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Reader's Paradise

BOFH - book club reference...!

19 years ago

Hi all.

One of my favourite regular columns is the BOFH (B@st@rd Operator From Hell). He's a computer operator who spends his time trying his best to ensure that users don't interfere too much with his day-to-day life of gaming, surfing and generally having a good time. He's aided and abetted by his sidekick the PFY (Pimply-Faced Youth), but they don't miss an opportunity to stab each other in the back occasionally....

Anyway, this week's column actually mentions book clubs, so I thought I'd share it with you all...

Here is a link that might be useful: BOFH

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Comments (8)

thyrkas
19 years ago
You mean its us book clubbers that are the geeks and NOT the computer-heads? Never!
Thanks for sharing the link, martin z. Very funny!
sheriz6
19 years ago
Well, I've never line danced, but I confess to playing a lot of D&D back in the late 70's/early 80's when I was in high school (we ARE talking Dungeons & Dragons, right?). I never imagined D&D would have any relationship to a book club membership, though -- quite a different, though still admirable, type of nerdiness, don't you think? *w*
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Thank you all for sharing! So many of you have mentioned excellent books that I had not mentioned. The Historian, for example. Others, like Kristin Lavransdatter, I still want to read, have gone through the trouble to buy, and look at them every now and again as they wait patiently on my shelf. Frieda, I have read Collapse and found it hard to put down. That book formed the basis for many side books into the societies mentioned therein. I have Guns, Germs, and Steel; see note in above paragraph re: books waiting patiently. As for 1491, I KNOW I read it. I remember bits of it, but cannot find it listed in my book journal. I have searched back to 2001 and found nothing. This is odd as I find a perverse sort of satisfaction logging a book into my journal. I also read Tony Horwitz's A Voyage Long and Strange (only 445 pages)which covers a bit of the same ground, but I do not believe I am confusing the two books. annpan, your post made my laugh. You've been robbed! Love it! I recently read the new Elizabeth George book. Most of her Lynley titles are doorstops. But I cannot truly put any of them on a "fan club" list. They were okay, some better than others, but nothing I truly remember, nothing that was thought-provoking. And this last one felt choppy, disconnected, and just plain "off". PAM
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i finish most books that i start, but i have no trouble stopping one if i really don't like it!! it is interesting how some books really appeal to some people and not at all to others! one of my fav books is crime and punishment- probably only because i took a class in college that analyzed it in depth and reading it that way was really amazing!! i loved it and read it a couple of times-- but, i'm sure that i would have put that book down if i had just picked it up and started to read it...
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Rosefolly ......well the craziness would sure fit for my group though we hardly tipple. Our senses of humor seem to sync so that when we get on a roll we really have some great laughs. During one nasty snowstorm one of the girls was getting ready to drive up for our get together and her husband asked : " What do you all DO at these that you'd risk life and limb to get there !!?" LOL. They each hate to miss our "every other week" afternoons during the winter season. And our motto is : " If you're not here we'll talk about you ! " ( all in good fun :0))
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martin_z
Original Author
19 years ago
I admit myself to a little D&Ding, though not for a good few years....! Certainly not line dancing, though.
disputantum
19 years ago
"A two-bag special in comparison."

I thought "two-bagger" was exclusively American slang. I didn't know it had crossed the Atlantic.
martin_z
Original Author
19 years ago
Actually, that went over my head....I understand what it means, but what's the derivation?
disputantum
19 years ago
From the Urban Dictionary: Two Bagger. The first derivation is the one I've always heard.
thyrkas
19 years ago
"Actually, that went over my head" - hmmm, martin z - very punny.
cindydavid4
19 years ago
Line dancing is tons of fun, but then I love country swing. The dance style btw is the descendant of colonial contra dancing, which is descended from old Scottish and English country dancing.

D&D can certainly be bookish, depending on the group. I played with a bunch of college friends, and had a Dungeon Master who'd throw all sorts of literary references into his clues. You bet we'd better know them if we were going to survive the next monster....(I have very fond memories of that group. We played for the three years I was in grad school, and many times it became the only outlet away from school. Wonderful way to escape!)

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