POP! Reads

Has anyone read Monarch of the Glen? It's a follow-up to A.G. It's included in Fragile Things.

so i feel like a bad reader. I started this book got half way into it then it just sort of fizzeled out on me... not great not bad just mhew.... maybe over the summer when I am not stuck studying the human body I will sit back down and try to read it from cover to cover

^ It happens. And even books THAT I LOVE can't always be the cup o'tea for everyone.

flux336 wrote:Has anyone read Monarch of the Glen? It's a follow-up to A.G. It's included in Fragile Things.

Oh yes. Great inclusion of Beowulf and Grendel and the likes.

Thinking about it, kind of took it as even with our creating of our own myths, that we ourselves are gods/monsters to make our gods and monsters suffer. Gives us power subconsciously within our own disillusionments of superstition and beliefs. Too reaching? Honestly haven't thought about it, just took in the story.

shark6495 wrote:so i feel like a bad reader. I started this book got half way into it then it just sort of fizzeled out on me... not great not bad just mhew.... maybe over the summer when I am not stuck studying the human body I will sit back down and try to read it from cover to cover

Don't feel bad. At least you made the attempt. It's not finishing a ton of books that makes someone a "good" reader. You made a thoughtful choice and decided not to continue. Sounds like a good reader to me.

BlueMaxx wrote:

flux336 wrote:Has anyone read Monarch of the Glen? It's a follow-up to A.G. It's included in Fragile Things.

Oh yes. Great inclusion of Beowulf and Grendel and the likes.

Thinking about it, kind of took it as even with our creating of our own myths, that we ourselves are gods/monsters to make our gods and monsters suffer. Gives us power subconsciously within our own disillusionments of superstition and beliefs. Too reaching? Honestly haven't thought about it, just took in the story.

We're all just torturing one another...that's the real Circle of Life.

On the subject of Balder/Baldur, how is it that the other gods or their incarnations, seemed to be transferred to the new world, but Balder got the chance to be reborn as a human? Is it because his other reincarnations died? I wish Gaiman had gone into that a bit more. Shadow was just too damn mysterious.

^ Baldr's main story is all about resurrection, and Christianity, being this nexus of mythologies--despite the reluctance of most Christians wanting to believe this fact--took the legend of Baldur and formed the story of The Christ. He actually wasn't human. He was, amongst the other gods and beings of myth, watered down in this practical and logical world whose beliefs confound them. That seemed to be part of the theme of Odin and Loki's attempt at a loophole. They're still imbued with the power that makes them who they are and so they needed something grand to gain the power they once had.

^ Thanks for the info Blue.

^ You complete me.

^

^ ~ ~ <===8

^^

Yeah...Jeff...awkward.

The POP! Reads book for April is:


***SPOILERS AHEAD***

Brooks' inspiration for the novel came from the book The Good War: An Oral History of World War Two by Studs Terkel, self-evident to those that know the novel would point out the title and text's structuring is a complete nod that book.

Thought that was a neat little piece of trivia.

Gonna give it a few more days until I feel we can start talking about the political commentary that is very thick in the book. The b.s. of the government doings. From the gloss, narrow-mindedness, and all around very believable circumstances brought on by nations and they're people/government.

I'm not going to say much until other people read it, but I just want to say that it is scary how real this book can feel at times.

I have the book on hold at the library, so I'll be able to post on it soon.

I'll grab my copy and read through it when I go home this weekend. Funny, it's been floating around my house ever since I read through The Zombie Survival Guide, but I've never really thought about reading it until now...

I'm going to go buy Everything Is Going To Kill Everybody: Terrifyingly Real Ways The World Wants You Dead by Robert Brockway tomorrow. Good times.

Damn. If I wasn't in the middle of about eight other books, I'd get my copy of WWZ back from my brother and join in.

^There's still time

Got all month. Also, the thing I found about WWZ is that with its textbook style it can be easily picked back up at any given time with an easy retention of the material.

I literally just finished wwz, and lent it out. I went to three different bookstores, and not a damned one had Brockway's book But the last store I went to had BADASS.

Ok, so this book really does seem like a textbook. I'm trying to get into it.

It took me a little while to get into it, but you eventually do.

^I hope so.