The Queue

It didn't actually take me two months to read the slim volume that is Llana of Gathol; 'tis a typically swift E.R.B. page-turner. In the span since the last "The Queue" post, I've been occupied by numerous other avenues of reading, including periodicals & study materials of all sorts, both sacred & secular. I am looking forward to John Carter of Mars, but I am also apprehensive. It is the last Barsoom story, & though I will surely re-read the series at some point for the sheer thrill & adventure of it all, this is the last time I will venture into the unknown alongside John Carter, the incomparable Dejah Thoris, Vad Varo, & all the varied denizens of the dying Red Planet. Then again, "venture into the unknown" is probably, almost certainly overstating the case. As I quipped to my father (here I paraphrase myself for greater clarity), "The great thing about a John Carter of Mars book is that you know exactly what to expect: abductions, capture & imprisonment in the 'pits,' disguises, duels to the death, ravishing beauties, hidden cultures. The bad thing about a John Carter of Mars book is that you know exactly what to expect: abductions, capture & imprisonment in the 'pits,' disguises, duels to the death, ravishing beauties, hidden cultures." There is a definite formula. 'Tis a good formula, but now & again the restless mind longs for greater variety.

Quoth the introduction by Richard A. Lupoff:

To the reader who regards science fiction as a sugar-coated course in chemistry and physics equally as to the one who seeks serious sociological extrapolation, Burrough's Martian novels will prove unsatisfactory.

But to the reader who seeks magnificent adventure in an endlessly imaginative, exotic setting, these books without question represent an all-time high in the field.

The two volumes by His Holiness Pope Francis are, respectively, an "Apostolic Exhortation" (rather than an "Encyclical") & a collection of homilies & other speeches.

Recently
Matthew Kelly, Rediscover Catholicism: A Spiritual Guide to Living with Passion & Purpose ***abandoned***
Thomas J. Craughwell, Saints Behaving Badly: The Cutthroats, Crooks, Trollops, Con Men, and Devil Worshippers Who Became Saints
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Llana of Gathol

Currently
Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Carter of Mars

Presently
Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel)
Pope Francis, The Church of Mercy: A Vision for the Church
Rice Broocks, God's Not Dead: Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty
Richard Price, Clockers
Sir Richard Francis Burton, translator, "Sinbad the Sailor" from The Arabian Nights
Sir Ernest Shackleton, South: A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage
Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations
Norman Stone, The Atlantic and Its Enemies: A Personal History of the Cold War
Ted Morgan, Valley of Death: The Tragedy at Dien Bien Phu That Led America into the Vietnam War

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "Your Life" from Pin Points and Gin Joints (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary:

"You were warned from the day you were born,
You were too young so you blew it off,
You were told you were gold but as you got old
You discovered that you were too soft—
Delusions of greatness and grandeur,
Life can be hard just to live,
Demanding standards, you'll never deliver,
If you had two of them to give.

"Nothing can prepare you for this,
You were way off of your guard,
Like it or not, it's how you were caught,
Try not to take it too hard…"