Random Thoughts Anew

[apl68]

In recent days we've had an entire shelf's worth of Danielle Steel books donated for our book sale room.  Would that be considered an embarrassment of riches, or a richness of embarrassments?

[marshwiggle]

In recent days we've had an entire shelf's worth of Danielle Steel books donated for our book sale room.  Would that be considered an embarrassment of riches, or a richness of embarrassments?

I seem to recall a few years ago a picture of all of the donated copies of "50 Shades of Grey" from some library.

[dismalist]

In recent days we've had an entire shelf's worth of Danielle Steel books donated for our book sale room.  Would that be considered an embarrassment of riches, or a richness of embarrassments?

From her website: She is the bestselling author alive and the fourth-bestselling fiction author of all time, with over 800 million copies sold.

That's almost 1/6 Bible territory.

I suppose a US or European library needn't have her books in its holdings, for everyone already has a couple of her books! :-)

I've never read anything by her, though her name strikes a distant chord. Her books sure as hell pass the market test!

[mamselle]

I was startled to find a pile of her books as bedside reading for a former friend who was preparing for the Anglican ministry...

M.

[apl68]

I once tried to read one of her books.  It was set in a city I once lived in.  I was curious to see what it had to say about locations there that I recognized.  The story mentioned many locations I recognized, all right, but had nothing whatsoever in the way of description of them.  I came away wondering whether she had actually visited or researched the place, or simply culled the place names from some travel web site.  The book did not create a very impressive sense of place.  Part of Danielle Steel's appeal seems to be the way her books promise to put the reader into glamorous places and circles of society.  That one didn't give me a sense of having armchair-traveled anywhere.

[mamselle]

Whereas Robert Parker even got the double rotaries at Fresh Pond right.

M.

[Juvenal]

I was startled to find a pile of her books as bedside reading for a former friend who was preparing for the Anglican ministry...

M.

Perhaps channeling St. Augustine: "Oh, Master, make me chaste and celibate - but not yet!"

[downer]

My pricey newish ThinkPad now crashes as often as my $150 Chromebook, without any provocation, doing the same tasks. Windows is such a disaster. And it keeps on promising that it will be able to install Windows 11, but is taking its sweet time in actually doing that. Not that I think Windows 11 will solve any problems.
I do like the backlit keys though.

[apl68]

The UPS guy got more than he bargained for on that visit to the library.  He brought in a boxed-up lawnmower that a library staff member had ordered, and had six absolutely crammed full boxes of books we're sending off for recycling to pick up.

Incidentally, this is the second time we've had a lawnmower delivered here.  I hope the place doesn't start looking like Sears!

[secundem_artem]

Whereas Robert Parker even got the double rotaries at Fresh Pond right.

M.

I used to keep a map of Boston open when reading his books.  When I moved there for grad school (no not Harvard & I'm not flexing), I had a chance to meet him briefly at a bookstore in Cambridge.  I always thought he captured the essence of Beantown quite well.

[mamselle]

Whereas Robert Parker even got the double rotaries at Fresh Pond right.

M.

I used to keep a map of Boston open when reading his books.  When I moved there for grad school (no not Harvard & I'm not flexing), I had a chance to meet him briefly at a bookstore in Cambridge.  I always thought he captured the essence of Beantown quite well.

I stopped reading the successor books after his death when one of the writers--Archer, maybe?--put the Hilliard St. house in the Back Bay.

M.

[mamselle]

^ Unrelated (of course)...

I think medieval art historians have done a better job of incorporating material culture studies into their work than some medieval material culture folks have done in understanding and applying art historical principles.

(I might be wrong...)

M.

[mamselle]

Double, a few hours later...

I don't think I've ever gotten a mash note via chat at a conference before...

M.

[downer]

CRM, SIS, ERP & LMS

I think I know what an LMS is -- the same as a CMS.

Isn't CRM "Customer Relationship Management"? Is this where the students are the customers? Or are the faculty the customers?

No idea what SIS and ERP are.

[mamselle]

Alphabet soup wins the day...

M.