Sunday Morning Book Thread - 6-15-2025 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

(HT: CBD)

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 (they say confession is good for the soul). 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...(calamine lotion not included)

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?

Oh, and HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! Some joker moved it on the calendar this year...

PIC NOTE

CBD sent me a link to this website where you can order your very own library mug. Of course, I have five cats, one of whom is very keen on sweeping things off the counter onto the floor. So it's unlikely a mug like this would remain intact in my home for long. She already broke my mug that was in the shape of Darth Vader's head.

"WHY DOES EVERY YA BOOK HAVE SMUT?"

I don't think EVERY YA book has smut in it. In fact, I'm pretty sure a lot of YA books are fairly tame, though that may be changing in recent years. However, the YouTuber above brings up an interesting point about authors who are known for writing YA deciding to write in a different genre, inserting quite a bit more erotica into their more adult books. Unfortunately, readers who are used to reading the YA novels may not realize that the author has chosen to write in a different genre, assuming that all the author's books are written with a younger audience in mind.

This can sometimes work in the other direction as well. Clive Barker, for instance, is an author well known for graphic sexual content among his horror novels. He has written a few books that are suitable for a younger audience, though, such as the Abarat books and The Thief of Always, neither of which contain any graphic sexual material at all (though Abarat still has quite a bit of body horror).

Even authors like C.S. Lewis can sometimes find themselves stereotyped as a writer of fiction suitable for younger audiences, such that when one reads Out of the Silent Planet, the contrast between the writing style in that novel compared to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe can be jarring. Both are great stories, but they are so different it almost seems like they were written by two different people.

One way YA authors who want to write adult fiction can get around the problem of being stereotyped as a YA author is to adopt a pseudonym. J.K Rowling, who is, of course, most famous for the Harry Potter series, has done this with her Robert Galbraith persona. I have not read any of those books, though a few have been recommended by Morons, so I don't know how they compare themewise and stylewise to her earlier books.

(HT: Also CBD)

BASED BOOK SALE!

Hans G. Schantz is hosting anothe BASED BOOK SALE for Morons and sundry other readers.

The Summer Based Book Sale starts Wednesday, June 18, 2025 and runs through Tuesday June 24, 2025: hundreds of books by based authors all $0.99 or free. Sign up to be notified when the sale goes live, and if you're an author who'd like to participate, see the call for authors, and leave a comment at: ,a href="https://basedbooksale.substack.com/p/call-for-authors-summer-2025-based" target="_blank">https://basedbooksale.substack.com/p/call-for-authors-summer-2025-based

Thanks!

Hans

ESSENTIAL NOVELS

I don't generally like to post "top ten" lists of novels, but Andrew Klaven makes a key point in his video above. He himself says that the point isn't to find novels you HAVE to read before you die. Instead, the whole point of reading novels is that doing so will increase your wisdom over time. I'm astounded every single week by the knowledge and wisdom on display here in the Sunday Morning Book Thread. Collectively, we Morons read A LOT of books. Enough books to fill an entire library of our very own. If you are someone who struggles to read novels, then don't freak out because you haven't read the "essential" novels or "great books" of all time. Focus on short novels, quick reads, something that will entertain you and will also provoke some additional reflection when you are done. The best novels aren't all doorstoppers (1000+ page behemoths like The Count of Monte Cristo or Moby Dick). Some of my favorite novels are less than 200 pages, but they blow me away every time I read them because they are so good. Find novels like that and then work your way up to longer, more challenging reads. Before long you'll be a wise Moron indeed.

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is the true story of Louis Zamperini, who served as an Army Air Corps B-24 Bombardier in the Pacific during WWII. Louis was always fearless, except he hated to fly. He overcame that fear and discovered he liked being a bombardier. Unbroken tells of Louis' service, the crashing of his plane, the 47 days spent drifting on a decomposing rubber raft until they reached land (during a typhoon), and 2.5 years spent in unspeakable horror as a Japanese POW. It is an amazing story of courage, faith, and despair. The story follows Louis from early childhood through his encounter with a young Franklin Graham. It was through faith that Louis overcame the PTSD and other obstacles that were a result of his combat service and the ravages of the substance abuse he tried as a cure. Louis' post-war life focused on helping others and it was a delight to learn that he was still in great shape when he turned 100 years old. I found myself repeatedly asking how it was that our great nation could not only create such brave men but inspire and compel them to fight for our freedoms and liberty against such great odds. God truly has blessed the USA. Highly recommended reading.

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at June 08, 2025 09:22 AM (rxCpr)

Comment: This seems like an appropriate recommendation for Flag Day weekend, as we celebrate the anniversary of the creation of the United States Army. So many of our veterans have remarkable stories to share about courage, faith, patriotism, and their duty to protect our country.

I've begun reading Too Much the Lion by Preston Lewis, an historical novel about the Civil War Battle of Franklin, the title referring to Confederate General John Bell Hood. This is one of those books in which there are no fictional characters, the only other novel I know of that does this is Robert Graves' I, Claudius. In this book, he is twice forced to fictionalize names because the characters, although real people, have not had their full names recorded in history. Lewis is known as a YA author and this may be intended as a YA novel. This is an engaging and tragic novel of the Confederate army marching to its destruction.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, And You're Not at June 08, 2025 10:50 AM (L/fGl)

Comment: Interesting narrative choice to use entirely real people to record a historical fictional account. I like it, though, as the author fleshes out fictional details of the real people of whom we know so little, so that we feel like we do know them after all. By the end of the story, we *should* feel sadness for those brave souls who lost their lives during a horrific conflict, even if they were on the wrong side of history.

MORE MORON RECOMMENDATIONS CAN BE FOUND HERE: AoSHQ - Book Thread Recommendations

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.

I didn't get as much reading done this week as I would have liked. I finished Silverberg's Majipoor series and then I couldn't seem to muster up motivation to find something else. It's been an odd week for me. I finally settled on the following:

Night's Dawn Trilogy Book 1 - The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton

This doorstopper novel (1200+ pages) takes a while to get moving, as Hamilton is keen on building up his Galactic Confederation. True to form, 600 years from now, humans have "evolved" through artificial means such as genetic engineering and biotechnological enhancement to become smarter, stronger, and yes, better looking. Humanity has spread out to colonize well over 100 other worlds. One one such remote world, still in its infancy with respect to colonization, a renegade criminal (and Satanic cult leader) encounters something that threatens to shatter the Confederacy, if not bring the entire galaxy to ruin.

As usual with Hamilton, there's a lot of free love between characters, as well as insane, over-the-top technology. Lots of crazy action set pieces. Humans breed starships from living polyps, then form a symbiotic bond with them. The "Adamists" are those who have rejected some of humanities advances, preferring a more natural evolution by comparison, but still embracing nanotech implants. The "Edenists" are those who employ genetic engineering techniques to adapt to the conditions of living in space.

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 6-8-2025 (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.

posted by Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

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