spiderbill.bsky.social
Scot now living in Slovenia. #ScotsAbroad Semi-retired internet consultant, chess player and administrator, landscape photographer, guitarist, Dorothy Dunnett commentator.
http://www.dorothydunnett.co.uk
1,607 posts
430 followers
95 following
Getting Started
Active Commenter
comment in response to
post
Always a pleasure to chat to you - and not just because it's often Dunnett related. We seem to have similar weird imaginations 😉
comment in response to
post
No Lamuel the Lewd?
comment in response to
post
That would suggest that you're dead - probably killed in a foreign war. The low road is the path the spirit takes to reach home, which is why they get home first, whereas the high road is the normal road taken by the living.
comment in response to
post
"Kids won't be affected - it's just like a cold for them."
Now where did I hear that before?
comment in response to
post
Their damned adverts on Youtube are bad enough. I tried it once just to see what it was like - awful, and very American-biased style.
comment in response to
post
Have also started adding links, including yours.
Lots more to do of course.
comment in response to
post
Have added you in.
comment in response to
post
Have added her in. Also made a start on adding websites and more genre descriptions.
comment in response to
post
Have added him.
comment in response to
post
You've now been added.
comment in response to
post
Have included her as a "possible" but haven't found any references or comments that would confirm an influence. If you find any do let me know.
comment in response to
post
Insanity. No "Smart" appliance will ever find a place in my home.
(By no means a techno-phobe - as a former database expert I long ago predicted what would happen once malicious companies started connecting up data from many different sources.)
comment in response to
post
So sorry, hugs offered.
Not long off the phone with my girlfriend in Amsterdam, who was at funeral of a old friend today and is struggling to cope. Died in his sleep out of the blue.
comment in response to
post
Naturellment!
comment in response to
post
Interesting - hadn't come across that before. Thanks.
comment in response to
post
Absolutely. He handled tension well in the storyline, and the relationships were surprisingly well done for the time - B clearly the leader but showing respect for Algy, and mentoring young Ginger. Could easily have been more class-ridden than it was.
comment in response to
post
I read loads of them as a child, I think there were over a hundred. Very dated of course but inspiring for a young lad. The biggest thing I learned from them - "a plan doesn't have to perfect, it has to be flexible".
comment in response to
post
👇
comment in response to
post
Dorothy Dunnett
Lois Bujold
Arthur Conan Doyle
Lindsey Davis
Ian Rankin
Iain Banks
Isaac Asimov
Linda Gillard
Quintin Jardine
Terry Pratchett
comment in response to
post
Just try and avoid the one where Dr Strange repeats the timeline endlessly, or you have to read the same book for eternity!
Hmmm, which DD book would you want to read forever?
comment in response to
post
2/ some who I've missed. If you know of any other or indeed are an author who loves DD's work, then let me know here or via the contact form on the website.
comment in response to
post
And then they complain that teenagers aren't interested in history anymore...
comment in response to
post
How come they never taught us about that in history at school?
comment in response to
post
One of our regular correspondents here is on her second read and is amazed at how many clues there are which she missed first time around.
comment in response to
post
They were like nothing else that had come before (or since) and can be read on multiple levels and from many perspectives such as: basic plot, detailed plot, characters, politics, relationships, etc. I'm in double figures for reads and I still find new aspects every time.
comment in response to
post
Dorothy herself was far smarter than all her characters put together - but utterly charming and modest.
The trick is to realise that much of the books are about deception - for both good and bad - and the core values needed to survive it.
comment in response to
post
Your husband is half right. They are great fun. They are also uplifting, heartbreaking, breathtaking, incredibly educational (without seeming to be) and have characters who you'll never forget. And Lymond may be the most deceptively moral man you'll ever meet.
comment in response to
post
That's what happens. The citizens of Edinburgh think its normal to have a castle and superb Georgian architecture and a mini-mountain. I now live in a mountain paradise in Slovenia (see the many photos I've posted) and the locals wonder why I love it so much and they rush off to the sea on holiday.
comment in response to
post
Xmas distractions and inexperienced cooks - what could possibly go wrong?
comment in response to
post
Maybe that's why you see those crazy recipes where they stuff small birds inside a pigeon, which is stuffed in a duck, which is stuffed in a goose, which is stuffed in a swan.
comment in response to
post
No roast swan in garlic then? 😉
comment in response to
post
I was pretty sure I'd heard before of them having much more awareness, but couldn't recall the details of exactly which place it was.
comment in response to
post
Ack, typo. I meant 600th of course.
comment in response to
post
Given the reverence her research into Adorne is held in by the people who've been writing the book on him for his 500th anniversary they really should know about her.
comment in response to
post
Given some of my associates it may well have been absinthe!
comment in response to
post
I've seen potatoes that were a bit green... ;-)
comment in response to
post
Welcome to the company of the most enthusiastic re-readers in literature. We have the #Dunnettcontent feed here on Bluesky and I have lots of Lymond articles on my site at www.dorothydunnett.co.uk that you may find interesting.
comment in response to
post
I'm Scottish, what are these green vegetables you speak of?
comment in response to
post
Hope you're having a great time.
comment in response to
post
As far as I know the first person to use that phrase in print/article was Alaya Dawn Johnson in a 2014 article www.npr.org/2014/12/27/3... although many people have said braodly similar, if not exactly the same, things over the years.
Somewhere I should have a long list of authors who are fans.
comment in response to
post
Your employer's Zoom/Teams/Meet accounts are expiring?
comment in response to
post
2/ forceful and charismatic leader to energise them into seeing the enormous potential indepence can provide.
comment in response to
post
Appalled by this result. Swinney appears to be a competent FM and a decent, compassionate man, but he completely lacks charisma. (That's why the establishment played dirty tricks on Sturgeon.) If the general voter is brainwashed by the BBC then they're not seeing reality and it will need a /2
comment in response to
post
Yeah, although I think he'd have dropped out anyway having realised that his talents were behind the studio window rather than in front of the stage. To be fair few singers can take on Anderson's vocals succesfully.
comment in response to
post
I was fine with Owner of a Lonely Heart, it was interesting at least compared with much else that was going on, but the rest of the album was rather forgettable - something that you could never say about classic Yes.