I am about to read a book called ‘The Ninth Crypt’,
A novel I acquired for twenty dollars at the supermarket
But fear I may have made a grave mistake:
Browsing through the blurb I see mention of only
The ninth crypt, all well and good, but what about
The other eight? Perhaps the author is planning prequels
Based on the success of this volume but seeing he is
Now a septuagenarian who came to writing late,
This is most unlikely; perhaps if I bury myself deeply
in the text I shall disinter enough cryptic clues
To keep me happy — but at 800 pages !!! I await
Clarification; in the meantime this tombstone of a novel
Shall stand on my shelf of great unread books.
- have you got any big unread books on your bookshelf?
- photo by Grangeburn on Pinterest
Tome like a tomb. Those gigantic novels that we were supposed to read but decided to live life instead. Maybe an audio version is available?
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🙂 I like that; maybe, but think of the padding that must go into a book of that length 😦 I don’t know how long Gone With the Wind was but it wouldn’t have been as long as the ninth crypt; I didn’t know they still published novels that long; is there even a market for it?
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Well, depends on how many more pandemics are upcoming. 😂 Do they still make readers digest for those types of novels? Still crave my quick fix of great poetry.
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🙂 I don’t even know if Readers’ Digest exist any more; like you, I like the shorter stuff: blog posts, magazine articles, poems, short stories ….
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I did get “small” good news today. One of my haiku are getting published. It will be public on June 4th. I will admit, I got a bit excited to have a “yes” in my inbox, even a wee-bitty one. 😃
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hey, Karen, that’s great! congratulations 🙂
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Thank you, John. 😃 It’s the little things…
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Congratulations!🎉 I know how you feel, I received a yes too. 🙌🏻 it is the “little” things indeed.
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Congratulations; sweet! I look forward to reading your haiku.
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As I do yours, plz post a reminder.
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I have made the decision, a few years back, if I don’t want to read something I don’t, and keeping it won’t make it grow on me, so I get rid of it. Some many things out there that I do want to spend my time reading
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I agree, Beth; a 800+ page novel is not high on my agenda 🙂
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Okay I loved they play with words, to let’s us know this page turner is a doorstop. I have red war &peace, Doctor Zhivago, Crime & Punishment (which was a punishment in itself to get through). But don’t think they were 900+ pages. I also will be having a haiku published on May 27th. I am excited and now have the incentive to submit more of my writing for publication.
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I’ve read those too but they didn’t come close to 900 pages; and o. congratulations on the haiku 🙂 look forward to reading it !
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Thank you, John. Lol they just seemed like 900 pages. I must ask though is it a novel?
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yes, it is and like Beth said in an earlier comment, it is no longer on the bookshelf but has been thrown out —
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Dang spellcheck!!! &*%^}*
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I didn’t notice it at first but now you’ve mentioned it …..
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Geez 900 pages must have had a bad editor. I always recognize my errors after the fact. I laugh because I at one time had a job as a proofreader.
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Lol; now that is funny; I was an English teacher and I still make typos 🙂
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Ah the shelf of unread books 😆😆😆 I have one of those too. Sometimes it looks like a chore, other times it looks like a good thing to look forward to
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🙂 you’re right; it depends on attitude
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So many clever puns! 🙂. A friend and I were joking that I should publish an anthology of poetry called “O Bleak” – both punny and grim. But really you are the punning master. 🙂
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Lol ; thanks for the compliment; I think Hobbo may be my equal, at least; the danger with punning is it can easily slip into being ‘corny’ 🙂
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Indeed. I tried for a corny pun about mummification in my previous comment. 😂. Luckily the Corn Colonel intervened.
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Perhaps it refers to how many books have perished on the To Be Read shelf…
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Lol; I guess we all have them, Chel: books we buy with good intentions , but just linger there like fluff 🙂
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I love the like fluff comment. 😂
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very very bizarre: I don’t know if anyone checked but when I first posted this poem three tears ago when I began this blog, it got NO COMMENTS!! now,the same post, same poem, has got 26 so far , and will get a few more; how bizarre, as the song says 🙂
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the general awareness must have risen?
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yes, maybe that’s it; the post remained the same —
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I had to laugh, I have a few of them collected over the years, but they came in handy for pressing own my watercolour drawings or became useful as door stoppers. It sounds like someone had to full fill a lives passion just before the onset of mental decline or simply was not willing or able to revise, who knows, but a novel of 880 pages sounds excessive?
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ahhh a revelation of sorts there, Michael: have you ever thought of sharing some of your posts online?
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where, how, what do you mean?
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post a few of your paintings on your
website, Michael; take a photo and offload it to your laptop: I do it all the time: photos, that is
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The complete works of William Shakespeare, which I promised I would make myself read, is quietly gathering dust in the spare bedroom. Alone, and unloved!
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I think that would be quite common: I still haven’t read ‘Titus Andronicus’ 😦
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Me neither!
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If you need a few more of those “GIANT” tomes, John, just let me know. I might be able to spare a few. I could mail ’em to ya!
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Lol; thanks but I’m afraid one or two more might be enough to make the book case collapse 🙂
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lol
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Just put it on the shelf. Good decoration along with all the other unreads. Makes it look your learned……
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I always wanted to create that impression, Don, but people can see right through me 🙂
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That’s because they look at your unread book (shelved to give a learned look) on ‘The Day the Stobie Poles Had Their Annual Picnic’ Oooh that looks interesting John, what’s it about? And you give a ‘madhatters tea party’ type account where they all had a good time but ate too much cake…….And you wonder why people see right through you?….
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thanks Don: very funny line about stobie poles: no one else will know what the hell we’re talking about 🙂
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Two silly Aussies rambling on about who knows what?
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Love the play with words, very cryptic.
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little ol’ punning me 🙂
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Hi John, sorry I’m late, was reading a book this past weekend.
Definitely not an 800-pager though!
The trend now is toward serialized books. I think the author would do well to break up the book into shorter ones. It would make it more palatable and profitable, then it won’t just have to look pretty on your bookshelf!. 😀
Enjoy your week, eden
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thanks, Eden; I think the author, to use a song title by the Stones, is ‘out of time’ 🙂
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I really dig your use of wordplay – your stealthy references to graves, crypts, and interment. You had me laid out with some of those.
Hey. My brain just did a weird connect: social distancing = 6 feet (in USA). What else is commonly 6 feet???
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how ironic; we use metric here : 1.5 meters so the connection is not so obvious —
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Oh, and btw, to answer your question: among others, I have Ken Follett’s “A Column of Fire” waiting patiently on my shelves while I take my time acquiring the first two novels in that series. More than 4,400 pages in that set of books.
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my goodness, Ed: can you see yourself getting through all that?
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Um… eventually.
Maybe.
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