Sunday Morning Book Thread - 12-22-2024 ["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, sugar those plums, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

LINUS EXPLAINS THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

ORIGINS OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL

(HT: mindful webworker)

PSEUDO-CHRISTMASES IN FICTION

Christmas has been a huge cultural touchstone of Western civilization for hundreds of years. Nowadays, it seems like it's both a religious and secular holiday, so most people in the Western world can find something to celebrate, even if they are not explicitly Christian. It's not surprising that Christmas would serve as inspiration for fictional holidays in fictional worlds because of how important it is to us in the real world.

BOOKS BY MORONS

Moron Author Celia Hayes has another book ready to go! As of this Sunday Morning Book Thread, it looks like only the Kindle version is available, but the print version should be ready soon.

West Towards the Sunset by Celia Hayes

It's the year 1846, and Sally Kettering is just twelve years old. Her parents have decided to sell their farm in rural Ohio and go west...west to California. Sally and her six-year old brother Jon must leave everything they knew—friends, kinfolk and the little town where they had lived all their lives so far. Pa and Ma Kettering packed what they could take into a single covered wagon, and they set out to follow a trail through the wilderness west, along with a party of other families and adventurers.

Unknown dangers lay around every bend of the trail...wild animals, wilder Indians...Indians who might be hostile or friendly, and no way to know for certain...treacherous river crossings, trackless deserts, and jagged, dangerous mountain passes.

And still, the Kettering family and their friends boldly set out...following the trail that led west toward the sunset!

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

I'm home sick with a cold I caught from a grandkid: worth it. Anyway, I went to NYC for a couple of days to visit a daughter, and at the same time was rereading Tyler Anbinder's City of Dreams. This is a very good history of NYC, specifically the immigrant history. It covers the city from its inception, including the waves of Dutch, English, German, Irish, Italian, and Jewish immigration. Anbinder also covers the later waves of Hispanics, Chinese, Indians, West Indians, and Puerto Ricans, but begins to get a bit preachy and woke at that point. Still, it's well worth reading.

While in NYC, we visited the Tenement Museum, which I recommend. It was difficult not to be a know-it-all, not only because that is my natural bent, but because I knew so much about the tenement experience, having just read the book. Our guide was a lovely young Chinese woman with a PhD in history, and she really knew her stuff. The combo of the book and the real-life museum was exceptionally interesting.

Posted by: Archimedes at December 15, 2024 09:16 AM (xCA6C)

Comment: Although New York City has its problems, I don't think anyone can deny that it has shaped American culture in numerous ways since its founding. It's been a hub of immigration for well over a century, for better or worse. How many Moron families can trace their origins back to Ellis Island?

Recommendation for Lanier's book Hiero's Journey.

I've been going through Gary Gygax's list of rec reading in his Appendix N to the DM's Guide. Obv, he had great taste. Hiero's Journey is on the list. I'd never heard of it and it was cool. Clearly the inspiration for TSR's Gamma World rpg.

As to the disaffected Catholic, I guess I would ask him to ponder what exactly the Bible should mean to a Catholic. That's an important question and interesting. He might be doing Catholicism wrong idk.

As to books? I think RA Lafferty's Past Master and William Thomas Walsh's Histories would be good. That's some powerful Catholicism in action historical and fictional. And, very profound and high level intellectually.

Posted by: Thesokorus at December 15, 2024 11:56 AM (z6Ybz)

Comment: I looked in the Appendices for my first edition AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide to see the full recommended reading list by Gary Gygax. I found it amusing that he referred to Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien as the "Ring Trilogy." Although Tolkien certainly influenced Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, I would argue that other authors like Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, and Robert E. Howard has a bit more influence in the final product.

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.

Seize the Night by Dean Koontz

Finished this book and it got progressively weirder and weirder as the story went on. Definitely see shades of Odd Thomas as well as story elements that have been recycled into other stories since this one was originally published.

Philip José Farmer's The Dungeon Volume 2 - The Dark Abyss by Bruce Coville

Philip José Farmer's The Dungeon Volume 3 - The Valley of Thunder by Charles de Lint

Philip José Farmer's The Dungeon Volume 4 - The Lake of Fire by Robin W. Bailey

Philip José Farmer's The Dungeon Volume 5 - The Hidden City by Charles de Lint

Philip José Farmer's The Dungeon Volume 6 - The Dark Abyss by Richard A. Lupoff

I reread the first book in this series--The Black Tower by Richard A. Lupoff--back in 2023. I decided that since I began 2024 by reading an epic fantasy series, I might as well end the year by reading an epic science fiction series, though I think it's much more fantasy oriented than science fiction in many ways.

In 1868, Clive Folliot, the younger son of Baron Tewkesbury of Victorian England is tasked with seeking his elder twin brother, who has disappeared while exploring Africa. As Clive follows Neville's trail, he finds himself abducted into a strange world known only as the Dungeon, where he and his otherworldy companions will struggle against impossible odds through time and space to find their way out.

It's a very weird series, as each author was given quite a bit of free rein to take the story in any direction they liked, though they did have some loose guidelines. Characters, for example, should not vary wildly between books, though there are some interesting variations as each author interprets characters in their own way. Inpsired by Philip José Farmer's own creative style of writing, the authors imbue the story with the spirit of PJF, drawing upon a wide range of literature and pop culture. It gets *very* existential towards the end as Lupoff wraps up the storylines, eventually revealing all of the mysteries that have plagued both the characters and the readers for six books. Is the series great? No, but I was entertained enough on my reread to consider it a nice way to end 2024, leading up to the next book...

The Stormlight Archive Book 5 - Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson

I don't even know how to describe this book. It's 1300+ pages, and serves to close the first part of The Stormlight Archive, so most of the storylines will need to be wrapped up in the end. Fortunately, Sanderson *excels* at providing readers with a satisfying conclusion, and he'll leave enough loose threads that will be taken up in the next part of the series, which is expected to take place thousands of years in the future of the world of Roshar. It took Sanderson around 15-16 years to finish just this first part of the series. I expect him to take another 15 years or so to finish the next five books, assuming he doesn't get distracted by other projects.

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 12-15-2024 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

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

Disclaimer: No Morons were physically harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread. "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

posted by Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

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