Sunday Morning Book Thread 06-27-2021

Biblioteca Nacional de Chile, Santiago

Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes, wine moms, frat bros, crétins sans pantalon (who are technically breaking the rules). Welcome once again to the stately, prestigious, internationally acclaimed and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread, a weekly compendium of reviews, observations, snark, witty repartee, hilarious bon mots, and a continuing conversation on books, reading, spending way too much money on books, writing books, and publishing books by escaped oafs and oafettes who follow words with their fingers and whose lips move as they read. Unlike other AoSHQ comment threads, the Sunday Morning Book Thread is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Even if it's these pants, for which a better visual representation of Joe Biden's vision for America could scarcely be devised.

Pic Note:

It's older than you might think:

The National Library is one of the oldest institutions in Chile. Founded on August 19, 1813, it has been permanently linked to national history.

Out of its various collections of national prints - books, magazines, newspapers and documents - it is worth mentioning the American Library of José Toribio Medina, which was donated to the National Library by this famous bibliophile, who set out to collect the first American prints and the most important works about America, published since the Discovery. Among the 33,000 titles that it preserves, there are rare and appreciated nautical, geographical and demographic books contemporary from the time of the discoveries, repertoires of indigenous languages, as well as important historiographical, literary and scientific texts of the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Also noteworthy are the old editions of the first chroniclers of America and Chile and the manuscript archive comprising 11,992 manuscripts gathered in 378 volumes.

It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

Usage:

If YD is ever in charge, the people responsible for [preteen boy drag queens] are getting knouted. I will hire world-class Cossacks at top-dollar for the purpose.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at June 23, 2021 10:48 AM (Zhwz2)

Yudhishthira's Dice: Striving to Make Knouting Great Again!

Amazon Hijinks?

Has anyone else noticed Amazon acting hinky, or is it just me? I spend a lot of time on Amazon pages doing book thread stuff, and lately it I'll click on some link and bam! it will take me to some other link that has nthing to do with the what I thought I had just clicked on. So I have to hit the 'back' button and try again, and them it will work. I don't know if it's just me being sloppy about what I'm clicking on, or is this a new, sneaky way that Amazon is now using to look at stuff they want to sell me.

Like this stupid book here. Amazon has been shoving it in my face for the last year or two, and I don't want it. It shows up in the 'Products related to this item' section down at the bottom of the screen so often that I think somebody at Amazon really must want it to sell. I just ignore it, but today I think I hit one of those phantom links and it took me directly to its page. Why that book? Of all the hundreds of thousands of books Amazon has, why that one?

Anyway, I don't have enough evidence yet that this is not just me being sloppy. But I wouldn't put it past Amazon to do this.

Anyway, I was wondering if any of you had noticed anything like this?

Who Dis:

(Last week's 'who dis' was actress Jean Seberg. During the 60s, she started hanging out with the Black Panthers and became the target of an FBI dirty tricks/COINTELPRO operation. You can read the whole sordid story on her wiki page. Seberg committed suicide at age 40.)

Moron Recommendations

42 So I am re-reading Jack Finney's Forgotten News, which is his re-telling of two yuge stories from 1857: the murder of NYC doctor Harvey Burdell and the sinking of the passenger ship Central America. In between the two stories are little past-century vignettes that tweaked Finney's interest.

Finney was the author of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but his metier was time travel books and stories, such as Time and Again and The Love Letter. He writes Forgotten in a very armchair, pull-at-your sleeve style, recreating the lost world beautifully and pulling you in as only a gifted writer can. Much recommended.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 20, 2021 08:23 AM (2JVJo)

This is actually a better intro to Forgotten News: The Crime of the Century and Other Lost Stories than Amazon's crappy blurb, so I'm just going to leave it at that. Published in 1983, I think it's pretty much OOP, but there are reasonably priced used copies available. There's a good selection on Abebooks, too.

And MP⁴ is right, all of Jack Finney's novels and stories are about time travel, except one, Invasion of the Body Snatchers: A Novel, unless there's a time travel element in it that I'm not aware of. Anyway, I didn't know the movie was based on a book. Written in 1955, it seems strangely appropriate now:

On a quiet fall evening in the peaceful town of Mill Valley, California, Dr. Miles Bennell discovers an insidious, horrifying plot. Subtly, almost imperceptibly, alien life-forms are taking over the bodies and minds of his neighbors, friends, family, the woman he loves, and the entire world as he knows it.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

___________

179 I am reading a small pile of books by Joseph C. Lincoln. All set on Cape Cod, around 1900. Tons of colorful language, including some language that would get "cancelled" without delay in these times. Cap'n Eri, The Postmaster and Shavings are the three I've read this week, couple more to go before I head back to NC. Recommended mainly for people with a fondness for the Cape, or really any seaside community of the era.

Posted by: Lincolntf at June 20, 2021 09:20 AM (l14X/)

Many, if not all, of Lincoln's books are in the public domain, so there are many free Kindle editions. The accompanying blurbs are useless, I can't tell you much about them. I'll bet archive.org has thedm, too.

___________

Finally finished all 1000 pages of The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. It was so worth it. The book is brilliant. Someone here on the blog said the last 100 pages would blow me away and yes, that is true as I ended up reading well into the morning hours to get to the finish.

I'm not going to try and describe the story as it would be impossible in a few words. All I can say is it felt like I was watching a movie. The world Sanderson creates is so vivid, I could see it and his characters are interesting and so true to the world he creates, I was fascinated. I also liked how he didn't jump from storyline to story line frequently which what I hated about RR Martin.

Although there are multiple books in this series, there is a very satisfactory ending which I also liked.

Highly recommended but be prepared. You'll want to read every one of the 1000 pages.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 20, 2021 09:22 AM (sd8p

I read this book years ago when I first started getting into e-books. But this was before my injuries resulted in cloudy memory from the resulting surgeries sand I really need to go back and read it again. Sanderson's world-building is top notch. The Way of Kings is the first book of the Stormlight series and I think it's up to 4 now.

___________

And on the topic of books, I just started reading Malachi Martin's Hostage to the Devil. I stayed up late last night; it was tough to put down. Its about several exorcisms in the 60-70s.
Even though Martin died in the 90s, his observations about the cultural rot that had already taken hold in our country (not sure if satan causes or just takes advantage of it) makes it extremely relevant and timely. Theres even foreshadowing the gender fluidity/LGFBYSW "movement."

Posted by: LASue at June 20, 2021 09:44 AM (Ed8Zd)

I haven't heard the name Malachi Martin for many years. He's written both fiction (The Final Conclave) and non fiction (The Jesuits). I thought most of his books would be OOP, but there is a Kindle edition of Hostage to the Devil: The Possession and Exorcism of Five Contemporary Americans. This book is not sensationalistic trash, rather it's a serious investigative account:

“Hostage to the Devil is the first and only textbook on the subject of possession and exorcism in modern times. It is the only work to describe the stages of exorcism and it is obviously based on an enormous amount of personal experience. ... a brilliant work.”

The author of that review is psychiatrist M. Scott Peck, who has seen demonic possession himself. He wrote his own book on the subject, Glimpses of the Devil: A Psychiatrist's Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption. Peck did not believe in the devil at first, but he eventually changed his mind:

In Glimpses of the Devil, Dr. Peck's celebrated gift for integrating psychiatry and religion is demonstrated yet again as he recounts his journey from skepticism to eventual acknowledgment of the reality of an evil spirit, even at the risk of being shunned by the medical establishment. In the process, he also finds himself compelled to confront the larger paradox of free will, of a commitment to goodness versus enslavement to the forms of evil, and the monumental clash of forces that endangers both sanity and the soul.

My theory, and I'm not the only one who believes this, is that the farther we go as a society down the dark path, the more we untether ourselves from our cultural Christian heritage, the more of these "unexplainable" incidents will occur.

___________

Books By Morons

Francis Porretto has just published In Vino, book 4 of his Futanari Saga, about which a good overview is here, including links to the previous novels.

This latest installment involves skullduggery and treachery in Vatican politics:

Pope Clement XV, the first American to be raised to the papacy, is under attack from within the Vatican. Powerful cardinals, averse to his efforts to reform the Catholic clergy, are trying to force him to resign his office. To undermine him, they spread rumors of his involvement in financial and sexual improprieties. To retain the papacy he must discover their identities and defeat the rumors...but how?

The Kindle edition of In Vino is $3.99.

And on a completely unrelated note, I wonder why Pope Benedict XVI suddenly stepped down in 2013? They made it sound as if he was at death's door, but here we are, almost 10 years later, and he's still alive.

___________

So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, bribes, insults, threats, ugly pants pics and moron library submissions 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 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Good morning, fellow bibliophiliacs!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 08:01 AM (Dc2NZ)

2 hiya

Posted by: JT at June 27, 2021 08:01 AM (arJlL)

3 Going back for a re-read of the Elemental Master series as I have ran out of everything else.

Posted by: Vic at June 27, 2021 08:01 AM (mpXpK)

4 Clark and Marion Davies

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 08:03 AM (ONvIw)

5 Good catch, CN! Why are they reading a book on Ichthyology?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 08:04 AM (Dc2NZ)

6 Tolle Lege
My summer of reading was finished on the first day of summer.
There are reasons Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is a classic.
One shocking thing is how many Nazis escaped with light prison sentence for horrible crimes.

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 08:04 AM (Cxk7w)

7 The hot wings I had yesterday really did a knouting on my bunghole!

Posted by: rhennigantx at June 27, 2021 08:04 AM (yrol0)

8 A Knout was a favorite Cossack weapon

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 08:05 AM (Cxk7w)

9 Amazon is not bothering me with that book, but I get all sorts of suggestions for sundry lib crap.

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 08:05 AM (ONvIw)

10 5 Good catch, CN! Why are they reading a book on Ichthyology?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 08:04 AM (Dc2NZ)

Big enough to hide behind.

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 08:06 AM (ONvIw)

11 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of treading. Mine was a tad eclectic, even for me.

Posted by: JTB at June 27, 2021 08:06 AM (7EjX1)

12 Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, The book has been in the bathroom.

Posted by: davidt at June 27, 2021 08:06 AM (3Bi4L)

13 Good catch, CN! Why are they reading a book on Ichthyology?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 08:04 AM (Dc2NZ)

Seems fishy to me.

Posted by: BignJames at June 27, 2021 08:07 AM (AwYPR)

14 I'm watching Coogan and Brydon in "The Trip" doing their "We rise at daybreak" riffs.

"Gentlemen, to bed! For we leave at...nine-ish."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8BPP4ASQWo

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 08:07 AM (Dc2NZ)

15 I read Artificial Condition by Martha Wells. This is the second novella in The Murderbot series. Murderbot, a name he gave himself, is a rogue security unit; a bot/human construct with a disconnected governor system. In this book he goes back to the scene of the "accident" that earned him his name in hope of finding out what really happened. A good story with some funny lines between him and the ship's bot.

Posted by: Zoltan at June 27, 2021 08:08 AM (kiyX4)

16 I loved Jack Finney's books, especially "Time and Again". He could really invoke the mystery of traveling to another time.
As far as a time travel connection in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", wasn't Doc Brown and Marty from Mill Valley?

Posted by: Mike K at June 27, 2021 08:09 AM (wG9U4)

17 Anyway, I am still awaiting my Jack Finney books, so I reread a few Agatha Christie books just for fun. Murder at the Vicarage, and The Peril and End House.

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 08:10 AM (ONvIw)

18 "He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot."
Groucho Marx, observing Walter the Progressive Puppet

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - Psychos Rule! No, really. They're in charge now. (HaL55) at June 27, 2021 08:11 AM (HaL55)

19 I of course know about knouts. I was in the Navy!

That would be a great book! "Know Your Knouts".

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 08:11 AM (Dc2NZ)

20 I haven't noticed Amazon plugging annoying books at me, but at least five reviews that I posted as a Vine reviewer inexplicably vanished. It generally takes a couple of days for reviews for anything other than books to post ... but it has been annoying, having to reconstruct the reviews and hope they eventually post.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at June 27, 2021 08:11 AM (xnmPy)

21 It's hard to go wrong with Sanderson. I've enjoyed most of his books. His Reckoners series is a very interesting deconstruction of the superhero genre. What if people suddenly developed superpowers for no reason? And all of them became murderous assholes? How would humanity respond? Pretty good stuff with an interesting twist at the end.

Posted by: Lord Squirrel at June 27, 2021 08:11 AM (Ap6+r)

22 Oh yeah, books. Breezed through "ENIAC: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the World's First Computer" by Scott McCartney. Presper Eckert (the engineer) and John Mauchly (the theorist) built the first general purpose electronic digital computer to more rapidly calculate artillery firing tables for the Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory.

Here's a short (9 minute) film with original footage of this electronic brain in action, with HOT punch card feeding action:

https://tinyurl.com/23zcvf57

ENIAC logic gates:

https://tinyurl.com/trfuhnh2

I'm so old, I remember when the class brain was nicknamed "Univac".

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 08:12 AM (Dc2NZ)

23 Another stellar Book Thread OM! Thank you!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at June 27, 2021 08:13 AM (PiwSw)

24 I've been re-reading the Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson. The titular character is a "fix-it" man in New York City who solves problems for people who have no one else to turn to. He works hard to stay "off the grid" and unknown to the powers that be. Unfortunately, he's all too well known to the cosmic Powers That Be who are using him in a pawn in their multidimensional struggle. Good stuff.

Posted by: Lord Squirrel at June 27, 2021 08:13 AM (Ap6+r)

25 Was looking a few days ago for a month or so ago book thread comments and they wouldn't show up.

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 08:13 AM (Cxk7w)

26 I suspect we'll never know the full story of Benedict's resignation/abdication.

I just got a new Agatha Christie book last week. "Cards on the Table." Haven't started it yet.

Posted by: Dr. T at June 27, 2021 08:14 AM (cneZH)

27 I'm reading Elmore Leonard's Mr. Paradise. and it is VERY good !

Posted by: JT at June 27, 2021 08:14 AM (arJlL)

28 Beautiful Library.

Posted by: Infidel at June 27, 2021 08:14 AM (dYrVA)

29 Hot Coffee...solved my Summer reading with this Thread!!!

Posted by: Qmark at June 27, 2021 08:16 AM (emnp2)

30 Finished Party Going by Henry Green, an odd little tale of not particularly interesting people who knew each other and were traveling over the English Channel to France for a long weekend excursion. The trains got socked in by dense fog and everything was stuck in place so they tried to make the best of it by getting sloshed and dwelling on strange little repetitive vignettes from their childhoods (honestly many of them seemed to be suffering from arrested development). Despite those caveats once you got used to the writing style it had a unique charm and I enjoyed it fine but I still think I missed something.

Or maybe not. Anyway I'm glad Anthony Burgess brought this to my attention.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at June 27, 2021 08:16 AM (g5I2H)

31 I have a tendency that I add books I may like to one of my Amazon lists to go back and take a closer look later to see if I want to buy it. I was going over my list and there were several on there that only said "Item no longer available", so they are deleting books from their website.

Posted by: Mike K at June 27, 2021 08:16 AM (wG9U4)

32 This week I read The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell.
At heart it's about the clash between the proponents of high altitude precision bombing, as pushed by General Haywood Hansell and area bombing as pushed by General Curtis Lemay.
I don't have any background in war history but I found the book fascinating.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at June 27, 2021 08:16 AM (cSyAR)

33 FINALLY dragged Thomas Mann's _The Magic Mountain_ across the finish line so this week I'm rewarding myself with a Patrick O'Brian re-read.

Mann's book is slow-paced and talky -- and that's obviously a deliberate and carefully crafted goal by the author. How much you like that sort of thing will determine how much you like the book, I think.

In translation one can't really get lost in lapidary prose, though. All translations have a curiously muffled quality. The only exceptions I know of are translations of Beowulf by Heaney and Tolkein. Maybe some Borges translations. The rest all make me feel as if I took a big swallow of cold medicine before starting the book.

Anyway, spoiler alert: World War I happens.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 27, 2021 08:17 AM (QZxDR)

34 Clark and Marion Davies
Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 08:03 AM (ONvIw)

You're better than me, CN. I thought I recognized a youg Gable, but I would never have guessed that was the delicious Marion Davies.

Of course, Davies was rumored to have had many lovers, including Chaplin. There's a legend that silent director Thomas Ince was shot by mistake by Davies' lover W.R. Hearst when Hearst caught Davies and Chaplin in flagrante. Not true.

What is true is Davies was regarded by everyone as a wonderful, funny comedienne who was stifled in her career because Hearst had no sense of humor and only wanted to see her in costume / historical parts.

I wish I could have been one of her lovers.

https://tinyurl.com/283e8vf2

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 27, 2021 08:17 AM (2JVJo)

35 I ordered Forgotten news yesterday. Looking forward to it.

Posted by: Infidel at June 27, 2021 08:18 AM (dYrVA)

36 As far as a time travel connection in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", wasn't Doc Brown and Marty from Mill Valley?
Posted by: Mike K at June 27, 2021 08:09 AM (wG9U4)

Hill Valley.

And Mill Valley is an actual city in the SF Bay Area.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 27, 2021 08:18 AM (Zi6L2)

37 And now that I think about it, I wonder if that pic is a still from 1930s Cain and Mabel.

https://tinyurl.com/fwbea9h8

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 27, 2021 08:18 AM (2JVJo)

38 34 #30

I'm posting this test continuously until it sticks

started at 8:13
Posted by: pawn at June 27, 2021 08:17 AM (T3xpz)

Just contact a cob

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 08:18 AM (ONvIw)

39 Those pants are not fine. i just threw away a pair like that.

Posted by: f'd at June 27, 2021 08:18 AM (Tnijr)

40 Here's a short (9 minute) film with original footage of this electronic brain in action, with HOT punch card feeding action:

Posted by: All Hail Eris

I have forgotten how to do it but there was a way to fold a punch card and jam it into the reader such that all the following cards would fly up into the air.

Good times. Good times.

Posted by: Tonypete (Rvt88) at June 27, 2021 08:19 AM (Rvt88)

41 Just contact a cob.

Thank you for responding.

How do I do this?

Posted by: pawn at June 27, 2021 08:20 AM (3LjS+)

42 Just contact a cob.

Thank you for responding.

How do I do this?
Posted by: pawn

867-5309

Posted by: Tonypete (Rvt88) at June 27, 2021 08:20 AM (Rvt88)

43 I'm so old, I remember when the class brain was nicknamed "Univac".
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread)

When Vic went to school the class brain was named Adam.

Posted by: JT at June 27, 2021 08:21 AM (arJlL)

44 37 And now that I think about it, I wonder if that pic is a still from 1930s Cain and Mabel.

https://tinyurl.com/fwbea9h8
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 27, 2021 08:18 AM (2JVJo)

You are correct, sir.

But CN correctly IDed the actors. #4. That's just too damn fast.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 27, 2021 08:21 AM (Zi6L2)

45 As far as I can tell all of Pawns comments are there, none have disappeared.

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 08:21 AM (Cxk7w)

46 The Patrick O'Brian book I'm rewarding myself with is _Post Captain_, the second book in the series. It's the one that introduces the romantic interests for Jack and Steven, during a period of peace in the Napoleonic wars.

I'm going to hand it off to Dr. Mrs. T. after I finish, because she's a huge Jane Austen fan and it occurs to me that O'Brian has basically dropped his two main characters into an Austen novel. Then they go off and shoot at the French some more.

It's kind of curious that novels from that specific period of British history boil down to: Girls Looking For Husbands, Guys Sailing Around, and Gothics.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 27, 2021 08:23 AM (QZxDR)

47 I have posted at least 30 tests. The ones you see are the ones that stick. All others disappear.

COB contact?

Posted by: pawn at June 27, 2021 08:23 AM (3LjS+)

48 I love movies from the 30s. And Gable was always worth a watch.

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 08:24 AM (ONvIw)

49 Many thanks to the Wisconsonite who recommended Dairylandia by Steve Hannah. My brother and I were born in Milwaukee and reared in South (Sout) Milwaukee. My brother left Wisconsin when he was 17 to go to college, and I left on my 11 th birthday when my parents moved to Torrance, CA; but we still consider ourselves to be Wisconsinites.

I bought Dairylandia for my brother as a present for his 84th birthday. He loved it! His first review was, "Like the book. Read about 30 pages and must have laughed out loud at least 45 times." His final review was, "Thanks for the great book. Laughed out loud at times, and held back tears at others." My SIL, from North Dakota, but we don't hold that against her, loved it too.

They sent to book to me and I concur with my brother. Steve Hannah was the CEO of The Onion, the satirical newspaper, so he has a sense of humor. He was a newspaper reporter for many years and worked his way up to managing editor of the Milwaukee Journal, so he can write. Charles Kuralt was his mentor. If you like his On The Road segments, you will like this book.

Posted by: Zoltan at June 27, 2021 08:24 AM (kiyX4)

50 Mann needed a stool softener for his prose. Or a kick in the balls.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at June 27, 2021 08:24 AM (g5I2H)

51 I'm continuing with Joseph C. Lincoln's "Cape Cod Tales" that was referenced in the post. Lincolntf has it right. The stories are delightful and the language of the two old time sailors, especially their nautical phrasing in all matters naval or not, never fails to amuse. I grin the whole time I'm reading. The characters remind me of some old timers I remember as a child in the 1950s. They were the baby boomers of the Civil War vets, boatmen who used real sails and it peppered their words and approach to life. The dialog in the books let me hear the old New England accents of those men.

A number of the books are available for free on Kindle. I downloaded several and the scans have been good quality without the usual gibberish some scanned materials have.

This writing puts me in mind of PG Wodehouse on a different continent. They are that pleasant and amusing.

Posted by: JTB at June 27, 2021 08:24 AM (7EjX1)

52 35 I ordered Forgotten news yesterday. Looking forward to it.
Posted by: Infidel at June 27, 2021 08:18 AM (dYrVA)

I ordered mine from Thrift Books, so shipping takes a while.

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 08:25 AM (ONvIw)

53 I'm done with Perry Mason for a while, having read three in a row. The third I read, "The Case of the Baited Hook," disappointed me in regard to the killer and some plot threads that were left loose. Mason also pulled some stunts that I didn't like. Also, no courtroom scenes. Intriguing premise -- a masked client whom Mason had to identify -- but execution fizzled.

While I decide what book to read next, I'm going through Sub-Mariner comics from the late '60s (I have them in reprints from the '80s; Marvel used to put out a lot of reprint titles.) Roy Thomas' scripting is too purple for me, but man, those books did bring the action. In one full-page panel, Namor punctures the hull of a U.S. Navy warship. I don't think Marvel does anything like that today. Sad!

Posted by: Weak Geek (dad of three in their 20s) at June 27, 2021 08:25 AM (Om/di)

54 There's a store near me that sells used / surplus clothes as well as shoes, diningware, kitchen appliances and books. Someone must be cleaning out their military collection, because yesterday I bought Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics, a history of the insignia of the SS and a collection of English-language versions of Signal, Goebbels' propaganda magazine for occupied Europe.

I just finished And In the End: The Last Days of the Beatles, which was not nearly as good as I had hoped it would be. I'm debating whether to start the Hitler book today or read the new revised version of Maury Terry's The Ultimate Evil which posits that David Berkowitz was only one of the Sons "of Sam" and that the .44 Caliber Murders were carried out by a Satanic cult based in Yonkers.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 27, 2021 08:26 AM (2JVJo)

55 Oh, are Who Dey Clark Gable and Ginger Rogers?

Posted by: Weak Geek (dad of three in their 20s) at June 27, 2021 08:26 AM (Om/di)

56 So I've read most of Forester and most of O'Brian. What other Age of Sail sea stories are good?

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 27, 2021 08:26 AM (QZxDR)

57 I'm still on a C.J. Box tear, so began the Cassie Dewell series with "The Highway", about tracking down a long haul trucker who is a serial rapist/killer. Unputdownable, as they say in the blurbs. Darker than the Joe Pickett books.

The series "Big Sky" is supposedly based on this series but I couldn't get through the first episode. In the books (I know, I know) Cassie is a chubby, slightly disheveled gal in her thirties; in the series, she's a gorgeous (black) model type. The psychokiller is a big blocky intimidating guy in his fifties, but in the series he's an attractive young guy. Weird teevee casting aside, it's also got dumbass writing.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 08:27 AM (Dc2NZ)

58 If Jenny doesn't answer, call Sylvia's mother, Mrs. Avery.

Posted by: klaftern at June 27, 2021 08:27 AM (r4sI4)

59 Of course, on a lovely day like today I should be working on my own book (especially since I don't have a hangover, for once), but I'm saving that for my long weekend in ME next month.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 27, 2021 08:28 AM (2JVJo)

60 I love that painting of the little girl. The look on her face as the words on the page and her imagination take flight. What a delightful look of wonder.

Posted by: JTB at June 27, 2021 08:29 AM (7EjX1)

61 Trimegistus I finally ground a halt at The Yellow Admiral, loved the series. If I find it at used book store will get it, but moved onto Bernard Cornwall's Sharpe series

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 08:29 AM (Cxk7w)

62 OK, so no one is answering, just let it ring a little longer, longer..

Posted by: ELO at June 27, 2021 08:29 AM (3Bi4L)

63 How OM finds these adorable fantasy pictures every week I have no clue.

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 08:30 AM (Cxk7w)

64 38lts T3xpz 40

Posted by: pawn at June 27, 2021 08:30 AM (vzKmu)

65 Here's a short (9 minute) film with original footage of this electronic brain in action, with HOT punch card feeding action:

Did I spy with me widdle eyes one dude using an abacus?

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - Psychos Rule! No, really. They're in charge now. (HaL55) at June 27, 2021 08:31 AM (HaL55)

66 Hashes so far vzKmu 38lts T3xpz 41

Posted by: pawn at June 27, 2021 08:31 AM (vzKmu)

67 On the Kindle, I read Vita Aeterna by Jay Allen Story. This is a so-so novel set in the future where six huge corporations control everything and a bunch of rebels try to overthrow them. If this develops into a series, I'll pass.

Posted by: Zoltan at June 27, 2021 08:32 AM (kiyX4)

68 I guess Major was punished for his publication, stupid Bidens.

As for Thomas Mann, the only one of his books I sort of enjoyed was Buddenbrooks. And even that one was a slog.

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 08:32 AM (ONvIw)

69 66 Hashes so far vzKmu 38lts T3xpz 42

Posted by: pawn at June 27, 2021 08:32 AM (vzKmu)

70 Did I spy with me widdle eyes one dude using an abacus?
---

Any geek can use a slide rule. It takes a true connoisseur to use an abacus.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 08:33 AM (Dc2NZ)

71 Worse was Major getting thrown of Twitter, cancel culture is real.

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 08:34 AM (Cxk7w)

72 69 66 Hashes so far vzKmu 38lts T3xpz 43

Posted by: pawn at June 27, 2021 08:34 AM (ND961)

73 So I've read most of Forester and most of O'Brian. What other Age of Sail sea stories are good?

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 27, 2021 08:26 AM (QZxDR)

I think you are talking CS and not E.M. I have read some E.M. and really liked those books.

I can't tell you about the Age of Sail. I did some research on the Soviet Navy but that was a long time ago. The last naval book I read was "Last Flag Down". It was about a Confederate Navy vessel that wreaked havoc all over the world. They finally surrendered long after the war had ended. It was a long time after Juneteenth.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 08:34 AM (gJfTA)

74 Sending coded messages back to Potsdam using the Ace of Spades comment section, eh? Well, Room 40 will soon put a stop to your little scheme!

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 27, 2021 08:35 AM (QZxDR)

75 As far as I can tell all of Pawns comments are there, none have disappeared.

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 08:21 AM (Cxk7w)

it is getting a bit old.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 08:36 AM (gJfTA)

76 My theory, and I'm not the only one who believes this, is that the farther we go as a society down the dark path, the more we untether ourselves from our cultural Christian heritage, the more of these "unexplainable" incidents will occur.
******

The West has generally chosen decadence and expediency over religion (which is pretty dead in most of Western Europe). You can barely find a Brut production in which the clergy are not bad guys.

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 08:38 AM (ONvIw)

77 56 TJM has one it would seem

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 08:38 AM (Cxk7w)

78 As far as a time travel connection in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", wasn't Doc Brown and Marty from Mill Valley?

Posted by: Mike K at June 27, 2021 08:09 AM (wG9U4)

Hill Valley.

And Mill Valley is an actual city in the SF Bay Area.
Rats-and I thought I was being clever. I need another cup of coffee.

Posted by: Mike K at June 27, 2021 08:38 AM (wG9U4)

79 The 'these pants' example makes me fear for the future of our country, especially with the young people. Not because they are revealing (that can be amusing or interesting) but because they are so F'ing stupid.

Sigh!

Posted by: JTB at June 27, 2021 08:38 AM (7EjX1)

80 Had the experience where you're reading along, enjoying a novel and then the author ruins it with a stupid mistake that could have been avoided with a little research.

In this case, the vampire hunters managed to re-stock their kit, but were having trouble finding Holy Water. In 1890's Paris, where there is a church on every corner with a big old urn of that in the vestibule. Get you a clean wine bottle and take what you need.

Otherwise, it was a very good novel, if a little graphic and grim. Had an original take on vampiric conscription.

Off to church. Have a good one.

Posted by: Sal at June 27, 2021 08:39 AM (Uu3D6)

81 When I saw the pic of Clark Gable (pre-mustache, but those ears are a giveaway), I thought it might be his second (?) wife Carole Lombard. Guess not. Marion Davies was the mistress of William Randolph Hearst, right? I think Dorothy Parker had some choice remarks to make about her, but I can't recall anything specific.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 08:40 AM (+nNqu)

82 Over the past several months or so, I think Amazon's had some database issues -- book listings vanishing, only to return several days or a week later; if you're not finding a listing, it couldn't hurt to wait a week and check it again.

Re: Finney. If you liked TIME AND AGAIN, don't miss his short fiction. He had two collections, THE THIRD LEVEL and I LOVE GALESBURG IN THE SPRINGTIME, both of which are worth scrounging for. For reasons known but to God Simon & Schuster hasn't reprinted them, but they have had sense enough to gather the best stories from those two collections and put them out under the title ABOUT TIME. Wonderful stuff.

And bests to all.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 27, 2021 08:40 AM (JzDjf)

83 The 'these pants' example makes me fear for the future of our country, especially with the young people. Not because they are revealing (that can be amusing or interesting) but because they are so F'ing stupid.

Sigh!
Posted by: JTB

There ya go, cussin' again !

Posted by: JT at June 27, 2021 08:41 AM (arJlL)

84 CN no religious connection to God means anything is unpunished, mass murder? why not?
See French Revolution, Communism and Naziism

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 08:41 AM (Cxk7w)

85 Posts at 81 76 75 75 72 69 66
Hashes so far 38lts ND961 vzKmu 38lts T3xpz
attempt 48

yes it is frustrating

how do I contact a COB?

Posted by: pawn at June 27, 2021 08:42 AM (rXK4k)

86 Yo Hinky,
Try deleting your Amazon account. See if that fixes it... Normal Americans did that last November. Liberty can be inconvenient.
'Merica!! Doi!!

Posted by: Trolley Troll at June 27, 2021 08:43 AM (Z9tta)

87 I wonder how much they're asking for those pants?

Posted by: BignJames at June 27, 2021 08:44 AM (AwYPR)

88 In this case, the vampire hunters managed to
re-stock their kit, but were having trouble finding Holy Water. In
1890's Paris, where there is a church on every corner with a big old urn
of that in the vestibule. Get you a clean wine bottle and take what you
need.

Harry Dresden Wizard has Father Forthill make him holy water by the 50 gallon drum full.

Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at June 27, 2021 08:44 AM (JUOKG)

89 Started Abigail by Magda Szabo, the second work of fiction I've read by her. This takes place when her Hungarian father is relocating her out of the population centers of Hungary and by definition has to be secretive of what's going on. Abigail, being young and stubborn, acts pretty bratty throughout it to the point you want to scream into the narrative "stop fucking up". Anyway I think I'll enjoy this a great deal.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at June 27, 2021 08:44 AM (g5I2H)

90 how do I contact a COB?
Posted by: pawn

Drizzle some maple syrup on french toast and CBD will contact YOU !

Posted by: JT at June 27, 2021 08:44 AM (arJlL)

91 Sal: Yes, I have the same problem. Seemingly trivial historical bloopers can bounce me right out of a novel. I was reading a fun old pulp swashbuckler novel ("The Scarlet Blade") set in Musketeer-era France, and at one point the author mentions a Carronade gun. I guess he thought it sounded cool and archaic, but I knew that it wasn't invented until about a century after the story.

And don't even get me started on Dan Brown.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 27, 2021 08:45 AM (QZxDR)

92 Re: Finney. If you liked TIME AND AGAIN, don't miss his short fiction. He had two collections, THE THIRD LEVEL and I LOVE GALESBURG IN THE SPRINGTIME

Oh, I love the story The Third Level. As I've said before, my introduction to Finney was the story The Love Letter, which, oddly enough was also my introduction to Lovecraft since, for some bizarre reason, The Love Letter was included in a collection of HORROR stories, which is where I first read The Dunwich Horror. I'm going to suppose the editor(s) thought of Invasion and figured anything Finney wrote should be classified as SF or horror.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 27, 2021 08:46 AM (2JVJo)

93 Wasn't the flogging device called a cat o' nine tails?

Captain Jack Aubrey called it "the cat" and wished he could use it on his kids to restore order

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 08:46 AM (AwPyG)

94 Ah, pawn's comments are all there but the hash seems to be constantly changing. Wouldn't personally worry about it.

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 08:47 AM (Cxk7w)

95 I think the knout was nastier and caused more permanent injury.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 27, 2021 08:47 AM (QZxDR)

96 Pawn, do you have a website or e-mail link you can put in your nic? That makes it easier for a cob to contact you.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 27, 2021 08:47 AM (2JVJo)

97 What? Who, me?

Posted by: pawn's router at June 27, 2021 08:48 AM (3Bi4L)

98 "So I've read most of Forester and most of O'Brian. What other Age of Sail sea stories are good?"

Julian Stockwin's "Kidd" series is excellent, as is Alexander Kent's "Bolitho" series.

Posted by: Retief at June 27, 2021 08:48 AM (vra3r)

99 Hey everyone! Not much reading this week as my daughter gave birth to our second grandchild and first grandson! We had to watch our granddaughter and she was NOT happy about mommy being gone.

In fact, I'm probably going to drop out in a bit because great-grandma is going to stop by today and see the tykes.

I did take OM's directive seriously last week and have begun research for a book on the Russian Civil War. I decided to start with something by Stanley G. Payne, because the guy is just so good. I'll let you know how it is when it gets here and I plan to contact him about good source material.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 27, 2021 08:48 AM (llXky)

100 I splurged a bit on "Longstreet at Gettysburg: A Critical Reassessment" by Cory Pfarr. I always thought Longstreet got the dirty end of the stick by 'historians' who were determined to sanctify Lee and so blamed Longstreet. There's more to it of course, but Pfarr works his way through the mud with facts and contemporary accounts that Longstreet's critics either ignored or misinterpreted.

It is interesting reading but depressing that so many 'accredited' historians for over a century were so agenda driven and full of shit.

Posted by: JTB at June 27, 2021 08:49 AM (7EjX1)

101 In my experience, the dreaded Amazon doesn't do anything unless it will make them money, so I would guess the author/publisher is paying them to push that book.

If it was a more well-known author, they would do it all on their own, since they get a third of all sales.

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 08:49 AM (AwPyG)

102 84 CN no religious connection to God means anything is unpunished, mass murder? why not?
See French Revolution, Communism and Naziism
Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 08:41 AM (Cxk7w)

Sadly, we've developed a new version where we assume God wants everything we desire, like the moron "pastors" who say Jesus would hold the hand of the woman having an abortion, or the "rabbis" who deny the unborn humanity. The fact that so many religious groups have pounced on the weapon of wokeism to beat the opposition, says we are more demonic than ever as a society.

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 08:49 AM (ONvIw)

103 Congrats AH Lloyd !

Posted by: JT at June 27, 2021 08:49 AM (arJlL)

104 I advise avoiding your favorite authors' Twitter accounts. I read a couple light, fun cozy mystery series and made the mistake of reading the authors' tweets. Angry, nasty lefties! I've noticed comments creeping (or madly dashing) into their latest books, too. They simply can't help themselves!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 08:50 AM (Dc2NZ)

105 Re: The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell.
Nothing jumped out as factually wrong, but is extremely selective and missing huge background context.
After finishing this thankfully short book, it instantly downgraded my views on his other books I'd read.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at June 27, 2021 08:50 AM (C/fpg)

106 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 27, 2021 08:48 AM (llXky

Congratulations!

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 08:50 AM (ONvIw)

107 I've been reading The Eagle and the Dragon, a novel of a Roman diplomatic mission to China during the reign of Trajan. As far as I know, this is entirely fiction and no such mission occurred. I assume this is a first novel because it clearly is not polished. One thing I find annoying is that one character, a Greek enlisted in the Roman army, has his speech rendered as if it were Talk Like a Pirate Day. Also, a Roman senator who is the leader of this expedition has and operates an inn. My understanding that doing actual work was forbidden to senators and was enough to get you expelled from the senate.

I'm also rereading Bomber by Len Deighton. It is one of my favorite books and is the story of a British raid on a Ruhr target that goes wrong. It is rather like a WWII War and Peace in that there are 100+ well drawn characters from both sides that illustrate the tragedy of the war.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at June 27, 2021 08:51 AM (d9FiS)

108 A Cat-o-nine tail I think a bunch of leather straps, can't find my Cossack links ( on my old tablet as I have many regiments of them) a Knout has weights at end. ( as said only picturing it in my head)

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 08:51 AM (Cxk7w)

109 I needed a bouncy upbeat song... Yes: America...

Posted by: klaftern at June 27, 2021 08:52 AM (r4sI4)

110 I am reading The Douglas Convolutions, by Edward Llewellyn.
chronologically it is the first book in a series cronicalling the collapse of society following the sterilization of most of the women as a side effect of a novel chemical used as a pesticide and anti-cancer treatment. It is also, surprisingly, the first book of the series written.

Ian Douglas is a mathematician who got his degree after a career in the USMC. In studying certain Geo-Magnetic phenomenon he is sucked into the future, centuries after the collapse, where society is controlled and simplified for a mildly authoritarian state through the use of Paxil, but expansion of populations is stalled and technology is regressing. He is involved in fighting back against barbarians sweeping out of the unknown North American Midwest and helps defeat an attempt to install interlocking totalitarian states on the remaining population of the world.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 27, 2021 08:52 AM (ySM85)

111 In From Russia With Love, Fleming has Bond say, when Darko Kerim says one must be strong with the Russians:

"I quite agree about the Russians. They simply don't understand the carrot. Only the stick has any effect. Basically they're masochists. They love the knout. That's why they were so happy under Stalin. He gave it them."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 08:52 AM (+nNqu)

112 I think the knout was nastier and caused more permanent injury.
Posted by: Trimegistus at June 27, 2021 08:47 AM (QZxDR)

I thought of it, correctly or otherwise, as blunter and thicker and more capable of causing massive flesh damage.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at June 27, 2021 08:53 AM (g5I2H)

113 Frightening how many ways we humans have developed to inflict pain on others.

And we call ourselves humanity?

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 27, 2021 08:53 AM (Om/di)

114 Hi Skip,

Always enjoy your early riser wake-up posts.

Do you see 48 separate posts from me?

Email in nic

Posted by: pawn at June 27, 2021 08:54 AM (rXK4k)

115 I'm continuing to read "Maverick" the Thomas Sowell biography. The more I read the more impressed I am with the man. And it confirms my theory that Sowell and Walter Williams provided about 80 percent of the brain power in this country for the last half of the 20th century. Plus the author, Jason L. Riley, is an excellent writer.

Posted by: JTB at June 27, 2021 08:54 AM (7EjX1)

116 JTB - I found exactly the same situation regarding the 101st Airborne Division ('Band of Brothers', etc.) and Bastogne, for the Battle of the Bulge. Big Army wanted standard, glamorous heroes (infantry, especially airborne, armor) to overshadow their initial failure to detect and stop the initial German assault.
And then the official, authorized authors picked up on that and presented the case that Bastogne was key to stopping the Germans.

Posted by: goatexchange at June 27, 2021 08:54 AM (bDyGY)

117 66 Hashes so far vzKmu 38lts T3xpz 41

Posted by: pawn at June 27, 2021 08:31 AM (vzKmu)

Do you know why your hash keeps changing? That's an encoded version of your IP address. That means your IP address, by which your computer is known to the internet, keeps changing.

Are you using a VPN?

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 27, 2021 08:55 AM (Zi6L2)

118 Longstreet at Gettysburg

-
After the war, he became a Republican. That may explain much of the anti-Longstreet sentiment.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at June 27, 2021 08:56 AM (d9FiS)

119 Jack Finney was a wonder. Time and Again is one of the great time travel novels, and Invasion is a classic. But he also wrote crime/caper stories -- Three Against the House, an early '50s novel of a casino robbery, and Assault on a Queen, which became that movie in the '60s.

Stephen King said about Finney that his vision of fantasy would have jibed well with Rod Serling's Twilight Zone. None of his stuff was ever done on TZ. "The Third Level" short story would have made a perfect TZ episode.

He inspired others, too. In the movie Somewhere in Time, a character credits the "believing yourself back into a n earlier time" method of time travel as being that of a Professor Finney. And that was the method Finney's hero uses in Time and Again.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 08:57 AM (+nNqu)

120 It is interesting reading but depressing that so
many 'accredited' historians for over a century were so agenda driven
and full of shit.Posted by: JTB at June 27, 2021 08:49 AM (7EjX1)
I haven't read that one, and will check it out. I have read a some books supporting Longstreet though. Sure it is complicated, sure there are always two sides. But to be honest, there is no way in my opinion to see Longstreet as other than a very reluctant and even insubordinate commander and Gettysburg. The funny thing is., all three of Lee's corps commanders let him down at Gettysburg. That is historical fact. They could not have been less helpful as advisors and his closest comrades. When you really look at the entire thing, is is almost comical how bad they were. No doubt when Longstreet was in battle, he commanded well. His troops on day 2 did things few armies have ever been capable of.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 08:58 AM (gJfTA)

121 The latest issue of "Muzzleloader" magazine arrived Friday. History! Superb craftmanship! Historic firearms! Beautiful illustrations and original art work! Each issue is a trove for those interested.

Yes, I enjoy the magazine. Thank you for asking.

Posted by: JTB at June 27, 2021 08:58 AM (7EjX1)

122 And Lee does deserve some of the blame. He was not hands on, he may have
even been ill from heart problems. It was his worst job of commanding,
and his subordinates did their worst jobs too. "In the end it was a
total failure of command.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 08:58 AM (gJfTA)

123 I would like to see Rob Portman knouted

Posted by: ghost of hallelujah at June 27, 2021 08:59 AM (sJHOI)

124 It is interesting reading but depressing that so
many 'accredited' historians for over a century were so agenda driven
and full of shit.

Posted by: JTB at June 27, 2021 08:49 AM (7EjX1)

---
If you go through the original exchange in Battles and Leaders you can see the shield wall around Lee being formed.

One of the interesting aspects of both the Gettysburg and Antietam campaigns are that in both instances, Lee risked the complete annihilation of his army and it was only remarkable Union incompetence that prevented this from happening. One need not imagine Grant in command, but only Reynolds or even Meade before Hooker's debacle. Personally I like to imagine Phil Kearny in command.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 27, 2021 08:59 AM (llXky)

125 I read historicals, and I'm a little more forgiving. Just as long as nothing "jars" me out of the story, I don't mind a little inaccuracy.

And they are all inaccurate, to some extent, or the modern reader wouldn't be able to understand the dialogue. It's hard enough to plow through Jane Austen, and she's only two hundred years old

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 08:59 AM (AwPyG)

126 I made the big time! Woo hoo!!

I finished Hostage to the devil. Its intriguing all the way through, but there were a few scenes and details that were just too much for me and I had to skip through.

Next up for me is Martins novel, Windswept House. Husband is reading Maverick

Posted by: LASue at June 27, 2021 09:00 AM (Ed8Zd)

127 I do know what a "hash" is Mr. OM.

It doesn't seem to be a factor because sometimes they will stick and sometimes not.

My non-VPN hash started getting blocked a few weeks ago. Now it's happening with my VPN ips.

I have reset my cable modem.

I've posted this exact post several times.

Will keep trying until it sticks.

Posted by: pawn at June 27, 2021 09:01 AM (3LjS+)

128 The 'these pants' example makes me fear for the future of our country

-
I like them because I assume they are made by throwing hippies into the lion habitat at the zoo.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at June 27, 2021 09:01 AM (d9FiS)

129
Sadly, we've developed a new version where we
assume God wants everything we desire, like the moron "pastors" who say
Jesus would hold the hand of the woman having an abortion, or the
"rabbis" who deny the unborn humanity. The fact that so many religious
groups have pounced on the weapon of wokeism to beat the opposition,
says we are more demonic than ever as a society.

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 08:49 AM (ONvIw)

---
I sat through a presentation last week on "ethical war" and the presenter dared to claim that modern ethicists have created the most moral form of warfare ever.

During the QA (which used only typed questions) I asked on what basis we dare to assert that our ethics are better than the ones that came before. I got the standard bellywash answer.

Edwardian morals were far more strict and humane than ours, and yet they still wilted under the strain of total war. Our current generation will go from "super ethical" to "ends justify the means" in a nanosecond.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 27, 2021 09:03 AM (llXky)

130 My suburban public library has reopened sans face diaper requirements, so I have been checking stuff out there. Some Donald E. Westlake in particular, a couple of the Parker crime stories; and right now a novel from Hard Case Crime that wasn't published in DEW's lifetime, The Comedy Is Finished. A Bob Hope-like actor/comedian is kidnapped by wanna-be revolutionaries, the Dohrn-Ayers types. However, this is not a comic novel despite the victim's funny lines.

Apparently he finished it about the time the movie The King of Comedy came out, with a similar storyline. He put it aside, and it was only discovered by Max Allan Collins a few years ago.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 09:03 AM (+nNqu)

131 What has been lost to history is that Lee's Pennsylvania campaign was a tremendous success in many ways. His move into PA was a masterstroke. He knew what the Federals would do and he made them dance to his drum. On the first day he crushed them, although some of that was luck. On the second day, he almost won the field. The third day was a disaster but the Feds did nothing to back it up.

Lee's retreat from Gettysburg is still studied in War Colleges because it was a masterstroke and the highest level of the military art.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 09:03 AM (gJfTA)

132 Congratulations to A.H Lloyd on the birth of your grandson! Before he lost his mind, Mark Shea used to greet all birth announcements with "Babies are evidence that God wants the world to continue" or something similar. I think of that whenever I hear of a new baby!

I wish I could accept Papa Ratzi's resignation, but I still love him and his works. His years as a professor gave him such an accessible writing style. His books are not the slog that beloved JPII's are. I have tried to read Francis' letters at times, and I think he's less of a teacher than either of his predecessors.

Been working through Late-Talking Children by Sowell this week. It's quite insightful, especially shedding light on my late-talking but probably not autistic son.

Posted by: Catherine at June 27, 2021 09:03 AM (okyLH)

133 I'm finishing Stalin's Englishman: Guy Burgess, The Cold War and the Cambridge Spy Ring by Andrew Lownie. I've been most surprised by how many in government and media in Britain were "homosexual" or bi-, both men and women. The footnotes make several references to Spycatcher by Peter Wright, a book that has been on my shelf for ages. I might have already read it but I plan to give it a second go. I'll do a quick fiction before I start on it.

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 27, 2021 09:03 AM (qe5CM)

134 I read "Warrior Monk", a Pastor Stephen Grant Novel, one in a series of 15 books about a former CIA operative who leaves the government to become a Lutheran pastor. I think the author did not envision this initial book becoming a series, because he divulges too much information too quickly. He could have stretched it out over time. The story itself revolves the CIA pulling him back in as a liason to a Papal visit on ecumenism, to serve as undercover security. The tension is good in these parts of the storyline. Probably will continue on to the next one in the series.

Posted by: grammie winger at June 27, 2021 09:03 AM (45fpk)

135 Yes, I enjoy the magazine. Thank you for asking.

Posted by: JTB at June 27, 2021 08:58 AM (7EjX1)

---
Try First Things. Not so much guns, but very good stuff. Takes me a couple of weeks to go through each issue.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 27, 2021 09:04 AM (llXky)

136
My suburban public library has reopened sans face diaper requirements,
so I have been checking stuff out there. Some Donald E. Westlake in
particular, a couple of the Parker crime stories; and right now a novel
from Hard Case Crime that wasn't published in DEW's lifetime, The Comedy Is Finished.
A Bob Hope-like actor/comedian is kidnapped by wanna-be
revolutionaries, the Dohrn-Ayers types. However, this is not a comic
novel despite the victim's funny lines.

Apparently he finished it about the time the movie The King of Comedy came out, with a similar storyline. He put it aside, and it was only discovered by Max Allan Collins a few years ago.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 09:03 AM

Our library recently reopened without a face mask requirement, but if you don't wear a face diaper you can't come closer than 6 feet from any employee. You have to put your stuff on the counter and back up to the marks on the floor while they check you out.

Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at June 27, 2021 09:04 AM (JUOKG)

137 Say what you will about McClellan, he'd have been a better president than Drooling Joe.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at June 27, 2021 09:04 AM (d9FiS)

138 Edwardian morals were far more strict and humane than ours, and yet they still wilted under the strain of total war. Our current generation will go from "super ethical" to "ends justify the means" in a nanosecond.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 27, 2021 09:03 AM (llXky)

That has already occured, sadly. We are locking up opponents and freeing domestic terrorists. Ethics and morality are largely dead in the US, due to DC.

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 09:05 AM (ONvIw)

139 Hardly ever comment but here I am. I'm starting a new project, reading some forgotten or nearly forgotten kids books. Not necessarily the classics, but classic for a time.

Already finished The Animal Family (1965) by Randall Jarrell, illus. Maurice Sendak. Interesting but I thought the ending was a bit self-conscious.

Just started Talking to Dragons (1985) by Patricia C. Wrede. Liking it so far.

Recommendations for other 'lost' books?

Posted by: Marica at June 27, 2021 09:06 AM (l0TYo)

140 Our library recently reopened without a face mask
requirement, but if you don't wear a face diaper you can't come closer
than 6 feet from any employee. You have to put your stuff on the counter
and back up to the marks on the floor while they check you out.
Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at June 27, 2021 09:04 AM (JUOKG)

Do you also have to look at the employee's right ear and start and end each sentence with "SIR" and refer to yourself as "This customer"?

Posted by: Kindltot at June 27, 2021 09:06 AM (ySM85)

141 I do have a love for old pulps and old pulp writers.
I stumbled across an online source of pulp magazines (1896 - 1946) called The Pulp Magazines Project https://www.pulpmags.org/magazines.html
The front page is a bit of a hot mess so I linked to the archives.

I was poking around in the Astounding stories (pre-Campbell) and Amazing Stories (Gernsback) and peeked at the Black Mask section to see if there were any Dashiell Hammet stories, and I found to my surprise a Murray Leinster mystery story I had never heard of. I love the internet sometimes.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 27, 2021 09:06 AM (ySM85)

142 Lee was much better than Grant if you are talking operations on the field. Even during the Overland Campaign, Grant was countered by Lee at almost every turn. It was Grant's tenacity and stubbornness that won in the end. Fair play there, he did what he had to do. But Grant the Butcher, only became a butcher when he met up with R.E. Lee. And the term Grant the Butcher was a Northern term, it is what the press said about him, about his own men.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 09:06 AM (gJfTA)

143 Greetings:

RE: Numero 100 above (Posted by: JTB at June 27, 2021 08:49 AM (7EjX1)

"The History" like today's "The Science" has always be subject to more recent finds and updates as more background materials are discovered and analyzed. However, trite it is to say, The History may never be totally "settled".

ON the other hand, propagandist of many stripes play at this game, too.

Posted by: 11B40 at June 27, 2021 09:06 AM (evgyj)

144 120- The funny thing is., all three of Lee's corps commanders let him down at Gettysburg. That is historical fact. They could not have been less helpful as advisors and his closest comrades. When you really look at the entire thing, is is almost comical how bad they were. No doubt when Longstreet was in battle, he commanded well. His troops on day 2 did things few armies have ever been capable of.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 08:58 AM

There's a lot of that on the Union side in "Stillness at Appomatix".

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 27, 2021 09:07 AM (qe5CM)

145 Elmore Leonard's "When girls come out to dance." is a series of short stories that is great. It looks like he fleshes out a story line to see if he make a novel out of. Maybe it's how he builds his character? Then he builds them enough to make a novel. Don't know, but worth the read.

Posted by: Paladin at June 27, 2021 09:07 AM (tEhT/)

146 Say what you will about McClellan, he'd have been a better president than Drooling Joe.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at June 27, 2021 09:04 AM (d9FiS)

Damned with faint praise.

Posted by: BignJames at June 27, 2021 09:07 AM (AwYPR)

147 Dickens said about babies:

"And it is not a slight thing, that they, who are so fresh from God, love us."

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 09:08 AM (AwPyG)

148 Hill Valley = Upsy Downsy

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at June 27, 2021 09:11 AM (d9FiS)

149 I'm starving for realism in both literature and cinema.

Posted by: Brett at June 27, 2021 09:11 AM (6ZdsL)

150 "Our library recently reopened without a face mask requirement, but if you don't wear a face diaper you can't come closer than 6 feet from any employee. You have to put your stuff on the counter and back up to the marks on the floor while they check you out."

Sounds like they're full of suppressed rage that the great reset didn't happen.

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 09:13 AM (AwPyG)

151 https://archive.org/details/forgottennewscri00finn

Posted by: Trolley Troll at June 27, 2021 09:13 AM (BWGJQ)

152
The Pulp Magazines Project also has
links page for other resources for pulp magazine archives, comic book
archives, magazine art, and even Anarchist publications from late
1800 - early 1900.

https://tinyurl.com/4bm8brh6

Posted by: Kindltot at June 27, 2021 09:13 AM (ySM85)

153 149 I'm starving for realism in both literature and cinema.
Posted by: Brett at June 27, 2021 09:11 AM (6ZdsL)

I'm starving for honesty, and less "my truth" or whichever "truth" exculpates the author.

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 09:14 AM (ONvIw)

154 There's a lot of that on the Union side in "Stillness at Appomatix".

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 27, 2021 09:07 AM (qe5CM)

A great book there too. Anything by Catton is worth reading and should be read. And it is true both armies had failures, insubordinates etc. It is a a particular Southern thing to talk about the "what ifs" But it works both ways. The US Army had to deal with all kinds of errors, no battle is clean for sure.

I think it is fair to say the US Army never fought as well as they did at Gettysburg. And while the CSA Army troops fought as well as they every have, their highest leaders did not rise to the occasion.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 09:14 AM (gJfTA)

155 Sounds like they're full of suppressed rage that the great reset didn't happen.
Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 09:13 AM (AwPyG)

Didn't it?

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 09:14 AM (ONvIw)

156 And they are all inaccurate, to some extent, or the modern reader wouldn't be able to understand the dialogue. It's hard enough to plow through Jane Austen, and she's only two hundred years old
Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 08:59 AM (AwPyG)

**nods** Nobody in my books speaks as people really would have in 1917, but as long as I'm not too obviously modern, it works.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 27, 2021 09:14 AM (2JVJo)

157 I wish I could accept Papa Ratzi's resignation, but I
still love him and his works. His years as a professor gave him such
an accessible writing style. His books are not the slog that beloved
JPII's are. I have tried to read Francis' letters at times, and I think
he's less of a teacher than either of his

Posted by: Catherine at June 27, 2021 09:03 AM (okyLH)

---
I think he understood that one way to fix evil is to let it be exposed. Francis himself may not be corrupt, but a lot of corrupt people say his elevation as an opportunity to impose their agendas and ended up exposing themselves.

It was necessary for true reform, which God knew and therefore why it happened.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 27, 2021 09:15 AM (llXky)

158 I know the "babies" quote but can't remember the exact words. My wife put it in the birth announcement she made when our first arrived.

I can't remember the writer's name, either (bad Geek!), but he wrote the poem about Chicago.

Regardless, congratulations to the Lloyds and their daughter and her husband! Granddaughter should enjoy being Big Sister.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 27, 2021 09:15 AM (Om/di)

159 Anyway, until USPS delivers my Finney, I'll stick with Agatha. I like Marple and Poirot well enough, and I prefer the books to the shitty but "well acted" productions.

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 09:16 AM (ONvIw)

160 Greetings:

My local branch of the countywide library "system" quickly reverted to the authoritarian mode I came to know in the Bronx of the '50s and '60s. With a very minimal push, the Cali lifestyle was gone and forgotten.

They seem to be mellowing a bit now but style not many browsers or resulting conversations.

Posted by: 11B40 at June 27, 2021 09:16 AM (evgyj)

161 pawn this is a hash(vzKmu), pawn is your nic
Your hash seems to change every post, mine has been same for months but can change on a power outage.
What your hash is doesn't matter much, if it was banned you will know immediately.

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 09:17 AM (Cxk7w)

162 [iBefore he lost his mind, Mark Shea used to greet all birth announcements with "Babies are evidence that God wants the world to continue" or something similar.

I used to read Shea and still use his phrase re the Gaystapo, "Tolerance is not enough. You. MUST. Approve." How did he 'lose his mind?' Was it Trump?

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 27, 2021 09:17 AM (2JVJo)

163 Sort of book related.

I gave an old manual typewriter to a young woman who was interested in using one. It's a Royal FP desk top machine. Her kids are at camp for the summer and she wants to write typewritten letters to them for the novelty. Also, her daughter, 11 years old, has expressed interest in writing on one for school work and her own efforts. I was pleased to oblige and help spread the gospel of the mechanical typewriter.

The reading part is when I went to some websites about the machines and how to use them. I haven't visited the sites in quite a while. There is one I especially find helpful, informative and entertaining. It's: site. xavier. edu/polt/typewriters (Remove the spaces after the dots.)

It has links Polt included about the history of typewriters, how to operate them, PFDs of some original user manuals, famous authors and the machines they used, and where to find supplies. My favorite link is to a series of essays by people who have discovered the uses and benefits of these work horses. Some are touching, some instructive and some laugh out loud funny. "Why a Manual Typewriter is Better Than a Computer" is hilarious.

Posted by: JTB at June 27, 2021 09:18 AM (7EjX1)

164 Lee was much better than Grant if you are talking
operations on the field. Even during the Overland Campaign, Grant was
countered by Lee at almost every turn. It was Grant's tenacity and
stubbornness that won in the end. Fair play there, he did what he had to
do. But Grant the Butcher, only became a butcher when he met up with
R.E. Lee. And the term Grant the Butcher was a Northern term, it is what
the press said about him, about his own men.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 09:06 AM (gJfTA)

---
The Army of the Potomac's command arrangements made Lee appear far better than he really was.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 27, 2021 09:18 AM (llXky)

165 @155

I don't think so--at least, not here. And there was a massive protest in London yesterday--a least a hundred thousand people on the streets of London, protesting the continuing lockdown.

Not a word about it in the Daily Mail. Heh.

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 09:18 AM (AwPyG)

166 Good morning Hordelings!

Posted by: Diogenes at June 27, 2021 09:19 AM (axyOa)

167 What surprised me about McClellan (based on what I gleaned from site tour and materials at the park) was how he was loved by his troops for NOT always throwing them into the meatgrinder.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 09:19 AM (Dc2NZ)

168
Regardless, congratulations to the Lloyds and their daughter and her husband! Granddaughter should enjoy being Big Sister.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 27, 2021 09:15 AM (Om/di)

---
Thanks! And thanks to everyone else - I don't want to clog up the thread with acknowledgements. This place is an oasis in a desert of madness.

Great-grandmas is here, so gotta go!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 27, 2021 09:20 AM (llXky)

169
Currently reading fiction thriller I Am Pilgrim. It's off to a good start!

Finished:

Red Harvest by Anne Applebaum. Excellent history of Stalin's terror famine in the Ukraine.

Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century by Alex Popoff. Comprehensive biography of Vasily and his work. Excellent work.

Posted by: 13times at June 27, 2021 09:20 AM (paEPr)

170 The Pulp Magazines Project also has
links page for other resources for pulp magazine archives, comic book
archives, magazine art, and even Anarchist publications from late
1800 - early 1900.

Talk about losing yourself down a rabbit hole! Thanks for the link!

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 27, 2021 09:21 AM (2JVJo)

171 My library branch is back to normal, which means that I leave it with more than I had reserved. And I didn't get past the DVD section.

If I ever wander back into the shelves, look out, TBR list!

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 27, 2021 09:21 AM (Om/di)

172
So I've read most of Forester and most of O'Brian. What other Age of Sail sea stories are good?
Posted by: Trimegistus at June 27, 2021 08:26 AM (QZxDR)

the Rammage series by Dudley Pope (O'Brian loved poetry and language and Pope loves sailing above all things)

also Frederick Marryat, who actually was a naval officer during the Napoleonic wars

Posted by: Kindltot at June 27, 2021 09:21 AM (ySM85)

173 Trump endorses Klondike Bars.

https://bit.ly/3wZ8r2Q

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at June 27, 2021 09:22 AM (d9FiS)

174 I used to catch Father Malachi Martin on Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell back in the day. He was the generation of Jesuits that were truly Godly men. He described the rigorous process of becoming a priest and the difficulty of being accepted by an Order. Amazing stuff. Father Martin identified Satan's works within the Church and the corruption that he saw of the papacy.

Posted by: Rob at June 27, 2021 09:22 AM (ua+q5)

175 @141

I think there is an imprint called "Brash Books" that reprints a lot of pulp and noir from the past.

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 09:22 AM (AwPyG)

176 ---
The Army of the Potomac's command arrangements made Lee appear far better than he really was.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 27, 2021 09:18 AM (llXky)

we obviously disagree on Lee and some other issues. We don't disagree on that Grant was a great commander. He figured out how to win and he saw it through. He is a very underrated General and a very underrated American Hero.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 09:23 AM (gJfTA)

177 The 'these pants' example makes me fear for the future of our country

I like them because I assume they are made by throwing hippies into the lion habitat at the zoo.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks

Well since they're ethically sourced, it's morning in America again!

Posted by: Drink Like Vikings at June 27, 2021 09:23 AM (6qSuS)

178 think he understood that one way to fix evil is to let it be exposed. Francis himself may not be corrupt, but a lot of corrupt people say his elevation as an opportunity to impose their agendas and ended up exposing themselves.

It was necessary for true reform, which God knew and therefore why it happened.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 27, 2021 09:15 AM (llXky)

I read something at a Catholic blog about how the Peronist Pope sold out some of his fellow commies to the ruling class. Working off guilt like that is a horrible way to lead a flock.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at June 27, 2021 09:23 AM (g5I2H)

179 What surprised me about McClellan (based on what I gleaned from site tour and materials at the park) was how he was loved by his troops for NOT always throwing them into the meatgrinder.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 09:19 AM (Dc2NZ)

Mac wanted a big army...and he wanted to keep it.

Posted by: BignJames at June 27, 2021 09:25 AM (AwYPR)

180 I used to read Shea and still use his phrase re the Gaystapo, "Tolerance is not enough. You. MUST. Approve." How did he 'lose his mind?' Was it Trump?
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 27, 2021 09:17 AM (2JVJo)

I do like that one too. He has quite a few. But when he decided the Iraq War was not just after the fact, he got seriously snippy with people who disagreed. It hasn't really stopped. I can disagree with people about a war, but he did a sudden about-face, and soldiers and officers, including those in my family, do not have that luxury, and Shea was not reasonable about it IMO. Had we announced what we had found to his satisfaction, he would have been okay with the war. But because the bunkers of WMD were not on the front page of the NYT, the war wasn't just. It completely ignores that you make the decision to go to war with necessarily incomplete information. I think he hates Trump too, which may have further broken him, but the insanity, snappiness (that eventually lost him his Register gig), and unpleasantness preceded the GSW.

Posted by: Catherine at June 27, 2021 09:26 AM (okyLH)

181 Reading Stephen Fry's retelling of Greek myths: Mythos. Nice quality paper -- a pleasure to hold. The re-tellings are rather pedestrian, but since I am entranced by the stories, I am enjoying the read. Mostly.

Posted by: sinmi at June 27, 2021 09:26 AM (A5IVt)

182 154- A great book there too. Anything by Catton is worth reading and should be read.
Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 09:14 AM

When I found "Stillness" at a little vintage shop, I also got his "Picture History of the Civil War", "Mr. Lincoln's Army", and "Glory Road". I also picked up Carl Sandburg's "Storm Over the Land", among other non-Civil War histories. I have lots of reading to do before I catch up with you and your encyclopedic knowledge of Civil War history! I need to get back to it after I finish up with the British spies!

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 27, 2021 09:26 AM (qe5CM)

183 @163

I don't know if it is true, but someone claimed that secretaries changed from being men to being women because of the typewriter.

Women's hands were more dexterous, and they could type faster.

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 09:26 AM (AwPyG)

184 If anyone thinks Francis isn't thoroughly corrupt, you haven't been paying close enough attention, IMO.

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 09:28 AM (AwPyG)

185 What surprised me about McClellan (based on what I
gleaned from site tour and materials at the park) was how he was loved
by his troops for NOT always throwing them into the meatgrinder.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 09:19 AM (Dc2NZ)

he was loved by his men. He was loved more than Grant by a long shot. Nothing can compare to the ANV and their reverence for Lee. That became almost a religious thing. I take that back, But it was close. They believed in him because he believed in them. It did get to the level of worship though.

The troops respected Grant because he was the opposite of McClellan. He would not retreat no matter what. No doubt the troops loved Little Mac more, that is a fact. But he ran against Lincoln and lost. The troops knew voting for Mac would end the war as a loss. They could not stomach that after so much bloodshed.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 09:29 AM (gJfTA)

186 Still being 90% blocked/deleted so I'll keep posting this till it sticks:

I've just started on the "Culture" series by Ian Banks. I saw a question posted in a forum asking why the SpaceX recovery barges had such weird names. Of course Elon Musk came up with the names. The answer was that Elon was a fan of Banks and it had to do with something in these novels.

I'm about 1/3 through "Consider Phlebas" and it's pretty good so far. I'm a SF fan but I had never heard of Banks before.

Posted by: pawn on another browser through another modem at June 27, 2021 09:30 AM (P/uqD)

187 158- I can't remember the writer's name, either (bad Geek!), but he wrote the poem about Chicago.
Posted by: Weak Geek at June 27, 2021 09:15 AM

Carl Sandburg?

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 27, 2021 09:30 AM (qe5CM)

188 Did you see the idiot gal that caused a 100 bike wreck and 21 injuries at the Tour? She stood in front of the pack to say hi to Grandma on TV.

Posted by: rhennigantx at June 27, 2021 09:30 AM (yrol0)

189 I don't know if it is true, but someone claimed that secretaries changed from being men to being women because of the typewriter.

Women's hands were more dexterous, and they could type faster.
Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 09:26 AM (AwPyG)

It is true. And the rise of the "typewriter girl" also led, in NYC, to the establishment of a number of quick-lunch chains such as Schrafft's, because women wanted a small sandwich and perhaps a piece of pie for their meal, and didn't care for the chophouses and other masculine-themed restaurants that catered to the professional man's diet.

An excellent book on this and much else is Appetite City:

https://tinyurl.com/b7c8m25s

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 27, 2021 09:30 AM (2JVJo)

190 George MacDonald Fraser has a graphic description of a knouting in "Flashman in the Great Game".

Posted by: General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett, VC KCB at June 27, 2021 09:30 AM (7Y6x6)

191 Trivia bit,

I said earlier that Jack Finney's time travel method of "believing yourself back into the past" was his. According to the Wiki entry for Richard Matheson's Bid Time Return (1975), the hero "derives his method of time travel from J. B. Priestley's 1964 book Man and Time." This book preceded both the Finney and the Matheson novels, so I guess Priestley should be credited.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 09:31 AM (+nNqu)

192 Off pompous general sock!

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at June 27, 2021 09:31 AM (7Y6x6)

193 I have lots of reading to do before I catch up with
you and your encyclopedic knowledge of Civil War history! I need to get
back to it after I finish up with the British spies!

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 27, 2021 09:26 AM (qe5CM)

i thought I was the Civil War badass until I ran into Captain Obvious. There is always someone who knows more. The key is to learn and study the things you care about. You can't go wrong with Catton. Sure there are other good books, some by Southern writers, but Catton is a very good place to start.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 09:32 AM (gJfTA)

194 I don't know if it is true, but someone claimed that secretaries changed from being men to being women because of the typewriter.

Also, the joke "sexataries" lacked the same punch.

Posted by: The Gipper Lives at June 27, 2021 09:34 AM (Ndje9)

195 Quint, the odd thing is that Lee and his generals were tacticians, and had always done field commands. Grant, Sheridan and Sherman all had been in supply and quartermastering.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 27, 2021 09:35 AM (ySM85)

196 While I decide what book to read next, I'm going through Sub-Mariner comics from the late '60s (I have them in reprints from the '80s; Marvel used to put out a lot of reprint titles.) Roy Thomas' scripting is too purple for me, but man, those books did bring the action. In one full-page panel, Namor punctures the hull of a U.S. Navy warship. I don't think Marvel does anything like that today. Sad!
Posted by: Weak Geek (dad of three in their 20s) at June 27, 2021 08:25 AM (Om/di)

You'd probably then appreciate watching the first episode of the new season of "Rick and Morty".

Available online free through youtube.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 27, 2021 09:36 AM (dWwl8)

197 @194

You know, when you think about it, whoever invented the typewriter caused a lot of divorces. That probably wasn't something they'd foreseen

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 09:36 AM (AwPyG)

198 If you want the super-detailed version of the Overland Campaign, get Gordon Rhea's series of four books: The Battle of the Wilderness, The Battle for Spotsylvania Court House..., To The North Anna River, ans Cold Harbor.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at June 27, 2021 09:36 AM (7Y6x6)

199 188 Did you see the idiot gal that caused a 100 bike wreck and 21 injuries at the Tour? She stood in front of the pack to say hi to Grandma on TV.
Posted by: rhennigantx at June 27, 2021 09:30 AM (yrol0)

She needs to be knouted

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 09:37 AM (ONvIw)

200 I do wish could get my Amazon account straighten out, it's the only program not transfered to my new tablet, so all books are on my old only.

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 09:37 AM (Cxk7w)

201 OK, folks, don't want to spend my day at the laptop (I'll be doing that for 8 hours tomorrow!), so I'm going to make some tea, find a cool spot and read.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 27, 2021 09:38 AM (2JVJo)

202 Good morning Hordelings!

Anyone here familiar with the FLETCH book series from Gregory McDonald? I keep seeing articles about a new Fletch movie in production - based on the book CONFESS FLETCH. John Hamm will be playing the title role. Supposed to be more in line with the tone of the books (film noir) and less goofy than the Chevy Chase Fletch films.

Just wondering if anyone has read CONFESS FLETCH and has any recommendations for or against it. I'm considering reading it before the movie comes out.

Posted by: Doof at June 27, 2021 09:39 AM (mZUr4)

203 You're kinda surprised something like the spectator interference in the Tour de France hasn't happened long before now. It's pretty much the definition of white supremacy

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 09:39 AM (AwPyG)

204 193-
i thought I was the Civil War badass until I ran into Captain Obvious. There is always someone who knows more. The key is to learn and study the things you care about. You can't go wrong with Catton. Sure there are other good books, some by Southern writers, but Catton is a very good place to start.
Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 09:32 AM

I think it was you or him that recommended the "Picture History". I was shocked when I went back to the vintage shop and found it for 15 bucks. I have been a fan of military history since college. I took two a two semester course on military strategy that was amazing. During the first semester, we took a field trip to Civil War battlegrounds- Petersburg, Fredericksburg, Bull Run, Harpers Ferry, Antietam and Gettysburg were the stand-outs. This Hallowed Ground and The Killer Angels were on the reading syllabus.

I do sort of have a problem though- I love reading the history, but my retention, other than big picture, sort of sucks. Although I do sometimes surprise myself ;-)

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 27, 2021 09:39 AM (qe5CM)

205 **nods** Nobody in my books speaks as people really would have in 1917, but as long as I'm not too obviously modern, it works.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 27, 2021

***
When I began to write fantasy, I deliberately eschewed that "false Shakespeare" dialog that bores me about most fantasy. People can speak like people without sounding like Olivier in Hamlet or like an obviously mid-20th-century Brooklyn cabbie. But then, I usually don't write about kings and nobles; I write about ex-soldiers, merchants, down-to-earth magicians, and prostitutes.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 09:40 AM (+nNqu)

206 Quint, the odd thing is that Lee and his generals
were tacticians, and had always done field commands. Grant, Sheridan and
Sherman all had been in supply and quartermastering.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 27, 2021 09:35 AM (ySM85)

it can be hard for us to comprehend how small the US Army was before the war. The best generals, the best officers, out of West Point became engineers. I believe no man man from the South prior to the Civil War ever commanded as many men as Jefferson Davis. The exception of course was Winfield Scott. But he was on the other side and he was no longer fit to command.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 09:40 AM (gJfTA)

207 Could prolly slip a tire iron into a knout for good measure.

Posted by: Drink Like Vikings at June 27, 2021 09:40 AM (6qSuS)

208 I feel bad about looking backward to find futuristic stories.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 09:40 AM (Dc2NZ)

209 Anyone here familiar with the FLETCH book series from Gregory McDonald? I keep seeing articles about a new Fletch movie in production - based on the book CONFESS FLETCH. John Hamm will be playing the title role. Supposed to be more in line with the tone of the books (film noir) and less goofy than the Chevy Chase Fletch films.

Just wondering if anyone has read CONFESS FLETCH and has any recommendations for or against it. I'm considering reading it before the movie comes out.
Posted by: Doof at June 27, 2021

***
Jon Hamm would be a much better casting choice for MacDonald's Fletch character. The first novel, Fletch, is extremely well done -- humor mixes with serious mystery (not really noir, though), but the comic bits never get in the way of the real story. I can't recall if I've read Confess, Fletch.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 09:42 AM (+nNqu)

210 Highly recommend Mc Donald's Fletch books--a lot of people think they're the best mysteries out there.

Smart-alecky investigator in California.

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 09:42 AM (AwPyG)

211 it can be hard for us to comprehend how small the US Army was before the war. The best generals, the best officers, out of West Point became engineers. I believe no man man from the South prior to the Civil War ever commanded as many men as Jefferson Davis. The exception of course was Winfield Scott. But he was on the other side and he was no longer fit to command.
Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 09:40 AM (gJfTA)
-------
No living American general had commanded as many men in the field as there were at First Bull Run. Even Scott, on the expedition to Mexico City, never had more than 10,000 men under his command.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at June 27, 2021 09:43 AM (7Y6x6)

212 It aint a proper knouting till the drummer boy gets there.

Posted by: Jimco Industries at June 27, 2021 09:45 AM (buTO7)

213 Currently reading The Legacy of the Iron Dragon, by Robert Kroese. This is book 4 of his 5-book Iron Dragon series, which is really good. Future humanity is at war with a hostile alien race and facing extinction. One of our ships goes through a hyperspace gate at high velocity and unexpectedly travels back in time to 9th century Norway, where they crash land and are stranded. They team up with a group of Vikings to build a spaceship and attempt to save future humanity. Book 4 has lots of discussions about the nature of spacetime, relativity, and so forth. In the context of the story it's pretty interesting to see how Kroese is laying the groundwork for how this is going to play out. I have enjoyed everything I've read by the author and this one is no exception.

Posted by: DIY Daddio at June 27, 2021 09:45 AM (RJscS)

214 Highly recommend Mc Donald's Fletch books--a lot of people think they're the best mysteries out there.

Smart-alecky investigator in California.

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021

***
Fletch is a reporter, not a private eye, but yes. The first book is a good example of how to tell a story with about 80% dialog, and also how to make a reader wonder what the hero is up to and how he'll get himself out of several separate messes at once.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 09:45 AM (+nNqu)

215 Read The Midnight Assassin by Skip Hollandsworth about a serial killer in Austin Tx in the 1800s before anyone really understood the concept of serial killer or investigation. It was ok, but did not rise to the level of Larson's Devil in the White City or James' Man from a Train.

Posted by: Charlotte at June 27, 2021 09:46 AM (d2yqy)

216 I'm about 1/3 through "Consider Phlebas" and it's pretty good so far. I'm a SF fan but I had never heard of Banks before.
Posted by: pawn on another browser through another modem at June 27, 2021 09:30 AM (P/uqD)

Phlebas is OK, but I think Player of Games and Against a Dark Background are far better, though I have to admit they are all a bit hallucinogenic.

Use of Weapons is odd in that I believe it is a horror novel.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 27, 2021 09:46 AM (ySM85)

217 @205

Diana Gabaldon, who wrote the Outlander series, calls the language she uses "bygonese".

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 09:46 AM (AwPyG)

218 I had hoped it would rain this morning, but nope, endless yellow sticky sunlight. I think I'll stay indoors and read my Donald Westlake novel.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 09:47 AM (+nNqu)

219 Putin's Cossacks still employ the knout. They used them for suppressing protests at the Sochi Olympics, for instance. I think you can even find video of this SMR crowd control method.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at June 27, 2021 09:49 AM (Zhwz2)

220 My favorite Culture novel is Excession, but that's not a good on-ramp to the series.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 27, 2021 09:50 AM (QZxDR)

221 One of the jokes in "Hot Fuzz" is that the Turner twins are seen reading books by Banks, but one is reading books by "Ian Banks" and the other is reading books by "Ian M. Banks".

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at June 27, 2021 09:50 AM (7Y6x6)

222 Eris, there was a comment that I ran across that all revolutions claim to be harkening back to the better parts past that have been forgotten or rejected. Hence the term, revolution.

So you may be a revolutionary

Posted by: Kindltot at June 27, 2021 09:51 AM (ySM85)

223 Morning all, thanks for another edition of this excellent series!

After watching the 8-part YT series on the P-47 Thunderbolt, by that Greg guy, I went back this week and re-read Thunderbolt by WWII ace Robert S. Johnson. excellent YT series and channel, and excellent book.

I was visiting Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri this week, so took the opportunity to flog my Combat Engineer book. They will likely host me for a book signing later in the fall. Their Army Engineer Museum is being renovated, so looking forward to that. The museum is co-located with the Army Chemical Corps Museum and the Military Police Museum. So, tear-gassed and billy-clubbed under one roof, for your convenience!

I keed, I keed!

Posted by: goatexchange at June 27, 2021 09:52 AM (bDyGY)

224 Yeah, here's some Cossacks knouting Pussy Riot:

https://tinyurl.com/mksedacz

This is mild chastisement knouting. Punishment knouting is much more violent.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at June 27, 2021 09:53 AM (Zhwz2)

225
Kindltot,

It looks like I have something to look forward to.

Banks seems to me to describe the action scenes very well. I can follow what is happening to whom easier than many writers I have read.

Posted by: pawn on another browser through another modem at June 27, 2021 09:59 AM (P/uqD)

226 Reading leftist author Naomi Wolf's 2007 book "The End of America". The "end" was due to GW Bush and Congress eroding civil rights with the Patriot Act, etc.

Enemy combatants were the focus of her complaints, but you can see how these laws are turned against American citizens today under Biden.

To her great credit, Wolf criticized Biden's abuses -- of course, leading to the Left's attempts to cancel her.

Posted by: JM in Florida at June 27, 2021 10:01 AM (HCeRP)

227

whom (?), did I just do that?

Posted by: pawn with Opera but still another modem at June 27, 2021 10:03 AM (P/uqD)

228 Hooray, my Finney books should arrive tomorrow.

My limited reading of time travel fiction (besides Well) was a couple of Robert Nathan books after I saw the Jennifer Jones Portrait of Jenny movie, in Nathan books, the traveler tends to move forward, not back, and in one case visits the older, unhappy self. I didn't read them again and I'm not sure how they held up. They certainly aren't around any more.

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 10:04 AM (ONvIw)

229 @187 --

Carl Sandberg, yes. I could remember only the first name.

I'll go through the baby book for the exact quote.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 27, 2021 10:05 AM (Om/di)

230 Do you know how many laws i broke just so i could have a nice morning?

Posted by: Humphreyrobot at June 27, 2021 10:05 AM (eZwXS)

231 The new word I learned this week was Petrichor.

The initial smell of rain hitting dry dirt.

Posted by: Just a side note at June 27, 2021 10:09 AM (2DOZq)

232 Do you know how many laws i broke just so i could have a nice morning?
Posted by: Humphreyrobot at June 27, 2021 10:05 AM (eZwXS)
------
Seven?

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at June 27, 2021 10:10 AM (7Y6x6)

233 Final page of the ichthyology book:

"Fin"

Posted by: Muldoon at June 27, 2021 10:12 AM (Fc5rx)

234 Every Commie Libtard needs to be knouted. Weekly.

Posted by: The Man from Athens at June 27, 2021 10:12 AM (QMwOT)

235 I'm on the third book in Richard Evan's Third Reich history. Frightening on how many parallels there are between then and now.

Posted by: Old Blue at June 27, 2021 10:12 AM (VNmG1)

236 Am I remembering correctly that in physics theory one can travel to the future but not to the past?

Posted by: Just a side note at June 27, 2021 10:12 AM (2DOZq)

237 Scenes from a factured and degraded America:

Retuning something at Kohl's, they have a pride display featured prominently in the center of the store.

The 4th of July swag is off on a side aisle not prominently displayed.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at June 27, 2021 10:14 AM (P4KTL)

238 You people are so knowledgable.

I know naught of knouts.

Posted by: Muldoon at June 27, 2021 10:14 AM (Fc5rx)

239 Credit Karma has the most woke commercial of them all.

Posted by: Just a side note at June 27, 2021 10:15 AM (2DOZq)

240 My limited reading of time travel fiction (besides Well) was a couple of Robert Nathan books after I saw the Jennifer Jones Portrait of Jenny movie, in Nathan books, the traveler tends to move forward, not back, and in one case visits the older, unhappy self. I didn't read them again and I'm not sure how they held up. They certainly aren't around any more.
Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021

***
SF writer Larry Niven has a series of short funny time travel stories in flight of the Horse and elsewhere. The central conceit is that time travel is fantasy; so when the lead character goes back in time, he is going into a fantasy world, and non-SF things can happen.

John Dickson Carr, the classic mystery writer, also wrote a number of ground-breaking time-travel mysteries after World War II. One, The Bridge of Newgate, features the hero winding up in England at the time of Sir Robert Peel, for example. Each has a fairly-clued mystery built into it as well.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 10:16 AM (+nNqu)

241 Am I remembering correctly that in physics theory one can travel to the future but not to the past?
Posted by: Just a side note at June 27, 2021 10:12 AM (2DOZq)
-------
We're traveling to the future at this very moment.

And this one.

And this one...

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at June 27, 2021 10:16 AM (7Y6x6)

242 edericksburg, Bull Run, Harpers Ferry, Antietam and Gettysburg were the
stand-outs. This Hallowed Ground and The Killer Angels were on the
reading syllabus.

I do sort of have a problem though- I love reading the history, but
my retention, other than big picture, sort of sucks. Although I do
sometimes surprise myself ;-)
a father in law of a good friend of mine recommended The Killer Angels.I was 16 at the time and the book blew me away. Anyone who has not read that Pulitzer Prize winning book should at least give it a try. It was not my first foray in the Civil War. We are a military family, so we moved across the country quite a bit. My relatives from both sides were from the South. Some were more into in than others. But the people that were into it, were really into it.

I made my parents stop at battlefields like Vicksburg. I was more into it than they were. And then in the scouts, we always traveled and camped at battlefields in VA. I have probably been to Gettysburg 30 times, and that is low balling it. There is something about that place that I just fit with.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 10:17 AM (gJfTA)

243 I'm back to my old modem. Non VPN doesn't stick. Trying a couple of VPNs now to see the hashes.

Posted by: pawn at June 27, 2021 10:17 AM (Re9MM)

244 231 The new word I learned this week was Petrichor.

The initial smell of rain hitting dry dirt.
Posted by: Just a side note at June 27, 2021 10:09 AM (2DOZq)
---

This is a great word for a phenomenon I didn't know I needed a word for.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 10:18 AM (Dc2NZ)

245
each week there is a great pic of a whole bunch-o-books, in a pretty library, that the lefty/antifa and muslimbs want to burn and/or not let you read

thank you

Posted by: will choose a nic later at June 27, 2021 10:18 AM (bTQ72)

246 @239

I dunno, Mastercard is in the running, with the commercial about how transvestites can feel "safe" using their card.

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 10:18 AM (AwPyG)

247 Thanks for the laugh, Muldoon.

(This comment needs to be put on repeat.)

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 27, 2021 10:19 AM (Om/di)

248 Oops -- The novel in which the JDCarr hero goes back to Sir Robert Peel's time is Fire, Burn! The Bride of Newgate is set in 1815. His The Devil in Velvet features 1675. All are fascinating time-travel mysteries.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 10:20 AM (+nNqu)

249 @241

Einstein would tell you that it's all relative

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 10:20 AM (AwPyG)

250 I dunno, Mastercard is in the running, with the commercial about how transvestites can feel "safe" using their card.
--

MasterandServantcard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsvfofcIE1Q

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 10:20 AM (Dc2NZ)

251 pawn at June 27, 2021 10:17 AM (Re9MM)

is working for me now

sorry to bug you folks but this is frustrating.

It's not that I post a lot but I like to have things working right. Part of Engineer's Disease.

Posted by: pawn at June 27, 2021 10:20 AM (Re9MM)

252 The new word I learned this week was Petrichor.

The initial smell of rain hitting dry dirt.
Posted by: Just a side note at June 27, 2021 10:09 AM
---
This is a great word for a phenomenon I didn't know I needed a word for.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 1

***
I no longer have any dry dirt around me, so I'll have to save this word for another day.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 10:21 AM (+nNqu)

253 I dunno, Mastercard is in the running, with the commercial about how transvestites can feel "safe" using their card.
--

MasterandServantcard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsvfofcIE1Q
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 10:20 AM (Dc2NZ)
--------
Can BondageAndDisciplineCard be far behind?

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at June 27, 2021 10:22 AM (7Y6x6)

254 Seeing these beautiful libraries each week makes one sad to think that the overwhelming majority of human beings know absolutely nothing of what's in those books.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at June 27, 2021 10:22 AM (W4eKo)

255 242- Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 10:17 AM

My dad was also military. Maybe that's how I caught the bug. I always felt a little uncommon, being an 'ette who likes to read history so much. I think I only have one other female friend that does.

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 27, 2021 10:22 AM (qe5CM)

256 The gorgeous library pic from Chile is ironic. My brother spends a lot of time there, and his observation is that it is NOT a reading culture. IIRC, he said something to the effect of "if he picked up all the books and reading material he'd ever need in everyone's house there he'd ever been in, including cookbooks and bibles, he could fit them in one hand." His main squeeze lives there, and he's been spending ~ half the year there ever year for well over a decade, so he's almost a local. So those books largely stay behind the glass.

Posted by: Rolf at June 27, 2021 10:23 AM (WOE/1)

257 Can BondageAndDisciplineCard be far behind?
Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at June 27, 2021

***
MILFCard . . . CFNMCard . . .S & MCard . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 10:23 AM (+nNqu)

258 Ditto, Moonbeam!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 10:24 AM (Dc2NZ)

259

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 10:24 AM (+nNqu)

260 Watching Mother Nature wash my car. Cow pissing on a flat rock.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin at June 27, 2021 10:24 AM (I58tH)

261 254 Seeing these beautiful libraries each week makes one sad to think that the overwhelming majority of human beings know absolutely nothing of what's in those books.
Posted by: Notorious BFD at June 27, 2021 10:22 AM

Not to mention that none of us will ever have enough time on earth to read them all.

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 27, 2021 10:24 AM (qe5CM)

262 Thank you Wolfus Aurelius and artemis for the responses about the Fletch books!

Posted by: Doof at June 27, 2021 10:25 AM (mZUr4)

263 I think my military history bug came from early childhood trips to battlefield sites.

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 10:25 AM (Cxk7w)

264 Credit Karma has the most woke commercial of them all.

Posted by: Just a side note

Indeed.

Posted by: Drink Like Vikings at June 27, 2021 10:26 AM (6qSuS)

265 Thank you Wolfus Aurelius and artemis for the responses about the Fletch books!
Posted by: Doof at June 27, 2021

***
You've made me want to dig up my paperback edition of Fletch for a quick reread!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 10:26 AM (+nNqu)

266 I think my military history bug came from early childhood trips to battlefield sites.
Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 10:25 AM (Cxk7w)
------
No idea where mine came from. Past lives, maybe?

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at June 27, 2021 10:26 AM (7Y6x6)

267 awwww, a George Floyd statue in NYC got vandalized, like the Columbus one did.

and NYC is out to find who did Floyd but never Columbus

telling in a way ....

Posted by: will choose a nic later at June 27, 2021 10:26 AM (bTQ72)

268 258 Ditto, Moonbeam!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 10:24 AM

*fistbump* might sound too manly, so whatever the girlie version is * *!

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 27, 2021 10:26 AM (qe5CM)

269 Speaking of that giant book --

Imagine tomes like that in the olden days. Were those privately published for the patron? Or were they marketed to the public? Bookstore shelves must have been really sturdy then.

Also, no imagination in the title, but the cover design had some thought.

The comic-strip character Maj. Amos B. Hoople was constantly reading books like that. I still snicker at "The Story of Zinc."

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 27, 2021 10:27 AM (Om/di)

270 202 Good morning Hordelings!

Anyone here familiar with the FLETCH book series from Gregory McDonald?
Posted by: Doof at June 27, 2021 09:39 AM (mZUr

I read the first book in the series many moons ago, it was fun. It was also about 90% dialogue, and I had never encountered a story written that way before. I thought it was a very inventive storytelling technique.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 27, 2021 10:27 AM (Zi6L2)

271 Goodbye, Columbus.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at June 27, 2021 10:28 AM (7Y6x6)

272 You've made me want to dig up my paperback edition of Fletch for a quick reread!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 10:26 AM (+nNqu)

I'll give myself $20 on Underhill

Posted by: Doof at June 27, 2021 10:28 AM (mZUr4)

273 The new word I learned this week was Petrichor.

The initial smell of rain hitting dry dirt.
Posted by: Just a side note

The new word I learned this week was sumbitch.

The initial smell of shit hitting the fan.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at June 27, 2021 10:29 AM (d9FiS)

274 267 awwww, a George Floyd statue in NYC got vandalized, like the Columbus one did.

and NYC is out to find who did Floyd but never Columbus

telling in a way ....
Posted by: will choose a nic later at June 27, 2021 10:26 AM (bTQ72)

Because some vandalism is more equal than others.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 27, 2021 10:29 AM (Zi6L2)

275 I don't break as many laws as i use to. Too busy.

But i like to have a healthy balance.

Posted by: Humphreyrobot at June 27, 2021 10:29 AM (eZwXS)

276 No living American general had commanded as many men
in the field as there were at First Bull Run. Even Scott, on the
expedition to Mexico City, never had more than 10,000 men under his
command.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at June 27, 2021 09:43 AM (7Y6x6)

I read McPherson's recent book of Jefferson Davis. I personally would not recommend it because is it just the same warmed over crap. McPherson is a political historian and that is about as a bad thing as you can say about an historian. He gives Davis his due, but there is nothing new there.

It is ironic is some ways that Davis had more military field experience than anyone in the CSA. And real historians, including McPherson, give him his due as an able leader. In the history of the mind, Davis is crapped on by people North and South. They are wrong, but it is what it is.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 10:30 AM (gJfTA)

277 I read the first book in the series many moons ago, it was fun. It was also about 90% dialogue, and I had never encountered a story written that way before. I thought it was a very inventive storytelling technique.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 27, 2021

***
Even a couple of scenes where Fletch is taking stock of what he's learned in his investigation, and juggling theories of what it all means, are done in dialog: Fletch talking into his tape recorder.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 10:31 AM (+nNqu)

278 267 awwww, a George Floyd statue in NYC got vandalized, like the Columbus one did.

and NYC is out to find who did Floyd but never Columbus

telling in a way ....
Posted by: will choose a nic later at June 27, 2021 10:26 AM (bTQ72)

It's very telling as to which groups have power in our society, namely, it's those whose statues you aren't allowed to vandalize.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 27, 2021 10:31 AM (Zi6L2)

279 I really love this thread. I've gotten so many recommendations for reading material this last year. This place, and the Moron's and Ette's totally rock.

Posted by: Old Blue at June 27, 2021 10:32 AM (VNmG1)

280 Slow reading for me this month. Why? No idea.

Just finished a reread of Frankenstein. I always end up feeling sorry for the monster. Just like I do for King Kong.

It's on to Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I was on a massively long waitlist at the library for this one. Hope it's good. I think he does a great job of narrating the protagonist's internal conversation. I'm not sure I'm clear on the science-y part, but I'm just along for the ride.

Posted by: SummaMamaT at June 27, 2021 10:32 AM (USQVR)

281 Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 27, 2021

Isn't that sort of how Confederacy of Dunces is written?

Posted by: Just a side note at June 27, 2021 10:32 AM (2DOZq)

282 I find myself quite surprised that the St. George of Fentanyl statues don't have a coin slot. Drop a quarter, pull a finger, and a nickel bag of dope falls from his ass.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin at June 27, 2021 10:32 AM (I58tH)

283 Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 10:30 AM (gJfTA)

Do you think people in the south have a low opinion of a Davis? I haven't experienced that.

Posted by: Just a side note at June 27, 2021 10:34 AM (2DOZq)

284 It is ironic is some ways that Davis had more military field experience than anyone in the CSA. And real historians, including McPherson, give him his due as an able leader. In the history of the mind, Davis is crapped on by people North and South. They are wrong, but it is what it is.
Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 10:30 AM (gJfTA)
--,---
Davis had personality issues that prevented him from being an effective leader. I think it was Catton who noted that Davis viewed people who had differing opinions from him as simply being willfully wrong.

Not unlike Obama, actually.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at June 27, 2021 10:34 AM (7Y6x6)

285 I finally have some time to read, now that 90% of my moving chores are done. Not much left to do but hang the pictures and that can wait.

Zoltan: I believe I'm the guy who recommended Dairylandia. Glad it was well received.

Mila 18 continues to entertain (although there's some soap opera involved). Haven't gotten past the reading of the will in Middlemarch but that scene was very funny.

Posted by: who knew at June 27, 2021 10:35 AM (4I7VG)

286 The other Donald E. Westlake I read this month, Put a Lid On It, is one of his comic caper stories, though it doesn't feature Dortmunder or the regular group of thieves. A pro thief is recruited to steal something back that will embarrass the current president, who is running for re-election. I think the novel dates to 2001 or so. But the political satire is aimed at both sides and at the Washington mindset, not at one party or one philosophy. Very nicely done.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 10:35 AM (+nNqu)

287 Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 27, 2021

Isn't that sort of how Confederacy of Dunces is written?
Posted by: Just a side note at June 27, 2021

***
There's a lot of dialog in CoD, maybe 70% (?), but there is more narration than in Fletch. Similar, though.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 10:36 AM (+nNqu)

288 Were the Fletch books written as screenplays, perhaps?

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 27, 2021 10:36 AM (QZxDR)

289 We're traveling to the future at this very moment.

And this one.

And this one...
Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea

The problem with traveling to the future is that you can't buy a round trip ticket.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at June 27, 2021 10:36 AM (d9FiS)

290 geeee

The chaos continues: Crowds of revelers drink and twerk in Washington Square Park well past midnight curfew - as NYPD vows to enforce rule after Gay Pride March weekend ends on Monday

another example of some are more equal than others

methinks peeps will catch on that something is rigged

what is next? someone will tell me that government officials will set up their own IT/Coms network??

Posted by: will choose a nic later at June 27, 2021 10:37 AM (bTQ72)

291 282 I find myself quite surprised that the St. George of Fentanyl statues don't have a coin slot. Drop a quarter, pull a finger, and a nickel bag of dope falls from his ass.
Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin at June 27, 2021 10:32 AM

I think that comment right there is gonna win the day!

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 27, 2021 10:37 AM (qe5CM)

292 Were the Fletch books written as screenplays, perhaps?
Posted by: Trimegistus at June 27, 2021

***
If you mean adapted from screenplays, no, I think the first novel in the series was published long before the film was done. I think the tendency in popular fiction has been toward "lots of dialog" for a long time.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 10:38 AM (+nNqu)

293 I suspect Jeff Davis's bad reputation is an effect of the Cult of Lee. Lee was the greatest soldier who ever lived, therefore he could not be responsible for the CSA losing the Civil War. Ergo he must have been betrayed by the civilian leadership. So Davis got thrown under the bus to preserve Lee's reputation.

Plus there was all that wartime Yankee propaganda about him sneaking out of Richmond in a dress. (Say, how come the SJWs haven't tried to rehabilitate him as a pioneering genderfluid activist yet?)

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 27, 2021 10:38 AM (QZxDR)

294 My dad was also military. Maybe that's how I caught
the bug. I always felt a little uncommon, being an 'ette who likes to
read history so much. I think I only have one other female friend that
does.

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 27, 2021 10:22 AM (qe5CM)

my kind of ette there. Women have always played a major role in history. You have the Daughters of the American Revolution. You have the Daughters of the Confederacy. You also have Mount Vernon Ladies Association. If they are not the most had core USA preservation society, I don't know who is.

And it was ladies associations that brought CSA dead back to their home areas and buried them. That task can not be overstated. What those people did was beyond amazing and beyond what can even be understood today. They were called Ladies Memorial Associations.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 10:38 AM (gJfTA)

295 Just like I do for King Kong.

-
Mrs. Wrecks bought Godzilla v. Kong for the grandkids. Strong contender for stupidest movie ever made.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at June 27, 2021 10:39 AM (d9FiS)

296 But remember a St Floyd statue vandalism is a hate crime
A Columbus statue vandalism is a rightful protest

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 10:40 AM (Cxk7w)

297 286 The other Donald E. Westlake I read this month, Put a Lid On It, is one of his comic caper stories, though it doesn't feature Dortmunder or the regular group of thieves. A pro thief is recruited to steal something back that will embarrass the current president, who is running for re-election. I think the novel dates to 2001 or so. But the political satire is aimed at both sides and at the Washington mindset, not at one party or one philosophy. Very nicely done.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 10:35 AM

I'm definitely going to look for Westlake books the next time I do my vintage shopping rounds. His books sound exactly like something I would enjoy.

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 27, 2021 10:40 AM (qe5CM)

298 291 Well thank you, but there's a lot more people here a lot more smarter who would deserve that.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin at June 27, 2021 10:40 AM (I58tH)

299 Mrs. Wrecks bought Godzilla v. Kong for the grandkids. Strong contender for stupidest movie ever made.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at June 27, 2021

***
There's a new version? The one in 1963 was no Rebecca either.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 10:41 AM (+nNqu)

300 Confederacy of Dunces isn't all dialogue. There are some pretty long narrative and expository passages.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 27, 2021 10:41 AM (QZxDR)

301 They have of course changed the name of all the schools named after Jefferson Davis. I have one friend and one acquaintance that is named after Jefferson Davis.

Posted by: Just a side note at June 27, 2021 10:41 AM (2DOZq)

302 230 Do you know how many laws i broke just so i could have a nice morning?
Posted by: Humphreyrobot at June 27, 2021 10:05 AM (eZwXS)

I refer you to "Three Felonies a Day", to keep score. By Silvergare and Derschowitz. The Feds are after us all.

Posted by: JM in Florida at June 27, 2021 10:42 AM (HCeRP)

303 If you look at photos one thing that's striking is how much Lincoln and Davis resembled each other. (Look for pre-beard photos of Lincoln.) One wonders if the beard was maybe a cunning disguise and he was slipping back and forth between Washington and Richmond for four years.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 27, 2021 10:43 AM (QZxDR)

304 I'm definitely going to look for Westlake books the next time I do my vintage shopping rounds. His books sound exactly like something I would enjoy.
Posted by: Moonbeam at June 27, 2021

***
The Dortmunder & Co. series, starting with The Hot Rock, are very funny -- as if the Seinfeld characters were professional thieves. He's done other comic crime stories. His hardboiled stories as "Richard Stark," the Parker stories, are another thing entirely.

Always compulsively readable, though.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 27, 2021 10:43 AM (+nNqu)

305 If this has already been posted forgive me...

Sarah Hoyt mentioned the book "The Washing of the Spears: The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Nation Under Shaka and Its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879" over at Insty the other day. The comments she wrote about this book and current events are interesting.

https://tinyurl.com/5e2p5fpm

Posted by: Martini Farmer at June 27, 2021 10:43 AM (3H9h1)

306 the past week, theyve played the national anthem one time a night at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials.

On Saturday, the song happened to start while outspoken activist Gwen Berry was standing on the podium after receiving her bronze medal in the hammer throw.

While the music played, Berry placed her left hand on her hip and shuffled her feet. She took a quarter turn, so she was facing the stands, not the flag. Toward the end, she plucked up her black T-shirt with the words Activist Athlete. emblazoned on the front, and draped it over her head.

Fuck you cunt, drop dead and fuck the olympics

Posted by: Nevergiveup at June 27, 2021 10:44 AM (Irn0L)

307 Posted by: Trimegistus at June 27, 2021 10:38 AM (QZxDR)

good points there. And as some have said up thread, Longstreet ran into it too. He made three mistakes. He criticized Lee, he became a Republican, and he became a Catholic. Criticizing Lee was his worst offense.

But you are right Davis has been crapped on for no good reason. I bet you are right, some of it was because no one wanted to blame Lee. I think I have been clear over the years what i think about Lee as a commander. Though he is not without fault. But they never had anyone better, and no one knew that more than Davis. But yes, Davis has been treated poorly but no one every explains what he did wrong.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 10:44 AM (gJfTA)

308 Posted by: Trimegistus at June 27, 2021 10:43 AM (QZxDR)
------
Well, they both were born in Kentucky...

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at June 27, 2021 10:45 AM (7Y6x6)

309 Invasion of the Body Snatchers movie at least (and probably novel) was always a communist analogy.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 27, 2021 10:45 AM (KZzsI)

310 They have of course changed the name of all the schools named after Jefferson Davis. I have one friend and one acquaintance that is named after Jefferson Davis.
Posted by: Just a side note

We need a George Floyd School of Pharmacology.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at June 27, 2021 10:45 AM (d9FiS)

311 the 2021 Tokyo Olympics might be a repeat of Mexico City in 1968

Posted by: will choose a nic later at June 27, 2021 10:46 AM (bTQ72)

312 the 2021 Tokyo Olympics might be a repeat of Mexico City in 1968
Posted by: will choose a nic later at June 27, 2021 10:46 AM (bTQ72)

It will be a lot worse, but then, I will not be watching

Posted by: Nevergiveup at June 27, 2021 10:47 AM (Irn0L)

313 One takeaway from Gulag Archipelago was the " crimes" of Zeks were fabricated at best but often the crime is potential future event.

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 10:47 AM (Cxk7w)

314 I hope which ever network payed for the olympic games takes a huge bath on them

Posted by: Nevergiveup at June 27, 2021 10:48 AM (Irn0L)

315 Albert Pike middle school in Fort Smith still stands, as to his street.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin at June 27, 2021 10:48 AM (I58tH)

316 But yes, Davis has been treated poorly but no one every explains what he did wrong.
Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 10:44 AM (gJfTA)
------
He had an inexplicable fondness from Braxton Bragg...

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at June 27, 2021 10:49 AM (7Y6x6)

317 I finished Hostage to the devil. Its intriguing all the way through, but there were a few scenes and details that were just too much for me and I had to skip through.

Next up for me is Martins novel, Windswept House. Husband is reading Maverick
Posted by: LASue at June 27, 2021 09:00

I cannot recommend Windswept House highly enough. It is a chilling book insofar that it was written in the 90's, but contains talking points that you'll hear today. It's really, really unsettling, since it's about the globalists of the world. their plans and what has been lately termed the world's oldest religion. It's a long book but worthwhile for the insights in terms of today's world. If you search online, you can find the real people who are represented in the book which Martin said was pretty much factual.

/Hostage to the Devil is on my self as well, and I'm currently reading The Keys of This Blood.

Posted by: shibumi at June 27, 2021 10:51 AM (3fR4G)

318 Those 3 crimes a day are fabrication charges.

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 10:51 AM (Cxk7w)

319 I hope which ever network payed for the olympic games takes a huge bath on them

I thin NBC owns it, not sure

who cares tho, the olympics are now targeted at women with sappy storyies of overcomming adversity

rather than let the athletes show what they do in competition

Posted by: will choose a nic later at June 27, 2021 10:53 AM (bTQ72)

320 Isn't that sort of how Confederacy of Dunces is written?

Posted by: Just a side note at June 27, 2021 10:32 AM (2DOZq)

Is that right? I've never read CoD, so I'm not the one to ask.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 27, 2021 10:53 AM (Zi6L2)

321 Oh, Moonbeam, if you find a Westlake comic novel, you're in for a treat. But good luck finding them in the used-book stores. I think they are among those books that are bought and kept.

Try estate sales.

And, if you're lucky, the library.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 27, 2021 10:54 AM (Om/di)

322 Davis had personality issues that prevented him from
being an effective leader. I think it was Catton who noted that Davis
viewed people who had differing opinions from him as simply being
willfully wrong.

Not unlike Obama, actually.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at June 27, 2021 10:34 AM (7Y6x6)
you might want to check out McPherson's book. It is an easy read. Davis for sure had lots of issues. For one he was ill during the entire war, he was seriously suffering. But if you look at his decisions, he held his fire almost all of the time. The guy wanted to be the commanding General, he thought the presidency was beneath him. He wanted to be in the field or at least to be in charge of things.
If anything he was too loyal, to a fault. He did not want to give up on Bragg and he didn't want to give up on Hood. He despised Johnston, but he kept him on because he thought it was the right thing to do for the CSA. He knew Lee was special. Today you have many that want to take Lee down. Davis and the CSA would laugh at that.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 10:54 AM (gJfTA)

323 Who would be better? Longstreet? and a bunch of also rans that proved
they could not deal with subordinates? The one thing Davis got right
was that Lee could not be replaced. He almost always listed to Lee. In
fact, his worst error was not promoting Lee to command of all armies.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 10:54 AM (gJfTA)

324 Sen. Mitt Romney said he takes President Biden at his word that he will sign a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal after walking back a threat to veto the legislation, but questioned whether Democrats can get on board with the package.

Hey you dumb fuck, that is not even the point. The whole point of a "compromise" bill is that the dems would not ram a 6 trillion dollar thru with reconciliation, you dumb fuckin cunt

Posted by: Nevergiveup at June 27, 2021 10:54 AM (Irn0L)

325 Davis also loved A.S. Johnston. But that didn't last long. People forget that A.S. Johnston was supposed to be the South's savior.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 10:56 AM (gJfTA)

326 It will be a lot worse, but then, I will not be watching

Posted by: Nevergiveup at June 27, 2021 10:47 AM

We had a 5 day port visit in Seoul when they had the Olympics there. We could get free tickets to any event we wanted to go to. I doubt if there were 500-600 Sailors from the Battle Group that went to see them.

Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at June 27, 2021 10:57 AM (JUOKG)

327 Davis also loved A.S. Johnston. But that didn't last long. People forget that A.S. Johnston was supposed to be the South's savior.
Posted by: Quint

He proved he had guts, anyway.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at June 27, 2021 10:57 AM (d9FiS)

328 I was referring to CoD dialogue to himself similar to Fletch talking into his tape recorder.

Posted by: Just a side note at June 27, 2021 10:58 AM (2DOZq)

329 319 I hope which ever network payed for the olympic games takes a huge bath on them

I thin NBC owns it, not sure
Posted by: will choose a nic later at June 27, 2021 10:53 AM

Been there, done that. NBC lost nearly a quarter of a billion on the 2010 winter Olympics.

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 27, 2021 11:00 AM (qe5CM)

330 Ditto, Moonbeam!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 10:24 AM

*fistbump* might sound too manly, so whatever the girlie version is * *!
Posted by: Moonbeam

I am sooooooooo not touching THAT one !

Posted by: JT at June 27, 2021 11:02 AM (arJlL)

331 Something the Milley fiasco showed us this week, is the obsession the left has with "creating" leaders when those leaders don't have actual leadership qualities.

It's a lot like the nobel prize recipients--they think the trappings of leadership will convince people that their puppets are "leaders"

But I think people recognize leaders innately--even when they aren't in positions of leadership

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 11:03 AM (AwPyG)

332 Do you think people in the south have a low opinion of a Davis? I haven't experienced that.

Posted by: Just a side note at June 27, 2021 10:34 AM (2DOZq)

I do. He certainly has not received the acknowledgement he deserved. When you lose, most try to find a reason why you did. Sure he has had some statues etc. But yeah, considering everything, he is very much underrated. Even McPherson admits that.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 11:03 AM (gJfTA)

333 My Bragg comment was rather tongue-in-cheek.

I would rate Joe Johnston as the South's best army-level commander after Lee.

Hood at Atlanta was doing what he was hired to do.

Longstreet was an excellent subordinate, but his one foray into indepedent command was, shall we say, less than stellar.

A. S. Johnston was overrated, IMO.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at June 27, 2021 11:05 AM (7Y6x6)

334 "Chinese-owned TikTok recently updated its privacy policy in the United States. The immensely popular social video-sharing app, known in China as Douyin, blithely gave itself permission to collect biometric data of U.S. users, including faceprints and voiceprints. The networking service is owned by Bytedance, a Chinese company headquartered in Beijing and founded in 2012."

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at June 27, 2021 11:05 AM (UHVv4)

335 Romney added, I do I take him at his word and a man of honor? Absolutely.

And you voted to impeach PDT twice you cock sucker

Posted by: Nevergiveup at June 27, 2021 11:07 AM (Irn0L)

336 artimus that sounds like your right on the money

Posted by: Skip at June 27, 2021 11:07 AM (Cxk7w)

337 Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 11:03 AM (gJfTA)

Underrated is different to me than having a low opinion. Like I said there were a number of schools named after him, statues and children named after him. But I agree with you and think it's just semantics.

Posted by: Just a side note at June 27, 2021 11:08 AM (2DOZq)

338 321 Oh, Moonbeam, if you find a Westlake comic novel, you're in for a treat. But good luck finding them in the used-book stores. I think they are among those books that are bought and kept.

Try estate sales.

And, if you're lucky, the library.
Posted by: Weak Geek at June 27, 2021 10:54 AM

The places that I go are not used book stores per se. They are "antiques" or "vintage" venues that rent out stalls to various sellers, who fill them up with stuff to sell. A lot of the stalls have items that appear to be the contents of homes that have been cleared out and the kids don't want the stuff. Lots and lots of books- that's where I got several Bruce Cattons for a steal last summer. So, if a seller was a big Westlake fan, or Danielle Steele, or military history to take other examples, think of it as looking at their home library shelf. All or most of their books for sale will be by that author or about that topic. And for less than $3.00 to boot.

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 27, 2021 11:09 AM (qe5CM)

339 Re: the olympics and the drop in viewership/$$

A lot of people think that whenever the left keeps going forward, even though it makes no sense because they seem to be losing money, you should look very carefully at whether money is being laundered.

See: huge book advances for lefty favorites that never pan out

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 11:09 AM (AwPyG)

340 Longstreet at Gettysburg

-
After the war, he became a Republican. That may explain much of the anti-Longstreet sentiment.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston

I read his autobiography. He was quite a thoughtful man, and had a lot of his own personal tragedies (death of family from fever). He had developed a theory of defenses.
One of his best friends from his days at West Point was US Grant.
And yes, he became a Republican about 18 years after the end of the Civil War. I don't know if most people today can comprehend the absolute hatred of the Republicans by Democrats in the South in the years after the Civil War.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative.....Living on the prison planet at June 27, 2021 11:09 AM (tjZg/)

341 Davis was also Secretary of War. If you compare his experience with Lincoln, it would be a first round knock out. That just shows how great Lincoln was as a war president.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 11:11 AM (gJfTA)

342 It's a lot like the nobel prize recipients--they think the trappings of leadership will convince people that their puppets are "leaders"

But I think people recognize leaders innately--even when they aren't in positions of leadership
Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 11:03 AM (AwPyG)

You can't fool all the people all the time. People do indeed recognize leadership. And good leaders emerge.
People recognize

Posted by: Diogenes at June 27, 2021 11:12 AM (axyOa)

343 I just noticed the term "the well-fed Right" in the sidebar. Ooh, boy, does that fit well. ...Jonah.

Posted by: t-bird at June 27, 2021 11:12 AM (8eSmR)

344 Anyone mentioned my name this morning?

Posted by: Stone Wall Jackson at June 27, 2021 11:13 AM (Irn0L)

345 The word I would describe myself right now in discussing Jefferson Davis in scholarly detail is ultracrepidarian . In my defense it is the internet.

Posted by: Just a side note at June 27, 2021 11:14 AM (2DOZq)

346 Underrated is different to me than having a low
opinion. Like I said there were a number of schools named after him,
statues and children named after him. But I agree with you and think
it's just semantics.

Posted by: Just a side note at June 27, 2021 11:08 AM (2DOZq)

I understand. I am sure his statue in Richmond is long gone. I know he has roads and all types of places that were named for him. I am talking the historical world, the world we live in today. Few say Davis was a great leader. But historians, legit historians are giving him his due. Few can offer real reasons why and how he screwed up. The reality is he and Lee, among others, did their thing and played it out as best they could. They lost, and losing makes an area ripe for blame.

Posted by: Quint at June 27, 2021 11:15 AM (gJfTA)

347 Anyone mentioned my name this morning?
Posted by: Stone Wall Jackson at June 27, 2021 11:13 AM (Irn0L)
------
No, Tom, we have not.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at June 27, 2021 11:15 AM (7Y6x6)

348 Sigh

Posted by: Nevergiveup at June 27, 2021 11:17 AM (Irn0L)

349 Using Chrome as my browser, ordered some weedeater parts from Amazon today. I kept getting pop-ups from Capitol One for discount codes right over my cart block. No thanks. Other discount offers kept jumping me to new tabs, but thankfully my original Amazon tab was still there.

Maybe all of this hassle is because I'm not a Prime member. My wife is though, so if it's anything heavy (larger shipping costs) I just let her order it.

Posted by: The Guy at June 27, 2021 11:19 AM (4cEdi)

350 334- Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at June 27, 2021 11:05 AM

Hey Andy- I read the article on Randy Kraft that you recommended the other day. Chilling! But it led me to question whether the military bases in the area ever raised an alarm over the number of Marines that were disappearing as his victim count rose?

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 27, 2021 11:20 AM (qe5CM)

351 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/308819

Israeli teams arrives in Miami

Posted by: Nevergiveup at June 27, 2021 11:21 AM (Irn0L)

352 New thread up

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 27, 2021 11:22 AM (7bRMQ)

353 Wimbledon starts next week. They did not have the tournament in 2020 because of the pandemic. Coincidentally they were the only tournament that purchased Pandemic insurance and were paid over 400 million because they had to cancel. You will never convince me someone with the highest of connections and intelligence sources was not a member of Wimbledon and had inside information.

Posted by: Just a side note at June 27, 2021 11:23 AM (2DOZq)

354 Anyone mentioned my name this morning?

Posted by: Stone Wall Jackson at June 27, 2021 11:13 AM (Irn0L)

Were you a lefty or a righty?...I forget.

Posted by: BignJames at June 27, 2021 11:23 AM (AwYPR)

355 Yes, pretty creepy, Moonbeam.

I don't know how the USMC reacted to it. And maybe it fit into 'normal' desertion rates but you'd think a number of them would have been superior types of recruits so someone would have said, "I couldn't see Joe deserting"?

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at June 27, 2021 11:24 AM (UHVv4)

356 @350

The Kraft serial killer case was a travesty. He was arrested with a dead marine in his passenger seat, and photos of the other marines he'd killed in his trunk.

Yet because he represented himself, Orange County allowed him a huge budget in the millions, luxurious accommodations in jail, and let him delay his trial--for five years, I think.

Posted by: artemis at June 27, 2021 11:24 AM (AwPyG)

357 Israeli teams arrives in Miami
Posted by: Nevergiveup at June 27, 2021 11:21 AM (Irn0L)

Israelis are much more giving of their time and expertise than many other nations among our so-called allies.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 11:26 AM (Dc2NZ)

358 Most of American allies are not friends. More like an acquaintance or sheep of just any fucking super convenient herd.

Their only objective is extreme quantumly codensed convenience.

Posted by: Humphreyrobot at June 27, 2021 11:46 AM (eZwXS)

359 Of all the versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, only one has an optimistic ending:

The book.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at June 27, 2021 12:01 PM (OU+8W)

360 Synapse inexplicably fired off on Norman Polmar's old book on Warsaw Pact navies and I had a sudden desire to read it. Inter-library loan to the rescue! Nothing is too obscure for MeLCat! Also checking out some of his other works.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at June 27, 2021 12:41 PM (Dc2NZ)

361 Once again I make a very late appearance on the Sunday Book Thread (I dearly wish my Sunday morning schedule allowed me to join it earlier in the day).

Trimegistus @46, re Patrick O'Brian and Jane Austen. O'Brian was a major admirer of Jane Austen. I had the privilege of see Patrick O'Brian (early '90s, he was doing a book tour). Someone asked him what he thought of women writers. He answered that "If not for women, we would have no Jane Austen."

Also worth noting that Jane Austen had several male relatives who were Royal Navy officers. I think two of her brothers reached Admiral's rank.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at June 27, 2021 01:18 PM (x4GWW)

362 Quint @176, I completely agree with your comment that Grant was and is very underrated as a commander. Also that Bruce Catton is an excellent Civil War historian. It was by reading Catton's works that I first started learning about the Civil War. Somewhere (I think it is in his collection "Waiting for the Morning Train") Catton tells how as a small boy he knew men who were veterans of the Civil War.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at June 27, 2021 01:25 PM (x4GWW)

363 late to the party, i know, but i liked E C Williams Westerly Gale series for sailing yarns. it's four books, and assumes most of the world is recovering from some global catastrophe (never discussed) and a group of mostly french scientists working out of islands in the way south indian / atlantic oceans survived. this is the story of their descendents.

Posted by: yara at June 27, 2021 01:26 PM (N7mou)

364 General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett, VC KCB @190, I think it is actually "Flashman at the Charge" where Flashman witnesses a knouting (rather than "Flashman in the Great Game"). The Russian villain has a serf knouted to death to demonstrate to Flashman what will happen to him if he does not do exactly as he is told. The same villain appears in "Flashman in the Great Game".

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at June 27, 2021 01:31 PM (x4GWW)

365 Hey, latecomers, I'm reading your posts.

I used to be one of you, then our church eliminated our early service. I like the later start.

My goal is to be in the top 20 posts, but I have this bad habit of reading the content and writing long. And then editing (sometimes forced by Pixy) takes more time.

Anyway, don't apologize. I'll check the thread throughout the day.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 27, 2021 01:47 PM (Om/di)

366 Re: Knout. See also Sjambok. Over 30 lashes is effectively a death penalty. Consider the Koranic punishment for adultry. It literally calls for whipping dead whores.

Posted by: JC Collins at June 27, 2021 02:03 PM (9m1df)

367 Hi, OregonMuse. I hope that you and yours are keeping cool in all this heat. Be well.

Posted by: American Ninja War Eeyore at June 27, 2021 02:14 PM (rPFP1)

368 Since I'm doing a lot of reading all of a sudden, I got a couple of Malachi Martin books. Windswept House, as it's so highly recommended here, and another. I'm wondering how a non-Catholic is going to deal with some of it, but I can search what I don't know. Thanks

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 02:56 PM (ONvIw)

369 Alas, now, I read that Martin was a fraud? Any ideas?

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 03:00 PM (ONvIw)

370 Late so late.

Posted by: Camper at June 27, 2021 04:17 PM (3SEpW)

371 First, Republicans Buy Sneakers Too by Clay Travis is worth your time.
Second, some of these old libraries baffle me. Today's was beautiful, but pre Edison, how did you read? I didn't see many windows. Did everybody bring a candle? Was there a candle rental shop in the foyer?
I checked other pictures of the place from other angles and all I could find were two squares that I suppose to be windows in that room.

Posted by: Ben Sears at June 27, 2021 06:08 PM (GBcwv)

372 Makachi was NOT fraud.

He was, alas, a sinner, who finally left the Jesuits in near-despair (over their near-complete collapse onto Modernism and other heresies), and succumbed to ordinary temptationss of the flesh (mainly women)

Posted by: Eleanor, What the Cat Dragged In at June 27, 2021 06:10 PM (QU+qf)

373 Posted by: Eleanor, What the Cat Dragged In at June 27, 2021 06:10 PM (QU+qf)

Thanks, I read some sites that tried to discredit him.

Posted by: CN at June 27, 2021 07:16 PM (ONvIw)

374 My dad was also military. Maybe that's how I caught
the bug. I always felt a little uncommon, being an 'ette who likes to
read history so much. I think I only have one other female friend that
does.

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 27, 2021 10:22 AM (qe5CM)

You might like _George Washington's Secret Six_, which included a female spy - if you haven't already read it.

Currently getting re-obsessed with medieval mysteries - Kate Sedley's series is pretty addicting.

Posted by: Lisl at June 27, 2021 07:33 PM (np8OD)

375 Washington's Secret Six -- would that be the Culper Ring?

I first heard of it in the Vertigo comic Y the Last Man.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 27, 2021 07:41 PM (Om/di)

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