Demon of Undoing

Last updated on: October 20, 2012 at 2:21 pm By Jeff Miller

Maureen at “Aliens in this World” has been a long time favorite of mine. Her book recommendations have time and again lead to books I really enjoyed that almost certainly I would have never read. Recently she posted about this book. Demon of Undoing by Andrea Alton isn’t a super-literary book. But it is super-fun sf with the feel of fantasy, fun aliens, fun alien viewpoint character… and darn it, it’s just fun. It came out from Baen in 1988, and... Read more

The Knox Bible (Updated)

Last updated on: October 23, 2012 at 12:50 pm By Julie Davis

The Knox Bible by Msgr Ronald A. Knox It is unquestioned that for the past 300 years the Authorized Version has been the greatest single formative influence in English prose style. But that time is over …. When the Bible ceases, as it is ceasing, to be accepted as a sacred text, it will not long survive for its fine writing. It seems to me probable that in a hundred years’ time the only Englishmen who know their Bibles will... Read more

Monster Hunter International

Last updated on: October 18, 2012 at 7:39 pm By willduquette

So a friend passed me a copy of Monster Hunter International, by Larry Correia, and told me it was good fun; and it was. Our hero, one Owen Pitt, is a mild-mannered accountant until the day his boss turns into a werewolf and tries to have him for dinner. Unfortunately for the boss, Owen is enormous, fit, a gun nut, and the son of a Green Beret, even though it’s against company policy he’s armed, as any good Texan should... Read more

Believers in the Middle Ages

Last updated on: October 17, 2012 at 1:08 pm By Julie Davis

From Introduction to Christianity by Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) which is admittedly dense but is also simply terrific. One of the things that I love most about this book is the way that Benedict will casually admit a truth that many believers would like to ignore. He does it time and again and every time I mentally cheer because hiding our heads in the sand is not only unbecoming, the only ones we fool are ourselves. …when today... Read more

The Good Cook Series

Last updated on: October 17, 2012 at 10:53 am By Julie Davis

Soups by Time-Life Books My rating: 5 of 5 stars Every cook should have a set of The Gook Cook series which was published by Time Life between 1979 and 1983. They are organized by cooking subject (Fish, Soup, Cookies & Crackers, etc.). They were edited by the brilliant Richard Olney and written by many food writers who went on to become well known. Each has a brief but comprehensive history of the topic followed by 80 pages of detailed... Read more

Into the Dark Lands

Last updated on: October 16, 2012 at 6:58 pm By willduquette

Having enjoyed Michelle Sagara’s Chronicles of Elantra (and yes, in the short time since writing that review I’ve read the remaining four books in the series, and enjoyed them), I decided to try one of her other books. She’s got several series, so I picked one somewhat arbitrarily and ended with Into the Dark Lands, which turns out to be her first novel. And the bottom line is that it held my attention, but I’m not at all sure I’ll... Read more

If Aristotle’s Kid Had an iPod

Last updated on: October 15, 2012 at 5:15 pm By Jeff Miller

If Aristotle’s Kid Had an iPod: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Parents by Conor Gallagher is a new book from TAN Books that I believe has been released today. This is kind of a cross between and introduction to Aristotle and a philosophy book for parents. He purposely calls it not a parenting book as he says he is not qualified to write one – I think otherwise though. As a philosophy book for parents I think it succeeds rather well as... Read more

A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

Last updated on: October 15, 2012 at 12:14 pm By Julie Davis

A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron My rating: 4 of 5 stars IN THE BEGINNING A bit of birthday book-a-liciousness that I had no idea what to think of. As a kid I reread Beautiful Joe and Black Beauty with no problems, though as an adult I cringe from revisiting those tough stories. As an adult I love Watership Down, but my overall experience with animal POV stories is that they tend to be sadder than is my preference.... Read more

Heart of Light

Last updated on: October 14, 2012 at 11:05 pm By willduquette

Heart of Light, by Sarah A. Hoyt, is the first of three books to take place in a “Magical British Empire.” No, really, that’s the name of the series. Seems a little too generic, given the number of books I’ve seen that take place in an alternate British Empire with, well, magic. Be that as it may. I picked up this book because I’d heard good things about Sarah Hoyt, and read a number of her blog posts on writing... Read more

Leviathan Wakes

Last updated on: October 13, 2012 at 10:34 am By Jeff Miller

Will Duquette introduced me to the Expanse series via his review here. It sounded right up my alley and turned out to be so. So I picked up the first novel Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse) on the cheap at $1.99 for the Kindle version.. So take the character of the divorced cop Detective Miller who is a functional alcoholic who is a good enough detective but is being given lesser and lesser tasks to perform. A cop who just does not... Read more