Member: robertajl

If you ever get around to reading Practitioners of the Divine (or if you already have), I'd be interested in knowing what you think of it. It looks interesting.

posted by Makifat at 12:48 am (EST) on Apr 25, 2009

Thanks for your kind words! You will enjoy "The Honey and the Hemlock". My current ancient Greek book is "Helen: Goddess, Princess, Whore" by Bettany Highes. Tonight I attended a lecture sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America by Prof. John Younger about Mycenae at Amherst College. It was amazing how much of the many books I've read about ancient Greece in the last two or three years came flooding back at me during the lecture and the Q&A that followed. It was in "Courtesans and Fishcakes" I learned that the alter where the sacrifice took place was more sacred than the religious center or temple and when it was my turn I asked whether there was evidence of that in the Bronze Age archaeology.

Ciao!

Stan AKA Garp83

posted by Garp83 at 9:54 pm (EST) on Apr 14, 2009

Always nice to find others interested in medieval history. I found your profile through the Medieval Europe group. Any particular book you would recommend? What's your favorite non-fiction book on medieval history? I'm always looking for new books to add to my library. Thanks.

Steven
http://steventill.com

posted by StevenTill at 10:31 pm (EST) on Feb 14, 2009

I'm a Dorothy B Hughes fan. Ride the Pink Horse and In a Lonely Place are all-time favorites.
Ever read the "Thinking Machine" stories by Jacques Futrelle?
Not a "psychic" detective, but interesting.

posted by tros at 10:55 pm (EST) on Dec 19, 2008

Stumbled on your question about Bodie. Yes, the moustache was VERY real, and I have lots of family photographs to prove it.

posted by Mojowan at 2:32 am (EST) on Jul 23, 2008

Hey--I think I picked up the Pilkington at an Antiquarian Book Fair when I was in the midst of graduate school working on late 18th-century fiction. I've dipped into it but haven't (yet) finished it. She piqued my curiosity enough that I held on to the book through several rounds of thinning out books.

posted by heatherm at 11:59 am (EST) on Jun 29, 2008

I simply stumbled across a couple of her books in an Oxfam second-hand bookshop, and a minute's dipping in was interesting enough to make me buy them. I haven't warmed to her work quite as much as some other English women poets, such as Kathleen Raine, Anne Ridler, or Elizabeth Jennings, but there are some nice things in there, and I'm hoping to find time to dip in some more.

posted by MyopicBookworm at 6:16 am (EST) on Jun 23, 2008

I would guess Bodie's moustache is real, but there is a photograph in Ricky Jay's book of Charlie Chaplin as Bodie with a very fake version of his moustache. One of Chaplin's first acts was a send-up of Bodie's hypnotist act.

posted by tom1066 at 9:20 pm (EST) on Jun 9, 2008

I am glad the Maisie Dobbs books might be of interest to you. I am afraid I have not had the pleasure of visiting the Museum of Jurassic Technology although it would certainly be on my list sometime when I make it to Los Angeles. I love how interesting and esoteric Weschler's books are.

posted by Marensr at 11:36 am (EST) on Jun 9, 2008

I'm afraid I don't know anything else about P.Y. Betts either. I discovered the book by chance - borrowed from my sister who had picked it up second-hand somewhere. I enjoyed it so much I then had to hunt for a copy to keep for myself!

posted by Teazle at 2:09 am (EST) on Jun 7, 2008

Oh yes - what a book! I also have a deep interest in the Belle Epoque, although I came to it first through the visual arts and afterwards through Proust and other writers. I stumble upon my copy of Boni de Castellane by accident in a used bookshop in my neighborhood, and let out a little cry of delight. The shop owner said he was surprised anybody wanted it - it was in a heap of titles for fifty cents apiece. Thanks for your message - good to hear from someone with similar interests.

posted by calotype at 2:06 pm (EST) on May 27, 2008