Eggp > Recent Status Updates

Wiki: "It was a state of mind Robert Burton — about whom I was writing a book — would have well understood."

B09 - CH05
The war is over! Sunny lands Tuffy, Widmerpool lands Pam (& Stringham's money), Finn gets a salmon, Nick meets Mrs. Flores after the victory day service, AND gets a free outfit.

Volume 3: Autumn. Est. 1940-1945.

B07. The Valley of Bones - 23-24 Nov, 5 stars. 1940. 34%

B08. The Soldier's Art - 25-26 Nov, 5 stars. 1941. 30%

B09. The Military Philosophers - 28-30 Nov, 4 stars. 1942-1945. 36%

Wiki: "Some years after the war I ran into Slade in Jermyn Street, by the hat shop with the stuffed cat in the window smoking a cigarette."

B09 - CH03
Endless bombings drive Nick out at night to his neighbors, Pam is persuaded to have her palm read. Promoted, Nick is in liason with more countries. Bombings continue.

B09 - CH04
Nick & co. head to France to meet higher ups, deals with bathroom facilities. He visits his old regiment, but is barely remembered. Duport arranges to meet up, disclosing Templer's death & Pam's success in sleeping her way up.

Word: "Odo the Stoat we used to call him."

1. The European ermine, Putorius ermineus or Mustela erminea, esp. when in its brown summer coat.

2. fig., esp. a treacherous fellow; a sexually aggressive man, a lecher.

B09 - CH01
Pennistone's friendship pays off, getting Nick a job with the Poles. Standing in at a meeting, Nick encounters Widmerpool & Templer in positions of power. Charles' niece Pamela says that he's missing in Singapore.

B09 - CH02
Moved on to Belgians & Czechs, Nick avoids dealing with embarrassing Polish incidents. Pam is now infamous for causing trouble with/for men, even Widmerpool deigns to notice her.

Word: "...the only pictures in the building, a huge pair of subfusc massively framed oil-paintings, subject and technique of which I could rarely pass without re-examination."

1. Of dusky, dull, or sombre hue; spec. of clothing: dark, as prescribed by the regulations of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge for examinations and other formal occasions.

B08 - CH03
Upheaval at Div HQ, everyone seems to have a new position except Nick. Bithel's out on his ass, Barnby is shot down, Widmerpool's higher placement might be jeopardized by his sneaky dealings, Stringham is at peace going overseas. Nick receives another last minute mystery summons, this time to the War Office.

B08 - CH01
Nick works around Widmerpool's petty intrigues & plotting, a general takes an interest in Nick's future after bookchat. A rough looking Stringham appears as waiter, erratic but content with his position.

B08 - CH02
On leave, Nick fails a job interview, hears Chips' marriage woes, meets lovers Hugh & Mrs. Maclintick, also lovers Priscilla & Odo. Chips, Molly, Priscilla (and others) die in blitz attacks.

B07 - CH03
Nick makes friends everywhere, even Jean's old lover spills his guts. His leave is chaotic, surprising romances are introduced. Nick & brother in-law must rush off at the worst possible time.

B07 - CH04
Men die, Captain Gwatkins grows sloppy after falling for a bar maid, leading to his removal as company commander. Nick is mysteriously sent to HQ only to be greeted by his new boss, of course, Widmerpool.

Word: "This answer must have had a very irritating effect on Maelgwyn-Jones, whose voice crepitated for several minutes."

1. To break wind.

2. Of certain beetles: To eject a pungent fluid suddenly with a sharp report.

3. To make a crackling sound, to crackle: spec. of the tissue of the lungs.

4. To rattle: said of the sound made by the crepitaculum of the rattle-snake.

B07 - CH01
Jenkins meets his fellow officers, (except one older odd duck) all much younger local men. Drunk, they decide to prank the old fellow, but he dances it off.

B07 - CH02
Nick seems to be get along/be well liked. Training involves a lot of nit-picking over small details, stress brings out personalities. A man in Nick's platoon has marital issues that may or may not have contributed to his ambiguous death.

22. Straw, 3 stars. Two people unwillingly involved in a disaster are kept together in a nursing home.
23. Absent from Felicity, 2 stars. Horatio bones the new king because he's sad about Hamlet.
24. The World Without Sleep, 3 stars. [2019]
25. After the Dragon, 3 stars. Woman survives a devastating accident, learns to move on.

18. No Man’s Land, 3 stars. Soldier Freaky Friday's into the body of the enemy.
19. National Geographic On Assignment: Mermaids of the Old West, 1 star. Photographer briefly thinks about his task.
20. A Night in Electric Squidland, 3 stars. Paranormal cops investigate nightclub involved with multiple missing people.
21. Impostors, 3 stars. Paranormal cops investigate unconnected suicides with the same pattern.

14. Fiddleback Ferns, 3 stars. Family blames sickness on weird aggressive plants.
15. Three Letters from the Queen of Elflands, 3 stars. Oblivious husband is shocked by his wife's hidden love letters.
16. Night Train: Heading West, 2 stars. Poem observing fellow passengers.
17. The Séance at Chisholm End, 4 stars. Servant attempts to warn her employer after eventful séance, is harshly rebuffed.

Word: "There was a spinney at the bottom of our garden with a stream running through it."

1. A thorn-hedge.

2. A small wood or copse, esp. one planted or preserved for sheltering game-birds; a small clump or plantation of trees.

10. Amante Dorée, 3 stars. American courtesan with secrets becomes friendly with an English spy.
11. Somewhere Beneath Those Waves Was Her Home, 3 stars. Unhappy wife and miserable hostage work together.
12. Darkness, as a Bride, 3 stars. Town tries to cheat a sea monster out of a virgin.
13. Katabasis: Seraphic Trains, 3 stars. Musician loves poet, poet loves psychic vampire, musician tries to rescue poet.

Wiki: "Those who know the story of Thomas the Rhymer — and even some who don’t — insist that all these people, blest or damned as they may be, must be poets."

06. The Butcher’s Table, 4 stars. Lovers from opposing satanic sects engineer a ritual feast, pirates with ulterior motives provide transportation.

05. The Visible Filth, 4 stars. Dirtbag bartender finds a lost phone with creepy messages, can't bring himself to let it go.

05. The Watcher in the Corners, 4 stars. Disappearance of employer's little boy seems hinky.
06. The Half-Sister, 2 stars. Ugly stepsister is bitter about her unadventurous life.
07. Ashes, Ashes, 3 stars. Pregnant woman hears singing in the woods, follows it.
08. Sidhe Tigers, 2 stars. Cold house is haunted by green ghost tigers.
09. A Light in Troy, 3 stars. Conquered woman finds a wild child at the beach.

Word: "I wanted our success to be greeted with dazzling sunlight, but instead we had gray louring clouds and snow."

1. Of persons (occas. of animals), their looks, etc.: Frowning, scowling; angry-looking, gloomy, sullen.

2. Of the clouds, sky, weather, etc.
  a. Gloomy, dark, threatening.
  b. Of liquor: Turbid.

3. Lurking, skulking.