The Hall of Fire

I've reported on the 40 books I enjoyed the most so far this year, but there were many more. In 2024, so far, I've actually finished 132 books at least once, and sampled but discarded about 40 more. I can stop any time. Really.

I've heard good and bad about Karla's Choice , but haven't read it myself. I think I will have to read The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy first. All three are on my increasingly improbable "to read soon" list. I have read Harkaway's Titanium Noir and Angelmaker...

I found this on Blue Sky, posted by one of my favorite artists. It's "Húrin and Huor approaching Gondolin", by Donato. In case you can't get into Blue Sky, I've copied the painting, with and without the artist sitting in front of it for size. https://bsky.app/profile/donatoarts.bsky.social...

I promise to report on the 100 or so books I've read since my last report... soon.

Meanwhile, here's a nice article on Martha Wells, author of the Murderbot series and The Witch King, and other books: https://www.wired.com/story/murderbot-s ... tha-wells/

California is fabulous. The Bay Area is especially fabulous. I say this as someone born and raised here, then away from it for 30 years, now back for almost 20 years and still madly in love. Unfortunately, the word has gotten out. The population of our fair state has gone from 14M to 39M in my lifet...

In the vicinity of Isengard?

To be fair, this could be said of just about anywhere on Middle Earth, or modern Earth.

Snowdog and Inanna, yes, and the same for any number of other groups of people. I'm currently reading The Wide, Wide Sea, by Hampton Sides, about Captain Cook's final voyage. It's an extremely thoughtful and well researched book. The author spent quite a bit of time looking at the Tahitians, from bo...

Shadowfax?

Thank you, V! I have 30 more pics of pelicans that were not as photogenic LOL.

And in a cross-over post of natural beauty accenting man made objects, or visa versa, here is the bridge across Big Sur River, and a sailboat in Monterey Bay.

Birds along the shoreline and in captivity in the Aquarium.

The jellyfish display in Monterey Bay Aquarium is always such a juxtaposition of dreamy jellies, calming new-age music, and screaming children.

And here are some photos from my camping trip last month. I stayed in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, and took side trips to Monterey Bay Aquarium, the coastline of Monterey Bay (which has a lovely bike path), and Point Lobos State Natural Reserve.

First, a deer family right in the campground.

Sounds good! And welcome! Be sure to post your bird pics (and other nature-related pics) in the "Nature Pics" thread in the "Arden Unmarred" forum.

The hummers are incredibly photogenic, and there are 4 to 8 of them buzzing the back yard all day. They are fearless, coming right up to my face, and easy to photograph. The others birds are more shy. Yesterday was the first day the mourning doves came to my feeder. I see them on the power lines, bu...

And more pics...

The neighborhood "twitter feed" finally got the message out, and I had 10 different species of birds visit my modest spread - a dish full of mixed seeds, a bird bath, and hummingbird feeders. I was able to get in-focus pics of the Anna's hummingbird, Mourning dove, Lesser goldfinch, Golden...

If anything, my book mania has gotten even more unmanageable in the year or so since I wrote that post above. I managed to read over 100 books in 2023, and 110 so far in 2024. I've joined 8 book clubs, which is both enriching (as they are choosing books I wouldn't have chosen) and frustrating (as my...

Our local theater group produced Cabaret recently. The new manager and most of the cast are openly gay. More recently they produced Arsenic and Old Lace, almost entirely cross-dressed. While watching this group's version of Cabaret, it was chilling for me to realize that all of these great actors wo...