Sunday Morning Book Thread 10-24-2021

Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes, wine moms, frat bros, the vaxxed, the unvaxxed, the super-vaxxed, the Karens who triple-mask, and all you crétins sans pantalon (who are technically breaking the rules). 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 make it plain that every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man.

Pic Note:

This is an example of what is known as a "chained" library:

The Chained Library at Wells Cathedral houses books published before 1800. These were collected by the canons in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries and reflects their wide-ranging intellectual interests. The core of the collection of some 2,800 volumes is theology, but science, medicine, history, exploration and languages are also well-represented. There are some good examples of manuscript books but the medieval contents of the Library were lost at the time of the Reformation.

The strength of the collection is in printed books, the earliest being a Pliny Naturalis Historiae printed in Venice in 1472 by Nicholas Jenson. Other early books include Vesalius’ De Humanis Corporis Fabrica of 1555, which is the book of anatomy that heralded the advent of biology as a subject, and the earliest complete atlas of the world by Abraham Ortelius which was first published in English in 1606. The set of Aristotle’s works published in Venice in 1497 belonged to Erasmus and has his signature and annotations.

Who knew monasteries had problems with ne'er-do-wells walking off with their books?

It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

Usage: "The Democratic Party, along with all of their toadying, bootlicking snools in the media..."

Rainy Day

YA Literature: A World Drunk on Woke

We all know that YA lit is descending into madness, since the woke zombie virus has thoroughly corrupted brick-and-mortar publishing, where checking off all of the au courant woke taking points is prioritized higher than good storytelling and compelling characters.

But how bad is it really getting? This bad:

Recently, I perused three emails from bookstores offering children’s book recommendations from a...program organized by the American Booksellers Association (ABA). Amid 93 new books, all published since May, I couldn’t find one that would appeal to my boys. The choices included a “feel-good contemporary romance” about a young trans athlete fighting against a “discriminatory law targeting trans athletes”; a book about a young lesbian with pansexual and nonbinary friends who denounced her white privilege; a “queer coming of age story” about a young lesbian who joins the boy’s football team; a young-adult novel about genderfluidity by a non-binary writer who is the mother of a transgender child; a “tale of self-discovery” about a bisexual love triangle; a book about a transgender witch named Wyatt; and a “fabulously joyful” novel about “drag, prom, and embracing your inner queen” that featured “a fat, openly gay boy stuck in a small West Texas town.” Other titles included the tale of a Puerto Rican eighth-grader who “navigates . . . the systemic pressures of toxic masculinity and housing insecurity in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn”; a young-adult thriller with a bisexual protagonist that explores the “politics of systemic racism”; and Don’t Hate the Player, a novel about gamers I thought would appeal to the boys until I realized it was about a young feminist battling misogyny from the “male-dominated gaming community.”

Also:

A host of new children’s books available on Amazon appeals to the same set. These included a new release for 8–12-year-olds about a young Muslim living in a xenophobic town in Texas where “hostile” townspeople protest the construction of a new mosque; a “swoony” gay pirate adventure story heralded by NPR; a queer ghost story featuring a bisexual teenage paranormal podcaster; and a polemic for 7–12 year-olds called Palm Trees at the North Pole: the Hot Truth About Climate Change.

I didn't copy across all of the links embedded in these paragraphs, but you can see them for yourself in the original text. I have nothing much to say about this degredation, but I am always looking for alteratives, and one of the commenters had a couple of suggestions. The first is Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of 'The Iliad' by Rosemary Sutcliff:

As the gods and goddesses of Olympus scheme, the ancient world is thrown into turmoil when Helen, the most beautiful woman in all of Greece, is stolen away by her Trojan love. Inflamed by jealousy, the Greek king seeks lethal vengeance and sends his black war ships to descend on the city of Troy.

In the siege that follows, history’s greatest heroes, from Ajax to Achilles to Odysseus, are forged in combat, and the brutal costs of passion, pride, and revenge must be paid. In the end, the whims of the gods, the cunning of the warriors, and a great wooden horse will decide who emerges victorious.

This retelling of 'The Iliad', suitable for middle-schoolers and above, is available in paperback for $7.99. And don't miss the companion volume, The Wanderings of Odysseus: The Story of the Odyssey:

King Odysseus and the Greeks have triumphed over the Trojans. At long last, they are able to set sail for home and the loving family Odysseus left behind. But for the heroic king, the return voyage holds hazards far greater than any he faced during the war.

Forced by treacherous winds into unknown seas, Odysseus and his crew must face deadly perils: the flesh-eating Cyclops, Circe and her deadly enchantments, and the soul-chilling Land of the Dead and more.

For good storytelling, there's nothing like the classics.

Who Dis:

Last week's who dis was Olympic champion turned actor Bob Mathias.

Moron Recommendations

Lots of bashing of San Francisco in the thread last week. NTTAWWT:

323 The whole city is to be strenuously avoided. But I'll guarantee the independent bookshops of SF are all run by the worst kind of Californians.
Posted by: The Rt. Rev. Yudhishthira's Dice
-----

Which leads me to another Moron-recommended read, 'When the Wicked Seize a City', McIlheny, et al

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 17, 2021 10:49 AM (WD9ZA)

Wow. I'm surprised that When the Wicked Seize a City is still, apparently, in print. And also that Amazon still carries it. I don't know why it's not on Amazon's 'no-no' list; perhaps it just slipped through the cracks. Anyway, The book was first published in 1993. It used to be available to be read for free online, but I forget the site, and I expect it's gone now. That's where I first read it, in the late 90s.

The book is written by the pastor of a conservative Presbyterian church in San Francisco who, in the late 70s or early 80s, hired a pianist/organist to do the church's music. It came out that this individual was a homosexual, which behavior is not according to the standards of the church, so he was fired. This triggered lawsuits, harassment, threats, vandalism and, get this, during one "protest" when they tried to damage or destroy the church, the police stood around like potted plants, citing the 1st Amendment as their reason for, well, standing around like potted plants.

(Although, to be fair, the police stood up and did their jobs during a subsequent "mostly peaceful but fiery" protest against the church.)

And the church had to fight a battle on two fronts, the obvious one against organized pro-homosexual groups, and, surprisingly, another one against their own denomination. Not because they were liberal, far from it, but rather because they had no idea what the San Francisco church was facing (remember, gay agitation had not reached the level of cultural saturation) and took refuge behind a fossilized bureaucracy to excuse their inaction.

I think this book is interesting as an historical document which provides a snapshot into the time when the homosexual movement had first grown strong enough to employ force rather than mere persuasion to implement their political agenda. The author's naïve incredulity, "it's hard to believe they're actually doing this stuff" is almost quaint.

___________

158 thank you for the recs last time of In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden. The library was able to get one battered copy.

I loved it. The old-fashioned style of narration enhanced the story, imo.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion (oEn12) at September 12, 2021 09:00 AM (oEn12)

Pax is the motto of Brede Abbey. Yet its peace is the peace of God—“not,” as Godden brings to her readers’ notice, “the world’s peace.” The walls of Brede witness life of unceasing work and prayer, little creature comfort, persistent disappointment and misunderstanding—yet a life of peace all the same, unswervingly joyful and loving. Into this life enters Philippa Talbot, ambitious, independent, successful, forsaking her beautifully arranged career in the world for a vocation of complete self-gift to God. A milestone in Catholic literature, In This House of Brede is fiction of the highest caliber: no saccharine, simpering imitation of life, but a wholehearted, unreserved reflection of reality in its awful fullness.

This sounds pretty intense. Conflict under a veneer of calm.

The Kindle edition is $10.99.

___________

551 A rather old book at this point, but I recently began reading "The New Dealers' War" by Thomas Fleming, from 2001.

Calling it "brutal" in how it treats FDR is an understatement. By 3 chapters in Fleming makes FDR look significantly more conniving than Obama, and so barely more competent that Biden.

Compounding that are the number of parallels in socialist economic policy and military incompetence of the administration to those currently being demonstrated.

Posted by: Sam at September 12, 2021 05:31 PM (ohyxL)

Fleming has the reputation of being somewhat of a revisionist historian. In this case, he does not bow the knee to Roosevelt sufficiently enough:

Acclaimed historian Thomas Fleming brings to life the flawed and troubled FDR who struggled to manage WWII. Starting with the leak to the press of Roosevelt's famous Rainbow Plan, then spiraling back to FDR's inept prewar diplomacy with Japan, and his various attempts to lure Japan into an attack on the U.S. Fleet in the Pacific, Fleming takes the reader inside the incredibly fractious struggles and debates that went on in Washington, the nation, and the world as the New Dealers, led by FDR, strove to impose their will on the conduct of the War. Unlike the familiar yet idealized FDR of Doris Kearns Goodwin's No Ordinary Time, the reader encounters a Roosevelt in remorseless decline, battered by ideological forces and primitive hatreds which he could not handle-and frequently failed to understand-some of them leading to unimaginable catastrophe.

Yes, from this description, it does make FDR look like a doofus. NTTAWWT. The Kindle edition is a whopping $16.99.

___________

Need Some Book Binding?

CBD sent me this some time ago, but I had completely forgotten about it until now:

92 Or... have your treasured book restored by professionals.

https://www.grimmbindery.com/

Posted by: Paul Grimm at September 12, 2021 01:58 PM (ToEW5)

According to the Grimm Bindery web site, they do Book Repair and Restoration, Leather Bindings & Handwork, Legal Bindings, CDs, Document Digitization & Duplicating Services, and more.

You Wisconsin morons in or near Madison might be interested. Because there's nothing like a book bound in fine leather.

Books By Morons

'Ette author Lisa Mathisen has released vol. 12 of her 'Glimpse' series of short stories, Souldier, and this collection has distinctly Christian theme:

Souldier vol. 12 of The Glimpse Series - Imagined Scenes from Imagined Lives, is a collection of Bible-inspired fiction. Each story was inspired by a specific verse and makes no apologies for unabashed faith in Christ. Some stories delve deeper into Biblical scenes, speculating what may have happened to the characters. Others are mixed-genre journeys into Christian drama or science fiction, all biblically inspired.

Lisa tells me:

This is not your typical Christian fiction...I mix Christian themes with science fiction, horror, satire, and whatever else I find laying around. Who says Bible-based fiction has to be boring when the Bible is anything but?

Also:

You will find that I have gotten into micro-stories with many of the chapters 300 words or less and many 100 word stories

I've read most of Lisa's previous books and her short-short stories are like tasty little snacks, literary hors d'oeuvres, if you will.

Oh, and I almost forgot the 11th Glimpse book, Tales of WHOA, which the Amazon blurb touts as:

...a thought-provoking collection of surprisingly twisted tales. By injecting shock into drama and humor into the macabre, flash fiction rebel Mathisen takes the reader on wild rides that leave us breathless and thoroughly entertained, sometimes using only 100 words...Glimpse vol. 11 is a fun, easy read that’s sure to delight every short story aficionado.

To which Lisa adds:

These are very timely stories written from a conservative viewpoint. Readers may find more than a few cathartic moments here.

The Kindle editions of WHOA and Souldier are both $2.99.

___________

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 08:55 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Thank you!

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice. Asymptomatic raycist at October 24, 2021 07:58 AM (3D/fK)

2 No reading this week!

Posted by: rhennigantx at October 24, 2021 07:58 AM (yrol0)

3 Morning everybody!

I held a small book signing at a local coffee shop yesterday. This was my first public event as an author, so I had no idea what to expect. The crowd wound up being pretty steady. I finished the day in the black, pretty good considering I only unloaded a little over half my inventory. All in all a good experience; now I'm ready to put some more events on the calendar.

Thanks for the thread, OM!

Posted by: Long-time Commenter, First-time Reader at October 24, 2021 07:58 AM (Bg96i)

4 Fred Astaire! Cool

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 07:59 AM (ONvIw)

5 That City journal article is depressing. My kids love reading, but I have to police everything they bring home, which sucks for all of us.

Posted by: Long-time Commenter, First-time Reader at October 24, 2021 08:00 AM (Bg96i)

6 Good Sunday morning, horde!

I'm sure those monks had every intention of returning the books. Eventually.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at October 24, 2021 08:00 AM (OX9vb)

7 Snuck in early
Tolle Lege
Now if only a book I bought would show up I would be happy

Posted by: Skip's Phone at October 24, 2021 08:01 AM (Ae+jP)

8 Good morning everyone. From OM's quote:

" There are some good examples of manuscript books but the medieval contents of the Library were lost at the time of the Reformation."

Was this done on purpose?

Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 08:01 AM (45fpk)

9 Good morning and thank you Oregonmuse

Sorry I missed out on the SF bash-fest last week

Hopefully you're pleased that the Ducks won

Posted by: San Franpsycho at October 24, 2021 08:03 AM (EZebt)

10 That Lieberry is off the chain!

Those pants.....nope. Too stupid.

The Who Dis is the gun prop dude after walking off the set of "Rust".

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at October 24, 2021 08:03 AM (R/m4+)

11 Back to the Shelley and Godwin families and I ordered a copies of Wollstonecraft's letters, as the ones from her trip to Scandinavia were so beautifully written and interesting. Godwin said he fell in love with her due to these letters (originally written to another man) and it seems clear he fell for a thoughtful writer and it was a "marriage of true minds".

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 08:04 AM (ONvIw)

12 Love the picture of Fred Astaire.

Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 08:04 AM (45fpk)

13 Library seating looks like church pews. The ultimate in comfort.

Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 08:05 AM (45fpk)

14
After the discussion of including the names of real life characters in a story as a means of 'revenge writing' I re-wrote the last very short chapter of my book, which has a surprise ending. Is hair falling out in clumps, Parkinson's, numerous incontinent cats, and arthritis too over the top?

To me, it hit just the right chord.

Posted by: Traitor Joe's Military Surplus, Vaccine and Massage Parlor at October 24, 2021 08:05 AM (dQvv7)

15 vmom,

"Brede" has been a favorite since I read it 50 years ago, when it came out. So glad you liked it.
It was one of the books that influenced my conversion years later.

Praying for your g-nephew and family.

Posted by: sal at October 24, 2021 08:07 AM (bJKUl)

16 OM,

You've never let on if you're a Ducks fan at least that I've noticed. I used to hate them because of the stench of Phil Knight which permeates them but for some reason I like them this season. Go figure...

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 24, 2021 08:07 AM (y7DUB)

17 Fun cartoon about the "coven", I suspect there are quite few groups like that. I was looking at the website for a pattern maker I used to like, and several of her "models' are tatted up with wiccan moons and pentagrams.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 08:08 AM (ONvIw)

18 I think there was some TV movie made of In this House of Brede, with Diana Rigg IIRC.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 08:10 AM (ONvIw)

19 I regret to inform everyone that at the last Scholastic Book Fair I worked at the g-kid's school four years ago, there was a elementary level book about a student whose gay uncle is in love with his teacher. SPOILER: Love conquers and they get "married" in the end.

Don't get me started on the woke toddler books.

Posted by: sal at October 24, 2021 08:10 AM (bJKUl)

20 Slow book morning. Here something willowed that's Book Thread Adjacent:

Saw DUNE last night -

I liked it but didn't love it. Basically, it hit all the same scenes as David Lynch's version only at a lower key and a slower pace and ended at roughly the midpoint of that movie.

The 1984 version explained much better what Spice was and why it was important by "showing" us how it changes everything around it. In 2021, Spice ism mentioned vaguely once, and somehow uses giant elongated urinals as Star Gates.

Most of the duplicated scenes were done better in the Lynch version. Cuz they were quick, snappy, and alien feeling and looking as befits 10000 years in the future.

Better actors in 84 as well. And Baron harkkonen was a stone cold bore. BONUS! Not a lot of acting required by Zendaya.

Anywho, I'd like to see part two and hope they finish things with more vim and vigor.

Posted by: naturalfake at October 24, 2021 08:10 AM (5NkmN)

21 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading. (And whatever they do at the Texas MoMe.)

Posted by: JTB at October 24, 2021 08:11 AM (7EjX1)

22 18 I think there was some TV movie made of In this House of Brede, with Diana Rigg IIRC.
Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 08:10 AM (ONvIw)

Yes, in the early '70s. It was...disappointing.

Posted by: sal at October 24, 2021 08:12 AM (bJKUl)

23 The rainy day picture is perfect. A calm rainy day is perfect for reading and crafting. When the wedding is in the rear view mirror, I hope to have days like that except swap out the sunflowers for carnations.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 08:12 AM (ONvIw)

24 I read I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, Vol. I 1933-1941, by Victor Klemperer, trans. by Martin Chalmers. Klemperer was a Dresden Jew, a historian, and a man of letters. His diary, although a bit of a slog to read, is a stunning portrait of day to day life as Hitler came to power and during the first years of World War II. His diary has become a main primary source for historians of the Nazi period.

Of his work, Klemperer said, "It's not the big things that are important, but the everyday life of tyranny, which may be forgotten. A thousand mosquito bites are worse than a blow to the head. I observe, I note the mosquito bites."

While reading this, I noticed parallels between those times and now. Back then it was "It's the Jew's fault!" Now "It's the unvaxxed fault!" One constant remains: authoritarian people gravitate toward government positions.

Posted by: Zoltan at October 24, 2021 08:13 AM (av5VM)

25
Don't get me started on the woke toddler books.
Posted by: sal at October 24, 2021 08:10 AM (bJKUl)

Even before CRT, this was sufficient reason to pull kids out of woke public schools. The two daddies stuff is dreck and grooming.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 08:13 AM (ONvIw)

26 Still reading along with the Dante Project. Still a great read. Still great commentary for the most part.

If it sounds like something you'd like to do, you will like doing it.

Posted by: naturalfake at October 24, 2021 08:14 AM (5NkmN)

27 The books in those library are chained so they don't wander off

Posted by: vmom - link to Red's fundraiser at October 24, 2021 08:14 AM (YZG/i)

28 On "chained" books:
One of the canards against the Church was that they chained the Bible up in their churches.

Usually brought up by people with access to printed Bibles, who didn't consider the time and effort it took to produce the chained up ones.

Off to Mass. Prayers for all!

Posted by: sal at October 24, 2021 08:17 AM (bJKUl)

29 I was right: When the crew of "The Skylark of Space" encountered residents of another world, the story picked up -- except for a chapter devoted to the social structure of that world. Its denizens practice eugenics. Ecch.

Another unintentional anachronism: In making friends with the leader of one faction of this world, the commander of the Skylark shows him a better way to shave. He mixes up lather with his mug and brush.

If science fiction is supposed to.forecast the future, sometimes "Doc" Smith missed the mark.

Posted by: Weak Geek is posting from Texas, where he enjoyed the MoMe at October 24, 2021 08:18 AM (L9ckI)

30 Greetings from Texas at least til 12:30 when I will have to depart the free state of Texas for the East coast.
Finished The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer that had been recommended here many times as one of her best. I have read a few others including the Toll House which I thought was pretty good, but The Grand Sophy was very entertaining. I do think it's the best one I've read so far.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 24, 2021 08:19 AM (CQ8KO)

31 I have a book question: have you noticed that a lot of new books are written in 3rd person present tense?

"Jill opens the door slowly, fearing what lurks within.
'Hurry up! screams Joe."

I hate it. I hate it more than my previous pet peeve - the first person narrator - which I only mildly disliked.

Posted by: vmom - link to Red's fundraiser at October 24, 2021 08:20 AM (YZG/i)

32 I'm such a hack. I can't even pretend to be impartial. I wish my wife was a tranny so I could be considered hip. And my panel today shows exactly what a sad, flaccid submale. I'm smooth like a Ken doll.

Posted by: Piss Wallace at October 24, 2021 08:20 AM (vGJY7)

33 You just know there are books of magic(k) in that library, if you ask the right librarian. Just casually inquire if there are any Icelandic books bound in human skin.

Smoove segue to one of the books I'm enjoying, "The Book of Magic" by Alice Hoffman. A New England family of witches try to remove the curse placed on anyone they love. Hoffman is such a wordsmithess (wordsmix?)

Necropants!!
https://tinyurl.com/a7zf2swt

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Live! from the Dungeon of Discord at October 24, 2021 08:23 AM (Dc2NZ)

34 I hate it. I hate it more than my previous pet peeve - the first person narrator - which I only mildly disliked.

Posted by: vmom - link to Red's fundraiser at October 24, 2021 08:20 AM (YZG/i)

Kindletot hates that too....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 24, 2021 08:23 AM (7bRMQ)

35 23 The rainy day picture is perfect. A calm rainy day is perfect for reading and crafting.
Posted by: CN.

And baking...there should be smells of apple pie or good bread.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at October 24, 2021 08:23 AM (OX9vb)

36 I hate it. I hate it more than my previous pet peeve - the first person narrator - which I only mildly disliked.
Posted by: vmom - link to Red's fundraiser at October 24, 2021 08:20 AM (YZG/i)
---

Yes, I've noticed it, and yes I dislike it.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Live! from the Dungeon of Discord at October 24, 2021 08:24 AM (Dc2NZ)

37 How old is Fred Astaire in that pic? Very young.

Posted by: dantesed at October 24, 2021 08:24 AM (88xKn)

38 I gave the Sutcliffe book as a Christmas gift to my nephew a couple of years ago - now reminded to purchase a copy for my grandson, too.
I read "In This House of Brede" years ago, still have on my shelves. It's a lovely book, and I am not particularly otherwise a fan of Rumer Godden. Still - she told a very lovely, Christian-based story.
As for current YA fiction ... gee, can we spell "grooming" - as in setting up for future sexual exploitation?
This is why I started writing my own YA series - Lone Star Sons, Lone Star Glory, with a third volume, Lone Star Blood in the works. A kind of reworking of the Lone Ranger, only historically accurate with no sexual content and only a little bit of violence, and generally satisfactory endings. It's how I'm fighting back against exploitative wokery in books for YA.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at October 24, 2021 08:25 AM (xnmPy)

39 Good morning. Got bread doing 1st rise, coffee made, bacon cooking. Love this thread on a slow morning.

Posted by: From that time at October 24, 2021 08:25 AM (4780s)

40 Thanks for the link to the book bindery. I've been meaning to recover a two-volume Shakespeare for, oh, a couple decades now.

News you can use!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Live! from the Dungeon of Discord at October 24, 2021 08:26 AM (Dc2NZ)

41 Eris - they no longer let people check out their first edition Necronomicon. It was hard enough getting the Balrog back into the pit the last time.

Posted by: PabloD at October 24, 2021 08:26 AM (puaOZ)

42 Shatner in space and a bit of nostalgia led me to purchase a Star Trek book, The Weight of Worlds. Why did I not do due diligence and realize the author was associated with the NYT and written in 2013. Made it through the first chapter which of course included women partners and started the second. Gave up in the first few pages of it. May try again later.
Sharon I love The Grand Sophy, however A Civil Contract is my go to re-read. Try the Unknown Ajax if you liked Tollbooth.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at October 24, 2021 08:27 AM (2NHgQ)

43 Continuing to mine my backlog of unread kindle books, this week I read Sudden Rescue, by Jon Mollison. A fun, light space opera. Refreshingly, the main character is not a conflicted antihero, just a guy that stumbles into something big and tries to do the right thing.

Posted by: DIY Daddio at October 24, 2021 08:29 AM (RJscS)

44 Both The Grand Sophy and The Toll Booth are particular favorites of mine, too. Two others are The Foundling and Cotillion, both of which have kind of atypical Heyer male heroes.

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at October 24, 2021 08:29 AM (fTtFy)

45 Just ordered "When the Wicked Seize a City" on Thriftbooks in good condition for less than half what they charge on Amazon, no shipping.

Posted by: squid_hunt at October 24, 2021 08:30 AM (7MBHe)

46 Sorry, including shipping.

Posted by: squid_hunt at October 24, 2021 08:30 AM (7MBHe)

47 I never address the actual issue and gaslight anyone who may have a point that counter's mine. Piss Wallace is such a POS, his moderation is actually advocacy. Thank Gaia for his lack of integrity!

Posted by: Juan Williams at October 24, 2021 08:30 AM (vGJY7)

48 I have a book question: have you noticed that a lot of new books are written in 3rd person present tense?

"Jill opens the door slowly, fearing what lurks within.
'Hurry up! screams Joe."

I hate it. I hate it more than my previous pet peeve - the first person narrator - which I only mildly disliked.
Posted by: vmom - link to Red's fundraiser at October 24, 2021 08:20 AM (YZG/i)

naturalfake kinda likes First Person Present Tense. Esp. when it's done well.

He thinks, while sipping his morning coffee, that 3rd person present is a method used by either very poor writers or cynical writers who consider their readers retards and use it as a way to get their retarded readers invested in the story.

naturalfake walks to the window and thinks he may take a constitutional. Hurry, naturalfake! Hurry!

Posted by: naturalfake at October 24, 2021 08:31 AM (5NkmN)

49 Really anything by Rosemary Sutcliffe. Her Eagle of the Ninth series was one of my favorites as a kid.

Posted by: Heresolong at October 24, 2021 08:31 AM (Zmlud)

50 I enjoy children's literature. Anyone know anything about the Wizard series by Diane Duane?

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at October 24, 2021 08:31 AM (2NHgQ)

51 41 Eris - they no longer let people check out their first edition Necronomicon. It was hard enough getting the Balrog back into the pit the last time.
Posted by: PabloD at October 24, 2021 08:26 AM (puaOZ)
---

Not even for scholars? I have my own asbestos gloves and protective necro-goggles.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Live! from the Dungeon of Discord at October 24, 2021 08:31 AM (Dc2NZ)

52 I finished, American Marxism, but Mark Levin just repeated what he said in other books he wrote. Although, his hyperbole is getting less so by the day.

Posted by: Mean Tweets at October 24, 2021 08:33 AM (vGJY7)

53 An aquaintance of mine recommended the book "Me, Myself and Bob", a kind of personal journey of success and failure by Phil Vischer. He's the IMO genius that brought us Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber. I take it he has had some rough patches and no longer owns Veggie Tales. I'll have to order it on Kindle because I can't read regular books. $7.99 is a little more than I usually spend though.

Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 08:33 AM (45fpk)

54 I finished Julio Cortazar's We Love Glenda So Much and Other Tales" last night, a collection of ten short stories. Like other things by him I read decades ago, the stories range from very enjoyable, like the title story, to weirdly abstract but still able to be understood, like a story about a young woman who was raped and murdered by a lowlife who was executed for it and their disembodied spirits end up kind of liking each other (I think he enjoyed infuriating the nags) to wtf tales I don't bother trying to figure out. One thing about the author is he mentions a lot of his characters liking jazz; since that's an umbrella description of lots of types of music including some I absolutely despise, I've wondered what he's talking about. I recently got in the mail a long collection of essays on the late soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy. The essays often focus on specific recordings from his huge catalog of work. So I listen to them concurrently which often lasted until when I read the short stories. They seemed to enhance the stories.

Has the maximum word count limit been massively revised upward because I didn't think I'd get all this in. Btw are there any Steve Lacy fans h

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 24, 2021 08:33 AM (y7DUB)

55 Morning, bibliophiles.

Posted by: Darth Randall at October 24, 2021 08:33 AM (3TihK)

56 Praying for your g-nephew and family.
Posted by: sal at October 24, 2021 08:07 AM (bJKUl)

Thank you sal

Posted by: vmom - link to Red's fundraiser at October 24, 2021 08:34 AM (YZG/i)

57 #7 continued
Bought hard copy of Dennis Prager Rational Bible Deuteronomy weeks ago, not even shipped yet
Yesterday in the doldrums of AoSHq Saturday afternoon tried to get ebook of Molly's Rigged but some error and waiting to see if it shows up on my tablet or not before doing it again.
Did have a Sharpe series ebook that took months before it appeared.

Posted by: Skip at October 24, 2021 08:34 AM (2JoB8)

58 here? I guess there is a limit still.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 24, 2021 08:34 AM (y7DUB)

59 Thomas Fleming is great and the New Dealers War fit my bias well. Those interested would also like his Illusion of Victory, which takes a similar jaundiced eye to the despicable Woodrow Wilson.

Posted by: Dread0 at October 24, 2021 08:35 AM (ZP4Ww)

60 Who knew monasteries had problems with ne'er-do-wells walking off with their books?
_______

Maybe anyone who knew that monks were people?

Posted by: Eeyore at October 24, 2021 08:35 AM (7X3UV)

61 This week I finished Malachi Martin's "Hostage to the Devil." I look at the world differently now--such a thin curtain between what we see and what is going on in people's souls.

Not that I think every evil person is possessed by demons, but now I am aware. And praying more fervently.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at October 24, 2021 08:35 AM (OX9vb)

62 I enjoy children's literature. Anyone know anything about the Wizard series by Diane Duane?
Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at October 24, 2021 08:31 AM (2NHgQ)

naturalfake knows nothing about Diane Duane, except that her first and last name are spelled the same but for one letter.

This strikes naturalfake fake as phony-baloney and too cute by half.

"Fie on her!" screams naturalfake outraged to the very core of his soul. "Fie!"

Posted by: naturalfake at October 24, 2021 08:35 AM (5NkmN)

63 This has been a week for pleasant reading, nothing controversial or annoying. And a delightful surprise.

The latest issue of Muzzleloader Magazine arrived the other day providing hours of wonderful reading and admiring the talent of the artists.

I have a good number of books about fly fishing and tying. I find it relaxing to read about the materials and techniques and contemplating the fishing. So much pleasant and interesting variety.

The surprise was finding a book I forgot I had: a collection of articles and essays by A.A. Milne (of Winnie the Pooh fame) published in Punch magazine. The book originally came out in 1921 and this is a nice hardcover edition printed about 2006. Only a little ways into the first story but this is not for kids. This is dry British humor that manages to skewer many parts of society of the time, but gently. There is a feel of Wodehouse and Jerome K. Jerome in the writing. I'm looking forward to reading more. You can't help but smile as you turn the pages.

Posted by: JTB at October 24, 2021 08:37 AM (7EjX1)

64 What cozy pictures today! I'd love to hang out in that library.

Posted by: Emmie at October 24, 2021 08:37 AM (6RgRK)

65 Usage: "The Democratic Party, along with all of their toadying, bootlicking snools in the media..."
_________

Are they? As I see them, they are less like people submitting tamely than like enthusiastic masochists. When they say "Thank you, sir, may I have another", they really mean it. They seem to love being humiliated.

Posted by: Eeyore at October 24, 2021 08:38 AM (7X3UV)

66 Hiya

Fred Upstairs.

And the pants guy doesn't own a weedwhacker. (if you catch my drift)

Posted by: JT at October 24, 2021 08:38 AM (arJlL)

67 Greetings:

I've started reading "The Long War" by David Loyn, a BBC alumnus. I'm less than 100 pages into it, but his chapter entitled "The Fog of Aid" closely followed my general thesis about the impacts, mostly negative, of the way too many NGOs and "non-profits" that, along with the Administrative State, have propelled the USofA along the way to Progressive hell.

Posted by: 11B40 at October 24, 2021 08:38 AM (uuklp)

68 JT to moki.....

JT to moki.....

Come in please.....

Posted by: JT at October 24, 2021 08:38 AM (arJlL)

69 What cozy pictures today! I'd love to hang out in that library.

Posted by: Emmie at October 24, 2021 08:37 AM (6RgRK)

Bring a seat cushion.

Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 08:39 AM (45fpk)

70 YA Literature: A World Drunk on Woke
________

Didn't it start when they began calling it "YA Literature"? Treasure Island didn't have that problem.

Posted by: Eeyore at October 24, 2021 08:40 AM (7X3UV)

71 What's snool??

No nooding!

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at October 24, 2021 08:41 AM (UHVv4)

72 The rainy day picture is perfect. A calm rainy day is perfect for reading and crafting. When the wedding is in the rear view mirror, I hope to have days like that except swap out the sunflowers for carnations.
Posted by: CN...FJB

Its gonna rain all next week !

Posted by: JT at October 24, 2021 08:41 AM (arJlL)

73 I'm astonished at how good "Downbelow Station" is on the second reading (it's been decades). C.J. Cherryh's novel begins with a brief history of human expansion and Earth's loosening grip on its far-flung progeny.

Family-run generation ships established stations in other star systems, notably Pell Station. Beyond Pell is the breakaway station Cyteen, established by transhumanist scientists who use life extension technology and have boosted their troop strength with cloned humans. These pretty, loyal mannequins are trained for retention and speed but don't have the experience and cunning of the Earth Fleet does.

I'm at the point in the story where all the skullduggery is coming to a head and the two forces are massing for a showdown.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Live! from the Dungeon of Discord at October 24, 2021 08:42 AM (Dc2NZ)

74 Greetings:

Ginger Rogers read books backwards and in high heels !!!

Posted by: 11B40 at October 24, 2021 08:42 AM (uuklp)

75 Hopefully you're pleased that the Ducks won

Posted by: San Franpsycho at October 24, 2021 08:03 AM (EZeb

I actually hate the Ducks. Always have. My first love is the Cal Bears teams, which university I first attended back in the mid-70s.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 24, 2021 08:42 AM (Ki2aI)

76 Greetings:

Monsoon day in the Frisco Bay.

Posted by: 11B40 at October 24, 2021 08:43 AM (uuklp)

77 Off to Mass. Prayers for all!

Posted by: sal

Thank you !

Posted by: JT at October 24, 2021 08:44 AM (arJlL)

78 I like the word 'snool'. It sounds so appropriate to the meaning. And Lord knows there is enough snooling happening these days to drown the place.

It reminds me (probably because of the drool aspect) of 'slaver'. I can't remember it being used since a Conan story in the 1930s, People of the Black Circle, but I always thought it was effective at conveying an image.

Posted by: JTB at October 24, 2021 08:44 AM (7EjX1)

79 Had a fun discussion at the MoMee about the space barons and was enjoined to read "The Man Who Sold the Moon" by Heinlein for a fictional version of Elon Musk. Ordered forthwith!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Live! from the Dungeon of Discord at October 24, 2021 08:45 AM (Dc2NZ)

80 I also started through some kindle backlog, and read Standing With Righteous Rage by William Alan Webb. This is a series I've been enjoying, US fifty years after "the collapse." Great characters, lots of action, fun reads.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at October 24, 2021 08:46 AM (OX9vb)

81 Bring a seat cushion.
Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 08:39 AM (45fpk

Definitely!

Posted by: Emmie at October 24, 2021 08:46 AM (6RgRK)

82 Just experienced one of the best things about morning. As usual, I was up first, and sitting here at my PC. The Mrs just got up, and with her, Sparky, our mutt. A year ago, when we got him, he was quite afraid of me (as he is of men generally.) But he now has decided I'm his friend, and give me a very active and enthusiastic "Good Morning" dance, including standing on his hind legs. (A very small dog.)

Of course, a treat is in order, and that gives an even more enthusiastic dance. I suppose that really belongs in yesterday's Pet Thread. I keep meaning to send a pic.

Posted by: Eeyore at October 24, 2021 08:47 AM (7X3UV)

83 "The Man Who Sold the Moon by Heinlein"

Heinlein is really an excellent and fun science fiction writer.

Posted by: squid_hunt at October 24, 2021 08:47 AM (7MBHe)

84 Hiya JTB !

How ya feelin' ?

Regards to the Missus !

Posted by: JT at October 24, 2021 08:47 AM (arJlL)

85 I want authors to make money, but I think they (or their publishers) are often pricing themselves out of a purchase. I'm not shelling out big bucks if it's not covering the cost of paper, ink, and shipping.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Live! from the Dungeon of Discord at October 24, 2021 08:48 AM (Dc2NZ)

86 If science fiction is supposed to.forecast the future, sometimes "Doc" Smith missed the mark.

Posted by: Weak Geek is posting from Texas, where he enjoyed the MoMe at October 24, 2021 08:18 AM (L9ckI)

He's not the only one. Heinlein frequently had his characters doing math computations using slide rules and other authors described computers onboard starships that use vacuum tubes.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 24, 2021 08:48 AM (Ki2aI)

87 And I've been listening to The Disappearing Spoon, by Sam Kean (and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World From the Periodic Table of the Elements).

So fascinating, and even though I glaze over a lot on the more technical atomic structure descriptions, I have learned enough to inject relevant gleanings into several conversations in the last two weeks.

There is a young readers edition for the middle-school set.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at October 24, 2021 08:48 AM (OX9vb)

88 Love that 'Rainy Day' photo. Some of my favorite reading weather.

Posted by: JTB at October 24, 2021 08:49 AM (7EjX1)

89 The collective noun is "a snivel of snools".

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Live! from the Dungeon of Discord at October 24, 2021 08:49 AM (Dc2NZ)

90 There is one book that I would consider rebinding. It's not a piece of classic literature as you might imagine; it's my old quantum mechanics textbook. I sweated and bled with that book more than any other in my life. The emotional attachment to it is very strong.

The binding is currently held together with black electrician's tape.

Posted by: Pep at October 24, 2021 08:49 AM (cYakO)

91 Necropants!!
https://tinyurl.com/a7zf2swt
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Live! from the Dungeon of Discord

Yikes!
Wanna bet OM features that next week?

Posted by: vmom - link to Red's fundraiser at October 24, 2021 08:49 AM (YZG/i)

92 I last week's Movie Thread, Anna Puma mentioned a book called the Star Trek Concordance 2nd Edition and mentioned that the first edition had a "gimmicky cover where you can spin a wheel to find an episode."

I apparently replied to the dead thread that I had one of those, but that I didn't know where it was because I hadn't seen it in years and opined that it was in one of the boxes I hadn't unpacked. This week, I look up to the bookshelves I have behind this computer and realized that it was right there. I had been looking at it and not recognizing it for years.

The gimmicky wheel still works, but the cover is partly detached, as is the way of 45 year old paperbacks. The cover price is $6.95

Posted by: Cybersmythe at October 24, 2021 08:49 AM (ezpv1)

93 So why was it that everyone had a straight cold muthf*kka of a time coming back from Illium, but getting there was a boring dawdle? I never understood that.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at October 24, 2021 08:50 AM (6FeV1)

94 Vmom, that was my "pants" selection when I did a Book THread.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Live! from the Dungeon of Discord at October 24, 2021 08:50 AM (Dc2NZ)

95 I have a book question: have you noticed that a lot of new books are written in 3rd person present tense?

"Jill oens the door slowly, fearing what lurks within.
'Hurry up! screams Joe."

Yes, it's what keeps me from reading more Neal Stephenson.

Posted by: Oddbob at October 24, 2021 08:51 AM (nfrXX)

96 I just finished American Tavloid, by James Ellroy, book 1 of the Underworld Trilogy.

It was intense 1

I tool a break fom the trilogy and am now reading Joseph Wambaugh's The Delta Star.

I read it years ago.

Posted by: JT at October 24, 2021 08:51 AM (arJlL)

97 I had hit the Jack Reacher series pretty hard. I liked his no nonsense way of dealing with problems. But his life as a hobo was wearing thin. I can't see walking across the country with nothing but the clothes on your back, and your favorite drink being black coffee.
Then I stumbled across John Rain, by Barry Eisler. An assassin specializing in hits looking like natural causes. An appreciation for single malt whiskey, and the finer things in life. A Bon vi�vant lifestyle is more to my liking.

Posted by: Paladin at October 24, 2021 08:51 AM (4bVHe)

98 I actually hate the Ducks. Always have. My first love is the Cal Bears teams, which university I first attended back in the mid-70s.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 24, 2021 08:42 AM (Ki2aI)

Stanford has pulled off some miraculous upsets against Nike U.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 24, 2021 08:52 AM (y7DUB)

99 My local bookstore is selling "The Pocket Wisdom of Kamala Harris." It's 2 by 3 inches. Every page has a quote from Kamala. Sample: "Women have value."

Posted by: Linnet at October 24, 2021 08:52 AM (/FAFz)

100 I started on a new to me fantasy author - Peter V. Brett,The Warded Man
Just a few pages in

Posted by: vmom - link to Red's fundraiser at October 24, 2021 08:52 AM (YZG/i)

101 Heinlein is hit and miss for me. TMIAHM is literary gold, and the first half of SIASL is fantastic.... but then everything else is basically me thinking "stop staring at your genitals and freaking DO something!!!"

Posted by: Warai-otoko at October 24, 2021 08:52 AM (6FeV1)

102 84 ... Hi JT,

Doing good. So well the follow up procedure will be in a couple of weeks instead of next spring.

Mrs. JTB says hello back.

Posted by: JTB at October 24, 2021 08:53 AM (7EjX1)

103 61 This week I finished Malachi Martin's "Hostage to the Devil." I look at the world differently now--such a thin curtain between what we see and what is going on in people's souls.

Not that I think every evil person is possessed by demons, but now I am aware. And praying more fervently.
Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at October 24, 2021 08:35 AM (OX9vb)

"Demons" don't have to be biblical characters with tails and horns. Mostly, I find they are attractive characters who sell you a religion based on the sanctity of your "wants" and freedom from consequences.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 08:53 AM (ONvIw)

104 Women have value."
Posted by: Linnet at October 24, 2021 08:52 AM (/FAFz)

Yeah

$20. Same as in town.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at October 24, 2021 08:53 AM (6FeV1)

105 Probably more a case of forgetting to bring them back. This is what happens a lot with someone with children.

They get a book or two or three and either do that in company with you or on their own. Then comes time to return them and the parent is not up on the quantity and relies on the child to remember and search for them.

This does not work in many cases.

Posted by: jakee308 at October 24, 2021 08:54 AM (XmlCz)

106 The news reliably tells me that it's not just 2 rain storms crossing the country, but 2 bomb cyclones hitting the country. Affecting eleventy billion people with women, children and BIOPC hardest hit. I may have made up that last sentence, but you know they wanted to write it.

Posted by: Tinfoilbaby at October 24, 2021 08:54 AM (MxeNo)

107 60 Who knew monasteries had problems with ne'er-do-wells walking off with their books?
_______

Maybe anyone who knew that monks were people?
Posted by: Eeyore at October 24, 2021 08:35 AM (7X3UV)

The big threat was visitors from other monasteries or cathedrals "borrowing" a book to read after Prime, and somehow it ending up in their luggage.

Posted by: Fox2! at October 24, 2021 08:54 AM (qyH+l)

108 . Hi JT,

Doing good. So well the follow up procedure will be in a couple of weeks instead of next spring.

Mrs. JTB says hello back.
Posted by: JTB

Prayers up, pal.

Posted by: JT at October 24, 2021 08:54 AM (arJlL)

109 I read Martha Grimes "The Old Success". She is an author I've liked since the 80s, but I think it might be time to put down the pen. This is the latest in the Inspector Richard Jury series. She seems to have lost the beginning, the middle and the end.

Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 08:55 AM (45fpk)

110 The Alec Baldwin story reminds me of the John McDonald /Travis McGee book "Free Fall In Crimson" in which an erratic megAlomaniac movie star directs and stars in a movie being filmed in rural Iowa. His erratic behavior causes staffers and locals to quit the project. Death ensues.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at October 24, 2021 08:55 AM (d9Cw3)

111 So, the mass media is a bunch of sniveling snools, no?

Posted by: dantesed at October 24, 2021 08:56 AM (88xKn)

112 I'm off to a yard sale that selling books ! (Wheeeee!)

If you never hear from me again, I'm holding everyone hostage until I've read ALL of the books !

Posted by: JT at October 24, 2021 08:56 AM (arJlL)

113 One of the books I'm reading currently is Bugles and a Tiger, by John Masters. It's about his first years as a new officer in the 4th Gurkha Regiment, 1935-1939. Most of it takes place on the Afghan border, which is where all the fighting takes place. Technically not a "war", just "keeping the peace." But a lot of shooting happened when the Pathans got sporty. Which they liked to do.

Boy, they were a brutal lot. You REALLY didn't want to get taken prisoner. The RAF actually adopted a policy of ransoming downed pilots, if returned alive and unharmed. Otherwise, torture and mutilation preceded the beheadings. Does that sound familiar?

But he does have some respect for them. In speaking of their predilection to sodomy, he contrasts them favorable with "Manhattan fairies".

Sikhs also get respect (as allies, of course), but the one "indigenous" group which comes off best is, as usual, the Gurkhas themselves. I recall that Byron Farwell wrote that he had never come across a single negative reference to them, in all his reading about the army.

Pretty good. The weakest parts come with Masters tried to get artsy or deep. The straight story telling works.

Posted by: Eeyore at October 24, 2021 08:56 AM (7X3UV)

114 Later.....

Posted by: JT at October 24, 2021 08:57 AM (arJlL)

115 111, More like fellow travelers, IMO, and nothing tame about their attacks on those who don't espouse their views. The snools are the rinos

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 08:57 AM (ONvIw)

116 My first love is the Cal Bears teams, which university I first attended back in the mid-70s.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 24, 2021 08:42 AM (Ki2aI)

What happened to you?

Posted by: BignJames at October 24, 2021 08:57 AM (AwYPR)

117 8 Good morning everyone. From OM's quote:

" There are some good examples of manuscript books but the medieval contents of the Library were lost at the time of the Reformation."

Was this done on purpose?
Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 08:01 AM (45fpk)
_______

Yes. Once again, for the zillionth time, I recommend CSL's OHEL volume on 16th C English literature. He goes into that.

Posted by: Eeyore at October 24, 2021 08:58 AM (7X3UV)

118 re vampires, since next year is the 125th anniversary of draculas publishing, I remember the 1979 film with frank langella, which was pretty faithful to the source material, without being as grand guignol as coppola,

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 24, 2021 08:58 AM (hMlTh)

119 Posted by: Warai-otoko at October 24, 2021 08:50 AM (6FeV1)

Contrary winds. Med is predominantly west winds so from west to east is easy and east to west is difficult. Especially depending on the season.

Then too, nothing to write about if it was a walk in the park. While getting there had to be quick and gather a large army rapidly so as to show how compelling Helen was to all.

Posted by: jakee308 at October 24, 2021 08:59 AM (XmlCz)

120 "I'm off to a yard sale that selling books ! (Wheeeee!)"

Estate sales are like magic to me. I lose my head pretty quickly.

Posted by: squid_hunt at October 24, 2021 08:59 AM (7MBHe)

121 Yes. Once again, for the zillionth time, I recommend CSL's OHEL volume on 16th C English literature. He goes into that.

Posted by: Eeyore at October 24, 2021 08:58 AM (7X3UV)

Thanks Eeyore!

Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 08:59 AM (45fpk)

122 He's not the only one. Heinlein frequently had his characters doing math computations using slide rules and other authors described computers onboard starships that use vacuum tubes.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 24, 2021 08:48 AM (Ki2aI)

We often forget how transformative Shockley was. .

Posted by: Fox2! at October 24, 2021 09:00 AM (qyH+l)

123 the parent is not up on the quantity and relies on the child to remember and search for them.

Posted by: jakee308

There were five of us kids, and we went to the library every Saturday and each kid checked out the max. This was back when there was a stamped card in the back of the book to tell you when it was due.

Mom collected all the cards, each with the name of its book, and kept them in a safe place until the next Saturday. Many Saturday mornings had us scrambling round the house to look for the missing book(s).

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at October 24, 2021 09:01 AM (OX9vb)

124 28 On "chained" books:
One of the canards against the Church was that they chained the Bible up in their churches.

Usually brought up by people with access to printed Bibles, who didn't consider the time and effort it took to produce the chained up ones.

Off to Mass. Prayers for all!

Posted by: sal at October 24, 2021 08:17 AM (bJKUl)
________

Reminds me of when I was still an Episcopalian. When the vandals first started their work, one old man in the congregation had his 1928 Book of Common Prayer chained to the pew.

Posted by: Eeyore at October 24, 2021 09:01 AM (7X3UV)

125 I wanted to confirm but think it's been mentioned here: Isn't Dune the only book in the series worth reading?

I'd read it years ago but never read the rest of the series.

Posted by: Lrrr at October 24, 2021 09:03 AM (jIL4c)

126 re vampires, since next year is the 125th anniversary of draculas publishing, I remember the 1979 film with frank langella, which was pretty faithful to the source material, without being as grand guignol as coppola,
Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 24, 2021 08:58 AM (hMlTh)

the 1979 film instantly became lame with the last few seconds where they used a kite, or the sort you could buy in any store, to suggest Dracula got away.

Posted by: naturalfake at October 24, 2021 09:03 AM (5NkmN)

127 Linnea I would if I saw that for a laugh and resistance get a copy, cut out cover and put on a blank inside.

Posted by: Skip at October 24, 2021 09:04 AM (2JoB8)

128 Reminds me of when I was still an Episcopalian. When the vandals first started their work, one old man in the congregation had his 1928 Book of Common Prayer chained to the pew.
Posted by: Eeyore at October 24, 2021 09:01 AM (7X3UV)

The spawn of Satan have done their best to ruin a beautiful liturgy.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 24, 2021 09:05 AM (y7DUB)

129 as background for my novel, I read up on the british experience in aden, it was nearly as long as their afghan adventure but not as desastrous, taken a little like hong kong as a coaling station in 1839, they kept clashing with turks and their preferred tribes every 20-30 years, interestingly one of the ones the brits preferred were the awalek, of whom that wordy imam with a youtube channel would come from,

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 24, 2021 09:05 AM (hMlTh)

130 Got to watch my tablet like a hawk

Posted by: Skip at October 24, 2021 09:05 AM (2JoB8)

131 I wanted to confirm but think it's been mentioned here: Isn't Dune the only book in the series worth reading?

Yes.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 24, 2021 09:06 AM (y7DUB)

132 31 I have a book question: have you noticed that a lot of new books are written in 3rd person present tense?

"Jill opens the door slowly, fearing what lurks within.
'Hurry up! screams Joe."

I hate it. I hate it more than my previous pet peeve - the first person narrator - which I only mildly disliked.
Posted by: vmom - link to Red's fundraiser at October 24, 2021 08:20 AM (YZG/i)
________

Orwell hated 1st person narration. Thought it inherently bad. My father used to distinguish, preferring the "off center I", like Ishmael or Watson.

He also hammered in to me the distinction between third person singular and plural. Stuck with me forever. The latter is rarer than you'd think. Tom Jones is an example. But most are centered, though in 3rd person, on one character. In many books that jumps around, though. Think LOTR. It's always a Hobbit, but varies by section which one.

Posted by: Eeyore at October 24, 2021 09:07 AM (7X3UV)

133 Posted by: Lrrr at October 24, 2021 09:03 AM (jIL4c)

All the way to God Emperor is all Frank.

And there is a flow and consistency. Reflects on what happened in the past and why the future is what it is.

After than they were written by Brian and although he did well, he mostly dealt with the prequels and a few sequels and for the most part are okay but definitely not in the same league with the original series.

Read them all it's worth it with the exceptions maybe of a couple of the prequels which go into detail about the different imperial families prior to the butlerian jihad.

Posted by: jakee308 at October 24, 2021 09:07 AM (XmlCz)

134 well yes there was that, but the voyage of the demeter, the arrival in carfax abbey, that was faithful to the book, some touches were not, it was the dreadful dracula 2000, that suggested vlad tepes was judas iscariot, (hence the whole hang up with silver)

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 24, 2021 09:07 AM (hMlTh)

135 Ace needs to do an entire thread devoted to the "Pocket Wisdom of Kamala Harris." The comments would be epic.

Posted by: PabloD, make commies fly again! at October 24, 2021 09:08 AM (8akfU)

136 He's not the only one. Heinlein frequently had his characters doing math computations using slide rules and other authors described computers onboard starships that use vacuum tubes.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 24, 2021 08:48 AM (Ki2aI)

It's a rare writer who can predict actual technological advances. Jules Verne was the first; I recall that Arthur C. Clarke wrote a short story about how valuable satellites in orbit would be 10 years before Sputnik. (not a great story, but a visionary idea) And Isaac Asimov conceptually described the need for telemetry in long distance communications a decade before any one had worked out how to do it. It's a testament to their inventiveness.

Posted by: Tom Servo at October 24, 2021 09:09 AM (bApRP)

137 103 61 This week I finished Malachi Martin's "Hostage to the Devil." I look at the world differently now--such a thin curtain between what we see and what is going on in people's souls.

Not that I think every evil person is possessed by demons, but now I am aware. And praying more fervently.
Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at October 24, 2021 08:35 AM (OX9vb)

Be a good idea to look into this Malachi Martin's role in Vatican II. Specifically connections to the Luce family and Jesuitical Americanism and the CIA. Wild Rumors also abound as to Martin working with US Intel to create posessed super soldiers.

Posted by: Thesokorus at October 24, 2021 09:09 AM (1ais2)

138 Is artemis around? I have a question for her.

Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 09:11 AM (45fpk)

139 Now that I think about it, sometimes Stephenson is even worse than "Jill goes into the store." He uses "Jill is going into the store" which is even worse.

Posted by: Oddbob at October 24, 2021 09:11 AM (nfrXX)

140 Good morning, OM, good morning, Horde

Posted by: callsign claymore at October 24, 2021 09:11 AM (gVyuy)

141 children of dune, wasn't that bad, but without paul as a central character it did lose focus, the miniseries depicted at the outset, what a great waste the jihad was across the galaxy, the padishas use persian iconography but the clash is really more like that of byzantine vs early islam, some suggest it's more like russian czars vs the chechens, the kris knife is more like a khanshaal then a jambiya, chechen vs arab weapon

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 24, 2021 09:12 AM (hMlTh)

142 63
The surprise was finding a book I forgot I had: a collection of articles and essays by A.A. Milne (of Winnie the Pooh fame) published in Punch magazine. The book originally came out in 1921 and this is a nice hardcover edition printed about 2006. Only a little ways into the first story but this is not for kids. This is dry British humor that manages to skewer many parts of society of the time, but gently. There is a feel of Wodehouse and Jerome K. Jerome in the writing. I'm looking forward to reading more. You can't help but smile as you turn the pages.
Posted by: JTB at October 24, 2021 08:37 AM (7EjX1)
__________
That I may have to check out. I have read the Red House Mystery, which was decent, not great. What's the title?

Milne is the first author I started to read, thanks to my grandmother. But I guess it's obvious that he's a favorite of mine.

Posted by: Eeyore at October 24, 2021 09:14 AM (7X3UV)

143 My local bookstore is selling "The Pocket Wisdom of Kamala Harris." It's 2 by 3 inches. Every page has a quote from Kamala. Sample: "Women have value."
Posted by: Linnet at October 24, 2021 08:52 AM (/FAFz)

Trying to make a giggling cum dumpster appear intelligent will work about as well as Let's Go Brandon.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 24, 2021 09:14 AM (y7DUB)

144 "children of dune, wasn't that bad, but without paul as a central character it did lose focus"

Children of Dune is an intermediary book. Its purpose was to set up God Emperor of and clarify the failures of Paul. If you really want to make it an interesting read, focus on Alia's degeneration.

Posted by: squid_hunt at October 24, 2021 09:14 AM (7MBHe)

145 from the "chained library" description: "There are some good examples of manuscript books but the medieval contents of the Library were lost at the time of the Reformation."

I know without having to do any research that this explanation is wrong, and also that this is always how the British deal with one of the darkest chapters of their history. For a little while yesterday at the MoMee some of us veered into discussion of past civil wars, and the English Civil War of 1640 - 1660 came up - that's when everything old in England was lost, because the entire country went into a kind of madness and spent close to 20 years killing each other and burning down *everything*. Cromwell is usually blamed, but he was a nobody at the beginning of the war, he was just smart enough to be the Last Man Standing at the end. The Brits love to talk about their Kings back to William the Conqueror, but they also work hard to hide all the evidence of just how bad that civil war was, and how vicious they all were at the time.

Posted by: Tom Servo at October 24, 2021 09:15 AM (bApRP)

146 Sucking up to power is so much easier when you're in the media. I always had to suck because of my hideous looks. My pearls were always warm!

Posted by: Andrea Bitchell at October 24, 2021 09:15 AM (vGJY7)

147 My local bookstore is selling "The Pocket Wisdom of Kamala Harris." It's 2 by 3 inches. Every page has a quote from Kamala. Sample: "Women have value."

Posted by: Linnet at October 24, 2021 08:52 AM (/FAFz)

Does it have a red cover?

Posted by: BignJames at October 24, 2021 09:16 AM (AwYPR)

148 31 I have a book question: have you noticed that a lot of new books are written in 3rd person present tense?

Posted by: vmom - link to Red's fundraiser at October 24, 2021 08:20 AM (YZG/i)

Hi, I'm Bob Dole.

Bob Dole says he agrees with you.

Bob Dole is tired all of the trendy, affected writing nowadays.

Bob Dole says that none of these writers can get it up.

Bob Dole has a solution for that.

Bob Dole wants you to get it up so you won't be such a mewling quim, literarily speaking.

Hell, I'm 103 years old and I can get it up.

I'm Bob Dole, and I approve this message.

Posted by: Bob Dole at October 24, 2021 09:17 AM (Ki2aI)

149 103 61 This week I finished Malachi Martin's "Hostage to the Devil." I look at the world differently now--such a thin curtain between what we see and what is going on in people's souls.

Not that I think every evil person is possessed by demons, but now I am aware. And praying more fervently.
Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at October 24, 2021 08:35 AM (OX9vb)

"Demons" don't have to be biblical characters with tails and horns. Mostly, I find they are attractive characters who sell you a religion based on the sanctity of your "wants" and freedom from consequences.
Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 08:53 AM (ONvIw)

Yes. Satan is The Father of Lies. And despite having already lost, he'll play the gamebto the end trying to fill Hell with souls. As ths Father of Lies, he has to work via deception to get a soul. And the victim had to submit of his own free will. Satan will absolutely have his minions kill. But he doesn't get those souls. So it is usually part of another victims submission and continuing degradation. Though the story of Lot does tell us that entire groups can submit with less than 100% submission. I fear we approach that point.

Posted by: Thesokorus at October 24, 2021 09:17 AM (1ais2)

150 3d person present -- I've fiddled with it in the occasional short story, but generally prefer to read and write in 3d person past. No problem with a first person narrator -- 1st person past, anyway (objecting to the first person narrator would mess me over trying to re-read old favorites).

That present tense presumably is supposed to lend an air of immediacy to the narrative, but it's always struck me as a cold thing that distances the reader from the story.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 24, 2021 09:17 AM (JzDjf)

151 Very little Science Fiction was really about Science and New Tech.

Especially these days since about oh the 90s.

I mostly classify it as Future Fiction and the majority is Societal Change or Military.

A lot changed after we began to seriously explore space and the universe. Also after the large in orbit telescopes opened up many details that till now were only speculated on.

The hazards of space and space travel and the time it would take were also story killers. They required some McGuffin for travel so that things could happen galactically or even just locally galactic arm empires otherwise one could see that why would anyone bother. More realistic are those set in the solar system and how we'll go about exploring and the social/political ramifications of distant colonies etc.

Wars would be few and far between due to distances and reasons to fight a war. Started to make people realize how contrived most of our wars are/were.

Posted by: jakee308 at October 24, 2021 09:17 AM (XmlCz)

152 3 LTC, congratulations!

Posted by: callsign claymore at October 24, 2021 09:17 AM (gVyuy)

153 He also hammered in to me the distinction between third person singular and plural. Stuck with me forever. The latter is rarer than you'd think. Tom Jones is an example. But most are centered, though in 3rd person, on one character. In many books that jumps around, though. Think LOTR. It's always a Hobbit, but varies by section which one.

Posted by: Eeyore

Tolkien was playing a little game writing LOTR and The Silmarillion. He wrote it as if he was translating some ancient texts he had discovered. The Red Book of Westmarch was compiled by the hobbits.

Posted by: davidt at October 24, 2021 09:18 AM (gw0nT)

154 "Demons" don't have to be biblical characters with tails and horns. Mostly, I find they are attractive characters who sell you a religion based on the sanctity of your "wants" and freedom from consequences.
---
If you want a frightening read, read Szezgany's Satanist Bible and tell me that isn't the modern church.

Posted by: squid_hunt at October 24, 2021 09:18 AM (7MBHe)

155 135 Ace needs to do an entire thread devoted to the "Pocket Wisdom of Kamala Harris." The comments would be epic.

Posted by: PabloD, make commies fly again! at October 24, 2021 09:08 AM (8akfU)

Either that, or it will be an empty thread.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 24, 2021 09:20 AM (Ki2aI)

156 Rev spent the better part of a week last month dealing with a young woman under oppression by demons. The exorcism spanned several days. It was horrifying, but she is doing well now.

Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 09:21 AM (45fpk)

157 Anton lavey, not sezgany...

Posted by: squid_hunt at October 24, 2021 09:22 AM (7MBHe)

158 One book that is marred by messing with tenses is Crazy 08, by Cait Murphy (not fiction). It's otherwise pretty decent, but she puts actual narration of the season's events in present tense. Which is disconcerting. If she speaks of a player's earlier career, it's past, if his eventual career, it's future. But it's a needless distraction.

Still, it's better than More Than Merkle, by David Anderson. Not close to the Unforgettable Season, by Fleming. But the last is really by the sportswriters of the day; it's mostly clippings. But fun ones.

(You know, I didn't watch a single game this year. And I don't regret it. Never thought I would say that.)

Posted by: Eeyore at October 24, 2021 09:22 AM (7X3UV)

159 I thought the Kamala Book was going to be a punchline where it was all blank pages.

Maybe with a giggle here and there.

The women is as shallow as a mud puddle. There's no there there.

Posted by: jakee308 at October 24, 2021 09:22 AM (XmlCz)

160 156 Rev spent the better part of a week last month dealing with a young woman under oppression by demons. The exorcism spanned several days. It was horrifying, but she is doing well now.
Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 09:21 AM (45fpk)

God bless him. Pls thank him for his service. I'll pray for him.

Posted by: Thesokorus at October 24, 2021 09:23 AM (1ais2)

161 For another interesting story of internal conflict taking place under a peaceful veneer, see The Nun's Story, which was later made into a movie.

Novice nun in an established convent in pre-WWII Belgium (she goes to the Belgium Congo for awhile, too) and its a fascinating glimpse into what their lives were like. She is increasingly conflicted about the rise of the Nazis, and finds she can't forgive them.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 09:23 AM (AwPyG)

162 Gooooooo Brandon.

Posted by: Joe XiDen - Brandon who? at October 24, 2021 09:23 AM (BeCc7)

163 Pls thank him for his service. I'll pray for him.

Posted by: Thesokorus at October 24, 2021 09:23 AM (1ais2)

Will do, and thank you

Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 09:23 AM (45fpk)

164 Posted by: Thesokorus at October 24, 2021 09:17 AM (1ais2)

Yep, the modern "demons" are cool, chic and make doing the wrong thing into happy personal fulfillment. They are often in pretty packages and easy to love.
This was made easier by stripping away organized religion and replacing it with self-worship.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 09:24 AM (ONvIw)

165 Oh there is a there there IYKWIMAITYD

Posted by: Willie Brown at October 24, 2021 09:24 AM (BeCc7)

166 Don't worry, Oregon fans; the ESPN invitational that masquerades as the playoffs will once again find an excuse to choose Ohio State, who will lose massively.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 09:24 AM (AwPyG)

167 Glad to hear it, grammie.

It seems to me that it's very easy to invite them in without meaning to. Especially when their influence is everywhere now in popular culture.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at October 24, 2021 09:24 AM (OX9vb)

168 Sabotaging the Ho's books wouldn't be out of the question by a red Hammer and Sickle stamp inside on the cover.

Posted by: Skip at October 24, 2021 09:25 AM (2JoB8)

169 In one of the essays in EXPANDED UNIVERSE, Heinlein talks about talking with a long-time fan and describing working with his wife for three days on calculations that disappeared into one or two lines of one of his books -- the calculations had to be done because they governed what he could realistically do in later parts of the story. The fan says 'My God, why didn't you use a computer?' Heinlein's reply: 'My dear boy, this was 1947.'

The essay was dealing mainly with the educational system -- bleak stuff, and that was in the early 80s.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 24, 2021 09:25 AM (JzDjf)

170 Hey, Lrrr. I've read the entire series multiple times, always with enjoyment. I've read the add-on's by Herbert's son, too, just for completeness. They're ok, but I have no desire to re-read.

God Emperor Of Dune is probably my favorite. It makes explicit and fleshes out what the Dune premise is: ensuring humankind's future by making it immune to any one single threat.

Posted by: Fou Troll at October 24, 2021 09:25 AM (HLwmB)

171 Demons" don't have to be biblical characters with tails and horns. Mostly, I find they are attractive characters who sell you a religion based on the sanctity of your "wants" and freedom from consequences.-------

Sounds like a Joel Olsteen sermon.

Posted by: Just a side note at October 24, 2021 09:25 AM (2DOZq)

172 It seems to me that it's very easy to invite them in without meaning to. Especially when their influence is everywhere now in popular culture.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at October 24, 2021 09:24 AM (OX9vb)

Exactly right.

Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 09:25 AM (45fpk)

173 Actually the Satanists Bible reads more like a guide to modern day progressivism.

And considering it was written in the 70s he nailed it quite well. Either that or the progressives used his Bible as a guide rather than a prediction or history.

And it's De Lavey I think.

He styled himself as Aleister Crowley's successor. And Crowley was a scammer with a devilish patter for the sophisticates.

Posted by: jakee308 at October 24, 2021 09:25 AM (XmlCz)

174 Finished "The Plague and I" by Betty MacDonald. It was a fun and easy read.

Back to "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose.

I think I will let "The Gulag Archipelago " rest for a little while.

Posted by: nurse ratched at October 24, 2021 09:26 AM (qctKA)

175 164 Posted by: Thesokorus at October 24, 2021 09:17 AM (1ais2)

Yep, the modern "demons" are cool, chic and make doing the wrong thing into happy personal fulfillment. They are often in pretty packages and easy to love.
This was made easier by stripping away organized religion and replacing it with self-worship.
Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 09:24 AM (ONvIw

The depiction of the Anti-Christ is fascinating. It is at once hideous and deformed and yet incredibly attractive (to most?) . These stars are preposterous and disgusting and absurd and yet...

Posted by: Thesokorus at October 24, 2021 09:26 AM (1ais2)

176 Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 09:21 AM (45fpk)

Exorcism??

Posted by: dantesed at October 24, 2021 09:26 AM (88xKn)

177 @153

A lot of historical books do this--they call it "framing" where the protagonist is a modern person who happens upon some ancient text, and we hear the story through modern eyes.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 09:27 AM (AwPyG)

178 not to wax too theological, but consider everything st paul enveighed against, and see this is what the modern Church promotes in the Catholic and Protestant faiths, now where did it go wrong, when it was forced to hold political authority in Western Europe, after the fall of Rome certainly, Manchester suggests that it had absorbed too many pagan influences at the outset, but perhaps he says that to make the shiny renaissance more respectable, when they went to war in the Crusades, and often killed as many christian brethren, in venice per se, as the Musselman,

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 24, 2021 09:27 AM (hMlTh)

179 Exorcism??

Posted by: dantesed at October 24, 2021 09:26 AM (88xKn)

Yes. He was helped by a wonderful Catholic priest who really knew his stuff and was tough as nails. Thank God.

Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 09:28 AM (45fpk)

180 Another unintentional anachronism: In making friends with the leader of one faction of this world, the commander of the Skylark shows him a better way to shave. He mixes up lather with his mug and brush.

If science fiction is supposed to.forecast the future, sometimes "Doc" Smith missed the mark.
Posted by: Weak Geek is posting from Texas, where he enjoyed the MoMe at October 24, 2021 08:18 AM (L9ckI)

They had to give up aerosol cans because they were destroying the ozone layer. Have you not been paying attention?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at October 24, 2021 09:29 AM (P3gRi)

181 I'm about halfway through Buddenbrooks and it's time for me to drop the hammer on the book group: DO NOT INFLICT ANY MORE MANN ON ME. It's not as bad as Magic Mountain but more like second rate Tolstoy or Faulkner in chronicling the decline of a family. The characters are mostly uninteresting stick figures.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 24, 2021 09:30 AM (y7DUB)

182 A correction to jake308 above: Frank Herbert wrote the two follow-ups to God Emperor Of Dune: Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune. Son Brian put together everything after.

Posted by: Fou Troll at October 24, 2021 09:30 AM (HLwmB)

183 Traditionally, mysteries and Young Adult books were written in first person. I think that's not a hard and fast rule anymore, though.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 09:31 AM (AwPyG)

184 Sounds like a Joel Olsteen sermon.
Posted by: Just a side note at October 24, 2021 09:25 AM (2DOZq)

I've heard the name, but my views on modern demons are based on what I've seen around me and how quick people are to get what they want with no concern about who they hurt.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 09:31 AM (ONvIw)

185 178 not to wax too theological, but consider everything st paul enveighed against, and see this is what the modern Church promotes in the Catholic and Protestant faiths, now where did it go wrong, when it was forced to hold political authority in Western Europe, after the fall of Rome certainly, Manchester suggests that it had absorbed too many pagan influences at the outset, but perhaps he says that to make the shiny renaissance more respectable, when they went to war in the Crusades, and often killed as many christian brethren, in venice per se, as the Musselman,
Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 24, 2021 09:27 AM (hMlTh)

My favorite author is R A Lafferty. His book Past Master (Thomas Moore time travels to future) is about this. Tl:dr It's always been like this: every moment is a collapse and a rebirth. Everything is always falling apart and being resurrected. We are all on the Cross at every moment if we are living right.

PS. Lafferty is not for everyone stylistically or content wise.

Posted by: Thesokorus at October 24, 2021 09:32 AM (1ais2)

186 RE: books - Brattleboro VT in news again - this time for the expected new type of story hour... pics in my nick

Posted by: Baldy at October 24, 2021 09:32 AM (ph/F7)

187 156 Rev spent the better part of a week last month dealing with a young woman under oppression by demons. The exorcism spanned several days. It was horrifying, but she is doing well now.
Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 09:21 AM (45fpk)

Just, wow! You must be proud of him.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 09:32 AM (ONvIw)

188 I ordered "Work of Human Hands: A Theological Critique of the Mass of Paul VI."

It shows how the Novus Ordo Mass is a crock.

$54.99, shipping not included. Paperback.

Yes. I really want it.

Posted by: Been Lurking at October 24, 2021 09:33 AM (rDgjh)

189 well let me venture further into the swamp, the notion that the antichrist is inherently political figure, is only possible by a narrow reading of revelations and or daniel, if one leaves out 2 thessalonians, the man of sin, is as much a religious figure who will cause schisms among believers, making them accept what we know is untruth,

but that rant against malachi martin, and luce, who struggled to a degree against the coming darkness seemed daft,

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 24, 2021 09:33 AM (hMlTh)

190 145 ...
I know without having to do any research that this explanation is wrong, and also that this is always how the British deal with one of the darkest chapters of their history. For a little while yesterday at the MoMee some of us veered into discussion of past civil wars, and the English Civil War of 1640 - 1660 came up - that's when everything old in England was lost, because the entire country went into a kind of madness and spent close to 20 years killing each other and burning down *everything*.
...
Posted by: Tom Servo at October 24, 2021 09:15 AM (bApRP)
_______

It's not wrong, but it is incomplete. What you say of the Civil War is true, except for the "that's when everything old in England was lost". Not everything. There really was a burning of old books in the 16th C. Not by Henry, but later. And many Protestants protested it. But it did happen.

Posted by: Eeyore at October 24, 2021 09:33 AM (7X3UV)

191 Just read that a Houston based team had created a conventional type vaccine for Covid that is cheap and easy to manufacture and presently being made in an India factory . They had previously worked on little known tropical disease vaccines. They got no funding from operation warp speed and reading between the lines were intentionally ignored in favor of the experimental mRNA vax. It's being distributed globally to poorer countries but the powers here won't even mention it.

Posted by: Just a side note at October 24, 2021 09:34 AM (2DOZq)

192
but that rant against malachi martin, and luce, who struggled to a degree against the coming darkness seemed daft,
Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 24, 2021 09:33 AM (hMlTh)

Thanks man

Posted by: Thesokorus at October 24, 2021 09:34 AM (1ais2)

193 Just, wow! You must be proud of him.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 09:32 AM (ONvIw)

I am. He did a good thing. It did take its toll on him though. I was afraid he might be attacked, but God kept him safe, and God restored this young woman.

Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 09:34 AM (45fpk)

194 142 ... eeyore,

The Milne book is "The Sunny Side".

I have a Kindle version of the Red House Mystery but never read it. Even if it isn't a great mystery, I enjoy Milne's 'adult' style so it's worth a try.

Posted by: JTB at October 24, 2021 09:35 AM (7EjX1)

195 alien covenant. You do not have to look any farther to see what's wrong then the fact that the Pope met with Nancy Pelosi and next Friday will meet with the rutabaga-in-chief. I do not care that he's the supposed president of the US, he's an unabashed supporter of abortion. This Pope or any Pope should meet with them privately and explain the error of their beliefs. And then excommunicate them. Let God deal with them from then on.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at October 24, 2021 09:35 AM (2NHgQ)

196 I've heard the name, but my views on modern demons are based on what I've seen around me and how quick people are to get what they want with no concern about who they hurt.
Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 09:31 AM (ONvI

He's the demon

Posted by: Just a side note at October 24, 2021 09:36 AM (2DOZq)

197 Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 24, 2021 09:33 AM (hMlTh)

I think it's completely a political and mass marketed person. And if believing that men are women and vice versa isn't "accepting untruth" I don't know what is!

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 09:36 AM (ONvIw)

198 I gave up on german literature for a while after goethe's faust, I wasn't missing a whole lot was I later I came across the likes of gunther grass, thomas boll,

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 24, 2021 09:37 AM (hMlTh)

199 artemis - You're here? Great! I have a question. Yesterday I went to the library and found several of your books on the shelves. None were in Large Print, though. Who decides what gets made into LP?

Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 09:37 AM (45fpk)

200
I am. He did a good thing. It did take its toll on him though. I was afraid he might be attacked, but God kept him safe, and God restored this young woman.
Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 09:34 AM (45fpk)

Wonderful and inspiring!

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 09:38 AM (ONvIw)

201 Milne was a rarity; I think it's pretty hard for an author to have success writing for children and for adults.

After the success of Harry Potter, you saw a bunch of well known authors try it--like Elizabeth George, and Harlan Coban--but it didn't work out.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 09:38 AM (AwPyG)

202 When doing any exorcism you need a herd of pigs.

Posted by: Just a side note at October 24, 2021 09:39 AM (2DOZq)

203 Gots to go. The older I get, the quicker the headaches come when I sit too long before a screen. Why I don't use Kindle, and will never give up paper.

(I have a new book on Jutland on order. The pile I've got is taller than I am. And that's not counting books that include, but don't emphasize the battle.)

Posted by: Eeyore at October 24, 2021 09:39 AM (7X3UV)

204 i think very little of the argentine, I was dissapointed by some of what happened in john pauls papacy, perhaps malachi explains it, the acceptance of sin (specifically homosexuality) in the 60s, paved the way for more demoralization later on the 90s forward, as Moloch and Baal, and other levantine dieties seem to be crowd the stage,

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 24, 2021 09:40 AM (hMlTh)

205 What about me?

Posted by: Pachamama at October 24, 2021 09:42 AM (rDgjh)

206 When doing any exorcism you need a herd of pigs.
Posted by: Just a side note at October 24, 2021 09:39 AM

Getting harder and harder to find as we defund the poleece.

Posted by: Seattle & Austin at October 24, 2021 09:42 AM (oi8vA)

207 Good morning Horde. Getting ready to leave Texas. What a fantastic time we all had.

Posted by: Ladyl at October 24, 2021 09:42 AM (8oSoU)

208 @199

I think it's tough to find large print on anything, any more, just because it's too expensive, nowadays, to have multiple print versions when so many are reading on kindle.

If you have an e-reader, though, you can make the font as large as you like--just like you can on a computer. And a lot of people who can't see very well use audiobooks, nowadays.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 09:43 AM (AwPyG)

209 the Great War did much to devastate an entire Generation, leading to the vaccuum that Fascism and Communism filled, this is becomes clear in Burleighs Sacred Places, now it was the spectre of that war and the subsequent one, that led to a more easy acceptance of the common market and the eu, a fact that aldo spinelli an italian communist seized upon to create the innards of the eu

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 24, 2021 09:44 AM (hMlTh)

210 He's the demon
Posted by: Just a side note at October 24, 2021 09:36 AM (2DOZq)

He sounds like a garden variety con artist. I just read a bit about prosperity theology, and he seems pretty prosperous , himself.

I didn't notice anything about accepting falsehoods as truth though, like this tranny shit. Or "climate change" or stuff like that. There are always celebrity preachers who make big money, but there are bigger, more appealing liars out there.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 09:44 AM (ONvIw)

211 What about me?
Posted by: Pachamama at October 24, 2021 09:42 AM (rDgjh)

Are you a Elephant mother?

Posted by: Just a side note at October 24, 2021 09:44 AM (2DOZq)

212 A lot of people love their audiobooks, but I've never been able to do it, I get too distracted.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 09:44 AM (AwPyG)

213 WSJ puts out a quarterly report of the top 20 cities with the biggest real estate appreciation rates. This quarter 17/20 cities are in states OrangeMan (officially) won in 2020.

To me this is a bad thing. It means locusts from CA, NY, NJ, WA are invading.

Posted by: Joe XiDen - Delta Delta Delta Can I help ya help ya help ya Variant at October 24, 2021 09:44 AM (xDXlt)

214 When you consider the unlimited energy you have to have at your disposal to accomplish interstellar travel--almost all of what we value is worthless.

At the end, the only thing that has value is life-- this thing only grows on this plant and, thus, that is all there is of it in the entire universe.

To put it simply: We'll never grow an oak tree on Mars.

Posted by: Lrrr at October 24, 2021 09:45 AM (jIL4c)

215 It used to be available to be read for free online, but I forget the site, and I expect it's gone now. That's where I first read it, in the late 90s.

I wouldn't recommend searching for a freeware version of "When the Wicked Seize a City". I took a look at one site that seemed like a candidate and it planted a fairly nasty chunk of malware I'm still disinfecting from my system.

When you consider the kinds of folks who wouldn't take kindly to a book like this, I guess I shouldn't be surprised one of them set a site up like this...

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM Guy at October 24, 2021 09:45 AM (ZSK0i)

216 If you have an e-reader, though, you can make the font as large as you like--just like you can on a computer. And a lot of people who can't see very well use audiobooks, nowadays.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 09:43 AM (AwPyG)

Yep - it's Kindle Paperwhite for me, with a font the size of a giraffe. It's just I miss holding a real book in my hand. I found a couple LP's yesterday, and it made my day.

Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 09:46 AM (45fpk)

217 The conflicts about anachronisms is real and heated, in the historical writers community, and if you go to a historical writers conference there will always be a panel to discuss it.

There will be the "purists" and the "what the heck, who cares" sides, and it's usually fun to listen to them argue.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 09:48 AM (AwPyG)

218 The women is as shallow as a mud puddle. There's no there there.
Posted by: jakee308 at October 24, 2021 09:22 AM (XmlCz)

Her throat was deep enough for Willie Brown.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at October 24, 2021 09:48 AM (P3gRi)

219 This was back when there was a stamped card in the back of the book to tell you when it was due.

That must have been way back before everyone had unlimited texting and you wouldn't want to want them on reminders, huh?

Posted by: Average Millenial at October 24, 2021 09:49 AM (nfrXX)

220 After reading about the YA books, and nearly losing my will to go on, I was reflecting on what I read growing up. I read several "Hardy Boys" books, and even at 8 y/o, I realized they were formulaic crap. I do remember liking "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and the sequel, "The Great Glass Elevator." I also remember a series called the "Great Brain" that were a great boy books. Also, all of the "Little House" books. I really don't think they're girl-centric, at all. My wife read a couple of them aloud on one of our western jaunts, and even as an adult, I loved them. They give one of the best insights to pioneer life I've ever read. Also, for a bit older reader, anything by Willa Cather.
Good morning all!

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at October 24, 2021 09:50 AM (7Fj9P)

221 191 Just read that a Houston based team had created a conventional type vaccine for Covid that is cheap and easy to manufacture and presently being made in an India factory . They had previously worked on little known tropical disease vaccines. They got no funding from operation warp speed and reading between the lines were intentionally ignored in favor of the experimental mRNA vax. It's being distributed globally to poorer countries but the powers here won't even mention it.
Posted by: Just a side note at October 24, 2021 09:34 AM (2DOZq)

Is that the one from Novavax?

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 24, 2021 09:51 AM (Ki2aI)

222 That must have been way back before everyone had unlimited texting and you wouldn't want to want them on reminders, huh?
Posted by: Average Millenial

You betcha, whippersnapper. And we had to pay a fine if they were overdue!

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at October 24, 2021 09:51 AM (OX9vb)

223 They give one of the best insights to pioneer life I've ever read.

They really do.

Posted by: grammie winger at October 24, 2021 09:51 AM (45fpk)

224
Posted by: vmom - link to Red's fundraiser at October 24, 2021 08:52 AM (YZG/i)

__________

Are you feeling better today?

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at October 24, 2021 09:52 AM (iAKGK)

225 @222

And there was that date-stamp thing, that rotated the carriage as you made the stamp. As a child, I was fascinated by that.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 09:52 AM (AwPyG)

226 Edit to add: "The Grandma Dowdel" books by Richard Peck are absolutely hilarious, laugh out loud funny, even at my old age.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at October 24, 2021 09:52 AM (7Fj9P)

227
And there was that date-stamp thing, that rotated the carriage as you made the stamp. As a child, I was fascinated by that.
Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 09:52 AM (AwPyG)

I loved that too.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 09:53 AM (ONvIw)

228 And there was that date-stamp thing, that rotated the carriage as you made the stamp. As a child, I was fascinated by that.
Posted by: artemis

Oh, me, too! Mrs. Marshall, the librarian, let me try to feed the card through once. I was *too slow!* Couldn't catch it on the other side where it spit out.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at October 24, 2021 09:55 AM (OX9vb)

229 @220

Yeah, Laura Ingalls's life in the Little House books was not for the faint of heart.

I always think about what the father would have felt, had he known the tragedies coming when they started out from Wisconsin. It's a little like Anne Frank's father, who had the chance to escape, but decided they'd be fine, hiding in the attic.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 09:56 AM (AwPyG)

230 As a child, I was fascinated by that.
Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 09:52 AM (AwPyG

I just loved the whole library experience. One of the towns we lived in had a Carnegie Library which was so "sacred" looking with its marble and polished oak. The high point of my week.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 09:57 AM (ONvIw)

231 And there was that date-stamp thing, that rotated the carriage as you made the stamp. As a child, I was fascinated by that.
Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 09:52 AM (AwPyG)

I loved that too.
Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 09:53 AM (ONvIw)

When was the last time you saw a rubber stamp used for anything? They used to sell them as toys; rubber type you could hand-set into a wooden block and stamp words or sentences.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at October 24, 2021 09:57 AM (P3gRi)

232 @230

If anyone reads Hank Phillippe Ryan, she grew up on an (Illinois?) farm, and tells the story of riding to the local library with her sister on their horses, and filling up the saddlebags with books.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 09:59 AM (AwPyG)

233 When doing any exorcism you need a herd of pigs.
Posted by: Just a side note at October 24, 2021 09:39 AM (2DOZq)
------
Oh no, not again.

Posted by: Gadarene Swine at October 24, 2021 09:59 AM (IcPPU)

234 When was the last time you saw a rubber stamp used for anything? They used to sell them as toys; rubber type you could hand-set into a wooden block and stamp words or sentences.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at October 24, 2021 09:57 AM (P3gRi)

Actually, I saw them quite often until I retired. We always used a rubber stamp with bright red ink to designate original legal papers. Sending copies was taboo.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 10:01 AM (ONvIw)

235 I love Thomas Fleming's works. Another good book is "A Disease in The Public Mind" about the causes and lead up to the Civil War

Posted by: Mike K at October 24, 2021 10:01 AM (EHhPZ)

236 Brave Sir Robin, thanks just downloaded A Long Way From Chicago.
Also loved the Little house books. They did give a great description of growing up on the frontier. She did sanitize them of the really nasty stuff. Being children's books it makes sense. The closest she came was Laura boarding with the family where the unhappy wife came at her husband with a kitchen knife.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at October 24, 2021 10:02 AM (2NHgQ)

237 Present !

Posted by: runner at October 24, 2021 10:02 AM (V13WU)

238 Are you feeling better today?
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at October 24, 2021 09:52 AM (iAKGK)

Yes, thank you. Just tired but my mood is better

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at October 24, 2021 10:03 AM (YZG/i)

239 Speaking of prairie life, a friend of mine put together a college textbook about women who came out west. (A lot of them were prostitutes, but she focused on family women)

She tells of one woman who kept a bird in a cage, which was a frivolity, since they lived in a sod house and live was very tough.

Many years later, when she died, her family went through her scant belongings and found the mummified bird, carefully wrapped in a handkerchief

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:07 AM (AwPyG)

240 Re-reading Tiger Ellison's "Run and Shoot Football-The Now Attack." It is a wonderful analysis of counter-intuitive offensive football thinking and makes a nice accompanying piece to "Frantic Francis" the book on Ohio State's offensive guru head coach of the 30s. Football at its best is a great exercise in game theory and problem solving.

Posted by: sven at October 24, 2021 10:07 AM (Lzpvj)

241 Recently learned that Andy Serkis who played Gollum in the LOTR movies has done unabridged audio books of LOTR and The Hobbit. Just him reading, not one of those crappy BBC 'dramatised' versions. I heard some excerpts on YT videos and I'm impressed. They are not on CD, just streaming if I have the procedure correct. I hope they come out on CD eventually. I prefer to have the physical copy to play on something that doesn't rely on system 'updates' and other computer annoyances. Sort of an aural version of physical books vs. ebooks.

Posted by: JTB at October 24, 2021 10:08 AM (7EjX1)

242 My elderly brain just remembered The Boxcar Children series.

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 24, 2021 10:08 AM (MIKMs)

243 @240

When he was still at Washington State, Mike Leach taught a class that compared the most famous battles in history to football schemes.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:09 AM (AwPyG)

244 Speaking of that rainy day picture, it's looking like it may end up being a rainy day here as casa-de-castle, so I could be looking at a bit of reading. Maybe I'll ditch the comics for a day and finally start reading the copy of 'The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood' (Howard Pyle) that has been sitting on my bookcase for months...

Posted by: Castle Guy at October 24, 2021 10:09 AM (Lhaco)

245 @242

grandkids are still reading the Boxcar series! it lives.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:09 AM (AwPyG)

246 And there was that date-stamp thing, that rotated the carriage as you made the stamp. As a child, I was fascinated by that.
Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 09:52 AM (Aw

I used that up until I retired this year. We had to date stamp all of our correspondence which was a lot. In the olden times the mail room had what I called coffin of nails puncher. It was a machine that punched little holes in the paper to form the date. You could date stamp a large stack of correspondence at one time.

Posted by: Just a side note at October 24, 2021 10:10 AM (2DOZq)

247 Another terrific book thread, Thank you!

A gripe is the cost of ebooks. When ebooks first were talked about, they were pushed because publishing would be fast and the books would be much cheaper than hard copies...like less the $5. But nooooooooooooooooooo! eBooks now cost as much (or more) than paperbacks used to cost! Also, books that were published years ago can still cost of $10 as ebooks! They say it is the cost of scanning.. yeah, right!

Posted by: Zogger at October 24, 2021 10:10 AM (pJSvF)

248 So, 'rons, do gift certificates for the local gun shop make nice wedding gifts? Asking for a friend....

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 10:10 AM (ONvIw)

249 I always think about what the father would have felt, had he known the tragedies coming when they started out from Wisconsin.
====================
I don't know which book it was, but I vividly remember her description of Pa coming back from exploring the Prairie, with a pack of "buffalo wolves" surrounding him, just keeping pace w/his horse. Apparently these wolves were a sub-species of the Gray Wolf, growing massive on the abundant, and equally massive, She said the wolves heads were as high as the pommel of his saddle, and didn't know what to do as they had never seen a man on a horse before. He charged into their corral, and made it into the house w/o incident.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at October 24, 2021 10:11 AM (7Fj9P)

250 (bison)

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at October 24, 2021 10:11 AM (7Fj9P)

251 243 Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:09 AM (AwPyG)

There really is something to it, it is very infrequent that "there is nothing that can be done" and you can add in economic and analytic thought as well. At some point there will be a resurgence of classical smashmouth football unless the league has quietly and unofficially outlawed it, because they will undervalue raw bull steam blockers and durable runners. I won't be watching because fuck justice ball but there is a definite "thinking man's" aspect to the game.

Posted by: sven at October 24, 2021 10:12 AM (Lzpvj)

252 So, 'rons, do gift certificates for the local gun shop make nice wedding gifts? Asking for a friend....
========================
Yes! And a box of .12 ga slugs for each groomsman.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at October 24, 2021 10:13 AM (7Fj9P)

253 I hope they come out on CD eventually. I prefer to have the physical copy to play on something that doesn't rely on system 'updates' and other computer annoyances. Sort of an aural version of physical books vs. ebooks.
Posted by: JTB at October 24, 2021 10:08 AM (7EjX1)

You can get free software that makes an mp3 recoding of any audio going through your sound card. At least in Linux. I have hours of radio programs recorded thus.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at October 24, 2021 10:13 AM (P3gRi)

254 I like that the Prairie ( Great Plains) used to be a sea. I just learned that's why the 'dirt' roads in Kansas are white. It's chalk .

Posted by: Just a side note at October 24, 2021 10:15 AM (2DOZq)

255
Yes! And a box of .12 ga slugs for each groomsman.
Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at October 24, 2021 10:13 AM (7Fj9P)

I'm serious here. Kid2 just told me that my future SIL would like a matching set of pistols. I can't exactly buy them here on his behalf and say "gift", but I can get a certificate and he can get them.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 10:16 AM (ONvIw)

256 @247

I'm surprised--it seems to me the ebook prices are in a race to the bottom.

Go to bookbub.com, and list the authors for which you want to be notified when their books are offered free or for 99 cents. (its' free)

And check around for kindle's Daily Deals. And make sure to look around under #bookgiveaway. A lot of people are fighting for market share, so you can find a lot of books for free or 99 cents.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:16 AM (AwPyG)

257 "Buffalo Wolves" sound a bit like the "Dire Wolf" legend. Something else to investigate!

Posted by: klaftern at October 24, 2021 10:16 AM (taPSh)

258 Another good kid's book about life on the prairie is Sarah, Plain and Tall.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:18 AM (AwPyG)

259 Can I just say about the Baldwin gun incident? Someone earlier pointed out it was likely a single action revolver - the movie is a western set in late 1800s Kansas. You don't "accidentally" fire a single action revolver without hitting the hammer fairly hard over a loaded chamber or cocking it first. 2nd, without knowing exactly what gun it is, you can plainly see the ends of the cartridges in every revolver I can think of when viewed from the side. There is a gap between the cylinder and the body of the gun to allow for the end of the cartridge except for maybe whatever is directly under the hammer...but anything in that position would have rotated out of the way once the hammer was cocked. In my own revolver, you can see the edges of the casings while the gun is at eye level aiming position. The briefest of visual inspection would have revealed that there was something in one of the chambers.

Posted by: EddieRock at October 24, 2021 10:18 AM (YCfMK)

260 "Buffalo Wolves" sound a bit like the "Dire Wolf" legend. Something else to investigate!
Posted by: klaftern at October 24, 2021 10:16 AM (taPSh)

The Dire Wolf was real enough. Saw skeletons of them, taken from the La Brea tar pits. Who knows when the last really became extinct, or were there some hybrids that carried on?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at October 24, 2021 10:19 AM (P3gRi)

261 253 ... "You can get free software that makes an mp3 recoding of any audio going through your sound card. At least in Linux. I have hours of radio programs recorded thus."

Thanks AOP. I'll check that out.

Posted by: JTB at October 24, 2021 10:19 AM (7EjX1)

262 @259

And--even more grist for the mill--the woman who was killed has a connection the the people being investigated in the Durham investigation.

How's that, for crossing the beams?

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:21 AM (AwPyG)

263 Was just perusing some pics of the container ships and it made me wonder who is servicing these vessels at anchor in terms of food, fuel and sundries?

Posted by: irongrampa at October 24, 2021 10:21 AM (KATBx)

264 I'm astonished at how good "Downbelow Station" is on the second reading (it's been decades). C.J. Cherryh's novel begins with a brief history of human expansion and Earth's loosening grip on its far-flung progeny.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Live! from the Dungeon of Discord at October 24, 2021 08:42 AM

I have made four attempt to read Downbelow Station and I've never gotten past the first third. I get to the part where they can't give anyone without ID food and they can't give any refugee ID until they can prove conclusively who they are, which they can't do because the records were destroyed, and I go "That's not how this works. That's not how ANY OF THIS works!" and hurl it against the wall.

It may be an awesome book, but that is just so unlike how real people would deal with that situation.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at October 24, 2021 10:23 AM (ezpv1)

265 263 Was just perusing some pics of the container ships and it made me wonder who is servicing these vessels at anchor in terms of food, fuel and sundries?
Posted by: irongrampa at October 24, 2021 10:21 AM (KATBx)

Probably tha administration, with the greeting "just sit out there till we brealk them completely".

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 10:24 AM (ONvIw)

266 Just a mention about Fox Chapel publishing. They publish Woodcarving Illustrated and similar hobby magazines. But the last few years they have expanded their book offerings to everything from home gardening and outdoor projects to adult coloring books to childrens' books. We just got several of the kids' books and one on backyard blacksmithing as gifts. Their prices are comparable to Amazon Prime and often appear sooner.

It is worth a look.

Posted by: JTB at October 24, 2021 10:25 AM (7EjX1)

267 @265

I honestly think they are trying to create a panic, and it's not working.

What will they do next?

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:26 AM (AwPyG)

268 Started reading "A Room With A View" by E.M. Forster. Mainly because a picked up a complete novels of Forster for free on kindle. So far, boring people doing boring things and overreacting to perceived social faux pas. There's an audience for this, but I don't think it's me. Any recommendations about whether or not I should soldier on through any of his other novels?

Posted by: who knew at October 24, 2021 10:26 AM (4I7VG)

269 The briefest of visual inspection would have revealed that there was something in one of the chambers.
Posted by: EddieRock at October 24, 2021 10:18 AM (YCfMK)

I always think of Tuco when I am looking at revolvers.

In the final scene, when Tuco goes to shoot, he pulls the trigger "click click click" on an empty weapon.

Being the super duper gunfighter bandit, you would think he would have felt the empty gun when he took ahold of it.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at October 24, 2021 10:27 AM (R/m4+)

270 What will they do next?
Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:26 AM (AwPyG)

Maybe some of the cargo ships have missile launchers? They are hungry for a reason to kill.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 10:27 AM (ONvIw)

271 And there have been many rumblings about Newsom, and his many, many California "disasters", between the fires (caused by climate change, you know) and the oil spill that no one sees evidence of.

So this is probably some sort of scam to get money to pay for all the illegals, just like the others

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:28 AM (AwPyG)

272 @268

A Room with a View has a terrible ending. Ditch it.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:29 AM (AwPyG)

273 I don't know which book it was, but I vividly remember her description of Pa coming back from exploring the Prairie, with a pack of "buffalo wolves" surrounding him, just keeping pace w/his horse. Apparently these wolves were a sub-species of the Gray Wolf

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at October 24, 2021 10:11 AM (7Fj9P)

There was an article in Sports Illustrated, yes, Sports Illustrated 30 odd years ago, about a guy that was attempting to keep the "buffalo wolves" extant.

Posted by: BignJames at October 24, 2021 10:30 AM (AwYPR)

274
So this is probably some sort of scam to get money to pay for all the illegals, just like the others
Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:28 AM (AwPyG)

We NEED them to drive trucks (cheaply) and collect benefits to make up for the cheap part, of and to become good benefit collection citizens who vote donk?

It's yet another orchestrated lie we must ascribe to to make our lives "easier" and happier.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 10:30 AM (ONvIw)

275 I spent some time in a K4 class this past week monitoring a special ed kid. The teacher was reading them a story about how mean kids mocked a Muslim girl for wearing a hijab and how hijabs are beautiful. The kids looked bored, I'm sure they would have preferred a Dr. Suess book. (There are black and Asian and Hispanic kids at this school but nobody wearing a hijab - yet).

That's why I prefer special ed - I'm focused on getting kids to recognize the letters of the alphabet and form complete sentences. Wokeness is not expected of them.

That same woke teacher scolded me when I told her a boy in her class had "acted naughty" at recess by pushing and shoving other children. "We don't say 'naughty' at this school," she sniffed. "We said 'he made bad choices." It's a good thing I didn't say "bratty." Her head would have exploded.

Posted by: Donna &&&&&&V at October 24, 2021 10:31 AM (HabA/)

276 Hilarious, that DeSantis has announced that Florida has 14 deepwater ports, and they will be happy to unload the goods.

And create a lot of jobs, too.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:32 AM (AwPyG)

277 He's not the only one. Heinlein frequently had his characters doing math computations using slide rules and other authors described computers onboard starships that use vacuum tubes.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 24, 2021 08:48 AM

My favorite example of this is from Starman Jones where the humans are doing binary-to-decimal conversion for the computer. The only problem with that image that one of the earliest electronic computing devices was built to do binary to decimal conversion.

I suppose in that universe the Atanasoff-Berry Computer never existed.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at October 24, 2021 10:32 AM (ezpv1)

278 Beautiful wood work in the chain library. To think that everything in those days was done with chisels and moulding planes makes it even more cool. I wonder what kind of wood.

Posted by: dartist at October 24, 2021 10:32 AM (+ya+t)

279 To be clear, I'm not in favor of kids mocking girls wearing hijabs. But I'm not going to pretend hijabs are some beautiful, empowering thing.

Posted by: Donna &&&&&&V at October 24, 2021 10:32 AM (HabA/)

280 Posted by: Donna &&&&&&V at October 24, 2021 10:31 AM (HabA/)

Fuck that teacher. The push kid was not naughty, he was a violent brat in need of consequences.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 10:33 AM (ONvIw)

281 And create a lot of jobs, too.
Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:32 AM (AwPyG)

Governor Gruesome, however, is totes on board with the subjugation of the US. The shit will stay floating in the Pacific.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 10:35 AM (ONvIw)

282 Where is everyone today? MP4, Chris Taylor, AHLloyd? Everyone can't be in Texas can they?

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 10:36 AM (ONvIw)

283 If you are so inclined Manchester United vs Liverpool live right now. NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) has it in the USA. Liverpool just scored.

Posted by: LostInSpace at October 24, 2021 10:38 AM (ESLBo)

284 Interesting, that there was a coordinated push, with people announcing that Costco was rationing paper goods again, along with the visuals of the ships floating forlornly out to sea, and Fauci announcing that we may not be able to have Christmas due to Covid resurgence.

And equally interesting that the citizens do not appear to be buying what they're selling, anymore.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:38 AM (AwPyG)

285 How much a day's worth is a ocean freighter doing nothing but sitting still worth?

Posted by: Skip at October 24, 2021 10:39 AM (2JoB8)

286 He's not the only one. Heinlein frequently had his characters doing math computations using slide rules and other authors described computers onboard starships that use vacuum tubes.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 24, 2021 08:48 AM

We often forget how transformative Shockley was. .
Posted by: Fox2! at October 24, 2021 09:00 AM

One thing I had wondered about the invention of the transistor was, well, how they thought of it. Who would have thought that you could build this thing like two diodes, and you forward bias the one diode and reverse bias the other and there's amplified current through the second one?

I was surprised that the book The Invention That Changed the World: How a Small Group of Radar Pioneers Won the Second World War and Launched a Technological Revolution that I read about in this very book thread contained an explanation of how they discovered the phenomenon. Without theory to guide them it took a while to do it on purpose, but eventually they did.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at October 24, 2021 10:40 AM (ezpv1)

287 And equally interesting that the citizens do not appear to be buying what they're selling, anymore.
Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:38 AM (AwPyG)

Fortunately a lot of food is still made here. I stocked up on tp already, so I'm set, and I ordered extra dog food last evening after pet thread. There is something sinister going on and the stench of Obama is everywhere.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 10:40 AM (ONvIw)

288 Fuck that teacher. The push kid was not naughty, he was a violent brat in need of consequences.
Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 10:33 AM (ONvIw)

I had one of the worst classroom experiences ever on Wednesday, when I stepped in to teach a regular 3rd grade class. There were 2 girls in there who were disruptive and disrespectful all day - really nasty little brats. I caught one of them eating an eraser - later on, she put a Magic Marker in her water bottle and drank the inky water. I sent them to the office, they came back, went to music class and the music teacher sent them back to the office. The next day, as I was walking past one of them in the hallway, she looked at me and said "I hate you." For a moment, I wished it was 1955 and I could be Sr. Mary Elizabeth with a ruler. Sending a brat to the office 4 times a day does nothing. This teacher will be going on paternity leave next month. There is no way in hell I would work that classroom again with those 2 little demons in there.

Posted by: Donna &&&&&&V at October 24, 2021 10:42 AM (HabA/)

289 well in the world of the company wars, in the alien union universe it makes some kind of sense, that's leaving it out the whole aliens like the cyteen,

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 24, 2021 10:42 AM (hMlTh)

290 283 If you are so inclined Manchester United vs Liverpool live right now. NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) has it in the USA. Liverpool just scored.
Posted by: LostInSpace at October 24, 2021 10:38 AM (ESLBo)

YNWA...

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at October 24, 2021 10:43 AM (BgMrQ)

291 Saw a report this morning that a container ship lost it's load or part of it's load due to the rain cyclone (?) somewhere off the coast of W Canada. Oh good, another reason for delays.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at October 24, 2021 10:43 AM (2NHgQ)

292 the stench of Obama is everywhere.
Posted by: CN...FJB

So, the smells of stale weed smoke and buttseks?

Posted by: Drink Like Vikings at October 24, 2021 10:43 AM (XEl8M)

293 And equally interesting that the citizens do not appear to be buying what they're selling, anymore.

I don't think "our betters" are all that concerned about it. They have a formula whereby they create a false narrative and then flog the masses with it until it falls apart. What they understand is that there will always be a majority of the population that meekly accepts nearly anything that "the experts" tell them.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at October 24, 2021 10:43 AM (Xrfse)

294 If anyone wants to be blown away by smart early tech, read about Robert Noyce, and Fairchild Semiconductor (the original silicon valley company, from which all others have sprung)

He's like Shockley, or Farnsworth (who invented television)

Unbelievably clever people, coming up with world changing ideas.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:44 AM (AwPyG)

295 There is no way in hell I would work that classroom again with those 2 little demons in there.
Posted by: Donna &&&&&&V at October 24, 2021 10:42 AM (HabA/)

Can't blame you. I assume the parents tolerate plenty of shit at home too.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 10:44 AM (ONvIw)

296 290 283 If you are so inclined Manchester United vs Liverpool live right now. NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) has it in the USA. Liverpool just scored.
Posted by: LostInSpace at October 24, 2021 10:38 AM (ESLBo)

YNWA...
Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at October 24, 2021 10:43 AM (BgMrQ)

Naby Lad!!!

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at October 24, 2021 10:44 AM (BgMrQ)

297 LET'S GO KAREN!

Posted by: Oh look. Squirrel. at October 24, 2021 10:44 AM (64PZ4)

298 appropos of exactly zip

Posted by: Oh look. Squirrel. at October 24, 2021 10:46 AM (64PZ4)

299
Current reading, about the same as last week, by category:

Bedtime - 'Death In Holy Orders' , P.D. James

Heady technical stuff - A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System: Electronics Technology (1925-1975)

I despise politicians -'The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War', DiLorenzo

The description by Sam of 'The New Dealer's War' would apply here also. The Lincoln deified by the history texts will not be found in this book. A fascinating foreword by Walter Williams.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 24, 2021 10:46 AM (l0Lgi)

300 So, the smells of stale weed smoke and buttseks?
Posted by: Drink Like Vikings at October 24, 2021 10:43 AM (XEl8M)

He's an evil bastard who the press cloaked in messianic haloes and messaging. People followed him scarcely knowing why. All of this is him and Kalorama as Biden is basically incoherent. I do not believe the evil Dr. Jill shit, either. Jill's going along to keep the grifting kiddies out of prison and the money in her pocket. She lacks the intelligence to run this scam.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 10:48 AM (ONvIw)

301 It is also telling that Chris Wallace thinks Psaki is the best press secretary evah.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 10:50 AM (ONvIw)

302 For all the accolades given to the people who broke the Enigma code just the opposite was the case for Joseph J. Rochefort who broke the Japanese code.

Posted by: Just a side note at October 24, 2021 10:50 AM (2DOZq)

303 LostinSpace but are they chanting Let's go Brandon?
Soccer fans love to chant

Posted by: Skip at October 24, 2021 10:50 AM (2JoB8)

304 Buffalo Wolf

https://tinyurl.com/2z93rayf

Posted by: BignJames at October 24, 2021 10:50 AM (AwYPR)

305 I will note that the next day after the Queen was all happy smiles, greeting Bill Gates and John Kerry, we have Boris Johnson publicly admitting that the vaccines do not seem to work, and the Queen (who looked just fine, beaming and shaking Gates' hand) had to be taken to the hospital for "tests", which completely changed the narrative in the UK media.

So, the backlash to the eco-summit must have been ferocious.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:50 AM (AwPyG)

306 @303

It's very funny, everybody everywhere is chanting "Let's go Brandon" or the more profane original.

It's a unifier, around the world.

if you go to gab, you can see all the video--the US media has a blackout, naturally

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:52 AM (AwPyG)

307 if you go to gab, you can see all the video--the US media has a blackout, naturally
Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:52 AM (AwPyG)

We've gone full pravda

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 10:53 AM (ONvIw)

308 Buffalo Wolf

-
Half buffalo, half wolf, half human. Whoopsie Goldbrick?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks Now With Pumpkin Spice! at October 24, 2021 10:53 AM (7YpQj)

309 They gonna put your books back in chains!

Posted by: Joe Biden at October 24, 2021 10:53 AM (63Dwl)

310 the Queen was all happy smiles, greeting Bill Gates and John Kerry

Wow, the one-two punch of evil.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at October 24, 2021 10:53 AM (Xrfse)

311 "Death in Holy Orders" is really good

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:54 AM (AwPyG)

312 "In this house of Brede" is an excellent book. I have dipped into some other Rumer Godden books. I've started "The Battle of Villa Fiorita" but I think I only have a paperback and I really need a Kindle so I can make the print a LOT bigger. But the other one I have finished that I thought was superb, just as good as "Brede," is "Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy" which refers to the Rosary. It is based on an order of nuns in France, a real one, and who they are there to help. HIGHLY recommended.

Posted by: Tonestaple at October 24, 2021 10:54 AM (PDLSN)

313 Words fail me to describe the loathing I have for Chris Wallace. I have no idea why Ailes thought hiring him was a smart thing to do.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 24, 2021 10:55 AM (y7DUB)

314 the Queen was all happy smiles, greeting Bill Gates and John Kerry

Wow, the one-two punch of evil.
Posted by: Notorious BFD at October 24, 2021 10:53 AM (Xrfse)

I'm thinking John Kerry was wondering if he could score a marriage with Gate's ex wife .

Posted by: Just a side note at October 24, 2021 10:55 AM (2DOZq)

315 294 If anyone wants to be blown away by smart early tech, read about Robert Noyce, and Fairchild Semiconductor - Posted by: artemis
---
Same can be said for the early software peeps. They came up with the first languages, compilers, OSs, networking standards out of thin air. The depth and range of what we consider as technology engineering in the 1950s and 1960s is staggering.

Posted by: LostInSpace at October 24, 2021 10:55 AM (ESLBo)

316 Donna God bless you, I couldn't do that job.

Posted by: Skip at October 24, 2021 10:55 AM (2JoB8)

317 I have to imagine that when Gates and Kerry are in the same room, the place morphs into Regan's bedroom in The Exorcist.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at October 24, 2021 10:57 AM (Xrfse)

318 Posted by: LostInSpace at October 24, 2021 10:55 AM (ESLBo)

I got to see the heart of IBM daily in the 80's looking in from the outside. Pretty neat.

Posted by: Just a side note at October 24, 2021 10:57 AM (2DOZq)

319 So, I've got the book Joe Rochefort's War, coming up after I finish American Caesar. I also just ordered The New Dealer's War and I Will Bear Witness. Klemperer was mentioned fairly often in Richard Evan's Third Reich trilogy. And I just ordered new copies of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. What? My TBR stack was getting a little thin.

Posted by: Old Blue at October 24, 2021 10:58 AM (VNmG1)

320 Same can be said for the early software peeps. They came up with the first languages, compilers, OSs, networking standards out of thin air. The depth and range of what we consider as technology engineering in the 1950s and 1960s is staggering.

Posted by: LostInSpace at October 24, 2021 10:55 AM

And a lot of that was done by women that you've never heard of. One of the things that pisses me off about people claiming that Ada Lovelace was "the first programmer" is that she gets a lot of press for doing basically nothing when women like Kathleen Booth and the "ENIAC Women", who created systems like those that are still in use today, are essentially unknown.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at October 24, 2021 10:58 AM (ezpv1)

321 @317

Not to mention that there are a lot of rumors going around about what Harry will put in his book, about Charles and Jimmy Saville and his young self.

Buckle up, it may be the end of the monarchy.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 11:00 AM (AwPyG)

322 NOODY NOOD

Posted by: Skip guy who says NOOD at October 24, 2021 11:01 AM (2JoB8)

323 I got to see the heart of IBM daily in the 80's looking in from the outside. Pretty neat.

Likewise. The corporation where I gained my programming chops was one of their biggest clients. IBM had a permanent staff of Customer Engineers onsite. I was very fortunate to be a part of that. Learned a lot.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at October 24, 2021 11:02 AM (Xrfse)

324 @320

We just have to be careful not to lessen the amazing achievements of amazing men by claiming "women were just as smart."

In some things, they aren't. It's why I get a little impatient with Mr. Muse's emphasis on women in chess. There's a lot of very good young men, being ignored.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 11:03 AM (AwPyG)

325 Just dialed in. The "Who Dis" is, of course, the great Fred Astaire.

As for Rumer Godden, "In This House of Brede" was made into a film in 1975, with Diana Rigg and Philippa Talbot. Her novel "Black Narcissus", about Anglican nuns in India, was made into a classic film in 1947, with Debra Kerr as Sr. Clodagh. Personally, my favorite of her novels is "Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy", which is based on an order of French nuns who formerly were prostitutes; it sounds sordid, but it isn't - it's quite a compelling story. (The title refers to the rosary, which recalls five sorrowful mysteries, and ten joyful or glorious mysteries.)

Posted by: Nemo at October 24, 2021 11:03 AM (S6ArX)

326 even obamas a cipher the late michael thomas thought he was clever by making him a tool of wall street, which was necessary because w was so evil, but his agenda of fundamental transformation, is what is echoed in shambling man, and harris (she summons such loathing I can scarcely come up with a proper epithet) so the riots were cheered by all three, directed by a real maoist terrorist, who is esconced in the kellogg foundation in berkeley, is soros, or schwab the ultimate puppet master,

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 24, 2021 11:05 AM (hMlTh)

327 "It's why I get a little impatient with Mr. Muse's emphasis on women in chess. There's a lot of very good young men, being ignored."

I've only browsed past the chess thread but it never occurred to me the point of the pictures was about the skill level of the players.

Posted by: moviegique at October 24, 2021 11:06 AM (asXVI)

328 I have found that what I love doing more than anything else at school is reading books to the kids. I choose the classics and I try to be as dramatic as possible - and they just love it. And it warms my heart to see kids sitting there wide-eyed over the Big Bad Wolf or Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel.

The very best teacher I've seen basically puts on a show everyday - she is always insanely delighted about the letter M or dinosaurs or autumn leaves or whatever. And because she projects so much excitement, the kids get excited as well. I'm trying to do that - but Lord, it's exhausting. There are a lot of crappy teachers out there - but when you see a really good one, it's a wonderful thing to watch.

Posted by: Donna &&&&&&V at October 24, 2021 11:07 AM (HabA/)

329 324 @320

We just have to be careful not to lessen the amazing achievements of amazing men by claiming "women were just as smart."

In some things, they aren't. It's why I get a little impatient with Mr. Muse's emphasis on women in chess. There's a lot of very good young men, being ignored.

Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 11:03 AM

True. That's why I'm a little impatient with the people who want to emphasize women in STEM. You're never going to get a majority of women to become engineers, but you run the risk of discouraging boys from going into technology. There doesn't seem to be a lot of effort to encourage children, no matter their sex, to go into technical field. The propaganda appears to be focused all on girls.

On the other hand, Ada Countess Lovelace is largely remembered because of her sex and not because of her contributions, so pointing out other women who actually did far more is something I'm going to do, and I'm going to do it unashamedly.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at October 24, 2021 11:09 AM (ezpv1)

330 Personally, my favorite of her novels is "Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy", which is based on an order of French nuns who formerly were prostitutes; it sounds sordid, but it isn't - it's quite a compelling story. (The title refers to the rosary, which recalls five sorrowful mysteries, and ten joyful or glorious mysteries.)
Posted by: Nemo at October 24, 2021 11:03 AM (S6ArX)

Wow. That sounds very interesting indeed. I read "In This House of Brede" years ago and enjoyed it, so thank you for the tip about her other books.

Posted by: Donna &&&&&&V at October 24, 2021 11:09 AM (HabA/)

331 "And a lot of that was done by women that you've never heard of. One of the things that pisses me off about people claiming that Ada Lovelace was "the first programmer" is that she gets a lot of press for doing basically nothing when women like Kathleen Booth and the "ENIAC Women", who created systems like those that are still in use today, are essentially unknown."

Not to mention Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, who invented COBOL.

Lovelace did make some interesting theoretical contributions, principally the notion of a "program" that can contain instructions as well as data; but her work, like the Analytical Engine itself, was stillborn - the technology hadn't yet been created to implement her and Babbage's ideas. As for her place in the history of computing, it certainly didn't hurt that she was the beautiful daughter of a notorious nobleman-poet. (By the way, does *anyone* read Byron these days?)

Posted by: Nemo at October 24, 2021 11:11 AM (S6ArX)

332 (By the way, does *anyone* read Byron these days?)
Posted by: Nemo at October 24, 2021 11:11 AM (S6ArX)

I like Byron's poetry - but it's been a while since I've read him.

Posted by: Donna &&&&&&V at October 24, 2021 11:13 AM (HabA/)

333 My favorite author is R A Lafferty...
...PS. Lafferty is not for everyone stylistically or content wise.
Posted by: Thesokorus at October 24, 2021 09:32 AM (1ais2)

Love Lafferty!

Though his short stories are generally better than his novels, I do wish someone would collect and publish or make available on Kindle the prequel and sequels to "The Devil is Dead".

My guess though is that's too rare a bird and we'll never see them if we don't already have them.

Posted by: naturalfake at October 24, 2021 11:13 AM (5NkmN)

334 I was going through my mother's scrap book and I came across my award certificate from the second grade for reading 25 or more books approved by the school board. I don't think I've read 25 books in a year since then.

Posted by: Just a side note at October 24, 2021 11:13 AM (2DOZq)

335 Kathleen Booth and the "ENIAC Women", who created systems like those that are still in use today, are essentially unknown. Posted by: Cybersmythe
---
Spot on comment. The history of this period is still waiting to be fully appreciated and documented. When that happens, their contributions will be given a proper place in history. At times I muse about what has and has not changed since the 1960s. That period was a rare inflection point in history. Speaking with a very broad brush, everything, technology wise, was in place by the 1960s and every innovation since then is equally an iteration of those inventions. My take is that state of the art is still that it is something of an introduction of what is yet to come and that the next 20 to 50 years will be when computing technology really comes into its first golden age that will define this period in history.

Posted by: LostInSpace at October 24, 2021 11:18 AM (ESLBo)

336 (By the way, does *anyone* read Byron these days?)
Posted by: Nemo at October 24, 2021 11:11 AM

A dead white cispatriarchal male? Bwahahaha!

Posted by: Modern Woke English Departments at October 24, 2021 11:20 AM (a3Q+t)

337 Oh wow. Liverpool is up 4-0 over Manchester Union at halftime. This is a total blow out.

Posted by: LostInSpace at October 24, 2021 11:21 AM (ESLBo)

338 Speaking of prairie life, a friend of mine put together a college textbook about women who came out west. (A lot of them were prostitutes, but she focused on family women)
[ . . . ]
Posted by: artemis at October 24, 2021 10:07 AM (AwPyG)

In the 1920's and 30's Fred Lockley did a series of interviews with pioneers who came out on the wagon trains and the were later collected into a series of books, starting with Conversations With Pioneer Women. They talk a lot about childhood, chores, hardship, and there is an interview with one of the women who as a child survived the Whitman massacre.
I am reading a collection of articles by Stewart Holbrook, who was another writer who interviewed people about their lives and experiences around the turn of the century.
My Dad and my grandmother did a book about my grandfather's stories about growing up in Tenino WA.
I encourage people to interview older relatives, this is stuff that gets lost as "unimportant"

Posted by: Kindltot at October 24, 2021 11:27 AM (KbLYZ)

339 The Dire Wolf was real enough. Saw skeletons of them, taken from the La Brea tar pits. Who knows when the last really became extinct, or were there some hybrids that carried on?
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at October 24, 2021 10:19 AM (P3gRi)

Dire Wolves appear to not have been wolves, but a related species per a new study

https://tinyurl.com/3h5rpua6

Posted by: Kindltot at October 24, 2021 11:32 AM (KbLYZ)

340 I just finished rereading "The Sargasso Of Space" by Andre Norton, about about 56 years after I read it the 1st time.

That should be fine for any younger kids. Content warning: no gay or transgender characters at all.

Any Andre Norton books will be fine, IMO.

Posted by: West at October 24, 2021 11:33 AM (QY+6a)

341 Recently, a friend gave me a book titled 'The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written'.

Well, such a list is necessarily subjective, but is none the less very interesting...and intimidating. I flatter myself by thinking that I am fairly well-read, but running down the list, it just ain't so.

Subjective or not, the compilation is impressive. Moreover, there is a fairly insightful synopsis of each book.

This has prompted to wonder what We, the Book Threadists, would regard as 'Influential' books, non-secular.

On another point, I've only ever had one book re-bound, P.C. Headley's 1866 'The Life and Campaigns of Lieut Gen. U.S. Grant'.

Why I should do so escapes me. As an unreconstructed Southerner, I harbor no affection for Grant. Still, as a historical item, I thought it worth preserving, which is another difference between myself and the Left/Prog/Lib/Dems

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 24, 2021 11:34 AM (l0Lgi)

342 I find it hilarious that one of the dooms facing the US is that Southern California is going to get rain.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 24, 2021 11:37 AM (KbLYZ)

343 I encourage people to interview older relatives, this is stuff that gets lost as "unimportant"
Posted by: Kindltot
------

This cannot be overemphasized. ASK THEM QUESTIONS. The day will come when you will no longer be able to, and the answers will be lost forever.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 24, 2021 11:49 AM (1vynn)

344 Lafferty -

His short story 'Primary Education of the Camiroi' is one of the funniest things around (and strangely even more relevant now than when it was first published). 'Seven Day Terror' and a whole bunch of others too. His collection THE BEST OF R. A. LAFFERTY is available print and ebook, and is worth every dime.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 24, 2021 11:50 AM (JzDjf)

345 Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 24, 2021 11:34 AM (l0Lgi

It was amusing to see Mary Wollstonecraft's work on the list.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 12:03 PM (ONvIw)

346 This cannot be overemphasized. ASK THEM QUESTIONS. The day will come when you will no longer be able to, and the answers will be lost forever.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 24, 2021 11:49 AM (1vynn)

A cousin's kid is emailing family with questions, some of which are none of anyone's business. As I told her, some secrets should stay buried.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 12:05 PM (ONvIw)

347 The list of YA "offerings" makes the world of 40 years ago worth going back to, and even then there was much hand-wringing about how to get boys to read. (In third grade, my third grade teacher's approch was simple: if the boys in his class were breaking out their comics, LET THEM. If their classwork was done, of course. For even then, the books in the book-order forms and the libraries were by and large not geared to boys. Of course, as we seen, it has gotten infinitely worse.)

Posted by: Cow Demon - Free Australia! at October 24, 2021 12:20 PM (CdZ4i)

348 337 Oh wow. Liverpool is up 4-0 over Manchester Union at halftime. This is a total blow out.
Posted by: LostInSpace at October 24, 2021 11:21 AM (ESLBo)

YNWA

Posted by: Cow Demon - Free Australia! at October 24, 2021 12:20 PM (CdZ4i)

349 "True. That's why I'm a little impatient with the people who want to emphasize women in STEM. You're never going to get a majority of women to become engineers, but you run the risk of discouraging boys from going into technology. There doesn't seem to be a lot of effort to encourage children, no matter their sex, to go into technical field. The propaganda appears to be focused all on girls."

I have never understood this obsession with getting girls into STEM (or that matter, the whining and hand-wringing about why boys don't read). For the emphasis, as you point out, SHOULD be to get CHILDREN interested in STEM no matter who or what they are.

Posted by: Cow Demon - Free Australia! at October 24, 2021 12:24 PM (CdZ4i)

350
It was amusing to see Mary Wollstonecraft's work on the list.
Posted by: CN...FJB
------
Betty Friedan, but not Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 24, 2021 12:25 PM (pbStR)

351 Betty Friedan, but not Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 24, 2021 12:25 PM (pbStR)

That's an interesting omission, and kick Chomsky off.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 12:29 PM (ONvIw)

352 Harriet Beecher Stowe
-------

As a reminder, Lincoln said to her, "so you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war."

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 24, 2021 12:30 PM (AytXr)

353
That's an interesting omission, and kick Chomsky off.
Posted by: CN...FJB
------
It is a very impressive list, and a nice compilation, but some of them just do not make the cut as 'Most Influential'... or even 'Influential', IMHO.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 24, 2021 12:34 PM (ELgVT)

354 353: Some of them have been very negative influences, and I'm a bit surprised not to see more of those.

Posted by: CN...FJB at October 24, 2021 12:37 PM (ONvIw)

355 I have just finished listening to Lady Death, the wartime memoir of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, WWII's best scoring woman sniper. Reads like a novel. (The Kindle edition is only $2.99.)

Posted by: Davod at October 24, 2021 01:07 PM (fGRf+)

356 Lady Death PS. I recommend you look at the reviews on Amazon. This is not just a dry technical book about how to kill with a rifle. It reads like a novel of the times, and also reflects Pavlichenko's profession as a historian and researcher.

Posted by: Davod at October 24, 2021 01:15 PM (fGRf+)

357 355 I have just finished listening to Lady Death, the wartime memoir of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, WWII's best scoring woman sniper.

***
Gonna read this

Posted by: vmom - link to Red's fundraiser at October 24, 2021 01:31 PM (YZG/i)

358 I have never understood this obsession with getting girls into STEM (or that matter, the whining and hand-wringing about why boys don't read). For the emphasis, as you point out, SHOULD be to get CHILDREN interested in STEM no matter who or what they are.

Posted by: Cow Demon - Free Australia! at October 24, 2021 12:24 PM

I don't know. I don't think that the problem is that there are efforts to get girls interested in STEM. I think the problem is that all of them are. I mean, if somebody thinks that it's important to sell an engineering career to girls, why not? It's a free country. But shouldn't somebody be trying to sell it to everybody?

Posted by: Cybersmythe at October 24, 2021 01:33 PM (ezpv1)

359 Eeyore @113, please allow me to strongly recommend the next two volumes of John Masters' memoirs: "The Road Past Mandalay" (which describes his service in WWII. He saw combat in Iraq, Syria, Persia and Burma. Also tells how he met the woman he was to marry and his education as a staff officer). And "Pilgrim Son". When the British gave India its independence his Gurkha regiment was one of those transferred to the Indian Army. Masters would have been perfectly happy to finish his military career in the service of the Republic of India but the Indians had a big sign out saying "No English Need Apply". So he reinvented himself as a novelist and as an American.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at October 24, 2021 02:04 PM (u4T8k)

360 Greetings:

I still miss punch cards and Fortran and the IBM 1401.

Posted by: 11B40 at October 24, 2021 02:08 PM (uuklp)

361 I encourage people to interview older relatives, this is stuff that gets lost as "unimportant"
Posted by: Kindltot at October 24, 2021 11:27 AM (KbLYZ)

Couldn't agree more. There are lots of things about my family that are a blank to me for which there's no recovery.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 24, 2021 02:08 PM (y7DUB)

362 Thesokorus @185, I heartily agree with your recommendation of R. A. Lafferty's work (adding my vote to those of #333 and #344 above). I like his short stories best but his novels are also well worth the time. For me his best novel length work is "Space Chantey" a retelling of "The Odyssey" done as if Homer was reincarnated as an American teller of tale tales.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at October 24, 2021 02:08 PM (u4T8k)

363 Hey, OregonMuse! This is what you wrote:

Usage: "The Democratic Party, along with all of their toadying, bootlicking snools in the media..."

Let me fix it for you:

Usage: "The Democrat Party, along with all of their toadying, bootlicking snools in the media..."

Democrats love it when you call them "democratic," after they go and steal elections.

Posted by: bradc at October 24, 2021 04:10 PM (zcqRh)

364 If you're looking for fun and interesting books for upper grade school- and middle-schoolers (especially for boys, who have almost no worthwhile choices anymore), look no further than the Jimi & Isaac series by Phil Rink.

(From my own experience, they're also fun and interesting for adults who just like a good story.)

Posted by: Jim Vinoski at October 24, 2021 04:47 PM (GKOEm)

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