Does anyone else read this in the voice of The Book, Peter Jones?

RIP your dad and Douglas Adams

I'm sorry for your loss. Your dad sounds like he was a great guy.

One of my favourites has always been:

"Anything that happens, happens.

Anything that, in happening, causes something else to happen, causes something else to happen.

Anything that, in happening, causes itself to happen again, happens again.

It doesn’t necessarily do it in chronological order, though."

......why???

That's at least somewhat of a relief. Got enough on my to be read list to wait out the witcher and wheel of time ones then.

Wow. They wasted money just to spite you.

That's my biggest problem with it as well. I'd be fine with an actual sticker, I can just peel that off. But they somehow found it necessary to start printing them on the cover itself.

Sure, we care about the contents far more than the covers. But having to look at an ad each time you pick up the book again to read is infuriating. On top of that, some books you love so much that you want to display them fully on your shelf. Good luck doing that with the sticker being such an eye sore.

I have read everything she has ever written and I adore it all! Your analysis is so correct!

Reminds me of Some like it Hot!

It’s also interesting to consider the very mainstream annual pantomimes which are generally shows for children (and a regular Christmas school trip) in the U.K. in which the ‘dame’ is always a man in drag and the principle boy a girl. Of course it’s well known that in Shakespeare’s day women weren’t even allowed on the stage ( so plays that had men pretending to be women who in the play are pretending to be men and so on?) so I’m guessing plenty of actors that specialised in dressing up as women.

:o

Haven’t his poor family suffered enough??

I have only read Cloud Atlas and Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. I liked both a lot, so would be open to reading more books by David Mitchell. Would you reccomend Ghostwritten as the next one to read?

[removed]

I thought it was at least looked down upon in (edit- pre-Christian) Roman society depending on your role in the relationship. In as much as being seen acting as a woman or subservient was a bad thing , being seen as the ‘dominant’ participant not so much!

Edit: I wonder why the downvote for what as far as I know is entirely factual.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_ancient_Rome

Also I think one has to be careful about perhaps using modern concepts of pansexuality/polyamory on ancient cultures especially when it’s based on another culture’s views ( propaganda?) about them and the Romans weren’t exactly unbiased or always worried about being too accurate when writing about other groups. From what I can see ( being no expert) Roman writers seem to have described Celtic women being shared by lots of men , being able to choose their men , and yet also the Celtic men preferring other me? But how reliable those comments are and whether it corresponds precisely to our idea of ‘pansexuality’ etc can we really say?

Wasnt that still in 70s (?) comedy something like Morecambe and Wise or The Goodies - or am I misremembering.

Remember the initial setup for the entire story. In the previous novel (Short Victorious War), Young had deserted out of sheer, inexcusable cowardice. Against direct orders. The only people who didn't see, or admit, that Young ordered not just his ship out of formation, but the squadron of other ships he was leading as well, to flee was because of cowardice and panic were his political allies. Young's own first officer saw him, the captain of Warlock, as a coward and deserter.

His ordering of his squadron out of formation, and then continuing to flee the formation against orders to return while the fleet was engaged against overwhelming odds, got Manticorian spacers killed. Warlock's absence weakened missile defense nets. It caused confusion and chaos in the tactical situation. These things are directly responsible for the death of Naval Personnel.

The first section of the story deals with how Young's political connections are shielding him from the consequences of this action. Desertion and cowardice in time of combat is a firing squad offense in the Royal Manticorian Navy. In most real world militaries it is as well. For what he did at First Hancock he was facing the death penalty.

Yet and his political allies abused their power to spare him of this penalty. To the detriment of the RMN and the Manticorian government. One of the reasons militaries punish what he did (desertion in battle) so harshly is the damage it does to the overall fighting spirit of the entire service. When soldiers/spacers know they can cut and run without consequence, some will. It'll happen more often. Which gets people killed. Which loses battles. Which loses wars.

This point is made throughout the trial deliberations as the factions (Navy vs Young's Allies) argue over whether or not Young should be punished (killed). It's not that the Navy wanted Young to die, it's that he needed to because sparing him told the rest of the Navy "desertion and cowardice that gets Naval Personnel killed won't be punished."

After merely being dishonorably discharged, Young hates Honor more than he already did. He resented her previously because he was a noble, and she wasn't. Yet she had a brilliant career, and was getting promoted past him. He was a small, petty man who wanted revenge. He didn't see that his own personal failings were the source and cause of his stalled (and then ruined) career. He just decided Honor was to blame because if she'd never showed up in his life, he would've risen just as a noble should because that's his noble birthright; to ascend and be lauded.

So he plotted to kill her.

When Honor challenged him to the duel, she didn't just say "you killed my lover/friend."

> "My Lords and Ladies, there is among you a man who has conspired at murder rather than face his enemies himself. A would-be rapist, a coward, and a man who hired a paid duelist to kill another. A man who sent armed thugs into a public restaurant only two days ago to murder someone else and failed in his purpose by the narrowest margin." ...

> "My Lords and Ladies, I accuse Pavel Young, Earl North Hollow, of murder and attempted murder. I accuse him of the callous and unforgivable abuse of power, of cowardice in the face of the enemy, of attempted rape, and of being unfit not simply for the high office he holds but for life itself. I call him coward and scum, beneath the contempt of honest and upright subjects of this Kingdom, whose honor is profaned by his mere presence among them, and I challenge him, before you all, to meet me upon the field of honor, there to pay once and for all for his acts!"

Emphasis mine.

Honor used the dueling laws for arguably one of the very purposes they exist (in the story and in real world nations that had them). Young had wrapped himself in political advantage to gain power and avoid consequences. He sought to use his position to abuse and shirk his responsibilities. Dueling was, and is, a way to "even the scales." Officers in England on occasion challenged other officers to duels over the same kinds of things Young was doing, and for the same reason Honor did; to even the scales and impose consequences where the system had failed to.

She didn't just seek revenge for herself, though she definitely wanted that. She also sought revenge for fellow crew members and officers of the RMN. She sought to correct the error of the story's initial tribunal that issued a flawed verdict that spared Young and allowed him to escape the deserved consequences of his action.

He got people killed. They died because of his cowardice. They died because he planned it. They died because he didn't care to discharge his responsibilities as an officer and member of the House of Lords in an honest and forthright manner. They died because he felt his life and his plans for his life mattered more than their lives did to them.

I submit that, if anyone "ever needed killing", Young is on that list.

Honor is not a murder. Young deserved to die many times over. Many. She was justice come knocking. Not just for herself. For the Navy that was too weak to impose it themselves.

If it had been Shakespeare would definitely be deliberate.

I don't love the book, but respect it. Think it suffers from.sienfield syndrome. Revolutionary at its time, but a trope now, because the revolutionary parts have been copied, parodied and referenced to death

Love hypothesis got me all giggly! Colleen hoover not really my thing. Thank you so much for the recs <3

Thank you!

Noted!

So long folks and thanks for all the fish!

Oof, not being allowed to express negative emotions was a big one in my family too. Hope you're dealing with that ok.

I don't know if I agree, I sorta took it as a challenge to come up with more creative insults instead of punching down (whether intentionally or not).

Well now i'm mad!