Sunday Morning Book Thread 06-01-2014: Miserable Feminists [OregonMuse]

Good morning morons and moronettes and welcome to AoSHQ's stately and prestigious Sunday Morning Book Thread.

Non book-related discussion should go on CBD's open thread below, thanks.

Why So Serious?

Says here that there are only 13 feminist bookstores left in the United States and Canada. Really? Not that I'm all grief-stricken about this or anything, but I admit I'm a bit surprised. In this progressive age, I figured they would be flourishing.

And from the descriptions, many of them are surviving not by selling just wymmyn's byyks, but also an expanded repertoire of gay books, racial minority/victim books, social justice books, global politics books, environmental books, and indeed, books covering the whole progressive matrix of identity politics.

Naturally, there's one in Portland, OR:

7. In Other Words (Portland, OR)
In Other Words was founded in 1993 by Johanna Brenner, Kathryn Tetrick and Catherine Sameh. It is a non-profit, volunteer-run, feminist community center with a mission to inspire and cultivate feminist communities and nurture social justice. Its bookstore serves as a lending library and a venue for feminist events. (It's also where the feminist bookstore sketches are filmed for the TV show Portlandia.)

Ha. I'm surprised they're letting them film that show there. Feminists aren't known for having senses of humor, and Portlandia's "Women and Women First" feminist bookstore parody doesn't treat them at all kindly.

So I give props to the feminist owners of Portland's one-and-only feminist bookstore for going against type.

And while the article is somewhat of a lament, I don't believe feminists have anything to cry about. The reason there isn't a feminist bookstore in every city in America is because feminist ideology has become so ingrained in the culture that there isn't really any need them; books that were available only in feminist bookstores are now sold by mainstream bookstores all over the place, not to mention Amazon and other online outlets.

So if I were a feminist, I wouldn't be crying, I'd be celebrating.

In The Beginning

Here's a discussion of the starting entry in 12 different book series, some familiar, some not. Of particular interest is New Moan: The First Book in The Twishite Saga: A Parody:

Heffa Lump is just a typical pale 17-year-old who doubts that anyone will ever see her true beauty and needs to grow up and get a life. Fortunately, the Spatula Academy of Fictional Excellence specializes in helping characters from kids' books cross over into adult fiction. Unfortunately, she's distracted from her attempts to leave adolescence behind when she meets Teddy Kelledy - an impossibly gorgeous boy who eats rare meat, is super-strong, and never goes out in daylight. Could he - just maybe - be a vampire?

Heh. From tracking this one down, I discovered that there is just a crap ton of Twilight parodies out there.

Boobs, But Not The Good Kind

Another One Bites the Dust

And speaking of the left's tendency to rely on crap texts to support the progressive world view, I've never heard of this particular crap text, Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent, but it is apparently a very influential crap text that the NY Times describes as:

the canonical anti-colonialist, anti-capitalist and anti-American text in that region. Hugo Chávez, Venezuela's populist president, even put a copy of the book, which he had called "a monument in our Latin American history," in President Obama's hands the first time they met.

And because it said things the left wants to believe, it naturally became a sure-fire hit:

"Open Veins" has been translated into more than a dozen languages and has sold more than a million copies. In its heyday, its influence extended throughout what was then called the third world, including Africa and Asia...

In the United States, "Open Veins" has been widely taught on university campuses since the 1970s, in courses ranging from history and anthropology to economics and geography.

Well, kids, there's trouble in paradise. The author, the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, has apparently repudiated his crap text:

Galeano has disavowed the book, saying that he was not qualified to tackle the subject and that it was badly written. Predictably, his remarks have set off a vigorous regional debate, with the right doing some "we told you so" gloating, and the left clinging to a dogged defensiveness.

Like this:

Caroline S. Conzelman, a cultural anthropologist who teaches at the University of Colorado, Boulder, said her first thought was that she wouldn't change how she used the book, "because it still captures the essence of the emotional memory of being colonized."

In other words, it may not be actually right, but it feels right. Yeah, that's the kind of quality education that kids are going tens of thousands of dollars into debt to receive.

'Open Veins' has been summed up by its critics in 6 words: 'We're poor and it's your fault.' Unfortunately nothing I could find described exactly why Galeano thought his book was faulty enough to simply repudiate, other than saying the writing was bad and he wasn't qualified to write on the subject. I'll take his word for it that that's true, but really, that sort of broad criticism could mean a lot of things.

Fortunately, there is at least some sanity in Latin America:

[free-market advocate Carlos Alberto] Montaner responded to Mr. Galeano's recent remarks with a blog post titled "Galeano Corrects Himself and the Idiots Lose Their Bible." In Brazil, Rodrigo Constantino, the author of "The Caviar Left", took an even harsher tone, blaming Mr. Galeano's analysis and prescription for many of Latin America's ills. "He should feel really guilty for the damage he caused," he wrote on his blog.

I couldn't find 'The Caviar Left' on Amazon, maybe there's no English translation, but as an antidote to all of the south-of-the border commie foolishness, I did find the Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot by Montaner, Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, and Alvaro Vargas Llosa

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou has passed away at age 86. I've never read anything by her, I know her chiefly for reciting a sycophantic poem at Bill Clinton's inauguration, and I thought, yeah, just another lefty writer. And she probably is that, but I read some of the obits and learned that despite what I might think, her life was really quite remarkable:

The author was born as Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Mo. After a difficult childhood, she held a series of jobs, including cook, streetcar conductor, and being in charge of a brothel, as she brought up her son, whom she had given birth to at the age of 17.

Wow. The obit mentions she was raped by her mother's boyfriend. How does one deal with something so horrific?

Angelou's most famous work, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), deals with her early years in Long Beach, St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas, where she lived with her brother and paternal grandmother. In one of its most evocative (and controversial) moments, Angelou describes how she was first cuddled then raped by her mother's boyfriend when she was just seven years old. When the man was murdered by her uncles for his crime, Angelou felt responsible, and stopped talking.

She remained mute for 5 years. But she read a lot, and that's where she learned about words and language. But, thoughout her life, she didn't just write:

She later teamed up with dancer Alvin Ailey to perform and had a solo dance and singing act as well. She was also part of a touring production of the musical "Porgy and Bess".

She wrote screenplays, acted in movies, and even directed one ("Down in the Delta", 1998 ). And won 3 Grammy awards for spoken-word albums.

Her other written works include the 1974 autobiography "Gather Together in My Name," the 1986 autobiographical work "All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes," the 1971 Pulitzer Prize-nominated poetry collection "Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie," and the 2013 autobiography "Mom & Me & Mom."

That's a lot of autobiography. I am reminded that Obama has written two autobiographies himself. Only, in his case, I can't think of any reason why I should read them. When you've done little and accomplished less, all you are able to say say are words that have been given to you by someone else. The contrast with Maya Angelou couldn't be more stark. I might disagree with some (or maybe most) of Angelou's view of the world, but considering her life, all that was inflicted on her, and all that she has accomplished, she has at least earned the right to be listened to.

Some of her poetry can be read here.

R.I.P.

Brevity Is the Soul of Wit

Can you tell an entire story in 6 words?. Like those two-sentence horror stories we had fun with a few weeks back, I like to think these sorts of exercises are good for writers, as they encourage economy of thought. But I admire minimalism, where the author can convey an idea in just a few words, rather than page after page of overblown prose. A good example of the latter is when I picked up Colleen McCullough's First Man in Rome, which I was looking forward to as a one of those summer or "beach" reads. So it starts out with what I think is the main character, an older man, who's reminiscing about his earlier life, and in particular, his sexual partners, and he goes on page afte page, first his mistress, then some other women, and then the young boys, and I look ahead a few pages and he's still going on about it, and at that point I just had to say enough, and go on to another book. It was bad enough because of the repellent subject matter, but to draw it out to an interminable length just added insult to injury.

But you'd think a good editor would catch something like that in the first draft.

What I'm Reading

I may have mentioned The Great Liars by Jerry Carroll a few weeks ago, but if not, I'll do so now. I'm about a third of the way through it, and it's a real hoot. A Smithsonian researcher has discovered, in a nursing home for retired soldiers, a former naval officer (and a bit of a rogue) who knows where all the bodies are buried, and who has somehow managed to keep himself out of the history books. In the days leading up to World WWII, Commander Lowell Brady acted as a liaison between FDR and Churchill, carrying secret communications between them, meeting all the politicians and famous people of the era, and seducing (as well as sometimes seduced by) many of their women. So he knows what went on, and why they want to shut him up.

Caroll, a former reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, is also the author of Inhuman Beings (which has been described as a cross between Raymond Chandler and Philip K. Dick) and Top Dog, which is about a Wall Street shark who awakes one day and finds himself in the body of a dog and caught up in the cosmic battle of Good vs. Evil. Kind of a Kafka/Tolkien mash-up.

'The Great Liars' is structured around an alternate, but not totally implausible, version of history, but, from what I can tell, that would make it the most "normal" of Carroll's books.

They all sound pretty interesting, though.

___________

So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, rumors, threats, and insults may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at aoshqbookthread, followed by the 'at' sign, and then 'G' mail, and then dot cee oh emm.

What have you all been reading this week? Hopefully something good, because,
as I always say, life is too short to be reading lousy books.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:44 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1
Currently rereading the W.E.B. Griffin series on the Marine Core on the Kindle.

Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 10:45 AM (T2V/1)

2 Dude, when even Colt Ford has parodied "Twilight" the bloom is off the black rose... http://youtu.be/DF108IhXi_A

Posted by: richard mcenroe at June 01, 2014 10:46 AM (XO6WW)

3 Marine Core? Is that you, Mr. President?

Posted by: richard mcenroe at June 01, 2014 10:46 AM (XO6WW)

4
my favorite lightbulb joke:
*How many feminists does it take to change a lightbulb?
*One. And that's NOT FUNNY!!!

Posted by: barbarausa at June 01, 2014 10:47 AM (WWeoI)

5 That's my favorite feminist joke, too.

Posted by: OregonMuse at June 01, 2014 10:48 AM (fTJ5O)

6 Marine Corpse.

Posted by: Barry O. at June 01, 2014 10:48 AM (/rVxx)

7 Currently rereading the W.E.B. Griffin series on the Marine Core on the Kindle.

Marine Common Core?

Posted by: EC at June 01, 2014 10:48 AM (doBIb)

8 RE: Open Veins. What I find amazing is that countries in the new world settled by the English with a modicum of freedom thrived, while those in Latin America settled by the Spanish have been mired in shit forever.

Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 10:48 AM (T2V/1)

Posted by: barbarausa at June 01, 2014 10:48 AM (WWeoI)

10 Is W.E.B. Griffin the guy who jumped out of the airplane with the bag of money?

Posted by: Barry O. at June 01, 2014 10:50 AM (/rVxx)

11 Yes, it at the core of the subject.

Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 10:51 AM (T2V/1)

12 As for feminists, I was under the impression that the feminist movement has pretty much died out. It never was much to begin with.

Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 10:52 AM (T2V/1)

13 What I find amazing is that countries in the new world settled by the English with a modicum of freedom thrived, while those in Latin America settled by the Spanish have been mired in shit forever.

Heh. I'd guess that 'Open Veins' probably doesn't talk about this very much.

Posted by: OregonMuse at June 01, 2014 10:53 AM (fTJ5O)

14 Open Veins. What I find amazing is that countries in
the new world settled by the English with a modicum of freedom thrived,
while those in Latin America settled by the Spanish have been mired in
shit forever.

Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 10:48 AM
=====
At least the natives no longer cut out the hearts of their enemies during religious ceremonies. That's a plus.

Posted by: mrp at June 01, 2014 10:53 AM (JBggj)

15 W.E.B. Griffin is probably the best author of military books in the country now. At least he is my favorite one.

Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 10:53 AM (T2V/1)

16 OT check out weaselzippers

Posted by: Bill at June 01, 2014 10:54 AM (uvyrw)

17 Most of those six word stories weren't.

Posted by: Seven word story at June 01, 2014 10:54 AM (KBvAm)

18 where the author can convey an idea in just a few words, rather than page after page of overblown prose.

ok, so...I have this manuscript. . .
and I need to buy a clue.

Posted by: Skandia Recluse at June 01, 2014 10:55 AM (4+VHs)

19 According to a NRO post, Angelou was pressured by the father of her child to abort him or put him up for adoption.

She chose to keep the baby, and support him and herself, a tough thing for a 17-year-old.

Later when she was married, she found out she couldn't have any more kids. So the child she let live and raised was the only child she ever had.

Posted by: Rosley at June 01, 2014 10:55 AM (Dnm99)

20 So Hillary claims Obamao ordered the military into action in Benghazi... Really? Seems to me the select committee ought to pursue that with great interest. Cause somebody-somewhere in the chain of command disobeyed the CIC's order then; the troops trying to board the C-130 to go there were ordered to stand down. Somebody's head belongs on a pike here.

Posted by: An Observation at June 01, 2014 10:56 AM (ylhEn)

21 Story in six words :

Life is a battle for survival.

Posted by: Skandia Recluse at June 01, 2014 10:56 AM (4+VHs)

22 Currently rereading the W.E.B. Griffin series on the Marine Core on the Kindle.
Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 10:45 AM (T2V/1)

I like his stuff, but there is *definitely* a formula he works with.

Posted by: Buck Farack, Gentleman Adventurer at June 01, 2014 10:57 AM (Nk6GS)

23 Before I talk about other books that I'm reading later, I'd like to address a comment pep made last week regarding my concurrent reading of Zoe Oldenbourg's book on the Crusades with Thomas Asbridge's book on the first Crusade which a fellow moron recommended. I find both of them extremely satisfying and have yet to find one point of substantial difference between the two. The sequence of the narration is slightly different but they both make the same underlying points. Maybe I slightly prefer Asbridge's narration to that of the translation of Oldenbourg but in no way to I consider the translation to be substandard and it flows very well. I bought Oldenbourg's book at a book sale and maybe unfairly discounted it because of somebody having given it up not to mention that it was written in the sixties. But I have subsequently come to consider it top rate.

Posted by: Captain Hate at June 01, 2014 10:57 AM (HtSeH)

24 I've begun reading George H. R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones and will probably read the rest of the available series. Because of the show, of course. I've found some good recaps of the episodes on Wired and it talks about the differences with the books.

I was in the middle of reading one of the 1632 books, but I'm now officially bored with the whole thing and could care less.

Posted by: Buck Farack, Gentleman Adventurer at June 01, 2014 11:01 AM (Nk6GS)

25 Farewell rat, to the Sky Dumpster.

Posted by: Lincolntf at June 01, 2014 11:01 AM (ZshNr)

26 I'm finding very little libertarian material in the public library. Any recommended books by Stossel or Napolitano that I should borrow? Any book by other authors that I should buy?

I follow the "Hit and Run" blog on reason.com. Any other recommended libertarian sites?

Why am I getting into libertarian thought? I live in VA-7, home of the uber-RINO (and amnesty fan) Eric Cantor. Cantor is spending a fortune on TV ads which lie about his Tea Party-endorsed primary opponent. Cantor will win the primary and the probable Democrat running for the seat says that the "NRA descended from the KKK" and that the "FCC should monitor all networks to ensure that only news is presented."

So, the general election will likely be a Democrat nutcase, an amnesty-supporting uber-RINO liar, or a reasonably sensible Libertarian. Sigh...

Posted by: doug at June 01, 2014 11:04 AM (dSg5w)

27 24 I was in the middle of reading one of the 1632 books, but I'm now officially bored with the whole thing and could care less.

Posted by: Buck Farack, Gentleman Adventurer at June 01, 2014 11:01 AM (Nk6GS)

That series has really turned to crap.

Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 11:04 AM (T2V/1)

28 I was reading Larry Correia's Monster Hunter series out of pure spite for the assholes crying about his Hugo nom. Not normally my cuppa tea - I like Space Opera. But dude's got chops; I read the four available books in about two weeks and can't wait until the next one (Nemesis drops next month.

Posted by: Buck Farack, Gentleman Adventurer at June 01, 2014 11:05 AM (Nk6GS)

29 22 I like his stuff, but there is *definitely* a formula he works with.

Posted by: Buck Farack, Gentleman Adventurer at June 01, 2014 10:57 AM (Nk6GS)

Looks like his son is writing most of the books now.

Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 11:06 AM (T2V/1)

30
That series has really turned to crap.
Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 11:04 AM (T2V/1)

Too many chefs in the kitchen.

Posted by: Buck Farack, Gentleman Adventurer at June 01, 2014 11:07 AM (Nk6GS)

31 I have found that most strident feminists I have met over the years were fugly lesbians or had mousey subservient husbands and were bat shit crazy. Small wonder it faded out.

Posted by: Gmac-Pondering the coming implosion, and hoping its 404care at June 01, 2014 11:07 AM (baiNQ)

32 12 As for feminists, I was under the impression that the feminist movement has pretty much died out. It never was much to begin with.
Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 10:52 AM (T2V/1)

Unfortunately, I disagree. I think it's gone mainstream. They're the establishment now.

Posted by: rickl at June 01, 2014 11:07 AM (sdi6R)

33 Six word story:

I died because I wouldn't live.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 01, 2014 11:08 AM (KBvAm)

34 Too many chefs in the kitchen.

Posted by: Buck Farack, Gentleman Adventurer at June 01, 2014 11:07 AM (Nk6GS)

Even the one written by the original author are crap now. I have given up on it.

Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 11:08 AM (T2V/1)

35 Looks like his son is writing most of the books now.
Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 11:06 AM (T2V/1)

Aha, so that's the "Butterworth IV" guy. I never cared enough to find that out until now.

Posted by: Buck Farack, Gentleman Adventurer at June 01, 2014 11:09 AM (Nk6GS)

36 Oh, and I'd hit that wymyn in the photo. I'm a sucker for long dark hair and glasses.

Assuming it's actually a wymyn and not a tranny, of course.

Posted by: rickl at June 01, 2014 11:10 AM (sdi6R)

37 My problem with getting good books now is that all my favorite authors are dieing off. Even Griffin is turning it over to his son. The loss of Vince Flynn was really depressing.

Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 11:11 AM (T2V/1)

38 Amazing, it must be a standard fallback position for lefties. Ruben Blades on his site states that he is happy that Galeano has changed his mind because his book has "spent rhetoric and and absence of information about economics" and comments that this has made a turmoil in lefty south american circles; he applauds Galeana's maturity and honesty of his opinion but even more states that he has not left his lefty position for the right's political arguments.

So, your masterwork is flawed, based on rhetoric and bad ideas, but the principals it strove to uphold are valid even though you can't defend them. The left must be both the position of Science and of Logic.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 01, 2014 11:11 AM (37NI1)

39 Even the one written by the original author are crap now. I have given up on it.
Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 11:08 AM (T2V/1)

He'd decided to make nearly everything that anyone else wrote canon in this universe. They've written him into some corners. He essentially gave up control of the "vision" for the series.

Posted by: Buck Farack, Gentleman Adventurer at June 01, 2014 11:12 AM (Nk6GS)

40 Portlandia was a pleasant Netflix surprise. I'm sure the actors/creators are Libs, they do a great job of lampooning them.

Posted by: Lincolntf at June 01, 2014 11:12 AM (ZshNr)

41 It's not really necessary to have feminist bookstores for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that capitalism is rather frowned upon amongst the nags.

It would be true to say that essentially all the movements we've come to know and love, based on feminism, racism, homowhateverism, and on and on and on, really all come from the social conflict school. Which is marxist.

Now, as generations go on, fewer of the dingbats who grew up in these movements know their origins, so you can't just come out and tell them: we hate capitalism. Which creates some conflict of its own. How do we get the youngsters to not want their iphones, their ipads, their kindles, etc., which are the product of the capitalist pigdogs?

Answer: we don't. So the bookstores cease to be of much use to the movement. Even combining the isms into one big entity doesn't really work, because even thought they won't admit it, there really is much much conflict between the isms.

Irony. I'm having it for breakfast.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 01, 2014 11:14 AM (PEb5B)

42 I've read several books written by European travelers to America before the Civil War and virtually all of them mention astonishment of the freedom American women had compared to their own countries. Dickens, the Trollopes, and I believe de Toqueville for example, many others. They comment on women being unescorted in public, involved in politics, and negative impressions on the state of their teeth, urban women very striking in appearance with horrible teeth, rural women chewing tobacco and smoking pipes. Almost all of them thought "womyn's lib" was already in effect in America.

Posted by: JHW at June 01, 2014 11:15 AM (5G4F7)

43 An important part of any police investigation is the interrogation of suspects - with the hope of getting them to say something which is provably false. That false statement is then used as a wedge for breaking down the suspect's defense.

Hillary - in her claim that Obama ordered the military into action in Benghazi - has provided the select committee the wedge it needs to crack open the Benghazi stonewall. The seriousness of the Committee investigation can be immediately judged based on whether or not they use that wedge.

My guess? Kabuki theater to distract the conservative base from noticing the house Republicans working on amnesty in the background.

Posted by: An Observation at June 01, 2014 11:15 AM (ylhEn)

44 By the way my comments are on topic since they are about passages from Hillary (noted feminist) Clinton's new book.

Posted by: An Observation at June 01, 2014 11:18 AM (ylhEn)

45 and seducing (as well as sometimes seduced by) many of their women.
Yeah, because everyone wanted to bang Eleanor Roosevelt.

Posted by: andycanuck at June 01, 2014 11:18 AM (GsmA5)

46 Has anyone read "the fault in our stars?" I am asking because my son got his 7th grade required summer reading list from school and for his honors challenge he only has 3 choices of a book to read this year, a book about girls in 1841 at a finishing school learning spy stuff, a book called Shadow and Bone about a girl in Russia with weird monster killing power, and the fault in our stars.

I am really upset about the 3 choices, I don't understand why the school can't choose a couple books appealing to boys as well. My son is going to read the fault in our stars most likely, but the 1 star reviews on Amazon of it make me really concerned about its content and message.

Posted by: ParanoidGirlinSeattle at June 01, 2014 11:19 AM (+0txR)

47 and seducing (as well as sometimes seduced by) many of their women.
Yeah, because everyone wanted to bang Eleanor Roosevelt.

Six word story:

I banged Eleanor Roosevelt. Turned ghey.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 01, 2014 11:20 AM (KBvAm)

48 Oh and I have talked to a few people about the book choices and asked about maybe adding a couple more and I swear that is apparently as bad a sin as trying to censor books.

Posted by: ParanoidGirlinSeattle at June 01, 2014 11:20 AM (+0txR)

49 36 -

I think it's Jenine Giraffeolo.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 01, 2014 11:22 AM (PEb5B)

50 I started a book this weekend which has been languishing in my to-read pile forever (and for which I feel really guilty about letting it stay there since the author sent me a copy for review since I reviewed his second book) anyway - I started reading the third book; Badge, by an indy-author and musician Art Edwards. He has a website, of course. www.artedwards.com - and his writing is fantastically good. I've got three or four chapters into Badge, and can't say enough good things about it. He writes beautifully and succinctly about what it's like to make music and a life in the music business.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at June 01, 2014 11:23 AM (Asjr7)

51 Just finished Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football by Richard Cohen. I thought it was well done and I am always amused by how sportswriters really get into the purple prose.

The current attention to sports concussions could also be because of the tragic story of Dave Duerson (22) who committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest so that his brain would be available for research.

Chicago safeties (Fencik, Duerson, et al.) as a group were traditionally outrageously intelligent.

Posted by: Mustbequantum at June 01, 2014 11:24 AM (MIKMs)

52 Oh and I have talked to a few people about the book choices and asked about maybe adding a couple more and I swear that is apparently as bad a sin as trying to censor books.

If several parents complain, or you're willing to carry it far enough, they'll change the list to allow other books.

Several parents complaining is the better option of course.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 01, 2014 11:24 AM (KBvAm)

53 32 -

Yep. It permeates the culture in the form of the various isms. Youngsters believe all the garbage the movement elders believed, they just have no idea why they believe it.

Unlike the elders, who were marxists.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 01, 2014 11:25 AM (PEb5B)

54 I know you all gave Maya Angelou a lot of crap--much of it deserved--but her prose was one of my writing influences.

And I liked her attitude about not being pretty. It helped develop my notion that pretty women are often at a disadvantage--especially when they get older--because they often fail to see the need to develop their personalities and intellect.

RIP, Ms. Angelou.

Posted by: baldilocks at June 01, 2014 11:26 AM (36Rjy)

55 There is such a thing as a feminist bookstore?

I don't generally endorse book burning, but I had a very "Fahrenheit 451" moment just now.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Bossy Assault Hobbit at June 01, 2014 11:27 AM (CA2NO)

56 "They" lost me during the whole devil with the blue dress on debacle.

Cigars anyone?

Fan the flames!

Posted by: Fewenuff - not saying just saying at June 01, 2014 11:27 AM (zPNX5)

57 Read The Monuments Men this week - an easy read and very interesting, especially if you like art. The amount of evil Hitler inflicted on the world never ceases to amaze me.

Posted by: biancaneve at June 01, 2014 11:29 AM (2sR50)

58 Finished Robert Ferrigno's Prayers for the Assassin this week--finally. I've had the book for a number of years and I made it a mission to finish it. Dystopia, Muslims, violence, sex, lies, Jew-hatred. Good stuff. I'm read for the next it the series.

Oh and Ferrigno is a nice guy, too.

Posted by: baldilocks at June 01, 2014 11:30 AM (36Rjy)

59 Well, I don't have to wear a turtleneck, sailor.

Posted by: ~~Bruce~~ Bridgett Jenner at June 01, 2014 11:30 AM (pgQxn)

60 ready

Posted by: baldilocks at June 01, 2014 11:31 AM (36Rjy)

61 54 -

Heh, no.

If not-very-pretty women are telling themselves otherwise, I hate to break it to them, but no.

Granted, if you are talking about Hollywood actresses and models and whatnot, fine. Go point and laugh at the morons, but I would venture to say, if such research existed it would show that attractive women are, as a rule, more well-adjusted and better equipped to age well than their less attractive counterparts.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 01, 2014 11:31 AM (PEb5B)

62 Yeah but I live in the Seattle area, most other parents don't bother to examine the list, and the ones I talked to don't see a problem with the cancer book because it has gotten 16,000 5 star reviews on Amazon from all of Joshua Green's Internet fans. It has a male main character as well as a girl main character so what more do I want apparently.

I am tired of the new batch of 20 something librarians looking no farther than 2 years ago for books for reading lists.

Posted by: ParanoidGirlinSeattle at June 01, 2014 11:31 AM (+0txR)

63 Its well known ms Angelou did not feel married to the "facts" in her autobiographies as she was trying to "expose a greater truth". She was smart and a wonderful writer. But I don't believe everything in her biography

Posted by: thunderb at June 01, 2014 11:32 AM (rjsA+)

64 Don't forget the sidelines of scented candles, tarot cards, books about wicca and witchcraft paraphernalia.

Oh, and rolling papers and incense.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at June 01, 2014 11:34 AM (JS0vr)

65 Oh, I've decided I don't like Tami Hoag. Tried two of her audio books, I've exhausted the inventory at the local library and had little choice, and found that what I disliked in the first was magnified in the second. She writes plain murder/procedurals, but she seems to relish creating and then denigrating all sorts of side characters. Everyone's cheating on their spouse, stealing, doing drugs, abusing children, etc. Even the witnesses and victims and cops. A staunch cop hero and brave, accomplished woman at the center of it. Boring.

Posted by: Lincolntf at June 01, 2014 11:35 AM (ZshNr)

66 So, I'm working on a PAW fiction book, The Fall of America: Premonition of Death (W.R. Benton). I'm guessing the author is a Moron, or has Moron-esque thought processes based on these few lines from the opening of the book, in which how the collapse began:

"First the stock market crashed, followed by a large number of banks folding, but most Americans didn't panic, because it'd happened before. Then the President had been impeached over some affair he'd had with a male cabinet member and his wife had made some statements that suggested corruption and illegal activities within his administration."

Posted by: Country Singer at June 01, 2014 11:35 AM (gZQTl)

67 The new Harry Dresden book came out this week, so reading that. Butcher's books always seem to start with some new Chekhov's Gun ability, but the storytelling is still solid (if puff).

Didn't realize the new Monster Hunter book was coming out next month, gotta get that preordered. The Grimnoir Chornicles were probably better, but I'm glad he finished that series as a trilogy rather than flogging it 'til it's good and dead.

Posted by: Chupacabras at June 01, 2014 11:36 AM (F26eZ)

68 RE: Open Veins. What I find amazing is that countries in the new world settled by the English with a modicum of freedom thrived, while those in Latin America settled by the Spanish have been mired in shit forever.

Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 10:48 AM (T2V/1)

C'mon Vic, you act like you think culture matters!

Posted by: Hrothgar at June 01, 2014 11:36 AM (o3MSL)

69 Posted by: Lincolntf at June 01, 2014 11:35 AM (ZshNr)

You nailed it. One audio book is all it took for me!

Posted by: Hrothgar at June 01, 2014 11:38 AM (o3MSL)

70 Don't know if they qualify as "feminist" bookstores, but Amherst and Northampton both have leftist bookstores.

The Northampton one illustrates why these ideological bookstores are vanishing: it has broadened its inventory to stay in business, so there's lots of cookbooks, kids' books, and bestsellers; plus the publishing industry is so monolithically liberal that any bookstore has tons of lefty bullshit. So there's really no difference between the leftist store and a Barnes & Noble, except that B&N has more books, better prices, and staff who don't smell like weed.

The Amherst store is more hard-core; I think it's some kind of nonprofit collective supported by donations so they can stay afloat even though all their books are the most vile leftist garbage imaginable.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 01, 2014 11:38 AM (1Jgj3)

71 On topic to OregonMuse's point about feminist bookstores, they don't need them anymore because 3/4 of the books that are YA these days are all grrrrl power. Kids are growing up steeped in the idea that women are stronger, smarter, funnier, braver than men. It pisses me off, being the mom of a son. Sure there are other books out there still, but in school the books the kids are reading are all girl all the time. Even the damn math problems are tilted more toward using girl names than boy names. Though to be fair some of the bizarre ethnic names they use, because "racism" may be boy names, who knows.

Posted by: ParanoidGirlinSeattle at June 01, 2014 11:39 AM (+0txR)

72 62 -

One of the books my daughter had to read a year ago was "Brave New World." She hated it, and I can understand why. In addition to the fact that it's really not a very "entertaining" read, it's hard for anyone who does not have a foundation in understanding the totalitarian systems of the 20th century to get the message.

And who doesn't understand the totalitarian systems of the 20th century? Virtually everyone who has been in the education system of the 21st.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 01, 2014 11:39 AM (PEb5B)

73 Something to keep in mind when reading obits by social/racial icons especially if they're older than 60 or so.

There's usually little documentation (in other words PROOF) that any of what they claim to have happened to them, happened like they claim.

Grain of salt.

We know the left lies, why would being dead make a difference?

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at June 01, 2014 11:39 AM (JS0vr)

74 Posted by: baldilocks at June 01, 2014 11:30 AM (36Rjy)

I read this based on a recommendation here many months ago. Very good read, as baldilocks just said with more eloquence!

Posted by: Hrothgar at June 01, 2014 11:40 AM (o3MSL)

75 Continuing the Weber/Ringo " Empire of Man" series. Enjoying them very much.

Posted by: Tuna at June 01, 2014 11:40 AM (7KPIw)

76 The current attention to sports concussions could also be because of the tragic story of Dave Duerson (22) who committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest so that his brain would be available for research.

Also Jim McMahon, who I heard has had so many of them that he's now barely functional.

Posted by: OregonMuse at June 01, 2014 11:41 AM (fTJ5O)

77 The Maya Angelou Wars, Part II.

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at June 01, 2014 11:41 AM (oFCZn)

78 ...those in Latin America settled by the Spanish have been mired in shit forever.

Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 10:48 AM (T2V/1)

My Dad once made the observation, as we were strolling around Acapulco, that he'd never been to a Spanish-speaking country that wasn't corrupt to the core.

Posted by: Country Singer at June 01, 2014 11:42 AM (gZQTl)

79 Yeah but there are a ton of books out there, what about "the war of the worlds" or "the martian chronicles" or more recent "snow crash" or "diamond age" what about a mystery? Or for goodness sake a historical fiction?

Part of it is my utter contempt for the trend of extremely poorly written books to get critical acclaim either because of who the author is (Joshua Green and his nerd fighters) or because the author is an early 20 something girl.

Posted by: ParanoidGirlinSeattle at June 01, 2014 11:45 AM (+0txR)

80 Don't forget the sidelines of scented candles, tarot cards, books about wicca and witchcraft paraphernalia.
Oh, and rolling papers and incense.

Wait, that's not a feminist bookstore, that's a head shop.

Posted by: OregonMuse at June 01, 2014 11:46 AM (fTJ5O)

81 76 -

I am going to predict that if we ever see some honest research on the topic, we'll see a stronger correlation between brain injured athletes and the drugs they pumped into them, than we will between their cognitive dysfunction and concussions.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 01, 2014 11:46 AM (PEb5B)

82 Good morning! PGiS, I'm having trouble finding finding good books for my 13 year old son as well. We haven't gotten his reading list yet, but I feel as though we have exhausted the library of appropriate books

I have just finished Brandon Sanderson's "Words of Radiance" which is the opposite of brevity. I enjoyed all 1087 pages of it!

Jim Butcher's new book is out, "Skin Game". I am eagerly awaiting it from the local library. I know the Harry Dresden series is on Gingy's pile of books to get to and if she is reading this, I also highly recommend the series!

Posted by: SnowyBits at June 01, 2014 11:49 AM (ExUmC)

83 Pick up lines of famous authors.

http://tinyurl.com/q3z6wgd

Posted by: WalrusRex at June 01, 2014 11:50 AM (Mogjf)

84 Got together with family last Mon. Had a great Memorial Day, and as I was leaving I was talking to one of my sisters about books. She's a member of Vine, so she told me she was getting an advance copy soon of the third book in "The Last Policeman" trilogy, and would loan it to me. We also sort of talked about this here Book Thread, and she asked me what people liked, and I told her that quite a number of you had mentioned and liked "The Martian". Turns out she had that also, so now it's at my place. Haven't started it yet, but I've learned that the more Morons recommend a book, it's very damn likely I'll enjoy it.

So Memorial Day turned out very, very good, at least for me.

Posted by: HH at June 01, 2014 11:50 AM (XXwdv)

85 In keeping with the topic I guess, there's a pretty interesting book available at Google free E-books, "Dahomey and the Dahomans", 1851, by Frederick E. Forbes. It describe his visit to the Fon people in the Kingdom of Dahomey, present day Benin in west Africa. They had a female regiment called Mino, quite ferocious in combat and portrayed in Werner Herzog's film "Cobra Verde". They were also pretty arrogant and men were required to leave the roads and trails and prostrate themselves as soon as they came in view, somewhat similar to caste differences in India. Wiki has an article about them "Dahomey Amazons".

Posted by: JHW at June 01, 2014 11:50 AM (5G4F7)

86 82 -

Can I suggest a book about a time-traveling talking horse?

Posted by: Rush L. at June 01, 2014 11:52 AM (PEb5B)

87 That has always been a poser of a question for me. All the true prophets and story tellers of the left appear to have to have some personal back story to show that they are actually more real than anyone else. Why does this matter?

Does having a child at 17 make you more sensitive to pain and loneliness? Being abandoned make your prose more intense? Does being raised in multiple households or failing at relationships or having body___ problems or being raised by midway carnies make your rhymes, timing and plot more intricate? If so I can't see the mechanism.

If it were true we would be churning out Nobel Prize in literature winners by the ton out of our child welfare systems.

It always feels like an excuse to say that "this liberal voice" is more real than you because it understands suffering so you should buy this book based on that not on the actual writing. Shouldn't this liberal literary lion understand grammar, punctuation and what actual people say to each other instead?

Posted by: Kindltot at June 01, 2014 11:52 AM (37NI1)

88 Looks like his son is writing most of the books now.
Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 11:06 AM (T2V/1)

Griffith was always a bit formulaic and rehashed a lot from previous books (reasonable in a way since a new reader picking up the series would appreciate the background). But I thought the latest "Hazardous Duty" was a prime example of phoning it in.

Brotherhood of War and the Corps novels are far superior even if you are re-reading them.

Posted by: Hrothgar at June 01, 2014 11:55 AM (o3MSL)

89 LOL. I saw that opening pic and immediately thought "Portlandia" and lo and behold, pinch my butt and call me nancy! sure enough!

Posted by: tangonine at June 01, 2014 11:55 AM (x3YFz)

90 Does the word i.m.a.g.e, image, block out or was that my typo?

Posted by: Kindltot at June 01, 2014 11:56 AM (37NI1)

91 My Dad once made the observation, as we were strolling around Acapulco, that he'd never been to a Spanish-speaking country that wasn't corrupt to the core.

Posted by: Country Singer at June 01, 2014 11:42 AM (gZQTl)

Coming soon to a multi-cultural country very near to you!

Posted by: Hrothgar at June 01, 2014 11:57 AM (o3MSL)

92 So many writers do not know when to Shut.Up.

Donna Tartt. First book; mildly entertaining if overrated. Second and third books---on and on and on about NOTHING.

Posted by: Republic of Texas 2: Electric Boogaloo at June 01, 2014 11:58 AM (Gk2GE)

93 SnowyBits, not sure what your son likes but my son loved the Leviathan series by Scott Westerfield. It is sort of a steampunkish alternate WW1 story line. He also liked Shadow on the Mountain by Margi Preus, a historical fiction about a Norwegian boy in the resistance in WW 2. We both just finished Bomb, a true account of the making of the atomic bomb. And are about to start Lincoln's Grave Robbers another true story of men who wanted to steal Lincoln's body to hold it ransom for the release of their leader.

Posted by: ParanoidGirlinSeattle at June 01, 2014 11:58 AM (+0txR)

94 Currently rereading the W.E.B. Griffin series on the Marine Core on the Kindle.

Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 10:45 AM (T2V/1)

Good stuff, read them years ago.

Currently reading Of Arms and Men, Mistborn and Brownell's catalog

Posted by: tangonine at June 01, 2014 11:58 AM (x3YFz)

95 I'm reading The Great Liars. Fucking hilarious.

Posted by: Banjo at June 01, 2014 11:58 AM (59Mmb)

96 The letters I and M and G together are verboten, for some reason. You'd have to ask Pixy's hamsters.

Posted by: rickl at June 01, 2014 11:58 AM (sdi6R)

97 Donna Tartt. First book; mildly entertaining if overrated. Second and third books---on and on and on about NOTHING.

Posted by: Republic of Texas 2: Electric Boogaloo at June 01, 2014 11:58 AM (Gk2GE)

Robert Jordan. The wheel of time, evidently, was more of a warning than a book series.

Posted by: tangonine at June 01, 2014 11:59 AM (x3YFz)

98 Is that Janeane Garofalo? Cause it looks like Janeane Garofalo.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at June 01, 2014 12:01 PM (dG+q8)

99 I am reading "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

What is it with Democrats that they are always destroying the black family?

Slavery was evil for many reasons. But Stowe repeatedly uses the sale-off of family members to exemplify the evil.

Then we have Woodrow Wilson and his purging of blacks from federal jobs. (either Jonah Goldberg or Amily Schlaes document this)

Then we have LBJ and the "Great Society" welfare programs once again destroying black families (Thomas Sowell documents this in "Black Rednecks and White Liberals)

I think that no study of the American Civil War is complete without "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

I am a little more than half-way through, but I completely fail to understand why blacks use "Uncle Tom" as an epithet. Tom was a poor slave who had only two things: honor and faith. If I die penniless with both honor and faith, I will be happy indeed.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at June 01, 2014 12:02 PM (V70Uh)

100 Donna Tartt

That can't be her real name.

Posted by: OregonMuse at June 01, 2014 12:02 PM (fTJ5O)

101 I think she's done up to look like JG. Who herself is a pretty stereotypical book store feminist.

Posted by: Chupacabras at June 01, 2014 12:02 PM (W2YA6)

102 Is that Janeane Garofalo? Cause it looks like Janeane Garofalo.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at June 01, 2014 12:01 PM (dG+q

I had an instant urge to punch a baby, so yes, it must be.

Posted by: tangonine at June 01, 2014 12:02 PM (x3YFz)

103 Been reading Greg Gutfeld's book "Not Cool: The Hipster Elite and Their War on You."

It's okay -- funny, but not P.J. O'Rourke funny. No real substance, just polemic. Good polemic, but that's all.

I wish we had a conservative writer who could be funny AND back up what he says with research. Mark Steyn comes close, but he's too willing to go for the cheap laffs, too.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 01, 2014 12:04 PM (1Jgj3)

104 @93 PGiS, yes we tried the Leviathan book and he wasn't into it. I think he doesn't know what he likes right now. 13 years old is hard, but I just want him to keep reading. I'll keep trying anything.
I've got to run outside now in-between downpours to get the dog her walk. Bbl.

Posted by: SnowyBits at June 01, 2014 12:04 PM (ExUmC)

105 Coming soon to a multi-cultural country very near to you!

Posted by: Hrothgar at June 01, 2014 11:57 AM (o3MSL)
His first experience with that was Spain in the 60s. My first experience with it was California in the 90s.

Posted by: Country Singer at June 01, 2014 12:05 PM (gZQTl)

106
Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at June 01, 2014 12:02 PM (V70Uh)

As an unabashed Southerner, I was amazed when I actually read "Uncle Tom's Cabin", rather than listened uncritically to the liberal "book review" version.

Posted by: Hrothgar at June 01, 2014 12:05 PM (o3MSL)

107 I thought Gutfeld's last book kinda sucked.

Posted by: garrett at June 01, 2014 12:07 PM (A/uXH)

108 I knew Antigonne books from Tucson would be #1. I think it is their large selection of "border patrol issues" books. I guess that is what they are calling illegal immigration studies these days.

Posted by: Hazchic at June 01, 2014 12:07 PM (NzgVi)

109 Brotherhood of War and the Corps novels are far superior even if you are re-reading them.

Posted by: Hrothgar at June 01, 2014 11:55 AM (o3MSL)

Agree; also the Presidential Agent series started off good but seemed to just get sidetracked.

Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 12:07 PM (T2V/1)

110 The feminist movement, having achieved the aims its founders set out for (voting, legal equality, the ability to enter any field they want), has accomplished every last good that it can accomplish.

The public consciousness is different, and it will continue to be so. If the world were sane, that's where the story would end, they'd pat themselves on the back, congratulate themselves for a job well done, and join the ranks of history's successful reform movements.

The world isn't sane, and like too many political activist movements, its leaders have realized that keeping the hatred ginned up keeps them in a position of power, and with an easy career. Having lost every good cause, and having little case for reparations which are a typical hallmark of this stage, they begin a descent into ever more strange permutations of conspiracy theory and madness.

Posted by: Cato at June 01, 2014 12:07 PM (J+mig)

111 My kid (age 11) really enjoyed Andy Weir's new book "The Martian." Elevator summary: "Gravity" on Mars. Some rough language, but nothing he probably hasn't heard from his older sister when I'm not around.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 01, 2014 12:08 PM (1Jgj3)

112 Yeah I didn't think Gutfeld's latest book was all the way to suck, but it was less funny than his earlier ones.

Posted by: ParanoidGirlinSeattle at June 01, 2014 12:08 PM (+0txR)

113 Posted by: Country Singer at June 01, 2014 12:05 PM (gZQTl)

Barrio Spanish and clogged emergency rooms are just two of the immediate benefits of multi-culturalism. The wholesale corruption at every level just takes a little longer to get established as the norm.

Posted by: Hrothgar at June 01, 2014 12:08 PM (o3MSL)

114 Is that a pic of Jean Gorilloferola on the front?

I'm currently reading Trust No One a book on Sidney Reilly....

Posted by: sven10077@sven10077 at June 01, 2014 12:09 PM (+O/9F)

115 Donna Tartt?

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at June 01, 2014 12:10 PM (dG+q8)

116 103 -

Has Gutfeld ever collected his Huffington Post columns... or would they even let him?

The man is capable of being a brilliant writer, but he has taken to needing to insert one-liners into his prose, which would be fine if the prose was really eye-opening. It's not, so he will remain a lightweight writer until he puts more effort into it.

Which is why his HP columns were so wonderful, he was riffing off the nonsense he was seeing all around him, and he had some interesting things to say about them, BECAUSE he was surrounded by the enemy. Without that, and it's just... well, something is missing.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 01, 2014 12:10 PM (PEb5B)

117 I was wondering, as a thought experiment, if slavery could have somehow been reformed. Outlaw the sale of children under the age of 18, for instance. Outlaw the break-up of marriages, etc.

Probably wouldn't work. Too many marginal operations that when times got tough they had to sell some of their slaves.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at June 01, 2014 12:10 PM (V70Uh)

118 It's okay -- funny, but not P.J. O'Rourke funny. No real substance, just polemic. Good polemic, but that's all.

I'm reading it, too, and I think the humor isn't very good. Gutfeld's jokes and snarks work pretty well on Redeye, but when they're written down on a piece of paper and read, they fall flat.

Posted by: OregonMuse at June 01, 2014 12:11 PM (fTJ5O)

119 SnowyBits, yes 13 year old boys are a challenge when it comes to reading, I was relieved we had a run of good books he read but now he is back to re-reading the dumb Disry of a Wimpy Kid books. Apparently so are several other middle schoolers. I have been told by one of them that the books, while written at a lower reading level, actually have humor that they didn't get back then that they do now they are in middle school.

Posted by: ParanoidGirlinSeattle at June 01, 2014 12:11 PM (+0txR)

120 54 I know you all gave Maya Angelou a lot of crap--much of it deserved--but her prose was one of my writing influences.

And I liked her attitude about not being pretty. It helped develop my notion that pretty women are often at a disadvantage--especially when they get older--because they often fail to see the need to develop their personalities and intellect.

RIP, Ms. Angelou.
Posted by: baldilocks at June 01, 2014 11:26 AM (36Rjy)

This is probably off-topic, but somebody mentioned the other day that women who are gorgeous at age 20 often look worn out and beaten down by age 40; while women who are plain and unnoticed at age 20 can look rather interesting at age 40.

I don't know whether the same is true for men or not. Being a cis-normative kind of guy, it's mainly the women I notice.

And Maya Angelou has some defenders in the conservative blogosphere. Neo-Neocon posted this the other day:

http://neoneocon.com/2014/05/28/rip-maya-angelou/

She got quite a lot of pushback in the comments, bordering on hostile, which is uncharacteristic for the commenters at that site.

I've never read Angelou, so I don't have an opinion one way or another. I stayed out of it.

Posted by: rickl at June 01, 2014 12:11 PM (sdi6R)

121 Six word horror story for AtC or MWR:

Itchy nose? Dead spiders haunt you.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 01, 2014 12:12 PM (KBvAm)

122 Posted by: naturalfake at June 01, 2014 12:12 PM (KBvAm)

Six word political horror story:
Barack Obama was elected President twice

Posted by: Cato at June 01, 2014 12:14 PM (J+mig)

123 If you got pre-teens and teens that are interested in science fiction, and you have an e-reader of some sort, you can get 30-60's sci fi short stories (from Analog, IF and Astounding) from Gutenberg. And it's free so you don't have to worry about dropping it if a story doesn't thrill.

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Science_Fiction_(Bookshelf)

Posted by: Kindltot at June 01, 2014 12:15 PM (37NI1)

124 98 Is that Janeane Garofalo? Cause it looks like Janeane Garofalo.
Posted by: Ricardo Kill at June 01, 2014 12:01 PM (dG+q

I don't think it is. If so, it's not a recent photo.

She was pretty hawt about 15-20 years ago.

Posted by: rickl at June 01, 2014 12:15 PM (sdi6R)

125 There has been a lot of hate in the media lately over Amazon's dealings with Hachette with some authors like James Patterson recently adding more fuel to the fire. I dare say they are full of it.

Cedar Writes: Perspective on Amazon
http://t.co/U9e4TsulfP

Mad Genius Club: More than one game in town.
http://t.co/XXuUMUx8ZZ

Joe Konrath: James Patterson BEA Fail
http://t.co/h4as1KVPDk

David Gaughran: This Is The Kind Of Competition Publishers Want
http://t.co/443DcRKA0E

Hugh C. Howey: Winning at Monopoly
http://t.co/l9qj8CDv06

Posted by: BornLib at June 01, 2014 12:15 PM (zpNwC)

126 110 -

IF the feminist movement was capable of looking for real issues, and it's not, it would stop focusing on bogus nonsense like the 70 cents on the dollar thing, and start talking about genital mutilation of Muslim girls, or talk about rape and domestic violence and sexual harassment in the the workplace in ways that actually did something about it, rather than increasing their own power.

It's just too easy to break through your own personal glass ceilings, and then get comfortable there, than it is to actually do good things.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 01, 2014 12:16 PM (PEb5B)

127 Can you tell an entire story in 6 words?

Obama elected. World turns to shit.

Posted by: chemjeff at June 01, 2014 12:16 PM (9GG/0)

128 117 -

The answer is no. Once you start the thought, your first item on the agenda is "treating human beings like property," and it's impossible to get past that.

Impossible.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 01, 2014 12:18 PM (PEb5B)

129 Don't shit yourself yet. Hillary next.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at June 01, 2014 12:18 PM (dG+q8)

130 6 words?

Bloody crumpled toaster. Eggs overcooked too.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 01, 2014 12:18 PM (37NI1)

131 "She was pretty hawt about 15-20 years ago."

I'd a gone there. Gagged, of course, but yeah.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at June 01, 2014 12:19 PM (dG+q8)

132 Alice in Wonderland:

Alice dozes off, wakes up confused.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 01, 2014 12:19 PM (37NI1)

133 114
I remember watching the "Ace of Spies" series on PBS many years ago. It was quite good. I think the Sidney Reilly part was Sam Neil's first really big role.

Posted by: Tuna at June 01, 2014 12:19 PM (7KPIw)

134 Six words.
Joe Biden is the Vice President

Posted by: Truck Monkey at June 01, 2014 12:19 PM (jucos)

135
A) There aren't ANY bookstores any more, feminist or otherwise.
B) Every college bookstore is now a feminist bookstore.

Posted by: Dave H at June 01, 2014 12:19 PM (3AmlO)

136 121,

Thread winner!

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at June 01, 2014 12:20 PM (V70Uh)

137 21 Story in six words :

Life is a battle for survival.
Posted by: Skandia Recluse at June 01, 2014 10:56 AM (4+VHs)

Story in six words:

How do you remove blood stains?

Posted by: model_1066 at June 01, 2014 12:20 PM (T5sQc)

138 How about six word prophecy:

Hillary wins then emigration overtakes immigration.

Posted by: Cato at June 01, 2014 12:21 PM (J+mig)

139 Six words.
We have rep's like Hank Johnson

Posted by: Truck Monkey at June 01, 2014 12:21 PM (jucos)

140 "Great Liars" sounds a bit like-

"My Uncle Oswald" by Roald Dahl

Wherein a man discovers a powerful aphrodisiac and with a female accomplish sets out to gather the semen of the world's most famous men and greatest intellectuals of the age with the idea of selling it to women who want great babies.

Absolutely hilarious novel and just a great read.

Great takes on folks like GB Shaw and HG Wells.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 01, 2014 12:22 PM (KBvAm)

141 124 -

I wouldn't say hot. She cleaned up well enough, but she's one of those broads that needed makeup to look good, and being the feminist she is, she would have hated us for that.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 01, 2014 12:22 PM (PEb5B)

142 They should have feminist pet shops.
They could sell hamsters.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at June 01, 2014 12:22 PM (V4CBV)

143 Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper:

These fur-bearing critters are actually people.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 01, 2014 12:22 PM (37NI1)

144 The more coming out about this Bergdahl and his father, that I wish he was still in captivity and Fredo had NOT released 5 fuckin murdering terrorists on the world

Posted by: Nevergiveup at June 01, 2014 12:22 PM (nzKvP)

145 The more coming out about this Bergdahl and his father, that I wish he was still in captivity and Fredo had NOT released 5 fuckin murdering terrorists on the world

Posted by: Nevergiveup at June 01, 2014 12:22 PM (nzKvP)

146 Barack Hussein Obama, affirmative action boob.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at June 01, 2014 12:22 PM (V70Uh)

147 "How do you remove blood stains?"

You got a, er, "problem?"

Posted by: The Fixer at June 01, 2014 12:22 PM (dG+q8)

148 There has been a lot of hate in the media lately over Amazon's dealings with Hachette with some authors like James Patterson recently adding more fuel to the fire. I dare say they are full of it.

I've been avoiding the Hachette/Amazon brouhaha, and what little I've read is virulently anti-Amazon. So thanks for those links.

Posted by: OregonMuse at June 01, 2014 12:23 PM (fTJ5O)

149 142 They should have feminist pet shops.
They could sell hamsters.
Posted by: Dr. Varno at June 01, 2014 12:22 PM (V4CBV)

I was thinking howler monkeys...you know, for the dialogue.

Posted by: model_1066 at June 01, 2014 12:24 PM (T5sQc)

150 As for men, I was somewhat geeky-looking in my youth.

At 58, I am now quite handsome.

The gray hair in the temples make me look "distinguished."

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at June 01, 2014 12:24 PM (V70Uh)

151 Judy Blume :

But mommy, why am I bleeding?

Posted by: 6 words at June 01, 2014 12:24 PM (A/uXH)

152 Six word world history:

With knowledge rise, with cultishness fall.

Posted by: Cato at June 01, 2014 12:24 PM (J+mig)

153 Wife just posted a great picture overlooking the Tiber. Uneventful flight, she's settling in for dinner and a good night's sleep.

Posted by: Lincolntf at June 01, 2014 12:24 PM (ZshNr)

154 Blood stains?

Ice water first. Then hydrogen peroxide.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at June 01, 2014 12:25 PM (V70Uh)

155 Is that a pic of Jean Gorilloferola on the front?

No, that's the female half of the Portlandia team, whose name I am too lazy to Google.

Posted by: OregonMuse at June 01, 2014 12:26 PM (fTJ5O)

156 Modern Ed in 6 words:

Think for me, I am brainwashable.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 01, 2014 12:26 PM (PEb5B)

157 spinning off of Ace of Spies, has anyone read the Tommy Hambledon books by Manning Coles?

I love the ones I've found but they are hard to find for some reason.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 01, 2014 12:26 PM (37NI1)

158 Jeneane Garofolo? Not with Soothie's dick.

Posted by: garrett at June 01, 2014 12:27 PM (A/uXH)

159 #151: Well played, sir.

Posted by: OregonMuse at June 01, 2014 12:27 PM (fTJ5O)

160 Six word story:
Barack Obama, affirmative action in action.

H/T to Grampa Jimbo

Posted by: Zoltan at June 01, 2014 12:27 PM (khFRP)

161 Mental health in 6 words:

Mentally ill? Here, take a pill.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 01, 2014 12:28 PM (PEb5B)

162 Another sixer:

Modern Liberalism: Elites order, masses do.

Posted by: Cato at June 01, 2014 12:28 PM (J+mig)

163 Carrie Brownstein

Now I get it. Don't know whether it's "steen" or "stein."

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at June 01, 2014 12:28 PM (dG+q8)

164 Feminism in six works:

You men, causing all my problems.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 01, 2014 12:29 PM (PEb5B)

165 Gutfeld's old column on the "Chief Brody Slap" is a classic.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at June 01, 2014 12:29 PM (V4CBV)

166 Couple of months ago I wrote about a book I had read called "Dead Mountain", a true story of a group of Russian hikers who died under very odd circumstances back in 1959.

So tonight, on Discovery..."Russian Yeti: The Killer Lives".

'New. An explorer investigates the mysterious deaths of nine Russian students in 1959'.

I doubt I'm even going to record it...

Posted by: HH at June 01, 2014 12:29 PM (XXwdv)

167 howabout an optimistic story:

Our downfall: happiness. Our salvation: competence

Posted by: Kindltot at June 01, 2014 12:30 PM (37NI1)

168 156 Modern Ed in 6 words:

Think for me, I am brainwashable.
Posted by: BurtTC at June 01, 2014 12:26 PM (PEb5B)

Modern art in 6 words:

Poop is "transgressive", you ignorant hicks.

Posted by: model_1066 at June 01, 2014 12:30 PM (T5sQc)

169 Racial theory, six words:

White people, causing all our problems.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 01, 2014 12:30 PM (PEb5B)

170 Mark Steyn's best known for his political writing, but his obits on show biz types in Passing Parade cut like a scalpel, sting like a bee, and the bastards and bitches deserve it. The Complete Tacitus Anthology has a lot of Latin names to plow through, but, my, the blood-soaked tales of murders and depravities.

Posted by: Banjo at June 01, 2014 12:30 PM (59Mmb)

171 Jaws is on AMC at 1 PM. A couple of my sharkophobic inland friend are watching it in anticipation of coming to the Cape next week. One is having his kids watch with him. Heh heh heh.

Posted by: Lincolntf at June 01, 2014 12:31 PM (ZshNr)

172 Homosexual movement, six words:

Straight people, causing all our problems.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 01, 2014 12:32 PM (PEb5B)

173 Six word story.

What do you mean you're male?

Posted by: WalrusRex at June 01, 2014 12:32 PM (Mogjf)

174 "Poop is "transgressive","

It certainly offends me.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at June 01, 2014 12:32 PM (dG+q8)

175 So it's Shark Week already? Or is it LobsterFest?

Posted by: Dr. Varno at June 01, 2014 12:32 PM (V4CBV)

176 Leftist Economic theory, six words:

Rich people, causing all our problems.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 01, 2014 12:32 PM (PEb5B)

177 173 Six word story.
What do you mean you're male?

Yeah, I read that story: "Last Thursday", by ace.

Posted by: OregonMuse at June 01, 2014 12:34 PM (fTJ5O)

178 163 Carrie Brownstein

Now I get it. Don't know whether it's "steen" or "stein."
Posted by: Ricardo Kill at June 01, 2014 12:28 PM (dG+q

I looked her up on IMDB.

Yeah. Like a runaway freight train.

Posted by: rickl at June 01, 2014 12:34 PM (sdi6R)

179 Cynical theory:

People cause all of our problems.

Posted by: Cato at June 01, 2014 12:34 PM (J+mig)

180 to paraphrase the instructions on writing by Mark Twain:

"Eschew surplussage. Prolixity impairs plot flow."

Posted by: Kindltot at June 01, 2014 12:35 PM (37NI1)

181 Immigration reform, six words:

Fuck you, this land is ours

Posted by: Truck Monkey at June 01, 2014 12:35 PM (jucos)

182 Leftist foreign policy, 6 words:

"America, causing all the world's problems"

Posted by: OregonMuse at June 01, 2014 12:35 PM (fTJ5O)

183 Feminism in six words:

The hexanormative patriarchy must be crushed!

Posted by: model_1066 at June 01, 2014 12:36 PM (T5sQc)

184 6 word pitch:

Itchy Anus? Buy upgraded Tesla seats.

Posted by: Elon Musk at June 01, 2014 12:36 PM (pgQxn)

185 Luap Nor foreign policy, 6 words:

"America, causing all the world's problems"

Posted by: OregonMuse at June 01, 2014 12:36 PM (fTJ5O)

186 GWAR in six words:

"You can call me the Salaminizer".

Posted by: model_1066 at June 01, 2014 12:39 PM (T5sQc)

187 8 RE: Open Veins. What I find amazing is that countries in the new world settled by the English with a modicum of freedom thrived, while those in Latin America settled by the Spanish have been mired in shit forever.
Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 10:48 AM (T2V/1)

Daniel Hannan has a book about exactly that: Inventing Freedom: How the English-Speaking Peoples Made the Modern World.

Here is a video of him talking about it:
http://youtu.be/uep7GA9hCKM

Posted by: BornLib at June 01, 2014 12:41 PM (zpNwC)

188 "Yeah. Like a runaway freight train."

She's bisexual. In case you were wondering.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at June 01, 2014 12:41 PM (dG+q8)

189 GWAR in 6 more words:

Cute Cuttlefish seeking new crotch home.

Posted by: Cuttlefish of Cthulhu at June 01, 2014 12:42 PM (pgQxn)

190 Finished the audiobook of Game Of Thrones book 1. I've been a fan of the TV show and the book was very good too. The reader did a terrific job with the voices. Long though, so it will be awhile before I'll tackle the next.

Book 3 of the Last Policeman series coming up soon, can't wait. I can wait for the next Dresden Files book, I'm getting burned out on that series, still haven't finished Cold Days.

Posted by: waelse1 at June 01, 2014 12:42 PM (0n6dI)

191 Nood thread for those so inclined.

Posted by: Y-not at June 01, 2014 12:43 PM (zDsvJ)

192 GWAR in 6 more words:

Cute Cuttlefish seeking new crotch home.

(That just makes me sad. RIP Brockie)

This Deli Tray is Unacceptable!

Posted by: garrett at June 01, 2014 12:46 PM (kOYmZ)

193 This week I read Oregon Muse's recommendation from last week, the film noir detective story entitle "This Doesn't Happen In the Movies" by Renee Pawlish. I found it a fun, enjoyable, engaging read - just what I needed. Thanks OM! It was free too, so much the better.

This week I am continuing down the fun-mystery-escape path and have started the Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters. I'm a third of the way into my first book and I like it very much. A blend of medieval history and murder. Just what the doctor ordered.

Posted by: grammie winger at June 01, 2014 12:47 PM (oMKp3)

194
Re Maya Angelou: I wouldn't take the spoken-word Grammies too seriously. Al Gore and Hillary Clinton have also gotten them. It's a the Grammie committee reseves for leftists.

Posted by: Brown Line at June 01, 2014 12:47 PM (a5bF3)

195 188
She's bisexual. In case you were wondering.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at June 01, 2014 12:41 PM (dG+q

So the possibilities are limitless, is what you're saying.

Posted by: rickl at June 01, 2014 12:50 PM (sdi6R)

196 Oh and to cap off the Amazon talk: Vox Day

http://t.co/DGbHznCfXz

Posted by: BornLib at June 01, 2014 12:52 PM (zpNwC)

197 Re: Open Veins. One of the reasons why the US hasn't been mired in shit like Latin America is the TYPE of Englishmen who founded it. The political and social culture was founded by Puritans in New England, and it was there that the country began moving. Yes, Virginia Colony was founded first, but it was founded by Cavaliers. If the Cavaliers had founded New England, the US would probably be like Latin America. Not only did they introduce slavery here, they coupled promiscuously them, and with the natives, something the Puritans rarely did. And as everyone knows, Cavaliers were Royalists, and believed in a class system--like the Spanish royalists who founded and fucked up Latin America. The US is largely the result of chance, being founded when it was founded and by whom it was founded. If Plymouth colony was founded 25 years earlier, or 25 years later, or by a different group of Englishmen, it would have been entirely different....

Posted by: JoeyBagels at June 01, 2014 12:53 PM (kWGZX)

198 Feminology degree. Can't get a job.

Posted by: WalrusRex at June 01, 2014 12:54 PM (Mogjf)

199 @119 PGiS, I'll mention the Diary series to him, I know he did enjoy them. He would read the Harry Potter series over and over if I didn't keep trying other titles.

I hadn't thought of "The Martian" for him. I guess the language was a little rough, but really nothing he hasn't heard on the bus. I thought the story was very creative so maybe he will too.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Posted by: SnowyBits at June 01, 2014 12:55 PM (ExUmC)

200 The only thing I have against Maya Angelou is the endless slobbering blubbering adoration she received from Ms. Oprah Winfrey. But I suppose I should fault Miss Winfrey for that, to be fair.

I can't stand Oprah or anything she touches. I suppose I should work on my attitude and not take it out on those she promotes. Although she did, in part, give us Obummer.

Posted by: grammie winger at June 01, 2014 12:57 PM (oMKp3)

201 @46. I red "The fault in our stars?". I got this book as birthday gift from my daughter. I like it and I think it good read for high school student and for adult also. I think, you have to read it also and then discuss it with your son.

Posted by: redmonkey at June 01, 2014 12:58 PM (vxvH1)

202 This week I finished Ball Four: The Final Pitch by Jim Bouton. This was another free ebook loan for amazon prime members.

The book was originally published in 1970. I remember reading it 3-4 summers in a row after it came out in paperback in 1971. Basically, it's a diary of Jim's 1969 season with the expansion Seattle Pilots and eventually the Houston Astos after an August trade.

When the book first came out it was widely criticized by the baseball establishment (commissioner, executives, coaches, players and particularly sportswriters). It was considered outrageous that baseball players were described as cursing, smoking, drinking, cheating on their wives, taking drugs (amphetamines) and having problems in their lives like everyone else. However, it seems almost tame compared with the things covered in the sports pages today (steroids, drugs, assaults and football stars being charged with murder).

With the perspective of today, the book transports you back to professional sports in 1969. Before free agency, million dollar player contracts, billion dollar tv contracts and the advances in sports medicine. While the players made good money compared with typical workers of the time, when their careers ended they had to get real jobs (auto sales, insurance, trucking, real estate, plumbing, etc.)

About halfway through the book I looked up the team roster. For some players, 1969 was their final season in the majors. Some played a couple of years more and only a few had extended careers (Mike Marshall, Tommy Harper). I also found that some of the players had already passed away.

Most of Bouton's teammates had no problem with the book. But a few never spoke to him again (including the manager Joe Schultz).

I enjoyed revisiting the book. If you are a baseball fan, or a sports fan in general, you have to read this book at least once.

Posted by: long time lurker at June 01, 2014 12:58 PM (ok7Un)

203 "So the possibilities are limitless, is what you're saying."

Just throwing out there. Do with as you like.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at June 01, 2014 12:58 PM (dG+q8)

204 The US is largely the result of chance, being founded when it was founded and by whom it was founded.
Posted by: JoeyBagels at June 01, 2014 12:53 PM (kWGZX)

I would revise that and say the US is largely the result of the Providence of God, moving His mighty hand through history.

Posted by: grammie winger at June 01, 2014 01:00 PM (oMKp3)

205 Presumably, the "Iron John"- inspired men's movements have died a natural death. It isn't that aspiring to manliness isn't a positive thing, it's just that contrived 'movements' don't work.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at June 01, 2014 01:01 PM (aDwsi)

206 @190" I'm getting burned out on that series, still haven't finished Cold Days."

I read some reviews of the new book and quite a few of them mention your exact feelings. The reviewers say that this new book is much much better and gets back to the Harry Dresden we were waiting for.

Posted by: SnowyBits at June 01, 2014 01:01 PM (ExUmC)

207 Just finished up Neal Asher's Line of Polity. Great hard sci-fi space opera, the second of Earth Central Security Agent Ian Cormac series. If you like big ideas, fast action, and a lack of sucker punches, the Polity Universe is for you.

The story in six words:
Injecting alien nano-tech may sound good....

Posted by: motionview at June 01, 2014 01:03 PM (e6TyM)

208 Important Breaking News in 6 Words!:

I made poopy, I made poopy.

Posted by: Barky's Brain at June 01, 2014 01:07 PM (pgQxn)

209 By the way, I have to say thank you for this wonderful book thread. I have found so many wonderful books here over the years,including the Harry Dresden series. I have pages and pages of notes of book and authors I would like to get to sometime in my life all thanks to everyone here. A hearty thank you to you all from this book lover.(get your mind out of the gutter, I didn't say couch or toaster lover! Pervs.

)

Posted by: SnowyBits at June 01, 2014 01:09 PM (ExUmC)

210 @206

It's a Denarian book, which tends to be my favorite of the Dresden foes.

Posted by: Chupacabras at June 01, 2014 01:11 PM (q/kmn)

211 Posted by: SnowyBits at June 01, 2014 01:09 PM (ExUmC)

I agree. The book thread is the one I most love and look forward to each week.

Posted by: grammie winger at June 01, 2014 01:14 PM (oMKp3)

212 @210 Chupacabras, It sounds very exciting and I may break down and buy it instead of reading it from the library first. I don't think I can wait that long! I'm a huge fan of the series and if I'm going to buy any book it certainly would be one of Jim Butcher's.

Posted by: SnowyBits at June 01, 2014 01:17 PM (ExUmC)

213 I really liked "Ladies of Missalonghi" by Colleen McCullough but it is a novella. Perhaps it was best served by its brevity.

Posted by: tms at June 01, 2014 01:21 PM (FMLm1)

214 @211 Grammy winger, I hope you are recovering well. This book thread has made a huge difference in my life. I can't imagine not knowing all that I've learned here. All the history and fun sci-fi books I've read from recommendations here. You morons are a smart lot and I hope to glean a smidgen of knowledge from you!

Posted by: SnowyBits at June 01, 2014 01:23 PM (ExUmC)

215 207 I've been eyeing Near Asher's books for a while. I'm glad to hear you liked them.

Posted by: BornLib at June 01, 2014 01:25 PM (zpNwC)

216 The book thread is the one I most love and look forward to each week.

Posted by: grammie winger at June 01, 2014 01:14 PM (oMKp3)

I'll 3rd that, if someone hasn't beat me to it.

Posted by: HH at June 01, 2014 01:45 PM (XXwdv)

217 I read "Deep Survival" by Laurence Gonzales. It was an extremely frustrating book to read as he would jump from a story about survival to how the brain reacts then back. He mentioned a few books that I'll look up.
I also read "Harvest" by Max Watman. It's a book by a foodie trying to make as much of his food as he can. I just ignored the pretentious parts and tried to see what I could learn from it. An Everlasting Meal is a more interesting read.

I also picked up "Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee" at one of those street libraries. I haven't read it since it came out so will be interesting to see how I feel about it now.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at June 01, 2014 01:54 PM (Lqy/e)

218 I'm not recommending this book, which I haven't read, just cited for the subject matter. The story of an abortion addict. Fifteen abortions in fifteen years.

http://tinyurl.com/lj4yqhq

Posted by: WalrusRex at June 01, 2014 01:56 PM (Mogjf)

219 Libtard economics:

Communism cannot get started without immiseration.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at June 01, 2014 02:00 PM (V70Uh)

220 Says here that there are only 13 feminist bookstores left in the United States and Canada. Really? Not that I'm all grief-stricken about this or anything, but I admit I'm a bit surprised. In this progressive age, I figured they would be flourishing.

That's because such books have become mainstream and are in the few bookstores left.

Sometimes I'm amazed that there are more than 13 bookstores left, period.

Posted by: The Reading Hat at June 01, 2014 02:05 PM (K1sEu)

221 Maya Angelou's poetry is crud. I fear that even more students will be subjected to it now.

Posted by: The Literary Hat at June 01, 2014 02:06 PM (K1sEu)

222 Never ever listen to any audiobook read by one Emily Durante. She has the worlds most annoying hopelessly flat Midwestern accent and she over-enunciates every other word. If I hadn't been curious about Jodi Arias, I don't believe I could have stuck the book out to the end.

Once I was finished with "Picture Perfect" which was an utter travesty of a true crime book, I started one called "Earthquake Storm" which is nonfiction and the reader is a man with a nice normal accent, all-American, which is to say, next to no accent at all. Such a relief.

Posted by: Tonestaple at June 01, 2014 02:20 PM (B7YN4)

223 I am sure the folks at Portlandia intentionally dress up Carrie Brownstein like Janeane Garawfulo for the feminist bookstore bit.

Portlandia is brutal towards both Portland slackers and lefties. It's a great show.

Posted by: Nuclear SUV at June 01, 2014 02:27 PM (c9sn+)

224 Got in Friday, well lets amend that to say when Amazon tracking said it was at post office immediately drove there to pick up, Elizabeth Moon's Crown of Renewal. This is the fifth and last book in the Paladin's Legacy series.

Overall I did enjoy the book like the others. I have been waiting a year to see if something Moon had told me at last Project A-kon would be true. Or was she engaging in a game of disinformation. What she told me was true and well appreciated with the otherall more serious tone of things going on in this book.

Will probably ask Moon if a few scenes suffered some trimming to shorten the novel to meet publisher requirements. There are also two plot threads still dangling when the book ends, so perhaps we might see a couple of stand alone stories.

In the first trilogy Paksenarrion Dorthansdottir is naturally the central character and thus the one the reader cares about most. In this follow on series the reader has a few different characters to follow. My favorite became not Dorrin or Arcolin but Arvid, former master thief and enforcer, who has become in these books a personal project of Gird Strongarm sometimes called St. Gird.

So yes I enjoyed it.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at June 01, 2014 02:27 PM (e7gPL)

225 Reading "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" and enjoying it immensely. He is my favorite of the Founding Fathers.

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at June 01, 2014 02:28 PM (6fyGz)

226 On the way is a book that I'm not sure if I want to read or not, it's called "The Worst Days: A Journal from a Young Cancer Patient for Health-Care Professionals"

The reason I'm not sure if I want to read it is that I knew the author.

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at June 01, 2014 02:34 PM (6fyGz)

227 When I saw the "6 word" thing, my first thought was that old classic, "I came, I saw, I conquered." Of course, that version is a bit longish. If you want to get rid of all that bloviating, then the original Latin is just the ticket, "Veni, vidi, vici."

Wikipedia says the 3 word version of the tale come from a letter written by Julius Caesar in 46 BC.
http://tinyurl.com/ym9lvg

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at June 01, 2014 02:45 PM (IN7k+)

228 One problem with femnists is that they just don't know what to do with themselves. The female in the pic above have a not unfortunate face and beautiful hair. I would love to give her a makeover. It's as though they have no contace with others of their species outside of libraries.

Posted by: katya the designated driver at June 01, 2014 02:58 PM (4Chvm)

229 I love most of Stephen King's earlier works but his more recent books are written in the style of someone who love the sound of his own voice and is too rich and famous to have to appeal to anyone to be able to actually sell books so drones on and on and on and revels in his own wisdom.

Posted by: katya the designated driver at June 01, 2014 03:07 PM (4Chvm)

230 Posted by: katya the designated driver at June 01, 2014 03:07 PM (4Chvm)

Like the main character in 11/22/63? English teacher who goes back to the late 50's early 60's, is only in his thirties but somehow knows all about that era? And of course he becomes the coolest teacher ever in his school, all the kids love him, and the prettiest female teacher hooks up with him?

Yeah, that's King in his fantasy world.

Posted by: HH at June 01, 2014 03:18 PM (XXwdv)

231 Stephen King in 6 words:

Christian traditionalists are the real monsters.

Posted by: Blackford Oakes at June 01, 2014 03:30 PM (KVnkf)

232 The only book Steven King wrote that was worth a shit was The Stand.

Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 03:34 PM (T2V/1)

233 6 word story:

Can't remember exactly which writer this is attributed to, but an editor challenged the writer to write an ad or story in 6 words, and the writer wrote this ad:

"For sale. Baby shoes. Never used."

Posted by: DaveinNC at June 01, 2014 03:35 PM (/NgNT)

234 228,

Fyi, The photo is not of actual feminists, but of a couple of comedians doing a parody of feminists.

Posted by: OregonMuse at June 01, 2014 03:36 PM (RwTMN)

235 I'm going to defend Colleen McCollough, at least the First Man in Rome. First of all, it's not a beach read any more than James Clavell is. It is one of the best depictions of life in Republican Rome out there. She was actually awarded an honorary doctorate of History for her research for this book series.

Second, one of the protagonist is Sulla. Sulla went both ways, in a BIG way. So his scenes are going to be about his sex drive. It was a signifigant part of his life but if you can get past that, the politics and history are engrossing.

Once Julius Ceasar appears as a main character, yeah, all rationality drains out of her and the books Ceasar and Caesar's Wives are a seriously overblown case of hero worship.

So, I say, if you can handle Sulla, read the first two or three books. Watching the first civil war tear Rome apart sets the stage for the tragedies to come.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at June 01, 2014 03:37 PM (pWzW/)

236 218: I read the description of that book and two things sprang to mind:

1. Robin Morgan was the editor of the second feminist screed I ever read, called "Sisterhood is Powerful." Morgan's been around FOREVER.

2. Somewhere in my feminist reading wanderings, I also read that, as American women refer to birth control pills as "the pill," Puerto Rican women referred to abortion as "la operacion" which tells you something about Puerto Rico but I really don't know what.

My first feminist screed was "The Feminine Mystique" in junior high. I was smarter than just about everyone else in my class but, being a girl, and it being the late 60s, it struck a chord. Later, so did "Atlas Shrugged" so at least I got over it.

Posted by: Tonestaple at June 01, 2014 03:46 PM (B7YN4)

237 Finally finished Fred Siegel's "The Revolt Against The Masses: How Liberalism Has Undermined The Middle Classes". He's such an astute observer of the Left and there's something worthy of quotation on each page.

Even 100 years ago they looked on with horror at the great unwashed for their upward social mobility, love of automobiles, new-found material wealth, and pop culture -- all spontaneously generated without top-down management. The disgust is palpable! Yet, instead of being depressing, I found it bracing, because despite their best efforts, we the people keep winning.

Also breezed through John Ringo's "Queen of Wands", nr 2 in the Special Circumstances series. I would characterize it as the softer side of Ringo. Also has the final battle for the soul of a demon-fighting Valkyrie hashed out in the spiritual plane at a dreamscape Dragon*Con, so there's that.

Now I'm in "Hard Luck Hank: Screw the Galaxy" about mutant thug-for-hire Hank who does "odd jobs" for the seamy underbelly of Belvaile, a freebooter space station in the ass end of the quadrant. It's a funny mix of hard-boiled gumshoe and sci-fi.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at June 01, 2014 03:47 PM (QBm1P)

238 My 13 year old boy really liked the first half of Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. It slows down in the second half and my boy is very action oriented. I'm going to get him to try Monster Hunter International this summer since it is chock full of action.

Posted by: Andy at June 01, 2014 03:53 PM (iTt/X)

239 210
@206

It's a Denarian book, which tends to be my favorite of the Dresden foes.

I had thought the series had slipped some in the last few books as well, but I just finished Skin Game and thought it was much better. I have a few quibbles about who ended up with a certain item that I will not mention since the book just came out. We will not discuss how late I stayed up last night reading it.

Posted by: Charlotte at June 01, 2014 04:00 PM (euQHa)

240 Stephen King in 6 words

Christian traditionalists are the real monsters.Posted by: Blackford Oakes at June 01, 2014 03:30 PM (KVnkf)

No kidding! I am so sick of his view. Never a thinking Christian. Just some blow-hard who is taking advantage of everyone who believes.

Wonder where that came from. King never used that in his earlier books.

But he has admitted that he was totally Coked out when he wrote 'Cujo', so maybe drugs have something to do with it.

But if King had any balls, try using a Muslim religious fanatic as the bad guy in a new novel.

Not holding my breath here...

Posted by: HH at June 01, 2014 04:06 PM (XXwdv)

241 @206

Charlotte. I like who got what you didn't talk about. It was actually foreshadowed well, when you go back and look at it.

Skin Games was probably the best book since Turn Coat. Definitely ramping up the stakes after establishing Harry in his new role. And bringing in Nic is probably a sign that the End Game is coming. Especially since JB has promised Peace Talks will have one of the highest levels of supernatural confrontation so far.

Posted by: Shawn at June 01, 2014 04:14 PM (/lltO)

242 I'm sure Maya Angelou did some good things in her life, but once I heard her reading one of Rachel Corrie's poems as if it was the most profound thing ever written I really didn't want to know anything else about her.

Posted by: Crazy Bald Guy at June 01, 2014 04:41 PM (fUROf)

243 Yeah but I live in the Seattle area, most other parents don't bother to examine the list, and the ones I talked to don't see a problem with the cancer book because it has gotten 16,000 5 star reviews on Amazon from all of Joshua Green's Internet fans. It has a male main character as well as a girl main character so what more do I want apparently.

I read this book last summer because it was for sale on Kindle and wanted to know what the big fuss was about. It's a nice read for 15-year-old girls and it's a bit of a tearjerker, but great literature it is not. It's a bit of warmed-over Lurleen McDaniel (for those who don't remember, she created a book series in the 90s that focused on terminally ill teenagers) with a snarkier protagonist (or for a more recent example, Jodi Picoult comes to mind). I
found it kind of embarrassing, but I was 15 years old a long time ago. I am totally mystified why so many full-grown adults bestow so much adulation on this book. It seems to me a pretty clear-cut example of feminists deciding that something was a classic because it "gave them the feels". I can't imagine boys liking it very much. (And the grown women should be ashamed. But like I said, very appropriate for 15-year-old girls).

One word of warning: the main character (the girl) is very anti-Christian, though the boy is considerably more tolerant about these matters.

Posted by: Kat at June 01, 2014 05:30 PM (rjvFx)

244 241
@206

Charlotte. I like who got what you didn't talk about. It was actually foreshadowed well, when you go back and look at it.

Skin Games was probably the best book since Turn Coat. Definitely
ramping up the stakes after establishing Harry in his new role. And
bringing in Nic is probably a sign that the End Game is coming.
Especially since JB has promised Peace Talks will have one of the
highest levels of supernatural confrontation so far.

I did not know that Peace Talks were promised... looking forward to reading that.

Posted by: Charlotte at June 01, 2014 05:46 PM (euQHa)

245 I also read this doesn't happen in the movies this last week. I've seen The Maltese Falcon (and heard the radio adaptation) and read The Drowning Pool, but that's about the extent of my experience with private detective fiction.

I enjoyed, looked around for a sequel.

I read Footfall, by Niven and Pournelle. I has survivalist, constitutionalist, weighs in on the AK47/AR15 debate and even described untertaking the responsibilities of the presidency during crises as "your turn in the barrel".
It also had some good hard-science fictional weapons and a well-fleshed out alien race. Part of the exploration of the book was of a fairly ludicrous-looking (from our perspective) alien race, which is interesting but did degrade the experience some, I thought. One or two other factors seemed also to diminish the work, but it was compelling and kept me up nights.

I've also gotten about a third of the way through the autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. I'm interested in reading the Myth of the Robber Barons but I had this book already on my Kindle, so I thought I'd give it a try. But now I'm getting to the part where he really starts making a business and making money, and he's ceasing to include as much detail--certainly glossing over a lot of the things that I'm most interested in. I don't know if it will change and refocus later so I might not continue it.

And mostly done with Think Big by Ben Carson, which is an enjoyable and quick read. It also got me thinking: here's somebody who's a million times better than what we have in there now, who's fairly close to the ideal on most issues, being reluctant to support him just because his views of gun rights are a little poor just doesn't make sense, even if only practically. I mean look who we got in there now, and things are improving for gun freedom.

Posted by: .87c at June 01, 2014 06:28 PM (G+4kU)

246 The only book Steven King wrote that was worth a shit was The Stand.

Posted by: Vic at June 01, 2014 03:34 PM (T2V/1)

Stephen King is a very good, perhaps even great writer. His sense of style, dialogue and pace is unerring, and he is incredibly economical with words. Which is counterintuitive, because most of his books are about a million pages long. Having said that, the only book of his that I actually enjoyed all the way through is On Writing. For the rest, he is just a little too dark, disturbed and graphic (or at least his writing is) for my taste.

There are bits and pieces of It and Bag of Bones that are on my periodic re-reading list, however. In It it's the flashback to summer in elementary school, which reminds me of my own youth (except for the monsters hiding in the sewers, of course). In Bag of Bones it's his insights into the publishing business (the protagonist is a writer) that are most entertaining.

This weekend I re-read Beat to Quarters, which is the first Hornblower book that C.S. Forester wrote. Slightly different in style from the other works, plus when he started back at the beginning of Hornblower's career he retconned himself to a significant degree. Still, a great book. The book that launched a thousand copycats.

Posted by: CQD at June 01, 2014 06:31 PM (TBxjE)

247 @CDQ: How about some of his shorter stories? I'm thinking of two of his novellas from Different Seasons: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption and also, The Body, which were both made into movies (the latter was retitled "Stand By Me"). They both were stories that were pretty uplifting and devoid of his usual monsters (human or supernatural).

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at June 01, 2014 06:48 PM (IN7k+)

248 Oh, hey - speaking of books and history - Next Sunday I will have a spot at a commemoration of the 170th anniversary of Jack Hays' Big Fight ... this was a skirmish in the Texas Hill Country with fifteen Texas Rangers (as they were then; a sort of mounted and heavily-armed Neighborhood Watch) against a Comanche raiding party of about 80 hard-ass Comanche warriors. The Rangers won it - because they had patent Colt repeating pistols. Anyway, because I have written HF set in Texas with Jack Hays as a repeating minor character, I asked for a place among the other authors - and got it. The big-name author is S.C. Gwynne, who wrote "Empire of the Summer Moon" - about the Comanche. It's every bit as good as T.R. Fehrenbach's "Comanches-The History of a People."

I was thrilled to see that Gwynne was on the program, although my daughter has demanded that I not go all over fan-girly when I ask him to autograph my own copy of his book.

This is about the third or fourth local author with a book that I have read, liked, or been inspired by, that I have met at a book event here in Texas. Maybe it means that I am coming up in the world with my own books or something.

The event, for any 'rons or 'ronettes in Texas, will be on Sunday in beautiful and bucolic downtown Sisterdale, Texas, at the Sisterdale Dance Hall, next Sunday. Which ... well, there is only one street in Sisterdale, so it will be easy to find. It is also about a quarter mile from the Sister Creek Vineyard showroom, so there is that.

I'll be in the hot-pink pop-up pavilion with the zebra-striped roof. Yes, it's eye-catching. We'll have to be away before 8:00, and not back until evening, so count me out of next Sunday's thread. Until about this time, of course.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at June 01, 2014 07:23 PM (Asjr7)

249 What kind of discussion about series and starting without mentioning "Discworld"? Damn - second week in a row a list without "Discworld".

Posted by: Teafran at June 01, 2014 07:35 PM (6awKZ)

250 There was a third book in "Different Seasons": 'Apt Pupil'. Also made into a movie.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at June 01, 2014 08:17 PM (3kZUM)

251 Colleen McCollough, at least the First Man in Rome. ... is one of the best depictions of life in Republican Rome out there. She was actually awarded an honorary doctorate of History for her research for this book series.

... which honour she didn't deserve.

Seriously, doctorates should be given to those who offer new insights to the field. They do not belong to those who have just taken in and spouted out what all the real PhDs already know.

Honorary master's, yeah, I'd give her that.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at June 01, 2014 08:24 PM (3kZUM)

252 250 There was a third book in "Different Seasons": 'Apt Pupil'. Also made into a movie.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at June 01, 2014 08:17 PM (3kZUM)

++++

Heh. True, but I don't think you could say that one escapes CDQ's concerns about King's work being "little too dark, disturbed and graphic".

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at June 01, 2014 08:32 PM (IN7k+)

253 @CDQ: How about some of his shorter stories? I'm thinking of two of his novellas from Different Seasons: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption and also, The Body, which were both made into movies (the latter was retitled "Stand By Me"). They both were stories that were pretty uplifting and devoid of his usual monsters (human or supernatural).

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at June 01, 2014 06:48 PM (IN7k+)

Good point. Those short stories (or novellas, take your pick) did escape King's general tendency towards icky monsters. Kind of like the pieces of the longer books that I like. He has definitely written some good stuff, which is why I respect him as a writer even while not loving most of the stuff that he wrote.

Posted by: CQD at June 01, 2014 10:25 PM (TBxjE)

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