@riggbeck@mastodon.social
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riggbeck

@[email protected]

Ceci n'est pas un ours.

Jusqu'ici tout va bien.

I also hang out at:
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riggbeck, to bookstodon French
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@bookstodon

While you're reading your Kindle, it's reading you back. And:

"For those who prefer to purchase books from brick-and-mortar stores, tracking reading on book social site Goodreads, which is owned by Amazon, will put you back into the tech giant’s purview."

The article is from 2020, so I imagine the enshittification will be even worse by now, as AI use increases.

This is just one of the reasons I only read print books and don't use sites like Goodreads.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/feb/03/amazon-kindle-data-reading-tracking-privacy

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@Jennifer @bookstodon

Do you know if the Nook or the Onyx Boox is doing the same as Amazon? I'd be surprised if they weren't.

CelloMomOnCars, to random
@CelloMomOnCars@mastodon.social avatar

leases can and should bring revenue to states

"At the heart of the act is a provision to send 37.5 percent of the revenue from any offshore wind development in federal waters to states adjacent to the project. That would be a change from current federal law, which — unlike offshore oil — requires offshore wind lease revenue generated in federal waters to be sent to the U.S. Treasury."

https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/4347465-offshore-wind-leases-can-and-should-bring-revenue-to-states/

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@CelloMomOnCars

I've never understood why people think wind turbines are ugly. To me, they have aerodynamic grace and elegance that's entirely lacking in electricity pylons, which most people have stopped noticing.

CultureDesk, to bookstodon
@CultureDesk@flipboard.social avatar

Staff make the call when it comes to deciding what's age-appropriate at their libraries. In Idaho, an organization called Parents Against Bad Books claims parents should have a say, while in Washington State, a proposal would require libraries to use a system like the one used by the movie industry, and in Florida, there's a formal challenge process under the "Don't Say Gay" law. NPR breaks down the situation.

https://flip.it/z-60GL

@bookstodon

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@CultureDesk @bookstodon

Parents shouldn't be allowed to weigh in on whether a book is age-appropriate. Their views are subjective, and those most concerned usually come from the RW Christian side of politics. But wherever they're coming from, no parents should be allowed to decide what other people can read. That's just giving in to creeping censorship.

dailymedievalcats, to medievodons German
@dailymedievalcats@troet.cafe avatar

Nuncat.

Ms: State Library Victoria, 096 R66HF, f. 99r (15th c.). @medievodons @histodons

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@dailymedievalcats @medievodons @histodons

So that's where they got the idea from in Doctor Who.

dailymedievalcats, to medievodons German
@dailymedievalcats@troet.cafe avatar

“Here is nothing missing, but a cat urinated on this during a certain night. Cursed be the pesty cat […].And beware well not to leave open books at night where cats can come.”.

Ms: Cologne, Historisches Archiv, G.B. quarto, 249, f. 68r (15th c.). #medievalcat #medieval @medievodons

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@dailymedievalcats @medievodons

I love how cats have left their mark on history.

ChrisMayLA6, to bookstodon
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

Meanwhile in #Paris..... having been subjected to a #bedbug infestation & a #sewage problem in the #Seine, now the #Olympics organisers are picking a fight with Paris' riverside #book stalls that they want to absent themselves from the banks while the opening ceremony as their stock boxes are apparently a security risk...

How this will play out for the Paris mayor & Olympics management remains to be seen

@bookstodon

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@ChrisMayLA6 @bookstodon

The Olympics are like a vampire sucking the life out of any city foolish enough to let them in. Or perhaps that flying city in Gulliver's Travels that raids the countryside beneath it for supplies.

riggbeck, to bookstodon French
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

You wouldn't get Michael Mcintyre writing an evocative introduction to such a tasty-sounding book as this. I also remember being fascinated by Mysterious Britain, one of the books Stewart Lee mentions. "Calves of iron" might be a useful goal.

@bookstodon

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2023/oct/28/in-search-of-strange-and-sacred-sites-the-uks-weirdest-walks

riggbeck, to bookstodon French
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

I wonder why it's the dross, like Dan Brown novels, that end up on Oxfam's shelves. Most of the time, in my small town, it's middle-of-the-road bland, shading into the utterly unreadable.

I know Oxfam have good, interesting donations because staff in the past have let me into the Inner Sanctum. Usually I'd leave with handfuls of books of the sort that somehow never get onto the shelves.

The new manager forbids this, but what happens to the good books?

@bookstodon

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/oct/26/david-shrigley-turns-da-vinci-code-novels-nineteen-eighty-four

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@Five

As the saying goes, "tough shit."

weebdeluxe, to bookstodon
@weebdeluxe@urusai.social avatar

The second book on my September TBR was Stephen King's Pet Sematary.

I plan on reading all of Stephen King's books at some point, but Pet Sematary was very high on my To-Do-List, as its reputation was really good. Let's say I was not disappointed: The pacing was great, the writing style grabbed me even though it was quite dense for my taste. Never lost the plot or sight of the characters, which is always a huge danger with me. I even enjoyed the ending, which is not a given with King. A four star book for me, happy to have read this!

#amreading #books #bookstodon #stephenking #petsematary @bookstodon

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@yon @bookstodon @weebdeluxe

I think Apt Pupil is disturbing because it's a real, rather than an invented, horror. You can see it happening in the resurgence of the extreme right. The film was excellent as well.

DocCarms, to bookstodon
@DocCarms@mstdn.social avatar

There was a poll that stated—Rowling’s opening line in the HP series is one of best in the world. Someone posted about how there are a bunch of other opening statements that are better.

Here’s one of my personal favorites, from Gabriel Garcia Marquez (English translated):
“It is inevitable. The scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.”

What are some of your favorite opening lines in literature? 😊
@bookstodon

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@DocCarms @bookstodon

When the bank blew up, I had just got to the part in "Old Macdonald Had a Farm" where it was Oink Oink here and an Oink Oink there (it's easier to grunt on a mouth-harp than do most anything else, so I was stretching it out a little to make up for spoiling it later on when the Gobble Gobbles commenced), and at first I thought I'd busted my eardrums from blowing too hard.
-Tracker, by David Wagoner

The most perfect opening line and run-on sentence in the world.

Gargron, to random
@Gargron@mastodon.social avatar

Somebody made a cover of Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush in Early Middle English.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHspDQZKvwg

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@Gargron

Superb. It's actually the first time I've listened properly to that song, apart from hearing snippets as background noise.

sinabhfuil, to bookstodon
@sinabhfuil@mastodon.ie avatar

Paul Lynch's nightmare "Prophet Song" is set in a Dublin, but it's a universalised Dublin: shoppers are running across Camac Bridge while a sniper targets them from a tower in Dolphin's Barn flats… he's taken the horrors of Sarajevo and Argentina and Iraq, and applied them to the most bourgeois-centred city in the world @bookstodon

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@sinabhfuil @bookstodon

One way to boost support for would be to produce a documentary showing the daily horrors they have face, but set in London, Paris or Washington.

Sometimes people need a good shove to make that imaginative leap.

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@sinabhfuil @bookstodon

I just read the Guardian review. This might be one of the rare occasions when I buy a new book. Normally, they're from a charity shop.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/aug/31/prophet-song-by-paul-lynch-review-ireland-under-fascism

riggbeck, to bookstodon French
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

Another find at the Community Shop this morning. Frankie Boyle's autobiography, My Shit Life So Far. A quick dip tells me he offends just about everybody, so that's all right then.

@bookstodon

image/jpeg

riggbeck, to bookstodon French
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

At the Community Shop this morning and found an uncensored version of The BFG, by Roald Dahl. It's my mission to get the full set of his books from charity shops.

You know how people sometimes opened their bibles at random to find particularly aposite quotes for their lives? I did it with The BFG and came up with this (page 43).

"This is a sizzling-hot muckfrumping country we is living in. Nothing grows in it except snozzcumbers."

Spot on.

@bookstodon

image/jpeg

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@suz @bookstodon

I never read it, and only recently saw the film, which made me want to read the book.

deborahh, to libraries
@deborahh@mstdn.ca avatar

Microfilm degrading? Yikes! :-(

"From the 1950s through the early 1990s, most film was cellulose acetate-based and known as "safety film," because it replaced the highly unstable and flammable nitrate film widely used before it.

But in the years since, libraries, archives and collectors have discovered "safety film" actually poses a huge threat to film-based archives and collections because it eventually breaks down. "

#history #libraries #librarydon @libraries
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/vinegar-syndrome-acetate-film-1.6939032

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@deborahh @libraries

So that old scifi trope where they discover the millennia-old archives of an ancient galactic civilization isn't feasible?

I'm disappointed.

dailymedievaldeath, to medievodons German
@dailymedievaldeath@troet.cafe avatar

#otd 1131 died Balduin II, king of Jerusalem. Depicted here as a double miniature, above the death of Bladuin, below the coronation of his successor Fulk. #medievaldeath #medieval @medievodons

Ms: Lyon, BM, 0828 (0732), f. 147v

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@dailymedievaldeath @medievodons

I like the contrasting sad/happy expressions.

Private
riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@ExcessivelyDiverting @bookstodon

In any adaptation, I look for how they portray Mr Collins. David Bamber played him to oleaginous perfection in the 1995 version. The other actors were pretty good as well. Credit where it's due.

Private
riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@lunalein @bookstodon

The whole idea of 'bestsellers' in general is suspect. There's no guarantee that they're good, just that a lot of people bought them. Don't forget that Dan Brown is a bestselling author.

It's perverse to use the label as a selling point, yet many see it as a kitemark of reading quality. The 'best' you can say about them is that publishers have calculated they'll appeal to the lowest common denominator of readers.

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@SusanHR @lunalein @bookstodon

I'm just pointing out a reality. I enjoy a lot of popular things that aren't technically or artistically very good. It's part of their charm, and sometimes there's an honesty to it.

Books are a different matter. If I'm going to invest a large chunk of time, I want them to be good.

@lunalein 'Cool' is overrated. At worst, it's following the herd, another idea like 'bestseller'. I'm well beyond the need to worship that particular god.

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@lunalein @SusanHR @bookstodon

Ok, but there's nothing inherently wrong with criticism. Otherwise we'd all be blandly agreeing with each other and that would be very boring indeed.

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@DarkMatterZine @SusanHR @lunalein @bookstodon

I haven't seen La La Land or Birdman so I can't comment. Loved Everything Everywhere All At Once. Did you see it in a cinema? It helps when all that stuff is rushing at you from a big screen.

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@robparsons @lunalein @bookstodon

I find Agatha Christie's novels unreadable. Her characters are a cast of stereotypes in a hermetically sealed class bubble. Dorothy L. Sayers is much better, for all that Lord Peter Wimsey is a toff. At least he interacts sympathetically with a wide range of people. And the novels with Harriet Vane are superb.

I've never been interested in detective novels as whodunnits. It's always the characters who attract me.

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@johnettesnuggs @robparsons @lunalein @bookstodon

Sounds intriguing. I don't read much detective fiction, but I did read every Conan Doyle story in order. Forgotten most of them now.

And I enjoyed Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mysteries. The novelist becomes an occasional detective where her biography permits. Barron is quite good at writing Regency language.

benkaden, to random German
@benkaden@berlin.social avatar

"I once read that buying books represents the illusion of buying the time needed to read them. That sounds about right."

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-07-25/books-declining-sales-print-digital-hoarding?fbclid=IwAR1h_BaQghRsWqkFCyL2e8Iw4OGiMoAETvbQ3p6UbYSyRwVLwAi7Jn49iKQ

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@benkaden

I share the author's love of real books and have never succumbed to the Kindle cult. The statistics seem to be about new book sales, so I'm curious about about sales of used books, which are the main source of my supply.

If you buy print editions, which do you buy the most?

@bookstondon

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@benkaden @bookstondon

I just want to say that I'm very disappointed in 6.96 of you. The other 5.04 people clearly have their heads screwed on right.

riggbeck, to bookstodon French
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@bookstodon

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@kolya @bookstodon

Does a quote have to be from a book? I've always liked it. Here's the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=013zp1Ry4qA

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@kolya @bookstodon

Nonsense. The quote says everything I wanted to say about the technocratic capture of reading, so I used it.

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@kolya @bookstodon

While I'm pleased you're taking my spur of the moment meme so seriously, I think you're overthinking it. Though it's better than I first thought. There's a fairy tale quality to to the quote ("once upon a time") and there are animals. The yellow lettering suggests a lion's colouring. I like it more and more.

But you must be aware that it was a @bookstodon provocation? Poking a stick at the Kindle crowd. But if it encourages children to read real books, I'd be very happy.

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@templetongate @bookstodon

I enjoy my provocations. It's been a while since anyone took this bait.

bibliolater, to bookstodon
@bibliolater@qoto.org avatar

When you need to understand and retain important #information that you have #read, do you use an #electronic #book or a traditional paper #book for the purpose?

#Books #Ebook #Ebooks #Bookstodon #Reading #AmReading #Question @bookstodon

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@picard @bibliolater @jarulf @bookstodon

There's also a difference in how you approach the task. Writing with pen and paper is physically demanding and unforgiving of mistakes. Editing is a pain in the arse. So it's better to have a good idea of what you're going to write, which implies a thorough understanding of the ideas behind it.

But with a computer, you can do a brain dump and it's easy to edit afterwards. Less preparation, less thinking, is required. It's not an improvement.

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@bibliolater @picard @jarulf @bookstodon

I think it depends on what you want to read. 'Content creators' will always produce shallow, ephemeral stuff because that's what their market demands. Most of it is a waste of time.

I prefer writers steeped in the knowledge of their subject, because that's where the insight comes from. How they get it written is up to them.

As to your original question, it's probably a matter of preference, though I prefer real books. Knowledge should have weight.

phistorians, to histodons
@phistorians@kolektiva.social avatar

A youth holds a snake in their left hand and reaches towards another with their right. It’s not clear whether the snake to the right is biting the youth or the youth is holding the snake by the jaw…

📍Syria or Lebanon, C5th CE
🏛 The Louvre

@histodons @antiquidons

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@phistorians @histodons @antiquidons

Early Christians?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwBVcsWYJd8

EU_Commission, to random
@EU_Commission@social.network.europa.eu avatar

🚄 What if you could travel through the EU for a month for free?

This year we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Single Market, which allows us to enjoy free movement of goods, capital, services and people across the .

That’s why we are giving away 10 prizes of two rail passes to explore Europe’s rich cultural heritage for a month.

Take our quiz by 12 July 23:59 to be in with a chance to win! → https://owpwy6j9xu5.typeform.com/to/fPVlln1o

riggbeck,
@riggbeck@mastodon.social avatar

@EU_Commission

I will never forgive the for destroying our freedom in Europe.

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