Bookwi.se – Page 124 – A few thoughts about books, kindles and Christianity

Black Diamond by Martin Walker (Bruno Chief of Police #3)

November 7, 2014 by Adam Shields

Summary: Bruno looks into a shady community market and stumbles on a series of international crimes.

More than anything else, this series of books leads me to want to visit rural France and eat lots of French food and drink wine. I have friends that live in France and about 8 years ago we went to go visit them. They live in a community that is probably not too different from the setting of this book (although north of Paris and not in the regional setting of the book.)

Black Diamond’s food discussion revolves around Truffles. When I hear truffles I always think of the chocolate variety and not the expensive fungus that is a delicacy in French food. Bruno when he moved to St Denis and built his home started hunting truffles and planted the Oak trees and doing the other work to start his own truffles. Though his friend, who everyone calls ‘The Baron’, Bruno meets a local truffle expert who helps train Bruno’s dog to search for truffles and helps Bruno to learn about the market and the beauty of truffles. But when a local truffle exchange market seems to be corrupted, Bruno is brought in to investigate.

The Niebuhr Brothers for Armchair Theologians by Scott Paeth

November 5, 2014 by Adam Shields

Summary: A short book that felt longer than it was because it felt like a book report.

I like the idea of introduction books. Short books that are able to give an introduction to an idea or a person can be very helpful, but also very hard to write.

I have read a number both the Armchair Theologian books and the Oxford Very Short Introduction Series. They are a very mixed bag. The best of the Armchair Theologian series that I have read is the book on Aquinas by Timothy Mark Renick.

This book by Scott Paeth is definitely on the weaker side. I am still glad I read it because I did not know much about the biography or context of the Niebuhr brothers. Their context and history is important to their writing. I have read at least one book by each of the brothers. So I was not coming into the book blind.

The Dark Vineyard by Martin Walker

November 4, 2014 by Adam Shields

Summary: An arson on a remote (and illegal) genetically modified research farm leads to a crisis. And it might be related to a potential new investment by a large winemaker. Bruno as chief of police and lover of his small town seeks to preserve the community.

Martin Walker has created a small French village and a cast of characters that feel to me like a French version of Wendell Berry’s fiction, but with a modern thriller twist.

The Dark Vineyard is the second in the series and included all that I loved about the first. It is as much about the setting and the long descriptions of life in the French countryside as it is about the mystery. And that is what most of the complaints are about in the Amazon reviews.

This is not a fast book. But it is a delicious one, both in literary description and its description of all of the food and wine consumed. It is a book that seems to have been written with the slow food movement in mind.

Christians followers of the “˜slow church’ movement or those that are rediscovering the parish concept might also enjoy this series as an illustration of the value of slowing down and valuing the local.

Sacred Companions: The Gift of Spiritual Friendship and Direction

November 3, 2014 by Adam Shields

Summary: A guide for giving and receiving Spiritual Direction.

I have been interesting the concept of spiritual direction for several months now. As with many things I need to read through a number of books and spend a lot of time thinking through things before I am really ready to move further. ~~So I still have not actually found a spiritual director yet.~~ (I have been going to a spiritual director for about a year now.)

But I am getting closer to understanding what Spiritual Direction is all about. For David Benner, spiritual direction is mostly about prayer. The Spiritual Director is praying for and helping the person receiving the spiritual direction to pray and connect more fully to God.

Benner is a counselor. So he spends some time differentiating Spiritual Direction from counseling.

Most Read Bookwi.se Reviews in October

November 2, 2014 by Adam Shields

This month I am a bit broader and including my reviews of the Kindle Unlimited after Three Months and the new Kindle Voyager and Kindle Basic Touchscreen since by page views, they were among the most read reviews of the month. The most read reviews at Bookwi.se: Discovering Your Heart with the Flag Page Test … Read more

Haunting Reads for the Halloween Season

October 31, 2014 by All Old Users

Halloween, the season of creepy monsters and cavities, is also the perfect time to curl up with a good book. Whether you like to be scared stiff by your reading material or prefer a romantic ghost story instead, the literary world contains ghouls and goblins galore if you know where to look. From classic tales of the macabre to modern supernatural thrillers, a good Halloween book offers both tricks and treats. Celebrate the holiday with some of the spooky and supernatural titles mentioned here.

Horns by Joe Hill

Recently adapted for a UK movie starring Daniel Radcliffe, this supernatural grindhouse thriller follows Ignatius Parrish in an unpredictable and suspenseful battle for his own soul. Ig’s small town reputation catches up to him in a unexpected way the morning he wakes up from a night of heavy drinking to find a pair of unmistakably demonic horns growing from his skull. Written by the son of Stephen King, this thriller has dynamic pacing and a climax that will leave you gripping the edge of your seat.

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

This intensely poetic and nostalgic novel from the mind of fantasy genius Ray Bradbury focuses on one autumn in the lives of two twelve year old boys. Set in the year that “œCooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show” visits their small American town, it follows the two boys, one of their fathers, and the mysterious carnival leader – a haunting presence known as “œMr. Dark.” Bradbury’s title comes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, uttered by a witch as she completes her spell. This novel holds secrets and terrors for the protagonists and for all readers who possess the kind of romantic Halloween spirit that still inspires dreams of running away with the circus.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

October 31, 2014 by All Old Users

Gone Girl is the third and most popular of Gillian Flynn’s published works. Like her previous two novels, Gone Girl is a rather dark novel about how people may not be who we seem. After a woman, Amy, goes missing on her fifth wedding anniversary, suspicions turn towards the husband, Nick, and as the story unravels we learn quite a bit about the couple. As we uncover more and more clues as to her disappearance, we discover that perhaps we don’t really know our spouses as well as we think, and we question our own facades that we put up in our marriages. With many twists, this novel will keep you guessing until the very end.

This is a somewhat difficult book to review because to say too much is to majorly spoil the book, which would be a shame. I will say that in the midst of the disappearance of Amy the novel does a great job of exploring two different topics: (1) the parts we play in society in order to fit in or be liked and (2) the effects the media can have on our mindsets. When we meet someone for the first time, do we act like ourselves or do we act in a way so that person would like us? If that relationship endures and we were, in a way, acting like someone other than ourselves, at what point do we drop the act, if ever, and at what point does the act become the person who we really are? These are some intriguing questions to ponder and, while I wouldn’t go as far as the characters in this book go, the book has made me think about these questions within my own marriage.

Click-Clack the Raddlebag by Neil Gaiman

October 30, 2014 by Adam Shields

Reposting this 2012 Review because the short story is again free until Oct 31 I am a big fan of Neil Gaiman. I like his writing style, the sense of wonder that he brings into books and his literate references. But he has a dark, but romantic side. So nothing ends quite as you think … Read more

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

October 29, 2014 by All Old Users

Reposting this 2013 review because the Kindle Edition is on sale today only for $1.99

Brandon Sanderson develops a new magic system for each fictional world he crafts–and this steampunk young adult novel, set in alternate (yet strangely reminiscent) history of the US, is no exception. And yet… A magic system of lines written on the ground in chalk, where the monsters that threaten to eat you alive are actually two-dimensional, hand-drawn creatures? It’s weird, sounds kind of boring on the surface, and is actually pretty complex to grasp. It’s amazing (and impressive) that Sanderson explains it so well, and that he makes it as exciting as he does.

Joel desperately wants to be a Rithmatist–one with the gift for working with and manipulating those chalk lines–but cannot due to circumstances out of his control. So he does the next best thing: study the discipline as thoroughly yet surreptitiously as possible. Although magical in the sense that it’s not true to our world, the whole Rithmatic system is very logical and based in physics and geometry, so Joel is able to grasp and apply all the basic concepts in his head–even if he can’t execute them personally. This comes in handy as he becomes involved in an investigation of mysterious disappearances (possibly murders) of Rithmatist students at the local university.

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

October 29, 2014 by Adam Shields

Summary: The children’s classic story about running away, living in a museum and solving a great mystery all the while finding the important things in life.

Children’s books are great for adults to read occasionally. In addition, to just being a change of pace, I find that the simple straight forward stories get to the essence of so many things. Children’s book don’t have to have multi-layered plots with anti-heroes or twists and turns.

Instead children’s books tell simple stories that often do a great job of getting to root meanings of life.

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler is one of the classics that I think has held up fairly well. Claudia, a 12 year-old oldest child that feels like she is underappreciated by her parents and decides to run away. Her younger brother, Jamie, comes with her mostly for the adventure. Most kids would identify with one or both of these reasons for running away.