Buddha's Kitchen

Coming Soon.

Grave Sight

Grave Sight - Charlaine Harris

Coming soon.

Fitzgerald's War

Coming Soon.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows JK Rowling 9/10

What can I say about the seventh book in the series? If you're going to read it, you will. The only reason to read the seventh is if you read the first six, and if you read that far you'll continue.

I finished Deathly Hallows in a day - I started just before 9 a.m. and finished a little after 7 p.m. This 10 hour reading spree (well, less. I took a few breaks throughout the day) wasn't because it was the best book I'd ever read...I think I just wanted to read.

It's ironic that, after my criticism of the fantasy genre with Faith of the Fallen, I return in the next post to state how much I enjoy a different fantasy book. Frankly, Deathly Hallows is a fantasy I can enjoy - the plot is not focused on the startling difference of the fantasy world with long descriptions of the environment, it's simply focused on events and characters who happen to be in an alternate world.

The Harry Potter series is not just a book for children, though it's mostly appropriate for them. If you enjoy reading and a good story...well, then, you've probably already read them. If you haven't, what are you waiting for?

Faith of the Fallen

Faith of the Fallen Terry Goodkind 7/10

Faith of the Fallen is the sixth or seventh in a series of fantasy books entitled "The Sword of Truth". I hadn't read any of the preceding books and was thus coming into things a little blindly, but the book was rife with detailed explanations of events that I can only imagine were covered even more specifically in the books where they originally occurred.

To be blunt, Faith of the Fallen is merely a rehash. It's a rehash of Ayn Rand and the Objectivist philosophy, only it's written by a less talented and less knowledgeable writer. I hate to be cruel for fear that Mr. Goodkind will someday stumble upon my blog and be deeply insulted, but I can only be honest. Faith of the Fallen is an obvious attempt to retell the story Rand told in The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged in a new scenario. He does a fairly good job, but simply due to subject matter he'll always be compared to Rand, and it's simply not a favorable comparison.

Rand had not only a better understanding of Objectivism, she had a clearer storytelling method and a more believable set of characters and character progression. If you want to read a novel to find out about Objectivism, I would recommend any of Rand's books over Faith of the Fallen unless you had a strong predilection to the fantasy genre.

Faith of the Fallen wasn't just about it's Randian hero and his battle against the quasi-communistic "New World" forces - it had other story elements to appeal to the fantasy enthusiast. Goodkind is a master of his alternate universe, and he is skilled in portraying a believable fantasy world, and then drawing us into accepting it.

All things said, I'm generally not a fan of the fantasy genre. My review has a negative slant for this reason. My understanding is that Goodkind's Sword of Truth series appeals to a wide audience. Choose your reading appropriately.

Becoming Human

Becoming Human Ian Tattersall 9/10

Not much of a review is required for this excellent book on the history of human evolution. What can I say other than it was impartial, informative, and overall simply well-written. Tattersall runs us through the evolution of mankind from the earliest known fossils to modern homo sapiens, explaining the probable capabilities of each and the definite achievements. He doesn't get bogged down, as some philosophers seem to do, on the exact definition of words - most notably, the exact definition of language. He defines it in a (admittedly ethnocentric) fashion, and then proceeds to explain when (and how) in the evolutionary cycle we likely developed this capacity. Yes, one can argue that "grunts and pointing" are a language of sorts, but there's no reason to be caught up in the details that are really just (ironically) a problem of language.

Much of the book is written similarly - he clearly describes what he expects a word to mean, and moves on. Perhaps the only reason this is so refreshing is that I've spent so much time in the philosophy world that I've forgotten how people can simply be practical, non-hair-splitting writers who focus on what's important rather than on meaningless issues of definition.

If you're interested in a readable and concise history of human evolution (including a fair evaluation of its questions and shortcomings), this is an excellent book to read.

Disgrace

Disgrace J.M. Coetzee 9.5/10

Disgrace is a masterpiece. The 200 pages are sparsely written, terse and trying. One can hardly muster sympathy for the apathetic and unprincipled protagonist (Lurie) as his distanced, uninvolved life is slowly stripped from him. Disgrace is the story of a man who had almost nothing, and loses that.

Lurie lives a solitary, passionless life as a professor of communications at a Cape Town, South Africa university. "Because he has no respect for the material he teaches, he makes no impression on his students...Their indifference galls him more than he will admit." Lurie merely goes through the motions of life, living without purpose and only moderated joy.

Characters in disgrace are believable and complex - from his lesbian daughter living alone in the countryside to Bev Shaw, the animal lover whose veterinary clinics primary responsibility is the disposal of unwanted animals. The irritatingly indifferent Lurie changes only in miniscule measures - measures unknown and unnoticed by the stalwart professor who repeatedly claims that at his age, it's too late for change, too late for growth.

Lurie loses everything and rebuilds himself in the African countryside, but it's clear that nothing has really changed. Lurie is different now, but the world is the same and the political environment that has brought about the society he's a part of doesn't change simply because we grow. Even his relationships are established - the roles each member plays are established and too firm-set to change. Disgrace is not an uplifting book, but is excellently written and intriguing...and that's what I look for in a book.

Conversations with God (Books 2 and 3)

Conversations With God (Books 2 and 3) Neale Donald Walsch 8.5/10

It’s so hard to give these books a high score. It was difficult to get through them: they both significantly slowed down my reading schedule as I could only handle so much of them at a time. I reviewed the first book earlier: 2 and 3 didn’t stray too far away from the path laid out in book 1. Personally I found book 2 much more agreeable than book 3: book 3 was a bit of an idealistic mess, constantly re-treading on to cover material from the first two books when it wasn’t making absurd claims about the ideal society.

I could complain and complain about these books, but the fact is that much of the truths in the book resonate well with my own moral standpoint. I have the good fortune of being able to dismiss the arguably preposterous theme of the book: that the author has a direct connection with God, and can freely ask and receive answers to questions he asks. God has a suspicious tendency to never mention anything out of the realm of the author’s experience, leading the astute reader to question whether Walsch is, at the core, “making it all up”. My personal opinion: he is making it all up. I just don’t care about the source – if there is valuable knowledge or wisdom, I’ll listen.

The primary truth that I finish the series with was never specifically stated: “we have the best answers to our own questions”. We know how to solve our problems, we just need to learn to listen. If I’m ever giving advice, that’s the path I try to take: I listen to find out what the advice-asker really thinks he or she should do, and then advise that path of action. In my personal experience, if someone is asking for advice, what they are often looking for is actually affirmation or justification of the choice they know they should make.

This is rarely a conscious process. If it were a conscious process, I think pride (or shame) would be likely to get in the way. It’s rather ironic that pride might keep us from living life as we’d like to – it makes that pride seem rather misplaced.

Either way, back to the book. I love affirming that we make our own truth, that we are the ones who control who, what, and where we are. It’s humbling, especially when it’s so tempting to place the blame for our misfortunes and faults outside our area of control. It’s a big step in life to realize that we are fully and wholly responsible for our position and station in life, and that we have the capacity and the potential to make the life we want as long as we’re willing to do what’s necessary. I’m sure some who are reading this will wonder at my youthful ignorance – how I’ve managed to believe in this ideal society where we’re all created equal and everyone is blind to race, color, sex, or whatever discrimination we claim.

The fact is, I can only speak from my own experience. I know that I can’t have everything I want now – but if I choose to keep wanting something and do everything I can to have it, I will have it. I’ve yet to meet someone who I felt had any more or less potential.

Forever Odd

Forever Odd Dean Koontz 6/10

Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas is purportedly his most well-liked creation. Koontz is a popular dog-loving Californian writer with a penchant for mixing the supernatural into his mystery and/or adventure stories (normally with a heartwarming bit of romance).

Forever Odd eschews romance in favor of a stronger emphasis on the supernatural: the protagonist, Odd Thomas, can see ghosts. He can talk to them, but they sadly (and sometimes amusingly) lack the ability to talk back. The majority of the story is a murder mystery where Thomas tries to find the killer who kidnapped his best friend and killed that friend’s father. He relies on his improbably accurate intuition to follow the killer through an intriguing path involving villains even more odd than me.

This is the second book in the series, and a few of the familiar characters return. His old boss (from his days as a fry cook at a local burger joint) and mother figure gives him solid advice, and the tragic yet morbidly amusing ghost of Elvis plays a small part as well. Ozzie, the fat chef and writer, makes an appearance along with his strangely terrifying cat Terrible Chester.

I enjoyed Forever Odd, but I won’t be actively looking to read the other books in the series. I think I read so much Koontz as a teenager that I’m a little too familiar with his writing style. He’s a very prolific writer – I’m sure he has over fifty books, of which I’ve read more than twenty. Perhaps I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I could have because, at the current stage in my life, I’m looking for lessons. I’m looking for purposeful writing with a message. Some find it condescending: like the author takes on a role of moral superiority by ‘lecturing’ us on right and wrong, mature and immature, or good and evil, but lately I’m able to put aside my pride and try to glean whatever wisdom I can from a story. “Forever Odd” was an intriguing, engaging, and funny story. I read it in two days, hardly able to put it down (though that seems to happen with 90% of the books I pick up) until I was finished. Koontz knows how to entertain, and he shows it once again with “Forever Odd”.

The Beginning Place

The Beginning Place Ursula K. LeGuin 7.5/10

I enjoyed this short, simple novel. Somewhere in between fantasy and science fiction, The Beginning Place is a story of growth. It has no pretenses of greatness or extraordinary originality – the tale seems familiar, like I’ve heard it many times before with different variations. What I particular like about this is the type of development that takes place. I’m tempted to call it a “coming of age” story, but I think that title is reserved for youths making their initial forays into young adulthood. The characters that develop in this story are well into their young adulthood – finished with school and living lives that could, potentially, go on forever the way they are going now. The male lead, Hugh, lives with his clingy and overcritical single mother, unhappy but trapped by his love for his mother. The female lead, Irena, is similarly locked in a living situation – she protects her mother and siblings from an abusive father. They’re both waiting for the right situation to begin chasing their own dreams, to begin living their own life.

The majority of the story takes place in a sort of alternate reality – a world separate from ours and accessible only to Hugh and Irena. They both escape to the alternate world for solace and peace from lives they don’t enjoy so much in the real world. Well, I’m not going to give an entire plot summary, but it’s an enjoyable story that’s worth a read if you come across the book.