Sunday Morning Book Thread - 10-22-2023 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

(HT: BonnieK)

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading. Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

PIC NOTE

Lurker and very infrequent commenter BonnieK sent me the pic above. I love it! Sure, it's not very good for organizing one's library, but the artistic appeal is fantastic.

"CURSE YOUR SUDDEN BUT INEVITABLE BETRAYAL!"

Betrayal in storytelling is a trope as old as storytelling itself. Consider the serpent in the Garden of Eden betraying God by tempting Eve into eating the fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil. Then Cain, one of the sons of Adam and Eve, betrayed and murdered his brother Abel. This set the stage for mankind's fascination for betraying one's fellow man (or woman). Lots of betrayals to go around in the Old Testament...Also one very, very famous betrayal in the New Testament when Judas betrays Jesus to the Romans, leading to His execution and subsequent resurrection, thus ushering in Christianity to the world.

History, of course, is also filled with legendary betrayals, some that resulted in good ends, and others less so, though I suppose it depends on your perspective. James Armistead, for instance, was a double-agent, pretending to spy for the British during the American Revolution, but delivered key information about British troop and arms deployments to American spies. During the same war, American general Benedict Arnold sold out West Point to the British, thus earning his place in history as a synonym for traitor in American history.

Traitors in storytelling are interesting characters because--when written well--they often struggle with their actions as they fight to do what they believe is the right thing but it may ultimately cause problems for the hero. Other traitors embrace their role because they are consumed by ambition, lust, greed, and so on, and therefore see nothing wrong with selling out their companions for personal gain. Sometimes they delight in their betrayal, taunting everyone they betray and daring them to retaliate. And some characters are caught in the middle, forced to betray their companions in order to protect the ones they love who may be held hostage.

Dr. Yueh, from Frank Herbert's Dune is a perfect example of this latter type of traitor. He served House Atreides, but his wife had been captured by House Harkonnen, the sworn enemy of House Atreides. Dr. Yueh is notable for being trained by a medical tradition that instilled supposedly unbreakable loyalty in its adherents. It was thought that the conditioning could NOT be broken, but the Harkonnens found a way. Yueh was forced to betray his Duke, but did try to give Duke Atreides a way to strike back at Baron Harkonnen. Yueh's story is tragic in the end because he knows that his wife is long dead, but is forced to go along with Baron Harkonnen's plans anyway, though he is able to join his beloved wife in the afterlife.

Tad Williams, whose works I've been reading lately, definitely enjoys inserting betrayals into his stories. In his Otherland series, a cabal of WEF-like oligarchs known as The Grail Brotherhood (it includes women) attempts to achieve immortality by uploading their consciousnesses into a virtual reality simulator, where they can rule over Earth forever. Naturally, they are all a bunch of backstabbing, conniving bastards, so they continually struggle and plot against each other in order to become "first among equals" in the new world order they hope to create. Just when they are about to achieve their goals, one of their high-level mooks implements a plan of his own to take over their network...Whoops! Whoopsie!

Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy--which takes place in the Star Wars universe--also contains multiple instances of treachery and betrayal as the heroes of the New Galactic Republic struggle against the Imperial Remnant to consolidate their control over the galaxy. In the end, Thrawn betrays the wrong person, which leads to his downfall as his own hubris catches up to him.

What are some other great stories of treachery and betrayal? Do you ever get a sense of immense satisfaction when the traitor meets a just end?

IT PAYS TO INCREASE YOUR WORD POWER

splenetic - adj. - marked by bad temper, malevolence, or spite.

Comment: This looks like a fun word to sprinkle through a story when a character gets particularly annoyed. It refers to venting one's spleen, which can be traced back to the four humours of the body: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. The last of these was thought to be produced by the spleen (the actual function of which is to store and filter blood), and thus lead to angry outbursts and violent temper.

pareidolia - n. - the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous pattern.

Comment: Human beings seemed to be programmed to spot patterns, even if they don't actually exist in reality. Seeing a cloud that resembles a dog or other object is an example of engaging in pareidolia. This can often lead to interesting situations, such as an can be found in an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia where the gang finds a water stain they claim resembles the Virgin Mary. Since they are all sociopathic assholes, they try to exploit it for financial gain by asking religious folks for donations to view the image and thus gain a blessing from the Virgin Mary. Much hilarity ensues.

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

A great read is At All Costs by Sam Moses. This is the story of two young American merchant mariners in 1942 who are part of a convoy trying to resupply a desperate Malta. The SS Ohio is one of the newest and largest tankers afloat, and has been loaned to the British for the mission. If they do not get the Ohio into the port of Malta, the island will have to surrender, giving the Germans complete access to resupply North Africa. The Ohio has already been bombed, and only the buoyancy of the oil is keeping her afloat. You can feel the determination and desperation as you read about their heroic efforts to get the vital cargo to Malta. So many close run things that succeeded determined the course of world war two, and this is one of the closest and most important

Posted by: Thomas Paine at October 15, 2023 09:47 AM (F0UNL)

Comment: Situated due south of the island of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, the tiny island of Malta seems to be a very strategic location. It's been inhabited for thousands of years, seeing the passing of Phonecians, Greeks, Etruscans, Romans, Moors, etc. It's no surprise that it would be a strategic location in WWII for both the Allies and the Axis powers.

My burning hatred for Desecration Through Adaptation was kindled with me back in 1974 after I purchased a Scholastic Book Fair copy of The Hundred and One Dalmatians. I read it and reread it multiple times. I enjoyed it so much that my parents decided to get me the ViewMaster adaptation from the Disney animated feature. I was bitterly disappointed. "Where's Perdita?" "What, no Cadpig and TELEVISION?" My disappointment deepened when I rented the VHS version and found entire chapters sliced out. The live action version is desecration on steroids.

So: if you've never read The Hundred and One Dalmatians, or at least handed a copy to your child, you should do so. It's an enjoyable well-written story with several good plot twists due to plausible changing circumstances without leaving any gaping plot holes. Author Dodie Smith (I Capture the Castle) was a dog lover and researched and included many different breeds into the story.

For those looking for a copy, ignore the American versions and get one published in England with the original pen illustrations by sisters Janet and Anne Grahame-Johnstone. They actually read the story and produced their art to match it. The dust jacket has many story elements, and the endpapers have a wonderful illustration of various dogs involved in the story akin to a map. The American versions have basic Disneyfied art or simple character portraits (like the Barnes & Noble edition.) It seems my Scholastic Book Fair copy was the only edition printed in America with the original pen art. As part of the film contract rights, Disney suppressed the pen art so they could distribute their own art exclusively in the 1960s.

Cesspit Pariah

Comment: Disney has been in the game of ruining other stories for a long, long time. They've "Disneyfied" so many classic fairy tales that many people may not even be aware that original versions exist. Look what they did to Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid recently. And look what they are planning to do to Snow White. Buy the originals and give those to your kids and grandkids instead.

I read The Loom of Time, by Robert Kaplan. It's an overview of the muslim world by a man who has been traveling throughout it for 50 years. He examines individual states and their histories, and then discusses why he thinks most of them have failed.

I don't agree with all his conclusions, but one he gets right is that while democracy is desirable, countries like most of those in the mideast simply aren't cohesive enough as ethnic entities for a democracy to exist. A strong man is not only necessary in most cases, he's imperative, and critically, desired by most of the population, who fear anarchy more than dictatorship. This is, of course, contrary to the assumptions we made in Iraq, Libya, and other places where the replacement for a dictator was chaos and anarchy, and ultimately an even worse dictator.

All in all, it was not an encouraging book, but it's full of insights grounded in an understanding of the specific countries, their history, and demography. Recommended.

Posted by: Archimedes at October 15, 2023 09:13 AM (I/Qkd)

Comment: Understanding the Muslim mind is key to dealing with them in any meaningful way. Unfortunately, the "elites" are woefully ignorant on what motivates them, believing that they are driven by the same ideals as "the elites." This is both true and false, as everything in Islam is surrounded by Allah's will. Yes, they desire power and wealth, but it's all taken from the infidel as their due to the Islamic world. Democracy, as it's practiced in the West, is as foreign to them as color is to a man who has been blind from birth. It's just beyond their comprehension.

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (1000+ Moron-recommended books!)

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

• Nora Kelly Book 3 - Diablo Mesa by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child - Archaeologist Nora Kelly and her colleague from the FBI, junior agent Corrie Swann, are tasked by a billionaire (Elon Musk expy) to unravel the mystery of what really happened in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947.
• Nora Kelly Book 4 - Dead Mountain by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child - Nora Kelly and FBI Agent Swanson investigate a cold case where 9 hikers disappeared in the NM mountains under strange circumstances. After 15 years, the last of the bodies have re-emerged, only prompting more questions about what happened that dark Halloween night in 2008...

That's about all I have for this week. Thank you for all of your kind words regarding the Sunday Morning Book Thread. This is a very special place. You are very special people (in all the best ways!). The kindness, generosity, and wisdom of the Moron Horde knows no bounds. Let's keep reading!

If you have any suggestions for improvement, reading recommendations, or discussion topics that you'd like to see on the Sunday Morning Book Thread, you can send them to perfessor dot squirrel at-sign gmail dot com. Your feedback is always appreciated! You can also take a virtual tour of OUR library at libib.com/u/perfessorsquirrel. Since I added sections for AoSHQ, I now consider it OUR library, rather than my own personal fiefdom...

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(Huggy Squirrel makes a mental note to get his prostate checked--just in case the aliens need to probe him again!)

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