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        <title>Limbo — Ship of Fools</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/</link>
        <pubDate>Sun, 31 May 2026 12:01:02 +0000</pubDate>
        <language>en</language>
            <description>Limbo — Ship of Fools</description>
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    <item>
        <title>Heaven 2025: October Book Discussion: Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6606/heaven-2025-october-book-discussion-anne-of-green-gables-by-lucy-maud-montgomery</link>
        <pubDate>Wed, 01 Oct 2025 15:45:16 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Caissa</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">6606@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[I have a confession to make: I have never read Anne of Green Gables. I have never watched an episode of an Anne TV series and I have never watched an Anne movie. I never visited an Anne tourist location nor seen.<br />
<br />
Despite living in New Brunswick (attached to PEI by a fixed link), having a sister who is an Anne fanatic and knowing an actor from some Anne movie(s) (Genevieve Appleton).<br />
<br />
About a year ago, I found a century old edition of Anne of Green Gables. It ahs been sitting in my to be read piles. I though facilitating a discussion of Anne on the Ship would be exactly the reason I needed to read it. Whether it is your first time reading it or your fifty-first, please, join me in reading the Maritime Canada classic.]]>
        </description>
    </item>
    <item>
        <title>Heaven 2025: September book discussion: Jack, by Marilynne Robinson</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6578/heaven-2025-september-book-discussion-jack-by-marilynne-robinson</link>
        <pubDate>Thu, 04 Sep 2025 15:20:01 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>fineline</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">6578@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[Our September book for discussion is <i>Jack</i>, by Marilynne Robinson. It's the last book in her Gilead quartet.<br />
<br />
It's not necessary to have read the other books, as they are all standalone books about the same characters/community, and they are not in chronological order. We actually discussed Robinson's book, <i>Home</i> (also about Jack, but from the perspective of his sister Glory), back in April 2016, on the old Ship, so if you're curious to see that discussion, go <a href="http://forum.ship-of-fools.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=70;t=029804#000000" rel="nofollow">here</a>.<br />
<br />
There is a Guardian review of <i>Jack</i> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/25/jack-by-marilynne-robinson-review-a-calvinist-romance" rel="nofollow">here</a>, which I found interesting- it views it as a Calvinist romance.<br />
<br />
I will post some questions on 20th September. Apologies for the delay in posting this thread - I was back at work this week after the summer break, and everything else momentarily slipped my mind!]]>
        </description>
    </item>
    <item>
        <title>Heaven 2025: August Book Discussion - Heartburn by Nora Ephron</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6532/heaven-2025-august-book-discussion-heartburn-by-nora-ephron</link>
        <pubDate>Fri, 01 Aug 2025 21:30:07 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Sarasa</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">6532@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[August's book choice is <i>Heartburn</i> by Nora Ephron. It's a semi-biographical novel about the break up of her second marriage. It's a fairly quick read, funny, sad and thought provoking.<br />
As usual I'll post some questions on or around the 20th.]]>
        </description>
    </item>
    <item>
        <title>Heaven 2025: July Book Discussion: West With Giraffes  by Lynda Rutledge</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6484/heaven-2025-july-book-discussion-west-with-giraffes-by-lynda-rutledge</link>
        <pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2025 06:59:49 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Mili</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">6484@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[This month's book is historical fiction, taking inspiration from the true cross country journey of Lofty and Patches, San Diego's Zoo first giraffes. <i>West with Giraffes</i> adds the fictional adventures, trials and hidden secrets of an older man, a young man, Woody Nickel, orphaned by the dust bowl, and a young woman, Augusta, who dreams of becoming a famous photographer, as they transport the giraffes across the U.S. ]]>
        </description>
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    <item>
        <title>Heaven 2025: June Book Discussion: The Wounded Sky by Diane Duane</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6435/heaven-2025-june-book-discussion-the-wounded-sky-by-diane-duane</link>
        <pubDate>Wed, 04 Jun 2025 17:22:52 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Lamb Chopped</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">6435@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise are chosen to test a new intergalactic drive that will take them far from Federation space. Unknown to them, the drive causes tears in reality, which have surprising effects on the crew’s psychology and physiology, increasing the further they go. In the end they come to face to face with something that appears to be a g/God, and how they deal with this encounter will affect the safety and welfare of two universes—including their own.<br />
<br />
(My apologies for the delay--we're dealing with a funeral, a birthday, and travel all at once.)]]>
        </description>
    </item>
    <item>
        <title>Heaven 2025: May Book Discussion - &quot;Remarkably Bright Creatures&quot; by Shelby Van Pelt</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6393/heaven-2025-may-book-discussion-remarkably-bright-creatures-by-shelby-van-pelt</link>
        <pubDate>Thu, 01 May 2025 13:40:59 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Nenya</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">6393@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[Widow Tova Sullivan works as a cleaner at the Sowell Bay Aquarium and strikes up an acquaintance with the resident Pacific octopus, Marcellus. Can this remarkably bright creature get the humans to see the answer to the book's mystery?]]>
        </description>
    </item>
    <item>
        <title>Heaven 2025: Tolkien's works</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/5705/heaven-2025-tolkiens-works</link>
        <pubDate>Tue, 16 Apr 2024 16:04:54 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Ariel</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">5705@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[Since this author seems to be of interest to many, here's a thread for all things Tolkien-related.<br />
<br />
While I enjoyed the LOTR books I have views on the portrayal of women in them. It was very much a Boys' own adventure, periodically enlivened by the remote Arwen, the frosty Eowyn, the garrulous Ioreth, the stay at home Rosie Cotton, the rapacious Lobelia Baggins, and the evil spider Shelob. Only Galadriel comes out of it well. Goldberry doesn't seem to have much personality at all.<br />
<br />
I liked the Orcs. They could be refreshingly rude and sparky. I don't think the films did them any favours.<br />
<br />
Over to you...]]>
        </description>
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        <title>Heaven 2025: Book Club for April: &quot;City of Secrets&quot;</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6344/heaven-2025-book-club-for-april-city-of-secrets</link>
        <pubDate>Sun, 30 Mar 2025 09:12:24 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Tukai</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">6344@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[The book “City of Secrets” by Stewart O'Nan is a fairly short but eventful novel set in Jerusalem, as part of the British colony, soon after World War 2. The principal is a Jew who survived the war and has moved to start a new life from Europe.  The book sets out some of his adventures as he joins one of the gangs of Jews who are trying by violence to drive out the British.<br />
Part of the interest of the book is partly because the  State of Israel is where rebellions still continue , but now are the Arab population rebelling the current government whose forerunners were the other way round.<br />
But can we in this discussion keep the book on its own story and its skill in based on the history of the 1940s rather than the politics of the 2020s.  I’ll offer some questions as starters for discussion later in the month.<br />
book]]>
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        <title>Heaven 2025: March Book Discussion - &quot;Orbital&quot; by Samantha Harvey</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6297/heaven-2025-march-book-discussion-orbital-by-samantha-harvey</link>
        <pubDate>Sat, 01 Mar 2025 14:49:55 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Nenya</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">6297@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[March's book is <i>Orbital</i> by Samantha Harvey - the 2024 Booker Prize winner.<br />
<br />
Over the course of 24 hours, six astronauts orbit the earth 16 times and contemplate the earth, humanity and the meaning of life.<br />
<br />
I was given my copy by a friend who loved it and has read it twice. I've read it once, am not at all sure what I think of it and look forward to the reread and to hearing how other people find it.]]>
        </description>
    </item>
    <item>
        <title>Heaven 2025: Dogs or cats?  Let's have a heavenly argument! 😇</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6328/heaven-2025-dogs-or-cats-lets-have-a-heavenly-argument</link>
        <pubDate>Sun, 23 Mar 2025 15:38:27 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Boogie</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">6328@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[This was a tangent on another thread.<br />
<br />
So - which are better in every way, dogs or cats?<br />
<br />
No <a href="http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/profile/Gamma%20Gamaliel" rel="nofollow">@Gamma Gamaliel</a> - style 'both/and' allowed!  😂]]>
        </description>
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        <title>Heaven 2025: February Book Club Discussion - Frost in May by Antonia White</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6247/heaven-2025-february-book-club-discussion-frost-in-may-by-antonia-white</link>
        <pubDate>Sat, 01 Feb 2025 13:45:07 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Sarasa</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">6247@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[This month's book is <i>Frost in May</i> by Antonia White. Its the story of a young girls years in a convent boarding school, and very much based on the author's experience.<br />
<br />
I'll be posting some questions on the 20th. In the meantime this is a school story. Is that a genre you like or not and if you do what are your favourites in the genre.<br />
<br />
Although there is nothing very explicit in this book some of the themes might cause distress to anyone who has been in a similar situation as this <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/09/growing-pains-antonia-white-frost-in-may" rel="nofollow">review</a> highlights.]]>
        </description>
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        <title>Heaven 2025: January Book Club - The Mould in Dr Florey's Coat by Eric Lax</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6134/heaven-2025-january-book-club-the-mould-in-dr-floreys-coat-by-eric-lax</link>
        <pubDate>Fri, 27 Dec 2024 17:35:29 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Sandemaniac</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">6134@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[I realise I'm starting early, but I'm laid up on bed with lurgi railing at all the things I intended to do in my spare time today, and this felt like something productive and achievable. So here goes.<br />
<br />
Trigger warning - some of the correspondence quoted between Florey and his wife is jaw-droppingly insensitive.<br />
<br />
The story of the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming (quick quiz - can anyone name any other players in the story without reading the book?) after it accidentally blew into his lab is well known.<br />
<br />
What's not so well known is that,  even though Fleming was among the first to do some research on the activity of mould extracts on bacteria, which was a long-known phenomenon, it took over a decade before penicillin became a life-saver, a war-winning tool in the hands of the Allies that landed with the troops on D-Day.<br />
<br />
In that time a myth was made by a newspaper baron that has become known the world over and hides the truth of who made it into the life-saver.<br />
<br />
Lax's book covers both the real story and the myth, and weaves them into a compelling narrative of the groundbreaking drug.<br />
<br />
I will come up with some questions around the 20th. How many readers/intended readers are there?  Please feel free to put your hand up and share your interest in the book,  as that may help me set questions.]]>
        </description>
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        <title>Purgatory: 2024 U.S. Presidential Election Thread (Epiphanies rules apply)</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/5169/purgatory-2024-u-s-presidential-election-thread-epiphanies-rules-apply</link>
        <pubDate>Sun, 23 Jul 2023 14:04:59 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Crœsos</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">5169@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[We are exactly one month away from the first Republican presidential debate (23 August 2023) of the 2024 election so it seemed like a good time to start an election thread.  Since the Democrats have an incumbent president running for re-election there are no Democratic primary debates currently scheduled.  At the moment it's looking like it's going to be a rematch of the 2020 presidential election.  Here are the candidates currently in the running, sorted by party and in descending order of polled support.<br />
<br />
<b><u>REPUBLICANS</u></b><br />
<br />
<b>Donald John Trump:</b>  Despite multiple felony indictments Trump is still the heavy favorite to win the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.  Not much needs to be said here since we've mostly said it all somewhere else on the Ship over the past eight years.<br />
<br />
<b>Ronald Dion DeSantis:</b>  Currently the governor of Florida, DeSantis is the only declared Republican candidate other than Trump polling double-digit support.  He mostly seems to be running on a platform of deliberate cruelty to anyone who isn't a straight white man.  Despite a lot of assistance from the political press who want to cast him as the Responsible Republican Daddy they all crave his campaign has been in free-fall since he announced his candidacy.<br />
<br />
<b>Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy:</b>  An entrepreneur who has never held elected office.  In addition to the usual Republican positions of cruelty towards women and LGBTQ+ people, Ramaswamy has pledged to rule by decree, fire half the federal workforce, and limit the employment tenure of the remaining federal workers to eight years at most.  He also holds pro-Russian positions on the Ukraine War, proposing to cede to Russia Ukrainian territory currently occupied.<br />
<br />
<b>Michael Richard Pence:</b>  Trump's ex-vice president*.  It's very difficult to pin down what Pence's policy positions are for his run for president.  He mostly seems to be running on his record with Trump, but with no explanation as to why someone who found that appealing wouldn't just vote for Trump.<br />
<br />
<b>Nimarata Nikki Haley (née Randhawa):</b>  Former governor of South Carolina and former U.N. Ambassador.  Haley believes DeSantis' &quot;Don't Say Gay&quot; law doesn't go far enough.  She's a bit of an outlier in the Republican field when it comes to Russia's war against Ukraine, having taken a pro-Ukrainian position.<br />
<br />
<b>Timothy Eugene Scott:</b>  Currently represents South Carolina in the U.S. Senate.  Mostly holds standard Republican views but admits that racism is a real thing and disagrees with Trump that there were &quot;good people on both sides&quot; of the fascist rally in Charlottesville, VA.<br />
<br />
<b>Christopher James Christie:</b>  Former governor of New Jersey.  The highest polling Republican (currently ~2.1%) willing to call out Donald Trump on his criminality and abuse of power.  Supported Trump as recently as 2020, when Christie was Trump's debate coach.  Aside from his opposition to Donald Trump Christie holds fairly standard Republican positions.<br />
<br />
<b>Douglas James Burgum:</b>  Current governor of North Dakota.  Standard Republican policy positions and currently polling at less than 0.5%.<br />
<br />
<b>William Asa Hutchinson II:</b>  Former governor of Arkansas.  Like Christie, Hutchinson is willing to openly criticize Donald Trump.  Otherwise a standard-issue Republican.<br />
<br />
<b>Francis Xavier Suarez:</b>  Current mayor of Miami, FL.  Aside from some very tepid support for the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans Suarez is a standard Republican.<br />
<br />
There are others in the Republican field, but their support as currently polled is minimal.  Most of the Republican candidacies at this point seem to be employing a &quot;hoping Trump dies&quot; strategy.<br />
<br />
<b><u>DEMOCRATS</u></b><br />
<br />
<b>Joseph Robinette Biden:</b>  Current President of the United States.  President Biden is almost certain to win his party's nomination for president.<br />
<br />
<b>Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr.:</b>  A conspiracy theorist who has never held elected office.  RFK, Jr. holds surprisingly anti-Ukrainian views and claims COVID-19 was a genetically engineered bioweapon built to target white and black people and be less dangerous to Chinese and Ashkenazi Jews.  His support among his only true constituency (the American political press) has collapsed recently when he started getting more press coverage.  Ironic.<br />
<br />
<b>Marianne Deborah Williamson:</b>  A self-help author who has never held elected office. Williamson is mostly notable for running for president in the 2020 Democratic primary and securing zero delegates.  It is almost impossible to distinguish her alleged presidential campaign from an exercise in getting free publicity.]]>
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        <title>Kerygmania 2024: Christmas through the eyes...</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6075/kerygmania-2024-christmas-through-the-eyes</link>
        <pubDate>Fri, 29 Nov 2024 23:11:13 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>jay_emm</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">6075@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[It's practically advent.<br />
So I thought a thread looking at the experiences of the various characters in the Christmas narratives might be interesting.<br />
<br />
we have Jesus (the Word of John and baby), Mary, Elizabeth/Zechariah, Shepherds, Angels, Simeon and Anna, Joseph, Maji, Herod.  And then various people implied or described in tradition, film or elsewhere (e.g. the innkeeper)<br />
<br />
So to begin with the shepherds.<br />
<br />
At least as presented in Hallmark cards, seeing an angel (especially as a group) must be pretty life changing.<br />
Maybe it is easier to let a memory fade.  Or maybe the Angel was more of a Messenger (from the town)<br />
But imagine the conversation with Rabbis in years to come &quot; you have your second hand teaching but we've seen it&quot;.<br />
How was the journey to the place, presumably&quot;the place with a new-born baby&quot; didnt need much searching for.<br />
If they left their flocks, did they come to them scattered?<br />
<br />
]]>
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        <title>Heaven 2024: December Book Club: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6084/heaven-2024-december-book-club-the-yiddish-policemens-union-by-michael-chabon</link>
        <pubDate>Tue, 03 Dec 2024 16:23:27 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Caissa</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">6084@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[This was the first book that introduced me to Michael Chabon. I have subsequently read all of his books. A little information about the book, courtesy of Wikipaedia.<br />
<br />
The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a 2007 novel by American author Michael Chabon.[1] The novel is a detective story set in an alternative history version of the present day, based on the premise that during World War II, a temporary settlement for Jewish refugees was established in Sitka, Alaska, in 1941, and that the fledgling State of Israel was destroyed in 1948. The novel is set in Sitka, which it depicts as a large, Yiddish-speaking metropolis.<br />
<br />
The Yiddish Policemen's Union won a number of science fiction awards: the Nebula Award for Best Novel, the Locus Award for Best SF Novel, the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and the Sidewise Award for Alternate History for Best Novel. It was shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel and the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel.<br />
<br />
Questions will be dropped between the 20th and 23rd.]]>
        </description>
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        <title>Purgatory 2024: Post Election Debrief:  Where to go from here?</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6031/purgatory-2024-post-election-debrief-where-to-go-from-here</link>
        <pubDate>Wed, 06 Nov 2024 16:26:15 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Gramps49</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">6031@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[We have talked a lot about the evil of Trump, now let's talk about the possibilities of Harris and the Democratic party.<br />
<br />
Where do you think Harris could have done better?<br />
<br />
I think the biggest mistake of Harris was her selection of her running mate.  While I liked what Walz did bring to the table, it was not enough.   I think Shapiro of Pennsylvania would have kept the state in the blue category.<br />
<br />
A standard line in failed elections is:  It (was) the Economy, stupid.   I think more emphasis should have been on the economy.  People are concerned about pocketbook issues more than anything else.  I hate to think about what the Trump economy will look like.  It will likely be worse.  Trumps proposed tariffs will take a big bite out of the pocketbook.  We had a congress seat being contested by to Republicans, one who voted to impeach Trump, the other who was endorsed by Trump.  The Republican who voted to impeach won, because a PAC against the tariffs hammered the Trump endorsee with how much the proposed tariffs would raise prices on everything--even kitty litter.<br />
<br />
I hope Harris will run again.  I still think she is the best choice for Democrats.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, it will be trench warfare.<br />
<br />
But, you know what?  The sun came up this morning.  Moving forward is the only choice we have.]]>
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        <title>Heaven 2024: November Book Club: The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6026/heaven-2024-november-book-club-the-blue-castle-by-l-m-montgomery</link>
        <pubDate>Mon, 04 Nov 2024 00:19:19 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Trudy</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">6026@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[This month's book is <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/95693.The_Blue_Castle" rel="nofollow">The Blue Castle</a>, first published in 1926 by Canadian writer Lucy Maud Montgomery, who is best known as the author of <i>Anne of Green Gables</i>. <i>The Blue Castle</i>, beloved by many Montgomery fans, differs from many of Montgomery's best known works in a few ways: it is a stand-alone novel, rather than part of a series like the Anne, Emily, or Pat books, and we meet the heroine, Valancy Stirling, when she is already a woman in her late 20s, rather than a child (Montgomery's best-known works begin with the main characters as girls of 11 or 12, and follow those characters through adolescence into adulthood).<br />
<br />
In many ways <i>The Blue Castle</i> has a lot of the tropes of the classic romance novel, but it's interesting to see the way in which Montgomery plays with those tropes, and how her exploration of romance and womanhood is both similar to, and different from, her other works, and other popular women's fiction of her era.<br />
<br />
Let me know who's in for this reading! I'll also be curious to know if it's a reread for anyone, and if you have read anything else by Montgomery. I will post discussion questions around the 20th of the month, as usual, so please refrain from spoilers in this thread until then.]]>
        </description>
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        <title>Purgatory 2024: Neutrality in News Outlets</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/5997/purgatory-2024-neutrality-in-news-outlets</link>
        <pubDate>Tue, 22 Oct 2024 08:56:13 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Hugal</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">5997@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[Inspired by discussion on another thread I wondered about neutrality in the News.<br />
What does neutral mean? Does it divert things from reality? How does a news media’s general stance influence what is neutral.<br />
To get us going some ex BBC news staff have said that finding an opposing view on a subject from experts was sometimes very difficult. The BBC shows its neutrality by giving both sides of the argument. It had sometimes taken hours to find an opposing voice because most experts agree. This may be neutral in the eyes of the BBC but it isn’t reality. ]]>
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        <title>Heaven 2024: October Book Club - A Rising Man by Abir Mukerjee</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/5970/heaven-2024-october-book-club-a-rising-man-by-abir-mukerjee</link>
        <pubDate>Tue, 01 Oct 2024 09:57:39 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Sarasa</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">5970@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[This month's book choice is <a href="https://abirmukherjee.com/books/a-rising-man/#:~:text=India,%201919.%20Desperate%20for%20a%20fresh%20start,%20Captain%20Sam%20Wyndham" rel="nofollow">A Rising Man</a> by Abir Mukerjee.<br />
Like last month's pick it is a crime novel, but a very different one as it is set in India in 1919 and the narrative is rather more traditional.<br />
I found it interesting not just a a whodunnit but as a historical novel set in India at a time of unrest. I read it just after seeing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RRR#:~:text=RRR%20is%20an%20entirely%20fictitious%20story%20incorporating%20the%20lives%20of#:~:text=RRR%20is%20an%20entirely%20fictitious%20story%20incorporating%20the%20lives%20of" rel="nofollow">RRR</a>, an Indian film set in the same period which although very diffent does give a bit of insight into the politics of the situation from the Indian point of view.<br />
As usual I'll post some questions on the 20th.<br />
<br />
<i>Minor code fix<br />
jj-HH</i>]]>
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        <title>Purg 2024: The trials and tribulations of an ex-president (including SCOTUS on the 14th amendment)</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/3170/purg-2024-the-trials-and-tribulations-of-an-ex-president-including-scotus-on-the-14th-amendment</link>
        <pubDate>Sun, 24 Jan 2021 01:34:27 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Tukai</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">3170@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[Since T---p is no longer president of the USA (thank God!) , hosts and Lamb Chopped have closed that thread.  Although there is one on the Biden-Harris administration very much still current, I personally would prefer to keep that focussed positive agendas  and not retribution, as I believe Biden intends to do the same (i.e. keep himself aloof from impeachment and related proceedings).<br />
<br />
So (hosts permitting, I trust) I've opened this new thread to cover impeachment, and the various courts and creditors who are now set to bedevil the former president.   ]]>
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        <title>Epiphanies 2024: On the prospect of late middle age / old(-er) age</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/5752/epiphanies-2024-on-the-prospect-of-late-middle-age-old-er-age</link>
        <pubDate>Tue, 14 May 2024 15:12:17 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>The_Riv</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">5752@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[It's not sitting well with me. For all intents and purposes I'm just fine (and grateful for that). I don't, or can't seem to sleep through the night any more, and I've started keeping a list of what are now regular aches and pains. Those things don't really bother me. But the summers and sunsets I have remaining are surely fewer than the sunsets and summers I've seen, and that does bother me. I understand that I'm not going to be able to read <i>all</i> of the books I want to, and that bothers me. I'm not able to spend my free time with the people I'd like to most, and that bothers me. A lot. Etcetera.<br />
<br />
So, if you're in a similar stage of life, or have found that you've moved beyond it gracefully, please share your experience here, particularly if you strained against it at the onset. Of course, the idea of an afterlife doesn't register/resonate with me any more, so that's one thing that definitely won't help, but it'd be nice for some encouraging and inspiring news from the more experienced among us. ]]>
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        <title>Heaven 2024: September Book Club: The Appeal by Janice Hallett</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/5927/heaven-2024-september-book-club-the-appeal-by-janice-hallett</link>
        <pubDate>Mon, 02 Sep 2024 17:34:24 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Caissa</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">5927@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[Doublethink has graciously offered to facilitate this month's reading of The Appeal by Janice Hallett. This provides a brief synopsis <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Appeal-Novel-Janice-Hallett-ebook/dp/B098433CGQ" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.ca/Appeal-Novel-Janice-Hallett-ebook/dp/B098433CGQ</a><br />
]]>
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        <title>Purgatory 2024: Pope Francis' controversial statements.</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/5946/purgatory-2024-pope-francis-controversial-statements</link>
        <pubDate>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 09:42:28 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>pablito1954</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">5946@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[In January of this year, Pope Francis said, on Italian television, the he believes hell is empty. He emphasised that this is his personal view, not a matter of doctrine. Last week, at an interfaith youth group in Singapore, he said that all religions are pathways to God. They are like different languages, saying the same thing. When he comes out with these things, someone in the Vatican, in exasperation no doubt, usually issues a modified translation, rowing for the shore as much as possible!<br />
<br />
I have always considered myself a heretic, though I have a lifelong devotion to Jesus, for believing precisely those things. If all religions are valid pathways to God, then that brings into question the exclusive claims many Christians make of Christ as the unique and only way to God.<br />
<br />
Of course it can be interpreted two ways. One is that Christ is the only way to salvation, but those brought up in another faith can receive salvation through him without specifically knowing it. The other is that other religions can be valid on their own terms. It's a dilemma I have never been able to resolve to my satisfaction.<br />
<br />
I don't think there are many Catholics on this forum, but the Pope, as leader of what is by far the world's largest Christian denomination, has a lot of authority. If I'm doubting my own Christian credentials for believing exactly what he says in public statements, maybe I'm worrying too much!]]>
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        <title>Purgatory 2024: Could anyone tell me...</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/5914/purgatory-2024-could-anyone-tell-me</link>
        <pubDate>Sat, 24 Aug 2024 16:14:05 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Martin54</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">5914@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[<b><i></i></b>...how <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis%27s_trilemma" rel="nofollow">Lewis's trilemma</a> isn't false?]]>
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        <title>Heaven 2024: Heart warming stories from the Ship</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/5905/heaven-2024-heart-warming-stories-from-the-ship</link>
        <pubDate>Mon, 19 Aug 2024 10:56:39 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Hugal</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">5905@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[We are a great bunch of people. What are the good stories about the ship?<br />
I will start.<br />
A while back now one shipmate Miss Molly was dying of cancer. Many shipmates made decorated squares of fabric which were stitched together into a quilt and sent to Moss Molly. She loved it. She asked the hospital staff to put it over her as she passed on so she would be surrounded by friends.<br />
Stories don’t have to be that big. They can be nice things we have done.]]>
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        <title>Heaven 2024: July Book Group: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/5824/heaven-2024-july-book-group-northanger-abbey-by-jane-austen</link>
        <pubDate>Wed, 03 Jul 2024 11:21:43 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Caissa</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">5824@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[I am a bit late to the party starting this thread. As a Canadian, I never had to study Jane Austen in school. In fact, I have never read any of her novels. Earlier this year, I picked up a copy of Northanger Abbey at a secondhand book sale. I thought this was a wonderful opportunity to read my first Austen book. I felt that scheduling it for the book group would provide me the motivation to read it. So here we are! Questions will be posted around the 20th.]]>
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        <title>Heaven 2024: August Book Group: Montgomery Bon Bon, Murder at the Museum by Alasdair Beckett-King</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/5868/heaven-2024-august-book-group-montgomery-bon-bon-murder-at-the-museum-by-alasdair-beckett-king</link>
        <pubDate>Thu, 01 Aug 2024 07:33:34 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Mili</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">5868@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[This is our quick read for August, a children's murder mystery about a 10 year old girl Bonnie Montgomery who has a secret identity as a moustachioed detective by author and comedian Alasdair Beckett-King.<br />
<br />
Caissa has let me know their may be an issue accessing the book in the US and Canada as it has not been released there yet. The third book in the series is put in the UK soon and this one was available in Australia so sorry for not realising it was not available in other English speaking parts of the world.<br />
<br />
I hope a few people are able to join the discussion or if not I recommend it for children and the young at heart when it is released in North America next January.]]>
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        <title>Purgatory 2024: What constitutes &quot;a religious belief?&quot;  Does atheism fit those criteria?</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/5809/purgatory-2024-what-constitutes-a-religious-belief-does-atheism-fit-those-criteria</link>
        <pubDate>Fri, 21 Jun 2024 01:19:46 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Kendel</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">5809@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[Over in the <a href="https://forums.shipoffools.com/discussion/5805/does-god-care-what-we-believe-is-happening-in-the-eucharist#latest" rel="nofollow">Eucharist thread</a> <a href="http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/profile/Eirenist" rel="nofollow">@Eirenist</a> <a href="http://https://forums.shipoffools.com/discussion/comment/666831/#Comment_666831" rel="nofollow">posed the question</a> whether atheism is a religious belief.  I've heard similar claims before.   Let's hash it out here.<br />
Have at it.]]>
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        <title>Purgatory 2024: The boring thread on how we know what we know about what Jesus said and did</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/5659/purgatory-2024-the-boring-thread-on-how-we-know-what-we-know-about-what-jesus-said-and-did</link>
        <pubDate>Sat, 23 Mar 2024 01:54:16 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>Lamb Chopped</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">5659@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[This thread is started in response to The_Riv's invitation below. It will doubtless consist of a bunch of boring numbers and citations and stultifying arguments; so run away now, while you still can.<br />

<blockquote>
<div><a rel="nofollow" href="/index.php?p=/profile/The_Riv">The_Riv</a> wrote: <a rel="nofollow" href="/index.php?p=/discussion/comment/649589#Comment_649589">»</a></div>
<div><br />
Surely you've grappled with these ideas that plague me: we can and do know that ancient manuscripts are fragmentary, and that there are a myriad of discrepancies between them. We can and do know that many of those discrepancies are immaterial to the message they're conveying, but we also can and do know that some of them render significant contradictions and implausibilities, that there have been deliberate, purposeful alterations, additions, and deletions.  We can and do know close approximations of the time gaps presented between the best estimations of when events in the bible happened and when they were first written about, by whom, and in what context.  What we cannot and do not know is what Jesus actually said and did.  Of course, the same is true of Socrates, but he didn't make the claims Jesus &amp; Jesus' followers allegedly did.  We can and do have a pretty good grasp on the idea that Paul (&amp; others) didn't actually write all of the letters attributed to him (&amp; them).  That's a huge problem considering the harmful legacy of some of those disputed letters.  There's the Apocrypha -- canonical to only a select collection of Christians.  There are other Gospels and other books that have been removed from those traditions, but survive in others.  And yet the Bible is a fundamental aspect of the faith(s), taken by many/most Christians only via the RCL which is a mere fraction of the whole text.  So, I struggle mightily to think of it as anything more than an anthology of wonderful literature.  Divine?  Absolutely not.  Inerrant?  Absolutely not.  Univocal?  Absolutely not.  Prophetic?  Absolutely not.  Historical?  On the whole -- absolutely not.  Can it be &quot;true,&quot; then?  True?!  I don't see how.</div>
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
<div><a rel="nofollow" href="/index.php?p=/profile/Lamb%20Chopped">Lamb Chopped</a> wrote: <a rel="nofollow" href="/index.php?p=/discussion/comment/649691#Comment_649691">»</a></div>
<div>Okay, since you keep bringing this stuff up... Do you want me to start a separate thread where I can go through the many and various LOOOOOONGGGG answers I have to these questions? Because if I do it here, truly I think someone will bite my face off. And they'd be justified.</div>
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
<div><a rel="nofollow" href="/index.php?p=/profile/The_Riv">The_Riv</a> wrote: <a rel="nofollow" href="/index.php?p=/discussion/comment/649589#Comment_649589">»</a></div>
<div>How could anyone decline such an invitation.</div>
</blockquote>
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        <title>Purgatory 2024: Time out? Should there be statutes of limitations?</title>
        <link>http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/5880/purgatory-2024-time-out-should-there-be-statutes-of-limitations</link>
        <pubDate>Wed, 07 Aug 2024 20:45:54 +0000</pubDate>
        <category>Limbo</category>
        <dc:creator>System</dc:creator>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">5880@/index.php?p=/discussions</guid>
        <description><![CDATA[This discussion was created from comments split from: <a rel="nofollow" href="/discussion/3170/the-trials-and-tribulations-of-an-ex-president-including-scotus-on-the-14th-amendment/">The trials and tribulations of an ex-president (including SCOTUS on the 14th amendment)</a>.]]>
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