Sunday Morning Book Thread 11-08-2026 [Sabrina Chase]

Welcome to the Book Thread, Guest Poster edition! I will be your host as we explore all sorts of book-related topics. All usual Book Thread rules are incorporated by reference (pets, beverage, clothing covering the lower limbs, etc.) with the special Sabrina Chase exemption for those stylish persons preferring kilts. Now let us proceed to today's topic, which is ...

In Praise of Librarians

The Book Thread exists for the love of books, and what better place to revel in the rich possibilities of the written word than a library? A proper library, that is, not a soulless industrial concrete outrage with not a single comfy chair or reading nook! A perfect library has these, and a rich collection, and a librarian.

A librarian is like a trail guide for all the wonders, especially for the young, easily overwhelmed by all the possibilities a library contains. Sometimes you just need a few books on mummies, for ... reasons.

I always made a point of befriending librarians -- an easy thing for a bookworm to do, and it can have unexpected benefits even beyond being allowed to check out books in the grown-up section! I was once granted the signal honor of being permitted to take and read a new book that *hadn't even gotten its little stamp card sleeve glued in yet!* (It was a book on the Black Death and I was going through a phase of yersina pestis fascination, and the school librarian knew and indulged me.)

Of course, with great power comes great responsibility. The Books Must Return!

The shame, the agony of Overdue Fees! In the dark ages, they would not let you check out more books if you didn't pay! You may have noticed the general societal collapse when that stern but loving rule was removed... (Strangely enough, the Bloom County Barbarian Librarian bears a strong resemblance to Mrs. Friedman, that school librarian. Maybe that's why she encouraged me to get my Black Death fix ... A sweet lady, all of 5' nothing and I would never, ever cross her. Not in the library, anyway.)

And then later in life, even when I was all grown up and doing software testing for a living, I was quite pleased when I had a job working on library software--a complex system. (I can tell you more than you want to know about how Chinese and Japanese libraries sort things.) I was helping librarians! It felt good.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Tolle Lege

Posted by: Skip at November 08, 2026 08:59 AM (Ia/+0)

2 Nooded.

Posted by: Nazdar at November 08, 2026 09:00 AM (NcvvS)

3 Sad to say, but I've given up on reading McCullough's "1776." Seems to be a waste of time now. If they knew what happened, they might have stayed loyal to the Hanoverians.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at November 08, 2026 09:00 AM (1Ff7Z)

4 Reading Paul Wiegler William the I, originally in German but have a English translation.

Posted by: Skip at November 08, 2026 09:01 AM (Ia/+0)

5 Those classic librarians are a dying breed, Sabrina. Who else but modern ones pack the shelves with perverted drek and foolishness?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at November 08, 2026 09:03 AM (1Ff7Z)

6 Good Sunday morning, horde!

My county library no longer charges overdue fees. They just keep renewing the book until I return it.

I think, if someone else has put a hold on the book, and then I don't return it time, they might impose fees. But I have always returned as soon as they request, so I'm not sure.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at November 08, 2026 09:03 AM (CjHsb)

7 8th grade. School librarian asks to chat with me. She asks, "Do you ever watch TV?" I said, of course. I was mystified why should would ask such a crazy question. At the time I was reading about 4-5 books a week and she wondered where I found the time.

I guess I should have been paying more attention in class.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at November 08, 2026 09:05 AM (RIvkX)

8 "It was a book on the Black Death and I was going through a phase of yersina pestis fascination.."

Who amongst us hasn't had a yersina pestis fascination? I know I did.

Posted by: Tuna at November 08, 2026 09:06 AM (lJ0H4)

9 When the kids were small, I got to know the story time librarians by their first names. (Not that I would use them in front of the kids.)

Posted by: Weak Geek at November 08, 2026 09:06 AM (rlRvG)

10 BOOKMAN: I remember when the librarian was a much older woman: Kindly, discreet, unattractive. We didn't know anything about her private life.
We didn't want to know anything about her private life.
She didn't have a private life.

While you're thinking about that, think about this: The library closes at five o'clock, no exceptions. This is your final warning. Got that, kewpie-doll?

Posted by: Obligatory Seinfeld reference at November 08, 2026 09:06 AM (0o1lz)

11 Grew up in a town that had a bit of heaven in an undersized library. There were not enough shelves for all the books so they would be stacked on the floor. Great as a 9 year old, crawling from stack to stack.
Must have been hard on the librarians.
The new town library was much brighter and better in many ways. I think I miss the card catalog the most. The smell, the flipping through books to find buried treasure. Sigh, like the early internet when all the newspapers were free online.

Posted by: Book Rugrat at November 08, 2026 09:07 AM (wcnaS)

12 Morning, Sabrina.

Howdy, Horde.

Always liked libraries. Still have fond memories of the Chicago Lawn branch back in the early & mid-60s. Found tons of goodies there -- Bradbury, Shirley Jackson, some great sf anthologies. Became a librarian later. Spent 13 years working in libraries, 9 at Kroch's & Brentano's bookstore in Chicago, and the rest in IT (which paid better and made it easier to support my book habit and pay the mortgage). Still like libraries, but since I got into the habit of buying my books (no time limit & no overdue fees), I use them less.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 08, 2026 09:09 AM (q3u5l)

13 Morning, Book Threadists! Welcome, Sabrina!

This week I finished Birdie Horne's Don't Cross Mo Ellery, a comic mystery in the Stephanie Plum mold. Mo is a 29-year-old marketing staffer in Chicago who suddenly has everything yanked out from under her. She gets fired (embarrassing and comic story), her boyfriend decides they need to take a break, and she has to move out and find a new job. She winds up as a school crossing guard . . . and blunders into a murder, an affair with a hot lady political worker*, clueless caretaking of three show-quality French poodles, and more. Lots of fun.

*Yes, there is bisexuality in the story. But the whole thing is told with such a light touch that it didn't bother me any more than Mo's first-person narration in present tense, which I normally hate.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 08, 2026 09:10 AM (56Qyq)

14 @11 --

I miss the newspapers on microfilm and microfiche.

And the card catalog drawers slid so smoothly.

Posted by: Weak Geek at November 08, 2026 09:12 AM (rlRvG)

15 *Brentano's bookstore*

Just don't take anything you haven't purchased into a bathroom!

Posted by: George Costanza at November 08, 2026 09:13 AM (0o1lz)

16 I’m about halfway done with Robin Hobb’s Ship of Destiny, the third and final volume of her Liveship Traders series. Surprisingly relevant for today’s chaotic times.

Posted by: Perfessor Squirrel at November 08, 2026 09:14 AM (DEivv)

17 So what was it about librarians that made them such a hot subject for porn videos? The glasses?

Posted by: Weak Geek at November 08, 2026 09:14 AM (rlRvG)

18 Posted by: Obligatory Seinfeld reference at November 08, 2026 09:06 AM (0o1lz)
====

Bookman had the best rants in the entire 7 years of that series. Joyboy.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at November 08, 2026 09:15 AM (RIvkX)

19 At the library, too, I found no less than two modern reissues of John Dickson Carr mysteries from the 1930s. The Plague Court Murders (1938 ), which introduced the Winston Churchill-like Sir Henry Merrivale, is the one I am almost done with: a locked-house murder in a run-down London mansion that dates to the 1660s and exudes palpable menace. I *think* I have the murderer spotted, but -- naturally, with Carr's impossible crimes -- I've got no idea how he did it. That's part of the fun.

The other is a Dr. Gideon Fell, The Eight of Swords 1934), from the period just before Carr settled into doing almost exclusively impossible crime stories. If it's anything like the first Fell, Hag's Nook, it should be a delight.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 08, 2026 09:16 AM (56Qyq)

20 I worked as a library assistant in a law firm many moons ago. Back in ancient times, many of the books were binders that you would unclasp, insert or remove updated pages as provided by the publisher, then reassemble. I suspect it's all electronic now.

Posted by: PabloD at November 08, 2026 09:16 AM (mXZsC)

21 Interesting timing for this topic. I'm visiting my parents for the week, and decided to stop by the local (branch) library that I grew up in! A few things have changed, but others are substantially unchanged. The sci-fi/fantasy isle is in the same area, and is still well-stocked with Star Trek novels. (although they are much newer novels)

They even have the teen's comic book corner in the same spot! With actual floppy comics (in addition to the new graphic novel shelf) That brought back nostalgia. That very spot is where I learned that Grant Morrison is a bitter hateful hack, who helped break me of my love of the X-Men. ...Okay, not all nostalgia is of good times...

Posted by: Castle Guy at November 08, 2026 09:16 AM (jHYFI)

22 it didn't bother me any more than Mo's first-person narration in present tense, which I normally hate.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 08, 2026 09:10 AM (56Qyq)

Why do we hate this so much? Because I do. But I can't articulate it when I tell my kids I don't want to finish a book because of it.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at November 08, 2026 09:18 AM (CjHsb)

23 So what was it about librarians that made them such a hot subject for porn videos? The glasses?
Posted by: Weak Geek at November 08, 2026

***
Think Barbara Feldon on Get Smart. She was nearsighted, so that smoldering eye technique of hers (she said) was partly because she needed glasses. It worked beautifully, didn't it?

If the women of the library science major at my college in the '70s had been half as good-looking as the drama majors, I'd have gone into the former. But, noooo.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 08, 2026 09:18 AM (56Qyq)

24 My county library no longer charges overdue fees. They just keep renewing the book until I return it.

I think, if someone else has put a hold on the book, and then I don't return it time, they might impose fees. But I have always returned as soon as they request, so I'm not sure.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at November 08, 2026 09:03 AM (CjHsb)

Same. But, someone had a hold on something the kid hadn't returned yet. $1.50 late fee. I'll pay it... eventually.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at November 08, 2026 09:19 AM (1Ff7Z)

25 it didn't bother me any more than Mo's first-person narration in present tense, which I normally hate.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 08, 2026 09:10 AM (56Qyq)

Why do we hate this so much? Because I do. But I can't articulate it when I tell my kids I don't want to finish a book because of it.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at November 08, 2026

***
Usually it is because using the present tense heralds a "literary" approach, a "Look how well I'm writing!" flavor. The Mo Ellery book has none of that. I was ten pages in before I realized it was in present tense.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 08, 2026 09:20 AM (56Qyq)

26 The library here is a nice spacious building, but the past few librarians seemed to subscribe to the 'if it hasn't circulated in several years it's outta here' school of collection management. I can find all the James Patterson anyone could possibly want. If I decide it's time for a deep dive into Hemingway, Maugham, Kipling, or John O'Hara, the pickings are damn slim.

They long ago got rid of most of what I was thinking I'd spend my retirement reading.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 08, 2026 09:21 AM (q3u5l)

27 Since other new podcasts are lagging behind, up to episode 14 in the Lubbers Hole, a Patrick O'Brian books.
At pt 2 of The Mauritius Command.
Seems its about 4 episodes per book, with occasionally another fan interview, last one has a real Naturalist and commented on what Dr Maturin might have know in this period

Posted by: Skip at November 08, 2026 09:22 AM (Ia/+0)

28 And the card catalog drawers slid so smoothly.
Posted by: Weak Geek at November 08, 2026 09:12 AM (rlRvG)

They greased your entry into the world of unknown books.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at November 08, 2026 09:22 AM (1Ff7Z)

29 Our massive library system here doesn't carry too many classic books. If you want the latest chick lit, which most modern lit is, they have that but anything of substance you are out of luck.

Posted by: nckate at November 08, 2026 09:22 AM (enNUy)

30 I remember newspapers attached to these wooden (bamboo, maybe?) sticks and hung in some sort of rack. You could read current (or recent) editions of the NYT or WSJ. As a high schooler it made you feel so worldly to be reading something other than your local rag.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at November 08, 2026 09:22 AM (0o1lz)

31 My fractional system never caught on.

Posted by: Melvil Dewey at November 08, 2026 09:24 AM (0o1lz)

32 We have around 25 branches

Posted by: nckate at November 08, 2026 09:24 AM (enNUy)

33 GOD BLESS AND KEEP YOU. Made me smile just reading your intro.

Posted by: Pamazon at November 08, 2026 09:25 AM (b5MGU)

34 No reading for me this week, but I did order a highly recommended book on the proper use of oscilloscopes. Amazon didn't have it, so I used AbeBooks. Found an English version for sale in Germany, so it's on the way via zeppelin or U-boat, I presume.

For those of you who are interested, TRex Arms (no affiliation with our CoB, as far as I know) just posted an online library of something like 4000 US military field manuals. It's searchable, and downloadable in PDF or EPUB formats. Get your copy of MCDP-1 Warfighting today; never know when it'll be useful.

Posted by: PabloD at November 08, 2026 09:25 AM (mXZsC)

35 So, years ago, I picked up a big fantasy novel to read, as one does. But I soon bailed on this particular novel. The main character was morally reprehensible, and I wanted him to die. Now, I don't require my fantasy characters to have modern morality (in fact, I despise tropes like that) but I have limits. Killing the children in a nearby town and then raping the women so the town's children are now of your town's bloodline...That's a bit beyond the pale. I quit reading when it became apparent that the character was not going to be changing...

Anyways, I don't remember the title of the book, only that I hated it. At least, I didn't remember the title. While wandering through the library a few days ago, I saw a cover that was hauntingly familiar. I read the blurb on the back, and the first part of the blurb matched my memory. I think I found the book I bailed on! Turns out it was (probably) Steven Erikson's "House of Chains," part of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. I believe our regular host Perfessor Squirrel read through that series not so long ago. I don't think I'll be following him down that path..

Posted by: Castle Guy at November 08, 2026 09:26 AM (jHYFI)

36 I used to joke that our overdue-book fines paid for all the library expansions.

And I never will forget the time I took an armload of books out to the van, put the books on the roof while I secured the kids in their car seats, and then drove off. Remembered the books within a mile. Drove back to look for them but never found them. Cost us around $35.

Posted by: Weak Geek at November 08, 2026 09:28 AM (rlRvG)

37 Also this week, I found some reissues of A.J. Cronin novels -- actually "first time in book form" novels, as they'd only been published in magazines in the late Thirties and early Forties. This one is The Valorous Years from 1940. It stars Duncan Sterling, a young man who despite a left arm crippled by polio is determined to become a physician.

Cronin's work is low-key, like Somerset Maugham's and his Canadian counterpart Robertson Davies. Dramatic material -- several of Cronin's books have become movies -- and never dull. I was looking for one he wrote that might be classified as a mystery, Beyond This Place (1940). "Paul Mathry learns the father he thought dead is actually in prison for murder. Determined to uncover the truth, he follows old evidence and hostile witnesses into a long fight for justice."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 08, 2026 09:28 AM (56Qyq)

38 first-person narration in present tense, which I normally hate.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere

Worse yet, second person. "You go into the library. You see the librarian. You say, 'Hello, librarian."

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent at November 08, 2026 09:28 AM (ndZc7)

39 Morning, all.

My city's library is stuffed with woke, pervert and hate-Trump garbage. It's only rarely that I find something worth checking out.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at November 08, 2026 09:28 AM (qRla/)

40 Around 2009, I red a horror novel titled-

"Last Days" by Brian Evenson.

The story concerned a detective, who got involved with a case concerning an apocalyptic amputation cult.

"Last Days" was an excellent read and surprisingly not particularly gory. It was more interested in building tension ala detective novel and creeping you out with ideas. More psychological horror.

Anyway, excellent read and well worth your time for a chilly fall or winter read.

The way the book hints at the end. It was highly unlikely that there could be a sequel.

But now....There's a sequel title-

"Phantom Limb" by Brian Evenson.

I just saw it this week, so I bought it and will read in the upcoming week. Well, maybe I'll reread "Last Days" again first.

I dislike movies which change the rules between the original and the sequel, but there is wiggle room at the end of "Last Days", so I'll give Evenson some grace on this.

Also, I guess "Last Days" may have been his "bestseller" with several good reviews. So, to recycle back to LD isn't a huge surprise. The writing biz, you know.

I'm looking forward to reading "Phantom Limb" in any event.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 08, 2026 09:30 AM (YSUhf)

41 @30 --

Amen!

Posted by: Weak Geek at November 08, 2026 09:30 AM (rlRvG)

42 So, years ago, I picked up a big fantasy novel to read, as one does. But I soon bailed on this particular novel. The main character was morally reprehensible, and I wanted him to die. Now, I don't require my fantasy characters to have modern morality (in fact, I despise tropes like that) but I have limits. Killing the children in a nearby town and then raping the women so the town's children are now of your town's bloodline...That's a bit beyond the pale. I quit reading when it became apparent that the character was not going to be changing...

Posted by: Castle Guy at November 08, 2026

***
There's being an anti-hero, and then there's going way beyond that --!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 08, 2026 09:31 AM (56Qyq)

43 It is blackly amusing to see librarians strain their shoulders patting themselves on the back for "fighting censorship" and celebrating "banned books week" -- and then letting their personal politics dictate what books are in the collection. It's not censorship when leftists do it.

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 08, 2026 09:32 AM (78a2H)

44 If you want the latest chick lit, . . ..
Posted by: nckate

What's all this I am hearing about clit lick. . . .

Posted by: Zombie Emily Latella at November 08, 2026 09:32 AM (L/8vZ)

45 OK, on to books.

I'm still plowing through "Bulldog Drummond" -- but for the past several months, I've also been dipping into "Matt Helm: The War Years," a pastiche of flashbacks from the Helm series by Donald Hamilton, interspersed with original material by Keith Wease. I finished it last week.

I had high hopes for this, but it just sludged along. Hamilton made writing and plotting seem so easy; they're obviously not.

As for friend Drummond, he's busy crossing swords with the mastermind of a plot to destroy England somehow. It involves a U.S. millionaire, whom Mr. Big has kidnapped and tortured to gain his signature. The poor guy is in a tug-of-war between Drummond and MB. Right now Drummond has escaped from MB's mansion and is planning to follow him to Paris, where the plers will have an important meeting.

(continued)

Posted by: Weak Geek at November 08, 2026 09:32 AM (rlRvG)

46 Usually it is because using the present tense heralds a "literary" approach, a "Look how well I'm writing!" flavor.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 08, 2026 09:20 AM (56Qyq)

Yes. That's part of it. But I also feel like the author is forcing me into experiencing the story as it happens, when what I want is for the author to tell me what happened.

Or they're trying to make me feel like I'm part of the story. I don't want to be part of the story. I want to read someone else's story.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at November 08, 2026 09:33 AM (CjHsb)

47 I dunno, Wolfus. Maybe you just got an off-year crop of students in your college's library school. When I went to library school there were a respectable number of nifty-looking ladies in the crowd.

The librarian who ran the local public library when Mrs Some Guy & I moved into this town was the pure stereotype. Grey hair in a bun, glasses, the whole nine yards. But she knew her business and the collection then was much better than it is now.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 08, 2026 09:33 AM (q3u5l)

48 Yay book thread! Our municipal library is located next to the high school, and a common practice was to stroll over and swap out books. I read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy.

Uniquely, there were no library cards. One filled out a short form, and that was that. Not sure why, but there was great resistance to the idea of cards. That collapsed with digital scanning, but it was pretty recent, maybe five, ten years ago, and there were a LOT of complaints.

The library now is basically a woke book club with computers and free DVD rentals. I did read a lot of Evelyn Waugh when my kids had swimming lessons (it's also close to the community center, which was the old high school and then a middle school). Most of the collection is chick lit. The non-fiction is garbage. They still use the Dewey Decimal system.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 08, 2026 09:33 AM (ZOv7s)

49 After his service in the war, Albert Campion is still called upon to assist the government from time to time. In The Mind Readers by Margery Allingham, the latest call intersects with family. His nephew Sam Ferris and Sam's friend Edward Longfox are on the way to London for a school break when trouble arrives.

Sam has been called to give testimony regarding a teacher at school, who accused him of cheating when he hinted at what would be asked in an upcoming exam. The thorny issue is that Sam and Edward are able to communicate over distance using their minds. It isn't telepathy, but a pair of electrical devices that they somehow obtained, which allow them to read people's minds after a fashion.

Campion must use all of his wits to get to the bottom of the mystery, which involves a top secret technology and competing British interests, and perhaps foreign powers as well. Everyone is spying on each other, and are trying to determine who is on which side. The game becomes deadly when a technology director is killed. As usual in Allingham's mysteries, Campion must use his intuition to fit seemingly unrelated puzzle pieces together, and to finally solve the mystery.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at November 08, 2026 09:33 AM (0U5gm)

50 Reading a collection of Chekhov's later short stories. Got me wondering about other famous writers who were MDs, and the list looks to be pretty short per Brave AI:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Mikhail Bulgakov
John Keats
Friedrich Schiller

The only modern on the list I'd heard of was Michael Crichton. But I am totally unfamiliar with modern stuff.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at November 08, 2026 09:34 AM (JzUSu)

51 I re-read _The Left Hand of Darkness_ by Ursula K. LeGuin last week. It's a good book, very well-written, but entirely untainted by fun.

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 08, 2026 09:34 AM (78a2H)

52 (continued from 45)

One plotter is a Bolshie who yammers on about how the workers back home in Russia now get to keep what they earn instead of seeing it hoovered up by monied dimwits. Oh, boy, I didn't need to read THAT this past week. (Even his co-conspirators are tired of his guff. But he's dead now, and good riddance.)

Eavesdropping him, Drummond wonders whether the plot is a Bolshevist takeover. Oh, poor Hugh -- be glad you're fictional.

(I think it'll be more like mind control.)

Posted by: Weak Geek at November 08, 2026 09:34 AM (GXXMM)

53 Growing up I had and interesting relationship with libraries. The main city library was on the far side of town, where I needed a ride from my parents to get to. It was a neat old downtown building; 2-story, with a cool balcony on the second story looking down on the lobby...but part of its 'charm' was its remoteness. I remember spending some time sitting by the payphone waiting for my ride to arrive.

Then sometime when I was a teenager, they opened a new branch library just two miles from home. Close enough for me to ride a bike to on my own! It wasn't as majestic as the old building (single story, sort of asterisks shaped, part of community college campus) but I visited it far more frequently. I have very fond, if very different, memories of each building.

Posted by: Castle Guy at November 08, 2026 09:35 AM (jHYFI)

54 I just love libraries

Classic brick Carnegie libraries, the stacks at Penn State with the movable shelves and tiny narrow staircases that felt like they belonged in a submarine, the little tiny library in East Machias, Maine that had old millstones embedded in the walls and a collection donated by a rich lady long ago who apparently had a thing for fancy limited editions. Leather covers, hand-colored illustrations, and some of the books had *never been read*. I could tell because the folded edges of the quires hadn't been cut. Folio versions of the plays of Shakespeare bound in vellum. AMAZING books you would never find in general circulation anywhere else.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at November 08, 2026 09:35 AM (tY90Q)

55 first-person narration in present tense, which I normally hate.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere

Worse yet, second person. "You go into the library. You see the librarian. You say, 'Hello, librarian."
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent at November 08, 2026

***
An exception for me: Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City. It's not only in second, it's in present tense! Yet it works, partly because it's funny and fast-moving, not obviously "literary."

"You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning. But here you are, and you cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar, though the details are fuzzy. You are at a nightclub talking to a girl with a shaved head."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 08, 2026 09:35 AM (56Qyq)

56 The library was the place to be in summer when I was a kid. It had good a/c and had the aroma of books.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at November 08, 2026 09:36 AM (RIvkX)

57 Our town's head librarian is a hefty woman, and her staff includes one young lady with rainbow hair who is even heftier. The rest are quite elderly.

Except for the work-study students at my college library, I don't think I've ever seen a sexy librarian.

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 08, 2026 09:38 AM (78a2H)

58 I re-read _The Left Hand of Darkness_ by Ursula K. LeGuin last week. It's a good book, very well-written, but entirely untainted by fun.
Posted by: Trimegistus at November 08, 2026

***
True. But it is good SF as well as being good lit. When Larry Niven was asked by a literary type to recommend a "good" SF novel, he picked LHoD. "It's good by our [SF readers'] standards as well as by theirs."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 08, 2026 09:38 AM (56Qyq)

59 At long last, some writing news. Due to recent events I've cut back on any kind of media. You won't see me on the daily threads here, just this and the prayer thread.

This has already produced good fruit. Conqueror 3.0 is cruising ahead, and seems to be on track to publish this year.

I've also settled on a new title for Scorpion's Pass: "Sand and Sensibility: A Jane Austen-style Romantic Adventure." As part of that I will set it up as an audiobook and use that to do a revision. That will move concurrently with Conqueror.

With both of those out of the way, I'm planning on picking up Battle Officer Wolf 2: Electric Boogaloo.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 08, 2026 09:38 AM (ZOv7s)

60 As far as reading: I found an interesting series, The Lost Novels of Nellie Bly on Amazon. I'm sure you all know who Bly is - the reporter who raced around the world in 1889 to beat the 80-day record of Phileas Fogg (she did it in 72).

Apparently, she wanted to become a popular novelist, and wrote a number of them, which were serialized in the newspapers. They were presumed lost until a fellow named David Blixt (a Bly fan) found reprints in an old London paper.

Blixt transcribed them, tidying them up, and has reissued them in this Lost Novels series. The first, The Central Park Mystery, I just finished and enjoyed it very much. It's about a woman found dead in Central Park, posed sitting on a bench, and with absolutely no mark on her body to show how she came to be murdered (it was poison, of course, but never detected).

I liked it - and you will, too, if 19th-century serial novels are your thing.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at November 08, 2026 09:39 AM (qRla/)

61 Except for the work-study students at my college library, I don't think I've ever seen a sexy librarian.
Posted by: Trimegistus at November 08, 2026

***
There was a cute one at the public library branch I visited last week.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 08, 2026 09:39 AM (56Qyq)

62 For those of you who are interested, TRex Arms (no affiliation with our CoB, as far as I know) just posted an online library of something like 4000 US military field manuals. . .
Posted by: PabloD

My personal favorite is 'The M-16A1 Rifle: Operation and Preventive Maintenance'. In comic book form, nothing beats lines like: "Sure firing tracers is fun, but did you know that leads to fouling and stoppages?" and text similar to that.

Posted by: Tonypete at November 08, 2026 09:39 AM (L/8vZ)

63 I re-read _The Left Hand of Darkness_ by Ursula K. LeGuin last week. It's a good book, very well-written, but entirely untainted by fun.
Posted by: Trimegistus at November 08, 2026 09:34 AM (78a2H)
====

I dreamt about it.

Posted by: George Orr at November 08, 2026 09:39 AM (RIvkX)

64 40 ...
"Last Days" by Brian Evenson.

The story concerned a detective, who got involved with a case concerning an apocalyptic amputation cult.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 08, 2026 09:30 AM (YSUhf

Oh, my. I read that earlier this year, I must have put it in my TBR pile due to your mention some years back. There are rarely any unique ideas in what's written these days, but this is. It is seriously creepy.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at November 08, 2026 09:39 AM (CjHsb)

65 Blixt transcribed them, tidying them up, and has reissued them in this Lost Novels series. The first, The Central Park Mystery, I just finished and enjoyed it very much. It's about a woman found dead in Central Park, posed sitting on a bench, and with absolutely no mark on her body to show how she came to be murdered (it was poison, of course, but never detected).

I liked it - and you will, too, if 19th-century serial novels are your thing.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at November 08, 2026

***
Sounds like a Queen or Carr mystery!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 08, 2026 09:40 AM (56Qyq)

66 "Killing the children in a nearby town and then raping the women so the town's children are now of your town's bloodline...That's a bit beyond the pale..."
Posted by: Castle Guy at November 08, 2026 09:26 AM

Agree. Why spend all that time and emotional energy reading when you could just get the same content by watching the news?

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at November 08, 2026 09:40 AM (0o1lz)

67 Second-person present works for the "choose your own adventure" style.

Posted by: Weak Geek at November 08, 2026 09:41 AM (rlRvG)

68 But to finish off - the one thing I most definitely did NOT like was Blixt's choice to only put out 10 of the 11 of Bly's novels. Why? Because, in his opinion, one was too 'racist' to deserve being available to a modern audience!

Fortunately, I have Kindle Unlimited, which means the novels are free - or as free as such things can be. I have no intention of putting money in the pocket of a self-appointed censor.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at November 08, 2026 09:41 AM (qRla/)

69 63 -

I see what you did there.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 08, 2026 09:42 AM (q3u5l)

70 first-person narration in present tense, which I normally hate.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere

Worse yet, second person. "You go into the library. You see the librarian. You say, 'Hello, librarian."
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent at November 08, 2026 09:28 AM (ndZc7)

Old style adventure video game.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at November 08, 2026 09:42 AM (1Ff7Z)

71 I'll read chick lit occasionally, usually something my sis has recommended.

I laugh at her descriptor for books I like better--mysteries with toxically masculine men doing manly things: dick lit.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at November 08, 2026 09:43 AM (CjHsb)

72 @45 --

"the plers" = "the plotters"

Posted by: Weak Geek didn't proofread at November 08, 2026 09:43 AM (rlRvG)

73 Narrative voice: how do you feel about a story told, presumably, in present tense about past events? That's my technique.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at November 08, 2026 09:44 AM (qRla/)

74 We have a great county library system here, and my local one is staffed by a great group of women from in their 20's to their 70's. Over all the years all my purchase requests have been fulfilled except, curiously, Paul Johnson's A History of the Jews.

Posted by: Zoltan at November 08, 2026 09:44 AM (KUWG/)

75 Here's a cute minute and seven seconds in the library:

https://youtu.be/j4nRHHPpnVc

Posted by: Yet ANOTHER Seinfeld reference at November 08, 2026 09:45 AM (0o1lz)

76 it didn't bother me any more than Mo's first-person narration in present tense, which I normally hate.
------
Why do we hate this so much? Because I do. But I can't articulate it when I tell my kids I don't want to finish a book because of it.

What grates on me more than first person present tense is Stephenson's third person present participle tense. Not "Joe goes into the store" which is annoying enough but "Now Joe is going into the store." It just really forces attention onto the text and away from the story, IMO. Especially in stories that are clearly set in the past like Cryptonomicon.

Posted by: Oddbob at November 08, 2026 09:46 AM (vTZFs)

77 My public libraries: There is a branch within walking distance of my place, unfortunately closed for a bit while the roof is repaired. Another branch is uptown, a former private home, a beautiful building to read in while it rains. The main branch is downtown, the location I basically grew up in, though I haven't been there in too long. I suspect it now probably houses more homeless people talking to themselves than it does actual readers.

In the suburbs, I have a good branch on my side of the river, and a bigger one on the east bank that I visit as often as I can. They have a lot of modern stuff, yes, but there's a certain amount of the oldies as well. A collection, for example, of Agatha Christie's "Mary Westmacott"-signed non-mystery novels (and they were *good*).

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 08, 2026 09:46 AM (56Qyq)

78 Usually it is because using the present tense heralds a "literary" approach, a "Look how well I'm writing!" flavor.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 08, 2026 09:20 AM (56Qyq)

Yes. That's part of it. But I also feel like the author is forcing me into experiencing the story as it happens, when what I want is for the author to tell me what happened.

Or they're trying to make me feel like I'm part of the story. I don't want to be part of the story. I want to read someone else's story.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at November 08, 2026 09:33 AM (CjHsb)

*clonks Wolfus' and Dash's heads together Three Stooges style*

I disagree, you knuckleheads.

Now, second person might herald a "literary" style, but first person? I've only seen it in genre fiction. Mostly detective or mystery so it can spring a surprise on you.

Also, I don't think someone would write first person to show off their writerly chops. Sure writing first person requires more thinking ahead, but eh, it's a technique.

If it serves the story, why not? Maybe you've read some bad uses of first person.

As far as, first person forcing you to "feel" the story. I kinda get that (con't)

Posted by: naturalfake at November 08, 2026 09:46 AM (YSUhf)

79 Reading this week? Spent some of the time picking through a blog devoted to John D. MacDonald, and reading a couple of his stand-alones, Barrier Island and The Neon Jungle. Both good, naturally.

Check out the blog at thetrapofsolidgold.blogspot.com -- well worth a look for any MacDonald fan. You can find a few of his articles on writing reprinted there too.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 08, 2026 09:48 AM (q3u5l)

80 Nonesuch, by Francis Spufford
A v good read, historical "fantasy" WWII, London.
Great writing and characters make it fun to read.

Posted by: Wormword at November 08, 2026 09:49 AM (yOcCL)

81 (con't)

First person in a way robs you of the security inherent in a story told third person.

That makes first person inherently superior in circumstances that your characters don't or can't know what going to happen next.

But, at the end, De gustibus and a hot-cha-cha!

Posted by: naturalfake at November 08, 2026 09:50 AM (YSUhf)

82 Narrative voice: how do you feel about a story told, presumably, in present tense about past events? That's my technique.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing

Funny you would ask while I was typing the mini-rant about Stephenson. It really, for me, comes down to whether the style is competing with the story.

Posted by: Oddbob at November 08, 2026 09:50 AM (vTZFs)

83 The librarian at my son's university was very nice. He was giving son guitar lessons occasionally. We had pleasant emails about different English books because he was an an Anglophile. I think he's retired now because everything was being computerized.

I am currently reading (again) "Pride and Prejudice". This one is annotated and edited by a professor, David Shapard, with a Ph.D degree in European history with a speciality in the 18th century.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 08, 2026 09:51 AM (JrHfD)

84 I was once granted the signal honor of being permitted to take and read a new book that *hadn't even gotten its little stamp card sleeve glued in yet!* (It was a book on the Black Death and I was going through a phase of yersina pestis fascination, and the school librarian knew and indulged me.)
----

A true history nerd!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at November 08, 2026 09:51 AM (kpS4V)

85 "Last Days" by Brian Evenson.

The story concerned a detective, who got involved with a case concerning an apocalyptic amputation cult.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 08, 2026 09:30 AM (YSUhf

Oh, my. I read that earlier this year, I must have put it in my TBR pile due to your mention some years back. There are rarely any unique ideas in what's written these days, but this is. It is seriously creepy.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at November 08, 2026 09:39 AM (CjHsb)

Oh...

*ears turn red*

*scuffs dirt*

Well, after showing such fine literary taste

But, Wolfus/ Blockhead.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 08, 2026 09:56 AM (YSUhf)

86 Currently reading, apparently simultaneously, book 5 in the "John Dies At The End" series by Jason Pargin (AKA David Wong), called: "There Are No Giant Crabs In This Novel," which I am enjoying for its characteristic Pargin nutrients, and a biography of Hitler called, oddly, "Hitler," by Volker Ullrich, which is informative, and finally "Cur Deus Verba" (How the Word Became Words) by Jeremy Holmes, which is extremely interesting.

How ya'll doing?

Posted by: Sharkman at November 08, 2026 09:56 AM (/RHNq)

87 >>The main character was morally reprehensible, and I wanted him to die.

First thought was of Donalson's 'Thomas Covenant' novels. Finished the first trilogy; never bothered with the rest.

Posted by: Nazdar at November 08, 2026 09:57 AM (NcvvS)

88 Having run short of Intrigues for bedtime reading, I checked my dusty Vintage shelf, and found an unread book, 'The Lights Around The Shore', Weiderman.

To my surprise, in the cover there is an inscription, by my mother, 1943. Holding it, I try to imagine what her life must have been like during the war.

Interestingly, on the publishers page there is a listing of the restrictions imposed by the War Production Board regarding book production: Lighter paper, smaller margins, more words per page. I don't think that I would have noticed any of those, as it seems a fairly ordinary hardback, though the cloth of the binding seems a bit coarse.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at November 08, 2026 09:58 AM (XeU6L)

89 Bob Dole isn't sure how he feels about people speaking in third person, but you can be assured that as soon as Bob Dole knows, Bob Dole will tell you!

Posted by: Bob Dole at November 08, 2026 09:58 AM (0o1lz)

90 Cruising through ebay, I found a company selling some comic book omnibuses for dirt cheap. Like $30. An absolute fire-sale. They somehow got their hands on way more over-stock than they needed.

Alas, I assume the reason they received all these books in the first place was that they didn't get sold by other vendors. None of the books on offer are things I need in my collection.(Micronaughts and Rom are too niche for me, Spider-Gwen is just a meme-character, Ta-Nehisi Coates' Black Panther just makes me snear...)

Posted by: Castle Guy at November 08, 2026 09:59 AM (jHYFI)

91 Stayed up all night reading our own MP4's Theda Bara mystery "Ten Thousand Midnights". Theda and her makeup artist friend Toby Swanson are investigating the murder of director William Desmond Taylor. No spoilers, I'm only halfway through. This is the best one in the series so far.

I keep Wikipedia handy so I can look up all the silent era Hollywood people. I've also been leading through Daniel Blum's "A Pictorial History of the Silent Screen".

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at November 08, 2026 09:59 AM (kpS4V)

92 Malazan’s House of Chains is NOT the book I’d recommend to start the series. The main character is quite despicable. Though he does do terrible things to people who are worse.

Other books in the series have much better characters, who do a great deal of good for the right reasons.

Posted by: Perfessor Squirrel at November 08, 2026 10:00 AM (DEivv)

93 Weird my comment disappeared sorta.

It was-

Oh...

*ears turn red*

*scuffs dirt*

Well, after showing such fine literary taste, I revoke the "blockhead" comment for Dash, a true gentlewoman and a scholar.

But, Wolfus? Blockhead.

😀

Posted by: naturalfake at November 08, 2026 10:00 AM (YSUhf)

94 Wil McCarthy's post-apocalyptic acid road trip "Orbital Bombardment Victory Road" is just what I need in These Trying Times(tm).

In the future, Utopian eco-terrorist spacers (or "holocaustronauts") subjected the planet to vicious pummeling with directed space rocks to bring it back into balance. The U.S. is bisected by the Orbital Bombardment Victory Road: "Stretching from Baltnomore to San Fiasco, the OBVR meanders through the Dark Counties, where electric light was once forbidden on pain of craterization. To this day, electricity (while often technically legal) is still frowned upon in many of those counties, as they've long been the home of Medievalists and Larpers, of Mennonites and Amish, of the fierce, proud Madmacs and the joyful Burning Men..."

A young reporter, a car dealer, and an economics professor travel across this strange land in a retrofuturistic station wagon.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at November 08, 2026 10:01 AM (kpS4V)

95 As far as, first person forcing you to "feel" the story. I kinda get that (con't)
Posted by: naturalfake at November 08, 2026 09:46 AM (YSUhf)

I'm fine with first person. I just don't like present tense stories.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at November 08, 2026 10:02 AM (CjHsb)

96 In college one of my friends had a visit from a hometown high school buddy -- who spoke about himself entirely in the third person. Nice enough guy but very weird to listen to.

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 08, 2026 10:03 AM (78a2H)

97 Good morning fellow book threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading. Late to the thread. Don't you hate when life gets in the way of the book thread?

Posted by: JTB at November 08, 2026 10:03 AM (yTvNw)

98 Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at November 08, 2026 09:28 AM (qRla/)

How are sales going, MP?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at November 08, 2026 10:04 AM (1Ff7Z)

99 As our young protagonist's grandpappy said, "America ain't something you can defeat, boy. It's an idea. Actually it's a hundred ideas, a thousand ideas all wove together. It's a weed. It's a perpetual motion machine. No matter how many cities you turn to glass, that idea going to squeeze back up through the floorboards of your house.

The Indians became cowboys. The slaves became presidents. The cowboys became astronauts, and the astronauts became revolutionaries, and they model their revolution on what? Ours. Ands then we turn it sideways and f*** 'em with it. And they love it."

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at November 08, 2026 10:04 AM (kpS4V)

100 I have no problem with first-person narration (and I have seen it in many non-genre novels and short stories; Red Sky at Morning, Breakfast at Tiffany's, True Grit). Rex Stout's narration as Archie Goodwin in the Nero Wolfe series is incomparable, and I cannot imagine those being told in third.

It's present tense, whether in first or third (or even the very rare second) person, that I usually dislike.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 08, 2026 10:05 AM (56Qyq)

101 "The story concerned a detective, who got involved with a case concerning an apocalyptic amputation cult."

Posted by: naturalfake at November 08, 2026 09:30 AM

Hey. We're sitting right here.

Posted by: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at November 08, 2026 10:06 AM (0o1lz)

102 I’m really enjoying Sgt Mom’s Texas Republic stories: finished ‘Lone Star Sons’ and started ‘Lone Star Glory’. I hope she can keep up with me!

Posted by: The best thief in Lankhmar at November 08, 2026 10:06 AM (NbmfQ)

103 and a biography of Hitler called, oddly, "Hitler," by Volker Ullrich

I have that. An excellent 2-volume bio, equal to - if not exceeding - the Ian Kershaw opus.

Ullrich has also written a few books about Weimar Germany; his Germany 1923 is a good look at the conditions that made Hitler think the country was ready for his putsch.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at November 08, 2026 10:07 AM (qRla/)

104
As far as, first person forcing you to "feel" the story. I kinda get that (con't)
Posted by: naturalfake at November 08, 2026 09:46 AM (YSUhf)

I'm fine with first person. I just don't like present tense stories.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at November 08, 2026 10:02 AM (CjHsb)

My misuse of the term. I meant that present tense robs you of security in reading a story.

That's why it works in mysteries/thrillers so well.

Anyway, I'm glad you read "Last Days". As you said, it was an original idea and very well executed.

It stuck in my mind so well that I haven't reread it yet.

I've been waiting to forget some of it, buuuut, I guess "Phantom Limb" is forcing my hand so I'll reread it now.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 08, 2026 10:08 AM (YSUhf)

105 Present tense narration works best when the story is emulating a non-text medium. Like when you're summarizing a movie. Stephenson's _Snow Crash_ started as his script for a graphic novel, so he was summarizing it for the artist.

Playing games with narrative voice makes the reader pay attention to the narration. If the narrator is a character, that's fine. If not, then it's probably wise to pick a more transparent style.

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 08, 2026 10:08 AM (78a2H)

106 How are sales going, MP?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at November 08, 2026 10:04 AM (1Ff7Z)

Slow at the moment, but I haven't checked recently.

My author copies should be coming this week, so I can get one out to your niece.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at November 08, 2026 10:09 AM (qRla/)

107 26 ... "They long ago got rid of most of what I was thinking I'd spend my retirement reading."

Same here. If our county library has the book I'm looking for, it's a huge surprise these days. Then I find out it's more than likely to be some ebook version, not paper. This is why I try to get physical books for anything I will value. I want to hold the book in my hand. I spend more than enough time looking at a damn screen. I've been using this library system for over 40 years and have seen how the classics and foundational literature has been reduced.

Posted by: JTB at November 08, 2026 10:09 AM (yTvNw)

108 I've always found first person present tense kinda keeps me at a distance rather than lending immediacy to a story. Could be that's just me after all the first person or third person past tense stories I grew up reading. But when I see first person present I assume the weather ahead will be a little chilly.

But Barry Malzberg did a lot of first person present IIRC and his stuff works for me. Some other sf writers too. Go figure.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 08, 2026 10:09 AM (q3u5l)

109 Well, after showing such fine literary taste, I revoke the "blockhead" comment for Dash, a true gentlewoman and a scholar.

But, Wolfus? Blockhead.

😀
Posted by: naturalfake at November 08, 2026

***
That's a little unfair, NF. Dash and I were complaining about the use of *present tense*, not first-person.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 08, 2026 10:10 AM (56Qyq)

110 I didnt get that imprssion from cryptonomincon

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at November 08, 2026 10:10 AM (eHbYv)

Processing 0.01, elapsed 0.0114 seconds.
14 queries taking 0.0036 seconds, 118 records returned.
Page size 90 kb.
Powered by Minx 0.8 beta.