LOL! Boooooooks

[Free]

Unseen JRR Tolkien essays on Middle-earth coming in 2021

The Nature of Middle-earth will cover topics including Elvish immortality, the geography of Gondor – and which races could grow beards

www.theguardian.com

A previously unpublished collection of writings by JRR Tolkien, exploring the world of Middle-earth in essays tackling topics ranging from Elvish reincarnation to which characters had beards, is to be published next summer.

The new collection, which is authorised by the Tolkien estate, will be called The Nature of Middle-earth, and will be published in June by HarperCollins, which promised it would “transport readers back to the world of The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and The Lord of the Rings”. The publisher has released a host of previously unseen work by Tolkien, who died in 1973, over the last decade, including The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien and The Fall of Gondolin.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Veritable Quandry

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I've heard of Ready Player One, but never read it.

This review makes the sequel sound dire in so many ways -- is the first book this bad?

 

[Free]

I've heard of Ready Player One, but never read it.

This review makes the sequel sound dire in so many ways -- is the first book this bad?

If you have to read the first book...watch the movie instead. Because unless you're a speed reader of the highest velocity, the effort will at least be over much much sooner.

(Summary review: It's a hodgepodgy, virtual reality scifi-ish novel that vomits 1980's - almost all American - cultural references. And that may be the best thing about it.)

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

 

[Free]

Looks like Hudson's twitter is quickly being DMCA'ed by Cline or his publisher.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Isabeau]

I haven't been reading at all this year, me who loves reading, so I’m trying a restart with Anne of Green Gables. A little bit every night before sleep.

 

[Maggy Hazelnut]

Ok time for me to make an author suggestion. READ anything by Jane Harper!! I only recently discovered this Aussie author and damn is she good! So get & read "The Lost Man", "The Dry" and "Force of Nature". Every one of them is absolutely fantastic Mystery, Thriller & Suspense. If you can get the audible versions of each of them do so! I got mine free thru my library's Overdrive app on my Fires. The narrator (Stephen Shanahan) has that delicious Aussie accent that you can listen to all day. I highly recommend all 3 of these books by Jane Harper. She has a new book coming out in February & I'll be all over that one!

 

[Maggy Hazelnut]

I haven't been reading at all this year, me who loves reading, so I’m trying a restart with Anne of Green Gables. A little bit every night before sleep.

Isabeau I was having that same problem since the pandemic broke. Between that & Trump it's been a stressful year that made reading difficult for me. I finally was able to break that downward cycle by listening to some good audible books (which weren't my thing at all before last summer) & trying a few authors that were new to me. Not saying that'll work for you too but it's worth a try. *Hugs*

 

[Isabeau]

Isabeau I was having that same problem since the pandemic broke. Between that & Trump it's been a stressful year that made reading difficult for me. I finally was able to break that downward cycle by listening to some good audible books (which weren't my thing at all before last summer) & trying a few authors that were new to me. Not saying that'll work for you too but it's worth a try. *Hugs*

I think I may try that! I’m sure I can get some from the library also. Your author suggestion seems like just the thing.

 

[Maggy Hazelnut]

Overdrive (or Libby) is great & so easy to use to get library books. With all the covid restrictions it's so easy to find books on there & DL them for free. And just as quick & easy to return them! You can borrow books for up to 3 weeks at a time & you can renew them too. You can also put Holds on books because some are backed up for weeks plus you can make a Wish List for those you want to get in the future. You do need a local library card to use with them but most libraries are allowing you to get that online too if you don't already have one. If my little dinky town of only a few hundred people can do it I'm sure those of you in the big cities have it available also. I LOVE Overdrive!

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Veritable Quandry

 

[Veritable Quandry]

Personally I tend to parentheses and commas.

 

[Isabeau]

I use ‘em all. They’re like little sesame seeds of language.

 

[Essence Lumin]

Merriam Webster's word of the day is incandescent. Someone on Fark gave an example of usage.

"Beer incandescent taste the same as draft."

 

[Isabeau]

Bad sex award cancelled as public exposed to ‘too many bad things in 2020’

Prize for ‘unconvincing, perfunctory, embarrassing or redundant passages of a sexual nature in sound literary novels’ will resume in 2021

www.theguardian.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

A fitting tribute to the late, great, Dr Thompson (whom I once went to hear speak, and it was a huge disappointment because he was completely drunk out of his mind).

 

[Free]

Not really sure where this one belongs.

Don’t try this at home: George’s Marvelous Medicine is quite toxic

Roald Dahl's classic children's story proved "remarkably accurate" about toxic effects.

arstechnica.com

Famed children's author Roald Dahl greatly admired doctors who pioneered new medicines, and even dedicated his 1981 book, George's Marvelous Medicine—in which a young boy cooks up a potion using various ingredients around his family farm—to "doctors everywhere." Copies of the book contain a disclaimer to readers, warning them not to try to make George's concoction at home, as it could be dangerous. And now a recent paper published in the annual Christmas issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) has determined just how toxic the concoction could be if ingested.

 

[Innula Zenovka]