Sunday Morning Book Thread 10-12-2014: Troglodytes [OregonMuse]

"What!? Nobel Prize For Literature Given To Unknown European Again? Ugh!"

Good morning morons and moronettes and welcome to AoSHQ's stately, prestigious, and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread. The only AoSHQ thread that is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Or kilts. Kilts are OK, too.

Nobel Follies

This year's Nobel Prize in literature was awarded to some French guy whose name I had never heard until now and I have no idea of what he's written or what he's famous for. I think I should know enough about these things so I can at least make some intelligent remarks about them for you all, even though, perhaps, few of us would care.

But, on the other hand, the L.A. Times article starts out like this:

We've read this story before: the contentious interview with the representative of the Swedish Academy, followed by the awarding of the Nobel Prize in literature to a European writer, largely unknown in the United States, who specializes in work that is small, interior, elliptical. Six years ago, it was Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio; this time, it is Patrick Modiano, author of more than 30 books, although only about a third have been translated into English.

Heh. So even the L.A. Times writer is at least aware of the perceptual problems here. But then he says this, and it really floored me:

...like many readers outside of France, I am largely unfamiliar with his writing, although what I've seen appears profound and engaged.

So, in other words, the author of this article, name of David Ulin, who was hired by the L.A. Times as a book critic, presumably to write authoritatively on the subject of books, admits he is "largely unfamiliar" with the body of work of the latest Nobel Prize winner. OK, so now maybe I don't feel so bad.

Of course, we all know that the Nobel Committee is a bunch of lefty d-bags appointed by the full-of-lefty-d-bags Swedish parliament, so I think we can say that much of what they do, the selections that they make, is animated by a primal, visceral hatred of the United States (which is why they gave the Peace Prize to Barack Obama). Also, to promote the agenda of the international lefty d-bag community and and whatever their current favorite cause is. Any reason to stick it to the American troglodytes is good enough.

Librairie Delamain Bookstore, Paris

Another Old Bookstore May Close

Librairie Delamain, the oldest bookstore in Paris, may be coming to the end of its days:

Librairie Delamain's lease is up for renewal by the Qatari company Constellation Hotel Holdings, which owns the block-wide property that also houses the soon-to-be-renovated Hôtel du Louvre. The company plans to double the bookstore's rent to 100,000 euros per year - nearly a tenth of their annual revenue. With already slim margins, the shop would be forced to shut down or abandon the storefront where it has been since 1906 (the business itself dates to 1700).

Wow, 1700. That's over 3 centuries of book selling.

Book Covers

Who's up for some really crappy book covers? OK, how about 15 objectively terrible sci-fi book covers? They're all of exceptionally low quality that ranges from Really Bad down to WTF? But I laffed at some of the accompanying commentary, and maybe you will, too. Mild NSFW warning for a couple of pics that are a bit "cheeky".

Bleg From an 'Ette

I received an e-mail from one of the 'ettes earlier this week:

Months ago I read on the book thread about a relatively new online book retailer (or maybe it was new to you then!), but I can't remember the name. It had a short name, four letters if I remember correctly, but it's been awhile. Can you tell me what it was?

I don't remember seeing this new book retailer referenced on the book thread, but maybe one of you can, and can help us out.

You Had One Job

Heh.

Thanks to NDH.

Books Of Note

I saw Rolling Thunder by Mark Berent advertised as a BookBub freebie this week and immediately snatched it up. This is why:

Rolling Thunder is an historical novel about the decisive role politics played during the Vietnam war. Its characters range from men in the field to the Pentagon and the White House. Fighter pilots and Special Forces warriors try to do their best but are hampered by President Johnson, Secretary of Defense McNamara, and their staff members who despise the military. Only one aging USAF general, who fought in Korea and WWII, is on their side. His clashes with his Commander in Chief, Lyndon Johnson, are epic in proportion and startling in content.

In Rolling Thunder, the time is late 1965 and 1966 in war zone places such as Saigon, Hanoi, Bien Hoa, Da Nang, and Tahkli. While back in Washington, LBJ sits over lunch and personally picks bombing targets in an attempt to fight a limited war. In Vietnam the war knows no limits.

So yeah, a novel like this, with obvious conservative leanings, I have to read it. The first chapter starts out with a fighter pilot doing his best to guide his shot-up F-100D Super Sabre jet back to the Bien Hoa Air Base with his fuel and hydraulic fluid leaking out rapidly due to the damage and will he make it to the runway in time?

According to BookBub, Rolling Thunder is available for $0.00 until Oct. 22nd. It's the first of the "Wings of War" series. You can see the others by vising author Mark Berent's Amazon page.

___________

A number of years ago, I went to a job interview in a seedy law office in a not-particularly-good part of town. The firm was looking to hire a general-purpose IT person to manage their computers. I asked them what the firm did and got a very rambling answer which, when boiled down, meant "bad debt collection". It was the only job interview I actually walked out of (the pay turned out to be absurdly and insultingly low, much lower than I needed to support my family), and I had to wonder what kind of people would willingly go into this line of work, and what was it like? That's the topic of Bad Paper: Chasing Debt from Wall Street to the Underworld, which is being touted on "best books of the month" lists but won't be released until Oct. 14th.

The author interview is pretty interesting, and he's trying to make the case that we need some sort of "national debt registry" so debts can't be sold 5 or 6 times to multiple parties. But then he says this:

HALPERN: In some ways, all of this sounds so crazy, so far-fetched, so aboriginal. But this is perhaps the inevitable in the absence of regulation, in the absence of close policing. When a guy like Aaron has to call a guy like Brandon to protect his own assets because he feels that for a host of reasons, the authorities can't do it. And these guys, weirdly, as crazy as this whole dynamic is, in the absence of kind of a court officer or a regulator there, they work it out.

Heh. "They work it out." Without any kind of local, state, or federal regulation, they manage to settle their differences and come to an agreement, as if they were rational, responsible human beings. Whoever heard of such a thing?

But as for the author, he's an idiot:

HALPERN: Can you imagine if there was no Department of Motor Vehicles? There was no VIN number on cars, that every time you bought a car from someone, you were just buying it on faith that they really owned it? It would be insane

No, it wouldn't. We do have laws on the books against selling stolen property, or has he forgotten? So that would act as a disincentive against, you know, selling stolen property. So it would be just like any other private transaction.

They're trying to make the case that debt collection is a wild, uncontrolled situation that cries out for a dose of heavy regulation. But from what I've heard so far from the author's own mouth, I'm just not seeing it.

And remember, however bad it is, it's better than debtors' prisons.

What I'm Reading

I'm very much enjoying The Viking by Marti Talbott. It's the first of a series and is currently available for the low, low price of FREE for the Kindle edition. 15-year-old Stefan finally gets to accompany his father, the leader of a Viking loot-and-pillage expedition, to the coast of Scotland. But the raid goes horribly wrong, the Scots put up unexpectedly fierce resistance, and what's left of the raiding party flees for home, leaving Stefan behind to fend for himself. He meets up with a girl his own age, whom he takes an instant dislike to, and her mother, whose relationships to her absent husband and to the laird of her clan are complicated. There is a bit more suspension of disbelief that's required than I'd like (how can Stefan pass himself off as a Scot so easily, and isn't 'Stefan' actually a Christian name?), but I like the story, anyway, as it keeps me turning the pages. It almost could be a YA novel, and in fact, probably should be.

___________

So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, bribes, rumors, threats, and insults may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at the book thread e-mail address: 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 keep saying, life is too short to be reading lousy books.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:30 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 ::Furiously checking Alibris and Abe Books for the "Hail Hibbler" book cover::

These wretched tomes would have pride of place on my bookshelf.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 12, 2014 09:27 AM (QBm1P)

2 I got "First"?!? On the book thread? An auspicious beginning to my Sunday.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 12, 2014 09:30 AM (QBm1P)

3 What is a book, anymore, anyway? he asked academically, as a way of waving hello to the book thread

Posted by: mindful webworker - avid reader at October 12, 2014 09:31 AM (yts6L)

4 Gonna try to wade through James Blish's 'Cities in Flight' books.

Posted by: --- at October 12, 2014 09:32 AM (MMC8r)

5 Those Sci-Fi book covers?

I actually read "The Gods Hate Kansas" about 40 some years ago when I was a kid.

It has something to do with the amount of Helium underground (more than anywhere else), and attracting some kind of alien invasion (by meteorites).

Posted by: Bossy Conservative riding the comfy chair at October 12, 2014 09:33 AM (+1T7c)

6 I'm still in my shorts, and I'm not going to change.

Posted by: Killerdog at October 12, 2014 09:34 AM (vntmB)

7 Gonna try to wade through James Blish's 'Cities in Flight' books.
Posted by: --- at

You'll be disappointed.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative riding the comfy chair at October 12, 2014 09:35 AM (+1T7c)

8 Have to admit, used to love Paris bookstores. Paris is basically too good for the French.

Posted by: goatexchange at October 12, 2014 09:36 AM (o1LKT)

9 I remember reading all the Mark Berent books when they first came out. Good stuff, but really depressing, because Berent doesn't sugar-count what really happened: The U.S. lost the Vietnam War because our civilian leaders, from LBJ on down, were a bunch of clueless assholes who tried to do in SE Asia exactly what we're doing right now with ISIS in Iraq. The author also portrays the anti-war Left of that era as little more than traitors and willing tools of the Soviets, Chinese and North Vietnamese. Don't read this series if you're trying to keep your blood pressure under control, he does a really good job describing some very unpleasant people.

Berent highlights a wide variety of ground and air units and even included a small cameo from my old unit, the Green Hornets (back when they still flew Hueys). You can probably find Berent's novels in the military thriller section of your local used bookstore.

Posted by: Pave Low John at October 12, 2014 09:36 AM (b5yHT)

10 Morning all. I am trying to look serious here while I am on Duty so nod your heads like I am saying something important. Shit I hate typing on this windows computer.
Anyway this is a book thread ha? OK, so what is the smallest book in the world?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at October 12, 2014 09:36 AM (GFM+D)

11 "what I've seen appears profound and engaged"
What?
"appears"?
Oh. He's talking about the cover. Got it.

Posted by: hairless mule at October 12, 2014 09:38 AM (EqmTZ)

12 OK, so what is the smallest book in the world?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at October 12, 2014 09:36 AM (GFM+D)

"The Wit and Wisdom of Barak Obama" ?

Posted by: Tunafish at October 12, 2014 09:40 AM (Vxp7A)

13 If that Paris bookstore does close, I want to be there on the first day they do a Going Out of Business sale. After about a week of recon and purchasing samples of their collection. Yeah.

As for the air war over Viet Nam...
On Yankee Station by John Nicholas and Barrett Tillman
Fighter Pilot - Robin Olds, Christina Olds, and Ed Rasimus
Wrecking Crew: the 388th TFW in Vietnam by Jerry Scutts
American Patriot by Roger Coram.
Bury Us Upside Down: The Misty Pilots and the Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail by Rick Newman and Don Shepperd.

Just a few books to read on the subject.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at October 12, 2014 09:41 AM (Lg9+U)

14 I bet cavemen had much nicer hair.

Many probably shaved it all off and kept it that way.

There, I feel better now.

Just started reading a series called Monster Squad.

Not bad. Nothing new, but quite readable.

Posted by: eman at October 12, 2014 09:42 AM (MQEz6)

15 I think book covers today are even worse, and have an even more amateurish quality to them.

http://tinyurl.com/pv3vdf4

Posted by: Dr. Varno at October 12, 2014 09:43 AM (fIv/H)

16 I bet you were just waiting in ambush to snag first there All Hair Eris

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at October 12, 2014 09:44 AM (Lg9+U)

17 Flipping back and forth between fiction, "Those Who Wish Me Dead", and non-fiction, "The Candy Bombers".

I've got coffee perking, lamb curry in the slow cooker, a comfy couch, and two fat books. Life is good.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 12, 2014 09:46 AM (QBm1P)

18 OK, so what is the smallest book in the world?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at October 12, 2014 09:36 AM (GFM+D)

"The Wit and Wisdom of Barak Obama" ?

Posted by: Tunafish at October 12, 2014 09:40 AM (Vxp7A)

Gee your good. That is exactly where I was going. It used to be the "Book of Jewish Business Ethics" followed close behind by the "Boof of Italian War Heroes" but "The Wit and Wisdom of Barak Obama" and the " The Book of Fredo Foreign Policy Victories" has leap frogged them both

Posted by: Nevergiveup at October 12, 2014 09:47 AM (GFM+D)

19 Just ordered the moron classic: The Daughter of the Pangaran

Posted by: Jean at October 12, 2014 09:47 AM (TETYm)

20 Don't blame me,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlRXQEA0yj0

You were the one that mentioned Troglodytes.....

Posted by: the guy that moves pianos for a living... at October 12, 2014 09:47 AM (M6Vhk)

21 The story of the Parisian book store sound like moslem discrimination to me. One small step to diminish the West: instead of burning the bookstore, they just buy the building and jack up the rent until the owners are forced to close.

Jihad, except with money.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy, who did not vote for this shit at October 12, 2014 09:48 AM (0HooB)

22 It was blind luck I tell ya, Anna!

By the way, I really did order that hideous "They saved Hitler's doctor's brain" book on Abe Books. I bet it's even more disturbing IRL. Can't wait to casually whip it out of my purse and read it at my local coffee bar.

There's a part of me that just adores trashy paperback sci-fi.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 12, 2014 09:50 AM (QBm1P)

23 Since it has been a few months since I promoted my little book -

http://astore.amazon.com/aoshq-20/detail/B00K9GTQP0

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at October 12, 2014 09:50 AM (Lg9+U)

24 Authors rarely have influence on what kind of art is on the cover of their books (and for that matter, the back blurb). As a result, sometimes you get some results that are very, very strange. I can recall reading about how some of the overseas translations of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings got really, um, UNIQUE covers.

Posted by: Toastrider at October 12, 2014 09:52 AM (nklyc)

25 To be really trashy and punch as many tropes and memes as possible...

The mad Doktor's brain is transplanted by his bumbling assistant Eeeekkk! Gor into the body of a French hooker.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at October 12, 2014 09:53 AM (Lg9+U)

26 That bookstore reminds me of a burger joint here in Austin that had been on South Congress St (yeah, I'm not calling it SoCo) for 40 years. Great old fashioned drive in that made fabulous burger and shakes.

Well, the city decided to gentrify the area, and when it came time to renew their lease the price was too high for them to stay open. They closed down and now...

The building sits unoccupied. Great job, guys. Keep Austin Weird!

Posted by: Lauren at October 12, 2014 09:53 AM (BPMYx)

27 Just had a disturbing thought...you know how a lot of people instinctively lick their finger before turning the page of a book or magazine...go to last thread.

Posted by: Havedash at October 12, 2014 09:53 AM (G1XMn)

28 Are those book covers really worse than a lot of modern books that feature nothing but a CGI script of the title and tell you absolutely nothing about the book, or photoshopped photos?

Posted by: --- at October 12, 2014 09:54 AM (MMC8r)

29 15 I think book covers today are even worse, and have an even more amateurish quality to them.

http://tinyurl.com/pv3vdf4
Posted by: Dr. Varno at October 12, 2014 09:43 AM (fIv/H)
------------
At least the old pulps had actual bad paintings of be-codded meathead heroes mighty of thew with callipygian damsels slung over their shoulders, or a rocket exploding in space, or some other cool shite. Now it's just bad photoshopping. The embarrassing covers are half the fun.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 12, 2014 09:56 AM (QBm1P)

30 I finally got to The Martian this week. I join the chorus of Morons and Others in saying it's an excellent book, well worth the time. Funny, thrilling, and the protagonist would be a moron himself: bright, disdainful of foolish government bureaucrats, and boobies! Good stuff, maximum number of review marks (stars or boobies or whatever).

Posted by: J. Random Dude at October 12, 2014 09:56 AM (8OfdL)

31 J. Random, I do not recall...boobies.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 12, 2014 09:58 AM (QBm1P)

32 "Richard Blade, Jewel of the Tharn"". Hubba, hubba. Wonder if it's available on Kindle.

Posted by: Tuna at October 12, 2014 09:59 AM (hpWy+)

33 How about this collection of cover art from the pulps -
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Astounding

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at October 12, 2014 09:59 AM (Lg9+U)

34 At least the old pulps had actual bad paintings of be-codded meathead heroes mighty of thew with callipygian damsels slung over their shoulders, or a rocket exploding in space, or some other cool shite. Now it's just bad photoshopping. The embarrassing covers are half the fun.

I remember the covers of Tom Swift books back in the early '60's being pretty kewl. Rockets and giant robots FTW!

Posted by: BackwardsBoy, who did not vote for this shit at October 12, 2014 10:01 AM (0HooB)

35 That Viking novel has the Kindle price it deserves.

The Nobel Prize in Literature is what certain SF writers want the Hugo Award to be every year. Take some obscure Leftist posey preachy crap that no one outside of 5 people in an university town has ever read, and praise it before the world.

Posted by: exdem13 at October 12, 2014 10:01 AM (lJaja)

36 I finally got to The Martian this week

Posted by: J. Random Dude at October 12, 2014 09:56 AM (8OfdL)

I got it a few months ago but haven't gotten to it. I just finished Perfidia by James Ellroy. I normally love his books, but this one was very slow , ponderous and confusing.

I started 13 Hours last night, the Benghazi expose by several survivors - haven't really gotten to the action yet.

Posted by: Tunafish at October 12, 2014 10:01 AM (Vxp7A)

37 AHE, there were. Pictures and everything. Bottom of page 129 of the US hardback edition.

Posted by: J. Random Dude at October 12, 2014 10:03 AM (8OfdL)

38 J. Random, I do not recall...boobies.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 12, 2014 09:58 AM (QBm1P)

You don't remember when he was texting to earth and they told him to be careful because kids were reading his text stream and he said Look, boobies! (.Y.) ?

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, Temporarily FL Chapter at October 12, 2014 10:04 AM (crITR)

39 Elect me president of the United States, and come January 2017, the moment will arrive when the rise of the oceans will begin to slow and our planet will begin to heal.

Oui! Oui!

Posted by: M. Ulin at October 12, 2014 10:04 AM (RZBhK)

40 The Golden Amazons of Venus

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32544/32544-h/32544-h.htm

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at October 12, 2014 10:05 AM (Lg9+U)

41 About fifteen years ago I worked for 18 months for a guy (whom I now refer to as "Psycho Tom" because he had the worst case of undiagnosed ADD ever) who bought bad paper. He would not buy credit card debt - not worth the effort to collect. The banks usually bundle up a bunch of small loans and lines of credit with a few really big collectible debts. Some of the big debtors were real scumbags. If the debtors were real hardship cases and wanted to pay off the debt, Psycho Tom would work out a reduced payment plan and forgive most of the debt. The liars and cheats, however, were shown no mercy. At least once Psycho Tom repossessed a guy's golf clubs from his country club locker. That got the guy's attention.

Posted by: biancaneve at October 12, 2014 10:06 AM (6Turu)

42 http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32544/32544-h/32544-h.htm

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at October 12, 2014 10:05 AM (Lg9+U)

They need to do one more and then there will be 47,000.

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, Temporarily FL Chapter at October 12, 2014 10:07 AM (crITR)

43 Here is a gem from one of the screenplay writers for The Empire Strikes Back. From 1951 Leigh Brackett's Black Amazon of Mars.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32544/32544-h/32544-h.htm

Be careful and watch where she swings that axe.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at October 12, 2014 10:08 AM (Lg9+U)

44 OK, so what is the smallest book in the world?

*****

Chelsea Clinton's "Out of Poverty- My Struggles in the Workplace" has to be in the top 10.

Posted by: S. Muldoon at October 12, 2014 10:09 AM (NeFrd)

45 More from my days working for Psycho Tom: One time one of the major banks sold a bunch of performing business lines of credit along with a few really big non-performing loans. We sent out letters to the businesses telling them we were closing the line of credit and they needed to pay in full. Some of the businesses then turned around and went back to Major Bank to open up a new line of credit with which they paid off their old line of credit that had been sold for pennies on the dollar. One business had taken out of loan for $500k that they had defaulted on, but business had started to improve and they were trying to negotiate with Major Bank to accept 100% of the principal and 50% of the interest and penalties. Major Bank said no and sold the loan for pennies on the dollar. Dumb.

Posted by: biancaneve at October 12, 2014 10:12 AM (6Turu)

46 Kilts are encouraged. Oh yes.

Still desperately trying to find some good commuting books. Read samples of some recommendations, none really made the bar (some were so bad even free I deleted after the first few chapters. When you live the Moron Lifestyle you have to protect the few brain cells you have.) Re-reading The Last Centurion because it's nearly Halloween and I might as well scare myself with how damn familiar it is all sounding.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at October 12, 2014 10:12 AM (2buaQ)

47 So I downloaded a 7 book set of Dean Koontz's "Odd Thomas" and I've started in on them. The first book is a lot like the movie which is what got me to download the books in the first place, I've heard good things about the series.

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, Temporarily FL Chapter at October 12, 2014 10:12 AM (crITR)

48 The embarrassing covers are half the fun.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 12, 2014 09:56 AM

Maybe ALL the fun.

I've actually read one of the books-with-wretched-covers that OM linked (A Scanner Darkly) and my theory has become: you CAN judge a book by its cover.

Cover sucked; story within does, too.

Posted by: MrScribbler at October 12, 2014 10:13 AM (A17aa)

49 Sorry, but that Troglodyte on the left with the curly hair, has obviously used some type of hair care product. Too much loft and shape for a caveman. Although I suppose it is possible that they made big batches of shampoo out of Woolly Mammoth placentas.

Posted by: S. Muldoon at October 12, 2014 10:13 AM (NeFrd)

50 Sabrina Chase, ha! Yep sometimes the only thing you can do with really bad e-books is delete them.

Right now there is a guy in one of my writers groups who is seeing everything he has scribbled for the last ten years get over taken by real events. Though he imagines Ebola as a deliberate bio-weapon used to destroy civilization.

And supposed to meet with some NaNoWriMos today to thrash out a schedule of events for November. *thud*

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at October 12, 2014 10:16 AM (Lg9+U)

51 "Kilts are encouraged. Oh yes."

Excellent.

FWIW, the next kilt will be in the Navy's Edzell tartan but I'm considering the SEABEE tartan instead in honor of Grandfather, who once told my father he didn't want his kids to be Sailors or mechanics.

http://www.kilts-n-stuff.com/us-armed-forces/us-navy/

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, Temporarily FL Chapter at October 12, 2014 10:17 AM (crITR)

52 I wonder how much fiction there is in "Rolling Thunder"? While in high school, some friends and I formed an jug band to entertain wounded Marines in the local Navy hospital, circa 1968/9. We didn't hear complaints about being wounded. (Their biggest concern was to get well and support their brothers.) But they hated that they had been wounded and lost friends for political ends, not military ends. They knew the truth but had no choice in the matter. This was my first glimmer that Walter Cronkite and company were lying sacks of shit.

Posted by: JTB at October 12, 2014 10:18 AM (FvdPb)

53 The space capsule blasting off on the "Hail Hibbler" cover looks like the one from It's About Time.

There. I successfully combined the sci-fi book cover meme and the troglodyte meme.

Posted by: rickl at October 12, 2014 10:19 AM (sdi6R)

54 Must get Anna's boo, at least as soon as I can get Amazon.com to acknowledge that I do indeed have a Kindle account.

41
About fifteen years ago I worked for 18 months for a guy (whom I now
refer to as "Psycho Tom" because he had the worst case of undiagnosed
ADD ever) who bought bad paper.

Now THERE is a great introduction to a story!

Posted by: exdem13 at October 12, 2014 10:20 AM (lJaja)

55 If you've ever had a very special dog, read The Book of Barkley. It's a beautifully written story of life lessons learned from a black Lab. Info can be found here:
http://www.outskirtspress.com/bookofbarkley/

I am not affiliated in any way with the author or the publisher.

Posted by: electric_monk at October 12, 2014 10:20 AM (CS2pB)

56 "Uh Egon, Rickl has gone bye-bye. He crossed the memes."

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at October 12, 2014 10:21 AM (Lg9+U)

57 OK, so what is the smallest book in the world?

'How To Live A Normal Life' by Lena Dunham.

Posted by: OregonMuse at October 12, 2014 10:23 AM (yRdR4)

58 selections that they make, is animated by a primal, visceral hatred of the United States

But in a way, isn't this the story of the entire Arts establishment since at least the 50's, more probably the 20's, possibly the 1890's? And, Barack Obama.

I had an uncle who was a well-known Artiste, and tenured faculty in Kali despite only a master's degree. His real "business" was arts-administration and grantsmanship, and that field was commie-rotten to the core by the mid-60's.

You not a fellow traveler? You ain't gettin in the show. This attitude was just received conventional wisdom by the 70's, and, gratefully, kept me out of the poetry business such as it is. In retrospect, that wound still aches a little. Barely.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at October 12, 2014 10:23 AM (xq1UY)

59 9 I remember reading all the Mark Berent books when they first came out. Good stuff, but really depressing, because Berent doesn't sugar-count what really happened: The U.S. lost the Vietnam War because our civilian leaders, from LBJ on down, were a bunch of clueless assholes who tried to do in SE Asia exactly what we're doing right now with ISIS in Iraq. The author also portrays the anti-war Left of that era as little more than traitors and willing tools of the Soviets, Chinese and North Vietnamese. Don't read this series if you're trying to keep your blood pressure under control, he does a really good job describing some very unpleasant people.

Nothing, many of us, haven't known for a very long time. Vietnam was won, militarily, after Tet and thrown away politically, by traitors.

I have yet to meet a leftist that I would describe as pleasant. Rude, abrasive, arrogant and a simple-minded reservoir of thoughtless platitudes regurgitated from memory; rather than reasoned conclusions crafted from honest research.

Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Suntanning in Bizzaro World at October 12, 2014 10:24 AM (05hIu)

60 Just back from a week of vacation. The rental house had plenty of books on the shelf. Read 'Gone Girl'..., meh plot..., but the writing was interesting.

Also, an 'Agatha Raisin' Brit mystery. That's right, the protagonist is a female detective. The writer has apparently made a career of mimicking Agatha Christie, albeit without the skills. Astonishingly, the lady has written a slew of novels, so she must have a following. Simple, mediocre, but entertaining enough for vacation.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 12, 2014 10:24 AM (l1zOH)

61 Being awarded a prestigious literary prize is about like being elected vice-president: the chosen one is never heard of again. The exception to this is the Hugos, at least the older ones, and even there the scourge of 'New Wave' was ascendant for a while.

Posted by: PersonFromPorlock at October 12, 2014 10:24 AM (Mjn+V)

62 I have yet to meet a leftist that I would describe as pleasant. Rude, abrasive, arrogant and a simple-minded reservoir of thoughtless platitudes regurgitated from memory; rather than reasoned conclusions crafted from honest research.
Posted by: 98ZJUSMC
------------------------

Shut Up!

Posted by: Liberal at October 12, 2014 10:25 AM (l1zOH)

63 So winning the Pulitzer in Lit is much akin to being chosen the winner at a cannibal pot-luck dinner?

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at October 12, 2014 10:28 AM (Lg9+U)

64 "Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 12, 2014 10:24 AM (l1zOH"

The same author's "Hamish MacBeth" series are much more enjoyable. The fundamental problem with her Agatha Raisin books is that her protagonist is unlikable, with few or no redeeming features.

Posted by: PersonFromPorlock at October 12, 2014 10:30 AM (Mjn+V)

65 Just finished Correia's Spellbound. Gonna have to read it again since I was interrupted so many times.
I also picked up and am half way through Harry Harrison's Deathworld 3. Read it first when I was 12. Even now it is a good book.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 12, 2014 10:30 AM (t//F+)

66 Rude, abrasive, arrogant and a simple-minded reservoir of thoughtless platitudes

Oh, it's true enough. It might be useful (hell it might be a good master's thesis) to trace the origin of this. Somewhere between the French Revolution and Hank Thoreau, I'd guess. Older? You'd think they'd have stumbled forward by now.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at October 12, 2014 10:32 AM (xq1UY)

67 I'm not crazy about the "Agatha Raisin" books either. I recently tried another series, "Books by the Bay," with a fairly standoffish protagonist and found that it did not work for me. I applaud the writers trying to do something different with their characters, but if you don't have a detective protagonist the writer can identify with, it isn't going to work.

Posted by: Dr Alice at October 12, 2014 10:33 AM (cFCmn)

68 They knew the truth but had no choice in the matter. This was my first glimmer that Walter Cronkite and company were lying sacks of shit.

Posted by: JTB at October 12, 2014 10:18 AM (FvdPb)

Mine came much later (I was in grade school during Tet) when the truth about just how thoroughly the VC were annihilated. They simply no longer existed.

There are few people in history I thoroughly despise as much as that fetid sack of lying shit.

Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Suntanning in Bizzaro World at October 12, 2014 10:33 AM (05hIu)

69 I have yet to meet a leftist that I would describe as pleasant. Rude, abrasive, arrogant and a simple-minded reservoir of thoughtless platitudes regurgitated from memory; rather than reasoned conclusions crafted from honest research.
Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Suntanning in Bizzaro World

In many ways, isn't this also the story of Barack Obama?

Posted by: Bossy Conservative riding the comfy chair at October 12, 2014 10:34 AM (+1T7c)

70 I'm back! I actually never left.

Posted by: Ebola in Dallas at October 12, 2014 10:34 AM (m0le6)

71 ====8

Of course, we all know that the Nobel Committee is a bunch of lefty d-bags appointed by the full-of-lefty-d-bags Swedish parliament, so I think we can say that much of what they do, the selections that they make, is animated by a primal, visceral hatred of the United States (which is why they gave the Peace Prize to Barack Obama).

====>8====

Just to be pedantic, the Peace Prize is awarded by a bunch of lefty d-bags appointed by the full of lefty d-bags *Norwegian* parliament. The Literature Prize is awarded by the Swedish Academy, which is a different body of lefty d-bags which is indeed appointed by the full of lefty d-bags Swedish parliament.

Posted by: infinite-barrier at October 12, 2014 10:35 AM (sX7Lt)

72 Picked up Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand - about three years after everyone else, I know. It's a page-turner, and she really knows how to pare a story down to the essentials and to keep it moving. I'm at the part where they've been adrift for over 30 days, and are just about to hit the Japanese occupied islands. Gripping stuff.

Posted by: PabloD at October 12, 2014 10:35 AM (/rjZA)

73 But, but...Cronkite owned a racing sailboat, and raced a Jaguar (have to look it up, but it was rare, maybe a C-type). He couldn't be a communist! Could he?

And that's the way it was.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at October 12, 2014 10:36 AM (xq1UY)

74 The Norwegian Parliament gave the Peace Prize to Obama.

Leave Sweden out of it. Sweden at least give out good Science Nobles.

For your peer-reviewed reading pleasure:
http://tinyurl.com/6a7s4yf

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 12, 2014 10:36 AM (u82oZ)

75 Finally finished "REAMDE" this week - once it got going I could not put it down!

Thanks to the moron who recommended "Parasite Rex." Got a used copy for my son, who has to read 100 min/week but hates fiction, and he is all over it.

Posted by: Lizzy at October 12, 2014 10:37 AM (D/504)

76 In another 280 years, Amazon is going to be totally AWESOME!

Posted by: J Moses Browning at October 12, 2014 10:38 AM (jxPRP)

77
Hello from Way Down Here and it's Monday...

Lovely warm Spring weather here in Sydney, sowe took the car to the carwash late in the afternoon, came home and heard rain was forecast for today - car gets a lovely clean and polish = rain happens soon afterwards (tried and true formula)

Books I'm reading "Postcards" by Annie Proulx and it's not bad - it is her first novel and some here may have read her later book "The Shipping News"

Also on the reading list for this week

"Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" by Jack Weatherford

and

"Bring up the Bodies" by Hilary Mantel - this book won the 2012 Man Booker Prize 2012 and one of my dear doctor co workers bought it for me
Happy reading everyone, and have a wonderful yesterday!

Posted by: aussie at October 12, 2014 10:39 AM (z8dh1)

78 Re-reading The Last Centurion because it's nearly Halloween and I might as well scare myself with how damn familiar it is all sounding.
Posted by: Sabrina Chase at October 12, 2014 10:12 AM (2buaQ)
------------
My current reread, under our Dear Leader's regime, is pinging nerves that my initial read did not. Back then it was all about SARS and the war abroad. Now it's hitting closer to home.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 12, 2014 10:39 AM (QBm1P)

79 I met Mark Berent at a book signing. He left a nice inscription in my copy of Rolling Thunder.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 12, 2014 10:40 AM (u82oZ)

80 That cover for "Children Of The Lens" actually shows a scene from the story. The man in the center is brother to the young women. But I don't know why the artist put him in a space suit that makes him look like he has three tits.

Posted by: JTB at October 12, 2014 10:41 AM (FvdPb)

81 OK Cronkite won endurance rallies 1958-61 in a Volvo PV444.
So yes, he could be a communist. Heh.

Then again Tibor Machan sang the praises of the P1800, and, love him or hate him, he's pretty far from communist.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at October 12, 2014 10:41 AM (xq1UY)

82 Do not badmouth Kelly Freas (R.I.P.), the greatest SF illustrator of all time. Do not.

I have several signed prints and one original, worth a TON of money.

Posted by: Bat Chain Puller at October 12, 2014 10:42 AM (jpc8l)

83 Quirky British bookstores:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ailbhemalone/british-bookshops#13pku1b

Posted by: Lizzy at October 12, 2014 10:42 AM (D/504)

84 Reading Tom Clancy aka Mark Greaney's latest Support and Defend. The special snowflake Tranzi did it and is Snowdenning. Gruesome should be delivered soon.

Posted by: DaveA at October 12, 2014 10:43 AM (DL2i+)

85 Posted by: PersonFromPorlock at October 12, 2014 10:30 AM (Mjn+V)

Yes! In fact, Hamish MacBeth is apparently the only protagonist in any of her series that she doesn't *loathe*. From reading about the author, apparently she's a historian but has found that "popular novels" pay the bills much better. She appears to resent her audience and characters while being unwilling/unable to refuse the cash they bring in.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette, assault Hobbit at October 12, 2014 10:49 AM (GDulk)

86 71 infinite-barrier at October 12, 2014 10:35 AM (sX7Lt)

You type pretty fast there, ya young punk.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 12, 2014 10:52 AM (u82oZ)

87 Mark Berent's books were first published back in the early 1990s. There is actually something of a "story arc" to them. The locales his characters deal with range from Vietnam to the Middle East. If you like stories about fighter jocks in tight situations, they make for pretty good reads.

Posted by: The Oort Cloud--SMOD is inbound at October 12, 2014 10:53 AM (l1Nun)

88 Well that was certainly one book title I missed postulating on to describe the Presidency of Gaylord Focker -

Destroyer of Worlds.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at October 12, 2014 10:53 AM (Lg9+U)

89 Cronkite wasn't "communist." Search YouTube for "Cronkite, Satan".

Posted by: mindful webworker - he admits it at October 12, 2014 10:56 AM (yts6L)

90 what if the nurse purposefully infected herself? i'm not saying she did....but what if she did?

Posted by: phoenixgirl @phxazgrl, I Heart the SF Giants at October 12, 2014 10:58 AM (u8GsB)

91 One note missed on the Mark Beret trilogy is how incompetent / career-minded / evil the senior leadership of the AF was portrayed. The politicians were the worst, but just below them was the AF leadership. IMHO, that was pretty accurate.

Lookup how SAC conducted the B-52 campaign. They had not kept up with the tactical innovations of the tac bombers in Thailand and S. Vietnam. Of particular note was using the same bomb route on separate raids. We lost B-52s and good men doing that.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 12, 2014 11:01 AM (u82oZ)

92 "lefty d-bags appointed by the full-of-lefty-d-bags"

Douche bags? Dick bags? Dingleberry bags? What the heck is going on here? I can't tell!

Sci-fi book covers - just like the movie Gentlemen Broncos.

Posted by: Dang at October 12, 2014 11:01 AM (MNq6o)

93 Was 'nurse' SUCH a bad term that they HAD to replace it with 'health care worker'? is that SUCH a problem that needed to be fixed?! they have so little actual job-satisfying work that they have to re-name that shit? and what about 'ho'? isn't it good enough, or do they HAVE to re-name it - sex-worker'?!

Posted by: goatexchange at October 12, 2014 11:05 AM (sYUHT)

94 Began "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius, translated by George Long. Not crazy about this translation from the mid-Victorian period. He used rather archaic words as if to be sure he maintained an 'ancient aura' and authority to the text. That's inappropriate for something that was meant as a personal journal or series of notes. I'll get a copy of the Staniforth translation which gets high praise.

Almost through with "If I Had Lunch With C.S. Lewis" by Alister McGrath. It's an enjoyable read and would serve as a good introduction to Lewis' better known works.

Posted by: JTB at October 12, 2014 11:05 AM (FvdPb)

95 Prizes for literature almost never go to bestselling authors. They prefer to reward authors that only the intelligentsia can understand and appreciate.

Posted by: Klown 2.0 at October 12, 2014 11:05 AM (5fSr7)

96 Douche bags? Dick bags? Dingleberry bags? What the heck is going on here? I can't tell!

Heh. Let your imagination be your guide. Spelling out such things is too crude for the high-class, ultra-refined, hoity-toity book thread.

But either your first or second suggestion is what I had in mind.

Posted by: OregonMuse at October 12, 2014 11:07 AM (yRdR4)

97 95 Prizes for literature almost never go to bestselling authors. They prefer to reward authors that only the intelligentsia can understand and appreciate.

I agree!!!

Posted by: Archir Comic Books at October 12, 2014 11:07 AM (sYUHT)

98 There are few people in history I thoroughly despise as much as that fetid sack of lying shit.
At trivia last week there was a question, what year did the following events occur? Three of the events were the death of Cronkite, Kennedy and Sullenberger landing on the Hudson river. The answer is 2009, as I turned it in I told the trivia host "you know, 3 of those things were cause to get drunk in celebration"

Posted by: Weirddave at October 12, 2014 11:08 AM (9422s)

99 Probably one of the best lines in Fighter Pilot is when LBJ asked Gen. Robin Olds, ace and MiG master, for his opinion on Viet Nam.

Robin replied, "Win the G@dd@mn war!"

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at October 12, 2014 11:10 AM (Lg9+U)

100
The same author's "Hamish MacBeth" series are much more enjoyable. The fundamental problem with her Agatha Raisin books is that her protagonist is unlikable, with few or no redeeming features.

Posted by: PersonFromPorlock at October 12, 2014 10:30 AM

This.

Posted by: Gem at October 12, 2014 11:10 AM (zw+pb)

101 The Last Centurion sadly reads like non-fiction these days. I like it though.

Posted by: exdem13 at October 12, 2014 11:12 AM (lJaja)

102 exdem just remember the quote, "And the living envied the dead."

"Cheer up. Look on the bright side of life. And whistle."

And thank you for purchasing that short story collection. Hope you enjoy.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at October 12, 2014 11:14 AM (Lg9+U)

103 re: The Last Centurion - he needs better editing because sometimes the #s just don't make sense. Letting Queen Scankles triple the US death toll does not seem very honorable to me.

Posted by: DaveA at October 12, 2014 11:15 AM (DL2i+)

104 95
Prizes for literature almost never go to bestselling authors. They
prefer to reward authors that only the intelligentsia can understand and
appreciate.

Meanwhile, the AosS intelligentsia are reading about Agent Franks being rude to Agency d-bags.

Posted by: exdem13 at October 12, 2014 11:16 AM (lJaja)

105 A Scanner Darkly...in many ways, isn't this the story of Ron Burgundy?

Posted by: Gem at October 12, 2014 11:18 AM (zw+pb)

106 And speaking of pale, malformed troglodytes, from the same page as the hurlificent SF paperback covers comes this compendium of punk bands:

http://tinyurl.com/nfgch8v

I remember liking Lords of the New Church and the Dead Kennedys.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 12, 2014 11:18 AM (QBm1P)

107 Meanwhile, the AosS intelligentsia are reading about Agent Franks being rude to Agency d-bags.
Posted by: exdem13 at October 12, 2014 11:16 AM (lJaja)
-----------
And we're the richer for it.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 12, 2014 11:19 AM (QBm1P)

108 If nobody space-mentioned it before, that space picture is of space cavemen who live on a space planet in space, what gets found by a bunch of space idiots on a drifting former Earth moon. Something about a 'Full Circle' or something. In space.

Posted by: Commander Koenig, Grade A Space Idiot at October 12, 2014 11:22 AM (TkwhI)

109 re: the bad book covers... I miss that late 70s/early 80s art style that also found its way onto every other VHS sleeve and a fair number of album covers at the time.

Posted by: Blackford Oakes at October 12, 2014 11:22 AM (KVnkf)

110 Hey, I just read this hilarious comedy.

It's called-

"The Hot Zone"

Check it out. You'll die laughing.

Posted by: Ebola at October 12, 2014 11:23 AM (KBvAm)

111 82 Do not badmouth Kelly Freas (R.I.P.), the greatest SF illustrator of all time. Do not.
There was a time before John Campbell's death when it seemed that Freas defined the artistic style of Analog magazine. Seemed he did nearly every other cover, and frequently interior illustrations as well.

Posted by: Fox2! at October 12, 2014 11:23 AM (brIR5)

112 But, but...Cronkite owned a racing sailboat, and raced a Jaguar (have to look it up, but it was rare, maybe a C-type). He couldn't be a communist! Could he?
----------------

It is very easy to to entertain radical philosophies when there is no personal demand as a consequence.

Hollywood, the media.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 12, 2014 11:24 AM (l1zOH)

113 Is anyone else having trouble loading the new page about ebola? It disappears quickly and gets replaced by something about trained monkeys.

Posted by: Jinx the Cat at October 12, 2014 11:24 AM (c+U0V)

114 Nevergiveup - Smallest book in the world?

My library that fits on a 128 gbyte SD chip. Smaller than a postage stamp. Does that count?

Posted by: Fewenuff at October 12, 2014 11:26 AM (zPNX5)

115 108 If nobody space-mentioned it before, that space picture is of space cavemen who live on a space planet in space, what gets found by a bunch of space idiots on a drifting former Earth moon. Something about a 'Full Circle' or something. In space.

Posted by: Commander Koenig, Grade A Space Idiot at October 12, 2014 11:22 AM (TkwhI)

Actually it was the Alphans themselves, regressed.

Posted by: Victor Bergman, Galactic Smartass at October 12, 2014 11:26 AM (MMC8r)

116 Oh, dear - late to the thread already. I'm still working on Rutherford's "Sarum" - about halfway through, in pre-Black Death medieval, with the building of Salisbury Cathedral.

I promised the 'ron and 'ronette volunteers who were alpha readers for my latest, Lone Star Sons - a gratis copy, but I still need a couple of mailing addresses. Y'all know who you are. Drop a line to clyahayes-at-gee-mail-dot-com.

Lone Star Sons is now available for pre-order at Amazon and Barnes & Noble too, as the release day is the 15th.

Finally - my very favorite set of mangled book covers is this one: http://tinyurl.com/4t7mf (Or just google Longmire Does Romance)

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at October 12, 2014 11:28 AM (95iDF)

117 Jinx well there is a post by Pixy Misa. So at least the AoS Top Men are working on it.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at October 12, 2014 11:28 AM (Lg9+U)

118 Seems better now, thanks.

Posted by: Jinx the Cat at October 12, 2014 11:29 AM (c+U0V)

119 Prizes for literature almost never go to bestselling authors. They prefer to reward authors that only the ~~intelligentsia~~ snobbish castrati can feign to understand and appreciate.
-----

FIFY

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 12, 2014 11:35 AM (l1zOH)

120 And hello to aussie Down Under!

Posted by: OregonMuse at October 12, 2014 11:36 AM (yRdR4)

121 Oh, dear - late to the thread already. I'm still working on Rutherford's "Sarum" - about halfway through, in pre-Black Death medieval, with the building of Salisbury Cathedral.
-----------------

A great, epic, read. I've visited Salisbury a couple of times. Taken communion there.

Londinium is worth the read also.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 12, 2014 11:38 AM (l1zOH)

122 Given the state of things, it may be worth re-reading 'A Distant Mirror'.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 12, 2014 11:39 AM (l1zOH)

123 I read G.C. Chesterton's poem Lepanto about the battle that may have saved Europe from Islam. It was part of a book edited by Dale Alquist who also includes three essays about aspects of the battle. I quite enjoyed it but caveat letter he takes a few shots at protestants which is surprising considering that at the time he wrote the poem, he had not yet converted to Catholicism. (I mention this not to bash protestants but merely because I think it interesting.) His first complaint is that in this epic battle against Islam, the protestants did not participate as they were too busy fighting the Catholics and each other. Also, referencing Calvinist predestination, he says the protestants substituted a God who wants to condemn us for one who wants to save us.

Also interesting is the formations of the opposing fleets. (Bear with me; there's a point here.) The Islamic fleet sailed in the form of a crescent the idea being that the the two points would outrank, encircle, and crush their enemies. The Christians sailed in four wings in the rough shape of a cross the idea being to extend their line of battle to prevent being out flanked. Thus the cross defeated the crescent. Compare today when our soldiers must wear gloves when touching Islam's hate bible.

If so inclined, read not only the fairly short poem but also the notes and essays which inform the poem.

P.S. I attend the Orthodox Church so I'm neither Catholic nor protestant.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at October 12, 2014 11:42 AM (8MlTP)

124 111
There was a time before John Campbell's death when it seemed that
Freas defined the artistic style of Analog magazine. Seemed he did
nearly every other cover, and frequently interior illustrations as well.

I have every issue of Analog from 1966 to 1989. No, I'm not a nerd.

...No, really.

Posted by: Bat Chain Puller at October 12, 2014 11:43 AM (jpc8l)

125 One book about the Vietnam air war I've lent to many people that all raved about it. "Into the Mouth of the Cat" by Malcolm McDonnell is the astonishing story of Medal of Honor recipient Capt. Lance Sijan. He was shot down over Laos in 1967, despite being injured he survived in the mountains for 6 weeks before being captured. He resisted the NVA at every level despite torture and died in Hoa Lao prison. An inspiring story of the "right stuff" and it's too bad so few people know it. Will humble you and at the same time make you proud to live in a country that can produce such men.

Posted by: JHW at October 12, 2014 11:45 AM (5G4F7)

126 Anna Puma says:

As for the air war over Viet Nam...
On Yankee Station by John Nicholas and Barrett Tillman
Fighter Pilot - Robin Olds, Christina Olds, and Ed Rasimus
Wrecking Crew: the 388th TFW in Vietnam by Jerry Scutts
American Patriot by Roger Coram.
Bury Us Upside Down: The Misty Pilots and the Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail by Rick Newman and Don Shepperd.

Just a few books to read on the subject.

I would add Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War by Robert Coram. While this is a biography of one man, the late Colonel John Boyd, it details the disastrous Bigger-Fast-Higher-Farther airplane design thinking of the Air Force brass in the 60's, and Boyd's pitched bureaucratic battles to get his designs--the F-15 and F-16 planes--accepted because of the failures of Vietnam.

Bonus: Boyd's friend Pierre Sprey designed the A-10, a design also inspired because of Vietnam, and the battles to get that plane accepted are also described here.

And Oregon Muse, you asked for more comments from lurkers...here ya go.

Posted by: Paul Carter at October 12, 2014 11:59 AM (PkmMf)

127 Six years ago, it was Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio

How many people is that?

Posted by: Jay Guevara at October 12, 2014 11:59 AM (SLea8)

128 The old cliché about getting around to reading "Moby Dick" before you die was getting to me -- I actually knew a lady with terminal cancer whose kids were reading it to her in her last months at her request. No way do I want to end up like that, so I decided to read it NOW, while I hope I still have a couple decades to go.... Besides, I've always felt a little guilty about only skimming it when it was required reading during college.

Lo and behold, it is actually quite a pleasure! Perhaps you just have to be a little bit older before you can appreciate certain things. I'm only about a sixth of the way into it, and I have been repeatedly caught off guard (in a good way) by its alternating profundity and cheeky sneaky humor. I've learned a lot, chuckled a lot and, a couple of times, laughed out loud. (I do hear there's a lot fewer laughs in the final third of the book.)

I'm humbled and delighted. After "Moby Dick," I plan to read another classic I've always felt guilty about never finishing (this one in 7th grade): Huckleberry Finn.

Posted by: Kathy from Kansas at October 12, 2014 12:04 PM (afLO3)

129 Coffee, church, and the book thread. My Sunday morning trifecta.

Posted by: LochLomondFarms at October 12, 2014 12:10 PM (r+B4E)

130 Wonderful bad covers piece !
I actually own a few of those, and used to own a few others ! The horror !

Did not know Kelly Freas designed Alfred E. Neuman.
A man of limitless talent.
Jack Gaughan did good SF covers too.

Distant Mirror is on my Annual Rota of Rereading. Never gets old. Kinda like Idiocracy.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at October 12, 2014 12:18 PM (OCcU9)

131 Coffee, church, and the book thread. My Sunday morning trifecta.

Same here.

Posted by: OregonMuse at October 12, 2014 12:22 PM (yRdR4)

132 128 ... Glad you are enjoying Moby Dick. I finally got around to reading the unabridged version in my 50s. I don't regret waiting so long as I might not have appreciated it as much when younger. And it doesn't lend itself to fast reading. Melville's use of language is so rich with layers of subtle humor (or, as you mentioned, not so subtle) and emotional impact. The descriptions have a Shakespearian quality of depth and clarity. It's a book to be savored, not rushed. The abridged, castrated versions given to kids are a waste and travesty.

Posted by: JTB at October 12, 2014 12:23 PM (FvdPb)

133 For those of you who still remember the Pueblo incident--"Act of War" by Jack Cheevers. Ranks with "Unbroken."

Posted by: Libra at October 12, 2014 12:28 PM (GblmV)

134 The old cliche about getting around to reading "Moby Dick" before you die was getting to me

I had the same experience a couple of years ago, and I liked the book very much. I thought the early chapter that was basically a sermon given at the sailors' chapel, where everything was expounded in nautical language and "seafaring" terms, was delightful.

Posted by: OregonMuse at October 12, 2014 12:28 PM (yRdR4)

135 Read Detour, Martin Goldsmith's 1939 noir, on Friday. It's a new Kindle e-dition, with a nifty intro from my friend (and crime fiction grandmaster) Lawrence Block. Yes, it's the novel the movie was based on, and let me tell you -- there's some restaurant quality darkness in there. I recommend it.

Meanwhile, I'm fortunate enough to have a new story in the debut issue of Dark Corners, a contemporary pulp magazine. There's some really good stuff in there -- I'm honored to have placed a story with these other folks. So if you like your fiction grimy, sexy, violent, or all of the above, you may want to check it out. (FULL DISCLOSURE: My pay for the story is a copy of the magazine, so it's not like I have a big financial stake in it.)

To cop a line from Frank Zappa (who nicked it from Edgard Varese), "The present day pulp writer refuses to die!" Thanks for the encouragement that y'all give us.

Posted by: Prof. Mondo at October 12, 2014 12:28 PM (JAAHH)

136 And Oregon Muse, you asked for more comments from lurkers...here ya go

Welcome aboard.

Posted by: OregonMuse at October 12, 2014 12:33 PM (yRdR4)

137 110 Hey, I just read this hilarious comedy.
It's called-
"The Hot Zone"
Check it out. You'll die laughing.

Posted by: Ebola at October 12, 2014 11:23 AM (KBvAm)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When the subject of Ebola comes up, you can tell right away who's read "The Hot Zone" and who hasn't. Or "The Stand." If someone's read both of them -- as I have -- you can spot 'em pretty easily. We're the ones not laughing. (and we go NOWHERE without a little bottle of hand sanitizer in our purse or pocket. And for the really hard-core, maybe even one of those pocket-size bottles of Lysol spray disinfectant too.)

Posted by: Kathy from Kansas at October 12, 2014 12:35 PM (afLO3)

138 >>When the subject of Ebola comes up, you can tell right away who's read "The Hot Zone" and who hasn't. Or "The Stand."

Read both. Will be re-reading Hot Zone this week.

Posted by: Lizzy at October 12, 2014 12:37 PM (D/504)

139 I'm reading Gulliver's Travels. The description of the Laputans is hysterical, and shows that such people are not unique to our time.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at October 12, 2014 12:38 PM (SLea8)

140 I've been saying for years that high school English teachers do nobody any good by making their students read Moby Dick. It's not a book teenagers will enjoy, and you can't cram it into a week between The Scarlet Letter and Huckleberry Finn and expect anyone to get anything useful out of it.

Posted by: Trimegistus at October 12, 2014 12:57 PM (dA8u2)

141 Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine 1958-1962 by Yang Jisheng currently (and for the next few weeks) occupies the bedside table. The translators' note describes the 522 page (plus notes and index) English language version as a condensation of the 1,200 page Chinese language version. Cross Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archepelago with Conquest's Harvest of Sorrow and you get Tombstone..

Posted by: Malcolm Kirkpatrick at October 12, 2014 01:03 PM (uHUBu)

142 122
Given the state of things, it may be worth re-reading 'A Distant Mirror'.

I've read that one a couple of times. Very well done, but it will be of small comfort to you, I fear.

Posted by: exdem13 at October 12, 2014 01:24 PM (lJaja)

143 I read "The Hot Zone" this week. Now I can see why so many are so worried. It was abundantly clear that the version of Ebola that broke out in Reston, VA in 1989 WAS capable of airborne transmission. It infected all the monkeys in distant rooms of the building and infected all the handlers. It was just dumb luck that the Ebola Reston strain, unlike other Ebola strains, turned out to be deadly to monkees but not to humans. No reason to think we will be so lucky time and time again.

On a more upbeat note, books that I have read recently and liked include:

World of Trouble (The Last Policeman #3)
The Shadow of The Wind
Good Omens, The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
The Miernik Dossier

Posted by: cool breeze at October 12, 2014 01:25 PM (A+/8k)

144 We have debtor's prison. See all the men in jail for not paying child support. See all the people in jail for not paying court cost and/or traffic tickets. A massive conflict of interest. I'm good with all the judges, lawyers, legislators, police, and other government agents going to hell over this. Funny thing is that soon if not already they will have to allow EBT cards to be used to pay these so called debts. Also I think most if not all of the above mentioned are already in a hell of their own making.

Posted by: Huggy at October 12, 2014 01:34 PM (PGh+Q)

145 BAEN

Baen.com
Home of Larry Correia of
http://monsterhunternation.com
Fame.
That's the bookseller you're probably looking for.

Posted by: Mp at October 12, 2014 01:41 PM (DjLh9)

146 Late to the party again, and me still in my nightgown.

Anyway, I am reading the Politically Incorrect Guide to the Vietnam War and it is illuminating. I didn't follow the news in detail at the time since the sources were biased and I was in junior high, so this is an excellent introduction. I'm saving the list of books Anna Puma posted above for further reading.

I am also in the middle of "Bloodlands" which has had the side effect of resurrecting my boundless contempt for the New York Times. I have finished the Stalin famines and I have moved on to Germany and Poland. I hope Walter Duranty is paying a price for perfidy.

I am taking a class at church called "The Sacramental Imagination." The first book we are reading is "The Fall" by Albert Camus. I'm not going to get it finished in time for class tonight because I find the narrator so repellant that I have been convinced he is the devil ridiculing virtue. I cheated and read some reviews at amazon which told me otherwise, but how in hell are you supposed to read a book wherein the main character and narrator is so appalling that you feel debased reading his story?

Posted by: Tonestaple at October 12, 2014 02:05 PM (B7YN4)

147 Book in has " the Synchronicity War" for free today. Anyone here read the series?

Posted by: Tuna at October 12, 2014 02:11 PM (hpWy+)

148 Today at Amazon, only 99 cents for the Kindle edition of "The Story Killers: A Common-Sense Case Against the Common Core."

It focuses on Common Core's butchery of the teaching of English -- basically, abolishing literature -- for purposes of dumbing-down, indoctrinating and morally corrupting our kids. And absolutely KILLING their imaginations.

It may be sci-fi to turn robots into quasi humans -- but Common Core is worse than sci-fi: It attempts to turn human beings into robots.

Posted by: Kathy from Kansas at October 12, 2014 02:21 PM (afLO3)

149 OOPS, forgot something!

Here's the link for "The Story Killers":

http://tinyurl.com/mr78pzf

Posted by: Kathy from Kansas at October 12, 2014 02:22 PM (afLO3)

150 Rolling Thunder Great book! Finished it this week and it lead me too check out some VN non-fiction on Forward Air Controllers, SOG (Studies and Observation Group aka Special Operations Group) and Operation Bright Star which was the US attempt to track and rescue US POW's. While not successfull in any rescue attempts of Americans they rescued some 400 RVN troops and other US allies.

Posted by: whatmeworry? at October 12, 2014 02:46 PM (dZGNV)

151
"With already slim margins, the shop would be forced to shut down or abandon the storefront where it has been since 1906 (the business itself dates to 1700)."
Sothe place has been in business for 314 years, 108 of them at this location. Sounds like they've had to move before. Hopefully they'll find some place to flourish.

Posted by: Teri at October 12, 2014 03:19 PM (YXsje)

152 If you want to read some out-there conspiracy, alternate history stuff: the Philosophers' Stone by Joseph P. Farrell. His books are interesting but get to be repetitive. Also he footnotes to his own books. His take is like no other I've read and is interesting to think about. Wouldn't make it as science fiction because it's too strange.

Posted by: Huggy at October 12, 2014 03:24 PM (PGh+Q)

153 (book covers)The Lion Game is a good book. Telzey Amberdon never gets laid in any of her stories or books. Not even raped when another telepath has her under his control. Schmitz stories are better than they are written. Sorta like Mark Twain. A sequel was written (not by him) to The Witches of Karres. Much better writing but not nearly as good. If someone knows of an author who writes like Schmitz please let us know.

Posted by: Huggy at October 12, 2014 03:35 PM (PGh+Q)

154 Common Core is worse than sci-fi: It attempts to turn human beings into robots.

Posted by: Kathy from Kansas at October 12, 2014 02:21 PM (afLO3)

This! The zombiefication of students has been going on for awhile in various places but Common Core made the techniques for that process into the standard.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at October 12, 2014 03:39 PM (GDulk)

155 Common Core is worse than sci-fi: It attempts to turn human beings into robots.

Posted by: Kathy from Kansas at October 12, 2014 02:21 PM (afLO3)

This! The zombiefication of students has been going on for awhile in various places but Common Core made the techniques for that process into the standard.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at October 12, 2014 03:39 PM (GDulk)

Which is precisely why CSL's The Abolition of Man should be required reading for parents and educators alike (although unfortunately, the Common Core champions would take offense at Lewis calling them on their dehumanizing practices). Sidney's Defense of Poesy explains why literature is worthwhile; The Abolition of Man explains why literature is vital and why those who want to eliminate it are evil.
(Side note: Around here, anyway, homeschooling and private schools are growing by leaps and bounds these days. Not a coincidence, I'm sure.)

Also worth reading: a few months back, Alan Jacobs had a long article in The New Atlantis entitled "Fantasy and the Buffered Self." The main idea is that the increasing popularity of fantasy--fiction, film, and game--is a response to the increasing disenchantment of the modern world, but he covers a loooot more territory than that. Link (take out the spaces): http://www.thenewatlantis.com/ publications/ fantasy-and-the-buffered-self

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at October 12, 2014 04:43 PM (iuQS7)

156 "Of particular note was using the same bomb route on separate raids. We lost B-52s and good men doing that.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 12, 2014 11:01 AM (u82oZ)"Indeed we did. I was in that mess and HQSAC dictated the same route nine times in a row. The ninth wave was recalled in midair because the losses were growing geometrically (2 on day 1, 4 on day 2, and 6 on the (recalled) third day). Supposedly, HQSAC wanted to use the same plan when the raids resumed on the 26th but the Wing Commander at Anderson refused to do it and substituted his own attack plan, which was very successful.

Posted by: PersonFromPorlock at October 12, 2014 05:32 PM (Mjn+V)

157 Posted by: PersonFromPorlock at October 12, 2014 05:32 PM (Mjn+V)

O. M. G. In any other industry that would be malpractice. Were they just to lazy to come up with new routes? It's a freaking *obvious* disaster just waiting to happen!

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at October 12, 2014 05:50 PM (GDulk)

158 Elisabeth ... If it's not too late, thanks for the link to the New Atlantis article. And you are correct about "Abolition of Man". Although I question whether the teachers would understand it, let alone teach from it.

Posted by: JTB at October 12, 2014 05:53 PM (FvdPb)

159 >Fighter Pilot - Robin Olds, Christina Olds, and Ed Rasimus

Just started this one last night...shaping up to be a good read so far (have only gotten to where he's just arrived in Blighty).

Posted by: salfter at October 13, 2014 03:17 PM (kmvkg)

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