Ace of Spades HQ

December 22, 2013

Sunday Morning Book Thread 12-22-2013: Christmas Time Is Here [OregonMuse]
— Open Blogger

Merry Christmas to all of you 'rons and 'ettes! And welcome to the award-winning AoSHQ's prestigious Sunday Morning Book Thread. I know that many of you have relatives and in-laws who are progressives, LIVs, FSA volunteers, pajama boys, or other types of O-bots who you will be visiting with over the holidays. Given the current political climate, what with Obamacare crashing and burning like the Hindenburg, I'm sure the mealtime conversations are going to be EPIC.

Good and Evil

Here is another 'best of 2013' list, this time by the Wall Street Journal. I've never heard of any of the books, listed, but the blurb for Quiet Dell by Jayne Anne Phillips, about some serial killings in 1931 caught my eye:

In a welcome reversal, the novelist sympathetically imagines the lives of the victims rather than of the murderer.

Imagine that, being more concerned about the victims rather than the criminal. I think that's a big difference between the progressive mindset and the conservative one. Conservatives are horrified by the slaughter, and want to see the perpetrator punished. One the other hand, progressives, despite all of their alleged sympathy for "the little guy", will naturally tend to want to hear more about the murderer, why he does the things he does and how he got that way, and the victims are mostly secondary. Perhaps that's not altogether a healthy perspective.

Along these lines, I remember one of my English professors telling me of his thesis that he wrote about the novel Grendel, by John Gardner, which is the story of Beowolf retold from the monster's point of view. His point was only in the modern world is such a novel possible due to the different methods of how to deal with evil: the old, traditional way is to either eradicate it completely, or avoid it altogether, but the new, modern way is to try to understand it.

Perhaps the modern way is not necessarily the better way.

Hairy Tales

Son #1 bought this book for Daughter #1 as a Christmas present: My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales by Kate Bernheimer. This is a collection of retold, rebooted fairy tales by a number of luminaries, among them Neil Gaiman, John Updike, and Joyce Carol Oates, and supposedly many of them are quite scary. I have no idea if it's any good, I just glanced at it as it came in the mail, and it looked interesting.

And speaking of Joyce Carol Oates, my high school English teacher made us read her novel Do With Me What You Will. Ugh. It was the most depressing book I had ever read. I've never wanted to read any of her 70+ other books ever since.

Billy Bob Thornton Wishes You A Merry F#@*ing Christmas

What, No Dancing Penguins?

Disney has the annoying habit of adapting books by ruining them. I can't bear to watch any of the Winnie the Pooh cartoons because they're completely devoid of all the charm that makes the books so endearing, in my opinion. And P. L. Travers, the British author of the Mary Poppins series, was supposedly so appalled at the the big screen Disney adaptation that she stormed out of the London theater in disgust. And this despite the fact that Disney gave her unprecedented (for the Disney company, anyway) script approval.

So this article in the (UK) Guardian article discusses the differences between the book and the movie. For example, in the book

There were long, waffly passages in which characters who didn't appear in the Disney film went on and on about the stars, and the wind and the moon and the Grand Chain that connects all creatures. Even the adventures that Mary Poppins undertakes with her charges had an indeterminate quality, without a proper resolution. At the end of each outing Jane and Michael go to bed not sure what has just happened or what it all means.

That's because Mary Poppins really isn't a children's book:

Travers saw herself as a mythographer. A follower of Gurdjieff, the Russian mystic who introduced the west to a ragbag of eastern mysticism in the first part of the 20th century, Travers was more interested in excavating the archetypes that underpinned esoteric Christianity than dreaming up nursery pap. She always made the point that it was the grownups, not the children, who needed Mary Poppins most.

This evisceration of spiritual themes from the original source is pretty much par for the course for Disney movies, which are hyper-allergic to any kind of religion or transcendent reality (except for the occasional Lion King 'circle of life' hoohah). I remember, some years ago, seeing a Disney "Christmas parade" broadcast on TV, and it featured Snow White and Cinderella and Santa Claus and all of the usual Disney cartoon characters laughing and smiling and waving at the crowds. Watching the parade, I was struck by the utter lack of absolutely anything that even remotely suggested the birth of Christ. The absolute vacuum was so hilariously pathetic that I felt I just had to share it, so I immediately called up one of my friends, also a Christian, and goofed on him by wishing him "a Walt Disney Christmas." He laughed, sort of, after I explained to him what I was talking about.

Another Best of

Moron Mike Banzet's book A Flowershop in Baghdad has made it to the Kirkus Review's 'Best Indie Books of 2013' list. Good job, Mike! Now shut up and get a real job.

While I was there, I saw this other book on the 'best indie' list: A Prayer for the Devil by Dale Allan, which looks like it could be interesting:

An explosion at a political rally kills a popular presidential candidate, a Muslim reformist, and a lawyer who had Senate aspirations. However, authorities are baffled as to which person was the intended target of the terror attack. The lawyerÂ’s twin brother, Luke Miller, a Catholic priest raised in a Jewish household...decides to look into the bombing on his own, even though his investigation may ultimately put other peopleÂ’s lives in jeopardy.

$3.82 for the Kindle edition is a good price.

Books By Morons

Moron author Ray Fiore wants you all to know that the third book in his Riley's Rogues saga has just been released. Riley's Rogues: Cyborg is available on Kindle for $4.99.

Riley's Rogues and Riley's Rogues: Darkstorm are the first two installments.

Note: a portion of the proceeds from sales of Mr. Fiore's Riley's Rogues books will be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project.

Books For Morons

Occasional commenter 'Running Hobo' very much recommends the novels of C. J. Box, which feature Game Warden Joe Pickett as the main character. RH says, "Pickett isn't a super-hero, just a regular guy...but he has interesting friends and the character develops well over the series."

The first three books in the series are:

Open Season
Savage Run
Winterkill

Here is the Amazon blurb for Open Season:

Joe Pickett is the new game warden in Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, a town where nearly everyone hunts and the game warden--especially one like Joe who won't take bribes or look the other way--is far from popular. When he finds a local hunting outfitter dead, splayed out on the woodpile behind his state-owned home, he takes it personally. There had to be a reason that the outfitter, with whom he's had run-ins before, chose his backyard, his woodpile to die in. Even after the "outfitter murders," as they have been dubbed by the local press after the discovery of the two more bodies, are solved, Joe continues to investigate, uneasy with the easy explanation offered by the local police.

The Joe Pickett character reminds me of this other rural Wyoming lawman.

RH also recommends the author Iain Banks.

___________

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 07:30 AM | Comments (152)
Post contains 1392 words, total size 10 kb.

1 Got my southern living annual recipes 2013. Deciding on cookies to make.

Posted by: NCKate at December 22, 2013 07:29 AM (RSQB0)

2 yuck, i didn't need to see that. Wrap the screen in a brown paper bag.

Posted by: detached retinas at December 22, 2013 07:31 AM (R6JT1)

3 try again

LOL, bad Santa

Currently re-reading the last three Wheel of Time books. Amazon had the last one on sale a few weeks ago so I got it and the two in front of it, just as they wanted you to do.

Well, I was re-reading it until Samsung sent an update when I turned on the Wi-Fi. It deleted every damn file I had on my tablet. I am pissed.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at December 22, 2013 07:31 AM (T2V/1)

4 Joyce Carol Oates scissoring Helen Thomas. *drops mic*

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at December 22, 2013 07:35 AM (oFCZn)

5 Moron Mike Banzet's book A Flowershop in Baghdad Read it, Liked it, Reviewed it, gave it 5 stars. BTW, My wife saw that pic from across the the room, had to get closer to see it then said, OMG Ace. I' said, "Nope, Oregon Muse.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at December 22, 2013 07:35 AM (XIxXP)

6 No offense to the book thread but I hope it gets stomped quickly so that picture isn't the first thing I see when I load/refresh the main page.

Posted by: buzzion at December 22, 2013 07:36 AM (LI48c)

7 Posted by: Vic at December 22, 2013 11:31 AM (T2V/1)

They sent an update to my phone that I tried unsuccessfully to decline.

It sucks. I am pissed.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 22, 2013 07:37 AM (QFxY5)

8 excuse me, need to vent a little over pressure.
y'all might find it amusing

(read this aloud all at once, non stop in one breath until you pass out)

. . . sit here and reformat text (250k words) (LINE BY LINE) (by hand because one software program's import function is incompatible with another editor's export function) from something readable into something really REALLY UGLY because modern book publishers, editors, proof readers are still stuck in the days of TYPEWRITTEN MANUSCRIPTS. Then wait a year to find out they won't even read it because the margins are set to 1.25 inches instead of 1.5 inches.

because, you see, the original idea was some selfie on Amazon for the kindle which resulted in an editor program for 'epub' (because there doesn't seem to be an editor for awz3) which required an conversion program from 'epub' to 'awz3' but the publisher wants 'rtf' with chapters marked by special character (pound sign), and the third piece of software that was downloaded for trial will generate a 'rtf' file with the special character and centered chapter heading and title, but won't import the 'epub' file and the second piece of software that *will convert* to 'rtf' won't generate chapter breaks with the special character (pound sign) and no I don't have Microsoft Office or Word because this computer is very old and I never felt the need to pay another hunert and fifdie bucks to activate an obsolete version and Adobe can just ..just ..rot in hell. (No I am not related to Sarah Hoyt why do you ask?)

Hello Amazon?

Posted by: Paperback Writer at December 22, 2013 07:38 AM (e/KRO)

9 7 They sent an update to my phone that I tried unsuccessfully to decline.

It sucks. I am pissed.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 22, 2013 11:37 AM (QFxY5)

Did it delete any of your files?

Posted by: Vic[/i] at December 22, 2013 07:39 AM (T2V/1)

10 OM changed the picture!

Posted by: Vic[/i] at December 22, 2013 07:40 AM (T2V/1)

11 I guess that passed-out Santa pick was a bit much. Sorry.

Posted by: OregonMuse at December 22, 2013 07:40 AM (fd0Pp)

12 My kinda Santa

Posted by: teh Wind at December 22, 2013 07:41 AM (b+5vQ)

13 I guess that passed-out Santa pick was a bit much. Sorry. Posted by: OregonMuse at December 22, 2013 11:40 AM (fd0Pp) It's more ONTesque.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at December 22, 2013 07:41 AM (XIxXP)

14 referring to the new picture

Posted by: teh Wind at December 22, 2013 07:42 AM (b+5vQ)

15 11 I guess that passed-out Santa pick was a bit much. Sorry.

Posted by: OregonMuse at December 22, 2013 11:40 AM (fd0Pp)

More of a below the fold ONT type picture.

Posted by: buzzion at December 22, 2013 07:42 AM (LI48c)

16 Still into Erik Larson's In the Garden of Beasts - about the family of William Dodd, the American ambassador to Berlin at the time of Hitler's ascent to power. So far - the ambassador himself comes off pretty well; a little outclassed in the position, as he was an academic who had dabbled in politics, and got named to the position because he spoke German well, and fondly remembered having been a student there. He eventually developed into a strong anti-Nazi, but there wasn't much that he could do. His daughter Martha, on the other hand, was a real piece of work - one of those vapid, promiscuous women who takes her politics from whomever she is sleeping with. She had affairs with various Nazis, then a long affair with a Soviet agent, and eventually wound up as a Soviet spy herself. And thanks to everyone who checked out my own books last week! Affectionate embraces and sisterly kisses.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at December 22, 2013 07:42 AM (Asjr7)

17 >>> no I don't have Microsoft Office or Word because this computer is very old and I never felt the need to pay another hunert and fifdie bucks to activate an obsolete version and Adobe Is it worth $150 to avoid manually reformatting 250K words?

Posted by: fluffy & sensitive at December 22, 2013 07:42 AM (Ua6T/)

18 11 I guess that passed-out Santa pick was a bit much. Sorry.

Posted by: OregonMuse at December 22, 2013 11:40 AM (fd0Pp)

It didn't bother me. Reminds me of me.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at December 22, 2013 07:42 AM (T2V/1)

19 Posted by: Vic at December 22, 2013 11:39 AM (T2V/1)

No, but it is re-downloading attachments to e-mails from months ago. And then putting them...somewhere.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 22, 2013 07:42 AM (QFxY5)

20 OM changed the picture! Yeah, when I get 3 negative comments about the pic in the first half-dozen comments, it's time to acknowledge I screwed up.

Posted by: OregonMuse at December 22, 2013 07:42 AM (fd0Pp)

21 Posted by: OregonMuse at December 22, 2013 11:40 AM (fd0Pp)

I think it is a beautiful and elegant photo.

[but I might be the wrong person to comment on the appropriateness of a post]

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 22, 2013 07:43 AM (QFxY5)

22 Bought the kid Lone Survivor and the Muirwood trilogy this week. Bought the husband Tyndale's New Testament by David Daniell. In addition to updating my cookbooks, I bought myself the last three Newbery medal winners.

Posted by: NCKate at December 22, 2013 07:44 AM (RSQB0)

23 Yeah, when I get 3 negative comments about the pic in the first half-dozen comments, it's time to acknowledge I screwed up. Posted by: OregonMuse at December 22, 2013 11:42 AM (fd0Pp) Our book thread seems to consist of the more genteel folk. And that's a good thing

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at December 22, 2013 07:45 AM (XIxXP)

24 That Muirwood trilogy was good and they had it on sale this week.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at December 22, 2013 07:45 AM (T2V/1)

25 Holy crap. I just finished reading the article that Anna Puma linked in the morning thread about the Welfare Queen. http://tinyurl.com/owd9q84 It's not a book, but it's almost book-length. By the time I got to the end I would have not been surprised to learn that she killed JFK. Like the saying goes, "You can't make this stuff up."

Posted by: rickl at December 22, 2013 07:45 AM (sdi6R)

26 Bought the kid Lone Survivor and the Muirwood trilogy this week. Bought the husband Tyndale's New Testament by David Daniell. In addition to updating my cookbooks, I bought myself the last three Newbery medal winners. Posted by: NCKate at December 22, 2013 11:44 AM (RSQB0) I read Lone Survivor, its honest and awesome.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at December 22, 2013 07:46 AM (XIxXP)

27 Our book thread seems to consist of the more genteel folk. And that's a good thing Yeah, I agree. I'll keep that in mind from now on. And my apologies to your wife.

Posted by: OregonMuse at December 22, 2013 07:46 AM (fd0Pp)

28 Posted by: rickl at December 22, 2013 11:45 AM (sdi6R) I read it too. Had she turned her skills to good instead of evil she could have ruled the world.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at December 22, 2013 07:47 AM (XIxXP)

29 Yup, Vic. Got it the morning you gave the heads up about it on the kindle deal.

Posted by: NCKate at December 22, 2013 07:47 AM (RSQB0)

30 Is it worth $150 to avoid manually reformatting 250K words?

Posted by: fluffy & sensitive at December 22, 2013 11:42 AM (Ua6T/)

heh, at this point it Ms Office requires newer hardware. Open Office is 'free' but requires Open Source Java It's a conspiracy I just know it and I don't know if Open Office does epub/awz3..

and the 250k words probably isn't worth publishing anyway. even though I have the time to kill.

Posted by: Paperback Writer at December 22, 2013 07:47 AM (e/KRO)

31 UGH! Joyce Carol Oates.
In college got assigned her book "Them". Cool! A book about giant mutant ants attacking LA. Nope, it was crappy, boring, pointless story about about a dysfunctional young couple. Western literature sure went off a cliff in the 20th century.

Posted by: deadman at December 22, 2013 07:47 AM (Zf0v/)

32 Forgot to mention last week that the reason I had tried to read Les Miz was that Whittaker Chambers credited it with planting the seed that eventually led him away from Communism. He also read Dickens but said that the entirely secular nature of those books didn't affect him the same way even though he was an atheist and had been raised with no faith.

Posted by: Polliwogette at December 22, 2013 07:48 AM (lsvXD)

33 I am sure this has been addressed in the past but if a moron has a book (or in this case an anthology with a short story in it) where do we send the information?

Posted by: Dandolo at December 22, 2013 07:48 AM (0XBx+)

34 and the 250k words probably isn't worth publishing anyway. even though I have the time to kill. Posted by: Paperback Writer at December 22, 2013 11:47 AM (e/KRO) 250K words? Dang, you should get an award for exceptional dicipline.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at December 22, 2013 07:48 AM (XIxXP)

35 I am sure this has been addressed in the past but if a moron has a book (or in this case an anthology with a short story in it) where do we send the information? Posted by: Dandolo at December 22, 2013 11:48 AM (0XBx+) To OG, E-mail up at top.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at December 22, 2013 07:49 AM (XIxXP)

36 A portion of the sales from all my books goes to me.

Posted by: --- at December 22, 2013 07:49 AM (MMC8r)

37 To OG, E-mail up at top. Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at December 22, 2013 11:49 AM (XIxXP) OOPS, I meant OM.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at December 22, 2013 07:50 AM (XIxXP)

38 250K words? Dang, you should get an award for exceptional dicipline.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at December 22, 2013 11:48 AM (XIxXP)

couldn't find an ending

so in book two . . .

Posted by: Paperback Writer at December 22, 2013 07:50 AM (e/KRO)

39 Perhaps the modern way is not necessarily the better way. *** Modern liberalism matches pretty closely to the traditional western notion of evil - so that fact that liberalism is enthralled by depictions of evil should not be a surprised - liberals are looking at "freer" versions of themselves. And if you don't agree with this assessment, let me ask you what the western tradition thinks of these core elements of modern liberal thought. Coveting your neighbor's possessions Stealing (through government) Infanticide Homosexuality etc...

Posted by: 18-1 at December 22, 2013 07:51 AM (M3hAT)

40 couldn't find an ending so in book two . . . Posted by: Paperback Writer at December 22, 2013 11:50 AM (e/KRO) Just be sure to provide a complementary fork truck to hold the dead tree version while people are reading it.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at December 22, 2013 07:51 AM (XIxXP)

41 Like the saying goes, "You can't make this stuff up." Posted by: rickl at December 22, 2013 11:45 AM (sdi6R) I like how the author acted all butt-hurt that Reagan's "welfare queen" story turned out to be true.

Posted by: OregonMuse at December 22, 2013 07:53 AM (fd0Pp)

42 I like how the author acted all butt-hurt that Reagan's "welfare queen" story turned out to be true. Posted by: OregonMuse at December 22, 2013 11:53 AM (fd0Pp) I liked the part where the young Sailor caught her without her make-up and recoiled in horror. It made me laugh.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at December 22, 2013 07:54 AM (XIxXP)

43 I am sure this has been addressed in the past but if a moron has a book (or in this case an anthology with a short story in it) where do we send the information? Me. As I say every 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. "

Posted by: OregonMuse at December 22, 2013 07:55 AM (fd0Pp)

44 That welfare queen had to have some mental issues-- all those deceptions were so much work and logistics with so much to keep track of she had to be some sort of criminal savant.

Posted by: --- at December 22, 2013 07:55 AM (MMC8r)

45 OSP Got it. Thank you. I have a short story in a pirate anthology from Dark Oak Press due out soon (summer I think, which is I gather soon in the publishing world).

Posted by: Dandolo at December 22, 2013 07:55 AM (0XBx+)

46 Finished "Our Final Invention", about the imminent overthrow of humanity by malevolent robots. All in all, not a bad read, but pretty light on the technical specifics, which the author makes plain was a deliberate choice. Bottom line: humanity is screwed. It's kind of hard to disagree.

I thought the best part of the book was a discussion of how the Stuxnet virus was mishandled. It's now escaped the confines of its target, and thanks to BHO's victory lap, everyone knows who did it. More disturbingly, it is doubtless in the hands of various bad actors, especially the Chinese, who will now use it to put every power station in the country at their mercy.

I also "enjoyed" the speculation about how an superhuman machine intelligence will seek to protect itself, and there's f*** all we'll ultimately be able to do about it. The author didn't discuss what is to me the most obvious way for a machine to do in humanity. IMO, it isn't a Terminator-like nuclear war, or even nanotech, but rather a simple bit of biocookery involving a co-opted brewery and some very simple chemistry to make a 100% lethal virus with a long incubation period to allow it time to spread.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

Posted by: pep at December 22, 2013 07:56 AM (6TB1Z)

47 Ian Banks was an anti-semitic socialist fool who licked the taint of the PLO. Luckily, the piece of offal died in June. I don't read his works so that I don't contribute to his passions of killing jews and erasing Israel.

Posted by: Inspector Cussword at December 22, 2013 07:58 AM (zZ+Bs)

48 OM Yeah, I guess I could have read all the way to end of the thread. My mistake.

Posted by: Dandolo at December 22, 2013 07:58 AM (0XBx+)

49 OSP Got it. Thank you. I have a short story in a pirate anthology from Dark Oak Press due out soon (summer I think, which is I gather soon in the publishing world). Posted by: Dandolo at December 22, 2013 11:55 AM (0XBx+) Cool, keep us posted. The biggest thing I learned about writing a book, other than have a decent story and don't let people get put off by poor puntuation and spelling, is don't let the cover suck.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at December 22, 2013 07:58 AM (XIxXP)

50 Actually finished two books this week. One of them would probably appeal to a few Morons: "Give Us a Kiss" by Daniel Woodrell. He was the guy who wrote "Winter's Bone" which was turned into one of the best movies I've seen in recent years. This book, like Winter's Bone, takes place in the backwoods of the Ozarks and features the Dolly clan who are kind of verminous like the Snopeses although even worse. The narrator is Doyle Redmond and seems at least semi autobiographical and is about him visiting his brother, Smoke, who has some outstanding warrants about which the cops are leaning hard on his family. The book grabbed me immediately and I finished it (about 230 pages) in less than a day. It had a similar appeal to books by the late Harry Crews, who should be a favorite of the Horde, and everything seemed authentic unlike an outsider writing about a bunch of hilljacks. I don't know how many of his books (he's written a lot of 'em) have repeating characters, or at least their families, but I'm interested in finding out. I just got Winter's Bone yesterday because I figured there's some stuff in the book that they just couldn't fit in the movie.

I also finished "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire, a book which is kind of a prequel to the Wizard of Oz, which I hated and figured this was a ploy by the homos in my book group to inflict it upon me. Despite my skepticism, I actually enjoyed the beginning of the book because it created a nice imaginary world populated by interesting characters, including the young witch from her birth. But then it kind of fell apart and the more I read the less I liked (this was pretty much a consensus view of the group) because it had the reader being sympathetic to the witch and then turned her into a paranoid loon. I realize that in real life that people are capable of extreme changes but those are usually nutjobs and it's the job of fiction writers to adhere to some sort of consistency in their characters. So I would not recommend it although it was fairly well written beyond my specific criticisms.

Made a bit of progress in "Red Fortress" by Catherine Merridale about the history of the Kremlin. I just finished the first chapter where it talks about the early stages of Russia where the Viking Rus proceeded from the north and pretty much kicked ass on the Slavs before coexisting with them centered in Kiev. Then with their interactions with Constantinople, including pounding them briefly, they adopted Christianity, but it was the Byzantine variety which pretty much sealed up a specific difference from the Roman version. Then the Mongol Horde invaded and slattered everybody and they had to live as subjects of them and figure out how to weasel their way into gaining power kind of on the sly. The main centers migrated from Kiev to Vladimir and finally to Moscow, which was really a backwoods place on the river surrounded by extremely thick forests. This book is very densely written but Merridale has a very readable style, as I initially discovered in "Ivan's War".

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 22, 2013 08:00 AM (bJc8P)

51 Well kids, back to writing, on Chapter 20 of a guesstimated 70. Later kids and if you aint readin one, you should be writing one.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at December 22, 2013 08:00 AM (XIxXP)

52 OM Yeah, I guess I could have read all the way to end of the thread. My mistake But do send me the info. I always enjoy hearing from AoSHQ authors, and there's a surprisingly large number of them.

Posted by: OregonMuse at December 22, 2013 08:00 AM (fd0Pp)

53 I want to see the original picture. Link OM?

Posted by: Weirddave at December 22, 2013 08:00 AM (N/cFh)

Just finished Go Down Together, the (probably best sourced) story of Bonnie & Clyde. Talk about disadvantaged youths, Bonnie & Clyde certainly fell in that category. No excuses for their life of crime, but their life as kids and on the run sure didn't have any of the glamour portrayed in the Dunaway/Beatty movie. Whatever happened to Faye Dunaway, anyway? Absolutely gorgeous, good actress, great counterpart to Beatty.

If anyone is crazy enough to want to get the real story about life in an early 60's fraternity at an all male college, try The Real Animal House. It tells the story of the people behind the characters in the movie. A hard drinking, chain smoking, hard core wenching, totally non-PC interval of life that's long gone. I think the people in the book spilled out of the pages and became the cast of Mad Men in real life.

Posted by: RM at December 22, 2013 08:01 AM (fRppw)

55 Recommending again "Idiot Girl's Guide to Christmas" by Laurie Notaro. Hilarious Christmas stories, short and funny and very relatable. I have given a number of copies as gifts over the years and everyone laughs until they cry. Also as mentioned last two weeks, working my way through "big book of Christmas mysteries" and it is a really good compendium of short mysteries written with a Christmas theme. Now I am going to run around my house like a chicken with my head cut off because I am hosting a cookie baking palooka at my house in 3 hours and no I am not ready. At. All.

Posted by: Paranoidgirlinseattle at December 22, 2013 08:01 AM (RZ8pf)

56 I was under the impression that the late Iain Banks was quite the liberal. Was I misinformed?

Posted by: BornLib at December 22, 2013 08:02 AM (zpNwC)

57 I don't contribute to his passions of killing Jews and erasing Israel.

Posted by: Inspector Cussword at December 22, 2013 11:58 AM (zZ+Bs)

But what does he think of the juggernaut that is China?

Posted by: Thomas Friedman at December 22, 2013 08:03 AM (QFxY5)

58 Palooka? Oops palooza. I don't know what a palooka is but it probably doesnt involve cookies!!

Posted by: Paranoidgirlinseattle at December 22, 2013 08:04 AM (RZ8pf)

59 "I don't buy Israeli-sourced products or food, and my partner and I try to support Palestinian-sourced products wherever possible."

Posted by: Iain Banks at December 22, 2013 08:05 AM (QFxY5)

60 The Kindle Fantasy Daily Deal is $1.99 for The Black Prism by Brent Weeks. http://tinyurl.com/nvbsdes I haven't read this one yet, but I did read his debut novel The Way of Shadows and enjoyed it. I hear that his skills as an author have only improved.

Posted by: BornLib at December 22, 2013 08:05 AM (zpNwC)

61 Poking around on my Kindle, I found this thing called "Encounter with Tiber" by Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes that I really don't remember buying. It might have been one of Vic's "buy it quick 'cause it's on sale" things that I snatched up while the snatching was good.

Read it and enjoyed it, although I found the first part of the book annoying; that part is backstory leading up to the finding of alien artifacts on the moon, and I was impatient to get to the alien artifacts. That said, it's interesting in that it's largely an alternate history of the space program since the mid-90s. Wasn't when it was written, of course, but is now.

Wound up enjoying it.

After "Encounter with Tiber", I went back to the 4-in-1 George Gently collection that I bought because my local PBS stations don't give me Brit mysteries on a reliable schedule. They seem to be much more interested in replaying entire seasons of Downton Abbey than showing me Inspector Random McBritish.

I hadn't really enjoyed the first book, "Gently Does It". I found it a bit of a slog stylistically and, half-way through, decided that I didn't particularly care about any of the characters and wasn't really interested in whodunnit (oddly enough, the spellchecking in this browser that insists in telling me that "spellchecking" isn't a word doesn't seem to have a problem with whodunnit).

That hasn't been the case with the second book, "Gently By the Shore". I've been enjoying that one immensely.

Posted by: Anachronda at December 22, 2013 08:06 AM (U82Km)

62 my partner and I try to support Palestinian-sourced products wherever possible."

Posted by: Iain Banks at December 22, 2013 12:05 PM (QFxY5)

What do the palis make besides IEDs?

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 22, 2013 08:07 AM (bJc8P)

63 53 I want to see the original picture. Link OM? http:// midlifemakeunder.com/ wp-content/ uploads/ 2012/ 12/ drunkensanta.jpg

Posted by: OregonMuse at December 22, 2013 08:07 AM (fd0Pp)

64 What do the palis make besides IEDs? They make themselves into tiny, tiny pieces and scatter them over a wide area.

Posted by: --- at December 22, 2013 08:08 AM (MMC8r)

65 And in reference to MS Word and reformatting on the fly for bargain prices - really look into Open Office - it has a lot of usability and can convert to/from MS Word/Excel/Etc formats easily and - wait for it- it is free. Free. And it runs on very modest hardware without a hiccup. Go here: http://www.openoffice.org/ It's only 137 mb or so.

Posted by: Inspector Cussword at December 22, 2013 08:08 AM (zZ+Bs)

66 I'm actually reading something for a change. I'm a quarter of the way in Brandon Sanderson's new-ish novel, Steelheart. I predicted that the premise would be kind of like GRRM's Wild Cards superhero universe only not full of liberal bullshit, and so far I was right.

Posted by: BornLib at December 22, 2013 08:09 AM (zpNwC)

67 Going to try "Give Us A Kiss"; thanks for the tip, Captain.

Posted by: RM at December 22, 2013 08:10 AM (fRppw)

68 I placed "Happy Happy Happy" by Phil Robertson on reserve at the library, but I'm snowed in and don't know if I'll be able to make it there today or not.

Posted by: grammie winger at December 22, 2013 08:11 AM (P6QsQ)

If Travers was a follower of Gurdjieff, then it's just as well spirituality was left out of the Disney version of Mary Poppins. Gurdjieff followers were the sort of well-heeled flakes who would be New Agers today, convinced of the healing powers of crystals and auras and astrology and all sorts of piffle. The fact that Travers and Yeats and some other prominent writers and artists were Gurdjieff disciples doesn't make him any less of a charlatan.

The only positive, I guess, is that it was certainly preferable to being a disciple of Marx and Lord knows a lot of writers and artists fell for that crap.

Posted by: Donna V. at December 22, 2013 08:11 AM (R3gO3)

70 I thought Mary Poppins was a good movie and here is the main reason why

http://www.shorpy.com/node/16666?size=_original#caption

Posted by: Vic[/i] at December 22, 2013 08:15 AM (T2V/1)

71 Daily reminder: If the Duck Commander was a homosexual atheist who had merely stated that he thinks the age of consent should be lowered to 13, he wouldn't have been suspended.

Posted by: WOW at December 22, 2013 08:18 AM (6j8ke)

72 If the Duck Commander was a homosexual atheist who had merely stated that he thinks the age of consent should be lowered to 13, he wouldn't have been suspended. Don't be ridiculous.

Posted by: Roman Polanski at December 22, 2013 08:19 AM (MMC8r)

73 @60, I read Brent Weeks' 'Black Prism' and enjoyed all it's 800 or so pages, the story never flagged at all. Has a really interesting magic system and liked the characters. Look forward to moving on to 'The Blinding Knife', book 2 in the series. Re-read 'Rendezvous With Rama' by Arthur C Clarke this week. The characters are mostly forgettable but Rama itself is so awesome it makes up for it. I'm thinking of trying to read one of the sequels, though most people don't like them.

Posted by: waelse1 at December 22, 2013 08:20 AM (jCUPn)

74 I don't know about Mary Poppins, but I read - or rather, tried to read - Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio. On the whole, the Disney version is much better. Sure, in the original, the puppet behaves much worse than Disney's, who is basically a good boy led astray. Thus, Disney's character is kind of bland. Still, the original book is rambling, repetitive, and much more shrill in its moralistic tone. Plus, Disney's Blue Lady is one glamorously hot blonde, while Collodi's fairy is a dumpy little Italian girl who becomes a rather matronly woman.

Posted by: Pete in TX at December 22, 2013 08:21 AM (E9CXB)

75 OM Thx. Heh. I challenge the moron who says he wouldn't do the exact same thing on 12/26 if he had Santa's job and responsibilities.

Posted by: Weirddave at December 22, 2013 08:22 AM (N/cFh)

76 I thought Mary Poppins was a good movie Even though Dick Van Dyke won the 'Worst British Accent' award from some English newspaper.

Posted by: OregonMuse at December 22, 2013 08:22 AM (fd0Pp)

77 OM Will do. It is my first published story and I am looking forward to it. LIsa Chen is doing the cover art. Not sure who she is, but she is supposed to be quite good from what I have heard.

Posted by: Dandolo at December 22, 2013 08:22 AM (0XBx+)

78 Re-read 'Rendezvous With Rama' by Arthur C Clarke this week. The characters are mostly forgettable but Rama itself is so awesome it makes up for it. I'm thinking of trying to read one of the sequels, though most people don't like them. Rama's appeal is the magnificence of the environment, it's not strong on a lot of things beyond that, like further plot, or the ending. I'd agree with general opinion on the sequels. Sometimes less is more.

Posted by: --- at December 22, 2013 08:23 AM (MMC8r)

79 65 And in reference to MS Word and reformatting on the fly for bargain prices - really look into Open Office - it has a lot of usability and can convert to/from MS Word/Excel/Etc formats easily and - wait for it- it is free. Free. And it runs on very modest hardware without a hiccup. Go here: http://www.openoffice.org/ It's only 137 mb or so. Posted by: Inspector Cussword at December 22, 2013 12:08 PM (zZ+Bs) I have OpenOffice, but files formatted in Word often look very different when opened in OpenOffice. It will open them, though.

Posted by: rickl at December 22, 2013 08:26 AM (sdi6R)

80 Book rec: Extinction Point by Paul Antony Jones Nasty Aliens Plausible scenario compared to most in books of this sort.

Posted by: eman at December 22, 2013 08:27 AM (EWsrI)

81 47 Ian Banks was an anti-semitic socialist fool who licked the taint of the PLO. Luckily, the piece of offal died in June. I don't read his works so that I don't contribute to his passions of killing jews and erasing Israel. Posted by: Inspector Cussword at December 22, 2013 11:58 AM (zZ+Bs) Yeah, I thought it was something like that.

Posted by: BornLib at December 22, 2013 08:27 AM (zpNwC)

82 Picked up 'Anthem,' "Last Man on Earth,' and 'Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganymede' e-books this week. Only had time to read about 1/3 of Anthem so far.

Posted by: --- at December 22, 2013 08:28 AM (MMC8r)

83 re: the pressure relief hysterical rant

for anyone interested.
The software in question

Sigil
http://code.google.com/p/sigil/
(from our good friends at Google an epub editor (only saves in epub format), but it is an editor unlike :

Calibre which is only a reader but also converts file formats (and produces good output for kindle awz3, and reads all the e-book formats
http://calibre-ebook.com/

and
Scrivener (for Mac and Windows)
(free to try for 30 days, $40 to buy) editor (with features to 'help' organize) (won't read epub)
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php

Posted by: Paperback Writer returns calm and centered at December 22, 2013 08:30 AM (Ab4GL)

84 Why does Santa Claus always have to be white? Why not a black Santa Claus? Does a white Santa visit black children in black neighborhoods? I think President Obama should do something about this next year.

Posted by: Chrissy Liebowitz at December 22, 2013 08:30 AM (iB0Q2)

85 63 53 I want to see the original picture. Link OM? http:// midlifemakeunder.com/ wp-content/ uploads/ 2012/ 12/ drunkensanta.jpg Posted by: OregonMuse at December 22, 2013 12:07 PM (fd0Pp) Yeah, I've seen that one before. The picture of the Nancy Grace Army is more disturbing, though.

Posted by: rickl at December 22, 2013 08:30 AM (sdi6R)

86 "Last Man on Earth,' Crap, meant 'I Am Legend.' I always transpose the film title.

Posted by: --- at December 22, 2013 08:31 AM (MMC8r)

Posted by: rickl at December 22, 2013 11:45 AM (sdi6R) The Welfare Queen story is amazing. What an evil POS that woman was. What seems unbelievable is that she could transform her appearance so dramatically that she could appear to be different races and decades younger than she was. Maybelline doesn't produce such miracles for me.

A certain sort of pyschopath appears to have that ability - look at pictures of Charles Manson and Ted Bundy taken at various points in their lives. Bundy in particular could look completely different from year to year. That's especially strange when you consider that he did it without cosmetics or wigs.

It's almost like they can change their appearance at will because there is no real human personality there - just evil which can assume any form.

Posted by: Donna V. at December 22, 2013 08:36 AM (R3gO3)

88 I thought I'd pick up the Washington Post for a good Sunday rainy day reading of the Style and Travel sections . I was braced for impact, but ye gods -- "In the Land of Wal-Mart, a Cultural Renaissance"; ((performance artist)) "Chris Burden Gives Masculinity a Shot in the Arm" ((literally))...is there no escape? I cracked open "Ivan's War" but I can already tell I'm not ready. I've shifted to "Monster Hunter International".

Posted by: All Hail Eris at December 22, 2013 08:36 AM (QBm1P)

89 >>> try to support Palestinian-sourced products wherever possible So, the cupboard is bare?

Posted by: fluffy & sensitive at December 22, 2013 08:39 AM (Ua6T/)

90 Just wondering, has anyone read Fred Gipson's original novel of Old Yeller? Any chance he was a Russian mystic, or presented from the dog's POV, or spoke out for the rights of rabid animals...

Just waiting for O.Y. to turn out to be a gay leg-humper.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at December 22, 2013 08:40 AM (xq1UY)

91 I read one book by Joyce Carol Oates years ago and that was enough for me. I don't even remember which one it was, only that I found her boring and depressing. She's also a raving moonbat.

Posted by: Donna V. at December 22, 2013 08:40 AM (R3gO3)

92 As I mentioned earlier in the week, I finished Barbara Tuchman's "The Guns of August." Just friggin' excellent. Another of her works, "A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century" is also very, very good.

With the anniversary of The Great War coming up, it is a good time to learn about it.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at December 22, 2013 08:41 AM (V70Uh)

93 76 Even though Dick Van Dyke won the 'Worst British Accent' award from some English newspaper.

Posted by: OregonMuse at December 22, 2013 12:22 PM (fd0Pp)

You notice I did not put up a picture of DVD.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at December 22, 2013 08:42 AM (T2V/1)

94 Posted by: Captain Hate at December 22, 2013 12:00 PM (bJc8P)

Thanks for this. I love Russian history and never heard of Merridale. I checked her out and am going to start with Night of Stone. Merry Christmas to me!

Posted by: gracepmc at December 22, 2013 08:42 AM (rznx3)

I liked the part where the young Sailor caught her without her make-up and recoiled in horror. It made me laugh. Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at December 22, 2013 11:54 AM (XIxXP)

I immediately thought of that ungallant line from " Maggie May": "The morning sun when it's in your face really shows your age."

Posted by: Donna V. at December 22, 2013 08:43 AM (R3gO3)

"A certain sort of pyschopath appears to have that ability - look at pictures of Charles Manson and Ted Bundy taken at various points in their lives. Bundy in particular could look completely different from year to year."

This does seem true. There is an eerie YouTube video about Susan Atkins (think it is called Chameleon) where she shows completely different looks at different times. Same with the guy who killed the people on Palmyra Island that was the subject of Vincent Bugliosi's book "And the Sea Will Tell".

Posted by: RM at December 22, 2013 08:43 AM (fRppw)

97 Finished a mystery called "Absence of Mercy" which I gave a compromise rating of 3 at the library where I got it - glad I didn't buy it. The story was OK although I figured it out too early: what I think was supposed to be a hint was, thanks to my habit of watching "Law & Order", a dead giveaway. But the author tried way, way too hard with his descriptive prose and everything that wasn't plot or dialog was way, way over written. I'm listening to "Atlas Shrugged" in the car and may I just say that if you look up "overwritten" in the dictionary, you will find Ayn Rand's picture next to it. Holy cow, can't Dagny just turn off a light? Instead, the sweep of her arm turned off the light and (did something else) in one motion. Oy vey maria, I will never survive Galt's speech. On the brighter side, the reader is doing an outstanding job. I am still reading David Stockman's "The Great Deformation" and still liking it. There's a fair bit of business/finance-speak that I don't get, and there's no financial dictionary attached to my kindle so I keep having to make mental notes to look up something or other later. What the hell is a "put" anyway? And I am also reading "Catholicism Pure and Simple" by Fr. Dwight Longenecker who blogs at Patheos. I really have to make up my mind one of these days.

Posted by: Tonestaple at December 22, 2013 08:44 AM (B7YN4)

98 #88 Monster Hunter International is a great series - there's a version with all 3 of the first novels in it for like 10 bucks for Kindle/Nook called The Monster Hunters. The author is a good guy, fun action, big guns, neat characters. I'm looking forward to some of his other books as soon as I get a full time position so I can afford buying new books.

Posted by: Inspector Cussword at December 22, 2013 08:46 AM (zZ+Bs)

99 Hey Muse did you hack into our family pics? I don't know how else you would have got a copy of my prep for a PTA meeting. Also recommend Gardner's Grendel. I am surprised more of author-type morons have not mentioned his books on writing which are pretty darn good.

Posted by: The Poster Formerly Known as Mr. Barky at December 22, 2013 08:46 AM (me6Uc)

100 Atlas Shrugged could have been shortened by 150 pages w/o a hiccup. Russian writers all have diarrhea of the pen.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at December 22, 2013 08:47 AM (T2V/1)

101 I'm listening to "Atlas Shrugged" in the car and may I just say that if you look up "overwritten" in the dictionary, you will find Ayn Rand's picture next to it. This is absolutely right, but on the other hand, with the things that are going on today, that woman is turning out to be a real prophet.

Posted by: OregonMuse at December 22, 2013 08:48 AM (fd0Pp)

102 OT, but important. Mark Steyn apparently has displeased his editor at NR http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/366943/re-education-camp-mark-steyn I stand with Steyn.

Posted by: USA at December 22, 2013 08:48 AM (VIaw0)

103 87 It's almost like they can change their appearance at will because there is no real human personality there - just evil which can assume any form. Posted by: Donna V. at December 22, 2013 12:36 PM (R3gO3) There was an old Twilight Zone episode about a two-bit criminal who could change his appearance at will, based on photos he had seen. His undoing came when he assumed the appearance of a person who someone else was out gunning for.

Posted by: rickl at December 22, 2013 08:49 AM (sdi6R)

104 I'm looking forward to some of his other books as soon as I get a full time position so I can afford buying new books.

Posted by: Inspector Cussword at December 22, 2013 12:46 PM (zZ+Bs)

---------------

I hardly ever buy books for myself. I find that I really do not re-read many books, so borrowing them from the library works out fine for me, and doesn't cost me a thing. With inter-library loan, I can get pretty much anything I like.

On the other hand, I do buy books for other people. Everyone in my family gets at least one book for Christmas, and always has, for at least the last 30 years.

Posted by: grammie winger at December 22, 2013 08:49 AM (P6QsQ)

105 Atlas Shrugged could have been shortened by ~~150~~ 400 pages w/o a hiccup. Russian writers all have diarrhea of the pen. Fixed.

Posted by: OregonMuse at December 22, 2013 08:49 AM (fd0Pp)

106 Hellfire, the 8th book in the Worlds Away series, is out now on Kindle. Bought it on Friday morning and read it all before doing anything else. It's three short stories that move the over-all story along fairly well. The price is a little higher at $4 but at least the editing has improved. It's not spotless but the mistakes are sown to a pretty normal amount and don't detract too much from the stories.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at December 22, 2013 08:50 AM (GDulk)

107 I'm re-reading John Barth's The End of the Road. The part that fascinated me most at 16 was the doctor's prescription for a character paralyzed by indecision: Sinistrality, Antecedence and Alphabetical Priority. When you're stopped by a decision, pick the option on your left. When that doesn't apply, pick the option that occurs first in time. When neither of those, pick the option that begins with the earlier letter of the alphabet. I credit any success I have had in life to those guiding principles. Sometimes, they proved disastrous. But I've never been frozen for long. Always take psychiatric advice from fictional lunatic quacks! I tried to find the 1970 movie version for years, gave up trying, and received it as a Christmas gift a few days ago. (Released quietly on DVD last winter.) It purportedly makes a hippie mishmash of the 1958 novel, but James Earl Jones, Stacy Keach and Harris Yulin have gotta be worth watching. I'm saving it until the book is fresh and complete in my mind. Maybe Christmas night.

Posted by: Little Miss Spellcheck at December 22, 2013 08:52 AM (a5ljo)

108

"Another of her works, "A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century" is also very, very good"

Yes, it is. I've been meaning to read "Guns of August" for some time now and never got around to it, thanks for the reminder. I have a faded picture of my grandfather in his doughboy uniform but I have no idea where he served. WWI is sort of a forgotten war here, but it's when Western Civilization started its long downhill slide. Nothing but evil came from that war.

Imagine taking a Brit from 1913 and giving him a tour of present-day London. After he got over being awed by the technology - he'd burst into tears, stiff upper lip be damned.

Posted by: Donna V. at December 22, 2013 08:53 AM (R3gO3)

109 OT breaking news. Cracker Barrel surrenders to the crackers and will continue to sell.Duck stuff.

Posted by: WalrusRex at December 22, 2013 08:55 AM (E+uky)

110 I'm reading the Crowner John series by Bernard Knight. Mrs. Lester picked them up at a used bookstore and has already read them. Funny, entertaining, and excellent to read before going to bed at night.

Posted by: Lester at December 22, 2013 08:56 AM (2UPXV)

111 I somehow managed to make it to my advanced age without reading Atlas Shrugged until this week. I'm a little over halfway through. I think a lot of the moral justification of capitalism is spot on, but am rather put off by the Utopian fantasy of Galt's Gulch. (Maybe it becomes more realistic at some point?) And talk about Disney being utterly allergic to anything religious. I knew Rand was an atheist, but absolutely no mention of a Christian or Judeo-Christian moral basis in any of it so far.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon- marching to the beat of a Little Drummer Boy at December 22, 2013 08:57 AM (N/Sup)

112 Posted by: BornLib at December 22, 2013 12:05 PM (zpNwC) I really liked Black Prism but am too cheap to spring for the next segment at the price Kindle is currently asking. Hope that one ends up on the daily special at some point.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at December 22, 2013 08:58 AM (GDulk)

113 53 I want to see the original picture. Link OM? Posted by: Weirddave at December 22, 2013 12:00 PM (N/cFh) Thanks for asking, Weirddave; I wanted to see it, too. And yes I'm glad that was taken away.

Posted by: m at December 22, 2013 08:58 AM (omrQI)

114 One of my favorite subtle bits in Hot Fuzz is that one of the Turners is always reading Iain Banks whilst the other is always reading Iain M. Banks.

Posted by: alexthechick - Really Universe Really? at December 22, 2013 09:01 AM (Gk3SS)

115 "Son #1 bought this book for Daughter #1 as a Christmas present: My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales by Kate Bernheimer. " ======== A title like that I'm not sure I'd be comfortable to receive from my PARENTS....

Posted by: Sister Sestina at December 22, 2013 09:01 AM (Em6d4)

116 And I'm still studying up on socialism because, still, I don't get how people can be this gullible. Unless they all always imagine themselves in the position of dictator and never as a worker-bee. (Best part of "Atlas Shrugged" was the part where the tramp on the train explained to Dagny about the demise of the 20th Century Motor Company and the creation of the catchphrase "Who is John Galt?" Anyway, I'm about ready to throw over The Everything Guide to Socialism, in part because the author still hasn't gotten off her ass and defined her term - it's just a bunch of history outlines wihtout enough info to make anything really clear - and start on the PIG book on the subject. I also have some Mortimer Adler book about how everything will be peaches and cream and heaven on earth and everyone will be equal or something because Socialism. And a book by Eric Hobsbawm who, I understand, is a hardcore commie. I got all of these from the library, needless to say.

Posted by: Tonestaple at December 22, 2013 09:02 AM (B7YN4)

117 92 As I mentioned earlier in the week, I finished Barbara Tuchman's "The Guns of August."

Me too, in October.

Had my breath taken away by this description of the German political leader, Matthias Erzberger. Can you think of any modern Democrats that this CANNOT be said of:

She/he "has no convictions, but only appetites".

Posted by: Kouper at December 22, 2013 09:04 AM (YBusZ)

118 111, Seamus, I have noticed in listening to the book that she does, from time to time, make the merest mention of what would be religion or Christianity by implication. She invariably gets it wrong, saying that Christianity requires total self-sacrifice. The poor girl never outgrew Russia, I think is most of the problem.

Posted by: Tonestaple at December 22, 2013 09:07 AM (B7YN4)

119

#115

Sister Sestina, that title is a direct quote from the Grimm fairy tale, "The Juniper Tree".

Posted by: Pete in TX at December 22, 2013 09:08 AM (E9CXB)

120 92 As I mentioned earlier in the week, I finished Barbara Tuchman's "The Guns of August." Just friggin' excellent. Another of her works, "A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century" is also very, very good. With the anniversary of The Great War coming up, it is a good time to learn about it. Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at December 22, 2013 12:41 PM (V70Uh) The Guns of August is simply one of the best books I have ever read. It is an absolute thriller and page-turner from start to finish. Which is pretty good for a history book. Like I said in an earlier comment, "You can't make this stuff up." I have not read this book, but it's probably pretty timely: Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce http://tinyurl.com/mszzf2d So after the Battle of the Marne, the trench lines solidified and neither side could make progress. Then in the fall came the bloody First Battle of Ypres, which decimated the prewar British Army and which the Germans called "The Slaughter of the Innocents". On Christmas 1914, soldiers in the trenches on both sides decided they'd had enough and came out to celebrate Christmas together. They traded food and cigarettes and played soccer together. It was practically a spontaneous mutiny by common soldiers on both sides. Officers had to order them back into the trenches and start shooting at each other again. Maybe some aspiring fiction writer could write an alternative-history novel where the truce stuck and World War I was called off by popular consent.

Posted by: rickl at December 22, 2013 09:08 AM (sdi6R)

121 Just got the Monster Hunters combined edition after so many recommendations here. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Posted by: Empire1 at December 22, 2013 09:13 AM (yuHtB)

122 Going to try "Give Us A Kiss"; thanks for the tip, Captain.

Posted by: RM at December 22, 2013 12:10 PM (fRppw)

Hope you enjoy it. Mrs H wasn't too enamored with it but our tastes are wildly different.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 22, 2013 09:14 AM (bJc8P)

123 And a book by Eric Hobsbawm who, I understand, is a hardcore commie.

Was. He's now in the vanguard of Satan's barbecue.

Posted by: pep at December 22, 2013 09:16 AM (6TB1Z)

124 Damn you, amazon. I just put "Red Fortress" on my wish list and it suggested "The Tragedy of Liberation" about newly Red China in the years from 1949 to the first great famine. Of course I bought it. I'm an idiot.

Posted by: Tonestaple at December 22, 2013 09:19 AM (B7YN4)

125 Pleasant surprise -- "The Intercept" by Dick Wolf. I was looking for a page-turner in the Overdrive e-book section of my library. Downloaded this book and it grabbed me from the beginning. Reminiscent of the Nelson DeMille "John Correy" books about the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force. If anything, I think that Wolf's book is superior to DeMille's books. If you like DeMille's stuff you will probably like this book. "The Intercept" deals with a very sophisticated Wahhabi Jihadist attack on New York City. Clever plot twists and believable characters, without stereotypes. What's weird about this is the author -- Dick Wolf, creator of TV's "Law and Order" series. This book has none of the knee-jerk leftism and anti-Americanism that characterized so many L&O (SVU & CI) episodes. It is completely patriotic. There is no sympathy for the Wahhabi jihadists but they are not caricatures. Recommended without reservation. Don't let your negative feelings about L&O tv stop you from trying this book.

Posted by: Doug at December 22, 2013 09:19 AM (Zer4j)

126 That's cheerful, Pep, 123. Thank you.

Posted by: Tonestaple at December 22, 2013 09:19 AM (B7YN4)

127 119 #115 Sister Sestina, that title is a direct quote from the Grimm fairy tale, "The Juniper Tree". Posted by: Pete in TX at December 22, 2013 01:08 PM (E9CXB) ======= Oh I knew that, "tweet tweet what a beautiful bird I am". Point remains.

Posted by: Sister Sestina at December 22, 2013 09:24 AM (Em6d4)

128 Hugh Hewitt's radio show introduced me to C. J. Box's books. A favorite of Hewitt. I've read most of the "Joe Pickett" books as well as many of Box's non-Pickett books. All good. Like Silva, you could start with the beginning of the series, but it is not really necessary. Like Silva, Box is getting better and better.

Posted by: Doug at December 22, 2013 09:26 AM (Zer4j)

129 Posted by: Stringer Davis at December 22, 2013 12:40 PM (xq1UY) Read it a couple of times as a kid. It's been 20 years or so since I've read it or seen the movie but as far as I remember the movie did a decent job of following the book.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at December 22, 2013 09:29 AM (GDulk)

130 98 #88 Monster Hunter International is a great series - there's a version with all 3 of the first novels in it for like 10 bucks for Kindle/Nook called The Monster Hunters. The author is a good guy, fun action, big guns, neat characters. I'm looking forward to some of his other books as soon as I get a full time position so I can afford buying new books. Posted by: Inspector Cussword at December 22, 2013 12:46 PM (zZ+Bs) Larry Correia's Grimnoir Chronicles and Dead Six series are both phenomenal. I like them even better than the Monster Hunter books.

Posted by: BornLib at December 22, 2013 09:47 AM (zpNwC)

131 Larry Correia posts on Facebook fairly often and he's always fun to read, especially when lefty heads explode.

Posted by: Tonestaple at December 22, 2013 09:58 AM (B7YN4)

132 Why was I not informed that Joyce Carol Oates was hot? Heads will roll.

Posted by: Dave M at December 22, 2013 10:09 AM (dbm77)

133 Hot? She was kind of attractive about a million years ago, but that ship done sailed...

Posted by: rickl at December 22, 2013 10:17 AM (sdi6R)

134 #50 The stage version of Wicked is much more enjoyable than the book. It is also, although evrryone involved would probably freak if you told them, a very conservative work...

Posted by: Richard McEnroe at December 22, 2013 10:21 AM (O2B/H)

135 Oh, my, no. The modern world still tries to eradicate evil. They've just redefined the evil. That old stuff in the Ten Commandments? Not Evil. Calling your sports team "The Indians"? Implying most females might be undersized to do fire rescue work? Other stuff like that? EEEEEEEEvvvviiiiiilllllllll!!!

Posted by: Mikeski at December 22, 2013 10:32 AM (Zlc1W)

136 " Oy vey maria, I will never survive Galt's speech. On the brighter side, the reader is doing an outstanding job. "

I had to check the book out of the library 3 times before I could get through his "speech". I finally got through it and it did make sense.

If brevity is the soul of wit, Ayn Rand was witless.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at December 22, 2013 10:35 AM (V70Uh)

137 In a casual mention in a novel I read, someone mentioned an opera of "Atlas Shrugged." What made it funny was the reference to the 7-hour aria of John Galt's big speech.

Posted by: Tonestaple at December 22, 2013 10:43 AM (B7YN4)

138 Whatever its flaws, Atlas Shrugged is one of the greatest novels ever written, because of the ideas and concepts it contains. The three most important novels of the 20th Century were Brave New World, 1984, and Atlas Shrugged. Only Atlas Shrugged held out hope for a positive future for humanity.

Posted by: rickl at December 22, 2013 11:05 AM (sdi6R)

139 This is great. We are discussing Atlas Shrugged on both active threads.

btw, This is the SUNDAY FOOTBALL THREAD! Don't come here and call us bad names. If, Mr. High and Mighty, you don't want to tarnish your high morals by watching NFL games, fine. Just don't come here and call us names, fucking retard.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at December 22, 2013 11:08 AM (V70Uh)

140 Oops. I meant to post that on the other thread. I have them both up in different tabs.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at December 22, 2013 11:09 AM (V70Uh)

141 Oops. I meant to post that on the other thread. I have them both up in different tabs.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at December 22, 2013 11:09 AM (V70Uh)

142 So does that mean this is the thread for complaining about football?

Posted by: rickl at December 22, 2013 11:17 AM (sdi6R)

143 Only if there is a book about which you want to discuss.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at December 22, 2013 11:18 AM (V70Uh)

144 I've read and enjoyed both the CJ Box Pickett series and Johnson's Longmire series. Pickett's family of girls seems to be in grave danger to a ridiculous extent and that gives me the eyerolls on occasion, but the stories are engrossing.

I prefer the Longmire series--moron-worthy characters, and lots more humor.

Posted by: April at December 22, 2013 11:26 AM (FjIA5)

145 No question, rickl. I can't tell you how many times I have thought about the prophetic-ness of AS while listening to it. As a matter of fact, there is some new regulation out and about wherein employees of a federal contractor must be hired by a new federal contractor taking over the job done by the previous FC, and it doesn't sound like the employees have any say in the matter. Why, hello, Directive 10-289, I didn't expect you to be here quite so soon.

Posted by: Tonestaple at December 22, 2013 11:29 AM (B7YN4)

146 Box's Pickett series is excellent.

Posted by: Aristomenes at December 22, 2013 11:43 AM (sc25H)

147 Joyce Carol Oates scissoring Helen Thomas.

*drops mic*

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at December 22, 2013 11:35 AM (oFCZn)

*takes aim*

*drops Dack Thrombosis*

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at December 22, 2013 11:45 AM (yh0zB)

148 *calls in MLRS on Dack's position*

Precision is irrelevant.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at December 22, 2013 11:53 AM (LrtOu)

149 And here is the irony of the Sunday Book Thread. Sunday is one of the few days I have time to read, but then I come here and spend hours reading this thread instead of a book.

Posted by: BornLib at December 22, 2013 12:15 PM (zpNwC)

150 #30

If your machine is really old, your best bet is to get install files for Office 2000. That was the last version that didn't require activation but you can get a free add-on from Microsoft (File Format Converter) to let it load the newer DOCX format and save to it.

Calibre and Sigil are free, so it just becomes a matter of whether your PC can run them properly.

Another item to consider is Atlantis Word Processor. It's only $35, has very low system requirements, and will save directly to EPUB. From there you can do tweaking in Sigil and use Calibre to convert to a Kindle supported format. It's essentially a clone of Word 2003, with the only major deficit being the lack of table support.

KindleGen (free from Amazon) will convert from EPUB to Kindle but the last time I tried it produce files twice as large as they should be.

Posted by: Epobirs at December 22, 2013 01:26 PM (bPxS6)

151 Rama's appeal is the magnificence of the environment, it's not strong on a lot of things beyond that, like further plot, or the ending.

I'd agree with general opinion on the sequels. Sometimes less is more.

Posted by: --- at December 22, 2013 12:23 PM (MMC8r)

I'm a big Clarke fan and was kind of underwhelmed by Rama, unlike a lot of other readers. It was well written and all; it just didn't have a compelling concept to get across imo compared to "Childhood's End" or "The City and the Stars". It was still worth reading.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 22, 2013 02:21 PM (Rft+P)

152 Halfway through Steelheart now and Sanderson has brought out a theme that was also significant in his Mistborn trilogy. I don't want to say more because it could spoil the second Mistborn novel.

Posted by: BornLib at December 22, 2013 04:05 PM (zpNwC)

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