Christ Centered Gamer

CountKrazy wrote:My library has neither Wastelands or Empire. This is highly disappointing.

I can get Empire for $4 shipped on Amazon.

Also... I just finished Empire earlier. It rocked so much.

I'll either go back to Wastelands tomorrow (benefit of short story anthologies), start up City of Torment... or sneak off to the library to snatch Brave New World (Huxley) and Picture of Dorian Gray (Wilde).

Books = good. Need more money to continue establishing my library.

So, I finally finished The Book Thief, and it's definitely going on my list of favorite books. An engrossing story, unforgettable characters, and powerful emotions all bound together with the figurative language that Zusak excels at.

I will have no qualms about reading this again, and again, and again.

I'm reading The Last Wish, and Empire.

I'm reading Notes From the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky (still), the first volume of the Purcell Papers by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, some untitled short story by Abraham Lincoln, and I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison.

The Trip Existence Book Review

Greetings, fine chaps. While on my vacation excursion I had the opportunity to read. Quite a lot, actually. So I decided to put together a column of reviews on all of the ones I read, and the ones I almost read.

Flabbergasted - Ray Blackston

Plot: A single 'heathen' decides to go to church to meet girls. Hilarity and life-changing ensues.

First up on the marquee is a little 'Christian' novel with the name of Flabbergasted, by Ray Blackston. Quotes are put around the word Christian because the book stands among few who have broken out of the preaching mindset and settle for good writing. Blackston's quirky style makes for a very good beach read, and at least for me, very identifiable. Highly recommended, and it was almost folly that my reading journey had to begin on such a high note.

Jurassic Park- Michael Crichton

Plot: A billionaire and his team of henchman scientists create a tropic fun park and decide to fill it with gargantuan and/or malignant animals that should have been extinct already.

A fine blockbuster novel, although I still have yet to see the movie. The first chunk of it gets a little tedious, even though it's crucial to move your mind toward a state of disbelief (you're thinking, I don't care that much about this science crap, I'm just waiting for hell to break loose), but then it moves into a tighter pace that keeps you turning pages. Half the fun is guessing who dies and who survives, but Crichton (R.I.P.) does his readers a disservice by making children some of the main characters. There's a certain amount of plausibility lost when you know they'll survive, and even more when they become major players in getting Jurassic Park under control.

Dead Famous - Ben Elton

Plot: A murder occurs on camera on the popular British reality show House Arrest, and it's up to Detective Coleridge to figure out who that murderer is.

Quite funny satirical British pop fiction (enough adjectives for you?) that is an intriguing whodunnit mystery in itself. The novel is cleverly paced, and one of it's great strengths is in the lead up to the reveal. In fact, you don't even discover who the victim is until you're at least two thirds of the way through. Despite me enjoying my breeze through, I couldn't recommend the book to anyone: The incredible amount of language and sexual content (not to mention the violence of the murder itself) is enough to turn off most readers, but somehow it manages to disembody itself to become palatable: The main character is a God-fearing Christian man, whom gratefully never feels mocking, but who is disdainful of the hedonistic practices of the suspiciously murderous cast.

The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver

Plot: Taylor Greer is getting away, but before she can do that, she's given a Cherokee baby from a stranger in a diner parking lot. This is her story.

I was unsure on this book at first, but Kingsolver's down home style of writing and evocative imagery eventually won me over. Stories about adoption, especially with abandonment, hit a little deeper with our family, so there's a deeper level to be enjoyed from this that's more than just words on a page. Taylor is a compelling character as she's grappling what to do with her life while remaining headstrong, and dealing with responsibilities that come with mothering a child.

Pigs in Heaven - Barbara Kingsolver

Plot: A series of events propels the Cherokee nation to question the legality of Turtle Greer's adoption.

If I was unsure on The Bean Trees to begin with, I've become unsure after reaching the finish line of Pigs in Heaven, its sequel. New characters are added, but not necessarily liked, and a few old characters that were in the first novel are much missed. Regardless, Kingsolver still knows how to tell a good story with strong words, and it's the only way I could have finished the book.

Front Porch Tales - Phillip Gulley

Plot: There isn't one.

This one is a collection of vignettes designed for inspiration, and a little bit of laughter. I was briefly amused, but the whole affair probably took less than an hour to get done with.

The Burglar on the Prowl - Lawrence Block

Plot: A professional (but chivalrous) burglar/second hand bookstore owner becomes entangled in a mystery which involves lawyers, actors, the mob, foreign dignitaries, and of course, the federal government.

Block writes with sophistication and experience, and it's almost impossible to not like this book. Bernie Rhodenbarr and his long arm of coincidences certainly kept me entertained for a while, and the opening pages held one of the best openings I've read in a book in years.


False starts:

White Oleander -Janet Fitch

Being one of my friend's favorite books, I had to give it a try, despite the Oprah book club label on the front. A few sentences here and there in the few chapters I read were worthy of digesting, but most were worthy of hatred. The whole affair comes with an air of pretentiousness, and it feels like the author is snidely holding something over our heads, but she won't tell us what it is.

Erma Bombeck's Cope Book - Guess who.

I'm not sure why I'm even admitting to reading about a fourth of this book, but it's easy to see why I didn't finish. Bombeck is certainly talented and amusing, but when she wrote a book in the seventies about marital stress from a woman's perspective and other such things, I don't think a seventeen year old guy would be in her demographic. Much of the humor is dated, but that's expected and understandable.

Blindsighted - Karin Slaughter

I guess the author's surname and the oozing red all over the cover should have clued me in. I'm a generally sturdy guy, especially when it comes to books, but I didn't even finish the second or third chapter before I wanted to gag. Perversely violent, not to mention Slaughter doesn't really take the mainstream fiction style and make it interesting. I guess after my mystery outing with Dead Famous I expected better and was rightly disappointed.

recently finished Be the Pack Leader: Use Cesar's Way to Transform Your Dog . . . and Your Life (Paperback)

Starting Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche, The Myth of Sisyphus, by Albert Camus, and The Gathering Storm, by Winston Churchill

fourum needz moar acktivs

Currently re-reading Blue Like Jazz.

i´m currently reading the bible ( just starting up, finishing exodus)
i also usually have a book on my car whenever i need to entertain myself (at the bank, waiting rooms etc) right now my choice is Stephen King´s the Dark Tower V: Wolves of Callah.i really wanna finish this saga, it´s been very cool, Roland is one of my favorite characters EVER!
i was also reading Robert E. Howad´s Chtulhu mythos, but decided to not continue with it, even thouhg it was a present, i´m not comfortable anymore reading about Dark Gods...

Before the dark tower, i finished Rumble Tumble by Joe R. Landsdale which is about to aging tough guys who go gun-blazing on a rescue mission of a young prostitute. Noir-ish and easy to read, but far from enjoyable.

i´m also listening to Stephen King´s The stand on audiobook

Gave up on Empire, finished Shutter Island, and working on Blood of Elves.


I'm seriously thinking Andrzej Sapkowski may be the best fantasy writer of the past two decades. The Last Wish was really good, but Blood of Elves is freaking blowing me away. O_O

You need to check out Stephen R. Donaldson and George R. R. Martin, Deep.

Just to give you some perspective, because those guys are amazing fantasy writers.

Oh, I didn't mean to say there couldn't be more, just saying I think Sapkowski is amazing.

I shall check those two out, since I've become interested in Fantasy again.

I...... Just ordered 18 books off of amazon.....


Let's hope they're good.

Wings of Dawn, By S. Brouwer.

Epic book. I have a feeling Oro would like it.

Chozon1 wrote:Wings of Dawn, By S. Brouwer.

Epic book. I have a feeling Oro would like it.

Brouwer has a tendency to bore me. *shrugs*

Umm, reading The Children of Hurin again.