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Lily Fairbairn
Valinor
Oct 9 2012, 2:34pm
Views: 276
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The Columbus Day reading thread
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Can't Post
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Yesterday was Columbus Day here in the U.S. of A. You don't hear many people these days saying "Columbus discovered America", thank goodness. I've always been enchanted by an image of several canoes full of Chippewa, for example, landing on a beach in Spain and loudly proclaiming they discovered it 
Along with my usual newspapers, websites, and magazines, I did a bit of comfort reading this week: John Mortimer's Where There's a Will. Yes, this is the author of the Rumpole mystery stories, which I love both in the dramatized and written versions. Except this book is a collection of short essays by Mortimer on his life and the state of the world, in the guise of a will. (He did pass away several years ago, sadly.)
The essays range from Shakespeare to Velasquez to women and children to drinking and writing to the practice of law and the existence of God. He writes so well and so wisely that every paragraph seems to hold an aphorism. For example, from the essay on Political Correctness:
"The fact that words are held in such great awe is no doubt flattering to writers. We are dealing in goods which are thought of as being as deadly as bullets, as destructive as Exocet missiles."
The book is a quick but profound read.
And what of y'all? What have you been reading?
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The Columbus Day reading thread
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Lily Fairbairn
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Oct 9 2012, 2:34pm
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comfort reading as well
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Annael
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Oct 9 2012, 3:41pm
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"Comfort" literally, then!
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Lily Fairbairn
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Oct 9 2012, 4:57pm
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actually
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Annael
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Oct 9 2012, 7:31pm
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I'll definitely have to look for it, then! //
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Lily Fairbairn
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Oct 9 2012, 7:47pm
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Overlords, Assasins & Happily Ever After
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NottaSackville
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Oct 9 2012, 6:44pm
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Oval Evillord! I love it!
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Lily Fairbairn
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Oct 9 2012, 7:46pm
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Imagine if he'd lived & written for another 20-30 years!
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NottaSackville
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Oct 9 2012, 8:29pm
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If audiobooks count, I finally finished listening to "Emma"
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squire
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Oct 10 2012, 2:00am
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Yes, audio books do count!
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Lily Fairbairn
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Oct 10 2012, 1:32pm
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Prunella Scales is an excellent reader/performer...
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Patty
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Oct 10 2012, 1:44pm
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Same for me with P&P.
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Alassëa Eruvande
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Oct 10 2012, 2:32pm
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Ha!
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Alassëa Eruvande
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Oct 10 2012, 2:29pm
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Squire, do you think your students would
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Alassëa Eruvande
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Oct 10 2012, 2:36pm
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I dare say, I feel tempted to treat your offer as kindly as I should your company.
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squire
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Oct 12 2012, 2:03am
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"Mr. Collins was not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society"
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Annael
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Oct 11 2012, 2:54pm
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I really enjoyed Crime and Punishment
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zarabia
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Oct 14 2012, 2:55am
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The Last Plantagenets
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Elberbeth
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Oct 10 2012, 6:29pm
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Haha! Love it!
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zarabia
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Oct 14 2012, 5:58am
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