IT’s Here! It Here! The long awaited return of What Are We Reading!
RJ
I have been a wanderer for a month now. I only brought a few books with me. Since Mojeaux posted her pirate book on Glibs, I brought two space pirate books with me to keep the theme going: Henry Martyn and Bretta Martyn, both by L. Neil Smith. It’s the two-book story of a family of libertarian pirates seeking freedom from an oppressive socialist space government. It’s got space combat, great descriptions of future technology and some rape, which STEVE SMITH approved. I thought the first book, Henry Martyn, has better pacing but I am dedicated to completing the second book. What else am I going to read on the road?
Till next time,
Zwak
Kafka on the Shore. Haruki Murakami. A young man fated to fulfill the Oedipus myth, an old man who can talk to cats, Johnny Walker and Col. Sanders in walk-on rolls. A tale of despondency, spirits, the aftermath of war, rape, murder. All written in a style that is deceptively simple and flowing. A+
A Most Wanted Man. John LeCarre. Hamburg, Germany, 2008. Attempts to ferret out a possible spy, in the town that lead up to 9/11. Spies, bankers, lawyers, Muslims all mixing in an Austrian waltz of fools. B
The Short Novels of Dostoevsky. A compilation including The Gambler, Notes from the Underground, The Double, and others. Not started yet, but I need something to chew on.
Fourscore
I just finished a 500 plus pager on the history of the war with Japan.
Eagle Against the Sun, authored by Ronald H. Spector. Published in 1985, Spector starts with the 1920s military structure and preparedness. After WW 1 it was felt that isolationism would be a viable tactic. As events unfolded it seemed that was not to be.
In the past there were many different versions of how the events on Dec 7th, 1941 went down. Who knew what and when, Spector details the different versions.
The book deals exclusively with WW2 and how the war was fought in the Pacific against the Japanese while war raged on in Europe. We go island hopping, one at a time, with units, casualties. weaponry and command structure. We see up close and personal how the different services competed for logistics, personnel and tactics.
Macarthur and the other commanders are shown as real people, with the same frailties that everyone has. The casualties are real numbers. The naval battles illustrate how different tactics were employed, some worked, some didn’t.
WW2 Pacific ends with the same Monday morning quarterbacking in regards to the use of the A-bomb and the author not making a personal judgment. The conclusion that any discussion of a WW needs to be carefully thought out before the first trigger is pulled.
If anyone has an interest I’d be happy to send the book on.
Richard
Last Fall I went to visit a favorite Aunt who lives on Long Island. I flew to NYC and in the Burlington airport bought a book from the gift shop to pass the time as is my custom. Back then there was considerable hullabaloo about Amazon’s TV series “The Rings of Power” and how it butchered Tolkien canon so the The Fall of Numenor caught my eye:
It’s a compilation of all the material related to Numenor in Tolkien’s work and, since I haven’t read all of Tolkien’s work, contained information I’d never seen before.
When I got back I was inspired to dig out my 1977 first edition of The Silmarillion and re-read that:
Damn, those elves were real fuckheads.
In Long Island my Aunt presented me with a baggie of coins she found in the recess of a piece of furniture. They’re mostly Civil War patriotic tokens with a strong Abraham Lincoln theme. The origin of the collection is a mystery. My late Uncle wasn’t particularly into the Civil War or Abraham Lincoln. The article of furniture is one they bought some time ago and it may be the collection was hidden in it. From the coins’ packaging it may have been assembled in 1959, the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, or 1964, the 100th anniversary of the Civil War.
Anyway, my job is to catalog the lot so I bought a copy of this reference to Civil War patriotic tokens and store cards:
https://whitman.com/official-red-book-guide-book-of-civil-war-tokens-3rd-edition/
I’ve been perusing it because it’s an area of numismatics I’ve not delved into before.
I also read Neal Stephenson’s latest Polostan
It’s the first of a trilogy but it’s not a mammoth tome like the books of the “Baroque Cycle.” It starts in the 1920’s and the series supposedly continues through to the development of the atomic bomb. The protagonist is a young woman who has many adventures, so many that I lost my sense of disbelief. Momentous things happen to her one after the other without her having any choice in the matter. I’ve seldom seen such a leaf-in-the-wind character. Otherwise the writing is pure Neal Stephenson with elaborate disjointed lists and random infodumps. In that respect the book was entertaining. I’ll probably give it a re-read eventually but I may wait until the second volume of the trilogy comes out.
DEG
Treason of Isengard by J.R.R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien – This is part of Christopher Tolkien’s History of Middle-Earth series where he uses his father’s notes, drafts, and letters to put together the history of how Middle-Earth came to be. This is the second on The Lord of the Rings. This covers J.R.R. Tolkien’s work to rewrite the first draft which covers The Lord of the Rings through Balin’s tomb plus the drafts of the story between Moria and the arrival of Aragorn and company at Edoras. It was interesting to me to see how the characters evolved from the first draft and the choices Tolkien made to come up with a coherent story. An evolution example is that the Aragorn character started out as a hobbit named Trotter that wore shoes. Tolkien couldn’t come up with a good explanation of why Trotter wore shoes, so Tolkien decided he should be a man, which started the evolution into the Aragorn character. The evolution is not finished at this point in the draft. Tolkien, at this stage, plans to have Aragorn and Eowyn wed and has not fully figured out what Aragorn’s name should be. An example of the choices made is Tolkien created the Saruman character in order to have a good explanation of why Gandalf was delayed coming back to the Shire to get the hobbits going on their journey.
Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons and Dragons by Michael Witwer – This book covers Gary Gygax’s life from childhood through his death. It talks about his family life, gaming, religion, the rise of TSR, the purge of Gary from TSR, and Gary’s subsequent endeavors. It full of interesting stories and facts about Gary’s life. Interestingly, Gary was a conservative Republican who became a Libertarian late in life.
The Hyperbole
Badger Clark Sun and Saddle Leather (1915) ** A collection of cowboy poetry. My copy of This book was my Grandfather’s, a gift given to him from his mother on May 23 1920 (if one believes the inscription on the first blank page). My mother gave it to me this x-mas since she knows I like old books that have been in the family. I gather it’s pretty good for cowboy poety and Clark is well regaurded in the genre but it just ain’t my cuppa.
Johnny D. Boggs Bloody Newton, The Town From Hell (2024) **** A fictionalized account of an actual shootout in Newton, Kansas. The gunfight is only secondary to the novel which is more about the birth of Newton as a cattle town and the story of a cattle drive from Texas to Newton. This is the second book by Boggs I’ve read and will most likely search out others.
Keith Rosson Fever House (2023) *** Supernatural-horror-crime-zombie mash up. Another book not really in my wheelhouse, but I’m getting a bit burned out on the same old same old so thought I’d take a chance. Starts out like a standard crime novel with two heavies collecting debts for their gangster boss, quickly shifts to magical/occult? ‘remnants’ that make people go mad and then turns them into zombies. There’s shadowy government agencies, rogue agents, plenty of blood, and dead punk rockers. There’s a follow up but I’ll probably skip it as the plot is getting a bit convoluted.
Michael Gilbert Game Without Rules (1962-67) **** A collection of short stories featuring two “retired” British intelligence agents and a dog. Cold war spy stuff, more Smiley than Bond. Double agents, and back stabbing and cat and mouse games, good stuff, I’ll be looking for more of Gilberts novels.
Joe R. Lansdale Sugar on the Bones (2024) *** Hap and leonard #13? 14? I’ve lost count. The boys are back at it. They get involved in a missing daughter case that turns into arson, murder, organ harvesting and more. I’ve been saying it for many books now but this series has run it’s course, I’ll keep reading them because completionist, but there are some hints in this one that maybe Hap and Leonard might be passing the torch, hopefully Lansdale can move on to some less played out stories and characters.
Remember If you would like to be featured in the post instead of merely posting your monthly reads in the comments like a loser or a firster (but I repeat myself)- send your reviews/reports/synopsis to whatarewereading25@proton.me one week before the first Monday of next month.
Having read Robert Nisbet’s The Quest for Community, I finally made another go at Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments – his work he considered more important than The Wealth of Nations. It does suffer from the same writing style – dry, dry, dry. Also re-starting on my reading for my own writing effort on bureaucracy, with James Burnham’s The Managerial Revolution. I may need to inject something with some levity.
Bureaucracy….inject some levity….
So Kafkaesque Monty Python. Two views on the absurd. I am liking it but some pretty heavy lifting.
I am in the middle of the third book of the The Cormoran Strike Series by Robert Galbraith — thanks to the recommendations from the Glibs.
JK does a pretty good job of telling grown up stories too.
Man, I really like that series.
Looks like September for the next one.
Yeah, it was surprisingly good. Every one of the books.
Well done, her. I’ve said before, but I was 10 (1997) when the first Harry Potter book came out, as was Harry. I was 11 and 12 when Harry was, as well, before writing longer books, publishing and fame took over.
Best bits: The 10yo book is written as such, and they gracefully progress as the characters (and their arcs) age. It was invigorating.
I (finally) finished The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt and it’s well worth your time. The ‘finally’ was due to my inability to focus recently and not any issue with the book, which I keep thinking about (a good sign). His “elephant and rider” analogy for human behavior has stuck with me.
Currently reading Causes of Separation by Travis J. I. Corcoran. Book two of his ‘Aristillus’ series – libertarian SF on the moon! Uplifted dogs! I liked book one enough that I sent the author money directly for book 2 (wasn’t available on Kindle for a while for no apparent reason – it’s back now).
Only downside is I’m certain the series is not complete but he’s too busy these days to see books 3+ any time soon (in the NH house of Reps now).
“Sibs” by F. Paul Wilson.
It is neither Repairman Jack nor Adversary but it supposedly takes place in the same universe.
Been going thru the series again and this one escaped me even though it’s been sitting in my Kindle library since ’12.
Oh, it’s a thriller about twin sisters – one who is dead by the end of the first chapter.
Pretty sure everything F.Paul has written is now part of the Repairman Jack universe, he saw where his bread was buttered and edited (reworked) all his books and stories so that they tied-in to the RJU. I may be wrong as I haven’t read any of his stuff in at least ten years.
IIRC only one book was rejiggered to add Jack to the mix – that’s the final Adversary book. I think some others were updated with more recent cultural references in order to make them fit in to the settled upon timeline (there is a more recently written trilogy that places Jack at a specific age in events that take place in the early 1990s, for example).
I may have expressed that wrong, He seemed to write his later books to bring aspects of his older stand alone books into the RMJU, Black Wind para ejemplo. Maybe he always intended it but it seemed forced to me when I was reading them as they were published.
Not a fan of his “historicals”. I’d have thought he’d have scratched that itch with the previous thousands of pages of that stuff but I guess not.
First, Father Sky — the book that hatched the movie Taps, which showcased Sean Penn, Tom Cruise, Timothy Hutton, and a few other soon to be Hollywood staples.
The linked review is rather favorable, others not so much. I enjoyed the (now forty-something year old) film. We’ll see.
Next, The Oyster Book. Everything you wanted to know about the world’s favorite bivalve. I’ve already eaten my weight in oyster flesh over the years, and read a couple of books about them, but there’s always a pearl of knowledge in a new tome.
You better clam up before Swiss sees this. He’ll probably strain an eyelid mussel narrowing his gaze for that.
Reading or just finished:
“John Bell Hood and The War for Southern Independence” by Richard McMurry. Portrait of a general who exemplified the Peter Principle, with disastrous results for the men under his command.
“This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War” by Drew Faust. The mid-1800s idea of a “good death” which could be achieved by courageously and unselfishly dying to protect the institution of slavery/dying to save the Union [take your pick].
That’s the tragedy of the whole thing – neither were worth fighting for.
From our perspective. It seemed quite justifiable to nearly all the men of that day.
To all of the men? Rarely is the man who preaches that one should die nobly for a cause willing to do so themselves. In my view, perhaps warped by presentism*, those men are rarer than ever.
See: Every Malthusian ever. See also every architect of war ever.
*I made up the term ‘presentism’ on the fly to refer to the concept that what is present before us is more severe or exaggerated in effect than what is past or future. Kind of related to ‘those darned kids today’ effect. I am sure there is a name for this concept but I dont know it. Anyone know what it is?
Cowboy poetry, huh?
Does it include this poem?
“Reincarnation”
By Wallace McCrae
What is reincarnation, a cowboy asked his friend.
Why its something that happens when your life has reached its end.
They comb your hair and wash your neck and clean your fingernails,
And lay you in a padded box away from life’s travails.
Now this box and you goes in a hole that’s been dug into the ground.
And this here reincarnation starts once your planted ‘neath the mound.’
Now pretty soon the clods melt down along with the box and you who are inside,
and then you’re just beginning on your transformation ride.
And then one day some grass will grow upon rendered mound.
Until one day, on your moldered grave a little flower is found.
Then say by chance a horse should wander by and graze upon that flower,
That once was you and now has become your vegetative bower.
Now the posy that that horse done ate, along with all the rest of his feed,
becomes fat and bone and muscle, essential to the steed.
But some is consumed that he can’t use
and so it finally passes on through,
And just lays there on the ground.
This thing that once was you.
And then I see’s this on the ground,
and I wonder and I ponder at this object that I found.
And I begin to think about reincarnation and life and death and such.
And I come away concluding old pal, You ain’t changed that much!”
After WW 1 it was felt that isolationism would be a viable tactic.
It was, until FDR abandoned it, by sending the Pacific Fleet to Pearl for a two week exercise – that stretched into a year and a half. It would’ve been impossible for the Japanese to attack the Fleet on the West Coast. Nor can we forget FDR’s seizure of Japanese assets in the U.S. and the oil embargo (yay, more executive orders!!!).
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
I looked it up today. FDR was far and away the worst. 3,721.
In case y’all are interested:
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/executive-orders
I was surprised how far they dropped since Teddy got the ball rolling.
Earthshaker Pinball:
https://youtu.be/h3DLZKWmqGI?si=iCu_HfJ9sbyHSVIu
Awesome. That game is (partly) responsible for me taking 5½ years to get a four year degree.
I sold Creature from the Black Lagoon pinball to fund my move. Sad. It will be two years before I pick up another machine.
Williams’ “Millionaire” was always my favorite:
https://youtu.be/Nt036474D6o?si=9bpyjB9kboSz0L8j
People read books?
I hope so.
/writes books
I’m reading Musk’s biography. His fingerprints are all over the zone flooding strategy the Trumpistas are employing.
He’s one of rarefied humans who could rightly be called Randian; a real Howard Roark type. Working for him would be hell.
it looks a lot like the slash and burn take over of Twitter
I think I’d be a great candidate for Neuralink research.
I’m (mostly?) game. We’d get along. I saw Grimes in Singapore, 2015. I banged her first. So there.
‘Zone Flooding Strategy’
What the Democrats have been doing for the last several years. A Cloward-Piven strategy to overwhelm a slow-paced judicial system suited to the 18/19th century instead of current-day’s warp speed. A classic example was the reg that shut down numerous coal-burning plants until it was overturn, which of course was far too late. The Democrats are only wailing ’cause in their eyes they’re never supposed to be on the receiving end.
Just finished Brass Man by Neal Asher. Somebody here turned me on to his books – high end sci-fi. He’s also a conservative Brit on X and none too happy right now.
I’m now reading A Fiery Sunset – very fun military sci-fi. You have to read the first 4 books of the previous series which is also fun.
https://a.co/d/i8ZkwnZ
Brass Man is fine but Asher really hits his stride in later books. You’re in for a treat.
He is on my short list based on many recommendations from you lot. Completely unfamiliar with his work.
I liked the Cormac series. Before that, I’d read The Skinner and wasn’t impressed.
Degustibus.
I loved the Splatterjay world building.
The Grog books from RW Krpoun, recommended by RC. Serviceable fantasy, some interesting worldbuilding and some philosophy on the meaning and costs of freedom. Also some of Krpoun’s earlier books, the Phantom Badger series. These are less polished, and heavy on military history (strategy and tactics, unit movements, etc). I don’t really recommend these.
The latest in Larry’s Correia’s Son of the Black Sword series. The story of this series is good, I don’t regret reading it, but the writing is less compelling than Correia’s Hard Magic books.
Jay Kristoff’s Nevernight trilogy. I really liked these, lots of killing and scheming and clash of titans dark magic. Ultimately disappointed with the very end, I feel like Kristoff (or his editor or publisher) went soft at the end to make the fangirls happy. There is a little gratuitous sexy time in this series.
I’m pretty sure I’ve read Empire of Imagination, but I don’t remember anything about it.
I find it interesting that the promo blurb on Amazon makes it sound like Gygax invented the game all by himself, and doesn’t even, at the least, mention Dave Arneson.
The reality is that Arneson borrowed some ideas for a new type of game from another guy, David Wesely. Gary heard about it, and asked Dave to demonstrate. He was impressed enough to do his own version of the game. Dave and Gary then agreed to work together to try to fashion the rules into a sellable product.
According to one Tim Kask (who was one of the first employees of TSR) Dave’s contribution was to turn over his barely decipherable notes, while Gary worked hard getting them into publishable form.
Dave was the creative idea man, while Gary was the practical thinker and organizer.
Even so, the original rules are a mess; they aren’t really rules for a game, as someone said, but rather a framework for creating a game.
I’m reading Sexuality Beyond Consent by Avgi Saketopoulou. Lot of Gay Race Kommunist nonsense. but given my, ahhh, special interests it’s really fascinating and quite controversial in kink circles. Lots of therapy language to wade through, but there’s a definite element of ‘Harden the Fuck Up’ advice that lots of people on the left need to hear.
I am reading the Hornblower series by CS Forester. The Aubrey/Maturin series characters are more fleshed out with human interactions but there are volumes with little sailing/naval warfare. Hornblower is more internally focused of Horatio and his inner conflicts and more sailing and naval warfare. The series is a good read.
One interesting part about Hornblower is how he fails to see how others view him because he thinks only HE gets scared before and action and he has an “imposter syndrome” going on inside his head.
The apostolic fathers and the essential writings of ralph waldo emerson.
Fuck off, Tulpa!
Good to see you ’round, stranger. (Pls forgive the inside joke, if you’re not aware. Forgive me if you’re well aware.)
Hype: you read any of John Lawton’s stuff?
No I haven’t but they look interesting, added to the TBR list, thanks.
These busty babes have got specs appeal.
https://archive.is/mLBv4/98780fb16b4bd7fc24897da7f7379e80890e3110.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.is/CIfKP/9153a7624b4abdc263eaaeb8367c5fb542285f15.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.is/HVyOi/6dd1eaf0b7de21fe19322cb1f99a160ba062844a.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.is/LNtMI/6f070ba214a377d02595a605f734909c3bde886a.jpg
NSFW.
I’m reading Prince of the North Tower, which I believe people are familiar with.
Thanks for bringing this back Hype. I’ll try to get in next month.
I’m currently reading the Dolmenwood campaign book, specifically the information on all the hexes (areas) that players can explore.
A lot of gaming goodness. Weird and sometimes scary folklore-like creatures and situations. The author, Gavin Norman, showing off his superb imagination.
Ha! I was reading through that in my spare moments. Good setting.
I am reading the Marvel X-Men Epic Collection volumes. Do to availability issues, I’ve been reading a bit out of order, but still interesting reading these stories I’ve known almost my whole life without actually reading the original versions.
Slacking on reading. Been enjoying the flu for the past several days.
Currently on order: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions – Thomas Kuhn
I confess, I suffer from imposter syndrome.
My intellectual development has been hampered by distraction all of my life and I feel I need to go back and re-read, study again things I should have learned decades ago. Surely I will get it right this time…wont I?
I tried to read that long ago but I can barely remember any of it as at the time my attention was focused much more on female aesthetics, one young woman in particular, than on the philosophy of science.
That got me to thinking….
I recently had a lengthy discussion with my son about life, the universe and everything where he laid out his amazement at recent scientific discovery and how it has changed the way we see things. (How many people do you know who regularly have 2+hr conversations on the phone with their adult children? I am a lucky man)
I told him that I think most of what we think we know about stuff is probably wrong, maybe wildly wrong and recounted how I was taught about such things in grade school through university and that it has mostly proven to be horseshit. I suspect in 20 years what we teach now will be seen the same way. That brought me back to remembering my teachers. They were idiots. Maybe not idiots, but poorly educated…..save one or two. One, a young man who substituted for our regular teacher while she was out for a month or two making progeny, was quite well educated, bright and had a knack for teaching. He made a great impression on me and the ideas he exposed us to are with me to this day. I would say he was a major influence on my current views on culture, politics, history, etc…my views as a proponent of individual liberty. The problem is that I cannot for the life of me remember his name or even his face.
This could be fodder for budding sci-fi/fantasy writers if anyone is interested. It is not virgin ground but the supernatural ‘guide’ that pops in and out of a person’s life nudging them to stay on the right path….
Goddamnit I woke up and had too much coffee too early. I am rambling on about nonsense.
Hey, hey, hey!
Wakey, wakey Glibs!!
☕😋🚬
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r8NBWWJn6cs
🎶🎶
Good morning, Sean, Suthen, Ted’S., Stinky, Roat, and homey!
Morning, how goes?
Very well, thanks! I was NOT bombarded by co-workers clamoring for their W-2s when I returned to work yesterday, and I got a good head start on month-end stuff. A couple of minor issues about Vacation hours and local tax withholding, but nothing too onerous. And I like Tuesdays because after the Monday Mail Mountain, there’s hardly any on Tuesday. 😁
How about you?
…and a Good Morning to you, GT and all of the above.
Today is the big go-live of something that has been delayed repeatedly for the past two years – my entire tenure in this role so far. The change window runs from 7am until 5pm because I expect it will take that long or longer.
Every iota of self doubt was unleashed from whatever corners of my brain they’d hidden un to the point yesterday I was literally repeating “I have no idea what I’m doing” despite that being a lie.
It’s not even the true go-live for the workflow it’s supposed to usher in. Because of all the delays, the rank and file staff weren’t trained on the new workflow yet, so the true go live is next month, but the big technical lift is today.
Good morning, 4(20), and good luck, U! 🤞😬
🤞
We’ve already started. The early steps at least are well-trod ground.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/womans-death-from-20-stab-wounds-was-ruled-a-suicide-now-pathologist-admits-he-was-wrong/ar-AA1ylrbX
Bonkers. Nuts. Fucking crazy.
Don’t you hate it when you accidentally stab yourself 20 times?
Ruins my whole day.
Good of that submoton to admit his mistake fourteen years later. More proof that idiots can get into medschool.
I hate it when I insult someone’s intelligence and misspell the insult. Where’s the edit button?
So…an accident? 🙄
Probably a fall and repeat, ’cause the floor was slippery.
The wife read an article on that story that said the coroner originally called it homicide, but then changed his ruling to suicide after meeting with police and prosecutors. Something like that mentioned in this article, linked in Sean’s article.
Police originally covering for someone? Or just lazy? It is Philadelphia, and apparently there was a bitter cold snap at the time of the murder.
When in doubt, assume malfeasance.
It stinks on an epic scale.
Nobody seems interested in finding the murderer…?
It’s Philadelphia. They’re trying to MOVE on.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/02/beyond-parody-scotland-considering-banning-ownership-cats-as/
Commies everywhere.
The Scottish are beyond hope, a proud people created by God to be dominated by the English and sell out to the EU who are worse; not to the same degree as the Welsh but still.
“Some hate the English. I don’t. They’re just wankers. We, on the other hand, are colonized by wankers. We can’t even find a decent culture to be colonized by.”
Great movie but on a rewatch by an older me way more depressing than I had remembered it.
Trainspotting 2 was a worthy sequel.
They also hate squirrels.
Dogs have owners; cats have staff.
suh’ fam
whats goody
Joe Biden Signs with Hollywood Talent Agency CAA — Calls Him One of ‘Most Respected and Influential Voices in National and Global Affairs’
Are you ready for his stand-up comedy tour?
I respect the man for continuing his grift even at his advanced age and dementia level. One foot in the grave and another on a banana peel and he’s still milking the idiots who are stupider than him.
We should be laughing at the people propping him up Weekend at Bernie’s style and point out how evil they are.
I figured all of that would disappear when his political influence evaporated but some people really do buy into the lies they tell themselves.
I thought that was going to be the Bee.