1 Damn OM, that is a sad story.

Rereading W.E.B. Griffin's Men At War series.

2 I have it on good authority that Michael Moore's garbage disposal has never been used.

3 "The Man Who Saved The Union" by Brands. Terrific so far. Next up is "The Last Lion" by Manchester & Reid. Two volumes down, one to go.

4 I've been reading entrails.

5 I'm reading the infamous "threesome" issue of Archie Comics they put out to protest the Comics Code Authority. Pretty tame by today's comic book threesome story standards.

6 A Grief Observed is a very difficult book to read because the pain is so raw.  He wrote it while he was grieving his wife's death, hence the title.  When he started he did not know where it would end up, it is almost like a diary of those days.  At times he rages against God, he sinks into a black hole of despair. 

Sometimes it was so personal and intense I wanted to look away, but I'm glad I didn't.  Truly a remarkable man.

7 Finished "the Harbinger" by Jonathan Cahn.  It was bushed by Beck five or six months back.  I'm a slow reader.  It keeps repeating itself, stretched into a book..kind of.  If it's accurate, then look to Issiah 10 for what's coming our way ...that is if yo believe in that prophecy thingy.

8 I'm reading Len Deighton's Bomber.  It is a novel about a Brit air raid on a Kraut town in the Ruhr.  This book is truly a forgotten masterpiece, a panoramic story of the effects of the war on Brit and Kraut alike.. 

9 Ah, helpful to read the whole post.  I see I mostly repeated what you said.  Well great minds, etc...And I'm an idiot.

10 ...and the bottom end of Michael Moore's garbage disposal.

--------

So *that's* where patchouli oil comes from...

11 The strange thing is, I am through two thirds of the stories, and neither Betty nor Veronica have appeared.

12

 

My parents died less than 3 months apart in 2003.

Read whatever you would have read regardless of your loss.

If there's something to be found, sometimes it finds you.

13

I feel the same way about 'A Grief Observed': read it once, said "Thank God THAT'S over with!" and never looked at it or thought about it again, except with a strong feeling of repugnance, as of an unpleasant experience that's best put behind you that you have no intention of revisiting.  What I like best about Lewis is his detachment - his ability to cut through to the clean essence of things, when I'm feeling swamped and emotional.  His humour is like that too - dry and detached, and I like it.  When HE's fluthering around in a welter of weeping and gut-spilling, I feel embarrassed and a bit repelled.  When my faith is shaken, I need someone who'll calm me down and get me to think myself back into my normal state; not someone who'll start bawling and tell me it's the worstest, horriblest thing that's ever happened in the history of the world.

 

Actually, I think he wrote about his mother's death in a way that I found much more helpful.  He didn't go on and on about his anguish, he mentioned how heart-breaking it was that the world itself just went on in the same old way, without stopping or noticing.  "Same old world," I think he described it, and said it was the way the Greeks looked at Nature: an impersonal thing that just went on whether you were there or not, and didn't change when everything was changing for you.  Oddly enough, THAT gives me comfort when all his dark night of the soul thrashing around does nothing.

14 Stay outta da Bush's!

15 I'm reading On Killing by LTC Grossman, as well as a primer on electronics and about to start The Road to Serfdom.

After that I'll probably read The 4-Hour Chef.

16 Thanks to whoever recommended Stephen Knight's Gathering Dead series. I read all four parts in the space of a week and finished up at 4am. The final twist was a real punch in the gut. Any other recommendations?

17 All Archie, Jughead, Moose, and most alarmingly, The Great Gazoo from the Flintstones.

18 Listening to 'Fahrenheit 451' via audible.com. First time. I'm just past the point where Guy is telling Mildred that they can't afford the Fourth Wall. Later, friends!

19

 

Oh, and I would recommend this book:  The Sun King by Nancy Mitford.  I picked it up as I was walking out of a used book sale at the local library.  It's a biography of Louis XIV by a romance writer.  Against all odds entertains marvelously.  Maybe it's even true.

20 Also listening to the novelization of the spongebob squarepants movie on audiotape. As read by David hasselhoff.

21 Zips, Pipes, and Pens

http://tinyurl.com/a5wv3cg

Its amazing how creative (and crude) people can be when producing expedient firearms.  The stuff that was manufactured by prisoners while incarcerated is impressive.

If prisoners can make a gun while in prison, the police state may take your store bought stuff away, but that's only a temporary situation.

22 True Blue by David Baldacci is very good. I read it in an evening. Couldn't put it down.

23

I'm reading the line edits for my own novel coming out in June, and, when I tire of that, Dean Koontz's ODD INTERLUDE novellas, which are essentially a novel in three parts, and so far very engaging.  Just finished Brad Thor's BLACK LIST and Andrew Klavan's IF WE SURVIVE, both of which kept me turning pages.

Haven't bought the new Koontz ODD APOCALPYSE yet, because I want to share reading it with my mother, and she won't countenance paying hard cover price, nor has she mastered reading ebooks.  So I guess I'll wait for the paperback.

24 I don't have much time for books these days, but when I want to do some "light" reading, right now I'm in the middle of "Mortal Error," the book by Bonar Menninger about the Kennedy assassination. 

If you haven't read it, I might suggest you do, but if you are generally sick of Kennedy conspiracies, all I ask is that you go in with an open mind.  It's not a big Conspiracy book at all, it's actually written from the perspective of a ballistics expert.  One of the things that becomes clear as you  are reading this is that there isn't a lot of ballistics information out there.  And what is out there is generally stupid.

This isn't. 

Is he right  (he names the shooter)?  I don't know, but I do know I've been looking for credible refutations of this work, and so far I'm not seeing any. 

25 My reading isn't as deep as most the people on this thread. I just finished The Panther by Nelson Demille. The main character John Corey is a bit of a smart ass, I could easily see him being a moron.

26 Something I came across while looking for something else:
The politics of Laura Ingalls Wilder
http://is.gd/qb7wQw

Which is how I come across most things.

27 I, too, am reading Lewis' "A Grief Observed". It's pretty raw and he discounts the the traditional "great meeting in the sky" w/ loved ones, but the other stuff is pretty good.

My wife's Mother just died last week, great woman of God and cancer is a horrendous thing. Lots of folks grieving and our loss is bearable but so deep.

At any rate, God is good and as we told our sons, we'll be there one day, so strap 'em on and buckle up.

28 Nobody seems to blog on Sundays.

29 I am half-way through "This is how you lose her" by Junot Diaz, and am undecided between liking it and hating it.

30 Meghan McCheese is at it again.

31 Alduous Huxley died the same day, as well. Peter Kreeft wrote a fascinating book w/ Huxley, Kennedy and Lewis all meeting in purgatory and having a discussion on philosophy and the nature of God.

"Between Heaven and Hell" and it's all dialogue b/w the three using their writings and philosophy while living.

32 One of my favorite movies,"Shadowlands", chronicles the C.S. Lewis marriage referenced above. I recommend it highly! The marriage of opposites it brought to life by two fine performances by Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger. The movie itself is deeply moving and Hopkins and especially Winger put their heart and soul into these characters and their unusual attraction. Simply wonderful.

33 I've been so traumatized by the re-election that I was driven to re-read all of my old Little House on the Prairie books. Stunning how quickly America has gone from being good and decent and strong and self-reliant to this "gimme gimme gimme" entitlement mentality. On a happier note, I got a bare-bones Kindle for my birthday, and I am so jazzed! I did have the Kindle app on my Touchpad, so it's not a completely new thing for me, but this little sucker is so light and fits right into my purse. I love it!

34 I don't obsess much on the Kennedy assassination, but it is readily apparent that the Warren commission report was a pack of lies covering up something.

There was no lack of people who really wanted Kennedy dead.

35 The Last Man by Vince Flynn

36 Heather, OMG, I just posted about rereading her books.....am I going to have my illusions shattered if I click on your link???

37 It is fun to mock lefty commutard scum don't stop now.

38

My purse book is Epictetus's "Discourses" which is very interesting.  I already maked one thought Epictetus had on what kind of house you might choose to live in that reminded me of what Thomas Sowell has said more than once about do-gooders who didn't want recent immigrants living in tenement slums because the do-gooders didn't think it was good for them.  What the immigrants wanted, cheap housing so they could save for a better future, was of no account.

 

My kindle book is the introduction to "The Road to Serfdom" which I started and turned out to be really, really long, and now I'm so far into it that I can't quite quit it and move to the book because I might miss something.  ON the other hand, it's insanely annoying how long this intro is.

 

In the car, I finally finished "The Little Red Guard" by Wenguang Huang which was about growing up in Red China with his grandmother's coffin.  Not a bad book, really, but I need to find that copy of Mao's biography that came out a couple of years ago and read that for some real flavor.  Grandma announced at the beginning of the book that communism was bullshit and lies, so I took her side through everything.  Father was a true believer in the Party and the glorious revolution which was just sad.

 

Now I am listening to "Culture of Corruption" by Michelle Malkin because I'm not depressed enough after the election.

 

Bathroom book is "Poisoned Pens" a collection of literary invective, authors saying nasty things about other authors.  It comes in small bites which makes it a perfect bathroom book.

 

I also finished Sowell's "The Quest for Cosmic Justice" but even though I put the last paragraph on my Facebook page, no one noticed.  I think my friends are all commies, or overly emotional girls, or people who think that because Bush was icky, I should shut up about Obama, or passive-aggressive relatives who were very upset because I thought Sandra Fluke was an idiot and free contraceptives are not necessary, and because, rape.

39 Groo the Wanderer is very good.

40 "Masters of Command' by Barry Strauss.  A study of the leadership and tactics of Alexander, Hannibal, and Caesar.  Interesting and exciting.  Worth your nickel.

41 34 -

I've never been an assassination nut myself, so I'm not coming at it with any sort of axe to grind for or against the Warren commission.  Like I said, this book isn't about a conspiracy, but he does go into detail about things  Warren got wrong, and some glaringly obvious missing data, including any and all FBI ballistics testing. 

42 Oh, and my Irish are No. 1 in the country.

43 Notre Dame is good again? What have they got now?

44 On a happier note, I got a bare-bones Kindle for my birthday, and I am so jazzed! I did have the Kindle app on my Touchpad, so it's not a completely new thing for me, but this little sucker is so light and fits right into my purse. I love it!

Yeah, I don't want to be one of those "my new toy changed my life!" douchebags, but I got one a couple weeks ago for my upcoming trip and I'm really excited about not running out of book before the end of the first layover for a change.  And it should be useful when I'm taking a class next spring, the internets on it are too clunky to distract me.

The Little House books aren't available for Kindle, for some reason.  You can download under Canadian copyright law, but weird Sony formats.

45 Heather, OMG, I just posted about rereading her books.....am I going to have my illusions shattered if I click on your link???

It's all good. She hated the New Deal.

46 You could try The Best Day, The Worst Day by Donald Hall about his wife's death. I found that a bit annoying though. My mom died in an accident three days before my 21st birthday. It took about four years for the pain to ease up. So, yes it can take a long time. My husband died from pnuemonia in 2008 and that one also takes a long time. Loss of a spouse is much different from loss of a parent. When you lose a spouse, you lose the person AND the marriage. You choose the person you marry. Loss of a parent is more fundamental. It is a loss of family and also losing the people that remember you as a child. In some ways, you will never be able to be a child again. The best thing you can do from either type of loss is to be more sensitive towards others. I always thought I had some understanding and compassion towards someone that lost a spouse. Now I really can talk to a person like that, with some authority.

47 OT: Andy Dean (radio talk show host) calls Holly Petreaus, "Mrs. Doubtfire."

48 Finished Henty's Lost Heir. It was interesting that lip-reading was an important plot point. Turns out that another Henty book Cat of Bubastes is assigned for Eldest Kidlet's 9th grade homeschool curriculum. Also finished Wyatt Earp's novel Only Son. A decent mystery with lots of info about Philadelphia which was nice since I've never been. It wasn't perfectly polished editing-wise, but worth the money (besides supporting one of the Horde). I wasn't feeling well this week so ended up reading more than usual so I also finished Hammerheads a nearish future (the exact time isn't specified) sci-fi were the villian is a "truther" in regards to a war with aliens that the hero had fought in as a young man. Sadly, my own experience is too limited for me to know how accurate the military stuff is but it sounds pretty accurate from what I've heard around here.

49

>>OT: Andy Dean (radio talk show host) calls Holly Petreaus, "Mrs. Doubtfire."

 

He's about week late.  The Carolla Podcast w/ Dave Attel last week was the first time I heard that referefnce.

50 I have been re-reading Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Am working through the latter right now. These are a great help toward understanding our new overlords.

51 Laura Ingalls Wilder and Almanzo Wilder were the parents of Rose Wilder Lane, who was a major philosophical predecessor of libertarianism in the US. In the Little House books, Laura constantly extols the virtues of being "free and independent." She was a conservative libertarian type, and would have been horrified at what became of her country.

If you ever get a chance to see Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield, Missouri, where she wrote all the books, you should absolutely do so.

52 My daughter and I are back on Republic by Dana Plato, and I also checked out three books on how to be a consultant from the library. Either I'm too stupid or the books are. Haven't decided yet.

53 More OT, but carried over from the open thread


I have my computer back from the Trojan.


Based on what happened before everything went black, it used an exploit in Adobe Flash.


Patch up, Morons.

54 After my husband died the book that nailed it perfectly was "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion.  Not wanting to move his shoes from where he left them last, getting sandbagged by a piece of music, altering your routes to avoid seeing places you frequented with him, and mourning the person in his entirety, the familiar turn of phrase that is now meaningless to anyone else, the future that is forever changed....she nails it.  A grief observed didn't do it for me.

55 Posted by: HeatherRadish™, Crankypants Extraordinaire at November 18, 2012 11:49 AM (hO8IJ) The darn thing is so light I am almost afraid I"ll smash it somehow! Bummer that her books are't available; I suppose they're still too popular? On the other hand, I have downloaded all the Louisa May Alcott books and several short stories and compilations I didn't even know existed...for free! I need to scout out LM Montgomery next, then Elizabeth Enright. Thank GOD Ms Wilder was one of us. I think her writing definitely stresses being free and proudly self reliant.

56 "Anabasis" by Xenophon. Epic true story of "The 10,000". What happens when the role of leader is thrust upon you in the very direst of situations? Let Xenophon explain.

57 On a live local TV station interview regarding the Middle East Sen. Al Franken just said one of the most idiotic things ever...He claimed that Hamas was on the "throes of collapse" or something like it...If anything they are in ascendancy in Palestinian politics. If this is typical of how liberals view any global conflict, we are seriously screwed....

58 for the new kindle owners calibre is your friend. Reading crappy YA of course including Valkyre Rising which is interesting because it's set in Norway and obvs about the Valkyres.

59 We went to Russia a few years ago. I fell in love with the place so am now reading various books, novels mostly, something I don't normally read as I enjoy non-fiction the most. But so far haven't found the right books on Russia or St Petersburg yet.
But I just finished the recent biography Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Massie. It was very good but I wanted more so started The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great by Stachniak. It's enjoyable but a bit to historical-fiction for me. I'll finish it as I want to hear the descriptions of the palaces and events. But I would really like to find something more accurate.

60 ...and some glaringly obvious missing data, including any and all FBI ballistics testing...

You find similar omissions in the official FBI and BATF reports on fatalities of Federal agents in Waco.  Curiously, the Davidian fatalities due to gunshot are all quite detailed as to shot placement, caliber, which shot was fatal, etc.  Years ago, I bought both of these reports in hardcopy format at the GPO in Washington and read them at length.

The disparity of detail between the agent and Davidian fatalities jumps right of the pages when you had actual hardcopy in front of you.

If the FBI omits that sort of detail it is never omitted by accident.

61 Notre Dame is good again? What have they got now?

Barely getting by Pitt & Purdue, as well as being the beneficiary of dubious calls in both the Pitt and Stanford games says they've got lots of luck.

They were also benefactors of SIX Michigan turnovers and if Denard Robinson just takes a knee every play of the 2nd quarter, the Wolvy's win by 10.

They've beaten OU in Norman, so good on them. Let's wait and see how they fair out West and then the Elephant.

I'm not on that train, but Somesay The Strawmen says ND fans have been waiting breathlessly since 93 for "it's our year" to actually be their year.

Me? Nonplussed.

62

I am amazed someone else has heard of Sioux Falls, let alone wrote a book about it.

Left there in '78 for the big city.

63 Tammy al-Thor at November 18, 2012 11:59 AM (2rMmy)
Posted by: HeatherRadish™, Crankypants Extraordinaire at November 18, 2012 11:50 AM (hO8IJ)

I just downloaded 9 Little House books from a forum I belong to. 
Would either of you like to "borrow" them?

64 Dear Heather and Paladine, Thank you! I always loved Laura & Rose's writings and got my own daughter to read them as well. It's time to dust off the books and give them a reread!

65 Slightly OT, but writing-related (really!)
Any Morons with submarine experience willing to entertain questions? The older the better.  I'm writing a story involving submarines, ca. WWII. Vikings and krakens are involved.

66

Vince Flynn's The Last Man here also. Mitch Rapp is getting soft in his middle age. He needs to kill more people.

67 I'm reading Greg Gutfeld's new book.  It's pretty much the same as his last book, but it's still a good read. Since I have a newborn, my attention span isn't much longer than a few pages, and it's well suited to reading a chapter at a time.

68 Is he right (he names the shooter)? I don't know, but I do know I've been looking for credible refutations of this work, and so far I'm not seeing any.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 18, 2012 11:28 AM (BeSEI)

I would suggest 'Case Closed' by Gerald Posner, a defense of the conclusions of the Warren Commision findings, that is, Lee Harvey Oswald was the only shooter and he acted alone.

69 If the FBI omits that sort of detail it is never omitted by accident. Posted by: @PurpAv at November 18, 2012 12:00 PM (VtwiX) The evidence that could test the single bullet theory was in the car. In the theory the bullet in question came from behind the car passed through Kennedy and the seat in front of him and then wounded Connelly (sp). The car was burned and destroyed. The cynic says it was destroyed to destroy the evidence. Others would say the car was a nightmare of JFK chunky salsa and had to go away.

70 Posted by: Tunafish at November 18, 2012 12:02 PM (oA9th) Oh, that would be awesome, if it wouldn't put you to too much trouble. I am such a freaking dork, I love knowing I can carry Laura Ingalls, Jo March and Ann-with-an-e Shirley with me any where I go!

71 @ Tony253 at November 18, 2012 11:59 AM You should have known we were screwed when you were made to put "U.S. Sentator" together with "Al Franken". I mean, for chrissakes, "Senator & Mrs. John Blutarsky, Washington, D.C." would have been more plausible. And safer.

72 Posted by: Sabrina Chase at November 18, 2012 12:04 PM (wfSF5) WOOOOHOOOO!!!!!! Y'all, she is an AWESOME author. Go on and get all her books.

73

Rereading Ambrose's 'Undaunted Courage'.

After the election I needed something to remind me that this country used to have tough as nails people who could get stuff done no matter what the odds.

74 I've never read any C.S. Lewis. I just finished the third book in Joe Abercrombie's "First Law" Trilogy. Boy, I am so annoyed I spent my time reading these. The writing was great, the characters were great, the battle scenes were realistic, if a little bit much by the end, and I really want to go back and spend time with the people, but the utter and complete nihilism and cynicism underneath the books just left me feeling really really crappy after I finished. Much like the experience of reading Lev Grossman's The Magician's. Why are these people writing fantasy to give us gritty realism? It's fucking fantasy.

75

I do think that the movie "Shadowlands" is the film version of "A Grief Observed", although in the credits, Lewis' wife son wrote a lot of the story.

 

It is not a fun movie, but I thought it was actually kind of touching and uplifting.  Debra Winger plays Lewis' wife. and CS Lewis was played by Anthony Hopkins.

I have lost both my parents, and others close to me.  There is no easing of grief, but sometimes the knowledge that 'the world doesn't care'  puts some perspective on this.  Somehow you realize that your spiritual or metaphysical life belongs to you, and you must be the guardian of your own spirit. No one else can do that.  Faith can bring people together in their search, but it is really up to you.  Modern pop culture would like to suck it all out of you..

 

Someone above mentioned "The Little Red Guard", and that harkens to how the Chinese have been "hollowed out" in a spiritual sense.   They casually embrace Buddhism, but it seems to me that they are a little bit of a soulless society  (which is the way we and Europe are heading), and there is definitely something missing in that vast country.  A friend and co-worker who is ethnic Chinese but was born in Singapore,  has lived a good part of his life in the US, and is a Catholic by choice,  said something similar to me a while back (while riding in a cab in China).

76 OT. I had some weird dreams last night. I kept pulling dental work thingees out of my mouth. Not sure what that means.

77 Ah, there's Betty. She's the videographer.

78 59 --- How I envy your Russian experience! I read and greatly enjoyed a book on St. Petersburg a while ago ---- St. Petersburg, A Cultural History by Cantrememberthefirstname Volkov. It made me want to sell the kids to the Arabs, pack my bags, and get over there. You might enjoy that book.

79 Oh, that would be awesome, if it wouldn't put you to too much trouble.

I am such a freaking dork, I love knowing I can carry Laura Ingalls, Jo March and Ann-with-an-e Shirley with me any where I go!

Posted by: Tammy al-Thor at November 18, 2012 12:09 PM (2rMmy)

If you want them for Kindle it will take about 10 minutes to convert them - Calibre converts to just about any format in around 1 min per book.

Put an e-mail address in your nick.

80 I don't have an e-reader (yet--I'm getting one for Christmas), but I have been re-reading the Little House books all this year. Gets you some funny looks in restaurants, but who cares.

The Free Stuff Army who thinks times are tough right now can't imagine what life was like in the 1870s, and yet Laura never seems to bemoan how difficult life is.

81 Is the basic Kindle good enough? Can you back up your E-Books?

82 Reading crappy YA of course including Valkyre Rising which is interesting because it's set in Norway and obvs about the Valkyres. Posted by: alexthechick at November 18, 2012 12:00 PM (x0pH4) YA is increasingly my preference. I need escapism. And I"m 1/4 Norse, so I am off to get this one, thanks! Have you read any Ilona Andrews? Not YA per se, but good fun. A Moron recommended them, and I have enjoyed them. I am not sure how they're classifed...there are vampires and the like but also mages and gods from various pantheons and a plenty of smartasses and a bit of romance, but nothing sappy. I like the Edge series best, since I can strongly relate to the poor Southern angle, but the Kate Daniels series is also fun.

83 As a child I adored all the old Nancy Drew mysteries. Our town library only had the originals published way back when . As a result I gained a thorough knowledge of roadsters and rumble seats. LOL The "Black Stallion" novels by Walter Farley were recommended to me by my sixth grade teacher. I ate them up. You don't even have to be a horse lover to enjoy them.

84 I need to scout out LM Montgomery

I decided it was worth the $2 to buy the collection of all 11 Anne books.

Also bought some books by bloggers I like.  Lileks, Ott, that IMAO guy.

Is there a list of Books By Morons somewhere?

85 Tammy, don't worry too much about your kindle.  My cats sit on mine with regularity and it's still fine.  I have dropped it more than once (alhtough I do have it in a case, this one:  http://tinyurl.com/a3b9jdc) and it has slid down between the mattress and the wall on more than one occasion.  It seems pretty darned tough to me.

86 Thank you Tunafish! BUtters, I'm sorry, I have no idea.

87 Oh, and my Irish are No. 1 in the country. Posted by: Ferb Fletcher at November 18, 2012 11:45 AM (Q8Wa9) =)

88 Ah, there's Betty. She's the videographer.

Riverdale HS principal Waldo Weatherbee has to be behind all this somehow, perhaps providing either funding or logistical support.

89 Hmmmm, apparently I have no idea how to hyperlink my nic.

90

If you have an Amazon membership for buying e-books for your Kindle, you can get FOR FREE the Kindle app for your home PC or laptop, and download every book you buy on your computer, also.

 

And Xenophon's "Anabasis" is available free on Kindle.  My wife gave me a Kindle and she uses it all the time.  They are a really nice gizmo to have.

91 Two dollars? Radish, I am doing the happy dance here, thank you! Tunafish, my mama gave all my Nancy Drew books away when I went off to school. I had them all. I try not to hold it against her, but I am secretly still pissed off, 30 years later.

92 88---" Riverdale HS principal Waldo Weatherbee has to be behind all this somehow, perhaps providing either funding or logistical support." Posted by: OregonMuse at November 18, 2012 12:18 PM (yaUGT) The Kennedy assassination? Hmmm. Interesting theory. Very interesting.

93 Vincent Bugliosi also wrote an enormous book on the Kennedy assassination explaining the evidence and debunking all the conspiracy theories. Oswald killed Kennedy. He did it on his own.

94 Although to be honest, I really don't want to read anything about contemporary politics right now, especially on vacation. I want escapism.  But maybe if I buy conservatives' books, they'll keep writing.

95

Notre Dame is number 1?

 

The anti-Christ is coming soon!  (that's a joke, don't take it seriously)

96 I kept pulling dental work thingees out of my mouth. Not sure what that means. Posted by: Butters at November 18, 2012 12:14 PM (NIZHJ) Butters, I have regularly (not frequent, but regular) reoccurring nightmares where I lose teeth. I haven't consulted my Jung yet, so I don't know what it means.

97 Reading "The Keep" by F. Paul Wilson right now. I don't read much horror but I'm enjoying it. Read "Goblin Quest" by Jim C. Hines earlier in the week and it was a very pleasant change from usual fantasy fare, which tends to the dark and depressing these days.

98 Tunafish, my mama gave all my Nancy Drew books away when I went off to school. I had them all. I try not to hold it against her, but I am secretly still pissed off, 30 years later. Posted by: Tammy al-Thor at November 18, 2012 12:21 PM (2rMmy) That is some kind of tragedy. Count me in on the Nancy Drew bandwagon. I mostly checked mine out from the library, but I did own a few. When I found out they've been "updating" them I wished to God I had collected them when I was little. what in the world is my little girl going to read? How will she learn about "special friends?"

99 Yep, my undefeated Fighting Irish are number 1.

It's okay to be jealous

100 WTF, no Anne of Windy Poplars?? I cannot live without Rebecca Dew.

101 The "Black Stallion" novels by Walter Farley were recommended to me by my sixth grade teacher. I ate them up. You don't even have to be a horse lover to enjoy them. Posted by: Tuna at November 18, 2012 12:16 PM (M/TDA) Tuna, also. I had a love hate relationship with "the Black Stallion and the Girl" and the one right after, though.

102 I kept pulling dental work thingees out of my mouth. Not sure what that means.

Schedule a dental exam if you haven't had one in awhile.

Otherwise, and everyone's brain organizes symbols differently so YMMV, seems you're subconsciously rejecting something someone else is doing to you (no one does their own dental work). 

103 Tunafish, my mama gave all my Nancy Drew books away when I went off to school. I had them all. I try not to hold it against her, but I am secretly still pissed off, 30 years later.

Posted by: Tammy al-Thor at November 18, 2012 12:21 PM (2rMmy)

Since you mentioned it I've found 65 Nancy Drew mysteries. That might take 45 min or so to download.

104 99 Yep, my undefeated Fighting Irish are number 1. It's okay to be jealous Posted by: Palandine at November 18, 2012 12:25 PM (g7D8V) Enjoy it while it lasts.

105 Mrs Compton, recommend Nicholas and Alexandra by Massie, I believe, for a great read on what went down in Russia in 1917.

106 >>>Butters, I have regularly (not frequent, but regular) reoccurring nightmares where I lose teeth. I haven't consulted my Jung yet, so I don't know what it means.


Very interesting. It means that while you slept, a spider crawled inside your snoring maw and you chomped it like a crouton.

107 Butters, I have regularly (not frequent, but regular) reoccurring nightmares where I lose teeth. I haven't consulted my Jung yet, so I don't know what it means.

The 'teeth falling out' dream is fairly common. Google around for material on it. I don't think anybody really knows what it means.

108 And no ANne of Ingelside. I can live without that one, but I wonder why they left out Windy Poplars? Some of her best characters and LOL scenes. Oh to see the Pringles get their comeuppance..

109 Aw, crap, it's not all books?  Probably b/c they weren't written in order, and Windy Poplars was written after 1923.  *shakes fist at Disney*

110 I just downloaded 9 Little House books from a forum I belong to.
Would either of you like to "borrow" them?

Posted by: Tunafish at November 18, 2012 12:02 PM (oA9th)

I have searched all over the net and can not find those.  Have you got a link?

111 But I just finished the recent biography Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Massie. It was very good but I wanted more so started The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great by Stachniak. It's enjoyable but a bit to historical-fiction for me. I'll finish it as I want to hear the descriptions of the palaces and events. But I would really like to find something more accurate.

Posted by: Mrs Compton at November 18, 2012 12:00 PM (dX4hn)

Jay Winik's "The Great Upheaval", recommended by a fellow moron, concentrates a lot on Catherine the Great and describes her very vividly.  I likewise highly recommend it.

As for my own reading, I'm midway through the third book of George Eliot's "Middlemarch" and am thoroughly enjoying it.  Also started reading "The Natural Navigator:  The Rediscovered Art of Letting Nature be Your Guide" by Tristan Gooley based on a review in the WSJ.

112 Tunafish, you're giving me an extra birthday all over again today, thank you! I don't know how to put a link in my nic, though.

113

114 98--- The updated Nancy Drews are sad, sad, sad. Seriously dumbed down. Many of the originals are still available, though, either used or in reprint. I've seen the reprint versions in home-school catalogs. Home-school suppliers are a fantastic source for conservatives. You'll find a lot of classic stuff for kids at great prices.

115 Aha.  Scroll down.

http://gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty-a-m.html#letterM


Australia copyright: No longer than 70 years after death of author.  Which seems way more reasonable than "in perpetuity due to Mickey Mouse."

116 74 I had the same reaction to the 1st 3 Abercrombie books. Hence I have resisted reading the next 3 books set in the same fantasy world even though they receive great reviews. To me the most interesting character was the torturer Glotka . i might relent if he writes a solo just about him. Try Patrick Rothfuss instead. The first 2 of the "Kingkiller" triology were great. Waiting, waiting, waiting for the last novel to be published.

117 Reading James McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom". It's a history about the years immediately before and during and the Civil War. It's good so far. It's also a good antidote to current political despair. If we think the divisions in this country are bad now, just look at the 1840s and 1850s. The party system was coming apart as old coalitions were breaking and new regional ones formed. We are no where near that level of dysfunction.

118 76 OT. I had some weird dreams last night. I kept pulling dental work thingees out of my mouth. Not sure what that means.

--------

Me neither, but long ago I came to the conclusion that if dreams mean much of anything at all I am in deep, deep trouble. Consequently, I choose to believe they are meaningless.

119

Re: Turfmann...

Admittedly, my state is politically nuts having elected Al Franken and the bizarre (and possibly clinically insane) Mark Dayton to the US Senate, Jesse Ventura (and Dayton again) to the Governors office.

For people outside of Minnesota, Dayton might be one of the most unspooled human to ever occupy an elective office...One example: A fatal tornado struck a city a few years ago and  Dayton made a statement (and called for a commerce dept. investigation )essentially looking for someone to blame for activity and inactivity of the NWS about it...

 

120 I downloaded some classics from Australia once. It seems Middle Earth's copyright laws are relaxed.

121 Oops, I was putting my email in my nick and posted by accident.

I have searched all over the net and can not find those. Have you got a link?

Posted by: Vic at November 18, 2012 12:28 PM (YdQQY)

I'd rather not post the link in public, but if you email me I will send it to you. It requires Rapidshare to download. The folder is 2.6mb so it might be ok for a free download. Or I will send it to you if you want.

122 Eh, for two dollars, I am not gonna fuss. Heather, have you read her other books? I love Jane of Lantern Hill and the two Pats, especially. Blue Castle also very cute. I think I identified with Pat more than any of her heroines (though I'm a redhead and have Anne's dramatic streak, too)

123 Since you mentioned it I've found 65 Nancy Drew mysteries. That might take 45 min or so to download. Posted by: Tunafish at November 18, 2012 12:26 PM (oA9th) ??????? hello, Tunafish, how YOU doin'? Where did you find them?

124 Posted by: Tunafish at November 18, 2012 12:34 PM (oA9th)

E-mail sent

125 We should all be ND fans this year...why, you ask? While they are on NBC, I have seen at least 3 MSNBC yahoos tweeting anti-ND sentiment in the last week ago. They really hate them....about as much as they hate Mitt Romney. I figure if ND success rubs salt in the wounds of the idiots over at MSNBC, well....Go Irish!

126 Try Patrick Rothfuss instead. The first 2 of the "Kingkiller" triology were great. Waiting, waiting, waiting for the last novel to be published. Posted by: Tuna at November 18, 2012 12:30 PM (M/TDA) Hi Tuna (tuna and tunafish commenting on the thread? is their a fish themed memo I missed? where is mpfs?). I have read those Rothfuss books. The lowlevel anti-christian theme running through those is a small disturbing force when I read them and makes me worry how it will all turn out.

127 Mark's previous novels are Jacob's Ladder and its sequel ...

/pedant
It's Joshua's Ladder.
/pedant

128 Back toward the end of the Brady Quinn era we had Notre Dame televised every week. I don't live anywhere near there. I like that approach better. Ex- Atlanta Braves on Superstation. Just them.

129 125 --- I stopped rooting for ND in May of 2009.

130 Home-school suppliers are a fantastic source for conservatives. You'll find a lot of classic stuff for kids at great prices. Posted by: Margarita DeVille at November 18, 2012 12:30 PM (C8mVl) we are homeschoolers, are you? Our kids are still very young so I'm still new to sources.

131 My father wrote a history of his professional career and put it on scribd. He is a retired electronics engineer who worked at Litton Industries and Teledyne in the 1960s-90s. He worked on inertial systems for aircraft, missiles, etc. It was surprisingly humorous, he has a very dry sense of humor. And there is quite a bit of drama to it as well. I had no idea all the stuff that he went through at work. If you're interested, http://preview.tinyurl.com/cweh49l. (I hope the link works)

132 I'm going to post some quotes from George McDonald's 'Phantastes'. McDonald inspired Lewis. This one strikes me as a good Pro-life scene. In certain seasons in Fairy Land babies can be found strewn near streams and along the country side. Women reluctantly go out to look for them. McDonald wrote 'Phantastes' in the 19th Century, I believe, and it has a pro-life message for today: "Therefore, at certain seasons, and in certain states of the weather, according, in part, to their own fancy, the young women go out to look for children. They generally avoid seeking them, though they cannot help sometimes finding them, in places and with circumstances uncongenial to their peculiar likings. But no sooner is a child found, than its claim for protection and nurture obliterates all feeling of choice in the matter."

133 All of my nieces and nephews are and were home schooled.

134 there's a football thread up. Do we stay here or do we all need to go over there even to talk about non-football things? I still can't figure that one out.

135 Quotes from George MacDonald, 'Phantastes': "Form is much, but size is nothing. It is a mere matter of relation." "I am a part of the part, which at first was the whole." GOETHE.--Mephistopheles in Faust. -- As quoted in 'Phantastes'

136 Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Read it!

137 Tammi and Elizabeth - I put my email address in my nic. E-mail me and I'll send you the folders (Nancy Drew is still downloading).

138 Well, the theory is that, having been provided an open thread, a book thread, and a football thread, we should be able to keep comments topical. Which is silly of course since we *are* the Moron Horde.

139 /pedant
It's Joshua's Ladder.
/pedant


Fixed.  Thanks.

140 Tunafish, I get a 404 Not Found error when I click on your nic. Here is one of my spare email addies: iansgirltammy AT gmail dot com

141 George MacDonald, 'Phantastes" Quotes: "Nor do we know how much of the pleasures even of life we owe to the intermingled sorrows. Joy cannot unfold the deepest truths, although deepest truth must be deepest joy. Cometh white-robed Sorrow, stooping and wan, and flingeth wide the doors she may not enter. Almost we linger with Sorrow for very love." -------------- "Because I have heard, that, for those who enter Fairy Land, there is no way of going back. They must go on, and go through it. How, I do not in the least know." ---------------- "it becomes not a noble knight to be conquered in spirit because his body hath fallen."

142 Well for God's sweet sake, I see it there, never mind!

143 126 A chance you take with some fantasy authors. For instance, george R.R. Martin is a liberal ahole but I'm so invested in some of the characters in his books that I have actually said a prayer that I don't die before he publishes the last in the series.

144

Elizabethe, we're homeschoolers too. I love Timberdoodle for our core curriculum, although we use a different math program. 

 

145 George MacDonald, 'Phantastes' Quotes: "The very fact that anything can die, implies the existence of something that cannot die; which must either take to itself another form, as when the seed that is sown dies, and arises again; or, in conscious existence, may, perhaps, continue to lead a purely spiritual life." --------------- "In dreams of unspeakable joy--of restored friendships; of revived embraces; of love which said it had never died; of faces that had vanished long ago, yet said with smiling lips that they knew nothing of the grave; of pardons implored, and granted with such bursting floods of love, that I was almost glad I had sinned--thus I passed through this wondrous twilight" ---------------- "Oh, well for him who breaks his dream With the blow that ends the strife And, waking, knows the peace that flows Around the noise of life!"

146 74 elizabethe, I just read your post. Definitely look at Jim C. Hines' "Goblin Quest" that I mentioned earlier.

147 I beat NaNoWriMo early Saturday morning: http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/ jamscience527 54,240 words so far, three chapters still to go.

148 I haven't felt like reading anything heavy since Election Day's car and country crashes, so I've been re-reading Glen Cook's "Garrett" series.  It's a fun comfort read, and just what I need at the moment.

I'm also reading the tiny user's manual that came with the two-day-late birthday present I got myself today, a Samsung laptop.  The nice young man at WalMart had to go into the back to find be one with Win7 instead of 8, but he was successful, so I'm a happy camper.

149 That dang Adobe Flash Player update doesn't even ask if you want all that McAffee, Google Toolbar, and Google Chrome Malware anymore. They should be seized and frog marched to the dock for those crimes.

150 Quotes from George MacDonald, 'Phantastes': "Fear not, my brothers, for we are dead; No noise can break our rest; The calm of the grave is about the head, And the heart heaves not the breast." ----------- "And a beauty that grows to a weight like grief, Till a burst of tears is the heart's relief." ---------- "But what is left for the cold gray soul, That moans like a wounded dove? One wine is left in the broken bowl!-- 'Tis-- TO LOVE, AND LOVE AND LOVE."

151 148 Know that feeling. I retreated into fantasy and sci fi after the last election. Luckily a lot of the series I started back then just keep running so I'm having no problem picking up where I left off.

152 Elizabethe, we're homeschoolers too. I love Timberdoodle for our core curriculum, although we use a different math program. Posted by: Lauren at November 18, 2012 12:57 PM (wsGWu) Neat! I know there are a bunch of homeschoolers in the horde. *taking notes.* We're still in kindergarten with my oldest son. We're going to do a basically classical curriculum following the Well-Trained Mind, but I haven't nailed down my specifics yet. I'm sure if I want to use all the stuff by Jessie Wise Bauer or not, although my SIL, also homeschooling, says her daughter loves the Story of the World. My kids are hyperactive, so I may need a more vigorous, less sitting around curriculum for them.

153 Thanks

154 54,240 words so far, three chapters still to go. Posted by: Gregory of Yardale at November 18, 2012 01:01 PM (QXlbZ) Good for you! I'm doing it too, with far less than spectacular results. I'm pretty happy to just be writing everyday, though. Word count be damned. Merovign, too, is burning up his word count.

155 Quotes from George MacDonald, 'Phantastes': "When up to the lip the water goes, It needs but a drop, and it overflows." --------------- "The great sun, benighted, May faint from the sky; But love, once uplighted, Will never more die." ------------- "Alas, how easily things go wrong! A sigh too much, or a kiss too long, And there follows a mist and a weeping rain, And life is never the same again." ----------- "And her life will perhaps be the richer, for holding now within it the memory of what came, but could not stay."

156 136 I think I'm the only person I know that actually finished his " Anathem".

157 Just finished reading "The Twelve Caesars" by Suetonius. A little over half way through "Anabasis" by Xenophone. Kind of the more things change the more they stay the same?

158 Posted by: BornLib at November 18, 2012 01:00 PM (zpNwC) thanks bornlib, I added it to my wishlist. Were you really born a lib? I was too!

159

Watching TV makes kids hyperactive.

 

Turn off the TV, and encourage them to run around outside, even if it is cold. That's the way a thousand generations of children have been raised.

 

TV is evil.  It really is.

160 Quotes from Goerge MacDonald, 'Phantastes': "Since my visit to the Church of Darkness, my power of seeing the fairies of the higher orders had gradually diminished, until it had almost ceased. But I could frequently believe in their presence while unable to see them." ------------- "But it is no use trying to account for things in Fairy Land; and one who travels there soon learns to forget the very idea of doing so, and takes everything as it comes; like a child, who, being in a chronic condition of wonder, is surprised at nothing." ------------ "But words are vain; reject them all-- They utter but a feeble part: Hear thou the depths from which they call, The voiceless longing of my heart." ------------ "And our life we throw to our people back, To live with, a further store; We leave it them, that there be no lack In the land where we live no more."

161 Posted by: Reader C.J. Burch writes...... at November 18, 2012 01:09 PM (Md8Uo) Hah, my grandma used to lock us out of the house for several hours a day and we didn't even have a TV. She firmly believed kids were meant to be active and running wild in the woods.

162 158 You're welcome! I suppose it's more accurate to say I was born libre, raised liberal, and then finally stopped drinking the kool-aid around 2007-8.

163 I think I'm the only person I know that actually finished his " Anathem".

Posted by: Tuna at November 18, 2012 01:08 PM (M/TDA)

I finished it but I had to scroll over many long segments of whatever it was he was babbling about.

164 Posted by: Reader C.J. Burch writes...... at November 18, 2012 01:09 PM (Md8Uo) and Tammy al-thor We don't have a TV. sigh. I wish I could lock my kids outside, but we live in the city.

165 Quotes from George MacDonald, 'Phantastes': "Rest is now filled full of beauty, And can give thee up, I ween; Come thou forth, for other duty Motion pineth for her queen." ------- "yet it becomes not a noble knight to be conquered in spirit because his body hath fallen." -------- "May the world be brighter for me, at least in those portions of it, where my darkness falls not." ------- "Thus I, who set out to find my Ideal, came back rejoicing that I had lost my Shadow." But is it not rather that art rescues nature from the weary and sated regards of our senses, and the degrading injustice of our anxious everyday life, and, appealing to the imagination, which dwells apart, reveals Nature in some degree as she really is, and as she represents herself to the eye of the child

166 29 I am half-way through "This is how you lose her" by Junot Diaz, and am undecided between liking it and hating it. The printing company where I work printed a promotional booklet featuring excerpts. We did a good job. It looked nice. Eh. I'm not a big fiction reader.

167 I suppose it's more accurate to say I was born libre, raised liberal, and then finally stopped drinking the kool-aid around 2007-8. Posted by: BornLib at November 18, 2012 01:14 PM (zpNwC) good for you. I was raised liberal, became an radical marxist/feminist/environmentalist/atheist who dabbled in the occult and buddhism, and then had a massive conversion to Catholicism and conservatism in about 2004 - 05. fun stuff.

168 "The Conquest of Gaul" by Julius Caesar is most enlightening. Lordy, the super efficiency and general "nothing gets in our way not even a river" mindset of the Roman army still amazes. Also, Julius was one hell of a good writer.

169 Basic Kindle - got one & love it. Would prefer touch screen, but got mine on sale for $49. Got a *very* cheap leatherette case on newegg.com. Works great for reading away from home. Newegg was much cheaper than amazon.com. At home, I prefer to remove kindle from leatherette case. When not reading, I stick it into a 99 cent pencil box for protection. Too easy to break/lose when unprotected.

170 Know that feeling. I retreated into fantasy and sci fi after the last election. Luckily a lot of the series I started back then just keep running so I'm having no problem picking up where I left off. Posted by: Tuna at November 18, 2012 01:05 PM (M/TDA) Tuna, what stuff were you reading? I am totally lost trying to decide what new authors to read.

171 My favorite web site for books in electronic forma is.

http://www.gutenberg.org/

I am often surprised at how many people are unaware of it.

172 @ 119 Tony253 at November 18, 2012 12:32 PM (3yMFT) I'll see your Senator and raise you 2 Kennedys. How do you win when your Senator hasn't left a woman to drown?

173 I am often surprised at how many people are unaware of it.

Posted by: Ron at November 18, 2012 01:23 PM (6bVkc)

\

As the earlier lady said try the one in Australia.  They don't have Mickey Mouse.

http://gutenberg.net.au/

174 Know that feeling. I retreated into fantasy and sci fi after the last election. Luckily a lot of the series I started back then just keep running so I'm having no problem picking up where I left off.
Posted by: Tuna at November 18, 2012 01:05 PM (M/TDA)

Same here. This is the first time I've been here since the election, and I used to be here everyday.  Lots of Kindle time though.
I finished the first six books in the Sword of Truth series, took a break to read The Panther by DeMille, The Last Man by Vince Flynn, Live by Night by Dennis Lehane,  Red Counrty by Joe Abercrombie, Zero Day by Mark Russinovich,  The King's Assasin by Stephen Deas (book 3 of a trilogy) and now I'm back to the Sword of Truth, about through with book 9 Chainfire.

No wonder I'm not very productive at work lately.

175 @ 172 Ron at November 18, 2012 01:23 PM (6bVkc) I had the chance to do a big-time smug walk when I trumped the school librarian with this one. This union-nitwit tried to get every kid in the class to buy The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Naturally, she neither thought through the project or thought to give the local bookshop the heads up. I told my daughter that it was available at gutenberg for free. The puzzled stares turned to looks of awe...

176 Skipping around in "The Gathering Storm," then "Giorgio Di Chirico's The Sacred Fish," volume two of Michael Palin's diaries, "Salem's Lot" and various others.

177 Ha! That's funny, I also experimented with inventing my own religion (actually stealing it from Babylon 5) and Buddhism in college. About four years ago I was introduced to P.j. O'Rourke and Thomas Sowell and started doing crazy things like reading the Constitution.

178 About four years ago I was introduced to P.j. O'Rourke and Thomas Sowell and started doing crazy things like reading the Constitution. Posted by: BornLib at November 18, 2012 01:35 PM (zpNwC) the devil you say! read the founding documents?! Sad for me I was a history grad, so I was already reading the constitution. Buddhism goes so well with so many things.

179 #168 Tuna, I've lent that book by Caesar to many people that were astonished how good a writer he was,they were expecting something dry and unreadable.

Now reading "Napoleon Bonaparte: An Intimate Biography" by Vincent Cronin. Easily one of the best bios I've ever read. The guy was awesome. I was expecting some kind of ogre type, but all those inbred royals of Europe couldn't stand the idea of the other classes getting off without being bled white by taxes and minimal rights, so they constantly attacked him.

 Lowered and rationalized taxes, balanced budget every year, reformed and rationalized legal system, instituted religious freedom, emancipated the Jews and ended discriminatory laws against religious minorities, on and on. But see the customer reviews at Amazon, they describe it better than I can. This book has less emphasis on the military side of things, tries to show what kind of person Napoleon was.

180 I wish I could lock my kids outside, but we live in the city. Posted by: elizabethe at November 18, 2012 01:15 PM (ou/rY) When we moved to Atlanta, she still locked us out. In her defense, there could be 13 of us at any given time, and most of 'em boys. Now and then she'd let us pitch a huge old canvas army tent she had found at the second hand store. Took us hours to put up, and she'd often let us stay all night out there. She'd give us basic foodstuffs and we'd fend for ourselves with can openers and peanut butter and such. We'd go days "camping" in the backyard, thinking we were living the good life. My Grandma had a way of making everything seem like an adventure! And we were pretty damn gullible!

181 Ceasar's Gallic Wars are available for free at Gutenberg and also at other sites.

http://classics.mit.edu/Caesar/gallic.html

182 . We're going to do a basically classical curriculum following the Well-Trained Mind ********** In that case Sonlight is supposed to be great. We don't do it just because we like to pick our own literature, and we can usually do it for less than we'd pay through Sonlight.

183 170 I made a detour into the chick centric urban fantasy stuff a couple of years ago. Kat Richardson's "Greywalker" series and the Mercy Thompson books by Patricia Briggs are the two I'm keeping up on. Someone recommended Adrian Tchaikovsky's "Shadows of the Apt" series on one of the book threads here about two years ago. I've enjoyed them so far. The "Iron Druid" trilogy by Kevin Hearne is fun. The first book of the second trilogy comes out this month. Sillier fun is "The Rook" by Daniel O'Malley. Hope he writes a sequel. Sarah Hoyt's "Darkship Thieves" is worth a look. She guest blogs on Instapundit sometimes. A sequel was just published recently. I just finished "Something Red" by Douglas Nicholas. Magic and shape shifting in Medieval England.

184 Parental loss -- lost my wonderful Mom last year (Dad passed away 30 years before that). Christopher Buckley's "Losing Mum and Pup" was a source of lots of laughter, tears and healing.

185 For an obscure but incredibly interesting corner of military history, let me recommend "Black Cat Raiders of World War II" from the Naval Institute Press. Quick and dirty summary: PBY Catalinas weren't just great search and rescue planes, they were also effective night time bombers. Their long range and payload, plus their ability to spend time over target, made them superior in the role to the B-17s sent to the Pacific Theater for this purpose.

186 @59 We went to Russia a few years ago. I fell in love with the place so am now reading various books, novels mostly, something I don't normally read as I enjoy non-fiction the most. But so far haven't found the right books on Russia or St Petersburg yet.
But I just finished the recent biography Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Massie. It was very good but I wanted more so started The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great by Stachniak. It's enjoyable but a bit to historical-fiction for me. I'll finish it as I want to hear the descriptions of the palaces and events. But I would really like to find something more accurate.

You could try book by Solomon Volkov "St.Petersburg:  A Cultural History" or Eduard Radzinskii historical books

187 170 I forgot "A Discovery of Witches" and "Shadow of Night" by Deborah Harkness. Another trilogy with the third coming out next year. So many books, so little time. BTW, any doggie lover needs to read the Chet and Bernie mysteries by Patrick Quinn. You will fall in love with Chet the dog who narrates the books. I've recommended these before. If you just want to chuckle and feel good pick them up. "Dog on It", "Thereby Hangs a Tail", "To Fetch a Thief", "The Dog Who Knew Too Much" and "A Fist Full of Collars". I look forward to the new one every year.

188 I never remember to do this, but Monty, if you're reading the thread, hello and I hope you're well. If any of the cobs can pass along greetings, I'd appreciate it!

189 I forgot "A Discovery of Witches" and "Shadow of Night" by Deborah Harkness. Another trilogy with the third coming out next year. Loved these, too. I found out about them on a perfume blog, of all places! Thanks for all your recommendations today, I have been manic on Amazon. Ace should give you a cut of his takings....

190 Spencer Quinn, not Patrick, y'all! (For the Chet mysteries)

191 Oregon - this is an AWESOME book to read when you're processing the death of a loved one: Life After Death by Tony Cooke - http://tinyurl.com/av74qhe

192 190 Crap. Why did I write Patrick? I've been touting these books to anyone who would listen since I read the first one. I'm getting all these author's names jumbled in my mind. Old middle age is a terrible thing. LOL

193 I cannot recommend Influence:The Psychology of Persuasion enough. He tells a story about meditation in the chapter on consistency and conformity that explains Obamas reelection better than anything any pundit has said.

194

54,240 words so far, three chapters still to go.
Posted by: Gregory of Yardale at November 18, 2012 01:01 PM (QXlbZ)

Congrats. I'm in awe of those who are trying the challenge.

195 189 You're welcome. I should say a little bit more about "Something Red" by Douglas Nicholas. It's a beautifully written book. The author's descriptive prose is gorgeous and literally transports you to the places he describes. I was very sad when his tale ended and I think that's the best recommendation you can give. This is his first novel so I hope he writes many more.

196 the super efficiency and general "nothing gets in our way not even a river" mindset of the Roman army 

Posted by: Tuna at November 18, 2012 01:19 PM (M/TDA)

 

Apparently that was the attitude of the US army as well at one point. I remember John telling me of an account by a British author ,who's name I don't recall sadly, of how the US forces created an airfield on an island in just a couple of days by pretty much moving every  last bit of dirt in the course of the building.  From the book it sounded like the Brit was unsure how long it would have taken another force to do teh same task, but  it would have been much longer. The EPA has a lot to answer for.  

197 Check out "And The Rain Came Down" by Seth Anderson Bailey. It's on Amazon. Major body count "he needed killing" novel by a Texan Iraq War recon vet.

The sequel, "The Lines We Cross" comes out real soon.

Also, for the John Ringo fans, "Tiger By The Tail" is out in eARC for you Ghost devotees.

198 Dang you anyway, Tuna. What the heck, one more can't hurt....

199 Also, for the John Ringo fans, "Tiger By The Tail" is out in eARC for you Ghost devotees.

Posted by: SGT Dan at November 18, 2012 03:21 PM (Yg+nf)

Its a "co-authored" book. Meaning that Ringo probably wrote one page and lent his name.

200 What do the homeschoolers recommend as a curriculum or book for teaching writing? I am new to home schooling and if my child writes an essay I can make fine suggestions for improvement, but as far as teaching him to write at a higher level that's a bit beyond my abilities. He is in the 7th grade.

201 George Eliot is one of my favorite writers and I have read Middldemarch several times. The novel that I have read repeatedly along with several Austen novels is James' The Portrait Of A Lady. Everytime I read it I get something else out of it. Currently I am re-reading letters by Francis Fenelon-The Seeking Heart.

202 I forgot "A Discovery of Witches" and "Shadow of Night" by Deborah Harkness. Another trilogy with the third coming out next year. Loved these, too. I found out about them on a perfume blog, of all places! Thanks for all your recommendations today, I have been manic on Amazon. Ace should give you a cut of his takings.... Posted by: Tammy al-Thor at November 18, 2012 02:27 PM (2rMmy) Orson Scott Card did a sort of review of these on his Hatrack River newsletter. Maybe I'll check it out.

203 Watching TV makes kids hyperactive.

Turn off the TV, and encourage them to run around outside, even if it is cold. That's the way a thousand generations of children have been raised.

TV is evil. It really is.

Posted by: Reader C.J. Burch writes...... at November 18, 2012 01:09 PM (Md8Uo)

 

Which reminded me of this excellent email:

> > A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger
> >
> > who was new to our small town. From the beginning,
> >
> > Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer
> >
> > and soon invited him to live with our family. The
> >
> > stranger was quickly accepted and was around
> >
> > from then on.
> >
> > As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my
> >
> > family. In my young mind, he had a special niche.
> >
> > My parents were complementary instructors: Mom
> >
> > taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey.
> >
> > But the stranger... he was our storyteller. He would
> >
> > keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures,
> >
> > mysteries and comedies.
> >
> >
> > If I wanted to know anything about politics, history
>>
> > or science, he always knew the answers about the past,
> >
> > understood the present and even seemed able to predict
> >
> > the future! He took my family to the first major league
> >
> > ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The
> >
> > stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem
> >
> > to mind.
> >
> > Sometimes, Mom would get up quietly while the rest of
> >
> > us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to
> >
> > say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet.
> >
> >
> > (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)
> >
> > Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions,
> >
> > but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them.
> >
> > Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home - not
> >
> > from us, our friends or any visitors. Our long time visitor,
> >
> >
> >
> > however, got away with four-letter words that burned my
> >
> > ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush.
> >
> >
> > My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol but the
> >
> > stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made
> >
> >
> >
> > cigarettes look cool, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished.
> >
> > He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments
> >
> > were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally
> >
> >
> >
> > embarrassing..
> >
> > I now know that my early concepts about relationships were
> >
> >
> >
> > influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he
> >
> > opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked
> >
> >
> >
> > ... And NEVER asked to leave.
> >
> > More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved
> >
> > in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly
> >
> > as fascinating as he was at first.Still, if you could walk into
> >
> > my parents' den today, you would still find him sitting over
> >
> > in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and
> >
> > watch him draw his pictures.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > His name?....
> > We just call him 'TV.'
> >

> > (Note: This should be required
> > reading for every household!)
> >

> > He has a wife now....we call her 'Computer.'
> >

> > Their first child is "Cell Phone".
> >

 
> > Second child "I Pod "

> > And JUST BORN THIS YEAR WAS a Grandchild:
> >

> > IPAD

204 Everyone's experiences grief as a journey stumbling through a hostile, trackless, and baffling mine field.  After each death, you enter the field with more experience and less willingness.  Some of the mines you stumble over are harmless, some are bittersweet, some are crippling, and some are even joyful.  After my sister-in-law died in September, I was ambushed by a fragrance while Christmas shopping in a Macy's when a shopper behind me tried on her signature perfume.  One minute, I was examining merchandise without a care in the world, and the next minute, tears were running down my face and I did not know why, until I turned around and saw the Estee Lauder counter and knew that a mere spritz of perfume could conjure the dead.  The next to die was my Dad and I realized that I had lost the only man who had loved me since my birth.  Then 3 years and 359 days later, I came home to find my husband dead on the living room floor.  I went from wife to widow in the time it took to touch his cooling flesh.  Next, went Mother, whom I was feeding her last meal before we took her to hospice, she slipped away between one bite of salad and the next.

205 Hi Fenelon Spoke, I can't speak as a homeschooling parent on the how to teach writing yet, but I did teach some college classes, including college freshmen, who are, in my experience, terrible writers, with a very very few exceptions. Two books I'd recommend for you to read to think about how to teach writing to your 7th grader are "The Craft of Research" which breaks down writing a research paper (with principles applicable to anything really) really well. I think you could read it and find it useful to help your child think bigger and think about how the different parts of an essay fit together (like argument, premises, assumptions, evidence, stuff like that). I don't think this book is too advanced for a smart highschool student, frankly. Also IMO, everyone should read "How to Read a Book." which isn't about writing but about making big picture connections between books and various readings, which is, really, what writing a good essay is.

206

Buddhism goes so well with so many things.

 

Apparently, the Chinese are saying, "Meh."

 

http://bit.ly/WmDHV7

207

Post-election depression, desperation and anxiety practically turned my bff and I off of reading all together, BUT, a friend loaned me his copy of "Our Sarah," written by Chuck Heath Jr. and Sr.

 

This book draws you in and lets you forget our dire situation.  This family has one heckuva history, starting with Sarah's grandfather, who grew up in L.A. and watched (and starred in) the making of Little Rascals shorts and classic cowboy movies as well as buzzed his biplane over the city when "our betters" didn't control every damn thing.  Then they move on to her dad, who decided "The Last Frontier" was him and moved the family to Alaska after securing a teaching job.  The characters, surroundings and mindset of Alaskans take center stage.

 

When my friend asked if I was reading anything, I told her how I picked up this one before going to bed one night and was able to forget where and in what point in history I lived for about a half an hour.  Nothing else has been able to do that so far.

208 George Eliot is one of my favorite writers and I have read Middldemarch several times. The novel that I have read repeatedly along with several Austen novels is James' The Portrait Of A Lady. Everytime I read it I get something else out of it.

Currently I am re-reading letters by Francis Fenelon-The Seeking Heart.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 18, 2012 03:56 PM (gVYZk)

Thanks for the feedback.  I'm a big fan of rereading books and always find it rewarding assuming it's a book worth rereading.  Regarding Middlemarch, I've had it on my bookshelf since at least the 80s when I bought it for next to nothing at a library sale.  Other things kept getting in the way until I finally decided that now was the time.  It deserves all the positive things which have been said about it.

209
I'm half-way through Herodotus's "Histories", in the Landmark edition.

In the "some things never change" department, how odd, after 26 centuries, to be reading an account of how an aggressive Persia is threatening the peace of damn near everyone in the world.

210 For those applauding the movie Shadowlands, I suggest you see the original BBC production. It captures C. S. Lewis's thought much better than the Hollywood version. I posted it the YouTube videos of it on my blog a little while ago here.

211 Aargh. Can't get the linky thing to work. Here it is: http://agentintellect.blogspot.be/2012/08/for-your-viewing-pleasure.html

212 'To the Last Man,' by Jeff Shaara. Good, longish read on WW1. Helped with election blues. Compounding, however, was the Oregon Ducks loss. Upside here is the Notre Dame fans. Best of luck.

213 I've been reading a prequel: When Archie Goodwin Meets Nero Wolfe. (Goldsborough)--a very good read because I'm a big fan of Rex Stout. For the most part, it's pretty good, but Goldsborough is not the writer Rex Stout was.

214 Patch up, Morons. Just had a tech in last week for 50k mile maintenance on my office computers. One was infected with a virus that had hitched a ride into town via my...anti-virus program. Needless to say, things got changed.

215 My only reading just now is primary sources, for double-checking, and our own galleys, for the 1937 history coming out in time for Christmas (hint, hint); but I will say that Vanauken's A Severe Mercy is worth reading (not that I have a problem w/ Jack Lewis, either). Oddly, I was actually re-reading it back in the '80s waiting for a connecting flight in Pittsburgh (USAir had just bought Piedmont, so flights that used to leave Roanoke now all went through Pittsburgh as well) when I looked up ... and Sheldon Vanauken himself was sitting across from me. Nice man; we had a chat I'll never forget.

216 33 I've been so traumatized by the re-election that I was driven to re-read all of my old Little House on the Prairie books. Stunning how quickly America has gone from being good and decent and strong and self-reliant to this "gimme gimme gimme" entitlement mentality. Stunning to read what they did in those one-room classrooms. I think it was in Little Town on the Prairie, the students did an exhibition - mental long division, among other things. Jesus. These days we're lucky if a kid can do long division without a calculator. I was traumatized after the election, too but I read Vince Flynn's Term Limits. Hey, a girl can dream, right? DO NOT PAY for the Lucy Maude Montgomery "Anne of Green Gables" series. It's free on gutenberg.org.

217 97 Reading "The Keep" by F. Paul Wilson right now. I don't read much horror but I'm enjoying it.

F. Paul Wilson wrote some good SF before he started mixing the horror in. "The Keep" is a great read, and made a pretty good movie back in 1982 or '83. Wilson wrote 3 or 4 more books with the Good Guy from "The Keep." Then he began writing the Repair Man Jack series set in New York & surrounds. But the first, mayhap the only (afaik) to be filmed was "The Keep."   Had to leave a lot out, history of all characters--yet I find myself re-reading it every year and re-watching it about the same. No higher praise can I give a movie or a book.

218 el testo one two three

219 ok, it looks like i'm ok now. for now.