Sunday Morning Book Thread - 6-22-2025 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

(HT: Pete Zah)

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. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...(It ain't easy being a Moron.)

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

NOTE: Please keep comments book related. Yes, important news happened overnight. It can wait until the political thread for discussion. Or continue the discussion in the Tech Thread. If something huge happens, then CBD may come along and throw in a new thread.

PIC NOTE

This was sent to me by Pete Zah. It's a great example of human ingenuity. When space is at a premium for bookshelves, there's always a way to stack them together, yet make them accessible upon demand. Although I don't think this would work at my house. It's not really designed for this type of bookshelf. Still, it's a cool idea.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Latin for "story people" (more or less), the Dramatis Personae in a work is a list of the characters provided at the beginning or end of a story. Plays have had this forever, as it's something of a necessity when casting actors to play the various parts. Within the script of a play, the Dramatis Personae is usually arranged from principle leads down to the extras. It also gives a bit of context for each role, indicating relationships, occupations, and so on.

Nowadays, you may see a Dramatis Personae page (or pages) within a novel. It's a great way to keep track of characters, especially if there are a lot of them. The Malazan books by Steven Erickson and Ian C. Esslemont tend to have Loads and Loads of Characters, so you almost NEED a Dramatis Personae section in order to keep track of who is who. This is especially useful for tracking characters who belong to competing factions or nations, such as the Malazan Empire v. the Crimson Guard.

Different authors handle the Dramatis Personae in different ways. Robert Jordan, for instance, includes a "Glossary" section in most of the Wheel of Time books which will also include descriptions of important characters, though not all of the characters in the story will be listed. For that, you need The Wheel of Time Companion, though I don't know if it lists ALL the characters in the books (approximately 2,700 total characters). Tad Williams will put sections for "People," "Places," "Things," and "Words and Phrases" at the end of his books, dividing the "People" section into various nationalities/ethnicities/races as appropriate.

Note that the Dramatis Personae page does not have to be limited to lengthy doorstopper novels. Any length of novel can include a Dramatis Personae page if the author is so inclined. P.C. Hodgell's God Stalk is less than 300 pages and is a quick read, but has around 40 characters, so she put in a Dramatis Personae section so that the reader can identify who belongs to which faction and their relationships to each other, which is very important to the story. In Troy Denning's Star Wars: Crucible, there are only 14 principal characters, but he also included a Dramatis Personae page listing the characters, their gender, and their species where appropriate (e.g., "Marvid Qreph: industrialist (Columi male)").

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(HT: Teresa in Ft. Worth)

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THEY DON'T READ VERY WELL

Pixy Misa posted a link to They Don't Read Very Well: A Study of the Reading Comprehension Skills of English Majors at Two Midwestern Universities on Monday's Tech Thread. Since I am an English major and I attended a midwestern university (where I still work, by the way), I read through the article. It's depressing. The authors of this article examined the reading comprehension skills of 85 English majors from two Kansas universities back in spring semester of 2015, so while the article was published recently (2024), the research itself took place around a decade ago.

All the students had to do was read the first seven paragraphs of Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Then they attempted to explain the meaning of these paragraphs in their own words to the facilitator, who recorded their response.

Out of the 85 students, fully 58% were determined to be unable to read Bleak House on their own. That is, they struggled so much with interpreting just the first seven paragraphs that they would never be able to finish the novel, nor would they be able to describe what happened in the story. They also lacked the skills necessary to develop their comprehension on their own, as they simply didn't know what they didn't know.

Only four of the subjects (around 5%) were classified as "Proficient Readers," meaning they were able to comprehend Bleak House and have a reasonably intelligent conversation about the novel. These readers were able to use positive reading strategies to increase their comprehension when they were stuck or lost within the story, looking up unfamiliar words and parsing figurative language (similes and metaphors) correctly in most cases.

Again, these were all ENGLISH MAJORS, meaning they *should* have advanced reading comprehension skills, but clearly the vast majority of the students in this study were unprepared for the rigor needed to read classic literature. I find it sad that these students struggled so much with their basic reading comprehension that they would not be able to complete their curriculum.

BASED BOOK SALE!

Hans G. Schantz is hosting another BASED BOOK SALE for Morons and sundry other readers.

It's time to take a break from your daily routine and especially from corporate culture and get some great based books from both established and emerging talent for only $0.99 - many titles free - but only for one week! With over 300 titles - over a hundred of which are new arrivals - there's something for everyone. Check it out now through Tuesday June 24 at:
The Summer 2025 Based Book Sale
I appreciate all you and the Moron Horde do to support indie authors.
Thanks!
Hans

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Now THIS is a comeback!
Subject: Arthur Penn. (That's the name on his Amex card.) Occupation: Former king of England. Current (early 21st century) whereabouts: New York City.
That's the premise for Knight Life by the late, great Peter David.
I'm barely into the book, but Arthur has already picked up two followers, junkies who are so far gone they've forgotten their names. Owing to their love of rock 'n' roll, they call themselves Buddy and Elvis. Morgan LeFay is around, as is a woman named Gwen. The jacket blurb mentions Merlin -- and a mayoral election.
Posted by: Weak Geek at June 15, 2025 09:05 AM (p/isN)

Comment: Since stories about King Arthur are in the public domain, it's not surprising that authors have had a lot of fun with the source material. Some authors, like T. H. White and Parke Godwin, present a more "serious" version of the Arthurian legends, while other authors like Tim Powers and Peter David above, add a more light-hearted tone to the stories. Knight Life does sound like a book I would enjoy so I may have to check it out someday. And really, could King Arthur Reborn do a worse job of managing New York City than the current crop of politicians?

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Now I am reading Culture: The Story of Us, from Cave Art to K-Pop. It begins in the famous cave in France in which archeologists discovered wall paintings around 15,000 years old.
I just finished the first chapter, all about Egypt's Queen Nefertiti, and it is fascinating. She and her king husband did a religious right turn, developing a monotheistic worldview, and had the whole deep state against them, so much that they moved the court to a new place down the Nile, and built an entirely new capital city. Her era was around 1300 B.C., with Egypt at its all time peak of wealth.
Posted by: Mr Gaga at June 15, 2025 11:22 AM (zeLd4)

Comment: Culture seems to be hardwired into the human experience. Even the most primitive societies will develop cultural experiences that enhance their own lives, whether through art, music, dance, storytelling, or some combination of all of these. Nowadays, we seem to live in a society with a fractured culture, particularly here in the United States where we have fundamental differences between the Left and Right politically, to the point that it can be difficult to sympathize with our fellow men. What will archaeologists and anthropologists think of our society a hundred years from now? A thousand years from now?

MORE MORON RECOMMENDATIONS CAN BE FOUND HERE: AoSHQ - Book Thread Recommendations

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WHAT I'VE ACQUIRED THIS PAST WEEK:

It's June, so that must mean it's time for the semi-annual public library book sale! As usual, I walked out with a bundle of books for a reasonable price--12 books for just $32. As a bonus, they throw in a free cat toy with every armful of books! (A paper bag.)

The Arabian Nights

Tales from the "White Hart" by Arthur C. Clarke -- A collection of speculative fiction stories with the narrative framing element of all of them being tall tales told around a few pints down at the local pub.

Timeline by Michael Crichton

Star Trek: The Original Series - Crisis on Centaurus by Brad Ferguson -- I have this in paperback, but I thought it would be neat to own a hardcover edition. I didn't even know hardcover editions of these books even existed.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein -- Seems like a classic I should read.

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein -- Another classic that I can now read. I have a copy of this same edition of the book, but this one is in much better condition and is "readable," i.e., it won't fall apart on me.

The Pogo Peek-A-Book by Walt Kelly

From the Corner of His Eye by Dean Koontz

Boy's Life by Robert McCammon -- Not sure if I can read this or not. It's a paperback copy that was butchered and repackaged in hardcover format. Unfortunately, whoever did it screwed up the margins so sometimes the right or left side of the text is slightly cut off.
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle -- Another classic of science fiction that I feel I should read.

Outies by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle -- The second sequel to The Mote in God's Eye.

The Once and Future King by T. H. White -- The classic Arthurian story, which is really a retelling of Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory.

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

After reviewing some of OregonMuse's old Book Threads, I thought I'd try something a bit different. Instead of just listing WHAT I'm reading, I'll include commentary as well. Unless otherwise specified, you can interpret this as an implied recommendation, though as always your mileage may vary.

I didn't get as much reading done this week as I would have liked. I finished Silverberg's Majipoor series and then I couldn't seem to muster up motivation to find something else. It's been an odd week for me. I finally settled on the following:

Night's Dawn Trilogy Book 1 - The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton

Whew! I finished The Reality Dysfunction this week and stared on the next book (see below). The first book in this epic space opera does take a while to get going, as the main plot really doesn't kick off until about 500 pages into the book. Before that is mostly worldbuilding as Hamilton introduces characters and describes the societies in which they live. There are two main competing philosophies, though they don't actively hate each other, just see the world in a different way. The "Edenists" have adapted to using biotechnology ("biotek") to improve themselves physically and mentally. They've created living space ships and orbiting habitats with which they share their consciousness as they have bioengineered telepathic abilities as well. Conversations between Edenists would be weird to observe as everyone would appear to be standing around, even though they are all conversing with each other mentally.

On the flip side we have the "Adamists," who have chosen to use conventional (for them) technological approaches to self-improvement. They incorporate a form of nanotechnology into their bodies, which enhances their own physical and mental abilities. Although they don't have the telepathy of the Edenists, they can share data with each other by "datavising" information back and forth. Basically implanted wireless technology in their brains.

Now both the Edenists and Adamists have to work together to defeat a threat from beyond the stars and beyond reality as they know it. Humans are becoming "possessed" by a strange energy virus that defies all natural laws as we understand them. A Satanic cult (yes, really) has brought something back from Unbeing.

Night's Dawn Trilogy Book 2 - The Neutronium Alchemist by Peter F. Hamilton

I'm still in the early stages of this book, but it's moving faster plotwise because now we are in the thick of the main conflict of this story. Humanity is losing as they do not fully understand the enemy they are up against. In an amusing subplot--and I swear I am not making this up--Al Capone has returned from beyond the grave and is now conspiring with other possessed humans to conquer the Confederacy.

Meanwhile the brilliant creator of the "Alchemist," a doomsday device that can destroy a star, has escaped her gilded cage and is now free to roam the galaxy herself. Is her device the key to winning the war?

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 6-15-2025 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Tips, suggestions, recommendations, etc., can all be directed to perfessor -dot- squirrel -at- gmail -dot- com.

Disclaimer: No Morons were physically harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread. With a rowley, powley, gammon and spinach!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Got up too soon and nothing to do.

Read a short story by Robert Ormond Case, "Ridin' Luck." It was a selection from Raconteur Press by their e-mail.

Pro tip: Never trade horses with someone you just met on the trail....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 09:00 AM (0eaVi)

2 Anyone here a Stanislaw Lem fan?

Posted by: eleven at June 22, 2025 09:01 AM (fV+MH)

3 Happy Bookday, people.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 22, 2025 09:01 AM (kpS4V)

4 Book 'im, Dano!

Posted by: muldoon at June 22, 2025 09:01 AM (poXs5)

5 Anyone here a Stanislaw Lem fan?
Posted by: eleven at June 22, 2025 09:01 AM (fV+MH)
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Heard of him, but never read any of his stuff, though I've heard it's really good.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 22, 2025 09:03 AM (IBQGV)

6 Dramatis Personae.

I never thought of doing that for anything except myself to keep track of the names. I guess it's a good idea. You don't see it much any more, do you?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 09:04 AM (0eaVi)

7 You will enjoy Timeline.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 22, 2025 09:04 AM (Vfq+S)

8 Yay book thread!

The bookshelves remind me of some of the archival office shelving one sees now and again. I recall one agency that had a track system in the floor and one cranked the shelves one way or another to produce a single aisle where one could reach the records.

Totally obsolete now. All the records are electronic, but there was a period when mounting paper files required serious engineering.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:05 AM (ZOv7s)

9 Perfesser. You know that if ace reads the book thread he's going to want those bookshelves. Constructing them would make for interesting posts.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at June 22, 2025 09:05 AM (2NHgQ)

10 I attended an SF convention this weekend and got loads of recommendations for new books to pick up.

Dilemma: do I buy them in the dealer's room right away, or help out the authors by purchasing through Barnes & Noble or Amazon?

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 22, 2025 09:05 AM (YaHeP)

11 "Heard of him, but never read any of his stuff, though I've heard it's really good.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel "

His good stuff is so good.

But he also has these rambling uber-intellectual stories that are a dreadful slog.

But the good stuff is my favorite.

Posted by: eleven at June 22, 2025 09:06 AM (fV+MH)

12 Dramatis Personae.

I never thought of doing that for anything except myself to keep track of the names. I guess it's a good idea. You don't see it much any more, do you?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 09:04 AM (0eaVi)
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I always keep a cheat sheet for my characters, noting appearance, equipment, actions, etc. so that if I have a break in writing, I have a summary to keep me up to speed.

The only time I used a Dramatis Persona was the first book of the Man of Destiny series, where I felt it was useful to give some snapshots of the various politicians to help bring people up to speed. I wrote it without it, and test-readers suggested adding it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:06 AM (ZOv7s)

13 "The Future Was Now: Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982" by Chris Nashawaty is about the year that gave us E.T., Tron, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kan, Conan the Barbarian, Blade Runner, Poltergeist, The Thing, and The Road Warrior.

I saw every one of these masterpieces. Remember going to the movies almost every week? I do.

Blade Runner and The Thing were released on the same day to critical disdain and audience indifference. My friend and I both loved Blade Runner and to this day it remains one of my all time favorites. The Thing grossed me out into a full-blown panic attack, and it wasn't until years later that I grew to appreciate its grotesque excesses.

Potential actors to portray blade runner Rick Decker: Tommy Lee Jones (I could see that), Al Pacino, Nick Nolte, Burt Reynolds (more Sharkey, less Gator), Peter Falk ("There's just one more thing..."), and most horrifying of all, Dustin Hoffman. Luckily, Fancher's girlfriend Barbara Hershey had recently been speaking with Steven Spielberg while he was shooting "Raiders of the Lost Ark", and he raved about Harrison Ford.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 22, 2025 09:07 AM (kpS4V)

14 I like the rolling bookshelves, but deciding which books to put in the back would be a pain.

On the other hand, I double-shelve most of my books.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 22, 2025 09:07 AM (p/isN)

15 You can't know the players without a program.

Posted by: Dramatis Clematis at June 22, 2025 09:07 AM (lIgBp)

16 Perfesser. You know that if ace reads the book thread he's going to want those bookshelves. Constructing them would make for interesting posts.
Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at June 22, 2025 09:05 AM (2NHgQ)
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The part where he installs it with the gap against the wall will be hilarious.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:08 AM (ZOv7s)

17 You know that if ace reads the book thread he's going to want those bookshelves. Constructing them would make for interesting posts.
Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at June 22, 2025 09:05 AM (2NHgQ)
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He'd get wedged between the inner and outer shelves.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 22, 2025 09:08 AM (kpS4V)

18 On the other hand, I double-shelve most of my books.
Posted by: Weak Geek

Put them in two places?

Posted by: Tonypete at June 22, 2025 09:09 AM (cYBz/)

19 Morning, book folken! I just finished writing my required daily page on a new short story I started last week. Not sure how I'm going to work it all out, but it should be fun anyway.

This week, I finished two Jack Reacher novels, Echo Burning and Without Fail, the fifth and sixth in the series. Compulsively readable and fast-moving, they are not just action stories. There's plenty of that. But Reacher thinks, observes facts, and integrates them into conclusions in an Ellery Queen-ish fashion at times. Sometimes he reaches a wrong conclusion, and that provides impetus for plot twists. I'll try more in the series.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 09:09 AM (omVj0)

20 I read 'The Once and Future King' a looong time ago. Probably when I was in 7th grade, I think.

Posted by: dantesed at June 22, 2025 09:09 AM (Oy/m2)

21 The Perry Mason mysteries list the characters in the front, and add the page number of first appearance -- but they cheat; not every character gets listed. That sometimes helps indicate the guilty party.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 22, 2025 09:10 AM (p/isN)

22 As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...(It ain't easy being a Moron.)

This.

I really hope y'all appreciate the time and effort that "Perfessor" Squirrel puts in to find these fine examples!

I further really hope that those scofflaws amongst us who think a short robe, rather than pants, are suitable for the most prestigious Thread in the AoSHQ Universe (and you know who you are), will see the error of their ways. Today's pants would be an excellent transition mechanism.

Posted by: Kermit at June 22, 2025 09:10 AM (0sNs1)

23 Sorry, Prof.

With my wife in England to see the places featured in the books she's read, I put "Knight Life" aside in favor of a couple of prewar Saint stories, one of which I'd never read thoroughly. I can't visit those sights, such as Croydon airfield, because so many of them no longer exist.

Meanwhile in "Knight Life," the former King Arthur is running for mayor of New York City as a stepping stone to higher offices, and, eventually, his throne. He has his old adviser Merlin -- make that young adviser, because Merlin is aging in reverse.

Merlin is also putting the band back together. Seems that several of the knights of the Round Table are still around.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 22, 2025 09:11 AM (p/isN)

24 Anyone here a Stanislaw Lem fan?

Posted by: eleven at June 22, 2025 09:01 AM (fV+MH)

I really enjoy his "Cyberiad" and "Tales of Pirx the Pilot".

Not as wild about his other stuff. A lot of his stuff concerns issues of the last century but not so important now.

Unlike Philip K Dick, he doesn't still resonate as well in the 21st Century.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 22, 2025 09:11 AM (iJfKG)

25 Speaking of books for boys....

Raconteur Press just released a new juvenile sci-fi, "Boy's Own Starship."

Bought through this link, and sent to niece's boy.

https://tinyurl.com/yj82nxh2

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 09:12 AM (0eaVi)

26 Speaking of shelving, yesterday I added two massive bookcases to Chateau Lloyd, purchased at a local estate sale.

Folks, if you aren't monitoring estate sales, you aren't trying. So much goodies out there, and on Saturday, it goes to 50% off! Do you wait, and risk losing it, or cool your heels waiting for the big score? I did the latter, and it paid off, bigly. Solid wood, 6th monoliths for less than you could for those sawdust-and-glue pieces of junk.

There they sit. Ominously empty, waiting to fill their gaping maws with future purchases.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:12 AM (ZOv7s)

27 Reread the public domain book Little Fuzzy.

Posted by: 13times at June 22, 2025 09:13 AM (LgzDa)

28 After discussing one of Wilkie Collins' novels a few weeks back, it is probably apropos to discuss his magnum opus, The Moonstone. This is widely considered to be the prototype of the modern mystery novel, though it was published several years after Edgar Allan Poe had introduced his inspector Dupin.

The story is epistolary, told in sequence by three of the characters involved, a style Collins called multi-narration, which also adds to the depth (and length) of the novel. Interestingly, Collins wrote much of the novel while bedridden with gout, and under the influence of laudanum.

The moonstone is a highly valuable diamond which was stolen from an Indian temple many years previously, and Franklin Blake, as executor upon the death of his father, must give it to his cousin. Meanwhile, three Indian priests are dedicated to getting the stone back and returning it to its rightful place. When the stone disappears, both the location of the stone and the identity of the thief are in question. As the story progresses, more and more clues are revealed, and twists and turns abound. It is quite the story, although being written in the Victorian parlance, is not a fast read.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 22, 2025 09:13 AM (Vfq+S)

29 He had one story about minidrones for warfare

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 22, 2025 09:14 AM (bXbFr)

30 Also finished last night: The Problem of the Wire Cage, a 1939 impossible crime novel by John Dickson Carr. Set in the summer of '38 (I suppose), it features a man strangled to death in the middle of a wire-enclosed full-size private tennis court, with only his own footprints in the wet sand-and-gravel court surface.

Haters of the classical, Golden Age detective story say such tales are artificial. True to a degree; that's the fun! But beyond that, Carr, who was a top-flight writer, draws the portraits of the people involved, including the murderer, with tremendous skill. Personalities are important in Carr's work, almost as much as locked rooms. And on top of that, the "impossible" part of the crime was not planned by the killer, but came as an accident -- making the whole venture riskier for the killer, and more plausible for the reader.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 09:14 AM (omVj0)

31 I love hearing the producers get bent out of shape over ten million dollar budgets. And it ballooned up to fifteen million! What would they think of today's three hundred million dollar movies that have to make a huge opening weekend take? Back then, a studio just had to make a modest profit over the long hall.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 22, 2025 09:14 AM (kpS4V)

32 E.T., Tron, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kan, Conan the Barbarian, Blade Runner, Poltergeist, The Thing, and The Road Warrior.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 22, 2025 09:07 AM (kpS4V)
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I have seen them all, but only got to Poltergeist in the last few years on streaming. Horror movies do not interest me. (I saw "The Thing" in sci-fi club, so it didn't count.)

Is "Blade Runner" an example where the movie is better than the book? I like the movie because it is film noir, but I understand the book is not, which is why I have ignored it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:14 AM (ZOv7s)

33 I always keep a cheat sheet for my characters, noting appearance, equipment, actions, etc. so that if I have a break in writing, I have a summary to keep me up to speed.

AH, I only put in their names and jobs, maybe relationships to other characters. It's only for me. If I ever publish, maybe I'll need a DP.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 09:14 AM (0eaVi)

34 I love hearing the producers get bent out of shape over ten million dollar budgets. And it ballooned up to fifteen million! What would they think of today's three hundred million dollar movies that have to make a huge opening weekend take? Back then, a studio just had to make a modest profit over the long hall.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 22, 2025 09:14 AM (kpS4V)
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To be fair, money was worth more in those day. Fifty years of fiat currency and Bidenflation make comparisons a bit more difficult.

See also: my 1975 firearm buyers' guide.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:16 AM (ZOv7s)

35 Thanks for another dandy Book Thread, Perfessor!

The rolling book shelves remind me of a filing system used at one of the places I worked. We thought it was a brilliant idea and a great use of limited space.

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at June 22, 2025 09:17 AM (kB9dk)

36 Thomas Paine at June 22, 2025 09:13 AM (Vfq+S)

I have that in my bookcase but I've never had a chance to read it. Maybe, because I forgot it's there.

Posted by: dantesed at June 22, 2025 09:17 AM (Oy/m2)

37 Yes cleopatra based on plutarch and other accounts was something like 40 million back then

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 22, 2025 09:18 AM (bXbFr)

38 Greatly amused to see you feature the Pogo Peek a Book - my dad left behind a collection of those from the 50’s. Funny, and some amazingly sharp political satire right in the heart of the Cold War. Too bad he’s mostly forgotten now.

Posted by: Tom Servo at June 22, 2025 09:18 AM (EVFZ5)

39 Yes do androids sleep was unfilmable making it into a futuristic noir was the only way to so it

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 22, 2025 09:19 AM (bXbFr)

40 Good morning!

Posted by: Dig gp Must at June 22, 2025 09:19 AM (t9lPv)

41 Deckard was more spade than marlowe

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 22, 2025 09:21 AM (bXbFr)

42 Yes, Perfessor, The Mote in God's Eye is a must-read. It was Niven & Pournelle's first collaboration. They swore they would write the SF novel they wanted to read when they were twelve. It's a First Contact story: Mankind, who has reached the stars, makes its first contact with aliens -- and they *are* alien, physically and culturally. Fascinating and memorable stuff. (And Robert Heinlein did a voluntary and unpaid line-editing job on it too.)

The first sequel, The Gripping Hand, did not "grip" me at all. I did not know there was a third in the series.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 09:21 AM (omVj0)

43 Is "Blade Runner" an example where the movie is better than the book? I like the movie because it is film noir, but I understand the book is not, which is why I have ignored it.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:14 AM (ZOv7s
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I haven't read the book, but from what I understand, the world in this story is underpopulated. Ridley Scott felt that was just too depressing, and instead opted for the mad polyglot crush of an overpopulated Los Angeles, which is at least full of life.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 22, 2025 09:21 AM (kpS4V)

44 Not much reading this week what with estate sale watching, scoping a new bed for the grandkids and various other projects.

I did however receive War Trophies - Weapons From Vietnam by Keith Seafield. I stumbled on this through Youtube gun channel references, track down a copy and ordered it.

It is not the reference book that I thought it was, and it has the fit and finish of an early 1990s yearbook. Lots of pictures, but uneven fonts, formatting and while it has page numbers, it does not have a functional table of contents nor an index. There's a list of articles up front, and then you flip pages until you find them.

The author apparently worked for an online firearm seller, and basically collected stories and information about Vietnam bringback guns from his customers. On the plus side, he did get some interesting stories and often provides photos of the paperwork, which is unique. Alas, much of the text is merely a copy/paste of the item description, and wikipedia (!) is repeatedly cited as a source. (cont)

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:21 AM (ZOv7s)

45 Is "Blade Runner" an example where the movie is better than the book? I like the movie because it is film noir, but I understand the book is not, which is why I have ignored it.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025

***
I can't recall if I read the Dick novel, so I guess it is not as memorable as the film. The film is quite noir-ish for sure. At the time I said it was the most mature SF movie I'd ever seen, one that seemed like a novel itself.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 09:23 AM (omVj0)

46 Good Sunday morning, horde!

In my latest thrift shopping for books adventure, I found a load of spy thrillers by one Helen Macinnes, copyright dates ranging from 1944 to about 1978.

I've never heard of her, but they looked interesting. Titles I got were The Venetian Affair, The Salzburg Connection, Above Suspicion, While Still We Live, Prelude to Terror.

Anyone familiar with this author? Did I waste $2.50? Going to start in on them this week.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at June 22, 2025 09:24 AM (h7ZuX)

47 (cont) This book cries out for an editor, and I'm weighing on reaching out to make it better in a reprint. It looks like a vanity press was used and the profits are supposed to go to a veterans' charity. One of the videos promoting it spent more time talking about the good cause than the book.

It may sound like I have buyer's remorse, but it has pushed out my knowledge a bit, and I may follow up because I've been working on a book of essays about firearms. This could be incorporated into that effort.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:24 AM (ZOv7s)

48 This week, among other things, I read Hardy's "A Mathematician's Apology," and Haldane's "Callinicus: A Defense of Chemical Warfare." Hardy was so convincing, I decided to forgive him.

Posted by: Dig gp Must at June 22, 2025 09:24 AM (t9lPv)

49 Deckard was more spade than marlowe
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 22, 2025

***
Deckard, if I recall aright, was part of an agency of some kind, as Spade was (he had his partnership agency with Archer). Whereas Marlowe was a lone operator.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 09:25 AM (omVj0)

50 @18 --

Put some behind others.

I did that with my Saint books, which meant that I have to move the Mason books to get to them. Then I got smarter and bought a bookcase that I put in oldest son's room. He hasn't lived here for years, so I claimed the room.

Now I have to move the Masons to get to the Westlakes.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 22, 2025 09:26 AM (p/isN)

51 I'm reading air compressor manuals. Got a lot to learn for this new job. Tomorrow I start on operations manuals for pick and place machines. Then in a couple of weeks I should have maintnence manuals for them.
Gotta fix the air flow issue first though as the system isn't keeping up with two lines and there is another that needs to go online in about a month. I might have to have another expensive system put in.
Good thing money isn't an issue.

Posted by: Reforger at June 22, 2025 09:26 AM (LgDgc)

52 They don't read very well.

====

They don't listen so well either.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 22, 2025 09:26 AM (RIvkX)

53 I can't recall if I read the Dick novel, so I guess it is not as memorable as the film. The film is quite noir-ish for sure. At the time I said it was the most mature SF movie I'd ever seen, one that seemed like a novel itself.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 09:23 AM (omVj0)
---
I'm very much into film noir, and Blade Runner hit that sweet spot.

I think it's initial failure to find an audience was because people expected Ford to be like Han or Indy. I know when I watched it on video with my father, he liked it a lot and I found it off-putting. Only later, when I had watched noir did I get it. It's interesting that a lot of people - including Scott - didn't appreciate that aspect. If you remove the voiceover, you remove the noir. The fact that Ford was lackluster and bored actually is in character.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:27 AM (ZOv7s)

54 Morning, Perfessor.

Howdy, Horde.

Finally getting around to Donald Westlake's posthumously published novel Memory (aka The Actor as a tie-in to the movie). Not a mystery/suspense, at least not so far but I'm only a third into it and Westlake was always good at twists and turns.

While I've enjoyed what Dickens I've read, I found Bleak House a bit of a slog and have bogged down twice now trying to read it (at about the hundred page mark). So I can understand not being able to read Bleak House -- but seven paragraphs? Jeez...

Gotta bail out of the thread at about half time today -- the extraordinarily nifty Mrs Some Guy's annual family reunion is today so I'll be annoying assorted in-laws for a while.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 22, 2025 09:27 AM (q3u5l)

55 I'm reading air compressor manuals.

Posted by: Reforger at June 22, 2025 09:26 AM (LgDgc)
---
As soon as I read that sentence I knew who was writing this.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:28 AM (ZOv7s)

56 Dilemma: do I buy them in the dealer's room right away, or help out the authors by purchasing through Barnes & Noble or Amazon?
Posted by: Trimegistus
===

Depends on your circumstances. Reasonably flush, share more with the authors.
Tight on funds, take care of yourself first.

Posted by: From about That Time at June 22, 2025 09:29 AM (n4GiU)

57 The film is nothing like the book. Andys control a suburban police substation and actual real events become confused. JF Sebastian is a chickenhead.

Posted by: 13times at June 22, 2025 09:29 AM (Puvdf)

58 Niven and Pournelle made some epic stuff.

With dramatis personae!

Posted by: eleven at June 22, 2025 09:29 AM (fV+MH)

59 In my latest thrift shopping for books adventure, I found a load of spy thrillers by one Helen Macinnes, copyright dates ranging from 1944 to about 1978.

I've never heard of her, but they looked interesting. Titles I got were The Venetian Affair, The Salzburg Connection, Above Suspicion, While Still We Live, Prelude to Terror.

Anyone familiar with this author? Did I waste $2.50? Going to start in on them this week.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at June 22, 2025

***
She was quite the seller in her day. I think her spy stuff is more the Ambler/Greene sort of thing, where an innocent, a non-spy, or several, are caught up in intrigue. Her Venetian Affair was filmed with Robert Vaughn in about 1967, and his rumpled journalist character, not a pro spy, is the lead -- about as far from the glamorous Napoleon Solo as you can get.

I think I've read Above Suspicion, and I think it involves a civilian married couple somehow -- more Hitchcock's The Man Who Kwew Too Much film than it is a Bond-type story.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 09:29 AM (omVj0)

60 Put... The... Candle... Back...

Posted by: Ace Trapped Behind the Rolling Bookcase at June 22, 2025 09:30 AM (i0F8b)

61 soon as I read that sentence I knew who was writing this.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H.

Could have been Skip.

Posted by: From about That Time at June 22, 2025 09:30 AM (n4GiU)

62 Anyone familiar with this author? Did I waste $2.50? Going to start in on them this week.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at June 22, 2025 09:24 AM (h7ZuX)

Read some of them years ago. I don't think you will be disappointed.

Posted by: Diogenes at June 22, 2025 09:32 AM (W/lyH)

63 I've never read MacInnes, but Mrs Some Guy read a few of them eons ago and enjoyed them.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 22, 2025 09:33 AM (q3u5l)

64 @46 --

I've heard of Helen MacInnes, but I've never read her books. The titles do sound interesting.

I look forward to your reviews.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 22, 2025 09:34 AM (p/isN)

65 If you remove the voiceover, you remove the noir. The fact that Ford was lackluster and bored actually is in character.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:27 AM (ZOv7s)

I much prefer the cut with no voiceover. Many people miss that Ford is not the “hero” of the movie at all - Rutgers Hauer is. Ford is just the top slave catcher for a corrupt and evil regime.
Hauer is the true tragic figure at the heart of the story.

Posted by: Tom Servo at June 22, 2025 09:34 AM (EVFZ5)

66 While I've enjoyed what Dickens I've read, I found Bleak House a bit of a slog and have bogged down twice now trying to read it (at about the hundred page mark). So I can understand not being able to read Bleak House -- but seven paragraphs? Jeez...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 22, 2025 09:27 AM (q3u5l)

I read that report as well. One thing that wasn't said, today's writing is different than Dickens' era. It was denser, and had longer sentences than today's Hemingwayesque writing. Throw in unfamiliar terms for items, then you have to stop and find out what it was before you understand what the allusions are. That can bog you down. Reading dense, long writing puts a strain on your attention span. If you don't know the events or things being referred to, you lose interest.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 09:34 AM (0eaVi)

67 I am currently trying Michael Crichton's 2009 novel Pirate Latitudes. It's 1665 in Jamaica, and an English sea captain is about to take on Spanish galleons for fun and profit. Seems quite readable so far -- as most of Crichton's stuff was.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 09:34 AM (omVj0)

68 Booken morgen horden

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 22, 2025 09:36 AM (Splbu)

69 Currently, I'm reading

"Selected Short Stories of Philip K Dick" assembled by the Folio Society.

The stories are arranged chronologically so you see PKD's development as a writer and the early interest in certain ideas which would become important to him later.

I'm still in the early stuff, which I would say are fairly typical 2nd or 3rd tier SF stories. Well written, well described but the ideas kind of just lay there with 20th century/Cold War concerns.

BONUS! This book was a Father's Day gift by the kiddos, and as a book it's just physically beautiful. Very well made for reading with a great font and spacing on the page. Binding and cover that should last forever. Nice illustrations.
My point is...if you just like books as a physical "thing" and have a novel that you read over and over. Give FS a look. They're overpriced so it's not an every day sort of thing.
HINT!: You can find them at used book stores generally for a very nice discount.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 22, 2025 09:37 AM (iJfKG)

70 Could have been Skip.
Posted by: From about That Time at June 22, 2025 09:30 AM (n4GiU)
---
Not in my mind. When I see someone describing this week's reading in terms of engine repair or some other mechanical function, the "Reforger" light goes off in my head.

Kind of like seeing Moon Nazis or hollow earth and knowing Eris is the author before you get to the end.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:37 AM (ZOv7s)

71 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading.

Posted by: JTB at June 22, 2025 09:37 AM (yTvNw)

72 Thanks for the signal boost!

Posted by: Hans G. Schantz at June 22, 2025 09:38 AM (rVHpS)

73 Rereading Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, a collection of Ambrose Bierce short stories.

Killed at Resaca is still my favorite, about a lieutenant who unnecessarily exposed himself because his bitch fiance sent him a letter advising that another officer had called him a shirker.

Bierce, IMO, deserves far more attention than he gets in the list of great American writers.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at June 22, 2025 09:38 AM (ITkJX)

74 Personally I think a dramatis personae page with even a few characters is useful, esp. if they have similar last names or are related somehow, so the reader can keep them all straight. The Seattle publisher interested in my mystery novel wants me to leave that out. On the other hand I haven't heard from them about anything in more than two weeks. I'm about ready to say scruit and look into Amazon-marketing this novel myself.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 09:38 AM (omVj0)

75 I much prefer the cut with no voiceover. Many people miss that Ford is not the “hero” of the movie at all - Rutgers Hauer is. Ford is just the top slave catcher for a corrupt and evil regime.
Hauer is the true tragic figure at the heart of the story.
Posted by: Tom Servo at June 22, 2025 09:34 AM (EVFZ5)
---
You're free to like what you want, but without the voiceover it is no longer noir.

You also lose a lot of information, such as Deckard likening his old boss to a segregationist.

Put simply, the movie doesn't make sense without it. You can enjoy its absence because you can fill in the gaps. A first-time viewer would be utterly lost.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:40 AM (ZOv7s)

76 Perfessor,

I highly recommend "The Mote in God's Eye".

It is one of the greatest SF stories ever written.

I am slogging my way through "The Reality Disfunction". I'm not enjoying it as much as his other works I have read. There are long sections where there is really nothing happening. He pops a new minor character in here and there, seemingly at a whim.

Would probably be more enjoyable to me if it was a bit edited.

Not Hamilton's best work, in my opinion. And yes it continues with his completely over the top episodes that I am getting tired of.

Posted by: pawn, one of many at June 22, 2025 09:40 AM (W23tn)

77 Dungeon Crawler Carl has been fun.

Posted by: H at June 22, 2025 09:41 AM (2gjbv)

78 Any English major should expect to encounter writing that pre-dates Hemingway and his influence; some of it will go right by him (I know there's a lot that went right by me in my undergrad days -- hell, there's a lot that still does). But if you're an English major, encountering pre-20th century writing is a respectable part of the whole point of being an English major. The poor souls who couldn't handle seven paragraphs of Bleak House should demand a refund of whatever their parents paid in taxes to cover their K-12. They started college without being even close to prepared for it.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 22, 2025 09:41 AM (q3u5l)

79 My trash read this week is "Aliens: Vasquez" by V. Castro.

It's kind of a bait-and-switch. The first quarter of the novel is about our beloved chola, her tough upbringing, meeting Drake in juvie, an unplanned pregnancy, and signing up with the USCM. Then boom, cut to her death scene with Gorman.

It's really just setting the stage for her twins, one of whom follows in her footsteps and joins the Colonial Marines, the other aligning with the evil Weyland-Yutani Corporation. Eh, it's holding my attention.

Best part is, I learned from the list of Alien books inside that there exists "Aliens: The Official Cookbook" 😆 I assume a horrible version of the Turducken is offered. Darn right I've requested this from the library.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 22, 2025 09:43 AM (kpS4V)

80 I read that report as well. One thing that wasn't said, today's writing is different than Dickens' era. It was denser, and had longer sentences than today's Hemingwayesque writing. Throw in unfamiliar terms for items, then you have to stop and find out what it was before you understand what the allusions are. That can bog you down. Reading dense, long writing puts a strain on your attention span. If you don't know the events or things being referred to, you lose interest.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 09:34 AM (0eaVi)
---
English majors should already be able to navigate Shakespeare. Dickens in his own day was regarded as a pedestrian writer, hence Evelyn Waugh's wicked ending to A Hand of Dust where a foolish upperclass guy is sentenced to read Dickens aloud to a blind man in the Amazon jungle forever.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:43 AM (ZOv7s)

81 @74 --

With some mysteries, I write out my own list of characters and their relationships. And as the killings continue, I strike through those names.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 22, 2025 09:43 AM (p/isN)

82 I just completed reading Thomas Sowell's "Ever Wonder Why - and Other Controversial Essays." The book was originally published in 2006 by, of course, the Hoover Institute. It's a compilation of Sowell's essays published in his syndicated column up to around 20 years ago.

Essay sections are divided as follows: Culture Wars, Economic Issues, Legal Issues, Political Issues, Educational Issues, Racial Issues. The last section is titled Random Thought, with short quotations from Sowell.

The book is an easy read because his columns were addressed to common people. Those people who read them were given a chance to think different than what the mass media was and still does brainwash them with.

Some essays are a bit repetitive but it was still a good libertarian refresher.

Do I personally agree with everything Sowell writes? Maybe not with 5%. But there are differences in time and circumstances which might explain that.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at June 22, 2025 09:43 AM (SLJQR)

83
I am seeking a lead on a copy of "Boom! Boom! Out Go The Lights!" by A. H. Khamenei.

Hard or soft cover (no e-books, please).

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at June 22, 2025 09:44 AM (xG4kz)

84 About Helen McInnes - yes, very popular in the 50s and 60s - my mother had most of her books, and I replaced them when Mom and Dad's retirement place burned in 2003. I'd read most of her WWII-era stuff: Above Suspicion, While Still We Live and Assignment in Brittany. I didn't really get interested in her Cold War era stuff.

As for the bookshelves - I did a similar sliding-shelf system for DVDs in an entertainment unit in my house. Just last month, I bought a rotating bookshelf unit that I saw a demonstrated on Facebook - six feet tall, on a rotating base, and supposed to hold 300 books. It doesn't hold quite that much - but it packed a lot of my own books into a small and compact footprint. In spite of the height, it seems very stable, and even though built of bamboo wood, it's holding up well so far. I will send a pic of it to the Perfessor.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at June 22, 2025 09:45 AM (Ew3fm)

85 Niven & Pournelle made a great team. Pournelle's solo work has usually bored me, for some reason. Niven, never, at least until recent years (he seems to have slipped a gear as he's gotten older).

If you like Mote, their Inferno, a 20th-century rewrite of Dante, is good, as are Footfall (alien invasion), Lucifer's Hammer (end of civilization), and with Steven Barnes, The Legacy of Heorot, a star-colonist story with a terrifying antagonist. You'd think a book with three authors would be a mishmash, but not this one.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 09:45 AM (omVj0)

86 “ the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’

Numbers 6:26

Posted by: Marcus T at June 22, 2025 09:45 AM (XYi+6)

87 I wonder how long it will be before Early Modern English is considered a separate language from contemporary English? We split off Middle English about 400-500 years ago.

My grandchildren may not be able to read Shakespeare.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 22, 2025 09:45 AM (YaHeP)

88 As soon as I read that sentence I knew who was writing this.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:28 AM (ZOv7s)

I am a bit predictable.
I'm going to be flying back to MI soon with my mom for her 60th HS reunion. Not sure right now but I might be staying at my uncles house in Ann Arbor.

Posted by: Reforger at June 22, 2025 09:45 AM (LgDgc)

89 As soon as I read that sentence I knew who was writing this.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:28 AM (ZOv7s)

Me, too! And I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing, Reforger. I'm always impressed with your knowledge and skills, and am so grateful that there are people who know and understand these things.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at June 22, 2025 09:46 AM (h7ZuX)

90 My Father's Day gift was a copy of "The Rules of the Game: Jutland and British Naval Command" by Andrew Gordon.

I need to buckle down and finish the last book I started so I can tackle this one. I've let my phone and/or iPad steal away too much of my time recently.

Posted by: PabloD at June 22, 2025 09:46 AM (Dsfkc)

91 It is a great oversight that Thomas Sowell hasn't received the presidential medal of freedom.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 22, 2025 09:46 AM (Vfq+S)

92
Reading dense, long writing puts a strain on your attention span.

I know, right?

-- committed readers of "graphic novels"

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at June 22, 2025 09:46 AM (xG4kz)

93 Tolle Lege
Not much reading this week in Rick Atkinson's The Day of the Battle, account of the Italian campaign in WWII.

Posted by: Skip at June 22, 2025 09:47 AM (+qU29)

94 Killed at Resaca is still my favorite, about a lieutenant who unnecessarily exposed himself because his bitch fiance sent him a letter advising that another officer had called him a shirker.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at June 22, 2025 09:38 AM (ITkJX)
---
My great-grandfather saved the letters he wrote to his wife during WW I. They met in the spring of 1917, got married fairly quickly and he was drafted and sent to France, making it in time to be in the Argonne.

Afterwards he was in the Army of Occupation and then assigned to Black Jack Pershing's parade unit. Surprisingly to us, morale was at rock bottom, even though they toured Europe. The reason was that in July 1919, word got out that the Army was holding back VD cases from demobilization, so all the guys in the unit started getting "Dear John" letters!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:47 AM (ZOv7s)

95 Mostly did some rereads this week
I did add a new author to my to read pile, Drew Hayes, as I saw a rec for his Fred the Vampire Accountant series

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 22, 2025 09:48 AM (Splbu)

96 Would love to see properly-done films based on Footfall, Lucifer's Hammer, and Legacy of Heorot -- they'd need to be mini-series, because those books would need more than 2-1/2 hours running time. But these days, those series would probably be screwed up. Some day, maybe.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 22, 2025 09:49 AM (q3u5l)

97 "Aliens: The Cookbook"?

I'm guessing the cornbread recipe isn't very good.

Posted by: PabloD at June 22, 2025 09:50 AM (Dsfkc)

98 I am a bit predictable.
I'm going to be flying back to MI soon with my mom for her 60th HS reunion. Not sure right now but I might be staying at my uncles house in Ann Arbor.
Posted by: Reforger at June 22, 2025 09:45 AM (LgDgc)
---
I'm sure that when people see a text wall they know it is me.

Ann Arbor, eh? Small world. There's a gun shop and restaurant in New Hudson (Huron Valley Guns) if you want a side quest. Nice indoor range. I could bring a few things.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:51 AM (ZOv7s)

99 Listening to book 13 of The Wheel of Time: Towers of Midnight. I've got about 8 1/2 hours to go...

Posted by: lin-duh at June 22, 2025 09:51 AM (VCgbV)

100 The poor souls who couldn't handle seven paragraphs of Bleak House should demand a refund of whatever their parents paid in taxes to cover their K-12. They started college without being even close to prepared for it.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 22, 2025 09:41 AM (q3u5l)

I basically thought that's what I was saying. Kids today aren't taught that type of writing anymore. The reading list has gone from classics to DEI. How would you expect things to turn out?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 09:52 AM (0eaVi)

101 Reforger,

OT but PnP machines are a bitch.

Posted by: pawn, one of many at June 22, 2025 09:52 AM (W23tn)

102 I thought I had read most translations of Homer but I found one new to me: George Chapman's Homer. Chapman wrote during Shakespeare's time, late Elizabethan to early 1600s, and his writing reflects that. Careful meter and rhyme, erudite allusions, elevated word choice, and clever, emotional resonance that slowly becomes apparent as you continue to read. His use of meter enhances the idea of Homer being read as a chant more than just flat prose.

My favorite translation has been Fagles' for its power and modern access. But Chapman's evokes, for me, echoes of aeolian flutes and lyres playing behind the words. The elevated tone seems appropriate for Homer and his importance to Western literature. It's not a replacement for Fagles but adds layers of richness.

It was Chapman's versions that inspired John Keats' poem that begins with:
"Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;"

Pretty high praise.

Posted by: JTB at June 22, 2025 09:52 AM (yTvNw)

103 Still reading "Demon in White," by Christopher Ruocchio, which is the 3rd book in his 7 book "SunEater" series.

Last week there was much discussion of the Civil War battle of Franklin, and I mentioned a great fictionalized version of the story of that battle by Howard Bahr called "The Black Flower," which I recommend very highly.

Now I've discovered that Bahr wrote three novels related to the battle of Franklin, the second being "The Year of Jubilo" and the third "The Judas Field," so I downloaded both and will read them this week.

Glad you are enjoying Peter F Hamilton, Perfessor Squirrel.

Posted by: Sharkman at June 22, 2025 09:52 AM (/RHNq)

104 I also have a Lincoln Child novel, The Third Gate, in my TBR pile; and All Our Yesterdays, a family saga from Robert B. Parker, which I read years ago. Parker was always good at telling a pure story; he didn't only stick with crime/detective or Westerns. He even wrote a young adult novel, Young Spenser, featuring the teen years in Wyoming of his Boston private eye. It contains a lot of bio information, linking up with hints Spenser dropped over the years in his book series, and is well done.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 09:52 AM (omVj0)

105
The reason was that in July 1919, word got out that the Army was holding back VD cases from demobilization...

Have you any idea why this was considered (if not done)?

It sounds like something that that moralistic prig, Woodrow Wilson, would do for one or more specious reasons.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at June 22, 2025 09:52 AM (xG4kz)

106 Me, too! And I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing, Reforger. I'm always impressed with your knowledge and skills, and am so grateful that there are people who know and understand these things.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at June 22, 2025 09:46 AM (h7ZuX)
---
The book thread in particular is where the "authorial voice" is more noticeable.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:53 AM (ZOv7s)

107 “ the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’

Numbers 6:26

Posted by: Marcus T at June 22, 2025 09:45 AM (XYi+6)
-

From the Priestly Blessing, which here in Israel we receive from Aaron's descendants during every morning prayer service.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at June 22, 2025 09:53 AM (SLJQR)

108 Have you any idea why this was considered (if not done)?

It sounds like something that that moralistic prig, Woodrow Wilson, would do for one or more specious reasons.
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at June 22, 2025 09:52 AM (xG4kz)
---
At the time, treatment was difficult, painful (and potentially lethal), so the idea was to protect the civilian population from an outbreak.

Remember, this was when the Navy banned alcohol, so there were plenty of woke flag officers.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:55 AM (ZOv7s)

109 It is a great oversight that Thomas Sowell hasn't received the presidential medal of freedom.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 22, 2025 09:46 AM (Vfq+S)
-

Let's wait and see. The medal's reputation will now be restored.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at June 22, 2025 09:55 AM (SLJQR)

110 I am recalling some of the books we had as required reading in school.

A Separate Peace
The Bridge Over San Luis Rey
A Tale of Two Cities
MacBeth
Atlas Shrugged
Fahrenheit 451
Animal Farm

I can only imagine what is being foisted upon students now.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 22, 2025 09:55 AM (Vfq+S)

111 Would love to see properly-done films based on Footfall, Lucifer's Hammer, and Legacy of Heorot -- they'd need to be mini-series, because those books would need more than 2-1/2 hours running time. But these days, those series would probably be screwed up. Some day, maybe.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 22, 2025

***
Heorot could be done as a 2.5 hour film. Footfall and Hammer, no, you'd need three to five episodes each.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 09:56 AM (omVj0)

112 Outies was written by Jerry's daughter, Jennifer Pournelle. It was written well before Jerry passed away.

Posted by: Hecataeus Of Miletus at June 22, 2025 09:56 AM (KaHlS)

113 Those bookshelves sound like prime material for another Crafting Thread.

Posted by: Another Anon at June 22, 2025 09:56 AM (4h45B)

114 I compiled a Dramatis Personae of people involved in China affairs between ~1900-1949 because the spelling of names and locations vary between Wade-Giles and pinyin. Confusing!

https://archive.org/details/list-of-characters-china

Posted by: 13times at June 22, 2025 09:57 AM (Puvdf)

115 Wolfus, just bug the pubs. They've shown interest twice. Might was well follow through until they say they'll pass after all. Self pub has a dollar cost that the pubs eat.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 09:57 AM (0eaVi)

116 Persons Dramatae are done rather well by Pournelle and Niven in Lucifer’s Hammer. James Wesley Wesley, Rawles in his Survivor series’ too. When you have a bunch of characters milling around it’s nice to know who they are.

Posted by: Eromero at June 22, 2025 09:57 AM (jgmnb)

117 It's been a long time since I looked at a high school literature textbook, a good 20 years at least. But even then it was far heavier on contemporary work than the ones I recalled from my own high school days. The ones I had in high school included some Dickens, Twain, Shakespeare, Hawthorne, and Henry James. And some of that struck me as a real slog at the time. But it was assigned and it was assumed that we could and would do the work.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 22, 2025 09:58 AM (q3u5l)

118 I can only imagine what is being foisted upon students now.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 22, 2025 09:55 AM (Vfq+S)
---
My freshman year in college The Education of Little Tree was all the rage and then of course it was written by a white supremacist. Oopsie!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:58 AM (ZOv7s)

119 97 "Aliens: The Cookbook"?

I'm guessing the cornbread recipe isn't very good.
Posted by: PabloD at June 22, 2025 09:50 AM (Dsfkc)
---

Ha!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 22, 2025 09:58 AM (kpS4V)

120 Lucifer's Hammer would make a perfect mini-series with it's episodic timing.

Posted by: pawn, one of many at June 22, 2025 09:59 AM (W23tn)

121 The book thread in particular is where the "authorial voice" is more noticeable.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:53 AM (ZOv7s)

I couldn't point out exactly what it was, but I could always tell Captain Hate's posts before I saw his nic, too.

I hope they're having a book club in heaven.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at June 22, 2025 09:59 AM (h7ZuX)

122 My dad had the Pogo Peek a Book and I read it as a kid. I remember a disturbing image of Sen. Joe McCarthy as Lewis Carroll's Cheshire Cat, in that or another Pogo book.

Posted by: A former assistant greenskeeper...about to become...the Master's champion at June 22, 2025 09:59 AM (tRYqg)

123 The reason was that in July 1919, word got out that the Army was holding back VD cases from demobilization...

Have you any idea why this was considered (if not done)?

It sounds like something that that moralistic prig, Woodrow Wilson, would do for one or more specious reasons.
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at June 22, 2025 09:52 AM (xG4kz)

Wilson, eh? It couldn't have been the soldiers' complexion, could it?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 10:00 AM (0eaVi)

124 One problem with seeking out new authors is that you sometimes get slapped in the face with new-author mistakes. I was reading a steampunk anthology by Raconteur Press when I encountered the worst info-dump I've ever seen. One character started explaining a city to another character, and it was the most stilted, unnatural dialogue imaginable. I read a few sentences, rolled my eyes, and then hit the next-page button. (I was reading on a kindle) The entire next page was a single wall of text! One continuous, unbroken paragraph, continued from the previous page, and continuing onto the next. I didn't read a word of it, I just laughed. The explanation didn't end until halfway through page 3. Had it started at the right point, it would have covered 2 entire pages. Stunning.

The crazy part is that the author was otherwise good at sprinkling bits of world-building into conversations, and then dropping a 2-sentence explanation of some new reference. But in this one scene, the author just lost control. He had developed his backstory, and darnit he was going to tell it to us! All for his tiny little one-shot short story...

Posted by: Castle Guy at June 22, 2025 10:00 AM (Lhaco)

125 122 I forgot to change my nic from another thread.

Posted by: Norrin Radd at June 22, 2025 10:00 AM (tRYqg)

126 good morning Perfessor, Horde

Posted by: callsign claymore at June 22, 2025 10:01 AM (S+xxD)

127 The pictured shelves are neat! But I'd probably overload the front doors and weigh them down to the point where they would be hard to slide...

Posted by: Castle Guy at June 22, 2025 10:01 AM (Lhaco)

128 “One continuous, unbroken paragraph, continued from the previous page, and continuing onto the next.”

Maybe it sounded better in the original German.

Posted by: Tom Servo at June 22, 2025 10:02 AM (EVFZ5)

129 so grateful that there are people who know and understand these things.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at June 22, 2025 09:46 AM (h7ZuX)

Me too. I call them a lot.

I get the "You seem to know things. Go fix that." A lot.
My response usually being "okay. What is it and where are the manuals."
Told my new boss Friday that half of mechanican is networking because nobody knows all this shit but probably knows somebody who knows somebody who does.

Posted by: Reforger at June 22, 2025 10:03 AM (LgDgc)

130 Just finished William Alan Webb's latest offering in his Last Brigade series ( Book 8 "Standing Awash in Tears" )

It's a continuation of the series, if you liked the others, you'll like this one. He does introduce the Big Bad Guy in this one ( think of a certain Hungarian oligarch ) , but there is no resolution, and he has already announced a Book 9, to be published next year.

This one had the same shortcomings as his previous books, i.e, TOO MANY STINKING TYPOS, GEEZ BILL GET A COPY EDITOR!!!!.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at June 22, 2025 10:03 AM (PiwSw)

131 I also have a Lincoln Child novel, The Third Gate, in my TBR pile;

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius

The Third Gate is a good story, a little reminiscent of The Ice Limit that he wrote with Douglas Preston, in terms of a wealthy man who could spend large sums to buy the best technology and people to try and acquire something that is supposed to be out of reach. It captures your imagination.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 22, 2025 10:03 AM (Vfq+S)

132 “One continuous, unbroken paragraph, continued from the previous page, and continuing onto the next.”

Maybe it sounded better in the original German.
Posted by: Tom Servo at June 22, 2025 10:02 AM (EVFZ5)
---
This is why I'm not looking a much new work (reference books excluded). There are tons of great authors that I have yet to read, so why take a chance on some woke retard when I have five Graham Greene books plus more St. Augustine waiting to be rerad?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 10:03 AM (ZOv7s)

133 The crazy part is that the author was otherwise good at sprinkling bits of world-building into conversations, and then dropping a 2-sentence explanation of some new reference. But in this one scene, the author just lost control. He had developed his backstory, and darnit he was going to tell it to us! All for his tiny little one-shot short story...
Posted by: Castle Guy at June 22, 2025 10:00 AM (Lhaco)

Don't look at me. They've never accepted any of my work. I durn shore wouldn't do something like a two page info-dump.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 10:04 AM (0eaVi)

134
I read, probably what is PKD's best novel, "The Three Stigmata of Eldritch Palmer" last week.

What a fun read! It's a wild amalgam of PKD's big themes -what is reality, what does it mean to be human, love, life, what is God, all neatly wrapped up into an oddball mystery/thriller type construct that proceeds logically(within it's world to the end).

The story concerns a competition between two drugs. One, Can-D allows people to live an alternate life for a short time. It's used by pioneers on Mars and elsewhere to relieve the boredom and smallness of their lives. The other drug, Chew-Z, allows you to "create your own world" for a short time, and was brought back from another planet by billionaire, Eldritch Palmer but seems to have side-effects.

One thing that PKD does that I love, and that I totally agree with as a writer, is that he wraps his ideas into the story. That is the philosophizing is wrapped into the action, characters, and story and never stated directly to the reader as a message as a lesser writer might do. To read the story is to see the ideas at play in "reality".

Definitely check it out.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 22, 2025 10:05 AM (iJfKG)

135 I forgot to change my nic from another thread.
Posted by: Norrin Radd at June 22, 2025 10:00 AM (tRYqg)

How's the book coming?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 10:05 AM (0eaVi)

136 I've been reading an increasing amount of poetry lately, everything from classics to Chesterton, Tolkien, Robert Service, Kipling, and Poe. But some modern poets sneak in as I follow various rabbit holes, Malcolm Guite, Wendell Berry, and now Luci Shaw and Mary Oliver. One thing that has struck me is that they all have a Christian resonance even when it isn't explicit. More on the order of finding wonder and inspiration through God's creation and our place in it. It's often subtle, sometimes obscure, but that aspects adds depths to the poetry that plays with the reader.

Posted by: JTB at June 22, 2025 10:07 AM (yTvNw)

137 @124 --

Phil Foglio's comic TPB "Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire" began with two or three pages of illustrated text backstory about New Hong Kong, the planet where Buck lives. (Short version: NHK has no laws.) None of it had any bearing on the stories themselves.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 22, 2025 10:08 AM (p/isN)

138
I am recalling some of the books we had as required reading in school.

~~The Bridge Over San Luis Rey~~
~~Atlas Shrugged~~
~~Fahrenheit 451~~
A Separate Peace
A Tale of Two Cities
MacBeth
The Illustrated Man
Julius Caesar
Great Expectations
Pere Goriot
Job (KJV)
The Admirable Crichton
Lord of the Flies
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Pearl
Crime and Punishment
Oliver Twist
Cry, the Beloved Country
Animal Farm

I read practically everything written by Samuel L. Clemens for a semester-long term paper that was required of us for sophomore English class (my topic was that he was a social historian through things of which he wrote in nearly all his works).

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at June 22, 2025 10:09 AM (xG4kz)

139 I went back to an old standard for comic book reading: "Conan the Barbarian Omnibus 9" featuring issues 214-240, from 1989-91. It was...disappointing. Not bad, because it didn't have any story elements that were actively bad, like so many other stories today. But it also lacked anything that was actively good. It was just bland. Most of the stories reduced Conan to the most generic tropes of sword and sorcery: a guy with a sword wanders the wilderness between ancient cities, encounters something bad and wrecks it, and then moves on, unchanged by the experience. It's a perfectly serviceable story structure, that I have often enjoyed. I just expect more from Conan the Barbarian. But at least the art was good!

I place the blame on the comic running too long. By that point, it was probably just published because they had been publishing it for the past 20 years. For everyone at the office, it was just another job. No one working on the comic seemed to understand what makes Conan special. Kinda sad. But at least Omnibus 10 (the final one of the series) features the return of Roy Thomas, the guy who first wrote Conan into comic books. He should do the character justice.

Posted by: Castle Guy at June 22, 2025 10:09 AM (Lhaco)

140 Those shelves are really nice, 3 sets deep planning for content & visual appear. Even the 'concealed' ones are easily accessible.

I did some work at a big pharma company that had a room of high density store shelves. Similar concept except entire walls could move. About 80% of the area could store files or books. No one would ever want to see this in a public space or non storage area.

Posted by: Hecataeus Of Miletus at June 22, 2025 10:10 AM (KaHlS)

141 Morning all! Hope everyone had a wonderful summer solstice.

My local library has kicked off their Summer Reading Challenge: 2000 minutes from June 2 until August 2. Should be doable, just have to find the book I can’t put down.

Posted by: March Hare at June 22, 2025 10:10 AM (X4jy3)

142 Put simply, the movie doesn't make sense without it. You can enjoy its absence because you can fill in the gaps. A first-time viewer would be utterly lost.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:40 AM (ZOv7s)

Good point; I always enjoyed Kubrick’s “2001” because I knew Clarke’s story well before I saw it; so I had no problem with all the weirdness towards the end.
Btw, the last bit of Farscape did the best homage to 2001 I’ve ever seen.

Posted by: Tom Servo at June 22, 2025 10:11 AM (EVFZ5)

143
Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth.

- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at June 22, 2025 10:13 AM (xG4kz)

144 Twain's essay "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses" is still one of the most hilarious hatchet jobs in all of literature.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 22, 2025 10:15 AM (q3u5l)

145 "I didn't steal Alien from anybody. I stole it from everybody!" --- Dan O'Bannon

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 22, 2025 10:15 AM (kpS4V)

146 13 "The Future Was Now: Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982" by Chris Nashawaty is about the year that gave us E.T., Tron, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kan, Conan the Barbarian, Blade Runner, Poltergeist, The Thing, and The Road Warrior.

I saw every one of these masterpieces. Remember going to the movies almost every week? I do.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 22, 2025 09:07 AM (kpS

And by contrast, most internet commentators are expecting to struggle to see even one good sci-fi/genre movie this year! How the mighty have fallen...

Posted by: Castle Guy at June 22, 2025 10:16 AM (Lhaco)

147 My local library has kicked off their Summer Reading Challenge: 2000 minutes from June 2 until August 2. Should be doable, just have to find the book I can’t put down.

Posted by: March Hare

You could achieve that with one book, the hardback annotated War and Peace. Oh, wait. That is a book you can't pick up.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 22, 2025 10:16 AM (Vfq+S)

148 Good Morning and thank you, Perfessor, for the Book Thread.

I attempted to read Dorchester Girl by Judith Kirwan Kelly, a memoir about growing up in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood in the 50’s and 60’s. Although the book is sprinkled with interesting historical tidbits, the rest of the stories were rather tiresome and I found the self-righteous tone mildly irritating. When I got to the part where the author made sure we knew that she and her husband are LGBT allies, I gave up.

Instead, I picked up Geraldine Brook’s People of the Book. It has lots of twists and turns. So far, I’m enjoying it.

Posted by: KatieFloyd at June 22, 2025 10:17 AM (UDpcu)

149 I don't post enough to sock.
Off Hecataeus off

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at June 22, 2025 10:18 AM (KaHlS)

150
You could achieve that with one book, the hardback annotated War and Peace. Oh, wait. That is a book you can't pick up.
Posted by: Thomas Paine

That is particularly true in its original Sumerian.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at June 22, 2025 10:18 AM (xG4kz)

151 My local library has kicked off their Summer Reading Challenge: 2000 minutes from June 2 until August 2. Should be doable, just have to find the book I can’t put down.
Posted by: March Hare at June 22, 2025 10:10 AM (X4jy3)

Fun DIY Projects using SuperGlue?

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at June 22, 2025 10:18 AM (PiwSw)

152 If you've seen It! The Terror from Beyond Space, you've got a pretty good idea of Alien. Alien had a much bigger budget and much better effects, but still. Wonder if Jerome Bixby saw any $$$ when Alien came out.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 22, 2025 10:18 AM (q3u5l)

153 Ann Arbor, eh? Small world. There's a gun shop and restaurant in New Hudson (Huron Valley Guns) if you want a side quest. Nice indoor range. I could bring a few things.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:51 AM (ZOv7s)

Sounds like the beginning of a plan.

Posted by: Reforger at June 22, 2025 10:19 AM (LgDgc)

154 The Wrath of Khan was a redemption because I made my buddies see the first movie, and they,...did not like it. No one liked it. It made Star Trek suck.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 22, 2025 10:21 AM (RIvkX)

155 Reading comprehension study.
This is also my experience as well at the University where I don't work anymore except for when I need bier money. I usually teach 300 level business classes.
Ugh!
If it isn't in a vid, they don't get it.

Posted by: Diogenes at June 22, 2025 10:22 AM (W/lyH)

156
As someone who lived in Michigan for two decades by in the day, there are two things I can state without shame.

I have never visited the University of Michigan, nor have I ever visited downtown Detroit.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at June 22, 2025 10:22 AM (xG4kz)

157 The Wrath of Khan was a redemption because I made my buddies see the first movie, and they,...did not like it. No one liked it. It made Star Trek suck.

Posted by: San Franpsycho

I have to point out that the best Star Trek movie ever made was Galaxy Quest.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 22, 2025 10:23 AM (Vfq+S)

158
"... back in the day ..."

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at June 22, 2025 10:23 AM (xG4kz)

159 If you've seen It! The Terror from Beyond Space, you've got a pretty good idea of Alien. Alien had a much bigger budget and much better effects, but still. Wonder if Jerome Bixby saw any $$$ when Alien came out.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 22, 2025 10:18 AM (q3u5l)

Well, that and "Planet of the Vampires". It seems like Bannon stole scenes pretty much directly from that Italian Sci-Fi flick.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 22, 2025 10:24 AM (iJfKG)

160
Well the garden beds' plaintive cries to "Weed us!" have overpowered the sound of the air conditioning, so it's off to the killing fields for me.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at June 22, 2025 10:25 AM (xG4kz)

161 Liked Stranger in a Strange Land but I thought it was overrated. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and the other Lazarus Long stories by Heinlein I really liked. The Hamilton books are excellent but very long

Posted by: Smell the Glove at June 22, 2025 10:26 AM (IG2sK)

162 I haven't re-read Stranger by Heinlein since I was in my twenties. It's was readable, as Heinlein usually is, but I wasn't overwhelmed. I wonder what I'd think of it now.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 10:27 AM (omVj0)

163 Finished "Goodbye Dr. Banda" this week and highly recommend it. He describes Malawi without going the noble savage, route or the colonial oppressor route and instead gives what seems to be a clear-eyed view of the country.

Posted by: who knew at June 22, 2025 10:27 AM (+ViXu)

164 Heinlein Juveniles are best Heinlein.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at June 22, 2025 10:27 AM (PiwSw)

165
Ann Arbor, eh? Small world. There's a gun shop and restaurant in New Hudson (Huron Valley Guns) if you want a side quest. Nice indoor range. I could bring a few things.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 22, 2025 09:51 AM

Sounds like the beginning of a plan.

Posted by: Reforger at June 22, 2025 10:19 AM

it would not be the first time there was a mini-MoMe at Huron Valley Guns...

HVG is proximate to the New Hudson Inn what makes a really good bar-burger

Posted by: AltonJackson at June 22, 2025 10:28 AM (tljrc)

166 This makes me want to read Bleak House, one of the few Dickens novels I never tried.

One trick, apparently forgotten by most English majors at Midwestern universities, is to read Dickens aloud. It helps.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo at June 22, 2025 10:29 AM (xcxpd)

167 Almost forgot -- my book find for the last couple of weeks. Subterranean Press collection of Silverberg's work, Phases of the Moon: Stories of Six Decades, signed by Silverberg, for a steal of a price at $30 after shipping. Did I grab it even though I'm not trying to add much in the way of physical books to the shelves now? Oh, hell, yeah.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 22, 2025 10:29 AM (q3u5l)

168 A general observation. I enjoy collections of correspondence from writers I admire, especially if the letters are between two specific authors. Besides the usual collections from CS Lewis (very entertaining) and Tolkien, I have books with correspondence between EB White and Edmund Ware Smith, Rudyard Kipling to Rider Haggard, and Robert Howard and Lovecraft. As I already admire their writing, the correspondence can be revealing, adding to my enjoyment of the books. The tone may include being chatty, go into matters of deep philosophy, discuss ongoing projects, and often involves a level of humor you wouldn't expect. (Some of the letters between White and Ware are hilarious.)

Given the lack of physical correspondence these ephemeral digital days, I doubt there will be fewer such collections. That's sad and a loss.

Posted by: JTB at June 22, 2025 10:29 AM (yTvNw)

169 158
"... back in the day ..."
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at June 22, 2025 10:23 AM (xG4kz)

I work with a bunch of kids that I tell "back in the day" stories to. I usually end them with something like "and that how we did things in the 80's" as I skip to the end and insist I forgot what really happened in between because "if you remember the 80's you weren't really there".

Posted by: Reforger at June 22, 2025 10:29 AM (LgDgc)

170 My local library has kicked off their Summer Reading Challenge: 2000 minutes from June 2 until August 2. Should be doable, just have to find the book I can’t put down.
Posted by: March Hare at June 22, 2025 10:10 AM (X4jy3)

Ha! I thought it said 200 minutes. That wouldn't be much of a challenge.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 10:30 AM (0eaVi)

171 38 Greatly amused to see you feature the Pogo Peek a Book - my dad left behind a collection of those from the 50’s. Funny, and some amazingly sharp political satire right in the heart of the Cold War. Too bad he’s mostly forgotten now.
Posted by: Tom Servo at June 22, 2025 09:18 AM (EVFZ5)

I only heard of Pogo when he was referenced by Bill Waterson as a major inspiration for Calvin and Hobbes.

On the other hand, just imagine how he would be being bastardized if he was remembered. Character changes, reboots designed specifically to undermine everything that made the original character enduring...Some properties are better left alone.

Posted by: Castle Guy at June 22, 2025 10:30 AM (Lhaco)

172 The Wrath of Khan was a redemption because I made my buddies see the first movie, and they,...did not like it. No one liked it. It made Star Trek suck.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 22, 2025 10:21 AM (RIvkX)

It was The Menagerie, writ large. Too cerebral, as the network people might say. Not enough action.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 10:31 AM (0eaVi)

173 But I did read a new book this week.
Trailer Park Elves.
Arch (on youtube) reviewed it and it tickled me. And the elf on the cover is hawt.

It's LitRPG genre, which I'm not a fan of....though I do play RPGs. But it's pretty good, it's not concerned with epic quests or Dark Lords, it's a normie tech worker from Texas who gets zapped into...a trailer park, where he has to work as the manager. It has the trappings of a quest system, including leveling up. And most of the book is just getting errands done and fixing broken stuff.

The fixing stuff what appeals to me. (all right, and the hawt elves)

I would put it more accurately in the genre of 'man fixes stuff and gets pussy'. It takes a while for the sex to start but once it does, the book (and series) takes a turn towards porn. But if that doesn't scare you off, it's fun. Dunno if I'll bother reading the whole series or not, but the first book was worth the money.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo at June 22, 2025 10:33 AM (xcxpd)

174 On that happy note, it's off for an afternoon of overeating and annoying assorted in-laws. Will come back this evening to read over all the nifty comments I'll miss in real time.

Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.

Have a good one, gang.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 22, 2025 10:33 AM (q3u5l)

175 Well the garden beds' plaintive cries to "Weed us!" have overpowered the sound of the air conditioning, so it's off to the killing fields for me.
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) Imprison! Imprison! Imprison! at June 22, 2025 10:25 AM (xG4kz)

Have fun. I just pulled out all my tomato plants a few minutes ago. Brown leaf everywhere.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 10:33 AM (0eaVi)

176 Heinlein Juveniles are best Heinlein.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at June 22, 2025

***
I'll agree, if you count Door Into Summer as a juvenile, and leave Podkayne of Mars off the list. It's hard to beat Have Space Suit -- Will Travel by any metric, though.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 10:34 AM (omVj0)

177 The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is very relevant today because of the possible rise of AI. Great story that also deals with how human societies might adapt to strange conditions. Another book along those lines is Voyage from Yesteryear, by James Hogan.

Posted by: MichiCanuck at June 22, 2025 10:35 AM (kCBPn)

178 You may be familiar with Sherri Papini, the California Gone Girl who faked her own kidnapping in order to be with her former boyfriend. She was convicted of providing false information to law enforcement and spent a short time in prison. Well, it's just a shame to commit big publicity crimes without a paycheck so, ca-ching!, she’s written a book in which she may have lied a little but the real bad guys are her husband, her boyfriend, the police, and, well, everybody else. Sherri Papini Doesn't Exist: The Lie That Defined Me, the Media That Destroyed Me, and the Truth That No One Heard

https://is.gd/OTA11K

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Master of the Mundane at June 22, 2025 10:36 AM (L/fGl)

179 Decided to reread the Empire of Ashes trilogy (aka Dahak trilogy) by David Weber for the umpteenzillionth time. The first 2 books are excellent but the third book isn't, mainly due to the very contrived "primary" plot. The "secondary" plot was good and obviously served as the inspiration (along with other books from the genre) for his Off Armageddon Reef series. I understand the primary plot's main purpose was to put the secondary plot in motion and then the author had to tie up the primary plot, but the entire thing was just...ugh.

Posted by: Farquad at June 22, 2025 10:37 AM (YkGND)

180 Probably the weirdest book story I have is that I came upon a book of strange mystery stories as a child. One of the stories was about a man who kidnapped a group of school children, and held them for ransom in a school bus that he had buried on his property to avoid their discovery.

A few years later, the Chowchilla kidnapping took place, and it was the biggest deja vu of my life.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 22, 2025 10:37 AM (Vfq+S)

181 "I would put it more accurately in the genre of 'man fixes stuff and gets pussy'."

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo at June 22, 2025 10:33 AM (xcxpd)

So.. fantasy. Because I do the fixing thing but...

Posted by: Reforger at June 22, 2025 10:38 AM (LgDgc)

182 I've probably mentioned this before, but an excellent edition of Bleak House is the Everyman's Library edition. Well-made hardback book, sewn bindings, attached silk bookmark, acid-free paper, good typography, and what I appreciate most, a list of all the characters appearing in the book with a short description.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at June 22, 2025 10:40 AM (PiwSw)

183 When did Barry Smith, early Conan artist, add Windsor to his last name.
Got a couple of the original comics in basement somewhere and he is just Barry Smith.

Posted by: From about That Time at June 22, 2025 10:41 AM (n4GiU)

184 The idea that English majors lack reading skills doesn't surprise me and isn't recent. I was an English major in the early 70s and had a chance to talk with some English majors visiting from Harvard. For all Harvard's reputation, the depths of their exposure and comprehension was shallow, shockingly so. Chaucer, even Shakespeare, Coleridge, and Tennyson were barely tapped. Forget Old and Middle English. But they knew about Sylvia Plath and other such crap.

Like the rest of the country, I grew up with the assumption that an Ivy League school was the pinnacle of education, especially for the humanities. Boy was that wrong. My opinion of them has only declined since then.

Posted by: JTB at June 22, 2025 10:42 AM (yTvNw)

185 The Mote In God's Eye was the first science fiction novel I ever read, and it jump-started my life-long love of the genre.

Posted by: Sharkman at June 22, 2025 10:43 AM (/RHNq)

186 Citizen of the Galaxy remains my favorite Heinlein.
I'll third or fourth that his Juveniles are his best.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at June 22, 2025 10:43 AM (KaHlS)

187 181 "I would put it more accurately in the genre of 'man fixes stuff and gets pussy'."

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo at June 22, 2025 10:33 AM (xcxpd)

So.. fantasy. Because I do the fixing thing but...
Posted by: Reforger at June 22, 2025 10:38 AM (LgDgc)

Yes, pure escapism

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo at June 22, 2025 10:45 AM (xcxpd)

188 I always enjoyed Kubrick’s “2001”

-
Why HAL went crazy. 9 minute YT.

https://is.gd/PVoj6M

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Master of the Mundane at June 22, 2025 10:47 AM (L/fGl)

189 there was an old colombo episode with Jack Cassidy, who plays the co writer of a mystery series,who kills his partner,
it turns out his plan was fool proof, except the notion had given to his partner, five years before, it was a spielberg directed episode,

Posted by: miguel cervantes at June 22, 2025 10:48 AM (bXbFr)

190 Gonna head out for a walk before the mercury hits Surface of Mercury.

Thanks for the Book Thread, Perf!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 22, 2025 10:48 AM (kpS4V)

191 Almost but not quite too late for the book thread?

🎵Sickness will surely take the mind
Where minds don't usually go… -Who

My dreams lately have been strong and complex, but there's never anything to pull out of them. I wake up thinking, that would be an interesting story, but when I remember it, it's just confusing and random, no plot or story, really, just meandering characters.

I did have one funny dream the other night. I was standing watching the front doors of a building and people were coming out. A fellow came out and turned left, and I began to imagine his story, then a woman came out and turned right and I began to think of her story, then a couple walked out… and so on. They were just coming out too fast and frequently for my mind to come up with their stories.

But I bet they would have been interesting.

Posted by: mindful webworker - dreamy daze at June 22, 2025 10:48 AM (63lGh)

192 Dickens' prose would be unfamiliar to modern ears to be sure, but its meaning should be easily discernable to any proficient reader, especially an English major. I fear for the future of the race...as Aunt Agatha would say.

Posted by: Angzarr the Cromulent at June 22, 2025 10:49 AM (XMwZJ)

193 Growing up read most all of Arthur C Clarke's books I could get my hands on. For 'new' books Niven & Pournelle, and Tom Clancy occupied a good decade where anything published was an automatic buy & read.

No recent fiction author is on my automatic list.
I do have some non-fiction authors in this category though.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at June 22, 2025 10:51 AM (KaHlS)

194 I've been reading/listening-to P.G. Wodehouse books. That guy cracks me up...

Posted by: Angzarr the Cromulent at June 22, 2025 10:51 AM (XMwZJ)

195 there was an old colombo episode with Jack Cassidy, who plays the co writer of a mystery series,who kills his partner,
it turns out his plan was fool proof, except the notion had given to his partner, five years before, it was a spielberg directed episode,
Posted by: miguel cervantes at June 22, 2025

***
The first episode of the series when it was part of the NBC Mystery Movie. It's been said that Steven Bochco had the Ellery Queen cousins in mind when he penned it. They worked together for more than forty years, and argued continually over that time.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 10:53 AM (omVj0)

196 Niven and Pournelle also collaborated on "Lucifer’s Hammer," which a lot of us here are aware of and have read. Most don't know they also wrote a modern version of Dante's Inferno, which they called "Inferno," naturally. It's a very fun and creative rewriting, with a recently deceased science fiction writer trying to navigate Hell with the assistance of another shade.

Posted by: Sharkman at June 22, 2025 10:54 AM (/RHNq)

197 One of the stories was about a man who kidnapped a group of school children, and held them for ransom in a school bus that he had buried on his property to avoid their discovery.

A few years later, the Chowchilla kidnapping took place, and it was the biggest deja vu of my life.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 22, 2025 10:37 AM (Vfq+S)

Wow...creepy.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at June 22, 2025 10:54 AM (h7ZuX)

198 I had a friend present me with a book on Thomas Paine. "Thomas Paine, Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations" by Craig Nelson.

My friend currently lives in England. Many years ago when I lived, and worked, in London he brought me to a place called "South Place Ethical Society". It had been a Unitary church but became freethought organization, replacing the Crucifix with a bust of Thomas Paine.

We were reminiscing on the phone a couple of months ago and the subject came up. He surprised with the gift. Good friend.

Posted by: javems at June 22, 2025 10:59 AM (8I4hW)

199 Niven and Pournelle also collaborated on "Lucifer’s Hammer," which a lot of us here are aware of and have read. Most don't know they also wrote a modern version of Dante's Inferno, which they called "Inferno," naturally. It's a very fun and creative rewriting, with a recently deceased science fiction writer trying to navigate Hell with the assistance of another shade.
Posted by: Sharkman at June 22, 2025

***
Niven tells the story that, once they got into the writing of the text on Inferno, they hustled it along in record time. Not because they were hacks -- but because the environment was so unpleasant. They wanted OUT!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 11:00 AM (omVj0)

200 thanks the first time I had seen it. I've seen plenty of episodes with Patrick McGoohan, his stock villain,

Posted by: miguel cervantes at June 22, 2025 11:00 AM (bXbFr)

201 thanks the first time I had seen it. I've seen plenty of episodes with Patrick McGoohan, his stock villain,
Posted by: miguel cervantes at June 22, 2025

***
Both Cassidy and Robert Culp appeared multiple times as murderers on Columbo too.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 11:02 AM (omVj0)

202 My personal favs of the Arthurian Legends were written by Mary Stewart. The Hollow Hills, The Crystal Cave, etc.

Posted by: Diogenes at June 22, 2025 11:06 AM (W/lyH)

203 Enjoying James Scott's "Black Snow", about the B-29 campaign against Japan in 1945. Some of it familiar ground, but a lot new to me on the key personalities involved. Curtis LeMay emerges as another of those WWII leaders who seemed made for their role.

Posted by: rhomboid at June 22, 2025 11:06 AM (1m82a)

204 Welp. Dog food isn't going to cook itself.

Have a lovely Sunday, horde, maybe see you at dinnertime.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at June 22, 2025 11:06 AM (h7ZuX)

205 In the later years of Columbo, McGoohan became a co/producer of the show along with Peter Falk. The two of them became great friends.

Posted by: Tom Servo at June 22, 2025 11:08 AM (EVFZ5)

206 I'm reading air compressor manuals.

-
I laughed. I cried.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Master of the Mundane at June 22, 2025 11:09 AM (L/fGl)

207 196 Niven and Pournelle also collaborated on "Lucifer’s Hammer," which a lot of us here are aware of and have read. Most don't know they also wrote a modern version of Dante's Inferno, which they called "Inferno," naturally. It's a very fun and creative rewriting, with a recently deceased science fiction writer trying to navigate Hell with the assistance of another shade.
Posted by: Sharkman at June 22, 2025 10:54 AM (/RHNq)
It’s a quick read too, because you’ ve already read it .

Posted by: Eromero at June 22, 2025 11:12 AM (jgmnb)

208 Off the top of my head, I can only think of Larry Bond's "Vortex" when it comes to novels with a dramatis personae.

That novel is bloody awesome. The RSA goes full tilt in this one. A moderate government (such as de Klerk's) gets blown up, quite literally, on a train. A new government takes over which amps up apartheid policies to 11 and 12. The RSA's new government also begins picking fights with neighbors, specifically invading Namibia. It goes well...until Cuba intervenes. Then the United States enters the conflict. That's just the 30,000 ft view; there are a lot more intricacies to it. I read it when I was 17 and absolutely loved it. Sure, it's dated, as the Soviet Union features - somewhat - but still, a fun read, filled with lying, betraying and backstabbing.

Posted by: Cow Demon at June 22, 2025 11:15 AM (vm8sq)

209 OT
Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz.

Posted by: braenyard- Some friends are more equal than others at June 22, 2025 11:19 AM (DNJiU)

210 184 The idea that English majors lack reading skills doesn't surprise me and isn't recent. I was an English major in the early 70s and had a chance to talk with some English majors visiting from Harvard. For all Harvard's reputation, the depths of their exposure and comprehension was shallow, shockingly so. Chaucer, even Shakespeare, Coleridge, and Tennyson were barely tapped. Forget Old and Middle English. But they knew about Sylvia Plath and other such crap.

Like the rest of the country, I grew up with the assumption that an Ivy League school was the pinnacle of education, especially for the humanities. Boy was that wrong. My opinion of them has only declined since then.
Posted by: JTB at June 22, 2025 10:42 AM (yTvNw)

Same. They and other universities have been coasting on rep for quite some time now.

Posted by: Cow Demon at June 22, 2025 11:19 AM (vm8sq)

211 Niven and Pournelle also collaborated on "Lucifer’s Hammer," which a lot of us here are aware of and have read. Most don't know they also wrote a modern version of Dante's Inferno, which they called "Inferno," naturally. It's a very fun and creative rewriting, with a recently deceased science fiction writer trying to navigate Hell with the assistance of another shade.
Posted by: Sharkman at June 22, 2025 10:54 AM (/RHNq)
It’s a quick read too, because you’ ve already read it .
Posted by: Eromero

They also collaborated on "The Mote in God's Eye" and "Footfall".

Posted by: A face in the crowd.... at June 22, 2025 11:19 AM (13Txl)

212 OT
Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz.
Posted by: braenyard- Some friends are more equal than others at June 22, 2025 11:19 AM (DNJiU)

Source?

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM Guy at June 22, 2025 11:21 AM (/HDaX)

213 212 OT
Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz.
Posted by: braenyard- Some friends are more equal than others at June 22, 2025 11:19 AM (DNJiU)

Source?
Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM Guy at June 22, 2025 11:21 AM (/HDaX)
Iran?

Posted by: Eromero at June 22, 2025 11:25 AM (jgmnb)

214 Iran closes Strait, Europe surrenders.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 11:27 AM (0eaVi)

215 Gotta cut out early. Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 11:27 AM (0eaVi)

216 209 OT
Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz.
Posted by: braenyard- Some friends are more equal than others at June 22, 2025 11:19 AM (DNJiU)

With what?

Posted by: Cow Demon at June 22, 2025 11:28 AM (vm8sq)

217 What do they close it with?

Posted by: Eromero at June 22, 2025 11:28 AM (jgmnb)

218 As I tightened the last nut to the specified torque value of 67 foot pounds I saw her. She was adorned in only a black bra and panties framed in a halo in the door of my shop. He hair seemed to glow. I could feel the energy between us. She approached with a sultry step as I reacherd for my 10 millimeter socket wrench.
"Uh. I have to put this away or I'll never find it again." I said.
"Oh I just love a man who knows where his 10mm is." She cooed as I slipped it into the top drawer of my MAC tool box.
I turned as she tried to slip into my arms. I side stepped her as I was covered in grease.
"I should wash up and finish filling out this work order."
"NO!" she cried. "Take me here, now. Incomplete paperwork so turns me on. I must have you."
This happens so often I have grown weary of all this sex. I know what they are doing. Trying to get some free mechanic work but I do them and charge them anyway. Five maybe six time a day and at least twice on Saturday where I charge time and a half. Throught it all I still keep a possitive professional attitude.
It's a rough life but someone has to live it. Might as well be me.

Posted by: Reforger writes at June 22, 2025 11:29 AM (LgDgc)

219 216 209 OT
Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz.
Posted by: braenyard- Some friends are more equal than others at June 22, 2025 11:19 AM (DNJiU)

With what?
Posted by: Cow Demon at June 22, 2025 11:28 AM (vm8sq)

217 What do they close it with?
Posted by: Eromero at June 22, 2025 11:28 AM (jgmnb)
Their mouths. Bbbaaaaagghgghh!!!

Posted by: Eromero at June 22, 2025 11:30 AM (jgmnb)

220 @80 - The Waugh book is A Handful of Dust which was a college reading assignment for me.
When I read The Legacy of Heorot, started it right after dinner one evening; the first ninety pages were slow, but then it got interesting enough that I finished it around 3 AM. Lent it to my then-boss and told him not to start it too late. A few days later, he came in looking like death warmed over. I said, 'You started the book last night, right?' and he just said, 'I couldn't put it down'.

Posted by: Nazdar at June 22, 2025 11:31 AM (NcvvS)

221 Posted by: Reforger writes at June 22, 2025 11:29 AM (LgDgc)

LOL! Nicely done.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Macho Business Donkey Wrestler at June 22, 2025 11:32 AM (0aYVJ)

222 I am re-reading The Legend of Bagger Vance and Ann Coulter's How to Talk to a Liberal.

I wish I could find a book I haven't read that grabs me. So far im 0-5 in my attempts. I'm 0-2 with Conn Iggulden.

Posted by: polynikes at June 22, 2025 11:33 AM (VofaG)

223 Posted by: Reforger writes at June 22, 2025 11:29 AM (LgDgc)

You're really going to enjoy Trailer Park Elves.
Especially when the half dragon girl gets turned on by how the main character removes rusted lug nuts.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, buy ammo at June 22, 2025 11:35 AM (xcxpd)

224 I discovered Inspector "Jack" Frost, a crumudgeon chief inspector who despite slovenly personal and work habits manages to solve the case. BBC did a series in the 1990s. I was surprised by the BBC series compared to the books in two ways. First, several of the characters had been transformed from male to female even back then for no apparent reason and second, much of the complexity had been simplified. For example, his boss wants to get rid of him so when a no win investigation involving the son of a prominent politician arises, he assigns Frost. The BBC left all that out and Frost is just assigned in the normal course of events. This may be because of time constraints but certainly impairs character development and plot. Anyway, I'm enjoying the books.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Master of the Mundane at June 22, 2025 11:41 AM (L/fGl)

225 I found the Dramatis Personae very helpful when I (attempted to) read War and Peace. Besides a ton of characters, it didn't help that the same character could be called Natalya, Natasha, Natalie... depending on who is speaking and what language is being spoken.

One day I'll get back to it. Does the Horde have a recommended translation? My Russian is pretty much limited to useful phrases such as "Yob tvoyu mat".

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at June 22, 2025 11:41 AM (qpyNK)

226 *It's a rough life but someone has to live it. Might as well be me.*

I've been watching jealousy from above the pegboard.

Posted by: The Ridgid tool calendar at June 22, 2025 11:43 AM (lIgBp)

227 > Natalya, Natasha, Natalie...

Also Natalushka and probably some others I've forgotten.

Fond of nicknames, the Russians are.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at June 22, 2025 11:44 AM (qpyNK)

228 The only thing I didn't like about dramatis personnae was that it was easy to spoil suprises in a book. Just the existence of a particular entry could be a spoiler.

Posted by: Farquad at June 22, 2025 11:44 AM (YkGND)

229 You're really going to enjoy Trailer Park Elves.
Especially when the half dragon girl gets turned on by how the main character removes rusted lug nuts.
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, buy ammo at June 22, 2025 11:35 AM (xcxpd)

Got the wife looking it up now.

Posted by: Reforger at June 22, 2025 11:45 AM (LgDgc)

230 Baen had a series of urban fantasy novels called the Serrated Edge. Titles such as Summoned to Tourney and Chrome Circle.

Posted by: Anna Puma at June 22, 2025 11:47 AM (sZI8v)

231 "To The Hilt" and "Full Tang."

Posted by: Also receiving votes at June 22, 2025 11:49 AM (lIgBp)

232 > Trailer Park Elves.

For a moment I thought you were talking about Larry Correia's Monster Hunters International series.

His elves live in trailer parks and listen to shit-kick country music. Orcs are metal heads. Gnomes are urban gangstas.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at June 22, 2025 11:49 AM (qpyNK)

233 Harem type anime set during the time of the Roman occupation of Britain. It exists and just to make things more weird, there is a Demon King along with Arthur.

Tears to Tiara
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COKG8HaDKd0

Posted by: Anna Puma at June 22, 2025 11:50 AM (sZI8v)

234 I've been watching jealousy from above the pegboard.
Posted by: The Ridgid tool calendar at June 22, 2025 11:43 AM (lIgBp)

Really!?! You're hot, all twelve of you. Need an oil change or tire rotation? I have a space open in October. She's really hot. Be her when you do the door thing they all do.

Posted by: Reforger at June 22, 2025 11:50 AM (LgDgc)

235 When I read The Legacy of Heorot, started it right after dinner one evening; the first ninety pages were slow, but then it got interesting enough that I finished it around 3 AM. Lent it to my then-boss and told him not to start it too late. A few days later, he came in looking like death warmed over. I said, 'You started the book last night, right?' and he just said, 'I couldn't put it down'.
Posted by: Nazdar at June 22, 2025

***
My paperback edition in the late '80s included one quote as a blurb: "Makes Aliens look like a Disney nature film."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 11:50 AM (omVj0)

236 "Whetstone's Revenge."

Posted by: Just the working title at June 22, 2025 11:52 AM (lIgBp)

237 I wish I liked the fantasy genre. Seems like there are a lot of highly rated books to choose from based on what I've read on the book threads.

Posted by: polynikes at June 22, 2025 11:54 AM (VofaG)

238 From Structuring Sentences for Dummies, above
...I would read the hell out of a series of a chosen eighty-five-year-old woman who goes on epic journeys throughout a dangerous and magical land, armed only with a cane and her stab-tastic knitting needles, accompanied by her six cats and a skittish-yet-devoted orderly who makes sure she takes her pills on time.

Ha. Just reread The Stand, not one of King's better novels - as if there were any - with Mother Abigail Freemantle's virus free "Bolder Free Zone."

NPR, 'Stephen King Is Sorry You Feel Like You're Stuck In A Stephen King Novel,' Dec. 29, 2020.

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at June 22, 2025 11:56 AM (NFX2v)

239 *Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz*

###

And here's why that's a good thing.

Posted by: NPR at June 22, 2025 11:57 AM (lIgBp)

240 I wish I liked the fantasy genre. Seems like there are a lot of highly rated books to choose from based on what I've read on the book threads.
Posted by: polynikes at June 22, 2025

***
I like to write the stuff, and most of what I run across bores me. Exceptions: Fred Saberhagen's Empire of the East and his "Books of Swords" series; Larry Niven's "The Magic Goes Away" franchise (a short story, a novella, and a novel, though other authors have written tales in that universe).

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 11:57 AM (omVj0)

241 So Iran erected a toll booth at the mouth of the strait?

Posted by: Anna Puma at June 22, 2025 12:00 PM (sZI8v)

242 Looks like we're about done here. Thanks again to the Perfessor and all of you for a fine Book Thread this week!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 12:00 PM (omVj0)

243 So Iran erected a toll booth at the mouth of the strait?
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 22, 2025

***
Reduced rates if you have a "I hate Israel" toll tag on the bow of your ship

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 12:01 PM (omVj0)

244 I am reading "Get Rich Quick" by Robin Banks.

Posted by: Fodrow at June 22, 2025 12:01 PM (ZmEVT)

245 242 Looks like we're about done here. Thanks again to the Perfessor and all of you for a fine Book Thread this week!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 12:00 PM (omVj0)

I can't add much.. I read and re-read Jane Austen...

Posted by: It's me donna at June 22, 2025 12:01 PM (VE6XX)

246 @235 Yep. Putting Legacy on screen would be amazing. Haven't been out to a movie in many years, but that would be tempting.

Posted by: Nazdar at June 22, 2025 12:03 PM (NcvvS)

247 The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress is one of my favorite SF. I had a nice hardcover that was lost during a move.

I'm continuing to read kids' books from the secondhand grab-a-bag sale.

Two Lois Lowry books: "The Giver" is fantastic. I hard it's frequently banned books; I wonder if it's because its message is anti-utilitarian and pro-life. "Anastasia on Her Own" had one of those contrived plots I remember from my own youth; forgettable, but it was fun to see old pop culture references like Clint Eastwood's "Make my day."

Posted by: NaughtyPine at June 22, 2025 12:04 PM (CWY86)

248 I can't add much.. I read and re-read Jane Austen...
Posted by: It's me donna at June 22, 2025

***
I've always wanted to. One of my favorite authors, Rex Stout, always mentioned her as one of *his* favorites. But the dense prose style is a big hurdle for me.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 12:04 PM (omVj0)

249 Hmm. CBD is late.

Posted by: Nazdar at June 22, 2025 12:04 PM (NcvvS)

250 249 Hmm. CBD is late.
Posted by: Nazdar at June 22, 2025 12:04 PM (NcvvS)

Is he still in France ? maybe they surrendered...

Posted by: It's me donna at June 22, 2025 12:05 PM (VE6XX)

251 Hmm. CBD is late.
Posted by: Nazdar at June 22, 2025 12:04 PM (NcvvS)

Drafted by the French Army. Heading out to Iran to surrender.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 12:06 PM (0eaVi)

252 Posted by: It's me donna at June 22, 2025 12:05 PM (VE6XX)

See!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 12:07 PM (0eaVi)

253 Putting Legacy on screen would be amazing. Haven't been out to a movie in many years, but that would be tempting.
Posted by: Nazdar at June 22, 2025

***
Esp. now that the grendels could be done with CGI.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 12:07 PM (omVj0)

254 adult versus childhood perspective.

As an adult you realize The Giving Tree enabled the human boy to turn into a selfish person who never thought of the tree. He just kept taking and the tree kept giving.

Posted by: Anna Puma at June 22, 2025 12:07 PM (sZI8v)

255 No CBD, just means a few more minutes of book talk.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 12:08 PM (0eaVi)

256 Last known location was People's Republic of New Jersey

Posted by: Skip at June 22, 2025 12:08 PM (+qU29)

257 The Jersey Devil got CBD?

Posted by: Anna Puma at June 22, 2025 12:08 PM (sZI8v)

258 "I find it sad that these students struggled so much with their basic reading comprehension that they would not be able to complete their curriculum."

and yet they will complete it, and go forth bearing the banners of their degreed expertise, to spread educated, ingrained ignorance even further!

Western Civ will be lucky to survive.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at June 22, 2025 12:08 PM (alnxS)

259 The Jersey Devil got CBD?
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 22, 2025 12:08 PM (sZI8v)

We'll get a ransom note soon... begging to take him back.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 22, 2025 12:09 PM (0eaVi)

260 currently almost to the end of the new Joe Abercrombie, "The Devils" great stuff if you like that sort of thing ... when I laugh more than usual, sometimes I will read aloud the line-or-two that got me, to Mrs Eez, & get mostly silence back. not her cup of tea.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at June 22, 2025 12:09 PM (alnxS)

261 I am at LibertyCon in Chattanooga this weekend. I'm bringing back quite a haul of books. I quite recommend the Raconteur Press books.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at June 22, 2025 12:10 PM (+5Zv/)

262 3 of 3
Niven / Pournelle's "Inferno", LOL!
I still remember Vonnegut's Tomb! LOL!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at June 22, 2025 12:10 PM (alnxS)

263 Noodus MisHum

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 22, 2025 12:11 PM (omVj0)

264 Today is the last day of Jackson ComicCon. No real urge to spend $35 to get in. And absolutely no urge to hand over $60 per for an autograph of Johnathan Frakes or Wil Wheaton.

Posted by: Anna Puma at June 22, 2025 12:11 PM (sZI8v)

265 I, too, would read the heck out of the Magic Grandma series!

Posted by: pookysgirl wishes she'd thought of it first at June 22, 2025 12:11 PM (Wt5PA)

266 So Iran erected a toll booth at the mouth of the strait?

Posted by: Anna Puma at June 22, 2025 12:00 PM

Nick Sortor @nicksortor

The Iranian Parliament has just ORDERED the closing of the Strait of Hormuz

OVER 20% of global oil production flows through the strait.

Might see US Navy intervention here.

https://bit.ly/3ZKWFK2

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at June 22, 2025 12:12 PM (P5BPp)

267 yeah, NaughtyPine, years ago I read that so many times I was starting to talk like a Loonie!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at June 22, 2025 12:12 PM (alnxS)

268 Oh, and I got to meet and talk with Hans Schantz

Posted by: Cybersmythe at June 22, 2025 12:13 PM (+5Zv/)

269 227 > Natalya, Natasha, Natalie...

Also Natalushka and probably some others I've forgotten.

Fond of nicknames, the Russians are.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at June 22, 2025 11:44 AM (qpyNK
Natty Bumpus

Posted by: Eromero at June 22, 2025 12:15 PM (jgmnb)

270 The Stand is the only stephen king book I was ever able to read

not boycotting him because of his vomitous lefty jabber (I would!), just find his stuff completely unreadable.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at June 22, 2025 12:15 PM (alnxS)

271 Speaking of books . . .

Disgraced Democrat "Super Mayor" [Tiffany Henyard (who?)] Charges $99 for Tell‑All Book While Dodging FBI Probe

-
The grift must flow.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Master of the Mundane at June 22, 2025 12:16 PM (L/fGl)

272 @253 The grendels and the samlon, both.

Posted by: Nazdar at June 22, 2025 12:18 PM (NcvvS)

273 Khan remembered Chekov. but Chekov was not in "Space Seed."

Posted by: Fodrow at June 22, 2025 12:19 PM (ZmEVT)

274 Recently read Hemmingways Farewell to Arms, which supposed is his best work. I've read several other which I mostly enjoyed but don't see the attraction to this one. In usual rapid fire, stream of conscienceless the story move rapidly. It is based on his experience as a ambulance driver in WWI and from that I concluded he spent most of his time getting drunk in cafes and elsewhere, going to whorehouses and chasing pretty nurses. It was a little difficult to relate to the main characters at least the woman, as the conversations seemed very artificial and shallow so the end did not leave much of an impression. The war is mostly incidental to the main story and the end could have happened anywhere. A little disappointed in this one.

Posted by: Ripley at June 22, 2025 12:19 PM (YTqn4)

275 Anyone here a Stanislaw Lem fan?

Posted by: eleven at June 22, 2025 09:01 AM (fV+MH)
********************************************

Yes, why?

Posted by: My Ridiculously Circuitous Plan at June 22, 2025 12:47 PM (7u4Q/)

276 "Timeline" is absolutely the worst book I've ever read.

I'm not including "The DaVinci Code" because I bailed out on that p.o.s. after Chapter 1.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at June 22, 2025 01:27 PM (5YmYl)

277 As an adult you realize The Giving Tree enabled the human boy to turn into a selfish person who never thought of the tree. He just kept taking and the tree kept giving.
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 22, 2025 12:07 PM (sZI8v)

That was my first experience of my reading of a text being out of sync with everyone else's understanding.

As a kid whose parents doctored our ailing fruit trees and cut trees up for heating the house, I knew that when he cut all her limbs off, she would die. A done deal when he took down her trunk. It was her ghost that was "happy" when he sat on her stump in his old age.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at June 22, 2025 01:30 PM (CWY86)

278 273 Khan remembered Chekov. but Chekov was not in "Space Seed."
Posted by: Fodrow at June 22, 2025 12:19 PM (ZmEVT)

Chekhov's name was known to Khan when he memorized the crew. They just hasn't physically met.

And I'm not even a Trekkie.

Posted by: Cow Demon at June 22, 2025 01:32 PM (vm8sq)

279 @191 --

Sounds like "Grand Hotel." All those lives pass through the nexus.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 22, 2025 01:38 PM (p/isN)

280 "Timeline" is absolutely the worst book I've ever read.

I'm not including "The DaVinci Code" because I bailed out on that p.o.s. after Chapter 1.
Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at June 22, 2025

Michael Crichton's novel? I tried reading that after loving Tim Powers' "Anubis Gates". Couldn't get into it.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at June 22, 2025 01:38 PM (CWY86)

281 Late, as usual - I'm Retired, go to bed when I feel.like it, get up.when I want - but here I am. One question, one comment.
Library shelving: Fiction is shelved in author's last name, alphabetically. What about multiple authors? Specifically, Preston and Child? In our local community library, sort of a giant Free Library - no check out, bring in any unwanted books, shelved by volunteers - I've found their books shelved in both the "C" and the "P" area. What, exactly, is the Rule? Would a book be shelved differently if they decided to label a book.with their names in reverse order?
I looked at your picture of your library sale finds, counted, and realized that the Pogo book, the Star Trek book, and The Arabian Nights are the only ones I haven't read, but I am familiar with many of the tales in the Nights. It's sort of like a reverse of the monkeys on typewriters, if you live long enough, you'll have read everything.

Posted by: buddhaha at June 22, 2025 02:40 PM (4ETSN)

282 135 I’ve almost completed a non-dystopian version. I have a small publishing house I want to send it to, a college my pastor is moving to.

Posted by: Norrin Radd, sojourner of the spaceways at June 22, 2025 03:18 PM (oEXy7)

283 Again, these were all ENGLISH MAJORS, meaning they *should* have advanced reading comprehension skills,

In the 1980s I'd gone back to grad school at Colorado School of Mines - distinctly a technical and engineering college. They offered me a TA, and I found myself teaching, essentially, a remedial math course. Monitoring it, really, since it was self-taught. It was a course for incoming foreign students to acquaint and familiarize themselves with math in the English language. OK, fine.

What surprised me was the number of US students in that class; the entry-testing had revealed math weakness among them. How, I wondered at the time, do you apply for an engineering college without having a thorough facility in math?

It's sad, that ENGLISH majors are not literate readers, but this problem goes way, way, way back, too. Would-be ENGINEERS who do not comprehend Algebra II...

Posted by: LCMS Rulz! at June 22, 2025 04:55 PM (bufu1)

284 Minor detail, "Outies" is by Jennifer Pournelle, Jerry's daughter.

Posted by: Captain Dave at June 22, 2025 06:05 PM (SX5EB)

285 Hey there. I know it's Monday, but I just saw this and I have to say that "Boy's Life" was a bit of a disappointment. I read the Kindle version a couple of years ago after a number of recommendations. It was written well but I felt that the author couldn't figure out where he wanted to go with the story. Long story short, I read it, nothing jumped out that would make me hate it*, but it felt unfinished, or maybe undercooked. Don't not read it on my account, but I needed to tell somebody.

* Anachronism is my pet peeve (Especially parachronism, like all Stephen King dialog written after 1979) and also obvious bad editing. For example; I just read a crappy airport book which was otherwise a lot of trashy fun, but every weapon was a "Glock". "I slid my hand down to my trusty worn Glock". "I turned my head and found myself staring directly into to the barrel of a Glock." "I could see the bulge of a Glock under his arm." "Looks like this poor bastard took two from a Glock." I can deal with the hero getting shot through the "meaty part of the thigh" six times in the same book, sometimes even expect it, but there is no possible teenager in 2025 who would use the word "foxy".

Posted by: Lost My Cookies at June 23, 2025 10:22 AM (95DTp)

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