Sunday Morning Book Thread - 09-10-2023 ["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, unless 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, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

PIC NOTE

Today's pic is of the library of speculative fiction author Neil Gaiman. Note that he has a bunch of awards plastered on his walls. You can view more pics of his library here.

ON THE ART OF EXPOSITION

Put simply, exposition is the insertion of additional background information into a story or narrative. This can take a few different forms, depending on the purposes of the author. One of the more common techniques is for a character to tell a story within the story that reveals key information to the main characters that then advances the plot in some way. Another common technique is to just describe the events of the world as they take place. The key to successful exposition is to find the right balance of information to reveal to the reader at any given time. If you share too much exposition, you run the risk of an infodump where your reader is overloaded with details that may or may not be relevant at the time. Reveal too little and your audience might get lost or you may expose a plot hole later down the line.

Two of my favorite expositional scenes occur in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. He expertly crafts an entrancing narrative near the beginning and middle of The Fellowship of the Rings that reveals exactly enough information for the reader to become invested in the overall story, but also hinting at a far grander and more epic world than the main character (Frodo Baggins) had ever imagined. In Chapter 2, "Shadows of the Past," Gandalf tells Frodo that the magic ring he's been carrying for the past 17 years is, in fact, the One Ring that belongs to the Dark Lord Sauron. This then kicks off the need for Frodo to leave his beloved Shire and travel to Rivendell, where it is hoped that Elrond can shed more light on what is needed to deal with the situation.

When Frodo and his companions arrive in Rivendell, they discover that Elrond has called a council which will include representatives of all the free peoples of Middle-Earth--Elves, Humans, Dwarves, and now Hobbits. During this Council, each representative describes what is happening in their homelands that shows Sauron is stretching forth his hand in search of the One Ring. Thus, the only possible solution is to destroy it. Thus begins the actual quest which continues through the remainder of the book.

In those two scenes, we see just how vast and ancient the world is, and we are given a glimpse into the affairs of the other races, even though the characters may not be travelling to those regions. It's told so well that I just love reading those chapters in The Fellowship of the Ring. In fact, these two scenes directly influenced later writers who attempted their hand at writing epic fantasy fiction.

In Tad Williams' The Dragonbone Chair, the scullery boy Simon is apprenticed to the resident castle scholar, Dr. Morgenes, who takes pity on Simon and strives to give him a proper education. During their time together, Simon is always asking Dr. Morgenes to tell stories. Dr. Morgenes corrects Simon and says it's history and then gives Simon a history of the Hayholt--the castle in which they live. It once belonged to the Fair Folk who were driven out by humans centuries ago. It also houses secrets that few mortals know. Naturally, this information comes up much later in the story when Simon returns to the Hayholt at the end of the series.

About halfway through The Dragonbone Chair, Prince Josua, who is striving to overthrow his evil, mad brother the High King Elias, calls a council that mirrors the Council of Elrond in many ways. Again, representatives from the lands of Osten Ard meet to discuss how they can achieve their goal. During their meeting they are interrupted by Jarnauga, a scholar from the frozen north who declares that their problems are far, far greater than a mere mortal High King. The Storm King is stretching forth his hand to wreak vengeance on the mortals that caused his death centuries ago. So now the heroes have to find a way to defeat the Storm King as well. As with Lord of the Rings this Council of Josua kicks off the rest of the plot for the series as the main characters go on separate quests that will converge in the climax of the story.

What are some other excellent examples of exposition in literature? I was a bit disappointed in Alan Dean Foster's The Man Who Used the Universe. He overused exposition to advance the plot over many decades when it would have been interesting to see how the main character actually achieved all of the power he accumulated during his lifetime.

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TIDBITS FROM THE HORDE...

BOOK SALE!

Another non-woke book sale courtesy of Hans G. Schantz:

Bypass the cultural gatekeeping, support non-woke authors, and check out some great books from both established and emerging talent. The Big BasedCon Big Book Sale runs through Tuesday September 12, 2023. Celebrating the BasedCon Science Fiction Convention in Grand Rapids, MI, the sale offers about 150 books for free or $0.99, including about sixty works new to the sale. The contributors include science fiction grandmasters, Dragon Award winners and nominees, established mainstream authors, and emerging indie talent.
Author Larry Correia explained, "There's a lot of really good stuff out there that isn't woke garbage. There's a lot of amazing art from brilliant people that's more focused on entertaining than shoving message down your throat... [T]here are lots of great authors out there who get zilch attention, in an industry that actively black balls them for wrongthink."
So, support non-woke creators and get yourself some great books from authors who don't hate you, today!
Thanks for your support and for the support of the Moron Horde!
Hans

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WRITERS GROUP REMINDER

The AoS Writer's Group, A-Literary-Horde, is now active on groups.io. It's private and not searchable to protect us from Bob.
Anyway, if you still have space in the next book thread, could you please mention it? Anyone else who's interested can e-mail me at maildrop62 -at- proton -dot- me. All I need is their real name, AoS nic if they have one, how they want to be listed (real name or nic) an e-mail, plus whether they're a writer (include genre) or a reader/editor.
We also have a surprise, hidden member who may show up from time to time.
Thanks,
OrangeEnt

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Our homeschool co-op always has a summer read for students and parents, and this year it was Grit, by Angela Duckworth. It's about success and tenacity, with loads of data on how high-achievers in a wide range of disciplines succeed. It has changed my view on innate ability vs. training and perseverance.
Also made me question some of my own life choices - world class expertise often requires a life-long fanatical devotion to one niche. Personally I become obsessed with something, really improve, and then get bored and move on to something else. Maybe when I break 29 I'll finally figure it out.
Posted by: Candidus at September 03, 2023 09:13 AM (oFLDw)

Comment: I think there is something to determination and focus when it comes to success. Lots of authors tried and failed, tried and failed, and tried again until they finally found success. I recently attended a retirement party for a faculty member who admitted that it took him three tries to attain promotion to full Professor. By the time he retired, he was acknowledged as being one of the leading figures in his field (geological engineering), and recognized by the department chair and dean as one of the most productive faculty on campus. But he also suffered a number of failures along the way.

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As others here have done, I read You Will Own Nothing: Your War With A New Financial Order And How To Fight Back by Carol Roth. This serves as a companion book to Glenn Beck's Dark Future. Roth concentrates on the economic policies of the World Economic Forum that are geared to prevent ownership and wealth accumulation by those not already in the global elite. For me, the most disturbing policy is the buying up of farmland and water rights by elites, large corporations, and hedge and investment funds. Also disturbing is their plan to trade water as a commodity like corn or soy beans.
The elites want to cut the world's population drastically. Part of their plan is to do it through higher water and food prices and drastic cuts to food production. Their trial run a few years ago in Sri Lanka was a great success when their policies led to a country becoming an importer of food rather than an exporter. Widespread starvation led to riots and the collapse of the government.
Posted by: Zoltan at September 03, 2023 09:14 AM (3qIfi)

Comment: I really don't understand the motivations behind the WEF's desire to eliminate up to 90% of the world population. Somehow, they believe that their standard of living will remain intact. It's both delusional and evil thinking on their part.

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My nonfiction reading this week is Labyrinth of Ice by Buddy Levy, about the Greely polar expedition. I'd say "I'll-fated", but don't 95% of polar jaunts end in madness and cannibalism? It's just assumed.
Anyway, it was 1881 and this was part of the International Polar Year, a global effort to gather data on the Arctic. Greely set up the northernmost in a chain of research stations, Conger Staton, on Ellesmere Island.
Good to know if you're outfitting for a polar expedition: Muktuk (whale skin and blubber) is a good source of vitamins C and D. C and D.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 03, 2023 09:55 AM (ynMLt)

Comment: I have no desire to be a polar explorer. It's cold, it's dangerous, and, fortunately, someone else already did it so I don't have to. The same goes for jungles and deserts. I'm quite comfy in my little Hobbit hole...

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The book is titled Ugly as Sin, by Michael S. Rose. Published in 2001, the hardcopy is rather expensive but a Kindle version is available on Amazon. The author, with a degree in Architecture, shows the link between the design concepts of a Lutheran architect, Edward, and the design concepts promulgated by the Bishop's Committee on Liturgy. The villains in this saga are Söaut;vik (he wanted to eliminate the concept of the church building as a "House of God" and replace it with a multipurpose community center), and Fr. Robert Hovda (the Catholic priest that was the primary author of Environment and Art in Catholic Worship). Michael Rose shows how Sӧvik's design concepts are echoed almost verbatim in Environment and Art in Catholic Worship when it was published in 1978.
Doing a little exploring on the inter-tubes, I found a couple of obituaries for Fr. Hovda: He admitted to thinking the Counter-Reformation was "hysteria." Reading between the lines in his obituaries, he converted to Catholicism in 1943 to stay out of prison, and became a priest to "fix" the Catholic Church. Interestingly, he shows up like a bad penny in liturgical groups after Vatican II, and teaching Jesuits in 1978.
The good thing is that the bishops finally formally replaced Environment and Art in Catholic Worship with the document, Built of Living Stone in 2000. There is almost no commonality between the two documents, and BLS goes back to praising traditional architecture and the necessity of sacred art. EACW placed the focus of the Mass on the assembly (i.e., a celebratory meal), while BLS goes back to the traditional emphasis of the Mass in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. For those interested, pdf versions of both documents are on the internet.
If Catholics want to know why their church building is a weird Post-Modernist monstrosity, here's your answer.
Sincerely,
Retired Buckeye Cop

Comment: I'm not Catholic, but I do admire the art and architecture in their magnificent European cathedrals. My own church is very plain by comparison, though the inside is quite comfortable. Around here, a church is just as likely to be a storefront in a strip mall as it is to be a more traditional denominational building. Our local Catholic church looks rather plain as well.

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (965 Moron-recommended books so far!)

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WHAT I'VE ACQUIRED THIS PAST WEEK

The Wheel of Time Book 4 - The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan -- My old copy was damaged and needed to be replaced. Fortunately, I was able to find a duplicate copy for a reasonable price on Amazon. I made sure to get the original hardcover edition, though it's a much later printing.

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn Book 1 - The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams -- Still holds up very well as a top-tier epic fantasy story. Highly recommended.

Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn Book 2 - Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams -- The heroes are scattered to the four winds as they seek a means of stopping the seemingly omnipotent Storm King.

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 - 09-03-23 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Cat got your seat, Perfessor?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 10, 2023 09:00 AM (Angsy)

2 Reading is fundamental!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 10, 2023 09:00 AM (Y9yUc)

3 Tolle Lege
HLf way through Barack Obama's True Legacy

I really ought to make up a book report and send in

Posted by: Skip at September 10, 2023 09:01 AM (fwDg9)

4 Good morning, fellow bibliophiliacs!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 10, 2023 09:01 AM (0Mqam)

5 I really ought to make up a book report and send in
Posted by: Skip at September 10, 2023 09:01 AM (fwDg9)
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Please do! I'd love to read it and share it with the Horde!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 10, 2023 09:01 AM (BpYfr)

6 hiya

Posted by: JT at September 10, 2023 09:02 AM (T4tVD)

7 Top 10?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 09:03 AM (omVj0)

8 Comment: I really don't understand the motivations behind the WEF's desire to eliminate up to 90% of the world population. Somehow, they believe that their standard of living will remain intact. It's both delusional and evil thinking on their part.
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So you DO understand!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 10, 2023 09:03 AM (Y9yUc)

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

Posted by: JTB at September 10, 2023 09:03 AM (7EjX1)

10 Please do! I'd love to read it and share it with the Horde!
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 10, 2023 09:01 AM (BpYfr)
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Plus Skip parted with his money - so we don't have to.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 10, 2023 09:04 AM (Y9yUc)

11 Welp, Muldoon, didn't even have to count comments for the first LOTR reference.

Good morning, errybody.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 10, 2023 09:04 AM (OX9vb)

12 Listening to "Miserere Mei" by Allegre.
*tears up.*

Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 10, 2023 09:05 AM (0Mqam)

13
Sally (a girl) has 3 brothers. Each brother has 2 sisters.
How many sisters does Sally have? Let's think step by step.

Consider each sister to be a point with mass, m. Now, how many sides has a point? You missed the point.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at September 10, 2023 09:05 AM (xG4kz)

14 Last week, a reader (I've forgotten who) mentioned that they'd started on Salammbo, by Gustave Flaubert. It sounded interesting, so I got a Kindle copy at a good price ($0.00), and read it. It's the story of the Mercenary Wars at Carthage in ye very olden times, and was quite interesting, provided you have a good capacity for description and lists of things.

At its simplest, it's a combination of a lurid and violent war history and a love story, albeit somewhat twisted, and has lots of interesting factoids. For example, I did not know that Moloch was a Carthaginian god. If one wants to, one can start developing theories about what the author meant with regard to obsessive love and hate, so in some respects one could compare it to Moby Dick. However, it's also just a fine read.

I was curious, so I looked up some analysis online. This one was my favorite. *rolls eyes*

(1 of 2)

Posted by: Archimedes at September 10, 2023 09:07 AM (I/Qkd)

15 Did not finish 'Beartown' during beach week. It's not bad, but very Swedish.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at September 10, 2023 09:07 AM (2w15P)

16 Morning to all you bookwormz! The AoS Writer's Group is taking off; I've had some useful comments on a snippet I posted, and I've read at least one very good story posted by another member.

This week I;ve been reading an entry in Joe R. Lansdale's "Hap and Leonard" series of crime novels. This one, [iDevil Red is about Book Six in the series, from 2011, so JRL has been writing these for a while. Imagine if Robert Parker's Spenser and Hawk were less multi-skilled (but still good at staying alive) and eked out a living as occasional employees of a real private detective in East Texas, where they all live. Fast-moving and funny. I've grabbed the two first in the series to read after this.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 09:07 AM (omVj0)

17 (2 of 2)

9. The constant critical approach to SAL is to read the various levels of the text as binary opposites or antitheses, as almost fixed patterns in a semi-archaic universe on the brink of change. This chapter presents instead a study of the polarities of the male position to show that they are often points on the same continuum. The further advantage of this approach is that female character and feminine elements remain discrete and unmerged with male characters and male characteristics remain as secondary and negatively comparative.

What a load of undiluted woke twaddle.

Posted by: Archimedes at September 10, 2023 09:07 AM (I/Qkd)

18
Half way through Barack Obama's True Legacy

I really ought to make up a book report and send in
Posted by: Skip

The opening line?

"I never had sexual relations with that man, Big Mike, who says he's my wife."

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at September 10, 2023 09:07 AM (xG4kz)

19 Nice liberry.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 10, 2023 09:08 AM (RIvkX)

20 "Cat got your seat, Perfessor?
Posted by: OrangeEnt"

Naw. I know for a fact that the Perfessor has his own special squirrel chair.

Posted by: fd at September 10, 2023 09:09 AM (vFG9F)

21 If Morons need an alternative to financing the Lord Humongous Bezos-Borg, I've enjoyed using Thriftbooks recently. They don't have the selection that Amazon does, but I've been pleased with them. Once, I ordered a book that was listed as "Like New", but when I got it, the jacket was torn in three places, the cover was damaged and the end paper was severely folded. I wasn't unhappy with the purchase (because it was cheap, and jacket tears can be fixed), but I wrote them that the book was not as advertised, but I wasn't unhappy with the purchase. Within the hour, a customer service rep emailed me that they would refund the purchase price and I could keep the book.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at September 10, 2023 09:09 AM (PiwSw)

22 Ahhhhhh - every library should come with a big, comfy chair and a warm pet!

Posted by: Lizzy at September 10, 2023 09:10 AM (izj35)

23 Comment: I really don't understand the motivations behind the WEF's desire to eliminate up to 90% of the world population. Somehow, they believe that their standard of living will remain intact. It's both delusional and evil thinking on their part.
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So you DO understand!
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 10, 2023

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Even Thrush, whose members believed utterly in the two-party system -- "the masters and the slaves" -- never wanted to *destroy* the world. They wanted to rule it, not destroy it. There would no doubt have been some collaterial damage along the way, but we were never told that they wanted to reduce the Earth's population by *that* much.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 09:10 AM (omVj0)

24
It's not bad, but very Swedish.
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo

All food is Swedish meatballs.

All trips are to Ikea.

Each evening's entertainment is to figure out what the leftover parts from the assembly of the latest Ikea purchase(s) were really intended to do.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at September 10, 2023 09:10 AM (xG4kz)

25 Morning, 'rons and 'ronettes. Haven't been doing any original reading and hardly any writing, either. Either I've hit the wall with my antidepressants or I'm just going through a bad patch - either way, I'm feeling pretty lousy.

For relief, I've been re-reading collections of "Social Stereotypes." an illustrated column that ran for years in the English paper The Daily Telegraph. There are several books in the series, each a column by Victoria Mather with titles such as "The Rescue Dog," "The Bus Conductor," "The Family Christmas" or "The Trophy Toddler," each with an illustration by Sue Macartney-Snape.

The books have horrible reviews on Amazon because Mather ('she's RAAAACISSS!!') dared to call out Sparkle Markle for the jumped-up race-pimping shrill she is, but if you enjoy English humor, they're worth your while.

https://tinyurl.com/373ht3ur

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 10, 2023 09:11 AM (AW0uW)

26 I really don't understand the motivations behind the WEF's desire to eliminate up to 90% of the world population. Somehow, they believe that their standard of living will remain intact. It's both delusional and evil thinking on their part.

I think some ancient writer around Thessalonica said something about it.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 10, 2023 09:11 AM (Angsy)

27 Yay book thread! A key point in the Council of Elrond's effectiveness is that much of it is told through dialog, and instead of a dry recitation, there is interplay between the characters (such as Gloin's lingering resentment about being imprisoned by Wood Elves).

That keeps it interesting even among the weird names.

I think that scene is a blessing and a curse, because lesser writers try to imitate it and create the literary equivalent of a staff meeting.

Of course, I use a similar device in the Man of Destiny series, and much of the plot moves forward through cabinet meetings and general staff planning sessions, however that's a big part of the story - why people do what they do. If one sets out to revisit the Star Wars prequels as a tale of political intrigue that leads to war, you have to show the contending personalities interacting with one another. I think the key is to keep it brief and sharp, which is why I use rapid-fire dialogue (not always attributed, but always attributable) to keep things moving, only pausing to interrupt when a character takes a significant action, like eye-rolling or pounding the table.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 10, 2023 09:11 AM (llXky)

28 Nerd News! I have my Tolkien pipe!! (Obligatory mention.) It's a copy of the pipe Aragorn smokes in the Prancing Pony scenes in the first film. The model is called, appropriately, The Ranger. It's a churchwarden style and the mouthpiece is a piece of rounded birch. The whole length is about 11 inches, twice the length of the usual pipe. The length of the stem and its shape makes a significant difference in the draw of the smoke (in a good way). It encourages slower, more contemplative puffing. And it calls for use while reading in a comfortable chair.

I'm going to use it for reading Tolkien, Lewis, and similar authors. It feels 'right' for that kind of reading: supported by one hand while thinking about the passage I've just read.

Posted by: JTB at September 10, 2023 09:12 AM (7EjX1)

29 Neil says hi by the way
I don't think your leaving cause me and Charles Manson like the same ice cream

Posted by: Skip at September 10, 2023 09:13 AM (fwDg9)

30 >>What a load of undiluted woke twaddle.

Oh for heaven's sake, could the author of that comment diagram the sentences that comprise that world salad?

Posted by: Lizzy at September 10, 2023 09:13 AM (izj35)

31 Each evening's entertainment is to figure out what the leftover parts from the assembly of the latest Ikea purchase(s) were really intended to do.
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at September 10, 2023 09:10 AM (xG4kz)

Build your own Interocitor.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at September 10, 2023 09:13 AM (PiwSw)

32 JTB that is awesome

Posted by: Skip at September 10, 2023 09:14 AM (fwDg9)

33
Somehow, they believe that their standard of living will remain intact. It's both delusional and evil thinking on their part.

Their belief that they themselves will remain large and in charge is the most amusing one.

Have they never heard of the exploits of the Praetorian Guard or other designated "protective units" for those currently sitting on top of a society's heap?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at September 10, 2023 09:14 AM (xG4kz)

34 @13 --

Why is math in here?

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 10, 2023 09:14 AM (p/isN)

35 I was on a Harlen Coben jag-let (because he is eminently readable) and did a twofer, his Wilde series:
The Boy From the Woods
The Match

Wilde was a boy found in the New Jersey woods at the age of five or six. He remembered living there always, yet he could speak and read and write. How he was abandoned there, and by whom, is explored in the two books. Wilde the man is surprisingly well adjusted but still prefers minimal social contact and living in the woods. Very good reads.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 10, 2023 09:15 AM (0Mqam)

36 that was moriarty's gang, have you been reading up on the frankfurt 1871 substack posts, by jan halper,

Posted by: no 6 at September 10, 2023 09:15 AM (PXvVL)

37 "The constant critical approach to SAL is to read the various levels of the text as binary opposites or antitheses, as almost fixed patterns in a semi-archaic universe on the brink of change. This chapter presents instead a study of the polarities of the male position to show that they are often points on the same continuum. The further advantage of this approach is that female character and feminine elements remain discrete and unmerged with male characters and male characteristics remain as secondary and negatively comparative."

Like a Kamala Harris speech sent to grad school.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at September 10, 2023 09:15 AM (2w15P)

38 Thanks for posting about the Writer's Group, Perfessor.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 10, 2023 09:16 AM (Angsy)

39 Thanks to the Horde members who showed support in some way for my wife's book after last week's posting by the esteemed Perfessor. She wanted me to pass along her gratitude.

Now if we can just convince every man, woman, and child on the planet to buy a copy, I won't have to go to work tomorrow...

Posted by: PabloD at September 10, 2023 09:16 AM (z1k0m)

40 no reading this week

Posted by: rhennigantx at September 10, 2023 09:17 AM (BRHaw)

41 That keeps it interesting even among the weird names.

I think that scene is a blessing and a curse, because lesser writers try to imitate it and create the literary equivalent of a staff meeting.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 10, 2023 09:11 AM (llXky)
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Tolkien even makes a point of glossing over the details that we, the reader, already know, just focusing on the NEW information that is revealed from the various participants at the Council. It's another reason why that scene works so well.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 10, 2023 09:18 AM (BpYfr)

42 21 If Morons need an alternative to financing the Lord Humongous Bezos-Borg, I've enjoyed using Thriftbooks recently
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I too have used Thriftbooks with excellent results, to date.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at September 10, 2023 09:18 AM (6rib9)

43 Exposition is always a challenge for me. I use some of the same techniques as Mr. Lloyd, above. Often, too, I will have the viewpoint character, either the first-person narrator or the third-person character whose thoughts and reactions we share, reflect on *what he knows* about the situation in question. In any case I try to keep it short, and break it up and move it around, so that something which needs a page of exposition will appear as one or two paragraphs here, and another one there, etc.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 09:18 AM (omVj0)

44 >>I really don't understand the motivations behind the WEF's desire to eliminate up to 90% of the world population. Somehow, they believe that their standard of living will remain intact. It's both delusional and evil thinking on their part.

A guess? These people are transhumanists, believing we are on the brink of an evolution to man-machine. I would imagine they expect machines to do most of the work for sustaining life. . .

This guy has been reporting on it:
https://nitter.net/JOEBOTxyz

Posted by: Lizzy at September 10, 2023 09:18 AM (izj35)

45 Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 10, 2023 09:16 AM (Angsy)

Just letting you know that I've been getting all the writer's group e-mails; I simply haven't had the energy to comment or contribute.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 10, 2023 09:18 AM (AW0uW)

46 I'm still stuck on the same book no one cares about, but yesterday was the Alumni Band game here in Spartyland and it got me thinking about books the deal with football.

It's out of print, and probably hard to find, but Lynn Henning's Spartan Seasons is an in-depth look at the transition of college football from the relatively uncomplicated 1960s to the TV-driven world of the 1980s. Henning covers hockey and basketball as well, so one gets the story of the 1979 NCAA Basketball tournament as well, that fundamentally changed that sport.

Henning covered MSU for years, but he is no fanboy, and it quick to point out the many missteps and challenges of trying to maintain a top-level program. He wrote a sequel 15 years later to cover the drama of Nick Saban's tenure and departure from MSU. This also picks up the Tom Izzo era.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 10, 2023 09:19 AM (llXky)

47 All food is Swedish meatballs.

Dööd. Surströmming.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at September 10, 2023 09:19 AM (4PZHB)

48 I'm a big fan of Joe R. Lansdale's weird west stories.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 10, 2023 09:19 AM (0Mqam)

49 I have always loved the book: Weird America by Jim Brandon for nuggets like this (sticking with the New Mexico theme):

COLUMBUS (2)

(32 mi. S of Deming on S.R. 11.) The Tres Hermanas Hills are three neatly conical peaks sitting side by side just north of here along the west side of S.R. 11. There is an extensive cave network in the hills, parts of which are naturally self-luminescent from radium salts among the rocks. These caverns are said to have been important in pre-Columbian mysticism, Certain observers of the contemporary occult scene speculate this role may continue today, with the Tres Hermanas area being used as a shrine of sorts by cultists operating between Mexico and the United States.

Posted by: Mister Ghost at September 10, 2023 09:20 AM (TGPs7)

50 "All food is Swedish meatballs"

You mean Spoo.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at September 10, 2023 09:21 AM (2w15P)

51 I really like Thriftbooks.com, too.
Love that you can avoid amazon to get cheap books.

Posted by: Lizzy at September 10, 2023 09:21 AM (izj35)

52 I'm doing a giveaway on my novel about the Battle of Lake Erie, an even that happened 210 years today.

That's right, September 10, 1813 is the day that Oliver Hazard Perry led the American navy on Lake Erie to give the British navy its first full defeat in its history.

The giveaway is on Goodreads and is for one of 100 Kindle copies of the book.

https://is.gd/qXx5tC

Sign up!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, searching for more with John Huston at September 10, 2023 09:21 AM (LvTSG)

53 The "know-it-all because I've published a book" guy in my real-life writing group would probably think Tolkien has too much talk in his trilogy. He does not quite understand the difference between dialogue and conversation in fiction. Conversation is banter or nominal chit-chat; dialogue moves the story forward and shows character (though the banter can do that too). He admits my dialogue is something he wishes he could do, though.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 09:21 AM (omVj0)

54 People from or who hate the University of Michigan should check out Three and Out by John U. Bacon. Bacon is a total Wolverine homer, but his book reveals a great deal about the inner workings of college football's richest program. It is not a flattering picture. It is ostensibly about Rich Rodriguez's troubled tenure, but given ongoing drama both there and elsewhere, it is worth reading.

One of the key differences between Henning and Bacon is that Henning wrote from a position of independence - he was a veteran writer and free to speak his mind. Bacon is still active and dependent upon the University for access, so he regularly pulls his punches. Indeed, it is well known that there is a Blue Wall surrounding Michigan's oldest university and local sportswriters simply sit on stories that are unfavorable until others break them.

These books are instructive in that while they demonstrate bias, it is known bias, which is very different from the current practice of lying about being even-handed.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 10, 2023 09:22 AM (llXky)

55 I'm a big fan of Joe R. Lansdale's weird west stories.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 10, 2023

***
He's done Weird West? Short stories or novels?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 09:22 AM (omVj0)

56 So that's why Blackford Oakes took a U-2 into the Soviet Union in "Marco Polo, If You Can." My goodness, what a ploy. William F. Buckley's Oakes novels are based on Cold War history, so who knows -- maybe that's what really happened. It sure is nice to read about Deep Staters in the intelligence community who actually worked against real threats to this country.

CORRECTION: I misspelled "Khrushchev" in last Sunday's post. Some copy editor.

I had planned to continue with the Batman books from the library, but an annoying head cold *hack, wheeze* combined with a desire not to soil them kept them on the shelf for most of the week. Boy, what they published as purported kids' stuff wouldn't have passed my parents' muster. Hatchets to the head (but no blood).

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 10, 2023 09:22 AM (p/isN)

57 Just letting you know that I've been getting all the writer's group e-mails; I simply haven't had the energy to comment or contribute.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 10, 2023 09:18 AM (AW0uW)

No problem. There's still a few who are interested but haven't accepted the invite yet. I expect it will be a bit slow for a while. People have lives outside that need attention too.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 10, 2023 09:22 AM (Angsy)

58 Once, I ordered a book that was listed as "Like New", but when I got it, the jacket was torn in three places, the cover was damaged and the end paper was severely folded.

Thinking of how web apps are often designed, I wonder if required fields like "condition" are controlled with a pull-down and the default value is "as new." In other words, an oversight by the seller rather than intentional misrepresentation. In any case, I have also had good service from Thriftbooks and I'm glad that I made it good for you.

Posted by: Oddbob at September 10, 2023 09:23 AM (nfrXX)

59 As a high schooler I used to do occasional odd jobs for an older man who went on an Arctic expedition in his youth. It was memorialized in a book called "The Log Of The Schooner Bowdoin", which I leafed through one afternoon at his house library. They tried to sail a wooden boat into the Arctic, but the expedition was turned back by bad weather and ice. Imagine that.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at September 10, 2023 09:23 AM (oGCtd)

60
The further advantage of this approach is that female character and feminine elements remain discrete and unmerged with male characters and male characteristics remain as secondary and negatively comparative.

That sounds like an "erudite" rephrasing of the bedrock truism, "transwomen are men and transmen are women".

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at September 10, 2023 09:23 AM (xG4kz)

61 This week I;ve been reading an entry in Joe R. Lansdale's "Hap and Leonard" series of crime novels.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 09:07 AM (omVj0)

I read the first one a couple of weeks ago (Savage Season) and enjoyed it. It was a fast, enjoyable read, and I'll probably read more of them when other things aren't taking priority.

My favorite Joe R. Lansdale so far is The Thicket. Good story, great characters, unlikely heroes and relationships, all the best stuff.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 10, 2023 09:23 AM (OX9vb)

62 57 No problem. There's still a few who are interested but haven't accepted the invite yet. I expect it will be a bit slow for a while. People have lives outside that need attention too.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 10, 2023 09:22 AM (Angsy)

=======

I must have completely missed the writer's group formation. What's the dealio?

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, searching for more with John Huston at September 10, 2023 09:23 AM (LvTSG)

63 I think the default source for fictional football is Dan Jenkins, who had a string of hits in the 1970s, some of which became movies. Semi-Tough is probably his most famous work, but he kept cranking them out and over time created his own little universe where characters from the various books interacted.

Jenkins write with a great deal of wit, and while the material may seem dated, it's still fun.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 10, 2023 09:24 AM (llXky)

64 I think the Pants guy has an obsession.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and speculate that it does.t involve weedwhackers.

If you catch my drift.....

Posted by: JT at September 10, 2023 09:24 AM (T4tVD)

65 I should say that I finished Shusaku Endo's The Samurai, and it was amazing. Probably the best book I've read in a few years.

Highly, highly recommended.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, searching for more with John Huston at September 10, 2023 09:24 AM (LvTSG)

66 I haven't been reading much of Pliny's Natural History lately because of other things, but one thing I have gathered is the Romans called Bacchus "Father Liber", which is I suppose where we get the word "libation".

Posted by: fd at September 10, 2023 09:24 AM (vFG9F)

67 More from Weird America...

NEW HAMPSHIRE

MOUNT SHAW (1)

(Abt. 5 mi, SW of Ossipee, in Carroll County.) There is an apparent sacrificial stone on top of the hill that is virtually identical to the one at Mystery Hill, downstate. There are those who believe that this was the site used by the English magician," Aleister Crowley, for the New Hampshire magical retreat of 1918 that he mentions in his Confessions. He gives the name of the spot as Lake Pasquany, but there is no such place in the state and the assumption is that he meant Lake Winnepesaukee, which is near here.

Posted by: Mister Ghost at September 10, 2023 09:25 AM (TGPs7)

68 My favorite book is Endurance by Albert Lansing. It tells the story of Ernest Shackleton's 1914 Antarctic voyage aboard the Endurance to cross the continent on foot. It's a thrilling, suspenseful, and, in the end, an uplifting one of of man's perseverance, against all odds, to survive.

This week I read The Ship Beneath The Sea: The Discovery Of Shackleton's Endurance by Mensun Bound. After the Endurance was crushed by the ice, she sank in 3000 meters of water in the Weddle Sea. Bound, the world's leading ocean archeologist, led two expeditions in 2019 and 2022 to find her wreckage.

The first expedition, plagued by technical difficulties with their submersibles, ended in failure. The second, with two new submersibles built by Saab, was successful. The book is written in diary form. Bound had with him the diaries of the Shackleton expedition and Shackleton's book, South. He sprinkles his diary entries with excerpts from them.

(cont.)

Posted by: Zoltan at September 10, 2023 09:25 AM (3qIfi)

69 "These people are transhumanists, believing we are on the brink of an evolution to man-machine. I would imagine they expect machines to do most of the work for sustaining life. . ."

A novella idea has been kicking around in my head. It's 2160, world pop has been reduced to 1.1 billion people who live in pods and eat bugs. Fanatic environmentalists have reduced the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere to a point so low that plant life is dying off and global desertification is running rampant. The only hope for a fierce band of renegade outlanders is to ignite the coalfields to restore the environment with a massive infusion of life-sustaining CO2.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at September 10, 2023 09:26 AM (2w15P)

70 I am the Shadout Mapes, I've been using Thriftbooks, also. So far, everything I've received has been as described or better, so it sounds like your experience was an anomoly.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 10, 2023 09:27 AM (OX9vb)

71 Posted by: TheJamesMadison, searching for more with John Huston at September 10, 2023 09:21 AM (LvTSG)
===============
Can recommend the book, horde. Prometheus doesn't make an appearance until late in chapter 3.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at September 10, 2023 09:27 AM (oGCtd)

72 well the real u 2 story was nearly as convoluted, they were overflying Russia from pakistan, the photographs actually showed there was no missile gap, maybe that's why they arranged power's plane to be shot down

halper's series shows the influence of disparate elements like the italian odelscalci (pope innocent 3rd family) and the suassos and fonsecas of portugal and spain, in dislodging
charles 2nd dissolute monarch,

Posted by: no 6 at September 10, 2023 09:28 AM (PXvVL)

73 Have they never heard of the exploits of the Praetorian Guard or other designated "protective units" for those currently sitting on top of a society's heap?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at September 10, 2023 09:14 AM (xG4kz)
---
No. They are remarkably ignorant of just about everything. Every foreign policy question is a metaphor from World War II, and every battle is D-Day.

They will fail, but their failure will be messy.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 10, 2023 09:29 AM (llXky)

74 Thrush
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 09:10 AM (omVj0)
-

Wow! My brain farted in black and white. Back to childhood that went!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 10, 2023 09:29 AM (Y9yUc)

75 I finally read some Lord Dunsany stories and they are very different. There is very little action. He captures the reader with description, atmosphere, and the cadence of his writing. more than with action and characters. There is a feel of hearing the story while sitting around a campfire at night in some exotic land. I do have to be in the mood for such contemplative writing.

His story "The Fall of Babbulkund" reminded me of parts of George MacDonald's "Phantatstes" and Coleridge's "Kubla Khan". Even his use of repetitive phrases made me think of Homer's repeated epithets when referring to Athena or the other gods. Being able to see the influences or, at least, similarities added to my enjoyment of Dunsany's writing. And I realized Howard does something similar in his Conan stories where his descriptions create a mood that colors the action and plot. His words quietly creep into the reader's mind as the story unfolds. It might be the mountains and plains of Vendhya, the Pictish jungle, or the frozen North. His descriptions of the area and people create a world for his plots.

Posted by: JTB at September 10, 2023 09:30 AM (7EjX1)

76 (cont.)

The south seas are just as tempestuous, the temperatures just as cold, and the ice flows just as dangerous as in 1914-1916; but Bound's expeditions benefited from the use of an ice breaker, radar, geo-positioning and imagery satellites, and better weather forecasting. It still makes for an interesting, thrilling story.

Posted by: Zoltan at September 10, 2023 09:30 AM (3qIfi)

77 Each evening's entertainment is to figure out what the leftover parts from the assembly of the latest Ikea purchase(s) were really intended to do.

OT but typing on a phone is so slow that maybe we'll be at 100 by the time I hit post. I'm such a packrat that I can't throw away the leftover dowels and brackets and whatnot because "I might be able to use that for something else." So I now have a couple of quart sized ziplock full of little bits of Ikea droppings.

Posted by: Oddbob at September 10, 2023 09:30 AM (nfrXX)

78 I must have completely missed the writer's group formation. What's the dealio?

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, searching for more with John Huston at September 10, 2023 09:23 AM (LvTSG)

send request to maildrop62 at proton dot me and I'll let you know.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 10, 2023 09:31 AM (Angsy)

79 Last week's discussion on books by socialists reminds me to recommend Germinal by Emile Zola. Zola was a French socialist author, perhaps best known for standing up for the accused soldier during the infamous Dreyfus case. Germinal tells the story of a French coal mine, the harsh conditions therein, and the attempted strike to improve them. The protagonist, Etienne Lantier, looking for work to keep himself fed, takes a job at the mine. Zola describes the working conditions, the characters, and the setting in intricate detail, making the reader feel just how difficult life is in the village that depends upon the mine. The miners finally have enough of the suffering and decide to strike for better conditions, and the situation escalates from there. Zola is a master of describing a scene, and the book implies its overall theme rather than preaching. He wrote 20 books in the series that includes Germinal, covering an extended family in various occupations and how they lived in the Second Empire, though not all of these have been translated into English.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 10, 2023 09:31 AM (uJzFu)

80 @59 In 1940 the RCMP schooner Saint Roch, a wooden ship, transited the Northwest Passage, west to east.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at September 10, 2023 09:32 AM (4PZHB)

81 Thrush
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023
-
Wow! My brain farted in black and white. Back to childhood that went!
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 10, 2023

***
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. DVD set has been out for a few years; you can grab it and relive the excitement and fun. Plus several people here have been exploring and enjoying the original Ace paperback novels based on the series, which appeared between '65 and '70. Look for the ones written by one David McDaniel. He only wrote six of the twenty-three, but to this day people acclaim his entries as the best.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 09:33 AM (omVj0)

82 @77 --

Oddbob, join the club.

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 10, 2023 09:33 AM (p/isN)

83 80 @59 In 1940 the RCMP schooner Saint Roch, a wooden ship, transited the Northwest Passage, west to east.
Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at September 10, 2023 09:32 AM (4PZHB)
===================
Tough men did a hard thing.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at September 10, 2023 09:34 AM (c29e4)

84 Zoltan that would be a great read for me. Have a book on Shackleton expedition.
Have pointed out before he was a passenger on a ship a year or two ( been awhile since read it) and they sailed up to the land, he thought he could do that again ( so much for global warming) but reached ice pack hundreds of miles away from point he thought he could get.

Posted by: Skip at September 10, 2023 09:35 AM (fwDg9)

85 He's done Weird West? Short stories or novels?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 09:22 AM (omVj0)
----

Both. "Zeppelins West", "Flaming London", "The Sky Done Ripped", and other stuff I can't find on my shelves.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 10, 2023 09:36 AM (0Mqam)

86 I also read Tucker by Chadwick Moore. This is an interesting biography on America's number one political commentator. I learned that he was reared by his newsman father after his mother abandoned the family when Tucker was six years old. There are a lot of tidbits from his career and family. He certainly led an interesting life.

Posted by: Zoltan at September 10, 2023 09:36 AM (3qIfi)

87 80 @59 In 1940 the RCMP schooner Saint Roch, a wooden ship, transited the Northwest Passage, west to east.
Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at September 10, 2023
===================
Tough men did a hard thing.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at September 10, 2023

***
When you look at a map of that area, you see how it's possible to do it. But it would be like picking your way through a maze in the dark.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 09:37 AM (omVj0)

88 The mere word "expedition" has such a promise of adventure.

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 10, 2023 09:37 AM (p/isN)

89 The mere word "expedition" has such a promise of adventure.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 10, 2023

***
No doubt why both Ford and Timex have used the word as a name for their products.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 09:38 AM (omVj0)

90 Gaiman's cat has, of course, claimed the best seat in the library.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 10, 2023 09:38 AM (0Mqam)

91 I started re-reading Stone of Farewell this morning, which has an excellent exposition scene near the beginning of the book.

Simon has to convince the troll-folk of Yiqanuc to let his friends go. One of his friends is condemned for oath-breaking (he's also a troll) and the other is condemned for existing (he's a member of the hated Rimmersmen). Simon doesn't speak their language.

We get a glimpse into the inner workings of the Qanuc lives and culture in this scene, which plays a pivotal role when they decide to aid the humans in the final book of the series.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 10, 2023 09:38 AM (BpYfr)

92 I've been reading the 'childrens' books by Holling C. Holling and have concluded they are wasted on kids. They should be classified as adult books that kids might enjoy. With one page per 'episode', Holling imparts an education on many levels: history, geography, nature, technology, and all with an element of the human heart. The illustrations alone would keep a child (or me) occupied for hours. These were written in the early 1950s. I doubt they would be published today.

As our grand nephews get a little older, I suspect copies of Hollings books will be sent their way as gifts. They would be suitable for any inquisitive kid.

Posted by: JTB at September 10, 2023 09:38 AM (7EjX1)

93 The mere word "expedition" has such a promise of adventure.

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 10, 2023 09:37 AM (p/isN)

(gasp)
No! Stay home, mask up, stay safe!

Posted by: Leftists at September 10, 2023 09:40 AM (Angsy)

94 I'm continuing with the Bernard Knox intros to Fagles' Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid. It is a slow process with so many rabbit holes to follow.

Posted by: JTB at September 10, 2023 09:41 AM (7EjX1)

95 @59 Wow, the schooner Bowdoin (1921) is still afloat, and still sails to the Arctic.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at September 10, 2023 09:44 AM (4PZHB)

96 the Royal African Company was an artefact of Charles 2nd, 1660, this financial version of the Continental System from John Which, founded the City of London, as a distinct special purpose financial entity, a notion that rebounds to the current day, in the fight against the anti globalist brexiters,

Posted by: no 6 at September 10, 2023 09:45 AM (PXvVL)

97 "Endurance" is a great book. I felt cold just reading his descriptions of the Antarctic. The part about navigating to South Georgia with only a sextant and navigational almanac, with no second chance if they botched it, was so interesting to me that I took a home course on celestial navigation.

Posted by: PabloD at September 10, 2023 09:46 AM (z1k0m)

98 TJM, replied to you.

Back in a bit.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 10, 2023 09:48 AM (Angsy)

99 Currently reading "Terminal Freeze" by Lincoln Child. Scientists uncover an enormous (and heretofore unknown) animal encased in ice, which a documentarian wants to defrost on live TV.

When will they learn?!

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that chaos ensues.

I'd call Lincoln Child a good story generator but not a great writer. He gets you eagerly turning the page though.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 10, 2023 09:49 AM (0Mqam)

100 Lansdale is just all over the map -- crime, horror, western...

A selection of his crime short stories has just come out. It's called THINGS GET UGLY and it's got a number of his best. There are a couple of collections of Best of Lansdales, but if you really want to get a terrific sampling of his short work, check out 4 collections: WET JUJU, GOTHIC WOUNDS, BLOOD IN THE GEARS, and COSMIC INTERRUPTIONS. The hardcovers are now probably prohibitively expensive, but you should be able to find ebooks without much trouble. Great stuff.

There's a line (from William Tenn, I think) that mentions "the laugh with the little bubble of blood at the end." That's Lansdale.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 10, 2023 09:49 AM (a/4+U)

101 "Endurance" is a great book. I felt cold just reading his descriptions of the Antarctic. The part about navigating to South Georgia with only a sextant and navigational almanac, with no second chance if they botched it, was so interesting to me that I took a home course on celestial navigation.
Posted by: PabloD at September 10, 2023

***
Ernest Shackleton was truly the real-life Captain James Kirk. "When everything is black and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton."

He brought every single member of that expedition home, too.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 09:49 AM (omVj0)

102 98 TJM, replied to you.

Back in a bit.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 10, 2023 09:48 AM (Angsy)

========

*thumbs up*

Safe travels.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, searching for more with John Huston at September 10, 2023 09:49 AM (LvTSG)

103 Thanks for The Book Thread Perfesser !

Posted by: JT at September 10, 2023 09:50 AM (T4tVD)

104 Good morning all.
Would have been here sooner but needed to check out the book sale.
Had a weird thing happen yesterday. I was reading a paperback copy of a brand new Heather Graham book I got from the library and in the middle of the book there are 35 repeat pages. I read page 128 and looked at the next page and it was page 97. Again. How does something like that happen and not get caught?
Book is not great, full of boring historical anecdotes, which I've learned to just skip over. Filler until I got the new Karin Slaughter Will Trent book. Have it now. Report next Sunday!

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at September 10, 2023 09:50 AM (t/2Uw)

105 I'd call Lincoln Child a good story generator but not a great writer. He gets you eagerly turning the page though.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 10, 2023 09:49 AM (0Mqam)
---
I suspect Lincoln & Child have skillsets that complement each other. It might be worth comparing their single-authored books to their team-authored books.

I noticed this with Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Hickman is definitely the weaker writer on his own (even when his wife is helping him), but he does have interesting and rich ideas for worldbuilding.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 10, 2023 09:51 AM (BpYfr)

106 It’s coming up on the time when one would start reading LOTR chronologically, Sep 22, though technically there would be an 18-year gap after Ch. 1.

Posted by: Norrin Radd, sojourner of the spaceways at September 10, 2023 09:53 AM (hsWtj)

107 Rereading my already well thumbed copy of Team of Teams that GEN McChrystal signed for me. It's an excellent read on his time at JSOTF, how teams were organized to focus as one on a single mission, and how those lessons can be used in other settings. Excellent leadership material.

Posted by: Marcus T at September 10, 2023 09:53 AM (Y45pj)

108 I have a book thread contribution Ferrol Sam's 'Run with the horsemen'. Has nothing to do with horses

Posted by: Ben Had at September 10, 2023 09:53 AM (4jkya)

109 PBS did a show a while back on The Shackleton mission. They followed his footsteps exactly. It was amazing, chilling, heroic, courageous, unbelievable. I don't know if it is still available but if you can find it, put on an extra sweater and watch it.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at September 10, 2023 09:54 AM (t/2Uw)

110 #30. I went to Catholic k-8 grade school, and spent a lot of time in detention grades 3-6.
Diagramming sentences was a standard chore to fill the required after school hour, I got really good. Used a ruler and protractor to hang my subordinated classes and stuff, turned the paper to landscape.
I just might give that sentence a try.

Posted by: From about That Time at September 10, 2023 09:54 AM (4780s)

111 I'd call Lincoln Child a good story generator but not a great writer. He gets you eagerly turning the page though.
Posted by: All Hail Eris

Yes, you see this same situation when members of a band do solo albums. You hear familiar themes, but the overall sound is not quite the same.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 10, 2023 09:57 AM (uJzFu)

112 Don't know how the repeat page thing happens, but you're not alone. Eons ago, when I was still trying to collect every US printing of Harlan Ellison's stuff, I picked up the trade edition of his essay collection SLEEPLESS NIGHTS IN THE PROCRUSTEAN BED as the reading copy and also the signed edition for the collection shelf. Some years later (after it's too late to do anything about it) I found that my signed copy had duplicated pages and the ones that should have been there weren't anywhere in the book. Oops.

My favorite, though, is Fawcett's paperback of Stanley Ellin's VERY OLD MONEY; no duplicate pages here -- they just missed putting in the last page of the book. Story proper was over, but Ellin put in a last little twist of the knife in that closing paragraph, and the paperback omitted it completely.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 10, 2023 09:57 AM (a/4+U)

113 Good morning!

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

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 10, 2023 09:58 AM (u82oZ)

114 Diagramming sentences was a standard chore to fill the required after school hour, I got really good. Used a ruler and protractor to hang my subordinated classes and stuff, turned the paper to landscape.
I just might give that sentence a try.
Posted by: From about That Time at September 10, 2023

***
Yeah, we did that in 7th to 9th grade. After that we moved on to reading what the teacher considered literature. In some cases he/she was right. I got lucky that I never had to read Catcher in the Rye and other "traditional" school books. My 11th grade English class had The Haunting of Hill House, and we compared & contrasted Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 09:59 AM (omVj0)

115 In a less annoying setup than repeated/missing pages, sometimes lines on a page or on successive pages will be out of order. What should have been line three of a paragraph will turn up as a separate line on the next page, for example. Maybe it's a test to see if we are paying attention?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 10:01 AM (omVj0)

116 Ace should get some kind of ~~kickback~~ commission from Thriftbooks. I have bought at least five (that I can think of offhand) books purely on recommendations in The Book Thread and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Random thought: Ikea should sponsor a contest for art made purely from Ikeaphemera and display the winners in stores.

Posted by: Oddbob at September 10, 2023 10:02 AM (nfrXX)

117 We also have a surprise, hidden member who may show up from time to time.

Otter 841?!

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at September 10, 2023 10:02 AM (llON8)

118 My favorite, though, is Fawcett's paperback of Stanley Ellin's VERY OLD MONEY; no duplicate pages here -- they just missed putting in the last page of the book. Story proper was over, but Ellin put in a last little twist of the knife in that closing paragraph, and the paperback omitted it completely.
Posted by: Just Some Guy
😱
My sister once told me she would read the last page of a book before she decided if she wanted to read it. Gah! I could never do that. Helps me fall asleep at night trying to figure out what will happen next in the book I'm reading.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at September 10, 2023 10:02 AM (t/2Uw)

119 Kenneth Branagh did an excellent job in the film version of Shackleton.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 10, 2023 10:02 AM (uJzFu)

120 Wolfus,

We did the diagramming bit too, and the compare/contrast for Romeo & Juliet and West Side Story. Wasn't lucky enough to have Shirley Jackson assigned (except for "The Lottery," which is probably required by contract everywhere somehow); had an English teacher who kept trying to get me to read the classics instead of Heinlein and Bradbury. Not that I listened...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 10, 2023 10:04 AM (a/4+U)

121 I enjoyed diagramming sentences.

However, the best thing that could have been done for that turkey would have been to take it out and shoot it.

I wonder what the subsequent graf said.

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 10, 2023 10:04 AM (p/isN)

122 Oooh, nice shelves in that top picture!

In the past two weeks, I've had nearly a dozen comic book collected editions arrive in the mail. Most of which I pre-ordered separately months ago, but they all arrived in a bundle. I don't think I can justify buying any more comics until next year....I probably will buy more comics before then, but I won't be able to justify it....

My first priority is reading the Witchblade omnibus. Really cool art (totally 90's!), but very sloppy writing. Possibly because the artist is driving the story, and isn't paying much attention to the 'needs' and 'constraints' imposed by veteran writers and editors. Or because the entire creative team is used to working in established characters, and they don't know how to lay the groundwork (exposition!) for a new story before jumping straight to the action.

But the writing isn't all awful. The last issue I read (#12) was structurally almost perfect. And there have been a pair of surprise flashback-stories set in pirate times, so that was an unexpected bonus!

Posted by: Castle Guy at September 10, 2023 10:05 AM (Lhaco)

123 Speaking of the Weird West . . .

Sylvester Stallone And Pope Francis Jokingly Shadowbox In Vatican City

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 10, 2023 10:06 AM (FVME7)

124 Simple explanation for the WEF's obsession with population reduction: they can see that Europe's population is stagnant or declining. They can see that Africa's population is surging. The WEF wants to reduce birth rates and populations.

Conclusion: they're racists.

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 10, 2023 10:08 AM (QZxDR)

125 People who read tad Williams and Lawrence Watt-Evens are really into heroic fantasy fiction. Those are two guys who benefitted from reading the Professor while following in his stead, instead of just swiping his setup.

Posted by: exdem13 at September 10, 2023 10:08 AM (W+kMI)

126 Read a book I could not put down. This is getting rarer and rarer.

Stone Unturned by Lawrence Watt-Evans is that book. It is the last novel published in the Legend of Ethshar fantasy world series.

It had appealing characters, puzzles around different magic types, and a good plot. Which describes all of the best books in that series.

I have a higher percentage of Lawrence Watt-Evans books in my library than even Terry Pratchett's Diskworld. He does fantasy well, with a subtle light touch. Another series of his I like is Lords of Dus.

He does well with science fiction, winning the Hugo, when that meant something, for Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers. He has other appealing SF stories.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 10, 2023 10:08 AM (u82oZ)

127 Have to run some errands. BBL.

Posted by: JTB at September 10, 2023 10:09 AM (7EjX1)

128 During my outdoor reading sessions (in the local park) I just finished reading "Savage Realms" issue 2. A sword-and-sorcery short story anthology mentioned in last week's thread. Short stories can be fun, but if you're not careful, you can burn through them fast.... And if you don't take a break between them, they might blur together and you won't even remember what happened in the less striking stories...

Posted by: Castle Guy at September 10, 2023 10:09 AM (Lhaco)

129 Lansdale's The Bottoms and Moon Lake also quite good. He writes about kids the way kids really think and act, not too bright, making poor decisions but with good hearts and intentions.

Posted by: huerfano at September 10, 2023 10:09 AM (7zEAH)

130 OK, folks, I've got nothing to contribute. I'm going to take a nap.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 10, 2023 10:09 AM (AW0uW)

131 "These people are transhumanists, believing we are on the brink of an evolution to man-machine. "

Ex Machina is a great little film about a Bill Gates type intent on building a robot that can pass for human even when you know it's a robot. Spoiler: Ava has no soul.

Posted by: Ignoramus at September 10, 2023 10:10 AM (K6vwr)

132 I once read a Perry Mason mystery through the Internet Archive. The last page was missing.

I had to get a library copy for just that one page -- which identified the killer. Gardner didn't often hold back like that.

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 10, 2023 10:10 AM (p/isN)

133 My sister once told me she would read the last page of a book before she decided if she wanted to read it.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at September 10, 2023 10:02 AM (t/2Uw)

Whaaattt??? What is this heresy?

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 10, 2023 10:11 AM (OX9vb)

134 Read the last page first? Don't think I could do that.

When I was a kid and we went to the movies, the family would frequently get there after the picture had started, and stay until it started again, catch the part we hadn't seen, and then leave (once upon a time, they just ran the movies and you'd show up any time). Hated leaving in the middle even if I knew what was coming in the flick. To this day, I won't watch a movie except start to finish.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 10, 2023 10:11 AM (a/4+U)

135 123 Speaking of the Weird West . . .

Sylvester Stallone And Pope Francis Jokingly Shadowbox In Vatican City
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 10, 2023 10:06 AM (FVME7)
----

They should do a Buddy cop road picture where they battle transdimensional crime.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 10, 2023 10:12 AM (0Mqam)

136 exdem13

Funny you should mention Lawrence Watt-Evans.

I view his characters as slightly above average people who get the most out of their gifts and chances.

I imagine the Horde would have many chances to feature in his novels, if he went to a MoMeet.

His approach reminds me a lot of Nevil Shute. The protagonists are defined by their works and deeds.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 10, 2023 10:12 AM (u82oZ)

137 46 45 Willowed:

there are are a couple of possibilities for the Sally Sister Situation (assuming biological connections and half-sisters count as sisters):
1) IF they are full brothers, one sister
2) IF they are HALF brothers, 0, 1, 2 or 3 sisters:
a) One of Sally's Parents had three other spouses, each had a son (Sally's brothers are half brother), but each of those half brothers has a half sister of a NON-shared parent of Sally. 0 sisters for Sally (except by marriage)
b) One of Sally's parents had another spouse, who is also the parent of her three brothers; That spouse had a daughter with another person. Sally has one (half) sister.
c) One of Sally's parents had three other spouses, each one having a son and a daughter with Sally's other parent. Sally has 3 (half) sisters.
d) some combination of the above that gives 2 (half) sisters to Sally.

I had a great-aunt who was a nun. She had three half brothers (one was my grandpa) who each had 2 sisters. How many sisters or half-sisters did she have?

:::taking bets now!:::

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at September 10, 2023 10:13 AM (ynpvh)

138 had an English teacher who kept trying to get me to read the classics instead of Heinlein and Bradbury. Not that I listened...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 10, 2023

***
Fortunately I skipped most of those literary "classics." I came to love Steinbeck later in my life, but I doubt I'd have appreciated Grapes of Wrath at fifteen.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 10:13 AM (omVj0)

139
Conclusion: they're racists.

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 10, 2023 10:08 AM (QZxDR) ---
It's strange how fast we went from multiculturalism to Western sexual imperialism. "You WILL let us groom your children!"

Evelyn Waugh would have a field day with this. Grab a copy of Black Mischief for his take on actual colonialism. It was Idi Amin's favorite book, btw.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 10, 2023 10:14 AM (llXky)

140 OK, golks, I've got nothing to contribute
----

Don't go, Poppins! This never stops me!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 10, 2023 10:14 AM (0Mqam)

141 @122 --

I never read Witchblade, but judging from the covers, the main appeal was the tinfoil barely draped all over her.

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 10, 2023 10:14 AM (p/isN)

142 Otter 841?!
Posted by: Helena Handbasket

There otter be a law . . .

https://tinyurl.com/4xb4u9t9

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 10, 2023 10:15 AM (FVME7)

143 141 @122 --

I never read Witchblade, but judging from the covers, the main appeal was the tinfoil barely draped all over her.

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 10, 2023 10:14 AM (p/isN)

Magic makes it very protective tin-foil...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at September 10, 2023 10:15 AM (ynpvh)

144 114 I got lucky that I never had to read Catcher in the Rye and other "traditional" school books. My 11th grade English class had The Haunting of Hill House, and we compared & contrasted Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story.
---------
You missed nothing by not reading The Catcher in the Rye. I got so much more out of S. E. Hinton's books. Much thanks to whichever Jr High School teacher got me to read the Outsiders. I would've loved to have read Shirley Jackson for assignment, especially her magnum opus on the #1 "Bad House", as Stephen King referred to it as an archetype. Anyone else here have to read Chaim Potok as well? I thought he was pretty good.

Posted by: exdem13 at September 10, 2023 10:15 AM (W+kMI)

145 When I was a kid and we went to the movies, the family would frequently get there after the picture had started, and stay until it started again, catch the part we hadn't seen, and then leave (once upon a time, they just ran the movies and you'd show up any time). Hated leaving in the middle even if I knew what was coming in the flick. To this day, I won't watch a movie except start to finish.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 10, 2023

***
The only movie my mother ever took us to on time was True Grit in '69. We got there so early the film hadn't finished, and we sat in the little lounge of the Saenger Theatre outside the restrooms until the end, then went upstairs. (As it happens the Saenger is now a stage and musical theatre, and I was there in '18 or '19 for a show. The lounge is still there and the theatre still looks great.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 10:16 AM (omVj0)

146 The book I remember most with exposition is The Unwound Way by Bill Adams and Cecil Brooks the entire book is discovery: Evan Larkspur had been a minor poet bound for greatness, when he volunteered for the Navy to participate in a search for new jump points by a long, sublight cruise that would return him decades later with backpay and avoiding the political crises that were looming. He returned as an amnesiac spacer, with cryosleep trauma, discovering that his plays had become the biggest thing since Christopher Marlowe, should he expose himself he would be hunted as a dangerous revolutionary, his elite college companions are now the aged rulers of the authoritarian Column government and has to deal with the possibility that he is actually delusional. And that is just the back story to him trying to recover his memory, uncover the basis for his college fraternity of Kanalism and its secret goals, survive a planet sized game of chutes and ladders on Newcount Five, carry off his impersonation of a Column official and live through a dire political struggle about to go kinetic.

Bill Adams died in the 2000s and it is a damned shame because he could write.

Posted by: Kindltot at September 10, 2023 10:16 AM (xhaym)

147 Everything about Shackleton is awesome, but my favorite "small world" tale is, after what was basically a rowboat journey of over 800 miles on the open sea, he landed at South Georgia Island -- on the wrong side, separated from the whaling station by a range of mountains that had never been climbed. So, being The Boss, he climbed the mountains. And when he walked into the first building at the station, the guy at the counter knew him from school. "Well hello Ernie. What are you doing here?"

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at September 10, 2023 10:16 AM (4PZHB)

148 Off-Topic, but this cop sounds like a moron.

https://is.gd/JhLEfU

"A Minneapolis law enforcement source tells me officers in the 4th precinct are being encouraged to patrol Sathanandan’s neighborhood when not responding to calls.

“Now she wants extra police presence? She can eat the largest bag of dicks,” the source added."

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at September 10, 2023 10:17 AM (+ILZ8)

149 Reading the whole last chapter in z history book rarely will do you any harm, the story is getting thete

Posted by: Skip at September 10, 2023 10:17 AM (fwDg9)

150 All Hail Eris

** respectful tip of the hat. **

Nor I. Can't stop the signal.

Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing

You expand my knowledge base every time you post on your favorite topics.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 10, 2023 10:17 AM (u82oZ)

151 157 440 35.7% (2014-2022)

First Number: Number of Active Shooters stopped by armed citizen
Second Number: Number of Active Shooter incidents
Third Number: Percent active shooters STOPPED by 2nd Amendment

Posted by: rhennigantx at September 10, 2023 10:18 AM (BRHaw)

152 Sylvester Stallone And Pope Francis Jokingly Shadowbox In Vatican City

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 10, 2023 10:06 AM (FVME7)
---
About my only "news" source these days are Catholic sites that remind me about solemnities and share various stories.

Pertinent to the WEF nonsense is the fact that the US military is once again denying Catholic chaplain services to entire bases. This spring, Walter Reed refused to renew its contract with the Franciscan Friars who ministered to patients, saying they wanted a "less religious" organization to do it. Um, no. After an outcry, they resumed their relationship with the Friars.

Apparently Maxwell AFB is now pulling the same stupid stunt, refusing to fill a chaplain position and thereby denying Catholics access to the Sacraments. Here again I must bring up Long Life Death, because these idiots seem to be using it as a how-to guide, and not in a good way.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 10, 2023 10:18 AM (llXky)

153 Speaking of Evelyn Waugh, I picked up a copy of Brideshead Revisited last week at the library. A few pages in and I realized I'd lost interest. I love British stuff, since I grew up on Doyle, Christie, and Francis Iles (and in more modern times, Dick Francis, Ruth Rendell, and Julian Symons). But BR seemed . . . impenetrable.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 10:19 AM (omVj0)

154 Way, Way Downriver

Shackleton was incredible. Did not lose a member of the team.

I tell children the story of his 1914 saga.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 10, 2023 10:20 AM (u82oZ)

155 The phenomenonal thing about Shackleton is that he didn't lose a single man, despite everything they went through.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 10, 2023 10:20 AM (uJzFu)

156 BOOKEN MORGEN HORDEN!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 10, 2023 10:20 AM (vHIgi)

157 >>Everything about Shackleton is awesome, but my favorite "small world" tale is, after what was basically a rowboat journey of over 800 miles on the open sea, he landed at South Georgia Island -- on the wrong side, separated from the whaling station by a range of mountains that had never been climbed. So, being The Boss, he climbed the mountains. And when he walked into the first building at the station, the guy at the counter knew him from school. "Well hello Ernie. What are you doing here?"

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at September 10, 2023 10:16 AM

They climbed up the mountain, but then they had to slide down the glaciers to get to the station.

Posted by: huerfano at September 10, 2023 10:20 AM (7zEAH)

158 Never got assigned CATCHER IN THE RYE; made the mistake of reading it on my own some time during a summer break. Feh. I understand that a number of Salinger's short stories are supposed to be pretty good, but CATCHER? - feh.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 10, 2023 10:20 AM (a/4+U)

159 I should say, Long LIVE Death, which is about the Spanish Civil War. For those who don't know, the Popular Front made a point of burning churches and killing priests, which I suppose made them feel good, but alienated the apolitical masses.

It go so bad that the Prada crated up all its religious art and hid it, fearing its destruction. My own parish has been vandalized.

But depriving the *military* of religious services is really dumb, especially when Catholics are the largest faith.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 10, 2023 10:21 AM (llXky)

160 . . . after what was basically a rowboat journey of over 800 miles on the open sea, he landed at South Georgia Island -- on the wrong side, separated from the whaling station by a range of mountains that had never been climbed. So, being The Boss, he climbed the mountains.

***
As McCoy told Kirk when the latter wondered what he had done by self-destructing the Enterprise:

"What you always do. Turn death into a fighting chance to live."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 10:22 AM (omVj0)

161 If you read CITR from the perspective that the protagonist is supposed to be a self-centered d-bag and you're not intended to empathize with him, it is a different experience.

Like watching the Star wars prequels from the perspective of Obi Wan wants to bang Padme and jealously resents Anakin.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at September 10, 2023 10:23 AM (+ILZ8)

162 Never got assigned CATCHER IN THE RYE; made the mistake of reading it on my own some time during a summer break. Feh. I understand that a number of Salinger's short stories are supposed to be pretty good, but CATCHER? - feh.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 10, 2023

***
Our view here seems to be that Holden needed a hitch in the Marines to straighten him out.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 10:23 AM (omVj0)

163 Way, Way Downriver

The navigation to South Georgia Island was a marvel.

Only a few wet pages of a Nautical Almanac, and I think one sun line. Very few fixes possible with stormy skies the entire way. Any one who has navigated at sea is in awe of that feat alone.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 10, 2023 10:23 AM (u82oZ)

164 Speaking of Evelyn Waugh, I picked up a copy of Brideshead Revisited last week at the library. A few pages in and I realized I'd lost interest. I love British stuff, since I grew up on Doyle, Christie, and Francis Iles (and in more modern times, Dick Francis, Ruth Rendell, and Julian Symons). But BR seemed . . . impenetrable.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 10:19 AM (omVj0)
---
It's not like his other work. Much more contemplative and there are multiple layers. It lends itself to multiple readings.

Or you could watch the excellent miniseries. Best adaptation ever.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 10, 2023 10:23 AM (llXky)

165 Glass ceiling shattered!

Transgender Cyclists Take Gold Medals In Two Separate Women’s Championships In Illinois

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 10, 2023 10:24 AM (FVME7)

166 I hated "Catcher in the Rye" when I was forced to read it in HS. I found Holden Caufield to be an insufferable whiny brat.

A generation later and my son hated it for the same reason.

Posted by: Ignoramus at September 10, 2023 10:24 AM (K6vwr)

167 Sally doesn't have any sisters. She only has one brother. His name is Charlie Brown.
Everybody knows that.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at September 10, 2023 10:24 AM (NBVIP)

168 It's not like his other work. Much more contemplative and there are multiple layers. It lends itself to multiple readings.

Or you could watch the excellent miniseries. Best adaptation ever.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 10, 2023

***
Layers? That might be why it seemed impenetrable. The miniseries probably would be enjoyable.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 10:25 AM (omVj0)

169 Accessing the horde mind: does anyone know of currently-in-print hymnals that do not bowdlerize the text of hymns?

My search skills are not up to the task of finding any, because all hymnals, even ones that update lyrics “for modern audiences” include words like traditional, and trying to get more precise just brings up long out-of-print hymnals.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at September 10, 2023 10:25 AM (olroh)

170 Screw Neil Gaiman's fancy schmantzy award. That library cat is all the recommendation he needs.

Posted by: creeper at September 10, 2023 10:25 AM (cTCuP)

171 158 Never got assigned CATCHER IN THE RYE; made the mistake of reading it on my own some time during a summer break. Feh. I understand that a number of Salinger's short stories are supposed to be pretty good, but CATCHER? - feh.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 10, 2023 10:20 AM (a/4+U)

The only people who read Catcher in the Rye on their own have been subjected to Monarch mind control programming by the CIA.

Posted by: How else could it be explained? at September 10, 2023 10:25 AM (fhX0j)

172 167 Sally doesn't have any sisters. She only has one brother. His name is Charlie Brown.
Everybody knows that.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at September 10, 2023 10:24 AM (NBVIP)

Oh, another datapoint from my family history: My G-Grandfather was married 4 times.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at September 10, 2023 10:26 AM (ynpvh)

173 136 exdem13

Funny you should mention Lawrence Watt-Evans.

I view his characters as slightly above average people who get the most out of their gifts and chances.

I imagine the Horde would have many chances to feature in his novels, if he went to a MoMeet.

His approach reminds me a lot of Nevil Shute. The protagonists are defined by their works and deeds.
=======
Watt-Evans definitely did his homework on the old hero stories. He really tried to have his stories be as old-fashioned as possible instead of just having modern people dressed up for Renfaire. But I can tell he preferred the hero stories with the clever heroes who relied on wit and wisdom as much as their sword arms.

Posted by: exdem13 at September 10, 2023 10:26 AM (W+kMI)

174 >>A novella idea has been kicking around in my head. It's 2160, world pop has been reduced to 1.1 billion people who live in pods and eat bugs. Fanatic environmentalists have reduced the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere to a point so low that plant life is dying off and global desertification is running rampant. The only hope for a fierce band of renegade outlanders is to ignite the coalfields to restore the environment with a massive infusion of life-sustaining CO2.

Do it - I would so read that!

Posted by: Lizzy at September 10, 2023 10:26 AM (izj35)

175 Sorry I'm late!
Minor excitement from the low-rent fugitive being sighted in our area. Got emergency alerts to lock all doors and windows.

Anyhoo, I just read and highly recommend TRESS OF THE EMERALD SEA by Brandon Sanderson.
It's very different in tone from his other Cosmere books, suitable to be read aloud to kids even, but with great emotional resonance for adults. I absolutely love it.
I have seen it described as a love letter to his wife.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 10, 2023 10:26 AM (vHIgi)

176 Our view here seems to be that Holden needed a hitch in the Marines to straighten him out.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 10:23 AM (omVj0)
---
It's a great litmus test. People who feel the character "spoke to them" reveal themselves as being just as callow as he was.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 10, 2023 10:26 AM (llXky)

177 The lovely Mrs. Exile is currently reading her way through book 4 of WoT. I’ve read a few chapters with her, mostly the Perrin POV. This is the one book where he is interesting. I’m warning her about the rest of the series and the endless descriptions of clothes food and banal politics.

Posted by: Corona exile-back_in_exile at September 10, 2023 10:27 AM (5YLam)

178 I like the cat also got his toy a comfortable bed

Posted by: Skip at September 10, 2023 10:28 AM (fwDg9)

179 The only people who read Catcher in the Rye on their own have been subjected to Monarch mind control programming by the CIA.
Posted by: How else could it be explained? at September 10, 2023

***
I read it on my own in the '80s. Never felt the urge to re-read it, though.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 10:29 AM (omVj0)

180 "Perfessor" Squirrel

Thanks for another great book thread.

Have a great day, everyone. May you and yours thrive amidst the beauty of the earth.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 10, 2023 10:29 AM (u82oZ)

181 Speaking of Evelyn Waugh…

I have not read Brideshead Revisited, but I have found Waugh somewhat spotty as far as what appeals to me, partly I think because he wrote a wide variety of stuff, for a wide variety of tastes.

I thoroughly enjoyed Scoop and Decline and Fall. Not so much A Handful of Dust which seems from modern standards practically a different author.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at September 10, 2023 10:30 AM (olroh)

182 Have a great day, everyone. May you and yours thrive amidst the beauty of the earth.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 10, 2023 10:29 AM (u82oZ)

Back atcha, NaCly!

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 10, 2023 10:30 AM (OX9vb)

183 Layers? That might be why it seemed impenetrable. The miniseries probably would be enjoyable.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 10:25 AM (omVj0)
---
I'll give you the spoiler. On the surface its the story of a dysfunctional English aristocratic family and the miniseries is a great way to experience it because the performances are utterly brilliant. Flawless.

But it's actually a conversion story and how God speaks to us in remarkable ways. I think the vast majority of people see it the first way, and it works. But Waugh's intent was the second way, and it is profound.

His Sword of Honour trilogy is more accessible, but even more steeped in faith. Very funny military humor. I much prefer it to MASH or Catch-22. Far more witty.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 10, 2023 10:30 AM (llXky)

184 I'm My Own Grandpa.

*Looks for YT link.*
*Remembers it's the book thread.*
*Doesn't post YT link.*

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at September 10, 2023 10:30 AM (NBVIP)

185 179 The only people who read Catcher in the Rye on their own have been subjected to Monarch mind control programming by the CIA.
Posted by: How else could it be explained? at September 10, 2023

***
I read it on my own in the '80s. Never felt the urge to re-read it, though.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 10:29 AM (omVj0)

*cautious side eye*
*scoots away*

Posted by: No sudden movements, at September 10, 2023 10:30 AM (fhX0j)

186 of course salinger had served in the cic, where he saw some terrible things, butterworth, nee griffin, was the candide version,

Posted by: no 6 at September 10, 2023 10:31 AM (PXvVL)

187 And to the topic at hand, Book 4 of WOT had a cool couple of chapters where the main character learns the history of his people and how they came to be through the use of ancestral flashback.

The scene builds out the age of the world, the vastness of the particular clans while also explaining some of their cultural differences from other nations. It helps play into the theme of many people divided but needing to unite to defeat the big evil.

Posted by: Corona exile-back_in_exile at September 10, 2023 10:32 AM (5YLam)

188 I thoroughly enjoyed Scoop and Decline and Fall. Not so much A Handful of Dust which seems from modern standards practically a different author.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at September 10, 2023 10:30 AM (olroh)
---
A Handful of Dust is deep satire, and I didn't care for it because the cultural references are so obscure. One has to have a taste for "Hell is reading Dickens forever" as some drop-dead funny stuff in order to appreciate it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 10, 2023 10:32 AM (llXky)

189 Layers? That might be why it seemed impenetrable. The miniseries probably would be enjoyable.

Parfaits have layers! Everybody likes a parfait!

Posted by: Donkey at September 10, 2023 10:32 AM (fhX0j)

190 it was assigned in high school, it was better than the chocolate wars by cormier, but not by much,

Posted by: no 6 at September 10, 2023 10:33 AM (PXvVL)

191 It's a great litmus test. People who feel the character "spoke to them" reveal themselves as being just as callow as he was.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

Semi-related.

Majority of Britons Approve Removing Price Harry from Royal Line of Succession

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 10, 2023 10:33 AM (FVME7)

192 Time to get ready for Mass. Until next week!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 10, 2023 10:33 AM (llXky)

193 I have . . . suspicions . . . about S.E. Hinton's _The Outsiders_. It's about tough lower-class kids vs. upper-class kids in Oklahoma City in the early 1960s, yet somehow no black people play any role in the story. If you're writing about social dynamics in that town in that era but concentrate only on white kids, you're missing something.

Also, years after I read _The Outsiders_ I read a pioneering criminology paper, full of Marxist bullshit, don't remember the title or author but it was in a colleciton of Important Works so I guess it's influential. THe gist was that "Juvenile Delinquency" was (all together now) a tool of oppression against the lower classes, because rich kids did stuff but didn't get into as much trouble as poor kids. Because vandalism and reckless driving are totally the same as knife fights and rapes, right?

Anyway, _The OUtsiders_ looked very similar to some of the "case studies" in that paper. I wonder if Hinton was just giving her lefty editors and readers what they wanted to read.

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 10, 2023 10:33 AM (QZxDR)

194
Back from a constitutional with the lively yet never prancercizing Mrs naturalfake.

Lessee what's upstairs.

Posted by: naturalfake at September 10, 2023 10:33 AM (QzZeQ)

195 166 I hated "Catcher in the Rye" when I was forced to read it in HS. I found Holden Caufield to be an insufferable whiny brat.

A generation later and my son hated it for the same reason.
---------
Both myself and some other well-read friends had the same reaction. I don't think Salinger meant Caufield to be seen as sympathetic, which to me explains his hostile feelings towards many readers and reviewers. But even so, if you want a teen protagonist who is doing the wrong thing by liking the wrong person, but is still sympathetic, read Rumble Fish. The young protagonist idolizes his older brother, not even using his name but a title for him. His brother is an outlaw biker, a likeable rogue but definitely on the wrong side of the law, and it takes until the end for that truth to overwhelm the protagonist's idealized idol.

Posted by: exdem13 at September 10, 2023 10:33 AM (W+kMI)

196 The US president is at this moment humiliating the United States in Hanoi.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 10, 2023 10:33 AM (RIvkX)

197 I read Catchers...I don't see what all the hype is about.

Its a book the be used as toilet paper after SMOD strikes.

Posted by: sTevo at September 10, 2023 10:34 AM (8i+57)

198 Accessing the horde mind: does anyone know of currently-in-print hymnals that do not bowdlerize the text of hymns?

Nope. That's why when I stumbled on a 1956 (I think, I'm not going to go check right now) copy of the Broadman Hymnal -- the olive drab one with red page edges -- at a secondhand shop, I grabbed it.

Posted by: Oddbob at September 10, 2023 10:34 AM (nfrXX)

199 Is Jane with the sniffer?

Posted by: sTevo at September 10, 2023 10:34 AM (8i+57)

200 Scholars will ponder for generations, what the f*ck is Joe Biden talking about?

Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 10, 2023 10:37 AM (RIvkX)

201 Build your own Interocitor.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at September 10, 2023 09:13 AM (PiwSw)

Insert the Captain America Meme: "I understood that reference!"

Posted by: Castle Guy at September 10, 2023 10:37 AM (Lhaco)

202 Growing up in the Deep South I felt some kind of unexplainable compulsion to read southern authors like Faulkner.
Years later when I moved to another part of the country I was shocked to learn not everyone became familiar with Yoknapatawpha county while in high school.
Turns out they didn't care much for grits either.
Sad.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at September 10, 2023 10:38 AM (NBVIP)

203 Monarch mind control programming by the CIA, huh?

Well, considering my mind some (read, too many) days, if this is the best they can do we don't need to worry about those guys at all. Doesn't seem like they're nearly as on top of things as they were when Kelly & Scotty were still on deck.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 10, 2023 10:38 AM (a/4+U)

204 @193 --

Tulsa, not OC.

I never read the book, but I don't noise that around the city. "The Outsiders" is a point of local pride. The house used for the movie is now a museum.

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 10, 2023 10:39 AM (p/isN)

205 Ace should get some kind of kickback commission from Thriftbooks. I have bought at least five (that I can think of offhand) books purely on recommendations in The Book Thread and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
[ . . . ]
Posted by: Oddbob at September 10, 2023 10:02 AM (nfrXX)

I think you are talking about an affiliate program, and I suspect ace could get a number of the online used book stores.
Not a bad idea.

Posted by: Kindltot at September 10, 2023 10:40 AM (xhaym)

206 I recently read "The McMasters Guide to Homicide: Murder Your Employer" by Rupert Holmes of pina colada song fame. The story follows three would-be killers and their recruitment and attendance at the McMasters school where they will learn to delete their nemeses without getting caught or even suspected. Many twists ensue. It's funny, smart and enjoyable learning about murdering those worthy of your ill intentions.

Posted by: huerfano at September 10, 2023 10:40 AM (7zEAH)

207 Sundowner paying his respects to other Chinese customers

Posted by: Skip at September 10, 2023 10:41 AM (fwDg9)

208 200 Scholars will ponder for generations, what the f*ck is Joe Biden talking about?
Posted by: San Franpsycho

Longtime Democratic pollster John Zogby has always liked President Joe Biden.
“I think that he’ll be regarded as a great president,” he said Friday on a podcast he shares with his son Jeremy Zogby, also a pollster.

-
Dude, even fantasy needs some basis in reality.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 10, 2023 10:41 AM (FVME7)

209 The US president is at this moment humiliating the United States in Hanoi.

Laying a wreath at the statue of John McCain?

Posted by: Oddbob at September 10, 2023 10:43 AM (nfrXX)

210 I'm watching an interview between Chris Williamson and Alex Hormozi https://youtu.be/M4PzOjM5BJQ?si=e8bTZuE68w5-zUYB

One interesting thing that comes up as an underlying pattern - one of the more powerful drives to succeed is proving the people that bullied/doubted/hurt you wrong.

And I've seen this over and over again in other similiar contexts.

It makes me wonder, is part of the failure of modern education that they've removed as much of this as possible? In Heritage America teachers/professors/admins were much more likely to give criticism and even harsh criticism to students and each other. Now that would be if not "hate speech" at least violate the self estimate goals the schools push.

Posted by: 18-1 at September 10, 2023 10:44 AM (XqcwY)

211 193 I have . . . suspicions . . . about S.E. Hinton's _The Outsiders_. It's about tough lower-class kids vs. upper-class kids in Oklahoma City in the early 1960s, yet somehow no black people play any role in the story.

Anyway, _The OUtsiders_ looked very similar to some of the "case studies" in that paper. I wonder if Hinton was just giving her lefty editors and readers what they wanted to read.
======
I find it delicious irony that the Marxist blowhard took a viewpoint that was summed up and then mocked by "Officer Krupke". Some people lack true self-awareness about their positions on issues, and suburban socialists tend to be high on the list of examples.

S.E. Hinton wrote initially from her own experiences, but if she sided with the greasers over the Socs, well, it still a great coming of age story that used class struggle and aspirations with nary a whiff of Marx. But Marx never got cultural tribalism or love of family either. I suspect no Blacks were involved because of narrative brevity and community segregation at the time. Rumble Fish and That Was Then, This Is Now feature Blacks in supporting roles.

Posted by: exdem13 at September 10, 2023 10:45 AM (W+kMI)

212 @210 --

That's the stereotype of the Mad Scientist: "I'll show them all!"

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 10, 2023 10:47 AM (p/isN)

213 196 The US president is at this moment humiliating the United States in Hanoi.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 10, 2023 10:33 AM (RIvkX)

Well, Beau died during the Vietnam war.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at September 10, 2023 10:48 AM (ynpvh)

214 Screw Neil Gaiman's fancy schmantzy award. That library cat is all the recommendation he needs.
Posted by: creeper at September 10, 2023 10:25 AM (cTCuP)

I mean, he shelves are full of books! All the way to the top. I mean there are no daggers and swords and odd mechanical contrivances of brass and teakwood, or pottery or shards of ceramics, old insulators melted into fantastic shapes my unimaginable forces . . . It is like he doesn't get what makes a library special

Posted by: Kindltot at September 10, 2023 10:48 AM (xhaym)

215 . . . if you want a teen protagonist who is doing the wrong thing by liking the wrong person, but is still sympathetic, read Rumble Fish. The young protagonist idolizes his older brother, not even using his name but a title for him. His brother is an outlaw biker, a likeable rogue but definitely on the wrong side of the law, and it takes until the end for that truth to overwhelm the protagonist's idealized idol.
Posted by: exdem13 at September 10, 2023

***
That sounds much more entertaining thatn Catcher.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 10:48 AM (omVj0)

216 12 Listening to "Miserere Mei" by Allegre.
*tears up.*
Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 10, 2023 09:05 AM (0Mqam)

*hands Eris box of tissues*

*turns volume up*

Posted by: creeper at September 10, 2023 10:50 AM (cTCuP)

217 If you like expedition type novels with extraordinary tales of survival I highly recommend In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex.

Posted by: JackStraw at September 10, 2023 10:51 AM (ZLI7S)

218 if you want a teen protagonist who is doing the wrong thing by liking the wrong person, but is still sympathetic, read Rumble Fish

-
Years ago I read a review of one of S.E. Hinton's other books, The Outsiders I think, by a professional literature critic and proto-feminist in a major publication, Time Magazine I think, who criticized the style because it is all He Man Woman Haters Club and no girls are allowed. This professional critic didn't realize that S.E. Hinton stands for Susan Eloise Hinton.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 10, 2023 10:51 AM (FVME7)

219 Pic note: more importantly than the awards on the wall, Gaiman's library has a cat.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 10, 2023 10:51 AM (RM2kH)

220 202 Growing up in the Deep South I felt some kind of unexplainable compulsion to read southern authors like Faulkner.
=========
Faulkner really spoke to me back then. I'm not really into Southern Gothic, as I hold the same opinion on it mainly as Thurber, who had to read too much of it for his profession. But Faulkner wrote so well and in so defiance of convention and archetype/stereotype that he got me to stay in the story.

Posted by: exdem13 at September 10, 2023 10:52 AM (W+kMI)

221 I found Gaiman's American Gods mostly pretty good but...he stuck a suspiciously large amount of Genie buttsecks in it.

Posted by: 18-1 at September 10, 2023 10:53 AM (XqcwY)

222 Monarch mind control programming by the CIA, huh?

Well, considering my mind some (read, too many) days, if this is the best they can do we don't need to worry about those guys at all. Doesn't seem like they're nearly as on top of things as they were when Kelly & Scotty were still on deck.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 10, 2023

***
[changing a girl baby in the Mexican desert:]
Scotty: Gimme your T-shirt, man.
Kelly: Why not use your T-shirt?
Scotty (as if delivering the Sermon on the Mount): The rule is that he who changes the baby does not use his own T-shirt. Gimme your T-shirt.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 10:54 AM (omVj0)

223 The US president is at this moment humiliating the United States in Hanoi.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 10, 2023 10:33 AM (RIvkX)

That's what democrats always have done

Posted by: Kindltot at September 10, 2023 10:54 AM (xhaym)

224 I never read Witchblade, but judging from the covers, the main appeal was the tinfoil barely draped all over her.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 10, 2023 10:14 AM (p/isN)

Pretty much, yeah. Plus, in the early issues, it was Michael Turner drawing that barely-draped tinfoil.

Although it somehow found some staying power. It's still going today, and in the past it spawned a tv series and an anime....

Posted by: Castle Guy at September 10, 2023 10:55 AM (Lhaco)

225 Well, Beau died during the Vietnam war.
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at September 10, 2023 10:48 AM (ynpvh)

So Beau is a real-life Kenny McCormick?

Oh my God! You killed Beau!

You bastards!

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Not Exactly Streets Ahead at September 10, 2023 10:55 AM (T/Lqj)

226 If Catholics want to know why their church building is a weird Post-Modernist monstrosity, here's your answer.

Sincerely,

Retired Buckeye Cop

Rev always thought that the sanctuary (the worship area) was a poor use of space. He liked the model of multi-use rooms/areas, as the sanctuary was used only about three hours a week. We go to a very plain church now with multiple use rooms. I admit it looks industrial. But I was raised on simple so it suits me fine.

Posted by: grammie winger - I don't belong here at September 10, 2023 10:56 AM (45fpk)

227 But Faulkner wrote so well and in so defiance of convention and archetype/stereotype that he got me to stay in the story.

Posted by: exdem13 at September 10, 2023

***
Thou art braver than I, Gunga Din. I've read his mystery stories set in his unpronounceable Miss. county, and the famous "A Rose for Miss Emily," and not much more. I tried his one popular success, Sanctuary, and found that as impenetrable as Waugh's Brideshead.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 10:57 AM (omVj0)

228 A college course got me to attempt Faulkner's Intruder in the Dust, the same class that forced Catch-22 and Joyce's Dubliners on me. I was 19, so I guess I can be forgiven for not liking any of them. But I've also never had an urge to go back and reread 'em, either.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 11:00 AM (omVj0)

229 "There is an extensive cave network in the hills, parts of which are naturally self-luminescent from radium salts among the rocks."

Posted by: Mister Ghost at September 10, 2023 09:20 AM (TGPs7)

The geologist in me thinks that is bullshit.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 10, 2023 11:01 AM (RM2kH)

230 I think the best way to read Brideshead Revisited is to watch the TV adaptation first. It's so very well done.

Posted by: grammie winger - I don't belong here at September 10, 2023 11:01 AM (45fpk)

231 I can't read William Faulkner's name without hearing Pam Tillis singing, "Read about you in a Faulkner novel, met you once in a Williams play."

Country music is a let better than most people realize.

https://tinyurl.com/ynpwjdyt

Posted by: creeper at September 10, 2023 11:03 AM (cTCuP)

232 The US president is at this moment humiliating the United States in Hanoi.

Did I do that? Oops...

Just send the cleaning bill to the embassy.

Posted by: Joe Biden at September 10, 2023 11:03 AM (CaJIi)

233 I can't read William Faulkner's name without hearing Pam Tillis singing, "Read about you in a Faulkner novel, met you once in a Williams play."

Country music is a let better than most people realize.

https://tinyurl.com/ynpwjdyt
Posted by: creeper at September 10, 2023

***
It is indeed, or used to be. Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe" and "Fancy," Garth Brooks's "Beaches of Cheyenne," Randy Travis's "Three Wooden Crosses," and many other classics are like short stories in music.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 11:06 AM (omVj0)

234 heart of the sea, inspired me to take a crack at moby dick,

Posted by: no 6 at September 10, 2023 11:07 AM (PXvVL)

235 . . . Country music is a let better than most people realize.

https://tinyurl.com/ynpwjdyt
Posted by: creeper at September 10, 2023

***
And Don Williams's "Good Ol' Boys Like Me."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 11:07 AM (omVj0)

236 the one with jeremy irons from the 80s

Posted by: no 6 at September 10, 2023 11:07 AM (PXvVL)

237 the one with jeremy irons from the 80s

Posted by: no 6 at September 10, 2023 11:07 AM (PXvVL)

Yes.

Posted by: grammie winger - I don't belong here at September 10, 2023 11:08 AM (45fpk)

238 @59 In 1940 the RCMP schooner Saint Roch, a wooden ship, transited the Northwest Passage, west to east.
Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at September 10, 2023 09:32 AM (4PZHB)

That ship is now housed in a museum in Vancouver. I have seen her there.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 10, 2023 11:08 AM (RM2kH)

239 >>heart of the sea, inspired me to take a crack at moby dick,

The story of the Essex did the same thing for Melville.

Posted by: JackStraw at September 10, 2023 11:09 AM (ZLI7S)

240 TJM, invitation sent.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 10, 2023 11:10 AM (Angsy)

241 204 @193 --

Tulsa, not OC.

I never read the book, but I don't noise that around the city. "The Outsiders" is a point of local pride. The house used for the movie is now a museum.
=======
S. E. Hinton is an author worth celebrating, and her home town returned the love she felt for it and a lot of blue-collar young men in search of purpose and a little meaning in life. The movie was shot in and around Tulsa and looks it. Hinton herself was invited to meet the cast and got a small part as a nurse. I would even recommend the movie, as it is a faithful adaptation, filmed well, and the actors are into their roles.

Posted by: exdem13 at September 10, 2023 11:11 AM (W+kMI)

242 Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav To Focus On Big Franchises Like DC, “Harry Potter,” And “The Lord Of The Rings,” Says They Have Been “Underused”

-
Yeah, boy, let's go back to the well a few dozen more times.

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

243 and the actors are into their roles.

-
C. Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, and Diane Lane.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 10, 2023 11:14 AM (FVME7)

244 I'm listening to an Audible book called The Unicorn Project.
The narrator has a linguistic quirk I find very distracting.
She pronounces written, and a few other words, without pronouncing the "t". She has a verbal stop in the middle wri*en I've always pounced the "t".
Not a big a big deal but it is distracting.

Posted by: That Northernlurker what lurkd at September 10, 2023 11:15 AM (HfNu5)

245 C. Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, and Diane Lane.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 10, 2023

***
Never seen the film or read the book, yet, but it's amazing that I recognize all of those actors' names.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 11:16 AM (omVj0)

246 I really don't understand the motivations behind the WEF's desire to eliminate up to 90% of the world population. Somehow, they believe that their standard of living will remain intact. It's both delusional and evil thinking on their part.

That is easy to explain.

"Gen 1:28-30
And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

God told man to be fruitful and multiply and gave them dominion over the earth.

Gen 2:12-13 "And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there."

And he told Adam, look, I put these things in the ground for you - go get them and make things.

The WEF is Antichrist. It opposes the things of God and is enmity with God and His Creation and His command to Man for his appointed purpose.

Posted by: Reuben Hick at September 10, 2023 11:16 AM (p8A+W)

247 A college course got me to attempt Faulkner's Intruder in the Dust, the same class that forced Catch-22 and Joyce's Dubliners on me. I was 19, so I guess I can be forgiven for not liking any of them. But I've also never had an urge to go back and reread 'em, either.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere

To each his own, Catch-22 is one of my all time favorite books.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 10, 2023 11:18 AM (FVME7)

248 "Country music is a let better than most people realize.

https://tinyurl.com/ynpwjdyt
Posted by: creeper at September 10, 2023

***
And Don Williams's "Good Ol' Boys Like Me."
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, "
******
Willie Nelson's, RedHeaded Stranger, is another story in music. It contains the great line: You can't hang a man for killing a woman who is trying to steal his horse.

Posted by: Cosda at September 10, 2023 11:18 AM (G7yCz)

249
The thing about Waugh is that he assumes the intelligence of the reader and doesn't condescend one little bit.

He assumes you have a modern (for his era) education and a familiarity with Western Civ. In this way, he's a bit like PG Wodehouse, who some people find impossibly obscure and stupid, because they don't have that literary/cultural background that Wodehouse assumes that his readers have.

I'm not dissing anyone at all. Anyone educated post-1960 or so, probably has this issue with reading Waugh or Wodehouse. Though both are definitely worth the effort.

And Waugh is (for his time) a fairly ferocious writer. His comedies were "shocking" for the time. For instance, I love "A Handful of Dust", which some above don't care for. I can understand though as it's one of his darkest books where the laughter does indeed choke on a handful of dust.

Posted by: naturalfake at September 10, 2023 11:18 AM (QzZeQ)

250 To each his own, Catch-22 is one of my all time favorite books.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 10, 2023 11:18 AM (FVME7)

*fistbump*

Posted by: naturalfake at September 10, 2023 11:19 AM (QzZeQ)

251 228 A college course got me to attempt Faulkner's Intruder in the Dust, the same class that forced Catch-22 and Joyce's Dubliners on me. I was 19, so I guess I can be forgiven for not liking any of them. But I've also never had an urge to go back and reread 'em, either.
=========
Wow, there's a heavy syllabus. definitely blue-ribbon but not for the faint of literary heart. Although why anybody thought Joyce was heir to the Irish bards is beyond me. He must've been a clever fellow though, to convince his agent, editor, and publisher that he was writing in an Inspired and Creative fashion.

Posted by: exdem13 at September 10, 2023 11:22 AM (W+kMI)

252 I'm listening to an Audible book called The Unicorn Project.
The narrator has a linguistic quirk I find very distracting.
She pronounces written, and a few other words, without pronouncing the "t". She has a verbal stop in the middle wri*en I've always pounced the "t".
Not a big a big deal but it is distracting.
Posted by: That Northernlurker what lurkd at September 10, 2023

***
I think I do the same thing, unless I'm being very formal and reading something aloud. "Writ-ten" sounds a little funny to my ear. (No, I'm not really Southern despite being immured down here. I sound like Canadians like Shatner and Michael J. Fox, and they sound normal to me.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 11:23 AM (omVj0)

253 Have tried Faulkner a few times since college (late 60s/early 70s), but just can't stay with him. May try once again before checkout time. Haven't read Heller since then, but quite a few sections of Catch 22 are fall-on-the-floor hilarious. Joyce -- won't be attempting Ulysses or Finnegans Wake, but Dubliners is on the bucket list.

Bleak House beckons. Some time before Christmas, I think...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 10, 2023 11:23 AM (a/4+U)

254 I really don't understand the motivations behind the WEF's desire to eliminate up to 90% of the world population. Somehow, they believe that their standard of living will remain intact. It's both delusional and evil thinking on their part.

The elites tend to hate people and see them as a negative blight upon the world. They color this up as negative utilitarianism - that life is suffering and therefore it is morally right to minimize that suffering by...getting rid of people, but really the focus is that hate.

Why is there pollution? THOSE people
Why is there racism? THOSE people

and on and on. So if we get rid of them maybe it will theoretically cost me...but I'll be making the world better and more importantly making me FEEL better.

Posted by: 18-1 at September 10, 2023 11:24 AM (XqcwY)

255 Wow, there's a heavy syllabus. definitely blue-ribbon but not for the faint of literary heart. . . .
Posted by: exdem13 at September 10, 2023

***
My second semester in college, Honors English. I guess I did okay in the first semester composition class. The same honors gig also tried to get me to read Joyce Cary's The Horse's Mouth and Hemingway's In Our Time.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 11:26 AM (omVj0)

256
He assumes you have a modern (for his era) education and a familiarity with Western Civ.

My experience is this is very, very common in novels before the 60s. You'll see allusions to Roman mythology, or rulers of the HRE, or experiences noted from the crusade and they just assume of course educated people know these things not only the actual event referenced but why that was important historically.

Posted by: 18-1 at September 10, 2023 11:26 AM (XqcwY)

257 The movie was shot in and around Tulsa and looks it.

Not all of Tulsa. We have a lot of neighborhoods that outsiders (NPI) would call suburban, but they are within the city limits. I would say that the greasers' neighborhoods make up a minority of the city's housing stock.

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 10, 2023 11:27 AM (p/isN)

258 I really don't understand the motivations behind the WEF's desire to eliminate up to 90% of the world population.

-
It's quite simple. They're Eloi. We're Morlocks.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 10, 2023 11:32 AM (FVME7)

259 My experience is this is very, very common in novels before the 60s. You'll see allusions to Roman mythology, or rulers of the HRE, or experiences noted from the crusade and they just assume of course educated people know these things not only the actual event referenced but why that was important historically.
Posted by: 18-1 at September 10, 2023

***
And members of my real-life writing group complain if I reference Perry Mason or Joseph Wambaugh, and say, "Nobody will know who they are!"

My response: "Computer. Search function. Go."

Know-It-All Guy wanted me to change the reference to Joseph Wambaugh, a former cop who went on to write bestsellers about cops, to "Sherlock Holmes." Huh????

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 11:33 AM (omVj0)

260 Why is there pollution? THOSE people
Why is there racism? THOSE people

and on and on. So if we get rid of them maybe it will theoretically cost me...but I'll be making the world better and more importantly making me FEEL better.

Too many holes in that theory. For example, the WEF types are only targeting a culture that is not fully docile and compliant to their rule.

That is why tyrants like the NM governor attack lawful CHL holders, the best of citizens, while at the same time releasing violent criminals in the street and telling police to let the crime surge continue.

Light and Darkness can not occupy the same space.

Posted by: Reuben Hick at September 10, 2023 11:34 AM (p8A+W)

261 One of my favorite bits of exposition is in the novel Seven Days in May by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II. However, the movie is far better than the book, a rare trait shared by The Godfather. The plot is revealed in little vignettes that are seemingly disconnected: a conversation between the President and a senator; a Senate defense committee hearing; a loose comment by a senator at a cocktail party; an offhand remark about a horse racing betting pool organized by the top military brass; a chance meeting between the protagonist, Marine Col. Jiggs Casey, and an old friend from Army Signal Corps who says he's exec of ECOMCON, a unit Casey, who's the aide to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has never heard of. The plot really takes off at this point. The movie script by Rod Serling is tight and a lot of useless fluff was trimmed from the book. The excellent soundtrack helps too, as it points out to the viewer that some of these seemingly meaningless actions are, in fact, significant.

Posted by: MichiCanuck at September 10, 2023 11:34 AM (IL/1/)

262 Morning Hordemates.
Just finished rereading Howard Coyle's "Team Yankee."
Easily one of the best fictional accounts of what WW3 would have looked like on the ground.

Posted by: Diogenes at September 10, 2023 11:36 AM (uSHSS)

263 Crossing the beams of southern culture and The Outsiders. The plot concerns two greasers who more or less accidentally kill a soc. The flee to an abandon house in the woods to hide out and they bring Gone With the Wind to read to amuse themselves.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 10, 2023 11:37 AM (FVME7)

264 Ever seen Wayne’s World? If you see a book you want and you have no money, it’s “You will be mine. Oh yes, you will be mine.”

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at September 10, 2023 11:37 AM (W/9Bb)

265 really don't understand the motivations behind the WEF's desire to eliminate up to 90% of the world population.

Why has no government declared them a terrorist organization?

Posted by: That Northernlurker what lurkd at September 10, 2023 11:38 AM (HfNu5)

266 That Pam Tillis is a great singer.

Posted by: exdem13 at September 10, 2023 11:41 AM (W+kMI)

267 That is why tyrants like the NM governor attack lawful CHL holders, the best of citizens, while at the same time releasing violent criminals in the street and telling police to let the crime surge continue.

A common theme in leftwing regimes is thought crime is much, much worse then traditional crime.

The NM governor would echo Hillary's deplorable line in reference to the CHL holders. The murders, rapists, and thieves? They are at least useful.

Posted by: 18-1 at September 10, 2023 11:41 AM (XqcwY)

268 I'll admit that I think Africa would benefit from population decline, but not one achieved through conspiratorial machinations.

"Yes, Minister" referred to such lands as "Human Resource-Rich Countries." They have nothing but an oversupply of people.

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 10, 2023 11:42 AM (p/isN)

269 I read "The Way Home" by Peter S Beagle and wish I hadn't bothered. It consists of a long ahort story and a novella, both narrated by Sooz. She's a child in "Two Hearts," in which she gets the humans from "The Last Unicorn" to rid her village of a griffin. Not bad, except Maggie teaches her to whistle a magical tune and promises if she whistles it on her 17th birthday, "someone will come."

The promise is fulfilled in "Sooz," which is a big meandering mess with rape, starvation, scenic views, and trying-so-hard-to-be-profound observations on friendship. Spoiler: No one really comes; Sooz goes on an adventure. She sees a young woman: her parents' eldest child who was stolen by fairies. Sooze is a changeling. There could be interesting character or plot developments from her being a changeling, but there aren't. The plot is driven by seemingly random events. Sooz is raped by four men, which makes her scared enough to stab blindly in the dark. The woman she stabs is another changeling, becomes her best friend, and eventually dies of the wound. The true daughter refuses to go home; Sooz can't/won't say anything convincing; circumstances intervene.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at September 10, 2023 11:43 AM (/+bwe)

270 That Pam Tillis is a great singer.
Posted by: exdem13 at September 10, 2023 11:41 AM (W+kMI)

Related to Mel?

Posted by: That Northernlurker what lurkd at September 10, 2023 11:45 AM (HfNu5)

271 257 The movie was shot in and around Tulsa and looks it.

Not all of Tulsa. We have a lot of neighborhoods that outsiders (NPI) would call suburban, but they are within the city limits. I would say that the greasers' neighborhoods make up a minority of the city's housing stock.
======
I should have said that the cinematic Tulsa looks authentic, and not some California tract suburb standing in for the Greasers' humble but homely neighborhood. It reminded a much younger me of some neighborhoods that I'd known.

Posted by: exdem13 at September 10, 2023 11:46 AM (W+kMI)

272 My nickname in college was Ponyboy. Mostly because some girls thought I looked a lot like C Thomas Howell.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at September 10, 2023 11:46 AM (6PK7i)

273 NP, I don't recall finishing The Last Unicorn. On the other hand, Beagle's little short story from the '80s "Lila the Werewolf" is a delight -- sort of like Ghostbusters in a mild way. I pictured Bill Murray as the lead character, a folk musician in 1980s NYC who moves in with a girl -- and then discovers she is, you got it, a werewolf. (And the girl's mother, while not supernatural, ain't much better.)

Maybe PSB is better in the short length.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 11:46 AM (omVj0)

274
Why has no government declared them a terrorist organization?
Posted by: That Northernlurker
----

Because, we're on board.

Posted by: The MSM at September 10, 2023 11:46 AM (ej/KZ)

275 Way way back in the 1700s, some thought the human population would get so many food would be scarce.
The world probably had less than China alone today.
But instead of learning their wrong it has came back again.
Pushing abortion, eating bugs, stopping cattle farming that are trying to do what their theory is.

Posted by: Skip at September 10, 2023 11:46 AM (fwDg9)

276 really don't understand the motivations behind the WEF's desire to eliminate up to 90% of the world population.

Why has no government declared them a terrorist organization?
Posted by: That Northernlurker what lurkd at September 10, 2023 11:38 AM (HfNu5)

These a-holes should be treated just like the Nazis.

They want to kill off the "lesser' folk polluting "their" world.

Buuuut, these Nazis have learned ,like the Chinese, that war is for suckas. Esp. when you can just pay pitiful sums to the politicians and Our Betters to undermine and destroy their own countries.

Otherwise, I think these people would've been handled one way or another years ago.

Posted by: naturalfake at September 10, 2023 11:46 AM (QzZeQ)

277 For better or worse, nearly all of Asimov’s initial Foundation stories were exposition.

Posted by: Legion of Boom at September 10, 2023 11:47 AM (G+Bup)

278 "I really don't understand the motivations behind the WEF's desire to eliminate up to 90% of the world population. Somehow, they believe that their standard of living will remain intact. It's both delusional and evil thinking on their part."

They're the rich people who discovered the beauty of nature (e.g. the Pictured Rocks area of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) and decided it would be better without the locals. Only the WEF types have a plan.

They're like the PhD-candidate principal who worked for several years in my hometown. She told the staff, "My job would be easier if I didn't have to deal with parents." Except the WEF types put their money into developing robots, which don't have parents.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at September 10, 2023 11:51 AM (/+bwe)

279 Back from church...what did I miss?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 10, 2023 11:51 AM (YIVH2)

280 The thing I'm most infuriated about this morning . . .

California Dems Cut Lawmaker’s Mic As He Cites Evidence Child Sex Changes Don’t Improve Mental Health

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 10, 2023 11:51 AM (FVME7)

281 Re: the WEF .... If an author wrote an evil supervillain who spoke with a thick German accent, was descended from Nazis, and dressed in ridiculous garb and wanted to control the world, it would be dismissed as too cliche...

This is Klaus Schwab...

https://is.gd/Oozm1K

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at September 10, 2023 11:53 AM (6PK7i)

282 268 I'll admit that I think Africa would benefit from population decline, but not one achieved through conspiratorial machinations.

"Yes, Minister" referred to such lands as "Human Resource-Rich Countries." They have nothing but an oversupply of people.
======
I would say that the main problem with most African nations is not that they have too many people, but they have too many people who aren't working to accomplish something noteworthy.

Posted by: exdem13 at September 10, 2023 11:53 AM (W+kMI)

283 It was Bilbo, not Frodo, that possessed the ring.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at September 10, 2023 11:54 AM (8fpTj)

284 Back from church...what did I miss?
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 10, 2023 11:51 AM (YIVH2)

Well, the good news is Jesus has returned.
The bad news is he's in Salt Lake City.

(OK, was told that joke by a Mormon buddy)

Posted by: Diogenes at September 10, 2023 11:54 AM (uSHSS)

285 I would say that the main problem with most African nations is not that they have too many people, but they have too many people who aren't working to accomplish something noteworthy.

Posted by: exdem13 at September 10, 2023 11:53 AM (W+kMI)

That could apply to most people everywhere.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 10, 2023 11:55 AM (Angsy)

286 Real life intrudes.

Bests to all, and thanks for the thread, Perfessor.

Have a good one, gang.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 10, 2023 11:55 AM (a/4+U)

287 Except the WEF types put their money into developing robots, which don't have parents.

Previous tyrannies had to deal with the fact that you had to govern through people. Yes you could indoctrinate them but...they were people and could make their own decisions.

One of the scary thing about automation and eventually real AI is that you can cut out more and more of those minions. In theory the despot doesn't need to get the sub-despots, the directors/generals, the officers, and on and on down the list to go do whatever horrible thing they've decided to implement - in this case the despot just need to "order it so" and the algorithms, drones, and robots go do it.

Posted by: 18-1 at September 10, 2023 11:56 AM (XqcwY)

288 "Yes Minister" also referred to them as TPLACs....

Posted by: goatsxchange at September 10, 2023 11:56 AM (APPN8)

289 This here thread always goes by too fast! Thanks again, Perfessor, and all of you who contributed. My "check the library for ______" list just got longer.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 11:57 AM (omVj0)

290
The story of the Essex did the same thing for Melville.
Posted by: JackStraw
-------

He left out the part about cannibalism.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 10, 2023 11:57 AM (Xh7X1)

291 I would say that the main problem with most African nations is not that they have too many people, but they have too many people who aren't working to accomplish something noteworthy.

They generally have corrupt governments that will steal as much excess wealth as they can from the normal people. Something slowly but surely coming true here as well.

Posted by: 18-1 at September 10, 2023 11:57 AM (XqcwY)

292 275 Way way back in the 1700s, some thought the human population would get so many food would be scarce.
The world probably had less than China alone today.
But instead of learning their wrong it has came back again.
Pushing abortion, eating bugs, stopping cattle farming that are trying to do what their theory is.

Posted by: Skip at September 10, 2023 11:46 AM (fwDg9)

Malthusians.
Or as I call them, Mal-Enthusiasts.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at September 10, 2023 11:58 AM (ynpvh)

293 "Related to Mel?"
*****
Pam is Mel's daughter.

Posted by: Cosda at September 10, 2023 11:58 AM (G7yCz)

294 This here thread always goes by too fast! Thanks again, Perfessor, and all of you who contributed. My "check the library for ______" list just got longer.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 11:57 AM (omVj0)

Well, there's always the WG, Wolfus. Might be a post you'd be interested in I put up Friday.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 10, 2023 11:58 AM (Angsy)

295 Why has no government declared them a terrorist organization?
Posted by: That Northernlurker what lurkd at September 10, 2023 11:38 AM (HfNu5)
-

Now do California.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 10, 2023 11:59 AM (Y9yUc)

296 In before the Tolkien crazies take over the thread. Drat!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at September 10, 2023 11:59 AM (KVGVf)

297 "Why has no government declared them a terrorist organization?"

Probably for the same reason Hollywood doesn't make anti-pedophile movies.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at September 10, 2023 12:01 PM (2OtsK)

298 WE HAZ A NOOD

Posted by: Skip at September 10, 2023 12:02 PM (fwDg9)

299 They generally have corrupt governments that will steal as much excess wealth as they can from the normal people. Something slowly but surely coming true here as well.
Posted by: 18-1

The people vote for a government they think will steal for them and it turns out it steals from them. You know, like the Democrats.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 10, 2023 12:02 PM (FVME7)

300 Well, there's always the WG, Wolfus. Might be a post you'd be interested in I put up Friday.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 10, 2023[/i\]

***
The fanzines post? I missed that on Friday.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 12:02 PM (omVj0)

301 In before the Tolkien crazies take over the thread. Drat!
Posted by: Dr. Bone at September 10, 2023 11:59 AM (KVGVf)
---
I'm the Tolkien crazy that RUNS the thread!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 10, 2023 12:02 PM (YIVH2)

302

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 12:02 PM (omVj0)

303 The fanzines post? I missed that on Friday.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 10, 2023 12:02 PM (omVj0)

Yes. But no one else has posted on it either....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 10, 2023 12:03 PM (Angsy)

304 Finishing up my 2nd book by James Michener, "Chesapeake". Completed the first "Alaska".
Both were quite enjoyable in an easy reading sort of way. My dad used to read every Michener book, which is why I took a detour from my usual diet of non fiction.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at September 10, 2023 12:04 PM (MeG8a)

305 But Faulkner wrote so well and in so defiance of convention and archetype/stereotype that he got me to stay in the story.

Posted by: exdem13 at September 10, 2023
------

Back before I turned 29, I went on a binge-read of Southern authors, it is, after all, my native soil. Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Caldwell, et al. It required a lot mental stamina, but was worth it, literarily.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 10, 2023 12:05 PM (UKHcf)

306 283 It was Bilbo, not Frodo, that possessed the ring.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at September 10, 2023 11:54 AM (8fpTj)

they both did at different times. Frodo was the one who was supposed to destroy it (and ended up losing a finger).
The better question: Who did the ring possess?

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at September 10, 2023 12:06 PM (ynpvh)

307 Finishing up my 2nd book by James Michener, "Chesapeake". Completed the first "Alaska".
Both were quite enjoyable in an easy reading sort of way. My dad used to read every Michener book, which is why I took a detour from my usual diet of non fiction.
Posted by: gourmand du jour
------

Why, 'Hawaii' would even be somewhat topical.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 10, 2023 12:06 PM (UKHcf)

308 >>>I'm the Tolkien crazy that RUNS the thread!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel

>Yeah, but somebody has got to bust your little squirrel balls once in a while.

Happy Sunday, it's a glorious morning from where I'm sitting!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at September 10, 2023 12:09 PM (KVGVf)

309 Finishing up my 2nd book by James Michener, "Chesapeake". Completed the first "Alaska".
------

In a similar vein, I can recommend Rutherfurd's books; Sarum
Russka, London etc. All historical novels. I certainly learned more about Russian history from 'Russka' than from school or experience.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 10, 2023 12:11 PM (1a0ym)

310 308 >>>I'm the Tolkien crazy that RUNS the thread!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel

>Yeah, but somebody has got to bust your little squirrel balls once in a while.

Happy Sunday, it's a glorious morning from where I'm sitting!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at September 10, 2023 12:09 PM (KVGVf)

I think they're called nuts.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at September 10, 2023 12:11 PM (ynpvh)

311 Saddest part of Sunday morning, again. The end of the Book Thread. Thanks, Perfessor.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 10, 2023 12:15 PM (Angsy)

312 Way way back in the 1700s, some thought the human population would get so many food would be scarce.
The world probably had less than China alone today.
But instead of learning their wrong it has came back again.
Pushing abortion, eating bugs, stopping cattle farming that are trying to do what their theory is.
Posted by: Skip at September 10, 2023 11:46 AM (fwDg9)

No one has actually read Malthus' On Population. The one section of the book talking about population is about a chapter long and is about the inadvisability of subsidizing poverty since all it would do is increase inflation, and force society to conform to tyrannical rules in exchange for promises that are impossible to fulfill.

On Population, in my opinion, is a direct criticism of Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man, pointing out how it will cause misery. Even the title can be seen as a dig against Paine's book.

Ehrlich was an idiot, a terrible investor and a wretchedly bad researcher.

Posted by: Kindltot at September 10, 2023 12:16 PM (xhaym)

313 Exposition and Reveal. Over and over and over.

This is why non-fiction history is a pleasure to read.

And [nearly] last.

Posted by: 13times at September 10, 2023 12:17 PM (73YOJ)

314 Does the Horde have any suggestions for magazine subscriptions suitable for a boy of 14? I have been giving my great-nephew a subscription to NatGeo Kids, which he enjoyed, but I think has outgrown. He’s really into computers as well. He’d probably enjoy sf, but modern “pulps” are often too “woke.”

I’m continuing a tradition started by my mother who thought her grandkids, especially those who lived across the country, who thought the kids would enjoy receiving their own mail.

Thanks!

Posted by: March Hare at September 10, 2023 12:23 PM (WOU9P)

315 Thanks!

Posted by: March Hare at September 10, 2023 12:23 PM (WOU9P)

Your e-mail keeps bouncing back. Are you receiving?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 10, 2023 12:25 PM (Angsy)

316 I know there's a nood, but I forgot to mention: this past week, I started following Ray Bradbury's advice: read a short story and a poem a day. Currently it's the anthology "Sudden Fiction: American Short-Short Stories" and the Dover Thrift Edition "101 Great American Poems" chosen by The American Poetry & Literacy Project (so refreshing to read biographical notes from 1998, which never condescend to mention patriarchy etc.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at September 10, 2023 12:39 PM (/+bwe)

317 ReD the Mongoliad BT Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, etc. 3 books that sort of wrap up the story plus at least 2 more..

Posted by: MPH at September 10, 2023 01:56 PM (Mn/SL)

318 #315 OrangeEnt

Not sure why emails are bouncing. I’ve received the last couple and was able to sign up for the Writers’ Group.

Only thing I can think of is the period is missing between March and Hare or using .com instead of .net after comcast.

Posted by: March Hare at September 10, 2023 02:17 PM (WOU9P)

319 Perfesser,
Have you watched any of the "Wheel of Time" on Amazon Prime? If so, would you care to comment on the quality?
Thanks

Posted by: JM in Ill -- Behold the Manchurian Candidate at September 10, 2023 03:06 PM (kQWle)

320 "Had a weird thing happen yesterday. I was reading a paperback copy of a brand new Heather Graham book I got from the library and in the middle of the book there are 35 repeat pages. I read page 128 and looked at the next page and it was page 97. Again. How does something like that happen and not get caught?"

I saw a similar thing with a paper-back of an older book. At least it wasn't missing pages, but the spine looked fine, so it look like a printers mistake.

Posted by: goodluckduck at September 10, 2023 04:45 PM (pCXlW)

321 I believe you can't cook the whale or seal to get the vitamin D and C. Mmmm.
Regarding sacred spaces, the point of those who destroy beauty is to destroy the soul and the sacred. Everything is mundane as an office.
And simple churches without decoration are also beautiful.
If it looks like a secular community center, it may be.

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