Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

My good friend, guitar-playing buddy and occasional debating partner The Whited Sepulchre posted the NPR Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy Book list with annotations (I guess there is a lot of this going around) and challenged folks to do their version of the list. Despite his occasionally loathsome political opinions, the WS is extremely well-read (and now a published author !) so I found his list fascinating.  I used to read a lot of sci-fi when I was younger; not so much now. A lot of authors I enjoyed when younger I find tiresome now. Anyway, here's my list. 1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien I'm sorry - I've tried to read this probably 2 dozen times and never got any further than the first 30 pages. My first attempt was when I was 13, my last was when I was in my late 40's. Hugo Dyson, one of Tolkien's contemporaries is reported to have exclaimed : " Oh god! Not another fucking elf! "during a reading by Tolkien. I feel his...

Now for something completely different...a report on California fans of the Tour de France, as reported by Dan Brekke on San Francisco NPR station KQED. Why, you may be asking. Simple, really. Dan is old high school buddy of mine. I last saw him on his way to San Francisco, when I lived in beautiful Isla Vista. This was about 1979. Although Dan and I email periodically, it was fun hearing his voice. His blog, Infospigot , is worth a read, and a damned good counterbalance to all this Libertarian wackiness I find myself surrounded by of late.