I have missed seeing what others are reading and getting recommendations, so I thought I would revive this feature. We now have a topic in the forum, so if you’d like to be included, please post them there, or send me a direct message through the forum.
Zwak: Kafka on the Shore – A tale of two men, one a 15-year-old runaway avoiding an Oedipal fate, or simply searching for a lost mother and sister, and the other a simple man, who lost his smarts in a childhood accident during the war, but gained the ability to talk to cats. Or, he might have lost half his shadow, thus only seeming to be slow.
Haruki Murakami is a hard author to describe. He works, sometimes, on the edge of magical realism a la Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but does it in such a low-key, matter-of-fact manner that it seems commonplace in the worlds he creates. But, even with all the seeming modern western-isms his Japan contains and operates around, he is the only author I know of who will reflect on the darker moments of that country’s past; works of his have reflected on Japan’s invasion and occupation of Manchuria and dealt with issues surrounding the Sarin gas attack on Tokyo’s subway system.
At this point, I have read probably 10 or 12 of his novels, and have never been disappointed. I may not fully understand where he is going with the story at the start, nor be able to describe it afterward, but I trust him as an author and know I will enjoy the endpoint. He is very accessible, yet will draw you into a very deep and profound place.
DEG: A Collectors View: The SMLE: Rifle, Short, Magazine, Lee-Enfield 1903-1989 by Lance Lysiuk – This is a good reference for collectors of Lee-Enfield rifles. It covers only the SMLE (Short, Magazine, Lee-Enfield) series. It starts with the SMLE Mk I and goes until the end of production in India in the 1980s. It has information on all variations of the SMLE except for .22 training rifle conversions. It does not cover any other Lee-Enfield such as the No. 4 rifle. It includes some information on bayonets and ammunition. The book is well organized. It has lots of pictures to help a collector identify rifles. The author self-published this book. He should have had an editor go through it. There are typos and grammar mistakes. The book is only available from the author, who posts on milsurps.com and gunboards.com, unless you find a used copy floating around.
Amazons! edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson – A collection of fantasy short stories where women characters are the main characters and most are written by women. The editor’s blurbs introducing each story are annoying. Despite my not liking her writing, she picked some good authors. The collection opens with a story from C. J. Cherryh which I think is an excellent story. Unfortunately, there are several stories in the collection that are not good stories and are poorly written.
A Plague Upon Our House: My Fight at the Trump White House to Stop COVID From Destroying America by Scott Atlas – I thought about writing a longer article about this book but I never had the time. Atlas shows the inner working of the White House during his time there. He ends the book with a summary of science about masking and lockdowns.
Slumbrew: I was burning through the Neal Asher books – just polished off The Rise of the Jain trilogy. The man can write. That said, I needed a break from SF, so:
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe. I think some other Glibs had mentioned it but, man, what a great book. I had some knowledge of The Troubles but this really brought it to life. Enjoyable to read despite the somewhat heavy subject matter. Highly recommended.
The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes. Say Nothing was so good that I decided to keep going with non-fiction; I actually bought this years ago (2016!?) but just started it in the last couple of days. It’s already compelling and, given current events, enraging.
From the introduction alone:”Yet Washington was doing all the wrong things. Officials in the capital seemed arrogant, obsessed with numbers, and oblivious to the pain the nation was suffering.” All too familiar.
Fourscore: The Adventures of the Mountain Men Edited by Stephan Brennan. True Tales of Hunting, Trapping, Fighting, Adventure and Survival.
Hayeksplosives: I’m reading Mossad by Michael Bar-Zohar and Nissan Michel. Well-written; looks at both the great successes and the colossal blunders of the Mossad. The details of the Syrians’ pursuit of nukes with help from North Korea in 2007 were new to me.
Pistoffnick: Cache Lake Country: Or, Life in the North Woods by John J. Rowlands. I downloaded Drop City by T.C. Boyle (thanks to Tonio for the recommendation) and Freehold Resistance by Michael Z. Williamson (I can’t remember which Glib recommended that, but, also, thank you).
Tulip: The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History by Kassia St. Clair. This book covers fabric from Egyptian linen to the Apollo program space suits. Fascinating.
Riven: The Fermatata by Nicholson Baker. Another SugarFree recommendation in my life. I haven’t finished it yet, but I will say that it delights and astonishes. Not my usual but nice; some segments are worth a reread.
Old Man With Candy: Geek alert! I’ve had some reading time in the past weeks while splitting shifts with WebDom watching over SP. So actually, you know, read a few books. Now some might think that an undergrad-level textbook on quantum mechanics would be a boring way to while away the hours when not leering at the nurses, but that’s because they haven’t read David Griffiths’s delightful Introduction to Quantum Mechanics. I so wish this text had been around when I took that course, and even more, wish it had been around when I taught it. This is the clearest and most well-written text on the subject I’ve ever encountered, and by a large margin. The math level is not very onerous (basic calculus and linear algebra), but Griffiths does what nearly no other textbook author has done: really explains the physics, keeps sight of the goals in every derivation, and puts both personality and humor into the writing.
Tonio: Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. I’m coming late in life to the economics. It’s a dry read, but a worthwhile one, for anyone who has not yet dipped a toe into the economic underpinnings of libertarian thought. The Secession series by Joe Nobody and P A Troit. Written in 2014 and set in a contemporary, newly-seceded Republic of Texas. I’m reading this as research into how other writers have handled the topic. This is one of those works that you don’t like a lot, but you like well enough to keep reading – kind of like the perfunctory sex had by some old married couples. If nothing else the hilarious typos (editing, what editing?) will keep you going. Apparently there is a Jewish holiday called “Yom Kipper,” which isn’t that far off given (((their))) the near-ritual consumption of smoked fish on a bagel with a nice schmear.
I finally finished the Great North Road while on vacation. I can’t say it was worth the experience of reading 900+ pages.
Ya know, I was just commenting about RJ novels…
Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. I’m coming late in life to the economics. It’s a dry read, but a worthwhile one, for anyone who has not yet dipped a toe into the economic underpinnings of libertarian thought.
Everyone should read this book.
That was one of the first economics books I read, along with David Friedman’s stuff. It really got me hooked and I began to look for others. Hayek, von Mises. DEG is correct, for a libertarian novice it is very explanatory and makes it easier to understand the NAP.
It’s an excellent book and an easy read. A fantastic, short, insightful explanation of economics.
Believe it or not, Winter’s Heart by Robert Jordan. Somewhere shortly after Lord of Chaos the series kinda began to lose my interest. Never did finish the series. A Memory of Light is still unknown to me. After rummaging around in a few boxes I found WH and thought to myself: “Surely it can’t be as tedious as I remembered”…*200 pages later*…It sure as shit is.
P.S. You ever get your kitchen painted? If so, how’d it go?
It looks great. It is a very pale pink and so took 3 coats over the primer. Anyway, I’m happy. The color is as I envisioned it.
Glad to hear it. Don’t let us lazy, cheap skate paint slingers ever sell you short. 🙂
A painter I knew always recommended tinted primer when going light to dark or dark to light.
Is that accurate?
Absolutely. In fact, I’m currently painting a sun room that was previously painted in all white. After the homeowner had the flooring covered in an epoxy with mostly blue, grey, and white chips in the underlayer they decided to go with a dark blue ceiling and light blue walls. My boss decided to split the difference and go with a light grey primer to cover the walls, ceiling, joint compound and caulking to fill all the seams and cracks.
If I had my druthers, I would have had the primer tinted halfway between the two shades of blue but, that isn’t my decision. At least this gives me a neutral between color to work on.
Thanks!
Painting is one of those DIY skills that, the more I learn, the more I realize I should hire it out!
Painting Is a test of your willingness to endure the tedious. 65-70% of your time will be spent doing prep work and after painting clean up. The actual painting is the easy part.
I spent eight hours taping one 4 foot section of drywall. Tape, texture, and painting are best left to professionals, in my opinion.
Of course, with my destroyed shoulders, I’m having to hire everything out.
Better painting drywall than hanging drywall.
I finished out a 22 X 36 garage. I worked, worked, worked getting it to look good (still wasn’t), Then the painter came to texture the ceiling, orange peel the walls. He said, “Oh, it doesn’t have to be perfect, we’ll cover the seams anyway”
I never got very good at sheet rock finishing and never learned to like it.
TBH: I’m sorry. You’re services are not financially sustainable within the limited budget of my current employer. 😉
Ted’sssted’s: This is true. I’d rather rip out and replace a 4ft by 8ft piece of exterior wood panel siding than replace then do mud work on a 4ft by 8ft piece of interior sheetrock. Give me a tape measure, a carpenter pencil, a circular and reciprocating saw, a full tube of caulking in a gun and I’ll fix you up soon enough on an exterior. Interior work needs a reflexive/ muscle memory level of artistry I just can’t handle…sub out major interior wall work to a well referenced sheet rock crew. Painters are usually only good for a quick hot patch and smoothing out knicks, dings, and a poll sand around the preexisting drips and rough spots.
4×20: orange peel texture came into fad for a reason. Add depth to the surface while covering up mudding flaws… basically charging homeowners for thousands of dollars more to hide mudding flaws while adding an extra coat of paint to hit the under edges of texture with a layer you missed the first go around…it gives the homeowners a sense of extra work done while in actuality it saved the contractor a few hundred bucks in labor.
Been watching a lot of painter YouTube videos and they’ve been helping up my skills. Also ditching some of my dad’s imparted teachings and brand preferences.
‘brand preferences’
Just so ya know, Purdy has gone downhill since their licensing rights went to Sherwin Williams. Everything SW touches becomes cheap yet overpriced. As for now, purchase Wooster tools when available.
Also, PPG/Glidden paint is currently the best bang for your buck.
Get out of head! Purdy was the local brand, and much is still made in Portland. It’s taken a lot to jump ship to Wooster and I’m shocked at how much better it is.
Not quite ready to leave Miller but PPG is top of my list. Possibly Benjamin Moore under that. Or another local paint brand. Still have a couple around here.
In my regional experience, BM still has the best quality paint…but fuck me, it’s expensive.
We’re probably going to paint the exterior and in a different color. Not looking forward to the amount of paint required, compared to the usual one room painting jobs.
I painted the stucco and trim on my (now ex’s) house a few years ago. An airless sprayer and a snorkel lift were indispensable.
I never want to do it again.
Oh man, you gotta power through whichever plotline you don’t like. Last four chapters of Winter’s Heart are bangers.
Uncouth Response: The Perrin plot line was too much. I’m sorry. But Faile Bashere sucks as a human being. She’s a narcissistic, selfish, manipulative, morally ambiguous shithead who’s convinced a simple, unsophisticated, farm it who’s only had one taste of pussy that she’s the end , be all of existence. Perrin, the fucking idiot that he is, sacrificed the lives of thousands of others soley for the sake of that sociopathic woman…fuck them both.
*tips beer, fills the bird to romance, waves like a maniac*
🙂
*farmboy*
*…add multiple other spelling errors*
*Final thoughs*
First: I’d like to apologize if my comments came across as personally hostile. Not at all my intention.
Secondly: I can’t rightly remember if the climax to this storyline ended in Winter’s Heart or Crossroads of Twilight. All I’m saying is that Perrin and Faile we’re both willing to climb atop a mountain comprised of thousands of dead bodies for the sake of “being together”. To Hell with them both.
*cheats ahead*
Okay, I’ll give you that. I kinda forgot how many plot points were resolved or advanced at the end.
I guess after all these years my reflexive criticism was to shit on Perrin and Faile. That’s probably a reflection of my own baggage. My only defense may be that I think the angsty internal dialogue from the newly married teenagers stuck out as an annoyance.
I have three books currently going:
– A re-read of Terry Pratchett and Paul Kidby’s brilliant illustrated novel “The Last Hero” which is a sequel to “Interesting Times”.
– Greg Bear’s “Anvil of Stars,” which so far I don’t like, and which is a sequel to “The Forge of God”, which I didn’t like.
– A re-read of Orson Scott Card’s “Gatefather” the third of the “Lost Gate” trilogy. I’m going through all the books in sequence.
Other recent books are:
– “Uprooted” by Naomi Novik. I didn’t like it. The protagonist wasn’t named Mary Sue but could have been.
– “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles. Very entertaining with an excellent ending.
– “The Gates of Europe, A History of Ukraine” by Serhii Plokny. This was recommended by someone here a few weeks back and has influenced my opinion of the recent goings-on.
If it weren’t for perfunctory sex, I wouldn’t have had any sex at all for the last 16 years.
*hangs head*
You’re going to have to do better to make a Country/Western song about it. It just doesn’t scan:
(Hee haw!)
if it weren’t for perfunctory sex, I’d have no sex at all.
(/Hee haw!)
what’s that meme . . .
blah blah blah, but had sex.
Lobster bisque. That was the best part.
I’d happily take perfunctory sex over my current dry spell. Single life during middle age isn’t nearly as thrilling as it was in my twenties. Just saying.
… something about a gift horse.
I hear ya. Going on 3 years dry now. I’m not sure I remember how.
It’s just like riding a tyke.
?
Did KBJ do your sentencing?
I think you’re going to get kicked if you try to fuck the gift horse.
No guts, no nuts, no glory.
Thanks, Tulip!
Gospel of Matthew. Reading every day for Lent.
Re-read a bunch of Starting Strength to make sure I’m still dialed in.
Re-read a couple of Christopher Moore books and some other brain candy (Island of the Sequined Love Nun and Lamb). My WWI binge reads really did a number on my psyche!
Still working my way through the Gulag Archipelago (speaking of fucked up psyche)
Started How Tax Shaped Our Past and Will Change Our Future by Dominic Frisby. Interesting guy I heard on a podcast awhile back.
I’ll do better next month!
My dear mother is looking down, wishing I was more like you.
Either you or your mother don’t know Tundra too well.
Truth.
We now have a topic in the forum, so if you’d like to be included, please post them there, or send me a direct message through the forum.
What’s the deadline for the next installment?
April 20th
Thanks!
I’m going to read the “Introduction to Quantum Mechanics” book. Has anyone here ever seen Professor Brian Cox’s “A Night with the Stars” Royal Institute lecture?
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2161319/
It’s the best introduction to quantum physics I know. It’s incredibly entertaining particularly if you know who the guest celebrities are.
It’s back (thanks Tulip!) and I finally have something to say!
Every morning I read the current day’s entry of The Daily Stoic. This book is the backbone of ron73440’s great Friday afternoon series, aptly titled: Daily Stoic. So glad you started this series, Ron!
When I have time in the evenings, I’ve been reading How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius by Donald J. Robertson. It’s a good read. Part history book, part Stoicism instruction manual. And nowhere near as dry as my description just made it sound!
Occasionally I’ve been reading bits of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. However, the free Kindle version I have is an older translation, and it’s tough for me to get through all the thee’s and thou’s. I’ve decided to buy the Gregory Hayes translation that I’ve read good things about. I just haven’t hit the “buy now” button yet. Will rectify that as soon as I hit “post comment”.
My read of the moment is The Annals of the Former World, which was my Christmas gift from my son and his fiancee. It’s mostly geology, plus travel (with geologists) and biography (of geologists), but mostly geology.
I read to the missus before we go to bed, usually something about horses and/or fox hunting. Recently read Siegfried Sassoon’s Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man and we’re waiting on his Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (which is the second volume of his quasi-autobiographical Sherston novels). Starting in tonight on They Called Her Reckless.
Oh, meant to add a recommendation for Tonio – Jane Jacobs’ The Nature of Economies. It is by far the best book on economics I’ve read by a non-economist, and better than most books BY economists.
M?m… John McPhee .
Good choice JI. AFW is a good excellent read. Since it is “chaptered” so to speak, you can brush up on various parts of the I-80 corridor before travelling.
If you have a fondness for geology, there is an absolute must-drive in Wyoming. Start at Thermopolis and drive U.S. 20 south through the Wind River Canyon. Give yourself A LOT of time, because you’ll be stopping A LOT.
Turns out there is a whole, whole lot of geology that plate tectonics does not explain. Wyoming is ground zero for a lot of it. Nevada is also endlessly fascinating/frustrating for geologists.
WY is a great place for geology. There is much to see. AZ is surprisingly interesting for geology since it is part of so many geologic regions. You have a bit of everything there. HI is very straightforward. The most interesting part is the scale of volcanic collapses.
Pistoffnick, thanks for the shoutout about TC Boyle. Looking forward to your reax when you finish it.
Sorry about the other, bro.
The next deadline for submissions is April 20th. You can submit in the thread in the forum or send me a message through the forum. I will periodically post reminders (demands) for more submissions. Thanks all!
Thanks for firing it back up, Tulip.
The White Trilogy by Ken Bruen. Before his better known Jack Taylor series (made into a TV show starring that guy who played the guy who followed the dragon mother lady around in GOT) , Irish crime novelist Ken Brue wrote the Brant/Roberts books, Brant is basically Taylor but meaner, more bent and with less redeeming qualities. It’s great.
I have also been reading a collection of short stories by Caimh McDonnell, he’s a crime writer but was a comedian and his books show it. A few nights back, I woke up around 2am and grabbed my kindle to fend off the insomnia, I didn’t recognize the story, as happens when you read yourself to sleep (and like the drinky-drinky), so flipped back until I recognized the plot. “Oh that’s right it’s the comic crime guy, he’s taking the piss at classic hard boiled detective stuff” I thought to myself. He even had the cop at the scene call the over played PI ‘Mike Hammer”, this was good stuff. Three chapters later I realized/remembered that a few days ago I had bought Mickey Spillane’s I the Jury and that was what I was reading. Turns out Mickey Spillane writes really good parodies of Mickey Spillane.
Thank you Tulip for restarting this! I didn’t have anything more since I posted my last bit but maybe by next month’s…
dealt with issues surrounding the Sarin gas attack on Tokyo’s subway system
Music to accompany
https://youtu.be/zUO-REJFNcc
Thanks for reviving this, Tulip. Always one of my favorite topics.
PON: Had the neck hair raise on Cache Lake. Dad had that back in the 60’s from The Outdoor Life book club. There is one line that I’ll always remember; the protagonist had an Indian friend. One day this friend watched him from about 50 feet away for about half an hour or so, undetected. The line, “If you were a moose you would have been my dinner” has always stuck with me.
Neph: Eternally grateful for turning me on to Terry Prachett. About to finish the Watchmen series, on Thud now. Something I’ve been wondering: Is his name pronounce VEEMS or V(eye)mes?
D1 gave me a Kindle for my birthday. Been reading the Dortmunder series from Donald E. Westlake.
8️⃣5️⃣
3️⃣4️⃣
*whew*
Are you serious? I got my ass kicked today
Maybe one or two lucky guesses.
Yeah, I got two words only.
Reposting from the morning thread because I responded late to it.
5 3
7 8
I was asked what strategy I use for it because my scores tend towards good. I use PARTY and HOUSE, because I get 4 of 5 vowels and the Y, and then R, S, and T which are common, and the H can clue me in on potential ‘wh’, ‘ch’, ‘th’, and ‘sh’ possibilities, plus it’s ten different letters.
So today in the word I got in 3 guesses I had P O _ _ _ and knew S and T were not the fourth letter of a five letter word.
I went with the AUDIO and RENTS that were mentioned backthread. Didn’t do shit for me on the first word.
But yeah, I recall from a very young age reading that the most common letters are EATONRISH but I like AUDIO for getting so many vowels out there.
EERIE and than AREAR
LOL
Or better, LOLOL
8 4
7 6
The Defendant by Gillllllbert K Chasssssstertonnnnnnnn
Recently finished Fault Lines by Voddie Baucham
Im off to work kids.
Leave a light on for me.
https://youtu.be/72AVXpeo_ZI
Turn The Lights On
Put Your Lights On – Santana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCBS5EtszYI
Blinded by the Light,
Wrapped up like a Douche
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcWVL4B-4pI
Ride the Lightning – Metallica
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kli3Q4IqzVM
Little Big Town – Turn The Lights On
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W743s0ictM
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EkMWrCARxOc
You people are old.
Book 1 of The Expanse series. I’ll report back in a few years when I’m done with Book 9.
Just finished Book 7. At least now I understand (sort of) the apparently pointless Laconia plot diversion in the last season of the Amazon series.
I’m a couple seasons behind the tee-vee version. I kind of like the slower pace of a book anyway.
Season 3 was so jam-packed I had a hard time keeping up.
Unrelated: Carlton 2-0 for the first time in 10 years.
Oh, that’s back on, is it?
…
I see there is nothing on American television at all.
It’s amazing how dramatically the coverage of both soccer and footy on cable TV has diminished in recent years.
I barely watch the one and can’t watch the other.
They tried to cram too much into the season. The books are, unsurprisingly, better.
Don’t sleep on the novellas – they dive into the characters’ back stories.
I’ll recommend The Churn, if nothing else, because it’s about Amos.
I heart Amos.
Join the club.
As I mentioned, I’m certain he’s the authors’ favorite, too.
Just finished “Light Horse Harry Lee” by Ryan Cole. (Book that Fourscore was kind enough to send me.) If you think politics is vicious today, read up on the Federalist vs. Democrat-Republican fights from the Revolution through about 1820. Jefferson comes off less the saint than many of us think him to be. I just started reading “When in the Course of Human Events: Arguing the Case for Southern Secession” by Charles Adams. It seems the real reasons behind secession, and the opposition to the same, have been buried by legions of historians intent on sanctifying Abraham Lincoln. And I picked up Bernard Cornwell’s latest Sharpe novel, “Sharpe’s Assassin,” at the library today. Looks like our favorite rifleman has been given a task in Paris by the Duke after the Battle of Waterloo.
I’m just reading my textbooks. *sigh* No brain candy for me.
“Children of the Ash and Elm” by Neil Price. (2021) A study of Norse society pre and through the Viking era. He has a few sections with modern “gendering” trash thought that you can easily bypass (or scoff at) and the rest is solid.
Before Putin invaded, I started rereading “Stalingrad to Berlin” by Earl Ziemke and is part of the Army Historical Series. It is a very solid history of the East Front. I wanted to refamiliarize myself with the battlespace and recent history before the RF crossed the border. If you want to know why and where the UKR would fight Putin’s forces, this book and “Bloodlands” will get you up to date.
“The Orphan Master’s Son” by Adam Johnson. Pulitzer winner for Fiction. This is an outstanding tale of life in nK for those who are not part of the Kim Clan. If you can deal with gut kicks this is a quick read and worthwhile. If gut kicks ruin your reading, that the book in smaller chunks because it is still worth it.
Plus I read an extensive study on the Union Pacific 4884 “Big Boy” locomotive. That was, and the one remaining running example IS, an incredible tale of mechanical engineering.
‘Nothing To Envy’ is a great non fic book on NK, if you’ve not read it.
Daily Stoic, The Practicing Stoic, The DiscoursesAnd for dessert, Lord Dunsany’s The Book of Wonder.
For OMWC given his reading this month.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdZMXWmlp9g
A Feynman lecture on QM.
Currently reading Drop City thanks to the recommendation here. I’m enjoying it so far.
Also read the Scott Atlas book and A Shot to Save the World which is about the development of the vaccines. If you want the short version you can listen to the Econtalk episode with the author. Oh, and I read Immune which is a basic introduction to the immune system. Highly recommended.
Also, The Indifferent Stars Above about the Donner Party. Also highly recommended.
https://archive.ph/CL2cJ/df66bc23a685cf120cd1882d3265edb0c6990f3a.webp
NSFW.
https://thumbs2.redgifs.com/UncommonSaddlebrownYardant-mobile.mp4#t=0
NSFW.
https://i.imgur.com/CUHVUXA.mp4
NSFW.
https://archive.ph/BP5wz/b4462c3dfe69c2f5c4138c317875275d627e7f49.webp
NSFW.
I just got a job at a strip joint so this is now required reading for work.
I am currently writing something that will put every other book ever written to shame. It is a First book. A book of Firsts. It’s the First Firsting book ever assembled. It will be read by everyone after The First That Will Change Everything. Not because it is mandatory, for nothing will be mandatory after The First. But because everyone will have embraced The First.
I haven’t read any books in the last six months, unless you consider The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes a book. That Calvin is something else. He’s always talking Hobbes into all kinds of hijnks. And boy is his relationship with Susie Derkins a rocky, love-hate affair. Those two are always battling, with Susie usually getting the better of Calvin.
I have listened to quite of few books recently that I read many years ago, including one discussed earlier this week.
A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is fantastic. No TV series or movie can depict the utter brutality of slavery as well as this book and some others from that time period.
Another good one I listened to is Up From Slavery by Booker T Washington. A constant thought while listening to this book is how savage the left would be in their attacks on him today as an Uncle Tom and right wing extremist. He would be another good candidate for the Profiles in Toxic Masculinity Series.
More on the fun side, Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain is a hilarious and interesting book. For audiobook listeners, all of Twain’s books are great in this format, especially his traveling adventures.
I really need to start reading more again. I keep buying and accumulating books, but never starting them. I spend too much time reading what you jabronis have to say.
I’m listening to The Story of Medieval England from the Great Courses to have noise while driving. Most remarkable thing about it is the different musical sting between lectures from the others.
I’ve been reading Prince of the North Tower trying to get it ready for publication.
I haven’t been writing much. Job stress has me off my game.
No shit? I just added that to my library today. I’ve been on a mission to gain at least an overview of every major civilization in the world. Much of that has been from The Great Courses.
It’s listenable, just unremarkable.
I have been reading about keelboats. They could get 1 mph upriver
First we had COVID cases, now we have a medical emergency. Crikey.
?
Before it was MNF.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2GBQqSKl8w
Until 7 minutes ago I had never heard of shuffle dancing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuiMQPc5aKA
Not for those with arthritis.
I’m tired just watching them.
Curious if they’re really dancing to ELO or it just fits; I assume they’re dancing to crappy club music.
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk – A murder mystery set in 1590s Istanbul involving “miniaturist” painters. Wonderfully strange (to my Western shitlord mind). Each chapter is narrated by a certain character, and some are narrated by non-humans like a tree, a coin, and a dog, and others by Satan and death. Very interesting…. Although it frequently mentions the miniaturists going blind from years and years of straining their eyes doing minute detail work, and now I’m paranoid about damaging my eyesight from my drawing hobby.
Elements by Euclid – Still working through this one; I’m on book 4, proposition 12. I may have fallen short on my goal of reading (and fully comprehending) one proposition a day, but some of them are pretty lengthy in all fairness. And I’m prioritizing complete understanding rather than the arbitrary number of propositions completed.
Illiberal Reformers by Thomas C. Leonard – It’s not big news to us Glibs that the early “progressives” were big fans of racialism, eugenics, and many things that fucked over working people big time. It’s a bit dense and academic so far, but still enjoyable.
Another thing I’ve been doing is trying to read one poem a day. I segregated all my poetry volumes into a stack by the stairs, and before bed every night I grab one at random. I used to hate poetry (mainly due to the way it was taught to me in public school) but I’m starting to develop a sense for the musicality and pathos that the poets have packed into those few words. A few of my favorites:
– Richard Cory by Edwin Arlington Robinson
– Ode to Psyche by John Keats
– The Garden of Boccaccio by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
– We Are Seven by WIlliam Wordsworth
Your eyeballs will become oblong, like footballs. ?
Isabella and her pot of basil!
Well, I solved the mystery of the igniter on my stove – the outlet tripped. When I reset it, the igniter worked again.
But I did finally get a backup ignition in case of power outage.
Obligatory: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wmin5WkOuPw
I have a long drive to and from my eye Dr today.
Here is the audio book I plan on listening to:
https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/VEe3fK1XQ4K6abSLO-G_Vg.qekmoZZHIESXwvGO8P_gnI
Mornin’
Remix – https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1IMfvF8aQ0
Mornin’ That was awful. I was on the zoom for a bit, had a nap and started binging on The Charismatic Voice. Here we are, 4:30 in the morning and I’ve got nothing better to do. Cheers!
*Harumph.* That was not awful.
Here’s the same tune I posted yesterday, different band thougb:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zrFI2gJSuwA
More groove.
Crosses arms, still not buying.
Tough crowd.
Would you like a jelly baby?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PwkYhLiY_fM&feature=emb_imp_woyt
Have a jellybean
There’s no pleasing Canadians.
They are still talking Covid on the news.
🙄
Contact tracing saved us all.
Double 🙄 🙄
I’m surprised they’re not all Clarence Thomas all the time.
We’re taking Uber to an event with much booze. Masks required for the ride. ?
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/03/judge-throws-marylands-abusive-democrat-gerrymandered-congressional-map/
Can’t we Just get rid of Maryland? And Rhode Island? Like, what’s the point of them?
Why does Wyoming still have two Senators?
New York says, “Hold my beer.” They’re squeezing out 3 or 4 Republicans here.
Powerful speech (disregard the Getty Image visuals) https://youtu.be/y6VDgysKmtU
https://www.pennlive.com/crime/2022/03/trucker-convoy-drivers-are-peeing-themselves-in-traffic-considering-citizens-arrests-of-officials-because-of-it-reports.html
Wut?
Because truckers are too stupid to prepare for such a situation hurr durr.