Sunday Morning Book Thread 01-23-2022 [All Hail Eris]

This is a very sad Book Thread, for we must bid good-bye to our beloved host and guide OregonMuse. OM's Book Threads were islands of sanity and calm in a raging torrent of hogwash. It was a bullwark without the cuckshed. I'm sure I'm not the only one who read and pondered a little more deeply, knowing that I would be discussing my thoughts with the Horde. So let us honor his legacy by doing what that great man would want -- reading terrific books and poking merciless fun at the sniveling snools of the Idiocracy!

OM is totally fanboying the Inklings right now!

Good morning to you all from the stately Dungeon of Discord. Welcome once again to the classy and luxurious Sunday Morning Book Thread, that plushly appointed mosh pit of opinion, snark, choler, jest and japery, and our continuing conversation on books, reading, writing, and the culture at large. In honor of OM's legacy, I respectfully request that we all wear pants for the duration. Even if it's these pants, that give you the stink-eye right back. So join us in Ace's Grotto for some light refreshment and convivial conversation, and tell us what you've been reading!

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Who dis:

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Take a virtual tour of Twain's Hartford CT home

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It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

GNASHGAB - Someone who is constantly finding fault and loves to complain.

KLAZOMANIAC - Someone who only seems to be able to speak by SHOUTING (i.e., a Ben Roethlisberger type).

RAGGABRASH - No, not that tree-hugging hippie wizard, but a disorganized or grubby person (well, I suppose the movie version of Radagast).

MUCK-SPOUT - Someone who constantly f*cking swears.

LOITER-SACK - A slugabed.

***

"Science fiction is not a safe space! It can't be. For if it is, it betrays its reason for existing: the unfettered extrapolation of technological and social change."

(from Andrew Fox's "Rescuing Science Fiction from the Horde of Woke Zombies")

Icons of SF and Horror are being erased for Wrongthink, and it's not just people like my old dependably xenophobic Lovecraft. Hilariously, the notably anti-racist Heinlein and feminist SF author James V. Tiptree (Alice Sheldon) are marginalized by the Color Guard for being insufficiently Woke. Nobody is safe from the mob, no matter how well-intentioned:

Rescuing science fiction from cancel culture.

***

Sixteen Reasons to be Proud of Being a Book Hoarder (uh, I mean "Collector")

***

Well that's it for this week. We miss you, OregonMuse!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 **bangs pots and pans together**
OKAY PEOPLE, PANTS KLAXON IS SOUNDING

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 23, 2022 09:00 AM (Dc2NZ)

2 Thank you, Eris. Offering my Mass for OM here in a couple of hours. RIP, good soul.

Posted by: Catherine at January 23, 2022 09:01 AM (ZSsrh)

3 Tolle Lege
Finished Julie Kelly's January 6,will have book report when I get home

Posted by: Skip's Phone at January 23, 2022 09:01 AM (cSWyx)

4 Good Sunday morning, horde!

Thank you for stepping in, Eris. OM is with us, I'm certain.

Crap, weeping again.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at January 23, 2022 09:02 AM (OX9vb)

5 "This is a very sad Book Thread, for we must bid good-bye to our beloved host and guide OregonMuse. OM's Book Threads were islands of sanity and calm in a raging torrent of hogwash."

Very well said, Eris, and a very well-done Book Thread. He would be happy.

Posted by: grammie winger at January 23, 2022 09:02 AM (45fpk)

6 Took me a moment to realize that's Dorothy Dandridge.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022 09:02 AM (2JVJo)

7 OK, wth--cork pants?? At least he'll float. Well, his butt will, anyway.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at January 23, 2022 09:03 AM (OX9vb)

8 I dunno who dis is but she's a babe!!

Two Hubbas please.

Posted by: Tonypete at January 23, 2022 09:03 AM (mD/uy)

9 Morning' again, all!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:04 AM (c6xtn)

10 RIP, OregonMuse. We hardly knew ye...but all of us are better for the experience.

Prayers up for Doof this morning as well. In today's EMT, he shared that he has just suffered a tremendous loss as well.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 09:04 AM (K5n5d)

11 Dorothy Dandridge

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 09:05 AM (ONvIw)

12 Missing OM.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, resolved to lurking at January 23, 2022 09:05 AM (eGTCV)

13 CN, so sorry to hear about Fluffy and I know you still miss Casper.

OM Ave atque vale.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at January 23, 2022 09:05 AM (PiwSw)

14 Speaking of Lovecraft, I went to the Avenue Victor Hugo book shop yesterday. Got myself The Chronicle of the Roman Emperors, a Graves translation of Suetonius and a history of salt.

The shop also had a collection of Lovecraft's non-fiction, various articles and other pieces he wrote for several magazines, including a history of French Quebec. Not my style at all, but now I wonder if I should have bought it to send to any Moron who might want it.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022 09:06 AM (2JVJo)

15 OK, wth--cork pants?? At least he'll float. Well, his butt will, anyway.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at January 23, 2022 09:03 AM (OX9vb)

OOOh! And with a helpful target too!!!

Posted by: Shep! at January 23, 2022 09:06 AM (7bRMQ)

16 Well done, CN!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 23, 2022 09:06 AM (Dc2NZ)

17 Thank you, Eris, BZ.

Hat tip departed friend, Oregon Muse. Thank you for all that you did. Forever in our thoughts.

Greeting virtual family and friends.I pledge never to give you up when the contact tracing police put me on the rack.

Lot's of sorrow this week. Smile through the pain.

Posted by: goatexchange at January 23, 2022 09:06 AM (APPN8)

18 Are those pants Eyetalian?

Posted by: fd at January 23, 2022 09:06 AM (vrz2I)

19 Good Morning Good People. Reading Mike Rowe's "The Way I Heard It."

Nice, short but very informative and funny read.

Posted by: NALNAMSAM- not as lean, not as mean, still a Marine at January 23, 2022 09:06 AM (+ldAm)

20 Continued my work with Dante's Comedy - Purgatorio - Canto 25 this week. Fantastic! Discusses the insertion of the soul into a developing pre-born child from ancient pov. (and a whole lot of other stuff) Wow!

Posted by: Tonypete at January 23, 2022 09:06 AM (mD/uy)

21 Almost didn't drop by, but glad I did- here's to OM (hoists mug).

Posted by: Farmer Bob at January 23, 2022 09:07 AM (YAIlb)

22 Prayers up for Doof this morning as well. In today's EMT, he shared that he has just suffered a tremendous loss as well.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 09:04 AM (K5n5d)

Oh, FFS. Is this sadness never to end?

Prayers up.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022 09:07 AM (2JVJo)

23 10 FYI
68 Hello Hordelings. Please pray for me and my family. Our world was shattered yesterday morning. My wife of 26 years passed away suddenly at age 50. She died in her sleep, apparently of natural causes - according to the medical examiner.

I'm still numb and the full reality hasn't set in yet.
Posted by: Doof at January 23, 2022 07:25 AM (mZUr4)

Posted by: Commissar Hrothgar ~ In Memorium: Absent Friends and Companions at January 23, 2022 09:07 AM (hOUT3)

24 My heart breaks for Doof. Praying for the strength of the Lord to touch him.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, resolved to lurking at January 23, 2022 09:07 AM (eGTCV)

25 Dorothy Dandridge?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:07 AM (c6xtn)

26 I'm currently working my way through James Clements' Wit'ch Storm, Book 2 of The Banned and the Banished. It's not bad at all. It's a bit on the cliched side with a Dark Lord wanting to rule the world and a Chosen One destined to stop him, but there are enough deviations from cliches to make it interesting and even kind of fun. Some of the main characters have a definite moral grayness to them, while others are on unequivocally on the side of good. We'll see how the other three books turn out...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 09:09 AM (K5n5d)

27 Is the dragon guarding gold or just a lot of melted cheese?

Posted by: Dr. Varno at January 23, 2022 09:09 AM (vuisn)

28 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great, and cathartic, week of reading. And yes, my reading the last few days has had a poignant edge to it.

More thanks than there are stars in heaven to AHE for doing the book thread and for doing such a wonderful job.

Posted by: JTB at January 23, 2022 09:09 AM (7EjX1)

29 Willowed from the EMT, because it's book-related:
*
He came around when America went to war. Against orders, he flew on combat missions in the Pacific and proved to the pilots and maintenance crew how they could significantly increase the range of their aircraft by the right settings on cruise.
Posted by: JM in Florida at January 23, 2022
***
This was a big part of why I hated Philip Roth's poorly-constructed and thought-through "alternate history" novel The Plot Against America, about Lindberg becoming President in 1940 and making antisemitism fashionable and legal in America. Lindberg in real life was an isolationist, not a pro-Nazi fanatic. Roth's Jewish characters worry and react to a much greater extreme than Roth's setup warrants. If he had created a new demagogue like Huey Long, as Sinclair Lewis did in It Can't Happen Here, and shown *him* creating a pro-Nazi state, it would have made much more dramatic sense.
*
That's what often happens when a literary author tries to work in a genre (mystery, SF, Western). He gets some of the trappings right, but doesn't follow through all the way.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:09 AM (c6xtn)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:10 AM (c6xtn)

31 Nice Lieberry!

Those pants...put a cork in them, there done.

The Who Dis is Barack Obama pretending to read.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at January 23, 2022 09:10 AM (R/m4+)

32 Joan Collins never looked better, in my opinion.

Still plowing my way through Chernow's Grant. The little general deserves a mountain all his own, for saving the Union.

Also reading Tuchman's Stillwell in that online library thingee.

Hello all.

Posted by: goatexchange at January 23, 2022 09:10 AM (APPN8)

33 13 CN, so sorry to hear about Fluffy and I know you still miss Casper.

OM Ave atque vale.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at January 23, 2022 09:05 AM (PiwSw

That wasn't my submission. I have never had a poodle or a boxer. Seven German Spitzes and one active JRT.

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 09:10 AM (ONvIw)

34 I'm sure I'm not the only one who read and pondered a little more deeply, knowing that I would be discussing my thoughts with the Horde.

Nope. My first thoughts when I finish a book is "what would the Horde find interesting about this". It doesn't always have an easy answer.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at January 23, 2022 09:10 AM (y7DUB)

35 27 Is the dragon guarding gold or just a lot of melted cheese?
Posted by: Dr. Varno at January 23, 2022 09:09 AM (vuisn)
--

It does look like an enormous mound of nachos.

Mmmmm, nachos.....

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 23, 2022 09:11 AM (Dc2NZ)

36 Perfesser Squirrel, thanks for letting us know. My heart aches for Doof. Prayers for him and his family.

*I went back and looked, because I had not been to the EMT this morning. For others who have not, his wife passed unexpectedly in her sleep. Married 26 years. Oh, my heart.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at January 23, 2022 09:11 AM (OX9vb)

37 Thanks for the great post, All Hail Eris.

I almost thought OM was back.

Are you willing to consider continuing on a permanent basis. I know several other people asked previously but I did not see your response.

Posted by: You Really Don't Want to Know at January 23, 2022 09:11 AM (VXxTB)

38
Kiri Te Kanawa !

Present !

Thank you for the book thread Eris ! C'est fabuleux ! Wonderful tribute.

*goes back to study the content

Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 09:11 AM (V13WU)

39 16 Well done, CN!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 23, 2022 09:06 AM (Dc2NZ)

Thanks!

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 09:12 AM (ONvIw)

40 Why read books when there's ace.mu.nu? The reality horror story on "Ace" this morning, about Fed Live Action Role Playing, beats any fiction by Poe.

Posted by: Marooned at January 23, 2022 09:13 AM (w6hJ9)

41
g'mornin', book-ish 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at January 23, 2022 09:14 AM (DUIap)

42 OH NO, NOT THE CORK PANTS ! I will see them in my nightmares, chasing me....

Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 09:14 AM (V13WU)

43 This was a big part of why I hated Philip Roth's poorly-constructed and thought-through "alternate history" novel The Plot Against America, about Lindberg becoming President in 1940 and making antisemitism fashionable and legal in America. Lindberg in real life was an isolationist, not a pro-Nazi fanatic. Roth's Jewish characters worry and react to a much greater extreme than Roth's setup warrants. If he had created a new demagogue like Huey Long, as Sinclair Lewis did in It Can't Happen Here, and shown *him* creating a pro-Nazi state, it would have made much more dramatic sense.

Although I'm mostly a fan of Roth, he wrote some very ill considered books.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at January 23, 2022 09:14 AM (y7DUB)

44 Not much new reading this week. I did read a very long 'blog post series on science fiction fandom at J.D. Cowan's 'blog "Between Wasteland and Sky." Very revisionist and dyspeptic; he is not a Fan of Fandom. Here's the tiny URL: https://tinyurl.com/2a2k7hya

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 23, 2022 09:15 AM (QZxDR)

45 Ave, atque, vale, Oregon Muse !

MP4, which book about salt ?
I have several; a fascinating topic as well as my favorite condiment !

Posted by: sock_rat_eez (9CuDT) at January 23, 2022 09:15 AM (9CuDT)

46 Are you willing to consider continuing on a permanent basis. I know several other people asked previously but I did not see your response.

Posted by: You Really Don't Want to Know at January 23, 2022 09:11 AM (VXxTB)
---

I'm happy to fill in, but I'm not sure I want to be the permanent replacement. Want the job? Contact the COBs!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 23, 2022 09:15 AM (Dc2NZ)

47 OH NO, NOT THE CORK PANTS ! I will see them in my nightmares, chasing me....

Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 09:14 AM (V13WU)

I sorta like 'em.

Posted by: Bob at January 23, 2022 09:15 AM (7bRMQ)

48 Why read books when there's ace.mu.nu? The reality horror story on "Ace" this morning, about Fed Live Action Role Playing, beats any fiction by Poe.
Posted by: Marooned at January 23, 2022 09:13 AM (w6hJ9)

Best part is YOU may get to be involved in the live action role playing even if you are just walking in the park!

Posted by: Commissar Hrothgar ~ In Memorium: Absent Friends and Companions at January 23, 2022 09:15 AM (hOUT3)

49 The smokers are, of course, JRR Tolkien and his buddy C.S. Lewis. Both were big pipe smokers in their day. Tolkien was fond of a blend called Capstan Blue, a Virginia tobacco that you can still buy today. I'm not sure what Lewis smoked. But there are pics out there of him with a pipe.

Years ago I saw the movie Shadowlands w/ Anthony Hopkins as Lewis, and Debra Winger as the American divorcee he fell in love with in 1950s Britain. I don't recall if the film showed him with a pipe.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:16 AM (c6xtn)

50 Why read books when there's ace.mu.nu? The reality horror story on "Ace" this morning, about Fed Live Action Role Playing, beats any fiction by Poe.
Posted by: Marooned at January 23, 2022 09:13 AM (w6hJ9)
---
Definitely a case of reality being stranger than fiction. Babylon Bee really has to reach to find satire these days simply because the absurdity of the real world has reached epic levels of nonsense. Lewis Carroll would blush to see just how bizarre our world is compared to Wonderland.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 09:16 AM (K5n5d)

51 42 OH NO, NOT THE CORK PANTS ! I will see them in my nightmares, chasing me....
Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 09:14 AM (V13WU)
---

That single, blazing eye, bobbing in your imagination whenever you close your eyes!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 23, 2022 09:16 AM (Dc2NZ)

52 Not a book, but I think we need this post from Dr Malone this morning.

https://bit.ly/343emu3

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 09:16 AM (YynYJ)

53 On the Kindle, I read In Hitler's House Book One: A Book of Espionage and Stolen Love by Jonathan Lane. This is a novel written as a memoir. In 1931 William Weber, a young, rich American is on tour in Germany when he literally runs into Hitler as Hitler was crossing a street in Munich. Hitler exploits the wealthy innocent and brings him into his inner circle. As the years go by, Willie develops a love/hate relationship with him; but eventually becomes a spy for the British.

Jonathan Lane is a pseudoname for a history scholar, an expert in modern European history. He offers a vivid exploration of Hitler's private life. The book ends with the invasion of Poland in 1939. I bought Book II for $2.99.

Posted by: Zoltan at January 23, 2022 09:17 AM (EbbAh)

54 Dorothy Dandridge. I don't think OM could be replaced, but hoping for someone just as cool to continue a worthy thread.

Posted by: sidney at January 23, 2022 09:17 AM (7/kmB)

55 MP4, which book about salt ?

The one by Mark Kurlansky.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022 09:17 AM (2JVJo)

56 That's what often happens when a literary author tries to work in a genre (mystery, SF, Western). He gets some of the trappings right, but doesn't follow through all the way.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:09 AM (c6xtn)

I'm no fan of any Roth book, and he was a jerk IRL. Then again, I find the incessant hunt for "nazis" to villainize to be repulsive.

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 09:17 AM (ONvIw)

57 Best part is YOU may get to be involved in the live action role playing even if you are just walking in the park!

Posted by: Commissar Hrothgar ~ In Memorium: Absent Friends and Companions at January 23, 2022 09:15 AM (hOUT3)

Tell me about it.

Posted by: Seth Rich at January 23, 2022 09:17 AM (7bRMQ)

58
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 23, 2022 09:16 AM (Dc2NZ)

Only Eris could find pants like that!
A thanks for your most excellent work on the Book Thread!

Posted by: Commissar Hrothgar ~ In Memorium: Absent Friends and Companions at January 23, 2022 09:18 AM (hOUT3)

59 Well, books, then.

I am reading Ship of Theseus by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst, because my son gave it to me and to my daughter and he wants us all to read it together.

It's ok. It's a book, but the real story is the conversation in the margins between two people who are reading the book and discussing the mysterious author.

It's all kinds of ADD for me--trying to read the book with all that in the margins is like reading with tv on--so distracting. I'm persevering, though, because I love my boy and want him to be happy.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at January 23, 2022 09:18 AM (OX9vb)

60 Although I'm mostly a fan of Roth, he wrote some very ill considered books.
Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at January 23, 2022

***
One of these days I will finish the one that was made into a film with Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman, The Human Stain. I got to a surprise point he had tucked away in the story, but got distracted or ran out of time to read it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:18 AM (c6xtn)

61 Nicely done Eris. Missing OM this morning but you are filling in perfectly.

Posted by: Jewells45 deplorablethug#FJB at January 23, 2022 09:19 AM (nxdel)

62 Had a weird dream last night, brought on from too much drinking: I dreamt that the HQ won an award for best political blog and that a group of us went to the ceremony, where Gabe Malor gave a speech warning of China's increasing takeover of the US.

Why I can't have ordinary dreams about women offering their lithe, supple bodies to me, I do not know.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022 09:19 AM (2JVJo)

63 Omg those pants!

Posted by: vmom - link to Red's fundraiser at January 23, 2022 09:19 AM (lCui1)

64 OM may have gone vefore us, but his legacy lives on in the Book Thread.

Thank you, Eris, you've brightebed my day so much

Posted by: vmom - link to Red's fundraiser at January 23, 2022 09:21 AM (lCui1)

65 Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 09:16 AM (YynYJ)

Than you NST, spot on!
Read it people, he is one of us at heart!

Posted by: Commissar Hrothgar ~ In Memorium: Absent Friends and Companions at January 23, 2022 09:21 AM (hOUT3)

66 Good morning, one and all. My reading has been sparse as of late, but I can recommend a few.

Black Rednecks and White Liberals from Thomas Sowell. More than a critique of ghetto "culture." It's a deep dive into the origins and how it spread. Also several chapters get devoted to the success of minorities through education and strong family structure. This could be spread out into a semester long class.

The Sandman, Act 2 by Neil Gaiman. Narrated by a whole range of cast members including James McAvoy. A good comic series despite the presence of some woke elements.

Posted by: NR Pax at January 23, 2022 09:21 AM (Ajt8v)

67 I just noticed that C.S. Lewis is sucking on a heater -- he's almost always shone with a pipe if smoking.

Maybe it's a joint! Possible weed names:

Further Up
Tumnus
Aslan Is On the Move
Gooseberry Fool

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 23, 2022 09:22 AM (Dc2NZ)

68 I just clicked on the link for this week's pants...LOL!

Those are great! I never thought I'd see the day when someone skinned a beholder (monster from D&D) to wear around the house...That's exactly what I'd wear on my next adventure into beholder territory...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 09:22 AM (K5n5d)

69 Continuing with the 100 Days of Dante program. We are up to Canto 25 of the Purgatory segment. I've been going back and forth between the Dorothy Sayers version and the Mandelbaum translation. Both have their strengths for the actual translation and the commentary.

Posted by: JTB at January 23, 2022 09:22 AM (7EjX1)

70 Boker Tov Patriots

Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 23, 2022 09:22 AM (Irn0L)

71 I also read The Great Reset: Joe Biden and the Rise of 21st Century Fascism by Glenn Beck with Justin Haskins. Not a lot of new information for me; but for one unfamiliar with the topic, this is a clear, concise treatment of the Great Reset, written in an entertaining way. If you want to know what our globalist "betters" have in store for us in the future, this book is a great place to start.

Posted by: Zoltan at January 23, 2022 09:23 AM (EbbAh)

72 Beautiful thread, Eris.

I'm glad you mentioned cancel culture as it seems to be hitting authors and books, these days. Seuss was an absolutely ridiculous canceling, and I am also appalled by the treatment of Dorothy Canfield Fisher over a make believe charge. She did not have the audience that Seuss has, but the woman didn't do one single thing to deserve her posthumous treatment. Leftists let the dead vote, but attack people unable to defend their own records from the grave.

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 09:23 AM (ONvIw)

73 My daughter loaned me "American Dirt", by Jeanine Cummins. It's a well-told story of a middle class bookstore owner in Acapulco, whose entire family is gunned down by a drug cartel. She escapes with her only son, a little 8-yr old boy. The story follows her desperate race for safety, involving jumping trains, and other unimaginable horrors a mother must endure to save her son.

It is not written to be political, but in the end they decide their only chance is to make it to the north, to the United States. It was a book that made me gasp.

Posted by: grammie winger at January 23, 2022 09:24 AM (45fpk)

74 55 MP4, which book about salt ?

The one by Mark Kurlansky.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022 09:17 AM (2JVJo)
---

Did he write "Cod"? Great book! Bander recommended that one and it was fascinating.

We miss you, Bander!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 23, 2022 09:24 AM (Dc2NZ)

75 Why I can't have ordinary dreams about women offering their lithe, supple bodies to me, I do not know.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022

***
How about if I dream that former pr0n star Nikki Rhodes was there as your date?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:24 AM (c6xtn)

76 I was loitersacking up to a minute ago, when nature told me to get going

Posted by: vmom - link to Red's fundraiser at January 23, 2022 09:25 AM (lCui1)

77 Good morning, AHE, Horde,

OregonMuse, RIP. Thank you for all the great content.

Posted by: callsign claymore at January 23, 2022 09:25 AM (rFSdo)

78 That's exactly what I'd wear on my next adventure into beholder territory...

Depending on your character's level, that could go very well for you.

Posted by: NR Pax at January 23, 2022 09:26 AM (BPhfN)

79 Want the job? Contact the COBs!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 23, 2022 09:15 AM (Dc2NZ)

Not a chance ... chess maybe ... but I'm insanely busy atm.

Posted by: You Really Don't Want to Know at January 23, 2022 09:26 AM (VXxTB)

80 that's a good one, MP4, kind of what got me started actually ... though I already had the delightful ACS Monograph 145 on the shelves.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez (9CuDT) at January 23, 2022 09:27 AM (9CuDT)

81 I finally started reading the "Flashman" series. The Old Ones who were my mentors informed me about them back in the late 70's, but I never got around to it. If you are feed up with the politically correct, theses are the stories for you. It actually is racist, white supremacy, misogynistic, homophobic, and hilarious. The memories of a coward, scoundrel, and cad; going thru the British Empire from the 1840's on. Who keeps falling in a pile of shit, and comes out smelling like a rose. Sort of a pallet cleanser for the society of today.

Posted by: Paladin at January 23, 2022 09:27 AM (co1u6)

82 some month ago I borrowed a book from the Library (mentioned it here i think) about Spartacus. Unfortunately, it was a translation. From Italian. Inferior to the original text. Even i could pick up grammatical mistakes. Had to return it , just could not read it. If translator is not on the same intellectual level as the author , that is what you get. For example, Aylmer and Louise Maude translation of War and Peace. They knew Tolstoy, their translation is considered "most faithful", they spoke perfect Russian and supposedly Tolstoy, who knew English, gave his approval. So there you go.

Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 09:27 AM (V13WU)

83 I borrowed a book by a fantasy author I usually enjoy, Juliet Marillier. But when I started I discovered it was written in first person present tense.
Nope.
Nope nope nope.

Back to the library you go

Posted by: vmom - link to Red's fundraiser at January 23, 2022 09:27 AM (lCui1)

84 Yesterday I went down to my local Barnes & Noble, after a couple of weeks of being bombarded with emails promoting their BIG SALE! I walked around the store, looked at the sections for the stuff I like best . . . got a coffee and left. No books.

There's just nothing being published that I want to read. Paranoid Leftist fantasies, victimhood masturbation novels, and crap churned out by people who are published because of their skin tone and perversions.

B&N seems to sense it, too. Half the store is devoted to other stuff: toys, games, videos, greeting cards, Starbux. I'm guessing that floor space is a rough measure of what brings in the sales.

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 23, 2022 09:28 AM (QZxDR)

85 Nice book thread! Thank you for stepping up, Eris.

Reading Peter F. Hamilton's "Judas Unchained", which is the sequel to his "Pandora's Star", both of which were suggested in last week's book thread.

Fantastic Sci-Fi that is simultaneously yuge empire-building, existential battle between species, political thriller, techno-heavy and a police procedural, I love it. 1,995 pages (between the two books) of awesome.

Thank you to whomever mentioned Peter F. Hamilton last week.

Posted by: Sharkman at January 23, 2022 09:28 AM (+E0jM)

86 How about if I dream that former pr0n star Nikki Rhodes was there as your date?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:24 AM (c6xtn)

Not that I can afford to be choosy, but the tats are a turn-off.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022 09:28 AM (2JVJo)

87 The book ends with the invasion of Poland in 1939

SPOILERS !

Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 09:28 AM (V13WU)

88 Doof, I am so sorry
Prayers and hugs

Posted by: vmom - link to Red's fundraiser at January 23, 2022 09:29 AM (lCui1)

89 As far as my reading, I finished The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and stated my disappointment that it was more of a Young Adult book than a book with more literary heft. That was caused by a misapprehension on my part so I take all blame for it. That said it was enjoyable for what it is, a story of a lovable scamp who was very adept at tricking people to do his work. I then started Adventure of Huckleberry Finn almost immediacy and find this much more to my liking even though it contains many of the same characters. I'm sure plenty of lit crits have based borderline unreadable books on that phenomenon instead of more appropriately devoting a paragraph or two to it.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at January 23, 2022 09:29 AM (y7DUB)

90 Cancel culture in science fiction makes NO SENSE. At it's best the genre explores the very limits of the human experience. It often takes one aspect of humanity and then "exaggerates" it in some way so that we can investigate the implications of that aspect.

Authors like Harlan Ellison (a raging asshole, but still one of the best speculative fiction writers) deliberately cultivated this idea. He commissioned the Dangerous Visions anthologies specifically because he wanted edgy stories, not "safe spaces".

So-called science fiction readers who don't understand what the genre really represents have no business calling themselves "fans" because that's not who they are.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 09:29 AM (K5n5d)

91 Eris, you are doing a fantastic job. I've loved reading OM's Sunday book thread for many years, and I'm still in shock that he's gone. Yet, you have stepped in and kept much of the culture of what he did, while quickly showing your own style. Thank you! Please keep it up.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at January 23, 2022 09:29 AM (d9Cw3)

92 The Who Dis is Dorothy Dandridge.

Now, I don't know who Dorothy Dandridge is but I sure can read the image's URL!

Posted by: Biden's Dog at January 23, 2022 09:29 AM (lfJEy)

93 I'm reading some P.D. James, a 2001 mystery about her Scotland Yard man Adam Dalgliesh called Death in Holy Orders. It takes place at a school for Anglican priests. So far one of the students has been found dead -- accident or murder, we do not know -- and another character has been smothered. We know this one is a murder, but so far no one else does. Vivid stuff.

There is a collection of her short stories minus Dalgliesh, Sleep No More. These are much like the work of her contemporary Ruth Rendell (outside Rendell's own series character books). Some of them seem refreshingly like the kind of story Alfred Hitchcock Presents used to do.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:30 AM (c6xtn)

94 Not that I can afford to be choosy, but the tats are a turn-off.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022 09:28 AM (2JVJo)

As they should be, for any decent man.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 09:30 AM (7bRMQ)

95 Ah, Doof! I'm so sorry for your loss, man. May she rest in peace.

Posted by: callsign claymore at January 23, 2022 09:30 AM (rFSdo)

96 Pixy says my eulogy to OM is spam. I'll keep trying.

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 23, 2022 09:31 AM (Om/di)

97 Authors like Harlan Ellison (a raging asshole, but still one of the best speculative fiction writers) deliberately cultivated this idea. He commissioned the Dangerous Visions anthologies specifically because he wanted edgy stories, not "safe spaces". . . .
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022

***
I can just imagine the eviscerations if today's wokesters tried their insanity on Ellison. Heh, heh, heh. . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:31 AM (c6xtn)

98 Recommending Unsafe Faith: Following God Into The unexpected by Michael Paulison.

The true story about how a hell raiser from Jersey was call to be a pastor, a Missionary in Haiti, and build an Orphanage and school.

God Send me anywhere but Haiti. You can guess the rest.

Posted by: Dread0 at January 23, 2022 09:31 AM (5qEJq)

99 Wolfus - I love P.D. James.

Posted by: grammie winger at January 23, 2022 09:31 AM (45fpk)

100
It took me a while to figure out that painting wasn't a picture of a cook's tragic experience with eggs, cheese, and red pepper.

My keen discernment module does not activate until noon.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at January 23, 2022 09:31 AM (pNxlR)

101 How about if I dream that former pr0n star Nikki Rhodes was there as your date?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:24 AM (c6xtn)

Not that I can afford to be choosy, but the tats are a turn-off.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022

***
Normally I would agree. But hers are not obviously on display all the time, she doesn't have dirty-looking tatted-up arms for instance. And she's retired from the field and is married (as far as I know) and has at least one kid. If those were temporary tattoos, I'm sure they're gone now.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:33 AM (c6xtn)

102 yeah, and I just want to add my voice to the chorus of praise for Eris and her wonderful Book Thread(s) !

now out to shovel moar snow, back in a bit !

Posted by: sock_rat_eez (9CuDT) at January 23, 2022 09:33 AM (9CuDT)

103 Depending on your character's level, that could go very well for you.
Posted by: NR Pax at January 23, 2022 09:26 AM (BPhfN)
----
In the old SSI video game "Curse of the Azure Bonds" there was a way to gain infinite XP by repeatedly clearing out a beholder lair. You just had to apply Dust of Disappearance (which you can duplicate infinitely) before you entered the lair. They can't target you with their eyebeams because you are invisible. You kill all but one, then flee the combat. It then resets and you can go back in to do it all over gain. You'll max out levels in pretty short order.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 09:34 AM (K5n5d)

104 For my 56th annual rereading of LOTR I'm trying something different. I'm listening to the Andy Serkis narration, unabridged, of the trilogy while reading the book. It is proving to be an interesting process. It slows me down to keep pace with the spoken version which makes me pay greater attention to the words. After decades of rereading, the way Serkis stresses some passages or pronounces certain words differently which can bring a new slant. And his not overly dramatic rendition is a pleasure to listen to.

I have the Gary Sinise narration of "Travels With Charley" by Steinbeck, another book I frequently go back to. I should try the listen and read approach with that one. Maybe in the fall. I always associate that book with autumn.

Posted by: JTB at January 23, 2022 09:34 AM (7EjX1)

105 I used to look at a Hugo award-winner as a recommendation; now I look at it as a book to avoid...

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at January 23, 2022 09:34 AM (PiwSw)

106 Condolence to Doof. That is terrible.

Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 09:35 AM (V13WU)

107 Here's where I say goodbye to OM.

The book thread is the highlight of my week, and I follow it throughout Sunday.

One time, I was surprised to see that OM had used one of my final comments of the previous thread for the column. Another time OM asked me in the thread to email a comment to him, and he put it in the next Book Thread.

I gleaned over the years that OM was an octogenarian, so his death to me was a cause for dismay but not shock.

Frankly, the Book Thread seems to me to be like a road race -- somebody waves the starting flag, and we're off. OM, however, gave us nuggets to feed on as we started the trip.

Farewell to OM, whom I would have loved to meet.

Let me close with a salute to Ace, who agreed to add OM to the cobs, or at least acquiesced to having him. Smart decision.

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 23, 2022 09:35 AM (Om/di)

108 Doof, so sorry for your loss.

Prayers Up!

Posted by: NALNAMSAM- not as lean, not as mean, still a Marine at January 23, 2022 09:35 AM (+ldAm)

109 Wolfus - I love P.D. James.
Posted by: grammie winger at January 23, 2022

***
It's funny. Years ago during my mystery period, age 12 onward, I'd have preferred the series detective stories. Same with Ruth Rendell (whom I recommend). Now I prefer the non-series tales.

That said, I still love Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe stories -- I reread several every year, even when I remember who the murderer is -- and those by and about Ellery Queen. EQ and John Dickson Carr deserve to be remembered well over Christie and Sayers, good as they were.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:36 AM (c6xtn)

110 Dandridge was a fine actress and singer. Halle Berry did a fine tribute to her.

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 09:36 AM (ONvIw)

111 I can just imagine the eviscerations if today's wokesters tried their insanity on Ellison. Heh, heh, heh. . . .
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:31 AM (c6xtn)
---
Ellison is one of those guys who is either your best friend or worst enemy and there is very little in-between. He and Bradbury were pretty close, as I recall, even though they fundamentally disagreed on a lot of subjects.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 09:36 AM (K5n5d)

112 I put off coming back today. Seeing that beautiful heaven-like library picture and reading Eris' tribute made me happy to be here. I'm struggling through Dante's Purgatory. Love it but I don't like it when reading fees like homework. And in between I've read "Other Rhodes" by Sarah Hoyt and one she highly recommended: "Cloud Castles" by Dave Freer. I recommend that one too. It has a science fiction background, but it's not in any way at all "geeky." Most of the characters use Australian slang and the protagonist - you'll fall in love with this underdog.

Posted by: CarolinaGirl at January 23, 2022 09:36 AM (g4xPF)

113 Every time Pixy flags me, I wonder which phrase triggered it. I hate this software.

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 23, 2022 09:36 AM (Om/di)

114 Great job on the Book Thread Eris.

I found:

THE HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
By Thucydides 431 BC
Translated by Richard Crawley

on Gutenberg. Just the thing to induce Greecey dreams of ships and sailors.

Posted by: fd at January 23, 2022 09:37 AM (vrz2I)

115
I am still immersed in James Clavell's "Shogun".

A tragic side effect of my current effort to bring order to the chaos that is our bedrooms and basement is finding many thus far unread books that disappeared as waves of entropy engulfed our living space. I now am conscious that my deficit in my "to be read" stack is at least a dozen units more than I had thought.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at January 23, 2022 09:37 AM (pNxlR)

116 44 Not much new reading this week. I did read a very long 'blog post series on science fiction fandom at J.D. Cowan's 'blog "Between Wasteland and Sky." Very revisionist and dyspeptic; he is not a Fan of Fandom. Here's the tiny URL: https://tinyurl.com/2a2k7hya
Posted by: Trimegistus at January 23, 2022 09:15 AM (QZxDR)
----

Fascinating read! I mean, he's not wrong about the undercurrent of fanaticism in a certain vocal (gnashgabby) segment of propellerhead fandom. And the need to proclaim who is and is not a TruFan!

"ONCE UPON A TIME in the village of Prosaic in the Country of Mundane there lived a youth called Jophan. Now this youth was unhappy, because in all the length and breadth of Mundane there was no other person with whom he could talk as he would like, or who shared the strange longings that from time to time perplexed his mind and which none of the pleasures offered by Mundane could wholly satisfy."

Still reading.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 23, 2022 09:37 AM (Dc2NZ)

117 Authors like Harlan Ellison (a raging asshole, but still one of the best speculative fiction writers) deliberately cultivated this idea. He commissioned the Dangerous Visions anthologies specifically because he wanted edgy stories, not "safe spaces".

After a point it didn't seem like he was writing anything new. Not that he didn't have any superb ideas but it seemed like he rested on his laurels way too prematurely. I think he grew up in Painesville, Ohio and people who knew him had very divided opinions.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at January 23, 2022 09:38 AM (y7DUB)

118 Ellison is one of those guys who is either your best friend or worst enemy and there is very little in-between. He and Bradbury were pretty close, as I recall, even though they fundamentally disagreed on a lot of subjects.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022

***
Ellison thought highly of Dan Simmons -- in fact I think Simmons first emerged in one of HE's writing classes. He also thought highly of actor/writer Robert Culp's teleplays (remember that Ellison spent quite a few years in H'wood and was probably exposed to a LOT of hacks). If Ellison thought well of someone's work, it's a clue to give the writer a try at least.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:39 AM (c6xtn)

119 Reading book by Martha Gellhorn (3rd Hemingway wife) "Travels with Myself and Another: Memoir". This is basically travel memoire. First chapter is about travel to China with Hemingway, interesting read. Part where Hemingway outdrank 14 Chinese officers is delighted. Of course, some commentators on Amazon scream racism about African part of book. I think, in today woke world, this book would not published at all

Posted by: redmonkey at January 23, 2022 09:39 AM (0+Ppk)

120 Eris, wonderful book thread and such a beautiful tribute to OMuse. Exactly what we needed. And I'm sure the Inklings are totally welcoming him into their circle.

Posted by: bluebell at January 23, 2022 09:39 AM (wyw4S)

121 I am still immersed in James Clavell's "Shogun".

==

Once you go down that path, you will be picking up the rest of Sagas...

Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 09:40 AM (V13WU)

122 Mark Twain was a helluva writer but that room exemplifies the hideouness of that time for furniture and decorations

connoisuers even refrain from calling it a period so not to give it any acceptance or credence

Posted by: REDACTED at January 23, 2022 09:41 AM (us2H3)

123 When I was a college student in NYC long ago, I spend what little money I had on the NY Times. It was a heavy paper, full of interesting parts. Movies, book reviews, etc. Took me most of the week to get through. I ignored most of the first section with all the news fit to print...I was a registered Democrat at the time, as were most of my friends. Ralleys in the village, handing out leaflets, all for crooks I believed in at the time.

Posted by: Colin at January 23, 2022 09:41 AM (X2l9z)

124 So, now to a literary question.

How much dialog should be in a story?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 09:42 AM (7bRMQ)

125 As to books --

I got the first two Mrs. Coverlet stories from the library, but I haven't started them. Still working away on JSA.

I could crack them, but I also want to read Ace. Work has kept me bound to the desk, so I often don't get to the blog until after I get home.

I'm working on a lineup of books to tackle this year, but that's subject to change. Whim is a powerful factor.

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 23, 2022 09:42 AM (Om/di)

126
Greeting virtual family and friends.I pledge never to give you up when the contact tracing police put me on the rack.

Lot's of sorrow this week. Smile through the pain.
Posted by: goatexchange

Touch my gray box again and you'll not need to be so resolute!

/jk

SloJo is a double threat in the contact tracing field. First he contacts an underage child, then he traces ...
** sounds of a door being shattered by glowies **

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at January 23, 2022 09:42 AM (pNxlR)

127 Morning Horde. Still working on reading the Bible. Doing it through an Ascension class at church. Fall back on favorites to lighten things up. Just bought Pandora's Star after several recommendations here.
Doof said he would be away from the blog for a bit today. On his way to the funeral home to make arrangements. He has 2 youngish sons and his wife was just 50. Just awful.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at January 23, 2022 09:42 AM (2NHgQ)

128 I started reading Douglas Porch's History of the French Foreign Legion a few days ago. According to him, the Legion was created in no small part because France needed a way to provide employment for refugees who otherwise would cause trouble and soak up resources. Of course, most of the refugees in the 1830s were from other European countries; I don't think the same strategy would work with the current crop of migrants to France.
Anyway, it's a good read thus far, except for the author's (or editor's) inability to break up convoluted sentences into two or more simple declarative sentences.
Eris - thanks for stepping up to the plate. OM - Godspeed. And prayers up for Doof. I can't imagine the sorrow of something like that.

Posted by: PabloD at January 23, 2022 09:42 AM (+0Dog)

129 Doof, adding my prayers for you to the others.

Weak Geek, what a beautiful tribute.

Posted by: CarolinaGirl at January 23, 2022 09:42 AM (g4xPF)

130 Prayers for you, Doof. Today is the second anniversary of my husband's death. The pain doesn't go away but gets a bit easier to bear.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 09:42 AM (YynYJ)

131 Started Imperial Sunset: The Fall of Napoleon 1813-1815nto fill in some holes in my historical knowledge. Still reading The Charterhouse of Parma but if they don't get Fabrizio out of prison pretty soon I may throw in the towel. Dos Passos continues to be interesting even id he is a commie.

RIP Oregon Muse.

Posted by: who knew at January 23, 2022 09:43 AM (4I7VG)

132 Speaking of OregonMuse, may be on next book tread, list of his favorite books will be posted and we will pickup one of his favorite book to read to honor him

Posted by: redmonkey at January 23, 2022 09:43 AM (0+Ppk)

133 And this was on Facebook:

https://lostartpress.com/collections/books

Great collection of woodworking books

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 09:43 AM (YynYJ)

134 Morning book threaders.

I have a friend who is a new author. His first book is pretty good. It's available for free in the Kindle Unlimited

https://tinyurl.com/r8fhu43r

It's a kind of Robinson Crusoe in space story.

Posted by: blaster at January 23, 2022 09:43 AM (9otr5)

135 Collector? I'm a book accumulator.

And is Who Dis Dorothy Dandridge?

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 23, 2022 09:44 AM (Om/di)

136 OMG, I'm a loiter-sack!
Wonderful post Eris. You do our mentor proud.
Now to read everyone's comments. The one thread wheeee this is absolutely necessary.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at January 23, 2022 09:44 AM (Y+l9t)

137
Authors like Harlan Ellison (a raging asshole, but still one of the best speculative fiction writers) deliberately cultivated this idea. He commissioned the Dangerous Visions anthologies specifically because he wanted edgy stories, not "safe spaces". . . .
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel

"Dangerous Visions" was on the restricted reading list at the library if my junior high school at the time it was published. I do not recall what the restrictions were, but I was able to check it out and read it.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at January 23, 2022 09:44 AM (pNxlR)

138 103 They can't target you with their eyebeams because you are invisible. You kill all but one, then flee the combat. It then resets and you can go back in to do it all over gain. You'll max out levels in pretty short order.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 09:34 AM (K5n5d)

That is some good thinking. You can pretty much stomp on everything else once you're maxed out.

Posted by: NR Pax at January 23, 2022 09:45 AM (WD1fh)

139 So, now to a literary question.

How much dialog should be in a story?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 09:42 AM (7bRMQ)

As much as there needs to be, I suppose.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022 09:45 AM (2JVJo)

140 AHE,
Love that top photo. And the virtual tour of Twain's home was wonderful. The quality of the workmanship in that house is astonishing. It would take me hours to go through there in person while noting the wood used and how the materials were worked.

Posted by: JTB at January 23, 2022 09:45 AM (7EjX1)

141 Not much new reading this week. I did read a very long 'blog post series on science fiction fandom at J.D. Cowan's 'blog "Between Wasteland and Sky." Very revisionist and dyspeptic; he is not a Fan of Fandom. Here's the tiny URL: https://tinyurl.com/2a2k7hya
Posted by: Trimegistus at January 23, 2022 09:15 AM (QZxDR)
---
I think there is always going to be some sort of tension between the fandom and the creator/owner of an IP. Remember that Sherlock Holmes definitely died at one point. Then the fans screamed at Doyle to bring him back, which he did reluctantly. Now Sherlock Holmes is basically a license to print money.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 09:45 AM (K5n5d)

142 Oh good heavens, just saw the comment about Doof's wife. I'm heartbroken for him and his children.

Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord, and let Perpetual Light shine upon her. May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

Posted by: bluebell at January 23, 2022 09:46 AM (wyw4S)

143 Bonjour mes amis. You don't need to respond, as I am monitoring everyone's keystrokes so no worries.

Posted by: Chris Wray, America's Patriot Act Watchdog at January 23, 2022 09:46 AM (XvJfv)

144 heh, stink eye pants.

Well done, Eris!

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022 09:46 AM (5pTK/)

145 Now Sherlock Holmes is basically a license to print money.

And virtually all Holmes pastiches are junk, with June Thomson's being less than most.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022 09:47 AM (2JVJo)

146 Prayers offered for Doof and family. That's shocking.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022 09:47 AM (5pTK/)

147 That is some good thinking. You can pretty much stomp on everything else once you're maxed out.
Posted by: NR Pax at January 23, 2022 09:45 AM (WD1fh)
---
The rules in that game (1st Ed. D&D) let you dual-class, so at one point I had 10th-level Rangers/11th level Magic-users (everyone was a Mage/some other class) so I was throwing around fireballs and ice storms like candy. It was great!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 09:48 AM (K5n5d)

148
Once you go down that path, you will be picking up the rest of Sagas...
Posted by: runner

I already have "Tai-Pan" in hardcover at our summer place, so it is next on that list.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at January 23, 2022 09:48 AM (pNxlR)

149 Now Sherlock Holmes is basically a license to print money.

And virtually all Holmes pastiches are junk, with June Thomson's being less than most.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022 09:47 AM (2JVJo)
---
I'll be the first to admit that not all adaptations are good. But people will buy it...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 09:48 AM (K5n5d)

150 Posted by: JTB at January 23, 2022 09:45 AM (7EjX1)

I loved the Train House too

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 09:49 AM (ONvIw)

151 Twain not train, stupid phone

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 09:50 AM (ONvIw)

152 o, now to a literary question.

How much dialog should be in a story?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022

***
Nowadays the prevailing idea is that dialog should be well over half the story, maybe as much as 60%. See Gregory Macdonald's "Fletch" series. I love being told stuff as well as shown; see Michael Crichton's great mini-lectures. But even I admit that if I don't see some dialog by page 2 of a new book, I may not buy it or continue with it for long unless it really improves.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:51 AM (c6xtn)

153 by the way, A.H Lloyd, if you're about, I finished Beevor's "Stalingrad."

It was a readable mess that was badly referenced with little attention paid to properly sourcing anything.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022 09:51 AM (5pTK/)

154 If translator is not on the same intellectual level as the author , that is what you get.
=====

My theory is that the initial translator of Umberto Eco's fiction was a literary equal, at the least.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 23, 2022 09:52 AM (MIKMs)

155 Still reading The Charterhouse of Parma but if they don't get Fabrizio out of prison pretty soon I may throw in the towel.

I hated that book. Anything in it that was supposed to be humorous irritated me. I know it's considered a classic, and maybe I had a crummy translation, but it's appeal was lost on me. Maybe The Red and the Black would be something I'd like but I have no desire to find out

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at January 23, 2022 09:52 AM (y7DUB)

156 Now Sherlock Holmes is basically a license to print money.

And virtually all Holmes pastiches are junk, with June Thomson's being less than most.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022

***
Loren D. Estleman's are good. He started doing them long before SH was in the public domain.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:52 AM (c6xtn)

157 If it hasn't been mentioned, todays library picture is of Admont Abbey in Austria

https://tinyurl.com/2p8wyytm

Posted by: Huck Follywood at January 23, 2022 09:52 AM (XvJfv)

158 I lean towards less dialogue. Too much and it looks like you are reading a screenplay.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 09:52 AM (YynYJ)

159 Great thread, Eris! You make us proud!

I don't read for improvement, I read only for escape. I've run out of authors, so I'm reading Elizabeth Berg's books again. What a delicious pleasure it is to read them.

Posted by: Ladyl a toast in loving memory of OM and the others who have gone to glory at January 23, 2022 09:53 AM (+4oV5)

160 Yeah wow 2022 is not letting up one bit.

My pastor just announced his cancer diagnosis.

Posted by: blaster at January 23, 2022 09:55 AM (9otr5)

161 I finished "The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek" by Kim Michele Richardson in one sitting (or lying).

It is compulsively readable but it just felt like cookie-cutter Oprah's Book Club fodder to me (it even has a study guide in the back, a sure warning). I liked it but didn't respect it.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 23, 2022 09:55 AM (Dc2NZ)

162 158 I lean towards less dialogue. Too much and it looks like you are reading a screenplay.
Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 09:52 AM (YynYJ)

I'm the opposite. I get frustrated by too many descriptors, and the author explaining to me what I've read.

Also--if a character "chuckles," I'm out.

Posted by: Ladyl a toast in loving memory of OM and the others who have gone to glory at January 23, 2022 09:55 AM (+4oV5)

163 Hello, everyone! Thank you, Eris! This is much needed and while we miss OM terribly, a visit to the Dungeon of Discord is oddly comforting.

I said this on the dedicated thread, but I feel it needs repeating here: no single person has done more to help me as an author as OM. His promotion of Moron books is a true difference-maker.

This thread - his thread - was instrumental to writing and publishing Long Live Death and it would not have been a best-seller without his help and support. Period.

If Something Something China ever gets finished, I will dedicate it to his memory, and I ask that all Moron authors consider putting a dedication to him in future works to further bolster his legacy. How cool would that be for his wife to get a book and see an inscription to him?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 09:55 AM (llXky)

164 That list of reasons to hoard books is a good start and made me smile because they are so true. The current cultural trend to minimize possessions (at least the ones the writer doesn't care about) is BS. Relying on 'The Cloud' and other ephemeral resources is stupid and short sighted at best and could be dangerous.

I won't clutter my home with TVs in every room or dedicate space to a surround sound movie experience. But books and shelves to hold them are good for the soul and the body. (Think of all the exercise you get moving the books around trying to find a specific volume.

If I carried a shield for protection, the emblem on it would be a case full of books. They would be protection on so many levels.

Posted by: JTB at January 23, 2022 09:55 AM (7EjX1)

165 How much dialog should be in a story?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 09:42 AM (7bRMQ)
---
That sounds like a loaded question...I think it really depends on a lot of factors. Some writers are good with snappy, informative dialogue. Some are much better at descriptive writing, so their stories are light on dialogue and character development.

I also think the taste of the reader factors into "how much is enough."

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 09:56 AM (K5n5d)

166 As much as there needs to be, I suppose.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022 09:45 AM (2JVJo)

How much do you use?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 09:56 AM (7bRMQ)

167 On Julie Kelly January 6
January 6 2017 areas of capital were not barricaded off as was done on January 6 2020
By end of day the Insurrection lable was being used by everyone, media and politicians
Julie goes through a number of people who attended the rally and found themselves along with a crowd entering the capital, mostly all like tourists and leaving only to be arrested, jailed for months until confession and sentencing.
Officer Brian Sicknick was almost immediately after dying the next day as a hero murdered by the "insurrectionists" with the story changing how that happened, ultimately ending in a Capital building funeral but it was all a lie, he died of nature cause.
The Capital Police are a big driver of the Jan 6 lie as well as the FBI.
She covers some how they are being treated in the DC political jail and asks will they be given a fair trial in the DC area for the almost everyone drummed up charges for what are misdemeanors?
By November 650 rally goers have been charged,� 120 have accepted plea bargains
They are still rounding up rally goers

Posted by: Skip at January 23, 2022 09:56 AM (2JoB8)

168 I am currently reading something OM featured in one of his last book threads: Yankee Republic Omnibus, by Fenton Wood. It is a strange mashup of adventure, science, alt-history, and mythology. Weird but fun.

Really miss you, OM. RIP.

Posted by: DIY Daddio at January 23, 2022 09:56 AM (RJscS)

169 I have very few attachments in the virtual world, my imaginary friends behind the screen. The Sunday Morning Book Thread is different, though. I was constantly sending snippets of the content to my family, especially to my oldest daughter, an unabashed book maniac. We loved the clever pictures Oregon Muse posted, and the comments were, and are always a delight. I don't know much, or really anything about his personal life, but I hope he was loved real time.
One of the highlights of my time was when OM excerpted a review I had posted the previous week. I showed it to everyone around me. I know the blog is in great hands, but OM will be missed around these parts.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at January 23, 2022 09:56 AM (7Fj9P)

170 OM will be missed, that is for sure.

I just started on "Termination Shock", Neal Stephenson's latest.

Sadly, it appears that like H.G. Wells many years ago, he's "sold his birthright for a pot of message". Global warming hysteria starts on the first page.

I will report maybe next week if it gets better (like most Stephenson books, it's a doorstop), but what I've seen so far isn't encouraging.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 23, 2022 09:57 AM (bW8dp)

171 I'm the opposite. I get frustrated by too many descriptors, and the author explaining to me what I've read.

Also--if a character "chuckles," I'm out.
Posted by: Ladyl a toast in loving memory of OM and the others who have gone to glory at January 23, 2022

***
Those are known as "said-isms," and the clue is that the verb is impossible to perform while actually speaking. "Ellery laughed, 'You old fraud!'" Ever try speaking while actually laughing? Or chuckling? You can have a tag, "Ellery laughed. 'You old fraud!'" But its a tag, not an actual alternative to "said."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 09:58 AM (c6xtn)

172
Maybe The Red and the Black would be something I'd like but I have no desire to find out
Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt

To call "The Red and The Black" tedious is to slander the word "tedious". I recall starting to listen to it as an audio book, but I never caught its appeal and pursued something else, anything else.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at January 23, 2022 09:59 AM (pNxlR)

173 by the way, A.H Lloyd, if you're about, I finished Beevor's "Stalingrad."

It was a readable mess that was badly referenced with little attention paid to properly sourcing anything.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022 09:51 AM (5pTK/)
---
I'm here! Did the early Mass, had to shovel some snow and just finished my coffee. You know, it tastes a LOT better with some Bailey's in it. I used to do that every Friday when I worked in the Legislature.

(Yes, kids, actual civil service employees aren't supposed to drink on the job, but legislative employees are exempt. We had a liquor cabinet in the office and Friday morning we drank spiked coffee.)

Back to Beevor: I didn't finish his book on Spain because I didn't like getting that angry and I knew it would tell me nothing new.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 09:59 AM (llXky)

174 As much as there needs to be, I suppose.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022 09:45 AM (2JVJo)

How much do you use?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 09:56 AM (7bRMQ)

I've never counted. I do a lot of description in my first drafts; I call it 'set decoration,' to really establish time and place, then I cut it down during subsequent edits. Guessing, I'd say my books are about 60% dialogue.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022 09:59 AM (2JVJo)

175 Good morning! I usually miss the book thread, but wanted to stop by and thank All Hail Eris for stepping up. Big shoes to fill, but we know you can do it!

OM is missed, will be missed - what a loss!

Posted by: Lizzy at January 23, 2022 09:59 AM (URNdm)

176 Good lord, another tragedy. Prayers for the horde, and especially Doof and his family.

Reading Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice, a two-fer. Very different books, obviously, but similar time periods.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at January 23, 2022 09:59 AM (XvJfv)

177 Also--if a character "chuckles," I'm out.

Posted by: Ladyl a toast in loving memory of OM and the others who have gone to glory at January 23, 2022 09:55 AM (+4oV5)

Aw, crap!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 09:59 AM (7bRMQ)

178 I lean towards less dialogue. Too much and it looks like you are reading a screenplay.
Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 09:52 AM (YynYJ)

For me it comes down to how adept the writer is at creating distinctive voices. If you're overly confused by who's saying what that's not good.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at January 23, 2022 09:59 AM (y7DUB)

179 > Very different books, obviously, but similar time periods.

Pride and Prejudice at least has some admirable characters.

Wuthering Heights is one of those books where I want to punch every main character in the face. See also: The Great Gatsby.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 23, 2022 10:00 AM (bW8dp)

180 may be on next book tread, list of his favorite books will be posted and we will pickup one of his favorite book to read to honor him

This is a great idea.

As for how much dialog? That's up to the story and the author. Some authors handle it really well. Others not so much. Some stories work better with plenty of dialog, others are best without so much.

For example, almost all plays are just dialog, with maybe some mute scenes of pantomime or combat or something like that. The setting and style makes it work. On the other hand I've read a Max Brand story or two with NO dialog, just descriptions of country, activity, etc (usually about an animal).

Some authors have a real gift for dialog and make it fresh and interesting every time, like the aforementioned Estleman or Elmore Leonard. Robert B Parker had interesting dialog in his books. If you can pull that off, then that's great. It really comes down to how well you can do it and what the story requires.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:00 AM (KZzsI)

181 January 6 is my 4th book on the election, each making me madder than the last.

Posted by: Skip at January 23, 2022 10:01 AM (2JoB8)

182 My goal for 2021 was to finish all the Tom Clancy novels. Finishing up the last 3 still into 2022 but i can say without a doubt that the chinese and leftist assholes in the swamp have read them more as a playbook instead of just fiction.

Posted by: Eli Cash at January 23, 2022 10:01 AM (F3aXn)

183 I finished The Fall of Hyperion and was.....disappointed. Yes, he closes the story lines but in a very unsatisfactory way. He closes both the first and second book with a reference to the Wizard of Oz, not even the book, but the movie, which adds nothing and makes his ending even more silly.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at January 23, 2022 10:01 AM (Y+l9t)

184
How much dialog should be in a story?
Posted by: OrangeEnt

From the perspective of "The Dialogues of Plato", a lot.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at January 23, 2022 10:02 AM (pNxlR)

185 Does it count as dialog when the protagonist is also the narrator.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, resolved to lurking at January 23, 2022 10:03 AM (eGTCV)

186 Back to Beevor: I didn't finish his book on Spain because I didn't like getting that angry and I knew it would tell me nothing new.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 09:59 AM (llXky)
-----------

Heh.

I'm sort of surprised I've not been taken to task on Goodreads. I've thoroughly ripped books that are highly rated. "Stalingrad" being one of them.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022 10:03 AM (5pTK/)

187 I tend to like wordy, Omnicient Overlord narration like in 18th Century writing, but I'm weird.

And yet Elmore Leonard can use dialog to paint such an accurate portrait of a character that they need no description.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 23, 2022 10:03 AM (Dc2NZ)

188 I lean towards less dialogue. Too much and it looks like you are reading a screenplay.
Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 09:52 AM (YynYJ)

For me it comes down to how adept the writer is at creating distinctive voices. If you're overly confused by who's saying what that's not good.
Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at January 23, 2022

***
To see how that is done, read Gregory Macdonald's "Fletch" novels, at least the first 2. If the dialog in question is done right, with tags and bits of action to let you know who is speaking and what the people are doing, it works very well. Macdonald knew this.

Modern readers want to know there are people in the story. The old pup writers used to put a line of dialog right in the first line. See some of Heinlein's early work.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:03 AM (c6xtn)

189 I lean towards less dialogue. Too much and it looks like you are reading a screenplay.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 09:52 AM (YynYJ)
---
I guess the question is how you convey the information? What is the reader's point of view?

I found reading Waugh a revelation because he uses dialogue to naturally impart information and does so very efficiently. He has almost no internal monologues or lengthy narration. When he does, it's focused and again builds on the theme - so Charles Ryder's somewhat florid language indicates that he's a secular introvert but one of deep feeling.

That in turn makes his conversion less surprising.

I think each novel I've done has gotten more focused and efficient, by which I mean less narration and more dialogue-imparted information.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:04 AM (llXky)

190 I see Holmes mentioned. If you are a Sherlock aficionado and happen to be in Manhattan, there is an enormous Homes collection being exhibited you might enjoy.

https://tinyurl.com/yte92evc

Posted by: Huck Follywood at January 23, 2022 10:05 AM (XvJfv)

191 I'm sort of surprised I've not been taken to task on Goodreads. I've thoroughly ripped books that are highly rated. "Stalingrad" being one of them.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022 10:03 AM (5pTK/)
---
On Amazon, my one-star review of his Spanish Civil War book is the "most helpful" review. LOL.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:05 AM (llXky)

192 speaking of pants where the stinkeye looks back at you....

https://tinyurl.com/4uvhjbwb

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 23, 2022 10:05 AM (evAgx)

193 And yet Elmore Leonard can use dialog to paint such an accurate portrait of a character that they need no description.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at January 23, 2022

***
At his best, yes. But some of his works like Get Shorty reproduce the way the street people and criminals talk so closely that I'm sometimes left clueless as to what they mean. Those books work better as movies, I guess.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:05 AM (c6xtn)

194 Thanks for your input Wolfus, Notsothorough, Perfessor, and MPPP.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 10:05 AM (7bRMQ)

195 Prayers for you, Doof. Today is the second anniversary of my husband's death. The pain doesn't go away but gets a bit easier to bear.
Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 09:42 AM (YynYJ)
===
May his memory be a blessing.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 23, 2022 10:06 AM (EZebt)

196
Wuthering Heights is one of those books where I want to punch every main character in the face.

"The Punch List", in which are listed works that satisfy this requirement, would be interesting. Add "The Catcher in the Rye" to it.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at January 23, 2022 10:06 AM (pNxlR)

197 I see Holmes mentioned. If you are a Sherlock aficionado and happen to be in Manhattan, there is an enormous Homes collection being exhibited you might enjoy.

I love Holmes, but not enough to spend any time in the land of face diapers and ID papers.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022 10:06 AM (2JVJo)

198 The Red and the Black by Stendhal is fantastic. Well worth the read.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at January 23, 2022 10:07 AM (sjMEO)

199 I am currently reading John Maddox Roberts' SPQR series, book 8 (The River God's Vengeance). I've read them all before, but now I am going through in order as I buy them.

I'm also reading the Levon Cade series, having picked up the first 6 on Kindle for a low price. They're like a more realistic, less omnipotent Jack Reacher series, but with a tween daughter he's trying to protect and home school at the same time as they travel to avoid attention and capture.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:07 AM (KZzsI)

200 Dear God,
Our prayers are starting for Doof. I lost my dad with no warning or reason to suspect anything. This will be a terrible time for Doof and his family.

Posted by: JTB at January 23, 2022 10:08 AM (7EjX1)

201 I'm listening to Lilith by George MacDonald on Audible. The narrator has pretty much a standard American accent, which takes something away from the reading IMHO.
I first read the book in university, where it helped restore my faith.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, resolved to lurking at January 23, 2022 10:08 AM (eGTCV)

202 > "The Punch List", in which are listed works that satisfy this requirement, would be interesting. Add "The Catcher in the Rye" to it.

The Catcher in the Rye, definitely, other than the little sister. She seemed okay.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 23, 2022 10:08 AM (bW8dp)

203
For me it comes down to how adept the writer is at creating distinctive voices. If you're overly confused by who's saying what that's not good.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at January 23, 2022 09:59 AM (y7DUB)

So you prefer seeing character dialog with each person getting a separate line instead of two people talking in a paragraph?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 10:08 AM (7bRMQ)

204 oes it count as dialog when the protagonist is also the narrator.
Posted by: N.L. Urker, resolved to lurking at January 23, 2022

***
I don't think so. Dialog is supposed to be direct quoting of people speaking. But if the narrator takes the tack that he is writing the book you are reading and speaking directly to you, the reader (Rex Stout's Archie Goodwin does this on occasion), then it's a *kind* of dialog between writer-character and reader.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:09 AM (c6xtn)

205 I've been reviewing "The Karamazov Brothers," which I last read twenty years gone. It's the greatest Christian fiction I know, not least because it insists that faith is difficult, not easy, in a world of sin and pain.

The novel's message in a nutshell: Atheism is parricide.

Posted by: Brett at January 23, 2022 10:09 AM (n7ykD)

206 Good Morning. Well done, Eris.

Posted by: Count de Monet, Loiter-Sack Muck-Spout at January 23, 2022 10:10 AM (4I/2K)

207 > I am currently reading John Maddox Roberts' SPQR series, book 8 (The River God's Vengeance). I've read them all before, but now I am going through in order as I buy them.

I also reread those recently. They're quite good. It's interesting to contrast those with Steven Saylor's Gordianus the Finder books.

For one, Decius is a lot more thuggish than Gordianus is, which makes him a more believable character for the era, IMO.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 23, 2022 10:10 AM (bW8dp)

208 I also picked up Place of the Lion by Charles Williams on kindle. He's one of the very lesser known Inklings, a favorite author of CS Lewis. I'd never heard of him or read anything but he's highly recommended in the past.

Its a series of short stories which seem to have a theme or moral but I read the first and cannot figure out what the heck he's on about. We'll see as I go on with the book, but sometimes writers can be too obscure or academic for me.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:10 AM (KZzsI)

209
So you prefer seeing character dialog with each person getting a separate line instead of two people talking in a paragraph?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022

***
Unquestionably. It's easier to read and follow. The multiple people speaking in one paragraph can be done for effect, usually comic, or to show a group of people babbling during a crisis (which can also be comic, or terrifying).

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:10 AM (c6xtn)

210
On Amazon, my one-star review of his Spanish Civil War book is the "most helpful" review. LOL.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

One-star reviews are my go-to checkpoints when purchased on-line, anything on-line. Someone who found flaws in an offering and was dedicated enough to enumerate those flaws is worth far more than dozens of sycophantic or "gee, I love to hear myself talk" five-star reviews.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at January 23, 2022 10:10 AM (pNxlR)

211 Wuthering Heights is one of those books where I want to punch every main character in the face.

"The Punch List", in which are listed works that satisfy this requirement, would be interesting. Add "The Catcher in the Rye" to it.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at January 23, 2022 10:06 AM (pNxlR)
---
Just about every Michael Crichton book will be featured. Almost all his characters are low-charisma jerks.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:11 AM (llXky)

212 I lean towards less dialogue. Too much and it looks like you are reading a screenplay.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 09:52 AM (YynYJ

This is my view as well. I guess I prefer more introspective books with the "internal monologues" of the first person narrations. I like to know why someone chose to act the way they did. I also like to be able to "see" the settings. A screenplay will be fleshed out in the dramatization, a book needs a setting, at least for me.

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 10:11 AM (ONvIw)

213 Does it count as dialog when the protagonist is also the narrator.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, resolved to lurking at January 23, 2022 10:03 AM (eGTCV)

I've wondered that. Should an person talking to himself be presented as dialog or just in a paragraph?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 10:11 AM (7bRMQ)

214 One of my guilty pleasures is reading "Islands In The Stream", a not particularly highly regarded Hemingway book, published posthumously, but one I find very readable and enjoyable. I just put it on my night table and it is next up on my list. I haven't read it in several years, so it will probably feel new all over again. Chasing Nazis seems like a timely subject.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at January 23, 2022 10:11 AM (XvJfv)

215 Rescuing Science Fiction from the Horde of Woke Zombie

***

I think sci fi was the first writer/publishing community to go woke.
Romance the last , I think

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 23, 2022 10:11 AM (lCui1)

216 OK, folks, I am off to make another cup of tea and then settle down to read for the rest of the day.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022 10:12 AM (2JVJo)

217 "It actually is racist, white supremacy, misogynistic, homophobic, and hilarious."

Flashman is great historical fiction, and hugely entertaining.

The author, George McDonald Fraser, is a Scot who served in the Burma campaign in WWII. Read enough and you'll see he's actually a critic of upper-class British mores. He loved Americans, especially the WWII kind, for our being free of British bullshit. This especially comes out in his novel Mr. American.

Posted by: Ignoramus at January 23, 2022 10:12 AM (i0slg)

218 192 speaking of pants where the stinkeye looks back at you....

https://tinyurl.com/4uvhjbwb
Posted by: Tom Servo at January 23, 2022 10:05 AM (evAgx)
---

Don't look, Marion!

Posted by: Indiana's Jones at January 23, 2022 10:12 AM (Dc2NZ)

219 By the way, A.H. Lloyd, I followed up "Stalingrad" with "The King of Vodka."

Very readable, and, even better, well sourced, and, the author also lets the reader know when she is going with best available evidence.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022 10:13 AM (5pTK/)

220 So you prefer seeing character dialog with each person getting a separate line instead of two people talking in a paragraph?

I do, very much so. Its important to make sure the reader can clearly delineate between the speakers in the conversation, and breaking them up helps a lot. If you're good enough you can get away with not having tags or "said" bits for several line (Robert Parker did this a lot), because the voice of each character is so distinct and the flow of conversation so clear and comfortable that readers can just move along. But you have to every so often reiterate who is speaking so that people don't get lost.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:13 AM (KZzsI)

221 I think sci fi was the first writer/publishing community to go woke.
Romance the last , I think
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 23, 2022 10:11 AM (lCui1)
---
Huh. I wonder why romance is the last genre to succumb...(assuming that's the case--these days I go with the expectation that EVERY genre has been compromised by the woke mob).

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 10:13 AM (K5n5d)

222 Should an person talking to himself be presented as dialog or just in a paragraph?

Personally, I show it in italics:

"Sir," I began.
"What?"
Easy, boy. Take it slow. "Sir, I - I had hoped - "

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022 10:14 AM (2JVJo)

223 One-star reviews are my go-to checkpoints when purchased on-line, anything on-line. Someone who found flaws in an offering and was dedicated enough to enumerate those flaws is worth far more than dozens of sycophantic or "gee, I love to hear myself talk" five-star reviews.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at January 23, 2022 10:10 AM (pNxlR)
---
Same. I see something is at 4.5 stars but has one-star reviews and I wonder why.

Saw a nominally Catholic book on spiritual warfare and one of the one-stars pointed out that while the book has some endorsements by clergy, it does not have the Nihil Obstat certification and that the author makes some shaky theological claims.

I may still check it out, but I will treat it as fan fiction/self-help rather than authoritative.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:14 AM (llXky)

224 If I carried a shield for protection, the emblem on it would be a case full of books. They would be protection on so many levels.
=====

As always, in the bleak winter of the Midwest, stacks o'books are an efficient insulation. Accumulate over the nice weather, use over the harsh winters like any other energy source.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 23, 2022 10:14 AM (MIKMs)

225 I've wondered that. Should an person talking to himself be presented as dialog or just in a paragraph?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022

***
Literally talking out loud to himself? Dialog in quotes. If it's an internal monologue, thoughts, the current fashion is to cast that into italics rather than let the thought text stand by itself like narration, or to put quotes around it. But I've seen it done all 3 ways.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:14 AM (c6xtn)

226 For one, Decius is a lot more thuggish than Gordianus is, which makes him a more believable character for the era, IMO.

Between the two, SPQR feels more like actually being in Rome rather than a historian talking about Rome. Roberts is great at setting a scene and pulling you into a world, he wrote several Conan books as well by the way. Very good ones.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:14 AM (KZzsI)

227 Huh. I wonder why romance is the last genre to succumb...(assuming that's the case--these days I go with the expectation that EVERY genre has been compromised by the woke mob).
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 10:13 AM (K5n5d)

Protection by the Fabio-Industrial Complex. Totally a thing.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at January 23, 2022 10:15 AM (PiwSw)

228 Romance the last , I think
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 23, 2022 10:11 AM (lCui1)
------------

I'm surprised Romance went woke later than anyone else. You'd think changing the guy who rips the bodice from white to a POC would be easy.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022 10:15 AM (5pTK/)

229 I lean towards less dialogue. Too much and it looks like you are reading a screenplay.
Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 09:52 AM (YynYJ)

==

I got paid by line, madame.

Posted by: A. Dumas at January 23, 2022 10:15 AM (V13WU)

230 223: I'm definitely enjoying the Scupoli book. His viewpoint is a necessary one.

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 10:15 AM (ONvIw)

231 Should an person talking to himself be presented as dialog or just in a paragraph?

Personally, I show it in italics:

"Sir," I began.
"What?"
Easy, boy. Take it slow. "Sir, I - I had hoped - "
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022

***
So do I. If the thought is immediately followed by an actual bit of dialog, as above, then that is the best way to do it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:15 AM (c6xtn)

232 I think Sci-fi went woke early because it was about pushing boundaries.

Posted by: blaster at January 23, 2022 10:16 AM (9otr5)

233 Personally, I show it in italics:

Same. The key is to be clear and consistent, whatever method you choose. Make it obvious what is happening and do it the same every time.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:16 AM (KZzsI)

234 Yellow.

Posted by: klaftern at January 23, 2022 10:17 AM (taPSh)

235 Posted by: Ignoramus at January 23, 2022 10:12 AM (i0slg)
================
I love reading Flashman, and also loved reading Fraser's memoire of his Army years.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at January 23, 2022 10:17 AM (XvJfv)

236 ne of my guilty pleasures is reading "Islands In The Stream", a not particularly highly regarded Hemingway book, published posthumously, but one I find very readable and enjoyable. I just put it on my night table and it is next up on my list. I haven't read it in several years, so it will probably feel new all over again. Chasing Nazis seems like a timely subject.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at January 23, 2022

***
Is that what it's about?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:17 AM (c6xtn)

237 234 Yellow.
Posted by: klaftern at January 23, 2022 10:17 AM (taPSh)[/]

Hmmm. Curious.

Posted by: blaster at January 23, 2022 10:17 AM (9otr5)

238 234 Yellow.

Green

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:18 AM (KZzsI)

239 I think Sci-fi went woke early because it was about pushing boundaries.
Posted by: blaster at January 23, 2022 10:16 AM (9otr5)

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

I'm surprised it was even necessary for Sci Fi go go woke. Didn't some highly regarded female author, who turned out to be a horrible person, do the lesbian world building a few decades ago?

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022 10:18 AM (5pTK/)

240 I enjoyed the Flashman books tremendously the first time through, but on re-reading he's such a cad, coward, and awful person that its difficult for me to really enjoy them, now. Its possible that the rich history and characterizations were fresh and let me get past Flashy's reprehensible persona the first go through.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:19 AM (KZzsI)

241 *still perusing The Last Fanatic article*

Surely I'm not the only one who'd love to read "Gun Witch of Hoodoo Range"...?

Posted by: Indiana's Jones at January 23, 2022 10:19 AM (Dc2NZ)

242 It's because Romance goes to the heart of attraction and relationships. People may read through wokeness for a sci fi book. But if you aren't attracted to trannies, you won't want to read about a romance with one.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 10:19 AM (YynYJ)

243 > speaking of pants where the stinkeye looks back at you....

Anything is better than the infamous Hillary Clinton "vaginal landing beacon" pants.

https://tinyurl.com/hillvag

If you click, don't blame me. You knew it was going to be bad, and you clicked voluntarily.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 23, 2022 10:20 AM (bW8dp)

244 "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge", starring the aforementioned, ex-Mrs. Justice, Halle Berry.

Posted by: SFGoth at January 23, 2022 10:20 AM (KAi1n)

245 This is my view as well. I guess I prefer more introspective books with the "internal monologues" of the first person narrations. I like to know why someone chose to act the way they did. I also like to be able to "see" the settings. A screenplay will be fleshed out in the dramatization, a book needs a setting, at least for me.

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 10:11 AM (ONvIw)
---
In a third-person book, however, you see what you see. That means you may not truly *know* why a character does something, you can only go on what they say and do.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:20 AM (llXky)

246 If you're good enough you can get away with not having tags or "said" bits for several line (Robert Parker did this a lot), because the voice of each character is so distinct and the flow of conversation so clear and comfortable that readers can just move along. But you have to every so often reiterate who is speaking so that people don't get lost.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022

***
It's not too difficult to do without the tags for a space if you have only 2 characters talking. It gets harder with 3, though you can have one of the 3 address one of the others, e.g., "Spenser, you're a lot of trouble." This way the reader knows that Spenser is not speaking since he is not addressing himself.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:21 AM (c6xtn)

247 Off, pulpy sock!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at January 23, 2022 10:21 AM (Dc2NZ)

248 Not much new reading this week. I did read a very long 'blog post series on science fiction fandom at J.D. Cowan's 'blog "Between Wasteland and Sky." Very revisionist and dyspeptic; he is not a Fan of Fandom. Here's the tiny URL: https://tinyurl.com/2a2k7hya

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 23, 2022 09:15 AM

He sure likes the sound of his own voice. I've read about 2000 words of it and I'm still trying to figure out his point. I guess I am not a fan of his style of writing.

Posted by: Cybersmythe - SE Texas MiniMoMe March 26 at January 23, 2022 10:21 AM (ezpv1)

249 If you are feed up with the politically correct, theses are the stories for you. It actually is racist, white supremacy, misogynistic, homophobic, and hilarious. The memories of a coward, scoundrel, and cad; going thru the British Empire from the 1840's on. Who keeps falling in a pile of shit, and comes out smelling like a rose. Sort of a pallet cleanser for the society of today.

Posted by: Paladin at January 23, 2022 09:27 AM (co1u6)
---
Evelyn Waugh's Black Mischief is a must-read for you.

Over the top withering satire on African politics. Idi Amin reportedly kept a copy on his beside table.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:21 AM (llXky)

250
At his best, yes. But some of his works like Get Shorty reproduce the way the street people and criminals talk so closely that I'm sometimes left clueless as to what they mean. Those books work better as movies, I guess.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius

What I found off putting in "Get Shorty", the book, was that it delved into what actually was the content in the script for "Mister Lovejoy". What was revealed belied the idea that it was a boffo, and "can't miss as a movie" piece of work. In the movie, details shared with the viewer about it were few, and thus it retained an aura of being so great that it just had to be filmed without diverting our attention from the main story.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at January 23, 2022 10:21 AM (pNxlR)

251 243 If you click, don't blame me. You knew it was going to be bad, and you clicked voluntarily.

Of course. But at least she's not wearing those now.

Posted by: NR Pax at January 23, 2022 10:21 AM (2Jt7Z)

252 First time since the madness started that I did not see a single person at Walmart with a mask on.

Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at January 23, 2022 10:22 AM (bVYXr)

253 (meant to say that the one I posted is from an even more traumatic angle than Tom Servo's).

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 23, 2022 10:22 AM (bW8dp)

254 andycanuck reached for the half-empty bottle of Valu-Rite then hesitated briefly. "Should I?" he thought. "Screw it; it's 10:22 p.m. someplace in the world."

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at January 23, 2022 10:22 AM (UHVv4)

255 I'm surprised it was even necessary for Sci Fi go go woke. Didn't some highly regarded female author, who turned out to be a horrible person, do the lesbian world building a few decades ago?
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022

***
Marion Zimmer Bradley, I heard. I've never read any of her stuff.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:22 AM (c6xtn)

256 I believe I hear once upon a time that Alexander Dumas was said to employ assistants to whom he would give his ideas and they would churn out early chapter drafts, which he then could rewrite and weave into a finished (and unmistakably his own work) story.

If you get paid by the word, what a method! Thank goodness Dickens never heard of this, or Bleak House might have gone on for another thousand pages.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at January 23, 2022 10:22 AM (XvJfv)

257 hiya

Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 10:22 AM (arJlL)

258 Romances are also fantasy for women, like the he-man ass kicking hero books men like, romance gives women a fake world where all their dreams come true, vicariously. No Brooding mcHugepecs who is a secret billionaire but needs a good woman to help heal his wounded heart isn't real but its nice to read and dream about for women.

So you get stuff in those books that women in their lives are completely against, like sexual harassment, stalking, kisses that bruise their lips, torn blouses, etc. Its exciting but safe in the books, and they don't want PC cocoa-sipping mankins to read about. They want big burly tough strong men with a teddy bear heart that can be tamed by the Right Woman

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:22 AM (KZzsI)

259 I love reading Flashman, and also loved reading Fraser's memoire of his Army years.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at January 23, 2022 10:17 AM (XvJfv)

I must be too much girl to enjoy these. I tried reading one, and was not interested in his escapades.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at January 23, 2022 10:23 AM (OX9vb)

260 But you have to every so often reiterate who is speaking so that people don't get lost.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:13 AM (KZzsI)

Ok, thanks!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 10:23 AM (7bRMQ)

261 So you prefer seeing character dialog with each person getting a separate line instead of two people talking in a paragraph?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 10:08 AM (7bRMQ)

Not necessarily because some writers do a good job within a paragraph.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at January 23, 2022 10:23 AM (y7DUB)

262 I don't think the pants guy owns a weedwhacker (if you catch my drift)

Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 10:23 AM (arJlL)

263 thank you all hail eris...rip om

Posted by: phoenixgirl at January 23, 2022 10:23 AM (CqHIp)

264 " ... Its important to make sure the reader can clearly delineate between the speakers in the conversation, ... "

Very true !

a mild annoyance (for me) is losing track of who is who in a long stretch of conversational dialog so that I have to go back to the beginning and carefully identify each line to identify the speakers until I get to the "wait, who said that ?" point.

2 characters lacking distinctive voices, exchanging generalities is the worst.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez (9CuDT) at January 23, 2022 10:24 AM (9CuDT)

265 Hello, horde!

A couple of Morons recommended children's books by Mary Walsh. I requested them a couple of weeks ago from the state-wide loan system. This past week, "Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians" arrived from the Calumet Public School Library: the original 1961 hardcover with great illustrations.

It's a sequel that works as a stand-alone and a more-or-less Christmas story. Three children have the run of the house while their father is overseas, their housekeeper is in a cooking contest; and their caretaking neighbor is bedridden for a "spell."

I disliked the author's overt omission of Christ; e.g. Malcolm talks to a minister who refers only to "the magic of Christmas." The unChristmassy, no-other-children atmosphere gave me deja vu. I gradually realized I'd read this book in elementary school.

What stuck with me, and is the best part of the book, is characterization. Older brother Malcolm (contentious, thoughtful) and sister Molly (sneaky, practical) decide to play Santa Claus for their brother The Toad (aka 6-year-old Theobold). The author captures how kids bicker and dislike their bratty siblings while simultaneously looking out for them.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at January 23, 2022 10:24 AM (/+bwe)

266 Condolences to the friends and family of Oregon Muse. I've had multiple thoughts on what I'd like to see done for today's SMBT, from a blank In Memorium, to a Best Of, to the censored Black Screen. I think this is the right approach, a following of traditions and customs that warms us all in these terrible times. Thanks Eris.

Posted by: motionview (prep train organize) at January 23, 2022 10:24 AM (aKOI+)

267 Personally, I show it in italics:

"Sir," I began.
"What?"
Easy, boy. Take it slow. "Sir, I - I had hoped - "

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at January 23, 2022 10:14 AM (2JVJo)

Thanks!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 10:24 AM (7bRMQ)

268 Marion Zimmer Bradley, I heard. I've never read any of her stuff.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:22 AM (c6xtn)
-----------

That's her. I read some of her stuff, way back when, because, at one point in my life, I read pretty much every single sci-fi book I could get my hands on.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022 10:25 AM (5pTK/)

269 andycanuck reached for the half-empty bottle of Valu-Rite then hesitated briefly. "Should I?" he thought. "Screw it; it's 10:22 p.m. someplace in the world."
Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at January 23, 2022

Yes, you can do it that way. (I'd put a comma after "Valu-Rite," though:

Andycanuck reached for the half-empty bottle of Value-Rite, then hesitated. Should I? he thought. Screw it; it's 10:22 pm somewhere in the world.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:25 AM (c6xtn)

270 Over the top withering satire on African politics. Idi Amin reportedly kept a copy on his beside table.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:21 AM (llXky)
---

Now there is a reading list: Idi Amin's bedside books.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at January 23, 2022 10:25 AM (Dc2NZ)

271 The "who dis"'s forehead is almost wider than her breasticles.

Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 10:25 AM (arJlL)

272 Is that what it's about?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:17 AM (c6xtn)
============
Its got a lot of Bimini in it, and the latter part is mostly about Hemingway drinking in bars, with side stores about boating, and one theme is his character goes off to kill some Nazis.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at January 23, 2022 10:25 AM (XvJfv)

273 Literally talking out loud to himself? Dialog in quotes. If it's an internal monologue, thoughts, the current fashion is to cast that into italics rather than let the thought text stand by itself like narration, or to put quotes around it. But I've seen it done all 3 ways.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:14 AM (c6xtn)

Yeah, I think I mean out loud. Didn't know about the italics use. Thanks.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 10:26 AM (7bRMQ)

274 In a third-person book, however, you see what you see. That means you may not truly *know* why a character does something, you can only go on what they say and do.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:20 AM (llXky)

Yeah, but I like knowing why someone chose to do something they knew was not right, for example.

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 10:26 AM (ONvIw)

275 > If you get paid by the word, what a method!

In the heyday of the pulps, Walter B. Gibson had eight typewriters going at once, with a different story-in-progress on each one. Best known for the 300 (!) novel-length stories about The Shadow he cranked out, he also had several other series. At his peak, he was cranking out well over 1.5 million words per year.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 23, 2022 10:26 AM (bW8dp)

276 2 characters lacking distinctive voices, exchanging generalities is the worst.

This, too, is the story of Joss Whedon and James Gunn

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:26 AM (KZzsI)

277
B&N seems to sense it, too. Half the store is devoted to other stuff: toys, games, videos, greeting cards, Starbux. I'm guessing that floor space is a rough measure of what brings in the sales.
Posted by: Trimegistus

Your experience matched mine -- B&N is a wasteland where pulp and paper go to die as irrelevant items marking time before they are remaindered.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at January 23, 2022 10:26 AM (pNxlR)

278 Surely I'm not the only one who'd love to read "Gun Witch of Hoodoo Range"...?
Posted by: Indiana's Jones at January 23, 2022 10:19 AM (Dc2NZ)

Surely, you are not! I want it.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at January 23, 2022 10:26 AM (OX9vb)

279 Now there is a reading list: Idi Amin's bedside books.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at January 23, 2022 10:25 AM (Dc2NZ)
===============

"Recipes For Family Dinners"

Posted by: Huck Follywood at January 23, 2022 10:27 AM (XvJfv)

280 Marion Zimmer Bradley, I heard. I've never read any of her stuff.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:22 AM (c6xtn)
-----------

That's her. I read some of her stuff, way back when, because, at one point in my life, I read pretty much every single sci-fi book I could get my hands on.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022 10:25 AM (5pTK/)
---
Most of the time I try to separate the artist from their work, as many authors are raging lefties but can tell good stories. However, some authors have such deplorable personal lives that really becomes difficult. MZB is one. David and Leigh Eddings are a couple of others.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 10:27 AM (K5n5d)

281 I'm definitely enjoying the Scupoli book. His viewpoint is a necessary one.

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 10:15 AM (ONvIw)
---
I'm glad to hear that. It's been very helpful for me. A chapter a day keeps me calm.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:27 AM (llXky)

282 LOL, spot on with that name, Rodrigo !
that is such a disturbing picture, in so many ways, but you summed it up perfectly !

Posted by: sock_rat_eez (9CuDT) at January 23, 2022 10:27 AM (9CuDT)

283 Yes, you can do it that way. (I'd put a comma after "Valu-Rite," though
-------------------------
I debated that with myself but the VR had kicked in by then.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at January 23, 2022 10:27 AM (UHVv4)

284 Actually, Elizabeth A Lynn did more of that. Both gay and lesbian sex entwinned in her stories which is a shame. I found The Northern Girl interesting in its portrayal of a medieval society. And it references back to the first book of the series, which has become a myth.

Marion Zimmer Bradley did Dragonmasters of Pern and an Arthurian series. I didn't catch a creepy vibe from her books then but it might be different if I read them now. Truly a vile person.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 10:28 AM (YynYJ)

285 In his later Myth-Adventures books, Robert Asprin had the story narrated by its central character. Many different ways of speaking.

Guido the Mob legbreaker used first-person present, Damon Runyon style:

"Charlie and I go into the club. I says, "Look, Charlie, that is the painting I was talking about."

I liked that style. The entire Myth-Adventures crew was a blast.

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 23, 2022 10:28 AM (Om/di)

286 In the heyday of the pulps, Walter B. Gibson had eight typewriters going at once, with a different story-in-progress on each one. Best known for the 300 (!) novel-length stories about The Shadow he cranked out, he also had several other series. At his peak, he was cranking out well over 1.5 million words per year.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 23, 2022 10:26 AM (bW8dp)
---
I think Isaac Asimov used the same strategy. Dude was a workhorse when it came to output...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 10:28 AM (K5n5d)

287 I finished the Aubrey/Maturin books, which I loved. The adventures were spectacular but the characters had very human flaws. They were funny and endearing and exciting to read and I learned more than I ever thought I wanted to know about sailing ships. Every time something new came up, I had to research what was happening. I listened to the music that Aubrey and Maturn played, which was also wonderful. I will miss them.

Posted by: huerfano at January 23, 2022 10:28 AM (MzKgG)

288 I think the only Marion Zimmer Bradley I have read is in the Thieves World/Sanctuary books, but they didn't stand out to me too well.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:29 AM (KZzsI)

289 281. It's very not modern. I'm glad I read Screwtape first.

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 10:29 AM (ONvIw)

290 Yeah, but I like knowing why someone chose to do something they knew was not right, for example.

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 10:26 AM (ONvIw)
---
Oh, I agree on that! I hate it when writers "subvert expectations" and have characters act in odd ways.

People are consistent in life and should be that way in fiction. If they do something unexpected, the author should somehow (dialogue, narration) show why.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:29 AM (llXky)

291 As one of the greatest works in Britains literary canon, Nineteen Eighty-Four sounds a chilling warning about the dangers of censorship.

Now staff at the University of Northampton have issued a trigger warning for George Orwells novel on the grounds that it contains explicit material which some students may find offensive and upsetting.

Thats not how this works!
Thats no how any of this works!

Posted by: rhennigantx at January 23, 2022 10:30 AM (yrol0)

292 Personally I know I'm reading a book, and don't mind an omniscient viewpoint where the author dips into the minds of all the important (and sometimes lesser) characters. On the other hand, Larry McMurtry, whose *stories* I love, has this habit of switching between viewpoints in the same paragraph. Confusing.

All of this discussion of the mechanics of writing is fascinating. Stephen King, in his analysis of why Rosemary's Baby works, says it's more like 2 mechanics discussing a nifty carburetor than it is like classical analysis. And since the latter is often boring and the former is exciting, at least to other writers, I think he'd dead right.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:30 AM (c6xtn)

293 The Dragonriders of Pern series was by Anne McCaffrey.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at January 23, 2022 10:30 AM (Dc2NZ)

294 Since I'm speaking in church today, which I find a great, I wonder if I should shut down here and get read, Northernlurker said to himself.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, resolved to lurking at January 23, 2022 10:30 AM (eGTCV)

295 Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt . I remember reading The Red and The Black in college (not for a class) and, honestly, that's all I remember about it other than it was a red hardcover copy. Reviews this AM are 2 to 1 against and since my TBR stacks are large enough to outlast my expected lifespan, I guess I'll give it a pass.

Posted by: who knew at January 23, 2022 10:30 AM (4I7VG)

296 Does Robert Asprin work for the ASA??

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at January 23, 2022 10:30 AM (UHVv4)

297 People are consistent in life and should be that way in fiction. If they do something unexpected, the author should somehow (dialogue, narration) show why.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022

***
I forget who said it, but it's true: "Fiction, unlike real life, is supposed to make sense."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:31 AM (c6xtn)

298 My condolences to Doof. Hard news.

Posted by: Head puddi at January 23, 2022 10:31 AM (xMh1R)

299 Marion Zimmer Bradley did Dragonmasters of Pern and an Arthurian series. I didn't catch a creepy vibe from her books then but it might be different if I read them now. Truly a vile person.
Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 10:28 AM (YynYJ)
---------

MZB talked about female fans wanting to take her "oath" which had to do with one the worlds she built, which, after cautioning her fans, would gladly administer. I don't remember the details, but, it was weird, even by my standards of the time.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022 10:31 AM (5pTK/)

300 A great non-woke (but also non-based) current Science Fiction author is Neal Asher. His works are richly imagined worlds, each book self-contained, yet now at the 18th or 20th book in his multiple series, threads woven through all of these have come together in a gigantic set of reveals. It's quite mind-boggling, so fantastic that this winter I've started going back and re-reading everything of his. It doesn't hurt that I can't find any new sci-fi that I find compelling.

Straight galaxy-spanning science fiction that does for readers what sci-fi is supposed to do: entertain, dream, imagine.

Posted by: motionview (prep train organize) at January 23, 2022 10:31 AM (aKOI+)

301 >>> 284
.....
Marion Zimmer Bradley did Dragonmasters of Pern
.....
Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 10:28 AM (YynYJ)

Anne McCaffrey. I have not heard of anything weird about her, and the only other author who's written in her world that I know of is her son.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at January 23, 2022 10:31 AM (llON8)

302 "At three cents a word, every time I say 'Bang' in the story I get three cents. If you think I'm going to finish the gun battle while my hero still has fifteen cents worth of unexploded ammunition in his gun, you're nuts." --- Erle Stanley Gardner

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 23, 2022 10:31 AM (bW8dp)

303 Florida Democratic Senator, Shevrin Jones criticized Governor Desantis for his position on the Parents' Bill of Rights in an episode of The ReidOut with Joy Reid, saying that "As a former teacher, I want to make it clear that these children are more smarter than we think they are."

-
Well, they're more smarterer than you are anyway.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter 2022 at January 23, 2022 10:32 AM (FVME7)

304
Marion Zimmer Bradley did Dragonmasters of Pern and an Arthurian series. I didn't catch a creepy vibe from her books then but it might be different if I read them now. Truly a vile person.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 10:28 AM (YynYJ)
---
I read her Mists of Avalon and did not like it. Even as a heathen youth, I didn't like her characterization of Christianity.

Based on her writing, I was not shocked to learn she was a terrible person. Same with Stephen King - who knew someone who wrote about awful things was a mean, abusive drunk?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:32 AM (llXky)

305 I have to keep the faith, I said faithfully.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, resolved to lurking at January 23, 2022 10:32 AM (eGTCV)

306 253 (meant to say that the one I posted is from an even more traumatic angle than Tom Servo's).

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 23, 2022 10:22 AM (bW8dp)

LOL, yours was the one I was originally looking for. Someone here once said it was the "Eye of Sauron".

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 23, 2022 10:33 AM (evAgx)

307 The Dragonriders of Pern series was by Anne McCaffrey.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at January 23, 2022

***
In the early '80s I knew a lot of McCaffrey/dragon fans and got exposed to their fan fiction. It was a good part of why I left dragons completely out of my fantasy stories. I had nothing new to say about them (whereas I did about griffins, centaurs, and unicorns). Let somebody else handle the dragons.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:33 AM (c6xtn)

308 Time to carpe the diem.

Keep the thread rolling, my pretties!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at January 23, 2022 10:33 AM (Dc2NZ)

309 Fiction is like art, there are things you cannot get away with or someone will say that you're doing it wrong. For instance, there are human beings whose features are weird and look wrong, but they are alive and human so its acceptable. But if you drew them or painted them people would say you weren't very good at your work and criticize how wrong their eyebrows are or whatever.

Fiction needs a consistency and completeness that you rarely if ever get in real life, because of its style. If you lack that, then the book feels wrong, incomplete, or just poorly written and disappoints readers.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:34 AM (KZzsI)

310 Straight galaxy-spanning science fiction that does for readers what sci-fi is supposed to do: entertain, dream, imagine.
Posted by: motionview (prep train organize) at January 23, 2022 10:31 AM (aKOI+)
----
Now that is a far-out idea these days! It's just crazy enough to work...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 10:34 AM (K5n5d)

311 Now there is a reading list: Idi Amin's bedside books.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at January 23, 2022 10:25 AM (Dc2NZ)
===============

"Recipes For Family Dinners"
Posted by: Huck Follywood at January 23, 2022 10:27 AM (XvJfv)

Mercedes catalogues.

Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 10:34 AM (V13WU)

312 303. Actually, they are also highly impressionable, peer motivated, and often eager to please an authority figure, even a bad one.

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 10:34 AM (ONvIw)

313 Now there is a reading list: Idi Amin's bedside books.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at January 23, 2022 10:25 AM (Dc2NZ)

"Soylent Green"

Posted by: callsign claymore at January 23, 2022 10:34 AM (rFSdo)

314 Not necessarily because some writers do a good job within a paragraph.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at January 23, 2022 10:23 AM (y7DUB)

Ok, thanks.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 10:34 AM (7bRMQ)

315 I'm happy to fill in, but I'm not sure I want to be the permanent replacement.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes

https://tinyurl.com/p5fypw36

Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 10:35 AM (arJlL)

316 All of this discussion of the mechanics of writing is fascinating. Stephen King, in his analysis of why Rosemary's Baby works, says it's more like 2 mechanics discussing a nifty carburetor than it is like classical analysis. And since the latter is often boring and the former is exciting, at least to other writers, I think he'd dead right.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:30 AM (c6xtn)
---
In retrospect, one of the reasons I had difficulty finishing writing projects was confusion over the voice and perspective. Once I figured that out, things became a lot clearer. I knew what I should show, how I should show it, and could ask if I had shown enough to make the story work.

And yes, I've had to re-write stuff because I realized that one of the characters probably wouldn't act that way.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:35 AM (llXky)

317
Marion Zimmer Bradley did ~~Dragonmasters of Pern and~~ an Arthurian series, The Mists of Avalon.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at January 23, 2022 10:35 AM (pNxlR)

318 Now there is a reading list: Idi Amin's bedside books.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at January 23, 2022 10:25 AM (Dc2NZ)
---
"The Hunger Games"
"To Serve Man"
"The Deplorable Gourmet"

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 10:36 AM (K5n5d)

319 So "rat-a-tat-tat" was machinegun-fire onomatopoeia invented by 'paid by the word; pulp-writers??

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at January 23, 2022 10:36 AM (UHVv4)

320 Despite being paid by the word in pulps early on, Earle Stanley Gardner wrote tight, quick-moving stories that were never too long. His Perry Mason books are amazingly entertaining, especially the early ones.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:36 AM (KZzsI)

321 Dave Freer, one of the Mad Geniuses at Mad Genius Club, has a new book out, "Cloud-Castles". It is very good, and Freer is about as far as you can get from "woke".

Caution: contains traces of manly adventure, honor, and a loving heterosexual relationship.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 23, 2022 10:36 AM (bW8dp)

322 Doof, prayers for you and your family. What a shock.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at January 23, 2022 10:36 AM (llON8)

323 'paid by the word'

Screw laptop keyboards.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at January 23, 2022 10:36 AM (UHVv4)

324 Still reading Peter F. Hamilton. Great SF. I don't know why I'd never heard of him until Viking-beard son gave me Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained. His books are to step into a future time with fascinating technology and the attendant societal changes. Along with an interesting cast of characters.

I often read books out loud to El Jefe when we are driving. We started Westerly Gales by E.C.Williams on last week's trip from Asheville back to FL and are continuing to read it in the evening. I've read the entire series but am muchly enjoying it again.

Oregon Muse, I don't think that I have ever cried before when someone I've never even met in TRW, died. Like so many other Morons, he was a friend to me in a very different way. His presence in my life (via this site) was very real and so, I'd like to first thank Ace, for creating this wonderful place and secondly bid Oregon Muse farewell. I am sure that the first thing he heard when he saw his Savior was "Well done, thy good and faithful servant."

Posted by: Akua Makana at January 23, 2022 10:37 AM (YkUJb)

325 @134: "https://tinyurl.com/r8fhu43r

It's a kind of Robinson Crusoe in space story."

if the second book isn't KU, i'll definitely give up.

I vote (if AHE can't/won't) do it full time, for a rotation. Surely there's others ....

It's hard, I remember when Douglas Hofstadter gave up writing for Scientific American (he took over from Martin Gardner, who wrote Mathematical Games for 25 years) after about a year and a half. Said it was too hard to keep coming up with new ideas.

Posted by: yara at January 23, 2022 10:37 AM (hBsVD)

326 I'm happy to fill in, but I'm not sure I want to be the permanent replacement.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes
---
Understandable sentiment. I did have a thought about some of us (maybe even me) doing a "rotating" schedule of Book Threads. Maybe 4-5 people take turns every month so you'd only have to post one per month instead of every week.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 10:37 AM (K5n5d)

327 Gardner also, at least at some points in his career, dictated his books to a secretary.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:37 AM (KZzsI)

328 Regarding the 'bookmark thief' panel of the Reader's Block comic: One nice thing about ordering a bunch of crowd-funded graphic novels is that the creators often send you some extra nick-nacks to go with your book. Stickers, little art prints, and very often, bookmarks! So now I have a whole pile of very colorful bookmarks decorated with a wide variety of characters! So many bookmarks that I make a little game of selecting an appropriately themed bookmark for whichever book I'm currently reading...

Posted by: Castle Guy at January 23, 2022 10:37 AM (Lhaco)

329 Now there is a reading list: Idi Amin's bedside books.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at January 23, 2022 10:25 AM (Dc2NZ)
---
"The Hunger Games"
"To Serve Man"
"The Deplorable Gourmet"
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 10:36 AM (K5n5d)

"Finding Your Clan Tartan"

Posted by: BignJames at January 23, 2022 10:37 AM (AwYPR)

330 Did anyone here read The Continent of Mu books?

Posted by: Head puddi at January 23, 2022 10:38 AM (xMh1R)

331 Now staff at the University of Northampton have issued a trigger warning for George Orwells novel on the grounds that it contains explicit material which some students may find offensive and upsetting.

Thats not how this works!
Thats no how any of this works!
Posted by: rhennigantx at January 23, 2022 10:30 AM (yrol0)

The Bowdlerizers come around every few decades. It's almost comical that today's Wokesters don't realize that they're the New Puritans.

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 23, 2022 10:38 AM (evAgx)

332 The Pern series was McAfferey not MZB. Read them all and many of her short stories. A favorite is the Ship Who Sang.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at January 23, 2022 10:38 AM (2NHgQ)

333 "At three cents a word, every time I say 'Bang' in the story I get three cents. If you think I'm going to finish the gun battle while my hero still has fifteen cents worth of unexploded ammunition in his gun, you're nuts." --- Erle Stanley Gardner
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia

They don't teach wisdom like this in college literature classes anymore.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter 2022 at January 23, 2022 10:38 AM (FVME7)

334 The University of Northampton has branded George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 with a trigger warning over supposed concerns about "explicit material" within the book.

Seems they think it could be found upsetting or offensive to certain snowflakes.

Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at January 23, 2022 10:38 AM (bVYXr)

335 dictated his books to a secretary.
-------------------------------
Did she have curves like an Italian alpine road??

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at January 23, 2022 10:39 AM (UHVv4)

336 About halfway through "Hail Mary" by Andy Weir, who's first novel was "The Martian."

Not sure what I think about it. Not as good as TM, but he has an easy to read style and I like his dialogue. I imagine he's trying to find his voice still.

Will report back upon completion.

Posted by: mot at January 23, 2022 10:40 AM (FmeBQ)

337 And yes, I've had to re-write stuff because I realized that one of the characters probably wouldn't act that way.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:35 AM (llXky)

How many times do you rewrite until you think it's done, if I may ask?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 10:40 AM (7bRMQ)

338 The Bowdlerizers come around every few decades. It's almost comical that today's Wokesters don't realize that they're the New Puritans.
Posted by: Tom Servo at January 23, 2022 10:38 AM (evAgx)

Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered.

And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped.

Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.

Posted by: rhennigantx at January 23, 2022 10:41 AM (yrol0)

339 It's because Romance goes to the heart of attraction and relationships. People may read through wokeness for a sci fi book. But if you aren't attracted to trannies, you won't want to read about a romance with one.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 10:19 AM (YynYJ)
---
Virtue signalling only works if people can see it. Hence the modern phenomenon of (new catch phrase coming!) Yard Sign Calvinists, who by their signage are saved.

Reading a book is intensely personal. Oh, people will *buy* the Obama memoirs, but they won't bother reading them.

And not all romances are bodice-rippers. Amish Romance is a genre, with wine moms apparently fantasizing about living in a low-crime, ethnically homogenous community united with common religious values.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:41 AM (llXky)

340 Seems they think it could be found upsetting or offensive to certain snowflakes.

"wait, this book is all about the stuff we're trying to do and working on in society, but it claims that makes us the BAD GUYS! I am SO TRIGGERED!!!!!"
--Soya VonGoebbels, Wymyn's Studies student

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:41 AM (KZzsI)

341 So, now to a literary question.

How much dialog should be in a story?
Posted by: OrangeEnt

Hiya

Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 10:41 AM (arJlL)

342 Seems they think it could be found upsetting or offensive to certain snowflakes.
Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at January 23, 2022 10:38 AM (bVYXr)

A few days at the Ministry of Love in RM 101 would solve most of their issues.

Posted by: rhennigantx at January 23, 2022 10:42 AM (yrol0)

343 Dang, you're right Eris. Shows I did get up too early today

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 10:42 AM (YynYJ)

344 I had nothing new to say about them (whereas I did about griffins, centaurs, and unicorns). Let somebody else handle the dragons.
=====

Diana Wynne Jones used all of the mythical creatures. I wonder if anyone reads her any more. Last I heard, she was really ticked at being 'relegated to YA'.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 23, 2022 10:42 AM (MIKMs)

345 Amish women have no teeth. They are all 10s.

Posted by: Head puddi at January 23, 2022 10:42 AM (xMh1R)

346 Thank you for the terrific work this morning, Eris!

Book Recommendation: The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History, by Alexander Mikaberidze.

A high-level history of all of the the wars while Napoleon led France. Including small wars and rebellions around the world that were a result of, or made possible by, Napoleon's defeat of Continental Powers. The book includes descriptions of all the politics, negotiations, and treaties that shaped the wars. It covers all the major battles at a high level; very little about operations and tactics. It is a long read for a high-level history, because it covers so much. Give it a try if you're a history nut like me.

Posted by: Gref at January 23, 2022 10:42 AM (AMIL/)

347 I listened to the music that Aubrey and Maturn played, which was also wonderful. I will miss them.
Posted by: huerfano at January 23, 2022 10:28 AM (MzKgG)

Their shared love of music, starting on the first page of the first volume and continued throughout, was typically well portrayed by O'Brian. When Stephen, generally regarded as the more sensitive of the two, marvelled at Aubrey's ability to emote while playing violin by himself late at night far beyond Maturin's skill level, it very effectively described an intangible.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at January 23, 2022 10:42 AM (y7DUB)

348 Prayers for you, Doof. Today is the second anniversary of my husband's death. The pain doesn't go away but gets a bit easier to bear.
Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward

Ouch !

Prayers for you and your late Hubs !

Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 10:43 AM (arJlL)

349 "wait, this book is all about the stuff we're trying to do and working on in society, but it claims that makes us the BAD GUYS! I am SO TRIGGERED!!!!!"
--Soya VonGoebbels, Wymyn's Studies student
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:41 AM (KZzsI)

Maybe we are the baddies!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1VxaMEjRU

Posted by: rhennigantx at January 23, 2022 10:43 AM (yrol0)

350 Hello all, on this sad but always wonderful book thread day. For my birthday my wonderful son got me the unabridged Summa Theologica (in 1 volume!). This extremely large book with very small type will be my reading from now on, but I'llintersperse with some lighter reading. So far, Ive been able to follow and understand most of Aquinas's articles. Hurrah!

Posted by: LASue at January 23, 2022 10:44 AM (Ed8Zd)

351 So, now to a literary question.

How much dialog should be in a story?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 09:42 AM

Enough.

Look, if you're writing the story you have to put any dialog in yourself. Put dialog in until you like the story the way it is. It's your voice not anybody else's.

Posted by: Cybersmythe - SE Texas MiniMoMe March 26 at January 23, 2022 10:44 AM (ezpv1)

352 Nope. My first thoughts when I finish a book is "what would the Horde find interesting about this". It doesn't always have an easy answer.
Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at January 23, 2022 09:10 AM (y7DUB)

I just figure if I can find some love for a book, someone here will like it too, and if I am honest about it it turns out better.

Right now I am reading The Great Explosion by Eric Frank Russell, and The House of Rain which is about the Anasazi. Oddly enough, both of them are about understanding what happened after a societal collapse.

Posted by: Kindltot at January 23, 2022 10:44 AM (ZMraq)

353 "wait, this book is all about the stuff we're trying to do and working on in society, but it claims that makes us the BAD GUYS! I am SO TRIGGERED!!!!!"
--Soya VonGoebbels, Wymyn's Studies student
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:41 AM (KZzsI)

Yes! And I think that's precisely why Canfield Fisher had to go. She was for individualized instruction, not dragging everyone to the LCD.

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 10:45 AM (ONvIw)

354 How many times do you rewrite until you think it's done, if I may ask?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 10:40 AM (7bRMQ)
---
Until it works. I threw away 1/3 of what I had written in The Imperial Rebellion because it just didn't work.

Vampires of Michigan was started years ago and I was up to 20,000 words. I ended up deleting half of it, and doing major reworks on a couple of characters before it could move ahead.

Once I did that, it just cooked along, though. I figured out what I wanted to do, and I don't know how to describe it other than everything clicked together. A friend whose real all my stuff said that even though he's not into that genre, it was my best work because it flowed so easily.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:45 AM (llXky)

355 Oh good heavens, just saw the comment about Doof's wife. I'm heartbroken for him and his children.

Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord, and let Perpetual Light shine upon her. May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

Posted by: bluebell

Amen !

Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 10:45 AM (arJlL)

356 AH Loyd. Not a winemom because not a mom, I do like wine. I read the Amish romances because they are an escape from a thoroughly fucked up world. Started to find them for mom when she was in assisted living and read a few of hers. They are nice on occasion. Also, see Jannette Oke.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at January 23, 2022 10:45 AM (2NHgQ)

357 I thought of a perfect candidate to carry on the Book Thread. Maybe 80/20 % with Eris ? Bandersnatch. pssst, pass it on.....

Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 10:45 AM (V13WU)

358 Continued my work with Dante's Comedy - Purgatorio - Canto 25 this week. Fantastic! Discusses the insertion of the soul into a developing pre-born child from ancient pov. (and a whole lot of other stuff) Wow!
Posted by: Tonypete at January 23, 2022 09:06 AM (mD/uy)

I enjoyed the lecture on that too- it could have gone badly but was really interesting.

Posted by: LASue at January 23, 2022 10:46 AM (Ed8Zd)

359 The horde is a strange and often frightening group, discussing boobies and heavy metal then philosophy and obscure literature in the same breath.

I've made references here and mentioned things I was sure nobody would ever get and like five people respond knowing exactly what I was talking about. It is truly amazing.

I have also gotten a lot of great book reads out of this weekend delight, to which I owe Oregon Muse a debt of gratitude I cannot repay.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:46 AM (KZzsI)

360 "I must be too much girl to enjoy these. I tried reading one, and was not interested in his escapades."

It's like me being forced to read Pride and Prejudice in HS. It should be seen as a hate crime.

Posted by: Ignoramus at January 23, 2022 10:47 AM (i0slg)

361
Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered.

Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.
Posted by: rhennigantx at January 23, 2022 10:41 AM (yrol0)

Another reason to love vintage paper books over ebooks.

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 10:47 AM (ONvIw)

362 A question for the authors:is there a particular program or software you like for writing?

Posted by: N.L. Urker, resolved to lurking at January 23, 2022 10:48 AM (eGTCV)

363 I really thought that dragon was sizing up a pizza.

Bbeen reading the Safehold series by David Weber On book nine of eleven. Bit of a slog, but holds my interest.
Agree with the critics who say the spelling of the character names is disconcerting, and for the life of me, I cannot fathom why he did this.

RIP OM, you will be missed

Posted by: Norman at January 23, 2022 10:48 AM (dZA0D)

364 A friend whose real all my stuff said that even though he's not into that genre, it was my best work because it flowed so easily.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:45 AM (llXky)
---
I think the "flow" of a story is one of the important keys to its success. We've all read stories that for some reason didn't work for us. Part of that was probably because it was hard for us to follow the "flow."

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 10:48 AM (K5n5d)

365 It's like me being forced to read Pride and Prejudice in HS. It should be seen as a hate crime.

Reminds me of my dad. One teacher assigned Ivanhoe to the class he was in and he dropped out to join the air force because he didn't want to read it.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:49 AM (KZzsI)

366 Hiya

Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 10:41 AM (arJlL)

Well, Hiya right back JT! Do I know JT?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 10:49 AM (7bRMQ)

367 I think the "flow" of a story is one of the important keys to its success. We've all read stories that for some reason didn't work for us. Part of that was probably because it was hard for us to follow the "flow."
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 10:48 AM (K5n5d)
-------------

As was explained to me, years ago, by Mr. Jeff Goldstein, "The Catcher in the Rye" works, because writer has a consistent "voice" throughout the book. Which, from what I understand, is difficult to do. Now, this is not an endorsement for "The Catcher in the Rye," but, I think it explains why it's sort of a standard.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022 10:51 AM (5pTK/)

368 Currently reading Terry Pratchett "Discworld"novels. Generally speaking, when I learn that an author is prolific, I get discouraged, and after learning he had written 41 of these, my heart sank. But he keeps inserting these hilarious creative bits that I want to slow down and actually read every sentence so I don't miss anything. Reading "The Light Fantastic". Also, in the self-help genre, still reading "How To Retire Happy, Wild and Free". Lined up in the To Be read pile is "Atomic Habits". Have a good week, and remember to hug your loved ones, because tomorrow is not promised.

Posted by: Nancy at 7000 ft at January 23, 2022 10:51 AM (0tmoY)

369 They ought to charge Spongebrain Shitpants $0.50 for each word or grunt he utters.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter 2022 at January 23, 2022 10:51 AM (FVME7)

370 @279 --

*guffaw*

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 23, 2022 10:51 AM (Om/di)

371 I was planning on sending OregonMuse a blurb on "Checkmate In Berlin" by Giles Milton. So far, so good. The book, that is. Of course thaty sadly is no longer an option...

I remember it was two years ago that I sent in an e-mail to OM regarding my Neil Peart book collection, which I sent in the wake of the death of Neil Peart from glioblastoma. Right away he was kind enough to reply, asking if he could publish some of what I sent him in the thread. Thinking to myself "man, you don't need my permission; I am sharing this so you and others can enjoy them for yourselves!" But what does it say of OM to ask such permission? I never met the man but needless to say he was an absolute gentleman and a man with good hobbies (chess and reading, among others).

I'll miss you good sir...

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 23, 2022 10:52 AM (CdZ4i)

372 Ivanhoe was a good read. WTF?

Posted by: Head puddi at January 23, 2022 10:52 AM (xMh1R)

373 AH Loyd. Not a winemom because not a mom, I do like wine. I read the Amish romances because they are an escape from a thoroughly fucked up world. Started to find them for mom when she was in assisted living and read a few of hers. They are nice on occasion. Also, see Jannette Oke.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at January 23, 2022 10:45 AM (2NHgQ)
---
Well yes, I was being a little too cute.

That's exactly what they are for, a retreat from an increasingly complex and hostile world.

Also, I believe they are devoid of porn, and focus purely on the relationship aspects, which is also refreshing.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:52 AM (llXky)

374 ow many times do you rewrite until you think it's done, if I may ask?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022

***
I tend to re-work a scene until I think it's approximately right -- that it gets across the important info the reader has to know, shows the characters correctly, is in tune with the tone of the story as I envision it, etc. Once I think it's "close enough" for a first draft, I can move on. I don't usually let such a rewrite slow me up much, though.

The manuscripts I bring for critique to my writing group are as finished as I think they need to be. I don't usually bring first drafts for critique. My scripts, when I first show them, are the equivalent of some people's third drafts.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:52 AM (c6xtn)

375 I think the attraction in romance novels is more than that he is the perfect manly hunk but that the woman is the one woman in the world for him. The woman wants to be a partner, an equal, but still wants those normal male female feelings, being protected and loved.
That is why I think novels labeled Erotica are a completely different genre because there relationships that include multiple partners or really bizarre sex practices are acceptable.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at January 23, 2022 10:52 AM (Y+l9t)

376 The horde is a strange and often frightening group, discussing boobies and heavy metal then philosophy and obscure literature in the same breath.
I've made references here and mentioned things I was sure nobody would ever get and like five people respond knowing exactly what I was talking about. It is truly amazing.
I have also gotten a lot of great book reads out of this weekend delight, to which I owe Oregon Muse a debt of gratitude I cannot repay.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:46 AM
=====

You said it best. ^^^ THIS ^^^

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 23, 2022 10:53 AM (MIKMs)

377 "The Catcher in the Rye" works, because writer has a consistent "voice" throughout the book. Which, from what I understand, is difficult to do

-
Maybe whiny teenagers were a rarity in those days.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter 2022 at January 23, 2022 10:53 AM (FVME7)

378 Yonda lies da cassel of my fodder.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at January 23, 2022 10:53 AM (UHVv4)

379 Ivanhoe was a good read.

==

Yes. Not the worst of WS's novels. Maybe there was another reason...uh, oh...

Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 10:53 AM (V13WU)

380 Most of the time I try to separate the artist from their work, as many authors are raging lefties but can tell good stories. However, some authors have such deplorable personal lives that really becomes difficult. MZB is one. David and Leigh Eddings are a couple of others.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 10:27 AM (K5n5d)

I've heard about MZB, what did the Eddings' do?

Posted by: J. Random Dude at January 23, 2022 10:53 AM (QfwFD)

381 359

One of the reasons I love Iron Maiden is because they sing about literature, some of it obscure.

Heavy metal has been the soundtrack for many writing projects.

Posted by: callsign claymore at January 23, 2022 10:54 AM (rFSdo)

382 Diana Wynne Jones used all of the mythical creatures. I wonder if anyone reads her any more. Last I heard, she was really ticked at being 'relegated to YA'.
Posted by: mustbequantum at January 23, 2022 10:42 AM (MIKMs)

She passed away, but several of her books have been read by the local yutes. I think it's because her "Howl's Moving Castle" was made into a beautiful (semi-related) film.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at January 23, 2022 10:54 AM (/+bwe)

383 Look, if you're writing the story you have to put any dialog in yourself. Put dialog in until you like the story the way it is. It's your voice not anybody else's.

Posted by: Cybersmythe - SE Texas MiniMoMe March 26 at January 23, 2022 10:44 AM (ezpv1)

Oh, I understand that. I'm just starting with the mechanics of writing fiction. I've done non-fiction and editorial/newspaper type writing before and I know it's different. Just waiting on a bit of help from a fellow Hordian to come back to me and I thought I'd try to get more info about mechanics. Thanks for your thoughts.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 10:54 AM (7bRMQ)

384 As was explained to me, years ago, by Mr. Jeff Goldstein, "The Catcher in the Rye" works, because writer has a consistent "voice" throughout the book. Which, from what I understand, is difficult to do. Now, this is not an endorsement for "The Catcher in the Rye," but, I think it explains why it's sort of a standard.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022

***
Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe detective stories as narrated by the irrepressible and very American Archie Goodwin have a consistent voice too, and in contrast with Rye are very entertaining. I've always tried to be more like Archie and less like Holden in my life.

The early, pre-WWII Wolfe stories are a little different in flavor, thugh not much. Archie says things like "It don't matter," for instance. After WWII, Archie is a bit more assured and polished. But in all of them, he writes the same way he speaks.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:55 AM (c6xtn)

385 339 Virtue signalling only works if people can see it. Hence the modern phenomenon of (new catch phrase coming!) Yard Sign Calvinists, who by their signage are saved.

Sounds like the people who put up the "I got vaccinated!" Or "I got my booster!" messages on their pics on Facebook.

Posted by: Cow Demon at January 23, 2022 10:55 AM (CdZ4i)

386 Ivanhoe was a good read. WTF?

He regretted it later, and had mom read it to him on long drives. Ivanhoe is a book I should like, but can't, largely because its a deconstructionist satire on medieval honor and knighthood. I like my knightly stuff taken seriously and respectfully, not mocked and torn down.

Once I think it's "close enough" for a first draft, I can move on. I don't usually let such a rewrite slow me up much, though.

One of the keys to being a creator is learning the concept of "good enough". You're never going to get it perfect, you will never achieve exactly what you dream of, but you can get it close enough for publication or release. When you reach that point, its time to move on to the next project.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:56 AM (KZzsI)

387 378 Yonda lies da cassel of my fodder.
Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at January 23, 2022 10:53 AM (UHVv4)

Hak, I heah da cannons roah.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at January 23, 2022 10:56 AM (PiwSw)

388 It's like me being forced to read Pride and Prejudice in HS. It should be seen as a hate crime.
Posted by: Ignoramus at January 23, 2022 10:47 AM (i0slg)

Agreed.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at January 23, 2022 10:56 AM (OX9vb)

389 The horde is a strange and often frightening group, discussing boobies and heavy metal then philosophy and obscure literature in the same breath. . . .

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022

***
My philosophy includes boobs, doesn't everybody's?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:57 AM (c6xtn)

390 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:45 AM (llXky)

Thanks!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 10:57 AM (7bRMQ)

391 The early, pre-WWII Wolfe stories are a little different in flavor, thugh not much. Archie says things like "It don't matter," for instance. After WWII, Archie is a bit more assured and polished. But in all of them, he writes the same way he speaks.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:55 AM (c6xtn)

When I was a senior in HS my English teacher insisted that you must have two separate styles of communication: one for speaking, one for writing. I have more or less taken his advice. Works for me, anyway.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 23, 2022 10:57 AM (CdZ4i)

392 I just returned from the supermarket, and i have NEVER seen that many morbidly obese people in one place at the same time.

And....once again, they were out of pork roll !

Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 10:57 AM (arJlL)

393 I've heard about MZB, what did the Eddings' do?
Posted by: J. Random Dude at January 23, 2022 10:53 AM (QfwFD)
---
Apparently they engaged in some awful child abuse of adopted children. They both spent time in jail over it. Really colors my enjoyment of their writings.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 10:58 AM (K5n5d)

394 Never mind Perfessor, an internet search was enough. That's disheartening; I know his stuff wasn't particularly highbrow fantasy, but I enjoyed it well enough.

Child abuse, of an apparent non-s**ual kind, for those of you wondering.

Posted by: J. Random Dude at January 23, 2022 10:58 AM (QfwFD)

395 The early, pre-WWII Wolfe stories are a little different in flavor, though not much.

Yeah Archie changes over time a little, he's less a tough street guy and more a polished detective but still more down to earth than Wolfe. For a high concept book series, they are very solid and readable overall.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 10:59 AM (KZzsI)

396 I listened to the music that Aubrey and Maturn played

-
Was Are You Going To Scarborough Fair one of theirs?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter 2022 at January 23, 2022 10:59 AM (FVME7)

397 My philosophy includes boobs, doesn't everybody's?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:57 AM (c6xtn)

Nah. But then I am distracted by Molly McCallum wearing a leather skirt on The Weather Channel.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 23, 2022 10:59 AM (CdZ4i)

398 Damn, the Perfessor was too fast for me.

Posted by: J. Random Dude at January 23, 2022 10:59 AM (QfwFD)

399 A question for the authors:is there a particular program or software you like for writing?

Posted by: N.L. Urker, resolved to lurking at January 23, 2022 10:48 AM (eGTCV)
---
I used to use Open Office to write, standard 8.5x11 format for the first draft.

When finished, do spellcheck and on-screen edit.

Then print, and do hard-copy edit. Send to test-reader(s).

Review their edits, do another hard-copy edit, and format for printing using Amazon's MS Word template.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:59 AM (llXky)

400 It's like me being forced to read Pride and Prejudice in HS. It should be seen as a hate crime.
Posted by: Ignoramus at January 23, 2022 10:47 AM (i0slg)

Agreed.
Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at January 23, 2022

***
I've tried and tried to read Austen since Rex Stout admired her work so much. Can't do it. Her stories are strong -- the novels keep getting remade into movies and reworked into Bridget Jones's Diary -- but the language is too dense.

Stout once got a letter from a reader refusing to believe he actually wrote the Wolfe stories, and demanding to know who the real author was. Stout told his secretary, "Tell here the name is Jane Austen. But I haven't the address."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:59 AM (c6xtn)

401 The Snowflakes are living 1984, it's their textbook on what to do. How can they be triggered by it?

Posted by: Skip at January 23, 2022 10:59 AM (2JoB8)

402 I should add that now I use MS Word to write and format.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:59 AM (llXky)

403 "The Catcher in the Rye" works, because writer has a consistent "voice" throughout the book.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022 10:51 AM (5pTK/)

Yes, a whiny, entitled voice, but a consistent one, nonetheless.

I finally read that when I was about 40 years old, and I had no patience for that poor little rich boy.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at January 23, 2022 11:00 AM (OX9vb)

404 It's like me being forced to read Pride and Prejudice in HS. It should be seen as a hate crime.
=====

Back on my hobbyhorse of HS Lit . . . My recommendation is Northanger Abbey (with lots of tie-ins like Scream Queens, etc). Frankenstein is another that should be in the rotation.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 23, 2022 11:00 AM (MIKMs)

405 I am currently reading "Like I was sayin'..."by Mike Royko.

Memba him ?

Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 11:00 AM (arJlL)

406 When I was a senior in HS my English teacher insisted that you must have two separate styles of communication: one for speaking, one for writing.

This used to be much more pronounced, but today if you have a more formal style of writing, people get unhappy and criticize it in reviews as pompous or stuffy.

There was a third category as well in the past: public speaking. You had your regular speech in conversation then when you stood up to make an official speech it became much more flowery, dramatic, ponderous, and literary. I liked that.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:00 AM (KZzsI)

407 The manuscripts I bring for critique to my writing group are as finished as I think they need to be. I don't usually bring first drafts for critique. My scripts, when I first show them, are the equivalent of some people's third drafts.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 10:52 AM (c6xtn)

Great, thanks!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 11:01 AM (7bRMQ)

408 I'm sort of surprised someone in Academia is worried about 1984 being "triggering." It's not like students are taught to draw conclusions based on observed data any more.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022 11:01 AM (5pTK/)

409 Damn, the Perfessor was too fast for me.
Posted by: J. Random Dude

Things Ginger never said.....

Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 11:01 AM (arJlL)

410 I should add that now I use MS Word to write and format.

That's what I use. Avoid fancy fonts.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:02 AM (KZzsI)

411 I don't usually comment on the book thread but am thankful for all of you here with your reports and recommendations.

Oregon Muse you will be missed!

Beautiful job, Eris and lovely picture on top,

Posted by: My Life is Insanity at January 23, 2022 11:02 AM (Z/jzm)

412 That's what I use. Avoid fancy fonts.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

Any relation to Poncey Ponce ?

Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 11:03 AM (arJlL)

413 392 I just returned from the supermarket, and i have NEVER seen that many morbidly obese people in one place at the same time.

---------

I can only imagine the anxiety level in there with all those fat people snd the empty shelves.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at January 23, 2022 11:03 AM (VxC1e)

414 >>and I ask that all Moron authors consider putting a dedication to him in future works to further bolster his legacy. How cool would that be for his wife to get a book and see an inscription to him?
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 09:55 AM (llXky)

What a beautiful idea!

Posted by: My Life is Insanity at January 23, 2022 11:04 AM (Z/jzm)

415
When I was a senior in HS my English teacher insisted that you must have two separate styles of communication: one for speaking, one for writing. I have more or less taken his advice. Works for me, anyway.
Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 23, 2022

***
We all have multiple styles of communication. We speak differently to our spouses than we do to our bosses, and differently to strangers or salespeople, etc. I think a strong dose of speaking style in one's writing can be a good thing. (See the public speaking of Reagan and Trump compared to most politicians.) Stout's Archie was not a pro writer, at least at the start; he was a working man, private detective and leg man for Wolfe. So perhaps Stout decided that his speaking and writing styles would be very much alike.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 11:04 AM (c6xtn)

416 396 I listened to the music that Aubrey and Maturn played
-
Was Are You Going To Scarborough Fair one of theirs?
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter 2022 at January 23, 2022 10:59 AM (FVME7)

In the soundtrack to Master and Commander, some Tallis music was included, old but wonderful English music. (Tallis wrote during the Elizabethan period, roughly a contemporary of Shakespeare) Not sure if this was specified in the books, but it should have been.

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 23, 2022 11:04 AM (evAgx)

417 Memba him ?

I do remember his name.

Does anyone remember Patrick McManus from Field & Stream magazine? His bits in there were great, lots of fun.

He wrote a series of mysteries, and I tried one. They're terrible. Lousy writing, confusing, inconsistent, things just appear out of nowhere, its just awful stuff.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:04 AM (KZzsI)

418 Think of trigger warnings (like smut stickers) as endorsements.

Posted by: SFGoth at January 23, 2022 11:05 AM (KAi1n)

419 Thanks!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 10:57 AM (7bRMQ)
---
To that point, don't be afraid to throw out a bunch of text if it's not working. Don't be discouraged, either, because it's a natural part of the process.

In fact, if you get deeper into the story and suddenly think: "Hmm, that's not consistent with what I wrote earlier, but I like it more," go back and change it.

I can't count how many times characters evolved into something different from what they started out as, always to the better. Vampires of Michigan fans will be interested to know that "Zip" Zimmer shares only the name with his previous self. Totally re-written from the first draft.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 11:05 AM (llXky)

420 Eris had mad Book Thread skillz!!

Posted by: Weasel at January 23, 2022 11:05 AM (0IeYL)

421 As a long-time lurker, moron, and huge fan of the entire site, I send my condolences to OM's family & friends and the entire AoS team. His book review threads, along with the contributors to said threads, were always interesting, intriguing, and witty. Best wishes to all.

Posted by: Scooter at January 23, 2022 11:05 AM (ITq+R)

422 He wrote a series of mysteries, and I tried one. They're terrible. Lousy writing, confusing, inconsistent, things just appear out of nowhere, its just awful stuff.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:04 AM (KZzsI)
-------------

I've not read those, but, I've read, "They Shoot Canoes" and "A Fine and Pleasant Misery." Hilarious stuff.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022 11:05 AM (5pTK/)

423 I finished reading the Bible through the other night. Getting through Leviticus was tough; OTOH, I wonder why films haven't been made about Acts - you have a stoning, jailbreaks, a shipwreck, and a guy falling out of the window!

At the same time I was reading Acts, I started NT Wright's "Paul: A Biography" and I found it very useful and well-written.

Eris, you are doing a terrific job with the Book Thread! OM would be proud of you.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at January 23, 2022 11:06 AM (HabA/)

424 Nah. But then I am distracted by Molly McCallum wearing a leather skirt on The Weather Channel.
Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 23, 2022

***
I'll admit to missing Stephanie Abrams and Jen Carfagno on the WC. Not enough, though, to re-up for cable.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 11:06 AM (c6xtn)

425 Does anyone have a recommendation for a children's book written like a play? My 5 yr old granddaughter is an amazing reader but is very shy about showing it unless we are reading dialog together and then she likes responding as the character.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at January 23, 2022 11:06 AM (Y+l9t)

426 Any relation to Poncey Ponce ?
=====

I just saw some ancient TV show (I have antenna) -- dreadful music, couldn't even follow any plot, and I think there was a 'Hawaiian' by that name. It was awful.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 23, 2022 11:07 AM (MIKMs)

427 engaged in some awful child abuse of adopted children

-
There is a YouTube short video about Irma Grese, she wolf of the SS and a concentration camp guard at Ravensbruck. In discussing why she went so bad, they discuss a Nazi book about child rearing. The idea was to avoid comforting your infants and children with as little physical contact as possible. This will teach them to be hard and merciless. And you Dr. Spock was bad!

The video:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cKO3V-NQrAI&t=553s

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter 2022 at January 23, 2022 11:07 AM (FVME7)

428 Does anyone remember Patrick McManus from Field & Stream magazine? His bits in there were great, lots of fun.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:04 AM (KZzsI)
---
My parents had anthologies of his articles, some of which were quite amusing.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 11:08 AM (llXky)

429 Donna. Start Leviticus and Numbers this week. Instructor on the course was dreading teaching them.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at January 23, 2022 11:08 AM (2NHgQ)

430 I am still immersed in James Clavell's "Shogun".

===

Once you go down that path, you will be picking up the rest of Sagas...

Posted by: runner

Clavell was a brilliant writer. The Asia Saga is one of the best historical fiction series ever written. And the thinnest book, King Rat, a fictionalized telling about Clavell's experience as a POW if the Japanese is absolutely haunting.

Posted by: Sharkman at January 23, 2022 11:08 AM (+E0jM)

431 405 I am currently reading "Like I was sayin'..."by Mike Royko.

Memba him ?
Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 11:00 AM (arJlL)

Yes.

Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 11:08 AM (V13WU)

432 I am always, *always* late to the thread, but I lurked every week because OM's Book Thread is the global maximum of good taste, good sense, and good fun on the web. Continuing my (secretive) ways because All Hail Eris is da bomb.

Posted by: sinmi at January 23, 2022 11:08 AM (A5IVt)

433 Getting through Leviticus was tough; OTOH, I wonder why films haven't been made about Acts - you have a stoning, jailbreaks, a shipwreck, and a guy falling out of the window!

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at January 23, 2022 11:06 AM (HabA/)

I love Leviticus. Weird, I know. I agree - Acts would make a fine mini-series.

Posted by: grammie winger at January 23, 2022 11:09 AM (45fpk)

434 Gotta go to work for a bit. Have a lovely day, horde. Thanks for being here.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at January 23, 2022 11:09 AM (OX9vb)

435 To that point, don't be afraid to throw out a bunch of text if it's not working. Don't be discouraged, either, because it's a natural part of the process.

In fact, if you get deeper into the story and suddenly think: "Hmm, that's not consistent with what I wrote earlier, but I like it more," go back and change it. . . .

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022

***
Years ago I was 3/4 through a long short story, about to build up to the climax, when I realized I was having trouble because *I didn't believe the plot myself*. Not the characters, but the mystery plot. I scrapped it and started over, and it went easily and finished well. On another mystery, when I came back to it after a layoff, I realized I hated and did not need a subplot I'd created. Tossing that cost me 20% of the book and several suspects, and good riddance.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 11:09 AM (c6xtn)

436 I wonder why films haven't been made about Acts

I think someone could do a magnificent long form series on Prime or something of the Bible. Don't mess with it, don't reinterpret it, just treat the text as a work of fiction, and stay as absolutely true to the text as possible. In other words, don't make it like the movie Noah (groan), or take out the supernatural bits, or reimagine David as a black lesbian, just take the story as is. Go through it the whole way, through Acts.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:10 AM (KZzsI)

437 Now there is a reading list: Idi Amin's bedside books.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at January 23, 2022 10:25 AM (Dc2NZ)

Very helpful! I especially liked "Accidents, How To Use To Eliminate Opponents".

Car crashes, walks in the park, airplane crashes, the works.

Thanks Idi!

Posted by: Hillary Clinton, leaving bodies in her wake at January 23, 2022 11:10 AM (R/m4+)

438 405 I am currently reading "Like I was sayin'..."by Mike Royko.

Memba him ?
Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 11:00 AM (arJlL)

Hi, JT! Imagine what Royko would have to say about Lori Lighthead.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at January 23, 2022 11:10 AM (HabA/)

439 Like I Was Sayin'..."A selection of one hundred of Royko's columns, from the last twenty years, includes lampoons of newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch and Ronald Reagan and portraits and anecdotes about Chicago and its inhabitants"

Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 11:10 AM (V13WU)

440 The idea was to avoid comforting your infants and children with as little physical contact as possible.
----
Hmmm. I wonder if there is any connection with the mask mania going on right now...nah...I must be paranoid!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 11:11 AM (K5n5d)

441 I just saw some ancient TV show (I have antenna) -- dreadful music, couldn't even follow any plot, and I think there was a 'Hawaiian' by that name. It was awful.
Posted by: mustbequantum

There was a show named Hawaiian Eye. I barely remember it but it was a private eye show. It says it had Connie Stevens in it so how bad could it be?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter 2022 at January 23, 2022 11:11 AM (FVME7)

442 Well, time to wander. Church is in the offing.

Later!

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at January 23, 2022 11:11 AM (5pTK/)

443 mustbequantum

That would probably be Hawaiian Eye -- think Robert Conrad got his start there, but I could be wrong.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 23, 2022 11:11 AM (JzDjf)

444 I just saw some ancient TV show (I have antenna) -- dreadful music, couldn't even follow any plot, and I think there was a 'Hawaiian' by that name. It was awful.
Posted by: mustbequantum

Hawaiian Eye

Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 11:12 AM (arJlL)

445
I just saw some ancient TV show (I have antenna) -- dreadful music, couldn't even follow any plot, and I think there was a 'Hawaiian' by that name. It was awful.
Posted by: mustbequantum at January 23, 2022

***
Hawaiian Eye, one of ABC's late '50s-early '60s same-universe detective shows like 77 Sunset Strip. Eye featured the early Robert Conrad, so that's eye candy for the 'ette viewers.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 11:12 AM (c6xtn)

446 Hiya Donna of the Ampersands !

Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 11:12 AM (arJlL)

447 It's been awhile since I read the Clavell books but I remember feeling like I was there his descriptions of the settings was so perfect.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at January 23, 2022 11:12 AM (Y+l9t)

448 Hmmm. I wonder if there is any connection with the mask mania going on right now...nah...I must be paranoid!
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel

The eternal question, are we too paranoid or not paranoid enough?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter 2022 at January 23, 2022 11:12 AM (FVME7)

449 There has been a tremendous amount of terrible television over the years

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:12 AM (KZzsI)

450 I used to use Open Office to write, standard 8.5x11 format for the first draft.

When finished, do spellcheck and on-screen edit.

Then print, and do hard-copy edit. Send to test-reader(s).

Review their edits, do another hard-copy edit, and format for printing using Amazon's MS Word template.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 10:59 AM (llXky)

That's what I use, but my very helpful reader/editor wants triple spaced and my free version doesn't allow it. Makes it a bit hard to go back and add an extra line to every double space....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 11:12 AM (7bRMQ)

451 I finished reading the Bible through the other night. Getting through Leviticus was tough; OTOH, I wonder why films haven't been made about Acts - you have a stoning, jailbreaks, a shipwreck, and a guy falling out of the window!

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at January 23, 2022 11:06 AM (HabA/)
---
I'm listening to a podcast (Bad Books of the Bible) that is going through 1 Maccabees and the presenters (correctly) observe that this could easily be made into a Ridley Scott/Mel Gibson screen epic.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 11:13 AM (llXky)

452 I've given up on my former favorite author , Steven Pressfield. His latest , A Man at Arms was a well written and easy flowing read as usual for his novels but it was a woke girlz power book to go along with his prior work which was a woke climate change book. And both had crappy endings.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at January 23, 2022 11:13 AM (z8oRC)

453 Hi, JT! Imagine what Royko would have to say about Lori Lighthead.
Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V

LOL !!!

Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 11:13 AM (arJlL)

454 Connie Stevens in Hawaiian Eye -- I remember her!

I don't know if that was Conrad's start, but it was one of his earliest featured/star roles. He played a part-Hawaiian detective, Tom Lopaka, I think? (Don't ask me how I remember these things. TV Guide was my road map to TV when I was a kid.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 11:13 AM (c6xtn)

455 I love Leviticus. Weird, I know. I agree - Acts would make a fine mini-series.
Posted by: grammie winger at January 23, 2022 11:09 AM (45fpk)

It's a project for Dallas Jenkins! I think Paul would be a role any actor would relish - devoted and passionate, but also someone who must have driven even friends crazy from time to time. I get the idea the guy just couldn't shut up.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at January 23, 2022 11:15 AM (HabA/)

456 I've given up on my former favorite author , Steven Pressfield.

Yeah he's really hit and miss and lately its been all miss. I liked a couple of his books, but Amazons was terrible and I just gave up on the dude as well.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:15 AM (KZzsI)

457 It's been awhile since I read the Clavell books but I remember feeling like I was there his descriptions of the settings was so perfect.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at January 23, 2022

***
The scene in the TV miniseries of Shogun where the female lead comes to the male character and seduces him in the dark . . . It, shall we say, inspired the future Mrs. Wolfus No. 2 to do something similar with me. TMI -- but I will always think fondly of that novel and series. . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 11:16 AM (c6xtn)

458 84 Yesterday I went down to my local Barnes & Noble, after a couple of weeks of being bombarded with emails promoting their BIG SALE! I walked around the store, looked at the sections for the stuff I like best . . . got a coffee and left. No books.

There's just nothing being published that I want to read. Paranoid Leftist fantasies, victimhood masturbation novels, and crap churned out by people who are published because of their skin tone and perversions.

B&N seems to sense it, too. Half the store is devoted to other stuff: toys, games, videos, greeting cards, Starbux. I'm guessing that floor space is a rough measure of what brings in the sales.
Posted by: Trimegistus at January 23, 2022 09:28 AM (QZxDR)

You too? I have bought one book from B&N the past year: the 2022 World Almanac. This is a traditional buy ever since I got a World Almanac from my fourth-grade class's book order (cough) years ago.

Posted by: Snake Spirit at January 23, 2022 11:16 AM (CdZ4i)

459 Clavell is a master at writing a page turner.

Posted by: Head puddi at January 23, 2022 11:16 AM (xMh1R)

460 Back in the day , some journalists were Journalists, exceptional writers. Like David Simon of Baltimore Sun.

Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 11:16 AM (V13WU)

461 Does anyone remember Patrick McManus from Field & Stream magazine? His bits in there were great, lots of fun.

-
He also wrote the Sheriff Bo Tully Bight County mystery series.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter 2022 at January 23, 2022 11:17 AM (FVME7)

462 I can only imagine the anxiety level in there with all those fat people snd the empty shelves.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at January 23, 2022 11:03 AM (VxC1e)
---
Ace's shelves would induce outright panic, if not total madness. It's the non-Euclidean geometry and ancient Cyclopean masonry, you see.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 11:17 AM (llXky)

463 439 Like I Was Sayin'..."A selection of one hundred of Royko's columns, from the last twenty years, includes lampoons of newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch and Ronald Reagan and portraits and anecdotes about Chicago and its inhabitants"
Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 11:10 AM (V13WU)

Royko was wrong; ketchup DOES go on hot dogs.

Posted by: Snake Spirit at January 23, 2022 11:18 AM (CdZ4i)

464 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 11:05 AM (llXky)

Yeah, I started two SF stories, but ended up deleting them. Didn't like what I'd done, probably not my field anyway. My "completed" story and all my other partial stuff are westerns.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 11:18 AM (7bRMQ)

465 Wolfus,

Yep, Tom Lopaka -- I don't know how I remember some of this stuff either, especially when I think of the stuff I should remember far more clearly than I do. Beginning to think that I might be getting old...naaaahhhh.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 23, 2022 11:18 AM (JzDjf)

466 I love Leviticus. Weird, I know. I agree - Acts would make a fine mini-series.
Posted by: grammie winger at January 23, 2022 11:09 AM (45fpk)

Im re-listening to Bible in a Year and am back to Leviticus (spliced in with portions of Exodus and Psalms). last time I was lost even though I did some side reading on the sacrificial offerings. This time Im listening for analogies to today's TFM and it makes more sense. Acts was awesome.

Posted by: LASue at January 23, 2022 11:19 AM (Ed8Zd)

467 Ah, hell. So sorry for your loss, Doof. You a d your family will be in my prayers. May her memory be eternal.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at January 23, 2022 11:19 AM (bnvuO)

468 That's what got me hooked on the Dwell app. One of the readers, Christopher, does it like a dramatic reading. It's KJ version and his British accent helps too. When he reads the boring, tepetitive genealogies, you realize it was written like that to add in memorization.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 23, 2022 11:19 AM (YynYJ)

469 --
Ace's shelves would induce outright panic, if not total madness. It's the non-Euclidean geometry and ancient Cyclopean masonry, you see.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022

***
Non-Euclidean? Like the view of reality in Kuttner and Moore's "Mimsy Were the Borogoves"?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 11:19 AM (c6xtn)

470 462 Lovecraft enters the thread. Thank you, AH Lloyd.

Posted by: callsign claymore at January 23, 2022 11:20 AM (rFSdo)

471 There's just nothing being published that I want to read. Paranoid Leftist fantasies, victimhood masturbation novels, and crap churned out by people who are published because of their skin tone and perversions.

I've mentioned it here before but I am on a mailing list that tells of low-cost ebooks that are out. Every rarely so often I find a gem on there, or a promotion of a good book I've been considering but didn't want to pay that much for.

But most of it falls into 3 categories of crap:
1) Girl goes back in time to hunky mens
2) Dan brown conspiracy story junk
3) Girl detective from big city goes back to home town and finds terrible mystery there about her past

Literally those three basic plots are churned over again and again and again. Its so sad.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:20 AM (KZzsI)

472 I cans totally see fedoras, smoke filled rooms, meeting with sources in alleys and warehouses. In Royko's case it was in the original Billy Goat tavern.

Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 11:20 AM (V13WU)

473 * I can

Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 11:20 AM (V13WU)

474 I wonder why romance is the last genre to succumb...(assuming that's the case--these days I go with the expectation that EVERY genre has been compromised by the woke mob).
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel

Turns out romance - the concept of true love conquers all -is an inherently conservative ideal

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 23, 2022 11:20 AM (lCui1)

475 So-called science fiction readers who don't understand what the genre really represents have no business calling themselves "fans" because that's not who they are.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 09:29 AM (K5n5d)

Arguments about New Wave science fiction used to be the big debate. Now that there is almost no shouting going on about it (and because I am always late to the party), my position is that the split is between the traditional view of how mankind explores and exploits the universe through technology, engineering and guts versus the New Wave view of how the universe and technology change mankind.

Although most wokish actions are to destroy competition to secure status, a lot of the fiction itself seems to retreat away from the big questions and define allowable opinions. So it becomes a form of propaganda instead f literature. Which is probably why I find it so dull and repulsive.

Posted by: Kindltot at January 23, 2022 11:21 AM (ZMraq)

476 You too? I have bought one book from B&N the past year: the 2022 World Almanac. This is a traditional buy ever since I got a World Almanac from my fourth-grade class's book order (cough) years ago.

Posted by: Snake Spirit at January 23, 2022 11:16 AM (CdZ4i)
---
I'm noticing lots of gaming books and anime in the local retailers. Time was, you only found that in hobby or comics stores, never in "legit" books stores.

I wonder how much of the "sexuality" section (which is quite spacious these days) actually sells.

I mean, how many variations of "homosexuality is totally legit, healthy and not wrong" do you need to read?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 11:21 AM (llXky)

477 Royko was wrong; ketchup DOES go on hot dogs.
Posted by: Snake Spirit at January 23, 2022 11:18 AM (CdZ4i)

I won't argue with that

Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 11:21 AM (V13WU)

478 I love Leviticus. Weird, I know. I agree - Acts would make a fine mini-series.
Posted by: grammie winger at January 23, 2022 11:09 AM (45fpk)

Acts is partially what A Man at Arms is. A side story about the letters from Paul being distributed.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at January 23, 2022 11:22 AM (z8oRC)

479 You too? I have bought one book from B&N the past year: the 2022 World Almanac. This is a traditional buy ever since I got a World Almanac from my fourth-grade class's book order (cough) years ago.
Posted by: Snake Spirit at January 23, 2022 11:16 AM

Sarah Hoyt strongly recommended the novel "Cloud-Castles." I didn't want to use Amazon, but had no choice. B&N doesn't have it; in fact, the author is found only in an anthology, despite having written multiple books.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at January 23, 2022 11:22 AM (/+bwe)

480 Like I Was Sayin'..."A selection of one hundred of Royko's columns
=====

Okay, I'll bite the bullet and mention another really able Chicago columnist: Studs Turkel.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 23, 2022 11:22 AM (MIKMs)

481 I remember my 12th grade English teacher insisting on double spaces after a period. All those standards have been lost in time... like tears in rain...

Posted by: Count de Monet, Loiter-Sack Muck-Spout at January 23, 2022 11:22 AM (4I/2K)

482 I love Leviticus. Weird, I know. I agree - Acts would make a fine mini-series.

Posted by: grammie winger at January 23, 2022 11:09 AM (45fpk)

Grammie, wasn't that the basis for the "Peter & Paul" miniseries of a couple decades ago?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 11:22 AM (7bRMQ)

483 All Hail Eris, thank you for the book thread. Beautiful tribute and a great post. I don't know why I love the pants joke so much but I do look forward to the latest fashions. LoL.

Posted by: Iris at January 23, 2022 11:23 AM (6lKe4)

484 Yeah, I started two SF stories, but ended up deleting them. Didn't like what I'd done, probably not my field anyway. My "completed" story and all my other partial stuff are westerns.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022

***
The Western is an under-appreciated genre. There are a few authors still doing great work in it, like Loren D. Estleman, and Elmore Leonard began his career there. But as with SF and mystery, the intelligentsia unfairly critique the Western by the *worst* examples of its genre, instead of by the best like Shane and "Sergeant Houck," Hombre, Hondo, etc.

The hardboiled crime story and the Western have much in common, and authors who do well in one often move easily into the other.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 11:23 AM (c6xtn)

485 Does anyone remember Patrick McManus from Field & Stream magazine? His bits in there were great, lots of fun.

He wrote a series of mysteries, and I tried one. They're terrible. Lousy writing, confusing, inconsistent, things just appear out of nowhere, its just awful stuff.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:04 AM

I have a number of collections made up of the stories that Patrick F. McManus wrote for Field and Stream. Recommended by my mother, actually.

Posted by: Cybersmythe - SE Texas MiniMoMe March 26 at January 23, 2022 11:24 AM (ezpv1)

486 Still working through The Bible cover to cover on a year's journey. I am behind the pace.

I was surprised how much of our "Bible stories" are in Genesis. Also surprised at how little we hear in church about the Old Testament. Sure, it is mostly "superseded" by the NT but it lays the groundwork.

Posted by: blaster at January 23, 2022 11:24 AM (9otr5)

487 1) Girl goes back in time to hunky mens
2) Dan brown conspiracy story junk
3) Girl detective from big city goes back to home town and finds terrible mystery there about her past

Literally those three basic plots are churned over again and again and again. Its so sad.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:20 AM (KZzsI)
---
Don't forget all the girls are stunning and also brave.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 11:24 AM (llXky)

488 I've rarely heard anyone here talk about Stephen Hunter. He has some great page turners .

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at January 23, 2022 11:25 AM (z8oRC)

489 Okay, I'll bite the bullet and mention another really able Chicago columnist: Studs Turkel.

Posted by: mustbequantum at January 23, 2022 11:22 AM (MIKMs)

Hemingway was sort of a columnist too...

Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 11:26 AM (V13WU)

490 1) Girl goes back in time to hunky mens
2) Dan brown conspiracy story junk
3) Girl detective from big city goes back to home town and finds terrible mystery there about her past

Literally those three basic plots are churned over again and again and again. Its so sad.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:20 AM (KZzsI)
---
Don't forget all the girls are stunning and also brave.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 11:24 AM (llXky)

Also plucky and full of gumption.

Posted by: Count de Monet, Loiter-Sack Muck-Spout at January 23, 2022 11:26 AM (4I/2K)

491 Good morning Hordemates.I would not want to be wearing them pants if I fell overboard. I'd be floating upside down.

Posted by: Diogenes at January 23, 2022 11:26 AM (axyOa)

492 Posted by: Trimegistus at January 23, 2022 09:28 AM (QZxDR)

You too? I have bought one book from B&N the past year: the 2022 World Almanac. This is a traditional buy ever since I got a World Almanac from my fourth-grade class's book order (cough) years ago.
Posted by: Snake Spirit at January 23, 2022 11:16 AM (CdZ4i)

I drive past the B and N here every few days. Since I moved here, I've never gone in. Have been at one of the used book stores several times. The authors whose books I wait for, I have made the habit of buying them on Amazon, so it boosts their sales figures there.

Honestly, I'm not sure what the purpose of a brick and mortar book store is anymore.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 23, 2022 11:26 AM (4GFH7)

493 As far as I can tell, the origins of the single space after the period comes from early computing. It sounds silly now, but back in 1980 when 2k was a huge amount of memory, every single bit counted, so removing that extra space meant memory savings in text documents. For some reason, it stuck way beyond when that mattered.

Having two spaces after the end of a sentence is a major visual cue that you've come to the end, which helps process the sentence. A lot of English grammar is packed into the end of the sentence, making sense of what is being said and how the word order works. Making that unclear... is unhelpful.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:27 AM (KZzsI)

494 Yeah, I started two SF stories, but ended up deleting them. Didn't like what I'd done, probably not my field anyway. My "completed" story and all my other partial stuff are westerns.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 11:18 AM (7bRMQ)
---
I have yet to write anything in the fantasy genre. Tried many times, but nothing ever works, so I go do something else.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 11:27 AM (llXky)

495 Literally talking out loud to himself?

-
Hamlet did that and look what happened to him!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter 2022 at January 23, 2022 11:27 AM (FVME7)

496 I've rarely heard anyone here talk about Stephen Hunter. He has some great page turners .
Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at January 23, 2022

***
His first, The Master Sniper, used a technique (new to me at the time) of one-line scenes at the climax.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 11:27 AM (c6xtn)

497 I have a quandary with Sci-fi. It annoys me that most modern sci-fi seems inwardly turned and more about the environment or some other Lefty cause.

And yet I really like William Gibson. Cyberpunk is perhaps one of the turning points of the genre.

Posted by: blaster at January 23, 2022 11:28 AM (9otr5)

498 Well, I need to seize the day as well. Thanks for the book thread.

Posted by: runner at January 23, 2022 11:28 AM (V13WU)

499 Would totally wear those pants whilst reading A Series of Unfortunate Events !

Posted by: March Hare at January 23, 2022 11:28 AM (lwrAe)

500 First of all, profuse thanks to Eris for bringing us this thread. Were it absent, the blow of losing Muse would have been even more acute. We have learned this week that beside the number of usual and familiar devotees, a large number of lurkers are readers of the Book Thread.

It's been a rough year. My awareness of the role that gratitude for simple things plays in our lives, or least my own life, has been sharpened considerably. There's been a lot of mourning, I'm afraid. It's difficult to separate grief from self-pity, They are at least closely related, and perhaps justifiably so. (cont'd)

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 23, 2022 11:28 AM (9Fwwf)

501 I mean, how many variations of "homosexuality is totally legit, healthy and not wrong" do you need to read?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 11:21 AM (llXky)

As many as it takes for the world to bow down to it!!!

Posted by: GloboHomo at January 23, 2022 11:28 AM (7bRMQ)

502 Don't forget all the girls are stunning and also brave.

Oh yes. About 90% of the books are featuring female protagonists. Even if there's a guy, he's partnered with a female. Most of the authors are women as well.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:29 AM (KZzsI)

503 Honestly, I'm not sure what the purpose of a brick and mortar book store is anymore.
Posted by: BurtTC

Small businesses are going belly up around here at an alarming rate !

Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 11:29 AM (arJlL)

504 As I mentioned in the Other McCain post about his passing, I'd like to honor him you book recommendations: This week's, the Skaith Trilogy by Leigh Brackett.

Book 1: The Ginger Star
Book 2: The Hounds of Skaith
Book 3: The Reavers of Skaith

Basically, think Conan the Barbarian vs the Space Hippies, set on Hoth, as Hoth should have been.

Posted by: Voyager at January 23, 2022 11:30 AM (u5PZm)

505 Having two spaces after the end of a sentence is a major visual cue that you've come to the end, which helps process the sentence. A lot of English grammar is packed into the end of the sentence, making sense of what is being said and how the word order works. Making that unclear... is unhelpful.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:27 AM

Preach, it brother!

Posted by: Cybersmythe - SE Texas MiniMoMe March 26 at January 23, 2022 11:31 AM (ezpv1)

506 Literally those three basic plots are churned over again and again and again. Its so sad.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:20 AM (KZzsI)

Which is not worse than movies. Honestly, who greenlit that stupid female action movie? A white chick, a brown chick, a yellow chick, a black chick go to London, Paris, and Shanghai, to thwart the evil patriarchy.

On the other hand, I guess it's nice that middle aged hotties like Diane Kruger and Penelope Cruz can still find work.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 23, 2022 11:31 AM (4GFH7)

507 I just tried to read The Signal. A Sci-Fi styled book. I gave it a hundred pages. Enough. Boring. Skipped to the last ten pages. That was all I needed. Sigh.

Posted by: Diogenes at January 23, 2022 11:31 AM (axyOa)

508 IDon't forget all the girls are stunning and also brave.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022
*
Also plucky and full of gumption.
Posted by: Count de Monet, Loiter-Sack Muck-Spout at January 23, 2022

***
I don't mind plucky and full of gumption, as long as the female character has other qualities like the ability to doubt herself and feel fear, narrates the story engagingly, and -- most important -- the author treats men as real men and not as paper-thin goofballs or monsters. I like Anne Rivers Siddons' books, for instance, and Anne Tyler's. They play fair with the characters and with us.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 11:31 AM (c6xtn)

509 A guy I know who is a NYT best selling author says 65% of fiction books are purchased by women.

He was totally mercenary in his promotion of strong women characters. He wasn't trying to promote some agenda he was looking to make money.

Posted by: blaster at January 23, 2022 11:31 AM (9otr5)

510 I was surprised how much of our "Bible stories" are in Genesis. Also surprised at how little we hear in church about the Old Testament. Sure, it is mostly "superseded" by the NT but it lays the groundwork.

Posted by: blaster at January 23, 2022 11:24 AM (9otr5)
---
Something I'm learning a lot more about lately is Bible study, specifically the wildly different approaches to it. I'm finding that Catholics and Orthodox read their bibles differently than Protestants and they include different books.

I was vaguely aware of this before, but I think a lot of the division is explained by this as well as the use of non-canonical (but still important) books like 1 Enoch, which is quoted in the Bible, but only the Ethiopian Church considers it to be canonical.

BTW, I don't know how anyone can read Maccabees and endorse pacifism.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 11:32 AM (llXky)

511 I was surprised how much of our "Bible stories" are in Genesis. Also surprised at how little we hear in church about the Old Testament. Sure, it is mostly "superseded" by the NT but it lays the groundwork.
Posted by: blaster at January 23, 2022 11:24 AM (9otr5)

---------

Christianity's relationship with the Old Testament has always been iffy at best.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at January 23, 2022 11:32 AM (VxC1e)

512 Don't forget all the girls are stunning and also brave.

Oh yes. About 90% of the books are featuring female protagonists. Even if there's a guy, he's partnered with a female. Most of the authors are women as well.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022

***
Which is why I dodge most books written since about 2000, unless I know the author's work is not like that. Maybe even earlier.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 11:33 AM (c6xtn)

513 Awww damn. Just read it upthread.
Prayers for you Doof.

Posted by: Diogenes at January 23, 2022 11:33 AM (axyOa)

514 Good sci fi is at least partly cautionary. Its an examination of an idea and its consequences: what if this happened, how would that work out?

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:33 AM (KZzsI)

515 (cont'd)
At any rate, not long ago, one of the Cobs posted a quote from Washington Irving. I now have a printed copy that I carry in my wallet:

"There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love."

And, some Walt Whitman:

"And you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence are more to me, and more in my meditations, than you might suppose."

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 23, 2022 11:34 AM (vOGqy)

516 Here is an article about the book teaching mothers how to raise children the Nazi way.

https://bit.ly/3IrGwhm

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter 2022 at January 23, 2022 11:34 AM (FVME7)

517 476. I suspect they sell well. People seek approbation, especially for choices they, themselves, question. They want to believe that they can indulge in anything that " feels good " and be normal, moral, and right. This goes for more than ghey stuff, they want to justify adultery, promiscuous behavior with no concern for the partner, and whatever other novelty they desire...the sadomasochism in 50 Shades, is a good example.

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 11:34 AM (ONvIw)

518 His first, The Master Sniper, used a technique (new to me at the time) of one-line scenes at the climax.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 11:27 AM (c6xtn)

Point of Impact probably his best but probably the worst book to movie I've ever seen. I also liked Dirty White Boys which was the first Hunter book I read.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at January 23, 2022 11:34 AM (z8oRC)

519 Perfect library pic for the occasion in my view.

Posted by: Javems at January 23, 2022 11:34 AM (AmoqO)

520 Still reading "Founding Gardeners" by Andrea Wulf using my highlighter to mark things of interest, while also reading my latest book, "A Rich Spot Of Earth": Thomas Jefferson's Revolutionary Garden At Monticello
by Peter J. Hatch to go along with it.

I just love both books (and Thomas Jefferson and gardening!)

Posted by: Bonnie Blue - says FU at January 23, 2022 11:35 AM (hlxe7)

521 Christianity has more in common with the Avesta than the OT.

Posted by: Head puddi at January 23, 2022 11:35 AM (xMh1R)

522 Just to be clear, Anne McCaffrey was NOT AT ALL like Marion Zimmer Bradley. I was at the Nebula dinner when she got her Grand Master award. She brought along her whole big Irish family and they were drinking toasts to departed Marines the whole time. A very sweet bunch.

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 23, 2022 11:35 AM (QZxDR)

523 Having two spaces after the end of a sentence is a major visual cue that you've come to the end, which helps process the sentence. A lot of English grammar is packed into the end of the sentence, making sense of what is being said and how the word order works. Making that unclear... is unhelpful.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:27 AM (KZzsI)
---
On a conference call someone informed us that we were only to use 1 space after a period because advances in font technology made it unnecessary and those of use who learned to double-tap the space bar needed to get with the times.

I will continue to ignore him.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 11:35 AM (llXky)

524 513 Awww damn. Just read it upthread.
Prayers for you Doof.
Posted by: Diogenes at January 23, 2022 11:33 AM (axyOa)

---------

Just saw it too. How tragic. She was so young.

Unreal.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at January 23, 2022 11:35 AM (VxC1e)

525 That was beautiful Hammer.

Posted by: Infidel at January 23, 2022 11:36 AM (qpolg)

526 I'm gonna go read some Royko.

Have a great one, Bookies !

Until next week !

Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 11:36 AM (arJlL)

527 I think women protagonists are best in creepy crime novels. They lend to the vulnerability one needs to make the story as creepy as it can be.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at January 23, 2022 11:38 AM (z8oRC)

528 Space Bar Nazis.
I laughed

Posted by: torabora at January 23, 2022 11:38 AM (YdnVw)

529 Fulfilling a promise to lurk less on my favorite threads..

Finishing up Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking. Just beginning Andrew Hodges's book/doorstop on Alan Turing.

Off to church. So much to pray for...

Posted by: Joe Kidd at January 23, 2022 11:38 AM (RMN7W)

530 Rereading the Harry Potter series just because. Lord knows I have enough new books in my queue but I guess I needed a little escape from reality with. Harry and his friends.

And thank you Eris for stepping up and continuing this worthy thread. OM would be proud I'm sure.

Posted by: Tuna at January 23, 2022 11:39 AM (gLRfa)

531 Christianity's relationship with the Old Testament has always been iffy at best.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at January 23, 2022 11:32 AM (VxC1e)
---
Check out Brant Pitre's Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary and also Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 11:39 AM (llXky)

532 Just to be clear, Anne McCaffrey was NOT AT ALL like Marion Zimmer Bradley. I was at the Nebula dinner when she got her Grand Master award. She brought along her whole big Irish family and they were drinking toasts to departed Marines the whole time. A very sweet bunch.

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 23, 2022 11:35 AM (QZxDR)
---
The spirited defense of Anne McCaffrey is heart-warming.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 11:41 AM (llXky)

533 My mother's retirement home has a great library. I very large selection of large print books also. She's read more in the last 4 months than she had in the previous 4 years.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at January 23, 2022 11:41 AM (z8oRC)

534 Doof, very sorry for your loss.

All the best to OMs friends and family. Rough week all around.

I made the journey to a B&N in deepest Karenton, northern Chicago suburbs, yesterday. Mrs Meanie did her book flipping and I gathered a few titles that I will purchase elsewhere. Cannot wait for the books critical of Brandon 33% to start appearing on the shelves.

Posted by: Big Fat Meanie at January 23, 2022 11:41 AM (Qzatw)

535 By the way, learning that David Eddings is a perv has convinced me not to re-read his mediocre Belgariad/Malleroaonean whatever books.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 11:42 AM (llXky)

536 Nicely done Eris. Missing OM this morning but you are filling in perfectly.

Posted by: Jewells45 deplorablethug#FJB at January 23, 2022 09:19 AM (nxdel)

This...totally this. Seriously great job.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at January 23, 2022 11:42 AM (VwHCD)

537 Nicely done Eris. Missing OM this morning but you are filling in perfectly.

Posted by: Jewells45 deplorablethug#FJB at January 23, 2022 09:19 AM (nxdel)

This...totally this. Seriously great job.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at January 23, 2022 11:42 AM (VwHCD)
---
Truly! For the next MiMoMe we need to present her with a wardrobe of objectionable pants to express our gratitude.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 11:44 AM (llXky)

538 On a conference call someone informed us that we were only to use 1 space after a period because advances in font technology made it unnecessary and those of use who learned to double-tap the space bar needed to get with the times.

I will continue to ignore him.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022

***
As will I. If technology can handle it, extracting the extra space (as the blog here does), why do I need to change decades of training?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 11:44 AM (c6xtn)

539 Good sci fi is at least partly cautionary. Its an examination of an idea and its consequences: what if this happened, how would that work out?
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:33 AM (KZzsI)

I agree. And it's fun to follow the concept. But sometimes it is boring. Or, and I freely admit this, if it takes so long for an idiot like me to figure it out, I'm moving to something else.

Posted by: Diogenes at January 23, 2022 11:44 AM (axyOa)

540 Thanks Eris. You are doing a wonderful job.

Posted by: Muad'dib at January 23, 2022 11:44 AM (ikXZL)

541 I'm glad to hear that some retirement home somewhere actually has a good library. All the ones I've seen were utterly dismal. A dozen Readers' Digest Condensed Books and a few copies of last year's trashy bestsellers.

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 23, 2022 11:45 AM (QZxDR)

542 SciFi is my least favorite genre. Which is weird because Armor is in my top five books.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at January 23, 2022 11:45 AM (z8oRC)

543 511 I was surprised how much of our "Bible stories" are in Genesis. Also surprised at how little we hear in church about the Old Testament. Sure, it is mostly "superseded" by the NT but it lays the groundwork.
Posted by: blaster at January 23, 2022 11:24 AM (9otr5)
---------
Christianity's relationship with the Old Testament has always been iffy at best.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at January 23, 2022 11:32 AM (VxC1e)

There's quite a bit of difference in the various denominations. Generally (and of course individual churches and pastors vary inside denominations) old style Lutherans and Southern Baptists pay a great deal of attention to the OT, because of their belief that ALL of it is the direct Word of God. Methodists, Episcopals, and most of the churches with far less structure pay far less attention to it. It's now a matter of style and tradition for them as much as anything.

One of the greatest compliments I've had was from an Orthodox Jewish friend who I used to talk with regularly; and he commented that I had as much knowledge of the OT as any of the Orthodox he'd met.

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 23, 2022 11:45 AM (evAgx)

544 on Catcher in the Rye

I finally read that when I was about 40 years old, and I had no patience for that poor little rich boy.
Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs!

My experience exactly.

Posted by: who knew at January 23, 2022 11:46 AM (4I7VG)

545 There was a Let's Go Brandon flag at the March For Life as well as a Trump 2024. So there's that.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at January 23, 2022 11:46 AM (jYQlA)

546 The link, up above, to a critique of science fiction fandom plus certain comments about the denizens here have inspired some thoughts. Thoughts that I feel compelled to inflict upon you.

There used to be a saying "All knowledge is contained in fandom." A convention was a place you could run into and have an extended conversation with someone who was an explosives researcher and think nothing of it. It was a special place to be, not because we thought we were better than the rest of the world, but because we were among our people.

This place is like that, in every way possible. There are experts here in all kinds of things. Further, the residents here value real expertise and people who can do things. When we talk among ourselves, we are speaking to those who truly understand us. It's like the family that you should have instead of the family you got. It is truly a wonderful thing.

Posted by: Cybersmythe - SE Texas MiniMoMe March 26 at January 23, 2022 11:46 AM (ezpv1)

547 @405 --

Oh, yes. Loved Royko.

Still wonder what he would have thought about Clinton-Lewinsky.

I had a copy of his "Boss," which I lent to my mother-in-law, who grew up in the Chicago suburbs. She still has it.

On the other hand, I still have her copy of "Wiseguy."

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 23, 2022 11:47 AM (Om/di)

548 I'm so very thankful you've continued the Book Thread! I'll find my place and be lurking around.

Posted by: David Fowler at January 23, 2022 11:47 AM (Ses2q)

549 I agree. And it's fun to follow the concept. But sometimes it is boring. Or, and I freely admit this, if it takes so long for an idiot like me to figure it out, I'm moving to something else.
Posted by: Diogenes at January 23, 2022 11:44 AM (axyOa)

When a piece is written badly, it's boring. No matter the genre.

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 23, 2022 11:48 AM (evAgx)

550 Loved the Clavell books when I read them in the 70s and 80s.

Posted by: Azjaeger at January 23, 2022 11:48 AM (3/XaG)

551 Posted by: Tom Servo at January 23, 2022 11:45 AM (evAgx)

I've always paid attention to the OT because Jesus referred to it often but also with many disclaimers.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at January 23, 2022 11:49 AM (z8oRC)

552 Good sci fi is at least partly cautionary. Its an examination of an idea and its consequences: what if this happened, how would that work out?
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

I'm enjoying rereading David Sherman's Demontech series. kind of a cross between sci-fi and fantasy, with Marines winning the day.

link goes to the goodreads series page for Demontech.
https://is.gd/AssakM

Posted by: BifBewalski @ (IJES/) - at January 23, 2022 11:49 AM (IJES/)

553 Loved the Clavell books when I read them in the 70s and 80s.
Posted by: Azjaeger at January 23, 2022 11:48 AM (3/XaG

Did you ever read King Rat?

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at January 23, 2022 11:49 AM (z8oRC)

554 Christopher. Hubby NEC doesn't care about anything computer related and he uses the double space after a period. He either learned it in the dark ages of school or in business writing.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at January 23, 2022 11:50 AM (2NHgQ)

555 Thanks again. Eris, for your marvelous work.

Posted by: CN at January 23, 2022 11:50 AM (ONvIw)

556 As always, in the bleak winter of the Midwest, stacks o'books are an efficient insulation. Accumulate over the nice weather, use over the harsh winters like any other energy source.
Posted by: mustbequantum at January 23, 2022 10:14 AM (MIKMs)

I am thinking of imbuing my books with Cadmium . . . Just in case.

Posted by: Kindltot at January 23, 2022 11:51 AM (ZMraq)

557 555 ditto. Thank you, AHE

Posted by: callsign claymore at January 23, 2022 11:51 AM (rFSdo)

558 By the way, learning that David Eddings is a perv has convinced me not to re-read his mediocre Belgariad/Malleroaonean whatever books.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd
---
What?? What did he do???

Posted by: lin-duh at January 23, 2022 11:51 AM (UUBmN)

559 Catcher in the Rye

I finally read that when I was about 40 years old, and I had no patience for that poor little rich boy.
Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs!

***
Holden needed a good 12-step program.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 11:52 AM (c6xtn)

560 What?? What did he do???

Posted by: lin-duh at January 23, 2022 11:51 AM (UUBmN)
---
Child abuse.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 11:54 AM (llXky)

561 545

___

Yeah we know.
-FBI, DOJ, ATF, CIA, NSA

Posted by: Joe XiDen - I miss Delta Variant at January 23, 2022 11:54 AM (HDEhp)

562 @425 --

Sharon, try ordering the script for an actual children's play. I'm sure the publishers have websites.

Scripts are fun to read. "The Front Page" had lines that never made it into any of the movies.

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 23, 2022 11:55 AM (Om/di)

563
Scripts are fun to read. "The Front Page" had lines that never made it into any of the movies.
Posted by: Weak Geek at January 23, 2022

***
As did Simon's The Odd Couple, I think. A lot of his plays are fun to read.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 11:56 AM (c6xtn)

564 I've always paid attention to the OT because Jesus referred to it often but also with many disclaimers.
Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at January 23, 2022 11:49 AM (z8oRC)

His biggest criticisms were always that the religious leadership of his day was hyper-vigilant about following the literal letter of the Law, while completely ignoring the Spirit of the Law.

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 23, 2022 11:56 AM (evAgx)

565 There's quite a bit of difference in the various denominations.

---------

Which stems from the fact that there was never any universally accepted version of what's colloquially known as the Hebrew Bible. Versions of the Tanakh overlap with versions accepted as the OT by various Christian sects. Then there is the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, which overlaps with versions of the Tanakh.

The provenance of the books considered as Biblical canon is a fascinating but confusing subject.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at January 23, 2022 11:57 AM (VxC1e)

566 That Mark twain house is to die for. 3 Floors of holy shit look at this. The woodwork...damn.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at January 23, 2022 11:58 AM (VwHCD)

567 I'm glad to hear that some retirement home somewhere actually has a good library. All the ones I've seen were utterly dismal. A dozen Readers' Digest Condensed Books and a few copies of last year's trashy bestsellers.
Posted by: Trimegistus at January 23, 2022

***
Same with the book sections of thrift stores. I almost never buy anything from those shelves.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 11:58 AM (c6xtn)

568 Prayers up For Doof and his family.

Posted by: SMH at God's mercy at January 23, 2022 11:58 AM (RU4sa)

569 His biggest criticisms were always that the religious leadership of his day was hyper-vigilant about following the literal letter of the Law, while completely ignoring the Spirit of the Law.

Right. Jesus never disclaimed the Old Testament, his criticism was the way the Pharisees and Sadducees of his day were interpreting it.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:59 AM (KZzsI)

570
Truly! For the next MiMoMe we need to present her with a wardrobe of objectionable pants to express our gratitude.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 23, 2022 11:44 AM

now you've gone and done it...you broke the seal

time to start scheming & planning MiMoMe '22

Posted by: AltonJackson at January 23, 2022 11:59 AM (DUIap)

571 Thanks for all the insights and tips from everyone here. Back later today!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 23, 2022 11:59 AM (7bRMQ)

572 558 By the way, learning that David Eddings is a perv has convinced me not to re-read his mediocre Belgariad/Malleroaonean whatever books.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

Is that the author who spent time in jail (and his wife, too) for physically abusing adopted son and daughter?

I tried reading a couple of Eddings books. One started like a pseudo-Bullfinch's Mythology and I didn't want to work that hard. The other felt like it was the second or third book in a series; too much info-dumping.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at January 23, 2022 11:59 AM (/+bwe)

573 I'm up late this morning. Prayers for Doof and his family.

Posted by: InCali at January 23, 2022 11:59 AM (eFvmN)

574 Remember when magazines were interesting?

Posted by: Head puddi at January 23, 2022 12:00 PM (xMh1R)

575 I like Eddings' fantasy okay, but the Belgariad is the weaker series in my opinion.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 12:00 PM (KZzsI)

576 This has been a hard week--we lost Oregon Muse--and yesterday I had to speak at the memorial service for a friend of some 40 years duration. The good news was that the friend was a very talented person who'd done a lot of good for the community--the bad news--as is the case with Oregon Muse--is that she's gone.

For reading I've been doing Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series straight through. I read it first years ago as the individual volumes (there are 20 of them) came out. This time as I reread it, it's straight through from Master and Commander on--I'm up to The Far Side of The World now which is either the 8th or 9th book in the series. In rereading you get to enjoy some of the humor more--and also the author's musings on the nature of friendship and mutual respect. I'll finish this re reading--then probably do it again five years from now.

Posted by: GlendaleGreybeard at January 23, 2022 12:00 PM (cn6vO)

577 Nood

Posted by: Duke Lowell at January 23, 2022 12:01 PM (eA1RV)

578 Eris has done a fine job. If it is a strain for her to do it every week, though, perhaps we could have a rotating cadre of Book Thread leaders. I'm not suggesting myself, though I'd be glad to contribute stuff to someone else's post.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 12:01 PM (c6xtn)

579 "Remember when magazines were interesting?"

Yep. Used to subscribe to lots of them.

Posted by: Tuna at January 23, 2022 12:01 PM (gLRfa)

580 "I've rarely heard anyone here talk about Stephen Hunter. He has some great page turners ."

Point of Impact is one of my favorites as well.

Movie sucked donkey balls though.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice. Asymptomatic raycist at January 23, 2022 12:02 PM (3D/fK)

581 Read the entire thread
Thank you everyone

Posted by: Skip at January 23, 2022 12:02 PM (2JoB8)

582 Hail, Eris. Well done.

Posted by: GnuBreed at January 23, 2022 12:02 PM (F0YaR)

583 Have a good week, y'all

Posted by: callsign claymore at January 23, 2022 12:02 PM (rFSdo)

584 Nood, um, idiots.

Posted by: Cybersmythe - SE Texas MiniMoMe March 26 at January 23, 2022 12:02 PM (ezpv1)

585 Isn't there a series based on Hunter's books on like Netflix or something right now?

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 12:03 PM (KZzsI)

586 Right. Jesus never disclaimed the Old Testament, his criticism was the way the Pharisees and Sadducees of his day were interpreting it.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:59 AM (KZzsI)

I said disclaimers not that he disclaimed the entire thing. He specifically said that many of the laws were man created laws.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at January 23, 2022 12:03 PM (z8oRC)

587 Remember when magazines were interesting?
Posted by: Head puddi at January 23, 2022

***
People don't believe me, but Playboy used to publish top-notch fiction -- Larry Niven sold a story to them, for instance, and the story "The Fly" by George Langelaan first appeared there. They even serialized Crichton's The Terminal Man in the early '70s.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 12:03 PM (c6xtn)

588 I toured the Twain house when I lived in Connecticut, it was well worth it. My favorite was the crossed pool cues painted on the ceiling of the pool room.

Posted by: who knew at January 23, 2022 12:04 PM (4I7VG)

589 Noodus CBD idiotica

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 12:04 PM (c6xtn)

590 Unlurking at or near the last minute to join the acclamation for Eris. It couldn't have been easy this week, so thank you. As others have said, OM would have loved it.

And prayers for doof, what a terrible loss, and so young.

Posted by: Ex-CopyEditor at January 23, 2022 12:05 PM (FlzJ+)

591 Phrasing is the hardest thing, and it gives a flavor to a piece that is unnoticed but fully identifiable:

Andycanuck reached for the half-empty bottle of Value-Rite then hesitated, briefly.

Andycanuck reached for the half-empty bottle of Value-Rite, then hesitated briefly.

Andycanuck, reaching for the half-empty bottle of Value-Rite, hesitated briefly.

Andycanuck reached for the half-empty bottle of Value-Rite, then briefly hesitated.

Posted by: Kindltot at January 23, 2022 12:05 PM (ZMraq)

592 Remember when magazines were interesting?
Posted by: Head puddi

In 1976, I lived in France supporting myself as a dishwasher at a resort. My command of French was limited. On a particular day of the week, the international version of Time Magazine came out and I would walk the mile or mile and a half to town to buy it. I read every word.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter 2022 at January 23, 2022 12:07 PM (FVME7)

593 541 -- When my mother-in-law moved into an assisted living facility, I tried to donate a couple cartons of advanced reading copies to their library, only to be turned down. Why? Because nobody on the staff had the time to read each book in search of objectionable material. I was pissed.

Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin -- Bitterly clinging to the deplorable life at January 23, 2022 12:16 PM (8UldZ)

594 One of the masters of dialogue, where the "voice" of the character is so distinct you can tell without attribution tags who is speaking, is Georgette Heyer. And she could do it for walk-on characters, too. Truly amazing.

There is no set "right amount" for dialogue

Whatever the story demands! As I recall the short story "They're made out of meat!" (NOT a horror story, but funny SF) is ENTIRELY dialogue for very good reasons.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase, drinking to the new Librarian of Valhalla at January 23, 2022 12:24 PM (ZNlqs)

595 People don't believe me, but Playboy used to publish top-notch fiction --W. Aurelius

In March of 1964, Arthur C. Clarke had a story published in Boys Life.

In May, he was in Playboy.

Don't see that much any more.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at January 23, 2022 12:41 PM (videA)

596 I am currently reading "Like I was sayin'..."by Mike Royko.
Memba him ?
Posted by: JT at January 23, 2022 11:00 AM (arJlL)

I used to read him in the paper, he had a syndicated column. So did Erma Bombeck, and way before my time, Lucius Beebe.
I don't believe there was ever any anthology of Beebe's articles.

Posted by: Kindltot at January 23, 2022 12:42 PM (ZMraq)

597 Getting old pisses me off sometimes. I can remember the story of a book but can't remember the title.

Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at January 23, 2022 12:43 PM (Fs5vw)

598 Non-Euclidean? Like the view of reality in Kuttner and Moore's "Mimsy Were the Borogoves"?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 11:19 AM (c6xtn)

Think more like Dreams in the Witch House.

Posted by: Kindltot at January 23, 2022 12:47 PM (ZMraq)

599 Pat McManus, he can make me laugh out loud, loved his description of two snooty gear encrusted climbers encountering Pat and his buddies (fat old guys) dragging a canoe up the side of a mountain. Or his description of all the things that can go wrong when you are trying to go fishing. Or his story about the local game warden. I'm going to pull those books out of storage and reread. Thanks for the reminder!

Posted by: Inisfree at January 23, 2022 12:49 PM (plxKH)

600 Non-Euclidean? Like the view of reality in Kuttner and Moore's "Mimsy Were the Borogoves"?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 23, 2022 11:19 AM (c6xtn)

Think more like Dreams in the Witch House.

Posted by: Kindltot at January 23, 2022 12:47 PM (ZMraq)
--
Or House of Leaves

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 23, 2022 12:50 PM (K5n5d)

601 But most of it falls into 3 categories of crap:
1) Girl goes back in time to hunky mens
2) Dan brown conspiracy story junk
3) Girl detective from big city goes back to home town and finds terrible mystery there about her past
[ . . . ]
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:20 AM (KZzsI)

1) The past offered more options that today does [we are being limited in our potential today]
2) The present is a carefully constructed sham
3) Dealing with suppressed lies about the past [the past is also a carefully constructed sham]

Teh Ladies is ready to be Red-pilled, Christopher!!

Posted by: Kindltot at January 23, 2022 12:51 PM (ZMraq)

602 In March of 1964, Arthur C. Clarke had a story published in Boys Life.

In May, he was in Playboy.

Don't see that much any more.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at January 23, 2022 12:41 PM (videA)
---
"Hey Dad, can I borrow your Playboy? I want to read that Arthur C. Clake article!"

Posted by: Every healthy teenaged boy in 1964 at January 23, 2022 12:53 PM (llXky)

603 Having two spaces after the end of a sentence is a major visual cue that you've come to the end, which helps process the sentence. A lot of English grammar is packed into the end of the sentence, making sense of what is being said and how the word order works. Making that unclear... is unhelpful.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 23, 2022 11:27 AM (KZzsI)

I was given a style guide when I took typwriting (so long ago, our business machines class had five electric Smith Coronas, and us first year students had to use the manual machines)
It had the two spaces after the period, capitalizing seasons and so on, and it was explained that the papers didn't double space the period and all that because they were newspapers.

I figured out years later my typing teacher was probably using the style guide from The American Mercury, developed by H. L. Menken

Posted by: Kindltot at January 23, 2022 12:57 PM (ZMraq)

604 548 I'm so very thankful you've continued the Book Thread! I'll find my place and be lurking around.
Posted by: David Fowler at January 23, 2022 11:47 AM (Ses2q)

Agree wholeheartedly! I'm mostly a lurker but my two favorite threads are the Garden thread on Saturdays and the Book thread on Sundays.

Enjoyable reading without all the stuff that harshes my mellow! LOL

Posted by: Bonnie Blue - says FU at January 23, 2022 01:00 PM (hlxe7)

605 Anyone know the name of that library at the top of the post? It is just so beautiful, I want to read up on it.

Posted by: Bonnie Blue - says FU at January 23, 2022 01:01 PM (hlxe7)

606 Anyone know the name of that library at the top of the post? It is just so beautiful, I want to read up on it.
Posted by: Bonnie Blue
----------
Wiblingen Monastery Library

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 23, 2022 01:10 PM (DMQdU)

607 Two books that my wife (the lovely and accomplished Annalucia) and I have read recently, both by Duff Cooper, the British politician and father of John Julius Norwich: "Talleyrand", a biography of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-P�rigord, the French diplomat and one of the most fascinating characters to come out of the time of the French Revolution; and "David", a biography of King David of Israel. Both are well researched, beautifully written, and display Cooper's long experience in government and the company of powerful men: superb examples of the popular biography. "Talleyrand" was published in 1932, and is still in print; "David" appeared in 1942, and is long OOP. Both are highly recommended.

Cooper's finest moment came in October 1938, when he resigned from Neville Chamberlain's cabinet in protest over the Munich agreement. In his resignation speech, he pointed out how Chamberlain had worsened Britain's position in Europe: "We are left ... with a loss of esteem on the part of countries that trusted us. We are left also with a tremendous commitment ... to defend a frontier in Central Europe." The parallel to our position post-Afghanistan is unmistakable and sobering.

Posted by: Nemo at January 23, 2022 01:12 PM (S6ArX)

608 ----------
Wiblingen Monastery Library
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc.

I think...

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 23, 2022 01:15 PM (l0Lgi)

609 "Remember when magazines were interesting?"

Sure. "Life". "National Geographic", before it went totally woke. "Sports Illustrated", ditto. Hell, I remember when *newspapers* were interesting. Ah, print journalism: how I miss you!

Posted by: Nemo at January 23, 2022 01:16 PM (S6ArX)

610 I remember when *newspapers* were interesting...
Posted by: Nemo
------

And local. The Gannett takeover of ~100 local newspapers killed all of them. Sorry...no more local Editorials or opinion.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 23, 2022 01:23 PM (1vynn)

611 A grandmother of mine, very strong in her faith (Holiness Church) read the Playboy issue with the Jimmy Carter interview.

A cousin took a picture of her reading it.

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 23, 2022 01:27 PM (Om/di)

612 This same grandmother could not bring herself to vote for Reagan because he had been divorced.

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 23, 2022 01:30 PM (Om/di)

613 A grandmother of mine, very strong in her faith (Holiness Church) read the Playboy issue with the Jimmy Carter interview.
-----

Ah, the famous 'Lusted in my heart' interview.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 23, 2022 01:31 PM (ELgVT)

614 Oregon Muse was a great friend of independent authors. He will be missed. Eternal be his memory.

Posted by: Hans Schantz at January 23, 2022 01:43 PM (+leAG)

615 599... Another thanks for the Pat McManus stories. They were the first thing I went to when Outdoor Life arrived. I have most of his collections and they still make me laugh. I should dig out my copies. I can use the humor these days.

Posted by: JTB at January 23, 2022 01:46 PM (7EjX1)

616 Wiblingen Monastery Library
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 23, 2022 01:10 PM (DMQdU)

Thank you!

Posted by: Bonnie Blue - says FU at January 23, 2022 01:49 PM (hlxe7)

617 >> Anyone know the name of that library at the top of the post? It is just so beautiful, I want to read up on it.
Posted by: Bonnie Blue - says FU at January 23, 2022 01:01 PM (hlxe7)

Admont Abbey. Monastery library in Austria

Posted by: My Life is Insanity at January 23, 2022 02:05 PM (s65TA)

618 I am very sorry for the loss of OM. I do hope the Book Thread can continue; both as a worthy endeavor in its own right and as a tribute to the memory of a good man.

Thank you Eris for your work in keeping it going.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at January 23, 2022 02:27 PM (7mCBs)

619

Where all da POC women at?

Posted by: Misogynistic Space Dick at January 23, 2022 02:38 PM (WyL0B)

620 I also want to mention the loss of a couple of good writers recently.

First, Ron Goulart died a few days ago. He was a prolific writer; mostly of science fiction and mysteries. He was a very reliable author of entertaining light reading. Titles I would recommend are "Skyrocket Steele" and his "Groucho Marx" series of mysteries (set in late 1930s Hollywood).

Second, David Drake (best known for his "Hammer's Slammers" series) has announced he is retiring from writing novels (for medical reasons). Aside from the Slammers stories, titles I would recommend are "Old Nathan" and "Ranks of Bronze".

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at January 23, 2022 02:44 PM (7mCBs)

621 Being a Manly Wade Wellman fan, I greatly enjoyed "Old Nathan". Guess there won't be a sequel.

Posted by: Ex-CopyEditor at January 23, 2022 03:27 PM (FlzJ+)

622 Hey, Ex-Copy Editor --

What kinds of publications employed you?

I was in newsrooms for more than 30 years.

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 23, 2022 03:31 PM (Om/di)

623 Very nice job, All Hail Eris! I love the library photo and am happy to think of OM chatting with JRR Tolkien and C.S. Lewis

I just reread " The Great Divorce" and Will start on " Mere Christianity" soon. "Screwtape Letters too grim to start one more time now.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 23, 2022 03:32 PM (yw3fe)

624 Sorry to hear about OM, may he rest in peace
I'm reading The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder. It's Art.

Posted by: Mark Brown at January 23, 2022 03:35 PM (MxxDk)

625 I am also reading a devotional book by A.W Tozer called "The Pursuit Of God" . He was a pastor and a prolific writer and this is a book about experiencing God in our daily lives.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 23, 2022 03:38 PM (yw3fe)

626 Finally, I would like to second the recommendation by Voyager @504 of Leigh Brackett's "Skaith" trilogy. Great books in their own right and a rare example of an author returning to a favorite character and making him even better than before. Brackett's original stories of Eric John Stark were "planetary romances" set on Mars and Venus (written in the '40s and the '50s back when they were still, just, plausible settings for sword and ray gun adventure epics). Titles include "The Secret of Sinharat" and "The People of the Talisman". For the Skaith books Brackett sent Stark interstellar.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at January 23, 2022 03:38 PM (7mCBs)

627 a318 Now there is a reading list: Idi Amin's bedside books.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at January 23, 2022 10:25 AM (Dc2NZ)
---
"The Hunger Games"
"To Serve Man"
"The Deplorable Gourmet"

Favourite Indian Dishes

Posted by: Ciampino at January 23, 2022 04:25 PM (qfLjt)

628 I'm a long-time lurker on the book thread, and I just want to express my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of OregonMuse. I have long been a fan of the photos of extravagant libraries from around the world, and have added several travel destinations to my bucket list based solely on some of those photos.

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