Sunday Morning Book Thread - 09-22-2024 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

(HT: TRex)

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

In last week's Hobby Thread, TRex posted a link to a website about authors' libraries. I found this one there and thought it was kind of neat, if a bit of a monument to one's ego. Clearly Danielle Steele is fond of her own books. But then, if I had published over 160 books, I might believe myself entitled to craft a desk resembling my own best sellers. Well, if I'm being honest, I might build a house that is a monument to all of my published books--visible from space if I could manage it.

"COZY" READS

The things I learn around here. Apparently "cozy" literature is an actual subgenre of a few different kinds of literature (mystery, romance, fantasy, etc.) that is characterized by upbeat, optimistic tones, relatable and likeable characters, and straightforward plots with happy endings. Any graphic depictions of sex or violence will be offscreen if mentioned at all. "Cozy" literature has taken off in recent years because people seem to find them a good way to escape the realities of daily life and take a break from their regular stress-inducing activities. I suspect they are also a bit easier to write, because of their relatively simple structure compared to more weighty fare like literary fiction or epic fantasy.

There's no shame in enjoying a nice "cozy" mystery or two. If that's all you have time to read and it brings you pleasure, I say GO FOR IT!

I must confess to a secret shame: I am a fan of "cozy" books and series, mostly mysteries but not all. (Oddly, reading Count of Monte Cristo, which gets better and better, brought this to mind. Dumas' descriptions of locations and characters makes them feel familiar and draws in the reader.) Cozies do the same but in less horrific circumstances. They are usually fast paced, don't involve constant nastiness, have a pretty happy ending and usually have humor. They are a pleasant, relaxing time with a book. Examples: - Martha's Vineyard mysteries by Philip Craig. (He and his wife wrote a great cookbook as well.) - Liturgical Mysteries by Schweizer - Lumby Lines series by Gail Fraser - Father brown stories - Chet and Bernie series by Spencer Quinn - Amelia Peabody books by Elizabeth Peters

There are others but those will give you an idea of what I mean.

Posted by: JTB at September 15, 2024 09:24 AM (zudum)

I went looking through my own library to see what books I might have that fall into the "cozy" category. Not surprisingly, I didn't find a whole lot that might fit in with the generally accepted definition of "cozy" literature. I did find a few, however:

• The Norby Chronicles by Isaac & Janet Asimov -- Silly adventures about a boy and his robot who possesses strange abilities. Written for a younger audience.
• The Lost City of Zork by Robin W. Bailey -- Based on Infocom's rather silly text-based adventure game centered around the Great Underground Empire.
• The Stainless Steel Rat books by Harry Harrison -- A master criminal is recruited to stop the *really* bad guys. Usually silly plots, very little blood or gore (though a few stories do take a dark turn here and there).
• Star Trek - How Much for Just the Planet? by John M. Ford -- This is a deliberate farce of a story as both the Federation and Klingons "fight" over a planet containing precious dilithium. Very silly book with a light-hearted plot. Even the Klingons don't come off as joyless scolds, which is what the often appear to be on television.
• Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming by Roger Zelazny and Robert Sheckley -- An enjoyable comedy about the forces of darkness trying to win their millennia-old conflict against God.

After looking through my library, I realize that the majority of my books are very much *NOT* cozy books at all. I might need to see a therapist. Oh, wait. Never mind. I have "emotional support kitties." I'm good.

MORALLY GRAY FANTASY

NOTE: My students are tasked with writing a 1,500 - 2,000 word Blog Article as their first major project this semester. In the spirit of solidarity with my students, I present the following 1,600+ words...Feel free to skip it!

"There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, "I don't see the use of this; let us clear it away." To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: "If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won't let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it."

Modern writers--such as those tasked with writing the script for Amazon's execrable Rings of Power do not understand how Chesterton's Fence works in principle, as they are determined to "reform" the Orcs in Tolkien's story so that they are not irredeemable monsters capable only of evil, but may have the capacity to do good as well, by raising children and dedicating themselves to family life.

The problem, as Sargon of Akkad points out, is that this leads to a complex moral dilemma for the reader as we are now expected to understand the Orcs' point of view within the context of a world where there are bright, clear lines between the forces of Good and Evil. Orcs are evil. Period, full stop. Their origins in Middle-Earth are murky, but by the time of Third Age, they are clearly NOT on the side of Good. It *might* be possible to find ONE single, solitary Orc that refuses to engage in Evil, but he would be an outcast. Exiled (at best) from society, assuming he's even allowed to live. His society demands his willing participation in evil acts for the sake or perpetuating that evil.

If, however, Orcs are *not* all Evil and they are just wanting to find a homeland for themselves so that they can raise their Orcish broods free from the wicked influences of Elves and Men (from their point of view), then by what right do Men and Elves have to wage war against them? Are not Men and Elves then oppressors, seeking to impose their own way of life on the Orcs or eradicate them altogether? Isn't this a form of cultural and physical genocide?

The writers of Rings of Power have no conception of the morality inherent in the genre in which they are attempting to tell THEIR story. Not the story as Tolkien would have wrote it. Instead it's a bastardized version that has the trappings of an epic fantasy story but doesn't contain the core elements necessary for the story to be considered "epic fantasy."

(SIDENOTE: To get a sense of just how bad the writing is in Season 2 of Rings of Power, Shad (of Shadiversity) has a video breaking down Episode 6.)

There are two main elements that are required for epic fantasy, at least as I see it. First, the story must have a struggle between Good and Evil as well-defined moral choices that characters must face throughout their journey. Some characters may fall under the sway of Evil while others remain true to virtues of Goodness, such as faith, love, or truth. This conflict defines the story. Second, there must be a supernatural and/or spiritual dimension to this conflict. In essence, the characters embody avatars of primordial, intangible forces of Good or Evil. Often a champion will arise to represent each side in this well-defined moral conflict.

Characters can be morally gray in their motivations, attitudes, and actions and that can lead to interesting decisions within the story as these characters struggle against their baser natures. But the END of the story must be resolved through an ultimate TRIUMPH of Good over Evil, or there is no heroic, epic fantasy. It's as simple as that. This genre convention defines the genre more than any other. All of the other trappings--medieval setting, mythology, monsters, magic, and so on--are trivial outward elements that readers expect, but are not central to the actual morality tale that we are reading.

We, as readers, are drawn to follow the hero of the story through his journey. We should see him fail numerous times during his quest, but each time we should see him learn to adapt and overcome, developing from a sheltered man (or woman) into a character of true strength of will, determination, and goodness, willing to lay it all on the line to achieve the end goal. In doing so, they also recognize that they are an instrument of powers far greater than themselves (humility), a pawn in a much grander game with much larger stakes than life or death. Epic fantasy *demands* heroes of this nature.

In the latter half of Sargon's video he reads an essay that was posted on X by Devon Erickson, where Erickson explains why George R.R. Martin, author of the popular series A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF) is unable (or unwilling) to finish his story. The gist of Erickson's argument is that Martin is a socialist boomer and neither socialism nor boomerism are equipped to recognize or understand heroism these days. His boomer argument is less compelling than his socialist argument, but both have their points.

As a socialist, Martin's operating principle is envy. "Thou shalt not be better than me." This statement precludes the existence of heroes. If we believe (as Martin seems to) that mankind is irredeemably evil and that heroes do not exist because it's all a scam or a confidence game about which individual can score the most points at life, then we are unable to recognize heroes when they do appear. They are as mythical as Big Foot.

As a boomer, Martin's guiding principle (according to Devon) is "whatever makes me feel pleasure is good and whatever makes me feel bad right now is evil." I'd argue this is NOT the principle of boomerism, as there are plenty of boomers right here on this very blog that reject this premise. In the larger society we live in, however, there is no question that there are large numbers of people who subscribe to this belief.

Within A Song of Ice and Fire we see a number of characters built up so that we, the reader, believe that heroes can exist, such as Jon Snow, Eddard Stark, even Jaime Lannister. However, these characters are all brought down by their own bad choices or inner demons so that they are unable to fulfill their promise as a hero. Martin believe he's subverting the heroism found in other epic fantasy, but in truth he's displaying his own character flaws. There are no heroes in Martin's world--not the world he created nor the world in which he lives.

One of the challenges in storytelling is writing characters that are smarter than the author. A related challenge is to write characters that have higher standards of morality or ethics. If we cannot recognize that standards of morals or ethics exist, and that some people aspire to be the best they can be when compared to that standard, it's difficult to even conceive of such characters.

In fact, "moral grayness" or "moral relativism" is one of the primary ways that Evil seeks to destroy Good. Villains often like to portray themselves as the heroes of their own story, justifying all of their bad acts as necessary to achieve a greater "goodness" that only they can fully appreciate. They lie not only to themselves, but also to the hero, approaching the hero and using rhetorical arguments to sway the hero to abandon their quest, as they are not worthy enough, or strong enough, or moral enough to complete it. Or the villain may attempt to persuade the hero that the hero is no better than the villain. It's also common for the villain to attempt to sway the hero to his side, as together they can join forces to defeat an even greater villain. Saruman in Lord of the Rings attempts to do this to Gandalf as well as King Théoden. Théoden falls under Saruman's sway--at least temporarily--but Gandalf is wise enough to see the trap for what it is and rejects Saruman, naming him an agent of the true Enemy, Sauron.

Théoden is able to throw off Saruman's influence when Gandalf breaks the spell over him, and reveals the truth about Saruman's intentions for Théoden and his people.

Truth, you see, is a fundamental element of goodness. Evil thrives on lies and deception. Terry Brooks understands this intimately, which is why every single one of his stories involves characters unraveling a pack of well-told lies to uncover the truth about themselves and about their situation. Only then can they claim the righteous and moral victory over the villain in the story.

Tad Williams, P.C. Hodgell, Robert Jordan, J.K. Rowling, Lloyd Alexander...pick any writer of epic fantasy that has stood the test of time and you will discover that all of them--every single one--revolves around the conflict between moral virtue and immoral vice, where moral virtue wins the day. Every. Single. Time.

Going back to Chesterton's Fence, it's remarkable that any modern day writer would want to destroy, subvert, undermine, or vandalize the fence of moral objectivism within the epic fantasy genre. They view the ideology of Good v. Evil as self-limiting to the story they wish to tell, therefore they choose not to include it at all. In doing so, they remove the very fabric of morality within their own stories, leading to a dull, nihilistic, and ultimately destructive moral lesson for the reader: You can't win. You'll never be a hero. Don't even try.

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Given the interest expressed here recently about the Russian revolution, and the uncoordinated leaders of the whites, may I present Freiherr Roman Nikolai Maxmillian von Ungern-Sternberg, one of the more unorthodox of the bunch. In his book, The Bloody White Baron, James Palmer delves into the sometimes obscure but often bloody history of this Russian nobleman who became the last Khan of Mongolia, and white commander in the eastern theater of the Russian revolution.

Ungern was a brave, perhaps foolhardy officer in the great war, but his temper got him in trouble, and Russia's war ended with him in Vladivostok. He was offered a command in independence minded Mongolia, and Ungern managed to take over their entire army, calling himself the god of war.

The baron was a notorious anti Semite, blaming the Jews for the revolution, and preferring to loot rather than buy food from possible Jews for his army. His reputation for cruelty was unmatched since Gengis Khan, whom he believed he was reincarnated from. After Mongolia, he determined to defeat the Bolsheviks from the east, but his violence finally caused his troops to revolt, and the reds caught up to him and ended his campaign.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 15, 2024 09:12 AM (BoRyq)

Comment: Vladivostok is about as far from the main centers of power in Russia as it is possible to go and still be within Russia. Trying to wage war against the Bolsheviks in Moscow from that remote locale would have been a monumentally impossible task. Sounds like a crazy, unhinged lunatic with enough charisma to gain followers, but not enough to successfully stage his own revolution and seize power.

Seaking of cozy books I'd like to again recommend the Anty Boisjoly mysteries by PJ Fitzsimmons. They are humorous locked-room mysteries inspired by Fitzsimmons's love of PJ Wodehouse. Think of what Bertie Wooster would be like if he were smart and you have a sketch of Anty.

The mysteries themselves are intentionally silly and the books are hilarious. (I got my husband hooked on them and he agrees.) The eighth book in the series, Death Reports to a Health Resort, was just released and like many of the other stories involves one of Anty's extremely eccentric relatives. You can read them in order but you don't have to to enjoy them.

One of my favorite features of the books is that each features an animal (or group of animals) as a significant factor in the story.

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at September 15, 2024 09:50 AM (FEVMW)

Comment: These do sound like nice, easy, fun reads. I may have to try one.

I also read Peter Navarro's In Trump Time: A Diary of the Plague Years. If you're looking for a diary of the fight between Trump Republicans and the old guard, I highly recommend it.

Navarro does seem to believe that COVID was much more than a flu (attributing the believe that COVID was just a flu to one of Fauci's early lies); but he also highlights how standard therapeutics were vilified; and--naming names--describes how much of our response to COVID was watered down by pro-China influences in the deep state and the Trump administration.

Its portrayal of the conflict between new/old Republicans reminds me a lot of Hunter S. Thompson's portrayal of the Democrat's 1972 convention in Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail.

Economic security is National Security. And if you try to sacrifice economic security on the altar of national security, as Globalists are wont to do, you wind up losing both.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at September 15, 2024 10:16 AM (olroh)

Comment: Yep. It's amazing how much security flows downhill when we have a functioning economy. However, start jacking around with it by deliberately destroying food, energy, labor, etc., and soon things start spiraling out of control, as we are seeing now. No one can keep all the plates spinning forever. Sooner or later one will fall, and then the rest will follow.

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

WHAT I'VE ACQUIRED THIS PAST WEEK:

I stopped by my local comic book/game store, which has a few bundles of used books from time to time that are offered for sale. It turns out they are part of a consignment of books the store owner bought from a woman who had to involuntarily commit her son. Now she's getting rid of his collection of fantasy and science fiction books. Who knows? Maybe they are cursed to drive one mad...

• The Liveship Traders Book 1 - Ship of Fools by Robin Hobb
• The Liveship Traders Book 2 - Mad Ship by Robin Hobb
• Saga of Recluce - Magi'i of Cyador by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
• The Ringworld Throne by Larry Niven
• Book of the Gods Volume 1 - The Face of Apollo by Fred Saberhagen
• Book of the Gods Volume II - Ariadne's Web by Fred Saberhagen
• Exile's Saga Book 1 - Exile's Children by Angus Wells

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.

Agent Pendergast Book 22 - Angel of Vengeance by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

Agent Pendergast has traveled to an alternate 1880 in order to save the life of his ward, Constance Greene, who has fallen into the clutches of the vile Dr. Enoch Leng, who makes Dr. Josef Mengele look sane and ethical.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this story is Dr. Leng's ultimate goals and motivations for his actions. I won't spoil it for you, but you will find it eerily familiar. Makes me wonder if these two writers are closet conservatives, or at least somewhat right-of-center...

Tick Tock by Dean Koontz

In the afterward to this novel, Koontz admits that this was attempt to mix horror in with a screwball comedy. One reason I like Koontz so much is that he is not afraid to play around with genres, mixing and matching them on a whim. This one starts out a bit slow, but by the middle of the books, it's going at full-speed ahead with ludicrous adventures as Tommy Phan and his mysterious rescuer, the lovely (and often bizarre) waitress Del, attempt to stay one step ahead of the monster chasing them until time runs out at dawn...

Sandman Slim Book 8 - The Perdition Score by Richard Kadrey

James Stark, a.k.a. "Sandman Slim" is caught up in the war between the loyalist angels and rebel angels in Heaven. He receives a mysterious package of "black milk" from a dying angel and is then recruited to track down the source of this potent angelic drug that inspires angels to berserker furies. But also kills them, of course. It's the usual mix of black comedy and light tragedy as Stark stumbles from one ludicrous scenario to another while trying to protect his friends from the consequences of his own assholishness.

Magic Kingdom of Landover Books 4/5 -- The Tangle Box / Witches' Brew by Terry Brooks

This a lighter and fluffier fantasy series compared to Terry Brooks' other series. The books are also more heavily influenced from the standard fairy tale tropes, with a supposedly wise and noble king ruling a land at peace, for the most part. Until it's time to protect his people. The main character, Ben Holiday, is a bit of a clueless idiot, as most of the books seem to kick off when he ignores the advice of his councilors. Then he has to figure out just what went wrong and try to fix it. He's from our world, so he gets a pass in the first couple of books while he's adjusting to Landover's strange rules. There's no excuse for his cluelessness by books 4 and 5. Ben is a good man, just not intellectually gifted, despite being a highly successful lawyer in our world.

<

Moonseed by Stephen Baxter

Venus explodes under mysterious circumstances, leading to devastating effects for Earth due to radiation and strange particles that eventually fall down on the planet.

The mystery deepens when a bit of moondust that escapes a lab falls on the soil in Scotland and a nanovirus that infected the moondust threatens to engulf the Earth.

Much of the early action takes place around Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland. Thanks to Google Maps, it's possible to see what that looks like not only from the air, but from the ground as Google Street View let's you climb to the top of the hill and look around. Pretty cool. Now imagine it turning into gray goo. That's Moonseed.

It's typical Stephen Baxter fare. Lots of interesting science with very weird possibilities.

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 09-15-2024 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Tips, suggestions, recommendations, etc., can all be directed to perfessor -dot- squirrel -at- gmail -dot- com.

posted by Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

| Access Comments