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Sunday Morning Book Thread 04-23-2017



Library of Congress Reading Room.jpg

Library of Congress Reading Room

Pic Note

I heard about this reading room from tsrblke, who told me:

It's actually not all that easy to find, you actually have to go down to the level below it, wander some hallways that cut at odd angles and then take an elevator back up to the room's entrance. And leaving I got totally lost and spent 15 minutes wandering around in a sublevel until I finally found my way out...There are several alcoves off the main center area that look out to the center of the room almost like little observation rooms. And you don't get a sense of the sheer size of this single room until you're standing on the floor of it looking up rather than down from above.


Another Book by One of Trump's Appointees

I did not know that our newest SCOTUS justice, Neil Gorsuch, had written a book, which came to my attention when RealClearBooks had a link to this negative review of it. If you want a good look about how Justice Gorsuch thinks, The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia is probably a good place to start:

After assessing the strengths and weaknesses of arguments for assisted suicide and euthanasia, Gorsuch builds a nuanced, novel, and powerful moral and legal argument against legalization, one based on a principle that, surprisingly, has largely been overlooked in the debate--the idea that human life is intrinsically valuable and that intentional killing is always wrong. At the same time, the argument Gorsuch develops leaves wide latitude for individual patient autonomy and the refusal of unwanted medical treatment and life-sustaining care, permitting intervention only in cases where an intention to kill is present.

The downside is that this book is published by an academic press, so the price ($25) is pretty steep. And some of the reviews are just frothing at the mouth. I especially liked the one that is basically one sentence: "It’s been almost a year since Senate Republicans took an empty Supreme Court seat hostage, discarding a constitutional duty that both parties have honored throughout American history and hobbling an entire branch of government for partisan gain." Heh. Butthurt much?


It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

Something that is MERDIVEROUS eats dung.

Usage: "The merdiverous Maxine Waters..."

Also, if you rearrange the letters in the phrase "an antifa protester" you get its dictionary definition

"n: fat pest near a riot."

(h/t Mark Huffman for the anagram)


book cartoon 09 - 20170416.jpg
Sometimes, television can be a tool to lead us to a great book

Nice Gig, If You Can Get It

How many of you morons knew that NY Governor, Andrew Cuomo, wrote a book a few years ago? And was well paid for it.

Exceptionally well-paid:

ALBANY – Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo reported his income last year more than doubled from the previous year, thanks to another round of royalty payments on a 2014 HarperCollins memoir that saw lackluster sales.

In all, Cuomo has made $783,000 from HarperCollins for his book. The book sold 3,200 copies since it was published in the fall of 2014, according to tracking company NPD BookScan.

That works out to royalty payments to Cuomo of $245 per book.

Heh. I'll bet you moron authors would just *love* to get a royalty deal like that, wouldn't you?

And of course, nobody's talking.

“This payment was contractual and per the agreement with the publisher,’’ Richard Azzopardi, a Cuomo spokesman, said of the book income in 2015.

And HarperCollins said they do not comment on "financial matters involving its book deals."

So there you are. It's a big mystery.

Oh, and since I know you all are just clamoring to buy a copy of this no doubt marvelous book by Cuomo, Amazon has All Things Possible: Setbacks and Success in Politics and Life for $10.99 hardback and $9.99 Kindle.

(h/t to moron geoffb5)


Free Books!

Do you all like free books? I think everybody likes free books. So I'd guessing many of you will want to be taking advantage of the Wrongthink Sci-Fi Giveaway:

The Wrongthink Sci-Fi Giveaway is about showcasing authors who have been marginalized by the gatekeepers of the sci-fi publishing industry for the sin of not complying with progressive social justice dogma. From Sarah Hoyt, who was accused of racism and ”internalized misogyny” for her association with the Sad Puppies campaign to reform the Hugo Awards, to Nick Cole, who lost a publishing contract for daring to write a story about an artificially intelligent computer who is troubled by abortion, these authors have faced smear campaigns, boycotts and blacklisting for failing to toe the progressive line.

So what you'll be doing is entering a drawing. Just by entering, you'll be sent a link to some free ebooks. And if you win, you'll get more free ebooks. So you'll be a winner, no matter what. The page I linked to lists all the books being given away. Some of the titles are familiar, so you may have read them already, but most likely there will be some you haven't.

Contest deadline is Tuesday, April 25th.

(h/t Chris)


What Book Is Your State Famous For?

From moron 'V the K' comes this helpful map that shows the most famous book set in each state. To me, the selections as a group carries a faint "PC" whiff, but I dunno, I guess it could be worse. My state, Oregon, has only ever had one author of national reputation, Ken Kesey, so they picked his most famous book, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. However, I've heard that his other novel (which I've been meaning to read, but haven't), Sometimes a Great Notion, is considered by critics to be his magnum opus.

And coincidentally, I've just started reading the most famous novel set in California, East of Eden, by John Steinbeck. It started out quite slow but I'm actually surprised how much I'm enjoying it. Perhaps I'll have a report later, because it's a big fat novel of 600+ pages and I've got a long way to go.

I was amused by one incident early on in the story, where one of the characters goes down to the local Western Union telegraph office to wire some money to his brother. So he asks the telegraph guy, how does it work. And the telegraph guy says, well, you give us the money here, and we'll telegraph the office your brother is at and they'll give the same amount of money that just you gave me. And the first guy says, whoa, wait, so how do you know that the guy at the other end is actually my brother and not some swindler? And the telegraph guy says, we will also transmit a question that you give to us, the answer to which only your brother would know, and we'll ask him to answer it before we give him the money. So think of a good question, but not "what is your mother's middle name?" because everybody forgets that one.

So even back in the days when the telegraph was the most advanced tech they had, they already were using security questions for identity verification. That's kind
of fun to discover. I guess there's nothing new under the sun.

Some weeks later a boy ran out to the farm with a telegram. Charles always connected the letter and the telegram the way we group two deaths and anticipate a third.


Moron Recommendations

Moron lurker (mostly) bensdad00 recommends Bill Mauldin in Korea . This is his first-hand reporting of the 1950-52 Korean War, including the peace negotiations:

Several quotes still relevant today "The cocky little North Koreans kind of amuse the Chinese", "Maybe that's why the Koreans dress so fancy, it's about the only thing they can do that makes them feel important.", and quoting an officer "They have the minds of children...[They]shouldn't be allowed to get their hands on live ammunition."

The book link is to a free download, which, unfortunately, is missing the first 7 or 8 pages in all of the formats offered on the page. It is also available in used hardback from Amazon.


___________


___________

Don't forget the AoSHQ reading group on Goodreads. It's meant to support horde writers and to talk about the great books that come up on the book thread. It's called AoSHQ Moron Horde and the link to it is here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/175335-aoshq-moron-horde.

___________

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 you all know, life is too short to be reading lousy books.

Posted by: OregonMuse at 08:59 AM




Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Tolle lege

Posted by: Skip at April 23, 2017 08:56 AM (Ot7+c)

2 Hola book nerds!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 08:56 AM (PhYV5)

3 Well done again, Skip. Ha ha *gimlet eyes*

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 08:57 AM (PhYV5)

4 Good Sunday morning, horde!

Posted by: April at April 23, 2017 08:58 AM (e8PP1)

5 Usage: "The merdiverous Maxine Waters..."

Hey we don't claim her either.

Posted by: Dung Beetles Everywhere at April 23, 2017 08:58 AM (BO/km)

6 Thanks to whoever recommended "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" a few weeks ago. I'm only four or five chapters in and am enjoying it immensely. I'm not even a big history or military type, either. It's just a great story written in a very compelling way.

Posted by: Moron Robbie at April 23, 2017 09:00 AM (fD1ST)

7 I've completed book 3 of Thomas Carlyle's History of Frederick II ( the Great) and finally into his childhood with book 4.

Posted by: Skip at April 23, 2017 09:00 AM (Ot7+c)

8 Good morning oh literate and puissant Horde, still editing short story for Amazon UK Storyteller contest. Managed to kill off almost a 600 word chunk of pretty and replaced it with just one word.

Posted by: Anna Puma at April 23, 2017 09:00 AM (giwoQ)

9 They have the minds of children...[They]shouldn't be allowed to get their hands on live ammunition."

--------

I said earlier this week that North Korea is Florida Man with nuclear weapons.

Posted by: josephistan at April 23, 2017 09:01 AM (ANIFC)

10 Good morning book threaders!!!!

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at April 23, 2017 09:02 AM (hMwEB)

11 Escaped me yesterday but see a PJMEDIA story a original parchment of the Declaration of Independence was found in England.

Posted by: Skip at April 23, 2017 09:02 AM (Ot7+c)

12 "Escaped me yesterday but see a PJMEDIA story a original parchment of the Declaration of Independence was found in England."

I think Vic still has his copy from when he was at the signing.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at April 23, 2017 09:03 AM (J+eG2)

13 "It's been almost a year since Senate Republicans took an empty Supreme Court seat hostage, discarding a constitutional duty that both parties have honored throughout American history and hobbling an entire branch of government for partisan gain."

Say, wasn't it our most recent (D) Vice President that these idiots voted for that speechified on the topic and even had the SCOTUS appointment "rule" named after himself?

Posted by: Moron Robbie at April 23, 2017 09:03 AM (fD1ST)

14 "Merdiverous"

I thought the word was "coprophilic." But vocabulary wasn't taught at the reform school.

Posted by: Kodos the Executioner at April 23, 2017 09:04 AM (KmwvO)

15 There is still two days left in the Wrongthink SciFi Giveaway!
You actually get 8 books for free, not seven (8th book is Aye, Robot) and a chance to win 7 more books.
You just have to sign up. I'm guessing you get on an email list, so use a secondary email addy. They send you a link to a dropbox of the free books.

hat tip cool breeze

Link in nic

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at April 23, 2017 09:04 AM (hMwEB)

16 North Korea is what happens when 8 year olds are allowed to run a country.

Like Commiefornia.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at April 23, 2017 09:04 AM (5VlCp)

17 14 "Merdiverous"

I thought the word was "coprophilic." But vocabulary wasn't taught at the reform school.

Posted by: Kodos the Executioner at April 23, 2017 09:04 AM (KmwvO)

"Poo-positive lifestyle" is the new thing.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 09:05 AM (PhYV5)

18 I read Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari. Harari postulates that liberalism and humanism have replace religion; but that technological advances will replace liberalism and humanism. Humans will not only loose their dominance, but their meaning as well. Networked algorithms will know us better than we know ourselves. The new religion is "Dataism" which "declares that the universe consists of data flows, and the value of any phenomenon or entity is determined by its contribution to data processing." This isn't a deterministic road but a distinct possibility from what is known at this time.

An interesting read that get one thinking about the future and get one looking at Google and Facebook in a different way as they gather data on most of us.

Posted by: Zoltan at April 23, 2017 09:06 AM (mB70I)

19 14 "Merdiverous"

I thought the word was "coprophilic." But vocabulary wasn't taught at the reform school.

Posted by: Kodos the Executioner at April 23, 2017 09:04 AM (KmwvO)

That's why English is such a great language. We have several words for "Shit-eater."

Posted by: josephistan at April 23, 2017 09:06 AM (ANIFC)

20 Good morning my fellow Book Threadists. The Library of Congress is one of the few parts of DC I care about, along with the National Archives and a few monuments. Now that Mrs. JTB and I are retired and no longer have to go there, I don't give a damn about the rest of that pestilent swamp.

Posted by: JTB at April 23, 2017 09:08 AM (V+03K)

21 It's actually not all that easy to find, you actually have to go down to the level below it, wander some hallways that cut at odd angles and then take an elevator back up to the room's entrance.

Every book thread inevitably comes back to Lovecraft.

I thought the word was "coprophilic." But vocabulary wasn't taught at the reform school.

Posted by: Kodos the Executioner at April 23, 2017 09:04 AM (KmwvO)


Coprophagic.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 09:08 AM (8nWyX)

22 I'm still reading Salt, a couple of chapters at a time. On my commute, listening to 1365 by Bernard Cornwell. I do appreciate historical fiction, so I have a clue what happened in the world before now.

Posted by: April at April 23, 2017 09:08 AM (e8PP1)

23 Something that is MERDIVEROUS eats dung.

See also: Coprophagic

If one can get past the initial impression of Nancy Pelosi's botox-induced rictus visage, one can occassionally discern a coprophagic expression of pleasure.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at April 23, 2017 09:10 AM (DMUuz)

24 Here's a fun fact. The alphabet used to have 27 letters until the middle Victorian era, the 27th letter having been the humble '&.'

Posted by: freaked at April 23, 2017 09:10 AM (BO/km)

25 Good mornin Rons and Ettes...

So anyhoo...

Por favor...a kid with Duchennes Muscular Dystrophy who's brother has already passed from the disease would like to go to Disney World and his parents are asking for help from some kind people.

Please help me help Tori Clark have a nice memory.

Nothing big, just a couple bucks. Thank you.

Link in my nic.

Posted by: eleven at April 23, 2017 09:12 AM (qUNWi)

26 Ah, the Book Thread! The one place where I can pretend to be cultured, and no one laughs.

There has been more writing than reading this week. I'm almost done with my short story for the Amazon UK Storyteller contest. Thank God. I haven't finished a rough draft in a long time, and I've missed that feeling of accomplishment.

On the reading front, I've been taking it easy. The Witch of Blackbird Pond has been on my list for a while, and can now be crossed off. I like how the author conveyed the sheer amount of work involved in keeping a colonial house running smoothly.

And I found a copy of Driving Force, by Dick Francis, and finished that yesterday. His mysteries are always fun. I like the older ones better, but the new ones are good, too. Lots of vivid description and interesting plotting.

Posted by: right wing yankee at April 23, 2017 09:12 AM (26lkV)

27 Coprophagic.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 09:08 AM (8nWyX)


Thank you. Truely, the collective knowledge of The Horde is an awesome thing.

Posted by: Kodos the Executioner at April 23, 2017 09:12 AM (Navm9)

28 I just finished "When Worlds Collide" by Philip Wylie and Ed Balmer, the 1932 novel on which the classic 50's SF movie was based. I enjoyed that old flick but was pleasantly surprised at how much better the book was (because there is no precedent for that!). Earth is threatened by a brace of wandering planets that have been drawn into our solar system and they are on a collision course for ours, naturally. One is a gas giant and the other is a rocky planet very much like our own.

This is first discovered by a South African astronomer who rushes the photographic plates to a distinguished colleague in New York. He and others verify it but they are laughed at by the governments of the world, who refuse to take action. The scientists decide to gather their best minds somewhere in rural Michigan (which they hope will be safe from major damage by tidal waves) and plan the construction of a space ship to take their crew of male and female specialists of all stripes to this smaller, hopefully livable, planet.

In the first pass, they planets draw dangerously close and cause grave damage to Earth, wreaking havoc with the tides and making the very ground buckle and heave, with accompanying volcanic activity blowing poisonous gas into the atmosphere. Massive damage everywhere.

This first pass part is left out of the movie. There's a great chapter where the team is in a high-rise in Manhattan, with the two new planets visible in the sky, and the tide slowly, slowly starts to rise, flooding the streets, and the power starts to shut off around the city.

After the second pass around the sun, the gas giant will totally destroy earth, but before that they hope to slip the surly bonds and land on the lesser planet, which will have broken away from its orbit around it.

It's an old-fashioned Golden Age Sci-Fi yarn, and if you're inn the mood for some analog computin' and space arks to new worlds, this is a great diversion. I'm happily into the sequel right now.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 09:13 AM (PhYV5)

29 I started "Shattered" and my takeaway, so far, is that Mrs. Clinton absolutely detests making decisions. And that is just the kind of personality we want in the White House. Such a bullet we dodged.

I also started "The Education of Will" by Patricia McConnell. As the proud possessor of a hugely dog-reactive dog, I expect this to be educational and interesting. I listened to one of her books a while back and her words about the loss of her dog Luke were so moving. Anyway, it's a quick read, I expect, as I read about 50 pages sitting in my car without even realizing how long I sat there.

And still reading "Left Turns" and, news flash here: media - they're biased. Even the apparently conservative ones are left of center, just not as left as the utterly worthless ones in New York and DC.

Posted by: Tonestaple at April 23, 2017 09:13 AM (STkEV)

30 Another fun fact: the ampersand was originally created by running an E and a t together at relativistic speeds in a letter accelerator chamber. Why? Because Et is 'and' in Latin. You can still kind of see it if you squint.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 09:13 AM (8nWyX)

31 The new religion is "Dataism"...

An interesting read that get one thinking about the future and get one looking at Google and Facebook in a different way as they gather data on most of us.

Posted by: Zoltan at April 23, 2017 09:06 AM (mB70I)

Humans are fun, and I have no doubt there are the beginnings of some sort of religious belief of this "simulation" hypothesis I keep hearing Love Science Sexually types ramble on and on about.

I'd wager $10,000 that we could find people making similar statements soon after movies were invented, mirrors were invented, etc.

But these people are different. Or something.

Posted by: Moron Robbie at April 23, 2017 09:14 AM (fD1ST)

32 Current wading through a copy of Griswold and Wagner Cast Iron Cooking Utensils but feeling a bit chagrined after seeing what everyone else is reading.

Someone has to be on the far left side of the bell curve.

So there's that.

Posted by: Tonypete at April 23, 2017 09:14 AM (tr2D7)

33 Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 09:13 AM (PhYV5)

Added to my list. That sounds really neat!

Posted by: right wing yankee at April 23, 2017 09:16 AM (26lkV)

34 Thank you. Truely, the collective knowledge of The Horde is an awesome thing.
Posted by: Kodos the Executioner at April 23, 2017 09:12 AM (Navm9)


Well you weren't wrong; it would help to be coprophilic if you want to be coprophagic. Just that one means 'likes' and the other means 'eats'.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 09:16 AM (8nWyX)

35 >>> That works out to royalty payments to Cuomo of $245 per book.

Can we unleash a squadron of forensic accountants on the publishing racket?

Posted by: fluffy at April 23, 2017 09:16 AM (jw2Xw)

36 Went to an estate sale yesterday. 6 hours long, and I spent way too much on 7 full boxes of books.

I got updates for all my Sherlock Holmes paperbacks and a number of other classics. They were mostly the Reader's Digest Leather-bound, large font editions. I also bought some Harvard Classics like Ben Franklin's Autobiography, another copy of Marcus Aurelius Meditation, and a fair amount of pretentious crap under the Harvard Classics imprint.

I passed on his extensive collection of Nick Carter, a comprehensive pin-up art collection, every Louis L'Amour book in leather bound volumes, Nazi warrior decadence stories, and lots of foreign language guides like Beginning Spoken Danish.

For paperbacks I made sure I got the box with 5 Nevil Shute novels in it. I have them all already, but some of the paperbacks were in EZ font, a larger size for post-29 year old eyes.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 23, 2017 09:16 AM (u82oZ)

37 Never heard of "The Broom of the System" before (from the map.

I figured it'd be a Thurber story of some kind for Ohio. Maybe because they were collections of short stories, same with O. Henry, and this was next.

Posted by: nnptcgrad at April 23, 2017 09:16 AM (PzBTm)

38 Finished the last of Baldacci's 'Camel Club' series, 'Hell's Corner'. Meh. Entertaining, but happy to be through with it.

Picked up a used copy of 'Band of Brothers'. I watched the series on HBO, but figure the book is probably worth the read. So, will start that Tonight.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at April 23, 2017 09:17 AM (ZO497)

39 My reading this week and for the next couple will be more eclectic than usual. I'm in one of those moods.

First, I'm continuing with "The True Jesus" by David Limbaugh which I find instructive about the Gospels. (And I need the instruction.) I have learned to keep a copy of the Bible handy while reading.

I started "Swedish Fairy Tales" with John Bauer illustrations. I got this originally for his art work, which reminds me of some of JRR Tolkien's original drawings, but am finding the stories to be charming. They also reveal a bit about the terrain and habits and accoutrements of the area. I'm just sorry I don't have any small children to read these to.

Posted by: JTB at April 23, 2017 09:18 AM (V+03K)

40 32 Current wading through a copy of Griswold and Wagner Cast Iron Cooking Utensils but feeling a bit chagrined after seeing what everyone else is reading.

Someone has to be on the far left side of the bell curve.

So there's that.

Posted by: Tonypete at April 23, 2017 09:14 AM (tr2D7)

There's no shame in learning. I was thoroughly enjoying "Southern Living No Taste Like Home: A Celebration of Regional Southern Cooking and Hometown Flavor" earlier this week.

Well worth the $5.

Posted by: Moron Robbie at April 23, 2017 09:18 AM (fD1ST)

41 Nice reading room, but mine has a toilet too.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at April 23, 2017 09:18 AM (ZO497)

42 FWIW, the Bill Mauldin book is available in NOOK format from Barnes and Noble for exactly zero dollars.

Posted by: antisocialist at April 23, 2017 09:20 AM (W2wn0)

43 Nice reading room, but mine has a toilet too.
Posted by: Mike Hammer



I call that the Crossword Puzzle Room.

Posted by: eleven at April 23, 2017 09:20 AM (qUNWi)

44 Posted by: right wing yankee at April 23, 2017 09:16 AM (26lkV)

I read "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" when I was a lass. Poor Kit, going from the colorful Caribbean to bleak New England. Still remember her getting in trouble for trying to make the children's school lessons fun.

And all that wool-carding!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 09:20 AM (PhYV5)

45 "Nice reading room, but mine has a toilet too."

The really good ones all do.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at April 23, 2017 09:20 AM (J+eG2)

46 Thank you for sharing the word merdiverous. I shall use it daily.

I've been reading some bizarre books lately, mainly a cross between fantasy, sci-fi, and MMORPG stories. Mainly Russian authors and boy, they're kind of shocking with their casual antisemitism when it pops up.

One author was an outright NKVD fanboy and constantly talked up Stalin as some sort of downhome sage. Kind of gruesome if you know the history. I read three other authors and they were not nearly as psychotic, so I think it was just this one kid.

The stories are not great, there's little "there" there, but they are like popcorn covered with dorito dust - you just can't stop. Weirdly fun, they're called "LitRPG" novels - they're almost all set in some sort of situation where the protagonist is stuck/ventures into an online game with "full immersion" and intersperses fantasy situations with RPG stats and descriptions. Weird, but kind of fun. I call them "snack-food-fantasy-Sci-fi".

Posted by: Inspector Cussword at April 23, 2017 09:21 AM (c1VpD)

47 Good morning, 'rons and 'ronettes! *waves across the room to Elisabeth Wolfe* Hi, Elisabeth - I saw your Mom at the Texas Library Association annual conference on Friday!
Yes, that was my one big book outing for this week - and I was early enough in the day to snag a parking place in the city garage across the street from the new conference center which only charges a flat fee of $10, which is cheap, considering it was a weekday!
The new conference center is huuuuuge, BTW! And the exhibition hall is massive and packed for three days with publishers and writers. I didn't thing there were that many small publishers who could afford the booth fee - but there are. I'm a member of the Texas Authors Association, and Alan who runs it had a booth for four of us at a time to come out and work the crowd, pass out information about our books and sell directly. I was next to Myra Mcilvain, who also writes historicals set in Texas, and we got a lot of interest in our books. It was invigorating to actually have a crowd of people who were interested in what we had written; a lot of librarians, interested in something to interest clients. A fair amount of interest in Lone Star Sons from teachers and school librarians, looking for something suitable for tweens and teens.
It was the first try-out for one of my period costumes, too - 1912 summer cotton summer dress with a big Hello-Dolly hat. Did get a very odd look from the parking lot attendant - but it attracted a lot of interest and broke the ice with people at the conference.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at April 23, 2017 09:21 AM (xnmPy)

48
I passed on his extensive collection of Nick Carter, a comprehensive pin-up art collection, every Louis L'Amour book in leather bound volumes, Nazi warrior decadence stories, and lots of foreign language guides like Beginning Spoken Danish.
---
You lie, sir!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 09:23 AM (PhYV5)

49 Moron Robbie, Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors is okay if you are aware of a few issues in it that pop up in the later half of the book.

USS Gambier Bay was not the first carrier to be sunk by naval gunfire. That dubious honour falls to HMS Glorious which was sunk by the German warships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in 1940. He would have been safe if he had written USS Gambier Bay had been the only American carrier sunk by naval gunfire.

The author engages in idle speculation that the reason William Halsey only got one ship named after him while Raymond Spruance got a whole class of destroyers named after him happened because Halsey was chasing Ozawa's carriers.

Most curious is the author using a character in Herman Wouk's War and Remembrance to critique Halsey.

There is also the problem of geographical spaces when he calls the vast expanse of the Pacific covered by the various battles around the Philippines larger than the Japanese operations against Midway that stretched from the Aleutians all the way down to Australia.

Other books to read on the subject should include: The Battle of Leyte Gulf and The Men of the Gambier Bay both by Edwin P. Hoyt. For the PT boats in Surigao Strait, At Close Quarters - PT Boats in the United States Navy by Robert J. Bulkley Jr. United States Destroyer Operations in World War II by Theodore Roscoe which was abridged into Tin Cans. One book missing from Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors bibliography is another by Edwin P. Hoyt titled How They Won the War in the Pacific: Nimitz and his Admirals.

Posted by: Anna Puma at April 23, 2017 09:23 AM (giwoQ)

50 yikes

Posted by: Anna Puma at April 23, 2017 09:23 AM (giwoQ)

51 I love it when Anna goes to the Barrel.

Posted by: eleven at April 23, 2017 09:23 AM (qUNWi)

52 Alabama is famous for To Kill a Mockingbird.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at April 23, 2017 09:23 AM (LTHVh)

53 "Nice reading room, but mine has a toilet too."


******


I can always tell when this is about me...

Posted by: Muldoon at April 23, 2017 09:24 AM (mvenn)

54
That's why English is such a great language. We have several words for "Shit-eater."

Posted by: josephistan at April 23, 2017 09:06 AM (ANIFC)



I'm having a ministroke this morning so I can't remember the author's name or the PBS series of his book, but-

an interesting thing about the English language is that England was a stopping point for a variety of multiple invasions through the centuries,

and so- the English language itself absorbed words and phrase from all of those invasions,

then couple with that England's history as a great worldwide mercantile power and their empire and the English people's willingness to absorb foreign words into daily usage an...

Shazam! The most varied and useful language evah is born.

Spectacularly useful for writing and poetry, yo.


But, "appropriation" so that's all bad now.


Please speak only in the original grunts and whistles which are the true language of the English.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 23, 2017 09:25 AM (9q7Dl)

55 Muldoon, have we seen a pic of your library?

I bet there's a skeleton with a party hat holding a martini glass.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 09:25 AM (PhYV5)

56 Nearly forgot - W. Paul Burrier's book about the Nueces Massacre is up on Amazon, at last! "A Perfect Reign of Terror:Insurgency in the Texas Hill Country 1861-1862"
https://tinyurl.com/n3vt5fl

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at April 23, 2017 09:27 AM (xnmPy)

57 Please speak only in the original grunts and whistles which are the true language of the English.

This is giving me deja vu.

Posted by: eleven at April 23, 2017 09:27 AM (qUNWi)

58 All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes

Yes, After Worlds Collide was a good book. I loved the vignette of the President of the US, digging in a Kansas farm as the rocket takes scientists, technocrats and engineers to the new world.

After Worlds Collide, set on the new planet, is not as great. The nasty Germans and Russians are the new bad boys. The Brits and the US struggle against them, rather than the new planet.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 23, 2017 09:28 AM (u82oZ)

59 Maybe beter for food thread later but the young Fredrick was raised on beer-soup. I should try to make it.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/cheddar-beer-soup-231641

Posted by: Skip at April 23, 2017 09:28 AM (Ot7+c)

60 I read "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" when I was a
lass. Poor Kit, going from the colorful Caribbean to bleak New
England. Still remember her getting in trouble for trying to make the
children's school lessons fun.



And all that wool-carding!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 09:20 AM (PhYV5)

Digression, here, but I've read that pre-Industrial women could spend about half of their working hours dealing with cloth-making chores- washing, carding, dying, spinning, weaving- and men spent about a third of their time doing chores related to wood burning- chopping, splitting, and stacking. A small New England house in that time period would go through FORTY cords of firewood in a year. No wonder Kit wanted to go back where it was warm.

Posted by: right wing yankee at April 23, 2017 09:29 AM (26lkV)

61 So wasted week. I've been doing a lot of cleaning, getting rid of my stuff and such, and found my old Star Trek novels collection. I bought them all when I was a member of the Waldenbooks sci fi readers club.

Anyway, I've been reading a few of them, like Galactic Whirlpool (which still holds up, amazingly enough), Vulcan Academy Murders (same, still decent), and Death's Angel (which I liked at the time, but damn it really sucks).

So nothing new - just revisiting my past.

Posted by: WitchDoktor, AKA VA GOP Sucks at April 23, 2017 09:30 AM (2VN2E)

62 When all you've got is cordwood every problem is a fire.

Posted by: eleven at April 23, 2017 09:30 AM (qUNWi)

63 Muldoon, have we seen a pic of your library?

*****


Yes, a few weeks ago. But you spelled 'libary' wrong.

Posted by: Muldoon at April 23, 2017 09:31 AM (mvenn)

64 Hey guys; I'm gonna forgo a lot of what I'm reading to discuss Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life, the short story that the film Arrival was based on. First of all, I usually hate movies because Whoreyweird is made up of a bunch of cocksuckers and shitheads who cater to ADD ridden dumbfucks. And don't get me started on sci fi movies because George Lucas should be kicked in the balls until he passes out, revived with a bucket of ice water and kicked again; the facially hair challenged dickweed couldn't construct a plausible plot if his miserably pampered excuse for a life depended on it. As a side note, I glanced at last night's thread and was heartened at somewhat similar reactions to that Star Wars trash.

That said, I watched a DVD of Arrival last week and was pleasantly surprised at how thought provoking it was regarding some of the very real problems, for starters, communicating with beings smart enough to commandeer a number of really weird space vehicles here would entail. Amy Adams, whom I generally hate as a snotty lib biznotch, was extremely well cast as a linguist dealing with these octopus looking guys and figuring out that written communication would be more adviseable than trying to figure out their incomprehensible utterances.

Rather than recasting the whole fucking movie, which may have been discussed here previously, I wasn't sure if I was conceptually understanding a few things so found the short story by Chiang that it was based on. First of all, it was very well written and a fast read. Second, it was more modest than what the movie was (which had to invent a few things to visually illustrate concepts that writing makes easier to communicate) but the framework was all there. Third, in the book the male physicist has a slightly larger role in terms of explaining things with Fermat's theory of least time, which some of you more sciencey types that didn't have time for yesterday's March of Idiots may understand better than I.

Anyway, I enjoyed the story a great deal and wish to ask the Morons of the Book if Chiang's other stuff is good too. Coincidentally in Goedel Escher Bach, I was just reading about the three layers of any message to use in deciphering before seeing the movie.

Posted by: Captain Hate at April 23, 2017 09:31 AM (y7DUB)

65 Nope, avoided Barrel time because I sank no one but myself.

Posted by: Anna Puma at April 23, 2017 09:31 AM (giwoQ)

66 an interesting thing about the English language is that England was a stopping point for a variety of multiple invasions through the centuries,

and so- the English language itself absorbed words and phrase from all of those invasions,
Posted by: naturalfake at April 23, 2017 09:25 AM (9q7Dl)


A neat little microcosm of this is how the 'meat' words poultry, pork, and beef come from the Norman nobility's poulet, porc, and boeuf, but the 'on-the-hoof' words chicken, swine, and cow come from Kuchlein, Schwein, and Kuh from the Saxons who had to raise them.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 09:31 AM (8nWyX)

67 >>> an interesting thing about the English language is that England was a stopping point for a variety of multiple invasions through the centuries

I saw a documentary recently that made a good archaeological case that the Anglo-Saxon invasion never occurred. Bede said it did, so it must have been so. They found evidence for cross pollination of the cultures, but nothing that would indicate a conquering invasion.

Posted by: fluffy at April 23, 2017 09:32 AM (jw2Xw)

68 I just published my second book! It's a combination of comedy and Cold War intrigue set in 1950's Hong Kong. Check it out if you're interested:

http://tinyurl.com/lawjyqz

Posted by: James Dudley at April 23, 2017 09:32 AM (60SwY)

69 There are a couple of books coming out on June 1 that I will get and might interest others.

The first is "Lost in Lumby" by Gail Fraser. This will be the 6th in the series. It's been about seven years since the last one so I'm looking forward to it. The Lumby books, about the antics and characters in a small NW town, are delightful and relaxing reading. They have a Hallmark movie feel about them which I consider a compliment. I don't know if any of the Horde have read them but Mrs. JTB and I enjoy the stories.

The next is "Beren and Luthien" by JRR Tolkien. This is another of Christopher Tolkien's efforts to bring order to the many versions his father left behind. This one interests me because I believe it had a special and personal meaning to Tolkien. The poem and story was something he worked on well before he started "The Hobbit". There are references to it and bits included in LOTR and Silmarillion. More revealing to my mind is he felt strongly enough to have Beren and Luthien carved on the grave stone he shares with his wife, Edith.

I will preorder both books next month.

Posted by: JTB at April 23, 2017 09:32 AM (V+03K)

70 All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes

I was under the watchful eyes of my wife. Who bought another list of things, but not books. I had to make two trips to get everything home.

And the old guys there bid up that pin-up collection something fierce. It went for an immense amount of cash. Well, I guess they are getting their money's worth out of their Viagra.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 23, 2017 09:32 AM (u82oZ)

71 I get free access to ebooks through my public library like Overdrive, Freading, Hoopla and Zinio.

Posted by: Very Irredeemably Undude at April 23, 2017 09:33 AM (cdYPW)

72 If you're into sci fi a very strange and haunting book is Nightfall by Asimov.

Posted by: eleven at April 23, 2017 09:36 AM (qUNWi)

73 Digression, here, but I've read that pre-Industrial women could spend about half of their working hours dealing with cloth-making chores- washing, carding, dying, spinning, weaving- and men spent about a third of their time doing chores related to wood burning- chopping, splitting, and stacking. A small New England house in that time period would go through FORTY cords of firewood in a year. No wonder Kit wanted to go back where it was warm.

by: right wing yankee


Sounds sexist to me. I hope they at least confirmed the gender identity before they forced them to adopt stereotypical heteronormative roles.

Posted by: Caitlyn Jenner at April 23, 2017 09:38 AM (vRcUp)

74 Salty Dawg, to satisfy your nascent pin-up addiction here are two books that might interest you.

Varga by Tom Robotham
https://www.amazon.com/Varga-Tom-Robotham/dp/1572153245

The Great American Pin-Up
http://preview.tinyurl.com/m3cfxml

Posted by: Anna Puma at April 23, 2017 09:38 AM (giwoQ)

75 Posted by: James Dudley at April 23, 2017 09:32 AM (60SwY)

Looks like fun. I'll check it out.

Posted by: April at April 23, 2017 09:39 AM (e8PP1)

76 I came across mention of "The Revenge of Analog" by David Sax, about the increasing interest and business in non-digital items (books, film, paper, vinyl records, education, etc.) and what this says about some aspects of the culturel.

I have a copy reserved at the local library but am curious if anyone has read it and what you thought. I have my own prejudices in these matters.

Posted by: JTB at April 23, 2017 09:39 AM (V+03K)

77 I just published my second book! It's a combination of comedy and Cold War intrigue set in 1950's Hong Kong. Check it out if you're interested:
http://tinyurl.com/lawjyqz
Posted by: James Dudley at April 23, 2017 09:32 AM (60SwY)


Dude. Next time, e-mail me and I'll announce it on the book thread.

I'm still going to announce this one, but it will have to wait until next Sunday's book thread.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at April 23, 2017 09:39 AM (SEeXf)

78 A neat little microcosm of this is how the 'meat' words poultry, pork, and beef come from the Norman nobility's poulet, porc, and boeuf, but the 'on-the-hoof' words chicken, swine, and cow come from Kuchlein, Schwein, and Kuh from the Saxons who had to raise them.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 09:31 AM (8nWyX)



Very cool.

A Sociological and Entymological Arm-wrestle.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 23, 2017 09:39 AM (9q7Dl)

79 Hey guys; I'm gonna forgo a lot of what I'm reading to discuss Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life, the short story that the film Arrival was based on. First of all, I usually hate movies because Whoreyweird is made up of a bunch of cocksuckers and shitheads who cater to ADD ridden dumbfucks. And don't get me started on sci fi movies because George Lucas should be kicked in the balls until he passes out, revived with a bucket of ice water and kicked again; the facially hair challenged dickweed couldn't construct a plausible plot if his miserably pampered excuse for a life depended on it. As a side note, I glanced at last night's thread and was heartened at somewhat similar reactions to that Star Wars trash.
Posted by: Captain Hate at April 23, 2017 09:31 AM (y7DUB)

Marks the Captain down as "undecided" on the is Hollywood good or bad for the general public.

Posted by: weirdflunky at April 23, 2017 09:40 AM (XKaXS)

80 72 eleven

The original short story, or the novelization by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg?

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 23, 2017 09:40 AM (u82oZ)

81 I'm not a deep reader like some on here but I did slog through 2 books this week. First was Alex Berenson's new John Wells novel. Meh. The other was called 40 days at Kamas....Do not recommend! Next up is the new Amos Decker by David Baldacci, however I am sorely tempted to buy Shattered.

Posted by: Molly k. at April 23, 2017 09:41 AM (9H4KE)

82 "Coprophilic" simply means "shit-loving" but it does not automatically imply consumption of said shit. "Merdiverous" does imply consumption although, comparing it to "omnivorous" I am thinking it should maybe be "merdivorous" instead. But I'm too lazy to look it up and I have to go shower and dress and warm up. Eyebrows UP!

Posted by: Tonestaple at April 23, 2017 09:41 AM (STkEV)

83 Fluffy @ 67- There probably was a certain amount of invasion combined with more peaceful settlement. Germanic peoples of all stripes were wandering moving across Europe at the time, possibly driven out by Asiatic people like the Huns, who have shadowy origins closer to China/Mongolia than where we normally place them in Eastern Europe. The Saxons probably wanted land, and with the removal of the Romans from Britain, the natives were less able to resist. They may have even welcomed foreign warlords- anyone to keep the land from deteriorating into complete chaos.

And there was probably a lot of intermarriage between the Saxons and the British. Interestingly, the language pattern suggests that British men were marrying Saxon women, because Saxon became the dominant language- English sounds more like German (Saxon) than Welsh (British)- and children tend to take on their mothers' language because they spend more of their early lives with their mother.


Posted by: right wing yankee at April 23, 2017 09:41 AM (26lkV)

84 Something that is MERDIVEROUS eats dung.


******

Hate to be THAT guy, but:

I think that should be 'merdivorous' rather than 'merdiverous'. As in adjective form of merdivore.

á la

omnivore
herbivore
carnivore


And I think in this sense the term implies a 'nutritional' intake (organisms that get their principle nutrition from feces of other species) whereas 'coprophagia' is more of a deranged behavioral act. Swallowing as opposed to eating.

Posted by: Muldoon at April 23, 2017 09:41 AM (mvenn)

85 The original short story, or the novelization by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg?
Posted by: NaCly Dog


The novelization.

Posted by: eleven at April 23, 2017 09:41 AM (qUNWi)

86 The latest edition of "Backwoodsman" magazine arrived this week and I started, slowly, to enjoy the articles. This is always pleasant reading and I swear my blood pressure lowers as I thumb through the pages. Don't know if others in the Horde read it.

Posted by: JTB at April 23, 2017 09:42 AM (V+03K)

87 USS Gambier Bay was not the first carrier to be sunk by naval gunfire. That dubious honour falls to HMS Glorious which was sunk by the German warships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in 1940. He would have been safe if he had written USS Gambier Bay had been the only American carrier sunk by naval gunfire.


That was a colossal FUBAR on the part of the Royal Navy. The gang at Bletchley Park had intercepted some Kriegsmarine radio traffic the indicated they knew the HMS Glorious was out there, and that the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were coming out to play. While there was a strict procedure on how Ultra intercepts were promulgated, the Royal Navy did get the word, but they chose to ignore it, and the Glorious was sunk as a result.

Let it suffice to say the Royal Navy did not make that same mistake again.

Posted by: The Oort Cloud - No-Longer-Deplorable Source of all SMODs at April 23, 2017 09:42 AM (T1H5V)

88 The Non-Euclidean Geometry section in the basement of the Library of Unnatural Congress got me to thinking about Lovecraftian libraries, which led me to this link (which has some examples):

https://tentaclii.wordpress.com/category/lovecraftian-places/

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 09:43 AM (PhYV5)

89 I have never liked Ken Kesey. I never got One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but I've driven past the State Hospital in Salem so many times.

I thought it was illuminating on the man when he sued the University of Oregon for his son's death, on a wrestling team road trip in a van, where drugs and alcohol may have been involved

Posted by: Kindltot at April 23, 2017 09:43 AM (ii4h0)

90 74 Anna Puma

Thank you, but I prefer worldly women who can talk back. Plus, I probably would look at those pictures and think one thing, just one thing.

Is her Grandmother widowed?

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 23, 2017 09:44 AM (u82oZ)

91 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was very strange.

It's narrated by the Indian who is crazy as fuck.

Posted by: eleven at April 23, 2017 09:45 AM (qUNWi)

92 Uh...New to Goodreads.

I can find the group but no where is there a "join" button.

Using the Android app

Posted by: TexasDan at April 23, 2017 09:46 AM (TqXWc)

93
You can't judge a book by it's ghost writer.

Posted by: Chelsea Clinton at April 23, 2017 09:46 AM (HTdUD)

94 "The Revenge of Analog"?

Oh yes. Analog's time will come again!

MWAhahahaha!

Posted by: Coronal Mass Ejaculation at April 23, 2017 09:47 AM (PhYV5)

95 Oort Cloud, it did not help things that HMS Glorious's captain disobeyed orders and took aboard RAF Hurricane fighters. Thus fouling his deck and rendering his ship incapable of using her own dubious quality aircraft.

The RN during the early stages of the war also had a practise of letting their carrier operate outside the protective destroyer screen to conduct flight operations.

Posted by: Anna Puma at April 23, 2017 09:47 AM (giwoQ)

96 87 The Oort Cloud - No-Longer-Deplorable Source of all SMODs

What was worse was over 1,000 sailors and pilots got into the water safely when they abandoned ship. Hours later, there were only 50 or so survivors. Carley floats were not a help.

Hence the emphasis on Gumby suits for cold water transits for today's mariners.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 23, 2017 09:49 AM (u82oZ)

97 I had a very successful trip to the used book store this week. I found several books in the "Irish Country Doctor" series (similar in feel to the James Herriot books) for two bits apiece. Then there was a pristine hardback edition of "In the Arena", Charlton Heston's autobiography, and several books on fly tying and fishing. Add in copies of Kipling's "The Jungle Books" and "Just So Stories", which I've been meaning to read for several decades. I got out of there for under 15 dollars with a lot of pleasant reading for the future. Definitely a win for me.

Posted by: JTB at April 23, 2017 09:49 AM (V+03K)

98 I never got One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but I've driven past the State Hospital in Salem so many times.

What didn't you get? A criminal with violent tendencies pretends to be insane to get out of being in jail finds out what insanity is really like.

Posted by: Very Irredeemably Undude at April 23, 2017 09:49 AM (cdYPW)

99 If you know 'people' you can get a private room at the Library of Congress, away from prying eyes.

Posted by: Sandy Berger at April 23, 2017 09:51 AM (TnUKj)

100 Sandy, stuff a sock in it...

Posted by: Anna Puma at April 23, 2017 09:52 AM (giwoQ)

101 "It's been almost a year since Senate Republicans took an empty Supreme Court seat hostage, discarding a constitutional duty that both parties have honored throughout American history and hobbling an entire branch of government for partisan gain." Heh. Butthurt much?

And yet, that was a *five star* review.

What a dumbass.

Posted by: Hugh Jorgen at April 23, 2017 09:52 AM (17QyB)

102 "Free Books!"

Oh--they're not free.

Posted by: Gov. Ernest Hemminghaw Coumo, Rare Book Dealer at April 23, 2017 09:54 AM (Ndje9)

103 It's narrated by the Indian who is crazy as fuck.

This is about me, isn't it?

Posted by: Elizabeth W. at April 23, 2017 09:55 AM (oENGE)

104 So is this Revenge of Analog book out on Kindle?

Posted by: TexasDan at April 23, 2017 09:55 AM (TqXWc)

105 Jeebus, there's a Chihuly sculpture in the Presidential Library of Arkansas that to gaze upon leads to madness...madness!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 09:56 AM (PhYV5)

106 95 Anna Puma

There was plenty wrong with the command climate in HMS Glorious. The Captain was not an aviator, was trying to court-martial his air boss, and IIANM, did not have even have lookouts set properly. The two escorting destroyers did all they could, including a torpedo hit that damaged the Scharnhorst.

Alas, (just looked) 40 survivors from the CV and two DDs.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 23, 2017 09:56 AM (u82oZ)

107 100 Sandy, stuff a sock in it...
Posted by: Anna Puma at April 23, 2017 09:52 AM (giwoQ)


And thanks to GWB's Justice Department, Berger was never interrogated attached to a lie detector like he was supposed to be, so we never found out what was in his sock!

Posted by: Very Irredeemably Undude at April 23, 2017 09:56 AM (cdYPW)

108 NaturalFake, the book and PBS series is The Story of English.

If you want a more in-depth review of English try The History of English Podcast, which goes from Proto-Indo-European, through Latin and Celtic to Old Germanic in about 40 episodes, and then goes to Anglo-Saxon, the Viking invasions and arrives at Alfred the Great and Old English at about episode 50.

The presenter, Kevin Stroud, also has companion books out, one of them is about the poem Beowulf, Beowulf Deconstructed.

Posted by: Kindltot at April 23, 2017 09:57 AM (ii4h0)

109 Jeebus, there's a Chihuly sculpture in the Presidential Library of Arkansas that to gaze upon leads to madness...madness!

All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes


Sure that's not a statue of Bubba Clinton's perverse prehensile reprehensile pecker?

Posted by: Anna Puma at April 23, 2017 09:57 AM (giwoQ)

110 "This is about me, isn't it?"

Indian...not pretendian

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at April 23, 2017 09:59 AM (J+eG2)

111 Oort Cloud, it did not help things that HMS Glorious's captain disobeyed orders and took aboard RAF Hurricane fighters. Thus fouling his deck and rendering his ship incapable of using her own dubious quality aircraft.

The RN during the early stages of the war also had a practise of letting their carrier operate outside the protective destroyer screen to conduct flight operations.

Posted by: Anna Puma at April 23, 2017 09:47 AM (giwoQ)

No destroyer screen? Geez. The version of the story I heard did not mention the bit about the Glorious' deck being fouled due to taking RAF fighters on board, but only that the RN ignored the warning about the German battleships coming and not ordering the Glorious to get the hell out of Dodge. I can see why perhaps the captain would have done that, as it would be unlikely that the Hurricanes would have had sufficient range to make it back to England, but if it also rendered him unable to defend his vessel, then that "bad call" was on him.

Posted by: The Oort Cloud - No-Longer-Deplorable Source of all SMODs at April 23, 2017 09:59 AM (T1H5V)

112 Be careful draining the swamp, because this is what lies beneath the surface:

https://tinyurl.com/llbn62b

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 10:00 AM (PhYV5)

113 Colorado's most famous is Stephen King's The Shining. I would have liked James Michener's Centennial much better.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Doctor of Thinkology at April 23, 2017 10:00 AM (Nwg0u)

114 I think all Harper Collins authors should be very unhappy with the company throwing a dumptruck of cash at a book that clearly wasn't going to sell nearly that well just as a political donation. They don't have stockholders, but in this tough publishing market its not just irresponsible, its insane and self destructive to throw away money like that.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 23, 2017 10:01 AM (39g3+)

115 James Dudley, congrats!

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at April 23, 2017 10:01 AM (hMwEB)

116 Coprophilic" simply means "shit-loving" but it does not automatically imply consumption of said shit.

Coprophagic is the word that implies consumption.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at April 23, 2017 10:01 AM (oENGE)

117 https://tentaclii.wordpress.com/category/lovecraftian-places/
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 09:43 AM (PhYV5)


"Abandoned organ room, Eastern Europe."

So like... eldritch horror lost-and-found office?

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 10:03 AM (8nWyX)

118 Anybody ever remember doing the Readers Digest, It pays to increase your word power?

It was in a book, so fair game for the book thread.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at April 23, 2017 10:04 AM (J+eG2)

119
So like... eldritch horror lost-and-found office?
Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 10:03 AM (8nWyX)


Like when you slough off remove your human skin suit to use the restroom and forget to put it back on.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 10:05 AM (PhYV5)

120 I hate my keyboard!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 10:06 AM (PhYV5)

121 The Fleet Air Arm of 1940 was not something called a winning team. The years of being the red-headed stepchild of the RAF had borne bitter fruit.

Everyone knows about the Swordfish torpedo bomber. What has been forgotten is the Skua and Roc. Along with the later Fulmar and Albacore.

HMS Glorious landing the RAF fighters was a great feat, but it turned the ship into a target. In order to save a few replaceable Hurricanes, that RN Captain sacrificed his ships and men to German shells. Pyrrhic describes it.

Posted by: Anna Puma at April 23, 2017 10:06 AM (giwoQ)

122 Recently read "The Hunter Killers" by Dan Hampton. It is the story of the early Air Force Wild Weasel program for taking out SAM missile sites during the Vietnam war. Let it suffice to say the guys flying those missions had titanium balls, and that's a fact. Interspersed with the story is a history on the Vietnam war, and basically it was an even bigger clusterfuck than I'd heard. Thank you LBJ and his cohorts.

Just finished Asimov's "Pebble In The Sky", his first novel. I'd read it as a kid and still enjoyed it now. A few concepts were a bit dated, but Asimov knew how to spin a yarn right out of the gate.

Posted by: The Oort Cloud - No-Longer-Deplorable Source of all SMODs at April 23, 2017 10:06 AM (T1H5V)

123 111 The Oort Cloud - No-Longer-Deplorable Source of all SMODs

Two escorts; HMS Acasta and HMS Ardent. Both sunk, with one survivor each.

However, there was no [strong]proper[/strong] screen, with air patrols and cruiser escorts. The CO went to Action Stations late, and did not increase speed soon enough.

The RN lost another CV, HMS Courageous, earlier in the war. She also had an inadequate screen. It took two CV losses and about 2,000 dead sailors for the RN to get the message.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 23, 2017 10:07 AM (u82oZ)

124 Anybody ever remember doing the Readers Digest, It pays to increase your word power?

Oh, yes! There was also a magazine called "Games" that our family liked. With Mom and five kids, there was enough in that to interest all of us. Wish it was still around.

Posted by: April at April 23, 2017 10:09 AM (e8PP1)

125 Finished "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket" this week. It was a real page turner but I think the ending was Poe trolling his readers.

Posted by: Prince Ludwig the Deplorable at April 23, 2017 10:09 AM (fYbFJ)

126 Colorado's most famous is Stephen King's The Shining. I would have liked James Michener's Centennial much better.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks


******

I couldn't open the link due to my browser set-up, but wondered if Centennial would be the one. Certainly Colorado per sé is a bigger feature of the book than "The Shining", which could be set anywhere.

Posted by: Muldoon at April 23, 2017 10:09 AM (mvenn)

127 Hate to be THAT guy, but:

I think that should be 'merdivorous' rather than 'merdiverous'. As in adjective form of merdivore.

Posted by: Muldoon


You could be right. Or, it could be that this is an old word with old spelling.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at April 23, 2017 10:10 AM (SEeXf)

128 Late start this am (cold, allergies and stupid cat). Can barely concentrate enough to comment on stuff, much less read anything.


Anybody ever remember doing the Readers Digest, It pays to increase your word power?



An old teacher 5th-6th grade, just handed me a big stack of them pulled out of the digest and that was my 'Language Arts' instruction.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 23, 2017 10:11 AM (MIKMs)

129 I usually don't like really big thick books. They're almost always too thick -- padding, extra side stuff, repeated information, excessive description, pointless dialog, etc -- and I feel as though I'm trapped in the book after a while, eyeing the other books i could be reading if this guy had just been more restrained.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 23, 2017 10:11 AM (39g3+)

130 What didn't you get? A criminal with violent
tendencies pretends to be insane to get out of being in jail finds out
what insanity is really like.
Posted by: Very Irredeemably Undude at April 23, 2017 09:49 AM (cdYPW)


I never figured out why it was worth reading all the way, or why Kesey was considered talented for having written it.

Posted by: Kindltot at April 23, 2017 10:11 AM (ii4h0)

131 What has been forgotten is the Skua and Roc.
Posted by: Anna Puma at April 23, 2017 10:06 AM (giwoQ)


I wouldn't know the Skua existed but for the based-on-a-true story film Into the White.

My buddy Kari has an obsessive Florian Lukas thing, idk. Actually it was a pretty good movie, though the fact that they got shot down doesn't really make it an endorsement of the Skua.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 10:11 AM (8nWyX)

132 I liked Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion. It's got a lot of Oregon in it, as it's about an old school logging family.

It got made into a 1970 movie with Paul Newman and Henry Fonda

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 23, 2017 10:14 AM (bQxkN)

133 Salty Dawg, you forget the massive cock-up of HMS Ark Royal being torpedoed a bare 50 miles from Gibraltar. Karmic irony that one fish fired from U-81 sealed her fate just like that one lucky torpedo had sealed the fate of Bismarck.

The carrier had only two cans for escort. In November 1941. Neither DD tried to take her in tow and they waited for tugs to arrive. The torpedo had struck in the machinery spaces so the ship lost power. When they tried to lite up a boiler, a fire erupted. And 15 hours after losing power, the ship rolled over and sank.

Posted by: Anna Puma at April 23, 2017 10:15 AM (giwoQ)

134 104 ... "The Revenge of Analog" is available on Kindle and some of the reviews mentioned that irony. It sure occurred to me.

Posted by: JTB at April 23, 2017 10:17 AM (V+03K)

135 It got made into a 1970 movie with Paul Newman and Henry Fonda

****


On Brokeback Pond

Great flick.

Posted by: Muldoon at April 23, 2017 10:17 AM (mvenn)

136 However, there was no [strong]proper[/strong] screen, with air patrols and cruiser escorts. The CO went to Action Stations late, and did not increase speed soon enough.

The RN lost another CV, HMS Courageous, earlier in the war. She also had an inadequate screen. It took two CV losses and about 2,000 dead sailors for the RN to get the message.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 23, 2017 10:07 AM (u82oZ)

As I said, the version of the story I'd heard was that the biggest screwup of the whole affair was the Admiralty's failure to heed the warning from Bletchley Park that those German battlewagons were on their way. If they had, the implication was that the Glorious, fouled deck and inadequate screen notwithstanding, could have left the area before the enemy arrived and avoided being sunk.

But, as is so often the case, in foul ups like this there is seldom any one cause, but many....

Posted by: The Oort Cloud - No-Longer-Deplorable Source of all SMODs at April 23, 2017 10:18 AM (T1H5V)

137 "n the golden age there would be penny-in-the-slot machines, by which a man could kill himself for a penny. In all this I found myself utterly hostile to many who called themselves liberal and humane. Not only is suicide a sin, it is the sin. It is the ultimate and absolute evil, the refusal to take an interest in existence; the refusal to take the oath of loyalty to life. The man who kills a man, kills a man. The man who kills himself, kills all men; as far as he is concerned he wipes out the world. His act is worse (symbolically considered) than any rape or dynamite outrage. For it destroys all buildings: it insults all women. The thief is satisfied with diamonds; but the suicide is not: that is his crime. He cannot be bribed, even by the blazing stones of the Celestial City. The thief compliments the things he steals, if not the owner of them. But the suicide insults everything on earth by not stealing it. He defiles every flower by refusing to live for its sake. There is not a tiny creature in the cosmos at whom his death is not a sneer. When a man hangs himself on a tree, the leaves might fall off in anger and the birds fly away in fury: for each has received a personal affront. Of course there may be pathetic emotional excuses for the act. There often are for rape, and there almost always are for dynamite. But if it comes to clear ideas and the intelligent meaning of things, then there is much more rational and philosophic truth in the burial at the cross-roads and the stake driven through the body, than in Mr. Archer's suicidal automatic machines. There is a meaning in burying the suicide apart. The man's crime is different from other crimes -- for it makes even crimes impossible."--G.K. Chesterton

Posted by: The Gipper Lives at April 23, 2017 10:19 AM (Ndje9)

138 I've been reading Mickey Spillane books. I'd only read a few, including his last (quite a good book, actually). He's an odd mix of a really talented writer and a hack. He's skilled in plotting and often has a great turn of phrase, he builds an interesting suspenseful mystery, but at the same time everything is so cliche'd and stereotyped its hilarious.

There's no racial bigotry, but the characters all fall into one of a very limited range of categories, and behave in certain predetermined ways, like a really awful soap opera or the worst of pulp fiction. Every woman is super hot and lusts after Mike Hammer, no man is tough enough to fight him, Mike Hammer can absorb superhuman punishment with only concerns when its happening, but no real lasting aftereffects.

But at the same time, its really interesting reading, and you kind of go along with the patterns, like Japanese animation. It works despite the kind of crude, childish portrayals of reality. And there's a level of gritty truth to everything even with the way people act. Its been an interesting ride, reading them in order.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 23, 2017 10:20 AM (39g3+)

139 Anna Puma

By gosh, you're right. ISTR that the Arc Royal had a proper strong escort when it was further to the east. THen the task force exited the range of IT/Luftwaffe aircraft. The CV was released from the group to proceed independently to Gib. And that the U-81 was overlooked by Bletchley Park (or was that during a dark period?).

Well, I can't consult my extensive Enigma library, as I need to see my widowed up-the-hill neighbor for my twice-weekly visit. She has some minor chores for me.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 23, 2017 10:21 AM (u82oZ)

140 I am seldom around on early Sundays to enjoy being able to read the Book Thread contemporaneously, more's the pity.

However I do recall someone (hogmartin?) asking in a prior week's BT, which I got to too late, whether the original _Connections_ book by James Burke is any good, and whether reading it can stand in for viewing the television series.

To which: Yes, and yes.

Though the series is damned good. Something I say despite being in general no fan of television.

Posted by: torquewrench at April 23, 2017 10:21 AM (qJjMA)

141 Andrew Cuomo sure had a good writing gig.
I suspect publishing crappy books by worthless left wing politicians is a form of indirect donation by progressive publishers.
What normal person would have any interest in a book by a Clinton? Yet they persist.

Posted by: Northernlurker at April 23, 2017 10:22 AM (nBr1j)

142 I loved the first Connections series, it was great stuff, with only a few glimpses of the man's philosophy and worldview. The second series was more about him lecturing the world on how they should all think like him, sadly.

One of the guys from Top Gear did a show a lot like Connections, I think it was Richard Hammond, but it only ran a few episodes. They were quite interesting as well.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 23, 2017 10:24 AM (39g3+)

143 "Poo-positive lifestyle" is the new thing.

Shit-faced used to be a state of drunkenness, this is not an improvement.

Posted by: DaveA at April 23, 2017 10:25 AM (FhXTo)

144 NaturalFake, the book and PBS series is The Story of English.

If you want a more in-depth review of English try The History of English Podcast, which goes from Proto-Indo-European, through Latin and Celtic to Old Germanic in about 40 episodes, and then goes to Anglo-Saxon, the Viking invasions and arrives at Alfred the Great and Old English at about episode 50.

The presenter, Kevin Stroud, also has companion books out, one of them is about the poem Beowulf, Beowulf Deconstructed.

Posted by: Kindltot at April 23, 2017 09:57 AM (ii4h0)



Thanks, Kindltot.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 23, 2017 10:25 AM (9q7Dl)

145 Posted by: torquewrench at April 23, 2017 10:21 AM (qJjMA)

Connections 1 and 2 are quite good, 3 (a Discovery Channel production done a decade or so later) is a muddled mess with nothing to tie all the "connections" together.

Posted by: Hugh Jorgen at April 23, 2017 10:25 AM (17QyB)

146 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 23, 2017 10:01 AM (39g3+)

Harper Collins is a subsidiary of NewsCorp.

Gee...what a surprise! Murdoch is hedging his bets.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at April 23, 2017 10:26 AM (rF0hx)

147 I love the Book Thread, Oregon Muse. Thank you!

If the makers of that map would have asked me, (but they didn't) I would say Cather's Death Comes For the Archbishop belongs on New Mexico.

I see she's got NE with My Antonia. Deservedly. But she deserves two! The setting of Archbishop is practically a character in the novel, as in Antonia.

The world's changed since she was here. As America began to romanticize Communism, she famously stated, "the world broke in two in 1922 or thereabouts." Hat tip to OM's mentioning the PC character of some of the choices.

Posted by: booknlass at April 23, 2017 10:26 AM (8mO0Q)

148 Read Proust's In The Shadow Of Young Girls In Flower (In Search Of Lost Time #2), which continues the story of a sickly boy of an affluent French family as he grows into adolescence. He makes friends in the upper-class, meets artists and becomes infatuated with girls, including Swann's daughter Gilberte.

Beautifully written, but little action, and a buttload of commas, not a writer, for everyone, but a very, good, though slow, read. Still hoping to finish the series this year.

Posted by: waelse1 at April 23, 2017 10:26 AM (XdGVd)

149 To which: Yes, and yes.
Posted by: torquewrench at April 23, 2017 10:21 AM (qJjMA)


Good to know, thanks! The DVDs are almost $100 and the only streaming versions are awful quality. Like you said, it's an excellent show, but nothing that wouldn't be just fine in book form.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 10:26 AM (8nWyX)

150 Salty Dawg, take care and let me know what Enigma churns up. Of course I can't remember when the RN finally managed to steal from the Germans a Flower chart so Bletchley might have missed U-81 that way.

I need to get back to working on short story. It is hovering around 13,000 words. Still no idea of a title. Also no artwork yet. And four people waiting for me to drop the rough copy on them.

Posted by: Anna Puma at April 23, 2017 10:27 AM (giwoQ)

151 Had an idea for a dystopian story where cellphones/facebook are used to enforce a totalitarian state. People are required to 'unlike' any socially unacceptable comments made by others. Like DKos writ large.

Of course the state is forever testing us by having 'agents' say unacceptable things to test us. The agents are just regular citizens instructed by an app what to say in order to test their loyalty.

It could be set 5 years in the future.

Posted by: buzzsaw90 at April 23, 2017 10:29 AM (vChNs)

152 Oortcloud, good call on Asimov! I was introduced to his books via Caves of Steel, which I think is fantastic. The other books in that series were just as good.

I liked how all of his novels eventually tied into each other, and the reveal at the end of Foundation and Earth really got me.

Posted by: WitchDoktor, AKA VA GOP Sucks at April 23, 2017 10:29 AM (2VN2E)

153 Short stories are harder to write than long form fiction, I think. With a novel you can just keep going with whatever interests you and answering questions that come up. A short story has to be more direct and to the point.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 23, 2017 10:29 AM (39g3+)

154 Here is a shot of the Yale Beinecke Rare Book Library. From the outside it looks like your standard modernist cement block, but on the inside, it glows:

https://tinyurl.com/lvqb9hc

Imagine all the forbidden tomes!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 10:30 AM (PhYV5)

155 Kindltot wrote, about One Flew Over...."I never figured out why it was worth reading all the way, or why Kesey was considered talented for having written it."

Kesey became the darling of the drug-culture, because he was on the bus with Kerouac and Neil Cassidy. Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool-aid Acid Test helped Kesey along in popularity. And then along came Michael Douglas, then wham! Pow!

Posted by: booknlass at April 23, 2017 10:32 AM (8mO0Q)

156 In line with the new Tolkien book coming out, I got "The Kalevala", Oxford edition, off the shelf to start reading next month. (It was a big influence on Tolkien, hence the connection.) BTW, there are videos of people reading it in Finnish on YouTube. A fascinating sounding language.

As usual, there are always arguments about the best translations. It's like an ongoing long bow/cross bow discussion for any book needing translation to English. Rather amusing.

Posted by: JTB at April 23, 2017 10:34 AM (V+03K)

157 *waves to the rest of the jammie-wearing Book Threadists* mornin', all. Cinnamon roll?

After fighting with various books that *should* have been good, but were pallid third-generation Xeroxes of good books, I sought refuge in Ignition!, the "interesting bits" history of rocket fuel research. The writer is hilarious, knows where all the bodies are buried, and had many funny stories of explosions. Maybe you have to be a scientist to fully appreciate the details or the mindset, but I giggle a lot while reading. Especially turns of phrase, for example describing the extreme standards required to store a certain temperamental compound "...requiring a standard of cleanliness not merely surgical, but levitical." And a precise description of the gurgling noises made by drums of Red Fuming Nitric Acid before they burst, and other useful datum. (PDF file available online for free various places...)

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at April 23, 2017 10:34 AM (mDjbp)

158 That works out to royalty payments to Cuomo of $245 per book.
------------------
Can we unleash a squadron of forensic accountants on the publishing racket?
Posted by: fluffy at April 23, 2017 09:16 AM (jw2Xw)


Let's just call it what it is: a campaign contribution. Harper Collins paid $873,000 to the Elect Andi Coomo fund.

And once we start being honest about these things, then we can get to the argument whether money = speech, and whether we want the government to put any limits on it or not.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 10:35 AM (Pz4pT)

159 Oh, and the books from each state thing, I couldn't get past the "we noticed you are using an ad blocker" thing.

I assume Huck Finn won for Missouri. If it didn't, then the map is useless.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 10:36 AM (Pz4pT)

160 Gorsuch is a plagiarist:
http://tinyurl.com/kopk2e6

Politico lays out the columns side-by-side. So, maybe he'll be a good justice (especially if he rips off Scalia's old opinions), but he's not much of a writer.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at April 23, 2017 10:36 AM (6FqZa)

161 Not Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer for MO

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 23, 2017 10:37 AM (bQxkN)

162 Short stories are harder to write than long form fiction, I think. With a novel you can just keep going with whatever interests you and answering questions that come up. A short story has to be more direct and to the point.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 23, 2017 10:29 AM (39g3+)


It's also harder to keep characters straight with limited time to develop them. Who Goes There? doesn't have too many characters, and it's not the shortest story, but it's not easy to keep track of them because they don't have a lot of time to establish themselves, plus you're trying to figure out which of them are The Thing at the same time.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 10:37 AM (8nWyX)

163 Some Moron recommended The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King, the beekeeper in question being Sherlock Holmes. I found it a mixed bag. I thought the writing was very good but I found the plot, particularly the mysteries themselves, to be weak. Also one minor quibble; although not directly concerned with WWI, it is set during WWI and some of the history is misleading, most jarringly repeated references to Verdun as the scene of great British loss while Verdun was, in fact, a French battle.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Doctor of Thinkology at April 23, 2017 10:38 AM (Nwg0u)

164 "It's been almost a year since Senate Republicans took an empty Supreme Court seat hostage, discarding a constitutional duty that both parties have honored throughout American history and hobbling an entire branch of government for partisan gain." Heh. Butthurt much?

1- pretending to care about the Consitution
2- ignoring the issue of qualifications
3- ignoring tactics by Democrats that are for "partisan gain"
4- not acknowledging that if "partisan gain" coincides with a return to a court that interprets law rather than makes up new laws, that is a Good Thing.

I really, really hate leftist scum.

Posted by: Caitlyn Jenner at April 23, 2017 10:38 AM (vRcUp)

165 Posted by: right wing yankee at April 23, 2017 09:29 AM (26lkV)

I can totally believe that. Creating clothing was a *very* long process. The example I use with kids is that it wasn't just that the cloth had to be spun and woven the *thread* to put it all together had to be spun too. And that took a fair amount of skill as the product had to be thin, even, and sturdy.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at April 23, 2017 10:41 AM (sEDyY)

166 Here is a shot of the Yale Beinecke Rare Book Library. From the outside it looks like your standard modernist cement block, but on the inside, it glows:

https://tinyurl.com/lvqb9hc

Imagine all the forbidden tomes!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 10:30 AM (PhYV5)


It is reputed to house an impressive collection of pron.

Posted by: cool breeze at April 23, 2017 10:42 AM (TKf/P)

167 *waves to the rest of the jammie-wearing Book Threadists* mornin', all. Cinnamon roll?

Just had lentil soup, but thanks.

After fighting with various books that *should* have been good, but were pallid third-generation Xeroxes of good books, I sought refuge in Ignition!, the "interesting bits" history of rocket fuel research.
Posted by: Sabrina Chase at April 23, 2017 10:34 AM (mDjbp)


Aaaaag I keep forgetting about that one. Downloaded the PDF forever ago, but never seem to remember to start it. I should put it on the Kindle or something, because I'm never going to read it if it's just sitting in a pile of stuff in my downloads folder.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 10:42 AM (8nWyX)

168 Rereading The Expanse novels now that 2 tv seasons are done. Liking both better. Sooner or later the ettes will cover Shoresh's sp? costuming.

Posted by: DaveA at April 23, 2017 10:43 AM (FhXTo)

169 The book that North Carolina gets saddled with is a Nicholas Sparks book. Bah. Bunch of sentimentalist pap.
Probably because he lives in New Bern.

Posted by: antisocialist at April 23, 2017 10:43 AM (84ijm)

170 Gorsuch is a plagiarist:
http://tinyurl.com/kopk2e6

Politico lays out the columns side-by-side. So, maybe he'll be a good justice (especially if he rips off Scalia's old opinions), but he's not much of a writer.
Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at April 23, 2017 10:36 AM (6FqZa)


The article makes an argument. It's disputed, in the very article you site.

Your use of the word plagiarist is needlessly incendiary, and therefore inaccurate. Any scholarly evaluation of your wording here would commit you of a worse crime than what the article alleges.

So who's the bad writer?

Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 10:43 AM (Pz4pT)

171 Good lord, Nicholas sparks is our author. Because who has heard of Thomas Wolfe or anyone else from here I guess.

Posted by: NCKate at April 23, 2017 10:43 AM (Lgbif)

172 Thomas Wolfe

Posted by: NCKate at April 23, 2017 10:43 AM (Lgbif)

Overrated.

Sorry.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at April 23, 2017 10:44 AM (rF0hx)

173 Hmm, my hash. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, furry?

Posted by: NCKate at April 23, 2017 10:45 AM (Lgbif)

174 JTB -- Congrats on the Jungle Book and Just So scores. One thing I would recommend, read the Just So Stories aloud to Mrs JTB and she can read one to you. I don't have the breath discipline any more, but Just So needs to be read aloud.

Love, from the banks of the great grey-green greasy Limpopo River all set about with fever trees, the Elephant's Child goes on, a little warm, but not at all astonished . . .

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 23, 2017 10:45 AM (MIKMs)

175 gah. tranny sock off. And I'm pissed off that Jenner still talks like a man. He is too fucking lazy to undergo vocal training.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at April 23, 2017 10:46 AM (vRcUp)

176 Not Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer for MO
Posted by: Ignoramus at April 23, 2017 10:37 AM (bQxkN)

The left shies away from Huck because it's got that uncomfortable stuff about a slave.

I'm pretty sure Twain himself would tell you Huck was a substantially better book, which it was. And given that it ushered in a quite new standard for American fiction, it was substantially more important a work.

So yeah, the map is not to be taken seriously.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 10:46 AM (Pz4pT)

177 And speaking of sewing under duress, the wonderful traveling show "Theatre de la Mode" talked about the shortage of needles and fabric and thread during and after WWII. The industry was so crippled after the war they could only use small mannequins to showcase their designs:

http://thecuttingclass.com/post/6244480288/theatre-de-la-mode

I was lucky enough to see this exhibit years ago when they came to Hawaii and it was magnificent, with recreations of Cocteau's original sets.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 10:47 AM (PhYV5)

178 hogmartin and Sabrina Chase

Ignition, by John Clark is a hoot. Very funny and informative book. I recommend it to all physical and physical organic chemists. A physical copy costs $500. A local University library had a copy to read.

He also has strong connections to science fiction authors, and ISTR operated a salon for interesting people in NJ.

Got to go. Have a blessed day everyone.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 23, 2017 10:48 AM (u82oZ)

179 Hmm, my hash. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, furry?

Posted by: NCKate at April 23, 2017 10:45 AM (Lgbif)


Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Intersex, Furry.

Could become a thing.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at April 23, 2017 10:48 AM (vRcUp)

180 My great-grandmother's letter from Hitler
MK Rachel Azaria presents a letter written by her great-grandmother to President Hindenburg expressing concerns over anti-Semitism and violence; Hitler wrote a handwritten response calling her claims 'ridiculous lies.'
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4952459,00.html

Posted by: Nevergiveup at April 23, 2017 10:48 AM (E0jfY)

181 Hmm, my hash. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, furry?
Posted by: NCKate at April 23, 2017 10:45 AM (Lgbif)


Lesbian, gay, or a thing for guys named "Biff?"

Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 10:48 AM (Pz4pT)

182 171 Good lord, Nicholas sparks is our author. Because who has heard of Thomas Wolfe or anyone else from here I guess.
Posted by: NCKate at April 23, 2017 10:43 AM (Lgbif)


Lives next door to former governor Perdue. Opened his own uber-expensive private school in Craven County.
Makes him a great author, doncha know...

Posted by: antisocialist at April 23, 2017 10:48 AM (84ijm)

183 And I found a copy of Driving Force, by Dick Francis, and finished that yesterday. His mysteries are always fun. I like the older ones better, but the new ones are good, too. Lots of vivid description and interesting plotting.


Posted by: right wing yankee at April 23, 2017 09:12 AM (26lkV)


I've heard that the more recent books were actually ghost-written and just carried his name. However, I don't know for certain.

Authors can go through different phases in their writing -- Robert Heinlein is a perfect example: I like his early stuff, don't care for most of his later books written after (and including) Stranger in a Strange Land.

Posted by: Retired Buckey Cop is now an engineer at April 23, 2017 10:48 AM (5Yee7)

184 So yeah, the map is not to be taken seriously.
Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 10:46 AM (Pz4pT)


No, Michigan got Children of Dune, so it's pretty accurate.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 10:49 AM (8nWyX)

185 On topic of west coast authors, I've got through volume 3 of Nightshade Press's collected Clark Ashton Smith. Standouts here are Colossus of Ylourgne and Empire of the Necromancers, both involving the dead being raised to life.

The former is an action-packed epic with a memorable villain, basically Paul Krugman now in control of a hundred-foot-tall flesh golem. And he wants REVENGE over all who have ever mocked him!

The only minus in here is that this takes place in Averoigne, which is Smith's setting for airing out his anti-Catholic bigotry. However: the Krugtron I mean, Colossus goes so over-the-top in his revenge that if you were ever going to laugh with Smith at the beginning, toward the end the reaction is merely horror. So I dunno. Maybe Smith had talked himself into sympathy for the good Christians of Averoigne, who definitely didn't deserve all that.

Empire of the Necromancers is the first Zothique tale and the only one in Volume Three. I can see why he returned to that setting in vols 4-5. Christianity cannot be blamed for anything that goes wrong here because, in this exhausted world, there is no Christianity; there isn't even anything as salubrious as Islam. All anything wants is the sweet release of death - which includes the dead, whom the two evil necromancers are molesting.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at April 23, 2017 10:49 AM (6FqZa)

186 Dick Francis books are not just a fun read, but you learn a word or two (good for your vocabulary!).

Posted by: Lizzy at April 23, 2017 10:51 AM (NOIQH)

187 168 Rereading The Expanse novels now that 2 tv seasons are done. Liking both better. Sooner or later the ettes will cover Shoresh's sp? costuming.
Posted by: DaveA at April 23, 2017 10:43 AM (FhXTo)
---
I've wanted to dish for ages but I've already dropped a fashion link in this erudite thread so I'll suppress my squeal. But her clothes are great.

Gotta take fault with her constant f- and mf-bombs on the show, though. And I say this as a former Squid -- she needs to tone it down. It seems out of character for such a classy broad. Does she swear in the books?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 10:53 AM (PhYV5)

188 I've heard that the more recent books were actually ghost-written and just carried his name.
Posted by: Retired Buckey Cop is now an engineer


Using a ghost-writer should be considered a perfectly acceptable way to connect with readers. That is the important part - connecting with readers. Not who actually put the words to paper.

Posted by: Chelsea Clinton at April 23, 2017 10:55 AM (HTdUD)

189 174 ... "Congrats on the Jungle Book and Just So scores. One thing I would recommend, read the Just So Stories aloud to Mrs. JTB and she can read one to you. I don't have the breath discipline any more, but Just So needs to be read aloud."

mustbequantum, Thanks for that suggestion. And it could be interesting since my normal speaking voice sounds like Darth Vader. Could be an amusing juxtaposition.

Posted by: JTB at April 23, 2017 10:56 AM (V+03K)

190 Good morning, Horde! On this day in 1967, my mother unleashed me on the world. If you do the math, you'll see that I'm 29 today!

Posted by: Duke Lowell at April 23, 2017 10:59 AM (kTF2Z)

191 Duke Lowell, Happy Birthday from somebody who vaguely remembers being 29.

Posted by: JTB at April 23, 2017 11:01 AM (V+03K)

192 I've heard that the more recent books were actually ghost-written and just carried his name.
Posted by: Retired Buckey Cop is now an engineer

Using a ghost-writer should be considered a perfectly acceptable way to connect with readers. That is the important part - connecting with readers. Not who actually put the words to paper.
Posted by: Chelsea Clinton at April 23, 2017 10:55 AM (HTdUD)


I recall a very attractive female telling me she was a fan of one of those schlock novelists (whose name really does escape me at the moment).

So I read one of his books. It was crep. When I'd go to the bookstore though, every week it seemed there was a new title with his name on it, and somebody else's name written underneath his.

I appreciate the honesty, I guess. They aren't pretending the other writer didn't write the book, but why...

James Patterson, that's the guy.

So why have Patterson's name on it? Marketing, I guess.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 11:02 AM (Pz4pT)

193 Good morning, Horde! On this day in 1967, my mother
unleashed me on the world. If you do the math, you'll see that I'm 29
today! Posted by: Duke Lowell at April 23, 2017 10:59 AM (kTF2Z)
=====

Congratulations, young'un. If you are this tall (or this old) you may be allowed on the rides now.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 23, 2017 11:03 AM (MIKMs)

194 So why have Patterson's name on it? Marketing, I guess.

The hell you say.

Posted by: the unquiet lich of VC Andrews at April 23, 2017 11:03 AM (6FqZa)

195 >>Had an idea for a dystopian story where cellphones/facebook are used to
enforce a totalitarian state. People are required to 'unlike' any
socially unacceptable comments made by others. Like DKos writ large.

Maybe something like this short story from 'ette Lauren?

"Just Another Oppressor" by Lauren Pope

Posted by: Lizzy at April 23, 2017 11:04 AM (NOIQH)

196 I was just looking at the video from the American Airlines stroller incident. I was on an AA flight last year and had that same male stewardess. He was an arrogant, Napoleonic-complexed asshole then, too.

Posted by: Country Singer at April 23, 2017 11:04 AM (GUBah)

197 Three books about Ohio: Dreamland by Sam Quinones, Glass House by Brian Alexander & Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance. Meth, death & economics. Reckon Gov. Kasich has read them. Or not.

Posted by: Buckeye Reader at April 23, 2017 11:04 AM (bc2Lc)

198 Speaking of Cuomo, he got a public slap to the face for being soft on terrorism.

http://tinyurl.com/mhvjvof

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Doctor of Thinkology at April 23, 2017 11:06 AM (Nwg0u)

199 Aha! I knew I had some Clark Ashton Smith somewhere!

It's an Arkham House printing of A Rendezvous in Averoigne and it has both "Colossus of Ylourgne" and "Empire of the Necromancers". And I see it has "Master of the Asteroid" which some nice Hordeling linked in last week's book thread. Winning!

I love spelunking in my stash and finding cool new things that have been buried there all along.

I'm like a bespectacled Smaugette jealously guarding a pile of books. Haven't read 'em in years but don't you dare touch anything!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 11:08 AM (PhYV5)

200 I have the Beekeeper's Apprentice from the library but haven't read it yet, hope to get to it maybe this week. I'm in the middle of the first SPQR book and 2 Years Before The Mast, so probably not.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 23, 2017 11:09 AM (39g3+)

201 The fact that Michigan's most famous book is not from Elmore Leonard is ridiculous.

Posted by: Finn McCool at April 23, 2017 11:09 AM (xfPn3)

202 74 ... I've seen a copy of "The Great American Pin-Up" book. There is not a lot of full nudity but the drawings are of sexy, healthy women who are usually smiling and really seem to enjoy being women. It's such a nice change from the snarling or pouting bitches seen so often these days. The images are very appealing.

Posted by: JTB at April 23, 2017 11:11 AM (V+03K)

203 "...my normal speaking voice sounds like Darth Vader. Could be an amusing juxtaposition.
Posted by: JTB at April 23, 2017 10:56 AM (V+03K)"

You need to read "Goodnight Moon" to some unsuspecting kiddie.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 11:11 AM (PhYV5)

204 Another vote for "Ignition!". Awesome for Sci-fi nerds, fans of the space exploration, and general science nerds like myself. It really digs into how freaking hard it was to tame and produce cryogenic fuels, and more importantly, why, beyond efficiency. Also gets into just why the Soviets stuck with nasty shit like UDMH and Fuming Nitric Acid. Also, its a really good read.

Posted by: Jackal at April 23, 2017 11:12 AM (NiR1r)

205 Sunday Morning Shows focused on Trump's failed first 100 days.

Meanwhile the DNC head is on tour with a guy who isn't even a Democrat

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 23, 2017 11:13 AM (bQxkN)

206 Bacon will sober me up so I can do laundry. If only the blasted kids in the neighborhood would just STFU. I will do the laundry at 2.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at April 23, 2017 11:13 AM (vRcUp)

207 I don't think they ever bothered to even name the authors of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew stuff, and for the last decade of his life, Tom Clancy probably never even read any of the "Tom Clancy's $FRANCHISE: Shadow Death Ghost Warrior" stuff.

I wonder if publishers know who wrote them? Like, does the author just get a paycheck, or can they stick it in their portfolio when they're shopping around for publishers so they can say that they're actually the one who wrote "The Hardy Boys and the Mystery of Haunted Pirate Smuggler's Cave"?

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 11:14 AM (8nWyX)

208 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ1mdBYrFBU

Christopher Walken reading Goodnight Moon of The Simpsons.

Skooch a little closer ...

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 23, 2017 11:17 AM (bQxkN)

209 So why have Patterson's name on it? Marketing, I guess.

-----

Clive Cussler has been doing that for years too.

Posted by: WitchDoktor, AKA VA GOP Sucks at April 23, 2017 11:17 AM (2VN2E)

210 Posted by: Duke Lowell at April 23, 2017 10:59 AM (kTF2Z)

Happy cake day, Ooh RAH!

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at April 23, 2017 11:18 AM (3n2bM)

211 Hmm. Ken Kesey.

Tom Wolfe wrote "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" - a portrait of Ken Kesey, his Merry Pranksters, LSD, and the 1960s.

I remember reading EKAAT in autumn 1969, the year of Woodstock...

Posted by: nustas at April 23, 2017 11:19 AM (OkKDg)

212 Was reading page turners like Flynn and then watching thrillers. My poor pitiful brain and disposition can't take all the excitement and sleep was eluding me. So picked up my good friend Michener (Alaska) and now I read contentedly until sleep claims me. Mrs. Moron teased me about reading the first chapter detailing the geologic formation of Alaska.

'What?! No one reads Micheners first chapter'

Posted by: Some moron . at April 23, 2017 11:19 AM (DdGS0)

213 The ads onAoSHQ for me this am include Blue Moon beer and an add for a center for Reproductive Technologies.

'Cause getting drunk and getting pregnant are what Morons are about!

Posted by: Jade Sea at April 23, 2017 11:20 AM (QzGX6)

214 I think the word is actually merdivorous.

Posted by: Buck Ofama at April 23, 2017 11:20 AM (pCPDc)

215 for writers out there, Jim Sterling (covering game journalism) warns against writing for "exposure". If a company owns the work you did, they might delete all your stuff after you quit. So much for getting exposed...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUwzpEE9KsI

I suggest doing your "exposure" work on your own blog or on free-for-all archive sites, where you control your brand. (This might be the only point where Sterling has ever agreed with the Rabid Puppies.)

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at April 23, 2017 11:20 AM (6FqZa)

216 i've been thinking of a new hardy boys type series. i have the titles and only need to write them:

"the blighty blighters of blighty cove"

"the lying liars of liar's gulch"

"the bullshitting bullshitters of bullshitter's creek"

they'll be about smugglers and rustlers and the protagonists will be neat and wear shirts with collars to give young people a good role model.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at April 23, 2017 11:21 AM (WTSFk)

217 Vader reading Hop on Pop would be classic.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at April 23, 2017 11:21 AM (89T5c)

218 I knew before even clicking the link that SD had to be a book by Tom Brokaw. And I was right.

Posted by: Molly k. at April 23, 2017 11:22 AM (9H4KE)

219 One of the Swedish fairy tales I mentioned concerns a Mother Troll who is attracted to humans because they always have the smell of brewing coffee and frying bacon coming from their farm houses. All I could think of was here is an 'ette in the making.

Posted by: JTB at April 23, 2017 11:22 AM (V+03K)

220 Mrs. Moron teased me about reading the first chapter detailing the geologic formation of Alaska.

-
The first chapter of Centennial has dinosaurs banging.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Doctor of Thinkology at April 23, 2017 11:22 AM (Nwg0u)

221 "the bullshitting bullshitters of bullshitter's creek"

I would read the hell out of this. Is there a Classics Illustrated version?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 11:24 AM (PhYV5)

222 Just finished a classic work of crackpot science: Atlantis, the Antediluvian World, by Ignatius Donnelly.

Ever read any Von Daniken, or Graham Hancock, or Zecheria Stichin? Every man jack of them stole from Donnelly.

Posted by: Trimegistus at April 23, 2017 11:24 AM (WPAl5)

223 The first chapter of Centennial has dinosaurs banging.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Doctor of Thinkology at April 23, 2017 11:22 AM (Nwg0u)


Does it have any details about how the ones with spiky backs managed that? Because I'm legit curious as hell.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 11:25 AM (8nWyX)

224 The first chapter of Centennial has dinosaurs banging.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Doctor of Thinkology at April 23, 2017
---------

Did it start that late? I can remember reading Centennial when I was in college and thinking, is this ever going to get past the Creation.

I was glad I persevered, but egads.

Posted by: bluebell at April 23, 2017 11:25 AM (sBOL1)

225
The first chapter of Centennial has dinosaurs banging.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Doctor of Thinkology at April 23, 2017 11:22 AM (Nwg0u)


Next book then. Must be some epic Dinosex.

Posted by: Some moron . at April 23, 2017 11:26 AM (DdGS0)

226 Heh, Hogmartin. I can't attest to the most recent stuff, but I can say that "Red Rabbit" was probably written by Clancy. Really liked it, an awesome throwback to the older Jack Ryan books like "The Hunt for Red October" and "The Cardinal of the Kremlin". Takes place between "Patriot Games" and "Red October" during Andropov's time in the Kremlin. Check it out if you like Clancy's older stuff.

Posted by: Jackal at April 23, 2017 11:27 AM (NiR1r)

227 202: re: the great american pin-up:

you know, i don't get the snarling aggressive woman thing either. most women have nice smiles and if they smiled more they'd be more likable. don't they want people to like them?

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at April 23, 2017 11:27 AM (WTSFk)

228 "Every man jack of them stole from Donnelly."

Careful, now! You can't just say "stole" on this thread where people are watching. (Even when, like Neil Gorsuch, they do in fact rip off entire passages, even if defended after the fact.)

Graham Hancock is receiving strange new respect these days because of his theory that a comet caused the Younger Dryas ice snap.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at April 23, 2017 11:27 AM (6FqZa)

229 Hogmartin, the Daily Mail to the rescue!

NSFW - I do not remember these pictures in my ViewFinder!

https://tinyurl.com/nvqlwqj

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 11:28 AM (PhYV5)

230 Heh, Hogmartin. I can't attest to the most recent stuff, but I can say that "Red Rabbit" was probably written by Clancy.
Posted by: Jackal at April 23, 2017 11:27 AM (NiR1r)


I think that was the last one I got anything at all out of. I picked up Teeth of the Tiger in an airport and left it on the plane because it was so awful.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 11:29 AM (8nWyX)

231 I don't think they ever bothered to even name the authors of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew stuff,

The HB and ND books were written by many different writers. And some of them got really shitty deals from the publisher. For example: a one-time $500 fee for a completed ms., no royalties, no name recognition, no nothing.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at April 23, 2017 11:30 AM (SEeXf)

232 I thought my dad might like that book "Ignition!" so I went looking on Amazon and Abebooks. Sells for between $500 and $1000+, no matter where I looked.

Sorry Dad, I'll have to come up with something else...

Posted by: Dr Alice at April 23, 2017 11:30 AM (LaT54)

233 229 Hogmartin, the Daily Mail to the rescue!

NSFW - I do not remember these pictures in my ViewFinder!
https://tinyurl.com/nvqlwqj

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 11:28 AM (PhYV5)


I love the UK Daily Mail. Every time I go there, I am regaled with items like:

Busty Demi Lovato puts on an eye-popping display as she showcases her enviable curves in a plunging burnt orange swimsuit

LOL. Whoever writes these headlines, they're not paying him enough.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at April 23, 2017 11:33 AM (SEeXf)

234 So they lose about $250 per individual book sale butthey make it up in volume.

Wait what?

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable and Profoundly Unserious at April 23, 2017 11:34 AM (cOHS7)

235 you know, i don't get the snarling aggressive woman thing either. most women have nice smiles and if they smiled more they'd be more likable. don't they want people to like them?
Posted by: musical jolly chimp at April 23, 2017 11:27 AM (WTSFk)


Here's a pleasant thought for the day: A high percentage of people who are angry, miserable people as adults were... abused as children.

So no, they don't want people to like them. Because people who like them, in their warped minds, are going to exploit and use them.

A bit of an oversimplification, but really, not much of one.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 11:34 AM (Pz4pT)

236 I'm like a bespectacled Smaugette jealously guarding a pile of books.

Hawt

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 23, 2017 11:35 AM (39g3+)

237 Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 11:28 AM (PhYV5)

Well.

Well, then.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at April 23, 2017 11:30 AM (SEeXf)

Even inflation-adjusted, that's pretty lousy. Especially the no name recognition thing - could they not claim it as their own work when they shopped other works to different publishers?

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 11:35 AM (8nWyX)

238 I've got laundry to do, groceries to shop for, a whole house to clean...and yet I'd rather sit here on my a$$ hangin' out with y'all.
Does that make me a bad person?

Posted by: antisocialist at April 23, 2017 11:35 AM (W2wn0)

239 As always, great ideas here. I think I will reread Hunter Thompson. Of the 60s-70s authors, he was my favorite. However crazed he was (and the time period does tend to posit that it was an affectation), he really mastered the essay form. I think I can reread with my fuzzy allergy/cold head.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 23, 2017 11:35 AM (MIKMs)

240 So, I had this conversation with a friend yesterday, which is a reprise of a conversation I had with my mom years ago.

If you're reading a book-- and typically this happens with non-fiction -- and you're having a really hard time understanding it, it's NOT you. It's the writer. There are a lot of bad writers out there, especially when you get into things like obscure history books.

The friend I was talking to said that he just assumed that the book was "above his level" but that's not necessarily the case. It's a writers job to make this information he/she wants to impart understandable and accessible. Sometimes this is an epic fail.

Posted by: shibumi at April 23, 2017 11:36 AM (FkAXz)

241 And some of them got really shitty deals from the publisher. For example: a one-time $500 fee for a completed ms., no royalties, no name recognition, no nothing.

HP Lovecraft ghostwrote a lot of stuff and, accordingly, did not die a rich man. He did not self-promote well (Robert Howard was better at this).

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at April 23, 2017 11:37 AM (6FqZa)

242 Does that make me a bad person?
--

No. Just a member of the horde...

Posted by: shibumi at April 23, 2017 11:38 AM (FkAXz)

243 I love the UK Daily Mail. Every time I go there, I am regaled with items like:

Busty Demi Lovato puts on an eye-popping display as she showcases her enviable curves in a plunging burnt orange swimsuit

LOL. Whoever writes these headlines, they're not paying him enough.
Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at April 23, 2017 11:33 AM (SEeXf)


Yes, it's wonderful, but what makes me sad is, I know there are dozens and dozens of really haut female celebs who garner all these headlines... and 90% of them I have no idea who they are, other than seeing their names in these headlines.

I'm gettin' old.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 11:39 AM (Pz4pT)

244 I'm test driving that new app for the iPhone from Brian Eno.

It's the self-generating always changing program, which he used to create the CD, "Reflections", which is his latest bit of "ambient music".

Normally, music is too distracting for me to play while writing or reading, but Eno's wallpaper music seems just about right.



Posted by: naturalfake at April 23, 2017 11:39 AM (9q7Dl)

245 I think that was the last one I got anything at all out of. I picked up Teeth of the Tiger in an airport and left it on the plane because it was so awful.
Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 11:29 AM

--------------------
A few years after reading it, Clancy showed his RINOey, PC, "All-Southerners-Are-Racists" true colors on an episode of Hannity. Between that and hearing that a major plot point of a recent book being the assassination of Ryans Black ex fighter ace VP by an eeeevvvviiiillll Raaaaacist Southern White Male and I pretty much washed my hands of his shit. I might pick up a paperback of "Cardinal" and "Red Storm Rising" in the future, though.

Posted by: Jackal at April 23, 2017 11:40 AM (NiR1r)

246
Ever read any Von Daniken, or Graham Hancock, or Zecheria Stichin? Every man jack of them stole from Donnelly.
--

I'll have to check out Donnelly. I've read Von Daniken and Stitchen (not a fan of the latter), can't remember if I've read Hancock. I think Hancock and Van Daniken are sometimes on Ancient Aliens...

/yes, I am suitably embarrassed.

Posted by: shibumi at April 23, 2017 11:41 AM (FkAXz)

247 I am the beneficiary of some excellent recommendations from last Sunday's ONT. Thank you.

What I am starting with V.D. Hanson Carnage and Culture (Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Powers). He uses 9 battles. I skipped ahead to the Battle of Lepanto( Chapter - The Market of Capitalism Kills) for a quick scan and am now retreating to read it as it should be read beginning with Salamis. Hanson maintains that the rise of the West was..."a logical result of Western cultural dynamism as manifested in its ways of making war".

I have only toe dipped but as with other Hanson books there is a wealth of knowledge and details and an interesting premise. A slow, but promising go, for me.

Posted by: gracepc at April 23, 2017 11:41 AM (OU4q6)

248 Here's a pleasant thought for the day: A high percentage of people who are angry, miserable people as adults were... abused as children.

So no, they don't want people to like them. Because people who like them, in their warped minds, are going to exploit and use them.

A bit of an oversimplification, but really, not much of one.
Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 11:34 AM (Pz4pT)

There's also a lot of depression and other disorders. The constant dump of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol have a lasting effect on the developing brain. There are some studies indicating that this can happen even if a child is consistently exposed to abusive behavior (mom and dad always fighting for example) even if it's not directly aimed at them.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 23, 2017 11:42 AM (0mRoj)

249 240: boy, that is so true. academics can be terrible writers, a separate skill. it's what makes tuchman exceptional, she was such a good writer.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at April 23, 2017 11:42 AM (WTSFk)

250 The friend I was talking to said that he just
assumed that the book was "above his level" but that's not necessarily
the case. It's a writers job to make this information he/she wants to
impart understandable and accessible. Sometimes this is an epic fail. Posted by: shibumi at April 23, 2017 11:36 AM (FkAXz)
=====

^^^THIS^^^

Scholars can have micro-disputations about whatever, but a reader will enjoy clarity. See my recommendations of Barbara Tuchman's takes on history.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 23, 2017 11:42 AM (MIKMs)

251 So, I had this conversation with a friend yesterday, which is a reprise of a conversation I had with my mom years ago.

If you're reading a book-- and typically this happens with non-fiction -- and you're having a really hard time understanding it, it's NOT you. It's the writer. There are a lot of bad writers out there, especially when you get into things like obscure history books.

The friend I was talking to said that he just assumed that the book was "above his level" but that's not necessarily the case. It's a writers job to make this information he/she wants to impart understandable and accessible. Sometimes this is an epic fail.

Posted by: shibumi at April 23, 2017 11:36 AM (FkAXz)


Yep, this is especially true when reading military memoirs. Some of these fellas were fantastic generals, but they write this stuff in language that you'd have to have gone to general school to understand.

I used to slog through some of these works, and give up after a while, thinking I just didn't understand military stuff (and I was in the military).

But no, read a good account of war from somebody who is a professional writer, and you can get all the information necessary, without all the hoity toity general talk

Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 11:42 AM (Pz4pT)

252 238 I've got laundry to do, groceries to shop for, a whole house to clean...and yet I'd rather sit here on my a$$ hangin' out with y'all.
Does that make me a bad person?
Posted by: antisocialist at April 23, 2017 11:35 AM (W2wn0)
---
It makes you me, so...maybe?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 11:43 AM (PhYV5)

253 Even inflation-adjusted, that's pretty lousy. Especially the no name recognition thing - could they not claim it as their own work when they shopped other works to different publishers?

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 11:35 AM (8nWyX)


No. My understanding is that once the author delivered the completed ND or HB ms. to the publisher, it became the sole property of said publisher.

This came up a year or two ago when they put together a Nancy Drew exhibit at a museum (Smithonian?) and one of the hitherto unknown authors suddenly popped up, wanting recognition. Not sure of the outcome.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at April 23, 2017 11:43 AM (SEeXf)

254 Yep, this is especially true when reading military memoirs. Some of these fellas were fantastic generals, but they write this stuff in language that you'd have to have gone to general school to understand.

Lots of writing falls prey to this. If you're going to use jargon, technical terms or terms of art, then you must provide clear definitions so the reader can understand.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 23, 2017 11:44 AM (0mRoj)

255 Here's a pleasant thought for the day: A high percentage of people who are angry, miserable people as adults were... abused as children.

So no, they don't want people to like them. Because people who like them, in their warped minds, are going to exploit and use them.

A bit of an oversimplification, but really, not much of one.
Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 11:34 AM (Pz4pT)

There's also a lot of depression and other disorders. The constant dump of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol have a lasting effect on the developing brain. There are some studies indicating that this can happen even if a child is consistently exposed to abusive behavior (mom and dad always fighting for example) even if it's not directly aimed at them.
Posted by: Insomniac at April 23, 2017 11:42 AM (0mRoj)


I'm not necessarily talking about diagnosis, which can have an organic origin, having nothing to do with environment. I'm talking more about how people act.

Those people out there in the world, snarling at everyone who offends their nostrils. Yeah, the problem is on the other side of the nostrils.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 11:46 AM (Pz4pT)

256 199 ... "I love spelunking in my stash and finding cool new things that have been buried there all along.

I'm like a bespectacled Smaugette jealously guarding a pile of books. Haven't read 'em in years but don't you dare touch anything!"

All Hail Eris, That image is both appealing and hilarious.

Posted by: JTB at April 23, 2017 11:46 AM (V+03K)

257 I might pick up a paperback of "Cardinal" and "Red Storm Rising" in the future, though.
Posted by: Jackal at April 23, 2017 11:40 AM (NiR1r)


Red October still holds up really well, IMO. Red Storm Rising has some really neat parts, even if it reads a bit like watching people play a tabletop war game (because that's quite literally what it is). It is also a shining example of the genre of USAF meteorologists white-knighting Russian-raped pregnant Icelandic orphan girlshnahhaggauah, sorry, just thew up all over my lap, gonna go heat up a wire coathanger and burn out the part of my brain that remembers that terrible sub-plot, brb.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 11:46 AM (8nWyX)

258 The second book from my treasure trove of recommendations is Robert Kaplan's "The Revenge of Geography" (what the Map tells us about Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate). Again, toe dip. But what I noticed, especially given the theme, there could be more, and better maps, placed in better locations. Although map placement is difficult given the divisions of the parts. Anyway, easier for me than Hanson because I have better starting knowledge. But both are perfect for me.

Posted by: gracepc at April 23, 2017 11:47 AM (OU4q6)

259 'A 33ft-long ankylosaurus with spikes and armour
would have a 6ft penis to bridge the gap when he got close to a female.'


How did it stay conscious?

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable and Profoundly Unserious at April 23, 2017 11:47 AM (cOHS7)

260 259 'A 33ft-long ankylosaurus with spikes and armour
would have a 6ft penis to bridge the gap when he got close to a female.'


How did it stay conscious?
Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable and Profoundly Unserious at April 23, 2017 11:47 AM (cOHS7)

Plus they're cold-blooded so I guess he'd have to warm it up on a flat rock or something first before getting busy.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 23, 2017 11:48 AM (0mRoj)

261 Lots of writing falls prey to this. If you're going
to use jargon, technical terms or terms of art, then you must provide
clear definitions so the reader can understand.Posted by: Insomniac at April 23, 2017 11:44 AM (0mRoj)
=====

Terry Pratchett (of footnote fame) FTW.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 23, 2017 11:48 AM (MIKMs)

262 Yep, this is especially true when reading military memoirs. Some of these fellas were fantastic generals, but they write this stuff in language that you'd have to have gone to general school to understand.
-------------------------------------------
Lots of writing falls prey to this. If you're going to use jargon, technical terms or terms of art, then you must provide clear definitions so the reader can understand.
Posted by: Insomniac at April 23, 2017 11:44 AM (0mRoj)


No doubt. Which does get to the point: Who are you writing for? If you're writing to settle scores with your peers, which lots of these military memoirs are, then keep your jargon and pay no attention to the "lay people" trying to read your stuff.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 11:49 AM (Pz4pT)

263 257
In all, Cuomo has made $783,000 from HarperCollins for his book. The

book sold 3,200 copies since it was published in the fall of 2014,

according to tracking company NPD BookScan.

That works out to royalty payments to Cuomo of $245 per book.




Remember Speaker Wright, D TX, who had to resign for the same shit?


http://tinyurl.com/o9o4xpo

Posted by: Ralph at April 23, 2017 11:49 AM (8fdt8)

264 academics can be terrible writers, a separate skill.

My first history teacher in college did his best to improve his students' prose. Avoidance of cliche, keeping it short - all from Strunk and White.

You are right that once academics become professors and start publishing their work, they slack off and send over-wordy bullshit to the printer. (Lookin' at you, John Wansbrough and Gerald Hawting. DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?)

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at April 23, 2017 11:49 AM (6FqZa)

265 Scanning the above thread-

The Ghost-Writing Factory Dealio (TM) isn't new at all to guys like Patterson, etc-

that was the hit on Alexandre Dumas who apparently had a stable full of writers, who'd follow his outlines,

with Hugo acting as editor and doing the final rewrites.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 23, 2017 11:49 AM (9q7Dl)

266 RE: unreadable books... I say "just say no." Unless you have to read it for some specific reason like "college," put it down.

I read a lot, but I don't complete everything I read, because it always doesn't grab me.

For example, I really like Paul Thoreaux's travel books. There's one on Britain in the 1980s that I just got out of the library. The formula is:

1. Visit coastal town
2. Describe quirky people
3. Someone comments on Falkland war
4. Move on to next coastal town.

So far, he's done this in about a dozen or so cities. There's probably about 50 more to go. His writing is lovely, and his descriptions are amusing but it's just boring. So.. I won't finish it.

Posted by: shibumi at April 23, 2017 11:50 AM (FkAXz)

267 Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 11:46 AM (Pz4pT)

You're also talking about the origins of these things, which can be environmental. The environmental aspects can affect a person both organically and behaviorally. There is evidence that these can be closely linked. That's all.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 23, 2017 11:51 AM (0mRoj)

268
If you're going to use jargon, technical terms or terms of art, then you must provide clear definitions so the reader can understand.
Posted by: Insomniac


Attach an appendix.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:A_Clockwork_Orange

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at April 23, 2017 11:51 AM (IqV8l)

269 My favorite line from the DinoWhoopie article:

"...we have never found a fossilised phallus, but doing so would solve many mysteries."

There's a Hardy Boy story waiting to be written.

You're welcome.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 11:51 AM (PhYV5)

270 No doubt. Which does get to the point: Who are you writing for? If you're writing to settle scores with your peers, which lots of these military memoirs are, then keep your jargon and pay no attention to the "lay people" trying to read your stuff.
Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 11:49 AM (Pz4pT)

Exactly. If you say something goofy like "we un-assed the AO most rikki-tik," your average reader isn't going to have any idea what the hell you're talking about.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 23, 2017 11:53 AM (0mRoj)

271 that was the hit on Alexandre Dumas who apparently had a stable full of writers, who'd follow his outlines,

with Hugo acting as editor and doing the final rewrites.

-
McNovels

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Doctor of Thinkology at April 23, 2017 11:54 AM (Nwg0u)

272 There's a Hardy Boy story waiting to be written.

You're welcome.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 11:51 AM (PhYV5)
--------

Sounds more like a Horde-written story waiting to happen, one line at a time.

Posted by: bluebell at April 23, 2017 11:54 AM (sBOL1)

273 268
If you're going to use jargon, technical terms or terms of art, then you must provide clear definitions so the reader can understand.
Posted by: Insomniac

Attach an appendix.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:A_Clockwork_Orange
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at April 23, 2017 11:51 AM (IqV8l)

Frank Herbert did the same thing with Dune, IIRC.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 23, 2017 11:54 AM (0mRoj)

274 Back again -- lastly someone recommended Edmund Taylor's The Fall of the Dynasties of the Old Order, available from archive.org.

I have never used archive.org before nor downloaded such a sizeable piece. Neither of my Kindle Fires are operational and I need a new tablet. I have Win 7 . I am cloud stupid. I would appreciate some comments about how to download. Direct to file on computer or to an external drive? Also PDF/Full Text/ or PDF with Text.

Thanks. And now onto the best part the thread, and reading your comments and recs. SMBT is the best!

Posted by: gracepc at April 23, 2017 11:55 AM (OU4q6)

275 Remember Speaker Wright, D TX, who had to resign for the same shit?
http://tinyurl.com/o9o4xpo

Posted by: Ralph at April 23, 2017 11:49 AM (8fdt


I remember. This is how Newt Gingrich made himself nationally prominent. What he did was remarkable, given that the GOP was a sorry minority in the House at that time.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at April 23, 2017 11:55 AM (SEeXf)

276 SMBT is the best!

Posted by: gracepc at April 23, 2017 11:55 AM (OU4q6)


Isn't it, though?

(thanks to y'all, of course)

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at April 23, 2017 11:56 AM (SEeXf)

277 Frank Herbert did the same thing with Dune, IIRC.
Posted by: Insomniac at April 23, 2017 11:54 AM (0mRoj)


I think the back 1/3 of Dune, at least, was glossary, historical synopsis, etc.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 11:57 AM (8nWyX)

278 "...we have never found a fossilised phallus, but doing so would solve many mysteries."
There's a Hardy Boy story waiting to be written.
You're welcome.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 11:51 AM (PhYV5)

Titled "The Hardy Boys Mystery-The Statue of John Kerry".

Great read. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at April 23, 2017 11:58 AM (5VlCp)

279 There's a Hardy Boy story waiting to be written.
You're welcome.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 11:51 AM (PhYV5)


"The Case of the Fossilized Phallus."

Once you've got the title, the story practically writes itself.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at April 23, 2017 11:58 AM (SEeXf)

280 279 There's a Hardy Boy story waiting to be written.
You're welcome.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 11:51 AM (PhYV5)

"The Case of the Fossilized Phallus."

Once you've got the title, the story practically writes itself.
Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at April 23, 2017 11:58 AM (SEeXf)

Rival natural history museums engage in dick-measuring contest.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 23, 2017 11:59 AM (0mRoj)

281 "Gee Dad, look how long that thing is."

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at April 23, 2017 11:59 AM (SEeXf)

282 Posted by: Dr Alice at April 23, 2017 11:30 AM (LaT54)

I did the same. Even if I had that kind of money, it isn't currently available. My dad, brother, sister, engineers all, and they would love this. Hell, I veered and got a liberal arts degree, but it even sounds interesting to me.

Posted by: April at April 23, 2017 11:59 AM (e8PP1)

283 "Oh, no, it's the evil Professor Von Schtupp. How did he track us here?"

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at April 23, 2017 12:00 PM (SEeXf)

284 108

If you want a more in-depth review of English try The History of English Podcast, which goes from Proto-Indo-European, through Latin and Celtic to Old Germanic in about 40 episodes, and then goes to Anglo-Saxon, the Viking invasions and arrives at Alfred the Great and Old English at about episode 50.

The presenter, Kevin Stroud, also has companion books out, one of them is about the poem Beowulf, Beowulf Deconstructed.

Posted by: Kindltot at April 23, 2017 09:57 AM (ii4h0)

*****

Thank you, Kindltot, for this recommendation!

I've just finished the first podcast and I foresee many happy hours ahead of household chores remaining undone while I listen to this fascinating series.

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at April 23, 2017 12:01 PM (NqQAS)

285 "Plus they're cold-blooded so I guess he'd have to warm it up on a flat rock or something first before getting busy."

Dinosaur fluffers?

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 23, 2017 12:01 PM (bQxkN)

286 SMBT is the best!
Posted by: gracepc at April 23, 2017 11:55 AM (OU4q6)


It is.

But don't write off SMBC either.
http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-01-02

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 12:02 PM (8nWyX)

287 Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 11:49 AM (Pz4pT)

Exactly. If you say something goofy like "we un-assed the AO most rikki-tik," your average reader isn't going to have any idea what the hell you're talking about.
Posted by: Insomniac at April 23, 2017 11:53 AM (0mRoj)


That's more like NCO talk. The generals say stuff like:

"We coalesced with the balance of the division in the enfilade. General Hoodleydoo's regiment was jaundiced in the quandary, facing the balance of VII Corps, with the 14th division, 6th Hussars bringing up the sally port forthwith. Naturally, this meant the epaulets of the 427th Company of 86th Battalian, 45th Regiment (the Scottish Pantaloons) were flanked by the asundered squadron of the 493rd Company of Hutus, under the command of Field Marshall Von Rictus Semifore Higginbotham (brevet)."

Oh yes, now I understand.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 12:04 PM (Pz4pT)

288 Part of my job used to be reading and documenting correspondence from everyone from farm laborers to attorneys. It ran the gamut from being "interpretable with a struggle" to "legalese at $250/hr"
Muddy thinking, muddy phrasing, no focus or logical progression.

One letter, though, was written, probably by a legal aid, that was of such clarity and phrasing I wanted to send him a couple of thousand to write a book.

I do love a clean writer. My two touchstones for clear writing are Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln. I have an E-Book of collected letters and speeches of Abraham Lincoln, and once upon a time I spent time practicing my penmanship by copying out the various speeches longhand.

In Sci-fi the two clearest writers still writing, I think, are David Drake and Louis M Bujold.


Posted by: Kindltot at April 23, 2017 12:05 PM (ii4h0)

289 "We coalesced with the balance of the division in the enfilade. General Hoodleydoo's regiment was jaundiced in the quandary, facing the balance of VII Corps, with the 14th division, 6th Hussars bringing up the sally port forthwith. Naturally, this meant the epaulets of the 427th Company of 86th Battalian, 45th Regiment (the Scottish Pantaloons) were flanked by the asundered squadron of the 493rd Company of Hutus, under the command of Field Marshall Von Rictus Semifore Higginbotham (brevet)."

Oh yes, now I understand.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 12:04 PM (Pz4pT)


Of course, this brings to mind Python's 'banter' sketch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rKYL0tW-Ek

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at April 23, 2017 12:07 PM (SEeXf)

290 I've just finished the first podcast and I foresee
many happy hours ahead of household chores remaining undone while I
listen to this fascinating series.
Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at April 23, 2017 12:01 PM (NqQAS)


I wash dishes and clean the counters to it, and I have recently bought an MP3 player that connects to my car stereo so I can listen to it while commuting.

Posted by: Kindltot at April 23, 2017 12:07 PM (ii4h0)

291 It was a dark and stormy six-foot ankylosaurus penis...

OK Who's next?

Posted by: Stringer Davis at April 23, 2017 12:07 PM (H5rtT)

292 "We coalesced with the balance of the division in
the enfilade. General Hoodleydoo's regiment was jaundiced in the
quandary, facing the balance of VII Corps, with the 14th division, 6th
Hussars bringing up the sally port forthwith. Naturally, this meant the
epaulets of the 427th Company of 86th Battalian, 45th Regiment (the
Scottish Pantaloons) were flanked by the asundered squadron of the
493rd Company of Hutus, under the command of Field Marshall Von Rictus
Semifore Higginbotham (brevet)."



Oh yes, now I understand.Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 12:04 PM (Pz4pT)
=====

LOL and woke up the dog and cat. You nailed it.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 23, 2017 12:07 PM (MIKMs)

293 90% of them I have no idea who they are, other than seeing their names in these headlines.

Yeah, and a lot of them, based on their looks, I can't figure out how they became famous.

As for obscure and poorly written work, I struggle a bit with this. I am working as hard as I can on my grammar to be a better-spoken and better-written author, but as I do so, I find that my language is becoming less comfortable and easy for people to read. It doesn't flow like we talk, it flows like we are supposed to communicate. So its less Elmore Leonard and more C.S. Lewis, which is good in one way but might hurt accessibility and reader interest.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 23, 2017 12:08 PM (39g3+)

294 Red October still holds up really well, IMO. Red Storm Rising has some really neat parts, even if it reads a bit like watching people play a tabletop war game (because that's quite literally what it is). It is also a shining example of the genre of USAF meteorologists white-knighting Russian-raped pregnant Icelandic orphan girlshnahhaggauah, sorry, just thew up all over my lap, gonna go heat up a wire coathanger and burn out the part of my brain that remembers that terrible sub-plot, brb.
Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 11:46 AM (8nWyX)
Yeah, that was a bit hackey and pretty superfluous. His character had a really interesting arc , though and I did like the interaction between him and the Marine NCO. Started as a nerd who hadn't fired a gun since basic and ends as a hero and a Navy Cross recipient.

Posted by: Jackal at April 23, 2017 12:08 PM (NiR1r)

295 Visiting Budapest for the first time next week, so I picked up Michener's "The Bridge at Andau" to read on the flight. Haven't read it in at least 40 years. Any suggestions from the Horde on other Hungary/Austrian stuff?

Also eagerly awaiting the latest Stephen Hunter Swagger book next month. Bob Lee is looking for clues to his grandpa Charles' involvement in the shootout with Babyface Nelson. Aptly titled "G-Men".

Posted by: That Deplorable SOB Van Owen at April 23, 2017 12:08 PM (IJX6l)

296 Oh yes, now I understand.
Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 12:04 PM (Pz4pT)


As long as you're proactively empowering the warfighter on the pointy end of the spear to get inside the enemy's OODA loop and put him on the horns of a dilemma.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 12:08 PM (8nWyX)

297 Ah

Le NOOD

It is here

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at April 23, 2017 12:12 PM (J+eG2)

298 Can we unleash a squadron of forensic accountants on the publishing racket?

Posted by: fluffy at April 23, 2017 09:16 AM (jw2Xw)

RICO. The publishers and Hollywood.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 23, 2017 12:12 PM (0deF2)

299 "We coalesced with the balance of the division in the enfilade. General Hoodleydoo's regiment was jaundiced in the quandary, facing the balance of VII Corps, with the 14th division, 6th Hussars bringing up the sally port forthwith. Naturally, this meant the epaulets of the 427th Company of 86th Battalian, 45th Regiment (the Scottish Pantaloons) were flanked by the asundered squadron of the 493rd Company of Hutus, under the command of Field Marshall Von Rictus Semifore Higginbotham (brevet)."

Oh yes, now I understand.
Posted by: BurtTC at April 23, 2017 12:04 PM (Pz4pT)

The very model of a modern Major General.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 23, 2017 12:13 PM (0mRoj)

300 As long as you're proactively empowering the warfighter on the pointy end of the spear to get inside the enemy's OODA loop and put him on the horns of a dilemma.
Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 12:08 PM (8nWyX)

Is that military writing or a bad sex scene? Can't quite tell...

Posted by: Insomniac at April 23, 2017 12:13 PM (0mRoj)

301 HA. I was just thinking about East of Eden, and its sheer size (# of pages, etc). Those books where the first 200 pages in the Introduction.

Reading has been great escape and maybe I want to prolong the pleasure. So I like The War and Peace, Tale of Two Cities, and of course, all things Russian. Lots of characters, events, years pass, etc. Content has to be excellent and writing not tortured.

Anyway, I was just thinking that's how I select Netflix etc. The more seasons and episodes the better. And although the Poirot series was excellent on every level, I did enjoy the multi season and multi episode.

Slogging through Fortitude and glad that I only have 2 seasons. And, also love good short story writers. Diversity. As the world spins.

Posted by: gracepc at April 23, 2017 12:13 PM (OU4q6)

302 If you're going to use jargon, technical terms or terms of art, then you must provide clear definitions so the reader can understand.

I did this with Old Habits, a glossary of slang terms and footnotes of "historical" and background info, to help the reader, since the narrator was a street thief using a lot of jargon and didn't explain much. I don't know if it worked, some people didn't care for it.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 23, 2017 12:14 PM (39g3+)

303 Is that military writing or a bad sex scene? Can't quite tell...
Posted by: Insomniac at April 23, 2017 12:13 PM (0mRoj)


Just lie back and think of dinosaurs.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 12:15 PM (8nWyX)

304 "The very model of a modern Major General."

CDR Salamander has what may be the perfect masthead slogan.


Torn directly from the powerpoint of some Beancounter military Aide

http://cdrsalamander.blogspot.com

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at April 23, 2017 12:15 PM (J+eG2)

305 Can we unleash a squadron of forensic accountants on the publishing racket?

Sylvester Stallone is trying to do that with Hollywood, and I wish him every success. Hollywood has spent 100 years ripping every single person off as hard as they possibly can then rolling naked in the money with 14 year old girls.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 23, 2017 12:17 PM (39g3+)

306 187 168 Rereading The Expanse novels now that 2 tv seasons are done. Liking both better. Sooner or later the ettes will cover Shoresh's sp? costuming.
Posted by: DaveA at April 23, 2017 10:43 AM (FhXTo)
---
I've wanted to dish for ages but I've already dropped a fashion link in this erudite thread so I'll suppress my squeal. But her clothes are great.

Gotta take fault with her constant f- and mf-bombs on the show, though. And I say this as a former Squid -- she needs to tone it down. It seems out of character for such a classy broad. Does she swear in the books?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 10:53 AM (PhYV5)


Yes, she is. I guess it's part of the authors' desire to make her a no-nonsense take charge character.

I think they could have done that without the vulgarity, as it doesn't really fit with everything else that is her character.

Posted by: Hugh Jorgen at April 23, 2017 12:20 PM (17QyB)

307 > Paul Theroux... His writing is lovely, and his descriptions are amusing but it's just boring.

It really helps if you've ever been to some of the same places he describes. For instance, I really liked his African travelogue 'Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town'. Pretty much nailed it. Particularly the 'Get Smart', a one-star hotel in Dilla, Ethiopia...

Posted by: nustas at April 23, 2017 12:26 PM (PjWy4)

308 160 Gorsuch is a plagiarist:
http://tinyurl.com/kopk2e6

Politico lays out the columns side-by-side. So, maybe he'll be a good justice (especially if he rips off Scalia's old opinions), but he's not much of a writer.
Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at April 23, 2017 10:36 AM (6FqZa)


Newsweek:

http://www.newsweek.com/neil-gorsuch-plagiarism-allegations-senate-vote-579728

I'd quote the passage from Abigal Lawlis Kuzma - who says it isn't a problem - but it's running afoul of something in mix 0.7 alpha.

Posted by: Hugh Jorgen at April 23, 2017 12:28 PM (17QyB)

309 A few years after reading it, Clancy showed his RINOey, PC, "All-Southerners-Are-Racists" true colors on an episode of Hannity. Between that and hearing that a major plot point of a recent book being the assassination of Ryans Black ex fighter ace VP by an eeeevvvviiiillll Raaaaacist Southern White Male and I pretty much washed my hands of his shit. I might pick up a paperback of "Cardinal" and "Red Storm Rising" in the future, though.
Posted by: Jackal at April 23, 2017 11:40 AM (NiR1r)

===
When you read The Sum of All Fears it is evident that Clancy gets all gooey over the Saudis, and has very little use for Israel.
He seemed to drop off the face of the Earth post 9/11.

Posted by: Vlad the Impaler, whittling away like mad at April 23, 2017 12:32 PM (oPl0w)

310 Posted by: Insomniac at April 23, 2017 12:13 PM (0mRoj)

Enlightened Thugs

Even the plight of enterprising killers can tell us something. In the summer of 401 BC 10,700 Greek hoplite soldiers ... were hired by Cyrus the Younger to help press his claim for the Persian throne".

Carnage and Culture. VD Hanson


Posted by: gracepc at April 23, 2017 12:32 PM (OU4q6)

311 I've read Kuzma's comment but she's wrong. Any textual critic faced with the two blocks of text will come to the same conclusion, that Gorsuch is a rewrite of Kuzma like Matthew rewriting Mark. Just because Mark (in this case) is agreeing with Matthew does not exonerate Matthew.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at April 23, 2017 12:34 PM (6FqZa)

312 gracepc 247 248

So glad to hear these books answered your needs. Kaplan and Hanson are bulwarks of my reading program and I am always happy to introduce them to others. Enjoy

Posted by: Lurking Cynic at April 23, 2017 12:43 PM (i7gNr)

313 Posted by: nustas at April 23, 2017 12:26 PM (PjWy4)

I have always liked Theroux. It does help, of course, to have some familiarity with some of the places. But not required. Many times, it piques an interest in places never visited. "Riding the Red Rooster" was great for me. I read it many years before going to China, but I started reading more about China as a result. It also contributed to mental "love affair" with the T-S Railway.

I was surprised to find that he wrote Mosquito Coast, fiction. I enjoyed that as well. I think they made a movie of it later.

Posted by: gracepc at April 23, 2017 12:44 PM (OU4q6)

314 Every woman is super hot and lusts after Mike Hammer...
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor
------------

It didn't always end well.

Posted by: Charlotte Manning at April 23, 2017 12:45 PM (ZO497)

315
I usually don't like really big thick books. They're almost always too thick -- padding, extra side stuff, repeated information, excessive description, pointless dialog, etc -- and I feel as though I'm trapped in the book after a while, eyeing the other books i could be reading if this guy had just been more restrained.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 23, 2017 10:11 AM (39g3+)

Short stories are harder to write than long form fiction, I think. With a novel you can just keep going with whatever interests you and answering questions that come up. A short story has to be more direct and to the point.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 23, 2017 10:29 AM (39g3+)



I disagree more or less with both above statements.

I think the novelist has to decide whether he/she's writing a literary novel or a genre novel.

A genre novel is a bit like a short story. It has a well-defined set of expectations and should have a clearly defined beginning, middle, and end.

The story itself is simpler in genre and generally defined by actions.

For instance, if you read Zane Grey you're going to get a clear straightforward genre story about the Old West.

But, if you read "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry, you're getting a literary novel about the Old West.

If you're reading a long book with "padding, extra side stuff, repeated information, excessive description, pointless dialog, etc"-

then you're probably reading a genre book, which the author mistook as a literary novel. So, surprise, you get a poorly written "literary" novel because the simplicity of a genre story generally can't support a literary size.

That's where someone like Stephan King, who's a great genre writer, sometimes gets into trouble.

He mistakes his genre story for something literary. That's where he gets the reputation for "first quarter of novel - awesome, middle half - meandering, last quarter - semi-awesome, but disappointing".

You can't just throw chapters about crap that interests you into a novel.

My believe is that every chapter in a novel is like a short story in that it has a clear function and point in and of itself as well as-

contributes to the whole story of the novel.

In a sense, the chapters of a good or great novel are like those of a mystery novel and must play fair with the reader while at the same time leading them to an inevitable yet surprising finish.

And finally, a short story is simple to write because it has to be simple.

I think it was Truman Capote who said something like, "I believe in the power of the scissors more than the power of the pen."

So, yeah, editing is always your friend whether in long form or short form-

there should be no fat.


I hope that makes sense.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 23, 2017 12:47 PM (9q7Dl)

316 Posted by: Lurking Cynic at April 23, 2017 12:43 PM (i7gNr)

I could not bring to call your nic. So now I can. Thanks. Yes, they hit the spot for me. In my areas of interest, good historians and authors, and I always learn something. Pleasure for sure.

I was more familiar with the writings of VDK than Kaplan. I had read some Kaplan but not these. I am happy to recommend them as well.

Posted by: gracepc at April 23, 2017 12:49 PM (OU4q6)

317 I'm enjoying The Black Count, by Tom Reiss, all about the swashbuckling life of Alexander Dumas pere.

Posted by: Pogonip at April 23, 2017 12:53 PM (t9QjF)

318 207--- I don't think they ever bothered to even name the authors of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew stuff,...

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 11:14 AM (8nWyX)
--------------------------------
"Carolyn Keene" wrote all of the NDrew books.
Heh.
I believe she was the bastard child of Betty Crocker and Uncle Ben.

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at April 23, 2017 12:54 PM (0jtPF)

319 gracepc,

Yes! "The Mosquito Coast".

What a great novel.

The father descent into mania is just horrifying.

Movie was actually pretty good too.

That's one I'll have to reread this summer.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 23, 2017 12:54 PM (9q7Dl)

320 It doesn't flow like we talk, it flows like we are supposed to communicate. So its less Elmore Leonard and more C.S. Lewis, which is good in one way but might hurt accessibility and reader interest.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor
------------

I always harbored a fear that I might actually have an opportunity to have a conversation with Wm. F. Buckley. It would have been rather one-sided. I admired the man tremendously, but often had to hit the dictionary in order extract the context of what he was saying.

Strongly suggested article on the topic:

http://tinyurl.com/lep7y7k

I will also point out that in his novels, Buckley obviously constrained himself vocabulary-wise.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at April 23, 2017 12:55 PM (ZO497)

321 "Carolyn Keene" wrote all of the NDrew books.
Heh.
I believe she was the bastard child of Betty Crocker and Uncle Ben.

Posted by: Margarita DeVille
-----------

Also, the Cherry Ames books.
Uh...my sister told me that...yeah, that's it ,my sister.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at April 23, 2017 12:57 PM (ZO497)

322
"Carolyn Keene" wrote all of the NDrew books.
Heh.
I believe she was the bastard child of Betty Crocker and Uncle Ben. "

Whoa! Betty's husband, Mr. Clean, was cuckolded? My gosh! I had no idea.

Posted by: Tuna at April 23, 2017 01:02 PM (jm1YL)

323 "Also, the Cherry Ames books."

Blast from the past. I read all those.

Posted by: Tuna at April 23, 2017 01:04 PM (jm1YL)

324 232
I thought my dad might like that book "Ignition!" so I went looking on Amazon and Abebooks. Sells for between $500 and $1000+, no matter where I looked.

Sorry Dad, I'll have to come up with something else...

Posted by: Dr Alice at April 23, 2017 11:30 AM (LaT54)

******

You can find a FREE pdf file of Ignition on the interwebz.

Just do a search of "pdf of Ignition by John Clark.

I found one at:

library dot sciencemadness dot org slash library slash books slash ignition dot pdf

(remove spaces and replace dots and slashes with . and /)

You can probably print the whole thing for only a few bucks if he doesn't want to read it on a computer.



Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at April 23, 2017 01:05 PM (NqQAS)

325 So I started re-reading Matthew Costello's How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy this week and found that it held up very well indeed. Other than that I spent most of the week getting cars repaired and marketing the second full novel in my military SF series. And not responding to yet another leftist reviewer with an agenda.

Posted by: William Alan Webb at April 23, 2017 01:07 PM (OhYcy)

326 "Carolyn Keene" wrote all of the NDrew books. Heh. I believe she was the bastard child of Betty Crocker and Uncle Ben. Posted by: Margarita DeVille
Also, the Cherry Ames books. Uh...my sister told me that...yeah, that's it ,my sister. Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at April 23, 2017 12:57 PM (ZO497)
=====

You forgot Tom Swift, the Bobbsey Twins, and Honey Bunch.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 23, 2017 01:08 PM (MIKMs)

327 "the Bobbsey Twin"

Another blast from the past.

Posted by: Tuna at April 23, 2017 01:10 PM (jm1YL)

328 286

But don't write off SMBC either.

http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-01-02

Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 12:02 PM (8nWyX)

HA. Thanks . I have never seen this.

Posted by: gracepc at April 23, 2017 01:11 PM (OU4q6)

329 322
Whoa! Betty's husband, Mr. Clean, was cuckolded? My gosh! I had no idea.
Posted by: Tuna at April 23, 2017 01:02 PM (jm1YL)
-------------------------------
That's why you never saw Carolyn.
They kept her locked up, I think.

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at April 23, 2017 01:11 PM (0jtPF)

330 Reading Lindsay Buroker's "Star Nomad" series. Diverting space opera with a touch of fantasy. She writes fast which I appreciate.

Posted by: Tuna at April 23, 2017 01:17 PM (jm1YL)

331
But don't write off SMBC either.
http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-01-02
Posted by: hogmartin at April 23, 2017 12:02 PM (8nWyX)
--
I was going to suggest going outside (just got back, it's gorgeous out there) but now I'm going to just read this for the next 10 hours.

Eff the outdoors.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 01:18 PM (PhYV5)

332 So, yeah, editing is always your friend whether in long form or short form-

there should be no fat.


That's the theory, but increasingly I run into books, particularly thrillers and spy novels, that are just packed with lard. Even Clancy would get kind of greasy at times, especially in his later books. Its like you have to write 900 pages to be taken seriously in the genre.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 23, 2017 01:24 PM (39g3+)

333 I'm just starting on this book,

"Universal Soldier: Fourteen Studies in Campaign Life, A.D.43-1944"

http://tinyurl.com/knly5pw

Recommended to me by a good friend. I like it.

Posted by: geoffb5 at April 23, 2017 01:34 PM (d3wbb)

334 So, yeah, editing is always your friend whether in long form or short form-

there should be no fat.

That's the theory, but increasingly I run into books, particularly thrillers and spy novels, that are just packed with lard. Even Clancy would get kind of greasy at times, especially in his later books. Its like you have to write 900 pages to be taken seriously in the genre.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 23, 2017 01:24 PM (39g3+)



Yeah, that's a problem.

My dark, dirty secret is that I've never finished a Tom Clancy book.

He obviously great at what he does because it's hard to argue with that kind of success. And he more or less invented his own genre, the Technothriller..

But, those endless technical details bore me to tears. Sometimes they're interesting, but rarely for me.

It's like multiple commercials for Geritol interrupting the story.

Again though, that's just me cuz he's obviously great at what he does.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 23, 2017 01:34 PM (9q7Dl)

335 Here's a pleasant thought for the day: A high percentage of people who are angry, miserable people as adults were... abused as children.

So the whole Democrat party then?

Posted by: SandyCheeks at April 23, 2017 01:42 PM (joFoi)

336 94,
"The Revenge of Analog"?



Oh yes. Analog's time will come again!


If they ever get away from the PC/SJW influence I might consider subscribing again, but until then my 25+ years of back issues will suffice.

Oh, wait, you meant....

Posted by: geoffb5 at April 23, 2017 01:50 PM (d3wbb)

337 I am reading Norman Vincent Peale books. They must be working as my husband hadn't called me grumpy all week. Seriously, I do enjoy them. It takes you back to a simpler time, even though they had the same problems.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 23, 2017 01:58 PM (Lqy/e)

338 I've never subscribed to Backwoodsman but I buy them when I see them at the store. It's usually interesting and useful
stuff.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 23, 2017 02:08 PM (Lqy/e)

339 I'm like a bespectacled Smaugette jealously guarding a pile of books. Haven't read 'em in years but don't you dare touch anything!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at April 23, 2017 11:08 AM (PhYV5)

There was this fantasy series with a bunch of dragons who had different sorts of hoards. One was a librarian.

I think it was the series by Michelle Sagara. Interesting in a serial sort of way , each book ultimately unsatisfying. Like Doritos.

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at April 23, 2017 02:52 PM (hMwEB)

340 Posted by: naturalfake at April 23, 2017 12:54 PM (9q7Dl)

I agree. The book and the movie were both good. A rarity. Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren too. Wonder if it's on Netflix?

Posted by: gracepc at April 23, 2017 03:03 PM (OU4q6)

341 Limivorous (dirt-eating) is almost as good as merdivorous.
I use it occasionally in the manner you suggest for merdivorous.
Back in the day, I'd evaluate the quality of a dictionary by whether or not it contained "limivorous."

Posted by: DougM at April 23, 2017 03:15 PM (p3oPt)

342 Posted by: James Dudley at April 23, 2017 09:32 AM (60SwY)

James Dudley, putting that up on my bog tomorrow

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at April 23, 2017 03:19 PM (hMwEB)

343
If you liked "Blood Meridian" by Cormac McCarthy, I think you'll like "House of the Rising Sun" by James Lee Burke:

http://alturl.com/dfpju

Hackberry Holland is memorable character. I'll be reading more by Burke.

Posted by: Frankly at April 23, 2017 03:23 PM (Dsto2)

344 Well rough draft of Amazon Storyteller UK contest entry just got sent out to five people for comments. 12,800 words.

Posted by: Anna Puma at April 23, 2017 03:23 PM (giwoQ)

345 I'd argue against Hemingway and for Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in Florida.

Who ISN'T acquainted with The Yearling?

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at April 23, 2017 03:27 PM (nAp1e)

346 232 I thought my dad might like that book "Ignition!" so I went looking on Amazon and Abebooks. Sells for between $500 and $1000+, no matter where I looked.

Sorry Dad, I'll have to come up with something else...
Posted by: Dr Alice at April 23, 2017 11:30 AM (LaT54)
-----------------------------------
According to an old (from 2005) review at Amazon, "Buyers should know that these reprint editions come from University Microfilms Books on Demand service and that the UMI price to individuals (they sell over the web) is $72. "

May be worth looking for?

Posted by: Just John at April 23, 2017 03:33 PM (JdPHk)

347 Delurking.

So, I've been reading a lot of Bernard Cornwell lately because of various moron recommendations. Overall,I enjoy it enough that I've finished two trilogies and am now two books into the Saxon series. However, my gripe about it is that he's super anti-Christian.

I can take criticism of the church and how some Christians behave. I can take critique of some older-school attitudes that aren't germane to the current culture but were widespread in Christendom back in the day.

Dude goes behind that, IMO. With the exception of maybe one character in the Arthurian series (Galahad) every Christian he portrays (so far) is an asshole and/or a bad guy. As soon as the priest or bishop shows up, I know nastiness is afoot because all the churchmen are bastards and assholes. And if the historical character he's introduced is a recognized Saint, you can bet he's portrayed as a pederast and an absolute shithead. It's over the top, IMO.

I'm still reading because the rest of the story is very well done. But his treatment of Christianity is just so bad that I can't recommend his works to others.

Posted by: Mandy P. (Not Patinkin), lurking lurker who lurks at April 23, 2017 05:07 PM (KkVB6)

348 I could see a dragon hording books as much as one hording gold

Posted by: Skip at April 23, 2017 05:45 PM (Ot7+c)

349 317 I'm enjoying The Black Count, by Tom Reiss, all about the swashbuckling life of Alexander Dumas pere.
Posted by: Pogonip at April 23, 2017 12:53 PM (t9QjF)


GREAT BOOK!!!

Posted by: Rgallegos at April 23, 2017 10:00 PM (59GQk)

350 Maxine Waters is a COPROPHILIAC !!!

Posted by: Hangtown Bob at April 24, 2017 09:50 AM (uiIpX)

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