Weekly Reading Report 1/6/25

[@michaelcentola4998]

Inspired by you (or more likely due to the way too many books i own!) I've started the 100 book challenge. And for a bit of fun, I'm doing a A-Z read. One sci-fi with a title starting with A, then one 'other' starting with A. Two per letter. On my second C. Just some silly reading fun! Good luck on your 500!

[@still-reading]

I know you didn't love moving this to Mondays, but it's lovely to have something to look forward to every Monday in 2025! So, thank you for that.

[@PhilipBaltimore-xi7du]

Umberto Eco, who owned 50,000 books, had this to say about home libraries: "It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones. "There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion. "If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the 'medicine closet' and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That's why you should always have a nutrition choice! "Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good. Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity."

[@bigaldoesbooktube1097]

Sounds like a very solid page count this week 💪

[@TheMikester307]

I still love "The Color Out of Space," a story I first read about 1988! A truly alien extraterrestrial! Oh, and editor Harry Bates wrote a bunch of pulpy stories and a masterpiece called "Farewell To The Master." This was the basis for "The Day the Earth Stood Still," although the ending is markedly different from the original story.

[@JeffMPalermo]

Ahh invisible death! They sure don’t name them like they used to … That Lovecraft set is beautiful.

[@nunyabizness6595]

Varney is the least menacing vampire name i have ever heard. 😂😂😂

[@Yesica1993]

It's always wild to try to imagine a time and a reality when things like planes and even cars were something from "the future." But then... I remember the pre-internet days. So there's that.

[@rondemkiw4492]

Harry Bates wrote FAREWELL TO THE MASTER, which has been filmed as THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Victor Rousseau wrote THE MESSIAH OF THE CYLINDER, which might have been an inspiration for 1984. Vogt's VOYAGE OF THE SPACE BEAGLE is considered to be the source for ALIEN.

[@AmalijaKomar]

Was kind of gloomy before this video. I'm not anymore. Thanks, Michael .

[@GrammaticusBooks]

Great stuff and long live Ambuary!

[@davebrzeski]

Voyage of the Space Beagle... The Ixtl. Had the crew of the Nostromo in the Alien movie come across this basis for the xenomorph, they'd have been in much more trouble!

[@starstriker1881]

I would ocassionally read old Weird Tales magazines from Project Gutenberg. At times just to enjoy reading old ads and the campy taglines

[@w.adammandelbaum1805]

If Harry Bates wrote Farewell to the Master...you figure out what could have happened; the listing could have been, Farewell to the Master, Bates, Harry.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

@@w.adammandelbaum1805 😫

[@Klarkash-Ton]

Robert Price went back to the Whisperer in Darkness manuscript in the late 90’s and restored most of the first draft. It makes for a slightly cleaner and more convincing story in some ways than the final draft. Worth tracking down, it’s called The Vermont Horror.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

@@Klarkash-Ton interesting

[@Klarkash-Ton]

@ it's in The Crypt of Cthulhu #101. Not terribly tough to track down if you ever get the hankering. Or I'd be happy to send you a copy if you don't want to upend the ol' 500 challenges. I've got a few of them.

[@dalehoustman4737]

Do you know that the Justice League story you’re reading (JLA #3) actually continues in an Adam Strange story in “Mystery in Space” #75? “Mystery in Space” was one of my absolute favorite comics when I was knee high to a tardigrade, and this two-part story was super fun.

[@ericcasagrande]

Happy New Year to you and Roger (and your wife.)

[@chefeddie6164]

All the old ads are cool to check out. Did you know Listerine was originally sold as a treatment for Athlete's foot? Then someone decided to drink it, I guess. You can learn a lot from the old pulp magazines. 😁

[@Yesica1993]

That's too funny!

[@w.adammandelbaum1805]

That was in case the athlete put his foot in his mouth.

[@Unpotted]

There’s so much more. According to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History: Listerine, now a product of Pfizer Inc., is a common household item known for its antiseptic properties. While used today primarily as a mouthwash for oral health and hygiene, it has been sold as a surgical disinfectant, a cure for dandruff, a floor cleaner, a hair tonic, a deodorant, and as a "beneficial remedy" for diseases ranging from diphtheria and dysentery to small pox and gonorrhea. Such a multipurpose product! 😺✌️

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

@@Unpotted I used it as a hair tonic and now look at me!

[@Unpotted]

@@michaelk.vaughan8617 😝

[@AndrewBuckleBookReviews]

Loved those early Astoundings, for the stories as well as the adverts etc. Bought a few early SF mags but only got one Astounding and it is one of the best with early Asimov and the classic Black Destroyer AE Van Vogt story If you told people that the Earth moved around the sun back in the 1400s, you'd probably be on a pyre somewhere, probably best to keep quiet about that one

[@MarkJunk]

Where did you get the Astounding Stories for the tablet?

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

@@MarkJunk I plead the fifth 😶

[@MarkJunk]

Duly accepted 😂

[@Morfeusm]

@@MarkJunk going to guess it’s the same place Belit is from 😂

[@warrengilson1835]

Looks like Australian stocks of the first DC finest titles are selling out nicely. I had to try three outlets before finding low stocks of Flash and Superman. Meanwhile, at the Beach Shack of Retirement I finished: For my ‘Read every Classic in Chronological Order’ Challenge: #397 ‘Pamela’ by Samuel Richardson (1740)

[@redwawst3258]

😊

[@tbritz13]

There was a (sort of) Justice League in the Golden Age, They were called The Justice Society.

[@ThisJustInBookTube]

It’s been so long since I’ve read Lovecraft, I should pick him up again. Not this year though. I’ve committed myself to reading all of Tolkien’s work in 2025. That should keep me busy enough.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

@@ThisJustInBookTube all of Tolkien! Yeah, you will be busy!

[@fredflintstone1485]

When is Roger gonna do his own videos ? He'd be a natural for Horror

[@nunyabizness6595]

Astounding, Analog, Galaxy, If, Asimovs, F&SF. Great sf mags. Not sure what exists now.

[@slothrob]

Analog, F&SF, and Asimov's are still around, but down to 6 issues a year and struggling to sell. I used to subscribe a couple of those digitally, but Amazon stopped selling digital subscriptions and requires you to pay for Kindle Unlimited to access them.

[@charliedogg7683]

Roger doesn't need that get-rich-quick book, as an accomplished alchemist he has everything he needs to transform base metals into gold except..... Now where did he put that quart bottle of fresh blood? Van Vogt's "The Voyage Of The Space Beagle" was not what I expected when I first read it decades ago (I imagined a single main character doing a Charles Darwin and collecting specimens of previously unknown flora and fauna). But that did not lessen my enjoyment of the book.

[@devildriverrule111]

I sorta find it hilarious that it seems like your enthusiasm for varney is just dwindling and spiralling but you just keep going like you're trapped within some sort of twilight zone episode where the only way to escape is to finish varney.

[@seandarbe2521]

Do you have all justice league omnibie from three bronze age volumes, justice league Detroit volume and three amazing great Justice League Internationals under Giffen Dematteis team?