Sunday Morning Book Thread - 02-04-2024 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

(HT: sharon (willow's apprentice))

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, make yourself a bologna sammich, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

NOTE: I won't be around in the comments this morning as I will be assisting the tech team at church. Saturday Morning Coffee Thread comment rules now apply. Have a great day!

PIC NOTE

Sharon (willow's apprentice) took a trip to Europe over Christmas and visited Bologna, Italy. Bologna has lovely museums and art just about everywhere. The picture above is from the Biblioteca Salaborsa in Bologna.

BENEFITS OF PHYSICAL MEDIA

I know we've had numerous conversations around here about the pros and cons of digital media v. physical media. I will freely admit that I enjoy the convenience of digital media that is accessible on any device at any time. It's an awesome benefit for travelers who are now able to carry around MASSIVE amounts of digital information that they can enjoy anywhere. Stuck on a plane while waiting for a runway to open up? Read a book on your Kindle app! Bored at the doctor's office? Fire up a mobile game app! Don't want to watch the television in your hotel room? Open up Amazon Prime Video or Netflix! Truly, we live in an age of marvelous technology.

The downside, of course, is that we do not "own" any of that content in any truly meaningful fashion. Anything that's stored on a cloud server is NOT your property--unless you own the server yourself, of course, which is always a possibility. Streaming media companies can modify or even delete content at a whim or suddenly lock it down and require a fee to pay for something that used to be "free" with your subscription. Or they'll add a "premium" subscription service to avoid advertisements, like Amazon Prime just did with their "free" video content. Modifying video content--by adding or changing scenes--is a difficult and expensive process, so that's not too likely to happen unless the Woke crowd really, really, really wants it to happen for some intellectual properties.

Modifying digital books, on the other hand, is a very cheap and easy process. Simply change a few words, paragraphs, or pages here and there, and send out an "updated" version to all subscribers. Suddenly, they all have the "new and improved" version of the book and cannot go back to the old version. Brandt Legg's The Last Librarian features a tiny change in an author's digital book as the main plot point to begin the entire story. According to the fictional author of that digital book, one tiny change to one word in the book changed the ending to the complete opposite of what he intended.

Naturally, owning physical copies of media carries its own risks. Physical media can be damaged, for one thing. One of my cats pooped all over my DVDs of Animaniacs. Another cat tore out a page of one of my favorite books. (Who knew cats were so critical of modern entertainment?) These can be replaced, but that means I have to have the money to pay for those replacements. The other challenge in physical media is storing it somewhere. My house is mostly full up on books and DVD/Blu-Ray. When I move, I am probably going to have to get rid of quite a bit of it. Who then takes it? Do I give away to the local library for their book sale? Or do I try to sell it off on eBay or something?

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(HT: Peter (my friends call me Pete) Zah)

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DOES CANON MATTER?

"Canon" can have a few meanings, depending on context. One context refers to a body of works that are determined to be "official" according to some arbitrary standard. Usually this refers to a fictional universe such as Star Wars or Star Trek but it can also refer to literary works, such as Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings (franchises which have themselves been turned into movies that may or may not be considered "canon" because of the changes made by the filmmakers.).

Things can get a bit nebulous when shared universes are involved. For instance, H.P. Lovecraft was quite keen on encouraging other authors like Robert E. Howard and August Derleth to expand on his own body of works which is now referred to as the Cthulhu Mythos. Derleth often gets a bad rap for the changes he made to Lovecraft's stories, but he was also instrumental in keeping Lovecraft's stories alive after Lovecraft's death, so perhaps that exonerates Derleth somewhat.

I think authors who attempt to remain true to the original creator's vision will have the best chance of having their own works deemed "canon." However, those who stray too far from the source material (*cough*Amazon's Wheel of Time/Rings of Power*cough*) will most likely have their content tossed into the dustbin of history.

HOW DO CHARACTERS REFER TO EACH OTHER?

Wolfus Aurelius had an excellent question from last week's Sunday Morning Book Thread:

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)

Where can I even start with this? It's a great question, but there are lots of layers to unpack here. Wolfus Aurelius gives us the classic duo of Holmes/Watson as an example of characters who address each other by their last names. I suspect a lot of that is driven by the social and cultural norms of late Victorian Britain, shared by their creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In that society, it seems as though calling someone by their first name--even if they are your dearest friend--implies a certain level of intimacy. Much easier to call them by their last name or title or both (e.g., Inspector Lestrade).

Different stories will have different rules for how characters are called. In the Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson, the last name of the titular character is *never* given. He's just "Jack." Everyone he meets calls him that. Even his own family. Wilson makes sure to never refer to Jack's father or brother by their surname, either. Though he does make an exception for Jack's sister, who is married and has a different surname.

By way of contrast, Special Agent Pendergast in Preston & Child's Agent Pendergast series is usually just called "Agent Pendergast" or "Pendergast." His first name, "Aloysius" is rarely used and only in special situations that call for a first name.

In the Malazan books I've been reading, characters often have very colorful nicknames that they've earned from their squadmates during their military service. "Fiddler" (now "Strings") is called that because he carried around a fiddle while marching with the Imperial Legions. "Onearm" Dujek, High Fist (general) of the Malazan army only has one arm. I don't know how "Throatslitter" and "Deadsmell" (minor characters) earned their names, but I'm sure there's an interesting story behind them. Humans who ascend to godhood often take on different names. Emperor Kellanved ascended to become "Shadowthrone/Ammanas," King of High House Shadow. His companion, Dancer, ascended to become "Cotillion/The Rope," Patron of Assassins.

So the business of naming characters can be quite complex. And how the fans refer to characters will vary, depending on whether or not a particular name catches on in the fan communities, e.g., Darrius "Sweetdick" Honeycum, Esq.

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Not the Book Thread yet, but the book to read is The True Believer by Eric Hoffer. Great read and great insights.
As far as 'expect to prove', that isn't the point. These movements give people a sense of belonging and fellowship, which modern society has in many cases stripped away. Without family connections, without religious community, with a 'diverse' life and work that you have no commonality with anyone else in... What happens? We're a social species. People want to belong and feel valued. This gives them that. It's insane, but it fills their *actual* need.
Posted by: Vanya at January 28, 2024 08:20 AM (H5IZ1)

Comment: Sounds like an interesting book. From the information on Amazon's website (including reviews), Hoffer seems to have particular insights into mass movements and how they can suck ordinary people in to engage in actions they might not normally perform if left to their own devices. There is tremendous feeling of "oneness" in being a member of a crowd, when masses of people move in one direction at the orders from someone who seems to know what they are doing. Charismatic leaders can use that to their advantage to cause havoc and mayhem. Or just cause mass deaths, like Jim Jones.

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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.
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 09:11 AM (Q0kLU)

Comment: I had heard about the ending being left ambiguous by Orwell on purpose. We were meant to wonder if Smith had indeed been completely transformed by his experiences into a member of the collective or if he still had some shred of free will left to him. I don't agree that "cynical despair" is the only weapon that is available to a victim in this world. To me, that leads to a final solution where suicide is the only way out. I don't accept that at all. Even in the darkest dungeons, there is always a glimmer of hope. In the Malazan books, characters go through horrific experiences--gruesome body and mind mutilations. They are transformed by them, but never give in to ultimate despair, even when they probably should.

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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 of John 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)

Comment: The point-of-view of characters can have a dramatic effect on storytelling when used effectively. For instance, the Unreliable Narrator trope means we may or may not be able to recognize the truth of the story as the narrator relates it to us. Does the narrator have his own agenda? What is the narrator hiding from us? In the story above, Dr. Croxley must have a pre-existing relationship with the Wainwrights. How does this factor into his own observations and decisions going forward as the case progresses? Is the doctor being deliberately obtuse in his own narration of the facts?

+++++

My last book this week was a re-read: Thomas Robert 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)

Comment: Normally, I don't post two recommendations from the same Moron, but MP4 had some great comments about the books he's read recently. This one in particular was entertaining, as cartoonist Berke Breathed parodied this incident in his comic strip Bloom County. The series of strips around this incident are pretty funny by themselves, but even funnier when you know the inspiration behind them. I went ahead and made a copy of those strips available for y'all HERE. I'm looking forward to a takedown notice from the law firm representing W. A. Thornhump III, CEO of Bloom County Industries.

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 6 - The Bonehunters by Steven Erickson

STATUS: 100% Complete!

The Bonehunters is one of the longest single books I've read, clocking in at a whopping 1200+ pages for the mass-market paperback edition. Out of the four remaining books in the series, two of them are even longer.

As with all of the Malazan books, there is a lot going on all over the world. Most of the story takes place on the continent of the Seven Cities, but much of it also takes place in the various magical warrens that criss-cross the world. These warrens fuel the magic system in some way and they are also connected to the gods of the realm. There are some pretty intense scenes, especially one scene involving the deliberate firing of a city by defenders who are under siege from the Fourteenth Army of the Malazan Empire. The instigator of the conflagration escapes, but takes out fully one third of the Malazans (2,000 soldiers) and demoralizes them even further. A few survivors of the siege manage to escape by tunneling underneath the city while it's burning. And to add insult to injury, a massive plague is sweeping across the Seven Cities heading towards the Malazan Army. Fun times as they scramble to stay ahead of its inexorable march...

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 01-28-24 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Disclaimer: No Morons were harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread. The "Huggy Squirrel" diaries should be coming out in a few months...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 First

Posted by: rhennigantx at February 04, 2024 08:59 AM (ENQN6)

2 First!!!

Posted by: Reforger at February 04, 2024 08:59 AM (DEcDC)

3 Currenly readiiing Anne McCaffrey's Elementle Masters series,

Posted by: vic at February 04, 2024 09:00 AM (A5THL)

4 Did no reading, just some writing.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 04, 2024 09:00 AM (Angsy)

5 I do most of my reading on this here blog.

Posted by: BignJames at February 04, 2024 09:02 AM (AwYPR)

6 I just had to put the "!!!" in there.
Dammit.

Morning all.

Posted by: Reforger at February 04, 2024 09:02 AM (DEcDC)

7 Saturday Morning Coffee Thread comment rules now apply. Have a great day!
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/pants off!

Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 04, 2024 09:03 AM (RIvkX)

8 I am reading this week:

All Minus One: John Stuart Mill's Ideas on Free Speech

Posted by: rhennigantx at February 04, 2024 09:03 AM (ENQN6)

9 Saving for retirement? Nope, gonna start getting some of my money back in April, though.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 04, 2024 09:03 AM (Angsy)

10 Those pants are fine. I would wear them to roast weenies in my backyard.

Posted by: Richard D. Trentlage at February 04, 2024 09:05 AM (vFG9F)

11 I have found the biggest improvement of digital books and reading is the ability of varying text size for ease of reading. For people like me wo are getting old that is huge,

Posted by: vic at February 04, 2024 09:05 AM (A5THL)

12 Good Sunday morning, horde!

Nice library pic, Sharon. I've seen some of your comments about your trip--what a wonderful experience for you and your grandchild.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 04, 2024 09:07 AM (OX9vb)

13 5 I do most of my reading on this here blog.
Posted by: BignJames at February 04, 2024 09:02 AM (AwYPR)

I too knock out the equivalent of several books a week, one smart ass military blog comment at a time.

Didn't do much book readin' last week though. Busy with life stuff.
I'll try harder this week.

Posted by: Reforger at February 04, 2024 09:08 AM (DEcDC)

14 Sharon (willow's apprentice) took a trip to Europe over Christmas and visited Bologna, Italy.

Did she meet Oscar Mayer ?

Posted by: JT at February 04, 2024 09:08 AM (T4tVD)

15 I don't care that Ben Bova wrote "The Multiple Man" nearly 50 years ago, right in the middle of Watergate, I don't want to risk revealing spoilers by saying too much about it. It's that good.

The plot: The presidential press secretary investigates why a corpse found outside the hotel where POTUS is speaking is a dead ringer for the man.

The story is set in the future, but real-life advances in our technology create reverse anachronisms. For example, there are EVs and 3-D TVs, but offices still have typewriters, and computers use readout screens.

I got a laugh from the name of the president's predecessor: Brandon.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 04, 2024 09:08 AM (p/isN)

16 Don’t all successful stories ‘change’ the characters totally from book to book?

Posted by: Eromero at February 04, 2024 09:09 AM (NxC5+)

17 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?

CBD.

Posted by: JT at February 04, 2024 09:10 AM (T4tVD)

18 Did she meet Oscar Mayer ?
Posted by: JT at February 04, 2024 09:08 AM (T4tVD)

Whose pants did you think those were?

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 04, 2024 09:10 AM (OX9vb)

19 Tolle
Haven't started a new book, trying to figure out where I let off in the Sharpe series.

Posted by: Skip at February 04, 2024 09:10 AM (fwDg9)

20 hiya

Posted by: JT at February 04, 2024 09:10 AM (T4tVD)

21 NOTE: I won't be around in the comments this morning as I will be assisting the tech team at church. Saturday Morning Coffee Thread comment rules now apply. Have a great day!
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*reverts to pantsless state*

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 04, 2024 09:10 AM (+RQPJ)

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

Posted by: JTB at February 04, 2024 09:11 AM (zudum)

23 Yay book thread! Still working my way through St. Augustine's Confessions. The past week has been hectic, so I'm hoping to make some gainzzz this week.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 04, 2024 09:11 AM (llXky)

24 *reverts to pantsless state*
Posted by: All Hail Eris

WOO-WOO !

Posted by: JT at February 04, 2024 09:13 AM (T4tVD)

25 One of my cats pooped all over my DVDs of Animaniacs
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Sure, sure. "The cat".

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 04, 2024 09:13 AM (+RQPJ)

26 JT, Gus is probably the only person Woodrow will allow to call him by his first name, probably.

Posted by: Eromero at February 04, 2024 09:13 AM (NxC5+)

27 Squirrel's got topnotch taste in books!

"ACKpthhhhhzzzzzzzz"
- Bill the Cat

Posted by: Lizzy at February 04, 2024 09:14 AM (RXyKO)

28 Have been reading Bleak House and am just over a quarter of the way through, but I'm finding it something of a slog (not my experience with Great Expectations or A Tale of Two Cities). Can't say it's bad, but I'm just not enjoying it much and will probably throw in the towel and try it again later. Maybe try it again later -- will be 75 this year, so walking away from a book probably means it won't be read at all.

Maugham once said there is no obligation to read a work of fiction, and I'll buy that. But am I the only one here who feels guilty when bailing out on a book you think you should read?

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 09:14 AM (a/4+U)

29 This week's book is The White Pill by Michael Malice. The White Pill is a history of the birth, bloody life, and whimpering death of the Soviet Union. Malice has compiled all of the often overlooked facts and anecdotes that give the true picture of the evil empire. The story of Russian exile Ayn Rand is here, along with the team of Reagan and Thatcher, and how their cooperation caused the first cracks to appear in the Soviet monster. Also here is the story of Lenin and his criminal successors including the bank robber turned tyrant Stalin. And of course we also see the unvarnished truth of the western left, who knew about the repression and starvation of the people enslaved by this system and hid it. We see socialists Upton Sinclair, Walter Duranty, and Henry Wallace, who deliberately lied to America about the system which stole everything from their people except their thoughts, and murdered 60 million people. The book is an excellent chronological summary of the true story of the USSR and stands as a warning to everyone to not only stand against socialism, but to challenge the left on their lies about it. In one volume Malice has captured the entire scope of the true story.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 09:14 AM (H/zBy)

30 Hiya JT!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 04, 2024 09:14 AM (+RQPJ)

31 1,200-plus pages in paperback! How do you keep the spine from cracking in these doorstops?

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 04, 2024 09:15 AM (p/isN)

32 I started 3 books this week which I abandoned after a few chapters. Still can't find a book that holds my attention. In any genre...

Posted by: lin-duh at February 04, 2024 09:15 AM (QBwwm)

33 Good Morning Bookies!

I spent most of this week reading "The Shadow of What Was Lost" by James Islington.
At around a third of the way through; time-freaking-travel was introduced.
I absolutely hate time-freaking-travel in books. Or movies. And I'm sure I'd hate it if it showed up at my front door.
Almost as bad as Vampires!! Books should state, on the COVER, if there's Vampires or time-freaking-travel in the pages!
Anyways, I was invested so I tried. I really tried to finish it.
But life is too short, especially at my age to read things that I don't like.

Posted by: p0indexterous at February 04, 2024 09:17 AM (QBwMV)

34 Maugham once said there is no obligation to read a work of fiction, and I'll buy that. But am I the only one here who feels guilty when bailing out on a book you think you should read?

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 09:14 AM (a/4+U)
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It depends on why you are reading it, doesn't it? If it's curiosity, or enjoyment, you can stop whenever you want. If you promised someone, that's different.

Some years back I took a turn at Ulysses and quit because I didn't find it inventive or charming, just labor-intensive.

Truth is, lots of "famous" books are famous because they're opaque or were the first to provide a detailed description of defecation and other bodily fictions (like Ulysses).

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 04, 2024 09:18 AM (llXky)

35 Maugham once said there is no obligation to read a work of fiction, and I'll buy that. But am I the only one here who feels guilty when bailing out on a book you think you should read?
Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 09:14 AM (a/4+U)
----

No, I too feel a sense of obligation to finish a book, but whether it's niceness, fortitude, or just being completist, I can't say.

But I have noted that as I age I am less and less inclined to finish something that doesn't fully engage me. If it's just not clicking with me I can always return to it.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 04, 2024 09:18 AM (+RQPJ)

36 This week I finished Dust, by Hugh Howey. This is the final book in the Silo series. I'm mostly satisfied with the ending, though I have questions about a lot of things. I like it when an author leaves some things unsaid, so I can continue to think about them and come to my own conclusions.

Anyway, after that, I tried reading the first collection of Wild Cards, but it's too much sci fi for me, so I abandoned that.

On to My Effin' Life, by Geddy Lee. I was never a Rush fan, but that band was prominent in my youth nevertheless, and I know the musicians were smart guys, and I like memoirs in general. So far, so good.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 04, 2024 09:19 AM (OX9vb)

37 One of my finds at the library used book sale was "The Persistence of Vision", a collection of John Varley's short stories from the 70's. I'd forgotten the pleasure of a good Varley tale. Some of these are small bits of his Ophiuchi Hotline mythos, in which humanity taps a laser coming out of that star system and sifts through the information firehose for lucrative gems: Genetic manipulation, symbiotic spacesuits, lassoing black holes for fun and profit, etc. This includes the love/rescue story "The Black Hole Passes" and "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank", which gifted us one of the best MST3K episodes evah.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 04, 2024 09:20 AM (+RQPJ)

38 Sure, sure. "The cat".
Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 04, 2024 09:13 AM (+RQPJ)

*snort, coffee through nose

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 04, 2024 09:21 AM (OX9vb)

39 Physical media. The amazingly nifty Mrs Some Guy and I have unloaded most of the physical copies -- most, not all -- and replaced a lot of those with digital for reasons of space and to leave less for the offspring to deal with when we kick off. A lot of the movies are now on hard drives and ditto the music. They're backed up on other drives too. Books? Mainly kindle copies, but most of those are also stored on hard drives; those files aren't going anywhere and they're not out in the cloud for the Ministry of Truth to tinker with.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 09:22 AM (a/4+U)

40 Book-adjacent: A friend asked me to sell off a bunch of old AD&D dungeon modules he picked up over the years. He did it by way of letting me high grade them, but as I flipped through them, I couldn't bring myself to do it.

For one thing, I'm waging my own war on clutter, and for another, lots of Gary Gygax stuff and I never cared for his play style. Instead of cooperating to tell a story, his stuff very much pitted the DM against the party, creating a thousand petty tyrants in the process.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 04, 2024 09:22 AM (llXky)

41 I've bailed out of at least three comics miniseries because I was bored or annoyed with the story. One Marvel 12-parter, Secret Wars, had only two issues left, but I decided that enough was enough.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 04, 2024 09:24 AM (p/isN)

42 Hiya JT!
Posted by: All Hail Eris

Posted by: JT at February 04, 2024 09:24 AM (T4tVD)

43 Speaking of books I galloped through without reading fully -- and no diss on the author, I just wasn't in the mood -- "If This Book Exists, You're In the Wrong Universe" by Jason Pargin (who formerly wrote as David Wong). The further adventures of John, Dave, and Amy from "John Dies At the End" and "This Book is Full of Spiders".

In one scene, the team is helping a man with an interdimensional parasite attached to his skull.

Fun fact: "Have you ever found yourself obsessively watching a TV show you don't actually enjoy? That probably means you're just watching your parasite's favorite show."

This explains a lot.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 04, 2024 09:25 AM (+RQPJ)

44 Physical media. The amazingly nifty Mrs Some Guy and I have unloaded most of the physical copies -- most, not all -- and replaced a lot of those with digital for reasons of space and to leave less for the offspring to deal with when we kick off. A lot of the movies are now on hard drives and ditto the music. They're backed up on other drives too. Books? Mainly kindle copies, but most of those are also stored on hard drives; those files aren't going anywhere and they're not out in the cloud for the Ministry of Truth to tinker with.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 09:22 AM (a/4+U)
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Have a care with that. Some electronic devices that you think are isolated still want to communicate with the Mother Ship and if they don't get a signal, will just lock you out.

I'd make sure your hardware ran on DOS, if you know what I mean.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 04, 2024 09:25 AM (llXky)

45 Cynical Despair is no good. Hate is where the answer lies.

People have been conditioned not to "hate" as if it's a terrible thing. Hate is natural and God given to help you survive your enemies who wish to destroy you. Nurture your hate, train it, make it your friend. When you are threatened, bring hate along to help in your defense, like a loyal guard dog.

Once your enemy is neutralized, and you are safe, put your hate away until you need it again. Good boy, good boy...

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 04, 2024 09:25 AM (R/m4+)

46 One of my cats pooped all over my DVDs of Animaniacs. Another cat tore out a page of one of my favorite books. (Who knew cats were so critical of modern entertainment?) These can be replaced, but that means I have to have the money to pay for those replacements.

-

One can get a replacement cat cheaply at a shelter, I have been informed, or is that not what you meant?

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 09:25 AM (H/zBy)

47 Morning!

Finished the 8 books of Tom Burkhalter's Southwest Pacific WWII series, which went by quickly and very entertainingly. The good Mr. Burkhalter has gotten us to mid 1943, and needs to get the old Word Processor humming again, as our numerous heroes have big tasks ahead of them.

With those books finished, I began on one of Josephine Tey's Grant mysteries. I had forgotten how clever and witty she is in scene settings and descriptions, and I found myself laughing out loud at points. Engaging and funny, just like every murder mystery should be...

Thursday evening I was given a lovely reprint of William Bishop's 'Winged Warfare' originally published in 1918. I am very much looking forward to sitting in the sun and reading that one.

Cheers!

Posted by: Brewingfrog at February 04, 2024 09:26 AM (ytNnw)

48 11 I have found the biggest improvement of digital books and reading is the ability of varying text size for ease of reading. For people like me wo are getting old that is huge,
Posted by: vic

I was just thinking about that. I got a hardbound copy of "Exordia" by Seth Dickenson from the library and the the text is as small as a paperback. And oddly it has the same, thin, telephone book type of paper. I've never seen such poor quality of paper in a hardback book before.

Posted by: p0indexterous at February 04, 2024 09:26 AM (QBwMV)

49 >>Fun fact: "Have you ever found yourself obsessively watching a TV show you don't actually enjoy? That probably means you're just watching your parasite's favorite show."

Heh

Posted by: Lizzy at February 04, 2024 09:27 AM (RXyKO)

50 Bailed on every James Joyce book ever written. Just not my cuppa tea.

Posted by: 13times at February 04, 2024 09:27 AM (7zcIB)

51 People have been conditioned not to "hate" as if it's a terrible thing. Hate is natural and God given to help you survive your enemies who wish to destroy you.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 04, 2024 09:25 AM (R/m4+)
---
Nice is not a virtue, merely a mannerism. It is a path of least resistance that usually makes the problem worse.

I'm noticing a lot of Christian (and specifically Catholic) leadership is talking about how "nice Christianity" is a spiritual dead end, and that providing fraternal correction is an act of charity.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 04, 2024 09:30 AM (llXky)

52 The local library had a book sale this weekend. It was crowded which pleased me. A lot of young parents with small children getting a LOT of books for their kids. I don't expect to find much at these sales as my tastes are rather esoteric and I already own a ton of books on topics of interest. But I did go home with a hardcover of Thomas Jefferson's Writings published by Library of America. Also, a pristine copy of The Matthew Brady's Illustrated History of the Civil War. Then an unread hardcover of Havoc by Jack Du Brul. It's one of the Philip Mercer books I lacked. (Du Brul is my favorite of the Clive Cussler continuing authors.) For a buck each, it was a successful stop.

Posted by: JTB at February 04, 2024 09:30 AM (zudum)

53 Hairyback Guy @ 45–
That was pure poetry there. I salute you.

Posted by: Eromero at February 04, 2024 09:31 AM (NxC5+)

54 When we had the house remodeled 20 years ago, we had to clear the den's bookshelves. We stacked the books in the corner of a different room. Didn't find out until afterward that our incontinent cat had soiled several of my Saint paperbacks, which I had to toss. I'm still looking to replace those.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 04, 2024 09:31 AM (p/isN)

55 44 - Some electronic devices that you think are isolated still want to communicate with the Mother Ship and if they don't get a signal, will just lock you out.

I've found that older kindles seem to work just fine without being connected or registered (haven't tried it with the two newer ones but doubt that's changed). Of the DRM issue we will not speak in any detail, but there are ways to get around that. Sideload the files and you're good to go. Eventually all this stuff will crap out on me, but I expect to be safely planted by then.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 09:32 AM (a/4+U)

56 This week's book is The White Pill by Michael Malice. The White Pill is a history of the birth, bloody life, and whimpering death of the Soviet Union.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 09:14 AM (H/zBy)

Gonna have to read this one, sounds good.

Thanks Thomas Paine!

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 04, 2024 09:32 AM (R/m4+)

57 Didn't find out until afterward that our incontinent cat had soiled several of my Saint paperbacks, which I had to toss. I'm still looking to replace those.
Posted by: Weak Geek at February 04, 2024 09:31 AM (p/isN)

Ya dropped the cat off at a Chinee restaurant, right ?

Posted by: JT at February 04, 2024 09:33 AM (T4tVD)

58 Fun fact: "Have you ever found yourself obsessively watching a TV show you don't actually enjoy? That probably means you're just watching your parasite's favorite show."

This explains a lot.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 04, 2024 09:25 AM (+RQPJ)
---
Or you have Dissociative Identity Disorder and one of your alters was really into it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 04, 2024 09:33 AM (llXky)

59 Thanks for the Book Thread, Perfessor! This week I finished "Under the Southern Cross: The South Pacific Air Campaign Against Rabaul" by Thomas M. Cleaver. The first third of the book was a very good account of the naval and aerial battle for Guadalcanal and how important that was for the early stages of the Pacific War. Recommended.

Posted by: NCDave at February 04, 2024 09:34 AM (GU6kw)

60 >>> 25 One of my cats pooped all over my DVDs of Animaniacs
----

Sure, sure. "The cat".
Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 04, 2024 09:13 AM (+RQPJ)

It was the DOG!

Posted by: the cat at February 04, 2024 09:35 AM (llON8)

61 Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 09:14 AM (a/4+U)

I found an Audio-with-Text version of Bleak House on YouTube, which is how I got the story. I assume it's condensed, as it was intended to help those learning English.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at February 04, 2024 09:35 AM (nC+QA)

62 an unread hardcover of Havoc by Jack Du Brul. It's one of the Philip Mercer books I lacked. (Du Brul is my favorite of the Clive Cussler continuing authors.) For a buck each, it was a successful stop.
Posted by: JTB

I really enjoyed all of the DuBrul books. I hope he goes back to the Mercer stories now that his partnership with Cussler is over.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 09:36 AM (H/zBy)

63 I, for one, think Opus owned a weed whacker. Just saying.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at February 04, 2024 09:36 AM (NBVIP)

64 I made the mistake of watching some Shelby Foote interviews on YT. I realized I haven't read his Civil War trilogy of quite a while although I dip into them often. Anyway, I got out the first volume. (Part of the entertainment for me is I 'hear' the words in Foote's voice. The first volume seems appropriate, or at least suggestive, considering what's going on in Texas.

Posted by: JTB at February 04, 2024 09:37 AM (zudum)

65 Once upon a time when I still had tons of books in almost every room, one our cats (departed now and not because of anything I did) decided to whiz all over a shelf of about a dozen Stephen King hardcovers (the good earlier ones, so I don't think it was an editorial comment on the books -- probably just annoyed at me). The cat survived that evening only due to the persuasive powers of Mrs Some Guy.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 09:39 AM (a/4+U)

66 I've been reading a lot about penguins. I found this passage descriptive:

“Imagine a little man, standing erect, provided with two broad paddles instead of arms, with head small in comparison with the plump stout body; imagine this creature with his back covered with a black coat … tapering behind to a pointed tail that drags on the ground, and adorned in front with a glossy white breast-plate. Have this creature walk on his two feet, and give him at the same time a droll little waddle, and a pert movement of the head; you have before you something irresistibly repulsive and horrifying.”

Posted by: Penguin Facts at February 04, 2024 09:40 AM (vFG9F)

67 Thanks for the Bloom County 'toons, Perf.

Man, the comics used to be great.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 04, 2024 09:40 AM (+RQPJ)

68 I finished the last of the Daybreaker trilogy; it's one of those end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it epics by John Barnes. Basically, the world is reduced to 1800s era tech by a sort of fanatical ecology movement who lets loose an engineered plague that dissolves plastics, and petroleum-derived products. And sets off half a dozen nuclear bombs and constantly drops EMP bombs on any surviving holdouts, just to finish off anyone trying to hold onto more than hunter-gather-barely-above hominid-level civilization. Interesting premise, and certainly the maddened ecologist fringe is out there and talks a good game about offing 90% of mankind to save Gaia ... but the whole book is relentlessly talky, with a huge cast of characters, some of which are never really filled out convincingly, which ultimately doesn't matter as most of them die rather nastily, and the project of reviving the United States is given up on entirely. The ultimate conclusion - all of this crushing misfortune is due to a mind virus put into play by some intergalactic power. Meh ... if there is a sequel, I don't think I'll bother.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at February 04, 2024 09:41 AM (xnmPy)

69 Thursday evening I was given a lovely reprint of William Bishop's 'Winged Warfare' originally published in 1918. I am very much looking forward to sitting in the sun and reading that one.

Cheers!
Posted by: Brewingfrog

That sounds like a good one.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 09:41 AM (H/zBy)

70 Instead of cooperating to tell a story, his stuff very much pitted the DM against the party, creating a thousand petty tyrants in the process.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 04, 2024 09:22 AM (llXky)

All the party ever cared about was looting and killing.
I wrote more then one backstory on some NPC I needed for my "story" only to have the party kill him for loot.

Posted by: Reforger at February 04, 2024 09:41 AM (UrEBu)

71 I like ebooks because they are so easy to read late at night while lying in bed. The screen is bright and I can prop the book on a pillow so don't have to hold a heavy book.
However, the down side is if thee is a map or you want to go back to find something you might have missed.
I just finished the second book in Islington's Licanius series An Echo of Things To Come. The book is long, complex and often minor characters ae introduced without any back story and then turn out to be critical to something that happens later
on. You know that what you have been told so far in the story, is not what you think because he keeps dropping hints that you don't pick up on til later. He also ends this book with another giant reveal that makes you say WTH just happened!
On to book 3 but I may have to get a paper copy of book 2 and reread.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 04, 2024 09:44 AM (t/2Uw)

72 Speaking of reading in the sun, has anyone else noticed how bad artificial lighting is? I can sit in the sun and read all day long, but often when I am indoors, I have to wear readers.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 09:45 AM (H/zBy)

73 All the party ever cared about was looting and killing.
I wrote more then one backstory on some NPC I needed for my "story" only to have the party kill him for loot.

Posted by: Reforger at February 04, 2024 09:41 AM (UrEBu)
---
Always important to tailor one's style of play to the desires of the rest of the group.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 04, 2024 09:45 AM (llXky)

74 On the promising side, I started on my next book project - another YA adventure, which might be a series. A family heads west on the California-Oregon trail in 1846 - an intact and affectionate family, which just might be a daring and original plot, given current YA fiction. I'm modeling them after the Ingalls, of Little House on the Prairie. I'll work in all kinds of lessons about loyalty, courage, taking responsibility, while telling another ripping good yarn.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at February 04, 2024 09:45 AM (xnmPy)

75 62 ... "I really enjoyed all of the DuBrul books. I hope he goes back to the Mercer stories now that his partnership with Cussler is over."

I hadn't heard that he was done with the Cussler Isaac Bell books. Hope it's not true. It's the only Cussler series I still read. The next one one, written by Du Brul, is due out next May. On the other hand, I would love to see a new Mercer story.

Posted by: JTB at February 04, 2024 09:46 AM (zudum)

76 “Imagine a little man, standing erect, provided with two broad paddles instead of arms, with head small in comparison with the plump stout body; imagine this creature with his back covered with a black coat … tapering behind to a pointed tail that drags on the ground, and adorned in front with a glossy white breast-plate. Have this creature walk on his two feet, and give him at the same time a droll little waddle, and a pert movement of the head; you have before you something irresistibly repulsive and horrifying.”
Posted by: Penguin Facts at February 04, 2024 09:40 AM (vFG9F)

*sniff, bows head and walks into sunset.

Posted by: Opus at February 04, 2024 09:47 AM (UrEBu)

77 Interesting fact:
James Islington said he decided to write after reading Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn books.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 04, 2024 09:47 AM (t/2Uw)

78 Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 04, 2024 09:44 AM (t/2Uw)

I read my kindle/tablet at night in bed as well. But, I make sure the blue light shade or filter ( whatever it's called) is on.

Posted by: dantesed at February 04, 2024 09:48 AM (88xKn)

79 Ditch all those DVD cases and get cheap disc binders. 99.9 % of the DVD storage space is instantly gone. Leaves more room on the shelves for books, so people think you read and don't own an Animaniacs collection.

Posted by: Fozzy at February 04, 2024 09:48 AM (/Jyns)

80 Daybreaker is one of the books I abandoned a few weeks ago...

Posted by: lin-duh at February 04, 2024 09:48 AM (QBwwm)

81 I read The Mandibles: A Family 2029-2042 by Lionel Shriver. It was recommended here several weeks ago. Shriver has assembled a great cast of characters as she tells the story of a multi-generational family trying to survive the collapse of the U. S. dollar and the U. S. economy.

Her masterful plot shows subtle shifts in family dynamics while using drool humor throughout. One reading this book will get a lesson in economics, and the book could very well be prescient about our economic future. A wonderful read.

Posted by: Zoltan at February 04, 2024 09:49 AM (wtBAT)

82 Thanks for the Book Thread Perfessor!

I much prefer physical books and reading material to the digital version. It's comforting to know that I can read a book wherever and for however long I wish without having to worry about having to stop reading while I charge the device. Old fashioned, I know, but I also prefer the heft and feel of a book in my hands. And yes, I still remember precious childhood moments spent in the local library, which I thought of as a public treasure chest.

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at February 04, 2024 09:50 AM (a8Rgt)

83 *sniff, bows head and walks into sunset.

Posted by: Opus at February 04, 2024 09:47 AM (UrEBu)
---
Bloom County was back when liberals could criticize other liberals, especially the loons on the extremes.

The "Great LaRouche Toad Frog Massacre" comes to mind. Today we've very much got the "no enemies to the left" Popular Front thing going on. The way the Reform/Far Left faction stopped running protest candidates gave the game away.

Camille Paglia had some interesting things to say once, but for all her sick burns of Dems, she'll never desert them.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 04, 2024 09:50 AM (llXky)

84 I hadn't heard that he was done with the Cussler Isaac Bell books. Hope it's not true. It's the only Cussler series I still read. The next one one, written by Du Brul, is due out next May. On the other hand, I would love to see a new Mercer story.
Posted by: JTB

I was just assuming it was over due to Cussler's death. These days, the publisher may milk it for a while. Either way is fine with me, as DuBrul is a fine writer.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 09:50 AM (H/zBy)

85 "drool humor" one of my faves.

Posted by: BignJames at February 04, 2024 09:50 AM (AwYPR)

86 I've found that older kindles seem to work just fine without being connected or registered.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 09:32 AM (a/4+U)

Kindle Paperwhite are excellent ebook devices. Lightweight and durable. Battery life is exceptional. Mine never “phones home” or does much of anything other than display text. Some PDF files render poorly, but that’s not always the case.

Kindle Fire are a hot mess.

Posted by: 13times at February 04, 2024 09:51 AM (uIXO9)

87 "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.

********

Well, MPPPP- there is an alternative to cynical despair, and that is the oxymoronically named "cynical optimism". I think the despair stems from a feeling of a lack of individual capacity to enact change. Optimism resides in accepting the fact that an individual is largely powerless to effect change, but a group or subset of the broader populace can. If you can't find like-minded folks, you are bound to feel despair. That is what a community, a society, a congregation is, and it can be powerful.

As my wife and I often say, solitude is something best enjoyed with somebody else.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 04, 2024 09:51 AM (991eG)

88 46 One of my cats pooped all over my DVDs of Animaniacs. Another cat tore out a page of one of my favorite books. (Who knew cats were so critical of modern entertainment?) These can be replaced, but that means I have to have the money to pay for those replacements.

I don't know about the book but for the Animaniacs DVDs, it's the episode where Jerry Lewis calls the siblings "cats" then Wakko says "We're not cats!" that drive felines to desecrate all things Animaniacs.

Posted by: p0indexterous at February 04, 2024 09:51 AM (QBwMV)

89 Posted by: Penguin Facts at February 04, 2024 09:40 AM (vFG9F)

I read that as "Penguin Farts...."

Posted by: JT at February 04, 2024 09:52 AM (T4tVD)

90 I see Mr sinmi has gone on an A H Lloyd reading binge since I exposed him to *Long Live Death* just before our trip to Barcelona last fall. In his kindle he now has *Wall of Men*, *Fall of the Commonwealth*, *The Imperial Rebellion*, *Rise of the Alliance*, and “A Man of Destiny*.

Because I am the family tech support, I see what he buys on kindle. He is protected from my sometimes dubious taste: currently re-reading Elliott James’ Pax Arcana books.

Posted by: sinmi at February 04, 2024 09:52 AM (gPQI+)

91 Morning, Bookists! I'm flattered to be quoted again this week.

I'm nearly finished with Dennis Lehane's World Gone By, the end of a trilogy that begins pre-WWI in Boston, moves on from Boston to Tampa, FL, in the 1920s and 1930s, and now focuses on Tampa in 1943. The "hero," so to speak, is a young gangster (well, he's in his late thirties in this book -- young for a gangster, I guess) from Boston. We've followed his exploits as an outlaw, criminal, and now the Irish eminence grise of the Italian Mob in Florida. As he himself puts it, he is hardly a moral pillar -- he's killed more than a few men -- but he has standards. Fascinating stuff, as always with Lehane.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 04, 2024 09:52 AM (omVj0)

92 "drool humor"

Man, autocorrect programmers are sure deficient in the English language!

Do speakers of other languages have this problem?

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 04, 2024 09:52 AM (p/isN)

93 I find the kindle a whole lot easier on the eyes than most print these days. Depending on the book, easier on the hands too.

Of the books remaining on my shelves, most are also on the kindle -- I'd pass 'em to a library, the senior center, or the second hand dealers, but a lot of them are favorites and I'm just not unloading them. Just because.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 09:52 AM (a/4+U)

94 Re: how characters address one another.

Interesting to me that all the characters mentioned appear to be men?

I say that for a specific reason. I think the way characters address one another was changed for all time by Ms. Magazine. You 29-year-olds probably don't even think about it. But Ms. was like today's pronouns: what's the right thing to say?

And the answer very quickly became Nothing. As in, addresses went from Miss Jones/Mrs. Jones/Ms. Jones to Judy Jones with no title.

Think about it. When's the last time you received a letter with a title?

Posted by: Wenda at February 04, 2024 09:54 AM (wJ0Sm)

95 I think authors who attempt to remain true to the original creator's vision will have the best chance of having their own works deemed "canon." However, those who stray too far from the source material (*cough*Amazon's Wheel of Time/Rings of Power*cough*) will most likely have their content tossed into the dustbin of history.

What Amazon did to WoT and RoP was simply fan fiction.

Posted by: p0indexterous at February 04, 2024 09:55 AM (QBwMV)

96 I see Mr sinmi has gone on an A H Lloyd reading binge since I exposed him to *Long Live Death* just before our trip to Barcelona last fall. In his kindle he now has *Wall of Men*, *Fall of the Commonwealth*, *The Imperial Rebellion*, *Rise of the Alliance*, and “A Man of Destiny*.

Posted by: sinmi at February 04, 2024 09:52 AM (gPQI+)
---
Awesome! Thank you!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 04, 2024 09:56 AM (llXky)

97 Think about it. When's the last time you received a letter with a title?

Posted by: Wenda at February 04, 2024 09:54 AM (wJ0Sm)

"Occupant" isn't a title?

Posted by: BignJames at February 04, 2024 09:56 AM (AwYPR)

98 I think it is just more common for men to call each other by their last names than for women to do it. Maybe because traditionally women took their husband's last name when married?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 04, 2024 09:57 AM (t/2Uw)

99 The kindle fire tablets are nice for video, web browsing, and music. I can't read for long periods on one -- hard on the eyes; Mrs Some Guy can read on hers with no trouble.

The Paper White, Oasis, and the Scribe are terrific for reading and I don't intend to be without one or more of those for the duration.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 09:57 AM (a/4+U)

100 Kindle Fire are a hot mess.

I have one that's almost 15 years old, and it's time to replace. What specific issues do you have with the new ones?

Posted by: Archimedes at February 04, 2024 09:57 AM (CsUN+)

101 Imagine a little man, standing erect, provided with two broad paddles instead of arms, with head small in comparison with the plump stout body; imagine this creature with his back covered with a black coat … tapering behind to a pointed tail that drags on the ground, and adorned in front with a glossy white breast-plate.

******

Damn,. forgot to turn off my webcam again!!

Posted by: Muldoon at February 04, 2024 09:58 AM (991eG)

102 Good morning!

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

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 04, 2024 09:59 AM (u82oZ)

103 Booken Morgen Horden !

Rereading the Kate Daniels series - just finished book 3.

Also, read Illuminations by T Kingfisher, a really fun middle grade-ish fantasy.
It's rather like her Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking, but better.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 04, 2024 09:59 AM (L4her)

104 @91 --

It just stuns me how Al Capone was the king of Chicago's organized crime in his early 30s.

Yeah, he didn't start from scratch, but to gain the throne and hold it until the feds took him down was impressive.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 04, 2024 09:59 AM (p/isN)

105 Bailed on every James Joyce book ever written. Just not my cuppa tea.
Posted by: 13times at February 04, 2024

***
In college I was forced to read the short story collection Dublinerss. I recall nothing about it except that he used those annoying quote-starter dashes (--) instead of quote marks, and no quote marks at the end of a speech. I know, that's Euro style, and he was Irish, yeah, yeah, yeah. Still annoys me. It seems claustrophobic, somehow.

The only thing worse is no punctuation to introduce a speech at all -- Cormac McCarthy, I'se lookin' at you.

(That said, perhaps I should try Dubliners again, now that I have more appreciation for literary stories.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 04, 2024 09:59 AM (omVj0)

106 I've griped often enough on the thread about e-books. They have their conveniences and I do use them, especially on a Paperwhite with its clear print and long battery life. But I don't trust the 'owners' (meaning not me) to keep them available and unchanged. I'm old enough to be more and more selective about my reading time so I tend to go for physical copies. If it's worth my time to read, it's worth owning physically. Besides, I just plain like the feel of a book in my hands.

Posted by: JTB at February 04, 2024 10:00 AM (zudum)

107 In college I was forced to read the short story collection Dublinerss. I recall nothing about it except that he used those annoying quote-starter dashes (--) instead of quote marks, and no quote marks at the end of a speech. I know, that's Euro style, and he was Irish, yeah, yeah, yeah. Still annoys me. It seems claustrophobic, somehow.

The only thing worse is no punctuation to introduce a speech at all -- Cormac McCarthy, I'se lookin' at you.

The collapse of America began when some trendoids started using . instead of , to separate large numbers and phone numbers, as the Euros do. Posers.

Posted by: Archimedes at February 04, 2024 10:01 AM (CsUN+)

108 Last week reread Golden Isis, by our own Anna Puma.

A fast and fun read. Set in Depression era New York, it was an unexpected plot by our aviation expert. No aviation at all, but a story of faith and family.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 04, 2024 10:01 AM (u82oZ)

109 This week I re-read an older work: _The Hero With a Thousand Faces_ by Joseph Campbell.

When I first read it, in the early 1990s, I thought it was a sound, if slightly obsolete, work of scholarship.

Now I think it's bullshit.

Not just because of the deadweight of Freudian psychology crushing any hope Campbell might have of actually understanding folklore and mythology. Nor the blatantly bogus scholarship technique: pick a thesis, cherry-pick examples from all over history and the planet to support your thesis, ignore everything that doesn't, and call it proved.

No, it's what he left out. Except for an account of Australian teenage circumcision, Campbell includes nothing about initiatory religions. (Orphic Mysteries, cult of Mithras, etc.) Given that somethng like 75 percent of the works he's citing are from those cultures, or from classically-aware successors, this is just unforgivable.

Thesis: was Campbell a Mason and didn't want to spill any beans?

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 04, 2024 10:01 AM (78a2H)

110 As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...

Patty Duke's sister Cathy's date ?

"A hot dog makes her lose control "

Memba ?

Posted by: JT at February 04, 2024 10:01 AM (T4tVD)

111 Well, MPPPP- there is an alternative to cynical despair, and that is the oxymoronically named "cynical optimism". I think the despair stems from a feeling of a lack of individual capacity to enact change. Optimism resides in accepting the fact that an individual is largely powerless to effect change, but a group or subset of the broader populace can. If you can't find like-minded folks, you are bound to feel despair. That is what a community, a society, a congregation is, and it can be powerful.

As my wife and I often say, solitude is something best enjoyed with somebody else.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 04, 2024 09:51 AM (991eG)
---
Excellent advice.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 04, 2024 10:02 AM (llXky)

112 I read my Kindle on my IPad. It is great because you have two pages like a book. I find it more difficult to read books on Hoopla or on my browser because I am always trying to page down because there is only a single page displayed.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 04, 2024 10:02 AM (t/2Uw)

113 I think it is just more common for men to call each other by their last names than for women to do it. Maybe because traditionally women took their husband's last name when married?
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 04, 2024

***
As the good Perfessor points out, it was the Victorian/Edwardian public school tradition. Teachers addressed their students (all male in those days) by last name. Adding "Mr." was, I think, optional. Now all-women schools, I don't know; perhaps the pupils were addressed by first name. Anybody know?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 04, 2024 10:02 AM (omVj0)

114 Bloom County was back when liberals could criticize other liberals, especially the loons on the extremes.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 04, 2024 09:50 AM (llXky)

Berke ruined my childhood when he remade it a few years ago.
He's just an ass now. I haven't even bothered to look to see if it's failed yet.
In the imortal words of my neice "I just can't".
I expected some continuity. I expected...

Nothing like what it was. For months I awaited the relaunch. Almost bought the massive tome he was pedling at the time.

Posted by: Reforger at February 04, 2024 10:02 AM (aOzEQ)

115 80 Daybreaker is one of the books I abandoned a few weeks ago...
Posted by: lin-duh at February 04, 2024 09:48 AM (QBwwm)

I really liked Directive 51, but given all of the opinions I've seen of Daybreak, I think I'll just stop with the first book and not screw up my lasting impression of the story.

I should have done that with Wool (Hugh Howey). The subsequent books were not as good, and the end-of-the-world scenario just doesn't make sense.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 04, 2024 10:02 AM (OX9vb)

116 32 I started 3 books this week which I abandoned after a few chapters. Still can't find a book that holds my attention. In any genre...
Posted by: lin-duh at February 04, 2024 09:15 AM (QBwwm)

Not knowing what genres you like, lin-duh, here are a few suggestions -

Detective/Mystery novels:
- Sherlock Holmes books by Arthur Conan Doyle
- Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot mysteries) by Agatha Christie
- Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth

History:
Conquest: Cortes, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico by Hugh Thomas

Classics:
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Sci-Fi
Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Novelized History:
-End of the Roman Republic trilogy, focused on Cicero,
Imperium, Conspirata, Dictator, by Robert Harris
-Aztec by Gary Jennings (long)

Posted by: Gref at February 04, 2024 10:03 AM (5fDan)

117 The optometrist explained to me that on screen pixels tend to vibrate somewhat, which can tire your eyes. I don't know if this applies to handheld readers, but I know I can only sit in front of a computer screen for so many hours at work before my eyes start to bother me. That, plus the encroachment of big brother has led me to possess only physical books. My only problem now is constantly running out of shelf space.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 10:04 AM (H/zBy)

118 Spending money on books...Between Christmas and New Years, I spent way too much money on comics, so I vowed not to spend any money on comics for the entirety of the January/February credit card statement. Almost there. It's been hard at times, but it has allowed me to take several inches of books off my to-be-read pile.

First and foremost from that pile, the Sigil Omnibus. A space opera, with a dash of DBZ power-scaling. This was a book I never thought I'd see, since the publisher went bankrupt in the early 00's, and was subsequently acquired and ignored by Disney/Marvel.

It may be the nostalgia talking (I read part of it when first published) but reading those comics made me unnaturally happy. Great art, fun story, no worrying about sucker-punches from the author....But it was bittersweet knowing that the publisher died before giving the book a proper conclusion.

Posted by: Castle Guy at February 04, 2024 10:04 AM (Lhaco)

119 "I read that as "Penguin Farts...."
Posted by: JT "

Good thing it's not scratch 'n' sniff.

Posted by: fd at February 04, 2024 10:05 AM (vFG9F)

120 "I read that as "Penguin Farts...."

It's a little known fact that penguins smell better AFTER farting.

Posted by: Archimedes at February 04, 2024 10:06 AM (CsUN+)

121 Also, the previous week to last read What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe, the cartoonist of xkcd.

I hold the first book in that series, and it is silly fun to read. You can get the giggles as he stretches science to absurd lengths. This one, not so much. Lack of charm for some reason.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 04, 2024 10:06 AM (u82oZ)

122 I think it is just more common for men to call each other by their last names than for women to do it. Maybe because traditionally women took their husband's last name when married?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 04, 2024 09:57 AM (t/2Uw)
---
We used to be a more formal society, and to use a first name was a sign of intimacy. Even within marriages, courtesy titles would be observed when talking with acquaintances not considered close friends.

Ironically, the familiar tense has disappeared from English, lingering on only in Shakespeare and the KJV Bible.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 04, 2024 10:07 AM (llXky)

123 Just picked up the series Colony Mars by Gerald Kirby. Looked like interesting reads so I'm about to start. Any Horde reviews?

Posted by: Smell the Glove at February 04, 2024 10:08 AM (rfv9/)

124 If you want the dopamine hit that comes from hatin' on the left, may I recommend John Flynn's "The Roosevelt Myth." My boss at my first professional job loved this book. He grew up near Parkersburg, WV and his dad was a Republican delegate to the 1964 convention. The mention of Henry Wallace above made me think of this one.

Posted by: Flea Bit Peanut Monkey at February 04, 2024 10:08 AM (ogTiX)

125 Was listening to Niall Ferguson on the Uncommon Knowledge podcast, talk about an article he wrote a couple of weeks ago called "The Treason of the Intellectuals," which is about the rise of antisemitism in our universities:

http://tinyurl.com/NFerg-Treason

Good talk, and made me go grab his fantastic book: "The Pity of War, Explaining World War One." Niall is a Scotsman. So naturally the largest share of the blame for the war he placed on England. Still. A very good book.

Going to read "Shogun," James Clavell's masterpiece, in preparation for the new series on FX/Hulu that starts on February 27. I've mentioned before that Clavell is one of my favorite authors. Time for a complete reread of his works (Shogun, Tai-Pan, Gai-Jin, King Rat, Noble House, and Whirlwind).

Good morning, Book Nerdz.

Posted by: Sharkman at February 04, 2024 10:09 AM (WzV7S)

126 There is no way I could physically own the number of books I read or afford them. I extensively use my library with access to both physical and ebooks. I can take recommendations I see here, look them up in the catalogue and reserve them and get them sent to my local library to be picked up. There is so many books I haven't ever read, I hardly ever reread books so don't see the need to own them. I do buy ebooks occasionally, download them. Don't really understand how they can electronically change them once I do that but then I'm a dummy when it comes to stuff like that.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 04, 2024 10:10 AM (t/2Uw)

127 Greetings! Here at the windswept outpost we have no more room for any more physical media but at least I haven't thrown out any of that which we have owned in the past. In music sometimes I have the same recording on LP, on compact cassette and on CD. Those I could winnow down...

Posted by: gourmand du jour at February 04, 2024 10:10 AM (MeG8a)

128 To expand: the famous "Hero's Journey" that Campbell describes in his book maps pretty closely to what we know about initiation rituals for ancient mystery cults, which in turn were deliberately pastiched by some modern fraternal organizations. Not mentioning that in this context looks shady.

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 04, 2024 10:10 AM (78a2H)

129 98 I think it is just more common for men to call each other by their last names than for women to do it. Maybe because traditionally women took their husband's last name when married?
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 04, 2024 09:57 AM (t/2Uw)

Possibly. I also think it's because women are more intimately friendly with each other. Most of us wouldn't think to address each other by surname, and we really don't nickname each other to the extent that men do. The only deviation of this that I've noticed is military women--the few I knew were more apt to have nicknames or address each other by last name--but only among themselves. Not with civilian friends.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 04, 2024 10:10 AM (OX9vb)

130 History:
Conquest: Cortes, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico by Hugh Thomas

Posted by: Gref

I heartily second this book. So much of this history is barely given a footnote

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 10:11 AM (H/zBy)

131
Nothing like what it was. For months I awaited the relaunch. Almost bought the massive tome he was pedling at the time.

Posted by: Reforger at February 04, 2024 10:02 AM (aOzEQ)
---
He's made multiple attempts to get the strip going again, and I stopped following him.

Bloom County itself had a slow decline and when I did my last major purge of the bookshelves, I retained only what I consider the best of his books.

Cartoonists are prone to creative burnout, and especially if they were using whimsical and light-hearted characters, it's hard for them to maintain that as life's disappointments pile up.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 04, 2024 10:11 AM (llXky)

132 Doonesbury could occasionally zing the left too, at least early on. I recall one in which somebody walks up to Doones & Mark and tells them that John Kerry will be speaking on campus that evening. That Kerry speaks with courage and passion against the lunacy of the war. That if they care about the future of the country, they must hear John Kerry. Walks away. Doones: "Who was that?" Mark: "John Kerry." Or BD walking into Scot Sloan's coffee house, and on being greeted by Sloan, "the fighting young priest who can talk to the young" and engage in meaningful dialogue with them: "Good for you, sweetheart. One black coffee to go."

It got real one-sided real fast.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 10:11 AM (a/4+U)

133 I started 3 books this week which I abandoned after a few chapters. Still can't find a book that holds my attention. In any genre...
Posted by: lin-duh at February 04, 2024

***
Lin-duh, I second Gref's suggestions in detective/mystery. I'd add John Dickson Carr to that list, and for Larry Niven his grand SF novel Ringworld.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 04, 2024 10:12 AM (omVj0)

134 One other bit of comic book reading from the last week; "Nottingham 1: The Kings Ransom." A French comic. Bande Dessinee, as it were. A Robin Hood story that......exists soley to subvert our expectations.

It rode the line between being interesting and being predictable and irritating. But in the end, I think the irritation won out. The story played with all the usual tropes of modern storytelling, (Guess who the actual main character of the story is? You won't be the least bit surprised.) and while it wasn't as in-your-face as so much of Western media, it was still there, and the characters weren't likable enough to overcome the eye-rolling cliches.

The art was good, but nothing too special.

Posted by: Castle Guy at February 04, 2024 10:12 AM (Lhaco)

135 Also two weeks ago finished Team America: Patton, MacArthur, Marshall, Eisenhower, and the World They Forged by Robert L. O'Connell and The Commanders: The Leadership Journeys of George Patton, Bernard Montgomery, and Erwin Rommel by Lloyd Clark.

These books were comprehensive military biographies in leadership style. It is a warts and all book, and Patton does not come off well in either book.

Had some interesting insights, and the background on Rommel shows why the Germans were so effective in warfare, based on keen insights into unit cohesion, and strong leadership training. The Americans come off as amateurs in junior officer training.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 04, 2024 10:12 AM (u82oZ)

136 I did finish Pliny's Natural History. It's full of facts about the ancient world, at least half of which were completely untrue. It was interesting in parts, extremely dry in other parts, and I learned the origin of many words and ideas that I not connected yet. I can recommend it as a good read if you are bored and have absolutely nothing else to read, or need something to put you to sleep at night. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Posted by: fd at February 04, 2024 10:13 AM (vFG9F)

137 >>>This one in particular was entertaining, as cartoonist Berke Breathed parodied this incident in his comic strip Bloom County. The series of strips around this incident are pretty funny by themselves, but even funnier when you know the inspiration behind them. I went ahead and made a copy of those strips available for y'all HERE.

heh

Posted by: m at February 04, 2024 10:14 AM (klLID)

138 >>> 126 There is no way I could physically own the number of books I read or afford them. I extensively use my library with access to both physical and ebooks. I can take recommendations I see here, look them up in the catalogue and reserve them and get them sent to my local library to be picked up. There is so many books I haven't ever read, I hardly ever reread books so don't see the need to own them. I do buy ebooks occasionally, download them. Don't really understand how they can electronically change them once I do that but then I'm a dummy when it comes to stuff like that.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 04, 2024 10:10 AM (t/2Uw)

The same way Ace edits a post when he does something like say, "accidentally" includes busty lesbian porn.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at February 04, 2024 10:14 AM (llON8)

139 130 History:
Conquest: Cortes, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico by Hugh Thomas

Posted by: Gref

I heartily second this book. So much of this history is barely given a footnote

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 10:11 AM (H/zBy)
---
Thomas wrote the authoritative door-stopper, I mean history of the Spanish Civil War, and then revised it years later when his rose-tinted view of the Spanish Republic became untenable in the light of less biased research. He was honest enough to update his more stridently anti-Franco passages.

He's mostly good, though, so I may have to check this out.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 04, 2024 10:15 AM (llXky)

140 Maugham once said there is no obligation to read a work of fiction, and I'll buy that. But am I the only one here who feels guilty when bailing out on a book you think you should read?
Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 09:14 AM

A couple of months ago, I was loaned all of the "Sun Sword" series by Michelle West. Since then, I've gotten about halfway through the first book The Broken Crown It's all people talking to each other about things they don't actually come right out and say and, well, I have I have no clue what's going on or who's on which side even though I know the series as a whole is about the ultimate battle between good and evil. I'm about to give up on it, simply because my TBR pile has gotten taller while I've fought and fought with this book. I'm sure someone who isn't me would absolutely love it, but, well, I'm not them.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at February 04, 2024 10:16 AM (iZEhM)

141 Helena, if I downloaded his post, could he change it?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 04, 2024 10:16 AM (t/2Uw)

142 Concerning how characters are referred to in books, I assumed it reflected the culture of the books. Holmes and Watson is just how it would be in Victorian society although it took some getting used to as a young reader in 1950s New England. There is an observation in one of the MASH books that use of last names is considered discourteous and that's what I grew up with. Using someone's last name was always preceded by a title: Mr., Miss, Mrs., doctor, etc.

Posted by: JTB at February 04, 2024 10:16 AM (zudum)

143 I am about to start reading The Canterbury Tales.

Posted by: Northernlurker at February 04, 2024 10:16 AM (8Fdcq)

144 I think I was too young to read Bloom County in the papers (maybe I caught the tail end of Opus) but as a late teen I sought out some of the collections. I think I was hoping for another Calvin and Hobbes. But Bloom County......just never clicked for me.

Posted by: Castle Guy at February 04, 2024 10:17 AM (Lhaco)

145 "Things can get a bit nebulous when shared universes are involved. For instance, H.P. Lovecraft was quite keen on encouraging other authors like Robert E. Howard and August Derleth to expand on his own body of works which is now referred to as the Cthulhu Mythos."
****
Thanks for bringing up a bugbear of mine: Anyone who incorporated Robert W. Chambers' "King in Yellow" stories into the Cthulhu Mythos - INCLUDING LOVECRAFT HIMSELF - just shouldn't have done it. The two simply don't go together, as the more famous and larger body is about a vast universe utterly alien to and uncaring of the human, and Chambers gives us a much more traditional supernatural threat that perverts something completely human and deeply intimate, namely, the creative impulse and the lure of art. But maybe it's just me.

Posted by: werewife, princess of Delray Beach at February 04, 2024 10:19 AM (SPNTN)

146 Gref

Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle is a fun read. My last re-read I skipped the chapters on the aliens and read the ones on the humans.

This is a rousing John W. Campbell humans triumphant saga. The climax should get it's own John Williams score.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 04, 2024 10:20 AM (u82oZ)

147 >>> 141 Helena, if I downloaded his post, could he change it?
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 04, 2024 10:16 AM (t/2Uw)

No, but that's not the same - when you have a Kindle or Nook or whatever else that's proprietary software which gives the owner / developer access to your device, and therefore "your" content. Apple for on example has played all sorts of shenanigans with individuals, including one case where (iirc) a songwriter had all of his content removed from his drive because somehow Apple decided it was a copyright violation or some such BS. I doubt Pixy 1.0 can do anything like that.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at February 04, 2024 10:20 AM (llON8)

148 Ironically, the familiar tense has disappeared from English, lingering on only in Shakespeare and the KJV Bible.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 04, 2024

***
A.H., do you mean the familiar case, the "thou art" and "give to thee" versions of "you"? I'd read some years ago that they were for especial intimates in one's life, including speaking to God. People today think the case is more formal, maybe because the only place they encounter it is in Old Bill and the KJV. It was the opposite.

Spanish still has it, as I'm sure you know. In For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway shows us the change to intimacy between Robert Jordan and Maria; when they have become lovers, they use "thou" and "thee," which in speaking Spanish they would ("tu" rather than "usted").

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 04, 2024 10:20 AM (omVj0)

149 Thanks for Da Book Thread Perfessor !

Posted by: JT at February 04, 2024 10:21 AM (T4tVD)

150 How characters address one another, I believe is a great way to delineate characters, their relationship, and the society around them.

For instance, my novel, "Wearing the Cat" takes place in the military world. ie. That of the Naval Dental Corps. so, there are two layers of separation , each equally valid within the context of the NDC. officer and enlisted and the rank/rating within, and doctor versus non-doctor.

There actually is a fair amount of nuance as to how and when characters "sir" someone or address them by their rank/rating, call them doctor or use their name. And, of course, good opportunities for humor between the verbal address and thoughts within a character.

I suspect the "rules" vary a bit depending on the command. The interesting thing to me was how the Dental command mostly tried to be the most military group on Base. Especially hilarious, was when I went Green side (serving the Marines) and the command tried to out-military the Marines. Of course, that found its way into "WTC".

The military is a very vertical society but also so is Japanese society. Probably the closest thing to being in the military while, you know, not being in the military. (con't)

Posted by: naturalfake at February 04, 2024 10:21 AM (nFnyb)

151 But whatever his faults, Berke Breathed gave us Bill the Cat. For that, we must be grateful.

Aaaaack! Pfffth!

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 10:21 AM (a/4+U)

152 Good morning and, yeah, it's been a while.

Is anyone else having trouble finding reading material?

I swear, I've read so many books in my 29 years of existence I'm finding it more and more difficult to find anything worth reading.

Or, am I just insane?

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 10:21 AM (tT6L1)

153 This is why there are conversations every so often about software that will convert ebooks to PDFs or similar formats...

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at February 04, 2024 10:21 AM (llON8)

154 152 Good morning and, yeah, it's been a while.

Is anyone else having trouble finding reading material?

I swear, I've read so many books in my 29 years of existence I'm finding it more and more difficult to find anything worth reading.

Or, am I just insane?

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 10:21 AM (tT6L1)

Same here.

Posted by: Gref at February 04, 2024 10:22 AM (5fDan)

155 Did they cut down all the trees and leftist asses and put up a chair museum??

Posted by: andycanuck (2yu8s) at February 04, 2024 10:22 AM (2yu8s)

156 We used to be a more formal society, and to use a first name was a sign of intimacy. Even within marriages, courtesy titles would be observed when talking with acquaintances not considered close friends.

**

My mom would refer to her husband, my dad, as Mr (lastname) when speaking with acquaintances / contractors/ etc.
She only referred to him as Firstname when speaking with friends.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 04, 2024 10:23 AM (L4her)

157 It got real one-sided real fast.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 10:11 AM (a/4+U)

I never really liked dunesbury.
Now Frank and Ernest..

Posted by: Reforger at February 04, 2024 10:24 AM (aOzEQ)

158 About Bill the Cat: Created because Berkely loathed Garfield.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 10:24 AM (tT6L1)

159 Is anyone else having trouble finding reading material?

I swear, I've read so many books in my 29 years of existence I'm finding it more and more difficult to find anything worth reading.

Or, am I just insane?
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024

***
No, Blake, same here. It's hard to find an author who can evoke some of that same excitement and joy I used to feel when I brought something new home from the library.

That said, I'm not giving up looking!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 04, 2024 10:24 AM (omVj0)

160 Read Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy last week, something of a cult classic that is on many must read lists so I finally got around it. Odd story, sort of funny, weird twists but not all that great. I don't get why is gets such glowing reviews. Maybe I should have read it in college.

Posted by: Ripley at February 04, 2024 10:24 AM (PTDkx)

161 Currently plowing through my comprehensive Arthur C. Clarke collection. Short stories and novels, but all written before Imperial Earth and The Rendezvous with Rama, which are not good.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 04, 2024 10:24 AM (u82oZ)

162 The collapse of America began when some trendoids started using . instead of , to separate large numbers and phone numbers, as the Euros do. Posers.
Posted by: Archimedes at February 04, 2024 10:01 AM (CsUN+)

That fries me too! A telephone number is, not should be, but is: 1 (xxx) xxx-xxxx.

We patented it, we get to say what the conventions are.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 04, 2024 10:25 AM (Angsy)

163 41 I've bailed out of at least three comics miniseries because I was bored or annoyed with the story. One Marvel 12-parter, Secret Wars, had only two issues left, but I decided that enough was enough.
Posted by: Weak Geek at February 04, 2024 09:24 AM (p/isN)

The classic Secret Wars? Ouch. Haven't tried to read that one myself......but I understand. A bunch of the older material has weird pacing/writing style issues that makes it hard for me to get into...

Posted by: Castle Guy at February 04, 2024 10:25 AM (Lhaco)

164 Thanks for the "Footfall" recommendation. Just requested it from the library.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 04, 2024 10:25 AM (+RQPJ)

165 (con't)

With rules regarding which language you can use with a superior and which words you are allowed to use with "inferiors". Forms of address change also, and naturally the amount of bowing and distance bowed.

That also finds it's way into "WTC" as a kind of stealth thing.

In any event, this is all to say that there is a lot that an author can and should do with forms of address and words your characters are comfortable using with other characters.

As always YMMV.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 04, 2024 10:25 AM (nFnyb)

166 I swear, I've read so many books in my 29 years of existence I'm finding it more and more difficult to find anything worth reading.

Or, am I just insane?

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 10:21 AM (tT6L1)

Same here.
Posted by: Gref

Give us some clues about what type of stories you are looking for. This place is chock full of people who can recommend good books on any subject.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 10:26 AM (H/zBy)

167 I did finish Pliny's Natural History. It's full of facts about the ancient world, at least half of which were completely untrue.

Posted by: fd at February 04, 2024 10:13 AM (vFG9F)

Hey, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Posted by: BignJames at February 04, 2024 10:26 AM (AwYPR)

168 I swear, I've read so many books in my 29 years of existence I'm finding it more and more difficult to find anything worth reading.

Or, am I just insane?
Posted by: blake -

Consider the healing power of "and"

Kidding!
Try something completely out of your usual genres.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 04, 2024 10:26 AM (L4her)

169 I'll never run out of things to read as long as there is Gutenberg. Do you want to know how to make a pocket watch from scratch, and how to make all the tools to make a pocket watch from scratch? It's on there.

Posted by: fd at February 04, 2024 10:27 AM (vFG9F)

170 Or, am I just insane?
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 10:21 AM (tT6L1)

I'd file it under 'jaded and blase'.

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM Guy at February 04, 2024 10:27 AM (/HDaX)

171 "Is anyone else having trouble finding reading material?
Posted by: blake - semi lurker"

If you like history try Robert Massie. Especially his biography of Peter the Great. Well written look at the man the times.

Posted by: Ripley at February 04, 2024 10:27 AM (PTDkx)

172 naturalfake

Very interesting. Off to look for your novel.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 04, 2024 10:27 AM (u82oZ)

173 161 i usually try to separate writer from book, but I can't reread Clarke anymore, after finding out what a perv he was. Same with Marion Zimmer Bradley.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 04, 2024 10:28 AM (L4her)

174 Give us some clues about what type of stories you are looking for. This place is chock full of people who can recommend good books on any subject.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 10:26 AM (H/zBy)
--------------

My list is more exclusionary. I'm not much of a fan of the sci fi fantasy genre. Other than that, all bets are off.

Side note: William Gibson's "Jackpot" Trilogy is trash. Do not recommend. I've got two and will not read the third once William gets around to writing it.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 10:28 AM (tT6L1)

175 Simplicity. Paperwhites do one thing very well which is render text. They are not tablets. The web browser is terrible. They do not render in color.

One can access the internal file structure via a PC USB cable and insert or delete files and never need connect it to the internet. Which means Amazon cannot access, or tamper, with YOUR data.

If people like their Kindle Fire then they should by all means continue using it.

Posted by: 13times at February 04, 2024 10:29 AM (Vm/j2)

176 If you like history try Robert Massie. Especially his biography of Peter the Great. Well written look at the man the times.
Posted by: Ripley at February 04, 2024 10:27 AM (PTDkx)
-------------

Read it. I'm a huge Robert Massie fan. Dreadnought and Iron Castles were two of my favorites.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 10:29 AM (tT6L1)

177 Have a great day, everyone.

May you fix any insulation that was compromised in the January cold spell, just in time for the February polar vortex.

And a fervent wish for warmth, happiness, and a sense of meaning in a world gone crazy.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 04, 2024 10:29 AM (u82oZ)

178 For James Joyce, try the last story in The Dubliners -- novella length The Dead

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 04, 2024 10:29 AM (Gse2f)

179 166 I swear, I've read so many books in my 29 years of existence I'm finding it more and more difficult to find anything worth reading.

Or, am I just insane?

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 10:21 AM (tT6L1)

Same here.
Posted by: Gref

Give us some clues about what type of stories you are looking for. This place is chock full of people who can recommend good books on any subject.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 10:26 AM (H/zBy)

Detective/Mystery, Classics, History, Novelized History, Sci-Fi. Anything except romance written in any era.

Posted by: Gref at February 04, 2024 10:30 AM (5fDan)

180 There is a ton of old scifi on Gutenberg. I like just looking thru the covers of the magazines. Usually there is some lass being menaced by a space alien who is about to get shot by a guy with a laser blaster.

Posted by: fd at February 04, 2024 10:31 AM (vFG9F)

181 79 Ditch all those DVD cases and get cheap disc binders. 99.9 % of the DVD storage space is instantly gone. Leaves more room on the shelves for books, so people think you read and don't own an Animaniacs collection.
Posted by: Fozzy at February 04, 2024 09:48 AM (/Jyns)

Seconded! I do that, and my entire collection (in a dozen or so binders) fits in a single shelf of a bookcase.

Posted by: Castle Guy at February 04, 2024 10:32 AM (Lhaco)

182 160 - "Maybe I should have read it in college."

Can't remember who it was who said "The golden age of science fiction is 12." There's a whole bunch of stuff I read between 12 and the college years that I can still go back to with pleasure (and more than a little I can't, but...), probably from nostalgia if nothing else. Movie example: The Crawling Eye.

I suspect that the golden age of a lot of things is 12, and that coming upon some of them much later in life is coming upon them too late to enjoy them as much as we might have had we caught them early on.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 10:32 AM (a/4+U)

183 @176 Blake, seconded, Massie's Dreadnought and Castles of Steel were classics

Posted by: Smell the Glove at February 04, 2024 10:32 AM (rfv9/)

184 On the TV show The Waltons the storekeeper was Ike Godsey. His wife would invariably refer to him as "Mr. Godsey" even to his face. They didn't have children 'cuz no doubt it was a sexless marriage.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at February 04, 2024 10:32 AM (NBVIP)

185 152 ... "Is anyone else having trouble finding reading material?
I swear, I've read so many books in my 29 years of existence I'm finding it more and more difficult to find anything worth reading.

Or, am I just insane?"

The two are not mutually exclusive. LOL!

I never seem to lack for worthwhile reading material. And that is after I've already eliminated 99 plus percent of modern fiction and all current event type books.

Posted by: JTB at February 04, 2024 10:32 AM (zudum)

186 I noticed the Kindle Fire mentioned above.

I got the latest and greatest Kindle Fire for Christmas and I love it.

It is great for reading, You can adjust the illumination and things for what works best for your eyes. I really don't get tired reading as some say they do. Just adjust things to your liking, people!

The only downside to the Fire is that because it's screen is made for videos, etc also it is not great if you're reading in bright sunlight as things get washed out.

If you're reading a lot in sunlight, I'd go with one of the Paperwhite or Oasis. Something like that.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 04, 2024 10:33 AM (nFnyb)

187 @118 --

Castle Guy, I spent a ton on CrossGen books. Still sorry the company failed.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 04, 2024 10:33 AM (p/isN)

188 According to the fictional author of that digital book, one tiny change to one word in the book changed the ending to the complete opposite of what he intended.
=======
Thou shalt commit adultery.

Posted by: andycanuck (2yu8s) at February 04, 2024 10:33 AM (2yu8s)

189 I started 3 books this week which I abandoned after a few chapters. Still can't find a book that holds my attention. In any genre...
Posted by: lin-duh at February 04, 2024

I ran out long ago and just have to wait for my favorite authors to release a new one. Meanwhile I re-read the best ones.

Posted by: vic at February 04, 2024 10:34 AM (A5THL)

190 For detective/mystery, I am really enjoying the 87th Precinct stories by Ed McBain. Fifties era, I know a lot of you have read them, because this here is where I learned of them.

There are dozens of them, so enough to enjoy for a long time for me, in between other books. When I can't get interested in anything else, I download the next one on kindle, and devour it in about two nights, and them I'm ready to read one of my other things.

I also like to get books at antique stores. I've read several good books that I had never heard of, and completely devoid of woke bulls**t.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 04, 2024 10:34 AM (OX9vb)

191 Blake, seconded, Massie's Dreadnought and Castles of Steel were classics
Posted by: Smell the Glove at February 04, 2024 10:32 AM (rfv9/)
-----------

Great, I read the books but got the name of "Castles of Steel" wrong.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 10:34 AM (tT6L1)

192 My list is more exclusionary. I'm not much of a fan of the sci fi fantasy genre. Other than that, all bets are off.

Posted by: blake

One book I stumbled upon that led me to twenty more books by the same authors is The Ice Limit by Preston and Child. It is a mystery/adventure story about a team trying to surreptitiously recover the world's largest meteorite from Tierra del Diego, and the Chilean navy trying to stop them. It was so good I bought up most everything else they wrote

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 10:35 AM (H/zBy)

193 Possibly the nicest physical book I own (outside of the bible and other religious books) is a huge coffee table book on the life of Igor Stravinsky. The paper is glossy and it contains full color photographic reproductions of his scores and his sketches, early photos, reviews (some were scathing) etc. It is hardbound and the paper is glossy. Weighs about six pounds. It was a gift.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at February 04, 2024 10:35 AM (MeG8a)

194 One book I stumbled upon that led me to twenty more books by the same authors is The Ice Limit by Preston and Child. It is a mystery/adventure story about a team trying to surreptitiously recover the world's largest meteorite from Tierra del Diego, and the Chilean navy trying to stop them. It was so good I bought up most everything else they wrote
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 10:35 AM (H/zBy)
---------------

Groovy. Thank you.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 10:36 AM (tT6L1)

195 When I'm in a reading rut (not that kind!) I go to the library and walk around aimlessly, cruise the oversized book shelves, flip through big photo and art books, and visit stacks I don't normally frequent.

I can get stuck in a groove and being open to anything is a good mental palate cleanser.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 04, 2024 10:36 AM (+RQPJ)

196 On the TV show The Waltons the storekeeper was Ike Godsey. His wife would invariably refer to him as "Mr. Godsey" even to his face. They didn't have children 'cuz no doubt it was a sexless marriage.
Posted by: Quarter Twenty at February 04, 2024 10:32 AM (NBVIP)

Grandpa Walton liked to "visit" Mr. Godsey.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory, red heifer owner at February 04, 2024 10:36 AM (R4t5M)

197 Can't remember who it was who said "The golden age of science fiction is 12." There's a whole bunch of stuff I read between 12 and the college years that I can still go back to with pleasure (and more than a little I can't, but...), probably from nostalgia if nothing else. Movie example: The Crawling Eye.

I suspect that the golden age of a lot of things is 12, and that coming upon some of them much later in life is coming upon them too late to enjoy them as much as we might have had we caught them early on.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024

***
I think either John Campbell or Frederik Pohl said that, but I'm not completely sure. I'm an outlier; I discovered Heinlein when I was 19 and moved to absorb written SF from there, whereas (except for Trek and a few other TV examples) I had not been a big SF fan up to that time. Of course Kirk & Co. had sensitized me and prepared me for some of the mind-bending concepts and adventures to be found in Heinlein, Pohl, Poul Anderson, and others.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 04, 2024 10:37 AM (omVj0)

198 Fear God and dread nought.

Posted by: andycanuck (2yu8s) at February 04, 2024 10:37 AM (2yu8s)

199 Tierra del Diego?...Catalina?

Posted by: BignJames at February 04, 2024 10:37 AM (AwYPR)

200 The only downside to the Fire is that because it's screen is made for videos, etc also it is not great if you're reading in bright sunlight as things get washed out.

If you're reading a lot in sunlight, I'd go with one of the Paperwhite or Oasis. Something like that.
Posted by: naturalfake at February 04, 2024 10:33 AM (nFnyb)

I have found you can fiddle with the screen controls while the direct sunlight is on you to offset that.

Posted by: vic at February 04, 2024 10:38 AM (A5THL)

201 Kindle is an ap on my phone and IPad. It is not a separate device. The ap periodically gets updated when I allow it. I just don't see how wherever I bought the book from can get access to it. But again, as far as I'm concerned this is all "magic".

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 04, 2024 10:38 AM (t/2Uw)

202 My mom would refer to her husband, my dad, as Mr (lastname) when speaking with acquaintances / contractors/ etc.
She only referred to him as Firstname when speaking with friends.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 04, 2024 10:23 AM (L4her)

But you're from a Latinish/Hispanish culture. Coming from a distinctly Anglo culture, no one I heard talking about their spouse used anything other than first names, no matter who they were talking to.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 04, 2024 10:38 AM (Angsy)

203 Don't know what happened to my first paperwhite. It just disappeared and I didn't find it during the move. Amazon doesn't show any use either. I bought another one and I prefer reading on it to anything else. You can focus on the book and not get sucked into surfing the web. Charges last a long time

Posted by: Notsothoreau at February 04, 2024 10:39 AM (L8hCM)

204 But again, as far as I'm concerned this is all "magic".
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 04, 2024

***
Now that was Arthur C. Clarke who said that, and I think it's actually called "Clarke's Law": "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 04, 2024 10:40 AM (omVj0)

205 "Anyone else having trouble finding reading material?"

No trouble at all -- I'm constantly behind in my reading.

But almost none of that material is new stuff. It's all older work, or if new it's by writers I've been following for a long time.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 10:40 AM (a/4+U)

206 Or, am I just insane?

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 10:21 AM (tT6L1)

Well...

Seriously, one of the problems is that we are overwhelmed by the current market in literature that is primarily throw-away junk and chick-lit.

One of the ways I have found good reading material is to read a bit about authors I enjoy and see what they were or are reading.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at February 04, 2024 10:42 AM (gSZYf)

207 Sharon, trust me, as a computer guy, if your ebook reader is connected to the internet, it's trivially easy for it to get an update which "accidentally" wipes your library but, no fear, just "click this" and we'll restore your library!

This is the point at which your ebook library can be compromised.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 10:42 AM (tT6L1)

208 That said, I'm not giving up looking!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 04, 2024 10:24 AM (omVj0)

We're gonna hafta write them ourselves.

Pinup Noir 3 contract dates...hmmm, inbox is empty. Looks like I'll add another goose egg. Don't expect me to write anything, I guess....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 04, 2024 10:42 AM (Angsy)

209 Odd for me but never read Shelby Foote book, there was a plagiarism on him once, no idea what it was about.

Posted by: Skip at February 04, 2024 10:43 AM (fwDg9)

210 One of the ways I have found good reading material is to read a bit about authors I enjoy and see what they were or are reading.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at February 04, 2024 10:42 AM (gSZYf)
--------------

that's a fair point. Wading through the cesspool of current literature to find a few pearls is rather off-putting.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 10:43 AM (tT6L1)

211 The ~~Bucket~~ Bouquet residence; the lady of the house speaking.

Posted by: andycanuck (2yu8s) at February 04, 2024 10:44 AM (2yu8s)

212 Detective/Mystery, Classics, History, Novelized History, Sci-Fi. Anything except romance written in any era.

Posted by: Gref

For detective stories, the Albert Campion series by Marjory Allingham are great, and you can't go wrong with the original Sherlock Holmes stories, or John Dickson Carr. On history, for pre revolution Russia, Robert Massie, W Bruce Lincoln, and Henry Troyat have excellent books, usually by czar. For post revolutionary Russia, Robert Conquest has a shelf full of excellent books that tell the true story. For American history, start with David McCullough, especially The Path Between the Seas about the building of the Panama Canal.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 10:45 AM (H/zBy)

213 I'm about halfway through "Democracy: The God That Failed." There are some good ideas, but what drives me crazy are the assumptions that (1) "social / economic theory says X always results in Y," so that's what will definitely happen in the real world; and (2) we can implement theory Z and there totes won't be years or decades of bloodshed, starvation, etc. because people will just react according to theory Z. I agree with free market principles, but the libertarianism is a little too heavy and idealized for me to take it seriously as a blueprint for going forward.

Posted by: PabloD at February 04, 2024 10:45 AM (x96/P)

214 155 Did they cut down all the trees and leftist asses and put up a chair museum??
Posted by: andycanuck (2yu8s) at February 04, 2024 10:22 AM (2yu8s)

And don't step on the blue tiles!

Posted by: m at February 04, 2024 10:46 AM (klLID)

215 Blake, then it's a good thing I hardly ever buy books. 😉

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 04, 2024 10:46 AM (t/2Uw)

216 176 If you like history try Robert Massie. Especially his biography of Peter the Great. Well written look at the man the times.
Posted by: Ripley at February 04, 2024 10:27 AM (PTDkx)
-------------

Read it. I'm a huge Robert Massie fan. Dreadnought and Iron Castles were two of my favorites.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 10:29 AM (tT6L1)

Some of my history favorites -
Overlord and Bomber Command by Max Hastings

The Franco-Prussian War, WW1, and WW2 French military history trilogy by Alastair Horne

The US Army in Europe WW2 trilogy by Rick Atkinson

The Mighty Eighth by Roger Freeman (long; the definitive history of the USAAF Eighth Air Force)

The First Team and The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign by John Lundstrom (the definitive histories of US Navy Pacific Theater aircraft carrier operations during all of 1942)

Churchill's six volume History of The Second World War

Posted by: Gref at February 04, 2024 10:47 AM (5fDan)

217 The Path Between the Seas about the building of the Panama Canal.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 10:45 AM (H/zBy)
--------------

Seconded. Great book, highly recommend.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 10:48 AM (tT6L1)

218 Tierra del Diego?...Catalina?
Posted by: BignJames

Diego. Dann autocorrect.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 10:48 AM (H/zBy)

219 On the promising side, I started on my next book project - another YA adventure, which might be a series. A family heads west on the California-Oregon trail in 1846 [ . . . ]
Posted by: Sgt. Mom at February 04, 2024 09:45 AM (xnmPy)

Sgt.Mom, if you are looking for source material I can suggest "The Lockley Files" which were a series of interviews Fred Lockley. I have mentioned them before, the ones I think do the most information on the travels is Conversations With Pioneer Women, and the second one is Conversations With Pioneer Men.
Both are collections of short interviews talking about the notable things that happened on the trail and in settling, mostly the Willamette Valley.

There was recently a book out about the Southern Route called Wagons to the Willamette: Captain Levi Scott and the Southern Route to Oregon, 1844 – 1847 by Stafford Hazelett. He spoke locally last year, and it was an interesting talk.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 04, 2024 10:48 AM (D7oie)

220 Well, time for Mass! Until next weekend!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 04, 2024 10:49 AM (llXky)

221 Want an enjoyable read?

Across the Ussuri Kray: Travels in the Sikhote-Alin Mountains by Vladimir K. Arsenyev

Arsenyev is the Russian version of Lewis and Clark. He was an extraordinary man.

Posted by: 13times at February 04, 2024 10:50 AM (DEcDC)

222 87 ..."Optimism resides in accepting the fact that an individual is largely powerless to effect change, but a group or subset of the broader populace can... That is what a community, a society, a congregation is, and it can be powerful."

Muldoon,
That is very well phrased. I can be as curmudgeonly and self-contained as needed and that can have its benefits when things are tough. But to deny yourself the support of kindred spirits is to lose part of your humanity.

Posted by: JTB at February 04, 2024 10:50 AM (zudum)

223 212 Detective/Mystery, Classics, History, Novelized History, Sci-Fi. Anything except romance written in any era.

Posted by: Gref

For detective stories, the Albert Campion series by Marjory Allingham are great, and you can't go wrong with the original Sherlock Holmes stories, or John Dickson Carr. On history, for pre revolution Russia, Robert Massie, W Bruce Lincoln, and Henry Troyat have excellent books, usually by czar. For post revolutionary Russia, Robert Conquest has a shelf full of excellent books that tell the true story. For American history, start with David McCullough, especially The Path Between the Seas about the building of the Panama Canal.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 10:45 AM (H/zBy)

Thank you

Posted by: Gref at February 04, 2024 10:50 AM (5fDan)

224 Gref, thank you for the reminder about the Churchill series.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 10:50 AM (tT6L1)

225 I like just looking thru the covers of the magazines. Usually there is some lass being menaced by a space alien who is about to get shot by a guy with a laser blaster.
Posted by: fd at February 04, 2024 10:31 AM (vFG9F)

Classic trope, I guess. I said almost exactly the same thing you did on a post on ALH about cover design.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 04, 2024 10:50 AM (Angsy)

226 28: Great Expectations is utter trash.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 04, 2024 10:51 AM (8jCIK)

227 Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 10:45 AM (H/zBy)

Thank you
Posted by: Gref at February 04, 2024 10:50 AM (5fDan)
------------

Agree, thank you sir!

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 10:51 AM (tT6L1)

228 That's how I've been led to many authors, by reading that Author A (whom I enjoy) had been inspired or influenced by Authors B, C, and D. Or in essays about writing, looking up my favorites and finding that the essayist classes them with Authors C, D, and H.

One of my formative essays in the detective genre was reading (at age 13) John Dickson Carr's "The Grandest Game in the World," which listed his choices for the ten best detective novels (pre-1945) and learning names like Ellery Queen, S.S. Van Dine, and many others. A few years ago I finally got to read the whole of the essay, where he expounded on why he'd chosen each of the ten. Utterly fascinating and, as I'd expect from JDC, well written.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 04, 2024 10:52 AM (omVj0)

229 Anyone looking for new puzzle mysteries is hereby directed towards Janice Hallett, who has come up with her own twist (in all senses of the word) on the classic epistolary novel. I especially recommend The Twyford Code from 2022, and the brand-new (well, in the US - the UK edition has been out for nearly a year) The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, which folds in on itself more than an origami crane....

Posted by: werewife, princess of Delray Beach at February 04, 2024 10:52 AM (SPNTN)

230 187 @118 --

Castle Guy, I spent a ton on CrossGen books. Still sorry the company failed.
Posted by: Weak Geek at February 04, 2024 10:33 AM (p/isN)

CrossGen was the only thing keeping me in comics back then! I was collection the whole line (via the compendias) at the end. When they failed, I fell out of the hobby for over a decade. (To be fair, graduating college and venturing out in the real world also contributed.) It took youtubers and reprinting classic collections (and getting a decent sized home) to bring me back....

Posted by: Castle Guy at February 04, 2024 10:52 AM (Lhaco)

231 Seconded! I do that, and my entire collection (in a dozen or so binders) fits in a single shelf of a bookcase.
Posted by: Castle Guy at February 04, 2024 10:32 AM (Lhaco)

You're running for President, Castle Guy?

Posted by: Mitt at February 04, 2024 10:52 AM (Angsy)

232 Unless I've missed something major, Amazon doesn't create or modify the ebook files -- the files come from the publishers, and if the publisher uploads a new version (correcting typos, formatting problems -- or changing politically incorrect language) that's the file Amazon has. And if your settings allow automatic updates and your device is connected to the internet, you'll get the new version. Sometimes you want that. And sometimes you don't.

As to having the whole ebook library disappear from a kindle, I've not had that happen and I've used various kindle devices for over a decade.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 10:52 AM (a/4+U)

233 For detective stories: Galbraith's Cormoran Strike books.
For Fantasy: Brandon Sanderson especially The Mistborn books through the Wax and Wayne books.
For Sci Fi: just read The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu.
For Westerns: Read Robert B Parker's books which start with Appaloosa. Series finished by Robert Knott.
I also read a lot of romantasy but I don't think you are interested int that.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 04, 2024 10:54 AM (t/2Uw)

234 Posted by: Mitt at February 04, 2024 10:52 AM (Angsy)

Angsy, huh? About what?

Posted by: BignJames at February 04, 2024 10:54 AM (AwYPR)

235 As to having the whole ebook library disappear from a kindle, I've not had that happen and I've used various kindle devices for over a decade.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 10:52 AM (a/4+U)
------------

I'm not suggesting it has happened. I'm saying it's a very real vulnerability.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 10:54 AM (tT6L1)

236 But again, as far as I'm concerned this is all "magic".
-----
That's what I said.

Anyone else hot or is it just me??

Posted by: zombie arthur c, clarke at February 04, 2024 10:55 AM (2yu8s)

237 Anyone else hot or is it just me??
Posted by: zombie arthur c, clarke at February 04, 2024 10:55 AM (2yu8s)
----------------------

Yeah, it's a bit warm, these days.

Posted by: Zombie Adolf Hitler at February 04, 2024 10:57 AM (tT6L1)

238 Odd for me but never read Shelby Foote book, there was a plagiarism on him once, no idea what it was about.

Posted by: Skip at February 04, 2024 10:43 AM (fwDg9)

Are you sure about that? He was criticized for seeing the Confederacy as a noble cause, rather than an irredeemable evil, but I don't think he was ever accused of plagiarism.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at February 04, 2024 10:57 AM (gSZYf)

239 Do academic papers qualify as book recommendations?

In regards to cynical despair and cynical optimism, one of the better insights I had into it was work by Martin Seligman on Learned Helplessness.
the paper I read was Learned Helplessness at Fifty: Insights from Neuroscience by Steven F. Maier and Martin E. P. Seligman which looks at the original research and matches it to neuroscience developments since then

"Learned helplessness, the failure to escape shock induced by uncontrollable aversive events, was discovered half a century ago. Seligman and Maier (1967) theorized that animals learned that outcomes were independent of their responses—that nothing they did mattered – and that this learning undermined trying to escape.

It is not as scary as it sounds, and you can read it online.

(I am a sucker for a well written paper)

Posted by: Kindltot at February 04, 2024 10:57 AM (D7oie)

240 So fd, what was your favorite untrue fact from Pliny?

From Herodotus, mine was the giant gold digging Indian ants.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at February 04, 2024 10:58 AM (3uc2w)

241 Odd for me but never read Shelby Foote book, there was a plagiarism on him once, no idea what it was about.
Posted by: Skip at February 04, 2024 10:43 AM (fwDg9)

I read he was accused of stealing Claudine Gay's work.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 04, 2024 10:58 AM (Angsy)

242 Great Expectations is utter trash.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 04, 2024 10:51 AM (8jCIK)

Shut your whore mouth!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at February 04, 2024 10:58 AM (gSZYf)

243 Thank you for the always great book thread Perfessor. And to all to the people here who share their book knowledge, thanks.

Posted by: Rufus T. Firefly at February 04, 2024 10:58 AM (5J0gB)

244 231 Seconded! I do that, and my entire collection (in a dozen or so binders) fits in a single shelf of a bookcase.
Posted by: Castle Guy at February 04, 2024 10:32 AM (Lhaco)

You're running for President, Castle Guy?
Posted by: Mitt at February 04, 2024 10:52 AM (Angsy)

It took me a moment to get that reference...

That said, long ago, while parading on a 4-H float, I did joke with my fellow 4-H-ers that I would be running in 2024. And would you look at the time....

Posted by: Castle Guy at February 04, 2024 10:59 AM (Lhaco)

245 Great Expectations is utter trash.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 04, 2024 10:51 AM (8jCIK)

My Dad called it Great Expectorations: aka Good Spitting

Dad and Muldoon would have gotten along well.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Disgustipated at February 04, 2024 11:00 AM (T/Lqj)

246 Great Expectations is utter trash.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 04, 2024 10:51 AM (8jCIK)

Shut your whore mouth!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at February 04, 2024 10:58 AM (gSZYf)
----

"The Catcher in the Rye" is the best example of 20th Century literature in existence!

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 11:00 AM (tT6L1)

247 A telephone number is, not should be, but is: 1 (xxx) xxx-xxxx.

Does the local/long distance distinction still exist, even for land lines? For any practical purpose now, domestic telephone numbers are 10 digits so I write mine as xxx-xxx-xxxx.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 04, 2024 11:01 AM (sNc8Y)

248 As to having the whole ebook library disappear from a kindle, I've not had that happen and I've used various kindle devices for over a decade.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 10:52 AM (a/4+U)

Not Kindle, but I have had my old Nook (simple touch) reset itself to factory defaults because the power button was pressed down too long while it was packed up for travel. Not only did that wipe out the library, but that device is so old that it needs a software update side-loaded onto it before it can even connect to the internet and finish the set-up process...

Posted by: Castle Guy at February 04, 2024 11:02 AM (Lhaco)

249 235 -- Blake,

Yep, I'll buy that it's a vulnerability. Could happen. I think it unlikely enough that I don't worry about it. Believe Amazon learned a lesson when it removed a pirated edition of 1984 not only from its own servers but from user devices as well and got roasted for it. Since then, I've inadvertently bought unauthorized editions that showed up for sale in the kindle store -- Amazon has scrubbed those editions from the kindle store, but not from my library.

The day we can no longer get our books downloaded from Amazon's servers, I suspect we'll have bigger problems to worry about.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 11:02 AM (a/4+U)

250 239 Do academic papers qualify as book recommendations?

Posted by: Kindltot at February 04, 2024 10:57 AM (D7oie)

My thought is if you can read it, you can recommend it!!

Posted by: Moki at February 04, 2024 11:03 AM (wLjpr)

251 I've heard of writers block but readers block?

Thanks for all the help, people.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 11:03 AM (tT6L1)

252 Great Expectations is utter trash.
----------
You don't like robot, flying monkeys?? Dude!

Posted by: andycanuck (2yu8s) at February 04, 2024 11:04 AM (2yu8s)

253 Another recommended history book that was a real eye-opener for me -

The Year of Decision, 1846 by Bernard DeVoto

A LOT occurred in 1846: Start of settler migration to Oregon and California, Joseph Smith, Mormon persecution, and the Mormon trek from the upper Midwest to Utah, start of the Mexican-American War (battles in Mexico and California; Phil Kearney's bloodless conquest of New Mexico and the trek of his so-called Mormon Battalion to Southern California), the Donner Party, and more!

Posted by: Gref at February 04, 2024 11:05 AM (5fDan)

254 For Westerns: Read Robert B Parker's books which start with Appaloosa. Series finished by Robert Knott.
I also read a lot of romantasy but I don't think you are interested int that.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 04, 2024

***
Top-notch Western authors include Parker, Elmore Leonard (Hombre, the basis of that fine 1966 Paul Newman film, is his novel), and Loren D. Estleman. His Westerns are fine stuff. He also writes hardboiled private eye yarns (the Amos Walker series set in Detroit), crime-oriented historical novels about Detroit, and a fun series about a film detective named Valentino who is pretty much a librarian of film and yet finds himself tangled with non-hardboiled mysteries.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 04, 2024 11:06 AM (omVj0)

255 @216 Gref , wish Atkinson would finish his second two books in his Revolutionary War trilogy. Says he's taking his time.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at February 04, 2024 11:06 AM (rfv9/)

256 BTW, searching for 'Great Expectations flying monkeys' [without adding what I thought would be a redundant 'south park'] here are the first hits I got, using DuckDuckGo:

+Narcissists and Flying Monkeys: Why People Submit to Narcissists
+How to Heal From Narcissistic Family Abuse | Practical Growth - Medium
+9 Types of Flying Monkeys: Know How to Deal With Each One
+3 Things A Narcissist's Flying Monkeys Do (+ How To Disarm Them)

Boy, are search engines nowadays ever crap.

Posted by: andycanuck (2yu8s) at February 04, 2024 11:07 AM (2yu8s)

257 Angsy, huh? About what?
Posted by: BignJames at February 04, 2024 10:54 AM (AwYPR)

Trump winning again!

Posted by: Mitt at February 04, 2024 11:07 AM (Angsy)

258 Good morning Hordemates!

Posted by: Diogenes at February 04, 2024 11:08 AM (W/lyH)

259 Welp, I just "read" *deleted* an email from Nikolai Haley.... bleh!🤮

Posted by: lin-duh at February 04, 2024 11:09 AM (QBwwm)

260 "The Catcher in the Rye" is the best example of 20th Century literature in existence!
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 11:00 AM (tT6L1)

*sucks in breath

Uh-oh, now you've done it.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 04, 2024 11:09 AM (OX9vb)

261 Back from Mass and I am NOT wearing pants.

So there!!

Posted by: Tonypete at February 04, 2024 11:10 AM (6Mth8)

262 Go see George Clooney's "Boys in the Boat". This is what American movie-making used to be. Inspiring, but not forced and schmaltzy, almost everyone in the cast can act (with the notable exception of the main character, Joe Nance, played by...not sure). It's funny, flirty and sexy, without being sexual.
The book is excellent, and Clooney doesn't f-it up, like Tom Hanks did w/"News of the World". I will watch BnB again when it comes to streaming.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at February 04, 2024 11:11 AM (lPeS+)

263 BTW, former Trump official, Mike Gill, has died after the carjacking shooting last week.

Posted by: andycanuck (2yu8s) at February 04, 2024 11:12 AM (2yu8s)

264 I was rereading "Jimmy Stewart - Bomber Pilot". There is a particularly poignant picture in it where a very old Stewart is standing near the runway in England from where he flew bombers. Any veteran looking at that knows that feeling.
Good book too.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 04, 2024 11:12 AM (W/lyH)

265 that device is so old that it needs a software update side-loaded onto it before it can even connect to the internet and finish the set-up process...
Posted by: Castle Guy at February 04, 2024 11:02 AM (Lhaco)

Castle Guy, any idea how to do that? I can't use my first-gen Nook for that reason. Can't connect to internet, also can't even connect to laptop, as the Nook doesn't show up as a drive. I don't even know how I would get a software update onto it.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 04, 2024 11:12 AM (OX9vb)

266 Vardis Fisher was a man with a somewhat grim outlook on life. That grim demeanor shows through in his historical fiction about Lewis and Clark. I think it aids in driving home how utterly fantastic the real expedition truly was.

A Tale of Valor: A Novel of the Lewis and Clark Expedition by Vardis Fisher.

Archive.org free PDF: http://tinyurl.com/bdh7z88f

Posted by: 13times at February 04, 2024 11:12 AM (fRCJ2)

267 Back from Mass and I am NOT wearing pants.

So there!!
========
Um. It's called concealed carry for a reason, TP!

Posted by: andycanuck (2yu8s) at February 04, 2024 11:13 AM (2yu8s)

268 Read Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy last week, something of a cult classic that is on many must read lists so I finally got around it. Odd story, sort of funny, weird twists but not all that great. I don't get why is gets such glowing reviews. Maybe I should have read it in college.
Posted by: Ripley at February 04, 2024 10:24 AM (PTDkx)

The radio series was one of the most innovative and completely unexpected things to come out in the 80's. Adams envisioned it as a sort of sci fi series White Album, and the music backing was probably half the appeal.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 04, 2024 11:14 AM (D7oie)

269 Does the local/long distance distinction still exist, even for land lines? For any practical purpose now, domestic telephone numbers are 10 digits so I write mine as xxx-xxx-xxxx.
Posted by: Oddbob at February 04, 2024 11:01 AM (sNc8Y)

Sort of. I just put the "1" in as a US Supremacist joke. We're number one!. But that's the way to make an international call, of course. Yeah, they made us start using the area code plus the number a couple of years ago because our ac coverage area had gotten so large they had to split it. You might want to call your next door neighbor and he'd have a different ac. You'd have to dial the area code plus number to call him.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 04, 2024 11:15 AM (Angsy)

270 A Brief History Of Time is still on my coffee table, bookmark firmly in place. I will pick it up again soon.

Posted by: Don Black at February 04, 2024 11:15 AM (geLO8)

271 Part of my problem is I'm cheap and refuse to pay. Over $10 for a book especially from an unknown to me author.

Posted by: lin-duh at February 04, 2024 11:15 AM (QBwwm)

272 I miss finishing a book and being able to give or loan it to someone thinking they may also enjoy it. I've gotten rid of many a book that way and have also received many a book that way.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at February 04, 2024 11:15 AM (MeG8a)

273 Started my re-reading of the entire Catechism of the Catholic Church. Using Fr. Mike Schmidts podcast as a guide.

Even though I know how it ends, it still holds my interest. 700 more pages to go.

Finally made into the Paradiso of Dante's Divine Comedy. It means so much more to me now than when I read it as a young 'adult'.

Posted by: Tonypete at February 04, 2024 11:15 AM (6Mth8)

274 I've heard of writers block but readers block?

Thanks for all the help, people.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 11:03 AM (tT6L1)

Jerry Jenkins says there's no such thing as writer's block.

http://tinyurl.com/mvjvpbp7

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 04, 2024 11:18 AM (Angsy)

275 Odd for me but never read Shelby Foote book, there was a plagiarism on him once, no idea what it was about.
Posted by: Skip at February 04, 2024 10:43 AM (fwDg9)

Foote's Civil War trilogy is loooong. It's very good. Sometimes a slog because he includes every battle (not skirmishes) of the War, from Maryland to New Mexico; Kentucky to Mobile Bay. He expanded his trilogy's history of Grant's Vicksburg Campaign into a stand-alone book: The Beleaguered City: The Vicksburg Campaign, December 1862-July 1863. I highly recommend it.

Posted by: Gref at February 04, 2024 11:18 AM (5fDan)

276 Time to don pants and face the world.

Thanks for the Book Thread, Perfesser! And thanks for all recommendations, Hordelings.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 04, 2024 11:18 AM (+RQPJ)

277 "Boys in the Boat" edit to add: If you're an 'Ette, or are w/your 'Ette, there's plenty of young, hard bodies to inform the plot, too.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at February 04, 2024 11:19 AM (lPeS+)

278 I liked the Telltale videogame The Expanse so well I've begun to read the book series that inspired it beginning with Leviathan Wakes. I'm enjoying the book, too, but I don't find the Prime series to be as good.

I also happened upon Blackout by Simon Scarrow, a police procedural set in Berlin during Christmas season 1939. I enjoyed it enough to buy another of his books, Pirata, about a young Greek captured by pirates in the early days of the Roman empire.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at February 04, 2024 11:21 AM (FVME7)

279 Part of my problem is I'm cheap and refuse to pay. Over $10 for a book especially from an unknown to me author.
Posted by: lin-duh at February 04, 2024 11:15 AM (QBwwm)

I go to Thrift Books. I just got 3 hardcovers, in good shape. I got one free book, so all 3 were under $13.00 including shipping. Some of the books I got there were in as new condition.

Posted by: Rufus T. Firefly at February 04, 2024 11:21 AM (5J0gB)

280 I read The True Believer by Eric Hoffer many years ago. I think it is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the radical left/progressives today. The behavior of those people is as described by Hoffer. To them, causes are their sole reason for living. Without causes to envelop every waking moment of their lives, they have nothing. That is why no facts can ever dislodge them from their beliefs. They can't let go or they cease to exist. That is why when one cause has run it's course they must leap into another one. It is a sad and destructive existence.

Posted by: zogger at February 04, 2024 11:22 AM (HGKOZ)

281 271 Part of my problem is I'm cheap and refuse to pay. Over $10 for a book especially from an unknown to me author.

Posted by: lin-duh at February 04, 2024 11:15 AM (QBwwm)

I hear you. Any Half-Price Books or other used bookstores nearby?

Posted by: Gref at February 04, 2024 11:23 AM (5fDan)

282 It's been a long time since I read Great Expectations. But:

I was in the Joplin Greyhound station with a 7 or 8 hour wait in front of me. The unread book in my bag was Great Expectations, and those hours just flew by. Not a slog at all.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 11:23 AM (a/4+U)

283 "Great Expectations is utter trash.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 04, 2024 10:51 AM (8jCIK)

"The Catcher in the Rye" is the best example of 20th Century literature in existence!

Posted by: blake - semi lurker"

Two books I read to the bitter end waiting for something interesting or enlightening to happen. Should have quit both at page 10 when they bored the hell out of me. Which is sort of my general reading bail-out rule anymore.

Posted by: Ripley at February 04, 2024 11:24 AM (PTDkx)

284 We're in a fight about whether there's still a place in the US for individual freedom. It once made us distinctive. Without it, many things will collapse.

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 04, 2024 11:25 AM (Gse2f)

285 Great Expectations is utter trash.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33

Shut your whore mouth!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo

"Pip! Pip! Hurrah!!"

Posted by: Tonypete at February 04, 2024 11:25 AM (6Mth8)

286 I'm about halfway through "Democracy: The God That Failed." There are some good ideas, but what drives me crazy are the assumptions[ . . . ]
Posted by: PabloD at February 04, 2024 10:45 AM (x96/P)

I have never read Hans Hermann Hoppe, I have only listened to his lectures, from what I heard I think he is a great historian and a good explained of what is going on.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 04, 2024 11:26 AM (D7oie)

287 Also picked up Jesse Kelly's "The Anti-Communist Manifesto" yesterday but haven't started it yet.

Posted by: Sharkman at February 04, 2024 11:26 AM (WzV7S)

288 279 Part of my problem is I'm cheap and refuse to pay. Over $10 for a book especially from an unknown to me author.
Posted by: lin-duh at February 04, 2024 11:15 AM (QBwwm)

I go to Thrift Books. I just got 3 hardcovers, in good shape. I got one free book, so all 3 were under $13.00 including shipping. Some of the books I got there were in as new condition.

Posted by: Rufus T. Firefly at February 04, 2024 11:21 AM (5J0gB)

Alibris.com is another on-line used bookstore.

Posted by: Gref at February 04, 2024 11:26 AM (5fDan)

289 231 Seconded! I do that, and my entire collection (in a dozen or so binders) fits in a single shelf of a bookcase.
Posted by: Castle Guy at February 04, 2024 10:32 AM (Lhaco)

i AVE BEEN USING IT EVER SINCE THE KINDLE CAME OUT AND i AE NEVER HAD IT HAPPEN.

I wish tey would put that cps lock key somewhere else.

Posted by: vic at February 04, 2024 11:28 AM (A5THL)

290 Anyone a fan of Alan Furst? He writes historical spy novels, and some of his stuff is worth a read. He seems to have a good grasp of the history, and his prose is excellent.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at February 04, 2024 11:28 AM (gSZYf)

291 As to having the whole ebook library disappear from a kindle, I've not had that happen and I've used various kindle devices for over a decade.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 10:52 AM (a/4+U)

when the Kindle first came out there was a dispute between the Orwell estate and Amazon, and the result was that Amazon remotely deleted all copies of 1984 from all the Kindles.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 04, 2024 11:30 AM (D7oie)

292 Part of my problem is I'm cheap and refuse to pay. Over $10 for a book especially from an unknown to me author.
Posted by: lin-duh

I live in an retirement/resort community and there are multiple estate sales every week. The age demographic that is passing on here generally has a terrific selection of hardcopies in their bookcases. I've taken to offering the sales people $x to clean out one or two of the shelves is I spy something that catches my eye.

Usually, the organizers just want them gone for cheap.

Posted by: Tonypete at February 04, 2024 11:30 AM (6Mth8)

293 For e-books, I like to have a converted format that can be stored on a disk drive. I used to do a lot of video taping of sports events and found, to my chagrin, that the dye-based DVDs you make at home with a DVD writer are not very good at storing things for a protracted period of time. It's best to get them on an SSD and hard drive before they degrade. I have a local network that regularly backs up videos to multiple external devices.

Posted by: MichiCanuck at February 04, 2024 11:30 AM (Cwy/S)

294 Grandpa Walton liked to "visit" Mr. Godsey.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory, red heifer owner at February 04, 2024 10:36 AM (R4t5M)

Hahahaha...yup. That Grandpa Walton was a real piece of work.

He was a homo commie and proud of it.

He would make even a sodomite blush.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 04, 2024 11:31 AM (R/m4+)

295 Foote brings the civil war to life. He is slightly partial to the south, but that never gets in the way of the telling of the story.

Posted by: 13times at February 04, 2024 11:32 AM (cxd5d)

296 I've slept since then, but I think the Amazon 1984 flap involved only some pirated editions -- believe I had an authorized edition on my kindle at the time and didn't lose anything.

If memory serves.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 11:32 AM (a/4+U)

297 Castle Guy, any idea how to do that? I can't use my first-gen Nook for that reason. Can't connect to internet, also can't even connect to laptop, as the Nook doesn't show up as a drive. I don't even know how I would get a software update onto it.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 04, 2024 11:12 AM (OX9vb)

Oh, crap, you may not be able to do that anymore. The B&N webiste says they're discontinuing support for older models. But they do have a form to fill out to get $50 off of an upgrade...

Well the process _was_ to download the software update from the Barns and Noble website onto your computer. (But I can't find that webpage anymore) Then you plug your Nook into the computer via the USB plug. On the computer, open up the Nook folder (like it was a USB storage stick, or something) and drag the update file from the computer onto the Nook. Then disconnect the Nook, turn it off, give it some time, and turn it on again. Then as it starts to reboot it notices the update, and eventually starts to work. Sometimes the process is temperamental, and you have to restart a couple times, though, or plug it into the computer and delete and try again...

Posted by: Castle Guy at February 04, 2024 11:33 AM (Lhaco)

298 I love the Half Price Books Store.

Posted by: Raw Sienna at February 04, 2024 11:34 AM (nNx7/)

299 271 Part of my problem is I'm cheap and refuse to pay. Over $10 for a book especially from an unknown to me author.
Posted by: lin-duh at February 04, 2024 11:15 AM

Hi lin-duh. Check out vintage shops if you have any near you. Not antique stores but those vintage places where people lease individual stalls and put whatever they want to sell in them. There's one close to an air force base near here where I've been able to buy lots of military history, particularly Bruce Catton books. Down at the beach, I found 6 Preston and Childs paperbacks for 50 cents each at a shop that donates proceeds to a battered women's shelter. Hard-back books are $1. Also, those little libraries that you see in all the neighborhoods have been a really good source.

Posted by: Moonbeam at February 04, 2024 11:34 AM (rbKZ6)

300 I recently read one of Shelby Foote's rare works of fiction, it is called Follow Me Down. It was engaging and entertaining with all sorts of stories about life in the post civil war south, but his history volumes are really his best works.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at February 04, 2024 11:35 AM (MeG8a)

301 Someone need to go to jail for installing that projector cage on the ceiling.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at February 04, 2024 11:35 AM (IG4Id)

302 Well, off to deal with the so-called real world.

Perfessor, thanks for the thread.

Have a good one, gang.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 11:35 AM (a/4+U)

303 Thank you for the recommendation of The White Pill, Thomas Paine.

I just bought it and will be devouring it soon.

Posted by: Sharkman at February 04, 2024 11:37 AM (WzV7S)

304 Thanks for the suggestion, CBD. Hopefully, this works out better than some of your food ideas.

French toast sans maple syrup. Must be some weird fetish.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(tT6L1) at February 04, 2024 11:37 AM (tT6L1)

305
I read The True Believer by Eric Hoffer many years ago. I think it is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the radical left/progressives today. The behavior of those people is as described by Hoffer. To them, causes are their sole reason for living. Without causes to envelop every waking moment of their lives, they have nothing. That is why no facts can ever dislodge them from their beliefs. They can't let go or they cease to exist. That is why when one cause has run it's course they must leap into another one. It is a sad and destructive existence.
Posted by: zogger

I have to chuckle when someone accuses a troll of posting for money. A true believer doen't work for pay.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at February 04, 2024 11:38 AM (63Dwl)

306 when the local phone system started requiring the area code be included in every dialing, the company I worked for had a data field for phone numbers that was 12 digits long and we couldn't get both parenthesis marks in.
In Mexico the format seems to be xxx)xxx-xx-xx but the boss decided we should use the format xxx/xxx-xxxx instead since the slash was much more visually notable, and we have an issue in English of expecting matched parenthesis marks.

OCD is not the same as conscientiousness and prowess in editing, but it can look much the same.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 04, 2024 11:38 AM (D7oie)

307 Welp, time for a hybrid comment. Partly on topic and partly not.

First, I used to like the Kindle Fires but Amazon, as of late, has been cranking my chain. Every time they do an OS update, the device works less well. Crap showing up in the home bar, etc., etc.

On the OT side, a little humor. Yeah, I know Jim Carrey's off the deep liberal end but this one made me just about laugh myself into a hernia. Think Bubba Hotep if the storyline went a somewhat different direction:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BtFWlI4YVaU

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM Guy at February 04, 2024 11:39 AM (/HDaX)

308 290 Anyone a fan of Alan Furst? He writes historical spy novels, and some of his stuff is worth a read. He seems to have a good grasp of the history, and his prose is excellent.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at February 04, 2024 11:28 AM (gSZYf)

Spies of Warsaw was excellent, and David Tennent did a respectable job in the tv adaptation, which I think was on Amazon. Furst's scholarship is solid.

Posted by: Moki at February 04, 2024 11:40 AM (wLjpr)

309 Foote brings the civil war to life. He is slightly partial to the south, but that never gets in the way of the telling of the story.
Posted by: 13times at February 04, 2024 11:32 AM (cxd5d

Even though I support the North's fight to maintain the Union and anti-slavery positions, I'm partial a little to the South also because of the passion they had to fight for their State and their fighting prowess. It wasn't about slavery to the fighting Southerner. That evil belonged to the elites.

Posted by: Raw Sienna at February 04, 2024 11:40 AM (nNx7/)

310 I only use ebooks for manuals — especially game rulebooks and the like. I try to buy PDFs rather than mobi or Kindle or whatever.

It's not just that I don't want Jeff Bezos to be able to edit my library -- though that is a concern. I'm also certain that at some point some evil fucker is going to "improve" the goddamned software so that it won't read old ebooks any more. I've seen that happen with various word-processing software and spreadsheets. It's a question of "when" rather than "if."

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 04, 2024 11:41 AM (78a2H)

311 "So fd, what was your favorite untrue fact from Pliny?"

That's hard to say. I didn't buy any of that stuff about penguins though.

How about this one:

"Democritus assures us that if the tongue is extracted from a live frog, with no other part of the body adhering to it, and is then applied—the frog being first replaced in the water—to a woman while asleep, just at the spot where the heart is felt to palpitate, she will be sure to give a truthful answer to any question that may be put to her."

There were an amazing amount of things that worked as cures for gout and such. Same with aphrodisiacs. The people that only have one foot and move by hopping about was kind of far out.

Posted by: fd at February 04, 2024 11:43 AM (vFG9F)

312 You can trust me.

Posted by: Jeff Bezos at February 04, 2024 11:44 AM (NBVIP)

313 Go to hustle off and handle some chores, folk. Another good book thread to the Perfessor's credit, and to all of you too.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 04, 2024 11:44 AM (omVj0)

314 I've seen that happen with various word-processing software and spreadsheets.
------
Or have to pay an annual 'licensing' fee to access your library.

Posted by: andycanuck (2yu8s) at February 04, 2024 11:44 AM (2yu8s)

315 Go to hustle off and handle some chores, folk.
-----------
You're not the boss of me!!!

Posted by: andycanuck (2yu8s) at February 04, 2024 11:45 AM (2yu8s)

316 You can trust me.
Posted by: Jeff Bezos at February 04, 2024 11:44 AM (NBVIP)

You can trust a man who has tried to go to space in a rocket shaped like a penis.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 04, 2024 11:47 AM (D7oie)

317 On the computer, open up the Nook folder (like it was a USB storage stick, or something) and drag the update file from the computer onto the Nook.
Posted by: Castle Guy at February 04, 2024 11:33 AM (Lhaco)

There's the problem...my laptop is about four years old, but the nook is, oh...twelve years old, maybe? Even though the nook is connected with a USB cord, my laptop does not find the nook as a separate drive or folder. They simply cannot communicate with each other.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 04, 2024 11:47 AM (OX9vb)

318 You're not the boss of me!!!
Posted by: andycanuck (2yu8s) at February 04, 2024 11:45 AM (2yu8s)
-------------

Ahem.

Posted by: Mrs Andy Canuck at February 04, 2024 11:48 AM (tT6L1)

319 I used to like the Kindle Fires

-
The "Dashboard" feature on mine keeps popping up unbidden which I don't want and can't turn off. I won't buy another Fire for that reason.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at February 04, 2024 11:48 AM (FVME7)

320 Actually, I am going to take off too. See you later.

Posted by: andycanuck (2yu8s) at February 04, 2024 11:48 AM (2yu8s)

321 There's the problem...my laptop is about four years old, but the nook is, oh...twelve years old, maybe? Even though the nook is connected with a USB cord, my laptop does not find the nook as a separate drive or folder. They simply cannot communicate with each other.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 04, 2024 11:47 AM (OX9vb)

will the Nook accept a USB stick or an SD or SD Mini card?

Posted by: Kindltot at February 04, 2024 11:49 AM (D7oie)

322 Tonypete yo I did wear them at mass right?

Posted by: Skip at February 04, 2024 11:49 AM (EBSWZ)

323 Ahem.
Posted by: Mrs Andy Canuck
------------
Get off my back!

This is 'me' time!

Posted by: andycanuck (2yu8s) at February 04, 2024 11:49 AM (2yu8s)

324 Yes, dear.

See you on the Nug Thread.

Maybe.

Posted by: andycanuck (2yu8s) at February 04, 2024 11:50 AM (2yu8s)

325 You can trust me.
Posted by: Jeff Bezos

Bezos to Sell Up to 50 Million Amazon Shares by Jan 31 Next Year: Filing

-
I don't know what this portends. Maybe he just needs more room in his closets.

Speaking of big business . . .

Walmart to Open More Than 150 Stores in the Next Five Years

I guess they'll be like Starbucks, one on every corner.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at February 04, 2024 11:52 AM (FVME7)

326 You can trust a man who has tried to go to space in a rocket shaped like a penis.
Posted by: Kindltot

Was that wrong?
-- Flesh Gordon

Posted by: Tonypete at February 04, 2024 11:53 AM (6Mth8)

327 307 First, I used to like the Kindle Fires but Amazon, as of late, has been cranking my chain. Every time they do an OS update, the device works less well. Crap showing up in the home bar, etc., etc.

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM Guy at February 04, 2024 11:39 AM (/HDaX)

Yeah. I noticed that. Fire tries to be the everything tool, when all I want to do is read text. That’s it. Just read stuff. I don’t even care for the Kindle App. I can manage my elibrary on my own.

Surfing the web and watching videos is better done on iPad or lap/desktop.

Posted by: 13times at February 04, 2024 11:54 AM (jIreZ)

328 I've been reading like crazy on Kindle since the beginning of the year. Of the books I've finished, "The Trail" by Ethan Gallogly was my favorite. It's a novel that reads like a non-fiction hiking journal. The narrator is a young man who agrees to hike the 200-mile John Muir Trail with his late father's good friend, who also just happens to be dying of cancer. It's a great book for anyone interested in hiking and the history of the trail.

Posted by: Moonbeam at February 04, 2024 11:54 AM (rbKZ6)

329 Uh, yeah Skip.

I'm not an animal!

Posted by: Tonypete at February 04, 2024 11:54 AM (6Mth8)

330
Walmart to Open More Than 150 Stores in the Next Five Years

I guess they'll be like Starbucks, one on every corner.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks

Covid must be officially over.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at February 04, 2024 11:55 AM (63Dwl)

331 There's the problem...my laptop is about four years old, but the nook is, oh...twelve years old, maybe? Even though the nook is connected with a USB cord, my laptop does not find the nook as a separate drive or folder. They simply cannot communicate with each other.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 04, 2024 11:47 AM (OX9vb)

Ah. Well, if that's the case, I've got nothing.

Except maybe buying a new one and taking them up of their offer of giving you 50 bucks off for having bought an older model. If they really are cutting off support, I may do this myself...

tiny url: http://tinyurl.com/wupffcv5

Posted by: Castle Guy at February 04, 2024 11:57 AM (Lhaco)

332 For detective/mystery stories, I highly recommend Tim Cockey. He wrote:

The Hearse You Came In On
Hearse of a Different Color
The Hearse Case Scenario
Murder in the Hearse Degree

and

Backstabber.

Main character is a mortician named Hitchcock Sewell and the stories are all set in Baltimore. Really good reads.

Posted by: Sharkman at February 04, 2024 12:02 PM (WzV7S)

333 Walmart to Open More Than 150 Stores in the Next Five Years

I guess they'll be like Starbucks, one on every corner.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks

Covid must be officially over.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr
---------------------------

Citizens move away from Big City Walmart follows citizens.

Posted by: Braenyard at February 04, 2024 12:03 PM (+wfSw)

334 I'm going to be willowed on this OT, but if you get a chance pull up the post UFC fight interview of Renato Moicano, a Brazilian living in Florida.

I wish we could exchange thousands more immigrants like him for the native born America hating Leftists.

Posted by: Raw Sienna at February 04, 2024 12:03 PM (nNx7/)

335 Great thread this morning Perfesser. Thanks for posting my photo. I really wanted to see the old library in Bologna but the book part is no longer open to the public. It is housed in a palace and has a kind of macabre room where they did dissections with viewing stands.You are allowed in there after paying 4 Euros so people just kind of sit around for awhile getting their 4 euros worth.
Look up Biblioteca Archinigasio for spectacular photos of the palazzo.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 04, 2024 12:05 PM (t/2Uw)

336 They simply cannot communicate with each other.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 04, 2024 11:47 AM (OX9vb)

Try it on a friend’s computer. Or try it on a local library computer. And the USB cord / Nook connector are okay? They do fail.

Posted by: 13times at February 04, 2024 12:06 PM (jIreZ)

337 End of support used to mean no more updates, no operational help;
today it means Wipe Out. Had an exe for an older browser I liked,
clicked on the loader file and was promptly re-directed to the newer file which is not supported by my Win7sys.

They are herding us. Just like Mycrolard herds people to give up and pay up or else.

Posted by: Braenyard at February 04, 2024 12:07 PM (+wfSw)

338 So you're saying the frog tongue won't work on Mrs InspiredHistoryMike if I try it.

It is a memorable description though.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at February 04, 2024 12:09 PM (3uc2w)

339 "Canon ...Fodder"?
Watched Spiderman-No Way Home the other night, sheesh....three spiderman's, all of the villains, multiverses.
Gotta say, having all of the Marvel/Avenger characters stories be overtaken and combined with my least favorite "Dr. Strange" is....disappointing. I won't be watching the cartoon "Spiderverse" versions. Not a cartoon fan.
Maybe it all follows the comic books, I wouldn't know. I never read any of them.
Book Canon, TV canon, Movie canon...there is a lot of potential for rounds to "Fall Short", landing on "Friendlies"

Posted by: birdog at February 04, 2024 12:31 PM (sYlnp)

340 332- Main character is a mortician named Hitchcock Sewell and the stories are all set in Baltimore. Really good reads.
Posted by: Sharkman at February 04, 2024 12:02 PM

Sounds good- I'll look out for those.

Posted by: Moonbeam at February 04, 2024 12:36 PM (rbKZ6)

341 The Brothers Karamazov.. Finally getting around to it, and wow, what a hoot. Dostoevsky knows how to add irony and some hilarious wit to his serious subject matter. The Oxford World Classic translation just flows.

Posted by: schlupek at February 04, 2024 01:02 PM (PHCF/)

342 282 It's been a long time since I read Great Expectations. But:

I was in the Joplin Greyhound station with a 7 or 8 hour wait in front of me. The unread book in my bag was Great Expectations, and those hours just flew by. Not a slog at all.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 04, 2024 11:23 AM (a/4+U)

I didn’t see the point behind it.

In the textbook that had that godawful novel, it also had The Odyssey. I found that far more fascinating. Once again I made a low grade in Freshman English because I read something far more interesting than what was assigned.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 04, 2024 01:33 PM (8jCIK)

343 The people that only have one foot and move by hopping about was kind of far out.
Posted by: fd at February 04, 2024 11:43 AM (vFG9F)
----

Dufflepuds!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 04, 2024 01:34 PM (+RQPJ)

344 43 Speaking of books I galloped through without reading fully -- and no diss on the author, I just wasn't in the mood -- "If This Book Exists, You're In the Wrong Universe" by Jason Pargin (who formerly wrote as David Wong). The further adventures of John, Dave, and Amy from "John Dies At the End" and "This Book is Full of Spiders".

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 04, 2024 09:25 AM (+RQPJ)

You're right about the need to be in the right frame of mind to digest these books. I'm re-reading the same book now, and it was a long time before the mood came upon me, since the last reading. You have to be in the right place to digest the weird, goofy mindset. I really enjoy the character of John. Who else would say "Yeah! That's what you get! That's what you get!" when someone has been shot with an alien gun that happened to produce a whole, live buffalo?

I liked this book a lot. In particular, it has a twist that kind of blew me away, and I wonder whether that's ever been done before. Can't say what it is without spoiling things, though.

Posted by: Splunge at February 04, 2024 01:39 PM (RJRgO)

345 So was Willows' apprentice there...in Bologna...when the walls fell?

Posted by: look whats not at February 04, 2024 02:20 PM (nakGR)

346 I ցet pleasure from, result in I found exactlү what I was having a look for.
You have ended my 4 day lengthy hunt! God Βless
y᧐u man. Hаve a nice day. Bye

Posted by: buzz at February 04, 2024 03:25 PM (RXYkS)

347 Bopping in way late just to note that I am enjoying John Shirley's near-future mil SF story "Suborbital", about a space plane rescue mission that has gone seriously sideways.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 04, 2024 08:08 PM (+RQPJ)

348 Perfessor,

Many thanks for your Book Thread which I read every week! What I like the most is the breadth of subjects you pack into each post (and somehow still manage to do your real job(s) offline).

By the way, I think I'm no longer a lurker. A post about my good boy Tango went up yesterday on the AOS Pet Thread, and I made a thank you comment as I'm doing here.

Therefore, since that means I'm at least a rookie Moron, is it kosher for me to recommend a book I recently published to this esteemed group?

If so, it's titled "Float the Boat" and available everywhere but Google (long story having to do with living in Korea). The book is a Mystery-Thriller set in 2017 in DC and Indonesia, and based ono a job I had in 80s in a Vietnamese refugee camp located on a remote island in Indonesia.

Besides this post, I'm not sure how to contact you to ask. I included my author's website above and can provide more information, like a short or long Blurb or book cover image.

Again, thanks for your weekly Book Thread!

Yumanbean58

Posted by: Yumanbean58 at February 04, 2024 10:45 PM (Rx89X)

349 Books in all of their lignocellulogasmic glory!! Audiobooks are good while driving, and ebooks are good for 3 am reads, but otherwise I'll take them in the verdant flesh. Tactile sensations, the smells, the frisson of dog earing a page when someone is watching. What's not to like.
Another thing about them is the allure of the thrift store treasure hunt, that one won't normally find in on-line searches. Recently picked up a compilation of selected Kipling's work by, of all people, Somerset Maugham.

Posted by: diana pool at February 05, 2024 08:09 AM (8skTE)

350 Thrift stores, aaaaahhhh, there goes my money. A wonderful acquisition was And The Darkness Falls, compiled by Boris Karloff. Yes, that Boris, not the spider. Sos I opens da book to flip to a random story leading line to see if it is worth picking up for the princely sum of $12. And. I. Read... "Having murdered my mother under circumstances of singular atrocity, I was arrested and put upon my trial, which lasted seven years."
Sold. Sold. Sold.

Posted by: diana pool at February 05, 2024 08:18 AM (8skTE)

351
And out of curiousity, I look on Abebooks and find it is a first edition selling for $150, except for the first listing at $20 by...... My Dead Aunt's Books. No I didn't just make this up, but kind of wish I had.

Posted by: diana pool at February 05, 2024 08:23 AM (8skTE)

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