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Sunday Morning Book Thread - 02-20-2022 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

PerfessorSquirrelLibrary 022022 scaled.jpg
Full Panoramic View

(It's a small room. I'm practically standing in the cats' litter box in order to take the panoramic snapshot. Totally worth it!)

Good morning, Horde! Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading. Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material, even if it's just the nutritional information on a box of Twinkies. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...in which case, you need to have some extra Twinkies on hand to keep them docile.

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, pour yourself a wee dram of your favorite beverage, and crack open a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

PIC NOTE / INTRODUCTION
The Sunday Morning Book Thread is what first convinced me to become a regular commenter here at AoSHQ. I started out on the Book Thread and then joined in commenting on other threads. OregonMuse started posting pictures of other Moron libraries, so I sent him a picture of my own, just on the off chance that it would be featured someday. I was absolutely blown away when I saw it on the Sunday Morning Book Thread. I decided to include it again this week as a way of introducing myself. This time I added myself into the picture, showing just how literate I can be (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

Several years ago I was inspired to turn one room of my house into a library. I bought some additional shelving units (though ace was unavailable to assist me in assembling them), and then had the rather bright idea of purchasing a giant map of Middle Earth. For the type of reading I do, maps are extremely important and necessary for following many of the stories, and Middle Earth is one of my favorite settings of all time (naturally).

I also found a cheap way of creating interesting wall art for my library. I downloaded cover art from some of my favorite fantasy artists along with cover art from science fiction pulp magazines. I then printed them out on cardstock and used cheap picture frames from Walmart to mount them. The effect is really quite excellent taken as a whole. As a bonus, if I get bored with the current pics, it's child's play to swap them out for different pics.

I believe that you can gain tremendous insight into a person simply by studying their library and seeing what they enjoy reading. In my case, you can see a fair number of fantasy and science fiction stories. That is my main genre, and one in which I am very well-versed. I consider my library to be an extension of my own mind. The lessons I've learned from reading have shaped my character to be the person I am today.

One of those lessons is that you can never have too many books--until it's time to move them!

What are some of the design decisions that went into the creation of your library? Did you deliberately create a comfortable reading space? Or has it simply evolved over time as you accumulated more and more books?

IT PAYS TO INCREASE YOUR WORD POWER FICTIONAL GEOGRAPHY

Recently, All Hail Eris posted an image of Oz on the Book Thread. Fictional geography (and geography in general, truth be told) is a fascinating subject. So let's explore, shall we?

A is for Abaton


Abaton is a town of changing location, possibly located in the Scottish highlands. Seeing it is enough to move travelers to tears of great joy or misery, though it's impossible to know which kind any given traveler will experience. Although no one has entered this town (to our knowledge), if you get close enough you may hear distant music, as from a harpsichord, emanating from the walls. (Sir Thomas Bullfinch, My Heart's in the Highlands, 1892)

Z is for Zyunal


Zyunal is a small island among the archipelago of the Isles of Wisdom. It's known as the home of the Pramites, a race of unknown origin who wandered through the archipelago, scorned and persecuted by others (though they are peaceful at heart). They are born wanderers, and will likely leave Zyunal in the not-too-distant future to continue their travels. (Aleksander Moszkowski, Die Inseln der Weisheit, Geschichte einer abenteuerlichen Entdeckungsfahrt, Berlin, 1922)

MY RECOMMENDATION

I recently read an interesting book by Howard V. Hendrix, The Labyrinth Key, which explores the concept of a "memory palace." The idea behind this is to create a mental image of objects that evoke memories and place them in an imaginary room so that there is context to the arrangement of those objects. With practice and training, you can become exceedingly skilled at recalling facts and information because you have a well-organized mental map or filing cabinet.

Another theme that is central to The Labyrinth Key is the difference between a labyrinth and a maze. Like most people, I didn't see that there was any distinction, but apparently there is one key difference: a labyrinth has only ONE path through it, while a maze can have multiple paths. Hendrix points out that novels, as a rule, are themselves labyrinths. The characters within the novel might have alternate paths open to them, but their choices lock them into a single path that takes them through the story for the reader.

The Labyrinth Key is one of those books that I picked up a long time ago and only just now got around to reading. I have far too many of those. It was quite excellent, as it frames itself as one part techno-thriller, one part locked room murder mystery, one part philosophical treatise, one part cyberpunk, and one part transcendental. It starts out with a man undergoing some sort of radical spontaneous human combustion effect while he's connected to cyberspace. Turns out his "ash" remains are a little more than normal ash. They contain enough information about his entirety that they can be used to reconstruct him again under the right circumstances. I do find it interesting that this novel explores both conflict and cooperation between China and the United States (it was written in 2006 and takes place in a "near future"). Both countries are researching quantum computing in the hope of unlocking the ultimate weapon to use against the other, but they also have to cooperate with each other to unravel the mystery surrounding the strange death as there are multiple factions (ancient secret societies) all working towards the same goal. Then someone makes a breakthrough and things spiral rapidly out of control as the true power of quantum computing is unleashed. Hint - It ain't pretty for governments around the world.

022022-Cartoon-scaled.jpg
(Full disclosure: I used to be a monster. I've since reformed.)

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS:


Recommended: "A Brave and Cunning Prince" by Jim Horn.

The times and travels of one of Powhatan's guys around the Chesapeake Bay as first the Spanish and then the Brits started showing up.

Lots of ups and downs but suffering was never far away for any group. Amazing how much info historians, archeologists, and such have been able to put together. Why literacy is important.
Posted by: 11B40 at February 13, 2022 09:33 AM (uuklp)

Comment From the online blurb, it sounds like Spain's attempt to "civilize" the savage backfired spectacularly.

+++++


Still reading "The Hobo. The Sociology of the Homeless Man". 1922

CHAPTER XIII

THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE OF THE HOBO

The homeless man is an extensive reader. This is especially true of the transients, the tramp, and the hobo. The tramp employs his leisure to read everything that comes his way. If he is walking along the railroad track, he picks up the papers that are thrown from the trains; he reads the cast-off magazines. If he is in the city, he hunts out some quiet corner where he may read. The tramp is a man with considerable leisure, but few books
Posted by: Guy who likes to blow it out his ass at February 13, 2022 09:38 AM (vrz2I)

Comment: There's always been a romanticized angle to hobo/tramp culture in America. Jack Reacher, for instance, is basically a hobo going around solving problems. Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction decided to adopt this lifestyle, though his partner Vincent Vega scoffed at this idea. Something about riding the rails to see the country has a certain appeal to it...but it's also a dangerous lifestyle choice. Adventurers in role-playing games often refer to themselves as "murderhobos."

+++++


The other book I finished was The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne, about growing up an orphan, and a homo, in Dublin. When I first figured out the subject matter I rolled my eyes and was prepared to be thoroughly disgusted; except as I've stated before Boyne must be the Ric Grenell of writers because there was nothing icky or proselytizing about it and it was a story very well told. Maybe the Irish are just very skilled at writing books situated on their Island. Boyne has other books out, which presumably have different main topics, so I might check them out.
Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at February 13, 2022 09:57 AM (y7DUB)

Comment: Captain Hate makes a good point about Irish authors. They do seem to have had tremendous influence in literature over the centuries. John Boyne is also the author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which was adapted into a film.

+++++

That's about all I have for this week. I want to thank Weasel and CBD for their support and encouragement to try this out. Their feedback has been invaluable. I hope y'all were at least moderately entertained. Future installments will include much more Horde-sourced content, with your support!

I especially want to thank OregonMuse (RIP) for providing a space where I could emerge from my shell and interact with all of you fine people. That led to me becoming a somewhat regular commenter and even gave me the courage to attend my first TXMOME last year. He was a scholar and a true gentleman and we are all lessened by his passing.

Finally, I want to thank our esteemed host-in-chief, ace, who has given us this remarkable space online in which to play. It's a great big, scary world out there, but in here we can shut it out for the time being and just have fun.

If you have any suggestions for improvement, reading recommendations, or writing projects that you'd like to see on the Sunday Morning Book Thread, you can send them to perfessor dot squirrel at-sign gmail dot com. Your feedback is always appreciated! You can also take a virtual tour of my library at kugelblitz.libib.com.

squirrel-reading-sefton 022022 scaled.jpg


Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM




Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Books! Thanks Perf!

Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 09:01 AM (vrz2I)

2 Surprise!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 09:01 AM (K5n5d)

3 Yay !

Posted by: sock_rat_eez (5JfcP) at February 20, 2022 09:01 AM (DuiUU)

4 Tolle Lege

Posted by: Skip at February 20, 2022 09:01 AM (2JoB8)

5 Morning, 'rons and 'ronettes. Now to read the content.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at February 20, 2022 09:02 AM (2JVJo)

6 Nice selfie Professor!!

Posted by: Tonypete at February 20, 2022 09:03 AM (Msys3)

7 I did not read this week.

Posted by: rhennigantx at February 20, 2022 09:03 AM (yrol0)

8 If the squirrel reads, does it drive too?

Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 20, 2022 09:04 AM (EZebt)

9 Good grief, a squirrel is in charge of the book thread. Will this madness ever end?

Posted by: dantesed at February 20, 2022 09:04 AM (88xKn)

10 Perfesser! Excellent!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 20, 2022 09:04 AM (Dc2NZ)

11 Good grief, a squirrel is in charge of the book thread. Will this madness ever end?
Posted by: dantesed at February 20, 2022 09:04 AM (88xKn)
---
Pixy's hamster farm powers the blog engine. How is this any different?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 09:05 AM (K5n5d)

12 Very nice thread - and a great tribute to OregonMuse. Thank you!

Posted by: grammie winger at February 20, 2022 09:05 AM (45fpk)

13 I was told there would be no reading on the blog.

Nice job, Perfessor!

Posted by: Weasel at February 20, 2022 09:05 AM (0IeYL)

14 Well one thing leads to another
Someone in comments mentioned the Romanov girls and that brought me to a picture I had of Tatiana and Olga
Which found out Tatiana's diary is available so didn't find that for free but found
Last days of the Romanovs by George Gustav Telbeg and Robert Wilson on Gutenberg books.
Filled in some of what I didn't know, confirmed Communists are evil bastards. Was interesting but wouldn't mind another just to see if it is same story. No reason to think it wasn't as it was a crime, the low level Communists who did it tried to erase the crime scene.

Posted by: Skip at February 20, 2022 09:07 AM (2JoB8)

15 I finished Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. Now I find myself at a loss as to what possible book could follow.

Posted by: grammie winger at February 20, 2022 09:08 AM (45fpk)

16 For my library, I was lucky: in the living room there was an entire wall of built in cabinets just waiting for me. At around 100 linear feet of shelving, I thought it would have been plenty. It was not. We still have numerous boxes of unshelved items scattered throughout the house.

And we're looking to downsize. This isn't going to be pretty.

Posted by: Tonypete at February 20, 2022 09:08 AM (Msys3)

17 What are some of the design decisions that went into the creation of your library? Did you deliberately create a comfortable reading space? Or has it simply evolved over time as you accumulated more and more books?

A few years after moving into Stately Poppins Manor, I had floor-to-ceiling shelves installed in the parlor and dining room. I have so many books that I had to have a retaining wall built in the cellar to keep the floors from collapsing. Up in the converted attic, where I write, I have it divided into two areas - around the desk, where I have all of my movie books, then a comfy chair at the other end, where I have a few standalone cases to hold other books.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at February 20, 2022 09:09 AM (2JVJo)

18 For my library, I was lucky: in the living room there was an entire wall of built in cabinets just waiting for me. At around 100 linear feet of shelving, I thought it would have been plenty. It was not. We still have numerous boxes of unshelved items scattered throughout the house.

And we're looking to downsize. This isn't going to be pretty.
Posted by: Tonypete at February 20, 2022 09:08 AM (Msys3)
---
Funny how quickly you can overflow your library....I literally have no more shelf space in my house--for anything.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 09:09 AM (K5n5d)

19 Nice book thread. Commendable work for a tree rat.

Posted by: PabloD at February 20, 2022 09:09 AM (SGYg6)

20 Mornin', all! Great library. Mine is a corner of the house that is overflowing with homeschool curriculum, nonwoke history, Thomas Sowell, Scott Hahn, and stuff I bought based on this thread. Bankruptcy tip: keep Thriftbooks.com open while reading AoSHQ. I started cataloguing with the Libib app, which is pretty easy to use. Here's hoping I really will have a library someday, probably when the last kid moves out.

Thanks for the thread, Perfessor! Off to Mass.

Posted by: Catherine at February 20, 2022 09:09 AM (ZSsrh)

21 I finished the "The Hobo" - 1922 that I found on Gutenberg. Mainly I learned that bums have not really changed much in 100 years, nor the Commies that try to exploit them to their advantage. So back to Gutenberg I went to check out the new listings. One caught my eye "Hadrian The Seventh".

"Huh", I thought. "I've heard of this guy", so I downloaded it and started reading.

Not far into it was this:
(Continued)

Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 09:10 AM (vrz2I)

22 I recently read an interesting book by Howard V. Hendrix, The Labyrinth Key, which explores the concept of a "memory palace." The idea behind this is to create a mental image of objects that evoke memories and place them in an imaginary room so that there is context to the arrangement of those objects. With practice and training, you can become exceedingly skilled at recalling facts and information because you have a well-organized mental map or filing cabinet.

This was once thought to be scientific thinking. There was really no new learning or new discovery, only the commitment of existing knowledge to memory through rote memorization many time via a mental room. You could have a room for medical knowledge, a room for historical knowledge, and/or a room of religious knowledge.

Posted by: rhennigantx at February 20, 2022 09:10 AM (yrol0)

23 Morning again, folk,

I did not name Chekov's aunt, Tatiana Romanova, for the historical person, but for the heroine of Fleming's From Russia With Love. It was one of the few attractive Russian female names I knew (and know).

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 09:10 AM (c6xtn)

24 Did anyone else here grow up with that big set of the Great Books? Like a set of encyclopedias except for smarter people.

Posted by: grammie winger at February 20, 2022 09:10 AM (45fpk)

25 In the square before the Kasan Cathedral alone there were 3,000 at least. Suddenly seditious cries were raised, red flags were waved, stones were thrown, and in the midst of it all the gensdarmes began a mad gallop through the crowd. It was a ghastly sight, for they slashed right and left with their swords, even at the bystanders bent only on escaping. Many were wounded, some were killed how many no two accounts agree and in the course of the following week hundreds of arrests were made.
(Cont)

Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 09:10 AM (vrz2I)

26 Hey that sound familiar! This might be good, even though it's listed as an icky "Romance". This guy with the cap seems quite the pip.

Free on Gutenberg. Get it while it's hot!

Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 09:10 AM (vrz2I)

27 A lovely reading room, perfesser and thank you for the book thread

What is the device by the window on the right? A fan?

Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 20, 2022 09:10 AM (EZebt)

28 I read The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health by Robert F Kennedy Jr. The section on how Fauci handled the AIDS crisis seemed a bit long, but one must understand that Fauci uses the same playbook in the COVID-19 pandemic: suppress all promising early treatments, make lucrative deals with Big Pharma to develop a vaccine, and silence all dissenters. In a just world Fauci would be on the witness stand facing charges of crimes against humanity, and Bill Gates would be next to him. Also of interest is the CIA and military involvement in our healthcare system. Much, mush greater than I knew.

Posted by: Zoltan at February 20, 2022 09:11 AM (koc60)

29 I love your library, Professor Squirrel. Oh, I just saw the negative space in the shape of a cat! That completes it.

Used to have that giant Pauline Baynes map of Middle Earth. I wish I knew what happened to it. Still have my Narnia map.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 20, 2022 09:11 AM (Dc2NZ)

30 Hey, Prof! Congrats on the gig!

Looking forward to more installments.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 20, 2022 09:11 AM (Om/di)

31 I got a box of about fifteen John Grisham books a few months back. I had read maybe five of them, but I've been chewing through the new-to-me ones during the bad winter weather. Just finished The Chamber and I am now onto The Appeal. Based on these books I would surmise that we should abandon our political struggles and wait until some young attorney, a paragon of virtue and wisdom, sets things right.

This is called "fiction".

Posted by: Bilwis Devourer of Innocent Souls, I'm starvin' over here at February 20, 2022 09:12 AM (cupoy)

32 What is the device by the window on the right? A fan?
Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 20, 2022 09:10 AM (EZebt)
---
It's a cat perch. My cats love to sun themselves in the window in the mornings. The room faces east and the library gets plenty of sunshine, so it's a very nice warm, cozy spot for a kitty.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 09:12 AM (K5n5d)

33 Nice Star Destroyer model.

Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at February 20, 2022 09:14 AM (bVYXr)

34 14 contued https://tinyurl.com/395xke7m
Olga on the left as colonel of 3rd Elizavetgradsky Hussars Regiment. Tatiana on the right as colonel of the Vosnesensky (Ascension) Lancers.

As I do reading history containly looking up on maps what I'm reading. As far as I can tell where the Romanov family ( and others, 11 people in all) happened is gone, yet Rasputin house is still there.

Posted by: Skip at February 20, 2022 09:14 AM (2JoB8)

35 Gabriel Bach, Israeli prosecutor at 1961 trial of notorious Nazi, Adolf Eichmann, has died aged 94.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at February 20, 2022 09:14 AM (UHVv4)

36 I like the idea of book art on the walls.

Posted by: grammie winger at February 20, 2022 09:14 AM (45fpk)

37 Nice Star Destroyer model.
Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at February 20, 2022 09:14 AM (bVYXr)
---
Thank you. I also have a Lego Millennium Falcon, but one of my cats jumped on it and it fell apart...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 09:15 AM (K5n5d)

38 hiya

Posted by: JT at February 20, 2022 09:15 AM (arJlL)

39 Perfessor, love your library. I noticed you push your books to the back of the shelves. I'm one of those who bring them to the front. Do any the Horde do it this way?

Posted by: dantesed at February 20, 2022 09:16 AM (88xKn)

40 Hiya JT!

Posted by: grammie winger at February 20, 2022 09:16 AM (45fpk)

41 Thank you. I also have a Lego Millennium Falcon, but one of my cats jumped on it and it fell apart...
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 09:15 AM (K5n5d)

cats=entropy

Posted by: rhennigantx at February 20, 2022 09:17 AM (yrol0)

42 There's a detailed map of the fictional planet Chiron in the sci-fi novel "Voyage From Yesteryear" by James Hogan. A nice touch is that there is an interior sea that the humans that have colonized the planet labeled the "Medichironian". It's a wonderful book and definitely worth a read. It touches on some very big themes, like money, value, leadership, and what really motivates people.

Posted by: MichiCanuck at February 20, 2022 09:17 AM (VJkbf)

43 I've been reading Thunder Road by Colin Holmes. Set in 1947, veteran Jefferson Sharp finds himself at loose ends when he returns to Fort Worth with an unfaithful wife and unemployed. He more or less accidentally falls into private investigation when he is hired to find a missing Air Force major he knew in the war and who has now gone missing after getting mixed up in some business over in Roswell, New Mexico. I've just started but so far, so good.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter 2022 at February 20, 2022 09:17 AM (FVME7)

44 Any mention of labyrinths evokes Borges for me.

Discourage young people from doing drugs and reading Borges at the same time.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 20, 2022 09:17 AM (EZebt)

45 For my library, I was lucky: in the living room there was an entire wall of built in cabinets just waiting for me. At around 100 linear feet of shelving, I thought it would have been plenty. It was not. We still have numerous boxes of unshelved items scattered throughout the house.

And we're looking to downsize. This isn't going to be pretty.
Posted by: Tonypete

Its just like brandon said "if ya wanna make an omelet, ya gotta shit your pants"

Posted by: JT at February 20, 2022 09:17 AM (arJlL)

46 Monkeys give us our daily rant
Why not a squirrel giving us the book thread?

Posted by: Skip at February 20, 2022 09:18 AM (2JoB8)

47 Perfessor, love your library. I noticed you push your books to the back of the shelves. I'm one of those who bring them to the front. Do any the Horde do it this way?
Posted by: dantesed at February 20, 2022 09:16 AM (88xKn)
---
That is my preferred method. The books in my living room library are indeed arranged by pulling them to the front. However, my cat Penny has other ideas...If I do that in the library, she will pull them off the shelves so she can get behind the books. She likes to pull them out regardless.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 09:18 AM (K5n5d)

48 "This guy with the cap seems quite the pip."

That was supposed to be "cat" but I guess it works either way.

Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 09:18 AM (vrz2I)

49 Irish authors? No book has given me more puzzling pleasure than the dreamscape of "Finnegans Wake."

Posted by: Brett at February 20, 2022 09:19 AM (Yfr3c)

50 As far as the contents of my library - since I used to work in a bookstore, I tend to arrange things by subject. Downstairs is mainly history (English, ancient, mediaeval, early American, Third Reich) with a scattering of Sherlock Holmes, religious works, cartoon collections and recipe books.

Upstairs is Hollywood, more cartoons, Jack the Ripper, Nixon / Eisenhower and general books on other subjects, such as the Beatles, humor collections from the 1950s, Shakespeare and so on.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at February 20, 2022 09:19 AM (2JVJo)

51 Good job on the Book Thread! But, you are a Perfessor, so what did I expect?

Yes, I've stopped lending out books I love cuz most of the time they wind up in the hands of monsters.

Like werewolves they are. With the title page revealing their true character, instead of a full moon.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 20, 2022 09:20 AM (5NkmN)

52 Perfessor, love your library. I noticed you push your books to the back of the shelves. I'm one of those who bring them to the front. Do any the Horde do it this way?
Posted by: dantesed at February 20, 2022 09:16 AM (88xKn)


When I worked at the now-defunct Borders Books, we were taught to keep books up to the front; it was called 'flushing.' I do that with my own library.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at February 20, 2022 09:20 AM (2JVJo)

53 As far as the contents of my library - since I used to work in a bookstore, I tend to arrange things by subject. Downstairs is mainly history (English, ancient, mediaeval, early American, Third Reich) with a scattering of Sherlock Holmes, religious works, cartoon collections and recipe books.

Upstairs is Hollywood, more cartoons, Jack the Ripper, Nixon / Eisenhower and general books on other subjects, such as the Beatles, humor collections from the 1950s, Shakespeare and so on.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at February 20, 2022 09:19 AM (2JVJo)
-----
Sounds like we need to organize a Moron Road Trip to MP4's house!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 09:20 AM (K5n5d)

54 I finished "The Severance" last week. This seems to have been the author's only foray into literature, and I'm not surprised. It reads like a first book. Too many coincidental developments in the final chapters. (Yeah, Wodehouse did that, too, but he made it work.)

So, in light of this glowing review -- does anybody want this book? Those Morons who pulled Afghanistan duty might find it of interest.

If you do, say so in this thread and leave an email address, broken apart somehow to thwart the monitors. I'll peruse the entire thread and get in touch. I'll also pay shipping costs. If no takers, it goes to the used-book store.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 20, 2022 09:20 AM (Om/di)

55 Finished "Forty Thousand in Gehenna" and am beginning "Cyteen: Regenesis". I am really getting more of a historical sweep and seeing the interconnectedness of Cherryh's books by reading them one after the other.

My library find is "Fan Fiction: A Mem-Noir: Inspired By True Events" by Brent Spiner. Yes, Mister Data has written a murder mystery and it's hilarious.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 20, 2022 09:21 AM (Dc2NZ)

56 perfessor dot squirrel at-sign gmail dot com.

Could ya make it a foot or so LONGER ?

Posted by: JT at February 20, 2022 09:21 AM (arJlL)

57 15 I finished Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. Now I find myself at a loss as to what possible book could follow.

Posted by: grammie winger at February 20, 2022 09:08 AM (45fpk)
---
What did you think?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 09:22 AM (llXky)

58 Beautiful thread!

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 09:22 AM (ONvIw)

59 Oh, and kudos to the Perfesser!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 09:23 AM (llXky)

60 Wonderful job Perf! I just started a new book late yesterday about Pvt. William Cathay. Not far in yet, but so far so good. Will have a report next week.

Posted by: Infidel at February 20, 2022 09:23 AM (JAkXN)

61 Lovely post, and thanks for doing it! I love the book thread. Though I am far more lurker than even commenter, I wanted to emerge from my online hermitage long enough to show some appreciation for a job well done.

I also want to echo your gratitude for AoS HQ. Thanks to Ace, the cobs, and all involved for creating and enlivening one of the most intellectually engaging spots on the 'net.

Have a great Sunday, y'all!

Posted by: MarkW at February 20, 2022 09:23 AM (iDVR9)

62 "Did anyone else here grow up with that big set of the Great Books?"

That set is in the bookcase that serves as my bedside table. Nothing like setting out for my nightly dreamscape with scraps of classics tickling my mind.

Posted by: Brett at February 20, 2022 09:23 AM (Yfr3c)

63 I've read several Jack Reacher novels.

But, since watching "Jack Reacher" on HBOMax, I've come to realize that he's simply -

low budget Batman with sexy time.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 20, 2022 09:23 AM (5NkmN)

64 My library find is "Fan Fiction: A Mem-Noir: Inspired By True Events" by Brent Spiner. Yes, Mister Data has written a murder mystery and it's hilarious.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 20, 2022 09:21 AM (Dc2NZ)

A hundred bucks says he does the Audiobooks version in Patrick Stewart's voice.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 20, 2022 09:23 AM (PiwSw)

65 Great job, Perfessor, and I agree: the Book Thread is what drew me back after I took an extended hiatus.

Has anyone here read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas?

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at February 20, 2022 09:24 AM (y7DUB)

66 Hiya Grammie !

Posted by: JT at February 20, 2022 09:24 AM (arJlL)

67 We . . . well, Mrs. . . found library ideas on Pinterest. As a result, we have 4 rehabbed Ikea Billy cabinets along a 12' wall. A raised platform, and some pine boards, and some crown moulding and a lot of paint gave us a nice built-in look. An overstuffed chair was added, and now it's a race to see who gets to the room first on reading evenings.

Posted by: 2009Refugee at February 20, 2022 09:24 AM (8AONa)

68 What did you think?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 09:22 AM (llXky)


About Brideshead? I thought it was lovely. Truly lovely. Like reading poetry with a storyline. I found myself not caring so much what happened, as long as I could read the words about it happening. If that makes any sense.

Posted by: grammie winger at February 20, 2022 09:25 AM (45fpk)

69 Thank you for all of your kind comments regarding my meager attempt at a Book Thread.

I have a lot more appreciation of how many hobos have to be ground into sausage to feed Pixy's hamster farm.

Weasel and CBD gave excellent support and advice.

Anyone else who wants to contribute to this wonderful space should seriously consider it.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 09:25 AM (K5n5d)

70 So looking what else was on Guttenberg found Napoleon and Queen of Prussia
Didn't start it yet but should be up my alley

Posted by: Skip's Phone at February 20, 2022 09:26 AM (2JoB8)

71 low budget Batman with sexy time.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 20, 2022 09:23 AM (5NkmN)
---
Some folks like the formula.

I think Sophie Kinsella has written one book but she keeps changing the title and people keep buying it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 09:26 AM (llXky)

72 >>>You can also take a virtual tour of my library at kugelblitz.libib.com.

That was fun!

Posted by: m at February 20, 2022 09:27 AM (2Q+cC)

73 in my library, I am trying to organize by genre: Russian classic , American classic, SI FI, world literature, mystery. Some shelf still mixed.
And all books pull ahead to give space to put some books behind due to lack of space(sign).

Posted by: redmonkey at February 20, 2022 09:27 AM (0+Ppk)

74 Weasel and CBD gave excellent support and advice.

They answer your e-mails ?

They must like you !

Posted by: JT at February 20, 2022 09:27 AM (arJlL)

75 Congrats on your book thread,Perfesser!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 09:28 AM (lCui1)

76 Getting ready for church so nothing to add but gratitude. Nicely done perfessor but as always look forward to the comments too.

Posted by: 7man at February 20, 2022 09:28 AM (qwO6y)

77 Nice Lieberry!

Those pants....they will keep your wang from freezing, even if your a xhe.

The reading difference between a hobo and a tramp also extends to porn magazines. A hobo will read the articles and discard a porn mag in places like men's rooms, bus stations and the like. A tramp simply scans the pictures and collects a musty pile of soiled, stuck together pages porn mags in his bum's nest for adventurous utes to find while exploring.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 20, 2022 09:28 AM (R/m4+)

78 Thank you. I also have a Lego Millennium Falcon, but one of my cats jumped on it and it fell apart...
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel

So now it is an Ikea Lego Millennium Falcon?

Well done thread, thank you.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at February 20, 2022 09:28 AM (vnqom)

79 Where did the Irish get the weird way of speaking past perfect continuous?

PPC is, like, I had been working.

Irish say I was after working.

How'd they fuck that one up?

Posted by: Mr Gaga at February 20, 2022 09:29 AM (KiBMU)

80 I'm working my way through a Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Most of the authors are easily recognizable, and there were stories I already read at least once, but it has been a good way to sample stories from people whose work I avoided, sometimes, deliberately, over the years.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 09:29 AM (ONvIw)

81 About Brideshead? I thought it was lovely. Truly lovely. Like reading poetry with a storyline. I found myself not caring so much what happened, as long as I could read the words about it happening. If that makes any sense.

Posted by: grammie winger at February 20, 2022 09:25 AM (45fpk)
---
Waugh is a truly great writer, which is why mentioning him on this thread is obligatory.

His earlier work is funny, but somewhat dated if you don't know British society. Black Mischief is great, and Scoop provided the name for The Daily Beast.

Brideshead kind of stands on its own among his work in terms of tone and feel, but you might like the Sword of Honour trilogy, which also contains strong religious themes.

He wrote a short book (Helena) about St. Helena. It was a nice read.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 09:29 AM (llXky)

82 79 Where did the Irish get the weird way of speaking past perfect continuous?

PPC is, like, I had been working.

Irish say I was after working.

How'd they fuck that one up?
Posted by: Mr Gaga at February 20, 2022 09:29 AM (KiBMU)

Guinness. Lots and lots of Guinness.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 20, 2022 09:30 AM (PiwSw)

83 Brideshead kind of stands on its own among his work in terms of tone and feel, but you might like the Sword of Honour trilogy, which also contains strong religious themes.


I shall try that! Thank you.

Posted by: grammie winger at February 20, 2022 09:30 AM (45fpk)

84 A tramp simply scans the pictures and collects a musty pile of soiled, stuck together pages porn mags in his bum's nest for adventurous utes to find while exploring.
Posted by: Hairyback Guy

Bum's nest ?

That's where Richard Gere kept his gerbils.

Posted by: JT at February 20, 2022 09:30 AM (arJlL)

85 I don't have a library so much as I have a book hoard.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 09:31 AM (lCui1)

86 I finished "The Severance" last week. This seems to have been the author's only foray into literature, and I'm not surprised. It reads like a first book. Too many coincidental developments in the final chapters. (Yeah, Wodehouse did that, too, but he made it work.)

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 20, 2022 09:20 AM (Om/di)

Not interested in the book, but I would like your take - and others here - on what you mean by "reads like a first book." I'd like to avoid that. Thanks.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 09:31 AM (7bRMQ)

87 Great thread Perfesser! Nice library.

Posted by: Jak Sucio at February 20, 2022 09:31 AM (jvt6t)

88 Some years ago we did a huge purge of our book collection, eliminated several bookcases worth of material.

A of it was stuff that I didn't read and didn't even care to read, so it was quite helpful. Since then, I've tried to limit additions but having gotten into writing nonfiction, that became unsupportable. I got a small bookcase for Christmas and I'm slowing filling it up with books on China.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 09:32 AM (llXky)

89 Not interested in the book, but I would like your take - and others here - on what you mean by "reads like a first book." I'd like to avoid that. Thanks.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 09:31 AM (7bRMQ)
----
Hmmm. That might be a good topic for discussion on a Book Thread!...Stay tuned!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 09:32 AM (K5n5d)

90 I encountered a lot of Irish PPC use of "after" in the excellent "Star of the Sea," a murder mystery set aboard a creaky 70 year old ship, 1847 Ireland to NYC, jam packed with starving Irish, about ten toffs in first class.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at February 20, 2022 09:32 AM (KiBMU)

91 My library consists of two 8x8 ft cabinets where there upper portion is open shelves, and the lower is shelved with doors. The neat part is that they were originally built my my dad, and we were able to salvage them from demolition about a year ago.
What happened was that my wife saw a Facebook post from one of her high school friends that now lived in the town I grew up. She was flipping a house that had these cabinets, and they were listed as free for someone to remove themselves. We immediately told them we wanted, and quickly made the 1.5 hour trip up there. As soon as I looked at the joinery on them I realized that were made by made dad in the 80s. I later talked to the original homeowner and he confirmed.

Posted by: Dogbert at February 20, 2022 09:33 AM (Z9HSN)

92 When we remodeled our den 20 years ago, one thing on which we agreed was book shelves. The den now has seven sets of shelves, with six shelves per set.

Most of the books are my wife's, but not by far. I claimed one set for comics; those shelves have higher spacing. Knickknacks and vacation souvenirs break up the bookstore appearance.

I put books at the front of the shelves. This allows space for more books behind them.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 20, 2022 09:33 AM (Om/di)

93 I am reading The American Zone, L. Neil Smith's last North American Confederacy book (based on the Articles of Confederation as no Constitution was passed). Main characters are Win Bear, Lucy Kropotkin (back from the Asteroids, a bunch of gun toting anarchists and a good number of statist refugees trying to recreate the statist hell they had escaped from

Love the author dearly, and he has a lot to say, but he could have used an editor.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 20, 2022 09:33 AM (xhaym)

94 Several weeks ago I mentioned reading a biography of George III, "The Last King of America." In 1780 anti-Catholic bigots conducted what are known as the Gordon Riots, which unrest was rapidly put down.

I have a habit of saving a book or two of favorite authors, such as Dickens, Twain, or Dostoevsky for a first-time reading later in life. Dickens' "Barnaby Rudge" is one such title. It is set during the Gordon Riots, so I have just started it.

Later life is here.

Posted by: Brett at February 20, 2022 09:33 AM (Yfr3c)

95 Wow that sock from last week was unfortunate. It got left over from the party pants.

Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 09:34 AM (vrz2I)

96 'Tis the International Pipe Smoking Day today. Seems appropriate for this thread.

I'm reading P.D. James's late-period mystery (200 The Private Patient. I've noticed she likes having a second murder in each story.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 09:34 AM (c6xtn)

97 My library takes up the space of a slightly fatter iPhone. I download most everything onto my Kindle paperwhite.

Posted by: grammie winger at February 20, 2022 09:34 AM (45fpk)

98 Great find, Dogbert!

Posted by: 2009Refugee at February 20, 2022 09:34 AM (8AONa)

99 Thank you. I also have a Lego Millennium Falcon, but one of my cats jumped on it and it fell apart...
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 09:15 AM (K5n5d)

===
It was neutered.

Posted by: Squirrel's cats at February 20, 2022 09:35 AM (EZebt)

100 Did anyone else have the Childcraft How and Why books? I still have two volumes, Places to Go and Look and Learn, from the 1974 edition. I would love to get something similar for my curious kiddos. (The 1974 ones are going to be out of date (Look and Learn not so much, but World and Space?), and I worry there would be woke shit in the newer versions.

Another thing I've noticed about modern kids' educational books is that they tend to be long on pictures and short on text compared to what I grew up with...

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at February 20, 2022 09:35 AM (8548M)

101 My books used to be arranged by habit. That is, no organization other than how I put them on the shelf.

However, with reorganization I went to grouping things by subject or author.

Waugh and Tolkien are at the bedside because of course they are.

I've had to add a Spanish Civil War section and when I'm done writing, I'll build a Chinese History section as well. The Chinese books are spread out all over my living room, and I won't know the final size of the collection until I'm done, so that will likely require yet another reshuffling, just like the completion of Long Live Death did.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 09:36 AM (llXky)

102 "bum's nest for adventurous utes to find while exploring."

The Hobo book talks about hobos procuring young boys as "traveling partners". Yes that crap went on a hundred years ago too.

Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 09:37 AM (vrz2I)

103 Posted by: Dogbert at February 20, 2022 09:33 AM (Z9HSN)

That is some serendipity! Very cool.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 09:37 AM (lCui1)

104 Great books? My husband has a large set from his undergrad days, back when reading "greats" was expected in college. These were not Dickens and Tolstoy, but Greek classics, Pascal, Kant, Locke...in short, philosophy.

We do have some collections, like Hawthorne, Shakespeare, Dickens, and Twain, but most of the novels were individually purchased and not a set.

I bought several kids' sets when my kids were little and am using them again now. They were a very fond and important memory of my own childhood.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 09:38 AM (ONvIw)

105 Perfesser, how do you like libib? I've been looking for a non-woke alternative to goodreads, but I guess libib is only for tracking books you own; not ones you've read?

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 09:39 AM (lCui1)

106 We're not gonna get malaria today, Skip !

Posted by: JT at February 20, 2022 09:39 AM (arJlL)

107 I don't have a library so much as I have a book hoard.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion

I have piles. (of BOOKS !)

Posted by: JT at February 20, 2022 09:40 AM (arJlL)

108 Perfesser, how do you like libib? I've been looking for a non-woke alternative to goodreads, but I guess libib is only for tracking books you own; not ones you've read?
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 09:39 AM (lCui1)
---
I love it!
You can track books you haven't read, along with books you've read (just need the ISBN to add them).
Right now I'm cataloging my "electronic books" from my Kindle app as well as all of the PDFs of role playing games I've downloaded. I also catalogued all of my movies and television shows.
Great app.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 09:41 AM (K5n5d)

109 Library? My husband's home office is essentially a library, and during a sabbatical he created another with built in shelves.
If he had to do it again, I'm sure he wouldn't as he's gone e-reader with a vengeance.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 09:41 AM (ONvIw)

110 I'm one of those who bring them to the front. Do any the Horde do it this way?
Posted by: dantesed at February 20, 2022 09:16 AM (88xKn)

I push paperbacks to the back, then shelve another set of books in front of them.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 09:41 AM (lCui1)

111 I'm almost done reading Chris Bohjalian's excellent "Hour of the Witch" set in 1662 Boston, with its ridiculously rigid homogeneous Puritan society.

By that time, Boston's population was about 3,000, but nearby towns like Cambridge and others added another couple thou to the area.

Interestingly, the people had been city dwellers in England, and were making their "New" England with a look like the old. Narrow alleyway streets, houses with small "dooryards." The forests that surrounded the town were considered almost too spooky and dangerous to enter.

Absolutely no free speech, and no religious freedom.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at February 20, 2022 09:41 AM (KiBMU)

112 If you can tell anything about a person by looking at their library then I'm a mess.

Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 09:42 AM (vrz2I)

113 Great job, Perfessor, and I agree: the Book Thread is what drew me back after I took an extended hiatus.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt

Yeah; I remember... "James Jones ? Slooooowly I turned...."

Posted by: JT at February 20, 2022 09:42 AM (arJlL)

114 I finished Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. Now I find myself at a loss as to what possible book could follow.
Posted by: grammie winger at February 20, 2022 09:08 AM (45fpk)


If you enjoyed Waugh as a author, I'd recommend his Sword of Honor Trilogy.

Another writer with a lovely style and people oriented storytelling is Robertson Davies. He's very different than Waugh, but just as good in his own way.

He tended to write in "trilogies" but not in the way that you think of the usual lame-ass trilogy.
His most famous and most oddball trilogy is "The Deplored Trilogy" beginning with "The Fifth Business", which is just a knockout. Read it first. If you like that one, you'll probably like all of Robertson Davies novels.
His other trilogies are "The Cornish Trilogy" and "The Salterton Trilogy".

Not that this is necessarily an enticement, but he's a huge influence on my writing and the way I write stories.
Check him out.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 20, 2022 09:42 AM (5NkmN)

115 Before adult Sunday school starts

I am reading-well, not at this very moment- a mystery by Georgette Hyer called "Death In The Stocks". Some mysteries and romance novels were sent through the kindness of Salty Dog. He and Mrs Salty are downsizing their library. I had never read a mystery by Georgette Heyer, although I had read her excellent romances. They are well written and there's some humor but not nearly the humor and fun of the romances

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 20, 2022 09:43 AM (Wte6X)

116 Wonderful post, Perfessor. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the panoramic view of your library, and your library catalog. Catherine, I'm going to take your tip about having thriftbooks.com open in another tab while perusing the blog because the Book thread is wearing the numbers slap off my credit card. Just today I read two or three paragraphs in and now I HAVE to have Howard V. Hendrix's The Labyrinth Key.

Posted by: CarolinaGirl at February 20, 2022 09:43 AM (g4xPF)

117 Oh, forgot to mention --

A sad Farewell to P.J. O'Rourke. I had two of his books: "Republican Party Reptile" and "Parliament of Whores." I never read the latter; now I wonder whether it's outdated.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 20, 2022 09:43 AM (Om/di)

118 Part 2 from above. The cabinets ended up being a perfect match with our existing cabinets. Dad, who passed a few years ago, in his day was a master carpenter and cabinet builder. Talking to the original homeowner that had them built, they were one of his masterpieces that he was quite proud of. They had a false back about 6 inches deep, and the upper shelving was on massive hidden hinges. If you knew the truck, you could swing open the upper shelves to reveal gun storage. Complete hidden and you had to really inspect it close to realized there was hidden storage

Posted by: Dogbert at February 20, 2022 09:43 AM (Z9HSN)

119 Libby is my go-to online source for books. Two week free loans, right to our Kindles.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at February 20, 2022 09:43 AM (KiBMU)

120 Just got here. Has anyone mentioned that the link under the library pic is broken?

Posted by: Oddbob at February 20, 2022 09:43 AM (nfrXX)

121 Check him out.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 20, 2022 09:42 AM (5NkmN)


I will - thank you for the suggestions!

Posted by: grammie winger at February 20, 2022 09:43 AM (45fpk)

122 If I was a lady you could look at my library and say I was stacked.

Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 09:43 AM (vrz2I)

123 I'm trying to pick up the pace on Something Something China (along with settling on a title).

I'm finishing out the Ming Dynasty, so almost to the well-documented stuff. I got up to 26,000 words yesterday and have set a goal of 30,000 by the end of the month. I'm thinking of May as the target for the first draft and I've decided that given the complexity, I'm going to need A LOT of test readers for this thing.

No way my usual editing practices will be able to work.

I've learned from Spain to build the index pretty much as I go, but I still need maps and then a chronology. Just thinking about this makes me want to write novels again.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 09:44 AM (llXky)

124 Great app.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 09:41 AM (K5n5d)

Thanks! I will give it a try.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 09:45 AM (lCui1)

125 Schicklgruber has just come to power in Toland's bio, so I've stopped there for a bit. Saw that Explaining Hitler (which I have in hardcover) was $2.99 on kindle, so bought that and am going through it.

I ought to work on my own book today, but I can't seem to find the energy. And I seem to have added some stations on my internet radio that I can't get rid of; the instructions to delete are confusing.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at February 20, 2022 09:45 AM (2JVJo)

126 Reacher is essentially Highway to Heaven with more punching and shooting.

Discuss.

Posted by: blaster at February 20, 2022 09:45 AM (9otr5)

127 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading. Mine was wonderfully, and unexpectedly, varied and delightful.

Posted by: JTB at February 20, 2022 09:46 AM (7EjX1)

128 Finished reading The Mountbattens by Andrew Lownie 2019.

I wanted to get the measure of the man, especially his time spent at South East Asia Command. I avoided the old official biography for one written recently. There wasn't any new information regarding his leadership at SEAC. Mountbatten and wife Edwina are both high on the royal ladder. Both are nasty degenerates and both are bisexual. She's dissipated and a profligate. He's devious. Both pretty much abandon their two children. He's a horrifically bad sea captain, he kills a lot of people, unfortunately they are all royal navy officers and sailors.
Some text cut from the book at archive.org/details/ mountbatten-at-war

Posted by: 13times at February 20, 2022 09:47 AM (juPYy)

129 I have tried to set up facts in a "memory palace" with each room for a different area of thought, but I don't do spacial well, and I also wound up losing track of what room was what because I have a huge amount of correlation between ideas and memories.
And I hate doing the housekeeping to keep things straight. (why are the shoes on top of the fridge, again?)

My mental construct is a stone well, down which I have suspended innumerable iron chains, each link a specific memory or fact, and the process of retrieving a specific datum is to choose a likely chain, and pull it up, inspecting it link by link as I draw it out of the darkness.
What is exciting is that the chains can interlink, and turn into nets of ideas which can be understood both link by link, and as a whole, only needing to verify that the interlinks are valid, and not mere tangles and knots of invalid association.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 20, 2022 09:48 AM (xhaym)

130 Just got here. Has anyone mentioned that the link under the library pic is broken?
Posted by: Oddbob

Nah; I'm still trying to get my head around how Eris went from she-wolf to a squirrel to perfesser.

She's got almost as many names as James Monroe !

Posted by: JT at February 20, 2022 09:48 AM (arJlL)

131 I've never considered using a squirrel's tail as a bookmark. Until now. That would be totally highfalutin!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at February 20, 2022 09:48 AM (dA9eR)

132 Your library is great, perfessor! I very much admire the lamp in the panoramic view. I have torchieres and lamps with adjustable lights (I assume yours move, but I could be wrong), but not a combination like that!

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 09:48 AM (ONvIw)

133 Greetings:

No Monsters allowed in Catholic schools.

Especially in Sister Mary Robert's (the largest Sister of Mercy in the known World) class.

Posted by: 11B40 at February 20, 2022 09:48 AM (uuklp)

134 Speaking of Waugh, I read shorter version of Sword of Honor trilogy in one book(abridged by Waugh). I loved it and have questions- is it make sense to read full version of trilogy?

Posted by: redmonkey at February 20, 2022 09:49 AM (0+Ppk)

135 All right, folks, I think I'll brew another cup of tea, find a warm spot and read.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at February 20, 2022 09:49 AM (2JVJo)

136 A sad Farewell to P.J. O'Rourke. I had two of his books: "Republican Party Reptile" and "Parliament of Whores." I never read the latter; now I wonder whether it's outdated.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 20, 2022 09:43 AM (Om/di)
---
I mentioned him to an older friend of mine and he'd never heard of him. This guy is a conservative, but didn't read much political stuff until the 90s, when O'Rourke's output was a lot less.

Tt's sad that he basically came to despise the theme of his earlier work, going from iconoclast to pearl-clutcher.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 09:49 AM (llXky)

137 Good morning, Perfessor Squirrel, Horde,

I've been reading "Plutarch's Lives" from time to time (hat tip to author Louis L'amour for recommending it through one of his gunslinger characters).

Lycurgus of Sparta was a madman. Coriolanus? Real man, true story.

Posted by: callsign claymore at February 20, 2022 09:50 AM (7lLP0)

138 Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire and ...some squirrel ?

Posted by: runner at February 20, 2022 09:50 AM (V13WU)

139 My international relations professor had PJs Euroweenies article up on the bulletin board in his classroom. Best lesson about US-Euro relations possible.

O'Rourke spent most of his career attempting to prove that being a Republican didn't mean you had to be a gormless prude.

Then he spent the last part as a gormless prude.

Posted by: blaster at February 20, 2022 09:51 AM (9otr5)

140 Posted by: Mrs. Peel at February 20, 2022 09:35 AM (8548M)

My Childcraft sets are both from the 1930s, and do not include the how and why. There is a science volume, and one on music and art, but I bought it for the classic fiction, poetry, and stories of great men and their deeds, which were not preoccupied by pointing out faults and diminishing achievements. I think the original how and why books appeared when I would have been too old for them.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 09:52 AM (ONvIw)

141 You can track books you haven't read, along with books you've read (just need the ISBN to add them).
Right now I'm cataloging my "electronic books" from my Kindle app as well as all of the PDFs of role playing games I've downloaded. I also catalogued all of my movies and television shows.
Great app.

==

Thank you !

Posted by: Rob from Ef Bee Eye at February 20, 2022 09:53 AM (V13WU)

142 Reacher is essentially Highway to Heaven with more punching and shooting.

Discuss.
Posted by: blaster at February 20, 2022 09:45 AM (9otr5)
===

And tire irons

Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 20, 2022 09:53 AM (EZebt)

143 Love your library. I have that same map on my wall and refer to it all the time.

Like many here, the book thread was my intro to the AOSHQ universe. Obviously, I am in good company.

Posted by: JTB at February 20, 2022 09:53 AM (7EjX1)

144 As for current reading, I started The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott, the first volume of the Raj Quartet about Great Britain gradually divesting itself of the Indian component of their empire. It isn't written linearly, and often causes the reader, or at least this one, to go "oh that's what they were talking about" but once you get used to it it's very effective. I've read a non fiction book about this before and the partition of Pakistan but by adding fictitious characters this adds a new element of understanding. Gandhi is a frustrating person in this whole thing; like an intelligent version of John McCain always stabbing the Hindus in the back (and eventually murdered by them). There's always the presence of a cultural clash between the two countries; India was no stranger to being occupied by outsiders, like the Moghuls, but they always outlast them.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at February 20, 2022 09:54 AM (y7DUB)

145
I tried building a Memory Palace once, but it kept coming out as a-

large cardboard box off Dealey Plaza stuffed with torn out pages of old porn,empty bottles of Mad Dog 20/20 and Clark bars.

Stupid brain!

Posted by: naturalfake at February 20, 2022 09:54 AM (5NkmN)

146 134 Speaking of Waugh, I read shorter version of Sword of Honor trilogy in one book(abridged by Waugh). I loved it and have questions- is it make sense to read full version of trilogy?

Posted by: redmonkey at February 20, 2022 09:49 AM (0+Ppk)
---
I love the whole thing. While they tell the same story, each has a different theme. Men at Arms sees Waugh transformed into a soldier. Officers and Gentlemen is a bit darker, as he gets into combat and sees how leaders can fail.

Unconditional Surrender is different from the others because it is more spiritual.

Another element that is important is the transformation of Britain from easy-going cheerfulness in 1939 to grim, pinched desolation in 1945. These books really helped me understand the British (and European) experience of WW II. They did not see it as a Good War.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 09:54 AM (llXky)

147 My mental construct of the things I know is a vast web of interconnected nodes. I think of them as glittering in space, with lines between them shining faintly. For me, building connections between nodes is gloriously satisfying. The feeling I get when I realize that *this* is related to *that* is akin to the OCPD satisfaction of crossing items off my to-do list or looking at a beautifully organized space. (The Container Store catalog is basically porn. Those garages!)

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at February 20, 2022 09:55 AM (8548M)

148 "Reacher is essentially Highway to Heaven with more punching and shooting."

That's the way we wuz raised.

Posted by: Hoss at February 20, 2022 09:55 AM (vrz2I)

149 How to spot a "first book"? Good question. I'd think that one giveaway would be the use of first person -- though that's not absolutely diagnostic. Lots of later novels, especially in a series, are done that way. Another might be a reliance on coincidences to make things *easier* for the hero; I'm inclined to think that if a coincidence makes things *harder*, then it's not a bad thing. Beyond that, I'm not sure.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 09:55 AM (c6xtn)

150 Perfessor, love your library. I noticed you push your books to the back of the shelves. I'm one of those who bring them to the front. Do any the Horde do it this way?
Posted by: dantesed at February 20, 2022 09:16 AM (88xKn)


I bring them up flush to the shelf edge and then push them back a half-inch. It looks better that way and they don't accidentally overhang. Some of my books are old and if they are pinched with the spine free, it can split the spine off on one edge of the hard cover, the same if they overhang the edge of the shelf and get pushed back carelessly catching the edge of the spine.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 20, 2022 09:55 AM (xhaym)

151 Fen, it's funny because I read the Georgette Heyer mysteries before becoming a fan of the regency romances. I agree that the romances are funnier, but "Death in the Stocks" is a particular favorite. Despite their eccentricity, the Vereker family seemed very believable to me. I also pick up notes of Roger Vereker in some of the characters in the romances.

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at February 20, 2022 09:56 AM (fTtFy)

152 Good morning.
Figured out Hoopla this week and read two books by one of my favorite paranormal authors Rebecca Zanetti. I like the kindle format better with two pages displayed on the iPad versus the single page on Hoopla. As I read down there page it is hard to avoid swiping up to continue reading when you still have to swipe left.
Sigh. First world problems.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 20, 2022 09:56 AM (Y+l9t)

153 Speaking of Waugh, I read shorter version of Sword of Honor trilogy in one book(abridged by Waugh). I loved it and have questions- is it make sense to read full version of trilogy?
Posted by: redmonkey at February 20, 2022 09:49 AM (0+Ppk)


More Waugh is always more better.

I've read both. I prefer the whole novels.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 20, 2022 09:57 AM (5NkmN)

154 136 "Parliament of Whores" is brilliant and hilarious.

I work in politics, and recommend that book to anyone who wants a crash course in how things really work.

Posted by: callsign claymore at February 20, 2022 09:57 AM (7lLP0)

155 OrangeEnt (I went to school with an Ent, BTW) --

What I mean by "reads like a first novel" refers to the disjointed story line -- lots of skipping back and forth in time -- plus the fact that the title element isn't introduced until midway through the book, and the wrapup consists of too many coincidences, some unnecessary, for my taste.

Also, some throwaway events seem as if the writer is getting back at some of his fellow soldiers.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 20, 2022 09:57 AM (Om/di)

156 I suppose I should add what I've been reading lately. This past week I finished Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain series. It was excellent, just as good as I remembered from when I read it as a child.

Now I'm reading John Christopher's Tripod series. It's a classic alien invasion tale. I was introduced to it when it ran as a comic in Boys' Life magazine. The prequel, When the Tripods Came is very, very eerie because of how the aliens manipulated humans through clever propaganda via television. It struck very close to home because of how the process divided susceptible humans from those who are more resistant to subliminal suggestion.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 09:57 AM (K5n5d)

157 13 times - well that would be icing on the cake for me as always thought since World at War was on in mid 70s he was the most interesting character

Posted by: Skip's Phone at February 20, 2022 09:57 AM (2JoB8)

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

Posted by: JT at February 20, 2022 09:58 AM (arJlL)

159 They did not see it as a Good War.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

======

I'm curious how you'd describe their view. Civil War? Tragic failure?

Posted by: 2009Refugee at February 20, 2022 09:58 AM (8AONa)

160 152 Good morning.
Figured out Hoopla this week and read two books by one of my favorite paranormal authors Rebecca Zanetti.

**

Never heard of her - will give her a look

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 09:58 AM (lCui1)

161 154. I'll have to pick it up and read it. We have a copy somewhere, that must have been a gift.

These days, I really do see our "leaders" as whores, who would do anything for money, and who've largely made their fortunes while in office.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 09:59 AM (ONvIw)

162 O'Rourke spent most of his career attempting to prove that being a Republican didn't mean you had to be a gormless prude.

Then he spent the last part as a gormless prude.
Posted by: blaster at February 20, 2022 09:51 AM (9otr5)
===

A trajectory all too common among so-called conservative thought-leaders

Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 20, 2022 09:59 AM (EZebt)

163 the comments about hobos reminds me of Louis L'Amour's memoir: "Education of a Wandering Man". He was essentially a hobo and related how he and other such folks read constantly and traded books among themselves. It explains why he emphasizes in his westerns how even itinerant cowboys would seek out the best books and literature since they had so little space to carry them. Same for ranchers.

Posted by: JTB at February 20, 2022 10:00 AM (7EjX1)

164 Many thanks to MP4 for sending me "1913: An End and a Beginning" by Virginia Cowles. I'm really enjoying it, Poppins!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 20, 2022 10:00 AM (Dc2NZ)

165 I think maybe that pic of the squirrel reading a book is fake. Has it been fact-checked?

Posted by: JuJuBee at February 20, 2022 10:00 AM (mNhhD)

166 I'm curious how you'd describe their view. Civil War? Tragic failure?

Posted by: 2009Refugee at February 20, 2022 09:58 AM (8AONa)
---
Nightmare.

There's some revisionists trying to claim WW I and WW II as a European Civil War but it's rubbish. Pure EU propaganda.

For Waugh, WW II was a waste, a squalid conflict that substituted one genocidal dictatorship for another.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:00 AM (llXky)

167 Vmom, start with the Dark Protectors series. That 's what got me hooked.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 20, 2022 10:02 AM (Y+l9t)

168 164 Many thanks to MP4 for sending me "1913: An End and a Beginning" by Virginia Cowles. I'm really enjoying it, Poppins!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 20, 2022 10:00 AM (Dc2NZ)

Morning, Eris!

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 10:02 AM (ONvIw)

169 How to spot a "first book"? Good question. I'd think that one giveaway would be the use of first person -- though that's not absolutely diagnostic. Lots of later novels, especially in a series, are done that way. Another might be a reliance on coincidences to make things *easier* for the hero; I'm inclined to think that if a coincidence makes things *harder*, then it's not a bad thing. Beyond that, I'm not sure.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 09:55 AM (c6xtn)
---
First books have an uneven writing style and awkward pacing. When I went back and did a revised edition of Battle Officer Wolf, that was something I fixed (along with the typos).

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:03 AM (llXky)

170 Much thanks Perfessor. Since I tutor young ones (reading) I am always looking for kids books and its fun to have them read them to me. I have one precious 4th grade gal who loves animals and the gross stuff about them, It's impossible to gross her out. Her favorite is "Yech!" But second is "Grossology". I miss being a kid. (At the time I grew up). Morning all you smartypantses.

Posted by: Cannibal bob at February 20, 2022 10:04 AM (RoIW/)

171 I just finished reading The Murderers, a Badge of Honor novel by W.E.B Griffin.

Posted by: JT at February 20, 2022 10:04 AM (arJlL)

172 Thanks, Perfesser. Glad you have gotten involved writing up the book thread. You're so smart you must be related to Rocky the flying squirrel, I like the pictures of the squirrels peaking out. Glad you jpined ASHQ too!

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 20, 2022 10:05 AM (HqdCe)

173 Hiya Cannibal ! Regards to Heidi !

Posted by: JT at February 20, 2022 10:05 AM (arJlL)

174 Wonderful idea about printing out and framing cover art!! I really like the super star-destroyer Executor!!

Posted by: Orlandobass at February 20, 2022 10:05 AM (WouZn)

175 Memory palaces don't work for me. I notice that I remember things when I use my hands - like doodling, or washing dishes.
Maybe I should make a memory doodle notebook

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 10:06 AM (lCui1)

176 Hi Cannibal Bob. Eaten any good authors lately?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 20, 2022 10:06 AM (Dc2NZ)

177 A lot of what hobos were given to read in the 1920s was Communist Propaganda; worker's rights, common property and means of production, kill the rich, crap like that. The Commies tried to organize hobos, tramps, and bums but failed because, let's face it, they will always be hobos, tramps,and bums.

Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 10:07 AM (vrz2I)

178 O'Rourke spent most of his career attempting to prove that being a Republican didn't mean you had to be a gormless prude.

What is the opposite of gormless? Gormful? Is it possible to have too much gorm?

Posted by: Oddbob at February 20, 2022 10:07 AM (nfrXX)

179 157 the IRA decided to blow up him and couple of his grandchildren when I was in England

Posted by: Skip's Phone at February 20, 2022 10:08 AM (2JoB8)

180 "The idea behind this is to create a mental image of objects that evoke memories and place them in an imaginary room so that there is context to the arrangement of those objects."

I don't know how true this story is, but it used to go around the Russian language and history set when I was in college. It seems a motor pool mechanic in the Army was by some bureaucratic error transferred to the Army Language School in Monterey. Finding the working conditions more pleasant than the motor pool, he stayed on. He had an exploded diagram of a Willys jeep memorized, and he would assign different parts of the grammar and vocabulary to the jeep parts, soon becoming an expert in Russian.

Posted by: Brett at February 20, 2022 10:08 AM (Yfr3c)

181 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 09:55 AM (c6xtn)

Thanks for the input!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 10:08 AM (7bRMQ)

182 Vmom, start with the Dark Protectors series. That 's what got me hooked.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice)

*Looks it up*
Fated - ok, lib has a copy!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 10:08 AM (lCui1)

183 I'm chipping away at The Complete Works of Saint Augustine on my Kindle, which tells me it will be another 69 hours before the book is finished.
If read the book 30 minutes a day, which I won't, I might get finished by the the end of the year.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, the Phillips screwdriver of the gods at February 20, 2022 10:09 AM (eGTCV)

184 Merging topics . .

When we rebuilt our library last year, we also thinned it. That thinning included deleting almost all of my P.J. section. I used to look at that row and I'd smile, and maybe reread a memorable chapter once in a while.

Last couple years, not so much. I found myself not wanting to look at the spines.

Posted by: 2009Refugee at February 20, 2022 10:09 AM (8AONa)

185 Btw, do any of you use fantasticfiction.com to look up books in a series?
Pretty handy

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 10:09 AM (lCui1)

186 First books have an uneven writing style and awkward pacing.

Also, I think, a tendency to overexplain instead of trusting the reader to understand what the author is saying without being spoon-fed.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 20, 2022 10:10 AM (nfrXX)

187 *Looks it up*
Fated - ok, lib has a copy!
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion

I read that as farted.....

Posted by: JT at February 20, 2022 10:10 AM (arJlL)

188 George Takei explains progressivism.

George Takei
@GeorgeTakei
Brainwashed people always think everyone *else* has been brainwashed.

-
Oh my!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter 2022 at February 20, 2022 10:10 AM (FVME7)

189 Hi Everyone, good job, Squirrel, BZ.

No significant reading this week, I re-read my own book, because I had an author's signing day at a local bookstore. And I didn't want to appear as an ignorant goof regarding my own book. Does that count?

Posted by: goatexchange at February 20, 2022 10:10 AM (APPN8)

190 175 Memory palaces don't work for me. I notice that I remember things when I use my hands - like doodling, or washing dishes.
Maybe I should make a memory doodle notebook
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 10:06 AM (lCui1)
---

My memory palace looks like an abandoned amusement park.

I'm a doodler too. I have to lock down facts with a physical action like drawing. Tony Buzan had a book called "Mind Mapping" which employed a more spherical approach to note-taking (as opposed to outlining), and doodles and key words were the hooks that retained information.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 20, 2022 10:10 AM (Dc2NZ)

191 Posted by: Weak Geek at February 20, 2022 09:57 AM (Om/di)

I can see that. I think I'm avoiding that stuff, but who knows.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 10:10 AM (7bRMQ)

192 Where did you find cover art downloads that were hi-res enough to print?

Posted by: David Groenier at February 20, 2022 10:11 AM (DwnPl)

193 A trajectory all too common among so-called conservative thought-leaders

Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 20, 2022 09:59 AM (EZebt)
---
It's interesting to look at how and why they change. Is it creative exhaustion? Resentment at where they are? Pure economics?

I mean, to pick up our favorite punching bag, it's now clear that Jonah Goldberg never was the enfant terrible of the conservative moment he pretended to be. Deep down he desperately wanted to be a Victor Davis Hanson type but was unable to do the work.

That's why he puffs himself up about holding a "chair" but he doesn't have a master's or doctorate, his nonfiction books are transparently derivative, and whenever he tries to engage someone with an actual body of work (like Roger Kimball) he gets embarrassed.

There's a tension in being a rebel and growing older. Hunter S. Thompson couldn't manage it, either.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:11 AM (llXky)

194 I read that as farted.....
Posted by: JT

Oh, I better take doggeh outside for his morning business

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 10:11 AM (lCui1)

195 No significant reading this week, I re-read my own book, because I had an author's signing day at a local bookstore. And I didn't want to appear as an ignorant goof regarding my own book. Does that count?
Posted by: goatexchange at February 20, 2022 10:10 AM (APPN

Like Shatner being pestered by a superfan about an old episode!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 20, 2022 10:11 AM (Dc2NZ)

196 148 "Reacher is essentially Highway to Heaven with more punching and shooting."

That's the way we wuz raised.
Posted by: Hoss at February 20, 2022 09:55 AM (vrz2I)

Highway to Heaven: S4 E8: Jack sends 4 people to Hell and whoops ass on several others.

Posted by: rhennigantx at February 20, 2022 10:11 AM (yrol0)

197 Posted by: callsign claymore at February 20, 2022 09:57 AM (7lLP0)

As for "how things really work", you were the one who really got me to read Windswept House. Are the demonic elements in our society as prominent in DC as they were in the Vatican? I'd venture to say, yes.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 10:11 AM (ONvIw)

198 Ah yes, a wee dram. Nice to see that phrase used, as I use it myself when busting out the Glenfiddich..

Posted by: Dandor the Realanator at February 20, 2022 10:12 AM (1MrpL)

199 The "Memory Place" is an interesting concept. Since my mind seems to find long lost memories keyed by all sorts of random stimuli. An image, a smell, a sound. Any number of things, and the brain is a remarkable computer that may never be duplicated, it has led me to a theory.

We all have photographic memories. Anything the brains sees, hears etc. It's stores perfectly. The catch is we have not yet discovered how to retrieve
The information in its original form.

Think also of 'savants' who can for example listen a complex piece of piano music and repeat it. But are secretly autistic in every other way. Yeah, I had weird dreams last night, so you get this.

Posted by: Cannibal bob at February 20, 2022 10:13 AM (RoIW/)

200 What is the opposite of gormless? Gormful? Is it possible to have too much gorm?

Posted by: Oddbob at February 20, 2022 10:07 AM (nfrXX)
---
Gormly, dude!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:13 AM (llXky)

201 Continuing with the 100 Days of Dante, now up to Canto 4 of the Paradiso. Also, Continuing LOTR while listening to the Andy Serkis narration. Slow but very enjoyable.

Related to reading. I learned this week that an animated LOTR film is being made: "War of the Rohirrim". It uses the mention of Helm Hammerhand, 9th king of Rohan, and his struggles. That's where Helm's Deep in The Two Towers comes from. It is due out in a couple of years.

Response from fans is mostly positive because it uses many of the Peter Jackson staff of writers, special effects, and Alan Lee and John Howe to develop the story and visuals. Since these folks have shown a devotion to the world Tolkien created (within movie limitations), people are hopeful. And the backlash against the Amazon series, that pretty much ignores Tolkien's creation, and Amazon's attacks against any criticism has folks hoping this animated story will be a credit to Middle-Earth. People are really, really pissed at Amazon and the series.

Posted by: JTB at February 20, 2022 10:13 AM (7EjX1)

202 Posted by: All Hail Eris,

Oh lib has Tony Buzan too - another hold placed!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 10:13 AM (lCui1)

203 My memory access method is a more of a random access data base. If you ask me a question I get 'a look' on my face as I access the unfathomable depths (this was humorously confirmed multiple times by a coworker). As I have been mocked by other coworkers as a human search engine I think I'd rather not work at building a memory palace.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at February 20, 2022 10:14 AM (vnqom)

204 Slightly off topic- have a complete (more or less) collection of Classic Comics (50s, 60s). The pages are slowly disintegrating due to acid in pages. Has anyone come across a cheap method to preserve pages? I still derive a lot of pleasure re-reading these. Probably shouldn't admit to reading comics.

Posted by: EdmundBurkesShade at February 20, 2022 10:14 AM (mCh4j)

205 @GeorgeTakei
Brainwashed people always think everyone *else* has been brainwashed.


That's the kind of thing that is supposed to sound profound but is really just stupid and useless. Because how could it tell you anything about yourself or anyone else that you didn't already assume?

Posted by: Oddbob at February 20, 2022 10:14 AM (nfrXX)

206 Yeah, I had weird dreams last night, so you get this.

Posted by: Cannibal bob at February 20, 2022 10:13 AM (RoIW/)

Did you eat someone bad for dinner?

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 10:14 AM (lCui1)

207 I am mostly a lurker as well, but just want to say this is a most excellent book thread and I really like the idea of incorporating reader input.

Well done!

Posted by: Bonnie Blue - says HONK at February 20, 2022 10:14 AM (hlxe7)

208 Good morning, bibliophiles.

Posted by: Count de Monet at February 20, 2022 10:15 AM (4I/2K)

209
That's why he puffs himself up about holding a "chair" but he doesn't have a master's or doctorate, his nonfiction books are transparently derivative, and whenever he tries to engage someone with an actual body of work (like Roger Kimball) he gets embarrassed.

There's a tension in being a rebel and growing older. Hunter S. Thompson couldn't manage it, either.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:11 AM (llXky)

Holding a chair? Jonah? Does he moonlight as a waiter in a posh DC restaurant where he seats the clients?

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 10:15 AM (ONvIw)

210 I wonder if Prof Squirrel's printed art includes any of of the covers from mid-1970's reprints of ERB's "John Carter of Mars" series?

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 10:15 AM (5pTK/)

211 First books have an uneven writing style and awkward pacing.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:03 AM (llXky)

How do you mean those two examples, please? If it's avoidable from the beginning, I'd like to do so. Thanks.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 10:15 AM (7bRMQ)

212 Great job, P-Squirrel! Thanks to Weasel and CBD too for getting this to us. More please.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at February 20, 2022 10:15 AM (d9Cw3)

213 Great Job, Eris ! (Again !)

See ya next week !

Posted by: JT at February 20, 2022 10:15 AM (arJlL)

214 I have no idea how my memory works. I have no system. It's amazing I retain anything. It all goes into a shoe box in my head.

Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 10:15 AM (vrz2I)

215 But, since watching "Jack Reacher" on HBOMax, I've come to realize that he's simply -
low budget Batman with sexy time.
Posted by: naturalfake
-----
And very easy on my eyes....
I found it enjoyable for light mindless tv watching.
I also found Reacher very pleasant to look at.

Posted by: lin-duh at February 20, 2022 10:16 AM (UUBmN)

216 There are a number of publicity photographs of Mountbatten with Clark Gable and Jayne Mansfield - the photo shows "Dickie" wearing his navy uniform with a campaign ribbon board of ridiculous dimensions. It's gigantic. One might think he won the war singlehandedly.

SEAC was Churchill's dumping ground to get wasteling British red tabs out of London and away from critical campaign regions.

He almost lost Delhi when the IJA attacked Sangshak-Imphal-Kohima-Daripur by hiking in from Burma. A hike deemed impossible by his staff. It was a very close thing. Far closer than General Slim admits in his war memoir.

Posted by: 13times at February 20, 2022 10:16 AM (juPYy)

217 Damn auto cucumber! Not secretly...severely. Ugh

Posted by: Cannibal bob at February 20, 2022 10:16 AM (RoIW/)

218 People are really, really pissed at Amazon and the series.

Posted by: JTB at February 20, 2022 10:13 AM (7EjX1)
---
Yeah, I have a column up about it at bleedingfool.com that actually is getting positive responses for a change.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:16 AM (llXky)

219 I'm just a lurker but thanks to Perfessor and Eris for keeping this thread going.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, the Phillips screwdriver of the gods at February 20, 2022 10:18 AM (eGTCV)

220 I should add that skipping around in time isn't always bad.

The comics writer who uses the name Christopher Priest began his Black Panther series with a story that bounced all over the place, but it was so hilarious and interesting that I had to buy the next issues. Mission accomplished.

Without Priest's take, there would have been no "Black Panther" movie.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 20, 2022 10:18 AM (Om/di)

221 Envision a vast shoe box. That's my system.

Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 10:19 AM (vrz2I)

222
I don't know how true this story is, but it used to go around the Russian language and history set when I was in college. It seems a motor pool mechanic in the Army was by some bureaucratic error transferred to the Army Language School in Monterey. Finding the working conditions more pleasant than the motor pool, he stayed on. He had an exploded diagram of a Willys jeep memorized, and he would assign different parts of the grammar and vocabulary to the jeep parts, soon becoming an expert in Russian.
Posted by: Brett

I've heard that away to learn a language is to imagine a house and to furnish different rooms with various aspects of grammar and vocabulary.

Incidentally, a guy on YouTube discusses why Latin has no articles. He said that languages with a developed case system, like Latin, do not need articles whereas languages with a simplified case system, like English, need articles. That makes no sense to me but appears to be true.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter 2022 at February 20, 2022 10:19 AM (FVME7)

223 Love Shack > Memory Palace

Posted by: The B-52's at February 20, 2022 10:19 AM (PiwSw)

224 Re Hobo romanticization: Although it was before my time, I love country music from the 1960s, and there were a lot of popular hobo songs from that era: King Of The Road; Gentle On My Mind; Early Morning Rain; etc.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at February 20, 2022 10:20 AM (d9Cw3)

225 Greetings, 13 times:

@ 216

Indeed, the China, Burma, India Theatre is sorely overlooked history-wise. and suffering-wise.

Posted by: 11B40 at February 20, 2022 10:20 AM (uuklp)

226 It's kind of like "The Warehouse Of Your Mind".

Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 10:21 AM (vrz2I)

227 Holding a chair? Jonah? Does he moonlight as a waiter in a posh DC restaurant where he seats the clients?

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 10:15 AM (ONvIw)
---
He holds the Asness Chair at whatever think tank pays him. He's very proud of having an endowed chair.

I think a lot of the NeverTrump (which includes P.J.) problem is social anxiety/inferiority issues. When you have low status, it's easy and fun to play that up, but when you start to get it, you crave more.

You can't be the carefree person you were because that calls your dearly-won accomplishments into question, so they fall back on "Do you know who I am?!" kind of stuff.

This in turn leads to greater misery because there's always someone ahead of you.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:22 AM (llXky)

228 Last couple years, not so much. I found myself not wanting to look at the spines.

Posted by: 2009Refugee at February 20, 2022 10:09 AM (8AONa)

That's good, because none of the "conservative" writers seem to have one now anyway....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 10:22 AM (7bRMQ)

229 I get the idea behind the memory palace, but it seems easier for me to just memorize whatever I need to memorize and not have to do the additional work of associating everything with something else.

Posted by: PabloD at February 20, 2022 10:22 AM (SGYg6)

230 I wonder if Prof Squirrel's printed art includes any of of the covers from mid-1970's reprints of ERB's "John Carter of Mars" series?

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 10:15 AM (5pTK/)
---
Not yet, but I love the suggestion!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 10:22 AM (K5n5d)

231 So has anyone tried to receive their earliest memory? And then tried to retrieve something earlier? How young are you then?

Wow, what the hells with me this morning?

Posted by: Cannibal bob at February 20, 2022 10:22 AM (RoIW/)

232 This house had a formal dining room that, besides a massive entry at the front, had pillars and openings on each side of the entrance. Said openings were almost exactly the length of a standard board and the pillars were 8-10 inches deep. So yes, our library is made of raw boards and cinder blocks, but we got a lot of shelves for about $100 and some careful stacking. I then tacked translucent fancy curtain sheers to the back side of the shelves to create visual separation while not blocking too much light.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at February 20, 2022 10:22 AM (nC+QA)

233 Indeed, the China, Burma, India Theatre is sorely overlooked history-wise. and suffering-wise.

Posted by: 11B40 at February 20, 2022 10:20 AM (uuklp)
---
I'm looking forward to covering WW II in China in my book.

Or dreading it. Probably a little of both.

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

234 It's kind of like "The Warehouse Of Your Mind".
Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 10:21 AM (vrz2I)

In that case, mine is like where the Ark of the Covenant is stored.

Posted by: Count de Monet at February 20, 2022 10:23 AM (4I/2K)

235 In my first comment I mentioned that my week of reading was varied. My latest copies of "Muzzleloader" magazine and "Backwoodsman" came earlier than expected. Then the hardcover I ordered of "The Annotated Wizard of Oz" arrived a week before promised. Pages and pages of great reading and those wonderful illustrations and background. Part of the enjoyment of the Oz book is it includes colorful maps of the Oz world which is a lot more extensive and varied than I knew.

Finally, I came across, unexpectedly, a reference to Eric Sloane so I got out two of my favorite books of his: "A Reverence for Wood" and "Diary of an Early American Boy". I never get tired of revisiting them.

Posted by: JTB at February 20, 2022 10:23 AM (7EjX1)

236 My memory palace starts out trying to be organized but ends up being piles of stuff. I know what I'm looking for is contained in one of a few piles. But then I wind up throwing the piles in a box to de clutter and now I have to go through everything to find what I'm looking for....

Posted by: lin-duh at February 20, 2022 10:23 AM (UUBmN)

237 @GeorgeTakei
Brainwashed people always think everyone *else* has been brainwashed.

That's the kind of thing that is supposed to sound profound but is really just stupid and useless. Because how could it tell you anything about yourself or anyone else that you didn't already assume?
Posted by: Oddbob at February 20, 2022 10:14 AM (nfrXX)


George strikes me at someone that's done a very thorough, meticulous job of shutting out any and al things that don't agree with his initial assumptions. Most people simple don't see them - but George has went the extra mile.

Posted by: Stayin' Alive at February 20, 2022 10:23 AM (nkvdC)

238 I also found a cheap way of creating interesting wall art for my library. I downloaded cover art from some of my favorite fantasy artists along with cover art from science fiction pulp magazines.

About a year ago I really liked some artwork in an old AD&D Manual of the Planes. The artist was a Stephen Fabian. Did a search and found out he’s still around, and sells prints of his covers from old fantasy and science fiction books for ten bucks a pop. I filled up my stairway wall with them.

Link in nic.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at February 20, 2022 10:24 AM (PmqP5)

239 Re Hobo romanticization: Although it was before my time, I love country music from the 1960s, and there were a lot of popular hobo songs from that era: King Of The Road; Gentle On My Mind; Early Morning Rain; etc.
Posted by: Buck Throckmorton

Dean Martin's Houston

Posted by: JT at February 20, 2022 10:25 AM (arJlL)

240 For my library, I was lucky: in the living room there was an entire wall of built in cabinets just waiting for me. At around 100 linear feet of shelving

Posted by: Tonypete at February 20, 2022 09:08 AM (Msys3)

So... you're the dude who got my old house? lol

Thats exactly what the new owners did, walked into a full custom built library. I'm still annoyed at that.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 20, 2022 10:25 AM (VwHCD)

241 I'm looking forward to covering WW II in China in my book.

Or dreading it. Probably a little of both.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:23 AM (llXky)
---------------

I would think finding original sources covering the subject would be difficult, at best. Thoughts?

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 10:26 AM (5pTK/)

242 BTW, the "War of the Rohirrim" movie I mentioned is not connected to the Amazon LOTR series in any way. Just in case I didn't make that distinction clear enough.

Posted by: JTB at February 20, 2022 10:27 AM (7EjX1)

243 Takei thinks his gasbag pronouncements make him sound really really intelligent and won't allow anything to dent that opinion.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at February 20, 2022 10:27 AM (y7DUB)

244 He holds the Asness Chair at whatever think tank pays him. He's very proud of having an endowed chair.


AHLloyd at February 20, 2022 10:22 AM (llXky)

I first saw this as Ass-ness chair, which I thought was appropriate. A hedge fund family endowing Jonah? Well that explains the "muh private business" attitude of the blue city "right wing". CoC all the way. Jonah is a hired mouthpiece.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 10:27 AM (ONvIw)

245 How do you mean those two examples, please? If it's avoidable from the beginning, I'd like to do so. Thanks.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 10:15 AM (7bRMQ)
---
Do you have a comfortable and consistent voice as an author? Do you fall back on affectation or try to sound like someone else - maybe a favorite author? That's style.

Pacing is where you get so hung up on something that you bog the story down. It can be a description of something - particularly where you have action going on and want to make sure the reader can follow it.

Or it can be a digression, perhaps offering background on something important.

I know of no short cut to get past it. A friend (who has read all my novels) says that my most recent one is clearly the best entirely because my style is so relaxed and confident.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:27 AM (llXky)

246 "As I have been mocked by other coworkers as a human search engine I think I'd rather not work at building a memory palace."

Thanks, AZ Deplorable. I was sort of feeling out of place among all of the people who have tricks for improving memory. My husband refers to me as [Real name]Google because it's easier to ask me than to look it up.

Sounds like fun but sometime I wish I could forget more.

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at February 20, 2022 10:28 AM (fTtFy)

247 First books have an uneven writing style and awkward pacing.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:03 AM (llXky)

How do you mean those two examples, please? If it's avoidable from the beginning, I'd like to do so. Thanks.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022


***
OrangeEnt, the best thing to do would be to get hold of a few first novels and read them, and compare them to the authors' later work. When we all start writing, there is an amateurishness in thought and sentence structure. (I don't mean that in a bad way. The word "amateur" comes from the same root as "amorous" -- an amateur is one who does what he loves.)

Gradually the sentences and thought structure and plotting smooth out; you learn what works and what doesn't. It's why a good writing group is very helpful -- they'll tell you those things. Eventually you will have a little governor in your brain. "The group will spot that flaw. Better fix it."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 10:28 AM (c6xtn)

248 Professor Squirrel

Fantastic library room. Quite classy.

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at February 20, 2022 10:29 AM (u82oZ)

249 Takei thinks his gasbag pronouncements make him sound really really intelligent and won't allow anything to dent that opinion.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at February 20, 2022 10:27 AM (y7DUB)


He'd be fun to humiliate. Just pin him to any one of his stupid points, and don't let him switch the topic. Then pile on, really grind in the lunacy of it, with no regard to his personal feelings. The louder he gets, the harder you push.

Posted by: Stayin' Alive at February 20, 2022 10:29 AM (nkvdC)

250 204 Edward digital, take pictures of every page, there are programs to put them together

Posted by: Skip's Phone at February 20, 2022 10:29 AM (2JoB8)

251 I honestly don't get George Takai.

Because of the Star Trek movies, he's made enough money to live quietly and well for the rest of his life.

Instead, he seems to be nothing more than a bitter old hag with a penis.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 10:29 AM (5pTK/)

252 Good morning!

Let's smile & be happy & strike fear in the hearts of killjoy leftists everywhere.

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at February 20, 2022 10:29 AM (u82oZ)

253 36 I like the idea of book art on the walls.
Posted by: grammie winger at February 20, 2022 09:14 AM (45fpk)

Yes! I would most likely have Anne of Green Gables and Pride and Prejudice type stuff, lol.

Posted by: Bonnie Blue - says HONK at February 20, 2022 10:29 AM (hlxe7)

254 Skip - for some reason Mountbatten allowed security involving his boat to lapse. The book isn't entirely clear why. Which in itself is odd considering Mountbatten was a pedantic control freak.

Posted by: 13times at February 20, 2022 10:29 AM (juPYy)

255 "Hobo romanticization: Although it was before my time, I love country music from the 1960s"

Does anyone remember the Dennis the Menace strips where he would go hang out with a hobo? I never thought that was weird back then.

Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 10:30 AM (vrz2I)

256 He'd be fun to humiliate. Just pin him to any one of his stupid points, and don't let him switch the topic. Then pile on, really grind in the lunacy of it, with no regard to his personal feelings. The louder he gets, the harder you push.
Posted by: Stayin' Alive at February 20, 2022 10:29 AM (nkvdC)


Sounds like a well conceived and developed plan!

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at February 20, 2022 10:30 AM (y7DUB)

257 I would think finding original sources covering the subject would be difficult, at best. Thoughts?

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 10:26 AM (5pTK/)
---
It's an obscure topic for sure. Then again, so is Chinese military history in general.

The Osprey books are helpful, just as they were in writing about the Spanish Civil War. A key factor is how much detail I need to get into. I don't want to bog the book down, so I'm aiming to highlight key factors and the nature of the fighting, not do a week-by-week account of it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:31 AM (llXky)

258 Yeah, I had weird dreams last night, so you get this.

Posted by: Cannibal bob

I have a recurring dream, or rather a recurring dream theme, of not being able to get home. Sometimes the road peters out or I can't find my car/keys, or I can't checkout of a hotel, or . . . I was intrigued when I came across an Xbox game with that theme. It's your last day of work but all kinds of obstacles prevent you from finding your way home. I didn't like the art work and the general feel of the game, though, so I passed it by.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter 2022 at February 20, 2022 10:31 AM (FVME7)

259 I am continuing to purge books. It's the bulkiest thing I have to move. They've been packed for three years and I have decided to get rid of some of the stuff I can easily replace. And I've ordered a Kindle Paperwhite. I had one but it seems that someone walked off with it, or it tucked away in something in the office I haven't gone through. I prefer actual books but I need to keep shelf space for subjects, like my knitting books, that don't work well digitized.

And when I finally get settled, my first purchase will be a comfy reading chair. It's one of my problems now. There just isn't a good place to sit and read.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at February 20, 2022 10:31 AM (YynYJ)

260 @249 --

Library (local and MOBIUS interlibrary lending system),ocal used-book store (used to be more than one), B&N online, Abe Books, eBay.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 20, 2022 10:33 AM (Om/di)

261 "Hobo romanticization: Although it was before my time, I love country music from the 1960s"

-
Trailers for sale or rent, rooms to let 50 cents

Posted by: Roger Miller at February 20, 2022 10:33 AM (FVME7)

262 The Osprey books are helpful, just as they were in writing about the Spanish Civil War. A key factor is how much detail I need to get into. I don't want to bog the book down, so I'm aiming to highlight key factors and the nature of the fighting, not do a week-by-week account of it.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:31 AM (llXky)
---------------

I'm willing to bet it's hard not to go down an interesting rabbit hole once in a while.

I hope to see the finished work at some point. As do you, I suppose!

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 10:33 AM (5pTK/)

263 36 I like the idea of book art on the walls.
Posted by: grammie winger at February 20, 2022 09:14 AM (45fpk)

Yes! I would most likely have Anne of Green Gables and Pride and Prejudice type stuff, lol.
Posted by: Bonnie Blue - says HONK at February 20, 2022 10:29 AM (hlxe7)
---
That's why I like my little technique...print out whatever artwork you like from your favorite books. It helps if you have access to a large-format printer that can handle 11x17. Then you can scale up to a decent size and then trim to fit.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 10:34 AM (K5n5d)

264 Cannibal Bob, Willie Ley was a Zoologist before he was involved with rockets, and he wrote a number of natural history books, pretty much at the level of his articles in Analog magazine in the 50's.

Three of his natural history books are Dragons in Amber (fossils, and unique ecologies) The Lungfish, the Dodo & the Unicorn (about mythical critters, extinct critter and "living fossils), and Dawn of Zoology.

They might move your kiddo from the squidgy side of critters to the history of zoology and how the world fits together.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 20, 2022 10:34 AM (xhaym)

265 I honestly don't get George Takai.
Because of the Star Trek movies, he's made enough money to live quietly and well for the rest of his life.
Instead, he seems to be nothing more than a bitter old hag with a penis.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 10:29 AM (5pTK/)

Yup....I liked him in "The Green Berets".

He always was a good actor but the cock gargling, breech loader in him is just pure asshole.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 20, 2022 10:35 AM (R/m4+)

266 Wonderful job, Perfesser Squirrel! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and awesome library.

Our library, such as it is, has existing built-ins and over the years we've purchased barrister bookcases to class up the joint. The only downside to those was when the kids were young I was always yelling at them to stay away from the bookcases for fear that the glass fronts would break.

Posted by: Hoplite Housewife at February 20, 2022 10:35 AM (mNMgp)

267 I honestly don't get George Takai.

Because of the Star Trek movies, he's made enough money to live quietly and well for the rest of his life.

Instead, he seems to be nothing more than a bitter old hag with a penis.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 10:29 AM (5pTK/)

He's just pissed at all the fine intergalactic poon he passed up on that kirk scooped up. Well, that and Boy George yelling fag from a passing starship.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 20, 2022 10:36 AM (VwHCD)

268 BTW, the "War of the Rohirrim" movie I mentioned is not connected to the Amazon LOTR series in any way. Just in case I didn't make that distinction clear enough.
Posted by: JTB at February 20, 2022 10:27 AM (7EjX1)

I have no expectations in regard to the movie but I like the Rohirrim and Helm Hammerhand could be a great character.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, the Phillips screwdriver of the gods at February 20, 2022 10:36 AM (eGTCV)

269 Buenos Dias Perfessor, congrats on the new gig...

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at February 20, 2022 10:36 AM (BgMrQ)

270 There's a tension in being a rebel and growing older. Hunter S. Thompson couldn't manage it, either.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:11 AM (llXky)


Thompson was like an early version of Howard Stern, getting much too famous for what he deserved. He wrote a book about the Hell's Angels and people started acting like he was the second coming of William Burroughs instead of a fucking journalist.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at February 20, 2022 10:37 AM (y7DUB)

271 So has anyone tried to receive their earliest memory? And then tried to retrieve something earlier? How young are you then?

Posted by: Cannibal bob at February 20, 2022 10:22 AM (RoIW/)
---
Yes, I've tried it. A lot. My parents divorced when I was very little and the brief time when we were a happy family was something I tried to hold onto afterwards.

That faded for a long time until I got married and had kids, and then it came back. Mentally, I go through our old house room by room. I think of toys I had. I believe I can remember things going back to when I was three.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:37 AM (llXky)

272 Well, that and Boy George yelling fag from a passing starship.
Posted by
-------------

LOL!

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 10:37 AM (5pTK/)

273 197 Good morning, CN the First,

Complex question. The worst of demonic stuff goes on behind closed doors, like in the Vatican, where wolves in sheep's clothing pretend that they're Catholic.

There's a weird vibe to D.C...a sub-current of being disconnected from reality. Outside the bubble, the rest of America doesn't really exist.

"Parliament of Whores" shows the bland stupidity and empty promises of politics (with great humor at times). But it's not a horrifying reveal like "Windswept House."

On a related note, check out Father Gabriele Amorth's books if you want more insight on evil in the Vatican and elsewhere.

Posted by: callsign claymore at February 20, 2022 10:37 AM (7lLP0)

274 I honestly don't get George Takai.

Because of the Star Trek movies, he's made enough money to live quietly and well for the rest of his life.

Instead, he seems to be nothing more than a bitter old hag with a penis.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 10:29 AM


His bitterness all comes down to his belief that William Shatner "stole" a 30 second scene away from him in the original TV series and it escalated from there. He went on to accuse Shatner of denying him various roles in the Star Trek movie franchise. He has been bitter and hateful since then because he feels he got robbed.

Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at February 20, 2022 10:37 AM (bVYXr)

275 Incidentally, a guy on YouTube discusses why Latin has no articles. He said that languages with a developed case system, like Latin, do not need articles whereas languages with a simplified case system, like English, need articles. That makes no sense to me but appears to be true.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter 2022 at February 20, 2022


***
I had fun with one of my fantasy characters, a wizard who comes from a different country than the one where the main action occurs. His language, like Russian, has no articles, so we get "Hand me cup, please." I mixed in a little Cajun-style construction as well. He's likely to say, "We got no answers, no" and "Yah, I did that, me."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 10:38 AM (c6xtn)

276 Takai fails to realize that without Shatner he would have got nothing.

Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 10:38 AM (vrz2I)

277 Yup....I liked him in "The Green Berets". He always was a good actor but the cock gargling, breech loader in him is just pure asshole.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 20, 2022 10:35 AM (R/m4+)


People change. And making a living in Hollywood ain't easy. I wouldn't want to do it. No way you swim in that cesspool without getting a little dirty.

Posted by: Stayin' Alive at February 20, 2022 10:38 AM (nkvdC)

278 Good morning Hordemates!

Posted by: Diogenes at February 20, 2022 10:39 AM (axyOa)

279 He's just pissed at all the fine intergalactic poon he passed up on that kirk scooped up. Well, that and Boy George yelling fag from a passing starship.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 20, 2022 10:36 AM (VwHCD)
---
Still seething over Elton John telling him not to be such a flaming queen all the time.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:39 AM (llXky)

280 My favorite transient song is Sweet Melissa by the Allman Bothers. Probably a lot of intelligent but badly hurt people out there on our roads and train tracks.

Great book thread, Perfessor!

Posted by: Blacksheep at February 20, 2022 10:39 AM (6mvRv)

281 He went on to accuse Shatner of denying him various roles in the Star Trek movie franchise. He has been bitter and hateful since then because he feels he got robbed.
Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at February 20, 2022 10:37 AM (bVYXr)
-----------------

Ah, the old, "It's someone else's fault" leftist gambit.

Good grief, without Shat, there is no Star Trek movie franchise that made Takei a household name again.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 10:39 AM (5pTK/)

282 I would have sworn that someone on this thread asked about where we acquire books.

Now I don't find it.

Egg on face.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 20, 2022 10:40 AM (Om/di)

283

Squirrel has good taste in authors . . .

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at February 20, 2022 10:41 AM (s2VJv)

284 Thompson was like an early version of Howard Stern, getting much too famous for what he deserved. He wrote a book about the Hell's Angels and people started acting like he was the second coming of William Burroughs instead of a fucking journalist.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at February 20, 2022 10:37 AM (y7DUB)
---
That and his drug use caught up with him.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:41 AM (llXky)

285 KatieFloyd welcome, there are free digital books but I am always looking at used book stores, they can be found on line search

Posted by: Skip's Phone at February 20, 2022 10:41 AM (2JoB8)

286 Ah, the old, "It's someone else's fault" leftist gambit.

Good grief, without Shat, there is no Star Trek movie franchise that made Takei a household name again.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 10:39 AM (5pTK/)

In the last movie with the original cast Sulu was a frigging captain with his own starship. I mean, wtf?? Spock didn't even get that.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 20, 2022 10:42 AM (VwHCD)

287 213 Great Job, Eris ! (Again !)

See ya next week !
Posted by: JT at February 20, 2022 10:15 AM (arJlL)
---

You're welcome! I really slaved over this one.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 20, 2022 10:42 AM (Dc2NZ)

288 Ah, the old, "It's someone else's fault" leftist gambit.

Good grief, without Shat, there is no Star Trek movie franchise that made Takei a household name again.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 10:39 AM


Yep, and since the late 60s TV series and 6 movies he is the only cast member to ever utter a single complaint about how they were treated by gene roddenberry or shatner.

Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at February 20, 2022 10:43 AM (bVYXr)

289 Was rereading some of my favorite Christopher Anvil stories. They are so entertaining. Love his Interstellar Patrol setting in the Colonization series.

Two good short stories that explains an intriguing way to transfer technology are Uplift the Savage and Philosopher's Stone.

I have all the Eric Flint edited compilations of his SF magazine stories. Lots of fun to read.

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at February 20, 2022 10:43 AM (u82oZ)

290 Surprise!
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 09:01 AM (K5n5d)

Nice book thread, Perfessser!

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 20, 2022 10:43 AM (P3gRi)

291 Rereading "Welcome To The Monkey House," by Kurt Vonnegut, on (I think) CN's suggestion. I haven't read it in a long, long time, so except for Harrison Bergeron, they are almost new!

He's a good writer, but there seems to be something missing in his work...maybe a heart? Or love of humanity?

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at February 20, 2022 10:43 AM (XIJ/X)

292 "My favorite transient song is Sweet Melissa by the Allman Bothers"

Lots of hobos thru Macon over the years. It's a rail center. I'm sure they knew plenty of Ramblin Men.

I tell people I live near where Dicky Betts was born. Rolling down Highway 41. It's a few hundred feet from here.

Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 10:44 AM (vrz2I)

293 It's true of Russian. That's why you'll hear Russians speaking English say things like "I used to live in Soviet Union."

Posted by: Brett at February 20, 2022 10:44 AM (Yfr3c)

294 274: Most TOS fans didn't really care about Sulu.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 10:44 AM (ONvIw)

295
Sounds like fun but sometime I wish I could forget more.
Posted by: Art Rondelet

lol, I don't try because something will remind me of a *thing* and it'll resurrect all the other little things. This entertains me when I wake in the middle of the night...

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at February 20, 2022 10:45 AM (vnqom)

296 Do you have a comfortable and consistent voice as an author? Do you fall back on affectation or try to sound like someone else - maybe a favorite author? That's style.

Pacing is where you get so hung up on something that you bog the story down. It can be a description of something - particularly where you have action going on and want to make sure the reader can follow it.

Or it can be a digression, perhaps offering background on something important.

I know of no short cut to get past it. A friend (who has read all my novels) says that my most recent one is clearly the best entirely because my style is so relaxed and confident.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:27 AM (llXky)

Thanks. I don't think I'm trying to imitate anyone, as I don't read fiction as much as non-fiction. I don't think I've done any "bogging" so maybe I'm just luckily avoiding it. Thanks for your input.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 10:45 AM (7bRMQ)

297 Something Something Dragon. Look through Tai Chi moves for the "something something." Some of those moves have pretty cool descriptions. I was reading a book on the Soong Dynasty. The author talked about visiting Ching-ling Soong's old house in Shanghai. He speaks Chinese fluently - so he raps on the gate and a soldier looks out. May I enter to look at the garden, ect? The guard, hesitates, and then adopts the tai chi stance: stork(or crane)-strides-to-distant-mountain. I looked for videos or photos of the move but failed.

Posted by: 13times at February 20, 2022 10:45 AM (juPYy)

298 "Dickey"

Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 10:45 AM (vrz2I)

299 Takei's schtick is definitely getting old. Far from abusing him, it looks to me like they kiss his ass just bc he's a bitchy old queen.

Not that there's anything wrong with bitchy old queens /disclaimer

Posted by: Blacksheep at February 20, 2022 10:46 AM (6mvRv)

300 I had fun with one of my fantasy characters, a wizard who comes from a different country than the one where the main action occurs.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 10:38 AM (c6xtn)
---
Having all the characters sound the same is also a rookie mistake.

Since we're going advice, I guess the best I have for a new author is simply don't get too ambitious.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:46 AM (llXky)

301 That and his drug use caught up with him.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:41 AM (llXky)


Well yeah, that was never going to work out well particularly after the stoners reading Rolling Stone latched on to him. "He's like one of us" said like that's a good thing.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at February 20, 2022 10:46 AM (y7DUB)

302 "So has anyone tried to receive their earliest memory?"

My second birthday. My father and sister brought my first set of wheels, a tricycle, into the kitchen from the back porch. Nothing earlier.

Salvador Dali claimed to remember being in the womb.

Posted by: Brett at February 20, 2022 10:47 AM (Yfr3c)

303 Earliest memory? Seeing Sid Melton get nailed by the triceratops at the end of LOST CONTINENT (1951, with Cesar Romero and Chick Chandler); they don't make 'em like that any more. Think I was 4, maybe.

Reading? I should be diving into Tolstoy, Chekhov, Dickens, and James, and I'll do that any day now. In the meantime, I've been revisiting some Robert Silverberg. DYING INSIDE and THE BOOK OF SKULLS are a couple of his best; the book of Silverberg interviews by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro is a delight too.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 20, 2022 10:47 AM (JzDjf)

304 George Takei: what a waste. A good actor who seemed to have a sense of humor. And that great speaking voice. Not satisfied with a respectable career, he had to become a bitter scold when nobody cares about his rants. Sad. It would be annoying if I paid attention to him or his type.

Posted by: JTB at February 20, 2022 10:47 AM (7EjX1)

305 Having all the characters sound the same is also a rookie mistake.

Since we're going advice, I guess the best I have for a new author is simply don't get too ambitious.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:46 AM (llXky)
-------------

Wait, introducing 20 characters within the first 10 pages, with accompanying pages detailing the who what and why is a bad idea?

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 10:47 AM (5pTK/)

306 I was talking to my cousin about how a lack of focus leads to less enjoyment reading. He says he loses focus mid-book and doesn't get it back. Also said that's what ruined reading for his mom. I an trying to transition away from watching You Tube videos but I know I don't find myself lost in a book like I did in the past.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at February 20, 2022 10:48 AM (YynYJ)

307 Takai fails to realize that without Shatner he would have got nothing.
Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022


***
Without his role on Trek as a sympathetic character, he would have wound up playing an endless string of Oriental spies/henchmen/assassins on the TV shows of the time.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 10:48 AM (c6xtn)

308 Spock didn't even get that.
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 20, 2022 10:42 AM (VwHCD)

Spock was promoted to Captain of the Enterprise in The Wrath Of Khan. :B

Posted by: Robert at February 20, 2022 10:49 AM (1Yy3c)

309 Congrats on the new book gig - and nice library.
My small apartment doesn't allow for a separate library but I have books in every room so I guess my whole place is a library. I have a few spots where I like to read and I get library books on my Nook. The permanent collection is sorted by topic. Art history has one entire cabinet. The other cabinets have shelves for humor (I tossed a lot of PJ's stuff when he turned), Roman history, practical stuff (computer and software manuals, how to's etc.) and assorted novels. Thomas Perry has a shelf and so does Martin Cruz Smith. Cookbooks are in the kitchen. small books are in the bathroom. Just started reading Thomas Perry's "The Book of the Lion" which is billed as a 'bibliomystery." Very promising!

Posted by: vivi at February 20, 2022 10:49 AM (33kEg)

310 Thompson was like an early version of Howard Stern, getting much too famous for what he deserved. He wrote a book about the Hell's Angels and people started acting like he was the second coming of William Burroughs instead of a fucking journalist.
Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at February 20, 2022 10:37 AM (y7DUB)


Well, the problem is that he wasn't a journalist.

He was a gonzo journalist. The gonzo being the tell. Like "compassionate" conservatism.

He was an enjoyable and maliciously fun read. But, his emphasis on adding fictional elements to straight up reporting, gave us what we have today where "journalism" is all about the "story" and feels and propaganda for the right people and party and straight up lies and fiction.

Perhaps, Thompson couldn't stand just being another sheep when everyone else was doing the same thing. He was a ram doncha know.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 20, 2022 10:49 AM (5NkmN)

311 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 10:28 AM (c6xtn)

Thanks, any recommendations? I'm not into fantasy or sci-fi really. I'll be hitting the library this summer with the youngest to get reading, so I'll have access to most writers.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 10:50 AM (7bRMQ)

312 Some of those moves have pretty cool descriptions.

Posted by: 13times at February 20, 2022 10:45 AM (juPYy)
---
Hey, thanks! I figure that something in what I read will jump out at me, so I'm patient. Long Live Death emerged as a result of research into the Spanish Foreign Legion.

Of course, there are all the old parodies of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" to fall back on.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:50 AM (llXky)

313 "low budget Batman with sexy time." Reacher

I thought that Reacher's appeal is that he's an alternative to super-heros and Jamed Bond-like CIA guys, like Bourne.

He's a blue-collar guy, who happens to be a super-detective, skills he picked up being an Army brat MP.

One of his superpowers is that he's always underestimated by those who only see a lunk in a t-shirt.

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 20, 2022 10:50 AM (i0slg)

314 Great room!

Posted by: Zogger at February 20, 2022 10:51 AM (pJSvF)

315 Since we're going advice, I guess the best I have for a new author is simply don't get too ambitious.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022


***
The usual advice for a first novel is that the action should encompass no more than about a year's time.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 10:51 AM (c6xtn)

316 "So has anyone tried to receive their earliest memory?"

I can remember back to around 1 year old, and pretty vividly actually.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 20, 2022 10:51 AM (VwHCD)

317 He's a good writer, but there seems to be something missing in his work...maybe a heart? Or love of humanity?
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo

I reread my two favorites, Sirens of Titan and Cat's Cradle, and, although I could see why younger Wrecks loved them, I didn't like them nearly as much. I think I've reached the age that nihilism has no appeal. I don't want to think that all we've been through is meaningless.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Proprietor of the Outrage Outlet at February 20, 2022 10:51 AM (FVME7)

318 Regarding earliest memories: Mine are disjointed and scattered throughout my younger years. However, I believe the disjointed memories of my youth are due to the amount of time I spent in the hospital undergoing various surgeries. I suspect the drugs used to put me under at the time have something to do with it.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 10:52 AM (5pTK/)

319 "So has anyone tried to receive their earliest memory?"

I can't. There's simply nothing to grab on to, for lack of a better way to explain it. Ask me a question about something specific, and I can recall it. But I don't have the ability to focus on something vague like that. Plus, I typically throw away memories I don't need - same as information.

Posted by: Stayin' Alive at February 20, 2022 10:52 AM (nkvdC)

320 Finally I read a book that goes in my essential and foundational works. These are books that have informed my thinking.

It is Science and Government by C.P. Snow. It is a hardcover containing a talk given at the 1960 Godkin Lectures at Harvard. This is a year after his influential Rede Lecture on The Two Cultures.

I find it a great guide to the relationship between science and policy makers. It is superficially about the bitter and damaging enmity between two eminent British scientists both powerful in government.

These men were Sir Henry Tizard, who saw to it that England led the world in the development of radar, and his unrelenting opponent F.A. Lindemann (Lord Cherwell), Winston Churchill's scientific advisor. He had been strongly against radar before WWII.

Churchill, by disregarding Tizard and others, and relying on his longtime friend Lindemann, doomed the elite of the UK and the Commonwealth in the use of Bomber Command. A lot of the best of the yeoman class did not survive. This crippled the UK post war.

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at February 20, 2022 10:52 AM (u82oZ)

321 I like Hemingway's short, declarative sentence style. Very economic use of the language.

Makes for good, clear legal writing too. More lawyers should try it, especially given how string cites and other legal trappings can blow up a paragraph length sentence.

Posted by: Blacksheep at February 20, 2022 10:52 AM (6mvRv)

322 Re-reading Nabokov's Pale Fire. "What is *real* in a novel?," I think is Nabokov's recurring question.

Posted by: Marylander at February 20, 2022 10:53 AM (ZwChs)

323 268 ... "I have no expectations in regard to the movie but I like the Rohirrim and Helm Hammerhand could be a great character."

Agreed. The Riders of Rohan are probably my favorite 'group' in the trilogy. I always thought of them as Vikings on horses which was a fun image. And I have the sense that Tolkien enjoyed writing about them.

Posted by: JTB at February 20, 2022 10:53 AM (7EjX1)

324 So has anyone tried to receive their earliest memory? And then tried to retrieve something earlier? How young are you then?

Posted by: Cannibal bob

I asked my mom about a memory I had that didn't have any kind of an associated photo. I described it and she said it was from New York and that we had moved from that State when I was 16months old. I don't have any memories before that even though there are photos that might help.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at February 20, 2022 10:53 AM (vnqom)

325 George Takei
@GeorgeTakei
Brainwashed people always think everyone *else* has been brainwashed.


----------

That can't be the real George Takei. He didn't mention he's gay.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 20, 2022 10:54 AM (VxC1e)

326 Wait, introducing 20 characters within the first 10 pages, with accompanying pages detailing the who what and why is a bad idea?

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 10:47 AM (5pTK/)
---
Not necessarily, it's just not something I recommend for a first-time author.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 10:54 AM (llXky)

327 "I like Hemingway's short, declarative sentence style."

I like Steinbeck's clarity. It has none of Hemingway's "look at me being so simple" boastfulness. His minimalism often obscured the matter of his stories.

Posted by: Brett at February 20, 2022 10:56 AM (Yfr3c)

328 How do you mean those two examples, please? If it's avoidable from the beginning, I'd like to do so. Thanks.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022

Write your book without worrying about all this.
Print it out.
Put it away for two months. - no looking at it! Do something else.
Come back and reread it with fresh eyes and a ruthless edit pen.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 10:57 AM (lCui1)

329 I like the way Perfessor Squirrel makes posters of some great book or magazine covers. If I had the means to do so (and the wall space), which I don't, I would use the Frazetta covers from the Conan books.

Posted by: JTB at February 20, 2022 10:58 AM (7EjX1)

330 I recently re-read Agincourt by Barnard Cornwell. Concerns the battle of the same name in 1415 as told through the eyes of an archer. Really enjoyed it.

Posted by: Blacksheep at February 20, 2022 10:58 AM (6mvRv)

331 Yep, and since the late 60s TV series and 6 movies he is the only cast member to ever utter a single complaint about how they were treated by gene roddenberry or shatner.

Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at February 20, 2022 10:43 AM (bVYXr)

I believe they all complained after things started back up. No complaints while TOS was on, but after the conventions started. Nimoy and Shat discuss this on Shatner's Mind Meld DVD, and it seems that Walter Koenig agreed with their take when he was on Shatner's Raw Nerve. Your namesake always refused to make up with Shatner, even when he offered an open forum to him.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 10:59 AM (7bRMQ)

332 I would use the Frazetta covers from the Conan books.
Posted by: JTB at February 20, 2022 10:58 AM (7EjX1)
---
Those are great!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 10:59 AM (K5n5d)

333 Loving the Executor in the background!

Posted by: Wyatt Earp at February 20, 2022 10:59 AM (bkUtD)

334 @327 - I agree about Steinbeck. Also an excellent writer.

Posted by: Blacksheep at February 20, 2022 10:59 AM (6mvRv)

335 Thanks, any recommendations? I'm not into fantasy or sci-fi really. I'll be hitting the library this summer with the youngest to get reading, so I'll have access to most writers.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022


***
SF? Robert A. Heinlein. A great natural storyteller and the inventor of a *lot* of the tropes you find in modern SF. I love one of his disciples, Larry Niven -- his Ringworld is a grand, mind-bending adventure, a kind of SF retelling of The Wizard of Oz. For fantasy, I recommend Fred Saberhagen's Empire of the East and his Books of Swords series.

You like Westerns, as do I. A lot of hardboiled crime writers like Loren Estleman and Elmore Leonard began, or continued, as Western writers. You could try their work.

As for mystery, I love the classic puzzle story as done by Ellery Queen and John Dickson Carr. Not so much Agatha Christie, though she was a good plotter.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 11:00 AM (c6xtn)

336 Oh, I just noticed the Super Star Destroyer on the Perfessor's shelf.

Posted by: Robert at February 20, 2022 11:00 AM (1Yy3c)

337 LRAD usage against Australians.

https://tinyurl.com/mwh8hesh

Posted by: flounder, wrecker, hoarder, saboteur at February 20, 2022 11:00 AM (SH2Zi)

338 330 I recently re-read Agincourt by Barnard Cornwell. Concerns the battle of the same name in 1415 as told through the eyes of an archer. Really enjoyed it.
Posted by: Blacksheep at February 20, 2022 10:58 AM (6mvRv)

----------

I believe the longbows swept the field in that one, ending crossbow dominance for all time.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 20, 2022 11:00 AM (VxC1e)

339 My earliest memory, more like a mental photograph than anything, is of my dad leaving the house, walking to work and carrying a paper bag lunch. He told me he only did that for 3 months just after I turned 2. Nothing before that.

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 20, 2022 11:00 AM (q3gwH)

340 One of my earliest memories is of my mother buying me a coloring book with trains. I didn't like the electric train with that framework above to connect it to the power cables so instead of coloring it, I just scratched it out. My mother guilted me out about that and I've felt guilty about it for 60+ years.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Proprietor of the Outrage Outlet at February 20, 2022 11:01 AM (FVME7)

341 Well, the problem is that he wasn't a journalist.

He was a gonzo journalist. The gonzo being the tell. Like "compassionate" conservatism.

He was an enjoyable and maliciously fun read. But, his emphasis on adding fictional elements to straight up reporting, gave us what we have today where "journalism" is all about the "story" and feels and propaganda for the right people and party and straight up lies and fiction.

Perhaps, Thompson couldn't stand just being another sheep when everyone else was doing the same thing. He was a ram doncha know.
Posted by: naturalfake at February 20, 2022 10:49 AM (5NkmN)


The trouble was he had an outsized influence on alleged real journalists who tried to pull off what he did, which I won't argue was entertaining, and ended up being bad writers reporting things inaccurately.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at February 20, 2022 11:01 AM (y7DUB)

342 I believe they all complained after things started back up. No complaints while TOS was on, but after the conventions started. Nimoy and Shat discuss this on Shatner's Mind Meld DVD, and it seems that Walter Koenig agreed with their take when he was on Shatner's Raw Nerve. Your namesake always refused to make up with Shatner, even when he offered an open forum to him.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 10:59 AM (7bRMQ)
-------------------

William Shatner was always engaging when I saw him interviewed. It sounds like everyone, except Takei, mellowed with age, realizing there was no point in continuing to feud.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 11:02 AM (5pTK/)

343 CN the First, any great books you recommend reading?

Posted by: callsign claymore at February 20, 2022 11:02 AM (7lLP0)

344 I have a few memories from when I was two and again when I was three. They center on my mom being away birthing my sisters. Not panicky, just that things were different as I was stored with different people for a time.

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 20, 2022 11:02 AM (i0slg)

345 The usual advice for a first novel is that the action should encompass no more than about a year's time.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 10:51 AM (c6xtn


Well, shit! *throws away outline of The History of Sex In Europe*

Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at February 20, 2022 11:03 AM (Fs5vw)

346 Earliest memory is probably falling down our stairs.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:03 AM (lCui1)

347 My favorite transient song is Sweet Melissa by the Allman Bothers. Probably a lot of intelligent but badly hurt people out there on our roads and train tracks.

Great book thread, Perfessor!

Posted by: Blacksheep at February 20, 2022 10:39 AM (6mvRv)

You got that rite.

Posted by: Zombie H.L. Lucas at February 20, 2022 11:03 AM (2DNKl)

348 I remember McArthur's funeral, my mother tells me I thought another president died ( Kennedy) but don't remember that.

Posted by: Skip at February 20, 2022 11:04 AM (2JoB8)

349 As for "literary" authors, I can't say enough good htings about Steinbeck. Grapes of Wrath has never grabbed me the way East of Eden does.

Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler are considered next door to literary, though they were crime writers. DH's short stories about the Continental Op, and Chandler's long short story "Red Wind," are great. Herman Wouk's Caine Mutiny is superb stuff, as is his Youngblood Hawke.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 11:04 AM (c6xtn)

350 *throws away outline of The History of Sex In Europe*
Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at February 20, 2022 11:03 AM (Fs5vw)

No no!

*Fishes it out of the trash*

Keep this.

Posted by: Robert at February 20, 2022 11:04 AM (1Yy3c)

351 One of my earliest funniest memories was me putting a hammer through the headlight of my father's car. I was around 1-2 years old and my father had the car in the driveway and was working on something with his toolbox opened. I grabbed what was an upholsterer's hammer, wooden black handle, small head with the magnet to hold tacks while you set them, and put it through the headlight. lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 20, 2022 11:04 AM (VwHCD)

352
He's a good writer, but there seems to be something missing in his work...maybe a heart? Or love of humanity?
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at February 20, 2022 10:43 AM (XIJ/X)

A lack of heart was not my impression. Harrison Bergeron is, IMO, is a longing for individual identity and "heart" versus those who destroy this to the point of disfigurement.
My favorite story from my first reading, many years ago, was Who am I This Time, which gives us a man whose emotional life is made up of characters from plays, and who is basically ignored by the people of his town. The female lead sees something that everyone else either missed, or chose to ignore, maybe because of his job and station in society.

Vonnegut seems to draw heavily on his own life (Slaughterhouse-Five) in his work. That is something I always like in an author, and it helps me connect to the heart of the writer.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 11:04 AM (ONvIw)

353 Earliest memory is probably falling down our stairs.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:03 AM (lCui1)

Earliest memory is taking a drag on a cigarette that someone threw out of their car, then running for the garden hose to stop the burn.

Posted by: flounder, wrecker, hoarder, saboteur at February 20, 2022 11:04 AM (SH2Zi)

354 I have a disturbing memory that I hope is false from when I was around 7-8

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:04 AM (lCui1)

355 Inspiration for the Rohirrim; Tolkien said that he based them in large part, especially their language, on the ancient Saxons.

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 20, 2022 11:05 AM (q3gwH)

356 The one meme on bookmarks is very very true.

When I was in high school I used all sorts of bookmarks. Always liked the simple ones without all the gimcracky odds and ends. Could never keep up with them.

During college I switched to playing cards. Works great as long as you do no mind not having a full deck.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 20, 2022 11:05 AM (dNqv+)

357 The usual advice for a first novel is that the action should encompass no more than about a year's time.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 10:51 AM (c6xtn

Well, shit! *throws away outline of The History of Sex In Europe*
Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at February 20, 2022 11:03 AM (Fs5vw)

There goes my fictional autobio of a volcanic rock.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 20, 2022 11:05 AM (2DNKl)

358 Ten am here, and I have some chores to do -- a chance to vacuum the front room while Chekov the Ailing Codger Cat is ensconced in the bedroom. Maybe I'll shave too.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 11:05 AM (c6xtn)

359 354 I have a disturbing memory that I hope is false from when I was around 7-8
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:04 AM (lCui1)

Is there anyone around who can tell you whether or not it was real?

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 11:06 AM (ONvIw)

360 @338 - That is correct.

I had also never contemplated the life of an archer when they aren't shooting arrows.

There's a scene where some archers are trying to tunnel under the walls when the defenders pour oil down and light it on fire in an attempt to either kill them in the flash fire or collapse the tunnel and bury them alive. Not the way I want to go out.

My D&D brain likes to think I'd have thrived in those days. My real life brain knows better.

Posted by: Blacksheep at February 20, 2022 11:06 AM (6mvRv)

361 The trouble was he had an outsized influence on alleged real journalists who tried to pull off what he did, which I won't argue was entertaining, and ended up being bad writers reporting things inaccurately.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at February 20, 2022 11:01 AM (y7DUB)
---
I think Woodward and Bernstein were worse. They came up with the whole 'noble journalist' icon.

HST was doing opinion writing and everyone knew it. The problem for him was that it was only innovative for a short while, and then it became affectation.

That in turn left him high and dry both as fame hound and a writer.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 11:06 AM (llXky)

362 118 Part 2 from above. The cabinets ended up being a perfect match with our existing cabinets. Dad, who passed a few years ago, in his day was a master carpenter and cabinet builder. Talking to the original homeowner that had them built, they were one of his masterpieces that he was quite proud of. They had a false back about 6 inches deep, and the upper shelving was on massive hidden hinges. If you knew the truck, you could swing open the upper shelves to reveal gun storage. Complete hidden and you had to really inspect it close to realized there was hidden storage
Posted by: Dogbert at February 20, 2022 09:43 AM (Z9HSN)

What serendipity getting those shelves!

Posted by: Bonnie Blue - says HONK at February 20, 2022 11:07 AM (hlxe7)

363 Write your book without worrying about all this.
Print it out.
Put it away for two months. - no looking at it! Do something else.
Come back and reread it with fresh eyes and a ruthless edit pen.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 10:57 AM (lCui1)

That is something I plan to do!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 11:07 AM (7bRMQ)

364 Have a great day, everyone. May life sparkle in a good way.

We are blessed with the continuation of the Book Thread. It is in good hands.

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at February 20, 2022 11:08 AM (u82oZ)

365 One of my earliest funniest memories was me putting a hammer through the headlight of my father's car.
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 20, 2022 11:04 AM (VwHCD)

By chance, do you remember your dad's reaction? I bet it was hilarious.

Posted by: Robert at February 20, 2022 11:08 AM (1Yy3c)

366 Another of my earliest memories is my father taking me to see a train wreck outside of town (Glenwood Springs). Coal cars had jumped the track and there were overturned coal cars and spilled coal all over the place.

I also remember my father taking me to counter in a drug store and getting me an ice cream cone. It was a big deal because for the first time I ate the cone, too. My father and his friends made a big deal of it.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Proprietor of the Outrage Outlet at February 20, 2022 11:08 AM (FVME7)

367 Didn't Norman Mailer invent gonzo journalism? It was about putting the journalist in the story.

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 20, 2022 11:08 AM (i0slg)

368 103 362 horde mind

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:09 AM (lCui1)

369 My D&D brain likes to think I'd have thrived in those days. My real life brain knows better.
Posted by: Blacksheep at February 20, 2022 11:06 AM (6mvRv)
---------

Funny thing, I know I would have died young had I been born prior to the age of antibiotics.

Which is probably one of the many reasons I despise leftists wanting to tear down the miracle that is modern civilization.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 11:09 AM (5pTK/)

370 Regarding art for our personal libraries: While sorting through things recently, I noticed that I have a lot of miscellaneous art prints that came with various crowd-funded comics I've ordered. Unfortunately, a lot of them are in non-standard sizes that I haven't yet found picture frames for. (Crowdfunding: amateurs with passion, who don't necessarily know what standard procedures are). Still, some of the prints are pretty cool (and very unique) and will look cool on the wall.

I may look into printing up some classic covers, like Prof Squirrel. I can think of a few that would make nice additions....

Posted by: Castle Guy at February 20, 2022 11:09 AM (Lhaco)

371 Good morning Professor. Thanks for picking up for Oregon Muse. I miss him. Some years ago I sent a picture of the Carnegie library from the village I grew up in (Bellows Falls Vermont) and was shocked when he posted it-and emailed a kind note back thanking me. RIP Mr. Muse.

Posted by: Rodent at February 20, 2022 11:09 AM (A3Tmb)

372 My earliest memory? I have a dim recollection of having locked my mother out of our apartment. Or maybe it was that she'd gone out and the lock snapped behind her; She spent quite a while trying to tell me through the door how to unlock it.

I do recall that we lived, possibly in Little Rock, AR, in a house that had a second, *child-sized* door onto the porch. No idea how that came to be, but I recall I loved to go in and out like the grownups, preparing to go to "work." Both of these memories come from long before I started school.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 11:10 AM (c6xtn)

373 I, once, sent a sarcastic 'library' photo to OregonMuse. It was a representation of a Horde library -- Muldoon's book of limericks and the Horde cookbook. It was not used.

Posted by: French Jeton at February 20, 2022 11:10 AM (zEKdf)

374 Art on library walls = wasted bookshelf space
Just sayin

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:10 AM (lCui1)

375 I have a disturbing memory that I hope is false from when I was around 7-8
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:04 AM (lCui1)

Was it dad strangling the babysitter or was it an alien abduction?

If it's the former, it's probably not real. If it's the latter it very likely real.

Posted by: Robert at February 20, 2022 11:10 AM (1Yy3c)

376 My earliest memory might be of my father's funeral, which was when I was six.
I've never been able to stand the aroma of certain flowers ever since.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, Honk Justin Trudeau at February 20, 2022 11:11 AM (eGTCV)

377 362 and others - yes I was truly blessed by it

Posted by: Dogbert at February 20, 2022 11:11 AM (Z9HSN)

378 Another vote for westerns by Loren Estleman. I haven't read them all or any recently but really enjoyed the ones I have. And the man writes his drafts on a manual typewriter, bless him!

Note to self: visit the used book store to look for Estleman westerns.

Posted by: JTB at February 20, 2022 11:11 AM (7EjX1)

379 Now I recall an earlier memory. It was in MS or TX, and we had a huge doghouse for our German Shephard. My brother convinced me that dog food tastes like chocolate pudding. It doesn't.

Posted by: flounder, wrecker, hoarder, saboteur at February 20, 2022 11:11 AM (SH2Zi)

380 I also remember my father taking me to counter in a drug store and getting me an ice cream cone. It was a big deal because for the first time I ate the cone, too. My father and his friends made a big deal of it.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Proprietor of the Outrage Outlet at February 20, 2022


***
I was told, though I don't really remember it, that when I had my first ice cream cone, I ate the ice cream down to the level of the cone, then handed the cone (still with some vanilla in it) to my father. "I'd like another one, please."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 11:11 AM (c6xtn)

381 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 11:00 AM (c6xtn)

I read Starship Troopers years, er, decades ago. I might still have it, not really interested in scifi at this point.

I know there's a Zane Grey around here somewhere.

Ellery Queen: real person, pen name, fictional person?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 11:12 AM (7bRMQ)

382 Hemingway's style could be uncommonly effective, especially when he gave himself room to avoid obscurity. See "The Old Man and the Sea," and "Big Two-hearted River." The ultra-minimal "Hills Like White Elephants" was very successful. Writing well in that manner is difficult. My father used to say that Hemingway's influence ruined many a writer.

Posted by: Brett at February 20, 2022 11:12 AM (Yfr3c)

383 Re-reading Nabokov's Pale Fire. "What is *real* in a novel?," I think is Nabokov's recurring question.
Posted by: Marylander at February 20, 2022 10:53 AM (ZwChs)


If I could keep only one book by Nabokov it would be Pale Fire; fortunately I don't have to be so constrained. On the reread are you paying closer attention to the poetry, which I mostly skimmed, at best, originally?

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at February 20, 2022 11:12 AM (y7DUB)

384 Takei is trapped in twitter-hell. He can fucking leave and live out a nice soft life whenever he likes.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at February 20, 2022 11:12 AM (ybIRR)

385 374 Art on library walls = wasted bookshelf space
Just sayin
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:10 AM (lCui1)

This. Books are enough.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 20, 2022 11:12 AM (dNqv+)

386 Posted by: Robert at February 20, 2022 11:10 AM (1Yy3c)

It was about my brother's friend messing with me. He would've been 10 years older than me. I think I imagined it because I thought he was handsome.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:13 AM (lCui1)

387 Another vote for westerns by Loren Estleman. I haven't read them all or any recently but really enjoyed the ones I have. And the man writes his drafts on a manual typewriter, bless him!

Note to self: visit the used book store to look for Estleman westerns.
Posted by: JTB at February 20, 2022


***
His White Desert in the Deputy Paige Murdock series is particularly good. He's written other, non-series Westerns, his Amos Walker private eye stories, and several historical novels about Detroit in the '20s, '30s, '50s, and '60s.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 11:13 AM (c6xtn)

388 Thanks Perfessor!
Much more listening than reading lately, enjoying the Will Durant 'Story of Civilization' series using Library "hoopla" loans. Now up to vol 6 - The Renaissance. Each volume is at least 30 hrs, so not quick reads.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at February 20, 2022 11:14 AM (C/fpg)

389 I was acting up in church once so my dad took me out. As he was hauling me out I loudly asked the congregation to please pray for me.
But that's a family story, not something I actually remember.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, Honk Justin Trudeau at February 20, 2022 11:14 AM (eGTCV)

390 Takei is trapped in twitter-hell. He can fucking leave and live out a nice soft life whenever he likes.
Posted by: BourbonChicken

He is a miserable little man. He hates himself, so wants everyone else to be miserable. He means nothing.

Posted by: Infidel at February 20, 2022 11:14 AM (JAkXN)

391
When I was in high school I used all sorts of bookmarks. Always liked the simple ones without all the gimcracky odds and ends. Could never keep up with them.
During college I switched to playing cards. Works great as long as you do no mind not having a full deck.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 20, 2022 11:05 AM (dNqv+)


The paint-chip samples from the paint section of the hardware store are ideal, they are sturdy, don't stain, are the right size, and are free.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 20, 2022 11:14 AM (xhaym)

392 "I'd like another one, please."
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 11:11 AM (c6xtn)

cute

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:14 AM (lCui1)

393 To be totally honest, I'm pretty much reading only manga these days. I find the Japanese culture pretty interesting, and manga has been a (rather skewed) introduction to its facets.

Any books I'd care to read would, with few exceptions, predate my birth. What that says, I'm not sure!

Posted by: Tex Lovera at February 20, 2022 11:14 AM (hdK24)

394 I was acting up in church once so my dad took me out. As he was hauling me out I loudly asked the congregation to please pray for me.
But that's a family story, not something I actually remember.
Posted by: N.L. Urker, Honk Justin Trudeau at February 20, 2022 11:14 AM (eGTCV)
-----------------

That's funny.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 11:16 AM (5pTK/)

395 I recall reading that at agincourt the archers, being very light with no armor, were able to run across the top of a sea of wounded knights deeply bogged down in heavy mud, and they dispatched many by shoving a dagger through the joints of their armor.

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 20, 2022 11:16 AM (q3gwH)

396 I have a few memories from when I was two and again when I was three. They center on my mom being away birthing my sisters. Not panicky, just that things were different as I was stored with different people for a time.

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 20, 2022 11:02 AM (i0slg)

Same, with brother, though. I distinctly remember me, my older brother, and dad making our beds because mom was in the hospital. Fall of '66.

Oh, and I remember watching the last season of Star Trek because I couldn't stay awake. Found out later the show was on Friday nights late. It was the Scalosian episode. I remember Kirk putting on his boots.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 11:16 AM (7bRMQ)

397 Memory is a funny thing. I don't know how much of early childhood I remember because I have an independent recollection and how much I remember because I've been told about those events by others.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at February 20, 2022 11:16 AM (KFhLj)

398 Great thread, perfessor. Time to wander as church beckons.

Later!

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/)) at February 20, 2022 11:17 AM (5pTK/)

399 379 Now I recall an earlier memory. It was in MS or TX, and we had a huge doghouse for our German Shephard. My brother convinced me that dog food tastes like chocolate pudding. It doesn't.
Posted by: flounder, wrecker, hoarder, saboteur at February 20, 2022 11:11 AM (SH2Zi)

The dog house may not have been that big.

Probably the earliest I can remember was being carried by my Dad after a snowstorm beside some cars. The snow seemed SO deep.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 20, 2022 11:17 AM (dNqv+)

400 There's a book available on Amazon for $77 called The History and Social Influence of the Potato by Radcliffe Salaman.
There's one book idea I have to drop.

BTW it's not Brian Stelter's biography.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, Honk Justin Trudeau at February 20, 2022 11:17 AM (eGTCV)

401
Ellery Queen: real person, pen name, fictional person?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022


***
Yes! "Ellery Queen" is the byline, but the 2 cousins who wrote the stories over 40 years had the brilliant idea of naming their detective the same so that readers would remember both. The stories began as pure dazzling puzzles in the 1929-1939 period, but the character of Ellery changed and became more likeable over the years, and the emphasis grew to deal more with character. Their Cat of Many Tails is a pioneering serial killer novel from 1949; highly recommended.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 11:17 AM (c6xtn)

402 I liked George Takei in The Twilight Zone too as the crazy Jap handyman.

Banzai!

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 20, 2022 11:18 AM (R/m4+)

403 after being a Fire tablet user for God knows how many years, I finally learned how to open the .mobi files from Project Gutenberg.

Posted by: Jamaica Queens at February 20, 2022 11:19 AM (b+v9B)

404 The paint-chip samples from the paint section of the hardware store are ideal, they are sturdy, don't stain, are the right size, and are free.
Posted by: Kindltot at February 20, 2022 11:14 AM (xhaym)

I immediately thought lead paint.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 20, 2022 11:19 AM (dNqv+)

405 I don't know how much of early childhood I remember because I have an independent recollection and how much I remember because I've been told about those events by others.
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls

I don't remember a lot, even from school age days, but what I remember are definitely my memories. Except maybe for that one possibly false one.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:19 AM (lCui1)

406 @381 --

Ellery Queen: pen name for two cousins. Also central character in many EQ books.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 20, 2022 11:19 AM (Om/di)

407 The dog house may not have been that big.

Probably the earliest I can remember was being carried by my Dad after a snowstorm beside some cars. The snow seemed SO deep.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 20, 2022 11:17 AM (dNqv+)

It was large, at least the foot print of a pallet or more. Probably 3/4 of a sheet of plywood as a shed roof. I remember that and the placement of the doghouse in the yard most particularly. Duchess was a good dog.

Posted by: flounder, wrecker, hoarder, saboteur at February 20, 2022 11:20 AM (SH2Zi)

408 One of my earliest funniest memories was me putting a hammer through the headlight of my father's car.
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 20, 2022 11:04 AM (VwHCD)

By chance, do you remember your dad's reaction? I bet it was hilarious.

Posted by: Robert at February 20, 2022 11:08 AM (1Yy3c)

Actually yeah. He was on his knees, and his back was to me, and he picked up his head and heard him say "noooo". He turned around and saw the hammer stuck/hanging in the light, lol. Years later when I asked him about it he told the full story. He had just changed that headlight with what was the last few dollars he had in his pocket at the time, and I went and vanquished it. The funny thing was I learned it from him. He used to let me break the old light bulbs out in the woods behind the house. I would throw them against a rock, but the kitchen light was one of those round florescent tubes, and *he* would break those with a hammer. I guess I didn't wait for the headlight to go bad first. lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 20, 2022 11:20 AM (VwHCD)

409 346 Earliest memory is probably falling down our stairs.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion


Funny you mentioned that experience. I hope no injuries resulted. I have many childhood memories of falling down stairs. We lived near Old Havana in an ancient townhouse-like place with three floors. The long stairwell to the front door had slippery worn down marble steps. Exuberant child that I was, the ringing of the front door by visitors sent me running to open the door and see who it was. Many head bumps later I am surprised that my brain still works.

Posted by: Floridachick at February 20, 2022 11:21 AM (ZeAc0)

410 My earliest memory is being covered in slime and smelling like anchovies.

Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at February 20, 2022 11:21 AM (Fs5vw)

411 Whew! Finally finished, ' A History of engineering and science in the Bell System: National Service in War and Peace (1925 - 1975) by Bell Telephone Laboratories (1978-01-01)'

It took months (admittedly interrupted for two months) to work through it, but easily worth the time. I can't imagine the effort it required to compile it. The breadth and depth are very impressive. Very few of us have any idea of the roles and contributions of Bell Labs, Western Electric, and other corporate entities have played in the development of contemporary technology. Particularly in the area of defense. Cover pic: https://tinyurl.com/mvj7fwvj

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at February 20, 2022 11:21 AM (9Fwwf)

412 There are some things that I remember that are probably dreams, it's hard to tell. If it involves dying in an airplane crash, it is probably a dream.

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 20, 2022 11:22 AM (q3gwH)

413 Dog earing a book has its uses: future reference of a key passage. I mean, you could write a personal index in the front matter or back. Still defaced the book, now doesn't it?

Posted by: Legion of Boom at February 20, 2022 11:22 AM (1ceR8)

414 Duchess was a good dog.
Posted by: flounder, wrecker, hoarder, saboteur at February 20, 2022 11:20 AM (SH2Zi)

Of course.

The first dog I remember was Trudy. She was a giant chihuahua. One of the smartest dogs (by far) that we owned. Not yappy at all. She passed the point test.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 20, 2022 11:23 AM (dNqv+)

415 I immediately thought lead paint.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 20, 2022 11:19 AM (dNqv+)


Sweet.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 20, 2022 11:23 AM (xhaym)

416 My earliest memory was of going down a hallway with green tile walls. My mom said it had to have been the emergency room at Brackenridge Hospital in Austin. My parents took me there when a car pulled out of a parking space on Congress Avenue and ran into us. I hit my nose on the dashboard of our 1950 Oldsmobile and they took me in to see if my nose was broken. (It wasn't.) I was probably about 2 years old.

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at February 20, 2022 11:23 AM (fTtFy)

417 Many head bumps later I am surprised that my brain still works.
Posted by: Floridachick at February 20, 2022 11:21 AM (ZeAc0)

My family said I fell several times (steep) and so they replaced to stairs to have a curve with more steps.
My actual memory is vague - kinda dark then dugdugdug waaah.
I was probably around 3 or 4?

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:23 AM (lCui1)

418 I've been reading the three book series by Gary Linderer on the development and missions of the Long Range Recon Patrols of the 101st Division in Viet Nam. Fascinating and compelling.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 20, 2022 11:24 AM (axyOa)

419 Thanks for the great thread, Perfesser!

Posted by: gourmand du jour at February 20, 2022 11:24 AM (jTmQV)

420 It was about my brother's friend messing with me. He would've been 10 years older than me. I think I imagined it because I thought he was handsome.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:13 AM (lCui1)

Dear Lord!

Posted by: Robert at February 20, 2022 11:24 AM (1Yy3c)

421 Sweet.
Posted by: Kindltot at February 20, 2022 11:23 AM (xhaym)

Tasty!

Posted by: Slow Joe at February 20, 2022 11:24 AM (dNqv+)

422 My earliest memories are pretty benign, and are snippets, images largely disconnected from a narrative of any sort. For example, I remember the girl across the street, dressed for Easter, chasing a neighbor dog in their front yard. I was definitely pre-school aged and they had just moved in. She seemed to be running fast enough that there appeared to be two of her. "She" was identical twins, dressed identically. I was recovering from a tonsillectomy, and was forgiven for not knowing there were two. I also recall being in the OR before the anesthesia.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 11:24 AM (ONvIw)

423 Hope I'm not too late.... I want to recommend an eerily prophetic (but not as depressing and nihilistic as 1984) novel called Eclipse of the Sun by Michael D. O'Brien, a Canadian Catholic author and artist. It was published in 1998 and depicts a "near future" Canada rapidly morphing into a police state. A lot of the story deals with Catholic issues such as Modernists vs Trads, mysticism, chastisement/end times prophecies, etc. But it also has chapters devoted to the manipulation of news, global elites, conspiracy theories, debates in Parliament, and other stuff that sounds like it could have happened yesterday. It even has characters that would have probably been Morons or Ettes if they were real. And it ends on a hopeful note.

Posted by: Secret Square at February 20, 2022 11:25 AM (wBTPf)

424 I remember getting black licorice gum stuck in my hair.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, Honk Justin Trudeau at February 20, 2022 11:25 AM (eGTCV)

425 Perfessor, Thank you for this book thread, you did an excellent job and I look forward to many more. It was a pleasure meeting you in Texas.

Posted by: Debby Doberman Schultz at February 20, 2022 11:25 AM (a4EWo)

426 I remember when I learned how to lie.

I was not permitted to go out onto the balcony of our apartment -- only the second floor, but a fall would have surely killed me. While Mom was sleeping, I crept out onto the balcony, carefully did not go near the railing, and after a time crept back to bed. Later Mom asked me, "You didn't go out onto the balcony, did you?" I shook my head, and she accepted that. And I realized that I could say something that was not true to someone else, and that the someone else could believe that it had been true.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 11:26 AM (c6xtn)

427 Dear Lord!
Posted by: Robert at February 20, 2022 11:24 AM (1Yy3c)

I've never told anyone about it before - not even my sisters. Long ago and they would feel bad since I am the youngest. I prefer to think I imagined it.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:26 AM (lCui1)

428 Huzzah! For VP Harris. She finally went to Europe to inspect the US/Mexican border.

Posted by: Downcast at February 20, 2022 11:26 AM (AEMfu)

429 My earliest memories are influenced by the home memories we watched frequently.

Case in point: Me steering Dad's orange Case tractor when I was 3. Traveled maybe 10 feet. Do I remember the POV from behind the wheel? Can't say. Remember the movie? Oh, yes.

Now I'm starting on a memory lane.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 20, 2022 11:26 AM (Om/di)

430 I remember getting black licorice gum stuck in my hair.
Posted by: N.L. Urker, Honk Justin Trudeau at February 20, 2022 11:25 AM (eGTCV)

Black Jack chewing gum?

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 20, 2022 11:27 AM (R/m4+)

431 It's time to head out to church but there was a dump of snow overnight and I'm not as interested in driving on bad roads as I once was.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, Honk Justin Trudeau at February 20, 2022 11:27 AM (eGTCV)

432 354 I have a disturbing memory that I hope is false from when I was around 7-8
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:04 AM (lCui1)

But it bothers you, anyway.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 11:27 AM (ONvIw)

433 Black Jack chewing gum?
Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 20, 2022 11:27 AM (R/m4+)

Yep

Posted by: N.L. Urker, Honk Justin Trudeau at February 20, 2022 11:28 AM (eGTCV)

434 I was two years old when my dad retired from the navy in Connecticut and we headed west in a '49 ford station wagon. Mom dad two brothers and my sister. Earliest memory was on that trip. Driving down a long straight road and I watched a big rainstorm come in as we drove thru it.
That it. Nothing again for another year.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 20, 2022 11:28 AM (axyOa)

435 "One of my earliest funniest memories was me putting a hammer through the headlight of my father's car."

I tried to drink a paper cup of fiberglass resin my dad had set on the counter in prep to glass something. I thought it was Coke.

Posted by: fd at February 20, 2022 11:29 AM (vrz2I)

436 My brother is 3 years younger than me. So I got to witness the silly shit he did from birth, and I remember it all. Some of the shit he did resulted in family stories that rivaled breaking of the leg lamp. lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 20, 2022 11:29 AM (VwHCD)

437 But it bothers you, anyway.
Posted by: CN The First

It does. The (fake?) memory is tinged with a sense of shame

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:29 AM (lCui1)

438 Probably my earliest memory that I'm sure of is reaching the faucet in the kitchen sink when I was a little over two years old. I was always tall for my age but apparently it freaked out my parents a bit because they thought such temptations were beyond my reach for another year or so. As the first born, I apparently supplied my folks with a number of surprises.

Posted by: JTB at February 20, 2022 11:30 AM (7EjX1)

439 Dog earing a book has its uses: future reference of a key passage. I mean, you could write a personal index in the front matter or back. Still defaced the book, now doesn't it?
Posted by: Legion of Boom
-----

I do this. I also mark said passage with a penciled asterisk. The alternative would be slips of paper inserted, which would inevitably slip out, or, post-it notes, but I find those unsightly on the shelf. Moreover, the dog ear is always readily at hand.

I admit that this is rationalization to justify my action, but, there it is.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at February 20, 2022 11:30 AM (l0Lgi)

440 I was not permitted to go out onto the balcony of our apartment -- only the second floor, but a fall would have surely killed me. While Mom was sleeping, I crept out onto the balcony, carefully did not go near the railing, and after a time crept back to bed. Later Mom asked me, "You didn't go out onto the balcony, did you?" I shook my head, and she accepted that. And I realized that I could say something that was not true to someone else, and that the someone else could believe that it had been true.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 11:26 AM (c6xtn

So you were a democrat in your early years.

Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at February 20, 2022 11:30 AM (Fs5vw)

441 My earliest memory is of breastfeeding. Second memory is being in my crib and messing my diapers. The mess escaped, and I wiped it all over my crib and myself. Can clearly picture my mother's facial expression when she walked into the bedroom.

Posted by: French Jeton at February 20, 2022 11:30 AM (zEKdf)

442 My first language was Low German but I have absolutely no memory of learning English

Posted by: N.L. Urker, Honk Justin Trudeau at February 20, 2022 11:30 AM (eGTCV)

443 Perfessor Squirrel,
Thanks for a great book thread. Very much enjoyed and appreciated.

Posted by: JTB at February 20, 2022 11:31 AM (7EjX1)

444 My earliest memory is of an afternoon nap when I woke up climbed out of my crib, got my Etch-a-Sketch, and climbed back in to amuse myself. Oddly enough, this memory is in black and white. I don't know if it's because I was so young, or just that the room might have been darkened by closed drapes. Anyway, I must have been pretty young.

Posted by: Dr. Mabusette at February 20, 2022 11:31 AM (5sjk1)

445 I've never told anyone about it before - not even my sisters. Long ago and they would feel bad since I am the youngest. I prefer to think I imagined it.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:26 AM (lCui1)

Unless it's causing you some type of significant distress, there's no purpose to digging into it.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 20, 2022 11:31 AM (2DNKl)

446 It does. The (fake?) memory is tinged with a sense of shame
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:29 AM (lCui1

If it's real, he's the one who should have "the sense of shame". You were 10 years younger. If it's a young child interested in an older, handsome boy, was the memory consistent with what a young child would be thinking about?

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 11:32 AM (ONvIw)

447 Oh, book related stuff. I found a copy of Record of Accomplishment: George W Bush, in the garage.

Tossed it in the recycle bin.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 11:32 AM (7bRMQ)

448 And I realized that I could say something that was not true to someone else, and that the someone else could believe that it had been true.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022
*
So you were a democrat in your early years.
Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at February 20, 2022


***
Yeah, well, I was home from college that weekend anyway!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 11:32 AM (c6xtn)

449 Yeah, my brother is 4 years younger, so it's his hijinks I really remember. Hearing the gum story reminds me of when he, 3 at the time, thought my aunt's hair would be a good place for a wad of Hubba Bubba. There were some angry recriminations.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at February 20, 2022 11:33 AM (KFhLj)

450 Memory is a funny thing. I don't know how much of early childhood I remember because I have an independent recollection and how much I remember because I've been told about those events by others.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at February 20, 2022 11:16 AM (KFhLj)
---
Yes, that's why I have recollections that go back farther than 3, but I'm not sure if they are genuine.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 11:33 AM (llXky)

451 BurtTC, yup.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:34 AM (lCui1)

452 Oh, book related stuff. I found a copy of Record of Accomplishment: George W Bush, in the garage.

Tossed it in the recycle bin.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 11:32 AM


You know, until very recently I had such reverence for books, I would NEVER destroy one, no matter how objectionable it was. But now I routinely throw out rotten old books, even if they're quite new.

Posted by: Dr. Mabusette at February 20, 2022 11:35 AM (5sjk1)

453 ---
Yes, that's why I have recollections that go back farther than 3, but I'm not sure if they are genuine.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022


***
I seem to remember my mother exclaiming, the week or so before I started school, that I had finally learned how to tie my own shoelaces in the proper bow that we all use. But "seem" is the right word; I may have been told about the incident later.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 11:35 AM (c6xtn)

454 It's funny the early memories that stick. It's obvious I would have memories of my father's funeral.
But I also have memories of my mom's father drinking coffee out of a saucer.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, Honk Justin Trudeau at February 20, 2022 11:37 AM (eGTCV)

455 I've never told anyone about it before - not even my sisters. Long ago and they would feel bad since I am the youngest. I prefer to think I imagined it.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:26 AM (lCui1)


And I ask this as a caring person not as a snarky bastard who is needling you: If you verified it was true, would you or the world be happier? Would you have some specific action you needed to take, or would you have had to deal with it the same way you already have?

I carry a lot of things in my heart, and I am trying to find them and resolve them. Some only reflect now on how I feel about myself. The person who cares the most is me, and I am the one who has to resolve them to my satisfaction. Unfortunately I am an unforgiving sort, so it is slow going.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 20, 2022 11:37 AM (xhaym)

456 Dog earing a book has its uses: future reference of a key passage. I mean, you could write a personal index in the front matter or back. Still defaced the book, now doesn't it?

Posted by: Legion of Boom at February 20, 2022 11:22 AM (1ceR
---
I use small slips of paper for that. I get 16 out of a standard sheet of paper and then fold these in half and use them to mark my books when I am doing research.

When the book is finally published, I pull them all out with great ceremony and set them on the shelf.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 11:38 AM (llXky)

457 BurtTC, yup.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:34 AM (lCui1)

Key word there is "significant." Some memories are disturbing, because they are. The difference between something that should be processed and something that doesn't need to is generally where the emotions come into it. An understandable sadness or anger or fear is to be expected. An overwhelming sense of any of those, where you can't think or act without the memory disrupting your life, that's when it needs to be addressed. Carefully. With someone who knows what they're doing.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 20, 2022 11:38 AM (2DNKl)

458 I do this. I also mark said passage with a penciled asterisk. The alternative would be slips of paper inserted, which would inevitably slip out, or, post-it notes, but I find those unsightly on the shelf. Moreover, the dog ear is always readily at hand.

I admit that this is rationalization to justify my action, but, there it is.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at February 20, 2022 11:30 AM (l0Lgi)

A book is an information storage and retrieval system. It is your property. Do with it as you will.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 20, 2022 11:38 AM (P3gRi)

459 Staircase dreams and memories, real or not, are very common. People who believe that dreams are a very important thing, usually attribute them to growth and change.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 11:39 AM (ONvIw)

460 The earliest identifiable memory I have is from when I was about 4 years old... my dad was pouring concrete for a back porch slab he was building onto our house, and he let me put on a pair of red rubber boots and walk in it while it was still wet.

Posted by: Secret Square at February 20, 2022 11:39 AM (wBTPf)

461 You know, until very recently I had such reverence for books, I would NEVER destroy one, no matter how objectionable it was. But now I routinely throw out rotten old books, even if they're quite new.

Posted by: Dr. Mabusette at February 20, 2022 11:35 AM (5sjk1)

Unfortunately, his recent actions caused it to go in the bin, instead of a donation center.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 11:39 AM (7bRMQ)

462 This one I do remember:

I would ride on Dad's brush chopper when he would tow it to a patch of pasture. He had to go over two terraces spaced about 15 feet apart.

When I was 4, the terraces caused me to tumble off the chopper (it wasn't running), and one of its wheels ran over my midsection. I distinctly remember seeing that wheel go up and over.

Dad thought he'd killed me. I spent the night in the hospital.

Mom said I was an outdoors kid until then. Afterward, I would prefer to stay in the house and read. She would yell at me to go outside.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 20, 2022 11:39 AM (Om/di)

463 "Grapes of Wrath has never grabbed me the way East of Eden does."

"East of Eden" is one of the books I've been saving (see my post #94 above" I reckon I'll read it soon.

Posted by: Brett at February 20, 2022 11:39 AM (Yfr3c)

464 I remember when I first came out of the womb, the head nurse spoke up and said, "leave this one alone."

She could tell right away. I was bad to the bone!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at February 20, 2022 11:40 AM (dA9eR)

465 Powhatan, chief of the Powhatan Confederacy, was a lovely guy. His priests warned him that one of the Chesapeake tribe would eventually cause the down fall of the Confederacy, so Chief had the entire tribe, 300 to 400 people, exterminated. Just to be sure.

Posted by: Javems at February 20, 2022 11:40 AM (Xawmf)

466 15 I finished Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. Now I find myself at a loss as to what possible book could follow.
Posted by: grammie winger at February 20, 2022 09:08 AM

I just started it. It's been a while since a book ruined me for others.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at February 20, 2022 11:40 AM (JXjnN)

467 One of my earliest memories was a particular Sunday family lunch. We always had a big family lunch after church on Sunday, almost always a pot roast, potatoes, carrots, gravy, rolls. Was probably 3or 4, and sometimes dad would put on the radio while we ate. I remember the little white countertop radio, like the one on Giliganns Island. Dont remember what the program was, but a commercial came on for George J Carrol and Son funeral home. I heard it as Harold and Son, and dads name is Harold. I said: daddy is that talking about you. Everyone laughed and I was a bit embarrassed but it was all good fun. Probably around 71 or 72.

Posted by: Dogbert at February 20, 2022 11:40 AM (Z9HSN)

468 I use small slips of paper for that. I get 16 out of a standard sheet of paper and then fold these in half and use them to mark my books when I am doing research.

When the book is finally published, I pull them all out with great ceremony and set them on the shelf.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 11:38 AM (llXky)
---
I've discovered that the land cards from Magic: The Gathering make perfect bookmarks. You can even color code them...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 11:41 AM (K5n5d)

469 An overwhelming sense of any of those, where you can't think or act without the memory disrupting your life, that's when it needs to be addressed. Carefully. With someone who knows what they're doing.
Posted by: BurtTC at February 20, 2022 11:38 AM (2DNKl)

I had a "image" type memory, that I assumes was from bad literature or a movie, that turned out to be real, and explained a lot in my life.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 11:41 AM (ONvIw)

470 And I ask this as a caring person not as a snarky bastard who is needling you: If you verified it was true, would you or the world be happier?

***

No. Lots of sad things that happened during my childhood precipitated by my dad dying - this would be insignificant even if it were true. I am just grateful to have survived to adulthood actually. Guardian angel works hard.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:41 AM (lCui1)

471 251 I honestly don't get George Takai.

Because of the Star Trek movies, he's made enough money to live quietly and well for the rest of his life.

Instead, he seems to be nothing more than a bitter old hag with a penis.

Actually one of the luckiest people in show business. Has spent entire life as wealthy icon because there weren't many youngish Asian actors kicking around the TV biz in the mid 60s and Star Trek wanted to show a future of a united Earth. He wasn't very interesting or charismatic and didn't do much. At least Ringo could play drums and is apparently very likeable

Posted by: azjaeger at February 20, 2022 11:41 AM (3/XaG)

472 It does. The (fake?) memory is tinged with a sense of shame
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:29 AM (lCui1

If it's real, he's the one who should have "the sense of shame".
Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 11:32 AM (ONvIw)

This. There's nothing to feel guilty about. The young man disgraced himself.

Posted by: Robert at February 20, 2022 11:42 AM (1Yy3c)

473 I seem to remember my mother exclaiming, the week or so before I started school, that I had finally learned how to tie my own shoelaces in the proper bow that we all use. But "seem" is the right word; I may have been told about the incident later.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 11:35 AM (c6xtn)

That's the thing about all this too, how easy it is to "feed" memories to kids. Because the memory of being told something happened is just as real a memory as the thing that supposedly happened. Obviously, sometimes even more so.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 20, 2022 11:42 AM (2DNKl)

474 turned out to be real, and explained a lot in my life.
Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 11:41 AM (ONvIw)

{{{{CN}}}}

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:42 AM (lCui1)

475 "East of Eden" is one of the books I've been saving (see my post #94 above" I reckon I'll read it soon.
Posted by: Brett at February 20, 2022


***
It's the one I call my "desert island" book. It's big and sprawling (though never undisciplined) and impressive and affecting. The 1950s movie with James Dean dramatized only a part of it. Maybe the 1980s TV miniseries with Jane Seymour did a better job.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 11:42 AM (c6xtn)

476 First memory is being at the ice cream store with my mom. Looking up at the bottom of the counter and seeing hundreds of pieces of gum in dozens of different colors. Sampled many of them before the ice cream cones came out.

Posted by: Downcast at February 20, 2022 11:42 AM (AEMfu)

477 >>It was large, at least the foot print of a pallet or more. Probably 3/4 of a sheet of plywood as a shed roof. I remember that and the placement of the doghouse in the yard most particularly. Duchess was a good dog.

When I was a young kid my grandfather had a rose garden with a picket fence by the side of his house. I remember going over to visit one day when to introduce our new Golden to my grandparents and we also brought along our first dog, a mutt.

We put them out in the rose garden while we were having lunch and I watched through the window while the mutt trotted over the gate, jumped up and pushed the latch with her paw and pushed the gate open. She held it open so the Golden could get out and then went out herself and let the gate swing shut.

Smartest dog I've ever known and her name was Duchess.

Posted by: JackStraw at February 20, 2022 11:43 AM (ZLI7S)

478 But I also have memories of my mom's father drinking coffee out of a saucer.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, Honk Justin Trudeau at February 20, 2022 11:37 AM (eGTCV)

One day a newbie to Washington was invited to the White House for dinner with President Coolidge. He wasn't sure what to do, so he decided to just do the same things the President did. He got through the dinner, and the coffee was brought out. He watch Cal take his cup and pour it into the saucer, then added milk. So, the man did the same. Then Cal picked up the saucer.
.
.
.
.
and put it on the floor for the cat.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 11:43 AM (7bRMQ)

479 I seem to remember my mother exclaiming, the week or so before I started school, that I had finally learned how to tie my own shoelaces in the proper bow that we all use. But "seem" is the right word; I may have been told about the incident later.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 11:35 AM (c6xtn)
---
A few years ago I began talking with my father about his marriage to my mother. It was very helpful because I never got to hear his side of the story before - he doesn't talk about feelings much.

But now we were chatting away and it made so much more sense than the "official" version my mother gave and it also clicked with what her mother told me.

It may sound strange, but because the divorce happened when I was so little, I never got the story about how they met, what their life was like, how my being born changed things - stuff that my kids take for granted.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 11:43 AM (llXky)

480 Oh, book related stuff. I found a copy of Record of Accomplishment: George W Bush, in the garage.

Tossed it in the recycle bin.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 11:32 AM (7bRMQ)

Got a real bargain at an estate sale yesterday, "The Odd-Assity of Hoop" by George Floyd. A steal at only twenty-five cents. The I got back to house, and put my glasses on, and discovered it's a whole different book by some other guy. Boy, was I pissed!

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 20, 2022 11:44 AM (P3gRi)

481 The Ellery Queen mysteries were very clever, as were the Cadfael Chronicles (a crime solving monk in the 12th century).

Loved Doyle's Holmes stories of course. Seminal of the genre, and also very clever and well written. I also enjoy their anachronistic expressions, whether Holmes ("singular, he ejaculated!") or Watson ("this man died of nervous terror"). Really, Watson, you're a medical doctor lol.

Doyle was later knighted but died in disgrace after participating in the Piltown Man scientific scandal.

Posted by: Blacksheep at February 20, 2022 11:45 AM (p51FD)

482 Posted by: BurtTC at February 20, 2022 11:38 AM (2DNKl)

I had a "image" type memory, that I assumes was from bad literature or a movie, that turned out to be real, and explained a lot in my life.
Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 11:41 AM (ONvIw)

I would assume that happens a lot, where the memory bank stores it "over there," so as to minimize the extent of the distress. If it keeps the distress level down, and it stays that way, I would say that the brain is doing its job, of protecting the person from the harm that would otherwise occur. Hopefully that is how it worked for you.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 20, 2022 11:46 AM (2DNKl)

483 {{{{CN}}}}
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:42 AM (lCui1)

Thanks. It was a memory that was not entirely different from yours, which I assumed was very false. One day, I was reading about something tangential, and it intruded again. I called my early childhood pediatrician, who explained it all for me.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 11:46 AM (ONvIw)

484 I would say that the brain is doing its job, of protecting the person from the harm that would otherwise occur. Hopefully that is how it worked for you.
Posted by: BurtTC at February 20, 2022 11:46 AM (2DNKl)

Nope. I followed up with someone who knew.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 11:47 AM (ONvIw)

485 Did she really say this in Europe?


Charlie Spiering
@charliespiering
Kamala Harris in Munich:

"I mean, listen guys, we're talking about the potential for war in Europe. I mean, let's really take a moment to understand the significance of what we're talking about."
7:02 AM · Feb 20, 2022

Posted by: Floridachick at February 20, 2022 11:48 AM (ZeAc0)

486 I'm starting to acquire books, which I've read before, but which I expect will quietly or not-so-quietly disappear from society - so the kids can be exposed to the wrongthink.

The group for this week is Solzhenitsyn and Hoffer. All three volumes of the Archipelago, One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich, The True Believer, Reflections on the Human Condition, and The Ordeal of Change.

I think the next group will be selections from Chesterton and CS Lewis. Then group 3 will be Paul Johnson and Orwell.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 20, 2022 11:48 AM (SKVme)

487 I just discovered that Dana Stabenow (Kate Shugak mysteries) wrote two mysteries set in Cleopatra's Alexandria. Got them both yesterday from the library. Read the first one, Death of an Eye, last evening. I've read better mysteries set in old Egypt, Lydia Robinson's in particular, but it was a pleasant, easy read. Dana's vision of Cleopatra is of a shrewd, clear eyed woman who will do anything to keep her throne and ensure the stability and prosperity of her kingdom.

Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin -- bitterly clinging to the deplorable life '70s style! at February 20, 2022 11:48 AM (vMM2s)

488 At least Ringo could play drums and is apparently very likeable

Posted by: azjaeger at February 20, 2022 11:41 AM (3/XaG)

The luckiest man in the world, one Beatles fanatic coworker always said.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 11:48 AM (7bRMQ)

489 Grapes of Wrath has never grabbed me the way East of Eden does.

Grapes of Wrath is on its own very well written. Interesting characters, working through their times. But like many leftist authors his best writing contradicts what he believes. So he intersperses boring explanations between each chapter that contradict what’s going on in the book.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at February 20, 2022 11:48 AM (PmqP5)

490 "I mean, listen guys, we're talking about the potential for war in Europe. I mean, let's really take a moment to understand the significance of what we're talking about."
7:02 AM Feb 20, 2022
Posted by: Floridachick at February 20, 2022 11:48 AM (ZeAc0)

She's a person for whom history began when she was born.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 11:49 AM (ONvIw)

491 I would say that the brain is doing its job, of protecting the person from the harm that would otherwise occur. Hopefully that is how it worked for you.
Posted by: BurtTC at February 20, 2022 11:46 AM (2DNKl)

Nope. I followed up with someone who knew.
Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 11:47 AM (ONvIw)

I'm sorry.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 20, 2022 11:49 AM (2DNKl)

492 I'm starting to acquire books, which I've read before, but which I expect will quietly or not-so-quietly disappear from society - so the kids can be exposed to the wrongthink.

The group for this week is Solzhenitsyn and Hoffer. All three volumes of the Archipelago, One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich, The True Believer, Reflections on the Human Condition, and The Ordeal of Change.

I think the next group will be selections from Chesterton and CS Lewis. Then group 3 will be Paul Johnson and Orwell.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 20, 2022 11:48 AM (SKVme)
---
An excellent idea! Physical books have a survivability that digital versions do not. Take good care of them and they can serve generations of your family...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 11:50 AM (K5n5d)

493 Capt Hate:
Re pale Fire 's poem There are I think two stories, barely related: Shade's and Kinbote's. I like Shade's, the sorrow at his daughter's struggles and lost life. Kinbote may have even create Shade, shadow(?). Kinbote is an unpleasant man, see Nabokov's recurring homosexual villians...

Posted by: Marylander at February 20, 2022 11:50 AM (ZwChs)

494 I had one early memory that I felt guilty about, about shoving my baby brother down some stairs cause I was mad at him, when we were sitting at the top. When I was older I revisted the house where it happened (my grandparents) and realized it had been only a three step entry to the back door.

My brother and I always beat on each other a lot while growing up

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 20, 2022 11:50 AM (q3gwH)

495 Yeah, my brother is 4 years younger, so it's his hijinks I really remember. Hearing the gum story reminds me of when he, 3 at the time, thought my aunt's hair would be a good place for a wad of Hubba Bubba. There were some angry recriminations.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at February 20, 2022 11:33 AM (KFhLj)

The earliest thing I remember my brother doing was sticking my father's workboots into the wash machine with a whole box of soap. Mom was not amused. then he got into her perfume, he opened the bottles, laid the tops on her dresser which ruined the finish, then got into the baby powder and turned himself and the entire bedroom into an albino. The best one was the neighbor's hedges that separated the property line. There was poison ivy in them and he was always getting poison ivy. His solution? Steal some matches and set them on fire, and when the fire got a little big he came into the house and asked my mom for a *glass* of water, lol. Mom had to run out and grab the garden hose. He burned out about 8 feet of hedges. I think he was around 3 or 4 at the time.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 20, 2022 11:50 AM (VwHCD)

496 .
and put it on the floor for the cat.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 11:43 AM (7bRMQ)


Funny

Posted by: N.L. Urker, getting serious about lurking at February 20, 2022 11:50 AM (eGTCV)

497 They're a little pricey, but Easton Press' 100 greatest books ever written is a wonderful way to begin an heirloom quality collection of classics.

Posted by: Blacksheep at February 20, 2022 11:51 AM (p51FD)

498 Dana's vision of Cleopatra is of a shrewd, clear eyed woman who will do anything to keep her throne and ensure the stability and prosperity of her kingdom.

Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin -- bitterly clinging to the deplorable life '70s style! at February 20, 2022 11:48 AM (vMM2s)
---
Which Cleopatra? I think there were a dozen of 'em.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 11:51 AM (llXky)

499 ot a real bargain at an estate sale yesterday, "The Odd-Assity of Hoop" by George Floyd. A steal at only twenty-five cents. The I got back to house, and put my glasses on, and discovered it's a whole different book by some other guy. Boy, was I pissed!

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 20, 2022 11:44 AM (P3gRi)

This made me choke with laughter.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 11:51 AM (7bRMQ)

500 . . . Loved Doyle's Holmes stories of course. Seminal of the genre, and also very clever and well written. I also enjoy their anachronistic expressions, whether Holmes ("singular, he ejaculated!") or Watson ("this man died of nervous terror"). Really, Watson, you're a medical doctor lol. . . .

Posted by: Blacksheep at February 20, 2022


***
Doyle gave Holmes a strain of dry humor in his dialogue; when you read one of the short stories now, you can just hear and see Jeremy Brett saying the lines. The other thing Doyle achieved (aside from giving us the trope of the brilliant detective plus average-man narrator) was in writing style. He is very modern, using dialogue to indicate/imply action: "Watson, if you would hand me down the Bradshaw. Thank you. An express leaves Paddington at 9:26, and I suggest we be on it. You have your pistol, I hope?" "If you think I should need it." "I think you may."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at February 20, 2022 11:52 AM (c6xtn)

501 Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 20, 2022 11:50 AM (VwHCD)

Oh my lord! Your mom must be a saint!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:52 AM (lCui1)

502 Earliest memory, probably around 4. Huge family picnic at the park. Mom and dad had one of those old hang over the car door seats for little bro. Cousin and I were racing to a stone water fountain. I tripped and split my head open. I don't remember getting stiches, just that huge stone fountain aiming at my head.

Posted by: Infidel at February 20, 2022 11:52 AM (JAkXN)

503 This made me choke with laughter.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 11:51 AM (7bRMQ)

Yeah that was a good'un, LOL.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 20, 2022 11:53 AM (SKVme)

504 The book thread: a place where we talk about writing, history, have therapy sessions and sometimes discuss books.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 11:53 AM (llXky)

505 From about 3 years old, I have a pretty decent stream of memories until about the last five years of drinking and drugging. Then it gets really fuzzy with a lot gaps.

Once I stopped drinking and drugging my memory stream restarted.

Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at February 20, 2022 11:53 AM (Fs5vw)

506 Did she really say this in Europe?

Charlie Spiering
@charliespiering
Kamala Harris in Munich:

Posted by: Floridachick at February 20, 2022 11:48 AM (ZeAc0)

Word is, Russia has removed most of their armor and troops from the Ukraine area, after having completed whatever exercises they intended.

So if war comes to Europe, it will be because WE brought it there. Of course, we (meaning mostly the Obama/Biden White House) caused all this anyway, by overthrowing the Russian friendly government, in favor of the current one that is in the pocket of Americans.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 20, 2022 11:54 AM (2DNKl)

507 Which Cleopatra? I think there were a dozen of 'em.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

According to the SPQR mysteries, that family only named their kids Cleopatra, Berenice, Ptolemy or ... I forget the other acceptable boy's name

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:55 AM (lCui1)

508 The luckiest man in the world, one Beatles fanatic coworker always said.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 11:48 AM (7bRMQ)

Ringo couldn't write songs very well, but he really was a good drummer, just not flashy. Listen to She Said She Said. He was also important to their early success as the mainly young girl pop audience of the time fell for his happy sad sack persona. He definitely wouldn't have been a legend by himself but he was an important Beatle part.

Posted by: azjaeger at February 20, 2022 11:55 AM (3/XaG)

509 The Ho needs to watch every speech by Barky to learn how not say say anything but while doing it make it sound so profound.

Posted by: Skip at February 20, 2022 11:56 AM (2JoB8)

510 Powhatan, chief of the Powhatan Confederacy, was a lovely guy. His priests warned him that one of the Chesapeake tribe would eventually cause the down fall of the Confederacy, so Chief had the entire tribe, 300 to 400 people, exterminated. Just to be sure.

Posted by: Javems at February 20, 2022 11:40 AM (Xawmf)
---
If you look at that using the "spirit world' lens, what happened as a demon (fallen angel) directed the action, perhaps to spite a rival.

A whole bunch of mythology makes sense if you assume 'the gods' are actually a bunch of demons picking fights with each other.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 11:56 AM (llXky)

511 505 Once I stopped drinking and drugging my memory stream restarted.
Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at February 20, 2022 11:53 AM (Fs5vw)

Thanks for providing hope to people.

Posted by: m at February 20, 2022 11:56 AM (4vwwZ)

512 Yeah that was a good'un, LOL.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 20, 2022 11:53 AM (SKVme)

I really did buy the Obama book at an estate sale for two bits, though. Thought it would make a great gag gift. Or target.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 20, 2022 11:56 AM (P3gRi)

513 Funny

Posted by: N.L. Urker, getting serious about lurking at February 20, 2022 11:50 AM (eGTCV)

It was from a book called "Fun Fare" that I mentioned last week or the week before.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 11:57 AM (7bRMQ)

514 I'm sorry.
Posted by: BurtTC at February 20, 2022 11:49 AM (2DNKl)

Thanks, but I'm glad I did. Sometimes a single event shakes the lives of many and shapes their responses. It explained a lot. The "cast of characters" are all dead or demented at this point, but I did not engage in dramatic confrontations designed to damage them. I essentially walked away, and walked away with a better understanding.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 11:57 AM (ONvIw)

515 According to the SPQR mysteries, that family only named their kids Cleopatra, Berenice, Ptolemy or ... I forget the other acceptable boy's name

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:55 AM (lCui1)
---
Yeah, and then they married brother and sister in accordance with the Egyptian rite.

No wonder they all went crazy.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 11:57 AM (llXky)

516 I remember at age 3 and 4 my mom taking us to her YWCA so she could exercise and swim while we had day care. When we would swim she would bring my brother and I into the ladies dressing room to change because heyy, we were just little kids. I remember looking at the other ladies putting on their swimsuits and thinking "wow".

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 20, 2022 11:57 AM (q3gwH)

517 But I also have memories of my mom's father drinking coffee out of a saucer.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, Honk Justin Trudeau at February 20, 2022 11:37 AM (eGTCV)

My mom's father put coffee in a small bowl and would add cheerios. I guess it saved time.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 20, 2022 11:57 AM (VwHCD)

518 I remember falling off a pony when I was 4 or so.
I fell directly into a mud puddle, ruining my cowboy outfit, complete with hat and boots and piping.
Parents had placed me upon the pony for the purpose of a photograph, which still exists, only it is of me with my muddy outfit.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at February 20, 2022 11:58 AM (jTmQV)

519 Mom and dad had one of those old hang over the car door seats for little bro.

My first memory is being in one of those seats. While my parents were selling their Volkswagen. I had to be all of three months old. Mom drove the Volkswagen with me in the back, and dad drove their new car to drive us home after the sale. Surprised the hell out of them that I remembered the Volkswagen when we happened to be talking about cars we’d owned twenty years later.

Memory is strange.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at February 20, 2022 11:59 AM (PmqP5)

520 Doyle was later knighted but died in disgrace after participating in the Piltown Man scientific scandal.
Posted by: Blacksheep


I didn't know about Doyle being involved in that scandal, but I did know that he went full-tilt into believing in spiritualism and fairies. Even after Harry Houdini, a personal friend, explained to him how all these mystical feats were being manufactured by frauds, he wouldn't believe it was fake. He went a bit nuts after his son died in WWI I believe. It happened to a lot of people.

Posted by: Dr. Mabusette at February 20, 2022 11:59 AM (5sjk1)

521 Is there time for a Vonnegut story?

He and my father were friends, meeting while roistering in Vienna and Prague in the seventies. I met him once, while visiting Dad at the Algonquin Hotel in August 1976. I'd just turned 21, and was a voluble advocate of Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow." My praise is more tempered, now.

Dad was having none of it, calling GR a "crock of shit." Vonnegut more politely said he liked writing to be simpler than Pynchon.

He had brought an advance copy of "Slapstick," to give to Dad. At the bottom of the inscription he scribbled "Fuck Pynchon." I still have that book.

Posted by: Brett at February 20, 2022 11:59 AM (Yfr3c)

522 Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 20, 2022 11:56 AM (P3gRi

Chocolate gives Vanessa the trots.

If someone gave me an Obama book for a gift, she'd get a candy bar, and then that diaper would be going in the mail.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 20, 2022 12:00 PM (SKVme)

523 Thanks, but I'm glad I did. Sometimes a single event shakes the lives of many and shapes their responses. It explained a lot. The "cast of characters" are all dead or demented at this point, but I did not engage in dramatic confrontations designed to damage them. I essentially walked away, and walked away with a better understanding.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 11:57 AM (ONvIw)
---
That's the way it should be. Talking with my father I've learned a lot of potential "grudge-holding" stuff, but it was so long ago that it's pointless.

It is helpful to know what really happened not just out of personal history curiosity, but also in terms of understanding relationships.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 12:00 PM (llXky)

524 Ringo couldn't write songs very well, but he really was a good drummer, just not flashy. Listen to She Said She Said. He was also important to their early success as the mainly young girl pop audience of the time fell for his happy sad sack persona. He definitely wouldn't have been a legend by himself but he was an important Beatle part.
Posted by: azjaeger at February 20, 2022 11:55 AM (3/XaG)

I have a copy of one of his solo albums, Good Night, Vienna. It is pleasantly entertaining. And he married hottie Barbara Bach, and has remained happily married.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 20, 2022 12:00 PM (P3gRi)

525 I remember looking at the other ladies putting on their swimsuits and thinking "wow".
Posted by: Tom Servo at February 20, 2022 11:57 AM (q3gwH)

I suspect a lot of little boys have a memory like this! People assume little kids don't notice things. People are wrong.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 12:00 PM (ONvIw)

526 Thanks, but I'm glad I did. Sometimes a single event shakes the lives of many and shapes their responses. It explained a lot. The "cast of characters" are all dead or demented at this point, but I did not engage in dramatic confrontations designed to damage them. I essentially walked away, and walked away with a better understanding.
Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 11:57 AM (ONvIw)

I'm glad to hear that. I do think the brain will sometimes keep those memories stored somewhere else, to keep it from being too much, then sorta release the data when we're ready to deal with it.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 20, 2022 12:00 PM (2DNKl)

527 He definitely wouldn't have been a legend by himself but he was an important Beatle part.

Posted by: azjaeger at February 20, 2022 11:55 AM (3/XaG)

I agree. John always seem menacing, so Ringo's goofiness helped get them over. He was already an in demand drummer in L'pool before joining them.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 12:01 PM (7bRMQ)

528 WE HAZ NOOD

Posted by: Skip guy who says NOOD at February 20, 2022 12:01 PM (2JoB8)

529 " spontaneous human combustion"

WOW! Just a day or so back I was remembering that a couple decades ago that was quite a topic of interest. And that I haven't heard anything about humans spontaneously combusting in a very long while. Not even in casual conversation.

Posted by: GrandeMe at February 20, 2022 12:01 PM (ytutJ)

530 Ringo told a story once of going to the movies right after The Beatles hit it big.

All these folks kept coming up to him and asking if he was Ringo.

Ringo said he told them if he was the real Ringo, would he be going to the movies by himself in some crappy theater in London? ( I think he said London)

Always wished I could have a pint with him, he always seemed a nice fella.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 20, 2022 12:02 PM (R/m4+)

531 WE HAZ NOOD
Posted by: Skip guy who says NOOD at February 20, 2022 12:01 PM (2JoB
---
I guess that's it for me today...Thanks for joining me and I'll see you back here next Sunday!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 20, 2022 12:02 PM (K5n5d)

532 It is helpful to know what really happened not just out of personal history curiosity, but also in terms of understanding relationships.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 20, 2022 12:00 PM (llXky)

Yes. But by "walked away", I mean permanently. There are people I never spoke to or saw again, except for my grandmother's funeral.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 12:02 PM (ONvIw)

533 447 Oh, book related stuff. I found a copy of Record of Accomplishment: George W Bush, in the garage.

Tossed it in the recycle bin.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 11:32 AM (7bRMQ)

Aagghh. It was a book, not trash.

Posted by: m at February 20, 2022 12:02 PM (4vwwZ)

534 Currently reading "Hitler and Stalin, Parallel Lives" by Alan Bullock, and "Forgotten Victory" by Gary Sheffield.

Forgotten Victory is about how the BEF in WW1 wasn't really "Lions led by Donkeys" as previously believed. Sheffield's thesis is that the BEF was too tiny and inexperienced to wage proper war in August of 1914 and that it had to grow both in size and in technology (comms, tanks, artillery, aircraft) through the attentional battles of 1915 - 1917 in order to become the army that ultimately won the war in 1918. And that the attentional battles were the only type that were possible while Britain, France and Germany were so evenly matched.

Not sure I agree with Sheffield but he makes a compelling case.

The Hitler and Stalin book is just light reading to distract myself from the nightmare that is Current Year America.

Posted by: Sharkman at February 20, 2022 12:02 PM (8gxrg)

535 Churchill wrote his own books more than any modern politician.

Posted by: TC at February 20, 2022 12:03 PM (dJiVp)

536 Oh my lord! Your mom must be a saint!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 11:52 AM (lCui1)

yeah, she was. A fiery italian woman, somewhat like the chick in my cousin vinny movie, only without the brooklyn accent. I remember one of the neighbors was a single mom with 2 brat daughters ( the father probably escaped), and they used to gang up on my brother. My brother was a brute for his age, and one day it didn't end up well for the girls. Their witch of a mother came strolling up the street with a rolling pin. My mom sees her sand says, and i quote, "you come any farther and I'm going to stick that rolling pin up your fucking ass". lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 20, 2022 12:04 PM (VwHCD)

537 110 I'm one of those who bring them to the front. Do any the Horde do it this way?
Posted by: dantesed at February 20, 2022 09:16 AM (88xKn)

I push paperbacks to the back, then shelve another set of books in front of them.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 09:41 AM (lCui1)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

One of my high school teachers did that. He used 12 count egg cartons (empty, I think) under the back row and that lifted the back row of books high enough to easily read titles while still being movable.

Posted by: Peter (My friends call me Pete) Zah at February 20, 2022 12:05 PM (a4vvV)

538 Aagghh. It was a book, not trash.

Posted by: m at February 20, 2022 12:02 PM (4vwwZ)

But now it can be recycled into a better book!!!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 12:05 PM (7bRMQ)

539 538 Aagghh. It was a book, not trash.

Posted by: m at February 20, 2022 12:02 PM (4vwwZ)

But now it can be recycled into a better book!!!
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 12:05 PM (7bRMQ)

That's a very nice thought.

Posted by: m at February 20, 2022 12:06 PM (4vwwZ)

540 Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.

Out.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 20, 2022 12:06 PM (7bRMQ)

541 He used 12 count egg cartons (empty, I think) under the back row and that lifted the back row of books high enough to easily read titles while still being movable.
Posted by: Peter (My friends call me Pete)

Smart!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 12:07 PM (lCui1)

542 "He definitely wouldn't have been a legend by himself but he was an important Beatle part."

Every class needs a clown

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 20, 2022 12:07 PM (i0slg)

543 We have one of those ME maps. And a black cat.
No squirrel, though.

Mr Flyover is reading Monster Hunter Vendetta, by Larry Correira. He sometimes reads portions to me. Not the gory parts, just the funny parts.

He reads to me, we both really enjoy it. I'm not reading anything at the moment, because I couldn't concentrate when I had the you-know-what om-thingy-cron.

The Mister also made me keto coffee this morning. He loves me...

Posted by: Flyover at February 20, 2022 12:07 PM (Rbu5d)

544 The Mister also made me keto coffee this morning. He loves me...
Posted by: Flyover at February 20, 2022 12:07 PM (Rbu5d)

He do!
Hope you feel better

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 20, 2022 12:10 PM (lCui1)

545 543 The Mister also made me keto coffee this morning. He loves me...
Posted by: Flyover at February 20, 2022 12:07 PM (Rbu5d)

; )

Posted by: m at February 20, 2022 12:11 PM (4vwwZ)

546 Posted by: Brett at February 20, 2022 11:59 AM (Yfr3c)

I hated Gravity's Rainbow which I'd been looking forward to reading and then found it incredibly trite and larded up with dogshit 70s type humor. Just a very unpleasant experience.

Marylander, thanks for the comments on the poems. All of that flew by me on the first read.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at February 20, 2022 12:12 PM (y7DUB)

547 Talk of hobos brought back early memories. I was a young sprout in the late 40's. The men were back from the war and there was a shortage of housing. For several years, 4-5 times a year, a hobo would knock on our door and ask for a meal. My mom would never let them in the house, but would have them go around and sit on the back porch while she made a sandwich and heated a can of soup. I remember them all as being very polite and very grateful.


One of them carved a symbol on the tree in front of our house. My mom asked the next one that came what the symbol meant. He said that it meant that this house would be willing to give you a meal.

Posted by: Zoltan at February 20, 2022 12:43 PM (koc60)

548 This morning I finished The Devil All the Time, by Donald Ray Pollock, and whoo boy, was it something. I had tried to make a vow to read lighter, uplifting things considering all the rotten stuff going on in the country/world and family members' health, but I made the mistake of clicking on the "Look Inside" tab at Amazon.

I couldn't stop reading. These characters and scenes will be with me a long time. I can't say that about very few books, but this one, definitely.

"The Devil" is a study of a hardscrabble area of the country (Ohio & West Virginia) and a few of its inhabitants. Some are born evil, some become evil and some are victims of circumstance. Immediately following WWII, we follow the path of a young soldier fresh off the bus who dashes into a greasy spoon in Meade, Ohio. He determines he's going to marry the stunning waitress the moment he sets eyes on her.

A few years later, he returns to the back woods of West Virginia and the poverty therein, where a cast of sleazy characters begins their mesmerizing tale of woe. It's like a car wreck. You don't want to, but you can't look away. They intertwine in a masterful tale. Highly recommended!

Posted by: SandyCheeks at February 20, 2022 12:48 PM (EJEqS)

549 That squirrel is so damn cute! He makes a nice addition to the thread, all by himself, just like CBD's punk monkey or OM's Gorilla Pundit.

Posted by: CN The First at February 20, 2022 01:48 PM (ONvIw)

550 @547 --

Zoltan, a book on codes and ciphers, which I read in grade school, included a list of hobo symbols: kind woman, vicious dog, etc.

But that guy shouldn't have damaged the tree.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 20, 2022 02:04 PM (Om/di)

551 Superb debut, Perfessor!

Posted by: Ex-CopyEditor at February 20, 2022 02:37 PM (FlzJ+)

552 Thank you Perfessor Squirrel for keeping the Book Thread going!

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at February 20, 2022 03:18 PM (3LGUP)

553 And my thanks to Stephen Price Blair @238 for the link to Stephen E. Fabian's website.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at February 20, 2022 03:19 PM (3LGUP)

554 Looking for a good detective series equivalent to Bosch.

Coming close to the end of his series.

Any suggestions?

Same is true for Ben Macintyre. His books focus on intelligence in WWII and the SAS. "Rogue Heroes" is especially good. All of them are page turners.

Now I'm on an H.W. Brands kick. I also discovered this oldie: History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson by Henry Adams. It sounds dry but it isn't. It gives clarity to what life was like in the early 1800's in America, and the distrust (independent of the slavery issue, that existed at that time.) Hard to believe that the Union stayed together until 1860.

Posted by: WillieStark at February 20, 2022 03:42 PM (yMQGD)

555
g'early evenin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at February 20, 2022 06:24 PM (DUIap)

556 Side margin: the sooner we end the phrase "thought leader", the better. It can stop. If you NEED a "thought leader", NO ONE IS THINKING.

Posted by: Cow Demon at February 20, 2022 06:29 PM (CdZ4i)

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