I'm lazy and don't feel like going to the Literary thread since I'm not subscribed these days, so...

Everybody suggest one book they love that was published before 1923. I want books to download from ManyBooks to put on my laptop.

Eight Cousins, by Louisa May Alcott. Her copyright is dated 1874.

Beth, what's the AFA? As far as I'm concerned, not using Christmas is a good thing. We get enough of it shoved in our faces by everyone else. And, guess what, not everyone in the US celebrates Christmas. I do, but I think we go to far with rubbing it in everyone elses noses.

Sail, I think the deal (and this isn't anything I have any part in, by the way) is this: Somewhere around 75-80% of the country is Christian. This is the retailers biggest time of year, sales-wise. It is such a big time of year, because of Christmas, not just or primarily the generic "the holidays."

Target (I guess) made the decision not to mention Christmas at all in their Christmas advertising and in-store promotionals. I think the AFA's position is that if Target isn't acknowledging Christmas, people who celebrate Christmas and are doing Christmas shopping, should stop acknowledging (patronizing) Target.

I don't shop Target, but it has nothing to do with either Christmas v. Holidays, or with contraception.

I don't shop Target because it is a scary, scary, overstimulatingly scary place. All that red? All those circles? The funny shaped roundish holes in the red shopping carts, and when you look down, it's moving over the funky red carpet? The florescent lighting? The music?

That place is Anxiety Attack Central. I can't go in there on a good day, in the middle of a six month span where I'd otherwise had not one anxiety attack.

I can't shop Target, or the death rays will get me.

Ford just bowed to a boycott threat from AFA and pulled all their ads from gay and lesbian magazines. I hope it hurts their business more than if the AFA instituted their boycott.

Huh. I totally missed the part in the Bible where it's immoral for gay people to drive cars.

News of the good. The clash I thought I had between my office Christmas party and catching up with TM!Girl has been resolved. The party doesn't start till after 7, which gives me time to have a drink with TM!Girl during her work break.

I told Bec that IIRC, I'd never been hit on before. She reminded me about this place. Hee.

No one here has hit on you in a memorable enough fashion, bt? I'd offer to do something about that, but Daniel will be up in just a little while, so I'll be to busy to follow through.

No one here has hit on you in a memorable enough fashion, bt? I'd offer to do something about that, but Daniel will be up in just a little while, so I'll be to busy to follow through.

Hee. Nah, it's just that - as Bec also noted - it's different in person.

Good point. Also, the speed of the follow-through is generally better IRL, as no one has to budget for airfare and hotels.

Good point. Also, the speed of the follow-through is generally better IRL, as no one has to budget for airfare and hotels.

True. It remains a booty call, rather than a booty extradition.

Also, the speed of the follow-through is generally better IRL, as no one has to budget for airfare and hotels.

Well, damn. And here I was, all ready to put the pass into passport.

sighs.

Stop making me 'ship you two, Fay. *shaky fist*

Yesterday, Julia (first grade--six and seven year old children) came home with an assignment for Holidays around the world. She has to find customs, traditions, etc., for the holiday and culture of her choice.

Her choice? Christmas in Egypt.

When I explained that she'd find much more material if she either picked another holiday (that was RIGHT OUT--she wants Christmas) or another country, she cried her heart out. I almost sent you a big "EMERGENCY--CHILD IN TEARS" email, Fay.

If she were older, and reading more proficiently, I'd let her go for it with the Christmas in Egypt. The Coptic Christians may have some interesting customs. But a lot of this project, like most of the projects this year with this teacher, will end up being largetly researched by me.

This morning, thank goodness, she woke up determined to study Christmas in Spain, instead.

(Sail, there may be an "EMERGENCY--PLEASE FOR TO HELP ON PROJECT" email, in your future.)

G'morning.

Weatherbug gives a very precise -5.2˚F this morning.

ETA: Who set the outdoors to "January" this week?

Everybody suggest one book they love that was published before 1923.

Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie. Jennie Gerhardt, not because it's his best but because it's less well known. I'd also recommend (even more highly) An American Tragedy, but I think that was 1925 or so.

Anthony Trollope, just about anything. Maybe The Warden because it's (1) fairly short, and (2) the first of the Barsetshire novels. Or Can You Forgive Her?, less because it's one of his best than that it's the first of the Palliser novels, which I prefer as a series to the Barsetshire novels. (Mainly because I lean more toward the political than the religious.) Oh, also The Way We Live Now, because the Gilded Age representation echoes so well today.

Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son.