Sunday Morning Book Thread - 07-07-2024 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

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, shoot off some leftover fireworks, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

PIC NOTE

As bookshelf arrangements go, this one is pretty neat. I like the *idea* of shelving my books like this, but I suspect the reality is not as much fun. Where is the ladder to get to the books on the top shelf? How are the books sorted, organized, cataloged? And there are "gaps" along the sides of the shelves where books won't fit, so you'd have to find some filler knickknacks to complete the space. Still, it's visually interesting...

LITERARY VS. GENRE FICTION

(This has happened to me more than once and as recently as this past week. Fortunately, the Kindle app solves this problem.)

OLD NORSE IN ENGLISH - The Words the Vikings Left Behind

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

A History of Advertising by Stephane Pincas and Marc Loiseau. The book declared "this book explores legendary campaigns and brands of advertising's modern history... You will find the picture of the camel that originated the Camel cigarette pack, some of the very first Coca-Cola ads, and even see how artworks by masters such as Picasso and Magritte have been used in advertising."

It was definitely an interesting read. Kub, the world's first mass marketed meat concentrate appeared in Picasso's Landscape with Posters in 1912. The book insists that's the source of calling Picasso's work, Cubism. A poster for a hair tonic, Dada, led to art in the style of the poster being called Dadaism.

The most intriguing part of the book was a little illustration showing that all ad agencies are owned by the same conglomerate, Publicis Group. Talk about an octopus.

If you're interested in the history of advertising, I'd say it's a good starter book.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at June 30, 2024 09:00 AM (0eaVi)

Comment: Does advertising really work anymore? We are so inundated with ads that it's possible our brain just filters them out. Or the ads insinuate themselves into our brain subconsciously, so we don't even notice that we are picking out brands at the supermarket determined by the ads we've viewed.

the book I am currently reading is Trump's The Art of the Deal, which is about making million dollar bets on being able to build, manage and profit off of building projects in some of the most expensive places in the world, and why Trump thought it was a good idea.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 30, 2024 10:18 AM (D7oie)

Comment: "I like thinking big. I always have. To me it's very simple: If you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big." -- Donald J. Trump

There's no question that President Trump is a man with big ideas. Unfortunately, the government he led is still filled with small-minded idiots. We'll see if he's able to implement any of his big ideas during his second term, assuming he's allowed to have one.

I finally finished C.S. Lewis' That Hideous Strength. It's funny that others have mentioned mass market paperbacks and tiny print because that was the case with the Space Trilogy set I purchased. I was too stubborn to go out and buy a better copy, thus spending $ on something I already owned, so I grumbled and kept reading. Then the story became so engaging that I didn't notice the small print and I could not put it down.

I could go on and on about what a great story THS is and how well C.S. Lewis understands and portrays human nature. I'm glad I made the effort to read all three books in the series as I'm not sure I would really have appreciated THS as much as I did.

Posted by: KatieFloyd at June 30, 2024 11:06 AM (EO0H2)

Comment: This is still one of the most terrifying books I've ever read, if only because of how prescient it is. I read it at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2021. The eerie similarities to the totalitarian control in that novel vs. the totalitarian control exhibited by our government at that time was just weird.

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

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

After reviewing some of OregonMuse's old Book Threads, I thought I'd try something a bit different. Instead of just listing WHAT I'm reading, I'll include commentary as well. Unless otherwise specified, you can interpret this as an implied recommendation, though as always your mileage may vary.

Star Wars - X-Wing 1 - Rogue Squadron by Michael A. Stackpole

Although the Emperor and Darth Vader were both killed at the end of Return of the Jedi, the Empire itself was far from defeated entirely. It took several years of tough battles before the fledgling New Republic was able to capture the Imperial capital of Coruscant and re-establish a republican form of government under the leadership of a Chief of State. Wedge Antilles, the only pilot to survive two runs with a Death Star is given the opportunity to forge an elite squadron of X-Wing pilots. They take on the missions that are too difficult or too insane for other squadrons. Rogue Squadron is instrumental in defeating the Empire once and for all, though the Imperial Remnant will remain a thorn in the side of the New Republic for many decades afterwards.

The Testament by Eric Van Lustbader

This is a conspiracy action thriller that's written in the spirit of Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code. Two ancient religious orders go to war. One faction seeks to protect secret knowledge about the truth of Jesus Christ that would unravel 2000 years of history if it was revealed to the world, along with an even more precious item. The other faction wants to retrieve that secret to exploit it for its own purposes. Caught in the middle is a young man who is clueless about most of this, but possesses information that leads him to various clues left behind by his father that will show him the way to the secret cache. Lots of action, lots of treachery and betrayal, and lots of exposition about the hidden truth about the world.

Dean Koontz's Frankenstein Book 1 - Prodigal Son by Dean Koontz & Kevin J. Anderson

This is Koontz's reimagining of the Frankenstein story. Here, good old Victor is alive and well in New Orleans and is continuing to put the "mad" back into "mad scientist." He's improved his techniques of creating life over the past few centuries, so now he has an army of loyal people forming his New Race of beings, ready to TAKE OVER THE WORLD! However, his first creation is also still alive and is stalking him. Meanwhile a couple of local cops are struggling to unravel the mysteries behind a series of gruesome murders plaguing their city. I'm not normally a huge fan of Frankenstein stories, but this one has some interesting twists and turns, in typical Koontzian style, to keep me engaged. I've also noticed that in addition to dogs, Koontz has a soft spot for mentally challenged individuals. He often features innocents that have some form of mental disorder, such as autism or Down's Syndrome in his stories. Sometimes they provide a crucial element to the resolution of the plot.

Dean Koontz's Frankenstein Book 2 - City of Night by Dean Koontz & Ed Gorman

This is the second book in Koontz's series about the Frankenstein legend. Victor's creations are developing traits he finds undesirable, but also intriguing. Victor's twisted mind sees opportunity here. The New Race is slowly taking over key positions within the city, consolidating Victor's control over it. Meanwhile, the two cops now know what they are up against and proceed to arm themselves to go after Victor once and for all. Can they stop him before he unleashes a whole new plague of terror on New Orleans?

Dean Koontz's Frankenstein Book 3 - Dead and Alive by Dean Koontz

Despite his mad genius, Victor's plans to establish a new world order with his New Race are collapsing. The programming he's instilled in his creations is breaking down, and they are now experiencing freedom for the very first time. Of course, that often manifests itself in the freedom to kill members of the Old Race (i.e., normal humans), so maybe freedom isn't everything. To complicate matters, there are a couple of X-factors from previous experiments running loose in New Orleans with agendas of their own.

World of Warcraft - Arthas by Christie Golden

Arthas is the doomed prince of Lordaeron who became the Lich King. This was the second major expansion of the classic World of Warcraft MMORPG. It's also the expansion where I began playing the game. This novel summarizes key events in this history of the Eastern Kingdoms of Azeroth, such as the plague that consumed much of the northern realms. Arthas attempted to fight the plague, but was overwhelmed by its malevolence. Driven by revenge, he tracks the architect of the plague into Northrend, where he discovers a mysterious, sentient sword that promises Arthas the power he seeks, but the sword has an agenda of its own.

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(100% less fabulous than the current season on television.)

posted by Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

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