Sunday Morning Book Thread - 01-28-2024 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

(HT: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion)

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading. Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

PIC NOTE

Vmom sent me the pic above with the following:

This bookshelf photo has been floating around - check out the corner.
Creative solution to the two shelves corner problem or just too disturbing?

Anyone who has enough books will run into the problem of bookshelves and corners. I applaud the creativity on display here, though you do have to make sure that the books are just the right height, which may interfere with your preferred book organization.

Vmom also asked the following question (unrelated to the pic above):

I am usually late to the book thread, so I was wondering if perhaps you could ask the book nerds this for me?
I am looking for recommendations for an ebook (kindle) study bible I can take with me while traveling. Preferably Catholic or Orthodox friendly, and even better if with Apocrypha.
Thanks,
vmom

"INDESTRUCIBLE" LIBRARY BOOKS?

Until I watched the video above, I never gave much thought about how library books are bound. It turns out there are very good reasons for why library books--especially bound journals--are bound the way they are. Libraries are dedicated to preserving the knowledge of the past (or so they like to tell themselves) and therefore seek out ways of ensuring that books will last over time. I did go wander around the stacks of the library in which I work (but do not work for) just looking at the different styles of bindings. You can clearly see how bindings have evolved over time for periodicals that have been around for many decades. It's kind of neat seeing how well preserved a journal bound in 1962 is compared to the same journal bound in 2020. They really do hold up very well. I did scan through the standards document referenced in the video. It's a pretty detailed description of the materials and their properties used in binding books to that specification.

++++++++++

(Imagine the possibilities...)

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WRITING CONTEST!

OrangeEnt sent me a link to Sarah Hoyt's website, where she's announced she's sponsoring a writing contest:

Galactic Enquirer Submission Call!

This is also a good time to remind you folks that OrangeEnt has sponsored a writing group: "A-Literary-Horde" Anyone can join by sending OrangeEnt an email (maildrop62 at proton dot me) with their real name, AoS nic (if they have one), how they want to be listed, and if they are a writer (please include preferred genre) or editor/reader. You may run into someone famous!

NOTE: The AoS Writers Group is also linked on the left-hand sidebar of the main page...

STORY SEED

Here's a little something that might inspire a short story appropriate for Sarah Hoyt's writing contest. What is happening in the video below? I can't figure it out...

BACKGROUND: A friend of mine from church recorded this video with his Ring doorbell camera on Christmas evening at around 8 p.m. *Something* triggered the camera and it caught the images in the video above. I took the raw video and imported it into Adobe Premier Pro so that I could look at it frame by frame, but I could not make out what that *thing* is that's moving around. It appears to be an independent light source that can separate into multiple sources and even change shape. In one still frame, you can see a vague outline of a shape that appears to be a woman holding a child, but I think that's just an optical illusion. As far as I know, my friend's property is not on an ancient Indian burial ground. Any ideas?

THE HARDEST WORD PUZZLE EVER CREATED?

Cain's Jawbone is a story that is supposedly the most challenging word puzzle ever created. Only four people have been confirmed to have found the correct solution. The title comes from the biblical Cain, who slew his brother Abel, possibly with the jawbone of an animal. Ironically, this may be the easiest murder mystery in history. There are only three possible suspects (Cain, Adam, or Eve) and two of them (Adam and Eve) may have had ironclad alibis. Also, the "detective" in the case is an omnipotent and omniscient being. You don't need Encyclopedia Brown or Miss Marple to solve this case...

The book Cain's Jawbone involves sorting the pages in the correct order and then determining whodunnit, as that alone doesn't guarantee success. You also have to unravel quite a few cryptic word puzzles, many of which will be very, very obscure to modern readers who would not be familiar with the language used at the time the book was written in 1934. The Moron Horde is awesome for crowd-sourcing knowledge, but this may be beyond even our powers...Good luck!

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

I finished 1Q84, by Haruki Murakami. It's magical realism, which I don't read much anymore, but this was recommended to me by a relative. The book is actually 3 books, and clocks in at a whopping 1157 pages.
It's very difficult to explain the plot, but it's a group of people who experience a transition to an alternate timeline, and have to deal with a cult, various "little people", and two moons, all while everyone else continues in the world as we know it. It combines elements of mystery, fantasy, murder, and, well, everything. Like I said, it's really tough to pigeonhole this one.
I'm the kind of person who likes a clear denouement, but this book doesn't have one. The pleasure of this book is simply in the reading. The prose is very well done, even though it's a translation. There is graphic sex in it, but it's not overly lurid.
Recommended.
Posted by: Archimedes at January 21, 2024 09:16 AM (CsUN+)

Comment: I see this book show up frequently in recommended reading on Goodreads and other sources. I've always been a bit curious about it, but haven't bothered to check it out. I might do so, as it sounds intriguing. Unfortunately, the library in which I work doesn't have it. It's a bit surprising, as it sounds like a book our students would enjoy. One of our sister campuses does have it in their collection, but it's currently checked out...

+++++

This week's review: Long Tall Stranger by LR Smith (Western genre). This is an Amazon Kindle-only title, no print copy available. Rated 8+ which I didn't notice when I first purchased it, but I'm a father so I decided to read/review in the mindset of "Would other parents of young children be interested in this as a story for their own kids?"
Well turns out that's a yes, and in fact this might make a great young-man's adventure for a father and son to read together at bedtime. Has themes of good guys vs. bad guys, cowboys, cattle management, gambling, cheating, swindling, some post civil war politics, gun fights, and death (no gore though.) No sex scenes.
The main character is a 14 year old man whose dad went off to fight with the Confederate army, whose mom has since left him to fend for himself, and he's alone with a farm/ranch and a bunch of problems that force him to become a man right quick due to the weight of the world bearing down on him.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at January 21, 2024 09:35 AM (qPw5n)

Comment: I like a good "coming of age" story and the Western genre is great for delivering those.

In Kate Hope Day's If, Then, four neighbors in Oregon who live at the base of a long-dormant volcano begin to experience baffling visions of themselves in parallel realities. When the earth trembles, it triggers brief glimpses of this other life. A wildlife scientist sees a vision of impending disaster and begins feverishly building a shelter in his backyard. His wife sees herself in the arms of someone else. A grieving daughter sees her recently deceased mother bustling around the kitchen. A new mother struggling to finish her thesis sees herself pregnant again.
I liked how the different versions of a character would catch sight of their doppelgänger when the tissue between realities was thinning, and wonder about how their lives in this alternate reality. The visions start out benign but get more and more disturbing.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 21, 2024 10:38 AM (+RQPJ)

Comment: Stories that involve alternate realities or the "multiverse" are very, very difficult to do well because when multiverses are involved, the stakes have to be incredibly personal or they have no meaning. As Critical Drinker has pointed out in a recent video on the subject, Marvel has completely destroyed itself by overly relying on multiversal storytelling that removes any and all stakes for the characters in the MCU. If one of them dies, they just bring in a duplicate from an alternate reality. When it's done well, you can end up with a very compelling or disturbing story about the nature of *possibilities* that never were, but could have been. Since it's unlikely any of us will ever interact with our alternate selves, all we can do is deal with the real world in the here and now.

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:

After reviewing some of OregonMuse's old Book Threads, I thought I'd try something a bit different. Instead of just listing WHAT I'm reading, I'll include commentary as well. Unless otherwise specified, you can interpret this as an implied recommendation, though as always your mileage may vary.

Malazan Book of the Fallen 5 - Midnight Tides by Steven Erickson

This has definitely been a change of pace for the Malazan series, though it kind of follows the same formula with a massive battle or two between warring empires as they struggle for dominance. In the meantime, hidden powers behind the scenes are also struggling with each other to win a much larger prize--all of reality itself. Because this book involves a completely different set of characters than the first four novels, it's almost its own standalone book in the series with little to tie into the larger narrative. That makes it a bit of a weak point as we approach the middle of the entire series. It's not a bad read and parts of it are laugh out loud funny. Tehol Beddict like to portray himself as a ridiculous figure living in poverty in a corrupt city. Turns out he's probably the wealthiest man on the continent with more power than anyone guesses at. Most people underestimate him to their regret later.

Malazan Book of the Fallen 6 - The Bonehunters by Steven Erickson

The last book, Midnight Tides, was a 932-page interlude to the main storyline, though some of the events in that book will have more impact later on in the series. The cover blurbs on these books do offer a few "spoilers" though they are vague enough that you want to know how we reached that point in the story. Now we return to characters from the first four books in the series, as we experience the aftermath of the death of one of the major characters from Book 4. The Malazans have reconquered the Seven Cities, but there is still one more stronghold of resistance that needs to be dealt with. The gods are waking up and becoming much more involved in mortal affairs...

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 01-21-24 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Disclaimer: No Morons were harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread. Forget any disinformation that Ace's Shelving Company, LLC, was involved in the creation of those shelves up top.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Tolle Lege

Posted by: Skip at January 28, 2024 08:59 AM (fwDg9)

2 hiya

Posted by: JT at January 28, 2024 09:00 AM (T4tVD)

3 I did not read this week.

Posted by: rhennigantx at January 28, 2024 09:00 AM (ENQN6)

4 Did a little reading, not much else.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 28, 2024 09:00 AM (Angsy)

5 Hot Coffee!! Tolle Lege!!!

Posted by: qmark at January 28, 2024 09:01 AM (+t9Oi)

6 Top 10?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 28, 2024 09:03 AM (omVj0)

7 I think I'd like those bookshelf corners and my kid would hate hate hate it

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024 09:03 AM (V1Jl+)

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

Posted by: JTB at January 28, 2024 09:03 AM (zudum)

9 Morning, book folk,

I'm reading one of Nevil Shute's set-in-WWII novels, Most Secret. There are various characters who get involved in a mission to pick off German patrol boats along the coast of France in 1942 or so. Low-key, as always w/ Shute, but intriguing.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 28, 2024 09:05 AM (omVj0)

10 Creative solution to the two shelves corner problem or just too disturbing?
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Both? It looks like two dimensions intersecting, so that's where I'd shelve the Lovecraft.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 09:05 AM (+RQPJ)

11 Those bookshelf corners are interesting. Looks like too much work to build.

Posted by: dantesed at January 28, 2024 09:06 AM (88xKn)

12 I like the book case
I finished Alexander Mikaberidze's The German Liberation War of 1813. It's the 2nd part of a Russian Artillery Memoirs and almost a travelog of his job, he seems to have been quite curious about everything even traveling down a mine shaft hundreds of feet under the ground.

Posted by: Skip at January 28, 2024 09:06 AM (fwDg9)

13 Morning, 'rons and 'ronettes.

If, Then sounds fascinating, since I'm toying with the same idea - somewhat - for my next Theda Bara supernatural story involving the Black Dahlia case. I can't read the thing, though, because I'd end up either stealing some it or (most likely) become incredibly depressed at how good Kate Hope Day is and what a rotten hack I am.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 28, 2024 09:06 AM (Q0kLU)

14 The Ring video certainly is creepy.
Maybe a bug, or a tiny ufo? A drone?

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024 09:06 AM (V1Jl+)

15 Those pants are fine. I would wear them to smuggle beer into a Taylor Swift concert.

Posted by: Big Swifty at January 28, 2024 09:06 AM (vFG9F)

16 Life got in the way of reading very much this week. I had barely started one library book -- so much for that resolution! -- when another arrived. Now I have to choose. First World Problem.

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 28, 2024 09:07 AM (p/isN)

17 I read Warsaw Requiem, the last of the Zion Covenant series, by Bodie Thoene. The characters who fled to Danzig and Warsaw must now flee again as Hitler invades Poland. Some will go to England while others will go to the British Mandate in Palestine where their stories will continue in the Zion Chronicles series. I'm looking forward to reading their stories.

Posted by: Zoltan at January 28, 2024 09:07 AM (wtBAT)

18 This bookshelf photo has been floating around - check out the corner.
Creative solution to the two shelves corner problem or just too disturbing?

Ooooh, my OCD is kicking in bigly. I can't stand knowing there's a library out there where this is occurring.

Posted by: Archimedes at January 28, 2024 09:07 AM (CsUN+)

19 I love the interleaved corner shelves. Very cool.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at January 28, 2024 09:08 AM (PiwSw)

20 If, Then sounds fascinating, since I'm toying with the same idea - somewhat - for my next Theda Bara supernatural story involving the Black Dahlia case. I can't read the thing, though, because I'd end up either stealing some it or (most likely) become incredibly depressed at how good Kate Hope Day is and what a rotten hack I am.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 28, 2024 09:06 AM (Q0kLU)

Wait, MP4... I thought all writers stole from each other? Steal away!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 28, 2024 09:09 AM (Angsy)

21 That door cam ghost is obviously one of those extradimensional alien squids testing our defenses.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 09:09 AM (+RQPJ)

22 Put me with those who like the corner shelves.

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 28, 2024 09:09 AM (p/isN)

23 Bookshelf corners should conceal the mechanism that allows the book cases to swing aside and reveal the hidden passages behind then.

Posted by: fd at January 28, 2024 09:09 AM (vFG9F)

24 Got a topic for the readers. What determines what name a character calls another one, either in direct address or by reference? And what determines how the fans of that character refer to him?

For instance, Sherlock Holmes & Dr. John Watson always addressed each other by last name, as did Supt. Hadley and Dr. Gideon Fell in John Dickson Carr. I'm not sure, but I think fans usually refer to them the same way. However, while Nero Wolfe (Rex Stout's detective) is hardly adorable or cuddly, fans often call him "Nero." In contrast, Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call of Lonesome Dove call each other "Gus" and "Woodrow," and fans call Gus by that name; but everyone I've read calls the other "Captain Call." What determines this?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 28, 2024 09:10 AM (omVj0)

25 The one thing we know about those bookshelves is Ace didn't build it.

Posted by: dantesed at January 28, 2024 09:10 AM (88xKn)

26 Yay book thread!

Working my way through St. Augustine's Confessions. Very well written, and it's strangely familiar. Let me explain.

In high school I got interested in the Roman Empire (before it was fashionable) and would play wargames on the topic. One of the games (West End's Imperium Romanum II) had a bibliography and also peppered the rules with quotes from ancient sources. I was like: wait, you can read *actual Romans?!*

I thereupon became obsessed with Livy, Tacitus and the crew, and this bled into college where I added a history major because my parents were paying for it so why not?

All of which is to say, Late Antiquity is very familiar to me, so this era is the male equivalent to Regency England.

What is more, I feel very close to Augustine when he talks about his upbringing, the culture, the false assumptions. This was very much what happened to me. Indeed, my parents actually thought I became Catholic as an act of rebellion.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 28, 2024 09:10 AM (llXky)

27 In before the Tolkien kooks.

Damn!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at January 28, 2024 09:11 AM (EEgXH)

28 Wait, MP4... I thought all writers stole from each other? Steal away!
Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 28, 2024

***
If you're gonna steal, steal from the best.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 28, 2024 09:11 AM (omVj0)

29 MP4, the basic premise is not that unique. It's what you do with it that counts, and your voice is unique (and delightful).

Do it!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 09:11 AM (+RQPJ)

30 So this week I polished off three books:

On Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Biography by DJ Taylor. It's a short look at the background to Orwell's book, his influences and the agony of writing the thing itself. Skip the last chapter, "The Post-Truth World," since it's the obligatory slap at Trump and enjoy the rest.

What really spoke to me was an excerpt from a review Sonia Brownell (Orwell's second wife) wrote in its relation to 'doublethink:'

When you have seen through this world you can never become its victim, but can fight it with the only unanswerable weapon - cynical despair; when you have learned the lessons of the double visions, action and emotion are equally meaningless.

If that doesn't describe my own mental state and attitude to life, I don't know what does.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 28, 2024 09:11 AM (Q0kLU)

31 Got a topic for the readers. What determines what name a character calls another one, either in direct address or by reference? And what determines how the fans of that character refer to him?

For instance, Sherlock Holmes & Dr. John Watson always addressed each other by last name, as did Supt. Hadley and Dr. Gideon Fell in John Dickson Carr. I'm not sure, but I think fans usually refer to them the same way. However, while Nero Wolfe (Rex Stout's detective) is hardly adorable or cuddly, fans often call him "Nero." In contrast, Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call of Lonesome Dove call each other "Gus" and "Woodrow," and fans call Gus by that name; but everyone I've read calls the other "Captain Call." What determines this?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 28, 2024 09:10 AM (omVj0)

CBD

Posted by: JT at January 28, 2024 09:11 AM (T4tVD)

32 LOL, "I dug the Romans before it was cool!"

History hipster!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 09:12 AM (+RQPJ)

33 In one still frame, you can see a vague outline of a shape that appears to be a woman holding a child, but I think that's just an optical illusion. As far as I know, my friend's property is not on an ancient Indian burial ground. Any ideas?

My guess is that it's from the moon or some other light source, being reflected and scattered in the lens of the camera.

Either that, or swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus.

Posted by: Archimedes at January 28, 2024 09:12 AM (CsUN+)

34 Thanks Perfessor for the link to Sarah's contest. I'm honored that she's a member of ALH.

Deadline is March 1, so anyone interested might want to start getting ready to submit.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 28, 2024 09:12 AM (Angsy)

35 The bookshelf gives me vertigo.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 28, 2024 09:12 AM (RIvkX)

36 Ooooh, my OCD is kicking in bigly. I can't stand knowing there's a library out there where this is occurring.
Posted by: Archimedes at January 28, 2024 09:07 AM (CsUN+)

I have zero OCD, and this bookshelf would please me.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at January 28, 2024 09:12 AM (OX9vb)

37 If, Then sounds fascinating, since I'm toying with the same idea - somewhat - for my next Theda Bara supernatural story involving the Black Dahlia case. I can't read the thing, though, because I'd end up either stealing some it or (most likely) become incredibly depressed at how good Kate Hope Day is and what a rotten hack I am.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 28, 2024 09:06 AM (Q0kLU)
---
Counterpoint: you realize you've found enjoyable excellence and that moving forward makes you look derivative whether you copied it or not.

Some years ago I had just started on a "space western" and then "Firefly" came out. Killed that project dead, but I did write lots of other stuff.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 28, 2024 09:14 AM (llXky)

38 I think the ring video is reflected light from headlights or some other light source out of the frame in the neighborhood. Light does weird things.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at January 28, 2024 09:14 AM (OX9vb)

39 C'mon....You KNOW what I'm gonna say about the Pants guy .....

Posted by: JT at January 28, 2024 09:15 AM (T4tVD)

40 Morning.

The spooky video is pretty clearly just an insect or a piece of effluvium caught in a bit of web floating in front of the Ring device.

Posted by: Robert at January 28, 2024 09:16 AM (1Yy3c)

41 One thing Taylor notes about Nineteen Eighty-Four is something I'd never known: apparently, in the original manuscript, when Winston Smith is writing "2+2 = 5" in the dust at the Cherry Tree Cafe, Orwell had penned only "2+2 =," which a proofreader, thinking Orwell had forgotten to complete the equation, altered to "2+2 = 5."

Taylor combines this with Orwell's essay on Newspeak at the end of the book, which makes it seem as though Newspeak and Ingsoc were things of the past, and tentatively concludes that these might have been Orwell's subtle hints that the Party and Big Brother are defeated after all.

Something to think about.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 28, 2024 09:16 AM (Q0kLU)

42 25 The one thing we know about those bookshelves is Ace didn't build it.
Posted by: dantesed at January 28, 2024 09:10 AM (88xKn)

Cruel.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at January 28, 2024 09:16 AM (PiwSw)

43 If a story is narrated by a witness (or even a possible suspect) it can make for an interesting perspective. This is the style of She Died a Lady, by Carter Dickson (a mom de plume ofJohn Dickson Carr). Dr. Luke Croxley is invited to a dinner party held by Alex and Rita Wainwright at their seaside home. The doctor knows Rita is having an affair with a younger man, Barry Sullivan, who is also present. During the party, Rita and Barry disappear, but their footprints are found leading out to a cliff overlooking the sea. A double suicide of star crossed illicit lovers? Possibly, until their bodies are discovered two days later, each with a bullet hole in them. Fortunately, famous detective Sir Henry Merrivale is in town, recuperating form a broken toe. This is a clever mystery, told by the doctor bumbling through clues while trying to avoid being implicated himself, and once again, the resolution at the end will be quite surprising. Was it suicide or murder? There were no other footprints found. And how could the gun that killed them be found miles away from the cliff?

Posted by: Thomas Paine at January 28, 2024 09:17 AM (TkiD6)

44 Good morning book threadist!
I was going to read "Red Thunder" and "Sister of Starlit Seas" this week but then I noticed "Murder at Haven's Rock" by Kelly Armstrong at the bottom of my btbr pile. I have been waiting more than two months for Kelly's "City of the Lost" which is book 7 of her Rockton series which ties into her "Haven's Rock" series to be come available at the library but some uncaring borrower won't return it so I took "Murder at Haven's Rock" off the shelf, dusted it off and dove into it....
Casey and Eric have diligently looked for the perfect place to locate their new refuge and they think they have found it in the
Yukon near the border with Alaska. But even this remote area of the great north isn't uninhabited. Now with two missing construction workers and a recently discovered body, there just might be a serial killer living in the woods. Can Casey and Eric find the killer or will they be forced to close Haven Rock before the first refugees even arrive?
Another enjoyable whodunit from Kelly Armstrong.
I read it in one day, hard to put down.
Home repairs kept me from indulging in a second book this week.

Posted by: p0indexterous at January 28, 2024 09:17 AM (QBwMV)

45 39 C'mon....You KNOW what I'm gonna say about the Pants guy .....
Posted by: JT at January 28, 2024 09:15 AM (T4tVD)

Yeah...but at least it looks like there's room in there for a weedwhacker, anyway.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at January 28, 2024 09:18 AM (OX9vb)

46 Alternatively it's an ancient Indian burial ground.

"They're heeee-eeeeere!"

Posted by: Robert at January 28, 2024 09:18 AM (1Yy3c)

47 I'm reading my first James Elroy novel, "Widespread Panic".

Freddy Otash is an inmate at the Hell Adjacent Hilton, looking back on his life as a corrupt cop, then sleazy private eye, and finally chief goon at "Confidential" magazine. He dishes the dirt, bugs the buggerers, and gets the scoop on pols like Mattress Jack Kennedy. Why? "A demonic desire to know the world's secret shit and hoard said shit for my personal titillation and shakedown potential."

If you're a fan of alliteration, this book is for you:

"I'm out to notch names/numbers/addresses. The lurid love shacks of the heavy-hung and hard up. Nubile names and fuck-struck phone numbers. Noxious names and homo-hideout addresses. Non sequitur names that might mandate bracing break-ins themselves."

His assistant is a young bisexual imp named James Dean, who seems to know everyone in Hollywood.

The book is frenetic fun but kind of exhausting.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 09:19 AM (+RQPJ)

48 In the Ring video.... sometimes a piece of spiderweb with debris gets caught up in it and can hook onto the camera body. The result is this weirdness.

I see it on ours all the time.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at January 28, 2024 09:19 AM (Q4IgG)

49 Fortunately, famous detective Sir Henry Merrivale is in town, recuperating form a broken toe. This is a clever mystery, told by the doctor bumbling through clues while trying to avoid being implicated himself, and once again, the resolution at the end will be quite surprising. Was it suicide or murder? There were no other footprints found. And how could the gun that killed them be found miles away from the cliff?
Posted by: Thomas Paine at January 28, 2024

***
Carr/Dickson did that better than anybody, and gave us humor, characterization, and atmosphere.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 28, 2024 09:20 AM (omVj0)

50 I think St. Augustine is very applicable to our time. He was living through the breakdown of the old order, where the establishment was totally detached and inept. The old morality was failing and how would it be replaced?

This resonates with me. Augustine was sent to learn fancy rhetoric, logic, and so instead of the 'elites' of the day preparing for the coming storm, they were writing epigrams and arguing the finer points of philosophy. Fat lot of good that does when the Vandals roll up outside the city walls.

The discussion of sexual morality I find particularly resonant. My generation grew up with an inversion of traditional mores, where sex outside of marriage was good, and only prudes waited for the wedding night. Experiment! Go out and have fun! Hook ups are healthy and good! Watch porn, it's healthy!

Lies, all lies and society is crumbling from without and within because we forgot the most important thing: God.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 28, 2024 09:20 AM (llXky)

51 The second book I read was Dallas 1963 by Bill Minutaglio and Steven Davis. It's not strictly about the JFK assassination - in fact, the authors say that the book is specifically not about the conspiracy theories - but a look at 1960-1963 in Dallas politics and how resistance to integration, hatred for Kennedy, military scheming and other 'right-wing' agendas festered and came together to create an atmosphere in which killing Kennedy - though not a deliberate outcome - was seen as a reasonable effort to 'save' the country.

Well worth reading in light of Trump and the Deep State.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 28, 2024 09:20 AM (Q0kLU)

52 I've had one of those annoying head colds this week. Nothing serious, no coughing or fever, but my head feels like it's full of mush. So no esoteric, profound reading.

First is "The Secret Garden". I don't know if the story will hold my attention but the lady certainly can describe a setting both visually and to set a mood.

Then there were a couple of the MASH Goes to Wherever books. Simple, fun reading with, mercifully, no political or socially redeeming values. Penty of booze and boob references which suited my diminished attention.

Finally, I got out my copy of the Brambly Hedge stories. I can't read the words and look at the illustrations without smiling.

Posted by: JTB at January 28, 2024 09:21 AM (zudum)

53 On the book shelves: I think that if I had the room for a couple of walls of book shelves, I'd use the corner to make off sized shelves for my oversized books.

Posted by: p0indexterous at January 28, 2024 09:21 AM (QBwMV)

54 What is happening in the video below?

******

The bright object is much closer to the camera than the truck. It is backlit by the neighbor's yard light and if you watch in the final seconds you can see thin strands trailing above and below the bright spot. I would say a spider dropped out of a tree and is trailing a strand of spider web, which drifts across the scene. A motion activated light flicks on, illuminating the truck.

We get these kinds of goofy images at night frequently on our Wyze cameras. My daughter got a similar one and thought she had ghosts.

Posted by: Muldoon at January 28, 2024 09:21 AM (991eG)

55 Skip the last chapter, "The Post-Truth World," since it's the obligatory slap at Trump and enjoy the rest.

What the F does Trump have to do with it?! He's fighting against the bastards trying to impose 1984 on us!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 28, 2024 09:21 AM (Angsy)

56 I've read 'City of God' by St. Augustine a long time ago. Just wondering if 'Confessions' would be something to read as well.

Posted by: dantesed at January 28, 2024 09:21 AM (88xKn)

57 I see everything Guy Ritchie creates; I have my credit card out for this movie already.

Posted by: Candidus at January 28, 2024 09:22 AM (Ya7DW)

58 History hipster!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 09:12 AM (+RQPJ)
---
I also hated nuStar Wars before it was cool. Edgelord.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 28, 2024 09:22 AM (llXky)

59 Morning all.
I've been sidetracked out of Walls of Men into a dive into the Opium Wars. I had no idea I was so ignorant on the subject.

I also got my Xbox set up which sidetracked me into Mind Flayer level brain suck.

These two things are not compatable. Something must give.

Might send the Xbox home with the grandkids.

Posted by: Reforger at January 28, 2024 09:22 AM (rz8gk)

60 I read a lot of old documents this week. I'm amazed that professors used to grade papers down because undergraduate students didn't include information they would have no way of knowing without the professor mentioning it pre-Internet. Also, Hillary and BillClinton were seen as social-climbing hicks by DC insiders and not a few journalists during the Lewinsky scandal. I wonder when they became untouchable.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at January 28, 2024 09:23 AM (sbfOJ)

61 In the Ring video.... sometimes a piece of spiderweb with debris gets caught up in it and can hook onto the camera body. The result is this weirdness.

I see it on ours all the time.
Posted by: Martini Farmer at January 28, 2024 09:19 AM (Q4IgG)

You're being haunted by poltergeists. Very vain poltergeists that love posing in front of cameras.

Posted by: Robert at January 28, 2024 09:23 AM (1Yy3c)

62 The Door Cam Ghost is some hobo playing hobo games and looking for a free handout.

I know every engineer on every train
All of their children, and all of their names
And every handout in every town
Every lock that ain't locked, when no one's around...

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at January 28, 2024 09:23 AM (to8tq)

63 lens artifacts: http://tinyurl.com/ringflare

Posted by: setnaffa at January 28, 2024 09:23 AM (jeNdr)

64 Got a topic for the readers. What determines what name a character calls another one, either in direct address or by reference? And what determines how the fans of that character refer to him?

For instance, Sherlock Holmes & Dr. John Watson always addressed each other by last name, as did Supt. Hadley and Dr. Gideon Fell in John Dickson Carr. I'm not sure, but I think fans usually refer to them the same way. However, while Nero Wolfe (Rex Stout's detective) is hardly adorable or cuddly, fans often call him "Nero." In contrast, Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call of Lonesome Dove call each other "Gus" and "Woodrow," and fans call Gus by that name; but everyone I've read calls the other "Captain Call." What determines this?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 28, 2024 09:10 AM (omVj0)

Sounds like an interesting topic, so of course, I have to go somewhere for about thirty minutes. I'm interested in what people think about it.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 28, 2024 09:24 AM (Angsy)

65 I've read 'City of God' by St. Augustine a long time ago. Just wondering if 'Confessions' would be something to read as well.

Posted by: dantesed at January 28, 2024 09:21 AM (88xKn)
---
Hah, that's next on my list. I figured Confessions would let me know him personally, and help explain his other writings. It is hard to put down. Last night I tentatively reached for it, saw the clock and reluctantly drew back. I didn't need another all-night reading session.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 28, 2024 09:24 AM (llXky)

66 Taylor Swift is attractive because of her age and fertility, and I would give her the meat and then kick her to the curb because she's just another lunatic lost in the world without a commitment to anyone.

You're a billionaire, girl. Settle down.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at January 28, 2024 09:25 AM (EEgXH)

67 Regarding Holmes and Watson, addressing each other by last name is a public school/military thing, so maybe that's it.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 09:26 AM (+RQPJ)

68 I'm not the most fashionable guy but even I think the 'these pants' pantaloons are inappropriate except on stage during Shakespeare in the Park. (If they still do that.)

Posted by: JTB at January 28, 2024 09:26 AM (zudum)

69 57 I see everything Guy Ritchie creates; I have my credit card out for this movie already.
Posted by: Candidus

I would watch this, too. Love the trailer!

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at January 28, 2024 09:26 AM (OX9vb)

70 Oswald shot at walker before he shot kennedy now we can pretend french corsicans shot him for whatever reason see american tabloid

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 28, 2024 09:26 AM (PXvVL)

71 H.t. to Robert and Martini Farmerwho beat me to the correct explanation! Well done lads!

Posted by: Muldoon at January 28, 2024 09:27 AM (991eG)

72 In addition to those books I mentioned last Sunday, I'm reading "Global Vice: a COMSEC Thriller," by Andrew Rivkin. Some very educated and beautiful and cultured people in LA who have their own sentient AI stumble into an international human trafficking organization.

Not bad, so far. The good guys are a little too perfect in all respects, and there's a lot of technobabble, but the writing and story are good.

Downloaded the book for free from OnlineBookClub.org, and I will owe the site a book review when I'm finished reading. The site pays small amounts for reviews once you get into the system and prove you can properly review a book. This is my first one, so all I get out of it is a book to read.

Posted by: Sharkman at January 28, 2024 09:27 AM (WzV7S)

73 What the F does Trump have to do with it?! He's fighting against the bastards trying to impose 1984 on us!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 28, 2024 09:21 AM (Angsy)
---
The entire liberal worldview is incoherent and indeed contradictory. The only thing that can hold it together is an arch-villian that must be stopped at all costs.

What is more, because progressives are really Puritans, they believe that no measure is too extreme in defense of their believes. Indeed, they revel in crimes and excesses that would damn other people. They, of course, are the Elect, so are saved regardless of what they do.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 28, 2024 09:27 AM (llXky)

74 My last book this week was a re-read: Thomas Harris' Selling Hitler about the 'Hitler Diaries' hoax in 1983. It's a quick, breezy read, delving both into the lives and motivations of the swaggering (and utterly incompetent) forger Konrad Kujau, the Nazi-struck reporter Gerd Heidemann and the self-deluded editors and managers of Stern magazine who were so besotted with the idea of holding something by Him that all reason and scepticism was tossed aside.

The whole mess was made into a UK TV movie of the same name, starring Jonathan Pryce as Heidemann.

As Lincoln said, "If you like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you'll like."

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 28, 2024 09:27 AM (Q0kLU)

75 MPPP, if you have not already, I highly recommend 1985 Anthony Burgess' riposte to Orwell.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 28, 2024 09:28 AM (RIvkX)

76 As far as reference to characters, I'd say writer's preference.

In Marvel Comics, nicknames abound. Stan Lee loved them. Henry Pym in his Giant-Man and Goliath days was often called "High-Pockets," but I don't think many fans used that as standard reference. Captain America is just "Cap," in-universe and fandom. He's also called "Winghead." Steve Rogers? Who's that?

In direct address, the Saint calls Inspector Teal "Claude" or "Claude Eustace." In third person, he's usually just "Teal."

So I think fandom takes its cues from the writer

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 28, 2024 09:28 AM (p/isN)

77 Yeah. It’s a single strand spider thread with a drop of moisture attached.

Posted by: 13times at January 28, 2024 09:28 AM (3GhRZ)

78 I finished Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning, by Nigel Biggar. I think this was one recommended here, but I'm not sure. In any case, it's an analysis and defense of the British Empire.

I'm as cynical as the next guy when it comes to woke criticism of everything from the past, but Mr. Biggar does a credible job refuting many things "everyone knows". In particular, he addresses British colonial history in Canada, Australia, and India, and why most of what you've heard is wrong. Britain made real efforts to develop the people and institutions in their colonies, and put a stop to the most egregious practices, all while recognizing that they had to move slowly enough so as to avoid causing a native backlash. It was usually a compromise. British elimination of the African slave trade receives the most attention. America gets comparatively little attention.

He does a capable job, although there are times when he stretched the point a bit, but nothing like what modern "historians" do. As the capstone, he calls out those historians for the mendacious, self-proclaiming asses they are.

It's worth a read.

Posted by: Archimedes at January 28, 2024 09:28 AM (CsUN+)

79 Regarding Holmes and Watson, addressing each other by last name is a public school/military thing, so maybe that's it.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024

***
Right, and Hadley & Fell would have been part of that too. I think men in England and America usually used last names until the Great Informality of the Sixties began.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 28, 2024 09:29 AM (omVj0)

80 Now there was this tome about jean cobb she was a former astronaut candidate fmr narcotics source translator for fidel among other things by mary haverstick she worked alongside some of the wet work players like harvey and dave morales

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 28, 2024 09:30 AM (PXvVL)

81 That bookshelf is neat. It solves 2 problems.
The corner
And those couple awkward books that are too tall for the standard shelf.

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at January 28, 2024 09:30 AM (2ovLw)

82 Didn't the Bloom County folks find a secret Hitler diary, and after much deliberation it was determined to be fake because it was on official Dukes of Hazard stationery?

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 09:31 AM (+RQPJ)

83 So I think fandom takes its cues from the writer
Posted by: Weak Geek at January 28, 2024

***
In many cases, yes. But Archie, Wolfe's Watson, never calls Wolfe "Nero," not ever, directly or in reference. It would be like addressing royalty by a nickname.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 28, 2024 09:31 AM (omVj0)

84 Didn't the Bloom County folks find a secret Hitler diary, and after much deliberation it was determined to be fake because it was on official Dukes of Hazard stationery?
Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 09:31 AM (+RQPJ)
--
I believe they were secret Elvis Presley diaries...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 28, 2024 09:32 AM (BpYfr)

85 I love the crazy(?) logic on display in my Antarctic Space Nazi book.

How do we know there are secret hidden bases on the moon? Because the government denies there are secret hidden bases on the moon!

"Was this camouflaging to keep the Russians from spotting our base on the lunar surface and bombing it? Maybe the camouflage was to hide the base from aliens--extraterrestrials that might already be using the Moon themselves. Or, incredibly, were they hiding the lunar base from Nazis-- Nazis in Antarctica?"

I admit it: I kinda wanna visit this timeline.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 09:32 AM (+RQPJ)

86 Last weekend I watched a Midnight's Edge video eviscerating the recent BBC production of "Around the World in 80 Days." Besides explaining why the newest version sucked, Andrej spent a lot of time praising the original novel, as well as selected previous adaptations. That kind of inspired me, so I found free version of the book on Amazon and read it for myself.

I can see why the book became a classic. It's a neat story. But it is also very of-it's-time. It's a little impersonal, and the narration cuts away from some of the best action. And the main character, Phileous Fog, is eccentric almost to the point of unbelievability.

Still, it was an easy read, and I enjoyed it.

Posted by: Castle Guy at January 28, 2024 09:33 AM (Lhaco)

87 Got a topic for the readers. What determines what name a character calls another one, either in direct address or by reference? And what determines how the fans of that character refer to him?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 28, 2024 09:10 AM (omVj0)
---
How you do names depends greatly on the setting. Is the first name something that only close friends use? Are honorifics applied?

To give a somewhat extreme example, in Walls of Men I never used the short form of a single name. Why? Because they repeat all the time. Normally, one would use the surname ("What Patton was thinking was unclear...") but that doesn't work in the sweep of Chinese history.

In a more narrow scope, the same rule applies, and how characters address each other tells you about their relationship. "What do you think, Premier?"
"Well, Jake, I think..."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 28, 2024 09:33 AM (llXky)

88 Am in something of a reading slump. Couple of short essays and articles from various, but nothing long.

Doesn't keep me from floating around in the kindle store looking at other books I don't know when I'll get around to. There are days when I think I'm an addict. But naaaah -- I can quit any time I want...

Shakespeare in the Park? They still do that? I thought it had been discontinued after that unfortunate Frank Drebin fiasco.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 28, 2024 09:33 AM (a/4+U)

89 Names that characters call other characters. Until I got used to it, Georgette Heyer's Regency novels greatly confused me on this point. Many of the male characters are nobility so, for example, the Duke of Avon is sometimes called Avon (his title), sometimes Alastair (his last name), and sometimes (Justin) his first name. On top of that, some are called by nicknames as well, such as Lord Carlyon is sometimes Edward and, to family, Ned.

But I would say that the differences seem to be dictated by the formality of the occasion and the intimacy of the two characters.

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at January 28, 2024 09:33 AM (FEVMW)

90 Jerrie cobb the spy i knew

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 28, 2024 09:33 AM (PXvVL)

91 I read "The Attack" by Kurt Schlichter one day this week. Excellent, scary, probably prescient fiction. If you like Schlichter but find the Turnbull novels a bit too cutesy sometimes, you will like this work.

I find myself being more diligent about ALWAYS carrying after reading the book. Our county has had 80,000 illegals dumped on us in the past 3 months. 1 in a thousand would be more than enough.

Posted by: Candidus at January 28, 2024 09:34 AM (Ya7DW)

92 Thanks for highlighting my book review from last week, Perfessor!

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at January 28, 2024 09:35 AM (qPw5n)

93 > H.t. to Robert and Martini Farmerwho beat me to the correct explanation! Well done lads!
Posted by: Muldoon
____________

A couple months ago we had a little spider who'd made a nest behind one of our cameras. In a video you can see him/her up close actually crawl across the camera lens.

It's B&W night vision so it looks very, very weird and the spider looks like it's the size of a paper plate.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at January 28, 2024 09:35 AM (Q4IgG)

94 I am still working on the CORPS series by WEB Griffin.

Posted by: vic at January 28, 2024 09:35 AM (A5THL)

95 Didn't the Bloom County folks find a secret Hitler diary, and after much deliberation it was determined to be fake because it was on official Dukes of Hazard stationery?
Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 09:31 AM (+RQPJ)

Elvis diaries. And the storyline ended with the discovery of Margaret Mead diaries with the tagline, "Man, those Samoans are a surly bunch."

Anyway, snow storm coming, so must get ready. Hope you all have a lovely day.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 28, 2024 09:36 AM (Q0kLU)

96 The spooky video is pretty clearly just an insect or a piece of effluvium caught in a bit of web floating in front of the Ring device.

********

Effluvium is a perfectly cromulent word. I will try to use it in casual conversation this week.

Etymology- "out flowing" (Lat.)

Might call for a field trip to the local sewage treatment plant or a visit to my stinky cousin.

Posted by: Muldoon at January 28, 2024 09:37 AM (991eG)

97 C.J.Box has a new Joe Pickett novel coming out next month, "Three Inch Teeth".

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 09:38 AM (+RQPJ)

98 Considering the news this week, I am looking to reread Shelby Foote's Civil War trilogy, especially the first volume. I haven't read all three volumes for several years. Part of my enjoyment is I hear the words in Foote's voice. That honeyed Mississippi drawl is habit forming.

Posted by: JTB at January 28, 2024 09:39 AM (zudum)

99 I admit it: I kinda wanna visit this timeline.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 09:32 AM (+RQPJ)
---
You can only locate the base using Focault's pendulum.

There's one in Alpena. Mesmerizing. I wanted to slip a map of Masonic lodges under it, but it would have been awkward.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 28, 2024 09:39 AM (llXky)

100 Thanks for the Book Thread, Perfessor!

I've read seven books so far this year, which is more than usual. They are all "easy" fiction books so I will be adding a few classics and other genres to the mix for variety and challenge.

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at January 28, 2024 09:40 AM (a8Rgt)

101 For a while now I've been conflicted. Many of The Morons have enjoyed the Murderbot Diaries. The thing is, I happen to know Martha Wells a little bit. So far, I've not been able to get beyond what I know about the author to actually read any of her books, and I didn't want to dampen anyone's enthusiasm for her books by talking about the woman behind them.

I mention this now because "Alice" wrote a review of the series in last week's Book Thread and what she wrote is pretty much what I would expect based on what I know.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at January 28, 2024 09:41 AM (iZEhM)

102 I read Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. My daughter's choice for family book club. I'm still chewing on it, formulating a review for goodreads and amazon.

Overall, it's a good book, and held my interest. Prisoners convicted of murder are given an option of joining the Chain Gang All Star circuit. If you put the Roman gladiators in a television and internet world, you'd get this.

The creators euphemistically call the all-stars "hard action sports," but for the convicts, it's death row with benefits--good food, weapons, shelter, and fame that increases until they are killed in action.

It's a demonic concept, encouraging or forcing additional murder for popular entertainment, and I spent a lot of time thinking about the souls of not only the convicts, but the spectators as well.

My thoughts about it are complex, and I could probably write a whole thesis about this book. The author gives a prisons-are-wrong vibe, with many footnotes about legal system cruelty and injustice, but it only detracts from the story a little. Not enough to make me discard the thing.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at January 28, 2024 09:41 AM (OX9vb)

103 It is NOT warm out thar...with a COLD wind for emphasis.

Posted by: JT at January 28, 2024 09:41 AM (T4tVD)

104 Considering the news this week, I am looking to reread Shelby Foote's Civil War trilogy, especially the first volume. I haven't read all three volumes for several years. Part of my enjoyment is I hear the words in Foote's voice. That honeyed Mississippi drawl is habit forming.

Posted by: JTB at January 28, 2024 09:39 AM (zudum)
---
Don't forget your copy of Long Live Death, which is in many ways a closer analogy. Corrupted elections, gross overreach, complete rejection of normal political convention and purging the military of "undesireable" elements while embarking on a campaign of religious persecution.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 28, 2024 09:42 AM (llXky)

105 I get a lot of Yellowjackets flying around my cameras. The cameras are night vision and I think they are attracted to the IR light.
Sometimes they will get in there just right and their face will fill the whole screen inside.
I've learned to ignore most of the weird shit I see on those screens.
I have two cameras that point the same direction from the same mount on seperate systems. They almost always look different, especially in low light situations.

Posted by: Reforger at January 28, 2024 09:43 AM (Vtuzc)

106 I am looking for recommendations for an ebook (kindle) study bible I can take with me while traveling. Preferably Catholic or Orthodox friendly, and even better if with Apocrypha.
*****

Perfesser, thanks for asking my question!

I came across a free Bible study app called Catena, which seems to let me pick which Bible version and which commentary traditions (Early Fathers, Western, Eastern) to view.
Playing around with it.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024 09:44 AM (V1Jl+)

107 finished Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning, by Nigel Biggar. I think this was one recommended here, but I'm not sure. In any case, it's an analysis and defense of the British Empire.

Posted by: Archimedes

I saw an interview of him by Konstatin Kiskin. I'll need to get this one.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at January 28, 2024 09:44 AM (TkiD6)

108 I admit it: I kinda wanna visit this timeline.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 09:32 AM (+RQPJ)

I dunno Eris, this one promises to be pretty weird too

http://tinyurl.com/climate-nuked-mars

Evidence for Large Planetary Climate Altering
Thermonuclear Explosions on Mars in the Past
John E. Brandenburg
Kepler Aerospace Ltd., Midland, USA

Posted by: Kindltot at January 28, 2024 09:44 AM (D7oie)

109 I've amassed quite the collection of Osprey books on military history: mostly for the illustrations. They are full of historical drawings, plus a slate of about 8 modern full-color painting of whatever is the subject of the book. Alas, the illustrations are the highlight of the books, and I rarely get around to reading the text of the book. Well, this year I'm trying to change that, and I'm making a conscious effort to actually read the books.

The most recent book I finished was a book on pirates (literally titled "Pirated 1660-1730") by Angus and Angus. Yes, the author is Angus Konstam and the illustrator is Angus McBride. What are the odds of reading a book from one guy named 'Angus,' let alone the odds of getting two of them to collaborate? But, if an Angus and another Angus were ever going to cooperate on something, it feels right that the topic is piracy.....

Posted by: Castle Guy at January 28, 2024 09:47 AM (Lhaco)

110 @102 --

Puts me in mind of the Schwarzenegger movie "The Running Man." Combination arena/game show. Audience members predict the winners of the televised combats and get prizes when they're right.

Posted by: Weak Geek at January 28, 2024 09:48 AM (p/isN)

111 Started watching the library binding ep and immediately bookmarked it.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024 09:48 AM (V1Jl+)

112 "What is more, because progressives are really Puritans, they believe that no measure is too extreme in defense of their believes."

Puritanical but not Puritan. The ersatz church of Woke applies its strictures selectively with indulgences for the chosen Chosen. Like private jet travel for the elect. Soon it will be steaks.

Closest analogy is Scientology. They admire Islam.

Posted by: Ignoramus at January 28, 2024 09:49 AM (Gse2f)

113 I like those bookshelf corners because they create spaces for large books without having to lay them down on their backs.

Posted by: IrishEi at January 28, 2024 09:51 AM (87673)

114 test

Posted by: vic at January 28, 2024 09:51 AM (A5THL)

115 The porch floating light is moisture on a spider webs floating in front of camera. Happens at my house often.

Posted by: Checkers at January 28, 2024 09:52 AM (VPDc4)

116 Oh, and wanted to add but forgot to on these Russian officer's memoirs is also these last few weeks been watching videos on the 1825 Decembrists revolt which is supposed to be many involved were returning from the Napoleonic Wars and seeing how the rest of Europe was much more wealthy and better off living conditions. I can see now how they wanted to get Russia more like Germany states.

Posted by: Skip at January 28, 2024 09:53 AM (fwDg9)

117 Is there a non-fiction book dedicated to the study of “camp followers” Roman through the Napoleonic era?

Posted by: 13times at January 28, 2024 09:54 AM (enMZU)

118 I can see now how they wanted to get Russia more like Germany states.

Well, Hitler did his best to combine them.

Posted by: Archimedes at January 28, 2024 09:55 AM (CsUN+)

119 Like with horthy deposing bela kun

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 28, 2024 09:55 AM (PXvVL)

120 Solar10,581 MW(20.8%)19,441 MW
Wind3,781 MW(7.4%)38,367 MW

Solar is performing at around 50% of investment.

Wind less than 10%.

No real business would buy a rack of servers for 1000 clients that could only serve 10.

Posted by: rhennigantx at January 28, 2024 09:55 AM (ENQN6)

121 All of which is to say, Late Antiquity is very familiar to me, so this era is the male equivalent to Regency England.

***

Oh, this is a wonderful explanation!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024 09:56 AM (V1Jl+)

122 99 I admit it: I kinda wanna visit this timeline.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 09:32 AM (+RQPJ)
---
You can only locate the base using Focault's pendulum.

There's one in Alpena. Mesmerizing. I wanted to slip a map of Masonic lodges under it, but it would have been awkward.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 28, 2024 09:39 AM

You have a map of Masonic lodges?!

I also visited that museum in Alpena with a pal.
We thought it was also cool that we could see it from different heights.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at January 28, 2024 09:56 AM (sbfOJ)

123 @102
My librarian got Chain Gang All Stars for me a few months ago and I tried but I couldn't finish it.
Too much "She's a strong black woman" and the sheer improbability of nearly everything in the book kept me from getting immersed in it.

Posted by: p0indexterous at January 28, 2024 09:57 AM (QBwMV)

124 Regarding the library picture: I don't have shelves that wrap around a corner, but I did run into a related problem; I couldn't run a bookshelf tight to a corner, because then the 1' deep shelf would cover up an outlet on the side-wall. So, I got together with my dad and built some custom shelves that could fit behind the outlet. I had two instances of that in my house, so I have one shelf that's 6' tall by 1' wide x 8" deep, and another that's 6' tall x 1' wide x 6" deep. The latter of the shelves is only good for novels and other small paperbacks. But, making those shelves was good practice, and got me prepared for making bigger shelves for my comic omnibuses and other big hardcovers...

Posted by: Castle Guy at January 28, 2024 09:57 AM (Lhaco)

125 Good morning all.
I want to see that movie!
Now to read the comments.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at January 28, 2024 09:57 AM (t/2Uw)

126 So I have a recommendation for the horde. The short story trilogy "Scattered, Smothered and Spellbound" by Kelly Grayson, known for is blog Ambulance Driver Files.

The quick summary: Yes, supernatural creatures exist. And they come to Waffle House late at night for food. I won't say anything else other than it's a good bit of reading.

Posted by: NR Pax at January 28, 2024 10:00 AM (Vxc9h)

127 I also picked up Puttin People First by Algore and Billary. Their '92 election year book on how we can "change" America. *spit.
Bought for historical purposes at the local battered womens shelter thrift store.
$.50, originally $7.00
Adjusted for inflation it's value on par with what what our money is worth now vs. 1992.

Posted by: Reforger at January 28, 2024 10:00 AM (Vtuzc)

128 I tried reading a booktok famous book in the "romantasy" genre last week and didn't get past prologue and first 2 pages.

It wasn't so much that it was trope-filled and over-the-top, but that the writing was just bad. It read as though an enthusiastic middle-grader wrote it for English class.

A triumph of marketing over content.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024 10:00 AM (V1Jl+)

129 110 Week Geek, I thought of that, too, as well as The Hunger Games. It's not really a new concept, the death matches, but this treatment was a little different in the use of violent criminals.

The convicts themselves are not apologetic about their crimes. They know they've done wrong, and several of the characters reflect often on their crimes and their own souls and their potential (or lack thereof) for redemption. Lots of layers.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at January 28, 2024 10:00 AM (OX9vb)

130 I tried reading a booktok famous book in the "romantasy" genre

Heh, romantasy. Nice portmanteau.

Posted by: Archimedes at January 28, 2024 10:02 AM (CsUN+)

131 There are I think 2 different Osprey type booklets on camp followers

Posted by: Skip at January 28, 2024 10:02 AM (fwDg9)

132 I think I'd like those bookshelf corners and my kid would hate hate hate it
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024 09:03 AM (V1Jl+)

I thought bookshelf corners were supposed to meet in quarter-round niches in which you displayed the skulls of your enemies.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at January 28, 2024 10:03 AM (tkR6S)

133 I dunno JT. Those look like pirate swashbuckling pants...guy might very well own a weedwacker.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at January 28, 2024 10:03 AM (t/2Uw)

134 I would watch the guy Ritchie Hobbit movie...

Posted by: lin-duh at January 28, 2024 10:03 AM (I6rgD)

135 Heh, romantasy. Nice portmanteau.
Posted by: Archimedes

Isn't it? Immediately tell you what it will be like, too.

Another one is "cli-fi"- science fiction about climate change. (Sure to be dreary and preachy)

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024 10:05 AM (V1Jl+)

136 I tried reading a booktok famous book in the "romantasy" genre last week and didn't get past prologue and first 2 pages.

It wasn't so much that it was trope-filled and over-the-top, but that the writing was just bad. It read as though an enthusiastic middle-grader wrote it for English class.

A triumph of marketing over content.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024 10:00 AM (V1Jl+)
---
My wife is binging on that sort of stuff right now. I don't judge.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 28, 2024 10:05 AM (llXky)

137 Well the king arthur one wasnt very good

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 28, 2024 10:05 AM (PXvVL)

138 I thought bookshelf corners were supposed to meet in quarter-round niches in which you displayed the skulls of your enemies.

Only if it matches the overall theme of the room. You must have a Tzompantli for this to work.

Posted by: Archimedes at January 28, 2024 10:06 AM (CsUN+)

139
Another one is "cli-fi"- science fiction about climate change. (Sure to be dreary and preachy)

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024 10:05 AM (V1Jl+)
---
It's going to be funny when the genre outlasts all the dire predictions but keeps chugging along.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 28, 2024 10:06 AM (llXky)

140 My wife is binging on that sort of stuff right now. I don't judge.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

The subgenre is fine, imo. This particular book though was eye-roll inducing.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024 10:08 AM (V1Jl+)

141 C.J.Box has a new Joe Pickett novel coming out next month, "Three Inch Teeth".
Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 09:38 AM (+RQPJ)

Noted

And thank you !

Posted by: JT at January 28, 2024 10:08 AM (T4tVD)

142 Too much "She's a strong black woman" and the sheer improbability of nearly everything in the book kept me from getting immersed in it.
Posted by: p0indexterous at January 28, 2024 09:57 AM (QBwMV)

There was that. There is always that, in everything written today.

Of course, if improbability bothered me in fiction, I'd never read fiction.

I want to put my own footnotes in sticky-note form next to author's footnotes before I turn it back in. A little guerilla comm.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at January 28, 2024 10:09 AM (OX9vb)

143 I finally finished Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time. It was a fascinating story and easy enough to follow all of the characters. Tey is an amazingly good writer. I supposed I should not have been surprised , but I was (if the story is at all accurate) at just how boldly and on how many fronts King Richard was betrayed. The cold blooded treachery of King Henry VII is also deeply disturbing. The story is well written and I’d like to say I enjoyed it. Had I read this book many years ago, I would have. I read to escape from day to day worries and relax. This story, especially in light of recent events and our corrupt media, left me with a terrible sense of ill ease. It is however, an excellent example how reputations can be destroyed and history distorted. Still, it's a good read.

Posted by: KatieFloyd at January 28, 2024 10:09 AM (SmoGJ)

144 Heh, romantasy. Nice portmanteau.
Posted by: Archimedes

Isn't it? Immediately tell you what it will be like, too.

I always have to stop and think to remember what a Roman a clef and a Bildungsroman are.

RAC: a novel in which real people or events appear with invented names.

BR: a bildungsroman is a novel that deals with the formative years of the main character, and in particular, with the character's psychological development and moral education.

Posted by: Archimedes at January 28, 2024 10:09 AM (CsUN+)

145 I recently read The Vanishing by Jayne Ann Krentz. The author was recommended by sharon(willow's apprentice) and I've been quite pleased with her recommendation. Krentz is a prolific romance fiction writer with several pen names, and her writing is a pleasure to read.

The story takes place around Fogg Lake, Washington, a remote, bottomless lake, surrounded by caves and underground rivers, and that is always covered with fog. The tiny town of Fogg Lake shuns visitors and tourists and comes with its own secret: the residents possess paranormal powers that put them at odds with the "real" world. One of two best friends who left Fogg Lake after college to live a normal life in Seattle disappears without a trace. Is it a coincidence that a representative of a secretive organization that investigates and protects the secrets of Fogg Lake suddenly appears in Seattle to offer assistance in finding the vanished friend? The book's plot twists and turns, introducing new characters and an old secret that was thought to be merely legend. The plot is interesting and unpredictable. I enjoyed every page.

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at January 28, 2024 10:09 AM (a8Rgt)

146 My wife is binging on that sort of stuff right now. I don't judge.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

The subgenre is fine, imo. This particular book though was eye-roll inducing.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024 10:08 AM (V1Jl+)
---
Bad writing is bad writing, regardless of genre or subgenre...Even successful writers can write terrible books if they do not fully understand the genre or characters.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 28, 2024 10:09 AM (BpYfr)

147 She does Maka a fine Elf, Guy Ritchie couldn't make Tolkien worse than Jackson I bet

Posted by: Skip at January 28, 2024 10:09 AM (fwDg9)

148 The library cover video was really interesting, perfesser. I paid a pretty penny for books with library bindings for my nieces. Once in a while I find used book sales with library discards. The covers are fine; the pages are yellowed.

Does anyone else buy the same books in paperback and hardcover so you can destroy the paperback version with annotations? I rediscovered a book from my early teens that I'd been wanting to reread. Turns out the author wrote a trilogy. My librarian relative (now retired) actually read it for a college class when YA began to explode in popularity.

I bought all three paperbacks last year but put off reading it until I could find an affordable hardback. $84 - no, thank you.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at January 28, 2024 10:10 AM (sbfOJ)

149 I watched season 1 of the Lincoln Lawyer and thought it was very well done. I especially liked that I was unfamiliar with the actors so the personas felt real.
Has anyone read the Connolly books? Are they worth pursuing?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at January 28, 2024 10:10 AM (t/2Uw)

150 Puritanical but not Puritan. The ersatz church of Woke applies its strictures selectively with indulgences for the chosen Chosen. Like private jet travel for the elect. Soon it will be steaks.

Posted by: Ignoramus at January 28, 2024 09:49 AM (Gse2f)
---
Seems like a distinction without a difference. Sure, the actual Puritans believed that they had to demonstrate their uprightness in public, but that was because they hadn't embraced the full opportunity for will to power that predestination offers.

The private jets demonstrate that they are the Elect; their wealth shows their divine favor. They also believe in Total Depravity, which is why the Deplorables are irredeemable.

Seriously, if there was ever a bunch who believed that God created people just to damn them, it's this crew.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 28, 2024 10:10 AM (llXky)

151 Thanks Skip. I’ll start there on search for a massive tome dedicated to the subject. I feel that it’s a genre worthy of study. There are glimpses of it in US civil war books.

Posted by: 13times at January 28, 2024 10:11 AM (+4yUt)

152 I dunno JT. Those look like pirate swashbuckling pants...guy might very well own a weedwacker.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at January 28, 2024 10:03 AM (t/2Uw)

Far be it from me to argue with an 'Ette !

Posted by: JT at January 28, 2024 10:12 AM (T4tVD)

153 Like my novel in progress jambiya

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 28, 2024 10:12 AM (PXvVL)

154 Just watched the embedded video on book-binding. Not a lot of new info for me, but that's mostly because I had previously fallen down the rabbit-hole for custom-binding comics. Basically, taking comic books (or staple-bound magazines) and turning them into your own hardcover book by using the through-the-fold sewing method. It looked fun, but I don't have room for another hobby that needs that kind of equipment.

Posted by: Castle Guy at January 28, 2024 10:12 AM (Lhaco)

155 Breadcrumbs to map the rabbit hole:
imdb revealed that a Perry Mason episode was filmed in a mansion that once belonged to the founder of Sinclair Oil.
The note had the founder's name wrong, so off to pursue.
Sinclair was implicated in the Teapot Dome Scandal. But, the actual national scandal was about their dealing with Mussolini's government on other leases. This was revealed by Matteotti, who was killed by Mussolini's new secret police before he could make a speech in the legislature. But his article was published by a magazine founded by Brendan Bracken, and the story blew up. Brendan Bracken was an Irishman with a fake back story of being Australian, and was widely accused of being Winston Churchill's illegitimate son. He held a post as the head of the propaganda ministry of the UK during WWII.

Brendan Bracken was probably the model for Big Brother.
Raymond Burr to George Orwell in six easy steps.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at January 28, 2024 10:12 AM (zdLoL)

156 Posted by: Kindltot at January 28, 2024 09:44 AM (D7oie)
---

My Space Nazi book says we've visited and/or colonized all the planets in the solar system except for Mercury (too crispy) so without reading the link I'm positing Nazi vs Red vs US spaaaaaace waaaar.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 10:13 AM (+RQPJ)

157 I rediscovered a book from my early teens that I'd been wanting to reread. Turns out the author wrote a trilogy. My librarian relative (now retired) actually read it for a college class when YA began to explode in popularit

***

Author/ title?

Much loved books I try to get in hardcover, because mass market paperbacks get yellow and brittle with age.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024 10:14 AM (V1Jl+)

158 (f) Suspension of entry or imposition of restrictions by President
Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate. Whenever the Attorney General finds that a commercial airline has failed to comply with regulations of the Attorney General relating to requirements of airlines for the detection of fraudulent documents used by passengers traveling to the United States (including the training of personnel in such detection), the Attorney General may suspend the entry of some or all aliens transported to the United States by such airline.

Posted by: rhennigantx at January 28, 2024 10:15 AM (ENQN6)

159 Good morning Perfessor,

Yes, Midnight Tides is a weird book in the sense that it takes place many years prior to the main story line, but it is one of my favorites of the series. Mostly because of the interplay between Bugg and Tehol. Since it was my second time through, I understood it but the first time it took a couple hundred pages to realize what the heck was going on.

Posted by: EyeofSauron at January 28, 2024 10:16 AM (u0bih)

160 Then again a dark gritty versioj of the arthur legend might have been more historically accurate

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 28, 2024 10:18 AM (PXvVL)

161 Nevil Shute's Most Secret is a very good read, BTW. I've been reading John Barnes' Daybreak series ... grim, depressing, rather overly-talky, but still gripping. The end of the world as we know it is precipitated by a movement intended to return all humankind to a state of primitive tribal nature, by spreading a biote that dissolves plastics and turns gasoline and oil derivatives to useless goo ... with a couple of nukes and EMPs to finish off any hardy and creative survivors. The mentality of the so-called Daybreakers is scarily familiar. I have the third book to go, so it isn't really clear yet who or what is profiting from Daybreak, or how the mind-virus spreads...
And I;m kicking around the notion of my next book - a YA adventure on the Oregon-California trail in 1848. I've done an adult version, set earlier, but this will be entirely focused on the kid and tween characters.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at January 28, 2024 10:18 AM (xnmPy)

162 Today is my Birthday !

Posted by: JT at January 28, 2024 10:18 AM (T4tVD)

163 Happy Birthday JT!
🎉

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at January 28, 2024 10:20 AM (t/2Uw)

164 Yes, Midnight Tides is a weird book in the sense that it takes place many years prior to the main story line, but it is one of my favorites of the series. Mostly because of the interplay between Bugg and Tehol. Since it was my second time through, I understood it but the first time it took a couple hundred pages to realize what the heck was going on.
Posted by: EyeofSauron at January 28, 2024 10:16 AM (u0bih)
---
I enjoyed Midnight Tides. But it does take away something from the rest of the series by shifting the perspective thousands of miles away and several years in the past. The interactions between many of the characters where just great, especially Tehol and Bugg (reminded me of Archer and Woodhouse).

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 28, 2024 10:20 AM (BpYfr)

165 I tried reading a booktok famous book in the "romantasy" genre last week and didn't get past prologue and first 2 pages.

It wasn't so much that it was trope-filled and over-the-top, but that the writing was just bad. It read as though an enthusiastic middle-grader wrote it for English class.

A triumph of marketing over content.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024 10:00 AM (V1Jl+)

Wait... I haven't written a romantasy book.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 28, 2024 10:22 AM (Angsy)

166 @142
Ohhh... Sticky notes. Interesting idea. Just think if it becomes a trend. Libraries full of bulging books full of sticky notes.
There are quite a few books that could benefit from a few helpful notes in the margins.

Posted by: p0indexterous at January 28, 2024 10:22 AM (QBwMV)

167 162 ... Happy birthday, JT. Here's hoping it is a wonderful day.

Posted by: JTB at January 28, 2024 10:22 AM (zudum)

168 Puritanical but not Puritan. "Seems like a distinction without a difference."

I politely disagree. Why I used the Scientology analogy. Few at the top of Woke actually believe in Thetans. They know it's a scam.

Puritan leaders didn't allow themselves holidays to sin.

Many Islamic potentates do.

Posted by: Ignoramus at January 28, 2024 10:23 AM (Gse2f)

169 Speaking of King Arthur, I went to our library's winter used book sale "just to browse" and came out with a sack full o' books, of course.

One was "The Mystery of King Arthur" by Elizabeth Jenkins, which looks at his place as both an historical figure and as part of the national mythos. It is profusely illustrated and Liz looks to be a very good writer, just from my perusal.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 10:23 AM (+RQPJ)

170 JT! JT! JT!
Happy Birthday.

Posted by: Tonypete at January 28, 2024 10:25 AM (TiOvb)

171 In another time, "cli-fi" was not as one-figured and kooky as it is just now. Silverberg's "Time of The Great Freeze" had a lot going for it and was an early major for me. OTOH, "L.A. 2017" may be the ur-kook of the modern genre, and it's by Philip Wylie, one of the grand madmen of the 1950's ("Generation of Vipers" probably has fans here). He also wrote "When Worlds Collide," and got crazier from there. And, he invented the character Captain Crunch. Ka-boom.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at January 28, 2024 10:26 AM (zdLoL)

172 Re: how characters address each other.

It seems to me, the older a book is, the more formally characters address each other. Social status would enter in to it as well.

Equals would be more familiar. You'd use the full name or title to your superior, and to your inferior, you'd probably nickname them.

Also, the setting of a book. You'd expect a more formal mode of address in Victorian England than you would in the Old West.

I usually use the whole name, or the last name when I refer to characters in the book, unless a nickname is used for the character. In that case, I'd use the nickname.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 28, 2024 10:27 AM (Angsy)

173 There are quite a few books that could benefit from a few helpful notes in the margins.
Posted by: p0indexterous at January 28, 2024 10:22 AM (QBwMV)

Right? Let's do this!

And now, off to see my mama. Have a good day, horde.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at January 28, 2024 10:28 AM (OX9vb)

174 There are I think 2 different Osprey type booklets on camp followers
Posted by: Skip at January 28, 2024 10:02 AM (fwDg9)

The military used to do vids about them too....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 28, 2024 10:29 AM (Angsy)

175
Budget Buster - a limerick

Our city council's raising all our rents
'cause the plumbing smell is getting too intense
It costs a lot improving 'em
But to get rid of effluvium
It all comes down to dollars and scents

Posted by: Muldoon at January 28, 2024 10:30 AM (991eG)

176 I read a Jayne Ann Krentz book this week, the second book in her lost night files series, The Night Island. It was shorter than a lot of her work and not as good as the one Legally Sufficient talked about. Just felt more formulaic. Filler.
On a positive not, just got the second book in James Islington Licanus trilogy, An Echo of Things to Come. Islington does a synopsis of book 1 which helped me remember the giant cliffhanger at the end of book 1 and segue into book 2. Should be able to report next week.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at January 28, 2024 10:30 AM (t/2Uw)

177 Another one is "cli-fi"- science fiction about climate change. (Sure to be dreary and preachy)
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024 10:05 AM (V1Jl+)

Huh? I thought it was stuff about strong women?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 28, 2024 10:31 AM (Angsy)

178 It's a demonic concept, encouraging or forcing additional murder for popular entertainment, and I spent a lot of time thinking about the souls of not only the convicts, but the spectators as well.

My thoughts about it are complex, and I could probably write a whole thesis about this book. The author gives a prisons-are-wrong vibe, with many footnotes about legal system cruelty and injustice, but it only detracts from the story a little. Not enough to make me discard the thing.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at January 28, 2024 09:41 AM (OX9vb)

Franchises like Squid Games of The Hunger Game (never seen either, but I know them via cultural osmosis) give me those same uneasy feelings. Wondering how society could sanction things like that. Then I remember the Colosseum....I guess there is nothing but a very specific set of morals that separate us from a world like that...

Posted by: Castle Guy at January 28, 2024 10:31 AM (Lhaco)

179 On a positive not, just got the second book in James Islington Licanus trilogy, An Echo of Things to Come.

I LOVE Islington's The Will of the Many that came out last year
I have not yet read his earlier series.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024 10:31 AM (V1Jl+)

180 The light thingy in the Ring camera looks a lot like a lens flare, and it moves like one, too -- with no visible interaction with the background. Probably some light is hitting the Ring device at a very oblique angle. Maybe some kid lighting it up with a flashlight?

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 28, 2024 10:32 AM (78a2H)

181 Didn't the Bloom County folks find a secret Hitler diary, and after much deliberation it was determined to be fake because it was on official Dukes of Hazard stationery?
Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 09:31 AM (+RQPJ)

Well, that and talking about his Beanie Baby Collection.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 28, 2024 10:32 AM (nFnyb)

182 Mirrored heavens is a good example of cli fi

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 28, 2024 10:33 AM (PXvVL)

183 When browsing the King Arthur section of your library be sure to take time to stop and smell the flours.

Posted by: Muldoon at January 28, 2024 10:34 AM (991eG)

184 Many already said "it's a spider web", but keep in mind that many poltergeists disguise their presence by presenting as spider webs. Better to stay inside.

One could go out with a broom and clear the "spider web", but that seems risky.

Posted by: illiniwek at January 28, 2024 10:35 AM (Cus5s)

185 Vmom, that is what turned me on to this. I loved The Will of the Many, went looking for book 2 only to find out he hadn't written it yet.
You will like this series because it has a lot of the same elements that made the WOTM great.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at January 28, 2024 10:35 AM (t/2Uw)

186 Happy 29th birthday, JT!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024 10:36 AM (V1Jl+)

187 Our home school co-op held our annual Shakespeare Faire last night, honoring the ~14 year old students who watched or read all 37 Shakespeare plays since the start of the Fall semester (15 of 29 students). They were crowned Emperor / Empress and given capes, scepters, and crowns. The students who did not make the cut acted as servers.

For the rest of the year they will produce and present one of the plays.

Posted by: Candidus at January 28, 2024 10:36 AM (Ya7DW)

188 Also got some Gordon R. Dickson, a John Varley short story collection, and "Sally Wister's Journal: A True Narrative, Being a Quaker Maiden's Account of her Experiences with Officers of the Continental Army 1777-1778"

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 10:36 AM (+RQPJ)

189 Happy Birthday JT!
🎉
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice)

Thank you !

Posted by: JT at January 28, 2024 10:36 AM (T4tVD)

190 Book 1 is The Shadow of What was Lost. Twists and turns and an ending that Wow, makes you immediately want to get book 2.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at January 28, 2024 10:36 AM (t/2Uw)

191 Huh? I thought it was stuff about strong women?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 28, 2024 10:31 AM (Angsy)
---

That's Clit Lit.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 10:37 AM (+RQPJ)

192 162 ... Happy birthday, JT. Here's hoping it is a wonderful day.
Posted by: JTB at January 28, 2024 10:22 AM (zudum)

Thank you !

Regards to the Missus !

Posted by: JT at January 28, 2024 10:38 AM (T4tVD)

193 I politely disagree. Why I used the Scientology analogy. Few at the top of Woke actually believe in Thetans. They know it's a scam.

Puritan leaders didn't allow themselves holidays to sin.

Many Islamic potentates do.

Posted by: Ignoramus at January 28, 2024 10:23 AM (Gse2f)
---
The leading Reformed (Calvinist) theologian of the 20th Century, Karl Barth, kept a live-in mistress for decades and convinced his colleagues to hush it up "for the cause."

He wrote that his work was so important that God allowed him the aid of his "partner" (his secretary/mistress) to complete it.

I think the key difference was that the Puritans still held to a traditional morality, while the new version is pushing the Satanic one of shouting abortions, grooming your kids is a righteous act, etc.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 28, 2024 10:39 AM (llXky)

194 Thanks VMom !

Posted by: JT at January 28, 2024 10:39 AM (T4tVD)

195 For the rest of the year they will produce and present one of the plays.
Posted by: Candidus

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time"

Posted by: Tonypete at January 28, 2024 10:39 AM (TiOvb)

196 Vmom:
There's a site called "bible hub" (biblehub dot com) that has different translations, the apocrypha, commentaries, even audio.

As far as "Orthodox friendly: ROCOR uses the NKJ. Rule of thumb: if the translation was from the Septuagint, you probably won't get egregious mis-translations of the NT words "episcopos" (Bishop) and "presbyter" (Priest). NIV translates those words as "elder" when St Paul is praising them, and "Bishop/Priest" when denigrating them. NIV was out of Dallas Theological Seminary.

Husband is a late-in-life seminarian, to become an Orthodox Deacon. He hasn't found a good "app" Bible. We'd be interested in know if there is one.

Posted by: Question Authority bumper sticker at January 28, 2024 10:40 AM (Rbu5d)

197 That's Clit Lit.
Posted by: All Hail Eris

I would have bet good $$$ you would be the one to point that out.

HA!!

Posted by: Tonypete at January 28, 2024 10:40 AM (TiOvb)

198 JT! JT! JT!
Happy Birthday.
Posted by: Tonypete

Thanks !

Posted by: JT at January 28, 2024 10:42 AM (T4tVD)

199 My Space Nazi book says we've visited and/or colonized all the planets in the solar system except for Mercury (too crispy) so without reading the link I'm positing Nazi vs Red vs US spaaaaaace waaaar.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 10:13 AM (+RQPJ)

evidence of surface scattering of Thorium, and the Ar/Xe isotope anomalies in the Martian atmosphere, matched against Martian origin meteorites, there is a hypothesis that there were at least two major nuclear explosions on Mars about the time of the end of the Earths Cambrium period

Marvin may have got careless with his The Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator when trilobites were fighting it out against the anamalocarus

Posted by: Kindltot at January 28, 2024 10:45 AM (D7oie)

200 Okay, time to go to Mass, but one final thought since Islam came up.

IF one accepts the premise that Islam was a Christian heresy AND Mohammed was retconned in after the fact to legitimize it, AND the Hadith was written centuries later to flesh it all out, what if The Prophet's seeming moral failures are actually the result of trying to work around existing geneologies and/or the actions of subsequent Caliphs who also had to be legitimized?

Food for thought, no?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 28, 2024 10:46 AM (llXky)

201 Among the books of essays I've been skipping around in: Robert Silverberg's LIVING IN THE FUTURE from NESFA Press. Good stuff on science fiction, sure, but in a couple of the essays he touches on John Updike (whose work I tried reading in college and couldn't get into it at all) and made it sound interesting enough that I pulled a few samples. Reads a lot better now than it did 50 years ago. Which makes me wonder if I was even dumber in college than I thought I was...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 28, 2024 10:46 AM (a/4+U)

202 190 Book 1 is The Shadow of What was Lost. Twists and turns and an ending that Wow, makes you immediately want to get book 2.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice)
Thanks for recommendation. Just checked it out from Hoopla.

Posted by: p0indexterous at January 28, 2024 10:47 AM (QBwMV)

203 Who knew that Ikea would market a line of bookshelves "Inspired by M.C. Escher"? 4-D Chess, anyone?

One day, I will sit down and finish the design of Vanishing Point Manor. My wife will enjoy the "infinite shoe closet" just past the Master Bedroom...

Posted by: Brewingfrog at January 28, 2024 10:48 AM (Y90Az)

204 This week I looked at _Servants of the Jackal God_ by Keith Taylor. I just blazed through it in a few hours. Cracking good stuff! It's a collection of short stories the author published in the relaunched Weird Tales magazine in the 80s. The stories do form a continuing narrative, so it's kind of like a "fixup" novel.

It's about Kamose, High Priest of Anubis and top magician in post-Ramessid Egypt. Good pulp fun, sword-and-sorcery leaning heavily on the sorcery side. Kamose is a pretty ruthless character, and could easily be the villain of someone else's story.

I'm an Ancient Egyptophile -- which is why I picked it up, of course -- and the author obviously did his research. The historical details and nomenclature are good, but he doesn't let pedantry get in the way of a good story. (Example: he uses the familiar Greek/Roman names for Egyptian cities like Thebes and Memphis, but for more obscure places he uses Egyptian names.)

Recommended.

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 28, 2024 10:49 AM (78a2H)

205 Its closer to a heresy from judaism adopting most of the moral code while hating the subject race

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 28, 2024 10:50 AM (PXvVL)

206 Marvin may have got careless with his The Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator when trilobites were fighting it out against the anamalocarus
Posted by: Kindltot

Wasn't there supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom?

Posted by: Tonypete at January 28, 2024 10:53 AM (TiOvb)

207 Miguel that sums it up I think

Posted by: Skip at January 28, 2024 10:54 AM (fwDg9)

208 I agree with everybody's points about why and how characters address each other. I guess I didn't bring out the real question: Why do fans of one author refer to a character by first name, where fans of another do not? Why "Nero" for Nero Wolfe, and "Captain Call" for Gus's partner? That's my puzzler.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 28, 2024 10:56 AM (omVj0)

209 Speaking of stopping to smell the flour... I'm making some bread today, first time in years...

Haven't read much. I know I mentioned a while back I just can't seem to get engaged in any books or genre of books recently. This whole DEI thing has ruined lots of stuff for me including reading.

Posted by: lin-duh at January 28, 2024 10:56 AM (I6rgD)

210 If you want a curated version of Antarctic Nazi Occult Weirdness, check out _The Nazi Occult_ by Kenneth Hite, from Osprey (really!). It's all the gonzo weirdness presented perfectly deadpan with the dry, factual tone of an Osprey history book.

Hite also wrote a similar book for Osprey on the Cthulhu Wars . . . but it has mysteriously vanished from the Osprey web site. I blame sinister foreigners, or maybe the Lloigor.

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 28, 2024 10:57 AM (78a2H)

211 I wonder when they became untouchable.

Posted by: NaughtyPine

When they started murdering people.

Posted by: Sharkman at January 28, 2024 10:58 AM (WzV7S)

212 There is no relation of christianity to islam

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 28, 2024 11:00 AM (PXvVL)

213 It's JT's birthday. Happy birthday and may your gifts all be weedwhackers! It's my birthday, too. But don't get any ideas, I already have a weedwhacker.

Posted by: who knew at January 28, 2024 11:01 AM (4I7VG)

214 rediscovered a book from my early teens that I'd been wanting to reread. Turns out the author wrote a trilogy. My librarian relative (now retired) actually read it for a college class when YA began to explode in popularit

***

Author/ title?

Much loved books I try to get in hardcover, because mass market paperbacks get yellow and brittle with age.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024

Oh, sorry. Can't believe I missed that!

"The Dark Angel" by Meredith Ann Pierce.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at January 28, 2024 11:01 AM (sbfOJ)

215 I avoid the DEI thing in books by being hopelessly out of date in my reading. Haven't been trying to get familiar with a lot of current fiction in quite some time, and for me these days finding a new writer means finding someone I'd missed who hasn't really been active in years.

Once upon a time I followed the Hugo, Nebula, Edgar awards religiously to catch up on writers I'd missed -- ditto the National Book Awards and Nobel. Not in at least a decade or two now.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 28, 2024 11:03 AM (a/4+U)

216 212 There is no relation of christianity to islam
Posted by: Miguel cervantes

Islam is not a religion but a political system of conquest.

Posted by: p0indexterous at January 28, 2024 11:03 AM (QBwMV)

217 The problem with all Masonic conspiracy theories is that you just have to meet some real Masons to realize they'd never work. Apologies to any in the comments, but most of the real-life Masons I've known are not very interesting, have very little knowledge of the history of their organization, and just seem kind of mundane and dull. You can find books of their rituals in used bookstores and they're florid and tedious.

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 28, 2024 11:05 AM (78a2H)

218 Speaking of book binding, I've been rereading the first chapter book I ever read, Robb White's The Secret Sea. As I was reading it last night, it just sort of fell apart. I can still finish it but it's basically reading a page at a time. Geez! A 60 year old paperback just falls apart!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at January 28, 2024 11:05 AM (FVME7)

219 Well it might resemble some extreme forms of protestantism at first doughty the arabian explorer had few qualms with wahhabism

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 28, 2024 11:06 AM (PXvVL)

220 176 I read a Jayne Ann Krentz book this week, the second book in her lost night files series, The Night Island. It was shorter than a lot of her work and not as good as the one Legally Sufficient talked about. Just felt more formulaic. Filler.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at January 28, 2024 10:30 AM (t/2Uw)
* * * *
Thanks for the heads up. I often wonder if authors get great ideas for stories 1 and 3 then have to cook up something to bridge the two?

1. Story One: great idea for a book!
2. Something, something...
3. Story Three: great idea for a book!
4. Trilogy!\

Or maybe life interferes.

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at January 28, 2024 11:08 AM (a8Rgt)

221 I think Muhammad expected that Christians and Jews alike would immediately adopt his new revelation, which he why he got so pissed at them when they looked at him like some half-cracked Outback rug dealer claiming divine authority.

Compare and contrast: Muhammad and Hong Xiuquan.

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 28, 2024 11:08 AM (78a2H)

222 *Once upon a time I followed the Hugo, Nebula, Edgar awards religiously to catch up on writers I'd missed -- ditto the National Book Awards and Nobel. Not in at least a decade or two now.*

Now do Hollywood.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at January 28, 2024 11:09 AM (NBVIP)

223 I guess I didn't bring out the real question: Why do fans of one author refer to a character by first name, where fans of another do not? Why "Nero" for Nero Wolfe, and "Captain Call" for Gus's partner? That's my puzzler.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 28, 2024 10:56 AM (omVj0)

Maybe they feel a certain kinship with one character more than another. Captain Call would be a waste of words. Gus and Call is how I would do it. But I would also say Nero and Archie, not Wolfe and Goodwin.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 28, 2024 11:10 AM (Angsy)

224 The problem with all Masonic conspiracy theories is that you just have to meet some real Masons to realize they'd never work. Apologies to any in the comments, but most of the real-life Masons I've known are not very interesting, have very little knowledge of the history of their organization, and just seem kind of mundane and dull. You can find books of their rituals in used bookstores and they're florid and tedious.
Posted by: Trimegistus at January 28, 2024 11:05 AM (78a2H)

Born In Blood by John J Robinson does a nice job of tying the genesis of the Masons to the dissolution of the Templar Order and Watt Tyler rebellion, but I think he makes some unsupported assumptions to make his case.

Posted by: Kindltot at January 28, 2024 11:11 AM (D7oie)

225 Stay in your lane, pal.

Posted by: Half-cracked Outback rug dealers local #403 at January 28, 2024 11:12 AM (NBVIP)

226 I think the ring video is just a spider web strand with something stuck on it and moving with the breeze

Posted by: SamIam at January 28, 2024 11:13 AM (oasF3)

227 In high school I got interested in the Roman Empire

-
The Day of the Barbarians: The Battle That Led to the Fall of the Roman Empire by Alessandro Barbero is ripped from today's headlines. They let a bunch of barbarians in and when they became too much and the Romans tried to expel them, the emperor was killed, their army defeated, and their fall begun.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at January 28, 2024 11:14 AM (FVME7)

228 218 Speaking of book binding, I've been rereading the first chapter book I ever read, Robb White's The Secret Sea. As I was reading it last night, it just sort of fell apart. I can still finish it but it's basically reading a page at a time. Geez! A 60 year old paperback just falls apart!
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at January 28, 2024 11:05 AM (FVME7)

Once I started looking into binding, I became amazed that paperbacks exist at all: it's just glue on the edge of a page. A connection that is a fraction of a millimeter wide. I'm shocked that they don't fall apart more often than they do.

Posted by: Castle Guy at January 28, 2024 11:15 AM (Lhaco)

229
Islam is not a religion but a political system of conquest.
Posted by: p0indexterous at January 28, 2024 11:03 AM (QBwMV)

Correct

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory, red heifer owner at January 28, 2024 11:15 AM (W/MmC)

230 Islam is not a religion but a political system of conquest.
Posted by: p0indexterous at January 28, 2024 11:03 AM (QBwMV)

Correct
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory
-----
aka a Cult

Posted by: lin-duh at January 28, 2024 11:16 AM (I6rgD)

231 He wrote that his work was so important that God allowed him the aid of his "partner" (his secretary/mistress) to complete it.

---------

Aka, the John Kerry Dodge.

"I can't save the planet without using private jets and living in an energy-hogging, carbon-spewing compound."

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at January 28, 2024 11:17 AM (IJevL)

232 My slow-assed crappy internet connection lost my last comment, so I'll go with a shorter version: (1) "Fall of Rome" by Peter Heather - finished it, good book, buy it. (2) Next up: "Democracy: The God That Failed" by Hans-Hermann Hoppe. Democracy vs. Monarchy - which one is better? Will advise.

Posted by: PabloD at January 28, 2024 11:17 AM (Uttek)

233 222 - 'Now do Hollywood.'

Ditto. I used to note the screenwriting awards more than the best picture/director/actors. But no longer, and not in years.

I'd assume that my loss of interest in a lot of what's coming out these days is simply my age, but I really can't see that most of the current product is as good as the old stuff except for the visual effects.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 28, 2024 11:18 AM (a/4+U)

234 *Democracy vs. Monarchy - which one is better?*

I eagerly await your analysis.

Posted by: King Charles at January 28, 2024 11:20 AM (NBVIP)

235 The UFO. My guess is it's some sort of bug with iridescent wings that are reflecting the light on the house, and that the camera is picking up funny.
Otherwise, aliens. And a more likely kind than the slimy green monster sorts.

Posted by: From about that Time at January 28, 2024 11:20 AM (4780s)

236 Thanks Perfessor,
Not sure about the corner solution.
It does allow for those really tall books that always complicate organized shelving.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at January 28, 2024 11:21 AM (3uc2w)

237 Maybe they feel a certain kinship with one character more than another. Captain Call would be a waste of words. Gus and Call is how I would do it. But I would also say Nero and Archie, not Wolfe and Goodwin.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 28, 2024

***
Gus and Call, yes. But the other two are Wolfe and Archie to me. You're right, I think, the kinship must be part of it. I can imagine myself as Archie, not so much as Wolfe, partly because Archie narrates the stories in such a breezy, "I've got a great story to tell" method. And I'd like to imagine I could be such a raffish fellow as Gus -- not such a duty-bound officer as Woodrow Call.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 28, 2024 11:22 AM (omVj0)

238 Why "Nero" for Nero Wolfe, and "Captain Call" for Gus's partner? That's my puzzler.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 28, 2024 10:56 AM (omVj0)

Readers are as afraid of Cap’n Call as much as the characters in the book are. Like Nero Wolfe, he’s a standoffish man. Except for Gus, no one dare call him Woodrow. And if I’m not mistaken, only Call uses the name Augustus.

As for Nero Wolfe, I only ever think of him from Archie’s perspective. Seventh of a ton Wolfe. And Wolfe’s custom built load-bearing chair. And pursing lips. He’s not quite the misogynist he’s made out to be.

Posted by: 13times at January 28, 2024 11:22 AM (RgvhD)

239 Posted by: Trimegistus at January 28, 2024 10:57 AM (78a2H)
----

Thanks for the suggestions! And thanks, interlibrary loan system.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 11:24 AM (+RQPJ)

240 41 One thing Taylor notes about Nineteen Eighty-Four is something I'd never known: apparently, in the original manuscript, when Winston Smith is writing "2+2 = 5" in the dust at the Cherry Tree Cafe, Orwell had penned only "2+2 =," which a proofreader, thinking Orwell had forgotten to complete the equation, altered to "2+2 = 5."
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 28, 2024 09:16 AM (Q0kLU)

Wow. Proofreader to the stars.

Posted by: m at January 28, 2024 11:27 AM (WHh6y)

241 "I'd assume that my loss of interest in a lot of what's coming out these days is simply my age, but I really can't see that most of the current product is as good as the old stuff..."

Now that I've entered my seventh decade (uh oh - math!) It seems I find myself noticing the same phenomenon about so many things in the world that surrounds me. Perhaps it's part of the human condition that everyone experiences, but I have little interest in the news, or music, or television and movies, and dare I say it here, dystopian futures and science fiction.
I'm pretty sure from this point on I will devote my energies to consuming my list of unread classics.

They're called classics for a reason.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at January 28, 2024 11:29 AM (NBVIP)

242 Just finished a Vince Milam book. The Texas Job.
A great fun read. Nice character development and storyline. Thanx Vince.

Posted by: Diogenes at January 28, 2024 11:31 AM (W/lyH)

243 Hi Bookies.

Story Seed Ring Video description was intriguing. Would not play for me. Frustrating! Hate it when that happens!

Don't usually have that problem with books....

Posted by: mindful webworker - "Neither a reader nor a writer be." -Polonius at January 28, 2024 11:31 AM (NKNkh)

244 I’m re-reading American Caesar by William Manchester. I haven’t read a fiction book since I was highly disappointed by Steven Pressfield’s 36 Righteous Men.

Posted by: Cobalt Blue at January 28, 2024 11:32 AM (MNhXM)

245 234 *Democracy vs. Monarchy - which one is better?*

I eagerly await your analysis.
Posted by: King Charles

I guess it would depend on the education of the masses and the ability to inform them.

Posted by: p0indexterous at January 28, 2024 11:33 AM (QBwMV)

246 the first chapter book I ever read, Robb White's The Secret Sea.

Becalmed, with the octopus, and the Ka-Bar! "He had just killed the most dangerous creature in the ocean with a knife Marines used to clean their fingernails." 60 years if it's a day, and I still remember it.

I'm proud to be a Robb White partisan. He seems to pop up here again and again. The background details of the book "Up Periscope" are Heinleinian in their insider knowledge of the day to day routine of junior officers, insights that were invaluable to me and to my kids.

He also wrote for television. Bet you can guess what series.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at January 28, 2024 11:33 AM (zdLoL)

247 I like the bookshelves a lot. It solves the problem of the few large books that one may have .

Posted by: Cobalt Blue at January 28, 2024 11:34 AM (MNhXM)

248 Bookshelf: I'm not a fan of a-symmetrical shelving. Besides, I think all custom cases should have a secret compartment. It'd be cooler if the corner was a rotating shelf with booze or other ATF item hidden behind.

Ring vid: My guess it's an aircraft passing overhead with a light reflecting off the lens. Those lens are fish-eyed to a degree that would make a light passing overhead look like that pattern.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at January 28, 2024 11:34 AM (IG4Id)

249 Aka, the John Kerry Dodge.

"I can't save the planet without using private jets and living in an energy-hogging, carbon-spewing compound."
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43)

WATCH: Perps throw soup on MONA LISA to try and get people to care about the weather

http://tinyurl.com/479td3vy

-
That'll kick climate change in the nuts!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at January 28, 2024 11:35 AM (FVME7)

250 Lindybeige had a nice one-liner about the British system: "Monarchy's all very well in practice, but it will never work in theory."

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 28, 2024 11:36 AM (78a2H)

251 Robb White --

He also wrote a few of the William Castle movies, among them House on Haunted Hill and The Tingler. Fun blasts from the past.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 28, 2024 11:37 AM (a/4+U)

252 How many Civil Wars and ‘Royalty’ Wars did England have when Monarchs ruled?

Posted by: Cobalt Blue at January 28, 2024 11:38 AM (MNhXM)

253 Just a quick plug for the Arcane Casebook series by Dan Willis.
http://tinyurl.com/a5hrcxv6

It's an alternative universe world, 1930s New York, and Alex Lockerby is a struggling PI, grateful when the NYPD occasionally hires him to use his magic to investigate crime scenes.

The mysteries are enjoyable, the rules of magic are firmly set out, and the characters are well fleshed-out.

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at January 28, 2024 11:38 AM (oW/Lc)

254 Having finished all of Shelby Foote's Civil War books I have now turned my attention to some of his lesser known novels. The one I am mid way thru at the moment is titled Follow Me Down.
Very full of, how do you say, local color.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at January 28, 2024 11:39 AM (MeG8a)

255 I finished The Dress Diary: Secrets from a Victorian Woman's Wardrobe by Kate Strasdin. The author starts out with a 19th century album full of fabric scraps. They have handwritten notations like "This is the dress I wore my first day in Singapore." She tracks down the identity of the woman who kept the album. Then she uses the swatches to go off on a lot of interesting tangents about Victorian social customs, technology and textile manufacturing, ex-pat life in Singapore, and so on.
It was surprisingly good. Kate Strasdin's twitter account was the source for a lot of the historical outfits that OregonMuse featured on his chess and dress thread.

Posted by: Linnet at January 28, 2024 11:39 AM (TD7tf)

256 It would be nice if my book shelf was cleaned up, it's big, free standing, has a compartment in bottom that would need the books cleared to get to it so a bit of a secret.
Made it with sides from a raised panel door, has 5/4" shelves and crown molding on top.

Posted by: Skip at January 28, 2024 11:39 AM (fwDg9)

257 It's an alternative universe world, 1930s New York, and Alex Lockerby is a struggling PI, grateful when the NYPD occasionally hires him to use his magic to investigate crime scenes.

The mysteries are enjoyable, the rules of magic are firmly set out, and the characters are well fleshed-out.
Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at January 28, 2024 11:38 AM (oW/Lc)

Alternative world in NYC would just be the cops investigating the bad guys and leaving the good guys alone.

Posted by: Cobalt Blue at January 28, 2024 11:41 AM (MNhXM)

258 They let a bunch of barbarians in and when they became too much The Church of Rome has become a damned effective PR wing of the superbes families.

The Romans routinely back-stabbed their allies. Barbaraian tribes applied for allied status, and then never got the pay or the lands the Romans promised. Every single person here is the descendant of some tribe the Romans tried to enslave or wipe out. And Rome will never forgive us for this.

Lying mafia SOB's, to a man. That's what John Adams called them. Used to slap Tommy Jeff around with that one.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at January 28, 2024 11:41 AM (zdLoL)

259 It's JT's birthday. Happy birthday and may your gifts all be weedwhackers! It's my birthday, too. But don't get any ideas, I already have a weedwhacker.
Posted by: who knew at January 28, 2024 11:01 AM (4I7VG)

We boids pooled our resources and bought JT a new boid bath. Built in Jacuzzi, heater, and everything. Happy Boithday!

Posted by: Da Boids at January 28, 2024 11:46 AM (iODuv)

260 You know, there's a lot to dislike about the Romans -- but the fact that they were a bunch of greedy mafia goons constantly betraying each other is kind of an _endorsement_ for the system of government they created. If it could remain operational and stable with _those_ guys running it, the system has to be pretty damned robust.

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 28, 2024 11:46 AM (78a2H)

261 I had to cut out for a bit to make breakfast but wanted to mention another book I was able to complete last week: Frederick Key’s Dwindle, Peak and Pine. I found it to be a light and enjoyable read. A high school age boy is being raised alone by his father who owns and rents out a group of cabins in an area popular with summer tourists. It is the off season and they still have three cabins occupied when one of the renters, a very attractive young woman, is murdered. Lots of plausible villains and some family secrets that come to light make the story twist and turn I don’t pretend to be especially sophisticated but it kept me guessing until the end. It was a fun read that I could not put down.

Posted by: KatieFloyd at January 28, 2024 11:46 AM (QARkY)

262 252 How many Civil Wars and ‘Royalty’ Wars did England have when Monarchs ruled?
Posted by: Cobalt Blue at January 28, 2024 11:38 AM (MNhXM)

Errr...
Wasn't warfare their favorite pastime?
I'd put it in the hundreds.

Posted by: Reforger at January 28, 2024 11:46 AM (NP4dE)

263 How many Civil Wars and ‘Royalty’ Wars did England have when Monarchs ruled?
Posted by: Cobalt Blue
----
And, 'Rebellions'?

One of my ancients participated in the Monmouth Rebellion. He was lucky, many were executed, he was only sold as a bondslave to Barbados.
http://tinyurl.com/bdeb7pd4

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 28, 2024 11:47 AM (XeU6L)

264 If you are interested in English civil wars or really any other conflict in that region I can recommend The Anglo Saxons by Marc Morris.
It's full of detail, and that is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on how quickly you like to read. At times I thought the details were a bit overwhelming.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at January 28, 2024 11:49 AM (MeG8a)

265 Monarchy versus democracy.

Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn wrote about this in detail. Search the Mises Institute ebooks and essays.

Posted by: 13times at January 28, 2024 11:49 AM (bjh/i)

266 nice shelves, vmom! really like the corner!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - these lying bastardi e stronzi have been lying for decades at January 28, 2024 11:51 AM (WsTvr)

267 260 The last time the Romans tried a stable government they began blowing each other up in their Buicks. See Youngstown, OH. The Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland Romans were pissed, but the Youngstown Romans kept it up. Then the Barbarians took over Youngstown.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at January 28, 2024 11:51 AM (0EOe9)

268 In my readings the history of Britain divides into 3 periods. Pre-Roman, Roman and Post Roman.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at January 28, 2024 11:53 AM (MeG8a)

269 Yeah, sure, spaghetti, but what else have the Romans done for us?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at January 28, 2024 11:53 AM (FVME7)

270 The pictured bookshelf is the cleverest use of space that I have seen in years. Bravo!

Posted by: Marooned at January 28, 2024 11:54 AM (kt8QE)

271 Yeah, sure, spaghetti, but what else have the Romans done for us?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at January 28, 2024 11:53 AM (FVME7)

Thought pasta was Chinese?

Posted by: BignJames at January 28, 2024 11:55 AM (AwYPR)

272 archive search results for Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn.

http://tinyurl.com/23btadt4

Posted by: 13times at January 28, 2024 11:56 AM (bjh/i)

273 Yeah, sure, spaghetti, but what else have the Romans done for us?
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks
------

Candles

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 28, 2024 11:56 AM (XeU6L)

274 Amazon Kindle-only title, no print copy available.

-
Microsoft Reportedly Makes Massive Cuts to Xbox Physical Game Release Operations In Shift to All Digital Future

-
Wave of the future.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at January 28, 2024 11:57 AM (FVME7)

275 The doorbell-cam artifact is most likely a bit of spiderweb: sometimes when they snap they silk coils up into a blob on the end of the strand, which is so thin you often can't see it at all. I had this happen with a wildlife cam and had no idea what it was until Son of Shelob climbed across the lens, scaring the bejeebus out of me.

(or it's a newly hatched Shoggoth before its hair has grown in).

Posted by: Prof. M. Drout at January 28, 2024 11:57 AM (q6l2S)

276 By the way, I have a word question:

Before we started calling them "window treatments" what was the term for the class of things which includes curtains, shades, blinds, etc.? Surely people building houses in 1875 didn't say "treatments" so they must have called them something. What was it?

Posted by: Trimegistus at January 28, 2024 11:58 AM (78a2H)

277 Thanks for another fine Book Thread, perf! And thanks to all who provide suggestions for reading, and warnings on what to avoid.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 11:59 AM (+RQPJ)

278 WE HAZ A NOOD

Posted by: Skip at January 28, 2024 12:01 PM (fwDg9)

279 Before we started calling them "window treatments" what was the term for the class of things which includes curtains, shades, blinds, etc.?
-------

Shutters?

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 28, 2024 12:01 PM (XeU6L)

280 Before we started calling them "window treatments" what was the term for the class of things which includes curtains, shades, blinds, etc.?
-------

Shutters?
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 28, 2024

***
Curtains, or drapes, or draperies.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 28, 2024 12:03 PM (omVj0)

281 40 Morning.

The spooky video is pretty clearly just an insect or a piece of effluvium caught in a bit of web floating in front of the Ring device.

Posted by: Robert at January 28, 2024 09:16 AM (1Yy3c)

Indeed. Looks like a moth or some other insect so close to the lens that it's out-of-focus, but you can still see the wings beating.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at January 28, 2024 12:03 PM (ynpvh)

282 What?! The end of the Book Thread again? Thanks, Perfessor.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 28, 2024 12:03 PM (Angsy)

283 273 Yeah, sure, spaghetti, but what else have the Romans done for us?
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks
------

Candles
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc
____

That book between Acts and 1st Corinthians.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at January 28, 2024 12:04 PM (NBVIP)

284 Robert wins the thread for using 'effluvium'.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 28, 2024 12:04 PM (XeU6L)

285 *Curtains, or drapes, or draperies.*

As I've learned in the Art Thread it's important that they match the carpet.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at January 28, 2024 12:06 PM (NBVIP)

286 252 How many Civil Wars and ‘Royalty’ Wars did England have when Monarchs ruled?
Posted by: Cobalt Blue

If you're not starting/fighting a war are you even trying?
Nobody became King by sitting in his castle.

Posted by: p0indexterous at January 28, 2024 12:08 PM (QBwMV)

287 Wierd take on the Hobbit -

Jackson's LOTR was pretty good. Missed a couple of chapters I would have definitely included. The one point I consider a failure was leaving out Bombadil and maybe scouraging of the Shire.

But Jackson's Hobbit I couldn't even watch. Garbage. Maybe even worse than the movie take on Starship Troopers...

Anyway, the wierd take at least looks fun and doesn't pretend to be a serious take on the book.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at January 28, 2024 12:08 PM (cOq4q)

288 283 273 Yeah, sure, spaghetti, but what else have the Romans done for us?
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks
------

Candles
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc
____

That book between Acts and 1st Corinthians.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at January 28, 2024 12:04 PM (NBVIP)

Garum

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at January 28, 2024 12:09 PM (ynpvh)

289 Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.

Have a good one, gang.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 28, 2024 12:18 PM (a/4+U)

290 269 Yeah, sure, spaghetti, but what else have the Romans done for us?
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks

Without them we wouldn't have this.....

Captain Oveur: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?

Posted by: p0indexterous at January 28, 2024 12:22 PM (QBwMV)

291 "It was surprisingly good. Kate Strasdin's twitter account was the source for a lot of the historical outfits that OregonMuse featured on his chess and dress thread."

How I miss OM and the Chess and Dress Thread. Sigh.

Posted by: Tuna at January 28, 2024 12:25 PM (oaGWv)

292 By the way, I have a word question:

Before we started calling them "window treatments" what was the term for the class of things which includes curtains, shades, blinds, etc.? Surely people building houses in 1875 didn't say "treatments" so they must have called them something. What was it?
Posted by: Trimegistus

Chroniclers of late 18th and early 19th century domestic doings called everything pertaining to window coverings blinds. Interior and exterior shutters, Venetian blinds, exterior awnings, roller blinds, various kinds of shades — all were lumped together as “blinds” in the literature. So sometimes it’s confusing to modern researchers, as we tend to think of “blinds” in only a limited and specific way. But call them what you will, all of these window coverings were in use.

https://www.brownstoner.com/history/
history-window-treatments-curtains-shutters-drapes
-19th-century-victorian/

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at January 28, 2024 12:26 PM (cOq4q)

293 Recommendations: My wife, the lovely and accomplished Annalucia, and I are reading "The Iliad", in the new translation by Emily Wilson. She translates Homer's hexameter into blank verse, using a style that is plain, even conversational, though not vulgar. As is our custom, we're reading it aloud to each other, and the verse flows off the tongue quite smoothly: it's a pleasure to read. (Great verse, like great wine, has a delightful "mouth feel".) I last read "The Iliad" nearly 50 years ago, and in Richmond Lattimore's translation, plus snippets from Pope and Robert Fitzgerald, and I must say that Wilson's translation is the most readable I've seen. And what a story! Highly recommended.

Posted by: Nemo at January 28, 2024 12:30 PM (S6ArX)

294 132 I thought bookshelf corners were supposed to meet in quarter-round niches in which you displayed the skulls of your enemies.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at January 28, 2024 10:03 AM (tkR6S)

; )

Posted by: m at January 28, 2024 12:34 PM (WHh6y)

295 Thats a wierd way to spell it.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at January 28, 2024 12:38 PM (NBVIP)

296 More delicious Red-baiting red meat from "Widespread Panic", as Freddie B&E's a suspected spy's home:

"The office. Here it gets goooooood. Note the red walls. They're all poster-pinned. It's a treasonous triptych. Free the Scottsboro Boys!!!! Communism is Twentieth Century Americanism!!!! Ben Shahn's screechy screed: "You have not converted a man because you have silenced him."
I grabbed my crotch. Hey, Connie--convert this, you Red Reptile!!!!"

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 01:27 PM (+RQPJ)

297 @292 That's a literate question, in more ways than one.
From Chaucer's time to Shakespeare's, you find "Drapers" and "Tapesters" showing up all over. I think Shakespeare even has a pun about tapestry-ers and beer/wine barrel tap-sters.

And then there's that "arras." Somebody's behind every one.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at January 28, 2024 01:36 PM (zdLoL)

298 The weavers of Arras?

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 28, 2024 02:00 PM (+RQPJ)

299 I echo the thanks of the commenters here.

After a long layoff, I'm back. God bless you for posting the book threads!

Posted by: Henry Brown at January 28, 2024 02:17 PM (CW90c)

300 Maybe someone already answered.
The library pictured is Ikea's Billy. They also sell shelbes for corners, they come in a hexagonal shape.

Posted by: Anacleto Mitraglia at January 28, 2024 02:20 PM (U1CrE)

301 Venom: Bible

I like the New Oxford Annotated Bible, New Revised Standard Version (with Apocrypha.) It gives you the flavor of King James but it's easier to read. It's got great footnotes. Good maps. It's readable. It's obviously not specifically Catholic, but it does have the books the Catholics include.

Posted by: Someone Else at January 28, 2024 04:58 PM (IrqeV)

302 Vnom: Bible

Googled it and found a totally online version of The New Oxford Annotated Bible, New Revised Standard Version (with Apocrypha.) Which would be easier for traveling. It's available at the Internet Archive.

According to Wikipedia, (so it MUST be true!) In 1965, the Oxford Annotated Bible "received the official imprimatur of Cardinal Richard Cushing for use by Roman Catholics as a study Bible. Later, the NOAB was also warmly welcomed by Orthodox leaders." So it should serve the function you're looking for.

It's got the Apocrypha and the Deuterocanonical books, great footnotes with references to other translations. It's my go to. (And I'm Jewish!)

I like the second edition.

Posted by: Someone Else at January 28, 2024 05:10 PM (IrqeV)

303 Thanks Someone Else

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at January 28, 2024 05:18 PM (V1Jl+)

304 Vmom -- sorry I read your name wrong.
Love to know what you think after you take a look.

Posted by: Someone Else at January 28, 2024 05:23 PM (IrqeV)

305 Perfessor, how do I contact you to submit a book?

Posted by: Yumanbean58 at January 29, 2024 02:52 AM (Rx89X)

306 This info is worth everyone's attention. How can I find out more?

Posted by: buy cryptocurrency at January 29, 2024 03:00 AM (9KG+9)

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