I really want the libraries to open. There are two books coming out next month that I want to read.
Next Book in the Dresden Files:Peace Talks.
Ian Tolls third book on the Pacific War.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

Cold Harbor. That was good.

MANY libraries have websites from which you can check out e-books.

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

The Wishbones by Tom Perrotta if anyone wants an easy read for a flight or something. Its from The Leftovers guy. I suggested it to Spiegel once but I think he was offended because its about a wedding band. Tributosaurus don't do weddings.

He was the guy who wrote Little Children, right? I liked that book the second time I read it.

Just finished The Last Yankee by David Falkner. Biography on Billy Martin.

Had no idea the Sox offered him the job in the early 80's.

Yeah he's got a very easy to read writing style. Its almost easier to read one of his books than watch a movie. Election and Bad Haircut are also good.

"Game Prayer," by Al Ortolani

Maybe it’s the way boys
look at each other before the last game,
their eyes wet and glimmering with rain.

Maybe it’s that I catch them
in these shy moments of waiting,
turning the world like a pigskin,

flipping it nonchalantly, low spiral
drilling the air. Maybe it’s this
moment before the splash of lights

before the game prayer
before you run from the door.
If so, forgive me

for seeing you so vulnerable,
in that quiet moment
before the helmets.

Welcome back Tommy!!!

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Yep. Come back more often Tommy.

Going on vacation in less than a month and just picked up a nice hard cover version of The Divine Comedy. 700 year anniversary of its completion. I’ve skimmed through it before but I really want to dig into it this time, highlighter in hand. Kind of going through a midlife crisis so this seems like a great one to try to tackle. I may kill my self before I get to Purgatorio

If I really hate it I have an old copy of the complete works of Edgar Allan Poe I’ll bring along... light reading

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I am reading the Kill Chain. It is written by a former aide to John McCain. It is scaring the crap out of me in terms of how we are wholly unprepared for what China is doing to counter our military.

Now I know this guy comes from the school of we need a stronger military in every respect ala McCain, but he makes a really good case and is clearly well informed.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

I just finished Peace Talks. Nice decent read. You can tell it was basically first half of a longer book split in half. Can not wait for Battleground so we can get the war kicked into high gear with all the major and minor bad guys and settle some scores.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

Which translation? Some are better than others. Worth the read, though. I took an entire class on it. Also, where y'all caddy?

Picked up the Everyman’s Library version which got nice reviews and has Over 40 illustrations from the 15th century by Botticelli.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Might have to pick it up. Trump may be a dick and all but he is right about China.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

Nice. It sounds like that is the Sayers translation. Part of it is in prose, if I remember correctly. Ciardi has a good one, too. It's funny how some of the dead people he meets hadn't even died in real life yet. Have fun with this one.

Haven't picked it up yet, I miss the earlier style of the series where it was a good detective story that happened to have some supernatural stuff going on. The last few have gone full supernatural and honestly, I don't think it is his strong suit as an author. I tried that fantasy series he wrote and thought it was meh.

I just finished the Broken Earth trilogy. Really good.

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I've been dipping into the oeuvre of Jorge Luis Borges lately.

Labyrinths ranks among my all-time favorite short story collections.

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Nice, I re-read Collected Fictions during the pandemic.

Finished The Savage Detectives by Bolano. The smaller first and third sections of the book are best read together, then go back to read the recollections of the main characters for the end. 2666 sits on my shelf daring me to tackle it next.

Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story, by Chris Nashawaty.

This book was only half about Caddyshack. The other half was about Doug Kenney, one of the writers, and the beginnings of National Lampoon magazine. That was interesting, but all that stuff could have been squeezed into a single chapter. The stories behind the beginnings of SNL and, especially, Animal House were cool to read about.

We finally get to Caddyshack about halfway through, and I enjoyed that part.

Themes: Caddyshack was 1) a non-stop party on the set and 2) a mess of a film. It's probably the best comedy of the 80s, but as a film and as a story, it's garbage. You get to see how they had to more or less re-do the film in the editing room and change it from a film that focused on caddies to a film that focused on what it does. It always bugged me that they hardly focused on caddies after thirty minutes into the film, but now I guess I know why.

The first chapter is sloooooooooow moving. The last chapter deals with Doug Kenney's death. (Unfortunately, we don't find out if he went to Heaven, Heck, or Purgatory.) Skim both chapters.

Just ordered a used hardcover copy of Nature's Metropolis off Amazon. I missed this reply years ago. Thank you sir.

I just watched A Stupid and Futile Gesture on Netflix, which really expands on the Doug Kenney storyline. I never even knew the guy existed until this Friday, and now I see a reference to him in a random place the following Tuesday. It's funny how the world works sometimes.

Strange indeed!

Been reading Three-Ring Circus by Jeff Pearlman. It is on the Kobe, Shaq, and Phil years on the Lakers. Really good so far.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Crazy '08. The 1908 MLB season. When baseball became the national pastime. Yet, hardly pastoral. Mostly cheating and fighting. Some hilarious stories on and off the field.

Just ordered 1984 and Animal Farm on Amazon. Never read either before.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

It might depend on your age when you read it, but 1984 is a book that stays with you. Despite the fact that I've read and seen much more compelling and scary dystopian stories, I still find myself thinking about 1984 a couple of times a year, every year, since I read it when I was around 13.

I'm 44 and despite having a keen interest in reading and taking a lot of English classes in high school and college it was never required reading. Just thought that both books would be good ones to knock off the list over the winter. I haven't really been able to finish the last few books I have started so hoping these stick. I believe they will.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

wow i thought everyone had to read it in high school. we were assigned it senior year, but i had already read it 3 times between sophomore-junior year on my own. it was the easiest course selection we had. unfortunately, the other one we had to read was..."tess of the d'urbervilles". why couldn't we have just read "wuthering heights"?