Fourscore
I often buy books from Hamilton Books, using the online catalog. I ordered about 10-12, this one, Pirate Enlightenment or the Real Libertalia, authored by David Graeber, looked like something that would interest me.
Pirates, as we learned in movies, lead a carefree life, attacking ships of various nations for the booty (commercial goods) that they would use or sell. The Golden Age of piracy lasted about 50-60 years. We tend to think that the Caribbean was the dominant area of piracy, perhaps from our Hollywood perspective.
Graeber, though, takes us to coasts of Madagascar, where pirate societies attempted to make settlements. After months at sea even pirates are receptive to a little R & R, plus restocking and ship repairs.
The author links pirate society with the local culture. Pirates, being free spirited, still needed some kind of voluntary order, both on ship and off, if they were to be successful. The locals tended to be tribal and receptive of the European goods that the pirates had to sell/trade. Some of the stolen goods were high value and hard to fence locally.
I had difficulty trying to remember the local names of the local bosses and the village names. Since there is little historical documentation Graber uses could-haves, maybes and possibly that I found didn’t lend itself to historical belief. Fortunately the book was only 150 pages.
If there is any interest let me know, I’ll be happy to make someone the new owner.
Dan G.
Morgoth’s Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien – This book covers part of the post-Lord of the Rings drafting and rewrites of the early Middle-Earth stories that would be included in The Silmarillion. Christopher limited this book to the Valinorean related parts of The Silmarillion. Melkor and his nature feature prominently, hence this volume’s name.
Creativity – A Short and Cheerful Guide by John Cleese – It’s a short guide on things Cleese noticed creative people do. The most important is to set aside time where you can work without interruptions to allow yourself to get into deep thought.
Zwak
This month, give or take, I have been reading a lot of two authors, George V. Higgins and Flannery O’Connor.
I read Higgins’ The Friends of Eddy Coyle, one of the best police and thieves’ novels of all time. Higgins was, along with being a graduate of the Stanford writing program, a federal prosecutor out of the Boston field office. He had an incredible ear for the dialog that takes place between criminals, cops, men, and where they all intersect. This is the tale of a small time criminal trying to give the cops enough information to keep himself out of jail, all the while still on the streets doing business. Highly recommended.
I am also currently reading his book Trust. Not sure what it is about at its core, as I am only 8-9 pages in.
I have been alternating that with short stories from the master of the art, Flannery O’Connor. In her short life, she only wrote 30 odd stories and two novels, but each one is a carefully crafted, diamond hard jewel. From the classics of A Good Man Is Hard To Find, to the subtleties of The River, she hits hard as only a deeply believing Catholic could when, in her words, “You have to make your vision apparent by shock — to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling figures.”
I also have a Rebecca West book, The Birds Fall Down, on deck, and reread Neuromancer. More on the former later, and we all know the later.
Raven Nation
Just started Lenin’s Roller Coaster, the third book in David Downing‘s Jack McColl series. The main character is a British spy before and during WWI. The books feature IRA operatives trying to blow up British supply trains, parachute drops over occupied Belgium, etc. McColl is a patriot but not one who sees Britain and the empire through rose-colored glasses. Recommend the series based on the 2+ books read. I first found Downing through his John Russell series which centered around a British-American reporter in Germany prior to, during, and after WWII. Also recommend that one
DblEagle
War by Bob Woodward. Don’t bother unless you are reading it to see how much MSM players were propping up Biden as a dynamic and hands on POTUS. The book is not even treacle.
Hornblower series by C.S. Forester. For some reason I had not read this series even though I sail and I like to study naval history. Now that I have read the series, in quick fashion, I wish I had read it earlier. For an author and series in the 1950s Horatio Hornblower is a much deeper character than I imagined an author of that period would portray. It is a fine portrayal of leadership. You see his doubts, his insecurities, and how he does not understand why his men and fellow officers admire him. I should not have been surprised because I have read other works by C.S. Forester and they are excellent as well.
At War With Ourselves by H.R. McMaster. An insider’s account of the first 14 months of OMB 1.0 foreign policy implementation. Holy Shiite was that place dysfunctional. The SecState and SecDef both come off not well. I place more of the burden on Mattis since he should have known better how the NSC works and that the NSAdvisor is his peer- so act like it. Trump sounds like the boss from hell, but if you understand you have a limited lifespan then you can be effective. Also, to no surprise, Trump has very limited interest in prep work.
I found it an interesting read.
The Hyperbole
Elmore Leonard Escape from Five Shadows (2009) **** Cowboy is sent to a prison work camp for a crime he didn’t commit, the camp is run by a corrupt boss who employs sadistic guards to keep the prisoners in line and a pack of indians to track down any attempted escapees.
Robin Blake Hungry Music (2022) ***** 8th in the Titus Craig and Luke Fedelis series, Our favorite 18th century county coroner and his physician side-kick solve the murders of a family on a farm and that of an unrelated body found buried under the hothouse of a nearby estate. As usual Blake peppers his stories with historical figures and the attention to English law and society in the 1700’s is interesting as well as entertaining.
As always…
Remember if you would like to be included with all the cool kids email your reviews , criticisms , and or synopsis to whatarewereading25@proton.me by the last Monday of next month.
I read Higgins’ The Friends of Eddy Coyle, one of the best police and thieves’ novels of all time.
I haven’t read the book, but the Robert Mitchum movie is pretty good.
I had just rewatched it too, and Mitchum is perfect as Eddy.
Its one of the rare movies that is as good as the book, I’m surprised that there have only been 2 (3?) Higgins novels made into movies. As Zwak says he’s a master of dialog and much of the story is told through stories the characters tell each other, like a screenplay the dialog drives the story.
I finally watched it this year; I’d bump it to “fantastic” albeit a bit of a bummer.
I may be inflating the rating due to the great Boston area filming locations – but that Bruins game at the Garden is an incredible time capsule.
https://youtu.be/nRPKY0feClY
It sounds like Whitey Bulger used it as an instruction manual.
Truly. Similar levels of backstabbing.
It’s a shame he didn’t die younger and more violently at the same time as his FBI handler.
Truth.
Reading is like teaching. Those who can’t write Firsts, read. Those who can’t read, First. Or some shit like that.
FIRST.
Also, Hypacunt always puts himself last. Saving the worst for last? Interesting strategy.
I started Over Ruled by Neil Gorsuch, very sad and entertaining, the man can spin a yarn.
I read McMaster’s Dereliction of Duty and all during his stint in Trump 1.0, I wondered, which character from that he was playing. I think I settled on McGeorge Bundy. I may have to spring for this, to see if he accepts his faults in service, or if he is self-serving about what he did.
For some reason I didn’t take any reading material on my trip down to Virginia – guess I figured I’d be doing stuff even at night. So I perused a local book store, didn’t find anything on my list and settled on a book that sorta spoke to me The Power of Misfits. The hook was this quote on the back cover: “Are you an introvert or loner who feels painfully different from others and unable to fit into society”? How could I say no to that? First third of it I found slow and rather irritating style-wise (too self help-ish), then around the mid-point it started hitting home. Almost done with it and decided it wasn’t a bad buy.
I love just randomly finding a book and feeling that it was written for just that time and place I was at.
lol It’s like that person knows us.
Or is one of us.
JI, It is an autobiography so he is not the asshole of the story. But he does not throw constant shade at the SecState and SecDef and he is reserved in his criticisms of OMB.
Currently I’m reading the label of Claussen Hearty Garlic Slices.
https://www.kraftheinz.com/claussen/products/00044700092255-hearty-garlic-deli-style-pickle-wholes
Very phallic.
Your firsts are dilute.
Take a knee.
I would never take a knee and debase myself to your level. My Firsts are fire.
So soft. Your firsts are like Charmin Ultra Comfort.
I’ve stalled out with my reading – still on The Golden Torc but haven’t read a page in a bit. It happens. Life (and playoff hockey) are taking my attention. I’ll get back to it.
I’ve not been watching hockey but I just checked the playoff brackets. Wow, that Jets/Blues finish must have been insane.
I stayed up late to watch that last game and I’m glad I did. Latest NHL game 7 tying goal, ever. Bananas.
I’m torn, since I find the Canadian Stanley Cup drought hilarious, in a schadenfreude way, but I found myself rooting for the Jets.
Panthers/Leafs is tough for me, as a Bruins fan. Pure “meteor game”, normally. But Marchand is a Panther (for now) and I love that guy. But seeing him a Panthers sweater is gross. I dunno, man.
Easy root for Toronto here.
Yes. With the Blues out, I root for Canada.
I had to work and wisely(?) fell asleep after the first OT. I knew I’d get drawn in and watch the finish, but I had to wake up in ~4 hours for work. This ostensible adult did a very adult thing. I’m very good at adulting, dammit!
(Adulting. There’s a present continuous that succinctly displays the woes of the Harry Potter Generation, the linguistic demonstration of ‘Good times create weak men.’ This 1987-born protagonist, exactly Harry Potter-aged, is thunderstruck by his cohort’s cognitive dissonance, loving HP (not Rowling!) and growing up with He-Who- Must-Not- Be-Named, and their *proud* use of r-word and n-word to shade themselves from ‘terrible’ syllables. Their Orwellian nature is lost upon them.
Normally, I’d go with ‘Bless their hearts,’ but ‘Fuck yourself, cunts’ is more appropriate. (Save ’round family… I’m (mostly) obedient to THOSE Powers That Be.)
I cannot in good conscience root for a freaking Florida team. Hockey in Florida? GTFO.
If you’re a Blues fan the end of that game was very painful. I was watching the clock tick down and once it got to 2 seconds left I thought the Blues had it in the bag. Nope, Jets scored with 1.6 seconds left…..unfreaking believable.
I’m a Blues ‘fan’ the way many were (and I half-still am) Braves fans. Turner gave the nation MLB outside of The Big Three, which was IIRC 2-3 games a week, nationally.
Cubs diehard and anti- St. Louis, but Blues games are what I regularly get, and ya get to know the team. Same-same as everything else.
Deep down? I’m an Avalanche fan. As a rookie playing full-contact hockey in high school, my friend and teammate’s Dad was into Colorado, particularly the brilliance of Patrick Roy in goal.
Speaking of, my Cubs remain better than people think, despite kinda knowing we’ll put runs on the board. (Top down, we don’t give an easy out.)
I lost interest in the Cup when the Kings decided they wanted to be Edmonton’s prision bitch for the 4th year in a row.
Saw the convo about Newark. Ill be covering that idiocacy in part 2 of my series (along with other things that the FAA does).
There is some lying going around on what happened on the 28th…
Yes, a sector lost radar displays momentarially (up to 90 seconds) but as for comms…lets just say I saw no tickets opened for a comm failure.
So either in the sudden loss of radar, controllers panicked and also felt they lost comms (which they have two backups, so not really lost) or technicians and managers are covering up a larger failure.
The radar display failure is of the FAAs own doing and that is what I will cover
Is Bob Poole entirely correct the FAA should be placed in a private, nonprofit corporation or mostly correct?
It’s being blamed on trump/elon musk of course
I’ve been reading the want ads. A bit dry, I must say.
Except for this one:
https://platedlizard.blogspot.com/2023/12/greatest-want-ad-ever.html
I read the Shackleton biography that pertained to that ad. It was a great book, great adventure.
If anyone wants Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy” it’s still on my shelf, waiting for a new home.
I saw that in my prog-Left parents’ house shortly after it was published. When I saw that Vance became Trump’s VP, I imagined with laughter how fast it was powerlaunched into the trash can.
Re-reading a “recent” space opera favorite, Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. A new book was recently added to the trilogy after almost twenty years so of course I have to re-read the first three books.
In this universe, there is no faster-than-light travel, so it’s interesting how the various protagonists spend years chasing each other around before they finally come together. There are the usual Grand Ideas, and plenty of them, wielded by a skillful writer with UK sensibilities so the prose is more flowery than you would get from an American writer.
Celtics are shooting roughly 8 for 598 from three point range in this game, and with the game tied with under ten seconds left, they naturally go for a three pointer. JFC.
I mean if they can get Bird to suit up they will be fine.
15 for 60.
Oy.
Devon Eriksen’s Theft Of Fire, which I think was recommended by someone here. Good writing, annoyingly first in a series (debut novel) and who knows when the sequel will appear.
John C. Wright’s Starquest series, first two books Space Pirates of Andromeda and Secret Agents of the Galaxy. Pulpy fun, evil plans to enslave the galaxy, larger than life heroes.
I loved Theft Of Fire, so it may have been me.
Larry Correia is adamant that we have to buy into new series if we want the author to continue them, so here’s hoping Eriksen has Larry’s work ethic.
I’ve gotten burned before, however. (Just publish them indy, man)
I should read more Wright. I still think about Awake In The Night Land; it has really stuck with me.
New Author: My best friend in Korea back in the day, Shayan Kashani, a fascinating Iranian- Canadian -turned Spanish +Colombian professor published his first book, or collection, “So What: Short Stories — Big Questions.” Amazon blurb:
“An English teacher, botanist, chef, and presidential chief of staff find common ground with an angel, humanoid, mantis, and flamingo in these tales, where existentialism and satire collide.
Ten stories explore the moments that define us: the choices we make, the ones made for us, and the blurred line between destiny and free will.
So what? Is there a point”
His language-ability is to be envied. Fluent in Farsi, English, and now Spanish, his refusal to work for the State is admirable and thankful, cuz he can room-read and play the audience like no other. He’s known to have That Ability to charm the pants off the girl of his choosing when we’d go out. A gifted orator and writer, he’s also blessed /cursed with the hubris that naturally accompanies his talents.
I haven’t read bits yet, but it’s on my docket. (I imagine much of it will rankle me, if he talks philosophy, but his expressive nature is intoxicating. Like many of his ilk, the flawless delivery of his ideas intoxicates readers (and those in person) to proudly agree and come into his line of thinking. Shy *finally* realized his ‘no capitalization, no punctuation’ style was bullshit and ‘gave in’ to conventions. Fantastic writer and thinker, with many ideas perfectly Venn-ing with mine, along with the myriad that are antithetical. We made a great duo in Korea, kicking ass (or failing) in our overlapping interests and contradictions.
I visited him in Colombia in 2015, where we spent a week yacking and hanging out in town and on the beach. It’s how I got to South America (six continents down and fuck the seventh!) and why I can truthfully say I’ve bought coke in Medellin on my own (after watching the routine once). I rather enjoy that odd accomplishment. Says so many things about me and my life. (I was quite into coke in university, but it never manifested into any habit. Fond memories.)
Antarctica is the most interesting continent.
There’s a reason that the powers that be have restricted access to that continent outside a small zone at the tip.
They’re hiding shit.
It’s just the tip….
1000x more habitable than Mars yet no one is proposing we live there. Hmmm.. suspicious.
This is fun,
https://youtu.be/12JDlGnMiTM?si=D70Xou70SLKlztYq
Space economics from
Reason
That was good
@ Zwak and Flannery O’Connor, but for all: Kurt Vonnegut made a list of rules for short-story writing.
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them-in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
8. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
9. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
“The greatest American short story writer of my generation was Flannery O’Connor. She broke practically every one of my rules but the first. Great writers tend to do that.”
“She would of been a good woman,” The Misfit said, “if it had been
somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.”
One of the best lines ever written.
Recent reads:
Polostan by Neal Stephenson. Meh, it’s ok I guess. Not sure what the point was. I’ll read the next book when I notice it’s out but won’t be excited about it.
Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Simmons makes me feel like a dumbass because I’m pretty sure I’m missing 99% of his literary references. Anyways, I liked Ilium better.
Job: A Comedy of Justice by Heinlein. This one’s a re-read – I originally read this as a teenager, mainly because it was that month’s selection in whatever science fiction book club I was in. It’s much more “wouldn’t it be awesome if hot chicks wore skimpy clothes and/or just went around topless and everyone had lots of sex all the time” Heinlein, as opposed to “here’s my thoughts on military discipline and how the perfect society would be structured” Heinlein like my current read (or The Number of the Beast, which IIRC had a bit of both).
Currently reading:
Starship Troopers, because I realized that I’d never gotten around to reading it.
Had the paperback in HS & I vaguely remember the cover being rather bosomy so yeah.
I bought the book and read it many years ago. I remember thinking that it wasn’t up to his other stuff so I put it aside.
Recently I read it again as part of my plan to re-read all Heinlein. I disliked it so much that I gave the book away.
I remember my dad bought ‘FRIDAY’ and that cover was also very boobs
Yeah I never read the whole thing. It was crap from what I can recall.
It was a gift from older bro. I suspect he appreciated the cover a lot more than I.
Same with Friday, another gift & crap.
Simmons sets things up well, but doesn’t follow through. Hyperion was good, being a retelling of The Canterbury Tales in a way, but Fall… is kinda weak. Illium was good, but the sequel had the same problem.
I’ve read the Hyperion books a couple times and I have to admit I can’t stand the “intertextuality” (thanks, wikipedia).
Just tell a good story, FFS.
The two books are really one — the first being the worldbuilding/setup and the second the actual plot.
The Endymions were the same way but worse imo because of the Chosen One and the need to bring back characters from the first duology. Although Endymion does on have one of the greatest first lines, especially if you’re reading it because you like the first two books:
You’re making a strong case for Heinlein.
Job was one of my favorites, but haven’t read it in twenty years.
“…“here’s my thoughts on military discipline and how the perfect society would be structured”
Everyone ever who said that should be subjected to the walk of shame and be pelted with rotten produce then banished to the wilderness.
And eggs. Rotten eggs also.
Hawaii’s library system has not ordered either of the two recent books on the 2024 election that have been in the news lately. (Fight and Uncharted) nor the two recent books examining governments mistakes for the Wuhan Virus (In Covid’s Wake and An Abundance of Caution). Is it the lack of money or lack of sucking team donkey that is causing this? (I suspect the later.)
You know it’s the latter.
I haven’t visited a library in decades. Which is kind of funny since I live next door to the county library now, but eeeww bums.
That’s just your housed privilege talking.
Now that I live in a small town, it’s funny seeing the one prolific professional homeless person here, with his mean junkyard dog, standing variously in front of the library or at the intersection near the largest supermarket or next to the state route heading south.
Dude is like a comic book version of “homeless”. The hair, the dog, it’s all carefully constructed.
Looking forward to the Rebecca West review in the future. Enjoyed Return of the Soldier and some others.
Horatio Hornblower is an excellent series. None of the titles are that long and all go quickly.
https://www.reddit.com/r/flying/comments/1kbjz4h/faa_wants_me_to_surrender_my_medical_certificate/#lightbox
Kafka couldn’t write this with a straight face.
I liked Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” for some reason, but I couldn’t get into any of his other stuff. I tried to read “The Trial” and put it back on the shelf halfway through, something that is very rare for me (the only other time I remember doing this was with “The Age of Innocence” by Edith Wharton).
“Doc, I need a prescription for 5 different anti-depressants”
Doc – “What on earth for?!”
“I have acquired a collection of Kafka’s writing and I am about to start slogging through it.”
Doc – “Oh. Only five? You must have one hell of a constitution.”
Provoked by Scott Horton: I’m sure most of you already know, but this is THE history on the Ukraine catastrophe. As the title suggests, it blows apart the establishment narrative that everything was perfectly fine and then Putin just invaded Ukraine because he wants to reconstitute the USSR. The US and Europe could have done so many things different since the fall of the USSR to move towards a more peaceful, prosperous outcome for its former states, but they were too focused on turning them all against Russia.
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: I just started Volume IV the other day. It took a while to really hook my attention with all the uppercrust blueblood tittle-tattle at the beginning, but it got better with some battles, scandals, and authorial interjections about the absurdity of war.
La Peste (The Plague) by Albert Camus: I’m trying to always be reading a novel in French. I’m getting to where I only need the dictionary two or three times per page. More often, I have to re-read the sentences to understand what each word is doing and what the meaning is. It’s a good story so far; I already finished L’Étranger, and I enjoy the philosophical bent of his novels.
W&P is an amazing epic. It’s also one of the most widely lied about books to have actually read.
2 days to airport meltdown. TSA is going to fuck up their made up RealBullshit “deadline”. And the goober psychopaths that want to fondle their fellow Americans and jerk it to Abu Ghraib videos will love every minute of it.
🤬
Apparently I missed the letter from the county clerk telling me I could set up an appointment to finish the permit process. I just found it. It was on the floor behind the box by my letter slot.
What a pointless delay.
Oh, on the plus side, I don’t have anyone left who can block it.
“It was on the floor behind the box by my letter slot.”
There was a sign that said ‘Beware of the leopard’, wasn’t there?
No, that sign hasn’t arrived yet.
So, you’re shooting with us this weekend?
I don’t have the card yet.
PCC?
Just to let you know, there are enough good shooters signed up you’ll be likely to be squadded with people worth learning from. At least a couple of A classes.
Morning all.
I am always bringing up the rear on these late night posts.
I am currently reading Israel and Civilization by Josh Hammer.
Dont.
I am looking for an in-depth treatment of how the civil/legal values of western civilization are rooted in judeo-christian religious teaching. This is not it. While he is not entirely wrong he is….inaccurate. His work turns out to be a PR effort more than a scholarly treatment.
5 out of 10.
I hate it when that happens.
Sadly I find quite a lot of that going around. Everything is politicized.
I wish you luck on finding your unicorn.
On the earlier hockey discussion and regarding a Florida hockey team – We had a hockey team here in Louisiana for a while. All we did was hire a bunch of Canadians to put cartoon crawfish on their uniforms.
It didnt take.
Wakey, wakey.
😴💤☕️
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iywaBOMvYLI
🎶🎶
Maybe that will help you get motivated.
Happy rainy morning everyone!
Why thank you.
I like rainy days where the house isn’t threatened. Always so calm and fresh.
At least it isn’t Monday.
suh’ fam
whats goody
Good morning, homey, U, Ted’S., and Sean!
Weirdness – more than usual – at our place. Was awakened a few minutes before 6 with what sounded (and looked through the blind) like either an impromptu fireworks show or a gunfight in our backyard. 😳 Turned out to be a transformer blowing, leaving us with a partial power outage.
The good news is the kitchen power stayed on, so I have my coffee! 😁👍☕
Indecent acts by a robot on a public street!?
😳
Indecent explosure? 💥
Morning All, coffee in hand (still in the cup, though)
Good looking morning again. We went from winter to summer and skipped a lot of spring.
Good morning. That is easy to fix, just plant something. You will get a freeze.
I watered everything yesterday because the prediction was no rain for a week.
Rain all day today since before sunup, all night and wont quit until Thursday. Imagine if I had washed my car also.