Sunday Morning Book Thread 08-08-2021

bookmobile cincinnati and hamilton county oh 1948 01.jpg

Cincinnati & Hamilton County (OH) Bookmobile c. 1948

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, and you have to wonder if the housebreaking attempt actually succeeded?

It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

Yeah, I've known a few of these in my time.

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BasedCon Is Coming

I thought I had mentioned this upcoming science fiction fan convention before, but my memory has gotten so bad, I forgot I had not done so yet. So here goes: BasedCon is a science fiction and fantasy convention to be held in Norton Shores, Michigan from September 17 to September 19, 2021.

It is not a "conservative" fan convention. It's just a big get-together for fans of all colors and creeds to talk and learn about the science fiction and fantasy books, games, movies, and TV shows they enjoy. And that's it. There's no additional layer of politics or social justice dogma that everyone is obligated to swear fealty to.

See the BasedCon 'About' page for a more extensive education.

BasedCon is being organized by Robert Kroese, author of, among other books, the Rex Nihilo science fiction adventure series. It's already under attack. Kroese's website is in the process of being rebuilt due to a malware attack and there has been an attempt to deplatform BasedCon:

Hahahahahahaha somebody tried to get #BasedCon shut down by sending an email to the venue owner claiming "this event is enmired in homophobic, transphobic, and even racist ideologies." The owner showed it to me, thought it was hilarious.

I told him we were a group of conservative and libertarian scifi writers and a lot of people in publishing are hostile to us. He understood, told me "I don't care what anybody says, the election was stolen"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA #based

Oh, I left out the best part. Apparently my "interactions online have been combative, hateful, and problematic."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

That e-mail sounds quite lame. Coming up next: they'll come after the venue owner, dox him, get him boycotted, cancelled at his bank, etc. We all know the playbook.

Anyway, speakers include Mr. Kroese, U of Chicago Professor Rachel Fulton Brown (who will be discussing the "Forge of Tolkien"), and two-time Prometheus Award Winning author, Travis J.I. Corcoran. Pretty modest, but it sounds like a fun venue to meet and greet like-minded fans and authors.

Registration and location infomation available at the BasedCon web site.

Who Dis:

(Yes, I know it's obvious, but it's a lovely drawing)

(click to enlarge)
(Last week's 'who dis' was actor Jeff Bridges and I was surprised by how many 'ettes were admiring of his manly features. Shows you how much I know about women's tastes in men. I just think it's remarkable that he's been married to the same woman since 1977.

Wanna Buy An Expensive Book?

Castalia House (Vox Day's publishing concern) has been offering high quality leatherbound books for a while. Now they're looking to expand their capacity by opening their own bindery. You can get a beautiful leather-bound version of the Illiad or the Odyssey in cow-hide ($250) or premium goat skin ($1000). The editions will include original interior artwork as well as the highly-regarded 1898/1900 prose translations by Samuel Butler. All proceeds will go toward purchasing the bindery equipment. More information at this link.

Moron Recommendations

Here's a recommendation from moron author Hans Schantz:

Fenton Wood, author of the charming YA techno-adventure, Yankee Republic, just released his latest novel, Nightland Racer. It's a surrealistic fantasy with hard science elements. Outlaw driver pilots nuclear supercar into anomaly, emerges in the distant future. Think of Nightland Racer as a crossover between NASCAR, The Right Stuff, and William Hope Hodgson's 1912 novel, The Night Land.

OK, so I had to look up The Night Land. Wiki says it's a fantasy/horror novel and it belongs in the 'Dyine Earth' subgenre:

The Sun has gone out and the Earth is lit only by the glow of residual vulcanism. The last few millions of the human race are gathered together in the Last Redoubt, a gigantic metal pyramid, nearly eight miles high, which is under siege from unknown forces and Powers outside in the dark. These are held back by a shield known as the "air clog", powered from a subterranean energy source called the "Earth Current". For thousands of years vast living shapes known as the Watchers have waited in the darkness near the pyramid. It is thought that they are waiting for the inevitable time when the Circle's power finally weakens and dies. Other living things have been seen in the darkness, some of unknown origins, and others that may once have been human. Hodgson uses the term "Abhuman" to name several different species of intelligent beings evolved from humans who interbred with alien species or adapted to changed environmental conditions, and are seen as decayed or malign by those living inside the Last Redoubt.

Sounds pretty grim. But it does set the stage for Nightland Racer:

Reynard "The Fox" Douglas is an outlaw racecar driver who despises the government that jailed him, drafted him, and seized his money.

He's also the only man who can pilot an experimental nuclear-powered supercar into the Zone, a realm of mists and monsters where nobody gets out alive.

The Zone is expanding...and eventually it will engulf the entire world. At the heart of the Zone is a singularity, a portal into other times and other places.

Transported into the distant future of Earth, Douglas has to fight his way across a landscape of alien cultures and bizarre life forms, in search of an ancient superweapon that can stop a sentient black hole from devouring the Earth.

The Kindle edition is $5.00.

___________

If you're interested in the Austro-Hungarian empire and / or the leadup to WWI, Frederic Morton has two wonderful books - A Nervous Splendor: Vienna 1888-1889, which is a look at the greats working in the city, such as Klimt, Bruckner and Freud, as well as the Crown Prince Rudolf and his suicide at Mayerling. One problem with the book is that Morton ignores Rudolf's obvious syphillis and increasingly erratic behavior to wonder if he might have prevented the War had he lived.

A sequel, Thunder at Twilight: Vienna 1913-1914, concerns itself with Franz Ferdinand and the Austrian General Staff's implacable insistence on going to war with the Serbs. As in Splendor, Morton wonders if Ferdinand (who, despite public perception, hated war) would also have been able to stop the War had he survived the assassination attempt.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 05, 2021 09:31 AM (2JVJo)

Nothing in the Amazon blurbs add anything to this. The Kindle edition of A Nervous Splendor: Vienna 1888-1889 sells for $10.99. Thunder at Twilight: Vienna 1913/1914 goes for $11.99.

___________

Proving that good literature is timeless, [i]After Many a Summer Dies the Swan[/i] was written [by Aldous Huxley] in 1939 but could apply to the fake sciency shitheads who are wrong about everything about Covid but still demand to be authority figures. It's wickedly funny about everything...

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at August 01, 2021 08:18 AM (y7DUB)

I've never heard of this novel before, and Amazon didn't have much to say about it, so once again, it's wikipedia to the rescue:

After Many a Summer (1939) is a novel by Aldous Huxley that tells the story of a Hollywood millionaire who fears his impending death. It was published in the United States as After Many a Summer Dies the Swan. Written soon after Huxley left England and settled in California, the novel is Huxley's examination of American culture, particularly what he saw as its narcissism, superficiality, and obsession with youth. This satire also raises philosophical and social issues... The novel's title is taken from Tennyson's poem Tithonus, about a figure in Greek mythology to whom Aurora gave eternal life but not eternal youth. The book was awarded the 1939 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction.

This does sound like a novel that is very appropriate to our day and age. The good news is that the Kindle edition is only $3.00.

___________

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.

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Posted by: OregonMuse at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 hiya

Posted by: JT at August 08, 2021 08:00 AM (arJlL)

2 Tolle Lege

Posted by: Skip at August 08, 2021 08:00 AM (znIQ9)

3 Book 'em Muse-o!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at August 08, 2021 08:00 AM (Dc2NZ)

4 Because I-once again-will not be here for the book thread, I wanted to recommend for the brothers and sisters in Christ this terrific little book "Hope"_The anchor for your soul. It deals with Christian hope ve. cultural hope and It is appropriate for both men and women. It is by June Hunt who has a ministry and does Christian/Biblical counselling. She has other titles on all kinds of issues: www. aspirepress.com

Posted by:�FenelonSpoke�at August 08, 2021 06:31 AM�

Posted by: Skip at August 08, 2021 08:01 AM (znIQ9)

5 Good morning!

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 08:01 AM (ONvIw)

6 The book thread is my favorite thread. Thank you, OM.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 08, 2021 08:02 AM (45fpk)

7 Those pants are fine. I would wear them to graze at Barak's birthday party.

Posted by: Tank Abrams at August 08, 2021 08:03 AM (Tnijr)

8 Hiya Grammie !

Posted by: JT at August 08, 2021 08:03 AM (arJlL)

9 I love the board game, as I am sick to death of all things Austen. We don't need any more versions of Pride and Prejudice.

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

10 My biggest contribution today as not reading any new book.
Do want Sharpe's Havoc and word spreading on TMP a new Sharpe book is in the works from Bernard Cornwell taking place after the battle of Waterloo.

I am working daily on my little free library which maybe will get shown here or a hobby thread if worthy enough

Posted by: Skip at August 08, 2021 08:04 AM (znIQ9)

11 The Pants Pig IS a weedwhacker !

Posted by: JT at August 08, 2021 08:04 AM (arJlL)

12 Still no reading. Just cant seem to pick up a book!

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

13 The Night Land is a pretty tough read, but it did influence authors like H.P. Lovecraft. John C. Wright's Awake in the Night Land is somewhat easier to read, but also quite terrifying in scope and breadth. Good stuff.

Posted by: Lord Squirrel at August 08, 2021 08:05 AM (K5n5d)

14 Whose dis is Audrey

Posted by: Skip at August 08, 2021 08:05 AM (znIQ9)

15 Hiya JT!

Posted by: grammie winger at August 08, 2021 08:06 AM (45fpk)

16 14 Shame not being shown reading War and Peace

Posted by: Skip at August 08, 2021 08:06 AM (znIQ9)

17 I've been gone a few days and it looks like there's been some remodeling.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 08, 2021 08:06 AM (45fpk)

18 Many thanks for the signal boost, Oregon Muse.

Posted by: Hans G. Schantz at August 08, 2021 08:07 AM (+leAG)

19 Whose dis is Audrey

Posted by: Skip at August 08, 2021 08:05 AM (znIQ9)

Always lovely.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 08, 2021 08:07 AM (45fpk)

20 Yeah, I've known a few of these in my time.

==

hey now !

Posted by: runner at August 08, 2021 08:07 AM (V13WU)

21 I'm in a serious crisis. We're doing some home repairs, so all the books upstairs are either boxed up or inaccessible in a room stuffed with extra furniture. I've only got the seven downstairs bookcases to keep me going!

Posted by: Trimegistus at August 08, 2021 08:07 AM (QZxDR)

22 Dig the outfit on the kid sitting in the Radio Flyer wagon. Other kid looking up at mom grabbing the books from the "librarian" knowing if she drops them the little guy in the wagon is gonna be hurting. Hope mom has a hell of a grip.

Posted by: JROD at August 08, 2021 08:08 AM (0jZnq)

23 I've been gone a few days and it looks like there's been some remodeling.

==

Surprise !

Posted by: runner at August 08, 2021 08:08 AM (V13WU)

24 I'm currently working my way through the final book of the Lensman Saga, Children of the Lens. I've really enjoyed the series so far. I'm surprised at how pro-American values the overall story is. The central conflict between Boskone and the Galactic Patrol is framed as a battle between the absolute tyranny of Boskone and the freedoms espoused by the Patrol, even though they rule the galaxy autocratically via the incorruptible Lensmen. Overall very entertaining series and worth any Moron's time...

Posted by: Lord Squirrel at August 08, 2021 08:08 AM (K5n5d)

25 I picked up a copy of John Grishham's The Rooster Bar at my Little Free Library of Death.

I'm on page 117 and I'm waiting for it to get good.

Posted by: JT at August 08, 2021 08:08 AM (arJlL)

26 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading.

Posted by: JTB at August 08, 2021 08:08 AM (7EjX1)

27 Due to some family stuff, I will not finish Windswept House until this evening. I understand that there can be no slaying of the demonic as JJPII was still alive when Martin wrote the book and that we're still in the globalist mess.

I learned a lot about the Vatican as a political place as I previously assumed it was like a big monastery. The Gladstone family was very well drawn as were some of the major clerical characters. I don't think too many horror stories are scarier than globalism and the "enthronement". It seems very real.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 08:09 AM (ONvIw)

28 I don't understand the YA book thing. When I was a "young adult" I preferred reading about grown adults doing shit and getting shit done.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at August 08, 2021 08:09 AM (vuisn)

29 Audrey didn't have that broad of shoulders and her ears are larger

Posted by: REDACTED at August 08, 2021 08:09 AM (YK4Qh)

30 I mentioned two poker books earlier. Both are really good books, not instructional books. I can't say if non poker aficionados would care. I know I liked them.

one is called Positively Fifth Street by McManus. The other is The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King by Craig. My guess if the former would be more interesting to people not into poker.

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 08:10 AM (CJtAX)

31 As a character, Mr. Toffeebottom can't be licked.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at August 08, 2021 08:11 AM (a3Q+t)

32 Based
"...was reclaimed by rapper Lil B for being yourself and not caring what others think of you - to carry yourself with swagger."

Posted by: Hoyt's Paid Turkish Provocateur at August 08, 2021 08:11 AM (49Exr)

33 Hiya JTB ! Regards to the MISSUS.

Posted by: JT at August 08, 2021 08:12 AM (arJlL)

34 I'm on page 117 and I'm waiting for it to get good.

Posted by: JT at August 08, 2021 08:08 AM (arJlL)

I tried to read Jean Grainger's "What Once Was True" last week. I got 34 percent of the way through, and discovered I didn't give a fig about it, so I quit. Something I rarely do. Makes me feel guilty somehow.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 08, 2021 08:12 AM (45fpk)

35 I picked up a copy of John Grishham's The Rooster Bar at my Little Free Library of Death.

I'm on page 117 and I'm waiting for it to get good.

Posted by: JT at August 08, 2021 08:08 AM (arJlL)

I read The Firm after my Wisdom teeth were taken out. I guess I liked it, but the alternative was focusing on the pain and drinking the great elixer.

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 08:12 AM (CJtAX)

36 I've only got the seven downstairs bookcases to keep me going!
Posted by: Trimegistus at August 08, 2021 08:07 AM (QZxDR)
---

Courage, Trimegistus!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at August 08, 2021 08:12 AM (Dc2NZ)

37 28 I don't understand the YA book thing. When I was a "young adult" I preferred reading about grown adults doing shit and getting shit done.
Posted by: Dr. Varno at August 08, 2021 08:09 AM (vuisn)

YA seems like 9-12yo who are not quite ready for Thomas Hardy and don't like Hawthorne.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 08:12 AM (ONvIw)

38 I'm on page 117 and I'm waiting for it to get good.
Posted by: JT at August 08, 2021 08:08 AM (arJlL)
---
Hmmmm...If a book ain't good until after page 117, then I'm gonna have to pass...

Posted by: Lord Squirrel at August 08, 2021 08:12 AM (K5n5d)

39 Sad to report Dixie Fire destroyed library in Greenville California.

It took the town too. Over 1000 souls face an uncertain future.

Hug your people.

Posted by: torabora at August 08, 2021 08:13 AM (nyUYP)

40 Please say a prayer for my little prince. He woke up with a 102 fever and a headache this morning. He may be 16, but they are always your babies.

Posted by: Jmel at August 08, 2021 08:13 AM (bVhJi)

41 I've been reading the Travels of Sir John Mandeville, one of the great bogus travel books of all time. Most of it is about how to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and the author either actually went there or plagiarized from people who had. But then beyond Jerusalem things get weird.

Posted by: Trimegistus at August 08, 2021 08:13 AM (QZxDR)

42 Good morning everyone.

I'm on page 117 and I'm waiting for it to get good.
Posted by: JT

I'da lost interest by then. (Not trying to be snarky)

Posted by: Tonypete at August 08, 2021 08:13 AM (mD/uy)

43 Currently, I'm on page 335 in Will Durant's 'Caesar and Christ'.

I'm a slow reader.

More coffee.

Posted by: dantesed at August 08, 2021 08:13 AM (88xKn)

44 I read The Firm after my Wisdom teeth were taken out. I guess I liked it, but the alternative was focusing on the pain and drinking the great elixer.
Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 08:12 AM (CJtAX)

they got liquid Vicodin ?
wow

Posted by: REDACTED at August 08, 2021 08:13 AM (YK4Qh)

45 40. Prayers up, my babies are nearing 40, but yeah.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 08:13 AM (ONvIw)

46 Rereading Foundation (it's been millennia). It feels timely at this juncture.

"The coming destruction of Trantor is not an event in itself, isolated in the scheme of human development. It will be the climax of an intricate drama which was begun centuries ago and which is accelerating in pace continuously. I refer, gentlemen, to the developing decline and fall of the Galactic Empire.

The fall of Empire, gentlemen, is a massive thing, however, and not easily fought. It is dictated by a rising bureaucracy, a receding initiative, a freezing of caste, a damming of curiosity -- a hundred other factors. It has been going on, as I have said, for centuries, and it is too majestic and massive a movement to stop."

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at August 08, 2021 08:14 AM (Dc2NZ)

47 Discovered new used bookstore here in the Northeast.
Raven Books in Northampton, MA was a treat, both used and new books and great selection. Didn't need another book, but bought a few anyways.

Visit it if you're in the area. Many other bookstores in Northampton given that it is a campus kind of town (Smith and Holyoke).

Posted by: Ziba at August 08, 2021 08:14 AM (S1hrL)

48 Please say a prayer for my little prince.

Of course.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 08, 2021 08:14 AM (45fpk)

49 OM, my dad noticed his memory was badly effected after major surgery. He started doing logic puzzles and such to try to help. As far as I can tell it seems to have generally worked.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 08, 2021 08:14 AM (1lKRm)

50 Here's the trailer for the Foundation series being filmed for Apple+. There's some unintentional irony in there for Spice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gdm40MPYnw

I see young mathematician Gaal Dornick is now a black female, because of course.

SF is about ideas. Don't know how well they'll hew to the cerebral elements of the series (BWAHhahahaha!), and assume it will become a character-driven story. Which is what I usually like, but here, I want the historical/philosophical underpinnings there too.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at August 08, 2021 08:14 AM (Dc2NZ)

51 Rereading Foundation (it's been millennia). It feels timely at this juncture.
----
That's next on my list!

Posted by: Lord Squirrel at August 08, 2021 08:15 AM (K5n5d)

52 After Windswept House, I'll take a look at my Barfield books and read some Coleridge. I find classics take me back to a more stable feeling period in my life.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 08:16 AM (ONvIw)

53 Famous Florida State coach. Bobby Bowden, dead at 91.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at August 08, 2021 08:16 AM (UHVv4)

54 Hi fellow booklovers,

The pig in pants made me think of James Breakwell - y'all have to sign up for his wonderful newsletter. And his books are fantastic - especially his latest, "How to Be a Man (Whatever that Means): Lessons in Modern Masculinity from a Questionable Source". CN, so glad to hear you are about to finish Windswept House - I thoroughly enjoyed that... The ending at first disappointed me, but then I realized it made it even scarier. I won't spoil it for anyone reading.

Posted by: CarolinaGirl at August 08, 2021 08:16 AM (Kh9rg)

55 Saw the news and photos of Greenville fire. Heartbreaking. Prayers to all those who suffer.

Posted by: Ziba at August 08, 2021 08:16 AM (S1hrL)

56 Leaving for church soon with the littles. Serves many purposes - Bible readings, sit still for an hour, try to pay attention, read music and, of course, the big one - salvation.

It's the only exposure they get.

Posted by: Tonypete at August 08, 2021 08:17 AM (mD/uy)

57 Nice Bookmobile!

Those pants....good to see Hillary getting out and about again.

The Who Dis is Holly Golightly.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at August 08, 2021 08:17 AM (R/m4+)

58 they got liquid Vicodin ?
wow

Posted by: REDACTED at August 08, 2021 08:13 AM (YK4Qh)

back in the day.

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 08:18 AM (CJtAX)

59 Jmel, you got it!

Posted by: Tonypete at August 08, 2021 08:18 AM (mD/uy)

60 It's the only exposure they get.

Posted by: Tonypete at August 08, 2021 08:17 AM (mD/uy)

Don't underestimate the exposure that they get from your presence in their lives. It counts.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 08, 2021 08:19 AM (45fpk)

61 And now I have to get another book - read a page or two of the book "After Many a Summer" on the Look Inside feature and I'm hooked. OM, I love this bookthread, but you are going to drive me to the poorhouse!

Need insight: does anyone here read on a Nook? How has that been? Still trying to wean myself off Amazon.

Posted by: CarolinaGirl at August 08, 2021 08:19 AM (Kh9rg)

62 I thoroughly enjoyed that... The ending at first disappointed me, but then I realized it made it even scarier. I won't spoil it for anyone reading.
Posted by: CarolinaGirl at August 08, 2021 08:16 AM (Kh9rg)

When I look at today, I realize JPII did not conquer the demonic forces, and as Martin said it was "faction" not fiction, I'm not expecting the slaying of the devil.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 08:20 AM (ONvIw)

63 I finally got this Tempus Fugit gadget to send me to Audrey Hepburn, we finally meet (on the Riviera too!) but I was so smitten I couldn't remember my own name.

So she admitted me to something called Asile de Fous. The food is okay, the drugs are great, and she comes to visit me on Thursdays.

I'll settle for that.

Posted by: Hoyt's Paid Turkish Provocateur at August 08, 2021 08:20 AM (49Exr)

64 Decided to read Carlos Castenada's Teachings of Don Juan. Any reality is better than the one we are currently in.

Actually it is fascinating to read.

Posted by: Ziba at August 08, 2021 08:20 AM (S1hrL)

65 I hadn't thought of that grammie. Thank you.

Posted by: Tonypete at August 08, 2021 08:20 AM (mD/uy)

66 Please say a prayer for my little prince. He woke up with a 102 fever and a headache this morning. He may be 16, but they are always your babies.

Posted by: Jmel at August 08, 2021 08:13 AM (bVhJi)

done. I am lucky to make 98.6, in fact that might be a fever. 102 is no joke. Prayers up and the best to you.

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 08:20 AM (CJtAX)

67
Who Dis is Sinead O'Connor.

Truly! Do not doubt me!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at August 08, 2021 08:20 AM (+2sc/)

68 Still trying to get through "The Split" but my Kindle died and if I try to read on my phone, I'll end up with it under the covers or under me and I won't hear my alarms. New (refurbished) Kindle is supposed to arrive tomorrow.

Reading "Boundaries" by Henry Cloud. It's written at a moderate reading level so I'm zipping through it but I'm also sure I will read it again, more slowly, to make sure I don't miss anything. Starting psychotherapy is hard: you have to think about and remember stuff that you had managed to avoid thinking about for years and years.

Posted by: Tonestaple at August 08, 2021 08:21 AM (Sqyj7)

69 Naughty Vicar grabs your boobs while shouting, "I love tits!" Advance two places as the Vicar's favourite.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at August 08, 2021 08:21 AM (UHVv4)

70 I mentioned the book "Free Gold", about the history of mining in Canada, a few weeks ago. Found it fascinating and would like to read more about Canadian history. Being pretty much completely ignorant of our neighbors' history, I have no clue what books I should look for. Do any of our Canuck horde-members (or others) have any recommendations for books that would be interesting reads and not woke?

Posted by: Plum Duff at August 08, 2021 08:22 AM (og2cr)

71 Mister Toffeebottom of the Mimico Toffeebottoms?? He owes me money.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at August 08, 2021 08:22 AM (UHVv4)

72 I was legit 101 after the second vacc. I haven't had a fever like that since I was a kid. Anyone who says there are no symptoms is a liar. Likely they are focusing on themselves, but the symptoms are very real.

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 08:22 AM (CJtAX)

73
I love the board game, as I am sick to death of all things Austen. We don't need any more versions of Pride and Prejudice.
Posted by: CN

Oh, so you are not down with trotting out Donald Sutherland's wizzened old corpse for another star turn?

What have you got against addled-brained Canucks?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at August 08, 2021 08:23 AM (+2sc/)

74 an hour ago
On this Sunday morning,
Just wanted to pay respects to the great Bobby Bowden,
who was called home today by Our Lord.

Posted by: Gonzotx at August 08, 2021 08:24 AM (0WEXg)

75 Morning, 'rons and 'ronettes.

Thanks for reposting my Morton recommendations, OM. Those two books really are very good at capturing the perfervid atmosphere of Vienna in those days. And Morton is a gifted writer who drops lots of knowledge without leaving you in the lurch. I generally re-read both of them every year.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 08, 2021 08:24 AM (2JVJo)

76 I thought it was liquid codeine but I was too young to ask. I do know that crap would knock you out.

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 08:24 AM (CJtAX)

77 May the Petit Prince recover quickly.

We love our babies at any age.

Posted by: Ziba at August 08, 2021 08:24 AM (S1hrL)

78 65 I hadn't thought of that grammie. Thank you.
Posted by: Tonypete at August 08, 2021 08:20 AM (mD/uy)

The fact that early exposure to ideas makes an impact on kids was another reason to leave my former place of worship. Couldn't allow the grandsons to thing that CRT and sociology were religion and that I agreed. My husband doesn't think that it was a place for kids anymore.

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

79 29, REDACTED: Shoulder pads, darling. They were huge in the 40s, calmed down a bit in the 50s, and were gone by 1960, so that could explain it. But it could just be the artist... Maybe he was a fetishist and like shoulders instead of elbows.

Posted by: Tonestaple at August 08, 2021 08:25 AM (Sqyj7)

80 Vox Day is an ageist bigot. He hates anyone who is older than himself. He will happily insult and berate anyone who is the age of his own fathers.

It is weird how he and his minions desperately need to have some old white people to upon whom blame for ALL of societies ills. While giving no credit for creating things like the internet, home computers, cell phones, and etcetera.

Go ask him about old people, he and his minions will attack you and try to teach you to hate old people too.

Posted by: Steve Bensen at August 08, 2021 08:25 AM (9etX0)

81
Mister Toffeebottom

Yeah, marrying Mister Toffeebottom is right off!

The name's a dead giveaway! Do YOU want to be the one cleaning his arse after yet another "incident"? Indeed, you don't!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at August 08, 2021 08:26 AM (+2sc/)

82
What have you got against addled-brained Canucks?
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at August 08, 2021 08:23 AM (+2sc/)

A lot. Look at Davids Frum and Brooks, both faux conservative canuck carpetbaggers.

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

83 After I gave up on "What Once Was True", I went back into the Ian Rutledge series by Charles Todd. A Scotland Yard detective tries to get back on solid footing after WW1 has left him shell-shocked. A good detective series with lots of atmosphere, and insights into the stigma of mental health issues in the early 20th century. I'm not sure how many books are in the series, but it's a lot.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 08, 2021 08:27 AM (45fpk)

84 Booken Morgen Horden!

OM, how are you? Are your iron levels back to healthy red-blooded American manly man levels yet?

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion (oEn12) at August 08, 2021 08:27 AM (oEn12)

85 Mister Toffeebottom
Yeah, marrying Mister Toffeebottom is right off!
The name's a dead giveaway! Do YOU want to be the one cleaning his arse after yet another "incident"? Indeed, you don't!
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at August 08, 2021 08:26 AM (+2sc/)

But isn't toffee hard and sweet?

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at August 08, 2021 08:28 AM (R/m4+)

86 Noodling away at a book project for another writer - a all-in-one directory of strange and possibly real/possibly mythological beasts of the world, so only able to do my own writing projects in fits and starts.
There was a long thread on Instapundit yesterday about how men won't or don't read woman writers, with a lot of interesting discussion agreeing, or not, with a multitude of good examples. Basically, the whole thing boils down to a stark difference between two kinds of woman writers - there are those women scribblers of certain genres, and both fiction and non-fiction, who write stuff which everyone wants to read (mystery, sci-fi, history, etc), and women writers who write basically for other women - straight romance, a lot of current sci-fi. Interesting discussion, anyway.

For myself, I've always pretty much written straight down the middle, evenly between male and female characters and interest - and from the start, I would guess that about two thirds of my most dedicated fans are male.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at August 08, 2021 08:28 AM (xnmPy)

87 Posted by: Ziba at August 08, 2021 08:14 AM (S1hrL)

Northampton is about an hour or so west of me. It's a yuge LGBTQXYZ town, so I try to stay away, but thanks for the bookshop recommendation.

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

88 Thanks for post on Morton -- something I'll read when I finish the three books I'm currently reading...

Posted by: Ziba at August 08, 2021 08:28 AM (S1hrL)

89 87

Yes, Mary, I noticed that! but not as bad as Great Barrington, MA! Anyway, I go for the books.

Posted by: Ziba at August 08, 2021 08:30 AM (S1hrL)

90 I'm suffering from lack of focus when reading again. I have to keep circling back.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at August 08, 2021 08:30 AM (Dc2NZ)

91 This weeks books are Simply Sashiko (a type of Japanese embroidery used to strengthen and decorate household items and clothes) and Korean Patchwork Quilting. Both have already proved valuable in the projects I'm doing for Christmas presents. I've never been ahead on present making before. Usually I'm finishing them the night before they're given.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 08, 2021 08:31 AM (1lKRm)

92 I love the board game, as I am sick to death of all things Austen. We don't need any more versions of Pride and Prejudice.
Posted by: CN

The BBC miniseries with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle cannot be improved upon. They have stopped then.

Posted by: huerfano at August 08, 2021 08:31 AM (MzKgG)

93 I am going to say Audrey Hepburn. I haven't seen any or her movies, but that is the vibe i get.

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 08:32 AM (CJtAX)

94 With all this talk about Huxley, I notice no-one has ever mentioned the one (to my knowledge) children's book he wrote - The Crows of Pearblossom. It's about two crows bedeviled by a snake who keeps eating their eggs and how they finally foil him.

https://tinyurl.com/mfhpyypz

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 08, 2021 08:32 AM (2JVJo)

95 Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 08, 2021 08:31 AM (1lKRm)

Sounds like a creative good time. I'm looking forward to the grandsons' school days when I'll have some time to myself to work on projects.

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

96 Hepburn in War and Peace and Two for the Road are worth watching.

Posted by: Ziba at August 08, 2021 08:33 AM (S1hrL)

97 Famous Florida State coach. Bobby Bowden, dead at 91.
Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at August 08, 2021 08:16 AM (UHVv4)

The Free Shoes Criminoles played some of the most exciting football I ever watched in Div 1.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at August 08, 2021 08:34 AM (y7DUB)

98 I'm suffering from lack of focus when reading again. I have to keep circling back.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at August 08, 2021 08:30 AM (Dc2NZ)

I always go back to war histories. I did love The Sun Also Rises. That led to reading a bunch of books on Bullfighting. I have probably read ten books on the subject but have never been to one. I doubt I will ever go but I enjoyed the books.

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 08:35 AM (CJtAX)

99
The kid behind the wagon has spotted the sniper.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at August 08, 2021 08:36 AM (+2sc/)

100 My nighttime listening this week was J. S. Fletcher' s The Borough Treasure from a compilation of Fletcher' s works on Kindle. It had some very similar scenes to The Tallyrand Maxim earlier in the book, so I eventually skipped ahead to the end.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 08, 2021 08:36 AM (1lKRm)

101 Woot Book Thread!

For OM and any Morons who have e-readers who are interested in The Night Land (link goes to Standard Ebooks):

https://is.gd/07CCwL

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at August 08, 2021 08:36 AM (PiwSw)

102 Recently finished Ambrose's Wild Blue about McGovern's squadron in Italy, etc. Well regarded here I know, but it really struck me how 21 year old young men were responsible for piloting 4 engine machines into certain death. While victory was undoubtedly a relief, I wonder how many found the rest of their lives anti climatic?
Also enjoying Mike Collin's story as an astronaut. Puts into perspective how the longest Gemini flight had the astronauts in a vehicle no larger that the front of Volkswagen (Beetle) for 14 days. How is that humanly possible?

Posted by: Lurking lurker at August 08, 2021 08:37 AM (bYQy9)

103 I bought The Book Of Boro, which was talked about recently. It's a Japanese book of mending. I haven't tried anything but it is an interesting book.

I am still working on the audible book, The Guns of John Moses Browning. It really is interesting and I recommend it. I do sometimes wish I had a real book of it as I suspect there are drawings and photos to go with it.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at August 08, 2021 08:37 AM (YynYJ)

104 "She's so in love with me, she doesn't know anything. That's why she's in love with me."

Groucho Marx, who knows what infatuation is

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - Psychos Rule! No, really. They're in charge now. at August 08, 2021 08:38 AM (HaL55)

105 96 Hepburn in War and Peace and Two for the Road are worth watching.
Posted by: Ziba at August 08, 2021 08:33 AM (S1hrL)

Henry Fonda was terrible in that movie 'War and Peace'.

Btw, I've never read 'War and Peace' but Fonda didn't seem to fit the role.

Posted by: dantesed at August 08, 2021 08:39 AM (88xKn)

106 My used copy of The Divine Comedy - Hell, translated by Dorothy Sayers finally arrived. (For some bizarre reason, this first volume is not available new even though the other two volumes are.) I wanted it as much for Sayers' introduction as her translation. I'm not disappointed so far. Her writing for this section is direct, even energetic, and enthusiastic. I should have expected this from her other non-fiction writing. It may not be quite as erudite and allusion-filled as CS Lewis' Preface to Paradise Lost, which is a masterpiece, but it is not far behind.

I want to fully absorb this intro even though I'm eager to start her translation.

Posted by: JTB at August 08, 2021 08:39 AM (7EjX1)

107 LOL. Eternal life but not eternal youth. Years ago I pondered this issue. Everyone wants to lives 1000, but nobody wants to be trapped in the body of a 100 year old.

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at August 08, 2021 08:39 AM (xopIz)

108 Good morning!

Over the last several weeks, i've been reading Rick Partlow. He has a good sense of military space opera scify and writes an entertaining story. I started with his six book series 'Wholesale Slaughter' basic mech warrior stuff. Then moved to two seroes (neither is finished yet) about interstellar war with aliens over colony planets. Both are connected, yet can stand alone.

Genesis War & Drop Trooper good action writing.

Here is the link to all of Rick's series at goodreads. If you like military space opera scify, you'll like this stuff as well.

https://is.gd/IgwPUp

Posted by: BifBewalski @ (VcFUs) - at August 08, 2021 08:40 AM (VcFUs)

109 A library request came in, so I set aside "Helluva Town" to devote time to it. (Not that I had much time for reading this week.)

Bad choice.

The following is a comics review. Recommended for Marvelites older than 29.

Power Man and Iron Fist were the hottest team of the '70s in one of the best books of the era. "Power Man and Iron Fist: The Boys Are Back in Town," from 2016, is an insult, done by a poor writer and a horrible artist. They don't deserve to be credited.

Danny is written and drawn as a goofball teenager. Luke is the size of a Buick and is constantly berated by his wife (damn you, Bendis!). To top it off, after Dr. Strange professes no knowledge of a mystical bauble that is central to the plot, the boys consult a jerk in a curio shop who trash-talks Stephen as a poseur!

Absolute dreck. I buzzed through it -- I just can't abandon a book -- and got it out of the house as soon as possible.

Even before Marvel went "woke" -- how I hate that term! "Awakened" is the word -- it was crumbling.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 08, 2021 08:40 AM (Om/di)

110 I'm headed to the beach in a few. Actually, headed to stay with family who live by the beach. Gonna bring one fiction and one non-fiction.

World War Z is the fiction. Might bring "Close to Shore" -- book about 1912-ish shark attacks up and down the east coast.

Posted by: Arch Stanton at August 08, 2021 08:41 AM (fM2PW)

111 Btw, I've never read 'War and Peace' but Fonda didn't seem to fit the role.

Posted by: dantesed at August 08, 2021 08:39 AM (88xKn)

I never saw that. But he was an incredible actor. For sure not every actor fits the part.

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 08:42 AM (CJtAX)

112 World War Z is the fiction. Might bring "Close to Shore" -- book about 1912-ish shark attacks up and down the east coast.
Posted by: Arch Stanton at August 08, 2021 08:41 AM (fM2PW)

Better bring a bigger beer!

Posted by: rhennigantx at August 08, 2021 08:42 AM (yrol0)

113 Still working on the "Honor Harrington" series by David Weber.

Up to #8 "Echoes of Honor"

GREAT military sci-fi.

Posted by: TANSTAAFL at August 08, 2021 08:42 AM (fBtlL)

114 I have been to bullrings in Spain. It is not just book. But I have never been to a corrida.

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 08:43 AM (CJtAX)

115 For the folks who enjoyed the Briton Riviere painting in last week's art thread. I enjoy his work so much and did a little research on the artist. Came across a reference to a Strand Magazine article from 1896 and it's available as a PDF file. The interview is pleasant, informative and very Victorian, which is part of its appeal for me. It includes several black and white photos of his paintings, some sketches he worked from, some personal information (he was a celebrity) and what he likes and doesn't like about his works. It was very pleasant reading

To get there, search for Briton Riviere Strand magazine which will bring up a site with the article.

I hope this works.

Also, there are sites that display a bunch of his paintings.

Posted by: JTB at August 08, 2021 08:44 AM (7EjX1)

116 Grammie, I was walking through the Marina last week and thought of you, there are still visible cracks in a lot of houses.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 08, 2021 08:44 AM (EZebt)

117 I just started "No Country For Old Men," by Cormac McCarthy.

I am spellbound, and I don't quite know why. I just love his writing, even though he seems to purposefully make it awkward and difficult to understand dialogue and even description on occasion.

I have read some of his other stuff...and enjoyed it very much.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 08, 2021 08:45 AM (Q9lwr)

118 Andrew Klavan wrote some great YA fiction.

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at August 08, 2021 08:45 AM (xopIz)

119
I read Michael Crichton's "Sphere". It was disappointing. Featuring an entire cast of characters with no reason to care about what happens to them, an extremely muddled concept of what the antagonist (the sphere) represents and why we should give a shit about it, and a deus ex machina escape from disaster by the three survivors of the entire fiasco.

It definitely was not in the top tier of his works. Not recommended.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at August 08, 2021 08:45 AM (+2sc/)

120 CarolinaGirl. If you have a library card and your local library has an app to download from it you can skip paying Amazon for books.
I use the Libby app, the OH library system and download books for free. Libby does take me to Amazon since I download them to the Kindle app on my iPad but they are free. You do not have to use the Kindle app, I'm used to it and like they way it works while reading.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at August 08, 2021 08:46 AM (2NHgQ)

121 there are still visible cracks in a lot of houses.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 08, 2021 08:44 AM (EZebt)

Yikes!

Posted by: grammie winger at August 08, 2021 08:46 AM (45fpk)

122 Another book I just re-bought (since I gave a copy away) is the novel Hollywood and Sunset. It isn't strictly a silent film book; it's about a rather feckless writer assigned by The Atlantic to do a hit piece on director D.W. Griffith. In the meantime, his wife wants a divorce and is taking his child to live with another man.

As well, Griffith, reeling from the reception of The Birth of A Nation by blacks, dares to writer to be on set as he films Intolerance and see who the real racist is. It's also the only novel I know of where the hero gets to go to bed with Lillian Gish.

https://tinyurl.com/nasrwufa

I had to put the book away for a long tme because it's so well written that it depressed me immensely and kept me from even trying to write myself. But I do recommend it.

https://tinyurl.com/yujcmnzu

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

123 #70 Late [actually very late, now] author, Pierre Berton, was a popular historical writer -- I have his War of 1812 books -- but he wrote mainly on nonmilitary subjects including the Yukon Gold Rush and building of Canada's transcontinental railway.

Jack Granatstein for military history and some politics, and Desmond Morton for the same.

Maybe Conrad Black although I don't know if he's done any Canadian political works/biographies.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at August 08, 2021 08:47 AM (UHVv4)

124 Rereading Borges Labyrinths my knowledge base is so much larger now than when I first read if and was *very* confused by some stories. For example Averroe's Search contains a lot of islamic references about which I was totally clueless when I first read it. Some of his earlier fiction seemed more conceptually abstract than the later stuff although some of that might have depended on who the translator was. Like the title some of the stories are good for the reader to get lost in.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at August 08, 2021 08:48 AM (y7DUB)

125 Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 08, 2021 08:32 AM (2JVJo)

So, I ordered it and a few other Huxley books from TB.
Thanks.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 08:48 AM (ONvIw)

126 I be back,

The painting of the girl at her desk with coffee and snow outside the window is fantastic.

I like the synopsis of Hodgson's The Night Land. If it's from 1912, it predated Weird Tales magazine, and yet it sounds very Lovecraftian in some ways. The only story of WH Hodgson's I've ever read is the short one, "A Voice in the Night," in one of Alfred Hitchcock's anthologies -- 12 Stories They Wouldn't Let Me Do on TV, I think.

That collection also has one of the creepiest stories of all time, "How Love Came to Professor Guildea." A remarkable sense of atmosphere and mounting horror, that one.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 08:48 AM (+nNqu)

127 McCarthy can go really out there. I think Blood Meridien and The Crossing were the two where a thesaurus would be handy. I loved all of his books I have read, including No Country for Old Men. My favorite is All the Pretty Horses. For the same reason is is my most despised movie.

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 08:49 AM (CJtAX)

128
there are still visible cracks in a lot of houses.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 08, 2021 08:44 AM (EZebt)

Yikes!
Posted by: grammie winger

"Crack Houses of the Marina District" is a noir novel just begging to be written.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at August 08, 2021 08:50 AM (+2sc/)

129 "Decided to read Carlos Castenada's Teachings of Don Juan. Any reality is better than the one we are currently in.

Actually it is fascinating to read."

Who knew that peyote was so great?

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at August 08, 2021 08:51 AM (xopIz)

130 I just started "No Country For Old Men," by Cormac McCarthy.

I am spellbound, and I don't quite know why. I just love his writing, even though he seems to purposefully make it awkward and difficult to understand dialogue and even description on occasion. . . .

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 08, 2021

***
He's a good example of a writer whose books make better movies than they do as reads. (Disclaimer: I didn't like the film version of this one much either. But at least you don't have to suffer through the no-quotation-marks style McCarthy affects.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 08:51 AM (+nNqu)

131 Pizza and beer > War and Peace

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at August 08, 2021 08:52 AM (d9FiS)

132 Late [actually very late, now] author, Pierre Berton, was a popular historical writer -- I have his War of 1812 books -- but he wrote mainly on nonmilitary subjects including the Yukon Gold Rush and building of Canada's transcontinental railway.

Berton also wrote The Arctic Grail, a very thick book about the search for the Northwest Passage. It took me nearly a year to finish.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 08, 2021 08:52 AM (2JVJo)

133 "Decided to read Carlos Castenada's Teachings of Don Juan. Any reality is better than the one we are currently in.

IIRC, I tried to read it in college. I don't think I was in the right frame of mind.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 08, 2021 08:53 AM (45fpk)

134 LOL. Eternal life but not eternal youth. Years ago I pondered this issue. Everyone wants to lives 1000, but nobody wants to be trapped in the body of a 100 year old.
Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at August 08, 2021

***
Swift's Struldbrugs.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 08:53 AM (+nNqu)

135 I just finished Sydney Powell's book License to Lie. Yes, I know I'm late to it. Great book, infuriating subject matter. None of it was a surprise to me, given everything that happened since 2016. I think that if I had read it when it was released in 2014, I'd have been shocked.

Posted by: Muad'dib at August 08, 2021 08:53 AM (85YbF)

136 IIRC, I tried to read it in college. I don't think I was in the right frame of mind.
Posted by: grammie winger at August 08, 2021 08:53 AM (45fpk)

I put it down pretty quickly, myself. Donated it to the library book sale a few years back.

MPPPP, I love the idea of Huxley for kids.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 08:54 AM (ONvIw)

137 He's a good example of a writer whose books make better movies than they do as reads. (Disclaimer: I didn't like the film version of this one much either. But at least you don't have to suffer through the no-quotation-marks style McCarthy affects.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 08:51 AM (+nNqu)

maybe that one book. But All the Pretty Horses was an abomination because it distorted the entire meaning of the book. Blood Meridian and The Crossing could not be made. I think many have purchased the right to Blood Meridian but what are they going to do with it?

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 08:55 AM (CJtAX)

138 neverenoughcaffeine, thanks for the tip. I have to renew my library card - I've given in to the instant gratification of buying, buying, buying from Amazon. Argh! Time to read borrowed books. Perhaps I'll borrow Sydney Powell's "License to Lie" - Muad'dib you reminded me of this, and I need to get that.

Posted by: CarolinaGirl at August 08, 2021 08:56 AM (Kh9rg)

139 Yay Book Thread!

Delurking to horde-source a research question that's had me beating my head against a wall all week. A few months ago, while writing a sample chapter for a grade-school world history textbook, I came across a story that I could swear was credited to Snorri Sturluson, giving the Norse side of the first contact between Vikings and Saxons and contradicting The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in almost every respect. According to this story, first contact happened in a completely different year and the opposite side of the country from what the ASC says; the three ships that landed had gotten lost on a trading mission and weren't going a-viking at all; the traders thought the place was uninhabited, and they were simply exploring up the river when they were set upon by the dastardly English with no warning. (Oh noes!!!) I have since been hired to contribute to the textbook, and I want to use the contrast between the ASC and the Norse account as the hook for the introduction... but I can't find it anywhere in Snorri's known writings, and I can't find where I saw it retold. (TBC)

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 08, 2021 08:57 AM (A65/D)

140 The bookmobile photo brings back memories. I was terrified of it, because of The Child Catcher scene in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. When the bookmobile came around, I wouldn't go in it without a parent along to ensure I didn't get kidnapped and driven away.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at August 08, 2021 08:57 AM (d9Cw3)

141 Still taking cracks at Mr. Goldblatt's "The Games". One aspect that induces eye-rolling is his dismissiveness of the 1980 U.S. hockey team. He takes a shot at them as being one step below professional hockey players as they were playing hockey in college. But he utters not a peep over the fact that the Soviet team was in fact professional. That was a Red Army team that was put on orders to, well, play hockey and tour the country playing in hockey tournaments. To me that is a glaring error.

He also states that it was NBC that lost money in 1980 for not broadcasting the Summer Olympics that year when I swear up down and sideways that the bradcast rights for the Olympics were held by ABC. If that's the case, that's an egregious research error. But I could be mistaken.

Posted by: Historian at August 08, 2021 08:58 AM (7qU8l)

142 "Decided to read Carlos Castenada's Teachings of Don Juan. Any reality is better than the one we are currently in.

Normally I can remember all the contents of every book in my house, but right now I cannot remember the book I have which called out all of Castenada's works as frauds, highlighting their increasing absurdity and internal contradictions.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 08, 2021 08:58 AM (2JVJo)

143 Jmel at August 08, 2021 08:13 AM

I don't want to be alarmist but do keep checking his temp and make sure he can turn and nod his head without pain. I seem to remember some sort of information campaign back some years telling everyone that meningitis can come on very suddenly. Might want to look up the symptoms and get him to the emergency room if any apply.

Posted by: Tonestaple at August 08, 2021 08:58 AM (Sqyj7)

144 I don't understand the YA book thing. When I was a "young adult" I preferred reading about grown adults doing shit and getting shit done.
Posted by: Dr. Varno at August 08, 2021

***
Me too. I read James Bond (well, the action scenes) when I was 10 and was off to Alfred Hitchcock anthologies, grown-up creepy and suspense stories, by the time I was 11. By 12, I was into Rex Stout, and by 13 Ellery Queen.

True, I grew up on the Whitman Authorized TV Editions of Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and Rin Tin Tin, all for young readers. But you know, those are still readable by grownups today. I have a number of them. They were not really "kid" books, they were not written down to the audience.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 08:59 AM (+nNqu)

145 Life's too short to waste time on a bad book. If it hasn't grabbed me by the 2nd chapter I give up.

Posted by: Jewells45 at August 08, 2021 08:59 AM (nxdel)

146 > But isn't toffee hard and sweet?

Right. Just make sure to give the husband plenty of dietary fiber and he'll be as right as rain before you know it.

That'll take care of "hard", anyway. Sweet? You're on your own there, mate.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at August 08, 2021 09:00 AM (XGAZE)

147 I just started "No Country For Old Men," by Cormac McCarthy.

I am spellbound, and I don't quite know why. I just love his writing, even though he seems to purposefully make it awkward and difficult to understand dialogue and even description on occasion.

His work set in the Southwest uses a lot of colloquial terms that assume a working knowledge of Spanish or an American Heritage dictionary. There is something undefinably attractive about his prose style.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at August 08, 2021 09:00 AM (y7DUB)

148 having been born and raised in 2 lane blacktop TX, my opinion is this

you really have to suspendend your disbelief watching "No Country for Old Men"

better choice is "Hud", a far, far superior film, growing in respect every year

easily Paul Newmans best flick

Posted by: REDACTED at August 08, 2021 09:00 AM (YK4Qh)

149 (cont.) My co-author recognized the story when I alluded to it, but she can't find it, either, and asking on FB hasn't gotten me anywhere. Can any of my fellow history buffs help me out?

If all else fails, I'll rewrite the hook to focus on a later incident I should be able to find in both the ASC and the Heimskringla, but I'd rather not have to.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 08, 2021 09:00 AM (A65/D)

150 Last time a saw a Radio Flyer was in the movie Dennis the Menace, starring the late great Walter Matthau. Time before that was back in childhood. Memories.

Posted by: Biden's Dog at August 08, 2021 09:01 AM (UaJ/W)

151 He's a good example of a writer whose books make better movies than they do as reads. (. . . But at least you don't have to suffer through the no-quotation-marks style McCarthy affects.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021

maybe that one book. But All the Pretty Horses was an abomination because it distorted the entire meaning of the book. Blood Meridian and The Crossing could not be made. I think many have purchased the right to Blood Meridian but what are they going to do with it?
Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021

***
I suppose so. I tried one of his others, and that no quote marks affectation made me claustrophobic. So I've read almost nothing else of his.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 09:01 AM (+nNqu)

152 I mentioned last week that I realized I have a gazillion books I'm never going to re-read. These include many paperbacks like The Lensman and Skylark series, Matt Helm books, even most of Heinlein. (There's another gazillion I haven't got to yet.) But I don't want them wasted.

And yes, it feels unnatural that I'm doing this after a lifetime of accumulating books. The realization that I don't have another 60 years of reading ahead of me was a bit of a shock. (SIGH!)

We put out word to the nieces and nephews and their spouses about this project and they responded with enthusiasm. Over the next months I'll sort through what books can go and send them off.

In the past I would have just traded them to the used book store for credit or to the local library. But the used book store doesn't offer as much value these days and the library is pissing me off with their decreasing variety of books. They can get what the family doesn't want.

Posted by: JTB at August 08, 2021 09:01 AM (7EjX1)

153 Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist, Rickey Medlocke, tests positive for the WuFlu. Shows cancelled as a result.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at August 08, 2021 09:01 AM (UHVv4)

154 > I like the synopsis of Hodgson's The Night Land.

Yeah, me too. Just snagged it from Project Gutenberg and put it on my Kindle.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at August 08, 2021 09:02 AM (XGAZE)

155 Bookmobile! Our town had one of those; it was always fun to pop in and see what random thing one might take home to peruse.

Posted by: PabloD at August 08, 2021 09:02 AM (FmrzA)

156 Good morning.
About YA books. The only difference I can find is that the protagonists are usually teens who think a lot about having sex but never quite get there. Other than that, whether it is worth reading depends on whether the author is a good writer and if so, it is worth reading no matter your age.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at August 08, 2021 09:03 AM (Y+l9t)

157 151 He's a good example of a writer whose books make better movies than they do as reads. (. . . But at least you don't have to suffer through the no-quotation-marks style McCarthy affects.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021

So, the opposite of JF Cooper

Posted by: REDACTED at August 08, 2021 09:03 AM (YK4Qh)

158 I like the synopsis of Hodgson's The Night Land.

Yeah, me too. Just snagged it from Project Gutenberg and put it on my Kindle.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at August 08, 2021

***
Just shows to go ya that really imaginative lit did not begin with Weird Tales and Astounding Science Fiction.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 09:03 AM (+nNqu)

159 Re: Radio Flyer.

There was a time when radio was so new and cool that marketers stuck "radio" in the names of completely unrelated products. "Radio Flyer", "RKO Radio Pictures", etc.

Like the way they use iThis and iThat and eWTF today.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at August 08, 2021 09:04 AM (XGAZE)

160 I picked up a copy of John Grishham's The Rooster Bar at my Little Free Library of Death.

I'm on page 117 and I'm waiting for it to get good.

Posted by: JT at August 08, 2021 08:08 AM (arJlL)

It's one of his David-vs-Goliath stories, with the Davids being a group of law students who are deep in debt after going to a very low tier, for-profit law school.

Posted by: Wethal at August 08, 2021 09:04 AM (ZzVCK)

161 I saw an episode of Beaver in which Ward mentions reading The Boy Allies At Jutland. It turns out there was a series of Boy Allies books about various battles in WWI. It struck me as strange that boys in the bloodbath of WWI would be children's literature.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at August 08, 2021 09:05 AM (d9FiS)

162 I tried to read Jean Grainger's "What Once Was True" last week. I got 34 percent of the way through, and discovered I didn't give a fig about it, so I quit. Something I rarely do. Makes me feel guilty somehow.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 08, 2021 08:12 AM (45fpk)

Don't feel bad, grammie. If you don't like the characters, can't sympathize with them, hurt with them, joy with them, and don't care if they succeed or not, there's no point going on with the book.

You need at least one character to root for.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 08, 2021 09:05 AM (puyrX)

163 90 I'm suffering from lack of focus when reading again. I have to keep circling back.
Posted by: All Hail Eris,

oh no, the dreaded Psakitis
If left untreated may progress to full-blown Bidenoma

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion (oEn12) at August 08, 2021 09:05 AM (oEn12)

164 About YA books. The only difference I can find is that the protagonists are usually teens who think a lot about having sex but never quite get there. Other than that, whether it is worth reading depends on whether the author is a good writer and if so, it is worth reading no matter your age.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at August 08, 2021

***
High-quality exception: Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. Readable by any age, and the lead character, a small boy who is adopted by -- well, I don't want to give anything away -- he's a small boy at the start and grows to be a teen. No sex obsession in this novel.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 09:05 AM (+nNqu)

165 There is something undefinably attractive about his prose style.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at August 08, 2021 09:00 AM (y7DUB)

It takes work to read, but the reward is a sense of the real people behind the dialogue.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 08, 2021 09:05 AM (Q9lwr)

166
why does anyone care what the ratfucker David French thinks?

he is just a harpy religious type who seems not to have read the book his religion is based on

Posted by: will choose a nic later at August 08, 2021 09:06 AM (bTQ72)

167 It's one of his David-vs-Goliath stories, with the Davids being a group of law students who are deep in debt after
going to a very low tier, for-profit law school.

Posted by: Wethal at August 08, 2021 09:04 AM (ZzVCK)

I've given up on Grisham. His earlier books are ok, but he's turned into quite the liberal scold.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 08, 2021 09:07 AM (puyrX)

168 40 Please say a prayer for my little prince. He woke up with a 102 fever and a headache this morning. He may be 16, but they are always your babies.
Posted by: Jmel

prayers up

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion (oEn12) at August 08, 2021 09:07 AM (oEn12)

169 Had one of those Hapsburgs lived, the world might not have been treated the an actual Absurdistan-

Horthy's Hungary

A Kingdom without a King, ruled by an Admiral without a Navy

Posted by: Miklos with a Hapsburg hairstyle at August 08, 2021 09:08 AM (QzkSJ)

170 Modest? These guys are awesome!

TJIC is the one who made the joke that managed to piss the feds and the Joint Terrorism Task Force so much that they raided his house. His Aristillus series (for which he's won the two awards) is a great successor/homage to Moon is a Harsh Mistress and really brings up all the triumphs and difficulties a libertarian society would run into on the frontier. His recent "Escape the City" non-fiction book is a must have reference for anyone even thinking of homesteading/farming/having chickens pile up in the yard.

Krose's "Iron Dragon" series is one of the best time travel series I've ever read AND historical fiction as well. It "feels" right and keeps it entertaining the entire way.

Posted by: GeoSTI at August 08, 2021 09:08 AM (weKby)

171 I'm currently reading A Century of Great Western Stories, edited by John Jakes. Pretty much all the classic authors like L'Amour and Max Brand are there, plus Jack Schaefer ("Sergeant Houck" is probably the best work he ever did, including Shane) and Loren D. Estleman.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 09:08 AM (+nNqu)

172 I've only read one Cormac McCarthy book , "All The pretty Horses." I thought I would love it because I love westerns, but it was just too violent and gory. I've heard favorable reviews on other books of his, but after struggling through the lack of punctuation in Pretty Horses, I just couldn't pick up another Cormac book.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at August 08, 2021 09:09 AM (d9Cw3)

173 The only difference I can find is that the protagonists are usually teens who think a lot about having sex but never quite get there.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice)

Crisis averted: A dress, not hot pants and cropped top for church. A quick change in the ladies restroom to 'Casual clothes' for lunch and party afterward.

Compromise reached and tears averted.

*tears are mine*

Posted by: Tonypete at August 08, 2021 09:09 AM (mD/uy)

174 Thanks andycanuck at #123! I'll look for these guys.

Posted by: Plum Duff at August 08, 2021 09:09 AM (og2cr)

175 I've given up on Grisham. His earlier books are ok, but he's turned into quite the liberal scold.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 08, 2021

***
HIs Skipping Christmas is a delight though. Very much unlike his legal stories, with a terrific sense of fun. (I think it was the basis for that Christmas With the Kranks movie, but I'm not sure.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 09:10 AM (+nNqu)

176 Posted by: JTB at August 08, 2021 09:01 AM (7EjX1)

Lensman & Skylark!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion (oEn12) at August 08, 2021 09:10 AM (oEn12)

177 I love the photo of the bookmobile. Our small town had one although pretty much for invalids. The town library was in a mid-Victorian, Gothic looking house. Yes, it was huge. I loved that place with all the beautiful woodwork, the special sections and reading nooks, even the aroma of the books, wood polish, and ink from the stamp pads. And I loved that card catalog. Endless possibilities.

The town built a new library when I was in high school. It was better lit and designed for book shelves. But it lacked the soul of the old library. At least they used that card catalog in the new place.

Posted by: JTB at August 08, 2021 09:11 AM (7EjX1)

178 Just finished reading the Silmarillion. A whole lot of begatting and begotting going on, plus a whole lot of smiting and smoting. The ending really surprised me. I don't recall in the Lord of the Rings ever seeing that Gandalf had the third Elven Ring, the Ring of Fire. Started reading Red Famine. What a chocolate mess the Ukraine was during the revolution.

Posted by: Old Blue at August 08, 2021 09:12 AM (VNmG1)

179 Thanks MPPPP for mentioning The Arctic Grail. Also thanks for reminding me of A Nervous Splendor. That's one I'd been intending to read but completely forgot about.

Posted by: Plum Duff at August 08, 2021 09:12 AM (og2cr)

180 I was going to re-read Dakota by Kathleen Norris. I found it interesting several years ago. Just couldn't get interested this time around. Sometimes you get the feel that the writer doesn't care for the local people. I'll give it one more try.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at August 08, 2021 09:13 AM (YynYJ)

181 > It struck me as strange that boys in the bloodbath of WWI would be children's literature.

Not too long before that, "ship's boy" and "drummer boy" were normal components of military organizations in combat.

John Clem joined the Union Army unofficially at the age of 9 (and officially at 12, a few years later). He served as a drummer boy, and, according to one story, shot and killed a Confederate colonel.

He retired in 1915 as a brigadier, and got a retirement bump to major general.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at August 08, 2021 09:13 AM (XGAZE)

182 Someone mentioned the Donald Hamilton Matt Helm spy stories. Forget those horrible movies with Dean Martin and the TV series with Tony Franciosa. These were good solid hardboiled Cold War spy tales, 1960 et seq., with a hero and narrator who is from New Mexico, drives a pickup truck, and has few illusions about the spy game -- without the stories ever devolving into "Our side is as bad as theirs," a la Le Carre. As a blurb on my mid-'60s paperbacks says, "Your reading diet lacks vitamins if you don't try Helm."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 09:13 AM (+nNqu)

183 I've only read one Cormac McCarthy book , "All The pretty Horses." I thought I would love it because I love westerns, but it was just too violent and gory. I've heard favorable reviews on other books of his, but after struggling through the lack of punctuation in Pretty Horses, I just couldn't pick up another Cormac book.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at August 08, 2021 09:09 AM (d9Cw3)

A. Don't read Blood Meridian
B. we don't like the same books.
C. that is ok my man.

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 09:14 AM (CJtAX)

184 Those two books really are very good at capturing the perfervid atmosphere of Vienna in those days.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing

had to look up perfervid
$10 ward fer sure!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion (oEn12) at August 08, 2021 09:14 AM (oEn12)

185 > I don't recall in the Lord of the Rings ever seeing that Gandalf had the third Elven Ring, the Ring of Fire.

It's mentioned almost on the last page, where Frodo, Gandalf, and Galadriel are boarding the ship to the West.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at August 08, 2021 09:14 AM (XGAZE)

186 At the risk of sending CN to the fainting couch, you have to admit it is interesting how many reiterations of Pride and Prejudice there've been.

It's not a sweeping epic, just a simple romance. Yet it endures--so much so that there's cosplay, and Jane Austen societies, and website after website of fans.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 09:14 AM (AwPyG)

187 Greetings:

Longmire > Yellowstone ???

Posted by: 11B40 at August 08, 2021 09:15 AM (uuklp)

188 150 Last time a saw a Radio Flyer was in the movie Dennis the Menace, starring the late great Walter Matthau. Time before that was back in childhood. Memories.

Posted by: Biden's Dog at August 08, 2021 09:01 AM (UaJ/W)

There was a movie titled 'Radio Flyer' back in 1992. Elijah Wood was in it, I believe. The commercials promoting it implied it was going to be a wistful, nostalgic look at growing up. The tagline was:

"Somewhere inside every person...someplace inside every heart...is a power that turns fear into courage...and makes dreams take flight. ...Powered by imagination."

And then it turned out to be about a grim, dark movie about child abuse. I wonder how many people got suckered into seeing it based on false pretenses.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 08, 2021 09:15 AM (puyrX)

189 My black SG guitar was my best guitar when I bought it in 2015. Now it is easily the least.

I finally got the nerve to put a tremolo on it. I had a few too many beers when I was drilling the holes, but it turned out fine.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at August 08, 2021 09:15 AM (ybIRR)

190 Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 08, 2021 09:00 AM (A65/D)

Sorry, I wish I could help. I could only find a brief reference in Churchill's History of the English-Speaking Peoples to a band of Vikings landing in Portland harbor in 789, but in this version, it was the English who thought the visitors were traders and ended up dead at Viking hands.

I used to have a copy of The Isles by Norman Davies. Perhaps you could ask a library to grab a copy and check if he mentions the story?

https://tinyurl.com/zp944vdp

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 08, 2021 09:16 AM (2JVJo)

191 At the risk of sending CN to the fainting couch, you have to admit it is interesting how many reiterations of Pride and Prejudice there've been.

It's not a sweeping epic, just a simple romance. Yet it endures--so much so that there's cosplay, and Jane Austen societies, and website after website of fans.
Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021

***
And modern-dress adaptations like Bridget Jones's Diary, book and movie. And Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (?).

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 09:16 AM (+nNqu)

192 Markie Post, especially known for The Fall Guy and Night Court, has died at 70 from cancer.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at August 08, 2021 09:16 AM (UHVv4)

193 Wolfus, just looked up The Graveyard Book at my library. Did you know that there is even a graphic novel? It is on the list. I have 3 books to get through first but multiple copies and formats available so no problem getting it when I'm ready. It looks fascinating.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at August 08, 2021 09:16 AM (Y+l9t)

194 "The BBC miniseries with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle cannot be improved upon."

I've been anticipating a Who dis featuring Jennifer Ehle (North Carolina's own!) or her mother, Rosemary Harris.

Posted by: Brett at August 08, 2021 09:17 AM (oBgMG)

195 @173

My kids had "church clothes" which included a dress that covered the shoulders. Not an easy thing to find, at the time.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 09:17 AM (AwPyG)

196 Every library they've redone here is worse. The Camas library isn't bad because they extended the original building. The building for the main library is nice. But they decided to use most of the space for computer labs and a computer game room for teens. It feels like a lot less books. And of course the computer attract the homeless so they need more security. I stopped going.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at August 08, 2021 09:17 AM (YynYJ)

197 And modern-dress adaptations like Bridget Jones's Diary, book and movie. And Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (?).
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 09:16 AM (+nNqu)

Don't forget the Bollywood reboot Bride and Prejudice, which is a very fun movie.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 08, 2021 09:18 AM (puyrX)

198 @191

"Clueless" was a wonderful adaption of "Emma." If you haven't done so, read the book and then watch the movie.

Imagine the pitch meeting.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 09:19 AM (AwPyG)

199 Thanks MPPPP for mentioning The Arctic Grail. Also thanks for reminding me of A Nervous Splendor. That's one I'd been intending to read but completely forgot about.
Posted by: Plum Duff at August 08, 2021 09:12 AM (og2cr)

My pleasure. Grail is one of those few books that I finished and then gave away, knowing I would never read it again. Much too big. And I hope you enjoy Splendor.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 08, 2021 09:20 AM (2JVJo)

200 Another fine book for those interested either in pre-WWI Vienna or in Ludwig Wittgenstein is Wittgenstein's Vienna, by Allan Janik. I read it as a yout and recommend highly.

Here's a link to the Amazon page: https://tinyurl.com/ygob5j3k

Posted by: Fou Troll at August 08, 2021 09:20 AM (HLwmB)

201 I second MP4's rec of A Nervous Splendor--when I took 19th Century German Lit in undergrad, the focus was on turn-of-the-century Viennese literature, and A Nervous Splendor was our intro text. Another book on the same subject that I enjoyed was Our Famous Guest: Mark Twain in Vienna by Carl Dolmetsch, which deals with Twain's extended stay in Vienna and its influence on his later works. IIRC, "The Awful German Language" dates from the same period.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 08, 2021 09:21 AM (A65/D)

202 Not to mention Jennifer Ehle's father, John Ehle, a prominent writer. Try "The Land Breakers."

Posted by: Brett at August 08, 2021 09:21 AM (oBgMG)

203 I don't recall a Union Army.

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 09:21 AM (CJtAX)

204 ...after struggling through the lack of punctuation in Pretty Horses, I just couldn't pick up another Cormac book.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at August 08, 2021 09:09 AM (d9Cw3)

It's definitely not for everyone, but something clicked for me.

Writing dialogue is difficult, and I guess McCarthy decided on his chaotic technique because he saw it as being representative of the way people actually speak...out loud and in their heads.

He must know some strange people.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 08, 2021 09:21 AM (Q9lwr)

205 > It's not a sweeping epic, just a simple romance. Yet it endures--so much so that there's cosplay, and Jane Austen societies, and website after website of fans.

Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series is basically Jane Austen, but from a male perspective (e.g., there's a lot more killing Frenchmen and duels). Extremely well-written. Recommended.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at August 08, 2021 09:22 AM (XGAZE)

206 I've only read one Cormac McCarthy book , "All The pretty Horses." I thought I would love it because I love westerns, but it was just too violent and gory. I've heard favorable reviews on other books of his, but after struggling through the lack of punctuation in Pretty Horses, I just couldn't pick up another Cormac book.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at August 08, 2021 09:09 AM (d9Cw3)

It was the first book of his I read and the one I liked least, surely because his writing about young romance reminded me of how awkward all my experiences were.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at August 08, 2021 09:22 AM (y7DUB)

207 Wolfus, just looked up The Graveyard Book at my library. Did you know that there is even a graphic novel? It is on the list. I have 3 books to get through first but multiple copies and formats available so no problem getting it when I'm ready. It looks fascinating.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at August 08, 2021

***
I've heard of the GB graphic novel, but there are various editions, I think. I'm not sure which one to get. I've never been a graphic novel fan since I left comics behind at age 10-11, though the stuff Marvel did in the '80s with the X-Men was awfully good. And I suspect that my own style of storytelling would lend itself beautifully to graphic novels.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 09:22 AM (+nNqu)

208 > I don't recall a Union Army.

Is "pedant" supposed to be capitalized?

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at August 08, 2021 09:23 AM (XGAZE)

209 Last week, I'd finished 'The Circular Staircase' by Mary Roberts Rinehart. As I had a gigantic collection of her novels on my Kindle, I decided the experience was decent enough to go on to read the next mystery novel in line: 'The Bat'. To my utter astonishment, I found I was reading the exact same story!!! Literally. Just like the first, the plot was: a) elderly New England spinster rents big country house for the summer; b) brings her niece; c) house belongs to bank manager who's going out west for a holiday; d) bank fails due to embezzlement; e) crime is pinned on bank teller, who disappears; f) niece is secretly engaged to bank teller, and he disguises himself as a gardener to hide out at the country house; g) bank manager dies out west; h) someone starts trying repeatedly to break into house; g) there's a secret room in the house where the stolen money is hidden! h) someone gets killed at the foot of a circular staircase. And there's more.

There's just a single twist at the end, where someone's identity isn't what you think. How on earth did she get away with literally recycling the entire plot of a novel like that?

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at August 08, 2021 09:23 AM (dzUgF)

210 Rodrigo, I guess I'm going to have to re-read LOTR again, but I've wanting to do that anyway. Right now on deck after Red Famine, I've got American Caesar and Joe Rochefort's War. Almost all of my reading recommendations have come from the Horde.

Posted by: Old Blue at August 08, 2021 09:23 AM (VNmG1)

211 I read several Kazuo Ishiguro books recently. I use the Libby app to borrow ebooks from my local library. There is usually a wait time but that's OK because I refuse to spend more than 3 or 4 dollars for an e-book.
Remains of the Day
Never Let Me Go
Klara and the Sun
The Buried Giant

The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel was interesting. Maybe mentioned on the book thread?
A Wolf Called Romeo by Nick Jans
No Ordinary Dog, Will Chesney
The Last Thing He Told Me, Laura Dave
Brain candy, The Chet and Bernie Series, Spencer Quinn

Posted by: Books this month at August 08, 2021 09:24 AM (2mWOw)

212 Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" is the most depressing book I have ever read in a lifetime of reading all kinds of books. I decided to avoid McCarthy's other books after that.

Posted by: huerfano at August 08, 2021 09:24 AM (MzKgG)

213 OT - but got back from store, 1/3 of people masked and no room for a half gallon of ice cream so what I don't eat right now is wasted

Posted by: Skip at August 08, 2021 09:24 AM (znIQ9)

214 40 ... "Please say a prayer for my little prince. He woke up with a 102 fever and a headache this morning. He may be 16, but they are always your babies."

jmel,

Prayers up.

Posted by: JTB at August 08, 2021 09:25 AM (7EjX1)

215 Based on a recommendation here I have begun the Case Lee series by Vince Milam. I just finished The Suriname Job and have begun The New Guinea Job. Lee is retired Delta Force now a private contractor burdened by a $1,000,000 bounty on his head put out by persons unknown not that he hasn't ruffled more than a few feathers in his past.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at August 08, 2021 09:25 AM (d9FiS)

216 Have a good day, folks. I'm off to find the cat barf that I heard being produced a little earlier (ideally, not by stepping in it), then back to bed for a while -- because it's Sunday, and I can.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at August 08, 2021 09:26 AM (XGAZE)

217 I've tried to read Jane Austen in the original ever since I found that one of my favorite authors, mystery writer Rex Stout, claimed her as one of *his* favorites. (The story goes that a fan wrote to Rex, demanding to know who *really* wrote the Nero Wolfe novels.

Rex: "The name is Jane Austen. But I haven't the address.")

But her prose is pretty dense by today's standards. It would require more concentration than I have time for now.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 09:26 AM (+nNqu)

218 I liked All The Pretty Horses because it was an easy read after Blood Meridian. It also spoke to me in some ways, and I guess that matters when you judge something you spend a lot of time with. The Crossing was the second book in the Border Trilogy and a much harder slog. I could see how some would think it was the best of the trilogy.

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 09:26 AM (CJtAX)

219 >>> I've only read one Cormac McCarthy book , "All The pretty Horses." I thought I would love it because I love westerns, but it was just too violent and gory.

Hellava good movie, though.

https://tinyurl.com/zctjtymy (imdb)

Posted by: Fou Troll at August 08, 2021 09:26 AM (HLwmB)

220 The Road is very different than McCarthy's other books, particularly being a page turner.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at August 08, 2021 09:27 AM (y7DUB)

221 I also do not understand what YA books are for. When I was 10-12 I read T.H. White and James Thurber and Robert Heinlein and Jules Verne . . . and, well, just about everything.

Hypothesis: the YA series are specifically for tweenage _girls_, catering to the interest in relationships etc. -- but girls that age aren't quite ready for actual grownup relationship drama yet. Hence the obsessions with friendships.

Posted by: Trimegistus at August 08, 2021 09:27 AM (QZxDR)

222 Thanks for trying, MP4! The version Churchill relates is the same one that's in the ASC for 789, and pretty much every source I've looked at that mentions an attack before the sack of Lindisfarne in 793 gives the ASC version as the first recorded Viking attack on England. I'll see about putting The Isles on my (ever growing) ILL list, but I need to turn the chapter in today if I can.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 08, 2021 09:28 AM (A65/D)

223 Posted by:�Old Blue�at August 08, 2021 09:12 AM
Remember trying it right after finishing the trilogy but didn't get to far.

Posted by: Skip at August 08, 2021 09:28 AM (znIQ9)

224 Perfervidity epidemic continues. Wonder how the Sunday morning talkers are going. Not. Everybody is dead by now, right?

Posted by: klaftern at August 08, 2021 09:28 AM (r4sI4)

225 I had to put a book down this week--it was a domestic thriller by a fairly new author, but it's written in a style I call "affected," for want of a better term.

The language is overwrought, and the "twists" are breathlessly oversold. It's as though you can see through to the author telling the story, and admiring themselves in the mirror for being so brilliant.

Big-time publisher, too. I always wonder if it's a relative of an industry insider, or something, because a high schooler would produce much the same.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 09:28 AM (AwPyG)

226 Jane Austen, dense? I think of her as almost glass-like in her clarity and simplicity. Now, if you want dense, try Dickens! Some of his sentences go on for a page and a half!

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at August 08, 2021 09:29 AM (dzUgF)

227 Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" is the most depressing book I have ever read in a lifetime of reading all kinds of books. I decided to avoid McCarthy's other books after that.

Posted by: huerfano at August 08, 2021 09:24 AM (MzKgG)

don't judge him by that. I could not get through that one either. McCarthy is different, he has some other books that are really weird that have not been mentioned. I guess some like him and some can't stand him. Longbows and Crossbows I guess.

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 09:29 AM (CJtAX)

228 You're welcome, Plum Duff.

There are also two interesting oral histories interviewing people about what they did during the Great Depression and then WW2 called Ten Lost Years and Six War Years by Barry Broadfoot who, I see from my net search, also compiled a bunch of similar books about settlers' and pioneers' days. Looks like he even got an obit in the L.A. Times so I guess he was internationally known too and not just local.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at August 08, 2021 09:29 AM (UHVv4)

229 John Ehle wrote a novel also titled "The Road." It concerned the construction of a railroad grade into the Southern Appalachian mountains.

Posted by: Brett at August 08, 2021 09:30 AM (oBgMG)

230 Skip, it is kind of a tough read. But by the end he does lead you up to the LOTR.

Posted by: Old Blue at August 08, 2021 09:30 AM (VNmG1)

231 Well I think I'll take the dog for a drive into the mountains while I listen to Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at August 08, 2021 09:31 AM (cSyAR)

232 161 I saw an episode of Beaver in which Ward mentions reading The Boy Allies At Jutland. It turns out there was a series of Boy Allies books about various battles in WWI. It struck me as strange that boys in the bloodbath of WWI would be children's literature.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at August 08, 2021 09:05 AM (d9FiS)

My brother and his friends loved reading books about WWI and WWII battles when they were 11-15.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 09:31 AM (ONvIw)

233 Hypothesis: the YA series are specifically for tweenage _girls_, catering to the interest in relationships etc. -- but girls that age aren't quite ready for actual grownup relationship drama yet. Hence the obsessions with friendships.
Posted by: Trimegistus at August 08, 2021

***
I'm guessing that's the modern style. I hear tell that publishers of YA books welcome darker content, stuff like "protagonist has abusive parents" and the like. Not what I want to read now, and it certainly wouldn't have been my taste at 12.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 09:32 AM (+nNqu)

234 he has some other books that are really weird that have not been mentioned.

Child of God.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at August 08, 2021 09:32 AM (y7DUB)

235 OM, how are you? Are your iron levels back to healthy red-blooded American manly man levels yet?

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion (oEn12) at August 08, 2021 08:27 AM (oEn12)

I'm doing fine, thank you.

The big change in my life now is that any time I am out in public, I use crutches to walk around. Major pain in the wazoo, but it is simply not worth the risk losing my balance and falling down again.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 08, 2021 09:33 AM (puyrX)

236 Posted by: Fou Troll at August 08, 2021 09:26 AM (HLwmB)

that was some really good trolling up until the link that didn't work. I wanted to see some Matt Damon. If you are going to troll, troll, and be sure about the link

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 09:33 AM (CJtAX)

237 Me recently:

1) "Light My Fire: My Life With The Doors," Ray Manzarek.

2) "Joseph Conrad," bio by Mya Jasanoff.

3) "Outrage: The 5 Reasons O.J. Simpson Got Away With Murder," by Vincent Bugliosi.

Posted by: mnw at August 08, 2021 09:33 AM (Cssks)

238 Artemis, you going to tell us who the author is so we can avoid it?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at August 08, 2021 09:33 AM (Y+l9t)

239 OK, I promised myself I would put in at least two solid hours of writing work today, so will see you all later.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 08, 2021 09:34 AM (2JVJo)

240 Jane Austen, dense? I think of her as almost glass-like in her clarity and simplicity. Now, if you want dense, try Dickens! Some of his sentences go on for a page and a half!
Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at August 08, 2021

***
Oh, she's quite clear. It's merely that there is a lot of information per square paragraph, so to speak. You're right about CD. The only Dickens I've ever finished were "A Christmas Carol" and A Tale of Two Cities, both quite short.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 09:34 AM (+nNqu)

241 My brother and his friends loved reading books about WWI and WWII battles when they were 11-15.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 09:31 AM (ONvIw)

CN, I don't think it was all that uncommon. I think I was in the 5th or 6th grade when I read Guadalcanal Diary. After that, I was hooked.

Posted by: Old Blue at August 08, 2021 09:34 AM (VNmG1)

242 @226

I'll agree that the language in Austen is a bit hard to plow through, but it's fascinating because she's a reporter on the ground, so to speak, letting us know how the gentry spoke at that time.

And the mores are interesting. They are suspicious of a new visitor to the village, because he traveled on a Sunday.
Stuff like that.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 09:34 AM (AwPyG)

243 YA is a marketing category that sells
so publishers generally like to shoehorn books into it

the target demographic is teen to wine mom

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion (oEn12) at August 08, 2021 09:34 AM (oEn12)

244 231 Well I think I'll take the dog for a drive into the mountains...

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at August 08, 2021 09:31 AM (cSyAR)

Well, that sounds ominous. It would be even more ominous if you replace "the dog" in that sentence with "my mother-in-law".

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 08, 2021 09:35 AM (puyrX)

245 I'm still read Foundation, about half way through. I usually read much faster but my neck is messed up and it's hard to read for any amount of time. I've been binge watching Criminal Minds instead...

Posted by: lin-duh at August 08, 2021 09:36 AM (UUBmN)

246 "Yet this far-off western village, with a population, including old and young, male and female, of about one thousand -- about enough for the organization of a single regiment if all had been men capable of bearing arms --furnished the UNION ARMY four general officers and one colonel, West Point graduates, and nine generals and field officers of Volunteers, that I can think of."

"My transfer carried me to the company of Captain McCall, who resigned from the army after the Mexican war and settled in Philadelphia. He was prompt, however, to volunteer when the rebellion broke out, and soon rose to the rank of major-general in the UNION ARMY."

"As soon as the news of the arrival of the UNION ARMY behind Vicksburg reached the North, floods of visitors began to pour in."

"A large number of arms turned in to the Ordnance Department as captured, were thus arms that had really been used by the UNION ARMY in the capture of Vicksburg."

All of these are taken from "Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant", written by Grant himself. Emphasis mine.

There are lots more, but we're not allowed to write long comments here any more.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at August 08, 2021 09:36 AM (XGAZE)

247 I've never read 'War and Peace' but Fonda didn't seem to fit the role.
Posted by: dantesed at August 08, 2021 08:39 AM

As one fully invested in all things of War and Peace agree,
The Russian version actor is much more fitting to Tolstoy.

Posted by: Skip at August 08, 2021 09:36 AM (znIQ9)

248 At the risk of sending CN to the fainting couch, you have to admit it is interesting how many reiterations of Pride and Prejudice there've been.

It's not a sweeping epic, just a simple romance. Yet it endures--so much so that there's cosplay, and Jane Austen societies, and website after website of fans.
Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021

Not the fainting kind. I think it's nuts. I even read about JA weekends in period dress. Isn't there anything real worth writing about today, or are people just that hungry for happy endings and "true love"? When books become obsessions (JA weekends in period costumes), I think we've rounded the corner into a sort of illness.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 09:37 AM (ONvIw)

249 I just wanted to let you all know I'm seriously irritated with the person who recommended "Peeler" (by Kevin McCarthy) a couple of months ago. I got a copy shipped to me from Ireland and read it. I enjoyed it, so I ordered his next book, "Irregulars." I enjoyed it also and looked for his next book.

There apparently are no more! Peeler was 2010, Irregulars was 2013. Then nothing!

Thanks a lot!

Posted by: Peter (My friends call me Pete) Zah at August 08, 2021 09:37 AM (a4vvV)

250 Not getting far on my ice cream

Posted by: Skip at August 08, 2021 09:37 AM (znIQ9)

251 221: I have never understood the YA category either. I was reading "YA" books when I was in elementary school.

Posted by: Cow Demon at August 08, 2021 09:37 AM (7qU8l)

252 @238

Can't do it. The marketing department at the big publishers keeps tabs on mentions, and I don't want to ruffle any feathers.

It's hilarious, though, because half the Amazon reviews say what I said, and the other half talk about how terrific the author is.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 09:38 AM (AwPyG)

253 CN, I don't think it was all that uncommon. I think I was in the 5th or 6th grade when I read Guadalcanal Diary. After that, I was hooked.
Posted by: Old Blue at August 08, 2021 09:34 AM (VNmG1)

I think it was very common back then. My brothers and his friends had fathers in WWII and grandfathers in WWI, so it was a sort of family history and a way to understand the men in the family, IMO.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 09:38 AM (ONvIw)

254 started on the proust series, got through about a third of that, most of that crew, was meh, then picked up grossman's life and fate, about the battle of stalingrad and the aftermath, about as many characters, but the stakes are more significant, chandler is a good translator, he was a battlefield reporter, and was so honest about both sides, stalin almost sent him to the camps, the book wasn't released for another 20 years,

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at August 08, 2021 09:39 AM (hMlTh)

255 Update
The fever has broken and my son is sleeping peacefully on the couch. Thank you all so much for the prayers. God is good, and the Horde is amazing.

Posted by: Jmel at August 08, 2021 09:40 AM (bVhJi)

256 Good morning everyone.

I'm on page 117 and I'm waiting for it to get good.
Posted by: JT

I'da lost interest by then. (Not trying to be snarky)
Posted by: Tonypete

I hear ya, but I've always been a big fan, so I'm tryna hang tough.

Posted by: JT at August 08, 2021 09:40 AM (arJlL)

257 231 Well I think I'll take the dog for a drive into the mountains...

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at August 08, 2021 09:31 AM (cSyAR)

Well, that sounds ominous. It would be even more ominous if you replace "the dog" in that sentence with "my mother-in-law".
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 08, 2021 09:35 AM (puyrX)

I see what you're saying but it's a treat for her. She seems to like Sowell.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at August 08, 2021 09:40 AM (cSyAR)

258 Your making it sound like all YA books are mediocre. I think Harry Potter was YA. The Hunger Games. They certainly appealed to a broad audience whethe you liked them or not. Or son Scott Card's Ender's Game.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at August 08, 2021 09:40 AM (Y+l9t)

259 While Biden is holding his ice cream i ask him what time is it?

I get waterboarded

Posted by: Humphreyrobot at August 08, 2021 09:41 AM (qoz/n)

260 @248

And it spawned one of the best-selling and most enduring sub-genres, the Regency romance (Regency=Austen's period, early 1800s)

I've read a million, myself.

I suspect it has something to do with how it's a type of escapist fairy tale for modern women--your only job is to find someone to marry, and a "prince-like" man delivers the goods.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 09:41 AM (AwPyG)

261 102 Lurker, back in 2002 columnist Fred Barnes called out Ambrose for lifting several passages of The Wild Blue, his best seller and ode to McGovern about World War II B-24 bomber crews, from historian Thomas Childers book Wings of Morning.

Further examination revealed allot of this activity in Ambroses body of best selling work. I thought the Childers book was outstanding.

Posted by: CV-43 JAG at August 08, 2021 09:42 AM (QKRgK)

262 Link works for me, Quint, assuming you're talking about the imdb page. I did get a different tinyurl page from the usual when I hit my convert button, wanting me to sign up for an account, so I went back and checked.

Posted by: Fou Troll at August 08, 2021 09:42 AM (HLwmB)

263 Excellent news on the temperature

Posted by: weirdflunky at August 08, 2021 09:42 AM (cknjq)

264 Greetings:

Soft ice cream trucks drew the bigger crowds.

Posted by: 11B40 at August 08, 2021 09:42 AM (uuklp)

265 I've given up on Grisham. His earlier books are ok, but he's turned into quite the liberal scold.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional

NOW you tell me !

Posted by: JT at August 08, 2021 09:42 AM (arJlL)

266 Wish I could make it to Based Con with a bunch of my books

.

YA books can be pretty meh but some are quite creative and well done. You don't expect great literature because they are deliberately pitched at younger readers, but the Narnia Books and the Hobbit aren't trash.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 09:43 AM (KZzsI)

267 @258

Twilight was YA, too.

The popularity of Harry Potter, Twilight and The Hunger Games inspired a lot of well-known authors to write a YA novel with terrible results. (Harlan Coban, Eliz. George, etc)

To me, that's not easy, for an adult to get the "voice" right.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 09:43 AM (AwPyG)

268 I suspect it has something to do with how it's a type of escapist fairy tale for modern women--your only job is to find someone to marry, and a "prince-like" man delivers the goods.

I categorize Romance along with westerns and action novels (even superhero comics). They are generally repetitive and predictable, but can sometimes surprise with greater quality than one would expect from the genre. All these kind of books are meant to help someone escape and hide in a different world where things go the way you wish they could for you.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 09:45 AM (KZzsI)

269 Not sure if I mentioned this: I was re-reading O'Brian's book _Post Captain_ (the second Aubrey/Maturin novel) a few weeks ago. It's unusual in that a lot of the book is devoted to life ashore, especially the budding romances between Jack Aubrey and his future bride Sophia, Maturin and his future bride Diana, with guest appearance by the horrible Mrs. Williams. It's essentially a Jane Austen novel from the male perspective. Among other concerns Jack is desperate to get enough prize money so that he will be a "good match" for the girl he loves.

Posted by: Trimegistus at August 08, 2021 09:45 AM (QZxDR)

270 258 Your making it sound like all YA books are mediocre. I think Harry Potter was YA. The Hunger Games. They certainly appealed to a broad audience whethe you liked them or not. Or son Scott Card's Ender's Game.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice)

not at all, it became a best selling category because of great books like that
but it covers a wide range, and the basic commonality us the main characters are young people
A new fantasy or sf author generally has a better chance of selling if they can put their book in YA, rather than SF/F

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion (oEn12) at August 08, 2021 09:46 AM (oEn12)

271 It does seem that the most successful YA books are fantasy, sci-fi, alternate universe type books. It is interesting that my grown son was first to recommend Harry Potter and The Hunger Games which was my first introduction the genre. It was a first because it was usually the other way around.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at August 08, 2021 09:49 AM (Y+l9t)

272 Good morning, Horde. Has anybody here read the Radetzky March by Joseph Roth? I'm interested in the last days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in 19th century Vienna as well (thanks for the book recommendations, Mary Poppins!) and so I bought Roth's novel a long time ago, but it joined the ranks of the many books I own but haven't gotten around to reading.

Posted by: Donna, now with 100% new and improved &&&&&&&&& at August 08, 2021 09:50 AM (HabA/)

273 YA stories for girls have two power fantasies braided into them. The first is the fantasy of Specialness. The protag is always Special, and so naturally guys are all in love with her, but it's often a kind of worshipful love because of her Specialness.

The other is the fantasy of Loyalty. The protag has enemies, but she also has a posse of devoted friends. Apparently this is a big deal for girls, because in real life their social lives are such a minefield of shifting loyalties and constantly tracking who's in and who's out of the group.

Posted by: Trimegistus at August 08, 2021 09:51 AM (QZxDR)

274 Things I learned from the Joseph Conrad bio:

English was Conrad's THIRD language, not even his second. His second language was French. He spoke English with a thick Polish accent throughout his adult life.

Conrad, H.G. Wells; Henry James; Ford Madox Ford and John Galsworthy were all close friends.

Conrad had the "Sadim Touch" when it came to managing his finances (the Midas Touch in reverse). Every investment Conrad touched turned into crap.

Conrad's books only started selling well about 4 years before his death in 1924. Prior to that, Conrad was a critical success much more than a popular success.

Posted by: mnw at August 08, 2021 09:52 AM (Cssks)

275 Good morning!

Let's smile & be happy & strike fear in the hearts of killjoy leftists everywhere.

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at August 08, 2021 09:52 AM (u82oZ)

276 https://tinyurl.com/f44zyyjv

1976 National Lampoon cover celebrating Soviet women athletes. Look carefully.

Posted by: Ignoramus at August 08, 2021 09:53 AM (ZHVt1)

277 Big, big thunderstorm, a wall of super-cells, knocked me off line and had the power go out.

Power back, and some minor damage, but nothing else.

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at August 08, 2021 09:54 AM (u82oZ)

278 @273

I don't know if the youthful fantasy of "specialness" and "devoted friends" can be constrained to girls, though.

See: Superman, Batman, etc, etc.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 09:54 AM (AwPyG)

279 I see what you're saying but it's a treat for her. She seems to like Sowell.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at August 08, 2021 09:40 AM (cSyAR)

Your dog has good taste.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 08, 2021 09:54 AM (puyrX)

280 Your making it sound like all YA books are mediocre. I think Harry Potter was YA. The Hunger Games. They certainly appealed to a broad audience whethe you liked them or not. Or son Scott Card's Ender's Game.

***
Ender was a young character, true, but the original story appeared in Analog, not a YA outlet by any means. I never got the sense that the story was YA just because the protagonist is a young boy. You're right about the others. The Potters, for example, are great storytelling, and pitched exactly to the demographic that would love them the most, junior-high to high school kids.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 09:55 AM (+nNqu)

281 Book related: I watched the movie The Dark Tower, and it is based on Stephen King novels (plural). A 94 minute film that attempts to build a universe, then have the ultimate evil challenge our heroes in an ultimate showdown.

Somehow I think the movie must have skipped over a thing or two.

Anyone well familiar with both the movie and the books, and can make a clear recommendation whether the books are worth it or not?

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 09:55 AM (AIH1c)

282 I was unloading items at a recycling depot and came across a woman who had found a mess of books and other items in the bin marked for newspapers. I joined in, and we extracted a lot of children's books, engineering textbooks from the mid-1900s, a Time/Life series of "Our American Century," and several 45 rpm records for children. It looked as if someone had said "to hell with the estate sale."

She had grandchildren, so she took the children's books. I took the rest.

Now I have a trunk full of hardbacks. I hope the used-book store will take them, but if not, what should I do? I just can't throw away books when they're in good condition. (I have disposed of two old paperbacks that had fallen apart, and I'm still bothered by that.)

One tome will be problematic: "Negroes in Society," copyright 1949. It's a sociological text. I'll ask local universities' sociology departments about taking it as an example of incorrect historical attitudes, but I expect them to recoil from the wrongthink.

I can always resort to Goodwill, and I'll just try not to think of it throwing out books.

I'd better move on this, because I want my trunk space back.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 08, 2021 09:56 AM (Om/di)

283 I rewatched Master and Commander Friday/ Saturday as I found it completely on YouTube free. Of many times I seen it often miss the beginning when on TV. It really is a fantastic historical accuracy in costumes and action if not reality.

Posted by: Skip at August 08, 2021 09:56 AM (znIQ9)

284 I don't know if the youthful fantasy of "specialness" and "devoted friends" can be constrained to girls, though.

See: Superman, Batman, etc, etc.
Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021

***
Kirk and Spock, Solo and Illya, etc. (No "slash" interpretation here.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 09:56 AM (+nNqu)

285
Anyone well familiar with both the movie and the books, and can make a clear recommendation whether the books are worth it or not?
Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021

***
I haven't finished the book series, so no, but the first few are King's usual dynamite storytelling.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 09:57 AM (+nNqu)

286 https://tinyurl.com/f44zyyjv
1976 National Lampoon cover celebrating Soviet women athletes. Look carefully.
Posted by: Ignoramus at August 08, 2021 09:53 AM (ZHVt1)

"She" is packing heat!

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at August 08, 2021 09:57 AM (R/m4+)

287 On the other hand, it's a literary device to have a devoted friend who gets to hear what the protagonist is thinking.

Because dialogue is always better than monologue.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 09:58 AM (AwPyG)

288 I don't know if the youthful fantasy of "specialness" and "devoted friends" can be constrained to girls, though.

*****

Even the popular kids struggle with their desire to be special. My early years in adolescent psych were illuminating.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 09:58 AM (ONvIw)

289 Hmmm, that Nightland Racer book got me curious. I read the sample pages. I think I'm going to order it.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 08, 2021 09:59 AM (VwHCD)

290 "Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" is the most depressing book"

It's a religious allegory. The father is good, but despairs and can't make the leap of faith, and is judged not good enough. The boy is good enough and gets taken into the fold of the righteous. It's a happy ending if you want to see it. The coda with the fish is about the Church.

Posted by: Ignoramus at August 08, 2021 09:59 AM (ZHVt1)

291 Isn't there anything real worth writing about today, or are people just that hungry for happy endings and "true love"? When books become obsessions (JA weekends in period costumes), I think we've rounded the corner into a sort of illness.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 09:37 AM (ONvIw)

Perhaps, but the more our popular is forced to bow the knee to 'woke' sensibilities, the more of this stuff we're going to see. I think it's also why the "Amish romance" sub-genre is a thing.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 08, 2021 09:59 AM (puyrX)

292 When I was a kid, the bookmobile stopped down the street from my house, once a week, I think. They had a limited selection (duh, it's a truck, not a big ass building), but I used to find something worth checking out pretty much every week.

That's all I've got.

Posted by: a.moron at August 08, 2021 10:00 AM (I5FZ1)

293 #273. You make it sound like only teen girls read books. I think the most successful YA books appeal to both male and female. I think teen boys have just as much angst as teen girls and most of these books have both strong male and female characters.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at August 08, 2021 10:01 AM (Y+l9t)

294 A Plague of Demons....1965
Book by Keith Laumer

Posted by: Humphreyrobot at August 08, 2021 10:02 AM (qoz/n)

295 Our small 'burb had a bookmobile, but I preferred the neighboring suburb's library, even though I couldn't take out books there - because you could browse and sit and read to your heart's content there. The bookmobile always made me feel pressured - it was leaving in 5 minutes so find a book! Choose between books! Hurry up! There was no place to sit and leisurely flip pages.

Posted by: Donna, now with 100% new and improved &&&&&&&&& at August 08, 2021 10:02 AM (HabA/)

296 One of my many bookshelves is filled with science fiction short story compendiums. One big tome is The Space Opera Renaissance edited by Hartwell & Cramer.

One of the good stories of the genre is titled Space Opera[/] by Michael Kandel. The author's bio and intro before the story states he hates Space Opera.

What the story is about is a synopsis and review of an opera set in the far future, and in space. It is filled with humor and there is not an opera trope he missed. Short and fun to read.

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at August 08, 2021 10:03 AM (u82oZ)

297 He also states that it was NBC that lost money in 1980 for not broadcasting the Summer Olympics that year when I swear up down and sideways that the bradcast rights for the Olympics were held by ABC. If that's the case, that's an egregious research error. But I could be mistaken.
Posted by: Historian at August 08, 2021 08:58 AM
For 1980, ABC had the broadcast rights to the Winter Olympics and NBC had the Summer Olympics.

Posted by: Chuck C at August 08, 2021 10:03 AM (EughT)

298 I thought Bugliosi's book about the O.J. Simpson trial was brilliant, but it was painful to relive it.

The Perfect Storm of courtroom incompetence: DA Gil Garcetti & Judge Lance Ito.

Simpson's trial, & the media coverage thereof, presaged woeness in many ways, imo.

Posted by: mnw at August 08, 2021 10:03 AM (Cssks)

299 @291

And the Jane Austen Society people throw balls, all over the country. I stayed at a hotel once, where the largest one was taking place, and it was amazing--thousands of people in detailed period dress.

I was surprised at the number of men who were willing to dress-up, too.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:03 AM (AwPyG)

300 Saved by Pixy.

Have a great day, everyone. Time to pick up the branches in the yard. If we had been in an RV, it would have been worse.

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at August 08, 2021 10:04 AM (u82oZ)

301 298 should read "wokeness"

Posted by: mnw at August 08, 2021 10:04 AM (Cssks)

302 My dogs love going to the woods. When we get off the highway, I put the back window down so the young dog can put his head out the window.

I used to love the bookmobile. The regional library here covers three counties. I always found stuff to read. I am hoping to find a library I enjoy, when I finally move.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at August 08, 2021 10:05 AM (YynYJ)

303 I think it's also why the "Amish romance" sub-genre is a thing.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 08, 2021 09:59 AM (puyrX)

Maybe. But the dress up games seem sad, and yes I know that's not the point.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 10:06 AM (ONvIw)

304 I was surprised at the number of men who were willing to dress-up, too.
Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:03 AM (AwPyG)

Unlike the men in the JA books, these guys planned on 21st century sexual mores coming into play after the dance.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 10:07 AM (ONvIw)

305 293 #273. You make it sound like only teen girls read books. I think the most successful YA books appeal to both male and female. I think teen boys have just as much angst as teen girls and most of these books have both strong male and female characters.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice)

This truly was the magic of the Harry Potter books. I read the first two books to my boys, then my oldest, at age 11 took over and read the rest to me and his younger brother as they were released.

We waited at midnight in costumes outside of Barnes and Noble with hundreds of other parents and kids, to pick up the newest books.

Harry Potter got BOYS reading.

Posted by: nurse ratched at August 08, 2021 10:07 AM (U2p+3)

306 You have to admit, though, that the Jane Austen dress-up people can't hold a candle to the sci-fi conference dress-up people

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:08 AM (AwPyG)

307 @304

Heh!

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:08 AM (AwPyG)

308 Anyone well familiar with both the movie and the books, and can make a clear recommendation whether the books are worth it or not?
Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021

***
I haven't finished the book series, so no, but the first few are King's usual dynamite storytelling.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 09:57 AM (+nNqu)

"King's usual dynamic storytelling." Is that a euphemism for overlong?

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:09 AM (AIH1c)

309 "I was surprised at the number of men who were willing to dress-up, too."

Isn't that what Civil War re-enactments are.

Posted by: Ignoramus at August 08, 2021 10:10 AM (ZHVt1)

310 I love the Matt Helm books. The first-person narration with his opinions, the logic he uses, the firearms education, the first-name code names, and especially the low-tech approach.

Like JTB, I may never reread them, but that's because I've read them so often that I have some scenes and passages committed to memory.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 08, 2021 10:11 AM (Om/di)

311 Morning Hordemates!
As I was bored last week I reread Clancy's Red Storm Rising. A good read. But it'll be the last time I think. I found myself flipping thru the pages after realizing he skipped over some major players in such a scenario, not the least of which was the Warsaw Pact.
No idea what to read next.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 08, 2021 10:11 AM (axyOa)

312 I was surprised at the number of men who were willing to dress-up, too.
Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:03 AM (AwPyG)

Unlike the men in the JA books, these guys planned on 21st century sexual mores coming into play after the dance.
Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 10:07 AM (ONvIw)

Furry conventions enter the chat.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:11 AM (AIH1c)

313 "I was surprised at the number of men who were willing to dress-up, too."
----
Isn't that what Civil War re-enactments are.
Posted by: Ignoramus at August 08, 2021 10:10 AM (ZHVt1)

The National Guard.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:12 AM (AIH1c)

314 My English teacher said I'd never be good at poetry because of my dyslexia---but I've thrown three pots and a jug so far, so screw that guy!

Posted by: OleanderSalad at August 08, 2021 10:12 AM (qTq4x)

315 Everyone is an askhole, sometimes. It's human nature... One thing I've learned to do is ask, right away, "What is my role in this conversation? If you want my advice on what decision to make, I'm happy to give you my opinion. If your mind is already made up and you just want my support, I'm happy to give you that, too. Just tell me what you're actually looking for, here."

Unless it's something truly black-and-white, and the person really, really shouldn't do it. Like if they say "I'm thinking about trying heroin," or "I think I'm going to watch 'The American,' starring George Clooney."

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at August 08, 2021 10:13 AM (JN3xP)

316 @298

A big clue was the fact that the venue for trial was changed.

The murder took place in Brentwood, so the Santa Monica courthouse should have been the venue. (as it was in the later civil trial)

But the powers-that-be agreed to move venue to downtown LA. A smart move for the defense, considering the make-up of the jury, but definitely not a jury of OJ's peers.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:13 AM (AwPyG)

317 Weren't the 1980 Summer Olympics in the USSR and Jimmy Carter boycotted them? When the '84 Olympics were in Los Angeles, the Soviets boycotted them in retaliation.

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at August 08, 2021 10:13 AM (xopIz)

318 We waited at midnight in costumes outside of Barnes and Noble with hundreds of other parents and kids, to pick up the newest books.

Harry Potter got BOYS reading.

Posted by: nurse ratched at August 08, 2021 10:07 AM (U2p+3)

Sounds like it got parents to dress up in costumes and let their kids stay up past their bed time too. lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 08, 2021 10:14 AM (VwHCD)

319 And I'm not just down on JA dress up, I think the Tolkein, the Star Trek and the rest of the costume and pretending is sad, too. The one exception I used to make was the SCA stuff where people were more interested in history than in alternate realities. Now I see people sort of living this crap too as a way of assigning themselves a title and a role far outside their real lives. A friend is a science teacher who never did finish that PhD and is pretty unhappy with her station, so naming herself Countess something or other of the Kingdom of somewhere near Chicago seems to provide a sense of "Achievement"?
It's not my thing.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 10:14 AM (ONvIw)

320 Everyone is an askhole, sometimes. It's human nature... One thing I've learned to do is ask, right away, "What is my role in this conversation? If you want my advice on what decision to make, I'm happy to give you my opinion. If your mind is already made up and you just want my support, I'm happy to give you that, too. Just tell me what you're actually looking for, here."

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at August 08, 2021 10:13 AM (JN3xP)

In mental health world, there's something called reflective listening, where you basically (with some sly twists) parrot back to the other person what they're saying.

It's actually an effective strategy, because the person can hear what they're saying, and they can recognize for themselves the folly (or wisdom) of their own thoughts.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:15 AM (AIH1c)

321 @319

I kinda agree, it is a little sad.

I feel the same way about adults who dress up for Halloween--it feels like arrested development, or something.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:17 AM (AwPyG)

322 The Isles is an interesting piece of history. The main theme is that official British history wrongly promotes the notion that "Britain" was always a unity apart from the Continent. Instead, foreign invaders were always coming over, creating divisions that last to this day. And Ireland and the big island crossed paths along the way (the Irish once were the invaders).

One split is between the Celts and the German types. The Celts were the hobbits, and the warrior poet creative types. The Germans were the overlords who gave us the House of Windsor.

Posted by: Ignoramus at August 08, 2021 10:17 AM (ZHVt1)

323 Ohh, that's sad about Markie Post.

I loved "Night Court," but I detested how the writers tried to put her character with Judge Stone. Most places frown on workplace romance.

(Why can I remember the names of every other character and not her?)

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 08, 2021 10:18 AM (Om/di)

324 I thought Bugliosi's book about the O.J. Simpson trial was brilliant, but it was painful to relive it.

The Perfect Storm of courtroom incompetence: DA Gil Garcetti & Judge Lance Ito.

Simpson's trial, & the media coverage thereof, presaged woeness in many ways, imo.

I'm glad I was out of the country when this happened. I remember Christopher Hitchens writing about how he refused to refer to the culprit as "O.J." He said he doesn't use cute pet names when speaking of criminals. To him, he was just "The murderer, Simpson."

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at August 08, 2021 10:19 AM (dzUgF)

325 Isn't that what Civil War re-enactments are.
Posted by: Ignoramus at August 08, 2021 10:10 AM (ZHVt1)

But that recreates important history for an audience. Recreating Emma or PandP does not do that. I know CW re-enactors and they do not do it to escape the mundane. Most are avid history readers and researchers.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 10:19 AM (ONvIw)

326 316 Artemis

"the powers that be" were just ONE man: DA Gil Garcetti. He owns that.

Garcetti over the years gave 5 different explanations for filing the indictment in downtown LA, instead of in the Santa Monica division. All 5 explanations were bullizh*t, & Bugliosi destroys each of them in great detail.

Posted by: mnw at August 08, 2021 10:19 AM (Cssks)

327 There was a movie titled 'Radio Flyer' back in 1992....
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 08, 2021 09:15 AM (puyrX)
-
I have mostly chopped down the TV antenna and watched relatively less than a handful of movies per year for decades already. Great for the soul and spirit. I miss great acting, not because I don't watch, but because for the most part the art has vanished. And then there's music...

Posted by: Biden's Dog at August 08, 2021 10:19 AM (UaJ/W)

328 Morning all. I actually bought a physical book.
1st time in years. 480 pages should keep me occupied and out of trouble for awhile.

Firearms, Traps, and Tools of the Mountain Men: A Guide to the Equipment of the Trappers and Fur Traders Who Opened the Old West

Carl P. Russell

Posted by: The Paolo at August 08, 2021 10:20 AM (OCTRt)

329 I feel the same way about adults who dress up for Halloween--it feels like arrested development, or something.
Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:17 AM (AwPyG)

An escape from a life that could be improved upon if the effort went in that direction. My SCA friend let SCA interfere with the rest of her life for quite some time.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 10:22 AM (ONvIw)

330 "I was surprised at the number of men who were willing to dress-up, too."

-
One of my favorite moments in Rumpole concerns his representation of a rather lowlife actress. Before trial, counsel and the judge were in the robing room discussing the case when the judge learns that the defendant, the victim, and most of the witnesses were show people. "You mean people who dress up in funny clothes?" the judge asks in horror as he dons his robe and powdered wig.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at August 08, 2021 10:22 AM (d9FiS)

331 Off to the farmers market. Really just an excuse to go for a walk as there probably won't be anything left at this late hour.
I love the book thread. There is nothing better than being able to talk books with people who actually read things other than the "best seller" book of the month that everybody is talking about.
Have a great day.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at August 08, 2021 10:22 AM (Y+l9t)

332 Shout out to Kevin Durant for leading the USA to basketball gold, again. Great shots of him draped in the American flag.

Posted by: Ignoramus at August 08, 2021 10:22 AM (ZHVt1)

333 I'm glad I was out of the country when this happened. I remember Christopher Hitchens writing about how he refused to refer to the culprit as "O.J." He said he doesn't use cute pet names when speaking of criminals. To him, he was just "The murderer, Simpson."
Posted by: Dr. Mabuse

"The Juice" would have been a cute pet name.
OJ was just the initials of his first and middle names. Orenthal James.

Posted by: The Paolo at August 08, 2021 10:23 AM (OCTRt)

334 Posted by: Fou Troll at August 08, 2021 09:42 AM (HLwmB)

it didn't work because I included the (imdb) part at the end. it works now, that is on me.

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 10:23 AM (CJtAX)

335 It's actually an effective strategy, because the person can hear what they're saying, and they can recognize for themselves the folly (or wisdom) of their own thoughts.
Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:15 AM (AIH1c)

Yes, but people are more apt to recognize this when it comes from a counselor or a clergyman, than their friends or parents. At least that's my experience.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 10:24 AM (ONvIw)

336 @328

That actually sounds pretty interesting.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:24 AM (AwPyG)

337 "the powers that be" were just ONE man: DA Gil Garcetti. He owns that.

Garcetti over the years gave 5 different explanations for filing the indictment in downtown LA, instead of in the Santa Monica division. All 5 explanations were bullizh*t, & Bugliosi destroys each of them in great detail.

Posted by: mnw

Gil Garcetti? Fish out of water?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at August 08, 2021 10:24 AM (d9FiS)

338 Off yesterday's stinking sock.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 08, 2021 10:25 AM (OCTRt)

339 "You mean people who dress up in funny clothes?" the judge asks in horror as he dons his robe and powdered wig.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at August 08, 2021 10:22 AM (d9FiS)

Those white wigs are pretty silly.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 10:25 AM (ONvIw)

340 Firearms, Traps, and Tools of the Mountain Men: A Guide to the Equipment of the Trappers and Fur Traders Who Opened the Old West

Wow, 480 pages! That must be a real devotee going over all the paraphernalia of the trade.

I never cared much for MASH, especially in its later seasons, but there was one episode where the field hospital had to billet a whole bunch of Korean orphans. Col. Potter had 3 of them all tucked into a cot, and they wanted him to read them a story to put them to sleep, even though they couldn't speak English. All he had was a field manual on how to clean a pistol, so he read it to them with all sorts of enthusiasm in his voice, and they quickly fell asleep. Then he settled back in his chair and proceeded to enjoy reading the rest of the manual for himself.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at August 08, 2021 10:25 AM (dzUgF)

341 What could have been ...

All the networks were all over OJ's Bronco ride. They even cut away from live NBA basketball playoffs.

Their fervent hope was that OJ would blow his brains out on live TV.

Posted by: Ignoramus at August 08, 2021 10:26 AM (ZHVt1)

342
Second on A Nervous Splendor. Morton captures the atmosphere of Vienna very well. I particularly enjoyed the portrayal of Bruckner, a genius who looked and sounded like a hillbilly.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 08, 2021 10:26 AM (/U27+)

343 @333

There was a local radio station "Ken and Bob" that would have the "hour of rage" every day about the OJ trial, where people would call in an express their disgust.

the hosts always suggested that the slashed bodies of the decedents should be propped up in the courtroom, because no one seemed to remember that this was about them.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:26 AM (AwPyG)

344 Hangdog

After the Simpson trial, the voters in their wisdom RE-ELECTED Garcetti!

Posted by: mnw at August 08, 2021 10:27 AM (Cssks)

345 I loved "Night Court," but I detested how the writers tried to put her character with Judge Stone. Most places frown on workplace romance.

(Why can I remember the names of every other character and not her?)
Posted by: Weak Geek at August 08, 2021 10:18 AM (Om/di)

Sure, it's frowned upon, but it happens anyway. It's the foundation of most teevee drama (and comedy), and is perhaps more realistic than most other aspect of these types of shows.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:27 AM (AIH1c)

346 That actually sounds pretty interesting.
Posted by: artemis

The author seems to know his stuff.
Carl P. Russell (1894-1967) was a conservationist with a PhD from the University of Michigan and was the author of a number of books including One Hundred Years in Yosemite and Guns on the Early Frontiers. He was superintendent of Yosemite National Park from 1947 to 1952.

Those that dress up and attend Rendezvous gatherings use his book as an authority on the period.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 08, 2021 10:28 AM (OCTRt)

347 But that recreates important history for an audience. Recreating Emma or PandP does not do that. I know CW re-enactors and they do not do it to escape the mundane. Most are avid history readers and researchers.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 10:19 AM (ONvIw)

I agree about that one. Every actor in the movie Gettysburg raved about the reenactors and said the movie could not have been made without them. That is an understatement really.

There was a book I read that I won't mention because it was done by a lefty. But he talked about the hard core reenactors. There is a name for these guys, they sleep in ditches and eat so little they look like Civil War types. Some of the stuff he wrote was pretty interesting, the rest was schlock.

Posted by: Quint at August 08, 2021 10:29 AM (CJtAX)

348 I looked up "fetching" in the dictionary. It had the picture of Audrey from up top.

Marilyn was the sexpot. But there's something special about Audrey.

Posted by: Ignoramus at August 08, 2021 10:29 AM (ZHVt1)

349 It's actually an effective strategy, because the person can hear what they're saying, and they can recognize for themselves the folly (or wisdom) of their own thoughts.
Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:15 AM (AIH1c)

Yes, but people are more apt to recognize this when it comes from a counselor or a clergyman, than their friends or parents. At least that's my experience.
Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 10:24 AM (ONvIw)

If I could have a do-over, I'd like to try it more with my daughter.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:30 AM (AIH1c)

350 (Why can I remember the names of every other character and not her?)
Posted by: Weak Geek

Markie Post?

Posted by: rickb223 at August 08, 2021 10:30 AM (OCTRt)

351
In the middle of binge-reading Fraser's Flashman series, currently on book 8, in China during the Taiping Rebellion. One thing that surprises me in the series is that there isn't nearly as much knavery from Flashy as I expected. Still a hell of a lot of fun.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at August 08, 2021 10:31 AM (gbfHZ)

352 I have one little quibble with the drawing of the snow-bound woman reading.

there wouldn't be a lipstick mark on her cup.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:31 AM (AwPyG)

353 It's essentially a Jane Austen novel from the male perspective. Among other concerns Jack is desperate to get enough prize money so that he will be a "good match" for the girl he loves.

Yeah Patrick O'Brian was a big Jane Austen fan and he got a lot of his ideas on behavior and language from those books for the time period, plus a ton of other research. Honestly I find the first half of the book sort of tedious, as Sophie is a very weak, vapid character through most of the books and Diana is a pathetic slut with no character at all in any of them.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 10:32 AM (KZzsI)

354 If I could have a do-over, I'd like to try it more with my daughter.
Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:30 AM (AIH1c)

I still do it with my kids when asked. I found they did and do not like unsolicited attempts.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 10:32 AM (ONvIw)

355 Please say a prayer for my little prince.

On their way.

Posted by: Laura Montgomery at August 08, 2021 10:32 AM (KFIdK)

356 HARCOURT FENTON MUDD!!!

Posted by: SFGoth (KAi1n/FKWJm) at August 08, 2021 10:33 AM (KAi1n)

357 276 https://tinyurl.com/f44zyyjv

1976 National Lampoon cover celebrating Soviet women athletes. Look carefully.

Posted by: Ignoramus at August 08, 2021 09:53 AM (ZHVt1)

To be fair, you really don't need to look that carefully to see "it".

Posted by: a.moron at August 08, 2021 10:34 AM (I5FZ1)

358 Who dis got a funny face.

Posted by: SFGoth (KAi1n/FKWJm) at August 08, 2021 10:34 AM (KAi1n)

359 I have one little quibble with the drawing of the snow-bound woman reading.

there wouldn't be a lipstick mark on her cup.
Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:31 AM (AwPyG)

What makes you think she's snowbound? Or that it's fresh lipstick on a fresh cup?

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:34 AM (AIH1c)

360 The robes and wigs look kind of silly to us on British magistrates, but to try to compare that with acting is either a cheap laugh or actors not comprehending the difference. Judges are all wearing the same outfit as part of tradition, gravity, and respect. Actors are whores that play out parts to entertain people.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 10:35 AM (KZzsI)

361 Who dis got a funny face.
Posted by: SFGoth (KAi1n/FKWJm) at August 08, 2021 10:34 AM (KAi1n)

What a terrible thing to say about Joan Collins.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:35 AM (AIH1c)

362 Fenton! FENTON!!!!!

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 08, 2021 10:36 AM (LTtzU)

363 @359

That's her "me time" cup, I think. Not her "company" cup.

She's a serious reader, and wears her favorite sweats.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:37 AM (AwPyG)

364 What makes you think she's snowbound? Or that it's fresh lipstick on a fresh cup?
Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:34 AM (AIH1c)

She seems like a student to me. I never read for pleasure, bent over a desk, nor do I use post-its. It looks like she's been there for hours, maybe cramming for a test.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 10:37 AM (ONvIw)

365 "To be fair, you really don't need to look that carefully to see "it"."

The joke then was the absurdity of men getting put into women's sports events. The Eastern bloc did it surreptitiously with chemicals.

Posted by: Ignoramus at August 08, 2021 10:38 AM (ZHVt1)

366 I read Michael Crichton's "Sphere". It was disappointing. [ . . . ]
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at August 08, 2021 08:45 AM (+2sc/)

I read Sphere, and then later read Murray Leinster's book Creatures of the Abyss and I noted at the time that the plots were very similar, but Leinster's characters were more likeable, the plot was clearer, and the Deus ex machina resolution was not so much silly as it was a bit hurried and out of date. AND it was much shorter.

I recommend Creatures of the Abyss by Murray Leinster.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 08, 2021 10:38 AM (0dhMv)

367 Another Rumpole moment. Rumpole's client is accused of selling drugs to an undercover policeman disguised as a hippy. The cop testifies as to the transaction. Rumpole cross examines him on his appearance, long hair, a furry vest, purple bell bottoms reading "make love, not war." Rumpole then asks, "And you describe this as being in 'plain clothes'?"

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at August 08, 2021 10:38 AM (d9FiS)

368 @364

That's a good point. She should be on the sofa, if she's reading for pleasure.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:38 AM (AwPyG)

369 All the good Cons are in the midwest, its frustrating. I know San Diego is on the coast, but that's just an overblown mess that more and more solid creators are skipping because it turned into a corporate show.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 10:38 AM (KZzsI)

370 363 @359

That's her "me time" cup, I think. Not her "company" cup.

She's a serious reader, and wears her favorite sweats.
Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:37 AM (AwPyG)

That top has a rather gossamer look to it, for a sweat shirt. I would assume a lot of women have "me time" cups with lipstick stains on them. Fresh or not so fresh.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:39 AM (AIH1c)

371 @369

Jump on a plane and go! You get the added bonus of mask cosplay aboard the plane.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:40 AM (AwPyG)

372 The Rumpole books are pretty good. Not as good as the series, due to that actor, what's his name.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:41 AM (AwPyG)

373 Everyone is an askhole, sometimes. It's human nature...

Doesn't bother me in the least. Asking for advice doesn't imply any obligation to take it. What does bother me is people who ask for advice and then want to argue about why I'm wrong.

Posted by: Oddbob at August 08, 2021 10:41 AM (nfrXX)

374 That top has a rather gossamer look to it, for a sweat shirt. I would assume a lot of women have "me time" cups with lipstick stains on them. Fresh or not so fresh.
Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:39 AM (AIH1c)

On the other hand, a lot of us wash our cups.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 10:42 AM (ONvIw)

375 All the good Cons are in the midwest, its frustrating. I know San Diego is on the coast, but that's just an overblown mess that more and more solid creators are skipping because it turned into a corporate show.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 10:38 AM (KZzsI)

I was in San Diego a few years ago, not FOR the convention, but the same time as the convention.

What a spectacular mess that was.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:42 AM (AIH1c)

376 The "Jane Austen Board Game" could be the story outline for just about any PBS series.

Posted by: BignJames at August 08, 2021 10:43 AM (AwYPR)

377 That top has a rather gossamer look to it, for a sweat shirt. I would assume a lot of women have "me time" cups with lipstick stains on them. Fresh or not so fresh.
Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:39 AM (AIH1c)

On the other hand, a lot of us wash our cups.
Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 10:42 AM (ONvIw)

I use the same cup all week long, then wash it on weekends.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:43 AM (AIH1c)

378 I've got 2 coffee table-type books on the Wehrmacht's supply and food distribution system, including field kitchens, different rations, etc. Anything can be geeked out in a book.

Posted by: SFGoth (KAi1n/FKWJm) at August 08, 2021 10:43 AM (KAi1n)

379 I watched a Joe Rogan interview of a writer named I believe Tom O'Neil.
O'Neil has written a book about the Charles Manson murders and trial.
He claims Manson was a subject of MKUltra experiments.
I have no position on this at all but the interview was interesting in a weird way.

Posted by: Brother Northernlurker just another guy at August 08, 2021 10:43 AM (cSyAR)

380 I use the same cup all week long, then wash it on weekends.
Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:43 AM (AIH1c)

wow

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 10:44 AM (ONvIw)

381
On the other hand, a lot of us wash our cups.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 10:42 AM

*consults style guide*

The deuce you say!

Posted by: AltonJackson at August 08, 2021 10:44 AM (DUIap)

382 I've got 2 coffee table-type books on the Wehrmacht's supply and food distribution system, including field kitchens, different rations, etc. Anything can be geeked out in a book.
Posted by: SFGoth

Those sound cool. Yeah. I like history.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 08, 2021 10:45 AM (OCTRt)

383 My dad used to think it was important NOT to wash his coffee cup, but just rinse it out.

I think he was confusing it with a skillet

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:46 AM (AwPyG)

384 I use the same cup all week long, then wash it on weekends.
Posted by: BurtTC

wow
Posted by: CN

Like a Navy Chief!

Posted by: rickb223 at August 08, 2021 10:46 AM (OCTRt)

385 I watched a Joe Rogan interview of a writer named I believe Tom O'Neil.
O'Neil has written a book about the Charles Manson murders and trial.
He claims Manson was a subject of MKUltra experiments.
I have no position on this at all but the interview was interesting in a weird way.
Posted by: Brother Northernlurker just another guy at August 08, 2021 10:43 AM (cSyAR)

I've heard the author speak on another venue.

Same guy who claims Sharon Tate was essentially prostituted by her husband, who had tons of movie reels with her and other men, and that LAPD let Polanski go in and remove all the movies, so they wouldn't cause trouble for him.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:47 AM (AIH1c)

386 Las Vegas my have other issues, but to their credit they gave O.J. nine years in prison.

Posted by: Chuck C at August 08, 2021 10:47 AM (EughT)

387 My dad used to think it was important NOT to wash his coffee cup, but just rinse it out.

I think he was confusing it with a skillet
Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:46 AM (AwPyG)

And a blow-up doll.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:48 AM (AIH1c)

388 Ahoy, bookfagz!

Posted by: Insomniac at August 08, 2021 10:48 AM (II3Gr)

389 From last thread:

360 PSA. Major dehumidifier recall. Virtually all brands. Causing fires and property damage.

Posted by: Mrs. JTB at August 08, 2021 07:52 AM (7EjX1)

Thank you for the heads up. My Frigidaire dehumidifier (one of which my parents also own) is, thankfully, not on that list.

Posted by: antisocial justice beatnik at August 08, 2021 10:48 AM (DTX3h)

390 383: exactly

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 10:48 AM (ONvIw)

391 All he had was a field manual on how to clean a pistol, so he read it to them with all sorts of enthusiasm in his voice, and they quickly fell asleep.

You're lucky to have not made this comment in the Gun Thread lest you never be taken seriously again. It was the tech manual for the M1 Garand. "Swing the trigger guard out and away..." was the tell.

Posted by: Oddbob at August 08, 2021 10:48 AM (nfrXX)

392 Polanksi didn't manage to stay out of trouble, though.

Lately, I'm more inclined to beleive those rumors. Dems were palsy with John Wayne Gacy, and Jim Jones, too.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:49 AM (AwPyG)

393 I just finished reading Irwin Shaw's The Young Lions, a 1948 novel that follows 3 men before and then in WWII. It was Shaw's first novel, though he had been writing plays and screenplays for a while. The book was made into a movie with the same title, but I don't think I've ever seen it. He did serve in WWII, attached to a film making unit.

Overall grade on the book -- a B. It starts out way too slow imho and I almost bailed, but once the 3 enter the army it got interesting. One is a German Nazi supporter, one is an American Jewish playwright (heh) and the third is a poor American patriot who happens to be Jewish.

Shaw wasn't happy with the movie adaptation, according to wiki.

Anyways, it took me a month to read it as I can't do extended reading sessions any more, for some reason. But I don't regret reading it.

Posted by: GnuBreed (FoYaR) at August 08, 2021 10:50 AM (F0YaR)

394 Another Rumpole moment. Rumpole's client is accused of selling drugs to an undercover policeman disguised as a hippy. The cop testifies as to the transaction. Rumpole cross examines him on his appearance, long hair, a furry vest, purple bell bottoms reading "make love, not war." Rumpole then asks, "And you describe this as being in 'plain clothes'?"
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at August 08, 2021 10:38 AM

I love the Rumpole stories. Leo McKern played that character well.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at August 08, 2021 10:50 AM (HpRXS)

395 Polanksi didn't manage to stay out of trouble, though.

Lately, I'm more inclined to beleive those rumors. Dems were palsy with John Wayne Gacy, and Jim Jones, too.
Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:49 AM (AwPyG)

To say LAPD was/is corrupt and in bed with Hollowood, literally and figuratively, is a deep understatement.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:50 AM (AIH1c)

396 I just remember the section in the Hollywood book "You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again", where she talks about the murders. She says that all the locals claim they didn't hear anything. But she knew that area. She said that sounds carry very well and that they all heard the screams and did nothing. That's why they were so scared about it afterwards. They thought they would be back for more murders.

Posted by: notsothoreau at August 08, 2021 10:51 AM (YynYJ)

397 My cousin is an askhole who no longer speaks to us. Yay.

Chricton's Sphere is one of my favorites, but nothing tops Eaters of the Dead (which had a fantastic "adaptation" that really had almost nothing to do with the book). The film adaptation of Sphere is on my permanent shit list. Now I want to read it again, if I can find it.

I've always been a little sad that Persuasion doesn't get more attention over Pride and Prejudice. It's much better. P&P just happened to get the best live action adaptation in the 90s, so it has a great advantage there.

Yankee Republic's premise had me excited, but in the end I couldn't get past the rampant grammatical errors. Not sure if it was intentional, but it really threw me off. Maybe someday I'll get over it and get past page 3.

Posted by: soulpile at August 08, 2021 10:51 AM (hiX0r)

398 Oh, joy. I just looked and the smoke is back. It was so bad yesterday that my neighbor lady wouldn't let her young daughter play outside. I couldn't blame her.

Posted by: Old Blue at August 08, 2021 10:51 AM (VNmG1)

399 You're lucky to have not made this comment in the Gun Thread lest you never be taken seriously again. It was the tech manual for the M1 Garand. "Swing the trigger guard out and away..." was the tell.
Posted by: Oddbob at August 08, 2021 10:48 AM (nfrXX)

Oh, what do I know? It was a gun! To a woman, they all look the same. I just liked the idea that an old soldier would find a gun manual enjoyable reading for a quiet evening.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at August 08, 2021 10:52 AM (dzUgF)

400 Finished Faulkner, Started Roughing It by Twain. Twain is always good. But not much reading as this is Mile of Music weekend and all possible time must be spent listening to bands and drinking beer. Best so far was John Tyler Wiley and his Virginia Choir but you have to catch the full band (solo/duo sets are good, the full band ROCKS!) Off this afternoon to catch Nordlund and Jackie Venson, Not household names but they should be.

Posted by: who knew at August 08, 2021 10:52 AM (4I7VG)

401 Oh, joy. I just looked and the smoke is back. It was so bad yesterday that my neighbor lady wouldn't let her young daughter play outside. I couldn't blame her.
Posted by: Old Blue at August 08, 2021 10:51 AM (VNmG1)

Covering the whole sky, and obscuring the landscape.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:53 AM (AIH1c)

402 SF Goth that would be a cool read

Posted by: Skip at August 08, 2021 10:53 AM (znIQ9)

403

Gen Con 2021 is moving to September 16-19, 2021 in a hybrid format with Gen Con Indy, Gen Con Online, and Pop-Up Gen Con running concurrently to provide in-person and online experiences.

Mask-wearing will now be required in all indoor and crowded outdoor Gen Con spaces for all attendees. You must be wearing a mask while attending Gen Con Indy unless you are actively eating or drinking. We are dropping the previously announced option to show proof of vaccination to forgo wearing a mask at Gen Con.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 08, 2021 10:54 AM (63Dwl)

404 @395

Tess Gerritsen talks about how her book "Gravity" about a female astronaut who gets stranded in space, was stolen and instead deemed an "original screenplay" for the movie Gravity.

Couldn't be more obvious.

Her attorneys told her that the LA fed court had NEVER ruled in favor of the wronged author, out of thousands of cases.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:54 AM (AwPyG)

405 I think it's fun to get dressed up and do something mundane.... read a book and drink coffee from a fancy cup, or go to the grocery store looking like I'm off to a wedding...

I love costume parties and Halloween.
Even a drag show is a hoot. And you know I don't mean anything that includes minors.

Let people have their fun.

What's wrong with a little escapism?

Posted by: nurse ratched at August 08, 2021 10:54 AM (U2p+3)

406 Oh, what do I know? It was a gun! To a woman, they all look the same. I just liked the idea that an old soldier would find a gun manual enjoyable reading for a quiet evening.

Oh, just funnin' wit' ya. And it was a charming scene. Harry Morgan may have been the best thing in that entire series.

Posted by: Oddbob at August 08, 2021 10:54 AM (nfrXX)

407 It was a gun! To a woman, they all look the same.
Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at August 08, 2021 10:52 AM (dzUgF)

As with other things, it's not necessarily the size that matters, it's how one uses it.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:55 AM (AIH1c)

408 407 It was a gun! To a woman, they all look the same.
Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at August 08, 2021 10:52 AM (dzUgF)

As with other things, it's not necessarily the size that matters, it's how one uses it.
Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:55 AM (AIH1c)

Shot placement is critical.

Posted by: Insomniac at August 08, 2021 10:55 AM (II3Gr)

409 BurtTC, I can usually see the Front Range from my office window. Haven't seen it in days.

Posted by: Old Blue at August 08, 2021 10:56 AM (VNmG1)

410 Two poor souls who were just in thw wrong place at the wrong time:

1) Ronald Goldman went to Nicole Simpson's condo to return a pair of eyeglasses that had been left in the restaurant where he worked.

2) Steven Parent was a teenager who happened to be at the Tate residence because he wanted to discuss buying a car stereo from her handyman/gatekeeper.

Posted by: mnw at August 08, 2021 10:57 AM (Cssks)

411 Her attorneys told her that the LA fed court had NEVER ruled in favor of the wronged author, out of thousands of cases.
Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:54 AM (AwPyG)

I forget his name now, but there's a guy who assists authors to self-publish, who says if an idea is good enough, and a manuscript is sent to Hollowood, unless you are already established, they will turn you down, steal your idea, and make the movie themselves.

It's SOP in Hollowood... and Big Publishing.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:57 AM (AIH1c)

412 Her attorneys told her that the LA fed court had NEVER ruled in favor of the wronged author, out of thousands of cases.

Los Angeles is a company town and the company is never wrong. Ask all the young women who were raped and molested, then went to the cops. All the writers who were ripped off and could not get justice. All the actors not paid for their work. All the accountants who blow the whistle on Hollywood accounting.

The biggest reason for all the wokeism in Hollywood is to buy favor with a political party, to protect their little kingdom.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 10:58 AM (KZzsI)

413 Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:55 AM (AIH1c)

Shot placement is critical.
Posted by: Insomniac at August 08, 2021 10:55 AM (II3Gr)

Sometimes you wanna hit your target. Sometimes you don't.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:58 AM (AIH1c)

414 @411

It's easy to be lawless when the courts have got your back.

As we are seeing.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:58 AM (AwPyG)

415 These damn workplace sitcoms are ALL about workplace romances and friendships. It's the central focus of all of them.

I think it contributed yuuugely to the extremely negative development in my generation where people think workplaces are for their social life... These people watched way too much of "The Office" back in college and now they think their office is a freaking singles' bar.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at August 08, 2021 10:59 AM (JN3xP)

416 Looking at the Kobo Elipsa ereader...do want! (Want to get off Amazon's ecosystem-the Oasis (1st gen) is very nice but I don't like the memory constraints (4 GB) and the backlight (blue-to use at night?).

Posted by: WinLinBSDAdmin at August 08, 2021 10:59 AM (Hh3y4)

417 I'm serious about guns all looking the same. In Perry Mason episodes, there's always a scene where Mr. Burger hands a witness on the stand a gun and says, "Now, do you recognize this gun?" And the witness usually says, "Yes, it's mine." Unless they can say "Well, it's got my initials carved into the handle" I'm always skeptical. How can you be sure that's yours? Have you memorized the serial number? Thousands of identical guns were produced the same year as yours, this could be any gun! I have trouble identifying my own car in a parking lot, let alone something as mass produced as a gun.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at August 08, 2021 10:59 AM (dzUgF)

418 I've seen several references to people who have difficulty concentrating on a book for any length of time. Just too hard to stay focused. I was having the same problem. But it's getting better.

I always had talk radio on, at least in the background. No more. Even agreeing with the host isn't enough to keep from yelling at the topics being discussed. Constant distraction.

I've almost eliminated watching TV. Not everything in life can be settled in 30 or 60 minutes but that format can be habit forming. Not difficult because there is so little on TV that I care to watch.

Most of my internet use, especially Youtube, is limited to a specific subject instead of endless surfing. That leaves more time for reading and other hobbies. Although the desire to keep surfing is hard to overcome.

Posted by: JTB at August 08, 2021 10:59 AM (7EjX1)

419 BurtTC, I can usually see the Front Range from my office window. Haven't seen it in days.
Posted by: Old Blue at August 08, 2021 10:56 AM (VNmG1)

We have prominent landscape features all around us. I can't see any of them. It's like they're not there anymore.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:59 AM (AIH1c)

420 Publishing is less bad than Hollywood, but still bad about stealing and underpaying the talent.

You write a book, you've done 90% of the work and 99% of the creativity. And you get paid 20% of the cover price. Minus your agent's cut.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 11:00 AM (KZzsI)

421 I haven't finished the book series, so no, but the first few are King's usual dynamite storytelling.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 09:57 AM (+nNqu)

"King's usual dynamic storytelling." Is that a euphemism for overlong?
Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021

***
No. At his best, like in 11/22/63, you don't care how long the book is, you want to continue living it. The Stand is another. The Dark Tower series, well, maybe that is kind of long. But while you're in the given book, you need to keep reading it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 11:00 AM (+nNqu)

422 I just finished reading Irwin Shaw's The Young Lions, a 1948 novel that follows 3 men before and then in WWII. It was Shaw's first novel, though he had been writing plays and screenplays for a while. The book was made into a movie with the same title, but I don't think I've ever seen it.

-
I quite liked that book. The movie watered down that powerful novel. For example, Marlon Brando's as Lt. Christian Diestl was not really a Nazi Nazi, just more misunderstood and misunderstanding. One bit of trivia, John Banner, Hogan's Heroes' Sgt. Schultz, plays an evil Nazi mayor.

I've seen the chapter concerning Diestl planning and executing an ambush of advancing American troops presented separately as a short story.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks aka Hangdog Barkston at August 08, 2021 11:01 AM (d9FiS)

423 NOOD

Posted by: Skip at August 08, 2021 11:01 AM (znIQ9)

424 And since we seem to have slipped into a Book+Gun Thread, check the front page for Collector's Firearms. It has a big banner pic of Webleys including a Fosbery as featured in The Maltese Falcon.

Posted by: Oddbob at August 08, 2021 11:01 AM (nfrXX)

425 You write a book, you've done 90% of the work and 99% of the creativity. And you get paid 20% of the cover price. Minus your agent's cut.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 11:00 AM (KZzsI)

Are there many examples of self-published authors who get picked up by publishing houses?

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 11:01 AM (ONvIw)

426 Any big name established author that stays with a publishing company is idiotic. If your name is big enough that its why people buy your books: Self publish. You get around 80% of the cover price. You can charge half as much and still make double what you get from Big Publishing, inc.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 11:02 AM (KZzsI)

427 Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021

***
No. At his best, like in 11/22/63, you don't care how long the book is, you want to continue living it. The Stand is another. The Dark Tower series, well, maybe that is kind of long. But while you're in the given book, you need to keep reading it.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 11:00 AM (+nNqu)

Thank you, that is helpful. I finished The Stand not too long ago, and I wanted the story to continue.

I read the "shorter" version, and was thinking of grabbing the one where he added 500 or so more pages, but I have other things to read. I might give this one a try. Thanks!

Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 11:02 AM (AIH1c)

428 @421

come to the dark side of self publishing.

You get 70%, and no one tells you what to do.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 11:02 AM (AwPyG)

429 There's a current author (forget his name) doing the podcast rounds who's ex-LAPD who wrote about RFK offing Marilyn Monroe and all the dirt the LAPD keeps on everyone.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at August 08, 2021 11:03 AM (vuisn)

430 One bit of trivia, John Banner, Hogan's Heroes' Sgt. Schultz, plays an evil Nazi mayor.

A nice Jewish boy, playing nazis. I always got a kick out of this for some reason.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 11:03 AM (ONvIw)

431 Are there many examples of self-published authors who get picked up by publishing houses?

There are a small handfull. The woman who wrote Twilight as a fan fic got picked up. Its very rare though, because big publishing houses hate self publishers as competition, and consider self published books to be the crud they wipe off their feet on the doormat.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 11:03 AM (KZzsI)

432 I read the "shorter" version, and was thinking of grabbing the one where he added 500 or so more pages, but I have other things to read. I might give this one a try. Thanks!
Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021

***
The longer version of The Stand has some amplification on some of the characters, and a few other characters that got cut entirely. It was fun to pick those out, but the 1978 or whatever edition is just fine.

11//22/63 might well be King's best long work. And I love Salem's Lot and The Dead Zone among others.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 11:05 AM (+nNqu)

433 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 11:03 AM (KZzsI)

But if they steal ideas, what is the incentive to send things their way? Are their authors part of the clique, so to speak?

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 11:05 AM (ONvIw)

434 @426

If you self-publish, you laugh merrily at the publishing houses, with their arcane accounting, and constant sleight-of-hand

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 11:05 AM (AwPyG)

435 One bit of trivia, John Banner, Hogan's Heroes' Sgt. Schultz, plays an evil Nazi mayor.

A nice Jewish boy, playing nazis. I always got a kick out of this for some reason.
Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 11:03 AM (ONvIw)

Conrad Veidt was a big German movie star and fervent anti-Nazi. When he left the country for England and later Hollywood, he found most of his roles were as Nazi officers, but he considered it his bit in the anti-Nazi struggle. If he could help the Allies by playing the enemy as he did in 'Casablanca', it was all good. Unfortunately, he died before the war ended, so he didn't get to see the successful outcome of his efforts.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at August 08, 2021 11:06 AM (dzUgF)

436 But if they steal ideas, what is the incentive to send things their way?

They don't steal very much, since someone has to write the thing, but it has happened.

The main incentive is thinking that's the only way to get published, and thinking that they'll take care of everything. But big publishing houses expect you to do your own publicity, they aren't gonna advertise or promote your new book, even if they publish it.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 11:08 AM (KZzsI)

437 Veidt was a well-known stage actor. He was homosexual & had good reason to get out of Germany.

Posted by: mnw at August 08, 2021 11:08 AM (Cssks)

438 435: Interesting reasoning. I like it

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 11:10 AM (ONvIw)

439 Veidt was a well-known stage actor. He was homosexual & had good reason to get out of Germany.
Posted by: mnw at August 08, 2021

***
His role in He Who Laughs has been suggested as an inspiration for the Joker.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 11:11 AM (+nNqu)

440 As I've said before, it all depends on what your goal is. If you want your book to be on a shelf in a book store or a library, that's a worthy goal.

If you want to be vindicated to those friends and family who doubted you by being published by a third party publisher, that's a worthy goal.

But if you want to make money, you self-publish, and the last thing you are worried about is whether you have a physical book on a shelf somewhere.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 11:11 AM (AwPyG)

441 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 11:08 AM (KZzsI)

Thanks for the info.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 11:11 AM (ONvIw)

442 I can only think of a tiny handful of heterosexual German gentiles who fled Nazi Germany. People mostly just stay put because inertia; family.

Posted by: mnw at August 08, 2021 11:11 AM (Cssks)

443 Oops, I meant The Man Who Laughs -- Conrad Veidt's character may have inspired the look of the Joker.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 08, 2021 11:12 AM (+nNqu)

444 Just finished reading David Weber's and Eric Flint's "To End in Fire", only to discover there's still more to go! Son of a bitch! Took them what: three years to produce this? I'm not sure I'm going to live long enough. And, yes, there was a lot of bloat as per usual, but the story is actually in there. You just have to wade through a ton of crap to find it.

Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin, clinging bitterly to a deplorable life at August 08, 2021 11:13 AM (na3nm)

445 @442

Yes. And I think a big part of it is the incredulity factor--you can't believe things are really this bad, even though they are.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 11:14 AM (AwPyG)

446 If Connie was homosexual, he was very bad at it: he was married 3 times, and had a daughter! You might be thinking of Anton Walbrook - he was a romantic leading man in Germany before the Nazis, but he was homosexual so he left in 1933.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at August 08, 2021 11:14 AM (dzUgF)

447 Yes. And I think a big part of it is the incredulity factor--you can't believe things are really this bad, even though they are.
Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 11:14 AM (AwPyG)

Like today, even though we seem on a precipice, there really is no sane place to go to start over. I could go to Israel, I guess, but that doesn't seem particularly safe either. Eastern Europe? I don't speak the languages, same with SA

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 11:16 AM (ONvIw)

448 Three German gentiles who got out: Thomas Mann; Erich Maria Remarque; Marlene Dietrich.

Mann & Remarque likely would've been in serious trouble if they'd remained. The Nazis murdered Remarque's sister-- basically because they hated her famous brother.

Posted by: mnw at August 08, 2021 11:17 AM (Cssks)

449 Sophie is a very weak, vapid character through most of the books and Diana is a pathetic slut with no character at all in any of them.

I couldn't disagree more on either character who complement their spouses quite effectively in their separate and, in Diana's case, unconventional ways. Sophie's mother is an obnoxious harridan to all involved.

Someone here, in a past book thread iirc, said Diana was based on someone in O'Brian's life which was why her death in the series was dealt with so oddly and distantly.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at August 08, 2021 11:19 AM (y7DUB)

450 Dietrich had left Germany in 1930, so I don't think there were political reasons for her migration. You're right, it's hard to think of non-Jewish Germans who saw what was coming and left when the Nazis came to power. I suppose if they were Communists, they'd have wanted to get out, but it might not have been easy to move to the US in that case.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at August 08, 2021 11:23 AM (dzUgF)

451 "A friend is a science teacher who never did finish that PhD and is pretty unhappy with her station, so naming herself Countess something or other of the Kingdom of somewhere near Chicago seems to provide a sense of 'Achievement'?"

Countess in the Kingdom of the Midrealm. Means she served as Queen for about 6 months, by being the consort of a man who won a rattan stick dueling tournament (or won it herself if that 'kingdom' allows women to fight for Crown Tourney.

And the SCA has gotten worse. It's much like a clique of insiders who gave each other so many awards for "achievements" that everyone is now a Count or a Duke or Peer of some kind, so they need a stable of newcomers to sit in the audience and applaud.

And that's not even getting into the pedo's and the VIPs covering up for them to keep the org from getting sued again.

https://tinyurl.com/t59249jc

I was in during college some 30 years ago, and again recently from 2005-2015. It's not what it once was.

Posted by: Hoyt's Paid Turkish Provocateur at August 08, 2021 11:29 AM (49Exr)

452 Someone here, in a past book thread iirc, said Diana was based on someone in O'Brian's life which was why her death in the series was dealt with so oddly and distantly.

I was glad when she died, she was such a misery to Maturin and such a woman devoid of human value.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 11:30 AM (KZzsI)

453 Biggest drawback to self-publishing is that you don't get in bookstores.

Posted by: Trimegistus at August 08, 2021 11:30 AM (QZxDR)

454 372 The Rumpole books are pretty good. Not as good as the series, due to that actor, what's his name.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 10:41 AM (AwPyG)

Leo McKern.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 08, 2021 11:31 AM (puyrX)

455 As with other things, it's not necessarily the size that matters, it's how one uses it.
Posted by: BurtTC at August 08, 2021 10:55 AM (AIH1c)

Shot placement is critical.
Posted by: Insomniac at August 08, 2021 10:55 AM (II3Gr)

"Aim small, miss small."

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 08, 2021 11:32 AM (puyrX)

456 Dietrich counts. She didn't have to STAY out of Germany, but she did-- at the cost of separation from her family..

Conrad Veidt was married to a Jew, hence his reason to leave Germany. I had wrongly thought he was a homosexual. I never heard of the other actor you mentioned.

Posted by: mnw at August 08, 2021 11:32 AM (Cssks)

457 451: Fantasy lives have a way of turning sinister, IMO. In the 70s, I recall watching the SCA people having their "tournaments" near the river. It was fun to watch for a while and they sort of knew their stuff as it attracted a lot of history majors.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 11:32 AM (ONvIw)

458 Posted by: Hoyt's Paid Turkish Provocateur at August 08, 2021 11:29 AM (49Exr

I had never heard of the pedo charges! I guess even when you are pretend nobility/elite you feel entitled to hurt others. Sinister, indeed.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 11:35 AM (ONvIw)

459 Biggest drawback to self-publishing is that you don't get in bookstores.

Its harder, but yeah you generally won't. Small single owner stores will take your books on consignment often, but the corporate ones won't. But book stores are kind of a thing of the past, anyway.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 11:36 AM (KZzsI)

460 I survived twelve years in the SCA, serving as seneschal, MoA, MoS, and Exchequer during that time. The XO was Knight's Marshall for a while. We had a good group here in the Shire of the Lonely Tower, but it got too big for its britches and became a Barony. (My bad; I was the Seneschal and thought it would be a beneficial upgrade.) We left after it turned into a blood sport.

I like to joke that, yes, I am a lady. I have a piece of faux parchment lying around the house some where, signed by the then- King of the Midrealm, stating that I am a Lady.

Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin, clinging bitterly to a deplorable life at August 08, 2021 11:39 AM (na3nm)

461 And the SCA has gotten worse. It's much like a clique of insiders who gave each other so many awards for "achievements" that everyone is now a Count or a Duke or Peer of some kind, so they need a stable of newcomers to sit in the audience and applaud.

Posted by: Hoyt's Paid Turkish Provocateur at August 08, 2021 11:29 AM (49Exr)

So, kind of like the journalism profession, then?

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 08, 2021 11:40 AM (puyrX)

462 @453

All the money (or the huge portion of it) is in digital publishing.

That's why you aren't worried about books on bookshelves, unless that's important to you. So be wary of any service who says they will help you "get your books into bookstores"

PS: The Reddit on line book club on line has over 130,000 members.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 11:42 AM (AwPyG)

463 So, kind of like the journalism profession, then?
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 08, 2021 11:40 AM (puyrX)

Another profession with pretend awards that creates fantasy? See, a life based on fantasy can turn sinister...not always, but you need a lot of reality in your life.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 11:42 AM (ONvIw)

464 All the money (or the huge portion of it) is in digital publishing.

Yeah, you get a much larger share of the payoff with digital than print. But its hard to feel like an author if you can't hold your book in your hands.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 11:48 AM (KZzsI)

465 I was glad when she died, she was such a misery to Maturin and such a woman devoid of human value.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 11:30 AM (KZzsI)

It's odd to be arguing over two fictional characters with no way for O'Brian to referee it but in his own way Maturin was very devoted to her despite her weird ways and was happy being married to her. Think of her like that high spirited filly which Stephen whistled to when going by a field and took her home, along with a companion goat, when he and Jack were riding by.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at August 08, 2021 11:50 AM (y7DUB)

466 @464

I know--I don't even own a kindle.

But you can create your own print books, too. In my experience, however, the ratio of digital to print sales is about 50:1

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 11:51 AM (AwPyG)

467 Actually, having a print version out there kind of solidifies your reputation as a serious indy writer. It costs very little or nothing to do an e-book, but the fees and the cost for a print book, while not substantial - means that you have some economic skin in the game. It just flat-out looks better on the Amazon Author page, if you have the two versions, print and e-book available, even if the e-books sell by a factor of twenty to one print book.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at August 08, 2021 11:51 AM (xnmPy)

468 "We had a good group here in the Shire of the Lonely Tower, but it got too big for its britches and became a Barony. (My bad; I was the Seneschal and thought it would be a beneficial upgrade.)"

That's funny you say that - we had the same problem. Sleepy little shire (Roxbury Mill, Atlantia) with good people. And we all (stupidly) craved to become a Barony. We were getting close too until an old VIP Control Freak came out of the woodwork to promote himself as the future Baron. We caught on real quick that an upgrade to Baronial status would invite Game of Thrones drama.

I'm sorry to hear your people didn't escape. But it's not really your fault, we only saw the trap because the VIP over-estimated himself.

Posted by: Hoyt's Paid Turkish Provocateur at August 08, 2021 11:52 AM (49Exr)

469 I kind of agree that O'Brian didn't write compelling female characters, but overall it didn't distract from the story.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 11:52 AM (AwPyG)

470 Yeah, you get a much larger share of the payoff with digital than print. But its hard to feel like an author if you can't hold your book in your hands.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 11:48 AM (KZzsI)

I have no idea how that all works. I mentioned a few months ago that I was briefly very impressed to learn that someone I knew in high school was an "award winning author". I researched the award and it seems it was created by the PR company he works for. I was crushed (no, not really). I wondered why I never heard much about his work. I read some reviews, which seemed to groan with the presence of family and friends.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 11:52 AM (ONvIw)

471 Without a physical book you don't get into libraries, either -- and libraries are still a useful marketing tool.

Posted by: Trimegistus at August 08, 2021 11:53 AM (QZxDR)

472 I read some reviews, which seemed to groan with the presence of family and friends.

Yeah I am so tired of reading 70 5-star reviews from buddies and family trying to help out an author, then reading 1 3-star that says "pretty good, needed lots of editing, etc"

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 11:55 AM (KZzsI)

473 @471

This is true--a lot of people rely on librarian recommendations, too.

amazon has an "expanded distribution" option that allows libraries and book stores to order your books at little cost, but as the author you get almost no profit.

Still, I think it's worth it.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 11:56 AM (AwPyG)

474 "It was fun to watch for a while and they sort of knew their stuff as it attracted a lot of history majors."

Yah all-in-all the SCA was good to me. It got me started in archery and rapier, which I continue to this day, albeit in other venues.

I had to leave. I was a whistle-blower on a pedo who was grooming 12 year old girls. I went to people I admired and respected and trusted, and they told me "if you continue to pursue this, people you care about will be hurt". I could never look at them the same way again.

Posted by: Hoyt's Paid Turkish Provocateur at August 08, 2021 11:57 AM (49Exr)

475 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 11:55 AM (KZzsI)

In this case, the friends and family used their own names. I laughed out loud. They always had a dramatic quality about them, and PR suits the couple.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 11:58 AM (ONvIw)

476 459 -- I closed my bookstore in late 2018. The last couple years I was in business, I advised wannabe authors to skip the professional publishers and publish through Amazon. The professional publishers were then, and still are, a joke. What is termed "literature" is simply Lit proffs writing for other Lit proffs. "You put my book on your mandatory reading list, and I'll put yours on mine." Back in ' 88, when I started working for Waldenbooks, I read every line of the NYT Book Review because it helped me be a better bookseller. But over the years it degenerated into a vicious game in which the reviewer did nothing more than "prove" he/she was the smartest person in the room, and the rest of us, including the author of the book, we're nothing more than ignorant tubes who should worship every pearl of wisdom dripping from the reviewer's screed. Getting your toe into the publishing door had become a Catch-22 sinkhole: an editor would not look at any manuscript not submitted by an agent and an agent wouldn't take on an unpublished client. No more over-the-transom. And even if you did get your manuscript published, you still had to do all your own promotion and publicity.

Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin, clinging bitterly to a deplorable life at August 08, 2021 11:58 AM (na3nm)

477 With respect to the marketing gimmicks, like "award winning author" or fake reviews, I just don't see how it works, with books.

Word of mouth sells books. Always has, always will, and now there are hundreds of thousands of voracious readers discussing the books they like on line. (here, for example)

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 11:59 AM (AwPyG)

478 Posted by: Hoyt's Paid Turkish Provocateur at August 08, 2021 11:57 AM (49Exr)

An org full of donks, huh? As it happens the people I know/knew are all raging libs looking to be handed someone else's achievements via redistribution

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 12:00 PM (ONvIw)

479 In addition to John Banner as Sgt. Schultz, Werner Klemperer who played Col Klink was also Jewish! Apparently one of his conditions for taking the role was that Klink's plans could never be allowed to succeed.

The Klemperer family was very gifted - Werner's father was Otto Klemperer, the conductor, who left Germany with his family in 1933. And to bring things back around to books again, there was a cousin named Victor Klemperer who stayed in Dresden throughout the war, and wrote voluminous diaries about how life was getting worse and worse for Jews under the Nazis. He was married to a non-Jew, so he was spared being shipped off to a concentration camp until toward the end of the war. When his turn came up, the Allies bombed Dresden and he and his wife were able to escape to American-controlled territory, where they waited out the rest of the war. I'm hoping to read his diaries some day.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at August 08, 2021 12:02 PM (dzUgF)

480 @479

Agree completely. It's the same case as what happened to the music industry; once people could "talk amongst themselves" over the internet, there was no need for a gatekeeper, anymore.

But they loved their role as gatekeeper, and try to pretend they still matter.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 12:03 PM (AwPyG)

481 "I am so tired of reading 70 5-star reviews from buddies and family trying to help out an author, then reading 1 3-star that says "pretty good, needed lots of editing, etc"

What clued me in was that every book I turned over had"
NYTs: Bold! Daring! Exciting read!
WaPo: The most important book you will ever read!

I mean, I'm not lucky and my taste is not that good. So it just didn't follow that every book I picked up was "#1 on the Editor's Choice List!"

Posted by: Hoyt's Paid Turkish Provocateur at August 08, 2021 12:06 PM (49Exr)

482 Word of mouth sells books. Always has, always will, and now there are hundreds of thousands of voracious readers discussing the books they like on line. (here, for example)
Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 11:59 AM (AwPyG)

I don't get the impression it worked for this guy, but it is part of the drama for him and his wife. They put out a pic of him sitting at a desk with this huge crystalline "award" next to him as poses as if he's signing something.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 12:08 PM (ONvIw)

483 @481

If it's a review from one of the major publishers, you will note that all the blurbs and recommendations are from the publisher's other authors.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 12:08 PM (AwPyG)

484 Now Simon and Shuster appear to have taken up money laundering for politicians.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 12:09 PM (ONvIw)

485 483: I rarely note who publishes a book, so it would not occur to me to look at their list of authors to check for this sort of incest. Thanks.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 12:11 PM (ONvIw)

486 @482

Much better to try to get some readers to start discussing your book on line.

The Goodreads "mystery and thrillers" book group has over 20,000 members.

And the Reddit club has a lot of sub-threads; "romance" has 50,000 members.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 12:11 PM (AwPyG)

487 468 -- Good for you and your shire, Hoyt. I was stupid. I saw the benefits of becoming a Barony, had the Shire's two Knights backing me, and didn't see the big punka stick lined trap in front of me. I've got to say, though, that after surviving twelve years of SCA politics, everything else is amateur hour. Nothing like a pack of people with nothing on the outside shredding everything in their way to grab some sort of make believe title. I should have seen the writing on the wall when the people who pushed the hardest to split Calontir off the Midrealm's biggest beef was that the Midrealm didn't hand out enough titles out here.

Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin, clinging bitterly to a deplorable life at August 08, 2021 12:11 PM (na3nm)

488 486 -- I pick up a lot of good suggestions here, so, yeah, getting your book talked about by informal groups does work.

Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin, clinging bitterly to a deplorable life at August 08, 2021 12:16 PM (na3nm)

489 "I've got to say, though, that after surviving twelve years of SCA politics, everything else is amateur hour."

Haha. I love how "survived" 12 years. I feel like I just ran into a fellow Marine who fought on the same front, next trench down LOL

And yes, it was pretty much Professional High School. SMH.

Posted by: Hoyt's Paid Turkish Provocateur at August 08, 2021 12:18 PM (49Exr)

490 btw, did you ever encounter "toxic service", where the guy donating his time & energy sabotages anyone else trying to donate their time & energy... so he has no competition for the the Service Award he's clawing after?

Unbelievable.

Posted by: Hoyt's Paid Turkish Provocateur at August 08, 2021 12:21 PM (49Exr)

491 Getting your toe into the publishing door had become a Catch-22 sinkhole: an editor would not look at any manuscript not submitted by an agent and an agent wouldn't take on an unpublished client. No more over-the-transom. And even if you did get your manuscript published, you still had to do all your own promotion and publicity.

Yeah, the publishing industry has taken nearly every single bad move it can, and has been taken over by woke Karen types. Publishing is in a terrible shape now and is panicking and doing everything wrong to get the good old days back.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 12:25 PM (KZzsI)

492 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 12:25 PM (KZzsI)

So now I am convinced I was right about SCA, and that publishing houses are corrupt. It is probably good that I will never get around to writing fictionalized versions of my "greatest" cases.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 12:27 PM (ONvIw)

493 Its tough to get heard over the roar, though. Everyone and their pet parakeet is writing a book these days and trying to promote it. All the old ways you read on line to promote your book do not work.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 12:28 PM (KZzsI)

494 I got to hand it to Correia and Hoyt though, for mentoring new writers and promoting them.

Posted by: Hoyt's Paid Turkish Provocateur at August 08, 2021 12:32 PM (49Exr)

495 @493

It's late in the thread, so I will give you my very best tip.
Think of a popular author whose market is the same as your market. Go find their latest book on Amazon.

Look at the "top review." That's subjective, right? Amazon is telling you that they think this person is influential, and can convince others to buy books.

Figure out how to email that reviewer (you can do it; if you need help, enlist a 20 year old) Write them a VERY short, polite email about how you enjoyed their review of [book] by [author], and could you send them your book?

It worked for me, most times. They will bend over backwards to give you a good review, because they're not a snobby critic, they're a normal reader.

Repeat as many times as you like.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 12:34 PM (AwPyG)

496 Posted by: Hoyt's Paid Turkish Provocateur at August 08, 2021 12:32 PM (49Exr)

So you are connected with Sarah.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 12:34 PM (ONvIw)

497 I got to hand it to Correia and Hoyt though, for mentoring new writers and promoting them.

In my opinion, part of the job of a successful creator is to push and promote other creators. If you make it as an author, you help other authors. If you make it as a musician, you promote other musicians. Its our duty.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 12:35 PM (KZzsI)

498 Been traveling so very late to the book party thread today, but thanks to everyone for their suggestions and the economy thanks you for the money I have now spent today buying books.
Started reading Paradise Valley by CJ Box since I either like, really like, or love the Pickett novels. About a third of the way in and this has a different almost horror type feel to it.

Posted by: Charlotte at August 08, 2021 12:35 PM (Z+JNA)

499 I have no idea what 'SCA' is. Am I leading a life of deprivation, without knowing it?

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 08, 2021 12:36 PM (n/x6m)

500 499 Society for Creative Anachronism

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 12:36 PM (ONvIw)

501 Look at the "top review." That's subjective, right? Amazon is telling you that they think this person is influential, and can convince others to buy books.

This is good advice, if you can do it. If you send someone an ebook, it costs you nothing.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 12:37 PM (KZzsI)

502 499: And no, you haven't missed anything unless you are over 60. It was sort of clean, educational, fun when you were in college years ago.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 12:38 PM (ONvIw)

503 Hoyt Person, your adventures in SCA drama might make a good novel. They seems to have a midsomer murders air to them.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 12:40 PM (ONvIw)

504 And no, you haven't missed anything unless you are over 60. It was sort of clean, educational, fun when you were in college years ago.
Posted by: CN
-------

Thanks...and I'm only 29.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 08, 2021 12:40 PM (OFJlJ)

505 504: Of course. Me too, but I'm the time traveler's 'ette.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 12:41 PM (ONvIw)

506 I'm currently working my way through the final book of the Lensman Saga, Children of the Lens. I've really enjoyed the series so far. I'm surprised at how pro-American values the overall story is. The central conflict between Boskone and the Galactic Patrol is framed as a battle between the absolute tyranny of Boskone and the freedoms espoused by the Patrol, even though they rule the galaxy autocratically via the incorruptible Lensmen. Overall very entertaining series and worth any Moron's time...
Posted by: Lord Squirrel at August 08, 2021 08:08 AM

My understanding is that Masters of the Vortex is also generally considered a "Lensman" novel, although I don't really understand why.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at August 08, 2021 12:42 PM (17UTy)

507 This week's book is "Maverick", which is Jason Riley's biography of Thomas Sowell. Every conservative should read this book, then dive into Sowell's work. Enough said.

Posted by: Nemo at August 08, 2021 12:51 PM (S6ArX)

508 @507

I knew a professor at Stanford's English department, during the early 2000's.

She had never heard of Sowell.

Posted by: artemis at August 08, 2021 12:58 PM (AwPyG)

509 507 ... "This week's book is "Maverick", which is Jason Riley's biography of Thomas Sowell. Every conservative should read this book, then dive into Sowell's work."

Agreed!. The biography is excellent and Sowell is apparently incapable of writing a bad or even mediocre book.

Posted by: JTB at August 08, 2021 01:07 PM (7EjX1)

510 506 ... "My understanding is that Masters of the Vortex is also generally considered a "Lensman" novel, although I don't really understand why."

The book takes place while Kimball Kinnison is Galactic Coordinator (he is brought in briefly) and involves Lensmen and the Galactic Patrol. That's the connection. IIRC, it was written in the 1950s before Children of the Lens.

Posted by: JTB at August 08, 2021 01:14 PM (7EjX1)

511 I am reading Death's Detective by Charlotte E. English. Its a collection of four short stories about a urban fantasy detective, set in... its like a mix between Victorian England and late 19th century Russia. The Malykant is a divinely appointed detective to hunt down and punish murderers. Very unusual and interesting feel.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 08, 2021 01:16 PM (KZzsI)

512 >>> 496 Posted by: Hoyt's Paid Turkish Provocateur at August 08, 2021 12:32 PM (49Exr)

So you are connected with Sarah.
Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 12:34 PM (ONvIw)

I always thought the "connection" was much like my own connection to Ace.

I'm a commenter!!! I's commenting on his blog!!!!!

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at August 08, 2021 01:23 PM (ACi07)

513 512: You do not call yourself Ace's paid Handbasket.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 01:27 PM (ONvIw)

514 Askhole - Perhaps the person asking you for advice knows something about the quality of your recommendations? For example, if Joe Biden gives you advice, the smart person does the opposite.

Posted by: Albert Schwartz at August 08, 2021 01:30 PM (zHbOW)

515 Now I want to research SCA to learn the difference between these territory designations.

The organization sounded interesting when I was in college, but I never pursued it.

I remember watching a woman spin thread on a handheld bobbin at a KC-area renfest.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 08, 2021 02:12 PM (Om/di)

516 Maybe the Askhole purposely does the opposite of what you say because he thinks you're an idiot. Possibly he was already going to do whatever it is, but you saying the opposite confirms it.

Posted by: hadsil at August 08, 2021 02:26 PM (55qP6)

517 514 Askhole - Perhaps the person asking you for advice knows something about the quality of your recommendations? For example, if Joe Biden gives you advice, the smart person does the opposite.

Posted by: Albert Schwartz at August 08, 2021 01:30 PM (zHbOW)

So then it's still good advice, right? Very reliable and trustworthy.

Like my local commie rag newspaper publishes their recommendations the day before every election. I just read their slate and for every one of their recs, I cast my vote for the other guy.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 08, 2021 02:32 PM (puyrX)

518 517. I myself drive past the house of the most annoying lib I know when I want to know who not to vote for for school board. He always has signs.

Posted by: Cultural appropriation? at August 08, 2021 02:35 PM (ONvIw)

519 Off cultural sock

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 02:35 PM (ONvIw)

520 Thanks for a great book thread. Thanks to TB, I only spent 14 dollars this week.

Posted by: CN at August 08, 2021 02:36 PM (ONvIw)

521 The comments above about the SCA prompt me to recommend Sharyn McCrumb's Jay Omega books; "Bimbos of the Death Sun" (198

and "Zombies of the Gene Pool" (1992). These are murder mysteries set in SF fandom. They take a very sardonic look at fans, authors and publishers.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at August 08, 2021 02:49 PM (x4GWW)

522 I've had "Bimbos of the Death Sun" on my shelves for years. Started but never finished.

Some day.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 08, 2021 03:48 PM (Om/di)

523 Just finished Monster Hunter: Bloodlines, the latest from Larry Correia.

Straw Larry must have written this book, because straw Larry is a dick.

And that is as close to a spoiler as you are going to get from me.

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at August 08, 2021 04:18 PM (CcOog)

524 The painting of the girl reading at the window was done by this artist at DeviantArt:

https://tinyurl.com/49dfm4b

She has several other pictures of girls reading.

Posted by: MW at August 08, 2021 09:49 PM (fs4s+)

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