Ace of Spades HQ

March 09, 2014

Sunday Morning Book Thread 03-09-2014 [OregonMuse]
— Open Blogger

Yes, This Is English

Good morning morons and moronettes and welcome to AoSHQ's prestigious Sunday Morning Book Thread. For non-book related discussions, please use Andy's open thread below. Thanks.

Ye Fyne Olde Wordes

Author Mark Forsyth likes to write about old words that are no longer in use, but perhaps should be. This article lists a few of them, and I was surprised how many of them describe aspects of the moron lifestyle. For example, an "ultracrepidarian" described as "somebody who gives opinions on subjects they know nothing about." I guess that's more hoity-toity than 'blowhard' or 'ignoramus'. Or, "fudgel", a verb which means "pretending to work when you're not actually doing anything at all." And then there are the snecklifters, who "poke their heads into a pub to see if there's anyone who might stand them a drink."

In other words, morons.

These and other lost words are discussed by Forsyth in his book Horologicon: A Day's Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language.

I'm still looking for a word with a definition that means something like: "a person with (at best) mediocre ability and accomplishments who have nonetheless obtained a high status position because others are greasing the skids for them."

Like this new kid, Ronan Farrow, whom ace wrote about earlier this week.

Or, for that matter, Barack Obama.

Last Words of Famous Authors

Here is a little mix-and-match game. Try to figure out who said what without Googling. Winners get a "Get Out of the Barrel Free" card, good for one formatting screw-up.

1. Emily Dickenson
3. George Bernard Shaw
3. Henry David Thoreau
4. Washington Irving
5. Edgar Allan Poe
6. Dylan Thomas
7. H. H. Munro (Saki)
8. Plato

a) "Put that bloody cigarette out." (immediately after which he was killed by a sniper's bullet)

b) "Well, I must arrange my pillows for another weary night! When will this end?"

c) "Lord, help my poor soul."

d) "I've had 18 straight whiskies... I think that's the record."

e) "Sister, you're trying to keep me alive as an old curiosity, but I'm done, I'm finished, I'm going to die."

f) "I thank the guiding providence and fortune of my life: first that I was born a man and a Greek, not a barbarian nor a brute; and next, that I happened to live in the age of Socrates."

g) "Let us go in; the fog is rising."

h) "Moose. Indian."
Russian History

In Thursday's foreign policy thread, moron commenter 'HR' inquired:

Totally serious question: Can anyone recommend some good (by which I mean "not using the 'Marxist-feminist lens' or Zinning it all up") historians to read about Russian history?

Posted by: HR needs a beer at March 06, 2014 12:18 PM (ZKzrr)

Here are the recommendations from the Horde:

Paul Johnson's Modern Times

A History of Russia by Riasanovsky, which is claimed to be the standard. The linked copy is way expensive, but you can get used copies for considerably cheaper.

Anything by Richard Pipes is good.

The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia by Peter Hopkirk is a start.

Peter the Great: His Life and World by Robert K. Massie is an accessible, easy read that gives a nice bit of context for modern Russia. Also recommended is Massie's Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman

Those are from the Horde. I just finished Child 44 this week (good page-turner) which is set in Russia during Stalin's reign of terror. Here are the books that author Tom Rob Smith listed in the afterward that helped him understand those perilous times:

Man Is Wolf to Man by Janusz Bardach, and Kathleen Gleeson

Also, Anne ApplebaumÂ’s 'Gulag' and Aleksandr SolzhenitsynÂ’s 'The Gulag Archipelago'.

For general historical background:

Robert ConquestÂ’s The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine, Simon Sebag MontefioreÂ’s Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, and Shelia FitzpatrickÂ’s Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s.

(Note that there's nothing here by the Zinn/Chomsky crowd.)

Regarding Russian police procedure, Anthony OlcottÂ’s Russian Pulp: The Detektiv and the Russian Way of Crime went into detail not only about the justice system itself but also literary representations of that system.

Boris LevytskyÂ’s The Uses of Terror: The Soviet Secret Police, 1917-1970 was invaluable when it came to understanding, or at least trying to, the machinations of the MGB.

Finally, Robert CullenÂ’s The Killer Department: Detective Viktor Burakov's Eight-Year Hunt for the Most Savage Serial Killer in Russian History provides a clear account of the real-life navigation into the crimes of psychopathic murderer Andrei Chikatilo.

Of all of these, Smith says, "I cannot recommend any of these books highly enough."

Har.

Dave Barry has read the execrable '50 Shades of Grey' so you don't have to. And, not only that, he has written a take-down review worthy of P.J. O'Rourke. That's the good news. The bad news is that he wrote it for the execrable Time magazine. So you have to go there and give them traffic to read it, and thus help them delay their withering death by attrition and neglect, which I've been wanting for a long time. Oh, well. I can't figure out what to excerpt from Dave Barry Learns Everything You Need to Know About Being a Husband From Reading 50 Shades of Grey, so you'll have to just read the whole thing yourself.

And on a related note, according to the Lost Angeles Times, the execrable 'Fifty Shades of Grey' trilogy has topped 100 million copies in worldwide sales.

I'm weeping now.

Can A Bestseller Book Be Bought?

Meaning, can you buy your way onto the bestseller lists? According to this investigative article in World Magazine,

SeattleÂ’s Mars Hill Church paid a California-based marketing company at least $210,000 in 2011 and 2012 to ensure that Real Marriage, a book written by Mark Driscoll, the churchÂ’s founding pastor, and his wife Grace, made the New York Times best-seller list.

Apparently there's a marketing company, ResultSource Inc. (RSI), that claims to be able to do this for you. What RSI does is organize a network of buyers that make purchases at locations which are "likely to generate reportable sales for various best-seller lists, including the New York Times list."

Mars Hill also paid for the purchase of at least 11,000 books ranging in price from $18.62 to $20.70, depending on whether the books were purchased individually or in bulk. The contract called for 6,000 of the books to be bought by individuals, whose names were supplied by the church. Another 5,000 books were bought in bulk.

Is this ethical? I don't know. On the one hand, RSI is clearly trying to game the system on behalf of its clients. On the other hand, who cares? This reminds me of those stupid quiz shows scandals of the 50s, which resulted in congressional hearings, and federal legislation. Really? C'mon, it's a game show! It's entertainment. It's as authentic as professional wrestling. Everybody knows that.

And who, really, is being hurt?

Of course, the other aspect to this particular case is that it's a church that's doing this, and for Christians, there are other considerations. If I were a tithing member of Driscoll's church, I'd probably be asking the leaders questions as to what they hoped to gain by purchasing this doping-the-horses marketing plan, and is this really a wise use of church funds? $210,000 is a lot of money to be throwing around, and maybe it could be put to better use.

The Granddaddy of Urban Myths

In New York City in 1964, a 29-year-old woman named Catherine Â“KittyÂ” Genovese was stabbed to death in three separate attacks as 38 bystanders stood around and watched and did nothing. The NY Times called it "a frozen moment of dramatic, disturbing social change." This sensational case provoked an anxious outcry and launched a sociological theory known as the "Bystander Effect."

I remember finding a link (now lost) some time ago that debunked a lot of the Genovese murder story, so some information has been out there, but now author Cook has researched and written

Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America. It is not true that there were 38 bystanders who watched Genovese murdered and it is not true that nobody came to help her.

Another "tell" from this book is that Genovese was a lesbian. OK, I never knew that. But I have no idea why this is important. The man who killed her was a standard-issue psychopath and his selection of victim was pretty much random. I don't know how her sexual preference contributes to the story. But under the new rules of public discourse, I guess I'm supposed to applaud now.

Something Else I Did Not Know Until Now

The Oscar-winning movie '12 Years A Slave' is based on Solomon Northup's autobiography of the same title. Various inexpensive Kindle versions are available.

The title reminds me of this old classic anti-cult book, 30 Years a Watchtower Slave: The Confessions of a Converted Jehovah's Witness. Hee hee, I'd like to see them try to make THAT one into a film.

___________

So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, rumors, threats, and insults may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at aoshqbookthread, followed by the 'at' sign, and then 'G' mail, and then dot cee oh emm.

What have you all been reading this week? Hopefully something good, because, as I keep saying, life is too short to be reading lousy books.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 06:04 AM | Comments (182)
Post contains 1606 words, total size 12 kb.

1 Ah book thread and I am late because of neighbor who came over which delayed shower and going to store which I have to do.

But still have that to do and will have to come back in an hour or so for comments. In the meantime here is what I have been reading since last time.

One year ago I remarked that Dan Brown's new book "Inferno" was out but the Kindle price was too high. It is now $6.49 I have gone for it now. Any book publishers reading this should take notice. A reasonably priced E-book will sell, gouging will not.

Completed Debt of Honor. Executive Power, and Executive Orders in My Kindle re-read of Clancy and Flynn. Now working on Memorial Day by Flynn. Will take a break from these two series with that Dan Brown book next.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at March 09, 2014 05:09 AM (T2V/1)

2 Second?

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at March 09, 2014 05:12 AM (v7+/1)

3 Yes! Secondest.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at March 09, 2014 05:12 AM (v7+/1)

4 Russian History: Life is a bitch and then you die.

Posted by: The Yellow Pug at March 09, 2014 05:13 AM (hJnUx)

5 The reason why Genovese's sexuality is important is that now we can schedule a candle-light vigil. Maybe call it the Matthew Shepard Memorial Vigil.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 09, 2014 05:14 AM (QFxY5)

6 "Ergophobia" doesn't seem like it should be on the list. Of Greek origin. Don't know if it was actually used in older English.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at March 09, 2014 05:14 AM (V4CBV)

7 Can A Bestseller Book Be Bought? Idk....but seems like a way to funnel money to a presidential aspirant.

Posted by: BignJames at March 09, 2014 05:14 AM (j7iSn)

8 Edward Rutherford''s Russka, and it's non fiction companion Merridale's Red Fortress, is very good at illustrating the Czarist mindset.

Posted by: coriolianus snw at March 09, 2014 05:15 AM (Jsiw/)

9 Words of Radiance and The a Darkest Summer.

Posted by: Adam at March 09, 2014 05:15 AM (Aif/5)

10 And f*ck you auto correct.

Posted by: Adam at March 09, 2014 05:16 AM (Aif/5)

11 Worlds Apart Book 09 is onlinel http://tinyurl.com/ksf9cau

Posted by: Gregory of Yardale at March 09, 2014 05:16 AM (NcfHW)

12 Other than Emily Dickenson being grateful to be born as a Greek man, and Plato and the cigarette, I'd be guessing at the rest.

Posted by: WaitingForMartel at March 09, 2014 05:16 AM (wL/sZ)

13 Quote from preamble to "Horologicon" describing the subject matter words: "Too beautiful to live long, too amusing to be taken seriously, too precise to become common, too vulgar to survive in polite company, or too poetic to thrive in this age of prose."

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at March 09, 2014 05:17 AM (v7+/1)

14 Duh!1 remains a Braying JackAss.
Can't repeat that enough, folks....

Posted by: backhoe at March 09, 2014 05:18 AM (ULH4o)

15 I started reading the latest edition of "Current History". Seems like a lot of leftist leaning shit in there. Anyone else read it?

Posted by: fastfreefall at March 09, 2014 05:20 AM (yRhBf)

16 >>Can you buy your way onto the bestseller lists?

Don't politicians scam the system by forcing donors/sponsors to buy their books as part of a speaking fee? IIRC Hillary was doing this w/her biography, and didn't Gingrich get ethics charges over some sponsor book-purchase dealio?

Posted by: Lizzy at March 09, 2014 05:20 AM (aq/zi)

17 Thanks for the olde words link...brb

Posted by: Lizzy at March 09, 2014 05:22 AM (aq/zi)

18 The SCOAMF is a gutless pussy.

Posted by: Insomniac at March 09, 2014 05:22 AM (UAMVq)

19 In a semi-related thread, what do you suppose BamBam's last words will be? I'm going with "Go ahead Reggie, I can take it *gag* *gasp* *croak*"

or maybe, substitute 'Michelle' for 'Reggie'

Posted by: WaitingForMartel at March 09, 2014 05:24 AM (wL/sZ)

20 18 The SCOAMF is a gutless pussy.

...and that is the nicest thing you can say about the little girly-man....

Posted by: backhoe at March 09, 2014 05:25 AM (ULH4o)

21 I'm pretty sure the whiskey one was Plato.

Posted by: Zombie John Gotti at March 09, 2014 05:25 AM (zT0DN)

22 I had just been thinking, considering I'm a useless old PITB, preternaturally shy, even self-loathing, why do I keep tossing comments out as if I think anybody wanted to read mine? What compulsion motivates my manic public displays of my foolishness, ignorance, and social maladjustment? Then I discover.. I'm ultracrepidarian. Well, crep!

Posted by: mindful webworker, ultracrepidarian at March 09, 2014 05:26 AM (74tYA)

23 I had just been thinking, considering I'm a useless old PITB, preternaturally shy, even self-loathing, why do I keep tossing comments out as if I think anybody wanted to read mine? What compulsion motivates my manic public displays of my foolishness, ignorance, and social maladjustment? Then I discover.. I'm ultracrepidarian. Well, crep!

Posted by: mindful webworker, ultracrepidarian at March 09, 2014 05:26 AM (74tYA)

24 Great post, OM! Alas, I haven't read any books this week. I've read lots of internetz, though. Does that count? I can offer a recommendation about one aspect of Russian history: "Russia in Space" by Anatoly Zak. http://tinyurl.com/npy9vt6 No, I haven't actually read that one either, but I bought it when it was published last year and have looked through it. It is a large-format paperback that is jam-packed with beautiful color photos, illustrations, and diagrams. It is absolutely worth the price.

Posted by: rickl at March 09, 2014 05:26 AM (sdi6R)

25 Great post, OM! Alas, I haven't read any books this week. I've read lots of internetz, though. Does that count? I can offer a recommendation about one aspect of Russian history: "Russia in Space" by Anatoly Zak. http://tinyurl.com/npy9vt6 No, I haven't actually read that one either, but I bought it when it was published last year and have looked through it. It is a large-format paperback that is jam-packed with beautiful color photos, illustrations, and diagrams. It is absolutely worth the price.

Posted by: rickl at March 09, 2014 05:26 AM (sdi6R)

26 I got Words of Radiance this week, Brandon Sanderson's latest, but since he took so long releasing I have to reread The Way of Kings - all 1300 pages.

Posted by: Tunafish at March 09, 2014 05:26 AM (Nzqyt)

27 I got Words of Radiance this week, Brandon Sanderson's latest, but since he took so long releasing I have to reread The Way of Kings - all 1300 pages.

Posted by: Tunafish at March 09, 2014 05:26 AM (Nzqyt)

28 I'm enjoying On Basilisk Station, the first Honor Harrington book by David Weber. It was free on Kindle and works with my TTS app.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette, assault Hobbit at March 09, 2014 05:27 AM (GDulk)

29 I though Plato last words were Moose. Indian ? Thou I agree with emily made Greek man comment. Now I waiting For Terry Pratchett new book 'Steam'

Posted by: Kyon at March 09, 2014 05:27 AM (mT+TO)

30 I'm enjoying On Basilisk Station, the first Honor Harrington book by David Weber. It was free on Kindle and works with my TTS app.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette, assault Hobbit at March 09, 2014 05:27 AM (GDulk)

31 I though Plato last words were Moose. Indian ? Thou I agree with emily made Greek man comment. Now I waiting For Terry Pratchett new book 'Steam'

Posted by: Kyon at March 09, 2014 05:27 AM (mT+TO)

32 More cool words: Luciferous Logolepsy http://tinyurl.com/o5sap

Posted by: Dr. Varno at March 09, 2014 05:28 AM (V4CBV)

33 I didn't know Emily Dickinson was killed by a sniper. The things you learn here.

Posted by: rickl at March 09, 2014 05:30 AM (sdi6R)

34 I'm reading Engineering Communism by Steve Usdin. Julius Rosenberg and many of the members of his spy ring were engineers. Rosenberg tipped them off about being arrested but only two got away to the USSR. They spent the next 40 years being miserable with their kids defecting to the US. Usdin is a good historian and writer and his book was on a subject not addressed before. He was expecting a review in the NYT Book Review - a big deal. But he got bumped by those two commies shills, Miriam and Walter Schneir, who wrote another book defending the Rosenbergs. It amazes me that until this day, there are still people shilling for Stalin.

Posted by: The Yellow Pug at March 09, 2014 05:31 AM (hJnUx)

35 Buying books in bulk to pay someone/curry favor is as old as the hills. When I worked in the retail book world what I used to get a kick out of were the authors like Danielle Steele or Tom Clancy who would have books on the best-seller list before the retail sales embargo was even lifted and we were able to sell them. Pre-orders and just the fact that the NYT knew they'd be number one before anybody had read them were good enough to get a number one spot and put "Bestseller" on the cover. Harry Potter was another one. Thousands of pre-orders in the months leading up to release, it was crazy. Then along came Amazon and buh-bye bookstore.

Posted by: Lincolntf at March 09, 2014 05:31 AM (ZshNr)

36 I cheated (binged) - loved Emily Dickenson's last words.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 09, 2014 05:32 AM (aq/zi)

I believe the movie Citizen X was based on this book. Great movie by the way. I'll have to check the book out now.

Posted by: puddleglum at March 09, 2014 05:33 AM (32oL1)

38 Went to a Tom Woods lecture Wed evening. his name dot com Superb. Most understandable explanation of Austrian "school" I've heard. I'll be looking into his books.

Posted by: teej-who must be doing pretty much everything wrong at March 09, 2014 05:33 AM (M3APu)

39 100 million copies of that amateur trash.What a world.

Posted by: steevy at March 09, 2014 05:34 AM (zqvg6)

40 32 Slayer has a song about that guy.Pschopathy Red.

Posted by: steevy at March 09, 2014 05:36 AM (zqvg6)

41 Kitty died so Ellen could live

Posted by: TexasJew at March 09, 2014 05:36 AM (r9JUC)

42 I just made the mistake of looking up Andrei Chikatilo. Holy shit.

Posted by: Insomniac at March 09, 2014 05:36 AM (UAMVq)

43 Can A Bestseller Book Be Bought Uh, Dianetics. Didn't they use to brag about how many books were sold except they were all bought by the organization.

Posted by: The Yellow Pug at March 09, 2014 05:37 AM (hJnUx)

44 The word "car" would have been on this list 200 years ago. It was an archaic word for chariot and was rarely used outside of poetry. Then the railroad industry thought it would be sophisticated to have "railroad cars", and the rest is history.

Posted by: La Troienne at March 09, 2014 05:37 AM (SuMOb)

45
In reality challenged publishing news:

A campaign to break down gender divides in children's publishing has met with instant success, after one of the publishers under fire announced they will stop producing titles labelled as "for girls" or "for boys".

Contrasting the predominantly pink covers of books such as The Beautiful Girls' Colouring Book Â– garlanded with butterflies, cakes and flowers Â– with the navy-blue The Brilliant Boys' Colouring Book Â– armoured with axes, helmets and a space-zapper Â– The Let Books Be Books campaign suggests that publishers are sending out "very limiting messages to children about what kinds of things are appropriate for girls or for boys".

"People talk about books opening minds and hearts, about them broadening horizons, but these books do the opposite of that," said Tricia Lowther from Let Books Be Books. "Of course there's nothing wrong with boys liking pirates or girls liking princesses, but what about boys who like princesses and girls who like pirates? How will they feel? It's closing down avenues for them finding out who they want to be."

http://tinyurl.com/lsgk52x

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at March 09, 2014 05:37 AM (kdS6q)

46 Great post, Oregon Muse. Read Barry's take on 50 Shades of Grey. Funny. Didn't read the book but I do have a questionÂ…. So it is okay to hit women?

Posted by: Seems legit at March 09, 2014 05:38 AM (A98Xu)

47 I know Munro was smoke-checked by a Kraut sniper after the cigarette quip.

Emily, sweetheart, stay out o' the fog.

Thomas should'a stopped at 17 whiskies

I'd love to know what delusion Thoreau was experiencing that involved Indians and mooses, it probably would have been a good read.

Posted by: MJN1957 at March 09, 2014 05:38 AM (yvVwB)

48 Plato, they say, could stick it away, Half a crate of whiskey every day.... (Seriously, though, Dylan Thomas is one of the many reasons I'd rather read the ms. at the beginning of the post than the moderns. Exception made, if necessary, for the Inklings.) Haven't had time to read much this week, alas... need to finish the book I'm writing first!

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at March 09, 2014 05:39 AM (Aiwi+)

49 For years, and maybe still today, Scientologists would do radio ads for Dianetics all summer long on all the Cape stations. You'd see racks of it at supermarkets and copies of it lying on beach blankets every day.

Posted by: Lincolntf at March 09, 2014 05:39 AM (ZshNr)

50 For Rooski history I'd like to add two books by Catherine Merridale: "Ivan's War: The Story of the Red Army in World War 2" and "Red Fortress" which is about the Kremlin and which I'm currently reading.

Finished "A Death in the Family" by James Agee, which I think was an autobiographical work of fiction based on the early death of his own father and was a selection of my book group. It had some Faulkneresque stream of consciousness musings where you weren't initially sure just who was narrating things that was fairly effective. The author died before it was completed and I think they stuck some parts of the book, which gave a background to what was going on, in some strange places in an otherwise linear narrative; I'm sure this provided fodder for a lot of the lit crits at the time. All in all it was a good read. The book group is now on to "Pere Goriot" by Balzac which I started last night and looks like it will be an interesting story of a bunch of down on their luck misfits in Paris, although I'm sure there will be much more to it.

In Red Fortress, Boris Gudunov died from a stroke and left his son Feodor 2 in charge but he was murdered by some of his many enemies and they installed the false Dmitri, who claimed to be the real son of Ivan the Terrible but who was probably an imposter from Poland. Anyway he fucked up things so badly, particularly by trying to trash the Russian Orthodox church in favor of the Roman Catholics, that he was killed fairly quickly, cremated and his ashes shot from a cannon in the direction of Poland.

In Gibbon, Robert Guiscard of the Normans really kicked some major ass in Italy, first by routing the moooooslims the fuck out of there (and his brother Roger doing the same in Sicily) and then doing the same to the Byzantines. Everybody tried to defeat him, including at some times his former allies turning on him, and he fucked them all. Pretty impressive guy imo.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 09, 2014 05:40 AM (5H/Nk)

51 Might I suggest a term for the oversold-underachieving leftist cohort that includes Ronan "Frank" Farrow and Barack H. Obama -- "light-ringer."

Posted by: direwolf at March 09, 2014 05:42 AM (wlroQ)

52 When I got the Honor Harrington book I also Got Some free ones from John Ringo (very good), David Drake (didn't like the main character, but good story over all), and a couple of unknowns (mostly meh, one actually *bad* writer, and a Mike Smith who I'd pay a couple of bucks for another book from). Also read Demon of Undoing which was a Horde reccomendation. Liked it a lot. I could probably even let my kids read it which is pretty rare.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette, assault Hobbit at March 09, 2014 05:43 AM (GDulk)

53 I want to thank the members of the Horde that recommended Watch on the Rhine by John Ringo and Tom Kratman. It was an interesting exploration on how modern Germany might reconstitute the Waffen Schutztaffeln (the combat SS) minus the Nazi political connotations. Both authors are former U.S. Army and the tactical and strategic planning of the both the human and alien opponents are shown from their points of view. The only thing I didn't like was that I thought some of the descriptions of the deaths were a bit too graphic for my taste (I've seen plenty of violent death myself). Also, it could have used a glossary of the alien terms because jumping into the series towards the end, I didn't have a clear mental picture of what some of the alien vehicles were. Someone wrote last week that this book was a big F*** You to the modern Western Civilization communists and I concur. Some of the reconstituted units are straight from WWII such as the 47th Panzer Korps and the 501st Heavy Panzer Battalion. The book ends on a happy note: even though Germany is conquered much of the populace is evacuated and the human Communist traitors are killed and eaten by the aliens. If these guys aren't members of the Horde, they should be made Honorary Morons. In the afterword, they forthrightly declare that Western Civilization is engaged in a war of survival and this is in a book published in 2005! I doubt that they've changed their minds since then. I enjoyed the book enough that I have ordered the first book in the series A Hymn Before Battle.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop at March 09, 2014 05:45 AM (1htQa)

54 Regarding Russian history, there's a book called "Moscow December 25, 1991: The Last Day of the Soviet Union" that's a really good story of the Gorbachev era (not just the very last day of the USSR). By coincidence I'd just finished it like a month before all this stuff started.

Posted by: Paul at March 09, 2014 05:45 AM (UCGF6)

55 For the longest time I thought the Genovese killing was as described by Harlan Ellison. Thanks alot, Harlan.

Posted by: GnuBreed at March 09, 2014 05:46 AM (cHZB7)

56 "So it is okay to hit women?" Of course. Gotta keep 'em in line. Sometimes they get a little mouthy and need to be shut up.

Posted by: Sean Connery at March 09, 2014 05:46 AM (v7+/1)

57 If you like history, I can't recommend H-Net highly enough: http://www.h-net.org/logsearch/ Most of the posters are authors. Be advised, because academics tend to be leftys, there are some big fat liars. But, you can find some interesting info and links to books and articles.

Posted by: The Yellow Pug at March 09, 2014 05:47 AM (hJnUx)

58 BTW, as long as I'm here, question for the Horde: do y'all think a reference to Potiphar would need a footnote, or would most of the sorts of people who read steampunkish Westerns either know the name or be willing to look it up?

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at March 09, 2014 05:48 AM (Aiwi+)

59 >>"People talk about books opening minds and hearts, about them broadening horizons, but these books do the opposite of that,"

Went to my niece's 6th b-day party last weekend. Everything was pink:decorations, cake, her outfit, her jewelry, the gifts, etc. Not all girls are girly-girls, but my niece (and her little sis) only wants pink stuff - including books, thankyouverymuch.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 09, 2014 05:49 AM (aq/zi)

60 I believe the movie Citizen X was based on this book

You are correct, sir! I neglected to mention this. Andrei Chikatilo was one creepy psychopath.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 09, 2014 05:49 AM (fTJ5O)

61 You take that back about Dianetics sir or I'll have Xenu enslave your thetan and you won't be able to visit Europa!

Posted by: L. Ron Hubbard at March 09, 2014 05:51 AM (Aif/5)

62 Last week(?) someone recommended the book about the atomic bomb. Two pages in I'm stalled when the author goes on about the evils of nuclear bombs and national sovereignty.

Trying to ignore that point of view is like trying to ignore a tooth ache or a pebble in your shoe.

Posted by: Harry Henry Hurrahison at March 09, 2014 05:51 AM (KZsjV)

63 BTW, as long as I'm here, question for the Horde: do y'all think a reference to Potiphar

These days, I think you would need a reference. Some people might know about Joseph resisting the slutty wife, but not the husband's name.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 09, 2014 05:52 AM (fTJ5O)

64 Potiphar? I don't even know what a steampunkish Western is. Don't let that throw ya. Still trying to reach up and grab the lowest rung of the literate ladder.

Posted by: teej-who must be doing pretty much everything wrong at March 09, 2014 05:54 AM (d4o2E)

65 @48 That should have been SchutzStaffeln. Damn pixy and the lack of a preview function! I also forgot to mention that the Germans build a batch of Tiger 3's for their heavy tank battalions.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop at March 09, 2014 05:54 AM (1htQa)

66 James Agee's exwife moved to Mexico with their son, Joel. She was a commie and married a big german commie. Ultimately, they ended up in the GDR where they were miserable. The son eventually got back to the US and he is a writer, too.

Posted by: The Yellow Pug at March 09, 2014 05:55 AM (hJnUx)

67 Perfect example Oregon M. Though that one I should have remembered.

Posted by: teej-who must be doing pretty much everything wrong at March 09, 2014 05:58 AM (xDlyw)

68 "do y'all think a reference to Potiphar would need a footnote" Not into steampunk or very Bible learned so, yeah, had to go look that up.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at March 09, 2014 05:58 AM (v7+/1)

69 In the early 90s, I remember reading that if you go outside any medium size town in Russia, the roads suck and there is no indoor plumbing. That's how crappy communism is. Things have improved but I doubt by much.

Posted by: The Yellow Pug at March 09, 2014 05:59 AM (hJnUx)

70 I've loved everything by Ringo and Kratman I've gotten my hands on. Ringo wrote a series of men's adventure slash Mack Bolan books that are a little icky with some of the adult content (for a great review the author himself loved, Google "Oh John Ringo no!" I think he even made T shirts.)

Posted by: Emile Antoon Khadaji at March 09, 2014 05:59 AM (miAG4)

71 The History of the a English Language is one of the most fascinating courses I've taken. Our language is truly a wonder. Finished the Samurai Mystery trilogy by Dale Furutani. Darn. Sorry to see it end . On to "Murder of Crows"' the sequel to the moron recommended "Written in Red" by Anne Bishop. Unusual fantasy with humans being tolerated and dominated by shape shifting predators. Side note. Lovers of Russian history and/or lovers of old movies should try and find the silent movie " The Tempest" starring a rather sexy John Barrymore and " Knight Without Armor" starring Robert Donat and Marlena Dietrich. Fun.

Posted by: Tuna at March 09, 2014 06:01 AM (M/TDA)

72 Thanks, OM and teej! Also, teej, are you familiar with the old TV series The Wild Wild West? This series I'm writing is like that, only without the train--1870s period-correct sci-fi.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at March 09, 2014 06:01 AM (Aiwi+)

73 I cannot recommend "The Great Game" enough. Given our history of late, it's obvious very few of the worthies inside the Beltway have read it.

Posted by: RS at March 09, 2014 06:01 AM (YAGV/)

74 The bookstore where I worked had a massive stockpile of some book written by Jamie Farr, of MASH fame. It was a long-running joke at the expense of the owner who had bought thousands of copies in anticipation of a big book signing with Farr at the store. It was a huge flop, bad weather, a few dozen total attendees, Jamie Farr books as far as the eye could see taking up valuable space. We'd sell them for $1.99, give them away with other books, it was pretty funny. When the store closed ten or so years later there were still stacks and boxes of that thing in the basement.

Posted by: Lincolntf at March 09, 2014 06:02 AM (ZshNr)

75 I forgot, did Andrei Chikatilo have a preference in who he killed? Or, was it anyone who was unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? At least the ruskies executed him. I think they got rid of capital punishment afterwards. Why the Beslan terrorist is still alive is a mystery to me. At least he could slip on the soap and fall on a round or two.

Posted by: The Yellow Pug at March 09, 2014 06:02 AM (hJnUx)

76 The Compleat McAndrew by Charles Sheffield. Blurb says he is the new Arthur C Clarke. I certainly caught the Asimov influence. These are maybe a dozen shorts in which the scientist McAndrew (and his long suffering partner) hare off to various adventures, in which certain issues in physics are explored. So: dark matter as gravitational shadow, the mechanics of inertia in space, what vacuum does to the human body, etc. Generally recommended. Earlier stories suffer from 1970s-it is though. McAndrew's partner has an illegitimate child (and is bisexual), generally boffs anything that moves maybe even McAndrew himself. BUT THAT'S PROGRESS the earlier stories say. Er, no.

Posted by: boulder toilet hobo rules with this ax at March 09, 2014 06:03 AM (9gFMq)

77 "I've had 18 straight whiskies... I think that's the record." I'd bet that was EAP, certainly a 'ron in good standing, if only for that.

Posted by: Gmac-Pondering the coming implosion, and hoping its 404care at March 09, 2014 06:04 AM (baiNQ)

78 "a person with (at best) mediocre ability and accomplishments who have nonetheless obtained a high status position because others are greasing the skids for them." *** Perhaps the word you are seeking is 'snowflake'.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at March 09, 2014 06:04 AM (g4TxM)

79 I forgot, did Andrei Chikatilo have a preference in who he killed? According to Wikipedia he killed both makes and females. Apparently stabbing and eviscerating them was the only way he could obtain sexual release. Horrific stuff.

Posted by: Insomniac at March 09, 2014 06:06 AM (UAMVq)

80 As I remember, the movie Citizen X portrayed all the victims as women. They all were in the lower socio-economic class due to being the most vulnerable. Good movie, by the way.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop at March 09, 2014 06:06 AM (1htQa)

81 I can actually envision all 8 answers in the last words quiz to have emanated from Emily Dickinson. Must be a trick quiz.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at March 09, 2014 06:07 AM (g4TxM)

82 I am loving author Sarah Hoyt. Finished the shifter series yesterday. The first one is free on kindle. I almost passed as the theme of people shifting into creatures struck me as overly weird but Hoyt writes a compelling tale and she puts some conservative values in there in a very subtle way. Be a great author to recommend to young people I think.

Posted by: PaleRider at March 09, 2014 06:09 AM (5CusZ)

83 Just borrowed The King's Hounds by Martin Jensen via Kindle, about two sleuths set during Saxon/Dane tensions at King Cnut's court in 1016 Britain. It's the first in a series. One of the good things e-publishing has brought us is more access to foreign authors.

Posted by: Gem at March 09, 2014 06:09 AM (zw+pb)

84 "a person with (at best) mediocre ability and accomplishments who have nonetheless obtained a high status position because others are greasing the skids for them." *** Perhaps the word you are seeking is 'snowflake'. Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at March 09, 2014 10:04 AM (g4TxM) SCOAMF. Let that be the Horde's contribution to the development of the English language. Maybe in about century, there will be explorations of the etymology of that word.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop at March 09, 2014 06:10 AM (1htQa)

85 Favorite story related by my Russian history professor( this was years ago and he was getting close to retirement)was when as student on vacation in Mexico he and his buddies decided to call on Trotsky. He said they got up to the walkway to his home and chickened out. Unfortunately Trotsky met his gruesome end not long after. The professor said he kicked himself ever after.

Posted by: Tuna at March 09, 2014 06:11 AM (M/TDA)

86 Posted by: Gmac-Pondering thecomingimplosion, and hoping its 404care at March 09,2014 10:04 AM(baiNQ) Nope. Poe didn/couldn't drink *anything* before he died. A new(ish) theory is that he died of rabies since he refused even alcohol.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette, assault Hobbit at March 09, 2014 06:12 AM (GDulk)

87 18 straight whiskies may cause brain damage.

Posted by: Dylan Thomas at March 09, 2014 06:13 AM (Aif/5)

88 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Chikatilo#Execution Doesn't look like he killed any adult males - just women and children. Asshole.

Posted by: The Yellow Pug at March 09, 2014 06:14 AM (hJnUx)

89 1) Barack Hussein Obama mmm mmm mmm 2) Joe Biden 3) Nancy Pelosi 4) John Boehner 5) Mitch McConnell 6) Ace 7) Vlad Putin

Beth "squaw hot booty" Warren

Posted by: IrishEd at March 09, 2014 06:15 AM (bfm04)

90 78 Read that a month or so ago. Just picked up the sequel on Amazon. Anyone who loves Cornwell's Saxon Tales will like these. This series takes place about 100 years later during the reign of King Canute.

Posted by: Tuna at March 09, 2014 06:15 AM (M/TDA)

91 Speaking of making a book into a best seller, how can you forget Mein Kamp? Just pass a law making ownership mandatory.

Posted by: The Yellow Pug at March 09, 2014 06:15 AM (hJnUx)

92 Posted by: PaleRider at March 09,2014 10:09 AM(5CusZ) Agreed. I didn't care for the first in Hoyt's Shakespeare themed series but really enjoyed the shifter first book. Waiting for the price to go down though before getting the rest of the series.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette, assault Hobbit at March 09, 2014 06:15 AM (GDulk)

93 I'd love to know what delusion Thoreau was experiencing that involved Indians and mooses, it probably would have been a good read. I suspect it involved laudanum.

Posted by: Fox2! at March 09, 2014 06:16 AM (cHwSy)

94 75 As I remember, the movie Citizen X portrayed all the victims as women. They all were in the lower socio-economic class due to being the most vulnerable. Good movie, by the way. Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop at March 09, 2014 10:06 AM (1htQa) There were so many, I doubt they could portray all of them. Plus, because so many were children or young teens, it might have been gross to portray their murders.

Posted by: The Yellow Pug at March 09, 2014 06:17 AM (hJnUx)

95 Tuna, that's heartening. Liked Saxon Chronicles. Glad I have some time off next week to just read.

Posted by: Gem at March 09, 2014 06:19 AM (zw+pb)

96 My last words will be, "Get off my lawn."

Posted by: WalrusRex at March 09, 2014 06:19 AM (E+uky)

97 Great little blog for those with an interest in very, very old manuscripts: Medieval Fragments

Posted by: Tuna at March 09, 2014 06:19 AM (M/TDA)

98 "I've had 18 straight whiskies... I think that's the record." I'd bet that was EAP

You are incorrect, sir! Would you like to try again, and risk a stint in the barrel?

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 09, 2014 06:20 AM (fTJ5O)

99 Working on an advance copy of 50 Children, by Stephen Pressman - about a group of Jewish children from Vienna, brought out of Nazi Germany by a wealthy Jewish couple from Philadelphia. There was an American Kindertransport effort - who knew? The husband was a lawyer, and apparently a very dedicated and stubborn one. He and his wife traveled to Austria and Germany personally, twisted the arms of all kinds of authorities and basically lived on the knife-edge for the duration of the effort. And then they never talked about it afterwards. I'll go back and re-read W.D. Rubenstein's "The Myth of Rescue" - which covered some of the same territory. (Basically, that a huge percentage of Jews had already departed Germany and Austria before the war broke out and the 'Final Solution' put into play. Based on what was known by the general public in the late 1930s - the western democracies did about the best that they could.)

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at March 09, 2014 06:21 AM (Asjr7)

100 Adam Ulam's "Stalin: The Man And His Era" was required reading in one of my Russian-Soviet studies courses. I haven't read it since college, but it's time to dust it off and give it another whirl.

Posted by: mrp at March 09, 2014 06:21 AM (JBggj)

101 "I've had 18 straight whiskies... I think that's the record." *** Well I know that's not Emily Dickinson, because she always only slammed appletinis, as we all know.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at March 09, 2014 06:23 AM (g4TxM)

102 "21 I'm pretty sure the whiskey one was Plato.

Posted by: Zombie John Gotti at March 09, 2014 09:25 AM (zT0DN)"

Wrong. That was Emily Dickenson.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-hole at March 09, 2014 06:24 AM (PD6iL)

103 I'm back.

re jiving the NYT best seller list. Is there any Moron (besides trolls) who reads the NYT are give a crap about their list?

Posted by: Vic[/i] at March 09, 2014 06:30 AM (T2V/1)

104 I finished "One Second After," the novel about a post-EMP America. Then, 2 days later, I'm driving back to the office and I realize the street lights were all out. I got all excited for a moment, then realized that there couldn't have been an EMP because my car was still running. Alas, no burning times, so it was back to work...

Posted by: PabloD at March 09, 2014 06:30 AM (vvukD)

105 OT? This Week with Snuffleafagus is all butt hurt cause while they did a taped interview with Cruz, he refused to come on live heh

Posted by: thunderb at March 09, 2014 06:30 AM (zOTsN)

106 Sgt. Mom, will you give a shout out on a book thread when Pressman's book is published? Amazon doesn't show it yet, and it sounds very interesting so I'd like to take a look.

Posted by: Retread at March 09, 2014 06:31 AM (cHwk5)

107 18 whiskies is nothing. I went a wiki linking on old rock stars who died in the 60s. A number died due to drugs but it was mostly booze. I can't remember the guys name but he was partying all night and then they went out to breakfast where he downed a quart of hard liquor and died.

Posted by: The Yellow Pug at March 09, 2014 06:31 AM (hJnUx)

108 Reporter just said it is bizarre that Cruz thinks we can repeal every single word of Obamacare heh

Posted by: thunderb at March 09, 2014 06:31 AM (zOTsN)

109 now their little "round table" is gonna discuss Cruz without him being there living in their heads rent free he took on their emporer heh

Posted by: thunderb at March 09, 2014 06:32 AM (zOTsN)

110 For fans of alt-history, I highly recommend C. J. Sansom's "Dominion." The best I've read since Harris' "Fatherland." The Kirkus review has one of the better takes on the book, for those interested -- http://goo.gl/oW5E8i

Posted by: doug at March 09, 2014 06:32 AM (C6UPf)

111 24 I got Words of Radiance this week, Brandon Sanderson's latest, but since he took so long releasing I have to reread The Way of Kings - all 1300 pages.

Posted by: Tunafish at March 09, 2014 09:26 AM (Nzqyt)

I saw that was out but I also saw they are gouging for it. Please let us Morons know how it was (w/o spoilers of course).

Posted by: Vic[/i] at March 09, 2014 06:34 AM (T2V/1)

112 Is it? 1. e 2. g 3. h 4. b 5. c 6. d 7. a 8, f Some were pretty obvious-unless I got them all incorrect.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 09, 2014 06:34 AM (XyM/Y)

113 Based on what was known by the general public in the late 1930s - the western democracies did about the best that they could.) Posted by: Sgt. Mom not true. Western democracies knew and they did not do the best they could. FDR knew. There was a Jewish refugee ship he turned away. Read below from wiki The MS St. Louis was a German ocean liner most notable for a single voyage in 1939, in which her captain, Gustav SchrÃ¶der, tried to find homes for 937 German Jewish refugees after they were denied entry to Cuba, the United States and Canada, until finally accepted to various countries of Europe. Historians have estimated that, after their return to Europe, approximately a quarter of the ship's passengers died in concentration camps.

Posted by: thunderb at March 09, 2014 06:35 AM (zOTsN)

114 FS, not bad, but not perfect.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 09, 2014 06:38 AM (fTJ5O)

115 25 I'm enjoying On Basilisk Station, the first Honor Harrington book by David Weber. It was free on Kindle and works with my TTS app.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette, assault Hobbit at March 09, 2014 09:27 AM (GDulk)

The second one is also free at the Baen Free Library. Also a lot of other authors

http://www.baenebooks.com/s-108-david-weber.aspx?CategoryFilterID=1

Posted by: Vic[/i] at March 09, 2014 06:39 AM (T2V/1)

116 99?
Vic?

I can just about guarantee that if any "popularly acclaimed critic" likes anything, I will hate it. They are so far removed from me and my culture they are aliens.

Posted by: backhoe at March 09, 2014 06:40 AM (ULH4o)

117 107 Sansom's Matthew Shardlake Tudor mysteries are great also. I've read them all. Wish he'd write another. Really miss reading about the hunchback lawyer and his adventures in and around HenryVIII' s court.

Posted by: Tuna at March 09, 2014 06:41 AM (M/TDA)

118 30 Harry Potter was another one. Thousands of pre-orders in the months leading up to release, it was crazy. Then along came Amazon and buh-bye bookstore.

Posted by: Lincolntf at March 09, 2014 09:31 AM (ZshNr)

If you buy Harry Potter through Amazon it redirects you to "Pottermore" where you have to establish an account there separate from Amazon, as i found out when getting the series.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at March 09, 2014 06:44 AM (T2V/1)

119 Vic, the NYT's book review section is usually okay. They just can't be trusted to review populist conservatives or liberals, because there the editors handpick leftist hacks to review them.

Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at March 09, 2014 06:45 AM (/fw+a)

120 I'm willing to bet "A History of Russia" is so expensive because many college courses use it as a textbook. No need to make a book affordable when students have to buy it.

Posted by: RedStick at March 09, 2014 06:47 AM (nWW2j)

121 48 I enjoyed the book enough that I have ordered the first book in the series A Hymn Before Battle.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop at March 09, 2014 09:45 AM (1htQa)

Great series and that one is also available free from Baen (Kindle version)

Posted by: Vic[/i] at March 09, 2014 06:48 AM (T2V/1)

122 Yikes! No one told me that the serial killer is played by by Dale Horvath!

Posted by: The Yellow Pug at March 09, 2014 06:48 AM (hJnUx)

123 115?
Vic?

Appreciate the info. The last thing my late Emily was crazy about was Harry Potter. I guess it appealed to her geeky, nerdish self.

Sorry to say I never could get interested in the books or movies. We used to have identical tastes, then drifted apart.

Posted by: backhoe at March 09, 2014 06:49 AM (ULH4o)

124 57 Last week(?) someone recommended the book about the atomic bomb. Two pages in I'm stalled when the author goes on about the evils of nuclear bombs and national sovereignty.

Trying to ignore that point of view is like trying to ignore a tooth ache or a pebble in your shoe.

Posted by: Harry Henry Hurrahison at March 09, 2014 09:51 AM (KZsjV)

If I recall correctly there is a book (that the movies was based on) called Fat Man and Little Boy which doesn't have all the crap in it.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at March 09, 2014 06:50 AM (T2V/1)

125 HOw come more people don't go around gabbing in Old English anymore? Shouldn't it be an issue of national pride? You know...like the freaking Micks and -- what do you call the Welsh? Oh, yeah, The drunks.

Posted by: The Yellow Pug at March 09, 2014 06:50 AM (hJnUx)

126 expensive because many college courses use it as a textbook. No need to make a book affordable when students have to buy it. Like Michael Morony's "Iraq after the Muslim Conquest" (or anything put out by Brill in Leiden). I can see shelling out $60 on an academic work if it's a once-in-a-generation classic. Or maybe if it's full of cutting-edge scholarly articles translated into English. But the $124 ripoff for a book published in 2006 makes me want to hire the Watergate crew and burgle Gorgias Press's office. I wouldn't even steal the book, just spraypaint slogans about academic publishers' greed.

Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at March 09, 2014 07:54 AM (/fw+a)

127 113 I can just about guarantee that if any "popularly acclaimed critic" likes anything, I will hate it. They are so far removed from me and my culture they are aliens.

Posted by: backhoe at March 09, 2014 10:40 AM (ULH4o)

Same here.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at March 09, 2014 07:54 AM (T2V/1)

128 what do you call the Welsh? In the West Midlands we called them the Trogs (troglodytes). "Sheep shaggers" also worked. I think some of them were still sore about the centuries of mutual raiding across Offa's Dyke.

Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at March 09, 2014 07:57 AM (/fw+a)

129 120 Appreciate the info. The last thing my late Emily was crazy about was Harry Potter. I guess it appealed to her geeky, nerdish self.

Sorry to say I never could get interested in the books or movies. We used to have identical tastes, then drifted apart.

Posted by: backhoe at March 09, 2014 10:49 AM (ULH4o)

I liked the series but I still say that it was no longer appropriate fro young children by the time the got to the last couple of books.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at March 09, 2014 07:57 AM (T2V/1)

130 I was actually a Soviet Studies major (minor in Russian language) at the Air Force Academy back in the late '80's.

'Journey into the Whirlwind' by Ginzburg was a really good account of living in Stalin's political prisoner camps. Honestly, it helped me get through SERE (the military's POW/Survival training).

'Lenin's Tomb' by David Remnick. He's a total leftist douche, but his interactions with the Russian people mirror what I have experienced.

All of Robert Conquest's Russian books are good, but 'Harvest of Sorrow' strikes a chord right now.

Posted by: phat at March 09, 2014 08:00 AM (9A0Qg)

131 I liked the series but I still say that it was no longer appropriate fro young children by the time the got to the last couple of books. Harry and his colleagues were 16-18 years old by then. For a series modeled British boarding school life, the books were pretty mild. For instance Rowlings left out that whole subplot where Ron Weasley got caught in the john mid-wank by the ghost Moaning Myrtle

Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at March 09, 2014 08:02 AM (/fw+a)

132 The last words of Oscar Wilde: "Either those curtains go, or I do."

Posted by: pj at March 09, 2014 08:03 AM (ZWaLo)

133 I just looked out the window and note that the last remnants of snow are going away. That means I'll have to fire up the lawnmower soon. Dammit. I'm sad to see the snow disappear. That feeling can probably be traced back to the first book I can remember reading. It was in the early 1960s and was a children's book about dogs going through the four seasons. I don't remember the author or title. Does anyone else know?

Posted by: rickl at March 09, 2014 08:04 AM (sdi6R)

134 HwÃ¦t sagast Ã¾u Ã¾a, Fealohund? (Actually, I'm pretty sure there are some pockets of the British Isles where Old English is still the spoken language, and the Frisian dialect isn't very far removed from Anglo-Saxon.)

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at March 09, 2014 08:06 AM (Aiwi+)

135 I'm so jealous, I look at all these books on here and say to myself "I only sleep 5 hours a night, why don't I have time to read any more than a book every two months?" Then I look over at my two year old and say "oh, yeah." Enjoy it, and I'm sure there are other book thread lurkers lusting after your books like me.

Posted by: traye at March 09, 2014 08:06 AM (FtI7P)

136 The Scientologists used to manufacture best sellers constantly. As I've mentioned here before that various Hubbard books would frequently come out of the box already carrying stickers indicating they'd been in a store of the same chain already.

There was a publishing legend about a 1947 book called 'Zotz!' This was made into a movie in 1962 starring Tom Poston. The revived book was expected to be huge and the publisher produced far too many hardbacks. The movie's producer, William Castle, was notorious for outlandish publicity stunts and had some convinced the publisher that the movie was going to be the biggest thing in theaters that year and the book should enjoy similar popularity.

The movie was only a minor entry for the year and the book soon became an infamous white elephant. Consequently, it became a joke gift in SF and Fantasy fandom, often serving as a decoy gift before the real item was revealed. At the LASFS gift exchange it would usually turn up multiple times in the evening.

When the L. Ron Hubbard 'Mission Earth' decology, a ten volume epic with a combined bulk sufficient to be a door stop for a bank vault, began cluttering stores and being dumped by any means possible, it took the place of Zotz! in the gift exchange, becoming known as the Deca-Zotz!

Posted by: Epobirs at March 09, 2014 08:09 AM (bPxS6)

137 #126

The trick is to have the kid read them at the same pace they were originally published. Thus a ten year old reading the first book is seventeen when the read the final volume and has changed along with the student characters.

Posted by: Epobirs at March 09, 2014 08:14 AM (bPxS6)

138 Retread @ 102 - it looks like 50 Children is due for release in May, this year. Thunderb, in the late 1930s, all the general public in the west knew was that Jews in Germany and Austria were being systematically persecuted and driven out of public life - some figures have it that nearly %75 percent of German and Austrian Jews had left during that time. No one in the west had any idea about the Final Solution - which didn't get rolling until after the war had begun. The entire situation with regard to refugees changed when the war began and Germany essentially locked down emigration. I've gone back and read a lot of contemporary publications from the 1930s and early 1940s, and whenever a rumor bubbled up and was published in the newspapers, everyone assumed that it was just an ugly wartime rumor, and likely some sort of propaganda effort. No one really wanted to believe that something that ugly could really be happening, and everyone over a certain age remembered being played by WWI anti-German propaganda.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at March 09, 2014 08:26 AM (Asjr7)

139 There's a lot of goofy things about written English. When I was a little kid I couldn't figure out why the founders, and others, spelled words like Congrefs instead of Congress. Then I found out the s was sometimes printed like an f, but not always. Only special snowflake s's were spelled like f.

Posted by: ExSnipe at March 09, 2014 08:28 AM (LKJt3)

140 No, the Saxon tongue is dead. Middle English is also dead. I was told that up to the 1900s there were some pockets of Yorkshire where "thee" and "thou" were being kept alive, mainly by old nurses talking to kids. And the Midlands had a singsong cadence that went pretty much as Chaucer pronounced the Canterbury Tales, but even here the vocabulary and grammar were mostly modern.

Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at March 09, 2014 08:30 AM (9gFMq)

141 Worlds Apart Book 09 is online

http://tinyurl.com/ksf9cau

Dang. I think you mentioned this last week, and I forgot to do a write-up for today's thread. Sorry. I'll get to it next week.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 09, 2014 08:33 AM (fTJ5O)

142 No, the Saxon tongue is dead. Middle English is also dead

I read somewhere that when he was writing LOTR, Tolkien did not invent a whole new language for the people of Rohan, like he did Elvish, he just used an off-the-beaten-track dialect of old English that he, as a scholar, knew, but few others would.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 09, 2014 08:35 AM (fTJ5O)

143 Tunafish --

Yes, I'm in the same boat. Fortunately, I saw they had the first one on Kindle for (I think) $2.99, so at least I don't have to lug that huge hardcover around when we take the car in for a recall repair on Tuesday.

Posted by: Empire1 at March 09, 2014 08:41 AM (jPloF)

144 I am in between great books. Currently re-reading "The First Rumpole Omnibus." It's not great literature, but it is funny.

"My blood alcohol level is dangerously low."

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at March 09, 2014 08:45 AM (V70Uh)

145 For our Erse morons, the (brilliant) linguist JP Mallory has a book out on "the origins of the irish" Could be of interest

Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at March 09, 2014 08:46 AM (9gFMq)

146 A couple more for the Russia list: -Russia Leaves the War, by George Kennan (excellent description of how foreign policy is really made) -Forever Flowing, Vasily Grossman (not strictly history, but definitely history of ideas)

Posted by: Emily at March 09, 2014 08:48 AM (7Rn+/)

147 I just happened to go to the library the day "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" came out. I grabbed it and read it, realizing that so much of it is built upon the foundations laid in the earlier books.

So, I started at the beginning and read them in proper sequence. Thoroughly enjoyed them.

It's all one epic story. The books are mega-chapters (I just made that word up) in the story.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at March 09, 2014 08:52 AM (V70Uh)

148 Well, Rohirric proper does exist after a fashion. It's a Mannish dialect that's closer to the older AdÃ»naic than to Westron. But it is true that Tolkien didn't write down much Rohirric vocabulary or develop its grammar in the same way he did Quenya and Sindarin. In the text of LOTR, he represented Rohirric with Old English to show its relation to Westron, which he'd "translated" with Modern English.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at March 09, 2014 08:58 AM (Aiwi+)

149 I was only able to guess at two of them: d) "I've had 18 straight whiskies... I think that's the record." 1. Emily Dickinson a) "Put that bloody cigarette out." (immediately after which he was killed by a sniper's bullet) 8. Plato

Posted by: presently semi-incapacitated at March 09, 2014 09:03 AM (/cUUk)

150 Fifty shades of Grey has let the cat out of the bag. Flogging has been part of my sex life since I was a kid!

Posted by: Pee Wee Herman at March 09, 2014 09:07 AM (qZr+9)

151 And April is the first Camp NaNoWriMo for 2014.

*thud*

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at March 09, 2014 09:08 AM (lnUO4)

152 A couple of days ago I went to my shelf looking for a book. I knew what it was about but I couldn't recall the title. After searching for a while I realized it didn't exist. Now I'm going to have to write that damned book.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 09, 2014 09:09 AM (cV46x)

153 I read part of the first chapter of 50 Shades of Grey when they had it for free on Amazon. It was typical bodice ripper crap for women. I almost puked after about 10 pp and closed it up. I failed to see what all the hype was about. The typical Harlequin crap my wide gets for waiting room brain pablum would have sufficed.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at March 09, 2014 09:12 AM (T2V/1)

154 And on Fiverr.com, for $5 this person will submit your Kindle book to 100 review places.

http://www.fiverr.com/ryuken/submit-your-kindle-book-to-100-review-sites

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at March 09, 2014 09:13 AM (lnUO4)

155 Last week(?) someone recommended the book about the atomic bomb. Two pages in I'm stalled when the author goes on about the evils of nuclear bombs and national sovereignty. Trying to ignore that point of view is like trying to ignore a tooth ache or a pebble in your shoe. You run into this attitude a lot amongst lefties, and what makes it so damn infuriating is how 180 degree WRONG it is. The later half of the 20th century was remarkably peaceful, BECAUSE of the atomic bomb. Yes there were the Koreas and Vietnams, and little regional wars all over, but no huge global conflicts. I can pretty much guarantee that in a world without atomics, WWIII gets fought in western Europe by 1980 at the latest, and on a scale that would have made WWI look like a Sunday afternoon bicycle ride.

Posted by: Weirddave at March 09, 2014 09:17 AM (N/cFh)

156 Just had a flashback to the first Oprah books. I think it was before her books were "branded" with her name, she just had authors on and said she liked the book. The store was all of a sudden swamped with phone calls for some "...Deep Blue Sea" novel or some other vague description. It was hilarious how mangled the titles would get as people heard about it from a friend of a friend. "Do you have the big blue book that Oprah liked?" was a typical inquiry.

Posted by: Lincolntf at March 09, 2014 09:17 AM (ZshNr)

157 Last week(?) someone recommended the book about the atomic bomb. Two pages in I'm stalled when the author goes on about the evils of nuclear bombs and national sovereignty. ---------------------- Yeah. The author ought to be asked why, exactly, the Soviets didn't proceed to gobble up all of Western Europe after WWII. On the other hand, perhaps he would have deemed that a positive thing.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at March 09, 2014 09:19 AM (aDwsi)

158

I have two lib co-workers who loved, loved, loved 50 Shades of Crap. One lent me her copy and I couldn't read past page 10. While I'm sure there are some conservative women who enjoy that dreck, the women I know who love it are the same ones who go on about the GOP War on Women and thought Mitt was going to take away their tampons.

Dan Brown is another such purveyor of shit. The DaVinci Code not only offended me as a Catholic, but because Brown is a terrible, terrible writer.

Posted by: Donna and V. (no ampersand) at March 09, 2014 09:23 AM (R3gO3)

159 I have two lib co-workers who loved, loved, loved 50 Shades of Crap. One lent me her copy and I couldn't read past page 10. While I'm sure there are some conservative women who enjoy that dreck, the women I know who love it are the same ones who go on about the GOP War on Women and thought Mitt was going to take away their tampons.

I imagine that it's popular with women who can't find a real man to bang them properly.

Posted by: Colorado Alex at March 09, 2014 09:25 AM (lr3d7)

160 Just finished : http://www.amazon.com/The-Night-Of-Long-Knives/dp/0306807602 It is still astonishing that Hitler managed to come to power at all. It is more astonishing (or not) that his partners in crime were such sociopathic thugs. The book provides excellent bios of the major players. An object lesson in what happens when the press abrogates its responsibility.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at March 09, 2014 09:26 AM (aDwsi)

161 I like Dan Brown, but you have to ignore the stupid lying statement on the inner flap that says it is based on true facts. And you have to take to the religious stuff with a ton of salt.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at March 09, 2014 09:26 AM (T2V/1)

162 Currently reading: http://thebomberboys.com/ Terrific recounting of individual stories of 8th Air Force crewmen/pilots. Imagine a farm kid who becomes an officer, and a lead navigator, survives 35 missions, and then is out at the war's end...., at age nineteen.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at March 09, 2014 09:32 AM (aDwsi)

163

Posted by: Colorado Alex at March 09, 2014 01:25 PM (lr3d7)

Actually both of the women I know are married to lefty men who let their wives order and boss them around. I'm astounded by the lib women I know who constantly put their husbands down and ridicule them ("Steve can't fix anything, he's useless around the house" ) sometimes when their husbands are sitting right there. So:

"I imagine that it's popular with women who can't find a real man to bang them properly."

Yeah, I guess so. They devote themselves to cutting off balls and then bitch because they're married to eunuchs.

Posted by: Donna and V. (no ampersand) at March 09, 2014 09:32 AM (R3gO3)

164 Vic, I just find Brown's writing style to be really annoying. To each his own, I guess.

Posted by: Donna and V. (no ampersand) at March 09, 2014 09:33 AM (R3gO3)

165 http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mongrel%20nation&sm=3

Mongrel Nation, hosted by Eddie Izzard. Documentary series that looks into how the assorted languages and tribes blended into what became the UK.

Posted by: Epobirs at March 09, 2014 09:49 AM (bPxS6)

166

Regarding recent Russian history:

Bloodlands--Timothy Snyder--will stun you beyond belief,

The Forsaken--Tim Tzouliadis--will piss you off incredibly,

Darkness at Noon--Arthur Koestler--although a novel, it must be read to bear in mind the Soviet logic and application as it existed and as seems to be recurring.

Posted by: Libra at March 09, 2014 10:05 AM (GblmV)

167 Three rings for the Elven-kings under the sky....

Posted by: perdogg at March 09, 2014 10:39 AM (o6/Pl)

168 Late to the party. Finished As Long as It's Fun by Herb McCormick. It's a bio of Lin and Larry Pardey and their lifetime fo sailing all over the globe. I'd never heard of them before but it's an interesting and well-written book. If you have an interest in sailing, the Pardeys or just biographies in general it's worth checking out. I'm now 500 pages into Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. Unfortunately I'm still waiting for it to get good.

Posted by: Achilles at March 09, 2014 10:56 AM (oj0hw)

169 One nice thing about the book thread is the comfortable chairs next to the bright incandescent reading lamps. ... Begging our host's indulgence, another tale plucked from that weighty revelatory tome The Urantia Book, digested for your edutainment. Last time we ventured aboard Noah's Ark http://minx.cc/?blog=86&post=346872#c21730253 This time, my boy Sherman sets the Wayback Machine much further back. Originally, the grandest tower ever to be built (up to that time) was proposed as a monument to the fading glory of the tribe (what tribe? whole nuther story), near the ancient city of Dilmun. Then it went to committee. With predictable results. Confusion of purpose actually divided the Babel tower planners. About half wanted a glorious, imposing monument to their tribal history. The second biggest group wanted to honor their current culture and glory. The minority group wanted the tower to be a monument of atonement for sin and past folly, dedicated to the Father of all, and representative of the spiritual culture of their people. Here amongst the wise men and women of AoSHQ, I don't have to tell you which group got promptly voted down by the other two, do I? "None of that guilt and stigma for us, thanks!" Then, the other two groups set to fighting between each other. The religion-minded bugged out, while Pride and Vanity about wiped themselves out. A second attempt was made later, but nothing came of it. Click handle to read online. ... The percentages of the parties involved reminds me of the way the nation shakes out nowadays. The minority of intelligent and spiritual voices that make sense are quickly shouted down so the stupid parties with their vainglorious agendas can attack each other. ... "Let's you and him fight." -The Prophet Wimpy

Posted by: Radd Dadd Upanishadd (Smythe) at March 09, 2014 10:59 AM (cK3Ih)

170 Ultracrepidarian has been replaced in common usage by the word "journalist."

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at March 09, 2014 11:13 AM (yh0zB)

171 Worlds Apart Book 09 is onlinel

http://tinyurl.com/ksf9cau

Posted by: Gregory of Yardale at March 09, 2014 09:16 AM (NcfHW)

TAKE MY MONEY!!!! lol

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at March 09, 2014 11:16 AM (yh0zB)

172 OT- is there any good "clean up " software that really works? I don't mind paying but I have been disappointed in the past. My PC seems to do some weird "not responding " a LOT more than it used to. It really needs a cleaning. Thanks for any help.

Posted by: free tibet with purchase of equal or greater value tibet at March 09, 2014 11:54 AM (jAc/f)

173 Cclean does a good job of getting rid of a lot of crap.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at March 09, 2014 12:02 PM (T2V/1)

174 Also get a copy of Malwarebytes to get rid of hidden trojans.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at March 09, 2014 12:03 PM (T2V/1)

175 I know Poe's were "Lord help my poor soul" because I happen to know that (funny how somethings sticks in your head). And Plato's is easy to figure out due to the Socrates reference.
I didn't know any of the others at all, but it was very entertaining to learn!

Posted by: Dancing Queen at March 09, 2014 12:49 PM (FDGeg)

176 155, I agree with you about Dan Brown. I'll grant that he finishes chapters well, in that he does keep you turning the pages, but his horrible, one dimensional cardboard cut-out characters are a joke. And he does have a beef with the Catholic Church, but what really bugs me is that everyone--including the person who lent me the book--thinks it's factual history. That and the fact that he ripped off the flawed-- but brilliant Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose AND Focault's Pendulum.

Posted by: JoeyBagels at March 09, 2014 12:56 PM (+VomG)

177 167 Ultracrepidarian has been replaced in common usage by the word "journalist."
Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at March 09, 2014 03:13 PM (yh0zB)

Thread winner.

Please step up to the window to collect your winnings.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 09, 2014 01:04 PM (fTJ5O)

178 Last week I finished another sports book: "This is Russia: Life in the KHL" by Bernd Bruckler and Risto Pakarinen. This is an independently published book available as a free loan for amazon prime members.

From amazon: "The KHL founded in 2008, has quickly established itself as the second best league in the world, behind only the National Hockey League.

Austrian goaltender Bernd Bruckler spent two seasons playing for Torpedo Nizhny Novogorod, and a season with Sibir Novosibirsk in Siberia. In his memoir, he tells us what it's like to be an import player in Russia, and the challenges he faced with the language, the culture, and the game."

This is an earnest little book that I enjoyed. It was interesting to see the culture shock, things not going as expected and the fact that money always greases the wheels. I did have some trouble keeping up with the russian team and city names. However, the book suffered from some date formatting issues and could have used another run through by the editor.

If you are a hockey fan, I believe that you will enjoy this book.

Posted by: long time lurker at March 09, 2014 01:26 PM (ok7Un)

179 Oh, and for author's last words - I knew the HH Munro quote right off the bat. I adored his short stories, as well as Kipling's - and read every one of them before I was out of high school. Monro was well over age for military service in WWI. He was in his forties, refused a commission and served in the ranks as an NCO, until he was killed in action on the Western Front. By a sniper, moments after admonishing another soldier.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at March 09, 2014 01:44 PM (Asjr7)

180 Moron friendly book The Stars Came Back is on an Amazon Countdown Deal for cheaper right now (9th through the Ides of March).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HUCFQG4
Just thought someone here might like to know.

Posted by: Rolf at March 09, 2014 02:31 PM (+O7nZ)

181 By a sniper, moments after admonishing another soldier.

Yeah, I wonder if the glow from that fateful cigarette was enough for the sniper to use to draw a bead on Munro.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 09, 2014 02:48 PM (fTJ5O)

182 Most likely, OM. I have heard tell that's the origin of the curse of 'three on a match' came from - on the Western Front. First man lighting the match catches the sniper's attention, second man - the sniper draws a bead, third ... the sniper fires.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at March 09, 2014 05:16 PM (Asjr7)

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