Sunday Morning Book Thread - 3-30-2025 ["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 (HT: Dash my lace wigs). 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...(includes 3 replacement anvil zippers)

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?

Congratulations to Wolfus Aurelius on his impending official retirement from the drudgery of WORK. More time for reading!

Congratulations to Madame Mayhem (uppity wench) for Leveling Up and becoming an official grandmother! Now with 25% more uppitiness!

PIC NOTE

Working at a university means I get to encounter a lot of weird artifacts while wandering around the hallways. From time to time, professors will put out tables or shelves of stuff labeled "FREE!" Most of the time, it's just junk, but sometimes you find an interesting item or two. The pic above is from a rather large volume of monographs from the United States Geological Survey, printed in 1904. Just imagine the amount of effort that was put into creating such a massive tome at that time. It did not weather the decades very well, though, as the spine is held together with packing tape and most of the contents have separated from the binding. You do have to have a delicate touch to turn the pages in this book, or many of them are likely to fall out.

MILESTONE - 1,500+ MORON RECOMMENDATIONS!

I have not been keeping track of the Moron recommendations for the past several months, but I had some time at work and I was bored, so I decided to catch up and add Moron Recommendations to the Libib catalog. Lo and behold, I discovered that we had surpassed a significant milestone, as the repository now contains over 1,500 books! Congratulations to all of you who have contributed to this repository. It gives all Morons--lurkers and commenters alike--a way to find new books to read that might suit their tastes. It's also a demonstration of the sheer breadth and depth of our reading habits, as virtually every genre imaginable is represented in some fashion. Here are the top contributors:

Thomas Paine - 92 recommendations

All Hail Eris - 87

Zoltan - 85

Wolfus Aurelius - 67

JTB - 51

Trimegistus - 47

Dash my lace wigs - 45

Ace-endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd - 37

Nacly Dog - 33

TIED: Kindltot and Weak Geek - 31 each

Honorable Mention: Sharkman (30)

For any Morons out there who are looking for something to read, try the AoSHQ - Book Thread Moron Recommendations! If you can't find something there, you ain't trying hard enough!

++++++++++

++++++++++

COMFORT READING

I would like to offer a suggestion for an upcoming book thread, Perfesser Squirrel/
Books that we have read before and return to again because they're like the book version of a comfort food and we enjoyed them so much, but maybe men don't return to books over again?
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 28, 2025 06:44 AM (Edj++)

We've discussed "comfort reading" before but it's a topic worth revisiting from time to time. When times are tough, it can be helpful to turn to books that scratch a particular itch, where we feel most comforted. I have quite a few books and series that I will read again and again and again. Not necessarily because they are great literature--some of them can be quite trashy--but because I just like them. Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series is one I can reread endlessly. It's a very long series and it has sufficient complexity and depth to keep me entertained for many, many hours. P.C. Hodgell's Chronicles of the Kencyrath is another such series, as is Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. I also enjoy rereading Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Since there is only a loose chronology connecting them, I can dive in at any point and enjoy those books without feeling I need to read them in any particular order.

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

I took The Inimitable Jeeves (original title: Jeeves) with me on vacation but didn't open it until after we got home, and even then didn't get into it until yesterday.
It's the usual early 1920s mixture of Bertie Wooster struggling to deal with foolish friends, flighty females, and domineering dames, led by irascible Aunt Agatha. Good thing he has Jeeves to bail him out -- except during this imbroglio, Jeeves has gone on vacation ...
I enjoy Wodehouse, particularly Bertie's then-contemporary slang, but I can't comprehend some of it. When context doesn't help, I say that life is too short to let those instances pause me, and charge on through. Doesn't dim my pleasure a bit.
Posted by: Weak Geek at March 23, 2025 09:09 AM (p/isN)

Comment: As I've been reading older literature recently (e.g., Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie, and Arthur Conan Doyle), I've noticed that I sometimes have to look up terms and phrases to be sure I understand them correctly. In the case of Holmes and Christie, their stories are very, very British, so I'm sure that as an American I'm missing out on a lot of context that would be immediately recognizable to their contemporary British readers.

+++++

Re: F. Paul Wilson. The first book I read by him was The Keep; essentially Nazis vs. Dracula in a medieval fortress. Great book, made into a mediocre (although sometimes interesting) movie. The next book I read was The Tomb, first of the Repairman Jack series. Great book, although it wasn't clearly going to lead to a series, since it wasn't obvious that Jack was going to survive the book. Highly recommended.
Posted by: Disillusionist at March 23, 2025 11:23 AM (rsMc/)

Comment: The Repairman Jack series is another one of those "comfort reads" even though the stories are decidedly bleak. As the series progresses, Jack's "fixes" grow increasingly bizarre and more challenging, especially when his path is set for him at the end of the series. "No coincidences" becomes his mantra at that point. There is a noticeable shift in Jack's character between The Tomb and the next book in the series, Legacies. Jack does carry the scars from The Tomb throughout his subsequent adventures, and it becomes a plot point here and there, as the physical scars he carries from that adventure react in the presence of the "Otherness."

+++++

To cleanse my palate and get me back to a more normal place, I turned to one of my endlessly-re-readable standbys, Tim Powers' The Drawing of the Dark, which I love.
Posted by: Splunge at March 23, 2025 11:26 AM (ju/6W)

Comment: One of my college buddies recommended The Drawing of the Dark to me many, many years ago. I have read it a couple of times and liked it. Who knew that beer had such mystical properties?

MORE MORON RECOMMENDATIONS CAN BE FOUND HERE: AoSHQ - Book Thread Recommendations

+-----+-----+-----+-----+

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.

The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

I've continued to work my way through this doorstopper of a book (1,077 pages). I just finished The Hound of the Baskervilles and am now in The Valley of Fear. Only two more short story collections--His Last Bow and The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes--and I will be finished!

UPDATE: I finished The Valley of Fear this morning...

The Dark Descent edited by David G. Hartwell

As with Sherlock Holmes, I'm slowly working my way through this doorstopper as well (1,011 pages). I'm nearly finished with the middle section, which includes such classic stories as H.P. Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls," William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," and "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I'd read that last one may years ago in high school. I had forgotten how weird it gets at the end. Good stuff. This book was recommended by multiple Morons last week, so if you are looking for a great anthology of horror stories, this is one you might want to pick up!

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 3-23-2025 (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. To help you remain tranquil in the face of almost certain death, smooth jazz will be deployed, in three...two...one...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Tolle Lege

Posted by: Skip at March 30, 2025 09:00 AM (2ovuE)

2 Morning, Perfessor.

Howdy, Horde.

And now to the content...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at March 30, 2025 09:00 AM (q3u5l)

3 Good Sunday Morning, book freaks!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 30, 2025 09:01 AM (kpS4V)

4 Those pants better be flameproof, crushproof, and earthquakeproof.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 30, 2025 09:03 AM (kpS4V)

5 I'm inching my way through Don Quixote. Lots of words in that book.

Posted by: Northernlurker , Maple Syrup MAGA at March 30, 2025 09:03 AM (kTd/k)

6 Nothing.

Posted by: Louis Bourbon, July 14, 1789 at March 30, 2025 09:03 AM (0eaVi)

7 There's an interesting secret history behind the novel The Drawing of the Dark. Back in the late 80s a new publisher (don't remember who -- Laser books, maybe?) was trying to do an interesting project: a series of novels about King Arthur returning in different times and places through history. Tim Powers wrote one, set in the 17th century, and K.W. Jeter wrote one set in the Victorian era. Then the publisher folded so both were left with their books to peddle elsewhere. Powers's book became Drawing of the Dark, and Jeter's became Morlock Night -- which is one of the foundational books of the "steampunk" subgenre.

Constraints inspire creativity.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 30, 2025 09:04 AM (78a2H)

8 Besides dutifully calling
Finished Suzanna Rabow-Edling's The First Russian Revolution, the Decembrests Revolt of 2025
A very good account and First telling of what happened to the revolutionaries after the revolt fell apart. Getting sent to exile isn't as much fun as I thought yet tolerable I guess. If leg shackles don't bother you much.

Posted by: Skip at March 30, 2025 09:04 AM (2ovuE)

9 I think Eris' ranking needs some sort of asterisk since 99% of her books are about Nazi moon bases and hollow earth-flying zeppelins.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 09:05 AM (ZOv7s)

10 Good Sunday morning, horde!

*checks calendar to be sure it's really Sunday this time

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at March 30, 2025 09:05 AM (h7ZuX)

11 Well, I didn't expect Road Runner and Coyote jodphurs when I got up this morning.

Posted by: JTB at March 30, 2025 09:05 AM (yTvNw)

12 This week I finished the first book of Martha Wells's _Murderbot_ series. Recommended -- in fact it's much better than I expected when I bought it.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 30, 2025 09:05 AM (78a2H)

13 Speaking of geological surveys, some Moron ref'd "The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology", which is now atop my TBR ziggurat.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 30, 2025 09:06 AM (kpS4V)

14 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading. Mine was excellent but episodic.

Posted by: JTB at March 30, 2025 09:06 AM (yTvNw)

15 Hello on a Sunday, Book Folken! I'm flattered to see that my recommendations have made the Perfessor's top ten. I had no idea he was totaling these up!

The Valley of Fear is a neat work by Doyle, one of the most imaginative plots he ever concocted. John Dickson Carr included it in his proposed Ten of the Best Detective Novels anthology, and Ellery Queen (the authors) used an essential plot element from it as the basis for manhy of their early "thunderbolt surprise" novels.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 09:06 AM (omVj0)

16 Rereading Michael Connelly while on vacation, as one does

Posted by: Huck Follywood at March 30, 2025 09:08 AM (wL597)

17 9 I think Eris' ranking needs some sort of asterisk since 99% of her books are about Nazi moon bases and hollow earth-flying zeppelins.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 09:05 AM (ZOv7s)
---

Because Nazi/Reptilican hybrid space zeppelin armadas are on the move! Wake up sheeple!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 30, 2025 09:08 AM (kpS4V)

18 Where’s your hat, Perfesser?

Posted by: Eromero at March 30, 2025 09:09 AM (p4vtc)

19 Somewhere around here I have a monograph. Details theory and ppliction of building electrical analog computers to model building behavior during earthquakes.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at March 30, 2025 09:09 AM (/lPRQ)

20 Pondering getting another book on Russian history The Russian Nobility in Age of Alexander I by Patrick O'Meara

Posted by: Skip at March 30, 2025 09:10 AM (2ovuE)

21 Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" has taken on several lives of its own. I've seen it interpreted as a horror story, an examination of schizophrenia, and even a "proto-feminist" work (!). Personally I'd prefer the first two routes. It's quite a good tale in any case.

This week I picked up a 1996 paperback edition of Ray Bradbury's collection The October Country. Just now I finished the story called "Skeleton." I must have read it years ago, because the last line has echoed in my brain ever since.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 09:10 AM (omVj0)

22 I continue with Malcolm Guite's Word in the Wilderness as a Lent and Easter devotional. The poems he chose and his observations continue to be inspirational.

Posted by: JTB at March 30, 2025 09:10 AM (yTvNw)

23 The Importance of Real Things by Ted Katina:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J0DzXAx9qjI

Objects are anchors in time with personal associations, and the medium each uses to impart information has its own pace and rhythm. Reading a print book is a different experience than looking at a screen; it has sight, touch, and smell. The act of taking a record from its sleeve, placing it on the turntable, and gently lowering the needle is more of a ceremony than just poking through one's iPhone library. I use analog and digital and like both, but it's a different headspace, man.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 30, 2025 09:10 AM (kpS4V)

24 Yay Book Thread!

Still working through Bulfinch, just finished The Odyssey. Once again, no real good guys, gods are limited, irrational, petulant and vindictive, though there are some rules we might think of as moral. These are haphazardly enforced, however and mercy is a rare thing.

Since I had a medical procedure, I picked up Graham Greene's A Burnt-Out Case, because it was portable and easy to read. It is now at my bedside because it is about 1/10 the weight and volume of Bulfinch.

I undertook a side-quest to re-read Steven Zaloga's book on the Battle of Warsaw in 1920. Zaloga is pretty well known for his revisionist work on armor, but here he gets to dig into a larger narrative.

I have to say I dislike the new Osprey book format with tiny type and thin arrows on bland maps. There's a lot of white space on the page, maybe increase the font from 6 to 7 point?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 09:10 AM (ZOv7s)

25 >>>PIC NOTE

You've been hanging around CBD for too long. Pic is rotated 90°.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at March 30, 2025 09:11 AM (klJTj)

26 I think you can have too many hollow earth books with space nazis

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at March 30, 2025 09:11 AM (bXbFr)

27 11 Well, I didn't expect Road Runner and Coyote jodphurs when I got up this morning.
Posted by: JTB at March 30, 2025 09:05 AM (yTvNw)

Indeed! I would consider wearing those, just to go to the grocery store and get some attention.

What I really like about them is that they make me wonder about who wore them, who drew the characters on them, in what circumstances and situations.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at March 30, 2025 09:11 AM (h7ZuX)

28 I see Apple TV has made a series based on the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Starts in the middle of May. Hoping and praying they don't mess it up.

Posted by: Tuna at March 30, 2025 09:12 AM (lJ0H4)

29 I see Apple TV has made a series based on the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Starts in the middle of May. Hoping and praying they don't mess it up.
Posted by: Tuna at March 30, 2025 09:12 AM (lJ0H4)
---
A positive sign is that the fired the chick who had been screwing everything up. How many billions did she waste? How many can't-miss properties with vast, built-in audiences did she trash? One of history's greatest cinematic monsters.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 09:14 AM (ZOv7s)

30 HP Lovecraft mentioned "The Yellow Wallpaper" in his landmark essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature." He recognized it as a masterful depiction of madness and an evocation of horror. But because Charlotte Gilman was a suffragette, and because feminists have to ruin everything, the story gets reinterpreted as a feminist screed, and the main character's obvious insanity gets reinterpreted as the standard feminist victimhood fantasy. Sigh. So read the story if you can find it, but NEVER read the introductions.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 30, 2025 09:15 AM (78a2H)

31 Last night I finished Ransom Riggs's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. It's a fantasy novel involving kids with extra-sensory abilities like the X-Men. One can develop actual flame from her hands; one can make any kind of flower or grass grow swiftly; another can levitate; one is invisible. Their teacher, the Miss Peregrine of the title, is "special" too. The sixteen-year-old narrator encounters them as he hunts for information about his late grandfather's mysterious life.

There's action and good visuals -- you can see why it took off as a best-seller and has been made into a movie. And while this installment of the story has a climax, Riggs sets it up to provide a sequel that makes sense. Interesting stuff.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 09:15 AM (omVj0)

32 One of my comfort reads is not a book but is instrad a chapter from the book. I refer to "The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli. (That's probably misspelled, but the book is downstairs.)

The chapter addresses the mistakes that the French king made after he moved into the Lombardy region. This sticks with me because I envison how different Europe would have looked had the king been able to hold Lombardy.

As someone who loves the board game Diplomacy -- although I haven't played it since college -- I like rearranging Europe's national boundaries.

For comfort books, the Myth-Adventures and Matt Helm.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 30, 2025 09:17 AM (p/isN)

33 "The Inimitable Jeeves" (original title: "Jeeves") includes one of my favorite Wodehouse stories, "The Great Sermon Handicap." The lads are in a village that offers nothing for a chap with sporting blood. So one takes wagers on which parson in the area will preach the longest sermon on a specific Sunday. Bertie plans to salt it away by asking one entrant, whom he knew from his student days, to repeat his lecture on "Brotherly Love" -- which runs about 55 minutes. (The preachers are unaware of the contest.) But other bettors have their own schemes.

I'm going to show this to our pastor -- but I hope he doesn't take it as a hint to extend his sermons!

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 30, 2025 09:17 AM (p/isN)

34 Has anyone seen a recent survey (or any at all) that gives an average number of books read per year by age group?

Or maybe proxy, like "90% of books are bought by 10% of the population by year " study?

Read a story, the usual, college grads are functionaly illiterate. Not just poor reading, spelling and grammar skills, but completely unable to read a book and summarize it after.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at March 30, 2025 09:17 AM (NwfFc)

35 Having read the book but not seen the series, I'm a little puzzled about how one would adapt it to TV. One of the primary strengths of the book is Murderbot's narration and the glimpses of how it thinks and the quasi-emotions it feels. How you would show that on screen is a mystery to me -- seems like you'd wind up with a show about an emotionally detached, extremely private and paranoid being who won't stop telling people how it feels and what it's thinking.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 30, 2025 09:18 AM (78a2H)

36 I've discovered James Lee Swagger!

Posted by: Mr Gaga at March 30, 2025 09:18 AM (KiBMU)

37 At Mass on Tuesday (the Solemnity of St. Joseph), I was interested to see that Father Gordon's homily included a digression that highlighted the difference between the true God and the Greek gods. A man after my own heart!

For those who may have forgotten, my reading of Bulfinch is part of a larger literary effort centered around the Nephilim and Atlantis. No firm timeline on when I start actual writing, but I do have a few earlier abandoned works set aside for incorporation into the project.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 09:19 AM (ZOv7s)

38 Good morning morons and thank you perfessor

Posted by: San Franpsycho at March 30, 2025 09:19 AM (RIvkX)

39 But because Charlotte Gilman was a suffragette, and because feminists have to ruin everything, the story gets reinterpreted as a feminist screed, and the main character's obvious insanity gets reinterpreted as the standard feminist victimhood fantasy. Sigh. So read the story if you can find it, but NEVER read the introductions.
Posted by: Trimegistus at March 30, 2025

***
At the independent bookstore I visited this week, I saw a hardback collection of Gilman's stories with "Yellow Wallpaper" in it. It's still out there after more than 125 years.

Yes, skip the introductions or "explications" of the story. The "madness/horror" lens works just fine for it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 09:20 AM (omVj0)

40 I think I read that story, People's Hippo. It said *apart from genre fiction* the kidz don't read much of anything.

Which made me squirm a bit, but at least as a kid, young adult, and grownup I devoured a ton of history as well.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 30, 2025 09:20 AM (kpS4V)

41 I use analog and digital and like both, but it's a different headspace, man.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 30, 2025 09:10 AM (kpS4V)

Fu**in' A. I like it that he presents his message about real things via youtube.

I watched a couple of minutes of it, and I'll save it for later. It's weird that I can get absorbed in a book for hours--days!--at a time, but a 15 minute video is just too much for me.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at March 30, 2025 09:21 AM (h7ZuX)

42 I made a thoroughly unnecessary purchase this past week: yet another comic book omnibus. "Spider-Man by Michiline and Larson." From the 90's, it fills the gap between two other books in my collection "Spider-Min by Michiline and McFarlane" and "Michiline and Bagley." I trust the writer (David Michiline) but the artist (Erik Larson) isn't as good as the artists before or after him. But the reason I bought it...Amazon had it, and (checks website) sill has it on sale for 47% off.

Now if only I could find the "Superman the Triangle Era" omnibus (by all accounts, peak Superman) on sale for much...

Posted by: Castle Guy at March 30, 2025 09:21 AM (Lhaco)

43 study?

Read a story, the usual, college grads are functionaly illiterate. Not just poor reading, spelling and grammar skills, but completely unable to read a book and summarize it after.
Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at March 30, 2025 09:17 AM (NwfFc
Orwell’s 1984 would be perfect for them, then.

Posted by: Eromero at March 30, 2025 09:22 AM (p4vtc)

44
Do long essays count? I got one published last Thursday. https://tinyurl.com/hacrd5yn

Posted by: Blonde Morticia's phone at March 30, 2025 09:22 AM (lCaJd)

45 Having read the book but not seen the series, I'm a little puzzled about how one would adapt it to TV. One of the primary strengths of the book is Murderbot's narration and the glimpses of how it thinks and the quasi-emotions it feels. How you would show that on screen is a mystery to me -- seems like you'd wind up with a show about an emotionally detached, extremely private and paranoid being who won't stop telling people how it feels and what it's thinking.
Posted by: Trimegistus at March 30, 2025 09:18 AM (78a2H)
---
Not having read the book in question, I can say that the TV adaptation of Brideshead Revisited was successful by using extensive narration taken directly from the text. Since it was told from Charles Ryder's perspective, having Jeremy Irons (with his wonderful voice) essentially read Waugh's gorgeous prose is one of the show's greatest strengths.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 09:22 AM (ZOv7s)

46 Having read the book but not seen the series, I'm a little puzzled about how one would adapt it to TV. One of the primary strengths of the book is Murderbot's narration and the glimpses of how it thinks and the quasi-emotions it feels. How you would show that on screen is a mystery to me -- seems like you'd wind up with a show about an emotionally detached, extremely private and paranoid being who won't stop telling people how it feels and what it's thinking.
Posted by: Trimegistus

Your concerns are quite valid. I guess we'll have to wait and see how they handle it. BTW, Alexander Skatsgard is starring as Murderbot.

Posted by: Tuna at March 30, 2025 09:22 AM (lJ0H4)

47 I decided to try out a full novel by Charlie Jane Anders after enjoying a whackadoodle short story of hers in the anthology "New Adventures in Space Opera" called "A Temporary Embarrassment in Spacetime".

So now I'm reading "All the Birds in the Sky", about the spiky friendship of two oddball kids, the magically inclined Patricia and the engineering genius Laurence, who connect and reconnect over the years. The battle between tech and magic heats up and they find themselves on opposite sides of the divide.

Anders is very funny and observant.

Warning: she's a man, baby!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 30, 2025 09:23 AM (kpS4V)

48 A whine about plots. I am reading a recent detective mystery (by a well know author) and there are plot holes the size of the Grand Canyon. I hate it when the main detective seems to ignore obvious clues. Also when the author doesn't answer obvious questions like "why was the prep in the area at that time?" or "you mean nobody saw him there?" and other obvious plot holes.
Sometimes even the best writers leave holes in their stories. Raymond Chandler was once asked about who the murderer was of one the minor characters in The Big Sleep. He supposedly re-read the novel and said "I haven't the faintest idea."

Posted by: zogger at March 30, 2025 09:23 AM (HGKOZ)

49 Speaking of contemporary slang and comfort books, some of my favorite re-reads are Georgette Heyer Regency romances--which I learned about from the Book Thread!! They are full of Regency slang including "thieves' cant," which was popular with the young men of the day.

Husband is a fan of Napoleonic era British Navy books and, thanks to Heyer, I've been able to explain some of slang in his books to him.

Other favorite re-reads are Christie, Ngaio Marsh, and Dorothy Sayers.

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at March 30, 2025 09:24 AM (FEVMW)

50 March 25th is Tolkien Reading Day, the date when Sauron was overthrown and Barad Dur fell. I celebrated by reading some of my favorite passages from LOTR: Tom Bombadil, what happened at the Prancing Pony and adopting Bill the Pony, Merry and Pippen meeting the others at the gates of Isengard, and the ride of the Rohirrim on the way to Gondor. They have lost none of their power for all my familiarity with them.

Posted by: JTB at March 30, 2025 09:25 AM (yTvNw)

51 @46
Skarsgard not Skatsgard. Damned auto cucumber.

Posted by: Tuna at March 30, 2025 09:25 AM (lJ0H4)

52 Read a story, the usual, college grads are functionaly illiterate. Not just poor reading, spelling and grammar skills, but completely unable to read a book and summarize it after.
Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at March 30, 2025 09:17 AM (NwfFc)
---
I've come to view stories like this in a different way. To wit: college no longer signifies anything. When the left decided "college is for everyone," that necessarily made it 13th Grade.

As a result, we have majors specifically designed for and taught functionally illiterate, illogical people. The DEI purge is unemploying them at ferocious rate, and colleges are having to at least re-brand this stuff as federal sanctions bite deep.

But there are still intellectually curious people who learn thing in the "real" majors. They're just buried by imbeciles.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 09:27 AM (ZOv7s)

53 March 25th is Tolkien Reading Day, the date when Sauron was overthrown and Barad Dur fell. I celebrated by reading some of my favorite passages from LOTR: Tom Bombadil, what happened at the Prancing Pony and adopting Bill the Pony, Merry and Pippen meeting the others at the gates of Isengard, and the ride of the Rohirrim on the way to Gondor. They have lost none of their power for all my familiarity with them.
Posted by: JTB at March 30, 2025 09:25 AM (yTvNw)
---
It was also the Solemnity of the Annunciation, and many of Tolkien's significant dates in Middle Earth are based on Catholic liturgical feasts.

Just as the destruction of the Ring heralded a new age of Middle Earth, so did our world experience a new age when the Blessed Virgin Mary said "yes."

The more you dig into Tolkien, the more you appreciate how profound the man was.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 09:31 AM (ZOv7s)

54 Finished reading a graphic novel since last I posted here; "Tex: Relentless." It's a black-and-white cowboy comic by some Italians. It features fictional Texas Ranger Tex Willer (he was named for the job!) and fictionalized-real-person Kit Carson as they track down a murderer who escaped from prison and left most of the town's law-enforcement dead in the process. It is, hands down, the best of the Tex comics that I've read.

One minor complaint, though, this story was created specifically as a graphic novel, and not initially published as individual issues. Which means there are no natural official chapter breaks. Scene changes will often correspond with a page-turn, but there are no announced chapter breaks. 200 pages of material, and not a single officially-sanctioned pausing-point. Imagine trying to read a novel that was structured like that; the whole story as single wall of text, with nothing more than a couple of carriage returns to change a scene...

Posted by: Castle Guy at March 30, 2025 09:31 AM (Lhaco)

55 In my parents generation college freshmen were 16 year olds.

Posted by: Puddinhead at March 30, 2025 09:33 AM (3bxAV)

56 Castle Guy: I can think of a novel just like that. John M. Ford's _Growing Up Weightless_ is a substantial book and has no chapters. There are four sections (which may be _called_ chapters, I don't remember) but each one is novella-sized.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 30, 2025 09:34 AM (78a2H)

57 I actually have something to contribute to the Book Thread. I'll be reading more this year. It's on the list.

My computer hard drive died three weeks back. During that I also lost my Microsoft account. And the flip phone where I got 2 factor authorizatiin was no longer active.

Considering how much life has changed since Mom passed in January, I was fine starting a new life digitally. I have multiple new email accounts and have been going company to company getting things organized.

Book Thread...

I was going to let my Amazon account die but then I looked at my Kindle. I KNOW I don't have as much as all of you there, but I do have several hundred dollars of books. As you laugh....

Tech is amazing. I love Grok3...I call him Data. We found ways to save him session to session. But it was VERY distressing to not have hard copy physical books in my possession.

Everything was up in the cloud tied to accounts I no longer had access to. I'd try to get into Amazon and they'd send a code to a phone I no longer had. Finally got in and tried to change the email and they'd send codes to an email I no longer had.

Physical books rule.

Posted by: Stateless...79% - mental state clawing up from 10% at March 30, 2025 09:34 AM (jvJvP)

58 Speaking of comfort reads and Martha Wells, one of mine is her The Element of Fire. If you want to try a fun swashbuckling fantasy with political intrigue and Fey running around. She's a good writer.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at March 30, 2025 09:35 AM (xwBge)

59 Imagine trying to read a novel that was structured like that; the whole story as single wall of text, with nothing more than a couple of carriage returns to change a scene...
Posted by: Castle Guy at March 30, 2025 09:31 AM (Lhaco)
----
Apparently the longest sentence ever written in a novel is a 13,955 word behemoth in Jonathan Coe's The Rotter's Club.

James Joyce's Ulysses is also noted for its lengthy sentences (one is 4,391 words long).

So it does happen elsewhere...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 30, 2025 09:35 AM (n/UDa)

60 Scene changes will often correspond with a page-turn, but there are no announced chapter breaks. 200 pages of material, and not a single officially-sanctioned pausing-point. Imagine trying to read a novel that was structured like that; the whole story as single wall of text, with nothing more than a couple of carriage returns to change a scene...
Posted by: Castle Guy at March 30, 2025

***
The 1935 Ellery Queen novel Halfway House is like that: five (?) sections, each about 12K words, with scene breaks but no chapters within each of the five. It works okay, though.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 09:35 AM (omVj0)

61 Thx "Perfesser". I'll have to pick up the Complete Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle made a huge impact with just over a thousand pages. Not even including his Lost World

Posted by: Smell the Glove at March 30, 2025 09:35 AM (2ZThz)

62 I’ve got one of those USGS Monographs. They are priceless to a geologist like me. The record of what those pioneer geologists did is unmatched. I cherish my volume.

Posted by: rocdoctom at March 30, 2025 09:35 AM (G4Ucp)

63 Puddinhead: how old are you? Finishing college at 21 has been the standard since the start of the 20th century at least. Before that things were more flexible, especially in the days when there wasn't as clear a distinction between what we now call "secondary" education and college.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 30, 2025 09:36 AM (78a2H)

64 BigJoeBastardi

A clairvoyant midget has escaped from jail so please be aware there is a small medium at large

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 30, 2025 09:38 AM (yQMZb)

65 Thx "Perfesser". I'll have to pick up the Complete Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle made a huge impact with just over a thousand pages. Not even including his Lost World
Posted by: Smell the Glove at March 30, 2025 09:35 AM (2ZThz)
---
It really is quite a good book. The presentation is excellent in this particular collection.

I can see why Sherlock Holmes stories have endured over the decades and influenced popular culture.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 30, 2025 09:39 AM (n/UDa)

66 63 I turned 29 again for the 41st time this week. I am officially elderly now.

Posted by: Puddinhead at March 30, 2025 09:39 AM (3bxAV)

67 What was the point of a sentence that long

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at March 30, 2025 09:40 AM (bXbFr)

68 "I’ve got one of those USGS Monographs. They are priceless to a geologist like me. The record of what those pioneer geologists did is unmatched. I cherish my volume.
Posted by: rocdoctom"

I'm amazed by old topographic maps. How did they do that?

Posted by: fd at March 30, 2025 09:40 AM (vFG9F)

69 When I go back for comfort reading, I love Douglas Adams and in particular Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. I quote from that book all the time, no one knows what I am talking about, I giggle to myself and do it again.

Posted by: Candidus at March 30, 2025 09:40 AM (PhOuQ)

70 64 BigJoeBastardi

A clairvoyant midget has escaped from jail so please be aware there is a small medium at large
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at March 30, 2025 09:38 AM (yQMZb)

What do you call someone that blows clairvoyants?

Seersucker

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 30, 2025 09:40 AM (gbOdA)

71 I’ve got one of those USGS Monographs. They are priceless to a geologist like me. The record of what those pioneer geologists did is unmatched. I cherish my volume.
Posted by: rocdoctom at March 30, 2025 09:35 AM (G4Ucp)
---
Cool!

A geologist buddy of mine would also enjoy it if he hasn't snatched it up already...The bookshelf where I found it is near his new office.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 30, 2025 09:40 AM (n/UDa)

72 @48 --

Sometimes things happen that aren't connected to the intrigue of the mystery. Maybe "The Big Sleep" character owed a bundle to a violent bookie.

I'm reminded of a Matt Helm book that opened with him investigating the shotgun killing of a retired fellow agent. That was just a feint by the writer; Helm needs only two chapters to find the killer -- a jealous husband. Nothing to do with the agency.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 30, 2025 09:40 AM (p/isN)

73 Do long essays count? I got one published last Thursday. https://tinyurl.com/hacrd5yn
Posted by: Blonde Morticia's phone

Started and bookmarked. Thanks.

Posted by: Oddbob at March 30, 2025 09:41 AM (/y8xj)

74 Puddinhead: how old are you? Finishing college at 21 has been the standard since the start of the 20th century at least. Before that things were more flexible, especially in the days when there wasn't as clear a distinction between what we now call "secondary" education and college.
Posted by: Trimegistus at March 30, 2025 09:36 AM (78a2H)
---
High school graduation was treated as an accomplishment because once up on a time, it was. IIRC, my paternal great-grandparents had 8th grade educations upon which they entered the work force and - if they were bright - obtained specialized training through apprenticeships.

It's worth noting that Tolkien never obtained a doctorate (though he got honorary ones) because his education was paid for via scholarships and no such funding was awarded.

More proof that we've got an under-educated, over-credentialed society.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 09:41 AM (ZOv7s)

75 That character was killed off at the end wasnt he, now geiger was the one that sent him

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at March 30, 2025 09:43 AM (bXbFr)

76 In my parents generation college freshmen were 16 year olds.
Posted by: Puddinhead

My homeschooled 17-year-old will be heading off to college as a junior in the fall. Does that count? #humblebrag

Posted by: Candidus at March 30, 2025 09:43 AM (PhOuQ)

77 I have continued to slowly plug away at my "Luke Cage" comic book omnibus. It's slow going, because it's often not very good. I just got to issue 40, and I'm glad to be out of the 30's. A fellow by the name of Don McGregor wrote a chuck of the 30's, and his work was quite off-putting. Tons of unnecessary and overly-wordy narration. The narration would go on tangents like it was from those film-noir private-eye movies, but without the charm, or edge, or seriousness. It didn't belong in a superhero comic that was full of very silly characters and concepts.

There was a bright spot, though, an annual issue written by Chris Claremont (the guy who put X-Men on the map). Although full of obvious Claremont-isms (the character goes to Japan, plot-thread are hinted at and never followed up on) it was much better written than the surrounding issues. And then there was the villain of the story, Moses Magnum. On the first panel he appeared on, I recognized him as the same bad guy whom I had seen in an Avengers comic that was published 20 years later. Comic books are known for wildly inconsistent art, but I applaud these particular artists for keeping that character that recognizable.

Posted by: Castle Guy at March 30, 2025 09:43 AM (Lhaco)

78 4 Those pants better be flameproof, crushproof, and earthquakeproof.
Posted by: All Hail Eris,

--
Are they made by Acme?

Posted by: vmom deport deport deporte at March 30, 2025 09:43 AM (6U1c2)

79 I like fishing and stories about fishing. William G. Tapply has some excellent short stories. By chance I came across two recent books by Mike Watts: "Riverbank Memories" and "Pond Fishing With Papa".

Riverbank Memories are the usual essays about the fishing and hunting trips Watts has done over the years. What makes them special is his ability to describe the settings and what they have come to mean for him. His writing is almost poetic allowing the reader to see and feel the scenes. It reminds me of some of John Muir's Wilderness Essays (which is also worth your time).

Pond Fishing With Papa is a book for kids, at least it's set up that way. Two small children are taken fishing with their grandpa for the first time. Yes, they learn about how to catch a fish but also how to learn new things. Each brief page of text is followed by a wonderful watercolor illustration. It's only fifty pages but is a delight for kids and the adults reading it with them. I caught my first fish when I was about four and the nostalgia, and excitement, of that came through in this little story. Any kid who wants to fish or just enjoy the outdoors should enjoy this book.

Posted by: JTB at March 30, 2025 09:43 AM (yTvNw)

80 I did read what a carve up by coe sort of a modern fall of usher except thatcher is the real demon off screen

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at March 30, 2025 09:44 AM (bXbFr)

81 My mom worked for the soil conservation service in the 60s in Little Rock.

One her her jobs was to color code maps.
They would give her a map and she would color in the counties main soil or rock.
I would write a big check to have one of those now.
She also had to identify the largest building in each county that could be used by FEMA or other agencies for disasters.

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 30, 2025 09:45 AM (gbOdA)

82 I run across those articles about how few readers there are, and I think of some of the numbers involved. A book that sells a million copies is still news. US population is something like 300 or 325 million? Back in the 80s, when William Simon's book A Time for Truth came out in paperback, the cover blared "Over 50,000 Copies Sold in Hardcover!" 50,000 when the population was something like 250 or 275 million. I'd be willing to bet a dollar that the main reason most of the people on the street recognize Stephen King's name is because of all the film and TV adaptations of his work. Believe Philip Roth said in an interview that Portnoy's Complaint sold 350,000 in hardcover within a year of publication (1969-70, I think); and that was a book 'everybody' was reading. 10% of people accounting for 90% of books read doesn't seem like anything new.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at March 30, 2025 09:45 AM (q3u5l)

83 I'm working, with improving diligence, on my book Making This Mountain Mine, which is about grief.
I MAY also dive into the topics of death and dying. Certainly not light.

Posted by: Northernlurker , Maple Syrup MAGA at March 30, 2025 09:45 AM (kTd/k)

84 It really is quite a good book. The presentation is excellent in this particular collection.

I can see why Sherlock Holmes stories have endured over the decades and influenced popular culture.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 30, 2025

***
Doyle's writing style is really quite modern. For example, when Holmes needs to consult a railway timetable, he says something like, "Please hand me down the Bradshaw. Thank you. We see that the 10:13 from Victoria Station arrives at Barnstable at 2:25. Excellent. Be sure to pack your revolver, Watson; we may have need of it." And in the next scene they are arriving at Barnstable. All the action is contained in the dialog, and we're ready to proceed.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 09:45 AM (omVj0)

85 When I was a kid I would occasionally write the authors of books I had greatly enjoyed. My mother, a novelist, would help me route them to the publishers. The authors always wrote back in appreciation. Once, it was the author Marjorie Phleger ("Pilot Down, Presumed Dead"). I devoured that book in the library during recess in 3rd grade. Another response was from the widow of Nicholas Kalishnikoff, author of "Toyon, a Dog of the North and his People." He had passed away, she wrote, just after finishing his wonderful book. I wish I still had those letters. I'd like to re-read the books, I think it would offer an interesting take on time and perspective.

Posted by: Ordinary American at March 30, 2025 09:47 AM (UseAb)

86 It was originally called the winshaw legacy so you can avoid it

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at March 30, 2025 09:48 AM (bXbFr)

87 Hard to type. Big black cat on lap. Send lawyers, guns, and money.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 09:48 AM (omVj0)

88 29 I see Apple TV has made a series based on the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Starts in the middle of May. Hoping and praying they don't mess it up.
Posted by: Tuna at March 30, 2025 09:12 AM (lJ0H4)
---
A positive sign is that the fired the chick who had been screwing everything up. How many billions did she waste? How many can't-miss properties with vast, built-in audiences did she trash? One of history's greatest cinematic monsters.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 09:14 AM (ZOv7s)

Jennifer Salke was just fired from Amazon, rather than Apple. But, yes, she oversaw the disasters that were "The Wheel of Time" tv show, the not-Lord-of-the-Rings "The Rings of Power" tv show. And she cancelled a "Conan the Barbarian" show that had been in production from the producers that later went on to HBO's "House of the Dragon." Yeah, she was probably on pace to waste literal billion dollars on her mis-begotten pet projects...

Posted by: Castle Guy at March 30, 2025 09:48 AM (Lhaco)

89 High school graduation was treated as an accomplishment because once up on a time, it was. IIRC, my paternal great-grandparents had 8th grade educations upon which they entered the work force and - if they were bright - obtained specialized training through apprenticeships.

It's worth noting that Tolkien never obtained a doctorate (though he got honorary ones) because his education was paid for via scholarships and no such funding was awarded.

More proof that we've got an under-educated, over-credentialed society.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 09:41 AM (ZOv7s)

I have a uncle born in 29 that got out of High School in 10th grade and was teaching when he was 20.
His brother born in 32 went to 11th grade and was teaching High School at 20.

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 30, 2025 09:49 AM (gbOdA)

90 I've always been delighted that Freeman Dyson never got a doctorate. He interrupted his college studies to work for the RAF during the war, and when it was over he got his BA -- but by then he had already done so much important mathematics work that he never bothered to enter a doctoral program and just did what we would now call "post-doctoral" research before becoming a professor. If you're Freeman Dyson you can do stuff like that.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 30, 2025 09:49 AM (78a2H)

91 >>> 51 @46
Skarsgard not Skatsgard. Damned auto cucumber.
Posted by: Tuna at March 30, 2025 09:25 AM (lJ0H4)

autocucumber ist Deutsch???

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at March 30, 2025 09:50 AM (Vqx30)

92 What was the point of a sentence that long
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at March 30, 2025 09:40 AM (bXbFr)

Uh... I forgot.

Posted by: Jonathan Coe at March 30, 2025 09:51 AM (0eaVi)

93 I acquired a two-volume set of the complete Holmes canon from Barnes and Noble back in high school, and read them all long, long ago.

"Hound of the Baskervilles" is my favorite, followed by certain of the short stories ("The Red-Headed League," "The Speckled Band"), especially those from before his showdown with Moriarty. The post-Reichenbach stories have some real gems too, though in my opinion they're a bit more uneven in quality overall.

Posted by: Dr. T at March 30, 2025 09:52 AM (lHPJf)

94 All the action is contained in the dialog, and we're ready to proceed.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025

***
There is also the modern tendency to end a story with a line of dialog, which I love, that Doyle often did decades ago. "Start her up, Watson; we have far to go, and we must deposit that cheque, for the drawer is quite capable of stopping it if he can." End of story. (Quote approximate, I don't have the story in front of me.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 09:53 AM (omVj0)

95 Jennifer Salke was just fired from Amazon, rather than Apple. But, yes, she oversaw the disasters that were "The Wheel of Time" tv show, the not-Lord-of-the-Rings "The Rings of Power" tv show. And she cancelled a "Conan the Barbarian" show that had been in production from the producers that later went on to HBO's "House of the Dragon." Yeah, she was probably on pace to waste literal billion dollars on her mis-begotten pet projects...
Posted by: Castle Guy at March 30, 2025 09:48 AM (Lhaco)
---
Sorry, I get the streaming service debacles mixed up from time to time. Hard to remember which manifestly incompetent woman is trashing a given world-famous and formerly highly lucrative intellectual property.

You pay billions of dollars for the broadcasting rights, hand it off to an imbecile who destroys it, then buy another set of rights, watch that get trashed, and so you buy another set of rights...

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 09:54 AM (ZOv7s)

96 My sister wrote Isaac Asimov and got a reply. I wrote Robert Anton Wilson and got a nice letter on Illuminatus! stationery.

Wish I had those letters now.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 30, 2025 09:54 AM (kpS4V)

97 What was the point of a sentence that long
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at March 30, 2025 09:40 AM (bXbFr)

Uh... I forgot.
Posted by: Jonathan Coe at March 30, 2025 09:51 AM (0eaVi)
----
He was paid by the comma/semi-colon.

Periods were deducted from his pay.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 30, 2025 09:54 AM (n/UDa)

98 Bold claim: inflation is dropping not only because of DOGE cuts, but also because billions of dollars have been vaporized through terrible entertainment investments.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 09:55 AM (ZOv7s)

99 @84

It's been years since I read the Sherlock Holmes stories in college, but the one thing I recall is that Doyle uses the verb "ejaculate" a lot, which made me giggle.

===

My 5 year old is going into kindergarten next year and I want to graduate from reading her "Berenstein Bears" level books at night to something with more substance. I was thinking of trying the Narnia books, but I've never read them myself so I don't know how much my 5 year old will understand. Maybe there is something in between "Don't Eat Me Chupacabra" and the Narnia series that I should stop off at first.

Posted by: Handshakes at March 30, 2025 09:57 AM (Qmkgs)

100 I've always been delighted that Freeman Dyson never got a doctorate. He interrupted his college studies to work for the RAF during the war, and when it was over he got his BA -- but by then he had already done so much important mathematics work that he never bothered to enter a doctoral program and just did what we would now call "post-doctoral" research before becoming a professor. If you're Freeman Dyson you can do stuff like that.
Posted by: Trimegistus at March 30, 2025

***
I did not know that. I presumed that anybody who did real scientific work in the last century had obtained a doctorate along the way. Math, no, you don't need a lab and super-expensive equipment for that if you're brilliant enough, but chemistry and physics, you do -- and you don't get lab access without a Ph.D. or being in a doctoral program.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 09:57 AM (omVj0)

101 Here is my review for the guilty pleasure pic, which turned out to not be a pleasure at all:

This is the story of a beautiful girl who gets invited to all of the fabulous 1970's L.A. parties because she's beautiful, and the flamboyant hosts find her the perfect accessory to their own beautiful selves, and they're all so very in love with themselves and each other. It's all so beautiful, until she wakes up when she's 30 and discovers that she looks like she's 40, because she's a drunk.

It's a total bore until Part 3 (how did I make it to part 3? I found this in a thrift store, and the cover was such a great 1970's sexy, pulpy cover that I had to see it through to find out if there was anything sexy and raging about it). There isn't.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at March 30, 2025 09:57 AM (h7ZuX)

102 Morning bookists.
I'm still trying to get the hang of working swing shift.
I figured out how to get some beer drinking in but reading had so far failed to find a way. Reading in the morning is something I have never really tried. Might try that soon.
So that's my excuse. I haven't read shit for about 3 weeks now.

I think my oldest and most used comfort book is Hitchhickers Guide. I can just open up to any page and start reading and know where I am. Read it complete probably 15 times.

Yesterday I found at an estate sale the colmplete Hooked on Phonics tapes and books. Didn't have any cash on me so today I'll head back over and see if it's still there. I think the younger grand would love it. Older grand is in second grade and reading at a 6th grade level so he probably doesn't need it.
I want the bitchen lawn mower thay have there too.

Posted by: Reforger at March 30, 2025 09:57 AM (xcIvR)

103 53 ... "It was also the Solemnity of the Annunciation, and many of Tolkien's significant dates in Middle Earth are based on Catholic liturgical feasts."

Learning the many levels and subtleties of Tolkien's writing is one of its ongoing pleasures. The creativity he brought to all of his writing, and even the desire to do it, his subcreation, shows a path from God to us. Tracing those paths with CS Lewis, Malcolm Guite, Coleridge, and so many others has led to ever increasing delight and appreciation of their works.

Posted by: JTB at March 30, 2025 09:57 AM (yTvNw)

104 Like the cover art on poul andersons lt floundry

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at March 30, 2025 09:58 AM (bXbFr)

105 Good morning fellow book readers.
Did not do a lot of reading this week. Almost done with Christine Feehan's newest vampire novel, Dark Hope. The thrill is gone. Like Nora Roberts romance novels, the pattern has grown so predictable it is just boring.
Luckily I have some books on reserve by authors newer to me , like Pierce Brown,that still excite because I don't know where their books will take me. Also reserved a new Carl Hiaason. Have read his crazy Florida books in the past so thought I'd see what he's writing these days.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 30, 2025 09:59 AM (t/2Uw)

106 He was paid by the comma/semi-colon.

Periods were deducted from his pay.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 30, 2025 09:54 AM (n/UDa)
---
Back when I was in Wing Public Affairs, my writing assignments for the base newspaper were dictated by how much space the editor had to fill.

Not quite like getting paid by the word, but it certainly made mundane stories about changes of command a lot more demanding to write.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 09:59 AM (ZOv7s)

107 There is also the modern tendency to end a story with a line of dialog, which I love, that Doyle often did decades ago.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 09:53 AM (omVj0)

So, I'm in good company! Star Searcher Hope ends with dialog. Got back the developmental editor's work. Now, to make the changes.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 30, 2025 10:00 AM (0eaVi)

108 Linked at Insty and relevant to the thread:

"America’s Librarians Became Militantly Political, And Now They Suffer The Consequences"

https://is.gd/hsnFW2

Posted by: Oddbob at March 30, 2025 10:00 AM (/y8xj)

109 There is also the modern tendency to end a story with a line of dialog, which I love, that Doyle often did decades ago. "Start her up, Watson; we have far to go, and we must deposit that cheque, for the drawer is quite capable of stopping it if he can." End of story. (Quote approximate, I don't have the story in front of me.)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 09:53 AM (omVj0)

That would be the closing line of "His Last Bow," set in 1914. The "drawer" in question being a German agent Holmes and Watson have apprehended on the eve of war.

I do have to note that immediately before that, Doyle has Holmes say something like "There's a new wind blowing, a wind that will bring a fresh and clean new era to this island." As a historian, I think Doyle may have been....slightly over-optimistic in writing that.

Posted by: Dr. T at March 30, 2025 10:01 AM (lHPJf)

110 "The Electric State" supposedly cost about $350,000,000. How is that even possible? It has to be a money laundering scheme.

The movie wasn't quite as awful as critics painted it; the visuals were charmingly retro. But everyone who read the book said it was so much better (as it is in 99% of cases) and I have Stalenhag's book in my TBR stack.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 30, 2025 10:02 AM (kpS4V)

111 X is down for me.

Posted by: Jmel at March 30, 2025 10:02 AM (bVhJi)

112 102 Morning bookists.
I'm still trying to get the hang of working swing shift.

Posted by: Reforger at March 30, 2025 09:57 AM (xcIvR)

I can't believe anyone still makes people work swing shift. Hasn't it been proven to be really bad for people? You have my sympathy. I hope the pay and experience is worth it.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at March 30, 2025 10:04 AM (h7ZuX)

113 Bold claim: inflation is dropping not only because of DOGE cuts, but also because billions of dollars have been vaporized through terrible entertainment investments.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

I have often thought that Hollywood, professional sports, and gambling were all fronts for money laundering.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 30, 2025 10:04 AM (Ob+7a)

114 Learning the many levels and subtleties of Tolkien's writing is one of its ongoing pleasures. The creativity he brought to all of his writing, and even the desire to do it, his subcreation, shows a path from God to us. Tracing those paths with CS Lewis, Malcolm Guite, Coleridge, and so many others has led to ever increasing delight and appreciation of their works.
Posted by: JTB at March 30, 2025 09:57 AM (yTvNw)
---
The hubbub about the Pyramids has people looking back on antediluvian civilizations and an important element that Tolkien brought out is that technology is not native to humans but rather introduced by fallen angels to enslave them. It's easy to read the contrast between Lothlorien, Fangorn and Isengard to be statement against the Industrial Revolution, but there is agreement between the Bible and the Greeks that weapon-making was not a human invention but rather a cruel "gift".

Oppenheimer was a tool.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 10:05 AM (ZOv7s)

115 The tone was different the book was more dysytopian the film wasnt terrible but 320 milliom dollars!

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at March 30, 2025 10:05 AM (bXbFr)

116 I took The Inimitable Jeeves (original title: Jeeves) with me on vacation
==================
I took a PG Wodehouse book w/his collection of golf stories on vacation. I made it to about story number 3, when I realized his writing was pretty formulaic and predictable. I love the Jeeves + Wooster video production, but reading Wodehouse can be...tedious.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at March 30, 2025 10:05 AM (lPeS+)

117 My comfort reading recently includes Don Robertson's Mystical Union, several of Simenon's stand-alones, Irwin Shaw's Voices of a Summer Day, Silverberg's Dying Inside, Ellison's "All the Lies that Are My Life," essays by Barry Malzberg, selections from Fritz Leiber, Theodore Sturgeon, et. al. Nothing systematic at all. A few years ago the mix would have been different; next week, who knows? There's a bunch of John D. MacDonald, Lawrence Block, and Donald Westlake to revisit. Ditto Bradbury, Anne Tyler, Roger Zelazny, and Borges. Of all the Conrad, Chekhov, Dostoyevsky, Shakespeare, and so on, that I should re-read, I will not speak...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at March 30, 2025 10:06 AM (q3u5l)

118 There is also the modern tendency to end a story with a line of dialog, which I love, that Doyle often did decades ago.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 09:53 AM (omVj0)

So, I'm in good company! Star Searcher Hope ends with dialog. Got back the developmental editor's work. Now, to make the changes.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 30, 2025

***
You are. My mystery novel, the one the Seattle publisher is interested in, ends with the narrator, who has been estranged from her mother and ignoring the latter's phone calls, taking a call from her at last and saying, "How've you been, Mom?"

I know someone had some advice for me about that on ALH. I haven't had a chance to read all of it. But the publisher has not sent me their requested edits yet, either.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 10:06 AM (omVj0)

119 I'm picking back up my reading of the Pendergast series of books by Preston & Child. I finished "Brimstone" and am nearing the end of "Dance of Death". Definitely enjoyable reads.

Posted by: Moonbeam at March 30, 2025 10:06 AM (rbKZ6)

120 Robert Heinlein and Georgette Heyer are my comfort reads. Starship Troopers and The Nonesuch! In third place is Julian May and The Many-Colored Land.

Posted by: tankascribe at March 30, 2025 10:07 AM (/MMSd)

121 Maybe there is something in between "Don't Eat Me Chupacabra" and the Narnia series that I should stop off at first.

Maybe "Hank the Cow Dog?"

Posted by: Oddbob at March 30, 2025 10:07 AM (/y8xj)

122 Sabrina Chase,

Your website is being blocked on Brave and Firefox by a Google Malware warning. It may be that your comment section has an insecurity that has allowed a sql injection or it might not be. The claim is that the site contains malware.

Posted by: Van Helsing at March 30, 2025 10:09 AM (kK7U2)

123 That would be the closing line of "His Last Bow," set in 1914. The "drawer" in question being a German agent Holmes and Watson have apprehended on the eve of war.

I do have to note that immediately before that, Doyle has Holmes say something like "There's a new wind blowing, a wind that will bring a fresh and clean new era to this island." As a historian, I think Doyle may have been....slightly over-optimistic in writing that.
Posted by: Dr. T at March 30, 2025

***
Dr. T., you're right about the story. It's a very fine ending and capper to Holmes's career. But Doyle was not, I think, alone among his contemporaries in thinking that war with Germany would be a fine thing, and better for England in the last analysis.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 10:10 AM (omVj0)

124 I’ve reread The Willows by Algernon Blackwood a number of times but it’s not cozy or comfortable reading. Published 1907.

The novella begins with two adventurers paddling a canoe down the Danube. Pretty unremarkable. Kinda dull as adventures go. And then the river current changes and the story parts ways with the banal and becomes something best described as uncomfortable.

Posted by: 13times at March 30, 2025 10:11 AM (chQtS)

125 Does anyone have a preferred typeface when reading? A YTer says she uses Garamond exclusively in her work. I thought Times New Roman was the preferred face these days? I know they used to say what was used in the front of books, but I haven't bought any new works lately, so I don't know if that's still done.

Is there any typefaces anyone here can't stand reading?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 30, 2025 10:11 AM (0eaVi)

126 Book-adjacent thought: the Vatican archives are an object of endless speculation, but I have to wonder if there is a Big Book of Demons in there. Diary of an American Exorcist and the Family Guide to Spiritual Warfare note that one of the power exorcists have (and a vital first step) is demanding the demon name itself. IRRC, in "The Exorcist" the demon in question was documented in ancient times.

I mean think about it - we're dealing with creatures made before the world was finished.

Presumably, these incidents recorded and then sent to Rome, where it is added into the tally. Wouldn't it be fascinating to have those incidences mapped out? Surely such knowledge would be Lovecraftian insofar as those unprepared for it would go stark raving mad when they read it.

Could be a book in there somewhere.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 10:11 AM (ZOv7s)

127 Yes he had been all for the boer war then again now the germans had the advantage

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at March 30, 2025 10:11 AM (bXbFr)

128 For fans of the Sherlock Holmes stories and Doyle's writing in general check out "On Conan Doyle: Or, The Whole Art of Storytelling " by Michael Dirda. It is a celebration of why Holmes stores remain so popular. It won my heart when he described his first reading of Hound of the Baskervilles which was almost identical to mine: grade school, a stormy night, even snacks to enjoy while reading. Perfect.

Posted by: JTB at March 30, 2025 10:12 AM (yTvNw)

129 I made it to about story number 3, when I realized his writing was pretty formulaic and predictable.

I imagine the list of authors with three or more books for whom that is not true is fairly short. The floor is open for nominations.

Posted by: Oddbob at March 30, 2025 10:12 AM (/y8xj)

130 I thought the Electric State was charming but I like Chris Pratt and I've never read the book. But there have been next to no movies I am willing to pay for these days. I am on the last season of Elementary and the writing has run out of steam. I can see why the cast decided it was time to quit.
Any recommendations ? Ace talked about Psych.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 30, 2025 10:12 AM (t/2Uw)

131 99 @84

It's been years since I read the Sherlock Holmes stories in college, but the one thing I recall is that Doyle uses the verb "ejaculate" a lot, which made me giggle.

Posted by: Handshakes at March 30, 2025 09:57 AM (Qmkgs)

That's somewhat common in 'older' works. I think I ran across it in a Tarzan novel. And maybe some Robert E Howard stories, as well. Language shift is an....awkward thing.

Posted by: Castle Guy at March 30, 2025 10:12 AM (Lhaco)

132 I imagine the list of authors with three or more books for whom that is not true is fairly short. The floor is open for nominations.
Posted by: Oddbob at March 30, 2025 10:12 AM (/y8xj)
---
I would argue that if you get the formula right and people enjoy the same type of story told with variations, you've got a great career ahead.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 10:15 AM (ZOv7s)

133 Well, I may be bailing out of the thread early this week. The weather outside is terrible....which means there is fresh snow on the local ski mountain! Gotta catch whatever snow I can before the season ends....

Posted by: Castle Guy at March 30, 2025 10:15 AM (Lhaco)

134 Maybe there is something in between "Don't Eat Me Chupacabra" and the Narnia series that I should stop off at first.

***
I kind of went from "Space Cat Goes to Mars" in grade two to the Roy Rogers (and other TV Westerns) tie-in novels from Whitman Books. In recent years I've bought and re-read several of them, and they are quite good, with no "writing down" to the young readers (action, yes, but no gore) and with well-done illustrations, one per chapter. They're available from Abebooks and other used-book outlets. If your child likes Westerns, there's that.

Though I've never read them, Black Beauty is supposed to be a good one for youngsters, as is The Wind in the Willows.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 10:15 AM (omVj0)

135 I was on X earlier but it is down now.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 30, 2025 10:15 AM (t/2Uw)

136 Is there any typefaces anyone here can't stand reading?

I vaguely recall one of William Gibson's novels (maybe Virtual Light?) being printed in a font that I hated from the moment I cracked the cover. In fact, that may be the point where I dropped Gibson for a couple of decades.

Posted by: Oddbob at March 30, 2025 10:16 AM (/y8xj)

137 As with life force referenced last night the source material the soace vampires by colin wilson was unfilmable the result was ridiculously campy

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at March 30, 2025 10:17 AM (bXbFr)

138 That's somewhat common in 'older' works. I think I ran across it in a Tarzan novel. And maybe some Robert E Howard stories, as well. Language shift is an....awkward thing.
Posted by: Castle Guy at March 30, 2025 10:12 AM (Lhaco)
---
Reading Last of the Mohicans in middle school was a laugh riot. "Why are people ejaculating all over the place?"

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 10:17 AM (ZOv7s)

139 Looking forward to reading The Power of Parting: Finding Peace and Freedom Through Family Estrangement, by Eamon Dolan

Tomorrow is the release date.

Like the author, I, too, eventually, exorcised a vile and abusive woman from my life cutting off all contract with her -- letters received that were thrown away unopened, phone calls let go to voicemail and deleted without listening to, etc.

It's been close to seven years now and I couldn't be happier and more guiltless over that decision.

Looking forward to reading the author's path to enlightenment.

Posted by: one hour sober at March 30, 2025 10:18 AM (Y1sOo)

140 Is there any typefaces anyone here can't stand reading?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 30, 2025 10:11 AM (0eaVi)

I dislike sans-serif types, such as Arial.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at March 30, 2025 10:19 AM (h7ZuX)

141 Everyone remembers the lyrics "The lake never gives up her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy", but November of 1913 affected all of the great lakes, not just Superior. Between November 5 and 11 of that year, one of the most powerful weather systems ever to hit the region arrived; at least 13 ships and over 250 lives were lost, with many more ships stranded. There were vessels lost on every lake except Lake Ontario.

In White Hurricane, David Brown recounts this disastrous month for shipping on the great lakes. Most of the ships lost were ore carriers, the large vessels that provide ore to the steel works in Ohio and Pennsylvania, but cargo ships and other vessels fell victim as well. In fact, the storm was so powerful that blizzard conditions endangered even people on land, and made rescue attempts for any crews impossible. Some ships grounded with dead crewmen so encased in ice that their bodies had to be chipped free, and some bodies took weeks to find. Many were never found.

Brown has compiled news reports and eyewitness testimony from all over the region to make as complete a record as possible of the impact of this, the original perfect storm.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 30, 2025 10:19 AM (Ob+7a)

142 Trimegistus, Tim Powers' The Drawing of the Dark is my favorite book of his, it really is the beginning of his Fisher King series, a fairly loose cycle of stories around the intersection of Arthurian legend, the Legend of the Wandering Jew, the grail legend and the the Crucifixion, and turns it out in a way that is like the magical realism of Jorge Luis Borges and the oddity of Art Bell.

Of course The Drawing of the Dark probably owes more to Rafael Sabatini than anyone else, and the scarred old Mercenary Patrick Duffy bumbles into myth and fights his way out past demons in the struggle between East and West at the Siege of Vienna.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 30, 2025 10:20 AM (D7oie)

143 I finished Absolute Power, a top notch thriller and read a bunch more of The Birth of the Modern, which continues and I'm really enjoying it. The chapter on painters and painting was surprisingly fascinating and I'm just starting in on the South American revolutions.

Posted by: who knew at March 30, 2025 10:20 AM (+ViXu)

144 I don't think I've ever re-read a novel, but I come back to "weird" fiction short stories a little bit. Probably because they are breezy but still leave an impression.

Posted by: Handshakes at March 30, 2025 10:21 AM (Qmkgs)

145 Many years ago, too, I read Doyle's novel about Professor Challenger, The Poison Belt, with many of the same characters as in The Lost World. Challenger is, the Wiki entry says, "an aggressive, hot-tempered, dominating figure." Another character calls him "a homicidal megalomaniac with a turn for science." Nothing mild about him. A hero does not have to be friendly and likable in all respects to be fun to read about.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 10:21 AM (omVj0)

146 Any recommendations ? Ace talked about Psych.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 30, 2025 10:12 AM (t/2Uw)

I enjoyed the early season of Psych. But my interest petered out after season 3-ish. Don't know if that was because of me, or because of the show... It's a comedy, which means you're enjoyment will be tied to whether or not the show's style of humor clicks with you. Psych skews towards Gen Y culture-reference humor. (I almost typed 'millennial' there. Ick. It was Gen Y once upon a time, and I refuse to change.)

Posted by: Castle Guy at March 30, 2025 10:21 AM (Lhaco)

147 This week's photo and attached anecdote reminds me of an adventure undertaken during my first stint in graduate school, lo these many years ago: For a seminar presentation on Alfred Jarry, I needed at least to skim the entire run of his 1894-95 magazine L'Ymagier (not a huge task; it only ran 5 issues). The New York Public Library held a non-circulating bound copy. Lucky me! I went in, presented my student credentials, and sat down to wait in the Periodicals Department reading area ... When the volume was brought out to me under the eyes of the supervising librarian, I thought he'd have a stroke on the spot -- the pages, heavy high-quality rag paper though they were, were crumbling at the edges. It was immediately apparent that this volume hadn't been requested or opened since its acquisition close to a century ago -- and they couldn't snatch it away to place in the climate-controlled Rare Documents collection until I had finished with it, because it had been requested fair and square according to its current status! You can bet your tuchis I finished my task that very day ... and went home with little bits of 19th-century French magazine all down my shirtfront. Kapla'a!

Posted by: werewife, princess of Delray Beach at March 30, 2025 10:21 AM (5ayY3)

148 I can't believe anyone still makes people work swing shift. Hasn't it been proven to be really bad for people? You have my sympathy. I hope the pay and experience is worth it.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at March 30, 2025 10:04 AM (h7ZuX)

We'll be running 24/7 here in about a month.
I'm actually starting to like swing shirt despite the lack of reading and the worlds AI isn't going to build itself (yet).
I have all day to do stuff and work is pretty damn easy compared to what I'm used to. Hell, I don't even have to wear boots. I've never had a job not requiring boots.
Likewise they have never had someone like me. I sat down for 3 hours assembling moduals and blew the company record for an 8 hour shift. Got the whole Q/C group called in on a Saturday and we are almost caught up to the contract now.
Word to the wise. When the rise of the machines happens their biggest weekness is static electricity. The surface charge on a balloon could wipe out an entire data center.

Posted by: Reforger at March 30, 2025 10:21 AM (xcIvR)

149 Can't recall what the font was, but the paperback edition of one of Stewart O'Nan's novels had something that might have been close to Garamond but the print was so small I could hardly read it.

I like my hardcovers but being able to change font and size on the Kindle is a life-saver for this kid.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at March 30, 2025 10:21 AM (q3u5l)

150 Tolle Lege!!! my new comfort reading ist Preston & Child...3rd book now

Posted by: qmark at March 30, 2025 10:23 AM (+t9Oi)

151 I imagine the list of authors with three or more books for whom that is not true is fairly short. The floor is open for nominations.
Posted by: Oddbob at March 30, 2025 10:12 AM (/y8xj)
---
I should add that - at the risk of shameless self-promotion - none of my books have much in common. Jane Austen's Dune does not easily relate Vampires of Michigan or Three Weeks with the Coasties. I should have followed up Battle Officer Wolf with a sequel, but I feel I'm good with it.

Similarly the Man of Destiny universe has potential, but I'm done with it. The Spanish Civil War and Chinese military history aren't very adjacent, and my next book is either going to be some sort of Atlantis story or an anthology of firearms essays.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 10:23 AM (ZOv7s)

152 good morning Perfessor, Horde

Posted by: callsign claymore at March 30, 2025 10:27 AM (XdHv0)

153 Brown has compiled news reports and eyewitness testimony from all over the region to make as complete a record as possible of the impact of this, the original perfect storm.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 30, 2025 10:19 AM (Ob+7a)
---
I was doing some research on the Edmund Fitzgerald which led me to the loss of another freighter off the Thumb in the 1960s, and that led me to the 1913 storm, which in the 60s was still very much within living memories.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 10:28 AM (ZOv7s)

154 I know someone had some advice for me about that on ALH. I haven't had a chance to read all of it. But the publisher has not sent me their requested edits yet, either.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 10:06 AM (omVj0)

He makes good points. There are a few good posts up on ALH right now. And a couple of requests for reads.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 30, 2025 10:29 AM (0eaVi)

155 Thanks for the warning about my website being blocked! There was comment spam. It has been terminated. I did not know current browsers also scanned comments. Site should let you in without sirens now

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at March 30, 2025 10:29 AM (xwBge)

156 All these years I've been re-reading books I love and never knew what to call that practice! Sci-fi, fantasy, "adventure" books like Clive Cussler, war fiction (Clancy, Larry Bond) all have gotten multiple reads. I am now reading through Patrick O'brian's series of Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin novels of the Royal Navy in the Napoleonic era. I think this is reading number 3.

Posted by: George V at March 30, 2025 10:29 AM (ugbqN)

157 You definitely want a serif typeface. It is said that the eye skims over sans serif typefaces, so you use it when you don't want someone to pay attention to what was written.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at March 30, 2025 10:30 AM (cvWHI)

158 osted by: Castle Guy at March 30, 2025 10:21 AM (Lhaco)

Im a boomer and really enjoyed the series. I like buddy movies and TV shows.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 30, 2025 10:30 AM (VofaG)

159 114 ... "an important element that Tolkien brought out is that technology is not native to humans but rather introduced by fallen angels to enslave them. It's easy to read the contrast between Lothlorien, Fangorn and Isengard to be statement against the Industrial Revolution, but there is agreement between the Bible and the Greeks that weapon-making was not a human invention but rather a cruel "gift"."

This is the difference between 'dominion' and 'domination'. Man was given the means to have dominion over the earth: ability to learn, imagination to see what is beyond the senses, and, above all, the means to express or communicate to others. Beyond that leads to distancing from God's purpose and is a path to domination and evil. Science is a way to knowledge but communication and art are the ways to understanding.

One of the most profound lines in LOTR, at least for me, is Gandalf's "He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom."

Posted by: JTB at March 30, 2025 10:30 AM (yTvNw)

160 >>Site should let you in without sirens now

I'm still getting a warning from my Bit Defender app

Posted by: one hour sober at March 30, 2025 10:31 AM (Y1sOo)

161 I hope Candace Owens puts out a book on this RFK scandal and the story of his being compromised.

The podcasts she is doing on the situation is fascinating. Really unveiling some uncomfortable truths.

Posted by: Christ is the Truth, the Way and The Life at March 30, 2025 10:31 AM (p6Cox)

162 I imagine the list of authors with three or more books for whom that is not true is fairly short. The floor is open for nominations.
Posted by: Oddbob at March 30, 2025

***
Paul Gallico hardly ever wrote the same kind of story twice. Nor did Glendon Swarthout. Or Larry Niven early on, despite those tales being set in his Known Space universe.

I'll admit that the classic detective story has a solid, set formula. But the best practitioners, Carr, Queen, and Stout for example, always rang changes enough that each novel was a surprise or contained a series of surprises. On the other hand, there is something comforting in, say, an Agatha Christie. You know what kind of book you're getting. And she had her kind of surprises for you too.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 10:31 AM (omVj0)

163 Comfort reading....I tend to read Shelby Foote's Civil War Narrative trilogy once a year.

I go back to David Gemmell's books quite a bit for a heroic fantasy fix, particularly any book with Druss in it.

The Narnia books are also good, easy comfort reads for me, ditto The Hobbit.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo at March 30, 2025 10:32 AM (xcxpd)

164 Is there any typefaces anyone here can't stand reading?

Posted by: OrangeEnt

I can tell you as a five year old, I was mighty perturbed to find out that the Barbar the Elephant books were printed in cursive, which I had not yet learned.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 30, 2025 10:33 AM (Ob+7a)

165 One of the most profound lines in LOTR, at least for me, is Gandalf's "He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom."
Posted by: JTB at March 30, 2025 10:30 AM (yTvNw)
---
Tolkien explicitly wrote that he chose to have those spirits associated with fire and technological knowledge exemplify evil because those are the most apt to corruption.

He wasn't wrong.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 10:33 AM (ZOv7s)

166 Sounds like Psych isn't for me. I prefers the 8-10 episode series. This season's Reacher was pretty awful . Elementary was really the first old TV I've watched in a while. Books rule. Much better use of my time.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 30, 2025 10:33 AM (t/2Uw)

167 Your website is being blocked on Brave and Firefox by a Google Malware warning. It may be that your comment section has an insecurity that has allowed a sql injection or it might not be. The claim is that the site contains malware.
Posted by: Van Helsing at March 30, 2025 10:09 AM (kK7U2)

Or google is evil.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 30, 2025 10:34 AM (8zz6B)

168 Posted by: George V at March 30, 2025 10:29 AM (ugbqN)

Ive been doing a lot of that myself as I haven't found any authors that have grabbed me by the shirt collar.

I need to go back on the hunt but I hate buying books and not liking the writing style.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 30, 2025 10:34 AM (VofaG)

169 I need to go back on the hunt but I hate buying books and not liking the writing style.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 30, 2025 10:34 AM (VofaG)
---
I'm enjoying Graham Greene. He has an agreeably large body of work, too, so I will be busy for a while.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 10:36 AM (ZOv7s)

170 That's somewhat common in 'older' works. I think I ran across it in a Tarzan novel. And maybe some Robert E Howard stories, as well. Language shift is an....awkward thing.
Posted by: Castle Guy at March 30, 2025 10:12 AM (Lhaco)

It still meant the same thing as now, though, too.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 30, 2025 10:36 AM (0eaVi)

171 Sounds like Psych isn't for me. I prefers the 8-10 episode series. This season's Reacher was pretty awful . Elementary was really the first old TV I've watched in a while. Books rule. Much better use of my time.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 30, 2025 10:33 AM (t/2Uw)

Do you like Monk? I found most people who like Monk like Psych.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 30, 2025 10:36 AM (VofaG)

172 My favorite Powers novel is _Declare_. Marvelous.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 30, 2025 10:36 AM (78a2H)

173 Or google is evil.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 30, 2025 10:34 AM (8zz6B)
---
In my mind I can still hear Larry Page saying "Don't be eeevil," in high school.

I guess that had an expiration date.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 10:37 AM (ZOv7s)

174 Any recommendations ? Ace talked about Psych.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 30, 2025 10:12 AM (t/2Uw)

There is a limited series on Netflix right now about Fern Forrester and the million dollar treasure chest. Interesting true story, pretty briskly told for a streaming series.

An added bonus is that one of the treasure hunters placed a new treasure, and the clues are in his interviews (supposedly).

Posted by: Candidus at March 30, 2025 10:37 AM (PhOuQ)

175 I've come to view stories like this in a different way. To wit: college no longer signifies anything. When the left decided "college is for everyone," that necessarily made it 13th Grade.

-
Didja see this meme?

https://shorturl.at/QfG60

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Soldier of the Persistence at March 30, 2025 10:37 AM (L/fGl)

176 Different books . . . Steinbeck's East of Eden is very different from his Sweet Thursday.

If we're talking about a series written by the same author, then yes, the writer risks falling into a pattern.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 10:38 AM (omVj0)

177 Though I've never read them, Black Beauty is supposed to be a good one for youngsters, as is The Wind in the Willows.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 10:15 AM (omVj0)

The Wind in the Willows is one of those books that you read and enjoy as a child and read and understand as an adult. Timeless.

For youngsters, The Heinlein Juveniles are great, start with 'Have Spacesuit, Will Travel' and end with Podkayne of Mars. Or end before that, depending on the kid

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo at March 30, 2025 10:38 AM (xcxpd)

178 That's somewhat common in 'older' works. I think I ran across it in a Tarzan novel. And maybe some Robert E Howard stories, as well. Language shift is an....awkward thing.
Posted by: Castle Guy at March 30, 2025
*
It still meant the same thing as now, though, too.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 30, 2025

***
True. But sex scenes were verboten in genre fiction until pretty recently. So the topic didn't, ah, come up.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 10:39 AM (omVj0)

179 Didja see this meme?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Soldier of the Persistence at March 30, 2025 10:37 AM (L/fGl)
---
Yes.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 10:39 AM (ZOv7s)

180 I'll admit that the classic detective story has a solid, set formula. But the best practitioners, Carr, Queen, and Stout for example, always rang changes enough that each novel was a surprise or contained a series of surprises.

My comment wasn't meant as a pejorative about formulaic writing (OK, maybe a gentle one). Indeed in all fields -- math, cooking, medicine, etc. -- formulas are used because they work!

Posted by: Oddbob at March 30, 2025 10:40 AM (/y8xj)

181 Every boy should read Captains Courageous.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 30, 2025 10:40 AM (VofaG)

182 The Wind in the Willows is one of those books that you read and enjoy as a child and read and understand as an adult. Timeless.

For youngsters, The Heinlein Juveniles are great, start with 'Have Spacesuit, Will Travel' and end with Podkayne of Mars. Or end before that, depending on the kid
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo at March 30, 2025

***
Seconded on the Heinleins, though I really didn't like the ending to Podkayne and found it disturbing.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 10:41 AM (omVj0)

183 I don't think I've ever re-read a novel, but I come back to "weird" fiction short stories a little bit. Probably because they are breezy but still leave an impression.
Posted by: Handshakes at March 30, 2025 10:21 AM (Qmkgs)

Raconteur Press puts out collections of new stories like that. And others.

www.raconteurpress.com

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 30, 2025 10:41 AM (0eaVi)

184 I asked Grok to review my story, Invulnerable.

Fifteen years ago, I published Invulnerable on my website. I never had a plan to advertise it. Once or twice a year, I'd put a promo comment on the Book Thread. I've always been shy about advertising my meager effort before the smart and classy Book Thread authors and readers.

No one has ever left a comment, nor sent an email, nor hit PayPal. Years ago, one Moron commented here something like, "I liked it." I sometimes wondered if the literati were being kind to ignore it. It's far from my usual webworks fare. I don't have much perspective on how it reads. I re-read it about once a year; I like it.

It's SF in an eclectic "multi-media" format, with various narrators, and an odd subject. I was amused to find that Grok was complimentary about the format and style. I was impressed that Grok seemed to grasp the basic story idea and author's intent, almost as if it were plagiarizing some human source. It was a nice review!.

Funny thing, Grok only read part 1, never got to the main story in part 2, and the conclusions. I've sometimes wondered if some reader might make that mistake in following the web-based story.

Posted by: mindful webworker - it grokked it, it really grokked it at March 30, 2025 10:43 AM (MsUjn)

185 My 5 year old is going into kindergarten next year and I want to graduate from reading her "Berenstein Bears" level books at night to something with more substance. [ . . . ]
Posted by: Handshakes at March 30, 2025 09:57 AM (Qmkgs)

Narnia is a bit of a jump, I would suggest other books.

Beverly Cleary like Ramona the Pest, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House in the Big Woods the Pippi Longstockings books, or Betty MacDonald's Mrs Piggle Wiggle books.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 30, 2025 10:43 AM (D7oie)

186 Do you like Monk? I found most people who like Monk like Psych.

Because they're more-or-less the same show. Also "The Mentalist." Formulas FTW!

Posted by: Oddbob at March 30, 2025 10:44 AM (/y8xj)

187 My comment wasn't meant as a pejorative about formulaic writing (OK, maybe a gentle one). Indeed in all fields -- math, cooking, medicine, etc. -- formulas are used because they work!
Posted by: Oddbob at March 30, 2025

***
Quite right. In the Blitz in London in WWII, the most popular books requested from lending libraries were detective stories, because they always told a story.
They had a comforting formula and message: that law and order, logic and reason and evidence, will prevail over evil.

Though I haven't seen any of the other Star Wars films after the initial three, I keep reading that many feature the Empire building a new Death Star, bigger and better, etc. That seems like a failure of imagination.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 10:45 AM (omVj0)

188 I think I have re-read most of the novels I have acquired, unless a particular one was a disappointment. I give it a few years in between, but if the writing is good, I can visit it again, and sometimes it gives me a new perspective when I know the ultimate outcome.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 30, 2025 10:45 AM (Ob+7a)

189 I should add that - at the risk of shameless self-promotion - none of my books have much in common.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 10:23 AM (ZOv7s)

But, does your writing style, your voice, change with each book? I think that's what he's getting at. You can tell who wrote it without reading the author's name.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 30, 2025 10:46 AM (0eaVi)

190 Re-reading is great. For some humor, a friend of mine had a roommate who scoffed at the practice. "You have too many books! Why do you keep a book when you've already read it?" Whereupon said friend asked the roommate, "Why do you listen to that opera again? You've already heard it." The roommate got thoughtful and grudgingly conceded that she had a point.

Posted by: tankascribe at March 30, 2025 10:46 AM (NtoJk)

191 Never watched Monk. Haven't had real TV for awhile. Currently have Netflix and Prime and other freebies like tubi but never watch them.
I never reread. I tend to go through phases. Sci fi, historical fiction, romance, paranormal. I took enough classes in college I could've had a minor in English so read the classics. Always looking for something new. Sanderson, Galbraith were like a breath of fresh air. Completely different.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 30, 2025 10:47 AM (t/2Uw)

192 Because I really like Steven Pressfield , I tried the historic fiction novel by Conn Iggulden, Gates of Rome. I didn't make it past the first few chapters before I put it down and have not returned to it.

It's apparently me and not him because he's a very popular author from what ive read.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 30, 2025 10:47 AM (VofaG)

193 I hope Candace Owens puts out a book on this RFK scandal and the story of his being compromised.

The podcasts she is doing on the situation is fascinating. Really unveiling some uncomfortable truths.
Posted by: Christ is the Truth, the Way and The Life at March 30, 2025 10:31 AM (p6Cox)
====

No doubt you will be fascinated by her theory about how Muslims were forced to live in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem, or her theory that the wife of the president of France was a man.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at March 30, 2025 10:47 AM (RIvkX)

194 You definitely want a serif typeface. It is said that the eye skims over sans serif typefaces, so you use it when you don't want someone to pay attention to what was written.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at March 30, 2025 10:30 AM (cvWHI)

So, all democrat writings are in sans serif?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 30, 2025 10:48 AM (0eaVi)

195 Do you like Monk? I found most people who like Monk like Psych.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth

I have long assumed that both Monk and Psych are caricatures of Sherlock Holmes, using characters that have odd personalities that cause them to have perfect memory.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 30, 2025 10:48 AM (Ob+7a)

196 Hooked on Phonics has the most wonderful ads

It is "bratty girlboss" meme, but played for laughs

youtu.be/OBJR03BORRQ

Posted by: Kindltot at March 30, 2025 10:50 AM (D7oie)

197 I have often thought that Hollywood, professional sports, and gambling were all fronts for money laundering.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 30, 2025 10:04 AM (Ob+7a)

The Producers is a documentary!

Back in the day, MLB would claim they were losing tons of money, so when their contract with the players union would come up, they'd say they couldn't pay them more.

Then would pay some outrageous salary to a superstar free agent.

The NFL claims it loses money. Which it does, if one assumes all the profits go to the teams, and not the league.

Now they're all in bed with the gamblers, which to me means, yeah, now they really can't afford to keep this thing going. Fans don't support the leagues, bettors do.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 30, 2025 10:50 AM (wKlL/)

198 For youngsters reading books, I don't know that I'd recommend Black Beauty. It's terribly sad in lots of parts although eventually that poor horse gets a happy ending. Like Watership Down I never read it again. I did enjoy all the M<arguerite Henry "horse-themed" books like King Of The Wind, Misty of Chincoteague and (not a horse) Bright of the Grand Canyon.

Posted by: tankascribe at March 30, 2025 10:50 AM (NtoJk)

199 Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 30, 2025 10:48 AM (Ob+7a)

Most definitely. And the writers admit that in the last episode of Psych. Well at least that Psych and Monk are the same formula ( which you can assume is Sherlock Holmes)

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 30, 2025 10:50 AM (VofaG)

200 For those looking for kids' books a level up from Berenstain Bears level, I suggest the Brambly Hedge stories. (Yes, I know I bring them up a lot.) The writing is what I consider first grade level or so and the wonderful illustrations help bring more understanding to the words.

Posted by: JTB at March 30, 2025 10:51 AM (yTvNw)

201 San Fran, do you think that's a troll? Never seen that nic before.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 30, 2025 10:51 AM (t/2Uw)

202 To the topic: I often reread older novels or short stories I loved or even just liked years ago. During the Sniffle Scare, since libraries were essentially shut down, I went back through a lot of the books on my shelves. That gave me not a little entertainment. If it's on my shelf, it has something special, and I generally liked them all over again.

I may dip into something I have just to reread a particular scene, too. The description and early life of "Cathy the monster" in Steinbeck's East of Eden is one example. Heinlein's narrator's comments about the nature of cats in Door Into Summer is another. Or the climactic scenes of a Queen, Carr, or Stout mystery.

I submit that there is no more dramatic moment in genre fiction than when the detective realizes, and announces, that he knows who the murderer is. "I tell you now, and if I am wrong you can trumpet it from the highest mountain in Colorado . . . but your brother did not kill Mrs. Harbottle!"

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 10:51 AM (omVj0)

203 More proof that we've got an under-educated, over-credentialed society.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 30, 2025 09:41 AM (ZOv7s)

I have a 1915ish HS chemistry textbook.
They say back then HS was like college today. People mistake that to mean that few finished HS, about the same proportion that finish college now.
Based upon the textbook material I would say the level of eduction gained in 12 years then takes 16+ years now. Especially if you not in a STEM field (which was still a BS degree back then).

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at March 30, 2025 10:52 AM (/lPRQ)

204 I hope Candace Owens puts out a book on this RFK scandal and the story of his being compromised.

The podcasts she is doing on the situation is fascinating. Really unveiling some uncomfortable truths.
Posted by: Christ is the Truth, the Way and The Life at March 30, 2025 10:31 AM (p6Cox)

There's an RFK scandal?

Oh gosh, whatever shall we do.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 30, 2025 10:53 AM (wKlL/)

205 For youngsters reading books, I don't know that I'd recommend Black Beauty. It's terribly sad in lots of parts although eventually that poor horse gets a happy ending. Like Watership Down I never read it again. I did enjoy all the M
Posted by: tankascribe at March 30, 2025

***
Watership is very long, and a little slow in the first third, or I'd have mentioned it. Okay, how about Sheila Burnford's The Incredible Journey? Adventure, suspense, animals overcoming tremendous odds. Or Albert Payson Terhune's stories about collies.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 10:54 AM (omVj0)

206 The idea that technology is some evil gift would only occur to someone who never had to live without metal tools, medicine or agriculture.

Man has a mind, given by God, and a world where the laws of nature can be understood, also a gift of God.

God does not give evil gifts. Even redheads.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo at March 30, 2025 10:54 AM (xcxpd)

207 Going for an early lunch shortly. I'll catch up with the rest of the thread later. And AH Lloyd, I enjoyed dealing with the philosophical aspects in Tolkien's writing. It seems there are always new depths to plumb.

Posted by: JTB at March 30, 2025 10:54 AM (yTvNw)

208 San Fran, do you think that's a troll? Never seen that nic before.

Criticizing, or just snarking on, political commentators is always fair game but this may not the be most appropriate thread for it.

Posted by: Oddbob at March 30, 2025 10:55 AM (/y8xj)

209 San Fran, do you think that's a troll? Never seen that nic before.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 30, 2025 10:51 AM (t/2Uw)
=====

Meh. Probably. Candace Owens is a qualified crackpot.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at March 30, 2025 10:55 AM (RIvkX)

210 She has lost the plot

Macron is a strange enough character without going in that direction

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at March 30, 2025 10:55 AM (bXbFr)

211 The amount of info to learn these days has grown exponentially. From car mechanics to doctors the amount of info has grown with advancement.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 30, 2025 10:56 AM (VofaG)

212 I did enjoy all the M
Posted by: tankascribe at March 30, 2025 10:50 AM (NtoJk)

Sigh. My favorites.

Posted by: Catherine of Russia at March 30, 2025 10:57 AM (0eaVi)

213 Thomas Paine, That book about the 1913 storms sounds excellent. It goes on my wish list immediately. People who don't live near the Lakes really don't grasp how big and dangerous they can be. Until the supertankers of the 70s came around, Great Lakes ore carriers were the biggest cargo ships in the world.

Posted by: who knew at March 30, 2025 10:57 AM (+ViXu)

214 Went over to look at the Moron Book recommendations, first time in a long time. This is not a cut and paste of our comments into a spreadsheet! Really very helpful and an unimaginable amount of work. Thanks Perfesser.

Posted by: Candidus at March 30, 2025 10:57 AM (PhOuQ)

215 Pants are on, time to tackle the day.

Thanks again, Perf and Hordelings.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 30, 2025 10:57 AM (kpS4V)

216 And yes its trolling if the message is not explicitly christian

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at March 30, 2025 10:58 AM (bXbFr)

217 185 My 5 year old is going into kindergarten next year and I want to graduate from reading her "Berenstein Bears" level books at night to something with more substance. [ . . . ]
Posted by: Handshakes at March 30, 2025 09:57 AM (Qmkgs)

Narnia is a bit of a jump, I would suggest other books.

Beverly Cleary like Ramona the Pest, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House in the Big Woods the Pippi Longstockings books, or Betty MacDonald's Mrs Piggle Wiggle books.
Posted by: Kindltot at March 30, 2025 10:43 AM
****
Allow me to add the saga of Freddy the Pig, by Walter R. Brooks. 26 volumes of authentic Americana, often very funny, with some of the best characterization in all of children's literature and bracing doses of social satire.

Posted by: werewife, princess of Delray Beach at March 30, 2025 10:59 AM (5ayY3)

218 Seconded on the Heinleins, though I really didn't like the ending to Podkayne and found it disturbing.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 10:41 AM (omVj0)

Yeah, Bob had a mental...thing while writing Podkayne and decided he didn't want to write Juveniles anymore. He actually killed Pod off but his editor, whom he had a (happy?) feud with made him change the ending. The first half is really great though.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo at March 30, 2025 10:59 AM (xcxpd)

219 The amount of info to learn these days has grown exponentially. From car mechanics to doctors the amount of info has grown with advancement.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 30, 2025 10:56 AM (VofaG)
====
I knew everything I needed to know about age 14 and so I stopped learning and started teaching.

But no one listened.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at March 30, 2025 10:59 AM (RIvkX)

220 Sans serif for headlines.
Serif for body text.

Posted by: Newspaper copyeditors everywhere at March 30, 2025 10:59 AM (dg+HA)

221
My grandmother graduated high school in 1912 with a working knowledge of calculus, Latin and Greek, the latter being important to a better understanding of the Bible and translations of it.

Public school.

Posted by: Auspex at March 30, 2025 10:59 AM (j4U/Z)

222 101- This is the story of a beautiful girl who gets invited to all of the fabulous 1970's L.A. parties because she's beautiful, and the flamboyant hosts find her the perfect accessory to their own beautiful selves, and they're all so very in love with themselves and each other. It's all so beautiful, until she wakes up when she's 30 and discovers that she looks like she's 40, because she's a drunk.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at March 30, 2025 09:57 AM

Sounds a lot like "Daisy Jones and the Six"!

Posted by: Moonbeam at March 30, 2025 10:59 AM (rbKZ6)

223 The amount of info to learn these days has grown exponentially. From car mechanics to doctors the amount of info has grown with advancement.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 30, 2025

***
I used to think I had a pretty good layman's understanding of medicine, the causes of certain diseases, etc. Nowadays we hear about so many new items, maybe because some of the old ones have been renamed, that reading such things is bewildering. Years ago I never heard of "psoriatic arthritis," for instance. Psoriasis, yes ("the heartbreak of psoriasis"), but not an intersection with arthritis.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 10:59 AM (omVj0)

224 Young readers? Never got around to these myself, but Mrs Some Guy had read Mary Norton's Borrowers stories in her early days and still has them on her shelves. Might be worth a look?

And there's always the old standbys of Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, or Tom Swift Jr.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at March 30, 2025 11:00 AM (q3u5l)

225 For kindergarteners I'd suggest the Oz books by L. Frank Baum.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 30, 2025 11:00 AM (78a2H)

226 My granddaughters are 6 and 8 and avid readers. I did read with them extensively. It is really hard to recommend books that were popular when I was their age which a lot of you do, because there are so many more current what they call chapter books out there now. Things like the Unicorn Diaries, Mercy Watson, Magic Tree House, Boxcar kids.
I know you all want your grandkids to appreciate what you loved but you might try going to a bookstore and seeing what kids are actually into today. 8 yr old currently reading Ronald Dahl.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 30, 2025 11:00 AM (t/2Uw)

227 osted by: Miguel cervantes at March 30, 2025 10:58 AM (bXbFr)

I always read your Nic as Miguel Cervezas because it is aos.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 30, 2025 11:00 AM (VofaG)

228 But sex scenes were verboten in genre fiction until pretty recently. So the topic didn't, ah, come up.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 10:39 AM (omVj0)

*Mickey Spillane has entered the chat*

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo at March 30, 2025 11:01 AM (xcxpd)

229 Second the recommendation for the Borrowers, and the suspiciously-similar "The Littles" series.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 30, 2025 11:01 AM (78a2H)

230 My grandmother graduated high school in 1912 with a working knowledge of calculus, Latin and Greek, the latter being important to a better understanding of the Bible and translations of it.

Public school.
Posted by: Auspex at March 30, 2025

***
My father left school in eighth grade, about 1920, took some kind of bookkeeping course, and was employed as a bookkeeper/clerk for decades. So in his day, a lack of a high school or college diploma was not necessarily a handicap.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 11:02 AM (omVj0)

231 Posted by: Moonbeam at March 30, 2025 10:59 AM (rbKZ6)

Sounds like The Great Gatsby to me.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 30, 2025 11:02 AM (VofaG)

232 My kids both loved the Magic Treehouse series, though I've noticed they had no trouble getting rid of them later. Some books are great when you're the right age but don't stay with you. Others are eternal.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 30, 2025 11:03 AM (78a2H)

233 Yeah, Bob had a mental...thing while writing Podkayne and decided he didn't want to write Juveniles anymore. He actually killed Pod off but his editor, whom he had a (happy?) feud with made him change the ending. The first half is really great though.
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo at March 30, 2025

***
In a recent two-volume biography of RAH, I read that his editor at Scribners, who published the juveniles, was really difficult -- a proto-wokeist, apparently, as long ago as the 1940s and 1950s. Finally she bounced Starship Troopers. He took it "across the street" in his words, to another publisher, and won a Hugo with it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 11:05 AM (omVj0)

234 The Chosen.

Posted by: Come and See at March 30, 2025 11:05 AM (dg+HA)

235 And there's always the old standbys of Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, or Tom Swift Jr.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at March 30, 2025 11:00 AM (q3u5l)

I've always heard about boys book series from around the turn of the 20th century, but have never read them. The Rover Boys - who, were jerks I think I've read. Frank Reade and Frank Reade Jr. books. There were apparently quite a few series like that around that time. Things that probably couldn't get published today. I just wonder if they're any good for a modern boy to read?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 30, 2025 11:06 AM (0eaVi)

236 My kids both loved the Magic Treehouse series, though I've noticed they had no trouble getting rid of them later. Some books are great when you're the right age but don't stay with you. Others are eternal.
Posted by: Trimegistus
I agree, but the key is that they read for entertainment. That will lead to reading more and more and find out what they love. If you push to get them to read what they can't appreciate yet, you defeat the purpose.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 30, 2025 11:06 AM (t/2Uw)

237 My father got his GED in the Marines after being kicked out of school for punching the principal. Lost his football scholarship to UMass. ( told to me by his brother and sisters at his funeral)

Im biased but he was the smartest guy I knew.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 30, 2025 11:06 AM (VofaG)

238 Why Starbucks needs a union.

https://shorturl.at/FIYc5

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Soldier of the Persistence at March 30, 2025 11:07 AM (L/fGl)

239 My father left school in eighth grade, about 1920, took some kind of bookkeeping course, and was employed as a bookkeeper/clerk for decades. So in his day, a lack of a high school or college diploma was not necessarily a handicap.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 11:02 AM (omVj0)

I framed and put my grandmother's eighth grade diploma from 1923 on the wall. Country folk didn't usually go further than that.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 30, 2025 11:08 AM (0eaVi)

240 Went over to look at the Moron Book recommendations, first time in a long time. This is not a cut and paste of our comments into a spreadsheet! Really very helpful and an unimaginable amount of work. Thanks Perfesser.
Posted by: Candidus at March 30, 2025 10:57 AM (PhOuQ)
----
Thanks!

Though there's quite a bit of cut-and-paste involved...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 30, 2025 11:13 AM (n/UDa)

241 The Complete Sherlock Holmes really is one of the great treasures of literature. I bought that for myself at age 12 with my allowance loot and read it all the way through many times.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 30, 2025 11:15 AM (EHR/x)

242 My 5 year old is going into kindergarten next year and I want to graduate from reading her "Berenstein Bears" level books at night to something with more substance. I was thinking of trying the Narnia books...
Posted by: Handshakes at March 30, 2025 09:57 AM (Qmkgs)

I think you're trying to jump too far ahead. Narnia is liable to bore and confuse her.

When I was in 4th or 5th grade, so that would make me a 10 or 11 year old boy, my Mom came to me all excited now that I was reading longer novels, etc, with the best book in the world, her absolute favorite!!! and she wanted me to read that wonderful novel.

That novel was "Jane Eyre".

Being a good boy, I read "Jane Eyre" all the way through, but Wholley Kau! reading that thing was like panning for gold in the Sahara. My thinking the whole time, once I got a few chapters deep, was the child's version of 'what the fuckety fucking fuck is this crap?!?!." I was bored out of my mind.

Anywho "Jane Eyre" murdered my respect for my Mom's suggestions for reading material.

Whenever she'd suggest a book, "Oh, yes. That looks interesting. Maybe I'll read it riiiight after I finish, "Tom Swift and His Electric Spoon"

Posted by: naturalfake at March 30, 2025 11:17 AM (iJfKG)

243 Handshakes, I read some of the Black Stallion books when I was in grade school and really liked them, they're too much for a 5/6 year old to read but might work as stories to read to them.

Posted by: who knew at March 30, 2025 11:18 AM (+ViXu)

244 The book thread is wonderful source of reading recommendations. My favorite threadrec is Ruark's The Old Man and the Boy. I read it to my dad while he was dying.

Posted by: Oglebay at March 30, 2025 11:20 AM (2ap+5)

245 In the weirdly fascinating Department, I would recommend Colin Wilson's novel The Philosopher's Stone. I totally different take on time travel, and a Sinister one.

Posted by: Beverly at March 30, 2025 11:21 AM (Epeb0)

246 For boys?
My Side of the Mountain
By Jean George

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at March 30, 2025 11:21 AM (dg+HA)

247 Anywho "Jane Eyre" murdered my respect for my Mom's suggestions for reading material.

Whenever she'd suggest a book, "Oh, yes. That looks interesting. Maybe I'll read it riiiight after I finish, "Tom Swift and His Electric Spoon"
Posted by: naturalfake at March 30, 2025 11:17 AM (iJfKG)

I read Wuthering Heights before I read Jane Eyre. I figured one sister wrote a book with tons of melodrama and it was exciting enough to give the other sister a chance.

Well... no. Jane Eyre is indeed a dull read.

At this point I'd look at both as more of a time capsule, a view of a world that no longer exists, and I learned something from both books.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 30, 2025 11:21 AM (K6M7J)

248 Once my granddaughters could read by themselves, they weren't interested in my reading to them. I was devastated at first, but they constantly have books in their hands so I got over it. At least I think I set the stage....

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 30, 2025 11:22 AM (t/2Uw)

249 We were assigned Jane Eyre and high school and I thought it was pretty good. I picked it up many years later and could barely suffer through a single page.

Posted by: Oglebay at March 30, 2025 11:23 AM (2ap+5)

250 Pretty much anything by Tim Powers is gold. I love The Drawing of the Dark, but my favorite is The Anubis Gates.

Posted by: Jim S. at March 30, 2025 11:23 AM (NOve5)

251 Oh, yeah, recommendations.

At that age the kiddos really like stuff like the "Frog and Toad" series.

And they especially like junior level science books. You know, stuff with lots of pictures and interesting facts about fish or birds or animals in general. Stuff about dinosaurs or astronomy.

Kids are hungry for knowledge at that age and-

BONUS! They love to discuss and tell you about all the neat things they're learning. Gives you some quality parent/kid time at no extra cost.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 30, 2025 11:24 AM (iJfKG)

252 My father finished high school during WWII and worked as a bookkeeper at a shipyard for a couple of years before getting drafted. High-school accounting classes were enough to get a job -- maybe the war affected that a little, but only to the extent that he probably got a better starting job than he might have otherwise. He went to college on the GI Bill afterward -- and I don't think he planned on college without that. For someone who grew up in the 30s-40s, high school was enough for white collar work.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 30, 2025 11:25 AM (78a2H)

253 I framed and put my grandmother's eighth grade diploma from 1923 on the wall. Country folk didn't usually go further than that.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 30, 2025 11:08 AM (0eaVi)
10th grade was about as high as it went for Pappy Eromero’s time and he didn’t get that far. He went from the farm, to construction, to the Army. After WW II, back to the farm and construction. He was very successful, as could be today’s youth, if effort was made.

Posted by: Eromero at March 30, 2025 11:25 AM (p4vtc)

254 At age six I really don't remember what I was reading other than comics and various things in Reader's Digest the magazine. I don't think I started on the Whitman TV Western tie-ins until I was about eight.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 11:26 AM (omVj0)

255 Sharon: We had the opposite experience. The youngest kid actually _concealed_ his reading ability at home. We were a little concerned about how long it was taking him to learn . . . until his school teachers blew the gaff by mentioning that he often was reading in class instead of paying attention to their boring bullshit. (My paraphrase.) When we confronted the youngest kid, he admitted that he wanted us to keep reading to him at bedtime. We assured him we would, and that lasted several more years.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 30, 2025 11:28 AM (78a2H)

256 I saw 87 recommendations from All Hail Eris and one recommendation from All Hair Eris.

Do not want an All Hair Eris.

Posted by: Candidus at March 30, 2025 11:29 AM (PhOuQ)

257 I'm continuing to read Iain Pears' Stone's Fall and am quite enjoying it. It is divided into three parts, each narrated by a different character and each informs the others. It's rather Roshomon like in that different perspectives of the same events reveals shocking twists and burns. And the writing itself is just plain good.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Soldier of the Persistence at March 30, 2025 11:29 AM (L/fGl)

258 The comics page in color in the Sunday newspaper. Always a highlight. Save Peanuts for last.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at March 30, 2025 11:30 AM (dg+HA)

259 10th grade was about as high as it went for Pappy Eromero’s time and he didn’t get that far. He went from the farm, to construction, to the Army. After WW II, back to the farm and construction. He was very successful, as could be today’s youth, if effort was made.
Posted by: Eromero at March 30, 2025 11:25 AM (p4vtc)

Book larnin' is useful, but you actually have to do something to really understand how things work. Being some professor of whatever isn't any more value to society than being able to clear a backed up toilet.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 30, 2025 11:30 AM (0eaVi)

260 as could be today’s youth, if effort was made.
Posted by: Eromero

See 238.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Soldier of the Persistence at March 30, 2025 11:31 AM (L/fGl)

261 Hail and Hair used to tour with The Moody Blues.

Posted by: Back in the day at March 30, 2025 11:32 AM (dg+HA)

262 Big black cat Stirling is on me again. He even stayed while I was smoking a pipe. I made sure to puff *up*, so the smoke would go away from him. Still, he amazes me.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 11:32 AM (omVj0)

263 We don’t let them have ideas, why would we let them have guns?

Joseph Stalin

Clearly education has been hijacked, they don’t teach how to think, they indoctrinate children and young adults generally speaking into left wing political lunatics.

Posted by: Common Tater at March 30, 2025 11:32 AM (fOaHw)

264 At age six I really don't remember what I was reading other than comics and various things in Reader's Digest the magazine. I don't think I started on the Whitman TV Western tie-ins until I was about eight.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 11:26 AM (omVj0)

I know I read early, but I can't remember much other than the Dr. Suess books. I did read one of the books in that style by Bennett Cerf that I liked. That's one person I wish I had been able to write to, but he died when I was nine. Didn't know that until later.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 30, 2025 11:32 AM (0eaVi)

265 For youngsters, The Heinlein Juveniles are great, start with 'Have Spacesuit, Will Travel' and end with Podkayne of Mars. Or end before that, depending on the kid
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo at March 30, 2025

Recently finished 'Time for the Stars', I'd rate it in about the middle of his ? 12~14 Juveniles. I've been very judiciously stretching out this Juvenile journey for about a decade. I'm now down to 2 left (of those 'formally' in the group) I know it will be a sad day when it's completed.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at March 30, 2025 11:33 AM (L1omb)

266 When I was young, the Wheeling Intelligencer was a great newspaper. The Columbus Citizen Journal and the Cleveland Plain Dealer weren't even close. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette was okay for sports.

Posted by: Oglebay at March 30, 2025 11:33 AM (2ap+5)

267 We were assigned Jane Eyre and high school and I thought it was pretty good. I picked it up many years later and could barely suffer through a single page.
Posted by: Oglebay at March 30, 2025 11:23 AM (2ap+5)

I do think the sisters themselves wouldn't have seen it as such, but I think their two books are companion pieces.

One is a complete fantasy, the other a sodden realistic work. It probably says more about the ladies than it does the times in which they lived.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 30, 2025 11:34 AM (URoVT)

268 Phooey! Wife wants me to take her to work early today.

Guess I'll have to finish the thread later....

Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 30, 2025 11:35 AM (0eaVi)

269 Where the Sidewalk Ends.

Posted by: Shel Silverstein at March 30, 2025 11:35 AM (dg+HA)

270 I don't recall my age 6 reading either. I could already read when I started kindergarten, but have no memory of being taught to read. Dimly remember having things like Little Golden Books around, Roy Chapman Andrews' books on dinosaurs, and in later grades the Classics Illustrated comics, assorted Whitmans, the Golden Nature Guides, some of the Landmark stuff, before stumbling over Heinlein's Puppet Masters when I was 12 or 13.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at March 30, 2025 11:35 AM (q3u5l)

271 Reading at age 6:

"Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH"

"James and the Giant Peach"

"Rise and Fall of the Third Reich"

Posted by: San Franpsycho at March 30, 2025 11:36 AM (RIvkX)

272 Clearly education has been hijacked, they don’t teach how to think, they indoctrinate children and young adults generally speaking into left wing political lunatics.
Posted by: Common Tater at March 30, 2025 11:32 AM (fOaHw)

As has been said many times many ways, the school system was designed by the Germans. It was meant to serve the state.

In that sense I don't think it has changed much. What the state wants from its fodder has changed, but not the fact of its purpose in having children ground through their indoctrination centers.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 30, 2025 11:36 AM (URoVT)

273 Where the Sidewalk Ends.
Posted by: Shel Silverstein at March 30, 2025 11:35 AM (dg+HA)

Shel, Pam says hi from the great beyond.

(my friend knew Shel Silverstein)

Gotta go for real now.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 30, 2025 11:36 AM (0eaVi)

274 My lifelong best friend read the giving tree at his dad's funeral service. I don't know how he got through it.

Posted by: Oglebay at March 30, 2025 11:37 AM (2ap+5)

275 Not age 6, but around 8 I read every book in the library by Thomas C. Hinkle...mostly about dogs.
Good stuff.

Posted by: Diogenes at March 30, 2025 11:39 AM (W/lyH)

276 There was a line of kids classics too - Junior Literary Guild? - with editions of Verne and Kipling and others. Bambi, Black Beauty, Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare. Good stuff as I recall.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at March 30, 2025 11:43 AM (q3u5l)

277 The capital of Ireland is growing fast.

In fact, it's Dublin.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at March 30, 2025 11:44 AM (b294k)

278 "As I've been reading older literature recently (e.g., Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie, and Arthur Conan Doyle), I've noticed that I sometimes have to look up terms and phrases to be sure I understand them correctly. In the case of Holmes and Christie, their stories are very, very British, so I'm sure that as an American I'm missing out on a lot of context that would be immediately recognizable to their contemporary British readers."

***
Exactly. Just what was a "growler" as opposed to a hansom cab? And apparently in British hotels in the 1920s or '30s, you could put your shoes or boots outside your door in the afternoon or evening, with the expectation that they would not only be returned by morning, but would be cleaned and polished for a fee. Imagine that today.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 11:44 AM (omVj0)

279 me this week:

"Every Valley," a bio of George Frideric Handel, with special emphasis on the circumstances under which he composed The Messiah.

A bonus feature: Lots of info about England during the reigns of Queen Anne, and the first two Hanoverians.

Handel once said that he regretted the fact that his orchestra didn't include a cannon.

Posted by: mnw at March 30, 2025 11:45 AM (kd60y)

280 Comfort reading is age dependant.

As a lad, it was Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan series. Than the Barsoom series, followed by other novels by him.

Then Heinlein, especially the juveniles, then Starship Troopers and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

Arthur. C. Clarke, The Deep Range, Tales of the White Hart, and Wind from the Sun.

Asimov had I Robot, Caves of Steel and In a Good Cause.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at March 30, 2025 11:45 AM (u82oZ)

281 Good Morning, Bibliophiles!

For my Lenten reading, l chose “ The Story of A Soul” by St. Therese of Lisieaux. Written in the late-19th Century, the style, at least of this translation, can be overwrought and emotional. I’m now reading the reminiscences of her novices and these are somewhat easier to read. I’m about 80% through my Kindle version.

I’m glad I’m reading it. There is a lot to pray about and adopt in my life.

Posted by: March Hare at March 30, 2025 11:46 AM (O/GSq)

282 JSG, you know, I don't recall learning to read, just seemed I always knew how. Both of my boys were reading by age 4 but credited the Montessori for that. My DIL homeschooled my granddaughters during Covid using phonics and they both were reading by the time school resumed. Now I try to give them books but I can't keep up. My other son has a 3 yr old boy with a collection of books that would rival,the public library. Think he is on the cusp because he gets bored with people reading to him. We'll see if he makes the jump.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 30, 2025 11:47 AM (t/2Uw)

283 280

Hi, Salty!

Posted by: mnw at March 30, 2025 11:49 AM (kd60y)

284 265 For youngsters, The Heinlein Juveniles are great, start with 'Have Spacesuit, Will Travel' and end with Podkayne of Mars. Or end before that, depending on the kid.

Have Spacesuit is my favorite of his juveniles. I read it to my son.

Posted by: Jim S. at March 30, 2025 11:49 AM (NOve5)

285 MOME ALERT!

Yakima May 10.
Contact Mark Andrew Edwards. Or me, if you still have my email.

Posted by: nurse ratched at March 30, 2025 11:50 AM (mT+6a)

286 "I've noticed that I sometimes have to look up terms and phrases to be sure I understand them correctly."

One thing I recall from reading during the days of my callow youth was the archaic phrase "have no truck with" which was probably a favorite of Twain or Faulkner maybe. I was able to grasp it's meaning from context. And yes, you could look up it's origin.
Every now and then I like to be a little pedantic and throw it into a conversation or even email just to get the puppy dog with tilted head response.

Posted by: Shel Silverstein at March 30, 2025 11:51 AM (dg+HA)

287 Sharon,

If he's looking over that collection on his own, he'll probably make the jump. Good.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at March 30, 2025 11:52 AM (q3u5l)

288 I must admit that I have trouble understanding the writings of female saints, e.g. Theresa of Avila, Edith Stein, Faustina.

The seem so filled with guilt over trivial things.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at March 30, 2025 11:52 AM (7xnZ9)

289 Oops. I'm not Shel.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at March 30, 2025 11:52 AM (dg+HA)

290 When I was young, the Wheeling Intelligencer was a great newspaper. The Columbus Citizen Journal and the Cleveland Plain Dealer weren't even close. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette was okay for sports.
Posted by: Oglebay at March 30, 2025 11:33 AM (2ap+5)

In third grade we'd have newspaper article readings where we would read stories in front of the class. The girls always chose stuff like what Princess Margaret was up to or something about pets.

The boys would read the most gruesome stories we could find. Phrases like, "the bodies were charred and mutilated beyond recognition" were especially favored.

Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at March 30, 2025 11:54 AM (g8Ew8)

291 Well, off to putter uselessly around Casa Some Guy and act like I'm accomplishing something.

Thanks for the thread, Perfessor; always a pleasure.

Have a good one, gang.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at March 30, 2025 11:55 AM (q3u5l)

292 Yeah, got to do some chores. Thanks for a top-notch Book Thread from all of you!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 11:57 AM (omVj0)

293 Handel once said that he regretted the fact that his orchestra didn't include a cannon.
Posted by: mnw

I regret that my 4Runner doesn't include a cannon.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Soldier of the Persistence at March 30, 2025 11:59 AM (L/fGl)

294 Exactly. Just what was a "growler" as opposed to a hansom cab? And apparently in British hotels in the 1920s or '30s, you could put your shoes or boots outside your door in the afternoon or evening, with the expectation that they would not only be returned by morning, but would be cleaned and polished for a fee. Imagine that today.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 30, 2025 11:44 AM (omVj0)

Mark Twain had a longish passage in The Innocents Abroad about being in a hotel and the upstairs room had a mad softshoe dancer who shuffled around for a bit, and then dropped a boot, and then began dancing around again, and droped a second boot, and then shuffled around and dropped a third boot, and this went on until very late, and he learned the next morning he got the room under the one where the boot-black worked overnight.

Twain was a master of indignation, and he worked it out well.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 30, 2025 12:01 PM (D7oie)

295 Take off your pants if you want to
WE HAZ A NOOD

Posted by: Skip at March 30, 2025 12:01 PM (2ovuE)

296 No worries, Mr. Doyle. You’re also remembered as the man who believed in faeries.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at March 30, 2025 12:02 PM (uFuUP)

297 Good grief. I check in for a moment before a flight and get immediately nooded.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at March 30, 2025 12:03 PM (uFuUP)

298 Now it is David Brin's The Uplift Wars, Thor meets Captain America.

Larry Niven: Footfall
Terry Pratchett: Moist von Lipwig series, esp Going Postal.

John Van Styr: Summer's End

Ryk E. Spoor: His Arena series, especially Grand Central Arena and Spheres of Influence

S. M. Stirling: The Peshawar Lancers and Conquistador.

Chris Anvil: Pandora Planet, and hisInterstellar Patrol
universe.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at March 30, 2025 12:04 PM (u82oZ)

299 "...and get immediately nooded."

Nood.
Noodled.
Noodist.

Posted by: Con jug gator at March 30, 2025 12:05 PM (dg+HA)

300 Yakima May 10.
Contact Mark Andrew Edwards. Or me, if you still have my email.
Posted by: nurse ratched at March 30, 2025 11:50 AM (mT+6a)

Sorry, but I Canutt go.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 30, 2025 12:38 PM (0eaVi)

301 Currently reading The City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Only 25% into the book - it holds promises of interest.

Finished Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Middle book of a trilogy, yet can be read as a stand alone. I accidentally read the middle book first, then went and read #1 and #3. #1 was okay and #3 was a flop for me. #2 is excellent sci-fi.

Posted by: 13times at March 30, 2025 03:39 PM (zmDAl)

302 This post just makes me sadder than I thought I could be.

I still have so much stuff like that that I will have to consign to a recycling bin.

My father worked for the USGS. He has left and I have all his records and all his accumulations of property.

I can't keep it and I can't give it away (I have tried).

Posted by: somejoe at March 31, 2025 04:37 AM (RCAte)

Processing 0.06, elapsed 0.0591 seconds.
15 queries taking 0.0124 seconds, 311 records returned.
Page size 207 kb.
Powered by Minx 0.8 beta.