Sunday Morning Book Thread - 10-15-2023 ["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...(primitive weed-whacker not included)

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

I recently traveled to University of Missouri-St. Louis to attend a conference there related to my field (instructional design). While there, I decided to visit their campus library, which was right next to the student center hosting the conference. Although the main library is pretty unexceptional--and also undergoing renovations--they do have a section for the St. Louis Mercantile Library, which was established in 1846 by civic leaders and philanthropists in the St. Louis region. St. Louis, of course, is known as the "Gateway to the West" and was a major port of call for river travel and railroad travel during America's westward expansion phase. The Mercantile Library houses an impressive collection of artifacts from that era, including rather large steering wheels from steamships that traveled along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.

DESECRATION THROUGH ADAPTATION

Brace yourself...

We've had some interesting posts from Ace and Joe Mannix this week that tie into a topic that I'd like to discuss--the deliberate desecration of a story through adaptation. Shad (of Shadiversity and Knights Watch YouTube channels) has been watching and reviewing individual episodes of Amazon's Wheel of Time series, adapted from Robert Jordan's best selling epic fantasy series (90,000,000+ volumes sold and counting!). I was able to make it through Season 1, but refused to watch Season 2 because of how Rafe Judkins, the show runner of the series, and his writing team handled the adaptation from book to screen. I'm glad I skipped Season 2 because it was even more atrocious than Season 1.

From Shad's epic rants--especially the two-hour-long rant embedded below--Rafe and his writers have deliberately and maliciously inverted all of the themes and morals to be found in the original series so that the opposite of what you find in the books is meant to be imprinted on the minds of the viewers. Shad has quite a bit of evidence to support his assertion, but his main point is how the character of Moiraine in the show says she is willing to kill 1,000 innocent people in order to save the life of Rand Al'Thor, the Chosen One, destined to save the world. Note that Moiraine is one of the two girl-bosses in the series. She is always right. She will never be defeated. She can take down the most powerful enemies without no help from no man (even though she has a male protector). Shad rightly points out that this is explicitly "the ends justify the means" and the writers want the viewers to take away the message this is this a good thing, rather than Marxist collectivist ideology.

Now, before you think that I'm turning this Sunday Morning Book Thread into an all-Wheel-of-Time-thread, I assure you that's not my intention. I use Wheel of Time specifically because it points to a much larger issue that we've all seen in Hollywood writing in recent years--the removal of Judaeo-Christian ideals from characters that should exemplify the highest conduct, serving as paragons of virtue for the reader/viewer. Again, using Wheel of Time as an example, there is a hugely significant scene from Book 2, The Great Hunt, where a character, Ingtar, reveals himself to be a traitor. His treachery drove most of the plot, as he struggles in vain to atone for his actions. In the end, he confesses his sins to Rand and asks him for redemption, not knowing that Rand is destined to be the savior of the world (Jesus, basically). Rand forgives Ingtar and Ingtar makes a heroic sacrifice in defense of his friends, as his final act of atonement. That scene is one of the most powerful in the entire series of books. It was omitted from Season 2, which is meant to follow the events from Book 2.

Rand is meant to be both a deconstruction and reconstruction of The Chosen One. Throughout the books we see Rand grow from a sensible, if somewhat naive, young man into a strong, capable leader and ruler, though he grows ever harder and harder towards the end until he is able to find his core values again. In the show, Rand is nothing more than a sniveling coward who is routinely dominated by all of the women he encounters, including his female "friends" from his home village. He's worthless in a fight and is incapable of standing up for his own values. In the books, he draws upon the lessons he learns from his father, his male mentors and teachers, and yes, even the women who have much to teach him. Integrating all of those lessons from both men and women into his identity as the Dragon Reborn is absolutely crucial to the plot. His final stand against the Dark One is far more spiritual and philosophical than it is physical, and he only succeeds because of his humility, which is as it should be.

All of the themes from Wheel of Time--primarily the duality of men/women and good/evil--have been removed from the show. All the evils in the world stem from men. The evil characters from the books are re-imagined to be compassionate, caring humans while the good characters are selfish nihilists who have no business trying to save the world. It's disgusting. All of the explicit heroism and decency found in the books have been removed.

As Ace pointed out in his recent post on The Exorcist: The Believer, today's writers are determined to create "requels" of existing intellectual properties in favor of their woke ideology. This new version is based on the original movie, which itself is based on a book by William Peter Blatty. In the original book, both priests put their immortal spirits and mortal bodies on the line to save a young girl possessed by a demon. One of the priests is experiencing a crisis of faith, which the demon can and does exploit. Their faith in God and Jesus Christ was put to the test, but they were able to prevail because of that faith, though it cost them their lives and possibly their sanity. I'm sure the writers of the new film believe they are very clever in inserting their woke ideology and forcing the exorcists to make a difficult choice (which is no choice at all because of how they write this dreck.) As Ace says, though, "If there is no God, what are you fighting Satan with? The power of friendship?" Yes. That's what the writers believe, as they cannot conceive of any power greater than themselves.

Last week, one of the Moron Recommendations was for Dracula by Bram Stoker (it's on my bucket list, I swear!). You had some excellent comments about how much has been lost in translation to other versions:

When I first read Dracula a few years ago, I too was surprised by how adamantly Christian it was in many places (in fact, about as crypto-Catholic as it could be in Victorian Britain).
I'm sure that has nothing to do with why the modern adaptations are so different from (and inferior to) the original.
Posted by: Dr. T at October 08, 2023 09:54 AM (m9hmt)

I love Dracula -- maybe I should re-read that in honor of October as well as the Zelazny book.
One thing which disappoints me horribly about film adaptations of Dracula is that they skip over the middle. The "Jonathan Harker in the Castle" sections are usually rendered pretty well, and Lucy in Whitby, but there's the whole procedural section in which the heroes are hunting Dracula's hidden refuges in London which would be enough for a whole season of a Netflix series.
The other thing that pisses me off is how terribly movies treat Jonathan Harker. At best he's a mutton-headed stiff (as in the older films) and modern adaptations have to make him an actual villain so that Mina can be a Strong Independent Woman and get it on with Dracula.
Because there's nothing more empowering than having sex with a corpse, I guess.
I want Book Harker, who fought his way out of a vampire-haunted castle single-handed and is stalking the King of Vampires around London with a Gurkha dagger.
Posted by: Trimegistus at October 08, 2023 10:00 AM (QZxDR)

In the end, we can see that there is a deliberate attempt to destroy stories that will ultimately stand the test of time, regardless of how much they are mutilated and mangled beyond recognition by today's "storytellers." This is also being targeted toward young adults and children to reprogram them to accept unconditionally the woke, progressive ideology.

"Why is it okay to pump out trash so long as the intended market is under the age of 21 or so?"
Another example of living in upside-down land. The under-21 audience especially should get high-quality stories of bravery, selflessness, hard-work, achievement, etc as examples to learn from and emulate.
Instead we glorify madness, violence and perversion and then wonder what's wrong with kids nowadays....
Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan at October 11, 2023 11:35 AM (3k7Yt)

Even though things look grim, we can always share the classic tales from our own youth that inspired us to become who we are today. That's why the Sunday Morning Book Thread is so important--it shows us we are not alone and that we can always find great literature to share with the people that matter most.

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IT PAYS TO INCREASE YOUR FICTIONAL GEOGRAPHY

Stormspike -- In the frozen north of the lands of Osten Ard is a mountain known as "Stormspike" in the Westerling tongue, "Sturmrspeik" by its Rimmersgarder neighbors, and "Nakkiga" by the ancient race of Fair Folk who have called it home since long before men entered these lands. It's ruled by Utuk'ku, the Queen of the Silver Mask, who is the heart and soul of her people. They live and die at her whim, glad only that their death has meaning in Utuk'ku's mad plans to dominate the world and rid it of those pesky mortals who drove the Fair Folk from their homes in Osten Ard.

Pico Mundo -- Located on the outskirts of the Mojave Desert in California, this small town in the home of Odd Thomas, a short order cook who can see the dead, though they never speak. He doesn't know why. But they can communicate somehow and Odd Thomas uses his gifts to bring the spirits of the dead their final rest. Also, he hangs out with the ghost of Elvis (yes, THAT Elvis) who is still clinging to this world. The town itself seems to be a weirdness magnet of sorts, like Sunnydale from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I suppose, though I don't know if a Hellmouth is involved.

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Did somebody recommend The Ninth Metal by Benjamin Percy? If so, thanks. Fun read.
It's a cosmic horror/crime/SF story about the aftermath of Earth passing through a comet's debris trail and being bombarded by meteorites. Some of them contained a new metal dubbed "omnimetal", which has unusual properties. A tiny mining and lumber town in northern Minnesota is chock full of the stuff and is being transformed by all the money (and industry and crime) flooding in.
Percy describes a protest by the usual NPR crowd and eco-warriors (in the shadow of a forty-foot Paul Bunyan statue):
"This has been standard in Northfall since he was a kid. The region is defined by protest. That's what happens when you live in a place remarkable for its in-betweenness; the extremes yank it in opposite directions. Was it the crown of the United States or the ass of Canada?"
There are a lot of unsavory elements establishing themselves here, including a top secret DoD research facility where a child is being held captive as a test subject for cruel experiments.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 08, 2023 09:18 AM (Fannw)

Comment: Isn't this how Wakanda ended up with "vibranium" in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? This story also seems to contain elements from Stranger Things with the description of the top-secret government lab experimenting on children.

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Finished The Law of Self Defense: The Indispensable Guide for the Armed Citizen by Andrew Branca. This is the hardback signed copy the author provided to the Horde at a discount. Clear and lucid, it flows easily.
The take home messages are: Protect your life and those close to you. Strangers are on their own. Do not protect strangers. Don't protect property.
Calling 911, give name and location, and three phrases:
I was attacked. I was in fear of my life. I had to defend myself. Request medicinal help, if needed.
When police arrive: Identify yourself. The same three phrases. Identify evidence that helps you, and witnesses.
At the police station: "I assert my right to silence. I assert my right to counsel." Then shut up until you have a lawyer present.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 08, 2023 09:44 AM (u82oZ)

Comment: Johnny Law is not on your side these days, if he ever was. The cops where I live are pretty decent folks for the most part, but I do tend to keep a bit of a wary eye on them when they are nearby. It's sad that we can no longer be allowed to protect our neighbors and property without running a risk of going to jail ourselves.

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In the current week of putting off Anna Karenina and Bleak House, I read A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand. It's set in Hill House (yep, THAT Hill House), and while it ain't Shirley Jackson -- what is? -- it's not a bad read and there are some nicely creepy moments to it. Jackson's estate was on board with Hand doing the book, and while I think some of the blurbs on its Amazon page are just a tad extreme, it's a good one. A nice Halloween season read.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 08, 2023 10:00 AM (a/4+U)

Comment: Sometimes it's fun to read an "authorized" sequel to a story, as long as the authors are respectful of the original tale and maintain the spirit of the original author's writing style. Not that long ago I read an "authorized" sequel to H. G. Wells' The Time Machine written by Stephen Baxter called The Time Ships. In this re-imagining, the Time Traveller from the first story goes on another trip through time and space, eventually going to the end of the universe and coming out the other side. It's Stephen Baxter so the ending is pretty far out there...

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (1000+ Moron-recommended books!)

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WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

The Last King of Osten Ard Book 3 - Into the Narrowdark by Tad Williams -- This is really the first half of the last volume, but Tad is incapable of writing trilogies, so the last book is often split into two volumes.

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz - This was recommended last week, and several folks had positive things to say about Koontz. I'm giving it a try because it was available for checkout from the library in which I work (but do not work for). Not bad.

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 - 10-08-23 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

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1 Time machine is off by a couple minutes.

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy MAGA Extremist at October 15, 2023 08:56 AM (DBek0)

2 No reading this week

Posted by: rhennigantx at October 15, 2023 08:59 AM (lwOKI)

3 Book 'em, Danno!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at October 15, 2023 08:59 AM (OiikL)

4 hiya

Posted by: JT at October 15, 2023 09:01 AM (T4tVD)

5 Tolle Lege

Slowly reading JRR Tolkien Silmarillion
See why 30 years ago bailed out on it. But determined to try and get through it

Posted by: Skip at October 15, 2023 09:01 AM (fwDg9)

6 Tolle Lege!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at October 15, 2023 09:01 AM (PiwSw)

7 A library with a steering wheel? Is that the autobiography section?

Posted by: fd at October 15, 2023 09:01 AM (vFG9F)

8 Missed it by *that* much.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at October 15, 2023 09:01 AM (PiwSw)

9 Nice, dank, rainy reading weather lately.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 15, 2023 09:01 AM (WKD+E)

10 Thanks Perf. Now for the content.

Posted by: 13times at October 15, 2023 09:02 AM (JFSZI)

11 Oh, it's for a river boat. Must be the Mark Twain section.

Posted by: fd at October 15, 2023 09:02 AM (vFG9F)

12 Started reading Freemasons for Dummies 2nd Edition.

Obviously I have nothing better to do. Just mason around.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at October 15, 2023 09:03 AM (OiikL)

13 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading. Mine was interesting.

Posted by: JTB at October 15, 2023 09:03 AM (7EjX1)

14 Skip wins this week's Tolkien prize! Pipeweed and a mithril roach clip.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 15, 2023 09:04 AM (WKD+E)

15 I'm in the third novel in Benjamin Percy's Comet Cycle, about strange things afoot across the land after Earth passed through a comet's tail and was bombarded by Lovecraftian space debris.

"The Sky Vault" takes place in Alaska. During a flight, local DJ, amateur meteorologist, and conspiracy nut Chuck Bridges swears that he's seen strange tentacled maw-like vortexes open up in the clouds. He even has it captured on video, but nobody believes him. And the voices!

"The first time he noticed it -- the whispering in his headphones when he cued up Zeppelin -- he wondered if he was picking up another frequency. And then he got this feeling -- this tingle-at-the-back-of-his-neck feeling -- that made him tear off his headset and spin around in his chair to make sure he was alone in the studio. And that's when he saw it. Out the window. The darkening sky. The lowering shoots. The swirling nexus."

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 15, 2023 09:05 AM (WKD+E)

16 Good morning, fellow readers. I'm usually not able to read this thread until later in the day, but we are not headed to church as usual bc son is not feeling well. So here I am.
Just finished Chip Gaines's book, (Fixer Upper show) "Capital Gaines" Light read, interesting, part bio, part inspirational (dream your dream and then go out and do it). It was good for a distraction from the news.
Next up is "Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes," a gift from a friend. Looking forward to this. At Bible study the other night we were discussing the situation in Israel, and we talked about how the West either doesn't understand the true culture of the Middle East, or doesn't want to. It is hard to understand the blood lust.

Posted by: TecumsehTea at October 15, 2023 09:05 AM (JrYM1)

17 There are strange portals through time/space dotting the area. Are they related to an abandoned base outside Fairbanks that in 1943 was a sister site to Los Alamos, and also conducting atomic experiments? Did they accidentally create unstable wormholes, like the one at Tunguska?

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 15, 2023 09:06 AM (WKD+E)

18 This isn't specifically about a book, but it's related to what PS discusses above for books. I was on a couple of long flights last week, so watched movies to pass the time. I figured I would watch all the Marvel movies I won't see in a theater or on D-, and I am very, VERY glad I didn't pay money to see them in a theater. The wokeness was out of control, with race swaps, lesbian couples, favorable references to socialism, and of course, lots of stronk women. On top of all that, the movies were formulaic and tediously boring. It's astonishing that Disney has simply refused to correct course, and keeps pushing the same garbage that has landed them in their current financial pickle.

Posted by: Archimedes at October 15, 2023 09:06 AM (I/Qkd)

19 Oh, those poor, doomed, dyslexic children...

Good Sunday morning, horde!

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at October 15, 2023 09:06 AM (OX9vb)

20 Morning, all! The Book Thread is one I stop to read the content first, before commenting.

Just finished a recent Amos Walker private eye novel by Loren D. Estleman, When Old Midnight Comes Along. Estleman still has Walker working in Detroit and environs, and he still does not flinch from reporting what the city proper has devolved into. The plot is complex, and sometimes Estleman's writing and dialog style requires you to reread a paragraph to understand completely what is being revealed. Still, solid stuff in the tradition of Raymond Chandler. And LDE is one of the few in the field who can spin words almost as well as Chandler did.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 15, 2023 09:07 AM (omVj0)

21 Slowly reading JRR Tolkien Silmarillion
See why 30 years ago bailed out on it. But determined to try and get through it

Posted by: Skip at October 15, 2023 09:01 AM (fwDg9)
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It took me two tries back in the day. It starts out like the Old Testament, but that shifts after the elves awaken. By the time the Silmarils are stolen, it's cooking and some of Tolkien's most vivid and powerful description.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 09:07 AM (llXky)

22 Not much actual reading this week but a lot of looking. I had my first cataract surgery this week. To quote Weasel: "Holy shit balls!" The difference and improvement is astonishing. Print is sharper, colors are more brilliant, and EVERYTHING is brighter. I expected change but not to this extent. I've been looking through a number of art books like the Brambly Hedge illustrations, Redoute's botanical watercolors, and the Alan Lee LOTR Sketchbooks. (Obligatory Tolkien mention.) I didn't realize my astigmatism, which was severe, involved reading or other close-in matters and not just distance. That is corrected now in the one eye and reading hasn't been this comfortable for years.

The next surgery is this week and I can't wait. This, for a dedicated reader, is life enhancing.

Posted by: JTB at October 15, 2023 09:08 AM (7EjX1)

23 Oh, those poor, doomed, dyslexic children...

Good Sunday morning, horde!
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at October 15, 2023 09:06 AM (OX9vb)
-

Especially the obese kids on statins.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at October 15, 2023 09:09 AM (OiikL)

24 I’m reading Solzhenitsyn’s The Oak and the Calf. I didn’t realize that it was “just” a description of his interactions with the Soviet literary establishment from his first publication (A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich) on.

It is especially fascinating because he remembers how clueless he was at the start, and how his main concern was to never stand out. Everyone was afraid to stand out, and dealt with it in different ways. Either slavish deference to immediate superiors, or a refusal to answer questions directly, or not taking opportunities offered, or apparently minor risks because this is not the hill to die on.

I’m only about 20% in so far, but it is sadly relevant already.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at October 15, 2023 09:09 AM (wTPdR)

25 9 Nice, dank, rainy reading weather lately.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 15, 2023 09:01 AM (WKD+E)

Made more perfect if one has a fireplace (alas, I do not) and an apple pie baking in the oven.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at October 15, 2023 09:09 AM (OX9vb)

26 My current book is a 2003 Lawrence Block, Such Men Are Dangerous. Not a Matt Scudder story, it picks up with a military vet named Paul Kavanagh (and that name is familiar for some reason) who is being recruited by some agency of the Feds. A very easy read, as Block's works always are. I'm waiting to see what he does with this.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 15, 2023 09:09 AM (omVj0)

27 Read another Matt Helm book, available on Internet Archive. I'll have to see if all of them are.

Fast, fun read. Also watched three of the Dean Martin movies (the third one was pay - nah. As their false god said: At some point you've made enough money.)

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 15, 2023 09:11 AM (Angsy)

28 On top of all that, the movies were formulaic and tediously boring. It's astonishing that Disney has simply refused to correct course, and keeps pushing the same garbage that has landed them in their current financial pickle.
Posted by: Archimedes at October 15, 2023 09:06 AM (I/Qkd)

They literally have one fucking plot. The Bad Guy wants The Thing that will enable him to destroy the universe/enslave all life/misgender Bud Lite spokesmen/whatever. The hero challenges him, the hero gets pancaked, the hero crawls away and discovers the Power of Friendship and that The Power Was In Them All Along, comes back and wins. Blam pow CGI sarcastic quip dialogue post-credit teaser the end.

It's CGI professional wrestling. That's all. Some of the earlier to mid movies were entertaining but it's clapped out and has been for years now.

Posted by: Vanya at October 15, 2023 09:11 AM (v27SO)

29 Dan Jones is the best author of narrative history writing in English right now. Read for of his books the past year and looking for more

Posted by: JoeF. at October 15, 2023 09:12 AM (sZkrh)

30 The hackfrauds at RLM had a great breakdown of the new Blecchcorsist movie, complete with intercuts of Blatty cussin' and eyerollin':

https://tinyurl.com/36x5rcjh

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 15, 2023 09:12 AM (WKD+E)

31 Have to once again thank the person who recommended John Van Stry. Picked up 3 of his "Hammer Commision" books; "The Hammer Commission", "Wolf Killer", and Loose Ends".

These novels are not as long as some modern writers (looking at you, Tad Williams), but they are well constructed and very fun reading. Thinking about getting his "Portal" series now. In the meantime back to the Drizzt compendium.

-SLV

Posted by: Shy Lurking Voter at October 15, 2023 09:12 AM (e/Osv)

32 I read "Suicide, Inc." by Ron Goulart. This space fantasy programmer isn't worth the time or brainpower I'd need to compose a review. At least I'm done with it, and it's gone to a Little Free Library box.

Request for Moron bibliophiles: Please recommend good used-book stores in the Dallas side of the metroplex. I see that Half Price Books has outlets littered all over the area; are some better than others?

Posted by: Weak Geek, counting down the days at October 15, 2023 09:12 AM (p/isN)

33 I saw the length of the post and for a moment thought Ace had gotten up and done a movie review.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at October 15, 2023 09:12 AM (F0UNL)

34 And now, a book review.

I read The Loom of Time, by Robert Kaplan. It's an overview of the muslim world by a man who has been traveling throughout it for 50 years. He examines individual states and their histories, and then discusses why he thinks most of them have failed.

I don't agree with all his conclusions, but one he gets right is that while democracy is desirable, countries like most of those in the mideast simply aren't cohesive enough as ethnic entities for a democracy to exist. A strong man is not only necessary in most cases, he's imperative, and critically, desired by most of the population, who fear anarchy more than dictatorship. This is, of course, contrary to the assumptions we made in Iraq, Libya, and other places where the replacement for a dictator was chaos and anarchy, and ultimately an even worse dictator.

All in all, it was not an encouraging book, but it's full of insights grounded in an understanding of the specific countries, their history, and demography. Recommended.

Posted by: Archimedes at October 15, 2023 09:13 AM (I/Qkd)

35 I remember Block’s book on writing from a long time ago (I might have been 28) was very helpful and a good combo of why you would write and the nuts and bolts of it. Writing the Novel.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at October 15, 2023 09:13 AM (wTPdR)

36 You're not fooling anybody when you hide the pimp hat from the forward-operating surveillance crew.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at October 15, 2023 09:13 AM (KVGVf)

37 Powers & Thrones is the latest, but The Plantangenets and The War of the Roses are the best.

Posted by: JoeF. at October 15, 2023 09:14 AM (sZkrh)

38 It's CGI professional wrestling.

Stolen status:
[X] Stolen
[ ] Not stolen

Posted by: Archimedes at October 15, 2023 09:14 AM (I/Qkd)

39 Made more perfect if one has a fireplace (alas, I do not) and an apple pie baking in the oven.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at October 15, 2023 09:09 AM (OX9vb)
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No fireplace, no cats, no apple pie. *le sadz*

I do have classical music and coffee wafting through the air.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 15, 2023 09:15 AM (WKD+E)

40 You're not fooling anybody when you hide the pimp hat from the forward-operating surveillance crew.
Posted by: Dr. Bone at October 15, 2023 09:13 AM (KVGVf)
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SPOILER: It's a layer I turn on/off as needed in Adobe Illustrator.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 15, 2023 09:16 AM (BpYfr)

41 Please recommend good used-book stores in the Dallas side of the metroplex.

I don’t get up that way much except very early in the morning when book stores are all closed, but I have noticed a lot of interesting book sales in that area on booksalefinder.com/TX.html.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at October 15, 2023 09:18 AM (wTPdR)

42 I also read Max Hastings’s The Abyss, about the Cuban Missile Crisis, and while it was a good read, he’s a little too impressed with JFK

But at least he’s no Commie—- Castro is portrayed as a hot headed Latin fool

Posted by: JoeF. at October 15, 2023 09:18 AM (sZkrh)

43 When police arrive: Identify yourself. The same three phrases. Identify evidence that helps you, and witnesses.
At the police station: "I assert my right to silence. I assert my right to counsel." Then shut up until you have a lawyer present.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 08, 2023 09:44 AM (u82oZ)'

I will add, state you don't feel well, have chest pains, or can't breathe and be taken to the ER. You are then in medical care and it at least buys you some time to think. Assuming you are not for-real injured which you may very well be!

Posted by: LenNeal at October 15, 2023 09:18 AM (/BBNv)

44 I only have one Ron Goulart paperback, "Heil Hibbler"which I bought for the cheezeriffic cover. I tried reading it but lost interest.

He was prolific, I'll give Ron that.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 15, 2023 09:19 AM (WKD+E)

45 I missed last week because I was up at the Straits of Mackinac experiencing the annual Halloween celebration at the fort.

While there, I picked up a copy of At the Crossroads: Michilimackinac During the American Revolution by Armour and Widder.

This is a neat book, well-illustrated with period pictures and photos of recovered artifacts, plus line drawings of uniforms and lots of maps. It does a great job of capturing what was going on in the Great Lakes basin in the 1770s.

The narrative moves slowly at first as the authors set the scene and this involves a detailed look at how life was intimately tied to the turning of the seasons. In the spring the trade canoes would go out, laden with goods and by summer, a huge community was gathered at the Straits, partying, fighting, trading, and negotiating. In the fall, it was time to prep for winter and set the trap lines for the season's furs, which would of course be brought to the fort next spring.

One of my favorite details is that Matchekewis, the Ojibwe leader who took the fort by surprise in 1763 and massacred the British garrison, was by 1775 living in nearby Cheboygan and visited the fort often as an honored guest.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 09:19 AM (llXky)

46 Stolen status:
[X] Stolen
[ ] Not stolen
Posted by: Archimedes at October 15, 2023 09:14 AM (I/Qkd)

I've said this before and I'll say it again: The difference between the WWE and the MCU is that to the best of my knowledge, no MCU character has hit another one over the head with a folding chair.

Posted by: Vanya at October 15, 2023 09:19 AM (v27SO)

47 SPB I was just going to link that.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at October 15, 2023 09:20 AM (PiwSw)

48 But at least he’s no Commie—- Castro is portrayed as a hot headed Latin fool
Posted by: JoeF. at October 15, 2023 09:18 AM (sZkrh)

Oh yes!!

Posted by: Zombie Margaret Trudeau at October 15, 2023 09:21 AM (PiwSw)

49 Slowly reading JRR Tolkien Silmarillion
See why 30 years ago bailed out on it. But determined to try and get through it
Posted by: Skip at October 15, 2023 09:01 AM (fwDg9)

Hang in there, Skip! It only took me fifty to finish LoTR.

Posted by: sal: tolle adversarium et afflige inimicum at October 15, 2023 09:21 AM (KB0Aa)

50 Are not public universities like public schools, examples of SOCIALISM?

Posted by: Paul at October 15, 2023 09:21 AM (sUmC6)

51 SPB I was just going to link that.

I try to remember to look at all the states I’m driving through whenever I go on a trip.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at October 15, 2023 09:22 AM (wTPdR)

52 I'm rereading The Queens and the Hive, about Queens Mary, Elizabeth I, and Mary Queen of Scots. This time through what strikes me is that the blood lust of Hamas that seems so alien would have been familiar to our ancestors of the 16th century. Matter of fact acceptance of torture. Religion being a reason for horrible conflicts. I keep having to put it down, even though I've read it many times. This time it seems too close.

Posted by: Wenda at October 15, 2023 09:22 AM (EXPqc)

53 They literally have one fucking plot. The Bad Guy wants The Thing that will enable him to destroy the universe/enslave all life/misgender Bud Lite spokesmen/whatever. The hero challenges him, the hero gets pancaked, the hero crawls away and discovers the Power of Friendship and that The Power Was In Them All Along, comes back and wins. Blam pow CGI sarcastic quip dialogue post-credit teaser the end.

Posted by: Vanya at October 15, 2023 09:11 AM (v27SO)
---
Sorry, that's Old and Busted. The New Hotness is that the hero never gets pancaked because She is Stunning and Brave, and so the plot turns into an extended chase sequence where both sides use ever more contrived methods to extend the film the full 2 hours before the hero effortlessly wins.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 09:23 AM (llXky)

54 Read Junk Love (JL) this week along w/three mysteries by L.A. Dobbs. JL is recommended (does being in the "written by morons" class automatically make it recommended?) due to its snappy dialog, humor, and portrayal of mostly realistic people in mostly realistic situations. A long time ago, I remember watching a couple of movies, one a comedy and the other an adaptation of All Things Bright and Beautiful. The ATBAB was much funnier than the comedy because it alternated the funny stuff with human interest stuff. JL does much the same thing.

I do look forward to the next two books, though not if the price zooms to stupid levels.

Posted by: yara at October 15, 2023 09:23 AM (xr64u)

55 To celebrate my 'new' eyes, I splurged on a few books I've been meaning to get for a long time. I got the Barnes and Noble Leatherbound Classics of Howard Pyle's "Merry Adventures of Robin Hood" and "The Story of King Arthur and his Knights". It should be fun reading with that quasi Shakespearean English Pyle used and I love his illustrations. Also got the B and N Leatherbound version of "Dracula" which I've been meaning to read for the last fifty years. The series is nicely bound and the quality of the print and any pictures has been excellent in the past.

Posted by: JTB at October 15, 2023 09:24 AM (7EjX1)

56 Finishing up a terrific biography of the great 18th century Puritan theologian, Jonathan Edwards by a man who was a professor at a RC school:

https://tinyurl.com/5n8hbhz7

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at October 15, 2023 09:24 AM (HgT1s)

57 I've said this before and I'll say it again: The difference between the WWE and the MCU is that to the best of my knowledge, no MCU character has hit another one over the head with a folding chair.

Posted by: Vanya at October 15, 2023 09:19 AM (v27SO)
---
WWE has much better dialog, plot lines and character development.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 09:24 AM (llXky)

58 I do have classical music and coffee wafting through the air.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 15, 2023 09:15 AM (WKD+E)

Also good.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at October 15, 2023 09:25 AM (OX9vb)

59 Morning Book Hoarde.

This week I've been reading The Forgotten 500. By Gregory Freeman.
Been working on it off and on now for about 3 months as books like this one often send me into actual research.
It's about a rescue mission into Serbia to extract downed bomber crews during WW2 right under the nose of the Nazis.
Things I have drawn from it is I do not hate MI6 enough and Tito was the wrong guy to back in Serbia. Of course MI6 knew that but they were 100% commie scum and actually tried to sabatage the mission more than once. Once even trying to drop the lead team right into the hands of the Nazis.

Anyway. Gotta do the roof today so as not to get rained on inside the house. Projects call and time is running short.

It's still dark out...

Had the grands over during the eclipse yesterday. Soon the whole neighborhood was in front of my house using my welding helmets to see the event. Which was cool. I relished in being able to show those kids something they won't see again for 20 odd years. And give them a short education in Astronomy. Lord knows nobody else is.

Sometimes I think I love the kids around here more than their parents and I can't even remember all their names.

Posted by: Reforger at October 15, 2023 09:25 AM (q39eX)

60 For reading, I haven't done much this week. The usual perusing of books on Archive or Google Books; mostly I spent the time trying to organize what I've already done, which is in huge piles both physical and electronic.
Assembled a 'book', really a series of set-pieces I write for fun about a vampire, in this sequel she/it goes to Mexico. I've got more than enough for a whole book, just some fill-in (famous last words).
Still dealing with incoming from the Turkish Earthquake 02/2023, from traumatized people who are NOT writers, what an incredible PIA. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm decent and compassionate to the people, but to state here, all these people are a ginormous pain, creatively speaking. The input is chaotic, disorganized, irrelevant, off-topic, and emotionally unhinged. I'm getting a lot of 'WHY?'. Like, why am I being punished by losing my whole family, what did I do to deserve this, etc. And I'm like, 'This isn't really the point of this piece, could we get back on topic, please? Now what time was it when your house collapsed? I'm not your priest'.
I had no idea this was going to be such a hassle. But now it's started, so... in for a penny.

Posted by: LenNeal at October 15, 2023 09:26 AM (/BBNv)

61 Finishing up a terrific biography of the great 18th century Puritan theologian, Jonathan Edwards by a man who was a professor at a RC school:

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at October 15, 2023 09:24 AM (HgT1s)
---
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" was required reading in high school. It is beyond parody. I like to read it to the kids in the style of Ian McKellen's preacher character in "Cold Comfort Farm."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 09:26 AM (llXky)

62 Request for Moron bibliophiles: Please recommend good used-book stores in the Dallas side of the metroplex. I see that Half Price Books has outlets littered all over the area; are some better than others?
Posted by: Weak Geek

Half Price is a great resource, and yes, some are better than others. It seems that the reading habits of the locals will determine the type of books available. There is one in Irving that you would expect to be a gold mine, but outside of true crime and modern novels is surprisingly sparse, while the one in Fort Worth near Lockheed is chock full of history books.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at October 15, 2023 09:29 AM (F0UNL)

63 well Fidel was a Soviet tool, recruited by Leonov, like Sakharovsky did Arafat, (that's probably not metaphorical)

Posted by: no 6 at October 15, 2023 09:29 AM (PXvVL)

64 Youth reads:
(Remember I'm old, okay?)
I discovered that you can get facsimile copies of practically anything. I bought most of a YA series I loved when I was in middle school- the Beany Malone books by
Leonora Mattingly Weber.
I loved them, but times have changed so much that I'm not sure they would even be intelligible to young girls today, so their message of family cohesion, hard work, being true to yourself and your good values would be discounted.

Posted by: sal: tolle adversarium et afflige inimicum at October 15, 2023 09:29 AM (KB0Aa)

65 To avoid straying any further OT, this week I am continuing to read Paul Johnson's Birth of the Modern, and it remains excellent.

Posted by: Vanya at October 15, 2023 09:29 AM (v27SO)

66 I started reading Exodus this week, by Leon Uris. I've had it for ages, and never got it to the top of the list. Seemed like a good time to prioritize it.

About 1/3 in, and I am realizing I need to find a good and interesting comprehensive history of Palestine.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at October 15, 2023 09:30 AM (OX9vb)

67 Things I have drawn from it is I do not hate MI6 enough and Tito was the wrong guy to back in Serbia. Of course MI6 knew that but they were 100% commie scum and actually tried to sabatage the mission more than once. Once even trying to drop the lead team right into the hands of the Nazis.

Posted by: Reforger at October 15, 2023 09:25 AM (q39eX)
---
The final book of Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour Trilogy, Unconditional Surrender, deals with this topic. Waugh himself served with the Partisans, and recognized what was going to happen after the Communists gained control.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 09:30 AM (llXky)

68 I like to read it to the kids in the style of Ian McKellen's preacher character in "Cold Comfort Farm."
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 09:26 AM (llXky)

"THERE IS NO BUTTER IN HELL!"

Posted by: Vanya at October 15, 2023 09:30 AM (v27SO)

69 Slowly reading JRR Tolkien Silmarillion
See why 30 years ago bailed out on it. But determined to try and get through it
Posted by: Skip at October 15, 2023 09:01 AM (fwDg9)

Hang in there, Skip! It only took me fifty to finish LoTR.
Posted by: sal: tolle adversarium et afflige inimicum at October 15, 2023 09:21 AM (KB0Aa)

Long ago and far away, I bailed on reading the Silmarillion as well.

If this makes sense, I felt like I was reading the ingredient list instead of eating the full banquet plus dessert and after-dinner brandies that is the Lord of the Rings.

I've been somewhat tempted to give it another try, but I've found through experience that my first impression of something is usually the correct one. Though not always.

Posted by: naturalfake at October 15, 2023 09:31 AM (QzZeQ)

70 yes Fitzroy Mclean was head of the the MI-6 mission, to the Balkans, the choices were slim though, who was a non communist faction, that would fight the Ustachi

Posted by: no 6 at October 15, 2023 09:31 AM (PXvVL)

71 I just received Rand Paul's new book about the Covid coverup - Deception. Should get to start it this week.

Posted by: Muad'dib at October 15, 2023 09:32 AM (ER9HB)

72 ahoy maties
hard to starboard
the port books are all marx marxism and marxist

Posted by: rhennigantx at October 15, 2023 09:32 AM (lwOKI)

73 This week I've been reading The Forgotten 500. By Gregory Freeman.
Been working on it off and on now for about 3 months as books like this one often send me into actual research.
It's about a rescue mission into Serbia to extract downed bomber crews during WW2 right under the nose of the Nazis.'

Interesting choice, and made a little more interesting by the fact US and British bomber crews flying to Ploesti and other targets were instructed to dump unused ordnance on then-Yugoslavia randomly as it was an 'enemy country', which it was not. So Allied bombers dumped huge amounts of bombs on Yugo for no reason at all, totally randomly, on whatever appeared in their sights on their returns or if they had to turn back.
US bombs in WWII killed more Yugos than the official Nazi bombs ever did.
I hear all about it when I'm there, believe me! It's super fun.

Posted by: LenNeal at October 15, 2023 09:32 AM (/BBNv)

74 Joan Peters Time Immemorial if you can find it, gives you perspective on the origin of the palestinians,

Posted by: no 6 at October 15, 2023 09:32 AM (PXvVL)

75 BTW, a great number of post-WW II Communist dictators cut their teeth during the Spanish Civil War. Tito was there, so was Hoxha of Albania. A bunch of defense ministers in the Warsaw Pact were there as well.

If only there was a good book on the topic...

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 09:33 AM (llXky)

76 Finishing up a terrific biography of the great 18th century Puritan theologian, Jonathan Edwards by a man who was a professor at a RC school:

https://tinyurl.com/5n8hbhz7
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at October 15, 2023 09:24 AM (HgT1s)

His hit song, "Sunshine" was the best!

Posted by: naturalfake at October 15, 2023 09:34 AM (QzZeQ)

77 Request for Moron bibliophiles: Please recommend good used-book stores in the Dallas side of the metroplex. I see that Half Price Books has outlets littered all over the area; are some better than others?
Posted by: Weak Geek, counting down the days at October 15, 2023 09:12 AM (p/isN)

Son works in their warehouse, in fact. I am familiar with the ones in N. Dallas mostly. There are good ones in Lewisville, Plano, Preston Rd north of LBJ and of course, the Mothership on Loop 12 east of 75.

We tended to use them as an expensive lending library.

Our nearest one now is in Waco, but it's an outlet, or as he puts it "Last stop before the pulper".

Posted by: sal: tolle adversarium et afflige inimicum at October 15, 2023 09:34 AM (KB0Aa)

78 Thanks to all who have responded so far.

I've ordered online from HPB, so I know it's a quality retailer. As for the type of books I'm after -- Gardner, Stout, Westlake, Charteris.

I'd also like to replace some Retief books with more pleasing covers. One shows him dressed as an ancient soldier -- what? For a diplomat?

Posted by: Weak Geek, counting down the days at October 15, 2023 09:35 AM (p/isN)

79 His hit song, "Sunshine" was the best!

Might lay around the shanty today and listen to it.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at October 15, 2023 09:35 AM (wTPdR)

80 74 Joan Peters Time Immemorial if you can find it, gives you perspective on the origin of the palestinians,
Posted by: no 6 at October 15, 2023 09:32 AM (PXvVL)

Just put it on reserve at the library. Thanks, no 6.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at October 15, 2023 09:35 AM (OX9vb)

81 If only there was a good book on the topic...
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd'

Your book is very good.

Posted by: LenNeal at October 15, 2023 09:36 AM (/BBNv)

82 I've been somewhat tempted to give it another try, but I've found through experience that my first impression of something is usually the correct one. Though not always.

Posted by: naturalfake at October 15, 2023 09:31 AM (QzZeQ)
---
Skip ahead to The Darkening of Valinor and flip back if you need to know who people are. The names are bit confusing at first because they are so similar. Once the Noldor get back to Middle Earth, it reads more like LotR, only the battle scenes are amped up to 11.

Tactical deployment of dragons, FTW!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 09:36 AM (llXky)

83 Posted by: naturalfake at October 15, 2023 09:34 AM (QzZeQ)

Had a really long life too. 😉

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at October 15, 2023 09:36 AM (h+Gid)

84 ... it cost them their lives and possibly their sanity. ...

********

Not necessarily in that order.

Posted by: Muldoon at October 15, 2023 09:36 AM (l4B/J)

85 Good morning all.
Read another Robert Parker book, number 8 in the Spenser series titled A Savage Place. It was okay but the weakest one I've read lately as neither Hawk nor Susan Silverman make an appearance. There is excellent repartee in his books but he gets very hung up with what Spenser eats and describing every street he drives down and he does a lot of driving.
I'm wondering if some of the authors who took over for him do a better job and if so which ones?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 15, 2023 09:37 AM (t/2Uw)

86 Can't hang around today, I'm off to spend the day with mama. Good day, horde.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at October 15, 2023 09:37 AM (OX9vb)

87 His hit song, "Sunshine" was the best!

Posted by: naturalfake at October 15, 2023 09:34 AM (QzZeQ)
---
A lot of covers skip the verse where God looks at you as a loathsome thing, like a spider, holding it over a pit of fire, wishing to cast it in.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 09:38 AM (llXky)

88 Finished Robert Galbraith's ( J.K. Rowling) "The Running Grave". Highly recommended. The author vividly describes how easily mind control is achieved in the plot about an evil pseudo religious cult. All the time I was reading I had the uncomfortable feeling I was reading about today's leftist cultist behaviors.

Posted by: Tuna at October 15, 2023 09:38 AM (oaGWv)

89 Rockford IL had a Half-Price Books Outlet and I used to make the trip a few times a year, always came back with something cool.
But it's closed now.

Posted by: LenNeal at October 15, 2023 09:38 AM (/BBNv)

90 Your book is very good.

Posted by: LenNeal at October 15, 2023 09:36 AM (/BBNv)
---
Thanks!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 09:39 AM (llXky)

91 I read JFK And The Unspeakable: Why He Died And Why It Matters by James W. Douglass. In his interview with Tucker Carlson, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. called this the best book on the assassination of his uncle. This is a very detailed, well-researched account of the events which led to President Kennedy being targeted, the planning and execution of the killing, and it aftermath.

Kennedy was locked in a struggle with the national security state. His failure to support the Bay of Pigs invasion with air support, his deal with Khruschev not to invade Cuba and his withdrawal of missiles from Turkey and Italy, his American University address on peace, and the Test Ban Treaty were some of the causes of the struggle with the security state, the military and large business interests. The final straw may have been made six weeks before his death when Kennedy issued an order to withdraw one thousand troops from Vietnam and total withdrawal by the end of 1965. It is certain the CIA planned and carried out the execution of a U. S. President. It's less certain if the order came from the Director of the CIA or from higher up. A challenging but fascinating read.

Posted by: Zoltan at October 15, 2023 09:41 AM (7EvEN)

92 About 1/3 in, and I am realizing I need to find a good and interesting comprehensive history of Palestine.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at October 15, 2023 09:30 AM (OX9vb)

I have a book full of photos of Jerusalem from back in the 1920s. Printed in Germany. I took it to Kincos once, made copies of my favorite pics and did a framed collage type of thing.
It really is amazing what old B/W pictures can look like zoomed in.

At one point I tried to see if I could get modern views from the same spots the pics were photographed from but Giggle Erf is from roads. Not hill tops and such that are now covered in houses and buildings.

Posted by: Reforger at October 15, 2023 09:41 AM (p4/l6)

93 The first time I read the Silmarillion I was disappointed, like many others. I expected another LOTR type story. It was only after I approached it as a tutorial to Tolkien's world, not an entertaining story, that it came alive for me and I could enjoy his invention and writing.

Posted by: JTB at October 15, 2023 09:41 AM (7EjX1)

94 I keep coming back to the same book I read almost every weekend when I develop an appetite for something more than just Chef Boyardee raviolis.

The Deplorable Gourmet - now you've done it!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at October 15, 2023 09:41 AM (KVGVf)

95 Howard Sachar has a doorstop of a book about Jewish history, the middle east part is largely in the last quarter,

Posted by: no 6 at October 15, 2023 09:42 AM (PXvVL)

96 It has probably been covered before, but this week I am rereading "War for Eternity: Inside Bannon's Far-Right Circle of Global Power Brokers by Benjamin R. Teitelbaum. The author is a lefty, but it is an interesting read.

Teitelbaum provides a fascinating account of Bannon's global network of Traditionalist allies. He shows how Bannon has worked to build a network of right-wing leaders and intellectuals who are united by their shared opposition to modernity and their desire to create a new world order.

The book also examines the ideology of Traditionalism in detail, explaining its key tenets and showing how it is being used to justify a range of far-right policies. He argues that Traditionalism is a dangerous and anti-democratic ideology that poses a serious threat to liberal democracy around the world.

Posted by: Rob at October 15, 2023 09:42 AM (QWpX/)

97 It's less certain if the order came from the Director of the CIA or from higher up. A challenging but fascinating read.

Posted by: Zoltan at October 15, 2023 09:41 AM (7EvEN)

Johnson and Onassis. First wanted his job, second wanted his wife.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 15, 2023 09:42 AM (Angsy)

98 I bought a new copy of Lone Star Sons by Celia Hayes (Sgt Mom here) for my grandson's birthday. It was like six bucks. Looked for the two remaining in the series and can't get even a used copy for less than $12.50. I can get kindle for 99 cents, but I don't want that. I've looked at a number of used book sites and they are all about the same. Guessing there aren't lots of these in print.

Posted by: TecumsehTea at October 15, 2023 09:42 AM (JrYM1)

99 Ooh Tuna, I'm jealous. Still waiting for my copy from the library. I'd buy a copy but I still have the new Sanderson The Sunlit Man in my queue so will probably get a copy by the time I finish that one. Hav a plane trip coming up(🤠

so should have some uninterrupted reading time.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 15, 2023 09:43 AM (t/2Uw)

100 Getting back to the Straints, Matchekewis remained an influential figure and it was customary for the fort's new commanders to sit down and chat with him, which had to be awkward.

Yet everyone was fine with it, and I get the sense that one could write a killer book series/TV show because so many oddball characters were wandering about, random adventurers, half-caste traders, ambitious officers and of course now and again the traveling priest would show up and go through a multi-year backlog of weddings, confessions, burial, baptisms, etc.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 09:44 AM (llXky)

101 NOTE: Today's first reference to Tolkien comes in at... *checks notes*... comment #5 by Skip.

Those who bet the 'under' can collect their winnings at the window.

Pro Tip: Always bet the 'under'

Posted by: Muldoon at October 15, 2023 09:44 AM (l4B/J)

102 Posted by: naturalfake at October 15, 2023 09:34 AM (QzZ

Poor J. Edwards- the theologian, I mean. He wrote voluminously and frequently about the love of God and was instrumental in the Great Awakiening, and if most people know anything about him it's because they read "Sinners In the Hand of an Angry God." As an example of an angy Puritan.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at October 15, 2023 09:45 AM (h+Gid)

103 52 I'm rereading The Queens and the Hive, about Queens Mary, Elizabeth I, and Mary Queen of Scots. This time through what strikes me is that the blood lust of Hamas that seems so alien would have been familiar to our ancestors of the 16th century. Matter of fact acceptance of torture. Religion being a reason for horrible conflicts. I keep having to put it down, even though I've read it many times. This time it seems too close.
Posted by: Wenda at October 15, 2023 09:22 AM (EXPqc)

Yep.
I just discovered C.J. Sansom's Tudor historical mysteries, featuring a lawyer who starts out as a Cromwell flunky, but gets disillusioned.
They are quite good- well plotted mysteries with a few "I did not see that coming" twists and enough detail to set the scene.
It helps to have some basic knowledge of the era.

And yes, I do read them as a cautionary tale, as well.

Posted by: sal: tolle adversarium et afflige inimicum at October 15, 2023 09:45 AM (KB0Aa)

104 Oh! a fun read on WW2 Yugo, if you like vintage stuff, is 'The Missiles Of Zajecar', 1969, by William Halstead.
It's one of those 'Guns Of Navarone' type things.
I got a copy for a friend who lives in Zajecar, and he declared it 'not bad' as a WW2 adventure type thing and historically 'hilarious'.

Posted by: LenNeal at October 15, 2023 09:45 AM (/BBNv)

105 yara - I will pass along your comments re: Junk Love to the author (as soon as she's done brushing her teeth). Thanks.

Posted by: PabloD at October 15, 2023 09:45 AM (65gtf)

106 A great read is At All Costs by Sam Moses. This is the story of two young American merchant mariners in 1942 who are part of a convoy trying to resupply a desperate Malta. The SS Ohio is one of the newest and largest tankers afloat, and has been loaned to the British for the mission. If they do not get the Ohio into the port of Malta, the island will have to surrender, giving the Germans complete access to resupply North Africa. The Ohio has already been bombed, and only the buoyancy of the oil is keeping her afloat. You can feel the determination and desperation as you read about their heroic efforts to get the vital cargo to Malta. So many close run things that succeeded determined the course of world war two, and this is one of the closest and most important

Posted by: Thomas Paine at October 15, 2023 09:47 AM (F0UNL)

107 Did we ever determine if Vic is among the kicking ?

Posted by: JT at October 15, 2023 09:47 AM (T4tVD)

108 "Ooh Tuna, I'm jealous. Still waiting for my copy from the library. I'd buy a copy but I still have the new Sanderson The Sunlit Man in my queue so will probably get a copy by the time I finish that one. Hav a plane trip coming up(🤠 so should have some uninterrupted reading time.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice)"

Worth the wait. The next in the series should be interesting as Strike has finally come to terms with his feelings for Robin. We'll have to see how he acts on them.

Posted by: Tuna at October 15, 2023 09:48 AM (oaGWv)

109 the scenario that hunter painted in the the third bullet, a small team of operatives who thought kennedy was too reckless, so johnson would be the steady hand, of course,
everything ended in disaster regardless, because they shared the same advisors,

Posted by: no 6 at October 15, 2023 09:48 AM (PXvVL)

110 Pro Tip: Always bet the 'under'

Posted by: Muldoon at October 15, 2023 09:44 AM (l4B/J)
---
Sometimes it's in the main post. The thing is, if it goes over 100, the payout is astronomical.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 09:49 AM (llXky)

111 "I just discovered C.J. Sansom's Tudor historical mysteries, featuring a lawyer who starts out as a Cromwell flunky, but gets disillusioned.
They are quite good- well plotted mysteries with a few "I did not see that coming" twists and enough detail to set the scene.
It helps to have some basic knowledge of the era."

Read them all. Excellent series. Hoping the author continues it.

Posted by: Tuna at October 15, 2023 09:50 AM (oaGWv)

112 that would be steven hunter, also delillo's libra, about another set of operatives who plan a false flag operation, then someone gets in the way,

Posted by: no 6 at October 15, 2023 09:50 AM (PXvVL)

113 His hit song, "Sunshine" was the best!

Posted by: naturalfake at October 15, 2023 09:34 AM (QzZeQ)
---
A lot of covers skip the verse where God looks at you as a loathsome thing, like a spider, holding it over a pit of fire, wishing to cast it in.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 09:38 AM (llXky)

But, that's the best part!

Posted by: naturalfake at October 15, 2023 09:51 AM (QzZeQ)

114 I really enjoyed Lee Majors in "The Silmarillion Dollar Man"...

Bilbo Baggins, astronaut: a hobbit barely alive. Gentlemen we can rebuild him. We have the protot-echnology. We have the epic adventure capability to make the worlds first bionic hobbit Bilbo Baggins will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, Stronger, Faster...

Posted by: Muldoon at October 15, 2023 09:56 AM (l4B/J)

115 Blessed Sunday...

This deserves a book.
The guy who needed a forklift,
so he could row his Great Pumpkin down
the Charles River, got it, and the GP did not sink.
And here's the coverage...

https://twitter.com/MattWBZ/status/1713519901984395590

Posted by: Mister Ghost at October 15, 2023 09:56 AM (TGPs7)

116 Admission: I don't like reading anything that reinforces anything I already believe. I try to read material that contradicts everything I believe to be factual or true.
I don't read conservative polemics, I don't read Biblical analyses. One of the more interesting books I've read lately is a Muslim book of dream interpretation.
Since I don't believe in the concepts of dreams being messages from God, visits from Djinn, prophecies, or suppressed desires, it makes for an interesting insight into the subconscious mind of people who do believe all those things.

Coming soon, shipping from UK: 'Lenin, Founder Of The Soviet Armed Forces' 1977, Korablev.

Posted by: LenNeal at October 15, 2023 09:56 AM (/BBNv)

117 After the recommendations here the last few weeks I picked up used copies of the first three Robert Parker Appaloosa westerns, the ones he actually wrote. I liked the early Spenser books and enjoy westerns so thought I should give these a try. Should be interesting to compare them with L'Amour and Loren D. Estleman westerns. Also picked up a copy of "Lonesome Dove". I've seen so much praise for it, the book and the movie, it seemed time to have it on the shelf.

Posted by: JTB at October 15, 2023 09:56 AM (hzEuy)

118 I see that Half Price Books has outlets littered all over the area; are some better than others?

By all means, visit the mothership just off of 75.

Posted by: Oddbob at October 15, 2023 09:57 AM (nfrXX)

119 The Fall of the House of Usher premiered on Netflix this week, I tried it out.
Made it about an half hour into the mess. In this case I didn't care about the 'family' containing all the races of Man (old Rodrick remarried several times to different women), of course they didn't attempt to cast actors with ANY family resemblance to the father.
But then, the gay sex showed up. And I checked out.

But the show has zero to do with the Poe story of the name, and a mish-mosh of every Poe story or character name ever written.
Pity, there were some good actors in it. But not many. Apparently Frank Langella was supposed to star but got bumped for Bruce Greenwood, who's a dishrag.

So, not recommended.

Posted by: John the River at October 15, 2023 09:58 AM (/3goP)

120 Just finished reading Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz. It wasn't bad at all. Odd lives in a very weird town inhabited by colorful characters. He does his best to help the restless dead that only he can see. He also tries to prevent greater tragedies from occurring with mixed success.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 15, 2023 09:58 AM (BpYfr)

121 Block's book on novel writing has gone through a couple of updates over the years -- currently it's out there as Writing the Novel, from Plot to Print to Pixel. Don't know how widely the paper edition might be distributed, but the ebook should be available. Some of his other books on writing ain't too dusty either.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 15, 2023 09:59 AM (a/4+U)

122 Bilbo Baggins, astronaut: a hobbit barely alive. Gentlemen we can rebuild him. We have the protot-echnology. We have the epic adventure capability to make the worlds first bionic hobbit Bilbo Baggins will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, Stronger, Faster...
Posted by: Muldoon at October 15, 2023 09:56 AM (l4B/J)
---
He is a hobbit, so you should be able to do that for about half the cost of a standard fixup job...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 15, 2023 09:59 AM (BpYfr)

123 Not Satan. Just a depiction of Krampus absconding with a bucket full of naughty children who need drowning.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at October 15, 2023 10:00 AM (0FoWg)

124 Did we ever determine if Vic is among the kicking ?

In the hobby thread, someone said that he passed away some months ago.

Posted by: Oddbob at October 15, 2023 10:00 AM (nfrXX)

125 I had cataract surgery done in both eyes one week apart, one month ago. I still have to wear glasses for distance but it is a very mild prescription. My astigmatism was very bad in the right eye but now I can read clearly and as others said the colors and vibrancy of everything I look at is amazing. It truly is life changing especially for us avid readers.

Posted by: RetSgtRN at October 15, 2023 10:00 AM (DhOnb)

126 "I am realizing I need to find a good and interesting comprehensive history of Palestine."

Yashiko Sagamori (2003)
"A Japanese View"

Posted by: Ju at October 15, 2023 10:00 AM (aTmM/)

127 Read "Day of Wrath," that short novel published 2015 in which is described a country wide surprise attack, arab muslim jihadis committing mass murder in schools and along the roads and highways outside the schools as frantic parents and cops rush in to respond.

They do it not in the cities but in the small towns, and the attacks happen all at once. Sort of like Hamas in Israel.

Not just ten or twenty kids in a school suffering rape and death, but all of them. And mass murders outside, as the second wave of attackers, those whose job it is to wait for the panic, slaughter those rushing in on the roads to the schools.

The book ends with the president never letting a crisis go to waste and imposing martial law, decreeing if you have guns you will be jailed. Total lockdown.

And the caliph in charge, over in Dubai or wherever, gleefully says, "we won!"

Posted by: Mr Gaga at October 15, 2023 10:00 AM (4ZE6o)

128 But the show has zero to do with the Poe story of the name, and a mish-mosh of every Poe story or character name ever written.
Pity, there were some good actors in it. But not many. Apparently Frank Langella was supposed to star but got bumped for Bruce Greenwood, who's a dishrag.

So, not recommended.
Posted by: John the River at October 15, 2023 09:58 AM (/3goP)
---
Yet another example of "desecration by adaptation" where the writers are so in love with their own story and perceived cleverness, they completely forgo including the elements that made the original so memorable and fascinating.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 15, 2023 10:01 AM (BpYfr)

129 Worth the wait. The next in the series should be interesting as Strike has finally come to terms with his feelings for Robin. We'll have to see how he acts on them.
+++
Oh, no. He hasn't acted on them yet? Reminds me of the old show Moonlighting where you kept waiting and waiting for the characters to finally get together.
I did read Christine Feehan's new vampire book, Dark Dreams and no need to wait in that one. Always satisfying for paranormal enthusiasts.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 15, 2023 10:01 AM (t/2Uw)

130 Admission: I don't like reading anything that reinforces anything I already believe.

Coming soon, shipping from UK: 'Lenin, Founder Of The Soviet Armed Forces' 1977, Korablev.
Posted by: LenNeal at October 15, 2023 09:56 AM (/BBNv)

I don't go that far, but I have been reading opposing texts for the last few years. I have the Communist Manifesto, the Koran and Mein Kampf on my shelf.

Posted by: Vanya at October 15, 2023 10:02 AM (v27SO)

131 Thanks for the Book Thread, Perfessor!

Always enjoy reading your post, and enjoy the comments and helpful advice from fellow Moron readers!

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at October 15, 2023 10:03 AM (Zb5iS)

132 He is a hobbit, so you should be able to do that for about half the cost of a standard fixup job...
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 15, 2023 09:59 AM (BpYfr)

The 3 million GP Halfling.

Posted by: Reforger at October 15, 2023 10:03 AM (p4/l6)

133 Watched "Judgement at Nuremberg" this week. Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Marlene Dietrich, a young William Shatner, and others. 1961 black and white. I know this isn't a movie thread (sorry) but it was the Book Thread that led me to the 1983 miniseries of War and Remembrance (Wouk) that led me to this one. Really enjoyed it.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at October 15, 2023 10:04 AM (NBVIP)

134 "Oh, no. He hasn't acted on them yet? Reminds me of the old show Moonlighting where you kept waiting and waiting for the characters to finally get together."

Well there is a bit of a cliff hanger. Let's just say that Robin knows and is in a bit of a tizzy when the book ends. I think I read somewhere that Rowling plans a 10 book series so I guess there is still plenty of time for those two to work it out but I agree that the sexual tension thing can be a bit wearing.

Posted by: Tuna at October 15, 2023 10:08 AM (oaGWv)

135 Since people are all hotted up about the IDF a good read is from (I always do this) Azure Online, describing how the IDF instituted a Code Of Ethics:

https://tinyurl.com/mr386rsp

Worth a read, even (or especially) if you disagree with the piece.

Posted by: LenNeal at October 15, 2023 10:08 AM (/BBNv)

136 After the recommendations here the last few weeks I picked up used copies of the first three Robert Parker Appaloosa westerns, the ones he actually wrote. . . . Also picked up a copy of "Lonesome Dove". I've seen so much praise for it, the book and the movie, it seemed time to have it on the shelf.
Posted by: JTB at October 15, 2023

***
Parker's Westerns, though in third person, read with much the same voice as his Spensers. I don't mean there is funny dialog or stuff like that, but a spare clear sentence structure, and the stories deal with many of the same principles of honor and doing the right thing in difficult circumstances.

Lonesome Dove is a big novel -- not only in number of pages, but in scope and number of characters. There's some humor, primarily from Gus McCrae's observations on things. McMurtry is an odd author for one so prolific and successful. He has a habit, in LD and other books, of shifting viewpoint not only within the same scene, but within the same *paragraph*. A little disconcerting until you get used to it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 15, 2023 10:08 AM (omVj0)

137 https://tinyurl.com/nhh67hdv

The IDF Code Of Ethics itself.

Posted by: LenNeal at October 15, 2023 10:09 AM (/BBNv)

138 Jonathan Edwards wrote some pretty good tunes too.

Posted by: From about That Time at October 15, 2023 10:10 AM (4780s)

139 Bidet- "a vast majority of Palestinians do not support Hamas."

Might as well have said "a vast majority of Germans did not support the Holocaust."

The message to Israel is clear, you are on your own.

Posted by: Anna Puma at October 15, 2023 10:10 AM (TjLDm)

140 The 3 million GP Halfling.
Posted by: Reforger at October 15, 2023 10:03 AM (p4/l6)

With an epic battle between Bilbo and the ever elusive Littlefoot.

Posted by: Reforger at October 15, 2023 10:10 AM (p4/l6)

141 59. They all answer to ' hey, kid...', so all good.

Posted by: From about That Time at October 15, 2023 10:12 AM (4780s)

142 Posted by: Paul at October 15, 2023 09:21 AM (sUmC6

Paul, Have anything to share on- you know- the topic of this thread which is books?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at October 15, 2023 10:12 AM (+lQCV)

143 I've also read the Branca book on self-defense and have been given very different advice by my CCW permit instructor:

Calling 911, give name and location, and three phrases:
I was attacked. I was in fear of my life. I had to defend myself. Request medicinal help, if needed.

The advice given me was to report a shooting at a location with your name, request two ambulances (one for yourself, you are in adrenaline shock) and hang up.

At the police station: "I assert my right to silence. I assert my right to counsel." Then shut up until you have a lawyer present.

'I want to file a complaint. I am going to be happy to cooperate with you as soon as I have had a chance to speak with counsel.'

When cops hear the word 'my lawyer' they mentally put you in the perp basket. You want to be in the victim/complainant basket.

Posted by: Candidus at October 15, 2023 10:13 AM (886E0)

144 Ollie's discount offered a collection of the first 30 "Boxcar Children" books for a good price. We picked up two. One will be for our great nephew who turns 5 in a few months and, eventually, for his now one year old baby brother. The other is for the Toys For Tots collection done by our rod and gun club.

Folks here have praised the books so it seemed like a safe choice. We've already sent him several classic children's book like Beatrix Potter and Brambly Hedge.

Posted by: JTB at October 15, 2023 10:13 AM (7EjX1)

145 Adaptations have been screwing around with the source material for quite a while. The Tom Cruise character in The Color of Money ain't in the book. William Goldman, credited with the script of his own novel Marathon Man, says someone else rewrote the ending (and the ending of the novel is much better than what they tacked on to the film). The remake of Cape Fear essentially threw away the whole core of John D. MacDonald's novel (and the original film softened the ending considerably). Of what Verhoeven & Co. did to Starship Troopers we will not speak. Once upon a time the adapters wanted to at least be faithful to the spirit of the source material even when they tinkered with it for reasons of length and translation to film. These days it seems like the adaptations are skin suits tailored by people who hated the source but wanted to make some bucks off its butchered corpse.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 15, 2023 10:14 AM (a/4+U)

146 The message to Israel is clear, you are on your own.
Posted by: Anna Puma at October 15, 2023 10:10 AM (TjLDm)

Worse. We are aginst them. With two carrier groups at the ready.

Posted by: Reforger at October 15, 2023 10:14 AM (p4/l6)

147 it doesn't fit on his cue card,

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

148 With an epic battle between Bilbo and the ever elusive Littlefoot.
Posted by: Reforger'

Not comparable to the battle between The Old Cat and The New Cat, which has now come to an end: the Old Cat finally figured out she can manipulate the New Cat into doing what she wants, so...
"Game over, man, Game over!"
For me.

My sister wants me to do a Picture Book of the cats. Like, she really wants me to do this, and I said, "The kindest thing you have ever said about The Old Cat is describing her as, I quote, 'A diabolical bitch'."
She's not wrong, and maybe such a book would be entertaining...

Posted by: LenNeal at October 15, 2023 10:15 AM (/BBNv)

149 I like Appaloosa and Resolution way more than the Spenser books. They are just cleaner. The story line is more important than the scenery although I had very clear picture of the characters. After you read Appaloosa, watch the movie. The movie skips a lot of important plot points so not as good as the book and some of the actors don't match up to the way I pictured them, but some of the dialog is literally right from the book so it was fun to watch.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 15, 2023 10:16 AM (t/2Uw)

150 Finished up Killers of the Flower Moon last week. It was very interesting and had a lot of surprising information, even for a life-long Okie. The journalistic writing style wasn't what I was expecting (not sure why I thought it would be more narrative), but served the topic well and contributed to it being a quick read.

Now I'm on to the Devil in the White City which seems right up my alley, and I'm not sure why it wasn't on my radar before.

Posted by: She Hobbit at October 15, 2023 10:17 AM (ftFVW)

151 When cops hear the word 'my lawyer' they mentally put you in the perp basket. You want to be in the victim/complainant basket.
Posted by: Candidus'

Also on the Do Not Do List: Asserting your 'rights'. That is an automatic loser.

Posted by: LenNeal at October 15, 2023 10:17 AM (/BBNv)

152 Good morning!

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

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 15, 2023 10:19 AM (u82oZ)

153 Adaptations have been screwing around with the source material for quite a while. . . . William Goldman, credited with the script of his own novel Marathon Man, says someone else rewrote the ending (and the ending of the novel is much better than what they tacked on to the film). The remake of Cape Fear essentially threw away the whole core of John D. MacDonald's novel (and the original film softened the ending considerably). . . .
Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 15, 2023

***
The original True Grit follows the novel extremely well except for the ending . . . and when I come right down to it, I prefer the 1969 film's ending to the novel's. We've just spent over two hours in the company of Rooster and Mattie, and we want to see something warm pass between them before the movie is over. We do. The new version went back to the book's ending, and that's fine, but the 1969 is tops.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 15, 2023 10:19 AM (omVj0)

154 Listening to "Rubicon" by J.S. Dewes. Outstanding Military Sci-Fi.

Weary human soldiers "re-zone" (are reborn into a new body" when they are killed in combat), in a seemingly unending existential fight against the "Mechans", artificial constructs of unknown origin. Story is described as "Old Man's War meets Edge of Tomorrow."

Read by Eunice Wong, who is a fantastic narrator.

Really enjoying this book. Apparently Ms. Dewes' first two novels, "The Last Watch" and The Exiled Fleet" are also excellent. Will be hitting them next.

Posted by: Sharkman at October 15, 2023 10:19 AM (yayb5)

155 Maybe we should do a horde-sourced book called Replacing History, detailing how the woke are trying to replace classic literature and film with crap so they can disparage our culture.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at October 15, 2023 10:20 AM (F0UNL)

156 After you read Appaloosa, watch the movie. The movie skips a lot of important plot points so not as good as the book and some of the actors don't match up to the way I pictured them, but some of the dialog is literally right from the book so it was fun to watch.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 15, 2023

***
Parker wrote dialog that not only looked good on the page, it read well aloud -- perfect for film adaptations.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 15, 2023 10:20 AM (omVj0)

157 Adaptations have been screwing around with the source material for quite a while.'

Yes, as books do not work well as movies except for a very small subsection of crazy fans who can't carry a production that costs actual money.

Posted by: LenNeal at October 15, 2023 10:20 AM (/BBNv)

158 Good morning!

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

Late posting. Broadband internet issues overcome.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 15, 2023 10:20 AM (u82oZ)

159 The movie adaptation of "The Andromeda Strain" added a whole different motive for the establishment of Project: Wildfire.

Now I'm wondering how many classic movies distorted their source novels.

Posted by: Weak Geek, counting down the days at October 15, 2023 10:21 AM (p/isN)

160 I’ve a major backlog of books to read- and the thing about it is, I want to read them, but am just stalled out.

Posted by: 13times at October 15, 2023 10:21 AM (2WOTG)

161 Now I'm on to the Devil in the White City which seems right up my alley, and I'm not sure why it wasn't on my radar before.
Posted by: She Hobbit

That is a great book. It is an amazing bit of history that almost disappeared.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at October 15, 2023 10:22 AM (F0UNL)

162 "The evil characters from the books are re-imagined to be compassionate, caring humans while the good characters are selfish nihilists who have no business trying to save the world. It's disgusting. All of the explicit heroism and decency found in the books have been removed."

Thank you for this explication. I have been hate-watching the show, both first and second seasons, and I noticed that too. Humanizing the evil ones, while the heroes of Jordan's book are thin, almost one-dimensional characters who are hard to root for. I read Wheel of Time when it was first published, and was completely entranced by Jordan's complex storytelling. The show has torn apart that story and made it nasty, woke mess.

Posted by: Moki at October 15, 2023 10:23 AM (JrN/x)

163 yes the confrontation in the sewers, happened at the bank,

Posted by: no 6 at October 15, 2023 10:23 AM (PXvVL)

164 I'm also glad you are enjoying Odd Thomas, Perfessor! I was surprised I enjoyed it so much, but I have the movie to thank for that.

Posted by: Moki at October 15, 2023 10:24 AM (JrN/x)

165 "Perfessor" Squirrel

Thank you for the shoutout. Let's be careful out there.

I think of US of A Constitutional Conservatives as the new Jews in 1936 Germany. Because so many people in power and out of power hate. No debate is possible.

Books on the Madness of Crowds apply today.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 15, 2023 10:25 AM (u82oZ)

166 yes the confrontation in the sewers, happened at the bank,
Posted by: no 6'

I thought it was in the ballroom.

Posted by: Clue at October 15, 2023 10:26 AM (/BBNv)

167 Last week, someone here made a comment about making a concerted effort to finish reading all the unread ebooks he had accumulated. Well, that spurred me on to reading a few of the unread ebooks in my collection. Specifically, the 4 collections I had bought of short-pulp-stories by Harold Lamb: Wolf of the Steppes, Warriors of the Steppes, Riders of the Steppes, and Swords of the Steppes. I bought them a long time ago (on my Barnes and Noble Nook) and read half of them, but tapped out somewhere in book 3. So, that's where I re-started.

I now remember why the later books didn't hold my interest. They switched main characters (The first book was about Khlit the Cossak, and was awesome) and just aren't as good. I remember the Khlit stories being as good as any Conan story (Robert E Howard was a fan) so I may go back and re-read those once I finish off the unread stories.

Interestingly, Book 3 takes place on the Dnieper River, which runs right through the Ukraine. And the story I'm currently on deals with Russian nobles who have moved down from Moscow, and with hostile Islamic neighbors. It's all....disturbingly timely...

Posted by: Castle Guy at October 15, 2023 10:26 AM (Lhaco)

168 155 Maybe we should do a horde-sourced book called Replacing History, detailing how the woke are trying to replace classic literature and film with crap so they can disparage our culture.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at October 15, 2023 10:20 AM (F0UNL)

That would work as a collection of essays...

Posted by: Moki at October 15, 2023 10:27 AM (JrN/x)

169 Now I'm on to the Devil in the White City which seems right up my alley, and I'm not sure why it wasn't on my radar before.
Posted by: She Hobbit at October 15, 2023

I was given that book a while back by my DIL's eccentric sister. I say eccentric because she always gives me the most interesting books that I never would have thought to read. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was the last one.
It is the book I take to the pool so only about 1/2 way through but it is fascinating.
I'll be interested to hear what you think.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 15, 2023 10:28 AM (t/2Uw)

170 Not easy to turn pages. I wonder how she manages to amuseherself?
Would you help?

https://is.gd/eak5uR

Posted by: Ciampino - Thank you but I don't need a fork at October 15, 2023 10:29 AM (qfLjt)

171 136 ... Wolfus,
Thanks for the breakdown on the Parker westerns and, especially, the oddities in McMurtry's Lonesome Dove. Probably saved me some major confusion.

Posted by: JTB at October 15, 2023 10:29 AM (7EjX1)

172 We are a very eclectic bunch of morons here.❤️

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 15, 2023 10:31 AM (t/2Uw)

173 Block's book on novel writing has gone through a couple of updates over the years -- currently it's out there as Writing the Novel, from Plot to Print to Pixel. Don't know how widely the paper edition might be distributed, but the ebook should be available. Some of his other books on writing ain't too dusty either.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 15, 2023 09:59 AM (a/4+U)

Hmmm. Sounds interesting. Maybe someone could do a review of the book on say, A Literary Horde?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 15, 2023 10:31 AM (Angsy)

174 Poor J. Edwards- the theologian, I mean. He wrote voluminously and frequently about the love of God and was instrumental in the Great Awakiening, and if most people know anything about him it's because they read "Sinners In the Hand of an Angry God." As an example of an angy Puritan.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at October 15, 2023 09:45 AM (h+Gid)

I have to admit to being confused by the quotes on love that I found as an adult after reading, and being sickened by, the Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God in school. If the other stuff was the majority, it looks like the choice of SitHoaAG was chosen purpossefully to drive people away from his works.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at October 15, 2023 10:32 AM (nC+QA)

175 He is a hobbit, so you should be able to do that for about half the cost of a standard fixup job...
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel

*********

Point taken. We should change the title to "The Threemarillion Dollar Man"

Posted by: Muldoon at October 15, 2023 10:32 AM (l4B/J)

176 Now I'm on to the Devil in the White City

------

I'm guessing from that title that this is about H.H. Holmes' kill-crazy rampage?

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at October 15, 2023 10:33 AM (0FoWg)

177 Been reading satisfying short stories.

Tops were Christopher Anvil's War Games and Philosopher's Stone.

Read the endings of two books I liked, Christopher Anvil's Pandora's Legions and Ryk E. Spoor's Challenges in the Deep. The later is an update on Doc Smith's Lensman Sense of Wonder tales, and is a fun read. Comfort reading.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 15, 2023 10:33 AM (u82oZ)

178 Oh! Before I go, an insight into inputs from not-writers. I'm fielding all kinds of stories and such from people re: Earthquake and one thing I've found that really helps is telling people to select a photo they value, and use it as a focal point to tell a story. This has helped to keep people more or less on-topic.

What happens is, without the IMAGE, they start telling a verbal story and diverge off into some inane tale about someone IN the story, like their second cousin or some shit, and how they married their schoolmate and they ran into them on the street and had ice cream; it's ridiculous and has nothing to do with the earthquake. With an image, it keeps them focused and even very poor writers, barely English-speaking people, can craft coherent narratives.

Posted by: Clue at October 15, 2023 10:33 AM (/BBNv)

179 I'm guessing from that title that this is about H.H. Holmes' kill-crazy rampage?
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at October 15, 2023 10:33 AM (0FoWg)

Yes.

Posted by: Vanya at October 15, 2023 10:34 AM (v27SO)

180 Oh, no. He hasn't acted on them yet? Reminds me of the old show Moonlighting where you kept waiting and waiting for the characters to finally get together.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 15, 2023 10:01 AM (t/2Uw)

Once that happens, the tension is gone and focus is lost. Then, that show disappeared.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 15, 2023 10:35 AM (Angsy)

181 The curious curiosity that my wife and I saw on our trip to Moab, UT last week: https://bit.ly/Mother_of_All_Bummers. For MOAR, Google: umtra

Posted by: Marooned at October 15, 2023 10:35 AM (kt8QE)

182 I have to admit to being confused by the quotes on love that I found as an adult after reading, and being sickened by, the Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God in school. If the other stuff was the majority, it looks like the choice of SitHoaAG was chosen purpossefully to drive people away from his works.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at October 15, 2023 10:32 AM (nC+QA)
---
I think it's a brilliant example of the fire and brimstone genre, which was very much a thing (and still is, in some quarters).

Does anyone know when the Puritans stopped punishing people for celebrating Christmas? That's part of why they have such a poor reputation.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 10:36 AM (llXky)

183 YD, you are correct. How did you know that? I grew up in New England and all the Chicago history is fascinating especially because it is entirely new to me.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 15, 2023 10:36 AM (t/2Uw)

184 Good morning Hordemates.

Posted by: Diogenes at October 15, 2023 10:37 AM (uSHSS)

185 Oh, no. He hasn't acted on them yet? Reminds me of the old show Moonlighting where you kept waiting and waiting for the characters to finally get together.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 15, 2023 10:01 AM (t/2Uw)

Once that happens, the tension is gone and focus is lost. Then, that show disappeared.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 15, 2023 10:35 AM (Angsy)
---
The DVD set is broken up specifically on this basis - season 1 and 2 can be bought separately. They hook up in Season 3.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 10:37 AM (llXky)

186 The movie adaptation of "The Andromeda Strain" added a whole different motive for the establishment of Project: Wildfire.

Now I'm wondering how many classic movies distorted their source novels.
Posted by: Weak Geek, counting down the days at October 15, 2023

***
One thing that film did well: We had a long tradition of woman scientists in SF movies, but they were usually babes or could be dressed up as babes. (Nothing wrong with that.) But Kate Reid's stocky, middle-aged woman scientist was refreshing, and perfect for the story.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 15, 2023 10:37 AM (omVj0)

187 18 This isn't specifically about a book, but it's related to what PS discusses above for books. I was on a couple of long flights last week, so watched movies to pass the time. I figured I would watch all the Marvel movies I won't see in a theater or on D-, and I am very, VERY glad I didn't pay money to see them in a theater. The wokeness was out of control, with race swaps, lesbian couples, favorable references to socialism, and of course, lots of stronk women. On top of all that, the movies were formulaic and tediously boring. It's astonishing that Disney has simply refused to correct course, and keeps pushing the same garbage that has landed them in their current financial pickle.
Posted by: Archimedes at October 15, 2023 09:06 AM (I/Qkd)

The transformation of the MCU into the M-She-U has lead to the creation of many rant-videos like the one linked in the main article. Sadly for us comic-readers, the modern comics have made the same transition. If you read anything Marvel after 2000 (or especially after 2015) you're taking a big gamble....

Posted by: Castle Guy at October 15, 2023 10:38 AM (Lhaco)

188 @160 --

I have dozens of books TBR. With such a wealth of options, I'm constantly at a loss as to what to read next. I'm like the donkey that was equidistant from two piles of hay. Unable to decide which one to munch, it starved to death.

"A Night in the Lonesome October" is on order from the library, so it will take priority when it arrives. Until then ...?

Posted by: Weak Geek, counting down the days at October 15, 2023 10:38 AM (p/isN)

189 It's that time again! Thanks, Perfesser!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 10:39 AM (llXky)

190 183 YD, you are correct. How did you know that?

1. Holmes is famous for being America's first known serial killer.

2. His rampage was during the World's Fair.

3. Chicago's famous exhibition that year was called the White City.

Just deduction.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at October 15, 2023 10:39 AM (0FoWg)

191 Now I'm on to the Devil in the White City

------

I'm guessing from that title that this is about H.H. Holmes' kill-crazy rampage?
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice

It covers Holmes as well as the frantic building of the temporary White City for the 1893 Chicago exposition. Larson weaves two stories together in most of his books, which is an interesting technique.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at October 15, 2023 10:39 AM (F0UNL)

192 Once that happens, the tension is gone and focus is lost. Then, that show disappeared.
Posted by: OrangeEnt

I absolutely agree which is why it is up to the author to bring in new characters. This is how successful Romance authors keep you coming back book after book.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 15, 2023 10:39 AM (t/2Uw)

193 Thanks for the breakdown on the Parker westerns and, especially, the oddities in McMurtry's Lonesome Dove. Probably saved me some major confusion.
Posted by: JTB at October 15, 2023

***
I'm not sure McMurtry has done that in all of his books, but certainly it seems like in his historicals/Westerns, and recent works, he's got that multiple viewpoint thing going on. He still tells a good story.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 15, 2023 10:41 AM (omVj0)

194 but some of the dialog is literally right from the book so it was fun to watch.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 15, 2023

***
Parker wrote dialog that not only looked good on the page, it read well aloud -- perfect for film adaptations.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 15, 2023 10:20 AM (omVj0)

The hardest part of writing? Does my dialog sound "right?"

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 15, 2023 10:41 AM (Angsy)

195 I read "Suicide, Inc." by Ron Goulart. This space fantasy programmer isn't worth the time or brainpower I'd need to compose a review. At least I'm done with it, and it's gone to a Little Free Library box.

[ . . . ]
Posted by: Weak Geek, counting down the days at October 15, 2023 09:12 AM (p/isN)

Ron Goulart books are silly trash, where completely unserious people deal with moderately silly situations of life and death. I loved them dearly when I was in my twenties and I suspect they would bore me today.
However, if someone like Van Sciver or Eric July will turn them into a loosely connected series of graphic novels and they will be delightful.

He is said to have been the ghost writer for William Shatner's Tek War series.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 15, 2023 10:41 AM (xhaym)

196 106 A great read is At All Costs by Sam Moses.

Yes! I read that a while ago and I can't remember if it's up in my library or I lent it out or was it a Library Book.

Fun fact. After the ship sank at the dock they could still access the cargo (oil and Avgas) but it was practically impossible for the Germans to bomb.

Like the Yorktown, the Germans thought, "For Sure!" they had sunk it several times enroute.

Posted by: John the River at October 15, 2023 10:42 AM (/3goP)

197 Parker wrote dialog that not only looked good on the page, it read well aloud -- perfect for film adaptations.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 15, 2023
*
The hardest part of writing? Does my dialog sound "right?"
Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 15, 2023

***
I read my dialog aloud and act out all the parts. (Helps that I was once an aspiring actor and also worked in radio for some years.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 15, 2023 10:44 AM (omVj0)

198 Not easy to turn pages. I wonder how she manages to amuseherself?
Would you help?

https://is.gd/eak5uR

Posted by: Ciampino - Thank you but I don't need a fork at October 15, 2023 10:29 AM (qfLjt)

Mentally and/or spiritually deranged.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 15, 2023 10:45 AM (Angsy)

199 Maybe books can't quite work as movies (length, different medium, the way the author develops characters as opposed to the dramatization necessary for film...) but story can. I'm thinking here of the Robert Wise 1963 The Haunting, Huston's Treasure of the Sierra Madre, the adaptation of A Simple Plan (which changed and omitted a number of things from the novel, but was certainly faithful to the spirit of the book and even to the core of the story -- script by the novel's author). Writers live by story, good adapters live by adherence to story, and too many of today's movie makers seem to be more concerned with conveying their deathless message to the masses wrapped up in something claiming to be the original writer's story. Think it was Goldwyn who said "If you want to send a message, call Western Union."

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 15, 2023 10:46 AM (a/4+U)

200 Not easy to turn pages. I wonder how she manages to amuseherself?
Would you help?

https://is.gd/eak5uR

Posted by: Ciampino - Thank you but I don't need a fork at October 15, 2023

***
She's cute . . . but those have got to be the skinniest arms I've ever seen!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 15, 2023 10:47 AM (omVj0)

201 I can understand movies having to make some changes from the source book for production needs. The best example I can think of is leaving out Tom Bombadil from the LOTR movies. I was disappointed but understood. The additions and changes made to The Hobbit movies were foolish and VERY annoying. Nowadays, any version of a movie or TV show made from a classic book, especially one with positive values, you can safely assume they will try deliberately to destroy the values of the original. These shows are to be avoided unless they prove otherwise worth the time. The producers try to lure an audience with a title and expectations then go out of their way to betray those expectations. And they wonder why their audiences continue to shrink. Anything made by Disney in the last decade or more fits that mold. Amazon's Rings of Power series, which should have been wonderful based on the original, also qualifies. The producers and writers seem to prefer the flavor after the soup after they've pissed in it.

Posted by: JTB at October 15, 2023 10:47 AM (X3YtS)

202 I've said this before and I'll say it again: The difference between the WWE and the MCU is that to the best of my knowledge, no MCU character has hit another one over the head with a folding chair.
Posted by: Vanya at October 15, 2023 09:19 AM (v27SO)

It's not quite a folding chair, but open up Youtube and search for "Captain America's Sheild vs Chair." Lets just say: Disney-Marvel has fallen hard.

Also, being compared the M-She-U is an insult to professional wrestling. When wrestling is good, it can be really good....

Posted by: Castle Guy at October 15, 2023 10:47 AM (Lhaco)

203 Interestingly, the 1893 White City had two permanent buildings, the art institute and the museum of science and industry, which are still in use over a hundred years later.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at October 15, 2023 10:49 AM (F0UNL)

204 The movie adaptation of "The Andromeda Strain" added a whole different motive for the establishment of Project: Wildfire.

Posted by: Weak Geek, counting down the days at October 15, 2023

Maybe it was easier that way. Author wanted too much money and the producers didn't want to pony up....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 15, 2023 10:50 AM (Angsy)

205 One of the lenses to my new glasses fell out this morning. Off to a great start.
Posted by: Noah Bawdy

*******

Oh my! I hope you don't make a spectacle of yourself!!

Posted by: Muldoon at October 15, 2023 10:50 AM (l4B/J)

206 I do have classical music and coffee wafting through the air.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 15, 2023 09:15 AM (WKD+E)

You can pour coffee into an ultrasonic humidifier?

Posted by: Kindltot at October 15, 2023 10:51 AM (xhaym)

207 Ooh!

Rich "bipartisan" target environment!

https://tinyurl.com/nchzeuyt

(JPost)

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at October 15, 2023 10:51 AM (OiikL)

208 I read Call For the Dead by John LeCarre, the first of his George Smiley novels and quite liked it. Smiley is no James Bond. He is short, plump, bespectacled, and not a sex machine to all the chicks. Following a short marriage, his wife runs off with a Cuban race car driver. I heard that LeCarre is all about the moral equivalence between the good guys and the commie rat bastards. I don't see it here. The bad guys are bad guys although, for the most part, they are presented as real people with real motivations.
This book, published in '61, is set in the late '50s but Smiley has relatable attitudes. "[Smiley] hated the Press as he hated advertising and television, he hated mass-media, the relentless persuasion of the twentieth century. Everything he admired or loved had been the product of intense individualism. That was why he hated [commie rat bastard] Dieter now, hated what he stood for more strongly than ever before: it was the fabulous impertinence of renouncing the individual in favour of the mass. When had mass philosophies ever brought benefit or wisdom?"

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at October 15, 2023 10:52 AM (FVME7)

209 I think it's a brilliant example of the fire and brimstone genre, which was very much a thing (and still is, in some quarters).

Does anyone know when the Puritans stopped punishing people for celebrating Christmas? That's part of why they have such a poor reputation.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 10:36 AM (llXky)

And yet it apparently wasn't at all representative of Edward's work as a whole, and is thus *destructive* of people's understanding.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at October 15, 2023 10:52 AM (nC+QA)

210 Have a great day, everyone.

Head on a swivel, and have a plan.

Do not ignore the beauty around you.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 15, 2023 10:53 AM (u82oZ)

211 Do not ignore the beauty around you.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 15, 2023 10:53 AM (u82oZ)
-

The bombs bursting in air?

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at October 15, 2023 10:54 AM (OiikL)

212 He is said to have been the ghost writer for William Shatner's Tek War series.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 15, 2023 10:41 AM (xhaym)

I liked the tv shows based on the novels better than the novels, which were pretty grim.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at October 15, 2023 10:55 AM (nC+QA)

213 OrangeEnt --

Will refresh my memory on Block's book some time this week or next (more likely next) and post some comments to Lit Horde. Don't know if the comments will be coherent or useful in any way, but I can guarantee that they will be comments. I think. Maybe...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 15, 2023 10:58 AM (a/4+U)

214 the moral relatiivism settled in after a while, remember in spy, the Circus was using a former Nazi officer Mundt to target his Stasi man,

Posted by: no 6 at October 15, 2023 11:00 AM (PXvVL)

215 Finished Robert Galbraith's ( J.K. Rowling) "The Running Grave".

-
Speaking of which, didja see that Britain is lost?

https://tinyurl.com/2p83duxc

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at October 15, 2023 11:00 AM (FVME7)

216 Will refresh my memory on Block's book some time this week or next (more likely next) and post some comments to Lit Horde. Don't know if the comments will be coherent or useful in any way, but I can guarantee that they will be comments. I think. Maybe...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 15, 2023 10:58 AM (a/4+U)

Thanks. Someone may find them useful. I'm thinking I should look for more "how to" from different perspectives to help with my stuff.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 15, 2023 11:01 AM (Angsy)

217 144 Ollie's discount offered a collection of the first 30 "Boxcar Children" books for a good price. We picked up two. One will be for our great nephew who turns 5 in a few months and, eventually, for his now one year old baby brother. The other is for the Toys For Tots collection done by our rod and gun club.

Folks here have praised the books so it seemed like a safe choice. We've already sent him several classic children's book like Beatrix Potter and Brambly Hedge.
Posted by: JTB at October 15, 2023 10:13 AM (7EjX1)

There are 30 of those books, now? Wow. I read the originals growing up, and there were only like 16 by the original author...

On a similar note, I am strongly tempted to by some Jim Kjelgaard novels (dog books like Big Red and Irish Red) to give to my dog-loving niece. Dunno if they would be of interest to a girl, though...

Posted by: Castle Guy at October 15, 2023 11:02 AM (Lhaco)

218 I think the Puritans have a lot more complexity to their theology and application of religion in their daily lives than they are generally given credit for. Rather they are pigeonholed as uptight, cruel, witch burning prudes. And largely taken out of context.

Contrast Winthrop's "City on a Hill" speech to "Sinners inn the Hands of an Angry God".

They were embarking on a vast and life-threatening endeavor with no guarantee of success or survival.

Posted by: Muldoon at October 15, 2023 11:04 AM (l4B/J)

219 Head on a swivel, and have a plan.
Do not ignore the beauty around you.
Posted by: NaCly Dog

********

When I read this I always picture you at the grocery store scanning the aisles for daily specials and women in yoga pants.

Posted by: Muldoon at October 15, 2023 11:08 AM (l4B/J)

220 Watched "Judgement at Nuremberg" this week. Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Marlene Dietrich, a young William Shatner, and others. 1961 black and white. I know this isn't a movie thread (sorry) but it was the Book Thread that led me to the 1983 miniseries of War and Remembrance (Wouk) that led me to this one. Really enjoyed it.
Posted by: Quarter Twenty

We should be trying and executing judges, Hawaiian and otherwise, today.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at October 15, 2023 11:09 AM (FVME7)

221 @186 --

Amen to that!

When I see a back-cover reference to "a beautiful (nationality) agent," that's an automatic "no" for me.

Posted by: Weak Geek, counting down the days at October 15, 2023 11:11 AM (p/isN)

222 218
"The Running Grave"

How can a grave run? They seem stationary to me.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at October 15, 2023 11:12 AM (roH4R)

223 Need to get ready for range day.
Heed Salty's advice. Go for a walk. Read a book. Limit the bad news reading. At least that's what I've been trying to do with limited success. Going to keep working on it.
Love that we have this forum so Thank you Perfessor.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 15, 2023 11:13 AM (t/2Uw)

224 Man, those kids on the sleigh are going to have one long ride downhill. I'm guessing they'll eventually run out of snow.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at October 15, 2023 11:13 AM (VwHCD)

225 For a long time Hollywood has had a problem with Christianity, particularly Catholics. They have to muck it up. I am not sure why they have such a problem with Christian themes. Maybe because so many of them are atheists. Mel Gibson's with the Passion of Christ was the last decent Christian movie.

Posted by: Zogger at October 15, 2023 11:17 AM (NfL2l)

226 I hated Wheel of Time before it was a TV show. It's the definitive Extruded Fantasy Product -- maybe slightly less of a blatant ripoff than the Shannara books or (god help us) Eragon, but it just kept going, as if there was a literal production line in a factory somewhere devoted to making Wheel of Time novels.

Posted by: Trimegistus at October 15, 2023 11:18 AM (78a2H)

227 Nowadays, any version of a movie or TV show made from a classic book, especially one with positive values, you can safely assume they will try deliberately to destroy the values of the original. These shows are to be avoided unless they prove otherwise worth the time. The producers try to lure an audience with a title and expectations then go out of their way to betray those expectations. And they wonder why their audiences continue to shrink. Anything made by Disney in the last decade or more fits that mold. Amazon's Rings of Power series, which should have been wonderful based on the original, also qualifies. The producers and writers seem to prefer the flavor after the soup after they've pissed in it.

Posted by: JTB at October 15, 2023 10:47 AM (X3YtS)

I started watching the HALO series last night. I was based on the video game series. Yeah, they murdered it.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at October 15, 2023 11:18 AM (VwHCD)

228 It appears that the original Cricket in Times Square is no longer available. It's been rewritten to modern standards. My kids and I would listen to the audio book read by Tony Shalhoub every year, but that's no longer available either. If anyone could help out a Moron in trying to find this version, it would be greatly appreciated.

ALWAYS buy a hard copy.

Posted by: InZona at October 15, 2023 11:19 AM (qz1Fg)

229 Speaking of adaptations, I keep forgetting the difference between manga and anime, but the live actions series, One Note, has been getting rave reviews.

It's a Netflix adaptation, with the show runners being the same who are said to have ruined their live adaptation of Cowboy Bebop.

One apparent difference seems to be, they have the original Japanese author involved in it, and the people who are making it are ACTUALLY SAYING they learned their lesson from what they did to the Bebop series.

I'm not going to read the Japanese mange (that's the book form?), but I did watch the live action first, and ran through several episodes of the anime (animated series?). Gotta say, they are close to identical, with the Netflix series obviously being much condensed... and I can't see myself trying to watch this whole damn animated series.

Nerdrotic did a wonderful review of all, including showing clips of the actors, especially the main one, showing respect, and humility when discussing how important it is to them to be able to bring these characters to the screen.

Posted by: BurtTC at October 15, 2023 11:22 AM (QBaJw)

230 I read “The Mitford Affair” by Marie Benedict. The historical novel takes place between 1932 and 1941 and is told from the perspectives of Nancy, Diana, and Unity Mitford. Nancy’s chapters are written in first person; Diana and Unity are written in third. None of the characters are omniscient.

The Mitford family was well-positioned in English society, related to Lady Clementine Churchill. The daughters were dubbed “The Bright Young Things,” along with Evelyn Waugh and others. How, then did Nancy become a democratic socialist, Diana and Unity become supporters of Nazism and Hitler? The novel doesn’t answer that question, but I found the journey fascinating. Both Nancy and Diana wrote autobiographies, so Ms. Benedict had some great source material.

Posted by: March Hare at October 15, 2023 11:22 AM (WOU9P)

231 Re Cricket in Times Square

Looks like you should be able to find bunches of copies at abebooks.com

Pick one and ask the seller to confirm the printing date before purchase and you'll probably be good to go.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 15, 2023 11:23 AM (a/4+U)

232 106, 197 “At All Costs” The SS Ohio and Malta. I found in my copy of the book Churchill’s thoughts before meeting with Stalin who’d been demanding the Allies open up a second front to help relieve the Soviets: “until the German flail beat upon them, they would have happily watched us being swept out of existence with indifference and gleefully divided with Hitler our Empire in the East.”

I know that the August 15th date that the tanker limped into Valleta Harbor held significance for the Maltese, I like the fact that the Ohio was launched April 20th, 1939- Hitler’s birthday.

Posted by: Rex B at October 15, 2023 11:24 AM (Gs3JA)

233 When I read this I always picture you at the grocery store scanning the aisles for daily specials and women in yoga pants.
Posted by: Muldoon at October 15, 2023 11:08 AM (l4B/J)

When I see "head on a swivel" I think of the aforementioned Exorcist, and Linda Blair's turn as the possessed.

Posted by: BurtTC at October 15, 2023 11:27 AM (QBaJw)

234 Posted by: Zombie Margaret Trudeau at October 15, 2023 09:21 AM (PiwSw)

Still alive, AFAIK.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at October 15, 2023 11:32 AM (9A0sz)

235 They were embarking on a vast and life-threatening endeavor with no guarantee of success or survival.
Posted by: Muldoon at October 15, 2023 11:04 AM (l4B/J)

Imagine living in a world with dangers all around, and you introduce into your community, a subset of people whose values are vastly different than your own, and they're corrupting the young people, to the point where it appears to be an existential crisis.

What would you do? How would you respond to those forces around you that appear to be explicitly trying to destroy your society?

Good thing we don't have anything like that going on now.

Posted by: BurtTC at October 15, 2023 11:32 AM (QBaJw)

236 *Mel Gibson's with the Passion of Christ was the last decent Christian movie.*

The Chosen.

Posted by: Come and see at October 15, 2023 11:34 AM (NBVIP)

237 Sorry I am so late
Just finished Monster Hunter Memoirs Fever by Larry Correia & Jason Cordova
Totally awesome
Also you don't need to have read the series to enjoy it

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at October 15, 2023 11:34 AM (vHIgi)

238 Since this appears to be cataracts anonymous today,

I had surgery on my right eye three weeks ago. It gave me distance vision but I'll need "cheaters" as the doc called them for reading and computer stuff. My wife had a medical appt. across the state a week after my surgery so that delayed my left eye surgery until next week. I was able to successfully drive across the state and back (about 700 miles) in two days with hardly any screaming from my wife.

I'm walking around with the right lens in my glasses taken out and the left one with a bifocal adjusting for my terrible original vision. Going down stairs is a pain but I just realized yesterday afternoon while watching a football game that if I close my left eye, I can see the scores and stuff on the bottom of the screen clearly, but closing my right eye makes them all blurry.

Posted by: My friends call me Pete at October 15, 2023 11:35 AM (pXRYM)

239 Lots of the women wearing yoga pants have no business wearing yoga pants.

Posted by: We all know it at October 15, 2023 11:37 AM (NBVIP)

240
Does anyone know when the Puritans stopped punishing people for celebrating Christmas? That's part of why they have such a poor reputation.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 15, 2023 10:36 AM (llXky)

I believe the Puritans only had real political power during Cromwell's rule, and even then most of the harsh rules were more about suppressing political enemies than religion. As soon as Charles II and the Restoration swept in, most of that was gone from England for good. Now in America there were always pockets of the hard core who'd come here to get away from what was going on back there, but that would be localized, tightly knit communities.

I've heard it said, and with some good foundation, that our society has been continually fighting that original English Civil War for almost 400 years now.

Posted by: Tom Servo at October 15, 2023 11:37 AM (S6gqv)

241 And yes, I'm a complete idiot for not getting a copy of the book. I should have seen this coming.

Posted by: InZona at October 15, 2023 11:38 AM (qz1Fg)

242 I confess I enjoy watching Wheel of Time, mostly for the costuming
But I'm not a big fan of the book series (sorry).
In the tv show, Lanfear the Forsaken is the best character.
Rand is boooring.
Nynaeve is unlikable.
Moraine is a bigger beyotch than Liandrin.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at October 15, 2023 11:40 AM (vHIgi)

243 I've heard it said, and with some good foundation, that our society has been continually fighting that original English Civil War for almost 400 years now.
Posted by: Tom Servo at October 15, 2023 11:37 AM (S6gqv)

England seems to be going through another civil war as we speak. I have a feeling this one is going to go quite differently than the last one.

Posted by: BurtTC at October 15, 2023 11:41 AM (QBaJw)

244 England seems to be going through another civil war as we speak. I have a feeling this one is going to go quite differently than the last one.
Posted by: BurtTC at October 15, 2023 11:41 AM (QBaJw)

they're starting to find out why it was a bad idea to spend 30 years letting Moslems take control of their capitol city.

Posted by: Tom Servo at October 15, 2023 11:43 AM (S6gqv)

245 I am considering getting Rome and Persia: The Seven Hundred Year Rivalry. It is a focused history of Rome's dealings with the Parthian and Sassanid dynasties of Persia, who ruled a large portion of the eastern Middle East and exerted influence over much more territory. Everything old is new again, right?

Posted by: exdem13 at October 15, 2023 11:44 AM (W+kMI)

246 Apropos of nothing, some women are quite unpleasant to listen to sing, but since they have a pronounced vibrato, they are given roles as singers.

Posted by: BurtTC at October 15, 2023 11:45 AM (QBaJw)

247 Well, reality beckons.

Perfessor, thanks for the thread.

Have a good one, gang.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 15, 2023 11:45 AM (a/4+U)

248 240 ... Like you, I'll need cheaters for reading and other close up stuff and knew that would be the case ahead of time. Actually, I can focus closer than I expected. My cheaters are half-glasses style so I can read then just look up for farther away. Works out quite well.

Posted by: JTB at October 15, 2023 11:48 AM (7EjX1)

249 they're starting to find out why it was a bad idea to spend 30 years letting Moslems take control of their capitol city.
Posted by: Tom Servo at October 15, 2023 11:43 AM (S6gqv)

I know almost nothing about their current PM, but I do know there's something lost when you are THE very foundation of the white, Anglo-Saxo world, and you are ruled by women, and men with weird names.

Posted by: BurtTC at October 15, 2023 11:49 AM (QBaJw)

250 I don't have cataracts but I am so near sighted that I kinda wish I did

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at October 15, 2023 11:51 AM (vHIgi)

251 228 I hated Wheel of Time before it was a TV show. It's the definitive Extruded Fantasy Product -- maybe slightly less of a blatant ripoff than the Shannara books or (god help us) Eragon, but it just kept going, as if there was a literal production line in a factory somewhere devoted to making Wheel of Time novels.
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I have a lot of issues with Wheel of Time series, and never really finished it. When a devoted bookworm like me develops reader fatigue, you know a better editor was needed... But at the same time, I recognize and respect Jordan's world-building, characterization, and his thoughtfully created dualistic themes. My friends who like the series REALLY like it, so that's good, I suppose. The Amazon Video series has been so altered as to be nearly unrecognizable to me. It is right down there with Rings of Girl Power for felonious disrespect of source material.

Posted by: exdem13 at October 15, 2023 11:51 AM (W+kMI)

252 I know almost nothing about their current PM, but I do know there's something lost when you are THE very foundation of the white, Anglo-Saxo world, and you are ruled by women, and men with weird names.
Posted by: BurtTC at October 15, 2023 11:49 AM (QBaJw)

You mean like Barack Hussein Obama?

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at October 15, 2023 11:53 AM (BdMk6)

253 'Tis sad, but the end of another classic Book Thread looms! Thank you kindly, Perfessor.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 15, 2023 11:54 AM (omVj0)

254 Not very much reading this past week -- too busy working on my own books.

If you're a man who hasn't been thinking about the Roman Empire enough lately, may I suggest Brett Devereaux's blog? He's been doing a series about the structure of the Roman Republican government. It starts here: https://tinyurl.com/5a5cnstw

Posted by: Trimegistus at October 15, 2023 11:54 AM (78a2H)

255 You mean like Barack Hussein Obama?
Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at October 15, 2023 11:53 AM (BdMk6)

Why yes. Yes I do.

Posted by: BurtTC at October 15, 2023 11:54 AM (QBaJw)

256 50 Are not public universities like public schools, examples of SOCIALISM?
Posted by: Paul at October 15, 2023 09:21 AM (sUmC6)

Amtrak is a much better example, my hate-filled Socialist.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at October 15, 2023 11:54 AM (m15BG)

257 Thanks again for a great Book Thread, Perfessor. You are providing a great service to us bibliophiles.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 15, 2023 11:55 AM (WKD+E)

258 239 Sorry I am so late
Just finished Monster Hunter Memoirs Fever by Larry Correia & Jason Cordova
Totally awesome
Also you don't need to have read the series to enjoy it
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Any Monster Hunters book is a joy and delight to read! I'm a couple of tomes behind, but that will go on my 2024 Resolutions list, assuming that it doesn't get pre-empted by how-to manuals for firearms, ammunition, and DIY explosives.

Posted by: exdem13 at October 15, 2023 11:55 AM (W+kMI)

259 Thank you, Perfessor and bibliophile Morons. Mom and I played hooky from church today as we're both getting over a cold. It was a treat to read the book thread live (and not Memorex) for a change.

Posted by: screaming in digital at October 15, 2023 11:58 AM (aBJcM)

260 The Deplorable Gourmet - now you've done it!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at October 15, 2023 09:41 AM (KVGVf)

A wonderful book of illustrations.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at October 15, 2023 11:59 AM (CnLzB)

261 The saddest part of Sunday morning is here again. The end of the Book Thread. Guess I'll mope around until next week. Thanks, Perfessor.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 15, 2023 11:59 AM (Angsy)

262 I'm late so this will probably be willowed, but there are instances when the movie improves upon the book. The book Six Days of the Condor became the movie Three Days of the Condor for a reason: in the book, the hero catches cold and is out of action for 3 days. No plot relevance. That amazing submarine sequence in The Hunt for Red October? In the book, the incidents are not linked nearly so clearly.

Posted by: Wenda at October 15, 2023 12:00 PM (EXPqc)

263 WE HAZ A NOOD

Posted by: Skip at October 15, 2023 12:01 PM (fwDg9)

264 The saddest part of Sunday morning is here again. The end of the Book Thread. Guess I'll mope around until next week. Thanks, Perfessor.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 15, 2023 11:59 AM (Angsy)

Books are a refuge.

Now, go be refugees, the real world awaits!

Posted by: BurtTC at October 15, 2023 12:02 PM (QBaJw)

265 155 Maybe we should do a horde-sourced book called Replacing History, detailing how the woke are trying to replace classic literature and film with crap so they can disparage our culture.
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That would be as thick a tome as the cookbook.

Posted by: exdem13 at October 15, 2023 12:02 PM (W+kMI)

266 224

The book quotes two different poems which use "a running grave" as a metaphor. BTW, it rocks.

Posted by: werewife, princess of Delray Beach at October 15, 2023 12:06 PM (SPNTN)

267 You mean like Barack Hussein Obama?
Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at October 15, 2023 11:53 AM (BdMk6)

Why yes. Yes I do.

Posted by: BurtTC at October 15, 2023 11:54 AM (QBaJw)

A woman and a funny name.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 15, 2023 12:08 PM (Angsy)

268 re-reading Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy ... something about the grim humor appeals to me ...

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - these lying bastardi e stronzi have been lying for decades at October 15, 2023 12:12 PM (+vFC3)

269 Maybe we should do a horde-sourced book called Replacing History, detailing how the woke are trying to replace classic literature and film with crap so they can disparage our culture.
Posted by: Thomas Paine
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Take a cue for the title from O'Riley, 'Killing History'. oops, just searched that title, and came up with this, which looks interesting:
https://tinyurl.com/yqnc7wsr

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 15, 2023 12:24 PM (XeU6L)

270 Howdy horde! My first post on the book thread. Here are a couple recommendations with the first being Killers of the Flower Moon which has become a movie that is coming out soon. It’s a story about the Osage tribe and what happened in the early 20th century when they were an oil rich tribe and got hit by a series of murders that put their wealth into the hand of their “agents”.

Next is House of Rain by Craig Childs. This is a narrative of a man’s quest to find answers to the mystery of the disappearance of the Anasazi as he travels from Chaco Canyon, through Colorado, Arizona and into Mexico. Craig Childs is definitely a story teller.

Next, I am currently reading Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson. Interesting history of Mr. Franklin and it makes me want to read his autobiography to see what he actually said about his life.

Posted by: 10 Gallon Hat at October 15, 2023 01:54 PM (eUsLv)

271 Sundry commenters today have made disparaging remarks regarding Ron Goulart. Now I know there is no arguing with individual tastes but I would like to offer a voice in Goulart's defense. I have always found him to be a reliable provider of light entertainment. To each his own but I liked his work.

Thank you "Prefessor" Squirrel of keeping the noble tradition of the Book Thread alive!

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at October 15, 2023 03:07 PM (2SWLc)

272 I'd also like to defend Ron Goulart as a reliable and prolific provider of light entertainment. There is little depth to his work, with the possible exception of his nonfiction books on the Pulps, Comic Books and Old Time Radio, but his writing style is mostly very easy to read. I think of him as one of the last of the pulp writers-Frank Gruber's Johnny Fletcher or Oliver Quade stories make a reasonable comparison to much of Goulart's science fiction and light mystery fare-his breezy style also reminds me a bit of Jerome K. Jerome's essays or P.G. Wodehouse's stories.

His fascination with such literary ephemera as old radio, pulp magazines and comics is mirrored by most of his fiction. He wrote series mysteries about Groucho Marx, Max Kearney ghost detective, John Easy (a sort of watered down tough-guy detective), light science fiction of all sorts, novelizations of TV series and comics including Vampirella and The Phantom, and he was the co-writer of a series about Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon-he also wrote women's romance novels. All in all, a writer who wrote anything they would pay him to write, and generally did so in a light, easy and very readable style.

Posted by: Pope John 20th at October 15, 2023 04:40 PM (cYrkj)

273 Um, Moraine in-book universe might actually go along with the 'kill 1k to save the Dragon'. She was Blue Ajah and a radical even in that faction. She was going to preserve the Dragon Reborn no matter what.

So the shitty show runners might actually be on the money there.

I'm still not watching the show. They fucked up the basic rules of the universe in the first 5 min.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, buy ammo, food, water at October 15, 2023 05:59 PM (xcxpd)

274 {31} Have to once again thank the person who recommended John Van Stry. Picked up 3 of his "Hammer Commision" books; "The Hammer Commission", "Wolf Killer", and Loose Ends".

These novels are not as long as some modern writers (looking at you, Tad Williams), but they are well constructed and very fun reading. Thinking about getting his "Portal" series now. In the meantime back to the Drizzt compendium.

-SLV

Posted by: Shy Lurking Voter at October 15, 2023 09:12 AM (e/Osv)

That was me! I'm a big fan of John's books, and if you loved Hammer Commission, you should absolutely love the Portals of Infinity series. It starts a little slow, but it gears up fast by the 2nd book, and gets into war between races on multiple worlds, and you've got gods in cooperation, and gods in conflict. John writes fantasy + big conflict (war) very well, and he doesn't shy away from either heartbreaking losses, or totally satisfying paybacks for same.

Apologies for not replying sooner than this, I was out the door at 7 am this morning, and didn't get back till just now.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at October 15, 2023 06:00 PM (qPw5n)

275 If there is no God, what are you fighting Satan with?

A better question would be "if there is no God, then from whence Satan?

Posted by: LCMS Rulz! at October 16, 2023 12:52 AM (K58O6)

276 Reading Book 39 in Jerry Boyd's Bob and Nikki/Bob's Saucer Repair series. Pretty much the best science fiction series I've ever read. Humor and no slaughter. Start with #1, Bob's Saucer Repair. If you like that, you'll have a lot of pleasure in front of you.

Posted by: Doc at October 23, 2023 05:43 AM (Io/Ba)

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