Abigail by Jill Eileen Smith

I was not sure about reading Biblical Fiction.  I have read a few and was quite disappointed.  That is not the case with Jill Eileen Smith’s The Wives of David series.  The first book, Michal, was fascinating.  The second book Abigail is just as fascinating.  Jill Eileen Smith does a wonderful job of keeping her fictional account of Abigail in line with the Biblical account.  One of my favorite parts of this series is how Smith deals with the multiple wife aspect.  I also found myself drawn into the story with more emotion.  At times when reading the Word I have a tendency not to think of the characters as emotional beings too.  They are.  Jill Eileen Smith portrays that very well.  The books are a rich portrail of one of the Bible’s most fascinating characters, David, and his wives.

I have really enjoyed The Wives of David series and cannot wait to read the next book.

About the Book:

What price must she pay for true love?

Her days marked by turmoil and faded dreams, Abigail has resigned herself to a life with a man she does not love. When her husband Nabal’s foolish pride angers David and his men, she boldly steps forward to save her family—and David, the would-be king, takes notice.

Circumstances offer Abigail a second chance at happiness with the handsome David, and she takes a leap of faith to join his wandering tribe. But her struggles are far from over. How can she share his love with the other women he insists on marrying?

Available February 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group

Thank You Revell for my review copy.

[Via http://crittyjoy.wordpress.com]

Book Review: 'Replay' by Ken Grimwood

[I made a conscious decision to read more fantasy, so when I was in Taiwan, I picked up Ken Grimwood's Replay (on special, of course), which is a part of the "Fantasy Masterworks" series.  According to the blurb, Fantasy Masterworks is a library of some of the greatest, most original, and most influential fantasy ever written.  Replay won the World Fantasy Award in 1988.]

Have you ever looked back on your life and the decisions you have made and regretted them, or wondered how things would have turned out had you gone down a different path?  Well, in Replay, the central character Jeff Winston gets to put those thoughts into action.  You see, Winston is 43-year old man who dies and reawakens to find that he has travelled back in time to when he was 18 again, except his memory of the next 25 years remains in tact.  Sounds like a familiar premise, I know, but 17 Again this is not.

At first, I thought Replay may have been a sci-fi story as opposed to a fantasy, but there is no scientific element at all.  It doesn’t really matter why this is happening to Jeff – what matters is what he does with his second chance(s).

My main concern when I started reading Replay wass that it may be a one-trick pony; a gimmicky book based entirely around this one ‘life replay’.  But I could not have been more wrong.  Replay has a terrific, in-depth storyline that is full of twists and turns.  There is so much more to the tale than just that first replay.

What surprised me most of all was how realistic it all felt.  Put yourself in Jeff Winston’s position.  What would you do if you got a second chance at life?  Would you try to right the wrongs this time around?  Would you use your knowledge of the future to make tons of money or make the world a better place?  These were the decisions Jeff was faced with, and because Grimwood makes him a rational, thinking person, it allows you to relate to him.  At no time did I think – this is completely stupid, he should be doing something completely different!

Part of the realism comes from how Grimwood ties in real-life historical events.  Sports, films, music, economics, wars, political assassinations, pop culture – just about everything that surrounds our daily lives becomes a risk or an opportunity for Jeff.  And that’s what makes the book so intriguing.

Grimwood delivers the story with a clear, straightforward writing style, and I think that is what makes it so effective.  Jeff’s joy, jubilation, fears, regrets, pain and sense of loss are conveyed to the reader with brutal honesty and without manipulation.  We would all love to have the opportunity to relive parts of our lives, but at various points of the book I could not help but sympathise with what Jeff was going through.  It is both a gift and a curse.

As with the best sci-fi and fantasy books, Replay has a poignant (albeit common) message about life.  Through Jeff Winston’s replay of his life, we are given lessons about how we should approach our one and only chance.  For someone like me who just made a life-changing decision, the message couldn’t have been clearer or have come at a better time.

4.5 out of 5 stars!

[PS: Why has there never been a movie version of this book?  There have been many travel back in time stories, but few have captured the emotion as well as Replay has.  Any screenplay, however, would have to be updated to reference more modern times.]

[PPS: Apparently, Grimwood was writing a sequel to Replay when he died of a heart attack in 2003 at age 59.]

[Via http://pacejmiller.wordpress.com]

206 Bones

Finished the lasted book by Kathy Reichs today, 206 Bones.  The series Bones is based on her books, but I must say its much different that what I expected, since I expected to be a bit like the series, which it wasn’t, not even close. Starting that the characters in the book are much more French than American. But then, it’s like they say, it’s based on her books. So, I this was the first book I have read from her, and have no knowledge from her previous books, and if there are any continuous story line. But I did enjoy her latest release very much, and was quite happy about the fact that the book didn’t take ages to grab my interest. Although it did get a bit stale somewhere in the middle, and she uses many French terms that doesn’t always gets explained that got annoying and tended to get me disinterested. But other than that, she is a very good writer and it was a very interesting story and a very good twist, even though I figured out the ‘twist’ before the main character did.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves reading mystery/crime novels, and to anyone who has seen the series would like it as well.

[Via http://nuhani.wordpress.com]

'Gould's Book of Fish' by Richard Flanagan

‘Gould’s Book of Fish’ by Richard Flanagan (2001)

A Novel in 12 Fish

‘Gould’s Book of Fish’ is a novel about those convicts who were transported to Tasmania (then called Van Diemen’s Land) by the British government in the early 1800’s, those in charge of the prisons, and those aborigines who lived there. Over the course of 60 years, more than 165,000 prisoners were transported to Australia.

This book has a unique arrangement where each chapter is a fish painted by convict William Buelow Gould.  These fish/chapters are called ‘Kelpie’, ‘the sawtooth shark’, ‘the striped cowfish’, etc.

In the first chapter, there is a very humorous modern story about some Tasmanians preparing fake antique Shaker furniture to sell to the rich fat American tourists.  After this story, I settled in for a humorous ride, little realizing where I would be taken.  Many of the scenes in this novel are laugh riots, often resulting from the vicious idiocy of the overseers back in England and the flat-out insanity of the prison authorities on Van Diemen’s Land.   But humor is not Flanagan’s ultimate destination in this book.

One of the early chapters is devoted to the torture devices used on the convicts.  These devices are ingenious in their cruelty.  The elaborate descriptions of these made-up devices show the lengths to which the prison authorities would go to inflict pain on their convicts.

In one scene in the novel, the scientists back in England want some fresh specimens of skulls of the aborigines and request them of the prison authorities on Van Diemen’s Land.  The prison authorities order the convicts to get the skulls, so the convicts go out and murder and behead thirty six aborigines, ‘blackfellas’ as Gould calls them.  Then the prison Commandant boils the skulls in preparation for shipping them back to England.  Insufferable politically correct prig that I am, I failed to see the humor in these beheadings or the chopping off of arms and legs or the other acts of humiliation done to the aborigines that are portrayed in this novel. These acts were probably done in real life all too frequently.  It’s one thing to fool rich fat American tourists by selling them fake Shaker furniture.  It’s a completely different horrific thing to chop somebody’s arm or head off.

I began to feel very uneasy about this novel.  This novel was not turning out to be the rollicking, good time boisterous picaresque Australian novel it originally seemed to be.  Who can laugh at the matter-of-fact beheading of aborigines for the sake of  a scientific study in England?   At this point I was planning to write a review pretty much berating Flanagan for his callousness.

Only at about page 300 did I find out Richard Flanagan’s true purpose with this novel.  This is when Gould discovers that the prison authorities have been keeping a sanitized version of everything that has been going on in the prison.  This sanitized version of events contains none of the severe torture of the prisoners and none of the beheadings, chopping off of arms, legs, and heads, or other degradations the aborigines were subjected to.  In other words, the official history of the prison on Sarah Island was a complete book of lies.

So despite its appearance, ‘Gould’s Book of Fish’ is not a hilarious rollicking jaunt through Australian history.  It is deadly serious about the desperate, despicable attempts by those in charge to cover up and hide what really happened.  If these books of lies become a part of the culture, it is as though the past did not happen and the people who were there never existed.

Flanagan makes no concessions to the readers of this novel.  Even though Gould is one of the convicts transported to Van Diemen’s Land, his writing is in very long and complicated sentences.  The novel is supposed to be written by Gould back in the early 1800’s and in those days sentences were longer.  At that time, writers wrote longer sentences connecting two or more thoughts together with the symbol ‘ & ‘.  This can be difficult for modern readers.  More than a few times I became impatient with the over-written, over-stuffed sentences in this book. Also, as I’ve indicated before, I was completely fooled as to the true nature of this novel for nearly 300 pages.  By framing the book as a humorous picaresque story, I think it was Flanagan’s intent to make the readers uneasy and uncomfortable with what happens, especially to the aborigines.

In preparation for writing this post, I googled Richard Flanagan on the net.  He has taken some courageous stands in Tasmania.

[Via http://anokatony.wordpress.com]

Tainted by Brooke Morgan

Title:  Tainted

Author:  Brooke Morgan

Paperback:  429 pages

Published:  2009

ISBN:  9780061853371

Challenges:  ARC Reading Challenge, New Author Challenge

… she worried whether Katy was normal and totally adjusted.  Did she laugh enough?  Was she too introspective?  To serious?

She’d obviously had fun digging the clams, so she was clearly capable of joy; she just didn’t jump up and down and let herself go wild very often.  Was that bad?…

How do you ever know as a mother?  There are landmines everywhere, waiting to blow up in your face.  Am I too strict?  Not strict enough?  Should I tell Henry, for example, that he really has to stop swearing in front of her or is that being overprotective and silly?  Will Katy be sitting in a shrink’soffice some day, blaming me fo everything wrong in her life?  Will she make the same mistakes I did?

-Tainted by Brook Morgan, pages 21-22

First off, I’d like to thank Trish of TLC Book Tours for inviting me to join the Tainted virtual book tour

Tainted by Brooke Morgan is about a young single mother, Holly Barrett, who has always been the wallflower and shy friend of the more gregarious Anna.  Holly got pregnant with Katy the first, and only, time she had sex and the father, Anna’s ex, ran as fast and far away as he could.  Two years after Katy’s birth, Holly’s parents died within days of each other, leaving Holly with a sense that the world is full of pain and she has virtually no control in it.  Henry, her 75-year-old grandfather, Anna, Katy and the Cape Cod house that had been her summer home growing up is her entire world.

Enter Jack Dane.  Tall, handsome and English, Jack is “faintworthy” and Holly is quickly swept away by his charm and he provides her with a sense of safety; he fast becomes a part of every aspect of her life.  He, too, has lost both of his parents.  By all appearances, Jack is Mr. Perfect.  But is he really this good? Or is he keeping dark and dangerous secrets?  Is he really Prince Charming? or a monster in disguise?

Tainted by Brooke Morgan is a slow cooker and an unassuming book.  I really like how Morgan has really captured the sensitivity and worries of the “dating” single mom, and that of worry-worry-worry that goes along with motherhood (sometimes I wonder if worry is the force that drives our engines as mothers!).  I also love Henry, Holly’s grandfather, who reminds me of a few grizzled souls whom I love dearly.  Not one to want to be called “Gramps” because it made him seem infantile and incapable, nor “Grandfather” because it made him seem ancient, he’s always went by just “Henry” but hasn’t lost the effect of his role as a grandparent by this choice. 

Confession time:  I haven’t finished this book yet, but I fell in love with it after the second or third chapter.  I’d have to say that Holly is my literary twin, and I can completely relate to her.  Jack is still Mr. Perfect where I’m at in the book but, to tell you the truth, he has a really Dexter-feel to him.  The dog didn’t like him, and I’m waiting for him to go on some murderous rampage.  Or bodies to turn up, at least.  He’s too nice, and people who are always nice are creepy and are hiding something.  It pulls me along and I hafta-HAFTA read the next page.. the next chapter… and before I know it, 50 pages have gone by.

Of course, since I haven’t finished it  yet, I’ll reserve rating it for now, but I’m definitely loving it

If you’d like to check out other reviews, here’s a list of fellow tour hosts:

I’m Booking It
All About {n}
Savvy Verse & Wit
Café of Dreams
Clever Girl Goes Blog
Dolce Bellezza
The Literate Housewife
Life in the Thumb
Bookworm With a View
Cozy Little House

[Via http://thekoolaidmom.wordpress.com]

Want to write a mystery?

I’ve recently read How to Write a Damn Good Mystery by James N Frey (ISBN: 9780312304461) and I must say it’s one of the best books I’ve read on writing. He lays out in clear steps how to construct a mystery. This process might seem too clinical for some writers, but I found the methodical approach appealing because it made the task seem doable. Until now, although I’ve written a number of novels, I’ve always found the task daunting and floundered in a sea of uncertainty, wondering where to begin and how to proceed once I have begun. As James Frey so aptly says, you end up writing loads of superfluous waffle until you find the right path, whereas if you know where you’re going from the beginning, this cuts out a lot of unnecessary work. The most important points I gleaned from this book were:

• Lists of the most important mythic characters found in mysteries. This isn’t what it sounds like. Mythic characters here stand for types, not actual characters. And from the dog-ears dogging this book, I would say most readers found this part the most valuable.

• A list of the various stages of a mystery. Frey equates these stages to a five-act play, whereas many other writing teachers speak about a three-act play, so this was interesting and different.

• What readers of mysteries expect of the writer and how to meet those expectations.

• What to avoid so that your reader will be satisfied with your book and will want to read more of your novels.

• To type out passages written by writers you admire. James Frey is not advocating plagiarism, but he does stress that to learn to write well, one needs to emulate the masters, so typing out their work helps new writers learn rhythm, pace, dialogue, setting, whatever it is you feel makes up a great piece of writing. In this way you can learn to write in many different voices and styles and eventually develop a style of your own.

All useful stuff, as I’m sure you’ll agree.

[Via http://kathleenstewart.wordpress.com]

A truly great book

I am fond of reading and recently (over the past two or three years) have ventured into the world of Indian literature. Being an Indian, I am of course aware of the famous names from our part of the world: Satyajit Ray, Rabindranath Tagore, Amrtya Sen, Vikram Seth etc..but some of the female authors I have read recently have left a truly impactful impression on my mind.

I just finished reading a very famous, well written and absolutely fascinating novel by the Oriya author: Pratibha Ray. It’s an English translation of her work and I am sure it’s just as good as the original. The novel is titled: Yajnaseni. Reading it made me really proud of our mythology and jealous of the relation true devotees have with their God.. Here’s an excerpt from it:

A creature is bound by the triple thread of the three gunas: sattva, rajas and tamas. Tamas gives birth to attachment. From Rajas comes addiction and desire. Sattva produces purity. If Tamas and Rajas were shackles of iron, then Sattva was a chain of gold. Therefore, even though the desire to reach swarg through the Himalayas was sattvik, it seemed to me like chains of gold around my ankles. For, even this had been transformed into an attachment for me. If the desire for getting a kingdom was shackles of iron then wasn’t the desire to attain svarg a chain of gold? Who was free of attachment ? I ? My husbands ? Could a man who had attachment achieve svarg?Attachment blinds a person. But to proceed onwards, some attachment, some desire from results does exist within a person. Therefore, like a blind man, without considering what is right and what is wrong, he keeps walking on the path, just like us.

While walking on I mused: “What did I get in this birth? What did I lose ? Why did I come ? What task was accomplished through me? What ought to have been done by me. Food, sleep, sex, the pleasure of a kingdom, etc- I got everything in life. Still it seems that my life has remained unfulfilled. What is wanting ? Why have I borne so much sorrow, grief, pain, in life? I feel that with Yudhisthir as husband, any woman will have to suffer… … … . And while thinking thus, my feet slipped on the golden dust of the Himalayas.My five husbands, whom I had regarded even as my five senses all through life and who had been my companions in life after life, did not even look back. They kept walking straight ahead on the path to svarg. I was alone at death’s door!” … … … … … … … … Pride is an obstacle on the path to svarg. Can anyone be free of pride in this world ?

I was the royal queen of Hastina. Sacrificing father , sons, brother, friends – everyone, I had won the status of queen. How can it be that there will be no pride in my mind? There was enough scope for pride in that life. But even that life didnot seem fulfilled to me. Today I lie alone on the way to death. My arrogance has certainly been removed. But helplessnessis waiting to swallow me up. Helplessness is filling me with a sense of want. Today I am realizing that life is not just pride, and nor is it only full of helplessness. It is between these two that the stream of life keeps flowing. Both pride and helplessness have significant roles to play in life. Pride by itself blinds a person, while helplessness fills him with a sense of want.But if the pride and helplessness, instead of being petty, are noble, then life becomes fulfilled.Then manthinks “O Lord! I am but your creation, and that is the source of my pride. Then when he thinks that all his strength,all his support is He alone, his soul soars upwards and the doors of svarg open up to receive it

[Via http://searchforagreenerlife.wordpress.com]

Religion Is Not About God: How Spiritual Traditions Nurture Our Biological Nature and What To Expect When They Fail by Loyal Rue

The author, Loyal Rue, is a professor of philosophy and religion at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.  His writing style in this book is easy to follow even when he was explaining a complex thought.

 

The basic premise of the book is the idea that religion is not about God or Gods but about us.  Religions that are successful are ones that influence our human nature so that we could think, feel and act in ways that are good for us, both on the personal level and on society level.

 

The book itself is divided into three parts. 

 

Part one examines the evolutionary story and especially the evolution of behavior.  Chapter one traces the evolutionary story from the first moment of creation to the emergence of life.  Chapter two continues with the evolution of behavior from simple molecules to complex neurological systems.  Chapter three concentrated on aspects of human nature that are open to manipulation by religious traditions.  The author focuses on the dynamic interactions between emotional, cognitive and symbolic systems.  Chapter four changes focus from human nature to spiritual traditions.  This chapter talks about (in general) what is religion, its structure, its origins, and its function.

 

Part two is very interesting as it puts into practice all we have learned in part one.  There are five chapters, each chapter is concerned with one religion and each chapter is broken down into the following: historical context, myth, emotional appeal, ancillary strategies, and personal wholeness and social coherence.  The five religions discussed are: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

 

Part three considers the future of religion.  It is made up of two chapters.  In these chapters the author gives his version of the future of religion, even though in the beginning he says he is sure nothing will change.  Chapter ten discusses the impact of modern science, religious diversity, and the rise of the consumer culture and what it means for us.  Chapter eleven discusses the impact of the environmental changes that are going on in the world now.  Both these chapters are trying to discuss the viability of the religions we have now and whether they can do what they are supposed to do and if they fail, what then?

 

Anyone interested in researching religion should read this book.  It is an amazing journey, full of simple information that has totally been over looked by a lot of people.  It puts forward a theory and then sets out to prove it and I think that the author proves his theory extremely well.  And the way he finally brings it to the present then takes it to the future is just a pleasure to read. 

A MUST HAVE BOOK.

[Via http://celticscholar.wordpress.com]

“Harry Stott: Ancient black Greek philosopher”;

“Harry Stott: Ancient black Greek philosopher”; (Feb. 20, 2010)

            “Simple said: “My wife took me to “Black History Week” and a black professor was giving a conference.  This hysteric professor…

            Langston cut in: “You mean history professor”

            Simple seemed to let this correction pass and resumed: “This hysteric professor said we niggers are badly educated, badly led, and we are wasting our energy on having good time.  He wants us to work and gain a few cents instead of dancing and doing Jazz.

            Langston: “A constructive criticism is not a bad thing.  We have got to tear down shanty homes to build newer ones.

            Simple: “The professor got my wife all hot.  She said that the professor was describing my behavior.  She kept reminding me of what he said about this black Greek philosopher Harry Stott.  I told her that this black Greek philosopher must have lived before Booker T. Washington.  The professor insisted that black educated people played a large role in history since Adam and Eve.

            Langston: Great!  Now is time to improving racial relationship

            Simple: “I have got my idea that jazz, laughter, balls, dancing, and singing are better means to working out racial relationship.  I would suggest that, instead of beginning with high flatulent oration during conferences, better start with jam sessions and then the orchestra of Duke, Hampton, or Count Bessie brings the tempo to any conference.  We can take a break listening to Saint-Louis Blues to fill the gap between talks. It would be swell that a great artist sings “There will be change one day” and we all rejoin “Amen”.  By 5 pm, we re-start another jam session and the orchestra plays “Tea for two” while we drink tea. This is the right way to resolving racial problems: heart is high and higher than the sky.  Wheeee!”

            Langston Hughes (1902-67) was a black author and poet.  He was a major activist in Harlem Renaissance movement between the two world wars.  Hughes studied at Columbia University and recalled the festive ambiance in Harlem in his autobiography “The Big Sea, 1940”.  His essay “Negro artist and the racial mountain, 1926” encourages black authors to express their emotions without shame or fear and to boldly critique cultured blacks and racist whites.  He published columns in Chicago Defender under the title “Just be Simple”.  Thus, Simple became the hero of his chronicles. Simple was convinced that art, music, and books could transform mentality and defeat discrimination tendencies. Later, Simple became more radical and demanded civil rights.  Simple is one of the most famous characters in black literature.  Simple is like the Uncle Tom of the 20th century.

[Via http://adonis49.wordpress.com]

River Run Red vividly depicts the incompetence and corruption of Union occupation in Tennessee, the horrors of guerrilla warfare, and the pent-up bigotry and rage that found its release at Fort Pillow.

River run red : the Fort Pillow massacre in the American Civil War    New York : Viking, c 2005  Andrew Ward Fort Pillow, Battle of, Tenn., 1864 Hardcover. First edition and printing. xxiii, 531 p. : ill., maps ; 25 cm.  Includes bibliographical references (p. [495]-518) and index. Clean, tight and strong binding with clean dust jacket. No highlighting, underlining or marginalia in text. VG/VG

On April 12, 1864, a force of more than 3,000 Confederate cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest galloped across West Tennessee to storm Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River, overwhelming a garrison of some 350 Southern white Unionists and over 300 former slaves turned artillerymen. By the next day, hundreds of Federals were dead or wounded, more than 60 black troops had been captured and reenslaved, and more than 100 white troops had been marched off to their doom at Andersonville. Confederates called this bloody battle and its aftermath a hard- won victory. Northerners deemed it premeditated slaughter. To this day, Fort Pillow remains one of the most controversial battles in American history.

The fullest, most accurate account of the battle yet written, River Run Red vividly depicts the incompetence and corruption of Union occupation in Tennessee, the horrors of guerrilla warfare, and the pent-up bigotry and rage that found its release at Fort Pillow. Andrew Ward brings to life the garrison’s black troops and their ambivalent white comrades, and the intrepid Confederate cavalrymen who rode with the slave trading Nathan Bedford Forrest, future founder of the Ku Klux Klan.

The result is a fast-paced narrative that hurtles toward that fateful April day and beyond to establish Fort Pillow’s true significance in the annals of American history. Destined to become as controversial as the battle itself, River Run Red is sure to appeal to readers of James McPherson’s bestselling Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam.

[Via http://oldsaltbooks.wordpress.com]

Review: Robert Murray M'Cheyne by Andrew Bonar

Robert Murray M’Cheyne

By Andrew Bonar

Banner of Truth

We’re blessed with many good contemporary theologians and authors. They apply the truth to the world we live in today in a way that no other generation of writers can. But there is something different about the writings of yesterday—something special. They take us into sacred places and draw our hearts to Christ in an unusually powerful way. One of my favorites of these old classics is Andrew Bonar’s biography of Robert Murray M’Cheyne.

M’Cheyne was, like Whitefield and Spurgeon, one of the great Calvinist evangelists who

saw no inconsistency in preaching an electing God, who ‘calleth whom he will,’ and a salvation free to ‘whosoever will;’ nor in declaring the absolute sovereignty of God, and yet the unimpaired responsibility of man. He preached Christ as a gift laid down by the Father for every sinner freely to take.

Whether at home in Scotland or in the deserts of Palestine where he traveled to evangelize the Jews, M’Cheyne’s passion was to preach the gospel. He loved sinners and was burdened to see them saved. And he served them tirelessly:

Occasionally, he would spend six hours in visiting, and then, the same evening, preach in some room to all the families whom he had that day visited. Very generally, too, on Sabbath, after preaching twice to his own flock, he was engaged in ministering somewhere else in the evening….When an opportunity of evangelizing occurred, there was none in Scotland more ready to embrace it.

The Holy Spirit blessed M’Cheyne’s efforts. Hundreds were brought to Christ under his short ministry (M’Cheyne died when he was 29). He explained and applied the Scriptures clearly and powerfully, but he had something else that many lack: “It was testified of him, that not the words he spoke, but the holy manner in which he spoke, was the chief means of arresting souls.”
One story illustrates this well. M’Cheyne preached his last sermon at Broughty Ferry a few days before he died. After his death, his friends found an unopened letter that had been delivered during his illness. It was from a man who heard that last sermon:

I hope you will pardon a stranger for addressing to you a few lines. I heard you preach last Sabbath evening, and it pleased God to bless that sermon to my soul. It was not so much what you said, as your manner of speaking, that struck me. I saw in you a beauty in holiness that I never saw before. You also said something in your prayer that struck me very much. It was, ‘Thou knowest that we love thee.’ O Sir, what would I give that I could say to my blessed Saviour, ‘Thou knowest that I love thee.’

Andrew Bonar, the author of this biography, was a fellow minister and close friend of M’Cheyne. He published this biography in 1844, just one year after his friend’s death. Banner of Truth published their first edition in 1960, and it has been reprinted several times since. Besides the introduction, there are six chapters representing six phases in M’Cheyne’s life:

1. His youth and preparation for the ministry
2. His labours in the vineyard before ordination
3. First years of labour in Dundee
4. His mission to Palestine and the Jews
5. Days of revival
6. The latter days of his ministry

Throughout the chapters, Bonar allows M’Cheyne to speak for himself with journal entries and letters to friends and family. Several of M’Cheyne’s poems and hymns are also included. All of M’Cheyne’s words are beautifully written, and they show the great desire of his heart: “Lord, wean me from my sins, from my cares, and from this passing world. May Christ be all in all to me.” Regarding the larger volume of M’Cheyne’s memoirs, Spurgeon said, “This is one of the best and most profitable volumes ever published. Every minister should read it often.” The same is true of this smaller book. Pick it up, read it, and walk with one of the giants of our faith. You’ll be blessed and encouraged for doing so.

[Via http://whilewesojourn.com]

The Shadow on The Dial by Andrew Cable

Andrew Cable’s debut novel fearlessly crosses a number of genres with a great deal of success. The book is aimed at young adults but has enough depth to appeal to mature reader. There are clever references to the age-old tradition of SF time travel along with the characteristic “chappiness” of the England that Americans still believe exists and that bears no resemblance to the Disunited Chavdom of the 21st Century.

The writing style evokes Enid Blyton, with a dash of G.K. Chesterton and the narrative voice of a David Niven or Terry Thomas. Belying the current obsession with “show don’t tell” which is reducing writing to cinematography, Cable is not afraid of narrative summary and ruminative asides. This all adds to the enjoyability of the book and reminds us of why we choose to read and not simply soak up televisual images.

The book is thoughtful and multi-layered but always light, charming and utterly engaging. It tells the tale of Elias Maccobi, a Jewish religion school teacher who prepares his students for their rites of passage by taking them back in time to key moments in their history. Maccobi also works as a time agent, ensuring the integrity of the time line. Before long, the school outings clash with the machinations of some rather unpleasant time travellers…

Cable writes with wit and charm. His vast knowledge of the history of religions and the ancient unobtrusively enriches the story, rewarding the reader with knowledge as well as pleasure.

The strongest passages in the book are at the very beginning and towards the end when the writing picks up pace and flows seamlessly. The chief strength, for me, is in the distinctive narrative voice which manages to remove the book from the ranks of tedious formulaic and immitative works that enjoy popular acclaim. Cable’s imagination is also a big plus point. Ideas as common as time travel are given a new and ingenious slant and there is a depth to the SF concepts that is effective in cementing the mise en scene.

I read the first edition, first printing which lacks a strong cover design and could benefit from type-setting and a tweak or two in the editorial department. Nevertheless this is a strong debut and one worthy of attention.

CFR rating: ***

[Via http://conradlevy.wordpress.com]

"50 Ways to Help Obama" and "Inside Obama's Brain: Some Books Have Expiration Dates: Book Review

In late 2009, I requested and received free review copies of two books: 50 Ways You Can Help Obama Change America (from PoliPointPress) and Inside Obama’s Brain (from Portfolio/Penguin Group).

I interviewed the author of Inside Obama’s Brain, Sasha Abramsky, the week his book came out, and I looked forward to reading both of these positive, Obama-centric books. But, alas, when I did finally read them, in January of 2010, I found, to my dismay, that they had outgrown their shelf lives.

What to say about books that have expired? The authors cannot be blamed. The publishing companies can, insofar as they succumbed to Obama fever in commissioning these books, but not for publishing bad books. Both of these titles, especially Mr. Abramsky’s book, have much to recommend them, but the full effect that I am sure the authors desired had a shelf life. Books that celebrate a moment always do. And moments, especially political and historical ones, change so quickly. A book that requires a certain mood from the reader in order to be fully enjoyed will only be fully enjoyed for a short period of time.

50 Ways You Can Help Obama Change America:

This book is a “box of chocolates,” to borrow a phrase from Forrest Gump. The “50 ways” run the gamut of political participation, from emailing your Congressman to running for Congress yourself, with everything in between covered as well.

The authors, Michael Huttner and Jason Salzman, divide their list into sensible categories, and they reference many, many wonderful web sites and organizations that can be valuable to a concerned citizen. It’s just that a “do-it-now” kind of book feels wrong when the endorsement on the cover is from the now-dead Senator Edward M. Kennedy. I don’t think he was meant to be dead when I read this book, just as I don’t think the authors’ advice to “Clarify your own position on health-care reform, and join an organization that promotes your preferred approach” was meant to sound as “been there, done that” as it did to me.

While 50 Ways contains very useful information and is a perfect book for teens looking for avenues of political involvement, it is already something of a  “dollar store” book. It exists in a place that no longer exists in real life: the “Yes, We Did!” period following the 2008 election.

Inside Obama’s Brain:

Sasha Abramsky is a writer whose skills I greatly admire, and writing a book that delves into the personality traits of Barack Obama to explain his brilliant rise in American history must have been a dream project for him. Still, this book may read better twenty years from now than it does in 2010. Right now, it feels dated, although in a different sense than does 50 Ways.

Inside Obama’s Brain discusses such things as the president’s self-assuredness, his devotion to coalition-building, and his calm demeanor. These traits are often mentioned in the context of particular situations, but the reader of this book today will be unconsciously inserting today’s situations into the character analysis. For example, Mr. Abramsky talks about Obama “blending idealism and pragmatism.” Reading that phrase right now, depending on which side of the partisan fence you are on, you will probably feel that one of those qualities in getting lost in the blend. And that feeling will color your experience of the book.

Character traits are good to know about, but, in real time, it is action that makes character. And Inside Obama’s Brain exists, well, inside Obama’s brain via Abramsky. When the reader intertwines that space with the real world of Obama’s actions, the traits often fall short of their intended impressiveness. Mr. Abramsky told me he hoped this book would “re-energize people” about Obama, and it did that for me, a little, but it also made me realize how far away the days of campaign glory were, and how deeply the days of cold, hard reality have set in.

Some books have an expiration date. You can still read them after that date has passed, but the flavor won’t be as good as it could have been if you’d read them at the peak of freshness. Lesson learned.

[Via http://srgaissert.wordpress.com]

Half the Sky, a Co-Review

Today, Heather and I are discussing Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl Wudunn (see the official site for more information). This is the second half of the interview, so it won’t make much sense unless you pop on over to Heather’s first.

Eva: To answer your last question, I read the book awhile ago, so I don’t remember a lot of the profiles. But I did love the one of the woman who has lived in Senegal for the past couple decades, and has developed a program that actually helps end female genital mutilation by involving the whole village. That filled me a lot of hope.

What would you say the weakest part of the book was?

Heather: Let’s see, the weakest part… this is hard because I don’t think there was anything particularly weak about the book as a whole. I mean, they did provide a ton of options for what we as “outsiders” can do to improve some of these horrific situations for women around the world, and there was a lot of talk about what governments and individuals in those areas can do… so I feel like they covered their bases there. I felt like there were several tangible options I had for helping, and I also felt like there was enough discussion on the larger issues going on for most of these women, why our money won’t just magically fix everything and more needs to be done by people actually living these situations. I guess, for me, the weakest part would be what I already sort of mentioned, that I didn’t personally learn much from the book. Which is fine because I am pretty knowledgeable about women’s issues around the globe, but I just would have liked a little something extra that I hadn’t already heard about or thought about before.

What would you say the weakest part was? And was there anything in the book that particularly stuck out to you as new information, or even old information presented in a new and thought-provoking way?

Eva: I suppose the only weak part might be the lack of sophistication in the analysis. Let’s see…I’m not sure I learned much new information (except for the bits about all the icky things that can go wrong to women in labour…those health problems were new to me), but I did like the presentation. The combination of a general overview, along with personal stories, and then recommendations for change really worked for me!

I guess that’s about all that I have to say on it. Any last thoughts from you?

Heather: Any last thoughts… well, one last thing I’d like to add is that since we started our discussion on the book, Oprah actually featured it on her show, and on her site she has many of the same resources that Half the Sky talked about. Just in case anyone reading this wants to get involved immediately (like, before reading the book for yourself, which is totally awesome), you can go to Oprah.com and there are many quick links on how you can help right now.

But, in conclusion, I recommend the book! It wasn’t perfect for me, but like you said, Eva, it’s a great general overview of the issues women are facing worldwide today, and I loved the resources on how the average person can make a difference.

[Via http://astripedarmchair.wordpress.com]

A Review of Summer for the Gods by Edward J. Larson

Clarence Darrow in action

Edward J. Larson has written a brilliant, judicious account of the trialof John Scopes, aschoolteacher prosecuted by the state of Tennessee for teaching the theory of evolution in a public school. The trial was dubbed the “trial of the century” (it wasn’t the first) for its illustrious protagonists. The prosecution was led by the anti-evolution politician William Jennings Bryan, who argued that Darwin’s theory directly attacked religious belief in the divine origins of man. He claimed such teaching would provoke the disintegration of social values and the ruin of morality. He saw his mission on the witness stand as a crusade. The people of Tennessee are Christians, he stressed, and they — not high-falutin’ experts — should decide what was fit or unfit to be taught in their schools.

Clarence Darrow, the iconoclastic defense lawyer and self-declared agnostic, led the defense. Darrow’s position was that what was at stake was a return to medievalism and the bludgeoning of the human intellect in the name of orthodoxy. It was, in his view, a question not of religious truth but of human rights.

The centerpiece of the trial was the joust between Darrow and Bryan. Darrow grilled Bryan on his literalist reading of the Bible, laying bare the flimsy intellectual foundations of such blind faith. Bryan, for his part, held to his position that it didn’t matter if what the Bible said seemed incomprehensible to us; it was the word of God. He did, however, concede that the six “days” of creation were best interpreted as geologic “ages,” a concession that later fundamentalists would never forgive him.

Bryan died a week after the trial. Some of his supporters blamed Darrow. H.L. Mencken, who reported on the trial for the Baltimore Sun, gave a brief eulogy: “If the village barber saved any of [Bryan's] hair, then it is curing gallstones down there today.”

The Scopes Trial has echoed across America’s cultural battlefields for over eighty years, most recently in the Katzmiller vs. Dover ruling of 2005 that the teaching of Intelligent Design “violated the constitutional bar against religious instruction.” In light of such recent attempts to dress up creationism in sheep’s clothing, we might be grateful to William Jennings Bryan for his honesty; at the very least, he felt his religion was strong enough to survive the assault from science and reason on its own merits — or die fighting.

From The American

[Via http://marcalandimartino.wordpress.com]

Book Review: Drood by Dan Simmons

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Drood

by Dan Simmons

Little, Brown and Company, 2009

ISBN13: 9780316007023

Hardcover $26.99

Dan Simmons’ mammoth novel, Drood, is historical fiction centered around two of 19th-century British literature’s most prominent figures: Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. It is “narrated” by Wilkie Collins and chronicles the last five years of Charles Dickens’ life and his growing obsession with a mysterious figure named Drood.  Drood is a menacing character that Dickens encounters in the aftermath of a tragic train accident.  Drood becomes the inspiration for Dickens’ last, unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The narrative follows Collins’ day-to-day life, his interactions with Charles Dickens and their hunt for Drood through London’s seamy underbelly: opium dens, back alleys, cemeteries and all other manner of creepy, gaslit Victorian places.

I’ve made no secret for years that I love The Alienist by Caleb Carr. It is quite simply the best work of modern fiction I’ve read and my gold standard for historical mystery/thrillers. So when I saw Drood sitting on my neighborhood bookseller’s shelf, I practically drooled on it.  The summary promises a thrill ride of mystery and suspense. What the book actually delivers is a long-winded, meandering, nonsensical narrative as seen through the eyes of a thoroughly unstable opium addict in Collins.

From the outset, I disliked “the character” of Charles Dickens… not a redeeming quality to be found, especially when seen through the eyes of Drood’s whiny, jealous, tripped-out narrator, Collins. The novel is heavily laden with unrelated and rambling historical asides (some of which repeat themselves). I kept with it, thinking that all of these side roads might eventually come together in some way that was relevant or revealing to the plot. They don’t. And then there is the story itself. The build-up scene to Charles Dickens’ second encounter with Drood was mouth-wateringly good: a grimy trip through Bluegate Fields, opium dens and a crypt with secret passages under it… only to culminate in Dickens being whisked away in a gondola piloted by two men in tights (yes, tights) on a river of sewage. We later learn that they took him to Drood’s huge Egyptian-style fortress in some sort of secret London sewer-city where he and Drood sipped tea and chatted about mesmerism.  Uh huh.  That marked the first time (of several) that I set this book aside with a vow to read no more.

Ultimately though, I kept with it and finished… all 784 painful, psychedelic pages.  But I am sorry to report that my opinion of this book never improved. As narrator Collins’ drug problem grows, the story just gets weirder and weirder, leaving the reader to decide what is real and what is an opium-induced fantasy.  (Some are easy, like the green-skinned woman with tusks for teeth.  That’s right… green skin and tusks. Sigh.)  I rate it as Fair rather than Poor simply because I think Simmons did an admirable job of assuming the voice of Wilkie Collins.  An authentic-sounding Victorian “voice” is tricky to achieve, let alone maintain for 700+ pages.  I also appreciate how much research it must have taken to write it.  That said, I just can’t recommend Drood. What a disappointment.

[Via http://thelitwitch.com]

Book Review: Derailed by Tim Irwin

This week I’ve reviewed a gritty memoir, a heartfelt retelling of a Bible story, a hard-hitting look at trials,  and a radio theater performance. Today I’m reviewing a leadership book. But hang on–it’s not just for business professionals. It digs deep down into the human heart and character and is applicable to everyone.

 

Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett Packard, is running against Barbara Boxer in the U.S. Senate race in California. I’m a little worried–not about whether or not she’ll win, but whether or not she’s learned from her hostile separation  from H-P just five years ago. I wonder if she’s learned from her past and made changes in her leadership style.

Why do I, a suburban home school mother of four on the opposite coast as Fiorina know about her leadership flaws? Because they were featured in Tim Irwin’s new book, Derailed: Five Lessons Learned from Catastrophic Failures of Leadership, along with the mistakes of CEO’s from four other major corporations we all know.

In the first half of the book (published by Thomas Nelson) Irwin reveals the behaviors and character traits that cause leaders to “run off the rails.” In the second half, he helps us to determine which derailment tendencies we might have and gives us guidance for “staying on the rails.”

Why do I, a suburban home school mother of four who does not run a huge corporation, need to know these things? Because I am a leader–in my home, my church, and my community. Because the same things that are important to a CEO’s integrity are important to mine; the same things that can help a CEO succeed in her job can help me succeed in mine. And the same flaws that lead to an executive’s derailment can lead to my own derailement. Character is no respector of persons or positions.

If you’re still not convinced this is a must-read, check out this informative post on Michael Hyatt’s blog . Or skip right to this free Derailed Online Assessment. If these don’t convince you to run out and buy this book, maybe the fact that it’s part of the NelsonFree program–at no additional cost you get an ebook and an audio version–will convince you.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book as a free gift from Thomas Nelson  Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

[Via http://aswewalk.wordpress.com]

Teen Review: Avatar

Sophia is a 6th grader at Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy.  She come to CLP – Main to check out books, hang out and play video games, and she is a regular reader of CLP – Teensburgh.  If you’re a CLP Teen and would like to write reviews or other content for the blog, just email teens@carnegielibrary.org!

I saw Avatar in 3D and I like it a lot. There are some scientists and other people that have come to the planet Pandora because there is a large deposit of previous metal scattered over the land. A military veteran Jake sully finds himself going to the planet because they have made a deal with him that if he goes to the planet he will get surgery to fix his legs. His brother was killed during a robbery and he was supposed to go to Pandora. I think this was a very good movie because it has a very good plot and gives many details during the movie being that it is about 2 hours. You should see this movie.

Sophia

Avatar isn’t available to request from the library yet, but if you just can’t wait you can read a book based on the movie or check out the soundtrack!

Pietsa, Nicole

The Na’Vi Quest

To explore the alien planet Pandora, Jake is psychically connected to an avatar created to look like the Na’vi, Pandora’s indigenous people, and though he is meant to persuade them to move he longs to be accepted as one of them

[Via http://clpteensburgh.wordpress.com]

Horton Hears a Who!

Name of Book: Horton Hears a Who!

Author: Dr. Seuss

Illustrator: Dr. Seuss

Publisher: Random House

Audience: Ages 3 and up

Summary: A story of an elephant, Horton, that hears a voice on a speck of dust and works to protect it. He learns that there is an entire town living on the speck of dust when he has a conversation with the Mayor of Whoville. His fellow jungle friends don’t believe him and work to destroy the speck of dust, and therefore all of the Whos. Horton encourages them all to shout for help so that the jungle mates will hear them and stop trying to harm them, and when it works, Horton is celebrated as a hero both in Whoville and also in the Jungle of Nool.

Literary elements at work in the story: A rhyming picture book set in the Jungle of Nool, told from the omniscient narrator point of view. Horton works to save the town of Who from the wrath of the unbelieving and mean-spirited jungle mates. The book carries a few themes, including: teamwork, perseverance, trust and care for creation. The theme of care strongly resonates with the line “A person’s a person, no matter how small.”

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economic/ability make a difference to the

story? The characters are either animals or fictional people, but gender is noticeable in both the jungle animals as well as the Whos. The small Whos show that no matter size, teamwork can be vital. The Whos were unable to protect themselves from outside danger, so a large protector had to step in and work to save them.

Scripture: I Timothy 4:9-10

Theology: In salvation, God makes the first move and reaches out because God loves us no matter how we respond to God. There is absolutely nothing that we can do to earn God’s love; God offers us love and right relationship as a free gift, not because it is earned by us and not even because we first ask for it. God also gives us the gift of faith so that we can trust that our relationships with God and one another are made right by Jesus Christ.

Faith Talk Questions:

1. What does Horton mean when he says that “a person’s a person no matter how small”?
2. Why do you think Horton risked himself to help the people that he did not even know?
3. Have you ever been “rescued” like Horton rescued the Whos? Tell us about it.
4. How can we, like Horton, reach out and help people how need our help?
5. Can you think of a time in your life when God has helped you or rescued you?

Review prepared by Katie Todd, MDiv/MACE, Entering cohort Fall 2005

[Via http://storypath.wordpress.com]

[REVIEW] The People of Sparks - Jeanne DuPrau

Jeanne DuPrau
The People of Sparks (Ember, Book 2)
Random House (US & CA: 12th April 2005; UK: 2nd February 2006; AU: 3rd April 2006)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Four hundred people from Ember have made it into the outside world, to a town where they’ve decided to integrate. The people of Sparks, however, have different ideas. They feed, house, and train the refugees, but supplies are dwindling and tension is rising.

Jeanne DuPrau brings up some big issues in a non-preachy way. Warfare, refugees, greed, hunger, toil, secrets, and lies are all major players, but the characters make these elements work. Lina and Doon are definitely flawed, but stick with them and they’ll come through. Realistic, relevant, thoughtful, entertaining, and emotional, The People of Sparks is a brilliant sequel to tough-to-beat The City of Ember. I’ve already reserved my copy of The Diamond of Darkhold…

[Via http://tezmilleroz.wordpress.com]

Book Review: How Can A Good God Let Bad Things Happen?

I flipped open How Can A Good God Let Bad Things Happen?  (Navpress) and wondered “How could I have chosen another heavy book to review?” Why hadn’t I chosen chick lit or children’s books? I wearily plowed through the first few pages, my shoulders hunched in responsibility–until I realized who I was reading. I recognized Tabb’s name from his earlier book, Living With Less: The Upside of Downsizing.

I remember Tabb clearly because his God doesn’t resemble the one portrayed in Sunday morning service or feel-good Christian self-help books. No, Tabb’s God resembles, well, the God found in the Biblical book of Job. Tabb’s God allows children and parents to die in horrendous accidents and does not reach out His hand to save them. Yet Tabb’s God is the one found in the Bible. And He is the one, like it or not, Christians have committed to follow.

[Romans 8:28] does not say that God has some hidden purpose behind every event that happens in my life, at least not a purpose I will ever see or understand. Nor does the verse tell me I can force something good out of this. I cannot control God’s hand, and when I try to force some good purpose onto tragic events, that’s exactly what I am trying to do. (p.21)

Tabb sees the whole of God. He isn’t willing to willy-nilly throw out portions of Scripture because they don’t line up with his feelings. He tackles doubt and faith, neglect and protection, fear and relief using Scripture, the words breathed by the God who is in the midst of all of them.

If you’re ready to lay aside your preconceptions and prejudices and learn to see God as He really is–truly wild and unpredictable, yet perpetually trustworthy–get yourself a copy of How Can A Good God Let Bad Things Happen? And a pencil–because I’m sure you’ll make as many notes in the margins as I did. I give away dozens of books a year because I am determined to keep only the best; this is definitely a keeper.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from NavPress Publishers as part of their Blogger Review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

[Via http://aswewalk.wordpress.com]

Plague of Spells by Bruce R. Cordell

Plague of Spells by Bruce R. Cordell- This is the first book in the Abolethic Sovereignty, with the second book called City of Torment and the third and final book called Key of Stars (due out in November of 2010), all set in the Forgotten Realms universe. Bruce R. Cordell is the author of other Forgotten Realms novels and has contributed a few short stories to various anthologies. His other Forgotten Realms novels include; Stardeep (which is part of The Dungeon series of stand-alone novels), Darkvision (which is part of The Wizards series of stand-alone novels), and Lady of Poison (which is part of The Priests series of stand-alone novels). Some characters from the novel Stardeep also appear in this trilogy.

The story follows three different story lines that intersect at the end of the story. We are first introduced to a monk named Raidon Kane, who is returning to his adoptive daughter after killing an abomination as dictated by an amulet he wears called the Cerulean Sign, which can sense aberrations. During his trip home, he becomes trapped in a Spellplague outbreak, holding him in a cocoon like structure for a decade. Upon breaking free, he discovers that the amulet is not a tattoo on his chest and allows him to ‘feel’ aberrations. After finally returning home after ten years, he finds his daughter has died. He then embarks on a quest of revenge, with the aid of a voice called Cynosure, who is a sentient golem pledged to the Cerulean Sign. The second story line focuses on a kuo-toa named Nogah and her discovery of an artifact called the Dreamheart. After learning some tricks of the Dreamheart, Nogah rallies some of her people to join her cause but it turns bad in the end. A kraken named Gethshemeth, takes the relic from Nogah. And Nogah wants it back. The final story line follows a young woman named Anusha and a drug addled warlock named Japheth. Anusha learns she has a unique gift to ‘dream-walk’ while she is asleep. After finding out that her step-brother means to hold her up in one of the family estates, she decides to run off on a ship in which her step-brother is employing the warlock to act as his proxy on a deal that could make the step-brother wealthy beyond belief. But how do these story lines come together?

Negatives:
1) Nogah’s Scenes. These are a chore to read through. I didn’t care for the character nor the story she had. To me, it was just filler and it felt like it. It’s even worse when the other story lines are much more interesting. However, later in the story, they are a little more bearable, mostly do to the fact that she isn’t the focus of the story. I didn’t like the character because she was boring and just bland. Just thoroughly uninteresting.
2) Jumping Actions. This is a little more hard to explain. Every so often, there are times when there was a ‘jump’ in the action, but I’m not talking about the physical action. It’s more like a lack of observations, but it makes things disoriented and a little confusing. For example, when we learn of Raidon’s daughter has died, there wasn’t any big moment of remorse or shock. Yes, there is some emotion shown but it feels wrong. I don’t even read how Raidon learns of this devastating news, and that would be much more emotionally driven and powerful. Then there are lacking observations. Usually these are smaller little details that are easily missed, but it feels weird reading them.
3) Word Choice. Usually, I don’t mind using ‘big words’ in a story. Usually, I can figure out what they mean within a few minutes. But here, there are so many awkward words that, for the life of me, I couldn’t explain what they are. It doesn’t help that almost every sentence has one such word. Also, these words were constantly used in everyday conversation , which doesn’t seem to fit to well with some of these characters. It honestly feels like someone had a field day with a Thesaurus.

Positives:
1) Characters. I really didn’t enjoy the characters for the most part, except for a few. Raidon was a very intriguing character. His fighting skills were, for the most part, amazingly written. Not only that but at times you can really feel his despair towards his lost daughter. It was touching and sad. Anusha and Japheth, were interesting in another way. They become close to on another and that’s written very well. It almost becomes believable at times. As for themselves as separate characters, they are still enjoyable. With Japheth, the more interesting of the two, his addiction and how he deals with it is very interesting. I can’t really give that much away from his story, needless to say it is really enjoyable. Anusha, however, is kind of more generic. The only thing I enjoyed was her naïve attitudes towards everything and her ‘dream-walking’, with the latter being the more interesting aspect. Then you have the supporting characters of Captain Thoster and Seren. They are both have unique aspects about them, but not as interesting as the others. Still, they are well written and have distinct personalities.
2) The Two ‘Other’ Story Lines. They were good, but more enjoyable to read than Nogah’s. I’m not going to say much about them, but they were just much more engaging and interesting. I really couldn’t wait to read more about Japheth and Anusha or Raidon after their chapters ended. While Japheth and Anusha’s story was a little more straight forward, Raidon’s jumped around a lot. They just enjoyable to read about.
3) The Ending. The ending was action packed, exciting, and just good. The battle with the corrupted kuo-toa was really well written that it was so easy to follow and comprehend. Yes, it ends on a cliffhanger, but it makes you wonder what happens next. And I’m ready to dive right into City of Torment.

Side Notes:
1) Anusha. How is she suddenly able to understand her talent? It didn’t make much sense that she would just be okay with it.
2) Traveler’s Dust. This is what Japheth’s addiction is and it does seem really deadly and kind of frightening at times.
3) Cover Art. It’s interesting, it does catch your eye with the cooler colors and the psychedelic look of the thing behind the person. I just don’t know who it’s meant to be. I think it’s supposed to be Raidon, but it is a little hard to tell. Regardless, the cover is eye-catching and good.

Overall: 3/5
Final Thoughts:
This story really should deserve a 4, but it just doesn’t cut it. The Nogah scenes felt too long and I just didn’t care to read them. Then I felt like sometimes things didn’t really flow too well with jumping around and skipping things to make some of the actions go by faster. And the Thesaurus words were at times unbearable to read. At least most of the characters were interesting and really engaged me, and that the other two main story lines were wonderfully done. Even the cliffhanger ending is making me want to jump into the next book as soon as possible. But honestly, I don’t really think that this story warrants a 4/5 rating, maybe a rating of 3.5 but I don’t use decimals.

[Via http://travizzt.wordpress.com]

Buried Alive

How many tragedies are attributed to just being in the wrong place at the wrong time? Too many. Roy Hallums, author of Buried Alive, tells his story and points to the reason for his abduction was merely being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Hallums’ experience was so horrific that it is astounding that he not only survived but kept his sanity.

By the grace of God Hallums was reunited with his family a little less than a year after he was captured. While Hallums states that he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, I think he was exactly were he should have been. Because he was captured and held hostage for so long, his dramatic release and inspirational story has touched millions of lives. If Hallums had not been captured, would he have made as big of an impact as what he did? Probably not.

[Via http://cdieterly.wordpress.com]

Book Review: "We Need to Talk About Kelvin" by Marcus Chown

[To read my eye-opening Q&A with the author please click here]

When I was a baby, the first ‘thing’ I wanted to be when I grew up was a scientist.  I think Return of the Jedi had just come out or something and whatever cartoons that were on TV had cool space stuff.

Sadly, that dream was obliterated when I commenced science in the 7th grade.  It was just soooo boring and soooo bloody difficult to understand.  Much of the fault has to go to my science teachers (Dr Mario, Fat Cow and The Pirate), who just couldn’t explain anything without putting me to sleep or giving me a headache.  This culminated in a sad incident where my friend and I traced rays of light on the workbench (as opposed to our workbooks) during an optics experiment and were sentenced to a long stint facing the corners of the classroom.  Fat Cow had called us “idiots”, and she was right.  But it was still her fault for making us zone out and chat rather than listen to the experiment instructions.

So what does any of this have to do with the new book We Need to Talk About Kelvin by award-winning author Marcus Chown?  Well, if I had read this book when I was in school or had Chown as my science teacher, maybe I wouldn’t have dropped out of science the first chance I got.

We Need to Talk About Kelvin is Chown’s valiant attempt to teach us science stuff in a way that normal people can understand, and more importantly, find interesting.  More specifically, the book is about what seemingly mundane, everyday things tell us about the nature of the universe and reality as we know it.

(To read on, click on ‘more…)

For example, did you know that the reflection of your face in a window tells you that the universe at its deepest level is orchestrated by chance?  Or that the iron in a spot of blood tells you that out in space there must be a furnace at a temperature of 4.5 billion degrees?  Or that the static on a badly turned TV screen tells you that the universe had a beginning?

Didn’t think so.

But thankfully, Marcus Chown does, and he gives you the answer to these fascinating questions without making your brain hurt (well, not a lot, anyway).  This is because Chown uses casual, everyday language to describe some of the most complex things known to man.  He uses apt analogies involving things normal people can understand.  He gives you the relevant background, history and development of complicated theories.  He even throws in the occasional joke or pop culture reference.

Consequently, We Need to Talk About Kelvin is fun to read.  Don’t get me wrong, the science stuff is still really hard to understand, but Chown has done his best to mitigate the damage and keep things interesting.  There’s just not many simpler ways to explain some of this stuff, that’s all.  So don’t think this is the type of book you can casually skim and become a guru of all the mysteries of the universe so you can show off at parties or pick up nerdy babes at sci-fi expos.  You’ll still need to read it carefully, think about it, and digest it.  But if you do, just imagine how much more impressive you’ll be in a conversation!

I’d be lying if I said I understood every little thing in We Need to Talk About Kelvin, but I feel like I know so much more about the world and our existence in it having read the book.  I was astounded by our vast knowledge of the universe, but even more amazed by how much more we don’t know about it.

There were some things before that I just didn’t bother even trying to learn because I thought it was too much trouble.  Now I not only know these things, I could probably explain it ten times better than Fat Cow (and a hundred times better than The Pirate, Ar!).

[PS: By the way, this is not an anti-religion book in the vein of Richard Dawkins.  This is just about science and any conclusions will have to be drawn by the reader and the reader alone.]

[PPS: Thanks to Allen & Unwin for a copy of the book]

[Via http://pacejmiller.wordpress.com]

<em>American Pastoral</em> by Philip Roth

As part of my continuing project to read the Pulitzer Prize winning novels in order, in due time I reached this book, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1998. Of the Philip Roth books I have read, this one has been the best by far, and in my opinion, well deserving of the Pulitzer. (This is not to say that the novel is perfect; among other things, it ends abruptly, without tying up several very loose ends.)

The novel opens with Roth’s frequent narrator in his book, Nathan Zukerman (class of 1950, Weequahic High School, Newark, New Jersey), remembering a student who was five years ahead of him in school, who was a consummate, effortless athlete in three sports, was tall and handsome, was loved by all, who was wonderful to all, and who, due to his un-Jewish blond complexion, was known as “the Swede’. Zukerman later hears that the Swede went into the Marines, went into his father’s glove-making factory in Newark, New Jersey, married a former (non-Jewish) Miss New Jersey, and went to live an idyllic life in the New Jersey countryside. He meets the Swede briefly in 1985 at a Mets ball game (the Swede is there with his eldest son, a teenage boy); then again, in 1995, when he meets the Swede, at the Swede’s invitation, to talk over lunch in a New York restaurant, a talk at which the Swede tells him about his three sons. Zukerman is left after the talk with the impression that nothing every really happened to the Swede in his life, that everything came effortlessly to him, like sports in high school. A few months later, at his forty-fifth high school reunion, Zukerman meets his classmate, the Swede’s little brother, who tells him that the Swede has died – and that, in 1968, during the Vietnam War, his brother’s perfect country life in Old Rimrock, New Jersey, was destroyed by his own daughter.

At this point, Zukerman falls away from the narration, and we learn, going back and forth in time like a weaver’s shuttle, about the Swede’s life, and how it was destroyed in an instant by his own sixteen-year-old only child and daughter. The Swede has always done the right thing; and he finds, to his horror, that doing the right thing is not enough to save himself or his family. The book takes us to a final eventful day in 1973, and leaves us wondering how the Swede rebuilt his life to get to 1995; but, the point is not his rebuilding, but his initial dissolution.

I found this a very good book, even though it is maddening to have Roth suddenly double back in time, just when something is about to happen in the present time in the book.

[Via http://fromtherecamier02.wordpress.com]

Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? - Review

I was aware before buying this that it wasn’t Blade Runner, but Blade Runner being one of my favourite films, if not my favourite, made me picture quite vividly the characters and their personalities from the movie rather than the book. I was able to get past this minor (and the only) obstacle in the book and then Philip K. Dicks characters took on a personality of their own.

Philip K. Dick makes some clever use of distorting your emotions and morals towards the androids by twisting and turning them with different angles at which to look at them from. I noticed (not straight away) that the Penfield mood organ seems to have a modern equivalance. Music and books, I thought, are much like the mood organ because you choose what you want to feel like. A sort of escapism. But Sky television is the best comparison (it even has 3 digit channels!).

One of the best books I’ve read for a while. More science fiction is what my book collection needs. And at least a few of them will be by this superb author.

[Via http://byrensbooks.wordpress.com]

Teen FAP Review: Among the Hidden

**The reviews below were written by Molly as part of the Teen Fine Alternative Program.  If you’re interested in working off fines owed on CLP materials and are between the ages of 12-18, please contact your local CLP location.**

Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix

1. Name two characters (or if a magazine, two people you read about) and give brief personality descriptions.

Luke: Observant, loves to read,  not selfconfident.

Jen: Risky confident, bends the laws.

2. Write a sentence or two about what happened in the plot:

There are new houses are getting built around Luke’s house. He sees a new family of four and then he sees a fith head.

3. Write two sentences about what it was that you enjoyed about this work (or about what you didn’t enjoy):

I loved the way he spied on the sports family every  day. I also enjoyed how he met another shadow child.

Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix

1. 1. Name two characters (or if a magazine, two people you read about) and give brief personality descriptions.

Chip: sporty, talkative, stubborn

Jonah: laid back, sometimes confused

2. Write a sentence or two about what happened in the plot:

Jonah’s family and Chip are going to an adoption class. Jonah, Chip, and Katherine all get stuck in time.

3. Write two sentences about what it was that you enjoyed about this work (or about what you didn’t enjoy):

I like the way it has electronics from the future.

I also like how the cave is a confrence room.

[Via http://clpteensburgh.wordpress.com]

Review: The Last Days

THE LAST DAYS

Scott Westerfeld

‘Strange things are happening in New York City.  But for Moz, Zahler and Pearl, all that matters is their new band. As the city reels under a mysterious epidemic, they join up with a vampire lead singer and a drummer whose fractured mind can sense the coming darkness. Will there music stave off the end of the world? Or summon it?’

This is a sequel of sorts to Peeps which created a new type of vampire: one transferred by a virus.  In The Last Days the virus has spread and along with it has come the end of the world.  There are some guest appearances by characters from Peeps, but you don’t have to have read the first one to enjoy the second.

If you like music and bands, or if you are looking for something a bit more energetic than Twilight, pick up a copy of The Last Days.  Each chapter is written from the perspective of one of the five band members.

Check out Scott Westerfeld’s blog for more information on the author and his books: http://scottwesterfeld.com/

[Via http://pscbookblog.wordpress.com]

The Handmaid's Tale : Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin is a jinxed me. I have picked up this book atleast 3 times, only to put it back for some reason or the other. The book is not boring, mind you. It’s not the book itself which makes me put it down and pick up something else, but the circumstances. Whenever I pick it up to read, another book sneaks in and makes me want to pick that instead. After 3 failed attempts, I decided to read another Atwood book, so I read The Handmaid’s Tale.

The book talks about a world that is an imagination of Atwood, a world where poor women are hired by the rich to bear children. These ladies are called handmaids. This book is the story of one such handmaid and her life. I like the length at which Atwood goes to create this world. Names for classes of people – Marthas, Handmaids, Guardians and so on, names for gadgets – CompuTalk – she even creates a currency for her world. She painstakingly gives depth to each class. Handmaids are always in red, Marthas in green, Wives in blue and so on. The dress, the body language, their activities are planned to the minutest detail.

The story itself is not very interesting. The army takes over the country one day and forces its own rules on the people. Every person is being watched every minute of the day. Sounds a bit like George Orwell’s 1984? It is very similar to that. The story moves back and forth in time which makes it intriguing. I was reminded of Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go which was about people being chosen as organ donors. Handmaids are no different. They are treated as baby-making machines and are expected to follow rules which make them more fertile.

The writing is awesome. There were some lines which struck me as beautiful. I wish I had taken notes. Atwood’s strength in this book lies in the creation of this fictitious world and the characters in it. The protagonist comes across as shallow and could have used some dimensions.

The bottom line is do I recommend it? I am not sure. If you want to read an Atwood book, may be this would be a wrong choice because I am told her other books are better. If you want to read some book with this story, go ahead and pick it up.

[Via http://mybookshelf.wordpress.com]

Book Review: Keep Your Brain Alive

I recently finished an audio book by Lawrence Katz and Manning Rubin on Brain Health past the age of 40. “Keep Your Brain Alive” is a short book, on audio it was roughly 2+ hours to listen to, and contained 83 brain exercises, dubbed “Neurobics” by the authors.

The premise of the authors is that deteriorating memory doesn’t have to be a by-product of growing older. In fact, both make the case that new connections in the brain can be made by taking part in the exercises presented in the book. The first disc of the audio book (roughly half of the text version I’m sure) covers the science behind “Neurobics” while the latter half (the second disc) gives examples of the exercises you can use or modify to help stimulate new growth in your own brain. The authors assert these connections are the key to continued brain health and begin to lessen past age 40 (or even earlier).

Among the suggestions given for brain exercise was to take a shower with your eyes closed. Using your senses of touch and feeling to manage the on/off valves, the soap, and shampoo. Another exercise was to associate scents with a particular place or event. Aromatherapy is quite popular and oils can be purchased for this exercise.

Varying the way we shop for groceries or using our opposite hand for tasks we normally use our dominate hand (or foot) for are other suggestions made by Katz and Rubin. The idea is to vary our routines. Make new associations in different ways (like the aromatherapy) and keep your brain working to manage these changes. Another assertion made by the authors is that age actually helps in neurobics because adults past the age of 40 have a larger bank of memories to draw from to make new associations.

All in all, it’s a fun and helpful guide to make you think about the part of your body that many might just take for granted. I’ve enjoyed the previous work of Doctor Daniel G. Amen in his books on brain health and this book serves as a helpful primer to those who might want to investigate this area further.

As a pastor, I see the value in protecting my brain health. This book is worth your investment to give you some fun ways to “Keep Your Brain Alive”.

[Via http://scottcheatham.wordpress.com]

What the Dog Saw Review

I recently finished up Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book, “What the Dog Saw.” The book is a collection of articles from the New Yorker, collected from the past decade. I have to say that I loved the book. Where Blink, Outliers,and the Tipping Point were all organized around a central thesis, I found that the breadth of articles collected here were more interesting. Some interesting tidbits from the book:

“The Pitchman” is a profile of the great Ron Popeil of Ronco (Showtime Rotisserie) fame. I happen to have the Showtime Rotisserie and I have enjoyed cooking all manner of foods on it. The device seems so simple and straightforward, I never really stopped to think about the design problems that Ron had to solve. Who knew it had the most powerful electric motor in its class? The article touches on the fact that he was from a family of pitchmen and how Ron learned the ropes of the business.

“What the Dog Saw” is another profile on Cesar Millan of Dog Whisperer fame. When you watch the show, you realize that its more psychotherapy for the dog owners than the dogs themselves. It turns out that Cesar hit on this in marriage counseling for his wife (or at least that’s how the story goes).

There’s another great article about why using birth control and keeping the 12x a year period may not be such a great idea. Turns out that 12x periods a year is a pretty recent thing in human sociodynamics. I am a sucker for stories like this that turn conventional wisdom on its head with new data.

“The Talent Myth” weaves together Enron and why letting smart people run unchecked may not be such a smart thing after all. Apparently poaching from departments was incredibly common with little or no upper level oversight from executives. They hired MBA’s like candy. They saw the individual as the star, yet it is the organizational system itself that defines how successful the overall company will be.

“Connecting the Dots” outlines why intelligence agencies have such a hard problem and why they get such a bum rap with the general population. The general population wants a narrative, a prediction, of what is going to happen and agencies react to that prediction. Given the complexity of the problem, this just isn’t realistic. This isn’t 1:1 warfare. A terrorist has simply to pick a target, plan it to perfection, and execute. An intelligence agency has to analyze and collate billions of little factoids, connect the dots, and react. This is a tremendously difficult data-mining problem.

“The Ketchup Condundrum” discusses why there are so many versions of condiments like mustard and yet only Heinz has dominated the ketchup space for decades. It is an interesting read, although it may be a bit dated as I’ve seen many different variations on ketchup at my local grocery store.

In any event, I hope that some of these little items encourage you to pick up the book. It is though-provoking and extremely well written.

[Via http://shaunkime.wordpress.com]

The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

review by Gabriel

The Remains of the Day tells the story of an old English butler’s trip to the country to visit a friend.  It doesn’t sound like the most riveting concept in the history of literature, does it?  Yet Kazuo Ishiguro’s tale of the closeted life of a domestic servant is dazzling for the scope of its observations on humanity and English culture.

Central to this masterfully told story is the narrator, Mr Stevens, the butler of a noble house whose best days are behind him, and who is struggling with the changes to society following the war.  Ishiguro perfectly captures the voice of the class and the era.  At times his portrayal lapses into caricature, but he generally rendered with sufficient tenderness to overcome this.

 He is a textbook example of an unreliable narrator (a narrator whose account of events cannot be trusted).  The first reason for this is that he is the picture of English repression.  The second is because of his stern commitment to the service of his household.  These two traits come together in his philosophising about what constitutes a “great” butler, which, though never explicitly stated, means ignoring all passion.  Rather than portraying his commitment to service to be heroic, Ishiguro shows how it serves as both excuse and cause for Steven’s small mindedness and inability to relate to others.  Yet Stevens somehow manages to be a lovable character due to his daftness, his loyalty and his resilience, not to mention his impeccable manners.

 The scale of his repression is used to great comic effect.  The driving tension of the novel is the unresolved love between Stevens and the person whom he sets out to visit, Miss Kenton.  From the opening chapter, Stevens’ longing for Miss Kenton is apparent to the reader.  He creates a pretence to see her, constantly rereads her letter and fusses over his clothes, all the while making assertions about how it is all out of purely professional interest.  His awkward attempts to master “banter” for the sake of his new American employer are another highlight.  I don’t usually laugh out load at books, but I found myself laughing a few times.  Its lol worthy.

However, his repression is not only comic, but tragic, so that when he finally expresses his feelings in a straightforward manner near the end of the novel, the heartbreak is magnified by all that has gone unsaid.

Stevens is also a representative of a bygone era.  The aristocratic England he belongs to is fading in the post-war era, and he struggles with the new world as he struggles with his new American master.  The other major tension of the novel comes from the gradual disclosure of the fall from grace of Stevens’ former employer.  The butler’s loyalty is used to explore many issues in the inter-war era – the British aristocracy’s support for the rise of Nazi Germany, the German people’s complicity in the Holocaust, feudalism, fascism.  Through Stevens, these historic catastrophes are shown to be the products of both the good and bad in the human character.

It isn’t an overly long book, and that’s probably for the best.  The character of Mr Stevens is stretched about as far as he can go by the end of the novel, and a few concepts, such as what constitutes a great butler, are needlessly rehashed.  Nonetheless, The Remains of the Day weaves social allegory and human insight to create a masterpiece of a book by an author of remarkable intellectual clarity and skill.

[Via http://writeronwriter.wordpress.com]

Rebecca Wells: Everyday Transformation Miracles

In How to Thrive in Changing Times, Sandra says,

I nurture the web of light whenever my heart calls me to… Truly our work is to learn how to shine our light into the world with each breath and step we take.

In a lovely novel, titled The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder, which was reviewed in The Seattle Times by Melinda Bargreen, we meet Calla Lily Ponder, whose mission is to change the world, one hairdo at a time. Here’s what Bargreen says about the protagonist of The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder:

Calla Lily is a sweetie who’s almost too good to be true. She’s pure of heart, spunky and resilient, deeply devoted to her adoring family, and equipped with magically healing hands that massage the troubles right out of the scalp of her hairdressing clients. She also hears messages from the Moon Lady…

Bargreen, who has written extensively about classical music for her newspaper, doesn’t mention the major roles played by music and dance in Calla Lily’s transformative ways, but she does note that the story is full of miracles. Calla’s parents, Papa and M’Dear, teach her the first lessons in happiness, both how to enjoy it and how to spread it around, by modeling an exceptionally harmonious married relationship. They run a dance studio where the local folk gather to have a good time and shake off the cares of hard-working country existence.

M’Dear also sends out ripples of joy and contentment into the world through her hairdressing business, where she passes on to Calla the healing rituals of everyday life. M’Dear bolsters the self-confidence of the insecure, reassures the aging of their continued attractiveness, comforts the bereaved, and generally exerts a constant positive influence on everyone she meets. M’Dear is apt to say things like, “You’ve got to celebrate every season, not just Christmas and Easter. There’s beauty in every day of the year.” She also teaches her young daughter about the Moon Lady, a benevolent spirit who watches over the whole town of La Luna.

M’Dear suffers a lingering illness, giving Calla plenty of opportunity to put into practice all the little ways of assuaging and cheering that she has learned. When she departs from earth, the beloved mother joins the Moon Lady as a helper spirit that Calla can always count on, through a life filled with extremely demanding friendships and a large share of tragedy. For instance, not long after M’Dear’s death, Calla’s boyfriend goes away to college, promising to write, but never does. She picks herself up, dusts herself off, and decides to spend some time in New Orleans at a really good beauty school.

Another legacy of M’Dear and Papa is a spectrum of healthy attitudes, somewhat unusual for the rural South, in such matters as race and sexuality. This is all for the good, because Calla’s next teacher (and Teacher) is a gay hairdresser named Ricky, who comes from the same tradition as M’Dear, telling his students how it’s no accident that “beautician” and “magician” sound very much alike. (By the way, did you know that St. Mary Magdalene is the patron saint of hairdressers? One of them, anyway.)

Calla’s gift for connection is so contagious, it’s irresistible. When Ricky introduces her to his cousin, you can already hear the wedding bells. Unfortunately, she loses this wonderful man to an oil-rig accident after far too short a time together. But there is a happy ending. The whole book is happy, even the parts that deal with hardship, because spirituality is always close to the surface. It does show marvelous examples of how we can all perform little miracles every day, no matter how humble our profession, how empty our pocketbook, or how harsh life seems at any given moment.

SOURCE: “The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder: a sweet, spunky dose of Southern charm,” The Seattle Times, 7/3/09
SOURCE: “How to Thrive in Changing Times”
Image by Kerala Tourism , used under its Creative Commons license.

[Via http://sandraingermanblog.com]