Book Reviews – Page 125

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

June 24, 2013 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Fairytales are important, especially for adults.

We need more fairy tales in the world. And I don’t mean either vampire paranormal tales or moralistic children’s stories. I mean stories that show the world we see as part of a greater world. Stories that get at the real meaning of life. Stories that you can lose yourself in. There are lots of great authors, but few people that write fairy tales.

Gaiman is the best modern fairytale writer that I know of. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is either my second or third most favorite book by Gaiman. I think Stardust is his best (also a great fairy tale for adults). And this vies with Neverwhere as his second best book.

Catholic Spiritual Practices: A Treasury of Old and New

June 13, 2013 by Adam Shields

Summary: Short introductions to a variety of spiritual practices. This book is good for what it is, concise introductions to spiritual practices. But the problem is that I am not sure who should read it. When most people are interested in doing many of these spiritual practices, they want more than a cursory introduction. And … Read more

Volcanoes by Nicole Hamlett (A Grace Murphy Novel)

June 11, 2013 by Adam Shields

Summary: Third book in a fun adventure series where a single mom finds out she is the daughter of the Diana (of Greek God fame) and suddenly has a variety of powers (and enemies).

The Grace Murphy books are classic summer reads. They are fun, light reading. A good bit of action, a little bit of romance and something quite different from my standard fare.

The cover of this one is a bit more ‘provokative’ than the previous covers. But it does make sense. Grace Murphy is ‘a god’. Well not actually a god, but one of a race of alien that live a long time and after whom the Greek Gods were modeled. So her mother is Diana, and her father is Zachary (also known as Zeus).

Rifts by Nicole Hamlett (A Grace Murphy Novel)

June 8, 2013 by Adam Shields

I am on vacation this week, so only pre-written reviews will be posted. Everything will be back to normal next week.

Summary: Everyday single mom finds out she is ‘a god’ with lots of powers and even more responsibilities (and people trying to kill her.)

It is summer and for me that means at least some mindless fun books. On spring break I read Huntress, the first book in this series.

Grace Murphy is a romance writer, recently divorced single mom, a bit of a sci fi geek and quite recently found out that she is the daughter of Diana.

In this series the Greek god are not actually gods, but a race of people from another world that protect the Earth from cross-dimensional bad guys. Grace has been hidden for her own protection and in the previous book came to terms with her new life.

The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory

June 7, 2013 by Adam Shields

Summary: An ‘introductory’ look at superstring theory and the quest for a unified theory of physics.

Every once in a while I feel like I need to try to read something completely outside my comfort zone. Actual science is outside my comfort zone.

I enjoy social science and statistics. I have enjoyed biographies of scientists like Einstein and Bohrs and Oppenheimer. But the actual science always seems a bit above my head.

Brian Greene has a number of books about physics. He is a working physicist and is known for his popular level books about physics.

Most Read Book Reviews in May

June 2, 2013 by Adam Shields

The most read book review posts in May. Also you might want to check out the four part series on suggested books for Summer (

Absolute Truths by Susan Howatch (Church of England #6)

May 31, 2013 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Best of the series. God’s Truth matters more than our own presentation of God’s Truth.

This last book of the Church of England series has been the best of them all. And while it could be read by itself, you would be missing a lot of nuance that really shows what a spectacular author Howatch is.

The Absolute Truths again comes back to the beginning of the series and has Charles Ashworth as the narrator. Ashworth is telling his story from his old age. Things have changed since 1937 when the first book was set.

In the first book he meets a potential mentor, falls in love with the woman that becomes his second wife, deals with the death of his first wife (seven years prior), comes to terms with his father and a whole host of other issues.

Most of this book is concerned with 1965. Ashworth is the Bishop at Starbridge. (Book six goes back in time, because both books four and five start in 1963 and 1968, but then end in the 1980s.) He is at the peak of his career and things are going very well. Until his third life crisis hits and he is totally unprepared.

Summer Beach Reads – Part 4 – New Releases

May 30, 2013 by Adam Shields

This is part four in a series of suggested summer reads. Part 1 and Part 2 were fiction suggestions. Part 3 was non-fiction suggestions. These are books that will be released soon (or were just released.)

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (releases on June 18)

I am a big fan of Neil Gaiman. I have read all of his other novels. I would also recommend Neverwhere (unusal quest book) and Stardust (great adult fairy tale) as very good beach reads.

Also his children’s novel Coraline is a very good creepy children’s book.

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini (released May 21)

I have read the Hosseini’s first book, The Kite Runner, but not his second, A Thousand Splendid Suns. His new book And the Mountains Echoed is getting good review, including this one from Goodereader.com. One of my weaknesses of a reader is not reading enough books by people that are not from the US and culturally western. Hosseini has done a good job helping western readers to see Afganistan as a place that has real people.

The Fall of Arthur by JRR Tolkein (Released May 23)

Christopher Tolkien has again edited and finished another one of Tolkien’s book. This is a long narrative poem. So this will not be for everyone, but those that love Tolkien may be interested in reading it.

Joyland by Stephen King (Releases June 4)

I have never read a Stephen King novel. But he has a new one out next week. The publisher’s description: “Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.”

Sacred Marriage DVD and Participant Guide

May 30, 2013 by Adam Shields

Summary: Great book, disappointing discussion guide.

I am a big fan of the book Sacred Marriage. My wife and I read it six or seven years ago and thought it was a big help to our marriage at the time. Since then I have recommend it to many and given away several copies.

What I like about Sacred Marriage is that it takes the focus away from what can I get from marriage to put it to what can I give to my spouse (and at the same time learn spiritually from marriage.)

Even before reading this book I frequently told people that nothing had taught me more about my spiritual life more than marriage. I do not think that everyone need to be married in order to grow spiritually. But being with a person that intimately reveals things about yourself that make a difference to your spiritual life if you choose to pay attention to them.

Non-Fiction Beach Reads – Part 3 – Non-Fiction

May 29, 2013 by Adam Shields

This is part 3 of my series on potential beach reads for this summer. Part One and Two are fiction books and part Four (tomorrow) is summer releases.

My summer beach reads tend to be fiction. But when I read non-fiction I tend to read biography, memoir or ‘light non-fiction’. Here are my picks of books that I have read that are worth reading.

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs – Bookwi.se Review

171 pages, 16 of 18 reviews are 4 or 5-star, Lending Enabled

What could be better than reading about reading? Alan Jacobs has a book about finding the joys of reading. This is not fluff, this is about seeking joy in reading, while thinking seriously about what reading is all about.

Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me by Karen Swallow Prior – Bookwi.se Review

220 pages, 22 of 23 reviews are 4 or 5-star, Lending Enabled

Booked is a memoir about how reading helped a girl (and then a woman) grow and learn. Each chapter focuses on a single book and a main point about what she learned from that book. My only complaint about the book is that it is focused exclusively on the classics.

Surprised in Oxford: A Memoir by Carolyn Webber – Bookwi.se Review (Second Reading)

474 pages, 146 of 167 reviews are 4 or 5-star

This is probably is my favorite memoir ever. Carolyn writes about her year studying Literature at Oxford. During that year she finds Christian faith and maybe a something more.