Bookwi.se – Page 194 – A few thoughts about books, kindles and Christianity

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

October 25, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: Bilbo is recruited from his life of ease to become a thief to steal gold from a dragon.

I imagine a lot of people will be reading the Hobbit over the next couple of month. Peter Jackson’s movie comes out Dec 13. (I am still irritated that they are making this into a multi part release.)

One interesting feature of the Hobbit is that is has been studied academically quite well. One professor has released his academic lectures on the Hobbit online so the interested reader can listen in. (I listened to some of them.)

It is hard to remember, but I think I watched the 1977 cartoon before I read the book. So my current re-reading is probably influenced as much by my vague memories of the cartoon as much as my vague memories of the book.

I have never purchased the audiobooks of Tolkien’s books because until recently there was not an unabridged version available. I am glad that I listened to the Hobbit on audio. I have the bad habit of skimming Tolkien’s songs and verse. And the songs and verse are important to Tolkien. For all of the problems of the productions of the audiobook (lots of random blank space and poorly edited audio passages), Rob Inglis has a great voice for the book and masterfully sang all of the songs.

Amazon Author Rank

October 24, 2012 by Adam Shields

We all know about best seller lists. Best seller lists make a different. A lot of people buy based on what is on the top of the list. This is not just laziness, best seller lists are a way to find out what is good. There is a relationship between what is good and what … Read more

Earthen Vessels: Why Our Bodies Matter

October 24, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: Our bodies are important not just to life, but to our faith as well.

Reading book again is an under-valued exercise. I try to re-read at least one book a month. For many books, it is not possible to catch all of the nuances and points on a first reading.

So it has been my tradition the last couple years to, when available switch the format of my second reading. So if I start with an audiobook, I will move to paper or kindle. If I start with paper, I move to audio. In this case I read it in kindle version the first time and in audio the second. I find that there is enough different between the different formats that you get something else out of the change that is more than just re-reading in the same format.

In this case I enjoyed Earthen Vessels just as much as the first time. Read the first review, because I am not going to deal with any of the same content on this one.

Lendle – A Kindle Borrowing Site: Review After 6 Weeks

October 23, 2012 by Adam Shields

Since it has nearly 3 years since I first signed up for Lendle I thought it was time to update my review. I am leaving the original review at the bottom and only making comments about things that are different or I have noticed since the original review.

_________

Lendle has continued to grow. Just over 200,000 books have been loaned and there are also nearly 200,000 books available to lend. Personally I have loaned almost 450 book.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

October 23, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: A brat of a girl falls into a fantasy world

One of my reading goals this year was to read more old books. Some of these I am re-reading, some I am reading for the first time. If you have a kindle or like to listen to audiobooks, there are tons of free classics available (although of varying quality.)

I picked up about 30 free classic kindle and audiobooks through a promotion (some still available) last month. Jim Dale’s (narrator for Harry Potter) version of Alice in Wonderland. This is both good and bad. Dale is a very good narrator. But some of his voices seems to be the same as some of his Harry Potter voices and that provides a little unintended humor and confusion.

Prior to this I have never read Alice in Wonderland. But I knew the basic story through the many parodies and cartoon remakes. Alice follows a rabbit down a hole. Alice drinks and eats things that make her grown and shrink. She meets the smiling cat that disappears and reappears. And then she meets a pack of playing cards where the Queen keeps crying ‘off with their head’ every few minutes.

A Thought From Jeff Bezos

October 19, 2012 by Adam Shields

Image representing 37signals as depicted in Cr... — Image via CrunchBase

In spite of the fact that I am a huge fan of the Kindle, I don’t really pay that much attention to Jeff Bezos. But I really identify with an idea that 37 Signals had in a blog post today.

Jeff Bezos stopped by their office and before he left he had an open Q & A session with the staff. In a response to one of the questions he said that he did not think that consistency in thought was all that helpful. People that are right a lot of the time were people who often changed their mind. It is perfectly healthy – encouraged even – to have an idea tomorrow that contradicted your idea today. Many of the smartest people are constantly revising their understanding, reconsidering a problem they thought they had already solved. Jason Fried finished the thought by saying that it means that points of view should be considered temporary.

Call of the Wild by Jack London

October 19, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: Classic children’s books about a dog that is kidnapped to work the Klondike Gold Rush.

I remember reading Call of the Wild as a child. I am sure it has been over 25 years since I last read it. But it still seemed quite fresh in my mind.

Jack London wrote clear prose. He feels like a western writer (like Zane Gray or Louis L’Amour). In fact I would not be surprised if I read this after reading some Louis L’Amour books. I had several uncles that were long haul truck drivers. And they spent a lot of time reading on their off time. The westerns were passed around frequently and I think that I probably read most of L’Amour’s books by the time I was 13. I am not sure if the prose feels similar because they were writing at a similar time, or because there is a similar western individualism that is flowing through the authors.

The Call of the Wild is clearly a children’s book in orientation. It is told in third person, primarily from Buck’s perspective. It is not Buck (the dog) narrating but a unknown narrator that is telling Buck’s story.

Finding God in the Hunger Games by Ken Gire

October 18, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: Mostly Gire does not find God at the hunger games.

I loved the Hunger Games. I have read it twice, watched the movie twice. I spent long hours talking with my wife about the books (we don’t often read the same books and when we do we often talk a lot about them.)

So when christianaudio.com was offering Finding God in the Hunger games to review I jumped. And since the book is short I listened to it all in an afternoon the same day I requested the review copy.

My main problem is that this is a slipshod book. I do not have a problem with the relatively short length (about 85 pages). But the is not really a book about the Hunger Games. It is three essays. One about entertainment and Rome. One about the hunger for God within each of us. And a final chapter about the end times.

Not only is Finding God in the Hunger Games not about the real content of the Hunger Games, but the author admits that the few interactions with the Hunger games are mostly from the movie and not the book. That was disappointing, no where in the description does it say that this book is primarily about the movie.

He even says he had not finished reading the book before he started watching the movie. This leads to lots of impressions and not much content. There are the occasional quotes, discussing a couple scenes. However, what I was looking for was a discussion of the story, the over arching themes of the book.

Kneeling With Giants: Learning to Pray with History’s Best Teachers

October 18, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: A look at 10 different forms of prayer through biographical sketches.

There are so many books on prayer. As Evangelicals have started paying more attention to historical theology, church history and church practices of other streams of Christian faith there is a need for books like Kneeling with Giants to help us understand the value of prayer practices that we may not be as familiar with.

Gary Hansen takes his experience teaching prayer practices to seminary students and melds it with good church history. In many ways the actual information is not much different from what has been presented in other books, like Richard Foster’s Prayer. But this book will appeal to those that like their history in biographical sketch. Foster can be a bit heady at times.

Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julie Child by Bob Spitz

October 17, 2012 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Julia is one of the most fascinating women of the 20th century.

Julia Child is one of those fascinating characters that gives me hope that I may not be spinning my wheels in life. She got married late, didn’t really learn to cook until her late 30s. Did not start writing her first cookbook until her early 40s. Was first on TV when she was 50. (And she was a woman that was 6′ 3″.)

But Julia Child has had a lasting effect on food and culture and TV and even the idea of celebrity.

I did not come to this book cold. Several years ago after watching the movie Julie and Julia I read Julia Child’s memoir/biography My Life in France. My Life in France was written at the very end of her life by her nephew based on interviews and discussions with her. It was not published until after her death but it feels more like a memoir than a biography.

Dearie is a full biography written by Bob Spitz, nearly twice as long as My Life in France. I was glad for the extra details on her early and later life. Stylistically, this is a very narrative biography, similar to Laura Hillenbrand‘s Unbroken. It is not hagiography. Julia is presented as being quite amazing woman, but one that made a lot of mistakes.