Bookwi.se – Page 142 – A few thoughts about books, kindles and Christianity

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

March 11, 2014 by All Old Users

This book, along with The Fault In Our Stars (which I recently finished), is a great representation of the way a young adult book should be. The book is not about vampires or teenagers fighting for their lives or the lives of their districts. The book is about teenagers as they navigate through life.

The reason, I feel, the book appeals to young adults and adults alike is because the characters described in the book and the events and emotions that they experience are familiar to young adults and adults alike as well. Who doesn’t know what it feels like to go to a party and feel unnoticed? There is one really well written scene where the main character, Charlie, exclaims that he feels “infinite” at that very moment and that, essentially, everything feels right.

Beastly by Alex Flinn

March 11, 2014 by Adam Shields

Summary: A young adult retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Although it feels more like a retelling of the Disney movie than the original story.

YA sync is a program that matches an old book to a thematically similar new book and gives both audiobooks away during the summer. It is a great program to introduce teens to both new and old books that they might not find another way. (The 2014 summer schedule has been released and it includes Corrie ten Boom’s The Hiding Place.)

I picked up Beastly two or three years ago through YA Sync but until now had not listened it. Beastly is a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story. I read the original short story a while ago. So I am familiar with both the Disney and original story and this feels more like the Disney than the original (although Disney is pretty true to the original.)

Kyle is a spoiled, rich 16 year old. His father is a network news anchor that has no time for Kyle. His mother ran off years ago. After being mean to a girl at school (asking her to the dance and then publicly standing her up at the entrance to the dance) he is cursed and turned into a beast. He has two years to get someone to love him and kiss him or else the curse will become permanent.

The Sign of Four (Sherlock Holmes) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

March 10, 2014 by Adam Shields

Reposting this 2012 review because the Kindle and Audible Audiobooks are free for the month of March as part of a promotion of whispersync. See the bottom of the review for details.

Summary: Sherlock Holmes solves a murder.

After reading the Picture of Dorian Gray, I decided to move onto The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Like so many classics, I am familiar with Sherlock Holmes, but I have not actually read more than one or two short stories. This is a full book, about the same length as Dorian Gray and as I found out when looking into Dorian Gray, they were both commissioned at the same dinner meeting with an editor of a monthly literary journal.

Both Wilde and Doyle submitted stories and both were eventually published as full length book in 1890.

The Sign of Four opens with Holmes doing drugs (cocaine in this case, but it is clear from the story that Homes also was doing heroin). Holmes claimed to a very concerned Watson, it was his only option when there were no cases.

The Mortgage Wars: Inside Fannie Mae, Big-Money Politics, and the Collapse of the American Dream

March 10, 2014 by All Old Users

Timothy Howard was an executive at Fannie Mae through the 90s and into the 2000s, leaving just a few years before the big crash of 2008 when the government bailed out the Government Sponsored Enterprise (GSE). This book is an incredibly detailed inside-view of the secondary mortgage market and the rise and fall of the GSEs in the modern economy.

Most people know Fannie Mae from the 2008 mortgage crisis where the government stepped in and bailed them out, but it’s been around in various forms since the New Deal. Fannie Mae does not issue loans to consumers directly; rather, they are (still) a major player in the “œsecondary mortgage market”””that is, they purchase existing loans from the banks that originally lend the money out. This is fantastic for the banks: when they sell their loan on the secondary market, they immediately earn their profit (interest), their risk disappears (since they are no longer servicing the loan and thus aren’t on the hook in case of a default), and they have their capital back to loan out again.

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

March 7, 2014 by All Old Users

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King is the sequel to his second novel, The Shining. This novel, which comes 36 years after the release of The Shining, shows what life is like for Danny Torrence shortly after he and his mom leave the Overlook and then fast forwards about 20 years and shows how history can repeat itself. Danny begins drinking heavily in spite of the problems his father had with alcohol, he makes some poor decisions that end up haunting him and after hopping from town to town he settles down in a New Hampshire town for the next 15 or more years. Still possessing the powers he had as a child, Dan connects with another talented and much younger girl, Abra, who he helps fight the forces of evil plaguing them in the 21^st Century.

The author of this novel, Stephen King, is more than just a write of horror/psychological thrillers. He is a master at his craft. I was shocked to see how many novel and short stories Stephen King has written and even more surprised to see what percentage of those have been turned into either film or made suitable for television. There are movies that I had no idea were from a Stephen King novel, such as Children of the Corn, Firestarter, Shawshank Redemption and The Running Man (originally published under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman). Stephen King’s first novel was Carrie, which was just remade into a movie, his second novel was Salem’s Lot and his third was The Shining. To have such success in the beginning must have been a huge boost for the writer who stated later that he writes because he was born to do so and takes the career very seriously.

Neuromancer by William Gibson

March 5, 2014 by Adam Shields

Summary: The book that coined the word cyberspace turns 30 this year. Arguably the start of the cyberpunk movement.

Growing up, my go-to genres were Science Fiction, Fantasy and Biography. All three of which I still have a great fondness for, even though I have have greatly expanded my literary palate.

Neuromancer is one of those books that is referred to by so many that I feel like I should have read it by now. I have read a number of other cyberpunk books but not this one that is now 30 years old.

If you have not heard of cyberpunk but have heard of Neuromancer, it is because William Gibson coined the word cyberspace in its pages.

A Loving Life: In a World of Broken Relationships by Paul Miller

March 4, 2014 by Adam Shields

Summary: Using the book of Ruth to explore relationships as a Christian.

When I was offered this book to review, I was excited. I have read Miller’s previous book, A Praying Life, twice and highly recommend it as a practical guide on prayer.

But as much as it grieves me I had to really force myself to finish the book. Others might not be as irritated as I was, but it seemed to hit all of my major issues with Christian Living books. First, it attempts to use historical research and language study to try and establish authority and background on the book of Ruth. I am not opposed to this, strongly support this. But Miller seems to spend more time reading modern culture back onto the book of Ruth than using historical research to illuminate us modern readers. And his lack of academic skills shows through. This is reminiscent of a pastor that has a read a lot of commentaries and taken a few hebrew words and cultural concepts and pulled far more out of them than what is really warranted.

Second, Miller repeatedly over simplifies problems, which then leads to overly simplified answers. One good example:

“Our modern age creates categories…and then traps people in them. For instance if we label 2 year olds with ‘Terrible twos’ then they are no longer responsible. So when they lose their tempers they are just exhibiting the ‘terrible twos’ instead of sin in need of discipline. Labeling returns us to the rigid world of paganism which freezes everyone into a category, ethnic group, occupation or social status.”

Most Read Book Reviews February 2014

March 3, 2014 by Adam Shields

These were these most read book reviews during February 2014. A mix of new reviews and old reviews reposted. What Wives Wish their Husbands Knew about Sex: A Guide for Christian Men The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate by John Walton Discovering Your Heart with the Flag Page Test … Read more

Christians In An Age of Wealth by Craig Blomberg

March 3, 2014 by All Old Users

Christians In An Age of Wealth is a survey of all the passages in the Bible that address (however tangentially) issues of wealth, poverty, economics, money, stewardship, and giving. Blomberg plods methodically through the Pentateuch, major and minor prophets, wisdom literature and Old Testament history, followed by the gospels and the epistles. In the process he … Read more

Columbine by Dave Cullen

February 28, 2014 by All Old Users

The Columbine High School massacre took place on April 20, 1999 in Columbine, Colorado. It has been almost 15 years since the lives of 12 students and 1 teacher were taken, yet what this book shows is that there are still many misconceptions about what happened leading up to the massacre, what happened at the school that day, and what has happened since then. Even though Dave Cullen, a respected journalist, is a part of the world of media, he makes it very clear that the media is, in part, very much to blame for these misconceptions.