"When I am old, I will wear purple....etc....Who said that....Here in the states we have armies of purple-wearing "red hat" Ladies. You dig ?

I love this list....it's so.....stupid.

Gee, thanks, Lobstergirl ... :)

"Lila -- der letzte Versuch," Thom? Certainly not for the Red Hat ladies, it would seem! (Nor for Jenny Joseph, who wrote that poem -- I had to look it up, too, though.) Added founder Sue Ellen Cooper's book on the Red Hat Club.

I added the second-last novel of the incomparable and much-lamented, great late Gerard Kornelis van het Reve (better known under the common-place name of Gerard Reve), the most glorious of prose stylists: Het boek van violet en dood, which unfortunately -- and to the tragic loss of the Anglophone world -- is not available in English (yet). The book of violet and death is quite appropriate for this list, as you can see from its lovely purple and blue cover (most of Reve's books published by Veen had covers in shades of red, pink and purple), quite appropriate to its melancholy, nay truly schmerzliche, subject matter.

I just recalled that Reve's characters often wore purple or black velvet trousers....

A great addition -- and it would seem that "De Avonden" fits the criteria for inclusion in this as well!

Wow, U, you amaze me -- you know De Avonden: the book which changed post-WWII Dutch literature!!!

I've been, after my own fashion, mourning the death of Reve (as it is worthwhile learning German simply to appreciate Rilke; so it is worthwhile learning Dutch to appreciate the glories of Reve) these past three years, but today I was cheered immensely by learning that Nop Maas's great biography will start to appear the end of October: the first volume alone is almost 800 pp! And the other two vols are set to appear next year -- so you know what I'll be doing....!

I know OF it, is more like it ... as always, my knowledge is more surface than substance!!

Sounds like you'll be busy reading biographies the next couple weeks -- Reve, Proust; any others ... ?!

Well, that is pretty impressive, even so. At least you won't think Reve is a name I made up if I make some trivia questions about him (for some reason I was move to add one or two Dutch literature questions this morning).

The Reve bio is only set to come out at the end of October, so I'll probably only read it in December. Proust has been shelved; I fear I have other work which must get preference......

I see I have a lot of catching up to do on the trivia -- and a lot of questions to look forward to!

A pity how work always seems to be interfering with our reading, isn't it? I hope you'll be able to catch your breath every now and then at least!

Hey, you guys, why not questions in Dutch, I seem to be running into a bunch of Arabic these days. ...?....!

I've seen Arabic comments on books, but Arabic questions on the trivia?! Gosh, I really DO seem to have missed a lot ...

No, I have come across quite a number lately, and never know whether or not I should flag them (nowhere does it state explicitly that everything on this site must be in English, does it?)

Hmm -- tough call. I seem to remember seeing in the instructions for creating a new book entry that those data should be given in English, but there's nothing equivalent for lists, book reviews and trivia questions.

For lists and book reviews/discussion on books, there arguably is no need -- if people choose only to communicate with those who can read Arabic (or Chinese, Russian, German or Dutch, for that matter), then so be it. It may not be fair towards others who just might want to participate in the discussion, but essentially this kind of self-limitation is a matter of choice. On trivia questions, though, a high percentage of questions that are skipped because people can't actually understand the question being asked will eventually have an impact on people's ranking. Not everybody cares about that -- I personally couldn't care less -- but some seem to do, judging by comments such as "this question broke my streak" and the like. Also, trivia questions are, by design, addressed to the whole Goodreads community. Wouldn't that, then, imply that they should be in the site's main language of communication, too; i.e., in English?

Yes, I tend to agree with you. I saw yesterday that books with Dutch titles tend to have their descriptions in that language, and that sometimes people write their reviews in the language of the books, which is understandable.

I guess one can flag questions in LOTE (languages other than English), but I generally avoid doing such things as I fear the (mostly unreasonable) wrath of others. Like you I am often distressed by the curious competitive streak which comes to the fore in the trivia. Personally I prefer to view it as a place to learn and share interesting bits of trivia, rather than to show how clever or knowledgeable one is. But I guess it takes all sorts, and vindictiveness and other evils go with participating in public fora...?

Maybe this question ought to be raised in one of those discussion groups dedicated to the running of the site? (Personally I've never been able to figure out how to navigate those, and don't have sufficient interest to bother).

Me neither -- but, yes, I suppose that would be a place where to pursue it.

I agree with your view on the trivia ... I enjoy it for the plethora of interesting tidbits I've picked up from the questions, or from following them up on Wikipedia or in a "conventional" (book-format) dictionary. But I suppose wherever you create a system that comes with a ranking, you're also bound to attract people who join the game out of a spirit of competitiveness ... with or without spiteful attitude attached! -- That said, since non-English questions are not expressly prohibited by the rules (and the only reasons for flagging a question are "incorrect" and "spoiler"), you probably couldn't flag any questions just because they're not in English. But, well, whatever. There still are plenty of other interesting questions to answer as it is ... :)

Indeed, which is why I return to the site and the game far too often!

SOME NEGATIVE RESULTS:

I hunted for any BOOK title having to do with PURPLE HAZE but came up empty.
Same thing with DEEP PURPLE.....But since "Purple Haze" is apparently some kind of killer cannabis, maybe we could collaborate on a book about Demon Pot and call it Lost in the Purple Haze, or some such.

..............What about Purple Cows ? (I've never seen one, but...)

Hmm. Purple Cows Lost in the Purple Haze? The Purple Mushroom Monster? Comfort Me With Purple Haze? The Purple Cow's Foot? The Cow in the Purple Hat?

As for real book titles ... there's "Voices in the Purple Haze," which someone already added to the list. I also found "Purple Haze: The Puzzle of Consciousness" on Amazon and added it by way of its ISBN number.

......Do you have Riders of the Purple Sage ?


How about "Naked Came the PURPLE Manatee" by Carl P. Hiassen ?

Think Hiassen would mind if we hijacked his title?

Got "Riders of the Purple Sage," yep. (No. 95 or thereabouts.)