Am I crazy or did one of these Punk-O-Rama collections have Tom Waits on it?

It's hard to imagine that this kind of pronoun chaos isn't what King had in mind when he released It.

Maybe I'll just read the sections about the Persians, since I can never get enough of their shenanigans. And also I have found it is basically impossible to find any history books (english language at any rate) that cover the Parthian era of Persian history. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

It amuses me how the Genghis Khan book goes out of its way to be pro-Mongol. Like, the author does a good job of setting out Mongolian culture in way that impresses and emphasizes the achievements. The random (relatively frequent) asides about how Mongolians were actually more humane than the zealous and cruel…

The Man Who Was Thursday is, if nothing else, extremely memorable. I love the way that each of the anarchists is wildly different from each other. Such a motley cast of characters. And I love the overall dream-like tone of the book. Its moral philosophizing is fun, too, although only up to a point.

Olaus Magnus, A Description of the Northern Peoples: A delightful journey though the culture, practices, and beliefs of 16th Century Scandinavia. I just finished a chapter on Medieval snowball fights and snowforts. Looking forward to reading about the other snow sports (I believe that various forms of ski/skate racing…

I have been swept away by a tidal wave of interest in medieval sagas and histories. At this point, I know better than to swim against the tide.

Yea, I got the "Mobile Roguelike" humble bundle recently as a vote towards playing games while waiting for the bus. I don't play many mobile games, but roguelikes seem like a good candidate, considering that I only ever want short bursts on my phone.

Yea, every time I think I'm done with games, some months later I seem to stumble backwards into a game and get REALLY into it. It's best to let interests ebb and flow on their own.

I didn't mention how uncivil you both were being to each other because that goes without saying. My point is that we should refrain from making people feel bad about what they like.

I'm not really familiar with Singleton's work as a director, but it seems to me that you are ridiculing someone for their taste in movies. From one Simpsons avatar to another: that's not cool.

Even with the Steam sale on, I don't feel like buying anything. I guess I'm just not feeling "games" right now.

Not to plug Gesta Danorum too hard, but my enthusiasm's got the best of me. Check out this series of topic sentences from each paragraph on a single page:

I've got the J.H. Jackson translation on the way. It's "only" 850 pages, so hopefully it keeps the anecdotal nature. I love epics (or even modern stories) that are structured around getting a gang together. No promises that I will read it with any great haste, though!

There are so many great parts of the saga, too. The initial story of the two kids getting revenge on their uncle. Svipdag and his brothers. Bodvar and his family. Bodvar and Hott/Hjalti. The extremely hallucinatory fight against Aidils. Aidils getting his butt chopped off. I could go on.

Sounds worth checking out for that passage alone. If you remember, let me know!

Jeeze, how long is it in total? Must be pretty readable for you to have made it thus far. Is it the kind of epic that's broken into a series of smaller stories that can be enjoyed on their own?

"…and you are your own, right self?"

I'm having fun taking a freewheeling approach. All these national epic vary considerably in terms of style and content, and it's nice to change things around. Refreshing. Although it would be interesting to read the national epics as you describe, and see them build on each other, I suspect that the added layer of…

Wait, there's a 4th Frog and Toad collection?! My kids are going to flip. And yea, Julia Donaldson books are top quality. Our favorite was Tyrannosaurus Drip.