Let the speculation begin (or increase). It is being reported on The Kindle Chronicles and Lilliputing that Amazon has sent out press invitations for a press conference. There is little more information than the date and location (Sept 6, 10:30 AM in Santa Monica, CA), but it is widely expected that there will be an … Read more
Summary: A cynically nihilistic take on some of the most beloved fantasy books.
As much as I enjoy books stealing ideas and remaking stories (like Fuzzy Nation), Lev Grossman has soured me on the concept for a while.
I was not a big fan of the first book of this series, The Magicians. I thought it was really well written and had some great ideas. But I just did not like the characters. But I still wanted to read the second book. It was written so well, I figured the second would have to be better.
After having read it, I think this opening line from an Amazon review gets it exactly right. “Joyless, dismal, and cynically nihilistic–that was the first novel in this series.”
This is a book that is hard to discuss without at least some spoilers. The Percy Jackson Series was a complete series based around the character Percy Jackson, son of the Greek God Poseidon, as he discovers that he is a demigod and works to save the gods from being other thrown by the Titans.
This series is after the first series, but has some of the same characters. So I would read Percy Jackson first, then this. In the first book (spoilers start here) we are introduced to Jason Grace, son of Jupiter and his two friends Leo and Piper. What is revealed at the end of the first book is that the Greek Gods also have Roman sides to them and there is a whole world of Roman demigods that have been kept apart from the Greek demigods.
Jason was from the Roman side and was sent to Camp Half-Blood (the Greek side) by Hera in order to join the Greek and Roman demigods together to overthrow Gaia and the Giants.
If you are just joining in, I am slowly working through several books on Catholic theology and practice. Catholic Matters was recommended by a friend and is a very good next step for me.
Richard John Neuhaus is on of the better known Catholic writers in the United States. He is a priest in New York and a convert from the Lutheran stream of Christianity at the age of 54. Most Evangelicals will know him as the editor of the Institute on Religion and Public Life’s publication First Things. Neuhaus passed away in 2009.
Neuhaus was a great believer in ecumenical activity (the idea behind The Institute on Religion and Public Life and his earlier Institute on Religion and Democracy). He along with Charles Colson were the prime drivers behind the Evangelicals and Catholics Together statements that provided a significant part of the discussion material from Mark Noll’s Is The Reformation Over (reviewed earlier).
One of the lesser known features of the kindle is that you can send books, article or other documents to your kindle. This can be useful for editing, or giving presentations, or reading articles off line. Earlier this year there was desktop apps released to allow you to send documents to your kindle without sending … Read more
I made a committment to myself to give away the vast majority of my paper books when I am done with them. Many of the books below were given to me by others that wanted a review. Others I have read and reviewed. Still others are books that I bought but have never gotten … Read more
Summary: A new set of heroes are on a quest to free Hera and stop something worse than the Titans from destroying the Gods (and maybe all of humanity with them.)
The Percy Jackson and the Olympians were rightly a popular series of young adult books. They include magic, heroes, Greek Gods, adventure and lots of historical and mythical references.
With The Lost Hero, Riordan takes the same setting and starts a new series with new main characters. Jason has no memory of his past. But he is son of Zeus and and already battle tested and a leader, but he has never been to Camp Half-Blood before. Leo is a mechanical genius, but after the death of his mother he has been hiding his real power. Piper is the daughter of a famous movie star and constantly in trouble for theft.
Summary: Holiness is affection for God and a way of life, not a set of rules that we have to live by.
Holiness is a difficult topic to discuss. About halfway through the book I thought of my comments in a review of a book on Christian giving. “Just because there has been so much bad teaching on the theology of giving does not mean that we should not talk about giving.” And in this context, just because there has been so much bad teaching on holiness does not mean that holiness is somehow unimportant. In fact we mostly likely need to spend more time discussing holiness. Unfortunately authors and pastors have to deal with the bad teaching in order for the good teaching to make sense.
Tyler Braun is very directly attempting to communicate the importance of holiness to the Millennial Generation (although this is a beneficial book if you are not in that generation) because holiness has been so badly taught in the past.
Since Bookwi.se now has more than 500 book reviews, I felt it was time to start making the back catalogue a bit more useful. I will continue to add to these topical indexes as trends arise and I have time.
Bookwi.se has reviewed a lot of books on prayer. By my count there are 22 books that are directly about prayer, not including several others that are indirectly about prayer. Unlike most of Bookwi.se topical indexes I will not give a description and summary review of every book but instead divide the list into recommended books and less recommended book on prayer.
If you really are serious about wanting to read about prayer this is probably my first recommendation. It is focused on the various methods and spiritual disciplines around prayer. Foster is seeped in historical Christian writings and liberally quotes from them and his own experience. I have reviewed this twice. First review, second review, but I have have read it at least three or four times. This is a books that welcomes multiple readings.
This is my second most recommended book on prayer. It is more of a practical look focus (instead of this historical and spiritual discipline focus of Richard Foster’s book). Again I have read it several times and reviewed it twice (first, second) If you are a parent, Miller spends a lot of time talking about praying for his children and spouse and uses his own family and prayer life as continual illustrations.
Summary: A cynically nihilistic take on some of the most beloved fantasy books.
