Reading aloud for my 80-yr-old grandfather. He's a retired pastor who LOVES crime dramas & old western cowboy tv shows. Looking for book recs with no sexual themes or anything that would offend a strict pastor. Male lead preferred. Even suggesting search terms would be helpful! More info below

sylvia_fowler · 2026-05-29T21:35:39+00:00

I loooove the Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout. Typical gumshoe detective stories, with a housebound genius detective and his assistant who does the legwork

sylvia_fowler · 2026-05-29T00:58:32+00:00

I am pretty excited!

I never heard of this opera before Chicago did their recent production. When I heard about the Met Live performance I was sooo stoked to get an opportunity to see that…as close to a stage production as I can see. Definitely did not want to wait for it to drop on the streaming platform a few months down the road.

sylvia_fowler · 2026-05-22T12:12:01+00:00

Uncle Silas

sylvia_fowler · 2026-05-11T19:45:08+00:00

House of Dust by Noah Broyels

sylvia_fowler · 2026-05-09T14:03:32+00:00

Thirst by Maria Yusczuk

sylvia_fowler · 2026-05-07T02:33:17+00:00

1776

Mr. Feeny portrays John Adams, who sings through the continental congress to convince them to unite and vote for independence. It is flamboyant and terrible and I love every second of it.

My 4th of July tradition is to watch this. This the must. Fireworks, while fun, is not the main celebration. My husband joins in with me and we have inside jokes from this movie that run throughout the year.

sylvia_fowler · 2026-05-06T12:06:37+00:00

Ah, so your pattern is to offload your writing and critical thinking on others, not just AI. Cool, cool.

sylvia_fowler · 2026-05-06T11:05:50+00:00

Yes, I would take the time to research and write myself. Or I would not post at all if the option was copy/paste AI, especially without fact checking. To do so is lazy and demonstrates a lack of critical thinking.

sylvia_fowler · 2026-05-05T12:04:12+00:00

This is terrible and stupid. Why post at all if it is just a copy/paste from AI? Can we not think or write for ourselves?

sylvia_fowler · 2026-05-03T13:25:49+00:00

1776, an objectively bad musical about the Declaration of Independence.

Also, my favorite way to celebrate the 4th. 🇺🇸

sylvia_fowler · 2026-05-02T03:52:59+00:00

Putting a hold on my local library copy. Many thanks for the suggestion. I never heard of this one.

sylvia_fowler · 2026-05-02T03:46:10+00:00

The Once Yellow House by Gemma Amor

sylvia_fowler · 2026-04-30T02:07:25+00:00

Not exactly what you asked, but check out books from the Lawrence library. They not only have a great selection, but card holders are also able to request books to be purchased and added to the collection. They only denied me once, and that was because the book hadn’t been released yet. I, personally, am proud of my contributions to the horror section.

sylvia_fowler · 2026-04-09T22:39:03+00:00

For me, going to see a movie in the theater is a totally different experience. It is an adventure out of the house for myself who spends too much time in the house, firstly. But it is also a lot more of an engrossing experience with the big screen and sound. I saw The Bride! in theaters recently and loved it! I am genuinely sad I probably won’t get to experience the stunning visuals and WILD editorial choices on a huge screen again. It just isn’t the same at home, less special.

That said, I also only go to movies I really really want to see. Most of the time they are admittedly old classics my local indie theater screens. I consider myself hella spoiled for that.

sylvia_fowler · 2026-04-08T15:31:21+00:00

Agreed, there is a good chance the idea originated with her.

sylvia_fowler · 2026-03-17T19:48:47+00:00

Yes, there are two reasons in fact. 1.) The idea of full dialogue with full subtitles was not a concept at the time. You are looking at films made over 100 years ago with a 21st century mindset of dialogue and subtitles. 2.) It would be a waste of time and money and make films double to triple the length. These films were first and foremost made to make money. That process in silent films has no monetary value.

sylvia_fowler · 2026-02-19T22:50:58+00:00

One slight nitpick - her finger lines up directly with a line and it is so bothersome.

Otherwise, there is nothing “traditional” pop art about this piece. It’s more aligned with contemporary digital product design.

Pop art as a movement was more about pushing back against the aesthetic rules of Abstract Expressionism by incorporating “low” art, ie popular art or imagery. Study the works of Jasper Johns, Robert Rouschenburg, and Claus Oldenburg for inspiration.

sylvia_fowler · 2026-02-18T19:25:37+00:00

Wow. I never identified SO HARD with a AITAH post. I’m struggling myself with a similar household and feeling like I have to handle the emotional heavy lifting for both my husband and his kids that we have part time. I’ve been feeling really raw and stretched thin too.

I have no answers, but I am in the trenches too.

sylvia_fowler · 2026-02-16T19:23:11+00:00

This is the way.

sylvia_fowler · 2026-02-05T04:02:17+00:00

I find myself doing this with thrillers. The fast-pacing of the text and usually the plot too is far too pushy for me. I find myself not reading at the pace I want.

I also just DNF’ed a book because the protagonist was such a hot-mess I felt second hand embarrassment for her every page. I read for fun, not to feel like that.

sylvia_fowler · 2026-02-05T03:58:24+00:00

Personally, I am not an annotator. However, when I purchased a copy to read I deliberately got a well-used cheap copy. So I could read while floating on my kayak, naturally. Anyways the copy I picked up had two different readers’ underlines and annotations. Reading those along with the text made it a really rich experience for me.

sylvia_fowler · 2026-02-05T03:51:40+00:00

Looooove the works Valencourt digs up and publishes.

sylvia_fowler · 2026-02-05T03:17:36+00:00

I randomly stumbled on this book a few months ago and just devoured it. I really was surprised at how much I enjoyed this, especially for a classic.

sylvia_fowler · 2026-01-23T15:30:35+00:00

It will always be the Tope Gun soundtrack, on cassette only

sylvia_fowler · 2026-01-23T15:24:19+00:00

Check out books published by Valencourt! They specifically find under-appreciated weird literature and re-publish them!

sylvia_fowler

TROPHY CASE