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Sunday Morning Book Thread: 12/10/2017

I get the idea, but without the base of the ladder on a circular track, or even better a single bearing, it must be difficult to move around the circle!

But that is a nice segue to the question of the best design for a library. Not the huge public and university versions, but a home library. I love the idea of a small room whose walls are completely lined with shelves, with comfortable chairs, with ottomans of course, in the middle. Maybe a small table for your beer or Scotch, and not much else. Good lighting, which means no fluorescent or CFLs. Ideally incandescent, although the better LEDs work nicely too.

I like the idea of being completely surrounded by books, without the distraction of anything else.

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Some Recommendations From The Horde

Here's one for a kids' book from (lurker?) "Tail Gunner Sam."

Your comment on non P.C. books for kids made me think of this great author Walter Buehr who was a prolific writer and illustrator of children's history books. Most have been pulled from public libraries as on(sic) old or non P.C. They are worth checking out.

Disclaimer as I am related to Buehr thru my mother.

The Crusaders has a couple of good reviews on "Goodreads," but nothing on Amazon, which means exactly nothing, since they are a decidedly leftist organization and I don't trust their reviewing system, especially for non-PC books.

Besides, a review from a Moron is worth a lot more than some random lunatic spewing blather on Amazon.

Just finished reading the Heretics of St. Possenti. ($4.99 on Kindle) I ended up wishing that there was a bishop out there willing to take this on and make it a reality. Sadly, reality bites.

Best,
Brendan

It does indeed Brendan, but that's what books are sometimes good for...to avoid that realization...if only for a few hours.
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Moron author Celia Hayes has dropped a note to The Book Thread:

the follow-up to my reworking of the Lone Ranger is available now as an ebook - Lone Star Glory.

Meanwhile, for the month of December, the first book, Lone Star Sons is available as an ebook for .99 cents! As the drug dealer says - the first hit is free ... erm, or nearly so.

There is a considerable difference in the cover concept - the feedback to me was that some kids loved the Sons' pulpish cover, but most adults hated it. So - test-driving a new concept, based on the title still-life of objects in the TV Sharpe series.

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I was never much of a detective novel fan until I discovered Robert Parker and his most famous character, Spenser. I would buy second-hand paperbacks from Moe's Books on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, and when I was done reading them I would resell them for exactly what I paid and then buy a couple more. It was a great system, and a great bookstore. Yes, it was political, as all bookstores in Berkeley were, and I have to assume are, but they carried everything, not just leftist drivel. Moe himself stalked the store, and he looked like nothing so much as a clone of Danny Devito, if Danny Devito wore a ratty sports coat and smoked a large cigar.

Parker's earliest Spenser novels were his best. He became formulaic toward the end, and Spenser was a caricature of his former self. But even the worst ones were fun to read, and Parker even branched out into two more characters; a woman detective and an alcoholic chief of police.

I may have mentioned Jo Nesbo and his Harry Hole series, but aside from him I don't know much about the genre. Anyone have strong opinions about detective novels? Who's good, who's bad, who's worth a read, and who's worth a pass?

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[Addendum] New commenter "Hokiemom" recommends children's book author Peter Catalanotto, for the quality of his writing and because he seems like a genuuinely good person.