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stuff about imaginary beings

past — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:14:41 -0800

Help me find wonderful books about demons, angels, and other beings of the fantastic. I have this conception of a book, or books, that detail the histories, personalities, mythoi, genealogies, etc., of various classes of imaginary creatures.

This book would be very factual and dry, but maybe it has family tree type diagrams, or beautiful sketches.

Do books like this exist? Have you seen them -- what were they like?

Also, extra points if the book is about demons, because I especially like to think about demons.

Turkey Day is A-Okay?

Ash3000 — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:30:39 -0800

About eight years ago, I read this article on some radical-leaning progressive website, about how the author had come to love Thanksgiving, despite originally viewing it as a celebration of mass murder. This is what I remember about the article:

1. I'm pretty certain I found it on the Z Magazine website (though I haven't been able to find it now.)

2. The author originally took a Howard Zinn-like approach, and felt mixed at best about celebrating a day that had a historical association with genocide.

3. Eventually she started viewing it as an opportunity to reconnect with progressive values of community and true family, and assimilated it into her politics, including (I think) reading a poem or prayer about togetherness at the gathering.

I remember sharing it with several political friends, both conservative and progressive, and all of us finding it touching. Anyone have any idea what I'm thinking of? Wanted to send it to a friend. Thanks!

Cite, please.

oinopaponton — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:07:42 -0800

Does anyone know what the source text of this D.H. Lawrence quotation is, or if it's even correctly attributed to him? Quotation inside. “Museums, museums, museums, object-lessons rigged out to illustrate the unsound theories of archaeologists, crazy attempts to co-ordinate and get into a fixed order that which has no fixed order and will not be co-coordinated! It is sickening! Why must all experience be systematized? A museum is not a first-hand contact: it is an illustrated lecture. And what one wants is the actual vital touch.”

I'd like to use this in an essay... but would feel stupid doing so without knowing the context. Googlefu not working out so well this time. Thanks!

That is the question.

ageispolis — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:43:50 -0800

What is a good heuristic for the usage of 'that'? I am not referring to the distinction between 'that' and 'which', but its broader conjunctive and connective use.

I find myself overusing the word, and instead of deciding whether I should omit it or not in the editing process, it'd be great if I could learn to only use it when necessary.

Any ideas?

Lookin' for words in all the wrong places

Madamina — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:53:09 -0800

Between my iPhone's Stanza app and the loooooong quiet days ahead of me in the office during the holiday season, I'd like to read some stuff online. Any suggestions? I'm basically looking for good stories: things with a bit of a narrative that will keep me wondering what happens next. They should be easy to get into and not particularly deep (I will likely be interrupted a lot).

Nonfiction: longer articles with a bit of a twist, like New Yorker or Vanity Fair pieces about interesting people or events. Not commentary (unless it has some sort of unique backstory).

Fiction I've already enjoyed on Project Gutenberg: anything by the Brontes and L.M. Montgomery. I've also read pretty much everything that appeals to me (thus far) in the Harlequin online reads library, although I don't generally read paper romance novels.

I've seen this thread and this one too.

Thanks!

Weasels are not all bad!

sio42 — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:52:05 -0800

Will taking a logic class really help me in talking about things like socieconomic issues that are often emotionally charged? For instance, I was recently discussing an article I had read about the disparity of grade school education between poor urban areas and more affluent suburban areas. One of the terms used was "income inequality", which is a term used to describe the difference in income between the poorest and wealthiest. I was told this was a "weasel word" - that inequality was a weasel word!!!

I was a bit flabbergasted. It's kind of obvious when two things aren't equal. In this instance, the difference between tax bases of schools meant that some schools had recess, art, well-paid teachers, new textbooks, and computers. And others have bathrooms that don't work, bad lunches, overcrowded classrooms etc.

I was then asked if it wasn't the responsiblity of the parents to make sure their children were educated. Everything I said that related to socioeconomic realities was disregarded as not based in reality.

These aren't idiotic people I'm dealing with. Some of them aren't necessarily conservative. But sometimes having conversations about "issues of the day", so to speak, is mind-boggling.

Is there a way to frame socioeconomic issues that doesn't come across as emotional and filled with "weasel words"?

Literary paeans to cats?

laumry — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:50:48 -0800

Can anyone recommend any literary essays on, or short stories about, cats? Hello all.

I'm making a Christmas present for someone -- I'd like it to be a book of essays or extracts from literature describing cats.

Anyone got any recommendations? I already have:

Doris Lessing's "On Cats"
Robert E Howard's "The Beast from the Abyss", as recommended by Artw in this post
Charles Baudelaire's "Les Chats"

(I'm drawing a blank on short stories about cats.)

What do you think of "Words Like Notes"?

jlhopes — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:08:32 -0800

I have tentatively given my freelance editing and design business the name Words Like Notes. What do you think of it? I am creating a name and website for my freelance editing and print layout/design business. I would like to have a name that is not just my name, but which covers the different types of work I do (editing, writing, layout, and some translation) and gives a sense of the style I aim for - light and refined, yet professional.

The name I have been going with is Words Like Notes. I like the sound of it, but I realize that it is not a straightforward name, and I'm concerned that it will just confuse people.

What is your reaction to the name? Does it convey anything? Does it turn you off? Do you have any suggestions regarding how to use the name, or modify it, or replace it altogether? Thanks!

Give me more 'Verklemptness'.

Pippi Longstocking — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:26:47 -0800

Book Filter: In the spirit of 'Verklemptness'... Following this post please help with my search for books, fiction or non fiction, that tell the heart warming stories of animals (dogs in particular) and their interactions with humans, other animals, their environment, and so on.

It is only in the last few years that I have become a dog person, and Marley and Me (the book in particular), is the only book that has ever made me literally sob. While sad, it was also quite cathartic, and I'm looking for others like this. I have tried other books of owners reflecting of what their dogs reveal about human nature, but after reading 'Sophie & Stanley' I have been wary of picking up another one.

I have, however, read "From Baghdad with Love", "Alex & Me"(a bird, I know), and "Dog Boy" (fiction) by Eva Hornung, and while they were all good didn't elicit the same emotional reaction (ok, maybe a little bit).

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

About English expression

mizukko — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:48:37 -0800

About an expression...please tell me if it is true or not. You American people say, 1) When you think that you look older, you'll say, "I look like hundred years old." 2) And when you really don't think you are older, you'll say, "I am not two hundred years old." Will it be true?

Italiano?

LittleMissItneg — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:00:56 -0800

Can you please help me translate this phrase: cominciâ a butâ da bande, ce che ho ai dentri e nol è gno Thank you very much!

Help me subjugate the subjunctive, or I might get moody.

phrontist — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:33:02 -0800

Yet Another English Grammar Question: Which is correct? Based on my facial expression right now, you would think I [were/was] excited. The former sounds wrong, but reading about subjunctive moods makes me think it's right. Does it matter whether I intend to imply that I was not in fact excited?

Did she imagine this book?

BusyBusyBusy — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:44:18 -0800

[Obscure book filter] Anyone remember a book about a grandfather hired to make a notebook to teach someone's daughter about the world, but he secretly makes two copies? My sister remembers a book from her childhood. A grandfather is hired to make a notebook or book or computer (she can't remember) for a little girl to teach her about the world. He makes an extra copy to give to his granddaughter.

I know this is vague, but we've tried looking on Google and can't find anything. She insists it exists.

Any ideas?

Possessive?

niccolo — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:55:07 -0800

Where should the apostrophe go in the sentence "In Memory of Great Loves Lost"? Loves is plural (referring to all the loving in the world), but does it possess "lost"? Should it be loves'? The closest example is Shakespeare's "Love's Labour's Lost", but people apostrophe it many different ways. I've also tried to find where this example should go on the amazing apostrophe chart that was posted here a while back, but I am still uncertain.

Book recommendations for a new Christian!

schmoo — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:37:43 -0800

I'm looking for book recommendations for a young woman who has recently become interested in religion. Ideas please! I would like to buy my younger sister a book as one of her Christmas gifts. She is 19, and about four or five months ago was introduced to religion when she joined some college friends on a trip to Africa to do the normal Christian aid type work. She's since become more and more involved with the church and interested in religion - to the point that she was baptised a couple of weeks ago. The church is the most relaxed I've ever been to - it's in a purpose-built barn/hall, and they have a live band playing covers of modern songs. It's all very youth-orientated and all about friendship, community and fun. (I'm giving this information to try and give an idea of the kind of church/religion she's into. I'm not religious at all so apologies if I sound a little clueless.)

I would like to buy her a book for Christmas with some kind of spiritual/religious/Christian theme, to show her that while I'm not religious (and have probably been quite scathing about religion in the past) I respect her and am pleased that she's found this and that it makes her happy. However, I don't want to get herself anything with too strong a message - as I said she's only starting to be involved in the church, she's young, and I think she'd only be embarrassed by any too overtly religious gift as she knows how unreligious I am.

When I was younger I flicked through one of the Chicken Soup books at a friend's - I seem to remember that these had a vaguely religious theme to them, am I right? Something like this is what I'm looking for.

So - please give me your recommendations!

To sum up- I'm looking for

- nothing too strong in its religious message
- probably fiction, but non-fiction ideas welcome
- something appropriate for a 19 year old girl who loves going out, seeing friends, parties - all the normal teenage stuff!
- something well written, with an inspirational or thoughtful message.

Thanks!

Finding an old book about teenage love and axe heads

memebake — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:27:26 -0800

[Bookfinder filter] Trying to find a book I read at school, in the UK, in about 1987. It was a book for teenagers, with two interweaving stories across different times: one thread involved a teenage couple in modern times, and the other thread was about some Norse warriors, including a berserker, in ancient England. The two threads were tied together by an ancient axe head. The final section of the book was written in a cipher. Bits I can remember: The berserker character hiding somewhere and holding the axe during some crisis, the teenagers in modern times finding the axe-head somewhere. The two teenagers meeting in a cathedral, and using a code to write to each other.

The reason I want to find the book: The last 10 or so pages were hand-written in a weird code based on rectangles and dots. It was the code that the teenage couple had used to write to each other, and I think the last 10 pages were a coded letter from one of them to the other. At the time when I first read the book, I could not crack the code, so I never found out how the book ended.

Years and years later, I realised that the characters must have been using the Pigpen cypher - the book was quite sneaky in that it described how the code looked, but didn't give you enough info to actually translate it without outside help.

From what I remember, it was a pretty good book, and I'd love to track it down now and work out the ending.

This is all a bit of a longshot, but you never know with the power of the interwebs these days. Thanks!

Boy, That's One Expensive Powder Room...

amicamentis — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:09:24 -0800

What are some common euphemisms in older literature? I'm reading Breakfast at Tiffany's right now and noticed how"money for the powder room" is used as a polite way to say that she is accepting money to be a man's companion for the evening. What other phrases like this have been used to dance around an unseemly topic?

Phrases like "lived together as man and wife", for example, or other such constructions that those reading it would know what was being implied. Are there any that are now so archaic that a modern reader wouldn't understand the reference? Not innuendo, per se, but a lighter version of the truth.

Great Fiction, Online? Does It Exist?

2oh1 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:45:54 -0800

Where can I find great works of fiction online or in some sort of text form that I can read on my Mac? I want to become a better writer, and I realize this means I need to read more... but... I'm legally blind. My vision is just good enough that regular books are a pain to read (I definitely can, but exceptionally slowly). Oddly enough, large print is even more difficult for me to read. This is because bigger isn't better. For me, closer is better. I realize this might be hard for someone who doesn't have my vision to understand...

...luckily, I can read just fine on a computer. In fact, I'm constantly reading online. I'm practically addicted to it! The problem is, I'm reading everything except what I really should be reading in order to improve my writing.

I want to read great works of fiction. Hell, even just-plain-good works of fiction will do. What's available online? Is there anything I can find in text-form?

What should I be reading and where can I find it?

I'm not sure if this is helpful or not, but as a point of reference, this is an example of my writing. What I really want to do is learn to write fiction. Ah, but I've probably read fewer than 15 books in my entire life because I am suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch a slow reader (with books, anyway. I do much better on a computer screen). Hence this question.

Oh, Hive mind, help me trade my bad habit of reading the news for a good habit of reading fiction [that I can learn from].

I readed a story, but I forgetted it.

jrishel — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:16:06 -0800

I'm trying to find a short sci-fi story I read over 10 years ago that I barely remember. It may have involved some or all of the following: bicycle repair, ripe banana smelling bacteria used as deodorant and anti-libido medication. I think it might have been from one of the "Year's Best Science Fiction" Anthologies, but I'm not sure, it could have been in a sci-fi pulp magazine I subscribed to for a few years who's name also alludes me. Here are the barely remembered things I can recall, in order of rememberedness, not actual relevance to the story's plot:

main character uses a bacteria application to prevent BO. He smells like ripe bananas.

main character is working a bicycle, perhaps a racing bicycle.

in order to concentrate on his work, he takes an anti-libido pill.

he meets a girl. she may or may not be some sort of spy. I think he nurses her back to health.

he lives in some sort of post crash world where his workshop is raised from the ground to prevent looters.

he receives nagging video phone calls from his mother.

So, Hivemind, can you give me a title and author?

How to make my diary not suck?

mono blanco — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:28:44 -0800

How to write diary entries I actually want to read? Life's interesting. But when I try to do a diary I never want to read it later. It's either I ate blah blah or I think blah blah. Got any tips for making the recording as interesting as the original?

Middle School book club for adults!

koselig — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:46:32 -0800

Middle School book club for adults! A group of friends and I have recently started a book club featuring middle school literature. The first book we read was The Giver and the resulting discussion was amazing. I am looking for more books like this - young adult literature with larger themes. We have also considered Island of the Blue Dolphins and A Wrinkle in Time. What other books would you recommend?

Yeah once I ordered coffee in Chile in French, but it sounded right at the time.

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:03:56 -0800

I'm very seriously considering the foreign service, but I've never been any good at languages. Will I likely be able to learn a language, with the intense training the Foreign Service provides, without a natural apptitude for languages? I've been doing my research on the Foreign Service and it has become abundantly clear that I will need to learn several languages over the course of my career were I to join. At least one of those would be a "hard" language (not closely related to english). I have little apptitude for languages. I took French for 3 years in high school and got basically straights Bs and then promptly forgot it all. I only got Bs because my high school was easy and I crammed right before every quiz which allowed me to get by. I've lived in Europe and SE Asia and did not pick up either language of my host country. However, I could get by in English (I wasn't put in a situations where I had to learn the language) and I had no training in either language. I took one semester of Spanish in college and found it very difficult. Took the class pass/fail and I passed. Promptly forgot all of it again.

Now on to things I am actually good at! I'll give some background on my education/current career because hopefully (?!) some of those skills are transferable to learning a language? At least that is what I am hoping.

I'm an attorney. I did pretty decent, but not amazing in law school. Passed the NY and CA bar on the first try. Generally speaking I do well (better than I should given my knowledge on any particular subject) on standardized tests. In college, I was an art history major and had to memorize lots of names/places/dates, which I also promptly forgot (I remember the art and all about the art, but names of things are very hard for me to remember along with names of people actually). Also, at one point I was an applied math major and chemistry major. I did well in classes for both, until I switched my major for other reasons. I think that I have good analytical skills.

Can people like me learn a language after intense training and study? Or am I likely to "flunk out" of the foreign service after crying myself to sleep on top of my flash cards for 88 weeks straight?

I am very interested, but do not have my heart set, so to speak, on the foreign service. I think I want to join, but if I joined I would want to be able to work my way up the ranks (as it's up or out). Stories/experience/advice about the foreign service in general also very much appreciated. I also have no idea if it matters but I am a female in my late 20s.

Is there a word for this situation?

jenfullmoon — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:49:42 -0800

Is there a word that describes a situation where you *technically* have free will, but don't REALLY have the option to choose otherwise? My friend who went to Catholic school told me there was a word for this, but she can't remember what it is, and Googling "free will" or "Catholic" or both or whatnot isn't cutting it.

I'm thinking along the lines of a person having a vocation or calling. Being called to be a priest/nun is an example, or if you're Buffy. TECHNICALLY they have free will and can choose not to become one, but for all intents and purposes, once they've been chosen, they can't really duck that destiny.

Mainly I just find it irritating that someone could claim they have free will in that sort of situation, when it seems to me like they don't REALLY have it. And it seems like there should be a word for that!

Mama Said Knock You Out

azure_swing — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:50:16 -0800

What are the best boxer autobiographies? Looking for first-person accounts of being a boxer. Autobiography, "as-told-to" books, oral history, even ghostwritten accounts.

"The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems."

d. z. wang — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:17:28 -0800

Does "creepy" have specific meaning? I'm trying to understand what it means to be "creepy". Are there specific behaviors or traits universally recognized as creepy? Does it vary from person to person? Or is it just a catch-all term for unsociable behavior?

Is it possible for girls to be creepy? Is creepy behavior different for girls than for guys? Is it necessarily tied to interactions between genders?

And, is "creepy" different from "creepifying"?

Not looking for stories about creepy people you've met, unless you really have no other way to explain some aspect of creepiness. Hearing these stories is what got me writing this question in the first place.