cookerg

cookerg t1_j5tz1bj wrote

I don't have a firm recommendation. I just think the Roger Ackroyd book and Poirot's Last Case in particular, were written after she had amassed a following who were very familiar with her books, and she had honed her craft. So personally I would go roughly in chronological order even though each book is independent with no overarching story line.

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cookerg t1_j5ku5sc wrote

I was told the bottom is left slightly open to accommodate the floor expanding and shrinking due temperature and humidity changes.

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cookerg t1_j5jltia wrote

Tolkein wanted the Lord of the Rings to be presented as an ancient manuscript, rediscovered after a library fire, and he wanted copies to actually be scorched a bit before they were sold, to add some tactile and olfactory sensation reinforcing this notion. His publisher said it couldn't be done.

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cookerg t1_j5hzp0w wrote

Pride and Prejudice and a Tale of Two Cities are written in an English style which is 150-200 years out of date, so even native English speakers find them a little difficult. With War and Peace, since it is a Russian novel, why struggle through an English translation? Might as well get a Norwegian translation.

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cookerg t1_j2f4ipz wrote

There are two ways to cleanly fret strings. One is to to have your fingers come straight down on the finger board so the fingertips don't touch other strings. The other is to deliberately mute any neighbouring strings you don't want to sound, by letting your fingers or your wrapped around thumb or sometimes the edge of your palm touch them lightly as you pluck the strings you want to sound. Each of these techniques takes practice.

I saw a photo with a closeup of Eric Clapton's left hand one time while he was playing, and he had medium length finger nails, and it occurred to me that he must not play a lot of chords with open strings where you must fret with the tip of your finger. Instead he must play mostly using the pulp of the finger (good for bending notes) and either mutes or avoids striking other strings.

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cookerg t1_j2epwdp wrote

Reply to One man band by [deleted]

I'm not sure if you mean playing with them all attached to you, or recording different tracks. I think of a one man band as a guy having multiple instruments strapped to his body at the same time and playing several simultaneously.

I saw a folk/blues performer in a bar one time who stomped a tambourine for rhythm while playing part of his repertoire. I saw somebody else who played guitar and harmonica and also had a kazoo mounted on the rack beside his harmonica. I had already started learning Dylanesque guitar and harmonica performing, so for a while these guys inspired me to try to add the tambourine and kazoo and play two or three together at a time. However I abandoned the extra two pieces after a while as it just was too distracting and not worth the extra effort

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