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The Sign of Four
The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle Published: 1890 This is the second of four Sherlock Holmes novels. The only one I’d read previously was the third, The Hound of the Baskervilles, so it appears I’ll be reading these in the most bizarre order I can manage. This does make a few references to A Study in Scarlet, I believe, but it doesn’t seem like the order in the series matters all that much. After annually receiving a mysterious and incredibly valuable pearl in the mail for the past six years, Mary Morstan was delivered a letter asking her to finally meet the unknown sender. He had some information…
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Address to the Haggis
Happy Burns Night, everyone! I hope you enjoyed some haggis. Here’s Robbie Burns’ ode tae the great chieftain o’ the pudding-race. There’s a translation on Wikipedia. Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o’ the pudding-race! Aboon them a’ yet tak your place, Painch, tripe, or thairm: Weel are ye wordy o’a grace As lang’s my arm. The groaning trencher there ye fill, Your hurdies like a distant hill, Your pin was help to mend a mill In time o’need, While thro’ your pores the dews distil Like amber bead. His knife see rustic Labour dight, An’ cut you up wi’ ready sleight, Trenching your gushing entrails bright, Like…
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Annihilate a Whole Culture
I’m listening to Nineteen Eighty-Four right now. I read the first half in high school, and it’s been haunting me ever since as an unfinished read. My memory is of a book filled with big ideas, but it’s also wonderfully written. The girl with dark hair was coming towards them across the field. With what seemed a single movement she tore off her clothes and flung them disdainfully aside. Her body was white and smooth, but it aroused no desire in him, indeed he barely looked at it. What overwhelmed him in that instant was admiration for the gesture with which she had thrown her clothes aside. With its grace…
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Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World
Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World (audio) by Dalai Lama XIV Published: 2011 Narrator: Martin Sheen I really like the Dalai Lama. I never thought I would, to be honest, but the more I read from him the more I see he’s someone with a real grounding in reality and science. I suppose my vision of him has been skewed somewhat by middle-class, new-agey white folk selling cancer-healing crystals at $60 a pop, but there’s definitely sincerity and real intelligence behind his advice. […] as the peoples of the world become ever more closely interconnected in an age of globalization and in multicultural societies, ethics based in any one…
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Hogfather (Discworld #20)
Hogfather by Terry Pratchett Published: 1996 This is the 20th Discworld novel, and in it the Hogfather has gone missing. It’s absolutely imperative that the children get their presents on Hogswatch morning, so Death takes up the mantle (or in this case, the red and white suit stuffed with a pillow). The fate of the Discworld may depend on him. I always forget how much I love Terry Pratchett, and then I finally get around to reading another of his books, and I LOVE TERRY PRATCHETT. I thought I only read the beginning of Hogfather in high school, but about 200 pages in I finally realized I’d already read the…
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The Little Lies
Death explains to his granddaughter, Susan, why belief is important in Discworld. “All right,” said Susan. “I’m not stupid. You’re saying that humans need … fantasies to make life bearable.” Really? As if it was some kind of pink pill? No. Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape. “Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little —” Yes. As practice. You have to start out learning to believe the little lies. “So we can believe the big ones?” Yes. Justice. Mercy. Duty. That sort of thing. “They’re not the same at all!” You think so? Then take the universe and grind it down…
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A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Published: 1843 Narration: Tim Curry I expected to read a lot during the holidays. I was visiting my hometown, where I only really keep in touch with one friend, and I figured I’d be able to blast through quite a few books during my downtime, considering all of my time would be down. Unfortunately, I become obsessed with achieving Steam holiday objectives and barely read at all. I did get through a couple of books, though, and A Christmas Carol was one of them. I grew up watching the Alastair Sim version of A Christmas Carol nearly every year with my dad. It’s the…