Sunday Morning Book Thread - 6-15-2025 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

(HT: CBD)

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 (they say confession is good for the soul). 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...(calamine lotion not included)

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

Oh, and HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! Some joker moved it on the calendar this year...

PIC NOTE

CBD sent me a link to this website where you can order your very own library mug. Of course, I have five cats, one of whom is very keen on sweeping things off the counter onto the floor. So it's unlikely a mug like this would remain intact in my home for long. She already broke my mug that was in the shape of Darth Vader's head.

"WHY DOES EVERY YA BOOK HAVE SMUT?"

I don't think EVERY YA book has smut in it. In fact, I'm pretty sure a lot of YA books are fairly tame, though that may be changing in recent years. However, the YouTuber above brings up an interesting point about authors who are known for writing YA deciding to write in a different genre, inserting quite a bit more erotica into their more adult books. Unfortunately, readers who are used to reading the YA novels may not realize that the author has chosen to write in a different genre, assuming that all the author's books are written with a younger audience in mind.

This can sometimes work in the other direction as well. Clive Barker, for instance, is an author well known for graphic sexual content among his horror novels. He has written a few books that are suitable for a younger audience, though, such as the Abarat books and The Thief of Always, neither of which contain any graphic sexual material at all (though Abarat still has quite a bit of body horror).

Even authors like C.S. Lewis can sometimes find themselves stereotyped as a writer of fiction suitable for younger audiences, such that when one reads Out of the Silent Planet, the contrast between the writing style in that novel compared to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe can be jarring. Both are great stories, but they are so different it almost seems like they were written by two different people.

One way YA authors who want to write adult fiction can get around the problem of being stereotyped as a YA author is to adopt a pseudonym. J.K Rowling, who is, of course, most famous for the Harry Potter series, has done this with her Robert Galbraith persona. I have not read any of those books, though a few have been recommended by Morons, so I don't know how they compare themewise and stylewise to her earlier books.

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(HT: Also CBD)

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BASED BOOK SALE!

Hans G. Schantz is hosting anothe BASED BOOK SALE for Morons and sundry other readers.

The Summer Based Book Sale starts Wednesday, June 18, 2025 and runs through Tuesday June 24, 2025: hundreds of books by based authors all $0.99 or free. Sign up to be notified when the sale goes live, and if you're an author who'd like to participate, see the call for authors, and leave a comment at: ,a href="https://basedbooksale.substack.com/p/call-for-authors-summer-2025-based" target="_blank">https://basedbooksale.substack.com/p/call-for-authors-summer-2025-based
Thanks!
Hans

ESSENTIAL NOVELS

I don't generally like to post "top ten" lists of novels, but Andrew Klaven makes a key point in his video above. He himself says that the point isn't to find novels you HAVE to read before you die. Instead, the whole point of reading novels is that doing so will increase your wisdom over time. I'm astounded every single week by the knowledge and wisdom on display here in the Sunday Morning Book Thread. Collectively, we Morons read A LOT of books. Enough books to fill an entire library of our very own. If you are someone who struggles to read novels, then don't freak out because you haven't read the "essential" novels or "great books" of all time. Focus on short novels, quick reads, something that will entertain you and will also provoke some additional reflection when you are done. The best novels aren't all doorstoppers (1000+ page behemoths like The Count of Monte Cristo or Moby Dick). Some of my favorite novels are less than 200 pages, but they blow me away every time I read them because they are so good. Find novels like that and then work your way up to longer, more challenging reads. Before long you'll be a wise Moron indeed.

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is the true story of Louis Zamperini, who served as an Army Air Corps B-24 Bombardier in the Pacific during WWII. Louis was always fearless, except he hated to fly. He overcame that fear and discovered he liked being a bombardier. Unbroken tells of Louis' service, the crashing of his plane, the 47 days spent drifting on a decomposing rubber raft until they reached land (during a typhoon), and 2.5 years spent in unspeakable horror as a Japanese POW. It is an amazing story of courage, faith, and despair. The story follows Louis from early childhood through his encounter with a young Franklin Graham. It was through faith that Louis overcame the PTSD and other obstacles that were a result of his combat service and the ravages of the substance abuse he tried as a cure. Louis' post-war life focused on helping others and it was a delight to learn that he was still in great shape when he turned 100 years old. I found myself repeatedly asking how it was that our great nation could not only create such brave men but inspire and compel them to fight for our freedoms and liberty against such great odds. God truly has blessed the USA. Highly recommended reading.
Posted by: Legally Sufficient at June 08, 2025 09:22 AM (rxCpr)

Comment: This seems like an appropriate recommendation for Flag Day weekend, as we celebrate the anniversary of the creation of the United States Army. So many of our veterans have remarkable stories to share about courage, faith, patriotism, and their duty to protect our country.

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I've begun reading Too Much the Lion by Preston Lewis, an historical novel about the Civil War Battle of Franklin, the title referring to Confederate General John Bell Hood. This is one of those books in which there are no fictional characters, the only other novel I know of that does this is Robert Graves' I, Claudius. In this book, he is twice forced to fictionalize names because the characters, although real people, have not had their full names recorded in history. Lewis is known as a YA author and this may be intended as a YA novel. This is an engaging and tragic novel of the Confederate army marching to its destruction.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, And You're Not at June 08, 2025 10:50 AM (L/fGl)

Comment: Interesting narrative choice to use entirely real people to record a historical fictional account. I like it, though, as the author fleshes out fictional details of the real people of whom we know so little, so that we feel like we do know them after all. By the end of the story, we *should* feel sadness for those brave souls who lost their lives during a horrific conflict, even if they were on the wrong side of history.

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

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WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

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

I didn't get as much reading done this week as I would have liked. I finished Silverberg's Majipoor series and then I couldn't seem to muster up motivation to find something else. It's been an odd week for me. I finally settled on the following:

Night's Dawn Trilogy Book 1 - The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton

This doorstopper novel (1200+ pages) takes a while to get moving, as Hamilton is keen on building up his Galactic Confederation. True to form, 600 years from now, humans have "evolved" through artificial means such as genetic engineering and biotechnological enhancement to become smarter, stronger, and yes, better looking. Humanity has spread out to colonize well over 100 other worlds. One one such remote world, still in its infancy with respect to colonization, a renegade criminal (and Satanic cult leader) encounters something that threatens to shatter the Confederacy, if not bring the entire galaxy to ruin.

As usual with Hamilton, there's a lot of free love between characters, as well as insane, over-the-top technology. Lots of crazy action set pieces. Humans breed starships from living polyps, then form a symbiotic bond with them. The "Adamists" are those who have rejected some of humanities advances, preferring a more natural evolution by comparison, but still embracing nanotech implants. The "Edenists" are those who employ genetic engineering techniques to adapt to the conditions of living in space.

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 6-8-2025 (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.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Tolle Lege

Posted by: Skip at June 15, 2025 08:59 AM (+qU29)

2 Booken morgen horden

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 15, 2025 09:00 AM (Splbu)

3 Not much reading but getting into Rick Atkinson's The Day of the Battle, WWIII history of the Italian campaign

Posted by: Skip at June 15, 2025 09:01 AM (+qU29)

4 Good morning!

Posted by: Static In gp's Attic at June 15, 2025 09:01 AM (XqSVb)

5 Happy Bookday!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 15, 2025 09:01 AM (kpS4V)

6 Heh, I've seen that book mug marketed on Facebook. I'd buy one, but we have too many mugs now.

Happy Father's Day to all Morons to whom this applies!

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 15, 2025 09:02 AM (p/isN)

7 Happy Father's Day to all those who merit the distinction!

Posted by: exdem13 FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT at June 15, 2025 09:02 AM (XjTSo)

8 No real reading, unless you count pre-reading last night's movie essay and bills....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 09:03 AM (0eaVi)

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

And Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there.

Posted by: JTB at June 15, 2025 09:03 AM (yTvNw)

10 Morning, Perfessor.

Howdy, Horde.

And now for the content and more coffee and pants.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 15, 2025 09:03 AM (q3u5l)

11 202 Chinese made Apples probably have Terminator chips.
Posted by: Eromero at June 15, 2025 09:01 AM (LHPAg)
Willowed from ONT.

Posted by: Eromero at June 15, 2025 09:03 AM (LHPAg)

12 Morning, Book Folken!

I'm in the middle, literally, of the fifth Jack Reacher novel, Echo Burning. Rarely for me nowadays, I found myself staying up a little later than usual with it, and when I found I couldn't fall asleep, got up and devoured some more pages. The guy Child is one heck of a storyteller.

The first book, Killing Floor, was in first person, and this one (and later ones, I understand) is in third. When did he change over?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 09:04 AM (omVj0)

13 I kinda want that mug
Thought it was AI

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 15, 2025 09:04 AM (Splbu)

14 Good morning again dear horde and thanks Perfessor and Happy Father's Day

Not really a fiction person.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 15, 2025 09:04 AM (RIvkX)

15 Last thread comment that belongs here:

yeah, it's too bad about Scalzi ... the stuff I read before becoming aware of his politics was good.

inflamed commie rectum, he's been dead to me for at least a decade now

*spit*
Posted by: sock_rat_eez at June 15, 2025 08:36 AM (/Ghsb)

The first book of his "Old Man's War" was pretty great.

The second was okay.

The third was "Old Man's War's Old Man's Girl Boss Daughter Kicks Ass!!!!"

So, between declining quality and rising political spewage, I was done.

Same with Charles Stross. Always been a progtard but not an annoyance till he decided that THE MESSAGE was more important than his story.

Look, a-holes tell me a good story and make me laugh and you've got a reader, is that so hard?

Posted by: naturalfake at June 15, 2025 09:04 AM (iJfKG)

16 Now THIS is a comeback!

Subject: Arthur Penn. (That's the name on his Amex card.) Occupation: Former king of England. Current (early 21st century) whereabouts: New York City.

That's the premise for "Knight Life" by the late, great Peter David.

I'm barely into the book, but Arthur has already picked up two followers, junkies who are so far gone they've forgotten their names. Owing to their love of rock 'n' roll, they call themselves Buddy and Elvis. Morgan LeFay is around, as is a woman named Gwen. The jacket blurb mentions Merlin -- and a mayoral election.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 15, 2025 09:05 AM (p/isN)

17
Book Mug buying click leads to a dead page.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 15, 2025 09:06 AM (iJfKG)

18 I am reading "The Boys in the Boat." A friend recommended it.

It's good.

Caveat: The author seems to think FDR was a good guy.

Antidote: "The Forgotten Man" by Amity Schlaes.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at June 15, 2025 09:06 AM (ZmEVT)

19 Good Sunday morning, horde!

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at June 15, 2025 09:07 AM (h7ZuX)

20 WHY DOES EVERY YA BOOK HAVE SMUT?

Because they want to have sex with your children.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 09:07 AM (0eaVi)

21 OK, who is getting books as presents for father's day? Tools, ties and books are the usual fare in this milieu.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 15, 2025 09:07 AM (lTGtQ)

22 Yeah stross wwnt off the boards with evil brexit and orange man bad but hes an anarchist scot

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 15, 2025 09:08 AM (bXbFr)

23 Waht else did I finish this week? Well, there was Thunderhead by Preston & Child. A big thriller, it focuses on the discovery of an unknown Anasazi city deep in the canyon country of Utah, with a woman archaeologist as hero. Not a girlboss simply by being born female, though; she has a background in horseback riding and camping in the Southwest. The other major female in the story is quite the villain, though with motivation, and there are good male characters as well as bad. So it's not a case of "All women are great and all men are doofuses or monsters." Good stuff, like their much later Extinction and, if I recall aright, their earlier Mount Dragon.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 09:08 AM (omVj0)

24 I'm astounded every single week by the knowledge and wisdom on display here in the Sunday Morning Book Thread.

Wow. Way to leave me out, Perfessor.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 09:09 AM (0eaVi)

25 I am reading "The Boys in the Boat." A friend recommended it.

It's good.

Caveat: The author seems to think FDR was a good guy.

Antidote: "The Forgotten Man" by Amity Schlaes.

Posted by: no one of any consequence

I enjoyed The Boys in the Boat. I recently saw the movie version, which was pretty good as well.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 15, 2025 09:09 AM (lTGtQ)

26 I'm flipping through "Dark City Dames" by TCM's Eddie Muller, which looks at noir movie actresses.

Audrey Totter is in one of my favorite films and surely the best boxing movie ever (sorry Raging Bull), "The Set-Up". She was a looker but never really broke into the A List. But as she pointed out, those B movies have a slavish following today that the big budget musicals and costume dramas don't. Instead, she's known for character pieces. Barrymore told her she'd never be a star because she was an excellent actress -- that is, she lost herself in a role.

I was pleased to read that although she had a satisfying career, when she met her husband on a blind date and the two fell in love, that began the happiest part of her life. They had a long successful marriage. He was a doctor, and Audrey joked that she achieved two girl goals: be a Hollywood actress AND marry a doctor.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 15, 2025 09:09 AM (kpS4V)

27 TBR pile: The Ministry of Fear by Graham Greene, though I have a sneaking suspicion I read it long ago when I was learning about "literary" fiction with his This Gun For Hire; and a 1939 impossible crime novel, The Problem of the Wire Cage by John Dickson Carr. I did read that one years and years ago -- but I have forgotten the murderer, so it'll be fun to revisit.

I have to say I'm amazed that my big regional suburban library has quite a few by JDC, including The Mad Hatter Mystery from his pre-impossible crime period. Usually modern libraries have maybe one novel from any of the great mystery giants -- always excepting Agatha Christie; you can always find her stuff.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 09:13 AM (omVj0)

28 good morning Perfessor, Horde

Posted by: callsign claymore at June 15, 2025 09:14 AM (vdLS7)

29 Just throwing this out there for discussion...

What book or novel released in the last 20 years will be considered an essential, classic read?

Posted by: Thomas Bender at June 15, 2025 09:14 AM (XV/Pl)

30 I'm starting to listen to book 13 of the Wheel of Time series, Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. I'm finding that audio books for epic series like this work better for me since I can listen while doing something else like driving, working, cooking, etc.

Posted by: lin-duh at June 15, 2025 09:15 AM (VCgbV)

31 29 Just throwing this out there for discussion...

What book or novel released in the last 20 years will be considered an essential, classic read?
Posted by: Thomas Bender at June 15, 2025 09:14 AM (XV/Pl)

20 years ago was 2005. Oy.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at June 15, 2025 09:16 AM (PiwSw)

32 17
Book Mug buying click leads to a dead page.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 15, 2025 09:06 AM (iJfKG)

Amazon link. $16

https://tinyurl.com/2s6tuxjx

Posted by: jsg at June 15, 2025 09:16 AM (iGK7y)

33 >Interesting narrative choice to use entirely real people to record a historical fictional account

Sorry, I am confused...isn't this extremely common? Like, half of Alison Weir's ouevre? She's written novels from the perspectives of Henry VIII's wives, Richard II's illegitimate daughter Katherine Plantagenet, Lady Katherine Grey, etc.

I recommend everything Alison Weir has ever written, by the way. Both her fiction and nonfiction works are very good.

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at June 15, 2025 09:16 AM (Y+AMd)

34 Crap!

In the shelter again. 16:15.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at June 15, 2025 09:16 AM (DGFJg)

35 Based on what other Confederates said about Hood during the war, maybe the title should have been "Too Much the Wooden-Head."

Posted by: Dr. T at June 15, 2025 09:16 AM (jGGMD)

36 Almost all the SF / Fantasy & YA published by the big name publishers push the Leftist pov.
Smut - ahem - sex positive every body every way every partner it's all good - is part of that.

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 15, 2025 09:16 AM (Splbu)

37 From 1880 to 1906, one of the most horrendous eras in modern African history took place. In King Leopold's Ghost, Adam Hochschild explores the inhuman exploitation of the Congo Free State. After he famously found David Livingstone, Henry Morton Stanley made a arduous trek down the Congo River, finally mapping that part of the dark continent. King Leopold of Belgium manipulated Stanley into helping him claim it as his personal property.

What followed was the inspiration for Heart of Darkness. Natives were coerced into providing raw rubber and ivory by kidnapping and torturing their wives and children. Childrens' hands were often amputated as punishment for missing quotas.
Almost every penny of profit went into Leopold's pocket.

This was not colonialism, it was torturous extraction. It took brave reporters and members of European parliaments to finally force Leopold to give up the Congo, and it has never been a stable country since. This is a sobering read, but necessary to get a grasp of how anti-colonialism got its impetus.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 15, 2025 09:17 AM (lTGtQ)

38 Skipping through some Silverberg essays this week, which reminded me of other things that have been languishing in the Amazing Colossal To-Be-Read Pile. Father's Day? Silverberg's Alpha anthologies from the Kindle store, and the Greene-Lattimore 3-volume set of Greek Tragedies on sale for 2.99/vol. I'll get to all this before I'm planted, I think, I hope.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 15, 2025 09:17 AM (q3u5l)

39 In the shelter again. 16:15.
Posted by: Biden's Dog

Prayers for you

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 15, 2025 09:17 AM (Splbu)

40 What book or novel released in the last 20 years will be considered an essential, classic read?
Posted by: Thomas Bender at June 15, 2025 09:14 AM (XV/Pl)

Ahem....

Posted by: Jake Tapper at June 15, 2025 09:17 AM (iGK7y)

41 >>WHY DOES EVERY YA BOOK HAVE SMUT?

It sells.

Posted by: davidt at June 15, 2025 09:17 AM (i0F8b)

42 I need to read “Too much the Lion” having studied that battle - wonder if he came to the same conclusions. Mine are that of course Hood was out of his head and should have been relieved of command; but the Confederate Officers under him, some of the best in the war, realized that the war was already lost, and rather than accept defeat, they all chose to die in one last Samurai like blaze of glory. Explains 7 Confederate generals dead in a single battle, 90% of their officer corps wiped out. They attacked over and over til they were all dead, one of the saddest battles in American history.

Posted by: Tom Servo at June 15, 2025 09:17 AM (e15Ap)

43 Given what's going on in LA and elsewhere, I thought I'd try re-reading "The Day of the Locusts."

Posted by: Ordinary American at June 15, 2025 09:18 AM (x2CMu)

44 34 Crap!

In the shelter again. 16:15.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at June 15, 2025 09:16 AM (DGFJg)

What a different reality from the rest of us. My best to you.

Posted by: Ordinary American at June 15, 2025 09:19 AM (x2CMu)

45 'Tis a saddish day in The Neighbourhood when a link to something like the Book Mug turns out to be (a) broken or, (b) inoperative. Tried several of the 'click this link' thingies at the site and none of them worked. I also tried to discover how much they're asking for this item, but that information is also missing. It's probably at the 'Hidden Link Of Secrecy' that y' can't click on without getting the 'Ain't Dere No More!' message …

Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025 09:19 AM (ayRl+)

46 I recommend everything Alison Weir has ever written, by the way. Both her fiction and nonfiction works are very good.
Posted by: Mrs. Peel at June 15, 2025 09:16 AM (Y+AMd)

Agreed. I can't vouch for how accurate all her historical reconstructions are, but they are very captivating. If I'm being honest, I actually like her take on the Tudor era a bit more than Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall."

Posted by: Dr. T at June 15, 2025 09:20 AM (jGGMD)

47 >>> The Handmade Painted Book Mug is Taking Florida by Storm
Mulinla

I see the add for the coffee mugs dozens of times a day.
But, pic at top of post does look better than the one in the ad.

At least one of those colors hs got to be toxic.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at June 15, 2025 09:20 AM (/lPRQ)

48 Was listening to a "graphic audio" version of a book from my favorite series. Got sucked back into rereading the next book.
Graphic audio is like a radio play - there's a cast, sound effects, the whole shebang.

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 15, 2025 09:20 AM (Splbu)

49 Attention span decline has me rereading short stories. Currently the Modern Library's Best Russian Short Stories.

Highly recommend The Shades by Vladimir Korlenko, about Socrates in the afterlife.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at June 15, 2025 09:20 AM (ITkJX)

50 Okay, so last week I bitched about "Empire of Silence," the first book in Christopher Ruocchio's "SunEater" series, because the author makes reference to incredible past and future events that he doesn't bother to elaborate on, while writing 700 pages on very-much-less-interesting events in the life of his main character.

I wasn't going to pick up the second book, "Howling Dark," but decided to give it a shot. I actually enjoyed this one, because the character development was a lot deeper and the events described were actually compelling and interesting. The author is still irritatingly and vaguely referencing yet more yugely important past and future events in a tangential manner that still pisses me off, but I've been learning to hold my temper and just read.

Now on to the third book, "Demon in White," which is decent so far, with the author's most annoying practice still digging at my subconscious. Asshole!

The primary alien opponents of the human empire in this series are absolute bloodthirsty lunatics, which makes the humans trying to deal with them strain to find a way of successfully opposing them short of genocide.

I now recommend the series, with irritation.

Posted by: Sharkman at June 15, 2025 09:21 AM (/RHNq)

51 I had thought Audrey Totter played Kate the sociopath madam in the 1955 East of Eden, but it was Jo Van Fleet. The two actresses did look something alike. I wonder if Audrey could have handled the role as well.

Speaking of E of E, I need to reread it, or maybe my favorite parts, where Steinbeck gives us the horrifying story of "Cathy the monster," as she murders her own parents and later her benefactor, all while pretending to be a kind and thoughtful daughter.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 09:21 AM (omVj0)

52 20 WHY DOES EVERY YA BOOK HAVE SMUT?

Because they want to have sex with your children.
Posted by: OrangeEn

Nailed it

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 15, 2025 09:22 AM (Splbu)

53 Been spottily night reading a paperback of The Oxford History of Medieval Europe by George Holmes. It's been sitting on my nightstand for at least 3 years since I bought it at a yard sale or something.

Posted by: jsg at June 15, 2025 09:22 AM (iGK7y)

54 @31

>>20 years ago was 2005. Oy.

Look at the books written between 1940 and 1960 and then compare and contrast the books written between 2000 and 2020 for instance.

It will astound you.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at June 15, 2025 09:22 AM (XV/Pl)

55 It's probably at the 'Hidden Link Of Secrecy' that y' can't click on without getting the 'Ain't Dere No More!' message …
Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025

***
As I recall, Dr_No, you are an escapee of Da Swamp. Only someone with connections here would use that "Ain't Dere No More" phrase.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 09:23 AM (omVj0)

56 Posted by: Tom Servo at June 15, 2025 09:17 AM (e15Ap)

One of my favorite one-liners from the Civil War was when Jefferson Davis asked Lee if he thought Hood would be a good choice to lead the Army of Tennessee and Lee answered, "Hood is a bold fighter. I am doubtful as to other qualities necessary."

Posted by: Dr. T at June 15, 2025 09:24 AM (jGGMD)

57 I now recommend the series, with irritation.
Posted by: Sharkman

Lol

I bounced off the first book
Kudos to you for making it past the first 100 pages

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 15, 2025 09:24 AM (Splbu)

58 I never used to mark up books with highlighting or writing in margins. It seemed sinful to deface a book. No more unless the book is special in some way: cost, rarity, or maybe fragile with age. As more of my reading involves books with pertinent points or beautiful phrasing or sends me down many rabbit holes I mark the pages or the specific lines. A few words written in the margin make a map for me to follow into the rabbit holes. (I use pencil since it doesn't smear and lasts for many years without fading.)

I used to make notes about these things but they always ended up lost.

Posted by: JTB at June 15, 2025 09:25 AM (yTvNw)

59 I love that coffee mug in the top photo. It's so appropriate for the thread and for my lifestyle.

Posted by: JTB at June 15, 2025 09:27 AM (yTvNw)

60 This was not colonialism, it was torturous extraction. It took brave reporters and members of European parliaments to finally force Leopold to give up the Congo, and it has never been a stable country since. This is a sobering read, but necessary to get a grasp of how anti-colonialism got its impetus.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 15, 2025 09:17 AM (lTGtQ)

For the sake of balance, you might be interested in reading some of the stuff by Bruce Gilley, an extremely based historian of colonialism who somehow hasn't been kicked out of academia yet. Gilley's view is that while some very unpleasant stuff went on in the Congo, Hochschild and other writers have seriously distorted and exaggerated events.

Posted by: Dr. T at June 15, 2025 09:27 AM (jGGMD)

61 That mug has a lot of sharp edges, I'd probably hurt myself somehow.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 15, 2025 09:29 AM (RIvkX)

62 Just throwing this out there for discussion...

What book or novel released in the last 20 years will be considered an essential, classic read?
Posted by: Thomas Bender at June 15, 2025 09:14 AM (XV/Pl)
---
The one I'm working on.

If I ever get a real publisher, Long Live Death could help shift the discussion about the Spanish Civil War.

Posted by: The wild pigs at June 15, 2025 09:29 AM (ZOv7s)

63 What book or novel released in the last 20 years will be considered an essential, classic read?
Posted by: Thomas Bender at June 15, 2025 09:14 AM (XV/Pl)

That's tough.

I think a book that makes it to classic read status probably has to be:

1)Very popular or very well loved so that it's in existence or a long period of time
2) has a story not dependent on contemporary politics

Soooo, maybe Harry Potter or something by Stephen King.
Both of those have books after 2005, are [popular and have a somewhat literary cache.

Books I'd like to be classics and books with might be classics aren't often in the same pile.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 15, 2025 09:32 AM (iJfKG)

64 TBR pile: The Ministry of Fear by Graham Greene, though I have a sneaking suspicion I read it long ago when I was learning about "literary" fiction with his This Gun For Hire; and a 1939 impossible crime novel, The Problem of the Wire Cage by John Dickson Carr. I did read that one years and years ago -- but I have forgotten the murderer, so it'll be fun to revisit.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 09:13 AM (omVj0)
---
It is also in my pile. I'm currently working on The Quiet American, which - like all of Greene's books - draws one in right away.

I bought a bunch of his books on ebay, various editions and it is interesting to see the "other works by the author" are sorted between "novels" and "entertainments."

Posted by: The wild pigs at June 15, 2025 09:32 AM (ZOv7s)

65 Oh I see the based book sale has switched to subscription

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 15, 2025 09:33 AM (Splbu)

66 For the sake of balance, you might be interested in reading some of the stuff by Bruce Gilley, an extremely based historian of colonialism who somehow hasn't been kicked out of academia yet. Gilley's view is that while some very unpleasant stuff went on in the Congo, Hochschild and other writers have seriously distorted and exaggerated events.

Posted by: Dr. T

Yes, I have two of Gilley's books, The Last Imperialist that I reviewed a while back, and the one on German colonialism, which is in my TBR pile. It is a convoluted history, which is often misinterpreted. I saw an interview of him where he pointed out that the Congo Free State was not a colony in any sense of the word, and is often used to justify tarring all colonial powers.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 15, 2025 09:34 AM (lTGtQ)

67 Finished reading a comic book series this week, and this time I actually read it in the original comic book form. "Brath," from back in 2003, written by Chuck Dixon and drawn by Andrea DiVito. A layman might describe the series as a mix of Braveheart and Gladiator, but a sophisticated reader would recognize it as a fantasy-remix of Robert E Howard's Bran Mak Morn. Mixed with Gladiator. The Gladiator influence is undeniable. Basically, a fantasy-version of the Roman Empire is invading a fantasy-version of Scotland, and our hero, Brath, is trying to unite the tribes against the invaders. He fails, and is dragged off to the colosseum.

The book is paced like a grand epic, so it starts a little slow. The early issues have to split their time between advancing the immediate plot, and setting up the main characters, the side characters, and the factions needed for future subplots. After the first arc, the cast is split up (naturally) and things start to move quicker as each subplot is advanced in turn. One issue focuses exclusively on the further adventures of the secondary villains, anther focuses on just the action in the colosseum. Etc. (continued in next comment)

Posted by: Castle Guy at June 15, 2025 09:35 AM (Lhaco)

68 I need to read “Too much the Lion” having studied that battle - wonder if he came to the same conclusions. Mine are that of course Hood was out of his head and should have been relieved of command; but the Confederate Officers under him, some of the best in the war, realized that the war was already lost, and rather than accept defeat, they all chose to die in one last Samurai like blaze of glory. Explains 7 Confederate generals dead in a single battle, 90% of their officer corps wiped out. They attacked over and over til they were all dead, one of the saddest battles in American history.
Posted by: Tom Servo at June 15, 2025 09:17 AM (e15Ap)
---
This reminds me of The Killer Angels, though the topic is far more obscure.

There are various battles and campaigns that are very hard to wargame because the actions of one (or both) commanders are so irrational that one has to create special rules ("iron maidens") to compel players to do it. This is one of those battles and I recall The Gamers version had a random results table to dictate Hood's actions.

Posted by: The wild pigs at June 15, 2025 09:36 AM (ZOv7s)

69 Now that was on persistent sock!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 15, 2025 09:37 AM (ZOv7s)

70 In the shelter again. 16:15.
Posted by: Biden's Dog

Prayers for you

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 15, 2025 09:17 AM (Splbu)
-

Thanks all. Back upstairs. All clear. For some reason, I've ad a lot less that usual these past few days.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at June 15, 2025 09:37 AM (Y+jbb)

71 That mug wouldn't live to see a liquid in my hands.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at June 15, 2025 09:37 AM (mlg/3)

72 Why did King Leopold seize the Congo for himself and not his kingdom?

As the king, he would have received the revenues anyway.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 15, 2025 09:38 AM (p/isN)

73 1)Very popular or very well loved so that it's in existence or a long period of time
2) has a story not dependent on contemporary politics

Soooo, maybe Harry Potter or something by Stephen King.
Both of those have books after 2005, are [popular and have a somewhat literary cache.

Books I'd like to be classics and books with might be classics aren't often in the same pile.
Posted by: naturalfake at June 15, 2025

***
To your point 1: Yes, any writer who is in classic status was popular in his own time. Posterity doesn't seek out authors who were not. (Edgar Allan Poe might be an exception; he was not a bestselling author in his own lifetime.)

I'd say King's 11/22/63 may well be a classic. I already regard it as one.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 09:38 AM (omVj0)

74 65 wait I am wrong , based book sale starts Wednesday 6/18

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 15, 2025 09:38 AM (Splbu)

75 WHY DOES EVERY YA BOOK HAVE SMUT?

Because they want to have sex with your children.
Posted by: OrangeEn

Nailed it

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 15, 2025 09:22 AM (Splbu)
-

Pun intended?

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at June 15, 2025 09:38 AM (Y+jbb)

76 Crap!

In the shelter again. 16:15.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at June 15, 2025 09:16 AM (DGFJg)

What a different reality from the rest of us. My best to you.

Posted by: Ordinary American at June 15, 2025 09:19 AM (x2CMu)
-

/starts write book titled "gimme shelter"

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at June 15, 2025 09:40 AM (Y+jbb)

77 That mug looks like it has too many bumpy places too close to the lip. I would definitely dribble liquids onto my shirt.

I'd put it on my desk to hold the pens and pencils, though.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at June 15, 2025 09:40 AM (h7ZuX)

78 It is also in my pile. I'm currently working on The Quiet American, which - like all of Greene's books - draws one in right away.

I bought a bunch of his books on ebay, various editions and it is interesting to see the "other works by the author" are sorted between "novels" and "entertainments."
Posted by: The wild pigs at June 15, 2025

***
I tend to prefer his "entertainments," but then I grew up with storytellers like Ian Fleming, Rex Stout, and Ellery Queen.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 09:40 AM (omVj0)

79 Biden's dog,
Stay safe. You put in perspective how very blessed we are.

Posted by: lin-duh at June 15, 2025 09:42 AM (VCgbV)

80 I'd put it on my desk to hold the pens and pencils, though.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs!

Same

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 15, 2025 09:42 AM (Splbu)

81 Here in Israel, this is supposed to be the annual "Book Week". In towns all over the country, publishers put out book stands to sell their wares. Usually takes place outdoors, in one major location for all vendors. Canceled. Perhaps delayed. We'll see.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at June 15, 2025 09:42 AM (Y+jbb)

82 (Continued review of the comic book "Brath")

The art in the comic is excellent. Looks historically accurate (even though its technically in a fantasy world) the people look realistic and not to stylized, the coloring looks real, and isn't some cheap-looking washed-out color pallet that some modern comics have...Plus lots of splash panels (a single image taking up the entire page) double-page spreads (a single image taking up two pages) and the kind of epic battle scenes you would expect from sword-and-sandals story.

I have only one bad thing to say about the series, and unfortunately it's a major thing. The book was prematurely canceled after issue 14, because its publisher went bankrupt. It tried to expand too much too fast, and the funding ran out...It is a crying shame that a comic like this was left for dead, while modern crap like Captain Marvel is revived once a year, and re-collected into multiple omnibuses. It's just not fair...

Posted by: Castle Guy at June 15, 2025 09:44 AM (Lhaco)

83 Off to church then down to visit the in-laws. Catch all y'all later.

Posted by: lin-duh at June 15, 2025 09:44 AM (VCgbV)

84 It is also in my pile. I'm currently working on The Quiet American, which - like all of Greene's books - draws one in right away.
====

My Communist Youth League minder gave me a copy when I was in the USSR. At this time I still thought of myself as an enemy of capitalism.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 15, 2025 09:45 AM (RIvkX)

85 That mug wouldn't live to see a liquid in my hands.
Posted by: weft cut-loop

Found it on Amazon. Just enter "glass book mug" in search field.

Posted by: Tuna at June 15, 2025 09:45 AM (lJ0H4)

86 Nailed it
Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 15, 2025 09:22 AM (Splbu)

Yeah, they're really not hiding it anymore, are they?

Anyway, got something to do. Keep making interesting comments everyone. I need something to read later.......

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 09:45 AM (0eaVi)

87 Finished Bear's Darwin's Children (re-read, will keep), re-reading Clancy's Teeth of the Tiger (probably discarding my last 4 of Clancy's), and slowly going through never-read Aldrin's/Barnes's Encounter with Tiber.

Posted by: Nazdar at June 15, 2025 09:45 AM (NcvvS)

88 I have been trying to free write regularly (as regularly as an adhd addled person can anyway) and I noticed one time I tried free writing when it was late and I was very tired and sleepy that I actually wrote more freely (though less legibly)

I guess inhibitions were lowered.

What writer wrote good books that were clearly written under the influence of something (drugs, liquor, etc)?

Philip K. Dick?

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 15, 2025 09:46 AM (Splbu)

89 This was not colonialism, it was torturous extraction. It took brave reporters and members of European parliaments to finally force Leopold to give up the Congo, and it has never been a stable country since. This is a sobering read, but necessary to get a grasp of how anti-colonialism got its impetus.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 15, 2025 09:17 AM (lTGtQ)
---
I found the book tedious and belabored. The Congo was a mess, but so was central Africa before white men arrived. Pace Conrad, "the horror" was whites forgetting who there were and "going native."

The Belgians seemed spectacularly awful at colonization, even to the point of needlessly abusing their locally recruited police, who eventually mutinied and forced a major overhaul of the project.

I'd say it was the classic example of a tiny, put upon nation that finally gets a taste of power and goes completely nuts with it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 15, 2025 09:46 AM (ZOv7s)

90 @78 --

"Entertainments" best describes the occupants of my bookshelves.

*******

"Queen ... Queen! The fellow who writes all those whodunits?

"Oh, my dear, I thought you said he was an author!"

-- "Ellery Queen" TV series

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 15, 2025 09:47 AM (p/isN)

91 I've got an idea for a new take on the werewolf story. Does anybody know of a good overview book on the mountain men of the American frontier? People like Jim Bridger, but also men who hunted wolves?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 09:48 AM (omVj0)

92 @ 55 It's probably at the 'Hidden Link Of Secrecy' that y' can't click on without getting the 'Ain't Dere No More!' message …
Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025

***
As I recall, Dr_No, you are an escapee of Da Swamp. Only someone with connections here would use that "Ain't Dere No More" phrase.
_________________________________

Ach! Wolfus, thou hast Founded Me Out! Yas yas, I were a Uptown-ish (but not 'Uptown') boy during all my Wonder Years dere. You know, the Zagamine Street / Jefferson Avenue area. Spended my entire life there until that li'l visitor called 'Katrina' come along in '05 and wrecked da place. Dat's when I hied meself along dem road to Cordova where my daughter and her fambly were living. About 2 years ago, she and her family moved to Smyrna, and I moved to Murfreesboro to be near 'em. Seeing what a shithole Cordova/M'phis is today, both of us got out at the right time. Hey - dat's like the Dr John "Right Time, Wrong Place" tuneage. One day I'll hafta tell ya about that time I met 'The Doctor' before he was 'The Doctor'.

Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025 09:49 AM (ayRl+)

93 Why did King Leopold seize the Congo for himself and not his kingdom?

As the king, he would have received the revenues anyway.

Posted by: Weak Geek

Money. He got virtually all of the profit, versus taxing the profit. He fraudulently set up a conference in Brussels to gain European support for a mission to civilize the Congo under his control, and took it as his personal property.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 15, 2025 09:49 AM (lTGtQ)

94 My wife (the lovely and accomplished Annalucia) and I are reading (aloud) Rick Atkinson's "The British Are Coming", which is the first volume of the author's Revolutionary War trilogy. (The second volume was published recently; it's sitting on our coffee table awaiting its turn.) Atkinson writes very well: his prose is clear and tart, at times funny but never snarky. And he does an excellent job of organizing an extremely broad and complex body of information into a narration that is straightforward and, while not always easy to follow given the number of people and events being described, is quite understandable. And by the end, the reader has learned some important things about our country and its origins, which is especially important for people like myself, the grand son of immigrants. Highly recommended!

Posted by: Nemo at June 15, 2025 09:49 AM (4RPgu)

95 My Communist Youth League minder gave me a copy when I was in the USSR. At this time I still thought of myself as an enemy of capitalism.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 15, 2025 09:45 AM (RIvkX)
---
Greene is not easily boxed in by ideology. His primary identity was Catholicism, and during the Cold War the Church was also divided into factions.

I'm enjoying the little details, like the Legionary forces being entirely German besides their French officers.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 15, 2025 09:50 AM (ZOv7s)

96 I recently reread some old mysteries that I had liked in anticipation of buying more from the same authors. I'm glad I did because I can't tell what it was about the books that I thought was so great when I read them before. I didn't *hate* them this time but, after my memory saying one of them was a definite favorite, I definitely didn't enjoy them enough to buy more.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at June 15, 2025 09:51 AM (lFFaq)

97 As I continue the painful process of reducing the number of books in the house, and it is painful, some realizations come to me. First, I'm not going to reread many of them, even the ones I enjoyed a lot. Partly because there isn't time, partly because my tastes have changed. Second, I have more treasures still to be enjoyed. I have just about every book written by Bernard Cornwell and have read only a few. There is years worth of pleasant reading just with those. That takes some of the sting out of downsizing and that's just one example. Third, I have a number of good quality hardcover compilations of paperback series I've kept such as the Lensman and Skylark series by 'Doc' Smith, all the Narnia books, and all the original Conan stories. I really don't need both versions. Better to pass along the paperbacks and let others enjoy them.

Posted by: JTB at June 15, 2025 09:51 AM (yTvNw)

98 My wife (the lovely and accomplished Annalucia) and I are reading (aloud) Rick Atkinson's "The British Are Coming", which is the first volume of the author's Revolutionary War trilogy. (The second volume was published recently; it's sitting on our coffee table awaiting its turn.)
-

Now I'm angry! I signed up with the author's website to be notified when the next volume comes out. First book was a fun and interesting read.

Gotta spend money. BBL!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at June 15, 2025 09:51 AM (Y+jbb)

99 I'm reading a B&N collection of Poe and finding I appreciate him even more as an adult. The editor's commentary is dumb, though. "This [obscure word] is another example of Poe trying to sound smart because he was insecure about his lack of formal education." Or...maybe he thought that was the right word for what he was trying to do with that story and his "lack of formal education" had nothing to do with it??? Projection: not just a river in Egypt.

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at June 15, 2025 09:52 AM (Y+AMd)

100 Dr_No, I didn't know you'd left that recently!

Magazine and Jefferson has changed some; the CC's Coffee House that used to be at that corner (taking over for a pharmacy, I think? Or a doctor's office?) closed during the Sniffle Scare. You knew that Lee Harvey Oswald (and his Russian wife, I believe) lived in that neighborhood for a while around 1962? Just a few blocks farther down Magazine toward Napoleon.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 09:52 AM (omVj0)

101 Thx "Perfesser". I have posted before that I like Hamilton but he is one very wordy writer with a lot of ideas and science thrown in. Still he does manage to hold a good narrative together

Posted by: Smell the Glove at June 15, 2025 09:52 AM (akw+7)

102 Found it on Amazon. Just enter "glass book mug" in search field.
Posted by: Tuna

I just get a pic of a Bierstiefel.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at June 15, 2025 09:53 AM (mlg/3)

103 I thought the cup in the top pic must be AI. Seems lime it wouldn't be very comfortable to drink from.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at June 15, 2025 09:53 AM (lFFaq)

104 I'd say it was the classic example of a tiny, put upon nation that finally gets a taste of power and goes completely nuts with it.

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

That is accurate. Belgium was a new nation, and behind the curve compared to the rest of Europe. Leopold was apparently trying to catch up as fast as possible, and jealous of the wealth of his counterparts.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 15, 2025 09:55 AM (lTGtQ)

105 How weird...

I just started "The Reality Dysfunction" a couple of days ago.

So far so good. He is much more "way out there" with his world than I've been accustomed too.

So far, so good.

Reading his and housekeeping will consume most of my day today.

Posted by: pawn, one of many at June 15, 2025 09:55 AM (QB+5g)

106 For some reason I keep going back and forth between good books and bad. Followed up the second Wolf Hall trilogy book, which was excellent, with Lessons in Chemistry which made me want to gag. I can’t get on a win streak and stay there!

Posted by: Lex at June 15, 2025 09:56 AM (y4H1r)

107 "Bookhaven mug" is the search term
All the amazon sellers seem dodgy though

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 15, 2025 09:57 AM (Splbu)

108 I'd say it was the classic example of a tiny, put upon nation that finally gets a taste of power and goes completely nuts with it.

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

It happens.

Posted by: Duchy of Grand Fenwick at June 15, 2025 09:57 AM (Aqu9a)

109 94 My wife (the lovely and accomplished Annalucia) and I are reading (aloud) Rick Atkinson's "The British Are Coming"
Posted by: Nemo at June 15, 2025 09:49 AM (4RPgu)

That's a lovely pastime, reading aloud together. My late sister used to read aloud to her husband--I think he was dyslexic, so didn't read much, and she enjoyed sharing the stories. This was before audiobooks were so prevalent.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at June 15, 2025 09:57 AM (h7ZuX)

110 Amazon link:

https://tinyurl.com/4w6zk84c

Posted by: Tuna at June 15, 2025 09:57 AM (lJ0H4)

111 Anyone else ever see a book/story that you know is going to suck, but you have to read/buy it anyway, because the genre is tempting, and because you have to be sure?

So, I read "Skull and Bones: Savage Strom," a short, cheap, hardcover comic book about pirates! It was created last year, in order to hype up the Skull and Bones video game. The game bombed. The comic isn't very good either. A merchant ship is menaced by three separate pirate factions. There's no characterization, and not much of a plot. Just a lot of antagonistic dialogue and generic action scenes. the art is dark and moody and a little bit stylized....But it didn't annoy me like the Northlanders art I mentioned last week. Still, the art wasn't nearly good enough to make up for the bland story.

Posted by: Castle Guy at June 15, 2025 09:58 AM (Lhaco)

112 I'm reading a B&N collection of Poe and finding I appreciate him even more as an adult. The editor's commentary is dumb, though. "This [obscure word] is another example of Poe trying to sound smart because he was insecure about his lack of formal education." Or...maybe he thought that was the right word for what he was trying to do with that story and his "lack of formal education" had nothing to do with it??? Projection: not just a river in Egypt.

Posted by: Mrs. Peel

Poe has been one of my favorite authors for some time. Somehow, that commentor seems unaware that Poe was an editor himself, so he was far more erudite than most.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 15, 2025 09:58 AM (lTGtQ)

113 I recently reread some old mysteries that I had liked in anticipation of buying more from the same authors. I'm glad I did because I can't tell what it was about the books that I thought was so great when I read them before. . . .
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at June 15, 2025

***
That can happen, especially if you recall the murderer's identity, and therefore the suspense is reduced. On the other hand you can study the author's skill at concealing the killer.

I was a big fan of Alastair Maclean when I was in high school. Now I look at him as a fellow who never met a long sentence he didn't like. While he was tops at plot twists, there seems to be something "missing" to me in his work now. Ice Station Zebra probably made a good movie, like a lot of his thrillers, but I was not that captivated by it a few years ago when I finally found it.

His first novel, HMS Ulysses, is not a spy or intrigue story but rather an epic tale of a British cruiser on escort on a Murmansk convoy. Lots of war action, yes, but the characters have heart.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 09:58 AM (omVj0)

114 What writer wrote good books that were clearly written under the influence of something (drugs, liquor, etc)?

Philip K. Dick?
Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 15, 2025 09:46 AM (Splbu)

I don't know about "good" but Thomas De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-Eater would definitely be a book written under the influence...

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at June 15, 2025 10:00 AM (PiwSw)

115 About that mug. I drink my copious amounts of coffee out of an insulated tumbler. What I do use the various mugs that I have purchased or been gifted is to store my many pens, markers and pencils on my desk. Makes it easy for me to find what I’m looking for.

Posted by: RetSgtRn at June 15, 2025 10:01 AM (BaiDa)

116 I just started "The Reality Dysfunction" a couple of days ago.

So far so good. He is much more "way out there" with his world than I've been accustomed too.

So far, so good.

Reading his and housekeeping will consume most of my day today.
Posted by: pawn, one of many at June 15, 2025 09:55 AM (QB+5g)
---
Cool! This is one Hamilton's earlier works. I think he did get a bit better about integrating his worldbuilding into the storylines in later works. Now, he gives us chapters of exposition dumps.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 15, 2025 10:02 AM (GlyvH)

117 "Bookhaven mug" is the search term
All the amazon sellers seem dodgy though"

Before Christmas there was a rash of "Mineral crystal" mugs that looked beautiful in the ads so I ordered one for Mrs fd. All the vendors were Chinese The first one never showed up. The second one looked nothing like the ad. It was made of resin and smelled BAD. Got my money back on both. Buyer beware

Posted by: fd at June 15, 2025 10:03 AM (gc+OO)

118 “ He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, the Rock my Savior.’”

Psalm 89:26

Posted by: Marcus T at June 15, 2025 10:04 AM (Ao3ru)

119 “ Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”

Isaiah 64:8

Posted by: Marcus T at June 15, 2025 10:06 AM (Ao3ru)

120 "Bookhaven mug" is the search term
All the amazon sellers seem dodgy though"

Before Christmas there was a rash of "Mineral crystal" mugs that looked beautiful in the ads so I ordered one for Mrs fd. All the vendors were Chinese The first one never showed up. The second one looked nothing like the ad. It was made of resin and smelled BAD. Got my money back on both. Buyer beware
Posted by: fd at June 15, 2025 10:03 AM (gc+OO)

I noticed that all but two of the reviews are not verified buyers and-

that the unverified "buyers" reviews read like ad copy.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 15, 2025 10:08 AM (iJfKG)

121 Why did King Leopold seize the Congo for himself and not his kingdom?

As the king, he would have received the revenues anyway.
Posted by: Weak Geek at June 15, 2025 09:38 AM (p/isN)

Apparently King Leopold was the Elon Musk of the day (i e. the richest person in the world). He couldn't directly get involved in colonialism, so he took the sneaky route, setting up an international 'institute' that he ultimately controlled. He had to navigate amongst the Great Powers of Britain, France, and Germany.

I got this from Thomas Pakenham's book (takes deep breath) The Scramble For Africa: The White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent 1878-1912.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at June 15, 2025 10:09 AM (sRoQh)

122 There's a point in Silverberg's essays or interviews (seem to recall the notion popping up more than once) where he mentions that he doesn't really read sf any more. The current books aren't speaking to him. He still buys the magazines, but doesn't read them all.

I know how he feels. I pick up novels by some of the newer writers, and for me nothing happens. The books just don't grab me the way the older stuff did. Scanning my Kindle purchases, I see that almost everything is older stuff or by writers who were already active well before 2000. Most of what's coming out these days -- those writers aren't talking to me. Pick something post-2000 that's likely to endure? Can't do it -- I'm just not current enough.

Time to embrace my inner geezer.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 15, 2025 10:11 AM (q3u5l)

123 (continued)

The most notable aspect of the Skull and Bones comic book was how hilariously blatant they were about having REPRESENTATION! The main character was Maria, an ethnic girl with an arm-tattoo, random facepaint, a tube-top, and a fish-bone-hook necklace. She was on a British ship, and not a word was wasted trying to explain her backstory. Pirate Faction A had a black-woman as first-mate, and multiple female pirate-henchmen. Pirate Faction B was an Indian ship (from the subcontinent) led by a female admiral. Again, the book assumed no explanation was necessary. Pirate Faction C didn't have any noticeable representation, so naturally they were the final-bad-guy that every other faction had to team up against.

The extreme eccentricity-of-character may have been appropriate for adapting a mutli-player design-your-own-character video game, but it felt incredibly fake and stupid in a comic book. But the Skull and Bones comic was still better than the Sea of Thieves comic (based on a pirate video game from 10 years ago) that I couldn't even finish. That comic had all the same representation, plus over-the-top modern-day characterization. Absolutely terrible....

Posted by: Castle Guy at June 15, 2025 10:11 AM (Lhaco)

124 I know I see that ad for the book mug several times a day on my Microsoft Solitaire App.

Posted by: Tuna at June 15, 2025 10:12 AM (lJ0H4)

125 Wolfus, Doctor -- we've got a little Crescent City colony in the comments here! I grew up in the Carrollton Bend area, but Magazine St. was within my bicycle radius. At one time there were a couple of good bookstores on Magazine near Jefferson, back when the car barn had streetcars in it instead of bobos.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 15, 2025 10:13 AM (78a2H)

126 I've been reading Madeleine L'Engle's "Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art". Aside from reading A Wrinkle in Time back in the 60s, this is the only book of hers I've tried and I am impressed both by the content and her wonderful writing style. I may have to try her Wrinkle series if the writing is this good.

Posted by: JTB at June 15, 2025 10:14 AM (yTvNw)

127 I got this from Thomas Pakenham's book (takes deep breath) The Scramble For Africa: The White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent 1878-1912.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt

This is one of the best books on the European forays into Africa available, highly recommended.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 15, 2025 10:16 AM (lTGtQ)

128 Not a lot of reading this week -- a brief break in the endless rain meant a blitz of yard work, and I'm still trying to keep my own writing on schedule.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 15, 2025 10:16 AM (78a2H)

129 Because sex sells.

Posted by: Duh at June 15, 2025 10:17 AM (lIgBp)

130 Posted by: fd at June 15, 2025 10:03 AM (gc+OO)

I sent hat image to "perfessor" squirrel with the warning that it was undoubtedly cheap Chinese shit, but that it looked cool!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo (with a beret and a Gauloises) at June 15, 2025 10:17 AM (mWSu4)

131 Poe has been one of my favorite authors for some time. Somehow, that commentor seems unaware that Poe was an editor himself, so he was far more erudite than most.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 15, 2025 09:58 AM (lTGtQ)
---
Poe lived a varied and interesting life, unlike almost all of his critics.

That's the part that has been lost, and it shows in modern fiction. To be a modern novelist you go to an elite school, maybe work in journalism or write short stories and work the connections and then you get a publishing contract where you write about...you.

Since you lived in a bubble, external references are copied from various tropes (often ideological) and so writing comes across as flat and formulaic.

Prior generations had broad live experience. Poe serving at Fort Monroe complied far more life experience than any Berkely grad. The same is true for Twain, but even more recent authors (like Greene) lived a life out in the world, and it resonates through their work.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 15, 2025 10:17 AM (ZOv7s)

132 Wolfus, Doctor -- we've got a little Crescent City colony in the comments here! I grew up in the Carrollton Bend area, but Magazine St. was within my bicycle radius. At one time there were a couple of good bookstores on Magazine near Jefferson, back when the car barn had streetcars in it instead of bobos.
Posted by: Trimegistus at June 15, 2025

***
I seem to recall a bookstore or two in the Magazine shopping district between Jefferson and Nashville, and a tearoom too.

There's a neat two-story independent bookstore on Oak Street a block west of Carrollton Ave. Mostly new books, but there are some older ones too. Their windows on the second floor look down on the street. And they have a bookstore cat!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 10:18 AM (omVj0)

133 112 - Give Gogol a try if you havent. Contemporary of Poe. Particularly The Viy, and The Terrible Vengeance.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at June 15, 2025 10:19 AM (ITkJX)

134 At one point I pitched an outline and sample chapters for a YA book and was told it didn't have enough sex in it. So I wrote a new cover letter and pitched it as a book for grownups, otherwise unchanged, and eventually found a publisher.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 15, 2025 10:19 AM (78a2H)

135 48 Was listening to a "graphic audio" version of a book from my favorite series. Got sucked back into rereading the next book.
Graphic audio is like a radio play - there's a cast, sound effects, the whole shebang.
Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 15, 2025 09:20 AM (Splbu)

I listened to one of their productions a few years ago. A fantasy-ish story in an early-modern-esque setting. magic was a thing, but using magic risked it eating away your memories as a side effect. So 'being remembered' was a big part of their culture....

Story aside, the way they presented the story was neat. Very engaging. It's a shame I haven't felt the urge/had the opportunity to listen to another. Audiobooks just aren't quite my thing...

Posted by: Castle Guy at June 15, 2025 10:20 AM (Lhaco)

136 Vmom,
The first time I followed a discussion in the comments here was one on creativity: what various people felt had helped them come up with solutions/new ideas.

The most common thing I noted was being tired. Not exhausted, but tired. It's certainly true for me.

I concluded that solutions/new ideas is a kind of brainwashing.

Posted by: Wenda at June 15, 2025 10:23 AM (A65Zh)

137 @ 100 Dr_No, I didn't know you'd left that recently!

Magazine and Jefferson has changed some; the CC's Coffee House that used to be at that corner (taking over for a pharmacy, I think? Or a doctor's office?) closed during the Sniffle Scare. You knew that Lee Harvey Oswald (and his Russian wife, I believe) lived in that neighborhood for a while around 1962? Just a few blocks farther down Magazine toward Napoleon.
___________________________________________

If K hadn't paid a visit in '05, I don't know if I'da left. Well, maybe later but ... I remember CC's and PJ's coffee shops. The Friendly House, Arabella Bus Barn, Dorian's Record Store, Ott's Pet Shop, and The Brass Boot (a gay bar) were there, too. Mayeux's Phcy was at Jeff & Magazine, and my uncle had the Shell station diagonally across from the doctor's office on that condah. I knew about LHO, but not that they lived that close to my 'growin' up' area. After I got married, I moved to Old Metairie. After I got divorced, I moved near Transcontinental Drive and Economical Supermarket. I asked Economical's mgr how many days grocery inventory was in-house and he said 'Three days'. There's a lesson in his answer, ain't dere?

Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025 10:23 AM (ayRl+)

138 I dropped by the local Barnes and Noble the other day. Their shelves are indeed less woke than they used to be; their store managers are now allowed to stock based on what might sell locally. However, it surprised me how few hardback books were available, other than the newest books.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 15, 2025 10:23 AM (lTGtQ)

139 A while back I found a kindle anthology of novels by Andre Norton. Although I knew her primarily as an author of sci-fi, I was surprised to find that she had written a fair number of historical novels about the Confederate Army. Nathan Bedford Forrest is a recurring character, and is not portrayed as a villain.

Posted by: Toad-0 at June 15, 2025 10:25 AM (SkxTr)

140 This is one of the best books on the European forays into Africa available, highly recommended.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at June 15, 2025 10:16 AM (lTGtQ)

I am enjoying it immensely. Nearly finished. It is amazing to me the European 'club' that existed with their 'rules'. Send an expedition up a river, whip out some forms, and get the local chieftains to sign their land away. Voila! you have a colony. And any disputes among the Europeans will be settled in London or Paris. Or, just set up a charter company to do the work.

When describing the Sudan, which was the middle of nowhere, they were able to get there from London via steamship in sixteen days.

Also, slavery was alive and well in the Congo and east Africa. Thanks, muslims.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at June 15, 2025 10:25 AM (sRoQh)

141 Can't help but agree with Mr. Silverberg. The days when I haunted the bookstore and bought almost every new SF novel are long gone. Now I wait for recommendations from people whose taste I trust.

And I'm not at all proud of this, but it's true: I am deeply skeptical of any new SF written by women authors. There has been such a huge feminization of the field -- readers, writers, and editors -- that "women's SF" is now almost its own genre, full of standard characters, plots, and tropes.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 15, 2025 10:26 AM (78a2H)

142 Watching the parade yesterday I was reminded of one of the WW II books on the shelf: "Company Commander" by Charles B. MacDonald. A memoir of his company from D-Day to the Bulge. It's inspiring and revealing in many ways but has some hard details such as what happened to the German prisoners after Malmedy. (Hint: they didn't all make it to the POW camps.)

MacDonald later became the official Army historian.

Posted by: JTB at June 15, 2025 10:29 AM (yTvNw)

143 The first Sci/Fi book that I ever loved, that really got me into the entire genre - Andre Norton, Daybreak 2250 AD.

Posted by: Tom Servo at June 15, 2025 10:29 AM (e15Ap)

144 Nathan Bedford Forrest is a recurring character, and is not portrayed as a villain.

Posted by: Toad-0 at June 15, 2025 10:25 AM (SkxTr)

_______

Faulkner has a wonderful lighthearted short story in which Forrest plays a part. Cant think of the name.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at June 15, 2025 10:29 AM (ITkJX)

145 Re: Poe

Still remember senior year in HS studying Poe. Teacher (Catholic school, priest) told me it always cracked him up when the girls realized that the subject of Poe's story was the character's penis. LOL

Some Passages In The Life Of A Lion

https://www.eapoe.org/works/tales/liond.htm

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at June 15, 2025 10:30 AM (sRoQh)

146 My favorite NO bookstores were Little Professor on Carrollton near Oak, and Maple Street Bookshop. The musty-paperback smell of that shop gives me a Proustian moment every time I go into a used bookstore with poor humidity control.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 15, 2025 10:30 AM (78a2H)

147 Morning.
Be safe BDs. Praying for you and yours.

Swing shift has put a huge damper on my reading for these last 4 months. I'm thinking about dedicating a specific hour or so to do some. Add it to my morning rules. But with the yard and car projects taking a whole hour out might not be doable.
I feel horrible neglecting my TBR piles. Those pages need to breathe. But I gotta get to work so the truck must run and at least one of the other vehicles must be functional as a backup.
Still maintaining four, $500 cars is cheaper than buying a new anything.
Encountered something book related with my promotion at work. These machines I'm going to be working on are tightly controlled as to who can learn and see what. Spy Rights they call it. Of which I have none yet. Nor are there any printed manuals that I can find anywhere. So no books.
What a weird industry where nobody trusts anybody. How am I supposed to fix anything with no schematics telling where wires go and such. I'm hoping it's all in the computer and I just don't know how to find it.

Posted by: Reforger at June 15, 2025 10:31 AM (LgDgc)

148 Biggo thanks to The Perfesser for the shout-out a couple weeks back about my new pair of dark humor military sci-fi novels (imagine John Ringo collaborating with zombie Douglas Adams).

Now, I could use a few morons to help feed the algorithm. Specifically, I’m looking for honest (well, honest-ish 😉

reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. If you're up for it, I’m happy to send out a few copies in exchange. Ping me in the Horde writing group or drop a line to Norsekhet [at] Gmail.

I'll also probably be doing a Kindle giveaway. I'll let you know.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at June 15, 2025 10:33 AM (DIweC)

149 Here's that Hans G. Schantz link rendered in usable form:

https://tinyurl.com/Based-Book-Sale

Posted by: Sharkman at June 15, 2025 10:34 AM (/RHNq)

150 99 ... "I'm reading a B&N collection of Poe and finding I appreciate him even more as an adult. The editor's commentary is dumb, though. "This [obscure word] is another example of Poe trying to sound smart because he was insecure about his lack of formal education." "

I hate when the editor injects their opinions, not facts, into the text. A few footnotes about some obscure words MIGHT be helpful but too often the editor assumes the reader is in the third grade. It's distracting at best and insulting (and arrogant) at worst.

Posted by: JTB at June 15, 2025 10:34 AM (yTvNw)

151 @ 125 Wolfus, Doctor -- we've got a little Crescent City colony in the comments here! I grew up in the Carrollton Bend area, but Magazine St. was within my bicycle radius. At one time there were a couple of good bookstores on Magazine near Jefferson, back when the car barn had streetcars in it instead of bobos. (Posted by: Trimegistus at June 15, 2025)
_____________________________________

Whoa! Is we got our very own 'Yat City' here now? Carrollton Bend is where that funky li'l dive bar near the levee was, yes? You're right about the bookstores on Magazine/Jeff, and there was a great li'l shoe repair shop next to what would later be CC's or PJ's. I'd get taps put on my heels for 25¢ each. Best part was that the owner had a book table with old WWII issues of LOOK - and if I asked, he'd let me take 'em home with me. Great photography in 'em. Remember the Maurice Charles 'Academy' at N'ville & Magazine? Mom went there once a month - before she discovered Clairol. Whenever my brother and I were gonna go fishing, we'd head to the levee behind 'Monkey Hill' at Audubon Park and bring glass jars and scoop nets to harvest grass shrimp for bait. Diff'rent time, diff'rent whirled ...

Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025 10:35 AM (ayRl+)

152
Unstuck in time, I am:

Supposed to be receiving the extra invitation things for our anniversary party tomorrow. Apparently 140 invitations weren't enough - never realized that we knew so many people 😲😲😲

Between work, family, church, and friends, it really adds up - should be a lot of fun, though!
Posted by: Teresa in Fort Worth, Plucky Comic Relief, AoS Ladies Brigade - Eat the Cheesecake, Buy the Yarn

Happy Anniversary, TFW! I hope that your celebration is joyous and filled with love and laughter. All my best wishes for you and yours!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at June 15, 2025 10:35 AM (Tv15w)

153 Morning all
Still on Pierce Brown's third book in the Red Rising series and loving it but find I am spending more time on X reading about world events this week.
Biden's Dog, hoping for earth shaking outcomes for the incredible courage shown by Israel in single-handedly taking on Iran and freeing it's people.
Wolfus, the Reacher books ae fantastic all the way up til he started writing with his brother Andrew Child. If you haven't read Galbraith, I would suggest those after you're done. A lot of the same feel.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 15, 2025 10:35 AM (t/2Uw)

154
Mamet's "Chicago" novel this afternoon.

"Death to America" doesn't mean that, the MSM is saying.

Posted by: Auspex at June 15, 2025 10:36 AM (j4U/Z)

155 . . . I remember CC's and PJ's coffee shops. The Friendly House, Arabella Bus Barn, Dorian's Record Store, Ott's Pet Shop, and The Brass Boot (a gay bar) were there, too. Mayeux's Phcy was at Jeff & Magazine, and my uncle had the Shell station diagonally across from the doctor's office on that condah. . . .
Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025

***
Diagonally? I thought that old folks' home with the iron fencing had been at that corner since forever. Home Care Solutions, it's called now. There's a bank directly across magazine from what used to be the pharmacy, and . . . I'm not sure what stands on Magazine directly across Jefferson.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 10:37 AM (omVj0)

156 I bounced off the first book
Kudos to you for making it past the first 100 pages

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport

Life is too short to reading while grinding your teeth in frustration. That's no way to enjoy a book. But now I'm too far into the series to not complete all 7 books, just to see if he ever properly describes the most interesting events.

Sigh. I'm a glutton for punishment.

Posted by: Sharkman at June 15, 2025 10:39 AM (/RHNq)

157 Mmmm....smut

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo at June 15, 2025 10:39 AM (xcxpd)

158 About YA books

I assume the YA designation refers to teens. Are you all so old that you do not remember the level,of sexual,tension there is in teen years? I don't think YA should have graphic sex but expecting any story about teenagers to not have sexual tension between characters is silly.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 15, 2025 10:40 AM (t/2Uw)

159 If the dive bar you mean is Cooter Brown's, it's still there!

When I was a kid my big weekend bicycle expedition was to go out to Hub Hobby shop on Broad Street and Washington, right by the pumping station. I'd check to see what new wargames and RPGs they had, and figure out what I could afford and what I could get home on my bike. The neighborhood was so bad I had to park my bike inside the store because if I locked it up outside some neighborhood kids would start trying tp pry off bits.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 15, 2025 10:40 AM (78a2H)

160 My favorite NO bookstores were Little Professor on Carrollton near Oak, and Maple Street Bookshop. The musty-paperback smell of that shop gives me a Proustian moment every time I go into a used bookstore with poor humidity control.
Posted by: Trimegistus at June 15, 2025

***
Maple Street Bookstore closed a decade or so after Katrina, I think. Though I saw and visited a "Little Professor" bookshop in Homewood, AL, a suburb of Birmingham, in '21.

There used to be a classic bookshop on Chartres Street right across from the opening of Madison (a one-block street) in the Quarter. Not sure if it's there any more.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 10:40 AM (omVj0)

161 Elizabeth Warren Attacks Event Honoring Army

-
Hasn’t gotten over Wounded Knee.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, And You're Not at June 15, 2025 10:40 AM (L/fGl)

162 I have read "Unbroken". That's a very good book!

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at June 15, 2025 10:41 AM (TP6Qi)

163 "What a weird industry where nobody trusts anybody. How am I supposed to fix anything with no schematics telling where wires go and such. I'm hoping it's all in the computer and I just don't know how to find it."

Sounds normal to me. And it's not usually a matter of trust, it's laziness coupled with a FU to the PTB that demands everything that is available has to be perfect.

Most of us that tread in these depths laugh and say "If you need documentation, you're not qualified for the job."

Posted by: pawn, one of many at June 15, 2025 10:41 AM (QB+5g)

164 Elizabeth Warren Attacks Event Honoring Army

-
Hasn’t gotten over Wounded Knee.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, And You're Not at June 15, 2025 10:40 AM (L/fGl)

Warren still heapum big mad?

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at June 15, 2025 10:42 AM (sRoQh)

165 If the dive bar you mean is Cooter Brown's, it's still there!

When I was a kid my big weekend bicycle expedition was to go out to Hub Hobby shop on Broad Street and Washington, right by the pumping station. I'd check to see what new wargames and RPGs they had, and figure out what I could afford and what I could get home on my bike. The neighborhood was so bad I had to park my bike inside the store because if I locked it up outside some neighborhood kids would start trying tp pry off bits.
Posted by: Trimegistus at June 15, 2025

***
Yes, Cooter's is still there, at the corner of Carrollton and Leake (aka River Road).

Hub Hobby is still around, though not at that location; it's an empty lot. They moved quite sensibly out to Metairie to a site on Airline HIghway near Causeway.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 10:42 AM (omVj0)

166 Read Company Commander years ago but do remember it was a good read

Posted by: Skip at June 15, 2025 10:43 AM (+qU29)

167 I put in twelve or thirteen years in libraries, public & community college, and nine years in bookstores and followed sf religiously and tried to be aware of what was coming out in as many areas as I could. You had to do that just to be able to work the reference desks and sales counters.

Looking over the sf Hugo awards listings since 2000, I'm amazed at the number of titles and people that I've not only not read, but never even heard of. Same applies, I think, to every genre.

Ran across a term (I think in one of Barry Malzberg's essays): Gafiate. Getting Away From It All. It was in reference to drifting away from sf, but I think I've gafiated from most of what's being done these days.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 15, 2025 10:44 AM (q3u5l)

168 as her great grandfather was like the covington character who did sandcreek,

Posted by: miguel cervantes at June 15, 2025 10:44 AM (bXbFr)

169 So, "Death to America" doesn't mean they literally want to kill you. It just means they want to subjugate you and force you to live by their rules. I feel so much better now.

Posted by: Toad-0 at June 15, 2025 10:45 AM (SkxTr)

170 That book mug looks like something one might chip teeth on, or a brute cudgel to fend off home invaders with.

Good morning!

Posted by: 13times at June 15, 2025 10:46 AM (v0ydc)

171 "Death To America" is really just a term of endearment.

Posted by: If Karine Jean Pierre was still Press Secretary at June 15, 2025 10:46 AM (PiwSw)

172 Well, time to go! Thanks again, Perfesser!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 15, 2025 10:46 AM (ZOv7s)

173 Ran across a term (I think in one of Barry Malzberg's essays): Gafiate. Getting Away From It All. It was in reference to drifting away from sf, but I think I've gafiated from most of what's being done these days.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 15, 2025 10:44 AM (q3u5l)
-

We have gafiated just the same from TV, movies, and music.

Funneh dat.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at June 15, 2025 10:46 AM (Y+jbb)

174
Faulkner has a wonderful lighthearted short story in which Forrest plays a part. Cant think of the name.
Posted by: Biff Pocoroba

“My Grandmother Millard and General Bedford Forrest and the Battle of Harrykin Creek"

The reference at which I found this was

https://academic.oup.com/
mississippi-scholarship-online/book/18855/
chapter-abstract/177162219

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at June 15, 2025 10:47 AM (Tv15w)

175 So, "Death to America" doesn't mean they literally want to kill you. It just means they want to subjugate you and force you to live by their rules.

Posted by: Toad-0 at June 15, 2025 10:45 AM (SkxTr)
-

It's whichever comes first.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at June 15, 2025 10:48 AM (Y+jbb)

176
It just means they want to subjugate you and force you to live by their rules. I feel so much better now.
Posted by: Toad-0 at June 15, 2025 10:45 AM (SkxTr)

_________

And, if necessary, kill you. But nicely.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at June 15, 2025 10:48 AM (QnmlO)

177 169 So, "Death to America" doesn't mean they literally want to kill you. It just means they want to subjugate you and force you to live by their rules. I feel so much better now.”

I saw that on X. I wanted to reply “Death to (whoever wrote that stupid post) and say “there how do you it, do you think that’s just nothing?”
But I would have got my account nuked.

Posted by: Tom Servo at June 15, 2025 10:49 AM (e15Ap)

178 I wasn't aware that Faulkner ever wrote anything lighthearted.

Yes, he had his detective/crime stories about local lawyer Gavin Knight, set in his mythical and unpronounceable MS county; but aside from the first one, "An Error in Chemistry," they are less detective stories than they are studies of the locals when involved in some kind of crime. But *lighthearted*? Amazing.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 10:49 AM (omVj0)

179 Oh, and forgot to add, the editor thanks you.

https://tinyurl.com/3c6k3dd6

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at June 15, 2025 10:52 AM (DIweC)

180 Biden's Dog --

Yep, tv, movies, and music too. Movies maybe not quite so much, but close. TV and music, I'm completely out of touch. Books in almost all areas, except for writers I'd already been following years ago.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 15, 2025 10:53 AM (q3u5l)

181 Yawk Nuh Puh Taw Fuh county.

Like it's spelled.

Posted by: Person who read too much Faulkner as a kid at June 15, 2025 10:53 AM (lIgBp)

182 And, if necessary, kill you. But nicely.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at June 15, 2025 10:48 AM (QnmlO)
-

Killing me softly with Islam
Killing me softly with Islam
Tearing my whole life with dawa
Killing me softly with Islam

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at June 15, 2025 10:54 AM (Y+jbb)

183
Elizabeth Warren Attacks Event Honoring Army

Hasn’t gotten over Wounded Knee

Were it not for Wounded Knee, Fauxcahontas would have become the next Martha Stewart merely on the strength of her authentic Native American crab dip recipe bestowed upon us all through her having submitted it to the "Pow Wow Chow" cookbook. Gal's nursing a HUGE grudge, yo!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at June 15, 2025 10:54 AM (Tv15w)

184 This is my favorite coffee mug. A built in coaster, basically.
You have to hand wash it but so what ?
It's my weekend mug. Highly recommended.
I don't know the brand, assuming it's a Beck because it looks exactly like this one. My wife bought 2 of them somewhere and we love them.

https://tinyurl.com/4346p39h

Posted by: jsg at June 15, 2025 10:55 AM (iGK7y)

185 Most of us that tread in these depths laugh and say "If you need documentation, you're not qualified for the job."
Posted by: pawn, one of many at June 15, 2025 10:41 AM (QB+5g)

I don't "need" documentation. But I would really like to have it. When these machines go down the money lost is thousands of dollars per minute. So something to point to and say "this is what is wrong" along with "this is what I need to fix it" would be nice.
Personally I think the "spy rights" is bullshit so you have to call in a service tech to do anything. Similar to what I dealt with in the heavy equipment industry. Except in HE I was the guy that got called, not the poor fool trying to not get fired 'cause "there's nothing I can do, boss".

Posted by: Reforger at June 15, 2025 10:58 AM (LgDgc)

186 "The Widow of the South" by Robert Hicks is an excellent novel about the Battle of Franklin, and a widow whose home is taken over by the Confederates to be used as a hospital.

"The Black Flower" by Howard Bahr is yet another outstanding fictionalized story set at the Battle of Franklin, in the hospital in the requisitioned plantation. An exhausted, wounded, Confederate soldier tries to connect with a civilian woman who is helping at the hospital.

Both of these books I highly recommend. I'll be putting both on my TBRA (To Be Read Again) pile ASAP.

Posted by: Sharkman at June 15, 2025 10:59 AM (/RHNq)

187 Prior generations had broad live experience. Poe serving at Fort Monroe complied far more life experience than any Berkely grad. The same is true for Twain, but even more recent authors (like Greene) lived a life out in the world, and it resonates through their work.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 15, 2025 10:17 AM (ZOv7s)

That would be interesting to see how much it shows. Do you think it's because the writer does things that are implausible, or that descriptions of actions are wrong, as if the writer doesn't know how something really works?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 11:00 AM (0eaVi)

188 @ 155 . . . I remember CC's and PJ's coffee shops. The Friendly House, Arabella Bus Barn, Dorian's Record Store, Ott's Pet Shop, and The Brass Boot (a gay bar) were there, too. Mayeux's Phcy was at Jeff & Magazine, and my uncle had the Shell station diagonally across from the doctor's office on that condah. Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025

***
Diagonally? I thought that old folks' home with the iron fencing had been at that corner since forever. Home Care Solutions, it's called now. There's a bank directly across magazine from what used to be the pharmacy, and ... I'm not sure what stands on Magazine directly across Jefferson.
__________________________

The 'old folks home' was formerly (might still be) 'Poydras Home'. It was on the downtown/river corner. My uncle's station was on the uptown/river corner. I saw the bank you mention on one of my trips home years ago - that used to be his station. The uptown/lake corner is where Mayeaux's drugstore was. The downtown/lake corner was a medical office. And Trimegistus is right: Cooter Brown's IS the dive bar! I also visited the same bookstore - great place. Wish I'd seen the Arabella barn when it had streetcars in it.

Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025 11:01 AM (ayRl+)

189
Bought Ciao, Don Camillo, another volume of the short stories by Giovanni Guareschi about a parish priest in a small town in Italy governed by Communists.

Don Camillo is a hulking, hot tempered priest who is frequently admonished by Christ on the Cross of his church. His rival Peppone, the mayor, is an equally big and just as voluble fellow.

Everyone in the town knows and doesn't much like each other. Pettiness, muleheaded stubbornness and bitter enemitites whose cause has long been forgotten mark them.

But life staggers on and while Don Camillo and Peppone never miss a chance to spite one another, they're good friends and both seek the best for their people.

Some stories are funny, some are sad, some poignant but all worth a read.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at June 15, 2025 11:01 AM (QnmlO)

190 At one point I pitched an outline and sample chapters for a YA book and was told it didn't have enough sex in it. So I wrote a new cover letter and pitched it as a book for grownups, otherwise unchanged, and eventually found a publisher.
Posted by: Trimegistus at June 15, 2025 10:19 AM (78a2H)

Sickening, ain't it?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 11:02 AM (0eaVi)

191 The 'old folks home' was formerly (might still be) 'Poydras Home'. It was on the downtown/river corner. My uncle's station was on the uptown/river corner. I saw the bank you mention on one of my trips home years ago - that used to be his station. The uptown/lake corner is where Mayeaux's drugstore was. The downtown/lake corner was a medical office. And Trimegistus is right: Cooter Brown's IS the dive bar! I also visited the same bookstore - great place. Wish I'd seen the Arabella barn when it had streetcars in it.
Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025

***
"Poydras Home," that was it. Last time I walked by there, a plaque was up mentioning that.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:04 AM (omVj0)

192
I've oddly bookless over the last couple months. Seems like evertime i pick something up, it pales on me and i put it back down.

Next in my pile of to be read queue, is Brandywine's War, by Robert Vaughn. Short synopsis from good reads:

"World War II had its CATCH 22, Korea had its M.A.S.H. and Vietnam has its own comic masterpiece - Lt Col Joseph M.F. May

There are dozens of unforgettable characters, and scores of authentic scenes in Brandywine's War. From behind the headlines, and the front-line dispatches has come this Rabelaisian novel.

Chief Warrant Officer Vaughan completed Brandywine's War while serving his second of three tours of duty in Vietnam.

Posted by: BifBewalski - at June 15, 2025 11:04 AM (MsrgL)

193 Next in my pile of to be read queue, is Brandywine's War, by Robert Vaughn. . . .

Chief Warrant Officer Vaughan completed Brandywine's War while serving his second of three tours of duty in Vietnam.
Posted by: BifBewalski - at June 15, 2025

***
Oh -- not MY Robert Vaughn, the actor and Ph.D. in communications. Didn't think so.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:06 AM (omVj0)

194 Brandywine's War: The author spells his name "Vaughan," with two As. The actor had only one, "Vaughn."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:07 AM (omVj0)

195 Reading The Leopard. It resonated with my Sicilian heritage and is beautifully written as an elegy to a fading way of life.

Posted by: Vivi at June 15, 2025 11:08 AM (vPKj6)

196 Read a few Nero Wolfe books. They never disappoint.

Read the nonfiction book Say Nothing about the Troubles in Ireland. It's a soggy-wet and very depressing version Game of Thrones. No one in the tale is likeable or honorable or redeemable. They all murder each other at the end of a lonely country road, with a pistol shot in the back of the head, in the dark of night - and dumped in shallow graves.

Gerry Adams sits the Iron Throne among a moldering heap of skulls.

Posted by: 13times at June 15, 2025 11:09 AM (v0ydc)

197
World War II had its CATCH 22, Korea had its M.A.S.H. and Vietnam has its own comic masterpiece

___________

"I’m sure that it exposes this war in all its grim futility and waste, and shows up the military men for the stupid, Fascist-minded sadists they are. Bitching up all the campaigns and throwing away the lives of fatalistic, humorous, lovable citizen-soldiers. Lots of sex scenes where the prose becomes rhythmic and beautiful while the girl gets her pants pulled down." - Lt. Barney Greenwald in The Caine Mutiny

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at June 15, 2025 11:09 AM (QnmlO)

198 @ 160 My favorite NO bookstores were Little Professor on Carrollton near Oak, and Maple Street Bookshop. The musty-paperback smell of that shop gives me a Proustian moment every time I go into a used bookstore with poor humidity control. Posted by: Trimegistus at June 15, 2025

***

Maple Street Bookstore closed a decade or so after Katrina, I think. Though I saw and visited a "Little Professor" bookshop in Homewood, AL, a suburb of Birmingham, in '21.

There used to be a classic bookshop on Chartres Street right across from the opening of Madison (a one-block street) in the Quarter. Not sure if it's there any more.
______________________

That bookshop on Madison later became a Santeria / voodoo-oriented boostore run by Dr John's (ex-)wife. Neat li'l place, but it wasn't open for very long. There was a similar shop on N Broad that sold floor wash and 'gettin' and havin' candles - real one-stop shopping. As for the Hub theft problem: Yeah, you right. And the pumping station had EIGHT of the biggest pumps I'd ever seen when I called on 'em as a customer later on. Bohn Ford and Popeye's both closed up and moved away, too. Meyer's Auto Parts? What a gem - and for cheap, too ...

Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025 11:10 AM (ayRl+)

199 he sued the author, Patrick Reeden Keefe, for telling too much truth, he really is a machiaveillian, like brosnans character in the foreigner, a stephen leather tale,

Posted by: miguel cervantes at June 15, 2025 11:12 AM (bXbFr)

200 Bohn Ford and Popeye's both closed up and moved away, too. Meyer's Auto Parts? What a gem - and for cheap, too ...
Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025

***
The Bohn Ford building is still there, looking rather sad.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:12 AM (omVj0)

201 Almost finished Goodbye Dr. Banda by Alexander Chula. Fantastic book, to quote Theodore Dalrymple it "casts a subtle but penetrating light on both Africa and the West." Also reading The Consolation of Philosophy by Boetihius. This is excellent and a surprising easy read.

Posted by: who knew at June 15, 2025 11:13 AM (+ViXu)

202 But now the Frozen Dairy Bar is a vape shop.

Posted by: Pretty much any small town at June 15, 2025 11:13 AM (lIgBp)

203 of course Heller had a good war, he had to retcon his feelings about McCarthyism, and the film is redolent of Vietnam sentiments,

Posted by: miguel cervantes at June 15, 2025 11:14 AM (bXbFr)

204 Yes, Cooter's is still there, at the corner of Carrollton and Leake (aka River Road).

Hub Hobby is still around, though not at that location; it's an empty lot. They moved quite sensibly out to Metairie to a site on Airline HIghway near Causeway.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 10:42 AM (omVj0)

It's amazing that you all know so many places from where you live(d). I didn't grow up in any important large place, but I can't remember much of any shops or places I'd go to as a kid or younger adult.

Maybe I'm just not too interesting to have ever gone to quirky, weird places. Too straight laced, I guess.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 11:14 AM (0eaVi)

205 "I’m sure that it exposes this war in all its grim futility and waste, and shows up the military men for the stupid, Fascist-minded sadists they are. Bitching up all the campaigns and throwing away the lives of fatalistic, humorous, lovable citizen-soldiers. Lots of sex scenes where the prose becomes rhythmic and beautiful while the girl gets her pants pulled down." - Lt. Barney Greenwald in The Caine Mutiny
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at June 15, 2025

***
I can just hear Jose Ferrer's voice saying that (though I'm not sure that speech was in the film with Bogart and Fred MacMurray).

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:14 AM (omVj0)

206 "Hood is a bold fighter. I am doubtful as to other qualities necessary."
Posted by: Dr. T

You could make an argument that Hood was the man who lost the war. In the summer of 1864, Lincoln was running for re-election against peace Democrat McClellan and was expected to lose. Apparently, Lincoln himself had resigned himself to defeat. But then Jefferson Davis replaced Joe Johnston, a man who never underestimated the value of retreat, with Hood. Hood's offensive spirit led to the fall of Atlanta and the fall of Atlanta led to the revitalization of the Lincoln campaign.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, And You're Not at June 15, 2025 11:16 AM (L/fGl)

207 Boelter’s wife has a past connection to Minnesota politics. Records show she interned for Gov. Tim Walz back in 2010.

https://tinyurl.com/2nd6nd9k

Weird...

Posted by: jsg at June 15, 2025 11:17 AM (iGK7y)

208 It's amazing that you all know so many places from where you live(d). I didn't grow up in any important large place, but I can't remember much of any shops or places I'd go to as a kid or younger adult.

Maybe I'm just not too interesting to have ever gone to quirky, weird places. Too straight laced, I guess.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025

***
Older (pre-1980s) NO was a peculiar place with a lot of different, quirky neighborhoods, shops, and bars. And it's a relatively small city (if you don't count the suburbs), unlike LA or Chicago. So if you didn't have something you liked in your immediate neighborhood, there could be something a short drive, bus ride, or bike ride away. For instance, my father drove us to the West Bank of the river for shopping a *lot* during my childhood and teen years. The first enclosed, air-conditioned mall in the entire area opened there in 1966.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:18 AM (omVj0)

209 206 "Hood is a bold fighter. I am doubtful as to other qualities necessary."
Posted by: Dr. T

You could make an argument that Hood was the man who lost the war. In the summer of 1864, Lincoln was running for re-election against peace Democrat McClellan and was expected to lose. Apparently, Lincoln himself had resigned himself to defeat. But then Jefferson Davis replaced Joe Johnston, a man who never underestimated the value of retreat, with Hood. Hood's offensive spirit led to the fall of Atlanta and the fall of Atlanta led to the revitalization of the Lincoln campaign.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, And You're Not at June 15, 2025 11:16 AM (L/fGl)

IIRC, he the guy with the nickname 'Old Wooden Head'?

Posted by: Aetius451AD at June 15, 2025 11:18 AM (bss/y)

210 The first enclosed, air-conditioned mall in the entire area opened there in 1966.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:18 AM (omVj0)

Which would have been a big thing. Louisiana in Summer/August is frickin miserable.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at June 15, 2025 11:19 AM (bss/y)

211 Just finished rereading Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl," having read it when it was new almost 20 years ago. What a devious schemer Amazing Amy was! What twists and turns the plot takes!

Flynn's possibly releasing a new novel this year, after a long hiatus.

Now I am reading "Culture: The Story of Us, from Cave Art to K-Pop." It begins in the famous cave in France in which archeologists discovered wall paintings around 15,000 years old.

I just finished the first chapter, all about Egypt's Queen Nefertiti, and it is fascinating. She and her king husband did a religious right turn, developing a monotheistic worldview, and had the whole deep state against them, so much that they moved the court to a new place down the Nile, and built an entirely new capital city. Her era was around 1300 B.C., with Egypt at its all time peak of wealth.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at June 15, 2025 11:22 AM (zeLd4)

212 @ 204 - It's amazing that you all know so many places from where you live(d). I didn't grow up in any important large place, but I can't remember much of any shops or places I'd go to as a kid or younger adult.

Maybe I'm just not too interesting to have ever gone to quirky, weird places. Too straight laced, I guess.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 11:14 AM (0eaVi)
__________________________________

Orange: N'Awlins was (then) just that kinda city. Diff'rent time, too - it was also a (relatively) safer city. Mom could tell us 'be home by supper time' and we'd head out to 'explore' - and we did. One day I'll hafta tell you about the Zatarain 'shrine' about three houses down from ours. The physical plant was on Valmont Street, just a block further uptown from us. It was a great time to be a kid ... Oh: Wolfus, you're right about the Bohn building - it's ratty.

Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025 11:23 AM (ayRl+)

213 I've seen some of the cave paintings and carvings in France, and photos really don't do them justice. Go see them if you can.

What's really striking is that these weren't primitives scribbling on walls -- this was the work of highly skilled artists. Only what they left behind in caves survived, but I'm sure they also worked in wood, bone, and painted on hides. There were artists before there were farmers.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 15, 2025 11:26 AM (78a2H)

214 I can remember a number of the places in Chicago where I found the books or saw the movies that turned me into a science fiction addict. Of those places, only the Chicago Lawn branch of the public library is still there, and I'm sure they no longer have most of the books I found there, like the Ted Dikty year's best sf anthologies. I can remember which drug store racks had the copies of Heinlein's Puppet Masters or Pohl's Star of Stars anthology or Wyndham's Day of the Triffids. Haven't lived in that area in almost 60 years, or seen it in 40, and I'd be taking a chance if I walked there now. But weirdly, the images conjured up by the word 'home' include that neighborhood. Go figure.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 15, 2025 11:26 AM (q3u5l)

215 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:18 AM (omVj0)

Well, my place wasn't that large when a kid. Now, I think it's over a quarter million residents. No plans to go there except for cemetery visits.

No decent bus service, so if it wasn't in bike distance - and most things weren't - there was the grocery store and 7-11. Every place else needed a car.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 11:27 AM (0eaVi)

216 The first enclosed, air-conditioned mall in the entire area opened there in 1966.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025
*
Which would have been a big thing. Louisiana in Summer/August is frickin miserable.
Posted by: Aetius451AD at June 15, 2025

***
It is, and was, starting in March nowadays. The strip shopping centers had individually air-cooled stores, but walking from one to another was horrible.

Oakwood, the first enclosed mall here, had a first-run movie theater, a Sears, another major department store, real jewelry stores (I got my HS class ring at one), at least one bookstore, and a local chain drugstore, among many other things.

The mall is still there. But it's mostly for women and kids now. And going there on a Saturday night is probably like visiting Mogadishu or Nairobi.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:27 AM (omVj0)

217 IIRC, he the guy with the nickname 'Old Wooden Head'?
Posted by: Aetius451AD

Matched his leg.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, And You're Not at June 15, 2025 11:28 AM (L/fGl)

218 That would be interesting to see how much it shows. Do you think it's because the writer does things that are implausible, or that descriptions of actions are wrong, as if the writer doesn't know how something really works?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 11:00 AM (0eaVi)

It's like the 20 and 30 year olds trying to write movie scripts for retro (50's, 60's, 70's) films or tv shows/series. They never get the way it really was.

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at June 15, 2025 11:28 AM (g8Ew8)

219 Ms G and I had our first date in NO in 1971. We lived in Dallas, she a stewardess, me needing to travel into NO and the southern parishes on biz a lot, and our first open date was when we'd both be there. Dinner at Bart's out on Lake Ponchartrain, crawling the jazz clubs after on Bourbon street, walking through one of the cemeteries, a streetcar ride, beignets at the Cafe du Monde on Royal in the pre-dawn.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at June 15, 2025 11:29 AM (zeLd4)

220 Love is in the air.

Alex Soros Marries Huma Abedin

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, And You're Not at June 15, 2025 11:29 AM (L/fGl)

221 I can remember which drug store racks had the copies of Heinlein's Puppet Masters or Pohl's Star of Stars anthology or Wyndham's Day of the Triffids. Haven't lived in that area in almost 60 years, or seen it in 40, and I'd be taking a chance if I walked there now. But weirdly, the images conjured up by the word 'home' include that neighborhood. Go figure.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 15, 2025

***
IN 1974 the long-gone Siler's Bookstore on Carondelet Street here had *one* bookcase, about six shelves, worth of science fiction in the whole store. I bought several paperback Heinleins there that I still have.

A Doubleday Bookstore stood on Canal Street about three blocks from that, with big display windows. Replaced by one of the endlessly-breeding hotels and "urban wear" stores, I suspect.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:31 AM (omVj0)

222 It's like the 20 and 30 year olds trying to write movie scripts for retro (50's, 60's, 70's) films or tv shows/series. They never get the way it really was.
Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at June 15, 2025 11:28 AM (g8Ew

I think there's enough Western material around to write a passable oater. Too many movies and tv shows to have the genre be completely wrong, even if you've never sat in a saddle. 20s, 30s, 40s? No doubt you'd have to have lived it or immersed yourself in period book and movies to be able to do a decent job.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 11:32 AM (0eaVi)

223 Ms G and I had our first date in NO in 1971. We lived in Dallas, she a stewardess, me needing to travel into NO and the southern parishes on biz a lot, and our first open date was when we'd both be there. Dinner at Bart's out on Lake Ponchartrain, crawling the jazz clubs after on Bourbon street, walking through one of the cemeteries, a streetcar ride, beignets at the Cafe du Monde on Royal in the pre-dawn.
Posted by: Mr Gaga at June 15, 2025

***
I lived down there on Bourbon then. Cafe du Monde (the original; they now have satellite locations) is and was on Decatur, though.

I hope it was during the decent time of year -- January and February!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:33 AM (omVj0)

224 The book mug is an AI bait and switch scam. All the reviews are faked, and you won't get anything remotely like it. These types of scams are becoming very common.

Posted by: Jonathan at June 15, 2025 11:34 AM (aP8jC)

225 Kamala Harris, Desperate to Seem Relevant Amidst the LA Riots, Suffers a Humiliating Blow

-
Well, she’s the queen of humiliating blows.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, And You're Not at June 15, 2025 11:34 AM (L/fGl)

226 Alex Soros Marries Huma Abedin
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, And You're Not at June 15, 2025 11:29 AM (L/fGl)

It's just to preclude testifying against each other.

Posted by: Alex and Huma at June 15, 2025 11:34 AM (0eaVi)

227 225 Kamala Harris, Desperate to Seem Relevant Amidst the LA Riots, Suffers a Humiliating Blow

-
Well, she’s the queen of humiliating blows.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, And You're Not at June 15, 2025 11:34 AM (L/fGl)

Oh yeah!

Posted by: Willie Brown at June 15, 2025 11:35 AM (PiwSw)

228 Smut or even worse suicide has been so prevalent in YA books for a long time.

My wife and I used to read every book prior to Lettie our daughter read them. She is 29 now

It is shocking how many would have these things pop up “just after the point that most parents would finally quit” doing an approval scan.

Posted by: PMRich at June 15, 2025 11:35 AM (Pe+uV)

229 One day I'll hafta tell you about the Zatarain 'shrine' about three houses down from ours. The physical plant was on Valmont Street, just a block further uptown from us. It was a great time to be a kid ... Oh: Wolfus, you're right about the Bohn building - it's ratty.
Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025

***
In high school I knew a girl with the last name of Zatarain. I've always wondered if she were of that family.

The plant is on the West Bank now, I believe. Certainly there's a business with their name on it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:36 AM (omVj0)

230 Orange: N'Awlins was (then) just that kinda city. Diff'rent time, too - it was also a (relatively) safer city. Mom could tell us 'be home by supper time' and we'd head out to 'explore' - and we did. One day I'll hafta tell you about the Zatarain 'shrine' about three houses down from ours. The physical plant was on Valmont Street, just a block further uptown from us. It was a great time to be a kid ... Oh: Wolfus, you're right about the Bohn building - it's ratty.
Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025 11:23 AM (ayRl+)

The hellhole I grew up in was duller than dishwater, as far as I can remember. I guess I just didn't get around much. It's not like there wasn't stuff there, until you get a car, you're life is a bit limited.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 11:37 AM (0eaVi)

231 Zatarins southern style beef stroganoff mix is pretty darn good. Or was, they seemed to stop carrying it.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at June 15, 2025 11:37 AM (bss/y)

232 @ 216: It is, and was, starting in March nowadays. The strip shopping centers had individually air-cooled stores, but walking from one to another was horrible.

Oakwood, the first enclosed mall here, had a first-run movie theater, a Sears, another major department store, real jewelry stores (I got my HS class ring at one), at least one bookstore, and a local chain drugstore, among many other things.

The mall is still there. But it's mostly for women and kids now. And going there on a Saturday night is probably like visiting Mogadishu or Nairobi.
________________________________

We were on the East Bank, and without a car, Oakwood was just too far - unless y' wanted to try the ferry. Lakeside was the first East Bank mall. I still remember the newspaper ads they ran trying to sell property to investors. Wish I'd had the cash to pick up some @ just $400 per unit. But it got built, prospered, decayed, and got torn down - but it was nice while it was there. I don't recall it ever not being completely air-conditioned. DH Holmes was (I think) the big anchor store there. On Saturdays before the mall opened, they'd let in the seniors who used it for their 'walking trail' ...

Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025 11:38 AM (ayRl+)

233 Matthew McConaughey Sets to Reunite With “True Detective” Creator on “Mike Hammer” Movie, Based on Book Series

-
Might be good. I love the old Mike Hammer TV show theme, Harlem Nocturne.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, And You're Not at June 15, 2025 11:39 AM (L/fGl)

234 The mall is still there. But it's mostly for women and kids now.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:27 AM (omVj0)

All malls appear to be that way now. No men's stores. I mean stores that cater to men, not ghetto clothing and stuff like that. Not much for a man to do in a mall any more.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 11:39 AM (0eaVi)

235 *These types of scams are becoming very common.
Posted by: Jonathan at June 15, 2025 11:34 AM*

Is this about me?

Posted by: Sea Monkeys at June 15, 2025 11:40 AM (lIgBp)

236 FIRST!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2025 11:41 AM (Zz0t1)

237 Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.

Enjoy the day and hopefully your kids appreciate what you've done for them.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at June 15, 2025 11:41 AM (Zz0t1)

238 an example, the perry mason revamp with matthew rhys was really NC 17, for no reason,

Posted by: miguel cervantes at June 15, 2025 11:42 AM (bXbFr)

239 I second the recommendation for “ Unbroken”

Amazing story of resilience through so many things that could destroy a good man’s life.

Posted by: PMRich at June 15, 2025 11:42 AM (Pe+uV)

240 238 an example, the perry mason revamp with matthew rhys was really NC 17, for no reason,
Posted by: miguel cervantes at June 15, 2025 11:42 AM (bXbFr)

Was that any good? It looked interesting, but odd for 'Perry Mason.'

Posted by: Aetius451AD at June 15, 2025 11:42 AM (bss/y)

241 I've only read one YA novel, and it was "Feed," by M. T. Anderson. Near-future, in which everyone has an embedded chip wiring one to the intertoobs. Wonderfully told teenage love story, ending in tragedy.

The feed is full of ads, of course. You are in the midst of mentally texting the person across the table from you (this, preferred versus actual speech) and the feed interrupts you with an ad for jeans. The President comes on to speak to everyone, prefacing most sentences with "dude."

Posted by: Mr Gaga at June 15, 2025 11:43 AM (zeLd4)

242 The plant is on the West Bank now, I believe. Certainly there's a business with their name on it.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:36 AM (omVj0)

I'd certainly like to hear about it, Dr. No.

We get Zatarains in the stores around here. I like the red beans and rice, don't care for dirty rice. It goes well with Polish sausage.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 11:43 AM (0eaVi)

243 The places where I started buying paperbacks are long gone. One is now a day-care, another is a discount electronics place, one is vacant last time I street-viewed, and one's a T-Mobile. The bookshops I frequented later are also all gone and in a couple of cases the buildings aren't even there any more. The space once occupied by the late lamented Hanley's Book Shop in Rogers Park (lots of small press sf/fantasy/horror and a pretty good selection of used paperbacks in all genres) is a parking lot now for the Rogers Park Fruit Market. A visit to Chicago on the infrequent occasions I get there is to see siblings; there's not much else there for me any more besides museums, and I've seen those.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 15, 2025 11:43 AM (q3u5l)

244 >The mall is still there. But it's mostly for women and kids now.

###

Just like us.

Posted by: Churches everywhere at June 15, 2025 11:44 AM (lIgBp)

245 We were on the East Bank, and without a car, Oakwood was just too far - unless y' wanted to try the ferry. Lakeside was the first East Bank mall. I still remember the newspaper ads they ran trying to sell property to investors. Wish I'd had the cash to pick up some @ just $400 per unit. But it got built, prospered, decayed, and got torn down - but it was nice while it was there. I don't recall it ever not being completely air-conditioned. DH Holmes was (I think) the big anchor store there. On Saturdays before the mall opened, they'd let in the seniors who used it for their 'walking trail' ...
Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025

***
Oh, no -- Lakeside is still there and prospering, about the only mall here that is. It opened in 1959 or 1960 as a series of strip centers, multiple stores in blocks, but the entire thing wasn't enclosed and air-conditioned. They apparently did that after Oakwood opened. (So I understand; I never visited Lakeside before 1970 or so.)

In recent years they have added free multi-story parking, very welcome to get your car out of the hot sun.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:46 AM (omVj0)

246 Might be good. I love the old Mike Hammer TV show theme, Harlem Nocturne.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, And You're Not at June 15, 2025 11:39 AM (L/fGl)

Mike Hammer will be a gay BLM supporter, and his secretary will be lez. The criminals will all be Trump supporters.

Prove me wrong!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 11:46 AM (0eaVi)

247 Might be good. I love the old Mike Hammer TV show theme, Harlem Nocturne.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, And You're Not at June 15, 2025

***
The series with Darren McGavin or the one with Stacey Keach?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:48 AM (omVj0)

248 "Mike Hammer will be a gay BLM supporter, and his secretary will be lez. The criminals will all be Trump supporters."

You say that like it's a bad thing.
--Present Day TV Producers & Writers

I can see Spillane's ghost rising from the grave and treating them to a display of Hammer how it oughtta be.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 15, 2025 11:51 AM (q3u5l)

249 an example, the perry mason revamp with matthew rhys was really NC 17, for no reason,
Posted by: miguel cervantes at June 15, 2025 11:42 AM (bXbFr)

Was that any good? It looked interesting, but odd for 'Perry Mason.'
Posted by: Aetius451AD at June 15, 2025

***
The lead character looked weedy and unprofessional, so I wasn't interested. Now a reboot with the Mason of early Gardner books, a *little* more hardboiled than he became in the novels or on TV, would be interesting.

There was an attempt at a reboot in the early '70s too, with character actor Monte Markham. Too soon after Raymond Burr, I guess; it sank without a trace.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:51 AM (omVj0)

250 You say that like it's a bad thing.
--Present Day TV Producers & Writers

I can see Spillane's ghost rising from the grave and treating them to a display of Hammer how it oughtta be.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 15, 2025 11:51 AM (q3u5l)

Honestly, tv ought to just leave these programs alone. I don't trust them to give respect to the source material. It will be another tear down of something people liked and make them hate it.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 11:53 AM (0eaVi)

251 That would be interesting to see how much it shows. Do you think it's because the writer does things that are implausible, or that descriptions of actions are wrong, as if the writer doesn't know how something really works?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 11:00 AM (0eaVi)

Yes to all, but even worse the characters all have the same voice, and think alike (and worse think like a laptop class worker, or what a laptop class worker thinks guys in a welding shop talk) because the writers have no idea how people outside their bubble talk or interact.

Twain was something of a master at this, but by the time he published his first book of stories, he had been in militia unit, a survey camp, a mining camp, been a reporter and an editor, and then spent a lot of time after that on Chataqua circuit giving it back out to audiences who were picky about being entertained.
He had a bit more experience of the world than someone who has experience of getting a masters, and working as an intern for PBS

Posted by: Kindltot at June 15, 2025 11:54 AM (D7oie)

252 The reference to GAFIAting reminds me of a map in J.B.Post's "An Atlas of Fantasy" in which Jophan is visited by the spirit of Trufandom and is sent on a quest to find the Enchanted Duplicator.

He leaves the land of Mundane, slogs through the fetid Hekto Swamp (hektograph), tramps through the Jungle of Inexperience and the Desert of Indifference, rests for a time in the Glades of Gafia, until at last he reaches the Tower and finds a battered mimeograph on a block. Enlightenment: ANY mimeograph operated by a Trufan is an Enchanted Duplicar.

Wow.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 15, 2025 11:54 AM (kpS4V)

253 233 ... "I love the old Mike Hammer TV show theme, Harlem Nocturne."

Yeah, I liked the show but always loved the theme song. The wailing sax is haunting. The best version of Harlem Nocturne I ever heard was by Duke Ellington. You can find it on YT. It made me an Earl Hagen fan.

Posted by: JTB at June 15, 2025 11:56 AM (yTvNw)

254 The series with Darren McGavin or the one with Stacey Keach?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere

Keach.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, And You're Not at June 15, 2025 11:58 AM (L/fGl)

255 Twain was something of a master at this, but by the time he published his first book of stories, he had been in militia unit, a survey camp, a mining camp, been a reporter and an editor, and then spent a lot of time after that on Chataqua circuit giving it back out to audiences who were picky about being entertained.
He had a bit more experience of the world than someone who has experience of getting a masters, and working as an intern for PBS
Posted by: Kindltot at June 15, 2025 11:54 AM (D7oie)

But see, I haven't done any of that stuff like Twain either. Maybe that's why my writings aren't getting anywhere? I read a lot about things, is that a fake way to have the knowledge of how things work? I mean, no one has travelled through interstellar space at light speed, so how can I be told I'm doing it wrong? (as I was by one person who read some of my stuff)

And hack pink haired deviants get toasted in the literary world....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 11:58 AM (0eaVi)

256 Well, off to screw things up here at Casa Some Guy.

Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.

Have a good one, gang.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 15, 2025 11:58 AM (q3u5l)

257 There are tons of great older (pre-2000) properties just asking to be made into solid, faithful movies. Larry Niven's Known Space, for instance: Ringworld could be done now with CGI for the aliens, and his short story "The Soft Weapon" (which he himself adapted beautifully for the animated Trek in '73) would be another exciting story. There's Poul Anderson, John Varley, and lots more.

But no, they have to "reboot" and ruin favorite properties.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:58 AM (omVj0)

258
Was that any good? It looked interesting, but odd for 'Perry Mason.'
Posted by: Aetius451AD

Not really. Della Street was going to go to law school. Perry's go to guy turned on him. Paul Drake was an African American cop who became / was becoming his go to guy by the end. Perry was hanging on by his nails in his legal practice.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at June 15, 2025 11:59 AM (Tv15w)

259 Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. For new dads, in line with the book thread, read to your children. From day 1 on. Cherish the memories of reading to my daughter every night.

Posted by: Our Country is Screwed at June 15, 2025 12:00 PM (7v6oI)

260 Rats! Nine o'clock again. Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 12:01 PM (0eaVi)

261 Was that any good? It looked interesting, but odd for 'Perry Mason.'
Posted by: Aetius451AD
*
Not really. Della Street was going to go to law school. Perry's go to guy turned on him. Paul Drake was an African American cop who became / was becoming his go to guy by the end. Perry was hanging on by his nails in his legal practice.
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at June 15, 2025

***
That whirring noise you hear is coming from Erle Stanley Gardner's grave.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 12:01 PM (omVj0)

262 Another exciting book thread comes to its end. Thanks, Perfessor, for all your hard work, and to the rest of you for the best commentary on the 'Net!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 12:02 PM (omVj0)

263 We haz a NOOD

Posted by: Skip at June 15, 2025 12:03 PM (+qU29)

264 @ 242 The plant is on the West Bank now, I believe. Certainly there's a business with their name on it. Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 11:36 AM (omVj0)

I'd certainly like to hear about it, Dr. No.

We get Zatarains in the stores around here. I like the red beans and rice, don't care for dirty rice. It goes well with Polish sausage.
__________________________

The Zat's plant was a block from our house - it was on Valmont off of Magazine. My grandma told me that, when my uncle worked there, the plant had a section that made vinegar. One evening when they were talking, he told her about the walkway across the top of the vinegar vats. He also told her that if they needed to pee, they'd just unzip and pee in the vinegar. She was horrified!. What if they catch you!?, she asked. They can't prove it, he said - it's all the same color. Later, he worked at the grain elevator at Bellecastle and Tchoupitoulas. One night he felt sick, and another guy took his place. That was the night the grain dust exploded ... Grain elevators (and sugar plants) are dangerous 'cos of the airborne dust. He was lucky.

Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025 12:03 PM (ayRl+)

265 Noodus CBD

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 15, 2025 12:03 PM (omVj0)

266 Nood.

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at June 15, 2025 12:04 PM (XiKaT)

267
Was it Perryville or Franklin where freaky atmospherics muffled the sounds of battle so that potential reinforcements for one side or another did not come to the fray?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at June 15, 2025 12:05 PM (Tv15w)

268 The Zat's plant was a block from our house - it was on Valmont off of Magazine. My grandma told me that, when my uncle worked there, the plant had a section that made vinegar. One evening when they were talking, he told her about the walkway across the top of the vinegar vats. He also told her that if they needed to pee, they'd just unzip and pee in the vinegar. She was horrified!. What if they catch you!?, she asked. They can't prove it, he said - it's all the same color. Later, he worked at the grain elevator at Bellecastle and Tchoupitoulas. One night he felt sick, and another guy took his place. That was the night the grain dust exploded ... Grain elevators (and sugar plants) are dangerous 'cos of the airborne dust. He was lucky.
Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025 12:03 PM (ayRl+)

Interesting. Thanks.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 12:06 PM (0eaVi)

269 244 >The mall is still there. But it's mostly for women and kids now.

###

Just like us.
Posted by: Churches everywhere at June 15, 2025 11:44 AM (lIgBp)

Join the club

Posted by: Men's assets, work, and income at June 15, 2025 12:07 PM (TbWk/)

270 Orange Ent, Poe made things up and invented tropes we read today, Robert Howard made everything up (he had to, right?), but they did know how people interacted and what made them fight and struggle.

In the end, they are writing about people, and what people do when they live their lives. If you can write clean prose and talk about people, the rest of it is just continuity, and making what you invent seem plausible.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 15, 2025 12:07 PM (D7oie)

271 Well, to be fair to the TV adaptation (which I haven't seen) in Gardner's novels Perry is a much more low-rent kind of attorney. One reason he winds up taking these seemingly doomed cases is that none of the "good" attorneys will touch them.

Kind of like one E.S. Gardner esq in his earlier career.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 15, 2025 12:08 PM (78a2H)

272 Wolfus, I don't know if this is the story you were referring to, but here goes: Milton Zatarain's house was directly across the street from my grandma's house. Milton had converted its carriage shed into a 'shrine'. Scary effin' place for kids, too. In the center was a cobblestone pond where he kept the goldfish. The goldfish always seemed to tolerate us peeing in their water, too. On shelves around the 'shrine' were labeled Mason jars. One was labeled 'Young Ladies' Blood', another 'Old Person's Blood', but the scariest was 'Babies' Blood'. We'd walk around looking at everything in there, but over the entry door, Milton had placed an arch-framed painting of Jesus - that stared straight ahead so it felt like it was always watching you. That's why we always faced the other way when we peed in the pond.

Posted by: Dr_No at June 15, 2025 12:09 PM (ayRl+)

273 In the end, they are writing about people, and what people do when they live their lives. If you can write clean prose and talk about people, the rest of it is just continuity, and making what you invent seem plausible.
Posted by: Kindltot at June 15, 2025 12:07 PM (D7oie)

Well, I think so, too. I've had people read what I've written and some like it.... But, is it good enough for someone to pay me to read it. That's the question. Apparently not at this time. Maybe never. I do have a line on a professional editor who says she'll look at my scifi novel. All I need is the money for it now.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 15, 2025 12:10 PM (0eaVi)

274 I finally found a copy of Evelyn Waugh's "Love Among the Ruins", which for some reason seems to be out of print. It seems rather strange that an author of Waugh's stature would have anything out of print, but perhaps a cynical person could think of a reason why that is.

Waugh wrote it as a sort of protest when the socialists took over in the UK after WWII. The main character works in a suicide parlor, and falls in love with a bearded lady.
Here's the first sentence, to whet your appetite.

"Despite their promises at the last election, the Politicians had not changed the climate."

Posted by: Taft at June 15, 2025 12:10 PM (xtuZw)

275 I always tell students, "It's not 'write what you know' because that just gets us lots of fiction about young women majoring in creative writing and middle-aged male authors contemplating adultery. Instead, 'know what you write'" In short, do the research. If you are writing about military life, talk to vets, read memoirs, etc. If you are writing about life on a farm, then maybe do some farm work. And so on.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 15, 2025 12:10 PM (78a2H)

276 Townhall.com@townhallcom
Over at MSNBC, they're almost SHOCKED the celebration of the U.S. Army's 250th birthday isn't "tense" and doesn't have "dark, malevolent energy."

-
I demand more dark, malevolent energy!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, And You're Not at June 15, 2025 12:17 PM (L/fGl)

277 Posted by: Mrs. Peel at June 15, 2025 09:16 AM (Y+AMd)

Just coming on to say the same! Lots of this in what might be considered the chick end of the literary spectrum. Allison Weir is good, although my favorite example would be Katherine, by Anya Seton, another favorite author of mine.

She took a woman about whom very little is known, (despite having a profound impact on English history) and wove a beautiful written story together so seamlessly with established history that I had no idea that most of the parts about Katherine Swynford came from her imagination.

Posted by: Tammy al-Thor at June 15, 2025 01:42 PM (Vvh2V)

278 Posted by: Trimegistus at June 15, 2025 12:10 PM (78a2H)

Good advice!
Do you teach creative writing?

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at June 15, 2025 02:06 PM (Splbu)

279 me this week:

"The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914," by Margaret MacMillan.

I have read plenty about this before, but I read this one anyway. History Professor at Oxford.

Amazing that the future combatants were guided by such fools, both civilian & military. Makes me wonder if times have changed any. Gulp.

Posted by: mnw at June 15, 2025 02:30 PM (kd60y)

280 @271 --

I disagree. Most of Mason's clients mention his high fees. The cases also involve wealthy people and schemers.

I don't know that Mason ever defended a guy in a backstreet stabbing. That was Horace Rumpole territory.

Philip Marlowe prowled LA around the time Mason did. I should read one each of those back-to-back and look for contrasts.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 15, 2025 02:30 PM (p/isN)

281 17
Book Mug buying click leads to a dead page
----
So I dug, found it under three different name on the base page of that link, did some more digging, found it on Amazon much cheaper from many different "vendors", then read reviews.

Short version -Save your money.

Long version - Somebody obviously handcrafted something like this at one time out of stained glass. Someone else bought one, made a mold and shipped it off to China to have a run of 500 or so of the cup made out of acrylic, then contracted with the molder or someone else to hand paint them.
Then, the usual Chinese shit happens. The molder, still in possession of the mold (maybe return or destruction of the mold wasn't specified, or the usual Chinese shit of " what are you going to do about it" occurs) runs off 20,000 or so until the mold fails, and then sells batches of them, along with the promo pics to any little garage shop that wants them. Said little operation(s) throw together a website(s), have their people slap some paint on them, and, viola'!
Thousands of cheap schlocky cups overwhelms the original 500 somewhat nice ones.There may be a nice one out there, but you're going to bet $20 to $45 to find out.

Posted by: buddhaha at June 15, 2025 03:40 PM (fQAHz)

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