Sunday Morning Book Thread - 09-11-2022 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading. Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material, even if it's nothing more than back issues of MAD magazine. As always, pants are required, especially if you are wearing these pants...

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, sip a nice cup of your favorite morning tea, and crack open a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

PIC NOTE

Today's pic comes to us courtesy of Moron Stephen Price Blair. He recently attended a high school reunion, which included a tour of the school. He also sent a picture of a
"reading tree," because kids don't have enough nightmares about attending school these days...

BINGE READING

Captain Josepha Sabin posted the following on a recent Movie Thread:

Mike Hammer: Yes, the writing itself is very important. One of my best years was the year I discovered both Lindsey Davis and Margaret Maron. In fact, after I closed my bookstore, I spent the next year rereading my favorite series in order, one right after the other, simply to enjoy the entire story arc in one swell foop, rather than trying to remember last year's story line.
I think my saddest critique of a book, or a movie, or even a meal is: Good concept, lousy execution.
Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin -- I wasn't particularly fond of the '70s the first time around at September 03, 2022 08:35 PM (9SjWf)

This prompted me to wonder, how many of us are "binge readers?" That is, what are some of our favorite series where we can just read one book after another and enjoy the entire series?

At the moment, I am bouncing around a bit in my reading because I'm still trying to get through all of the books I purchased at library book sales earlier this year. So far, I've made tremendous progress. I did purchase several series of books and for the most part they've been quite "bingeable." For instance, Stephen Harper's Clockwork Empire series was quite enjoyable Victorian steampunk. Peter F. Hamilton's Void Trilogy was a great mix of ultra-tech science fiction blended with psionic fantasy. Larry Correia's Monster Hunter series is just a fun urban fantasy romp where the heroes pack A LOT of firepower (trust me, they need it) to take down the enemies of all reality. I still have to get through a couple of Star Wars series, a Dragonlance series, and Glen Cook's Instrumentalities of the Night.

What are some of YOUR bingeable reads?

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(I'm still quite salty about what Amazon did to Tolkien's Legendarium.)

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IT PAYS TO INCREASE YOUR WORD POWER

Sometimes contributions come from the Moron Horde, such as this entry:

Thanks to All Hail Eris and her link to Diogenes, we have today's entry for "It Pays to Increase Your Word Power":
chreia:
A chreia was a brief, useful anecdote about a particular character. That is, a chreia was shorter than a narration - often as short as a single sentence - but unlike a maxim, it was attributed to a character. Usually it conformed to one of a few patterns, the most common being "On seeing...", "On being asked...", and "He said...".
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars at September 04, 2022 10:59 AM (pNxlR)

As well as this one:

OrangeEnt, the word you are looking for is "Ekphrasis." It's a common technique in poetry.
Posted by: March Hare at September 04, 2022 05:10 PM (lwrAe)

To give some context, OrangeEnt had started writing a short story about Edward Hpper's painting, "Night Hawks" and wanted to know if anyone had done something like that before. Well, it turns out this literary technique, ekphrasis (Greek for "description"), is actually quite ancient. It shows up in Homer's Iliad, for instance, when Homer describes the elaborate scenes depicted on the shield of Achilles. The word ekprasis doesn't show up in English until the early 18th century.

Naturally, this prompted a number of comments about turning "Naked Man on an Ottoman" into a short story...

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ONLINE BOOK SALE!

Hans G. Shantz, proprietor of the Ætherczar website, asked me to announce a book sale to the Horde:

The Based Fall Book Sale went live today and runs through Tuesday, September 13. The sale offers about 150 books for free or $0.99, including about sixty works new to the sale. In addition, Terror House Press has offered their entire catalog of ebooks for only $0.99 each.
The sale includes John C. Wright's 2016 Dragon-Award-winning novel Somewither: The Unwithering Realm - Omnibus Version, Richard Nichols' thriller, Lost Causes, works by Robert Kroese, David J. West, Tom Kratman, Jon del Arroz, John Ringo, Jonathan Moeller, Eric Flint, Declan Finn, L. Jagi Lamplighter, and many, many other excellent authors.
"The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own," Tolkien noted. At a time when evil continues trying to corrupt and ruin what the good have created, support genuine creators, and get some great books from authors who don't hate you!

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MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

I read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. This is a beautifully written story about an Afghani woman, Mariam, born out of wedlock to a rich businessman and one of his servants. Her and her mother are shunned by the family and banished to a hovel outside of Herat. When she is fifteen, her mother commits suicide and she is forced to marry a much older man who is a shoemaker in Kabul.
The book paints a picture of Afghani life. It is also the story of Mariam and Laila, a fifteen year old second wife, brought into the family when Mariam cannot conceive. The growing, complicated relationship between the two is the heart of the book. One also learns a bit of Afghan history from 1960 to 2003.
This is Hosseini's second book. I'm currently reading his first, The Kite Runner.
Posted by: Zoltan at September 04, 2022 09:12 AM (0ipkK)

Comment: Stories about Afghanistan always seem to be depressing to me. It's just a thoroughly miserable place. I'm sure it has its beauty and charm from time to time, though.

+++++

Florida Woman by Deb Rogers was something I randomly picked up in the "new" shelf at the library. Slow burn story of a Florida gal who becomes an internet joke (tequila, flames, theft, and a pelican are involved) and her get-out-of-jail community service job (with ankle monitor) is to work at a macaque refuge in the middle of nowhere. The monkey halfway house is run by a trio of hippie chicks with a cultlike reverence for the critters. She knows weird shit is going on at the refuge but her common sense is drowned by all the love-bombing and sense of belonging, for the first time in her life. The sanctuary is a beautiful place but there is a constant hum of dread in the background, and something sinister is disturbing the macaques at night.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at September 04, 2022 09:15 AM (Dc2NZ)

Comment: The "Florida Man" is an interesting meme in that it portrays the men of Florida as weirdos and lunatics always doing something bizarre. I guess it's nice to see that there is also such a thing as "Florida Woman."

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I'm reading A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell. It may have been discussed here before because I know the horde's fascination and knowledge of WWII. It's extremely well written, and I just read a review explaining that this is a sequel to The Sparrow.
Posted by: Unkaren at September 04, 2022 10:47 AM (QSPZM)

Comment: A Thread of Grace is actually NOT a sequel to The Sparrow. It's historical fiction whereas The Sparrow is science fiction. I read the latter novel in my science fiction literature class a long time ago. It's about a first-contact experience that goes horribly wrong. The Sparrow does have a proper sequel: Children of God.

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I've been enjoying Daniel Humphreys' Paxton Locke series. In the latest the hero does something that seems wildly out-of-character in the big fight towards the end of the book (and someone else goes along with it!), which I think *should* come back to bite him, but we'll see. Afterwards Locke gets to meet an unnamed famous someone (but you'd have to be pretty slow not to recognize him) who is described as far more resolute than I think the real-life person is.
Posted by: Helena Handbasket at September 04, 2022 11:52 AM (llON

Comment: I always like to read reviews about Moron-authored books. I've enjoyed just about all of the Moron-authored books I've read on some level. I may have to give this series a try...

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (405 Moron-recommended books so far!)

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WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan -- Book 11 in The Wheel of Time and the last book Jordan wrote before his death.

A Princess of Landover by Terry Brooks -- Part of the Kingdom of Landover series, which is about a lawyer transported to a magical world, where he becomes a champion for good.

That's about all I have for this week. Thank you for all of your kind words regarding my Sunday Morning Book Thread. This is a very special place. You are very special people (in all the best ways!). The kindness, generosity, and wisdom of the Moron Horde knows no bounds. Let's keep reading!

If you have any suggestions for improvement, reading recommendations, or writing projects that you'd like to see on the Sunday Morning Book Thread, you can send them to perfessor dot squirrel at-sign gmail dot com. Your feedback is always appreciated! You can also take a virtual tour of OUR library at libib.com/u/perfessorsquirrel. Since I added sections for AoSHQ, I now consider it OUR library, rather than my own personal fiefdom...

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 09-04-22 (hat tip: vmom stabby stabby stabamillion) (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

(Held over from last week...It's a long book! Also a bit of a slog...)

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Good morning everyone.

Posted by: Tonypete at September 11, 2022 09:00 AM (LsEU/)

2 I would love a book vend-o-mat!

Good morning, Perfessor and fellow book freaks.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at September 11, 2022 09:01 AM (Dc2NZ)

3 11 Sept 2001. Never forget.

Posted by: Cosda at September 11, 2022 09:01 AM (SIecp)

4
g'mornin', book-ish 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at September 11, 2022 09:01 AM (ENBF0)

5 Tolle Lege
Picked up ebook Russia Against Napoleon by Dominic Lieven
He is looking to redefine how Russia won against Napoleon in early 1800s. Very detailed and right up my alley

Posted by: Skip at September 11, 2022 09:01 AM (k8B25)

6 Photoshopped pic leading off -

My evidence?

No copies of "Everybody Poops", "I Have Two Moms", or "Daddy Doesn't Live her Anymore" in view.

Posted by: Tonypete at September 11, 2022 09:01 AM (LsEU/)

7 Book Morning Mouth Breathers

Posted by: weirdflunky at September 11, 2022 09:02 AM (cknjq)

8 Those pants are fine. I would wear them to barbecue at a Jenga festival.

Posted by: Muldoon at September 11, 2022 09:04 AM (kXYt5)

9 First LOTR/Tolkien reference prior to Comment #1.

Always bet the 'Under'

Posted by: Muldoon at September 11, 2022 09:06 AM (kXYt5)

10 Good morning dear Horde.

Posted by: Ladyl at September 11, 2022 09:07 AM (+4oV5)

11 Does reading the Book Thread count as reading?

Posted by: Weasel at September 11, 2022 09:08 AM (0IeYL)

12 From Neatorama, "The Naked Truth: Authors Who Wrote in the Buff":

https://tinyurl.com/ytytkheh

If they can write in the altogether, why do we have to wear pants to the Book Thread?!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at September 11, 2022 09:08 AM (Dc2NZ)

13 I have really enjoyed Bujold's Penric & Desdemona series of novellas.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - we are being gaslighted 24/365 at September 11, 2022 09:08 AM (J33tq)

14 no reading this week

Posted by: some coonass at September 11, 2022 09:08 AM (BRHaw)

15 11 Does reading the Book Thread count as reading?
Posted by: Weasel at September 11, 2022 09:08 AM (0IeYL)
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Yes. Strenuous reading!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at September 11, 2022 09:08 AM (Dc2NZ)

16 Is pounding and kicking upon the book vending machine considered guache?

Posted by: Dr. Bone at September 11, 2022 09:08 AM (w2Z7l)

17 Binge a series? That's what I mostly do. Find an author I like, then read everything they've written. Agatha Christie comes to mind. She'll keep you going a good long while. By the time you're done, you can start over.

Posted by: grammie winger at September 11, 2022 09:09 AM (45fpk)

18 Does reading the Book Thread count as reading?
Posted by: Weasel at September 11, 2022 09:08 AM (0IeYL)
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Does reading the Gun Thread count as shooting? Wait...that doesn't work...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 09:09 AM (K5n5d)

19 gauche=guache

Posted by: Dr. Bone at September 11, 2022 09:09 AM (w2Z7l)

20 Binge reading?

For me:

Matt Helm series by Donald Hamilton
Perry Mason series by Erle Stanley Gardner
Myth-Adventures series by Robert Asprin
Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout (although, to be honest, I haven't touched any of my NW books in years, and some of them are yet unread)

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 11, 2022 09:09 AM (Om/di)

21 Yes. Strenuous reading!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at September 11, 2022 09:08 AM (Dc2NZ)
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I should probably take a precautionary nap, then.

Posted by: Weasel at September 11, 2022 09:09 AM (0IeYL)

22 This week I read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. This is Hosseini's debut novel, published in 2003. It tells the story of two Afghani boys, Amir and Hassan, growing up together in Kabul. Amir is the son of a wealthy businessman and Hassan is the son of a household servant. Hassan is also a Hazara, a shunned ethnic minority. The relationship takes many twists and turns and ends with one trying to make up for an grievous wrong committed in the past.

Posted by: Zoltan at September 11, 2022 09:10 AM (0ipkK)

23 Still reading Silver Age Hulk stories (Marvel Epic Collection vol. 2). Thought I would have finished the book by now, but no.

Boy, some of the original costumes in the Marvel Universe were garish! Glad I started reading comics in the '80s, after designs were improved.

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 11, 2022 09:10 AM (Om/di)

24 3 Apprarently the blog has.

Posted by: Jen the original at September 11, 2022 09:10 AM (Yk9GW)

25 good point there at # 12, Eris !

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - we are being gaslighted 24/365 at September 11, 2022 09:10 AM (J33tq)

26 Article at Federalist thinks with Rings of Power flopping will poison the waters that no one no matter how close to Tolkien it might be won't be possible for many years to come.

Posted by: Skip at September 11, 2022 09:10 AM (k8B25)

27 So I'm currently enjoying Rich Man's Sky by Wil McCarthy.

It's the middle of the 21st Century, and four space barons known as the "Four Horsemen" are making their trillions in rare earth mining, energy, and terraforming. There's a techbro who wants to colonize Mars and has a plan to inseminate the best/brightest/beautifulest, a hippy monk creating a colony on the moon, and a Russian oligarch who has a lock on energy. One of the Horsemen is creating a disc at L1 that blots out the sun (to shield and cool the Earth, you see) but it can selectively alter the temperature of a particular area if he so chooses. Naturally the powers on Earth are threatened by these guys operating beyond earthbound authority and want to put a stop to them. And that's where the female agents come in, sent to pose as candidates for the project. But they secretly have agendas of their own and the lure of space is strong.

There are some obvious riffs on Musk, Branson, et al, but it is very clear that the official space agencies on Earth are aimless and impotent at this point and the real shit is being done by the crazy entrepreneurs since the cost is so ridiculously high.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at September 11, 2022 09:10 AM (Dc2NZ)

28 Morning, 'rons and 'ronettes. Feeling lonely, disgusted, depressed and angry, as usual.

Bingeing my way through the Tintin adventures this weekend. Picked up a copy of The Devil's Mercedes, a history of the various cars that were sold as being Hitler's own limo. Badly written and boring. Another one for the junk pile, unless anyone here wants it.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 11, 2022 09:11 AM (AW0uW)

29 Looks like pants guy had a weedwhacker but it got away from "him".

Posted by: fd at September 11, 2022 09:11 AM (sn5EN)

30 I read Harlan Coben's "The Stranger" this week. First book of his that I have read. I liked it a lot. I guess there is a TV series based on it.

Posted by: grammie winger at September 11, 2022 09:11 AM (45fpk)

31 Article at Federalist thinks with Rings of Power flopping will poison the waters that no one no matter how close to Tolkien it might be won't be possible for many years to come.
Posted by: Skip at September 11, 2022 09:10 AM (k8B25)
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I'm more concerned about how may people will turn away from reading Lord of the Rings because they are turned off by the just awful writing in the show.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 09:11 AM (K5n5d)

32 Does reading the Gun Thread count as shooting? Wait...that doesn't work...
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 09:09 AM (K5n5d)
--
Ahh. The WeaselParadox.

Posted by: Weasel at September 11, 2022 09:12 AM (0IeYL)

33 I looked up "chreia" on Wikipedia to find how to pronounce it (but they didn't tell me) and found this example, "Aristeides, on being asked what justice is, said: 'Not desiring the possessions of others.'" I guess he was a MAGA extremist.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 11, 2022 09:12 AM (FVME7)

34 I don't think the pants guy owns a weedwhacker (if you catch my drift)

Posted by: JT at September 11, 2022 09:13 AM (T4tVD)

35 Good Sunday morning, horde!

Series I would binge-read: Joe Pickett stories by C. J. Box, and Longmire stories by Craig Johnson. Both very enjoyable, especially if you enjoy modern western.

Pickett tends toward dramatic suspense; Longmire mixes in a lot more humor with the suspense.

Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at September 11, 2022 09:13 AM (OX9vb)

36 Good morning I’m recovering from yesterdays game and almost victory. I’m still reading Dominion by Fr Ripperger and am determined to finish it. It’s fascinating but almost too dense and intense to take in more than a few pages of information at a time. I gave up on Altamont by Joel Selvin because the 60s psychedelic rock world and The Rolling Stones don’t interest me too much but those who like that era or the band would enjoy it.

Posted by: LASue at September 11, 2022 09:16 AM (Ed8Zd)

37 the online Oxford English Dictionary has an audio-pronouncer on the page, which is quite handy.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - we are being gaslighted 24/365 at September 11, 2022 09:16 AM (J33tq)

38 hiya

Posted by: JT at September 11, 2022 09:16 AM (T4tVD)

39 I don't binge read. I have to put another book between books in a series and let the last one settle. I might have binge read the Aubrey/Maturin books if I'd had the chance, but I had to request them through inter-library loan and wait. Sometimes it was torture waiting for the next one to arrive. It took me more than a year to read them all because of the waiting.

Posted by: huerfano, stochastic commenter at September 11, 2022 09:18 AM (dTFZY)

40 No copies of "Everybody Poops", "I Have Two Moms", or "Daddy Doesn't Live her Anymore" in view.
Posted by: Tonypete

Also, no queer porn.

Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at September 11, 2022 09:18 AM (OX9vb)

41 That vending machine seems to be filled up with nothing but crapola.

Those pants look like my neighbor's roof.

Just hearing the word "Afghanistan" makes me thirsty and want to take a shower.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at September 11, 2022 09:18 AM (R/m4+)

42 Well it's a perfect reading day here. Rainy and cool and I have a small dog in my lap and a kitty looking over my shoulder from the back of the couch.

Posted by: Weasel at September 11, 2022 09:18 AM (0IeYL)

43 the online Oxford English Dictionary has an audio-pronouncer on the page, which is quite handy.
Posted by: sock_rat_eez - we are being gaslighted 24/365 at September 11, 2022 09:16 AM (J33tq)

Provided the person doesn't tawk funny.

Posted by: JT at September 11, 2022 09:18 AM (T4tVD)

44 wow, those pants are bad ... but I think that the flipflops might be worse.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - we are being gaslighted 24/365 at September 11, 2022 09:19 AM (J33tq)

45 the online Oxford English Dictionary has an audio-pronouncer on the page, which is quite handy.
Posted by: sock_rat_eez

Provided the person doesn't tawk funny.
Posted by: JT

It would be a scream if the narrator only spoke in Pittsburghese.

Posted by: Tonypete at September 11, 2022 09:19 AM (LsEU/)

46 No copies of "Everybody Poops", "I Have Two Moms", or "Daddy Doesn't Live her Anymore" in view.
Posted by: Tonypete

Also, no queer porn.
Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at September 11, 2022 09:18 AM (OX9vb)
---
I dunno..."Slugs in Love" kind of says it all, doesn't it?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 09:19 AM (K5n5d)

47 >>What are some of YOUR bingeable reads?

Uh, the Monster Hunters series? Fun escapism.

Also started re-reading the Tony Hillerman books, but it's taking some work finding them at various libraries across the city.

Posted by: Lizzy at September 11, 2022 09:19 AM (I/doM)

48 The last series I binged was The Expanse. But I started with the books that picked up where the tv series ended. Before that, the DC Smith detective series by Peter Grainger, loved those.

Posted by: DIY Daddio at September 11, 2022 09:20 AM (64aAI)

49 Well it's a perfect reading day here. Rainy and cool and I have a small dog in my lap and a kitty looking over my shoulder from the back of the couch.

Posted by: Weasel at September 11, 2022 09:18 AM (0IeYL)

What? You're not reloading?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 11, 2022 09:20 AM (7bRMQ)

50 Bingeing my way through the Tintin adventures this weekend. Picked up a copy of The Devil's Mercedes, a history of the various cars that were sold as being Hitler's own limo. Badly written and boring. Another one for the junk pile, unless anyone here wants it.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 11, 2022 09:11 AM (AW0uW)

I always like the Tintin adventures. You've reminded me that I still have my 80's vintage National Lampoon version of it entitled, "Tintin Goes to Beirut".

"Hullo Snowy! That's the third checkpoint he's (Tintin's taxidriver) gone right through!"

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM Guy at September 11, 2022 09:20 AM (ZSK0i)

51 Currently doing a re-read of The Stand

Posted by: vic /s at September 11, 2022 09:20 AM (mZwKe)

52 Before that, the DC Smith detective series by Peter Grainger, loved those.

Posted by: DIY Daddio at September 11, 2022 09:20 AM (64aAI)

I love those too! Such an appealing main character.

Posted by: grammie winger at September 11, 2022 09:21 AM (45fpk)

53 9/11 again, so I will post this New Yorker story from 3/11/2002 about Rick Rescorla.

He was the soldier on the cover of Col. Hal Moore's book "We Were Soldiers", and died on 9/11 as the head of security for Morgan Stanley. He saved 2700 lives with his evacuation plan. The last anyone heard of him he was going back up the South tower and singing "Men of Harlech":

https://tinyurl.com/Rick-Rescorla-911-RIP

Truly a hero.

Posted by: Sharkman at September 11, 2022 09:23 AM (6zjv5)

54 >>I'm more concerned about how may people will turn away from reading Lord of the Rings because they are turned off by the just awful writing in the show.

From what I can tell, the people who are watching it the most are the woke non-Tolkien readers who lurch from one fandom to the next, who are there for the Girlboss and Diversity.
That, and the legit Tolkien fans who are hatewatching it.

Watched part of the 1st episode out of curiosity - yikes, bad.

Posted by: Lizzy at September 11, 2022 09:24 AM (I/doM)

55 Zoom book club currently reading A Canticle for Liebowitz. I read it a long time ago and aside from the general theme didn't remember much.

It is a science fiction book only in so much it takes place in the future. It's really about religion and science, and what it all means. And its really good.

Posted by: blaster at September 11, 2022 09:24 AM (6TxNR)

56 I always like the Tintin adventures. You've reminded me that I still have my 80's vintage National Lampoon version of it entitled, "Tintin Goes to Beirut".

I never saw that. I'll have to see if I can find it on line.

I have all the Tintin books - including Tintin in the Land of the Soviets and Tintin in the Congo. The only one I don't have is the final, uncompleted one, Tintin and Alph-Art, but as it appears to be little more than just rough sketches, I doubt I'll ever get around to buying it.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 11, 2022 09:24 AM (AW0uW)

57 What are some of YOUR bingeable reads?

-
I'm on book VIII of John Maddox Robert's XII book SPQR series.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 11, 2022 09:24 AM (FVME7)

58 That reading tree looks like it's devouring souls.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at September 11, 2022 09:25 AM (Dc2NZ)

59
What? You're not reloading?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 11, 2022 09:20 AM (7bRMQ)
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Actually, I need to go do some writing! Nicely done, Perfessor!

Posted by: Weasel at September 11, 2022 09:25 AM (0IeYL)

60 >>>Well it's a perfect reading day here. Rainy and cool and I have a small dog in my lap and a kitty looking over my shoulder from the back of the couch.

Posted by: Weasel

>Before you're done reading that cat is going to jack you up. You've been warned.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at September 11, 2022 09:26 AM (w2Z7l)

61 The little grand kids have been staying with us this week so the book types in that vending machine are laying about here.

Posted by: Cosda at September 11, 2022 09:26 AM (SIecp)

62 This week I checked out the large print edition of Daniel Silva's "Portrait of an Unknown Woman." It's the latest in his Gabriel Allon series, which up till now has been most enjoyable. I hope he doesn't woke it up.

Posted by: grammie winger at September 11, 2022 09:26 AM (45fpk)

63 I'll expand on my bingeing.

I have fallen into the trap of buying nearly an entire series and then leaving those books on the shelf for a "someday."

[I listed several series, but that offended Pixy.]

I don't joke when I say my TBR list is huge.

To top it off, I don't see the need to go to the used-book store; I think I have more than I can read in what years I have left.

And this doesn't approach all the books recommended in this thread that I know the library has.

Is there a Book Buyers Anonymous?

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 11, 2022 09:27 AM (Om/di)

64 Every time I see a reference to the "Longmire" books I'm reminded of the old "Longarm" series of "adult" Westerns.

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 11, 2022 09:27 AM (QZxDR)

65 I think my saddest critique of a book, or a movie, or even a meal is: Good concept, lousy execution.

Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin -- I wasn't particularly fond of the '70s the first time around at September 03, 2022 08:35 PM (9SjWf)

Sound like a critique of my writing....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 11, 2022 09:28 AM (7bRMQ)

66 I just finished reading every single Alastair Reynolds short story/novella/novel in his "Revelation Space" universe, in chronological order. Took a couple of weeks but i very much enjoyed it. Highly recommend.

About to take off from Jaxsonville to LA for a week so no time to talk touch in depth about it. I'll send Perfessor Squirrel an email in a couple of weeks with more thoughts.

Until next week . . .

Posted by: Sharkman at September 11, 2022 09:28 AM (6zjv5)

67 It's 9/11. I didn't even think about it this year.

I read a LOT of stuff about the background to 9/11 back in the day. The Cell, which followed the group around the Blind Sheikh who bombed the WTC in 93, and eventually led to bringing down the towers in 2001. Ghost Wars, and Charlie Wilson's War.

So much stuff that we don't talk about, and that in hindsight, was a bad idea.

Posted by: blaster at September 11, 2022 09:28 AM (6TxNR)

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

Posted by: JTB at September 11, 2022 09:28 AM (7EjX1)

69 Village Idiot's Apprentice

Top o ta mornin to ya, gov'nor.

Been too busy to read this week. Hard to believe, but true.

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at September 11, 2022 09:30 AM (u82oZ)

70 A complaint on Ebooks at least with the Samsung Kindle app, moving around a book or switching to another for reference is not that easy.

Posted by: Skip at September 11, 2022 09:30 AM (k8B25)

71 9/11 again, so I will post this New Yorker story from 3/11/2002 about Rick Rescorla.

The local rag's editorial was from someone who was a college student on 9/11 and wondered where the 'unity' we had back then has gone to. I was actually surprised Trump wasn't blamed.

But that whole 'unity' is revisionist shit. I remember Michael Moore whining that those awful hicks in flyover country should have been the ones to die. I remember Dems wrapping themselves in the flag and then stabbing Dubya in the back.* And I still remember the Boston Globe front-paging a porn picture and accusing US troops of raping Iraqi women.

That's my problem - no matter how much I drink, I still remember.

*as much as I now believed the statist bastard deserved it.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 11, 2022 09:30 AM (AW0uW)

72 I realized a while back that I haven't been reading as much as I used to. My default now is blogs, or other online material, rather than books. I've decided to change that: devote an hour every day to just reading books.

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 11, 2022 09:31 AM (QZxDR)

73 Back in summer of '20, I was laid off due to Covid. I did something I had never done before, re-read good pot boiler fiction series. First was Phillip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series-

https://tinyurl.com/y8k93x5f

Next was Stephen Hunter's Earl Swagger series ( Bob Lee's bad ass father)

https://tinyurl.com/4d3cfw8r

It helped that my retention from the original readings had faded to where it wasn't a repetitive exercise. Also, when making the link, I see the Hunter has a new Earl Swagger coming out next year. Kerr, unfortunately, died young.

Posted by: Leon Sphinx at September 11, 2022 09:31 AM (UIngH)

74 I never saw that. I'll have to see if I can find it on line.

I have all the Tintin books - including Tintin in the Land of the Soviets and Tintin in the Congo. The only one I don't have is the final, uncompleted one, Tintin and Alph-Art, but as it appears to be little more than just rough sketches, I doubt I'll ever get around to buying it.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 11, 2022 09:24 AM (AW0uW)

I started look around online out of curiosity (easier than rummaging in the closet for the original) and realized I got the title wrong. It's "The Adventures of Tintin in Lebanon".

Here's a link to the cover:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/240379698835922822/

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM Guy at September 11, 2022 09:31 AM (ZSK0i)

75 >>> 58 That reading tree looks like it's devouring souls.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at September 11, 2022 09:25 AM (Dc2NZ)

Hey! I'm not a ginger!!

I only eat cute little bunny rabbits and school hamsters and such.

Posted by: reading tree at September 11, 2022 09:31 AM (llON8)

76 thanks, Sharkman !
it is indeed Rick Rescorla Day !

where among other things I renew my commitment to leave footprints on any rentacop who tries to tell me "nothing to worry about, all under control, go back to your office", and to pray that if I ever find myself in a bad, bad spot I will be able to summon up some of his spirit to carry me through.

*wanders off to find recording of Men of Harlech*

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - we are being gaslighted 24/365 at September 11, 2022 09:32 AM (J33tq)

77 Over at Insty:

We said "never forget." Well, we haven't forgotten the heroism of people like Rick Rescorla, the Flight 93 passengers, the firefighters who charged up the WTC stairs, or the volunteers who set up the American Dunkirk evacuation of lower Manhattan by boat.

But we have forgotten the criminal negligence of our political leaders and intelligence services that got us to that point. We should have purged the incompetents then. Instead, they're still running the show. The country is still sound, but the people in charge of it have only gotten worse.

God bless America. We need it.

Posted by: blaster at September 11, 2022 09:32 AM (6TxNR)

78 OrangeEnt, the word you are looking for is "Ekphrasis." It's a common technique in poetry.

Posted by: March Hare at September 04, 2022 05:10 PM (lwrAe)

I should have known that, especially from my ancient studies.

How long does the thread stay open? That comment came really late in the day.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 11, 2022 09:32 AM (7bRMQ)

79 Watched part of the 1st episode out of curiosity - yikes, bad.
Posted by: Lizzy at September 11, 2022 09:24 AM (I/doM)
---
It gets so much worse by episode 3. We find out the Harfoots/Protohobbits are complete psychopaths. They're a migratory tribe that just leaves their friends and family behind if they can't keep up with the tribe. It's insane.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 09:32 AM (K5n5d)

80 John Sandford's "Prey" series is a good one to binge, although I prefer his Virgil Flowers books.

Posted by: grammie winger at September 11, 2022 09:33 AM (45fpk)

81 I should have known that, especially from my ancient studies.

How long does the thread stay open? That comment came really late in the day.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 11, 2022 09:32 AM (7bRMQ)
---
The thread stays open all day. It usually trails off later in the afternoon. But it's often worth checking out later in the day because that's when the West Coasters are up and commenting...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 09:33 AM (K5n5d)

82 I can recall on the actual day of 9/11 the undergrads at a nearby college were already saying the financial-industry people who died in the WTC "deserved it." They started doing antiwar protests that night. And the conspiracy theorists had already started blaming Bush, America, oil companies, and (need it be said?) Mossad.

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 11, 2022 09:33 AM (QZxDR)

83 No binge-reading here, I'm afraid. I hop from book to book, and back again. Right now, alternating between the first book of the Todd Ingram series, and The Long Way Home, which is about the Pan Am Airways flying boat, caught at the far end of the Pacific by Pearl Harbor and the outbreak of the war with Japan. Secret orders, issued only in case of war, directed them to return the extremely valuable aircraft to the US by any means necessary ... and that turned out to be around the globe - by the long way.
Fascinating adventure, would make a wonderful movie, as they had to cadge aviation gasoline ... and locate suitable water to land in and take off from.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at September 11, 2022 09:34 AM (xnmPy)

84 Is there a Book Buyers Anonymous?
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 11, 2022 09:27 AM

Better than Book Buyers Anonymous is your local public library system. Via interlibrary loan, they can get you just about anything you want ... UNLESS it's indie; those they can't guarantee. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! Many libraries now offer the Hoopla and Cloud Library apps for portable devices (not the Kindle, though), and I was amazed at how many indie authors and series are available now! I now never buy anything unless I've read it and decided that I MUST own it, or it's a specialty item unobtainable any other way (lots of out-of-print material in this category. For that, there's Better World Books and Abebooks). You're welcome!

Posted by: werewife, princess of Delray Beach at September 11, 2022 09:35 AM (SPNTN)

85 BOOKEN MORGEN HORDEN

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 11, 2022 09:35 AM (gbzeC)

86 Uh oh.

Does being quoted in the Book Thread mean I have to wear *nice* pants?!

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at September 11, 2022 09:35 AM (llON8)

87 I was working for a German owned company in 2001.

We came back to work after a few days, one of the guys from the German office sent an email to all US that said that he was sorry it happened, but maybe it would teach the US to be more humble in the future.

It was not well received.

Posted by: blaster at September 11, 2022 09:35 AM (6TxNR)

88 #71 is spot-on, MP4 !

no history left unrevised !

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - we are being gaslighted 24/365 at September 11, 2022 09:36 AM (J33tq)

89 It's 9/11. I didn't even think about it this year.

Posted by: blaster at September 11, 2022 09:28 AM (6TxNR)

Oh. Nor did I.

*bows head

The Queen's death has consumed the international news cycle, most else is forgotten.

Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at September 11, 2022 09:36 AM (OX9vb)

90 Binge read:
Penric & Desdemona
Sabrina Chase's Sequoya. It's only 3 books, but i go back to it now and again.
Might be others. long time ago, i read LOTR, and Narnia quite often. I might do the early Spenser books if I had them. Dorothy Sayer's Peter Wimsey novels. Once upon a time, i read all the Helen MacInnes books. Back when it was still being produced I'd re-read WoT books just before a new book came out, to remind my self of what happened.

Posted by: yara at September 11, 2022 09:36 AM (z9Eia)

91 I'm on book 25 of Patricia Wentworth's 32 volume Miss Silver mystery series. I'm listening to them as I work on several major needlework projects.

It isn't really necessary to read them in order, but she does age the characters slightly over time as well as making mild callbacks to previous books that lose context if read out of order.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 11, 2022 09:36 AM (nC+QA)

92 We said "never forget." Well, we haven't forgotten the heroism of people like Rick Rescorla, the Flight 93 passengers, the firefighters who charged up the WTC stairs, or the volunteers who set up the American Dunkirk evacuation of lower Manhattan by boat.

Yesterday at the Little League game, my daughter and I talked about that day. Where we were, the fear, the outrage, the courage of people like Todd Beamer. And to tie this into the Book Thread, I bought a book about the hero dogs of 9/11. Lots of Goldens and Shepherds.

Posted by: grammie winger at September 11, 2022 09:37 AM (45fpk)

93 I've got "The Long Way Home" and it's excellent. Probably the most suspenseful part is taking off from Leopoldville (modern Kinshasa) with a full load of fuel and supplies, struggling to reach takeoff speed . . . all while heading down the Congo River toward a waterfall!

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 11, 2022 09:37 AM (QZxDR)

94 That "reading tree" to me depicts what a not-too-bright Ent looks like. "Durr, I like ta read these Dockta Soos an' Richurd Scary books."

Posted by: exdem13 at September 11, 2022 09:38 AM (W+kMI)

95 yeah, The Long Way Home was a fun read

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - we are being gaslighted 24/365 at September 11, 2022 09:38 AM (J33tq)

96 This prompted me to wonder, how many of us are "binge readers?" That is, what are some of our favorite series where we can just read one book after another and enjoy the entire series?

***

Is there any other kind?

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 11, 2022 09:38 AM (gbzeC)

97 That's my problem - no matter how much I drink, I still remember.

-
Partial antidote. Queef Olbermann gets his comeuppance.

https://bit.ly/3Qz2QJF

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 11, 2022 09:39 AM (FVME7)

98 Back then I was blogging, and I remember the sickest burn I wrote. You may recall that President Bush was at an elementary school event, reading My Pet Goat, when the news came. It became one of the points of ridicule.

Senator John Kerry said that when the planes hit, he just laid his head down for an hour.

I noted that in that hour, President Bush ordered the military into action, made a speech to the nation, and got airborne to an undisclosed location. AND he read a book.

Bush. Spit.

Posted by: blaster at September 11, 2022 09:40 AM (6TxNR)

99 One item in my current reading pile is _Fair Trade_ by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. It's part of their very popular "Liaden" series of space operas.

I'm finding it . . . sluggish. Maybe the earlier books in the series are better; this is the first I've read. The characters spend a lot of time having lunch and talking about how smart other characters are. At one point during a conversation there's a flashback to a different conversation, which makes me wonder if the book even had an editor.

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 11, 2022 09:40 AM (QZxDR)

100 I want to read "Florida Woman" since the blurb makes me think of dean Koontz crossed with Carl Hiassen. I could definitely loke that kind of story.

Posted by: exdem13 at September 11, 2022 09:40 AM (W+kMI)

101 So I just finished reading a book titled, "Joe Biden failed to save us from 9/11 twenty one years ago, but he's going to save the earth with his green policies because he was elected two years ago." It's riveting!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at September 11, 2022 09:41 AM (w2Z7l)

102 @84 --

Oh, I am a fervent user of interlibrary lending, MOBIUS in my case.

For the past few years I've made a New Year's resolution to not get any books from the library until I've made a dent in my holdings. I lasted until June this year.

But, damn, that "Four Horsemen" book does sound intriguing ...

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 11, 2022 09:42 AM (Om/di)

103 So I just finished reading a book titled, "Joe Biden failed to save us from 9/11 twenty one years ago, but he's going to save the earth with his green policies because he was elected two years ago." It's riveting!
Posted by: Dr. Bone at September 11, 2022 09:41 AM (w2Z7l)
----
Hmmm. Title needs work...How about "Joe Biden: Green Messiah"?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 09:43 AM (K5n5d)

104 We came back to work after a few days, one of the guys from the German office sent an email to all US that said that he was sorry it happened, but maybe it would teach the US to be more humble in the future.

It was not well received.
Posted by: blaster

You could reply by congratulating Germany for defeating global warming this winter.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 11, 2022 09:43 AM (FVME7)

105 Maybe the Reading Tree just realized, like the cop in "Soylent Green", that books are made from treepeople!!!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at September 11, 2022 09:43 AM (Dc2NZ)

106 I'm not reading anything new this week. I re-discovered some old books this week while housecleaning and I decided to give them another read.

BTW that FOTR movie meme is more entertaining than anything having to do with Amazon Video's idiot work which I am boycotting because it's what decent people would do.

Posted by: exdem13 at September 11, 2022 09:43 AM (W+kMI)

107 >>It gets so much worse by episode 3. We find out the Harfoots/Protohobbits are complete psychopaths. They're a migratory tribe that just leaves their friends and family behind if they can't keep up with the tribe. It's insane.

I watched Critical Drinker's open bar discussion and it sounds awful. The femininization of scripts is a story-killer (all men are dumb/jerks/evil, lead woman cannot accept help or learn from a man, etc.).

Posted by: Lizzy at September 11, 2022 09:44 AM (I/doM)

108 I've decided to change that: devote an hour every day to just reading books.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 11, 2022 09:31 AM (QZxDR)

Me, too. I didn't necessarily put a minimum time limit on it, but I have started going to bed about an hour earlier than normal so I can turn off the electronics and read paper. It does help me sleep better, too.

Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at September 11, 2022 09:44 AM (OX9vb)

109 Read Will Jordan's new book Dark Harvest. Fairly big change of pace for him as it crosses into the horror genre. Defiantly a page turner so I recommend it.

Posted by: Nearsighted Cyclopes at September 11, 2022 09:45 AM (PbwT0)

110 Speaking of series...

Has anybody read the "Ring" series by Koji Suzuki?

Having seen the movies, I wasn't too interested in reading the books, but there's a new one coming out. And Suzuki has a reputation for blowing up expectations in each new book of the series, which I find to be an interesting approach. So, I thinking of diving in.

Anyway, anymore/anyette read all the continuing adventures of Sadako?

Posted by: naturalfake at September 11, 2022 09:45 AM (KLPy8)

111 You could reply by congratulating Germany for defeating global warming this winter.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 11, 2022 09:43 AM (FVME7)

I could, if I still worked there. I guess. Took everything I had not to reply something about Hitler. That probably wouldn't have been well received either.

Posted by: blaster at September 11, 2022 09:45 AM (6TxNR)

112 For the past few years I've made a New Year's resolution to not get any books from the library until I've made a dent in my holdings. I lasted until June this year.

But, damn, that "Four Horsemen" book does sound intriguing ...
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 11, 2022 09:42 AM (Om/di)
---

I think I bought it within five minutes of (re)making that very same vow. I'm terrible! I saw it linked via Insty and *poof* went my resolution.

Maybe your library has it.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at September 11, 2022 09:45 AM (Dc2NZ)

113 I watched Critical Drinker's open bar discussion and it sounds awful. The femininization of scripts is a story-killer (all men are dumb/jerks/evil, lead woman cannot accept help or learn from a man, etc.).
Posted by: Lizzy at September 11, 2022 09:44 AM (I/doM)
---
Knight's Watch has been doing an entertaining detailed breakdown of the writing episode-by-episode. They spend nearly 3 hours just breaking down episode 3. It's really that bad.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 09:46 AM (K5n5d)

114 "Durr, I like ta read these Dockta Soos an' Richurd Scary books."

Seuss has always irritated me, but I like the Scarry books. Or at least I did before they were revised and made sickeningly PC. The original 1968 What Do People Do All Day? is a wonderful one for young kids, but you'd have to go searching for it.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 11, 2022 09:46 AM (AW0uW)

115 77 Over at Insty:

We said "never forget." Well, we haven't forgotten the heroism of people like Rick Rescorla, the Flight 93 passengers, the firefighters who charged up the WTC stairs, or the volunteers who set up the American Dunkirk evacuation of lower Manhattan by boat.

But we have forgotten the criminal negligence of our political leaders and intelligence services that got us to that point. We should have purged the incompetents then. Instead, they're still running the show. The country is still sound, but the people in charge of it have only gotten worse.

God bless America. We need it.
=======
Truth!!

Posted by: exdem13 at September 11, 2022 09:47 AM (W+kMI)

116 The thread stays open all day. It usually trails off later in the afternoon. But it's often worth checking out later in the day because that's when the West Coasters are up and commenting...
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel

I read that as the West German Coasters.....

Take-a out zee papers and zee trash....

Posted by: JT at September 11, 2022 09:47 AM (T4tVD)

117 another 9-11 blast-from-the-past, from Glenn Reynolds, 20 years ago, via Insty this morning:

https://bit.ly/3REqeqC

nothing could be further from the minds of the ruling class today than "a pack, not a herd", but here we are, anyway; the herd is getting more so, and so are the others ...

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - we are being gaslighted 24/365 at September 11, 2022 09:47 AM (J33tq)

118 Good morning, Horde.

Grandsons back in school, so more time for reading, gardening, and less driving to cams and lessons! My doggo misses the pace but is being rewarded with extra walks, another plus.

I received my copy of I Choose Freedom. Will start it today, but the fact that so many books like this, Solzhenitsyn, for example, are minimized or vanishing from shelves, is rather depressing. A college friend, now in Florida, wanted a single volume of Gulag Archipelago rather than the multivolume version on amazon, and ended up buying a gently used copy that was marked "withdrawn". Probably replaced by woke shit and Obama bios.

Posted by: CN at September 11, 2022 09:47 AM (Zzbjj)

119 Basically, I blame the Book Thread.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at September 11, 2022 09:47 AM (Dc2NZ)

120 Perfessor Squirrel:

Something I've been meaning to mention about these book sale threads that pop up on Sunday here: A lot of the books listed are no longer on sale by the time Sunday hits.

Next time you include the link to this sale (next time it runs) could you pop up a special mid-week thread on opening day of the sale, and then also give it a mention on the Sunday book thread?

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at September 11, 2022 09:48 AM (nRMeC)

121 I've been thumbing through a bunch of my art books this week as I try to learn to draw and sketch. (Wish I started this about 60 years ago.) It's amazing what can be done, not necessarily by me, with such basic tools.

Posted by: JTB at September 11, 2022 09:48 AM (7EjX1)

122 anymore = anymoron

Thx, AC!

Posted by: naturalfake at September 11, 2022 09:48 AM (KLPy8)

123 >>And to tie this into the Book Thread, I bought a book about the hero dogs of 9/11. Lots of Goldens and Shepherds.

Sounds cool!

Years ago when my son came home from elementary school spouting 9-11 truther stuff I got him a graphic novel version of the 9-11 Report. Never forget the details of how it happened - lookin' at you Bill Clinton and Sandy Berger.

Posted by: Lizzy at September 11, 2022 09:48 AM (I/doM)

124 Well, I think I'll go make some tea and toast and sit on the porch. I wanted to ride today, but the weather looks chancy. I'd write, but I've got a massive mental block to get over before I can get anywhere with the new book, and I don't see that happening any time soon.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 11, 2022 09:49 AM (AW0uW)

125 Morning.

Those pants are freakin' me out.

Posted by: Robert at September 11, 2022 09:50 AM (e/YcL)

126 3 11 Sept 2001. Never forget.
======
Sadly everyone in DC and many blue states forgot it.

Posted by: exdem13 at September 11, 2022 09:50 AM (W+kMI)

127 "119 Basically, I blame the Book Thread.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at September 11, 2022 09:47 AM (Dc2NZ) "

Truth !
Yes !

the Bossa Nova gets a clean pass this time !

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - we are being gaslighted 24/365 at September 11, 2022 09:51 AM (J33tq)

128 >>> 79 Watched part of the 1st episode out of curiosity - yikes, bad.
Posted by: Lizzy at September 11, 2022 09:24 AM (I/doM)
---
It gets so much worse by episode 3. We find out the Harfoots/Protohobbits are complete psychopaths. They're a migratory tribe that just leaves their friends and family behind if they can't keep up with the tribe. It's insane.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 09:32 AM (K5n5d)

iirc many of the migratory tribes in North America did that in real life. They would cross a river in fall or winter and leave behind the elderly and / or otherwise infirm who couldn't make it across without help. So in this series the "good guys" are culling non-stop?

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at September 11, 2022 09:51 AM (llON8)

129 @112 --

Eris, it goes on the list.

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 11, 2022 09:51 AM (Om/di)

130 Binge reading for me tends to be lighter fare.

Jack Campbell, ‘Lost Fleet’ and ‘Pillars of Reality’ Series
Lois Bujold, Most anything
John Conroe, Demon Accords

Occasionally, will get into author based bing (not series): Neal Stephenson, Robert Heinlein

In the audio bing of Shirtaloon ‘He Who Fight with Monsters’ (did the KU bringer earlier this spring).

Posted by: Legion of Boom at September 11, 2022 09:51 AM (5BGdD)

131 109 Read Will Jordan's new book Dark Harvest. Fairly big change of pace for him as it crosses into the horror genre. Defiantly a page turner so I recommend it.
Posted by: Nearsighted Cyclopes at September 11, 2022 09:45 AM (PbwT0)

I just started Dark Harvest this week. Surprisingly, I was able to check it out from my local library.

Posted by: DIY Daddio at September 11, 2022 09:51 AM (64aAI)

132 This week I read "Mariana" by Susanna Kearsley. It was a good historical fiction time travel story, with a somewhat silly reincarnation element to it. A better book is Kearsley's "The Winter Sea." Similar concept, with two heroines in dual timelines, but no reincarnation. Kearsley writes beautiful prose and her descriptive passages don't feel like distractions, because they work to reinforce a mood or contribute to characterization.

Posted by: Linnet at September 11, 2022 09:52 AM (9guiK)

133 same to you, MP4 !

maybe a quick hike down the road & around the cemetery ?

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - we are being gaslighted 24/365 at September 11, 2022 09:53 AM (J33tq)

134 I don't recall a whole lot of unity related to 9/11, besides the initial shock. The blame game started very early.

It's also a shame that we never really got a proper look at the full atrocity, so much was hidden in order to protect the nations that provided the perps.

Posted by: CN at September 11, 2022 09:54 AM (Zzbjj)

135 So in this series the "good guys" are culling non-stop?
Posted by: Helena Handbasket at September 11, 2022 09:51 AM (llON

---
Yep. And they show that there are others in the tribe who could help the main Harfoot family (Nori's) but choose not to. They just casually strolling along, laughing without a care in the world. Meanwhile, Nori's father (who broke his ankle in the previous episode) is trying to pull his family's cart and is struggling to keep up with the tribe. It would be trivial for others to help him. But they don't. You have to see this episode to see just how awful the Harfoot's are.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 09:56 AM (K5n5d)

136 There's an imaginary Tintin movie. In Anthony Horowitz' book, The Word Is Murder (I think), Horowitz is excited because he has an opportunity to write the screenplay for a Steven Spielberg/Peter Jackson production of Tintin but he doesn't get to do it because an old, annoying detective makes him solve a murder instead. The movie gets made without him.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 11, 2022 09:56 AM (FVME7)

137 I seldom binge read on purpose. It just happens. I'll pick up a Matt Helm book or one of the Liturgical Mystery series or one of the Martha's Vineyard books by Philip Craig etc. Next thing you know I've got a pile of the others in the series by my recliner.

I don't include the Aubrey sea stories or Bernard Cornwell because they take so long to go through. Too many interesting references to investigate for quick reading.

Posted by: JTB at September 11, 2022 09:56 AM (7EjX1)

138 this weeks read is Neal Stephenson's D. O. D. O., which is a fun read so far, and also a different take on the multi-cosmic theme from Anathem,

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - we are being gaslighted 24/365 at September 11, 2022 09:56 AM (J33tq)

139 >>I don't recall a whole lot of unity related to 9/11, besides the initial shock. The blame game started very early.

Not just blame, but the 'hate America' stuff from prominent people. Masks dropped.

Posted by: Lizzy at September 11, 2022 09:56 AM (I/doM)

140 I haven't been to my local library for years. Like many libraries, it has become a de facto shelter for drug-addled bums. The library has told the police to not roust the loafers because "social justice" or whatever.

Posted by: PabloD at September 11, 2022 09:56 AM (JCymI)

141 Is 9/11 forgotten or not?

I'd like to see a metric that compares the number of passengers on flights on 9/11 since 9/11.

I'd heard, at least for the first few years, that 9/11 was a date that had fewer passengers than usual.

Now, remembering to honor those who died and/or were heroes that day is a different thing and much more important.

I don't expect Senile Joe to say much at all. Obama tried to turn 9/11 into some kind of mush-headed "day of service" like we Americans had something to atone for. Fortunately, that idea failed at least out here in Deplorableville.

Posted by: naturalfake at September 11, 2022 09:57 AM (KLPy8)

142 That vending machine seems to be filled up with nothing but crapola.

You were expecting Proust? On the other hand, as best I can tell from the picture, it doesn't seem to be full of "Heather Has Two Mommies" type propaganda either.

Posted by: Oddbob at September 11, 2022 09:57 AM (nfrXX)

143 There was a Congressman from Texas (I forget his name) that said we should have taken out mecca and medina.

Posted by: JT at September 11, 2022 09:57 AM (T4tVD)

144 This is an article published by the New Yorker (I know, but it is well written) on Rick Rescorla who was VP of security for Morgan Stanley. He was able to evacuate all their staff from the South Tower. He died when he went back in to look for more people to evacuate.

https://tinyurl.com/yzxj7dym

Posted by: Our Country is Screwed at September 11, 2022 09:57 AM (UcAQV)

145 53
Posted by: Sharkman at September 11, 2022 09:23 AM (6zjv5)

Ooops. Saw Sharkman already posted it.

Posted by: Our Country is Screwed at September 11, 2022 09:58 AM (UcAQV)

146 NY Post has a story of 9/11 babies turning 21 today. Some kept their fathers awayffrom the towers that day

Posted by: Ignoramus at September 11, 2022 09:59 AM (i0slg)

147 NY Post has a story of 9/11 babies turning 21 today. Some kept their fathers awayffrom the towers that day
Posted by: Ignoramus at September 11, 2022 09:59 AM (i0slg)
---
I'm pretty sure all of the students in my class were born after 9/11 (they are college freshmen). It was a weird realization...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 10:01 AM (K5n5d)

148 Morning, all,

I'm sort of watching the original The Beguiled (Clint Eastwood, Geraldine Page) from 1971. Grit does break it into so many small bits with their frequent commericla breaks that a 2 hr film becomes 2.5.

MPPPP, starting your Dreams book, and enjoying it. One question: What kind of "big car" is it that Toby drives Theda around in? Maybe I missed it, or it was mentioned in the first novel.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:01 AM (c6xtn)

149 Used to binge read, but don't do that very much any more. And if I see a new book that's marked as the beginning of series, I back away fast. If I start reading stand-alones by a particular writer, I may get through five or six before deciding to read someone else for a while. No idea why that is -- used to be able to run through series books like potato chips or spend weeks devouring everything I could find by my favorites.

Right now, am wandering through Simenon's stand-alones and trying to psych myself up to the Maigrets.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 11, 2022 10:01 AM (a/4+U)

150 *maybe a quick hike down the road & around the cemetery?*

I'm not dead yet!

Posted by: Obligatory Monty Python reference at September 11, 2022 10:03 AM (LMo2x)

151 somewhat silly reincarnation element

-
There is a former Seal who does YouTube videos of the "strange, dark, and mysterious" who goes by Mr. Ballen who featured a British girl/woman who may have been reincarnated.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EYhtu-u8lqQ

Mr. Ballen has a lot of bizarre true crime, supernatural, and just plain weirdness videos.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 11, 2022 10:06 AM (FVME7)

152 Biden will say a few words later today. I wonder if he'll mention Afghanistan.

Posted by: Ignoramus at September 11, 2022 10:06 AM (i0slg)

153 I just finished reading My Days Happy and Otherwise by Marion Ross. (Mrs. C. on Happy Days.)

Included was how Happy Days ended. With Fonzie jumping the shark.

Which is where we got the expression "Jumping the Shark."

Posted by: JT at September 11, 2022 10:07 AM (T4tVD)

154 There's a non-profit used bookstore in town that is dangerous - so many good books! Almost out of store credits.
Last week I picked up a mass market paperback copy of the Fannie Farmer cookbook (1000+ pages) and shipped it off to my niece who moved off campus this year. Included a note that if she takes a peek, she will find some timeless info (safe food prep and storage), some horridly dated recipes (sweetbreads) as well as some gems. No idea if it will be appreciated, but told her she could always use it as a doorstop!

Posted by: Lizzy at September 11, 2022 10:07 AM (I/doM)

155 There was a Congressman from Texas (I forget his name) that said we should have taken out mecca and medina.
Posted by: JT

And DC.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 11, 2022 10:07 AM (FVME7)

156 "I think I'll go for a walk"

You're not fooling anyone, ya know, now look...

Posted by: John Cleese at September 11, 2022 10:09 AM (ZSK0i)

157 Reading Canticle made me realize that we often think the Apocalypse is whatever the current thing is. Written in the 50s, Nuclear Armageddon was our big fear and it was the end of the world as we knew it. So many books and movies keyed on that. Then later, it was overpopulation and eco-collapse, and now it is always global warming.

Posted by: blaster at September 11, 2022 10:09 AM (6TxNR)

158 I now never buy anything unless I've read it and decided that I MUST own it, or it's a specialty item unobtainable any other way (lots of out-of-print material in this category. For that, there's Better World Books and Abebooks). You're welcome!
Posted by: werewife, princess of Delray Beach at September 11, 2022

***
I stopped off at an indie bookstore yesterday morning -- a fun, welcoming sort of place. But the prices, when they're actually on the book --! I was tempted by a locally-published coffee-table book about restaurants in Da Swamp that are all gone now, but couldn't locate the price. There was another small paperbound text about the history of a local drugstore chain with lots of photos that was tempting, but not at $22.00. And a Hard Case Crime paperback, Later, by Stephen King. That was $14.99.

For somebody who remembers .50 and .60 paperbacks at the drugstore, this is more than annoying. I took a flyer on a lot of paperbacks as a boy and young teen, and even as an adult when they ran $1.50-2.00. But a price 10x that --!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:09 AM (c6xtn)

159 The Tulsa World would run a reminder story -- or, more often, a photo -- for Pearl Harbor Day.

We young ones would snicker and gripe that good stories were forced inside because front-page space had to be devoted to something that happened 50 years ago.

I'll look at today's paper to see how it's covered, if at all.

I wish the attacks had a better nomenclature than "9/11," which I refuse to use.

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 11, 2022 10:11 AM (Om/di)

160 152 Biden will say a few words later today. I wonder if he'll mention Afghanistan.

he spoke a bit ago. he did mention afghanistan, as an example of american power and stick-to-itiveness. his only mention of the withdrawal was "... our commitment there has ended ..."

Posted by: anachronda at September 11, 2022 10:11 AM (GbLWf)

161 Dagny (aka La Siberienne), the new kitten, is next to me on the couch, grooming her fur. Not on my lap, and in any case it's too hot to think about a warm kitten on my lap for long. But she's good company.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:11 AM (c6xtn)

162 Book report: I read The Crossing by Kevin Ikenberry, which is about a squad of ROTC kids getting transported back to 1776 NJ and meeting George Washington.
It's part of Eric Flint's back in time universe (I forget the name for it - Shards?)
Fun read, open for sequels. Plot-driven rather than character-driven though, and I prefer the latter.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 11, 2022 10:12 AM (gbzeC)

163 I try to binge read book series, but often get bumped out by something or another. I've binged, then abandoned the Spencer novels when I figured out Spenser or the author wasn't a very good detective. (and it seemed like he was more interested in cooking recipes or dialog instead, you know, solving the crime with some shoe leather and pointed questions).

I've had better luck with Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe stories, though 'Death of a Dude' made me want to quit...only two books left in the series so I'll finish it up this year.

Louis L'Amour is bingeable if you're in a mood for westerns and very random endings to books.

And I have all of John D. MacDonald's paperbacks I won at auction, I'll make a go at binging them.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards (Logan Tiberius 2012-2021) at September 11, 2022 10:12 AM (xcxpd)

164 At BasedCon right now!

Posted by: Moviegique at September 11, 2022 10:13 AM (jlQ/5)

165 6 months ago Yrump said that Putin was a genius for sending "peacekeeping" troops into Ukraine
Biden thought otherwise

Posted by: Forrest gump at September 11, 2022 10:14 AM (6SLwp)

166 I don't expect Senile Joe to say much at all. Obama tried to turn 9/11 into some kind of mush-headed "day of service" like we Americans had something to atone for. Fortunately, that idea failed at least out here in Deplorableville.
Posted by: naturalfake at September 11, 2022 09:57 AM (KLPy

Will he tell a ridiculous and offensive lie about what he did that day

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at September 11, 2022 10:15 AM (eGTCV)

167 Binge reading: Larry Correia's "Grimnoir Chronicles."

Also, as I mentioned in a thread yesterday, I finished James Patterson's "Private Games."

To quote my Goodreads review, "A 4th rate plot with a 5th grade vocabulary." And, also, "fortunately, I paid very little for the book, and almost got my money's worth."

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022 10:15 AM (5pTK/)

168 Boy, do I remember 50 and 60 cent paperbacks -- when I started buying paperbacks, Pocket Books still had occasional 35 cent titles, and a lot of the Ace science fiction titles were still set at 40 cents.

When Avon released the first paperback of Heinlein's GLORY ROAD, I stewed for days (and scrounged lots of empty pop bottles for the deposits) about whether to buy it, and Heinlein was my favorite at the time, because it was priced at a jaw-dropping 75 cents.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 11, 2022 10:15 AM (a/4+U)

169 It's part of Eric Flint's back in time universe (I forget the name for it - Shards?)
Fun read, open for sequels. Plot-driven rather than character-driven though, and I prefer the latter.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 11, 2022 10:12 AM (gbzeC)
----

I really like the initial books in time travel series like Shards or Stirling's Dies the Fire, where moderns have to adjust to the new low/no-tech reality.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at September 11, 2022 10:16 AM (Dc2NZ)

170 Great job, perfessor. Thanks again. As for those pants, I get it's part of the job of a model to wear such creations, but, I'd think the shoes would be a bridge to far.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022 10:16 AM (5pTK/)

171 bugger off, troll

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards (Logan Tiberius 2012-2021) at September 11, 2022 10:16 AM (xcxpd)

172 164 At BasedCon right now!
Posted by: Moviegique at September 11, 2022 10:13 AM (jlQ/5)

Give them the Horde's regards!

Getting a t-shirt? Did you really attend if there's no t-shirt?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at September 11, 2022 10:17 AM (Dc2NZ)

173 163 I recommend Lamour’s To Tame a Land to newbs.

Posted by: Quint at September 11, 2022 10:18 AM (+Dvq/)

174 I have a martial arts test coming up, so I have slipped back into my own personal guilty pleasure when it comes to reading: a series of pulp action novels created by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, called "The Destroyer," about a martial-arts assassin working for an extraconstitutional government agency to fight crime and corruption. They're fun books if you like short stories that are part detective story, part action novel, with a reliable undercurrent of humor and takedowns of left-wing idealism. There're something like 100 books in the series, with most of the latter half ghost-written. They're usually found in used bookstores next to Ian Fleming's 007 or Don Pendleton's "The Executioner" series. There was a movie made out of these once called "Remo Williams - The Adventure Begins." It got the main characters mostly right but had a lame villain and a lousy plot. I enjoy the film well enough but would like to see a reboot. Apparently Sony acquired the rights a few years back and got Shane Black to commit to direct, but nothing has ever happened with it.

Posted by: Caiwyn at September 11, 2022 10:19 AM (+dHQK)

175 I recently tore off my mattress tag and tried to read it, but was unable to finish before the police helicopter and SWAT team showed up. It's state's evidence now.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at September 11, 2022 10:19 AM (LMo2x)

176 My favorite binge reading was of Raymond Chandler’s Phillip Marlow detective novels. The stories are complicated and held my attention, and the writing style is top-notch, especially the dialogue.

I also dug binge-reading the John LeCarre spy novels until the later ones in which the we’re’-just-as-bad-as-the-Communists preaching became more prominent…

Posted by: pikkumatti at September 11, 2022 10:19 AM (LNiNn)

177 the official space agencies on Earth are aimless and impotent at this point and the real shit is being done by the crazy entrepreneurs since the cost is so ridiculously high.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes

I wonder how much the space stuff the billions sent to Ukraine coulda funded

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 11, 2022 10:19 AM (gbzeC)

178 And I have all of John D. MacDonald's paperbacks I won at auction, I'll make a go at binging them.
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards (Logan Tiberius 2012-2021) at September 11, 2022

***
Highly recommended. John D. was known as the John O'Hara of the crime story for good reason. (I tried O'Hara because of that review line, and good as he could be, I still prefer MacDonald.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:20 AM (c6xtn)

179 Am I the only one who finds that selection of "children's books" smarmy?

Posted by: creeper at September 11, 2022 10:22 AM (cTCuP)

180 I recently tore off my mattress tag and tried to read it, but was unable to finish before the police helicopter and SWAT team showed up. It's state's evidence now.
Posted by: Quarter Twenty at September 11, 2022 10:19 AM (LMo2x)

As of this month, we have decided a "mattress tag" is a machine gun.

Please report to our nearest office and turn it in so it can be "destroyed".

Posted by: Joe Schmoo, BATF Director Of Diversity at September 11, 2022 10:22 AM (R/m4+)

181 One of the art books I've been enjoying is "The Art of Beatrix Potter: Sketches, Paintings, and Illustrations". It isn't a how-to book but provides plenty of examples of what she did in different media. Her simple watercolor and pen sketches are remarkable. While I enjoy the cuteness and creativity of her children's books illustrations, the botanical studies Potter did are incredible and were so good they were used in scientific publications.

Posted by: JTB at September 11, 2022 10:22 AM (7EjX1)

182 Also, as I mentioned in a thread yesterday, I finished James Patterson's "Private Games."

To quote my Goodreads review, "A 4th rate plot with a 5th grade vocabulary." And, also, "fortunately, I paid very little for the book, and almost got my money's worth."
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022

***
Patterson, from what I gather, is a cottage industry, not a writer.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:22 AM (c6xtn)

183 I've pretty much read every Temperance Brennan book by Kathy Reichs and the Rebus books by Ian Rankin.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at September 11, 2022 10:23 AM (eGTCV)

184 I don't know what bothers me more about 'these pants', that some bizarre creature thought of them or that some brain dead fashionista would buy them. Decisions, decisions.

Posted by: JTB at September 11, 2022 10:24 AM (7EjX1)

185 Highly recommended. John D. was known as the John O'Hara of the crime story for good reason. (I tried O'Hara because of that review line, and good as he could be, I still prefer MacDonald.)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:20 AM (c6xtn)
----------

One of the reasons I like John D. MacDonald is the man knew how to turn a phrase. That ability really set him from other authors of his era.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022 10:24 AM (5pTK/)

186 . . . Don Pendleton's "The Executioner" series. There was a movie made out of these once called "Remo Williams - The Adventure Begins." It got the main characters mostly right but had a lame villain and a lousy plot. I enjoy the film well enough but would like to see a reboot. . . .
Posted by: Caiwyn at September 11, 2022

***
I caught part of that film on TV years ago. Seemed like pretty good casting -- though I'm not really familiar with the series of books.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:25 AM (c6xtn)

187 We find out the Harfoots/Protohobbits are complete psychopaths. They're a migratory tribe that just leaves their friends and family behind if they can't keep up with the tribe. It's insane.

**

They are quite awful and annoying. But ( to be fair) the writers are showing that that is awful (since annoying main character's unapproved stranger befriending saves them from that fate)

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 11, 2022 10:25 AM (gbzeC)

188 Am I the only one who finds that selection of "children's books" smarmy?
Posted by: creeper at September 11, 2022 10:22 AM (cTCuP)

Ummmmm...No. Nothing about America, her heroes or her history.

Just lots of hearts and weird creatures and left wing feel good crapola.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at September 11, 2022 10:25 AM (R/m4+)

189 But we have forgotten the criminal negligence of our political leaders and intelligence services that got us to that point. We should have purged the incompetents then. Instead, they're still running the show. The country is still sound, but the people in charge of it have only gotten worse.

Louis Freeh September 1, 1993 – June 25, 2001

Freeh said: “The political means and will to declare and fight this war didn’t exist before September 11.”
Another blunder involved misplaced FBI files from its investigation into the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
The discovery of thousands of pages of documents that were not turned over to defense lawyers led to a one-month delay in the 2001 execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
Freeh was FBI chief when FBI agents focused on security guard Richard Jewell as a suspect in the 1996 bombing at the Olympics in Atlanta. It later turned out that Jewell had nothing to do with the bombing.

Posted by: some coonass at September 11, 2022 10:26 AM (BRHaw)

190 Maybe Patterson, Inc. is a money laundering grift.

Or it's a front and intelligence agencies are passing secret messages in the text, like Mary Worth and Apartment 3-G.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at September 11, 2022 10:26 AM (Dc2NZ)

191 Patterson, from what I gather, is a cottage industry, not a writer.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:22 AM (c6xtn)
-----------

That's my impression, too. And "Private Games" is a run down cottage down an ill maintained road.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022 10:26 AM (5pTK/)

192 This is about us, isn't it?

Posted by: Left Wing Feel Good Crapola Writers local #8888 at September 11, 2022 10:28 AM (LMo2x)

193 I don’t normally toot my own horn. In fact I have never done that in my opinion. But I did go off several hours ago out of nowhere saying if one did bet, and I don’t encourage it or make picks. But if one did, given a reasonable situation, betting Jon Rahm for a top ten finish is a damn good idea.

I said that many hours ago when he was not even in the top twenty. At the moment he could actually win and he is pretty much guaranteed a top three. Just something about that dude. Again, sports betting is for suckers, and each week is different. But after all the requisite disclaimers, I still would go Rahm for a top ten any day if I had to make a bet.

Posted by: Quint at September 11, 2022 10:28 AM (+Dvq/)

194 Eris, I have sent the horse's regards.

And there ARE shirts, natch.

Posted by: Moviegique at September 11, 2022 10:29 AM (jlQ/5)

195 I really like the initial books in time travel series like Shards or Stirling's Dies the Fire, where moderns have to adjust to the new low/no-tech reality.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes

Me too! Michael Z Williamson's A Long Time Until Now had a bit of that - I liked it.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 11, 2022 10:29 AM (gbzeC)

196 Sometimes, Perfessor, I read your Book Thread and forget it's not Oregon Muse. Thank you for making the change so smoothly.

Posted by: creeper at September 11, 2022 10:29 AM (cTCuP)

197 I binge read any book I can find on low carb, high fat eating.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at September 11, 2022 10:29 AM (eGTCV)

198 Northernlurker, I love the Temperance Brennan series too. I was a fan of "Bones" before reading the books. (I do love the TV series more, mostly because I get to look at David Boreanaz.)

Posted by: screaming in digital at September 11, 2022 10:29 AM (pkAcY)

199 We find out the Harfoots/Protohobbits are complete psychopaths. They're a migratory tribe that just leaves their friends and family behind if they can't keep up with the tribe. It's insane.
**
They are quite awful and annoying. But ( to be fair) the writers are showing that that is awful (since annoying main character's unapproved stranger befriending saves them from that fate)
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 11, 2022

***
I like the *idea* of a tribe of psychopaths, and it opens up all sorts of story possibilities . . . but it does not fit Tolkien's vision at all.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:30 AM (c6xtn)

200 Speaking of George Washington ; who's the guy that looks like him on the page of Horde sketches ?

Posted by: JT at September 11, 2022 10:30 AM (T4tVD)

201 Freaking autocorrect. The HORDE'S regards.

Posted by: Moviegique at September 11, 2022 10:30 AM (jlQ/5)

202 off sox

Posted by: rhennigantx at September 11, 2022 10:30 AM (BRHaw)

203 I like the *idea* of a tribe of psychopaths, and it opens up all sorts of story possibilities . . . but it does not fit Tolkien's vision at all.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:30 AM (c6xtn)
---
In the Dark Sun campaign world for D&D, halflings were reimagined as psychopathic jungle cannibals. It made a lot of sense in that series. Not so much for Tolkien's world...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 10:31 AM (K5n5d)

204 I enjoyed The Destroyer books as a teenage kid with dreams of being a ninja assassin (it was the 80s - ninjas were all the rage). I would go to the local used book store with a friend and we would each buy several of them and trade as we finished. Same for all those Star Trek novels that you could burn through in a lazy weekend.

Posted by: PabloD at September 11, 2022 10:31 AM (JCymI)

205 The rain hath begun here.

Posted by: JT at September 11, 2022 10:31 AM (T4tVD)

206 Freeh also fucked up the Penn St abuse investigation!

our betters ha fucking ha ha

Posted by: rhennigantx at September 11, 2022 10:32 AM (BRHaw)

207 Sometimes, Perfessor, I read your Book Thread and forget it's not Oregon Muse. Thank you for making the change so smoothly.
Posted by: creeper at September 11, 2022 10:29 AM (cTCuP)
---
That's very kind of you to say. I try to keep his spirit alive (thus the pants) while trying to add my own spin on things.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 10:32 AM (K5n5d)

208 I'm binge re-reading some of my favorite historical mysteries, Kate Ross' Julian Kestrel series, set in Regency England - with a sojourn in Italy for the 4th book. I'm sad to say that Kate Ross died young (age 42, of cancer), so there are only 4 books, but they are so good. The first is "Cut to the Quick."

Posted by: screaming in digital at September 11, 2022 10:32 AM (pkAcY)

209 @174 --

I loved the Destroyer! I have them all through No. 54, plus "The Assassin's Handbook."

I didn't get them until I was in college, several years after the Gatewater hearings.

Man, I had forgotten those, plus the Executioner, when I was thinking of my binges. Probably because they are boxed in the garage.

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 11, 2022 10:32 AM (Om/di)

210 I have read and re-read every book John D. MacDonald ever wrote...from the pulp fiction to Travis McGee and even the two fantasies. Once started I could not put any of them down. AFAIC, there was no better author of fiction.

Posted by: creeper at September 11, 2022 10:33 AM (cTCuP)

211 The Bernie Gunther series by Philip Kerr. A WW2 Berlin homicide cop solves murders and gets caught up with Nazis. Noir murder mysteries with the backdrop of war.

The Last Kingdom series by Bernard Cornwell. The life of a pagan warlord caught between the worlds of Alfred the Great's nascent Christian nation and Viking invaders.

The Arkady Renko series by Martin Cruz Smith. A cynical Moscow homicide cops squares off against Russian bureaucracy.

The Jack Aubrey series by Patrick O'Brian. A Napoleonic war era chronicle of a British sea officer.

Posted by: Yawrate at September 11, 2022 10:33 AM (518OI)

212 Same for all those Star Trek novels that you could burn through in a lazy weekend.
Posted by: PabloD at September 11, 2022 10:31 AM (JCymI)
---
Some of those early Star Trek novels tackle some incredibly deep themes. Of course, many of them were written by actual science fiction authors (e.g. Greg Bear, A.C. Crispin, Diane Duane, Barbara Hambly, etc.), so it's not really surprising.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 10:34 AM (K5n5d)

213 146 NY Post has a story of 9/11 babies turning 21 today. Some kept their fathers awayffrom the towers that day
Posted by: Ignoramus

KTY was 3 weeks old

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 11, 2022 10:35 AM (gbzeC)

214 42 ... "Well it's a perfect reading day here. Rainy and cool "

Weasel,
Yeah, this is nice reading weather. A colder, rainy day in autumn is even better. After the Book Thread I will retire to my reading chair, with a mug of good coffee and a pipeful of Old Toby (from the Country Squire tobacconist) and settle in with some CS Lewis or Chesterton poetry.

Life is good.

Posted by: JTB at September 11, 2022 10:35 AM (7EjX1)

215 Just spent a while going through the book sale page and two books I bought last time are free.
The Empire Corps by Christopher Nuttall is FREE. I've been touting this series since I read this and now on book 7. I have also been reading the books in the series on Hoopla which means it is also free reading.
This author understands how societies truly rise and fall. This has much bearing on what is going on in current societies around the world.
There is also an excellent John Ringo book.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at September 11, 2022 10:36 AM (Y+l9t)

216 213 146 NY Post has a story of 9/11 babies turning 21 today. Some kept their fathers awayffrom the towers that day
Posted by: Ignoramus

KTY was 3 weeks old
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 11, 2022 10:35 AM (gbzeC)

Not book related but 9/11-related. American boat owners evacuated five hundred thousand people trapped on Manhattan on that day. It was bigger by far than Dunkirk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18lsxFcDrjo&t=683s

Posted by: creeper at September 11, 2022 10:37 AM (cTCuP)

217 I suppose I should list a few of my own favorite binges:

Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist

Discworld series by Terry Pratchett

Michael Moorcock's books are also pretty bingeable, partly because they are relatively short but engrossing.

And of course my favorite bingeable series of all time:

Chronicles of the Kencyrath by P.C. Hodgell. Criminally underrated series...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 10:38 AM (K5n5d)

218 The anniversary of 9/11. Terrible day. 3,000 lives lost. It also marks the day when our government saw the opportunity to move from somewhat benign neglect to overt tyranny.

TARP and the Patriot Act being the foundation upon which the current tyranny was built.

All hail Caesar!

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022 10:38 AM (5pTK/)

219 208 I'm binge re-reading some of my favorite historical mysteries, Kate Ross' Julian Kestrel series, set in Regency England

***

Oh I think I read those ages ago! Thanks for reminding me

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 11, 2022 10:39 AM (gbzeC)

220 I have read and re-read every book John D. MacDonald ever wrote...from the pulp fiction to Travis McGee and even the two fantasies. Once started I could not put any of them down. AFAIC, there was no better author of fiction.
Posted by: creeper at September 11, 2022

***
I think he wrote 3 novels that could be classed as SF/fantasy. Wine of the Dreamers (okay SF), Ballroom of the Skies (grand stuff and rather prescient about our world today), and the fantasy w/ SF trappings, The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything.

He was good at the genre, but said himself it required too much research and work for the money he got paid for his originals. For the same payment, he could produce a crime story set in our world and not have to create a background from scratch.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:39 AM (c6xtn)

221 That's very kind of you to say. I try to keep his spirit alive (thus the pants) while trying to add my own spin on things.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel
---
I think you've established your own voice while carrying on some of OM's traditions.

Just please don't start grading comments. You'll run out of red ink on mine alone.

Posted by: screaming in digital at September 11, 2022 10:40 AM (pkAcY)

222 Just fyi -- some of the book threaders may be interested in taking a look at this morning's Daily Tech News. Pixy links to a piece on CounterCraft looking at the books-sold numbers coming out of the suit involving Penguin-Random's merger with Simon & Schuster. Some interesting stuff in the article and also the comments.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 11, 2022 10:40 AM (a/4+U)

223 Northernlurker, I love the Temperance Brennan series too. I was a fan of "Bones" before reading the books. (I do love the TV series more, mostly because I get to look at David Boreanaz.)

It's almost a truism that TV shows are nothing like the books that inspired them and that's doubly true for "Bones" but Ms. Deschanel is nice to look at and some of the Ryan O'Neal episodes were pretty good.

Posted by: Oddbob at September 11, 2022 10:41 AM (nfrXX)

224 Hiya Screamie !

Posted by: JT at September 11, 2022 10:41 AM (T4tVD)

225 Some of those early Star Trek novels tackle some incredibly deep themes. Of course, many of them were written by actual science fiction authors (e.g. Greg Bear, A.C. Crispin, Diane Duane, Barbara Hambly, etc.), so it's not really surprising.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022

***
That employment of SF writers, both in tie-in novels and the James Blish adaptations, and on the TV series itself, was a good part of the reason Trek has endured.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:42 AM (c6xtn)

226 I don't remember a single elementary-level book being about "love". If they're not talking about loving mom & dad (and only platonically) , it's almosr certainly inapppropriate.

Posted by: Naked, sitting in a sensory deprivation room, smoking crack. at September 11, 2022 10:42 AM (QY+6a)

227 That reading tree is kinda cool. It reminds me of the talking apple trees in the Wizard of Oz movie. Don't know how little kids would respond to it.

Posted by: JTB at September 11, 2022 10:42 AM (7EjX1)

228 To quote my Goodreads review, "A 4th rate plot with a 5th grade vocabulary." And, also, "fortunately, I paid very little for the book, and almost got my money's worth."
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022

Patterson, from what I gather, is a cottage industry, not a writer.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:22 AM (c6xtn)

I read one of his books once, on the recommendation from a hot chick. Then I tried reading another, thinking maybe it was just me. No, it wasn't just me.

Absolute garbage. And hot chicks who recommend such books, are not so hot afterwards.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 11, 2022 10:42 AM (i3yPZ)

229 Shit. Sorry to have overslept.

Finally finished Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman. It was enjoyable, I guess, but ultimately not what I was looking for. Entertaining but ultimately not what I was looking for. Still good to get back on the horse.

Posted by: Captain Hate at September 11, 2022 10:42 AM (y7DUB)

230 Just fyi -- some of the book threaders may be interested in taking a look at this morning's Daily Tech News. Pixy links to a piece on CounterCraft looking at the books-sold numbers coming out of the suit involving Penguin-Random's merger with Simon & Schuster. Some interesting stuff in the article and also the comments.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 11, 2022 10:40 AM (a/4+U)
---
Book publishing does seem to be a bit of a shady racket. They pump out some "bestsellers" or tent-pole books that they can then use to finance their woke BS and funnel into political causes via money-laundering schemes. As was pointed out on Pixy's thread, it makes Hollywood accounting for movies look honest.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 10:43 AM (K5n5d)

231 I'm more concerned about how may people will turn away from reading Lord of the Rings because they are turned off by the just awful writing in the show.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 09:11 AM (K5n5d)

It took me fifty years to make it all the way through LotR, and that was with the movies helping. There is hope for everyone.

Posted by: sal at September 11, 2022 10:43 AM (y40tE)

232 I think he wrote 3 novels that could be classed as SF/fantasy. Wine of the Dreamers (okay SF), Ballroom of the Skies (grand stuff and rather prescient about our world today), and the fantasy w/ SF trappings, The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything.

He was good at the genre, but said himself it required too much research and work for the money he got paid for his originals. For the same payment, he could produce a crime story set in our world and not have to create a background from scratch.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:39 AM (c6xtn)

You're right. I forgot "Ballroom". It was the only book he wrote I couldn't get into but then I'm not a sci-fi fan.

I re-read "TG, TGW and E" just last week. The opening of that book still leaves me holding my sides and laughing.

Posted by: creeper at September 11, 2022 10:43 AM (cTCuP)

233 I just finished watching The Sandman on Netflix. My DIL tells me it is based on a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and that it is very true to the book. I really liked it as the actor who plays the main character is fascinating to watch. It helps,that all the actors are completely unknown to me so easy to just get into it.
Highly recommended.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at September 11, 2022 10:44 AM (Y+l9t)

234 . . . a pipeful of Old Toby (from the Country Squire tobacconist) and settle in with some CS Lewis or Chesterton poetry.

Life is good.
Posted by: JTB at September 11, 2022

***
What kind of tobacco is that? Virginia, burley, or what?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:45 AM (c6xtn)

235 That employment of SF writers, both in tie-in novels and the James Blish adaptations, and on the TV series itself, was a good part of the reason Trek has endured.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:42 AM (c6xtn)
---
I pointed out the other day on a movie thread (one of Ace's, I think) that good writing is what truly makes or breaks entertainment, whether movies or television or books. It's largely invisible to the audience in movies/tv, but we still recognize bad writing when we scrape away the spectacle.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 10:45 AM (K5n5d)

236 but we still recognize bad writing when we scrape away the spectacle.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 10:45 AM (K5n5d)
----------

Star Wars.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022 10:46 AM (5pTK/)

237 It took me fifty years to make it all the way through LotR, and that was with the movies helping. There is hope for everyone.
Posted by: sal at September 11, 2022 10:43 AM (y40tE)
---
Although the movies are flawed, compared to the books, they did spur a lot of people to trying to read Lord of the Rings....That will NOT happen with the television show.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 10:46 AM (K5n5d)

238 I think the only time I binge read anything was about 15-20 years ago when I went through all the Horatio Hornblower books. Once I started I couldn't quit.

Posted by: who knew at September 11, 2022 10:46 AM (4I7VG)

239 You're right. I forgot "Ballroom". It was the only book he wrote I couldn't get into but then I'm not a sci-fi fan.

I re-read "TG, TGW and E" just last week. The opening of that book still leaves me holding my sides and laughing.
Posted by: creeper at September 11, 2022

***
Ballroom is depressing in many areas, but it's very well done. Very dystopian -- something like Blade Runner the original film, without replicants or the detective elements.

John D.'s first line to Darker Than Amber, the 7th McGee, still stands as one of the greatest openers in fiction.

"We were about to give up and call it a night when somebody dropped the girl off the bridge."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:48 AM (c6xtn)

240 Me too! Michael Z Williamson's A Long Time Until Now had a bit of that - I liked it.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 11, 2022 10:29 AM (gbzeC)
---

There's a sequel! It's on my TBR stack (ziggurat).

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at September 11, 2022 10:49 AM (Dc2NZ)

241 I don't know if the well-deserved flop of Rings of Power will discourage any other Tolkien projects in the future. I did see something about a "War Of The Rohirrim" animated film (not Ralph Bakshi) based on the Helm Hammerhand character and story from LOTR. What little i saw seemed to stay with the original material. I think it is supposed to be released in 2024.

I would love to see a well-made project true to Tolkien's work be hugely successful.

Posted by: JTB at September 11, 2022 10:49 AM (7EjX1)

242 It's almost a truism that TV shows are nothing like the books that inspired them and that's doubly true for "Bones" but Ms. Deschanel is nice to look at and some of the Ryan O'Neal episodes were pretty good.
Posted by: Oddbob
---
I loved Ryan O'Neal as Brennan's dad.

I think I read somewhere that Kathy Reichs envisioned the TV Brennan as a younger version of the book character. That may have been true initially but it really breaks down as the series went on. However, I almost enjoy both series more because they aren't too similar. And it's fun how they handle Brennan's writing career in the TV series.

Posted by: screaming in digital at September 11, 2022 10:49 AM (pkAcY)

243 I pointed out the other day on a movie thread (one of Ace's, I think) that good writing is what truly makes or breaks entertainment, whether movies or television or books. It's largely invisible to the audience in movies/tv, but we still recognize bad writing when we scrape away the spectacle.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022

***
And we still think of The Empire Strikes Back as the best of the SW films -- because the story and first draft were by Leigh Brackett, the crime/SF writer, who also was a screenwriter (The Big Sleep) and knew how to make a story move on film.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:50 AM (c6xtn)

244 The Matt Helm series. Why his estate never published his last manuscript, which was finished and just needed editing, I don't know. First book is "Death of a Citizen."

The British Tim Simpson series by John Malcolm. Simpson works for a trust management firm that invests in antiques and paintings as part of its management. Each one has Simpson tracking down a piece or a painting and gets him involved in death and double-dealing. First book is "A Back Room in Somers Town." Much better than Lovejoy.

The David Audley spy novels by Alan Price. Audley is part of a British unit whose cover is historical research, which allows the team to move around Europe (and in one, the US). First book is "The Labyrinth Makers" in which WWI trenches play a significant role.

The Liz Carlyle series by Stella Rimington, former head of MI5 (domestic counterterrorism). Carlyle is an MI5 agent. Occasional squabbles with MI6 (foreign intelligence and counterterrorism) make for some light moments. First book is "At Risk."

The

Posted by: Wethal at September 11, 2022 10:50 AM (ZzVCK)

245 I like the *idea* of a tribe of psychopaths, and it opens up all sorts of story possibilities . . . but it does not fit Tolkien's vision at all.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:30 AM (c6xtn)

We already have them, Wolfus. They're called, politicians.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 11, 2022 10:51 AM (7bRMQ)

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at September 11, 2022 10:51 AM (Dc2NZ)

247 Posted by: sal at September 11, 2022 10:43 AM (y40tE)
---
Although the movies are flawed, compared to the books, they did spur a lot of people to trying to read Lord of the Rings....That will NOT happen with the television show.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 10:46 AM (K5n5d)

I saw the movies before reading the books, because it's just not in my reading wheelhouse. I think I would have preferred to have read them first. It was distracting to have "new characters" and "new events" show up in the books, that weren't in the movies.

I did find the ending much more satisfying though. Jackson basically just has everyone go home, which of course those who lived, did, but unlike his weird little coda for the film, Tolkien's characters completed their journeys, in ways that are more meaningful to those characters.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 11, 2022 10:51 AM (i3yPZ)

248 I think the only time I binge read anything was about 15-20 years ago when I went through all the Horatio Hornblower books. Once I started I couldn't quit.
Posted by: who knew at September 11, 2022

***
Lieutenant Hornblower, the second novel in the sequence of HH's career, contains one of the greatest portraits of the dangerous paranoiac in fiction.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:52 AM (c6xtn)

249 "We were about to give up and call it a night when somebody dropped the girl off the bridge."
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:48 AM (c6xtn)
-----------

Unlike current action adventure writers, John D. knew how to write an opener which grabbed without smashing your face into it.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022 10:52 AM (5pTK/)

250 Darker Than Amber -- I'd forgotten that opening line. A real grabber.

Darker Than Amber was filmed in the late 60s, with Rod Taylor as McGee. It got a VHS release, but in an edited version. If you're a fan of movie fight scenes, scrounge around on youtube for the uncut fight scene between Taylor and William Smith near the end of that picture. Smith had a web site (don't know if it's still there as Smith passed away) describing that sequence. No stunt doubles, and some real damage done there. Just brutal.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 11, 2022 10:53 AM (a/4+U)

251 Y'all have probably already seen the Bee's take on the Amazon LOTR abomination:

https://bit.ly/3L6qkEH

Posted by: screaming in digital at September 11, 2022 10:53 AM (pkAcY)

252 And we still think of The Empire Strikes Back as the best of the SW films -- because the story and first draft were by Leigh Brackett, the crime/SF writer, who also was a screenwriter (The Big Sleep) and knew how to make a story move on film.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:50 AM (c6xtn)
---
She was also married to Edmond Hamilton, one of the greatest science fiction writers of all time, IMHO

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 10:57 AM (K5n5d)

253 While waiting for the library to get in "Men at Arms" by Evelyn Waugh (they finally got it in) read some William Trevor short stories from his huge collection. Nice to have a large bunch like that to pick up and put down as the mood hits. With the library being so fucking tardy at getting things in, I'm sure I'll be returning to it shortly

Posted by: Captain Hate at September 11, 2022 10:57 AM (y7DUB)

254 Binge reading (don't judge, okay?):
The Eve Dallas series by J.D.Robb (Nora Robert's crime nom de plume).

They are an interesting mix of straightforward police procedural and romance novel. They are set in the rapidly-approaching future (2060-ish), with a few sci-fi elements, that she has had to dial back as time passes. There are over 50 of them, and she's been writing them since the mid-90s.

Though there was something called the Urban Wars in the 2020's, she records, that sounds quite prescient.

Some you can tell are just throw-aways, but many are very good for the genre. I just skip the sex scenes included for the incel cat-ladies and get back to the police work.

Posted by: sal at September 11, 2022 10:57 AM (y40tE)

255 The Orphan X series by Gregg Hurwitz.

Posted by: Tuna at September 11, 2022 10:58 AM (gLRfa)

256 John D.'s first line to Darker Than Amber, the 7th McGee, still stands as one of the greatest openers in fiction.

"We were about to give up and call it a night when somebody dropped the girl off the bridge."
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:48 AM (c6xtn)

Thanks for the reminder! I needed that.

*heads to garage where JDM books are still stored*

My favorite line was Meyer's advice to McGee. "In all emotional conflicts, the thing you find hardest to do is the thing you should do."

Posted by: creeper at September 11, 2022 10:58 AM (cTCuP)

257 Still good to get back on the horse.

Posted by: Captain Hate at September 11, 2022 10:42 AM (y7DUB)

That's "horde."

Posted by: AutoCorrect at September 11, 2022 10:58 AM (7bRMQ)

258 OT, but I'm sitting here reading the Book Thread and one of the smoke detectors gives its "low battery" chirp. Haul out the 8' ladder, guess at which one because the sound is so non-directional (to me anyway). I must have guessed right because it hasn't sounded again. Check the battery. Multimeter goes all wonky meaning that it needs a new battery too. "Somebody's gonna have to ride back to town and get a whooole sh*tload of batteries."

Posted by: Oddbob at September 11, 2022 10:59 AM (nfrXX)

259 Leigh Brackett -- also the screenwriter for Rio Bravo and a few other decent John Wayne flicks.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 11, 2022 11:00 AM (a/4+U)

260 Seuss has always irritated me, but I like the Scarry books. Or at least I did before they were revised and made sickeningly PC.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 11, 2022 09:46 AM (AW0uW)

One daughter still has the R.S. Word Book from the 1970's,
when you could have a "pretty stewardess" and didn't have to have a lady dentist.
It's in tatters, but we're still hanging on to it.

Posted by: sal at September 11, 2022 11:00 AM (y40tE)

261 I couldn't even watch two minutes of the Babylon Bee version. Lol

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at September 11, 2022 11:00 AM (Y+l9t)

262
Unlike current action adventure writers, John D. knew how to write an opener which grabbed without smashing your face into it.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022

***
He began writing in the last days of the pulps, the 1950s. You had to grab an editor (=reader) fast.

In a similar vein, this is not the first line of a book, but the first line of the final chapter of Heinlein's The Cat Who Walks Through Walls:

Dying isn't so hard. Even a baby kitten can do it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:02 AM (c6xtn)

263 The J.K. Rowling/Robert Galbraith "Cormoran Strike" detective series.

Just finished the last one, The Ink Black Heart, which like the previous one, Troubled Blood, was 900 pages. She has started to include a lot of the evidence (notes, transcripts of chatrooms), apparently to show the detail that Strike and his partner, Robin wade through.

Strike is a former Army MP detective who lost part of a leg in Iraq. He comes back to start a detective agency, Robin starts out as his receptionist, but slowly ends up working cases, and eventually becomes a partner.

Posted by: Wethal at September 11, 2022 11:03 AM (ZzVCK)

264 Am I the only one who finds that selection of "children's books" smarmy?
Posted by: creeper at September 11, 2022 10:22 AM (cTCuP)

Ummmmm...No. Nothing about America, her heroes or her history.

Just lots of hearts and weird creatures and left wing feel good crapola.
Posted by: Hairyback Guy at September 11, 2022 10:25 AM (R/m4+)

No Encyclopedia Brown, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle or Nancy Drew.

Posted by: LASue at September 11, 2022 11:03 AM (Ed8Zd)

265 I binged the O'Brian series years ago, right around the same time as the new Horneblower series aired on TV.

I may go down that rabbit hole again...

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at September 11, 2022 11:04 AM (BgMrQ)

266 Rainy day, if had more sense would be reading instead of playing in the rain

Posted by: Skip's phone at September 11, 2022 11:04 AM (k8B25)

267 My favorite line was Meyer's advice to McGee. "In all emotional conflicts, the thing you find hardest to do is the thing you should do."
Posted by: creeper at September 11, 2022

***
To this day when I work with somebody to achieve something, I quote McGee in the Darker scene where he and Meyer have removed the fishhook from Vangie's leg: "An honor to assist you, Doctor, in the technique which bears your name."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:05 AM (c6xtn)

268 If anyone is interested, and has a few bucks to spare, the entire McGee series is available, 21 books in all, on Amazon, for the low low price of $375.

This has been a public service announcement.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022 11:06 AM (5pTK/)

269 Rowling's mysteries are 900 flippin' pages? Jeez. That's how Stephen King described his own tendency to write at length: "literary elephantiasis."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:07 AM (c6xtn)

270 I dutifully read the O'Brian series while reading other books. Never got tired of doing it that way...

Posted by: Captain Hate at September 11, 2022 11:08 AM (y7DUB)

271 f anyone is interested, and has a few bucks to spare, the entire McGee series is available, 21 books in all, on Amazon, for the low low price of $375.

This has been a public service announcement.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022

***
Between $15-20 apiece? Try AbeBooks.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:08 AM (c6xtn)

272 ...oh, and I binged the Pern series by Anne McCaffrey, as well as the Deryni series by Katherine Kurtz.

I don't call reading the Earthsea trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin, over a weekend as a binge...not enough books.

Say, how many books in a series constitues a binge?

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at September 11, 2022 11:08 AM (BgMrQ)

273 The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything.

I loved that book and I have read every one of the Travis McGee series.

Posted by: vic /s at September 11, 2022 11:09 AM (mZwKe)

274 Rowling's mysteries are 900 flippin' pages? Jeez. That's how Stephen King described his own tendency to write at length: "literary elephantiasis."
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:07 AM (c6xtn)

More Rowling books = hard pass.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 11, 2022 11:09 AM (i3yPZ)

275 But we have forgotten the criminal negligence of our political leaders and intelligence services that got us to that point.
Posted by: exdem13 at September 11, 2022 09:47 AM (W+kMI)

and all of the recommendations of the 9/11 commission.

Posted by: yara at September 11, 2022 11:10 AM (z9Eia)

276 Well, I finished reading the Strugatsky brothers' Roadside Picnic and prior reviewers were pretty much on the money. The story focuses far more on the way humanity interfaces with the direct evidence of alien visitation that it does with respect to the evidence itself.

Still, a very interesting read even if it does suffer, in my opinion, from the less than cheery ending so common to science fiction stories written back in the 70's-80's era.

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM Guy at September 11, 2022 11:11 AM (ZSK0i)

277 Rowling's mysteries are 900 flippin' pages? Jeez. That's how Stephen King described his own tendency to write at length: "literary elephantiasis."
---
Omit needless words.

Posted by: Strunk & White at September 11, 2022 11:11 AM (pkAcY)

278 Did most of OBrian and would be on the Sharpe series if could get them in paperback instead of ebook

Posted by: Skip's phone at September 11, 2022 11:11 AM (k8B25)

279 Darker Than Amber was filmed in the late 60s, with Rod Taylor as McGee. It got a VHS release, but in an edited version. If you're a fan of movie fight scenes, scrounge around on youtube for the uncut fight scene between Taylor and William Smith near the end of that picture. Smith had a web site (don't know if it's still there as Smith passed away) describing that sequence. No stunt doubles, and some real damage done there. Just brutal.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 11, 2022

***
Taylor was pretty good casting as McGee, and Theodore Bikel as Meyer. The movie suffered from a low budget, and looked it in places, but it was vastly better than the TV movie of the '80s that had McGee (Sam Elliott) living on his sailboat instead of a houseboat.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:12 AM (c6xtn)

280 and all of the recommendations of the 9/11 commission.
Posted by: yara at September 11, 2022 11:10 AM (z9Eia)
-----------

No, we forgot Washington's warning about foreign entanglements and Eisenhower's admonition about the military industrial complex.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022 11:12 AM (5pTK/)

281 Rowling's mysteries are 900 flippin' pages? Jeez. That's how Stephen King described his own tendency to write at length: "literary elephantiasis."
---
Omit needless words.
Posted by: Strunk & White at September 11, 2022 11:11 AM (pkAcY)
---
Yep. If a mystery novel is that long, it's probably TOO long and needs serious trimming. Even epic fantasy can often be cut down quite a bit once it reaches that length. Unless you are Tad Williams. He's one of the few that can pull it off quite well.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 11:13 AM (K5n5d)

282 Between $15-20 apiece? Try AbeBooks.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:08 AM (c6xtn)

Mixed bag. $4.97 for a paperback. Two thou for a hardcover first edition. Book values be crazy.

Posted by: creeper at September 11, 2022 11:14 AM (cTCuP)

283 The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything.
*
I loved that book and I have read every one of the Travis McGee series.
Posted by: vic /s at September 11, 2022

***
There was a TV-movie version in the '70s or '80s with Pam Dawber and Robert Whatever, the guy from the Airplane films. Pretty good casting, though I pictured MacDonald's hero as looking like Ken Berry.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:14 AM (c6xtn)

284 Sometimes geography is infuriating.

I spent the week reading about the rise and fall of the Dutch Navy in the 1500's-1600's, and much ado was made about the Dutch province of Zeeland. But, from my early readings on the Vikings, I was sure that Zeeland referred to major island in Denmark. Eventually I got frustrated enough to look things up on-line.......Zeeland, Z-E-E-land, is indeed a Dutch province. Zealand, Z-E-A-land, is the Danish island.

Sigh.

Just to make matters more confusing, New Zealand was discovered by Dutch sailors, and originally named after their homeland. But when the English took it over, they changed the spelling because, well, I don't know, because English is wierd, I guess...

Posted by: Castle Guy at September 11, 2022 11:14 AM (Lhaco)

285 278 Did most of OBrian and would be on the Sharpe series if could get them in paperback instead of ebook
Posted by: Skip's phone at September 11, 2022 11:11 AM (k8B25)

Oooh, the Sharpe series, that's one I've still got to read.

I sincerley hope I can find it in paperback...I hate E Readers.

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at September 11, 2022 11:15 AM (BgMrQ)

286 234 ... Wolfus,
Old Toby is a blend of Virginia, burley and Perique with a light sweet casing. It is mild but flavorful. I believe it is the most popular (with good reason) of Country Squire's Middle Earth blends. The other blends are good but Old Toby is my favorite. It's good book reading tobacco.

Posted by: JTB at September 11, 2022 11:16 AM (7EjX1)

287 More Rowling books = hard pass.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 11, 2022 11:09 AM (i3yPZ)

She started out writing under a pseudonym just to see if she could write a detective novel. The first one, "The Cuckoo's Calling" got good reviews (it was much shorter, by the way).

Then a young lawyer in her lawyer's office leaked to his sister-in-law who Robert Galbraith really was, and SIL promptly put in on the internet. Lawyer got sanctioned for breaching attorney-client confidentiality.

Posted by: Wethal at September 11, 2022 11:16 AM (ZzVCK)

288 >>> 243

***
And we still think of The Empire Strikes Back as the best of the SW films -- because the story and first draft were by Leigh Brackett, the crime/SF writer, who also was a screenwriter (The Big Sleep) and knew how to make a story move on film.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:50 AM (c6xtn)

I believe her original screenplay is available two places; the first is probably Lucas' home and the second is some university (?) library in rural-ish NM where it may be read on-site. I don't *think* any copies are available on the intertubes.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at September 11, 2022 11:16 AM (llON8)

289 Time to get ready for church. Happy reading, and hugs to all y'all.

Posted by: screaming in digital at September 11, 2022 11:16 AM (pkAcY)

290 Then a young lawyer in her lawyer's office leaked to his sister-in-law who Robert Galbraith really was, and SIL promptly put in on the internet. Lawyer got sanctioned for breaching attorney-client confidentiality.
Posted by: Wethal at September 11, 2022 11:16 AM (ZzVCK)
------------

good grief. I'm married to a former legal secretary and heard some pretty sensitive stuff which was going on at the firm she worked at. I never once thought of saying anything, in person or online, about cases I we discussed.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022 11:19 AM (5pTK/)

291 The first MacDonald I read was "The Girl, etc" My stepfather bought it in the Miami airport on our way to a vacation in Jamaica. I was hooked. I combed the bookstores and spent every cent of my babysitting money for two years on MacDonald books.

The day I finished the last one was devastating. There was nothing for it but to start again. Haven't stopped yet.

Posted by: creeper at September 11, 2022 11:20 AM (cTCuP)

292 If you like Ian Rankin's Rebus series (there's a new one coming out in October), also try John Harvey's Charlie Resnick series, about a Nottingham police detective. 13 books plus a collection of short stories. First book is "Lonely Hearts."

Posted by: Wethal at September 11, 2022 11:20 AM (ZzVCK)

293 John D. MacDonald's IMDB page doesn't show it now, but I'm sure there was something in the works to start a series of movies based on the McGee books. Probably fell through, and maybe just as well considering what kind of job they'd do on it these days.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 11, 2022 11:20 AM (a/4+U)

294 I used to hate e-readers. But, 1) they've gotten better and 2) my eyesight's gotten worse.

That said, I'm not getting rid of my hardcopy books.

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM Guy at September 11, 2022 11:20 AM (ZSK0i)

295 Wolfus,
Old Toby is a blend of Virginia, burley and Perique with a light sweet casing. It is mild but flavorful. I believe it is the most popular (with good reason) of Country Squire's Middle Earth blends. The other blends are good but Old Toby is my favorite. It's good book reading tobacco.
Posted by: JTB at September 11, 2022

***
I haven't really tried anything with perique in it. Old Toby sounds good -- though I already have a slew of different tobaccos on hand!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:22 AM (c6xtn)

296 I have a different kind of binge to describe, what I call my Sick Stack--half a dozen books I read when I'm sick, but only then. The Queens and the Hive by Dame Edith Sitwell, Katherine by Anya Seton, Geoffrey Chaucer of England by Marchette Chute. Some version of Troilus and Cressida. The odd thing is, since my husband is very frail, I've been so rigorous about my own health that I haven't been ill since before Covid. And I miss these books!

You think it would be bad luck to dip into them while healthy?

Posted by: Wenda at September 11, 2022 11:23 AM (gPRZb)

297 293 John D. MacDonald's IMDB page doesn't show it now, but I'm sure there was something in the works to start a series of movies based on the McGee books. Probably fell through, and maybe just as well considering what kind of job they'd do on it these days.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 11, 2022 11:20 AM (a/4

"Cape Fear" was a hard act to follow.

Posted by: creeper at September 11, 2022 11:23 AM (cTCuP)

298 wait, we also have the smoking jacket pipe tobacco and wood paneled library crowd on the book thread?

No wonder pants are required!

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022 11:24 AM (5pTK/)

299 The first MacDonald I read was "The Girl, etc" My stepfather bought it in the Miami airport on our way to a vacation in Jamaica. I was hooked. I combed the bookstores and spent every cent of my babysitting money for two years on MacDonald books.

The day I finished the last one was devastating. There was nothing for it but to start again. Haven't stopped yet.
Posted by: creeper at September 11, 2022

***
Stephen King has spoken many times of his admiration, both when he was younger and now, for MacDonald's works. In King's first short story collection, Night Shift, MacDonald actually wrote the introduction. That must have been one hell of a charge for SK. I like to imagine the same thing happening for me, that King or Niven would be willing to write an introduction for my work.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:25 AM (c6xtn)

300 I bought two of the Travis McGee books for the kindle. I would have bought more but they are charging a fortune for them.

Posted by: vic /s at September 11, 2022 11:26 AM (mZwKe)

301 Strunk and White at 11:11
"Omit needless words."
I prefer Twain: "eschew surplusage"

Posted by: who knew at September 11, 2022 11:26 AM (4I7VG)

302 Today's pants prove the adage that with some things, just because you can you really shouldn't.

Posted by: Count de Monet at September 11, 2022 11:26 AM (4I/2K)

303 wait, we also have the smoking jacket pipe tobacco and wood paneled library crowd on the book thread?

No wonder pants are required!
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022

***
I just finished a pipeful of Capstan Blue, the stuff Tolkien liked to smoke. However, no fancy stuff here -- jeans and a casual shirt, and my walls are but plaster/drywall.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:27 AM (c6xtn)

304 I used to hate e-readers. But, 1) they've gotten better and 2) my eyesight's gotten worse.

If the only place I ever read a book was the chair I'm sitting in right now, I wouldn't need an e-reader. But for any place else, the convenience can't be beat. I read on the Kindle app on my phone which is... less than ideal but I'm not willing to spring the $$ for an Oasis.

Posted by: Oddbob at September 11, 2022 11:27 AM (nfrXX)

305 "For somebody who remembers .50 and .60 paperbacks at the drugstore, this is more than annoying. I took a flyer on a lot of paperbacks as a boy and young teen, and even as an adult when they ran $1.50-2.00. But a price 10x that --!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 10:09 AM (c6xtn) "

used to be able to save that out of my lunch money, and there was a Kroch's and Brentano's across the street ...

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - we are being gaslighted 24/365 at September 11, 2022 11:28 AM (J33tq)

306 interesting. i got e-mail telling me that mrs. jill biden wants me to accept an atm card worth $10.5 million, that it's been investigated, and is totally safe.

clearly false, because she would have signed it dr. jill biden.

Posted by: kulak anachronda at September 11, 2022 11:29 AM (edU/H)

307 I just finished a pipeful of Capstan Blue, the stuff Tolkien liked to smoke. However, no fancy stuff here -- jeans and a casual shirt, and my walls are but plaster/drywall.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:27 AM (c6xtn)
--------------

Darn, and I had this Sherlockian image of you and JTB discussing some first editions, while knocking pipe ash out of the bowl of your pipe.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022 11:30 AM (5pTK/)

308 interesting. i got e-mail telling me that mrs. jill biden wants me to accept an atm card worth $10.5 million, that it's been investigated, and is totally safe.

clearly false, because she would have signed it dr. jill biden.

Forward the email to Joe. He'd probably fall for it.

Posted by: Oddbob at September 11, 2022 11:30 AM (nfrXX)

309 On my to read next is Tim Akers' Knight Watch which is about a guy who goes to the Ren Faire and fights a real dragon, I think.
I'm hoping for a fun romp

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 11, 2022 11:30 AM (gbzeC)

310 MacDonald's Cape Fear was a dynamite novel. The first film did a pretty good job on it (though it softened the book's ending). Scorsese's remake basically threw away the core of the story. The story's punch came from watching the lead have to break all the rules he's lived by if he wants to protect his family; Scorsese's remake gave us a lead character who was used to ignoring the rules already, and so cut out that whole moral dilemma.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 11, 2022 11:31 AM (a/4+U)

311 Darn, and I had this Sherlockian image of you and JTB discussing some first editions, while knocking pipe ash out of the bowl of your pipe.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022

***
True, that is MY image of myself when reading/smoking!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:31 AM (c6xtn)

312 MacDonald's Cape Fear was a dynamite novel. The first film did a pretty good job on it (though it softened the book's ending). Scorsese's remake basically threw away the core of the story. The story's punch came from watching the lead have to break all the rules he's lived by if he wants to protect his family; Scorsese's remake gave us a lead character who was used to ignoring the rules already, and so cut out that whole moral dilemma.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 11, 2022

***
Plus Robert Mitchum's Max Cady was much more plausible, thus frightening, than DeNiro's version.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:32 AM (c6xtn)

313 For the last four years, there has been no member of the freshman class of Beloit College who ever lived in a world without a yearly list of things their professors were told they did not know about.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at September 11, 2022 11:32 AM (x61Im)

314 You think it would be bad luck to dip into them while healthy?
Posted by: Wenda at September 11, 2022 11:23 AM (gPR

Probably not- but you might not enjoy them from the guilt ; )

Glad to see that the Seton's are being republished. She was a gifted historical novelist. Reading "Katherine" as a girl started my interest in the Middle Ages.

On sick stacks- I took Chesterton's 'St. Francis" to the hospital for the first baby, but wound up re-reading a Rumer Godden I'd read four times.
Learned my lesson and only packed light stuff for the other three.

Posted by: sal at September 11, 2022 11:33 AM (y40tE)

315 Had 2 phone messages my Amazon account is suspended so ordered the book I am reading. Positive it's a scam

Posted by: Skip at September 11, 2022 11:34 AM (k8B25)

316 Sock-rat-eez,

The wife and I worked at the downtown Chicago Kroch's & Brentano's main branch for nine years. A great store in its day, and the good staffers really knew their stock.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 11, 2022 11:34 AM (a/4+U)

317 Wolfus and JTB, you guys (and others) oughta email Weasel and do a pipe tobacco segment for a gun thread, would go in place of the cigar review I often do.

Actually have a few pipes I haven't touched in many years, but recently got a small amount of a blend for when the weather cools down (only time I'd ever use them, and even then, infrequently).

Of course Weasel only needs to add a booze review and we'd have an alcohol, tobacco, and firearms thread. Then we'd only need to add .... explosives.

Posted by: rhomboid at September 11, 2022 11:34 AM (OTzUX)

318 It makes me very happy when I learn people (and Morons!) re-read my books for pleasure. That is my ultimate goal in my writing, after getting read at all

Not just a one-off, but books that get saved and brought out to read again when the mood strikes.

And in new book news... almost finished with the editor's feedback on Red Wolf:Exile! Planned to be a serialized release (three novellas, one every month or two) per book and three books planned, so at least 9 novellas!

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at September 11, 2022 11:34 AM (P+D9B)

319 I have no intention of watching Rings of Prime, now or ever.....But I will happily spend 3 hours or more watching Friday Night Tights, Knights Watch, or (eventually, I'm sure) EFAP tearing into the show!

And just from hearing about it second hand, you'd think that a society of secret nomads (the not-hobbits) wouldn't remain secret very long if they keep leaving behind those who a weakest and thus least able to keep hidden...

Posted by: Castle Guy at September 11, 2022 11:35 AM (Lhaco)

320 I would love a book vend-o-mat!

Good morning, Perfessor and fellow book freaks.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at September 11, 2022 09:01 AM (Dc2NZ)

Am I right in my assumption that all the books pictured in the Vend-0-mat above are horrible woke shite? I recognized none of them.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 11, 2022 11:36 AM (2W6VY)

321 Who Reads What and Why

Ken Whyte @KenWhyte3
"Fiction readers are after entertainment. Only 23 per cent of them are into literary fiction as opposed to mysteries (57 per cent), science fiction (30 per cent), historical fiction (32 per cent), fantasy (29 per cent), and romance (28 per cent)"

https://twitter.com/KenWhyte3/status/
1566179767405215746

Posted by: andycanuck (yikp0) at September 11, 2022 11:36 AM (yikp0)

322 La Triviata: IMDb says that Don Johnson wanted to do a Travis McGee movie after leaving Miami Vice. The project got shot down after the ratings failure of the '83 McGee TV-movie with Sam Elliott.

Another detail: MacDonald got to see the screen tests of the actors being considered to play McGee in 1970. He thought Rod Taylor was pretty good, but that Robert Culp (who comes very close, to me) was awful, or words to that effect.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:37 AM (c6xtn)

323 Wolfus and JTB, you guys (and others) oughta email Weasel and do a pipe tobacco segment for a gun thread, would go in place of the cigar review I often do.

Actually have a few pipes I haven't touched in many years, but recently got a small amount of a blend for when the weather cools down (only time I'd ever use them, and even then, infrequently).

Of course Weasel only needs to add a booze review and we'd have an alcohol, tobacco, and firearms thread. Then we'd only need to add .... explosives.
Posted by: rhomboid at September 11, 2022

***
Hm! I'll have to check the gun thread this evening.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:38 AM (c6xtn)

324 Oh I read Neil Gaiman's A Study in Emerald the other day in graphic novel form (just happened upon it and was curious). I'm sad there isn't a sequel.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 11, 2022 11:40 AM (gbzeC)

325 I've got some chores to do before I head off to my afternoon nap . . . but I don't feel like moving off the couch.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:40 AM (c6xtn)

326 Plus Robert Mitchum's Max Cady was much more plausible, thus frightening, than DeNiro's version.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:32 AM (c6xtn)

Mitchum.

*wistful sigh*

I'll be in my bunk.

Posted by: creeper at September 11, 2022 11:41 AM (cTCuP)

327 Wolfie, your transformation into a housecat is complete.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 11, 2022 11:41 AM (dJPGx)

328 I think Holmes smoked Latakia Shag.
I cannot recommend highly enough
The Celebrated Bengal Slices.

FWIW, if you grow your own tobacco, it is really hard to make it into a good cigarette cut. Rolling your own cigar can be done, but it's tricky. But if you just hang up burley leaves until they get crisp, you can chop those into pretty decent pipe tobacco without pressing or adding anything. This may account for the popularity of the pipe in past times.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at September 11, 2022 11:42 AM (x61Im)

329 Bingeing my way through the Tintin adventures this weekend. Picked up a copy of The Devil's Mercedes, a history of the various cars that were sold as being Hitler's own limo. Badly written and boring. Another one for the junk pile, unless anyone here wants it.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 11, 2022 09:11 AM (AW0uW)

I don't know if Hitler ever had a Mercedes that was considered "his". At least on some occasions, he traveled in a Horch. There were probably a fuckton of cars he rode in once or twice.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 11, 2022 11:42 AM (2W6VY)

330 I perused the chapter titles in I Choose Freedom. Interestingly one is While History is Edited. Seems to be what's happening now. There is not a single copy of this available in Mercer County. NJ. Is it because Soviet Russia is irrelevant? Is it because we should not see the unfolding and remark on similarities to our country now?

Posted by: CN at September 11, 2022 11:42 AM (Zzbjj)

331 On sick stacks- I took Chesterton's 'St. Francis" to the hospital for the first baby, but wound up re-reading a Rumer Godden I'd read four times.
Learned my lesson and only packed light stuff for the other three.
Posted by: sal at September 11, 2022

***
Sal, you and I, and Demi Moore, might be the only 3 people I've heard of who know the name "Rumer Godden." I need to find some of her stuff again.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:42 AM (c6xtn)

332 Wolfie, your transformation into a housecat is complete.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 11, 2022

***
A compliment! A palpable compliment!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:43 AM (c6xtn)

333 I have all the Tintin books - including Tintin in the Land of the Soviets and Tintin in the Congo. The only one I don't have is the final, uncompleted one, Tintin and Alph-Art, but as it appears to be little more than just rough sketches, I doubt I'll ever get around to buying it.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 11, 2022 09:24 AM (AW0uW)

I know a guy who was the spitting image of Tintin.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 11, 2022 11:45 AM (2W6VY)

334 Sal, you and I, and Demi Moore, might be the only 3 people I've heard of who know the name "Rumer Godden." I need to find some of her stuff again.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:42 AM (c6xtn)

Start with "In this House of Brede."

Posted by: Wethal at September 11, 2022 11:45 AM (ZzVCK)

335 Am I right in my assumption that all the books pictured in the Vend-0-mat above are horrible woke shite? I recognized none of them.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 11, 2022 11:36 AM (2W6VY)

No I don't think so. Top row is Ivy & Bean, Magic Treehouse, Amelia Bedelia, Clementine - these are all chapter books aimed at the 2nd-3rd grade set. Light hearted stuff. The one on the right I recognize as one of those terribly depressing required summer reading books

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 11, 2022 11:51 AM (gbzeC)

336 334. I have quite a few of her books.

Posted by: CN at September 11, 2022 11:51 AM (Zzbjj)

337 BTW that FOTR movie meme is more entertaining than anything having to do with Amazon Video's idiot work which I am boycotting because it's what decent people would do.
Posted by: exdem13 at September 11, 2022 09:43 AM (W+kMI)

Is that Leslie Nielsen in that meme?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 11, 2022 11:53 AM (2W6VY)

338 There is not a single copy of this available in Mercer County. NJ. Is it because Soviet Russia is irrelevant? Is it because we should not see the unfolding and remark on similarities to our country now?

Posted by: CN at September 11, 2022 11:42 AM (Zzbjj)

Ra outlawed reading and writing. He didn't want the people to know where they came from.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at September 11, 2022 11:53 AM (VwHCD)

339 Start with "In this House of Brede."
Posted by: Wethal at September 11, 2022 11:45 AM (ZzVCK)

Thanks to the horde I read that last year(?) - lovely

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 11, 2022 11:53 AM (gbzeC)

340 Earlier this week I placed two orders for some crowd-funded books, both sequels to really good first installments. ('Wraith of God' and 'Fiendish') This made me really excited for about 15 minutes, until it sunk in that the expected delivery isn't until next summer....Oh, well, that just means I'll get an unexpected jolt of happiness when the do eventually arrive.

Posted by: Castle Guy at September 11, 2022 11:56 AM (Lhaco)

341 I don't know if Hitler ever had a Mercedes that was considered "his". At least on some occasions, he traveled in a Horch. There were probably a fuckton of cars he rode in once or twice.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 11, 2022 11:42 AM (2W6VY)

Remember Hitler's car being one of the sub-stories in "Rat Race"?

Posted by: sal at September 11, 2022 11:56 AM (y40tE)

342 >>>Of course Weasel only

> needs to add a booze review and we'd have an alcohol, tobacco, and firearms thread. Then we'd only need to add .... explosives.
Posted by: rhomboid at September 11, 2022

>Don't get ahead of yourself. Wait until the BATFE start opening shops to the general public to sell these items. It's ultimately imperative.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at September 11, 2022 11:57 AM (w2Z7l)

343 307 ... "I just finished a pipeful of Capstan Blue, the stuff Tolkien liked to smoke."

I like the Capstan blends and the Tolkien connection gives them a bit of appeal. They remind me of the long-discontinued Edgeworth Ready Rubbed. These days I use one of the Navy Flake blends when I want that pressed, slightly sweetened Virginia flavor.

Posted by: JTB at September 11, 2022 11:59 AM (7EjX1)

344 Sal, you and I, and Demi Moore, might be the only 3 people I've heard of who know the name "Rumer Godden." I need to find some of her stuff again.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:42 AM (c6xtn)

A long-time favorite. I always find it interesting to see an author's progression through a long career. Her two-volume autobiography is very good, as well as the fiction.

"In This House of Brede" was one of my 'conversion' novels.

Posted by: sal at September 11, 2022 12:00 PM (y40tE)

345 Is that Leslie Nielsen in that meme?
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 11, 2022 11:53 AM (2W6VY)
---
Yes. Yes it is...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 11, 2022 12:00 PM (K5n5d)

346 9/11 NOOD

Posted by: Skip nood advisor at September 11, 2022 12:01 PM (k8B25)

347 I don't know if Hitler ever had a Mercedes that was considered "his". At least on some occasions, he traveled in a Horch. There were probably a fuckton of cars he rode in once or twice.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 11, 2022 11:42 AM (2W6VY)

I thought Mark Felton had a video about Hitler's car. Although I'm sure he was chauffeured in more than one.

Posted by: That NLurker guy at September 11, 2022 12:01 PM (eGTCV)

348 BTW that FOTR movie meme is more entertaining than anything having to do with Amazon Video's idiot work which I am boycotting because it's what decent people would do.
Posted by: exdem13 at September 11, 2022
*
Is that Leslie Nielsen in that meme?
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 11, 2022

***
It is -- playing off his career-reviving role in Airplane! People who know him only from that are amazed when I tell them he was a dramatic actor in the '50s through the '70s -- in Forbidden Planet, Streets of San Francisco, Hawaii Five-O, and loads of others.

IMDb trivia: According to Star Trek: The Original Series (1966) story editor and screenwriter D.C. Fontana, Nielsen called the production office the morning after the first episode and offered high praise.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 12:02 PM (c6xtn)

349 311 ... "Darn, and I had this Sherlockian image of you and JTB discussing some first editions, while knocking pipe ash out of the bowl of your pipe."

"True, that is MY image of myself when reading/smoking!"

Blake and Wolfus,
That is a great picture and it also matches my self image.

Posted by: JTB at September 11, 2022 12:04 PM (7EjX1)

350 This week's digital book is "Origins," which describes the use of genetics to trace the migration(s) into the America's.

Interesting discussion, but the author just can't let go of the Academic Language. "Assigned sex", "colonialism", "genocide", etcetcetc.

Yes, I'm all but certain the ancient tribes loved loved loved a narcissistic cross dresser screaming "look at me look at me look at me" as they fended off Saber tooth tiggers.

And those tribes "migrated" to the north shore of Alaska freely, they didn't lose a fight for the more comfortable spots . . because there was never a fight for land until the Euros showed up.

Posted by: 2009Refugee at September 11, 2022 12:06 PM (8AONa)

351 When it comes to good reading weather, I always wait for a cold, rainy evening in autumn to reread "Hound of the Baskervilles". The first time I read it, circa third grade, it was literally a dark and rainy night. Perfect for that first Holmes adventure.

Posted by: JTB at September 11, 2022 12:09 PM (7EjX1)

352 For binge reading, I should have mentioned the original Conan stories. Even though I can recite along with the text, those tales never fail to recapture my attention and enjoyment.

Posted by: JTB at September 11, 2022 12:11 PM (7EjX1)

353 If anyone is interested, and has a few bucks to spare, the entire McGee series is available, 21 books in all, on Amazon, for the low low price of $375.

This has been a public service announcement.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(5pTK/) at September 11, 2022 11:06 AM (5pTK/)

That's almost 18 bucks a pop. Considering that they were probably originally sold in paperback for under a dollar each...

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 11, 2022 12:17 PM (iSW1o)

354 Eric Flint 1632 series...26 books in, have the next 5 on the nightstand. The last two have added "gay Character" stories...for no apparent reason other than to have "Gay Character" stories. The initial concept was/is great, and the follow on stories though inconsistent in quality have been quite readable...particularly for people who are "Completion oriented" and getting through any series a near metaphysical requirement.
As a kid my stepfather would get a Louis L'mour book before every airplane trip...then give them to me on his return. I made a list of the entire collection, sublists of all of the series stories, Eventually got and read them all.
While waiting on the next(3rd?4th?) Aubry book, I started a search for the entire Hornblower series so that I could read them all in order...ended up with 1st editions/printings of them all(cover art by andrew wyeth...mostly)
Binged all of the Clavell books...in order.(ya oughta too)Stephan Hunters..Most of Ludlums..
JF Coopers...my family worked with his father to build Cooperstown, many of the stories take place around our olde farm.

Posted by: birddog at September 11, 2022 12:29 PM (uAI4S)

355 When my son became obsessed with Harry Potter, and suddenly started reading LARGE books(as did many millions of other kids) I had to see what it was all about, and read them all too.
I had done much the same at his age with Tolkien.
Michener...McMurtry...Lawrence Block...Vince Flynn(the early years, have not kept up)
Intend to start Longmire, catch up on Block/Flynn/Hunter/Ludlum

Posted by: birddog at September 11, 2022 12:38 PM (uAI4S)

356 18 bucks a pop for the MacDonalds in paperback.

And trade paperback format means you won't see them in places that handle only smaller mass-market paperbacks. It's bookstore only and maybe the WalMarts that handle trade paperbacks too. Believe they did the same thing with Elmore Leonard's books. Almost like the publishers decided they weren't going to have large audiences any longer, so they opted for a format with a more limited distribution channel. Naturally, the ebook prices trim just a little off the paperback prices so the kindle editions are fairly expensive too.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 11, 2022 12:39 PM (a/4+U)

357 I read a lot, but I don't binge read. Rather, as I grow older (I turned 70 recently), I return to books that I've loved and read each one slowly and carefully, savoring it - I guess because it's likely my last time reading it (though who knows?).

I'm not much for fiction, though. My favorites include John Julius Norwich's "History of Byzantium" and "History of Venice", Shelby Foote's "The Civil War", any book about the Apollo program, and anything by John Keegan. Not to mention the poetry of Donne, Shakespeare, Keats, Yeats, or Eliot.

On this anniversary, BTW, I strongly recommend a reading of Lawrence Wright's "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11", and report of the 9/11 Commission. Yes, I realize that the commission was loaded with Democratic Party apologists; but they had little to do with the preparation of the report, which I found to be thorough, candid, and very well written. Just be sure to skip the final section which outlines the commission's recommendations, which veer between inane and insane.

Posted by: Nemo at September 11, 2022 12:44 PM (S6ArX)

358 On the possible Travis McGee movie --
IMDB shows The Deep Blue Good-By in development, though not in MacDonald's entry. Wikipedia says it was shelved several years back. There had presumably been talk of DiCaprio in the lead (can't see that, myself) but the last mention of casting had Christian Bale listed (yeah, maybe...) and the whole thing fizzled after Bale had a knee injury. But people like Dennis Lehane and Scott Frank had been listed as screenwriters for it, so maybe it wouldn't have been botched after all. Oh, well...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 11, 2022 12:46 PM (a/4+U)

359 Ack! I'm late, and I discover I got a shout out. Thanks, "Perfesser"!

I want to make an addendum to my quote up top. Yes, I reread my favorite series in a single gulp. But, don't forget: I had already read those books once before. Conventional wisdom, as voiced by my customers, is break up a series, don't binge straight through, unless like me, you were rereading a series. There is a danger of ODing on a particular series. Upon discovering a new author, most of my customers would read that author's backlist, but interspersed with books by different authors.

But there is another aspect to rereading a particular book or series referred to as " comfort reading". Stressed? Unhappy? Life sucks? Curl up with a favorite book or series of books. You are already familiar with author, the author's writing style, and the high points of the plot. It's soothing, calming. Over my years in bookselling, I ran across any number of blog threads discussing peoples' favorite comfort reads.

Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin -- I wasn't particularly fond of the '70s the first time around at September 11, 2022 12:54 PM (9SjWf)

360 Deryni series by Katherine Kurtz.

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at September 11, 2022 11:08 AM (BgMrQ)

I really liked those when I read them. It's been quite a while, but I still think of them sometimes. I learned words like "interregnum" (sp?) and that the book of Ecclesiasticus isn't the same as Ecclesiastes.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 11, 2022 01:01 PM (nC+QA)

361

'Tintin in the red rubber bag dungeon' was interesting.

Posted by: Hunter Bidet, Crack Pilot at September 11, 2022 01:03 PM (oTPk+)

362 browndog & polliiwog, I also liked the Deryni series

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 11, 2022 01:05 PM (cRK/k)

363 'If you break it, you own it' was one of the G-D stupidest thing ever spoken. So here we are. Colin Powell, the Sheikh of the gulf, still kicking asses and cruising bitches. And nation building.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at September 11, 2022 01:07 PM (w2Z7l)

364 Oops wrong thread.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at September 11, 2022 01:11 PM (w2Z7l)

365 Binge reading: As a pre-teen, my 4th grade nun told my parents to take my 200+ comic book collection away as it was affecting me. She had caught me drawing a comic of her as the hero "Thunderbelly" a mild mannered nun by day and bane of evil by night. Her superpower was her ever expanding belly which would trap bank robbers against walls, etc. Anyway, without comic books, I went to the library and ripped through a book about Norse mythology. Thor and others were already familiar to me from the comics. But then I discovered Asimov's "I Robot" and I proceeded to read every one of Asimov's fiction books. There were over 100 of them and I read them in order if I could find them. I used as a guide a book Asimov put out called "The First 200" which gave short synopses of his first 200 books, both fiction and non-fiction.

Posted by: sherlockzz at September 11, 2022 01:17 PM (6yG/4)

366 Sal, you and I, and Demi Moore, might be the only 3 people I've heard of who know the name "Rumer Godden." I need to find some of her stuff again.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 11, 2022 11:42 AM (c6xtn)

I read her In This House of Brede in a Reader's Digest compilation. I used to love it when the library was selling those for a couple of dollars apiece. Difficult, and expensive, to move all those hardbacks though so I eventually had to let them go. They were a great introduction to a lot of authors so it's rather a shame.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 11, 2022 01:19 PM (nC+QA)

367 366. I read a few of her kid's books and read a few, age appropriate, ones to my grandsons. The ones for older kids are often for girls and make you a warier , more cautious person.

Posted by: CN at September 11, 2022 01:28 PM (Zzbjj)

368 >>> 306 interesting. i got e-mail telling me that mrs. jill biden wants me to accept an atm card worth $10.5 million, that it's been investigated, and is totally safe.

clearly false, because she would have signed it dr. jill biden.
Posted by: kulak anachronda at September 11, 2022 11:29 AM (edU/H)

That's DOCTOR Biden to you.

Posted by: DOCTOR Jill Biden at September 11, 2022 01:41 PM (llON8)

369 Some long series I have binge-read (though haven't read them all yet):

1. Butcher's Dresden series
2. everything by Larry Correia
3. Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series
4. Raymond Chandler's Marlowe books
5. Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone alphabet series
6. Spillane's Mike Hammer books
7. David Weber's Honor Harrington series
8. F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack series

Posted by: waelse1 at September 11, 2022 01:49 PM (7YTAg)

370 @239 --

I've never read McDonald, but I'll counter with Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm books for opening lines that grab the reader.

"I was suddenly rich and didn't like it."

"I always feel guilty about smuggling a gun through Mexican customs."

"It was an acid job, and they're never pleasant to look at, ..."

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 11, 2022 01:53 PM (Om/di)

371 >>> 330 I perused the chapter titles in I Choose Freedom. Interestingly one is While History is Edited. Seems to be what's happening now. There is not a single copy of this available in Mercer County. NJ. Is it because Soviet Russia is irrelevant? Is it because we should not see the unfolding and remark on similarities to our country now?
Posted by: CN at September 11, 2022 11:42 AM (Zzbjj)

I think it's American Betrayal, about some of the BS pulled in the Roosevelt admin during WWII to prop up Russia Russia Russia, from which someone reported the author found multiple and geographically diverse instances of missing newspaper microfilms from the era which usually included articles that provided more detail about Lend Lease and such (been a while so I wish I'd read the book). Hanz Schantz takes this to 11 in his "engineer" series (he probably has a better name but I can't remember that either)... 1/2

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at September 11, 2022 01:53 PM (llON8)

372 2/2 ...where the young hero starts by finding a physical book that doesn't match the interwebs, and gets into more and more trouble with the Deep State. Some interesting twists on historical events and advancements (or lack) of physics in particular. The latest (4th) book seems indefinitely delayed, perhaps due to the real world getting uncomfortably close to his fictional one.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at September 11, 2022 01:55 PM (llON8)

373 372. This is why I've recently bought hard copies of Solzhenitsyn, other writers chronicling the USSR, and older bios and history books. I don't trust ebooks not to be edited as Windswept House was

Posted by: CN at September 11, 2022 02:03 PM (Zzbjj)

374 I’ve been going through my comic books (slowly) determining what to keep and what to get rid of—by reading everything, and deciding what I might want to read again.

One of the surprising keepers was Turok: Son of Stone. I remember it as being escapist fantasy, and of course it is, but it’s also explicitly about barbarism and civilization. The basic story is that a father and son, two American Indians, are lost in a primitive world of dinosaurs and cavemen. They survive partly because they are more technologically advanced than the cavemen: they have bows and arrows, the cavemen only have primitive spears.

Time and again, however, the crux of the story is how unnatural civilization is. Turok and his son, Andar, cannot for the life of them (sometimes almost literally) convince the cavemen the benefits of freely trading vs. just taking what you want, or the benefits of keeping agreements beyond the moment.

The text stories that accompany the illustrated stories are often even more explicit, creating origin stories for the discovery of trade, or the discovery of keeping your word.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at September 11, 2022 02:08 PM (U+Oxn)

375 >>> 204 I enjoyed The Destroyer books as a teenage kid with dreams of being a ninja assassin (it was the 80s - ninjas were all the rage). I would go to the local used book store with a friend and we would each buy several of them and trade as we finished.
---
I originally got into the series via the Marvel Comics adaptation in the 90s. Originally they printed it in the large black-and-white magazine-sized format that was reserved for grittier stuff like Conan. Lasted 9 issues. Then there were a couple of regular-sized full-color mini series. I discovered the comics were based on books and found a surprisingly huge selection at the local used bookstore in my small town. I used to trade them in for a nickel apiece. I loved the smell of those old paperbacks, and I still have several of them, although I do most of my reading electronically now (having a built-in book light in the screen of an e-reader or iPad is nothing to sneeze at).

Posted by: Caiwyn at September 11, 2022 02:13 PM (+dHQK)

376 Great way to use a vending machine.

Posted by: sidney at September 11, 2022 02:13 PM (itAo5)

377 >>> 209 I loved the Destroyer! I have them all through No. 54, plus "The Assassin's Handbook."

I didn't get them until I was in college, several years after the Gatewater hearings.

Man, I had forgotten those, plus the Executioner, when I was thinking of my binges. Probably because they are boxed in the garage.
---
I was a teenager in the 90s, and was taking karate at the time (nowadays I practice Aikido), and the idea of a super martial artist trained in Sinanju as the original source of all martial arts piqued my interest. Interestingly enough, I can probably trace my political leanings back to this series. I still remember distinctly a passage from book 16, where someone asks if Remo is a liberal, and he says he's not because liberals love people in large groups and he reserves the right to hate people individually.

I was kind of socially retarded as a kid, and an individualist almost by necessity, so this idea appealed to me.

Posted by: Caiwyn at September 11, 2022 02:27 PM (+dHQK)

378 I binge read the Arkady Renko novels by Martin Cruz Smith. Awesome.

Posted by: vivi at September 11, 2022 02:34 PM (33kEg)

379 You want the ultimate bingeable read series? Try Kenneth Robinson’s “Doc Savage.”

Posted by: Natrium at September 11, 2022 04:52 PM (2L1/f)

380
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Posted by: Andrea Thomas at September 12, 2022 11:09 AM (Ua/Hc)

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