Books you've read at least twice

Yes Mother.  Very gripping :) and .....clever.

No Ziryab.  Haven't read that one.  Is it good?  I've read The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Immortality.

"To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace - Milan Kundera"

"True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power- Milan Kundera" 

"American coffee can be a pale solution served at a temperature of 100degrees centigrade in plastic thermos cups, usually obligatory in railroad stations for purposes of genocide, whereas coffee made with an American percolator such as you find in private houses or in a humble luncheonettes, served with eggs and bacon, is delicious, fragrant, goes down like pure spring water, and afterwards causes severe palpitations, because one cup contains more caffeine than four espressos.  - Umberto Eco"

You can call it an Oxford comma if you really want, but it makes it no less misplaced.

I like peaches and pears, pheasant and grouse, and trout and halibut.  Am I missing three commas?

You are demonstrating an instance where omitting the Oxford comma invites chaos.

Oxford commanounanother term for serial comma.ORIGIN a characteristic of the house style of Oxford University Press.serial comma(also Oxford comma )nouna comma used after the penultimate item in a list of three or more items, before ‘and’ or ‘or’ (e.g. an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect).

Common arguments for consistent use of the serial comma:

1. Use of the comma is consistent with conventional practice.^[8]
2. It matches the spoken cadence of sentences better.^[9]
3. It can resolve ambiguity (see examples below).^[10]
4. Its use is consistent with other means of separating items in a list (for example, when semicolons are used to separate items, a semicolon is consistently included before the last item even when and or or is present).^[11]
5. Its omission can suggest a stronger connection between the last two items in a series than actually exists.^[12]

Common arguments against consistent use of the serial comma:

Also, I agree with Ziryab:  I'm strongly opposed to anything that "invites chaos" in any situation.  In my opinion, that's just the kind of thing that can lead to ........chaos.

Lynn Truss makes her presence known, and the world of language is better for it.

BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE powerful emotive voices of a people robbed murdered betrayed that still makes this hardened cynical bas$$$d cry

(I knew Ziryab would turn out to be a Comma Cop...)

Commas in a series definitely change the meaning, and it can change the entire sentence in some cases.

Ziryab, did you ever read Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. Pretty good. 

Yes. My copy came with stickers, too. There have been places in public schools where I have imagined pasting a few.

Let's not discuss how many times I read this book as a child. Too many.

How about Politics and the English language (an essay, not a book) by Orwell? It's sooooo good. The guy was unique

Nope. I think that I've read parts of it extracted as essays in college textbooks, but not the whole. Same thing with Animal Farm. I've somehow avoided reading it, though not through any volition. It has been on my list of "gonna read when I'm done with the dozen I'm reading now," but that list is always too long.

Animal Farm is cool --  and funny -- and short!  Hope you bump it up a few notches on your list .. 

I've read this thread a few times.

You must have an Excellent memory.  (It can sometimes be a curse, can't it?)

Isn't it a lot like reading the Wall Street Journal's coverage of our current Congress? Except that the animals are more humanlike.

And smarter.

I've read the odd number comments on this thread however skipping every seventh.  Doesn't count? 

No.  Sorry.  It reveals a serious dearth of commitment on your part.

You have Clearly elected Not to fully explore this forum's rich cornicopia of invaluable commentary on literature --- Priceless information for the serious reader, provided, free of charge, by a whole ton of erudite chess players! (myself included, of course)  

I'm just glad I didn't post something like that myself!  Personally, I'd have been mortified.  But maybe you can get past this ... maybe confession IS good for the soul, and you'll feel better with time.  I do hope so. :-)