Do you mean “brogue,” ** Dung Beetle**?: brogue - Wiktionary
CalMeacham, as a Lovecraft fan, had you seen Neil Gaiman’s Sherlock Holmes/Lovecraft mashup “A Study in Emerald”? Great stuff: http://neilgaiman.com/mediafiles/exclusive/shortstories/emerald.pdf
Yep. It’s in a lot of collections, including Shadows over Baker Street, which is all Holmes/Lovecraft crossovers.
Just finished Lucifer’s Hammer, starting on Alan Weisman’s The World Without Us. I guess I have a thing for disasters
Dropped The Secret History – just too dense for me. I’ll give her **The Little Friend **a few days.
Resting the braincells right now by reading manga. I finished One Piece volume 3 by Eiichiro Oda on Friday and Wolf MagicNatsuki Zippo today.
One Piece is a favorite anime of mine, it’s SO over the top but the Zippo book was almost bland and boring, sadly par for the course for June Publishing these days.
I read the first in high school, and the second just a few years ago. Both good, although very different from one another.
My research shows there’s a “Complete & Uncut Edition” that was revised to include previously cut text, plus the time was moved up to 1990 and pop references were updated. Would you recommend that version?
I forgot to give a short synopsis of 11/22/63 for the non-American posters here. That is the date of the JFK assassination in Dallas, Texas. A high-school English teacher in Maine in 2011 discovers a time portal that takes him back to 1958. He embarks on a mission to prevent the Kennedy assassination.
As for The Summons, it’s an edition that was printed in London, but thankfully after a quarter of the way through, I’ve seen no Britishisms yet.
Personally I wouldn’t worry about it, that book is freaking LONG as it is and I don’t think updating the references would add anything to it. I admit it’s been 20 years since I read it tho so others may disagree.
I see it’s 823 pages. 11/22/63 was slightly longer, but I breezed through that.
Well I did get through that godawful long Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell so… I don’t remember how long my copy is, I’d have to go climb the shelves to get it down
I don’t mind lengthy novels. I read War and Peace largely on Bangkok buses.
BTW, DZedNConfused: I just learned Michael Connelly’s new Harry Bosch novel has come out. The Burning Room. It’s getting good reviews. Some are calling it his best yet, and it sounds like Connelly has left out a lot of the Bosch angst. I may actually buy the hardcover if I see it here.
I knew it was out, but I haven’t seen any reviews yet. It would be nice to have a lot less angst. I am slowly working my way there, on The Closers, I believe, but I took a break from reality, as such, to read some of the manga I have piled up around here 
As it happens, I loved Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, and was just thinking the other day of re-reading it.
I presume you’re speaking of The Stand (there’s a later collectors’ edition of 'Salem’s Lot that includes some different stuff from the first edition, too). I’ve read both editions of The Stand and would recommend you read the original work. Then, if you love it, go for the “complete and uncut edition.” What was added for that would, I think, be of interest only to a hardcore Stand fan and King completist.
I remember writing in one of these threads how much I disliked that book. I don’t know why I kept reading it.
I’m currently reading at the world’s slowest pace through *Snow Crash *by Neal Stephenson. It’s not bad, I’m just too busy for reading, which sucks.
Thanks. Yes, I meant The Stand. I’ll see if our library has that.
Let’s see. Currently reading The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams on the passionate recommendation of my daughter’s friend. I don’t know how I missed this collection of short Adams non-fiction compiled after his death. It’s slight but mostly quite humorous, and Adams does an astonishingly good job of foresight on where tech was going. An interesting man gone too soon.
Current fiction beside the bed is The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. I had my eyes narrowed here against possible twee - I do hate a book that is self-consciously precious - but thus far the sweetness has been balanced by humor and snark to within acceptable limits. I appreciate that the eponymous Fikry can be a jerk at times, though foundling daughter Maya can thus far be a little too precocious for my taste. Love the way both of them adore books though and see the world through literary lenses. I read that this is a bibliophile’s book, and I agree completely.
Also just started A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin. Many times reviewed so I won’t bother, other than to say it’s gripped me thus far like the two preceding. Mr. Martin does revel in his unlikable characters, doesn’t he? I fancy that in an author. Nice try making Jaime Lannister more likable. I was startled to read the anecdote of “the war for Cersei’s …” that is depicted in the first season of Game of Thrones. Clearly the TV series pulls whatever it needs from wherever in the series whilst maintaining chronological order. In my view, probably the way to do it.
Favorite thing I’ve read recently: How to Be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman. Long and carefully written details of a typical Victorian’s day, from babies to the aged, throughout Victorian’s reign. It includes everything from typical underwear to what was on the table (or not) for dinner. Best of all, the author (who has been part of long-term Victorian re-enactments of various stripes) has lived or tried out many of these things herself and can report back on things like the pluses and minuses of corsets, doing laundry the Victorian way, etc. I loved it - and what a treasury for the aspiring historical fiction writer.
When I got my first text-able phone, I thought of the part where Adams sat in his bathtub and typed with his thumbs.
And yes, he was taken from us entirely too soon. I realized that when I read Last Chance to See. 
I loved Last Chance to See. Bittersweet, given the topic (severely-endangered species), but also witty and very funny.