Sunday Morning Book Thread - 06-04-2023 ["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. 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, sprinkle some bacon bits on your omelet, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

PIC NOTE

The Long Room at the Library of Trinity College is often featured among lists of the world's most beautiful libraries, and rightly so. It houses over 200,000 books, including the Book of the Kells, one of the most famous manuscripts of the four Gospels from the Bible in existence. The Library of Trinity College is distinct in a few other respects as well. It serves as the national repository for all works published in Ireland and the UK, somewhat similar to the Library of Congress. The Long Room itself used to only be a single story, but because of the influx of works, it had to be expanded upwards to accommodate all those books and manuscripts.

BOOKS BY MORONS + AN UPDATE!

TheJamesMadison has a new book being released this week:

It's called Colonial Nightmare, and I've included the plot summary below as well as an Amazon link here: https://amzn.to/45Bv2UU.
When George Washington was 21 years old, he went on a dangerous mission into the wilds of the Ohio River Valley to deliver a message from the Virginia colonial governor to a French military base, Fort Le Boeuf, a message to prevent war between England and France. The journey was harrowing and dangerous as Washington, joined by frontiersman Christopher Gist and Iroquois leader Tanacharison, also called the Half-King, braved the bitter cold of an unforgiving winter.
Washington wrote of his journey as a report to the governor, but he gave an incomplete portrait of the goings on of his journey, for he was attacked. He was attacked by something he could not explain. Something not of the New World but of the Old. Something that had preyed upon innocent for centuries. Something that scared him so much that he refused to report it to anyone.
Here, for the first time, is the full account of the colonial major's journey. Far more than an act to prevent conflict between nations, it became a conflict that pitted evil against a man unlike any other, a man who had the potential within him to lead a nation.
Thanks!
David (TJM)

Comment: I've always enjoyed the premise of a historical character becoming enmeshed in a wild story that has never been told. Many episodes of Doctor Who revolve around this premise. Other authors have used this to fun effect, such as Seth Grahame-Smith's Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, in which a young Abe Lincoln confronts the "truth" behind the Civil War. George Washington is inarguably America's greatest President. He was a towering force in establishing the United States of America. Is it any wonder he might face danger and evil beyond the ken of normal men?

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We also have an update on Hans G. Schantz' Kickstarter project, The Wise of Heart:

Sorry for the late breaking news, but I've had a bit of an adventure that might be appropriate for the Sunday Book Thread.
Reviewed and approved by Kickstarter before launch, The Wise of Heart crowdfund campaign was fully funded at the original $3000 target, well on the way to a $6000 stretch goal, and less than a week from closing when Kickstarter abruptly changed their mind and tried to cancel the project on Wednesday. Ironic that a fictional depiction of the thought police suppressing discussion of transgenderism was itself suppressed.
Here's some of the press the cancellation has received:
Fox News
The Blaze
Bounding Into Comics
My public statement is here
We're back up and running at an alternate site, and while it's been a bit of a distraction, the publicity has been a net positive. We've made up all the lost pledges, and last night we broke through the stretch goal to unlock the audio book. Anyone who was looking to pledge through Kickstarter but had their pledge rejected can visit the new crowdfund site HERE
Thanks!
Hans

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HONOR IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

One thing about character motivations I've noticed in recent years saddens me a lot.
We seldom see characters motivated by honor, at least not in contemporary settings. And even in historicals they usually tack on something about protecting the innocent or getting revenge.
Example: in Dumas's Three Musketeers (and the magnificent 1970s film) the Musketeers are motivated solely by honor. They are fighting to preserve the Queen's honor -- even though they are at the same time fighting a war against forces backed by her family and the guy she was having an affair with! A Musketeer defends a lady's honor, period.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 28, 2023 09:25 AM (QZxDR)

"Honor" can be found in virtually every genre of literature, though expressions of honor can be subtle and difficult to spot unless you are looking for them. Consider a romance novel, for instance. Can characters in a romance be motivated by honor? Of course! A love triangle may form in which a woman is caught between the affections of two men, one of whom she's married to and does not love, while the other has captured her heart. It would dishonor her husband to carry on an affair with her paramour, so she must make difficult decisions about how far she will go with her extra-marital affair. Perhaps the two men have a previously existing friendship as well, and while the lover would like to have an affair with his friend's wife, he knows it would betray that friendship. In fact, numerous early medieval romances explored this very dynamic in relationships through the code of chivalry knights were expected to obey (e.g., King Arthur, Queen Guenevere, and Sir Lancelot).

"Honor" as a motivation shows up quite frequently in many of the epic fantasy stories I read, as many of them rely on characters adhering to a rigid code of behavior. Culture (even fantasy culture) can play an important role in shaping a character's perceptions of honorable behavior. Rand Al'Thor from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series is a great example. He was raised in a small farming community by a loving surrogate father who adopted him when he was a baby. His basic values involve an appreciation for hard work and caring for his fellow villagers. When he leaves the farm to go on an adventure, he is mentored by a warrior from the Borderlands who schools Rand on the values of strength, courage, and other herioc virtues he'll need. Finally, he adopts the ways of his original parentage when he meets the Aiel, an even more hardcore warrior culture that teaches him about their own ideas of honor and obligation. Time and time again, his personal notions of honor clash with the society and people around him, leading him to make difficult decisions that are necessary, but may seem cruel unless you know the full story behind his decision. For instance, at one point, the law requires him to condemn a traitorous noblewoman to death, but Rand is emotionally incapable of harming women (this is a HUGE plot point), so he sentences her to exile and banishment, seizing her lands and property. This is too much for her to bear, so she hangs herself, preferring death to exile. Her honor could not accept being reduced to living the live of a peasant.

Characters motivated by "honor" can be tricky, though it can also lead to interesting conflicts at the main characters have to sort through the ramifications of their actions according to the standards of honor within the culture in which they function.

In Servant of the Empire, for example, an important secondary character, Keyoke, loses his leg during a major battle. He defended the honor of his Lady and his house. According to the standards of his culture (loosely based on feudal Japan), the honorable thing to do would be to take his own life since he is no longer able to function as a warrior. However, a slave captured in battle has a different idea. In Kevin's culture (loosely based on feudal Europe), a wounded warrior can still serve honorably because he still has battle experience accumulated over many decades of service that can be of use to the house in their ongoing conflicts with other houses. Kevin is able to persuade Keyoke to accept this transition, even though it goes against everything Keyoke was trained to do, because Keyoke loves the Lady of his house as though she were his own daughter. Thus, love of family triumphs over love of honor.

P.C. Hodgell's Chronicles of the Kencyrath explores the concept of personal honor throughout the series. The main characters are often called upon to resolve "Honor's Paradox" which is where you have to decide where your honor lies. If your lord asks you to commit a dishonorable act, do you obey because you are honorbound to obey your lord's commands? Or do you find some way to fulfil the command that satisfies honor? Or do you call out your lord for their behavior? The characters are all bound by honor to never tell a lie, but naturally some characters are able to twist the truth to serve their ends, often with disastrous results. Much of the story involves uncovering various layers of the truth that have been hidden for decades or even millennia as a result of dishonorable actions. This is a very real issue, when you consider the fate of whistleblowers who are coming forward to denounce the FBI and other governmental organizations who are engaged in extremely dishonorable behavior (by normal standards).

What conflicts in honor have you seen in your favorite stories? Does honor get in the way of the story? Or does it drive the plot?

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MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Most of my reading this past week was learning the rules to a new game system for a session on Friday evening. The game in question was Ars Magica, which came out in the 1990s and tried to address two problems the creators had with D&D: the power imbalance between wizards and guys-with-swords (wizards start out weaker, wind up vastly stronger, so either sword guys have to be nerfed at the start, or wizards get nerfed later on); and the lack of historical grounding.
The solution to the second problem was the simple, and universally applicable principle: "Just use Earth, ya big baby." So it's set in medieval Europe -- just one where all the fantastic folktale creatures are real and lurking just out of sight.
The first problem was solved by saying "screw it." Wizards are more powerful, so everybody either plays a wizard, or part of a wizard's team of non-magical sidekicks.
Fun stuff. You can see a lot of the Vampire RPG in AM's genetics -- the wizards belong to different orders, which get different power specialties and have certain character stereotypes, and they do a lot of pointless intriguing against each other. But overall enjoyable.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 28, 2023 09:20 AM (QZxDR)

Comment: I've heard of Ars Magica but I didn't know it was created to try to fix the problem of "Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards." This is a common problem in fantasy storytelling, where the magic-using types tend to be vastly overpowered compared to their sword-wielding companions. I suppose one way to fix this is to make every major character have access to magical power of some sort.

+++++

My pleasant surprise this week was The Scarlet Circus, a romantic short story collection by Jane Yolen with the tales loosely based on fairy tale characters and elements: merfolk, dragons, the Sword in the Stone, genies, even adult Alice returning to Wonderland.
One story is about a slave finding a genie's bottle on the beach:
"I stared at the bottle. If I had any luck at all, the bottle had fallen from a foreign ship and its contents would still be potable. But then, if I had any luck at all, I would not be a slave in Arabia, a Greek sailor washed up on these shores, the same as the bottle at my feet. My father, who was a cynic like his father before him, left me with a cynic's name -- Antithias -- a wry heart, and an acid tongue, none proper legacies for a slave."
What follows is a charming love story between Antithias and the female genie inside the bottle.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 28, 2023 09:24 AM (+RQPJ)

Comment: Always nice when you can find a collection of short stories that resonate with you. Odd Magics by Moron Author Sarah A. Hoyt is another delightful collection of classic fairytales given a modern twist.

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I am reading a short book (around 120 pages, with one quarter of them nothing but black and white photographs), Armour, A Lake Superior Fisherman, with text and photographs by the author, Peter Oikarinen. A native of Michigan's Copper Country and graduate of Michigan Tech in Applied Physics, Peter took up part time employment with Armour Sarkala, another Finn, who lived by Lake Superior and commercial fished its waters. All this occurred around the same time that I myself was a student at "Da Tech" (mid-70s), so I became engrossed in the stories told here. That my father's father and my father were engaged in commercial fishing made matters resonate even more for me.
Told in a series of short stories or vignettes, Armour's life prior to fishing and his tribulations as a small time operation in the increasingly restricted Lake Superior commercial fishing business served as the framework on which Peter hung his vivid descriptions of the weather, working conditions, camaraderie among the fisher folk and Finns, and life on the Keweenaw Peninsula in the second half of the Twentieth Century. His photographs nicely complement the text.
I liked this book and recommend it highly.
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at May 28, 2023 10:05 AM (5pZqO)

Comment:Back in 2014, I took a work trip to the Upper Peninsula region of Michigan to visit Michigan Tech. It really is beautiful country up there. Well worth the trip--at least in the summertime. Winters can be pretty brutal due to lake-effect snow. Lots of interesting history in that region. Great fodder for any interested storytellers who want a bucolic locale for their stories.

+++++

The best answer to really dull "classics" required by teachers is the undeservedly obscure middle-school delight No More Dead Dogs, by the inimitable Gordon Korman (who published his first middle-school novel while still in middle school). Our hero simply will not lie about anything -- and he DIDN'T ENJOY HIS TEACHER'S FAVORITE BOOK! which gets him sentenced to the drama club production based on said book. Shenanigans begin, and they Do. Not. Stop. It's a wonderful little romp, which I used to recommend especially to the parents of boys who didn't like to read.
Posted by: werewife, princess of Delray Beach at May 28, 2023 10:52 AM (SPNTN)

Comment: I tend to feel we like to throw children into the deep end of literature without giving them the necessary understanding of *why* great literature is so great. We force them to read rich, complex texts but do not provide them the foundational knowledge they need to appreciate it to the fullest. Not sure I have a good answer for that, but forcing students to read works that they believe are dull or boring probably isn't doing them any favors. Maybe start with modern stories inspired by the classics and then work backwards?

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (798 Moron-recommended books so far!)

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WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

Servant of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts -- Political intrigue continues as Mara Acoma strives to consolidate her legacy after defeating her most hated rival house.

Mistress of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts -- Tragedy strikes the Acoma household, sparking a potential civil war that threatens to tear the Empire asunder...

That's about all I have for this week. Thank you for all of your kind words regarding the 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 discussion topics 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 - 05-28-23 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 hiya

Posted by: JT at June 04, 2023 09:00 AM (T4tVD)

2 That library is a temple to reading.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 04, 2023 09:00 AM (Angsy)

3 ¡Olé!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at June 04, 2023 09:00 AM (eOuNC)

4 Tolle Lege
Should finish David Walder's Nelson today
Awaiting TJM' s new book

Posted by: Skip at June 04, 2023 09:01 AM (xhxe8)

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

Posted by: JTB at June 04, 2023 09:01 AM (7EjX1)

6 I don't think the Pants guy owns a weedwhacker (if you catch my drift....)

Posted by: JT at June 04, 2023 09:02 AM (T4tVD)

7 The library in the top photo is beyond gorgeous. What a fitting tribute to the treasures housed there.

Posted by: JTB at June 04, 2023 09:03 AM (7EjX1)

8 I hit the used-book store yesterday and hit the jackpot. I won't list all 11 acquisitions, but I've come to realize that I have two hobbies: 1. reading and 2. accumulating books.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 04, 2023 09:03 AM (uIu2G)

9 Finished AllegraGoodman's "The Chalk Artist", and now I am le sad because I think I've read all her novels.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at June 04, 2023 09:04 AM (eOuNC)

10 no reading this week

Posted by: rhennigantx at June 04, 2023 09:04 AM (BRHaw)

11 >>I hit the used-book store yesterday and hit the jackpot. I won't list all 11 acquisitions, but I've come to realize that I have two hobbies: 1. reading and 2. accumulating books.

Heh. I've started volunteering at a used bookstore (only a few days a month) and this may be a blessing and a curse.

Posted by: Lizzy at June 04, 2023 09:06 AM (mo/0F)

12 Morning, Library Folken! I'm back from the grocery and other errands and have time to kick back, smoke a pipe, and chat with you.

I'm reading one of the later Amos Walker private eye novels by Loren D. Estleman, You Know Who Killed Me (great title). The Walker novel series began in like 1980 in a Detroit that was failing, but not utterly Third World. No, it seems, Walker spends more of his time in the Detroit suburbs. He lives in Hamtramck, and his current case involves Iroquois Heights, in the stories as corrupt a town as Chandler's Bay City.

Estleman also writes Sherlock Holmes pastiches, good ones, and superb Westerns.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 09:07 AM (omVj0)

13 And a surprise yesterday, had a booklet like a Osprey military history, at least in size on my phone which never tried to read from it a book, AoSHq is hard enough. So sent it by cable to my tablet Kindle as it's a book. Got a message email that it's legal to do so and thanks for choosing Kindle.

Posted by: Skip at June 04, 2023 09:08 AM (xhxe8)

14 Good morning, horde friends,

I am working on a mock trigger warning for the back cover of my dark humor space opera. This is what I have so far.

Trigger Warning. This book contains graphic depictions of war, violence, use of firearms, mass destruction, genocide, ventriloquism/ventriloquy, torture, sexual situations, adult language, alcohol consumption, drug use, rum, sodomy, the lash, fat shaming, lookism, ableism, heteronormativity, bawdy humor, futuristic sci-fi ethnic slurs, futuristic sci-fi profanity, emesis, slut shaming, military conquest, ecological violence, and cyborgs.

Open to additional suggestions.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at June 04, 2023 09:09 AM (9yUzE)

15 So TJM's book isn't released is good to know, it didn't show up yet and was worried it was lost in sending.

Posted by: Skip at June 04, 2023 09:09 AM (xhxe8)

16 I'm on book 14 of the Jesse Stone series by Robert Parker.

Posted by: Ciampino -- Now you know the truth at June 04, 2023 09:09 AM (qfLjt)

17 I would love to go to that library at Trinity college. I could spend all day there.

Posted by: dantesed at June 04, 2023 09:09 AM (88xKn)

18 I read Jack Carr's latest in his James Reece series, Only The Dead. The dead body count is high even for this series, but while reading I kept asking myself, "I wonder if this is real?" Such as, is there a senator on the Senate Intelligence Committee who is a mole for the Russians? There certainly is a cabal of the elites of the world, think World Economic Forum, who have no allegiance to any particular nation-state. but who are only interested in accruing more wealth and power while keeping the endless war going but keeping it from going nuclear and ruining their game. It's this type of cabal that Reese is fighting in this book. A wonderful thriller.

Posted by: Zoltan at June 04, 2023 09:09 AM (xwsCW)

19
That picture is not so much one of a library as it is one of a book fort.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at June 04, 2023 09:09 AM (pNxlR)

20 That picture is not so much one of a library as it is one of a book fort.
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at June 04, 2023 09:09 AM (pNxlR)
-

One flaming arrow - and POOF!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at June 04, 2023 09:10 AM (YwvIc)

21 I'm about to start reading "Right Where You Belong" by Heather MacFadyen for a ladies group summer book club at church. I like the premise of you being right where God put you for a reason. I don't like where I'm at but there is a God reason for it so learn to embrace it because you'll be happier. I'll let you know more once I start actually reading it.

Posted by: lin-duh at June 04, 2023 09:11 AM (UUBmN)

22 Booken morgen horden!

Will be back in an hour or so

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at June 04, 2023 09:11 AM (vHIgi)

23 14
Open to additional suggestions.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at June 04, 2023 09:09 AM (9yUzE)
----
Tobacco smoking and other uses.

Posted by: Ciampino --- Now you know the truth at June 04, 2023 09:11 AM (qfLjt)

24 Wolfie, I just checked out a trio of Estleman books for Mom after reading about him in the Detroit Snooze/Freeper. He's prolific! I've never read any of his so this is a nice "discovery" of an author who's been around forever.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at June 04, 2023 09:11 AM (eOuNC)

25 Open to additional suggestions.

“No Irish.”

Posted by: Oddbob at June 04, 2023 09:11 AM (8nbCB)

26 Open to additional suggestions.
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at June 04, 2023 09:09 AM (9yUzE)

"Use of the Oxford Comma."

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at June 04, 2023 09:11 AM (PiwSw)

27 That picture is not so much one of a library as it is one of a book fort.
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM)

Its like they're DARING you to take a book !

Posted by: JT at June 04, 2023 09:12 AM (T4tVD)

28 The Library of Trinity College is distinct in a few other respects as well. It serves as the national repository for all works published in Ireland
-

I understand they will be receiving the first copy off the press of "How to Kill 200,000 Head of Cattle Without Even Trying."

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at June 04, 2023 09:12 AM (YwvIc)

29 Ventriloquism?! No thanks! I don't need the nightmares.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at June 04, 2023 09:13 AM (eOuNC)

30 >>Open to additional suggestions.

Traditional masculinity
Reinforces binary gender roles

Posted by: Lizzy at June 04, 2023 09:13 AM (mo/0F)

31 Well. Turns out that one of my favorite comics writers -- Ed Brubaker, the man who killed the Red Skull and Captain America, not to mention brought back Bucky Barnes as the Winter Soldier -- has moved full time into original graphic novels instead of comics series. And the library has most of them.

So I spent time last week with "Pulp," about a pulp Western writer in 1939 New York who had been an outlaw in the Old West. Having fallen on hard times and worse health, he is recruited by a former Pinkerton agent for a robbery. Target: the German-American Bund, which collects money to ship to Germany.

The story is told in first-person past, skipping back and forth between the outlaw days and the present. It reads quickly and has a few twists, much more than the stories the guy churns out. As his editor says, "Our readers want the shoot-'em-ups."

Recommended.

I also finished the Perry Mason story "TCOT Shapely Shadow." I sure like PM mysteries. Gardner put together tangled plots.

The library book with this story contains two other unrelated mysteries, and one looks interesting. I'll try it.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 04, 2023 09:13 AM (uIu2G)

32 Victor Tango Kilo,
With that kind of warning, I definitely read it! 🤣🤪🤗

Posted by: lin-duh at June 04, 2023 09:13 AM (UUBmN)

33 The other good thing about the Trinity Library is that you're in walking distance from literally dozens of places where you can have a real pint of Guinness.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at June 04, 2023 09:14 AM (PiwSw)

34 I'm sitting here with a fire going in the fireplace because it's not supposed to top 60 degrees outside today and I'd rather burn wood than propane. Three days ago it was so hot I cooked dinner on the charcoal grill so as not to heat up the kitchen.

I suppose one last fireside Book Thread of the season is a nice bonus.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 04, 2023 09:15 AM (QZxDR)

35 Such as, is there a senator on the Senate Intelligence Committee who is a mole for the Russians?

------

No.

Is there a Senator on any committee who isn't on the take? Also, no.

They're all moles. Just not for Russians.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at June 04, 2023 09:15 AM (oINRc)

36 Good Sunday morning, horde!

I would love to see the Trinity library. Just the thought of how many volumes in there are older than our nation...wow.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at June 04, 2023 09:17 AM (OX9vb)

37 ===With that kind of warning, I definitely read it! 🤣🤪🤗===

That's the idea

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at June 04, 2023 09:17 AM (9yUzE)

38 This weekend’s book is The American Sailing Association’s “Sailing Made Easy.” I’l catch y’all on the second half of the gun thread. Happy Hording.

Posted by: Oddbob at June 04, 2023 09:18 AM (b8T2v)

39 well mark warner who made his money through the yandex ru platform might be, of course biden was a soviet stooge in the 70s and 80s, probably now for China (no probably about it)

Posted by: no 6 at June 04, 2023 09:18 AM (PXvVL)

40 I'm now into the new Harlan Coben thriller "I Will Find You", about a guy in prison for killing his three year old son (he didn't, but he came to next to his boy's body -- or was it?) who learns five years later that his boy may be alive.

Like all Coben books, it grabs you from the git-go.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at June 04, 2023 09:18 AM (eOuNC)

41 Now that all of my kids are in high school we go to the 11am service because that's when the high school ministry is. I feel slothful lying around all morning reading.

I tried to convince my husband to let me acquire a Maine Coon cat as a reading companion but he said no, so I am sad. He is an orange kitten with the biggest ears. Available now up in the Dallas area. 🥺😢

Posted by: lin-duh at June 04, 2023 09:19 AM (UUBmN)

42
It serves as the national repository for all works published in Ireland

"1,000 Recipes for Colcannon (and None of That Hog Slop They Try to Pass for It in County Sligo)"

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at June 04, 2023 09:19 AM (pNxlR)

43 I'm on book 14 of the Jesse Stone series by Robert Parker.
Posted by: Ciampino -- Now you know the truth at June 04, 2023

***
One of the books actually written by Parker? I didn't know he wrote that many. Or is it a continuation novel by another author?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 09:20 AM (omVj0)

44 he ran the intel committee although burr was nominally in charge,

Posted by: no 6 at June 04, 2023 09:21 AM (PXvVL)

45 I'm not sure that the noblewoman who opted for suicide instead of peasantry was driven by honor. Sounds more like egoism to me.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 04, 2023 09:21 AM (uIu2G)

46 I tried to convince my husband to let me acquire a Maine Coon cat as a reading companion but he said no, so I am sad. He is an orange kitten with the biggest ears. Available now up in the Dallas area. 🥺😢
Posted by: lin-duh at June 04, 2023

***
Huge ears = huge cat (usually). Big paws are another clue. Was it the cost that deterred your husband, or is he allergic?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 09:22 AM (omVj0)

47 Open to additional suggestions.
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo

*********

...and puppies.

Posted by: Muldoon at June 04, 2023 09:22 AM (991eG)

48 the set up though is much like what we saw in alias with sd 6 and the cia, who served everyone but their own,

Posted by: no 6 at June 04, 2023 09:23 AM (PXvVL)

49 I've been involved in many Ukraine discussions here at the HQ. I read a lot of articles and watch various video discussions, but up until now, I hadn't seen a good book which summarized Ukrainian history vis a vis Russia, how that developed into the current war, and a brief history of the war's big events. That problem is now solved with a new book, The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History, by Serhii Plokhy, a Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard and the director of the university's Ukrainian Research Institute.

The book reviews Ukrainian history from the beginning, up until Feb. 2023, including the war. It includes the interplay between Ukraine and Russia, and the motivations for why things developed the way they did. If you want more context, Plokhy is the author of many books, including The Gates of Europe, a more detailed history of Ukraine.

I don't want this thread to devolve into another Ukraine shouting match so I'll simply suggest that there are many people, including me, who will benefit from a more solid footing on this topic. This is an outstanding place to start. Highly recommended.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 04, 2023 09:24 AM (eOEVl)

50 Picked up the book I was top bidder for at my local library's silent auction, by Captain David Porter: "A Journal of a Cruise Made to the Pacific Ocean in the United States Frigate Essex in the years 1812, 1813, and 1814", 2nd Edition, printed in 1822.

Its leather cover is very dry and a bit beat up. Pages are a little discolored, and the title page and first 6 pages of the preface are missing. A little moldy in spots, but otherwise in great condition. The writing is pure beauty. An excerpt:

"My dear sir. Neither in our conversations, nor in the accompanying letter, have I mentioned your sword. Ascribe my remissness in the first instance to forgetfulness; I consider it only in my servant's possession with my own, until the master may please to call for it; and although I omitted, at the moment of presentation, from my mind being much engrossed in attending to my official duties, to offer its restoration, the hand that received will be most gladly extended to put it in possession of him who wore it so honorably in defending his country's cause."

(From the Captain of the British ship which captured the Essex at the Battle of Valparaiso in March, 1914 to Captain Porter).

Posted by: Sharkman at June 04, 2023 09:24 AM (4ChKX)

51 he wrote that crimethink bill, churning through the senate,

Posted by: no 6 at June 04, 2023 09:24 AM (PXvVL)

52 Wolfus and Eris,

I've got a lot of Estleman's books but haven't read any in a while. I should dig them out as they are fun reads. And close to my heart, he does his drafts on a manual typewriter.

Posted by: JTB at June 04, 2023 09:24 AM (7EjX1)

53 I recently finished Tricky Business , a novel by Dave Barry about a Mob owned casino Cruise ship.

Very funny stuff !

Posted by: JT at June 04, 2023 09:24 AM (T4tVD)

54 Recently I've been reading the cookbook _Tasting History_, based on the YouTube channel of the same name. It's a fun channel. The guy who runs it, Max Miller, has probably never even touched a weedwhacker, if you get my drift, but his show is entertaining and he does the research. The few errors I've caught him out in are of the "we had to oversimplify because this is a 10-minute video and half of it's about cooking" variety.

I've always been a fan of the Romans and now I have enough recipes to do a full-bore Roman dinner. It would be appropriate to do it in August (geddit?) but I'm inclined to wait for cooler weather to do a big meal of unfamiliar dishes.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 04, 2023 09:25 AM (QZxDR)

55 Question for all the library types here.

Found a book in the stack from the neighbor who moved, titled "Tick Tock and Jim, Deputy Sheriffs. The dust jacket is still with the book. I can tell by the illustration that it's not an adult themed story. At the bottom of the inside jacket after the book blurb there's a little paragraph.

This is a junior literary guild selection, chosen as an outstanding book for older readers. (C Group)

So, what is a C Group reader? Is it for pre-teens, teens, or young adults? Haven't read it yet, but will anyway to see what it's like. Copyright 1949.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 04, 2023 09:25 AM (Angsy)

56 plochy is a reasonably good guide on the matter, reviewing the banderist controversy, he wrote about the smersh hit on bandera for instance, but he still has his blindspots,

Posted by: no 6 at June 04, 2023 09:26 AM (PXvVL)

57 Also at the library yesterday, I found a novel entitled Once a Crooked Man by . . . David McCallum. Yes -- the actor from NCIS and U.N.C.L.E. It's a crime story, and the opening pages read very well.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 09:26 AM (omVj0)

58 ...and puppies.
Posted by: Muldoon at June 04, 2023 09:22 AM (991eG)

attacks on and by puppies.

And I would throw in the 'use of the Oxford Comma' suggested above. That's comedy gold right there.

Posted by: Reforger at June 04, 2023 09:26 AM (B705c)

59 Huge ears = huge cat (usually). Big paws are another clue. Was it the cost that deterred your husband, or is he allergic?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius
----
He is actually reasonably priced since he is TICA registered. It's the fact that we have 3 indoor cats already...but they are all my kids cats. I really want another dog but that was a hard no for now. He said once we move to Wyoming I can get whatever I want. We have never even been there...and that would be 10+ years off.

Posted by: lin-duh at June 04, 2023 09:27 AM (UUBmN)

60 Two old ladies approach the ship's band and request My Funny Valentine...

"We'll get to that in the Next set..."

"You always say that but you never get to it !

Johnny here does an excellent version (Johnny has never heard of the song)

Posted by: JT at June 04, 2023 09:27 AM (T4tVD)

61 Had a Bernard Cornwall Sharpe series book MIA for months after I bought it on Kindle to show up.

Posted by: Skip at June 04, 2023 09:27 AM (xhxe8)

62 I've always been a fan of the Romans and now I have enough recipes to do a full-bore Roman dinner. It would be appropriate to do it in August (geddit?) but I'm inclined to wait for cooler weather to do a big meal of unfamiliar dishes.
Posted by: Trimegistus at June 04, 2023

***
Why wait until Augustus's month? You can do Julius's, or, hey, June was named for the goddess Juno, right? Though I agree to wait until cooler weather on principle.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 09:28 AM (omVj0)

63 I hope that library has plenty of young employees. People who are older than 29, like me, would be taking a risk climbing a ladder that tall.

I also wonder what is the title of the book in that collection that has gone the longest without being opened.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 04, 2023 09:28 AM (uIu2G)

64 Yay book thread!

I'm still working my way through Vol. 1 of Max Saunders' mammoth biography of Ford Madox Ford. It continues to fascinate me and I'm learning a lot about Edwardian England's literary scene. Ford is all but forgotten now, but he was The Man back in the day, famous for spotting up and coming talent.

His personal life was also a wreck, which is why he's forgotten. No Christopher Tolkien for him.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 04, 2023 09:28 AM (llXky)

65 Johnny starts singing

My funny Valentine
you sure are lookin' fine
don't shave your hair for me
don't shoot a bear for me
blow Fred Astaire for me

Posted by: JT at June 04, 2023 09:29 AM (T4tVD)

66 This week's reading:

I started "Love in the Ruins" by Walker Percy. Percy is clever and amusing, but it is written in first person present, which always annoys me some. And I needed something that moves a little faster this week, so I abandoned it for now.

I switched gears, and downloaded books 5 and 6 of The Last Brigade series by William Alan Webb. I'm nearly done with book 5; these books are engaging and exciting. I think I've finally convinced my husband that he would love these.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at June 04, 2023 09:29 AM (OX9vb)

67 I finally have some writing news (of a sort): I'm taking a leisurely stroll through Miami Vice and I think I've hit upon my next book (or a book, at least): Vampires of Michigan: The Roar of '84.

I think it would be fun to set a story deep in the 80s, populate it with the soundtrack of my youth and such. Obviously, this is just a setting, so I'll have to figure out the plot (though I have some thoughts).

I don't want it to be a straight prequel, but rather a companion story. Naturally, there will have to be a high body count.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 04, 2023 09:31 AM (llXky)

68 Also at the library yesterday, I found a novel entitled Once a Crooked Man by . . . David McCallum. Yes -- the actor from NCIS and U.N.C.L.E. It's a crime story, and the opening pages read very well.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 09:26 AM (omVj0)

When I see a book by a famous anything other than a writer, I always wonder if it was ghostwritten.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 04, 2023 09:34 AM (Angsy)

69 I think Amazon and Ebay have made book-buying a little too convenient. It's now too easy to make impulse purchases without taking the time to think through whether you really need, or will adequately enjoy the books you are buying.

For instance, after last weekend, I now own an Osprey book about historical ninjas, just because I saw it for sale. Also, a single piece of art triggered me into buying four volumes of a manga about arranged marriages in the central Asian steppes.

I don't know if I regret either of the purchases, but I'm also not sure they were fully worthwhile, either....

Posted by: Castle Guy at June 04, 2023 09:34 AM (Lhaco)

70 When I see a book by a famous anything other than a writer, I always wonder if it was ghostwritten.
Posted by: OrangeEnt

BOO !

Posted by: JT at June 04, 2023 09:34 AM (T4tVD)

71 I don't want this thread to devolve into another Ukraine shouting match so I'll simply suggest that there are many people, including me, who will benefit from a more solid footing on this topic. This is an outstanding place to start. Highly recommended.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 04, 2023 09:24 AM (eOEVl)
---
The deeper issue is that we live in a time of simplistic absolutes. One side is either pure and holy or utterly, irredeemably depraved.

The whole business of calling Russians "orcs" illustrated this. I'm old enough to remember that "dehumanizing" someone was super-bad, but now it's required.

Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy does a great job of portraying the moral conflicts in WW II, especially for Europeans who didn't really see "good guys" out there.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 04, 2023 09:35 AM (llXky)

72 Thanks Perf. Now for the content.

Posted by: 13times at June 04, 2023 09:36 AM (7Tb4o)

73
Why not read the fine print?

This covers an unimaginable plethora, and can only result in a strikingly well informed, literate person for anybody needing a considered opinion.

Posted by: irongrampa at June 04, 2023 09:37 AM (KATBx)

74 I haven't been to an actual library or bookstore in ages!
Right now my daughter is entering HS and taking an advanced English class so I'm navigating the bad book selections that are required reading...
The main one is "I'll Give you the Sun" which is all about homosexuality and mental illness and pedophile themes according to my daughter. Then she has to choose between 4 other books, two on "racism", one on mental illness, and a memoir on growing up in poverty with a dysfunctional family and over coming it. I'm thinking the 4th book personally.

Posted by: lin-duh at June 04, 2023 09:37 AM (UUBmN)

75 Lloyd: I did hear that the use of "orcs" to refer to the Russians is kind of a bowdlerization of what the Ukrainians are really saying.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 04, 2023 09:37 AM (QZxDR)

76 I wonder if In the Arena: A Memoir of the 20th Century by Caspar Weinberger was ghost-written...

Posted by: Muldoon at June 04, 2023 09:38 AM (991eG)

77 I've been reading some of my favorite parts of LOTR and went through the Annal of Years in the appendices. Although only alluded to in the books, Tolkien included a little info about the battles in the north involving Mirkwood, Erebor, Celeborn and Galadrial.

I'm intrigued by the possibilities of expanding these references into stories, perhaps a few chapters, that could be inserted into the time line of The Two Towers and Return of the The King. Call it a 'side-quel'. Since it deals with characters and places already part of the Legendarium, it would be less invention and more matching of Tolkien's style. (Good Luck!)

Sadly, I can't think of a living author who could do justice to Tolkien's legacy. And keep the Hollywood pukes several planets away.

Just some thoughts.

Posted by: JTB at June 04, 2023 09:40 AM (7EjX1)

78 I switched gears, and downloaded books 5 and 6 of The Last Brigade series by William Alan Webb. I'm nearly done with book 5; these books are engaging and exciting. I think I've finally convinced my husband that he would love these.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at June 04, 2023 09:29 AM (OX9vb)

I just started Book 6, but in the Foreword, he writes that "the Task Force Zombie books will have relevance in these pages" so I'm wondering if I need to go back and read those before I begin this one. Decisions, decisions.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at June 04, 2023 09:41 AM (PiwSw)

79 I have a feeling that I'll be reading more "young adult" themed books in the next four years just so I know what is going on. As far as I can tell my boys haven't read anything that I know of....hmmmm.

Posted by: lin-duh at June 04, 2023 09:41 AM (UUBmN)

80 I wonder if In the Arena: A Memoir of the 20th Century by Caspar Weinberger was ghost-written...
Posted by: Muldoon

Was it Friendly ?

Posted by: JT at June 04, 2023 09:42 AM (T4tVD)

81 "I've always enjoyed the premise of a historical character becoming enmeshed in a wild story that has never been told"

I've had some crazy adventures.

Posted by: Abe Lincoln in Space at June 04, 2023 09:43 AM (iayUP)

82 It's the Book of Kells, not Book of THE Kells.

The first time I saw the book, it was in the Long Room. This was way back in 1976. The only people there were me and the man guarding the book. No one else in sight.

Now, I will admit that they might move the book back to the Long Room at the end of the day, but the other times I saw it, it was in a specially constructed part of Trinity to keep up with the number of tourists wanting to see it...for a price of course. Another change from my 1976 experience.

But no matter, it is glorious and well worth seeing. In the Long Room or not and for a price or not.

Posted by: RobertM at June 04, 2023 09:44 AM (+/lOf)

83 The musketeers in The Three Musketeers novel were only driven by certain types of honor. Most of the characters were louts, spending money extravagantly, constantly mooching off of rich lovers, or any fellow musketeer who happened to have come into money at the time.....And If I recall correctly, D'Artangian was having an affair with Milady DeWinter, while also having an affair with her servant at the same time. Not exactly paragons of honor, as we would recognize in the modern sense...

Posted by: Castle Guy at June 04, 2023 09:44 AM (Lhaco)

84 I am currently reading Kings Go Forth by Joe David Brown.

It was a movie with Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood.

(you could ask James Monroe....he's seen EVERY movie ever made....TWICE !)

Posted by: JT at June 04, 2023 09:45 AM (T4tVD)

85 I'm wondering if I need to go back and read those before I begin this one. Decisions, decisions.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at June 04, 2023 09:41 AM (PiwSw)

I could probably re-read all of these, and pick up a lot that I missed on the first readings. I think I'm going to do so when Mr. Dash reads them, then we'll have something new to talk about. His current interest is all Columbo all the time, and I'm bored with that.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at June 04, 2023 09:45 AM (OX9vb)

86 Not exactly paragons of honor, as we would recognize in the modern sense...
Posted by: Castle Guy at June 04, 2023 09:44 AM (Lhaco)
---
Agreed. They were French, with a peculiar sort of honor stemming from that...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 04, 2023 09:48 AM (BpYfr)

87 Open to additional suggestions.
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo

RiffTrax likes putting farcical warnings at the end of their actual warnings. Warnings for things like "80's fashion" or "excessive appearance of a Baldwin brother."

Posted by: Castle Guy at June 04, 2023 09:49 AM (Lhaco)

88 Amazon and ABEBooks make book buying convenient enough so that I have tended to make too many impulse purchases -- I'm getting better, but for years I've bought 'em far faster than I could read 'em. Buying fewer now, but that's mainly because I have more in print and on the kindle than I can possibly read before I'm planted.

But there are no decent bookstores within an hour's drive, and the public library purged much of what I'd be interested in several years ago. I'd go nuts without Amazon and ABE. Buying books should be as convenient as buying beer.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 04, 2023 09:49 AM (a/4+U)

89 I'm still working my way thru Pliny's Natural History. I think that it is interesting that Pliny never mentions penguins, but bats are talked about frequently. It turns out that bats are very useful creatures, whereas penguins are basically worthless.

For example:

"if one of these animals is carried alive, three times round a house, they say, and then nailed outside of the window with the head downwards, it will have all the effects of a countercharm: they assert, also, that the bat is a most excellent preservative for sheepfolds, being first carried three times round them, and then hung up by the foot over the lintel of the door"

See?

Posted by: fd at June 04, 2023 09:50 AM (iayUP)

90 BOO !

Posted by: JT at June 04, 2023 09:34 AM (T4tVD)

That's the spirit, JT.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 04, 2023 09:50 AM (Angsy)

91 The musketeers in The Three Musketeers novel were only driven by certain types of honor. Most of the characters were louts, spending money extravagantly, constantly mooching off of rich lovers, or any fellow musketeer who happened to have come into money at the time.....And If I recall correctly, D'Artangian was having an affair with Milady DeWinter, while also having an affair with her servant at the same time. Not exactly paragons of honor, as we would recognize in the modern sense...

Posted by: Castle Guy at June 04, 2023 09:44 AM (Lhaco)
---
One of the themes of the books is how the old, situational definition of honor gives way to the rationalism of the Enlightenment.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 04, 2023 09:50 AM (llXky)

92 TJM's "The Sharp Kid" is a good read. Looking forward to the next one.

https://amzn.to/3qoDeIb

Posted by: Matt at June 04, 2023 09:50 AM (DXPhz)

93 But there are no decent bookstores within an hour's drive, and the public library purged much of what I'd be interested in several years ago. I'd go nuts without Amazon and ABE. Buying books should be as convenient as buying beer.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 04, 2023 09:49 AM (a/4+U)
----
Hmmm..."Books and Beer" could be the ultimate convenience store....

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 04, 2023 09:51 AM (BpYfr)

94 I saw Caspar give a lecture at the Presidio of Monterey aeons ago. He's a wee little man!

I wish I remembered more of his presentation, but my friend and I got blitzed (in uniform!).

Posted by: All Hail Eris at June 04, 2023 09:52 AM (eOuNC)

95 When I see a book by a famous anything other than a writer, I always wonder if it was ghostwritten.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 04, 2023

***
It's possible, I guess, that David had uncredited assistance.
He'd never written fiction before that I know of. But if the writing and story are good, then I don't worry about it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 09:52 AM (omVj0)

96 Washington led such an extraordinary life that historical fiction of him carry no interest for me. One ancestor of mine died 1750 intestate with 120k acres of unusable West Virginia property. Its possible he rubbed shoulders with Washington. Who knows.

Posted by: 13times at June 04, 2023 09:53 AM (7Tb4o)

97 (you could ask James Monroe....he's seen EVERY movie ever made....TWICE !)

Posted by: JT at June 04, 2023 09:45 AM (T4tVD)

He ain't seen "Warlock."

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 04, 2023 09:53 AM (Angsy)

98 More uses for bats:

"The gall of a hedgehog is a depilatory, more particularly if mixed with bats’ brains and goats’ milk"

And:

"a bat’s head, dried and worn as an amulet, acts as a preventive of sleep."

Posted by: fd at June 04, 2023 09:54 AM (iayUP)

99 I'm still working my way thru Pliny's Natural History. I think that it is interesting that Pliny never mentions penguins, but bats are talked about frequently. It turns out that bats are very useful creatures, whereas penguins are basically worthless. . . .

Posted by: fd at June 04, 2023

***
Did the Romans know about penguins? The farthest north they live, I thought, was down around South Africa. I guess some might have wound up in the Roman world through a bunch of trades/

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 09:54 AM (omVj0)

100 Back from my hike.

The one thing about a mountain is that the mountain will never let you forget your climbing a mountain.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at June 04, 2023 09:55 AM (up/3i)

101 Lloyd: I did hear that the use of "orcs" to refer to the Russians is kind of a bowdlerization of what the Ukrainians are really saying.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 04, 2023 09:37 AM (QZxDR)
---
The core issue is that neither side has clean hands but both sides want to appear as clean and pure as the wind-driven snow, actual history be damned.

I have been trying to sift the nonsense because I have a professional interest in modern warfare, but it getting difficult because everyone keeps doing "hot takes" that rewrite history to make them perfect.

The Ukrainians are the victims of Russian brutality, always had their own culture, never worked with Nazis, etc. while the Russians wipe away all their sins by blaming the USSR. The US of course is history's greatest villain or a pure holy angel of democracy.

Hard to have a rational discussion with people like that.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 04, 2023 09:55 AM (llXky)

102 there were errant knights in a theocratic state, honor is a luxury under those conditions,

Posted by: no 6 at June 04, 2023 09:55 AM (PXvVL)

103 "Did the Romans know about penguins? "

Probably. They just didn't want to wear a penguin's head around their neck.

Posted by: fd at June 04, 2023 09:57 AM (iayUP)

104 The first rule of the Roman Empire was "Don't talk about the penguins."

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 04, 2023 09:57 AM (QZxDR)

105 But there are no decent bookstores within an hour's drive, and the public library purged much of what I'd be interested in several years ago. I'd go nuts without Amazon and ABE. Buying books should be as convenient as buying beer.
Posted by: Just Some Guy
---
You could use interlibrary loan, if you don't want to spend the $$. And if they pay any attention to ILL stats, possibly make them consider buying things you're interested in. Or at least annoy the librarians. :-)

Posted by: screaming in digital at June 04, 2023 09:58 AM (aBJcM)

106 Oh and I picked up The Unconquered Knight, A Chronicle Of The Deeds of Don Pero Nino, Count Of Buelna, translation of the works of Gutierre Diaz De Gamez by Joan Evans.

By page 11 I am not sure I will get anything out of it. Hard to read. Will continue to try. I bought this as an addition to research I'm doing into the mid 14th to early 15th century on a mention in another book. A Distant Mirror.

Posted by: Reforger at June 04, 2023 09:58 AM (B705c)

107 Thanks for suggestions. I'll be in need of a beta reader / proofreader soon. And maybe a cover artist. I can't pay a lot but I can pay something.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at June 04, 2023 09:58 AM (9yUzE)

108 I'm tempted by "Colonial Nightmare" since the sample looks good and the plot intriguing ... but $9 for a Kindle book is a little out of budget for me, these days.
I'm about halfway through the only Flashman book that I hadn't already read ages ago - Flashman And the Mountain of Light. Flashy up to par with regard to lechery, skulduggery and ungentlemanly behavior, as always.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at June 04, 2023 09:58 AM (xnmPy)

109 Yesterday I got an email informing me that Humbe Bundle was having a sale on eBooks by Mercedes Lackey. 30-some books for 20 bucks. I remember reading some Mercedes novels back in high school/college, but I don't remember much about them.

...Other than one story where a griffon almost violated a masseuse because the griffon didn't understand the difference between a masseuse and a prostitute....

Posted by: Castle Guy at June 04, 2023 09:59 AM (Lhaco)

110 You know, "Books & Beer" would be quite the nifty convenience store. I'd be a regular.

And maybe the several people who've tried opening bookshops in this town could have made a go of it if only...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 04, 2023 09:59 AM (a/4+U)

111 Anyone ever read The Secret Life of Bees?

Posted by: lin-duh at June 04, 2023 10:00 AM (UUBmN)

112 ...Other than one story where a griffon almost violated a masseuse because the griffon didn't understand the difference between a masseuse and a prostitute....
Posted by: Castle Guy at June 04, 2023 09:59 AM (Lhaco)

There's a difference? Uh-oh.

Posted by: Al Gore at June 04, 2023 10:00 AM (PiwSw)

113 A penguin walked into a bar and asked the bartender "have you seen my brother?"

And the bartender said "what does he look like ?"

Posted by: JT at June 04, 2023 10:01 AM (T4tVD)

114 One of the more disturbing trends is Russia jumping on board with Chinese historical revisionism.

I'm used to the Chicoms saying the US started the Opium Wars (please, just stop) but now they're claiming the Tienanmen Massacre never actually happened.

I'm sure the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution will soon be memory-holed, but this time by the West. Buy Walls of Men while you still can, I guess.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 04, 2023 10:02 AM (llXky)

115 I ordered TJM's new book and it should get here in a couple of days. Looking forward to it. I enjoy historical figures and places combined with the 'unusual' and supernatural. It's one aspect that makes Robert E. Howard's stories so good. Sarah Hoyt's "Uncharted" does that very well. (Of course, she does a great job with all her writing.)

Sarah Hoyt and Sabrina Chase are two of very few reasons I haven't given up on living woman authors.

Posted by: JTB at June 04, 2023 10:02 AM (7EjX1)

116 bandera was west bank of the dnieper, russians were east, the former was more sympathetic to stalin, he hated the poles as much as the Russians, he killed 50,000 in the border region, during the war, he thought the Germans would liberate Ukraine, quelle surprise they put him in prison,

he held off the Soviet and Polish armies for a better part of a decade, with some minimal support for MI 6 that philby had compromised and the americans, young william coffin was part of the supplly line,

Posted by: no 6 at June 04, 2023 10:02 AM (PXvVL)

117 The issue of pacing has come up in my writing group. One of our people (the one who thinks he knows all about writing because he has published one book) dislikes how much dialogue I have in recent chapters of my "amateur detective" novel. This despite every guide to writing I've read that suggests modern novels tend to be long on dialogue. Mine is a cozy, not a private-eye novel or a thriller, and there's information about the murdered woman's past that has to come out. And it's told in first person. So unless I were to flash back out of his POV (like Conan Doyle sometimes did) and actually show the events, the story has to be told via testimony.

I keep it short and fast-moving, I think. And he can't point to an example or explain what he means.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 10:02 AM (omVj0)

118 the difference between a masseuse and a prostitute

*******

Here the pitch, and it's a slow hanging curve ball right over the center of the plate...

Posted by: Muldoon at June 04, 2023 10:02 AM (991eG)

119 I take it back that the Book of Kells is not in the Long Room. It's been moved back.

But it's still NOT the Book of THE Kells.

Posted by: RobertM at June 04, 2023 10:04 AM (+/lOf)

120 Weeding Ukrainian history. At certain points in time I'm in sympathy with them. Same with Russian and Chinese peasants. And then they all do unspeakable things to one another.

The gentry of all of the above spoke of honor but that honor was shifting sand under foot. Same with the English gentry.

Posted by: 13times at June 04, 2023 10:04 AM (7Tb4o)

121 Here the pitch, and it's a slow hanging curve ball right over the center of the plate...

Posted by: Muldoon at June 04, 2023 10:02 AM (991eG)
---
Al Gores chakra needs some releasin'!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 04, 2023 10:04 AM (llXky)

122 It's possible, I guess, that David had uncredited assistance.
He'd never written fiction before that I know of. But if the writing and story are good, then I don't worry about it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 09:52 AM (omVj0)

As you know, fiction ain't easy. Looks like he published only one book so far, but another one said to be in the works. Maybe he wrote it, maybe with help. I guess if it's good like you say, I doesn't matter if he wrote every word. If the idea's his and he had a good editor, it's his work.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 04, 2023 10:04 AM (Angsy)

123 yes thats patently ridiculous, the us had one of the seven concessions, russell and co, including fdr kin had a piece of the action, but they didn't determininative

why would xi deny the great leap or the cultural revolution,

Posted by: no 6 at June 04, 2023 10:05 AM (PXvVL)

124 Not much reading done lately. Memorial Day weekend I was on the road for the Indy 500, this weekend, summer music is in full swing and when I would normally be reading, I'm off to catch a band. Still I've dipped into the Russians (Dostoyevsky & Solzhenitzyn) once or twice.

Posted by: who knew at June 04, 2023 10:05 AM (4I7VG)

125 .Other than one story where a griffon almost violated a masseuse because the griffon didn't understand the difference between a masseuse and a prostitute....
Posted by: Castle Guy at June 04, 2023
*
There's a difference? Uh-oh.
Posted by: Al Gore at June 04, 2023

***
We're available for consultation!

Posted by: Pr0nhub at June 04, 2023 10:05 AM (omVj0)

126 I've just barely started to read The Aenid by Virgil. I don't have the book with me so I don't know who the translator is.

Posted by: That Northern skulker at June 04, 2023 10:06 AM (eGTCV)

127 Question for the published authors. Is there any financial advantage to you for sales of hardcover vs. paperback vs. E-book?

Posted by: JTB at June 04, 2023 10:06 AM (7EjX1)

128 Weeding Ukrainian history. At certain points in time I'm in sympathy with them. Same with Russian and Chinese peasants. And then they all do unspeakable things to one another.

The gentry of all of the above spoke of honor but that honor was shifting sand under foot. Same with the English gentry.

Posted by: 13times at June 04, 2023 10:04 AM (7Tb4o)
---
The English gentry were wimps compared to the boyars and lords of the steppes.

I think we're also seeing the limits to having a "state church" yet again, with ethno-nationalist political disputes leading to schisms.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 04, 2023 10:07 AM (llXky)

129 Thanks to whoever recommended the Betsy-Tacy books. They sounded good so looked into getting some for our 6 yo granddaughter. They were kind of pricey on ebay, so gave up for now. Then was at a garage sale and happened on the set of six, paperback in a box, for $3.00. Summer reading for me and the littlest. Looking forward to it.

Posted by: TecumsehTea at June 04, 2023 10:08 AM (ebhEj)

130 the problem with zelensky is you have to go back about 350 years to see when you make it out a dustup with Russia, with Khelmenitsky, the bulovin faction, the zapoizhians (who give that great boast but they were wiped out) petlura and bandera, its not a long term career prospect,

Posted by: no 6 at June 04, 2023 10:10 AM (PXvVL)

131 I'm used to the Chicoms saying the US started the Opium Wars (please, just stop) but now they're claiming the Tienanmen Massacre never actually happened.
---
A friend visited sometime after the unpleasantness and watched soldiers pulling up the bloodstained pavers in the square.

It never happened!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at June 04, 2023 10:10 AM (eOuNC)

132 I'm tempted by "Colonial Nightmare" since the sample looks good and the plot intriguing ... but $9 for a Kindle book is a little out of budget for me, these days.
-
Posted by: Sgt. Mom at June 04, 2023 09:58 AM (xnmPy)

No offense to TJM, but nine bucks for an e-reader edition is about nine times too much. I'd consider paying about six dollars for a print edition, no more. It's a work of fiction intended for entertainment, and there is nothing wrong with that, but his competition is about a million other works of fiction available for a buck a pop at every thrift store in the nation.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at June 04, 2023 10:12 AM (xM4cp)

133 @129 --

Score!

I hope you enjoy them. My wife read those books as a girl.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 04, 2023 10:12 AM (uIu2G)

134 the difference between a masseuse and a prostitute....

*******

A masseuse works out the kinks.
A prostitute gives the kinks a workout.

Posted by: Muldoon at June 04, 2023 10:12 AM (991eG)

135 Sgt. Mom, I recently ordered one of your books, To Truckee's Trail. Looking forward to reading it.

Posted by: TecumsehTea at June 04, 2023 10:14 AM (ebhEj)

136 I am reading, for the first time, Starship Trooper by Robert Heinlein. Seen the movie many times. Girthy. I mentioned yesterday asking Mrs. E if she wanter to read Once And Future King by T.H. White. She said 'too thick!' Heh.

Posted by: Eromero at June 04, 2023 10:14 AM (DXbAa)

137 the latter bit is why zelensky cannot quit, you give up there are no retirement option, putin cannot quit either, because they have made the existence of the Russian state an issue, and he's seen Iraq and Libya,

Posted by: no 6 at June 04, 2023 10:15 AM (PXvVL)

138 WeakGeek, they look like fun, and perfect for our girl.

So for the 2 older gkids, I'm thinking about reading To Kill a Mockingbird. They are 7th and 8th graders, read far above grade level.

Posted by: TecumsehTea at June 04, 2023 10:16 AM (ebhEj)

139 I've read all of Sgt. Mom's Luna City books! A very fun read, especially if you're from Texas.

Posted by: lin-duh at June 04, 2023 10:16 AM (UUBmN)

140 the latter bit is why zelensky cannot quit, you give up there are no retirement option, putin cannot quit either, because they have made the existence of the Russian state an issue, and he's seen Iraq and Libya,
Posted by: no 6 at June 04, 2023 10:15 AM (PXvVL)

Bottom line: it's a family feud, with no overarching moral issues, and we need to stay out of it.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at June 04, 2023 10:17 AM (xM4cp)

141 AHL (I checked this time lol) And the boyars persist. Tsar Putin and his boyars. The Bolsheviks had their nomenklatura. Shit never changes. And the orthodox church and the hot takes on religious intolerance in Kyiv and Moscow.

Posted by: 13times at June 04, 2023 10:17 AM (7Tb4o)

142 A masseuse gets paid if you're not sore.
A prostitute gets sore if you've not paid.

Posted by: Muldoon at June 04, 2023 10:17 AM (991eG)

143 I am reading, for the first time, Starship Trooper by Robert Heinlein. Seen the movie many times. Girthy. I mentioned yesterday asking Mrs. E if she wanter to read Once And Future King by T.H. White. She said 'too thick!' Heh.
Posted by: Eromero at June 04, 2023

***
Aside from the Space Marines vs. the Bugs storyline, from what I've seen of the film there's very little in common with the novel. RAH wrote exciting stuff, but there were also important messages (nicely sugar-coated) and wisdom in his tales. And the movie doesn't have the powered armor that is a fascinating part of the book.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 10:18 AM (omVj0)

144 Fucking up Russia's shit has been a mainstay of Western diplomacy and political thought since Palmerston's day and I see no reason to break with tradition.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 04, 2023 10:19 AM (QZxDR)

145 I read Lassie Come-Home this past week. I always thought this was a kid's book and a sappy one at that, based on the TV show. "What's that? Timmy is caught ten feet down in a well a half mile away with a broken arm? The earth the well is dug in is diatomacious clay with a layer of granite gravel and he fell in at exactly 3:17 PM?"

But the book is quite good, with interesting characters and a very realistic sequence of events that both adults and kids can enjoy. And Lassie's mindset, motivations, and behavior are very well handled.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 10:21 AM (0hOvj)

146 43 I'm on book 14 of the Jesse Stone series by Robert Parker.
Posted by: Ciampino -- Now you know the truth at June 04, 2023

***
One of the books actually written by Parker? I didn't know he wrote that many. Or is it a continuation novel by another author?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 09:20 AM (omVj0)
----
Another author. I think Parker's last book was around #10.

Posted by: Ciampino - Books, Books, Nothing But Books at June 04, 2023 10:23 AM (qfLjt)

147 Back from a constitutional with the delightful and lively Mrs naturalfake.

Lesse what's up thread.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 04, 2023 10:23 AM (RJQ8g)

148 I would love to drop Jamethiel Priest's Bane upon DC.

Posted by: Anna Puma at June 04, 2023 10:24 AM (Jj0+x)

149 Hey David Vining! Looking forward to reading your book! I'm from Waterford, PA, home of Fort LeBoeuf!

Posted by: Victoria at June 04, 2023 10:25 AM (8pav7)

150 Adrian Tchaikovsky's sci-fi Architect series includes Boyars as major players in his universe. The serfs in his book are leashed to their masters.

See what I did there? The Ukraine thing is messy! How to encapsulate all that roiling history into a pithy fifty word tweet?

Posted by: 13times at June 04, 2023 10:27 AM (7Tb4o)

151 I read Lassie Come-Home this past week. I always thought this was a kid's book and a sappy one at that, based on the TV show. "What's that? Timmy is caught ten feet down in a well a half mile away with a broken arm? The earth the well is dug in is diatomacious clay with a layer of granite gravel and he fell in at exactly 3:17 PM?"

But the book is quite good, with interesting characters and a very realistic sequence of events that both adults and kids can enjoy. And Lassie's mindset, motivations, and behavior are very well handled.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023

***
Eric Knight, whose This Above All became a wartime love story film with Tyrone Power and Joan Fontaine. Scots author, I think.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 10:27 AM (omVj0)

152 Aside from the Space Marines vs. the Bugs storyline, from what I've seen of the film there's very little in common with the novel. RAH wrote exciting stuff, but there were also important messages (nicely sugar-coated) and wisdom in his tales. And the movie doesn't have the powered armor that is a fascinating part of the book.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 10:18 AM (omVj0)
---
The film version is known in certain circles as "Starship Troopers 90210"

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 04, 2023 10:27 AM (llXky)

153 It's 5:30 AM in Ukraine, and there are indications that the Ukrainian counteroffensive is starting.

Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at June 04, 2023 10:28 AM (2tUFv)

154 115 ... Like a damn fool, I forgot to mention Sgt. Mom with Sabrina and Sarah. Her Texas stories and cowboy/Westerns are entertaining reads. Wish her Ranger books had been around in my youth. (No, she wasn't born then.) I would have discovered westerns a lot sooner than I did.

Posted by: JTB at June 04, 2023 10:28 AM (7EjX1)

155 Also I have been reading a series of Victorian England detective novels by Will Thomas. The first book (Some Danger Involved) starts with a down and out clerk trying to find work, and his last attempt is a strange ad in the newspaper for an assistant. The job turns out to be for a detective (he prefers Inquiry Agent) that is a big, strong guy trained in martial arts from his years living in China.

The books set themselves apart from Holmes and other detectives of the time in a few key and fascinating ways. First, the detective is while brilliant, more physical and imposing. Second, on Sundays when possible, they attend Charles Spurgeon's church. Third, the stories delve deep into London history and culture at the time without feeling pedantic. I have read two so far and they are quite good.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 10:30 AM (0hOvj)

156 The main one is "I'll Give you the Sun" which is all about homosexuality and mental illness and pedophile themes according to my daughter. Then she has to choose between 4 other books, two on "racism", one on mental illness, and a memoir on growing up in poverty with a dysfunctional family and over coming it. I'm thinking the 4th book personally.
Posted by: lin-duh

Good Morning all.Still reading the comments but had to reply to this.
This is so incredibly sad. What happened to reading Hamlet, Tom Sawyer, Pride and Prejudice, Moby Dick and on and on? You read and discussed to find the deeper meaning beyond the written word. Now they tell you before you read page 1 what the book is going to lecture you about. What is there to discuss? They've already told you what to think. The only way to think.
This is incredibly sad.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 04, 2023 10:30 AM (t/2Uw)

157 TT@ 135 - enjoy! That was my very first historical, and still a best-seller for me, even though I first put it out in 2008!
Lin-duh - glad you enjoyed the Luna City series - there is a lot of Texas folklore, local history and culture mixed into those books, a lot of which my daughter and I picked up at first hand, just talking to people when we were doing market and book events.
The tale of the stolen bass boat came from a volunteer EMT at an event in Marble Falls, to give an example.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at June 04, 2023 10:30 AM (xnmPy)

158 I've always enjoyed the premise of a historical character becoming enmeshed in a wild story that has never been told.

Two other excellent examples are Declare by Tim Powers and The Fourth Protocol by Frederick Forsyth. The historical figure in both is notorious spy and traitor Harold "Kim" Philby.

Posted by: cool breeze at June 04, 2023 10:30 AM (MvUcP)

159 I keep it short and fast-moving, I think. And he can't point to an example or explain what he means.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 10:02 AM (omVj0)

Bu, bu, but...he's an expurt?

The Perry Mason I recently read had a whole page of back and forth dialog, at least twice, I think. How can you do a courtroom scene without dialog?

I've gotten into a habit of watching "how to write" vids from published authors on YT. Some of them are young women, so I'm not their target market, but they're published, they get a voice. I've read samples of the work, it seems so pedestrian and amateurish. Maybe your critic is one of those, Wolfus.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 04, 2023 10:31 AM (Angsy)

160 lin-duh

I'll be interested in that book you're reading with your ladies group, "Right Where You Belong".

I'm discouraged at where God has me right now, maybe that will shed some light and give me some encouragement. I'm going to look into the book, too, but I like to hear what others think of books because I've been disappointed so many times, especially by Christian books.

Posted by: TecumsehTea at June 04, 2023 10:31 AM (ebhEj)

161 It's 5:30 AM in Ukraine, and there are indications that the Ukrainian counteroffensive is starting.

Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at June 04, 2023 10:28 AM (2tUFv)

Might wanna' check that clock.

Posted by: BignJames at June 04, 2023 10:31 AM (AwYPR)

162 Might wanna' check that clock.

Good point. 5:30 PM.

Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at June 04, 2023 10:33 AM (2tUFv)

163 Alas, I have to check out early today.

Thanks again, Perfesser!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 04, 2023 10:35 AM (llXky)

164 The film version is known in certain circles as "Starship Troopers 90210"
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 04, 2023

***
Yeah, the lead actor has that look, and Dina Meyer was a guest star on the original 90210.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 10:35 AM (omVj0)

165 Like a damn fool, I forgot to mention Sgt. Mom with Sabrina and Sarah. Her Texas stories and cowboy/Westerns are entertaining reads.

I agree, very enjoyable and would have been wonderful as a boy.

I tried to read, but did not finish the book version of The Dirty Dozen. Its well written and good, but the movie version is so much more entertaining and enjoyable. The book Dirty Dozen is all about misery, the background and psychology of everyone involved (very very deep background), the power struggles, the nasty and vile nature of many of the criminals, on and on.

And its bleak, empty, hopeless, and miserable. I just didn't care to finish the book. The assembly and training of the team takes up about 80% of the book, and is constantly riddled with awful people and situations.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 10:35 AM (0hOvj)

166 Trinity College stinks.

Dominus Illuminatio Mea!

😂

Posted by: Marcus T at June 04, 2023 10:35 AM (SAX5G)

167 ... I can't see the kitteh OR the sniper in the library picture. So well hidden!

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at June 04, 2023 10:40 AM (doiJh)

168 I'm planning a trip right now and I always like to consult old books about where I'm going. By "old" here I mean at least pre-WWII, if not pre-1900.

So: anybody know of some good old books about the Loire Valley?

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 04, 2023 10:40 AM (QZxDR)

169 the sequels were better, well the third one where the police state has bouts of dissent, and there is a kerry like sky marshall, who wants to surrender to the Bugs

Posted by: no 6 at June 04, 2023 10:41 AM (PXvVL)

170 I apologize if my masseuse/prostitute jokes rubbed anybody the wrong way...

Posted by: Muldoon at June 04, 2023 10:41 AM (991eG)

171 I apologize if my masseuse/prostitute jokes rubbed anybody the wrong way...

Posted by: Muldoon at June 04, 2023 10:41 AM (991eG)

They kneaded improving.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 04, 2023 10:43 AM (RJQ8g)

172 I finished reading Adrain Tchaikovsky's Architect series. It's pretty good overall. His lead character is a annoying whiner. Kind of like Theo in Donna Tart's Goldfinch - I want to read past Theo and see what Boris is up to. Same in the Architect series. I felt like skimming through chapters of the final book to avoid "Theo." Tchaikovsky constantly summarizes and repeats aspects/traits of his main characters. Having said that - it's still good sci-fi.

Posted by: 13times at June 04, 2023 10:43 AM (7Tb4o)

173 I apologize if my masseuse/prostitute jokes rubbed anybody the wrong way...
Posted by: Muldoon at June 04, 2023 10:41 AM (991eG)
---
At least they all had a happy ending!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 04, 2023 10:43 AM (BpYfr)

174 I can't see the kitteh OR the sniper in the library picture. So well hidden!

The bats are in the belfry

Also recently I have read a Sherlock Holmes book entitled Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Twain Papers by Riccard Rogers. The case this time is to recover biographical notes by Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain. There are some interesting interactions and Watson is well-handled, a rarity in Holmes pastiches. But overall it was a bit disappointing and I won't go back to that series.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 10:45 AM (0hOvj)

175 No reading for me this week, it was busy around here. I surely do enjoy this thread every Sunday morning though. I have a list of books a mile long that I wish to read thanks to you folks.

Posted by: Debby Doberman Schultz at June 04, 2023 10:45 AM (a4EWo)

176 Considering in Spain the Grand Prix just got over and it's afternoon already

Posted by: Skip at June 04, 2023 10:46 AM (xhxe8)

177 All kidding aside, The Bodleian Library (proper) has been around since ~1602 and can trace its history back to the -4th century. It is equally impressive.

Posted by: Marcus T at June 04, 2023 10:46 AM (SAX5G)

178 *14th

Posted by: Marcus T at June 04, 2023 10:47 AM (SAX5G)

179 I finished the third book in Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy, Mona Lisa Overdrive. This was Gibson's first cyberspace trilogy which began with Neuromancer. I found it the least interesting set of the the ones I've read. In the Bridge Trilogy, he pulls together the disparate events in the first two books in the third book to a very satisfying conclusion. He had the potential in MLO to do that and instead throws in some weird interplanetary connection with no previous reference that makes no sense to end the book.
Like he watched 2001 A Space Odyssey after taking a hit of acid and thought, Okay, that will make a good ending.
Anyways, laying off Gibson for a bit.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 04, 2023 10:47 AM (t/2Uw)

180 I have read a Sherlock Holmes book entitled Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Twain Papers by Riccard Rogers. The case this time is to recover biographical notes by Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain.

*********

Watson: "I daresay, Holmes my good man. I'm your Huckleberry!"

Posted by: Muldoon at June 04, 2023 10:48 AM (991eG)

181 I think I saw David Lee Roth wearing those pants at a Van Halen concert back in '82 or so.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at June 04, 2023 10:50 AM (Y6AXb)

182 JTB -- about hardback/paperback/ebook, it depends

For indie writers, we try to price affordably and anything with paper is expensive, so not as much profit. Ebooks are the best. But we set our own prices, so again, it depends. Tradpub authors are at the mercy of their contracts and it usually doesn't matter until their advance is earned out. (And these days unless you are a super mega bestseller it never happens.)

But the real payment is honest reviews and telling your buddies about this new cool author and how they should read their books ....

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at June 04, 2023 10:50 AM (doiJh)

183 Bu, bu, but...he's an expurt?

The Perry Mason I recently read had a whole page of back and forth dialog, at least twice, I think. How can you do a courtroom scene without dialog?

I've gotten into a habit of watching "how to write" vids from published authors on YT. Some of them are young women, so I'm not their target market, but they're published, they get a voice. I've read samples of the work, it seems so pedestrian and amateurish. Maybe your critic is one of those, Wolfus.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 04, 2023

***
I'm not sure yet. HIs novel is available at the library, and I flipped through it yesterday. He tends to short paragraphs, as I do, and dialog throughout.

My (possibly twisted) sense of story tells me that my mystery is the kind of book I'd like to read, that important and shocking things get revealed during the dialog, and tossing in action for the sake of action is not a good idea for this kind of tale. If he means I shouldn't have too long a speech by one character, okay, I'm watching that and trying to break things up.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 10:51 AM (omVj0)

184 kidding aside, The Bodleian Library (proper) has been around since ~1602 and can trace its history back to the -4th century. It is equally impressive.
Posted by: Marcus T at June 04, 2023 10:46 AM

The Bodleian Library plays a major role in The Discovery of Witches.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 04, 2023 10:51 AM (t/2Uw)

185 Last book I want to mention that I'm reading: The Floating Admiral. Its a sort of literary experiment by a writer's club which included scribes such as GK Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, and Agatha Christie.

The conceit is that each author gets one chapter to write in the detective novel, building on what the previous writer wrote, and it all has to make sense and tie in together. The book has several different endings written by different authors, giving their conclusion of who killed the Admiral.

The idea sounds intriguing, but the book is one of those polite British small town stories in which there's no threat, everyone is genteel, the setting is terribly peaceful and rural, and its kind of... dull. Not my cup of tea.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 10:52 AM (0hOvj)

186 I tried to read, but did not finish the book version of The Dirty Dozen. Its well written and good, but the movie version is so much more entertaining and enjoyable. The book Dirty Dozen is all about misery, the background and psychology of everyone involved (very very deep background), the power struggles, the nasty and vile nature of many of the criminals, on and on.

And its bleak, empty, hopeless, and miserable. I just didn't care to finish the book. The assembly and training of the team takes up about 80% of the book, and is constantly riddled with awful people and situations.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023

***
Was it the original source, or a novelization? Usually a novelization follows the movie pretty closely. I didn't know there was a source novel or book. Who was the author?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 10:53 AM (omVj0)

187 I didn't know there was a source novel or book. Who was the author?

Its the original source the movie was based on, by E.M.
Nathanson. I am certain he was in the war and based the worldview and characters on his experiences there, but while realistic, it doesn't make for a pleasant read.

I have been trying to find and read the books behind the movies, original books that were turned into films. I have been trying to find The Outlaw Josey Wales, which was the book Eastwood used for that movie, but its rare and very, very expensive.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 10:56 AM (0hOvj)

188 Also reading "America's Siberian Adventure 1918-1920" alongside "With the "Die-Hards" in Siberia." America's Siberian book was written in response to the slanders in the latter book.

Both books are free to download in various .epub/pdf/mobi versions at Project Gutenberg, archive.org or fadedpage.

Posted by: 13times at June 04, 2023 10:56 AM (7Tb4o)

189 My (possibly twisted) sense of story tells me that my mystery is the kind of book I'd like to read, that important and shocking things get revealed during the dialog, and tossing in action for the sake of action is not a good idea for this kind of tale. If he means I shouldn't have too long a speech by one character, okay, I'm watching that and trying to break things up.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 10:51 AM (omVj0)

Well, write what you want to read. Isn't that a maxim?

Are you talking about breaking up someone's speech with actions he/she is doing: "Blah, blah, blah," he reached for his pipe, took a long drag, and continued on, "blah, blah, blah." Or having the other character ejaculate in the middle of the dialog?*

*ejaculate is a perfectly reasonable word to show a character breaking into another character's dialog!!!!!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 04, 2023 10:59 AM (Angsy)

190 I visited the Trinity Library and saw The Book of Kells. It was in a small room, under glass, and although there was a line, did not feel rushed. Think it was early 2000's. I don't remember paying to get in but I am 29. Did not like Dublin though. Crowded, noisy, traffic. Sidewalks were so narrow and crowded I was worried I would get pushed in front of a smelly bus. But, the library is amazing.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 04, 2023 11:00 AM (t/2Uw)

191 Aside from the Space Marines vs. the Bugs storyline, from what I've seen of the film there's very little in common with the novel. RAH wrote exciting stuff, but there were also important messages (nicely sugar-coated) and wisdom in his tales. And the movie doesn't have the powered armor that is a fascinating part of the book.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 10:18 AM (omVj0)

Book snobs like to point out how the movie missed the whole point. I haven't read the book, but from what I see, the book snobs are the ones who miss the point.

Yes, it would appear Verhoeven took the book outline, and made a whole different thing of it, but to dismiss the movie as fluff and nonsense, is to completely miss what's happening. It's a satire, a parody, using the space outline, and the characters to make much larger points about oppressive governments and propaganda media (sound familiar?) working together to lie people into going to war.

Oh, and one of the sequels, the third one I think, has the mecha warrior suits (I don't remember what they called them).

Posted by: BurtTC at June 04, 2023 11:01 AM (QBaJw)

192 182 ... "But the real payment is honest reviews and telling your buddies about this new cool author and how they should read their books"

Sabrina,
Thanks for that information about ebooks vs. paper. I always talk about books with folks. (Given my esoteric tastes, they might be interested or alarmed.) Same with leaving reviews on Amazon, etc. There are so few modern authors I like, I want to encourage people to learn about them.

Posted by: JTB at June 04, 2023 11:03 AM (7EjX1)

193 I haven't read the book, but from what I see, the book snobs are the ones who miss the point.

Its like taking A Christmas Carol and making a movie about guys hunting ghosts with flintlocks. It doesn't matter what point Verhoven was trying to make, he violated the book so badly there's no reason to have even used the name or concepts.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 11:03 AM (0hOvj)

194 I have been trying to find The Outlaw Josey Wales, which was the book Eastwood used for that movie, but its rare and very, very expensive.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 10:56 AM (0hOvj)

The author (or publisher) renamed it...

https://is.gd/Sc5eYB

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at June 04, 2023 11:05 AM (ZCCyW)

195 Its like taking A Christmas Carol and making a movie about guys hunting ghosts with flintlocks. It doesn't matter what point Verhoven was trying to make, he violated the book so badly there's no reason to have even used the name or concepts.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 11:03 AM (0hOvj)
---
Hollywood tends to be pretty bad about slapping the label of an IP over someone else's story.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 04, 2023 11:05 AM (BpYfr)

196 Thank you Perfesser Squirrel and everyone who has bought Colonial Nightmare!

I worked long and hard on it, and hopefully you all get some entertainment out of it.

Enjoy!

Posted by: TJM's phone at June 04, 2023 11:06 AM (26S2t)

197 I apologize if my masseuse/prostitute jokes rubbed anybody the wrong way...
Posted by: Muldoon at June 04, 2023 10:41 AM (991eG)

Some people can't take a joke. I don't know why, who doesn't like a happy ending?

Posted by: BurtTC at June 04, 2023 11:06 AM (QBaJw)

198 Ciampino's Rescue kitties

https://is.gd/WQ5JcT
There's another photo update #72 at the link.
Take a look if interested. Make sure to click on
"See Older Updates" as well if it's your first time.
https://is.gd/WQ5JcT

ALSO LIVE STREAMING!! - Biscuits' BABIES ON WEBCAM
Now most nights as well

https://www.twitch.tv/kittenwatch

Posted by: Ciampino -- Books, Books, Nothing But Books at June 04, 2023 11:07 AM (qfLjt)

199 Morning Hordemates.
I've been bouncing around on books. Can't seem to settle on one.
The search continues.

Posted by: Diogenes at June 04, 2023 11:07 AM (+ekwe)

200 Its like taking A Christmas Carol and making a movie about guys hunting ghosts with flintlocks. It doesn't matter what point Verhoven was trying to make, he violated the book so badly there's no reason to have even used the name or concepts.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 11:03 AM (0hOvj)

Maybe he didn't care whether book snobs thought he violated some silly notion of loyalty to the book.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 04, 2023 11:08 AM (QBaJw)

201 I have been trying to find and read the books behind the movies, original books that were turned into films.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 10:56 AM (0hOvj)

I found The Oxbow Incident by Walter VanTilburg Clark at an antique store. I have never seen the movie. Started the book a while ago, but have not finished it yet. I was in the mood for something different at the time, so when I get back to it, I'll have to start over.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at June 04, 2023 11:09 AM (OX9vb)

202 kidding aside, The Bodleian Library (proper) has been around since ~1602 and can trace its history back to the -4th century. It is equally impressive.
Posted by: Marcus T at June 04, 2023 10:46 A

I don't think I've ever seen the name in print, so assuming this libarry to which you are referring is the Oxford one, alls I know is, from having watched the Morse teevee series, lots of murders happen there.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 04, 2023 11:09 AM (QBaJw)

203 I've been listening to the Sherlock Holmes oeuvre presented by and commented on by Stephen Fry. His comments on The Hound of the Baskervilles is interesting. First, he credits Conan Doyle with creating a new literary sub genre, the rational detective confronts the seemingly supernatural. More interesting, he contrasts Holmes with Conan Doyle. Holmes remains the rational detective and defeats the supernatural villain but Conan Doyle himself was a fanatic spiritualist. Once good friends with magician Harry Houdini, they fell out when Houdini refused to admit that he was a real medium in touch with the supernatural insisting instead that his illusions were based on talent, intelligence, and practice. Conan Doyle never abandon his belief in communicating with the dead, seances, spirit writing etc. even when a number of his associates were convicted of fraud for their communicating with the dead and Conan Doyle began to look ridiculous. Thus Conan Doyle was a big supporter of something Holmes could never abide.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at June 04, 2023 11:10 AM (FVME7)

204 Well, write what you want to read. Isn't that a maxim?

Are you talking about breaking up someone's speech with actions he/she is doing: "Blah, blah, blah," he reached for his pipe, took a long drag, and continued on, "blah, blah, blah." Or having the other character ejaculate in the middle of the dialog?*

*ejaculate is a perfectly reasonable word to show a character breaking into another character's dialog!!!!!
Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 04, 2023

***
Yes! It's why I haven't tried any of the endless mystery series labeled "cozies" with cats on every single cover. They may be good, and I suppose I have to try one or two. But I have a feeling they will not be surprising or clever in the mystery department. My preference is for the sudden thunderbolt solutions of Ellery Queen and John Dickson Carr -- both considered old fashioned now, I know.

As for breaking things up, both! The first is called "action tags."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 11:10 AM (omVj0)

205 Morning Hordemates.
I've been bouncing around on books. Can't seem to settle on one.
The search continues.
Posted by: Diogenes

Whar do ya buy them rubber books ?

Posted by: JT at June 04, 2023 11:10 AM (T4tVD)

206 the difference between a masseuse and a prostitute....

******

One is a woman who is paid to spend half an hour with a sweaty overweight man old enough to be her father while providing physical stimulation and listening to him gripe about his wife...

On second thought, there is no difference.

Posted by: Muldoon at June 04, 2023 11:10 AM (991eG)

207 Yes, it would appear Verhoeven took the book outline, and made a whole different thing of it, but to dismiss the movie as fluff and nonsense, is to completely miss what's happening. It's a satire, a parody, using the space outline, and the characters to make much larger points about oppressive governments and propaganda media (sound familiar?) working together to lie people into going to war.

Oh, and one of the sequels, the third one I think, has the mecha warrior suits (I don't remember what they called them).
Posted by: BurtTC at June 04, 2023

***
In my defense I haven't seen the entirety of the first movie. Your description of it makes it sound much better than I thought it would be. I didn't know there were sequels!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 11:12 AM (omVj0)

208 Hollywood tends to be pretty bad about slapping the label of an IP over someone else's story.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 04, 2023 11:05 AM (BpYfr)

It's like a lot of other things, if people find it offensive, the antidote is to ask the question: Is the rape of this IP justified, based on how well the violated IP is used by the rapist?

It's one thing to say the current Dinsey live action remakes of their own properties are an abomination, because they add nothing other than Woke b.s. to their original stories, but people seem to have a particular blind spot to Verhoeven's use of the IP. They won't acknowledge it has merit of its own. And they're wrong about that.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 04, 2023 11:13 AM (QBaJw)

209 OT Chuck Todd leaving Meet the Depressed. Oh , well

Posted by: Smell the Glove at June 04, 2023 11:14 AM (mmVCq)

210 The author (or publisher) renamed it

Ah, thanks, that is much more reasonable.

A very strange choice, though, why rename the book to be different from the movie??

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 11:15 AM (0hOvj)

211 I'm about 1/2 through the Leonardo Da Vinci biography by Walter Isaacson. I have to say my previous default awe of Da Vinci has been damaged a bit. I don't think the author intended that to be.

Posted by: polynikes at June 04, 2023 11:16 AM (MNhXM)

212 Yes! It's why I haven't tried any of the endless mystery series labeled "cozies" with cats on every single cover.

I have read a few, and cannot recommend them. They can be okay reads, but are so careful to not make anything suspenseful, dramatic, or in any way challenge the reader or protagonist that they seem rather dull.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 11:16 AM (0hOvj)

213 Russia - Ukraine...

Some interesting reading about the meshing of NATO/US weaponry onto Russian/Soviet platforms. Specifically US made anti-radar missiles and British cruise missiles being mounted and made to work on Russian attack jets. The various Mil-Blogs have some pretty detailed info on these hybrids. IMO this is going to be of some significance if the political issues between the two countries are ever resolved.

Basically, new classes of weaponry are being cobbled together adhoc style while the war rages on. Similar to other wars and weapons being crafted to meet a specific need, but with the added facet of NATO/US & Russian/Soviet technology in the mix together.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at June 04, 2023 11:16 AM (Q4IgG)

214 In my defense I haven't seen the entirety of the first movie. Your description of it makes it sound much better than I thought it would be. I didn't know there were sequels!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 11:12 AM (omVj0)

To each their own, of course. Anyone who feels loyalty to the book, and refuses to enjoy the movie is perfectly free to do so. It's just that claiming the movie is no good BECAUSE it's not like the book is a weak argument.

Now, if I recall correctly the second movie is garbage, but the third is good on its own, for different reasons, but I don't remember them well enough to know why.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 04, 2023 11:17 AM (QBaJw)

215 Dersu Uzala: Tracker, Hunter, Trapper the book translation (1923) and Dersu Uzala the 1972 Russian film. The mospic film version tracks the book and remains faithful throughout. Of course the film is condensed. The complete HQ film in on youtube and the public domain book is at archive.org.

Posted by: 13times at June 04, 2023 11:18 AM (7Tb4o)

216 I reread "Atlas Shrugged" for the first time in many years (skipping over the multi-page political rants, of course).

Seems like South Africa is following the playbook.

Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at June 04, 2023 11:21 AM (2tUFv)

217 I am still working my way through "Blue Nile" by Alan Morehead.
Chronicles of the first five "Literate" explorers into the up river areas of egypt, sudan, and ethiopia, beginning in 1798, after more than 1000years off being "Offlimits", and no new history recorded since the Caesars, much of which was poorly interpreted and false to begin with. Even as they filed reports what they described was called "Made up lies" and they were roundly mocked. At least until the "Young" Napoleon arrived with his army, took Cairo, then Alexandria, and fought. pushed inland further inland.
BUT...I am eager to get done with this volume because I found at an estate sale a book called "To the Heart of the Nile" which is the biography of a young girl, captured in Hungary in 1849, bought/brought into an ottoman harem where she was raised until ready for sale in 1859, by chance an englishman explorer, Sam Baker, one of only two in the entire north african region was attending as a guest of a pasha, and purchased her. She was 14yo. She travels with the explorer and his caravan until they return to England in 1865. There...by special dispensation...they marry(to preserve her honor, and entre to society)

Posted by: birddog at June 04, 2023 11:21 AM (uAI4S)

218 Yes! It's why I haven't tried any of the endless mystery series labeled "cozies" with cats on every single cover.
*
I have read a few, and cannot recommend them. They can be okay reads, but are so careful to not make anything suspenseful, dramatic, or in any way challenge the reader or protagonist that they seem rather dull.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023

***
That's what I'm afraid of. The kind of thing I'd like to read would be a modern fast-moving EQ-style story with a bizarre murder scene (not a gory serial-killer thing, though), some humor that actually makes you laugh, and a bombshell of a surprise at the climactic point. Which is what I'm trying for.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 11:21 AM (omVj0)

219 Thanks for The Book Thread Perfesser !

Posted by: JT at June 04, 2023 11:21 AM (T4tVD)

220 On the death of honor as a motivation, I wonder to what extent honor was a casualty of WWI. I'm thinking particularly of the British war poet as perhaps best exemplified by Wilford Owen's Dulce et Decorum Est.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulce_et_Decorum_est

(Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori may be translated as "sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country.")

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at June 04, 2023 11:21 AM (FVME7)

221 Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at June 04, 2023 11:10 AM (FVME7)

Houdini gave his wife a secret password that he would use from the afterlife if she attempted to contact him. Historians determined the word was Rosebella or something like that IIRC.

Posted by: polynikes at June 04, 2023 11:21 AM (MNhXM)

222 I am still working my way through "Blue Nile" by Alan Morehead.

I enjoyed that quite a bit. White Nile wasn't quite as fascinating but still informative and worth a read.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 11:22 AM (0hOvj)

223 I wonder to what extent honor was a casualty of WWI

There were shreds of it left in WW2 but that was the end of it. A monarchy cannot survive without a concept of honor, with the monarch being the font of honor from which all descends. Which is why England has a token figurehead monarch now and not a ruler.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 11:23 AM (0hOvj)

224 OT Chuck Todd leaving Meet the Depressed. Oh , well
Posted by: Smell the Glove

Todd is tot.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at June 04, 2023 11:25 AM (FVME7)

225 Verhoeven wrote a completely different movie than the novel RAH wrote. It would be like taking Ian Flemming's Goldfinger and turning it into an action adventure movie about Auric Goldfinger and his fight to destroy the major banking cartels' stranglehold on both Gold and fiat money against the state's monopoly on violence and murder as represented by their sanctioned murderer, James Bond.

Which wouldn't be much of a stretch since Bond got onto Goldfinger because of a bad hand of cards

Posted by: Kindltot at June 04, 2023 11:25 AM (xhaym)

226 The "society" is not thrilled, Though Sam's book is published, and he is Knighted,even the Queen rejected her. The Prince of Wales however hires him to arrange a family trip to Egypt and until 1893 they return to exploring the upper reaches of the Nile together...many adventures ensue.

Posted by: birddog at June 04, 2023 11:25 AM (uAI4S)

227 Starship Troopers film vs. book. I read the book in the 60s. I thought Heinlein wrote a civics lesson involving war, history and their effects on young people. Then add imaginative, futuristic elements of warfare.

The film was a fun action movie but lacked any of Heinlein's depth of history or characters. I enjoyed the action scenes (and the girls) but didn't appreciate the spoofing approach. The film has the same relation to the book that the MASH series had to Korea. I. e., not much.

Posted by: JTB at June 04, 2023 11:25 AM (7EjX1)

228 TJM book sounds interesting! Reminds me of the tv series Sleepy Hollow.

Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at June 04, 2023 11:26 AM (Wy1BU)

229 A monarchy cannot survive without a concept of honor, with the monarch being the font of honor from which all descends. Which is why England has a token figurehead monarch now and not a ruler.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor

The Prince of Wails and Ms. Sparkle won't change that.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at June 04, 2023 11:27 AM (FVME7)

230 Such as, is there a senator on the Senate Intelligence Committee who is a mole for the Russians?

It wouldn't be the first time. The Spike (1981) by Arnaud de Borchgrave is an account of the period up through Jimmy Carter. Most names are changed to avoid libel lawsuits, but it is reportedly otherwise factual. Frank Church, Walter Mondale and/or their top staffers are readily identifiable as Soviet agents. Also, several journalists (two from the NYT), a liberal think tank (IPS), and a top deputy to National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski (Mika's dad).

Posted by: cool breeze at June 04, 2023 11:27 AM (MvUcP)

231 Houdini gave his wife a secret password that he would use from the afterlife if she attempted to contact him. Historians determined the word was Rosebella or something like that IIRC.
Posted by: polynikes at June 04, 2023 11:21 AM (MNhXM)
----
If the two of them were the only ones who knew the password, how could historians have discovered it unless she successfully made contact? Could be the seed of an interesting story there...

In Correia's Grimnoir Chronicles, there's a device made either by Edison or Tesla (I forget which) that supposedly contacts the dead. It's only worked a few times with humans from our side initiating contact. Then one day it rings by itself...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 04, 2023 11:27 AM (BpYfr)

232 I've just finished the first two chapters of "Ticktock and Jim." It's definitely a "youth book." Don't know if I'll bother reading the rest or not. It's a plucky preteen stumbles on box out in the country and it's taken from him by rough men, story. He has a younger sister who's earnest, and solid country folk for parents and townies. Villains look to be city slicker types.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 04, 2023 11:28 AM (Angsy)

233 I should mow the yard before it gets to 90 degrees today. But I'll probably go sit on the porch and read instead. It's nice to have a day where I don't *really* have to do anything else. Mowing can wait.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at June 04, 2023 11:31 AM (OX9vb)

234 there's a device made either by Edison or Tesla (I forget which) that supposedly contacts the dead. It's only worked a few times with humans from our side initiating contact. Then one day it rings by itself...

********

I've heard of this advice. It was made by Alexander Graham Bell and it turns out Purgatory is a call center in Mumbai.

Posted by: Muldoon at June 04, 2023 11:33 AM (991eG)

235 "Hollywood tends to be pretty bad about slapping the label of an IP over someone else's story."

LOL. There is a film "version" of "Jane Eyre" with Virginia Bruce and Colin Clive. 1934. Piece of crap.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at June 04, 2023 11:34 AM (vg8N1)

236 Recycled joke. I heard that Disney is making a movie about a transexual whale. It's called Maybe Dick.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at June 04, 2023 11:34 AM (FVME7)

237 224 OT Chuck Todd leaving Meet the Depressed. Oh , well
Posted by: Smell the Glove

Todd is tot.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at June 04, 2023 11:25 AM (FVME7)

Should read: French pimp bids au revoir to mensonges caberet.

Posted by: Auspex at June 04, 2023 11:34 AM (j4U/Z)

238 Reading "Joe Biden--Football Hero", 75th revised edition.

Posted by: derfus at June 04, 2023 11:34 AM (PHCF/)

239 Posted by: JTB at June 04, 2023 11:25 AM (7EjX1)

The better space soldiers vs giant ants book is Armor.

Posted by: polynikes at June 04, 2023 11:35 AM (MNhXM)

240 While I love reviews and every author needs them desperately to promote their books and give them greater exposure on sales sites, there's a problem.

People give out 5 star reviews too readily. Its like calling every girl a 10 out of 10, then where do you go when you see a hotter girl? Almost NO books should be 5 stars out of 5, because that's the best possible book written, its among the most amazing and profound, well-written, and moving books that has ever been published.

I get that you like Twilight and rave about it but then when you read something even better, where do you go with your ratings? Its nice people to want to help out a writer and boost their books but dang, the most bleh books out there get 150 5-star ratings

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 11:36 AM (0hOvj)

241 Mrs. Houdini: I've given you the best years of my life and you don't do anything for me! I don't know why I married you! I should've married that nice Thomas Edison!

Houdini (trying to read the sports section): OK, OK, if I communicate across the great divide, I'll use the password Rosebella. (Goes back to reading the sports section).

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at June 04, 2023 11:40 AM (FVME7)

242 To me , rating books is like rating movies. There is an overall favorite and then there are genre favorites.

Posted by: polynikes at June 04, 2023 11:41 AM (MNhXM)

243 I get that you like Twilight and rave about it but then when you read something even better, where do you go with your ratings? Its nice people to want to help out a writer and boost their books but dang, the most bleh books out there get 150 5-star ratings

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 11:36 AM (0hOvj)

Maybe it's that the reviewers have never read anything that isn't bleh? Especially if they've never read classic works.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 04, 2023 11:44 AM (Angsy)

244 I'm also reading a book called The Secret Language of Color. The science of color is actually very interesting.

Posted by: polynikes at June 04, 2023 11:46 AM (MNhXM)

245 3 chapters to reading out on deck but it's a little cool and slightly breezy

Posted by: Skip at June 04, 2023 11:47 AM (xhxe8)

246 92 TJM's "The Sharp Kid" is a good read. Looking forward to the next one.

Posted by: Matt at June 04, 2023 09:50 AM (DXPhz)

========

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I think it's my favorite of my own books.

Speaking of ratings and reviews...They're always appreciated!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching some more Best Pictures at June 04, 2023 11:47 AM (LvTSG)

247 The Spike (1981) by Arnaud de Borchgrave is an account of the period up through Jimmy Carter.

Posted by: cool breeze at June 04, 2023 11:27 AM (MvUcP)

Read it back in the day....still relevant, huh?

Posted by: BignJames at June 04, 2023 11:47 AM (AwYPR)

248 Maybe it's that the reviewers have never read anything that isn't bleh? Especially if they've never read classic works.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 04, 2023 11:44 AM (Angsy)

My FiL grades the books he reads, and damn...he is a hard-ass grader!

I don't think I have ever seen an A, or even an A-.

And...Polynikes has a good point...there are both favorites and genre favorites, and they can be radically different.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at June 04, 2023 11:49 AM (ZCCyW)

249 Should read: French pimp bids au revoir to mensonges caberet.
Posted by: Auspex

-
I've been watching a French mystery series, Murder In . . .. (It's an anthology series set in various picturesque locals in France which explains the ambiguous title.). One of the episides was entitled Village de Mensonges or something like that. I didn't know the word and was checking the map trying to find the town Mensonges.

It's a pretty good series, beautifully shot, if you can abide subtitles.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at June 04, 2023 11:50 AM (FVME7)

250 It wouldn't be the first time. The Spike (1981) by Arnaud de Borchgrave is an account of the period up through Jimmy Carter. Most names are changed to avoid libel lawsuits, but it is reportedly otherwise factual. Frank Church, Walter Mondale and/or their top staffers are readily identifiable as Soviet agents. Also, several journalists (two from the NYT), a liberal think tank (IPS), and a top deputy to National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski (Mika's dad).
Posted by: cool breeze at June 04, 2023 11:27 AM (MvUcP)

Once upon a time, the myth of people only being who they present themselves to be was widely believed.

I don't know why anyone would believe that anymore. I wouldn't say everyone is compromised, but it's probably fair to say, there are enough of them that virtually nothing is what it seems.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 04, 2023 11:52 AM (81i8c)

251 The Pimp is back for Pride Month! To the Perf, they're all his bitches!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at June 04, 2023 11:53 AM (KVGVf)

252 It's a pretty good series, beautifully shot, if you can abide subtitles.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at June 04, 2023 11:50 AM (FVME7)

Zut! Vous ne parlez pas Francais?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 04, 2023 11:53 AM (Angsy)

253 244 ... "I'm also reading a book called The Secret Language of Color. The science of color is actually very interesting."

polynikes,
Thanks for mentioning the book. Sounds interesting AND our local library actually has a copy! A rare event these days.

Posted by: JTB at June 04, 2023 11:54 AM (7EjX1)

254 I'm currently reading The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.

I read it in high school, and I've been wanting to revisit it for a few years.

I'm, maybe, a third of the way through the first entry, and I really like the attention to detail, the guarded world building, and the steady pace. I feel like I'm the hands of someone who really knows what they are doing.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching some more Best Pictures at June 04, 2023 11:54 AM (LvTSG)

255 One of the books listed at the end of With Christ In the School of Prayer is Moody's How to Study the Bible. Kindle had a free version, so I got it.

The first part is more of a *why* to study the Bible, but it's now gotten to the how. I think it will be helpful. It's also interesting to see the ways that Moody has influenced the style and thought of pastors even today.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at June 04, 2023 11:54 AM (nC+QA)

256 'Tis time to wind up the Book Thread? Perfessor, thanks for all your work! (I've noticed that you often get accolades, when some of the other cobs don't. All of you deserve it though.) Maybe soon we can talk about the technique of fiction writing, the kind of thing OrangeEnt and I discuss every week.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 11:56 AM (omVj0)

257 I was cleaning up in our guestroom yesterday when I noticed a copy of Shusaku Endo's The Samurai on my shelf, and I remember that it was a gift from my mother about three years ago. I haven't thought about it since we put it on that shelf, so I'm going to tackle that next.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching some more Best Pictures at June 04, 2023 11:56 AM (LvTSG)

258 I'm also reading a book called The Secret Language of Color. The science of color is actually very interesting.
Posted by: polynikes at June 04, 2023 11:46 AM (MNhXM)

I don't tend to "rate" any of these things, books, movies, music, etc. There's the experience I'm having now, with this particular artistic entity, and whatever parts of my brain are being lit up by it, I'm going to let that experience be. Working on where to rank it would seem to be a rather distracting activity.

Which is not to say I don't have favorites, it's just that... ranking them, quantifying the quality, it seems wrong somehow.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 04, 2023 11:57 AM (81i8c)

259 It wasn't Rosebella.

Posted by: Charles Foster Kane at June 04, 2023 11:57 AM (63Dwl)

260 258 Which is not to say I don't have favorites, it's just that... ranking them, quantifying the quality, it seems wrong somehow.
Posted by: BurtTC at June 04, 2023 11:57 AM (81i8c)

========

As just the enjoyer of art, I have no problem with this at all. To discuss art is to have a conversation, not to apply math to it.

Ratings just make categorization easier, and humans like to categorize things.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching some more Best Pictures at June 04, 2023 11:58 AM (LvTSG)

261 >>>there's a device made either by Edison or Tesla (I forget which) that supposedly contacts the dead. It's only worked a few times with humans from our side initiating contact. Then one day it rings by itself...

>Sounds like something Lovecraft never got to finish.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at June 04, 2023 11:58 AM (KVGVf)

262 I'm currently reading The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.

I read it in high school, and I've been wanting to revisit it for a few years.

I'm, maybe, a third of the way through the first entry, and I really like the attention to detail, the guarded world building, and the steady pace. I feel like I'm the hands of someone who really knows what they are doing.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching some more Best Pictures at June 04, 2023 11:54 AM (LvTSG)
--
I am reading that again as well. It's a facinating story, and Wolfe's style suits 29 year old me much better than when I was a teenager. I am almost finished with "Sword of the Lictor."

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Gen X Ne'er-Do-Well at June 04, 2023 11:58 AM (T/Lqj)

263 5-star rating systems in general are essentially useless. Two examples:

1. Several years ago I gave a less than 5 stars rating to a Horde writer who told a good tale but whose book was full of typos, misspellings and grammatical errors. This writer chastised me roundly for ruining his chance at star writer status.

2. Doctors listed on the website of Children's Hospital Colorado have one of two things listed for their rating. If a number is given, the rating is universally in the narrow range of 4.6 to 4.9 (5.0 being unrealistic I suppose). I have never seen an average rating below 4.4. All other doctors have "No rating is available for this doctor" due to "not enough ratings received" or "not on staff long enough"

Posted by: Muldoon at June 04, 2023 11:58 AM (991eG)

264 I'm also reading a book called The Secret Language of Color.
Posted by: polynikes at June 04, 2023 11:46 AM (MNhXM)
---

We're fixing that!

Posted by: Oxford Dictionary Editorial Board at June 04, 2023 11:58 AM (TkV8C)

265 262 I am reading that again as well. It's a facinating story, and Wolfe's style suits 29 year old me much better than when I was a teenager. I am almost finished with "Sword of the Lictor."
Posted by: Pug Mahon, Gen X Ne'er-Do-Well at June 04, 2023 11:58 AM (T/Lqj)

=======

Nice.

I have very clear memories of a handful of events from the book, but I'm essentially reading it completely fresh. I'll hopefully have some time to really read over the next week. We're going on vacation, but it's kid-centric, so we'll see.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching some more Best Pictures at June 04, 2023 11:59 AM (LvTSG)

266 EARLY GUN THREAD ( ( and other rights)

Posted by: Skip at June 04, 2023 12:01 PM (xhxe8)

267 CBD, Thanks for the correct reference on the Josey Wales books, it led me to a long forgotten book also by Forrest Carter called The Education of Little Tree, autobiographical in nature, but a superb read particularly for young readers.

Posted by: Debby Doberman Schultz at June 04, 2023 12:03 PM (a4EWo)

268 Maybe soon we can talk about the technique of fiction writing, the kind of thing OrangeEnt and I discuss every week.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 04, 2023 11:56 AM (omVj0)

I wouldn't mind that, if the Perfessor and others here would agree. It's the book thread, so shouldn't we discuss things about technique as well as what we've read? But, not up to me. I don't want people to think I'm trying to hijack the thread. I can always discuss things like that with anyone who wants to by email. (nic + at cox dot net) I'm not qdpsteve you know....

Thanks for the book thread, Perfessor.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 04, 2023 12:04 PM (Angsy)

269 I get that you like Twilight and rave about it but then when you read something even better, where do you go with your ratings? Its nice people to want to help out a writer and boost their books but dang, the most bleh books out there get 150 5-star ratings
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 11:36 AM (0hOvj)

that is because likes are Ordinal, not Cardinal. Think relative utility, it is related to that sort of mental sorting.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 04, 2023 12:05 PM (xhaym)

270 When I leave comment or reviews on Amazon, I try to explain what was appealing and effective FOR ME. I kinda do the same thing on CBD's art threads. If I'm moved to leave a review, I want folks to understand why it's worth their time and money. Or not.

Posted by: JTB at June 04, 2023 12:06 PM (7EjX1)

271 Anyway, out for the day. I like this thread. I check later in the day for other insights.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 04, 2023 12:06 PM (Angsy)

272 Also, a single piece of art triggered me into buying four volumes of a manga about arranged marriages in the central Asian steppes.

Posted by: Castle Guy at June 04, 2023 09:34 AM (Lhaco)

Brides Story? The author certainly glosses over a lot of the grim reality of life in that area. Which makes for a charming story, and the illustrations are truly amazing.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at June 04, 2023 12:06 PM (nC+QA)

273 I owned a small specialty bookstore for eighteen years. But I realized I was the only bookstore in a couple of miles in any direction, so I put in a small kids section. I stocked mostly fantasy books starting with Bruce Coville. My experience was that the easiest way to hook kids on reading was fantasy. I never got into the Babysitters Club or books like those.

Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin -- I wasn't particularly fond of the '70s the first time around at June 04, 2023 12:06 PM (B7rlW)

274 >>> I am reading, for the first time, Starship Trooper by Robert Heinlein. Seen the movie many times

Have you head the song by Yes?

Posted by: fluffy at June 04, 2023 12:07 PM (86W+h)

275 While at a garage sale...the topic of books arose. Turns out a Doctor that lives across the way has written several, all of the characters are based upon the neighbors. Descriptions, speech patterns, personalities...easily identifiable to the neighbors. The tales have zero to do with them in reality however, and are rather "Mitty-ish". We were interrupted by a fat woman buying childrens clothing(she wanted to haggle over under a dollar pricing on several items) and I didn't get the authors name, nor any titles.

Posted by: birddog at June 04, 2023 12:07 PM (uAI4S)

276 This writer chastised me roundly for ruining his chance at star writer status.

Never respond to a review or rating. That's rule number one from authors. Never, ever. Not even thanks.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 12:08 PM (0hOvj)

277 One letter away from greatness.

Matt Walsh hilariously SCHOOLS Nina Turner on her embarrassing definition of a woman and LOL

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at June 04, 2023 12:10 PM (FVME7)

278 Turns out a Doctor that lives across the way has written several, all of the characters are based upon the neighbors. Descriptions, speech patterns, personalities...easily identifiable to the neighbors.

I have always resisted this, partly because I don't want to hurt or shock anyone. After decades of playing role playing games and inventing characters, I can create people whole cloth. I've known some amazing, memorable people but I don't want to write a book and have them see themselves through my eyes in there, with all the warts.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at June 04, 2023 12:12 PM (0hOvj)

279 Hot Coffee!!!...Mr Vining.. Kindle purchase approved !!

Posted by: Qmark at June 04, 2023 12:14 PM (+t9Oi)

280 This writer chastised me roundly for ruining his chance at star writer status.

Never respond to a review or rating. That's rule number one from authors. Never, ever. Not even thanks.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor

In one of Dean Koontz' novels (False Memory?), an asshole author chases down an Amazon reviewer who gave him a bad review.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at June 04, 2023 12:15 PM (FVME7)

281 I'm sure the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution will soon be memory-holed, but this time by the West. Buy Walls of Men while you still can, I guess.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 04, 2023 10:02 AM (llXky)

China pretty much has, at least in educational shows aimed at the West. They will talk about the tragedy of there being so few artists who do amazingly detailed carved peach pits (the pieces really are amazing) without any hint as to *why* almost no one knows how to do that any more. Honestly, it's probably a miracle anyone does know.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at June 04, 2023 12:17 PM (nC+QA)

282 NOOD

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM Guy at June 04, 2023 12:21 PM (ZSK0i)

283 And now, a word from PETA.

PETA
@peta
Think twice before ordering that chicken sandwich... T-Rexes wouldn't approve of you eating their descendants 👉 https://bit.ly/trexkintochicken #DinosaurDay

-
Dude, it was him or me.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at June 04, 2023 12:24 PM (FVME7)

284 @155 --

Thanks for your review. That series is on my list, and the books are available through the library.

That said, judging from my holdings, I'd better steer clear of the library bookshelves for a while.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 04, 2023 02:25 PM (uIu2G)

285 Is there a fire pit contraption that bot burns efficiently and doesn't use a huge amount of wood? I suspect that I want mutually exclusive things.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at June 04, 2023 03:10 PM (nC+QA)

286 Lol, wrong thread.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at June 04, 2023 03:11 PM (nC+QA)

287 I recently read "The Puppet Masters" by Robert Heinlein. It was originally published in 1951, in a somewhat truncated form due to the more salacious parts being excised. It's a pretty good read, no fluff in it. I really enjoy the older science fiction.

Posted by: George V at June 04, 2023 03:34 PM (ugbqN)

288 @280 --

A nasty book review is the trigger for one of Wodehouse's Wooster and Jeeves yarns.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 04, 2023 03:52 PM (uIu2G)

289 A little late to the thread, re _Starship Troopers_ but...

Much of the "book snobs" objection to the film flows from:

* Verhoeven's open hostility to the source material.
* His having his own political hobby horse to flog.

https://tinyurl.com/4t89ekcr
https://tinyurl.com/58xvpv3b
https://tinyurl.com/5n6vyhan

And much of that resonated with the left's decades-long smear that "Robert
Heinlein wrote _Starshop Troppers_ so he's a FASCIST *REEEEEE*".

Mind you, I somewhat _like_ the movie. from a bubblegum action point of
view.

Posted by: 6eyes at June 04, 2023 04:18 PM (9ufEO)

290 On the issue of honor, 'Ivanhoe'. Throughout the book, what in the context of the time, would be called 'Chivalry'.

The characters Rebecca and Ivanhoe represent near ideals of honor.

It is to be noted that 'honor', as in real life, doesn't necessarily mean a happy life, or happy ending.

Scott points out in his afterword that he specifically wants to convey the idea to young people that honorable works are necessarily rewarded. Very often, they are not. Rebecca is certainly an example of that.

I expect that such literature today is regarded as 'Irrelevant'.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 04, 2023 05:33 PM (e8Uou)

291 checking for new comments

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at June 04, 2023 06:00 PM (vHIgi)

292 Not sure which Moron suggested James Agee's "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men," but I am working my way through it. The Modern Library edition I received from my local library also includes "A Death in the Family," and some of Agee's Shorter Fiction. This edition, however, starts out with the photographs Walker Evans took of the members of the three families, their homes, and the nearby towns when Evans and Agee spent three months with the sharecropping/tenant farmer families in 1936 in Alabama.

I'm about half-way through. Agee was influenced by James Joyce, so much of the writing is "stream of consciousness" and the rest is starkly descriptive. The "stream of consciousness" sections are quite poetic--I decided that's how I will read them: more to get the tone and flavor, less to try to make sense out of the paragraphs.
-1/2-

Posted by: March Hare at June 04, 2023 06:49 PM (grI8V)

293 -2/2-

Sr. Henry, my teacher in 7th & 8th Grades, loved to assign us long, complicated sentences to diagram. (We learned to turn our pages sideways--landscape--and each sentence would take up one side of the page.) Reading some of Agee's pages, I shudder to think what diagramming them would look like. Somewhere, Sr. Henry is laughing!

Posted by: March Hare at June 04, 2023 06:52 PM (grI8V)

294 More than $15k can be earned online by performing straightforward tasks from home. In the previous month, I got $18376. Even a young child may do this job and make money because it is so simple to complete and has higher pay than typical office occupations. Everyone needs to try this task by using the information on this page. www.Richepay.com

Posted by: Sharon Gallagher at June 05, 2023 03:40 AM (/ojBp)

295 I work online, go to school full-time, and have earned $64,000 so far this year. Through an online business opportunity I learned about, I've made a bunch of money. It's really extremely user-friendly, so I'm really delighted I found out about it. I work in this field. BONUS: Good luck.

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Posted by: Zara at June 05, 2023 03:44 AM (1WEOE)

296

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Posted by: Kimberly Sullivan at June 05, 2023 09:39 AM (bxYCe)

297 What's pretty clear?

All animals are equal but some animals are more equal and more deserving to own guns.

Read the side effects for all your Pharmacy Scripts, hypocrites. Not much difference. Careful what you wish for.

Posted by: mossomo at June 05, 2023 11:13 AM (QF97f)

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