Castle in the Clouds

Overall, it was a good reading month.  Four of the books pictured above got solid five star ratings. One of the books, though, was just dreadful.  Let's get the book I least enjoyed out of the way first. I was so looking forward to this book. On the back cover there's a blurb comparing it favorably to the The Left Behind series, which I quite enjoyed when it read it back in the late 90s/early 2000s.  Even better, this one took the story into space, which completely appeals to the science fiction and fantasy lover in me.  Yes, this should have suited me very well. Unfortunately, it was just not for me.  I had a lot of issues with the one dimensional representations in this book.  I also found the Christians in this book to be, well, not very Christ-like.  My unfavorable impression of this book is disappointing because I have it's sequel sitting in my TBR pile and, despite the promising premise, I fear I will be disappointed once again if I dare ...

It was a good reading month!  I read a total of nine books.  I managed to cross three off my List Challenges " Krista's Books to Read in 2018 " list: The Waterless Sea by Kate Constable The Tenth Power by Kate Constable Replay by Ken Grimwood I put that list together on a whim one day, selecting books from my already existing TBR.  The motivation for creating the list was to help me power my way through my overgrown and out-of-control TBR piles.  I selected titles from both my physical TBR piles and my Kindle shelves.  So far this year (remember, it's only March!), I've already read 7 of the 35.  Not bad, if I say so myself, which I do. The Waterless Sea and The Tenth Power completed the Chanters of Tremaris trilogy.  The books continued the adventures of Calwyn and her companions.  In the first book, The Singer of All Songs , Calwyn, an ice chanter capable of controlling and manifesting ice, discovers a strange man has penetrate...

When I was putting that collage together I was surprised by the fact that I had somehow gotten through five books and one comic book (not pictured!) this month.  Two of these books took forever for me to finish, so I really expected the overall tally to be fewer in number. I had started February with Lincoln in the Bardo , which was such a fast, enjoyable read I borrowed through Overdrive.  I picked this up on the recommendation of a friend because he thought I would enjoy it for it's focus on Abraham Lincoln as well as it's somewhat experimental storytelling style.  He was right.  I did.  I found the juxtaposition of quoted material and pure fancy to be intriguing.  I didn't check the quoted material, though, so I have no way of knowing how much of it was factual.  Those passages are presented in order to situate Willie's tragic passing in a time and place.  They give the reader an idea of how the war was going, what distractions the presiden...

1984 by George Orwell My rating: 4 of 5 stars Review added on 03/09/2017 after second reading. Date first read unknown. I was either a teenager or in my early 20s at the time. What I remembered about this book before picking it up again was that Big Brother was always malevolently watching. That's about it. The particulars were absent from my long term memory. I could not recall much about either character or plot. I think I will remember more after reading it a second time, not only because the story is fresh in my mind but because there was so much in this story that seemed to resonate with current events. We know that American intelligence agencies are fully capable of - and likely are - eavesdropping on citizens. The technology exists and the threat of terrorism provides fearful incentive to loosen privacy rights. In fact, on the radio this morning the FBI director pretty much said no one should expect privacy. So, yes, Big Brother is definitely watching and listening a...

Oh, boy.  I just finished reading this here book and, boy, was it painful!  So much so that there were several times I almost marked the book DNF; Did Not Finish, for those of you unfamiliar with the terminology.  Pure will power kept me going.  That and a refusal to let a book I was really struggling to understand defeat me. Pride.  It cometh before the fall, yes? Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics by Richard H. Thaler was recommended to me by an economics professor here at the university where I work.  It was one of many titles, actually, that he provided when I sent him a note in the middle of 2016 presidential election asking for books a newbie like myself would be able to grasp.  I explained to him that despite two degrees I had somehow managed to avoid taking a single economics course and had decided it was well past time for me to get a basic understanding of some general principles.  He sent back this list: ...

My Rating:  5 Stars Goodread's Average Rating:   3.78 Stars   FYI Here's how I use the five star rating feature on Goodreads : 1 star = I seriously disliked this book.  I may not have even finished it. 2 stars = Eh. This book left me feeling rather ambivalent and I'm not even sure why I read it. 3 stars = While I may not have liked everything about this book, I still found a good deal of pleasure in reading it.  I might even recommend it to a friend or family member if I think they'd enjoy it. 4 stars = Sure, there may be a few things that I found problematic, but there's so much I loved about this book that it just didn't matter!  It's characters were interesting, the plot was sound, and/or it offered me a welcome escape from reality.  I am already thinking about who else should read this book and how I can convince them of it.  It's also being added to the keeper shelf. 5 stars = I love this book.  It's heading directly to th...

I'm a compulsive buyer when it comes to Amazon's  Best 100 free e-books.  I check weekly  daily to see if anything appeals. Given my rather eclectic reading habits, something usually catches my eye and ends up in my shopping cart.  For this reason, I have added more freebies to my account than I will ever be able to read.  However, that doesn't mean I won't read any of them.   This year I'm going to make more of an effort, though, to read some of these self-published freebies. As an indie author myself, I want to support my fellow writers who are putting their art out there for consumption without the aid of agents, editors, or a well-established publishing house with marketing funds.   This is my first Indie review of 2015.  It will not be the last.  Book Info: Title:  Izared, Queen of the Elephant Riders Author: L. Leander Author's Website: h ttp://www.lleander.com/ Author's Facebook Account:   https:/...