A great book on Beethoven, and it doesn’t even need any repair! This book was published ten years before World War II. Also found the latest Vince Flynn books, which I’ll get to after my third read through the series (I completed the second read of his books last year, am almost done with the second read of Brad Thor’s books now)
It turns out that while the Red White and Blue Thrift store has higher prices, that keeps away the resellers that buy all the good stuff. They hog the isles, comb through every book and aren’t going to read any of them, leaving us the scraps, while they sell them for more than the thrift was going to. Not a fan.
I have discovered each of these three books separately; the latest needed repair, the cover was tearing off from the rest of the book. I have the exact glue required for book repair, and surprisingly enough, that isn’t wood glue.
Every time I fix one of these, I feel that once it has all dried, it will be a disaster, but it always works out great.
These books are actually textbooks, and really interesting to read. They include a lot of writing and notes, not the kind that usually gets me upset as in this case, they write in the empty pages in the beginning and rear of the books. Very old writing as these books are more than a hundred years old.
We had not just a rare win against our long-time rivals, but we actually won 8-0. Usually if we are fortunate enough to win against these guys (with me in the net, anyway), it is by one point in a shootout or two with an empty net. But the usual game has them scoring a lot early and then sitting back for the rest of the game.
Their goalie is the best in the division and played well; he wasn’t their weak point. My shutout was the kind where it was the team that earned it; I didn’t have to stop a lot of shots. My defense covered me when I lost the puck, which was more than once.
So, this was the rarest of wins, and I have no doubt they’ll be back to their usual shenanigans in the next game.
I found this book today! No information I don’t already have, but there were some nice photos! It had dirt all over it with an odd smell, but it cleaned up pretty well.
The other books I picked up yesterday aside from the previously mentioned Shogun! The most consequential is the Brad Thor book, which is the new 2026 release, meaning that I am caught up! I have six or seven books left to finish my re-read of his books, although I’m at the point where I’m reading new ones as they weren’t released the first time I read all of his books.
What is great is that the one I finished last night was kind of by-the-numbers, but the last paragraph changed all that, and I had to start the next one immediately, and it is just great! It made up for the previous book which is only mediocre to me because I know all of the characters so well, and some of the repetitive aspects that Thor has to go through explaining things I already know after what, twenty-five, thirty books in? But he clearly fixed that here.
I was close to meeting Brad Thor a few months ago when he was a mile away from the Ice Ranch, signing books, but the time was too close to my game for me to go see him and have him sign a book. Maybe next time. Or, should I say, he would have had the honor of meeting me?
The “Affirmation of Faith” has been sitting at the 44th & Wadsworth ARC for more than a month, it is a nice, quality binding with excellent paper, so for two bucks I had to give it a home. Lots of things written by consequential people from the history of our nation in here that all critics clearly have never read before.
The book on Russia was one of two different books (So of course it must have come from the same personal library) but the other book had too much writing and underlining in it, and some light mold on the edges of the pages, so I put it back. I have enough books to have standards. Very interesting topic, it is a shame most people would never open this up.
The book on the Boer War by Churchill, I had to get because it is in new shape, and I bought the Folio Society versions of his Work War I and World War II sets last year. I also don’t know anything about the Boer war, although I have a few books on it.
Also: A re-release of the original version of RISK, still in the wrapper, and an M.C. Escher puzzle!
Nerd Alert: I was having lunch with Dad today and made the decision while eating to order the Easton Press leather-bound edition of Moby Dick that I’ve had my eBay eye on when I got home. It can be had for twenty bucks before shipping, because they made so many of them. That is the cheapest one on eBay.
So, on the way home, we stop at the Arvada ARC, and what do you know? The leather-bound Franklin Library edition of Moby Dick was right there, for fifteen bucks! I saved eleven, including shipping, according to the latest eBay listing!
The Franklin Library looks to be close to Easton Press quality, so that will work. They don’t publish anymore, sadly.
I’ve been reading nautical books over the summer. The Count of Monte Cristo was very loosely part of that as Edmond Dantes was a sailor in the beginning of that book.
I did jump back into my other fiction reading project, rereading the Vince Flynn / Brad Thor / Kyle Mills books, and I’m almost forty deep into about fifty or sixty volumes there, although they are smaller and easy to read. The good thing about rereading these is that when I get to the end of either series, there are newer books that have come out that I’ve never read but have continued the adventures of the characters I’ve gotten to know so well. Great stuff.
And it is amazing how much easier it is to read after finishing The Count of Monte Cristo.
