Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

I really should read my own blog.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

John Fetterman: Too Manly for Pennsylvania.  Paid for by the Oz for Senator campaign.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

The revolution will be supervised.

People are complicated. Love is not.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

A Senator Walker would be an insult to the state and the nation.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Get together

Reader Interactions

148Comments

  2. 2.

    SpectreXx

    I’ve never seen you before, but I’ll assume that in any pics, you’ll be the one furthest right.

  3. 3.

    Felonius Monk

    Tippin’ my glass to you all. Have a great time.

    BTW, how’s that purple shirt working out?

  4. 4.

    JGabriel

    Have a glass o’wine for me. I’m a bit under the weather, and won’t be making it today. See y’all next time, I hope.

  12. 12.

    Ailuridae

    The McGee’s in Chicago is a post-college fraternity rape dungeon. I hope NYC’s McGee’s is better.

  13. 13.

    RepubAnon

    Let’s start a pool on how long it is before the wingnuts start claiming that Obama killed Vince Foster on the direct orders of Hillary Clinton.

    I’m thinking June 2013…

  14. 14.

    James Gary

    I am in Brooklyn working on a looming deadline and drinking cheap Scotch. I hoist my glass in the general direction of Manhattan and resolve to make it to the next NYC meetup.

  16. 16.

    NotMax

    “Don’t open that closet, McGee!”

    If they don’t have an in-house unique drink on the menu named the Wistful Vista, somebody seriously missed a bet.

    (Considering how large the contingent of Old Time Radio fans is.)

  17. 17.

    mai naem

    Where’s the CoveritLive for this?

    Also too, watched Fox this morning. They said Obama has done a very very bad job in NY. NY is falling apart. Why is everything not fixed right now right now right now? So, how come you guys can get together at a bar eh? It must be you guys are Libtard DemoncRATs. Only the Obamabots have power right?
    Also also too, MSNBC just said the chick who Broadwell sent the nasty emails is Jill Kelly(I think that’s what I heard) a married 37 year old Tampa woman who with her husband are friends with the Petraeus’

  19. 19.

    ? Martin

    @mai naem: Yes, it’s always the fault of big government that one of the nations first and largest free market power companies isn’t getting the lights on quickly enough.

  21. 21.

    Neil

    Good god man! You missed a prime opportunity here.
    Subject: Come Together
    Body: right now, at McGee’s

  23. 23.

    Corner Stone

    I’m doing laundry. Being a single dad isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I’ve got a real problem with that brochure they gave when I joined up.

  24. 24.

    scav

    Damn, all I’ve got in the house is coffee. Can one or a few of you be my designated drinker? I tend toward red and harder by preference but aren’t unduly fussy, so no worries there. And if there aren’t some details you don’t want on the tuubz, you’re not trying hard enough. I have faith though.

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    OT (? – not sure if anything can be OT in Uncategorized)

    Just threw up a little in my mouth. Bozo from Reason magazine stating, with a straight face, that there is a “not insignificant” chance of Condi Rice being the G.O.P. nominee in ’16.

  27. 27.

    Corner Stone

    @NotMax: Condi Rice will never run for elected office. Anywhere, at any time, or for any position.
    I agree with your bilious description, 100%.

    Now. Why on earth are you in contact with any thing from Reason magazine?

  28. 28.

    NotMax

    @Corner Stone

    Now. Why on earth are you in contact with any thing from Reason magazine?

    Purely unintentional.

    Bozo was one of the guests on the program happened to have on in the background.

  29. 29.

    James Gary

    @YellowJournalism:

    Oh, wait. We’re not just all checking in? Sorry!

    Although I live in the city, I keep missing the NYC meetups for work-related reasons. So I figured I’d at least post a comment to that effect, in numinous hope that that slight gesture will somehow increase my likelihood of actually making it to the next one.

  30. 30.

    Jim

    Hope everyone had fun. Had planned to make it but childcare issue arose. WIll definitely try to make the next one.

  33. 33.

    catclub

    I saw on Political Wire that Scott brown would win a special election in MA to replace John Kerry. Thoughts?

    What about Deval Patrick?

  34. 34.

    MazeDancer

    @mai naem:

    Been waiting since story broke to hear explanation of why Petraeus mistress would email anyone. And why that someone – now identified as Jill Kelley in Florida, whose twin sister is a lawyer for whistleblowers says Twitter – would call the FBI, and not first contact her – and allegedly also her husband’s – friend David. Friend first, not the FBI.

    And why would anyone think to contact the FBI?

    Any friend or mistress of the General would know security is key. Emailing by the mistress makes no sense. And bad General for picking a security breaching mistress, unless you just unconsciously want outtta the game.

  38. 38.

    JPL

    @MazeDancer: A friend mentioned that mistresses are not concerned about the wife. They are threatened by others that might be younger and cuter.
    After tsk tsking about the vulture media, I did go on the Tampa newspaper… and here’s the link. not sure whether he was having an affair with her though..
    It’s probably understandable that Paula was jealous.

  41. 41.

    Redshift

    As long as we’re on the topic, I noticed there were quite a few NoVa juicers reporting in during the election. Anyone else up for a get-together here?

  43. 43.

    Corner Stone

    @MikeJ:

    I think they’re clones. Next generation drooooones if you will.

    I think they are all real life Fox Mulder’s sister. After all, who would be in better position to know about Project X? He was boning all the alien hybrids, that’s why he had to resign when one went off the reservation. So to speak.
    Dun dun duhhhhhh!!

  46. 46.

    Roger Moore

    @NotMax:

    Bozo from Reason magazine stating, with a straight face, that there is a “not insignificant” chance of Condi Rice being the G.O.P. nominee in ‘16.

    Sounds like a great opportunity for a small wager.

  47. 47.

    MazeDancer

    href=”#comment-3961127″>JPL:

    The tabloidy part of this doesn’t interest as much as the WTF part. Like why mistress who went to West Point, knows security is paramount, has a husband, kids, and a book to sell, would go rogue. Something unbalanced there.

    Why did the FBI and Eric Cantor get involved over emails? Cantor?

    ETA: Hope all the lucky folks at McGee’s will solve this and all things for us.

    Most importantly, why would the CIA Head even have a personal email? Isn’t that an invitation to security breach? Don’t think the President can have an non-secure email for that very reason.

  48. 48.

    Southern Beale

    Bozo from Reason magazine stating, with a straight face, that there is a “not insignificant” chance of Condi Rice being the G.O.P. nominee in ‘16.

    Jeeezuseffincristobal. Can we not go one fucking week without some bozo speculating about a damn presidential election?

    I don’t want to hear about 2016 until after the 2014 midterms.

  51. 51.

    Corner Stone

    Personally, I think they should throw Petraeus into the same cell they held Bradley Manning in for 2 years.

  52. 52.

    James E. Powell

    @catclub:

    I saw on Political Wire that Scott brown would win a special election in MA to replace John Kerry. Thoughts?

    My thought is that unless a Democrat is a lock to take over in a special election, do not appoint Kerry to anything.

  53. 53.

    Roger Moore

    @MazeDancer:

    Like why mistress who went to West Point, knows security is paramount, has a husband, kids, and a book to sell, would go rogue. Something unbalanced there.

    People are not rational about affairs of the heart. Why would the head of the CIA, who knows how important security is, have an affair and share important information with his mistress? The best explanation is that they were thinking with their genitals, not their brains, which is conducive to making really dumb mistakes.

  56. 56.

    Corner Stone

    What the hell’s the point of being CIA Director if you can’t bone women (or whomever) you’re not married to?
    What’s wrong with this country.

  57. 57.

    Yutsano

    @Southern Beale: Oh frabjous day! Calloo! Callay!

    (I’d go get a beer, but that would require me leaving my house. And getting dressed. Neither of which I feel inclined to do.)

  66. 66.

    PsiFighter37

    I promise to grace NYC Juicers with my presence next time if DougJ gives more than a couple week’s notice!

    Hope it was a good time had by all. About to get on my flight in SF back home…

  67. 67.

    Anya

    @MazeDancer: So many things don’t make sense in this story. For example, why did the FBI whistleblower contact Eric Cantor? Why is the president the last person to be informed? Also, allegedly, Ms. Broadwell had access to “sensitive information” but she will not be charged. WTF is going on?

  70. 70.

    MikeJ

    @Anya:

    Ms. Broadwell had access to “sensitive information” but she will not be charged.

    It’s a crime to allow unauthorized people access to classified material. It’s generally not a crime by itself to read something you are not authorized to read.

  71. 71.

    Suffern ACE

    @Anya: well, since it was being investigated at the time, I’m thinking the whistleblower is really more of a gossip, don’t you?

  73. 73.

    DPS

    Well, I think it’s safe to say that Petraeus should run for office. He clearly performs very well with married women.

  75. 75.

    catclub

    @MikeJ: Unless you are special like D Petraeus, and have lots of press stenographers. Then, it is likely resign and all the charges go away.

    My understanding is that as a General who has not resigned his commission, his affair was a violation under the UCMJ. So why is he not charged, whether he now resigns or not. He _DID_ it when he was still under that code.

    But he is special, with lots of powerful friends. Like an honorary villager.

  78. 78.

    Suffern ACE

    I know I wasn’t sorely missed, since DougJ once held me up as an example of everything that was wrong with liberalism, but I’m sorry I couldn’t make it. Have an excuse, though. My glasses opted to break today and I doubt people want some middle aged man leaning two inches away from their faces to get a good look at them. Also, the drivers of New York City probably don’t want me driving 10 mph down what I think might be the correct lane of the west side highway.

  80. 80.

    cathyx

    @mikej: You edited your message. It first read that is was not a crime to allow unauthorized people access. And don’t lie and say you didn’t.

  81. 81.

    Jay S

    @catclub: Alternative hypotheses to P. seeing other woman:
    1. B. imagined she was trying to move in on her action.
    2. B. thought she knew too much.

  82. 82.

    catclub

    @Steeplejack: I know that, but he apparently did NOT resign his commission, so he is still a General, and still (as an officer) under UCMJ.

    I know cause I read it on the internets. (I might even be correct.)

    BTW is there any timeline on when all this took place, relative to when he moved from Army to CIA?

  83. 83.

    MikeJ

    @cathyx: Huh? The edit function doesn’t even work for me. I never edited it. You may have misread it. I misread things all the time. It doesn’t make you a bad person if you did, but I never edited my comment.

  85. 85.

    MikeJ

    @MikeJ: I stand corrected. the edit function has decided to start working for me again. I haven’t tried in weeks because it was b0rked.

    But I still didn’t edit my comment.

  87. 87.

    JPL

    @catclub: Normally, it’s not prosecuted. There was lots of fraternizing in Iraq and you really don’t want them to prosecute all of them. They need to get rid of that code. Just an opinion but I stand by it.

  91. 91.

    Death Panel Truck

    @NotMax:

    (Considering how large the contingent of Old Time Radio fans is.)

    No old time radio fans here? Well, that ain’t the way I heered it!

    I love Fibber McGee and Molly. The original show about nothing.

  93. 93.

    catclub

    @JPL: They should drop it if they do not enforce it. That is the problem with laws that are typically not enforced. They are selectively enforced against people like … whistleblowers, or people who are not powerful.

  94. 94.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @Steeplejack: Busted Flush? That’s a whole ‘nother McGee, there.

    Pale Gray For Guilt was my all-time favorite. Loved the way he and Meyer conned the scammers and squeezed them dry.

  95. 95.

    Nicole

    Was great fun; and so nice to see both old and new faces (“old” being a reference to familiarity, not chronology).

    Happy birthday, SB!

  96. 96.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I was briefly in a Barnes & Noble this afternoon, flipping through the magazine rack. Current Newsweek blurbs an article “12 Leadership Tips by David Petraeus.”

    Snortle.

  98. 98.

    Mnemosyne

    Since we had our first cool weekend here in the Valley, I got into a baking mood. I’m making these Roasted Banana Bars and then G may make a Dump Cake with apple pie filling, spice cake, and butter. He makes the classic cherry-and-pineapple for office potlucks — people specifically request it.

  101. 101.

    Corner Stone

    @Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: I generally enjoy the whole series but they get tiresome after a while.
    McGee either deals with 90% regular people or 10% pure psychopathic murder killer guy. He runs cheesy word scams on the regular folks and then gets super lucky with the psychos.
    And the way he deals with women is to take them fishing in the Keys, give them some Boodles and then some patient, deep dicking.

  102. 102.

    Steeplejack

    @Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:

    I love you, man! Pale Gray for Guilt is a great novel, regardless of genre. A classic of corporate evildoing. And my favorite, too.

    I am anxiously awaiting the release (January 8) of all the Travis McGee novels for Kindle and Nook so I can load ’em up and go through them again. The early ones are a little pulpy, but there are some gems in there. You can see where Lee Child took copious notes for his Reacher novels.

  103. 103.

    Anne Laurie

    @Southern Beale: Happy birthday, to a fellow Martinmas baby!

    (To those of us who grew up in a Catholic tradition where such tales were still common lore, the fact that Armistice/ Veterans Day fell on the feast of St. Martin, patron saint of soldiers, was poetically appropriate. He started as a soldier, because it was the family business, but the Prince of Peace appeared to him in a vision, so he walked away from enforcing the empire and embraced a different calling. Never did quite get control over his temper, though.)

  104. 104.

    mchlstrt

    Looooongtime lurker. It was nice to meet some actual people at McGee’s. Interesting how you can feel at home in a group you only know from a virtual community you don’t even directly participate in. I think that’s a sign of something good.

  105. 105.

    Cacti

    @Corner Stone:

    And the way he deals with women is to take them fishing in the Keys, give them some Boodles and then some patient, deep dicking.

    Mr. McGee was a Plymouth man. He only switched to Boodles after they stopped bottling Plymouth in the UK.

    McDonald had the corporate world pretty well pegged back in ’74…

    At drinking time I left Meyer at the wheel and went below and broke out the very last bottle of the Plymouth gin which had been bottled in the United Kingdom. All the others were bottled in the U.S. Gin People, it isn’t the same. It’s still a pretty good gin but it is not a superb, stingingly dry, and lovely gin. The sailer on the label no longer looks staunch and forthright, but merely hokey. There is something self-destructive about Western technology and distribution. Whenever a consumer object is so excellent that it attracts a devoted following, some of the slide rule and computer types come in on their twinkle toes and take over the store, and in a trice they figure out just how far they can cut quality and still increase market penetration. Their reasoning is that it is idiotic to make and sell a hundred thousand units of something and make a profit of thirty cents a unit, when you can increase the advertising, sell five million units, and make a nickel profit a unit. Thus the very good things of the world go down the drain, from honest turkey to honest eggs to honest tomatoes. And gin.

  106. 106.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Anne Laurie:

    I attended a Remembrance Day service at St Martin in the Fields Anglican Church in Atlanta today. They had a prayer to St. Martin, but I didn’t know his backstory. Thanks for that.

    By no means am I a church attendee, even Christmas and Easter, but I always find the Remembrance Day service exceptionally moving and worth getting up early.

  107. 107.

    mai naem

    I don’t think Obama has to use current Dem governors – there’s enough old ones around. Not sure why he’s asking Deval Patrick being that Patrick seems to want to run for Prez in 2016. He’s got the Wash. governor(can’t remember her name) , Schweitzer and Granholm. There’s also the old guy from Oregon9can’t remember his name either.)There’s some old retiring Senators. He’s got plenty of people to pick from.

  108. 108.

    Steeplejack

    @Corner Stone:

    And the way he deals with women is to take them fishing in the Keys, give them some Boodles and then some patient, deep dicking.

    You say that like it’s a bad thing. And, hey, it was a simpler, more natural time.

  109. 109.

    Viva BrisVegas

    There is a total solar eclipse on Wednesday morning and I’m about to board my flight to Cairns to go see it.

    The only other eclipse I’ve ever seen was in Hawaii in 1992. Saying it was spectacular is like saying the moon landings were important. Words can’t descibe it and I’m yet to see a photo that captures it.

    If I can find some wifi in Cairns I’ll let you guys know how it goes.

  110. 110.

    celiadexter

    Great party! I took lots of pictures (after those martinis…) and will be sharing them in the morning.

  111. 111.

    Corner Stone

    @Steeplejack: Well, this all inspired me to pull my Pale Gray off the bookshelf and yes, it’s (c) 1968.
    I can’t remember if this is the entree of the Munequita or not. I guess I’ll read a bit and see if it fits my mood.

    And if women were so amenable to massages and Gin I may rethink drinking the disgusting stuff.

  113. 113.

    Paul

    @mai naem:

    He also has Ed Rendell from PA.

    Looking back at his selections from 2008, many of them seem so self-defeating. For example, by picking Janet Napolitano, he enabled Arizona to become such a weird state. And not only that, it meant wasting a lot of unnecessary time to fight their papers only law etc. That could have been avoided. I hope they have learned a lesson, although when I hear the talk about for Kerry for Sec of State I’m not so sure.

  115. 115.

    Mnemosyne

    @Anya:

    The “whistleblower” thing sounds like some right-wing ass covering since they were claiming yesterday that Congress had never been informed of the ongoing investigation. Now that it turns out Congress had been informed, the RW media trying to claim that Republicans in Congress weren’t officially informed.

    IOW, your basic attempt at obfuscation to try and make Obama look bad, also known as a day that ends in “Y.”

  116. 116.

    Maude

    @Steeplejack:
    I knew an insurance investigator that found fraud in one of his cases. It was used for a Travis book. Of course, I can’t remember which one, but I’ll think of it.
    I want those on the Nook.

  117. 117.

    Corner Stone

    @Paul: AZ was always going to go R in the electoral vote. As a national figure, he gained from letting them do all that crazy shit they did. He wasn’t going to win the state in 2012. But they sure as hell pissed off a fuckton of Hispanics/Latinos nationwide.
    Jan Brewer and her bitch ass actions on the tarmac et al was the gift that kept on giving.

  118. 118.

    Maude

    @Mnemosyne:
    I skimmed the NYT article and Obama wasn’t told right away.
    The article said they didn’t find a serious security breech.
    This is one crazy story.
    The emails on the CIA computer are just weird.
    It gives me the willies.

  120. 120.

    Suffern ACE

    @Mnemosyne: so. The “informant” wasn’t a whistleblower and wasn’t a gossip, but someone sent from the FBI with the purpose of alerting the proper members of congress?

  121. 121.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @Corner Stone: Agreed. Any series with the same protagonist gets old after awhile. I gave up on Parker’s Spenser after 6 or 8 of them, still reading Lee Child, though.

    And I can’t figure out how Sue Grafton can stand to write 26 books with the same character. I was done after about 3.

  122. 122.

    Steeplejack

    @Corner Stone:

    It really was a different time. This was before–or right at the beginning of–the time when “crime fiction” commanded big advances, or even much respect. All of the Travis McGee novels were straight-to-paperback until the late ’60s or early ’70s, I believe.

    And if you read them in the context of say, Ian Fleming’s Bond novels or Richard Stark’s Parker novels, Travis McGee is quite the gentleman. (Bond is a pig in the novels.) About the only one classier than McGee is Ross Macdonald’s Lew Archer, and he’s a bit thin-blooded for some people’s taste.

  123. 123.

    Johannes

    Happy birthday, Southern Beale and Anne Laurie (Our Lady of the Cats!). We had a great time at the meet up, and we’re onynsorry to not get to chat with everyone.

    Obama bumbaye!.

  125. 125.

    catclub

    @Paul: I am going to make an effort in future to not say this. Because what FOX does benefits democrats and harms republicans. Let them scream as much as they like. It sharpens our side and makes their side lazy.

    FOX is far more profitable in opposition than when the GOP is in power. So they have very mixed motivations.

  126. 126.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @Steeplejack: See if you can find Donald Hamilton’s Matt Helm novels while you’re at it. Start at the beginning, with Death of a Citizen.

    Nothing at all like those cheesy Dean Martin movies.

    ETA: They got pretty shopworn in the 1970s. The early ones are better.

  128. 128.

    Steeplejack

    @Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:

    The Spenser series was a disappointment. Great start, and then he really started phoning them in. For years.

    The last couple of Reacher novels show some structural cracks.

    Right now I’m reading John Grisham’s The Racketeer. Don’t hate me! I saw him on Colbert a couple of weeks ago, and it reminded me that his early novels were really good. This one got good reviews, and about a third of the way through I’m liking it all right.

    Gotta say that having a Nook (or Kindle) really takes the sting out of taking a chance on a new release. You don’t have to wait a year to get the paperback price.

  130. 130.

    scav

    @catclub: I swear, the timing on this whole thing gets funnier and funnier and funnier in the way too implausible for TV sort of way. Right before testimony to congress (him), right before a media enabled birthday party (her), right during an election, right before veterans day, etc etc etc with all the video and printed matter flying about. Some might smell conspiracy, I don’t care, it just proves there is no god because, seriously, it just strains credulity that even he would try to pull this one off.

  131. 131.

    Steeplejack

    @Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:

    Will check out Matt Helm. Haven’t read any of them.

    The other ’60s series I picked up from my father, besides Travis McGee, was the Joe Gall novels by Philip Atlee. They were much pulpier, and I have no idea how they hold up, but it would be interesting to go back and try one.

    I read all the Parker novels by Richard Stark (Donald E. Westlake) early this year, and they hold up pretty well. They are really drenched in their time. (Everybody’s a “heister.”)

  132. 132.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @Steeplejack: I’m going through Alan Furst’s novels a second time now. Spy fiction, set in Europe, mostly Eastern Europe, between the world wars and at the beginning of WWII.

    Wow, the man can write! Setting, dialogue, characters, plot, it’s all there.

  133. 133.

    La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes)

    @JPL: I think we had close to twenty at one point. And yes, it was a nice crowd. Pic tomorrow once DougJ & Celiadexter sober up.

  135. 135.

    Steeplejack

    @Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:

    I’ve read all those–well, except for the last one, Mission to Paris, which is sitting on the Nook. They’re good, but sometimes Furst goes so heavy on the atmosphere that he lets the story drop. I was really frustrated with the two-book set about the French film producer that ended (literally) with a knock on the door in the middle of the night. WTF?!

    Spies of the Balkans was really good, so I’m looking forward to Mission to Paris. I think The Polish Officer is my favorite.

  136. 136.

    waratah

    @Steeplejack: This was the first Grisham novel that could not hold my attention. Took me a week to read when I generally can not put it down.
    I am not sure why as I liked the lead character.

  137. 137.

    Maude

    @Steeplejack:
    Have you read Reginal Hill?
    He dies recently and was a great writer.
    I read a lot of crime fiction.
    Spencer and Haw ended up being cold blooded killers.
    The replacement for Parker is the same claptrap.
    Charles Todd, Ian Rutledge series is good, The nurse one is yek.
    The Ian Rankin compliance officers books are excellent. There are two of them.

  138. 138.

    Steeplejack

    @waratah:

    I’ve been reading it in short bursts and am only to the point where the protagonist is about to make his deal and get out of jail. I am waiting on the big surprise plot twist. Maybe that will be underwhelming. (No spoilers, please!)

  139. 139.

    Steeplejack

    @Maude:

    I haven’t read any of Reginald Hill’s books in a long time. Should (re)investigate. I liked the early Charles Tood novels but lost the thread a few novels ago. I liked Inspector Rebus but have read only the first of the compliance officer books. I liked it, though.

    Been thinking about reading Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie books after enjoying the Mystery! adaptations.

  140. 140.

    Mnemosyne

    For people who like their fiction hard-boiled, take a look at the Hard Case Crime series of books. It’s a combination of re-issues and originals and they’ve got some really fun stuff.

    G is pissed because they went over to e-books hardcover and trade paperbacks when he had a nice set of them all lined up on his bookshelf.

    (Had to correct myself — G says they changed publishers and switched from mass market publication to hardcover and trade paperbacks, so now the pricing is wildly inconsistent. He belonged to the club where you got each paperback for $4.)

  141. 141.

    Corner Stone

    @Steeplejack: With your film forte you have never read Matt Helm?!
    He’s a little too clever for his own good but still a few good reads when the cold winds are blowing outside.

    I still, without reservation, suggest Len Deighton’s triple tri-part series with Bernard Samson. My all time favorite and it gets better every time I read it.
    It’s not light fare like Helm Or Travis McGee but it’s not chewing through like le Carre or that other schmoo I can’t think of right now.

  143. 143.

    Steeplejack

    @Corner Stone:

    Seeing the Matt Helm movies does not make you want to seek out the source novels! In fact, seeing them makes you doubt that there is any source material.

    I’ll check out the Bernard Samson books. I liked the Harry Palmer novels (which were made into at least two good movies with Michael Caine).

  145. 145.

    Corner Stone

    @Steeplejack:

    I’ll check out the Bernard Samson books.

    You should understand that you’re not going to understand everything.
    Bernd knows so much it will fool you into thinking you do as well. You do not. Just sayin’.

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