What We Are Reading

by | Apr 29, 2022 | Books | 84 comments

Thank you to everyone who contributed! If you would like to be included in the May round up, please post in the What Are We Reading forum topic or send me a message through the forum.

 

Tulip: The Country Club Murders series by Julie Mulhern.  This is a cozy mystery set in 1970s Kansas City, MO. There are 14 books and I am really enjoying them.  The period details are great and really highlight why feminism was and is necessary.

Westernsloper: ATM I am reading Mojos pirate book. What I have listened to over the past six or seven months: Primal Blue Print, Keto Continuum, The Carnivore Code, Lies My Doctor Told Me, Super Gut, Keto for Life and the latest audio book was Carnivore Cure. (Mark Sisson’s books are full of good info but holy fuck I want to face punch the asshat who reads them)

Animal: Aside from just having finished this month’s issue of Fur Fish & Game, I’m working my way through The Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes, at the recommendation of our own Swiss Servator.  Also re-reading some sections of Wild and Woolly: An Encyclopedia of the Old West, by Dennis McLoughlin.

Trshmnster the Terrible: The Rooted Life by Justin Rhodes. He and his family are permaculture based homesteaders in Asheville, NC. I’m only partway though so far, but it’s a condensed version of the principles and tactics he teaches on his YouTube channel. I like how he evangelizes for his lifestyle in equal measures with explaining how to do it. He explains the why alongside the how. The book itself is beautiful. Lots of well shot photos from his homestead interspersed throughout. If I could be half as successful at homesteading and half as contented as he is, I’d consider my life goals fulfilled.

Hayeksplosives: The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome, by Susan Baker Wise (2007)

I’ve read lots of near eastern and European history, so the fact that this book also touches on Persia, India, and China was part of its appeal. She has a Medieval one and a Renaissance one, so I will be reading those too.

Praise from the United States Naval Academy: “This succinctly formatted yet very informative and easily digested historical reference covers the rise and fall of all major ancient civilizations in Europe, Egypt. the Middle East, India and China with just the right amount of detail for those of us who are not pursuing PhDs in ancient history. It is basically two college classes in one easy-to-read book.”

Pisstoffnick: Still chugging through Cache Lake Country: Or, Life in the North Woods by John J. Rowlands. Started listening to Michael Malice read his book The New Right.  I don’t particularly like his voice, and he tries doing an Ayn Rand voice whenever he reads a quote from her (it’s a bad impersonation and annoying).  Content wise it is interesting with the typical Malice puns and wit (that I do enjoy).

Fourscore: Friends Divided  John Adams and Thomas Jefferson by Gordon Wood. After starting out as Revolutionary friends a party rift divided these two until their friendship was re-ignited as the years went by.

I’ve just started but should be a good read of the differences these two great men had, both politically and personally.

DEG: I finished The Two in Hiding by Ru Emerson – Book two in a series.  It’s OK.  The protagonists seem to be having too easy of a time.

I’m currently reading One Land, One Duke by Ru Emerson – Book three in the series. And,  The Savage Coast – An AD&D supplement which I forgot I had.  Around the time Wizards of the Coast bought TSR, there was a decision (passive voice because I can’t remember if it was before or after the acquisition) to move the Mystara setting from D&D into 2nd Edition AD&D.  Sometime after the acquisition Wizards of the Coast decided to revamp the D&D/AD&D product line, and terminate D&D and all Mystara supplements.  This supplement was in the works.  Wizards of the Coast released a bunch of supplements about the Savage Coast (introduced in module X9, “The Savage Coast” in the 80s) for 2nd Edition AD&D in PDF form.  I downloaded the PDFs, then printed them all out.  I put the printouts in a box before I moved to New England, and forgot about them.  I found the printouts and started reading them.  Either I’m missing a supplement, or in the haste to release this supplement it wasn’t properly proofread.  It seems things are being introduced and mentioned out of order.

UnCivilServant: This month, I was in dire need of new content. Being a chronic contrarian, any recommendation from an outside source would make me less willing to try a piece of media. The more it is pushed or talked about, the stronger my resistance to engaging with it. I also had no interest of picking through the woke minefield that western media has become. So, I decided to pick up a stack of material I had never heard of from a fairly reliably non-woke source – Manga. My criteria for selection was that I pick up Issue #1 of a title I hadn’t heard before but whose blurb sounded interesting, even if odd. Actually, I seem to have gravitated towards titles that were more on the odd side.

I was debating writing up a whole article where I rambled on about the storytelling, but realized I don’t have the time. So, in no particular order, April’s titles are:

A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation : 0/5

There is apparently a whole subgenre of ‘person dropped randomly into another world with no idea how they got there’. Usually their goal is to get home, but the title nobleman of this work doesn’t care, deciding to treat it as a vacation until anyone who cares back home finds a way to recall him. He doesn’t spend a whole lot of time even thinking it over, promptly becoming a licensed adventurer on a whim. The ‘adventurer’s guild’ handing out RPG-like quests appears to be another subgenre as we’ll run into it in another title. Anyway, there are less than three pages of adventuring across the whole first volume, so instead we’re stuck with the main characters… who annoy the crap out of me. The title character’s emotional range is stuck on ‘fake happy’ while his hired associate is the overused ‘overskilled loner’ archetype. Neither one demonstrated a character flaw – or even a character trait beyond being too perfect. The whole volume felt like it was drifting towards a romance plot between the main characters. While the androgynous art style means Gil might actually have been short for Gillian without needing to change the character design, I don’t care enough about the characters to check out the second book. Besides, I was looking for fantasy adventuring. I only got three pages of that, and it was too easily handled by the main characters.

I do not recommend.

The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting : 5/5

The most grounded in reality of the volumes, this one appears to be set in current-day Japan, with no indications it’s got any fantastical or supernatural elements. The main character is a Yakuza enforcer with a tendency to go overboard, and hurt people, even when it’s not necessary. We are introduced to him covered in blood splatter from a guy he visited to collect a debt from – whom they were specifically supposed to just talk to. This has Yakuza Boss unhappy with the main character, who gives him one opportunity to avoid being killed for his past fuckups. That is to watch Boss’ daughter, but her needs first, and take responsibility for his actions. This is very much outside his wheelhouse, but not wanting to die, he accepts the obligation. The daughter is very young grade school-age and very shy, saying little most of the time. She is presented very believably for that age range, for example, unable to understand what a coma is, and that her mother has been in one for the past few years. This coma is why the Boss needs someone to babysit the daughter.

Most of these ‘tough guy suddenly in a parental role’ stories don’t resonate with me because they rely on the fish out of water element for the comedy. Here, the fish out of water elements provide the heartwarming, while the banter between Yakuza types provide the humor. This formulation worked a lot better for me, and I heartily recommend this one to any member of the Glibertariat.

Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero : 3/5

The first page of the work has a defeated demon lord swearing his revenge upon the leader of the party that just beat him. Page two has him proclaiming his rebirth… while appearing no bigger than a child. Evidently, cutting down the post-defeat dormancy period to a mere ten years stunted his growth and limited how much power he got back. But a longer dormancy would risk not being able to do anything to the hero that defeated him. Well, he finds that it hasn’t been fame and fortune for said hero, Max. Poor Max lives in a one-room efficiency apartment in the fantasy kingdom that amounts to ‘modern japan plus magic’. They have computers, smart phones, and ‘mana plants’, the last of which do not appear on the page in this volume. The once idealistic Max has been beaten down by scandal and circumstance until he is just going through the motions of life. Quite unhappy at how far his nemesis has fallen, and how little revenge is even possible, the pint-sized demon lord takes it on himself to build up Max back into a worthy opponent, even if Max doesn’t want to.

The humor is definitely more crude than other titles I’ve looked at this month, with far more adult elements. We also get a decent amount of character development woven in between the comedy bits. We also find out that consorting with demons is treason in this kingdom, probably because they’re only ten years out from having driven off

the demon lord’s hordes. Still, it’s readable, depending on tastes in comedy. Its not my kind of humor, which is why I’m not endorsing it.

Hello World : ?/5

Spoilers ahead.

Though Hello World turned out to be the complete story, this one kinda confused me. The blurb sells it as a time-travel story where the main character’s future self from 2037 comes back to 2027 to help his younger self save the girlfriend he hasn’t made yet from being killed by a lightening strike (and ensuring that they get together). Then we find out it’s a quantum simulation of 2027 Kyoto, and the future self has hooked into the computer. The whole scheme triggers the simulation’s autorepair algorithms, which hound the characters for the rest of the book. Then we find out future girlfriend’s body is still alive, she was instead rendered brain dead by the lightning strike and future self wants to copy the mental pattern out of the simulation to rebuild her brain. Only reading at that detail destroys the simulation copy because quantum. This sets off a cascade failure that collapses the original simulation, triggering a reboot.

Why there would be a massively expensive project to simulate 2027 Kyoto with self-aware occupants who are then not allowed to take actions other than those historically performed – never addressed.

Well, future girlfriend wakes up, and future self rejoices, though she doesn’t seem to regard him as the same as past self. Plot twist – autorepair algorithms start climbing through the windows of the hospital room. The future was just another layer of simulation. Past self arrives, having steered his way through the collapse of the simulation within a simulation to this new layer, and has a plan to get himself and the girlfriend into the rebooted subsimulation. But they have to avoid the autorepair algorithms and reach a particular spot. There, future self concludes that he is the error the algorithms need to repair, and tries to hold them off while past self and girlfriend run off to the rebooted sub-simulation. Future self gets impaled pretty badly before finally talking past self into leaving him. Past self and girlfriend enter rebooted subsimulation, girlfriend reverting to her younger form to match the time frame. Future self dies.

Last plot twist, Future self wakes up to a group cheer of ‘we did it’ from a team that includes future girlfriend (now wearing glasses) on a moon base (no explanation given) as apparently he was in a coma/braindead/whatever.

Quite frankly, from a storytelling perspective, Hello World is kinda a mess. Some elements are interesting, while others make no goddamn sense. Also, the supposedly happy ending for past self and past girlfriend of escaping into the rebooted simulation is immediately undermined by future self’s happy ending – where the luna base team is liable to shut down the simulation having successfully rebuilt his mind. The number of items that really needed to be explained but were simply glossed over is too high. While the action and pacing were good enough that I was able to finish the story, I think I would have preferred the time travel plot I was sold in the blurb.

The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary : 1/5

Another book in the ‘adventurer’s guild hands out RPG-like quests’ subgenre of fantasy adventure, this one follows a mercenary whose company was wiped out in a catastrophic defeat (though some others may have survived, none are confirmed). So he has to find work with only his combat skillset. He gets an adventurer’s permit and while looking over solo quests gets recruited by a party of inexperienced adventurers on their way to fight goblins. We get some short backstory from the other members, but more from the title character. Fair enough. We learn that the party lead is inexperienced to the point of recklessness and the mercenary has the superpower of being the only person with common sense. Brash overconfidence leads them into a goblin trap, the party gets swarmed, mercenary picks up now-paralyzed cleric and flees deeper into the lair to escape the ambushers. Thus, abandoning the overwhelmed party, presumably to their deaths. We get another backstory dump from cleric girl, before they find the entrance into a ruin from the ancient empire, stumble onto another adventuring party and agree to team up until they find a way out. The other party got lost because infighting led them to fall down a pit from a higher level.

I breezed through the synopsis because this one annoyed me. Not in a constant way like the Vacationing Nobleman, but by discarding the first party so off-handedly. Cluelessly inexperienced party leader was somewhat endearing, and a nice contrast to the grounded mercenary. I was looking forward to his arc of overcoming his recklessness (or harnessing it) and other growth as a character. Apparently, instead he was just a filler so that Mercenary and cleric girl could team up. I don’t give a Skaven’s tail about Mercenary and cleric girl, and the half-party wipe tells me not to get invested in these new characters either.

I do not recommend.

Bonus –

The Greatest Demon Lord is Reborn as a Typical Nobody : -5/5

This one turned out to be prose, and godawful prose at that. It was painfully bad to try to read, lacking necessary scene setting, character establishment, worldbuilding, description, organic exposition, or clarity. I have seen better writing shat out by fanfiction sites. I could not force myself to finish this volume.

Avoid.

 

About The Author

Tulip

Tulip

She is mythical.

84 Comments

  1. LCDR_Fish

    Not all entries from the forum thread included?

    Oh well.

    Working through classic Tom Clancy stuff – just finished “Cardinal of the Kremlin” for the first time, now in Clear and Present Danger…(may pick up the first 3 movies again – my middle school era). A lot of overly competent FEDGOV/military stuff – that seems almost cringeworthy now – but like Red Storm Rising – still solid writing and very well developed on the whole.

    • Tulip

      I thought I had everything through the 16th. If I missed you, I’m sorry. I’ll include it in next month.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Ahhh…if 16th was cutoff, I may have missed it ;p

    • juris imprudent

      I was good with Clancy up to Sum of All Fears, and that book broke the spell. I could accept plowing through a 100 or so pages to pick up all the story, because then he’d pay off the effort with the rest of the book – but not Sum of All Fears; it simply refused to ever get good.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Really? I enjoyed that one a lot. The Middle East peace thing is really the red herring that draws things out too much but the actual nuke plot with the attack in Berlin, etc is really good stuff.

  2. Brochettaward

    I have been assembling the first tome of my complete collection of The Firsts Of The First Of All Firsters. It is a collection of Firsts, my earliest work that I had archived away all those years ago, but also a coming of age story. It will document my rise into The Firster you all admire through a series of exquisitely evolving Firsts.

    • MikeS

      I’ll wait for the paperback.

      • Brochettaward

        You are missing out on a 3D holographic cover.

      • Fourscore

        Is there going to be a large print condensed classic comic edition? I’ll wait…

      • Plinker762

        There is a joke about a book with blank pages lurking here

      • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

        The Irish Joy of Sex?

      • Chafed

        Yeah, I was thinking it will be a pamphlet.

  3. juris imprudent

    I should be finished with Annals of the Former World before the next time we do this. It’s a substantial book.

    • Peter Lorre, contemplating a Crime

      That is a Fantastic read, enjoy it!

      • juris imprudent

        Yes it is and I am. I’m really motivated to wander around Wyoming with it to see the places he talks about (which ironically doesn’t include the Wind River Canyon, or at least I haven’t gotten to it).

      • Peter Lorre, contemplating a Crime

        On suspect Terraine (yes that’s how it’s spelled)
        Basin and Range
        Those 2 should keep you busy for a few years,
        Huzzah!

      • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

        The I-80 cut through the Sierras figures quite prominently, if I remember.

      • Peter Lorre, contemplating a Crime

        yep. very cool,

  4. Nephilium

    I finally got caught up by reading the most recent Dresden book (Battle Grounds), and have been reading this classic gem which includes a section on distilling, ads, several recipes I would not recommend, and one of my favorite written recipes:

    213. Brandy Straight
    (use small bar glass)

    In serving this drink you simply put a piece of ice in a tumbler, and hand to your customer, with the bottle of brandy. This is very safe for a steady drink, but though a straight beverage, it is often used on a bender,

  5. Peter Lorre, contemplating a Crime

    I’m reading the Revelation again, oh how relevent to our times,

    • hayeksplosives

      No doubt.

  6. UnCivilServant

    On the “What am I writing” side of my usual updates, I am working on three short stories I hope to complete.

    First is “Saving Face” – a ‘sports movie’ style plot set at a jousting tournament.

    Second is “Blood on the Bricks” – part one of which already debuted on Glibs.

    Last is “Slaves of Baranga” it’s sat half done for the longest even though I know exactly what the remainder of the story consists of.

    What am I listening to?

    I wrapped up the Great Courses “Story of Medieval England” and have moved on to “The Private Lives of the Tudors”, which picks up more or less at the same point in history the first one left off, but slows down and focuses more on their home lives. Just got to the Part where Henry VIII realizes Catherine isn’t going to give him a son that survives infancy.

    • LCDR_Fish

      UCS – re: your manga update…

      My current series – working through:

      Blame! (great art, slow story, but amazing sense of scale)
      Monster – think Tintin-esque adventures across early-90s Eastern Europe – stranger in a strange land trying to track down a serial killer while interacting with spies, neo-nazis, etc – really excellent.
      Dorohedoro – picked up after watching the Netflix show – very inventive – although anime was a little abrupt
      No Guns Life – interesting concept – not high on the priority list, but I’ll continue it when other titles aren’t available.
      Spy x Family – anime just starting on crunchyroll. Absolutely hilarious and very cute story with excellent art that really works well. Spy (in 60s-ish cold war Euro scenario) has to create a fake family to get close to an adversary politician to learn schemes – winds up with a telepath “daughter” and an assassin “wife” – and of course, only the daughter knows who everyone is – great stories and interactions.
      I am a Hero – good zombie story (watched live action movie first).
      Gate: And the JSDF Fought On – picked up both English volumes after watching the anime. Sadly – doesn’t seem to be likely to be continued in translated versions (can read most of it online) – due to “nationalist” sentiments – a story actually written by a servicemember that integrates Japanese military themes into the story. Handles a lot of concepts really well – even if there’s a bit of “exceptional competence” here too. (Also because the protagonist is the “laziest man in the world” archetype who makes it work in the military – like Heinlein’s story).
      Plus Sized Elf – guilty pleasure…..

    • UnCivilServant

      Hell yes, I’m on the last scene of Saving Face. I might actually finish something again!

  7. rhywun

    Repeat from last month: The Expanse, book the first.

    Where’s Avusinatra (sp?)?

    • Bobarian LMD

      I have been binge reading this series for the past few weeks. I’m up thru 5/into 6 which is getting close to where the Tv show stops? I think they probably did one of the best adaptions from the source material I’ve ever seen.

      The First season of Game of Thrones was about as well done, and Silence of the Lambs is about the only thing that comes to mind as being better done.

      Avasarala is coming.

      • rhywun

        Is this like a GRRM thing where they have one book following some people, and then a later book following some other people during the same time period? That was the point I dropped out of GoT.

      • Raven Nation

        I just finished the whole series and, no, they don’t do that. It’s a chronological narrative but with multiple characters in every book. Some only turn up in one book, some in many.

      • rhywun

        I was wondering because reading book 1 is like watching season 1 but with half the scenes cut out.

  8. Ted S.

    Super Gut,

    Read the companion volume, Super Schlecht.

    And then you can watch Super Grips.

  9. grrizzly

    I’ve just started Houellebecq’s latest novel, Anéantir. Too early to say if I like it. The story takes place in a near future when Citroën overtook Mercedes and Audi and started to dominate the premium car market. All thanks to the smart industrial policy of the French government.

    • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

      At what point does it devolve into soulless lives lived in complete loss?

    • Chafed

      No way I can suspend my disbelief for that.

  10. The Hyperbole

    I lost track of where I was lasty time so my bad if some of these are repeats.
    Jordan Harper She Rides Shotgun (2017)**** Ex-con and his eleven year old daughter take on the aryan criminal enterprise that has marked them for death, Solid action/crime novel with a stuffed bear thrown in for good measure, shades of Leon: the Professional.
    Ken Bruen Taming the Alien (1999)***½ Brant/Roberts book 2, directly follows book 1’s action, Brant goes to America to get the ‘bandaid’ duo, Bill (big gangster) hires a kid to teach Brant a lesson, things don’t go well for anyone.
    Joe Hart Or Else: A Thriller (2022)*½ A red herring or two is expected in a mystery this one had a few too many, weak characters and plot.
    Caimh McDonnell How To Send a Message (2019) ***½ Short fiction from the author of the Dublin Trilogy, Bunny from that series stars in the title story, one story has a different take on the ‘travel back in time to kill Hitler’ trope.
    Joe R. Lansdale The Drive-In 1 (1988) *½ The sub title sums it up – A B-movie with blood and popcorn, a rare dissapointment from Joe. Supernatural forces trap people in a drive-in movie theater, they get hungry, they get nasty, some other supernatural shit goes on. If it had a point I missed it.
    Ken Bruen The McDead (2000) **** Brant/Roberts book 3, Roberts brother is murdered, he and Brant look for revenge. Falls, a WPC under Roberts is set up to catch a serial rapist.
    Lawrence Block Time to Murder and Create (1976) **** Mathew Scudder book 2, has a better plot than the first book, not so telegraphed, small time hood gets over his shoes on a blackmail racket.

  11. rhywun

    Rare swing and a miss at The Bee.

    Percy is the new “virtual cashier” who is being paid only $3.75 an hour.

    How is this legal???

    How is it any of your business how much “Percy” makes? I don’t see any chains in that vid screenshot.

    Good on them to blame regs and lockdowns but for the love of the gods what is with all the lefty twit-grabs?

    • Ted S.

      And fucking GIFs substituting for video.

  12. Gustave Lytton

    Sadly paywalled, but Greenwald was on Tucker Carlson Today and it was excellent.

  13. creech

    I’m working my way through Charles Adam’s 2000 tome, “When In the Course of Human Events: Arguing the Case for Southern Secession.” He’s making the case that U.S. tariff policy was grossly unfair to the southern states and they were finally fed up with the injustice of remaining tied to the United States and continuing to suffer. One tidbit he offers is that Jefferson himself did not believe the Union could survive, that there would eventually be an eastern nation tied to Atlantic ports and trade, and another nation tied to trade up and down the Mississippi and the west.

    • The Last American Hero

      It does explain why every time they admitted a tariff state, they added a free trade state during the antebellum period.

  14. rhywun

    The period details are great and really highlight why feminism was and is necessary.

    Kindled the first one – I love a period mystery. I’ll get to it after the 8.33 books I have left in The Expanse.

    • rhywun

      And it was free because of that package that the post office lost a while bac!. Man, it’s been a long time since I bought anything off Amazon.

    • Chafed

      How is B5 going?

      • rhywun

        Started S02E01 last weekend, but it was so jarringly different and it was like my 4th episode in a row and I was crashing – I’ll need to start it fresh, probably tomorrow night.

        Everyone says the show gets better?! I can’t wait because I enjoyed the shit out of S01.

      • Chafed

        It does and my daughter confirmed it. We are on season 5. The continuity you saw from season 1 into season 2 increases. This show has a memory and it uses it. Enjoy the ride.

  15. Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

    I started to write up my reading/listening list from my drive-a-thon, but it was getting a bit long, so it will be a post next week.

    That said, I have been reading the Maigret books, mysteries with a pronounced gallic flair. I am enjoying them. I also picked up a complete edition of Burtons One Thousand Nights and One, with his supplemental material. In 16 volumes. It is a ’40s reprint by the Burton Club, an exact copy of the original published by the Kama Sutra Society in 1880-ish. Pretty chuffed about that!

    • Gustave Lytton

      Enjoyed both the Michael Gambon and Rowan Atkinson adaptations for different reasons, but haven’t read the books.

      OT: thanks for the tip regarding the pet pharmacy and their sign. Had to go back yesterday and they didn’t bat an eye.

  16. Festus

    Glibertarian comment sections. It has what plants crave.

  17. rhywun

    Awesome. They’re tearing up the shit out of my street. I can’t wait to fall asleep to the dulcet tones of scraping up asphalt soon.

    • Festus

      It probably sounds just like Mom yelling at you. Sweet dreams.

    • Chafed

      Why are they doing midnight construction?

      • Ownbestenemy

        That sweet sweet OT and night differential?

      • rhywun

        Less traffic? Looks like the middle of a re-paving operation now.

  18. Festus

    In all seriousness, Judi has been dehydrating everything for the last few weeks. I don’t think she understands the economic depression but she gets it in her feels. Time to fire up the roto-tiller! Gardening and grubbing, here we come. The salamander won’t be much help.

    • pistoffnick

      I have never eaten salamanders. Perhaps if they are roasted? With a little bit of hot sauce?

      Regardless, yes, you need a garden. Plant your seed Festus. :^)

      • Festus

        I am the salamander.

  19. pistoffnick

    A first date tonight. She’s not exceptionally attractive (and taller than me, damnit), but, damn is she funny and easy to talk to.

    Second date tomorrow at a giant indoor craft/rummage sale. Maybe axe* throwing at a bar afterwards.

    *there is an inside joke there about me saying I am not an axe murderer, which is EXACTLY what an actual axe murderer would say.*

    /not an axe murderer

      • pistoffnick

        My love is in league with the freeway
        Its passion will rise, as the cities fly by
        And the tail-lights dissolve in the coming of night
        And the questions in thousands take flight

        My love is the miles and the waiting
        The eyes that just stare and the glance at the clock
        And the secret that burns
        And the pain that won’t stop

        And its fuel is the years leading me on
        Leading me down the road
        Driving me on, driving me on
        Driving me down the road

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxSsol3Zd7k

    • pistoffnick

      I do own several axes of varying sharpness

      / I like to press wild flowers

      • Gustave Lytton

        Me too. The axes that is.

        Also not an axe murderer.

    • Ownbestenemy
      • pistoffnick

        There ain’t no way she is gonna steal me cat.

    • Festus

      Go You! New love is something cherished.

  20. Ted S.

    Daily Quordle 96
    5️⃣3️⃣
    7️⃣6️⃣
    quordle.com
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜?
    ⬜⬜?⬜? ???⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜?⬜⬜ ?????
    ⬜???⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
    ????? ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

    ⬜⬜⬜?⬜ ⬜?⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜?⬜?
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜?⬜⬜
    ?⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜??⬜
    ⬜?⬜⬜⬜ ??⬜??
    ⬜?⬜⬜⬜ ?????
    ????? ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

    • rhywun

      Bottom-left is asshoe.

      Daily Quordle 96
      5️⃣6️⃣
      8️⃣4️⃣
      quordle.com

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Daily Quordle 96
      6️⃣7️⃣
      8️⃣5️⃣
      quordle.com
      ⬜⬜⬜?⬜ ⬜?⬜⬜?
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ?⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ??⬜⬜? ⬜⬜⬜⬜?
      ⬜?⬜?⬜ ⬜⬜⬜?⬜
      ??⬜?? ⬜⬜⬜?⬜
      ????? ⬜⬜⬜?⬜
      ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ?????

      ⬜⬜⬜?⬜ ⬜⬜⬜?⬜
      ⬜⬜?⬜? ⬜⬜⬜?⬜
      ?⬜??⬜ ?⬜⬜⬜?
      ⬜?⬜⬜⬜ ⬜???⬜
      ⬜?⬜⬜⬜ ?????
      ⬜?⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
      ????? ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

  21. Tres Cool

    suh’ fam
    whats goody yo

    • The Hyperbole

      Nothing is ‘goody’ Tres, the pickle crisis has returned, three fucking weeks and no Claussen’s Deli-Style Hearty Garlic Sandwich Slices.

      • Tres Cool

        If you weren’t so particular about your choice of gherkin, life would be simpler. My Meijer had the giant 1/2 gallon jug of standard Claussen halves in stock yesterday.
        I did notice a lack of Hearty Garlic tho. Otherwise I would have bought them all.

    • hayeksplosives

      Good morning. Im only temporarily up, due to my internal alarm clock (ok—I mean due to my full bladder).

      Cat is happy, I’m happy. Time to listen to a news audiobook.

      • Ted S.

        You could have done like Amber Heard and peed on your hubby’s side of the bed….

      • Tres Cool

        I thought she didnt stop at micturating…..she shot a deuce on it

  22. robodruid

    Today, i am reading how to weed your garden of all of its miserable weeds…
    OR
    Maybe i am just weeding, and listening to episodes of critical role.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      I put down plastic sheeting under the mulch and that takes care of 95% of weeds.

      Another alternative is a thick layer of cardboard boxes. We’re going to try this next but are trying to figure out where to store this many boxes for a 50×20 garden.

      • robodruid

        I am looking at cardboard as well.
        I am thinking i could score plenty at a recycling place.