The Reading Vent & Rant Thread

[issybird]

Would a Generalleutnant in 1944 describe someone as being "all bent out of shape"?

[maddz]

Originally Posted by issybird

Would a Generalleutnant in 1944 describe someone as being "all bent out of shape"?

Maybe if he was describing someone's physical appearance after an injury.

[nana77]

Originally Posted by maddz

Maybe if he was describing someone's physical appearance after an injury.

Maybe @issybird was to refer as for its:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shape

from Proto-West Germanic/ from Proto-Germanic

Usage notes

Schap is exclusively neuter in Northern Dutch, but feminine in many Southern Dutch varieties.

idk.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by issybird

Adam's adventures with his cronies, Them, could have been lifted entirely from a scene in a Just William where William and the Outlaws are hanging out. So much so, I take it as homage

I'm absolutely certain that Adam's adventures are a homage to Just William.

Having heard Martin Jarvis' Just William radio adaptions, I can see that he might use that same voice in Good Omens.

[ownedbycats]

Seen a fanfic use both "unalive" and "sh*t" in the span of a single chapter. This was on Archive of Our Own, which is as pretty much anti-censorship as is posssible and doesn't even allow monetization.

Yeah, I'm just ???

[Witty Username]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm absolutely certain that Adam's adventures are a homage to Just William.

Both authors confirmed in various interviews that Good Omens grew from Gaiman's short story William - the Antichrist, a parody of Just William mixed with The Omen horror film.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Witty Username

Both authors confirmed in various interviews that Good Omens grew from Gaiman's short story William - the Antichrist, a parody of Just William mixed with The Omen horror film.

Oh, it was obvious to me from the text, but as soon as I heard William's voice coming from the Antichrist I was spoiled, so to speak. I'd have preferred to get there on my own. I assume that it was the Just William connection that got Jarvis the gig.

[issybird]

When you see that you read something five years ago and gave it a good rating to boot! but for the life of you, you can't remember a single thing about it.

[Yapyap]

Originally Posted by issybird

When you see that you read something five years ago and gave it a good rating to boot! but for the life of you, you can’t remember a single thing about it.

Oh, do I know that feeling.

On a similar note, the other day I was browsing through my Calibre library and noticed John Scalzi’s Redshirts and thought to myself “I’ve had this for a LONG time, maybe I should finally read it”. So I started it and got halfway through before it was time for bed, when I went to Goodreads to mark it as started, and .. well, yeah, I’d read it in 2017.

Sometimes there’s at least a vague sense of something familiar but if I had to swear on this in a court of law, I would with all sincerity swear that I’ve never read this book before as there’s not been a single thing so far that triggers any sort of “wait, have I read this before?” thought…

(Clearly, while I strive to tag books as “read” also in Calibre, I’ve not always been fully successful in that.)

[Dr. Drib]

Something like this, which I equate as being nothing more than promotional smegma:

"If you read no book this year, you have to read this one."

Which translates to this:

"If you read one or more books this year, then you can avoid this piece of s**t."

Argggggggggg!!!