Mahsdad's (Jeff) 2014 75 Book Challenge Thread

Greetings to any fellow 75'er that stumbles upon my little corner of the world.

I didn't quite make it to 75 in 2013, here's to a more prolific 2014. On with the show...

My 2013 Reading Thread

Currently Reading
The Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen - Rudolf Erich Raspe - S: 1/5/14
Make Room, Make Room - Harry Harrison (EBOOK) - S: 1/3/14
Train - Pete Dexter - Started 1/11/14
Brisingr - Christopher Paolini (Michael Read)- Started 1/12/14
The Light Fantasitc - Terry Pratchett - S: 1/24/14

2014 Statistics
Owned - 3
Bought 2014 -
Free/Found -
Library - 1
Gift - 2
Audio - 2
eBook - 1

January
1. The Last Dragonslayer - Jasper Fforde
2. Dead Pig Collector - Warren Ellis (EBOOK)
3. Every Day - David Levithan
4. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien (Family Read)
5. NOS4A2 - Joe Hill (AUDIO)
6. Tales of Beedle the Bard - J. K. Rowling (Michael Read)
7. Carrie - Stephen King
8. Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester (AUDIO)
9. Rocket Science - Jay Lake

Until I move to a 2nd thread, I'm going to add TBR additions and WL additions here as well.

TBR Additions
Botany of Desire - Michael Pollan
The Mote in God's Eye - Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
The Courious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
Dragon Riders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
The Kept - James Scott
Lexicon - Max Barry (AUDIO)
Summerland - Michael Chabon
Out on Blue Six - Ian McDonald

Wishlist Additions
Hang Wire - Adam Christopher
On Such a Full Sea - Chang-rae Lee
Shovel Ready -Adam Sternbergh
The Land Across - Gene Wolfe
Wake - Lisa McMann
Luminaries - Eleanor Catton
The Kept - James Scott
A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby
Dark Places - Gillian Flynn
Wild - Lori Foster
Maze Runner - James Dasher
The Giver - Lois Lowry
The Hundred-Foot Journey - Richard C. Morais
Divergent - Veronica Roth
Rocket Science - Jay Lake
The Visionist - Rachal Urquhart
Fooling Houdini - Alex Stone
A Highly Unlikely Scenario - Rachel Cantor
Shaman - Kim Stanley Robinson
Stone Spring - Stephen Baxter
State of Wonder - Ann Patchett
Death Comes for the Archbishop - Willa Cather
More Than This - Patrick Ness
Out on Blue Six - Ian McDonald
Logan's Run - William Nolan
Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
High-Rise - J.G. Ballard
What Makes This Book So Great - Jo Walton
The First True Lie - Marina Mander
Crapalachia - Scott McClanahan
Steelheart - Brandon Sanderson (For Michael)

Welcome back, Jeff! Happy reading in 2014, and I hope you surprise yourself with loads of good discoveries.

Jeff, I have stumbled. Welcome back. Hope you have a prolific 2014 indeed.

Welcome back!

Getting new books for Christmas requires great patience in finishing the book you are 3/4 of the way thru your current book before diving into the new ones.

>5 mahsdad: I've never managed to be that disciplined in the whole of my life.

Hi Jeff!

Hi Diana, welcome...

6> Richard - I really only had to be patient for one day. About 10 pages left of the current book, then onto the SantaThing books :)

These will be the first 3 books of the year...

Another cool Christmas thing I wanted to share. Almost better than getting new books for Christmas, is getting new bookmarks made by my honey.

What cool bookmarks! Lucky man indeed.

Not that anyone cares, but as I'm going to kinda treat this as journal of sorts so, the heck with ya :), I'm going to start posting my books that I read when I start reading them and then update with a mini-review when I'm done. I'm inspired by all of you reading statistics junkies. I want to start seeing how long it takes me to read each book.

Currently Reading - The Last Dragonslayer - Jasper Fforde

Started : 12/26/13
Finished :

Jeff, I've starred your thread! The Last Dragonslayer is a fun place to start for the new year. :)

I started the Thursday Next series, enjoyed it, and somehow just...lost steam. I tried the Nursery Crimes series...not a huge fan. So now I'm very eager to hear what you think about this book.

I loved the Thursday series, but I think it was a premise that played itself out. We have the last one (The Woman who Died a lot) but haven't started it yet. I liked the nursery crimes stories, but certainly not award winning. I did also enjoy Shades of Grey quite a bit. I'll be sure to let you know what I think.

I'd forgotten Shades of Grey existed! Maybe one day.

Add it to the bottom of our perpetual want list, which is right next to the almost insurmountable (if I spelled that right) TBR pile. :p

Oh, my TBR's *top* layer is unlikely to get read before I die. Pesky writers have this wretched habit of scribbling more and more books, publishers are such bastages that they feel the need to publish the damned things, and then we won't discuss all the rotten-souled Satanic Book Warblers talking about them.

Lovely problem to have, isn't it.

It most certainly is. Its strange, I think we are a different breed. I have a colleague that asked me when he should start reading to his kid (I think his son was probably 2. I have a 13 yr old, btw). I immediately said, when your wife was pregnant, and he looked at me with that lost look of someone who just doesn't understand.

My son's Christmas bookmark. Its aluminum, made by Wendell August in Grove City PA

It's BEAUTIFUL!! Just gorgeous. What a great gift!

My daughter is 33 and a biblioholic. She has three kids so less time for reading than in years gone by, but is very much a reader despite her dyslexia.

Jeff, that's very beautiful! Is it heavy?

Thanx!

Richard> he's 13 (almost) and when he's not playing Minecraft, he's got his nose in a book. But then all 3 of us usually have our noses in a book

Diana> Its not too heavy, its about a 1/16" thick. Thick enough to hold its shape, but not too thick to distort the book too much when you use it.

Happy New Year, Jeff! I'm looking forward to following your reading (and life) adventures in 2014.

Welcome Rosalita...

I hate/love year end lists. Just added 5 books to my Wishlist without even breaking a sweat.

Amazing how these things metastasize, isn't it. I didn't even leave my own thread this morning and there were two new books on my WL.

Well let me be an enabler and give you some more (if you like Sci-Fi)

http://io9.com/the-best-science-fiction-and-fantasy-books-of-2013-1490451950

...I can see you're gonna be trouble...

See I lurked around this year, dipping my toe in the proverbial water. But now...The Sleeper Has Awakened...

:)

Oh dear. This spells trouble with a capital T.

I love growing my wishlist! It's almost as good as actually acquiring the books themselves. And then I don't feel so silly when I look back years later and can't remember why I wanted the book in the first place.

Kathy, I totally agree. I tag my entries sometimes with were I heard about the book. Daily Show, Boing Boing, NPR.

A good buffer against CRS (you know...Can't Remember Shite)

My problem is that my wishlist has this waggish way of leaping into my cart. This presents economic challenges to a fixed-income dweller.

When I'm not reading, I'm a bit of an amateur photographer. Every year (for the last 5 years or so), I put together a calendar of the best shots (IMHO) that I took over the previous year. Since we are coming up on 2014 and my resolution, at least on LT, is to not be so lurky, I thought I would share them with you. I'll start with the cover of the calendar and after Wednesday, I'll share January's. If you want to peruse my work, you can check out.

http://mahsdad.smugmug.com

2014 Calendar Cover Image

That's a great picture! Is that your son? Where was it taken? I miss living near the ocean.

Julia yes this is my son, he's almost 13. This was taken last April at the Seaside Wilderness Park in Ventura. Which is a little bit north of where we live

Came over to check out your thread, Jeff, and I have dropped my star! Love the bookmarks - all of them are gorgeous. And the photo! What a great photo of your son - handsome boy, by the way. I love photos where the subject looks so relaxed. Tracking your reading to see how long it takes you to read a particular book - that is something I have thought about because I tend to read five and six books at a time, so some of them linger (usually the non-fiction or the chunksters) at the top of my thread for a while. Anyway your thread looks like a fun place - so glad you decided to be less of a lurker!

Handsome lad! I've got the site bookmarked for future perusal.

How about a little GoodReads bashing before the end of the year. I will always use LT has my system of record for my books, but GR's iphone app is currently better than what LT has available. So I thought I would import my wishlist from LT into GR, so when I'm at the library or bookstore, its easier to see what I have on my list.

Boy was that mostly a mistake. The importer in GR takes all the nice tags that we know and love in LT and turns each one into a unique shelf. This just clutters things up and is a major pain to clean up.

Just say no. Live and learn.

Long Live LT

EDIT - well it was only slightly painful, once I figured out that my Want "shelf" had to be setup as Exclusive, so it couldn't be in the Read shelf and Want at the same time. Still don't like it though.

uggggh, that doesn't sound fun, Jeff! I've never had any love for GR but I do wish LT had a better system sometimes. Today I entered in a lot of books and I just wish it told me I was duplicating before I actually duplicated. It's kind of a clunky system.

That is such a nice photo of your son for the calendar cover! Your pics are so clear and crisp. Do you have a fancy camera rig or just a great p-n-s? I'm looking forward to seeing your other pictures as you post them.

I guess the grass is always greener Kathy. You are right LT's book add process can be a little clunky.

Thanx for the nice words about the photo. I wouldn't say I have a GREAT rig, somewhere in the middle. I have a basic DSLR (Canon Rebel) that I've had for about 5 years and until this year I took everything with the standard kit lens that came with it when I bought it (18-55).

This year I took advantage of some good rebates and got an 18-270 that gives me a little bit more range.

I'll post January's picture tomorrow.

As I'm smartphone-less, I don't use those sorts of features, so all I can say is HAHAHA technojunkies!

Richard, sometimes that is for the best.

I find I don't miss a thing I care about without gadgets. But then again, I'm an old curmudgeon.

I think I'm getting curmudgeonly tendencies as the years go on.

Hey you kids, get off my lawn!

:)

No sense straining my voice over that. I just turn on the sprinkler.

Remarkably effective in 20° weather.

Jeff - Have a wonderful and not too grumpy new year.

Hi Jeff, just came over to see what all the activity was about ;-) Great shot of your son - I look forward to seeing more of your photos.

And I, too, wish LT had a good app that would let me easily check if I already had a book in my library when I"m at the bookstore...

Happy New Year!

50> Paul, thanx and welcome. As long as I'm reading a book, or reading posts from this crazy bunch (as I'm figuring out), I can never be too grumpy. Plus today we are main-lining old Looney Tunes on Carton Network

51> Katie Thanx for the reminder, time to post January's picture.

Happy New Year.

Its January!

...chalk...?

I am not to understanding, if you please kind sir, what January and chalk are to do each with the other...?

Oh I love it! Bright colorful chalk makes me happy. Where did you find so much at once?

It doesn't have to mean anything Richard. It's just pretty. (Unless of course it means something to Jeff in which case it's Art, and we aren't meant to Understand.)

Happy New Year, Jeff!

Richard, Kathy's right. It has nothing actually to do with January. It is the image that I choose for January in the calendar I made for my family this year. Every year for the past 5, I make a calendar of my images that I took in the previous year, sort of a best of Jeff

This particular image was taken last June at the Pasadena Chalk Festival. As the months go on, you will find that I have an odd sense of what a good picture is. Take it or leave it, I shoot what I like. :)

Here the link to last year's (2013) calendar ... http://mahsdad.smugmug.com/Art/2013Calendar

1. The Last Dragonslayer - Jasper Fforde - The first of my SantaThing 2013 gifts. I've always loved Fforde and his ability to create worlds that are 135 degrees from normal (whether is is a world based on books, nursery rhymes, or color). This series, aimed at a younger market is probably only 45 degrees from normal.

Its set in Hereford, in the Ununited Kingdom, where magic and wizards are as common as plumbers and electricians. Jennifer Strange, a foundling who is running a magical talent agency, gets pulled into a larger world of politics, corporate greed and dragons.

A nice easy read, that I'll admit made me feel some feels at the end. Good way to start off the year.

S: 12/26/13 - F: 1/1/14 (7 days)

Anyone else post their book reviews/impressions to Shelfari and Goodreads, just to be a completist, or is that just me. I do find that Goodread's feed into Facebook is a little cleaner

Delurking to say Happy New Year and nice photos. How do you like smugmug? I currently use shutterfly, but am always exploring what is out there.

Jess

Yay, glad you enjoyed The Last Dragonslayer. I have the next one on the shelf but who knows when I'll get to it.

I don't post my reading anywhere else except for a recommendation here and there to RL friends.

Sounds like you enjoyed the Fforde, but I can safely move past it, since it's only 45° from normal. *whew*

I was very active on Goodreads for several years, but when they started Amazonning reviews, I stopped posting usable, monetizable content there. Shelfari never appealed to me; I'm on BookLikes and Leafmarks, as well as here.

Jess, I like Smugmug. Its obviously a paid service, and I think as such it provides me with a little more piece of mind that my images are secure. But then its the internet and it could all come crashing down tomorrow.

I'm not a professional so I don't use the sales aspect of things and site/galleries are pretty much just for me at this point. But I have no real complaints.

When it comes to things like this; Smugmug vs. Shutterfly vs. Flickr vs. Picasa vs. Viewbug vs. 500px vs. every other photo site you can name, it might come down to Coke vs. Pepsi or Canon vs. Nikon. They all provide the same basic stuff, its just where do you feel more at home.

Like LT vs. Goodreads. I definitely feel more at home here.

Richard I'll have to check out Booklikes and Leafmarks. I can always use some more timesucks. :)

My opinion of reviews and such. These sites are all free, I recognize that I am the product they are selling (especially on Facebook) and if they want to use my drivel to make sure the sites stay free. So be it. Now if I was trying to do this for a living, or writing my own blog or something, that would be completely different.

If I don't want it used, I wouldn't share it.

I never minded the Goodreads people sharing my reviews. I minded them changing and deleting them, like Amazon does. I agree, if you're not the paying customer, you're the paid-for product, but no matter what I insist on my data being safe from anyone else's modifications, and if you're offering me a database site where I can archive my data, it needs to be sacrosanct.

When they deleted 21 of my reviews, and I saw bits and pieces of others on Google Books, I cut loose. As I have over 1600 followers there, it wasn't an easy decision, but once trust is gone, it's gone.

Oh, your photos are gorgeous! I'd love to get better at photography; I have a 5-year-old, whose picture I've taken every day of his life (I have posters made every year consisting of 365 photos of Charlie), and so I'm getting better just via sheer practice, but I'm not consistently great at it yet.

Amber, the poster is such a great idea. Last year I did a planner calendar for my wife that had a shot of the boy for each year of his life, from birth to 12.

As far as quality, you said it, its practice. Shoot what you like and throw out the stuff that doesn't work. Its digital, it doesn't cost anything. That is until you run out of disk space :)

Thanks for the tips. And yes, I've found that snapping as many photos as I can in rapid succession works best, especially with a small boy who is constantly in motion - I end up deleting countless blurry ones, but usually end up with at least one or two keepers.

2. Dead Pig Collector - Warren Ellis (EBOOK) - This one is a bit of a cheat to count as a "book", because it was a Kindle Single, but hey I read it, and its my list so I'm going to count it. I have several of Ellis' books in my WL, but this was the first of his that I read.

It is a "day in the life" of a contract hit man story and is certainly not for the faint of heart. He is very precise in his tasks, perhaps to the point of OCD, but then if you are a person paid to kill other people perhaps its not surprising that you might have other mental issues.

A decent quick read that is a quick dip into a perhaps larger world that Ellis is planning on revealing in the future.

S: 12/28/13 - F: 1/2/14 (6 days)

Sort of the anti-Monk, an OCD killer not detective. Hm. Mildly intriguing.

That's what I was thinking, Monk crossed with Dexter

Fiction is the Truth inside the Lie - Stephen King.

I was looking around at some quotes and stumbled on this. Kinda like it...

Snow moai. Your argument is invalid.

Loving those

Ain't they a hoot? From Cleveland, of all places.

Its Picture Friday (I've just decided), and my first share is an almost sunset from White Point Beach in San Pedro, CA. Enjoy.

Lovely. My sister in Cambria sends this kind of thing hoping to lure me back to Cali. Not gonna work, but they're pretty!

Thanx. I can certainly understand. There are definately Cons to every Pro of living in California. But isn't there every where. We went back to my folks place in Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving and got to experience some cold and snow. That's enough thank you very much :)

Its January 3rd and isn't it high time we added even more books to our WL. Here's a list from io9. I added a few...

http://io9.com/science-fiction-and-fantasy-books-you-cant-afford-to-m-1493362692

I added:
Hang Wire - Adam Christopher I loved Empire State, so I'll definitely look for this
On Such a Full Sea - Chang-rae Lee
Shovel Ready - Adam Sternberghh

Your mileage may vary...

Gorgeous photo, Jeff!

That photo is beautiful. I love seascapes and I love black and white photography, though looking at it again, some of the light almost looks pinkish, so maybe it's not B&W...?

It isn't B&W. Its probably a bit underexposed, which mutes the colors and makes it look B&W. I didn't think of it in that way, but with the little bit of pink it does have that sense of hand tinting on a B&W print. Thanx!

Wishlist Addition

Well lets just add another one to the list. Was just reading a blog by Neil Gaiman and he mentioned that he was reading The Land Across by Gene Wolfe. He said it reminded him of the joy and power of fiction.

On the list it goes...

Ok, the Snow Moa are fantastic...

Love the Calif photo, Jeff.

Makes more sense to me than the chalk I have to say, albeit the colours were nice and bright. Chalk surely can only remind the kids that fun time is nearly over and back to the drudgery of school and that teacher who smells suspiciously of last Easter's onions.

Have a great weekend.

...teacher who smells supiciously of last Easter's onions That's some imagery that will be stuck in my brain for a while

If you find my January picture confusing, just wait. The calendar selections have nothing to do with the actual month. I'm quirky that way.

Have a great weekend yourself. Though, for you, I guess its almost over. Oh how much fun it must be to live in the future. ;)

It certainly beats living in the past, Jeff

3. Every Day - David Levithan - Book 2 from my 2014 Santathing gifts. I loved this book. Ostensibly, its a YA novel about young love and how circumstances keep them apart. But the twist is that the main protaganist; "A", finds himself (I thought of him as a him, but I guess he doesn't have to be), waking up every day in a different body (Quantum Leap, anyone?). Its always someone the same age as A, and somewhere in proximity to his previous host. He knows who is is and how to get the information to get through the day and until he meets a girl, when he was being her boyfriend, that all changes. He falls head over heels and has to figure out how to keep seeing her, when he is in a different person every day.

It was a very neat story, that outside of the love story, asks what does it mean to be you? Is it literally what's on the inside or what's on the outside. The sci-fi twist kept me interested and wanting to know more about A's fate.

S: 12/30/13 - F: 1/5/14 (7 days)

An interesting premise on that one, Jeff, especially for teens who always seem to feel that they don't recognize themselves or their bodies as they transition from children to adults.

The twist is cute! I like the Quantum Leapy nature, which I gather isn't ever explained. Makes it that much more fun.

Levithan does hint at a larger world of people who can "jump", but never explains fully. Left me wanting more.

Hoping that he'll return to the idea, then!

Oh, that one *does* sound neat!

TBR Addition

My YMCA has a free book table (take one, leave one), where I've found many a good book.

Just picked up Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan. First acquisition of the year, and it was free. Works for me. It will probably sit on my TBR pile for a while, but my honey is a rabid (I mean avid) gardener and I'm sure she'll enjoy it first.

(if I ever get to a second thread I'm going to have to consolidate my TBR and WL additions to some real estate up top. Rookie Mistake)

Wishlist Addition

Just perusing the threads and added Wake at the suggestion of Marie (RosyLibrarian - http://www.librarything.com/topic/162759). Its a story about the women that WWI left behind and how they coped. Sounded interesting.

I've enjoyed other books by Levithan, especially Will Grayson, Will Grayson that he co-wrote with John Green but I haven't gotten around to Every Day yet. Guess I'll have to add that to the list.

I got Will Grayson Will Grayson, along with Every Day for this year's SantaThing.

Wishlist Addition

Luminaries - Eleanor Catton - from discussions over on Paul's thread

Was talking on Paul's thread and mentioned signed books and I thought I would share my collection. What signed books does anyone else have...

Fault in Our Stars - John Green
Redshirts - John Scalzi
Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman
Falling to Earth - Al Worden and Francis French
Reaching for the Moon - Buzz Aldrin - a kids book

Two, count 'em two Apollo Astronauts

4. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien (Family Read) - Last year before part one of the Hobbit movie came out, we decided to start reading the book aloud to each other. We would rotate around between the 3 of us (me, my better half and the boy). We got most of the way thru it, saw the movie and then the boy, being what 12 yr olds are like, wanted to read something else. Just got him to let us finish it, just in time to go see part 2 this weekend.

Its a good little story that is a good gateway drug to the larger and more daunting LOTR and the general world of fantasy lit. It will always be on my recommended read list.

F: 1/7/14 (at least a year)

The Hobbit as a gateway drug - Ha! Love it!

I have a handful of 'signed' books, but they're not by super-famous authors, and they're all gifts from the authors themselves with small personal notes written in the front (they're all academics, I'm afraid).
I *do* have a copy of Army of Darkness signed by Bruce Campbell, and a copy of Night of the Living Dead signed by George Romero, which are two of my prized possessions, but those are movies, not books...

Hmm... the signed books I can think of at the moment in my collection are:

Warbreaker -- Brandon Sanderson
The Wise Man's Fear -- Patrick Rothfuss
The Darkest Powers Trilogy -- Kelley Armstrong
Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me -- Julie Johnson
Money Rules -- Gail Vaz-Oxlade
Alex & Me -- Dr. Irene Pepperberg

...I have a pile of signed comic books too, if that counts? No? Haha. I assume you got to meet Gaiman to get that one signed? Exciting! And two astronauts, that is pretty impressive!

I have the World War One Memoirs (2 volumes) of David Lloyd George signed by the great man himself and bought from the quaintest of second hand stores in Conway, Wales about 15 years ago. Hani has a thing for celebrity chefs and has a few of their books signed but often tomato spattered.

Actually, I've only met the astronauts, which is WAY cool.

Gaiman and Green, I bought online when they were signing a bunch of the first run of those particular books. Scalzi, I was supposed to go see at a signing at a bookstore, but something came up and I couldn't go. He signed a bunch extra books and I got it that way.

Signed books ...

I have a copy of Fight Club
a Dave Barry book
a pile of Nick Hornby books - High Fidelity, A Long Way Down, About a Boy
Tobias Wolff - This Boy's Life and Old School
Michael Ian Black My Custom Van

probably some others, but all my books are packed away so those are the ones that come to mind.

I'm more jealous of the astronaut meetings than the signed books!

RD, I totally agree. Buzz we "met" when he was touring with a childrens book he had written probably 9 or 10 years ago. Al was doing a reading of his book at the Columbia Memorial Center in Downey CA. The facility is where the factory that built the Apollo Command Modules used to be. I was totally star-struck (pun intended)

Al Worden with my son

Maybe you didn't have tea and scones with him, but you met an astronaut! Only a few hundred people have been in space. Each one of them is totally cool in my world.

Wishlist Addition

I follow Julianna Baggott on Facebook and she just posted a review and Q&A for a new book that sounds really interesting: The Kept - James Scott. Here's the links.

http://bridgetasher.blogspot.com/2014/01/12-dozen-with-james-scott_7.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/08/books/the-kept-james-scotts-dark-and-mysteriou...

BTW, Baggott's Pure series (at least the first 2 that I've read; Pure and Fuse) are really interesting takes on Post-Apocalyptic dystopian love stories (if there is such a thing). Really interesting reads. The last one is Burn, but its not out yet.

I see from post #1 that you're reading Baron Munchausen. I read that for the first time last year, and it's a hoot! Hope you're liking it.

The only signed books I have are from Lawrence Block, when he did a reading here in Iowa City back in 1999. I've gone to a lot of author readings (we're lucky here in Iowa City to have Prairie Lights, an indie bookstore that brings lots of authors to town, and the Iowa Writers Workshop at the university that spawns great writers), but I seldom stay for the meet-and-greets.

Amber, yeah they definitely are some TALL tales. I am enjoying it, though sometimes the language can get in the way, its a slower read. But sometimes that's not a bad thing.

Have you seen the Terry Gilliam movie version? I put it on our Netflix queue after I finished the book, but that queue is so long that the end of it is somewhere near Terre Haute...

Long time ago, its an odd little film as well. But that's what you expect from Gilliam

Well this must be a day of Wishlist Additions. Here's a list from Buzzfeed of the 16 books you need to read before the movie comes out this year.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/books-to-read-before-they-hit-theaters-t...

Labor Day - on my list
Monuments Men - Just finished, fascinating story that I really knew nothing about
Winter's Tale - already on my list
Vampire Academy - meh, pass
A Long Way Down - intriguing. Adding to the WL
Divergent - After Hunger Games, my son will be looking for a new series soon
The Fault in our Stars - already read, beautiful story
Hundred-Foot Journey - Culinary/Cultural battles between an Indian family and their French rival in the French Alps. Okay, I'll bite
The Giver - Always meant to read this
Dark Places - Add
This is Where I Leave You - read this already. Loved it
Maze Runner - another one for my son
Gone Girl - loved this. Not what I expected but loved it.
Unbroken - read this as well. About a man from my area in Southern California and how he survived during WWII
Wild - adding, don't know why it wasn't on my list
Serena - already on my list

So
5 that I've already read
3 already on my list
7 to add
1 pass, no thanx

Quite the list of books-to-movies. Only two I'd see are Monuments Men and Hundred-Foot Journey myownself. Read Gone Girl, hated it so much I almost blew an artery screaming at it.

Can't not love The Millions, can ya.

Color me clueless, what is The Millions?

Oh gosh...I should've looked...*gulp* Well...The Millions is a kind of Buzzfeed for books. That's where I saw the link to Buzzfeed's book list first.

DO NOT GO LOOK AT THE MILLIONS. Or BookRiot.

The Millions is a website that covers the literary world pretty thoroughly. It's more than just book reviews, but also sort of industry news and commentary and such. It's a great time suck resource.

Ahhhh too late, I looked into the light.... Thanx (I think) :)

>63 mahsdad:: thanks for the update in smugmug. I haven't really found a "home" site for photos. I do feel more at home at librarything than I did at goodreads. :)

I need to read Gone Girl for our work book club. I have heard mixed reviews so far. Everyone at work has said they dislike the ending...

>120 mahsdad: Oh dear. Just be sure to tell your wife and son that I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE. Don't want any nastygrams.

RD - No worries, all three of us spend entirely too much time on the intertubes, so what's a little bit more.

Jess - As far as Gone Girl is concerned, I liked that I hated the 2 main characters, I liked that the story took twists that I didn't expect. I think its worthy of a read. Now the respectable Mr Richard here said he about had an aneurysm when he read it, so I'm sure he'd recommend you pass. But your's is the only opinion that matters, so take everything with a grain of salt.

Oh, I'd never recommend one way or another to someone I don't know pretty well! My response is rooted in my specific reaction to the ending of the novel. Its structural elements make me really really angry. Not everyone will have that response!

Did you know that the sum of all natural integers (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5...) out to infinity is...

-1/12

Math is hard. :) Here's the video http://youtu.be/w-I6XTVZXww that shows how.

Another freebie from the Y.

The Mote in God's Eye by Niven and Pournelle

I have read this years ago, probably when I was in college, but I don't have a copy now, and its free. On the TBR it goes.

The Niven book looks neat - I think I'll have to wishlist it. I'm trying to work my way through the Nebula award winners, and I see that this one was a nominee...

(I commented on the crazy math business over on Jim's thread, which I saw before coming here...)

I've responded back on my thread, which I also saw before coming here... :)

I've been doing Hugo winners (which I guess means I'm doing Nebula as well), and I'm also doing Pultizers. But unlike you professional readers (ie most of the 75 groupers (ha, we're fish), that I follow), these will stay on my bucket list for years.

I read your comments on the match stuff, I just thought it was one of those things that makes you go "Hmmmm"

EDIT - and by match, I meant math. Typing is hard, especially at 6 in the morning.

Have a wonderful weekend, Jeff!

Thanx Diana. You too!

Happy Foto Friday. Here's a picture of Two Harbors on Catalina

Catalina. Oh so beautiful! Math *shudder* oh so muddifyingly impenetrable.

I'm working through the Hugo, Nebula, WFA and Bram Stoker Award winners. And the Pulizter list. And the National Book Award list. And several others. Yes, I know that I have a problem. No, I don't want to seek out help.

(Groupers - ha!)

5. NOS4A2 - Joe Hill (AUDIO) - A Christmas/Thriller/Horror/Road story about a mind vampire and the girl/woman who takes him on. What's not to love. This is by Joe Hill, who is Stephen King's son, so the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.

The story is about Victoria (Vic), who can use her bike to access a bridge that takes her to places she needs to go, regardless of distance, and Charles Manx, who abducts children to "protect" them by taking them to his alternate reality; ChristmasLand in his antique Rolls Royce with the license plate NOS4A2. Vic escapes from him as a child, but then as all good horror stories do, he comes back to take her son and she has to go after him.

The audio was read by Kate Mulgrew, and kept me entertained, even though I think the book itself was a little long.

S: 12/22/13 - F: 1/9/14 (19 days)

Hi Jeff.

Sadly, I missed your thread in 2013. But, thanks to your visit, I was able to search and find you. You are now starred and I'll be back frequently.



By the way, your son is a handsome young man, and your book marks are wonderful!

I look forward to learning about the books you read and your thoughts about them.

Thanks Linda. I'm trying to be more "visible" this year with the group. I already have almost double the posts this year in the first 2 weeks of the year than I did all last year. I might not dive in and comment very often on other's threads, but I am "listening", yours among them

6. Tales of Beedle the Bard - J. K. Rowling (Michael Read) - Had this one for a while. Once I finished reading Book 7 with my son, we figured we should read the Tales, before we move on to something else (Brisingr BTW).

These are neat little fairy tales from the world of magic that were pivotal to Book 7. More interesting to me was the "commentary" of Albus Dumbledore and the footnotes from JKR. I wish/hope that she will write more stories from this world. Doesn't have to be anyone that we know from the 7 books, its just that this is a world that there has to be more stories to explore.

S: 12/12/13 F: 1/10/14 (30 Days)

I think I have that one around here somewhere - I should do some reconnaissance and try to find it...

>138 mahsdad: I think if Rowling wrote more in that world, she would face howls and screeches of rage that they weren't more Potter adventures. I myownself would love to see her write a mystery series with adult Harry as the detective.

Exactly Richard. He did become an Auror after all. I know she probably would never do it, but I always thought that it was a world that lent it self to licensing to allow other authors to write in the world (Like Star Trek and star Wars, do/did)

I don't know how authors feel about this as a rule, but I do know that publishers and movie studios hate it with an unruly passion unless they get money from it. Pretty much, in other words, how they feel about everything.

I read on Bram Stoker winner last year and it was close to the worst fiction I have ever read to the end. My 9 soon to be 10 year old could have put more depth into the characters. The great irishman would have become undead to relieve the extraordinary recipient of her prize.

Paul, what is Bram Stoker winner? I'm guessing you are talking about NOS4A2. There really was next to nothing about the main villian that indicated that he as a vampire in the strictest sense. I think Hill liked the idea of the license plate and backed into the story.

No mate, it was Audrey's Door by Sarah Langan. Seen some positive reviews for it but I don't honestly know what they were looking for because it was formulaic rubbish.

Never heard of it, or her. And given your glowing review, I'll steer clear

Now its clear as mud. I read back and saw that Amber mentioned the Bram Stoker awards with the Hugo and Nebula stuff. Connections made...

>143 PaulCranswick:, 145 Paul: Wow. Looking forward to that one when I get to it, now. Ha!

Went to see Desolation of Smaug today with the family. Over all, I thought it was better than the first Hobbit, maybe could have used with a bit of editing. But then, Peter Jackson turned 1 book into 3 movies, so I don't think he cares about editing. So funny to hear the other theater-goers remark, exclaim, "cry" out when the movie ended. Like they didn't know there was going to be a 3rd movie. It didn't end exactly how I thought they might, but I thought it made sense.

Before the movie, we had some time to kill and what better way than to loiter around in B&N. I so wanted to spend my kids inheritance (as I'm sure we all do anytime we get near a bookstore), but I limited myself to only 1 book.

Off the WL, on the TBR pile.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon

I very much enjoyed The Curious Incident of the dog in the Night. I'll look for your comments when you read it.

Jeff- as my mother always says, "We can enjoy your inheritance now, or you can have it when you're old. I don't plan on dying anytime soon." Of course, buying books for yourself hardly counts as enjoyment for the kids, haha!

I enjoyed Curious Incident as well. It's a quick one!

Debut novel offers surprisingly dark "Vision" of Shaker life

That is the title of this NPR review of a new book The Visionist by Rachel Urquhart. Set in the Shaker Community in the 1840's Massachusetts. Sounds intriguing

http://www.npr.org/2014/01/14/261073102/debut-novel-offers-surprisingly-dark-vis...

7. Carrie - Stephen King - First read this when I was a teenager, during my "I'll read anything Stephen King writes" phase. It was his first published novel and it certainly isn't a difficult read. The story is pretty basic. Only child of an stereo-typically overly religious evangelical mother, finds out that she has telekinetic powers and gets revenge on the the kids that torment her at the prom.

What I found interesting on this go-round was that it wasn't so much a horror story, but an almost sci-fi thriller. One of the interesting plot devices King uses is that the story is told both in "real-time" and flashback thru court transcripts and stories of the survivors. We know practically from the beginning what the outcome is. It also accepts that TK is a real phenomenon and not some supernatural process. This is his first, I guess I should wade thru the King canon again, revisit my youth.

S: 12/11/13 F: 1/14/14 (35 Days)

I wasn't a fan of Carrie the first time, and don't think Hollywierd did it any favors at all. The Shining was the first King novel I really liked a lot, and even though the movie ain't even a short sub-light boost from the book, it was a good movie.

Ha, ...short sub-light boost from the book... Too True. Did you see the documentary "Room 237", all about the conspiracy theories about the movie. Pretty interesting.

Most King books are pulp yarns. My favorite is probably Different Seasons, or The Stand (I know the stand is REALLY pulpy, but I still like it)

My absolute favorite King book is 11/22/63, because I like time travel/alternate reality yarns. Plus I'm a fan of King's take on the assassination. I read the tree book so I was crippled for days afterwards from wrist and finger pain. It's on my Kindle in case I become a vampire with unlimited reading time ahead of me.

I have it, and it is huge, probably bigger than my uncut re-issue version of the Stand. I was thinking of reading it next, or at least in the on-deck circle after the 2 (Munchausen and Train) that I'm currently reading. (Carrie, was my book I was reading at work).

I currently only ebook on the Kindle app on my phone. I was a bit of a Luddite at first when the ebook craze hit, but I'm gradually warming up to the idea. I still prefer the tree-book version (I like that phrase, I'm going have to use that more often)

New research that says our brain gets a workout when we read novels. D'uh, we could have told them that, right?

http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2014/01/14/35524/reading-novels-gives-your...

I'm a total and complete Luddite when it comes to phones, which should be connected to wall outlets and unable to be used more than ~50ft from their base. Plus I am appalled at the extortionate charges people pay for the simplest services on the stupid things. I find the modern corporation's untrammeled greed revolting, and do as little as possible to enable it.

So I have no cell phone at all! That'll teach 'em.

The Kindle was a gift, and the first one I had was a dud. The replacement has been stellar. And I even like reading on my tablet when I need something backlit.

But tree books are my darlings. They always will be. *happy sigh*

And I even like reading on my tablet when I need something backlit.

Yeah... I got so used to reading at night on the Kindle, without needing a lamp on, that while reading my tree book last night I reached over and turned off the lamp and for a full 5 seconds or so, wondered why my Kindle wasn't working.

Jeff, I haven't read Stephen King in decades, but I did pick up 11/22/63, The Shining, and Doctor Sleep on kindle when they were the daily deals. ONE DAY

Wishlist Addition

Fooling Houdini - Alex Stone

Saw this reviewed on BoingBoing and it sounded interesting.

From the book description on Amazon : (I liked the idea that the author wanted to prove his worth by deceiving others)

From the back rooms of New York City’s age-old magic societies to cutting-edge psychology labs, three-card monte games on Canal Street to glossy Las Vegas casinos, Fooling Houdini recounts Alex Stone’s quest to join the ranks of master magicians.

As he navigates this quirky and occasionally hilarious subculture populated by brilliant eccentrics, Stone pulls back the curtain on a community shrouded in secrecy, fueled by obsession and brilliance, and organized around one overriding need: to prove one’s worth by deceiving others.

But his journey is more than a tale of tricks, gigs, and geeks. By investing some of the lesser-known corners of psychology, neuroscience, physics, history, and even crime, all through the lens of trickery and illusion, Fooling Houdini arrives at a host of startling revelations about how the mind works--and why, sometimes, it doesn’t.

Reading the book; Train, that I got for free from my YMCA. (They have a table where people can leave books; find a penny, leave a penny) and I just turned the page and found one of those security RFID sticker things that Barnes & Noble puts in the middle of their books to prevent theft.

It was stuck across the middle of the page, luckily I was able to get it off without damaging it. It means that whoever bought the book, never read the book and just dumped it off at the "Y".

I am both happy and sad. Happy that I was able to find a book that I never would have picked up on my own (that I am thoroughly enjoying, more when I finish), but sad that the person who paid for the book originally never read it and just discarded it.

It takes a lot for me to NOT want to finish a book. Just wanted to share.

Night everyone.

Wishlist Addition

And it keeps on growing...

A Highly Unlikely Scenario (or a Neetsa Pizza Employee's Guide to Saving the World) by Rachel Cantor

Read a review of this novel on IO9, where the title was "A Highly Unlikely Scenario blends cyberpunk mysticism with goofy humor". This is right in my wheelhouse. On the list it goes.

Wishlist Addition

Darn it, here's another one. Someone I follow on Tumbler and twitter just posted that they finished this and it was freakin amazing. A novel about the Ice Age, intriging. ON TEH LIST

Shaman - Kim Stanley Robinson

Have you read Stone Spring by Stephen Baxter yet, Jeff?

I am now.

Bang Head-shot

*self-satisfied smirk*

Oho, Fooling Houdini sounds great - wishlisted!

Wishlist Addition

Was reading thru the threads, and Stephen (Ape) had a glowing review of State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, so on the list it goes.

Happy Foto Friday.

Beautiful, Jeff.

Thanx Richard. That was a total lucky shot. One morning my wife told me to come check out this web. Couple shots later with a tiny bit of post-production in Picasa ("I'm feeling lucky" option is my best friend) and tada.

Thread question, what's the rule of thumb on moving to a new thread? I have the "continue this topic in another topic" option now, but you guys don't seem to switch until you are north of 250. Do you all just move when it feels right?

Beautiful photo! Even an arachnophobe like me can appreciate it.

As far as thread continuations, it is just a personal thing. The continuation link didn't used to show up until 200 posts, and I think most folks have gotten used to making the switch somewhere between 200 and 300. I usually aim for around 250, although I like to start a new thread with a review if I can so I might hold off until I finish a book. Threads with lots of photos (especially large photos) probably should be "continued" sooner because they do start to load slowly, but I can't say I've had that problem with the number and size of photos you have posted here, for example.

Thanx Julia. That's a good idea waiting for a finished book. I think I'll do that. I am looking forward to starting a new thread, only to spread out my top of post lists. I don't think I'll go so far as to add counters like some do, but I would like some real estate to spread out a bit. Learned so much after I started, but then its too late :)

Yes, the art of thread creation is a graduate-level course. I remember the first year I had a 75er thread (2011, I think) I had no idea how to set it up. Through the year as I visited other people's threads I started stealing ideas that I liked and have been doing that ever since. :-)

Good evening, Jeff. Always good to find another LTer on the West Coast. Love your photos.

Paul, Paul, your age is showing. If the classroom doesn't have a smartboard, it at least has white board. Chalkboards have gone the way of the dinosaur. Children would associate that chalk with art projects.

I'm enjoying your posting of the reading lists. On the first, I've got and read The Golem and the Jinni, The Best of All Possible Worlds, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Life after Life, Love Minus Eighty and Hild are on my wishlist.

On the January list, I've readIndexing and got On Such a Full Sea as an Early Reviewer book last month. I'm not into horror or graphic violence at all, so some of the ones on this list will definitely be passed up.

I liked The Last Dragonslayer but it is definitely a children's book. I'm waiting to get a copy of the next book. The Mote in God's Eye was a favorite when it first came out, but I'm not sure how well it has aged.

Glad I found your thread, Jeff.

Roni has me off pat Jeff; dinosaur admission right here.

Wishlist addition feature could prove dangerous ground for an accumulator like myself.

I am quite comfortable with spiders but I couldn't hope to capture their home building with anything like the finesse you achieved.

Have a great weekend.

Thanx Paul, regarding the picture. Regarding the WL, I'm just a Farm Team grouper, when I make up to the major leagues, maybe I will have to curtail a bit. But until that time, I'll just post away.

Roni, thanx for stopping by. I'm going to go seek out your thread and add it to my growing list of "star" destinations

Have a great weekend all!

>170 mahsdad:: Oh, that is just beautiful! You're so talented with a shutter-machine!

Happy weekend!

Great Carrie + Stephen King conversation going on here! I haven't read a new novel by him in quite a few years, but I regularly reread The Stand, The Shining, Different Seasons, and my favourite, Salem's Lot. I should pull Carrie off my shelves and give it a reread too.

Out doing errands and stopped by the library. I know its like moths to a flame with us right.

Our local library has a perpetual book sale going on as well, so Book Haul , at least a small one

Borrowed from the Library:
Rocket Science - Jay Lake - I had just added this to my WL, at Richard's suggestion (sorry I didn't buy it).
Lexicon - Max Berry (AUDIO) - I could have sworn I had this on my list, but I've seen it around and know I wanted to read it

Bought from the Sale:
Summerland - Michael Chabon - one of my favorite authors, can't pass this up
The Kept - James Scott - Just put this on my WL a couple weeks ago. It was just published but I found an ARC. Yeah me.
Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey - 3 novels in one that we've been wanting to re-read for a long time. This copy is so old, its pre bar-codes and ISBNs (but then so am I)

My son picked up (he's 13 BTW):
Arctic Drift - Clive Cussler - his first pulp novel, I'm so proud. JK. He saw ALL the Cussler's on a shelf and picked this one out.
Sniglets - Rich Hall - If you are a person of a certain age, you will get a grin from this title. We showed it to him on a lark and he wanted to buy it. for fifty cents, why not.

The wife got some crafting books that are too numerous to name here, :).

Sniglets!! I loved sniglets. Yay for them still being around!

I loved McCaffrey's Pern series, Jeff. Such a good idea to do a re-read. And a very nice haul otherwise from your library trip.

I've never heard of Sniglets on to the tbr pile it goes.

We are going to do a McCaffrey year-long read next year, Jeff. This year is already tied up with the Bujold and Banks oeuvre reads for those most likely to participate.

Roni - given the state of my TBR pile, it might take until next year until I get to it

Linda - Sniglets came from Rich Hall on HBO's Not Necessarily the News. A sketch comedy show that no one probably remembers.

More Book Bullets to record. From drneutron's (Jim) page, he gave a glowing review of Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather. Never read anything by Cather, must remedy this.

Dang here's another. While commenting on Jim's thread about the Cather, I looked at Berly's thread and had to add More Than This to the WL. Looks really interesting

Yeah, that one got me too.

Oh, Summerland is *wonderful*! Hope you love it as much as I did.

BB Hit and Ordered

From Cory Doctorow on BoingBoing...

...For 10 years I've been singing the praises of Out on Blue Six, Ian McDonald's 1989 science fiction novel that defies description and beggars the imagination....

Okay, I'm easy, I'll add just about anything to my WL that is described thusly. And with a quick check of Paperbackswap, its done been ordered.

Ah damn, this is extending my weekend of book bullets, this time a whole bunch entirely self inflicted.

Here's a link to a HuffPo article of the top dystopian novels you should read. (written by Adam Sternbergh). Some of these I've already read, but the rest are going on the list.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-sternbergh/dystopias-arent-just-grea_b_460285...

Logan's Run - didn't realize it was a novel. The movie is a classic
Ready Player One - LOVE this, but then I'm a child of the 80's and a nerd so its written about me :)
The Wind Up Girl - new one to me
Caesar's Column - dystopian view of the future from the 1890s
A Clockwork Orange - classic
Neuromancer - read this at least 5 times. Love it
High-Rise - chronicles the violent events in a high-rise building (dystopia in a bottle)
Gun, with Occasional Music - Just read this a couple months ago. Hard boiled crime noir with designer drugs and sentient animals
Super Sad True Love Story
Zone One - there's got to be at least one zombie dystopian future, right?
Shovel Ready - just put this on my WL. Given that the article was written by this books author, I'm not surprised its on the list :)

Continue to enjoy your day, its got to be better than the folks in these books.

8. Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester (AUDIO) - Originally published as a serial in Galaxy magazine in 1959, this is Bester's 3rd novel. I read this many years ago, but I got a copy on audio, and wanted to give it another try. I wasn't necessarily surprised with how much I had forgotten.

The overriding conceit of the story is that people have discovered how to teleport by the shear power of their minds (called Jaunting), and how that affects the world and society at large. The main character; Gully Foyle was trapped alone on a deep space ship for 6 months, when another ship passes him by, Gully vows revenge. Thru circumnstances, he escapes from his imprisionment, learns to jaunt and sets out to find those who wronged him.

Bester explores the ramifications of a society where no forms transportation (except space ships) are necessary, borders don't apply. There is a lot of precursors to cyberpunk fiction, large multi-national companies controlling society, electronic body enhancement. The language was a bit dated and his depiction of woman and how they were treated was a bit old-fashioned, but given the time when it was written, it probably wasn't out of place. It was still a good worthwhile read, despite (for me) the poor quality of the audio copy that was a little difficult to hear at times.

S: 1/13/14 F: 1/21/14 ( 9 Days)

Wishlist Addition

What's one more among friends. Just read about a book of literary criticism, but the book is called What Makes This Book So Great, and is subtitled "Re-reading the classics of science fiction and fantasy". Its by Jo Walton, who won the Hugo in 2012 and the Nebula in 2011 for Among Others.

Apparently, when not writing her own stuff, she write on TOR where she rereads classic novels and discusses them. Sound really cool. Just the sort of thing to make your WL and TBRR (To Be Re-Read) piles larger.

Jeff - I do think that Jo Walton would by our kind of gal in the group here. Clearly loves reading and books as is obvious from the sub-plot of Among Others.

I may try to read The Stars My Destination this year as he has been on the stacks for too long already.

Arrrgh! The Jo Walton book is a definite book bullet for me, Jeff. I do read her blog on Tor.

I'm reading The Stars My Destination with Morphy as her February read here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/167598#

I'm sure I've read it in the far past, but Paul C. sent me a copy last year and so I'll be reading it again, as I remember it not. You can join us there to comment on it in February if you like.

Oh! What Makes This Book So Great goes straight onto the Wishlist. And will undoubtedly add many more on its own...!

Roni - thanx for the thread suggestion, I starred it and will watch for the discussion to start next month.

My favorite Gully Foyle line: "I kill you filthy!"

Heh.

Thanx Richard (and all my other new grouper friends) for helping me get to 200 posts. Now I can start thinking about a new thread and reorganizing a bit.

As Julia (#173) suggested, I might wait until I finish my next book. Which will be Rocket Science in a few days.

Was reading about the Publisher's Weekly list of the top new books for the week. (On HuffingtonPost)

The First True Lie by Marina Mander (translated from Italian) caught my eye. They said that it has one the best child narrators out; imagine a blend of Oskar (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close), Blue (Special topics in Calamity Physics) and Christopher Boone (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time).

I have all 3 of these on my WL or TBR, so this one sounds really intriguing. I need to read faster.

>193 mahsdad:: Oh, I love Logan's Run (the movie; I've not read the book): "Run, Runner!" is one of my go-to movie quotes and I use it whenever I get the chance.

Its a dangerous thing reading other peoples threads.

On Richard's thread, he and Julia were talking about Crapalachia, and on the name alone I want to read it. But then looking at Richard's review and the description of the book, and seeing that its a memoir of life in West Virginia (where I went to college), I definitely want to read this.

Thanx RD.

De rien, mon ami.

Hi Jeff- I tracked you down. It's good to follow another "guy" around here. We are a rare breed. And I like your book choices. I hope you liked the audio of NOS4A2 as much as I did. An LT pal just sent me a copy of Train. I really like Dexter.
I see you read fantasy. You should join us for Fantasy February, which is an early year hot-spot.

Jeff, you can see it's dangerous to hang around other people's threads!

Yes, it is... :)

Sooooo dangerous...

Well I can only hope that I have contributed to the delinquency of a reader and forced you all to add some to your WL :)

Besides reading and photography, I have a love of all things hoppy. Mark (msf59) inspired me to share my beer adventures. Its not always about quantity, its more about quality.

Here's the tasty beverage I partook of last night,



Its from Knee Deep Brewing, which is just a little east of Sacramento. Its hard to read, but it is called Belgo Hoptologist and is a Double IPA with 9% ABV (which is mostly why I only drink one at a time)

Tonight's tasty beverage was from a local brewery in Fullerton CA, called Bootleggers.

its called Far Out IPA, its only 7% abv, but very good.

Has anyone heard of HumbleBundle? Its a charity site where they offer pay-what-you-want content where the proceeds go to charity. About a year or so ago, I got about 7 or 8 ebooks for a great deal. Right now they are doing audio books.

If you contribute anything, you will get 5 audiobooks. If you pay more than the average, you will get another 3. right now the average is $5.94. 8 books for less than a buck a book, what a deal.

Check it out... https://www.humblebundle.com/

Hi Jeff- Thanks for sharing the beer! I remember having a Knee Deep, (great name!) while visiting San Diego, a couple years ago. I can't remember which one but I am crazy about my Double IPAs. I have not heard of Bootleggers.

Thanks for that humblebumble link. Sounds interesting.

Jeff, thanks for the HumbleBundle link. I had not heard of them before, but I'm going to check it out.

So what's a West Coast IPA as opposed to your run-of-the-mill IPA? Hopped with a different plant, perhaps? That might explain the tie-dye. :)

I'm going to say just a fair bit of marketing. Though since I started exploring the wonderful world of IPAs, I've learned that all hops are not created equal, they are almost like different kinds of grapes; Galaxy, Citra, Simcoe. A world of tasty goodness

What Julia said - thanks for the link!

Hoppy weekend, Jeff!

Don't mind if I do. You too Richard.

Almost forgot, Happy Foto Friday.

This is one of my favorite shots. Taken many years ago at the Getty Museum.

What a great shot, Jeff! I love Foto Friday on your thread.