Sunday Morning Book Thread - 11-10-2024 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

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

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

PIC NOTE

Sir Isaac Newton's Principia is one of the most revolutionary books ever written, describing laws of motion for planets and stars, among many other topics. It's possible that other natural philosophers during his time would have worked out these same calculations and theorems, as Newton was only one among many working on the challenging problems of motion. Still, he gets credit for compiling his works into the Principia and thus cementing his place in history as a true titan among early scientists. We still use Newtonian mechanics for many problems today, as incorporating relativistic mechanics or quantum mechanical effects are largely impractical for day-to-day calculations in the macro world.

ESCAPISM

One point the YouTuber makes clear in the video above is that escapism is the bane of jailers, fascists, and totalitarians everywhere. Think about all of the dystopian fiction stories that have gripped our minds over the past century or so. Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, We, A Clockwork Orange, and, of course, 1984. A central theme throughout all of these stories is how the totalitarian governments ruling each society ruthlessly suppress the human imagination. The best form of slavery, according to these stories, consists of a populace that does not know they are slaves and that there is a better world out there.

C.S. Lewis, a devout Christian, offers this passage on the power of imagination in The Silver Chair. The heroes (Eustace Scrubb, Jill Pole, Puddleglum the Marsh Wiggle, and the newly freed Prince of Narnia) are trapped in the lair of the Queen of the Underworld. She uses her magic to cloud their minds and tries to convince them that there is no "overworld." It's all a dream that they had and now they are waking up to the truth that the only world is deep under the earth. Ironically, Puddleglum, who lives up to the "glum" part of his name, snaps out of the enchantment first and responds to the Queen's lies with this:

"One word, Ma'am," he [Puddleglum] said, coming back from the fire; limping because of the pain. "One word. All you've been saying is quite right, I shouldn't wonder. I'm a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face on it. So I won't deny anything of what you said. But there's one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things—trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we're leaving yoru court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for the Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that's a small loss if the world's as dull as you say."

Terry Pratchett, a devout atheist and creator of the Discworld, has this to say about humanity's fascination with imagination in Hogfather in a conversation between Death and his adopted granddaughter Susan:

"All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need...fantasies to make life bearable."
AS IF IT WERE SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO, HUMANS NEED FANTASY IN ORDER TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
"So we can believe the big ones?"
YES. JUSTICE. DUTY. MERCY. THAT SORT OF THING.
"They're not the same at all!"
YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY, AND YET— Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MIGHT BE JUDGED.
"Yes, but people have got to believe that or what's the point—"
MY POINT EXACTLY.
She tried to assemble her thoughts.
THERE IS A PLACE WHERE TWO GALAXIES HAVE BEEN COLLIDING FOR A MILLION YEARS, said Death, apropos of nothing. DON'T TRY TO TELL ME THAT'S RIGHT.
"Yes, but people don't think about that," said Susan. "Somewhere there was a bed..."
CORRECT. STARS EXPLODE, WORLDS COLLIDE, THERE'S HARDLY ANYWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE WHERE HUMANS CAN LIVE WITHOUT BEING FROZEN OR FRIED, AND YET YOU BELIEVE THAT A...A BED IS A NORMAL THING. IT IS THE MOST AMAZING TALENT.
"Talent?"
OH, YES. A VERY SPECIAL KIND OF STUPIDITY. YOU THINK THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IS INSIDE YOUR HEADS.
"You make us sound mad," said Susan. A nice warm bed...
NO. YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN'T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?

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THE BOOK OF KELLS

The video above gives a brief overview of The Book of Kells as well as a short tour of the Trinity Library in Dublin where The Book of Kells is currently located.

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Hitler's People: The Faces of the Third Reich by Richard J. Evans -- was there ever a more wretched hive of scum and villainy? Some were dedicated Nazis to their dying breath, but many were just opportunists.
You'd think I'd read enough about this rogue's gallery, but there is always more to learn.
One cannot but note the number of vegetarians, teetotalers, homeopaths, and Greens among the brown- and blackshirts.
Mark Felton - Dr. Goebbels: Sex Pest
When Ernst Röhm was teased by a reporter about the mannish "hostess" at the Eldorado (later immortalized as the Kit Kat Club) engaging him in flirty chit-chat, Röhm fumed "I'm not his client. I'm his commanding officer! He's one of my stormtroopers!"
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Candy Bomber at November 03, 2024 09:12 AM (kpS4V)

Comment: As the saying goes, history may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme. We see ordinary people today caught up in monstrous ideas and beliefs that can be traced back to the Nazi movement and even before then. People can be utter bastards given half a chance and they engage in that behavior convinced that they are morally correct. The Nazis were just awful people.

+++++

In honor of Spooky Season (and because Weak Geek mentioned it in last week's thread) I re-read the first 9 issues of Route 666, a short-lived comic book from the early 2000's. It is ostensively a horror comic, but really it's an action/adventure story that uses the tropes and conventions of 50's horror/monster movies. Sure, the comic has creepy moments, and plenty of death and implied gore, buts it's often too glib (and too willing to play a moment as a joke) to be true 'horror.'
The comic follows a college girl who has the curse/ability to see ghosts. The story kicks off when she sees a ghost get actively dragged to hell by some evil spirits. She soon finds out that the spirits have allies in the world of the living who 'deliver' fresh souls to the spirits; either by seeking out people who are about to die, or actively killing people when it can be done discretely. The allies pass as human, but either are or become some sort of monster (werewolf, vampire, etc) when doing evil. The story is a little vague on that...Anyways, the story is our main character running from the monsters, and slowly figuring out how to fight back against them.
Posted by: Castle Guy at November 03, 2024 09:19 AM (Lhaco)

Comment: I like the premise of this comic book, even if it sounds like the execution is a bit flawed. I don't have much problem imagining evil spirits (i.e., demons) that have found allies among humankind that are willing and eager to provide more souls to those evil spirits in exchange for power and immortality. It's a very old trope.

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

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WHAT I'VE ACQUIRED THIS PAST WEEK:

Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Book 5 - Graveyard of Demons by Larry Correia - This is the next-to-last book in the series, though it was originally going to be the last book. Now I have to wait several months before the final book comes out...*sigh*

THE BOOK: The Ultimate Guide to Rebuilding Civilization - Although light on details, this book does give a broad overview of what is required for building a civilization from scratch, starting with the discovery of fire and going all the way up through cultural festivals. It also features interesting, surrealistic art. A good coffee table book, if a bit pricy.

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.

Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife

I'm using this book in my class this week and next week. It's part of an activity I call "The Bestest Science Book in the World!" Students have to write a persuasive review of this book explaining to me why it's the very best science book they've ever read--without actually reading it. It's just one of several books that students use as I divide them up into groups and they pick one of the books. They seem to really enjoy the selection of books I provide once they start investigating them.

Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Book 1 - Son of the Black Sword by Larry Correia

Took me a bit longer to read this one than I usually take, but I've been doing other things, so I haven't been reading quite as much lately. There are some interesting parallels between the story of Ashok and the story of Saul/Paul in the Bible...if Saul was a nearly invincible warrior. Like Saul, Ashok was an instrument of the State to ruthlessly suppress any challenges to State authority. He was feared throughout the land for persecuting (and usually killing) people who dared to think for themselves or promote the idea of a "god." Then Ashok found out the truth about his origins and goes through his own "road to Damascus" moment. The idea of baptism is even brought up after he dives into a river, nearly drowns, and is then "reborn" a few days later when he recovers. But Ashok is NOT Saul/Paul, so that's about as far as that analogy goes...

Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Book 2 - House of Assassins by Larry Correia

The prophet Thera, who speaks for the Forgotten, has been captured by the House of Assassins, a lost House of wizards that seeks to capture Thera's power for their own use. Ashok must find a way to rescue her because the rebels need her gifts to motivate them and provide them with direction. Otherwise, the rebellion of casteless is doomed to failure despite their overwhelming numbers.

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 11-03-2024 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Tips, suggestions, recommendations, etc., can all be directed to perfessor -dot- squirrel -at- gmail -dot- com.

Disclaimer: No Morons were physically harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread. Coffee is one of the most essential ingredients in rebuilding civilization.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 First!

Posted by: im29too at November 09, 2024 10:35 PM (3NJyR)

2 Tolle Lege

Posted by: Skip at November 10, 2024 08:59 AM (fwDg9)

3
g'mornin' again, 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at November 10, 2024 09:00 AM (tljrc)

4 I believe that top photo violates a principal rule of the blog.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at November 10, 2024 09:01 AM (W7V3Z)

5 Beat me fair and square
Moving ever so slowly on Martin Gilbert's Churchill, a life

And a good day to get more into it

Posted by: Skip at November 10, 2024 09:02 AM (fwDg9)

6 Alton and I nooded.

G'morning "Perfessor". Been slowly reading through Raconteur Press' anthology, "Moggie Noir" - very amusing stories with a cat mindset spin on the detective noir genre. I highly recommend this to anyone who either loves that genre or loves cats. If both, even better.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at November 10, 2024 09:03 AM (O7YUW)

7 I believe that top photo violates a principal rule of the blog.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at November 10, 2024 09:01 AM (W7V3Z)
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Just seeing if y'all are paying attention!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at November 10, 2024 09:03 AM (BpYfr)

8 Did Newton even consider how muzzies would feel when he wrote Principia? Talk about White male patriarchy.

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable a Clear and Present Danger at November 10, 2024 09:04 AM (17s+e)

9 Not only math, but Roman numerals too. Surely a hanging offense.

Morning, Perfessor. Morning, Horde.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 10, 2024 09:05 AM (q3u5l)

10 It's raining outside and the cat is curled up and pinning me down on the couch. Perfect reading sitch.

Mark Judge is writing a book called "From Mad Magazine to Matisyahu: How Jews Made American Culture Great":

https://tinyurl.com/2ankv6u8

Mad Magazine was one of the formative influences of my childhood and its irreverent humor is a national treasure.

I just learned there is a book by Steve Lee Bebeer, "The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB’s: A Secret History of Jewish Punk" 😆

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Agent of Chaos at November 10, 2024 09:05 AM (kpS4V)

11 Not only math, but Roman numerals too. Surely a hanging offense.

Morning, Perfessor. Morning, Horde.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 10, 2024 09:05 AM (q3u5l)
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Hope you are paying attention. There is will be a quiz on this later...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at November 10, 2024 09:06 AM (BpYfr)

12 Between politics and pigskins, I didn't do much outside reading this past week. I started the third "Ghosted" TC, but I'm pretty sure that I'll send these to a new home once I've finished them. They have nothing to bring me back. That's been the case with a lot of Image Comics TCs that I've bought.

Posted by: Weak Geek at November 10, 2024 09:07 AM (p/isN)

13
Mad Magazine was one of the formative influences of my childhood and its irreverent humor is a national treasure.
===

Mine too. I remember reading MAD when camping. I still have about 50 or so issues from early 70s somewhere in my garage.

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable a Clear and Present Danger at November 10, 2024 09:08 AM (17s+e)

14 Fun fact:

"50 Shades of Grey is best-selling book of all time

Fifty Shades of Grey has become the best-selling book in Britain since records began, surpassing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with sales of 5.3 million copies."

https://tinyurl.com/2mpaun9d

Posted by: Moron Robbie - 2024's missing 15M voters is more proof of 2020 being stolen at November 10, 2024 09:08 AM (Ji4nZ)

15 Been reading from the 1953 California Assembly and Senate legislative digests - they've been scanned and are available online. Why? Long story, but little pet is fighting back against Big Vet. Back to sleep (hopefully).

Posted by: SFGoth at November 10, 2024 09:09 AM (KAi1n)

16 Yay book thread!

Still working through Gilbert's Churchill. I'm now up to 1914 and the defense of Antwerp. Churchill is in his element during wartime. I'm interested to see how he handles the Gallipoli fiasco.

I'm firmly in Churchill's corner on that topic. My West Point History of WW I gets it exactly wrong, claiming that peripheral operations violated the principle of concentrating force at the decisive point. The problem with that is that at that time, the tactics and weapons made such a concentration counterproductive. Pilling another 100,000 men into the Somme or Verdun would have achieved nothing.

A far better option was to exploit command of the sea to nip away allies and terrain in peripheral operations.

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

17 Stolen from somewhere:

GenXer: Did you know that Newton died a virgin?

Millenial: He got what he deserved for inventing calculus.

Posted by: Candidus at November 10, 2024 09:10 AM (grzzz)

18 Good Lord, not a quiz too.

*Guzzles coffee in a probably futile effort to wake up*

Not sure why, but reading this week consisted mostly of Everybody Behaves Badly by Lesley Blume, about Hemingway's time writing The Sun Also Rises. Next will be finishing a reread of Don Robertson's Mystical Union which I interrupted halfway through to read the Blume.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 10, 2024 09:12 AM (q3u5l)

19 "50 Shades of Grey is best-selling book of all time

Fifty Shades of Grey has become the best-selling book in Britain since records began, surpassing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with sales of 5.3 million copies."

https://tinyurl.com/2mpaun9d
Posted by: Moron Robbie - 2024's missing 15M voters is more proof of 2020 being stolen at November 10, 2024 09:08 AM (Ji4nZ)
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Really? More than The Hobbit over the course of how many years? How do they account for e-books?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 09:12 AM (llXky)

20 I just learned there is a book by Steve Lee Bebeer, "The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB’s: A Secret History of Jewish Punk"

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Agent of Chaos at November 10, 2024 09:05 AM (kpS4V)
---
On a bumpy flight years ago a stewardess gave me a pamphlet on Jews sports legends.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 09:13 AM (llXky)

21 Still reading the third novel in Cat Rambo's disco space opera series, "Rumor Has It".

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Agent of Chaos at November 10, 2024 09:13 AM (kpS4V)

22 Morning, all.

Eris, I must have missed the thread where you recommended Hitler's People. I've read most of it (just finished the Hans Frank chapter) and have it on my shelves next to Evan's Third Reich trilogy.

Another book in the same vein is The Devil's Disciples: Hitler's Inner Circle by Anthony Read, who has also written an excellent book on Kristallnacht.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at November 10, 2024 09:16 AM (Q0kLU)

23 Inorthographic GenXer: Did you know that Newton died a virgin?

Fashion-aware Millennial: O'rly? What colour?

Posted by: Way,Way Downriver at November 10, 2024 09:16 AM (zdLoL)

24 Ah, it's always fun to see one's own comment featured in the main post!

I've been seeing a lot of YouTube ads for that "The Book" book. While it does look neat, the price is a bit much even for me. I've (sadly) paid over 100 dollars for an 800-page comic book omnibus, but that much for a coffee-table book with just a bunch of neat pictures....I need more of a hook than that.

Posted by: Castle Guy at November 10, 2024 09:16 AM (Lhaco)

25 What is "rain" ? I forgot what it looks like

Posted by: Skip at November 10, 2024 09:17 AM (fwDg9)

26 Poppins, somebody recommended it in an earlier book thread.

You've mentioned "The Devil's Disciples" before. I really need to read that!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Agent of Chaos at November 10, 2024 09:18 AM (kpS4V)

27 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 09:12 AM (llXky)

I thought "best selling book" meant in America, not England.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 10, 2024 09:18 AM (K0cIK)

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

Posted by: JTB at November 10, 2024 09:18 AM (yTvNw)

29 It's been another week of haphazard reading, just dipping into things here and there. I haven't bought anything that's really seized my interest lately.

I have had some very interesting dreams over the last couple of days, and am wondering how to flesh them out into a Theda Bara story without it being a Nightmare on Elm Street ripoff.

And I should be working on my own novel, but. . .

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at November 10, 2024 09:18 AM (Q0kLU)

30 This past week, we exercised our right to vote, and we exclaimed our right to free speech, to protect our property, and to express our revulsion for arbitrary government political prosecution. These rights are expressed in our constitution, but they draw their inspiration from a much older document. Dan Jones explores the history of the foundational document of Western civilization in Magna Carta, the Birth of Liberty.

In 1215 at Runnymeade, King John of England signed the Magna Carta in order to be allowed to maintain kingship over his rebellious subjects. His father Henry had been more amenable to his subjects, and they were not about to accept anything less: the right to tax only by the consent of the people, the right one's trial by his peers, and the English church would be free.

In a very readable manner, Jones reviews the development of the inherent rights of the people, the struggle to achieve and to hold them, and the document that finally cemented them in place in England. Every representative government in the world is built on the foundation of this document, and Jones gives us the story of one of the primary written guarantees of freedom that we cherish.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at November 10, 2024 09:19 AM (eH98r)

31 Continuing my reading in a 7-book Jules Verne omnibus. I shot through Five Weeks in a Balloon and Journey to the Center of the Earth, and just started From Earth to the Moon this morning.

It's interesting to watch Verne getting better as a writer, book by book. Five Weeks in a Balloon was his first, and the narrative is basically what a D&D player would call a "hexcrawl" across Africa, full of random encounters. The plot is entirely "what happens next?"

By Journey to the Center of the Earth he's learned to maintain suspense, and gives us a (little) bit of character development over the course of the novel as young Axel, the narrator, goes from being very reluctant (almost cowardly) to a competent adventurer.

And by From Earth to the Moon he's capable of satire which is still funny 150 years later!

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 10, 2024 09:19 AM (78a2H)

32 You've mentioned "The Devil's Disciples" before. I really need to read that!

There's currently a used hardback selling on Amazon for $7.00

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at November 10, 2024 09:20 AM (Q0kLU)

33 There is a reason why when you go into a bookstore that's more books in fiction than the non-fiction section.

Posted by: dantesed at November 10, 2024 09:20 AM (Oy/m2)

34 A Newton is a gooey, chewy, fig bar. Wake up, Morons!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at November 10, 2024 09:22 AM (eVr3D)

35 I think John Newton, although brilliant and a Christian was just an odd guy- perhaps what we would call today having Asbergers or just really introverted and scholarly. Since he wasn't married I'm not surprised if he died a virgin.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 10, 2024 09:22 AM (TcY/J)

36 There is a reason why when you go into a bookstore that's more books in fiction than the non-fiction section.
Posted by: dantesed at November 10, 2024 09:20 AM (Oy/m2)
---
Though if you go to a library--especially a university library--it may be the complete opposite...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at November 10, 2024 09:22 AM (BpYfr)

37 A happy and blessed Sunday to all ! The Lord heard our prayers to give our country another chance. Let's not let Him down.

Posted by: LASue at November 10, 2024 09:22 AM (1KbzY)

38 Escapism isn't a bad word...

***********

It is when it supersedes reality.

Posted by: muldoon at November 10, 2024 09:22 AM (991eG)

39 @28 --

If by "great week of reading" you mean a slew of essays by Ace and the various writers in the TownHall crew, then hell yeah.

Posted by: Weak Geek at November 10, 2024 09:23 AM (p/isN)

40 I tried reading one of pratchetts books. Gave up after a chapter and a half.

Just not for me.

Posted by: I'll choose a new nick later-Certified Dangerous Radical at November 10, 2024 09:24 AM (89Sog)

41 Gotta give a shout-out to Barnes & Noble. In my recent visit I noticed a well stocked SF and Fantasy section and a huge endcap filled with quality reprints of the classics of the genres.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Agent of Chaos at November 10, 2024 09:24 AM (kpS4V)

42 Last week I read 'Kiai" a kung fu novel....no, sorry, it's a Judo novel by Piers Anthony and Roberto Fuentes. Granted, I only know Piers Anthony by reputation, but I'm willing to bet that Fuentes did most of the line-by-line writing for this novel. The fights are described using the technical Judo terms for all the moves, which probably came from Fuentes. One neat thing, I actually recognized a handful of Judo moves (like the juji gatame) thanks to their use in current day pro-wrestling.

Story wise, the book is oddly paced. There are 4 or 5 major plot threads that....well, they don't really intertwine, they just happen to our main character one after the other. The story contains a big martial arts tournament, where different styles are pitted against each other, Bloodsport style, but that happens in the middle of the story, and it's not directly related to the book's climax. Despite these oddities, I enjoyed the book right up to the end. Alas, the last two chapters got a little too silly, and made some decisions that I really didn't like. I don't think I can recommend the book, and I won't get the sequel unless I find it dirt cheap.

Posted by: Castle Guy at November 10, 2024 09:25 AM (Lhaco)

43 IIRC Churchill would say his Gallipoli plan was a great idea poorly executed.

But he took the blame, resigned his position and volunteered to serve in the trenches in France.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 10, 2024 09:26 AM (Gqoy+)

44 Sorry- Issac Newton. John Newton was the former slave ship captain who became a pastor and an abolitionist and wrote the words to "Amazing Grace."

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 10, 2024 09:26 AM (TcY/J)

45 34 A Newton is a gooey, chewy, fig bar. Wake up, Morons!
Posted by: Dr. Bone at November 10, 2024 09:22 AM (eVr3D)
---

https://tinyurl.com/va8bh767

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Agent of Chaos at November 10, 2024 09:26 AM (kpS4V)

46 Morning, all.

Eris, I must have missed the thread where you recommended Hitler's People. I've read most of it (just finished the Hans Frank chapter) and have it on my shelves next to Evan's Third Reich trilogy.

Another book in the same vein is The Devil's Disciples: Hitler's Inner Circle by Anthony Read, who has also written an excellent book on Kristallnacht.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at November 10, 2024 09:16 AM (Q0kLU)

There's a decent documentary called Hitler's Inner Circle on Netflix. Don't know how much is conjecture, but it at least attempts to be factual. It's a pretty good presentation.

Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at November 10, 2024 09:27 AM (g8Ew8)

47 ...devout atheist...

*****************

*Strokes chin**

Hmmm...

Posted by: muldoon at November 10, 2024 09:27 AM (991eG)

48 Wonder how many of those tomes that fill university libraries haven't been cracked in the past 30 years.

Posted by: Weak Geek at November 10, 2024 09:27 AM (p/isN)

49 Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Book 5 - Graveyard of Demons

---

Yeah!
Me too. Have not started yet

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at November 10, 2024 09:27 AM (J5RCE)

50 Imagination.
Focus.
Grit.
Willingness to be disliked.

Four traits of a great company founder, and of a political leader?

It would be nice to have a single word for for the last trait.

Posted by: Candidus at November 10, 2024 09:28 AM (grzzz)

51 On a bumpy flight years ago a stewardess gave me a pamphlet on Jews sports legends.

Fascinating. Ann Nelson died in 1992, making you a walking corpse.

Posted by: Simon Belmont at November 10, 2024 09:29 AM (7uBS6)

52 I studied history of science in college and Isaac Newton was just astounding. _Maybe_ Einstein was in the same intellectual weight class, but not many others.

Newton's upbringing was basically awful: his father died when he was an infant, his mother remarried when he was little -- and moved away with her husband. No wonder he was bad with people.

Although I think his intelligence was the biggest source of his social awkwardness. He was like a human child growing up in a troop of chimps. There was literally no one -- not in Lincolnshire, and not at Cambridge either -- who was able to talk to him as an intellectual equal.

Eventually he found some near-peers in the Royal Society, and moreover they at least understood how much smarter he was than they were, so they deferred to him. (Except for poor Robert Hooke, who had the misfortune to be a brilliant physicist and architect . . . at the same time as Isaac Newton and Christopher Wren.)

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 10, 2024 09:30 AM (78a2H)

53 Even Newton got taken in by alchemy.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at November 10, 2024 09:30 AM (Dm8we)

54 It is when it supersedes reality.
Posted by: muldoon at November 10, 2024 09:22 AM (991eG)

Yes! And it becomes dastardly when reality is brushed aside and when morality is scrapped for a make believe "ideal". (See transgenderism, anthropomorphic global warming, trust the science, and BLM and the Floyd cult)

Posted by: long night ending, dawn in January at November 10, 2024 09:31 AM (2NXcZ)

55 Gotta give a shout-out to Barnes & Noble. ...
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Agent of Chaos

A few years back B&N management gave their individual store managers almost complete freedom on inventory and layout. They credit that with saving them form the interwebs.

It does mean very different experiences store-to-store.

Posted by: Candidus at November 10, 2024 09:31 AM (grzzz)

56 Don't know about the big university libraries, but if the public and community college libraries where I worked are anything to go by, the number of tomes cracked in the last few decades isn't all that high.

Saw a statistic somewhere (don't recall the source, sorry) that claimed that of the books acquired for a library only 10 or 15 percent will be used. Unfortunately, nobody can really know for sure which 10 or 15 percent. I think that percentage is probably accurate, though even that figure may just be a tad optimistic.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 10, 2024 09:32 AM (q3u5l)

57 Had a death in the family so read almost nothing. One more book of Paradise Lost but it took days and I lost the plot for awhile. Things should get closer to normal this week, so I'll have to find different excuses.

Posted by: who knew at November 10, 2024 09:32 AM (+ViXu)

58 IIRC Churchill would say his Gallipoli plan was a great idea poorly executed.

But he took the blame, resigned his position and volunteered to serve in the trenches in France.
Posted by: Ignoramus at November 10, 2024 09:26 AM (Gqoy+)
---
Churchill began his epic history of World War I (continued 20 years later) in part to exonerate himself. The core problem was the execution and this came down to the mentality that the best and brightest all had to be concentrated on the Western Front, leaving decrepit, hide-bound officers who were owed a command to run the show.

The result of this was Churchill's impatience during WW II and his preference to rapidly elevate promising newcomers rather than cut slack to competent commanders in bad situations (O'Connor, Wavell).

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 09:32 AM (llXky)

59 Wonder how many of those tomes that fill university libraries haven't been cracked in the past 30 years.
Posted by: Weak Geek

At my university, there was an area known as the back stacks, a cramped, poorly lit area where the older books were kept. I can't tell you how many hours i spent there, poring over first editions of classic works that were effectively hidden from the casual patron.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at November 10, 2024 09:33 AM (eH98r)

60 I'm typing in my phone and kitty is like Hey I am trying to sleep here!!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Agent of Chaos at November 10, 2024 09:34 AM (kpS4V)

61 Willingness to be disliked.

Four traits of a great company founder, and of a political leader?

It would be nice to have a single word for for the last trait.
Posted by: Candidus at November 10, 2024 09:28 AM (grzzz)
---
Confidence.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 09:34 AM (llXky)

62 Posted by: Trimegistus at November 10, 2024 09:30 AM (78a2H)

Thanks. I didn't know that about his early life. Poor little guy!

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 10, 2024 09:34 AM (m8Msp)

63 Imagination.
Focus.
Grit.
Willingness to be disliked.

Four traits of a great company founder, and of a political leader?

It would be nice to have a single word for for the last trait.
Posted by: Candidus

I'm sure the Germans have one.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at November 10, 2024 09:36 AM (eH98r)

64 I haven't been to B&N in over ten years. Now, I shop on ebay or other online sites to shop for old hardcover books.

Posted by: dantesed at November 10, 2024 09:36 AM (Oy/m2)

65 Last week I read fired up my Nook Glowlight 4 for the first time. It's an e-reader from Barnes and Noble, the equivalent of Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite. And my first impression....I think the Glowlight is better! The big difference is that the Glowlight has 4 physical page-turning buttons. (2 per side, on the corner of the front and side of the device. 1 page-forward button, 1 page-back button) So instead of having to tap the screen every 90 seconds (and risk accidentally tapping on a footnote, or touching the 'menu' area of the screen instead of the 'page forward' area) I just rest my hand at the edge of the device, and twitch every time I need to turn a page. Physical buttons...they really do make a difference.

Alas, Barnes and Noble doesn't have nearly the indy/self-published ecosystem that Amazon does. (question to AH Llyod and other Horde authors, do you even bother releasing ebooks on Barnes and Noble?) But, on the other hand, Humble Bundle does issue a lot of epub-formatted ebooks (epub being the Nook's default file-type) so I have a lot of Warhammer 40K and Drizzt stories to read on Nook.

Anyways, it's just nice to see someone actually compete with Amazon...

Posted by: Castle Guy at November 10, 2024 09:36 AM (Lhaco)

66 Don't know about the big university libraries, but if the public and community college libraries where I worked are anything to go by, the number of tomes cracked in the last few decades isn't all that high.

Saw a statistic somewhere (don't recall the source, sorry) that claimed that of the books acquired for a library only 10 or 15 percent will be used. Unfortunately, nobody can really know for sure which 10 or 15 percent. I think that percentage is probably accurate, though even that figure may just be a tad optimistic.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 10, 2024 09:32 AM (q3u5l)
---
The library where I work has been tossing out books by the truckload. On one hand, I feel a bit of loss that they have been doing this, but I take some consolation in the fact that they are mostly bound academic journals that are long past being useful. Most of them were so outdated and have probably been digitally archived somewhere. Still, it feels a bit odd to work in a library where the entire second floor has NO BOOKS.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at November 10, 2024 09:36 AM (BpYfr)

67 Not sure how to shoehorn this into the book thread, but I just came across it and it's the funniest post-election news I've come across.

Yesterday, Netanyahu named a new Ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter. Leiter was born and raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Lived there until he was 18, went off to college in Israel. His mother, sister, nieces and nephews still live in Scranton.

So great.

Posted by: occam's brassiere at November 10, 2024 09:37 AM (pXeye)

68 'Escapism isn't a bad word' is interesting. I probably read fiction over non-fiction 2:1; I love movies, and yet I have a visceral negative reaction to the word 'escapism'. It feels like you are being accused of copping out. I guess similarly with 'fantasy' over 'science fiction'.

Posted by: Candidus at November 10, 2024 09:37 AM (grzzz)

69 Saw a statistic somewhere (don't recall the source, sorry) that claimed that of the books acquired for a library only 10 or 15 percent will be used. Unfortunately, nobody can really know for sure which 10 or 15 percent. I think that percentage is probably accurate, though even that figure may just be a tad optimistic.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 10, 2024 09:32 AM (q3u5l)
---
Libraries have evolved a lot because of the internet. They were once reference centers where you could have access to encyclopedias as well as foriegn periodicals as well as some fiction. My local library is now basically a teen hangout with DVDs and Cat Lady Book Club attached. The non-fiction area is tiny, and incomplete, almost useless.

It's mostly popular fiction, though they do have a nice selection of Waugh which helped me get hooked on him.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 09:37 AM (llXky)

70 Eris,

Cat trying to sleep here? The resident feline Overlord here in Casa Some Guy likes to park on my computer table and demands to sleep on my hand, forcing me to put the keyboard in my lap and type with one hand. She's not on the table right now, but I expect her some time very soon. (And she looks a lot like the pic you posted in yesterday's pet thread)

Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 10, 2024 09:38 AM (q3u5l)

71 I just learned there is a book by Steve Lee Bebeer, "The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB’s: A Secret History of Jewish Punk" 😆
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Agent of Chaos at November 10, 2024 09:05 AM (kpS4V)

Oh, you know that's going on my library list!

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at November 10, 2024 09:38 AM (OX9vb)

72 >>>Wonder how many of those tomes that fill university libraries haven't been cracked in the past 30 years.

Posted by: Weak Geek

>At the gentle age of 29, I can tell you that the silverfish have digested at least 30% of all books at the local suppository.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at November 10, 2024 09:38 AM (eVr3D)

73 One book I did finish recently was The Great Shakespeare Fraud by Patricia Pierce. It's the story of William-Henry Ireland, a rather lackluster clerk who, in order to win the affection of his father, forged a Shakespeare signature in 1798. Although his creations appear literally ridiculous to modern eyes, they were accepted and celebrated for almost a year by some of the most learned people in England until the whole thing came crashing down when Ireland tried to forge an entirely new Shakespeare play, Vortigern.

A very interesting book, if you are a fan of Shakespeare or hoaxes.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at November 10, 2024 09:39 AM (Q0kLU)

74 The week started off well when the latest issue of Woodcarving Illustrated appeared in the mail box. It made a pleasant diversion from waiting for the election results. Part of its value is seeing what some really talented people can do with wood and hand tools. Then come the projects I might have a chance to try. One that especially caught my eye was a stylized dala horse ornament with chip carved decoration instead of painting. Things like that project make for some enjoyable speculation.

Posted by: JTB at November 10, 2024 09:39 AM (yTvNw)

75 There's a decent documentary called Hitler's Inner Circle on Netflix. Don't know how much is conjecture, but it at least attempts to be factual. It's a pretty good presentation.
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at November 10, 2024 09:27 AM (g8Ew

I'll have to look that up. Thanks!

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at November 10, 2024 09:40 AM (Q0kLU)

76 My wife and I had the pleasure of visiting Trinity College last spring. The library currently is being renovated, so the books shown in the picture above are not there. The renovation will not change the character of the library, but is necessary to preserve it - after all, buildings wear out.

The busts at the head of each case of books is of a prominent figure in Irish intellectual life. All were of men; but recently, four of the busts of lesser lights were replaced with busts of Irish women: Lady Gregory, Lady Ada Lovelace, Rosalind Franklin, and Mary Wallstonecraft - all worthy additions to the intellectual pantheon. The bust of Ada Lovelace was 3D printed, which I thought was cool, given her contributions to computer science.

Posted by: Nemo at November 10, 2024 09:40 AM (S6ArX)

77 Alas, Barnes and Noble doesn't have nearly the indy/self-published ecosystem that Amazon does. (question to AH Llyod and other Horde authors, do you even bother releasing ebooks on Barnes and Noble?)

Posted by: Castle Guy at November 10, 2024 09:36 AM (Lhaco)
---
I looked at it when I started out, and Amazon was easier. Because I have a day job (and for the time being little kids in the house), I have not had a chance to go through and do more on the sales side, such as getting audiobooks done.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 09:40 AM (llXky)

78 Imagination.
Focus.
Grit.
Willingness to be disliked.

Four traits of a great company founder, and of a political leader?

It would be nice to have a single word for for the last trait.
Posted by: Candidus

I'm sure the Germans have one.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at November 10, 2024 09:36 AM (eH98r)

Keinefuckengeben

Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at November 10, 2024 09:40 AM (g8Ew8)

79 Churchill would say his Gallipoli plan was a great idea poorly executed.

But he took the blame, resigned his position and volunteered to serve in the trenches in France.
Posted by: Ignoramus
___________

It was a great idea. If they hadn't tipped their hand with the earlier, smaller scale bombardment, they could have forced the straits with naval power alone.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at November 10, 2024 09:41 AM (Dm8we)

80 I'm sure the Germans have one.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at November 10, 2024 09:36 AM (eH98r)

I almost added something like that in the comment. Google translate gives: Bereitschaft, nicht gemocht zu werden.

Slacking over there.

Posted by: Candidus at November 10, 2024 09:41 AM (grzzz)

81 Keinefuckengeben
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at November 10, 2024 09:40 AM (g8Ew8

Perfect

Posted by: long night ending, dawn in January at November 10, 2024 09:41 AM (2NXcZ)

82 You know who wasn’t very good at math relatively speaking?

Surprisingly Leonardo DaVinci. He definitely tried and had the best tutors but he never seem to grasp the theoretical concepts of mathematics.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at November 10, 2024 09:42 AM (D6PGr)

83 I loved haunting the stacks at my campus library. Felt as if I were in a submarine. Had some interesting graffiti.

It even had a cage elevator that I preferred to use.

Alas, when I visited campus last year after more than 30 years, the cage elevator was closed.

P.S. Those stacks are where I first read Marvel comics. One of the tomes was Stan Lee's "Origins of Marvel Comics."

Posted by: Weak Geek at November 10, 2024 09:42 AM (p/isN)

84 Keinefuckengeben
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons

Apparently not slacking.

Posted by: Candidus at November 10, 2024 09:42 AM (grzzz)

85 One bit of musing after reading the 'Kiai' judo-novel; the main character's name is Jason Striker. With a name like Striker, it seems inevitable that the guy who become a martial artist. But if I were the guy to actually follow through on things, I'd write a story where the big action hero has a less obvious name, like Herbert Fitzsimmons. On the other hand, Devon Stryker would be the short, nebbish lawyer character. Slab Bulkhead would be the fat, slovenly insurance adjuster. Etc, etc....

Posted by: Castle Guy at November 10, 2024 09:42 AM (Lhaco)

86 The little "for sale" area near our library entrance has shelves of used books for a buck. It warms the hard lump of coal that is my heart that so many discards are Dem political screeds and autobiographies. What a racket!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Agent of Chaos at November 10, 2024 09:42 AM (kpS4V)

87 A morning smile:

Bad Hombre @joma_gc 14h
Former Harris-Walz staffers, now unemployed, are reporting that they did not receive their last two weeks of pay, which was scheduled for direct deposit into their accounts yesterday.

Posted by: andycanuck (hovnC) at November 10, 2024 09:43 AM (hovnC)

88 I find this hilarious, at the bottom of Newton's title page. After all the grand phrasing, the money quote:

Prostat apud plures bibliopolas

Pretty sure it means "available at many bookstores"

Posted by: Im29too at November 10, 2024 09:44 AM (3NJyR)

89 It warms the hard lump of coal that is my heart that so many discards are Dem political screeds and autobiographies. What a racket!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Agent of Chaos at November 10, 2024 09:42 AM (kpS4V)

Money laundering. Do you know anyone who read Michelle's shitty tome, or Barr's, or Pence's 4M masterpiece?

Posted by: long night ending, dawn in January at November 10, 2024 09:45 AM (2NXcZ)

90 The library where I work has been tossing out books by the truckload.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at November 10, 2024 09:36 AM (BpYfr)
---
It's sad because people donate to libraries imagining they are doing something charitable and that it will be treasured for years to come and nope, it's gonna get sold for pennies or just tossed.

Those of you who recall my endless slog through Ford Madox Ford's biography will be interested that one of the books I got on ebay was a very lavish edition and had been carefully labeled as a gift by a retired professor to his university library, no doubt assuming it would grace the stakes for future students rather than being remaindere

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 09:46 AM (llXky)

91 warms the hard lump of coal that is my heart that so many discards are Dem political screeds and autobiographies. What a racket!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Agent of Chaos at November 10, 2024 09:42 AM (kpS4V)

Money laundering. Do you know anyone who read Michelle's shitty tome, or Barr's, or Pence's 4M masterpiece?
Posted by: long night ending, dawn in January at November 10, 2024 09:45 AM (2NXcZ)

Ironic to think of all the trees cut down to publish those Leftist enviro books that nobody buys.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at November 10, 2024 09:48 AM (D6PGr)

92 It's sad because people donate to libraries imagining they are doing something charitable and that it will be treasured for years to come and nope, it's gonna get sold for pennies or just tossed.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 09:46 AM (llXky)
---
It's probably better to donate books to a library book sale instead. Both the local community library and my university library run book sales a couple times per year. The proceeds go to fund the library in some way. Some of the books are from the library, but most of the books are from donors.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at November 10, 2024 09:48 AM (BpYfr)

93 One other note on libraries: I gave my uncle an autographed copy of Long Live Death. I was shocked some months later to see it for sale on Amazon. I knew he was having some difficulties with his kids and wondered whether it had been swiped and so I bought it.

Turns out, he had decided to move to a smaller place and got rid of most of his books, donating them to the local library, which in turn simply sold them off.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 09:48 AM (llXky)

94 Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 10, 2024 09:38 AM (q3u5l)
---

Of course he is!

One clever computer guy made a clear plastic shelf that fits over the keyboard. His cat lies on top of it while he types away unhindered.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Agent of Chaos at November 10, 2024 09:49 AM (kpS4V)

95 Today's recommendation:

With regard to escapism, when my oldest son was serving in Iraq, he asked us to send him books by P. G. Wodehouse. These are escapism of the purest sort, to a golden world where it is always summer in the English countryside. It's not devoid of problems: people beat each other up, get drunk, land in jail, blackmail each other, get bitten by dogs (in particular, by The Dog Bartholomew), write stupid poetry, and die (though the last only off-stage). But, with the exception of Rodrick Spode's "Black Shorts" movement, they're free of the political hysteria that has so marred our times, and told in a pure, lovely, euphonious English prose. Perfect reading for a soldier who needs to get out of a war, if only for a little while - or anyone else, for that matter. Any of the Jeeves and Bertie books will do, but my favorite is "The Code of the Woosters". Highly recommended!

Posted by: Nemo at November 10, 2024 09:49 AM (S6ArX)

96 We had a ~40 acre brush fire this week within a mile of the house. Put down quickly with air assets, but we did get an evacuation order. Had our go-bags, assembled the grandmothers and cats, and then my wife said: you have to go get my childhood Christmas ornaments.

I just looked at her, and waved at my library.

Posted by: Candidus at November 10, 2024 09:49 AM (grzzz)

97 CRISWELL PREDICTS

This seems like as good a place as any for this glimpse of the future, as it will involve books.

My prediction: after a suitable lag time for writing, filming, etc., we're going to be hit by a wave of books, movies, and TV shows about SINISTER AMISH. Some will go the Wicker Man route, others rehash Texas Chainsaw Massacre in rural Pennsylvania with non-gas-powered tools, probably one or more will be pseudo "true stories" about women escaping abusive Amish households, and I expect some porn.

After all, it appears the Amish have now cost the Democrats TWO presidential elections. The libs will want to punish them for that. The only form of historial awareness Lefties have is nursing grudges.

Expect the Amish porn first (quick productions and rapid distribution), then some TV episodes on shows like Law & Order, then the horror/slasher movies, then a couple of novels, then the films of those novels. By that point, "Evil Amish" will be a standard trope in fiction and can be redeployed whenever any lefty feels like it.

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 10, 2024 09:49 AM (78a2H)

98 Has Orange Hitler closed down the borders and rounded up all of those foreign nationals into internment camps yet, or murdered them in green energy facilities?

That's a great storyline for a epic novel. Nov. 7th or 10th or something.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at November 10, 2024 09:50 AM (eVr3D)

99 Has Orange Hitler closed down the borders and rounded up all of those foreign nationals into internment camps yet, or murdered them in green energy facilities?

That's a great storyline for a epic novel. Nov. 7th or 10th or something.
Posted by: Dr. Bone at November 10, 2024 09:50 AM (eVr3D)
---
It would not surprise me if someone wrote that via Generative AI and tried to sell it on Amazon next week.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at November 10, 2024 09:51 AM (BpYfr)

100 Posted by: Trimegistus at November 10, 2024 09:49 AM (78a2H)

They will make a new documentary on the Amish mafia or continue to rerun the crime shows already made about it.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at November 10, 2024 09:51 AM (D6PGr)

101 An Amish slasher film. I actually might see that.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at November 10, 2024 09:52 AM (Dm8we)

102 Perfessor's section in the post about escapism (I'll look at the video later) really caught my attention. It ties in with so many other related matters I've been reading and thinking about for the last few years. Briefly, that the exercise of imagination is necessary to be fully human and to appreciate creation. And the power of words, especially poetry, as the means to bring the imagination to life. Exploring these thoughts has, so far, involved Plato, Aristotle, the early church fathers, classic literature, Chesterton, Lewis and Tolkien, Marcus Aurelius, the teachings of Christ, and old fairy tales and folklore. There's more, of course. It's been fascinating to see the web of interconnectedness develop as I learn more and follow endless rabbit holes. Exploring these matters has been life enriching.

Posted by: JTB at November 10, 2024 09:52 AM (yTvNw)

103 Also new on my to read pile is The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak. I happened to hear an interview of him about it and he seemed really nice so I thought it would be worth a try,
He talked about how his first book sold almost entirely by word of mouth, which is a good sign.

Last One at the Wedding is a psychological thriller about a UPS driver wo is invited by his estranged daughter to her wedding in a posh New England venue. He's super happy about it but he gets there and starts noticing stuff that gets his spidey senses tingling.

So it might be a good book, we'll see.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at November 10, 2024 09:53 AM (J5RCE)

104 It's probably better to donate books to a library book sale instead. Both the local community library and my university library run book sales a couple times per year. The proceeds go to fund the library in some way. Some of the books are from the library, but most of the books are from donors.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at November 10, 2024 09:48 AM (BpYfr)
---
My library is funded through 1 mill of property tax. I guarantee you that no matter how much money they get from book sales, I will see no benefit.

And they have the "banned books" rack right up front of books that are obviously NOT banned because they're right fricken there. Drag queen story hours....etc.

Not one more dime. My daughter has found a service where you photograph the books, box them up and ship them someplace and get a check in the mail.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 09:53 AM (llXky)

105 I've mentioned before, Mad Magazine was my intro to politics. You could by packages of Alfred D's campaign material in the 1964 (Goldwater/Johnson) presidential race.
Bought several, and with a friend pasted campaign posters all over Situate Harbor. More than a few store keepers pissed off.

Posted by: From about That Time at November 10, 2024 09:53 AM (4780s)

106 Alfred E's.

Posted by: From about That Time at November 10, 2024 09:54 AM (4780s)

107 There's the story of an author who found one of his personally inscribed books in a secondhand store. He added a second note and sent it back to the original recipient.

Posted by: Weak Geek at November 10, 2024 09:54 AM (p/isN)

108 There's more, of course. It's been fascinating to see the web of interconnectedness develop as I learn more and follow endless rabbit holes. Exploring these matters has been life enriching.
Posted by: JTB at November 10, 2024 09:52 AM (yTvNw)
---
Well said!

THIS is why I read!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at November 10, 2024 09:54 AM (BpYfr)

109 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 09:53 AM (llXky

What is the name of the service?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 10, 2024 09:55 AM (dmiLF)

110 That Route 666 plot sounds a bit like the enjoyable "Dead Like Me" tv series that was abruptly ended.

Posted by: Ciampino - Beware of toilet seats at November 10, 2024 09:55 AM (i0xsb)

111 Hubby nec just now. All of Trump's kids are idiots, I say they are all well educated, why are you stating this? Him, they say the stupidest things. Me, what exactly did one of them say that was so stupid? Dead silence. He voted for him and he knows that PDT in office is what the US needs. Old ideas die hard for some. Don't get me started on how the US is doomed because of the divisions that cannot be overcome. He has no faith that PDT winning with 312 and the popular vote isn't a sign of change.
Also, the man that sated that PDT couldn't win because women hate him. Jeebus, give it up buddy and take the win.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at November 10, 2024 09:55 AM (2NHgQ)

112 Stolen from Twitter:

I went to Barnes & Noble and asked the clerk if they have Trump's new book about deporting all the illegal aliens.

The clerk said "Get the fuck out of here and don't come back!"

I said "Yeah, that's the one. Do you have it in paperback?"

Posted by: no one of any consequence at November 10, 2024 09:55 AM (+H2BX)

113 12 Between politics and pigskins, I didn't do much outside reading this past week. I started the third "Ghosted" TC, but I'm pretty sure that I'll send these to a new home once I've finished them. They have nothing to bring me back. That's been the case with a lot of Image Comics TCs that I've bought.
Posted by: Weak Geek at November 10, 2024 09:07 AM (p/isN)

Out of curiosity, what are you using TC to refer to? I'm not familiar with that abbreviation..

Ghosted has never been on my radar, but I've had a similar issue with a lot of modern comics I've heard of/looked at; nothing about the concept hooks me properly. For me, a lot them have issues with genre blending. Like 'Redcoats;' it sounds like some colonial-era adventure, but it's about an immortal guy who meets all the famous people of the era....No, I was just hoping for a cool story about a musket-wielding soldier.

I dunno, when I look through the 4 graphic novel shelves at my 'local' Barnes and Noble, most of them just seem to blend together....

Posted by: Castle Guy at November 10, 2024 09:56 AM (Lhaco)

114 Perfessor's section in the post about escapism (I'll look at the video later) really caught my attention. It ties in with so many other related matters I've been reading and thinking about for the last few years. Briefly, that the exercise of imagination is necessary to be fully human and to appreciate creation. And the power of words, especially poetry, as the means to bring the imagination to life. Exploring these thoughts has, so far, involved Plato, Aristotle, the early church fathers, classic literature, Chesterton, Lewis and Tolkien, Marcus Aurelius, the teachings of Christ, and old fairy tales and folklore. There's more, of course. It's been fascinating to see the web of interconnectedness develop as I learn more and follow endless rabbit holes. Exploring these matters has been life enriching.
Posted by: JTB at November 10, 2024 09:52 AM (yTvNw)
---
One of Orwell's key points was that by twisting language, limiting it, one could also control the formation of thoughts.

What he didn't grasp is that language exists outside of official channels with "bad words" and slang evolving to meet new needs. Tolkien demonstrated this - to convey his concepts, he made up new words.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 09:56 AM (llXky)

115 An Amish slasher film. I actually might see that.

You might as well just watch American Gothic with Rod Steiger and Yvonne DeCarlo. Not Amish, but close enough.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at November 10, 2024 09:56 AM (Q0kLU)

116 110
I meant to comment did the tv script writers get the idea from Route 666?

Posted by: Ciampino - Beware of toilet seats from Space at November 10, 2024 09:57 AM (i0xsb)

117 I'm finding of late that if I want to donate any books, they seem to be better received at the local seniors' center than at the public library. Of course, the clientele there are geezers, like myself, so they're probably a more receptive audience.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 10, 2024 09:57 AM (q3u5l)

118 I would like to give a plug to to new releases this month:

The Exorcist Files by Father Carlos Martins. The show is very tun. The book is supposed to have new stuff. It would be cool if Fr Martins gets a lot of pre orders.

The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible.
Weighing in at 6 pounds, this new entry into the Bible Study wars aims to displace the Protestant dominance of the field. (I made that sentence up, just kidding)

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at November 10, 2024 09:57 AM (J5RCE)

119 Ok, book nerds~!!

Posted by: weft cut-loop at November 10, 2024 09:58 AM (IG4Id)

120 or murdered them in green energy facilities?

It's big, beautiful Brash Green! Way better than that loser Soylent stuff, I promise you...

Posted by: Im29too at November 10, 2024 09:59 AM (3NJyR)

121 @88 Prostat apud

Well no wonder he was a virgin then, poor fellow.

Posted by: Way,Way Downriver at November 10, 2024 10:00 AM (zdLoL)

122 112
That Stolen from Twitter is actually an old joke that predates Twitter.
But still funny. Thanks.

Posted by: Ciampino - Beware of librarians at November 10, 2024 10:00 AM (i0xsb)

123 Briefly, that the exercise of imagination is necessary to be fully human and to appreciate creation. ...
Posted by: JTB at November 10, 2024 09:52 AM (yTvNw)

Excellent.

Posted by: Candidus at November 10, 2024 10:01 AM (grzzz)

124 @113 --

TC = trade collection. Same idea as TPB, trade paperback.

Posted by: Weak Geek at November 10, 2024 10:01 AM (p/isN)

125 Some years ago working at Villanova they were tossing books, I think digitizer them. Didn't have but a few minutes to look but nothing I would have wanted.

Posted by: Skip at November 10, 2024 10:01 AM (fwDg9)

126 And Samuel Pepys was president of the Royal Society and approved this printing!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 10, 2024 10:01 AM (d9fT1)

127 Well no wonder he was a virgin then, poor fellow.

Posted by: Im29too at November 10, 2024 10:03 AM (3NJyR)

128 That Newton book, I wonder what it would fetch at auction?

Posted by: Ciampino - Priceless at November 10, 2024 10:03 AM (i0xsb)

129 In line with my comment in 102, I've started "The Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis: How Great Books Shaped a Great Mind" by Jason Baxton. It focuses on the academic aspects of Lewis' life in his teaching and how and why those sources were so important to him. (And should be to us.) As much as I love Lewis' fiction and essays, his academic writings interest me the most. His "English Literature in the Sixteenth Century (Excluding Drama)" is fascinating although many would find it irrelevant. Which is their and cultures loss.

This book has led me to start a search for the best translation of Boethius' "Consolation of Philosophy", something I should have read decades ago. It may be the greatest example of escapist writing ever.

Posted by: JTB at November 10, 2024 10:04 AM (yTvNw)

130 I have been reading "The Keys of This Blood" by Malachi Martin. Very interesting chapters about Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and Gramsci. Gramsci was the guy that realized that there was never going to be a revolution without first undermining the Christian underpinnings of society.

We see this all come to fruition with modern Democrats. Getting an abortion is a fundamental right for women to keep their freedom. Ugh.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at November 10, 2024 10:05 AM (+H2BX)

131 This seems like as good a place as any for this glimpse of the future, as it will involve books.

My prediction: after a suitable lag time for writing, filming, etc., we're going to be hit by a wave of books, movies, and TV shows about SINISTER AMISH. Some will go the Wicker Man route, others rehash Texas Chainsaw Massacre in rural Pennsylvania with non-gas-powered tools, probably one or more will be pseudo "true stories" about women escaping abusive Amish households, and I expect some porn.

After all, it appears the Amish have now cost the Democrats TWO presidential elections. The libs will want to punish them for that. The only form of historial awareness Lefties have is nursing grudges.

Expect the Amish porn first (quick productions and rapid distribution), then some TV episodes on shows like Law & Order, then the horror/slasher movies, then a couple of novels, then the films of those novels. By that point, "Evil Amish" will be a standard trope in fiction and can be redeployed whenever any lefty feels like it.
Posted by: Trimegistus at November 10, 2024 09:49 AM (78a2H)

And the Amish will reply to each: Bless your heart.

Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at November 10, 2024 10:05 AM (g8Ew8)

132 What is the name of the service?
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 10, 2024 09:55 AM (dmiLF)
---
I can't recall. It was all very mysterious. I think she was going out and casing all the Little Lending Libraries for books that had decent resale value, and swapping them for penny books picked up at Goodwill or the library. I say this because there were books piled around that she never would have bought being boxed up and sold.

Very much the prodigal daughter. We don't talk much.

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

133 "The Hogfather" is a extremely interesting book. Less about Discworld and more about Belief.

Pratchett was a genius Storysmith.

It's on my must-reread list because I really don't think I got as much out of it than there is there.

I just discovered that there's a movie!

Posted by: pawn at November 10, 2024 10:06 AM (QB+5g)

134 Good morning dear morons and thanks perfesser

I'm looking forward to reading the new Richard J. Evans.

I think many people did not fully comprehend how the system could operate on a personal, individual level until they experienced "covid" and how that worked.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at November 10, 2024 10:06 AM (RIvkX)

135 OK, folks, I think I'll make another cup of tea and check that Netflix doc out.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at November 10, 2024 10:06 AM (Q0kLU)

136 And the Amish will reply to each: Bless your heart.
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at November 10, 2024 10:05 AM (g8Ew

---
They won't reply because they will never see it and don't care. Even more, they will take the lame attempt at persecution as proof that they are right.

Typical liberal logic.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 10:08 AM (llXky)

137 Enjoy your Nazi soaps, MP4!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Agent of Chaos at November 10, 2024 10:08 AM (kpS4V)

138 That Newton book, I wonder what it would fetch at auction?
Posted by: Ciampino - Priceless at November 10, 2024 10:03 AM (i0xsb)

I don't give a fig.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at November 10, 2024 10:09 AM (tM14v)

139 An Amish slasher film. I actually might see that.

You might as well just watch American Gothic with Rod Steiger and Yvonne DeCarlo. Not Amish, but close enough.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at November 10, 2024 09:56 AM (Q0kLU)
---
We need a sequel to "Witness." Make Amish Sexy Again!

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

140 I should mention that while I discuss some 'heavier' and 'serious' reading, it doesn't keep me from enjoying casual books and stories. Cozy mysteries, humor, straight adventure (think Cussler, Jack Du Brul, Donald Hamilton, and H. Rider Haggard), even children's books Like Wind in the Willows, the Brambly Hedge stories, and others.

I believe the 'serious' reading lets me appreciate the casual books even more.

Posted by: JTB at November 10, 2024 10:10 AM (yTvNw)

141 De-accession is a key skill in modern library science; we've given it well-deserved rants and raves here before. Management no longer sees libraries as repositories of all published knowledge.

That virgin Newton wasn't just an alchemist and lead-head. He was known in his time as a real man of action, chasing counterfeiters of all stripes as warden and then master of the Royal Mint. He had a SWAT team. There are spoofs portraying him as a sort of James Bond, though the virgin part belies it.

Posted by: Way,Way Downriver at November 10, 2024 10:11 AM (zdLoL)

142 An Amish slasher film. I actually might see that.

You might as well just watch American Gothic with Rod Steiger and Yvonne DeCarlo. Not Amish, but close enough.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at November 10, 2024 09:56 AM (Q0kLU)

Children of the Corn came very close to this theme also.

Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at November 10, 2024 10:11 AM (g8Ew8)

143 I'm now on Ep. 7 of "The Starlost"

The last ep. guest-starred Walter Koenig.

It's so bad I can't look away.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at November 10, 2024 10:11 AM (RIvkX)

144 101 An Amish slasher film. I actually might see that.
--------
Jedediah Voorhees.

Froderick Krueger.

Posted by: andycanuck (hovnC) at November 10, 2024 10:11 AM (hovnC)

145 101 An Amish slasher film. I actually might see that.
--------
Jedediah Voorhees.

Froderick Krueger.
Posted by: andycanuck (hovnC) at November 10, 2024 10:11 AM (hovnC)
---
Great. Now I'm picturing Michael Myers with suspenders, a beard, and a hat.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at November 10, 2024 10:12 AM (BpYfr)

146 124 @113 --

TC = trade collection. Same idea as TPB, trade paperback.
Posted by: Weak Geek at November 10, 2024 10:01 AM (p/isN)

Ah, okay.

Posted by: Castle Guy at November 10, 2024 10:13 AM (Lhaco)

147 I guess as Amish helped so much after the hurricane it's only right that they be portrayed as evil monsters. How else can our amazing "culture" respond to such acts of selflessness?

Posted by: long night ending, dawn in January at November 10, 2024 10:14 AM (2NXcZ)

148 >>> 19 "50 Shades of Grey is best-selling book of all time

Fifty Shades of Grey has become the best-selling book in Britain since records began, surpassing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with sales of 5.3 million copies."

https://tinyurl.com/2mpaun9d
Posted by: Moron Robbie - 2024's missing 15M voters is more proof of 2020 being stolen at November 10, 2024 09:08 AM (Ji4nZ)
---
Really? More than The Hobbit over the course of how many years? How do they account for e-books?
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 09:12 AM (llXky)

Only ~5M Harry Potter finale books sold since what, 2023?

Also, given the appearance of book deals with politicians in the US, it wouldn't surprise me to find that some random asshoe bought a bunch of copies just to get this headline.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at November 10, 2024 10:14 AM (zlGo9)

149 I read somewhere that most of Newton's writings were on religious mysticism and that he believed he was Jesus Christ because he was born on Dec. 25.

Posted by: Norrin Radd, sojourner of the spaceways at November 10, 2024 10:14 AM (tRYqg)

150 We need a sequel to "Witness." Make Amish Sexy Again!
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 10:10 AM (llXky)

I grew up in an Amish adjacent community. There are some absolutely gorgeous girls in those sects.

Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at November 10, 2024 10:15 AM (g8Ew8)

151 Bought several, and with a friend pasted campaign posters all over Situate Harbor. More than a few store keepers pissed off.
Posted by: From about That Time at November 10, 2024 09:53 AM (4780s)
---------

Scituate, MA? Are you from there?

Posted by: bluebell at November 10, 2024 10:15 AM (79pEw)

152 Pepys would have been a Tic Tocker asshole, and you know it.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at November 10, 2024 10:16 AM (IG4Id)

153 I remember that extruded poop "Starlost", and Koenig in it!

I watched a lot of sciffy crapola in the dark years after Star Trek was canceled and pre-Star Wars ushering in the new era.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Agent of Chaos at November 10, 2024 10:16 AM (kpS4V)

154 Children of the Corn came very close to this theme also.
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at November 10, 2024 10:11 AM (g8Ew

---
The Amish fit neatly into the literary tradition where urbanites regard rural inhabits as strange and sinister. The look at the overt displays of tradition, culture and family and assume it's all a lie, cover for deeper sins.

Part of this is because it's fun, but there's long been a need by wicked people to convince themselves that the Other is even worse, they just hide it better.

It's a trope with a long, dull history, and it's pretty much a guarantee at this point that anyone identified as a Christian will be a secret pervert. Evil cannot even imagine good.

As Tolkien memorably pointed out.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 10:16 AM (llXky)

155 Expect the Amish porn first
I married Old-Order Mennonite, and this is not the right venue.
But the bonnet and the apron, huh-zoonn-ga. Genug gesagt.

Posted by: Way,Way Downriver at November 10, 2024 10:16 AM (zdLoL)

156 Rise Of The House Of Rodent
- by P.N. Squirrel

Posted by: Eromero at November 10, 2024 10:16 AM (DXbAa)

157 Be careful amongst da English.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at November 10, 2024 10:18 AM (Dm8we)

158 Fifty Shades of Grey has become the best-selling book in Britain since records began, surpassing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with sales of 5.3 million copies."

https://tinyurl.com/2mpaun9d
Posted by: Moron Robbie - 2024's missing 15M voters is more proof of 2020 being stolen at November 10, 2024 09:08 AM (Ji4nZ)
---
Really? More than The Hobbit over the course of how many years? How do they account for e-books?
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 09:12 AM (llXky)

What?? Oh, England... yeah.

Posted by: The Bible at November 10, 2024 10:18 AM (tM14v)

159 Happy Sunday all.
I just finished We Solve Murders by Richard Osman who also did the Thursday Murder Club mysteries. It's light fare yet lots of information and sometimes just enjoy reading it not trying to figure it all out. It will be likable for some and perhaps not their type for others.
Have started to read the Matthew Shardlake series. It is like if you give a mouse a cookie as now want to read more English history. Thanks for all the recommendations.

Posted by: paisley at November 10, 2024 10:18 AM (ny1NG)

160 Great. Now I'm picturing Michael Myers with suspenders, a beard, and a hat.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at November 10, 2024 10:12 AM (BpYfr)
---
The Pennsylvania Pitchford Massacre.

Desperate chase scenes down rural lanes, but carefully observing stop signs.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 10:18 AM (llXky)

161 Willowed from Pixy:
37 33 For the Gun Thread, instead of referring to them as "comments," could we maybe call them "bullet points"?
Posted by: tankdemon at November 10, 2024 04:25 AM (HWk5x)
-

Wouldn't that require modifying the shell script?

Sorry. I'm coming up blank.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at November 10, 2024 04:28 AM (0ODjL)

Maybe my suggestion was a bit off target.

Posted by: tankdemon at November 10, 2024 04:35 AM (HWk5x)
----
All these firearm allusions trigger my sensibilities which were already primed.

Posted by: The Smokeless Powder Room at November 10, 2024 10:19 AM (i0xsb)

162 I grew up in an Amish adjacent community. There are some absolutely gorgeous girls in those sects.
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at November 10, 2024 10:15 AM (g8Ew

---
Bitter wine aunts roving TikTok grinding their teeth at the thought of happy, attractive Amish women surrounded by large, loving families, looking forward to the contentment of have 20 grandchildren to console them in old age.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 10:20 AM (llXky)

163 Good morning Book Lovers and thank you, Perfessor, for another Book Thread. Also, thank you for the reminder that reading for escapism can be important. I've lately been feeling guilty, that reading fiction is not a good use of time, and yet it is!

I finished Super Habits by Andrew V. Abela last week. My days of reading self-help books is long behind me but it was sent by a Book of the Month that I subscribe to. It is basically promoting the Virtues and references many self-help books from the past. I have to admit I read it with a lot of skepticism, probably because of the many recommendations inside the cover. (Why do they need so much validation?) By the end, it seemed I may have been unfair and I'll probably take another, less jaundiced look at it in the near future.

Posted by: KatieFloyd at November 10, 2024 10:21 AM (AYwuW)

164 If memory of previous education serves, it took Caxton a while to catch up to The Canterbury Tales, and Pilgrim's Progress outsold the the bible for generations because let's face it, you could get the bible read to you for free. Fifty shades of Thomas Malory?

Posted by: Way,Way Downriver at November 10, 2024 10:21 AM (zdLoL)

165 Perfessor, since there seem to be a lot of writers here, I wonder if you might one day do a post on AI and copyright. I've read that if AI is used in any way in a ms, it may not be possible for the writer to establish copyright. Don't know the truth of it, but it scares me. Do you think there might be a copyright expert amongst the Horde?

Posted by: Wenda at November 10, 2024 10:22 AM (AYyuw)

166 I'm halfway through "Silent Witness" by Victor Methos, and it's pretty good. Anything with the tiniest Elmore Leonard vibe, and this on has, is something I enjoy.

Posted by: M. Gaga at November 10, 2024 10:23 AM (ZtgZZ)

167 >>>I went to Barnes & Noble and asked the clerk if they have Trump's new book about deporting all the illegal aliens.

The clerk said "Get the fuck out of here and don't come back!"

I said "Yeah, that's the one. Do you have it in paperback?"

Posted by: no one of any consequence

>Paperback? That must be a first edition from his first term. Try to find the gold leaf hard bound for your collection.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at November 10, 2024 10:25 AM (eVr3D)

168 All these firearm allusions trigger my sensibilities which were already primed.
Posted by: The Smokeless Powder Room at November 10, 2024 10:19 AM (i0xsb)
-

No more gun puns!

/musket a grip on myself.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at November 10, 2024 10:25 AM (0ODjL)

169 Posted by: Wenda at November 10, 2024 10:22 AM (AYyuw)

Why would unoriginal content be copyrighted? In cases where writers borrow song lyrics or poems, they simply attribute that work to the correct individual, and/or get permission to use it. If one uses AI to a great degree, how the fuck can it be "yours"?

Posted by: long night ending, dawn in January at November 10, 2024 10:25 AM (2NXcZ)

170 good morning Perfessor, Horde

Posted by: callsign claymore at November 10, 2024 10:26 AM (JcnCJ)

171 The Amish fit neatly into the literary tradition where urbanites regard rural inhabits as strange and sinister. The look at the overt displays of tradition, culture and family and assume it's all a lie, cover for deeper sins.

Part of this is because it's fun, but there's long been a need by wicked people to convince themselves that the Other is even worse, they just hide it better.

It's a trope with a long, dull history, and it's pretty much a guarantee at this point that anyone identified as a Christian will be a secret pervert. Evil cannot even imagine good.

As Tolkien memorably pointed out.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 10:16 AM (llXky)

This is very close to how I've seen it too. It never fails when big-city reporters go out into the "hinterlands" and always report back that, surprisingly, them there country folk are pretty nice people.

Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at November 10, 2024 10:26 AM (g8Ew8)

172 Muh eyes are kinda blurry this morning so I read

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

as MORON RECRIMINATIONS

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at November 10, 2024 10:27 AM (0JWOm)

173 So Rectum Ralph wrecked the Saturday Overnight Open Topic?

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle at November 10, 2024 10:28 AM (5/AfL)

174 >>> 96 We had a ~40 acre brush fire this week within a mile of the house. Put down quickly with air assets, but we did get an evacuation order. Had our go-bags, assembled the grandmothers and cats, and then my wife said: you have to go get my childhood Christmas ornaments.

I just looked at her, and waved at my library.
Posted by: Candidus at November 10, 2024 09:49 AM (grzzz)

You have to consider what sentimental items you want to keep, and *how* you could keep it along with ya know PEOPLE AND PETS, *before* you're halfway out the door.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at November 10, 2024 10:28 AM (zlGo9)

175 Why would unoriginal content be copyrighted? In cases where writers borrow song lyrics or poems, they simply attribute that work to the correct individual, and/or get permission to use it. If one uses AI to a great degree, how the fuck can it be "yours"?
Posted by: long night ending
________
I would think it would be treated the same way as using AI to create digital art. Can that be copyrighted?

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at November 10, 2024 10:29 AM (Dm8we)

176 Amish puppy mills and ecstasy labs?

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle at November 10, 2024 10:30 AM (5/AfL)

177 And Samuel Pepys was president of the Royal Society and approved this printing!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo
-------
I have his diary.

I guess he took time off to watch Gen. Harrison being hung, drawn and quartered.

Perhaps one of the driest comments I that have ever read:
"...he looking as cheerful as any man could do in that condition. "

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at November 10, 2024 10:30 AM (XeU6L)

178 Perfessor, since there seem to be a lot of writers here, I wonder if you might one day do a post on AI and copyright. I've read that if AI is used in any way in a ms, it may not be possible for the writer to establish copyright. Don't know the truth of it, but it scares me. Do you think there might be a copyright expert amongst the Horde?
Posted by: Wenda at November 10, 2024 10:22 AM (AYyuw)

How to know? If you use most any writing program today it has AI built into it. No way to stop it. If the idea is yours, what's wrong with taking suggestions and rewriting them?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at November 10, 2024 10:30 AM (tM14v)

179
You have to consider what sentimental items you want to keep, and *how* you could keep it along with ya know PEOPLE AND PETS, *before* you're halfway out the door.
Posted by: Helena Handbasket
------

Living in hurricane country, I always kept the family photographs in one spot. They were the first 'items' to be packed out.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at November 10, 2024 10:32 AM (XeU6L)

180 long night ending: don't know. That's why I'd like an expert's opinion. But on last night's ONT, somebody commented that NANORIMO now demands that people accept AI generated content in mss. Surely those writers must think they can use AI and still own the copyright. What if they can't?

Posted by: Wenda at November 10, 2024 10:33 AM (AYyuw)

181 Oh btw got back from Mass
No choir at this one, just a cantor
She sang the entire America the Beautiful as the recessional hymn. Great job.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at November 10, 2024 10:33 AM (Wx316)

182 Pawn @133, the Hogfather movie is a hoot, and very close to the book. You'll enjoy them! (The Daughter Unit is a die-hard Pratchett fan - has all the books.)
I've been taking a break from the books on my Kindle, and re-reading a series that I had on my bookshelf - B.J. Oliphant's Shirley McClintock mysteries, which are sort of cozies, but with an edge. I hadn't realized until I looked it up that B.J. Oliphant was a 'nym for Sheri Tepper - whose sci-fi books left me absolutely cold. The McLintock series is from the 90ies - a feminist edge, sort of ... but also rather hard on obnoxious New Agers, undisciplined/criminal teenagers, bad neighbors, and the early manifestations of what would become DEI. In a couple of the books, the murdered are deserving of it, and Shirley keeps her mouth shut about whodunnit. I do imagine that Tepper/Oliphant would have been incandescent over trans ideology, and men horning in on women's sports competitions.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at November 10, 2024 10:34 AM (Ew3fm)

183 Good morning Hordemates!

Posted by: Diogenes at November 10, 2024 10:35 AM (W/lyH)

184 Gramsci was the guy that realized that there was never going to be a revolution without first undermining the Christian underpinnings of society.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at November 10, 2024 10:05 AM (+H2BX)

Gramsci is really the source of all of the intellectualoid subversion on campuses, per Chris Rufo in the magnificent "America’s Cultural Revolution". Marcuse a distant second.

Posted by: Candidus at November 10, 2024 10:36 AM (grzzz)

185 I watched a few videos about a Canticle for Leibowitz and understood it better. I wish I had watched them before reading the book.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at November 10, 2024 10:37 AM (lhenN)

186 Re. anti-Amish propaganda, there has already been at least one 'documentary' about wimmenz escaping the PA Dutch Patriarchy; a friend of mine was telling me about it a couple years ago.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at November 10, 2024 10:38 AM (zlGo9)

187 I am reading Saragasso Planet by Andre Norton. I picked it up out of nostalgia, I loved her books when I was in junior high school, the first "real" book I read was Moon of Three Rings.

I think they were all "sea story" format, and honestly the writing holds up nicely as I am an adult reader now. Ms Norton was a very good and clear writer. Only her plotting was focused on YA

Posted by: Kindltot at November 10, 2024 10:39 AM (D7oie)

188 That would be "Sargasso of Space" I am afraid.

Posted by: Kindltot at November 10, 2024 10:40 AM (D7oie)

189 AI is a dangerous platform for meat puppets and their simple minds.

I would find it all to be an interesting study, but young minds will be exposed to total digital madness.

These studies should be censored.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at November 10, 2024 10:40 AM (eVr3D)

190 OK, I am off to work on the graphic novel version of "Just Put Chuck Vindaloo", using Lore Machine, Stable Diffusion, GIMP, and ComicLife. The second revision of the script is out to readers, if anyone else is interested in providing notes please hit me up in OrangeEnt's writer's group.

Posted by: Candidus at November 10, 2024 10:40 AM (grzzz)

191 Amazon has been releasing Kindle editions at ~midnight ET for a while, so I started reading Graveyard of Demons late Tuesday night. Almost done with a second pass today.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at November 10, 2024 10:40 AM (zlGo9)

192 Someone upstairs mentioned-

"The Code of the Woosters" as the best Jeeves and Bertie novel.

I'd say that-

"Joy in the Morning" is every bit its equal.

YMMV.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 10, 2024 10:40 AM (eDfFs)

193 Gramsci was the guy that realized that there was never going to be a revolution without first undermining the Christian underpinnings of society.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at November 10, 2024 10:05 AM (+H2BX)

Gramsci is really the source of all of the intellectualoid subversion on campuses, per Chris Rufo in the magnificent "America’s Cultural Revolution". Marcuse a distant second.
Posted by: Candidus
_______

I's say that goes back to at least Saint-Simon, Comte, and the roots of positivism.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at November 10, 2024 10:40 AM (Dm8we)

194 I'm listening to Deep River by Shusaku Endo, WI believes is generally regarded as his second best work after Silence. It is well written but bleak and despairing.
If follows a group of Japanese on a tour of India. There's a former soldier who hopes to have a memorial for WWII soldiers, an intellectual woman who meets a Catholic man she mocked in university and another man who is searching for his reincarnated wife.
Good but depressing.

Posted by: Northernlurker , Maple Syrup MAGA at November 10, 2024 10:42 AM (kTd/k)

195 Followed LizLem's suggestion on the ONT to generate something better, more of a sexy elf PI in a dystopia. And Tensor labeled it Sensitive.

Posted by: Anna Puma at November 10, 2024 10:42 AM (wxgaw)

196 By "sciffy crapola" Eris you mean "Planet of the Apes"?

Posted by: San Franpsycho at November 10, 2024 10:44 AM (RIvkX)

197 Kindltot, I also loved Norton as a kid

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at November 10, 2024 10:44 AM (Wx316)

198 just looked at her, and waved at my library.
Posted by: Candidus at November 10, 2024 09:49 AM (grzzz)

Are you in Camarillo?

Posted by: LASue at November 10, 2024 10:45 AM (hdy+0)

199 Oh btw got back from Mass
No choir at this one, just a cantor
She sang the entire America the Beautiful as the recessional hymn. Great job.
Posted by: vmom

Nice! Our choir had the same selection this morning. The singing was quite heartfelt.

Posted by: Tonypete at November 10, 2024 10:48 AM (WXNFJ)

200 Why would unoriginal content be copyrighted? [ ... ] If one uses AI to a great degree, how the fuck can it be "yours"?

I imagine that the first such book, artwork, whatever that makes a serious amount of money will spawn a court case where the developers of the AI engine sue the "author" for a share of the proceeds. It will be interesting.

Posted by: Oddbob at November 10, 2024 10:49 AM (/y8xj)

201 Bold strategy to lead off with a 300 year old math book.

Posted by: Walter Freeman at November 10, 2024 10:50 AM (k1Qly)

202 Well, time for Mass. Thanks again, Perfesser!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 10:50 AM (llXky)

203 Tolle Lege !!! excellent Anime history time piece...about the study of the terrestial bodies planets stars and the struggle to defy Church dogma that the earth was the center of the Universe...unsual style and very violent!! 5 stars!!!
Orb: On the movements of the Earth

Posted by: qmark at November 10, 2024 10:50 AM (+t9Oi)

204 I want those pants

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at November 10, 2024 10:52 AM (0JWOm)

205 >>>Amish puppy mills and ecstasy labs?

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle

>No, no, you're in the right place!

Put on your bedroom slippers, get a bloody Mary, a cozy blanket for your legs and settle into the glow and the warmth of a Sunday book thread.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at November 10, 2024 10:52 AM (eVr3D)

206 As I shuffle through the bookcases and the kindles (current and de-registered), I'm slowly getting to the point where I could toss all but a few volumes of my library into a to-go bag if necessary. Would lose the print copies, some collectible, but would have the text for nearly everything on a couple of e-readers. Now if the grid went, I'd be in real trouble -- maybe I should look into one of those solar chargers that can power up phones and tablets... Of course, if the grid went charging the kindles would be the least of my worries.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 10, 2024 10:52 AM (q3u5l)

207 204 I want those pants
--------
These ones??

Tim Young @TimRunsHisMouth 19h
Never deleting this app.

https://tinyurl.com/3je4k8xy
screencap

Posted by: andycanuck (hovnC) at November 10, 2024 10:54 AM (hovnC)

208 at the same time as Isaac Newton and Christopher Wren.

And Flamsteed, and Edmund Halley.
I was reading Flamsteed's first edition of the star catalogue. I recall "34 Tauri" was actually Uranus and was used to precover its orbit. Halley and Newton stole the catalogue and published it under Flamsteed's nose. (Noot was kind of an asshole like that.)

Posted by: Boulder Terlit Hobo at November 10, 2024 10:56 AM (aSmlu)

209 long night ending: don't know. That's why I'd like an expert's opinion. But on last night's ONT, somebody commented that NANORIMO now demands that people accept AI generated content in mss. Surely those writers must think they can use AI and still own the copyright. What if they can't?
Posted by: Wenda at November 10, 2024 10:33 AM (AYyuw)

What is the first thing that communists take when they come into power?

Oh yeah. Property. ALL of it.

Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at November 10, 2024 10:57 AM (g8Ew8)

210 Gorbachev took Gramsci's advice and let the national Communist Party stray a little from Moscow's control.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at November 10, 2024 10:57 AM (+H2BX)

211 Perfessor,

Thanks for including that video about the Book of Kells. I have at least two books about it covering its history and how it was produced, at least as far as can be determined. It's fascinating stuff. (If I recall correctly, modern science can't duplicate some of the colors used, like with some cathedral stained glass windows from centuries ago.)

Suggestions: Get oversized books about it so the photos can be a big as possible so the details are more visible. Have a good reading light handy and a good magnifying glass as well. Prepare to get lost in the intricacies of the illuminations. Even if you can read Latin, the script is very difficult to read. Concentrate on the illustrations.

Posted by: JTB at November 10, 2024 10:57 AM (yTvNw)

212 Gorbachev took Gramsci's advice and let the national Communist Party stray a little from Moscow's control.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at November 10, 2024 10:57 AM (+H2BX)

I am still kicking myself, I had a chance to pick up what was considered to be the best book on Andropov, and forgot to get it.

Posted by: Kindltot at November 10, 2024 11:00 AM (D7oie)

213 My favorite postapocalyptic novel will always be Russell Hoban's "Ridley Walker."

Set six or so millennials after a nuclear holocaust, the protagonist lives on a farm ("form") somewhere in what was England, the level of civ approximately iron age, and the legend of the fall is told by small groups of traveling minstrels performing puppet shows.

Ridley is the narrator, and his words are hard to follow. Is this in English?, you'll say. But you are totally immersed, no escape, and it'll all come to you. By chapter three you'll return to the beginning to reread it all.

I'd love to listen to an audio version of this, performed by Michael Caine, in his Alfie cockney.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at November 10, 2024 11:01 AM (ZtgZZ)

214 Oh, you know that's going on my library list!
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at November 10, 2024 09:38 AM (OX9vb)

This wife is looking for it now.
Claiming rights to crack it first.

Posted by: Reforger at November 10, 2024 11:01 AM (xcIvR)

215 Gotta give a shout-out to Barnes & Noble. In my recent visit I noticed a well stocked SF and Fantasy section and a huge endcap filled with quality reprints of the classics of the genres.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Agent of Chaos

Be sure to compliment the store manager - apparently individual BNs have latitude now in selecting which books to stock

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at November 10, 2024 11:01 AM (Wx316)

216 Morning, Book Folken,

Back from breakfast I am, and ready to join in. This week I finished a 1950 Agatha Christie, A Murder Is Announced. I read her stuff when I was in my primary detectives-story phase in high school, of course, but always thought she was nowhere near the top rank in plotting and puzzlement held by Ellery Queen and John Dickson Carr. Well, now I see more of her strengths: characterization, for instance. Without giving anything away, I'll say that AMIA features a *weak, kindly* murderer, which Christie points out can be as dangerous as any other.

It's a Miss Marple story, and I'm beginning to think those concern themselves more with character and display stronger human portraits than do the Hercule Poirot novels.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 10, 2024 11:03 AM (omVj0)

217 Banshee has entered the Thread about Amish women !!

Posted by: qmark at November 10, 2024 11:04 AM (+t9Oi)

218 Quote from Ridley Walker, "O, what we ben! And what we've come to."

Posted by: Mr Gaga at November 10, 2024 11:04 AM (ZtgZZ)

219 The "portrait" of Capote above -- that's from the film of a few years ago with Philip Seymour Hoffman? (I almost wrote John Philip Sousa.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 10, 2024 11:05 AM (omVj0)

220 The winter forecast for this area from the OFA and 'official' sources say to expect cool temps and more moisture than usual. If that holds there should be lots of good reading weather ahead: cold, wet and cloudy. Good conditions for books, comfortable chairs, sweaters, suitable beverages, and in my case, some burley or Navy flake pipe tobacco and a churchwarden pipe.

Ah! The joys of retirement.

Posted by: JTB at November 10, 2024 11:07 AM (yTvNw)

221 ...the legend of the fall is told by small groups of traveling minstrels performing puppet shows.
-------
There was a short story in the There Will Be War anthologies about a man from our timeline who ends up in a timeline where the Cuban Missile Crisis led to WW3.

He arrives unconscious and when searching his pockets the locals find a Kennedy dime, remarking along the lines of, "That bastard is minting his own coinage now? Last I heard he was holed up in a bunker screwing all of the secretaries."

Someone remarks about "Elvis Presley, I saw him play before the war, playing for food. Boy, was he ever skinny."

I can't remember the rest though.

Posted by: andycanuck (hovnC) at November 10, 2024 11:09 AM (hovnC)

222 @204 I want those pants

Hearing that as Ralph Richardson The Boss in Things To Come:
"I want those planes!"

Posted by: Way,Way Downriver at November 10, 2024 11:10 AM (zdLoL)

223 Andycanuck: I vaguely remember a story like the one you describe, but may not be the same one. In the one I'm thinking of, there was a nuclear war, not an extinction-level one, but life is definitely harder in the US even in the 1980s. But stuff starts . . . leaking. Kids start dressing up as a bad man named Darth Vader. People start getting obsessed with a musician named Elvis Presley, who's still alive, playing roadhouses because there aren't big concert venues.

Since I can't remember who it's by, it's probably by Harry Turtledove.

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 10, 2024 11:13 AM (78a2H)

224 I finally read Frankenstein. I get why it became popular, but, damn that is a lot of words to say absolutely nothing.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at November 10, 2024 11:14 AM (IG4Id)

225 Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein when she was still in her teens. She was the original Goth Chick, and she wrote it to impress her boyfriend -- and more importantly to impress her boyfriend's really cool friend Byron. So it's not surprising that she overdid it.

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 10, 2024 11:15 AM (78a2H)

226 I finally read Frankenstein. I get why it became popular, but, damn that is a lot of words to say absolutely nothing.
Posted by: weft cut-loop at November 10, 2024

***
I've never been able to finish it that I remember. Oh, I might have struggled through to the end -- is there something about the very articulate monster saying he will float away to the Arctic on an ice floe? ( I don't think I'm giving anything away.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 10, 2024 11:16 AM (omVj0)

227 This week I picked up Hitler's Scientists by John Cornwell, JFK and PT109 by Richard Tregaskis and two big illustrated books on WW2 aircraft. Out a whole $11.00 on those purchases.
I stumped my local expert on military hardware with my first plane to get guns in the wings question. I expect an answer here shortly.

Posted by: Reforger at November 10, 2024 11:17 AM (xcIvR)

228 Before Christie's A Murder Is Announced, I read the 1940 The Patriotic Murders, aka One, Two, Buckle My Shoe. Poirot in the opening chapter is doing something that I doubt I've ever seen another fictional detective do: going to his dentist. The dentist is murdered, and the search for the killer winds through subplots, all well designed, to a final solution by Poirot that displays all the fairly-presented clues and what they mean. Not as strong a character story as the Miss Marple, but well done.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 10, 2024 11:19 AM (omVj0)

229 I've never been able to finish it that I remember. Oh, I might have struggled through to the end -- is there something about the very articulate monster saying he will float away to the Arctic on an ice floe? ( I don't think I'm giving anything away.)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius

SPOILERS~!~!!!!

Yes, but he said he was going to self-delete on a funeral pyre as well.

The interesting thing was the jerks on the internet claiming that he was never called 'monster.' He, the Monster, referred to himself as 'monster' at least once, and Franky called him fiend, wretch, daemon, and devil. That's pretty much why I bothered...

Posted by: weft cut-loop at November 10, 2024 11:21 AM (IG4Id)

230 227 This week I picked up Hitler's Scientists by John Cornwell,

Now that I type that out I'm pretty sure I own it already. Have to take a look.

Posted by: Reforger at November 10, 2024 11:21 AM (xcIvR)

231 Popping back in while Lore Machine cranks away.

Are you in Camarillo?
Posted by: LASue at November 10, 2024 10:45 AM (hdy+0)

Fallbrook.

My favorite postapocalyptic novel will always be Russell Hoban's "Ridley Walker."
...
Posted by: Mr Gaga at November 10, 2024 11:01 AM (ZtgZZ)

Thank you, in the cart.

Posted by: Candidus at November 10, 2024 11:21 AM (grzzz)

232 Mr. Gaga, another upvote for Riddley Walker.

This is a good edition, because it features a glossary.

https://is.gd/KSIGzL

Also, ( I've linked this before ) this is a fantastic reference for library sales:

https://booksalefinder.com/

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at November 10, 2024 11:22 AM (PiwSw)

233 I've started a book that I may not finish or even make it to my self-imposed "Read 100 pages of any book I start" rule.

The book is: "Let the Dog Drive" by David Bowman.
It's billed as an askew detective novel, and sounded like my kind of thing.

So far, the book has failed to catch my interest. I guess the main problem is the "everybody is wacky" syndrome. Almost no one behaves as a human might or even speaks as one...constantly. It's also very twee, which I can tolerate if a story is not too heavily scattered with it. And it has all the weaknesses of a road novel, and none of the strengths.

"Everybody is wacky" is a tough gig to pull off. "Catch-22" does it by grounding the wackiness in emotions and motivations we're all familiar with.

And I understand the desire to make every page interesting or fun for the reader, I, too believe that that is the responsibility of an author and employed that sentiment when writing my book, but there's lots of ways to do that. Unexpected twists, unusual descriptions, varying sentence structure, unexpected jumps in logic or action, sudden anger, sexiness, disappointment, etc. Just throwing some illogical crap against the page (cont)

Posted by: naturalfake at November 10, 2024 11:27 AM (eDfFs)

234 Current book is a British mystery from 1957, Untimely Death by Cyril Hare. It features Francis Pettigrew, apparently his series character, stumbling across a corpse in almost the exact spot on a moor where as a boy he was terrified by finding another dead man -- one who was never identified, or at least Francis thinks so as the story opens. This is a quiet, mannered sort of tale, at first anyway.

Apparently Hare wrote at least eight other mysteries. This is the first I've tried.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 10, 2024 11:27 AM (omVj0)

235 (cont)

doesn't get it done.

Ah, well...I'll go ahead and get to 100 and see if I settle into the author's style. or if the author starts actually bringing some plot into the mix and catches my interest, instead of bombarding me with cloying wackiness.

Rant off.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 10, 2024 11:29 AM (eDfFs)

236 Current book is a British mystery from 1957, Untimely Death by Cyril Hare. It features Francis Pettigrew, apparently his series character, stumbling across a corpse in almost the exact spot on a moor where as a boy he was terrified by finding another dead man -- one who was never identified, or at least Francis thinks so as the story opens.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius

Sounds like 9 out of 10 BBC mystery shows circa 2010.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at November 10, 2024 11:30 AM (IG4Id)

237 Fun fact:

"50 Shades of Grey is best-selling book of all time

Fifty Shades of Grey has become the best-selling book in Britain since records began, surpassing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with sales of 5.3 million copies."

https://tinyurl.com/2mpaun9d
Posted by: Moron Robbie

More proof of British degeneracy. As if we needed more.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, The Outlaw Donald Trump 2024 at November 10, 2024 11:31 AM (L/fGl)

238 Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife repeats the canard that the Christian church was hostile to the number zero and even tried to ban it. That's an urban legend. Roman numerals don't have a symbol for zero, but plenty of people used one and no one raised an eyebrow.

Posted by: Jim S. at November 10, 2024 11:33 AM (WELHW)

239 I don't know, Trimegistus.

And was there no JFK coin other than the ¢50 piece??

I'm sure they found a Kennedy coin in his pockets but a low-circulation, somewhat-archaic ¢50 piece doesn't sound likely.

But my memory is crappy nowadays, not helped by the lockdowns here, IMHO.

Posted by: andycanuck (hovnC) at November 10, 2024 11:34 AM (hovnC)

240 "Riddley Walker" is a great novel of the barely English but understandable vocabulary type.

Another one would be "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess with all the Nadset slang.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 10, 2024 11:36 AM (eDfFs)

241 Willingness to be disliked.

-
Theme song.

https://is.gd/cFktnv

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, The Outlaw Donald Trump 2024 at November 10, 2024 11:37 AM (L/fGl)

242 Poirot in the opening chapter is doing something that I doubt I've ever seen another fictional detective do: going to his dentist.
-----
Well, he was a gumshoe of sorts.

Posted by: andycanuck (hovnC) at November 10, 2024 11:37 AM (hovnC)

243 I got plenty of zero and zero's plenty for me.

Posted by: George and Ira Gershwin at November 10, 2024 11:39 AM (L/fGl)

244 I fucking HATE Terry Pratchett as a person. He's also over-rated as a writer. Some of his books are ok, but he's forgettable, like most atheists authors, he's empty and hollow inside.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, buy ammo, food, water at November 10, 2024 11:39 AM (xcxpd)

245 . . . Another one would be "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess with all the Nadset slang.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 10, 2024

***
The paperback edition I tried in the mid-'70s did not have a glossary of the slang. Burgess throws so many neologisms/slang terms at you so fast -- and doesn't wait for you to figure out the first ten from context before he tosses out another ten -- that even I, a dedicated SF fan, gave up. Maybe I could get through it now. Or are there editions with a glossary?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 10, 2024 11:40 AM (omVj0)

246 240 "Riddley Walker" is a great novel of the barely English but understandable vocabulary type.

Another one would be "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess with all the Nadset slang.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 10, 2024 11:36 AM (eDfFs)

"Riddley Walker" is one of the recommended novels in Anthony Burgess's "99 Novels: The Best in English Since 1939".

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at November 10, 2024 11:42 AM (PiwSw)

247 The editions of Clockwork Orange that I've seen all had a glossary, and even with that the book was quite a slog until I absorbed enough of Burgess's terminology.

Can't imagine getting through more than a chapter of that book without the glossary.
'

Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 10, 2024 11:44 AM (q3u5l)

248 Another one would be "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess with all the Nadset slang.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 10, 2024

***
The paperback edition I tried in the mid-'70s did not have a glossary of the slang. Burgess throws so many neologisms/slang terms at you so fast -- and doesn't wait for you to figure out the first ten from context before he tosses out another ten -- that even I, a dedicated SF fan, gave up. Maybe I could get through it now. Or are there editions with a glossary?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 10, 2024 11:40 AM (omVj0)

I've seen glossaries of Nadset online so even if you can't find a book with one. You can print one out pretty easily.

I had the advantage of having taken Russian in high school, so I recognized the slang terms almost right off the bat. Super easy, barely an inconvenience.

I'd definitely recommend reading "ACO". Great novel.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 10, 2024 11:45 AM (eDfFs)

249 Imagination.
Focus.
Grit.
Willingness to be disliked.

Four traits of a great company founder, and of a political leader?

It would be nice to have a single word for for the last trait.
Posted by: Candidus

Trumpy?

Posted by: George and Ira Gershwin at November 10, 2024 11:45 AM (L/fGl)

250 The editions of Clockwork Orange that I've seen all had a glossary, and even with that the book was quite a slog until I absorbed enough of Burgess's terminology.

Can't imagine getting through more than a chapter of that book without the glossary.
'
Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 10, 2024

***
That's about all I managed!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 10, 2024 11:45 AM (omVj0)

251 Wolfus, here you go:

https://is.gd/dsLEyv

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at November 10, 2024 11:45 AM (PiwSw)

252 Or are there editions with a glossary?

The mid-70s were a long time ago so I could be misremembering but I think the paperback that I read in high school had one.

Posted by: Oddbob at November 10, 2024 11:46 AM (/y8xj)

253 As for books, oddly for being on vacation in Miami, I ended up reading a lot as the wife didn't like being outside in the heat. I finished up two David Gemmell books (Midnight Falcon and the Sword in the Storm), two of his Rigante books. He is...overly fond of Scots/Celts as a society but he was a DAMN fine heroic fantasy writer. The Sword in the Storm is also structured interestingly, could make for a good model for other novels.

I abandoned C. J. Cherryh's Foreigner as she likes to write her male characters as if they were passive, emotional women and writers her female characters as if they were men. But...lesbian author...you kinda have to expect that. But I don't like characters like that, so likely going to strike her from my library.

Read some Josephine Tey as well. Damn good writer but not a great MYSTERY writer though that's how she's categorized. Most of her mysteries...aren't mysteries. As in there's no mystery, no twists or turns. Most of her stories are all about the 'detective' (sometimes literally, sometimes amateur) just proving their pet theory, gathering evidence for their immediate impulsive belief. She's worth study as for her character work, however.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, buy ammo, food, water at November 10, 2024 11:47 AM (xcxpd)

254 242 Poirot in the opening chapter is doing something that I doubt I've ever seen another fictional detective do: going to his dentist.
-----
Well, he was a gumshoe of sorts.
Posted by: andycanuck (hovnC) at November 10, 2024 11:37 AM (h

Christie had murdered dentists, helpful dentists and a dentist murderer. It's a common profession in her books.

Posted by: long night ending, dawn in January at November 10, 2024 11:50 AM (2NXcZ)

255 Well, annoying household tasks are rearing their exasperating heads, so...

Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.

Have a good one, gang.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at November 10, 2024 11:51 AM (q3u5l)

256 Posted by: naturalfake at November 10, 2024 11:27 AM (eDfFs)

ugly ending IIRC

Posted by: long night ending, dawn in January at November 10, 2024 11:52 AM (2NXcZ)

257 34 A Newton is a gooey, chewy, fig bar. Wake up, Morons!

That is just a Fig Newton of your imagination

Posted by: PMRich at November 10, 2024 11:52 AM (eh5ud)

258 Read some Josephine Tey as well. Damn good writer but not a great MYSTERY writer though that's how she's categorized. Most of her mysteries...aren't mysteries. As in there's no mystery, no twists or turns. Most of her stories are all about the 'detective' (sometimes literally, sometimes amateur) just proving their pet theory, gathering evidence for their immediate impulsive belief. She's worth study as for her character work, however.
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, buy ammo, food, water at November 10, 2024

***
Yes; you're left with a wonderful flavor after finishing one of hers, but you're not in awe of her cleverness or brilliance in mystery plotting. She's no Carr, Christie, or Queen. Her last novel, The Singing Sands, is a wonderful story with some plot surprises and good detective work by her Inspector Grant . . . who as the book opens is on leave with a bad case of *claustrophobia.* An early (1952?) example of the modern mystery trope, the hero with a serious emotional problem who must work through it during the course of the story.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 10, 2024 11:53 AM (omVj0)

259 “Students have to write a persuasive review of this book explaining to me why it's the very best science book they've ever read--without actually reading it.l

That is just the weird kind of assignment that makes me want to read a book.

Posted by: PMRich at November 10, 2024 11:54 AM (eh5ud)

260 I too have some chores to handle before I crash for a bit. Thanks to the Perfessor and all of you for a fascinating Book Thread!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 10, 2024 11:54 AM (omVj0)

261 Kind of interesting that Russell Hoban, who wrote Riddley Walker, may be better known as the author of the "Frances the badger" childrens' books.

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 10, 2024 11:55 AM (78a2H)

262 Sad again. It's that awful thing again. The end of the book thread. Thanks, Perfessor.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at November 10, 2024 11:56 AM (qXLrt)

263 16
'I'm interested to see how he handles the Gallipoli fiasco.

I'm firmly in Churchill's corner on that topic. My West Point History of WW I gets it exactly wrong'

It was a tremendous idea. Unfortunately, Amphibious landings were so difficult and the British hadn't developed the tactics and equipment needed yet.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at November 10, 2024 11:56 AM (3wi/L)

264 Posted by: naturalfake at November 10, 2024 11:27 AM (eDfFs)

ugly ending IIRC
Posted by: long night ending, dawn in January at November 10, 2024 11:52 AM (2NXcZ)

Well...that's disappointing to hear.

It's not like I need another reason to quit "Let the Dog Drive".

*sigh* Well, I'll see how finishing my 100 page minimum works out.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 10, 2024 11:58 AM (eDfFs)

265 Money laundering. Do you know anyone who read Michelle's shitty tome, or Barr's, or Pence's 4M masterpiece?
Posted by: long night ending, dawn

Prospective title for Michelle's next book: Listen Fool!

Posted by: George and Ira Gershwin at November 10, 2024 11:58 AM (L/fGl)

266 I like some Pratchett books better than others, and there are some I haven't got to yet.

But I do notice one thing which I suspect may be part of his commercial success: he flatters women. Compare his female to his male characters. Note the things which characters say about men and women.

He knows who his main customers are, so he lays it on with a trowel.

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 10, 2024 11:59 AM (78a2H)

267 Always heard before the landings happened very well then they went nowhere and could have ran miles inland due to light resistance. Then the resistance hardened and that was the end.

Posted by: Skip at November 10, 2024 11:59 AM (fwDg9)

268 265 Money laundering. Do you know anyone who read Michelle's shitty tome, or Barr's, or Pence's 4M masterpiece?
Posted by: long night ending, dawn

Prospective title for Michelle's next book: Listen Fool!
Posted by: George and Ira Gershwin at November 10, 2024 11:58 AM (L/fGl)

And I know who can write the perfect Foreword.

Posted by: Mr. T. at November 10, 2024 11:59 AM (PiwSw)

269 Final note before I go rake: think the Dems will put up Mooch in 2028? Or have they finally realized that you can't rely on the Historic First card any more?

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 10, 2024 12:00 PM (78a2H)

270 NOOD.

Posted by: Nazdar at November 10, 2024 12:00 PM (9XWKq)

271 WE HAZ A NOOD

Posted by: Skip at November 10, 2024 12:01 PM (fwDg9)

272 Good Morning from the Land of Fruits and Nuts (40% of whom voted for Trump!). I would ~totally~ wear those pants, especially while sipping my morning coffee and reading the Sunday Book Thread!

Now, back to the Content...

Posted by: March Hare at November 10, 2024 12:04 PM (jfX+U)

273 Somebody here recommended a book called "In the Footsteps of Sheep: Tales of a Journey through Scotland, Walking, Spinning, and Knitting Socks," so I picked it up. Almost finished with it, and I like it a lot. The story would appeal not only to knitters and crafters, but also to those who enjoy camping in rugged areas. The offbeat characters that the narrator meets along the way are the best part of her story.

Posted by: Linnet at November 10, 2024 12:05 PM (8gjt3)

274 the British hadn't developed the tactics and equipment needed yet.

Just so, and at the risk of sounding like those officers at the end of A Bridge Too Far, after my third capital ship had hit a mine and sunk, I'd have rethought that part of the supply chain, I think.

Posted by: Way,Way Downriver at November 10, 2024 12:05 PM (zdLoL)

275 Just re-read "The Butcher's Boy," by Thomas Perry ... a superb job of making you root for the assassin.

Posted by: CarlosinIdaho at November 10, 2024 12:07 PM (vfsyj)

276 It seems like the bookshelf pants should be among the required attire.

Posted by: rando in the stacks at November 10, 2024 12:08 PM (H0YeO)

277 'I'm interested to see how he handles the Gallipoli fiasco

Fiasco?

Posted by: Kemal Atat�rk at November 10, 2024 12:11 PM (L1omb)

278 Squirrel,

I wanted to say thanks for many great recommendations over the years, I can't keep up with the comments but I do read all the posts.

I'm about 8 books deep into the Sandman Slim series and I've enjoyed it, it's getting a little repetitive though so I may put it down for a while. I am a binge reader but sometimes reading a series back-to-back-back will skew the opinion.

Posted by: Pupster at November 10, 2024 12:17 PM (DuqHK)

279 Mad Magazine was one of the formative influences of my childhood and its irreverent humor is a national treasure.

Ditto. Also Pogo comic strips (1948-1975) and compilations. My Dad read from the compilations to me on our family's road trips; and I eventually got my own set, later parceled out to my sons.

A few year ago, middle son gifted me the first volume of a coffee-table series, Pogo, The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips. Looks like they're up to volume 8 now. Better save up my monies.

Posted by: Philip at November 10, 2024 12:24 PM (Ap4Nn)

280 Trimegistus,

About the flattery in Pritchett books...

Go read a couple with the Witches in it and get back to me.

Posted by: pawn at November 10, 2024 01:20 PM (QB+5g)

281 "On a bumpy flight years ago a stewardess gave me a pamphlet on Jews sports legends.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at November 10, 2024 09:13 AM (llXky)"

Side Note:. BYU is 9-0 this year. Their QB is Jewish. His brother is a wide receiver for Colorado State-Pueblo. (Their aumt is a friend of mine)

Posted by: March Hare at November 10, 2024 01:33 PM (jfX+U)

282 I fucking HATE Terry Pratchett as a person. He's also over-rated as a writer. Some of his books are ok, but he's forgettable, like most atheists authors, he's empty and hollow inside.
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, buy ammo, food, water at November 10, 2024 11:39 AM (xcxpd)

I tried to read Pratchett's and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens recently and gave up on it. I wasn't in the mood for Satanic nuns, a bumbling angel and a snarky demon trying to find the misplaced child Anti-Christ.

Since we have real-live Minions of Satan determined to provide Moloch the blood of the innocents, that book wasn't the escape fiction I was looking for.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at November 10, 2024 03:22 PM (pJWtt)

283 Regarding Sir Isaac Newton and particularly the comment #141, an entertaining and educational read is "Newton And The Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist" by Thomas Levenson, 2009. It tells the story of Newton's work as Warden of the Royal Mint. It focuses on his years long pursuit of a genius counterfeiter (who is horrified when he slowly realizes that with Newton he is up against a man who is as much smarter than himself than he is than the ordinary Royal official).

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at November 10, 2024 04:30 PM (aYnHS)

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