Bookstooge: The Ultimate Evolution

So the 2.0 thread was getting long. Not taking long to load, as there wasn't even a lot of text. But I got tired of scrolling down to the bottom. So here we are, the (hopefully) final thread for me for this year.

Happy new thread!

>2 Narilka: Considering September is already filling up with scheduled posts, I suspect this thread will be active with links for most of the month :-D

Star Ratings

I explain what each star rating means to me.

Breakout

2.5stars. first book in a series and the last one for me.

Your Star Ratings post is worth it for the comments alone LOL

>6 Narilka: It absolutely is!

>4 BookstoogeLT: 4 stars for that post.

>6 Narilka:, >7 BrokenTune:, >8 Karlstar: Thank you! 10Seconds is an absolute genius at starting and continuing a running gag :-D Sometimes I just don't know how he does it :-D

Need More Space? Bookstooge has you covered

In which I talk about various options for increasing the storage available to free users of wordpress.

Slang

3star entry in the A Very Short Introduction series :-/

The Great Divorce

4 star allegory by CS Lewis

>12 BookstoogeLT: I enjoyed your review, as well as reading about your disagreements with Lewis' philosophy on the afterlife! And I do like, as well, how Lewis makes it so clear that Heaven keeps no one out, but people themselves reject it.

By the way, do you have anymore C. S. Lewis reads/reviews planned? I read The Great Divorce last month, and I've been meaning to start Till We Have Faces for a while now.

>13 Majel-Susan: I am currently reading a collection of Lewis's works. Not sure what is next when I get around to him in my rotation, but I suspect I've got several years worth of reading ahead of me :-D

I tend to go through my rotation every 4-7 weeks.

>14 BookstoogeLT: Well, I look forward to it then, whenever that shall be. :)

Little Dorrit

5 Stars and is in the running for Best Book of the Year.

Book (un)Haul - The Manga Edition

The title says it all.

The Soldier

4 stars for the start of another Polity trilogy by Neal Asher.

>17 BookstoogeLT: Ok, I'll take that for a Dickens recommendation.

Howl's Moving Castle

5 stars

>21 BookstoogeLT: Howl is one of my favourites! So glad it got 5 stars from you!

>17 BookstoogeLT: You can't go wrong. Of course, I tend to say that about every Dickens I read, so take that into account :-D

>22 Sakerfalcon: I'll be reviewing the 2nd and 3rd book in the series next week. It is good stuff indeed.

The Most Dangerous Game

4 stars for a great little short story.

>21 BookstoogeLT: Putting that one on my list too.

Off topic, is there a way in a wordpress blog to attach files? Going a step further, is there a way to create a directory tree type listing for file attachments?

>25 Karlstar: I don't believe there is a way to attach files in a free account like mine. In one of the paid varieties I know there is, but I have no idea how it works. It would be a lot of "web site building" than blogging.

And I just checked and I take that back. You can add files to your posts. As for organizing them, I'd assume you would have to create a static page with links to the various posts.

>26 BookstoogeLT: Thanks!

They have forced me to the block editor and ugh, what a pain.

>28 Karlstar: Let me know if you need some tips. I forced myself to adapt to it and now, while it's not fun, it isn't quite as much pain as at the beginning :-(

His Last Command

3.5 star entry in the Gaunt's Ghosts series. The series is holding steady...

Akismet - The Progenitor of Skynet

ARGGGH, why is blogging becoming such a chore?!?!?

>31 BookstoogeLT: So that's where all my comments go! :)

>32 Karlstar: Yes, all of them! ;-)

I got some advice from another blogger that I "hope" will stop the spanish spam bots. If I could solve that problem, that would make checking my spam so much easier. I easily get between 50-100 spanish spam comments every day, so wading through them to check for real comments is just draining. And since wordpress only allows me to delete comments in batches of 20, it becomes a process. Without them, checking for real comments will no longer be an issue.

Voice of a Distant Star

A short anime movie from 2002 that I owned and absolutely loved back then. Now? I'm just a curmudgeonly grump about it :-/

Castle in the Air

Another 5star homerun hit by Diana Wynne Jones!

Gulag Archipelago Vol 2: Quote #1

And the reading of the 2nd volume has begun.

New Spring

and another 5 star read!

>37 BookstoogeLT: Great book! I figure the TV series will include a lot of this material in the first season.

>38 Karlstar: It makes me wonder just how the tv show is going to work. Will New Spring be worked in as flashbacks, or ignored? None of the main characters are in it, so I don't see how it could easily slot into the show.

I haven't heard any new updates about WoT, what with covid and all...

>39 BookstoogeLT: I haven't heard any updates in a while either, but I heard the first few shows/season are going to focus on Moiraine, which then includes Lan, and there you go. It certainly can't hurt to have more about those two!

>40 Karlstar: I hadn't heard that about the focus being on Moraine. If that is the case, then I can absolutely see New Spring playing a much larger part.

Black Site

3 star military fiction. Decent enough.

The House of Many Ways

A 4star wrapup to the World of Howl trilogy.

Akismet – Top Notch Customer Service? Not Quite…

An Akismet rep tells me that it is my own fault my comments go into spam while using wordpress, not akismet's faulty algorithm. Good stuff!

Construction Continues

....on my blog that is.

Prisoners of Darkness

Another 4star entry in the Galaxy's Edge series of space opera.

Aunts Aren't Gentlemen

3.5 stars for another Jeeves and Wooster book.

>47 BookstoogeLT: Even at 3.5*, these books are still far better than many others. :)

>48 BrokenTune: Exactly! You can tell "someone" has had a good month when they mitch and boan about 3.5 star reads :-D

September '20 Roundup & Ramblings

The month in review with some plans for October.

Cold Fire

1 star and the last Dean Koontz book I'll be reading.

>51 BookstoogeLT: I can definitely see how that would be a turn off for you.

>51 BookstoogeLT: Yeah, this probably was not the book for you. Also, Ironheart (?) sounds like an odd version of Agatha Christie's Mr. Quin ... which I find a little bit intriguing. However, not intriguing enough to pick up the book.

>52 Narilka: Koontz has been skating this line almost since I started reading him, so I figured at some point this would happen. But honestly, I didn't figure it would be now. Oh well, whatcha gonna do?

>53 BrokenTune: Who is Mr Quin? While I've read a decent smattering of Dame Christie's books, I'm by no means very well versed.

>53 BrokenTune: Mr Quin is one of her lesser known characters, who is a mysterious friend of Mr Satterthwaite who in turn is a friend of Poirot's (Satterthwaite is the narrator in Three Act Tragedy).

The Quin stories are short stories. Mr. Quin usually shows up out of nowhere to save people from themselves (or from doing something they will regret), then he sort of disappears into the ether again.
The stories are charming but just don't carry the punch of her murder mysteries.

>55 BrokenTune: Ahh, a Poirot related character. Then in this case, I take pride in my ignorance :-D

>56 BookstoogeLT: Hahaha. :D

Dombey and Son - I've Read 28%

Just a little update post. I'm fooling around with layouts to try to get something consistent for a.l my Quotes, Currently Reading, etc type posts. Trying to recapture what Booklikes had done so well in the past :-(

This week has been crazy busy. 10hr workdays so far. Thankfully, Friday is looking like a 3/4 day, so I'm hoping to ease into the weekend. You know it's been a tough week when you're thinking about the weekend and it's only thursday morning. sigh.

When Do You Stop Following?

A non-review post where I muse on what it takes to make me stop following someone on wordpress.

Master and Margarita

1 1/2 stars for this modern russian classic. No more Bulgakov for me!

>60 BookstoogeLT: Uh, what'd I do to make you stop following me?

>61 BookstoogeLT: This one was popular here on GD, last year? I think. It is still on my TBR pile.

>62 Karlstar: :-D

As for M&M, this seems like the kind of book to do the popularity thing in cycles. It'll probably happen again in a couple of years when another generation discovers Bulgakov...

>61 BookstoogeLT: This one is on my list, so I’m skipping your review for now to avoid spoilers in case I get to it in the near future, but will read it after I read the book! :)

>64 YouKneeK: Good call. You know me and spoilers :-D Just don't expect anything great and you'll be all set...

#6Degrees - Turn of the Screw to .....

Monthly #6degree post is up.

>66 BookstoogeLT: Good theme this month. Those flowed well together.

>67 Narilka: Thanks. It was rather easy too, as most of the reviews were already in their posts. Some months I have to go through and create every link from scratch and man, let me tell you, that almost quadruples the time it takes to do the #6degree post itself. But NOT THIS MONTH!

It was kind of refreshing to just go click, click, clickety-click :-D

Yotsuba&! #1

5stars of pure cuteness.

I love Yotsuba&!! It's such a cute manga, and never fails to cheer me up.

>70 Sakerfalcon: it's probably the cutest manga I've ever read and yet it's not saccharine and sickening. I love it too.

The Tempest

3.5 stars to another Shakespeare play.

I just want to say that this new version of LT blows chunks and I hope it fails miserably.

I know, I know, it won't. They've invested too much into it, but my goodness, I simply hate the timing. As far as I'm concerned, it couldn't have come at a worst time. First wordpress and their editor, then blogger and their editor and now librarything and the whole faff'ing layout.

So Tim, I hope this fails, I hope the whole site crashes and becomes a byword of scorn and derision amongst every literate person on the internet!

(I might happen to be a tad grumpy about life in general at the moment and not just about this feth'ing change)

>72 BookstoogeLT: Haha, yeah, the new outlay is kinda... distracting? But then again, I'm probably one of those types who has never liked that kind of site update. I have to confess, though, that when I first landed on LT, I thought the site looked so outdated that I wasn't sure that the place was still active. It didn't help that the first groups I joined only had sporadic postings every few weeks.

(Preview function doesn't seem to work...)

>73 BookstoogeLT: LOL, deep breaths. ;) I'm seeing a lot of complaints about the visual aspects in the main thread, but I actually think it looks nice. But I'm one of those crazy IT people who tend to enjoy change!

I agree with all the people who think there's too much white space, but otherwise I don't mind the colors or the font or the layout or anything. Except the missing star indicator on the mobile layout; I griped about that one. I do really like being able to catch up on reading posts in spare moments on my phone and not having to zoom in and out and slide left and right to try to see everything.

>74 Majel-Susan: I saw mention that they were aware of the preview issue and working on the fix. It's driving me a bit nuts not to have it meanwhile though.

The spoiler tag issue has also been reported in the main thread, but I don't think they've had a chance to reply about that one yet. Unless it's in the bug report group; I don't follow that and haven't taken the time to look because I'm sure it will get fixed eventually. That is the issue that most horrified me, which I'm sure will surprise nobody who has read more than, say, 5 of my posts. :)

>75 YouKneeK: I'm finding the text harder to read, I wasn't the only one to complain about that. At 6 AM with my glasses on, I suspect it is going to be darn near unreadable.

>75 YouKneeK: You'd LOVE wordpress at the moment then ;-)

Psychic Grandma & The Ironing T200 - A Tale of Terror, Mystery and Daring-Do

My debut post that got me admin duties at the new Masters of Ironing site.

Oh wow. Speaking as an aged woman of 57 years, I find the white space and larger format WONDERFUL and relaxing. At first, on my laptop, it startled me, but when I looked at the site on my phone it was terrific! No more squinching and unsquinching to see things. My most unfond thing is the blue, but I know I am a minority in the pastel blue hatred cult. *think of summer skies, think of summer skies*

That being said, I haven't taken a tour, I've only hit the talk threads right now.

ETA:>73 BookstoogeLT: I am sorry you are so upset by it though, didn't mean to discount your displeasure! Why exactly do you hate it so?

>75 YouKneeK: Browsing on my phone now, I would definitely agree with you that the new mobile layout is an improvement, and maybe they fixed it or maybe it's "sensory adaptation," but the desktop font looks more readable today, as well.

>79 MrsLee: "an aged woman of 57 years" Whatwhatwhatwhatwhat?! What?! WHAT?! That's not aged! It's mature!! I can easily give you a decade or more!

>81 hfglen: Oh, thanks! But you can keep it. ;)

>79 MrsLee: Because it's change and I was perfectly fine with the layout and coloring of the previous setup. I don't mind if they go and change the internals as I barely use LT to its fullest capacity. But the showy, easy to see stuff? It just feels like "change for change's sake" and I'm getting really fed up with that attitude being everywhere for all the sites I use.

I do hate this blue.

>83 BookstoogeLT: Right there with you on the blue and change for change's sake.

They have been working a long time though to make a mobile version that isn't clunky, and not that I understand the techy stuff at all, but I think it was a necessity. I guess I've come to trust the gang, having been through several redesigns, but then I am not too picky in the look of things.

Passion and Purity

5 stars of Christian Counseling.

Some Side Benefits to Working on the Blog

Just something I dashed off this morning while updating the blog.

>86 BookstoogeLT: That's some serious effort. Not the cross-checking of reviews and books... Being up at 5 am, apparently voluntarily, is what I am amazed by. ;)

>87 BrokenTune: Eh, that is when I get up for work during the week and my body has lost its ability to sleep in. There are no "days off" for my sleep cycle :-)

>88 BookstoogeLT: Well, I suppose it makes your days off longer, so there is an upside to that, too. I'd miss a weekend lie-in.

>88 BookstoogeLT: I hear you. I was a night owl before I started working, now if I sleep past 5am it's a miracle.

>89 BrokenTune: If my body needs extra sleep, I have to take naps in the afternoon. Which is always a gamble, because I never know if it will end up keeping me extra awake that night or not :-)

>90 MrsLee: I've always been a morning person, but I'd say this wake up before my alarm thing started about 2 years ago. Suspiciously, it's also when I hit the 40year mark.

>88 BookstoogeLT: >90 MrsLee: Exactly, after many years of getting up between 5 am and 6 am, that's just when I wake up, no matter what, 6 am is 'late' for me.

>86 BookstoogeLT:, >90 MrsLee:, >92 Karlstar: Add me as another who gets up fairly early, although not quite as early as you all. I’m usually up by 6am since that’s been my normal wake-up time for years, although I do sometimes wake up closer to 5am. I sleep better if I stay on a consistent sleep schedule regardless of whether it's a work day, weekend, holiday, vacation, etc.

When I was younger I would stay up late whenever I could and sleep in later, but I found that the drastic schedule changes just threw my body clock off too much and I had trouble getting back onto my weekday schedule and/or I didn’t sleep as well. I hate to waste waking hours tossing and turning in bed, or being too tired to think properly from not getting enough sleep the night before.

My sleep schedule is getting thrown off right now though because I’m supporting a later shift for our project at work. Today I slept until almost 7:30am, I couldn’t believe it! I can’t remember the last time I slept that late. I was really tired though. I look forward to getting back on a normal schedule.

I'm just now noticing that the Preview button is working again on Firefox. Woo hoo. :)

These days unless there's something I have to get up `for`, I usually wake when it's light. Fall-Spring it's around 7 since that's when it starts getting light and Spring-Fall it's 6 for the same reason. Bedtime is pretty consistent between 9 and 10 depending on how I'm feeling.

>93 YouKneeK: You just described my current sleep schedule and sleep needs though I have a slight difference. On weekends as long as I get up at 6am I can go back to bed at 8am for a nap and it not impact my body clock at all. That part is nice. I could probably do that week days too if it wasn't for work. I think they might object LOL

>95 Narilka: Haha, I have done that a few times, although in my case I usually only do it if something happened to cause me to get to bed later than usual the night before and I still woke up at my usual time. And like you, not on work days! ;)

Bookstooge Got's Sol!

cards, cards, cards.

Hell Spawn

4stasr for the first book in the Saint Tommy NYPD series.

>98 BookstoogeLT: 4* is a promising start to a new series.

Been that kind of Week

This week definitely gets a 1star rating.

That's a bad week, I hope you are feeling better.

>102 Karlstar: Thanks. Today has been a real recovery day. Drinking a boatload of water and herbal tea. Plus just sitting down on the couch has been good :-)

I actually slept in until 7:30am this morning. Unheard of!

>101 BookstoogeLT: That sounds rough, hope you get to feeling better.

>104 chalton: Thanks Chalton. I'm feeling much better this morning and am hoping to be at 90% by tomorrow :-D

Howl's Moving Castle - the Anime

A great adaptation.

Yotsuba Vol 2

Another 5star manga monday entry.

>106 BookstoogeLT: I noticed that Howl's Moving Castle was on that questionable Time Top 100 Fantasy books, I actually recognized it from your review.

>108 Karlstar: The book definitely deserves to be in a Top 100 list. I don't know anything about the frufora surrounding the Times List (beyond that there IS some frufora) but the book is great. The anime is pretty good too.

The Warship

4 stars for the next Polity book by Neal Asher.

Dombey and Son

5 stars of Dickens. The best way to end the month, for sure!

>106 BookstoogeLT: The animation and the soundtrack from Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle are really beautiful! When I watched it a few years ago, though, I had no idea that it was a book, but it's been on my TBR list since then.

>109 BookstoogeLT: I almost ordered Howl's Moving Castle, then I noticed the review said it was intended for 5th graders? Is it really? That's not even YA.

>113 Karlstar: Order it. Howl's Moving Castle is an all-ages treat. I re-read it periodically.

>112 Majel-Susan: I highly recommend the book. I watched the movie first too, without knowing it was a book. Once I found out and read it, I was extremely happy.

>113 Karlstar: It is a middle grade book for sure. But much like the Narnia books, doesn't exclude the grown ups in the world. And thankgoodness it's not YA. That genre is the most *and I'm not even going there*....

October '20 Roundup & Ramblings

I think that title says it all.

>116 BookstoogeLT: Another great month of reading. That's an impressive star average two months in a row. Here's hoping the trend continues in November :)

>117 Narilka: Yeah, The last couple of months have been fantastic in terms of averages. If the rest of the year can keep that pattern, this may be the best year in terms of star ratings that I've ever had. At least ONE good thing would have happened this year then :-D

>114 tardis: >115 BookstoogeLT: Ok, putting it back on the list! :)

>119 Karlstar: Tardis is spot on. Whether you'll be as enchanted by it as I was is a matter of taste, but I can guarantee you'll at least enjoy your time with it :-D

To Iron or Not To Iron, That is NOT the Question

Resident Master of Ironing, Bookstooge Tsu, takes on a subject that most novices and even some masters of ironing, have forgotten about.

>121 BookstoogeLT: LoL. I enjoyed that more than I should have.

>122 BrokenTune: The Film Authority has swept in like a gale on my blog. His humor is 100% compatible with mine so we just go back and forth almost effortlessly. We've talked about other "big" things to blog about, but Ironing was the thing that got a whole new blog started. It's a joke, but it makes us laugh and brings smiles to the other bloggers who read the comments :-D

And much like the Psychic Grandma post from earlier this month, this kind of writing is very therapeutic for me. I can be silly to my hearts content and LIKE being silly. That doesn't happen very often.

>123 BookstoogeLT: Oh, I loved the comments!

Who's Body?

A 3star mystery that starts the Lord Peter Wimsey series by Dorothy Sayers.

Currently Reading & Quote: Lord of Chaos

With cool new pix

The Copper Assassin

3 stars for a standalone story that "could" turn into a series. Best part was the gorgeous cover though.

>126 BookstoogeLT: Does that mean you're liking the new cover?

>128 Karlstar: Slight miscommunication there. I was referring to the new "Bookstooge Chronicles" pix :-D

>129 BookstoogeLT: Yes, that is a cool new picture.

>130 Karlstar: It did the unintended side affect of re-introducing me to Manly Wade Wellman. I'll be checking out his bibliography in '21 :-D

Supposed to get into the 70's today. And a week ago I was working in the snow and cursing my very existence because I was so miserable. How times change ;-)

Outside of a walk though, I'll probably stay inside today and read and work on the blog and get some new posts scheduled as well.

>132 BookstoogeLT: And you have been busy on the blog!

>133 BrokenTune: Yep, got another 2 months down! 2 more months to go and 2007 will be done. Thankfully, my reading numbers from 2007 and below weren't what they were in '08 and beyond. Thankfully, because I don't want to have to deal with 20+ reviews for each month. 6-12 seems much more manageable :-D

Gilded Latten Bones

3stars for the penultimate Garrett PI book.

Yotsuba Vol 3

another 5 star entry in the cutest manga series ever.

A very lighthearted Currently Reading & Quote Post

I scheduled this 3 weeks ago but it sure is working out perfectly. This week's been rough and something funny is just what I needed this morning. Way to go Past Me!

The Bible: The One Year Chronological New Living Translation

I think that title is pretty self-explanatory.

Oh Hurray!"

Another milestone passed while working on the blog.

>139 BookstoogeLT: Well done! You are slowly but surely getting there.

>140 Narilka: Grinding away like it's a video game! Hhahahaaa :-)

6Degrees: Death Note to .....

Another in the 6Degrees series of posts.

Death Note to Wind in the Willows lol Only you :)

>143 Narilka: Yeah, my reading over the years has been quite eclectic and varied :-D

Rosemary and Rue

1 star for the first book in the October Daye series. Pretty much capitalizes on everything I've disliked about Urban Fantasy.

Psychic Grandma Rides Again

If you've not been following the conversations on my blog, Psychic Grandma was created with the help of fellow blogger, 10Secondsfromnow, affectionately known as Ol'10. Psychic Grandma is the bane of my existence and Ol'10 never stops reminding me that she is always correct and always wins.

Lord of Chaos

Book 6 in the Wheel of Time series. It was 3 stars lo these many years ago and lo, it is STILL 3 stars this time around. It showcases everything that has made me decide to never re-re-read this series once I'm done this time around.

Wordpress is Forcing Me to Double Dip

and that is disgusting and gross!

>147 BookstoogeLT: Are you going to re-read twice through, or just stop now?

>149 Karlstar: I plan on finishing this cycle of re-reads. I've never actually re-read Sanderson's contribution and that was the biggest thing I wanted to accomplish.

>147 BookstoogeLT: I'm keeping an eye on your WOT reviews. Every now and then another friend posts how much they love them and I get the urge to restart the series. You are my sanity for this, no pressure! :D

>151 Narilka: No worries. I simply can't recommend this anymore to anyone over the age of 30.

>152 BookstoogeLT: Interesting, I took the chance of recommending them to my boss a few years back (mid-50's) and he loved them.

>153 Karlstar: And that is why you simply can't listen to one person :-) (ie, me). I still stand by it though. I'm not going to know for sure though, as I am not going to re-read this. I've reached the saturation point with WoT and this time through should keep me for the rest of my life.

King John

Finally, a Shakespeare play I can give 4stars to and really enjoy!

Yotsuba Vol. 4

And the 5stars for this manga series just keep on rolling in!

Today was a good day after all. It was pouring buckets so work was cancelled. Came home, wrote a bunch of posts for December and then worked on the old posts. Got another month out of the way!

And I ate a Wild Mike's pizza all day. Oh yeah.....

>157 BookstoogeLT: Ah ha, that explains why I was getting so many e-mails from your blog on a weekday! :) Congrats on getting another month done.

>158 YouKneeK: Yeah, I held myself to one month so I wouldn't flood everyone :-D
This race is slow and steady but it is inching along!

Riders of the Silences

3.5 star western by Max Brand

The Bookstooge Chronicles: Currently Reading & Cover Love

Oh, that cover!!!

The Jeeves Omnibus #5.3

The final wrapup to the Jeeves and Wooster series. Ended on a 4star note, so I'm pretty happy.

Soothing the Savage Beast

Another brilliant crossover piece with the inestimable Masters of Ironing crew.

Just had to use my "owner of the blog" powers on the comment section. What is going through someone's head when they go onto other people's blogs and start calling other commentors "nazis"?
Needless to say, certain sub-conversations were deleted and "somebody" is on comment probation.

Poll: Opinions Wanted

Talking about Book Giveaways...

November '20 Roundup & Ramblings

Wrapping up the month.

That cover for the Copper Assassin is seriously cool.

>169 Narilka: It is, isn't it? It "almost" makes me curious enough to investigate who the cover artist is.

The Human

4star conclusion to Neal Asher's Polity: Rise of the Jain trilogy.

If shitweasels are your thing, then today's currently reading & quote post is right up your alley:

CR&Q: God of Night

First Line Friday: A Tale of Two Cities

What an opener!

PSA: Blogging Jealousy

Haven't done a Public Service Announcement post since March, so it seemed about time.

>174 BookstoogeLT: "Proud Recipient of the Special Snowflake Award." Haha, I enjoyed that! And definitely relatable, even if not in the social media sense for me. And somehow, at the end, I accidentally read, "Tell ol' Uncle Bookscrooge, he's got a sympathetic ear ..." Oops. XD

>175 Majel-Susan: I regularly hand those out to myself when I'm feeling especially "feely".
Are you on any other platforms besides LT?
And your mis-reading made me laugh, because it's probably MORE accurate. Scrooge indeed :-D

>176 BookstoogeLT: Are you on any other platforms besides LT?

Noo, I'm a social noob, so aside from LT, I'm not really anywhere else. (:

>177 Majel-Susan: Well, as long as LT is meeting YOUR social needs, then I won't recommend any other place. Being content is a huge gift and not something I take lightly for myself or others.

Joly Jalapenos, Tabasco Man!

I have been on a real roll with these non-review posts.

>179 BookstoogeLT: I have some spare hot sauces if you need them, but... Tabasco Man?

>180 Karlstar: When I'm in a "mood", anything can happen :-D

Yotsuba Vol. 5

Cute Manga is Cute.

>182 BookstoogeLT: Yotsuba is always a reliable feel-good fix!

>183 Sakerfalcon: It really is! I don't know what I'd be doing if I didn't have that to fall back on every couple of weeks. It's like eating warm tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich.

>184 BookstoogeLT: That's the perfect metaphor!

I haven't been posting links to many book reviews lately, even though I'm still churning them out. Do any of you who follow this thread use the book review links? Or do you follow what others are reading some other way here on LT?

With the end of the year coming up, I am making plans for '21 and am looking hard at every aspect of my blogging. I realize it's pretty vague, but any thoughts from anyone here on LT would be much appreciated.

Blood Relation

Book 6 in the Arcane Casebook series gets 4 stars from me. Willis is a very entertaining author and I am just digging his stuff.

>186 BookstoogeLT: I am one who doesn't click links to other sites very often. Don't have time. I don't read complete reviews here if they are long and I haven't read the book, either. It does seem to me that I've seen several members here commenting on your blog posts though.

>187 MrsLee: Thanks. That is the type of input I'm looking for. I just want to know what people actually do so I can plan accordingly. I hear you about long reviews too.

>186 BookstoogeLT: I tend only to click the links if it's a book I know or I'm interested in; if the title of the book catches my attention; if other members here are discussing something interesting from the link; or if the post itself has an interesting or amusing title. I do like to read the 6Degrees and monthly roundup posts though.

While I do keep up with everybody's threads here, I usually do so by skimming everything, so that I know generally what folks are talking about. That way, if it's a book I know or am interested in, if I catch a sentence or a spoiler (yes, I click those if it's an unfamiliar book) that piques my curiosity, or some other causal discussion that interests me, I go back and read the post more carefully.

>189 Majel-Susan: Thanks. I've talked with YouKneek about the fact that I'm a "part timer" LT'er and even more so in regards to the Green Dragon. It just comes down to me not knowing how people do stuff here. Considering that I'm at my limit of socialness just being here and on Wordpress, I don't see that changing.

So thanks for letting me know explicitly how you operate. It is much appreciated!

>186 BookstoogeLT: I click through to your book reviews, and other blog posts, whether I'm already interested in the book or not. My TBR won't grow on its own! ;) I'm not a big commenter though and will comment here on LT when I have something to add.

Edit: My favorite posts currently are your 6 degrees :D For the review posts I tend to read your thoughts first before the book summary since your summaries have spoilers. I'll go read a summary if your review piques my curiosity. Or all the summaries you post on WOT to remind my why I don't want to do a reread.

>191 Narilka: Hahahaa. Yeah, my summaries tend to be for me if I'm ever tempted to read a book again and I can't remember why I gave it a bad rating. I like to write enough that I don't have to read the book all over again :-D So I don't blame you for skipping that part. I assume most people do as well, as people seem to have an aversion to spoilers.

Thanks for letting me know your habits. I think I tend to interact with a handful of people here at the GD and so far, the links seem to be the best way to write what I want without even touching the Religious/Political line. It's just too easy for me to cross it.

>186 BookstoogeLT: You probably already know my answer, but I’m following your blog so I get e-mails when you post on your blog. I usually read it directly in the e-mail, then click from there to like and/or comment. Once in a while if I was busy when I got the e-mail, your post here will remind me that I need to go read it, but usually I've already seen it in the e-mail before I see your post here. If I have anything to say, I usually comment there since I know it will add to your stats there which I assume you prefer, but I also enjoy reading whatever comments people make here in your LT thread.

I’ve always appreciated that you completely segregate the plot details from your own thoughts because I almost always skip the plot info in reviews. Not just yours, but most people's. Either it’s a book I’ve already read, in which case I already know the plot. Or it’s a book I’m not interested in, in which case I don’t care about the plot. Or it’s a book I plan to read, in which case I don’t want to know the plot. :) But reading people’s reactions to books is always interesting to me.

Like others have mentioned, I tend to skim threads here a lot, especially if I’m short on time which feels like the case more often than not lately. When I’m reading reviews in the threads here, I tend to zero in on the parts that are more personal opinion and then, based on that, I might read the rest of the review more closely. If the review is of something I’ve read myself, then I usually read those reviews pretty closely also, because I enjoy comparing their thoughts and interpretations against mine.

>186 BookstoogeLT: As others have said, I tend to click through when a book or post title piques my interest. I do enjoy your reviews, as you are very clear about worked or did not work for you and why, which is very helpful if I'm considering something myself. Like YouKneek, I also like that your plot summary is separate from the review.

>193 YouKneeK: Thanks. I can't tell who is emailed subscribed and just "regular" subscribed over on wordpress, so that is good to know (and sorry for the flood of posts every couple of months, hahahahaa). it is really interesting to see how differently people do the exact same thing online.
I'm really trying to figure out how much work to put into LT for '21. I already know I'll be dropping bookhype and devilreads, so maybe without those LT will seem a bit easier.

>194 Sakerfalcon: Do you use any of the tools here on LT to keep track of what books other people have reviewed, or is it just by what they post in their threads?

>195 BookstoogeLT: Since yours is the only WP blog I follow, it makes more sense for me to just get e-mails rather than have another feed to monitor. The flood of posts when you're working on your blog are barely a blip on my radar -- I’m used to e-mail floods from my job, and I have a fully functioning delete key. :) I do sometimes turn off the e-mail alert noise on my tablet when all that is going on, though!

>196 YouKneeK: So you don't follow any other old booklikers then? For some reason I was thinking you did. For you, email definitely seems the best way to go then.

>197 BookstoogeLT: Nope. I’m friends with a couple people from BL on Goodreads but they hardly ever interact, and there are the few here in the GD whose threads I read, but not on WP. I haven’t really wanted to get involved on WP if I'm not going to host a blog there myself, which I definitely don't want to do, and I don’t know of anybody else who moved there whose reading interests were that similar to mine anyway.

>186 BookstoogeLT: I also get the emails and follow links here to both book review posts and others. I get to your posts from both. For others here, I scan through their reviews.

>198 YouKneeK: Before the bleeding block editor, I'd have tried to change your mind about blogging (well, at least a little) but not any more. If LT and devilreads work for you, stick to them! :-D

>199 Karlstar: So you get the emails too eh? Whenever you do comment there, it ALWAYS takes me a second to remember who Jalaubacker is, hahahahaaa. I'm like "who is this guy? Oh wait, yeah...." :-D Would it affect you in any way if I stopped posting the links here?

God of Night

A 4star ending to the God Fragments series.

>195 BookstoogeLT: Sometimes I will go to someone's profile page and click to scroll through their reviews. It may not be a member I "know", but rather someone who wrote a review that resonated with me on a book page, and made me want to see what else they had written. This has resulted in many books being added to my Wishlist!

>202 Sakerfalcon: Huh, I didn't know you could do that. Is it easy?
* runs off to experiment *
(on myself of course. It wouldn't be ethical on others, now would it?)
Holy smokes. Just looking at my reviews, I don't know if I'd follow me because of that wall of text!

It obviously works for you. Do you do that often?

Listening to darkwave 80's synth right now and working on the blog. Not what I would have thought of as Sabbatical 20 years ago, hahahahaa.

edited to add:

And another 2 months down! It helps that back then I'd only read 4-10 books a month.

>200 BookstoogeLT: I do click to the blog from links here, about as often as I do from emails. I do not look at my email daily, sometimes maybe not for several days.

>205 Karlstar: thanks. That is another type of data point I was looking for. Wordpress is pretty stingy with their data for the free accounts, so I have to make do with what they give me and what others tell me.

>206 BookstoogeLT: Have you ever looked into StatCounter? I believe it allows you to see the sites that your visitors use to reach your blog and also what other pages on your blog they visit.

>207 Majel-Susan: When I used blogspot back in the '00's I did. I liked messing around with my blog and changing stuff and everything. Now? I just want something to work without me having to fiddly diddle it. However, after doing 1 minute of googling', it appears that Statcounter IS compatible with wp.com sites.

Hmmmm, that just might be the answer. I don't know if I want to go down the path of fiddly diddling though :-D

Book Catch: Fall Out

In which I go book fishing in international waters and get a bite.

>209 BookstoogeLT: See now, if you don't make your one liners so bait-y, we won't click on the links! :)

>210 Karlstar: yeah, I am definitely an attention hog, hhahaahahaa.

>209 BookstoogeLT: Nice catch lol Love that pic you found of the shark.

Dear piffle-meister, I got off to a late start this year and would love to take you up on your offer for a post or two. AdThanksVance, Jim

>212 Narilka: I looked for a long time for the original picture, as that one is rather grainier than I like. But I couldn't find it anywhere. I finally gave up after about 2 minutes of looking, hahahahaa :-D

>213 Jim53: You've just hired yourself one of the PREMIER Piffle Meisters.

Found you - and lots of yummy Bookstooge goodness to catch up on!

>186 BookstoogeLT: Seriously though, I will be sad if you cease linking to your reviews here. I don't blog - being far too mysterious a person for that :-p - so I would miss out on a much needed dose of insanity if that were to become the case.

>215 BookstoogeLT: Fun answers :)

>216 -pilgrim-: Glad you figured it out. I have a hard enough time using a full sized laptop, so I can't imagine doing it on a phone or even a tablet.
Thanks for the input. that is exactly what I need to know. With December already half over, I have to write up my Year in Review and Plans for '21 post. Or at least, start it. My previous year in review posts have always been way too big to write in one night :-D

>217 Narilka: Thanks. I'm not a huge tag person, so it is nice when I can feel comfortable doing one.

>215 BookstoogeLT: Seeing the tag make the rounds has been really fun. Based on your remark about Master and Margarita though, I'm gonna have to think twice if it requires that much historical context. Then I went and took a look at your main review of the book, and while it doesn't necessarily cancel the book for me, I do agree that it is preferable to go in prepared for the book's approach to Christianity. It's funny, because I remember clicking on your review of Master and Margarita when you first posted it, but I don't remember anything from it then.

>219 Majel-Susan: I have to say that The Master and Margarita is one of my favourite Russian novels and it would be a pity for you to miss it.

But it does need an excellent transition because a lot of the text bears more than one possible interpretation, and when considering "which meaning did Bulgakov actually intend?" the answer is usually "Both".

Also, don't mistake it for a genuine assault on orthodox Christianity. The deliberately controversial scenes are the necessary subterfuge required to get a book that debates moral and theological truths published under aggressively atheist censorship.

>220 -pilgrim-: I do find myself going back and forth and looking up The Master and Margarita quite frequently, and its rather abstract premise is what simultaneously draws and discourages me from picking up the book. Honestly I'm intrigued, but also terribly intimidated when it comes to historical context. Thanks for your comment, though. I hear so much about this book that I will probably have to give it a read sometime.

>203 BookstoogeLT: I used to when I worked long quiet shifts at the library in the evenings and had a lot of time to kill. I'm quite a bit busier these days so it's quite rare now. But if I was browsing book pages and noticed good reviews from the same person for several titles that I was interested in then I would go and have a look at what else they'd reviewed. Sometime for the pleasure of reading their reviews, other times to see what else they recommended.

>215 BookstoogeLT: Love your answers to the questions, especially number 16!

>203 BookstoogeLT:
I do that too. I find a lot of reviews are too short to be meaningful, and seem to be nothing more than "I like/disliked X, so you should too", which is only useful if I know the person and that I have reading tastes in common with them.
So if I find a reviewer whose reaction to some books tend to mesh well with my own, I tend to look them up, first their profile, then their book list for recommendations.

>222 Sakerfalcon: I remember when I had time once. Back when I worked night security. I'd love to say "the good old days" but considering the hand to mouth lifestyle, I really can't :-)

>223 -pilgrim-: Indeed. If all someone says is something like that, I certainly won't be hanging around their online place! trying to find other people on wordpress can be daunting though, as there are a LOT people. And I've been lured in before by a great review only to have them never review a book in the genre again. I don't even try looking for fellow Dune Enthusiasts anymore :-(

Mairelon the Magician

4 stars for the first book in the Magic & Malice middle grade duology by Patricia Wrede. Good stuff!

>225 BookstoogeLT: Which period setting is it? How mention Jane Austen and the Regency, but the clothing shown in the cover illustration and to be a lot later than that.

Or is it one of those books where the existence of magic has so screwed up the technological timeline that any comparison is irrelevant really?

>226 -pilgrim-: It is alternate enough that I don't think it was in a specific timeline. There were nobles, no automobiles and the one or two guns mentioned were singleshot flintlock style. From a purely aesthetic standpoint, it struck me trying to be Dickensesque in it's time period.

A Tale of Two Cities

Another 5 star Dickens book. Surprise!

>228 BookstoogeLT: I started re-reading this recently because it was offered free on my Nook. Unfortunately, halfway through the first chapter, there was already too much slogging through the mud for me. it was interesting but it reminded me that I've always felt that a lot of nothing happens in that book until the last 1/4.

>229 Karlstar: Hahahahaaa! I had to laugh, because half of Dickens' appeal for me is his skillful use of language to say absolutely nothing while taking whole chapters to say it :-D
I do find that I have to make a mental gearshift when I read him. I literally think to myself "Enjoy the words themselves and don't worry about the destination". I think I have gotten to that point because I've read his stuff enough times now?

Sorry it didn't work out for you but Dickens just isn't everyone's cup of coffee.

Speaking of the nook. How's it working out for you?

And a special spoiler tag of you very own - so that you can stop feeling jealous of YouKneek. ;-)

>198 YouKneeK: I think most of the BL crowd on GR interact in The Outpost group, but yeah, not really elsewhere on GR as many of us aren't keen on GR.

>229 Karlstar: "too much slogging through the mud" is a great description for what Dickens means to me, too.

Still, I think Bookstooge's enthusiasm for A Tale of Two Cities has persuaded me to give to book a chance.

>232 -pilgrim-: Awesome. Thank you. Now I can eat pizza and be fat to my heart's content :-D

>234 BrokenTune: I intellectually understand that maybe 2 people aren't a fan of Dickens. But while I managed to understand it about karlstar, you are making a real mess of my emotional understanding. OF COURSE YOU HAVE TO LIKE DICKENS. HE'S DICKENS.
Sigh. sometimes life is just hard ;-)

>235 BookstoogeLT: Forty-some years ago, when I lived in Raleigh, NC, I was seduced by a reading club known as The Dickens Disciples, which was dedicated to reading the world's great books, which conveniently were all written by one author. I had read A Tale of Two Cities in high school, and found it frustrating, but under the influence of the DD, I began making the adjustment that you describe, to not worrying about things like pacing, or at least not in the same way that I might with other authors. I suppose I ought to try a couple more someday, and remember to read them as if they were Jarndyce v. Jarndyce.

>236 Jim53: Yep, our modern minds have to literally drop a gear to appreciate Dickens. Bleak House was one of my favorites, but you know what? I say that about most of his works, so it doesn't really seem to matter as much :-D

>228 BookstoogeLT: >236 Jim53: I also read A Tale of Two Cities in high school, and while I did actually find it interesting, my experience was rather soured by the fact that it coincided with my Great Expectations assignment, and I was already desperately drowning in all of my reading assignments. The pages went on and on; they felt hopelessly endless. By the time I finished both books, I swore off all Dickens... until only a few months later, I picked up A Christmas Carol for some leisure reading, which I didn't use to do much of. I decided that Dickens was half bad then, but seriously, when I heard that he was paid by the word (a myth, I know now), I really held a grudge against him. Incidentally, I'm currently re-reading A Christmas Carol and liking it.

>238 Majel-Susan: That was a myth? I thought it was standard operating procedure at the time. Do you know where you found that out? I'd be happy to correct my own view if that is the case.

I read some Dickens in highschool but I have no idea which. It wasn't until I was in bibleschool that I seriously undertook to read all his works. And I really liked them. Now, 20 years later, I love them! Makes me wonder what I'm going to think of his works in another 10-15 years :-D :-D :-D

Crown of Stars

4 stars for book 7 of the Wheel of Time.

>239 BookstoogeLT: I read that here: https://dickens.ucsc.edu/resources/faq/by-the-word.html#:~:text=Dickens%20was%20....

>241 Majel-Susan: Thanks

>241 Majel-Susan: Please don't take the following personally. I am reacting to the article, not you at all.

And I just read that article. Talk about semantics! He had to fill up a particular space, so in essence he WAS paid by the word. The letter if you want to be pedantic. Which would explain why he used the words he did.

That article pissed me off. It really comes across as them trying to have clickbait material. It would be like saying that since I'm paid in one paycheck weekly that I'm not paid by the hour. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Ok, pissiness aside, I am glad to have read that to verify what I always thought.
Thank goodness I have over a foot of snow to deal with later to work off all the aggression, hahahahahaa :-)

>241 Majel-Susan: An interesting article, but really a bit of an equivocation in argument. If the installment needs to take up a given number of pages, that mandates a certain number words, so as he is being paid a fixed rate per installment, and thus for a fixed number of words.

But modern publishers also make stipulations about length. So not as much had changed as it may seem.

>243 BookstoogeLT: And you got your reply in between my reading that article and getting my own reply in.

With the amount of steam you are giving off, I could probably heat my house for a week.

>244 -pilgrim-: and even students! I remember having reports that were supposed to be X pages long. I'd increase the font by half a size (to 12.5) and increase the spacing between paragraphs to an extra 10%. Got away with it for several papers too :-D

>245 -pilgrim-: ♪I'm a little teapot, ♪short and stout♪ here is my handle, here is my spout♪

>247 BookstoogeLT: Careful... You appear to be evolving into a samovar.

>246 BookstoogeLT: I had to reduce font sizes....

What? Me? Verbose? Never!!

>249 -pilgrim-: 1000 words at once seems to be about my limit. Wordpress tells me that my average post length is 650 words. And that is with the synopsis and legalize :-D

Oh, I forgot to add the rest of the song! doh.

♪when the water boils, here me shout♪, tip me over and pour me out♪

>234 BrokenTune: >237 BookstoogeLT: Not going to say I gave up on A Tale of Two Cities, but I do appreciate the perspective that I have to go into it expecting the slow pace. It just struck me as amusing that it starts out with a carriage stuck in the mud while taking way too long to talk about that. I was also surprised to find that it started in 1775.

>251 Karlstar: Dickens makes a very offhand remark about the American War for Independence. Fit in perfectly with the tone of the book :-)

>231 BookstoogeLT: "I do find that I have to make a mental gearshift when I read him. I literally think to myself "Enjoy the words themselves and don't worry about the destination"

That is how and why I love Dickens as well. I am finding it also to be the case with Moll Flanders by Defoe. One does not simply plow through these, one must tarry by the wayside.

>251 Karlstar: Isn't A Tale of Two Cities one of the 'short ones?' I loved it, but I haven't read any Dickens I didn't love. I ended up listening to Bleak House a couple of years ago so I could get stuff done in my garden while enjoying it.

My two cents: I think many books were wordier in general a few centuries ago because the only people who were literate in those days had a lot more leisure time than our much larger literate populace does now.

Then: 900+ pages thou sayest? Bringeth it on!
Now: You got anything shorter?

>254 clamairy: Nice insight.

>253 MrsLee: >254 clamairy: Yep, yep and yep :-D

>254 clamairy: That's a great point. People in the leisure class in those days also did not have the distractions/additional options inherent in today's society, (internet, television, social media, etc).

Also, Neal Stephenson would like a word about wordiness in the modern age... ;)

>257 ScoLgo: Well, when ol' Neal'y boy has been dead 150 years, THEN we can talk about him. Until then, he's just a purple p(r)oser ;-)

>257 ScoLgo: Also Mr. Sanderson! Yikes!

>254 clamairy: I feel this pain every time I try to get my 20 something nephews to read more and they are relatively frequent readers for their age and gender.

Only in Death

Another solid 3.5star book in the Warhammer 40K: Gaunt's Ghost series. This was book 11 and I'm enjoying this as much as when I started.

The Muppet Christmas Carol

This month's movie selection. Good stuff :-)

>261 BookstoogeLT: I love that adaption of the book :) And you're right. Michael Cain = you know you're getting a good movie.

>262 Narilka: Thank you. It's good to have an ally in my never ending battle against Ol'10 about Michael Caine.

This movie did make me want to go watch Muppet Treasure Island, so I suspect that will be my January movie :-D

>263 BookstoogeLT: Maybe a Muppet movie theme for the next few months? You're making me want to go watch them now :D

>264 Narilka: I actually did think about that. But I don't own any other Muppet movies besides this and Treasure Island. and I suspect I'd have to do some research to find other muppet movies. but if I get desperate.....

The Muppets somehow passed me by. I remember watching some Muppet show thing at Disney World many years ago, which I think was the first time I’d ever seen them in any form. I remember very little about the show other than being completely bewildered while a bunch of people around me laughed as if it were the most hilarious thing they had ever seen. I assume it required some sort of Muppet familiarity to appreciate properly. The bubbles falling from the ceiling were nice…

>266 YouKneeK: I've only seen a couple of the movies and a few episodes from the old tv show as re-runs. But you know how it can be as a kid. See something once, it sticks in your mind and 30 years later you remember it as THE STAPLE of your childhood, hahahaa.

Between you and Narilka, I went looking on amazon for Muppet stuff. There is actually a lot less than I was expecting. I guess they were a star that burned bright but short.

IMDB shows there were 5 seasons of the Muppet Show, 1976-1981, a reboot of one season in 2015-16, a reboot now in 2020 and 7 movies. Not a huge list but not too bad. No idea how much of that is streamable or if I found everything in my 2 minutes of searching.

>268 Narilka: Thanks! I'm not enough of a "watching" person to even think of checking places like imdb.

>267 BookstoogeLT: So as you are typing these entries, is the Muppet Show theme song running through your head?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M0X6OymIjg

>270 Karlstar: I hadn't heard that in years! So while it wasn't in my head then, it sure is now :-D

I thought of why you might not have found much Muppets on Amazon. Disney owns the rights. It's all probably on their streaming service instead.

>271 BookstoogeLT: >272 Narilka: Strangely enough, the Muppets are doing promos for Monday Night Football tonight? Why is that?

>272 Narilka: Ohhhhhhh. That would definitely explain why only 3 seasons of the show have ever been released on dvd. The older I get, the more I hate Disney and their despicable practices. I'll leave it at that so I don't go full on rant, sigh.

>273 Karlstar: Isn't there a re-re-boot of the Muppet show this year or next? If so, I'm guessing it is to get the word out.

>274 BookstoogeLT: I always have hated Disney. The roots of that are too political for the GD, but their marketing policies do nothing to ameliorate the reaction.

Have not watched a Disney product (except when they came around on TV, usually at this time of year) since I was 4 years old.

>274 BookstoogeLT: Must be to get people to pay for Disney+.

>273 Karlstar: Was it on ABC? They are also owned by Disney.

>276 Karlstar: I'm sure you're right.

>275 -pilgrim-: I'm definitely one of the enablers of said problem. I'll buy disney movies whenever I get the money :-)

>276 Karlstar: & >277 Narilka: Disney+ seems like the next logical step for disney. Why even sell your product on discs when you can make people pay month after month?

Message for the Dead

4.5stars for the Star Wars that should have been.

♪Oh Come ♪All Ye Faithful♪

It is Christmas Eve!

>280 BookstoogeLT: In case I don't get back here later, Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas BookstoogeLT!

And A Merry Christmas to one and all!

Christmas Book Catch - Dune: Deluxe Edition

a fantastic looking addition to my bookshelf.

>284 BookstoogeLT: That deluxe edition is beautiful.

>284 BookstoogeLT: Very nice!

>285 Narilka: & >286 Karlstar: The next edition I want to own is the Folio Society edition. But considering it runs about $125, I suspect it will be quite some time before that happens!

Bookstooge is Doomed!

Yep, boardgames are an essential part of life....

>289 -pilgrim-: Don't get too jealous. I actually have to have somebody to play it with first :-D and while my brother is willing, he's not excited about it like me :-D
Which is how it's been for our whole lives and games. I've dragged him in, he plays until I stop then heaves a sigh of relief when I'm done, hahahahaa.

Oh wait. Were you referring to the Dune: Deluxe Edition? You know, that makes a lot more sense. I was wondering why you were getting jealous of a boardgame, hahahahaa :-D

>290 BookstoogeLT: Boardgames.. little miniature figures... rulebooks that are mini works of literature in their own right..
What's not to like?

I haven't had an opponent for board games for ages. And it's driving me nuts (well, more so than usual) ;-)

>290 BookstoogeLT: Not that I don't appreciate a deluxe edition. And I just bought my lodger a Kindle edition of Dune for Christmas.

But I long ago did the mathematics:
1 beautiful, gorgeous book, or 10 nice, unread, tempting books? No contest.

>291 -pilgrim-: Well, I guess I guessed wrong :-D
I don't play boardgames much because Mrs B and I tend to like VERY different games. My brother is willing, but not enthusiastic. My sister-in-law is enthusiastic, but also more competitive than me and I've figured out it's easier to not play and keep the peace.

I am looking forward to trying out Doom, just to see how the mechanics of the game work. I loved the original 2 videogames so I'm hoping this has the same feel.

>293 BookstoogeLT: So what sort of boardgames does Mrs B like then?

>294 -pilgrim-: She likes games more like sorry, uno, jenga, etc. Quite varied and we can usually play one or two rounds of something and have a good time. But no All Afternoon Maximum Game Time. I prefer things with more numbers and strategy and she likes things with a lot of chance or physical skill (hence jenga)

>295 BookstoogeLT: My wife and I picked up the Civilization board game, based on the computer game series and still haven't figured out how to play it yet, there are a couple of key features that are not explained well, or at all. I'm guessing they assume we'll find a youtube video, which I haven't done yet.

Good to see someone else getting into mini painting.

>296 Karlstar: I am afraid it is the game that has some inherent flaws. Some of the simplifications made from the computer game make it rather unbalanced.

The Civilization board game that predates Sid Meier's computer games is far better and, in fact, one of my all-time favourite board games.

>295 BookstoogeLT: I think I am more with you than with your wife on the board game front then.

>296 Karlstar: A sign of a good game, imo, is that it can be complex but that the rules are clearly, almost painfully explicitly, explained and plenty of examples given. It also helps tremendously if you let someone else, who is used to a lot of games, read the rules and lead the group :-D Thankgoodness for sister-in-laws :-D

Like I wrote on my blog, after watching a couple of youtubers and realizing just how detailed they are, I'm going down the painting with markers route :-D I figure I can handle 3-6 colors per mini.

>297 -pilgrim-: The other problem is having people to actually play with. Since we're both so introverted, that is actually more of a challenge than anything, hahahahahaa.

>299 BookstoogeLT: Hmm. I wonder whether done sort of long distance method might be possible...

>300 -pilgrim-: I have actually thought about trying to setup some sort of "Zoom"ish thing. But we don't have fast internet and I'm not about to pay for it at the moment. Most cable companies want a 2 year commitment with massive penalties for early termination and clauses pretty much guarantee'ing they can raise the rates whenever they jolly well feel like it.
Sometimes it sucks to live in a little small town...

>298 BookstoogeLT: Sorry, didn't see enough comments to figure that out. Unfortunately mini painting does require a bit of time and money investment, though you can start out cheap/fast. This is mini painting season for me since I prefer to do it when it is cool, painting while sweating just isn't fun. I busted out the paints and worked on a minotaur that's been in progress for a bit.

>297 -pilgrim-: Uh oh. I was starting to wonder, from what I'd grasped of the rules so far, it didn't seem right, but we'll give it a go and see what happens.

This may be a no-no, but bringing the conversation in Narilka's thread over here:

Narilka: "BookstoogeLT: Not sure how well alcohol markers will work on plastic figurines. You might want to look into a cheap acrylic paint set instead."

Have you considered the base and dip method? Basically, put on 1 or 2 colors of paint, then dip into one of the shade mixtures specially made for the process. 2 steps, produces reasonable tabletop standard painted minis.

>302 Karlstar: No worries. The conversations were happening as you wrote your comments I believe. There's a lot of cross-talk because of people commenting at the same time :-D

>304 Karlstar: In all honesty, I just don't want to deal with paints, brushes, palettes and jars of paints. and then cleanup.

>303 Karlstar: The situation is more complex than I thought. The 1980s game, of which I have found memories, was apparently re-released in 2018.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_(1980_board_game)

The flawed one based on the video game, which I was referring to, was released in 2002.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_(2002_board_game)

However, there apparently exists another game, also "based on the video game", with a different designer, which was released in 2010.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_(2010_board_game)
I have never tried this.

I think I played Civ III on the computer? That's as far as my knowledge about the game goes.

>307 BookstoogeLT: Ah, the "which Civ video game was the best?" debate is a serious new kettle of fish.

(Personally, I have a sneaking fondness for the original Civ, where the rules were simple enough for real strategy.)

>304 Karlstar:, >305 BookstoogeLT: I used to do some serious scale modelling building in my childhood. But not since uni. (My hands don't function well enough.)

(Karlstar, yes I was what is now called a nerd back then. I think it was more acceptable in the UK than it was in the US though.)

There seemed to be so much more time back then.

>308 -pilgrim-: I think my favorite was Civ II! Civ III was ok, Civ IV was not, Civ V and Civ VI are very similar, though VI has just about every option/feature from 4 and 5, but handled better. I believe we have this one, sub-titled 'A New Dawn'.

https://www.amazon.com/Sid-Meiers-Civilization-New-Dawn/dp/B074YN5CKM/ref=asc_df...

>310 Karlstar: I would agree with you relative assessment of Civs II-IV, found I could not get Civ V to run on the PC that I had them, due to its excessively bloated requirements. (Alpha Centauri was an interesting idea, but I found the insistence on competing philosophies rather than a mix rather frustrating.)

I then decided that the developers were more interested in creating ever flashier graphics and views, which actually interferes with clarity of board display and hence gameplay. So I stopped following further developments.

Let me know what you think of the board game. Reading between the lines of the Amazon write-up, it seems intended to fix the flaws in the earlier versions.

I never was hooked on the Civ games. At that time Warcraft II and Starcraft were coming out, as well as DoomII, so that slotted much better into my SF/Action oriented mndset even as a teen :-D

Currently Reading & Quotes: Clouds of Witness

Some good quotes but that cover? So weird...

December '20 Roundup & Ramblings

The last post of the year and the precursor to the Year in Review coming tomorrow.