Goodies for Sale
I’m doing a little more culling of my book shelves. Duplicates for sale here.
Archive for January, 2012
Friday Nights with the Church Fathers
We’ve started a new book group on Friday nights. Our initial plan is to read the 22 “books” of St Augustine’s City of God over the course of 22 weeks. Last night Brent, Aimee, Mindi, Jared, and I all had spaghetti followed by discussion of book one. Aimee emphasized the significance of Augustine’s view of women [...]
Something Wicked this Way Comes
I really enjoyed Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes (this was only the third Bradbury for me). It took me a while to get into it. The “weird” level was pretty high and it moved slowly. Eventually ( by about the last third of the book) it began to pay off. Bradbury’s vision is uncomfortable but [...]
Distracted
I’ve been a bit scattered the last few days. The puppy might have something to do with my state of mind. He’s been pretty good, calm and eager to please, but keeps waking us up early. I hope I’m not an entirely lazy person and that I really do need the sleep I feel like I [...]
Puppy
Despite growing up with a wide variety of pets (dogs, cats, bunnies, horses, etc.), as an adult I haven’t been interested in having any animals around. I like neatness, order, and pleasant smells. Also, two little boys require plenty of time, energy, and love and I haven’t felt up to taking on more responsibility. Still, Alex [...]
Seventh Son
I finished Orson Scott Card’s Seventh Son yesterday and was relieved to discover today (when I could access Wikipedia) that it was only the first of a series. It was so unsatisfying as a stand-alone book that I suspected it had to be. Set in an alternate history of America that includes magical abilities and a [...]
Wicked
I didn’t watch the movie “The Wizard of Oz” until I was in my 20s. I read the book some years later. Neither of them are terribly good fantasy. I find Baum’s vision of Oz flat, cheap, and empty. The tale lacks truth, beauty, and goodness. Gregory Maguire’s reworking of Oz in Wicked is more interesting and [...]
Heretics
I finished G.K Chesterton’s Heretics (link takes you to the free Kindle download) about a week ago. It is a companion volume to his excellent Orthodoxy which I read some years ago. As is often the case with Chesterton, Heretics is only moderately successful so far from it’s publication. While it’s style is invigoratingly confident and Chesterton’s perspective [...]
Neuromancer
OK. The laptop and I have an uneasy truce going on. It still crashes frequently and is unpredictable but will occasionally stay operational for whole hours at a time. Back to our regularly scheduled book reviews… I recently finished William Gibson’s Neuromancer. And I really don’t know what to think of it. I did enjoy [...]
Offline
Our laptop has been acting up, crashing, failing to run power, and generally being a royal pain. I have been almost entirely offline for three whole days. Shocking I know. I have missed being able to write the most. True, pen and paper are always available, but I am so accustomed to the ease of [...]