doesn't have the screen presence to pull off a role like that.

You know who did? Vigo the Carpathian, that's who. They were so close to getting it right.

Posted by: pep at January 12, 2020 10:52 AM (T6t7i)

210 "The Rise and Fall of An American Army: U.S. Ground Forces in Vietnam" by Shelby Stanton;
----
I think I've read that. Written by an Army officer.

It's been years, but I think his thesis was that the refusal to go ahead and treat it like a "real" war by mobilizing the reserve component combined with the short 'tours' pretty much wrecked the Army.

He notes how the 101st started out as elite but the steady stream of draftees hollowed its culture out.

Arguably the first example where we decided "maintaining" a war was more important than winning it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 10:54 AM (cfSRQ)

211 194 josephistan

Which library ?
Posted by: JT at January 12, 2020 10:36 AM (arJlL)

Elkins Park library. Apparently they have a book sale once a month

Posted by: josephistan at January 12, 2020 10:54 AM (Izzlo)

212 Those pants are a stylized version of bacon.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at January 12, 2020 10:55 AM (rvWat)

213 Blame Trump. It must be Trump. Right wing mumble mumble mumble.

-
Speaking of 1917, wacko far leftist Salon writer has some thoughts.

https://bit.ly/2TgbVgr

Particularly ridiculous considering the movie is about tea-drinking, crumpet-eating limeys.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at January 12, 2020 10:56 AM (+y/Ru)

214 I'm too out of touch with the movie world to suggest an alternative to Viggo as Aragorn.
The actor has to have physical presence and I think the role requires he be tall.

Posted by: Northernlurker at January 12, 2020 10:56 AM (Uu+Jp)

215 we also sang "I'm a Good Ole Rebel"

Most of my grade school years were in Texas which is totally in the south but not totally in The South. I never heard that song before.

Remember when you found out that you could mix and match a bunch of songs' lyrics and tunes because they all had the same rhythm pattern(*): "Amazing Grace," "House of the Rising Sun," and the theme for Gilligan's Island? This is another one as is, I just noticed, "Sink the Bismarck."

* Iambic pentameter?

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at January 12, 2020 10:57 AM (qc+VF)

216 207
OT: I missed the movie thread because I was at the movies, specifically
1917. Great movie. I have no idea how they could've filmed it. Takes
more coordination and harmonization than a symphony orchestra. Not
exactly the feel good movie of the year but powerful.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at January 12, 2020 10:49 AM (+y/Ru)

---
My kids thought I would go see it because I'm into WW I, but nah.

Seems like a gimmick - one continuous take that isn't actually one continuous take.

Also, based on the trailer it sounds a lot like the conclusion of Gallipoli - desperate messenger races to the front to stop doomed attack and is just a little too late.

War sucks.

The end.

Hard pass.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 10:58 AM (cfSRQ)

217 10
Slight loose shit up top, OM. It's Andy "Gibb," not "Gibbs."

that's "very special agent andy gibbs" to you, bub!

Posted by: Andy Gibbs at January 12, 2020 10:58 AM (kf5Ci)

218 Andy Gibbs. That's what he does. He's a real Gibber.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at January 12, 2020 10:59 AM (NWiLs)

219 1917 ?

I guess all the messenger pigeons were doing something else .

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at January 12, 2020 11:01 AM (2DOZq)

220 214
I'm too out of touch with the movie world to suggest an alternative to Viggo as Aragorn.

The actor has to have physical presence and I think the role requires he be tall.

Posted by: Northernlurker at January 12, 2020 10:56 AM (Uu+Jp)

---
A number of Brits could have done it.

One thing that pisses me off about that movie is how many basic things they got wrong. I remember reading promotional hype about how they kept the books on set. Yeah, so Peter Jackson could pee on them.

I'm not going to say it's the worst adaptation ever, since "The Love One" pretty much takes the ribbon (and in so doing, vindicates the point of the original book).

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 11:01 AM (cfSRQ)

221 219 1917 ?

I guess all the messenger pigeons were doing something else .
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at January 12, 2020 11:01 AM (2DOZq)

They ate the pigeons for lunch.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at January 12, 2020 11:02 AM (NWiLs)

222 175 Kindle Daily Deals (today only) has a three book
collection of "The Jerusalem Chronicles" by Brodie and Breck Theone.
They are about different times in the life of Jesus. I'm not familiar
with the writers or books but they get tremendous, positive reviews, so I
figure it is worth the $1.99.
Anyone know about the books? What did you think?
Posted by: JTB at January 12, 2020 10:11 AM (7EjX1)

Brock and Bodie Theone are a husband-wife writing team and together they are one of most prolific in the genre of Christian fiction novels.
Posted by: Vendette at January 12, 2020 10:21 AM (pXNaM)

Thank you, I just snapped this one up. 3 volumes, 2 bucks, 75 positive reviews. I'd say the odds are in my favor.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at January 12, 2020 11:04 AM (FMfMq)

223 The only answer to Iran is Regime Change. Trump is working to an overthrow of the Mullahs by the Iranian people

This would be momentous

Posted by: Ignoramus at January 12, 2020 11:05 AM (JM3qO)

224 I have a higher opinion of the LOTR movies than you do, but I'll agree with you wholeheartedly here. Viggo simply doesn't have the screen presence to pull off a role like that.

I wonder if Mortensen was chosen because he fairly closely resembled the Aragorn in Bakshi's LoTR movie, which would have been most people's only pre-existing visual image of the character?

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at January 12, 2020 11:05 AM (qc+VF)

225 206 Speaking of Byron Farwell and his excellent war books, I can recommend The Great War in Africa. Featuring British commanders in skirts (NOT kilts, a skirt "My wife makes 'em!"), local mercenaries on the German side who refused to go into combat without their catamites, and other insanities I could never put in my fiction because no one would believe it.
Oh, and the British commander was writing all the reports so his *koff* alternative uniform *koff* and habit of taking his bath in the public square never got back to the high command.
Posted by: Sabrina Chase at January 12, 2020 10:48 AM (XK6Vj)

Yes, that's what I was thinking of when Farwell's name was mentioned. This particular General was worshipped by the native troops as some sort of god, their reasoning that only a god could afford to act so crazy.

There's an interesting footnote in the appendix, a clause in the treaty of Versailles required that Germany return the skull of some East African sultan to His Britannic Majesty's government. Why the Germans took in the first place, or why the British wanted it back, or whatever happened to the thing have been lost to history.

Posted by: josephistan at January 12, 2020 11:06 AM (Izzlo)

226 The only answer to Iran is Regime Change. Trump is working to an overthrow of the Mullahs by the Iranian people ''

does not look like the supreme leader is ready to retire

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:07 AM (zr5Kq)

227 I am listening to Stillness Is the Key by Ryan Holiday. I confess I do not find anything much meaningful or useful in it. I get more out of a one hour Jordan Peterson lecture. I have a couple more hours and will probably go ahead and finish it. Just wondering if reading instead of listening would have made a difference.

Posted by: MMcK at January 12, 2020 11:07 AM (xHxJf)

228 "That which is not specifically permitted, is Proscribed"
-US Army Basic training words to live by-

Posted by: firefirefire at January 12, 2020 11:08 AM (Seb55)

229 201 northlurker "queen elizabeth & princess ann..."

yup, looks like elizabeth. well done.

Posted by: mjc at January 12, 2020 11:08 AM (Pg+x7)

230 Viggo is a literal crazy Leftist but Hildago and Eastern Promises are must see movies.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at January 12, 2020 11:08 AM (2DOZq)

231 228 "That which is not specifically permitted, is Proscribed"
-US Army Basic training words to live by-
Posted by: firefirefire at January 12, 2020 11:08 AM (Seb55)

See also Islam.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at January 12, 2020 11:08 AM (NWiLs)

232 They ate the pigeons for lunch.
Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at January 12, 2020 11:02 AM (NWiLs)
-----
YOU SHOT MY SPECKLED JIM?!?!?!

Posted by: General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett, VC KCB at January 12, 2020 11:09 AM (gz5MT)

233 Re-read Endless Blue by Wen Spencer. Still a wild world building novel with some good characters.

Posted by: Anna Puma at January 12, 2020 11:09 AM (zTNbv)

234 ... and the irony is that the royals don't have to read books, they have people read books for them.

Posted by: mjc at January 12, 2020 11:09 AM (Pg+x7)

235 I think the [Aragorn] role requires he be tall.

Agreed. He's supposed to be Dunedain with Noldor blood.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at January 12, 2020 11:10 AM (ykYG2)

236 The Royals proscribed my childhood.

Posted by: Greta Thunberg, meatball-scented Druid philosopher at January 12, 2020 11:11 AM (EgshT)

237 So my question is whether these eras became defined
between the two books or was Herodotus more of just a tale teller who
didn't think people would be interested in that? I'm not trying to
badmouth the earlier work by pointing that out because I enjoyed reading
it a lot more than Fast Eddie Gibbon.
Posted by: Captain Hate at January 12, 2020 09:43 AM (y7DUB)

IIRC Herodotus only divided things between his era and the heroic (Odyssius and Trojan wars) era, and that if things were made of bronze, it was seen as a secondary issue.

Posted by: Kindltot at January 12, 2020 11:11 AM (1glZx)

238 I guess all the messenger pigeons were doing something else .

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at January 12, 2020 11:01 AM (2DOZq)

They ate the pigeons for lunch.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at January 12, 2020 11:02 AM (NWiLs)

---
Yes, the premise is stupid.

By 1917 the trench systems were highly developed and this included...telephones. The Fuller Phone FTW!

If the lines were cut, you could use messengers, but also signal rockets.

The problem is that the troops are on the attack. A lead unit who suddenly loses communication on the eve of an attack is *going to send messengers back*, not just blindly lumber forward.

Also, the notion that headquarters knows something the front line units don't and wants to call of an attack is just plain bizarre.

What actually happened was that HQ was unable to tell what was happening and line units were trying to get permission to call of the attack, not vice-versa.

Also, the first day of the Somme was unique. It was not repeated. Third Ypres was a bloody mess, but that was because it was a battle of attrition, not because the Brits lost control of their army.

In fact, other than the Somme, what typically happened was that the first day generally went well (actually it did on the Somme, too), and this success was what lead to HQ thinking they could break it open if they just got more troops up there.

Which is why I don't watch these movies.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 11:12 AM (cfSRQ)

239 the royals proscribed my childhood..."

that damn george brett.

Posted by: mjc at January 12, 2020 11:13 AM (Pg+x7)

240 We fired our guns but the British kept a comin'
There weren't as many as there was a while ago . . .

I'm from Chicago, I luuuuve the folkie stuff. Sigh, A Mighty Wind . . .

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 12, 2020 11:13 AM (MIKMs)

241 239 the royals proscribed my childhood..."

that damn george brett.
Posted by: mjc at January 12, 2020 11:13 AM (Pg+x7)

Kansas City faggots...

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at January 12, 2020 11:13 AM (NWiLs)

242 does not look like the supreme leader is ready to retire

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:07 AM (zr5Kq)

---
Neither was I!

Posted by: Zombie Nicolai Ceacescu at January 12, 2020 11:13 AM (cfSRQ)

243 the royals proscribed my childhood...
=====
Lorde, Lorde!

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 12, 2020 11:16 AM (MIKMs)

244 I wonder if Mortensen was chosen because he fairly
closely resembled the Aragorn in Bakshi's LoTR movie, which would have
been most people's only pre-existing visual image of the character?

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at January 12, 2020 11:05 AM (qc+VF)

---
But they look nothing alike.

Bakshi's Aragorn has the "rusty green" clothes and also carries the Sword That Was Broken.

Viggo has some other sword to start the film, presumably so he can do a boss fight with the Nazgul. You know, which didn't happen in the book.

John Hurt did the voice, and he was great. Because John Hurt.

Also, Bakshi's Aragorn is beardless. The Dunedain, like the High Elves, didn't have facial hair.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 11:16 AM (cfSRQ)

245 For better historical fiction, I recommend Gary Jennings' Aztec series.

There's only one book which Jennings wrote himself, the first one. Even Aztec Autumn was pretty-much co-written because Jennings was at his deathbed when it was in publication... and it shows, because it is direly uneven, and parts of it read like a fever-dream.

But yes, "Aztec" still holds up even after modern revisionists like Restall and Townsend. The only parts that don't hold up is the pervy parts but, what are you gonna do, that was Jennings.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at January 12, 2020 11:19 AM (ykYG2)

246 Neither was I!
Posted by: Zombie Nicolai Ceacescu at January 12, 2020 11:13 AM (cfSRQ)

You were not willing to fire on demonstrators with tank shells.

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:20 AM (zr5Kq)

247 Harry rushed to announce Megxit to avoid Meghan 'meltdown'...

-
Meltdown or blowup?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at January 12, 2020 11:21 AM (+y/Ru)

248 On the recommendation of someone here I started reading ON THE WINGS OF EAGLES BY KEN FOLLETT About Ross Perot and rescuing of his employees from the Iranian prison. Wow it really doesn't call any punches about Carter. Embassy staff told these employees yeah you need to go to this meeting and no don't worry about it it's just a formality blah blah blah they got thrown in the slammer.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at January 12, 2020 11:21 AM (dKiJG)

249 You were not willing to fire on demonstrators with tank shells.

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:20 AM (zr5Kq)

---
My recollection was that he was, and the Army refused and turned on him.

The Securitate was overwhelmed, so regular army units were brought in and they sided with the people.

I remember they had some serious fighting, because Romanians are hard-asses.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 11:22 AM (cfSRQ)

250 Viggo has some other sword to start the film, presumably so he can do a boss fight with the Nazgul. You know, which didn't happen in the book.

I agree with Jackson it makes more sense that a ranger in the field would bear a SWORD THAT BLOODY WORKS, not just tote around a bunch of shards. Aragorn had Rivendell to store the shards.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at January 12, 2020 11:22 AM (ykYG2)

251 The actor has to have physical presence and I think the role requires he be tall.

Posted by: Northernlurker at January 12, 2020 10:56 AM (Uu+Jp)

Paul Bethany.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo...Brutal Statist at January 12, 2020 11:22 AM (wYseH)

252 does not look like the supreme leader is ready to retire
Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:07 AM (zr5Kq)

----------

He might not have RBG's enduring vitality and love of extreme sports.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at January 12, 2020 11:25 AM (XVuno)

253 My recollection was that he was, and the Army refused and turned on him....

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 11:22 AM (cfSRQ)

Which will not happen with IRGC and Basij militia.

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:25 AM (zr5Kq)

254 Just got back from the pharmacy. The co-pay on my insulin pens has go to $470 and I have a Supplement F policy so I am not even supposed to have a co-pay. I am going to cut back on dosage drastically.

Posted by: Vic at January 12, 2020 11:25 AM (mpXpK)

255 If you want some really good Renaissance-era historical novels, I recommend "The Captain from Castile" and "Prince of Foxes" by Samuel Shellabarger. Great stuff. Both swashbuckling and political intrigue.

Posted by: Captain Obvious at January 12, 2020 11:25 AM (gz5MT)

256 You were not willing to fire on demonstrators with tank shells.
=====

WWI - Bonus March. They were in the US.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 12, 2020 11:25 AM (MIKMs)

257 The topic of Boar war has come up before but found out its not worth eating unless very young.

Should see if my sister wants to go see 1917 this week.

Posted by: Skip at January 12, 2020 11:27 AM (ZCEU2)

258 236 The Royals proscribed my childhood.

Posted by: Greta Thunberg, meatball-scented Druid philosopher at January 12, 2020 11:11 AM (EgshT)

A dingo ate my baby!

Posted by: Meryl Streep at January 12, 2020 11:27 AM (FMfMq)

259 I agree with Jackson it makes more sense that a
ranger in the field would bear a SWORD THAT BLOODY WORKS, not just tote
around a bunch of shards. Aragorn had Rivendell to store the shards.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at January 12, 2020 11:22 AM (ykYG2)

---
It wasn't a bunch of shards. That was also Jackson changing thing.

Narsil had two pieces. The high-shard was a foot long, so it would have been a foot long.

Aragorn was the last of his line. Without him the sword is useless. Carrying it was an act of faith in his calling.

Jackson stripped all that out because the guy completely missed the spiritual undertones of the story.

But hey, orc origin story and dwarf jokes!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 11:28 AM (cfSRQ)

260 Aragorn should have a serious physical presence, even compared to Boromir. I think someone like a young Clint Walker in his Cheyenne days would be appropriate. Not talking about acting ability, just size.

Posted by: JTB at January 12, 2020 11:28 AM (7EjX1)

261 A dingo ate my baby!
Posted by: Meryl Streep at January 12, 2020 11:27 AM (FMfMq)
------
You are crossin' some lines, man.

Posted by: Kirk Lazarus at January 12, 2020 11:29 AM (gz5MT)

262 Which will not happen with IRGC and Basij militia.

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:25 AM (zr5Kq)

---
There is also a regular army in Iran, just as in Romania.

The IRGC equivalent was the Securitate and they remained loyal to the Ceaucescus, but they were overwhelmed by the regular army.

The same could happen in Iran. This is why the mullahs are worried.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 11:31 AM (cfSRQ)

263 If you want some really good Renaissance-era historical novels, I
recommend "The Captain from Castile" and "Prince of Foxes" by Samuel
Shellabarger. Great stuff. Both swashbuckling and political intrigue.
=====
Classical 'Romance'. I have no idea what the modern concept is in Romance Fiction (aside from the fact that it is the highest selling genre).

Reading some of the older historical fiction, I was really struck by how wide-ranging it was and most was very well-researched and written.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 12, 2020 11:31 AM (MIKMs)

264 Can anyone name a leader of this Iranian resistance ? We talk about "students" and "student demonstrators", but there is no face. There is no alternative, no Lech Walesa. Not even in exile. That is why I am not so sure there is an immediate threat to the Ayatollah and his regime.

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:31 AM (zr5Kq)

265 As soon as there is, we can start talking about Iranian counter-revolution.

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:33 AM (zr5Kq)

266 241 239 the royals proscribed my childhood..."

that damn george brett.
Posted by: mjc at January 12, 2020 11:13 AM (Pg+x7)

Kansas City faggots...
Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at January 12, 2020 11:13 AM (NWiLs)

Don Denkinger is a communist scoundrel who kicks his dog and talks back to his mother.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 12, 2020 11:33 AM (hku12)

267 I actually wonder if the guy who played Eromir (the name escapes me) would have been a better Arogorn than Mortenson.
I actually likes the movies but I think the Hobbits should have all the same accent. The Shire isn't big and they may even have grown up in the same village (I'm not actually sure about that). Why would they have different accents?

Posted by: N.L. Urker Philips Screwdriver of the Gods at January 12, 2020 11:34 AM (Uu+Jp)

268 264
Can anyone name a leader of this Iranian resistance ? We talk about
"students" and "student demonstrators", but there is no face. There is
no alternative, no Lech Walesa. Not even in exile. That is why I am
not so sure there is an immediate threat to the Ayatollah and his
regime.

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:31 AM (zr5Kq)

---
Who was the leader in Romania? Surely his name is on everyone's lips, right?

Who leads Hong Kong?

Not all rebellions are the result of a top-down organization. In fact, that's what scares the leaders the most - that sergeants and junior officers will be the ones refusing orders.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 11:34 AM (cfSRQ)

269 Just got back from the pharmacy. The co-pay on my insulin pens has go to $470 and I have a Supplement F policy so I am not even supposed to have a co-pay. I am going to cut back on dosage drastically.

Posted by: Vic at January 12, 2020 11:25 AM (mpXpK)

Vic, look into vials of insulin from Walmart, plus a box of syringes. It's old school, but a LOT cheaper, even if you have to pay 'retail'.

Yeah, you have to inject yourself with a needle, but you're tough enough mentally.

Posted by: GnuBreed at January 12, 2020 11:34 AM (Z4rgH)

270 261; just don't cross streams. that would be over the top.

Posted by: chavez the hugo at January 12, 2020 11:35 AM (KP5rU)

271 Just curious, how many of you here, if you encountered the queen in person, would refer to her as "your royal highness," or "your majesty," but if you encounter a dude who claims to be a gal, would refuse to refer to him as her/she?

Posted by: BurtTC at January 12, 2020 11:35 AM (hku12)

272 The officer in skirts in WWI Africa wasn't a British General -- he was Royal Navy Lieutenant Spicer-Simpson. He came up with a plan to move torpedo boats overland from the Congo River to the central African lakes in order to sink the German gunboats there. The RN said, well, our mission is to control every damp patch on Earth, so -- go for it!

As you might expect, what looks easy on a map in London turned out to be a LOT harder on the ground in Africa, but the skirt-wearing, tattooed Lieutenant was up to the job. He got the boats up the river, dragged them to the lakes, and made them safe for Democracy.

At which point he was sent back to his desk job in London, still a Lieutenant.

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 12, 2020 11:35 AM (urZJh)

273 Book related humor. Maureen Dowd describes Megxit as Gone With the Windsors.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at January 12, 2020 11:37 AM (+y/Ru)

274 269 Yeah, you have to inject yourself with a needle, but you're tough enough mentally.

Posted by: GnuBreed at January 12, 2020 11:34 AM (Z4rgH)

Couldn't be much different from the pen which you have to inject yourself too.

Posted by: Vic at January 12, 2020 11:37 AM (mpXpK)

275 Why would they have different accents?
Posted by: N.L. Urker Philips Screwdriver of the Gods at January 12, 2020 11:34 AM (Uu+Jp)

BECAUSE PETER JACKSON IS AN ARTIST, HOW DARE YOU QUESTION HIM, YOU PHILISTINE!!!

Posted by: BurtTC at January 12, 2020 11:37 AM (hku12)

276 Although I could see Megxit as more The Sound and the Fury.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at January 12, 2020 11:38 AM (+y/Ru)

277 271
Just curious, how many of you here, if you encountered the queen in
person, would refer to her as "your royal highness," or "your majesty,"
but if you encounter a dude who claims to be a gal, would refuse to
refer to him as her/she?

Posted by: BurtTC at January 12, 2020 11:35 AM (hku12)

---
Elizabeth is the Head of State for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. She also leads the Commonwealth.

That's who she is. I don't know why you wouldn't use an appropriate courtesy title.

In some countries, office-holders are called "Your Excellency" whether or not they're actually excellent.

Not sure where you're going with this.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 11:39 AM (cfSRQ)

278 276
Although I could see Megxit as more The Sound and the Fury.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at January 12, 2020 11:38 AM (+y/Ru)

---
Much Ado About Nothing.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 11:40 AM (cfSRQ)

279 Book related humor. Maureen Dowd describes Megxit as Gone With the Windsors.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at January 12, 2020 11:37 AM (+y/Ru)

Wouldn't it be Gone FROM the Windsors?

But then, Maureen Dowdy probably thought she had an original thought, and rushed to her twatter account to say it, whether it makes sense or not.

Years and years of working for the New York Times taught her that.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 12, 2020 11:41 AM (hku12)

280 Didn't Tolkein model the Hobbits after WWI soldiers fighting trench warfare...therefore, different accents for those solders from different parts of the realm?

Posted by: squeakywheel at January 12, 2020 11:41 AM (DnyMy)

281 It's easy to complain about Jackson's LOTR, but when I think of how it might have been done, I'm content with his version.

Imagine Rian Johnson's Lord of the Rings, or Michael Bay's version. Think of how a feminist director could have used that story to IMPOWER WIMMIN. Consider yourselves lucky that diversity in casting had not yet become mandatory, so that we were spared having Chris Rock play Faramir. Be glad no edgy director didn't decide to explore the homoerotic component of Frodo and Sam's friendship with a buttsex scene.

Is Jackson's version perfect? No, it's not. But it could have been so much, much worse.

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 12, 2020 11:42 AM (urZJh)

282 271 Just curious, how many of you here, if you encountered the queen in person, would refer to her as "your royal highness," or "your majesty," but if you encounter a dude who claims to be a gal, would refuse to refer to him as her/she?
Posted by: BurtTC at January 12, 2020 11:35 AM (hku12)

I would refer to the queen as "your majesty."

I would address the tranny by his/her preference simply to keep the social peace. Provoking a fight would accomplish nothing. I knew a confused guy once who wore dresses. However, when I prayed for him, I prayed for "him", not "her".

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at January 12, 2020 11:42 AM (FMfMq)

283 Just curious, how many of you here, if you encountered the queen in
person, would refer to her as "your royal highness," or "your majesty,"
but if you encounter a dude who claims to be a gal, would refuse to
refer to him as her/she?

Posted by: BurtTC at January 12, 2020 11:35 AM (hku12)

---
Elizabeth is the Head of State for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. She also leads the Commonwealth.

That's who she is. I don't know why you wouldn't use an appropriate courtesy title.

In some countries, office-holders are called "Your Excellency" whether or not they're actually excellent.

Not sure where you're going with this.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 11:39 AM (cfSRQ)

As I said, I am curious.

You seem to know how to use the word "courtesy" though. If you're trying to understand, you might start there.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 12, 2020 11:42 AM (hku12)

284 Who was the leader in Romania? Surely his name is on everyone's lips, right?

Who leads Hong Kong?

Not all rebellions are the result of a top-down organization. In fact, that's what scares the leaders the most - that sergeants and junior officers will be the ones refusing orders.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 11:34 AM (cfSRQ)

There is no parallel between Romania and Iran. Romania had a dependent of the USSR. ONce that fell, was surrounded by falling Soviet puppet-states. The Union itself was no longer able to support and contain dissolution of its empire. Hungary, Poland. Nothing like that is going on in Iran. It is a free standing autocratic regime. Like China.

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:43 AM (zr5Kq)

285 *was a dependent

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:44 AM (zr5Kq)

286 Regime change in Iran will most likely result in all the Mullahs and their close supporters hanging in their turn from construction cranes, and they want to avoid that.

Posted by: Kindltot at January 12, 2020 11:44 AM (1glZx)

287 As I said, I am curious.

You seem to know how to use the word "courtesy" though. If you're trying to understand, you might start there.

Yesterday you were hinting that you think the Horde is racist, today it's transphobic?

Posted by: Ian S. at January 12, 2020 11:45 AM (6XLoz)

288 Just curious, how many of you here, if you encountered the queen in
person, would refer to her as "your royal highness," or "your majesty,"
but if you encounter a dude who claims to be a gal, would refuse to
refer to him as her/she?

--

Wha....?

Posted by: Lady in Black at January 12, 2020 11:45 AM (JoUsr)

289 My sister is urging me to read Tracy Kidder's "Strength in What Remains" about a guy who survived the Burundi civil war to make good in the US. Have any 'rons or ettes rea Kidder? His name is vaguely familiar - I feel like I should know the author or read something by his, but I haven't.

Posted by: Donna&&&&V. at January 12, 2020 11:46 AM (d6Ksn)

290 Didn't Tolkein model the Hobbits after WWI soldiers fighting trench warfare...therefore, different accents for those solders from different parts of the realm?
Posted by: squeakywheel at January 12, 2020 11:41 AM (DnyMy)

I believe Tolkien was aggressively adamant that his story was NOT an allegory for anything, so while I'm no Tolkien scholar (nor a Tolkien gentleman), I doubt that's what he would SAY he was going for, whether he was or not.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 12, 2020 11:46 AM (hku12)

291 Karl Urban was Eomir. It's tough to name an actor who would be good to play Aragorn.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at January 12, 2020 11:46 AM (LxTcq)

292 *Flame war ???

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:46 AM (zr5Kq)

293 Queen Elizabeth is a tranny? What the hell is going on?

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at January 12, 2020 11:46 AM (NWiLs)

294 You can call me what you want....just don't call me late for supper.

Posted by: BignJames at January 12, 2020 11:47 AM (X/Pw5)

295 As I said, I am curious.

You seem to know how to use the word "courtesy" though. If you're trying to understand, you might start there.
---------------------
Yesterday you were hinting that you think the Horde is racist, today it's transphobic?
Posted by: Ian S. at January 12, 2020 11:45 AM (6XLoz)

I'm not hinting at anything.

Do you understand the word curious?

Posted by: BurtTC at January 12, 2020 11:47 AM (hku12)

296 *support puppet regimes and contain dissolution of its Empire....is what I meant to write

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:47 AM (zr5Kq)

297 Queen Elizabeth is a tranny? What the hell is going on?

--

Heh. My thought bubble is the same as yours, Insom.

Posted by: Lady in Black at January 12, 2020 11:48 AM (JoUsr)

298 *too many tabs open

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:48 AM (zr5Kq)

299 I am confident that 'Ma'am' is always proper, whether for QEII or some confused dude wearing a dress.

Curtsey is optional with either one.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 12, 2020 11:49 AM (MIKMs)

300 Reading to grandkids far away:

Skype?
Posted by: Vendette

Siiigh. Kinda not quite the same as nestled into a comfy chair together.

We read so much with our kids. Even when they were in double digits age we read aloud together. Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. The Wrinkle in Time trilogy. All too soon their lives became too busy and grown-up for that. Those were good days.

Posted by: grampaw mindful webworker at January 12, 2020 11:49 AM (ECLlc)

301 Burt no matter how much you beg I will not address you as Her Majesty

Posted by: BlackOrchid at January 12, 2020 11:49 AM (Rarvo)

302 Curtsey is optional with either one.
Posted by: mustbequantum at January 12, 2020 11:49 AM (MIKMs)

---------

That would be a courtesy curtsey, correct?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at January 12, 2020 11:49 AM (XVuno)

303 Dear Lord, are we going to have a fight about preferred pronouns here?

If a he wanted me to refer to him in person as a she, I guess I would out of courtesy. However whenever I see someone list their pronouns in the Twitter profile, I automatically discount their opinion about anything.

Posted by: Donna&&&&V. at January 12, 2020 11:50 AM (d6Ksn)

304 I am sure that France will welcome the ousted Ayatollahs with open arms and free housing in the Islamic colonies around Paris. If not, perhaps Trudeau will set them up in Quebec.

Posted by: Le Downcast at January 12, 2020 11:50 AM (X5Z1e)

305 Just curious, how many of you here, if you encountered the queen in person, would refer to her as "your royal highness," or "your majesty," but if you encounter a dude who claims to be a gal, would refuse to refer to him as her/she?
Posted by: BurtTC at January 12, 2020 11:35 AM (hku12)

I don't care if it was Bruce Jenner or Kaitlyn Jenner that pissed in my cornflakes....I just want people to stop pissing in my cornflakes.

Posted by: Lunatic Fringe at January 12, 2020 11:50 AM (ClCgE)

306 I gotta go paint a model for a commission that is due next week. Play nice.

Posted by: josephistan at January 12, 2020 11:50 AM (Izzlo)

307 Time to poke my head out of the burrow and see what's what.

Keep up the LotR discussion. I'll review when I return.

You're all wrong, of course.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 12, 2020 11:51 AM (Dc2NZ)

308 Regardless of what you may have heard, "Queenie" is to be avoided when addressing the Monarch.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at January 12, 2020 11:51 AM (XVuno)

309 Courtesy works both ways, too. If an NYC cop mistakenly calls Queen Elizabeth "Hey, Lady" she doesn't have her security detail thrash him with their truncheons.

I'm curious about your curiosity, Burt.

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 12, 2020 11:51 AM (urZJh)

310 Queen Elizabeth is a tranny? What the hell is going on?
Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at January 12, 2020 11:46 AM (NWiLs)

Honestly, it surprises me when people get upset about some things around here.

I really was just curious. The queen has all these titles and everything, but she's not MY queen. She's not MY excellency or majesty or whatever the hell else her titles seem to entitle her to.

So if I ran into the old gal, I'd probably be nice and call her what she wants to be called.

I'm just wondering, if one encounters a confused nitwit on the street, and he's wearing a dress, and thinks he's entitled to be called her or she, would you do it?

If not, why not?

That's all.

Nothing implied, nothing sinister. Just a question.

Which of course people are perfectly free to ignore.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 12, 2020 11:52 AM (hku12)

311 from now on, i will be known as, el conquistador. or, asshole. whatever. titles mean nothing to me.

Posted by: chavez the hugo at January 12, 2020 11:53 AM (KP5rU)

312 I'm just wondering, if one encounters a confused nitwit on the street, and he's wearing a dress, and thinks he's entitled to be called her or she, would you do it?

Ignore.

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:53 AM (zr5Kq)

313 Much Ado About Nothing.

-
Reverse Othello?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at January 12, 2020 11:54 AM (+y/Ru)

314 from now on, i will be known as, el conquistador. or, asshole. whatever. titles mean nothing to me.
Posted by: chavez the hugo at January 12, 2020 11:53 AM (KP5rU)

---------

"el conquistador" would look impressive on a business card but I'd spring for the capital letters.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at January 12, 2020 11:54 AM (XVuno)

315 Good morning Hordemates.
Dang. I dated a girl in college who had pants like that! Damn nice too.

Posted by: Diogenes at January 12, 2020 11:54 AM (axyOa)

316 312; i'll take dipshit, alex.

Posted by: chavez the hugo at January 12, 2020 11:54 AM (KP5rU)

317
That would be a courtesy curtsey, correct?
=====

Hell, no. I'm a US citizen and I don't bow the head or bend the knee to anyone.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 12, 2020 11:54 AM (MIKMs)

318 "el conquistador" would look impressive on a business card but I'd spring for the capital letters

- nah capitalization is overrated

Posted by: BlackOrchid at January 12, 2020 11:55 AM (Rarvo)

319 - nah capitalization is overrated

Posted by: BlackOrchid at January 12, 2020 11:55 AM (Rarvo)

*fist bump*

Posted by: e.e. cummings at January 12, 2020 11:56 AM (IttZ7)

320 Hell, no. I'm a US citizen and I don't bow the head or bend the knee to anyone.
Posted by: mustbequantum at January 12, 2020 11:54 AM (MIKMs)

---------

Barry Obama got big points in the media for kowtowing before every tinpot dictator who would give him an audience.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at January 12, 2020 11:56 AM (XVuno)

321 Only british subjects curtsey, no one else does. I think..

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:58 AM (zr5Kq)

322 For those who are interested, I recently found the entire series of the Harvard Classics here:

https://tinyurl.com/qupqgjw (goes to Mobileread)

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 12, 2020 11:58 AM (YqDXo)

323 Barry Obama got big points in the media for kowtowing before every tinpot dictator who would give him an audience.

Barry aspired to be a tinpot dictator, except for the part about having to wake up before 10:30.

Posted by: Ian S. at January 12, 2020 11:58 AM (6XLoz)

324 Regardless of what you may have heard, "Queenie" is to be avoided when addressing the Monarch.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at January 12, 2020 11:51 AM (XVuno)

Okay, English Bob. ( a variant on okay boomer)

So, high fives are out of the question?

Posted by: GnuBreed at January 12, 2020 11:58 AM (Z4rgH)

325 Only british subjects curtsey, no one else does. I think..
Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:58 AM (zr5Kq)

--------

Too cutesy?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at January 12, 2020 11:59 AM (XVuno)

326 Courtesy works both ways, too. If an NYC cop mistakenly calls Queen Elizabeth "Hey, Lady" she doesn't have her security detail thrash him with their truncheons.

I'm curious about your curiosity, Burt.
Posted by: Trimegistus at January 12, 2020 11:51 AM (urZJh)

Babe Ruth allegedly met the king of England one day, and says "hiya king!"

Posted by: BurtTC at January 12, 2020 11:59 AM (hku12)

327 321 Only british subjects curtsey, no one else does. I think..
Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:58 AM (zr5Kq)

Didn't Obama curtsey? Or was that too "out" for him?

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 12, 2020 11:59 AM (YqDXo)

328 Regardless of what you may have heard, "Queenie" is to be avoided when addressing the Monarch.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at January 12, 2020 11:51 AM (XVuno)

Okay, English Bob. ( a variant on okay boomer)

So, high fives are out of the question?
Posted by: GnuBreed at January 12, 2020 11:58 AM (Z4rgH)

Pat her on the ass.

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 11:59 AM (zr5Kq)

329 Proper way to greet the queen:

Point fingers guns at her, give her a wink and a "Yo!" followed by tongue clicking.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, of the Butte Mahons at January 12, 2020 12:01 PM (x8Wzq)

330 Rumor has it the Queen loves a vigorous slap in the hindquarters.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at January 12, 2020 12:01 PM (XVuno)

331 if i met the queen, "hey momma, what's goin on? shake it baby, you won't break it."

Posted by: chavez the hugo at January 12, 2020 12:01 PM (KP5rU)

332 Babe Ruth allegedly met the king of England one day, and says "hiya king!"

Posted by: BurtTC at January 12, 2020 11:59 AM (hku12)

I think that was Jim Thorpe..."Thanks King".

Posted by: BignJames at January 12, 2020 12:01 PM (X/Pw5)

333 "Who's yo daddy" also works well for addressing the Queen.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at January 12, 2020 12:02 PM (XVuno)

334 I think someone should ask Frank Drebbin. He seems to be an expert.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, of the Butte Mahons at January 12, 2020 12:02 PM (x8Wzq)

335
The Morrison Library Reading Room is quite a distinguished place.

RESOLVED: It will house the archives of the Governor General of the Territory of California.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice... EJEXIT: If Not Now, When? at January 12, 2020 12:03 PM (uKj5K)

336 Who's yo daddy" also works well for addressing the Queen.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at January 12, 2020 12:02 PM (XVuno)

Followed by a big old hug with a slight lift off the ground.

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 12:03 PM (zr5Kq)

337 I'm just wondering, if one encounters a confused nitwit on the street, and he's wearing a dress, and thinks he's entitled to be called her or she, would you do it?

If not, why not?

I'd call the Queen by whatever appellation that would be considered appropriate, out of respect for her and Britain.

Conversely, I call pervs "pervs," quite independent of their expressed preference.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 12, 2020 12:03 PM (YqDXo)

338 334; he's dead pug. have to check with oj.

Posted by: chavez the hugo at January 12, 2020 12:03 PM (KP5rU)

339 Babe Ruth allegedly met the king of England one day, and says "hiya king!"

Posted by: BurtTC at January 12, 2020 11:59 AM (hku12)

I think that was Jim Thorpe..."Thanks King".
Posted by: BignJames at January 12, 2020 12:01 PM (X/Pw5)

You might be right. Olympics and all that.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 12, 2020 12:03 PM (hku12)

340 "Who's yo daddy" also works well for addressing the Queen.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at January 12, 2020 12:02 PM (XVuno)

"How's the family?".....might be out.

Posted by: BignJames at January 12, 2020 12:03 PM (X/Pw5)

341 "Justin Hartley details the importance of self care...following the split with wife Chrishell Stause."
Hey AoS. Keep in your own lane.

Posted by: SI Cover Jinx at January 12, 2020 12:05 PM (X5Z1e)

342 We read so much with our kids. Even when they were in double digits age we read aloud together. Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. The Wrinkle in Time trilogy. All too soon their lives became too busy and grown-up for that. Those were good days.

I was divorced and had the boys every other night. Reading to them at bedtime was a joy. The Hobbit, LoTR was too much when we tried it, the Harry Potter series. I had voices for each character.

And of course they got independent and kept reading on their own and of course that was bittersweet. But No. 1 Son now has a JRRT tattoo and has read all of the obscure stuff and knows it started at bedtime with the Hobbit.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 12, 2020 12:06 PM (gd9RK)

343 276 Although I could see Megxit as more The Sound and the Fury.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at January 12, 2020 11:38 AM (+y/Ru)

Much Ado About Nothing.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 12, 2020 12:07 PM (YqDXo)

344 329 Proper way to greet the queen:
Point fingers guns at her, give her a wink and a "Yo!" followed by tongue clicking.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, of the Butte Mahons at January 12, 2020 12:01 PM (x8Wzq)

Margaret Thatcher used to give her a head butt.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at January 12, 2020 12:07 PM (FMfMq)

345 But No. 1 Son now has a JRRT tattoo and has read all of the obscure stuff and knows it started at bedtime with the Hobbit.

His tat is a tribute to you and the time you spent together ?

Posted by: runner at January 12, 2020 12:08 PM (zr5Kq)

346 As I said, I am curious.

You seem to know how to use the word "courtesy" though. If you're trying to understand, you might start there.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 12, 2020 11:42 AM (hku12)

---
I used the term "courtesy title." Elizabeth II is objectively the Queen of England and Head of State for the United Kingdom. That's a fact.

I'm not a British subject, so I will not bow before her, but if I refused to respect her position, it would create a diplomatic incident.

If you insist on being called King of Gondor, I may or may not humor you.

If you claim the title "doctor" without a degree or medical license, I may or may not humor you. We have a couple of "captains" here, but no one calls them "sir."

Is your curiosity sated?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 12:08 PM (cfSRQ)

347 329 Proper way to greet the queen:
Point fingers guns at her, give her a wink and a "Yo!" followed by tongue clicking.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, of the Butte Mahons at January 12, 2020 12:01 PM (x8Wzq)

Also acceptable: Get her in a headlock and give her a big noogie.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at January 12, 2020 12:08 PM (FMfMq)

348 Most recently finished A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. Diplomatic intrigue, murder, poetry and interesting memory technology set in an intersteller empire. Very good.

Just picked up This Is How You Lose The Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal So-Mohtar. Two cyborgs fighting each other across time start leaving each other taunting notes on various battlefields and wind up falling in love. Fun/kinda bullshit premise very well done so far.

And of course in honor of the great Neil Peart, listening to nothing but Rush this weekend as I read.

Posted by: Sharkman at January 12, 2020 12:08 PM (xgyDD)

349 The end of Johnny English was kind of perfect.

https://youtu.be/k972nC49qCg

Posted by: BourbonChicken at January 12, 2020 12:08 PM (LxTcq)

350 I'm not a British subject, so I will not bow before her, but if I refused to respect her position, it would create a diplomatic incident.

But even if it didn't, it's just ignorant not to respect her position. Being an American (Barky please note) I wouldn't bow either, but I would be polite.

If I were to meet the Pope, whom I hold in contempt, I would nevertheless be polite out of respect for his position, if not for its current occupant.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 12, 2020 12:10 PM (YqDXo)

351 Just finished "The Color of Lightning" by Paulette Jiles, Amazon Kindle $1.99.

North Texas, 1865, Comanches ride down on a homestead, kill half, take kids and one adult woman captive. The story is of recovery and revenge.

Really really good. Cormac McCarthy-ish.

If you got taken as a kid, and spent even just a year living with them, you wouldn't go back. You became an indian, living in the world they inhabit, an alternative universe.

Posted by: Les Kinetic at January 12, 2020 12:11 PM (bR5Dm)

352 Morrison Library Reading Room, University of California

Looks like a nice place to pick out a comfy chair and read on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Hence, why its empty

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 12, 2020 12:11 PM (KZzsI)

353 "Down the hall, to the left, don't forget to jiggle the handle."

Posted by: klaftern at January 12, 2020 12:12 PM (RuIsu)

354 I was divorced and had the boys every other night. Reading to them at bedtime was a joy. The Hobbit, LoTR was too much when we tried it, the Harry Potter series. I had voices for each character.

And of course they got independent and kept reading on their own and of course that was bittersweet. But No. 1 Son now has a JRRT tattoo and has read all of the obscure stuff and knows it started at bedtime with the Hobbit.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 12, 2020 12:06 PM (gd9RK)

I read the Harry Potter books with my daughter. She was an avid reader on her own, but insisted I read the books when we did so.

One of my cherished memories from her childhood.

The secret I never told her though, is that I usually read ahead, so when would sorta fake my surprise when something happened. She must never find out the truth, it's the one great secret I keep to my dying breath.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 12, 2020 12:12 PM (hku12)

355 350 posts. Can I go OT?

Beef brisket and venison roast are on the smoker.

Off to church, then foil wrap and cook them again. They should be ready after the playoff game for dinner.

Posted by: Igotnothing at January 12, 2020 12:13 PM (xf2hT)

356 290
Didn't Tolkein model the Hobbits after WWI soldiers fighting trench
warfare...therefore, different accents for those solders from different
parts of the realm?

Posted by: squeakywheel at January 12, 2020 11:41 AM (DnyMy)
---
Yes.

As an officer Tolkien admired and respected the footsoldiers who did their duty without complaint.

He particularly called out the way they would "mind their front" and not worry about what was going on elsewhere. They had a job to do and were going to see it through. Sam Gamgee repeatedly sounds just like a Tommy on the line because that's what inspired him.

Frodo is the hero, but he would have failed but for the modest, self-effacing Sam.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 12:13 PM (cfSRQ)

357 We have a couple of "captains" here, but no one calls them "sir."
-----
If someone here called me "sir", I'd probably faint and fall over.

Posted by: Captain Obvious at January 12, 2020 12:15 PM (gz5MT)

358 My sister is urging me to read Tracy Kidder's "Strength in What Remains" about a guy who survived the Burundi civil war to make good in the US. Have any 'rons or ettes rea Kidder? His name is vaguely familiar - I feel like I should know the author or read something by his, but I haven't.

Kidder did some good non-fiction back in the '98's I think. Something about the process of building a house and some other stuff. She was popular, so probably worth taking a chance on.

Posted by: sal at January 12, 2020 12:15 PM (bo8pf)

359 If someone here called me "sir", I'd probably faint and fall over.

Posted by: Captain Obvious at January 12, 2020 12:15 PM (gz5MT)

---
Obviously.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 12:16 PM (cfSRQ)

360 357: no shit, sir.

Posted by: chavez the hugo at January 12, 2020 12:17 PM (KP5rU)

361 ''Just finished "The Color of Lightning" by Paulette Jiles, Amazon Kindle $1.99. ''

Please read her "News of the World" if you haven't already. Such a good book. I listened to it .then bought the hard copy just to have it.

Posted by: Tuna at January 12, 2020 12:17 PM (RueoN)

362 I read both my kids The Lord of the Rings. Turns out that when you're six or seven years old, the big reveal about Eowyn on the Pelenor Field comes as a TOTAL SHOCKER!

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 12, 2020 12:18 PM (urZJh)

363 Re-posting this from the EMT.

OT: but I miss the Book Thread, b/c Mass...

Daughter sent her dad a great Christmas gift: a vintage Literary Map of Texas, put out by the Dallas Public Library (where he used to work) in 1955.

So- no Humphrey, no McMurtry, no Caro's Lyndon Johnson, no Fehrenbach, no Old Yeller and no Hank the Cowdog, but
a bunch of great stuff for the time.

He was looking it over: "Got that- got that one- oh, yeah, got that in paperback... " He loved it!

His Texana collection is one wall, floor to ceiling, of the study.

What would a literary map of your state look like? New York and CA are exempt- they would be solid black...

Posted by: sal at January 12, 2020 12:19 PM (bo8pf)

364 Great book thread today!

Nood

Posted by: JC. Idaho bot. at January 12, 2020 12:19 PM (377Zs)

365 What would a literary map of your state look like? New York and CA are exempt- they would be solid black...

Posted by: sal at January 12, 2020 12:19 PM (bo8pf)

---
Michigan claims part of Hemingway, Elmore Leonard and of course Bruce Catton.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 12:20 PM (cfSRQ)

366 If you claim the title "doctor" without a degree or medical license, I may or may not humor you. We have a couple of "captains" here, but no one calls them "sir."

Is your curiosity sated?
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 12, 2020 12:08 PM (cfSRQ)

Sir, I'll have you know that I have a ThD. That's Doctor of Thinkology.

Posted by: DR.WTF at January 12, 2020 12:22 PM (aS1PU)

367 311 from now on, i will be known as, el conquistador. or, asshole. whatever. titles mean nothing to me.
Posted by: chavez the hugo at January 12, 2020 11:53 AM (KP5rU)

El Culo Grande! Or in the superlative, El Culo Mas Grande!

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at January 12, 2020 12:22 PM (NWiLs)

368 Romance read of the week

The Kings Man by Elizabeth Kingston

This one is a B+. This is a medieval. I do not generally go for woman warrior stories because they are rarely plausible. The eye roll factor for this one was fairly low and the love story was satisfyingly complex.

Posted by: MMcK at January 12, 2020 12:24 PM (xHxJf)

369 Flying home today from s funeral. We don't fly much, and are in awe seeing the pet bathrooms at the airport.

Posted by: Les Kinetic at January 12, 2020 12:26 PM (bR5Dm)

370 Who cares about Megxit. I want to know who Princess Di banged to father her ginger husband, who doesn't look like any of the other royals.

Then again, who didn't Di bang? Wouldn't most gals if they were married to Prince Charles?

Posted by: cool breeze at January 12, 2020 12:34 PM (UGKMd)

371 Happy New Year, Horde! I haven't been able to check in for a few weeks.

And, OM, thanks for providing this weekly thread!

On Christmas Day, I finished Red Metal by Mark Greaney. I really enjoyed it, though I did find myself skimming through some of the details at times. I just wanted to find out what was going to happen. The premise is that Russia thinks its only chance for future survival is to take over a rare-earth mineral mine in Kenya. Russia goes all in and launches warfare in Europe and Africa as well as cyber warfare and space warfare to take out satellites and GPS. This book will keep you on the edge of your seat.

This week, I finished The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan. It is a mystery/crime/thriller, police-procedural that is set in Ireland. I could not put it down.

This is the first book I have read by McTiernan. The Scholar is the second in her DS Cormac Reilly series. Someone had recommended it and said you didn't have to read the series in order. I will now go back and read the first one which is called The Ruin. She also has a third book coming out in March.

Posted by: Violet at January 12, 2020 12:38 PM (9ppMC)

372 202 While we're at it, what is up with flammable, inflammable, and non-flammable? Seems to me that is one flam too much.
Posted by: cfo mom at January 12, 2020 10:41 AM (RfzVr)

Most finance today is flimflamable.

Posted by: Headless Body of Agnew at January 12, 2020 12:38 PM (e1mEI)

373 Already read Jiles's "News . . ." also "Enemy Women."

A must-read if you want more Comanche-stuff, is the non-fiction "Empire of the Summer Moon."

By maybe 10, a boy would have been taught to torture captives, break horses, kill a bison, and he'd have a half-dozen of his own ponies.

Posted by: Les Kinetic at January 12, 2020 12:42 PM (bR5Dm)

374 The only thing I've read lately, other than Bible chapters and Ace threads plus Sefton links, is Chuck Dixon's run on Birds of Prey. I quit the book when Dixon left, and from what I've read about it since, I hadn't missed anything. What I do miss is Dixon in mainstream comics.

But I'm coming to the end of that, just in time for the library to deliver "No Time for Sergeants," the novel and the stage script. I saw the movie again a week ago and decided to compare the differences in each medium.

No resolution this year to cut back on library reading; that was an utter failure. We'll see how this year goes.

Hope all of you enjoy your books!

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 12, 2020 12:48 PM (PWPy3)

375 QE2 took out Diana for less. Just sayin

Posted by: Ignoramus at January 12, 2020 12:49 PM (JM3qO)

376 On the Indian front, John C. Cremony's "Life Among the Apaches" (published in 186

, might be of interest. It's available free on Archive.org.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 12, 2020 12:50 PM (YqDXo)

377 But I'm coming to the end of that, just in time for the library to deliver "No Time for Sergeants," the novel and the stage script. I saw the movie again a week ago and decided to compare the differences in each medium.

Lemme know what you think of the book !

Posted by: JT at January 12, 2020 12:54 PM (arJlL)

378 96 Started getting into The Landmark Thucydides which I got for Christmas. One thing I noticed early on is that the author talks about some of the contemporary Greeks having migrated there during the Bronze Age. I don't recall Herodotus ever having talked about defined historical times like that; usually it was more like the Egyptians did something a long fucking time ago for example. Maybe my recollection is less than perfect but I think I'd have noticed something like that. So my question is whether these eras became defined between the two books or was Herodotus more of just a tale teller who didn't think people would be interested in that?

============================

Hi Captain Hate. I don't recall the passage you're talking about in Thucydides, and it's been a few years since I read both, but they are two of my favorite books. Herodotus' ancient history is almost unrecognizable, and I think he was having some fun in his telling of it.

Two quick quotes. One is from The Histories 7:152 "I may be obliged to tell what is said, but I am not at all obliged to believe it. And you may consider this statement to be valid for my entire work." A big FU if I've ever seen one. The second is from my notes on The Histories: "There is a dual nature to The Histories in which Herodotus shows he has benefited from the Ionian enlightenment but continues to be shaped by Homeric epic and Greek tragedy."

Thucydides was born only about 24 years after Herodotus, so I don't think how the past was viewed changed that much. In answer to your question, I would say that the difference is more a factor of the different ways Herodotus and Thucydides approached their histories. Herodotus, as noted above. Thucydides, more "scientific." Although some of his sources, such as Alcibiades, were far from trustworthy.

Sorry to ramble on for one post so.

Posted by: Dwight at January 12, 2020 12:55 PM (U5BBk)

379 Devil Thumbs a Ride was turned into a grim film noir with Lawrence Tierney in 1947. Good essay by Barry Gifford about it in his collection with the same title as the movie.

Posted by: donf at January 12, 2020 01:17 PM (MpcNW)

380 (A. H. Lloyd, 210) "Arguably the first example where we decided 'maintaining' a war was more important than winning it."
That lame strategy was Henry Kissinger's advice, way back in the mid-fifties. I read Kissinger's _Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy_ while hospitalized in Balboa Naval Hospital (1974). Except for the use of nuclear weapons, the Army followed his advice. And lost.
They won on the ground, eventually, but lost politically at home, thanks to a deliberate incremental strategy.

Posted by: Malcolm Kirkpatrick at January 12, 2020 01:28 PM (kD3S+)

381 Sorry to ramble on for one post so.
Posted by: Dwight at January 12, 2020 12:55 PM (U5BBk)

No need to apologize because I valued every word. Plus OM likes to support this type of back and forth; at least I think he does.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 12, 2020 02:04 PM (y7DUB)

382 Kidder did some good non-fiction back in the '98's I think. Something about the process of building a house and some other stuff. She was popular, so probably worth taking a chance on.
Posted by: sal at January 12, 2020 12:15 PM (bo8pf)

First off, Tracy's a he, which you seemed to know in your prior paragraph. Second, I finally remembered he wrote The Soul of a New Machine about development of a new computer. I remember being interested in it but never pulled the trigger.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 12, 2020 02:14 PM (y7DUB)

383 371 Violet, I looked at The Ruin and The Scholar and they both look great. I visited Galway several years ago and loved it. I will start with The Ruin. The blurb mentions Tana French, and I really liked In the Woods. Thanks for the rec.

Posted by: MMcK at January 12, 2020 02:23 PM (xHxJf)

384 tracy kidder did Soul of a New Machine, about the creation the the Data General development of a 32 bit computer from a 16 bit computer. This was to compete w/Digital Equipment's development of the VAX w/their 16-bit compatibility mode of the PDP-11.

Posted by: yara at January 12, 2020 02:31 PM (rde8g)

385 Captain Hate,

Soul of a New Machine is an engrossing book.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 12, 2020 02:39 PM (u82oZ)

386 Followed a Moron's recommendation to check out the DC Smith series. Am on book 8. This is a really great series with a more right leaning detective than I would have thought for Britain. Listened to them narrated by Gildart Jackson, who does an incredible job. If police procedurals are your thing, I highly recommend this series too.

Posted by: Sisqui at January 12, 2020 03:25 PM (ienGK)

387 Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor and her daughter, Anne.

Posted by: Johann Amadeus Metesky at January 12, 2020 03:30 PM (W8/ca)

388 Re Boer war, curious if we were some sort of anomaly...when I was in 2nd grade in South Florida, one of the songs we were taught to sing was "We Are Marching to Pretoria (Hurrah!)". Does anyone else remember being taught this song? I have a suspicion,for many other reasons as well, that my 2nd grade teacher was nuts.
Posted by: WTP at January 12, 2020 09:28 AM (WQfDg)

Yep, we sang that one in grade school, too. That song book was one of the newest books we had at the time, 'cause in my tiny little Catholic school, we used the same texts for years at a time. Even the geography book was copyrighted in 1957. I think we were still using it in 1970. Probably learned more from it being older!

Posted by: sandyCheeks at January 12, 2020 04:54 PM (u1+n/)

389 Posted by: Violet at January 12, 2020 12:38 PM (9ppMC)

Nice to see you on the book thread again!

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at January 12, 2020 05:21 PM (qlVRg)

390 We have bought more than 100 books from the Folio Society. As members you get a variety of offers and only have to buy 4 or 5 books a year to retain membership. Also, they ship most books from their warehouse in the U.S. so shipping is not expensive.

Posted by: Roland Hirsch at January 12, 2020 05:38 PM (oMkPq)

391 Captain Hate,

Soul of a New Machine is an engrossing book.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 12, 2020 02:39 PM (u82oZ)

If you happen to read this, or anyone else can chime in, does it hold up well today? I recall losing interest after some time had passed thinking that what may have been enlightening sounding at the time might now be considered conventional wisdom. On its face your answer implies otherwise and, if so, I'll add it to my always growing list of things to read.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 12, 2020 06:39 PM (y7DUB)

392 Captain Hate

This is primarily a story of people solving problems. And it is a well told story. I am not a silicon head, and I never used the computers involved, although they were around me in labs. Kidder had my interest by telling what happened and the personalities of those involved.

I still have it on a bookshelf. Only the best remain there.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 12, 2020 08:05 PM (u82oZ)

393 And Captain Hate,

We may had different tastes in books. So YMMV.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 12, 2020 08:07 PM (u82oZ)

394 It sounds like I'd like it; I'll add it to a very long list.

Posted by: Captain Hate at January 12, 2020 08:55 PM (y7DUB)

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