Here’s what I read over the past 6 weeks and what I thought of it.
The Deathgate Cycle: Into the Labyrinth: This is an old series that was written in the early 90s. I read it in high school and decided to reread it as an adult to see how my tastes have changed. The series as a whole is fine. It’s certainly not the best fantasy I’ve ever read but It’s entertaining enough. Into the Labyrinth is the 6th book in the series and it’s probably the best of the bunch. Great character development and fun action sequences. The story isn’t particularly deep or thought provoking so expect a fun if shallow experience. 4/5 Stars
Slaughterhouse 5: This is classic I was supposed to read in High School but I managed to fake my way through a book report by reading spark notes and avoiding work. I was rather good at pretending to read books and writing successful papers about them. I wish I could go back in time and smack myself in the head. I finally read this book for real and it was great. The book is tells the story of a man that lived through the traumatic bombing of Dresden during World War II. He deals with this trauma through humorless observations of laugh and imagining an entire alien species called the Tralfamadorians. The book was a beautiful combination of tragic and hilarious, if not sometimes confusing and hard to follow. I was an idiot in high school for ignoring it. 4/5 Stars
Jesus and John Wayne: This is a book that has been on my radar for a long time. It details the history of modern day Evangelicalism and it’s fascination with hyper masculine figures like John Wayne. For me, this topic hits close to home. When I first started in ministry, I was given a biography to read to learn about an ideal Christian man. It was the famous World War II general George Patton. The book depicted a man who was hyper masculine, bombastic, and a lover of war and violence. I walked away confused and perplexed, wondering how this man, who came across as the antithesis of what you read in the New Testament, is hailed as a wonderful example of a Christian man. J&JW is ultimately a cautionary tale of how even the most seemingly pious among us have a tendency to recreate Jesus in our own imagine. It was an insightful and all together necessary critique on American Christianity. 5/5 Stars
The Deathgate Cycle: The Seventh Gate: This the final book in the series and wraps of a story that spans seven books. The ending was fine. The characters were rather shallow and one dimensional but their conclusions were executed well. While the ending wrapped up the character stories well, the world itself was left rather untouched with it’s cruelties and injustices. The series was a little better than mediocre. There is better fantasy out there. 3/5 Stars
This is How You Lose the Time War: A fan romance story through the exchange of letters amidst a conflict that transcends time. It was a fun read with beautiful prose. I couldn’t help but feel like the story got a little pretentious and self-indulgent at times. It attempted to be deeper and more insightful than it was. I’m glad I read it but I didn’t love it. 3/5 Stars.
The Catcher in the Rye: This is a classic I’ve never read before. At first, the protagonist is an insufferable hypocrite that represents every stereotype of an entitled teenager who lacks self-awareness. But as the story continued, I couldn’t help but feel bad for the guy. It became clear this was by design. The author never lets up the gas on Holden’s (the protagonist) unlikability, but slowly offers the reader an off ramp. He extends the offer of empathy like a hand waiting in the darkness, just outside of your peripheral vision. The reader can take it at any time or ignore it completely. If the hand is ignored, the book will seem like a pointless adventure into absurdity. But if the reader takes the hand, the story becomes a tragedy of a boy who is ignored and dismissed by everyone around him. It’s a poignant story that taught me to remember that people are far more than they seem on the surface. The pacing of the story can sometimes feel a little repetitive and redundant. We dealt with the same conversations and scenarios repeatedly. Perhaps my exasperation was due to ignoring that hand for too long. 4/5 stars
The Poisonwood Bible: There are Christians and then there are Christians. Devoid of context, this statement makes no sense. But once you read the book, it becomes the central theme of the story. Unpacking this phrase would spoil the story so I will not do so here. Needless to say, that theme spoke to my soul and during a rather tumultuous time for me personally. The book is one I would never have read on my own but it was recommended to me by a friend (Thanks Maria Caraciollo!). The book was beautiful, tragic, wonderfully written and packed with so much pathos I’m surprised it doesn’t explode as soon as you pick it up. 5/5 stars.
Ella Enchanted: Another recommendation. This is a retelling of Cinderella (a detail I did not realize until the end when the story started to get suspiciously derivative) with a fun magic twist. The prose is simple and to the point. The story reads more like a fairy tale than anything else. It was entertaining enough but I didn’t love it. 3/5 Stars
A Short History of England: This book’s title pretty much sums it up. It tells the story of England from the collapse of the Roman Empire/Anglo-Saxon invasion to the modern day 1980’s in about 300 pages. It’s a quick and entertaining read. It’s more of survey than a detailed treatise designed to raise interest specific moments of England’s history. I found myself gravitating to events like the Norman Conquest, The 100 Years War, The Signing of the Magna Carta, War of the Roses, The Rise and Fall of the Tudors, The Glorious Revolution and the American Revolution. Each deserves a book in itself and I find myself yearning to read them. The irony of reading this book in July 4th is not lost on me. 4/5 Stars
The Faithful and the Fallen Book One: Malice: I said at the end of my Deathgate Cycle review that there was better fantasy out there. This is a great example. This is the first book in John Gywnne’s Faithful and the Fallen series. I absolutely loved it. The beginning is slow and the characters shallow at first. But as the story went along, the plot began to get more interesting and the characters grew more complicated and interesting. The book rushed toward a phenomenal ending like the closing minutes of an elaborate fireworks display. The story is reminiscent of Game of Thrones with political machinations, divine prophesies and a regular disregard for plot armor. If you like Game of Thrones but aren’t a fan of the slow pacing and rampant sex scenes, this book and series is for you. I’m excited to read the next one. 5/5 Stars
Stoner: Contrary to what the name might suggest, this book is not about a burned-out drug addict it. It’s actually about the mundane if disappointing life of an early twentieth century English Professor named William Stoner. The book is a virtual internet sensation as people recommend it constantly. I finally read it to see what the fuss was about. And the fuss was well deserved. The premise seems extremely boring and uninteresting on the surface. Yet the book deals with the disappointments and difficulties of life with care and pathos. While the search for meaning and a seemingly meaningless existence isn’t the most unique of themes, it’s executed so well, I couldn’t help but love this book. 5/5 Stars
The Unreal and the Real: Volume One: This is a collection of short stories by Ursula K Leguin split into two volumes. The first volume contains short stories that contain no fantastical elements and would be described as literary fiction. The stories were a mixed bag. Some were excellent with beautiful prose and fascinating premises (one tells the story from the point of view of tree next to a busy highway). Others, however, were so high concept that the message was lost to pretention and events were difficult to follow. Perhaps a smarter person than me would appreciate the book more. 3/5 Stars
The Unreal and the Real: Volume Two: This is the second collection of Leguin’s short stories. These all contain fantastical elements of some kind and would fit in the category of speculative fiction or science fiction and fantasy. I thought this volume was much better than the first. The Short Stories were easier to follow as a whole and all together more interesting. They deal with heavy themes of injustice and suffering. The fantastical nature of the worlds contained, allow Leguin to tease out these themes in a much more straightforward and interesting way. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas was a standout. 4/5 Stars
1776: This book is a deep dive into the first year of the Revolutionary War. It details the early struggles and turning point of America’s war against the then strongest military force in the world. At first, I felt like the story dragged as the author focused a lot of time on the mundane aspects of warfare. We get several scenes of boring camp life as soldiers wait around for the next battle. But the second half of the book really picks up and the story becomes significantly more compelling. The most compelling character in this book is George Washington himself. The reader takes on the role of a fly on the wall as you observe Washington’s decision making and reaction to his failures and successes. Definitely worth the read. 4/5 Stars
I know this post was long and few people will read the entire thing. I’m not sure taking the time to write up this whole post was worth it. But at the same time, reading a bunch of interesting books can be an isolating experience if you don’t have anyone to talk about it. Let me know if I should keep writing these reviews or find some other means of getting my thoughts out. Books on the docket for next time: Malice by John Gywnne (book 2 of TFatF), East of Eden by John Steinbeck, The Secret History by Donna Tart, The Ballet and the Bible by Kaitlyn Schiess and possibly War and Peace by Tolstoy (this one is loooooooong and might take me a while). Thanks for reading.
by Nomanorus