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In The Beginning...Was The Command Line

Stephenson, Neal
Why Islam hates us, and why you might want to switch to Linux. Very interesting.

Read:

5/2002

Quicksilver

Stephenson, Neal
Started 3/15/04. Looks long... UPDATE: Too long, stopped reading March 2004. 150 pages read, continue at a later date! Reading again 7/2008.

Words I Had To Look Up:

Shawm (pg 84) -- A medieval double-reed musical instrument.

Ricercar (pg. 144) -- A musical composition, instrumental, from the mostly Baroque era.

Zargon (pg. 342) -- Apparantly the argot of Vagabonds, according to the Urban Dictionary.

Qwghimian (pg. 370) -- Language of the fictional islands of Qwghlm.

Sabotage (pg. 444) -- I KNOW what it means, I was interested in the derivation of the word, related to "sabot', a wooden shoe.

Hexen (pg. 458) -- A German verb, "to practice sorcery". So I guess in this case, used as a noun, it practitioners of sorcery.

Obnubilated (pg. 480) -- Unclear, dim, less visible.

Whilom (pg. 562) -- Former; sometime, late, formerly.

Scudding (pg. 613) -- To run or skim along swiftly and easily.

Enconiums (pg. 623) -- Probably a mispeling of "Encomium", glowing and warmly enthusiastic praise.

Conventicles (pg. 629) -- An assembly for religious worship; especially : a secret meeting for worship not sanctioned by law.

Exaltation (pg. 669) -- An excessively intensified sense of well-being, power, or importance.

Exultation (pg. 669) -- The state of being exultant filled with or expressing great joy or triumph.

Antelier (pg. 683) -- A studio or workshop.

Extirpated (pg. 742) -- To destroy completely; to pull up by the root'; to cut out by surgery.

Discursive (pg. 742) -- Marked by analytical reasoning is the best defintion I could figure out here.

Ninehammers (pg. 745) -- Only 14 hits on Google for this word. Maybe a mispelling or "affection" of "ninnyhammers", which means "ninny", and that would seem to fit.

Spanish Netherlands -- Pretty much what is sounds like, now I know where it is.

Ganymede (]g. 826) -- Not just a moon, he was a Trojan prince kidnapped by Zeus to be his lover. Hera hated him.

Lambent sky (pg. 863) -- Softly bright or radiant.

Parlous (pg. 877) -- Full of danger or risk.

Enfeoffed (pg. 891) -- To invest with a fief or fee

Quote:

...Pepys core of librarian-mercenaries... (pg. 909)

Read:

8/2008

Reamde

Stephenson, Neal
Just over a thousand pages of thriller action!

Best Quote::

The GPS unit became almost equally obstreperous, though, over Richard’s unauthorized route change, until they finally passed over some invisible cybernetic watershed between two possible ways of getting to their destination, and it changed its fickle little mind and began calmly telling him which way to proceed as if this had been its idea all along.--I copied the quote from another source, so I don't have the page number. It's a VERY popular quote!

Read:

4/2012

SEVENEVES

Stephenson, Neal
Pretty, certainly easier to absorb than that darn Cryptonomicon that I finished a couple of weeks ago! I didn't get the title until the author hit me over the head with it, in the 600s, page-wise. I spilled coffee all over my borrowed copy and so bought a new copy to replace it. Thirty-five bucks hardcover! Yikes!

Read:

8/2015

Snow Crash

Stephenson, Neal
Virus crashes programmer's brains! Great story, loved Fido! I am so impressed by this guy's writing. He writes what I would if I had any brains and wasn't a lazy bum! 440 p.

Read:

9/2001

Read:

4/2011

The Diamond Age, Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer

Stephenson, Neal
An fascinating story of a little girl named Nell and her book. 455 p.

Read:

9/2001

Zodiac, The Eco-Thriller

Stephenson, Neal
Boston harbor is full of toxins and Sangamon Taylor is going after the culprits. Very good! 283 p.

QUOTE:

When I got back, bacon was smoldering on the range, filling the house with gas-phase polycyclic aromatics--my favorite carcinogen by a long shot.

Read:

9/2001

The Death And Life Of Superman

Stern, Roger
A rather long (527 page) story with way too much fighting. I did not like all the tedious battles, and I thought the various Supermen confusing. It was depressing to see Supergirl under Lex Luther's thumb, but there was hope she would eventually see through his shenanigans. I have not kept up with the Superman saga; this book clashes with what I remember, and of course the movies and television series do not follow the storyline as laid out in this book. I guess I will try to forget I ever read this.

Words I Had To Look Up:

J'onn J'onzz (pg. 66) I had to Wikilook™ to refresh my memory. He was in Detective Comics, one of my favorites, back in the day.
proscenium (pg. 93) -- The part of a modern stage in front of the curtain.
woods colt pg. 261) -- A child born out of wedlock.

Quote:

"They're not dead until they're warm and dead!" (pg.525)

I ran across this sentiment before, but I forget where.

Read:

3/2009

The Mysterious Benedict Society

Stewart, Trenton Lee
Four kids save the world from an evil genius. Pretty good stuff, with some good puzzles that I thought I got, but didn't, just like some of the characters in the book. Never did figure out the final puzzle, though.

Read:

2/2008

The Mysterious Benedict Society And The Prisoner's Dilemma

Stewart, Trenton Lee
The third book has the group in an exciting adventure when Mr. Curtain attacks Mr. Benedict's house and steals away the Whisperer.

Quote:

..."it was on that very day that the brutes showed up and threatened the librarians. Who told them nothing, incidentally."
..."You'd think these would learn their lesson--librarians know how to keep quiet."
"It helps to ask politely," said Mr. Benedict

Read:

10/2010

The Help

Stockett, Kathryn
Novel about 60s women in Mississippi and the women who work for them. Might make a good movie!

Words I Had To Look Up:

degustationary (pg. 214) -- The action or an instance of tasting especially in a series of small portions

Quote:

"Who are these Fedders, anyway?" Mother asks. "Where are their people from?" -- pg 324

Read:

2/2012

American Nomads

Stowell, Emily
A novelized biography of the author's family coming to America and eventually settling in Oregon. Vanity published, I guess, the printing was poorly done in the beginning, and there are some editing problems, but after getting past the Dutch ancestors (WHY do they keep using the same names for everyone??) I became engaged with the story, and even teared up a bit at points. Still looking for that Huntington family chart, though!

Read:

1/2019

The Water Wars

Stracher, Cameron
It is just one darn thing after another when Vera and brother Will go to rescue their friend Kai. I liked the first half of the book more than the second.

Read:

4/2013

Made To Order: Robots And Revolution.

Strahan, Jonathan
Edited by Jonathan Strahan.

Almost all good to great stories. Fairy Tales For Robots...well, I quite reading it some thirty pages in, it just didn't work for me.

Quote:

also your display name literally has the word "killer" in it but i don't want to make any narrow-minded assumptions at the point -- From A Guide For Working Breeds which I just adored.

Quote:

"You are, I think, running a level two-point...six, is it?"
"Two-point-eight," Ruby said.
"Well, then. Two-point-eight. How marvelous for you.'" -- From Polished Performance, which was very fun.

Quote:

Countess Mavrille's breath fogged the glass. She frowned for an instant, then used her sleeve to buff it away. -- What a super ending, to Polished Performance!!!

Read:

11/2024

The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year, Volume Eleven

Strahan, Jonathan
Edited by Jonathan Strahan.

Quote:

That is one singularly unattractive piece of anatomy. That is just... that is bad design, is what that is." -- From a story by Joe Abercrombie, "Two's Company"

Quote:

Everything smelled hard and sharp, as though we lingered dangerously close to the boundary between always and never.

Read:

1/2025

The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year, Volume Thirteen

Strahan, Jonathan
CONTENTS:

“Mother Tongues”, S. Qiouyi Lu
“Olivia’s Table”, Alyssa Wong
“The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington”, P Djeli Clark
“Yard Dog”, Tade Thompson
“The Woman Who Destroyed Us”, SL Huang
“The Blue Fairy’s Manifesto”, Annalee Newitz
“The Starship and the Temple Cat”, Yoon Ha Lee
“A Brief and Fearful Star”, Carmen Maria Machado
*“Field Biology of the Wee Fairies”, Naomi Kritzer
“Intervention”, Kelly Robson (Infinity’s End)
“The Bookcase Expedition”, Jeffrey Ford
“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies”, Alix E.
“The Staff in the Stone”, Garth Nix
“Okay, Glory”, Elizabeth Bear
“Widdam”, Vandana Singh
“Dreadful Young Ladies”, Kelly Barnhill
“The Only Harmless Great Thing”, Brooke Bolander
*“The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society”, T.
“When We Were Starless”, Simone Heller
“If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again”, Zen Cho
“Blessings”, Naomi Novik
“Meat and Salt and Sparks”, Rich Larson
“Nine Last Days on Planet Earth”, Daryl Gregory
“Golgotha “, Dave Hutchinson
“Flint and Mirror”, John Crowley
“An Agent of Utopia”, Andy Duncan
“You Pretend Like You Never Met Me, and I’ll Pretend Like I Never Met You”, Maria Dahvana Headley
“Quality Time”, Ken Liu
“The Storyteller’s Replacement”, N K Jemisin
“Firelight”, Ursula K Le Guin

*Stories I really loved!!

Quote:

There have only ever been two kinds of librarians in the world: the prudish, bitter ones...; and witches. -- From "A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies"

Quote:

"That sheep gets lost a lot," muttered a third one. -- From "The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society"

Quote:

"All the rocks remind me of her." -- From "The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society"

Quote:

Southern Silence. -- “Nine Last Days on Planet Earth”

Read:

1/2025

The Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Of The Year, Volume Twelve

Strahan, Jonathan
Contents:
“The Mocking Tower”, Daniel Abraham
“Don’t Press Charges and I Won’t Sue”, Charlie Jane Anders
“Probably Still the Chosen One”, Kelly Barnhill
“My English Name”, R. S. Benedict
“Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance”, Tobias Buckell
“Though She Be But Little”, C.S.E. Cooney
“The Moon is Not a Battlefield”, Indrapramit Das
“The Hermit of Houston”, Samuel R. Delany
“The Discrete Charm of the Turing Machine”, Greg Egan
“Crispin’s Model”, Max Gladstone
“Come See the Living Dryad”, Theodora Goss
“Bring Your Own Spoon”, Saad Z. Hossain
“Babylon”, Dave Hutchison
“The Faerie Tree”, Kathleen Kayembe
“Fairy Tale of Wood Street”, Caitlin R Kiernan
“The Worshipful Society of Glovers”, Mary Robinette Kowal
“An Evening with Severyn Grimes”, Rich Larson
“The Chameleon’s Gloves”, Yoon Ha Lee
“The Smoke of Gold is Glory”, Scott Lynch
“Sidewalks”, Maureen McHugh
“Concessions”, Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali
“The Martian Obelisk”, Linda Nagata
“The Secret Life of Bots”, Suzanne Palmer
“A Series of Steaks”, Vina Jie-Min Prasad
“Belladonna Nights”, Alastair Reynolds
“Eminence”, Karl Schroeder
“The Lamentation of their Women”, Kai Ashante Wilson
“Confessions of a Con Girl”, Nick Wolven
“Carnival Nine”, Caroline M. Yoachim

Quote:

"Well then," Corrina said. -- Probably Still The Chosen One

Quote:

Zero-gravity puke was a truly terrible thing. -- The Secret Life Of Bots

Quote:

Magic does from time to time so boil one's piss. -- The Smoke Of Gold Is Glory

Quote:

"God, this is a good way to die," he said. -- Bring Your Own Spoon

Read:

4/2024

A Girl Of The Limberlost

Stratton-Porter, Gene
Elora lives near a big swamp/forest in Indiana and collect moths First published in 1909, this 2013 eBook. Pretty much a classic.

Read:

1/2023

Freckles

Stratton-Porter, Gene
This book takes place before A Girl Of The Limberlost, and concerns Freckles and the Swamp Angel. Pretty good, if effusive.

Read:

1/2023

That's me all over, Mable

Streeter, Edward
Fun read of fictional letters to home from a soldier in the U.S. Army during World War I. A few objectionable racist terms appear, sadly. I read the Project Gutenberg e-book version.

Read:

7/2022
20 books displayed
[Abadzis - Aiken] [Aiken - Alexie] [Allinghamc - Andreae] [Angelou - Asimov] [Atkins - Backman] [Backman - Ballard] [Balliett - Barnard] [Barnard - Barnes] [Barnes - Barr] [Barr - Beanton] [Beanton - Beaton] [Beaton - Beaton] [Beaton - Benrey] [Berendt - Block] [Block - Block] [Block - Bonham] [Bonham - Box] [Box - Brooks] [Brown - Buckley] [Buckley - Bujold] [Bujold - Cameron] [Cameron - Card] [Card - Carson] [Carter - Chambers] [Chandler - Clancy] [Clancy - Coakley] [Coben - Cohen] [Cole - Collins] [Collins - Combat] [Conklin - Connelly] [Connelly - Constantine] [Cook - Corey] [Corey - Cottrell] [Craig - Crais] [Crais - Croke] [Crombie - Cussler] [Cussler - Dashner] [Dashner - Dexter] [DiCamillo - Doctorow] [Doctorow - Dorsey] [Dorsey - Drake] [Drake - Durham] [Ecke - Emerson] [Emerson - Evans] [Evarts - Farley] [Farmer - Fitzgerald] [Fitzhugh - Fletcher] [Flinn - Forster] [Foster - Francis] [Francis - Francis] [Francis - Francis] [Francis - Funke] [Funke - Gantos] [Garcia - Gibson] [Gidwitz - Gores] [Gores - Granger] [Granger - Green] [Greenbaum - Grimes] [Grimes - Grisham] [Grisham - Haddix] [Haddix - Hall] [Hall - Hallinan] [Hallinan - Harte] [Hartwell - Heinlein] [Heinlein - Heley] [Heley - Henry] [Henry - Hess] [Hess - Hiaasen] [Hiaasen - Hines] [Hines - Holm] [Holm - Hosseini.] [Hough - Ibbotson] [Ibbotson - Jerome] [Jerome - Kaaberbøl] [Kabak - Kaminsky] [Kaminsky - Kidder] [Kienzle - Kingsolver] [Kingsolver - Konrath] [Konrath - Kurland] [Kurson - Larsson] [Larsson - Leckie] [Leckie - Leon] [Leonard - Levine] [Lewis - Lippman] [Lisle - Lowry] [Lowry - Lynch] [Lynch - Magary] [Magnuson - Marcinko] [Marcinko - Mass] [Mass - McBain] [McBain - McCrumb] [McCrumb - McGuire] [McInerny - Meyer] [Michaelides - Moody] [Moody - Moore] [Moore - Muir] [Mull - Nicholson] [Nicholson - Norton] [Norton - O'Brian] [O'Brian - O'Connell] [O'Conner - Otto] [Owens - Paretsky] [Paretsky - Parker] [Parker - Parker] [Parker - Patterson] [Patterson - Paulsen] [Paulsen - Pennac] [Penney - Pickard] [Picoult - Powell] [Poyer - Poyer] [Poyer - Pratchett] [Pratchett - Pronzini] [Pronzini - Pullman] [Pullman - Quinn] [Quinn - Reeve] [Reeves - Ringo] [Ringo - Robinson] [Robinson - Rowling] [Rowling - Russo] [Rust - Scalzi] [Scalzi - Scattergood] [Schatzing - Scott] [Scott - Selznick] [Selznick - Shulman] [Shusterman - Sloan] [Sloan - Sontag] [Soto - Stark] [Stark - Stephenson] [Stephenson - Streeter] [Strieber - Stroud] [Stroud - Tapply] [Tapply - Toltz] [Tomlinson - Turtledove] [Turtledove - Van Draanen] [Van Draanen - Von Doviak] [Waldman - Weber] [Weber - Weir] [Weir - West] [Westerfeld - Westlake] [Westlake - Wiles] [Wiles - Wodehouse] [Wodehouse - Woods] [Wouk - Zevin] [Zevin - Zusak] 

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